May Art Masterpieces!!

 

I am sooooooooooooooooo proud of Elijah!!! He did such a great job following directions to make his frog and umbrella! He is stellar!!!

 

I love watching my children create. They are so talented and hard working.

Truckee Kid's Museum

 

It's days like this when I miss the Bay Area! The littles had such a fun time playing and discovering!

 

The theme was Egypt! Their favorite part was this little plane. They could have spent the entire time in there!

 

It wasn't crowded at all. Elijah made a friend (of course) and played pirates for half an hour together.

 

The outside was awesome! They had a great digging area with dump trucks!

It was a little cold and the clouds were a bit menacing. At least Joe was warm with his sweatshirt....

 

They had the greatest recycled ski things. So colorful and fun to look at.

 

We headed home in a thick fog of rain. But it was relaxing and everyone took a quick nap on the ride home! Wish this museum was just a little closer!!

Love my Littles!

 

I love the dynamic between these two.

They adore each other.

They also could rip each other to shreds.... at times!

I love how Ella defends herself. There has been many a time when Eli has been bitten or hit. However, for as many times as he knocks her down.....

It's just funny.

Because they play together, Eli always screams when he sees her, he loves to give her hugs (she is so tolerant of the amount of hugs and kisses we give her!!!) and they really are the best of friends.

Ella's one lucky lil' babe to have a big brother like Elijah.

And I'm sure he feels the same way about his little baby kitten Ella.

 

Also, I had to mention Ella has started clapping her hands when we ask her a certain food that she wants to eat and shaking her head for things she doesn't want. It's adorable!

 

Eli had his well check with the doctor today. He's in the 95% for height! He's really skinny... but for the amount of exercise and movement he puts out.... it's amazing he has any weight on him at all!

 

LOVE THESE KIDDOS!!!!!!!!!

Father Son Campout

 

Elijah, and everyone for that matter, was really looking forward to going camping with his Daddy and Papa!!!!!!!! We had a countdown and everything... however it was horribly cold and rainy.

So, he didn't get to go.

He was sad.

 

 

But he'll survive.

 

CLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A testament to the fact that good things can happen out of bad things.

 

Eli took a dry erase marker and made a masterpiece in green spanning half the size of our living room.

I didn't go BSC or anything. I was just more exhausted than anything.

 

But within 2 hours, after trying myself to get it out.... I called Bruno. A friend of Joe's. He cleaned our entire downstairs and kitchen tile.

 

I had just got an estimate for new carpet $8,000.....

 

Yes. I'll pay Bruno's rate instead. I am so pleased with the great job he did!!

It is wonderful to just sit and look at.

Motha's Day

 

I was certainly spoiled on Mother's Day! I got the most beautiful cards, art, magnets, and hand made book! I love that the girls both drew cards with robins on them!

 

We had a great late lunch with family!! Tobi, Yaya, and Mom were all there. We enjoyed a new alfredo recipe that was easy and yummy. Although I did burn the veggies. :)

I was so glad when the day was over. I was asked to give a talk in Relief Society and trying to coordinate with the Young Men's to get everyone into Primary took time. It all worked out though! It was a great day!! I felt very blessed.

I'm so grateful for my mother and grandmother. They are my best friends. The ones I call everyday. The ones I look to for advice. The ones that I can tell anything and they will always love me. I pray to be that type of mother to my children. And I'm forever grateful to God that my children get to have these wonderful and beautiful soul filling women in their lives.

Especially for Girls & Ward Talent Show

 

Wow. May 9th was a busy day! The girls headed off to Especially For Girls, a stake activity with the theme "Pieces of Eternity". They had a lovely time!

Oh how time flies!! They are growing up!!

 

The primary was in charge of the ward talent show. It went great! It's always a little stressful planning, but fortunately I work with the most wonderful women- Shanna, Jo Ann, & Sara. They are such blessings in my life. We have such a good connection and it's just a pleasure to be with them and serve together every Sunday. I always felt the same way about Kristi too. We had a lot of help, plenty of food, and there were about 100 people there. Maybe a little bit more.

 

Christina & Maria did a perfect little number "A Dream is A Wish Your Heart Makes".... with super cute matching outfits. No, I didn't get pictures. Sigh.

Sara did a great job with decorations and we had just enough food. It was hard to plan for because we just weren't sure how many people would come. But it was a success.

Everyone helped to clean up and didn't even have to be asked.

I love the members of our ward. It really is a testimony to the goodness of people to live what they say.

Physical Therapy

So, I tried physical therapy for 2 weeks. It didn't go quite as planned. I was supposed to do it 3 times a week for 6 weeks.

The final time I had the littles with me and it was just too hard for them. I was trying to stretch and had one in one arm and Eli hanging on the cage I was stretching in. Forget this ran through my mind and I was done.

But I did want to remember the few highlights of it all. The physical therapist who got so upset at the doctors trying to push surgery on people. The other therapist who was obsessed with the real meaning behind burning man.

And really, just the fact that pain is a part of this life. I looked around at the mostly old people around me, and some younger people too. I couldn't help but feel how blessed I am. I can move. I'm not in constant, searing, agonizing pain. I may be down the line. Who knows. But really, at least the pain will be gone when we're dead. Life is but a moment. I still feel so bad to see those suffer around me. We never know what others are going through.

Eli Quote

Sometimes Eli likes to pretend that he's the dad. It's pretty cute. He's very very serious about it. His beautiful little face cracks me up. It takes all my will power to stay focused.

Eli: Hi Mom. I'm home from work. It was a loooooong day.
Me: Glad you're home. How was work?
Eli: The students are doing good.
Me: Hooray! What did you do today at work?
Eli: Well, I just did University stuff and got my doctorate degree. I gotta go. The students need me.

:)

Whenever Eli gets excited about something he says, "I'm soooooo exciting!!!"

UNR's Free Day at the Museum..... How about another Scavenger Hunt?

 

Last Saturday we spent almost the entire day at UNR! It was a looooooong day!!! Every museum was free, the weather was nice, and we learned a lot of new and interesting facts!

 

The scavenger hunt at the May Museum was pretty hard. And the guy took it very seriously, he was actually astonished that we didn't get certain answers.... like I was going to read EVERY SINGLE plaque there.... right.

 

He almost didn't give Christina a toy because she didn't finish. I gave him a look and he gave her the toy.

 

The next museum can be summed up by Joe's yawn.

 

They redid the planetarium.... it was nice.... we were still done in 3 minutes.

 

I think the best part was lunch. Grateful?? gardens was delicious! Plus we had a nice old man thank us for having so many children and populating the world. Anytime my friend. Anytime.

???

And we got a discount at U-Swirl so it was only $5 total!!!

 

The archives was pretty cool. They had a pop up book display!

 

This room/museum was run by a girl who was eccentric. Art people. Yeah.

Joe showed us a really cool stairway. I enjoyed all the colors and what people wrote....

 

apparently so did Ella....

This face pretty much sums up how we were feeling at this point......

 

 

Yes... just what we need to learn about.....

 

Ooooo..... pretty rocks.

 

How my back felt after all the walking.

 

Eli really loved this little water rat who was quote, "Crucified."

 

 

A good day!!!! Now we can say we've been to all the UNR museums!!!