A Pinch of This and a Dash of That

Here are a few things that have been goin' on around here.....

1. Lexi's pinkie toenails are weird. Alway have been. They sort of peak in the middle where it should be flat. And then they break off easily. The whole thing has fallen off numerous times. So anyway, Lexi was asking me why her toenail was so screwy and I told her, "That's just the way you were made." She looked at me with a resigned face and said, "Wow. Heavenly Father really messed that one up." Hmmm.

2. Kendri has started to quote movies and usually she has no idea what those quotes mean. Yesterday I heard her say, "Lexi, you should be more 'a-lexible'." This is from The Incredibles. It should be "flexible".

3. I love Kyson's hugs. When I put him to bed he clings to me just like a little monkey. I love being his whole world. (I'm sure his daddy and sisters are in there somewhere too! Wink, wink)

4. The night before Kendri turned 4, I tucked her in bed and said, "Goodnight my little Kendri. This is the last night I'll have a 3 year old in my house. Tomorrow there'll only be a 4 year old!"
She very wisely replied, "Don't be sad mommy. We all have to grow up. We just can't stop it."

5. I made pavlova the other day and ate it all by myself. So I made it again the very next day. For everyone to enjoy.
(For those you who aren't into Australian desserts you are missing out! Light and sugary topped with strawberries and whipped cream....YUM!)

6. Lexi came home from school looking for some pavlova. There wasn't any left. Again. This was the conversation.
Lexi: "Mommy where's the pavlova?"

Me: "It's all gone, sweetie."

Lexi (in an accusing voice): "Who ate it all?"

Me (thinking fast): "Wellll....when we all have a little there's just not much left."

Lexi: "But I only had it one time. And so did Kendri."

Me: I had nothing to say to that. Didn't even try. Busted.

Lexi: "I know who ate it. YOU. You always sneak it at night when we're in bed!"

Me (guilty as charged, obviously): "You're right. I can't help it. It's just so good."

Lexi (starting to laugh now because she caught me red-handed) "Next time I get some more."

Me: "Okay." (But I crossed my fingers. He, he, he! JK. I am trying to cut back. An addiction I tell ya!)

School Lock-down

We've had a very 'interesting" day. Definitely not your run of the mill sort of day.

I got a phone call at 10:00 this morning from a friend asking me if I had sent Lexi to school today. Of course, I had. She then proceeded to tell me that there was a "suspicious package" that was found near the school office. Huh? Then she said they were on school lock-down until further notice from the bomb-squad. Bomb squad? Come again? My thoughts started a little fuzzy but then I realized she was forewarning me of my child's potential danger. I wasn't quite sure what to think since I hadn't heard anything from the school. (Never did, either. I guess this is their method of preventing panic.) I decided not to worry too much. After all, people usually err on the side of caution when it comes to schools. Surely, I thought, this will turn out to be the misplaced lunch of one of the kids.

Well, I was wrong.

It was indeed an explosive device. Hello? Did I miss something here? Since when did planting explosives in an elementary school become cool? Anyway, I'm not sure how destructive the explosive would have been but it certainly doesn't excuse anything. So after the initial surprise/shock Ryan talked to our friend who had been working in the classroom for the morning. Apparently this is the THIRD explosive found in Valley Springs this year. What in the world? Thankfully, none of them have been detonated. Oh yeah, and then there's the drive-by shootings that were happening in January. I'm beginning to wonder about my "safe" little foothill town. At any rate I suppose I'll keep my doors locked. Who knows who would wander through the front door? Probably the devil himself....

The Bats

Lexi's T-ball season started yesterday.......Ryan is is hog-heaven. We signed her up late so she hasn't even been to a practice. It was all new at game-time! We did go over the basics in the backyard the day before so she at least knew how to hit the ball and run to 1st base. Luckily, her team is not what I would call an "All Star" team so she is not too far behind. Ryan helped coach so here he is with Lexi in the outfield. Kyson couldn't bear to part with his daddy so he's helping too!

