"Colors Colors" By Taryn

It was water-color painting time.  Oh, the adventures.  This was Taryn's creation:

But the true story lies in what happens next.

When she was finsihed, she rushed over to Avery and excitedly started telling her the story, that went with the picture...as follows:

"Colors, Colors"

by me.

deep breath...and story-telling voice now

"Colors, colors, colors, colors,

Colors, Colors, Everywhere.

Colors at the zoo.

Colors in your .....

underwear".

Thank you, Taryn, for monitoring and censoring you story!

It earns the family-rating for sure!

Life Plans

The other night, as I lay with Taryn before bed, I asked her a series of questions.  Here was our conversation:

M: What do you want to be when you grow up?

T: A person who sells animals.

M:  Oh, like someone who owns a pet store?

T: Yeah.

M:  What else would you like to be?

T: Nothing.

M: Would you like to be a mom?

T: Oh, yes. 

M: How many kids do you want?

T: Six.

M: How many girls?  How many boys?

T: Six girls, two boys.

M: Hmm...that makes 8 kids. What do you want to name them?

T: I won't choose that until later.  But the boys will be named Lucky, Martha, and Samantha.

M: Interesting.  Do you want to go to college?

T: Yes.

M: Where?

T: I don't know.

M: Do you want to go to BYU where mommy and daddy went?

T: Oh, yes!

M: Do you want to serve a mission?

T: No.  Actually, yes.  I want to teach people about Jesus and the gospel.

M: That's wonderful, honey.  Where would you like to serve your mission?

T: In Hopkins (where we used to live).  Because I like so many people there.  Like Maya and her family, and it's beautiful.

Very insightful 3 minutes of our night.  We'll see what her life ends up looking like!

My Dad's the Greatest Dad

It's true that my dad is the greatest dad, but today we're talking about my girls' dad.  Their dad is the greatest dad and made this past week and a half AWESOME for them! 

The day before my birthday, we had a snow day.  The girls and I had a blast playing in the snow.  On my birthday, Braden came home early and took the girls outside and played for 2 1/2 hours.  It started with pulling them on sleds around the yard...

 ...and ended up with making the greatest snowfort ever!

After I took those pictures, he added a slide, which made for a ton of fun the next day when we had 14 kids in our home!  I loved seeing my friends!  And a few days later, he made a recliner and foot rest.  Fun!

 We had Spring Break this past week (early, I know) and it was his goal to do as many fun things as a family as we could.  We went out to dinner, went swimming, went to the Bounce Depot, and on Friday night, he created an in-home movie theater for the girls, complete with movie bucks so they could buy from the concessions stand...

 ...that he set up and made this awesome costume for.  The girls loved it!  We had borrowed a projector from our friends which he set up in the basement, blacked out the windows, and put Christmas lights down the stairs to make it feel more real.  While we watched "Lady and the Tramp" he made s'mores for everyone because after the movie...

 ...it was an indoor campout!  He set up the tent for Keara and Taryn and hung out with them until they fell asleep.  It was a dream come true for Keara.  And they loved having the tent up for 2 days so they could play in it!

But the best part of the week, for me, came today, when I saw the best part of Braden.  This morning, I had to get to church early to practice a musical number I was participating in.  I left a little after 8:20 with Mazie, leaving Braden to bring the three older girls by 9.  When church started and progressed all the way to the speakers and he still wasn't there, I was a little worried that maybe someone got sick and they were going to have to stay home.  Pretty soon it was time for my musical number and they still weren't there.  After we were done, I went into the hall to call him.  I noticed I had missed his call at 9:30 but I called 4 times and never reached him.  At that point, I thought maybe someone had split their head open and he had to take them to the ER.  So I sat down for the rest of the meeting, and as we stood up to leave for class, they walked in!  Their cheeks were red, their hands were cold, but they were smiling, and they had a tale to tell!

After loading the girls in the car (and doing their hair in beautiful braids...impressive), he noticed that we had a completely flat tire.  He tried to get the spare off the bottom of the car, but it was rusted on, so no good.  After a half hour of trying to figure it out, he finally decided they would just walk to church.  Thankfully it was only 18 blocks, but hey, it was 18 blocks!  With three little girls!  Keara and Taryn rode their bikes and he and Avery walked.  But Avery couldn't keep up, so he had to carry her.  Keara's training wheels kept shifting, so she finally gave up riding, which meant he had to push her bike along. 

I was SO impressed and SO grateful that he didn't just throw in the towel and say "Oh well, guess we're not going to church today."  Instead, all 4 of them had to sacrifice to get to church.  He set a great example to me and to the girls of the importance of attending our meetings, and doing whatever we need to to be where we need to be.  I am so grateful for that. 

Over dinner, he decided that next time, he'll take my bike and the bike trailer and get there in less than 45 minutes...

Family Portraits

It has been SO long since we've taken real family portraits.  Okay, let me qualify that statement.  We've never before taken portraits in a studio as a family.  We've only ever had wonderful friends take our pictures in beautiful, outdoor settings.  Our last pictures as a family were taken at our family reunion last summer.  Good pics, but not our favorites.  Plus, I was pregnant with Mazie so it was instantly outdated.  I've been waiting until Mazie was old enough to smile on demand so today, we finally got our pictures taken.  I love them!  Here are some of my favorites:

Let Me Sum Up: What We've Been Up To

January and February seem to have been very busy. Yet I don't remember much of what happened. Here's what happened in picture:

Sister bonding (I don't take pictures of the non-sister bonding...like what is going on as I type)

 

Avery insisted on wearing this little infant beanie for a few days. I think she looked like a very strange looking gnome. But she loved it.

It's basketball season!  Braden is playing on a local Baptist league.  Do you think we should tell them he's a Mormon?  We get to watch his games on Saturdays.  This past weekend, we got to see my nephew's games as his team participated in a tournament in our city.  It was so fun!  And his team ended up winning the championship of their division!  Way to go!

More sisterly bonding.  I love that Keara and Taryn are old enough to play games together and that they can instigate it.

My oldest nephew, Joseph, is leaving on a mission tomorrow for our church.  He's going to Long Beach, CA speaking Cambodian.  Cool!  We got to have one last hoorah at their home before he left (and before my brother's family moved out of their beautiful home).  It was great!

And there's just something about jumping pictures that makes taking pictures so much more fun.

The girls couldn't get enough of it!

For Valentine's day, we had a little party with some kids and their moms.  We played Pin the Heart on Cupid, sang a Valentine's song, made a little craft, and decorated cookies.  Had I been able to have dairy and chocolate, we would have done a lot more in the way of food.  But this is the best we got this year.

 

I wanted to take V-Day pictures of the girls, but both they and the camera weren't cooperating.

 At least Avery looks cute and the pink hue is sort of fitting...