Where to begin?

 I probably could make at least 17 posts out of these pictures. Instead of one very large post I need to periodically make smaller ones but I am limited on time and, due to my wonderful immune system, energy.

Today we decided to go strawberry picking. Out of boredom my kids use their imaginations and have played with the strawberries non-stop. We made strawberry people...the first guy is an old man with a cane....

These are just guys. One of them a scary one with one eye. 

 They bobbed for strawberries......

 All while I relaxed and read my book.

Another post I could have had is one titled "Girls Day Camp"

Abby and Jeff headed up to girls camp last week. They had a grand time. Jeff was only going to be up for two days, leaving on the second night. Abby stuck to his leg like a sticker burr and begged me to let her come home. She wanted to sleep in her own bed. Who can blame her, right? Jeff being the good dad that he is drove her back up in the morning.

Post #3 could be titled "Soccer Camp with the Brits"

Gil had a week of soccer camp hosted by players from the UK. He loved every second of it and came home saying words like rubbish and water closet. Our coach sounded just like Airy Potta. It was interesting to hear how they thought he played Football. In spite of being the smallest player there he got the Player of the Day award and learned some nifty footwork.

The day Abby left for camp I took the kids to get fingerprinted. Their background search came back with a few felonies. 

We rescued some more birds (surprise!)

And the greatest part of the last week was JEFF TURNED 40!

He prefers Birthday pie instead of cake.
(your welcome Tuda)

I contacted some of his friends from childhood and had them all come over for a surprise.

 Jeff's sisters made this fabulous book for him spanning from childhood to now. What a treasure that was! The look on his face (above picture) is from opening it up and seeing all the great memories of his life. You know how when your 90 and in the rest home and you sit and look at things from your life? This book will be handy at that time because I can show him who I am and remind him that he really does have three kids.

from left to right: Jamison, Jeff, Clay, Darin, Rick

This is the first time everyone had been together for a few decades.

Thanks to everyone who showed up and helped celebrate!

Gils room

Even though this room has been done for at least a month I keep forgetting to post the finished product. I think he did pretty good on picking out his teams.

This and That

Dip and Dot on a bird expedition.

I don't really know whats going on with Garretts facial expression.

 My 4lb premature baby is graduating from elementary. This is her showing off some of her Swiss food at the food fair.

Everywhere we go the Bird girl spots birds and identifies the species and gender. We found a Killdeer near the church parking lot and she knew that they don't stray far from their nests. With a little looking we spotted the eggs. Did I mention that she is writing a book? Its called Birds of Layton. I am the photographer. 

This house finch fell asleep on the bird feeder. 

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Now I will have a seventh grader, fifth grader, and a second grader. Please reassure me that I'm not as old as I feel/look. I assure you that I will feel/look 5 years older by the next end of August.

My kids are trying to kill me

Today was the first day I went to a permanent job after 7.6 years of being a full time mom. That is the first line of a story about how my kids are trying to kill me.

The school year is coming to an end and that means homework is pretty much over. If you ask my kids, that is what they will tell you until 9pm on the last day of a long weekend. Two of them gave me a long list of things that needed done before 8:30am. One of which was to prepare an authentic Swiss meal. At 9pm. The other needed a white shirt to tie dye. Let me tell you right here that I had been to Wal-mart Friday, Saturday, and Monday without a mention of either of these projects.

This morning as I'm boiling spaetzel and cutting Emmentaler and Gruyere (I repeatedly asked Jeff to cut the cheese and he kept trying to fart not realizing that I meant literally) I walked into the bathroom where Garrett Beiber was cutting his hair with my sewing scissors. He is trying to grow it out but there is always a random lock of hair that is out of place and his solution is to just cut it. You know what? I didn't even care. I simply pointed out that he was parting it on the wrong side and quickly hid the scissors.

Then after I have cooked up a 7 course Swiss meal (that cost me more than a Dr. appointment to stop the nervous tick I now have) I went to my new job.

I miss working.

But in all honesty, that last line is a big fat lie.

My week

This week has been a busy one. School is almost out and summer is trying to begin. With that I only have a few activities with my Special Needs program. After Camp we will say goodbye for the summer. We had our closing social last night.

