Baby gets baptized.

Mason turned 8 in May and was scheduled to be baptized the first Saturday in June. This was an exciting time for him as he prepared for & looked forward to his big day.

To compound the excitement (and the stress....) we found out that his cousin Grayson was also being baptized the same day in Heber City. We breathed a sigh of relief when we discovered that the baptisms were a couple hours apart. It was pretty special to feel the support of Mark's brother's family as they came down from Heber to come to Mason's baptism and then to offer ours as shortly after Mason's baptism we headed up the canyon to attend Graysons' baptism.

My extended family that came was patient and waited for us to do all that before we fed & visited with them. I worried they would feel abandoned but my sister, Christy, said "we're all grownups. We can figure out something to do until you get back!"

Grandma Carla, Auntie Christy, Mason, Uncle David, Auntie Jena, Papa

Thank you family!

Because of the rush of getting to the 2nd baptism we didnt' get pictures of Mark's side of the family who attended but we are grateful you came and supported us:

Matt, Abby, Katrina, Mallorie, Ava, Grayson, Grahm, Callie, Kei, Ademir, Betze, Grandma Donna.

It's a little strange to think my little family is getting so grown up that all of us are now baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mason was very excited about that part. He commented many times before and since that with his baptism we were all part of the same special group. I am glad of that. One step closer to being an eternal family. There are so many steps along the way; some big, some small.

As we've encouraged and taught and helped and prayed and hoped our children into the waters of baptism; I see the temple spires rising in my mind's eye as the next step we will encourage and teach and pray and hope our children towards.

I hear 3 of them upstairs giggling and talking. They are supposed to be in bed drifting off to dreamland..... They are not.

It makes me smile to hear them loving each other and laughing together. It makes me happy to know that they can be there for one another throughout their lives to offer support and encouragement the way my brothers and sisters are there for me.

I have had occasion over the last few months to feel especially grateful for the love, kindness and support of each of my brothers and sisters and from my incredibly loving mom and dad. This has come in the form of thoughtful gifts, out of the way visits, listening ears, good ideas, & generous help in ways I couldn't help myself and can never express enough gratitude for.

They are generous and kind and loving and special special people. I am so blessed to be part of a family that cares for each other, is generous with one another, fights and makes up because hello! sometimes we are opinionated & we are definitely not perfect but we love each other anyway and are willing to forgive and we still want to be an eternal family.

All this oozing happy love includes the amazing family I married into. They are people I love being with. They are fun to be around and I consistently learn to be a better person from watching their examples.

Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he created families. They are hard sometimes. They have the power to bring pain & misery but when combined with the true principles of the gospel, families have the power to bring infinite Joy.

We grow and learn to love and be better people through them.

I am grateful for all of mine.

A father's advice and "concern"

*found this post from April... don't know why I didn't post it. Better late than never*

Carly was watching Pride and Prejudice tonight while Mark was at the Priesthood Conference Session.

She had been helping me trim the roses and got her feet tangled up in a sprinkler which she didn't notice. It gouged a little hole in her ankle where the metal hit right on the bone which hurts so bad. She cried a little and limped in. Samantha and I helped her to the couch and propped her foot up and got her an ice pack. Even Mason got involved and slapped a band-aid on her toe. It was kind of funny because she had 3 gouges and scrapes from ankle to toe and he applied the band-aid to the smallest one. She didn't even feel him stick it on.

A little Colin Firth was needed for her convalescence.......

When Mark got home he noticed what was on and started complaining loud and long.

Jacob walked down to the TV room, sat and watched for a minute and then came up to the kitchen where his dad was. I said "hey Jacob you should try watching it. You might like it." I wanted him to make up his own mind and not be tainted by his father's extreme prejudice against anything with a corset and an accent.

Too late. Before Jacob could reply Mark said "I don't want you watching that Jacob. There is no reason you should watch that movie." Then he amended his statement with this fatherly advice. "Unless you're dating a girl and want to impress her or you're just married. It might be okay then but when you hit the 10 year anniversary, you shouldn't have to watch anymore!"

Jamie's Super Terrific Day Out.

I don't get out much....

It's a fact.

I'm a homebody- and I like it. I don't usually feel like I'm missing out on anything. I like steadiness and knowing what's coming next and feeling in control. But like anything else..... Too much of a good thing can be just that.... Too much. When you let yourself get too comfortable you miss out.

I almost missed out big time recently and am so glad I didn't

Early in May, my brother David and sister -in-law Jena invited Mark and I to go to a concert with them. They had 2 extra tickets and thought of us! These were not just any concert tickets. These were e "U2 360 concert tour" tickets!!

Mark wasn't interested so I thought "well that's it for that" and told them to invite another couple. Instead they opened up the invitation to Carly and I. Carly had never been to a concert before.

I almost declined. I kept thinking I didn't know what would be going on that close to the end of the school year and it was a school night (work night) and maybe it would just be too much trouble and then I wondered when I became such a stick in the mud.

