Remember, I'm a...

A whole world of possibilities

2012-01-04T14:12:00.002-06:00

we wait until February to find out the timeline of Andy's future.

Will we stay or go?

Meanwhile we apply to everything out there...

But I feel confident and peaceful about the start of this new year. 2012...

The year of the snow drought across the USA. I told Andy maybe the Lord's drying out the Earth to prepare it for burning.

Now that didn't sound confident and peaceful did it? But really, I laugh and go through things and paint and strip wall paper and love my family and friends even more...

Especially one who just volunteers on Christmas Eve (and actually shows up on Christmas Eve) to caulk my shower so that it can be used. Can I say how lucky I am?

We are focusing on family and thankfulness this year. A grateful heart is a great start... so here goes my list

I'm Thankful for:

friends that call when they see your depressing blog and even though so much time has passed it is like no time at all, lessons that inspire me, people who are willing to sit with one child who threw up at the park and I have to take the rest of them to ice skating lessons and have a husband who is never home at night, a house that is warm and safe inside, family who will play games with me way late into the night to when little things are so funny we laugh until we can no longer talk, angels that are in my life to help me every step of the way, my dear friend from college who inspires me whenever I think of him, brave soldiers who are out there fighting for me and my children, food that is there and available whenever the moment strikes to eat, a husband who never stops asking if I want him :), my Alice friend who can make me laugh after all these years with her hilarious blog, a little girl that was bitten by a shark but still has her leg (and who has no idea that I lurk on her mom's blog), a faith that keeps me getting up in the morning and goals. oh the goals that I keep setting and whether I achieve them or not, the belief that I can keeps me alive. How grateful I am today.

so job or no job, despite the limbo,

I feel confident and peaceful.

WELCOME 2012!

When did this become my life?

2011-12-07T20:54:00.001-06:00

I just can't think...

                    can't sleep.....

                               can't imagine...

                                                            But somehow in the midst of my life,

                in the last 3 weeks,

                             we've lost a baby

   caught lice

   and now Andy's department is being dissolved at SLU

                   and we need to move, (and sincerely hoping he gets a job).

From the city I love so much (there are no words to express how much),

                                 from friends who have changed my life and I will miss dearly


and from my dear family who moved here to be with me

                                      and I can't breathe if I think about it for too long.

I need to believe that God doesn't punish....

      I need to believe in something...

I need to BREATHE DEEPLY

and what am I supposed to learn?

2011-11-17T14:56:00.002-06:00

13 years we've struggled with the pain of infertility. pain that can not be described, only lived through by those who have to. There are many nights of thinking what did we do wrong? why are we not parents? Many nights of accepting God's will and crying out when we just can't.

There have been three miracle births. 3 babies that have changed our lives forever. There have been losses and heartaches along the way but we have suffered through every miserable and soaring minute of this journey.

Until today.

Today I want to scream and shout and rage against a God who seems so far away. I gave everything away and declared that we were done. we felt done. I felt that I had given him my heart so many times to have it squashed that I simply couldn't do it anymore. Everything baby was kicked to the curb and put out of my life. I grieved and mourned and raged against not having control over my life and watching innocent children being murdered and beaten when Andy and I would have given them love. But I moved on. I MOVED ON...

And then, a spark. a thought inside that said if we wanted another we could have it. that it could be my choice. And so trusting in that tiny hope I opened my heart one last time. And I literally mean one last time. Andy and I ditched the protection and I believed and prayed and hoped and felt confused by my hope since I wasn't really sure if I could handle a baby and the sheer craziness of it all since we had already given everything away.

But that spark of a thought. so we gave in one night. After 13 years of infertility we knew that it would take more than one night but I was only willing to give one night because that was all my heart could take.

And a miracle happened. We got pregnant. I was overwhelmed but got more excited with every day. We planned how to tell the kids and family and all our friends. I bought another set of maternity clothes.

I got blessings that confirmed that this baby would be worth the extra wait, that this was our miracle and that it was okay.

Okay to trust and hope and believe again with my full heart. And so I DID

and today?

well today I am no longer pregnant and my heart is empty and I hope, desperately hope that I can believe in something when this day is over.

2011-10-08T16:07:00.004-05:00

These toes cracked me up all weekend. I know it wasn't funny what pregnancy will do to a body but the way they swelled up and the fact that you could dent them in...killed me. Thanks Missy (these are her feet) for the love and fun of education week.

2011-10-06T14:40:00.004-05:00

Back to school...2011

3 years, but who's counting?

2011-03-23T19:56:00.004-05:00

Griffy woke up to Katie and Baker's sign of celebration. Made all by themselves without any of mom and dad's help :)

February 13th. Griffith Jack Brimhall turns the big 3. And while he potty trained, he assures me constantly that he is my baby!

we celebrated big this year with tickets for the entire family (Plus Griffy's chosen guest Jake and his mom Amy) to see Sesame Street Live. It's one of those things where although we don't actually watch much sesame street, all the kids know who Cookie Monster and Elmo are.

And since we had tickets and Griffy likes Elmo, off we went.
Jake Anson, Griffy, Baker and Cousin Nathan joined in the fun!
This is our second year attending this and definitely what makes the show is the kids! But I have fond memories of seeing Sesame Street on roller skates as a kid so perhaps one day they will remember :)
Here we are, then entire crew after sitting through the play. Way to go Grandparents for coming along :0
And the singing began. Griffy thought it was great to be the center of attention.
And after demolishing Oscar the Grouch, what more could be said. We love you little guy! So far you have been a great delight and so very smart and handsome. You keep us on our toes and you always let us know exactly what you want. We love having you in the family.

And now...

2011-02-20T22:03:00.002-06:00

After spending many hours of careful thought, research and preparation, I have found what I will hope will cut back on the whining and crying. Here is my new system.

Based off the homeschooling work box idea, and several million blog posts later, I have chosen to tweak it into a work folder/box for summer. Traipsing around several stores, I think I may have found a solution that will ft our family and allow for the space we need. Each child gets their folder (color coded of course) with 6 pockets and their drawer for me to fill with puzzles, treats and games. After much prayer and thought, and asking Katie what her goals were, and what I wanted to see accomplished, I have further split the pockets into the areas we want to study.

I have looked at curriculum, worksheets, books etc... and have found what I consider to be the best for us. We will be completing expedition earth and Summer Activities by grade level.

So basically our summer will look like this: 1. the kids get up and eat. 2. we will meet together and have our opening circle (including best of days, scripture heroes, calender time etc...) then the kids will need to have their rooms clean to begin on their folders. And here's the kicker, nothing else gets done until the folders are complete. no more whining and yelling, I'll simply ask "Have you finished your folder?" If not they just go back at it.

Their folders consist of worksheets, reading/snack, cleaning opportunities, PE, art projects, computers, typing, cooking, gardening and all things that need to get done or skills to learn or just having fun.

After folders are complete we move onto swimming at six flags (where we have summer passes) or anything else that St Louis offers (which is quite a bit...musicals, zoos, museums, hikes, shut ins, letterboxing etc) and then home again.

While dinner is cooking we will complete our study of animals from around the world as we visit every country during Expedition Earth.

Now I know several of you are thinking, what the heck? Why is Heather doing this, or how is she doing this? But I so excited. I am nothing if not flexible during times that life takes a different path, but I feel drawn to educate my children beyond what the public schools are doing. I know they are trying their best, but I think Heavenly Father created so much wonder and schools only tap into the barest part of it and even then they can't go into the spiritual connection the Earth has to us. And the knowledge we gain here goes with us into the next world so what can I say, I want my children to learn as much as they can.

I know, I know, summers are for playing...and trust me, you know how I am...Half of our lessons will be hunting for bugs in the yard and counting birds and just enjoying the trampoline and the hammock out back, roasting marshmallows and traveling to yet another state capitol. But I am a stay at home mom. I chose that so that I could teach my children all I could of this wonderful world. Now aren't you excited with me? Wish me luck. This will be a grand adventure...

Has it really gone by so soon?

2010-11-04T18:28:00.003-05:00

I have been thinking about just how fast the days seem to fly.
Before I even know what has happened,
I look around and my children are grown.
It passes as quickly as a whisper on the wind.

And yet, at times seems so slow that I am almost surprised
when I see them at this age and think,
has it been that long already?

And despite wanting to stop the merry go round and get off,
it just speeds up.
And yet, they all remain my miracles.
So brave and strong and
able to somehow think their own minds and make that known!

I asked my precious son if he'd like to wear underwear and be a big boy like his brother Baker
(whom he continues to call his friend Baker)
and Griff very adamantly said
"no, Baker is a big boy, I'm mommy's baby!"

And so I wonder...am I teaching them well?
Are the things that matter coming across?
And what really matters to me?
With that in mind,
this month I am challenging myself
to teach my children about random acts of kindness
and hope that they will be
a bit kinder to everyone we meet.

Where's the camera when you need it?

2010-09-12T21:05:00.002-05:00

So today has to rank high up there in my most embarrassing moment stories...

I got the brilliant idea to chop my hair to one length today. I figured then as I grew out the rest of my bangs it would all grow long together. So with a pair of scissors in my hand I went to work. Then of course I had to dye it because my gray/white hair is really emerging and all this led to me being late to church. Which is why I almost always go 1 hour early, because as you're about to see I get punished when I'm late...

I could hear the voices all singing the sacrament hymn as I walk into church laden down with a bag of church things (you know: toys, coloring books, snacks, everything I need for nursery calling, golf balls and paint so the nursery kids could make worlds...etc..etc...) also a bag with a baby gift for a lady in our church, a birthday gift for someone else and a thank you for another. Needless to say, I was heavy burdened.

I thought I would just sneak into sacrament through the back, drop off the baby gift (because I knew they sit in the back) and hurry to our row in the front. Innocent enough right?

I was walking fast so I could be in my seat by the time they said the sacrament prayer. So I quickly make my way to the family who was sitting six rows up from the back and leaned over and dropped the gift in their laps.

Now you might be asking why I didn't want to wait and just do this later but it is always a race to get into the nursery room before the parents who seem to run there to hand us their kid. and by the time I'm done, everyone is gone. plus I didn't want it to seem like I was advertising that I had gotten a gift for someone and have someone feel bad if they hadn't.

I also didn't want to cause a scene during sacrament so I quickly dropped the gift in their laps and turned to hurry over to my row. This is where it all went downhill. As I turned in my big black clunky clogs, I could feel that I had stepped on something. And immediately realised that Griffy had followed me and that I was on his foot. Not wanting to put my full weight on him I did that little hop jump, you know...the one where you sort of pick your foot up as fast as you can to make sure you don't bear weight and come down on the other one? only, as I jump, it caused my bag (remember, overfull of all that stuff?) to also swing forward.

The next part happened so fast I can only say too bad we didn't have a video. I ran forward about 10 steps trying to regain my balance (and making a sort of groaning noise that I somehow couldn't stop from coming out of my mouth) but the bag got the better of me and propelled me (dare I say caused me to fly?) face first into the carpet, and then to slide a few feet. And sadly, I was still trying to grab the bag so I put no hands up to stop myself. I crashed and then slid forward. the bag went flying and things flew everywhere.

I wasn't sure even how to react. I mentally took note and knew nothing was broken but that there was no saving face on this one. And to make it worse (yes folks, it could only go downhill from this point on) a few of the older men who sit on the back rows came flying out of their seats to check on me (and not very quietly I might add). I kept telling them to just sit down and let me slink out in shame but before I knew it, one of the Bishopric hurried off the stage and came. My humiliation grew as now even the people in the front (those who had somehow not heard the loud crash or seen what had happened because they were dutifully still watching the conductor) now turned as well to see me curious as to why the Bishopric ran off. Someone must have poked Andy because then he came back pretty quick.

I was grabbing stuff as fast as I could at this point and stuffing it into my bag and reassuring everyone that I was OK and praying that I could exit before the prayer was said. And should I mention at this point I was wearing one of my tighter skirts so it wasn't easy to be crawling on the floor in?
I finally managed to get one of the men to sit down and then one of the others picked up Griffy so I could sneak out and he began to wail (because we all know Griffy doesn't do strangers) and I knew if I laughed hysterically at that moment there would be no recovering. So I did the best I could, slipped out the door and hovered in the Nursery room for 3 hours straight.

Needless to say, had I not been the person teaching in nursery I would have left.

loving the summer

2010-06-23T22:53:00.009-05:00

I look around at all the fancy blogs full of such creative things, look at all my old high school Friends on facebook who are doing such fantastic things like producing movies and winning Emmy awards and at all websites that spout all the things you can do to help people in life...
and I can't help but get overwhelmed with what my life must look like to others. How small I must seem. I am a mom. Sometimes it seems like it's not much but...

I LOVE IT!!! I repeat
i LOVE it.

because i love seeing this

Katie receiving a Valley Park Star award for great character (one of two first graders honored in the whole school, presented by her teacher) or this...Baker thoroughly enjoying the freedom of being a little boy and just running and jumping into water squirting up from the ground..

OR this...Baker and Griffy snuggled together after a long day on mommy's bed, simply because they wanted to sleep together and no other bed was big enough for them.

Those are my miracles and I thank God for them every day...

I love "just" being a mom. Sometimes (all times) the trade offs are worth it...

what innocence

2010-05-25T20:42:00.007-05:00

So we are all sitting around the kitchen table after family night playing scattergories with 2 of our favorite families. Katie has asked repeatedly to be allowed to join the adult game so we play just one more round so she can participate.

The letter rolled is "B". The timer starts racing and before you know it, the dinger goes off and pencils are slammed down and now the fun really begins.

Everyone is shouting out their answers to see if they get points. And up rolls the category, "Body Parts". Imagine the silence and much supressed laughter of all the adults there as Katie very calmly announces "Balls". The shocking heart racing moment as every adult stares her down and says nothing.

So Katie looks at everyone as if they are idiots, points to her eyes and says "you know, as in eye-Balls".

I know, We rock as parents :)

what goes on when Andy's in charge

2010-05-05T14:57:00.002-05:00

I wish I had a picture to go along with what I am about to tell you. And please note I love my husband to pieces and he has helped tremendously since I've been in the Hospital. so here goes...

We found out we lost the baby, waited a week to make sure and did a d & c. Thursday the 29th I went in. Wasn't a bad procedure and except for crying as I came out of the anesthesia, had little to complain about.

I went about my daily duties (perhaps a little too enthusiastically) and on Saturday gave Katie a bath and braided her hair with 2 braids for the talent show (which was great fun). By Sunday morning I was in the ER with complications from the d & c. My parents took my kids to church and then Andy drove my two boys to my sisters house (3 hours of driving..how I love Andy) so she could take care of them. We decided Katie would stay to attend school and help me.

So I spend the day and night and day in the hospital and was released Monday afternoon in time to race home to get Katie off the bus.

IMAGINE if you will, how bad my stomach was hurting and the complete belly laugh I had to hold in when Katie gets off the bus and runs up to me. She has on camouflage heels, white socks, bright red spandex tight pants, a very bright blue shirt with the word peace in sparkly pink writing with peace signs all over and then to top it off, she has one braid still in (yes...still from Saturday) and one braid completely missing and her hair hanging in all sorts of wild directions (you know mothers...the kind of kinky weird curls from being in a braid and having then been slept on and not combed at all) so can you imagine what her teacher must have thought?

She had no idea I went to the hospital and that Andy was doing awesome to get her there...no idea that this perfectly stubborn daughter of mine had gotten dressed herself! what she must think!

In the book The Secret Life of Bees the little girl mentioned that you could always tell who had a mother because those girls had their hair done. so I can only hope that the teacher could figure out Katie didn't have her mother there to help...

A little something Bunny...

2010-04-15T18:29:00.005-05:00

Easter came and went and the Bunny left us with lots of baskets to find, jelly beans turned into Lollipops and egg hunts galore. We were especially thrilled to take on Aimee (Shelby's youngest) for the week while Shelby took in Disney world, beaches, palm trees and friends in Florida with only 2 kids. Need we say anymore? A true vacation I imagine :).

Baker must be looking more and more like his daddy because everyone comments on how alike they look...
And here's Griffith. The park where the Easter Egg Hunt was ended up being very cold. But all we had was this purple jacket so Griffy happily became my little girl for a few hours :)
And Katie pulled out her tooth so that the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy could meet up...she remains ever my daughter :)

How Do I Love Thee, Let me Count the Ways

2010-02-14T07:20:00.005-06:00

Last week Heather stole my thunder. I was planning on posting a blog about the 36 reasons I love her so dearly. However, she posted about the 36 accomplishments she was proud of (which reading those was an example of why I love her). So I decided to wait a week and post it for Valentine's day. I didn't want her post to be lost in a new post. So here are 36 reasons I love her, although the list could go on and on. I told Katie that I was going to do it and she started listing a bunch of ideas. So have fun. Try and figure out which ones I wrote and which ones Katie said. Either way please know that we love her and can't imagine our life without her. She truly makes our life meaningful. She brings joy to our life.

