Con-GRAD-ulations!

It’s official.  Alyssa is entering the next phase of life.  She moves in to the dorms at BYU in two weeks!  I’m so excited for her.  Even though I started to cry as I typed the above sentences.

Itineris Early College High School graduate.  She also received her Associate of Science degree from Salt Lake Community College, with honors.  She was one of only two National Merit Scholarship Finalists in her graduating class.  And we’re not proud of her at all, not one bit.  :)

Graduation took place at Thanksgiving Point and it was beautiful! 

I had flashbacks to the night before my high school graduation because I spent last night the same way I did 23 years ago—sewing a dress for graduation and finishing in the wee hours of the morning.  Brian told me that if I’m planning to make her wedding dress, I should get started now so that I won’t have to stay up all night before she gets married.  And no, that is not something any of us are planning on any time soon, Brian was just trying to be “helpful”.

Happy Mothers' Day!

I love this cute poem written by 10-year-old Jillian.

I Am Learning How to Spell, And I Think I Do It Rather Well

This morning I was busy getting kids off to school while Hayley was playing with the magnetic letters.  I didn’t pay much attention to what she was doing until she said, “Mom, these are the people I want to invite to my birthday party.”  After all, now that she has reached the 3-1/2 milestone, 4 is just around the corner and it’s time to start planning the party.  I looked at the fridge and recognized the names of her friends and cousins. 

Can you tell who’s invited?  Alex, Reagan, Emery, Abby, Sophie, Lucy, and Ansley.  She was so proud that I could read them all.

(Do my sisters remember the song referenced in the title??)

Glasses at Two--Take Two

It's official.  Hayley is very farsighted.  She kept telling me she needed glasses but I didn't take her seriously.  I thought she just wanted to be like some of her older siblings, but I scheduled an exam anyway because of our family eye history.  She was right!  She was so excited to choose her frames and then she couldn't wait to pick them up from the eye doctor's office when they came in.  When she put them on, I was taken back in time to when Jillian started wearing glasses at the same age.  See the similarity?  (besides the same shirt!)

Hayley at 2-3/4 years old

Hayley and Corinne

Jillian and Alyssa (2-3/4 and 10 years)

Jillian--budding artist

How NOT to Make Bread

Lovely loaves, aren’t they.  Gorgeous rounded tops.  Or not.  So here’s how to make these beauties in your own kitchen.

7:00am—Realize that you just used your last slices of bread when packing lunches and decide to mix up a new batch of dough.  Put 6 cups hot water in the bread mixer.

7:10—Drive Evan to school.

7:30—Make breakfast, send off Grant and Alyssa,  fix hair (the girls’, not mine), find shoes, etc.  The usual.

8:15—Take Corinne and Jillian to school.

8:30—Clean up kitchen.  Notice water in the mixer which is no longer hot.  Dump it out and refill with hot water.  Pull out the wheat grinder and near-empty wheat container.  Go downstairs to the food storage room to get more wheat.  Put away the food from my last shopping trip which is still sitting on the storage room floor.

9:00—Help Hayley in the bathroom.  While there, notice the dryer full of clothes from yesterday.  Empty the dryer and sort clothes into kids’ bins.  Run upstairs and gather dirty clothes from the bedrooms and start a new load of laundry.

9:30—Play octopus dominoes with Hayley.  Answer the phone.  While in the kitchen, notice the lukewarm water in the mixer.  Dump it out and refill with hot water.  Grind wheat and make dough.  Put dough into bread pans.

10:00—Decide to take Hayley for a walk in the stroller while the bread is rising.  Walk to the park, hoping she won’t ask to stop and play at the playground.  Yeah, right.  Do jumping jacks, lunges, squats, etc. while she plays so I can still get my exercise.  Play freeze tag with her, at her request.  Freeze tag with two people?  Didn’t last long.

