Is It Naptime Yet

I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten more than my share of meals in the past week. With having both our families in town it means double the meals, and double for food, which means I eat a lot in one day, but this year we met for Thanksgiving on a different day for Jon’s family, so instead of one day where I eat an insane amount of food, we had two…so yeah, I don’t think I’ll be weighing myself on the Wii any time son.

It was kinda nice to be able to linger with both families this year. We were able to spend a lot of time with Jon’s family on Saturday. All the siblings were in town, and that hasn’t happened since Lilah was a tiny infant. Not all the nieces and nephews were gathered, but it was still nice to spend time with all the brothers and sisters. Sadly, Jon’s parents were sick and the missed the festivities.

I had all the siblings gather around for a picture.

(Conrad, Jonathan, Rawlin, Annie, Jason, Kumen. Then Dara and Elana are in front.)

It was at Annie’s house and Tommy and her fixed a wonderful meal, like always. I brought pies and rolls, and there was plenty of food. I told Annie I would bring 4-5 pies, and for some reason she was still amazed that I brought so many. Fortunately she could use the frozen pies she had bought for Doug’s family dinner the next week.

Of course there was lots of sitting and talking with some debating, but mostly we just enjoyed one another’s company. Jon’s niece Tasia was there with her family, which was so nice since she’s been stationed in Alaska and will be moving there before the end of the year. I can’t believe how his nieces and nephews have grown since we’ve been married. Many have gotten married and are now enjoying families of their own. There are still a lot who are not married yet, but it’s just so different from my family, where the oldest grandchild is only 10.

We celebrated with my family on Thanksgiving Day. I made several pies once more, something I haven’t been able to do since we always eat and then leave for Jon’s family dinner. I attempted to make a banana cream pie, but used cook and serve pudding. This wouldn’t have been a problem had I realized this before I added it to the dream whip. It did not turn out, but my cousin made a delicious peanut butter cream pie, so we still had a cream pie for the family.

My Aunt Robin and Uncle Mike came down this year for Thanksgiving and they brought two of their grandchildren. The girls had lots of fun playing with them, and I went over there again today, since we don’t see them often and Jon needed to get some studying done. Elana is 9 and Talon is 7, so the four of them actually got along really well.

Poor Carolyn was sick this year, and didn’t make it to the family dinner. We thought it was just an allergic reaction to some food with peanuts that she had accidentally eaten on Wednesday. We even had her over to our house on Wednesday evening, but with some of the other symptoms, it seems like she also has a cold or the flu. It wasn’t as much fun to not have her there with us.

I love this time of year and I am so excited for the holidays. I’m totally not prepared, but it’s been so much fun watching the girls enjoy this time of year and getting ready for Christmas. I could do without the long, long, looong wish lists, but it’s still fun. They love Christmas music, and singing songs. I even peeked in and found them making a manger scene where Eden was Mary and her stuffed animals were the animals peering into a basket with a baby doll in it. I don’t think they had turtles and lizards at the first Christmas, but it made for one cute moment.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

So Summer feels like it is finally over, hopefully. You never know with Las Vegas weather. We finally have some cooler weather, and we hope it stays that way. The rain clouds that at first just brought humidity finally cooled down this hot valley and hopefully it stays that way.

To end summer we went to Pine Valley with Sam, Britta, Matilda and Grandpa Gary over Labor Day weekend. Even though Jon had been gone the previous week and came home Friday night, he packed up Saturday morning and came along. He wasn’t sure he was going to go, but I think 3 more days of being alone was not appealing and he wanted to be with me and the girls, at least that’s the story I’m sticking to. Pine Valley was filled with 4 wheel rides, good food, talking, lots of time outdoors, and even some games. I hate to rub it in, but I played Yahtzee for the first time, and beat Sam both times. We then played a million games of Uno, and I’m pretty sure I would have won if we had been keeping score. 😉 It was beautiful weather and a fun time.

Just recently we went up to Utah for my cousin Amanda’s wedding reception, summer was technically over, though we came home to triple digits. The weather was perfect for her outdoor reception, but things were not going as planned. When do they ever for a wedding? Since we had time and were there, Jon and I helped decorate an arch that was over the cake. I’m pretty sure it pulled the whole scene together and was the cause for much celebration. I’m really happy for my cousin and it’s exciting to see her begin a new chapter in her life.

