Her Royal Highness Eliza's Birthday

What a birthday this girl had! She planned the whole party on her own and had me write down shopping lists and to-do lists and everything. And it seems that everything turned out just as our little princess hoped (thank heavens). She was delighted and sweet all day and it was a really fun day for everyone. Here's the story in pictures:
We started off the day with Eliza's favorite breakfast - oatmeal (Ashton was appalled that she didn't pick something more exciting but I was relieved) and did family presents before school. Eliza got a tea set - a real porcelain one like she's been wanting for a long long time.
Liza's "Royal Tea Party" started at 2:30pm with her three good girl friends. They were SO delighted about the whole thing and were super polite to each other - "would you care for some more grapes?" "why certainly"... We had classical music playing and they were so darn cute as they politely chatted over their "apple tea" (apple juice), grapes and cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. Then they diligently worked on making bracelets for themselves until the boys showed up at 3:30.
When the boys arrived, Liza asked me if it was time for the Royal Ball to begin. I didn't really know a Ball was on the agenda but the boys were very obliging and I turned up the music, they paired up and danced together for quite a long time - I was pretty surprised - but they all seemed to really enjoy it. At the end of the "Ball," Eliza chased after her dance partner (Silas) with this toy ring she had saying, "wait, prince, you've got to give me this ring and ask me to marry you!" Silas was a bit confused but finally took the ring and gave it to her - she was delighted, he was still confused but happy to make her happy. Telling of things to come?
After the Ball, we made crowns (I highly recommend Burger King crowns and a bunch of stickers!), had a story about dragons and princesses acted out by the kids, opened presents and decorated cookies.


The whole thing turned out remarkably well considering that I couldn't get the twins down for a nap and they both had stinky diapers just as the girls were arriving for the tea party, then Jared got caught up with stuff at work and I hadn't really planned for anyone else to help me out with these 12 little kids. The kids were really really good - but wow - I was SO tired by the end! I had to be totally "up" and totally "on" for quite a few hours straight there which really takes it out of me. Then Valentine's Day was the very next day so I wanted to have all this stuff ready for Jared and the kids for that - these back to back events (like Christmas, Jared's birthday and Ashton's birthday) really wear me out.
This little girl of ours is everything you could ever want in a little girl - sweet (she's always offering to help me with things and so often tells me she loves me and loves giving me little back scratches while I work on the computer), cute (a woman at a store the other day was staring at Liza and came up to me and said, "that little girl is GORGEOUS" - I have to agree. She's got these striking and unusual features - and these goofy teeth to keep her humble), chatty (sometimes I do wish there was an "off" button), imaginative (she loaned her imaginary friend "Frizzle" to her best friend Olivia for a few days and missed her sorely but kept emphasizing how glad she was that Olivia and Frizzle could have some time together), helpful (she LOVES to help with the twins, set the table, help make dinner), artistic (you've seen her bed-decorating skills - and her artwork is getting better and better - she's got a real eye for color and style, even in the outfits she comes up with), and yes, very dramatic and emotional (watch out if Liza thinks something is unfair or if her feelings get badly hurt or her plans get really messed up - the sobbing and splotchy face is pretty pathetic). Oh, we love our little Liza!

Kids

It snowed last week - crazy rain turned into huge beautiful flakes falling as we enjoyed a delicious Sunday dinner with Jo and Aja last week. The kids were so excited and it was so lovely to be there with a roaring fire, a good meal and good people. Jo topped it off by making some of his excellent cookies. And thanks to the cold temperatures, there are still little patches of snow and ice around here and there. One bad thing about the snow was that it covered up our little satellite dish while Jared was trying to record the Super Bowl so he could watch it later. Turned out that the best parts of the game didn't record. Sad day for Jared!
Jared was in Virginia for meetings from Tuesday night until Saturday this last week. It was great for him to have some time with his sister Michelle who lives in DC and to be away from the daily trucking issues to think about the bigger picture of his company. We all missed him like crazy but we did OK and I scheduled in a lot of fun stuff so I could stay sane in his absence - did visiting teaching, did a crazy clothes-shopping trip with three little kids in tow (I was wearing clothes with holes in them - getting pretty bad!), had a fun girls' night in with a couple friends, had the young women come here for our Wed night activity... Even though it's always hard and sometimes rather disastrous to plan things or get out of the house with so many little kids, it beats the alternative of all of us going crazy from staying in and being on our own too much! The weather's getting better so that makes everything better and I've been able to take the kids on walks and enjoy some sunshine. Sunshine does wonders for me. We're so spoiled here that a few weeks of really cold weather and a little snow and ice can really throw a wrench in the works.

I haven't been writing down and capturing the cute and funny things the kids do and say very much lately - there are so many little things that happen every single day and Jared and I lay in bed talking about them before going to sleep at night - but then I promptly forget them. So here's an attempt to grab a few moments with these cute kids lately.

