Nursery

Kasidee's First Official Day of Nursery was yesterday. Can you believe she's that old already? It's been hard having her "sit" with me while I'm in Primary or "sit" with Quentin while he's in Elder's Quorum, so we've been kind of looking forward to the time when she could just go have fun in nursery. But once she was in there and my arms were free, I really started missing her! But I am SO thankful for such awesome nursery leaders - they go above and beyond their calling and want to make sure nursery provides a foundation of loving to learn the gospel for the kids (as opposed to feeling like it's just babysitting time). Kasidee did great - Quentin stayed with her for the first little while then left and she was fine. Sister Weaver said every once in awhile Kasidee would go over to her, tap on her legs and say, "Mama? Mama?" But she didn't cry. And when we picked her up at the end, she dropped everything, smiled SO big, and ran to us with outstretched arms....

And speaking of my baby getting big.... Yesterday evening we went to see my cousin Aaron's newborn little boy, Beau. My "baby" looked HUGE compared to him! Oh, he's just a cute little peanut. It's so fun seeing Aaron and Lisa as new parents. And little Beau is just so darn cute. It's just amazing how wonderful life is and how quickly time goes. It reminds me to be more aware and more mindful of the little things!!

Beauty & the Beast

This afternoon Quentin, Kiera, Makenna and I joined some of Quentin's family to see the play "Beauty and the Beast" at Woods Cross High School (thanks to Mom for watching Kasidee!). We all really enjoyed it - the costumes were incredible! It's fun doing something we all enjoy together and I hope the girls continue to develop a love of plays just like Quentin and I do! (P.S. Sorry for the red eyes - my photo fixer isn't working....)

Pretty Hair

Makenna was so nice to offer to do Kasidee's hair today - isn't it pretty? Oh, and yesterday in preschool they talked about what they want to be when they grow up. Makenna wrote on her paper, "When I grow up I want to be a little ladybug."

Happy Home Anniversary!

We moved into our home 2 years ago today. Happy Home Anniversary!! I'll tell ya, we LOVE it here. When we moved into our Farmington house in 2000 we planned on staying there forever, but then after 2 kids we realized it wasn't going to work for us forever. Through nearly 3 years of wondering, searching, and praying, we went through lots of ups and downs. We hated the thought of leaving our beloved house and the great neighborhood...we got excited about building in a couple different areas but it didn't pan out...we saw lots of homes that were nice but just didn't feel right.... Until we found this one. I knew it was "the one" pretty much the moment I walked in the door - I kept looking for something wrong but realized as I walked through it that it was perfect for us; everything we had been looking for. Quentin took a little more convincing (I prayed for comfort in being able to pass it up, but Quentin's mind started changing basically overnight and he's the one that said we needed to make an offer!) Anyway, I just am so happy that we "landed" in such a wonderful area and neighborhood, and we love our home. It's where our kids will grow up and we will grow old. Happy Anniversary, Home!!

Oh, and to make things even better, we were able to refinance and closed yesterday. Can you believe we got a 4.25% rate?! The ladies with the title company and the mortgage company said they've never seen anyone get a rate that low. Quentin just happened to call the mortgage company during a window of about 2 hours when the rate dipped lower than ever. Yahoo! So that new rate will save us over $250 a month. Awesome, eh?

Happy 94th!

Last night we went to Quentin's Grandma Stephens' 94th birthday party. I'll tell ya, she is just an amazing woman. So inspiring! She is always the life of the party, all dressed-up, with jewelry and high-heels. She's just so darn cute and makes whoever is around her feel good. She said she still feels young - it's everyone else that makes her feel old! She told everyone that she lives for us and that she wants to do things for us. In fact, she called Quentin's dad the other day and asked what he was doing. He said he was fixing himself some lunch since Barbara (his wife) was at work. Grandma Stephens told me, "I got off the phone with him and got to work. I made him some soup, some macaroni and cheese, and some potato salad." She handed us the bag and asked if we would take it to him. As I took the bag I thought, "Wait - this is what people should be doing for HER!" She's just so sweet. What an amazing example and an amazing life.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hey there! Hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Day! We started the morning with pink heart-shaped waffles, then went to Lowe's to make cute little jewelry boxes (and to see our friends there!). Then we took Valentines to Granny and Nana. Then (as per Quentin's suggestion), we went swimming at the Rec Center. The girls LOVE to go swimming, and it was a fun, different activity for a cold, wintry day. After that, we spent a romantic afternoon as a family, helping clean the church! It really wasn't so bad (Quentin told the girls it was a way we could show Heavenly Father on Valentine's Day that we love Him), and we rewarded ourselves afterward by getting Bajio's to go. We brought it home and watched Steve Martin in "Roxanne." Hope everyone had a fun day!

