Friday Randoms 3/30/12

• This has been a fairly low-key week because both the kids have colds. The kids have stayed in pajamas all day and many movies have been watched by Colton. Kylie is even more clingy than usual, so we've had major cuddle sessions. I hope they get better soon so we can enjoy the wonderful weather outside!
• Wednesday was Gma Velma's funeral and the kids were actually feeling really well that day to go. They were super sick Tuesday and then again Thursday and now Friday. I think the Lord was watching over all of us and helped the kids feel well enough to attend that day. It was a great funeral and many wonderful memories of Gma were shared. It was also a great learning moment for Colton as we explained that we were burying her body but that her spirit is with Heavenly Father. Afterwards Colton asked, "Can I play with her pusher thing now?" Her walker was always such a temptation to him. =)
• An a positive note about the kids being sick, I've actually been able to get a lot done at home since we're not going out and about. I'm all caught up on laundry (7 loads!), I switched out Kylie's 9 month clothes for 12 month clothes, put the kids' heavy winter clothes/accessories away, deep cleaned the kitchen, made a lot of baby food, and changed all the sheets on the beds. I think today I'll vacuum, sweep, and mop all the floors.
• I'm so excited for Conference this weekend! I love hearing the inspired words of our church leaders and gaining insights of ways to better my own life. 

Grandma Velma

Joe's grandma passed away this past Sunday at the ripe ol' age of 97. Unfortunately I didn't know her when she was of a more sound mind, she's had Alzheimer disease and she never remembered my name, only that I was married to "that boy". But she did love Colton and Kylie and would get really happy to see them....as long as Colton wouldn't run off with her walker. She lived a long, great life and now she gets to have a happy reunion with her family and friends in Heaven.

 Her obituary:

"1914 ~ 2012
Our mother, sister, grandmother and friend left this earth on March 25, 2012. Velma was born to Sienora Petersen and Franklin Tuttle Neff on August 13, 1914 and joined a
family of eventually 11 children. She married Melvin Victor Kendrick on August 23, 1935 in the Logan Temple. They were blessed with three children; Allen (Sally), Ron
(Sherry), and Pam (Greg), eight grandchildren, Jon, Cristy, Ashlie, Chad, Joe, Jessica, Michelle and Michael, 16 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
Velma was a great cook and is most remembered for her love of her flower and vegetable gardens. She loved her family, teaching primary, crocheting, her many bowling leagues and the Murray Senior Center.
She is also survived by her brothers, Floyd Neff and Dale Neff.
Our deep gratitude to Heidi Peay and staff at Evergreen Residential Care for their constant and loving service that they showed to Velma during the last two years.
Viewing: Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Millcreek 1st Ward, 2702 East Evergreen Ave.
Interment: Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. at Elysian Memorial Gardens, 1075 East 4580 South. "

Friday Randoms 3/23/12

• Kylie is teething again so her sleep schedule is screwy and she's got a runny nose, fever, drooling like crazy and trying to chew on everything she sees. Poor thing! I do enjoy how cuddly she is when she's teething.
• Kylie also has her first crush and his name is Elmo. When he comes on the TV she stops whatever she's doing and just stares with a grin on her face. Colton has an Elmo doll from when he was around that age that has been passed on to Kylie and she loves playing with him in her crib and trying to chew on his eyes. 



We saw this helicopter taking pics right above us, so we're somewhere down there in the crowd. Got this pic from KSL.com.

• My dad, the kids, and I went to the grand opening of City Creek yesterday. It's a fun new outdoor mall and because it was the grand opening they had a lot of fun activities going on. Stores were giving out free samples - mouse ears at the Disney store, cake bites at Nordstroms, chocolate at Godiva, soap at Lush, etc. Plus they had at least a dozen different musicians playing different styles of music (Colton loved the drum circle), a magician, those people that dress up as statues and stand still (Colton's favorite), face painting, and clowns making balloon animals. It was kind of a last minute decision to go so I didn't bring a camera. Because it was crowded we didn't do any shopping, so I can't wait to go back!
• I found this spring cleaning list on Pinterest and Joe and I decided to tackle one room each Saturday and clean it really well. It will probably take us a couple of months but it seems more likely to get done that way than if we tried to do it all one day.
• Colton hangs out with Joe all morning while he gets ready for work and Colton has started copying Joe's routine on his own. Before Joe takes a shower he does some situps and pushups, so now Colton has to do that before his shower. When Joe gets out of the shower, he wipes the water off himself with his hands before putting a towel on, and now Colton does that same thing when he's done. It's really cute to watch him try to be like his dad.
• Colton also wants to be just like a "cub scout boy" and will do things that he's seen them do at den/pack meetings and repeat them at home. Like he'll carry a little flag around to do his own flag ceremony, do a variety of exercises he saw them do to earn their athlete badge, try to make a catapult out of things because they did that to earn their engineer badge, etc. This week we had to pass out Scouting for Food bags to all the houses in the neighborhood and Colton had to have his own bags and go up and hang them on the doors too. The boys appreciated the help! They are actually really nice to Colton and when they see him playing outside or at church they give him high fives and talk to him. So he thinks he is pretty dang cool. He's probably the only 3 year old I know that has a bunch of 10 year olds as friends. =)

Parable of Mothers

We went to the funeral of a family member recently. I love funerals because it really makes me think about my own life and what kind of legacy I'm going to leave behind and what I need to do to be a better person. This parable was read by the only daughter of the mother who passed and it was a tear jerker! I loved it and want to make sure I always remember it. 

