the graham family

Rylie's Preschool Graduation

2011-05-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Rylie was so excited to graduate from preschool on Thursday (May 25) - she's such a big girl. They sang songs that they had learned all year long, and they showed us their drawings of what they want to be when they grow up. Rylie wants to be a princess. (Surprise! Surprise!) She loved Teacher Tracey and seeing her friends at preschool, but she is SO excited to go to BYU Kindergarten next year. (And we are, too!)

Here she is, receiving her "diploma" from Teacher Tracey.

That tassel was in her face through the whole program.

Chee-eese!

A visit to Temple Square

2011-04-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had fun taking a little trip up to Salt Lake City last weekend. Dan was finally home for a weekend, after five straight saturdays on the road, and we had a great family day. We had a picnic by the fountains and walked through Temple Square. We saw all of the children's artwork in the Church History Musuem, and then played in a fun Book of Mormon exhibit. It was a beautiful day, which we haven't had too many of lately, it seems, so it was really just a great day.

Rylie has always loved to pose - I guess she's choosing the "little angel" pose here.

And Olivia thought it was hilarious to tease Tate while we were trying to take the pictures. She was laughing pretty hard through the whole attempt.

And naturally we had some wet hands and feet after sitting by the reflecting pond here. No matter how breezy it was outside, they could not stay out of the water!

Cute little Taters kept singing "I love to see the temple" while we were sitting here so I had to get a picture of that!

And here the girls were trying their best to look like saints or angels or something.

That's Tate. Just chillin. Like usual.

The snowball fight.

2011-04-12T13:32:00.001-07:00

Here is a short video of the snow fun in our front yard. I hope it works. :)

The first post of 2011 in APRIL?! Sorry, folks...

2011-04-12T13:23:00.001-07:00

So it's kind of daunting looking at a blog that hasn't been updated in about 8 months, but I know I need to do it. I want to do it! We'll see if we can get this updated more often, but as for now, let me just get the basic details of our lives down.

We moved back to Provo right around New Year's, and the first four months in our new house have been wonderful. We have great land lords and we're close to school and church and everything we need. Plus the house has a basement! So we have room for the kids to play and they love it and we love it. We miss Athens, especially now when it *should be springtime here. We had such wonderful friends in Georgia and such a great ward. We'll have to go back to visit soon.

I haven't taken very many pictures, but we did get out into the snow in the front yard several times, so that's what I've posted pictures of here. And I promise to try to get more up soon. (Do I end every post with that promise? Probably so. Sorry, family!)

Love to you all.

Olivia vs. The Monkey Bars

2010-09-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

The weather has started to cool off here, at least in the mornings, and so we thought we'd take advantage of sunny and 80s and meet some friends at the park. We hadn't been there 5 minutes when Olivia came to me crying (followed by several adults, which made me nervous) and saying her arm hurt. As soon as I looked at her arm, I knew we were headed to the hospital. There was a "dip" in her forearm, above the wrist, and it just didn't look right. The adults who'd seen it said she lost her grip on the monkey bars and fell, and they heard a popping noise. Poor girl.

So I left Tucker and Rylie at the park with Amber and Shauna (and all of their kids too, of course) and headed to the hospital. Unfortunately, we were leaving the park downtown in the middle of gameday traffic. I pulled to the side of the road when I saw a police officer directing traffic and he rigged the stoplight for us and we headed to the hospital. Luckily, Bro. Dunford was working in the ER today, so we got in to see a familiar face. Both he and the nurses were all impressed with how brave and cheerful Olivia was for enduring a broken arm. She got a temporary cast and we'll head back to the doctor some time on Monday to get a permanent one. Do they make waterproof casts these days? I surely hope so. The plastic bag on her arm during the bath tonight was cumbersome...

She really did great, all things considered, and by this evening she was playing with the kids outside - a little quieter and more careful, but playing all the same. And now she's sleeping her first night with a ginormous left arm.

What a day. Of course, I told myself. Of course we have a broken limb to add to a house that won't sell and a dad that lives far away...

