The flag of the United States of America!

For as long as we have lived in Logan whenever we see the temple the kids would demand that we sing "I love to see the temple." What a great tradition. Now it seems we are starting another one.

Every time Cutie sees an American flag he gets so excited. He hollers, "Look! It's the flag of the United States of America! Let's sing it!" And so we all sing the national anthem. I don't know where he got this streak of patriotism, but I think it's a good tradition too!

Is it spring yet?

Well, it's been awhile hasn't it? Winter is just so busy and wintery! We were beginning to think the snow really was going to all melt pretty soon when we had a huge snow storm last Monday--20 inches in some parts of Cache Valley! It's really crazy. Silly Guy was telling me how the snow had better be gone for his birthday on the 20th. At the time I thought maybe it would be, but now I don't think it will be. It's been so cold too--the last two mornings have been around 10 degrees when the kids were leaving for school!

Juice is gone on an orchestra trip to Las Vegas and then Anaheim & L.A. They just left 24 hours ago but I miss her--I'm a lone woman among all these men! (Of course I pretty much rule here so it's not so bad;) I will really miss her when she leaves for the whole summer in June and then for college(I hope) in September.

When the swim season was over I told Sonny Pie to join some clubs and find something to keep him busy so he wouldn't be grumpy all the time.(He gets incredibly grumpy when he's bored!)
He took that and decided to go to a friend's house every day after school until dinner time. I hope he's not wearing out his welcome over there. At least it's a friend who shares his standards. He's not likely to get in any trouble there.

Silly Guy is sooooo excited for his 10th birthday next week. He always wants to be older. I keep telling him to enjoy where he is. He'll never be nine again! He's enjoying playing the cello. A couple of days ago he spaced out and forgot to go to his orchestra class. He came home and said that when he realized he had forgotten he almost started crying---in school! (That is so unlike him to show any emotion in public. He's always been very shy.)

Superstar is as exuberant as ever. He never does anything half-heartedly whether it's a happy, sad, or angry heart. He loves being a cub scout and doing math. He saves his math homework for last every day because it is the best he says.

Yesterday I took Cutie to register for kindergarten! He's so ready and excited. We had to wait in line forever, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

All in all we're feeling very blessed as spring approaches. Stephen still has a job despite layoffs at his work. We're preparing for hard times ahead as we've been counseled by the prophets. We don't know what hard times we may face but we know that if we keep our faith and obedience strong we will be all right!

25 things

I got tagged on facebook to make this list. I enjoyed making it so much that I wanted to put it here too. I didn't know if I could think of 25 interesting things about me since my life is pretty average. I don't know if these things are interesting or not but I keep thinking of more things to add so I'll probably post another list before long!

1. I love my life and what's happening in it right now.
2. I went to 5 different elementary schools, 3 junior high schools and 2 high schools.
3. My favorite place I have ever lived is Logan, Utah where I live now.
4. I am constantly amazed at how my children are growing up to be wonderful, caring, people.
5. I am also amazed at the sometimes difficult process my children go through to become wonderful, caring people.
6. I love music!!! One of the best times of my life was being at Ricks College as a music major and being surrounded and involved in it all the time.
7. I met my husband at Ricks College where he was a music major also and he is my favorite composer.(I'm not just saying that! He really is good!)
8. I put my education on hold to raise my five children. For a long time getting back was my most urgent thought, but when the time came that it was feasible for me to go back with just my youngest in daycare and I made the choice to stay home with him the urgency went away. The time will come when it is right.
9. I love to do things with my hands--crocheting, cross stitch, sewing, woodwork(I don't do much of this.), playing the piano, etc., etc., etc.
10. I love to be surrounded by children--mostly my own, but other people's too. I love teaching the Sunbeams!
11. I would have been on the high school swim team if there had been a swim team at my high school.
12. My children have very good taste in music. They surprise me with what they love to listen to. A lot of my old favorites.
13. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my family(parents & siblings). I miss living close enough to see them every day.
14. I am addicted to reading. Mostly juvenile fiction. Some of my favorite authors are Avi, Lloyd Alexander, and Diana Wynne Jones. I love "Lord of the Rings", "Chronicles of Narnia", and "A Wrinkle in Time."
15. I have a paralyzing fear of my children falling from high places.
16. I am a terrible organizer. I'm very grateful for my husband and daughter who are great at it.
17. I want to be a choir teacher. I have known that since I was in 8th grade. Someday maybe I'll get there.
18. I think facebook, and blogs, and e-mail, and the internet are some of the greatest things to help homebodies like me be able to keep in touch with everyone.
19. I bake all of the bread for my family.
20. I grew up in a family with 4 girls and 1 boy, now I have 1 girl and 4 boys.
21. I feel that every time someone you love dies, a little piece of you goes with them. That way when it's your turn to go part of you is already there.
22. I hate housework--especially laundry. But I do love a clean house.
23. I teach piano lessons. I never wanted to but people in my neighborhood were begging me when we moved here so I started and I love it.
24. I am also a cub scout leader. I never wanted to do that either but it's pretty fun.
25. I love to read and learn about my family history. Not just names, but stories.

