September Laughs

Here's the second installment of the funny things our kids said this month (at least the ones we wrote down). The first is here.

6th: Mark poured milk into an upside down mug. Awesome.

15th: Jaxon's snacking on pretzels and Nutella after school and remarks, "I think when I become a dad, I'll teach my kids how to make this."

16th: When discussing something that is brown, Jaxon says, "French is another word for brown. Vegetarians know that."

17th: This is the first time I notice this language from Asher, but it became more prominent all month, showing up nearly every time he was disinclined to participate in anything.

Me: Asher, come eat your dinner!
Asher: NEVER!

19th: We're watching Coraline as a family (please do NOT show this to your children before you watch it first).
Jaxon is in the fetal position, scared and says, "I'm telling you, my knees are getting freaked out!"

19th: Asher interrupts Mark with, "Stop, I'm talking to Thomas (his train)."

25th: Jaxon and Mark go to the Diamondbacks game. When they come home Jaxon tells me, "You should have been there, they moved the roof like MAGIC, and we were on the BIG SCREEN!" (hooray for daddies, little boys, and baseball games)

27th: Jaxon responds politely at breakfast, "Tea would be lovely, Mom. Thanks." Then a few minutes later, "I love you more than life itself." (At this point he can't explain to me what it means, but he saw it on a movie.)

But the best line for this day was when I tried to discourage him from eating an apple. He had the stomach flu the night before and I told him that apples make me sick when I eat them on an upset stomach.

To this advice Jaxon responds, "Apples won't make me sick. That only happens in adults. God told me that before he made me."

28th: I made a new track on the train table (which I do nearly every day three times because Finn gets mad at Asher for something and promptly throws the track all over the room).
Jaxon sees the new track, runs into thank me with this, "Mom, your new track looks FAGNIFICENT!" (This word is now famous in our home, a stellar combination of fantastsic and magnificent. I invite you to use it as often as you like.)

29th: Asher and Finn have been coming out of their room again and again after I put them to bed. So, imagine my surprise to hear Asher tattling on his little brother by saying, "Uh, Honey, Finley's getting out of his bed."

Triple Bunks and Family Fun

So here are the kids asleep in their triple bunks. Aren't they cute?

A few weeks ago we had a nice rainstorm that came in and cooled us down a little bit.

We went out and played in the nice (80+ degree) weather. It made us all giddy.

Finn gave me a kiss, isn't that sweet?./

Happy little Tadpole!

We gave Finn a headstart on our race. He's just a blur, isn't he?

Karate and Discipline

Jaxon's just started karate. Yep, we gave in to the sales pitch and signed him up for a YEAR.

I know it's a long commitment, but he seemed to be doing really well with the teacher. Master Preston (first name Shannon), is a nice man who is good with kids. He focuses on discipline (obeying the first time) and doesn't let Jaxon get away with anything. Because Jaxon is really interested in succeeding, this has been a good approach. We've used this discipline focus at home to help Jaxon realize when he's obeying the first time, and working towards more of that.

Funny story, when Jaxon was a few months old we babysat for Mark's family friend, a professor at BYU. They had six kids and we watched them for the weekend. It was a little stressful for us, what with being new parents and everything (also, I think they paid us $50 or something).

But the craziest part was the militaristic style of parenting these kids were raised with. They would repeat as a group, like the Von Trapps, "WE OBEY THE FIRST TIME, EVERY TIME, ALL THE TIME." It was a little creepy and Mark and I decided that we didn't want our kids to be raised like that.

Well, here we are six years later. My kids are climbing the walls, getting written up at the gym (yep, it's the one-year-old), and pretty much NEVER listening to their parents.

What I wouldn't give for a little bit of the Von Trapp family now . . .

Dancing

Right now, I have bruises on my knee, on the tops of my feet, and on my right hip. And I'm extremely happy about it.

I just got finished teaching my first DANCE CLASS. EVER.

I'm euphoric!

A few months ago I rediscovered my love of dancing. I started taking my ipod to the gym and dancing in the empty group fitness room. I leap, cartwheel, swing, and cha-cha my little heart out. By the time I look up, an hour has passed (That does not happen for me on the treadmill, the eliptical, or even the fitness classes).

So I decided to take my dancing to the next level by finding a class. As luck would have it, Leslie's friend just started attending an adult evening dance class, a co-op actually. All the dancers take turns teaching, so the class is free.

