Way Back When-sday: Matching Outfits

This blast from the past comes from the year 1975, when I was just one year old. My mom fashioned these snazzy matching rompers for me and my two older sisters. My blonde-haired sister was 4, and the oldest was 9. My brother, who was 7 at the time, was no doubt inside the house assembling a short-wave radio out of spare vacuum cleaner parts.

There are several things to note about these rompers. First is the fabulous geometric-patterned fabric. Rectangles, my favorite shape! I'm pretty sure the material was a nice thick polyester to boot. Mmm, I bet it was smooth as butter against our skin. And the colors. Is there even a word for that retina-burning bright-pink color? I'm guessing you'd be hard-pressed to find any replicate of this fabric these days. To quote Phoebe from Friends: "My eyes! My eyes!"

I'm pretty sure my younger sister was up in heaven thanking her lucky stars that she didn't have to be the fourth member of this matched set quite yet.

On another note, I am in love with my sister Angela's haircut and especially her chipmunk cheeks. Those cheeks are famous in our family, and that hair combined with those cheeks reminds me of my Benny. Which can't be a bad thing.

Utah Trip Part 1: Temple Square

We spent a week in Utah for the 4th of July (I know this post is way overdue, leave me alone). The main purpose of the trip was to visit the greatest missionaries on earth, my parents. They are serving at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City for 18 months. They basically assist people in doing their family history every day. This is the largest library of its kind in the world, with millions of records from all over the world. Here are the faithful missionaries, accompanied by some really cute kids, in front of the building they work at every day.

Ben got pretty far on his own family history. Mama: Cynthia. Dada: Ewik. The End.

My parents' apartment is within walking distance of Temple Square, so we went there every day we were with them. There is so much to see at Temple Square. We took the tour of the Conference Center, the famous Tabernacle, and the Visitor's Center. The best part of the Visitor's Center is walking up the winding staircase and seeing the huge statue of Christ extending His hands to everyone.

As we were listening to the short recorded message of the Jesus Christ's words from the scriptures, Olivia leaned over and whispered "Mom, why is Jesus in space?"

Erik, Olivia, and I had the unique opportunity of attending the live recording of the weekly "Music and the Spoken Word" broadcast. The world-famous Tabernacle Choir performed several patriotic songs, as it was July 4th. You have to be at least 8 years old to go, so my parents watched the boys so Erik and I could take Liv. It was very cool.

Here they are, live and in the flesh. They are such a powerful choir, and the orchestra was amazing. It was fun to see Mack Wilberg directing them. He used to be at BYU, and I sang under his direction a couple of times. He is amazing and very, very talented.

My favorite Mo Tab sotry is from when we lived in Cleveland, Ohio. A few co-workers somehow got on the topic of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. One guy commented "Oh, I never realized they were Mormon." A lady we worked with chided "Are you kidding me? You mean, if they were called the Chinese Tabernacle Choir, you wouldn't think they were Chinese?!" Four words: Hi. Lar. I. Ous.

There are several bronze statues scattered around Temple Square. This one was entitled Relief Society (or something of the like). I had to get a picture by it since I'm, like, Little Miss Relief Society now. I'm amazed we got a picture where all of my kids are looking at the camera and smiling. A small miracle for sure.

OK, more pics soon to come...

Baptism Book

I made a little gift scrapbook for the grandparents with some of the pictures my friend Julie took. It's really simple, but I figured I would document it so when I finally get around to making one for myself I won't have to rethink the whole thing. When it comes to scrapbooking and crafts I am all about re-using ideas of my own or, more often, others.

Front of the album: First page. I just bought several coordinating papers and made it up from there. I did this page last, and just used scraps from the other pages I did.

I chose six of my favorite prints, and matched it with a word from each letter of her name.

Last page, with a scripture on baptism, is made from more scraps.

And that's it! Simple and sweet. Once I had the papers and chipboard letter, the rest went really quick. A great, easy gift idea!

Summertime, Summertime, Sum Sum Summertime

I am so very behind in blogging. I feel like I say that every time I post. Anyway, we are having a fun summer, here are a few of the things we've done.

Caleb did a one-week basketball camp. He loved it! He is earning himself a basketball hoop this summer by doing 75 jobs.


I made a homemade lemon cheesecake for Father's Day! Erik is such a great dad, the kids all love him best and I can't even feel bad about it because he totally surpasses me as far as parenting goes. He is always willing to play with the kids and makes up fun games for them to play. Their favorites are Rocketship and Secret Agents.

The kids have been begging for months to have a lemonade stand, so I finally relented.