But then I got phone calls from both women taking care of my children, then phone calls from each of my visiting teachers, then dinner and happy conversation with a dear friend...Of course. Of course, I reminded myself, my wonderful ward and good friends will always be here to help me, and my Heavenly Father will never forget about me.

Rylie's Birthday

2010-09-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house! We went to Aiken's Makin' and the kids got balloons and cotton candy (which they decided wasn't nearly as delicious as they had dreamed it would be.) Then we went miniature golfing. Rylie couldn't be persuaded to place the ball anywhere but a few inches from the hole each time, so we got to see a fabulous hole-in-one-victory dance at every hole. :) Tate was proud to have his own ball and club, and Tucker was proud to be golfing with Grandpa and Uncle Q. Olivia remained surprisingly calm through the frustrations of mini golf, and eventually decided it was more fun to experiment with rolling the ball, rather than focus on "the rules." Good job, Livvy.

Then there was a super fun trip to Burger King and opening presents back at the house. We tried to take video of the present-opening, but it was too dark in the house and the camera was doing some strange things, so we didn't get video of that.

But we took some videos of other parts of the day, hope you enjoy them honey!

This one's for dad...

2010-08-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

A tale of 2 Sundays!

2010-02-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

You want to talk about contrasting Sundays for me (this is Dan by the way), let's look at Feb. 14 and Feb. 21, 2010.

Feb. 14: Returned from the worst trip I've had since coming to UGA. Got home around 2pm and still had not received my luggage the whole weekend. It had snowed several inches the day before and was still cold with quite a bit of snow on the ground. Tucker thought it would be fun to have a snowball fight and how could I pass that up. It was so fun to throw real snowballs and just play. Shell and I shared Valentine's, she made a sweet card and I had mailed mine on the day I left being sure it would surprise her and get there before Valentine's Day but the weather did me in and it didn't arrive in time. My bag finally arrived at 9:15pm and it was nice to finally have all belongings back. It was a fitting end to a long week! The week ahead would require buying a new car and playing catchup at work.

Feb. 21: What a difference a week makes! We bought a new car and then the weather decided to turn good. It was 70 degrees outside today and blue skies. We grilled out with Shell's parents who were visiting and played outside most of the afternoon. Shell's brother Cam and his wife Kym are on hiatus from the Peace Corps in Ghana for the wedding of Kym's sister and they have come to visit for a couple of days. It's amazing what a little sunshine and warm weather can do for you!

We're doing well and are looking forward to the coming Spring! Check out our picasweb link for pics.

2010-01-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well here we are at he end of January and once again we haven't been on here to post anything new. It's me, Dan, back again for another round of updates at the end of the month. Here goes:

School started back up for the kids on January 5th and at UGA on January 7th. After an enjoyable couple of weeks off it was nice to get everyone back into some semblance of a normal routine. The kids are enjoying school and learning a lot of new things each day. Shell has picked up another evening class on Mondays and Wednesdays which has caused us to have to be much more on the ball. It seems like Monday-Wednesday just flies by because we are so busy but we're managing.

With the new year brings the onset of indoor track. We had our first meet in mid January at Lexington, KY and followed that up the following week in Blacksburg, VA. The team is performing well and so far we've kept injuries to a minimum. This period from January to June is very busy with travel to meets as well as hosting some in April and May. It puts a lot of strain on the family at times but we do our best to spend as much time together as possible and enjoy those times.

Tucker is playing basketball at a local church league and is really enjoying it. We were driving home from practice the other night and he says "I really like playing basketball games Dad. They're really fun." He's a great defender but needs to work on his rebounding, passing, and shooting skills. It's fun to watch him enjoy the great game of basketball.

Olivia is doing gymnastics every Tuesday. She loves to tumble and just be active. Rylie isn't quite old enough to join the classes yet, which she doesn't like, but she'll be there soon enough. They both love to dance around and be crazy.

