Christmas surprise!!!

Lincoln came home from school today very excited. He exclaimed "Someone put a surprise present in my back pack!" I asked to see it. Surprise indeed. It was the present I put in there for him to give his teacher. Merry Christmas! I suppose I should have made sure they were all listening when I told them there was a present for their teachers in their back packs. Elisabeth didn't give hers to her teacher either. Now she thinks she should get to have it. HA!

Sunday Switch

Primary is the longest two hours of the week for me. Do you want to know why? Well. . first of all I am the Sunbeam teacher but, you will never guess who my hardest class member is. Sam!! My sweet mild mannered, easy going, smiling Sam. Something happens to that boy in primary. He misbehaves and cries and squirms and just acts out like crazy. I know it is because I am his teacher, but I am his Mom too. . that doesn't effect his behavior the rest of the week.

Ironically my son Lincoln who knows my buttons and pushes them frequently, gets praises from his Primary teacher on an almost weekly basis about how quiet he is and well behaved.

I think they must do some sort of "Freaky Friday" switch or Alfred Hitchcock . "Criss Cross" deal. . . "Lets pretend to be eachother!"

Sam is even an angel in Sacrament meeting. The transition takes place as he enters the Primary room. And the second we get home he is back to his sweet self. . but it does take him a little time to wind back to that. The transition is almost instantaneous both ways.

This is Halloween

My poor kids were bombarded with Halloween movies this last week. One of them was Nightmare Before Christmas and the song "This is Halloween" is now one of Sam's favorites.

I wont list the other movies I showed my kids because I am not sure you wouldn't find me an unfit parent. Nothing R rated. Nothing slasher. Nothing violent. I can't handle that stuff. Just the spooky ghost kinds of stuff. Some were a little scary, but I was careful. . .for my kids. I think my kids have a healthy appreciation for a good creepy horror movie. Lets just say that. Or maybe unhealthy as the case may be. They want MORE! They loved them.

Here are the Halloween Costume pictures you are all looking at the blog to see.
Joe was Abraham Lincoln, Elisabeth was a black cat, Lincoln and Ninja, Sam and Jedi, Tim and I Star Trek people. Tim got all the cool props.

Next are the Jack O' Lanterns. First Tim's

Joe's Jack I' Lantern. . . with Windows!

Sam's Frankenstein

Lincolns's Ninja lantern. See how just the eyes are showing? It was Lincoln's own design.

Here is my attempt at a house

And Elisabeths Cat O'Lantern

And We Think Waxing is Bad .

Joe asked me tonight . . "When Dad shaves, does he use an electric tazer?" Wow! ! ! Now there's an image!

Bye Bye Baby!!!

I would like to announce the end of an era in my life. As of Monday morning, after 11 years of buying and changing diapers I am officially free of them. Sam is potty trained night and day. It occured to me that if he stayed in his diaper in the morning...he kept wetting his diaper. I did an experiment and tested my hypothesis that he wouldn't wet at night if he wasn't wearing a diaper and after 6 nights of no accidents I am rejoicing. YAY!!! I feel like I should have a diaper burning ceremony or something.

Stomach stresser or Head stresser?

I have decided I stress with my stomach. If I have any worries or stress I always have a stomach ache too. When the stress is gone..so is the stomach ache. So here is the question. . Do you stress with your head and get stress headaches. . or with your stomach and and get stress stomach aches.? I am just curious which is more common. . I know there is a way to make a poll thing on here but I am too lazy to figure it out so just comment below if you want.

My son is bilingual!!

Lincoln is learning Spanish in school. He is excited he can count to four in the language.
"Uno, dos, tres, taco. . ."

At least he could order lunch!!!!! He wouldn't starve.

Politics Don't Belong in Art

Some people say it is scary that Obama is trying to get in their kid's class rooms by meeans of speaches aimed directly at them. I have my issues about those issues, but even more I have an issue with Obama being in our family's art room. Every time I go in there I turn on the light and I see this. . . .

. . . and I scream! EVERY TIME!! Because I don't expect to see anyone in our artroom much less the President of the United States. What is he doing in there with the light off and the door closed besides? It makes me fear him . . How can I trust a man who is so secretive? I just hope he isn't brain washing my kids while they work on their crafts!!!

