April Snowstorm

My poor tulips!

This morning I had a stake meeting to go to for Primary and the van was covered! Luckily, all the snow melted off pretty fast today and we even tilled our garden but I am so ready for spring.  Scott and I went shopping this afternoon to Vineyard and Cook's nursery and found some seeds and plants that we liked for our garden. I am getting so excited to get our garden planted! I am so looking forward to warmer weather!!!

Kalli's Medival Fair

Kalli has been working the past few weeks on a unit at school about the middle ages.  They had a "fair" at the school where the dressed up and they showed off their castles that they constructed.  Above Kalli is pictured with her friend Emily and below Kalli is pictured with her castle.  Her dad helped her with the four tall towers and I helped her a little but she constructed most of it by herself. I was really proud of her. it is hard to believe that in another month, she will no longer be going to elementary school but will be a 7th grader. Time flies so fast!

April Hailstorm

This weather is being so crazy lately. I got a movie of a hailstorm we got at the beginning of the week..I even got some thunder. I wasn't expecting that! But it has been warm, then cold, then warm.  Like today is supposed to be warm and then tomorrow will be freezing cold again. How strange. I am so looking forward to warmer weather though.  I love summer and I love all the summer activities I get to do with my kids.  I think it is ironic though that I wait all this time for my kids to grow old enough to do things with them and then they are too cool to hang out with mom and they want to be with their friends.  So I guess I will just plan super cool activities with my 7, 4, and 2 year old boys who actually want to be with me. No, no, don't worry...I am not bitter. I can accept that this happens to teens and it is normal.  Maybe in 10 years when my younger boys are teens and don't want to hang out with me anymore, my teens will be in their 20s and they will want to be with me again and they will realize that I actually do know something!!! That will be a great day. As you can tell, there are more storms brewing than just outside. :-) I love this saying: If you feel you must laugh or cry, choose laugh because crying gives you such a headache!!! Have a wonderful day, everyone! Live and love life!

Mother and Daughter

This is my sweet daughter Kalli whom I love very much. Lately, we have had some struggles, but I hope that she always remembers how special she is to me.

Easter

Aidan and Kalli

Aaron

 

 Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Lehi with our cousins and had a fun Easter Egg hunt.  The older kids hid the eggs for the younger kids and then helped them go around the house and find them which they enjoyed so much. The weather wasn't too cold (I wish it was warmer though) and it didn't sprinkle till later so that was good.  The adults made up a scavenger hunt for the older kids and they got in two teams and had to figure out the clues where the egg was hidden.  That was a lot of fun! I made up three clues...one was If you are hungry and it gets late, you find this by a plate.  And then the egg was in the cupboard by the plates. Another clue was "Look hard if you're able and you'll find this one under the ?" which was the table. I put the eggs under a blanket under the table so it wouldn't be obvious and then the kids were like, "I didn't see anything!" Isn't that just like kids to not look hard and just look at the surface. It was so obvious to me but not to them. the last clue was " If you sit here, don't slouch, you'll find this one under the ?" and it was a couch. So the kids had a lot of fun running around finding eggs.
After we got home, I boiled up 30 eggs and we colored them and that is a fun tradition. Ammon threw an egg in the purple dye really hard and it splashed all over my face and shirt. Oh, well.  In the morning we got up about 7 a.m. and had a fun little Easter egg hunt in our living room and the kids got an Easter Bunny and a few chocolates and one little toy each.  Kael got a BYU shirt, Kalli some make-up, Aidan a little basketball hoop, Aaron some cheap pop up toys which they have been enjoying ( you push the button, the little ping pong ball goes in the air and then you catch it) and Ammon got some Toy Story 3 bubble bath. We did get them a little something which is a fun tradition but we didn't get overboard this year like I have in the past.  I know that Easter is about Jesus and the resurrection and not the Easter Bunny and so do my kids.  I want to bear my testimony that I know God lives and loves me and I'm so glad for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that he died for me and then was resurrected. I'm so grateful for the tender mercies He shows me every day and I love having the gospel in my life. Happy Easter everyone!

Ammon says "Cheese!"

Ammon

 

Kalli and Ammon

Kalli, Kael, Aidan and Aaron

so happy to get a chocolate bunny

Easter Egg hunt

Kalli, Aaron, Aidan, Ammon and Kael

Kael, Ammon and Aaron

Ammon

Aidan got a little basketball hoop

Book Review

 Matched is the book I am reading now and almost done. It is so hard to put down! I love books that make me think and this one is really good at that! It is set in the future where the government makes all the decisions; who to marry, where to go to school, etc.  Everyone is "happy" in the Society.  When they are 80 years old, they have a ceremony to die and "isn't that great because now everyone knows when they will die and they won't die alone and it will be wonderful..." Cassia is the main character that we follow as she finds out the world that she never knew differently can change. A great read!!!

 I might have talked about this book before because I love it so much but I love anything by Jason Wright....Regarding Charles and Wednesday letters are good too.

 Love, love, love this one, Mitch's conversation with an old professor and his lessons of life that he learns is priceless.

