Our Sunday

Chandler bit the dust today (sundays seem to be dangerous for him lately). Poor baby, he cried and cried. Not sure exactly how he did it. Could probably just chalk it up to the fact that he's a boy, though. It's quite the dinger--his chipped tooth nearly went through his lip.

Marissa is so excited about her hair things, and she really wants to learn how to do her own hair. She came to me today-"I did my own hair mom, do you like it?" Very creative!! I think it's a concept we can work with. She's becoming very girly lately--she has worn sundresses, skirts, and jumpers nearly everyday this week. She has spent quite a bit of time in front of the mirror, styling her hair, and applying lipgloss. Today she asked me if she could get her ears "speared" (pierced). She bats her eyes at me whenever she asks me a question, and yesterday she turned to her aunt Kirsten after taking a drink, and in a prim and proper voice said, "Isn't this juice exquisite?" I tell ya, this girl is 5 going on 16.

Today we were blog-surfing, and Chandler saw a picture of some friends (Carter and Avry Johnson) at their old house. He said,"I remember going there. Can we go there again?" I said, Oh, they live far away now, it would take a long time to get there. Chandler quickly replied, "That's okay, we can just drive fast--dad can drive us there." I love how kids are ever optimistic. They aren't put out by a challenge or discouraged by a road block. They just come up with more creative options or compromises.

I may have gotten a little carried away...

I was at the park with the kids and Kirsten (my little sis) on Thursday and we had a picnic dinner there. While we were eating, we noticed these girls (who I went to school with) with displays of hair things. Marissa went to check it out, and came back with wide eyes, "Mom, they are sooooooo cute, can I have one?" So I went and looked with her, and I had to agree, they were cute! But, the price wasn't cute. $5.00 per bow (so if you want to do pigtails, thats ten bucks!!) I was like--I can totally tell how those were made, and I could copy them. So, on Friday we went to walmart and got hair elastics and ribbon, and Marissa, Kirsten and I made a few (ha, ha) of them--all kinds of cute ones in colors that matched their clothes. It was fun. We all got into it.

All in a day's work

I had a super busy day on Thursday. My parents are out of town, so my 9 year old sister is staying with us. My kids just play with her the whole day--it makes it easy to get things done. So, I worked on 4 things: Shopping, Food Storage, Blueberry Jam, and Raspberry Jam and this is my report of it all.

1- Shopping

I have been watching the sale pages for groceries lately. I've been store hopping between 4 stores to try and be economical for building our food storage. I'm kinda proud of myself--these are 2 of the reciepts. On one, I spent 115 and saved over 50 dollars, and the other, I spent 209 and saved 262. Pretty awesome, huh?

2- Food Storage

Food Storage has been an obsession of mine as of late. I finally have room for it-not just a closet, a WHOLE room!! The cost of food here is cut nearly in half, to boot. You can get a lot more bang for your buck. So, this is our start. I think we'd be okay for 3-4 months now, so we've still got a ways to go for a whole years supply, but we have more now than we've ever been able to have, so we're encouraged. It has taken so much work. So much, in fact, that I almost hate to use any of it. I kinda just feel like leaving it be, but I know that's not how it works. With gas prices hiked, and all kinds of things going on around the world, it's comforting to have it for me.

3- Blueberry Jam

This was my very first attempt at canning alone. My mom gave me a whole canning set for Christmas the year before we moved to Florida, so it had sat untouched in storage in Idaho for 4 1/2 years. I tried to keep it small and simple, so I did blueberry jam. My mom is out of town this week, so I was REALLY alone. It took me a lot longer than I thought. The fruits of my labors were small, but never despise meager beginnings!! Just try telling me your mouth isn't watering looking at homemade jam on fresh rolls. It gave me the courage to try the raspberry jam.

4- Raspberry Jam

My mouth is watering just looking at these pictures. I love raspberries, and my all time favorite jam is raspberry. I found them on a good sale, and bought a whole flat. This is my 2nd time ever making it and the first time was 5 years ago WITH my mom). You can imagine my joy when all the bottles sealed. Sometimes they don't seal for one reason or another, and it is very frustrating when it happens. I ended up just 1/2 inch shy of 7 jars, which is also frustrating. I want to make more, and after all the hassle of making it, ty wonders why I want to make more still. I keep telling Ty, If we really had to live off our food storage for a year, we would want jam. Bread would be one of our main staples, and with 9 bottles now in storage(3 blueberry and 6 raspberry), that is less than 3/4 of a jar a month. The hardest part of ir all was taking the seeds out of 1/2 the berries. It took me nearly an hour. It is tedious work pushing berries through a sieve. But, when I was done, it was well worth the effort--the jam is mouthwateringly DELICIOUS!!!