(If you are wondring why we have a cut out of Obama, it is because we used the podium part for Joes Presidential Birthday. . so now we have a 2 dimensional bust of Obama in our house. I am sure Joe will be able to come up with some pretty clever movies using it though.)

Back to School

Elisabeth wanted to do something special with her hair on the first day. This as good as it gets with me as her mom. But it is better than I did yesterday so I am proud of the progress I made.


The Back to school crew. Joe is going into 6th, Elisabeth is going into 3rd and Lincoln is going into 1st grade.



Can you tell Sam is a little sad about his siblings leaving him alone with his Mom? Plans for celebration? Lunch with Dad for Mom and Sam and a family outing to Harry Potter this evening!

What's the Difference?

As we were leaving University mall the other day, we walked through the food court. Elisabeth asked:Doesn't Uncle Ben want to be a supreme court Justice some day?
Me: Yes
Elisabeth:He could work at the food court and make Supreme Icees!!!

Party Weekend

I am taking a break from my New Mexico trip to talk about our great weekend.
Saturday we celebrated Joes birthday even though it is officially on Monday. Tim could not get off work that day and we really wanted him there.

Joe is really into Presidents of the United States so we gave him a presidential birthday. He had 4 friends invited and we had asked them to dress "professional"in shirts and ties . Each was given a blank envelope...each with a role in the "cabinet" of either Vice presient, Press Secretary, Chief of Staff or Head of the Secret Service. They also each received a water gun. They were all body guards too and they all played THAT part especially well.

The party was a surprise for Joe so when they all arrived, we sent them down to get Joe. He was surprised to see his friends. . all dressed up no less. They told him to get dressed up because they were there to help him run for President!



The schedule included, campaining with a poster and buttons that said "Vote Stanley : He loves Bananas, He loves America!" , making a campaign commercial, researching the opposition, in which they watched their opposition Amber Jayeng's (Joe's Aunt) campain commeercial and some other fun little clips.

Next was the debate. It turned out great. We had a visit from Tim's Grandma and Uncle Mark so Amber chose Uncle Mark as her running mate. He did a great job hamming it up. He referred to he and Amber as "The Maverick and I". Amber said that most candidates make big promises and don't deliver. She promised nothing and promised to deliver on that. She also promised to make the economy healthier by spending our money. Joe pointed out that it would be wiser to vote for him because he and his vice president were younger and they would live longer!

Next they were given some hints that might help them win from a secret source. Hints that pointed to Amber possibly being an Alien. These includeed pictures of her in a UFO, Roswell documents with her name on them...hints like Amber crying during all Alien movies. A press conference was held , releasing this information, and then someone tried to assassinate Joseph. Thankfully they were unsuccessful. Then there was an election. And guess what!? Joseph won!!!! He was sworn in by his Uncle Ben (a lawyer with a gavel and black graduation robe) along with his cabinet.



Then he gave his inaguration speech.

We had a birthday cake with an American flag that said "Hail to the Chief" It was a great party and we thank everyone who came and played roles. The kids played the press and cheering crowds and were also much appreciated.

Sunday was my Birthday. I was served breakfast in bread by the kids along with hugs which is always a treat. Later I was told to be able to open my presents I was to play Missionary.



I was to do a door approach and do a visit with the family but I had a pile of silly statements I had to work in to the conversation some how. Stuff like "Stretchy Pants" "I have a chicken in my pants" , " "Food Fight!", "I hear Amber is an alien" etc. It was quite the adventure. Then I was given my presents. They were all great including some beautiful black pearls from my in-laws. some movies, perfume, a book about FDR from Joe, chocolate, and some clothes. Later I was given an Edward T-shirt with his "Blue Steel "dark and brooding face....oooooooooohhhh. Thanks Ben and Rebekah!

Tim made orange chicken with veggies and rice for dinner and it was delicous. Then Tim started cleaning which told me one thing, more people are comeing. We had my brothers and sister in-law and tons of friends. It was a citrus theme with even yellow, orange and yellow balloons. Why? Beccause I love citrus anything. Tim made me a delicous grapefruit bundt cake.



