MY BROTHERS - a tribute

Two of my brothers have birthdays this month so I thought I would do a little tribute to them. And to my brother born in the cold of winter, even though he NEVER has read my blog. Thanks Snookie and Jason, for caring. (okay, pretending to care, Rabbi, better?)

The three of them are all successful grown-ups, despite my best attempts as the oldest sister to ruin or kill them. They are great husbands, fathers, uncles, brothers, and sons. They all work hard and support their families. They are kind to women and children and they go to the temple. What more could you ask for? They are also funny and a blast to be around. When we are all together it is guaranteed that someone is going to laugh so hard they spew milk out their nose. I am proud of all of them.

Although they are grown, I remember them most as little brothers, so the following pictures portray that:

This is Jon and Jason at some rocky place, I am guessing in Arizona. I can't decide which I like more, Jon's floods or Jason's snazzy striped pants.

This is Snookie and Jon at a Father and Sons Camp Out. The headlight of the dark green Travelall is in the background. Jon threw up Cheetos in the backseat and to this day, just the smell of a bag of Cheetos being opened makes me sick to my stomach.

This is my mom and Jon. We lived in Hawaii so I don't know whose trailer that is... if any of them READ THE BLOG, we might get an answer. But they don't so it will remain a mystery ... Anyway, when Jon was a baby, he had the BIGGEST BLUEST eyes I have seen. He always looked surprised. He still looks that way sometimes as an adult. It cracks me up! AND my mom was (is) a beauty! I had a hot Mama!

I think this is Jason. Doesn't he look like Joseph? Freaky. Although Jason is darling, my favorite thing about this picture is the masking tape "beam" that we put on the livingroom floor so we could practice becoming Nadia Comaneci.

This is Snookie in my grandma's highchair. And here's the story of when Jon and I almost killed the Rabbi: Jon and I were babysitting one night and Snookie was snoring REALLY loud (maybe because he has Cystic Fibrosis) and he was just a little guy (we still lived in Holbrook, and he was asleep on the bottom bunk). Jon and I thought this was funny and at some point in our TV-deprived life we heard that you could plug the Snorer's nose and they would open their mouth to breath and then breath through their mouth. So, we plugged Snookie's nose and sure enough, he quit breathing. But he never opened his mouth. I don't know how long we waited but when we unplugged his nose, he STILL didn't breath! We had to shake him awake and then he took a breath. Sorry about that, Snookie.

Snookie has always been cute but he didn't let us curl his hair with a curling iron like Jason did. This must have been taken near the wind caves or ice caves when we were hiking in the Tetons.

How yummy is Jason?

I wonder if Jon still does the ironing? I know he cooks a mean beef stew. If he read the blog, we would know this, but he doesn't so there is another mystery... Check out the walls, I am thinking this was taken in the army barracks in Hawaii. And I love the fabric on the back cushion of the chair!

To put it all in perspective:

Left to right - Jason, Teilani, (girl in glasses is Debbie Ballard, my friend) , Rabbi Snookie (sporting the fabulous plaid pants), Me, Tamilie, and Jon in Arizona. I bet you that my mom still has a baby food jar of some of that red sand somewhere in her basement.

Again, left to right - Jon, Jason, Me, Tamilie, Teilani, and Rabbi Snookie. This picture was taken in Holbrook, Arizona (armpit of the nation) in our front yard. Those shrubs were ugly, but the dirt in front of them was the perfect graveyard for little plastic army guys, Fisher Price Little People, and various Barbie parts and accessories.

Question for the readers who don't know my family - Based on the pictures above - which of the brothers do you think is a doctor (OB/GYN), police detective/helicopter pilot, and a computer nerd/hero? You can leave your guess in the comments. (No spoilers please!)

WEEKEND UPDATE - Happy Memorial Day - thanks to those who gave it all for us to be free and those who still are (and their families!)

This week we had Sari's 6th grade program about ancient civilizations. She was in charge of the stage crew and she did a great job!

It was hard to catch Sari not blurry, she was in constant motion!

We also had Daniel's orchestra concert. Still up in the air about whether or not to pursue the stand up bass. It is apparently the hardest string instrument to learn and he has struggled, but we haven't been very supportive and we would like for him to have something that is his. Nothing will come easy to this kiddo, I am afraid.

Daniel is the only bass player, back right side.

Larry and Ben tore out our old family room carpet on Monday night and Tuesday we got new carpet! I am a little disappointed because I think the guy switched out the quality of the pad and then he said he gave us the wrong price quote and it was $250 more. I am frustrated but also so happy!! Our family room and kitchen look so much better now! We still need to put the trim back in, but it still looks great!

