Unscripted birthday fun!

We celebrated Ben's 16th birthday last night. I wanted to do a little something I haven't done before and I got him four helium balloons. Well, I am glad I made them wait until I had downloaded movies so I had extra disc space. I almost didn't film and would have missed this spontaneous bit of fun. The fam will enjoy. I didn't know how to edit out the 30 sec at beginning and end to polish it up a bit but will be amazed at myself if I actually accomplish uploading it!

http://www.motionbox.com/videos/309bdfb01610e3c6be

OK two days later and a steep learning curve re: AVCHD video and applications needed to upload large HD files like this and wallah you should be able to see this on motionbox. Sometime I will figure out how to embed the vid directly. Until then,ENJOY!

Vegas vacation

We had a wonderful time in Vegas this past weekend! Tim and I had a nice get away retreat for Valentines Day. We shared a fabulous tapas meal and a couples massage. We hiked and saw the Hoover dam and the strip, of course. We saw a couple shows and the kids got to do some disco bowling with their cousins. Kailer(2 1/2 yr) and Meili (5 mos) were the highlight of our trip!

Here is a scrapblog we made for fam and anyone else interested.

http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=1493595

Birds and Bees

Well, I hit THAT milestone with the youngest this weekend. He was shown a video on puberty on Friday in 4th grade. Lots of questions erupted, his brain was a movin' all weekend long! "When will this happen to me? How many sperm will I have? What does it look like when it comes out of me and when will it? So did you and Dad just have S-E-X three times? (I was ready for that one because I've done this before!) What is the purpose/reason for pubic hair? When will I get hair on my chest? When is puberty done? What do sperm look like? How quickly do they regenerate? What causes them to die? What age did Dad start puberty, because the video said that is when I will too? Have humans ever had S-E-X with animals?(my eyeballs just about popped out of their sockets on that one!) What are hormones and how do they work? Yes this was only a few of the questions and many were asked multiple times as he was trying to grasp it all and luckily his Dad got home toward the end of the 2 hour inquisition and he could answer some of the more technical ones. Why do girls have all the eggs when born but boys don't make sperm until puberty? How many will I have and how many will come out at a time and what happens when they are malformed?" He does approach life with a scientific outlook so I should have been prepared for the deluge but alas I was a bit overwhelmed with the intensity.

ANYWAY, that's what my weekend was about! And other than that late night intersection I haven't been able to reconnect with Tim as he is working solid until we leave for Valentine wknd(no that's not too much info, I didn't mean THAT!) Looking forward to this weekend!!!!!!!!

My neighbors live in Africa during the school year. The house across the street is empty for now but in the summer they come back and I love to hear about how my neighbor lives over there. She told me about how she goes to the market each day. That's how I like to plan for dinner more often than not. But it is just not the same going in to a grocery store or Let's Dish store. I want to peruse the outdoor market looking for what I feel like eating that day. Doesn't this picture look warm and colorful and yummy? She talks about the bartering she does as well and that part I would not be good at yet. But I sure would like to give it a try sometime. We often think about going to Australia and working in the outback sometime when our older kids are gone. I wonder if we will make that a reality. I could really see us doing it. At least for 6 months or so, which are the advertized job positions currently that Tim sees available.

Couldn't wait, had to take it NOW

Well I couldn't wait any longer so I just prepared the kids Friday evening and declared January 31st as a Mother's Day. And I have to say it was wonderful and a great thank you for making it a happy Holidays for them and all the busy sign up times for summer stuff that all has to be done in January. I hate planning that far ahead and really hate planning at all but I was on top of things this year and so I deserved a big thank you day. And they obliged, the sweet things! The 9 yr old started the day by giving me a chocolate heart from the bowl of my own supply which was wonderful, thought that counts. Then they each proceeded to clean up around the house and I got to have some free time, which is normally unheard of for me on Saturday. I read my BYU magazine on the couch in the sunlight for a half hour and I got to play some more on creating a card I have been working on for my card club. (Allison, tell the girls I think the theme should be "go green"! My new favorite designer-fabric and paper- is Heather Bailey. Check her out on-line and her blog is fun too.) Then I got sick, oh well, it was good while it lasted and I feel better today. Stupid cold viruses, hate em.

I'm a nut or an Almond Joy!

I just got new music yesterday at my flute lesson. I am trying some Claude Bolling flute and jazz piano pieces. I didn't really think I would like Jazz but turns out I do! I am going to play Irlandaise for my spring recital. Here is James Galway playing it on utube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsjCby54uSM

He rocks! By the way, I loved seeing Yo-Yo Ma play at the Inauguration. Lovely talent! So after practicing for the last 90 minutes(sweet escape) I must get back to reality. Kids and food:)

Reconnecting

Yay I'm back! I walked in Starbucks tonight at my local Target and the young ladies getting my hot chocolate were so happy to see me. Don't know them at all personally but it was good to be out and about without running so fast to avoid freezing and get back in warm car/house. It was good to see them too. And the same holds true for my blogging world--I've missed you all! While I was away I was reconnecting with the teens. They really do get further away as they get older. The Holidays were a nice time to reconnect.

This is how I perceive myself:

And here is some of what we did together. I love that my kids still WANT and are WILLING to hang out together.

First time for me taking a picture of myself!

I'm not sure where to look! But Lauren is a natural!
(All that cell-phone practice)