TRICK OR TREAT!

Finally, tonight, we got to go trick-or-treating! We had a long week, waiting for Halloween. On Tuesday we went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat party, which was so fun. And that was especially nice because Dan was in town. So we got to have a fun family Halloween party. Olivia has been planning to be a kitty cat for so long, and luckily for me, I found a strip of black crushed velvet in my sewing scraps. So we made her a tail and some ears and painted her face and she looked adorable. And Rylie loves her ballet dressup clothes, so she was especially excited about wearing her ballet shoes to church. Tucker, on the other hand, hasn't been able to decide what he wanted to be for Halloween. We were vascillating between Batman and Ben10 and Sonic the Hedgehog. Thankfully, he decided on the easiest of the three costumes to create, Ben10 (he's a character from a cartoon about a little boy who saves the world by turning into different alien forms to defeat bad guys, using an extraterrestrial watch that crashed to earth via a meteor - you can see why it might be the favorite show of a 6 year old.) :)

By Halloween night, however, Olivia had changed her mind about being a kitty and Rylie had filled her tutu with peanut butter, so Livs and Rylie donned two of Tucker's old costumes, with only two minor additions - ribbons, to make a GIRL dinosaur and a GIRL giraffe. They were adorable, and lots warmer for the cool night air. We went trick or treating with our best friends Aubrie and Robbie. I was glad to have Amber and Ryan's help trying to corral three sugar-high children in the dark. It really was super fun. :)

the pumpkin patch!

We had such a fun Saturday morning at the pumpkin patch! The kids thought it was so cool to pick out their own perfect pumpkin from the field, and then they got a wheelbarrow ride from Dad. "He's SO strong!" Then we got to play on the big tree swing (we did this when we went strawberry picking at the same fields...) and talk to the horsies. But the fun new addition at the farm this year was the pig racing. They let these adorable little piglets run around a tiny corral and the kids cheered them on as they ran. They thought that was hilarious. I did, too, actually. :)

It really was a beautiful fall morning, and I love it when we get to spend such wonderful time together as a family. It doesn't happen often enough, it seems, but when it does, it's just fabulous. :)

the annual besties weekend

Just a few weekends ago we had our annual "besties" reunion - a group of my 10 best friends from my freshman year at BYU, and every year we get together for one weekend (without hubbies and without children, unless they're nursing babies) and we have a BLAST.

This year we went to Boston, and it was so incredibly fun. We got to walk the freedom trail, visit a pumpkin farm, "meditate" at Walden Pond, tour Harvard yard, cheer on the regatta racers, and eat - A LOT. Plus, it was fun just to revert to the silly-college-girls attitude. There's a reason that these girls are 10 of my best friends in the whole world. I come home rejuvenated and revivified. :)

Moo, Mim, Jennie, and Jenn at the bank of the Charles River, cheering the regatta race.

Jennie and I enjoyed a little relax time by Walden Pond

a little miracle

I know those of you who've talked to me over the past two years that we've been here in Athens know how much we have relied on the Lord to help us through some difficult financial times. We really, truly, have survived on the miracles and the blessings of paying our tithing. And this afternoon was just another example.

I was looking at our bank account this afternoon and fretting just a bit about our finances. (Ok, more than "just a bit" - I was seriously about to have a mental break down.) We are not quite half-way through the month and there was barely enough money left in our account to cover our tithing check that will probably clear some time this week. And we still have bills and groceries and gas for two more weeks that we need to pay for! As I was stressing out, I was concerned that there was a dramaturgy job I finished a month or so ago, that I still hadn't been paid for. I was about to write a desperate email to the theatre that owed me a paycheck, when suddenly and very calmly a voice came to my mind that said, 'just go check the mailbox.'

I was eager as I walked down the driveway hill, and when the first envelope I noticed after opening the mailbox was stamped "Salt Lake City, UT" I knew the Lord had heard our humble prayers. This was the paycheck we were waiting for, and I was so thankful that I listened to the spirit, that the Lord sent us this blessing yet again, and that we will now be able to pay our bills this month. I'm so grateful for tithing!

life is kinda kickin my butt right now...