Since the reception was on a Friday night, we decided a trip to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake would be a perfect way to spend our Saturday, before coming home on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and the girls really enjoyed themselves. Eden’s favorite exhibit was the giraffes and the elephants. Lilah’s favorite part was the giraffe’s and the elephants, the gift shop, the monkeys, and the carousel, the train and the bird show. My favorite exhibit was the gorillas. They are so massive and it was just amazing to be separated from one with just a thick piece of glass.

We had Aunt Carolyn along on the trip, so she went shopping with me on Saturday night, and I found a nice black dress to wear for my choir class performances. Carolyn was kind enough to sit in the back seat and entertain the girls doing the night drive to Cedar City on Thursday. She entertained them at other times, but it was hard for them to entertain themselves when it was so dark in the car for our travels that night. We always love when Aunt Carolyn comes along on our trips.

We traveled more this summer than any previous one. I had a total of 8 trips while Lilah had 7 and Eden and Jon had 6. Usually we only have 2, maybe 3, trips, so this was one crazy summer for us. I really loved all the time we spent with family and friends, but I am so happy for summer to be over, and to enjoy the holidays.

So for the third year in a row we went camping with the Park family. I’m beginning to see a tradition take shape. We went and visited Andrea and her family in August for our yearly Ely trip. When we told them the date Andrea told us they were planning on camping that weekend and we were welcomed to join them, so we did! For this camping trip I finally got my wish for a tent that I could stand up in. I really didn’t like having to be hunch over to put pants on in our old tent, and since the girls needed their own sleeping bags and were too big to share one, we needed to get something bigger than the 4 man tent we have.

Jon put me in charge of buying the tent. I was tempted to get a huge ten man tent with two rooms that could fit at least 4 twin mattresses, but instead I bought a long six man tent, and I’m pretty confident we can fit 3 twin air mattresses in there, I’m just not sure Jon would have much room to sleep. 😉

We went camping just outside of Ely this time. It was mostly for the experience and the fun of camping out in the wilderness. We each made our own dinners but for dessert we tried cake in a mason jar, from Family Fun. Brien also brought some ice cream and it was delicious. I’m craving it as I type this, but that might also be because I’m hungry. They just used a boxed cake mix and cooked it for the recommended time. Since there was a meteor shower taking place we were able to watch the night sky and see a few arch across. It was beautiful. We actually traveled up to Lee Canyon the night before and saw some just outside of the Vegas lights with the girls.

It didn’t get too cold that night, and we woke up the next day and broke camp down before we went on a hike. We did the full 3 mile loop, but the Parks stopped a little early to go get some chores they needed to do done. Zarina was happy to be on the hike, but only if she was being carried. Our girls were happy to be on the hike as long as Jack, Andrea and Brien’s dog, was on the hike, so it was a little rough at times once the Parks left. Overall it was pretty fun and we enjoyed the cooler weather as we walked through the Juniper trees and along the trail.

After showering and getting cleaned up at the Park’s house we roasted hot dogs and then ate smores. They have a nice fire pit in their back yard, so it kept us warm as the night cooled. We then slept inside that night and went home Sunday morning.

I love our yearly trip to Ely to see Andrea, Brien and Zarina. I’m so grateful they open their home to us and allow us to invade for a short time each year. I’m so happy they live relatively close and that the girls get to see Zarina and be friends with their cousin. It’s funny because I hated that the only trips we took as a family was to visit family. I wanted to go to Disneyland or the Zoo, but I now understand why my parents made those trips. Hopefully we get to do both the family and “fun” trips with the girls and if we’re lucky we can have our family on our “fun” trips too, like we did earlier this year at Disneyland.

Thank you once again Parks, and we love you!

Lilah and I went to Sea World with the Girl Scouts. We decided to use her cookie money to pay for the trip and it would be the big event we got out of the cookie sales. When I signed us up I thought we’d be staying in a hotel for one night. It wasn’t until I went to the mandatory meeting that I realized we’d be camping out in Sea World, in their exhibits and I would not get to shower Saturday morning before I spent all day in the park with Lilah. When I told Lilah the plans she was rather excited to sleep in the exhibit, and we knew we’d be sleeping in the Wild Arctic Exhibit, the coldest one of all. I thought there was a wall of ice in it, but there was not, but they keep it a cool 50 degrees in there, which is very cold when you’re sleeping.

