Three days in a row?

So I found all these pictures that Vanessa has filed and I know how to move them!
So here is Kian "lookin good" at the dentist on Monday the 28th.

Artistic Calah

Wow! I'm on a roll...
I thought I'd share some of Calah's artistic pictures. Don't be scared. She is not really a dark soul, but I think these photos are beautiful.












These are pictures of an art project that I don't understand, but she was very proud and loves it.

I was afraid I wouldn't be too good at this...

Yes, I know it's been forever! Since Oscar night a few things have happened. I will try to catch up.

First of all, this happened...Yes! We are diaper free :-) Yeah, he's a hottie! Then
we had a conversation with Kian a while ago about Grandmas and Grandpas (because believe it or not we have friends who have grandkids!)
He stated quite earnestly,
"I need new parents"
I was taken aback and asked, "Why do you need new parents?"
"Because you are old" he replied.
It took me a minute to get over my vanity and then I said, "What kind of parents do you need?"
"Well, they should be 25 I think!" I'm almost over the crying...

We had Easter and Kian was really into our "Story of Easter" picture wall. we read a little bit about each day starting with the Passover and then he got to put up a picture for the day.
Over spring break Calah dog-sitting and Kian had a hard time deciding which was more fun throwing the ball for Sophie or playing golf on the Wii. He still talks about both!

I also painted Mackenzie's room, but I don't have a picture of that. And trust me you don't want to wait while I go and take one and then try to download it and then try to find it and then try to post it! So I will just say that it is chocolate brown (actually called Chocolate Sundae) and a light blue (called Wintergreen Ash). It is beautiful and suits her new 13 1/2 self just perfectly.

For those of you who know me and a little of my history this will just be kind of funny. If you don't, you may find it mildly disturbing, but I need to write it down so someday my great grandkids will know it really happened: I got a call from my brother a couple of weeks ago saying that my Mom's husband (long story, didn't like him, was a lot younger than my Mom and creepy) had left their home in California and went to Oklahoma. No biggie, except that he had left my Mom (after she passed away last June she was cremated) with
"Some woman named Connie"! We don't know Connie. We have never met Connie, who the bleep is Connie? But it gets better...When I called my aunt to get the scoop (she is the one that Perry called to say he was gone) I find out that he had left Mom and ALL of her things with Connie and Connie was not to thrilled and didn't want to hang on to all of the stuph until someone could get there so she passed everything (Yes!) along to a guy named Dennis. This is a lot of info so I will end by saying that my uncle met Dennis in Reno (Of course, it's Reno) and was able to retrieve my Mom and her things.
Are you getting to know me WAY better than you had ever hoped?!

Calah was planning to go to Sr Prom with her friends and she has now been asked by Camariezz Sanders a guy in her art class. She really didn't even know him but now she is finding out that he noticed her quite a while ago. Cam and his Dad came by to meet us the other day. It was very cute! I will have pictures later.

My brother Lee, his wife Paula, his daughter Maddie, and her son Connor came up from Ramsey last weekend for a visit.

Connor is SO funny! He and Kian had a great time learning to be cousins. In fact, Kian loved him so much that when they left Kian was determined to go with them. Finally Vanessa took him down the street to see how far they were going and Kian STILL said he wanted to walk there! He was NOT happy that they left without him.

I love my bro and his family and that is one thing that keeps me from ditching the Indiana weather and heading to California!

Other than the earthquake that woke us up a couple of weeks ago (5.2!) that is about all I can think of that needs to be said! I'm sire I am forgetting loads of things, but I figured that would happen when I reluctantly started this adventure.

Oscar Night

Wow the 80th Academy Awards...John Stewart hosts.
OK so not my favorite, kind of boring. I liked the 79 previous Best Picture montage, but that was about it.
We started having Oscar parties back in 1994 where we would have a different food that represented each nominated movie and we would have ballots and the winner would get a "prize".
When Babe was nominated we had pork chops...I know kind of mean, but they were good!
Forrest Gump--See's chocolates
Pulp Fiction-- the best milkshakes ever
Shawshank Redemption--loose meat sandwiches that resembled prison food
Lately my family hasn't been as enthusiastic as I am. So we didn't do the party this year. The girls and I watched (even though they wanted to watch "She's the Man" instead) and Doug and Kian were upstairs doing what "guys" do.
I was sad that Johnny Depp didn't win of course.
I was glad that Ellen Page didn't win (too early to win).
I loved Helen Mirren's gorgeous red dress and Jennifer Gardner always looks great!
That was it really, no great moments.

