Our lives in 2008

Since I didn't send a Christmas letter this year I thought I might summarize our adventures here. We've had a lot to be grateful for.

Jeff is grateful that, through the miracle of traffic school, he yet again has a clean driving record. Work had led him on many travels and driving the speed limit all the way to the Salt Lake airport is more than he can bear. One morning this year he got dressed in a jacket and tie (unusual) and when I asked why he was so dressed up he mumbled "...uh..I have to go to court for a ticket..." That was just one incident I will mention.

He is also grateful to love his job at Cybersource and to have such a beautiful, talented and adoring wife who cooks delicious meals and runs an immaculate house. Really. He told me to say that.

Jeff is grateful for the snow so that he can take Caroline skiing every Saturday and grateful to have some time off to relax with the family this holiday season.

As for myself, I feel grateful to be livin' the dream every day (okay, so it's a little bit more like groundhog day).
I'm grateful to serve in the Stake Young Women's presidency in our church, grateful for my improving health (still struggling with Epstein Barr virus and esophogitus) and grateful for friends and family who I adore. Most importantly I'm grateful for my family- for my kick-in-the-pants girls and my awesome and handsome husband (and he didn't tell me to say that).

I'm grateful that I truly believe things are only going to get better for us all in 2009.
Merry Christmas!

Gracie in 2008

Today our little Gracie Baby turned two. Unbelievable.

She does all the things two year olds do, such as throwing things in the toilet, climbing into the tub fully clothed and turning it on, hiding plastic teapots in the oven (what's that burning smell???) etc. The most significant thing to notice about her is the amount she talks. I mean, this kid is a jabberjaw. Constant blabberling. Full sentences. I can't imagine where on earth she gets it, but this kid always has something to say. I kissed her tummy this week and she said, "No Mommy! No kiss on me tummy, kay?"

The other interesting thing about her is that she is a huge daredevil. She has the Jeff gene... and those of you who know what I'm talking about know what I'm talking about. We feel so lucky to have her huge spirit in our family!

the dismount

The first ten times she did this my heart pounded with motherly fear, but now she could jump off the refrigerator and I wouldn't bat an eyelash.

Brinley in 2008

Our sweet girl started Kindergarten (or as we call it, "Brindergarten") and began a piano prep class with our piano teacher. She played rec league soccer, although the highlight for her was scoring a goal and then running on until her head got stuck in the net. Two parents and the coach had to untangle her. Let's just say that her interests lie elsewhere...

She loves her little sister, loves playing with friends and loves eating treats.

Caroline skiing 1 - 2008-12-22

While doing the dishes I glanced out the kitchen window to see Caroline skiing in the back yard. I died laughing. These little surprises are what keep me falling in love with her.

Caroline took ski lessons every Saturday last winter and was moved into the teenage class by the end. She is brave like her dad (not like me).

December Piano Recital

A natural musician, Caroline performed Minuet in G today. Her strength is playing by ear - she will sit for an hour and figure out songs, complete with the right chords. Our goal is to practice 40 minutes before school each day, but often she's been up so late reading she can't quite get up in time. I love listening to her play!

Caroline in 2008

As busy as a bee and as sweet as sugar, Caroline turned ten, started fifth grade, played city soccer, took skii lessons, got straight A's and read over 100 books. She is a natural mother: attentive and nurturing with Gracie and bossy with Brin. She loves it when I tell her that having her around is like having another one of myself.

Tennis... and my continual need to be good at everything

I love tennis.
I love it, I love it, I love it.
I love the way the ball "pops" when you give it a good, hard top-spin-stroke. I love watching tennis. I love watching it on TV, and I really love watching it live. I love the way the crowd is reverently quiet during a point and the way the players respect the tradition of it all. I love that my kids call Roger Federer "mom's boyfriend" and the way Jeff says, "Honey- I'm not worried. Roger Federer wouldn't have you." I love the friends I've made at the club. I love league matches. I really love the clothes.

But the truth is, I sort of stink at tennis.
For as long as I've been playing (about five years) I should be really good. I should be competing in tournaments and beating 4.0's. I've certainly spent enough money on lessons...

As Jeff reminds me, much of a persons ability is natural aptitude and I sort of think I'm wired to play an instrument... or quilt... or decorate... I mean, I'm crazy good with scrapbook supplies and last week I had to SPIT OUT MY GUM while serving because it was throwing me off. How's that for a contrast?

