The Loosli Cattle Sale

We took a quick little weekend trip to the Loosli farm for their annual cattle sale.  We've done this for a few years now and when we asked the kids if they wanted to go this year, they were appalled that we thought it was even a question. Of COURSE they wanted to go. Seeing all the new baby cows with their moms (the kids were hoping to see a calf get born like they did last year, but it didn't happen to work out this year), watching the exciting action of the auction and listening to the talented auctioneer sing-song his way through bull after bull, enjoying the big feast the Looslis put on for everyone who comes to the sale - it's all so fun for the kids - and for me and Jared.  Plus Jared and the big boys loved helping Jared's brother Brian (who runs the ranch) and his son Mark (the kids' beloved college-age cousin who's so good to them) in every way they could as they prepared the bulls and set up tables.

At the sale, Isaac got to be in charge of replenishing all the ice and drinks on the buffet and Ashton got to enter in all the purchaser names and sale prices of the animals on the computer as buyers checked out - he did a great job.  The twins wanted to get in there and help with the cattle but had to be content with watching until they get a little bigger.  Eliza and I helped with the food and pitched in wherever we could - but mostly Jared's mom and sister-in-law had everything well under control. Jared got to be in the ring with the bulls this year, keeping them moving around during the bidding and sending them on out when they'd been sold.  He only got kicked a couple times - lightly.  They're really very calm and beautiful animals.

I love that we get to be connected to a farm and a ranch.  I think it's so great for kids to be exposed to the kinds of work and lessons that farms can offer.  And I'm most grateful for the wonderful, hard-working and kind relatives they get to spend time with at the farm.  I couldn't have married into a better family with better examples for me and for my kids.

Here's a little glimpse of the auction - and I'll put up more photos if and when I get a chance.  It was SO beautiful up there with the Tetons in the distance and the sparkling fields of white snow under blue skies.

A Few Spots Left...

So our Park City Retreat is full. Super full. We've got 100 attendees for Saturday (plus we've got a sizeable waiting list). We've got just a few spots left for our Mind Organization for Moms session on Friday (click HERE to see the full info on the Retreat plus a sneak peak at our new website design). I'm so excited that so many people want to come and this is going to be a fabulous event. But I feel bad that we can't fit everyone in that wants to be there. The emails people have sent in about why they want to come to the Retreat tug at my heart and I wish so much that we could squeeze them in – but my parents' house can only hold so many people!

Anyway, we're trying to figure out how to accommodate all the people who want to come to a Retreat by getting some more Retreats set up. But in the mean time, Jennifer Knight, one of our top trainers who helped me run our fabulous New Hampshire Retreat last fall, is putting on a Retreat in Ventura, California April 8-9 and there's still some space at her Retreat. It's at a nice Marriott right on the beach. Doesn't sunshine and a beach sound nice right now? Jennifer will be joined by some exciting special guests including the California Young Mother of the Year and they'll be offering the full Power of Moms core curriculum - the same subjects we're doing at the Park City Retreat. But while the Park City Retreat just includes day-time activities, the Ventura Retreat will be the “full meal deal” of Retreats where you get to enjoy a full weekend get-away – it includes overnight accommodations. And Jennifer's offering excellent prices for the Retreat.

Check out the Ventura Retreat HERE.  

And please join our Power of Moms Newsletters if you want to be sure you hear about all Retreats as soon as registration opens.

I Used to Be....

a "Wellesley Widow."  I sang in this 14-member a'cappella women's singing group at Wellesley College and my weekends were full of concerts at other colleges up and down the East Coast - plus we went on a tour to Mexico and California.  I was cool.  Here's a link to the current Wellesley Widows site:
http://www.wellesleywidows.com/index.php

I write about this because I just got the link above in an email for alums of the group and memories flooded back as I heard snippets of the group singing - same style, some of the same songs and arrangements, same types of girls in the photos, totally took me back.  Plus I'm doing a podcast tomorrow with The Roundtable on identity and have been reading some great online stuff on the subject- and I just edited an article yesterday for Learning Circles about identity - funny how things converge. So I've been thinking a lot about who I am and who I used to be and who I want to be and this Widows link showing up in my email inbox just fit in...

