Soccer Mom Saturdays

Remember the days when Saturday morning were for sleeping in and lazing about.

Now they are for sitting on the sidelines, freezing - wrapped up in blankets, and cheering so loud and long for my kids that my voice gets hoarse. Tal and Abi are both playing AYSO Spring Soccer again this year and having a great time. Tal's team "The Fireballs" is coached by his dad, Kris. His skills are improving as is his sportsmanship. He kicked his first goal last week so I owe him an ice cream cone.

Abi's team, "The Green Goblins" are tearing it up this year. Abi is a real fiesty player, going after the ball on offense and defense. She loves to play forward and goalie. She has a really strong kick and has scored several goals as well as made goal scoring assists. She has quite the leg on her.


Leah and I hang out and cheer although she likes to scoot around and explore most of the game.

Hoppy Easter

Matchy, Matchy - I know it's so cliche' but what can I say. I want to take family pics in May when the weather is nicer outside so our outfits will serve double duty. I couldn't find matching dresses anywhere so at my sister's suggestion I broke down and made them. Now, I am not much of a seamstress so simple dresses turned into a huge project but at least they look cute. I made my skirt as well, another "Easy - 1 hour" pattern that took at least 5 hours, not including the hemming. Thanks to my mom for putting the zipper in for me.

We had a great time dyeing our eggs this year. We even tried some new techniques with stickers which gave us polka dot eggs. Cool. The kids were spoiled with 2 egg hunts by their grandmas and earned lots of candy and jelly beans for mom. :)

Over General Conference weekend Kris's cousins Erica and Angie came up from Las Vegas and Utah respectively to visit Grandma Hayes. Here are all of the great-grand kids, minus Emily Monk. They had a wonderful time playing all together and were nearly spastic over the Easter Egg hunt. Nana Meek - Jana, bought the girls all matching High School Musical shirts. The boys received other shirts and remote control cars which they had running everywhere.

The Saturday before Easter was cousin Gabby's baptism. What a special day for her. Tal and Sterling ended up with matching Easter suits, Kalene and I must have been on the same wave length. The girls all have the same style of smocking dresses although Kalene is a much better seamstress and added sleeves. We also had an Easter Egg hunt courtesy of Nana Fife and the kids were all spoiled royally.

10 Months and Soooo Adorable

Leah is the light of our family. I can't believe that my baby is growing up soooo big. She has the sweetest temperament and is learning and doing so much every day. Leah gives great kisses and hugs, especially after family prayer and on waking up from her naps. She still scoots around the house but she is really fast now. She is starting to pull up on everything: the couch, the chairs, Mom's legs are a favorite. But then she gets stuck and can't get down so she will start squealing. You can always tell where Leah has been because she leaves a little trail of destruction. A typical 20 minutes includes unloading the bathroom cupboard, unloading the bookshelf, unloading the DVD's from the entertainment center, unloading the magazine rack, and pulling off all of the CD's from under the computer desk. And if I ever get out of sight she will scoot around the house saying, "Mom, Mom."
Leah also has quite the independent streak. She decided that she didn't like to sit in her big high chair and would stand up in the middle of eating. So we moved to this little high chair which she seems to like better. She prefers to feed herself and when she is done she will throw the rest of her meal on the floor. If I shake my head and say "No, No" she will smile and shake her head back at me. Her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, peaches, peas, cheese and yogurt. Tonight Kris gave her a drink of his punch and when he took his cup away she squealed and put up a fuss until she received several more drinks, ditto for an after dinner cookie.
Her hair has started to curl on top, to my delight, and I like to put gel in it and curl it up. Leah likes to look in the mirror while we do this but then she likes to run her hands through her hair and make it all crazy. She is fascinated with the baby in the mirror. I put her in front of our long mirrored closet doors and she likes to grab for and even kiss the baby in the mirror. She says Mom, Dadda, and Leah well and consistently now. Her new word is Abi, although she won't say it on command, she just likes to babble a conversation. Mom made her an Easter dress, you'll see more on the next post, and she loved finding the eggs at the Easter Egg Hunt. I hope I don't curse myself, but we are winning the war on naps and bedtime. She goes down really well most days, however we are still nursing 2x a night. Hopefully as we get closer to a year we will cut down to one. However, I don't mind spoiling her a little, OK a lot, and just love ( most of the time) this fleeting time when she is little.

Road Trip to my Jerusalem Center Reunion

This past weekend was my BYU Jerusalem Center 10 year reunion in Provo. I had not been on a road trip since we went to Boise when Kris was sworn into the Idaho State Bar. Sadly, in the past year the furthest I have ventured outside of Idaho Falls was to the St. Anthony Sand Dunes for family pics. So Kris and I decided to make a little adventure of our road trip and hit a few fun places on the way. Our first stop was Moochies Meatballs and More, made famous by one of our favorite Food Network Shows "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." Philly Cheese steak - Awesome!!! Silly me though, I forgot to take our pics in front. We also hit an Asian market, drove by the construction next to Temple Square, strolled around Gateway Plaza, shopped at the Blue Chip Group and stopped at the Disneyland for Outdoorsmen - Cabellas. ( Did you know you can have your birthday party at Cabella's? Seriously.)

