Baked goods.

Oh dear.

Emily was invited to the birthday party of a darling little girl in her school. Courtney's her name.

Today was the big day. Meet at the birthday girl's home, laugh, visit, then head over to the rec center to go swimming. Fun!

I picked Em up and asked if she had a good time. This story poured forth:


Em- "...we were swimming and then when we were done we saw this naked lady! Just sitting on a bench. Naked!"

Me- "You mean, where everyone could see?"

Em- "Yeah! She didn't even go into the place with the curtains where you're supposed to change! She was just sitting there on this bench!!"

Me- "So... you were in the girl's locker room? Well that's not so bad then."

Em- "But she was just there right in the middle of everyone! And then she stood up and dried off!!!" (oh the horror. At this point, Em is in the passenger seat showing me how this woman held her towel behind her back and dried herself. Her face is distorted in various grimaces)

Me- laughing. silently.

Em- "And that's not all. There was another naked girl. A teenager. And she put on a bra and it was NOT modest. It went like this (motions with hands how low this bra plunged) and her mmm mmm's were round. They looked like cupcakes! That other lady that was old.... her mmm mmm's, do you know what I mean Mom? Her mmm mmm's looked like loaves of bread!! Scarred! I'm scarred I tell you!"



Me- driving erratically while cracking up.


Let me state that Sarah and Emily have both been swimming with the local swim team for a year now. I've gone in the locker room to find them when they were dawdling and typically see people changing in the shower or private changing areas. I did think that by this time Emily would have run into a few nekkid ladies. Apparently not.

May I also state that I have always tried to use correct anatomical terminology for body parts. Scratch that. Not always. But usually. I can stipulate that I have never referred to a body part as an "mmm mmm". I can only guess that she was substituting for something that rhymes with shoebies.

I'm loving this gig.

A Decade

Emily is ten! Actually, she's been ten since March 29th. I thought I'd wait to post about her birthday until she had her friend party. She wanted to wait till it was a little warmer and have a party with dinner and dessert cooked over the firepit outside. She waited and waited and waited some more for a decent patch of weather until finally in May it happened. So here's a little celebration of my darling Em:


A princess deserves to be spoiled occasionally.


Breakfast casserole and strawberries!


A birthday celebration at Grandma and Grandpa's. The cake is another one of mom's masterpieces. Emily requested it be in the shape of a shamrock this year. My little lamb thinks she's Irish.


Sierra, Baige, Allie and Emily. Darling girls.


Goofy girls.


The sweetest ten year old I know. Really.


Even though she's hit double digits... she's still my baby. Forever.


She is gifted in the hands on department. Massages, hugs... no one is better.


A chilly Emily at the Overlook in Zions.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, intelligent, kind, hillarious, tender, beautiful girl. How I love you.

I really shouldn't...

particularly after the last two lovely posts, but I just can't help myself. Please enjoy this "semi-nice Mother's Day song".



Thanks for indulging my occasionally warped sensibilities.

(Sorry it comes with a short commercial)

Page 85

Sarah came home from group piano lesson yesterday with a big smile.

"Have we got the May issue of the Ensign yet?"

Someone informed her she'd been spotted in the magazine. I ran down to the distribution center and bought a few copies. Sure enough... that's my girl on page 85!

The mothers in our Stake were invited to attend the Young Women General Meeting at the Conference Center with their daughters. It was such a wonderful evening! Our favorite talks were by Sister Elaine Dalton and Pres. Uchtdorf. The best part of course, was being with Sarah.

In a few years, Emily will be in Young Women's and I'll be able to go with both of my lovely daughters!

Influence

Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness,

the first assurance that there is love in the world.

David O. McKay


St. George Utah 1967

As we age, we begin to realize the value of a mother's love

and the enormous depth of her commitment to us.

No other relationship we form can ever be as close

or profound as that with our mothers.

Anonymous

Alta Lodge September 1978

I'm so thankful not only to be a mother to Sarah and Emily,

but to also be the daughter of such an amazing, lovely and talented woman.

Happy Mother's Day.