So the Widows is the oldest women's a'cappella group in the country and after going to one of their concerts and seeing how talented and funny and cool they were, I wanted IN.  I was SO nervous to audition as this little clueless freshman - especially since I had to get special permission to show up late for auditions so I could finish church and then take the bus back to Wellesley in time to catch the end of auditions.  And I had to wear my church clothes to the audition since there wasn't time to change and I wasn't sure how all this church stuff would affect my "coolness" in the eyes of these super-cool super-talented girls.  I made it through first cuts and second cuts and then they said they'd post a list the next day of who made it.  I went to sleep that night with my fingers crossed - only to be awoken after midnight by far-away singing on campus.  The singing got closer and closer and it was obviously the Widows.  Were they coming to sing to me because I got in?  I hardly dared hope!  But sure enough, they sang right into my dorm and down my hall into my room.  No way!  I made it!  They finished their song, told me I was the newest "Widow" and presented me with a huge "challis" of champagne and said "drink from the challis and you'll officially be one of us!"

Problem.  I don't drink.  Never have - not a sip.  What do to?  Here were all these super cool girls standing there welcoming me into their awesome group that promised the adventure, fun and music I wanted so much.  Would a sip really matter?  Awkward pause as I held that huge glass and they all looked at me expectantly.  I somehow managed to squeak out something like,"I'm so excited to be in your group but I just really don't drink alcohol at all."  Another awkward pause.  I'm sure some of them thought it was pretty silly to decline just one sip, but the group leader saved the day, stepped forward to take the challis from me, set the bottle of champagne they had for me with my name on it in gold in my desk and said "you can just give this to some friends - grab a coat and let's go sing to the other girl who got in."  It was OK.  I was in.  And I was in as a church-going teetotaling Mormon - no secrets - they knew exactly what they were getting!

Throughout college, I sang with these wonderful girls.  We traveled all over together and went to tons of  post-concert parties together.  They always made sure there were non-alcoholic drinks for me, sipped any available punch before letting me try it, and made sure I stayed clear of any men that they thought were questionable.  We shared our ideas and thoughts and beliefs on road trips and developed beautiful bonds.  And we sang some really great stuff.  I miss singing.  I miss making music. That used to be such a big part of my life and identity.  Now I just sing lullabies to my kids and we sing in the car on road trips.  I'm not even a really good singer - I'm a good "blender" but certainly not a soloist.  I still wonder how I made it into the Widows.  I guess it was meant to be.

Yes, I was a Wellesley Widow.  That was a big part of my college identity.  That and being a Mormon.  Two identities many would have said couldn't go well together.  But I've always had conflicting identities and somehow it all works out.

I think I'm going to do a flash-back post like this more often. I want to record these memories for posterity.  And I want to remember who I was and how that affects who I am.  I want to remember what I like and what is fun - sometimes moms don't even know what they like and what's fun for them because they don't get a chance to think about these things very much.  I like music and I can infuse a lot more of it into my life.  And I like friendships - deep, interesting ones with diverse people - and I can cultivate more of that too.

Eliza's Baptism

Eliza's baptism was beautiful.  We're so proud of our lovely little girl and so grateful to be her parents.


I love that dads get to baptize their children in our church.  There's something truly beautiful about seeing your husband do something so important for your child - something you can't do - something that's special just for him.  Moms get to do the beautiful and enormous acts of pregnancy and childbirth and nursing - special things that only they can do for their children.  It's great that dads have their exclusive roles as well through the priesthood - they get to give their children priesthood blessings, baptize them, confirm them members of the church and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost through a priesthood blessing.  I love the symmetry involved in mothers' and fathers' roles thanks to the exclusive physical roles that moms get to do and the exclusive spiritual roles that belong to dads.

I loved being the one to stand there with a towel at the edge of the baptismal font, ready to receive Eliza out of the waters of baptism.  I loved hugging her to me, all warm and wet, and feeling something of the joy I felt when I first held this warm wet little girl in the delivery room.  Baptism is such a beautiful symbol of rebirth and starting a new life - a life where there is now understanding and accountability.

