go dbacks!

Each year our kids do the library summer reading program.  The final prize is a ticket to a D-backs baseball game.  Since neither Natalie or I care about baseball, we stayed home and had a girls night and Kevin used Natalie's ticket.  Best of all, they were one of the first 20,000 people and each of them got a free hat!

37 things about me

In honor of my 37th birthday, I thought I would share 37 things about me that you may or may not already know...in no particular order!

1) My least favorite chore is ironing. I also really hate dusting.

2) I always keep my toenails painted.

3) I like my hands covered while sleeping, either under me somehow or under a pillow or blanket.  I also cannot stand to sleep with socks on, unless I'm camping and it's freezing cold.

4) All 4 of my grandparents died while my parents were young.  Both of my parents were raised by their uncles.

5) Both of my parents are adult converts to the church, and my dad introduced my mom to the church.

6) I am obsessed with the Olympics.  I could watch the entire thing.

7) If it's a choice between sweet and salty, sweet wins every time! 

8) I once dated my Teaching Assistant in a college class (and yes, I got an A)!

9) Even though I'm a decent pianist, I am terrified to play piano in front of people. 

10) One of my (many) pet peeves is when people leave the toilet seat up.

11) I took four years of French in high school.

12) I am freakishly organized when it comes to schedules and planning.  But I have lots of clutter around my house. 

13) Lower case, abbreviations, and no punctuation really irritate me.  So do spelling and grammatical errors. 

14) I broke my toe the very first day of my first year at YW girls camp. I sliced open my leg (60 stitches) the first day of middle school.

15) I did many years of gymnastics and dance growing up, through high school, and college.

16) I am extremely sensitive to smells.

17) I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Management (emphasis in Organizational Behavior) with a minor in Family Sciences from BYU.  I have never had the desire to go back to grad school.

18) Until recently (when Kevin started his new job and I have lots of free products to try), I never used anything besides water to clean my face, besides makeup remover for my eyes.  

19) I cannot drive long distances. If I drive (or ride) more than about an hour, I fall asleep. 

20) I hate running.

21) I cannot count how much dental work I have had.  I have at least 5 crowns, several root canals, and numerous fillings.  Thankfully my brother-in-law is a dentist!

22) I sleep with earplugs.  Mostly because Kevin snores.

23) I watch almost no TV and very few movies.  The only TV show I watch is "Dancing with the Stars" and I have seen only a handful of movies in the past year.

24) If I could magically improve one talent, it would be my photography skills.

25) I lived in Utah for 6 years and never went skiing. I have only been snow skiing once (in CA) and water skiing once.

26) I have to eat something right before I go to bed or else I wake up hungry in the middle of the night.

27) I love thrift store shopping.

28) I don't value "things" and buy myself very few items.  I do value "experiences" such as travel, concerts, vacations, and memories.

29) I hate nicknames.  For myself or anyone else.

30) The only kind of fish I like is tuna fish sandwiches.

31) I have been skydiving and bungee jumping.  I would do skydiving again.  I didn't love bungee jumping, though.

32) I have to read before falling asleep.  It's the way my brain calms down and allows me to relax.

33) I don't like the taste of bottled water.

34) I am more of a morning person than a night owl.  I don't enjoy getting up early, but I am fine once I am out of bed.  But once it hits 10 p.m., I need to be in bed.

35) I have worn glasses since I was 5 years old.  I have a very bad astigmatism.  I got contacts when I was 14.

36) My kids have never been tardy to school. 

37) I just sent my very first text ever!

first day of school!

The kids started back to school on Monday.  We have a modified year-round schedule here (shorter summer with longer spring, fall, and winter breaks).  It was a bittersweet day for me as I officially started a new phase of life with all my kids in school!

 Brandon started 5th grade:

Tyler started 2nd grade:

And Natalie started (all-day) Kindergarten:

Our school does not allow parents in the building before school, so we took the kids to their areas to line up.  Kevin stayed with the boys.  Brandon is apparently way too cool to have his picture taken and only wanted to go hang out with his friends, but Kevin managed to get one quick photo.

Tyler wanted to stay with Kevin.

I went with Natalie to the kindergarten area on the other side of the school.

Like the social butterfly Natalie is, she immediately ran off to play.  My friend Maddy and I have been hoping Sadie & Natalie would be in the same class, but they are not.  It's probably for the best - they are way too much alike and would plot to take over the world together!

I was doing fine until the bell rang and they had to line up.  I had a few panic attack moments but held it together and did not cry.  Natalie was so happy I couldn't help but be excited for her.  She has Tyler's kindergarten teacher who has become a friend of mine so I knew she was in good hands.

I was so busy the whole day catching up on things that waited all summer I honestly didn't have time to miss the kids. The time flew by and before I knew it, it was already time to go pick them up!  Natalie came running out of school with a huge smile on her face.  That's when I got a bit choked up.  Suddenly she seemed so old and didn't need me as much anymore!

