Tiny Moment * Day 17

"Sugar and Spice and Everything nice. ."
. . that is what little girls are made of. And let's be honest a whole lot of other stuff too. But we'll focus on the sugar and talk about how it is sure fun to have another girl around the house. Little piggy tails with pink colored bows. Ten Tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. Sparkles and unfinished polish. Dresses with fluff and frills. Lots of fluff and lots of frills. Princess. Princess. Princess. How we love Princess and little pets. Giggles with tickles. Pinching cheeks. That would be her pinching my cheeks. She is a funny one. Kisses ~ lots of open mouth sloppy Kisses. Wiping kisses away. Why? Simply just to tease. Love little Miss Thing, the sparkle in her eyes and just about everything else about her.

Shhhh . . . it's a secret. . .

Cool Aunt. Big Dimples. Lots of Laughs. Good Times.

Tiny Moment * Day 16

"What the Hell"
You are probably thinking "What the H***" is this picture about? Or "What the H***" is she going to write? In reality you are probably not thinking that but it was awfully fun to write. Anyone that knows me is just sure that the "What the H***" title is simply about the play doh. It's true I am not the biggest fan of play doh. As crazy as it sounds I am warming up. The kids love it and it keeps them busy for nearly 2 hours every time they play. I do enjoy listening in on their creative play and looking at all the fun things they drum up. "What the H***" really could be the fact that my son used his bum to create play doh hair? What? I know too much information. He cracks me up. I wonder where he comes up with this stuff. The title actually comes from words. . .and actions. . and understanding that there are little people running around my house listening. Listening to everything. Listening all the time. I have known this but it has been reconfirmed to me that there are four little mini-me's running around everywhere. They do what I do. Saying what I say. They have picked up similar mannerisms. As we were picking up play doh Max looked down at his pants and blurted out, "What the H***!" He said it so innocently and almost matter of factly. There was a huge smug of play doh on his pants. I just cracked up. After I pulled myself together I asked him where he learned that little phrase. My sweet boy was really embarrassed and didn't have a clue what the word meant. I don't even think he remembered where he heard it. But he heard it somewhere and he remembered. So mommy's out there. . .do remember that you too have little mini me's watching your every move.

Utah Fun

Someone is just a little excited that her family is coming to visit. That someone is ME! Thought I would make a SLC area to do list. Any one want to add to it?? Please do I would appreciate any suggestions!

(Salt Lake Area)
Temple Square
Museum of Church History and Art (Children’s museum)
Beehive house
Joseph Smith Memorial Building
Legacy Theater
Tabernacle
Conference Center
This is the Place Heritage Park
Brigham Young Historic Park
Gateway Shopping Center (Water Play thing)
Clark Planetarium
Hogle Zoo (Children $6 ~ Adults $8)
The Great Salt Lake
Antelope Island ($9 per car)
Lagoon (Children $34.95 ~ Adult $39.95 Plus $8 parking)
Trax

(Park City)
Olympic Park
Park City Main street and historic district
Alpine Slides (Prices are not listed yet)
Outlets
Johnson’s place
Boating

(Valley Area)
Thanksgiving point (Gardens (Children $2.50 ~ Adult $4) Children’s Garden (Children $1.75 ~ Adult $2.50), Farm (All $1.75), Dinosaur Museum (Children $4, Adult $5)
Timpanogos National Park/Timpanogos Cave ($3 per car to get into park, Children $3 ~ Adult $7 to see cave)
Provo River/Bridal Veil Falls
BYU – all kinds of museums (Art, L. Bean, peoples and culture, earth science museum)
Seven Peaks (see link for pricing)
Scera Pools ($1-4)
Mormon Miracle (Yes it is playing the weekend you are here)

Tiny Moment * Day 15

"Slowing down"

Wouldn't it be great to have a button that makes time stand still? If every time I push this button time would just stop ticking. No need to rush through the morning to get ready for school. No unforgotten programs. No run here ~ do this ~ Hurrry we're late! No running out of time during the day. Sometimes I just want to stop the clock from ticking. To take one more minute to treasure this time in my life. This moment. Any moment with my precious and often times annoying children. In the past I have joked with them and told them on more than one occassion to "stop growing up." Instead of telling my kids to stop growing up I have changed my tune. Let's face it they are going to grow up no matter what I do or how hard I try to keep them my babies. So this mom has slowed down. I take that extra minute. I sneak an extra hug. I read another chapter. I play that game when my sink is full of dishes. Even though I would rather stick to a schedule I am spontaneous when my mental "to do" list is a mile long. And why? The days really are numbered. These kiddies of mine are only young once and this time passes far to fast. I know that there are different stages, fun stages, full of giggles, outings, and long talks to be had with them. For now I will live in the present and savor every moment that I can. I don't want to look back and think to myself why didn't I listen to those feet pidder patter down the hallway. Why didn't I cuddle 10 minutes longer. Why didn't I stop cleaning and listen when they wanted to tell me the same story for the 10th time. "Hey mom I tell you something. . . I tell you something. . ." Why? Why? Why? There is no time nor need for Whys. There is only time to treasure these little ones and enjoy. Every single morning around 5:30 or 6:00 I can anticipate the pitter patter of Jacq's little feet running down the hallway sneaking out of her room and up into my bed. She likes me to cuddle and hold her tight. She grabs my arms, wraps them around her and says, "Mom, tight." She nestles her little feet between my legs and every morning we fall back to sleep together. In the beginning it was down right uncomfortable, but every morning I hold her 2 more minutes because the day will come when she will be to big to cuddle. And the day might come that she doesn't really want me around so much. Today these kids want me. All of me. Every bit of me that I will let them have. I am slowing down. Even on those extra hard mommy days I am slowing down.