Matthew hanging out in his Jedi leggings, taking a break from saving the world with Larry Boy.

After school, Joseph gets into dress up and starts playing with Matthew. He was a tired blue Power Ranger today and he was falling asleep on the floor. Notice he is tired and playing with his hair -

this less than flattering picture, shows me doing the same thing - I also play with my hair when I am tired. I get the super attractive dark circles under my eyes from the Hathaway side of the family, fyi.

Ben took and passed the lifeguarding course. It was all week from 3:30 - 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 - 5:30. It was a great way to lose weight - Ben lost 7 pounds this week. The course requirements just said swim 300 yards and dive down 10 feet and get a 10 pound brick and swim it to the side. Well, that would be the MINIMUM. The pool is Olympic size and they swam A LOT of laps in it EVERY day. We are proud of Ben, it was hard work!

Rachel went to see Indiana Jones with a group of friends over the weekend. She also drove Ben to life guard class one day, missed the street and ended up on the FREEWAY!!! They survived, and Ben made it to class. I went on a field trip to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital with Daniel's class. They have a health fair every year and it was really, really interesting.

This super cool machine showed you your blood vessels under your skin!

Yes! Blood vessels in his arm, too!

A lead vest is old hat to Daniel, who LOVES the extra weight on him. When he had a lead glove, too, he was really in heaven!

The black lung is a pig lung that smoked and the pink lung is a healthy lung. What was really interesting was to see how much they expanded or didn't. No idea on how they got the pigs to smoke.

The Rabbi would know what this is called, but it is basically a vest that vibrates all the junk out of your lungs. Daniel thought it was the most relaxing thing ever, second only to the lead vest and gloves. Notice, the purple gloves - Daniel was also happy to have those. He wore them all day and night - much like he wore mittens day and night from about age 2 to 4, when we made him stop.

I went to Home Family and Personal Enrichment. We made wall hanging thingies. (Picture to follow, when I finish it.) Afterwards, Larry and I went to see Indiana Jones with the O'Donnals and the Grovers. It is fun to have friends who also have kids who are old enough to babysit, so we can go out sometimes. Anyway, I was a little disappointed when the source of the artifacts was revealed.

Larry worked his heiny off on Saturday. He bonded with the little boys, made me breakfast in bed, repaired three sprinkler heads, cut out the grass over running our driveway, and trimmed the lawn. That night he made us steak for dinner and we watched a video.

Larry also went to Brentwood Ward on Sunday, after a couple of early morning meetings. I missed him at our ward, but he loved visiting another ward and not having any responsibilities. He told me that some of our friends who are in that ward were making faces at him and teasing him, which he thought was funny. He felt very welcomed there.

Sunday night we had S.O.S. (Sant O'Donnal Sunday). Larry BBQd hamburgers, pineapple (so sweet I think it was pure sugar) and asparagus. YUMMY!!!! We played Phase 10, then Larry and Tracy sang American Idol on the Wii until Charmaine made him leave. Afterwards, Rachel, Sari, and I played more of it. It turns out that I will sing in public after 1 a.m.. Who knew? We went to bed at 2:30 in the morning! Dumb! We will pay for that all this week.

Joseph, Jackson, Matthew, and Kylen playing "Hiss".


Meridian (Foreigner), Sari (Styx), and Journey playing Monopoly. Really, how lucky are we that our kids all play together so great? (knocking on wood)

Phase 10. Larry won!!! He totally beat out Tracy, coming up from behind! Rachel does a sly blocking of her face, hiding from the paparazSARI.

Tracy and Larry tearing up American Idol on the Wii. Matthew was crashed out on my lap. Holding him while he sleeps is like cuddling a rock that has been baking in the desert all day - hot and heavy.

Today, Monday, I was in charge of our ward BBQ which went pretty good, despite some last minute glitches and stresses. It seemed like everyone had a good time and the food was fabulous! I am so glad it is over. In other news - the Spokane River has been near flood levels! This picture does not do justice!

My iPod died. I troubleshooted it and it needs to be sent in. It is four years old - I wonder if it would be worth the cost ...

I also read this book this week. I liked it. It was pretty good. It was not filled with BYU repressed sexual angst like the Twilight series is.

I am desperately seeking divine inspiration on what to do for Daniel - he needs help in so many areas. I just am worried sick about how he will do in 5th grade. It has been slow and harder coming than I think it should be. Mostly, I need a life coach. I feel like everything is a big hurricane and I am just grabbing stuff that looks important as it flies by, but I also know that I am missing many, many important things. Life coach - or more arms.