We accepted!

David & Jena arrived in early afternoon after we'd all gotten home from work and school. Carly and I changed into our "day out" clothes, filled our water bottles and hopped in the back of David & Jena's car and we were off.

Poor Mark.

I left him with quite the evening line-up to take care of. If truth be told, I was kind of excited for him to see what many of my evenings are like....

5:oopm Drive Samantha to her softball game and make sure that Jacob has all his baseball stuff in the car and Mason is in his scout uniform.

5:15 pm After dropping Samantha off a few blocks south of our house, turn around and proceed to drop off Jacob several blocks North of our home for baseball practice at 5:30pm

5:30pm After dropping Jacob off at Baseball practice, turn back around and go back to Samantha's baseball field to watch her game.

6:30pm Pack up chairs, water bottles and kids when Samantha's game is over and drop off Mason at scouts and then go to pick up Jacob at his baseball practice.

7:15ish Go home and figure out what to feed children. Get them to brush their teeth, get Pj's on and get to bed.

Jacob's baseball practice got cancelled because the days before had been raining however that Tuesday was a beautiful day. So Mark got off easy. His running around was lessened considerably.

The first stop David and Jena had planned on Jamie's super Terrific day out was a doughnut shop in Draper? I can't remember where it was except that we were past the point of the mountain.....

It is called "Beyond Glaze" and it is soooo good.

Jena had heard about it and tried it out on a previous visit and had raved about their maple bacon doughnut. I just wasn't so sure about that.... Maple Bacon doughnut? sounded weird but can I say after trying it that it is

WEIRDLY DELICIOUS!

We tried several different kinds: coconut, mint "grasshopper", raspberry, and more. I remember that my favorites were the coconut and the maple bacon.

Carly was very excited about the doughnuts...

Stop #2 on Jamie's super Terrific day out was a kitchen store in salt lake called Orson Gygi's. They had everything for the hobby baker! It was fun to browse and look at all the different cooking gadgets, pans, decorating tools and candies and just in case you were looking for a giant bar of chocolate for a guy named Peter. They have it!

My super terrific day out got even more super terrific with Stop #3 : dinner at "The Garden". I was the only one of the 4 of us that had never been there. (Another sign I need to get out more.) I got a strawberry chicken salad that was, indeed, super terrific!

The view from the "The Garden"

Beautiful.

The players in JSTDO:

Jamie, Carly, Jena, David

After leaving the restaurant we drove to Rice Eccles stadium at University of Utah. I hadn't really been aware that it was an outdoor concert until that day. I am glad I didn't know that because of all the rain and cold we'd had that month I would have been stressing.

It couldn't have been more beautiful. The sun was shining. It was cool but not cold. It was wonderful.

As we approached the stadium from the parking lot Carly could hear the band "The Fray" already playing. At that point I think she was more excited to see them than U2. She wasn't sure she knew much by U2 but was up for her first concert experience.

She was pulling my hand pretty hard, trying to get us to hurry, hurry, hurry!

We were trying but you should have seen Jena's shoes!

They were not hurry, hurry, hurry shoes but we put a little more skip in our step for CarCar.

First Glimpse while David found out about a change with our seats.

To prove we were actually there!

I learned darkness and anonymity are very good for releasing inhibitions.

I danced and danced and sang and nobody laughed at me.

Not even my 17 yr old daughter.

Bless her.

She began to realize just how much U2 she really did know..

I kept hearing "oh... I know this song!"

We had such a good time.

The show was amazing. The music was great.

The atmosphere was fun. There were people of all ages there. We didn't encounter anyone obnoxious.

The weather couldn't have been nicer. I had a light jacket and was so comfortable. I loved the outdoor atmosphere. The sound, although loud, wasn't overwhelming. It was just invigorating.

Carly bought a concert shirt. The frugal mom in me counseled "don't do it" (they were $40) and I didn't get one but she said "It's my first concert! I have to" and she did and has been wearing it proudly.

It was a perfect "super terrific day out" and I am so glad I didn't miss it.

Thank you David and Jena for getting this stick out of the mud!

Looking for Summer Sanity: The Tattle Report

The Tattle Report

Tell me all about it.

Here.

Right here.

Only here.

There has been an EXPLOSION of tattling at my house this summer. It's making me crazy. I've never been one to put a kibosh on the tattling because hey... it's how I stay informed. It's been a useful tool for me. Let me tell you friends, it is useful no longer!

Within a 5 minute period I have had as many as 3 angry faces (some of those faces more than once) in my face yelling at me what so and so has done and how terrible they are and what they think I need to do about it RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has become a riot of emotion, especially for one child (who shall remain nameless) who already feels they are "not listened to" and things are never "fair". There is no way to explain to this child that less is more.

