More Prom

Prom #1 with Matt

Day Date: Nine couples tandem bike-riding in Provo. haha

Prom Night: Celine Dion karaoke in the limo Mada's uncle provided. MK stopped the music just as Dallin went full throttle on his Celine impression.

Benihana's for dinner, then off to the State Capitol.

Then Matt brought her home when the after-dance "cuddle" video started at 12:30 a.m. Perfect. After date comments: "That was so, so, so much fun. The funnest dance ever. Me and Matt got along so great :)

Who's the Boss?

Elle is high maintenance—a diva. Have I mentioned this? Before I can get her sandwich made, she’s demanding a drink. When I get the drink, she needs a napkin. NOW. And a Gogurt. And…what’s taking so long? I keep telling her things like, “Don’t boss me!” (But who do you think she gets her bossiness from?….[yep, probably Rob] :)

(The microphone doesn't help.)

Spring Break Report

Firstly, Spring Break meant Spring Cleaning. My evil plan for the kids this week:

Day One: De-junk your dresser
Day Two: De-junk your closet
Day Three: De-junk under your bed
Day Four: De-junk your "hiding places" (yep, I'm on to you...)

My job was to supervise/train all kids in proper de-junking techniques, then work on my own projects:
De-junk the basement storage areas
Inventory and then huck half of our food storage (because it expired like six years ago)
Organize Rob's and my closets.

Then I had the awesome idea that the kids should rotate making lunch for the crew. See? That was awesome, wasn't it.

To prevent all out rebellion, we made sure we had some fun. Rob met me and the little kids and friends at the big new park after work one day. One night, he took Getty and Mia and friends to "Hop."

Getty, Cam, and Elle built a snow cave for like 3 hours.

MK and I shopped for her Prom dress with the todds. Man, was it easy to pick that dress. We lucked out—as soon as she slipped it on, we knew it was the one for her. And Mia has agreed to wear it at some point, so we get our money's worth. (Oh ya, we haven't told her that part yet.)

MK made sure she kept in touch with her friends while we shopped.

Why does MK have both the kids on her back? ... Because that's how she rolls.

Cy and Aaron took pictures of each other jumping off the balcony into an XXL cuddle bag. (Cy was so excited he almost wet his pants.)

And why does Cy's mom allow him to perform such reckless stunts? Sometimes mom's are not aware such shenanigans are going down...until they see photographic evidence.

Mia went to Disneyland with her friend's family, while MK took off to St. George with her friend's family to stay in a home with it's own bowling alley and lake in the backyard. Nice.

The topper was touring "Make-A-Wish." What an awesome experience. Rob and his siblings decided to donate to charities instead of give each other gifts for Christmas. It was Rob's turn to choose the charity, so he chose his stand-by favorite. We wanted to get the kids involved, so we planned to tour the place before Christmas. Or after Christmas. Or sometime around Spring Break in April.

After we learned about how to play the special wishing board game, we crossed the "moat"...

Cam unlocked the Wish tower...

And we entered a mystical room.

Cy followed the lit path to the wishing torch, where he inserted a wish into a golden token and then continued on the path to the wishing cone. The torch fits upside-down, and off the golden token goes to those wish wizards.

Fun facts: Jim Carrey spends an entire day with his Wish kids, but stresses out so much about fulfilling their expectations, that he gets physically sick the night before.

Michael Jordan, Miley Cyrus, and Robin Williams, were just a few of the celebrities our host mentioned that regularly grant Wishes, while Kelly Clarkson does not.

John Stockton was very nervous the first time he was requested, so he asked Karl Malone (who had granted many Wishes) for advice. Turned out, the Wish kid got two for one—both John and Karl.

The most popular wish place is Disney World. Most wishes involve some sort of travel.

The most popular celebrity request is Jeff Gordon.

Then there are shopping spree wishes and bedroom make-overs.

Make-A-Wish, Utah chapter, is most popular for skiing wishes and for meeting the Prophet. High School Musical II was a hit while they filmed here, too.

So, now it's Sunday night. Time to Spring back to the ol' routine. Looking forward to it.

Game Changer

Do I look annoyed? That's just my game face. haha

I like to think I'm tough. My kids know better. They know I crack under pressure and wear my emotions on my sleeve. The truth is, my days as Head Honcho are dwindling.

It was awesome when my little ducklings followed closely behind me or rode on my hip. Bedtime was 8 p.m., and I had Rob to myself for the night. Sometimes I didn't leave the house for days in a row by choice. When I did leave, it was to run my own errands on my own schedule. Can you say "Game Over"?