Spring Break: Part Deux

(involving a ridiculous number of photos)

Thursday we went to see Les Mis at my niece Megan's school. It was a girls night out and I loved it. Not just the great music, but the company as well. Connie and Megan, Tatiana, Maddie and Hillary, and me and my girls. I'm so grateful we live here, close to our family and not in some far off corner of the world.

p.s. Nicely done Bonneville.

On Friday afternoon, we went to the aquarium along with the rest of Northern Utah. What a crowd!! The parking lot was very full and we were lucky to get a spot close to the aquarium. We were happy! The woman who tried to pull into the same spot... not so happy. I was 3/4 of the way in just as she began to pull in. Nose to nose.

Sort of like this:

(bulls courtesy of The Pioneer Woman)

It was a teensy bit tense in the parking lot. I was in the spot and felt I had every right to be there. The 'lady' in the other car did not appreciate my presence and requested that I leave. This was done with raised voices and arms flailing out the window. Having never encountered anything similar, I didn't budge and just laughed. Loudly. The other driver left and from the backseat I heard Sarah say, "Tawanda!". Oh my.

(May I recommend the addition of an athletic supporter to your ensemble if you're planning to visit the aquarium on a busy day. You'll feel safer and perhaps more confident in the parking lot this way. Gird up thy loins)



Petting the stingrays is a highlight.

Little Henry, Em and Sarah peering into a coral reef display.

Love these anenomes.

Intrepid explorers paddling the Amazon.

Cousins. Yay!

Even with all of Northern Utah vying for a spot in front of the exhibits... it really was worth a visit.

(I'm happy to report, the gold bullet sustained no damage while left unattended in the parking lot. We were a bit wary of the 'lady' with a temper)

On Saturday afternoon, we drove to Provo for the BYU Ballroom Dance Team's big year end performance.

A fun tribute to Hairspray.

A great jive number.


Mmmm. Dreamy. It's hard not to like a waltz.

The team was celebrating 50 years and included a big number with nearly 200 alumni from as far back as the sixties. The team is internationally ranked and puts on quite a show. Gorgeous costumes.

(Along those lines... contrary to the costume designers on Dancing With The Stars, it is possible to perform a Latin dance while clothed)

It was a wonderful opportunity to see them perform. Definitely worth the drive down, although Rich and I have decided we're not fond of University Parkway. Oh the humanity. Even with lights and a siren you'd be hard pressed to get through that stretch in a reasonable amount of time.

That wraps up the highlights of our spring break activities this year. I think the girls were able to relax and have some fun. I sure enjoy having them home. By the end of the week we got some sunshine and the snow melted. Happy spring break!

Spring Break '10 and Word Power

The girls are out of school this week. Hooray! Its so fun to have them home with me. We won't be going on vacation till later this month. Instead, we're having a staycation. Nothing too exciting... out to lunch a few times, the aquarium on Friday and we're hoping for a cousin sleepover too. Utah weather can be temperamental in the spring, we all know this, so we didn't make any outdoor plans. We weren't thinking it would be this fickle!

This is what our neighborhood looked like Tuesday morning.

Our trees and shrubs were heavy laden with wet snow.

Even our patio furniture is tired of getting snowed on.

A pair of finches were glad we still had seed in the feeder.

On Monday, we finished the fifth and last book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. This has been a great read aloud series. Sarah's comment was, "This is so much better than those Twilight books" (she's read the first two) "Fablehaven beats them into the ground with a stick!" I concur. Sarah took this pic of me from across the room and in low light, hence the grain. We were getting close to the end and things were getting tense!

One of the things we like about Brandon Mull is he doesn't dumb down anything, even though these are books for young adults. In this picture, I'm trying to figure out the pronunciation of a word. Stumped? Possibly. If a word comes along that I think the girls might not be familiar with, I stop and ask them if they know what it means. Halberd? Anyone?

Here's a quote from near the end of the book:

"...they carried slender spears and swords, and gave haughty looks to the astrids"

I asked Em if she knew what 'haughty' meant.

"Umm. Does it mean that they think the astrids are hotties?"

Oh Emily. What would we do without you?

Happy spring break all!