Thanks for the snowcone, mom

Those of you who know me well, know I have an ice fetish. I eat it constantly. Well, snow cones are not an exception, and my kids love them too. I did outlaw dark colors, though, after Marissa walked around like this for a whole day (I even had her brush her teeth and wash her lips.) No more blueberry, but thank heavens Chandler's favorite flavor (Mango) is a LIGHT color. I only had one bite of hers, and look what it did for heaven's sake!

Chipped tooth

Due to overwelming curiosity, I have obliged to post pictures of Chandler's chipped tooth (read last Sunday's post for the story, if you haven't already). I feel like the pictures really don't do it justice, though.

Obedient Kids

A few days ago, on a hot afternoon, I let the kids have popcicles. I wasn't very happy when I came outside afterwards to find sticky popsicle dripped all over the entire porch. "But mom, it was so hot that we couldn't eat them fast enough before they dripped." I hesitantly let them have popcicles a couple of days after that, but made them promise to lean over onto the dirt (don't have a lawn quite yet) if they had a drip. They kept very true to their word, proving they were popsicle worthy kids. (but I did have to giggle as I watched them out the window, leaning over the dirt, not minding the least bit, I might add.) I guess leaning over is a small price to pay for a popsicle on a hot day.

My little fish

Marissa has done 2 sessions of swimming lessons since we got to Idaho. She could go across the pool in Florida, and could jump in the deep end by herself, but it was pretty much doggy paddling, so we decided she could use some technique lessons to be more efficient. She absolutely loves it. She asks at least 10 times a day how many hours it is till her next lesson.

She skipped level one entirely, then breezed through level 2. Level 3 has been much more challenging though. The kids in her class are so much taller than my little 5 year old (they are 8 and 9 year olds)and they have the lessons in the 4 foot part (which everyone but her can touch the bottom). So, she has to tread water the entire time, and can't push off the bottom of the pool. But, she has loved every minute of it, and she's learned quickly.

The lessons are $16 for 2 weeks (10 days at 45 minutes each) which I thought was a steal. The pool is less than a mile away which is nice. (Not quite like Florida here--there are only 2 pools in the whole city)

Marissa's favorite part is going off the diving board into the deep end. "It's 11 feet deep and my teacher can't even touch!"

I had to get Mariisa a swim cap, because the chlorine was turning her hair blue (much to her dismay, "But mom, I'm turning into a mermaid.")

I wonder who sat here for breakfast?

I swear, it doesn't matter what we eat, Chandler can always manage to leave his seat looking like this. On this morning, it didn't help that Chandler popped the top of the powdered sugar shaker off while he was putting some on his french toast. Then again, when he smiles like that and looks so cute with such a "sweet" face, it's hard to stay mad very long. I just shake my head and laugh.

A new attachment

It's funny how kids can get attached to things so quickly. We were at the park swinging on the swings, and this little boy came over. Chandler and he swung next to each other for about 15 minutes. I think they MAY have said 2 or 3 things to each other. So, the little boy has to leave, and Chandler hangs his head and starts babbling sadly to himself, "He is my new friend. I'm going to miss him ALL day. I'm going to miss him in my brain.." and on and on. I was laughing. Kids make new friends and new attchments with such ease--oh, to be a child again--so innocent and trusting and unjudgemental.

So, this guy doing our landscaping yesterday was riding a tractor, tilling our yard, and he was smoking a cigarette, out in the blazing sun. My kids were mezmerized watching him work from inside our air conditioned home. Then Marissa turns to me and says, "Why would he want a fire in his mouth? It's so hot today, I wouldn't want something hot in my mouth." True. I never thought of it that way. I've never tried it though. I wonder if they do feel hot in your mouth and throat? Any comments of experience on that one?? It's okay if no one wants to make a confession of their experimentation though.

We had an interesting Sunday.

