I spent most of the day transferring video from our camera onto the computer. We are one year late now getting Misty and Garrett and Mike and Christen's wedding videos done. (Sorry guys). Also, I went through all of my photos and calculated that I am almost 6 years behind in my scrapbooking! Ahhh! How will I ever catch up? I have four years worth of pictures that still need to be printed. This is starting to sound like a nightmarish story problem. (If Emily does 2 scrapbook pages a day, how long will it take her to catch up on her scrapbooking? A: Like 52 years!)

It was so wonderful to look at all those pictures and remember the last 10 years in a day. So many fun times. I swear my kids are cuter and funnier now looking back. Now that I'm not psycho crazy woman anymore. (Well, at least not as much).

Riley made dinner tonight. (Canned chicken noodle soup and rolls). He was very excited when we all had a picnic on the living room floor and said "1,2,3, THANK YOU RILEY!!!"

Yesterday the kids all made forts outside. They formed little gangs and tried to outdo the other kids' forts. It was a royal mess. They used pretty much everything in the garage and some stuff from the house. It rained in the afternoon, so they threw everything into the garage and then tried to set it all back up again. It took Brian and the kids about an hour to put everything away. I sat inside and worked on my hair clips :)

I did go grocery shopping yesterday though, so I wasn't a total bum. Although, I ran out of budget money and couldn't get ice cream. I don't know if there really is a point to life without ice cream. (Even if it is Western Family). Oh well.

Farm Day

Today we went to the Farm Experience at Thanksgiving Point with Grandma and Grandpa Halley and Michelle and the kids. I love to watch the boys chase each other in the grass with arms outstretched like little airplanes. The kids had fun looking at the farm animals and going on pony rides and learning about farms. I took lots of pictures, but we have still not been able to get them onto our computer :(. Darn card reader. The neatest part of our adventure though, was an art studio across the street from the farm. We got to sit and watch as two artisans blew glass into a beautiful free-form bowl. We were all fascinated. Homeschool for today was glass blowing. Awesome. Then we went and had ice cream cones while the kids got all wet in the water contraption they have there.


On the way home Summer sang a song about how she writes songs from the voices in her head:D. Then, later she had Dad carry her in because her heel was bleeding. I asked her what happened and she said that her "foot accidently kicked her other foot."

Thoughts

It's funny the way some people, when you meet them, or even read about them, even for a moment, can change you. Make you see the world differently. Make you see yourself differently. I wonder if I will ever influence someone like that. If I will ever be a hero to someone. If not, I wonder if my life would be worth much. I think about my children and all that I want them to know. I want them to be better than I am. I want them to be leaders and follow their purpose in life. I worry that I damage them. Their freshness, their innocence and pure enthusiasm for life. I feel like I could do nothing greater with my life than to influence them for good, to inspire them. But, I also feel so unequal to this monumental task. It is not something that can be done in an hour or a week or a year. It must be built over a lifetime. A lifetime of patience and love and understanding. A lifetime of setting an example of who I truly am. Am I truly who I want to be? I have so many shortcomings, but I hope that my strenths will shine through. That they will remember the strengths.

Today Brian had an interview for a marketing director job in Provo. It sounds perfect for him. I waited anxiously for his call to tell me how it went, and I remembered the time right before we got married, he had a job interview in Logan, his first real design job interview. He was so nervous and I went with him. I sat in the truck in the parking lot and prayed for him. That's how I felt for him today.

I've started making felt flower hair clips to raise money for the kids' homeschool supplies and field trips. I spent a lot of time today making them. They are turning out really cute. While I sat there, Summer came in from outside and I asked her what she was doing. She replied, "Nothing. Just putting my pants on backwards." And when she was finished, she went back outside. I laughed. The kids spent every waking moment outside today. I love that they want to soak up every ray of sunlight before the winter comes again. I love how they explore their world.

I was late making dinner tonight, so Summer and Riley decided to make themselves a picnic and eat it upstairs under my desk. I guess they were hungry :).

Brian's interview went really well. They told him to propose his position and salary. Pretty much create his own job. We went out on the porch and brainstormed ideas for what he could do for the company. Now he is sitting by me in bed with his laptop, putting together his proposal and listening to his instrumental music. Cutie.

We went to watch The Muppet Movie in the park last night. So fun! Brian and I actually got all the jokes and cameos that went over our heads when we were kids. This morning we shipped our niblets off camping to Lake Tahoe with Grandma and Grandpa and Michelle and Kalani. We will pick them up on Thursday on our way to Big Basin for the Danielson reunion. It sure is quiet around here. It makes me a little nervous. It feels like they're off doing something sneaky. Brian and I are using the time to tackle a huge project for our biz that we've been trying to get done for forever. It will be so great to finally finish it! Yea!

We have had such a fun weekend! On Friday, I took the kids to our community garden to release thousands of ladybugs into the world. It was so cute to watch Summer carry around a bucket of bugs and watch them all crawl up onto her arms and shirt. On Saturday, we went with Misty and Garrett to the Utah Lake Festival in Provo. Everything was free, which was a BIG plus! We had lunch there and the kids played some fun games and learned how to fish. Unfortunately, they didn't catch any, but they had a lot of fun trying! This evening we embarked on a family bike ride around the lake and got caught in a killer hailstorm! We took shelter under a bridge and waited til the rain calmed down, but we were still pretty soaked. Summer and I got separated from the boys for a while, so we waited in town and danced in the rain until they caught up. There was plenty of cool lightening strikes to watch too. We came home to dry off, munch on some popcorn and make some welcome home signs for Megan. (She's been on vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Halley for the last week). We miss her!

Megan got her first pair of glasses today. They are so cute! She was amazed when she walked outside and could really see the world. I feel so horrible that she was blind for so long. She just never complained about it. Summer and Riley both had the stomach flu today. Not fun. But still, Summer looked pretty adorable in her pigtails and pajamas singing cute songs to me. And, its always fun to do nothing but drink Sprite and put together puzzles, right?

So, we've all started to eat healthier. We went to the store the other day and only bought healthy stuff, so there are a bunch of us grumpies walking around complaining that there is nothing good to eat. Gotta break my ice cream cravings:( I found some fun healthy snack recipes for the kids online, so each day when they get home from school there is an official "snack of the day" waiting for them. They have totally loved this so far.

We are planning on going to visit grandma and grandpa kitty for Easter! I am so excited! I need a vacation soooooo badly!

I redecorated my bedroom!

Thanks to fabulous Ikea, I redecorated my bedroom today! It looks so great and feels so good to have some nice things! I'll post a photo when it's all done.