We took a minute in the dressing room to savor the moment and take a photo before getting her dry and dressed for her confirmation.  She was positively glowing.  I'm so proud of her for all she's learned about the gospel and for her decision to make a serious covenant with the Lord to always remember Him and to keep His commandments.

I love the linking of generations, the building of relationships with family and friends, and the chance to focus on each child individually that is built into rites of passage like baptism.  I loved seeing Eliza's delight at seeing her dear grandma, her many cousins and aunts and uncles and lots of good friends sitting there in that chapel as we walked in for the baptism.  We're so blessed to have such occasions to bring us all together and so blessed to have so many dear people who love us and love our children. 

Here are all the family members, friends and ward members who came to support Eliza for her baptism.  She was so excited to have several great people from our new neighborhood, ward and primary there plus some dear friends from St George and some good family friends who came up from Alpine.

Here are all the family members plus some of Eliza's best friends (Shai, Lucy, Rachel and Hattie).  We were so glad to have Jared's mom, Jared's brothers Aaron, Joel and Brian come with their families (Eliza loves them and their kids SO much!) plus my aunt and uncle, Karen and Rawlin were there to hold up the Eyre side of things.  My parents had to be in Canada for a speech, sadly, and would be gone for the baptism dates the next couple months so we had to go ahead without them.  But they visited a couple days ago and Liza put on her baptism dress for them and she had a special time with them in honor of her baptism.

We fed about 50 people a soup buffet at our house after the baptism - quite a party!

Liza was thrilled with the cute "baptism girl" cookies Grandma and Aunt Michelle brought and was so excited about all the kind gifts and cards from so many good people who love her so much.

We're so grateful for all these great cousins and friends!

About that last post...

So I've been worrying about the last post I wrote.  I think I sounded like the students who always bugged me in college - the ones who were always going on and on about how many pages they had to read and how many papers they had to write and how many finals they had to take.  Maybe it was just a Wellesley College thing - but the complaining/comparing/bragging that went on as each semester wrapped up was pretty annoying.  And I don't want to be part of the one-ups-manship that can sometimes feel like it's going on in the world of moms.

I do a lot of stuff.  All moms do a lot of stuff.  But we all do different things based on needs - our needs, our kids needs, our situational needs, the needs of our stage of motherhood.  Some moms do a lot more in some areas and a lot less in other areas.  I used to have more mom-related demands in some areas (diaper changing, mess-clean-up, bathing and feeding kids...) and a lot less in others (getting kids to where they need to be, helping with homework, dealing with my kids' moods and emotions and friend drama...).   As my mom always says, life doesn't get easier - it just gets different.

When we look at other moms and see what they're doing or not doing, it's so important to recognize that  everyone has a different bandwidth based on their talents, needs, family situations, upbringing, personally-imposed and otherwise-imposed boundaries, etc.  What seems super-ambitious and overly-busy to one person may seem a little lazy to someone else.  What seems half-baked to one mom probably seems over-the-top to someone else.  And what works during one period of our own lives may not work at all during a different period of our lives.

When I had 5 little preschoolers, I did a ton of stuff.  But I didn't run a website.  I couldn't have.  It felt like a great day when I'd been able to get one load of wash done or go to bed with a clean kitchen on top of meeting my kids's basic needs.

Several years ago, I remember one time sitting behind another family in church.  Their kids were well-behaved, sang all the songs, and looked at church books quietly throughout the meeting.  As I struggled with all my preschoolers, pulling out every trick imaginable to keep the kids somewhat quiet and corralled in our pew, I envied that mother in front of me.  I wondered if I'd EVER be able to actually listen to anything going on in church and if my kids would EVER be well-behaved in public.

But you know what?  My kids are really good in church now for the most part.  We make it through every meeting without anyone having to be taken out crying at the top of their lungs and without anyone punching their brother or crawling away under the benches.  Yes, the kids are good in church now partly because we've worked on it for a lot of years but mostly, they're good in church because they're older.

A few months ago, I had a mom sitting in front of me with a baby and 2 preschoolers, struggling as her baby fussed and her other kids bickered over toys and books from the bag their mom had obviously carefully prepared with every possible thing that might keep them happily busy at church.  I wished I could help in some way - but the kids didn't know me and I didn't have a bag of toys that might help.  After the meeting, the mom apologized to me for her kids' disruptive behavior, saying "I sure wish my kids could sit quietly like yours!  I feel like we're a three-ring circus every Sunday and it's so hard to feel like anyone's getting anything out of church!"  I had to laugh.  She was ME a few years ago and I told her so.