 This is one of my favorite books.  I read it as a teenager and I frequently reread it.  About an LDS man that feels lost with his life and goes to the Holy Land where he finds it and more!

I love all of Clair Poulson's books. I have read every one.  This one is about a man accused of murdering his "Miss America" wife and the road to proving his innocence.  Love, love, love this one!
there are so many good books out there! Enjoy!

Spring Break

 I got a picture of my Tulips a couple of days ago, when it was actually warm. The weather has been so funny this month, yo-yo-ing from cold to warm to cold to warm...you get the idea. It snowed Saturday and Sunday, yesterday was quite nice and tonight another storm front is coming in.  I think by this weekend it will be warmer and maybe we can get some yardwork done.  Scott and I want to plan out our garden and we haven't had a chance yet. We usually plant our garden mid-May...we'll see how this year goes.  I would like to get some peas in but the garden is so muddy, it is hard to rototill. I'm excited to work on our garden this year and one of Kalli's personal progress goals this summer is helping with the garden so I am excited to work alongside her.

 

Kael went up to Idaho Falls and Rexburg last weekend for his band tour with Mountain View High School.  He had a good time. It was a short tour but I'm glad that Kael got the opportunity to go. I dropped him off early Thursday morning and happened to have my camera in my purse, so I snapped a pic of the bus.  We missed him while he was gone but I am glad that he could go.  I am worried a little bit about him making up the work at school that he missed...he has some hard classes that he has been struggling with but hopefully it is early enough in the term that he will be able to keep up.

We had a Ward DIY (do it yourself) fair on Saturday.  I made 8 loaves of bread (4 wheat and 4 white) and bought the food for it and made 4 dozen cookies and a Chocolate Fruit Trifle.  Scott had a booth there about how to can food and talk to people about canning.  I was sad that more people didn't show up. It was a provident living fair and their were a lot of fun classes offered. I wish I could have gone to some of the classes...I was doing the nursery. I was all prepared to serve and had all these youth helpers and we babysat maybe three kids besides my own.  Kalli's friend Haley did a kids craft class and she did most of the babysitting! I had the movie "Tangled" set up and the youth and I ended up just watching the movie. I was disappointed because I felt like I wasn't serving...it was kind of funny to me that some the youth were complaining that they had seen "Tangled" 50 times because of younger siblings that enjoyed it yet they watched it anyway! It is a fun movie. I have really enjoyed it, too.  But, I think we there were a lot of factors why we didn't have as many people one of them being that this week is Spring Break.

So Spring Break is this whole week and I have been a little worried about all the free time on my kids hands.  I feel like I should be entertaining them or something and that is just not the way it should be.  So far it hasn't been too bad.  We went swimming yesterday with our friends' the Wakamatsus and that was a lot of fun.  Today we got some work done, Kael took the boys to the park and we got some shopping done today.  I have so many projects I want to get done (a lot of spring cleaning!) but I am trying to spend some good quality time with the kids.  I helped Kalli with a school project and that was fun to spend some time with her.  I know that in the long run, it will be important to spend the time with my kids but I so want to get all my little projects done!!! Anyway, also, a good thing that we have been doing is we are still getting up at 5:30 a.m. for family prayer and scripture reading. It has been hard but the kids are able to go back to bed after we finish. I know it will pay off and I don't want to lose our rhythm.  This is our third week of 5:30 a.m. scripture reading. Well, Happy Spring Break. Next post I will try and write about some more books that I have had the opportunity to read. I have been reading up a storm again. I can't help myself. :-)

Simple Joys

We went to Walmart the other day and saw a friend, Connie DeCock that used to be in our ward and she put some quarters in for Aaron. He was so happy and excited! It is funny how the simple things in life bring us joy!

DoTerra Shampoo

 I have a before picture that I previously had posted but everytime I look at it, I just cringe so I took it off my blog. I do have the after picture though.  This is after I have been using DoTerra Shampoo and it has been great.  I have been trying different shampoos for over a year now trying to help a scalp problem I have been having and the DoTerra shampoo has been helping! I am so excited! The other benefit is that I can style my hair better. I noticed that the first time I used it that I could actually get my hair to do what I wanted! Anyway, I thought I would post pics...not a big deal to most people but a big deal to me! I have also been enjoying my DoTerra essential oils. I'm usually not into that kind of stuff, but I have been using the oils for a year now and they work so who can argue with that!

