Thursday, May 28, 2009

I love this!

I have loved Jon Schmidt's music for years, and I really enjoyed this arrangement of another song I love.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Dance Festival

The Elementary school's theme this school year was Air Bonneville, and the school was set up like an airport with gates and everything airport. IT was really cute and clever. The kids even earned their wings. The theme carried through to the dance festival (a biannual event). We went on a tour around the world, with each grade doing a dance highlighting a different country. Nathan's was from China. He was so cute and did great! I liked hearing them count in Chinese. What fun!





LIz's dance was from the good ol' USA and was set to Polly Wolly Doodle. It was so cute. You could tell she was having a great time.



Monday, May 18, 2009

I love being a Mom!

This Mothers' day felt different to me than any other, and I have been reflecting a lot as to why. Michael gave me this little album, and I have decorated it and filled it as a way of making something tangible out of my reflections.

For so many years I have been a mother of small children. It was hard, but I truly did love it. I heard over and over again about how quickly the time would go, and that I should enjoy every minute. I didn't enjoy EVERY minute, but I did try to savor the wonderful times. Anyway, now that my baby is three and is more of a little girl than a baby, I realize that those baby years really did go as fast as people said they would.

I have scrapbooked all of my memories, but with this cute little album from Mike I made a little book of some of the favorite pictures of my kids. I chose pictures (with the exception of the last few)from when they were still quite little. I tried to choose pictures that captured simple moments of joy. I started with a quotation from a talk that President Gordon B. Hinckley gave when I was pregnant with Liz. It gave me confidence as I faced the daunting task of motherhood. I ended with a quotation from a talk given recently by Elder M. Russell Ballard; a reminder to me of the important work I am a part of.

I still love being a mom, and I love the stage my kids are in now, but I want to remember the joy I had when they were little.


Oh, and it was just a really fun creative project to do too.

My Mike is five!

This is a couple of days late, but we had a great time celebrating my Mike's fifth birthday this weekend. HE had a little dinosaur party with five of his friends Friday afternoon, then family came Saturday morning and we had another celebration.  I still can't believe he is five.  IT has been an interesting few years.
This is Mike at six days old. Those blue eyes still melt my heart, especially when combined with his dimples! He has had a few bumps in the road (not growing very fast as a baby, and then peanut and tree nut allergies) but regardless of that he has brought so much joy to our family.

Some favorite things about Michael:
1- He still loves to snuggle.
2- His joy and enthusiasm for trains. His obsession started at the age of 2. He would play for four hours a day with Nathan's train set (literally) and continues to this day. He is happiest when doing something with trains.
3- His excitement to learn. He is a great reader already and is fearless when attempting a new word.
4- His tender heart. He wants to be good so badly that when he does something wrong we have to tread carefully when we discipline, then give him lots of loves and hugs afterwards.
What a special guy!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Fun in the backyard

We have had a great May.  The weather has been perfect; the sun has been shining, but we haven't had any unbearably hot days, which we tend to get this time of year.  The kids have enjoyed our swing set, especially since we said goodbye to the baby swing and put up a cool new bar.  Here are the kids showing off lots and lots of tricks.

Megan loves swinging like a big girl now.
Nathan showing his new tricks on the bar.
Liz is so strong and so fast.  Watch her go!
Megan swing and singing, "No hands, uh huh. No hands, uh, huh."
Michael being silly on the slide, and then swinging on the bar to make mom feel better.
Megan swinging on her own.  Her crocs crack me up!

Monday, May 11, 2009

A Very Happy Mothers' day

So the kids and Brian had many secrets they were keeping last week. The kids told me oer and over again that I was getting an old dog cage with dinosaur bones in it for Mothers' day. And as much as i would have loved one of those I know now that they were trying to keep me from guessing the truth. I had a simple, and yummy breakfast in bed. My favorite part of which was hearing the whisperings as the kids and Brian came up the stairs, and the fork that Megan handed me (even though I didn't need a fork to eat my food) because it was the only thing she could carry without spilling.

Church was lovely. The Primary kids sang great. It was a treat to see my kids right in front singing the songs out!

And as much as Brian tried to keep dinner a secret, I smelled it cooking all day and figured it out. It was homemade Cafe Rio food; pork, cilantro-lime rice, black beans, lettuce, tomato, the yummy salad dressing, and the yummy tortillas that need to be cooked before you eat them. It was all delicious! I felt so special yesterday with everything.

Perhaps the best present though was when Michael was looking at the back of the Sacrament meeting program at church. There is always a list of the birthdays coming up, and his is this week, so he enjoyed looking at the list even more. There is said, "Michael Chantry 5/16" He pointed at the numbers and asked what the line was. I told him that it is how they write dates sometimes. Now he is the best part, and yes I got a little teary. He said, "But mom, those are for halves." It is so cute that he is talking about FRACTIONS already. I love my Mike!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Touch the Temple

In April conference President Monson was quoted as follows: "As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us." (http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1032-31,00.html)  A few years ago I came across a similar quotation by President Ezra Taft Benson. 

"Take your children to the temple grounds, and let them touch the walls of the temple, then teach them how the temple can touch their lives."  

Since that time we have made a biannual trip to touch the temple and to take pictures.  It has been a really neat thing.  I love how the pictures turned out this year, and I put together a video with our trips from the past four years.