Moyle Park

Okay, so I am way behind. We actually went to Moyle Park about 2 and a half weeks ago, but I guess it's better late then never.

For those of you who don't know, if you click on the picture it will come up much larger so you can see each individual picture. I just learned that and thought I would pass it on for those who don't know! :)

My sister-in-law put together a summer field trip schedule that has us going and doing something fun each wednesday morning. On July 1st we went to Moyle Park and had a great time! Moyle Park was the home of the man who walked from Alpine up to the Salt Lake Temple and carved "Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord" on the temple. As if it is not enough that he walked all that way, he did so even after an accident that required the amputation of his leg. He carved himself a wooden leg and kept on going. Now they have a historic site where his house was and on Tuesdays they have people who volunteer there. These people are descendants of John Moyle and they dress up in pioneer clothes (even the little kids) and they show how life would have been back then. It was really neat and was our favorite field trip this summer.

Emma (starting at the top left and going clockwise) got to try roping a steer, playing the stick pull, beating the rug, making a candle, washing clothes and making butter all the way the pioneers did. Her favorite parts seemed to be making the candle and churning the butter. She did not like the stick pull, I think because Annika won and she does NOT like to lose. :)

Bugsy (from top left going clockwise) waiting for Emma to finish her candle, playing in the rocks in the barn while Emma finished her candle, excited about watching the kids clean the laundry, wanted to ride the steer instead of rope it, and loved churning the butter. He didn't get to do everything because he was a little too small. Unfortunately letting him play in the rocks while Emma finished her candle was a mistake as his hair and everything smelled awful the rest of the day.

We had a great time, even Bugs who couldn't do everything had fun.

Thanks to Janelle and Karla for sending the pics to me.

If I could I would ... Live A Bug's Life!

For those of you who don't know, one of my church callings was to the "chairperson of the float committee." Basically that meant that I was in charge of making a mini float for the Lehi parade. The theme this year was "If I Could, I Would..." We chose to do, "If I Could I Would ... Live a Bug's Life." Last year there were actually not too many GREAT floats, so we were really hoping to win this year because we had put a lot of effort into our float. However, when we got there, it turned out that there were a lot of GREAT floats this year! I didn't know if we would place this year or not, but we were fortunate enough to take the "Sweepstakes" award which is the highest award! The placing goes Sweepstakes, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, so that meant they liked our float the very best. We were ecstatic, especially since there were a lot of really good floats this year. I guess all of our hard work paid off! We were even more excited to find out the next day that all 3 judges picked our float for the best float which the lady on the committee told us very rarely ever happens. It was awesome! so, watch out because there are a bunch of pictures coming:

Here are several pictures of our float. We used ideas from the show "Bug's Life." So we put a bunch of things that were human things that bugs might have used. We made Christmas lights for the house lights; a macaroni and cheese box for the door; a tootsie pop wrapper for the picnic blanket; popsicle stick for the fence; bottle caps for stepping stones; a dots candy box for the flower planter under the window. It was a lot of fun coming up with ideas!

Here we are just starting on Friday night. This is the banner and the big piece of wood that the girls are using to hold it is a giant match stick!

This was during the Saturday parade. Notice the "sweepstakes" banner! We were so excited.

This is the plaque and award that we got for winning the sweepstakes award.

Here is a picture of our little ladybug (Emma) and butterfly (Emma's friend Mckinzie) at their little bug picnic. They were so good both days. They stayed on the float and looked so cute the whole time!

Here's our little ladybug family, minus Emma who was already on the float.

Matthew was more interested in playing with his ladybug dots then wearing them!

Here's a close-up of Emma's "ladybug smile."

This is me with our committee. There were other people who helped, but these were the main people who worked very hard to get this float done!

We had so much fun! I loved this calling despite the fact that it made June incredibly busy! It was awesome!

Emma Said... and Braided Hair!

Emma's latest funny phrases:

We were talking about Satan the other day and how he doesn't want us to be happy. Emma said, "We should always follow Jesus and Heavenly Father and be pure-ful and righteous!"

From her "Little Einsteins" videos:

It's the Great Snakes! (Great Sphinx)

Oh no, there's a sporky in there! (scorpion)

Look mommy, there's hi-glifs! (hieroglyphics)

I love to listen to the things she says sometimes!

We put Emma's hair in a bunch of little braids last night so it would be "curly" today. Here are a couple of pictures after we finished braiding.

And here are a couple this morning after we took the braids out. She said, "my hair is all frisbee!"

She was so excited about it! We had a lot of fun doing her hair today!

We went to Emma's end of the year program for her preschool class.  It was so darling.  They did a Wizard of Oz theme.  Emma was supposed to be a munchkin, but the costumes looked more like a witch to me.  Oh well, I still thought she looked darling.  

She was a little nervous when she first came out, but she warmed up after a minute or so.

They sang "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," and did cute little actions to it.  In the bottom left picture, she is waving.  It was so cute to see her reaction when she saw us in the audience watching her.  

She was trying so hard to do all of the actions correctly and was so cute.  She got a little excited at one point.  They had little circles that each child was assigned to and at one point she went to jump back on her circle and fell down.  She got up and looked a little stunned and unsure what to do for a moment.   However, she kept on going.  I was so pleased with her that she did not cry and decide to come sit with us.  This class has been so good for her.  I have really seen her blossom.  She has become much less shy and so much more willing to try new things and meet new people.  It has been wonderful!