AND THE WINNER IS .... drumroll please

Because there was some confusion about whether to post on the Contest announcing post, or the We're Going To Tahoe post, I put everyone who posted on either post into the bowl. I should have taken a picture of the names, I used a really cute font and orange ink.

I even used my Fiestaware cereal bowl for this fine occasion.

You're welcome.

Daniel went to a Health Fair today at Sacred Heart Medical Center and got these gloves. After Daniel wore them ALL DAY - like he wore mittens everyday for about two years - Matthew tried them on. UGH.

We are after-bath here, and the boys like to sleep in their skivvies. I don't know why except that they are boys. Matthew is pointing to the one he wants to pick.

He picks it up.

He unfolds it. Curses, he can't read.

He waves it around, we still have no idea who it is. We begged him to show us.

Finally, he obliges. It looks like U won. This is after bath and after dinner but before brushing teeth - DO NOT enlarge these pictures. I baby-barfed when I did.

OH, make that UTAH won, which I think is great because today is her anniversary. Congrats Utah and Heber. You'll be getting a little something-something in the mail soon.


This post really is photojournalism at it's best.


The disturbing lack of exclamation points and other punctuation is because the shift keys aren't working. I feel unbalanced without them. OH and bonus, you got to see the new carpet we got yesterday to go in the familyroom.

embarrassing moment defined

Yesterday I was driving down Highway 2, singing my lungs out to the WICKED soundtrack. I seriously LOVE the music. I am also vocally challenged. I know this about myself. I have a musical ear and I can hear how bad I sound. But I also love to sing. I love to sing loud.

So there I was, cruising down the highway, which has several stoplights, by the way, with the music cranked, the little boys in the back, and I was singing my heart out.

Specifically, singing my heart out to 'Defying Gravity'. I will quote it for you - 'And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free. To those who ground me, take a message back from me. Tell them how I am defying gravity .... and nobody, in all of Oz, no Wizard that there is or was is ever going to bring meeeeeee dowwwwnnnnnnn. Bring meee doooowwwwwwnnnnnnnnn. OHHHHHHH OHHHHHH.' Very emotional part of the musical, a lot of passion here. Click on the link to see a youtube video of it.

It's intense, loud, and high singing. I was just belting it out at the stoplight, when I realized that the little boys had rolled down their windows and I was sharing my terrible voice with anyone interested in Target, the bank, Red Robin, Linen and Things, and a whole bunch of other stores.

Yes, I looked around, windows in other cars were unrolled. It was a nice day. Most people were looking away, much like what Kristine does when she is watching American Idol find freaks who think they can sing. I am sure there were one or two laughing hysterically, much like Utah does when she watches the same show.

And that my friends, is a little embarrassing. Much like having your bosom bit by an ostrich. But that is another post.

Sorry for the punctuation, the shift keys aren't working.

RACHEL IS NOT ME

This is a shock.
I should know this.
I signed Rachel (and Ben) up for Lifeguard classes. She said she didn't want to do it because she didn't think she COULD do it. I took that to mean she just needed me to show her that I have faith in her. (Sometimes when I say I can't do something, I just want someone to say, "Sure you can!") She went the first day, passed the swim test, but hated it and cried her eyes out.

Note to self: Rachel is her own person.

WHAT'S 20 YEARS BETWEEN FRIENDS?

When I was a missionary, here in Spokane, only it was out there in the "Valley" as opposed to here "up North" where we live now, there was an awesome family named the Wrights. They had a daughter, Niki, who was always up for some P-day fun and she was great at taking us to our appointments when we were low on miles. She was home from school for the summer, I think.

Tifani and Niki on the Spokane Falls Gondola - summer 1989

I don't remember how we got back in touch after 19 years, but maybe Niki will tell us. Anyway, she was in town to see her parents this weekend and on Sunday night she stopped by our zoo, I mean house. We were having a long overdue S.O.S. (Sant O'Donnal Sunday) and then I had to schedule an emergency Ward Activities Committee Meeting, and ALSO our Home Teachers had to come over because they will be gone next Sunday and it was basically the only night this week that we were available. But Niki was a real trooper and hung in through all the chaos (did I mention the 10 kids at S.O.S.?) It was so great to see her after all this time!

Tifani and Niki - 19 years later.

Here is something a little weird - Niki knows our hometeacher's wife - Lisa Alder from when they were wee tots living on the islands on the west side of the state. Everyone sing it now - It's a small world after all. It's a small world ...

Don't forget my contest! Tomorrow is the last day to comment and I KNOW that you will TOTALLY love the gift!

