Is It Naptime Yet

While growing up my parents would always ask for us kids to do things for them or around the house. It was fine that we had to make dinner once a week, wash dishes, and iron my dad’s work clothes. I was fine with that. Well, maybe I didn’t enjoy ironing so much. What I disliked was picking up my father’s newspapers that he had just piled onto the floor after reading, or fetching him or my mom water when their legs worked just fine. The running joke was they had kids to do things for them.

Yeah, having kids can be helpful and I’m trying to not make them into my slaves, something we called ourselves a time or two growing up. It is hard though. They’re so able bodied, while I’m so old.

I’m still not great at always incorporating the girls into my chores or things I do around the house. They really can’t reach the sink to do dishes, and we have to help them put dishes away that go up high. I don’t always like company as I cook, most often I like to just cook by myself. So I don’t encourage them to be in the kitchen with me, but there are times they insist. Like when I was making jam at the very end of April.

I bought a ton of strawberries, and planned on freezing some and making jam with most of them. One morning I made one batch of freezer jam, but I was in a rush. I made them hang back and watch, but promised they could help when I did the regular jam.

The morning of jam making came, and the girls were very excited. I pulled their hair back, and I put them to work cutting and mashing berries, while I prepped my jars and lids. It was actually very helpful to have them helping, and helped the process go smoothly.
They also had tons of fun, so it was a win win situation. I even offered to contract them out to my friend Sam, but she was already over half way done with her jam making when I offered.

The girls really loved helping, and I liked seeing them help. There were times when one or the other was a little stubborn, but once I got them to try it, things went well. Read: Eden was not wanting to do something, so I made her try it, and she really liked it in the end.

Lilah’s hair is so crazy because I had to pull her long bangs back, so she wouldn’t be tempted to touch her hair.

Later that week Eden and I baked some muffins together. I try to include both of them in the kitchen, but often it becomes an argument in who’s turn it is, or it’s unfair that they get to put this and that in, or they’re stirring for too long. So sometimes I make something with just one of them. The other often pouts, but once we reach the agreement that they can help make something later in the week, they stop bothering us, for the most part. Read: Lilah has a really hard time not being the one helping in the kitchen, and hovers around talking and trying to help.

Eden’s Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. The recipe came from the Highlights magazine. (We changed it to whole wheat and substituted raisins for chocolate chips.)

Lilah chose some cookies for her recipe that we made together. They turned out pretty good, and none of the cookies I ate had any of her hair in them.

Lilah really has taken to doing extra things around the house, and it’s really nice, because usually she’s also very willing to help. Like, their laundry just got put into the wash and I didn’t have to help at all. I was able to sit here and type this up.

Now if only I had a drink of water.

The Smith Center is a new performing Arts building built near Downtown Las Vegas. When we heard about it, we were excited for it to be built since it supported the arts. I was excited because it would be bringing Broadway plays at a more affordable price. I forget when they announced that Wicked would be coming in August 2012, but I was super excited when I found out.

I kept in the back of my mind the knowledge that Wicked would be showing there the Fall of 2012. So last year when I heard a news story that you could buy season tickets for the Broadway series for Spring 2012, and being a season ticket holder would give you precedence in buying tickets for the Fall and Spring 2012-2013 season, when Wicked would be showing, I convinced Jon to buy 2012 season tickets for the Broadway series. (We did not know for sure if we’d be able to get Wicked tickets, it was more a hope.) It was a half season, so it was a nice chunk of change, but doable. Jon being the wonderful husband he is, and a supporter of the arts, agreed. We saw our first play, The Color Purple, on April 7th.

It was a wonderful production, with superb acting and singing. Our seats are the second cheapest in the house, and we were second from the last row on the ground floor, but there is not a bad seat on that floor. It would nice to be closer so I could see more of the facial expressions and details of the costumes, but I’m very pleased with where we’re at and thankful for a husband willing to support the arts and my hobby of musical theater. (It helps that he enjoys it also.)

I am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful shows for the two seasons. We renewed our season tickets after we saw the show and I am so excited that Wicked is a part of the next season! I actually will be seeing it twice, because I’m going a second time with my sisters, minus Carolyn who will be seeing “The Boss” in Chicago. (We’re still seeing if we can change the night to include her.)