10:45—Pull Hayley away from the swings, promising to push her on the backyard swings later.  (which I’m sad to report never happened).  Walk quickly home, hoping to arrive before my visiting teachers.  No such luck.  Open the garage to put the stroller inside and lead them through my super-clean mudroom and kitchen (haha). 

12:00pm—Say goodbye to the VTs and head into the kitchen to get Hayley some lunch.  Oh no!!  Hello rising sinking bread.  Flat as can be.  Decide to bake it anyway.  Still flat.

And that, my friends, is how not to make bread.  The upside?  Although the kids have already eaten an entire loaf, it’s a little dense and dry for my taste.  I just saved myself some calories!  I’m so smart.

Washington: Day 3

It was drizzling when we woke up, but that didn’t change our plans.  We put on our raincoats and headed downtown to explore Seattle.  Hayley was so excited to wear her new pink jacket and ride the train.

We parked our car and took the light rail (SoundTransit).  The train started out high above ground, then moved to ground level, and went underground as it reached the downtown area.  


Our first stop was the Columbia Tower to take in the view of Seattle.  Then we walked down to the waterfront.

The kids loved browsing “Ye Olde Curiousity Shoppe”.  (thanks for the suggestion, Aunt Heather!)

The rain stopped and never returned for the rest of the day, even though the forecast warned us of an 80% chance of thunderstorms and showers all day.  We even saw the sun in the afternoon!

We spent a couple of hours in the Seattle Aquarium.  We decided to buy a membership for the year so we can return often.  (it was cheaper to buy the membership than to pay one day’s admission for all of us.)  We even have two free guest passes if any of you would like to join us next time.

Next, we walked up the hill to Pike’s Place Market so we could watch the shouting and fish throwing “shows”.  They did not disappoint.  I was amazed by the gorgeous, huge bouquets of flowers selling for only $10.

You’d think you could find a good deal on fresh seafood in Seattle.  Maybe we just didn’t know where to look, but everything was too pricey for us.
We headed back to the waterfront towards the Olympic Sculpture Park.  Corinne fell asleep in Brian’s arms, and Hayley napped in the stroller.


They weren’t the only tired ones.  We took a little break in the sculpture gardens before walking to the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle. (see it in the background?)



After seeing the Space Needle, we took the monorail back downtown to find a place to eat dinner.  It wasn’t easy.  We wore the kids out searching for a restaurant.  I’m pretty picky.  Too expensive.  Too fried.  Too ordinary.  If we’re spending that much money, I don’t want to be disappointed.  Brian finally made an executive decision and steered us all into a Vietnamese restaurant, much to the dismay of some.  It was a good call.   The food was delicious and it was a new experience.  The big hit was Grant’s avocado drink.

We returned to our condo that night with sore feet and big smiles.  Thank you, Seattle!

Washington: Day 2

We woke up to sunshine and the promise of a warm day (mid 60’s) so we drove to the nearest ferry terminal and drove our van aboard.  We arrived just in time.  As soon as we parked the van, the ferry started moving.

Grant had to check for wi-fi coverage on the boat.  Yup.

In 20 minutes we were docking onto Vashon Island.  We spent the day exploring beaches and other interesting sights.

At our first stop, Brian spotted this bald eagle from the car.  Evan took the camera and got some great pictures before it took flight.

The kids played in the sand rocks near this lighthouse and collected shells and rocks.

A driftwood fort?

She needed her walking sticks to navigate the rocky beach.

We had lunch at the Hardware Store—an island establishment since the 1890s.

The small print on the map reading “bike in a tree” intrigued me, so we went out of our way and into the thick growth to find this landmark.  Moral of this story?  Don’t park your bike in the forest.

Getting back to Seattle was not as quick—we waited in a long line of cars before there was room on a return ferry.  This is our car parked below as the family is heading up the stairs to enjoy the ride from the deck.

This is our view, returning to Seattle.  In the middle of the picture you can see the ramp that connects to the boat for the cars to drive back on the land.

Back at the condo.  After a late dinner, we watched a movie.  I think Hayley and Corinne were the only ones who made it to the end!