The other night, I’d just put the twins to bed then heard sirens out on Snow Canyon Parkway. The twins were talking excitedly about what they’d just heard and I went in there to settle them down. I agreed with them that it was very cool that we just heard what they were sure was a fire truck and reassured them that everything was fine and they should go to sleep.

Silas, in the cutest little concerned voice: “But Mommy, what if da fiderfiders have pwoblems wif der ladder? Can I help dem?”

The twins are totally into making a "magic school bus" (from the show that they love to watch with the big boys) several times a day out of all the stools from the bar and chairs from the dining table. Sometimes they make it out of all the cushions from the couches in the living room. So the whole upstairs often looks like a tornado hit it lately. I love hearing them talking with each other: "Shu we go on a field trip on da magic skoo bus?" "Let's go!" "where shu we go?" "brrmmmm" "let's bring pears!" "yeah!!!!" Then I have to go intervene on the loading up of real food onto the bus.

The other day after school the boys sat down to watch a show with the twins. This is how I found them a few minutes later - how cute are these FOUR boys of mine!

And another time, I had Ashton lay down with the twins to help them fall asleep - he loves to do this - and this is how I found Ash and Si:

Eliza’s SO excited about her birthday party this week. She’s been planning it for about a month now, assigning different duties to different family members (“Daddy, you’ll pick up the balloons and the crowns from Burger King, right? On your way home from work, right? And you won’t forget, right?”) and having me make lists of the things we're going to need. Luckily she only has a handful of good friends so her elaborate ideas should work out fine for a small group.

Another major focus for her lately has been conducting a school that she dubbed “Baby School: Teach My Babies” where she teaches the twins about colors and numbers and “reads” them some favorite books and helps them learn to “draw” pictures. She is SO cute about it – sounds like a top-notch preschool teacher as she explains things to them with a great mixture of little-kid words and more grown-up terms and they eat it up - "Come on, Ollie buddy, come join us for reading now... Great job, Si! You're getting to be quite an artist!" They come running in to me to show me their latest scribbled picture that they’ve completed with Liza’s help and they have the cutest little proud looks on their faces. Eliza does get quite put out when they aren’t totally cooperative with her curriculum and sometimes gets pretty firm with them – but generally she’s a great little teacher and keeps things moving at a nice clip so they’re quite willing students. A few minutes ago, she was in there teaching them "Ribbons" (when she explained what this was and demonstrated, I realized she means "rhythms" - she had them clapping the little plastic bowls from Liza's tea set together and I turned on some music for them which was a big hit). Oh, she just got firm on the drawing project they're now doing - Liza: "Si, does that look like a leg?" Si: "yes!" Liza: "No, it does NOT. Here let me help you." Funny funny girl.

One last thing on Eliza - her Joy School goal for this unit on goal-striving is to decorate my room. Not sure where she got it from - but a few times a week, she gets out a bunch of ribbons and quite artistically decorates my bed and the lamps by our bed and sometimes other things in the room as well. She usually also places a carefully colored page from a coloring book or one of her own original drawings on the bed. I don't know where she got the idea for this goal but she's been very diligent about it!

Ashton told me the details of his theory of how certain specific incidents in Spiderman III came to pass on the way home from school today – while I was trying to field questions and issues raised by the many other kids in the car (I had Ana and Olivia as well as my kids). Ashton often has very involved things he wants to explain to me in a very animated way right when I really can’t give him my attention. But I do love seeing glimpses of how his very busy mind works and marveling at the theories and ideas that are always springing up in there. I often wish so much that I had more time to really listen to him. I need to do more Mommy Dates with him and find ways to spend more one-on-one time with him. I know it won’t be forever that he really wants to talk to me about all his ideas and thoughts.

I've had so much fun reading books to Isaac's class every Tuesday afternoon and seeing him in action with his friends. I get lots of hugs from many of these cute little 1st graders when I enter the classroom and lots of interesting comments and questions throughout the stories that I read. But my favorite part is the proud look on Isaac's face when he sees me arrive and his smiles at me whenever I look at him while I'm reading. He's so cute with his friends and his favorite thing to do at recess lately is to play house with his many girl friends.

Isaac's been working so hard to read enough books to earn a reading lamp to go on his bedside table. He finally finished the goal this week and is SO proud of his new lamp. He also lost his second tooth this week (while he was at school - the day after I read the class a story about a kid loosing a tooth at school - very cool) and after 3 days, the tooth fairy finally showed up. Isaac was thrilled with the money and ice cream coupon from the tooth fairy and totally forgiving of the tooth fairy for being so late. He's always totally forgiving of everyone.