Shell is adjusting to a more demanding teaching load along with her Young Women's responsibilities every Tuesday night. She says that neither of her classes have really clicked yet which makes it hard to have really good discussions. We're hoping that changes soon. We celebrated Shell's birthday on January 24th, we had a nice day.

We had to say goodbye to our green 2001 Honda Odyssey after Shell got into an accident on the 21st. The car treated us well and we will miss it. Our insurance company has been great throughout this process and now we just need to find a replacement for the van. Not exactly what we were planning on doing but not much we can do about it now. Just one of those fun curveballs that life throws at you sometimes.

We just spent the weekend in Greenville, SC at Shell's sister's house to celebrate the 1st birthday of our niece Campbell. It was in the midst of a snow/ice storm on Friday night which made it cold and slippery. The kids enjoyed playing with the "snow" and icicles. It's nice to be close to Shell's siblings and parents and spend times like these with them. It reminds me of just how important family is. It's so fun to watch our kids play with their cousin and their aunt & uncles and Grandma & Grandpa.

Well if I forgot anything I hope Shell will get on and fill in what I've missed. Check our picasaweb link for a lot more in the way of pictures. I've put a few here and some video clips, I hope you enjoy.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since our last update, sorry about that. You're stuck with me, Dan, this time around so it may not be quite as eloquent as Shell writes.

We spent Thanksgiving at The Tuckfields in Aiken, SC. We had a very nice weekend and it was good to get out of Athens for a few days. I love Thanksgiving...great food, good company, and plenty of football. After Thanksgiving Shell finished teaching out the rest of her semester and I finished practices until our semester ended. Tucker and Olivia had school up thru Dec. 18th so we stuck around town for a bit. Shell and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary on Dec. 18th by going to one of our favorite local restaurants, Brett's, and then went out Christmas shopping. A special thanks to Shell's visiting teachers who took care of our kids that night.

We made it to Aiken, SC on the 21st for the Christmas Break. The kids were very excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We played at the park and outside the first couple of days along with enjoying some good football games, Go Cougars!, at night. The kids were very excited to see what Santa would bring. Olivia wanted a dalmatian Rescue Swim to Me Puppy, Rylie wanted a soap and suds Dora the Explorer, and Tucker wanted a lego bionicle. We put several presents under the tree on the 24th and they were so fun to watch as they explored, picked up and shook, and tried to guess what was there.

Christmas morning came and Tucker was up by 7am but the girls kept sleeping. All the adults made it up before they did. We finally got rolling opening gifts around 8am and the kiddos were so excited as we handed out everyone's gifts. We then started opening and they were all so happy with what their family and Santa got them. Santa brought Olivia her puppy toy, Rylie her Dora, and Tucker his bionicle. Tate was rather oblivious.

Santa did have one surprise gift for the whole family...a Nintendo Wii. Tucker just about lost it, he even commented "I almost passed out!" and "What if this is all a dream?" and kept saying he couldn't believe Santa brought us a Wii. He is so expressive when he's excited...it's hilarious. So the kids were so happy and Mom and Dad were very relieved and excited for the kids. It was a lot of fun.

Of course things weren't all hunky dory...I came down with Pneumonia and was pretty much worthless from late on Christmas day through the following Tuesday. It's a first for me and not very pleasant but I am doing much better thanks to antibiotics and cough syrup.

Shell's brother returned from his LDS mission to Las Vegas on Dec. 29th and it was such a great experience to see him come home. He had a great 2 years and looks ready to tackle the world. He won't be home long before heading to BYU-Idaho this next week.

We are heading home tomorrow and back to the grind. My busy time of year with track & field is here and Shell is going to be teaching 2 night classes this semester. It's going to be a challenge but we know we can do it. Any extra prayers sent our way would be appreciated. Here's hoping you all have a Happy New Year and we wish you all the best. We hope to be able to see some family and friends we haven't seen in awhile this year...we'll keep our fingers crossed.
* for more pics check out our picasaweb link

Fun family times...

2009-11-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

In the new album on our picasa site are pictures of the fun things we've done together as a family recently.