So Ty comes to me while I'm doing my hair right before church and in a flat but slightly exasperated voice says,"Chandler's filling on his front tooth just came out" Yeah right honey, I know your trying to rile me up while I'm rushing to get ready. "No, serious, I was flossing his teeth and it came out." Now Marissa joins the conversation: "Is floss supposed to take your fillings out?" No, I reply, then I turn to Ty-- So, he has a piece missing on his front tooth? "Yeah, a big piece" SO I go stomping down the stairs--first, because if he's joking, I'm building up an explosion towards him. Second--I'm not even going to get started at how UTTERLY UNIMPRESSED (to put it VERY nicely) I've been with the dentist that treated Chandler. ANd no--it was definitely NOT Ty or any of you--The dental school wouldn't take our insurance, so we picked a name out of the phone book and got the raw end of the deal. "Smile Chandler." Good grief--are you kidding me?? Talk about a chunk missing--what a good impression we're going to make in our new ward. Ya-this is the dentist's son--wanna get your teeth worked on by him??? So, honey, you can fix this before we go, right? This is your profession--surely you have composite and a curing light on hand? "Uh, no, not here" Well?? "There's nothing I can do." All righty then, now that we're all so happy, let's go to church.
Then....Ty got a new calling today as the Assistant Executive Secretary to the stake president. Gulp! We're convinced it's some kind of revenge--Our new stake president was our seminary teacher growing up--that explains it!! But on a serious note, we're excited for this opportunity, and Pres. Sagers bore testimony to us that he knew this calling was for Ty before he even knew we were moving here. It is pretty humbling. So we came after church to have him get set apart, and President Sagers turns to Marissa and with his dry humor says, "Now, we're going to take your dad away but don't cry about it" (You might have to know him, because he is such an amazing man, and he wasn't trying to upset her) so what did she do? She started sobbing--on and on. We tried talking to her, but she just buried her tear stained face deeper on my chest. Later, away from everybody, she said, I thought they were taking him away right then, and that I wouldn't get to see him again, and I love him--I don't want him to go away. She is such a sweet, innocent, tender hearted girl, who FIERCELY loves her daddy. We got it all straightened out, and I guess all's well that ends well.

Out of the mouth of Babes.

I listened in on my kids conversation yesterday morning: "Marissa-Where is Jesus Christ? Chandler-at home. Marissa-Where is His home? Chandler-at the temple." Wow. He said it so matter of fact-like. No doubts or hesitations. And you know what? I think he knows that--I think he remembers things from before his birth. Such a simple, sweet testimony. I hope he always remembers. Then the other day Chandler wanted me to color with him in his coloring book. "Okay", I said, "where should I color?" Chandler gives a stern and thorough reply: "This is my page, that is your page. Don't color on my page because it's PERSONAL." Personal?? Excuse me, but you're 3 years old!! You don't have anything personal. Ha, ha. I think he likes to copy big words from big sis that she copies from big mama and big dada. Anyway, it startled me-coming from such a little mouth. The things kids say...

Yep, I'm a true blue American Idol fan.

Wow!! Last night was so much fun! My mom and I went to the American Idol Live Tour in Salt Lake. We found some cheap tickets, but they were awesome seats. When the performers would come out onto the little catwalk, we were literally 15 feet away--talk about up close and personal. So my favorites are 1-David Archuleta, 2-Jason Castro(Ya, I know lots of you have issues with him or his hair, but I REALLY like him)3-Brooke White, then the rest I like depending on what song they do. They all have some I like and don't like. I have never been to a louder event in my life--it was seriously deafening (mostly for David Archuleta) and yes, even I was screaming like a lovestruck teenager. It was just too exciting to keep it in--it would just bubble up and burst from my mouth--I couldn't help myself! Archie was so overwhelmed by the crowd that he was crying. It was so cute. He is just so likeable and kinda bashful. I like Jason because he beats to his own drum--he is original and down to earth, and I like the songs he picks. Yellow and sunshine equals Brooke. She is just cute and she said the funniest thing--She said, "Utah, Utah. This is the place." and the crowd went wild--largely LDS crowd, I'm assuming. Anyway, it was 3 1/2 hours long--so my throat is quite raw today. When Archie sang Stand by me and said "and all you beautiful girls, stand by me", the crowd went wild (probably a ratio of 6 girls to every guy). It was adorable. So, it was amazing (even though we got home at 2 a.m.) and I still feel young at heart. Has anyone heard when any CD's will be released? I'm anxiously awaiting...

Stand By Me--David Archuleta

"I think we underestimate him..."