Listening to Conference

I so enjoyed Conference last weekend. I'm glad I took notes and I am so looking forward to the Ensign with all the conference talks so I can read and ponder them.  I felt like a lot of the talks were just for me. The speakers are so inspired.  I really was moved by Elder Scott's talk when he talked about his wife and his child that had died. I remember thinking as I listened to Elder Scott that I would never again complain about being up in the night with throwing up kids.  Conference helps me to feel gratitude for all my blessings. It helps me to make new goals and a new resolve to do better.  A week before Conference, Scott and I decided that we needed to have family scriptures study and family prayer at 5:30 a.m. before he goes to work.  We just haven't been as consistent as we have wanted to be because Scott is at work all day and at school at night and it has been hard for me alone to get the kids together to do it.  So this was our solution.  We have been doing this for a little over a week now and I must say that it has been so hard to get up so early.  But, I know it will pay off.  And I feel like I'm taking control and that this is war against Satan who is trying so very hard right now to tear up our family.  I know that Satan is trying to destroy a lot of families in general but lately, I have been able to feel it in our family and we are fighting back!  We have been more vigilant in our FHE's and I have been trying to be more consistent in my personal prayer and scripture study.  It does get a little discouraging though when we have experiences like we did yesterday.  Kael had a Court of Honor and although I knew it would be hard to bring all my boys, I wanted to support Kael as a family. He didn't get any awards because he is so close to getting his Eagle...he is getting the rest of his recommendation letters and he is almost done with all the paperwork.  Anyway, it was hard to wrestle my little boys, especially 2-year-old Ammon who during the closing prayer was trying to lift my eyelids up and was saying, "Wake up, mom!" But we made it through.  We enjoyed refreshments afterward and Aidan was no where to be found when I was ready to go.  He was in the gym playing ball but I didn't know that so I was chasing the two little boys home trying to keep them out of the street and I had asked Kalli to tell Aidan to come home. Well, instead she dragged him home and the whole neighborhood probably hear the screaming.  Kael said that some of his YM friends told him, "Hey, kael did you know that your little sister is beating up your brother." How embarrassing.  I know Kalli was doing the best she could but I told her next time to just come home and get me and I would get him. Just what I need everyone in public to know that we are working on treating each better in our family (and not doing a very good job yet).   All we can do is just keep trying to better everyday.  I am so grateful for the encouragement and new resolve I feel every time I hear our Church leaders at conference.

More Peter Pan

This is a small movie of the beginning of Kalli's Peter Pan play. It begins with the "Stars" who narrate and then you see Kalli as Peter Pan. She did a great job.  This was great for her to be a mentor to the other kids in the play.  She started her drama career with her first role being a tree.  She has come a long way!  That was third grade, then fourth grade she played a supporting role in Auntie Claws but not the main role and then last year, she played the orphan Molly in the play Annie and this year, sixth grade , she had a good part in the roadshow at the beginning of the year and then Peter Pan at school.  I can hardly wait to see what she will be staring in next year in Junior High!!!

Peter Pan

Since the beginning of January, Kalli has been busy working at least twice a week on her play, Peter Pan.  She was so excited after auditions when she found out she would be playing the title role.  The last two weeks have been a blur as she has been busy with rehearsals almost every night and working so hard with the rest of the cast to perfect their play.  All that hard work paid off the last two nights.  They actually put it on three times; Thursday night, Friday during the day to Westmore students and then last night.  I wanted so badly to have a good seat and see Kalli in action that I started standing in line at 5:15 p.m.  It was schedule to start until 6:30.  We got front row seats (thanks again Mrs. Cooper for making that happen) and I was thrilled (and my extended family) to be able to be so close to see Kalli.  I had seen little bits and pieces of the play when I had come to practices but I had never seen it put together and I had never seen it all the way through.  We were all in for a big treat.  My husband commented that he thought he was better than their last year's production, "Annie"  All my little nieces and nephews and my little boys were mesmerized.  The play held their attention  the entire time.  My six-year-old niece, Kirsten said it the best; she said, "We have Peter Pan at home but this one is a lot better! It is so funny!"  The kids thoroughly enjoyed Captain Hook and the crocodile.  It was just so entertaining to watch and so much fun.  I was so proud of all the kids and the adults that put so much work into this production.  Mrs. Harrison did a fantastic job with their costumes. It looked so great.  I cannot praise it enough but now it is done.  Wow.  What will Kalli do with all that free time now?  Time to work on her middle ages project for school! I will have to post that later...it is a big project in the works but now we will have time to work on it!  Kudos for a Job well done!  Kalli was  a great Peter Pan. I will try and post a video of opening seconds of Peter Pan.  Her short haircut really did make her look like Peter Pan.  A mom came up to me afterwards and told me that she was trying to convince her little boy that Kalli was a girl and not a boy.  I told the little boy, "I have four boys and Kalli is my only girl" and he said, "Oh." It was kind of cute.  Great Job Westmore and great job Kalli for a job so well done.

Some Peter Pan pics

 This is at the end when everyone was clapping and cheering for the adults that put so much work into the production. 

 I had to get a picture of Mr. Beckstrand and Kalli together as Captain Hook and Peter Pan.

 This is a picture of Nick, Kalli and Liam as the Crocodile, Peter Pan and Smee.

 They had way too much fun doing this picture :-)!

 This is Kalli and one of her best friends, Kaylee who played Annie in last year's production. this year she played Wendy.   They were both excited to be able to be in so many scenes together and had a good time.

 This is a picture of Liam, Nick, Kalli, Kaylee, Mr. Beckstrand and Briley was Tinkerbell.

 Kalli as Peter Pan!

Mr. Beckstrand was my favorite as Captain Hook.  The kids laughed so hard when the crocodile would come after him.