My Derek



 Derek had his birthday on Saturday.  I love him.  He is a great husband, dad, son, brother, friend, etc., etc.  I always say that he is a bit like Mary Poppins -- "practically perfect in every way".  He disagrees.  I am right.  A good share of the good things that I do, that I get credit for, are Derek's idea.  He is very thoughtful and compassionate.  He is good at helping us all smile.  He works hard.  He plays hard.  He is a good man and I am thankful for him.

Derek had a busy birthday.  We spent a lot of the morning with family attending and celebrating our nephew Ethan's baptism.  Next we went home and sent off a picture message to our niece Maryn who was being baptized in the afternoon.  The puppets participated by being in the picture.  Derek returned Trisa and Tia's several calls and text messages that we had missed while we were out.  He put them on speaker phone while he unwrapped his presents.  I'm sure it was a thrill to hear the wrapping paper crinkle over the phone line -- but it was the closest we could come to having them here--which would have been our favorite. 

The pictures show our next adventure.

Derek, Dan, Kayli, Jake, and Connor at the beginning of the trail to the pine forest.

Dan Jake and Derek in the "fort" up in the woods.

Dan

I think Jake and I were still saying whatever long thing Derek told us to say before he snapped the picture.

When we got home I accidentally made about three cakes worth of frosting for a few cookies.  This is Derek right before he blew out his large candle.  Hopefully he'll get his wish.  That was a ginger cookie with cream cheese frosting.



Mmmmmm.

Next we did a little yard work for Derek's birthday, ate some food from Wendy's, and watched a movie.  All in all I think it was a good day for a good man.

Happy Birthday to my Derek.

Jake's First Cub Scout Campout

Bat Jake is in the back on the left.

They had tin foil dinners.  Jake had tin foil pizza tortillas.  He really doesn't love meat and potatoes.

Jake and Derek are standing in the middle -- at the back.

Jake was really nervous about this campout, even with his Dad going, but he had a great time!

The Wishing Plant

A couple of weeks ago Dan came in and told me that he had "wished on a wishing plant" that he would be able to go faster on his bike, and it worked!  So then, he excitedly told me, he wished that he could be grown up in two days.  I was not so excited about that wish and I said, "But I don't want you to be all grown up in two days!"  He then tried to console me by saying, "I don't know if it will work.  It is magic, so I don't know."  Thankfully he is still not grown up.

I wasn't sure which plant in our yard was the "wishing plant" and so I asked him.  He said, "You know, that white one that is out there".  Hmm.  It wasn't until I was outside so that he could show me, and he started looking around, that I clued in that "the white one" is a dandelion gone to seed -- of course!. 

A few days later he came and told me that he had wished on the wishing plant that he could ride his bike better, and it had worked!  He said that Jake had wished that he would be the best soccer player ever.  Jake was there and so I glanced at Jake.  He gave me the "Jake look" (Which is one eyebrow raised and an amused look on his face).  He shrugged his shoulders and said "Well, I do like soccer!"

Kayli Goes to Prom. . . . .

. . . . but before that Kayli, Dan and I went dress shopping.  The other girls are off at college, and the other boys and Derek were with scouts.  Who knew that Dan would love helping Kayli look for a dress?  He really liked that three way mirror in the dressing room so that he could see himself looking awesome, he liked picking dresses for Kayli to try, and he loved riding the escalators (which is how we got him to go without complaining in the first place).  He also got a Wendy's hamburger out of it and so dress shopping was a good thing for Dan.  He was a bit disappointed that she didn't pick the one he liked the best, but he didn't cry over it.  We went to one store and got one very nice dress.

When Prom day came Kayli went and got her hair cut in the morning, and then later her YW president kindly did her hair for the dance since Tia was not available and I do NOT do hair.  Here are some pictures of Kayli looking gorgeous.

Kayli.  I forgot to tell her not to hold on to her dress.  It was a little long and so she didn't want to step on it.  She's holding on to it in all of the pictures I took.  Oops.  It's still pretty.

The back of Kayli's hair and dress for you to admire.

I made Kayli pretend to put on the boutineer.  I really put it on -- which is funny because my Mom put on Derek's for our reception since I didn't know how!  I watched a video on how to do it -- and Kayli's date Ryan had instructions for me too.  Besides, I've done a couple for Tia and Kayli's dates before.

Ryan and Kayli.  They are friends.  He is in our ward and Connor said he's never seen him looking more nervous than he did when he came to get Kayli!

Kayli pointed out my flash hadn't been going off, which was causing blurry pictures.  Here is a clear one.

The last one before they left.