The first class was a nightmare. I felt like I was surrounded by Cougarettes, women who represented thousands of dollars of their parents money invested in their dance training. I don't have any real dance training. I never took ballet, or tap, or jazz, or hip-hop, or anything. I can't do my splits or fancy leaps. But mostly, and this is the biggest problem, I can't remember the combinations and repeat them. I could probably learn a dance fine if I had twice as long to practice as the other girls.

But, each week I kept going, and each week I got a little better and felt a little less stupid. So, after week three I volunteered to teach a latin dance. Ballroom, specifically latin, is the only dance training I have. I took seven ballroom classes at BYU and tried out for the team three times. I never made it, not even on the third practice team. Not my proudest moment.

And yet, I still love it. Latin ballroom is a different kind of dance than what we had been doing in class. Choreographing the dance took me lots of time and practice. It was difficult, and I knew it wasn't as challenging as the other dances had been.

I stressed out for two weeks over this dance. As I fell asleep at night I would review the combinations. There were days that I wanted to call and say I wasn't even going to come. I imagined the worst of everything. But, I kept telling myself that this is something I love, something I've always wanted to do, and even if it was hard, no, especially because it was hard that I was going to do it. I imagined myself confident and happy and it worked! I wore my cute flippy skirt, my black tights, and my ballroom heels.

So, tonight I showed up to teach my dance. I wrote the sections of the dance on the mirror and as I taught all the sections some of the girls struggled. They weren't sure how to move their hips, how to get the latin part right. It was AWESOME to watch the girls learn and to watch us all dance together this routine that I MADE!

I felt like an artist.

Even more than that, by rediscovering my love of dance, I feel like a little piece of me has been missing and I've found it. That makes me so happy.

By the end of class we'd all had a great cardio workout, and I was sweaty and really happy. I love that adrenaline rush! Now if only I could change this half-marathon into some kind of dance competition . . .

P.S. I'm happy to teach this dance again if you have a group that wants to learn.

Happiness is Contagious

I just read this article in the New York Times about friends, social networks, and connectedness.

Two social scientist studied a group of friends over 4 decades and concluded that a lot of behaviors (smoking, obesity, happiness) are socially contagious.

The article is really long, but I thought it was well worth the time to read it.

What was most fascinating to me is that the behaviors are not just contagious to people you know, but to friends of friends, even three links away. If your husband's boss gets fat, you're more likely to get fat, too.

The other point I liked was that people who are in the middle of a social star (very connected) and not isolated, are more likely to be happy, and even when they're unhappy, they still stay connected. They're even hypothesizing that connectedness is somewhat genetic. Some people are just more likely to have lots of friends.

Oh, and that was another point. The more friends you have, the happier you are, because you have a greater chance to 'catch' happiness. So, for all of you wonderful friends out there, thanks for being a part of my happiness!

Kauai, As Promised

Why Don't I Live Here?
That was my first thought when stepping off the airplane in Lihue, Kauai. This place is amazing.

A few days ago I got the balance of photos from our Cousins' Kauai Trip.View from our lanai (porch)

Michelle, Allina, and I went to Kauai for 8 days at the end of July and I finally have all the photos, organized by activity into webalbums for your viewing pleasure.

Near the heart of Kauai.

I did not include the entire 2000+ shots, but there are probably many more than you are interested in looking at (except if you're either really interested or really bored).

If you want the sampler platter, here's the summary album first, which has photos from the entire trip.

(Drumroll please!)
Here's our trip by event:

Boogie Boarding Trip
We tried to boogie board a second time, even though it was pouring rain and freezing, but a guy on the beach advised against it because he had just rescued some foolhardy tourists. So, we decided against it. I would love to do it again, though.

Snorkeling
I could NOT believe how close the fish would swim to us and how many fish there were. Also, I found a $10 bill floating around in the water. I know, sweet! We snorkeled at Poi Pu and up north at Tunnels after our hike to the beach. It was amazing. At one point Michelle and I were surrounded by nearly 100 fish. It was like I was in a school of fish.