Me with the Smith Center Tower behind me. The architecture is really cool. It has a retro 1930’s feeel to it, and is beautiful inside.

Jon and I after seeing The Color Purple. (We did not purposely wear purple. It just happened.)

The next play is Mary Poppins. It’s showing on my 29th birthday and I’ll be taking Lilah with me to see it. 🙂

There is an ice skating rink in town that does a Homeschool Friday for the first Friday of each month. It costs $5 per child to skate, they get a free hot chocolate, and parents get to skate free. I honestly avoided going for the first few times I had heard about it. I had only skated once in my life, on a a date, when I was in high school, over ten years ago.

It’s a funny story.

I had just gotten home from work and there was a knock on my door. Blake, a young man from my new ward, was at the door. My family had just moved in January and I think this was in May or late April 2001, my final year in high school. (I had flirted with him a little on a General Conference trip with our ward that April.) I open the door and he asks, “You wanna get in that there van with me?” (The way he asked was just hilarious.) Apparently, a few of the guys in my ward had decided to plan a group date that Friday while at school, and he had been calling me that afternoon, but I was not home, so they took a chance and appeared on my doorstep. I was still in a skirt from work, so I asked if I could change first, left a note for my parents that I would be out on a date and with whom, and got in the van. We ate Sonic for dinner and went ice skating. I ended up holding his hand the entire time to keep my balance, and the other two couples speculated about it. It was the only date we went on because summer quickly approached, I went to the singles ward, and when he called me that Fall to go out again, I was already engaged to be Mrs. Jonathan Blake.
Moral of the story: Ice skating is an awesome date to go on if the other person has never been. You might get to hold their hand the entire time.

So back to avoiding ice skating. Since I had only been once in my life, I wasn’t really wanting to take the girls. I’m not an athletic person and I have terrible balance. For the March skating day I decided to take the girls since our park group would be there, and I really did not want to skate. Once there I found out the other parents were going skating, and I was really nervous. Tears welled up in my eyes and my friend Laura noticed. She gave me comfort that I could take it easy and use a trainer, which I did. Eden was kinda my cover, since I tagged along with her at first. Eventually I decided it would be not fun skating hunched over, so I made Eden go out on her own a little. It was hard for her at first, but once Eden got the hang of it, she was very pleased with herself. Lilah used the trainer for part of the time, but started using the wall and going out on her own pretty early. At one point her friend Shelby took her hand and they skated together.
Laura also helped me, and held my hand for a few times around the rink to give me confidence.

So ice skating was a big hit in March, but I forgot to take my camera.

So for the skate day in April, we went once more and I brought my camera along. We all did much better, though none of our friends were there this time. Eden even tried skating by herself while holding onto the wall and with my help. Towards the end I took a terrible fall, straight to my knees, and took Eden down with me. I had a huge bruise on my left knee, and even though it’s mostly yellow now and not noticeable, my knee hurts if I put too much weight on it when kneeling or sit Indian style.

I remembered the camera the second time around and took some pictures of my cute ice skaters.

So this year for Easter I was finally able to make the girl’s Easter dresses. No play is happening, which gives me much more free time to sew, and I just didn’t look too hard at the store’s. I wanted to make something different for the girl’s, but when we went to pick out fabric, they ended up choosing the material they wanted. They each had a different pink for the main dress, but I accidentally cut Eden’s dress out of Lilah’s fabric, and Lilah really wanted her fabric, so they had nearly matching dresses. I think they turned out really cute.

Easter Morning

We dyed eggs at my parents house Saturday night. It was actually their fortieth anniversary! I totally forgot till my mom mentioned my dad would be taking her out, and since he doesn’t do that often, I asked why. I have it on my wall calendar, but was a total airhead when it came to remembering.

Green hands. Grandpa washed Eden’s hands with Shout, and it removed most of the dye.