1. She's beautiful
2. She's smart
3. She reads
4. She is nice
5. She is talented
6. She makes the most amazing cakes (I'll post a picture soon)
7. She is a great cook
8. Her eyes
9. She has a lot of options (Katie wasn't sure what this meant but it sounded good)
10. She loves to cuddle with us in the morning and at night
11. She sings me a web like a spider's web
12. Despite her saying otherwise she has a beautiful voice
13. Her laugh
14. She can make some seriously cute children
15. Her creativity
16. She likes being our mom
17. Her incredible ability and willingness to serve.
18. The fact that she takes time to figure out when people's birthdays are and celebrates them.
19. She tells awesome stories
20. She lets us pick what food we want
21. She's sweet like candy
22. She is a great person because she buys us toys
23. She sacrifices so that we can go see our cousins
24. She takes us on ALOT of adventures, like tasting sap from a tree
25. She invited a woman to our house that didn't have anybody to share her birthday with.
26. She makes sure that we celebrate holidays in a fun and creative way
27. She constantly challenges us to be better

28. She includes everybody, she is always texting the entire world to invite them along (Katie is questioning her ability to text to China, Japan, France, Washington, Australia..., she is still listing countries but I figured you got the point, by the way I know Washington isn't a country but I thought it was funny that she threw it in there).

29. She has a wonderful and I mean wonderful family

30. She is an amazing financial manager, she does more on, and with, our limited budget than most would be able to.

31. She absolutely loves to learn, she knows more in her bones than I've learned with years of schooling.

32. She takes care of us when we are sick.

33. She always is volunteering at the school, all of the kids go around saying, "hey there is Katie's mom"

34. She loves her kids and does everything for them.

35. She knows what plants we can, and which plants we cannot touch

36. She is perhaps the best example of Christ like living that I know!

What a wonderful woman I have the opportunity to spend my life with. I am one lucky man!

36 reasons to love...

2010-02-02T10:42:00.002-06:00

Well, I can't believe it. I turned 36 today and I'm a little struck with how fast my life has gone. As a youth I made up a list of everything I wanted to do in my life and I feel like I didn't accomplish most of that list. BUT, within 36 years I've done some amazing things (in no particular order)...1) I've seen the pyramids and ridden a camel in Egypt, 2) I was Employee of the Year at Wasatch Mental Health for Child Services 3)I ran in the Provo Library race 4) Somehow I managed to get married to the most amazing calm man who so perfectly tempers my craziness 5) I graduated from College 6) Despite all obvious reasons why not, we've managed to have 3 beautiful children who have exceeded my expectations in so many ways 7) I danced in the middle of a fountain on a perfect day 8) I've been to the top of the Eiffel tower 9) I've had a poem published 10) I served a mission for my church 11) I became a Master Naturalist 12) I planned a fantastic National Letterboxing Conference 13) I managed to have a decade of Theme Parties 14) I've met a few of the angels from God 15) I climbed to the top of the Leaning Tower of Piza and explored the Catacombs of Rome 16) I passed Algebra 17) I've kissed someone I loved in a perfect snowstorm 18) I've skied the Swiss Alps
19) I got to attend several Olympic Games 20) I've played guitar in public 21) I visited the Garden Tomb and walked where Christ was 22) I've been in plays and worked the light board 23) I figured out that I was intelligent 24) I danced in a talent show 25) I've remained friends with at least 2 people from college 26) I was captain of my high school cheerleading squad and we won the Cheerleading championships 27) I sat in the rain in Ireland 28) I taught music/rhythm to kids and have loved it 29) I dance in the kitchen with my children 30) I've loved greatly and loss greatly and still open my heart 31) My family still remain my best friends 32) I am creative and love to plan things 33) I have gone on 2 perfect cruises 34) I have grown to learn who Christ is 35) I have changed someone's life and have been changed by someone and 36) I have discovered what "beautiful" means to me

Baker turns 4

2010-01-06T17:16:00.003-06:00

These next few posts may be out of order. On December 22nd, Baker officially turned 4. And he swung into this birthday on Spiderman's back. Gone are the days of cars, trains and enter the next reality of webslinging, and fighting the bad guys (as he calls it).

The Green Goblin (who is Spiderman's #1 bad guy) was in for a shock as all the little kids threw their sticky spidermans at him and attempted to knock him out of the sky. The funny thing here is that Baker has never seen a Spiderman cartoon in his life (that I'm aware of) and doesn't even really know who the green goblin is. But he loved getting the bad guy, as did all the other kids.

We had two girls at this party (Katie and Taylor, who represented spidergirl well.) Baker tried to tell Katie she couldn't come since she was too old, but I happily explained that family comes anyway! The webslingers had to work their way through an obstacle course to prove they were real spideys in training. and Once they got their mask, we moved onto presents and cake.

And since I figured this year Spiderman as an action figure would be so much easier than trying to decorate his face in cake, we had this!
So Happy Birthday my dear 4 year old Boy. You have taught me much about wrestling, time management, laughing, how to karate chop, how to annoy your sister, how only two little boys can giggle, where toots come from, how to survive on Peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese for every meal, and most of all, that small packages really do hold great things. I love you!

And to all a good night

2010-01-03T14:41:00.007-06:00

Christmas started early in our house. In fact, I'm surprised we slept at all. This year I remade all the stockings. After last year of having them not quite fit everything, I super sized them. I Love stockings. I love that they are full of such prizes like coloring books, toothbrushes, candy, oranges, toys, nuts, lovies, cereal boxes etc. I think they are some of my favorite things on Christmas morn. So I was super pleased with how much could be stuffed into my new stockings. Plus we all had our names on them!!

Christmas Eve never passes without my dad reading the Night Before Christmas. I don't think it would seem like Christmas Eve if my dad didn't read this book to the children before we hustled them off to bed. It is what I grew up with and I love that my kids get to create this memory with my dad. I'm sure that one day it will fall to Andy, but for now, we love having the patriarch continue this long held tradition.

The boys made quick work of setting up and playing Shake and Go Race Speedway. Santa was good to them and they continued to play with it throughout the entire Christmas break with their cousins.

I helped Giff out with his stocking. He enjoyed just sitting back and watching until he realized there was candy in the stockings as well as gifts. He really liked Christmas then. He takes after his Aunt Missy.

Katie and I began to work on her decoding mystery paper once she opened her detective kit from Santa.

Katie received a detective kit from Santa this year. Along with that came a decoder with a mystery puzzle courtesy of the Backyardigans and her mommy and daddy that she had to solve.
She worked out that the mystery led her to the chalkboard in the toy room. She promptly figured out the word "coffee table" and came running back up stairs. All of this allowed me time to put out the prize.
Her very own male Hamster which she named Lucy!
The boys made quick work of their stockings and loved every minute of the fun of dumping them out.
The family shot of the Brimhalls in their Christmas Jammies. We take the picture first thing in the morning before gifts so that everyone is still happy.

Baker loved all of his gifts this year and many of Griffy's and Katie's as well. He just thought everything was so fun.The highlight of Griffy's Christmas was a lite brite travel kit my mom got him and this other ride along my mom got him. She must be a toddler whisperer because he was so thrilled and rode rampage on everything left in his path.

for Christmas we game my dad his very own critique book. He had made a comment at a dinner party about critiquing the guests and we turned this into one of the funniest jokes. We critique everything now and so for Christmas, we let him have on of his very own.

This is Christmas eve, but would take too long to rearrange the pics. We had a wonderful evening of clam chowder, potato soup, a Nativity play and new pjs with our dear friends and family.
Merry Christmas to ALL!
(ps. are you loving these jammies or what? I painted all the candy canes)

a massive trip (pics to come)

2009-12-03T23:29:00.003-06:00

With the passing of my dear friend's wife, we decided that we really needed to be there for the funeral. So we packed up and left. 14 hours to Denver (with a brief stop in Topeka for another State Capital).

We changed into clothes in the church parking lot and went into the viewing. And there I got to hug my friend for a very long time. I must say it was the saddest viewing I have ever been to. She was a beautiful young mother (the age of my little sis) and so didn't deserve what happened. She left behind three babies, her family, in laws and Eldon. The funeral the next day was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And while the graveside service was cold (it had snowed during the night) I was touched to watch how Eldon explained to his daughters what was happening to the casket and how he held onto his baby boy as he dedicated the ground where she will wait.

We headed off to capture Denver's Capital building and attend Jax's basketball game (which he rocked) and then had fun times with the Rozeskis. Which reminded me how much fun it is to have such great friends that you can do and say almost anything with and it's all okay.

We got up very early (4:30 am) to head up to Cheyenne's Capital and stood in -2 degrees to capture the picture at 6:30 AM in the morning. I'm sure you can imagine how much fun the kids had with that one after we woke them up :). But one day they'll laugh and we are down one more state. Taking us to over 1/5 of the United States at this point. (seriously..I can't wait for Alaska and Hawaii)

We then drove home for 14 hours and in 3 days have done what I could never imagine possible. Heather was known for her "gratitudings" so in her honor I wanted to end with these:

I'm grateful for friends that are the same no matter how long it's been, for hugs and kisses from the kids, for Rozeskis who open their homes and hearts and babysit our kids and put beds together that fall so that they know everything that goes on :)..., for a husband who drove even though he was so unbelievably tired to get a daughter home for a field trip, for the fact that I can sit cross legged for hours at a time in a car since we are blessed with so much stuff that needed to go at my feet, for another day with my kids and family and most of all for tender mercies from the Lord. I'm grateful my family is close and that I can spend Christmas with them and all be together, I'm grateful for my sister who is 'practically perfect in everyway' and for my Andy who is, as always, just a step above but willing to help me up, I'm grateful the snow came after we got there and left before we drove home and there is so much more...but I am thankful.

Miracle anyone?

2009-11-22T20:28:00.004-06:00

I will be the first to admit that miracles don't always come the way we wish, dream or hope for. But that doesn't stop us from hoping. In college, after I returned from my mission I had the privilege of having Eldon as my one of best friends. My sister moved me into an apartment with a girl he was dating and so began my journey with this incredible man.
I'm not sure I could ever do justice in explaining how we became so close. Suffice it to say, he told me to marry Andy and so I did. That's how much I loved and respected him. I would have climbed mountains and moved worlds for him, I loved him so much. He was there for me in ways and times that were some of my darkest and amazingly enough, some of my brightest. Andy knew he was getting a matched set when he married me, that Eldon would always have a piece of my heart. And the best part was, Andy loved Eldon too. And Eldon was right. Andy was perfect for me.

I'm not sure this is totally blog worthy but I just want to journal the strength of this man. He went through hell and fire and emerged a scarred, beautiful man who can understand the world. He is an angel that I knew before and will know forever. After many years of no contact, Andy gave me the greatest Christmas gift of all. He tracked my "little piece of heart" down and gave me a precious letter from him and that was soon followed by a phone call and a visit last year.

He married the most beautiful woman named Heather, and Andy and I were able to go and attend the wedding in Colorado many years ago. And now he sits by her side as she is slowly slipping away. Without a miracle, she will return to our Heavenly Father and cancer will have beaten her, all in less than 2 years. And she will leave 3 children (age 7 and under) and Eldon behind for awhile as she moves on. My heart breaks for them. I am unsure of why things happen and perhaps we are never meant to know, or perhaps it will all be explained in due time, but for now...I am sad that there are no words or actions that can comfort him. So Eldon, I love you and I pray for you and Heather and especially for your children who may never fully understand. I know you pray for a miracle and I hope and pray you get one. You deserve one. Andy was so grateful that he ran across you in the airport in Denver. We both love and cherish you. Heath & Andis

how can you get mad? Seriously!

2009-10-14T18:51:00.003-05:00

So what do you do when its totally quiet at someone else's house and you know that 9 kids must be playing somewhere? YES! If you are the mother of a boy, you should immediately question the silence and search far and wide for the children.

AACCCKKK!! I'm amazed continually at the amazing ability of kids everywhere to get into bottles, make a mess, and be completely quiet while doing it. They are never quiet when they are supposed to, say like in church where they insist on telling you they picked a booger from their nose right during the Sacrament prayer? So here is how Griffith spent his quiet time. Grabbing a bottle of bright purple permanent paint and spreading it all over his clothes, his cousins and of course... An extremely white rug in the middle of their house. From which the paint was never fully removed. Yikes, add on the family memorial statue of a lab that Griffith broke at the Keetches house (right after they shared the best story of why they loved this dog) and I'm beginning to think he should never leave the house. But on another bright note...
Check out the high waters that dear Baker is wearing. Yes you guessed it. He grew maybe 1/2 an inch this year but it was enough to push him out of 2 T pants and into size 3 clothes. Sure, he's turning 4 in December but every little 1/2 inch counts right???

oh what do you do in the summer time?

2009-09-03T14:19:00.017-05:00

So Summer? It's gone already??? I can't believe that summer passed without me documenting what has transpired. But in my defense, this has been the most life changing, most fun, busiest summer ever in my life...So here it is, in no particular order of time

Here we all are. The day had just begun and we wanted to capture our family having one last fling for the summer at Johnson Shut Inns. This is a place where you climb up and down these waterfalls and dive and jump into 25 feet pools that the rocks create. I am a total wimp though. It took me some time to convince myself to jump. So you can imagine my surprise when First Katie and then Baker also jumped off the large rocks.

Jumping to my doom after a very long climb up due to the helpfulness of some weird guy at the bottom of the rocks...It doesn't seem very high, but it looked very far down and they kept saying, don't hit any of the rocks in this are or that, so I was more than a little nervous...Now Katie didn't seem to have the same sense as I did and climbed right up and jumped, in fact, she jumped more than once

The best part though was when Baker got up there (aided my Miss Kim) and despite my yelling from the beach to stop, off he went.

and belly flopped right into the water since he didn't have the weight to keep his body straight. Boy oh boy, what must people think when a three year old jumps off. But so trusting as he leapt into his fathers waiting arms...

the best part for me was the climbing though. I loved the natural waterslides and pools of water.Haleigh jumping off the smaller rocks into the pool

Andy diving off into the pool. Griffith doing, well nothing. He was perfect. No crying, no fussing. Just a lot of rock throwing.

was the happiest baby and the youngest of all of us there.
When I wasn't jumping or climbing or watching, I got to spend some fantastic time enjoying myself with Griffith in the water. He really loved getting wet and splashing at all the fish he saw.

It was the best road trip with some fantastic friends!! Baker loved just swimming around at the bottom in the lake area.

Kim took off to push Molly under water and it was just a nice day to let loose and splash and not stress about real life for a few hours.

Here's Andy and Katie in one of the many little pools created by the rocks. The water was a perfect temperature and though there were several deep sections, the lifejackets kept everyone happy and safe.

Matthew and Haleigh enjoyed themselves as well and Haleigh even went so far as to say she had finally found something about Missouri she liked.

At the end of summer every year, we all get together at the little river beach by our house. Several of my friends come and this year, my sister braved the heat to drive up as well. But how else do you send the last day before school begins? It was a great, hot, sunny, sandy day at the beach. I managed to scrounge up two great gals to go clean streaming with me. We had a mini canoeing lesson and then we were off to capture all the garbage we could get in a canoe. I had never been to George Winter park but it is quite lovely and I love being able to spend time with a dear friend (Amy) and have my niece along as well. Being a Master Naturalist has opened so many doors and I love them all.

We went to the zoo several times this summer and these are a few highlights.

Baker loves these frogs!

Andy always comes along though half the time he is the martyr and has to lift every child to see each animal. But I love that he makes it to all these fun outings. It is a benefit they don't mention when they hire you on. Perhaps more people would be professors if they only realized the perks.

This summer we had my entire family relocate to Missouri. What a blast we are going to have. Here are all the cousins playing together. We get together quite often and I can't imagine a better thing in life than having my family close and cousins together :). Here are my mom, her mom (GG- who Katie is named for) and my Aunt Bette. What a threesome they are. And amazingly, that's it for my immediate family on my mom's side.

The cousins all made breakfast in bed for my mom (along with a little help from Uncle Andy)

My dad would read to the grandkids and what a reward it was for them. They all loved it. I imagine this has to be one of the better parts of being a grandparent. This chair remains one of our better Goodwill finds. Look at how many of them it holds.

We went so many places while everyone was here. To the zoo, the botanical gardens, the butterfly house, grants farm and basically all that St. Louis offers. I can not wait for all the fun to come.

4th of July came and went. It was a rainy mess. Our car drove through a flooded area and died and we missed the parade. The highlight was spending time with some of my favorite people that night painting the Larsen's bathroom. Who knew service could be so fun!! It was a 4th I'll soon not forget. But the best part was the night before. We gathered up all our friends and went to watch fireworks. the best show in St. Louis in the comfort of our old Schnucks parking lot. It might as well have been a ward function by the time I invited everyone. One of the best drawbacks I suppose to loving everyone in the Ward.Here are two of the most fantastic women you could ever hope to call friends. And the power woman of our ward showing up with 6 kids under the age of 7 (two of which are twins) with no husband because he was working so hard on the Larsen's Bathroom.

Here is Tina. She's awesome. What more can I say? she reads this so I won't divulge much :). She has helped fill in all the gaps as my friends have all moved on. Sadly, she will be leaving as well in a few years, but I have these fun years in the mean time... I'll have to make the most of it and then write a sappy goodbye post in two years...ah how life moves on

When the daddy son campout took place, Katie was devastated. So I planned a special outing just for us. We went and painted a toothfairy box out of ceramic and had a blast. It was a great experience and the beginning of so many to come I hope.