One last thing - last week we took the kids to the circus. It was a "total red-neck circus" as my friend described it - done in a rodeo barn at the fairgrounds, very interesting assortment of attendees, pretty decent and varied acts with some pretty cheesy costumes. It was pretty funny to see the same people coming out to do different things with the announcer calling them something different each time - "And here are the amazing Rodriegez brothers" and next time the same people come out in different costumes "And now - the fabulous Marvel duo!" The kids were all totally into it - except Silas who was mostly into doing kamakaze stunts on the bleachers. The kids loved the dancing dogs, stunt horses, clowns (they were the worst in my opinion), acrobats (they were really pretty darn good) - but their favorite (and mine) were the three elephants who could stand on two legs and walk around and do lots of pretty amazing feats. Can't beat the circus for a good family outing complete with great people-watching!

That's it from us for that last couple weeks.

Thankfulness

I've had some major ups and downs in the last few weeks - I've always been prone to ups and downs but they really escalated since Christmas until things were really seeming bad. With a lot of prayer and a lot of good talks with Jared and others, things are now seeming so much better than they've been in a long, long time. I feel like we've really worked through a lot of long-standing issues. We're now working diligently towards a better marriage with a lot more communication and connection and I'm seeing myself more clearly - seeing what I need to change and working towards positive change rather than spending energy on bemoaning the difficult aspects of my life that aren't going to change for a while (I have 5 small, needy kids, finances are tight, lots of things I try to do each day have no visible immediate effect, I don't have a great deal of adult interaction or appreciation for the things I do...). I'm trying to be more pro-active in changing what I CAN change, focus on the positive aspects of each thing in my life and live closer to the spirit, seeking more inspiration and guidance.

I am so blessed. I have the best husband and kids in the world and sure, they could improve and so could I, but that will only happen with patience and small incremental changes. I get so impatient for things to be the way I envision them and get caught up in a feeling of inertia as I wish for the righteous desires of my heart to become reality more quickly than reality allows. I'm realizing more and more that I need to start with myself and make myself more of what the Lord would have me be rather than worrying so much about fixing the organizations and people around me. Don't know if this makes sense - but things that have seemed so confusing and murky are seeming more clear these days. And I'm so grateful.

In a moment of total frustration about inertia, I came across a great deal on a hotel room in Las Vegas and surprised the kids when they got home from school with the news that we were taking off for adventures in Vegas. I just found out that Shawni did the same sort of thing at the same time but her surprise was Disneyland. Our trip pales in comparison - but the kids were SO excited. It turned out to be a really great trip and I felt pretty empowered that I could take 5 little kids to Vegas, successfully get them and our luggage through a casino to the hotel check-in desk then through the casino again to the elevators to our room with all the kids fighting over who got to push the button for the elevator, then all over Vegas the next day.

Picnicking by the Bellagio Lake

Hanging out with the M and M's - OK, not as cool as the Disney Characters
all over Shawni's blog, but Isaac and Eliza were excited!

The kids LOVED seeing the Strip all lit up at night, the novelty of staying in a hotel room (Ashton kept dancing around chanting "I love hotels, I love hotels!"), staying up late eating treats from Trader Joes in our room (made a crazy stop in there for food with 5 kids in tow - not the best part of the trip!), watching some very playful young lions at the MGM Grand for a long time, riding the little train that connects several of the casinos (the twins really really loved this part), and just seeing so many interesting people and sites. I loved just forgetting about everything else for 24 hours and totally being with my kids, going with what they felt like doing and enjoying everything through their eyes. The kids were all really good and it was great just to get away and do something different for a bit and let Jared have some peace and quiet for a while.

The kids were excited about the fake Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty and all that -
but the big boys were quick to point out that they'd seen the real Statue of Liberty
and it was much better than this one

Isaac and a lion at MGMKids LOVING the casino-connector train - we went back and forth several times

When I got home, Jared had set up a great little weekend for the two of us at Zion and Jessica valiantly agreed to watch the kids. It was SO nice to have some great uninterrupted talks with Jared and enjoy the beauty of the place. We stayed at a wonderful hotel and ate great food and came home feeling rejuvenated and ready to start fresh.

After so many years of kids and craziness, we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and it feels good to be moving past the "just barely getting it done" stage to the "actually enjoying it" stage. Sure, we've had amazing times and precious moments and we wouldn't trade away anything in the last 10 years - but it's been quite frequently grueling and stressful and there are so many times when so many people are demanding attention all at once and there are no clean clothes and the homework didn't get done and the babysitter fell through and the phone is ringing and there's guilt and crushed hopes from so many things undone in the past and worry over things that need to be done in the future cluttering up the present and making it hard not to react unpleasantly (to put it nicely) to the hard things that keep popping up. As a naturally-inclined control freak and perfectionist and a person who desperately wants to do meaningful things all the time in the larger world, life with five little kids has perhaps been harder for me than it might be for some. But I'm learning to see things more for what they are, to roll with the punches better, to count my blessings, and to appreciate the fact that it will really just be a moment in time that I'll have these kids at home, needing me, wanting me. And I want to look back with love and pleasant memories, not with regret that I missed too much in the midst of the chaos and the frustrations and the "grass is greener" mentality.