This year for Easter I also had a goal of buying no candy.
What usually happens in our house at Easter: The girls go to two or three Easter egg hunts, and get tons of candy. I buy three or more different candies to put in the baskets, and end up eating most of it because Jon has more self control than me, and the girls have tons of candy already. I gain a few pounds and indulge my candy addiction, while the children ask for candy every.single.day. for like 2 months.
I decided recently that I would not be purchasing candy or cookies once the goodies in our house were gone. So if we wanted something sweet we’d have to make it. (Ice cream is the exception and they do get candy at other places.)
So I let the girls know that the Easter Bunny would not be bringing candy to our house, and they seemed OK with it. I have my reasons, and we discussed why he would not be bringing it, and why I would no longer be buying it.
So the Easter Bunny put cute socks, a note pad with pencil, glow bracelets, a craft, play dough, and a few cookies in their basket. Eden was also given a game, and Lilah was given some sheets with horses on them.
The cookies were something I had in my freezer and needed to use, so that’s why we enjoyed them in our baskets.

For the Easter Bunny the girls left out some carrots and a bag of candy from candy they had collected at the one egg hunt they went to. This year really was a low candy year for us, but it’s better for us this way.

Easter morning the girls put on their new dresses and we headed to church. After church we had an Easter egg hunt. The Easter Bunny filled the eggs with quarters and small ink stamps. Lilah found 5 of the 6 stamps, so Eden traded one quarter for a stamp. ( I think filling the eggs with small change is actually a really good idea and honestly costs as much as candy, if not less, if you decided to put nickels or dimes in the eggs instead.)

Can you spot the two eggs the girls were not seeing?

The loot!

Lilah’s bangs were trimmed on Monday.

We then enjoyed a nice afternoon with Jon’s parents and an evening meal at my parents.
The cousins enjoyed a fun egg hunt together and ate nearly all their candy while at their grandparent’s house.

The cousin’s waiting to find some eggs. (Adrienne, Eden, Lilah, Howie, and Kaitlyn.)

Lilah was very excited to get some candy.

Enjoying their candy and counting eggs.

Recently I had called my sister Andrea to see if she would edit Jon’s gift for me. I had left a message asking for her help on a Christmas gift, but if she was too busy in the next 24 hours I understood. (I had to get it done so I could use a discount.) She called back wondering if I was needing pictures for the calendar I make for my parents. Uh, no but maybe it was a good idea to include other family pictures in there. It’s not like I don’t include pictures of other members of our family for the calendar. I have the other nieces and nephew in there for some of the holidays, and even a sibling or two, but most pictures are of my family because I take pictures of them the other 361 days of the year that are not holidays where we meet with the rest of my family. (Easter, 4th of July, Halloween and Christmas being the ones I take pictures at, though we do enjoy Thanksgiving together.) I did e-mail the other siblings and did get a few pictures from one. And the sister who said I should include others has actually not sent me any pictures of her kids. She has one day, so we’ll see if she sends them to me before I need to order them on Wednesday. (I do have a couple pictures of her kids already, but not any cute Halloween ones.)

Today I wrote the family letter that would be included in our Christmas cards. After I did a very short blurb about each of us, I almost began writing about our big family vacation to the different National Parks, but it just didn’t fell right. It was crossing that line from “here are some interesting things about our family” to, “look how great we have it we were able to take two weeks and visit all these cool places”. Its fine to mention them on my blog, because it is a journal, it’s even fine to mention it on Facebook because lets face it, FB is to indulge and be narcissistic, but it felt wrong putting it in the family letter. Really, if someone wants to know about our trip, they just have to read my blog, or interact with me. I’m sure I’ve brought it up, hopefully not annoyingly because it was a fun experience for us, but it’s hard to know what tone everyone will read the letter. I know I’ve mentioned past trips before to the beach and Disneyland, but those were such small inexpensive trips, at least compared to this one. Maybe I’m the hang-up. I know what it cost us and don’t want to come off as bragging. (We did camp and stay at a cabin for free so it could have cost a lot more.) I’m sure I have my moments when I’m not thinking and just talking, so I don’t need something in writing confirming my rude, uncoth behavior.

We’re in a world where everyone is wanting affirmation from everyone. Comment on my blog! Like my status! This can be good and bad. Good if we’re writing smart and thought provoking things, bad if we’re wanting to show off and brag. I admit, I love sharing good news, and I also love being witty and having someone like my status on Facebook, but I’m rarely thought provoking.

So here’s to a new level of narcissism in the world, and trying to participate in it a little less, at least when it comes to Christmas letters. (I’m totally posting good news about Jon’s job in a couple weeks.)

Way back in October, well I think it was October, we visited Roo’s N More Zoo in Moapa, Nevada. We went there in April this year too, or somewhere around that time, but I never got around to posting pictures from that visit.