After I got trained in being able to go free caving as a Master Naturalist, I convinced our good friends to let them be our trial run. The Keetches graciously babysat for us so we could all go. And off we went. We had a blast. Behind us is the fence that you get the key for and unlock. Then we entered mushroom cave (named for all the 'shrooms grown in it during the early years of St. Louisan history)

These are our friends Tina and Josh Williams. Below you see a picture of us starting the belly crawl potion through mud.
And here is the muddy result. So much fun. Andy did really well until we reached the portion where I questioned if there was an exit. He belly crawled out so fast I had to laugh.
I came home from church to see this beautiful specimen sitting on my deck. I had only moments to capture it before it flew away.

One of the highlights this year was having the Rozeskis family come to visit and stay with us and go to the Children's museum together. How we would marry this family if we could :). The Keetches got to go to Mothers without Borders in Africa this year and participate in helping. They sent out a plea to everyone to donate needed supplies and together with Andy's class, we were able to stock much needed medicines and baby items. It was a fantastic service project for our family to participate in.

Here's Shelley collecting the goodies to take to Africa

Katie ran the summer away in Soccer. Can we say she played during the heat wave and I was proud of her. It was hot but she kept going...

and going...

though she only wanted to be goalie so she wouldn't have to run.

My dear Friend Molly lost her baby Charlotte this summer. Molly was supposed to be a leader at a girl scout camp and I was lucky enough to take her place. It was a week I'll never forget. It was hot, humid and muddy and I didn't have a clue what to do, but we made it through.
We were the chihuahuas and made our presence known throughout camp.
Making dinners and crafts was always exciting.
Even Baker got into it and was a real trooper. Of course I wouldn't have made it through without Kim taking Griffith. And then comes back to school. Baker is old enough to officially attend preschool and so off he went. These are his teachers. Miss Lorraine and Mrs. Grellner.And Katie's 1st grade teacher Mrs. Custard (though she was sad not to have Mr. Billieke since he's cute and fun)...note all the missing teeth my little jack o lantern has.

And the first day has come. They each set off into the school with their bags, smiles and the memories of summer to help them get through. So that's summer in a nutshell minus some very huge parts (like pics of the letterboxing convention). But what did I learn you ask? This summer was so busy I'm not sure how I made it through. I planned and carried off a national conference for letterboxing, I entertained several guests and family, drove to Cleveland for the Brimhall reunion (a post deserving it's own spot) and got another two state capitals, I volunteered days for clean stream, bird identification, bird banding, cutting honeysuckle, moving my parents to Missouri, planning ward activities and Enrichments, planted a wildflower garden in honor of Charlotte and helped with the bathroom for the Larsens, was part of a girlscout camp and so many other things it is tiring to think of it all.

I was devastated when Molly lost Charlotte and am still coping with the questions of why things happen. But this I know, I was blessed to be able to help. It was a spiritually enlightening summer and I grew closer to several people who I dearly love for the service and love they have in their hearts. This is what I learned. There are givers and takers. (along with those that say they want to give but don't really and those that give but don't want to). BUT, It is the givers in the world that make me feel happy to be around. The people that drop everything to help and come together to lift others that make me feel loved.

I was most amazed at how people give of time and love, often to those they will never meet or know, but just want to give to help another to feel better in some way. From Africa to the next door neighbor, I think God has to be pretty proud of givers. I hope I will be one of those people. I hope my children will be those people. And I am confident that as we are those people, we get strength to do even more.

Saying goodbye

2009-09-03T14:02:00.003-05:00

It's never easy to say goodbye. In fact, it seems like it gets harder with each friend who sets out. And even worse when they are attached to our family. First we said goodbye to the Rozeski family (though we keep saying it over and over with every visit :) and then at the start of this summer, we said a farewell to the Pace Family. They had become perfect friends for us.

They played competitive board games (which we are so into I can't explain rationally), Ashley was always good for calling me on my craziness, they played sand volleyball which thrilled Andy to no end, and our kids loved each other. I mean, seriously...we had the perfect boy / girl thing going for a long, long time. So our final night of kids playing together was a fun night of dress up and dance... And for Baker to share his blanket with Abbey was huge :)

Couldn't resist a little dress sharing...
A final kiss farewell
The next generation...curses that we all have jobs that cause us to move on with life!!! But there is always Michigan Football. And of course, another state capital. Cheers to friends we will never forget!

Are You Smarter than a First Grader? Apparently Not!

2009-07-05T20:33:00.013-05:00

By now, everybody is familiar with the game show, are you smarter than a 5th Grader. Well, I had my own version of that game show tonight. One of my really good friends had his birthday today so as a family we decided to make brownies and deliver them to his doorstep. By the end of the day (when the brownies were finished) Heather decided she needed a little break so I packed up all of the kids into the van and made the trek over to his house.

When we got there the kids wanted to get out so they could personally hand him the brownies and the cute little card that Katie had made that had a picture of my friend wearing a crown. After we visited for a few minutes I told the kids it was time to get back in the car so that we could go home. Here is where the game show ensued. As I put Katie and Baker in the van (after having them run in separate directions away from me) I was already a little frazzled. It didn't help that I had four spectators all curiously awaiting to see how I was going to handle this situation.

After I got all of the kids in the car I walked around to get into the drivers seat when I heard a loud bang. Well as I was walking around the car Katie thought it would be funny to open the sliding door in the van. She was not alone. Not only did Baker laugh but so did I and our four spectators. Seeing the reaction Katie knew that she had a new game on her hands. However, just because I laughed the first time did not mean that I was still laughing by the fourth time. I kept running around the van; desperately trying to get in the van before she could pry the door open. Finally, I had had enough. I decided I would out fox the fox.

This time as I closed the sliding door, I opened the front door and locked all of the van doors to prevent her from opening it again, or at least givng me 2-3 more seconds to get around the van. I thought I was brillant and so did my spectators until I went to get into the van and realized that in the process I had locked myself out as well. By now the spectators were thoroughly entertained. In fact, my friends wife said, "thank you for not only bringing the treat but also providing the entertainment." Luckily I was able to talk Katie into unlocking the sliding door and finally letting me get in before prying the door open once again. So apparently I am not smarter than a first grader. Also, it appears that Katie's sharing time lesson this morning, the one about being obedient to your parents, flew right out the window. The silver lining of this story is at least now I know why they invented those annoying child safety locks.

Here is Katie's version of the events:

Boys Keep Out!

2009-06-13T05:05:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I was babysitting a bunch of 2 & 3 year old boys and they thought that the best activity was following Katie around and knocking over everything she was making. I'm not sure who came up with the idea, (most likely Baker) but it led to Katie screaming every 20 minutes.

She eventually slammed her door as she stomped into her room but it wasn't long before she opened the door to quickly put this sign into place and slam the door again. When I saw it, I couldn't help but smile. Especially the part where she thought the boys could, or even would, read it. And I really like the emphasis she placed on the eyes and mouth. While Baker cannot read, he can't miss the message there. it says, "you come into my room and these fists will make a bruise." Now, months later, she has decided to take it down. I happened to find the poster in the trash and pulled it out. I think when my dear Katie turns 16, I will rehang the sign on her door.

For Charlotte

2009-06-09T23:56:00.006-05:00

It doesn't seem that long ago that I sent out an email announcing the arrival of Charlotte Larsen. We were all lucky enough to be pregnant together. and have our children be born within weeks of each other.
we shared some fantastic celebrations and some perfect summer days
and tonight I wait to hear if she will live. I'm so sorry Molly and Doug. My prayers are with you and my heart goes out to you. I love you and I cry with you.

first grade here she comes...

2009-05-28T09:53:00.005-05:00

First day of Kindergarten August 2008

Katie started Kindergarten this year and after requesting a teacher change, she rocked school. She loved her teacher and was loved by her in every possible way. Mrs. Dashman had Katie reading to all sorts of classrooms, writing science reports about American Goldfinches, and she was even the first kindergartner to get the bronze medal for Math Facts (which is taking timed tests for every level from plus 1- 12 and minus 1-12, and she even went on to complete the first three levels of multiplication...can I brag a little about these brains she has in her head??? The best part is that she would get so frustrated when she failed test after test, but she kept going, even after threatening to quit and she accomplished her goal. And she had to try, where most things come easy to her, and I loved how proud she was when she finally finished and had truely earned the medal.) Andy volunteered every Friday morning with math facts and Katie loved this special time with her father. One thing I love about Andy is that he makes time for us. Many wonder if he works at all since he spends so much time with the family, But I know of the sacrifices he makes. Both professionally and physically. He chooses the family over everything and I love it. I know he has a lot of grading and teaching and stays up late many nights or works late or wakes up extremely early to read scriptures so that he can spend time with his children allowing me time to better myself as well and I love him for it. I'm once again reminded how wise my friend Eldon was to tell me to marry this guy. Despite every rocky road we started on, I am continually amazed at this person that the Lord blessed me with. I'm so glad we stuck it out...and that he realised how dumb he was to break up with me in the first place :)!

but back to Katie...

Throughout it all, she has been friendly to others, been a leader and learned many lessons. I was so proud of her. I got to volunteer almost every week with her classroom and once I started my Master Naturalist training was able to teach her class a couple times as well about science. It was a most impressionable first year. Her teacher called late last night to tell me how she had broken down when her class left (as she does every year) but how lucky she was to have such a talented class. I agree. I loved the little kids. I made her a scrapbook of pictures and thank you notes from every child and a basket of food to cook with an apron with all the kiddos hand prints and she told me that in 30 years of teaching, this was the first book she had ever received. And she deserved one. Katie said goodbye....

and moved on up to first grade. She will be in Mrs. Custard's class (who based on the class list, has some of the brightest students in there so Katie should be challenged next year). But really, Katie doesn't care about all that, she's happy for her new teacher and sad to have good friends move into other classes. But if Katie is anything like her mother, and grandmother, and great-grandmothers (for whom she is named)and I like to think she is, she will have no trouble making new friends. Congratulations Katie. I love my little miracle.

With a flutter, flutter here, and a flutter, flutter there...

2009-05-07T08:50:00.008-05:00

Katie woke up on May 7, 2009 at 4:45 AM to join her mom in bird banding at the World Bird Sanctuary. She was pretty excited to go the night before, but fell asleep on the floor as we tried to get her dressed. After a little food in her system, we were off. Katie chatted the entire way there. who knew one could talk so much that early in the morning.Even though it was dark outside, and she was young, the workers quickly put her in charge of pulling off the ribbons that held all the nets shut. I think she appreciated having a job instead of just standing around. They all worked really hard to give her a memorable experience.

She caught her first bird, an Ovenbird in net # 5. After it was
removed from the net and tagged with a clothespin to identify the net, Katie’s job as a runner took over. The birds were generally still in the bag, but this Ovenbird loved to flutter around and the first time it did it, Katie jumped but held onto the bag. I was so proud of how calm and brave she was.

Here we are with the second bird (a Swanson Thrush). Katie and I had some wonderful moments in the woods. Katie kept saying "Oh my" with every new discovery and although I have no idea where she heard this, it was endearing to all around to hear her enthusiasm caught in those two words.

After a bird is taken back to the processing center, it is hung on a line where it waits to be identified and recorded.Katie then got the bird off the line and brought it to the
the processing center where it was measured, banded, weighed, and
checked for parasites and gender. The ladies allowed Katie to see the wing feathers, the feet, to look closely at their eyes and basically to really understand up close and personal some pretty cool songbirds. And I must say, while Katie was learning all this information, my brain knowledge increased as well. It's pretty amazing when you think of what a busy job the creation of the world was. There are some really beautiful creatures out there. Katie then was taught how to release it back into the wild. She
was able to release two birds. A Swanson thrush and an ovenbird.
She was able to participate in this migration study and learn
about birding at the same time. The ladies there were so sweet. They involved this little six year old in every aspect and made her feel special and excited about birding. Now you know you belong in our family if you stick your little tongue out. it always helps you to concentrate. I can see why some people home school. You can just experience it so much more in person than in a book. What an educational day we had...and all before school even started.

I finally found the the right habitat...or is it niche????

2009-04-23T09:36:00.010-05:00

Andy and I always talk about my seasons of life. I really wanted to be something. (skip ahead to pics if you don't want to read my saga..I won't know so I can't get offended) I don't think I was ever sure what I wanted to be. That's probably why my favorite person was Benjamin Franklin. He was a master at all sorts of stuff, and just did as he was inspired, regardless of the opinions of others. When I went off to Ricks college, I started as a computer programmer (and that was when pascal and basic was the known and used programming language :). ) But after a semester of that, I grew bored. So off I went into Theatre Arts. I graduated with my associates in that field ( a good fit I'm sure you're thinking) and then off to BYU. Once there, I found a love of the ocean and all things in it and became a Marine Biologist. I was all set and accepted to attend the John Hopkins Marine Institute in Monterey Bay when I decided to go on a mission. My parents were not all that thrilled as they felt if I left school, I would never return.

Interestingly enough, Andy entered the MTC not long after I did (though we never met). But they were right. If I had stayed in school I would have been a very different person since I would have stayed with Marine Biology and would probably be married to a water person, living off a boat studying sea otters (which was what I was doing at the time, studying sea otters I mean, since there are no boats in BYU you could live on.) Such a different life back then. Anyway, I came home, finished my minor in zoology, and graduated in Human Development (a whole other story in itself). At which point, I worked to put Andy through school and pay off debts until I was finally able to have Katie. But I always said I would go back to school, only after 10 years of working as an SSW in Utah and having children and being a mom, I don't think I know what to study and be anymore.

Long story short, I can never make up my mind. So along comes this opportunity to become a Master Naturalist. And to the complete surprise of my husband, I announce I would like to do this, and while yes, it will cost money for babysitting while I attend classes, the enrollment fees and whatnot, he says okay. Mind you, this came with a lot of questioning of my sanity since Andy was never a part of my life during my biology phases. But everything seemed to fall into place. First of all, I got accepted into the program (and Andy took the call and said they were happy to have me, even though there was a wait list for others), we were able to get a homeschooler to watch my children (and for the amount I could afford to pay) and off I went. I am in love. This is one of the best, most fulfilling, things I have ever done for myself. there is no way to explain it. It just makes me feel smart and useful and I am thrilled to say that Valley Park Elementary is allowing me to teach the kindergartners their my science classes, I get to be in the bat cave at the school and the Third graders are letting me teach butterflies. so perhaps when someone asks me what I do I can say I'm a Master Naturalist. that will probably get the same stares as "a mom" does but what the heck...I love it. The best part is the ride home when I call my sister to "share" all the fun things I learn. My brain is always on overload with random facts (like did you know dragonflies eat mosquitoes) and she just calmly listens to my excess of everything factual. In the book, The Know it All...the guy is constantly talking about all the facts he babbles out to others because the knowledge has to just come out. I feel the same way. So thank you Shelby!!

So on to my pics...On Saturday, we went to get trained on how to lead cave tours. (where to stop, what to say, and so much info I can't even get it out of my mind). But Andy also had to speak (for his job) and was going out of town. I sent out an email and my dearest friends stepped up and took turns taking care of my children, all day. And off I went to go to school. We were in the classroom for about 4 hours and then began our hike. About 2 hours worth up and down a mountain while we learned how caves look on the top side and what grows in karst environment. Also where the rivers drop off.
Then off to "wild" caves. These are ones that are not gated, but rarely used or seen as they are hidden. This particular entrance you have to belly crawl through water, but then it opens up to huge rooms.

Same entrance but looking down, you'd never spot it. I am standing in the entrance to the cave right by the guy in blue. But you cant see it. :)

This is a leopard frog. in the water just outside the mushroom cave entrance.

here we are heading in. In order to go into a "wild" cave, you must have at least 3 sources of light (including a head lamp if possible) and a helmet with a chin strap (many use bike helmets).

This is probably one of the coolest creatures found in caves. Most salamanders in caves lose their pigment and are blind (for obvious reason of blackness). But these little guys are bright orange and retain some eyesight, though not great. All across the roof of the cave are bats. This is the end of hibernation season and they come and go, though a few hang out. This is a brown bat. It is larger in size and has black forearms and ears. Though this little guy is smaller than my middle finger in length. The bats were so close, you could reach out and touch them, and though it took a lot of effort. I restrained myself.

A column is formed when the calcium deposits are formed. Basically a stalagmite and a stalactite join up. It reaches from floor to ceiling. Caves have some of the most amazing deposits. You crawl, swim, or climb through little holes into large cavernous rooms that are just inspiring. Plus, its the only place where you can truly feel darkness.

This is the group of Missouri Master Naturalists that I'm training with. They are some of the most knowledgeable and fun people I have met to date. Listening to the things they do, I have to remind myself that I can do it all as well, just in a longer season.

When you see a stalagmite ("g" for ground up) and it is white, or a stalactite ("c" for ceiling down), and it is white and crystal like, it is actively growing.

More fun creatures that wander around in caves.