I wonder if this is dilemma many men face. Men are sort of "supposed" to be athletic in our culture, and most men love sports. So it must be a real disappointment for some to realize they are better at bookkeeping or the trombone or photography than baseball.
It super-duper stinks.

I keep going --every week--to league and to workouts and to lessons. I do believe I'm better than when I started. It's great exercise. I have the best tennis friends in the world. But a small, unspoken part of me mourns to know that I'll never be as good as I want to be.

BTW- the player in the red shirt above is Rogie Baby! Jeff and I went to the US Open again this year. We only got to see one match before a hurricane hit the coast, but it was AWESOME!

A little behind...

Talk about being a little behind... I'm just now posting pics from the end of October. And talk about a little behind...while at the witch festival at Gardner Village Brin asked me, "Mom, why do all these witches have so big of bottoms?"

Jeff commented this week on how lucky he feels to live within minutes of his family. Growing up with the Burkes it was one move after the other, and they never lived near cousins. This cute crew is together every week and little Paige stays over, sleeping between her cousins in the big bed. I really do love these babies as if they were my own --maybe even more, since I don't have to do any of the hard parts! Maybe this is what being a grandma is like?

I don't even want to know...

Our favorite date-night treat is Baskin Robins. Thanks to Jeff I have become a real ice cream snob, so imagine our surprise when we saw these boxes stacked by the door as we sipped our shakes. So...what's the other purpose???

Cousins

Gracie Baby and her cousin Brock (Jenny's second child) thought they were in heave when they discovered a new treat: Capri Sun. I literally never buy juice (too much sugar) and these aren't even a relative of juice, so they thought they had struck gold at this extended family BBQ. Who is cuter than these two???

Just annother day...

I feel so tired tonight, but thought I should record the events of this day as they feel very "normal" to me. To anyone else it probably isn't worth reading, but I wonder if in twenty years I will remember these days fondly.

Grace started crying in her crib just after six am, but I let her fuss until the two big girls came in reporting that one of them had wet the queen sized bed they share. I won't say who, but this person has never before wet the bed, so it was really out of the ordinary. I got up, stripped the bed and started a wet load of laundry. Next I made flower-shaped pancakes and showered the offending bed-wetter. It was still dark outside.

After getting the girls off to school I canceled my appointment at the gym due to a terrible cough coming from little Gracie and, instead, ironed a huge basket of laundry (including the pillowcases and duvet cover from the wet bed).

Next I got dressed and drove kindergarten carpool pickup.

At 12:30 we met three neighbors and their kids at the park for a picnic. Gracie ran into the parking lot three times before I noticed she was there.

Next I ran to Gap for some price adjustments on items that had gone on sale- I saved 28 dollars, thank you very much. (*side note* remember when it was "The Gap"?)

From 2-3:30 I did general housework and pickup. I also hunted for the charger to my iphone. I did not find it. Grace had it the last time I saw it. She thinks it is a necklace.

At four o'clock I took Caroline to her piano lesson, picked Brin up from a neighbor friend's house, dressed her in her soccer uniform, loaded the soccer chairs into my car, picked Caroline up from piano and then picked up a neighbor girl for soccer. It was 4:40 and Grace was still napping, so I called Heather to come home and watch her during our games.

Caroline and Brin have games at the same time and, since Jeff is out of town, I ran back and forth from field five to field sixteen to watch both games. I missed Caroline scoring two goals, but got to see Brin get her head stuck in the goal net.

Immediately following the game we drove to Hillcrest for Brin's "end-of-season" pizza party at the park.

By seven thirty we were home and ready to start homework, only to find that Gracie had taken her diaper off during nap time. You guessed it- more wet laundry for mommy. While I stripped the sheets off the crib and put the other sheets back on the queen bed Caroline read her math lesson for the first time. She had been called out of math class to join the gifted and talented program and this was the first I had heard of it.

Then we designed a book report.

I read to Brin, remade the crib, brushed everybody's teeth and now I will begin the glamorous task of emptying the dishwasher. If I'm lucky I'll get to watch a Frasier rerun and finish a sudoku before I fall asleep.

Ten Years of the Chub

Caroline turned ten on September 14th and to celebrate we took ten friends to Trafalga, a local fun-center.