The first bunch of pictures come from our trip to Watson Mill Covered Bridge State Park, where we went for a picnic and nature walk on Columbus Day. It was nice to have the day off as a family, and it's fun to have so many beautiful parks around us here in Athens. We drove to the bridge and had a picnic and then wandered down by the river (not sure which one...) to play in the sticks and leaves. We took a little nature walk and collected leaves (Rylie kept finding "so many oak leaf-es!") and rubbed our fingers over lots of spongy moss. We weren't hiking for too long when Olivia had collected more leaves than she could carry and when mom wouldn't help her carry any more, she exclaimed, "Oh man! I wish we never even went on this stupid nature walk!" We had to call uncle Chandler and tell him his legacy for nature-walk-frustration lives on. It was beautiful and fun to be together.

Then for Halloween we had a super fun party at our friends, the Vess's house. They have a nice safe neighborhood for trick or treating, with the homes close together and a perfect sized block for walking. The kids were just about exhausted with only two or so homes left, so we timed it just right. Also, the rains came just before we made it back home. :)

As you can see from the pictures, Tucker and Olivia were Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and they looked adorable. Some other friends of ours had a lathe in their garage, and offered to make them each their own "authentic" magic wands - the kids even got to pick out their own styles. Then I made them some black Hogwarts robes with little Gryffindor patches. Tucker had his (adorable!) glasses and a scar, and we braided Livvy's hair the night before so it would be poofy and wavy. They looked perfect! And they "expecto-patronum-ed" their way down the street all evening. And for some reason Rylie had her heart set on being a girl dragon, and she loved curling up her fingers and roaring all night long. They were so proud of how much candy they got. In fact, Tucker said his bag was so heavy it felt like it was full of lead! (and then, to explain to all the other younger children, he stated, "Lead is actually a very heavy substance.") It was a great night.

And then the last bunch of pictures on the album are from Rylie's recent "gobble gobble surprise party"/thanksgiving

feast she had at her preschool. Dan and Tate and I got to go see her sing some songs and then we ate turkey and chicken nuggets together for lunch. She was super proud of her pilgrim hat and the handprint turkey she had made. And it was nice for us to do something special with just Rylie.

And now we're headed to South Carolina for Thanksgiving, where I hope to take lots more fun pictures (and maybe actually post them before Christmas...) I'm so grateful for this time of year, when we stop and think about all of the blessings we have. And chances are, if you're reading this, you're one of those blessings!

Where did September go?

2009-09-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well it's the last day of September and we've had a busy month. Shell is teaching class tonight so it's up to me to fill everyone in on the Graham Clan in Athens, GA.

School has kept everyone busy. Tucker and Olivia are really enjoying school. Tucker is learning about the phases of the moon right now as well as working on a powerpoint project for his class. He loves reading, especially at night in bed. Now if we could get him to enjoy doing his homework as much as he enjoys the reading part. Olivia is just so bubbly and energetic. I take her into class everyday and it's so fun to watch her interact with her friends as she walks through the halls and into class. It's one of the highlights to my day. Rylie is at pre-school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and she is adjusting to that and gets a little nervous before she gets to class but she loves to talk about her day when I get home. She is painting animals and school buses as well as making new friends. It's so fun to watch them mature and grow.

Tate is just a happy little guy most of the time. He sleeps great, eats great, and really only gets fussy if he gets something that doesn't agree with his tummy. He's rounded out and is rolling over and popping up on his hands. He has a great little laugh that is just infectious.

We celebrated 2 birthdays. Rylie's was on the 12th and she wanted to go swimming for her birthday so we went to the YMCA pool and had a fun morning. She got some really fun presents as well. I think her favorite was the singing "Barbie & the Diamond Castle" with the accompanying DVD as well as the same dress-up dress and dress-up shoes. She loves to watch the movie and, needless to say, the songs get stuck in everyone's head (which isn't always a good thing). She enjoyed the cards and gifts from the rest of the family very much. As for the other birthday...well I hit 34 on the 27th. Seemed like just another day but I was very appreciative of the cards, messages, and phone calls.