Jon had taken the originally scheduled day off of work so he could go, but then it rained all day and night, and even the morning of, so our group had to postpone our trip. Since we rescheduled it to the following week, he wasn’t able to go. For the day we were suppose to go, we decided to go bowling, and I got the lowest score. Apparently I should use the bumpers too. Jon did alright, but I bowled pitifully.

I was going to do a quick blog of what we did in October, but there were just too many cute pictures, so I decided I’d just get on the ball and overwhelm my reader(s) with a post a day while I play catch up. So here’s to hoping I can get the other needed posts out of the way over the next few days.

Lilah was willing to hold any animal she could get her hands on.
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While Eden mostly kept her distance but did pet a few of the animals.
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A fun and very slow sloth.
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Petting the sloth.
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The baby otter kissing and making noises in Lilah’s ear.
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The super cute baby African porcupine.
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Lilah took this picture of me holding the baby otter.
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A baby kangaroo in a mommy’s pouch. I think it had only been born a week or so before.
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Eden petting a 3 1/2 legged desert tortoise.
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The monkey eating Lilah’s hair.
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Gotta love that smile.
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Eden didn’t want to hold the monkey by herself, so I made her tag along while I played with the monkey.
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The monkey also liked my camera case.
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Why yes, that is a python wrapping itself around my daughter’s waist.
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See, it’s not that big of a snake, and no, I did not hold or touch it.
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The girls with the kangaroo sculpture.

Last week I went to my 10 year high school reunion. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it, but it turned out to be lots of fun.

I went with my friend Tiffany Keegan because I didn’t want to buy two over-priced tickets that would pay for alcohol we wouldn’t be drinking. The joys of an open bar at events like these. Jon also thought I would have more fun without him, since I have a tendency to worry about him and how he’s doing at things like this. I asked around on Facebook and convinced Tiffany to go with me, since she didn’t want to go alone but wanted to attend. Tiffany and I have known one another since we were 9 and even though we haven’t been constant, close, friends this whole time, we didn’t even hang out in high school except when we had classes together, but she is definitely my longest friend. As we drove over to the reunion together, it was obvious time had past, but we also felt so comfortable around one another that it hadn’t mattered. We talked, joked, reminisced, and enjoyed seeing each other. I loved seeing here and hearing about her family that I was once knew intimately.

We arrived right on time, and finding out who to talk to was a little odd at first. Overall, the reunion seemed to be a lot of people I did not know well in high school, but there were a few gems in the crowd which made it all worth it and I enjoyed seeing people in person, rather than just seeing what they were up to over Facebook.

I would say the highlight of my night was seeing my old friend Royi Moas. Royi and I had a huge flirtation/crush on one another our senior year, but it never went anywhere. (I’m a sucker for intelligent guys who listen, and the summer before our senior year we hung out a lot when I was house-sitting and he listened to me ramble on about a missionary I was writing and I made it “painfully obvious” that I would not date Royi, or even if I did, I had this other guy whom I thought I would marry. So, I don’t really blame him for not dating me. I don’t think I’d date me either after I think about it.) I’m actually happy it didn’t go anywhere because there were no odd, old boyfriend vibes, just wonderful to see one anther vibes. His super sweet fiance later told me I was on his list of people who he wanted to see, so I felt special.

I also loved seeing and hearing what class mates where up to. It was interesting to see who they had become/ were becoming. One of my biggest surprises was a classmate who is now a server at Ceasar’s and married to a cocktail waitress. It’s not so surprising that this would happen, but I never imagined this guy, in this scenario. (Brian Kong is his name since I will probably not remember who later, and she was the cutest/nicest cocktail waitress I’ve ever seen.)

I didn’t take a lot of photos, but they had a photographer there so I was able to lift a few from her site.