Project: Completed

I'm sure most of you have seen those little "File Folder/Quiet Folder" games floating around sacrament meetings - little gospel-centered games to entertain and keep kids quiet. They're something I've seen before I even had kids and thought were neat. Last year when I was on the Enrichment Committee, I had a great idea to have an Enrichment activity to work on these little folders. We had a great turnout and I thought I would be motivated to get them done. I chose 10 to make copies of and began working on them. Then put them away. And kept looking at them and feeling guilty for not finishing them. Well, this weekend the girls and I worked hard and finally finished them - well, 5 of the 10. And I figured that's enough for now. Those little buggers take forever to copy, color, cut, laminate, cut again, put magnets on.... But they're worth it. All 3 girls sat like angels during sacrament meeting today, plus Kiera began learning how to calculate 10% tithing. It's good to finally have them done! Maybe I'll eventually get around to getting the other ones done - someday.

Oops - I Did it Again

Hmmmm.... It seems like my hair and I go through a cycle: I let it grow out sort of long-ish, then get sick of it, cut it, hate it, let it grow out again, get sick of it, cut it, etc. etc. I guess I'm never really happy with how my hair is. Well, I did it again. I got my hair cut. I've been eyeing styles for a few months and chose the one I wanted - a shoulder-length "Bob" (yes, I know that totally sounds totally a mom-ish). Anyway, yesterday I took advantage of Quentin being able to watch the girls and I went to have it cut. Let me just say - whenever I get my hair cut, it always ends up shorter than I plan. I told the lady "Shoulder Length" - well, it's "Chin Length"...and the difference between shoulder and chin is quite big. Ugh. It's short. Shorter than I've probably ever had it. But whattaya do except wait till it grows out again?! I actually don't really mind the length as much as the fact that it's just so poofy (or fluffy as Kiera calls it) on the ends - it makes my hair look like a triangle. Notice I haven't posted a picture. I have to figure out a way to make it look halfway decent before I face everyone at church today. I've got 3 hours to work on it - wish me luck!

Draper Temple

This afternoon we got to go to the Draper Temple open house. We jumped at the chance for the girls to be able to go inside a temple. Since there weren't many good times left to choose from, we had to pick what we could and went this afternoon. Makenna skipped preschool, we got Kiera out of school 1/2 hour early, and Quentin took a half a day off work. It was a neat opportunity for us. The girls loved seeing the baptismal font, the bride's room and the celestial room. This will be something they won't forget.

Afterward, since we were already out that way, we stopped off at Ikea and had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Mmmmm! It felt like a vacation day!

Bragging Rights

Okay, so I have to brag. I just got off the phone with my mom and was telling her about Kiera's "Parent-Teacher Conference" (or whatever it's called nowdays) last night. I told my mom that I thought about writing about it on my blog but felt like I would sound like a proud mom bragging about my daughter - and my mom said I should! So here goes!

We are just so proud of Kiera! She receives lots of recognition for her politeness and genuine kindess toward others. And we're also thrilled at how much she enjoys learning, loves school, and just can't get enough of reading. She'll sit for literally hours at a time, devouring a book that she can't put down. Anyway, Kiera's teacher said that she is reading at a third grade level (remember - she's in FIRST grade) and is on a math level that is in the middle of second grade. Wow - I'm impressed. But it also makes me wonder - are all the kids doing this well; and if so, maybe the coursework needs to be stepped up a bit. On the other hand, if Kiera really is on a higher level, I worry that maybe she's not being stimulated enough at school. I'm thankful for the school's computer program and that each student can work at his/her own level, but still.... Whatever the case, we're just happy that Kiera loves learning and is just doing so well.