There was a parade before the big game. Lexi's team name is the "Bats" so all the kids rode on the float with bat wings. Kendri is not on the team but we know the coach so her and her little friend Logan rode with their older siblings. (Evan, Lexi, Logan, and Kendri)

The front of the float.

My little bat.

Now let's get down to business.....here's Lexi hitting a homerun. Okay. So maybe it was just a base hit but still. Whoohooo! Actually, she only got on base once. The other two times she hit the ball to the pitcher and since the other team could actually catch a ball the first basemen got her out. She was not very happy about that. Oh well.

She did have a very good play at shortstop. The ball came pretty hard (I mean, for T-ball that is). Anyway she got her glove down and missed it and I was sure that was the end of it but she actually closed her legs and managed to stop it. Then she threw it to 1st base. She didn't get the runner out but she was thrilled to have gotten the ball! Who am I kidding? I was thrilled for her! However, she was complaining today that the top of her foot was hurting. I'm pretty sure it's from the baseball hitting her foot. I'm hoping she likes the sport because we have T-ball 3 times a week for the next two months! We'll see how it goes.....

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter up in Angels Camp last week......here are a few pictures of all the happenings! We spent the night on Saturday so we could wake up with all the cousins on Easter morning. Kyson, Lexi and Kendri found their baskets hiding in different places......Kyson really wasn't sure what was going on. But he did discover rather quickly that if he could get the plastic eggs open there would be something yummy inside!

A child after my own heart.....(sigh).......and no, I didn't let him eat all 4 peeps right then and there! In fact, I may have eaten 3 of them but I simply can't remember......

Hunting for eggs.

Grandma Reese helping Kendri decorate Easter cookies. Gammi (Ryan's mom) had all sorts of cute and crafty goodies ready for the kids on Easter morning. This was just one of the projects.

Gammi helping Lexi and Anna with their masterpieces. Carson seems to be enjoying himself too! (I'm guessing there's frosting on that spoon.)

I tried to get a decent family picture since I went to the trouble of actually color-coordinating everyone..... but I had to be satisfied with these two. And you are probably wondering where the picture of the whole family is? Or maybe you want to see the picture of Kyson's cheeks bulging with mandarin slices? Or of Kendri smiling at the ground? Or Lexi getting up and running into the house with tears coursing down her cheeks? Or the picture of Kyson looking wonderingly at the fistful of hair in his hand? Do you get the picture? Kyson was a wreck and would not cooperate. I can't say I blamed him, though, since it was past his naptime and lunchtime. Poor kid was living off jelly beans and peeps all morning! So I started to bribe him with little slices of mandarin during our family picture. It worked for two snapshots and then he yanked the aforementioned (is that even a word???) handful of hair which started a whole new meltdown. Needless to say, the family pictures did not turn out as well as I had hoped! Oh, well.

And here is proof that Kyson loves jellybeans. (As if we needed proof!) Notice his Easter basket is empty? He found one egg midway through the hunt and then spent the rest of the time trying to open it. Once he got it open he pretty much stayed in one spot and shoved jellybeans in his mouth. I was just glad there weren't any more eggs lying around after he finished off his first one! Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend! Lexi's Easter picture

Kendri's Easter Egg Picture

NewportTrip

Ryan and I just got back from a trip to Newport Beach......I know, I'd hate me too. We went to my friend Amanda's wedding. Amanda was one of my roommates at BYU. So anyway, here's a picture of Amanda and Luke in front of the Newport Temple.Lots of old friends showed up for the big event. Here we all are (Meghan, me, Jamie, Amanda, Britney, Lisa, Amber, and Jayna) Great to see all you, gals!

Amanda designed her dress, by the way, and I must say it was fabulous!

So are you wondering where the kids are?? Well, Ryan and I decided to make it a quick get-a-way for us.