Even though we live at the end of a cul-de-sac, they got some good business and ended up earning $7! Not bad! Now they want to have one every day, but I tried to explain to them that they don't want to wear out their clientele.

I took the big kids to a small local water park, which they loved. They are at the perfect age for this. Erik was home with Ben, who was taking a nap. I'll admit, it was much easier not having a 2-year-old to chase. That kid is crazy around water.

Finally tall enough for the water slides!

Popsicles are one of the best parts of summer. That and ice cream.

I still need to post about Calel's birthday and our trip to Utah, but at least this gives a few quick updates. Hope you're all having a great summer!

Caleb and Basketball and Cousin David

Caleb has really gotten into basketball lately. A neighbor down the street has a hoop that they just leave out in their driveway and let anyone who wants to, use it. Caleb asks daily to go play basketball. Since it's far enough away that he needs an adult with him, I don't always give in. But, I have had fun playing "horse" with him and watching him make all kinds of crazy shots. He's getting pretty good!

The other day Caleb was telling us about his day at school. He said "At recess, we played basketball, and my team won because I bringed it on." Love that kid!

Cousin David and his new wife Britta surprised us by stopping by our house last Sunday afternoon. They were driving through California on their honeymoon and happened to be passing right through our town. It was so great to see them and feed them some dinner. They are both great people. They played with the kids in the backyard for awhile.

And Caleb had fun making a few shots with David in our makeshift hoop (laundry basket) in the backyard. It is always great to see family.

I have a feeling this is just the beginning of Caleb's passion for basketball. If he is anything like his dad, he will get really good at this sport, and have playing for many years to come.

BL Results

OK, I made it to the end of our Biggest Loser competition. As you may recall, I started off strong the first few weeks. I slacked off in the middle there, but was able to pull it together for the last little bit. All in all, I ended up losing 20 pounds!

(Note: this is not a picture of me, just in case you were wondering)

I am very proud of myself and feel really good. The final weigh-in was a couple of weeks ago. Right afterwards we went out of town for the weekend, during which time I ate a ton and exercised none. Three days later I had gained back 2.5 lbs. Oops!

Since the final weigh-in I did take some time off of exercise, and have been very lenient with my food intake (vegetables? Huh? What are those?). However, I have also been getting big headaches, not sleeping well, and feeling lethargic. Thus, I have concluded that even when I'm not trying to lose weight, I suppose I should eat semi-healthy and exercise regularly just so I feel better on a daily basis. I guess my elementary school teachers knew what they were talking about when they told me this 25 years ago. So I'm a little slow on the uptake. I'll get there eventually.

So I didn't win any money (a couple of the ladies totally kicked it, losing 30+ lbs!), but I feel good and got to buy myself some new pants. They're not even tight yet, so that's a plus. I've still got a few pounds I'd like to lose, but overall I'm feeling great and will try not to gain it all back within the next month. Wish me luck!

David and Britta, Happily Ever After

We went up to Oakland for Erik's nephew David's wedding to his sweetie Britta. It was the first grandchild to be married on Erik's side. The oldest grandchild on my side is 14, so hopefully we'll have a few years before the kids on my side start getting hitched.

It was so wonderful to be there--in the same temple Erik and I were sealed in--and see these two great people be sealed together for time and all eternity. They looked snappy all dressed in white, wouldn't you agree?

Here's our little family. The flowers were so beautiful all in bloom. I'm happy that mroe than half of us are smiling. You take what you can get when it comes to pictures involving children.

Have I mentioned Erik comes from a very tall family? All of his siblings were able to make it out for the wedding. They aren't all together very often, so photographic evidence had to be taken. I love how Erik seems like a pretty tall guy in person (he's 6'3"), but looks like kind of a shrimp when he's around the rest of his family. The girl in the blue shirt is obviously an in-law. She is way too short to be blood-related. Sorry Rebecca but it's true.

This was at the luncheon following the sealing. An assortment of aunts and sisters and cousins. Beautiful gals, don'tcha think? I love feeling short! And I love these ladies! :) I wanted to get a picture of my kids in front of the temple. Ben was clearly not having it. I call this next one "Roses Bloom Beneath our Feet" (phrase borrowed from the hymn "Love at Home"). It evokes a certain serenity, wouldn't you say?

The reception was beautiful, and since we left the kids with my brother's family, we were actually able to talk and mingle with everyone. Me and Erik with the bride and groom.

Did I mention she is 6'1" and he is 7'3"? Yes, they are going to have crazy tall children.