In other news, we have an announcement that probably no one else cares about but us - but we get to keep our trees!! A couple of months ago, Rocky Mountain Power came to our door and told us that they would have to remove the 3-4 flowering pear trees in our backyard - the trees next to our patio that are so beautiful during each season and which give us much-needed shade. They said they needed to remove them because of the power line overhead. We put in a refusal and have had 2 other representatives come to talk to us - and we got a little freaked out when we noticed our neighbor's 25-year-old weeping willow had vanished one day! But yesterday the forester for Rocky Mountain came out and told us that they reviewed our case and are willing to keep the trees trimmed (for free) and not have to remove them. I know it's silly, but I can't tell you how relieved I am! Yay!

Invention

Ever since she was just tiny, Makenna has always loved anything animal-related. But lately she's been fascinated with leashes. She'll find her stuffed animals, little lizards from the dollar store (one of which she named Pickle), little hampster erasers, you name it - and want to put a leash on it. Her leashes have ranged from bits of ribbon to my detachable purse strap to...straws that have been taped together. Hmmmm....

Sleepover - Part 2

A couple of months ago we had the girls' best friends Chloe and Sophie over for a sleepover, and Friday night they had Kiera and Makenna over there. I was a little nervous about the girls getting homesick when it came time to go to sleep, but I guess they did just fine - we didn't get any calls in the middle of the night!! The girls can't stop talking about it. They had so much fun! (And thanks to Chloe & Sophie's photographer-mom, we've got some great pictures!)

Dads & Donuts

This morning Quentin went into work a little late so he could attend the First Grade "Dads & Donuts" event with Kiera. She's been looking forward to this for months - the kids got to share donuts and juice with their dads, show off their pictures and sing some songs for them. Quentin and Kiera were both thrilled!

Yoga Class

So I started a yoga class tonight. Just one of those 8-week "Continuing Education" classes held at a local high school. But ahhh - I love it! My SIL introduced me to yoga maybe 5 or 6 years ago, and before I tried it I have to admit that I thought it was a little hokey. But after trying it I was hooked. Since then I've done it here and there (a few classes, a little bit on my own, and some on the Wii Fit), but it's nice to be able to go to an official class and have an excuse to have time alone and do some real exercise and have a chance to relax (boy, that's a run-on sentence!). Ahhhh. Namaste.

Kangaroo Zoo

Quentin and the girls were home from work/school for the holiday today, so we (of course) wanted to do something fun and out of the ordinary. We checked out Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake and had a blast! My mom (Granny) gave us a family pass for Christmas and I can already tell that it is going to be a hot spot for our family, especially on the cold winter days. There is a huge bouncy play area, which the girls just loved. Kasidee was a little timid at first but she quickly got braver and kind of surprised us. It was a fun activity and we were so happy that Granny could join us - and also for ice cream at Baskin Robbins afterward (yum!) Next time at Kangaroo Zoo we might try the black light miniature golf!

Annie

Can I just say that I LOOOVE plays (or "The Theater" as some call it)! It's one of my all-time favorite things. Quentin and I have enjoyed going to lots of plays through the years, and we want to instill that same enjoyment in our daughters! Kiera and I saw "Suessical" a couple of years ago, and last night we took Makenna to her first play (along with Kiera and Granny!) We went to Bountiful High's production of "Annie." The girls enjoyed it. At one point, Kiera seemed bored but she said she was just tired. But she had fun, and Makenna was attentive and enjoyed it a lot.

So now within the next month or so, we're planning on taking the girls to Rodger's Memorial Theater's "Wizard of Oz" and Woods Cross High's "Beauty and the Beast." I can't wait!