It hits me...

I have spent my life moving, never in one place very long. I went to 12 different schools. I have a few choice friends from long ago--Jan from 2nd grade, Beth from 4th grade, Charise from 8th grade, Brita and Lori from 10th grade.
But as I sat in church today, it hit me...I know nearly EVERY person here!
I love that we have lived here longer than any other place and that I know people and (finally) names!
What a blessing to spend the Sabbath with friends who commune with God the same way I do. I don't always get to all of the activities that are offered at church, but I always have a good time when I go. I may not be BFFs with every one in the ward, but I love that everyone knows my family and is always quick with a smile or a "how are you doin?" It is comfortable and comforting. It actually has taken a long time for me to feel this way, but I am grateful that it hit me today.

Play group

So today was playgroup at Kenzie's house. All week long Kian would ask,
" Are we going to playgroup?"
"When is playgroup?"
"Is it at Kenzie's house?"
"Does Kenzie have a parrot?" More on that later...
"Will we have lunch there?"
"What time is playgroup?"
"Who will be there?" and then the questions would start all over again. Yes, it is exhausting!
The we got a little storm and there was some chance that school and therefore playgroup would be canceled...Alas, it was not! Yeah!! Because that is too hard to explain.
When he woke up this morning the first words out of his mouth were
"Are we going to playgroup at 12:00?"
Yikes! It drives me insane!
"Is it at Kenzie's house?"
"Kenzie is a pretty girl, huh Mommy?"
Yes, she is.
We had a great time and here is the story I wanted to share...And it's not even really my story :-)
Amy (that's Kenzie's mom and my "want her for my little sister" friend) was looking for Kenzie. She found her with Kian in the tipi with the door velcroed shut and they are playing with the repeating parrot. Kian loves this parrot. Whatever you say to it, it will repeat it back twice in a higher voice. It's quite hilarious!!
Later they had the Lik-a-stiks together at the kitchen counter and later still I saw Kenzie come into the kitchen grab Kian and say "come on" as they walked hand in hand into the play room. So cute!!!
Could it be love?
Of course I didn't have my camera..bad Mommy!
And while we're on the subject, no I did not take my kids out to see the lunar eclipse or take pictures. No awards here for Mom of the Year.
It's important to have great friends for Kian and for me.

Sad Church

Wow...what a sad day in Primary today. First of all Doug and I went alone, no kids. Calah had to work (there is a tournament at the rink) and the others were sick. Doug said "It's like we're the old couples now, all the kids gone" I said "Yeah, this will soon be our date night!"
Lots of kids were not there today and our fantastic chorister Amy Hughes wasn't there (her hubby is REALLY sick) so I had to do the music. HA!! I have no voice, but did that stop me from singing? No way! I am such a music maniac and I have no idea how untalented I am. Add to that the fact that our very talented pianist, Cindy Everett was having difficulties playing (cold weather and arthritis don't mix well) today and we were a pathetic team!
I should mention my Utah primary music story. I was called to be the music leader in primary in Utah--NEVER done it before! I thought they were crazy, turns out they were just desperate. However, I persevered and fudged my way through about 3 months of leading the music. I was so impressed with our pianist though. He was so creative and always seemed to know what I needed and how to make the songs sound fantastic. He was very quiet and just did the job. He never tried to tell me how wrong I was (I did have one woman do that in a "nice" way, ha!)
Anyway, about 3 months later we went to the 150 year celebration at BYU and as we're waiting for the program to start I'm looking through the program and I see several songs with the words "Arranged by Mack Wilberg" next to them. I about passed out...THAT was my pianist!! Me being a non-Utah Mormon had NO idea who he was. He was just Brother Wilberg patient, talented pianist. Let me tell you, leading the music that next Sunday was TERRIFYING until I realized that he was not there to criticize or be the music director. He was there to cover up my flaws, help the kids sound great and enjoy playing for us. I learned a great lesson during those 2 years and I still get excited when I see him on Sundays with the MoTab :-)