This is another brown bat, but watch between this and the next one

This is an eastern pipistrelle. Note the pink forearms and pink ears. They are also smaller in size (about my index finger length..and are more common hanging alone, rather than cuddling) again, the brown bat, this one kept flying to different spots.
and again, then pipestrelle (know as pips)
So can you see why I would be in love with this? Thanks to my dearest friends who made this possible by taking my kids all day so I can be trained. The good thing is that I can take up to 10 people in now, so come with me and let me show you all I learned :).

Boys will be boys will be boys....

2009-03-30T11:23:00.004-05:00

After exercising class today I decided that I would borrow another little boy to play with Baker and keep him occupied while I clean house. But of course, I needed to shower. So I told the boys what they could and could not do while I took a brief break to take a shower. Who knew when I forgot to mention, get naked, soak yourself in the left over rain water and then play in the sandbox, that that is what they would think of doing first. Imagine my surprise when I heard giggling coming from outside my window?!!! Thinking they had simply gone outside while I took a shower (breaking all rules anyway) I looked out ready to give them my sternest stranger danger lecture. Laughter once again bubbled up (this time from me) as I realised what they had done. Two little bottoms covered in sand pointed in my direction said it all. Sorry Tina, for posting naked pics of your little guy, but I couldn't resist this brief moment of what can only be described as "boys will be boys" or "Baker and Nathan being Naughty and loving it"...take your pick!this is the two of them running away from me while I tried to get them to come in. What you don't see is that they are shivering because it was cold outside!!

I finally told them they had to come in because they were naughty. See the smiles. Yeah...Naughty is not such a bad thing in their mind...heaven help us over the next 4 years.Here they are getting clean and splashing water while they warm up...can't blame you. You probably have a smile right now. I did. And I'm off to clean it all up!

In no particular order...here's our life

2009-03-29T18:51:00.006-05:00

So this is my brief catch up of what we have been doing lately. In no order since I'm too busy to care what layout this uses....here is Baker and his friend Nathan at the zoo. These two boys make my heart laugh since they are very creative at what mischief they get in to. The other day they both decided at the exact same moment to poop in their underwear...tell me that's not a coincidence.

There is a new baby at the zoo. A giraffe. The zoo keeper said 500 people turned out to see her be born. They birthed her right in the open pen. Can you imagine that sight? I be the angels were smiling. Griffith and Baker love the fishes at the hippo exhibit

here's Baker and Nathan climbing the all to the slide

and yet again playing in the hippo's mouth

Mardi Gras here we come!!!

Somehow...we though going to the downtown Mardi Gras parade would be fun. And it was, for the drunken masses that surrounded us. But we got through it. Katie got a bunch of beads, Baker cried through the whole thing, and we got to see some of the oddest floats (if you could call it that). But another St. Louis first down. We want to try and get to very parade at least once. So far my favorite seems to be St. Patty's day. Though we want to try and get to the Dogtown St. Patty's day one year. And I just found another one. The Barkus parade for kids at Mardi Gras. That one will be our next years goal.

I have gotten into making Bento lunches and really enjoy it. It has spilled over into making Bento meals as well. Note my fun egg penguins who are swimming in a sea of blue cottage cheese.

We decided on what traditions we want to do for Valentines day. They each get a bucket with silly string, candy and a book. Our silly string fight was loads of fun for everyone except Baker.
Even Griffith got into it. and Katie loved shooting it all over.

So we weren't really thinking one day, but we decided to take 13 kids to the Zoo. Yeah, I know...crazy huh? There are 4 babies not pictured here. Needless to say, we lost one (which Andy hunted down) and just kept herding them around. Can we say Polygamy!!! One man, three women and 13 kids. Oh boy!

This is what life would be like with triplets. I babysat them one day and I thought, oh yeah...no wonder the Lord didn't answer that prayer to send all my kids at once. Regardless, they are all so cute I could just eat them up...Adam, Caleb and Griffith

Especially this one. His name is Caleb Boyce and I think looks more like my child than his twin brother...I think when they all turn 18 months, the nursery leader will run for the Ozark Mountains and never return...There will be 5 babies all entering at about the same time...heaven help us all!

Katie got very creative one day and made her very own castle for Hello Kitty. She really just wanted an excuse to use tape. But I am continually amazed at what she will fashion out of her mind.

Baker and Katie playing paint the rocks. I'm not sure why Baker thought this meant "lets get naked and paint ourselves..." but what do you do? Naked tighty whitey boys come from the Brimhall side. We went to World Bird Days and the kids all loved seeing birds and especially the pygmie owl which was only as large as my palm. Andy was at Spring training with all his brothers so this was a great way to pass the time.

Andy missed the annual St. Patty's day parade but this year, we had a great number of people come with us. It is always fun to see the balloons and get necklaces. Here is the yearly leprechaun photo. This guy is there every year and we love to get pics with him.

Ode to Motherhood

2009-03-22T17:58:00.015-05:00

As many of you know, Heather is away on "vacation." With the exception of a one week vacation when Katie was 1 1/2 Heather has never been by herself and away from the children for more than a night, if that. We decided that 6 1/2 years of exceptional mothering deserved a little break. So we arranged for her to go to Orlando for a week to visit her sister. In order to do this, it meant also arranging my schedule so that I could be a full-time stay at home father. Now, I consider myself to be a pretty good father. I do my best to stay extremely involved in my children's life. I cook them breakfast daily, I get up at night to take care of them, and I take advantage of some opportunities to connect with my children that unfortunately other males choose to miss. With that said, what I do pales in comparison to the constant sacrificing that my beautiful wife does on an hourly basis. So here are some highlights from our "Days with Daddy" with a few little lessons learned along the way.

Day #1:

When you are used to living with Sunshine it is hard to feel its absence. As many of you can attest to, having Heather in your life is like living next to the sun. She is full of warmth, compassion, energy, and enthusiasm. I love basking in her light. The only problem is, when she is away from me I have a very hard time functioning, actually as this week can demonstrate, I function fine I just don't enjoy what I am doing as much. I love having her nearby. She, like the sun, gives me, and my family, life. Sensing this, Heather went to the store the day before and bought little presents that would keep us entertained and provide us things to do. One thing you'll notice is that most of our highlights come from the little gifts that she left. Even when she isn't present she still is totally influencing our lives. Thank you Heather for being so thoughtful and caring.

The first day we drained our sorrows in ice cream from McDonald's, went to Katie's piano lessons, and after riding our scooters forever, ate pancakes and eggs for dinner.

Day #2:

After receiving a hint from Heather that the Easter Bunny would be making an appearance at the St. Louis Mills Mall I packed up the kids (my goal was to leave at 9:25, my actual departure time 9:42; it is amazing how much longer it takes to coordinate everything needed for three kids when you are on your own). Since we were running a little late I told Katie that we might miss the Easter Egg hunt and she said, "Don't worry Dad I'll take care of it." She then said the sweetest prayer to Heavenly Father that they could delay the Easter Egg Hunt for 10 minutes so we wouldn't miss all of the fun. What faith. You'll be happy to know that they had arranged it so that only 20 kids could go in at a time and you could only get 1 golden egg and two colored eggs. As a result we were still able to get some eggs. Unfortunately, even though I thought ahead to bring the camera I failed to grab it from the car. But believe me when I say the kids had a marvelous time. They each got a reward for finding a golden egg (a ride on the train and a Desperaux lunch box with a little stuff pet bunny rabbit) and talked about it all weekend long.

First Lesson Learned: Here is my first commentary on society. I was one of maybe two fathers there with their kids. The rest were very loving and very dedicated mothers. However, while I was registering my kids for the Easter Egg Hunt the staff worker commented on what a wonderful father I was for bringing all 3 of my beautiful kids to the event. Now, I love that woman for saying that, for recognizing my dedication, but I wonder how many of those mothers received similar comments. Unfortunatley, my guess is very few, if any. As a father I am easily applauded for anything that I do with my kids (which I don't mind, I soak up the compliments) and yet mothers rarely, if ever, get the same kind of recognition. Instead they get one of two things. Either silence (nobody acknowledges the wonderful work they do because it is assumed that they should be doing it) or they get dirty looks from those people who say in their stares, "why are you having more kids than you can handle." I wish that as a society we could be more vocal with our praise towards our amazing mothers. They are simply incredible in all that they do. Now I readily admit that I am not perfect at acknowledging Heather on a consistent basis and for that I need to change my ways, but please know Heather that I am simply amazed at how you can bring such love and enthusiasm to everything you do. You are my idol.

Next I decided to take them to my office since they never get to see my work. I had two phone calls that I had to make from my office and so we decided to have a picnic on campus. The kids were thrilled. They fished (unfortunately their Daddy is to cheap to spring for a real fishing pole so they had to settle for some weeds from the ground), Baker tried to tackle a renegade aligator that was trying to attack Griffith, and they tore my office apart. All in all it was a great day. To top it off we had homemade chicken parmesan (thanks G.G. for the fantastic recipe), baked potatoes, and freshly steamed green beans (which the kids thoroughly enjoyed).

Lesson #2: Rather than giving the kids something frozen I decided we should have a nice nutritious meal. So I made one of our favorite dishes (yes I made it, no "making it" doesn't mean I took Heather's pre-made meal and simply put it in the oven; I did it all on my own, although I did have to call Heather for a few "pointers"). As I was preparing this I was constantly pinning a button on my nose, secretly hoping that somebody would bust into the house and take a picture of me for the front cover of Father of the Year. Or that somebody would call me and invite me over for dinner (see Lesson #3) and I could say, "Oh, sorry. We are already having chicken parmesan, baked potatoes, and green beans. By the way, what are you having?" I wasn't really feeling that presumptious but I was proud of myself. It would have been so much easier to just throw something in the microwave. And yet, how many days out of the year does my beautiful wife do the exact same thing? Does she get phone calls and photographs? Does she get buttons pinned on her nose? Unfortunately not as often as she deserves. Again, I must do better.

Day #3:

On the third day (after opening kites for our daily present from Mommy) we decided to go to the park and fly our kites. So I throw the kids in the van, called Baker's good friend Nathan to see if I could take him with us (because his mom wasn't feeling great), and we headed to the park. Here is a little video of Katie in action. It was a perfect day for flying kites and playing at the park; the weather was beautiful and it was just windy enough that it wasn't uncomfortable but it was excellent for flying kites. After spending several hours at the park we went home took a little nap and geared up for our evening at the Magic House.

The only causality up until this point was poor little Griffith. He missed his mother so "insanely" that they had to admit him into a padded cell. Luckily, I was able to console him and he was released. His wardons were Katie and Baker. They thought it would be funny to build him a little house. My only concern about this entire week is that I would be enough for Griffith. He has such a special relationship with his mother (as do all of my children) that I wasn't sure that he would find me sufficient. Luckily I think this trip has allowed us to strengthen our relationship and he has done remarkably well.

Day #4:

On Saturday, I made the kids spend five hours at the church watching me play basketball. It was our Stake tournament and we had to win two games that morning to get us to the championship. Luckily for me, we have a very caring woman in our ward that was willing to make sure my kids didn't dive off the stage or do anything destructive while I played. At one point, about half way through the second game, I looked up on stage and here was this amazing woman watching about 12 kids. I couldn't believe how generous, and amazingly patient she was not only with my kids but with the other children that she was "supervising." I owe her a great deal and am very grateful that she was willing to let me play, although both my body, and her to some degree, was probably wishing that we lost that second game. If you are reading this, thank you Tina that was a very remarkable gift. After shopping and returning some long overdue items to the Library we went to a friends house to administer a blessing and then we went to another friends house for dinner. And according to Katie, "it was the best dinner I ever had" although I'm not sure what Mr. Randy did to his hot dogs that were any different than mine. But I digress.

That brings me to lesson #3. Whether I am left at home without Heather and the kids, or as in this case left home with the kids, I always get at least one, if not more, invitations to eat with somebody, either in the ward or from work, etc. I don't think I've ever had an occasion where this wasn't true. Ironically, Heather is left home alone, with the kids, much more often than I am, and she has rarely, if ever, received an invitation to dinner. This is another tribute to these amazing women. I think they take pity on me and do everything they can to make sure I am surviving and yet they realize how capable and incredible Heather is. As such everyone assumes that she doesn't "need the help." While I don't know this for sure, I am pretty sure that this social pattern is not unique to me. Just another interesting commentary on our assumptions about men and women in our society.

Day #5:

After a long day at church (I had the kids dressed and ready for an 8:00 meeting at church followed by our Ward Conference that consisted of an hour and a half sacrament meeting. Luckily I was only asked once by a woman from the stake to politely remove myself, or more specifically my crying child, from the meeting while she volunteered to watch my other children) we came home and relaxed. After much needed naps we built my hammock (another gift from my amazing wife) and enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon. What could be better than this? The highlight was having my little boy fall asleep in my arms as we swayed in the wind. What a beautiful experience, it will be cherished for a very long time.

My final lesson learned is this: I got a very brief glimpse into what life would be like as a single parent and I realized how much I truly take for granted (see all of the previous lessons learned). This experience was no exception. As a single parent, what do you do when you want somebody to take a picture of you doing something cute with your kids? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other small and extremely bigs things like this that make it difficult to be a single parent. They all have my respect. It is not an easy life. One of my saving graces was Katie Pearl, both in this instance and throughout the week. While all of the kids did amazingly well she was especially helpful. In many ways she filled in for Heather, both physically and emotionally. It was interesting to watch how quickly Griffith started to gravitate to her for emotional support and comfort. She always has been, and continues to be, a wonderful big sister to these little gems. I have not doubt that she will easily step into a role that is equally valuable to her future family as Heather is in ours. She will be a powerful and strong mother in Zion (how couldn't she with the role model she has).

In short, although we have survived without "our sun" for several days, we can't wait to be back in her warm glowing light. Hopefully, however, when she does return we will give her the proper respect, admiration, and gratitude that she deserves.

First Recital

2009-03-22T15:29:00.003-05:00

Here is a very short video clip from Griffith's first piano recital. We have him in a very advanced Baby Mozart program. The clip is short simply to wet the appetite. If you like what you see send me 19.95 and I can send you an hour long video of him playing this same song for a very long time.

when I'm feeling blue...

2009-03-07T14:29:00.003-06:00

so today was a sad day. I have been busy with the Ward Activities, sick and had sick kids. And I think I was just feeling low of everything. (You know, without anything in my bucket to give, but with a whole lot of dippers taking). Anyway, something happened with my next door neighbors. (don't ask...I'm trying not to gossip) A misunderstanding of sorts, which ended in the neighbor yelling and cursing at me in front of the neighborhood. I know, I know. I bet you thought everyone loves me. Well, guess what. It's not true. And while I shouldn't care, I do, deeply. And as luck would have it, this happened in front of my daughter. Luckily my husband had just taken Baker inside. But I am so sad. I, having no emotional energy left, just started to cry. Then I got angry. I lied on my bed for awhile sobbing my eyes out and trying to figure out how I was going to put on a happy face for the Ward Activity later tonight. I wanted to shout at the Heavens for letting us move here and having such rotten neighbors (mind you, not all) and why couldn't we move (I know, dramatic eh??). And then I started to go back into my grown up self and figure out how to fix this. And I'm not sure it can be. I do struggle with not liking people to be angry at me. I am trying constantly to think what would God do? And all I can come up with right now is that He would at least be proud that I care. That I am sad over this unfortunate misunderstanding. And that he blessed me with a fantastic husband who knew enough to leave me alone for awhile, simply take a kids on a walk, and later remind me that the neighbor is probably embarrassed about what happened. I know, I am lucky to have him as my partner. okay, I've stewed enough. Time to move on and get happy again. After all, I have a Ward Talent Show to get to. Thanks for letting me vent. Heather

Which teaches more? School or life?

2009-02-19T15:57:00.010-06:00

February 12...Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
Many of you know of our goal to take pictures in front of all 50 US State Capitals. So far we have had a lot of fun traveling around and gathering these pictures. They are at all times of day and night but each has their own story. this is the story of Springfield, Illinois: Land of Lincoln. It just so happens that this year, Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday was celebrated. And I of course, knowing all random facts, realised that this would be the time to visit this capital. The biggest question...should we pull Katie out of school and Andy out of work for this trip? We decided it would be worth the effort and rearranged clients and teacher conferences and set off. The days leading up to it were full of rain but luck was our lady this trip. Off we went in search of Abe Lincoln, another capital and a little education. After all, what's 2 hours in a car? We arrived and decided we might as well get our picture early before the kids got tired. We arrived in time to ring bells with the city at 12 Noon in honor of Abe. Not quite as spectacular as I was envisioning but we rang nonetheless. We toured the capital where we saw lovely visions in hoop skirts. We also got shiny Lincoln pennies that were being handed out. We ate a picnic on the grounds, made prints of the Lincoln statue rubbings that were in the center square and then hurried off to the Presidential Museum and Library. Quite impressive. this was the only thing we payed for all day and it was a blast. They were handing out free youth t-shirts with Lincoln's face and Gettysburg address posters so the kids were excited with all their souvenirs. (Note Katie wearing the t-shirt the rest of the day) The entire city showed their colors in beautiful costumes. They were walking all over town and we couldn't help but take pictures with some of them. I could totally see getting into this if we lived there.

Check out the soldier. They were some of my favorites.