He also made a frozen desert with vanilla icecream, orange sherbet and some kind of cream cheese type thing I have no idea what it is called but it was way good. Others brought clementines, ice cream, muffins and other yummy treats. I felt very loved and had a great time. I even got Citrus scented hand soap!!! Thanks to all who came! I missed those who couldn't. I love you all!

Day 3: Missile Museum and White Sands

Today was another long day of driving but with more fun stops along the way. First we stopped at the White Sands Missile Museum. Very cool! There was an outdoor part with lots of missils, planes etc.



We had to walk in to the base the museum was in or they would have to search our van and with all the stuff in there...We thought we would give them a break.

The museum had some interesting things to see. My favorite was a former soldier's scrap book of pictures and description of life on base back in the 50s. I don't care so much about the missiles technology. I am more interested in what it was like to be there as a soldier I guess. There was also a Darth Vadar Helmet that was given to them in gratitude for letting them record sounds on the base for the movie "Star Wars".




White Sands National park was beautiful. We had a little rain but not enough to interfere with some playing in the sand.

When we finally arrived at our campground in Carlsbad I was a little dissapointed. First of all, they didn't have our reservation, but they had open spots so no big deal. I apparently had never been to a family Campground/RV park before. Beautiful does not describe it. This turned out to be both my favorite and least favorite campsite of our trip. Least favorite because it lacked nature. . . except for a few trees, a petting zoo and the sounds of many early rising farm animals. The kids enjoyed the turtles right by our tents and the neighborhood cat that visited our tent. The campground was right along the highway so we heard cars and trucks zipping by all night instead of crickets and owls. I slept like a baby though. Warm camping is so much better than cold.

What I did like about it was the clean and free showers so we ended up not having to go too natural afterall. Considering this was during our 3 day stretch of camping I was very grateful for that. I also appreciated the laundry facilities. As Camping/ RV parks go this was probably a good one. I don't have much to compare it to.

Day 2: 4 Corners, Blue Water and Albuquerque

Today there was LOTS of time on the road. We probably spent about 7 hours total. We did make a quick stop at 4 Corners and got a fun picture or two.

This is what it will feel like when my kids are grown up and spread out into four different states.



On the way we also stopped at a town called Bluewater (near Albuqurque) where one of Tim's co-workers grew up. As he prepared to take a picture of this friend's house he said "Lets see if we can do this without bringing too much attention to ourselves." Then in the process of trying to get a good angle, he lays on the car horn. Memories.

There is a town near by that is called Anaconda. It was built and then evacuated and taken back down. It turned out there was some bad stuff effecting the people due to government testing near by. The city is completely gone now. Kind of cool.

When we arrived in Albuquerque we checked into our hotel. The La Quinta Inn, Albuqureque North. We were very pleased. Clean, comfortable and thanks to Priceline quite cheap!

Tim and his family lived in Albuquerque when he was in 1st to 5th grade so we did a bit of a trip down memory lane while we were in town. For dinner we ate at Ponchos. This was a favorite of Tim's when he was a kid. Tim says he hopes it has gone down hill since he was there last because otherwise his tastes have changed a lot. First you go through a buffet line, kind of like a cafeteria because they scoop it up for you. You have this flag on your table that you raise if you want more and your waiter brings it to you. Our waiter never saw that flag rise. If cheap (in price but also in quality) Mexican food in an non-airconditioned building in New Mexico is your thing, you might like this place!

We went to a park in Tim's old neighborhood called Chelwood Park (kids played, I slept) and saw the house he lived in.

And the school he attended.

It was a great trip down memory lane for him. It was a get to know Tim/Dad trip for the rest of us.

When we came back to the hotel I made sure all the kids had showers and cherished the running hot water. I didn't know how long it would be until we had another shower. We had camping planned for the next three nights.

Day 1 Arches National Park

We left around 8 am. . about an hour later than planned. Tim and I had about 4 hours of sleep the night before so we began our trip a little sleep deprived. Thankfully we had a short distance to travel this first day.

We made our first stop of our journey at Arches National Park.

The weather was a little overcast the greater part of our day and we had a few rain showers while there. We had two umbrellas which helped a little. Because of the rain we didn't take the longer hike to Delicate Arch that we had hoped to do. We didn't want to get stuck in a storm when it takes about an hour to get there and another to get back.

