The fun of bike riding

I took my camera on our bike ride the other day. (Riding a bike and taking photos at the same time is not for the faint hearted!) We have finally come into our beautiful weather here! It makes riding bikes an absolute joy!















Here is Catherine, looking back (and thankfully not crashing into anything).



And Julianne, looking back. . .
Aren't those girls cute???


















And here is what I see when I look back. Does life get any sweeter than this??? I doubt it. My life is one big irony. I fluctuate between wanting them to grow up and wanting them to stay small. It is hard to always try and appreciate each day with my little angels, but I try my best.


(As a side note, a friend of ours was bike riding pulling a trailer with her 2 girls and looked back to tell them to stop quarrelling and she crashed into a pole, and broke her leg and elbow and had to have surgery. . . so my days of riding and looking back and taking photos all at the same time are over!)

Sneaky

Today, we had dinner at a friend's home. It was delicious. After dinner the girls wanted some of the Halloween candy that was in bowls throughout the house. They each had a couple. I wasn't really aware how many they had, none of them seemed to be eating a ton or anything. We said goodnight and went on our way home. The big girls on scooters, Madelyn on a trike, and Adam in his little car. Everyone went upstairs for bath time. Julianne suddenly called to me urgently. "Mom there is chocolate on the carpet." I ran upstairs and sure enough chocolate was on the carpet. I start looking around and soon find one of Catherine's crocs with chocolate . . . but the chocolate was on the inside!!! I found Catherine who was hiding and embarrassed and asked her what happened. She said, she snuck an extra candy before we left and hid it (unwrapped) in her shoe. She then rode the scooter home, ran up to her room to eat it only to find it melted all over her toes and the inside of her shoe. YUCK! We cleaned it all up, she has said sorry and vowed not to be sneaky anymore, and tomorrow she has to say sorry to our friend.

What will that girl think of next???

The Library

Trent has started listening to books on CD as he commutes to and from work. He has really enjoyed it as a change of pace from talk radio and music. You have to plan a head a little though as we learned the last time we were at the library. Apparently lots of people enjoy books on CD and so the pickings are slim. He was able to find 2 books that interested him but I made a mental note to get online at our library and request a bunch so that they will be available to him. I asked Trent his preferences and he said anything by David McCullough. I selected the first four on the list and placed them on hold.

In the mean time he is realy enjoying "His Excellency" a biography on George Washington by Joseph Ellis right now. When we last went to the library he chose this book and one other, but like a man whose eyes are too big for his stomach, in the 3 weeks check out time, Trent has only been able to "almost" finish this one. I got online and tried to renew both of these books on CD for him and was dissappointed that the other book had to be returned as it was requested by someone else. It was some book about the building of the Brooklyn bridge. Trent had both the books in his car and so on his way home from work (at 9:00 p.m.) he had to swing by the library to drop of the Brooklyn Bridge book.

Imagine my laughter when I opened my email the next morning and found this notification.

The item(s) you requested is/are now available for you. See below for the title, pick up library, and the last date the item will be held for you.

The great bridge [the epic story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge] /

McCullough, David G.

Compact Disc Adult (non-fiction)

624.23 MCC

Apparently, I was the one who requested it!!! I can't believe the library cannot see if a person requesting a book has it currently checked out. Oh well, it sure made me laugh.

Quilting

My sister, Amber, is about to have her first baby. She is due on Halloween. It's a girl. She is getting everything ready. You can read about it on her blog. My Mom and I got together today and pieced the top of the quilt.

Here it is . . . I think it looks great. My mom chose all the fabrics, and the colors match her crib bedding that she made. I chose the quilt pattern. This is one of my favorites. . . probably because it brought back good memories. The first time I made this quilt I was married, living at Montera Condos in Provo, and I made it with 2 friends who were expecting their first babies -- Kathy (whose blog I just found) and Sarah (who ought to get a blog). They were each making quilts for their cribs. . . and as I have mentioned before, I will do pretty much anything as long as I have friends to do it with.


Here is a photo of a photo of that first one I made. (that is why the flash is reflecting back at us so glaringly). I gave it to another friend Stacie, who was having her first baby. It really is a fun quilt. Putting it together is a lot like putting a puzzle together and quilting it is fun because the quilting crosses through the middle of each square- That gives it a neat texture.