WE (((HEART))) TAHOE!!

Well, first off, let me say, that when your airplane holds about 50 people and the pilots look like they are 12, be prepared for the ride of your life! But we made it to Reno safely and that is all that matters!

Utah picked us up at the airport. It was so great to see her! I talk to her about 4.3 times a week, so really, it is like she never moved away. But her kids have grown so much!! We went out to eat with Heber and Utah at the Claim Jumper.

I love this picture because the hot dark chocolate waiter (not ours) who we were staring at is in it. (See behind us.) He was at least 6'4" and had hands bigger than Arsenio Hall. Our waitress did not know who Arsenio Hall is.

Dinner was good, but a long time in coming, which meant that we got FREE dessert (and we didn't even complain). The desserts are big enough for four people to eat one but since they are free and we are all 7th or 8th generation Mormon-waste-not-want-not-remember-the-starving-college-days people, we ordered one each. (Or maybe we were just little piggies?)

Here is a picture, from the Claim Jumper's website, of the dessert that Heber and I ordered, yes, we each got ONE. How's that working out for you Heber?

Heber and Utah are the nicest people and I am so glad that they came to law school here so that we could become friends. They are overly generous and good. No matter how much money Heber makes, they will find a way to give it all away!

Here's a picture of their darling little Jedi's using the force. How did I NOT get a picture of Hannah?? Duh!!

Carter (the smallest Padawan) took to Larry like they were best friends.

And how cute are the Mr. and Mrs.? They call each other that and usually that kind of stuff makes me baby barf (like Larry's old mission companion and his wife who call each other Bunny and Bunster - this comment is one of many reasons why this blog is private!). But when Heber and Utah say it to each other it is just sweet and cute!

We just adore these guys and their family! We were totally spoiled while we were there! Utah is a great cook and made a wonderful breakfast.

Heber and Utah gave us their old car. It ran great and is such a blessing to us! It has gotten really complex to get everyone where they need to be, when they need to be there. I told you that they are too kind to us!

The next day Larry and I went to Tahoe. I was a little worried because we kept hearing about how hot it was going to be. But not to worry! The weather was perfect! The 7000 - 8000 feet elevation had us sucking air at the slightest exertion, but the weather was great! First thing we took a "cruise" to see the other side of the lake and Emerald Bay. This is what the water looked like:

I am happy to say that I am extremely pleased with the accuracy of the colors in both of these pictures. The red is from the railing of the boat. This is the water at Emerald Bay:

It turns green just like that (snap). See the bottom left of the picture where it is turning? Freaky and cool.

This is a castle that some crazy old rich lady built to look like castles in Scandinavia.

We got freakishly sunburned on the cruise. By "we" I mean, me. Larry just got fried, but you can tell right where my sunscreen on my face stopped, and I burned one ear, and my neck, except for a swatch where my hair was. ???

See how Larry looks like he could crawl out of his skin? He hates hates HATES the feel of sand. I LOVE sand on my feet! Nature's exfoliant! The sand here was very coarse (and sparkly!), but it makes me laugh because when we talk about dream vacations I usually say, "Let's go on a cruise to Alaska" and Larry says "Let's go to the Bahamas and stay on the beach." But he hates sand and water on his feet. Hmmm.

Yeah, we saw this ginormous tree!

After the cruise we spent the day hiking around. You can just pull over and hike. My favorite part of the drive is when you are ON the ridge between Eagle Lake and Lake Tahoe. It is just so cool to see lakes on both sides! It was awesome. This was at Inspiration Vista. It was very inspiring. That is Emerald Bay behind us.

At Emerald Bay, behind the castle, there is a waterfall. We drove to the top and then hiked down to see it. We found a nice man who took our picture there. Check out the waterfall at our feet, the trees and Emerald Bay behind us. It was so ... breath-taking. And the sun was shining really bright and the nice man wanted to be sure the picture was perfect so he took his time posing us and by the time he took the picture, Larry and I were both crying.

Afterwards, we had to stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get some love:

This is what Larry ordered, Utah's recommendation. I got this bad boy:

I think it tasted even better than it looks.

On another hike I fell in love with this rock that Larry is touching. The colors don't show up, but trust me, it would look great in my yard! A little souvenir from Lake Tahoe? Larry said it was too big ... whatever.

This is what Larry said when I pointed out the rock, "This is igneous, intrusive, metamorphic blah blah with granitic blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah." That is what you do, when you go to Tahoe with a Civil Engineer who specializes in dirt. (I even learned why the sand is sparkly - it's not glass! - it's mica and something else that eroded from granite.)