Me in my dress with Lilah.
Story behind the dress: I needed something “formal,” but totally could have gotten away with my black dress, but now I’m prepared for a real formal, and I love shopping. I found this dress at Savers for $20, bought and made the bolero for $23, and had to clean it for $12. I found it ironic that a $20 dress started to add up so quickly. I like it long, but wish I had shortened it because I felt like a nun in my long dress compared to what other people were wearing, and might still do so. I am also glad I left it long because I didn’t realize I hadn’t shaved till I went to put lotion on that night. Yeah, that would not have been cute.
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Kristen Routh (one of our valedictorians), and her boyfriend Joseph Henle (an up and coming UFC fighter), and me. Never would I imagine her with a UFC fighter, which he wasn’t at first, but they make the cutest and most perfect couple.
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Adam Mills, me, and Tiffany Keegan. (I wish I had gotten one with just her and me at some time, but did not.)
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Me and Royi.
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This is Jeremiah, Stephanie Sandford’s husband, and Adam London, Alana Isbell’s husband and what happens when you ask a friend’s husband to take a picture? He takes a picture of himself and who’s by him. Silly Adam.
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Me, Allan Smith, Alana London, and Stephanie Sanford.
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Pictures the photographer took:

Stephanie, Me, Tiffany, Amanda Morrisey, and Katy Brown.
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The story behind me in the above picture.: So I was talking with some friends and a classmate hands me her camera as she pulls in two of the people I was talking to in for a picture. I was getting ready to see what she wanted me to take a picture of when a husband of one of the friends takes the camera from me and says I should get in the picture. Now I knew the girl, but I wasn’t close friends with her at all. So this picture is taken by a few cameras and the photographer that was hired for the event. Then the photographer is like, “Give me a cheer!” and I realized it was a picture of all the cheerleaders! What makes this picture even funnier to me is the one who had handed me her camera is actually giving me a side ways look, and is probably wondering what the heck I’m doing in the frame. I had the husband take one more without me in it, so the cheerleader had the photo she had wanted originally, and though the other pictures the photographer took were not as nice, she still got one that did not include me with all the other cheerleaders.
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Alana, me, Katy, Stephanie, and Danielle Henrie.

After the night ended I brought Tiffany back to my place to get her car. We talked a little longer then I changed and met some friends for karaoke. It was lots of fun, except all the smoke. It was a bar only, so it was full of smokers and I literally wanted to throw up afterwards because the smell was so bad. (It was terrible in the place, but for some reason it was even worse after.) I even took a shower at 2 am and if you know me, you know I hate taking showers only 7 hours later, since I had to take one before church, because the smell was that bad.

Our trip began a little late on Friday, July 9th. Jon really wanted to see Zion National Park on our way through Utah, and we did, but with packing so much stuff, for a two week trip that had 6 days of camping within the first 8, it was hard to leave as early as we would have liked.

The day was humid as we got to Springdale, Utah and parked. We rode the city shuttle to Zion and then walked around a bit and finally decided to hike a short archaeological trail that was somewhere by the visitor’s center, we just couldn’t find it till a ranger kindly pointed us in the right direction. We did get a nice tour of the river and camping sites. After the trail we rode the shuttle around the park. It was an easy ride with a couple stops. Mostly we planned what might be fun to do on a longer trip to Zion, somewhere in the future. The girls seemed to enjoy sitting and looking around. It was an easy start to our long trip.

We drove to Cedar City, Utah that night and rested. There was some classic car club staying at our hotel the same night and Eden thought we should add classic cars to our slug bug game. Jon and I are are the only ones who actually “slug” each other, we mostly play for points, that we easily loose track of. Little did we know how many classic cars we would see on the trip.

On Saturday, July 10th, we headed to Monroe, Utah to attend a family reunion for my mother’s family. We got there a little late, and forgot to bring a side dish, but hey we were there. Monroe is where my mother’s parents lived when first married, so we drove around the town with my Uncle Bud as he told us about the different houses. One had been turned into a motel and was up for sale. (The owner had turned it into a bed and breakfast, just without the breakfast and for a lot more than what most would pay to stay in a small town like Monroe.) My cousin Harmony had started to talk with a care taker when she was taking some pictures of it, so we actually went on a tour of the house, which was greatly changed with the hotel renovations. We then visited the cemetery, which had some family buried in it, including the aunt my mother was named after. Eventually we said goodbye to what family was left and headed off into the sunset to Orem Utah, where we would stay that night.

Sunday, July 10th, we left bright and early, though not quite early enough. (I’m seeing a trend here, are you?) We decided to cram in a couple visits on our way to Wyoming, and so we visited Jon’s cousin DeEtte, and her family. They had called while we were out of town for Memorial Day, and Jon really wanted to see them. It was a very short visit, just an hour long, but it was so nice to see her and her family. The last time we saw them, we each had only one little girl. Now we have two and they have four! Sadly we only got a picture of the youngest, and it was because she was so dang cute with Nutella on her face from her delicious crepe.

