Photographic Evidence

She smiles.

When she's not sleeping.

It's also evident that she eats well. :)

Summer Came...

...and went.

The first day of summer (which was also the first day of summer vacation, since the last day of school was Thursday) actually felt like summer! It was great! We had a Primary activity at the temple, and then a picnic at the park. The girls even pulled out the Slip&Slide when we got home. At dinner time we fired up the bbq grill.

We're so unused to the sun that I didn't even think to apply sunscreen, and we all got a bit pink (except for the baby, who was under a blanket all day long). Oops!

But we don't have to worry about our burnt cheeks getting any more red today. We're back to the "normal" weather again.

So long, summer. Hope to see you again soon!

Love Notes

I am so proud of Lauren. She has really begun to blossom, academically speaking. Here are a couple of her recent compositions:

I'm sorry

I love you Mom

You are the best

Happy Father's Day Dad

I like you

You are a nice dad

I love you

Commentary on Compliments

Today was Katelyn's celebration for finishing elementary school. The teachers recently had each student write a compliment about each of their classmates. Then each student picked 2 of the compliments they received to be read aloud at the ceremony today. I think I would have picked the compliments such as, "This was my favorite school year because you were in my class," or, "I liked sitting next to you this year, even though you got me in trouble sometimes." But it became obvious during the compliment reading that the highest compliment you can give a 5th grader is, "You are so funny! You make me laugh!" The majority of students chose that as one of their 2 picks. And sometimes it was surprising, because a lot of those students didn't look like the comedian-type to me.

For the Fathers

What made this Father's Day a happy one?





You'll notice that Doug is wearing shorts, and Olivia's wearing a summer dress. Yep, sunshine all day and open windows helped the happiness.


Naps are nice, too.


And if pictures captured scents, you would smell a really yummy dinner that was about to be served when this was snapped.

Speaking of scents, I smelled something today that reminded me of my own dad: It was grape-scented shampoo. As I was washing my daughter's hair, I was thinking about one of my earliest memories...

When I was about four years old, I burned my hand on a barbecue grill at the park. I remember my dad driving me to the store to pick up some first aid items, including burn spray, and purple bubble gum (probaly Hubba Bubba--"no trubba!"). On our way home from the store, I recall sitting in the front seat of our station wagon next to my dad (no car seat/seat belt/front seat restrictions back then) holding my burnt hand in front of the cold air vent, with the A/C on full blast, and chomping merrily on a big wad of grape bubble gum. The cold air helped the pain, but I think the grape bubble gum helped the most. Thanks, Dad!


About ten years later, there was another grape-scented memory with my dad. On special occasions and holidays, Mom always cooked delicious meals, and we always drank sparkling drinks. A family favorite was the sparkling grape juice, which came in a bottle with a cork. I remember Dad popping the cork off of that bottle so hard that it flew up and hit the ceiling, and we all laughed out loud about that. It became a family joke for the kids to hide under the table whenever Dad went to open a bottle. (Even more hysterical was my brother getting his lips stuck in an empty bottle, but that's another story.) Dad was a pretty serious guy a lot of the time, but I have plenty of memories of family laughter and fun times, which still make me smile when I think about them today. Dad made it clear that family time was special. Thanks, Dad.





One of my favorite occasions with my father-in-law took place at his house (one of the best vacation spots!) several years ago. During a family reunion, all the guys took their mom to see a movie (Lord of the Rings?), and the daughters-in-law stayed home to put the kids to bed. Once all the little ones were sleeping, we sat around the table playing games and eating chocolate chip cookies with our father-in-law. For a man who had nine sons and no daughters, this might have seemed like a threatening situation, but no--we had the best time! Thanks, Dad2!





I think there's just a special bond between fathers and daughters, and I'm so glad for my 5 girls that they have the dad they do. He's the greatest! I'm not quite sure how, but somehow I think this is what he was made to do.



P.S. Lauren asked Doug this afternoon, "Is there such a thing as 'Daughters Day'? And he told her, "Pretty much every day is Daughters Day." In our house, that's true!

Brrrr

Yes, the date printed on this picture is accurate. And yes, we still have to bundle up like this to keep warm.

Summer? What summer?

Did you get yours?

My Church magazines came in the mail today. And the afternoon was sunny, and the girls were playing outside, and the baby was sleeping. So I sat in the sunshine and read. That's what I call a priceless moment!

I read this:

Did you see it broadcast earlier this year? I loved the messages then. And I loved reading some of it again today. I love that they sent it to me with my other magazines, because even though you can listen to it here, I like having a hard copy in my house, so I can read it outside in the sunshine, or late at night in my comfy bed, and think about one of my most favorite subjects: FAMILY.

Living La Vida Loca

I'll tell you a little about my crazy life...

Recently I dropped off Lauren & Hannah for a playdate, and started driving home. About half a mile into my drive, I suddenly woke up to the fact that I was singing along with the CD that was playing in my car, "Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his _____". Yes, it took half a mile, and actually hearing my own voice singing aloud, to realize that I could change it to a grown-up CD.

Today as we were driving home from church, I came to the realization that I was chewing gum. I could remember someone offering it to me (while I was in a conversation), but I couldn't remember who. Thankfully, Katelyn was able to tell me that she was the one. I was a little worried for a second there. (Not so much about my breath, but about my mental health.) How did it sound to my family when I suddenly blurted out, "I'm chewing gum, and I don't know where I got it!"

Maybe they figured it out before I did...the fact that I'm losing my mind. And, for the most part, I don't really mind the loss! I find it quite comical, actually!

Look into your crystal ball...

I need to know the future. Specifically, I need to know the future of airline ticket prices. More specifically, I need to know if I should buy now, or wait. We're planning to fly to a family reunion in November. My most reliable airline source for cheap tickets is currently only booking through October. Other airlines are offering tickets in November at somewhat reasonable prices, but not what I'd call a "good deal". So here's my dilemma: I need to know if ticket prices will continue to go up and up, or if I can get the good deal I'm hoping for in the near future. If I wait for cheaper tickets, I may end up having to buy more expensive tickets when those cheaper prices never come along, and I'll be mad at myself for not buying decent tickets when I could have. If I buy tickets at a higher-than-I-want-to-pay price right now, I'll probably cry if a good deal becomes available next month (because I have to look...it's like a train wreck). But even if a good deal does come along, what if the dates I want to travel are not available at that price?

What would you do?

*6/8/08 Update:
Apparently very few of your crystal balls are functioning properly. With my anxiety mounting, we bought tickets this past weekend. And I feel much more calm now!

Blessed

It's been a long day, and I'm pretty tired.

Today was my blessing day, which means I had to get all dressed up, behave myself at church (for some reason, my mom cried a lot, even though I did not!), sleep a lot, be held a lot, look really pretty, and then pose for a bunch of pictures.

(Yawn...)

I'm pooped!