So...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, especially posts with pictures. I know I need to get on that, especially for the west coast fam.

My excuse is that I'm pregnant. And it's been a way different pregnancy than it was with the other three - I'm actually sick, and super duper tired, and feeling a bit achey-painey in general. We're pretty excited about the baby coming (probably the end of April next year, maybe early May if we're lucky...) but these days I keep asking myself, "Why did we think this was a good idea? Remind me one more time, Heavenly Father..."

Working in the evenings just makes the fatigue a little more difficult to handle. But we'll push through this, and pretty soon we'll be into the second trimester and I'll feel better for sure. :)

Pics to come soon, I promise!

another little blessing...

Last night for family home evening we had a lesson on patriarchal blessings - we started with treasure maps that Olivia and I had made, leading to "treasure" (candy, of course) that was "buried" under Tucker's dresser. They each had their own special map to follow, but they all led to the same treasure.  Then I explained how patriarchal blessings are like treasure maps, and if we follow them, we will get the one thing that we want most of all. Then I asked the kids, "what is the one thing that mommy wants most, more than anything else?" Olivia shouted, "a new kitchen!" (i'll admit, i had been wishing aloud on the "shooting star" - was rylie's bite of food flying creatively to her mouth - that i could have a new kitchen...) But then Tucker said almost as quickly, "To have the spirit in our home!" Not the answer I was looking for, but totally acceptable. :) Then we talked about how our family can be together forever, and the celestial kingdom. And Dan and I each read a portion of our blessings to the kids (the parts that talked about our family.) I got teary eyed later that night saying my prayers when I thought about how perceptive Tucker is sometimes. He is such a tender little guy.

at least i know she thinks about this...

Yesterday I was making a card for a friend and Olivia wanted to make one too. So I gave her some paper and a pen and she said, "I know what I want it to say." "Ok," I said.  "What do you want me to write?" She looked at me with a sincere expression, her voice just a little softer, and said, "Dear Aubrie. I'm sorry for all the not-nice times we've had. I know we can make ourselves better by sharing together."

Just about broke my heart. I know that she is aware of the fact that she struggles to share with her friends and speak kindly to them. And at least I know that she wants to try to improve. I forget sometimes that she is only four. I'm so glad the Lord gives me moments like these to see the "child of god" in my children.

Our first visit from the tooth fairy!

I can't believe I have a son old enough to be losing teeth! He came running in from his bedroom yesterday afternoon saying "my mouth is bleeding!" and then he tossed his tooth onto the counter. We jumped up and down and hi-fived a couple times. And then this morning when he woke up he was so excited to find that there was a note from the toothfairy, sprinkled with glitter, and TWO quarters under his pillow! I love this age, where there is so much belief in magic.

And I love that the magical beliefs are intertwined with their faith, at this point. It's all the same to them. To illustrate: the other day the kids were talking about some cool new toy that they wanted to get. Tucker said, "We'll have to write to Santa for that!" and Olivia responded with the most honest reply, "How about if we just ask Heavenly Father!" Obviously, a prayer can be answered now, but Christmas isn't until December! :)

Olvia's first day of preschool (for *real this year)

This might be the exact same outfit she was wearing last year for her "first day of preschool" before we realized we were just too poor to put her in. Poor girl.

But isn't she adorable? And we found a great new preschool that we love and that has given us a scholarship, so it's a great situation. She just loves it. And I mean LOVES it. She doesn't stop talking about all the fun things they do, singing their songs, telling me about the weather. I wish we could have put her in every day, instead of just MWF. But still, it's going to be a great year. I am so proud of her for being super brave. After orientation and meeting her teachers (and after we realized that her classroom has a bucket full of my little ponies with their toys!) she hasn't had a hard time at all. The first morning I drove her up to the drop off, and she climbed out of the car and took the teacher's hand and walked to her classroom. With one tiny glance over her shoulder, she was gone. I kept thinking about that mama mia song my mom made me listen to the other day. the one that i can't even think about without crying..."schoolbag in hand..." oh i can't handle it sometimes. It breaks my heart when I realize that I really am losing her, a little bit at a time...