We rode on bus to San Diego on Saturday morning. I knew I would let Lilah make most of the decisions on the trip. This was my time with her, and I knew that I wanted her to have fun, and since I wasn’t having to referee two girls, I would just let her make most of the decisions, with some guidance since I didn’t want to be going to one end of the park and back again. Her first decision came in Barstow, where we stopped for lunch. She decided we should have In and Out for lunch, the busiest place there. There were several tour buses in the area and apparently lots of families making the stop to eat together. The line and food went rather quickly and Lilah got to enjoy her first In and Out hamburger. She loved it and I enjoyed letting her be in charge.

After lunch we continued onto Sea World and arrived early and waited to begin camp. The girls played games, and at times hung out on the bus. At 6pm the Sea World staff came out. They did a luggage check and we got ready to put our luggage into a shed till we needed it later that night. During this process Lilah noticed my luggage was making a noise, but I decided it was just the vibrations from the tanks behind us, since I couldn’t think of anything that would make noise in the suitcase. Once our luggage was safely locked up we entered the park.

We were split into smaller groups and given bright green t-shirts to wear. The shirts were to help the staff be able to keep an easier eye on us. We did a couple things, but they fed us right away. We then did different activities with the camp staff and visited different sites. It was kinda a whirl wind so I can’t remember all we did. I do remember after we visited the penguins the girls did a little relay race, where they dressed up with big penguin feet and wings and then had to walk and pass an egg to another girl. One girl was also dressed up as a polar bear as we learned about different things that help them survive. We saw the Shamu Rocks show that night, and my camera battery decided to die while we were watching it. It was an amazing show and I think Lilah really enjoyed it. At this point she was walking and hanging out without me so she did not sit with me during the show, but was with some of the other independent girls scouts her age. Sea World had a nice fireworks show shortly after the Shamu show, so we stayed in the stadium and watched from there. (The group we were in for the night was mostly all IGM’s and just one other troop and around Lilah’s age, which was nice. )

The final thing we did that night was feed the sting rays. That was so cool. The water is rather deep, so it was hard for Lilah to get her hand in there, especially since we had our jackets on under the bright green shirts they had given us and it was hard to roll up the sleeves. Lilah was too nervous to feed them her fish, so she gave it to me. I was also a little scared so I ended up dropping it in the water when one came up to get it. They said they just go over your hand and suck up the fish, but since I was not able to get my arm down all the way I was rather scared that I might get bitten. I worked up a little more courage and was able to feed one of the rays my fish. Lilah did work up the courage to pet the sting rays, and she really loved that. The sting rays were probably my favorite part of the trip.

We got settled into the Wild Arctic exhibit after the park had closed and as I opened my luggage I realized it was making a noise. My air mattress pump had gotten turned on and had been running for at least 5 hours. It was a little hot to the touch, and though it was on, it was not doing anything but making noise. I worried we’d have to sleep on the hard ground, but luckily one of the other leaders had an electric pump and let us borrow it to pump up our mattresses. Phew. I also felt really blessed that my pump had not caught fire, because the plastic had melted off of the batteries and they were really hot to the touch. That would have sucked had a trailer of girl scout stuff been caught on fire due to my negligence. (Hint: always take one battery out of your mattress pump when traveling.)

Lights out was round 11:30 pm and I slept very badly. It seemed like I was awake for most of the night due to someone snoring, or having to ignore my urge to go to the bathroom, or my face being really cold. It was not fun and the 6:15 am wake-up call came way too quickly. Lilah slept just fine, and was right by the manatee tank. She said she was awake during the wake up call, but she sure didn’t want to move or wake up when I tried to get her out of bed 5 minutes later. It was a very early morning for these two late sleepers.

We packed up, put our luggage on the buses and then headed to breakfast. I asked Lilah if she wanted to hang out with some of the other girls and their moms or if she wanted it to be just her and me for the day. She decided she just wanted it to be her and me for the day so after our final activity of feeding the flamingos we headed off to be by ourselves in the park.