In any picture with Jeff I can't get his eyes open. He is a legend at our house. My kids beg to come with me so they can spend some time with him. This is going to be a long summer.

I stopped by the school today to see Em in a play. When I walked by the lunch room I saw this:

 As soon as he saw me he started calling out to me. Not "Mom!", but by my full name. As soon as I pulled out the camera he started goofing off in front of the girls. Trying to get a laugh. I only see Jeff when he's like this. Surrounded by women making them laugh.

 And the headdress made a reappearance today. It still frightens me.

And this girl is almost a Jr. Higher.

Hopefully I'll survive this next transition. At least she isn't into Magpie hats. 

Emily Claire Jones

This post is dedicated to Em. I have delayed posting it because I am the grand procrastinator. So Em turned double digits at the first of May. Upon waking up her first words were, "I hope the second decade is easier than the first!". We laughed because she doesn't have a clue.

These first two pictures are of us celebrating at Famous Daves.

Her cake. If you know Em you know that she is very into birds and bird watching.

In fact this is the American Kestral that she had painted on her arm when we went to Tracey Aviary.

This is my favorite picture. She couldn't hold still for very long because there were birds all over and she wanted to identify each species.

The Bird Festival happened to be going on the next week. They offered this great bird watching event where you could ride a horse around Antelope Island and spot different birds. She picked that as her main present and took Jeff. They spotted tons of different birds but the camera battery died five minutes into their ride. Of course Jeff made friends with the tour guide who owned all the horses and was invited to go again.

Here is the fox they spotted right before the battery died. They also got chased by a buffalo.

The party and Grandmas is always something the kids look forward to. This bird house was hanging from the light fixture. Em thought her Grandma rocked when she found out she got to take it home.

Opening presents

And this is on the morning of her Birthday. She had Jeff make Dutch pancakes with Nutella and Strawberries. When she was little I loved it when she ate chocolate because she puts her bottom lip over her top creating a moustache.

Now I'm going to start singing Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof and have myself a good cry.

I love you Em!

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

They actually don't get me down. Its a great time to finish a book or get my kids to do art, usually I can do both at the same time. Recently Gil has been interested in Eric Carle type of art. Em is just into painting/drawing American Kestrals.

This is Garretts finished project. I actually really like it.

Now that I've ran out of ideas though, it needs to stop raining.

because all they know how to say is, "I have nothing to do!" but they really aren't saying it so much as yelling it.  Please Jesus, get me through this weather, its almost as bad as a suffering a third degree vaginal tear after childbirth. Only without the pain killers. 

Kaleki

I am so excited! After 17 years our fabulous washer and dryer are on their way out. Before they totally break down and cause us to get a rash we decided to get new ones. I'm telling you, I sit and watch my wash swish around in the new front loader and my clothes have never smelled so good. This new purchase has inspired Jeff us to go through closets and de-junk. I found a few bags of stuff that I swear I meant to take to DI but procrastination and memory had them sitting in the washroom for a good 12 months. In one of those bags Garrett found a pair of 3T pants and his Hawaiian shirt. He DID NOT want to give those up. So he wore them for a day. He liked wearing capris. I was mortified but I figured nobody would see us.

 He thinks this looks perfectly fine. He must get it from me because I have zero fashion sense whereas Jeff looks fashion cool and can spot a name brand from a distance.  

 The funny thing is the waist needed no adjustment.

Remember the part where I said we wouldn't see anyone? I was dead wrong. We saw many family members from Washington that day. Yeah...mortified.

p.s. Kaleki is Hawaiian for Garrett but he hates being called that

I don't know what to title this post

So when we went to California we stayed with some dear friends of ours...the Bensons. Sandi is an amazing person...she has 14 15 children,  most adopted, 5 have special needs. You would think that their house would be a chaotic zoo right? Wrong. It is beautifully kept and the kids are so respectful and kind. Its fun too because even with my family there we are the minority race. I love that! The only problem is every time we leave I nag Jeff to let me adopt. There are so many reasons I want another boy but I know I can't do a baby. I don't do well without uninterupted sleep. With Crohns disease if you get stressed, you poop. Me without sleep = stress. After much discussion and deep pondering I realized that because of my Crohns I can't mentally and physically take on a baby. And after listening to Sandi (who has owned an adoption agency) you need to adopt a baby vs. toddler. She also advised us that we would need more than one because how would you feel if you were the only white kid in an all black family. Outnumbered. There is no way I could do 5 kids. I know my limits. I wish I had it in me to mother more but I know I don't. I'm spent NOW. So for now we will just have to love on other peoples babies. Here are some pictures from our time with them....

another thing that was so nice is that my kids had someone to play with at all times!