Translation: We left the kids with Aunt Jenni! Thanks again!

See? There we are on the beach. Without kids. Such a novelty. (And if you look close, you can see my arms in Ryan's sunglasses. That's cool too. :)

Here we are at the reception. Ryan missed his babies. Can you tell? This little sweetheart named Avery belonged to Britney, another roomate from college. She loved my necklace so I loaned it to Ryan :) I believe we termed it "Nanny on a Necklace." Seriously. She L-O-V-E-D it.

So, Ryan and I used priceline to get our hotel accomodations. And what accomodations they were! I said I wanted a 3 star room for fifty bucks a night and they gave me a 4-star hotel. We stayed at the Regency Hyatt. Whoo hooo! So here's what the conversation was like between me and Ryan when we arrived. Keep in mind we had just spent the last 7 hours in the car. And two of those hours were getting through LA. Blah.

Me: Oh wow. We got a nice place. Way to go Priceline!

Ryan: This is NOT our hotel.

Me: (Looking at the directions. Seeing the address.) Yes, it is. There are not two Hyatt's next door to each other.

Ryan: We did not get this for fifty bucks. (He drives past the front doors of the hotel. For the second time.)

Me: (Trying to stay patient. It is the "second honeymoon" after all.) Well, this is where our directions took us. (Duh.)

Ryan: There are Bentley's parked here. (So what?) Look, now there's Beyonce getting out of her car! (It wasn't.)

Me: Ryan. This is the address they gave me. Stop the car.

Finally he rolled down the window and verified the address with the valet. As if we needed to. So we finally got checked in. Anyway, we went and ate dinner then did a little shopping at the Spectrum which is a huge outdoor mall. I met up with Amanda and the rest of my friends/roomates for a little get together before the wedding. We had a blast!
Just wish it could've lasted longer!

A Good Woman

We just got back from Stake Conference. We had a very special conference due to a very special guest. Guess who came and spoke??? Elder Holland of the 12 apostles! Pretty cool, huh?

Ryan and I were able to go to the adult session last night (Saturday). We got a baby sitter and went down to Lodi to participate. What a great night! There were several speakers but my two favorite were the first and the last. The first speaker was from our ward and a personal friend who spoke about his conversion to the gospel. He's only been a member of our church for 6 months and he has asked to speak in Stake Conference with Elder Holland present. Yikes! Talk about pressure. And he's also shy. Guess he got over that fast! But he did a great job and it was really neat to hear his detailed road to conversion.

And obviously the last speaker was Elder Holland. He told us he had a whole talk prepared but was changing it all right then and there. And then he went on to talk about hard times. It seems especially useful and appropriate for us here in California! Here are some of my favorite thoughts from his talk.

1. The Lord loves broken things. For instance, fruit must be broken to get the seed. The seed must break open to grow. The ground must be broken for the seed to reach the sun. Application : When we have hardships and believe we are breaking we are really only growing. Believe in Christ. It's okay if our hearts break a little.

2. Don't plan on being a disciple of Christ unless you are willing to walk in his shoes. Walk how he walked, talk how he talked. The road to salvation leads through Gethesemane. Application: In order to be a true disciple of Christ, expect to have hardships. After all why, would the Savior be asked to suffer if we aren't?

3. When difficult times arise, ENDURE AND SAVE YOURSELF FOR DAYS OF HAPPINESS TO COME. Don't turn it into a pity party. We have had more good times than bad. (Elder Holland said he was just in Africa 2 week ago and obviously there is no comparing the circumstances)Count your blessings and show some strength. Because the road you say you can't walk you end up walking.

4. The sun (Son) is the morning star. And the sun will come up. Have faith. The Lord can fix broken things.

And last but definitely not least...

5. He looked right in my eyes and cupped my cheek and said, "You are a good woman." Quoted directly from the apostles lips as I shook his hand.

And I ask you, What more could I want from a Stake Conference?