We had about an hour before any of the rides started, so we hung out at different exhibits and planned what we wanted to do first. We did see one of the other girl scouts and her mom so we hung out with them for a time and I rode a water ride with the girls. The other mom hadn’t purchased a poncho yet, so I went on the ride with them three times, since there was no one else in line and they were having fun. We then went our separate ways but met up once more for the other water ride by accident once again.

Lilah and I rode most of the rides and saw three of the shows that day. I forgot the sunscreen in another bag so we got a little toasted. I now will spend whatever amount needed to buy sunscreen at amusement park to keep from getting sunburned and to protect my children’s skin.

Some highlights of the day where: Sitting in the splash zone during the Shamu Believe show and Lilah getting drenched because she decided she did not want to wear her poncho. Feeding some ducks and Lilah wishing Eden was there since she knew Eden would love feeding the ducks. Lilah pretty much thinking about Eden the whole day and saying how she would enjoy this or that. The third time on the rapids ride getting sprayed by bystanders, but not knowing at the time that’s what was happening until later where we noticed you could pay to spray people. Petting the stingrays during the day. I was petting one, and another one came on top of the one I was petting and tried to slurp a nonexistent fish from my hand. I squealed and Lilah laughed at me while the other bystanders thought I was crazy. Eating a cream cheese stuffed pretzel and cotton candy for lunch while we watched the Sea Lion show. Getting along with Lilah the whole day.

We loaded onto the bus at 6 pm and left a little later. We stopped in Barstow for a meal break at 9 pm and got back into Vegas around midnight. Jon and Eden had to get out of bed to come get us at the girl scout office. Luckily we don’t live that far.

It was lots of fun, and Lilah now thinks Eden and Daddy should go to Sea World together. I really can’t wait to go back and maybe in two years when Eden is old enough, we can do it again.

The third weekend in July I took off with some friends to go to Pine Valley. It would be four women and one baby. It was the original three from last year, Sam, Julie, and me, then my friend Anna came along with us three crazy Mormon moms. It’s funny because Sam and Anna are two of my closest friends yet they’ve never met over the 5 years I’ve known both of them. (I’ve known Anna for 9 years and she is the only person I’m not related to that has known me longer than Jon has and keeps in regular touch with me.) I kinda felt like it was the in-laws meeting the boyfriend, you know two people you love and you want to get along with one another, but not sure if they will, though neither were my parents or boyfriend. It turns out Sam and Anna probably have more in common than I do with either of them and both said they loved meeting the other! Phew, what a burden lifted. I was so worried they’d both be extremely jealous of the relationship I have with the other one and hate each other and see only the negative, because they are so much alike. Really, they are, it’s kinda funny, I’ve just never seen it for some reason.

Between the four women and a baby, two women were pregnant. Anna is due on September 1st, and Julie sometime next year. Matilda, Sam’s 18 month old, was the baby, though she is really a toddler. We left Friday afternoon in Sam’s brand spanking new, but used, Camry.

As we traveled up to Pine Valley we made a dinner stop in St George. After driving around for a short while we decided upon Marv’s Diner. It was delicious and I highly recommend the shakes. Just know that a small is really big since the piled it up almost as high as the cup itself. After Marv’s we piled back in the car to head to Smith’s. We needed chocolate for the smores then chips and lime for the guacamole. I had forgotten these key ingredients for my part of the dinner and snack providing.

After we left Marv’s Sam thought the car was driving a little funny. Right as we were turning into our parking spot at Smith’s the battery light went on and the power steering went out. Now we were four women, and a baby, trapped at Smith’s, in St. George, 2 hours away from home!

I called AAA to come look at the car for battery service, but it seemed like it would take over an hour by their estimate and we weren’t sure if they would send someone who would be able to tow the car if needed, so Sam also called her road side assistance with her insurance. I was just about to call to cancel the AAA guy, but then I got the call they were there. It turned out to be one tow guy for the two call ins, which I was so grateful for. We decided to have the car towed under my name to where we would stay, in case Sam needed one more tow to a mechanic.

