Saturday, April 14, 2012

Quick Funny from Brekken

On our way home from Haley's baptism in Roy, UT we stopped by my parents' house in Vernal, UT. While we were there, we had lunch (bagel sandwiches) and the kids played on Grandma & Grandpa's new deck, which features an exciting ramp to run up and down.

Last night, Brekken asked me: "Sometime can we go to that grandma house again? The one with the cool ramp?"

"Yes," I told him. "We'll go there in July for the family reunion."

"Good," he replied, because I like... I like..." He trailed off, but I figured I could finish his sentence. He had just been talking about running up and down the ramp, so big surprise, he was going to say he liked the ramp.

"I like... bagels. We should have bagels at that grandma house."

Should I break it to him that bagels are actually available here in Colorado? Or let him continue to think they're a special treat only available at "that grandma house"?

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Haley's Baptism

After several months of car troubles, scheduling dilemmas, and other delays, we finally made our trip to Utah to have Haley baptized!

We headed out Wednesday morning. The kids were excited the whole way. (How much longer until we're in Utah? - wait 5 minutes - How much longer until we're in Utah, now?) They were especially looking forward to seeing their cousins... or as they always refer to them, The Cousins. (Always as a collective. We're going to see The Cousins! We can't wait to play with The Cousins. We love The Cousins. This applies to cousins on both sides of the family.)

I actually stayed awake for the entire trip! This is unheard of for me. Typically, I get in the car and start falling asleep within 30 minutes... sometimes less. Unfortunately, the reason I stayed awake was because I was working for the entire trip. But on the plus side, since I worked the entire day, I didn't have to use up a vacation day.

The kids had a great time playing with The Cousins for a few days and we really enjoyed visiting with the family. I spent a few more days working (I will be really glad when the May Symposium is done and work is not quite so stressful for a little while!).

Saturday was the big day. Haley got all dressed up in her favorite fluffy pettiskirt.

Aaron and I gave her a special baptism necklace (which we actually bought a year ago and have been hanging onto ever since). The boys dressed up, too, though they weren't as enthusiastic about it. We headed out to the church where the kids were overjoyed to discover another Grandma & Grandpa! My parents and my sister and her family came out from Vernal for the baptism and we finally got an in-person peek at Baby Olivia. (Much like The Cousins, my sister's new child is always referred to by my children as Baby Olivia. She should really appreciate that in a few more years.) Grandma & Grandpa Schurz gave Haley a gift - it was a special baptism necklace.

We got Haley changed into her baptism jumpsuit and then managed to neglect to take a picture. We must have had a dozen cameras there, but no one snapped a picture. :(  As we were getting everything finished up and ready to start, something we said apparently gave Brekken the impression that today was baptism day for all the kids in the family; which is why he told us: "I don't want to get baptized! I just had a bath last night!"

The baptism program was lovely. Grandma Shields gave a talk on baptism. Then Haley, my sister Melissa, my sister-in-law Jen, my sister-in-law Laura, my mom and I did a song about baptism. It went surprisingly well considering we had practiced it together for the first time about 10 minutes previously. Then came the baptism itself, which went perfectly. Aaron remembered all the words, Haley didn't get scared of going underwater (she had been freaked out about getting water in her ears for some reason), and it was just wonderful. Right up until I realized that I had left the towels in the car... so Haley and Aaron had to drip-dry for a couple of minutes until someone could bring in the towels. And then, of course, we realized that neither of them had any dry underwear to change into! Haley elected to go commando (permissible since she was wearing leggings under her skirt), while Aaron went with the dry-off-as-much-as-possible-and-hope-the-damp-doesn't-show-through-your-clothes route. Then we finished up with a talk on the Holy Ghost from Grandpa Schurz and Haley's confirmation. It was really just a very nice and special occasion... underwear snafus notwithstanding.

After the baptism service, Aunt Jen gave Haley a present - it was a special baptism necklace.

Then it was time for a party! We headed over to the other church where we had a couple of crockpots of Italian beef for sandwiches, and salads and dessert. Nothing fancy, but just right! We hung out with family and friends for a few hours. We finally got the chance to actually hold Baby Olivia. There was plenty of time playing with The Cousins. Grandma & Grandpa Shields gave Haley a present - it was NOT a special baptism necklace. (It was a lovely remembrance book for Haley to write about the special day.)