Tiny Moment * Day 14

"Passing down traditions"

Not a day goes by that something doesn't happens that causes me to reflect to the generations that have gone before me. I am grateful every day for the traditions and values that these amazing people have created and passed down to my little family. Wether it is gathering the family together for a special occassion or instilling a good work ethic these moments have been imprinted in my mind and on my heart. We like to joke that often times the things we value sometimes skip a generation or two, but it is almost like this stuff runs in the blood and is bound to show up somewhere. Wether it is Grandpa Barrett's excitment about the latest nutritional break through (New Deal) or Ma Deb's amazing skills behind the sewing machine (wish I had it) or Grandpa Watson's passion for solitaire . . . I am telling you it shows up somewhere. And it shows up big. Who would have thought that our little ones would be so excited about plants? They seriously check on these green little guys delivered from Papa KC and Grandma Lettie every day. They water them, make sure they have sunlight, I am pretty sure by now they all have a name. Who knows if all the excitement is really about the vegitation. I can tell you that one thing is for sure . . .their Papa KC and Grandma Lettie along with many others have given them more . . . much much more than plants or parties....they have given our little family love and unifying traditions. Wether it is caring for plants, planning a family gathering, or holding an annual camping trip . . . these traditions will be forever imprinted in my mind and engrained on my heart. With all my love I thank you!

Junk for our bodies

These our are "We love Auntie Nana" faces and/or "We love these donuts so much we can't take one second to smile for the camera" faces. I am telling you the harder I try to fill these little one's bodies up with good healthy food the more they resist and fight me on wanting and eating junk and more junk and even more junk. So in order to keep the peace everyone moves a little and we find a happy place that allows a little too much junk. Their parents love junk and their daddy likes to share his "junk for his body" (that is their favorite phrase) with them. I am willing to budge because it keeps the kiddos eating their carrots and cucumbers. Since the second Auntie Nana gave them Krispy Kreme free donut cards for Valentines day the kids have been begging to go. Today we made our trip for donuts and strawberry milk. A big YUMMY from the kids and an actually pleasent outing for me!

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Three cheers for the sunshine. I just couldn't stay inside another day. We had to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasted. The lastest weather report talks of yet another dump of snow. No I'm not complaining just excited to see the sunshine for a couple of days. The kids had a blast running around burning energy, riding horses, feeding ducks, milking cows, being frieghtened by the gobbling Turkeys, etc. It was too much fun. On the way out I heard someone say, "We should do this every day!" If only life could be all fun and games all the time. . .

Tiny Moment * Day 13

*I realize that uploading my tiny moments with no explanation is the easy way out for me, but that it leaves my fellow readers to wonder what the heck some of my moments are all about. I know you are all losing sleep over it. :) While I like to leave you curious and drawing your own conclusions, at the end of the day you still don't have a clue why any particular moment is a tiny moment for me and how it fits in my little world. And to top it off. . .who knows if in ten years I will remember either. That mommy brain really gets to me sometimes. So I felt like maybe this calls for a small explanation (I know nothing is ever short when it comes to my long winded self) of my "Tiny Moments." I don't know how long it will take me to catch up, but I will start from here and try to add a little or a lot of something to help explain.