Gotta stop this post. I'm bawling and I have to get one more post done before I tutor. Deep breath...

Enjoying the last days of summer....

The kids filled up the pool for one last time, more than likely, last weekend. They were having so much fun, sliding in and laughing, diving and practicing their "moves." My kids have "cool moves" for just about any occasion. And Olivia was cracking me up with the goggles. :)

eating lunch with my girls...

So every day I scramble to get lunch on the table for hungry girls, especially right after Livvy gets home from preschool - Rylie is already clambering into her seat shouting "It's ready! It's ready!" as soon as she sees me walk over to the paper plates on the counter. By the time I get lunch on the table for them they are "SO starving." Today was a perfect example. I got their food ready and they started eating. I warmed up a bowl of leftovers for my lunch. And as I sat down at the table to eat my lunch, Rylie had finished already and climbed up on the table across from me, staring at the bowl.

"Rylie's? Rylie's?"
"No, Rylie, that's mommy's lunch. Are you still hungry?"

(by now she's lying on her tummy on the table, leaning her face into the bowl)

"I eat it. A bite? A bite?"

(I give her one.)

"Oh, hot-cha mot-cha! Blow it. Mommy. Blow it."

(she begins "blowing" with her two front teeth pressed against her bottom lip making a loud, spitty "fffffff" sound)

"Ok, Rylie. That's enough. That's enough. I'll blow it."
"Oooh. Yum Yum. The meat!"

(she starts picking through the rice to find all the pieces of hamburger. she moves around the bowl and sits in my lap. she takes my fork.)

"Rylie do it. MMmmm."

(now cold, spitty hamburger and rice pieces are falling all over the carpet and my lap. I've given up trying to eat my own lunch.)

ahh...the bahamas...

(Don't forget to check out the rest of our Bahamas pictures - follow the picasa web link to the right, just below my profile picture!)

Well, we're back from our most wonderful vacation ever. It was just incredible. We are forever indebted to Kat and Todd for taking us on this cruise. It was great for our marriage, great for our sanity, great to remember what it's like to hang out with friends without kids around...and the kids just loved being at Grandma and Grandpas!

We drove down to Miami on Sunday and then had a lazy Monday morning before we all boarded the cruise ship. Dan said he knew we were on a cruise when, while we stood in the main deck, we heard a smooth voice singing "Strangers in the Night..." It was funny. And as we pulled away from Miami beach, we could see huge storm clouds in the distance. It was cool to see the sky divided in half, so clearly, between a menacing gray and clear blue...a perspective you could really only get from being far out at sea.

We woke up in the port at Nassau. Dan and I ran on the treadmills at the top of the cruise ship and looked out over the Bahamas. (We needed every chance we could get to burn calories, seeing as how we ate SO MUCH.) It was a gorgeous day. We took a ferry to Paradise Island and the Atlantis hotel, where we walked for a while to the beach. I will never ever forget the moment when we walked up a sandy hill and as we looked through the trees we caught our first glimpse of the most beautiful water I've ever seen. There are no words to describe the multiple blues we saw in the water. It was incredible. There was nothing to keep me from that water. I just sat in the waves and enjoyed the day. The sand was so soft and beautiful - not white, but filled with the tiniest bits of pink and pale blue. I was so sad to leave the beach and head back to the boat when it was time. We haggled with vendors in the markets for a bit before we got back on board - it was funny how everything was "on special sale today just for me."

Each night we had elegant dinners with Kat and Todd and talked and laughed for hours. Todd and I had several "stirring" conversations about politics and education and other random things, and then when Kat and Dan were tired of listening to us argue for fun we would go up to the top of the ship and watch the stars. It was so nice to feel the warm sea breezes and hold hands with Dan and count the shooting stars.