We left DeEtte to go visit Rawlin and Shauntae in Logan, Utah. Sadly, Shauntae was sick, so we only saw Rawlin, but surprisingly, one of Jon’s cousins was there with his family visiting Rawlin when we showed up. Sean and his wife Shauna with 3 or 4 kids. (I don’t remember how many they have.) They left shortly after we got there and we visited for about an hour more. After our visit we hit the road yet again. This time our destination would be close to Jackson, Wyoming.

It was so exciting to be on the road visiting these new places and seeing our wonderful national parks. Seeing family along the way was just the beginning to our wonderful trip. The visits were far to short, so we discussed ways we might be able to see more of our extended family, since reunions no longer take place for Jonathan’s side of the family.

My heart ached to leave each love one after such a short visit so I hope to see them again soon.

To see the pictures that go with this blog post click on Family Vacation Pictures 2011- Part 1.

15 days, that’s how long our vacation was. The time flew and we did some amazing things, all of which I will blog about later, but I wanted to note 15 things I learned on our vacation to 4 national parks, with a national monument thrown in to mix it up.

1. I do not like “wild caves.” I knew I wouldn’t like squeezing into tight spaces, so I skipped the first one, but going into the dark abyss of the second cave was too much for me. I shed a few tears as I emerged to the surface alone, and my family continued on their journey into the unknown.

2. Wading through a stream in Montana, made from melting snowfall, is seriously cold and pebbles hurt your feet. Trying to make an eight year old go faster while crossing the fast current of a stream that leads to a lake just 20 feet away, makes your feet even colder.

3. Sleeping with the rain fly off so you can see the stars is fun.

4. Mosquitoes love people from the desert and little girl’s heads and faces.

5. Starting a fire is harder than you think.

6. Eight year olds are attracted to mud, or mud is attracted to eight year olds, not sure which.

7. Taking a hike and having it start to rain, then hail, is a great adventure for an eight year old. The girls especially liked getting hot chocolate afterwards.

8. Nearly six year olds love drawing pictures of lakes, and will say, “that’s so beautiful,” about nearly everything they see.

9. Husbands are great for setting up and taking down tents.

10. Eight year olds are great at fetching water.

11. Nearly six year olds are great at helping to rinse dishes.

12. If you give a little girl a camera, there will be at least one self portrait.

13. Oatmeal really is the easiest camping breakfast.

14. Ice cream cones are really expensive at national parks.

15. I am able to camp for 5 nights in a row and take only one shower and survive. It may not be pretty and a hat may be involved for most of the time.

This year Lilah turned eight. I’m still in denial about her being that old, I’m pretty sure she was just a toddler yesterday, but I guess the calendar doesn’t lie.

It was her turn for a low key party or gathering this year. We decided to do some swimming with her friend Britta, have a picnic lunch with some cake, then head home to get ready for the opening night of the play.

Sam’s neighbors are living away from their house, so they asked them if they would watch the pool for them and keep it full and in exchange, they could use it. (They still have a pool person coming by.) They said we could come over and swim, so we did! We also had the picnic lunch in Sam’s backyard. It was a fun a little gathering. Lilah chose bagels with strawberry cream cheese, watermelon, chips and lemonade, since everyone loves lemonade on a hot summer day.

I didn’t get many pictures of us at the pool, or of the day in general, so this is what I have.

A very long Eden on her daddy. (I’m also in denial about her getting so big.)

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Matilda, she was just coming back from stealing more grapes.

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Lilah was there, and she swam with noodles and stayed closed to the edge of the pool. (Sadly our swim teacher was doing lessons while the play was going, so we missed them this year.)

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Britta and Lilah like to stay close to one another.

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Like I said before, they stay close to one another.

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Cake! We sang to Lilah in the play house, because it was too windy in the yard.

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Due to time we came home to open presents.

We also too a quick trip to Pine Valley for Lilah’s birthday. I didn’t take any pictures though. Really, it was the only 24 hours we could get away, and Lilah said she wanted to enjoy the fresh air for her birthday, so we did.