All the kids have had three good days of school.  I have accomplished a lot and am enjoying getting things done on my own time and not feeling like I'm being rushed or interrupted.  We're off to a great start of the school year!

summer 2012

We're enjoying a simple summer here at home. When Kevin took his new job, it changed and cancelled some of our plans (no vacation time accrued yet and no free flights).  At first I was sad and frustrated that we would be stuck here for the majority of the time, but as we got further into the summer, I realized how peaceful and fun summer really can be when you can just relax!  We have spent many hours at the pool (either in swim lessons or just playing), I have gotten my regular gym workouts in, most of the house has been deep-cleaned, I have taken a nap most days, we have gone to movies, and played with friends.  I can say with all honesty that it has been one of the best summers ever. 

Because we all know that my family functions better with a routine, I created this plan last year.  It has served us well again this summer.  It allows for flexibility & fun each day, while maintaining a bit of structure. Each day we have certain allotted "times" but they are always different (and in different order) each day and each week, depending on what other activities we have going on. It gives the kids something to look forward to (and in some cases, complain about).

WATER TIME - This includes swim lessons, backyard water play, swimming at other people's pools, or going to the water park or splash pad. It's important for us to be outside during the day, and water activities are the only way to do that in Arizona in the summer.

SCHOOLWORK TIME - I bought workbooks for each of my kids to keep up their skills. They do a few pages each day.

READING TIME - Brandon reads on his own in his room for 15-20 minutes. Tyler reads to me, and I read to Natalie.  They have finished 3 different summer reading programs and the kids love earning the rewards.

CLEANING / CHORE TIME - This is in addition to their regular daily & weekly chores. Each day they helped me clean or organize something. We have deep-cleaned about half of the house.

QUIET / ALONE TIME - For about an hour each day, they play alone quietly. They need the break from each other and I need a break from them.  Most days I have gotten a nap!

COMPUTER OR Wii TIME - They get one hour of either computer or Wii time. We usually do this later in the day, because it works well as motivation (if they get in trouble, they lose some of their time). 

MOVIE / TV TIME - Each day we only watch one movie or the equivalent amount of TV (Netflix). On the days that we have Summer Movie Tickets at the theater, that is our movie time. The other days we watch at home.

FUN TIME - Each day I try to have something fun planned. Sometimes it's a playdate with friends, the indoor bounce places, or the library.  Occasionally it's just going to McDonald's to have an ice cream cone and the play area.  Sometimes our outings are combined with other things (like a trip to the water park is considered water time as well as fun time). 

Some people might wonder if my kids have any unstructured play time.  Rest assured, they have had plenty of it!  We don't do all these things every day.  But my kids can only do short periods of playing without arguing, wrestling, or getting bored.  And with it being so hot outside, we are cooped up for 13 hours a day, since 7:00 a.m. is "sleeping in" for my kids!

I know many people probably cringe at the thought of such a routine during summer.  But it works for us and it has saved my sanity.  We have had a great time and I might actually miss summer once we get back into crazy school life with homework and spending half my day in the car.

And since a blog post is no fun without a photo, here is Natalie rocking some dress up attire.  I can't believe my baby girl is starting kindergarten in 5 days!

swim lessons

I usually sign the kids up for a few weeks of swim lessons each summer.  But when Kevin got his new job and most of our summer travel plans were cancelled, I decided to sign them up for a whole month.  Now that they are all in the longer classes, it is actually a nice break for me!

Natalie is at a very scary age for swimming.  She THINKS she can swim, and does well...for about 6 feet.  She often just starts swimming without any idea of where she's going or how far it really is or whether there is anyone or anything around to help her.  She is making good progress but she is definitely not water safe yet.  She loves the water and has had a very patient teacher.  I will keep her in year-round lessons so that hopefully she will be water safe next summer.

Tyler moved up a level, and is now swimming the full length of the pool (rather than half the length).  He is working on endurance and perfecting each stroke (see his butterfly above).  He doesn't love swimming, but he works hard and usually has a good attitude.

You would never believe Brandon is the same kid who was terrified of the water and didn't swim until he was almost 7 years old.  He is in the second-to-top level, can swim many lengths of the pool, and does well at all the strokes. He particularly likes the backstroke.  Even though he enjoys diving off the blocks, his diving skills leave a lot to be desired. He has fought me a bit on swim lessons this summer, so I might look into a diving class for him next year.

The kids were very interested in the Olympic swimming trials last week, so hopefully watching the upcoming Olympics will motivate them to become better swimmers.  And we have had a much more enjoyable summer now that I feel comfortable taking all three of them to pools by myself.

summer field trip day!