Birthday Wish

This evening, Kiera said, "Mama, last year my birthday was on a Wednesday. Does that mean that my birthday will be on a Wednesday every single year for the rest of my life?" I explained that it changes each year and mentioned that this year it will happen to be on a Thursday. She seemed disappointed as she said, "Aw, darn it." I asked her what she was thinking and she said, "I wish it could be on a Monday this year because then it would come sooner!" :)

I'm Taking My Life Back

I'm giving credit to the New Year for giving me the motivation to finally take my life back. Most days I feel like I'm running through Jello - I feel like I can never get anything totally done. When I'm straightening up one room, the girls are in another room making a mess. There's always something to do in the parenting/house maintenance department.

Well, for Family Home Evening last night, we came up with some family goals and made a chart. Seeing them written down helped us all realize what we need to focus on. And I'll tell ya - today ran soooo smooth! (And I didn't even use the "TV Babysitter" to help me get things done - in fact, one of our new things is that the girls get 3 coins each day, good for 1/2 hour of TV or computer game or Wii time). The girls were excited to check off each thing (some were just reminders of good habits; others were new goals; and yet others were optional "extra" things that could help them toward their weekly allowance). Makenna was willing to help me unload the dishwasher and Kiera was thrilled to be able to help put clean laundry away. I know in most families, this is a requirement - but for us it's pretty much been hit and miss. Hopefully things will keep going like this. I realize that I'm happiest when I feel like my life is in control. I have a hard time concentrating on other things until the "basics" are done. I know I'm rambling, but I just wanted to jot this down because I'm feeling oh, so good!!

(P.S. Another idea we came up with a few months ago...instead of repeatedly asking the girls to put their stuff away, anytime I come across something out of place that one of the girls (well, Kasidee is excluded for a couple more years!) has gotten out, I put it in a red plastic basket. That way, it's out of the way and it makes me feel better. Then at the end of the day, before bedtime, the girls can go through the basket and put things away. Whatever is left in the basket after they've gone to bed gets to be MINE!! - So far I haven't been able to keep any of their stuff!)

Swell Noel

Okay, I'm addicted. And I had to quickly blog about it before I return to my new hobby.... I've always been fond of all things paper-crafty and all things miniature, and when I saw this little paper village in a store, I was immediately drawn to it. But I just figured it was not a necessity and I passed it by. But I kept thinking about it and emailed my sister-in-law (a fellow paper-craft and miniature lover) and I think we convinced each other that we each needed one. We thought it looked like a winter village more than a Christmas village, so it works for January decor! Anyway, I just started mine and have made 4 of the 8 buildings and boy, it sure is fun! It's quite time-consuming (the school took me 50 minutes to finish), but it's a fun process and WAY cool to see it come together. It's just so dang cute I can hardly stand it. Just thought I'd share. Now I'm off - my girls are asleep, the snow is quietly coming down, and I'm in the mood to stay up late and be crafty! (P.S. I thought it would be something the girls and I could do together, but it's a little tricky and they just ended up watching me anyway!)

Check out details at:
http://www.kandcompany.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=128&idproduct=5929
(P.S. You can buy it at Ben Franklin's Crafts in Kaysville!)

Happy New Year!

2009 - another brand new year! Hope everyone had a fun celebration, and I hope everyone has a fabulous year ahead!! We had a rather quiet "party" with cousins and even had Marina, Roman and Isaac (and their mom and dad!) sleep over! Movies, games, talking, playing...it was fun. And the next day Quentin and Corbin made waffles and we enjoyed the laziness of the morning. Later, the 5 of us met Mom and Grandma for an early dinner at Grandma's (and the girls') favorite place - Chuck A Rama. Grandma was so excited to be able to go out to a restaurant for the first time in a long time since she's been sick. Last night we popped popcorn, rented Wall-E, and vegged. Ahhh....

This morning all 3 girls slept till 10:30. Wow. I enjoyed a quiet morning all by myself (Quentin had to work today). It will be good to get back into a routine on Monday with school starting again. For me the new year won't really start till Monday. I've got a list of personal goals and family goals that we want to work on this year. One new thing I want to do this year is to do my journal on the computer. I got my first journal when I was baptized and wrote occasionally in it. But I've basically written something for every day since 1991 (wow!) and I have a cedar chest half-full of journals. Since I've started blogging, most of my journal entries are just copies of what I wrote on my blog. So I figured, why not do it all on the computer? (Cutting and pasting are much easier than re-writing a ton of stuff). Besides, I've started making each girl their own journals and have had to go through my old journals and type stuff. Talk about tedious. So I'm excited about this new project.