Life has been busy. From the kids school and gymnastics to Mom's teaching class and volunteer help at school and with friends to my work...we hardly see each other for too long some days. We were so busy that the grass grew from all the rain into a mini-jungle, the kids thought it was great, but our lawnmower was broken so I wasn't sure what to do. A kind neighbor friend came over and used his riding mower to purge us of the grass, a much needed act of service. We are so blessed though to have a roof over our heads, food to eat, and clothes on our backs. The Lord has done so much for us and we are so grateful. We have some challenges lying ahead in the next few months but are confident that we can meet them head-on and pass through unscathed.

Well I've rambled enough. Be back soon. Check our picasa link for pictures.

First days of school

2009-08-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

We haven't had much time since school started to get posting information, but so far school is going really well for the kids. Tucker loves his new class, especially the Thursday "science enrichment" class. Olivia is enjoying class now, after a bit of a rough start to kindergarten. And Rylie just adores preschool, and being a big girl. She goes two days a week, and we're all glad she gets to go. :)

Our visit to the aquarium

2009-08-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

We had a ton of fun at the aquarium for our last family summer activity. It was a busy day, but the kids were so excited. It was jam packed, so with three little kids running around and two parents pushing a stroller, we were a tight fit in the different exhibits, but it was worth the wait. Tucker and Olivia and Rylie were even brave enough to touch some rays and shrimp! I love days when we get to spend time with the family, all together. :) (Check the picasa site for lots more pictures!)

She was listening!

2009-08-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Rylie is a crazy horse during FHE (well, all the time, but especially during FHE.) But today we were driving home from her preschool open house (just me and rylie and tate in the car) and we were listening to music. And from the back seat, I hear her little voice, "Mom?" So I said, "Yes, Rylie?" And she replies, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded."

My heart melted. What a sweet thing to say, and to know that she was listening to our lesson on Monday (we're memorizing 1 Nephi 3:7 as a family)...I just wish I knew what was going through her mind the minute before she spoke up. These are the moments I just adore, as a mother. :)

Edisto, '09

2009-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to post about all of our other vacations, but since Cam and Kym are getting the internet in Africa today, I wanted to take a quick moment and update you all on our trip to Edisto. We had a great few days at the beach. The weather was gorgeous, though we did have a small little storm on Friday night. We played games and ate way too many snacks way too late at night. And it was fun to see baby Campbell play in her little pool and splash around. Tucker and Olivia and Rylie made friends with the family that set up their beach stuff right next to ours, which meant that the kids were busy all day long, riding waves together, building a sand castle home for the "herman crab," and sharing popsicles. Tate was an angel baby (which he pretty much has been all summer long) and he slept the whole time out on the beach, in his stroller under the tent. We missed the rest of the family - couldn't believe that just last year we had Cam and Kym with us, and Tyler and Brittany... Big hugs to all the family - I'll write more soon!

Olivia's prayer...

2009-06-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month, and it's only going to get busier. I haven't got time to write much, but I realized that I need to be better about writing down the sweet (and funny, and frustrating) moments of my life with little ones.

And so, just quickly, I want to say that we've had a rough time lately since our friends Ryan and Amber (and their kids, Aubrie and Robbie and Hallie) moved away. (They lived right down the street from us.) Olivia and Aubrie were best friends, and she has been so sad. We went to grandma's house this weekend, though, for my little brother's graduation, and I thought she would be over some of the mopey-ness we've had lately. But then tonight I was helping her with her prayers before bed, and she asked Heavenly Father, "...and please bless Aubrie that she won't be lonely. I really want her to be happy in her new home." She took some time thinking about it as she said it and I realized that for all of my frustrations with her teenager-in-a-four-year-old-body attitude, there are such precious moments like these. I'm so thankful that she has faith that Heavenly Father hears her prayers and can help her, and her friends, feel better. And I'm thankful that she shared that little testimony with me tonight.