Tuesday was the "private island" of Cococay. We walked all the way around the island until we were almost the only ones around. Then we pulled our beach chairs into the water and we read. (I had to finish Breaking Dawn, which I read those first two days of the cruise - excellent! I don't really know which book is my favorite.) Dan and I brought blow up air mattresses to float on and we spent a couple hours floating far far away from the shore. It stayed shallow for a long time, and though there was quite a bit of moss and seaweed in parts, the open ocean was still a beautiful blue. And several times we were passed by a stealthy sting ray - yikes. This was the day that we got a little sunburned, but also the day that we got to relax the most. :)

Wednesday was Key West, which Dan and I both thought was a bit of a disappointment. It started out pretty cool, but quickly became just another "beach town" kind of place. We walked to the Southernmost point in the United States, just 90 miles from Cuba. We did a lot of walking in the very hot sun, walked past the presidential vacation "whitehouse" and the Ernest Hemingway home, and then Dan and I headed back to the cruise ship to relax and read some more. :) That night we saw an incredible sunset and spent a lot of time on the upper deck. The sea breezes were cool so late in the evening - it was actually nice to go back to our cozy little cabin for one more night on the ocean.

Friday it was hard to leave. We had a long breakfast with Kat and Todd, which was difficult, since I spent most of my free time during the week eating...and eating...and eating. We were nearly the last ones off the ship, sitting near the duty-free shops and talking about the coming school year and our little ones, and how we want to make sure we do this again very soon. We're so grateful to have such wonderful friends in this life - I don't know if Dan and I would have ever done something like this without our friends' encouragement (and financial help!) We needed this week to ourselves. It was fantastic. :)

Get Ready for Cruising!

I just can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! We're leaving on Friday for Grandma and Grandpa's house, and then on Sunday we leave the kids and drive down to Miami! Wahoo! I don't know if I'm more excited about the cruise, or more excited to spend a week with our best friends, no kids, just having fun. I haven't seen Kat and Todd in forever! We have been so blessed this summer to have such wonderful family vacations.

So, I'm pretty sure that the next blog post is going to be all about the fun we've had on our cruise. :)

Youth Conference

I had my first experience chaperoning a youth conference trip this weekend. It was a little crazy, since I was battling a cold and I had lost my voice for pretty much the entire weekend, but it was still fun. I have awesome girls, and I loved having the chance to get to know them a little better. There's something great about hanging out in your jammies and eating junk food at 2 in the morning - something that brings out the honesty in all of us. :)

And it was nice to have Dan taking care of the kids all day so I could have the break. It's so nice to have him home more this month. I know that August will bring a bit of a busier schedule, so we're making the most of this while we can. (As in getting dentist appointments out of the way, etc.) We're bummed, though, because we had finally scheduled a temple date and Bart and Amber were going to come watch the kids for us, but we found out the temple is closed for the rest of the month. How sad, that the only real month that we have time together, the temple is closed. Bummer. We'll have to work around that somehow.

Fourth of July

We had a super fun Fourth of July - Grandma and Grandpa came to visit (uncle Chandler wanted to stay home and hang out with his friends, which we totally understand.) We got to go to the movies, and we saw Wall-E, which the kids just loved (and of course Grandpa did, too.) Actually, it really was a wonderful show, and even Rylie held out through most of it.

Then we had a barbecue in the thunderstorm (which brought the lightning, which struck the tree, which dropped the branch on our roof and Dad's car.) And then the rain stopped in time for us to enjoy a big party at Bishop Park with some of our friends from the ward. There were fireworks and lots of fun things to do there. I made these really cool blue popcorn balls (which unfortunately claimed a portion of my tooth the day after the fireworks, and now I have to get a crown. Pooh.)

I've put a few pictures with this post - but don't forget that you can see more pictures at our Picasa website! (I put fourth of july stuff in the "summer 2008" folder.) The link is just below my profile picture on the right. :)

the tuckfield beach trip

Two weeks ago was our fabulous Tuckfield family week at the beach - we had the entire family there, except for Quinten, who is in Nevada on a mission. It was a wonderful week - we took turns making some delicious dinners (I think Lindsay and John's fish tacos with the fresh mahi were my favorite, although Brittany and Tyler's enchiladas were a close second - we want those recipes!) And we had a fun birthday party for everyone (Mom, Dad, Livvy, Brittany, and Tyler...plus Cam and Kym's birthdays for the next two years). 