And then we did it, we found Abraham and Mary Lincoln. They looked fantastic. Baker did not want to take a picture and pouted in the stroller. But the rest of us jumped up there. Mrs. Lincoln used the phrase "I declare, Mr. Lincoln..." and I felt that I had stepped back into Gone With The Wind, which you might remember is one of my favorite movies and books.

Later we were able to convince Baker to pose and the Lincolns were kind enough to take a second picture with us.

Then after touring the White House and Log Cabin, we played in the kids room. Baker was so impressed with all the farm animals that would have lived outside the house. All he and Griffith did was play with them. Katie and Andy read a book about why Mr. Lincoln grew a beard (quite the story, you should look it up) and we were all the smarter for that knowledge. Andy and I were interviewed by a news crew about why we had come to Springfield on this important day and we saw several news crews throughout the day filming all the activities we attended. We heard that Obama was in town, but we never saw him. We headed over to see the flag retrieval at Lincoln's tomb next. It was being done by a Civil War Unit and they played some very touching songs. We grabbed the first soldier we could find and hurriedly snapped a picture. Then we over heard them saying that they would close the tomb so we were some of the last ones let in. We quietly and quickly strolled through the tomb and saw his casket and memorial. It was very endearing to be in this hallowed ground for me. To see someone who truly stood for something and despite ridicule and losing half the nation, fought for someone's rights and humanity. You could feel a quiet spirit and reverence in this place. And Katie immediately popped up with who was buried her and why. She seems fixated on seeing the wax statues of Willie dying in the White House. Also, knowing that 3 out of their 4 sons died of illness young in life and then Abe being shot, causes my heart to go out to Mrs. Lincoln. No wonder everyone thought her mad. I would be mad with grief as well. But what a fantastic resting tribute to this great man. Here is the outside of the tomb

They did a 3 gun salute in his honor before lowing the flag. seeing how long it took them to load these guns from the civil war era makes me wonder how anyone ever won a war. It just takes so long...

The ceremony itself only took the 30 minutes, the impact? well, Katie will probably remember the guns as they were loud and she'll remember the uniforms and putting her hand across her heart as the flag was lowered. My guess, the impact will remain with her for life. Now Baker? Well, he'll never forget the startle of the guns and the drums and the music. He may not remember running out onto the field during the ceremony, but we'll remember the experience...

One of the things we had been told was that you were supposed to rub Abraham's nose at the tomb. It is for good luck. I'm not sure where or how this tradition got started, but you could tell that many did it since his nose is gold, unlike the bronze face. But who could resist a little luck? So rub we did... I mean, really...who needs black eyed peas when you can rub a nose?

And to be sure we all have a fantastic year, we got everyone into the act...yes, even Griffith

And the luck never runs out (like these pictures)

The Soldiers were very patient with our children. They couldn't quite decide which soldier was the coolest to stand with and finally settled on the drummers. Specifically the one in the middle. They were such fantastic kids. We were all tired and hungry and they just kept going and going without a fight (or at least a long lasting one.) We tried to revive them with an M&M treat courtesy of the Keetches and that helped. So thank you Keetches.

We hurried once the flag ceremony was done to be able to tour Abraham's house before it closed. At this point the kids were more than a little tired. They slept for the 6 minutes it took us to get there and then we woke them up. we walked into the visitor center to get tickets (free, but required) and walked in on the birthday celebration. Once again, the timing was perfect. And not only were they serving cake, they had platters of cheese and crackers, punch, fruit and veges. All that was needed to revive the family. We also got into one of the last tours. And, to top it off, they had all the children authors there to sign copies of children's books written about Abe Lincoln. And from 4-4:15 they handed them out free to any child in the visitor center. So of course we walked our two up there and got great books that would have cost 25 dollars otherwise. And Katie has been reading them ever since we got home. In fact, it may have sold me on getting the ones about other presidents in the same series since it was so great. Anyhooo...since Katie skipped school, we also claimed one in the name of Griffith that Katie presented to her kindergarten teacher. Then it was off to the ball. We didn't have tickets and they had told us at the entrance that we could come back and be on standby at 5:30. So we headed over thinking that if we didn't get in, we would just go home. But once again, timing was perfect and we were 13 on the list and got in. Katie was very sad when she saw the beautiful dresses that everyone had on. Tell the truth, so was I...but again, the experience outweighed everything and in we went. Here we are waiting in line to get in.

They began the ball with the grand parade in front of Mrs. Lincoln and Abe. This is just a sampling of the ball gowns and uniforms and tuxes we saw.

Katie and Baker also dressed up in the children's section. Katie's face lit up when the museum lady suggested it. And I loved her for it as it made Katie's day...until they told us she couldn't actually wear it and dance in it. I understood and I think Katie did too, but she was sad. You can imagine how many times she told me I would need to make her a dress for next year's ball. There were several children there dressed up. Some looked like they were on daddy dates. It was a very magical evening.

The ball was such fun once the kids got into the dancing and we got over not having the appropriate attire. Baker and I danced the night away (one great reason to have boys!) And Andy helped his little princess across the dance floor.
Even Griffith got into the night and loved watching everything that went on and eating all the fun foods that were served everywhere we went.
The hit of the evening was Baker. In his little Abe hat, everyone oohed and aahed about how attractive he was. There were a few people who even wanted their picture with little Abe at the ball. And after a few promises of cake from us and coaxing from the others, he patiently stood (albeit, not with too many smiles) and posed with beautiful dressed up ladies. One day he'll love the attention he gets from women, but for now, I love that he's all mine (well, and Abbey's :) )
At the very end, they danced a quadrillion (?) and Katie wanted to do it so much that we formed our own little square and tried to copy what they were doing. She kept asking if we could join one of their squares, but lacking the dresses, we just stuck to us. Regardless, it was fun. We left soon after the dance, ate dinner, changed clothes and headed back to reality. Katie still continues to talk about John Wilkes Booth and his jump after he shot President Lincoln and about Willie who died and about how the house reminded her of Joseph Smith's house in Nauvoo. She talks about how he was the President who made it so blacks could be free and wrote the "emanipation proclawhatever." She proudly wore her t-shirt to school and gave a mini report on all that she saw and how she met Mr. Lincoln (not the real one she is quick to add). She gave the class a penny and a book, a poster of the Gettysburg Address and spoke of his courage. Now I ask again...which teaches more? school or life?

Happy Birthday Dear Griffith

2009-02-17T15:53:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to our little surprise. After full on expecting a girl, this little boy has proven what a delight he is to our family. It is his 1 year birthday and he is in for a lot of firsts...
Daddy loves to cook breakfast and here is his tribute to Griffith's first Birthday. And then, after a long day where we were not able to do one thing that was planned, I quickly decorated a Monster Truck Birthday cake (since Griffith loves to steal Baker's trucks).

Then it was song time and blow out the candle time. After Baker's fiasco of grabbing the candle during his first birthday, we learned and held Griffith to prevent any accidental burnings. Everyone got into the act and helped Griffith to make a wish and blow it out.

Griffith didn't really understand the concept of eating this big red monster truck, so instead spent his time finishing of his mother's famous Macaroni and Cheese (courtesy of Kraft)But once he realised how yummy this red sugar love was, there was no stopping him..

The body of the truck went first, followed soon after by anything his chubby little hands could shove into his mouth.

After he was done, he capped it off with a sippy cup of actual milk, which he promptly rested on the cake. Ahhhhhh, to be one and be able to grab fistfulls of cake and shove it in. And not care if we get dirty or fat. Why don't we do that anymore? I bet more people would be happy.

Then at the end of the day, Griffith got to sit in the bubble bath. What a way to end a birthday. Happy 1 year buddy. We all love you.

What an Amazing Man!

2009-02-08T21:32:00.009-06:00

All right! This is killing me. Andy and I had a conversation about why I haven't written the 2 page love tribute to Andy and well....it looks like he beat me to the punch. I have never laughed so hard. So, if you have read this and desired to comment on it, note that Andy wrote this as a joke. And that my love tribute will come at a more fitting time...Heather

I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to publicly thank my strikingly handsome husband for the kind and thoughtful words that he posted last week. He is such a warm and loving soul. I can't imagine life with out him. Not only is he an excellent husband but he is a fantastic father. Case in point. Katie's school was celebrating the inauguration by having a red, white and blue day at school. As a family we decided we would adopt this celebration and decided we would have a red, white, and blue meal at home. As many of you know, I don't particularly like mornings. While I can function if I need to, I'd prefer to have a little time to myself where I can lay undisturbed in my warm little cocoon.

Now I would venture to guess that most of us like this, however, it is only made possible if you have somebody in your life that provides you that gift. For me, that person is Andy. Not only does he help around the house (at least occasionally), but he loves making breakfast. It seems all of the Brimhall men are especially adept at making this particular meal. I believe it stems from the fact that their Dad used to make breakfast for them, especially on special occasions. For all intents and purposes it was their way to bond. Andy has definitely internalized this mantra and made it his own. He had both Baker and Katie cooking pancakes, eggs, and several other breakfast creations by the time they were two. He'd let them crack the eggs, stir the batter, and even at times flip the pancakes. Mornings have quickly become his time to connect with the kids; their special daddy time. So I shouldn't have been surprised when I emerged from my room the morning of the inauguration and found my little family celebrating. Unbeknownst to me, Andy had gotten down the red and blue food coloring and made made three different bowls of pancake batter (red, normal, and blue). Then, using the three different colors, he artistically captured the importance of the day. Katie and Baker were thrilled. They are constantly amazed by their father's abilities (except for the times when he accidentally loses half of the hash browns on the floor because he tried to flip them like the chefs on TV). I too share in their amazement. He is a wonderful father and I am lucky to have such a cherished friend. I love you Andy and appreciate all that you do. In the words of my favorite artist (Rod Stewart): Have I told you lately, that I love you?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

2009-02-01T21:47:00.023-06:00

As many of you know, February 2nd is an important day. First, we all pray that Punxsutawney Phil fails to see his shadow so we can celebrate an early spring. But more importantly, we celebrate the birth of one of the most amazing and beautiful women to grace this planet. And this year, of all years is a special year. My gorgeous wife is turning:

35!

As a way to celebrate her birthday I wanted to write some of the things that I admire most about her.

H-eart: Heather is one of the most kind hearted individuals I know. Whether it is babysitting, making little birthday bags, or just talking to somebody on the phone, there is not a day that goes by where she is not serving somebody in need. In fact, the running joke in the ward is, "How does Heather get everything done?" Some may think she, like my brother, may have had one too many Red Bull's, but the reality is she just has an extraordinarly large heart and she sees, and more importantly feels, the suffering around her and does everything she can to make a person's day better. I think her heart is one of the things that I most cherish about her. E-yes: One of Heather's body features that I love, among many, is her beautiful eyes. A comment that I get on a regular basis is, "Oh, your kids are so lucky because they got Heather's eyes!" I couldn't agree with that statement more. She has beautiful eyes. Not only are they big and beautiful but they sparkle when she is being mischievous or when she is excited. I'm am so glad my children have her eyes. A-cumen:For those of you that don't know, Acumen is another word for wisdom or intelligence. I was trying to figure out how to fit this quality in her name and was happy to learn about this word from the thesaurus. Whether I am using wisdom, intelligence, acumen, or just plain street smarts Heather has all of them in abundance. She knows more in her bones than I know after years of studying books. She is a wise and knowledgeable person. She has such a vast knowledge of so many different subjects it astounds me. As an example, many of you may not know this but she has an Associates in Theatre and Drama, a minor in Zoology, and a bachelor's in Human Development and Family Science. We recently found out that Katie tested at a very high level at school. I'll give you one guess where she got her brain. Although a lot of Katie's intelligence is natural (and Baker's and Griffith's for that matter), they also reap the benefits of having a caring, nurturing mother who spends a great deal of time teaching them. Not only is Heather an amazing intellect but she is a wonderful teacher who is incredibly bright and patient. T-enacity:When Heather wants something, Heather gets it. It is one of the qualities about her that most attracted me to her initially. One of my favorite stories about Heather stems from this picture. This is the night we were going to the hospital to get induced with Baker. Katie really wanted a certain toy from the prize booth. Poppy and I, being the proud males that we are, vowed that we would win her that toy. Several attempts later, and several dollars as well, we came up empty handed. Heather seeing that it was useless to leave a woman's job to a man, got a quarter went over to a machine, and three minutes later came back with a fist full of tickets. At times, it seems the elements even obey her will.
H-ot and H-andy:This first picture is one of my favorites of Heather because I feel like it captures her personality so well. She is a vixen (using the third definition of course because the first is absolutely not true). But unlike most vixens she also is incredibly handy. If there is anything that needs to be fixed, she learns how to do it, and gets it done. In fact the other day I came home and she had a snake out fixing our toilet. What an amazing woman. This second picture captures her ability to take charge and get things done. When we lived in Texas I went on a week long field trip to Monterrey, Mexico. While I was gone Heather went to Lowe's, bought new flooring, and installed it all, by herself, before I returned home from my trip. I was astounded. I knew she was good but that moment cemented in my mind, how good she truly was. I also realized, once again, how lucky I was to marry such a strong, powerful, and resourceful woman

E-xample: As I've grown older and travelled around the world, or at least the United States, I've realized that I truly could not have found a better woman to mother my children. Based on many of the qualities that I've mentioned above, and many that I simply don't have the space to list, I am glad that my children have such a wonderful mother to emulate. She is such a wonderful example to them, and to me, of how to live a Christ like life. If my children, especially my daughter, grows up to be a strong, powerful woman like Heather I am going to be a very happy man. Just one example, of many. As always our children, like most, get into trouble. I know it is hard to believe but it happens. When they fight, they are sent to time-out, but what happens next is precious to me. Heather has taught them to walk up to the person they've offended, square their shoulders and apologize for what they have done. In a society where personal responsibility is dwindling and everyone seems to look for someone else to carry the blame, it is so nice to meet somebody that does not flinch from virtue and good old fashioned morales. I love her for that and know that my kids, in the long run, will be eternally grateful for her amazing example.
R-esponsible yet Rambunctious: As I mentioned above, one of the qualities that come from her good old fashioned morales is her willingness to be responsible. Although comical this picture does an excellent job of portraying Heather in the role that she plays, not only in our immediate family, but also in our extended family. If you can't tell she is running off to set the timer. Heather takes care of everybody and everything, while I generally sit around and wait to be told what to do. She is the glue that holds us together. She often jokes that she wishes that I were more the man of the relationship and that she didn't have to call about bills, or call to get something fixed, and although I think I am improving, or at least taking one step forward for every step back, she is always there to pick up the slack. As a result she often gets the raw end of the stick but the amazing thing is that she rarely, if ever, complains. She is truly a remakable woman. And yet, despite the incredible amount of responsibility that she shoulders she still maintains a zest for life that is closely unmatched. She does things, like wear a nightie to the Relief Society Pajama Party, just to make people laugh, in an attempt to improve their day. I have thousands of other stories where she is the life of the party. She has an electric personality that is contagious. Everywhere we have been people have flocked to her and enjoy being in her presence. She is truly one of a kind.

For those of you reading this post I would like to invite you to share one of the qualities that you most admire about Heather. Please feel free to leave a comment sharing your thoughts and feelings about this awe-inspiring woman. I'm sure, like me, your life has been enriched by your contact with her. My only fear is that she will never truly understand how much she means to me and how much I appreciate all that she does, for me, and more importantly for our children. I should also mention how grateful I am to Dad and Mom Baker for their role in raising such a wonderful daughter. I am truly blessed as a result of living with this woman!

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures of Heather: This shows you how resourceful and willing to do what most would never imagine themselves undertaking. She went on a walk with 7 kids to the park and all of them were under the age of 6.

Finally, I don't know how she does it, but somehow she has found a way to resist my devilish ways. Perhaps she has a superpower that I have yet to discover. Either way, I am very grateful that she tolerates me and keeps me in her life. I am a better man for it. I love you Heather with all my heart.

Happy Birthday Heather

We all love you and are incredibly grateful that you were born into our lives!

church callings

2009-01-26T15:48:00.003-06:00

Now if you are new to our faith, there is one thing that seems to be continuous. That you serve in a church calling. Usually in the same one until you die. Well, Almost. Take me for example. I have been in some form of Church Activities planning for ever. I almost always expect to get this calling at some point. And I love it. I like doing it and it comes easy (unlike Primary Chorister which was a stretch for me). Now Andy has always worked with the youth. In particular, the Young Men. In some form or another for 10 years. Except when we moved to Missouri. It's like the Lord just can't figure out what to do with him. He was in the Bishopric for a few months and then wasn't. He was a Seminary teacher for awhile and then wasn't. He was in the Ward Young Men's Presidency for like 4 months and then wasn't and just recently (say 2 months) he was called to the Stake Young Men's Presidency and as of last night is no longer. They just reorganized the Stake Presidency which meant that Scott Pulley got pulled up to be a councilor. He had been the Young Men's President but with him moving upward, the YMP is dissolved leaving Andy once again with no calling...Would anyone like to hazard a guess what Missouri has in store for him next???