We did see "Sand Dune Arch" by suggestion of our friends and it was really cool. The kids enjoyed the sand there but we didn't enjoy the sand in our car the rest of the trip. White Sands is partly to blame for that as well though so it can't take all the blame.

We saw Balanced Rock, and the upper and lower viewpoints of Delicate Arch. This arch was dubbed "Cowboy pants" by the kids because it looks like cowboy stirrups.

At this point the clouds broke away and it started to be beautiful and warm.

We walked to Double Arch which was a quick hike to and into the arches. This was my favorite because you got to do a little rock climbing too.





The North and South Windows and Turet Arch path were easy to walk to and had some beautiful panoramic views.



After that we stopped at the museum and went to find a campsite. We found one on BLM land along a stretch of BLM campsites on highway 128. We had one of those overfriendly neighbors, in an RV. He didn't deserve it, but because I was going on 4 hours of sleep and you expect your neighbors in a campsite to remain politely to themselves I was thinking paranoid thoughts all evening. He had a wife and a cute little boy and even offered to lend us his air mattress. Thanks Richard! You were a great neighbor! Even if your first greeting was standing in your door yelling to us with no shirt on and a can of beer in your hand. Sorry for mistrusting you.

The stinky outhouse right next door wasn't so kind. We had to climb down a hill to our tent. I wasn't thrilled by the tricky climb up and down it(especially when we had to brave it in the dark with wind and rain)but it was right next to a river so we heard it gurgling by which was very nice.

Carlsbad or Bust

Saturday night we rolled in to our drive way at 10:00pm sharp. I wish my feelings were pure relief. There was some, to be back in the comforts of home, but mostly there was the feeling I am not quite done having fun. My kids were getting more irritable and more annoyed with being in the cramped van. . but I wasn't. It is nice not to have to go outside to go to the bathroom or dig in a suitcase to get whatever I want. It is nice not to have to set up a tent and blow up an airmattress before I can go to sleep at night and it is nice to get the heck out of that cramped and not to mention trashed most of the time van. It is also nice to be able to stand while I dress, and have a cozy bed. Air mattresses are much better than the ground but not as good as a good real mattress.
I will miss having my breath taken away by some kind of natural beauty every single day. I will miss the sense of adventure as we have more to see and explore.
From June 20th to June 27th we went on a trip to Southern New Mexico. The main destination was Carlsbad Caverns but we made a bunch of fun stops on the way there and back. It was a lot of fun and everything went according to plan. .except for a 2 hour detour but that is a story for the blogs. I will make a blog a day. I will try to give my rating of the places we stayed and info so if you make a similar trip you can use my links. I will try not to be too boring but no promises. Travel logs ARE travel logs.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

First I have to brag that I have an aweome 10 year old. Last Friday we went to the library and I told the kids they could each check out one movie each. Joe chose a 4 hour PBS documentary about Franklin D. Roosevelt. He went home that afternoon and watched the whole thing. On a summer afternoon. Since then he has been begging me to watch it with him. Lucky for him and me, I am a history buff too and LOVE biographies so we watched it today. I learned a lot about both him and his very impressive wife. Here are the things I found most interesting.

- The first thing I learned, because it was the only part I saw when he watched it last Friday was that FDR had an affair before he was president. His wife offered a divorce but they chose to stay married to keep appearances for his political career. They were never very close after that. That was a surprise and a disapointment to me.

-FDR was not popular in school. He never fit in at his boarding school as a youth and was rejected from a prestigious club in college as well.

-His mom was very domineering. When her husband died she moved out to be with Franklin. When FDR and his wife were married, and was returning from his honeymoon they recieved a special gift from his mother. A new home, designed, payed for, and decorated by her. It was also next door and joined with her house. She had free reign to go back and forth. At the dinner table Sarah (his mom) sat at one end, and Franklin at the other. Eleanor sat in the middle with the kids. Poor Eleanor.

-Eleanor had little confidence in her ability to be a mother, especially with her infants and since her mother-in-law was so confident and assertive she always let her be in charge of the raising decisions.

-When he contracted Polio Franklin came very close to giving up his political career. His mother wanted him to just come home to his childhood home and live out the rest of his life quietly like his father had. Eleanor knew her husband well enough to know he would not be happy that way and stood up to Franklin's mother for the first time.