Hike to the Beach
The Napali Coast is only accessible by hiking, air, or boat. So we decided to hike down from the north to the beach. It was a 2-3 mile hike each way and it was pretty steep. We all love to exercise so we had a great time. I brought my music playing phone so we jammed out on our hike. What surprised me was how much I was sweating! Unlike Arizona, in Hawaii, when you sweat the water just stays on your skin until you feel like you stepped into a shower. When we got down to the beach, we played in the water. The ocean is warm, but the stream that runs from the mountains to the ocean was cool and refreshing. There was a native hippie-type woman on the beach with her 6 children (two breastfeeding) reading a book while her kids played in the waves. I was amazed because the signs everywhere said how dangerous the waves were, but her kids were good swimmers. They built an awesome sand castle so I took a photo. Watching her made me want to raise my kids on the beach in Hawaii.

Boat Tour of the Napali Coast
By far, my favorite part of the trip was our boat trip up the Napali Coast. We had VIP seats w/o paying VIP prices. We sat at the bow with our feet dangling near the water. The blue-green color of the water was absolutely unreal. I would love to do that again. We went in caves, under waterfalls, and got to snorkel and eat lunch on the boat. On the way back the water was choppy and the ride from the front was way better than a roller coaster. Disneyland has nothing on the Napali Coast!

Kayaking and Hike to Secret Falls
This trip was fun because we got to go to a local swimming hole, kayak around, hike over the river and through the woods, then see the most breathtaking waterfall. From my research (google, anyone?) it looks like it was 100 feet tall, but it seemed higher, especially when I was under it. In case you're wondering, I was the only cousin who was adventurous enough to swim under the falls. Totally thrilling.

Me under Secret Falls. It feels more like hail than rain!

Tour of Allerton Gardens
We heard from many people that these gardens were among the most beautiful in the world. And while we enjoyed our visit, I don't think I would go back. It was just under $50 and it took about 2 hrs to make it through (the tour guide was SUPER irritating, making canned jokes the whole time). I went hoping to photograph something especially beautiful to print on canvas for our wall as a souvenir for Mark, but he hasn't picked a photo yet. One really cool part about the Allerton Gardens is the trees that were used in the filming of Jurassic Park (also, did you know that Kauai has a film person in their goverment to cooridnate with all the people who want to shoot movies there?). Look for the unusual trees in the webalbum.


Kauai holds so many fun memories for me. I enjoyed myself tremendously, as I'm sure you'll see from the photos.
I recently talked my sister-in-law Katie into leaving her kids with us so she and her husband could go to Hawaii without children. I hope that she's glad because it would have been a lot harder (and sometimes impossible) for me to enjoy my trip with my small children. (But someday they'll be bigger then we can all go to Hawaii).

Anyway, for those of you who have never gone, I wish you could go. Unlike so many places I've been, Kauai was much better than I expected. The water was warmer, the sand was softer, the breeze was sweeter, and the air was less salty. :)

I loOoved it!

August Laughs

I'm starting a new set of posts where I list the funny things my kids have said during the month.

I remember them by writing them on that day on the calendar, and before I wipe it clean for the next month, I'll post it on my blog (hopefully with a funny photo, but I haven't been taking photos lately . . .)

Asher protests indignantly, "Get out of my little WAY!"

Also, when Asher makes a mistake and is reprimanded he interrupts with, "Don't talk to me that way!"

In the middle of his shower, Jaxon climbs out and peers around the door to see his brothers playing in the bathtub. When I ask him what he's doing he replies, "Just checkin' on my boys."

Jaxon says to Grandma and Grandpa, "I have the handsomest and prettiest daddy and mommy in the whole wide world!"

After tasting a chocolate covered raisins (a bit suspiciously) Jaxon loudly exclaims, "Congratulations! These are yummy!"

One morning while I'm trying to rush Jaxon off to school, I ask him to focus. He responds, "You make my brain not focus when I'm focusing!"

Finn, though he doesn't talk much, does make funny sounds all the time. Yesterday he was looking at a book and making a growling noise, then a squeaking noise. Mark wondered aloud, "Is that a dinosaur and a bird?" Sure enough, Mark looked at the book and on the page was a bird sitting on top of an alligator. Funny kid.

Finn wins the award for cutest saying this month. He adores his new cousin Ella, and when he sees her (or wants to see her he begs for, "Baby LaLa!"

Lastly, here is a video was taken during our family celebration of Jaxon's birthday in July.
It's Asher's first time jumping off the diving board by himself. Watch his hands twitch as he psychs himself up for the big jump.