The girls ate pizza, waited 30 minutes in line to drive go-carts only to find they were each 2 inches too short, hit balls at the batting cage, mini-golfed, had ice cream and cake, and played video games in the arcade. My highlight was discovering my hidden tallent at "Dance Dance Revolution".

The First Day of School

After returning from Arizona for my Grandpa Lisonbee's funeral, Montana for a family reunion, and Mia Shalom for Young Women's camp I was ready for August to calm down and for school to begin. August 20th came and Brinley started kindergarten, or as we call it, "Brindergarten". Caroline was thrilled to begin 5th grade. Because they attend a local charter school they wear uniforms, which makes getting dressed easy and inexpensive for me. Love it!

Caroline decided to cut nearly four inches off her hair at her back to school haircut. Love it!

Montanna Maddness

In early August the Burkes descended upon the Brady cabin. Beverly's sister, Libby, and her husband own a beautiful cabin and acres of land where the two families played. Campfires, food, games, fishing, stories, hiking and relaxing!!! We're still waiting for the bill to repair the rental car Caroline hit with a four wheeler...

Catching up

Now that the Halloween decorations are out in stores I figure it's about time to wrap up summer. Sadly, I haven't recorded as many memories as I would have liked, but here are some highlights.

In Early July our neighbors joined us for our second "paint a giant flag on the driveway" party. I was secretly uptight about the kids "doing it right", but it turned out great and everyone had fun time. Except that it was 100 degrees, even at 7:00 pm. To cool off the kids turned on the sprinklers and got soaking wet, which is why you see parts of the fresh paint running down the sidewalk.

Laughter is the best medicine

I have been a bit under the weather lately so I was relieved to get this link which greatly lifted my spirits. Enjoy.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Evidence my kids have it way better than I did...

I just ran across this photo of Caroline with the Brenchleys this summer in Arizona. They had the best time. Brin was so short her little feet didn't even reach the tub.

My husband is very practical. And cheap.

Jeff and I were browsing Costco.com for furniture when I noticed a tab at the top labeled "funeral".

"Huh???" I asked, to which Jeff replied, "Oh- they sell caskets. This is where I'm planning to buy your casket. Funeral homes totally rip you off when you are in mourning."

You already know where you're going to buy my casket???

Isn't it ironic...

It is 5:23 pm and my doorbell just rang. I sighed as I answered the door, certain it was a door-to-door salesman.

It was.

He was selling no-soliciting signs.

Super good song

This week Caroline and Brin invited six neighbor girls over for a craft afternoon. As they were working in my office Caroline turned on my itunes favorites and this super good song came on. The following conversation ensued:

Several girls at once: Oh! I love this song! I remember it - oh yeah! It's the song from the end of Night at the Museum!

Jenn: Actually, it wasn't originally from the movie. It's much older than that.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. First it was in a Gap commercial.

Enjoy the video and the outfits. Earth Wind & Fire rules.

2:42 A.M.

I had a dream last night that scared the literal hell out of me. The only reason I mention this is that in a recent group discussion I bragged of not having had a nightmare in over ten years. Like Jerry and his vomit, my streak is over. It went something like this:

I came home from church in between meetings (common for me in real life), only it wasn't my real home it was a duplex with a shared four-car garage in the middle. When I pulled in (driving my tan Ford truck from high school, a.k.a. "The Fo") there was a man parked in my driveway. If Christopher Llyod and Albert Einstein had a love child, this is what the man would look like. Let's call him Christopher Einstein.

So anyway, Christopher Einstein is hanging around my garage and asks me where the nearest church is. I walked him to the corner and pointed down the street. "It's not the church you see there, but if you keep walking it will be on your right," I told him. Annoyed I wouldn't give him a ride and glancing at his watch he dissappeared into my duplex's garage.

Meanwhile my neighbor (who was actually my old neighbor in real life-weird) steps out of the garage and warns me, "Don't get in his car. If you go together, be sure to take your car and you drive. That's much safer."

I got into the 'Fo' and, as every woman does, checked the back set. It was empty.

Heading off down the street I shifted gears (manual transmission)... first... seccond... third...

and then in the rear view mirror I see the fluzzy white hair rising from the back seat. I shouted, "You son of a bi..."

And then I sat straight up in bed and glanced at the clock. 2:42 am. My streak is over.

Psychology majors, interpret please.

God makes them cute so you don't kill them...