More pics

2009-05-08T11:14:00.001-07:00

So I hope I'm not too late in posting this, I wanted Cam and Kym to see all of these new pictures! We've got new pics on the picasa site - some of Lindsay and John's visit with baby Campbell, and lots of the kids giving Tate hugs. It's been a busy two weeks, and though I knew life was going to be crazy, I think you can never really be "prepared" fully for the changes a new little baby brings. I want to post more soon. Just gotta make it through grading finals... :)

Tate Richard Graham born on April 21, 2009

2009-04-21T18:22:00.001-07:00

Tate showed up a couple of weeks earlier than expected but is doing well and so is Mom. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and is 19 1/4 inches long. We'll get a more updated an informative entry in later this week but just wanted to let everyone know. Please click on our picture link to see photos.

Easter Sunday 2009

2009-04-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

We woke up early this Sunday morning and headed out into the back yard to look for the Easter Bunny and find our baskets.

Tucker and Olivia spotted their baskets first, of course.

And Rylie raced up the hill in the front yard when she finally spotted hers...

I really couldn't get over how cute the kids were in their matching yellow outfits - and I couldn't believe that Tucker kept his tie on for the entire time at church!

I love azaleas in the South at springtime...Rylie thought these made a great hiding place!

I mean, really. How cute are these kids?!

It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa here this weekend, and especially nice to have some extra help at church. It's getting tough to wrestle Rylie around my belly these days...

It was fun to play the piano for Dad today - he sang a lovely solo, and he joined our ward choir for a special musical number. It's been a long time since I've played for him.

What a nice Easter Sunday we all had!

Weekend Nature Walk

2009-04-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

We went for a hike with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend, at the Sandy Creek Nature center. We did our best to search for birds - Olivia called her special bird calls to try to get some of the birds to come to us, but I think we were a little too noisy along the trail...

Rylie enjoyed looking through her own "noculars" with Grandpa and resting along the path.

Tucker and Olivia were practicing their rock skipping skills on the pond at the end of the trail. Eventually Tucker gave up on the rocks and started throwing in twigs and sticks, some of them the size of a small tree. Olivia was quite impressed.

Tucker's 7th Birthday

2009-04-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

It took us a while to get on here and write the post, but Tucker had a wonderful 7th birthday on Wednesday (April 8). He got some fun presents - I think his favorites were the Bionicle Gresh (a lego action figure) and the board game Sorry Sliders (thanks, Grandma Jill!) but we've had fun playing with all of his birthday presents. It was a bit of a busy evening, since I had to head over to teach class around 8, but we squeezed in a special dinner (corndogs on a stick, at Tucker's request) and a family party at Chuck E Cheese's. Who knew 100 tokens would last us so long! It really was a fun evening to spend together as a family. :)

2009-03-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

We went over to "AubrieRobbie's" house (the Jensen's) yesterday for a fun barbecue. We brought the jumpoline with us and let the kids wear themselves out jumping and playing outside. It was so fun just to have the kids playing together, and it made me eager for the summer time. Except not too much, since Ryan and Amber will have moved by then :( I have no idea how Olivia is going to survive without Aubrie practically right next door.

Olivia, Aubrie, Ivy, Robbie, and Rylie jumping around.

I must do Rylie's hair 4 or 5 times a day, but somehow she always

manages to lose her "piggies" and end up looking like

a bit of a ragamuffin. A darn cute one, though!

Tucker and Charlie had fun inventing their own rules to ping pong -

(making the game resemble more of a baseball/badminton combo).

The adults all had a lively game of round-robin ping pong, which nearly ended up being more running than my pregnant belly could handle. Pitiful, really. But super duper fun. :)

fashion shows

2009-03-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

The girls' new favorite thing to do is head into their "studio" (as Olivia calls their bedroom when it's time to play) and dress up for their fashion shows. It's adorable - Olivia pretty much decides all of the outfits they will wear, and then plans short announcements before each prance into the living room. She gets pretty miffed when Rylie can't remember exactly what to say to announce her grand entrance. But now they know that this is a photo opportunity as well, so I'm getting a fashion show or two a day! :)

rylie loves the pink cowgirl hat

i think here we have a ballet dancer and a hula fairy

ready for some sun

i'm not sure what to call this ensemble...creative?

the scarf grandma jill made is always a favorite

Baby Campbell

2009-03-22T18:08:00.001-07:00

I'm over a month late in posting this, but we have a new little cousin in our family! My little sister Lindsay had an adorable baby girl, Campbell Jean, and we just love her to death. I took the kids up to visit a few weeks ago, and I only took like three pictures! Anyway, this is my little tribute to the cutest new baby niece in the world!

