Happy 9th Birthday Michael!

The day you joined our family was quite the eventful one! Here I am holding you for the first time. I can barely hold you though because 1. You were heavy. and 2. I had lost a lot of blood and was very weak. We were happy you joined our family though. Life has never been dull since your arrival.

When you were a toddler you could be found IN the cupboards. Any cupboard that you could fit in. It didn't matter what was supposed to be in it. You found a way.

You could also be found emptying the cupboards. You did this lovely number while I was getting a quick shower. You are shoveling it in as quickly as you can. I guess the living room floor was an acceptable place to put your food on since the bowls would have been too high for you.

Now you are a young man of 9. You have opinions on how things should be done. You have a good work ethic for the most part. You do struggle with things that do not come easily to you. Before long you will be old enough to do lots of things the bigger boys can do. We are so happy you are part of our family.

The arrival of spring begins with these...

These are the new daffodils I planted that came up. The middles are really frilly and this picture turned out a LOT darker than I wanted. Bummer. My tulips had a really hard time this year. The ones that have come up got pummeled by hail. Lots of hail and high winds and pouring rain.

But on the bright side....
Yesterday was Fuscia Saturday at Fred Meyers. The plants were on sale. A really good sale! We took in our empty flower pots. Picked out our flowers and paid for them and then the store potted our plants for free! They use the really good potting soil too - which if I had to buy would be really expensive for all the pots we took in. We now have 7 hanging baskets of strawberries. I am really excited about these. And the basil pot. And the oregano pot. And all the other flower pots with....
just flowers! Russell and I had a fun date picking out fun colors and plants. This will just have to be a tradition!

10 April 2010 Pinewood Derby!

Let the races begin!
Michael's car is the black one in the front.

Russ, Donovan, Chris and Nephi watching the big screen as car numbers are called up.

This would be Michael's very first pinewood derby! He was pretty excited about it....

He was excited when it was his car's turn to race. His is the one on the far left...

He was excited to see it go down the track. At first. Then was very disappointed it didn't do well at all. It was a good experience for him though. It will give him something to look forward to next year when he designs a different car.

2010 Christmas presents in the works...

I am feeling a lot like an elf from the North Pole. I started back in January working on a Christmas idea for all the nieces and nephews. I think I have 26 or so total. I would have to go check my paper. Anyway - I asked one of my sisters what she thought her children would prefer. She said scripture or Sunday bags. So....

I made this reversible scripture bag for my soon to be 8 year old niece. This is one side.

This is the other. I had fun with the colors. She likes pinks and purples so I think this will suit her nicely.

I made her little brother a cosmic Sunday bag. There are actually little planets all over the darker material. I think he will like it as he likes reds and yellows and greens and blues.

When August rolls around with back to school sales I will stock up of a few extra things for his "special" bag.

Resetting goals...

You know how January comes along and everyone is in a frenzy to set New Year's goals - most likely without the intention of EVER doing them? Well I did that. I made a goal back in January to be more consistent in my exercising. I am not fat or overweight. I did well for a while. Then life got in the way. Then I wanted to go walking. The sun was sunny and the rains were gone. But alas....I am just a girl and walking by myself along country roads is not my idea of a good time. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I keep looking over my shoulder to see if a car is trailing me. One did stop one time while Russell was running and I was...ahem...trying to. Russell was long gone by then so I had to run. This brings me to my dilemma.

I want to be able to walk. I need to be able to walk. I have noticed little body changes here and there and need to be able to exercise. The Wii isn't my idea of exercise. Walking in place doing steps isn't taking me anywhere. I would like to get a treadmill or stationary bike. I could really go places on either of those.

My goals revisited....somehow find a treadmill or stationary bike so I can exercise indoors while the rains come down outdoors. It does that A LOT where I am.