So here were are four women, and a baby, trapped at Smith’s, in St. George, 2 hours away from home, but fortunately it was one block away from a home Sam’s in-laws have in St. George, the Grandma’s house that Gary now owns. So three women, and a baby, had only a block to walk, while Sam rode in the tow truck with the driver. It was so wonderful that I had been slightly ill prepared, otherwise we may have been farther from the house.

We did not have the keys to the house, but Gary has a tenant in a small guest house out back. We were able to get into the house and share our story of woe. Four women, and a baby, trapped in a hot house with only a swamp cooler, in St. George, 45 minutes away from the cool Pine Valley, with a car that had something wrong with it. The renter just happened to have a son who was a mechanic and the son looked at the car for us that night. The problem was easily found, a nearly broken and badly shredded belt to something in the car. (I’m not sure if I ever found out what the belt did.) Sam was very sad that her car, which she bought two weeks prior and supposedly had a 21 point inspection, had been so unreliable for us.

We made the most of it and stayed up late and talked and ate. We decided Anna should be called Annapedia, three out of the four women like all natural deodorant, two of which make their own, and Julie can hold a conversation in he sleep. It was decided the next day that Anna and Sam love me and my Laceyisms, or how I often misquote phrases or metaphors. (It’s not trick of all trades, but jack of all trades.) Someone has to love me for who I am and not make fun of me all the time.

After saying up far too late, I think we called it at night at 2 am, we woke up at 8 am and for some 7 am, but that person had a child with her who didn’t know that it was not nice to wake her mom up after only 5 hours sleep. We ate breakfast and headed to the farmers market down the street. The mechanic didn’t fix our car till later that afternoon, so we stayed close to home in our ventures. The farmers market was wonderful and I think we all bought something. They also had some interesting shops in the shopping square and we looked around as we tried to get out of the heat. It was over 100 degrees and humid. St. George is not cooler than Vegas, contrary to what some might think. We ate lunch at the house and enjoyed a wonderful movie, talked and then went out once the car was fixed.

Our first stop was the Deseret Industries in St. George, where again, no one left empty handed. Then we windowed shopped at Urban something, a more hip and modern thrift shop basically. It was really cool and reminded me how uninspired I am when it comes to decorating my house, and how cheap I am when it comes to decorating my house.

We ran more errands then Anna and I made dinner and later we left to return to the one degree hotter than St. George, Las Vegas.

It was a fun weekend, despite all the craziness of the car and not very cool house. Sam and I felt bad for the two pregnant ladies and how they both had to be even hotter than us.

I can’t wait till next years Mom’s getaway, and hopefully we make it to Pine Valley, but if not, I hope the Lord watches over us again.

So I’m now, and have been for over a week, a mom to two school aged children. I think it’s nuts that all my children are now old enough to attend school. Strange.

For Eden’s birthday we went swimming at the Zurflueh’s. This year Lilah had her turn for the big party, so it was Eden’s turn for a small, immediate, as in only our family, family party. Eden did want her Auntie Carolyn there though, and since she wanted to go swimming and we’d be using her boss’ pool, it only seemed natural to have the family party with Carolyn.

The Zurflueh’s were in town this year, so we were pleasantly surprised with a decorated back yard when we got there Saturday. Jenny and her daughter Irelynn had taken it upon themselves to make the birthday party very special for Eden and bought Happy Birthday signs, and princess Pez dispensers. It was so sweet, and I almost felt bad that it wasn’t my whole family coming, and just our little group of 5. Irelynn made a special chocolate sheet cake for Eden. It was her grandmother’s recipe and the cake is only made on birthdays. Irelynn was so excited to do this, so I left the flower cake I had made for Eden inside to be used on Eden’s real birthday with our family at Family Home Evening, since it just happened to fall on the same day this year.

The girls went swimming with Carolyn, Jon, and Kai while I waited for the pizza to show up. Kai is the Zerflueh’s youngest and he’s 8 years old. He was rough housing a lot with Carolyn, and then me once I was in the pool. It was fun playing rough with a boy, we were keeping him out of the spa and playing around, but I sure am happy to be the parent to two calm girls, calm for the most part anyways.
We enjoyed pizza for lunch and some fruit and then lots of swimming. The girls had just finished two weeks of swimming lessons the day before, so they were all over that pool. Lilah is pretty confident and can be on her own, with just a watchful eye to make sure all is well. Eden can swim rather far and was even trying to take breaths and looked under water without goggles. It was wonderful to see how much they learned in two weeks.