Then we headed back to Grandma & Grandpa Shields' house for an Easter egg hunt. The kids thoroughly enjoyed that as well.



Haley & I snuck out for the evening to go see The Hunger Games with my mom and sister. (Finally! Hooray! I've been wanting to see it so badly!) The movie was great, as was the girls' night out. But when we came out of the theater, everything was shut down. No other moviegoers, no employees... we obviously went out the wrong way. We ended up wandering the empty mall... every exit we saw was gated off and we couldn't get out. We found our way back into the theater where we finally saw an employee! She showed us a different door and we headed that way... only to find ourselves back out in the empty mall. We tried to follow her, but she disappeared too quickly. So there we are again, wandering through the empty mall trying to find an unlocked door so we can leave. My mom commented, "This is kind of spooky." Which is when we heard the weird laughter echoing down the (we thought) empty hallways. Then it really DID feel kind of spooky! Luckily, we finally found an unlocked exit and were able to leave the mall and find the car.

We spent Easter with Aaron's family. The kids were so well-behaved at church! I'm obviously very unused to that... and don't know what to do with myself during Sacrament Meeting if I'm not constantly keeping the kids under control. I fell asleep. I'm sure it was a lovely Easter service, though.

We headed home Monday and planned our route through Vernal so we would have a chance to see my grandparents (who weren't feeling well enough to come out for the baptism). We stopped for lunch at mom's house and got to see my mom and sister Melissa. We also got a chance to see my sister-in-law Sarah and nephew Kyron. Sarah gave Haley a present - it was a special baptism necklace. (If you're counting, that makes 4. And Haley likes to wear all of them at once.) It was great to have a short visit with Grandma, though we weren't able to see Grandpa because he was sick and not feeling up to visiting. :(

The rest of the trip was uneventful, though very long. Why does the trip home always take so much longer than the trip out? (Once again, I stayed awake for the whole drive... because once again I was working the whole time.) It was a great trip - can't wait to do it again for my family reunion in July!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Miracle Shower Cleaner

If you have hard water like we do, you know about the nasty, very hard to clean soap scum that forms when you shower in that hard water. I would post a before picture, but I don't want to disgust you with the nastiness.

Instead, I'll share a picture of the miraculous new shower cleaner I found:

 Yes, that is oven cleaner. Easy-Off Fume Free Max oven cleaner to be specific. I was doing some research trying to find a better cleaning product for the nasty shower and I came upon a thread on a message board talking about cleaning hard-water soap scum... where someone suggested using this oven cleaner. It seemed crazy, but in the thread were several testimonials from people who had tried it with great success. After reading it all, I bought a can, figuring it was worth a shot. I was sure to find the specific type mentioned - other kinds are apparently too harsh. And today I was in full spring-cleaning mode and gave it a shot.

First thing this morning I sprayed down the shower liberally with oven cleaner. I coated every inch of soap scum. And then I walked away. I stayed away for about 6 hours while I cleaned the rest of the house. When I finally got back to the shower, I turned on the water to wet it down and start scrubbing. To my amazement, just the water hitting the coated soap scum started washing it off the walls! I took my scrub brush to it as well and all it took was a single swipe to wipe away the soap scum and oven cleaner. It just wiped right off! Usually a lot of elbow grease is required. I was seriously done in about 5 minutes. A few minutes with the brush, a minute to thoroughly rinse it all down, and done! This stuff is awesome!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Quick Funny from Brekken

A conversation between Brekken and Aaron this morning:

Brekken: "Are you thinking the same thing?"

Aaron: "Probably not."

Brekken: "I'm thinking we need to get in the car and go to a carnival."

Aaron: "Where would we find a carnival?"

Brekken: "It's in the city. We just need to drive east and then we go west and then we go east. I love the carnival."

Thursday, March 22, 2012

We're Building a Library!

What? How are you doing that?


Recently we learned about an organization called The African Library Project. This non-profit brings gently used books to an African community that has lots of eager readers but very few books. I don't know what it was about this particular cause that grabbed me... maybe it's my own life-long love of books and reading, or how I now see my own kids learning to read and loving books, but I was immediately captivated by the idea of joining in.