You know those places you want to take your kids, but they are far away and not worth the time and gas money to do by themselves?  I had three of them on my list and they were somewhat close together so I recruited my sister and her kids to join us on our "summer field trip day!"

After driving in circles around downtown Phoenix trying to navigate one-way streets and non-existent parking structures (where parking was supposedly free with validation), we finally gave up and paid for parking. Our first stop was the Wells Fargo Historical Museum.  I chaperoned Brandon's field trip there a few months ago and was impressed.  It is small and free and fun for kids.  The museum employees didn't offer to give us a tour like they did for the school kids, so it wasn't quite as good, but I'm glad Brandon & I listened the first time so we could tell the others some of the interesting facts. 

The kids loved the play stagecoach:

And all the other hands-on activities:

Vikki & I were having a flashbacks of the numerous museums our parents dragged us to, that we swore we would never subject our kids to!

Our next stop was the Phoenix Police Museum, which was conveniently located a short block away.  Thankfully a bank employee stopped us and routed us a different way because there was a crazy guy walking around and shouting things. 

The police museum is not new, but apparently it just moved into this location a month ago and is much larger now. Neither of us had ever been there before, but it was free (seeing a theme here?) and nearby so we figured it was worth our time.  They had all sorts of cool things for the kids to climb on and look at. Vikki & I were more interested in the old memorabilia (now we really sound like our parents!).

We were very impressed that they had a whole helicopter in there.  The guy told us everything (including the helicopter and the car) was brought in through the regular-sized front door!

It was a fun museum and definitely worth 1/2 hour of our time, especially since we were already in the neighborhood.

We headed out to Glendale, about 10 miles away.  We found a McDonald's with a play area and got lunch and let the kids play before heading to our third stop, Cerreta's Candy Factory!  Their free factory tour has been on my to-do list for awhile, but Glendale isn't close. 

I was a bit surprised when they let all 50 of us go back and walk right next to the production line!  I'm pretty sure that violated a few health code laws, but it was very interesting.  The old man is Mr. Cerreta - the owner.

Brandon liked the 300 lb. football chocolate (and also the 500 lb. chocolate Santa, and the 300 lb. caramel corn Easter Bunny).

Tyler could barely lift the 10 lb. white chocolate bar that they passed around!

 Of course the favorite part were the free samples:

We finished the day off by swimming in Vikki's pool since we didn't get to do that on the 4th of July.  Tyler deemed it "the best day ever!"  I agree it was a great day - we had a good time with family, we spent very little money, and I checked three things off my "things to do in Phoenix" list!

tortoise babysitters

When friends in the ward needed a babysitter for their two baby tortoises while they were on vacation, I jumped at the chance.  Brandon has been obsessed with turtles and tortoises ever since he did his third grade animal report on the Galapagos Tortoise last year.  He has asked for them as a pet several times.  I am not much of pet person, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to see how they really are and whether they would be a good fit for our home and family.

Meet Cougar (left) and Fudge (right)!  From this photo angle, they look very different in size, but they are not really (Cougar is laying flat, and Fudge is standing up on his legs).  They are just babies, so they live in a plastic tub inside until they grow larger and more accustomed to the heat.  The kids have absolutely loved these guys, and they have spent many hours like this watching them and reporting their every move:

We were allowed to take them outside for a short time each day so they could roam around and get acclimated to the heat.

All three of the kids have enjoyed these tortoises and I have to say these are the perfect pet - they don't smell, they don't eat a lot, they are quiet, they are not under my feet, and they are not shedding all over my house. 

It will be a sad day here when these guys go home.  Hopefully they will let us watch them again soon!

fourth of july

We had a good 4th of July this year.  We had swim lessons in the morning and the weather was cloudy and cool (for Arizona...it was still 85 degrees), which was nice for a change.  We relaxed and did some work around the house, then headed over to my sister's house.  We were supposed to swim, but it was raining off and on so we decided not to.  The kids always play well with their Turner cousins; Brandon looks up to Ryan (age 16), Tyler and Sean are the twin tornadoes (4 days apart), and Natalie adores Brooke (age 13) & Kelly (age 10), especially all their dance costumes!

Dinner was the usual BBQ, and then our family headed off to see fireworks.  We are bad parents and have never actually taken our kids to fireworks before.  Most of the shows around here start really late and our kids don't know how to sleep in, so to us it was not worth to have grumpy, tired kids the next day.  Don't feel bad for them though - they never really even knew what fireworks were or that they were missing anything!  But they are older now and I found a show only a few miles from our house that starts at 8:30, so we decided to do it.  The weather cleared up, the temperature was perfect, and we found a great spot to watch right next to a park so the kids played while they waited.  We enjoyed the fireworks but the kids asked a million questions and talked the whole time  - I'm sure they were annoying the people around us.  But overall it was a fun and relaxing day!

And as predicted, even though they were up 2 hours later than normal, they were of course awake extra early this morning!