Our family gathering for Family Home Evening was on Eden’s real birthday so I brought cake and cupcakes for the family to enjoy. We made a small special flower shaped cake out of a baking kit we won at the family reunion. We all sang Happy Birthday to her that evening after the lesson.

It’s really funny that Eden is now five. I see her getting older and behaving a little more like Lilah, and not such a little, little girl. Lilah and I have the rule, you spank me I spank you, and now Eden uses that rule too. Not only for spanking, but for tickling too. Lets just say I love being the tickler and not the ticklee. She too is testing her independence!

Eden’s learned so much in this last year and is really changing. One thing is reading. Eden began learning to read in September last year and now is an excellent reader. She constantly surprises me with how much she knows, because she doesn’t like to read to me, though she’s getting better about it. Eden is very giving and if you asked her to share, she will often say yes. She loves to cuddle and even though she hasn’t been taking naps for a while, will still come and cuddle with me at times throughout the day. She won’t in the morning though, because she knows I’m just trying to get her to go to sleep longer so I can sleep more too. You can tell if Eden needs cuddles because she stands next to you playing with her hair and tickling you with it. Eden’s very imaginative. She can play with almost anything. Today she started playing with the spoons as she was putting the dishes away.

I’m very happy to be Eden’s mom and love having her as my daughter. I really would like her to stay little. (Really, I’d like both girls to stay little.) So if anyone finds a way to make that happen, please let me know. 😉

This year the girls and I went to a family reunion for my mother’s side all by ourselves. I planned on going, then I planned on not going, then decided in the end to go. Jon was unable to get time off of work, which was one reason I did not want to go, I get sleepy on long trips and did not want to make it alone.

The first day, Thursday, we were driving about 6 hours to Lehi. My parents were staying there and visiting with my Aunt and Uncle, so the drive wasn’t too bad. I did have to stop after driving the gorge and then once more in Ceder City to take some short naps. I think the caffeine in the excedrine kicked in after that and I made it just fine the rest of the way to my Aunt’s house and then to the hotel later that night.

On Friday we headed up to Brigham Cit,y Utah, where the reunion would be taking place. Before we went too far North we stopped in Salt Lake and visited Temple Square and the Conference Center. It was a humid day, so it was a little uncomfortable, but not unbearable. We had fun walking around and the girls loved the fountains. We took the tour for the Conference Center so we could see the roof. Lilah saw people on the roof and had to go up there. They both really enjoyed themselves.

After the Conference Center tour we got back on the road and drove through some of the houses and past the capitol building in Salt Lake. This was really because I wasn’t sure how to get back to I-15. We eventually found the interstate, and got on the road to Brigham City, with a short stop north in Logan to visit Jon’s niece Shauntae and her family. We got there much later than anticipated, since my stop in Salt Lake was spontaneous. Shauntae let me take a short nap while she took something to her husband at work, then later we went to a little Zoo/ animal sanctuary with just her and my girls. The girls had lots of fun and we loved talking and spending time together. We then ate at IHOP, shopped at Down East Basics and lastly visited Utah State University, where she is currently attending, to see a part of the campus. It was lots of fun and the girls and I got back to the hotel a little late, but well worth it.

Friday was the day of the family reunion. I saw some cousins I hadn’t seen in 12 or so years, and spent time chatting with different family members. The girls painted bird houses and I let Lilah be in charge of taking pictures. We had a family raffle where some family members donated items to be raffled off. Then you had to buy tickets to win items. My cousin Ruth, who was in charge this year, and is just a few years younger than my mom, brought a few odd items for the raffle. She had looked in her food storage and decided to bring men’s deodorant. Some she put in bags with a couple candy bars and others were just on the table to be taken later. It was rather silly. My Uncle Bill and my dad both won a lot, but they also bought a lot of tickets. The girls each got some tickets from my dad and won and choose some bags with toys and candy.