Nowadays, I chase our kids and their carpools and errands all over tarnation. During our Family Night calendar, I get my schedule and orders for the week. Bedtime is anywhere from 8 p.m. (for kids) to 11:30 p.m. (for teens with tons of homework). After that, Cy will have a night terror or I'll find Elle asleep on the carpet outside her bedroom door. The kids have other worlds in their lives that I just get glimpses of. They have their own big plans, too. Plans that require a lot of parental support and involvement (and driving). The big kids question every decision I make in their behalf and test the boundaries just for fun.

It's funny—this "mom" deal is so much easier in some ways because of sheer experience, but in other ways it's suddenly much more complicated. And humbling. Sometimes I escape to play soccer or read a good book, but I'm glad I don't just live for myself. Those kids of ours are my pride and joy. My refiner's fire. My purpose in life.

It's true, I'm not nearly as tough as I need to be. My patience and my confidence wear thin. And my personality has needed an overhaul in major areas just to keep the peace, but just think how seasoned I'll be in a few short years. It's something I look forward to.

I remember saying to Rob before we started our family, "Just think—we haven't even met any of the people that will be by far the most significant people in our lives. We don't even know their names, yet we will love them like no other on earth for the rest of our lives." Now we know them. And now we love them more than life. And now I drive carpools three times a day and watch track meets in the freezing wind and do homework all over again. And I can't think of a better way to spend my life, because it's the way I get to be with my favorite people.

The game has changed and will change again as they spin off into their own worlds. Their problems will continue to increase in size and number and severity. Am I tough enough to watch as they wade through their own afflictions? Nope. Not even close. But I just might be humble enough by then.

March Madness

Cy struts across the court like the little dude he is.

Don't you love action shots? Cody looks suhweet. MK is keeping her hair nice for her date with Dallin in a few minutes.

Conference Weekend

Clint and Cassie came with their kids to stay overnight during General Conference weekend. It was the most relaxing and uplifting weekend I've spent in a long time. Saturday was gorgeous, and the kids played outside all day while the four of us spread out on couches and soaked in the inspiration.

We had a lot to talk about over dinner at Blue Lemon. Clint and Cassie are moving to Hawaii indefinitely. Clint made us commit to visiting at least once a year. Done deal ;)

We also talked about an article in the March “Ensign” about a family in a similar situation to ours. The father was an electrical engineer who had purchased stock in the company he worked for. Several years later, the company sold, and he made many times his initial investment. He and his wife lived in a modest home and had just had their sixth child. They decided to give HALF of that money to LDS philanthropies. HALF.

We need to do more.

On Sunday we girls cooked up four batches of spaghetti sauce and two breakfast casseroles. It's my favorite "double-batch dinners" method to stock the freezer. Love days I don't have to cook dinner. Makes me love the days I do have to cook dinner. 

We're usually only home for dinner on Fast Sundays, so that's when I make sure I get some cooking lessons in for the girls. I don't recommend this. Man are we grouchy when our stomachs are rumbling. But, this Sunday was just pure fun.

The Shiz

MK has a talent, nay a gift for shooting the ball at half-court. Blindly. Standing with her back to the hoop. Arching her back as she hurls it granny-style. Whoosh. Not every time, but give her three tries, and she's golden. She's an anomaly. An oddity. A veritable kook. In her words, "The Shiz." (Is she cussing?) Oh, I know—it's a reference to Shiz in the Book of Mormon, "Who can stand before the army of Shiz? Behold, he sweepeth the earth before him!" and the fact that after he had his head "smitten" off, "that Shiz raised up on his hands".... Now that's a pretty picture. The Shiz man. That must be it. (I just asked MK, and she laughed at me. Oh well.)

BTW, Rob thinks the new teen slang word should be "zesty," as in "You've got a zesty shot there."
Oh, he's serious alright.

A Saturday in March

Rob's in Las Vegas for MK's college showcase soccer tournament, soaking it all up and coaching her at every opportunity (good thing they don't allow parents on the field :)

I'm enjoying an apple-pecan spinach salad with my old friend Michele, discussing the very real possibility that we're not in control of our kids anymore. Were we ever?

MK's in Vegas playing her heart out on a wrapped, sprained ankle and loving every minute of it. (Here she is late Sunday night when she got home.)

Mia is playing church basketball in the Regional tournament and TICKED that so-and-so didn't pass her the ball, cuz she woulda scored like TONS of three-pointers :)

Getty is snow-shoeing into Winter Camp with the scouts and sleeping in a snow cave

Getty's versions of a "proper Boy Scout." While Parker is a proper Boy Scout.

Boy Scout Version 2

Boy Scout Version 3

Cam is at Ava's birthday party

Elle is in her Monkey jammies all day, sick with a fever ("My tummy hurts")

and Cy is wondering, "Where did everybody go?"

And that about wraps up our Saturday.