Next stop, my reunion at the Hinckley Alumni House at BYU. Beautiful by the way. I had so much fun catching up and reminiscing with my friends. Some of them came from so far away, I was amazed.
Here are my lovely roommates Amy and Rachael. ( Carli we missed you.) Love the red hair - It wasn't exactly supposed to be red but we went with it and had a great time anyway.
Here are some of my best friends from the JC - Vann, Rachael, (Me), Lloydell, Mindy, and Liz. Michelle and Carli we really missed you and I'm not sure where Jenny snuck off to for the pic. What wonderful memories I have of my time in Jerusalem and the testimony that grew there. Thanks to my wonderful husband who drove us down and back, chatted up my friends, and let me sleep on the way home.

Random Ramblings

Today for our 5th Sunday lesson our bishop was talking about how his brain is an orb with random, circular, thoughts all the time. Kris looked at me and said, "Does that remind you of anyone?" He meant himself but that is me to a T. I chalk it up to being a mom: I have 5 people to organize and their activities to keep track of, not to mention sales and coupons, FHE lessons I want to do, my food storage buying and rotation, planning my gardens ( and wishing it would stop snowing so I could get out and do something in them), visiting teaching, Enrichment, practicing piano with my kids, and of course the endless piles of laundry, dishes, cleaning and meals. Sometimes I feel like that line out of "Harry Potter" where Hermione is describing Cho's thoughts and feelings and Ron says "No one could be feeling {thinking} all of those things, they would explode." So please excuse the rambling - a few of the things on my mind.

Abi and Kris had an awesome Daddy/Daughter Activity where they made this lovely napkin holder. Abi would love to tell you how they picked out the pattern, traced it onto the wood, cut it out, sanded it (for like 3 hours), painted it and applied the rub-ons ( butterflies of course.) It now graces our dining table at mealtimes. They did such a great job and had so much fun.

Adventures in eating with Leah. These are homemade popsicles from FHE one night. Abi had created (with a little help from mom) a Scripture Bingo Game and prepared a lesson for us. Leah just had to try the popsicle and once she did she was hooked. She grabbed it and wouldn't let go.

How can one little baby get soooooo messy. When Leah is really tired she will rub her hands across her face smearing cereal from ear to ear and top of head to somewhere way down below.

I'm adding a new link to my sites to save me money. It is a link to "Coupons by Dede." Unfortunately the Post Register is not carrying the Red Plum or Proctor and Gamble inserts until July. So in order to get those coupons you can order them through her site. It seems really reasonable and you can stock up on those great Pantene coupons.

Lastly, I'm really excited for my upcoming Jerusalem Center Reunion. I have my skirt almost finished and I'm getting my hair done this week. However I still haven't located a babysitter in Provo to watch Leah for the 3 hours during dinner. Sooooo if you have a sister, cousin, or friend living in Provo who would like to watch an adorable 10 month old and earn a little extra cash, please leave me a comment. Thanks.

Tal lost his first tooth

Talmage has been working on his teeth almost since Abi lost her first tooth. At one point he wanted to get the pliers to pull them out so he could get money from the Tooth Fairy. We convinced him that he could make more money by just doing his chores. But still he has been wiggling them and wiggling them. This first one was getting quite snaggly as he worked and wiggled it. Tonight Kris gave it a couple of good pushes, one back and one forward that really loosened it up. Then Tal grabbed it and pulled it right out. No hesitation!!! He was sooooo excited. I hope the Tooth Fairy rewards him well. :)

Nine Months and Soooo Cute

Time just flies when you are loving your little ones. The nine months since Leah was born have been so full of joy and fun. (I can't say that about the nine months she was growing on the inside.) Leah is such a sweet and adorable baby. She has a really sweet disposition although she is a thinker and a little slow to warm up to new people. She normally just studies them but won't smile as they goo and gaa over her. But for our family she is quick to flash those 8 pearly whites and clap her hands. (Yeah Leah - is our game.)

That's right, Leah has 8 teeth. But fortunately she is not a biter while nursing. She has been known to nip me on the shoulder once or twice to get my attention while I was holding her though. Her hair is starting to curl, to mom's delight, so I like to put a little gel in the top and curl it up. She has the prettiest blue eyes and is sooo expressive. She babbles Dadda and Mom and EeeAah (Leah) but doesn't always put them with the right people. Leah is growing and growing - 28 1/4 inches and 15 lbs 10 oz. She continues to be tall and thin for her age but then she fits right in with her siblings.

Leah is really beginning to explore the wonders of feeding herself. I find it adorable how she can be so dainty to pick up one little bite of food off her tray one minute and then next be stuffing her mouth with a handful of noodles. Her favorite foods are noodles, bits of cheese, bananas and peas. Kris likes to sneak her little bits of brownie which she loves as well. She is also quite fond of apple juice in her bottle.

Leah refuses to crawl but has instead perfected the butt scoot. She gets both legs moving like a lobster and then uses her hands to pull herself around. She is really fast on the hardwood floors but maneuvers well on carpet also. As you can see she enjoys emptying out the entertainment center as well as the bookshelf, magazine rack, bakers rack, and cupboard in the bathroom. She is fascinated by the world around her and loves new experiences like being outside, singing songs, reading books or tearing apart any new thing.