After the reunion I took the girls back to the hotel to swim in the pool. They had been dying to go swimming in one of the hotel pools, so we spent some time there. It was only 3 feet deep in the shallow end, so they both were able to walk around and enjoy themselves. We then headed over to my cousin Ruth’s house to join my parents and them for dinner. My cousin Sherrilyn was there with her daughter Emerylyn, who is 20 months, so the girls had fun playing with her. When Sherrilyn later left to visit her in-laws the girls had fun playing upstairs while I hung out with other cousins.

Sunday we brought Sherrilyn and Emerylyn home with us. They had gone up as a family before the Fourth of July, but Chad had to come home early for class, since I had space without Jon, I volunteered to take Sherrilyn and Emery home. I also thought it would be nice to have someone to drive with for the 8 hours it would take to get home. I see them each month at FHE,but it was nice to chat more my Sherrilyn and let the girls play with Emery.

We got home by 6 pm on Sunday, and it was so nice to be back in Vegas, especially since the girls had swimming lessons on Monday, something that is wonderful in this hot Las Vegas heat.

Disclaimer: Due to several things I don’t have any pictures in this post. I hope to remedy that once I remedy the situations around not being able to use my computer. Life.

Earlier this month we celebrated Lilah’s SEVENTH birthday. That’s SEVENTH in case you missed that. I really can’t believe how fast they grow.

This year was Lilah’s turn for a big party, but with the play going on, finding a weekend to give a big party was a problem, so we talked and discussed and decided a real party at Chuck E’ Cheese is what we would do this year. Real as in we pay for the special treatment and have an official party there, rather then just going there on her birthday and playing games. With the real party, Chuck E’ Cheese came out and made a visit. Lilah was sung to and danced with Chuck E’. She also got to go in the ticket blaster and won 760 tickets! (Really we both went into the ticket blaster, she thought it would be really loud inside and was nervous. She was literally shaking before it was turned on, then it wasn’t that loud and she was fine. ) We invited some family and friends and I think she had lots of fun with the attention being on her. Then the cast of kids for Cinderella sang to her before our opening night performance. It was a little low key, but we still tried to make it special for her and help enjoy her day.

Lilah is growing so much and definitely showing her independence. I’m amazed at how giving and kind Lilah can be and I know she loves her family. Sunday afternoon I was cuddling and playing with the girls in my bed and Eden asked me to tell a story. I told a very short one and then asked Eden to tell one, but she was saying she couldn’t think of anything. I then suggested we get something for her to tell a story with, since she takes nearly anything and will start thinking and making a story up with that object. Lilah really liked this idea, even as Eden seemed skeptical, so Lilah brought Eden our bin of small toys of fish and bugs so Eden could tell a story. Eden told a couple and then Lilah took a turn telling a story with the different toys. I loved being a part of this genuine and kind moment between the girls. Sometimes it’s easy to remember all the arguments and disagreements the girls have, but really Lilah is a wonderful big sister. Throughout the whole play Eden stayed by Lilah’s side while I was performing and practicing for the play. Lilah helped Eden with very little complaint and the togetherness they shared was priceless.

As Lilah grows she tests her growing independence and it can be difficult, but I try to remind myself that she’s getting older and is trying to figure who she is and I’m just here to guide her, not control her. It’s interesting to see Lilah grow and rewarding to watch and be a part of it.

She was my first baby and who made me a mother. I wish I could pause time and have more time with her in these precious years.

I love you Lilah and I am so happy to be your mother.

Not much.

Really? You haven’t been extremely busy and not at your house a lot.

Well, I have been busy but it just seems like a blur. Like we’re living life, but I haven’t got the foggiest clue what we’ve done.

I think Jon’s car was in the shop last week. Yes, yes it was, and luckily it only cost around $250 and not the annual $900 or more. We took it in Monday and got it back Tuesday afternoon. Since life was so crazy we went to China-A-Go-Go Monday night, to celebrate the new position, and to have dinner and left overs for other nights of the week. It worked out that we ate them Tuesday after Eden’s dance class. She doesn’t want to do this last session for some reason, and having me go watch her is what she now wants. Wow, how her attitude has changed. She likes class, for the most part, and she wants me to go watch her.