Ryan and Kayli went with a pretty big group and had a good time.  Kayli's dress ripped when she was getting in the truck, but it was just a seam coming loose and was easily fixed before church today.  Dances and dates make Kayli really nervous, but she said that she did have a really good time.  Derek and I even propped our eyes open until she was back (at around 11:30) and got to hear about it and get hugs from Kayli before bed.

Uncle Quinn

Uncle Quinn with some of his children and some of mine.

I "met" Quinn for the first time through letters while he was on his mission.  He didn't get home until I was officially his sister-in-law.  I have had a few years since then to get to know him in person, even though, once he got married, they became the travelling family for a while, living in a few different states before coming back to Utah (Hooray!).

Quinn and his wife Tonya have five children and I write about visiting them quite a bit since they are always graciously hosting us at their home.  I suspect we invade their home, eat their food, and enjoy their hospitality more often than any other family.  This is nice for us, and I have written about it before.  My kids still talk about the family home evening we had while visiting when we had a marshmallow battle using marshmallow guns.  Some of us laughed so much we had a hard time "shooting" those guns without inhaling the marshmallows!

Quinn is an occupational therapist who is good at caring for people.  He does a good job of listening.  He listens to neighbors, friends, family members, and the people he works with.  This is, I suspect, one of the reasons that Dan follows him around talking whenever he's here or we're there.  Quinn is also patient when Dan tackles him or otherwise does kind of pesky things. Connor describes Quinn as "fun", and all of my kids love him. 

Quinn has a notorious sweet tooth, which I think he has been trying to curb.  There are lots of family legends about Quinn eating all of his Easter or Christmas candy in one sitting, and then not feeling too well later.  Fortunately he enjoys being active too and so the candy hasn't killed him off.  He likes sports, and hiking, and he's done lots of scouting activities before -- both while earning his Eagle, and while being a scout leader.

There are lots of good talents and qualities that Quinn has, and I'm sure I don't know them all.  He does have a gift of making people feel like they are important to him.  He has a good sense of humor, he is compassionate, he is thoughtful, and he has a good sense of adventure.  He loves his family, and works hard to take care of them, and his extended family too.  As of yesterday he is my age (for a few months).  If only I could remember how old that is........I have conveniently forgotten.

Happy Birthday Quinn! 

Spring Break Part Last

Day four we got up and swam, pretending it was warm.  The pool was heated, the hot tub was nice, and we had a good time.  Next we drove to the Valley of Fire.  You drive and drive and then, all of a sudden, there are fabulous red rocks to climb on.  We didn't really see even close to all there was to see, but we were ready to head back to the cousin's house.  Dan opted to start out sleeping on the mattress this time.  We all enjoyed that visit, and we made it home safely the next day.

This is a picture of what Derek did a lot of during our trip.

Tia with some petroglyphs

Dan

Jake, Kayli, and Connor

Jake, the back of Dan, and Derek

Derek and me

Dan, Kayli, Tia, Connor, Me (Sherie)

Spring Break Part 2

Day 3 (Wednesday):  We climbed around Red Rock Canyon until the weather got to be rainy instead of just really windy and not very warm.  We drove around after that, had lunch in the car, and drove off to Vegas where we saw the Bellagio's fountain show and saw their pretty flowers.  Then Derek humored me and found the house I lived in until I was 8 and the elementary school I went to until halfway through third grade.  I even got a glimpse of our old church!  We went back to the hotel, swam, ate, watched Psych, and drove to the Las Vegas Temple.  That was one busy day.  Perhaps I wasn't as un-grouchy as I should have been the whole day, but I did enjoy a lot of it!

Another day another Hawaiian shirt!



Dan is always ready with a dramatic pose.



Connor and Me on a ledge

Climbing was a great favorite with the boys, who loved the little caves.

Jake did not seem as afraid of heights as usual.  He had a great time.

This was the view at lunchtime.

We stopped by the visitors center.  Dan has a happy smile.

Us at the Bellagio.  Kayli says she is not looking because Derek said everyone's name but hers so she was sure he didn't want her to look.  Silly Kayli.

Kayli, Tia, Me (with Dan), Connor, and Jake

This shows a little of how tragic Jake and Dan were about not being back at the hotel yet.

Tia by the flower picture.

I'll finish up tomorrow -- I hope. 

Spring Break

Day 1:  We eventually pack up and drive to Cedar City to say hello to Trisa and drop off some of Tia's stuff.  Then we head to "the cousins" in St. George.  There we picnic, pay semi-attention to the concert at the park, and then head back for sleep.  Dan insists that he is sleeping on the ottoman (Not too wide and not as long as Dan).  We all try to tell him he'll fall off, and Uncle Quinn strategically places a mattress on one side hoping he will fall that direction.  At 2:30 a.m. I can witness that he is still on the ottoman.  Derek, who sleeps poorly no matter where he is says Dan stayed on much longer than that.  By morning though, he has landed on the mattress.  He says (sounding a bit disappointed) "I fell off".