-Frannklin restored "Warm Springs" in Georgia and made it a place for people with Polio to recover and recoperate. He was involved with the other patients treatment and was loved by those who came there. I think this was what impressed me most about him. More than anything he did as President.

-Polio changed Franklin a lot. He became far more patient and sympathetic of other peoples suffereing. Before that he was more distant and more of a flirtatious playboy. He was well loved by the people in Georgia because he would often drive in his customized car (so he could drive with paralyzed legss). He would stop to talk to people in the area and really get to know them.

-When he returned to politics he worked really hard to avoid looking disabled. He would lean on someones arm heavily on one side and a cane on the other and use his body to move his legs so it looked like he could walk.

-Eleanore changed a lot over the years. With a domineering mother-in-law, low confidence as a young mother and her husbands affair, these things made her who she became. She certainly allowed trial to refine her instead of brake her.

-Eleanor was horrified to become the First Lady. She had developed a life of her own and had her own political career that she feared had to end as a First lady. Instead of changing herself to fit the role of First lady however, she changed the role of First lady to fit her and changed the job description forever. I want to learn a lot more about her.

The Verdict

I finally heard from U of U. I was so excited to see an envelope from them in the mail I couldn't have cared less that it was a rejection. But seriously...of course there is a litttle disapointment but there is even more relief to move on with my life and stop wondering and waiting.

I can tell it is a huge load off of my mind because my eyes are opened to the world around me again instead of my mind being distracted by it's usual (for the last three months) emotional roller coaster ride

"Just Killing Time, Waiting. . ."

A few weeks ago, when looking through photo albums of my family of origin, I found a letter tucked away. It was from my Dad's dad to my parents. It was written and sent before I was even born. I never got to know my Grandpa Alex because he died when I was 3 so it was so fun to read a letter in his own script, and "hear him talk". He congratulated my parents on the new baby, my older brother David and reminded them
"There is still plenty time yet for a girl. Still Young!"
My favorite quote however was his thoughts on life and getting old,
"Keeping busy cutting grass between showers and fishing but what it amounts to (is) killing time waiting for the time killing you"
My grandpa was a Swede and I understand that Swedes have that matter of fact way of thinking about life and death. I guess my 100% Swedish blood agrees because that just cracks me up. He may have been quoting that from something else but he obviously appreciated it as do I.
Right now, I am just killing time waiting to hear from U of U. I heard through the grapevine, my end of that grapevine being Tim, that someone who applied for the same program I did found out last Thursday that they were accepted. I still have not heard anything. My one comfort right now is I have a friend who had a similar experience applying for another program. His friends were getting their letters like a week before he did and he got in.
I really am OK with not getting in. Worse case scenario: life continues as usual and that isn't bad at all. I really don't have a burning desire to leave my comfort zone right now to be perfectly honest. I will get a chance to get some more experience and some stronger referances for next time is all. I just want to know one way or another. Until I find out though I am just "killing time waiting for the time killing me. . . or at least the suspence.

Pictures: Top: Grandpa Alex fishing
Bottom, Left to Right: Grandma Gert, my brother Eric , unknown relative or friend, Grandpa Alex, my brother David , my Mother and me.

Pictures from Tim's Alien Abduction

Take a look at these pictures of the hotel Tim stayed at in Atlanta. Did he go to another state or another planet? Very cool architecture! I will be sure to keep the syrup away from Tim. . . just in case. . . .

On the Run

Last year I got into running on a treadmill, I was doing great, running 20 minutes straight. . then the rec-center closed for its annual maintanance. I hit the real pavement. . or maybe it hit me. I was humbled to see that tread mill running and outdoor running are not the same. I went back to the treadmill when the Rec-center opened again, but I kind of lost my steam.

Earlier this spring I realized I liked the inside track, it was softer on my joints, but at 5:45 am I often just didn't feel up to running. I discovered that when I did run the stuff that stressed me out about my day was less stressful after I ran. I stopped thinking about it just for a few minutes which gave me a different perspective. I realized that if I was in a bad mood, running was the very thing I needed.


Then exercise went out the window entirely for 1 1/2 months. After a while I started missing running and weight training. But I have yet to miss getting up at 6 am to do it. I decided to try it another time of day. I have discovered afternoon running is awesome. I am already awake, warmed up and I have stress that needs relieving. It is my time of the day.