So I'd better get going on my pro-active to-do list of things that I'll feel MUCH better once I do - organize a mother's group/book group, get on top of the housework that's been bearing down on me, go read with Isaac with a positive attitude, come up with a fun FHE treat....

Life's been fast and crazy lately and it doesn't show signs of slowing down any time soon. It's been a huge roller coaster ride with various things that have come up, but things are looking much better now and I'm feeling more excited about my life than I have in a long, long time.

Last weekend we celebrated Jared's birthday #2 since his birthday gets sort of swept under the rug a lot on New Years. We had a special breakfast, went for a gorgeous hike in Zions and had a nice lunch in Springdale near there and had a few friends over for a dinner party and game night that night.

On Friday Jared was in Vegas all day for meetings with some promising new clients and after a big fancy dinner with salesmen and clients, he didn't get home until 2am (I talked to him most of the way on the phone to keep him awake). Then this weekend Jared's best man from our wedding, Derek Ransom, is in town so they went for a fun, crazy mountain bike ride on Saturday (Jared went over the handlebars SEVERAL times and is limping around and scraped up but he's OK - I can't believe he dares to do this stuff on his bike!). They're doing another ride tomorrow and we'll do a hike with Derek's family and ours which should be fun. Last night Jared and I went to see "O" (a Cirque de Soleil show) in Vegas as Jared's big birthday present and it was an amazing spectacle - how in the heck do they come up with this stuff? The acrobatics and diving and sets and costumes were all amazing - and once we gave up trying to come up with any sort of meaning for the seeming symbolism of what was happening on stage, we were able to just let it flow and really enjoy it - even though we were so tired. We got some dinner after the show, enjoyed watching the crazy people who are always to be found in vegas, and got home close to 4am. It was so fun to go on a "real" date and really have some good time together. It was so stressful setting up babysitting (as always) but things worked out in the end with one of my young women doing the bulk of it and Jo and Aja helping out as well (thanks guys!) and it was so worth it. Jared and I have just realized lately that we simply must get out on dates and court each other more and this was a great first date since this resolution.

So with these last two really late late nights plus a lot of late late nights earlier in the week, I'm starting to get that groggy dreamlike feeling I remember from when Jared and I were first really moving forward with our relationship 10 year ago. But we did take big naps today and we'll get everything back on track this week. I do love this husband of mine so much and we've spent a lot of time really talking and figuring things out this week and our relationship is feeling renewed and exciting which makes me so happy. Better head to bed!

Ollie and Si are THREE!

I can't believe my babies are now THREE. Their birthday was on Monday and we celebrated with a pancake breakfast, a pretty simple playgroup/birthday party with a few friends in the morning, lunch with Jared and Jessica Lanoue (one of our good friends and probably the twins' biggest fan - she and her husband watched them while we went to NYC and Boston and actually came away loving them all the more!), and then a birthday dinner with Jo and Aja and kids.

They were so excited about their birthday this year and sort of seemed to get it - I think seeing Ashton's recent birthday helped them out that way. It was pretty funny hearing them argue "It's MY birthday" "No, it's MY birthday" a few times during the day - the concept that it was BOTH of their birthdays was a bit challenging I guess. They got some big wheels (which Ashton and Isaac put together for them - the big boys were so proud and excited to present them to the little guys) and a second train engine for their beloved train set from Christmas (from Jo and Aja and family) plus lots of fun little gifts from friends. They're way into the present thing thanks to Christmas and were so excited about everything. They wanted a Bob the Builder cake so I did my usual - chocolate cake with stuff on top, in this case, some Bob the Builder stuff. It worked out perfectly because the cake totally fell and had a big pit in the middle for the little excavator and backhoe to dig around in. The twins were thrilled. It was one oddly textured cake - I don't know what I did wrong!

I'm hoping and praying that this year will be the year the twins really get to be more fun than work. They do seem to be headed in that direction. They're talking so much and are becoming quite reasonable about some things. Their favorite things lately:

• Toys: their train set and garbage truck and firetruck from Christmas
• Games: playing duck duck goose
• Books: Are you my Mother? and this annoying book about a giant zuchinni
• TV shows: Bob the Builder, Blues Clues (they've started using the phrase "handy dandy" which is pretty funny), Wonder Pets, this video about construction machines (There Goes a bulldozer) and a video about trains (There Goes a Train)
• Songs: They want the "moon song" from me every night ("Winken, Blinken and Nod") and Gentle Shepherd and the "barges song" from Jared. They always belt out the "Bob the Builder" theme song when the show's starting.
• Their daddy - they yell out "daddy, daddy!" with heart-felt excitement and RUN to fling their arms around his legs when he gets home.
• Food: They like all foods but they really really love frozen peas (I've got to video them squealing "Peas! Peas! Peas!" when I get them out for lunch) and apples especially. They love "moothies" (smoothies) and can sniff out cookies anywhere in the house and eat them by the handful as they hide under the table, pulling the chairs in after them to try to create the appearance of nothing going on over there.
• Nursery - they LOVE going to nursery at church and call out "dere's da chowch!" gleefully whenever we get close to the church
• Running around on their tiptoes - they pretty much run on their tiptoes everywhere they go. Silas is especially tiptoe-prone. Jared jokes they'll be line-backer-looking ballet dancers one of these days!
• Grabbing things from each other, then freaking out, then sharing - they've got this little routine dialog down and it's really cute when it works "Silas, can I have that" "NO" "Don't say NO, say 'in a minute'" "OK, in a minute" "1,2,3,4,5 now it's my turn!" And most of the time, sometimes after a couple times counting to 5, the guy with the toy in question passes it on over to the guy asking for it. They really are pretty good sharers and get over having things grabbed away very quickly - they've really always had to share everything so they're pretty used to it.
• Pouting: when we don't let them have their way, they'll put on the longest, saddest faces I've ever seen (especially Oliver), then they'll give us the silent treatment as thy throw themselves on the floor and lay their on their faces until someone gives them a good reason to forget about the indignity of whatever they were just denied. Cracks us up.

Oh, I love these crazy adorable boys of mine!

The Big Birthday Party and Baptism Adventures

Hopefully none of the dozens of people who were in and out of this house for Ashton's birthday and baptism were too shocked to see my Christmas tree still standing in the living room until a couple days ago - but I really didn't have a bit of time to get it out of here until then. I spent all day Monday and Tuesday getting Christmas put away and cleaning up my very dirty house after so many visitors and parties and dinners and events. It seemed like the holiday festivities would never end this year as Ashton's birthday and baptism brought all the celebrating well into January!

Ashton hasn't had a "real" birthday party with friends for years - it usually falls at the end of Christmas break and we always seem to be heading back from post-Christmas activities with relatives and his birthday just gets smooshed in there. So this year we did it up right. He had an "Inventor Party" and he and 8 of his friends spent the evening taking apart old electronic equipment (Jared raided the dumpster pile at the DI) and creating various "inventions" using the many different inventor and building sets Ashton has accumulated. Along with some pizza, present-opening and cake and ice cream, it was the party of Ashton's dreams. Grandma, Grandpa, Grammie, Grandfather and Charity all showed up to participate in the fun and it was quite an evening! We were all SO excited to see Jared's dad, Lynn, who's had a really rocky time with a heart attack and a couple strokes recently. It was touch and go for a while before Christmas and we hardly dared hope that he's make it down for Ashton's baptism - but he did - and he looked great. It pretty much totally wore me out to do this party in the midst of getting ready for Ashton's baptism and recovering from Christmas, but seeing Ashton and all the other kids having so much fun plus hearing one of Ashton's guests say "Ashton, you have the coolest mom ever!" made it all OK.

The kids had so much fun building with the
various magnetic and electronic sets we've accumulated

Taking apart a TV, VCR, tape deck, blender, etc was a big hit.

Ashton was SO excited about each present he got -

so fun to see all the kids light up with each gift.

Like Ashton's "Inventor" cake? I know, I know, I'm an amazing cake decorator. Every birthday cake is a delicious homemade chocolate cake topped with a toy or two that at least loosely fits the theme of the party. Ashton and Isaac made this molecule structure sort of thing to put on the cake. One kid declared "That's an ugly cake! I never seen a cake like that!" but then he made up for it by exclaiming as he ate, "wow, ugly cakes are way yummier than them pretty cakes with the flowers!" I guess this kid's never tried a homemade cake before. We had quite an assortment of kids from Ashton's class at the party, most of whom where pretty "wowed" by our house and 3 of whom told me they'd never tried carrots before when I offered them alongside the pizza. Ashton told them they HAD to try carrots and they did - and asked for more. Apparently carrots are now very popular with his class - he told me he had to give away all his carrots at lunch today because everyone was asking for them. Funny stuff.
At the end of the party, Ashton was showered with gifts from his grandparents and got his first set of scriptures (embossed with his name in gold) and his first journal. Then in his overtired state he got pretty snippy and rude with me during the process of getting ready for bed and in my overworked and under-appreciated state, I got pretty mad at him and he declared that he was "just not good enough to get baptized" and wanted to call the whole thing off. I tried to smooth things over but Ashton said "I've made my decision and I'm not not ready to get baptized! I'm not good enough!" What do we do with this situation? Hmmmm. Got all the relatives here, got the program made up, got the sick Grandpa to drive for 8 hours to be here... After some quick prayers for inspiration, Jared and I were able to diffuse the situation and put Ashton to bed feeling pumped up a bit and ready to start the next day fresh. Phew!