"Not My BATTLE"

Oh to be four! Whenever my four year olds come up from the basement after dressing themselves I have this obsessive compulsive mommy side to me that instantly wants to re-dress them so that they semi match and look presentable. Not so much re-dress them so they have matching outfits, like for instances, "Cute . .Look they must be twins they are dressed the same." But match them like green pants don't usual go with a red shirt and an orange sweatshirt. Well, unless of course it's Christmas and they are trying extra hard to be festive or it is "dress like a clown" day at school. Let's be honest how often do they have "dress like a clown" day at school. And be festive. . I don't think so . . they are boys and they are anything but festive. Sometimes I have to bite my tongue because I want to tell them that we don't wear our PJ's under our clothes for the entire day. For some reason those two goons must think it will make their bedtime routine that much easier or maybe they need a little extra padding from little Sissy. Who knows? But I have myself a little chuckle when by lunchtime neither of my four year olds are wearing underwear. Where on earth did they go?? Heaven only knows. Because I for one have no clue. They start every day with underwear and through out the day some how, some where, they disappear. You'd think I bought them princess, Dora, or some other less tolerable 4 year old underpants. No, stuffed full in their top drawer is their very favorite, Buzzlight year and Diego, but every day they still end up missing. I find them tucked under the couch, hiding inthe bathroom, you know perfect 4 year old hiding spots. Lastly, the pants! They are backwards. They are always backwards. For most of their four year old life they wear their pants backwards. I half think they do it on purpose to bug me. Somehow even though I don't say a word about it, they know that it drives me up a wall. But we still wear them backwards. Backwards to Costco. Backwards to Grandmas. Backwards to Shopping. You name it we wear our pants Backwards. And you know it's OK! There are bigger battles to be had. So I let them wear green pants with red shirts and an annoying sweatshirt. I let them wear their Jammies under their clothes. I let them go without underwear when it happens. And you know I even let them wear their pants backwards. I get a lot of funny looks and plenty of giggles when we are out and about. But you know I feel really good about it and most days I join in on their giggles and stares. Pretty sure I should receive mom of the year award for putting my compulsiveness aside by letting them be them. I remind myself that I am choosing my battles and this one is just not my battle. Love them for them and love their funny little habits that drive me crazy.

Scripture Power.

Barrett gave his first talk in Primary. He was a tad shy and a little hard to understand but he did a great job and was pretty excited about giving his talk. He is so excited and passionate about~well just about everything. One thing is for sure he sure loves his Scripture Power and I think it is safe to say his muscles too. :)

I love scriptures. Scriptures make me happy. I listen to scriptures. I look at pictures. Scriptures give me power! Scriptures say no fighting. Scriptures say love our family. You should read the scriptures too. The video below is Barrett's interpretation of the paper above.

Tiny Moments * Day 12

"Instilling good work ethic??

Nah. . .Crackin' the Whip!"

Tiny Moment * Day 11

"I'll start tomorrow. .. ."

Tiny Moment * Day 10

"Learning at it's best"

A Little Family Fun. . .

It doesn't get much better than this. Smiling faces with oversized bopper stoppers. We've been running around the house burning energy and getting a few good laughs for days. Thanks Auntie for all the good times.

Tiny Moment * Day 9

"A Night out on the town"

Tiny Moments * Day 8

"Every day is Valentines Day"

Tiny Moment * Day 7

"My Love/Hate Relationship"

MEMEME TIME!

Just when I think life is going to slow down and I can take some ME TIME! SURPRISE! There is this to do and SNAP I am behind on laundry. . . Oh I forgot about the school program. . . and what about the thank you I've been meaning to write for a month. Wrote it today and I feel really good about that. I am sure it will flutter. Flutter? Is flutter even a word? Anyway, I am sure it will flutter around my kitchen for at least a week until I walk it out to the mailbox. Finally got to my mailbox after mommy dear has been calling. She mailed me these super cute hats for the kids. I should blog it. It only took me a week to get my mail with her excited persistent phone calls. BTW. . Mom the hats arrived. They are darling and totally fit. Thanks! Just checked the clock . . 10:26pm. I am exhausted thinking to myself, "Self, what did we do all day?" I don't even really think I was all that productive. My kitchen floor still needs to be swept and the upstairs bathroom could use a cleaning but I was sure busy. No ME TIME today. I take that back . . .I did take a shower. It was even a shower all by myself. Those are my favorite kinds of showers. Now that is some serious ME time. I snuck off to the gym with my sister. I worked out wearing my blue jeans and no bra. Yeah . . .I know who wears blue jeans to the gym? It was quite a sight. On a typical day you can't find me wearing blue jeans at all. I can usually be found with my hair uncombed, no make up, sweats and and t-shirt. That is my mommy self on a good day. At least my t-shirt isn't covered with boogers or maple syrup from breakfast. Back to my story, we took the kids out to dinner and I was wearing blue jeans. I had this real true to life fear in the back of my head that if I went home to change my clothes I would never see the inside of the gym today. I was feeling like a good work out would be good for my life. And it was! I was able to talk to my sister about health and nutrition. Kind of . . .I don't like to lift weights and talk. Talk or lift. Multi tasking at the gym is really hard for me. Is gym time MEMEME time? Anyway, today was the official Birthday for my big boys who remembered to say Thank you and more bread please a million times to our waiter at the Olive Garden. They insisted on no booster seats for them. "We big boys. . four year olds don't need booster seats!" Well then. They actually behaved and it was a pleasant outing. I think I will take them out in public again. They almost acted human. Just peeked in on my four little ones and I am convinced that even though I didn't get real ME time that they are still keepers. Sure do love them. I'll take puzzles and storytime over massages and pedicures any day. Life goes by so so fast and I am glad I can take time to enjoy even the busy days. . . . enjoy some fun pictures from our busy busy day.