PARABLE OF MOTHERS

The young mother set her foot on the path of Life. "Is the way long?" she asked. And her Guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."
But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed with them in the streams, and the sun shone on them, and life was good, and the young mother cried: "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this".
Then night came, and storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle and the children said: "Oh, Mother, we are not afraid for you are near, and no harm can come." And the mother said: "This is better than the brightest of days, for I have taught my children courage."
And the morning came and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary, but at all times she said to the children: "A little patience and we are there." So the children climbed, and when they reached the top, they said: "We could not have done it without you, Mother." And the mother, when she lay down that night, looked up at the stars and said: "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of difficulty. Yesterday I gave them courage, Today I have given them strength."
And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth - clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: "Look up! Lift your eyes to the light." And the children looked and saw above the clouds an Everlasting Glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the mother said: "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."
And the days went on, and the months and the years, and the mother grew old, and she was small and bent. But her children were strong and tall and walked with courage. And when the way was hard, they helped their mother; and when the way was rough they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And the mother said: "I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."
And the children said: "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates."

And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her, but she is with us. A mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence."

Friday Randoms 3/16/12

• Last week Joe and I went on a date to the Home and Garden Expo and while Joe was stopping at every window booth (our windows need to be replaced really bad) I decided to wander over to the Winder Farms booth. Why not test taste some of their bread and milk while waiting? Well, I immediately got sucked in. They do a home delivery service for dairy products, eggs, bread, meats, produce, etc. I buy their milk at the grocery store already, but I had never looked into the prices of the rest of their foods. Well it turns out that all their stuff is organic and cheaper than the prices I'm currently paying at the store. AND they will deliver it to my door! I got my first delivery today and it was like Christmas morning for me. I couldn't decide which produce I wanted so I signed up for the "produce box" which is a hand-selected variety of fruits and veggies. It really was like opening a present! I got potatoes, carrots, yellow squash, pears, oranges, apples and a head of lettuce. Not only is this food cheaper than what I usually pay at the store for organic things but I'm hoping that overall I spend less because I'm not actually going to the store anymore, therefore I won't impulse shop. I'm pretty bad about that. 
• Remember all that work that went into sleep training Kylie a few months ago? Well that all went out the window now that she's teething. Heaven help me. She is up at 2am every morning wanting a bottle and then is up again for the day at 6am. It's killing me! I know I need to sleep train her all over again and make her cry it out again but part of me is wondering if I just shouldn't wait for her to stop teething first. I can see that her 4th tooth (2nd on top) will be coming in soon.
• April and I have signed up to do a 5k together on May 5th (the Sandy Fiesta Run) and so I've gotten more serious about actually running this week. I either run on the indoor track at the gym or outside with April and all of our kids. Running with the kids is much harder because Colton will ride his bike with me and he either needs water every 2 minutes or is throwing a fit that he's "not the leader" and in front of everyone. So even though I like running outside and with April, it's just easier to go to the gym. Plus April is one of those size 2 natural runners who doesn't even really need to train at all for this race. Who wants to run with someone like that?! ;)
• Tomorrow is St. Patrick Day AND my sister's bday, so there is going to be lots of partying this weekend! Tonight Darby O'Gill and the Little People is on TV and Joe has never seen it, so we're going to watch that together. Then tomorrow I'm making an authentic Irish dinner for both of our parents and will have the leprechauns pull some pranks on Colton. I should probably explain to Colton what a leprechaun even is. 

Colton loves putting different hats on Kylie

Nutella 'Stache

Happy Kylie

What happens when I'm gathering items before heading out the door.

Running buddies Priscilla and Kylie

Our bikers, Colton and Emma

Kylie LOVES sitting next to the door handle to the pantry and playing with it. That alone will entertain her for like 20 minutes.

Friday Randoms 3/2/12

• This happened two weeks ago, but I need to write it down before I forget - over President's Day weekend Kylie learned how to sit up unsupported and then two days later her two bottom cut through! Since then, she's learned how to from her tummy up to a sitting position on her own and is rocking back and forth on all fours. I think crawling will be in her near future and that really worries me!
• Today is Dr. Suess' birthday and everyone is going crazy about him and his books (and the release of The Lorax) and I feel a little alone because I just don't get it. I have to confess that I just don't like his books. As a kid I couldn't stand the made-up words in them and as an adult I find them to be obnoxious. Luckily they don't contain firetrucks, garbage trucks, or any other kind of truck so that Colton doesn't want to read them. Please tell me that someone else agrees!
• So I have a new goal of making one thing off of Pinterest a week. It can be a recipe, craft, home improvement, whatever. Just so long as I get to move that Pin over to the Pins Completed board, I'll be happy!
• This past week we've had a few snow storms so Colton and his friends have taken advantage of FINALLY having some snow so they can go sledding on the side of the house.