We had a nice breakfast and got everyone to the stake center a full 15 minutes early, amazingly (partially thanks to planning to go get Ashton's nonmember friend Lupe whose mom called to cancel at the last minute but we were all ready early so that we'd be able to pick him up. I guess Lupe couldn't wake up. I can't imagine having a kid who couldn't wake up at 9:30am!). Ashton and Jared were already there when the rest of us arrived, all dressed in white. Look what a big kid I have! Amazing to see my little baby boy getting baptized all of a sudden.

The little meeting was nice - I think - I'm not totally sure what was said because I was mostly trying to wrestle down the twins who were at an all-time peak of wildness for some reason. I think they knew they had me outnumbered with Jared sitting with Ashton and Grammie and Grandfather giving talks so they thought they'd take advantage of the situation. They were both stinky just as the service was about to begin so I took them out and changed them then tried to catch snippets of mom's seemingly great talk and Dad's good remarks between keeping the twins occupied with toys and trying to keep Isaac from talking loudly - he was not being very good. And then Eliza started in with whining about something. Maybe everyone was acting out because Ashton was getting so much attention - but whatever the deal was, it was NOT fun for me and I didn't exactly get to gaze at Ashton and contemplate what a good boy he is or how much he's growing up... Oh well.

When it was time to head into the baptism room, the twins ran away and with the help of our good friend Justin Lanoue and my mom, they were tackled and delivered to the baptism room. And they were both stinky again. What luck! But they could wait for the few minutes required for a baptism. Ashton was beautiful there in the water, so serious, so ready. I think he smiled and that Jared gave him a hug when he came up out of the water but I'm not quite sure because of the twins' distractions. Both of Ashton's grandpas were the witnesses. Then it was time for me and mom to take the twins out for another diaper change before they totally grossed out everyone in the room. Mom and I took them kicking and protesting to the car to get the diapers and wipes and then into the mothers room. I worked on Si and lucky mom got Ollie who proved to be coated in a thick layer of poo all the way down his legs and up his back - his shoulders were covered. I don't think I've seen a blowout that bad for years! I'll spare you the details, but mom and I spent a frantic few minutes trying to clean Ollie up as best we could with paper towels and a little bathroom sink and he was NOT pleased about it "I scared! I scared! I scared!" Poor guy. Poor us. We made it back to the room for the confirmation just as Ashton and Jared finished getting ready - with Oliver wearing only socks and a diaper. Found out later that mom and Justin both got a fair amount of poo on their clothes from grabbing Oliver as needed. Great times.

The confirmation was very nice (I think - hard to tell with Silas squirming in my arms - wish I could have taken notes - oh well). After putting Silas down and seeing that he was willing to sit on his own, I did get a chance to capture a still frame in my mind of Ashton's peaceful, reverent, handsome face between the priesthood holders who surrounded him for the blessing. It was one of those quick moments when all seems right with the world.

Click on this if you actually want to see it - turned out pretty small.
Ashton with his two wonderful grandpas

We capped off the day with a big lunch of soup and bread and left-over birthday cake and Ashton blew out candles one more time. It was so great to have both sets of grandparents here! And so nice to have some time with Charity before she leaves on her mission next week. She and I went on a beautiful but very blustery and rainy walk during the afternoon and then I got to go to the temple with her, Mom, Dad and Jo that evening. We'll all miss that Charity a lot!

Isaac remarked a couple days after Ashton's baptism that Ashton was being "really extra nice lately" and he really has tried to keep his baptismal covenants and be a good boy. He's such a great, interesting, funny, quirky, smart, quick kid. But he's also very forgetful and easily distracted which can cause some issues here and there... Good thing he's not perfect or he'd show us all up I guess. I sure love my big boy!

Temple, Charity's Farewell, Jared's B-day, New Years and Ashton's B-day

I've got to get most of the good pictures from other people - we've got so many good photographers in my family that my bothering to take photos often seems pretty pointless - but here's a bit about our trip up to SLC from December 28-Jan 1. I'm sure there are great photos of the temple, the snow fun and a bunch of other good stuff on Aja and Jo's blog, Shawni's, Saydi's, etc. But there are some good photos in here of New Years Eve on anyway.

We got to SLC on the night of the 28th and went to an early morning temple session on the 29th, then went out for a fancy brunch at Grand America. The big highlight of the time in SLC for me was being there in the temple with my husband, parents, grandma and every one of my siblings plus one sister-in-law. Piece of Heaven right there. There's nothing like having the people you hold most dear surrounding you in the temple. And it was great to randomly see a great older lady who had lived in the same apartment as me when we were both missionaries in Bulgaria (Sister Williams) and the wife of the violin teacher I had all through high school. Small small world. Then that evening we had our big family party and gift exchange at my parents' new house by Park City. The house has had issues - but some day it will be done! It was done enough though to really enjoy some time up there and it's got great space to feed and entertain a big crowd.