Day 2:  After the cousins are off to school, we desert Aunt Tonya to her busy day and head off to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  The weather is really warm, and really windy, which makes the warm bearable, but occasionally threatens to blow us over.


The windy picnic.  Think sandwiches that are dry before you're done making them.

Lake Mead is beautiful!

The wind whipped up some dirt with the water by the shore.

Dan with "crystal rocks".  He loved Lake Mead!

Hoover Dam spillway (we think) -- it was really amazing.

Jake and Derek.  Derek was meant to be born in Hawaii I think!

Dan, Derek, and Tia

The Hoover Dam is awesome.

Connor kept Dan from blowing away on the windy bridge that crosses above the dam.

This is the bridge we walked across (halfway)

We ended the day with a swim and a soak in the hot tub at our hotel in Henderson.

Writing about more days today would overload you with pictures.  These two days were our warmest weather wise and we did have a really good time.

Tia Arlene

Tia graduated from high school almost a whole year ago.  Since then she has gotten her cosmotology license, gotten contacts, had another birthday (a little over a week ago), gone on a spring break adventure with her family, and moved off to Cedar City to get a job and have fun adventures with Trisa.

When Tia was here I felt like I hardly ever saw her.  Either I was busy and gone or she was hanging out down in her room.  Still, having her gone makes the house seem a lot more empty.  As Dan was smacking while eating a cinnamon roll this evening I suggested that he do his "magic trick", which was Tia's way of teaching him to eat with his mouth closed.

When Dan was telling me super long stories that I couldn't understand, I was missing Tia who was good at talking to Dan when he gets home from school and asking him questions that would have them both laughing.  I can't even think of what she and Dan said to each other, just that it was fun for me to listen to them.

Tia was good at sitting by her Dad in the evening and laughing with him too.  I'm afraid there won't be enough laughing around here without her.  Kayli is sad to be the only girl at home, not counting Mom.  Connor will miss her too.  I'd better come up with a few funny stories to liven up the evenings!

When we were leaving her at her new apartment with Trisa, Jake started crying.  I think he just wanted to go home, but I knew he'd miss her too so I started crying, and then Kayli started crying.  Trisa and Tia laughed.  Tia said something like, "Oh my gosh you guys!  I'm coming home next weekend!"  Which is true.  It was kind of funny really.  Hopefully Trisa didn't feel bad that we didn't cry when we dropped her off.  I have cried when she's gone back to college after a visit before -- mostly because I feel sorry for me that she's not here anymore -- but I know that it is time for them to have adventures without Mom.  Sigh.

Tia is great.  She usually has a good story to share.  She is fun.  She laughs a lot.  She makes us smile.  We are sure she will be creating smiles wherever she goes, which will help us to be happy too.

I love you Tia!

My Biking Boy and a Pretty Girl

This is Kayli, the "pretty girl" from the title.  I may have failed to mention that she got her braces off on March 13.  She was always beautiful, but now she smiles more.  This is her opening her ice cream bucket full of ice, which also contained an invitation to Prom.

Look!  No training wheels!  Of course, he's already flipped over the handle bars once.  Derek said he was going too slow when he hit the edge of the driveway.  Dan maintains that he hit a rock and that did it.  Either way, he was fine.

Dan likes to go outside and practice.  He proudly showed me that he knows how to stop.  That's an important skill.

Tia was practicing braiding on Kayli.  It's too bad Tia will be off living in an apartment with Trisa on prom day, too far away to be helpful!

Pretty hair.

Celebrate Easter Week!

A few years ago I discovered a way to celebrate Easter that I love.  I shared it on my blog and you can read about it here.  The thing that I have liked about this Easter idea of celebrating Easter Week is that it is flexible and it can change to whatever you think will work well for your family.

The first couple of years that we did it we would read a scripture about what was happening on the real Easter week, then we would add something to a table display.  This no longer worked when we didn't have room for that table anymore.  Then we changed it to an Easter picture.  We read the same scriptures, but we did a huge picture on butcher paper.  This year we are changing it again.  I wanted to find things that we could do each day that would hopefully add meaning for the children, or at least help them remember it better.

As I was thinking about it I did a little looking on lds.org and discovered that other people had written about their own Easter week ideas.  So here are some ideas that you can use if you want, or you can come up with your own ideas.  I love celebrating Easter all week.  It helps me think about Jesus more and what He did for me, and when the week is through I feel that I really have celebrated.