Swimmers!

I have been really glad that my children have had the opportunity I wish I could have had of being on the high school swim team. (In other words they are living my dream;) It has been such a great experience for both Juice and Sonny Pie. Last weekend was the region swim meet which was the last meet for this year--at least for my kids. Sonny Pie got his personal best time on his 200 yard breast stroke which he's been working really hard on all season. I've seen great improvement in him personally and athletically this season. I'm really proud of him.

Juice matched her personal bests almost exactly on both of the events she swam--100 yard butterfly and 100 yard freestyle. This is her last year as a senior. I think she will miss it. I hope she finds a way to keep swimming after high school. It has been one of her favorite things since she was really young.

We always said she was a fish (or maybe a turtle) because she picked up on swimming so easily. I believe it has built her confidence and happiness for many years! Great job!!!!

Happy 100th Anniversary!

Today is the 100th wedding anniversary of John and Ruby Stoker, Stephen's great-grandparents. They left a great heritage for us and our children.
John served a church mission to Japan for six years! He translated "A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"--the first church book to be translated into Japanese. During that time Ruby was home attending BYU and dating and having fun but was still around when John came home and they got married on Jan. 9, 1909. Last Saturday we attended a wonderful Stoker reunion in honor of their anniversary.

We played Stoker family history bingo before dinner. Cutie used his bingo markers(smarties) to build these wonderful sculptures. Perhaps we have a budding architect in our midst?

Grandma believed in always looking nice. She was a hat & glove lady. All of the kids had fun dressing up in the old-fashioned hats and gloves.

We went on a carriage ride to see what Grandma & Grandpa Stoker got to do all the time. It was really cold!!!! We are very grateful for our heated cars.

Look at this amazing cake with a copy of their original wedding certificate and their wedding picture. Also a picture of Grandma & Grandpa Stoker later in life.

It was such a wonderful and well planned event. I'm so glad my children and myself had the opportunity to learn about and honor these wonderful people who left them such a great heritage!

Fingers anyone?

So our cutie has a habit that we've been trying to break for about three years. I think he must have been sucking on his fingers in the womb! He never would take a pacifier. He only wanted his fingers. All of our other children were finished with pacifiers pretty close to their first birthday so that's about when we started trying to get cutie to stop sucking his fingers. We've tried the yucky tasting stuff on his fingernails---he didn't mind at all. He would make a funny face and then keep on sucking. As he has gotten older we've tried more thoughtful things. We put duck tape on his fingers so he couldn't suck on them. That seemed to help for a while. He even thought it was fun to have "remembering tape" on his fingers, but now he chews on the tape instead.
We've tried giving him a sucker if he keeps his fingers out of his mouth for any amount of time but he thinks "5 seconds" is long enough to get a sucker. I disagree.

A few days ago Juice tried some reverse psychology and kept telling him to put his fingers in his mouth. She said it was working and he didn't want them in his mouth anymore so I decided to try it. When I told him to put his fingers in his mouth he gave me this delighted, amazed look and popped them right in. Later that day he came to me and said, "Remember when you told me to put my fingers in my mouth? Will you tell me that again?"

Happy 18th Birthday!

Here's Juice contemplating eighteen candles on her birthday baklava yesterday. What a wonderful girl facing a lot of big decisions right now. She's talented, beautiful, and smart. She's going to go great places!