The next day, the 30th, was Charity's farewell talk at church as she prepares to go on her mission to London in a couple weeks. The chapel was packed with tons of family members and many of Charity's friends from Jerusalem study abroad, Wellesley, BYU, etc. That girl's got quite a following. She gave a really wonderful talk - so eloquently presented with total poise and passion - all about the necessity of sacrifice and how that strengthens your foundation of faith - plus a lot more but that's one of the main messages that struck me. We had a jam-packed luncheon-open house at my parents' house afterwards and the kids ate about 10 desserts each and were in Heaven while my sisters and I scrambled to make more sandwiches and find other stuff to put out as the huge piles of food quickly disappeared. It was snowing like crazy all night the night before and all day that day but the people still showed up in droves. When things were wrapped up, Jared and I took the kids off to Aaron and Michelle's and had a great time chatting with them while the kids had a great time with each other. Thanks to Aaron and Michelle's new Cold Stone store, we celebrated Jared's birthday early with ice cream cake.
Monday was Jared's birthday and I sent him off snow boarding with his brother Aaron - his favorite activity. Apparently the fresh snow made for an incredible day of skiing despite some pretty cold temperatures. The rest of us went up to Mom and Dad's new house to enjoy the new snow (and get stuck in it with our non-snow-worthy vehicles). The kids had so much fun but I must say I was pretty worn out by all the finding and packing and unpacking and dressing and undressing and drying and finding again of all the various snow gear as we moved from house to house! We finished the day with our traditional big New Year's party at the Carver's house - for the last time. They just sold that amazing huge palace of a house. So we'll have to find a new location next year. ALL our kids stayed up to welcome in the new year - I thought for sure they'd fall asleep in front of a video after swimming and playing like crazy. But there we were at midnight with all of them! It was really fun catching up with all my cousins and family and playing games and eating way too much great food. We threw in a little candles on the cake and singing for Jared but really he didn't get very "celebrated" this year, I'm afraid.

Playing games, eating, chatting, watching football at the Carvers' house.

Silas in Heaven - all the food you can eat and no adults interfering too much!

Me and the birthday boy, the love of my life. Here's to 2008!

New Years Day we headed home after a big old family meeting about the complications and confusion and hurt feelings involved in figuring out when, where and if we can all get together as our family expands and our places to sleep do not. It was very crowded and rather chaotic at my parents old SLC house and great and big but nowhere to sleep at my parents unfinished new house and going back and forth between the two with a huge crowd proved to be somewhat complicated especially with all the snow. But we got things worked out and long live the need for Eyres to be together! We'll always work something out - but I've always pictured the future of getting together with my family sort of like how it currently is with Jared's family - a LOT of people crammed into a LITTLE space with very little comfort or privacy but lots of good times and great memories - sort of like camping - and it really only needs to last for 28 hours or so that we're really all together - some people can come early, some can stay late, but EVERYONE doesn't have to be all together all that long. It's good to talk about the future though and get things out on the table. One big new thing was that my Dad committed to building a bunkhouse at Bear Lake one of these days and getting our input on it so that it can be designed for the future of the family. That would be great. Some day, some day.

It was great to get back home - but the fun didn't end. On the 2nd, friends from my mission (Kelly, Matt and kids) showed up for a nice visit and some talk of collaboration on CareerMothers down the road. Then Shawni and kids along with Josh showed up and stayed with us overnight to celebrate Ashton's birthday and break up the trip back to Phoenix. That evening, Jared's sister Kathryn's kids Will and Claire joined the party - they were on their way to Houston for Claire to finish up at Rice University and stayed the night - great to catch up with them - we used to see them all the time when we lived in the Bay Area and we miss them now! We started off Ashton's birthday on the 3rd with a grand birthday breakfast of Ashton's favorite breakfast burritos and said goodbye to Will and Claire who had to get on the road. Max and Elle gave Ashton a book and some advice on what he needs to do once he's baptized.Then I took Ashton, Max, Elle, Gracie, Ike and Ana to school - Ashton just HAD to be at school and bring his cousins because Heaven was smiling on him and made his birthday "Engineering Day" at Dixie Downs Elementary. The kids spent the morning learning about volcanoes and bubbles and prisms and got to use a robotic arm and do lots of other cool stuff. USU had sent down all these cool materials and instructions for every teacher to put on a different experiement or project in his or her room and they rotated throughout the school doing so many interesting and fun things.
Josh and I helped out with stuff at the school while Shawni graciously watched the twins and Liza - then I picked the kids up for lunch at Bajio and then Shawni and family had to take off. At this point, Ashton's birthday was already wearing me pretty thin - and we were just getting started!!!