I can't say that I had a favorite but this trip I bonded with Parker, Jeff with Ellie. 

 Parker LOVES to sing and dance and he doesn't love pants. I could just sit and watch him all day. He is the reason I started begging Jeff to adopt.

And then there is Ty. This kid had my heart from day one.

 The entire drive to California Garrett kept asking, "Are we almost to Shaylee's house?". I honestly have to say that their house if funner than an amusement park.

Thanks for having us Bensons!

My newish rooms

Today on Oprah there was a guy who had every material thing he'd ever want or need. He sold it all and was living in a (nice) mobile home. I only caught the first 10 minutes because other things needed to be done but here is what I got out of those 10 minutes. I think some people struggle because they want more. A bigger house, a newer car, the best toys. Why don't we use what is only necessary? Who are we trying to impress? Every once in a while I will put a bug in Jeff's ear...lets move. I want a bigger house with a more modern kitchen. If I had that I'd cook more. Thank goodness that Jeff is well grounded or we'd be financed up to our armpits. I have come to appreciate my small house. I know we don't have oodles of room but we don't NEED oodles of room. Take what you need. Not more. I happen to live in the greatest neighborhood. There is no competition. Everyone gets along. There is no drama. I feel like everyone has the mind that "it takes a village" and even though at one time I was itching to get out I am well rooted and happy here. Happiness isn't found in the extras for me. Are the extras nice? Oh yeah, but I am proud of my simple lifestyle. My dream dwelling is on a different continent but until we get there (and we may never) I am content. That being said, we have done some awesome home improvements. And when I say we I mean Jeff. He is such a perfectionist that I am usually kicked out. I am not a well developed artist. We moved the girls downstairs, put Garrett in the girls old room and made Garrett's old room the office. Its my favorite room. Jeff found old maps from the Netherlands and had them all framed. The desk? Its my kitchen table cut in half. So right now we don't have a kitchen table but we are looking for one.

This is Garrett's new room. The colors are all picked by Garrett and we have ordered vinyl teams to put in each color. BYU, U of U, Texas Longhorns, and the Jets.

I think it turned out pretty great.

The best part is the De-junking. Where did we get all those stuffed animals?

LegoLand

So I'll admit, Legoland was the basis of this trip. Its the last year that Abby could ride some of the rides and Garrett has gone Lego crazy. Em isn't into Lego's but they just added a new aquarium to the park and she loved that.

Here are Dip and Dot being silly.

Abby has been studying Egypt this year at school. When she learned that Grandma rode a camel while in Egypt it increased her love of it. Lucky for her they also just added a new Egyptian area to LegoLand.

This is completely made out of Lego's and Abby was proud to tell us what everything meant.

This picture is of Gilly driving the cars. I posted it because he was so mad at this kid who kept rear ending him.

This is Em starting out on the boat driving.....

and this is Em getting mad at the dipwad who couldn't steer his boat

Abby and I just happy that we didn't have that dipwad in front of us

They are trying to look like they were prisoners

The next few pictures are dedicated to the Heisterman family. They wanted Gil to flash the West coast gang sign. He was practicing the whole trip.

This is my favorite picture ever. We should have bought those goggles and hats. We didn't because my kids, as it turns out, are cheepskates. They each had an allotment to spend. They figured out that if they didn't spend it they'd have money when they got home. Gil actually blew his on Lego sets. Abby has half of hers left. Em has the entire amount. Who is like Jeff and who is like me?

Darf Bader and Gilly

Here they are at some of the Star Wars displays. Gil was trying to pick up on a girl at the next display. He wanted to look cool.

And just like the zoo, Jeff to a bazillion pictures of all the underwater life.

I took this one.

Its the only picture that has a human in it.

Notice the sign.

Yep, that's my kid.