Tim bought me some trainers, for our anniversary to replace my Wal-mart shoes that I am not even sure are running shoes. I warned him that getting me better quality shoes would not necessarily be a wise gamble. . it may not motivate me to run. Well, I was wrong. Running in those shoes one time converted me. Since then I have started a training program and have been faithfull to it for 4 weeks. I love it and I get anxious waiting for the next run. I am hooked. It is nice to be hooked to something good for me for once.


I am doing a running program in "Running Made Easy" (awesome book by the way ) and it makes it very doable and very fun. My only complaint is it might be too easy. But this way, at the end of my run I feel energized, but want more . . which is AWESOME! The first few weeks you run a minute, then walk two minutes and repeat a few times and each week you add one more 3 minute running/walking session to what your are already doing. In two weeks it will turn to two minutes running two minutes walking. Instead of dreading that I keep looking at the schedule wondering how many more weeks I have to wait.


My favorite part of running is the take off. Those first few seconds of speed increase. As I am getting more in shape, that feeling lasts the whole minute I am running, and I am watching the clock for the whole two minutes of walking, wanting to run again. Currently I am entertaining the idea of running a 5K when I finish the program in 6 weeks. I am not the competitive type though, so I am not sure I would like it very much. The fact I am even thinking about doing it is progress for me though.

What I did on my Memorial Day Vacation

It started off badly. Tim said he scheduled to get off of work 2:30pm Friday. I called him around that time to see if he was ready to be picked up. No answer. This means he is in a meeting or talking to someone. I put my phone in my pocket and waited for him to call back. He did, like 23 times. What I didn't realize was I didn't change my phone from silent from the meeting we went to the night before. ARRRGHH. I wondered what was taking Tim SOOOO long to call back. I finally checked my phone to see what time it was and saw that he had called. . . . many times. I was horrified when I realized. UGH. How annoying!!!

So, instead of leaving around 2:30pm as planned, we left more like 4:30pm. So it was dark when we got to Great Basin National Park. All the camp sites were filled. We needed to find BLM land but it was dark and we had no idea where to start.

After some badly given (or misunderstood) directions to one area of BLM land and advice that the Primitive campsites would be hard to find in the dark, Tim tried to give it a go anyway. They weren't that hard to find and we got a good spot. At like. . 10:30pm. We set up camp and ate dinner and were in bed like at 1am.

The next morning we ate breakfast and climed up to the side of a cliff. It was an unpaved steep climb but we all made it too the top. It wore us all out though. . not to mention the late night before.

We took a tour of Lehmans Caves. Pretty cool! Not MUCH cooloer than Timpenogas Caves, but a little different.

After the tour we were all hungry. We decided as we did food shopping before the trip we would bring enough for dinner and breakfast. If there were places to get more food we would stay two nights. If not we would only stay one. There were two VERY small grocery stores...more like convenince stores. They had ravioli but no paper or plastic supplies to eat it with so we took that as a sign to go home. We were too tired from the late night and hike to do anything but hang out at our campsite anyway. It was a grey and rainy day so that wouldn't have even been any fun. We did do a scenic drive up the mountain before we left though. It was quite pretty.

Monday the outdoor fun continuted. We hiked up to Stewart Falls in the Timpanogos National Park. Beautiful hike! A new favorite. We had never done it before. Two miles up and two down. I highly recommend it!

Our honest opinion of what we did see at Great Basin is that Utah is prettier. Nothing really blew us away with being more beautiful than anything we have seen in Utah.

We are now all excited to go on our annual summer vacation in June to Carlsbad Caverns with lots of fun stops there and back.

Three Reasons Lincoln May Not Be Mormon Tabernacle Choir Material.

Tonight Lincoln had his Kindergarden end of year program. It was a great show! The kids sang a bunch of songs that they have been learning all year. The best part of the show however was looking at the pictures Tim took throughout. . . (Lincoln is in the green plaid shirt near the middle)

The first is Lincoln dancing between musical numbers

Next is Lincoln harrassing the boy next to him. His "girlfriend" (girl in pigtails upper right) is looking on with disgust. The third is Lincoln bored out of his mind.