I love this quote: "That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed but that our ability to do it has increased."  I'd add a bit more to this quote:  "That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed but that our ability to do it has increased and/or the people we're working with have matured!"

So anyway, I guess this is a long way of saying that I didn't mean to boast or complain with that last post.  And I don't want anyone to feel down or frustrated that they're not doing more or different things in their lives.   I'm doing my own level best to do what I feel I should be doing in this stage of my life I hope you're doing the same. And sometimes it just feels good to record what I'm doing so I can feel like I'm actually accomplishing something.  But I don't want my recording of my life to be something other moms compare themselves against.  It's apples and oranges.  It's different situations and stages.

What a week!

Like I said in this post a while back, I've accepted that my life is going to be crazy busy quite a bit.  I'm really OK with that.  And I'm so grateful for a full life.  But wow, some weeks really wear me out!

This week we had Ashton's school talent show (he did great on the guitar), three book reports to help kids complete (they turned out pretty decent in the end but our kids could really work on letting us know about assignments a little further in advance!), a high school reunion luncheon for me in SLC, a great surprise visit from an old mission companion, a visit from my parents (they wanted to spend time with Liza since sadly, they'll have to miss her baptism tomorrow), physical therapy for the twins (Silas is doing great but Oliver needs a lot more therapy to get his right foot functioning properly), basketball practices and the exciting project of putting up a new basketball hoop in the backyard that Jared and the kids have been working on quite a bit this week, me rounding up and teaching the cub scouts (my new calling), getting Ashton to scouts and Liza to dance class and Activity Days at church...

All of these things wouldn't feel like that much - but when you combine that stuff with the fact that both Jared and I have been working like crazy on the new Power of Moms website during every free daytime moment and late into the nights - plus the fact that I've had lots to do on the upcoming Power of Moms Retreat in April - it adds up to a LOT.

The new website is going to be awesome and we're so anxious to get it up - we're so close!  But wow, websites eat up 100's of hours and there are plenty of dumb bugs that pop up and tedious stuff that you just have to plow through.  I'm SO grateful for a web-savvy and willing husband who has done wonders for us and for my amazing parter April who has also put in 100's of hours on all this. Plus we've got some great volunteers who've helped a ton. If I didn't love the cause I'm working for and love the people I'm working with so much, this really wouldn't work out - it would just be too much.

The laundry's piled up.  The meals have been very basic.  The house is not very clean (to say the least).  But we're getting close on the website, our Retreat in April is officially full (and we've had reporters and big bloggers and even the Utah Young Mother of the Year register - so fun to see the momentum with this!).  And most importantly, the kids are happy and we're mostly ready for Eliza's big baptism day tomorrow (or we will be after a couple hours of cooking and cleaning tomorrow morning - we've got about 50 friends and family members who'll be joining us for this very special event and for a dinner at our house afterwards).

Why am I even taking the time to write this?  I should be sleeping and I will be in a couple minutes.  But writing stuff like this down makes me realize I have a very good life and I AM accomplishing things - even though I often feel like I'm just spinning my wheels when I'm in the midst of it all.  Plus some day, I'll want to remember what life was like during this fleeting stage...

On another note, my mom just did a post with photos of the Rising Star event Jared and I got to go to a couple weeks ago with my parents and some other fun stuff we've done with them lately - so check out her post HERE for details (seriously, Sean Bradley is TALL - see how he makes the rest of us look like shrimps...)

Capturing the Moment - on film

Lately I've been feeling the fleeting-ness of my kids' childhood and I've been taking lots of little videos of them doing things they do a lot - things that may seem pretty common-place now but that I'll forget about if I don't record them. My tiny little basic camera takes pretty decent video and I've realized I should really take more little clips of every-day life.