How could I ever feel short tempered toward a face like this? Her adorableness is the only thing that saves her from being dropped off in the woods sometimes. Take today for instance...

First, she pooed in the bathtub. After bleaching all the bath toys and transferring her to the shower to get clean I put her down for a nap. Luckily, Whitney came to clean today. (I like Whitney more than any other living person.) Apparently a freshly scrubbed tub is irresistible to Gracie, because before I knew she was missing she was in the tub, full clothed with freezing cold water up to her belly. Oh, and somehow she managed to smear black dirt all over her feet and onto the tub.

All of this is normal, day-to-day activity for a child and those of you with children are thinking, "Yeah...and???". But after nearly ten years of mothering things like this are growing considerably less charming. I describe it as Chinese water torture. No one drop is that maddening, BUT

drop..drop...drop...drop..drop...drop...

Nature, however, is programed to reproduce and preserve life and therefore, my affection for this little devil far outweighs my irritation.

Lucky for her.

Lucky for me.

The Next Generation

Last week we were lucky enough to host an up and comming soccer super star for BYU soccer camp. My long time friend from high school days has a daughter the same age as Caroline and our two girls have become quite good friends. Each morning they ran four hours in the hot sun for camp (it was nearly 100 every day!) and then we played HARD every afternoon.

We painted pottery at color me mine...



Saw the new American Girl movie (we all brought our dolls)...

taught each other new hairstyles so we could look alike as much as possible...


and made homemade pizza, went to seven peaks waterpark, went out to eat every day, created original movies on the computer, and stayed up WAY too late each night sharing music from the ipods. Preteen girls are SOOOOO much fun. I feel like I'm that mom in the movie Mean Girls- you know the old-but trying to be young one who tries to hang out with her high school aged daughter's friends ("Ladies! What is the 411?).

By the end of the week I was litterally exhausted. I felt like we had been on a vacation! I love living in Utah for the reason that sooner or later, everyone you like will travel through. We sure like Anne!

Ooh, La La

This is soooo Brin. No matter how many times I hide this Grandma-gifted dress she seems to find it. And this time she found gloves and a leopard cowboy hat to match.

Not a great pic, but..

Gracie loves frozen blueberries.

Fifth grade, here we come!

For the third year in a row Caroline hosted a last-day-of-school water party. Her entire fourth grade class, including her teacher pictured below, enjoyed a blow up water slide, water guns and balloons, pizza and treats. It's our little tradition- and I count it toward my mandatory 40 volunteer school hours. HA!

Panther Champs

All fourteen Pink Panther families convened at our house for the end of season BBQ party. Even though most of these girls are skilled enough to make a competition team we have all decided to stick together in the rec league to play under the direction of Coach Jonathan Sherrill. The girls are all such great friends. And they WIN WIN WIN!

And baby makes three...

Jeff and I experienced a blast from the past with "Parenting only one child 101" last week.

My sister, Heather, had plans to visit our parents in Arizona and invited Brinley to go along. Not since the infamous "six hours on an all-night flight from Hawaii with double ear infections of 2004" has Brin flown on an airplane, so she was reeling with anticipation. Which, as all of you experienced parents know, leads directly to illness. (The greater the anticipation, the sicker children will get). Just five hours before her eight o'clock flight Brinley threw up (all over me, might I add) at a picnic in the canyon.

Well! I couldn't very well send her- all shivering, aching and with a 101 degree fever. Caroline gingerly inquired, "If Brin doesn't go.......... can I use her ticket?" Jeff said she could.

Just the, a sudden realization came upon me! Brin had just received her kindergarten immunizations, with flu like symptoms being a common side effect. After a two hour nap Brin was convinced she could fly. But where did that leave Caroline???

Well, I'll tell you where it left her. It left her with great big puppy-dog-disappointed-looking eyes. It left her with the biggest push-over of a daddy in the whole world, who happens to have several frequent-flyer miles. And it left her going to Arizona, too, with less than three hours to pack.

So there Jeff and I were left, two comfortable old shoes with nothing but little Gracie to occupy our time for five whole days. I think I feel in love with her in a way I remember feeling about Caroline when she was my only baby.

She is magically beautiful.

It was nice to have the girls back home yesterday, though. They do so many chores for me around the house that I was beginning to grow weary without them. Besides being my little slaves, they are a whole lot of fun to be around.