My wonderful, wonderful sister was here from California, with her 2 children, visiting me this week and was privileged to watch this tattletrain in motion. On her 2nd day here, she looked at me very seriously and said "I have an idea that might work for you". She is a 2nd grade teacher and uses this idea in her classroom. She hasn't had need of it yet at her home. Things are a little quieter with 2.... Not that she doesn't have her share of tattles and scuffles. It just has not ballooned to the epic tattle-tale monstrosity that is going on at my house.

She has a binder called "The Tattle Report". As a class they go through what it is and she does a sample for them. Tattlers must report their tattle in the tattle report following the assigned format or forgo the privilege of being listened to. She gets to it when she gets to it and that is that.

Friday afternoon I wrote up the following sample "Tattle Report" for my children and discussed it with them. They were full of "What if this???" and "What if that????" I declared the only exception was bloodshed. If you are bleeding you may tell me right now. Then I got "What if someone is holding me down and I can't get away?" and my uncaring response was "well if that were the case you wouldn't be able to tell me anyway! When you get away... Put it in the tattle report!"

Tattle Report:

Reporter: Mom

When: Monday July 7th 4:15 pm

Who: Mom and Kids

What: I am getting frustrated and can’t handle all the kids coming to me several times a day or several times an hour with a story of what someone has done and what I should do and how they should be punished. I think I am overreacting sometimes when I shouldn’t and I am not listening sometimes when I should.

Solution: I am instituting the “Tattle Report”. When you have a problem with someone else you need to write it in this book in this format:

Reporter:

When:

Who:

What:

Solution:

and I will deal with situations at lunch and dinnertime/bedtime depending on the day and what is going on. I love you all and think this will help us handle our disagreements fairly and less emotionally.

Remember! If you want me to listen.... WRITE IT DOWN!

I didn't really put it into action until Saturday when the cousins and Auntie Jennifer left for home. It was noon. It was saturday cleaning time. They were in charge of their bedrooms and their room job. Boy did the fighting start then (as it always does on cleaning day).

I was very consistent and would only smile and say "Put it in the tattle report" to which a couple of them marched off indignantly to write it all down. One came back another time after writing his first report and wanted to tell me something else that he deemed worthy of immediate attention. I ascertained there was no blood and smiled and said "Put it in the tattle report" and He growled and yelled and stomped his feet and yelled "I DON"T WANT TO PUT IT IN THE TATTLE REPORT!!!!!" and slammed his door. All of which I pointedly ignored.

At dinnertime we opened the book and dealt with each report coming up with an appropriate consequence for each problem. I wrote "Mom's solution" and what I was going to do about it at the bottom of each report as we dealt with it.

I have to say I am in LOVE with the tattle report. I was so much less emotional in dealing with their complaints. The kids were also much less emotional in dealing with the situations and we could discuss them without screaming and the fight accelerating. I listen and deal with each report whereas before I would deal with it as it came until I was losing my mind and then would declare (as I was screaming and pulling out my hair) "I don't want to hear it" which made one child in particular crazy as well - as they feel very strongly the need to be heard.

I think this is going to help them work out some of their problems better on their own. I think it's going to make them think twice about what they report as they have to do some work now to report it. I think a side benefit will be that they learn that they need to be specific and detailed in writing their explanation so I understand what they are saying.

I know I will need to be very consistent with this or it will not work.

I will let you know how it progresses as the summer progresses.

I have had 4 reports on Saturday and 5 reports today. So far. One child just came to me as I was typing and said in a highly emotional state "this needs to be dealt with now!!!! (repeated 5 times) I just smiled and said "Put it in the tattle report" and "it's almost dinnertime, better get it in now!" She is quietly writing. I am still typing and smiling.

Some interesting patterns....

8 of 9 reports are by one child.

6 of 9 reports are problems with One sibling in particular....

Interesting.

*Sigh*

Life is good with the tattle report.

Thanks Jennifer. You are a lifesaver. I love you. And not just for the tattle report. I had a great time and am so grateful you took the time, $ and energy to drive up here to visit little old me. :)

As for the rest of the visit:

We went to Discovery park. The 2 older boys and Carly and Rachel went to 7 peaks waterpark. They "camped" outside til midnight and then came in to go to bed. They got eaten by Mosquitos. They ran around and played. We went to lunch. We watched a movie. We had a great time!

We had to take them to our favorite ice cream joint....

Curtis and Jacob-

These guys were inseparable. Just a year apart in age. Always together. No fighting.

Partners in crime.

Jacob is usually the one feeling like he doesn't have a cousin to hang out with at family activities as the families we see most often are mostly girls and there are no boy cousins his age

These 3 played well together although Samantha sometimes felt like "I'm a big kid... I want to be with the big kids" and hanging with Mason and Alyssa made her feel "not big" but she didn't quite mesh with the 2 older boys.

This time it was her feeling a little displaced instead of Jacob.

Mason and Alyssa.

These 2 are the same age and played together so well. They didn't fight with each other either and had so much fun together. They did however get mad at their big brothers quite a few times.