That evening we did a little family party with candles in a huge cookie for Ashton to blow out.
Then Jared and I took Ashton out for a special dinner at a nice restaurant (while Jo watched the little kids - thanks!) and talked about how proud we are of him and how now that he's eigth he'll be getting a lot of new priviledges and responsiblities - helping out more with the twins (he'll trade off each month being in charge of helping one of them get dressed, do little jobs, eat their meals, etc.), getting a chance to earn more money and being responsible for buying more things, staying up later at night, getting some input on family decisions, etc. He was really serious and excited about it all and he's been really great for the most part - stepping up quite a bit since then. Wow, we may actually start to have an ally with all these little kids! We capped of the evening by having the "big talk" with Ashton - the whole birds and bees things. It really worked out well - he had good questions and seemed to really understand. We used mom and dad's book "How to Talk to your Child about Sex" and that helped a lot. So great to talk with this great kid who's innocent enough to get the whole thing in a pure way and see it for what it is - a beautiful thing to be shared between two people who really love each other that can have the result of producing a miracle - or "the best invention ever" in Ashton's terms - a baby.

More later! Lost this and rewrote half of it. Great great great. Time to go take care of all my little "kitties" - the twins just love pretending to be cats and they're getting a bit screechy!

Christmas Day

What a great Christmas we had! The kids told us repeatedly that this was the "best Christmas ever" and I have to agree with them. We didn't go anywhere (except Jared and Ashton who had to do a quick and freezing trial of Ashton's new mountain bike) or even bother getting dressed (except Eliza who HAD to delightedly put on her new clothes) and spent the entire day opening presents, playing with each new toy or game after opening it, eating great food (I did the traditional Eggs Benedict brunch and Jared did a fabulous turkey dinner), and just enjoying being together. By the end of the day, the house was trashed with wrapping paper and toy parts, we were stuffed with oranges and chocolates and tasty meals, and we were all as happy as can be. Here's a quick look at the main events of the day.

We woke up (at 7:30am - we told the kids to PLEASE wait until then to wake us up!) to the big kids sitting on the stairs with their stockings singing "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" to wake us up - not exactly charming but effective in waking us up! We opened their stockings on the stairs (Santa puts them on their doorknobs or bedknobs like he does in England and we do those before all that little stuff gets lost in the excitement of the bigger stuff).
Then Jared and I checked the living room. Santa sets out presents unwrapped like this: Here are the kids with their presents from Santa - Santa just gives one present each and that combined with a present from each set of grandparents, a present from a cousin (they draw names) and a few unexciting presents of needed clothing from me and Jared makes for a pretty good haul for each kid and enough time to really enjoy each new thing. Ashton's new mountain bike - Jared said he was amazingly good on their first ride together - hitting the steep hills and jumps with no qualms - sort of glad I wasn't there to see it and worry!

Eliza with her beloved new doll house - "It's even PINK!"

Isaac with his "surprise present that has to do with magnets" as requested from Santa - really fun magnetic building sets.

All the boys with the twins' new train set - huge hit - really fun set.

After Santa gifts, we had our eggs benedict brunch.

Then opened some more presents - here they are with some favorites.

Eliza loved her sparkly heart shirt from Grandma!The twins were SO excited to open each present and had a very hard time NOT opening presents that weren't for them. It was "love at first sight" for Eliza when she saw her new stuffed horse who she imediately named Benny. This girl is so fun to give presents to because she's so delighted about everything - "this is just what I always wanted!" "I LOVE this!" "Thank you so much!"Silas was SO excited about his new farm set from his cousin Portia. They can never get enough of tractors and farm equipment.

Oliver got a much-coveted set of Bob the Builder toys from his cousin Logan - perfect gifts with lots of different pieces so the twins could play together. When they opened this set it was like they'd found their dearest long-lost friends.The remote-control dump truck and bulldozer were huge hits with the boys. Only issue was getting them out of the packaging. Anyone know who came up with toy packaging that requires a screwdriver, some industrial-strength scissors and about 1/2 hour of time to open? SO many gifts required this.

One of the very best parts of the day was seeing the kids give each other the presents they'd bought with their hard-earned money for each other from the dollar store. I loved seeing the eyes of both giver and receiver sparkle with joy.


What a day! I LOVED just hanging out with my great family and really taking the time to play with my kids. And the kids - especially the twins- were so fabulously good with so many great new toys to keep them busy. I don't think the twins' train set got turned off for DAYS as everyone in the family (including me and Jared) had fun playing with it. It really was a wonderful day and the kids were so grateful and cute - for the most part. A great thing was that we didn't have to pack up and go anywhere until the 28th so we had a great time just hanging out together and playing with our stuff all day on the 26th and 27th as well. We'd like to make more Christmases mellow and pleasant like this one! Merry Christmas!