I liked the quilt so much that I decided to make another one, this time using only cream fabric. The only problem with that one is that Trent took one look at it and stated that it looked like the quilted lining of a coffin. For a long time, we would take one look at the quilt and laugh. We swore it would never be used by any future child of ours. But, well . . . sentiments change and it now resides at the foot of Madelyn's bed, folded nicely and looks great there. (I will have you all know, that no one ever has told me it reminds them of a casket) (but then again, if they thought it, I don't think they would tell me).

As I was looking over quilt patterns, I was remembering how much I enjoy quilting. Technically, I most enjoy piecing a quilt-- seeing how all the colors come together. And I wondered why don't I quilt more often????

Well, after spending the day quilting let me give you a few reasons. . .
1. Kids
2. Kids
3. Kids with scissors (Madelyn only cut 3 of our important pieces and only a small amount of Adam's hair, which she assured me did not hurt him at all)
4. Messes (which are the result of them letting you sew -- all they do while you sew is make messes and then you get to clean up for quite a while afterwards)
5. Because you can't get it all done in 1 day

Madelyn, Honey, Can you get Adam a few Cheerrios???

Parents, when they first have children ought to be informed of a couple of rules.
1. Never go to the bathroom (unless all kids are accounted for and occupied and then HURRY!)
2. Never take a shower (unless all kids are accounted for and occupied and then HURRY!)

So I was asking for it when, as I walked into the bathroom and Adam was complaining in his high chair because he had eaten all his cheerios I asked Madelyn to get Adam a few Cheerios. Mere seconds later, Adam is perfectly happy; Madelyn has delivered the Cheerios; and Mom is getting the broom and vacuum.

Notice the floor too!

Rx for a good nap

1. Eat a good lunch. (We had brisket, rolls, 2 corn casserole, mashed potatoes, and a veggie tray.)
2. Follow with dessert. (We had apple pie and raspberry pie with ice cream.)
3. Turn on the Sunday Afternoon Session of General Conference.

Trent and I were upstairs watching conference and I started to get sleepy. I decided to get up and do something. I came downstairs and this is what I found. Classic Huh???? I won't mention who was the speaker. . .

Random things

Running : Started again with a friend . . . we are going 3 miles each time . . . our fastest time so far is 37 minutes (i think -- correct me Amy if I am wrong). . . we even ran at 5:15 am . . . and although it is brutal to get up so early I really do love getting it over with. In fact, that is the best part about exercising, having it done!

Weaning : Adam is now one and only nursing once in the morning and once at night. I think tomorrow we'll drop the night time one. . . or maybe the morning one, I can't decide. He doesn't want to drop any of them.

Sleeping : Adam is sleeping through the night. Madelyn is waking up once a night and getting in our bed (sometimes we walk her back to her bed and sometimes we don't). Catherine is sleeping through the night (except for last night b/c she has a cough). Julianne is waking up once a night. We can't quite figure out why. Sometimes she is belligerent. We think she is mostly asleep. One person suggested we start watching a movie with her when she wakes up. It worked well, she was so surprised we were watching a movie, she sat there for a few minutes and then got in her bed. One of these days they will all sleep through the night. I have promised them icecream for breakfast the day it happens. As I am typing I can hear one of them coughing, so I doubt it will be tomorrow :(

Conferencing : I did the best I could watching/listening/reading (the closed captioning) General Conference. I really do enjoy all the talks so much. My favorite was Elder Holland's. He expressed what I so often want to say, that without a doubt the strength of our church stems from our belief that God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are 3 separate and distinct beings. That is what the Bible teaches, but moreso it makes Christ's mission on Earth real. He overcame death and was reunited with his body, just as we will be.

Journaling : I also liked Elder Eyring talk about recording our daily experiences where we can see the hand of God in our life. I think those will be for my "actual written in" journal as opposed to this blog, but I think it is a great idea.

Personal Histories : I am helping my Grandmother record some of her stories onto a blog for all of us to enjoy. Check it out. babas-history.blogpot.com