A Bit of Brillance

2009-01-18T22:55:00.005-06:00

This story begins on Saturday morning. As always, Heather and I are trying to convince our children that cleaning the house is a fun and exciting activity that every child wishes they could have. And as always, our kids weren't buying it. Instead my little stow away sat downstairs and invented a game that she could share with her mother and father. It was hard for me to be angry with her when she was being so creative. For those of you that are interested, please play along. If we get enough interest I will be contacting Milton Bradley and informing them that we may have a prodigy on our hands.

Just in case you cannot see the image clearly, the two boxes at the bottom that are labeled "M" and "D" are for scorekeeping purposes. Katie understands how much Heather and I enjoy a good competition. The directions are written along the left side. While some of her spelling is off I am constantly amazed at how much Katie can create and figure out in her own mind, without needing assistance. You'll notice the game even comes complete with a beautiful, maturing tree. So the basic premise of the game is this: you take the little red drawing at the top, which represents the top of an acorn, and you try to figure out which drawing on the right accurately completes the picture. This is probably the third or fourth game that Katie has created from scratch, without any prompting. I'd love to see the inner workings of her mind because some of the things that she does fascinate me. Needless to say, at times I have a hard time keeping up with her intellectually. Luckily, I think she will take after her mother in that regard!

(Thank you Andy for that fun post and as her mother may I just add a little bit of news regarding Katie? She was asked to take an IQ test at school. Based on her score, we now know she takes after...drum roll please....both of us of course. She is brilliant and has been placed in the talented and gifted program. She is indeed a smarty. My miracle baby that we weren't supposed to be able to have, one who was born early, had many doctors working with her to walk and talk and I remember being so proud that she could say moo when she turned two. Way to go and show us all!!!)

and it will all be coming...

2009-01-06T15:32:00.009-06:00

I have been so busy at the end of 2008 that nothing has been documented. (lament, lament). But never fear, the big update will be coming shortly. So stayed tune for...fishing with the Deppongs, Halloween with the Kneses, The Ward Fall Festival (my calling as Ward Activities Director) the Ward Christmas Party, Katie's Class parties (Halloween and Christmas...though you can't call them that), Cats the musical, Thanksgiving with the inlaws and friends, visiting with Shelby and Jim, fun pics around the house, our annual Christmas devotional with the Goodmans and Keetches, and then our fabulous trip to Florida for Christmas...Thanks for allowing me this major backlog of pics, Love to all, Heather

At Katie's class party this year I came dressed as a witch. We hunted up all the ingredients to make a witches brew that the children then ate. It was so much fun and the kids really liked it. here were all the ingredients that went into the brew...

For Halloween this year, Andy went to AAMFT conf in Tennessee. So we were on our own. Left we despair, the Knese's stepped in to be our official Grandparents of the evening. They came, carved our pumpkins, walked the stroller with Griff inside and allowed me to trick or treat with my children. Thank goodness for extra grandmas and grandpas when the real ones are so far away and miss out on so much... Griff was a tiger this year because it was the warmest thing we owned. Although Halloween was such a hot day he really didn't need the extra warmth.
Here Linda carves our pumpkins and hands out candy.... She even came prepared with her own knife in her purse. Is that dedication or what. She then took the seeds home and cooked them for us. Could I get any luckier???
Katie making witches brew from her class party.
Bro. Knese walking Griff in the stroller during trick or treat time. and below are all the neighborhood children who joined in the fun... note that this year Baker wanted to be a moth. He pronounced it mop all evening much to the amusement of anyone who asked what he was.

Katie caught the biggest fish, the smallest fish and a crayfish (or crawfish?). This is her largest catch for the day. It is sad that her poppy lives so far away since I always imagined this to be his job. But luckily there are several grandpas in our church family who are willing to step in. Here Ollie Deppong steps in to teach Katie how to fish. He was very patient with both her and Baker. Especially since Baker really only wanted to throw rocks in the pond.
Not only was her our worm baiter, he was the official fish remover. Ollie and his lovely wife Debbie took us out when Andy was out of town. What a great way to spend a weekend alone with the kids. Inviting others to help entertain them.
Here we are trying to get a fish. I was determined and actually caught quite a few little ones.
And speaking of little, here is the smallest fish we caught. Looks like it could be in a fish bowl.

Griffith after scavenging on the floor for any food at all... Katie's unique way of traveling with Griffith when no one is watching....
Griffith eating the food he dropped previously from his high chair...
Fishing with Debbie...what a treat this was for us

Ollie showing us how to put worms on the hook (and even after all his showing, he was the only one who did it. I couldn't bring myself to inflict pain on the worm and Katie only liked to get them...so he continued to be our official worm hooker.

If you pray, they will come

2008-12-12T17:19:00.003-06:00

Just announcing that Shelby and Jim are indeed taking a job in Cape Girardeau. They will be one and a half hours away exactly. From start to finish. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. Except to add that my parents have announced they will be coming too. As soon as we find them a job :). But my dream of having family close is coming sooner than I ever imagined. I'm so excited I could pee my pants (good thing we know an extra special Keetch doctor for that kind of thing!) Anyway, have a happy exciting moment on me! My life just improved by leaps and bounds.

Have you ever been this tired?

2008-12-05T14:34:00.008-06:00

So the other day, Griffith was sitting up and chatting to me and then in one instant he simply laid his head on the floor and fell asleep. Could you imagine bottling that up for all the insomnia patients? I know I have often felt this tired but am amazed at children's ability to sleep wherever they find themselves, whenever they need to. What an adorable little man! Of course, I guess that same reaction returns to you as you get older, just pay attention to any high priest in your ward the next time you attend church!

Baker Turns Three!!!

2008-11-30T20:34:00.006-06:00

Happy Birthday Baker. These are out of order, just blame my late nights of no sleep! e of you who remember Katie'sy, you will not be surprised that Baker decided he needed to have a special birthday party too. Unfortunately, his birthday isn't until right before Christmas, so we decided to have an early party so that his best friend Abbey could attend.
Here is the after take of all his gifts

The special hot dog cars that his daddy, Andy made all the kids for lunch

The kids all racing their race cars into the cozy cone hotels

Now what we were thinking inviting 14 little 2-4 year olds to drop off party, I'm not sure. But what fun chaos we enjoyed for the 2 hours...

And of course, no Racecar "Speed" party would be complete without the ever lovable Lightning and Mater... Can't have the party without the cake. This was my attempt at a Lightning cake. I actually think it came out pretty well. Not a food Network challenge cake, but not bad... it

Baker attempting to tip tractors with his car... This was a hit game during the party. Can you feel the excitement now? A bunch of 2-4 year olds with permission to knock down any tractor they can?

am I a Smith?

2008-11-23T19:49:00.003-06:00

so here's my funny story of the night. I felt that I was sitting in the Smith household listening to Matt and Missy...

it goes something like this... We are at dinner and had just sat down to a salad (Matt B would be proud) when Baker jumps up, announces that his belly hurts, grabs his hiney and runs for the toilet. Now two year old little legs can only go so fast so I quickly follow (did I mention he's potty trained?). You can stop Reading here if TMI gets in the way of you enjoying a good story.

So, I hate bathroom stuff. I pee and well, do everything in the bathroom alone. I don't need help, I don't need conversation, I don't need anyone looking and comparing notes. This is, I might add, different than my in laws who all love to sit and chat together, in the bathroom. So I quickly sit back down to enjoy my dinner once Baker's on the toilet. After a little while he announces that he's done pooping. I said, great, your dad will be right in to wipe you.

Andy takes a big bite of food and heads in. Now, when it's me, I simply bend the kid over, wipe and flush. But oh, not so when Andy's involved. He makes comments. So I'm eating and listening to a running commentary of ...."wow, Baker. good thing you made it. that's alot of poopy. did you get it all out?" at which point, Katie then decides she needs to join in and see this poop. So off she runs and the conversation continues. "Would it have fallen out on the floor if he had pooped in his underwear?" Katie asks. At which point I can only imagine Andy and her both looked and I heard "ummm, well not that kind of poopy, good thing he made it" and then it continues but I'll spare you the details. I had a good silent laugh that this was our dinner conversation. Andy tried to save it later with a brief catch up of what Katie's teacher taught her in Sunday school, but looking back, my kids are going to remember the time they discussed poop and who had the longest one. Is there an award for that? Because my husband actually took a picture of Baker's the other day. (and tempted as I might be, I won't put it on here) Oh my...HOW DID I END UP IN THIS FAMILY????

Good thing I love them. Heather

long lost Katie

2008-11-07T15:10:00.002-06:00

So this picture was sent to us by our

dear relatives who live in Utah. It made me smile to think of how tiny Katie was. And this was probably 2 weeks after she was born. The memories of little Kate who never says "you're the meanest mommy" and stomps and slams doors and gives me the angry eyes. Ahhhhhhhh, yes....deep breath, look back and remember that one day, when they are in the temple getting married, she will not be shooting me angry eyes...and it will all be worth it!

The beauty of leaves

2008-10-16T19:59:00.004-05:00

As always, I am loving the growth of this beautiful child I was blessed with. How could you not look at this perfect child and not believe that God designed him? What a doll. Can you imagine our next one? They only seem to get better... After all this time, we still are Texans at heart!

Here he is, enjoying the great weather, the wonderful photo shoot and lots of leaves.... leaning up on a huge pile from our house
As Katie throws leaves all over him...
more than a little bored of mommy's endless fascination with snapping photos.
that's all folks, see ya next time!

A New Do

2008-10-15T17:33:00.004-05:00

After much tribulation and many screaming matches over tangled curls, Katie got a hair cut. What began as a disastrous Mullet was soon corrected. She now has what she self entitled "Wig Hair" like Grammy's hair wig :)

Please Pray with Me

2008-10-09T22:27:00.005-05:00

For a few years of my life, there was only one man who occupied the spot of best of everything for me. He was sent from Heaven to be my angel when I needed it most, he was there to guide me through many hard nights, help me through a gazillion DTR's and would just play in the most honest sense of the word. He was one of my best friends. He occupied a spot in my heart that is still realistically his (and for those that worry for Andy, don't...Andy loves him just as dearly). He picked out my fantastic husband for me and danced the last dance in my wedding video with me. He was my love. Pure and simple. And he is suffering.
His wife was just diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Her name is also Heather, and Andy and I had the privilege of spending time with their family when we drove through Colorado this summer. She just gave birth to their third baby and she couldn't be a better match for my dear friend. I can not imagine how they are coping, but I believe in miracles. I believe in God's will. And while His faith is struggling, I ask you to join with me in prayer for them. Pray that no matter what happens, He will have the strength to survive. Eldon and Heather, we love you and hope the angels are around your little ones and you tonight, holding you up.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/heatherkartchner

The day has come...

2008-09-30T17:15:00.008-05:00

Thanks to the hard work of my husband (and lots of sacrifices on his part), the clever way I've saved money (like making us eat food past the expiration date much to Andy's dismay or cutting my own hair as my friend LeAnn mocked me for this morning), many nights of not eating out when Andy was dying to go to Roadhouse, Andy's incredible brother who has advised us and ran a marathon to boot :), fasting and praying for the ends to meet up when they didn't seem to, family members who have spent money on our behalf or sent it to us when it was needed, serving the Lord and using our incredible talents to bless the lives of others with the money he has blessed us with (like feeding the missionaries, donating to worthy causes and making meals for those who we feel need it), Instead of dates meaning dinner and movies (in who knows how long) we were content with long hikes, sitting in the free seats at the Muny, missing Wicked at the Fox, etc..etc..I could go on... IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!

Tonight we made the final payment on our final student loan. We still have other debts to pay, but for once, during General Conference, we can listen to the get out of debt talks and feel confident that the Lord has blessed us in so many ways to make this happen.

A Mammoth of a Party

2008-09-13T19:30:00.005-05:00

Every year about this time I think...do I really want to do another theme party? And yet, every year I send out the invitations, plan and prepare and swear this will be the last year. But here we are again, almost a decade of theme parties to our name with a giant Mammoth ready to be killed in our back yard.Andy and I set up most of the games and the backyard and it seemed like it was going so well. I sent Andy off to play Volleyball and I went to the store for last minute items for the games and then spent some time praying for the rain from Gustav to hold off long enough for us to have the party. And my prayers were heard.
The cave men and woman arrived in true Caveman Spirit. We had everything from archaeologists, to silky leopard jammies, to the couple dressed as Geico business cards. From the geico caveman himself, to the Flintstones and the Rubbles. And as always, I'm reminded of how much fun adults can have when they let down their hair and let loose for a few hours. The teams were made, the laughter commenced and the memories began...And another year is done...and who knows, perhaps next year we'll do it again.

I apologize that from here on out the pictures will get darker, but I didn't account for it getting so dark, so soon. Here the contestants had to eat a chicken drumstick down to the bone and then try to chuck it into a red ladybug sandbox. You might think this sounds easy...but the bones were slippery and bounced quickly out...some never even came close to going in. I always tell Andy that we never get pictures of me since I am always running the show and then taking the pictures. So this year Andy took them and while he got some of me, we didn't get any of him. When will we learn?
Passing the Neanderthal skull around in our version of Hot Potato was a hit. I never saw those heads go flying more than when these adults thought they might end up with them and get out. It was fierce (perhaps only to be rivaled by our Musical Flower game at The Ugly Bug Ball when Andy's sister tackled a pregnant lady to get one of the last remaining spots).
Here is our hairiest chestiest Caveman throwing his spear through the Mammoth's Belly.
And here is our littlest caveman who decided that he didn't want to be with the babysitter watching Ariel's Mermaid New Beginning and so crashed the party repeatedly.

Fred stood out as one of our most cartoonish caveman. Along with his wife, Wilma (Amy), they reminded us why we loved being kids. The Parks have decided to move to Oregon. They will be missed for more than their ham :) ! We have enjoyed being around this zany duo who love to do just about anything we can dream up and never complain. We wish you the best of luck
Here is our archaeologist taking her turn at spearing the mammoth. Go Cathy. The celebration dances commenced with every style and action known to man. Who was I to judge what was the best. They were all unique and fun.
I wondered though with this team as they dragged their woman off the stage...

And as all cavemen will be cavemen, one team tackled and dragged out Trent Sigler and then did their hunting celebration dance with him being the catch.
In the darkness, the team members competed to draw the most items from the primitive caveman pictograph that was drawn on the cave wall overlooking the food. The we had what I considered to be the hardest game. The teams raced to put together a puzzle which told them to go to the dinosaur sandbox to uncover eggs. Once the eggs were open they struggled to put together a dinosaur without speaking...well, they were allowed to grunt. And as LeAnn, Brianna and Amy showed us, their grunts could be quite loud, quite primitive and definitely got the point across that someone was standing in their light. Definitely not an average submissive cave woman!
Here our resident daddy Caveman looks on while debating if he should grunt his wisdom to help this team along. After all, the Elder's Quorum leader stole the other eggs, lied about it and gave them a slow start :)
And when all was said and done, only one caveman was left. Our tribute to the modern age. One caveman who just couldn't understand why his cave woman was grunting so much about this task...until he tried to do it himself. What a fun night!
then the party ended and the backyard became just a backyard once again.

Men with their power tools

2008-09-13T18:52:00.005-05:00

The day started with Andy saying "What? You want me to cut these down?" But yes, alas the trees were moved to make room for the cave man party. These beautiful natural trees that have fallen and grown over with vines and poison ivy are coming down. So how exactly do we do this? We call up our dear friends Dave K and David A and they arrive with eye wear, power tools and the ability to jump fences (Dave never ceases to amaze me...).
And the boys go to work. A few pina coladas later we have a wonderful walkway.

so as I did my part, note I wasn't invited into the whole power tool aspect, I was the leaf picker upper....anyway I began to scream as something slithered through the pile I was picking up. I'm not much of a screamer, but I was impressive. Even the next door neighbor came over to See if I was okay. Now after saving my poor little bunnies that got flooded out (see previous posts) you would not expect what I did next. I quickly told Andy to get a shovel and take care of it. And my manly husband did just as I asked. Off came the snake's head and several body parts. Actually, I was upset that we killed this creature and yet oddly fascinated that despite having no body parts connected, he continued to slither and move for several moments.
And finally, it was just good ole weed whacking time. Down came all the bushes (formally known as tall spindly weeds gone wild) and lo and behold,
We could once again get to Katie's house. Not bad for an afternoon of fun and hard work...off to the pool we go.

I spy, with my little eye...

2008-09-13T18:43:00.003-05:00

One of my daughters favorite pastimes in MO is to collect frogs. While we slave away at making the Garden a bliss complete, the kids quickly scamper up and catch anything they can get. So far, we have hosted frogs (including one that sat in my nephews pocket until it was washed in the laundry machine...a story for another time but sadly did not end well for the frog, or my nephew), blue tailed skinks, and not to mention a few snakes... Once these treasures are found, they are always quickly brought up to me and I assess whether they can observe them for a while. I have found the solution being an old outdoor planter that is so high they can not escape, but on the ground so we can all enjoy their antics. Of course I allow observations for only a couple hours and then the animals must be let go. I can't let them be apart from their froggy mommies and daddies can I? But on this particular day, Katie and Baker were very successful so I agreed to document their finds...so how many did they find? Is your eye good enough to tell? You can double click on the image to enlarge it.