I've videoed the twins telling me about their favorite stuffed dogs that they play with so much and I was able to catch some good footage of them playing one of their wonderfully imaginative games together when they didn't know I was there.  I've videoed Eliza telling me all her favorite things about life right now and speaking some Spanish for me (she's missing the chance to speak Spanish that she had every day at her old school and I'm missing the cute little Spanish songs she always used to sing and want to capture some of that before it fades...).  I've videoed Isaac on his rip stick (he's GOOD).  I've videoed Ashton with his latest MindStorm inventions.  But maybe my favorite video clip I've got lately is this one of my sweet little boys singing to me.  They sing me various renditions of this song several times a day - sometimes individually, sometimes together.  How sweet is this?

A trip back to St George

The renters at our St George house reported that the dishwasher was leaking and one of the window blinds was malfunctioning and the kids were all begging to go see their old friends.  So we drove down to St George for a couple days.  The weather was forecast to be rainy and cold down there (and the forecast was true but thankfully we did get a little sun our last day).  Ashton had his first boy scout campout on Friday night so we couldn't leave until Saturday and it would be a long drive for a short time down there.  And I  have SO much Power of Moms work to do right now.  But there wouldn't be another weekend when we could make the trek for quite some time so we bit the bullet and made the trip.

And I'm so glad we did.

I needed to see that our house was well cared-for.  The renters are keeping it up beautifully and the issues they were having were quite easily remedied.  It was so weird to see our house full of other people's stuff though.  We built that house.  It's always been our house full of our stuff and our family.  But we couldn't have found nicer, more tidy and conscientious renters and it was great to see it looking good.

We all needed to see friends we've been missing a lot.  We love love love so many people in St George.  We cram-packed Sunday with visits and re-connections and had a great time seeing people at church.  Then today, the kids were delighted to go to school for a while at their old school and see their dear friends.  And I have to admit, visiting the school was pretty fun for me as well.  I got about 100 hugs from all the little friends I cultivated over the 5 years that I was a pretty constant volunteer at that school.

Isaac with one of his best friends, Micheal.  This is an older photo - not sure how I didn't capture any shots of Isaac with friends this trip.

Liza with her best friend Olivia on the school play ground.  These two girls played together almost every day from the time they were 2 until we moved.  Olivia felt like part of the family.  We all miss her!  Olivia's family treated Liza to a sleep-over and Olivia's mom did cute matching hair-styles for them and Liza got to go to school with Olivia and all her old classmates.  It was perfect.

Ashton with best buddies Wesley and Dallin in the cafeteria

Silas with his best friend Jason and Oliver with his best friend Kaylee.  It was so cute seeing them all fling their arms around each other when they saw each other!  Kaylee always calls Oliver "Best Friend."  Kaylee was excited to show Oliver the brace she wears to correct her tip toe problem on one foot (cerebral palsy) and Oliver was totally excited to tell her that he has braces to wear on his feet too and that he can now walk on "flat feet."  Quite a reunion.

I loved spending time with my dear friend Becky and going on a little walk with her in memory of all the great walks we went on together early in the mornings and late at night as great walking and talking partners.

It was so great to see those red mountains and that blue, blue, blue sky again.  I don't know if there will ever be anything quite as pretty to me as the deep red-orange of those mountains against the brilliant blue of the sky in St George.  We did a quick hike at Dixie Rock and another quick hike at Castle Rock - and even though it was kind of muddy and quite cold, it felt so good to drink in some of that scenery again and enjoy some favorite places for a bit.

We hiked up on top of Dixie Rock - an old favorite - can you tell it was freezing by looking at Silas and Isaac?  But seriously, those rocks and that sky - could it get any prettier?

We also hiked Castle Rock and the kids found all their favorite little caves and cubby holes.  

St George will always be home in many ways.  But a great side-effect of our trip was that when we arrived back in Ogden last night, I had a true feeling of "coming home."  This is really feeling like home now.  Even though Jared's job isn't turning out to be what we'd expected and there's a lot to miss about St George, we're seeing unexpected reasons unfold about why we needed to be in Ogden at this point in our lives.  For reasons we know and reasons we're sure we'll be discovering, we need to be here and it just feels right.  I'm so grateful for that.

This is home now.  And it's a good home.