And we had a super fun baby shower for Lindsay and John. I have to admit, the guys were pretty good sports to hang in there for Brittany's crash-course-in-parenting-relay game. And we have some great shots of everyone smelling the chocolate "poopy" diapers.

I think the best part, though, was just being together, for seven whole days, with nothing to do but enjoy the sun and waves and sand and be together. I read two excellent books - The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, both by Khaled Hosseini. They were amazing, wonderful, life-changing kinds of books. And we got the family addicted to Wizard and The Great Dalmuti. :) 

I just can't believe it's over. As Mom would say, "In the blink of an eye..."  :) It was such a great time. We are so blessed to have been able to spend that week together. I know that those times are far too rare, and so when we get a chance to be a family together like that, we need to cherish the memories. Feeling the happiness and peace that we felt that week at the beach is just a glimpse of heaven, and I'm so glad to know that our family will be together forever. :)

happy birthday olivia!

I can't believe that she is four years old already!  She is still pretty small for her age, but she is growing up so fast. She is smart and a bit sassy, fiercely independent, creative and artistically talented, and she loves to make Tucker and Rylie laugh. We had a fun day on Saturday, when we invited her friends Aubrie and Kaiya to come play. They swam in the pool, made some fun foam crafts, and had jello parfaits. Then Lorene, Kaiya's mom, painted their faces, which they loved. By that time a storm had rolled in, though, and so the pictures got a little dark.  (You'll see a purple and pink kitty, an orange tiger, and a purple butterfly - and then you'll see Ironman.)

Then today, Father's Day, we had a family party when Dan got home. She opened her presents and we took her new bike for a test drive. 

She's actually pretty lucky, because we're going to have another family birthday party for her (and Grandma Beth, Grandpa Cary, Tyler, and Brittany who all have birthdays close) at the beach next week. I'll have lots of pics to post then. :)

the first t-ball game...

So tonight was Tucker's first game, and he did AWESOME. He totally loved being out on the field, though even at 7:00 it was pretty hot still. He hit left handed and threw right handed, which I know makes his dad proud, and he was eager to do a great job. :)

how i know olivia is my daughter...

well there are lots of reasons that i know olivia is "mine", but the most recently obvious reason came a few nights ago when we were having family scripture study...

olivia always has a bit of trouble calming down and sitting still for the 2 minutes that we study the scriptures, but on this night she sat down on my lap and very earnestly (and with an obvious twinge of frustration) asked, 

"why do we always have to read about BOYS?"

dan and i looked at each other, and i had to tell her honestly, "i know, hon. it's hard sometimes that there aren't more girls in the scriptures, but when we do read about a girl, we know that she's really special." and then i reminded her about the story of abish, and what an amazing and faithful girl she was, and so now we just talk about abish, or queen of lamoni, and we have a better time getting her interested. i love that girl of mine!

hooray for new friends!!

i don't have much time, but i just want to say Hooray! for our new friends, the Jensens. We stopped by today and Olivia and Aubrie were best friends on sight. I'm just so happy that Olivia has a new friend that's a girl. (We have lots of good friends her age who are boys, but no one to play ponies and dolls with, or to help put stuffed kitties down for their naps...) They played together today for five hours with no trouble. Hooray. :)

tucker's first t-ball practice!

I didn't get to go since I had to be at mutual, but Dan took Tucker to his first t-ball practice and he loved loved loved it. I'm so glad we were able to get a little scholarship and register him for some fun summer activity. He wrote in his journal this morning about how excited he was for this, and drew a picture of himself hitting a homerun (and the ball going so far it went off the page!) I love his hopeful confidence. :)

This is Tucker just outside the fields. 

And here he is at the team meeting - talk about ready to play!

He's pretty proud of the fact that he gets to wear a helmet to bat.

rylie's swim time snack

so rylie loves to eat chalk, which is especially awful at swim time. today she ate some green sidewalk chalk and so she looked a bit like a wet baby clown. i love her dearly, but she is a tad more mischievous than the other two were at this age...