A fun dinner

2008-09-07T19:44:00.008-05:00

Today we invited over a family whom we've long admired. At the last minute I also agreed to drive my good friend to the airport. And then Andy told me he had to go collect fast offerings. So I rushed home from church with all my kids and Baker's best friend Abbey. Fed them, layed them down for a nap and then ran around to make dinner. We didn't have the bread or tomatoes I needed and Andy didn't feel that the ox was that much in the mire, so with no real time, we hurried and made our own baguettes, borrowed tomatoes from the neighbors garden, cooked the chicken, measured out the rice, jumped in the clean car (thanks Andy) and headed off to pick up my friend. Left instructions for Andy to clean the house (which he did fantastically well, Shelby would be proud of his company cleaning) and directions for all the food. Ran to the airport and arrived home minutes before our guests arrived. Quickly threw dinner together, steamed the veggies while we ate everything else and began to talk with this fantastic family. And guess what? This classy woman said she reads my blog. So I'm thinking I need to step it up a bit. But seriously, how about that for validation? Sometimes it turns out that people you think are fantastic and wonderful and beyond approach are just well, normal. (well, not really, they still are the "jocks" and we're still the "chess" people) but really, they are amazing.

And they continue to be among the ranks of those I could learn so much from.

Today I am satisfied being myself and who I am. Baker and his little friend Abbey had massive breakdowns in Sacrament meeting over a half of a crayon, (which was great because Brother Keetch stood up and said in his testimony how children, even if they are crying, are music to his ears. Not missing a beat Andy stood up and said, "If Brother Keetch thinks crying babies are music to his ears than my family provides him an entire symphony. After that, no one could really say mean things to us). Katie learned a new little "angry eyes look", Griffith decided to cry throughout my caveman theme party instead of being with the babysitter, Baker taught the nursery kids that Jesus wants to eat them, Katie slammed her door so many times and told me what a rotten mom I was all week because I make her do homework, I drove a great friend to the airport and then drove away with Baker screaming he missed his best friend and wanted to be with her instead, cried myself to sleep after a minor breakdown earlier in the week, BUT, I also got to experience the power of the priesthood as my best friend and most comfortable other, who I would trust with every low point of my life (aren't I truly lucky?), gave me a blessing and I was able to feel the comfort and power and protection of the Lord and for a moment was completely enveloped in safety. And for that...I would serve any way I can. So for all of you who have asked me this week how I do what I do? This is how and this is why. For those moments when the spirit gives back peace and safety. And that comes through putting yourself out there and serving even when you don't see how you can keep going. And the sad thing is, I realistically could do so much more.

Griffith is eating!

2008-09-04T12:59:00.003-05:00

So Griffith has finally joined the ranks of eating children. This is in memory of his first meal.

Hello Kitty! Katie has turned 6!

2008-08-31T15:26:00.005-05:00

So what would you do if your daughter decided that instead of the Tinkerbell party she'd planned on, she suddenly decided that Hello Kitty is the "new theme?" I assume you'd do like I did. Send your husband off on a marathon of late night volleyball games with the "boys" while you painted larger than life Hello Kitty and Friends. Then after dropping the paintbrush a few times and leaving black freckles across her face, and then trying to wipe them off, creating black smudges, you'd paint the Kitty white as well to hide the mistakes.
You'd wake up early on her birthday (like her daddy) and create her dream Hello Kitty pancake, complete with whip cream and cherry bows and perhaps even use food dye to make long whiskers...which in turn created a lovely blue teeth effect for school.

then you'd create Hello Kitty dream house land and take a million pictures of your beautiful daughter with the new decorations. And of course, you'd dress everyone up like Hello Kitty (note the ears, whiskers and yellow noses)
And why stop at just the family. You'd dress the entire party up with kitty ears and noses. After all, how else can you be Hello Kitty's friend?
And what do little kitties do once they are dressed up? They lap milk out of saucers of course.
And what party would be complete without gifts? Katie couldn't wait to tear through the tissue and pull out all her wonderful surprises. (don't you love all the flowers hanging from the ceiling? They are still up and it creates such a magical effect)
And nothing completes a party like a cake. And with an almost all white cake, I bet you can guess what part all nine girls wanted. Well, except for Katie who wouldn't be turned from the prospect of eating an Oreo eye.
So here Katie makes the wish. She tells me later int he van that she isn't sure she believes wishes come true if you don't tell anyone. I reply "that's true. sometimes you have to tell so others can help you make them come true."
Do you know where this is headed? My curiosity gets the best of me all the time and this is no exception. I explain that if she tells me her wish, perhaps I can help make it come true. And of course, I'm thinking she wants a little sister or a different toy. She looks up at me those trusting 6 year old eyes and says...as her face lights up with joy...."Awesome. I wished for a real fairy to have as a pet. I can't seem to find any, but I'm sure you can help me!"

I was silent for a moment....and then said nothing. After all, who doesn't want to have a real fairy as a pet. I sense some grand hunts in the future.
So after all is said and done...wouldn't you do the same to bring joy to your now six year old? How life flies by.

Wanting more

2008-08-20T18:01:00.005-05:00

So this is a blog of just Heather's personal thoughts. Feel free to skip if wanted. A few months ago I found myself in a state of total unenjoyment. I wasn't as excited over life, I wasn't challenged and I was slipping into a drifting spiritual pattern. It was unlike my happy side and I was wondering what to do about it. I knew I didn't like who I was becoming and I wanted to show my children that a mom was something worth being. So what to do? With a therapist as a husband one might think it's easy to get my own therapy and help myself, but it simply doesn't work like that.

So I began my own quest. I could find the perfect moment in my life (the one where everything is perfect...weight, friendships, testimony etc..) but how to get back to that feeling. then I found myself picking up one of Andy's therapy books. He always has some laying around. And that did it. I remembered who I am. Who I could be, what my capabilities were. and most of all, I realised...it's okay to be who I am. So I have a little extra on the thighs. Who cares. I can move, jump, leap and hug and wrestle with my children. So I don't have grand conversations with the Dahlia Lama. Who cares. I have the world handed to me everyday in the most simplistic verses from my children who love to live. So I don't have all the money to go on every trip. Who cares. I can get in my car and drive minutes away to our makeshift beach and swim in the river with all the friends in the world I could possibly imagine. So I don't get invited to everything that happens with my friends. Who cares. After all, lets face it, I create half the things we do and they are things I want to do and deep down I know people love me, we just all need to branch out every so often. So I don't get a million comments on my blog (this is for Andy). Who cares. There are so many people who read them and think, look at that great family. I don't need it to be written because I know they think that and that they would write that if they had the time. We can't base our self esteem on it. But lets face it. they're busy. I'm busy, we're all busy with our own lives. So my family isn't around me. Who cares. No really, lets face it. I do care a great deal about that and am working ever so hard to make sure we are around family. You can't survive in a world without family who loves unconditionally. And mine does. My sister is my best friend and my crazy loveable parents would do anything they could to make life happier and more fun. Afterall, who else would letterbox with me in snow and rain to find a lemony snicket?

I read somewhere a quote about how the world is like a box of crayons. We are all different colors, some pointed, some dull, some with scuffed up papers, some with funny names, but we all work together to make a complete picture. That's it. That's the secret

You can enjoy just for the sake of it. It is up to you. Now this book changed my life. Did it make it perfect? No. But I'm learning and accepting and going out everyday loving that I live, that I breathe, that I can love myself. That I just don't care about every little imperfection. Does this give me the excuse to do nothing to better myself? No. But it gives me the right to look someone in the eye who wants to degrade me, call me a jerk, hate me, thinks my body isn't perfect and say to them "I don't need it. I am okay. In fact, more than okay. I'm perfect for being here. For fighting. For being a powerful woman and for doing what needs to be done. whatever that is at the time of my life." I challenge you to enjoy life as well.

my big (little) Griffith

2008-08-20T17:27:00.004-05:00

I went to take Griffith into the DRS for his 6 month appt. And here he is. Off the charts in both height and weight (a whopping little bit at 12lbs 5 oz) and a new little hernia in his chest they want to surgically take care of. I had to laugh. All my children are small, all have hernias and all one day reach the stage where the DRS wonder if I ever stop feeding them. What a roller coaster it is to try and appease every doctors opinion. My opinion is this, take a look at this perfect happy little boy and fall in love with him like we, his family, have done! This is his little old man smile. One of my favorite looks.
Here he has finally discovered his tongue. Now he never puts it back into his mouth
So click on this next picture (that makes them all big in a new window) and take a look at those beautiful baby blues!
this is the "are you ever going to feed me?" look
tall and proud

so he doesn't look super skinny till you see the wrinkles that have no fat in them on his back. look how strong my boy is!
the I love you lookseriously, how can you resist. No wonder no one ever says no to the boys in my life :)

Meet the teacher

2008-08-19T14:46:00.005-05:00

Here is Katie with her new Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Dashman. She originally started with another teacher, but knowing how bright Katie is and that this teacher got rave reviews, Andy and I met with the principal and switched her. I am so happy I did. This teacher has really stepped up to the plate with our super smart kiddo and is working with us to further her brilliance (can't say I'm biased huh?)

She has great plans in store and is having Katie work on her very own book to read to the class and is wanting to stretch Katie with having her write notes and leave them i books i the classroom. The reason being that when someone picks that book to read, they will find the note from Katie telling why that is her favorite book, or a question that Katie has written about it and then they will either read the book and tell Katie the answer, or Katie will read it to them and they will discuss it. My very own little daughter book club. Meanwhile I continue to home school to supplement what she is learning.
Katie rode the school bus and boy was she excited to go. Baker was sad until a kind bus driver took pity on him (helps that he has a cute face, a high voice and that no one ever says no to him :) ) But the bus lady let him ride along with Katie. Sitting next to his sissy was a huge deal and he fell in love with school.

the first days of school, the end of freedom

2008-08-19T14:43:00.004-05:00

So here it is, The time I have been dreading, but loving for my little girl. Her first day of a much delayed start in life. Kindergarten. She was so excited and we hurried and put on her new school clothes, did her hair, ate breakfast, made her first lunch and put it in her new school lunch box, got everyone else ready and we were off.

Of course Baker couldn't be left out so he hurried right along with his sissy to her classroom.

Here she is coming home after the long day. We jumped in the car and headed off to an ice-cream parlor to get the full the scoop of how the day went. After asking every question we could think of she finally told us these words of wisdom. "Mom, they don't challenge you on the first day. It's only about rules." Sort of like life here, huh? You learn the rules and then come the challenges. How she teaches me and amazes me everyday!

the bunnies have come

2008-08-17T12:04:00.004-05:00

we were watering our little garden when I made the mistake of asking Katie to turn off the water. And then Andy made the mistake of not checking if Katie turned it off. Hours later, there it was, a flooded back yard swamp. Andy went to mow the back yard and luckily (or at least our form of luck) our mower completely broke down right before he mowed over this little family of bunnies that had made their homes under our garden. With the water flooding them out, these new little babies had crawled (or floated) out of their home and were shivering in the tall green grass. Once I saw them, with their little eyes not yet open and shivering bodies, I knew I was in trouble. Not that I am a fan of bunnies, and definitely don't want them for pets...but I couldn't bring myself to kill them or call Randy over (our resident bunny do awayer person...who though we don't quite know what he does, the bunnies never come back). So I gathered up my rubber gloves, a box of grass clippings and made them a new home.
Katie got into the action and after I dug a little hole in the ground in the forest behind our house, Katie and I placed all the little bunnies there hoping the mother would sniff them out (or that nature would help them...knowing that coyotes would get them if nothing else) but regardless, I did what I could to ensure that they were given a fighting chance. Poor little things.

I'm not sure...

2008-08-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

but my guess it that I have the most fantastic husband in the whole wide world!!!

What a Ride: It's been TEN-sational!

2008-08-12T12:46:00.006-05:00

Pardon the pun in the title but my creativity has been severely stunted lately. I think it is due to the lack of sleep (which I blame on the kids waking up several times during the night but in reality is due to the fact that I keep staying up late to read a few more pages in Breaking Dawn). Any how, yesterday I had the amazing opportunity of spending my tenth wedding anniversary with the woman of my dreams. I still pinch myself occasionally to make sure that I'm not dreaming. She is a woman who you simply can't describe. Those of you that know her, know what I am talking about. Any adjective that exist in the English language doesn't quite capture how truly remarkable she really is. I definitely have a wonderful life!

I decided that as a token of my love and devotion I wanted to post some pictures of our life through the years; from the crazy stay-up-until-four-in-the-morning-because-we-just-didn't-want-to-leave-each-other's-presence days to the we-can't-stay-up-past-10:30-because-we-are-old-fogies stage. Each picture deserves a little explanation and a tribute to some of my wife's most cherished qualities.

Beautiful

Need I say more. This is one of my favorite pictures of us, except for my crazy face. Heather should of known then what she was getting in for and ran the other way. Luckily for me she had a minor lapse in judgement.

Adaptable

For those of you who don't know, our wedding cake crashed the night of our reception. Most women, in response to this crisis, would have felt their night was ruined and been very disappointed with the outcome. Heather, however, responded very differently. After the initial shock wore off she got her impish grin and laughed it off. I knew that night that I had made an excellent choice.

An Amazing Ability to Multi-task

Here we are dancing, posing for a picture, and cutting cake. She can do it all. In the amount of time it takes me to clean one room she can watch three children, clean the rest of the house, and sing and dance at the same time. I don't know how she does it.

Intelligent

Heather is one of the smartest people I know. She knows more in her bones than I could ever learn from books. She is truly gifted with an amazing ability to learn and digest information. A good example of this? Her degree in Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Zoology, not to mention her associates in Theatre. Talk about balance.

Kind and Loving

I have yet to find a person in the world that Heather is not willing to help. They may have scorned her a day before and yet she is willing to rearrange her schedule to help them in their time of need. I am perhaps the biggest beneficiary of that kindness. I wish I had that level of love.

Supportive

It would have been impossible for me to obtain any of the achievements that I have obtained with out the support of my beautiful wife. They say behind every good man is an incredible woman. Never before has a statement been so true. I would have very little if it wasn't for Heather's love and support.

Creative

Whether it is a lady bug cake, a theme party, a ward activity, a dinner for a sick neighbor, Heather approaches life with a creativity that is unmatched. During our ten years of marriage I have often said that Heather has the Midas Touch because everything she touches turns to gold, including her husband and her three beautiful children.

Frugal

I knew I married the right woman on the night this picture was taken. We were starving students at the time and a booth at the California fair was handing out free packages of veggies with dipping sauce. We asked, "How many can we take?" They said as many as you want. I didn't think they would anticipate that we would clean them out. But Heather knows a good deal when she sees one. We had snacks for years to come. This frugality continues to shine as we "mine" our neighbors belongings for things they've outgrown.

Adventurous

Heather will go anywhere and do almost anything. It is wonderful to have such a vivacious woman at your side. If you can't tell those hats are stingrays.

Party Planner Extraordinaire

Heather throws the best parties in the world, enough said.

Beautiful

I know I've already used this one, but she doesn't need a prom dress and a fancy hairdo to be beautiful. I mean who else makes levi's, a hoodie, and a winter parka look so good?

Fertile

What is it about graduations and my wife being pregnant? I joke but being able to have children with this phenomenal woman (especially after going through so many years where we didn't think we'd be able to) is the greatest blessing I've ever been given.

Mother

I, nor my children, will ever be able to repay Heather for the sacrifices she makes on a daily basis . Because she is so talented Heather could choose any career and succeed in it, in most cases rising to the top in that profession. And yet, she has chosen to put her imprint where it matters most, three adorable children. Thank you for that sacrifice. I know it often goes unnoticed, is undervalued, and at times feels like it isn't worth it but you improve our world on a daily basis.

Ingenuity

Many of you know that I can't fix many things. As a result, my wife has become the female equivalent of McGyver. She can do it all. Look at that van (of course she had some help from her father, who has is fair share of ingenuity). In that case the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Family Centered

Heather is always looking for ways to bring us closer together. This is Baker's first birthday and as always, we are all there celebrating.

Curious

We didn't find out the gender of our third baby. The primary reason: Heather and I wanted to know what it would be like to have that experience. Heather's curiosity is one of the characteristics that is most appealing. I personally think her thirst for knowledge, her ability to serve other people, and many of the other characteristics listed above stem from this wonderful quality. She makes it her business to find out, especially if she doesn't know. What a beautiful characteristic.

In the end, it is hard to believe that it has been ten years. I'm a much different man now than I was in 1998, both physically and emotionally. In a book about Sister Hinckley, President Hinckley was asked if the years had changed his view of his wife. In typical fashion President Hinckley gave a response that has volumes of lessons in it. He said (of course I am paraphrasing with a lot of liberty) that many people use age, and physical changes, as a reason to fall out of love. He countered by saying that why would you stop loving your wife for the very things that made her what she is today. Instead of seeing wrinkles as a thing to dread he saw them almost like battle scars, the very things that proved their life and their love to one another. That is how I feel about my beautiful bride. I love her more today than I ever have. She is more beautiful to me now than ever. Everything she does is centered around enriching the lives of others. I am lucky that she decided to spend her life with me. I hope that I've treated her in a way that she is willing to sign on for another ten!

the big one will always pick on the next smallest

2008-07-27T20:44:00.007-05:00

So here is a typical story of picking on someone that is smaller than you. It begins like this. I announce to Andy that I have once again gone through all his things and have thrown away many many t-shirts. To which he promptly asks for the bag and begins to go through ti to salvage what he can. (which basically means he tries to convince me why he should keep the t-shirts that are ugly or no longer fit or whatever...)