Oh, and on a totally different note, there are like 5 spots left at our April Retreat (out of 100) in the Park City area and I wanted to make sure anyone bothering to read this blog gets a last chance to get one!  If you're interested, click here to snag a spot before they're gone.  This is going to be one POWERFUL Retreat and it's been exciting to see how quickly it's filled up!

Fresh Air and Fun

Outside time is a good thing.  On Monday (President's Day), I spent 5 hours outside sledding and playing with my kids in the sun and I felt like a whole new woman.  I've been inside far too much lately - sitting at my computer for many many hours every day working on our our new Power of Moms website plus getting stuff set up for our April Retreat (if you were thinking about signing up, you might want to do it soon because wow, the thing is filling right up).  I was getting down and frustrated and overworked and grumpy and I was just plowing on through, forgetting that what always makes me feel better is doing something outside.

I know I need outside time - that's part of how I'm wired.  For years, I got my weekly outside "fix" from hiking and biking as a family every Saturday.  But then we moved here and the cold and snow made me feel like I had to pretty much be indoors.  I shoveled snow a few times and that gave me a great outdoor fix and we've walked downtown a couple times which was great.  But I'd been mostly ignoring my fresh-air-and-outside-exercise need.

Thanks to a beautiful bright snowy day, a school holiday and an invitation from friends, I found myself finally getting what I needed - while giving my kids what they needed.  The mountains were so beautiful in the distance, the snow was so sparkly, the sun was so warm.  And the rush of speeding down a steep hill, not knowing really where you might end up, is sure a lot of fun - especially when you've got a couple of your favorite little people on the sled with you, squealing in glee and you all end up in a laughing pile at the bottom of the hill.  Priceless.

OK - picture a big smile on my face - I think I was trying to steer us back on course here.
And don't worry - I actually didn't choke Silas with that rope.  This is just the only photo I've got with me in it.  And want to remember I was there and I really did do quite a bit of sledding.

Play is important.  Getting out of the house is important.  Sun and fresh air are important.  Being with friends is important.  Even though it's a hassle to out of the house.  Even though there are always so many important things on your to-do list.  Get up.  Get out.  It's worth it.

I WILL spend some serious time outside every week and get out at least a little pretty much ever day - even if it's just a quick walk around the block.

And Emily, thanks for the photos!

Eliza's Birthday

So turning eight is a really big deal in our family.  You get to have the birthday party of your dreams (within reason), you get your own set of scriptures with your name engraved in gold on them, if you're a girl, you get to have your ears pierced if you want, you get to go out to a fancy restaurant with your parents and learn about "the most beautiful thing in the world" (check out the whole story on this here), and most importantly, you get to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

For Eliza, my little planner who has visions of the perfect version of everything in her head (wonder where she gets that from???), turning eight was an especially big deal.  Her birthday traditions are to decorate sugar cookies and have a tea party.  She's done it since she was 2.  This year she wanted to keep with her tradition - but she wanted to go big with it and had precise ideas about how everything should play out.  Luckily, the stars were aligned and everything turned out remarkably well!

In previous years, she's just had a couple friends and her brothers for the cookie decorating and tea party.  But this year she got to invite 12 little girls to the party.  In St George, we found that if we invited 12 kids to a party, maybe 5 would show up.  So I warned Eliza that she might want to invite more girls if she was going to have the dozen she envisioned.  Luckily, she didn't listen to me because as it turns out, all 12 girls she invited came to the party. 

When I was a little girl, I lived in England.  I went to actual tea parties.  Kids dressed up in lovely dresses for little after-school tea parties hosted by their friends quite often and birthday parties always involved everyone dressing up.  I liked those parties.  I was disappointed when we moved back to America and parties were a much more casual affair.  I missed the tea parties with the manners and the dress-up clothes and the lovely little cookies and cucumber sandwiches.  So I was so glad when Eliza thoroughly embraced the whole proper English party idea.  We'll see how long she keeps wanting to do this.  But I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

You know, when little girls are dressed up, they act different.  In the case of these little girls who came to Eliza's birthday party, they took to speaking with British accents and calling each other "dahling" and that sort of thing.  It just sort of happened.  And they were really into saying "please" and "thank you" as they sat around a crisp embroidered table cloth and enjoyed their cucumber sandwiches and fancy treats.