This is a picture of the school program I forgot all about. Max is the cute short one in the middle. He was darling. He waved his flag and knew the words to most of the songs.

We took a stop a Kangaroo Zoo for some more Birthday fun. Max has the best Cackle. Have I ever told you that? I hope he NEVER loses that Cackle.

Look at all that bundle of excitment. These kids couldn't be happier. Happy Birthday Alexander.

More More More. . . . You would think that almost 3 hours would be enough. I think they could have stayed all day. Happy Birthday Barrett Boy!

You better believe that Sissy kept up with her brothers. She was just about one step right behind them and loving every minute of it.

Olive Garden is officially the best Birthday stop ever. Yummy kid friendly food and free birthday cake for everyone! YUM!

Tiny Moments * Day 6

"And on the 3rd Day she showered!"

Tiny Moments * Day 5

"Built-in Buddy"

Party Party Party Party!

I would have never guessed in a million years that my two boys would love sharing their birthday like they do. All day I kept hearing phrases out of their little mouth like. . ."A Birday party for *US*." "It's OUR Birday!" "A birday for ME and a birday for HIM." They may be turning four soon but we are still working on the whole annunciation thing. They are boys and they are twins. I am hoping the whole speech thing works it's self out soon. Back to my "Birday" story. . .Not one would think of leaving the other out. It was fun to sit back and watch them share their "Birday" party day. Cake together. . presents together. . .activities together. . . they are together and I like it that way. It probrably won't last for ever but I will take their willingness to love, share, and be goofy together for as long as I can.

Tiny Moments * Day 4

"Always a P*A*R*T*Y"

Remember when. . .

You know you've made a true friend when time passes and you don't interact every day, but when you do get together no one skips a beat. You just pick up like you saw each other yesterday. Not only do you not skip a beat but you laugh and laugh and laugh some more. No one is even telling a joke. You just laugh. I do enjoy the "Remember when's. . . .remember this or remember that. . remember him . . . . remember her. . " When there is a pause in conversation it's OK. . It's not uncomfortable. I don't feel like some one needs to fill the silence. The conversation eventually just picks up. Love old friends. We haven't seen our good friends from California for almost 3 years and while life has changed our friendship is still the same. Last night we left the little ones home and had a little excursion to the city. I don't remember the last time Tim and I went out with another couple. Good times and good memories. Thank you Thank you to our good friends.

Tiny Moments * Day 3

"You are what you eat!"

Tiny Moments * Day 2

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try."

*30 Tiny Moments*

"Not Quite a Perfect Day!"
What a brilliant idea. Thanks to this blog, which referred me to this blog, which referred to this blog. WOW! That was kind of fun. I thought it would be a little adventure to capture my tiny every day moments. I like the idea of capturing the simple ordinary happenings in my little life. I'm not super creative, clever, or artistic. Nor the greatest behind the camera. In fact, I have photoshop on my laptop, but I don't even know how to use it. Despite all my inabilities, I still think it will be fun to capture tiny moments. I would love it if any one wants to play.

"A Person's a Person."

Yes, Horton Hears a Who is a classic. Dr Seuss is a classic! We just love him around this house. We love Dr. Seuss and love this cute book too. The kids were all glued to the storyline and could not get enough of the cute pop-ups and simple activities. Jacq has a little elephant and all day she called him Horton. It was pretty cute. As cheesy as it sounds we are all going to try to be Hortons. WHY? We love Horton and love it that he cares about every "person's." "A person's a person no matter how small!" No matter how small, tall, crazy, silly, loud, sad, etc. . and that is one lesson you can't put a price tag on. ;)

The Perfect Pet for me . . .

I don't think it gets much better than a little fish from the store. I'll take one for each kid in seperate bags. And by the way my Max wants the one you can't catch, Alexander the one that jumps out of the net, Barrett the squirmy one, and Jacq the one and only pretty white gold fish left. All four children will pace the tank, stand in your way literally yelling at their fish while you try to fish them out. The guy at Walmart totally hates me. My little friends are so easily amuzed and distracted. Thank goodness they forgot about the dog I told them they could have after everyone was potty trained. BAD MOM! I guess I won't get the mom of the year award this year. Maybe in the spring. Made their week just the same with a fish name. . . Van dan long.. . Coolalaloo. . .? Yeah. . .I don't know where they get these names and honestly I don't care. . .they love their 4 fish for $0.40 and they watch them for hours.