Anyway, he goes through them while I start to get frustrated and list all the reasons why he can't keep all this stuff. He is a certifiable pack rat. Anyway, he is a little miffed. Mean while I have also asked Katie to once again clean her room. If you remember from previous posts, she can't clean without help. But I am resisting as I am in a clean out the closet stage and tell her to just clean it all up. Plus I am trying to prevent the t shirts from landing back in the cleaned out drawers.
In fact I go as far as to tell her (in my best Missy voice) that Mr. Gunny bags will pick up everything in a few minutes if she doesn't put it away So you'll imagine my surprise when 20 minutes later, Katie announces for me to come look and this is what I find. Some sort of trap necklace fairy land (a little like the spider web of mom's string I think...she is so my daughter). so now, not only do we still have a messy room, we have a trap fairy land (which basically amounts to a bunch of bead necklaces that are now tied together) and a pretty proud girl. Well, all that changes in an instant. Andy, after being picked on by his wife, now enters the room with a large garbage bag. He tells Katie that since she has too many toys, he will now go through all of her things and throw stuff away. She begins to cry and insist that she needs all her toys and the reasons why. Andy is ruthless, stuffing the animals and toys in the bag as quick as he can. Andy she is pulling them out as fast as he can put them in. He is getting frustrated and I quietly remind him of a few minutes previously when he was taking out the t-shirts.
Well needless to say...I now have Katie crying, Andy mad, and Baker decided to draw on my wall with a pen. Now I am almost always in control of my emotions and I do not agree with any kind of spanking or corporal punishment, but I lost it. I chucked one of the necklaces that I am carefully trying to unknot at Baker's head. And then my day was complete. Andy is mad at my losing control, I'm mad at my losing control. Baker is crying that I hurt his head (although before you call the police, he is fine) and Katie is crying because her toys are all gone. Ahhh the joys of family life. And after all the rooms are done and I go downstairs for a small break, I return upstairs to find Katie and Baker doing makeup!! oh, you wish you could be a brimhall

A new dresser

2008-07-18T10:17:00.006-05:00

So I am my Father's and Mother's child. Really! They have a big furniture day here where you can set out anything you want, anything at all, and they will come pick it up for free. Well, I happened to notice all sorts of people out "shopping" the curbs and not to be outdone, I loaded up the van and off we went. Andy helped me load this beauty of a 5 drawer dresser into the back of our van, much to his embarrassment (he's not much into junking...as my parents call it), and bring it home. I was looking for something for the boys room, and frankly, who can turn down free.
The big thing is that it was solid wood and very heavy...though in excellent condition. We tried and tried to get this beast to fit into someones closet but it was simply too tall. Andy said it wasn't such a loss since we got it for free, we'd just set it out on our curb. So, while he was in the shower, I maneuvered it into the garage, quickly got out his circle saw, took out the drawers and cut off the top one. (reminded me of my mother who sneakily knocked out a wall in the house that she didn't want because, heck...once the damage is done, you must move forward) I mean, no loss right. If it didn't work, I'd simply set it back out. The dresser quickly went from 5 drawers to 4 and amazingly enough, was now the perfect height to fit in the closet.
(unfortunately I have no before pics as I wasn't sure Andy would be on board with my idea so I had limited time to do this. But you can imagine it if you look at the bottom two drawers and picture them on top) I then flipped it upside down and screwed the top piece back onto the dresser (wouldn't want an untopped on in the closet) and put my muscles to great use.

So now I have a finished, free dresser! Can't beat a little sawing, a little imagination, a little luck, a little hard work, a brilliant woman! and a free dresser!

view from the top

2008-07-16T17:23:00.005-05:00

Here we are taking in the views of beautiful Park City, Utah, via the ski lift. It is taking us to the top to go down the Alpine Slide (thanks again Jeff and Angie). Katie thought this was alot of fun.
Somehow Grammy ended up with just a few in her lift
The gang all ready to slide down
On their way up (with Katie joining in for a second ride)

The Family Talent Show (in 3 parts)

2008-07-10T21:47:00.005-05:00

The night of the Family Talent show was a beautiful day in Park City. The air started to cool off, Jeff and Angie found a perfect stage next to the condos and they even brought out a stereo to make it all happen. Jack (Andy's dad) was the emcee for it and you couldn't have stopped the excitement from the 14 cousins as they all prepared to do their thing. Even Griffith got to perform twice (well, he was the stage prop...but there is nothing wrong with teaching him to appreciate being the tree in future school musicals)
To start the night off, Brinley Smith (belonging to Matt and Melissa Smith), stood up and pulled her shirt up and began the best tummy rolling I have ever seen. It makes you wonder what they do in that Smith house. Because, later on in the show, they then announce that Alayna will be doing her tongue trick. Hmmmm....But back to that incredible belly. I found out that if you click on the picture, it makes it larger in another window. Go ahead...do it. You will never see more muscles move than this little girl.

Family Talent show

2008-07-10T21:34:00.004-05:00

Katie chose to sing a lullaby to Griffith from the movie, The Prince of Egypt Here's Hadley (belonging to Jeff and Angie Brimhall) doing a hula dance
London Brimhall (belonging to Matt and Holly) singing a country favorite
Staley Smith (belonging to Matt and Missy Smith) also singing a lullaby to Griffith (he was a popular boy)
Baker attempting to sing the ABC song but skipping about every 5 letters...so it made for a very short song.

family talent show

2008-07-10T17:59:00.004-05:00

And here comes the Brimhall's interpretation of the Kitty Cat Dance. We performed as an entire family and ended it with Andy giving CPR to the mommy cat - his favorite part I assure you! (Knowledge based on hours of his wanting to practicing this number :) ) oh, the best part...did you notice the ears made of forks? This was all we could find in the short amount of time to make it sem like we were cats) Although in true Baker fashion, I was the only one wearing them!

Boston Brimhall (belonging to Matt and Holly) crooning away. John Travolta can't stop this little girl Alayna (Belonging to Matt and Missy Smith), here she is striking a pose, but what I really wish I had a picture of her tongue trick...alas, some things are just better left to my alzheimers memory.
And you haven't seen talent till Canyon (son of Matt and Missy) crawls under Hyrum's (son of Jeff and Angie) legs. Now what you don't see is the 5 minutes it took to coax him down into doing this trick.

family talent show

2008-07-10T17:24:00.003-05:00

Brooklyn Brimhall (belonging to Matt and Holly) singing Proud to be an American Hadley Brimhall (belonging to Angie and Jeff) hula hooping across the stage
Sidney Brimhall (belonging to Matt and Holly) singing...and amazingly knew all the words, Go Sidney!
The Grand Finale of all the kids dancing and singing (pictured from left to right...Katie, Brinley, Canyon, Baker, Sidney, Cali, Hyrum)
Grand Finale Continued (from left to right...Alayna, London, Canyon, Hadley, Katie, Hyrum, Sidney, Brooklyn, Cali, Boston and Hadley)
Not bad for an outdoor family talent show. We had to beg the kids to come in and eat rootbeer floats, they were just so excited...and as all kids do, kept coming up with more and more talents to share.

and why can't we go?

2008-07-07T21:03:00.002-05:00

On Jeff and Angie's day of the family reunion they decided to take everyone on the alpine slide. We gathered up all the kiddos and giant kiddos (come on Christy) and got into the cars to drive there. We walked up to the base of the mountain where the slide begins. Now at the base there were several other attractions (those opportunists) that the kids thought looked exciting. I mean, who wouldn't? There were bounce houses, trampolines, zip lines, roller coasters and the ever famous carousel that had brightly painted animals. The kids looked at us with innocent faces and begged to ride the carousel. Those owners knew what they were doing when placing a carousel at the base of a mountain. Because, seriously? Who puts things like that on a mountain if not to make money. Anyway, there the kids all gathered. to stare as other kids went round and round and apparently had fun doing it because everyone on the carousel smiled, while all of the Brimhalls looked on, wishing they too could take a spin :)

Family Fear Factor (Reunion Style)

2008-07-07T20:44:00.003-05:00

On the afternoon of our day of planning, we had a fear factor type event scheduled. the family all came, divided into teams and put up with a lot of nonsense all in the name of fun. There was the eat a gummy worm out of whipping cream pie event... Try and find a slimy worm in a batch of spaghetti and then throw it into a cup
(held by the greatest catchers ever found in the team's history (Baker, Hyrum and Sydney)
pass the newly cracked eggs via hands to awaiting cups and have the most intact yolks by the end of 45 seconds
swallowing the worms as fast as she could, Katie was a real trooper
As you can see, this was our kind of fun...and it continued

And the fun continues

2008-07-07T20:24:00.004-05:00

Here is the fiercest competitor of the family fear factor game. Canyon was ready to take on all the cousins...especially Baker who loved to either love him or beat him up! Go figure with little boys! What grand sports on a warm day with ice cold water. Now if only the people on the bottom could actually remember not to pour their cups out once they were full. :)
I think the teams loved the hair and the Cheetos even more. Two thoughts ran rampant...Does it make a difference if the hair is higher or fluffier, and how do you throw the Cheetos, one at a time or the whole handful???
The gang is still in love with each other after an afternoon of competition. Of course, look below, this is what Hyrum thought of not winning :)

Take that Family Reunion!

letterboxing with the fam

2008-07-07T14:39:00.008-05:00

So how the family reunion was set up, is that each of the four families would take a day and organize it complete with food for all three meals. So on our day, we decided to first have a letterboxing mini class. We passed out erasers to have everyone carve on and then hit the trail to find the piggies eating pies series. I had them hidden across the farm trail in Park City.
it was a blast to share this hobby with everyone. Our family has been at it for over 2 years. We have found well over 100 boxes across the nation. We love meeting the people who box, I have enjoyed teaching classes (at the nature center here) and basically love to hike and get to see places we never have known to exist.

My family in Cali rivals us with even more boxes found. Along with several events we have been to. How could we not pass this great hobby on? Matt Smith made us proud as he outran several of the kids to get to the box. There is a man with motivation! After a long hot hike, we headed back for lunch, swimming and then on to fear factor (reunion style)

and out it came...

2008-07-03T18:12:00.003-05:00

For about the last 2 weeks, all we have heard about is the loose tooth. First, Katie couldn't eat because her tooth was loose, then she stopped talking all together as she wiggled and wiggled that tooth. She had several long car trips where all she did was wiggle away. She proudly showed her tooth to anyone who would even glance her way. She had been waiting for a tooth to fall out for many months. And it finally was here. We all asked if she wanted us to pull it out, but no, she always said not to. The came the reunion. Her cousin Brooklyn had hr mom pull her tooth out and it was too much pressure. One look at Aunt Holly and she caved. Aunt Holly put her perfectly manicured nails (the ultimate tooth grabbing tool) into her Little mouth and told Katie to hold still while she looked at how close it was to coming out. She looked and looked and in the next moment, the tooth was in her hand. Katie's eyes went as big as saucers, but she was so proud. She didn't cry or anything. Of course, we woke all the living relatives across the nation up to share her proud news.
The tooth then went into the little Tinkerbell pouch to await the fate of all little teeth.
And then the surprise. The tooth fairy left a trail of pink pixie dust as she gathered up the tooth and left behind a gold "nickel" and a green dollar. (1 to save, 1 to spend). Katie and her cousins quickly followed the tooth fairy dust to see where it led, but as if by magic, the trail disappeared.
All that was left is my oldest child with a gap in her mouth. She seems so old now. One tooth gone and in the next instant childhood will vanish and she will be an adult. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up and face the harsh reality of real life. Living in the land of tooth fairies and pixie dust seems so much more fun. I wish this time could last forever in my little angels life!
Congratulations my little pumpkin! I love you.

Baker Scott

2008-06-10T09:01:00.006-05:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...enough said! Nothing entices the ladies like this little man.

In fact, on Sunday the nursery leaders pulled Heather aside and asked if she could have a little talk with Baker. Apparently, he's been using his time in nursery to kiss his adorable little friend Abbey. They (the nursery leaders) didn't feel like that was an appropriate way to use church time. The chaperoning has begun.

Introducing Katie Pearl--Dance Star!

2008-05-26T19:02:00.000-05:00

I'm So Glad When Mommy Comes Home!

2008-05-24T18:32:00.007-05:00

Heather and I have a little debate going. One of the things that I appreciate most about Heather is that she does a magnificent job of getting the kids excited for the time when Daddy comes home. She knows that the most fulfilling part of my day is when I walk in the door and my kids run to me, with open arms, yelling, "Daddy's home!"

According to Heather, one area where I don't perform as well as I could is getting the kids hyped up for the rare moments where I am taking care of the kids and she comes home. Her fear is that they will learn to love/get excited for daddy and not feel the same excitement to be reunited with mommy, since she is routinely with them. Consider it a classical example of habituation. I try to calm her concerns by telling her that the kids are just as excited when she gets home and miss her just as much, if not more, than me. It seems our debate around this issue never is resolved, until NOW!

Several days ago I was watching Baker while Heather went to do a letterboxing class at a local event. After checking my email I went to find Baker to see what he was doing to keep himself busy. Much to my surprise, this was what I found when I came upstairs:

For those of you who haven't visited our house (shame on you), this little pink basket holds all of Katie's stuffed animals. The need for Katie to get rid of some of her stuffed pets is another story, but you're talking to the King of Stuffed Pet Collections, a king who didn't relinquish his crown until leaving on his mission. Any how, Baker had pulled out every single stuffed pet so that he could sit inside the basket looking out the window that overlooks the street in front of our house (the window that we affectionately call the "goodbye window" because that is where we all congregate to wave goodbye to one of our family members as they leave our home--another one of Heather's amazing creations). Here the poor boy sat, wailing for his mother to come home. Now, I realize that many of you may be saying, "a wailing toddler is not the same thing as hearing the excited screams of your toddlers as they coming running into your arms" but I submit to you that if we are measuring love this sign of affection speaks volumes. If you are not convinced, I decided to add a little video to support my claim. Granted some of his behavior is effected by the fact that his daddy is videotaping his public display of grief but the gesture still remains. For those of you watching at home, enjoy. And for Heather, please know that you are loved by one and all, but especially by us.

How far would you go?

2008-05-24T18:03:00.004-05:00

So apparently my mother and sister have a little bet going. The other day my sister posted a new blog about Kitty CPR *(see http://www.happyhay.blogspot.com/). Much to her chagrin, apparently, many lavish too much love and affection on their animals. Although she knows of our love (or perhaps for her sake I will replace love with fondness) for our animals she doesn't believe we would cross the line of administering CPR to a dying cat. Well, for all those that have been following the debate here is the official answer:

Should I?

2008-05-24T14:02:00.003-05:00

Wouldn't you look? With a sign like that? And the question remains...what's in there....?

She is the dancing queen!

2008-05-24T10:48:00.004-05:00

Katie signed up for Ballet and Jazz with her best friend Madeline this year. She was very excited and loved to go to dance. Then we found out that there was a recital. Now, normally I am all for performances, having a Theatre background, but the costs of such a production blew me away. It was November, we were saving for the costs of travel and Christmas in California and they said they wanted the money for a recital. Money to cover a dress (60) and then 8 tickets (like we really have 8 people to come) (another 55) and pretty soon, a little minute and a half production was costing us alot of money. So I made the executive decision that we just didn't have it at the time. So no recital. It wasn't such a big deal until the day came when they handed every little girl her dream costume. A lime green polka dot number. And Katie stood there thinking, where's my costume??? So I explained why she wasn't going to dance on stage. She got a little teary but understood. Bless her little heart. Life is just like that. And I will probably be the kind of parent that has to teach disappointment. Because I will give my kids everything. Everything I can get at a goodwill or garage sale. And it isn't going to change. When we ever get to the point that we could afford new things, I would probably still go to Goodwill. I love a good bargain. I love stretching my money, but I digress.

so anyway, Katie's teacher at class allowed us to graciously borrow a costume. In Katie's mind she now was beautiful. It didn't matter that it didn't match, just that she got to be special for her moment. I love my daughter for that. I hope she will always remember that she is simply beautiful because she can accept things, love things and smile.

This is Katie's best friend who just moved to Colorado. How we miss this other part of our family!

Fat Dog!

2008-05-23T15:11:00.005-05:00

In my family, after a particularly good meal, there is an almost overwhelming desire to be lazy. To just sit and veg or even take a nap (think Sunday dinner, Thanksgiving etc...). We have traditionally called this being a "fat dog".

In Andy's family, they don't even get up. Just sort of ooze (from their current state of sitting at the table) from their chairs onto the kitchen carpet where they then lay willy nilly until someone steps on them.

Griffith seems to follow the best of both. After a great feeding, he eases back into his rocker, hikes his little shirt up to maximize the extension of his stomach, and zonks out. Wouldn't life seem a little better if we could only just sleep and rock and be satisfied with who we are and what is hanging out?