The kids snuggled in Uncle John and Aunt Lindsay's bed to watch movies and make silly faces.

Baby Campbell was already making friends with her little-boy-cousin-to-be.

She snuggled right up to my belly and let him kick her all he wanted.

The kids are so excited to have a new cousin to play with!

Once there was a snowman...

2009-03-10T11:37:00.001-07:00

So it was crazy, like Dan said, to have all of the snow here in Athens (and it lasted for so long!) It was fun to play in, though the kids are clearly Georgia kids now, and not Utah kids - they played out in the snow in 10 minute increments, trudging in snowy red clay footprints several times a day. But we made snow ice cream, played lots of games while the power was out for the day, camped out in the living room with flashlights (because we were scared that the power kept going off.)

Here are my favorite quotes about snow from my two oldest children:

"I never really LIVED until today!" - Tucker, driving home from church about 2 hours after the snow started falling.

"I feel so ALIVE!" - Olivia, throwing snow into the air and then tackling the backyard snowman.

Snow in Athens

2009-03-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

Once again this is Dan making an entry to the blog. We have been slackers again when it comes to making regular posts on here but we're going to do our best.

Anyway we were hit this past Sunday with 7 inches of snow here in Athens! I was in Lexington, KY at a track meet and got regular updates from Shell. When she said that it looked like a Utah snowfall I knew I was going to be stuck for an extra night in Lexington. Driving back on Monday as we drew closer to Athens it looked more and more like I was in Utah than Georgia. I had forgotten how beautiful the fresh snow can be. The kids had a field day and made a snowman and did some sledding. I was greeted by Tucker with a snowball when I finally got home. Of course the elementary schools were shut down for 2 days and the power was lost for awhile, the folks down here are just not equipped to handle that kind of snow. It was a nice change of pace and brought back a few reminders of our years in Utah.

That being said, it's now Friday and currently 70 degrees outside. I'm wearing shorts and enjoying the warmth of the sun. Amazing how the world works! We'll get some pics of the snow soon.

time to potty train?

2009-01-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

So this morning Rylie came into the living room and said, "Oops - my diaper is falling off!" So she unzipped her jammies, took off her diaper, and said, "Hey, where are my wipees?" Then she found the wipes, took one, cleaned her own bum (she was just wet, thankfully!) and grabbed a new diaper. Had it been a pull-up she might have been able to complete the process all on her own. Too bad she's terrified of the toilet...Do we really want to start this before the new baby is born? Do I put her in pull-ups during the day and "test the waters"? Or do I chalk it up to a smarty pants who likes to be independent, but don't push the potty training yet?

New pictures, finally!

2009-01-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've updated our picasa web site with lots of pictures (remember: the link to the website is on the right side of this blog, just below my "profile,") but I wanted to put a few pictures up here. Hopefully I've got this done in time for Cam and Kym to see on their once-a-month trip to a computer there in Africa!

I've included a picture of my little birthday party that we had this evening when Dan was home. It was a great little party, and the kids made me sweet cards and I got some cute presents from Grandma Jill and Auntie Doone.

Also, after a few snafus with the swingset company, we finally got all the parts to put together the swingset that both Grandmas and Grandpas got the kids for Christmas. And Dad was here this past weekend to help us put it together (which I'm sure Dan appreciated as well, since he won't have a free weekend for some time to come!) It's been super cold here, but the kids have bundled up at least once a day to go play on the swings and the slide. (And the day we set it up, they used the slide to stop the wind as they huddled in their little makeshift blanket tents to wait.) I love having it, though, and we're all so thankful for our sweet, generous grandparents!