Strawberry Picking

Well, we had a wonderful morning picking strawberries last Saturday...Rylie ate a zillion along the way, and crushed as many with her chubby fingers trying to "help" pick them. We filled four gallon buckets full in no time at all - it was a beautiful sunny morning and we worked our row pretty quickly. Washington Farms has a great little playground for the kids to enjoy after all the picking, and a super fun rope swing. Even Dan took a ride on the rope swing - and held Rylie for part of the time, which she LOVED. Unfortunately, Olivia had an allergic reaction to something, and she broke out in hives all over her body, so we had to cut our morning short and grab some benadryl on the way home. Poor gal. It was super fun, though. And we got 3 batches of freezer jam, 2 gallons of frozen berries, and a delicious strawberry shortcake (not to mention the fresh berries for lunch, dinner, and breakfast.) Yummm...

Fun times with John and Lindsay

And don't forget Bailey! Pretty much all last weekend all we heard from the kids was "Baaaaileeeeey!" I'm so glad that they love that puppy now. We had so much fun when John and Lindsay came down - I showed Linds the house and we spent most of the morning "redesigning" the house and the yard. It's so fun to have such a smart, stylish sister. Then we took the afternoon to play at the botanical gardens. And aside from poor John's allergies, we had a great time. The kids had so much fun running around and playing with Bailey and racing uncle John. We do love to be here near our family. :)

rsu

I just want to say that I'm working on a "bachelor's degree" in business and economics from our "relief society university (rsu)" enrichment program. I'm learning a lot so far, and so I'll probably be updating the blog with the things I learned. Tonight I learned a cool new budgeting method, and I'm excited to try it out. That's all I wanted to say. Nothing big.

a row and a wow

So Olivia and I had a little tiff yesterday morning about whether or not she should wear her jacket for our morning jog - It was 35 degrees when we left the house. I literally wrestled her into the jacket (I'm not proud of that...) and 5 seconds later she had it off. I was so frustrated and so I just threw the jacket into the back of the stroller, buckled them in, and set off. The air was brisk and I confidently waited to gloat when she told me she was cold. But I kept jogging and waiting, and she kept talking about the birds and the flowers and didn't mention the cold once. Halfway through the trip, she asked, very logically, "Mom, why can't the kids just do what the kids want to do, and the grownups just do what the grownups want to do?" Makes perfect sense. I realized that perhaps I need to trust her a little bit more, allow her the freedom she really wants to make her own decisions and live with the consequences. There was really NO need for me to wrestle with her to get her to wear a jacket... I'm impressed with how simple her comment was, and how expressive it is of her 'condition' these days. I plan to relinquish my desire for control and offer her a bit more freedom. Hopefully, this will work for our good and give us all a little more...peace. :)

Tucker's Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tucker! I can't believe I have a six year old. He's such a great kid, and today was a fun day for him. We had a little family party before I had to go to mutual and he was so excited about each one of his presents...all but the shirts for school, at which he gave a crooked smile and a half-wink. I'll have to post pictures when I get them downloaded. I am so blessed to be Tucker's mom.

Also, I just want to say that I love working with the youth at church - they are remarkable, wonderful kids. And sometimes when I'm with them, I wonder what I was doing all that time I was a teenager. :) I love my calling.

Spaghetti: Dinner AND a Show.

We had a fun family dinner last night, with all of us laughing hysterically at Rylie enjoying her spaghetti. I'm so glad I took off her shirt. :)  She had noodles in her nose and sauce in her hair - eventually giving herself a uni-brow look. And once she saw that we thought she was funny, she was cramming it in faster. Dan took some video, too. Once we get some space on our hard drive again (our computer is old enough that it has less hard drive space than Dan's iPod) we'll upload some of the movie clips and share them.

It's not often that we get to eat dinner together these days, with Dan's travel and work schedule and my evening teaching and tutoring and mutual. It's nice that when we do get to eat together, it's an...experience worth remembering. :)

I'm so way too busy for a blog, but I feel compelled to spend more time working on it (after 6 months!) I don't want to be too busy. I want to be like Sarah Agnes Prine, one of my favorite literary heroines (These is My Words) and write because I simply must. But Dan said he wanted to keep up on the blog, too. So this really could be some good family history if we could just get it going. :)

And so this is my family on Easter Sunday. I'd love to add more pictures...but this will do for now.