Books en-route to Mohale's Hoek High School in Lesotho
It only takes 1000 books and $500 - $600 to build a library... That seemed doable!

When I talked to Aaron about it, he was immediately on board as well. Since he has spent time in Africa and has a good friend who is from Lesotho, he definitely has a soft spot in his heart for Africa. So I got in touch with the people at the African Library project. They assigned us to a book drive project, and we were ready to get started! We learned that we will be gathering donations for a secondary school in Africa. We haven't been matched with a specific school yet, but we anxiously await that information. In the meantime, we're going to move forward.

Here are some ways that you can help...

Would you like to help build a library? There are lots of simple things you could do. Donate books; donate money; ask others to donate books or money; give us ideas for a fundraising event; put up posters or flyers around your neighborhood; donate packing supplies; or whatever else you can come up with!

Our book drive is for a secondary school library, so we need gently-used books at a U.S. 4th grade to 8th grade reading level. (If you're unsure of the reading level of a book, look it up on Amazon.com. You can almost always find it there.) Books about Africa or African-Americans are great, but any book you can donate is wonderful. Schools in Lesotho teach English as a primary language, so English-language books are just what they need.




Here's how you can contribute your books...

Get your books to us any way you can. We'll take them at work, at church, at school, on the street, or when you run into us at Target. You can drop them by our house. You can mail them to us (media mail is fairly inexpensive). If you're feeling generous, you can buy a new book online and have it delivered to our house. Anything goes!



We need to raise funds for shipping the books...

We also need to raise $500-$600 for shipping costs. If you don't have books to donate, consider making a small donation. Hey, even if you've got books to donate, consider making a small donation! Even $1 helps.

You can donate here:




Or stop us when you see us and share your spare change. :) We also plan to set up some fundraising events to raise money for shipping. We will keep you updated on those!



What's in it for me?

Boys from Lesotho enjoy Dr. Suess' 500 Hats!
The satisfying feeling of helping others! A little bit of recognition - we'll keep a list of all contributors so we can thank you along the way. Also, please send a photo of yourself or your family when you make a donation. We'll send the photos along with the books so our school in Lesotho can get to know us a little bit. A great family activity - gathering books to donate would make a great family home evening! A chance to declutter - don't we all have some extra books lying around that we could stand to clear out? And even a tax deduction - The African Library Project is a registered 501(c)3 organization (Fed Tax ID# 65-1261685). Let us know if you need a receipt for your donation.



Contact us to find out more...

You can reach me by phone or email or by leaving a comment on the blog. I'll get back to you with more information just as soon as I can!



About the African Library Project...

Learn more about the African Library Project at http://www.africanlibraryproject.org.
You can 'like' them at http://facebook.com/pages/africanlibraryproject - get updates, inspiration and more!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 11th wedding anniversary. 11 years! I find it hard to believe it's been that long. I don't feel all that different. I don't feel 11 years older. And yet life is certainly different than it was 11 years ago.

11 years ago... we stayed up all night for no good reason... We went grocery shopping at 2 a.m. just to avoid crowded aisles and long check-out lines... We went out to eat on the spur of the moment - no pre-planning and babysitter finding or kid wrangling required... We slept in until noon on weekends... We took trips where we only packed a single duffle bag... We were the only ones sleeping in our bed... The only messes in our house were the ones we made. Frankly, life was a lot easier.

BUT... now we have 4 wonderful children to show for 11 years of marriage. And while we don't stay up all night (on purpose) anymore because the kids have us too exhausted to stay up past 10 or 11... And shopping at 2 a.m. means we've run out of diapers and it's an emergency... And it's a miraculous day when we sleep in at all... And going out for dinner takes hours of planning and schedule shifting... And going on a road trip requires a week of packing... And never a night goes by that someone (or several someones) doesn't climb into bed with us... And my house hasn't been truly clean since about 2005... I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love my husband and my kids and my life.