Oops...it's been awhile!

2009-01-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

I promise that we didn't disappear after Halloween. Life got really busy thru November and December and hasn't slowed much since then but we are doing our best. This is actually Dan making a blog entry, my first one, so I hope this goes over alright. I'm not as eloquent or grammatically correct as Shell is but I'll just give you the facts.

The holidays were great, we really wish we could have made it out to Lake Havasu for Thanksgiving. We really miss that yearly trek and spending time with my family. I realized that I haven't seen my sister's family since we moved out here to Georgia almost 2 1/2 years ago. Fortunately work will take me out to Tempe in late March and I think I'll stay an extra day or 2 and go see them. We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with Shell's family once again. We had a great time and the kids are always happy to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids were excited for Santa to come and visit and we were pleasantly surprised by a little extra from the UGA athletic association which made it just a little nicer for the kids. Both sets of grandparents chipped in together to buy us a swingset which we finally got together this weekend (there always seems to be missing parts on those kind of things). The kids are already loving it!

But with January it was back to school and work. I'm now heading into my busy time of the year. We had our first indoor track meet this weekend in Lexington, KY and I won't be done with indoor and outdoor track until mid June. It makes for many weekends away from home but at least it's a job and with the state of our economy right now...that isn't so bad. Shell is teaching her mon/wed night class again this semester and we're hoping the baby can wait to show up until that's mostly done. Our days and nights are very busy and we get small windows of time where we see each other so we try to make the most of them.

As for the baby, well he and mommy are doing well. For those that don't know yet we are having another boy. That will even things up at our house at 3 and 3, a nice well rounded family. We have no idea on a name yet and really haven't discussed it much. When we have it usually consists of Shell suggesting names and me shooting them down. So we've still got quite a way to go there. We are excited, nervous, a bit scared, and happy all at once.

Well I'm going to end here. We really are going to try and do better with the blog and posting more pictures also. Until later...

TRICK OR TREAT!

2008-10-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-31T19:10:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-08-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-08-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-08-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-08-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

(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!

2008-07-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-06-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-06-11T18:01:00.001-07:00

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!!

2008-06-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-08T20:10:00.001-07:00

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.

2008-04-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

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. :)

2008-03-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Q's mission call...

2007-11-05T19:25:00.000-08:00

Just thought I ought to add today that Quinten got his mission call to the Las Vegas, Nevada mission, and it looks like Doone and Rhett will be in his mission. That would be so cool if he served in their ward. I'm really happy for him. He sounds pretty excited, and he'll get to be with us for Christmas, so that's great. We have big plans (well, mostly the kids do) for a Christmas Eve talent show - continuing the tradition that Alene and Ciana started a couple years ago at the Graham Christmas home.

Oh, man I love the holidays!

2007-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

So it wasn't as addicting as I thought, since I also started using a facebook page this week. Yikes. Now THAT'S addicting. Seeing all my friends from college days just randomly discover that I'm online and want to be my facebook friend makes me happy. :) I can't wait to get our computer fixed so I can start posting some more pictures of the family. We've had some good autumn shots lately, camping with grandparents and the football game yesterday...I'll get them posted soon, I hope. I don't really know if anyone is going to bother reading this blog, but it's kind of fun just to put some thoughts out there into cyberspace and know that I'm recording them forever, somewhere. :)

The leaves are just starting to change here, but the temperatures are still crazy warm for this time of year. I'm enjoying playing outside with my kids.

My attempt at family history has begun...

2007-10-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm always saying that my scrapbook is our family history, and also my journal, but since I'm perpetually 2 years behind on that project, I'm biting the bullet and starting a blog, which will also go under my family history/journal umbrella. That way I don't feel guilty about the time I spend doing either, though I rarely do anything without doing my "chores" first, so hopefully this won't be yet another woefully-neglected-well-intentioned project. I have a feeling this could get addicting...