Another goal, at least for the month of January, is for us to go on a Money Diet. We've gotten pretty lax in our spending lately and want to bump up our savings a little. So we'll see how that goes. It's kind of a fun challenge, actually, to see how little we can get by with.

Well, happy new year!! And here's to a fresh start! I love January....

The Day After

I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy. Hope you all had a VERY merry Christmas!! Although I love the excitement and busy-ness of Christmas Day, I think my favorite day of the year is actually the day AFTER Christmas. We can sleep in, stay in our jammies all day, and PLAY!! Even though I'm one who likes things organized and put away, I like to leave Christmas presents under the tree for a week - that way we can pull out something to play with and then "clean up" by shoving it back under the tree!

We had a great holiday. Grandma spent the night at Mom's on Christmas Eve, so we went to Mom's for dinner after Quentin got off work. Mom just makes everything so special - her house was decorated so cute, she made a yummy dinner with everyone's favorites, and it just felt so festive. There's just something about my mom - she just makes everyone feel welcome and comfortable. Right before we left, we did our tradition of reading "The Night Before Christmas" story - but this time instead of Quentin reading it to our girls, Kiera was the one who read it to everyone!

That night, Quentin and I stayed up till 2:30 finishing the wrapping and getting things ready. Kiera woke everyone up at 7:45 on Christmas morning and we checked to see if Santa had come. Wow - he sure did!! Besides the mound of presents we had for each other and the ones Santa left, Santa also left a huge surprise in the garage - a playhouse that will be a big project in the springtime. The girls were SOOO excited! Mom came over for a few minutes in the late morning, then we went to her house to do presents with her and Grandma. Then from there we went to Corbin and Nikki's for dinner and to celebrate with the Stephens family. While we were there a snowstorm blew in - big time. We left at 10:00, and our usual 45-minute drive took nearly 1 1/2 hours. None of the roads were plowed and there were lots of slide-offs on the side of the road. We took it easy, the girls fell asleep, and we listened to Christmas music while we marveled at the serene night. Ahhh....

I love the time between the holidays (a time for a messy house and lots of playing). Then when January hits, I get in the mood for a "naked house" and to take down the cluttery Christmas decorations and clean and organize the house from top to bottom, inside and out. I also look forward to January because it's a "hibernation month" - a perfect time for reading, scrapbooking, watching movies, puttering...my favorite things!!

Remember

Last night we joined the other family members of the Elders Quorum presidency for a Family Home Evening (even though it was Tuesday). None of my pictures turned out because it was too dark, but it was a memorable evening. We drove to the end of the street where it's a dead end, then carefully drove through the snow on a single-lane road till we reached our destination - a small barn that houses a few horses and some chickens. The owner of the barn (who actually was the original owner of our house) had arranged bales of hay in a circle for our seating. We sang songs, told stories, enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies, and read the story of the birth of the Savior in the Bible. It was peaceful and humbling to realize that it was a similar setting (though not as cold!) of where Jesus was born. It really helped us remember what Christmas is all about.... I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Candlelight Christmas

Last night we went to This is the Place's Candlelight Christmas. Quentin got free tickets from work and we had planned about 4 times to go this month but things kept popping up. But we finally got to go last night, and I'll tell ya - it really helped get us in the Christmas spirit. And it's something we would like to go to each year. It was magical! We bundled up in blankets and took a train ride around the whole park, stopped off at Brigham Young's house for hot cider, listened to a quartet playing music, listened to roaming carolers, warmed our hands by an open fire, saw some "real live" reindeer, visited Father Christmas, made Christmas decorations by candlelight (cinnamon sachets and wooden gingerbread ornaments), wrote letters to Santa and delivered them to a "magic chimmney," and met lots of "pioneer people" who wished us a "Happy Christmas to Ya!" So charming!