Wednesday is a total blur. I’m pretty sure I went to Trader Joe’s sometime last week, but I’m not sure and it would have been Wednesday if any day.

Thursday was Earth Day so we went to UNLV for some events, but it got rained out. We then went to the Barrick Museum for some Bring Your Child to Work Day activities, but all the elementary kids were there since the rain was to heavy to be outside for the Earth Day activities. It was pretty crazy, but eventually the girls got to paint a picture and have some fun. Then more errands and back home.

Friday we went to the park with the homeschooling co-op. We’d been doing things all week, but the girls hadn’t really gotten to be outside and see any friends. I think I also thought it would be nice to go hang out with some of the other moms. We had a wonderful afternoon at the park and my sister Carolyn stopped by since it was so close to her work.

Saturday was rehearsal. I actually took Eden with me so Jon could go on his date with Lilah. She wanted to go to the Springs Preserve, and the earlier the better since it’s getting warm, for the most part. Eden was so well behaved and just sat quietly and watched us dance, or did her own thing. I completely forgot about her at times and everyone was so impressed with her.

Sunday was church and Family Home Evening with my family.
Monday we saw Oceans with the co-op and fed the homeless with Carolyn and her work.

Now I’m going to be neglecting the girls so I can start sewing for the play.

So I guess we are pretty busy in the Blake house. I hope to remember to do fun things with the girls so they don’t go completely stir crazy.

So what have you been up to?

Like past years the girls and I had many different Easter activities. We dyed eggs with their cousins on the Wednesday night before Easter and enjoyed pizza at my moms house. I forgot my camera, so those memories will have to be in my head.

April 1 we attended Carolyn’s work Easter party. The girls dyed eggs, decorated cupcakes, colored bunny ears and hunted for eggs. We then had to check the plastic eggs for ants since Lilah remembered having ants coming out of her eggs from the previous year. This year we only found three ants. I forgot my camera once more, but borrowed Carolyn’s work camera, so I’ll get those pictures when she has time.

We then had an Easter Egg hunt on Friday with our unschooling group. The girls had lots of fun finding eggs and playing with their friends. I loved sitting and talking with the other moms, and once more forgot my camera.

This year Jon and I thought it would be fun to dye some eggs using natural dye. We treated it kinda like a science experiment and had the girls write down what colors they thought the spinach, carrots, pomegranate and blueberries would dye the eggs. They guessed the standard green, orange, red, and blue. We had done a little research, but not enough, so they turned interesting colors, but not at all what we expected. Since I found a blog that describes exactly what they did, we’ll now be prepared to use natural egg dye more successfully next year. (The spinach was basically the color I thought it would be, the carrots we used were baby, so they didn’t have their peel and did not work at all, then we should have cooked the blueberries, and pomegranates were just something we had on hand.)

The Easter Bunny brought the girls some fun stuff: movies, little notepads, and most importantly candy. I got the crazy idea to make the girls some skirts for Easter. I figured out my own pattern, basically 6 rectangles sewn together, and made them each their own tiered skirt. Since I was unable to work on them during the week as much as I would have liked, I stayed up till 3 am finishing them Easter morning. Lilah’s Easter dress didn’t fit, which I suspected would happen and why I decided to make the skirts. Lilah wore her skirt Easter Sunday and Eden wore her Easter dress. After staying up till 3 am sewing I decided my house was a mess so I tidied up a little and went to bed at 3:30 am. Luckily it was General Conference Weekend, so I only had to be up and not up and dressed for church.

The Easter Bunny hid some eggs inside the house so the girls found those and then went outside. This year we let the girls eat as much candy as they wanted on Easter Sunday, then they got to keep 7 pieces to eat later and we tossed the rest. Eden ate all her candy, but Lilah was very distracted with other things and ate very little of her candy, so I gave her till Monday night to eat all she wanted.

Sunday we had dinner at my parents house and another egg hunt with the Kemple cousins.

Lilah has declared Easter her favorite holiday and really enjoyed it all. I loved Easter but did not like all the hard boiled eggs we had since we dyed eggs three times.

I loved hiding the eggs and making it a little more difficult and I loved watching the girls grow. How they change so much in just a short year.