Today Marissa was in charge of leading the primary in the 7th article of faith. She's had it pretty much memorized since she was 4, but was a little rusty, so we've been practicing this week. She has it down by heart except she says "givings" instead of "visions" (haven't figured out why, but it was engrained that way). So I think we repeated it literally 50 times this morning before church started at 11:00, each time emphasizing "visions" (she probably only got it right 10 of those times!) Well, tonight I was going to read the kids stories before bed, and Chandler and I were waiting while Marissa brushed her teeth. I started humming the song for the 7th article of faith, and Chandler (who just turned 3 in May) sang the ENTIRE thing perfectly only missing 2 words--of tongues. "we believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation (of tongues) and so forth". I couldn't believe he could even say the big words like "revelation" and "interpretation". Ty just looked at me with wide eyes and said, "I think we underestimate him." Holy cow--ya, I think so. Scary what they can absorb so quickly...

Happy 4th of July!

I love the parade in Rupert, Idaho! I truly do. It's so quaint and heartwarming! There are some true-blue patriots here. It's fun to let my kids share in the traditions of my childhood and youth. So this is what we do--Go to the parade: the jet flies over at the beginning, and the veterans present the flag. Then the kids get tons of candy and otter pops and toys. My favorite float was our stakes float with the twin falls temple on it. The stunt guy on the motorcycle is always cool to watch.

Then we eat Mexican food from the special booths that they set up just for the week. Such GOOOOOOD food. While we were eating we had quite the surprise--Dione brought home some friends from college--Maudeline Agnor and Makney (don't know how to spell his name) from our Florida ward! It was so fun. He brought 3 other friends as well. We hung out and played around at grandpas by the river, then had a big barbeque and great fireworks.

Happy Birthday Chandler

Chandler turned 3 and we were excited to have family at one of his birthday parties for the first time. He had both sets of grandparents, and 3 great grandparents, plus 9 aunts and uncles and a cousin to dote on him. We had a blast, and he loved his Tonka cake. Then we all had fun playing with his new toys.

Goodbye Florida

Goodbye house, goodbye school, goodbye car, goodbye friends. I bawled my face off saying goodbye to Florida--such a memorable 4 years! It was truly an amazing chapter of our lives. There really aren't words to describe all of it. Definitely the thing we'll miss the most is our friends. So many student friends, church friends, and neighbor friends. It breaks my heart to leave all of you!! So many memories in this little apartment of ours. Florida has been Chandler's entire life, and the only life Marissa remembers. Such a bittersweet time. I did just realize that it's hurricane season, and we're not in it this year (one thing we won't miss) so good luck friends who are still there--may it be an uneventful season. Also, I wanted to throw an invitation out to all our friends in Florida and in other states now, you are always welcome here! I'd better not catch wind of someone being around here and not stopping by!

The Big Day

Just look at our smiles--need I say more? We were happy that Ty's parents flew in for graduation.

May Graduation

Graduation!!! I can hardly believe it. What an achievement--I'm so proud of Ty. Ty not only graduated, but graduated with honors. He was one of 12 out of 107 picked for good grades and integrity to be part of OKU (stands for something like omni kappa upsilon) which is the national dental honor society. So we were treated to a fancy dinner, and got to get all dressed up. (Marissa took our picture) Then there was the formal dinner for all the graduates--what a celebration! This is all of the LDS dental graduates, and dental wives (I think only Fairhursts were missing). It was amazing food, and such an exciting night! It was a ritzy hotel on the beach. We went and looked at the sun setting over the ocean on the balcony--breathtaking!

May pix

Chandler helped me fold laundry one day--he did so good that I wanted to take a picture. As you can tell, he is very proud of his job. Marissa put on an adorable Mother's Day play at school--She was the mother cat. Marissa also got the "leadership" award in her class. We took our first trip to Disneyworld and Animal Kingdom since living in Florida (we had to do it before we moved back!) It was a blast! We learned that Marissa is quite a dare-devil--all she wanted to do were roller coasters. Chandler sat in quiet awe most of the time, and Ty and I liked the 3D Mickey Philharmagic Show--both of us had to reach out and try to touch the things in front of us. I think we watched it 4 times! Chandler waved at every animal we saw at Animal Kingdom, and kept putting his hand above his eyes, searching for animals. He also loved riding the train--he called it "Thomas the train".