The Sunday before Easter is the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  One family would get a donkey pinata and break it open to celebrate.  We are going to go around the table at dinner time (much like we would at Thanksgiving) and say what we are thankful for.  What would we be praising the Lord for if we were welcoming Him into our town or our home?

Monday some people talk about the cleansing of the temple.  We are blessed to live close enough to a temple that we are going to go there and talk about some of the things that Jesus taught.

Tuesday Jesus also taught at the temple, and Luke said that at night he "abode" in the Mount of Olives.  We are going to cook outside on a fire.  Jesus may have eaten in town, or He may have been fasting, but I imagine He had a fire for warmth.  We can talk about what it would be like to teach all day knowing that many would not listen, and then to go not to a house, but out onto the Mount of Olives to sleep.

Wednesday we have always talked about Judas and how he was willing to give up his association with the Creator and Redeemer of the world for 30 pieces of silver.  This is in contrast to a King in the Book of Mormon who was willing to give up his kingdom, all he possessed, and all of his sins to know the Lord.  We will be talking about what sin or bad habit we want to give up.  Perhaps we will bury them like the people of Ammon buried their swords.

Thursday is the day that Jesus atoned for us in Gethsemane.  We will sing a song about Gethsemane and have a special family prayer giving thanks for that incomprehensible gift.

Friday Jesus suffered on the cross, died, and was laid in the sepulchre.  It would have been a dark day.  We thought about going to the cemetery to visit the graves of those that have already passed on, but it is Tia's birthday on Friday and so we are going to have a candlelight dinner.  We'll have to close the blinds to make it even close to dark, but that works for us.

Saturday some people talk about missionary work.  We have talked about it having been the Sabbath, and how His followers would be resting.  This is the day we take a break and celebrate with the Easter bunny. 

Sunday is Easter.  We listen to He is Risen.  We are also going to sing Families Can Be Together Forever and remember that those loved ones that have died will rise again, as will we.  It is also because of Jesus that we can be with those that we love forever.

I love celebrating Easter Week and I hope that you will too.
Happy early Easter!

An Outside Summer

I've been feeling like I need to write something, but nothing overly interesting is going on around here.  I did get to lead the ward choir on Sunday for a performance and two practices.  The choir that sang in the performance was much bigger than the one that showed up early for practice.  They watched me carefully, which made me laugh a bit because some of them probably didn't know that I'd led the song maybe twice before the performance!  The choir sounded good and I made no embarrassing leading faux pas, for which I am thankful.

So, what sounds fun to write about?  Summer of course.  I love to plan Summer -- usually more than I actually like to do the things I plan.  Sad.  So what are my great plans this year?  So far I just have the vague notion that I am going to make myself stay outside at least two hours a day.  Now this number is hilariously small for people like my Dad and Sisters who will probably try to go inside for at least two hours a day.  I just realized that I have become a bit of a wimp.  Cold out?  Stay in by the fire.  Too hot?  Isn't that air conditioning nice?  Possibility of a mosquito bite?  Stay behind a screen.  Might get sore muscles?  Take a nap.  (Okay so I'm not THAT bad).

Other plans?  Well, the calendar is already filling up and so I don't feel a need to plan a lot.  I think I'll try to plan some simple adventures and send out e-mails inviting people.  I'll see how many impromptu, low stress, activities we can pull off -- outside.

I would like to:
Go to the zoo
Hike in Rock Canyon
Ride my bike on the Provo River Trail
Cook outside over a fire.
Look through a telescope (I never did it last year)
Walk in the dark with Derek (imagine me raising my eyebrows up and down)
Play hide and seek outside with the kids -- but I'll have to wear smelly bug spray -- eww!
Have a cabin adventure
Ride my awesome four wheeler with reckless abandon (okay or safely)
Take Dan to the pool (because he has really wanted to go)
Paint a picture outside (I didn't get this crossed off last year).
Go with Derek farther on his favorite hike in Santaquin

There are other things too, like swinging really high.  I also want to sit in the shade and drink lemonade and read a good book in a good outside nook (couldn't resist).  Jake wants to play tennis, which he says is his favorite sport after soccer.  Dan really wants to go to Lagoon.  He loves Lagoon.

What are your favorite things to do outside in the Summer?

Jake Goes Fishing

Jake said he could cast his line really far out into the lake.
This was Jake's first experience with fishing.
I haven't had my first experience with fishing yet.
I'm okay with that.

Jake with his new scout group.  He seems to be enjoying it so far!