We celebrated a little early this year (because of that whole babysitter and work schedules thing I mentioned before). We decided years ago not to give each other gifts for our anniversary. Instead, we would use the money we would have spent and splurge on a really nice dinner out. This year we went to Bastien's restaurant in Denver. It was incredible! I had steak and lobster... so good. And Aaron had some sort of small steaks on toasted bread with asparagus and shrimp and bernaise sauce... also very good (he said) and beautiful. The dishes were so pretty I had to take a picture before we could eat. :)



Add in a relaxing evening without the kids where we were able to only worry about feeding ourselves and could actually take time to talk to each other... it was a very nice way to celebrate. (Especially since we knew the kids were quite happy without us. They love their babysitter Sarah so much that they often tell us to leave again when we get home after an evening out. They'd rather have Sarah than us anytime!)

Happy anniversary, honey. My vote is to keep this up for at least 11 more years!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Girls' Night

When I got the facebook message inviting a group of ladies from church to go out for a girls's night at The Melting Pot, I was so excited. A girls' night! I haven't done that in ages. And The Melting Pot! It's a fancy fondue restaurant that I've never been to before. I've really wanted to go because everyone raves about it, but it's pretty pricey. But hey, Denver Restaurant Week to the rescue! Every year, Denver restaurants have a week (or in this case, a month, because TMP extended their deal) where you can get a fancy dinner for the less-than-usually-fancy price of $52.80 for two people.  (Because we're a mile high, get it? 5,280 feet.) It's a great chance to go somewhere you normally couldn't afford.

I really wanted to go, so I asked Aaron pretty, pretty please can you make it home from work in time to pick up the kids? Because my husband is awesome, he arranged to have someone cover his hours at work that afternoon so that he could get the kids - and help them with homework - and fix their dinner - and entertain them for the evening - and get them ready for bed - and fight with them to keep them in bed - and put them back in bed when they get out yet again. All those things that are normally my job because Aaron doesn't get home from work until they're already in bed (hopefully... if I haven't managed to put them to bed by they time he gets home they're up much too late). As excited as I was by the chance to go out for the night and to try the nice restaurant, I was every bit as excited (maybe even a little more) by the idea that I got a night off from the bedtime struggle!

We all met up at Megan's house to carpool to the restaurant. It was a group of 9 ladies from church, all of whom I know at least casually, but mostly I only interact with them on facebook or blog comments. So it was really great to have a chance to spend time with them in person instead of online!

I haven't had so much fun in quite a while. We talked and laughed and ate... oh, my, did we eat! I have to say, the rave reviews of TMP were right on track. When we ate the first course of cheese fondue with bread and veggies and apples for dipping I thought it was incredibly good. (I love bread... and adding hot and gooey melted cheese to bread - awesome!) Then the salads arrived and they were great, too. And then the meat course. We got salmon and shrimp and chicken and teriyaki steak and filet mignon. And then a plethora of tasty sauces to dip them in. It was all so delicious. And though I wouldn't have thought it possible, given how much I loved the cheese course, the meat course was even better. And then... the dessert. They brought pots of melted chocolate mixed with caramel sauce. Then lit it on fire! The flambe action was fun to watch. Then they added candied pecans. Then gave us plates of goodies that would have made a wonderful dessert all by themselves - rice krispy treats, brownies, marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, pound cake, and cheesecake - and encouraged us to dip them all in liquid chocolate. Oh yes.

My favorite quote of the night came from Chantal, who commented after her first bite of chocolately goodness: "This must be what heaven is like." I have to agree, that would make for a pretty great afterlife.

We had such a good time. It was great to get to know everyone a little better. I got tips from the professional photographer on a great new photo app for my phone (as you'll see from the quality of my pictures, I need an improved photo app!) and from the veteran bargain hunter on a new app for earning gift cards (hooray! it's like free money). I was reassured that I'm not the only mom who loves her kids, but hates bedtime. And not the only one who goes faithfully to church but hasn't heard a word of it since the kids were old enough to cause chaos in the chapel. (And not the only one to feed my kids PB&J during the service!) I confessed my secret ambition (to post something creative, innovative, or delicious enough that people pin me on Pinterest) and shared our upcoming family service project (building a library in Lesotho - more on that later).

And when I got home everyone (including Aaron) was already tucked into bed and sound asleep... nice. All I had to do was put myself to bed. What luxury!

We're really going to have to do this again. Though my budget won't stretch to places like TMP very often... maybe we can set up the next girls' night for that chic hotspot known as Chic-Fil-A. The food might not be as fancy, but company would be just as good!