Here are all 6 of David's sisters. Aren't they gorgeous? Julie (Erik's sister) made all but one of these dresses. She is so talented. And has very impressive time management skills. I mean, the woman has 9 kids! And yet she made these dresses from scratch. Extraordinary.

David's older sister Marie is not yet married, but she wasn't feeling sad about it. Here she is with her boy Ryan. They are adorable together. I took more pictures of them than I did of the bride and groom.

David and Britta's first dance. They were so sweet and in love. What a cute couple. They are seriously both great people, and will be such a strong, righteous family. They are off to a good start!

The sweetest shot of the day: Britta is welcomed into the family by her newest sister Camille (age 3).

Congratulations, David and Britta!!! We love you!!

Zoo

We took the kids to the zoo over spring break. It was so much fun. They are all at the age where they love to see the animals, and the weather was perfect. Here are my three little monkeys.

I figured I'd include a picture of where Ben spends a good deal of his life. No wonder he didn't learn to walk until he was, like, super old. He's always strapped in.

The girls. It has never been more apparent to me that I should wear lipstick on a regular basis and not just on Sundays. Hm. Oh well.

The boys and the flamingos. I realized I got very few pictures of the animals this time. Mostly just people. Really cute people, but still, hardly any animals. A lot of the animals were sleeping or hiding out as far away as possible from the people.

Kettle corn was definitely a highlight. Caleb especially loved it so much. We went through that huge bag in like an hour, it was crazy.

I love it when Olivia feels maternal and wants to carry Ben around. Pretty impressive, considering the fact that he weighs more than half her body weight.

I love these kids! I especially love it when they are all getting along. :)

Overnight Getaway

For my birthday this year, Erik and I did the unthinkable: we got away from the kids overnight!
If you know us, you know that this is a huge deal. Ever since Ben was born, it has been hard for me to leave him. But, they are all old enough now and we decided that one night away was fully deserved! We called our favorite babysitter, who is leaving on her mission in a few weeks (sad for us, exciting for her), and she happily agreed to come stay with the kids while we were gone.

We went here: It was gorgeous and relaxing and quiet and I wish we could have stayed longer. Next time. :)

Here is our room. Very fancy. They even had robes for each of us. It was a great, quick (less than 24 hours) trip. We went out to eat, played cards, went on a bike ride (the pics are on Erik's phone, I'll try to get one uploaded), and enjoyed some uninterrupted conversation. I even got a massage at the spa. It was wonderful.

Our little balcony looked out over the golf course.


Next time we will have to stay longer and enjoy the swimming pools, driving range, tennis court, and more of their delicious restaurants. It was so relaxing and nice. We seriously need to do that more often. The kids were totally fine, didn't cry, and honestly didn't really seem to care when we came back. I guess it's the irony of parenthood that you worry that you need to rush home to get back to them, then realize you needn't have worried. They were just fine.

Olivia's Baptism

OK, I am so very behind on blogging. Needless to say, my life has gotten busy! It has been a long time, but I am determined to take a few minutes and catch up at bit.

First and foremost, my sweet Olivia turned eight years old and got baptized! She is such a special girl and we love her so much. My friend Julie, who is a fantastic photographer, took these pictures of her in her white dress. I think they turned out beautifully.

Olivia's baptism was so nice. Erik's mom and sister came out from Utah, and a different sister and her family came up for the baptism. One of my sisters also brought her family. It was so nice to have loved ones here to share in such a wonderful occasion. p.s. I'm wearing my giraffe dress in this picture. :o)

Olivia and one of her Primary classmates got baptized together, so we were in charge of half of the program. One of Olivia's cousins gave a talk, Grandma gave a prayer, a cousin and aunt did the music, and Olivia, Caleb, and their cousins sang one of Uncle Matt's songs about the Holy Ghost. Don't these girls look sweet in their white dresses?

I just sat there during the service and enjoyed the peace and felt the Spirit. There were many details to worry about with the dinner afterwards, keeping the younger kids revernent, etc., but I really tried to soak it all in and experience this wonderful and important milestone in my little girl's life.

Erik did a great job baptizing and confirming her. She loves her daddy so much, and it was special to see the two of them dressed in white together.

Olivia adds so much to our family. She is super smart, especially in math, and has the neatest handwriting of any kid I know. She is a perfectionist, so it's a good thing she does so many things well. She has a beautiful singing voice, an infectious laugh, and a desire to understand and follow the commandments. She is inquisitive, fun, nurturing, and super speedy--she can run a mile in 7 and a half minutes! Olivia is a wonderful girl and we love her very much.