Anyway, enough words - here's the birthday party (on Sat Feb 12th) and the actual birthday (on Sun Feb 13th) in photos.

The lovely ladies of Eliza's birthday party - notice an imposter?  When Isaac was told only girls were allowed at this year's tea party, he found himself a wig and lovely dress and tried to blend in.  Most of the girls didn't know him so it was pretty funny watching them eye him suspiciously until Eliza pulled off his wig and yelled "imposter!"  The girls all squealed with joy and surprise and Isaac ran away laughing his head off.  Pretty good gag.

Here they are "looking like proper tea party ladies"

Here's the dance.  All the girls insisted that they needed to have a dance.  So we cranked up the classical music and the girls did a lovely job dancing away.  They wanted me to teach them some proper dance steps.  I reached way back in my mind to my days in England and remembered some English Country Dancing steps we learned in school (a lot like square dancing) and we put together a nice little dance that they wanted the brothers and Jared to come watch.  They were so cute!

After dancing, it was present-opening time.  Eliza got so many wonderful gifts!  She's never really had a big party before so she's never really received a lot of gifts before.  It was all VERY exciting and she was cute about wishing each present-giver something - we played the old-school "Heavy Heavy Hangover" where the giver hangs her present over the receivers head and everyone chants "Heavy heavy hangoever thy poor head - what do you wish with a bump on the head" (then the giver gives the birthday kid a little bump on the head with the present).  Not sure where this little party game came from but it was a standard at birthday parties I went to growing up.  Sort of odd  -  I like how this little game gives kids a chance to focus on each giver individually and enjoy each present separately.

The final part of the party was cookie decorating.  Wow, those girls came up with some creatively decorated cookies!

For Eliza's actual birthday (on Sunday), we celebrated by all speaking in church (Eliza was actually thrilled when we were asked to speak on her birthday - she loves speaking and did the best job of anyone with her talk).  It was a little stressful getting all the birthday activities in while preparing talks, but somehow it all worked.  Anyway, Grammie and Grandfather came to hear us speak in church then came home with us for Liza's big birthday lunch - her favorite penne in cream sauce with broccoli .

After lunch, we opened presents - Grandma, as always, sent the perfect gifts of a book (which Eliza has already read - she's such a reader) and a cute teddy bear plus some candy.  Grammie and Grandfather gave her some fun international gifts from their travels.  Jared and I gave her the gift of dance classes - something she's been wanting for a long time.  And we found the perfect class for her at the Eccles Art Center right on our block - Virginia Tanner Dance.  I took and loved Virginia Tanner creative dance when I was a little girl and it's so fun to see that the classes are still much the same - totally took me back to see Liza leaping and twirling with a scarf to live piano music.  I love creative dance.   

We finished the day with Liza' favorite dinner - grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  Can you tell she's smiled for too many pictures today???

We're still celebrating.  Eliza got her ears pierced a couple days ago and in spite of a little indecision after seeing the baby ahead of her in line have a pretty hard time with it, she emerged triumphant with newly sparkly ears.  We've got Eliza's baptism scheduled for March 5th and she's busily memorizing the Articles of Faith and we finally found her the perfect confirmation dress.   

Last night we took her out for her special dinner at a really wonderful restaurant and she reveled in the personal attention and the fancy food.  After explaining the miracle of how babies are made to her big brothers, Jared and I had our message down pretty well this time round and Eliza took it all in with beautiful innocence and wonder.  I really love the approach my parents teach that helps kids learn about everything step-by-step in a very positive light and we've added in our own methods of explaining things that makes everything feel so simple and logical and wonderful and not strange or "icky" at all.  We really had a wonderful evening and Eliza seemed to understand everything so well.  Of course, we'll need to have plenty of follow-up talks but I'm so glad we're getting to our kids with this very important information before anyone else gives them a tainted version of anything.  

Before the talk, I asked Ashton and Isaac for tips on what we should be sure to cover when we talked with Eliza.  They thoughtfully offered a few pointers and it was a great chance to reflect back on what they remembered about their special dinner when they turned eight.  They seemed to have really great memories.  I'm so glad it's worked out so well.