Here she is with her cousin Annika.  She is in the class one year older then Emma and as you can see she was dressed as Dorothy.  They have so much fun together and it was cute to see them both up there preforming!

I can't believe how fast time goes.  It seems like just yesterday that Emma was learning to walk and talk and now she's through her first year of preschool.  I don't know what I'm going to do when she graduates from high school!!  :)

My favorite Name!

Daniel's grandfather turned 83 on Sunday!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!  

Matthew definitely enjoyed eating his own cupcake!!

Grandma and grandpa came down from Idaho and we had a little get together here at our house.  Grandma, grandpa and Tamara came over early to get some ice cream made.  I was trying to get things ready, but of course Matthew was a little nervous that I was going to leave him and so was clinging to me for dear life.  This made it a little hard to get things done.  Tamara offered to feed him and so I put him in his chair.  The moment I did that, he started saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommeeeeeee!"  He did this for about 5 minutes when grandma said, "Do you wish you could change your name sometimes?"  I thought about it for a moment and said, "Nope, that's my favorite name!"  

I LOVE being a mother more than I could ever have imagined.  I never knew how much love could come from someone so small until they placed Emma in my arms, and somehow it just keeps growing.  Somehow your heart grows with each new addition as well.  What a blessing!

My cousin's wife, Holly, had this quote on her blog:

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only-- and that is to support this ultimate career."

-C.S. Lewis

I love my job, even when it does get hard!

Matthew loved Daniel's cousin's new little baby, Katelyn!  He kept wanting to hold her and trying to grab her from aunt Bev.  It was so funny to see all of the different expressions on his face.

I think these precious children are better than any coworkers or any praise from a job well done!  My favorite name is and always will be MOMMY!!

Spring Break at Temple Square!

Okay, so I know that Spring Break was actually a month ago, but I am just getting around to posting now.  Oh well, better late then never!

During the week of Spring Break Jan, Melissa and I went with our kids up to Salt Lake to the children's museum and then to lunch with Jen. 

The tulips had just come out and looked beautiful, so I took one with them and the temple.

In one of the talks during general conference a couple of weeks previous to our going on this trip.  Someone talked about letting your children touch the temple, so here are Annika and Emma touching the temple wall and the temple door.   And then a couple of Annika and Mieka at the children's museum looking darling.

All of the grandkids love Aunt Janice and Aunt Jenny.  What a treat to get to spend a day with them.  I love the other picture of Emma and Matthew holding on to the iron rod.  Matthew is going the wrong way.  Hope this is not a forerunner of things to come!  :)

Emma absolutely loved the baby station at the children's museum.  I think she is going to make one GREAT mommy someday!  She is so cute about the way she takes care of her babies.

Matthew was a bit of a handful (as usual).  He kept running all over the place, but he sure seemed to have a good time!

We did have lunch with Jenny afterwards at her work, but it wasn't the best.  Matthew and Mieka were a little overstimulated with all the noise and wouldn't eat very well.  They were fine once we got in the car though, so that was good.  All-in-all it was a really good day!

What Kind of 3 Year Old?

I am sad to say that I did not make a good choice (this is what we say to Emma when she doesn't obey) tonight.  Actually, let's back up.  

This morning we went to my nephew, Ethan's, baptism.  We would probably have arrived just in time except that I made a wrong turn.  That made us late and me upset.  I was trying very hard to be patient with Emma.  However, when we got into the church she couldn't decide where she wanted to sit and began crying quite loudly just as the prayer started.  I scolded her in a rather unkind voice and basically made her feel worse.  Fortunately Janice let Emma come and sit by her, so at least I didn't totally ruin the baptism for her.

After that bad choice, I decided that I would dedicate my fast today and tomorrow that I could have help with being more patient and talking more kindly to my children.  It didn't last very long however.

Tonight as we were getting ready to read scriptures, Emma was not obeying.  After asking her 3 times to obey, I told her that she wouldn't get songs tonight if she didn't obey.  She didn't obey and I lost it.  I didn't yell at her, but I did raise my voice and was talking very unkindly when I put her in bed.  At least I didn't yell, but for how sensitive Emma is, it might as well have been yelling because it probably has the same affect.

At this point of the evening I was fuming, not at Emma however.  I was so upset at myself for losing it with her when the very thing I was fasting for was to be more patient and kind to her.  I finally decided that I would go in and tell her I was sorry.  I took some clothes I had folded in to her room and began putting them away just before I talked to her.  As I was doing that, Emma said, "Mommy, I love you!"  She said it with so much sweetness and truthfulness in her voice that I broke down crying.  What kind of 3 year old says that after her mother has just punished and talked unkindly towards her?  I was truly humbled.  It is moments like this that make me realize what the Savior was talking about when He said to "become as a little child."  I hope that someday I will get to the point that I can forgive that easily.  She is so sweet and so pure it amazes me sometimes.  

After a while I told her about all the things she had done today that were good choices and as usual I realized what a good and obedient little girl she is.  This of course made me feel even worse about the fact that I had punished her for one of the few times that she did not obey.

Anyway, I did end up apologizing to her and we both felt much better, but I am still amazed at the incredible spirits that I am blessed to be raising.