Our last self-photo op. Good bye, Tahoe! We MUST come back!

We did get one last laugh - this plaque was on a bench at our last hike. I mean, really, who wants the world to know that your daddy had one long ball?

Larry says this is a golf term, but I think it is more like an indian name like, "Soars With Eagles" or "Man With A Nose Like A Moose". Either way, one should use discretion when picking a nickname. That clearly did not happen in Al's life.

Driving through Reno (where it was hotter than he** - how do people live there?) we noticed that many were driving exactly ten under the speed limit. Most of these drivers appeared to be illegals. (I am not prejudice - I was in 3rd grade before I even realized that people were classified by the color of their skin - I am just making an observation.)

This great weekend could only happen because Larry's parents came up and stayed with the kiddos. They did a great job of taking care of everything and we came home to a clean house AND extremely happy children! Joseph took this picture of them.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

100th POST CONTEST!

The post below was my 100th post!! Leave a comment and I will put your name in a hat and draw a lucky winner! I will send you a little something in the mail (maybe I'll even find the perfect thing while we are in Tahoe!)

You only have seven days to leave a comment, so hop to it!

And thanks to Elizabeth for this great idea!

HI HO HI HO IT'S OFF TO LAKE TAHOE WE GO ...

Today is the BIG day! Larry and I are going to Lake Tahoe.

BY OURSELVES.

Of course I am practically-need-medication-worried-anxious about my kids and Larry and I because I (and I self-diagnosed this from one of the few Dr. Phil's I've seen) have this mental disorder where I think everyone I love and hold dear will be safe if I am with them. It's most common in kids and shown when they don't want to go to school or something (sort of like separation disorder) but I have it FOR my kids.

BUT, on to happier notes! I get to see my dear, lovely, hilarious, fun, and so cute friend, Utah!!! (Birth name Kristina) Here she is with her cherubs! Yeah!!

We will also (I am assuming here) get to see my faux little bro Heber (Utah's husband). Look at him pretending to be all grown-up like he has a job and all that.

I hope you don't mind that I swiped some pictures off your blog, Utah! See you in a few hours!
See the rest of you when we get back on Saturday, so Larry can be set apart to the High Council on Sunday at 6 a.m.. That is soooo early!

WEEKEND UPDATE - a week in pictures

Monday night Sari had her District Elementary School Choir. It was beautiful. (Sari is bottom row, left).

Tuesday Night was the Blue and Gold Banquet and the first pack meeting the cub scouts have had since August.

Wednesday was the Dam Field Trip to Post Falls Dam. I went as a chaperone to Daniel's class. It was a lot of dam fun! This is Daniel and Mickey, his great friend since Kindergarten.

This is me and Daniel on a near the dam hike.

A dam picture of Daniel.

I could go on with the dam jokes, but I will spare you, except to say that Larry is also a dam engineer and took several dam classes that we paid dam tuition for and he has several dam books that cost a darn lot of money.


Thursday I pulled all the trim off our kitchen and dining nook. There were thirty (yes 30) pieces and I only broke the last stinkin' one. The trim is solid oak so I am just going to clean them up and restain them a less orange and then we will put them back up. I also only killed off two knives in my endeavors.

Friday was Joseph's Mother's Day program.

I LOVE the book "Meanies" by Joy Cowley. This is Joseph in his Meanies mask.

Friday was also Activity Days and Sari made this there: Isn't it so cute?!

Saturday was Prom. Thirty minutes before Prom this was me, hemming Rachel's dress. I put the sleeves in earlier in the week. (Thank goodness!) (Clearly, my stack of "to-read" books has overtaken my dresser. Ugh.)

How sweet is this? Larry did the last minute ironing touch-ups on Rachel's dress.

I love a man who can iron! A little known fact about Larry is that he is a better ironer than I am (slower though). When we were pregnant with Rachel, he ironed my clothes for work EVERY day while I ate my breakfast. (Cheerios - curiously, Rachel's favorite cereal now.)

From 9 am to 1 am on Friday and from 9 am to 3 am on Saturday Larry put in our new kitchen floor. This picture does NOT show the true color of the floor and it totally bugs me. The next picture shows the floor color right (but not the walls).

It was truly a labor of love! (My kitchen is not that lemony, more like the yellow on the far right, not straight across.)

Sunday - no pictures, but on Mother's Day I slept in until 11 am, got breakfast in bed, got myself only ready, all by myself. At church Larry was released and Paul Alder replaced him in the Bishopric. When we came home I took a nap while Larry made the kids dinner. We read scriptures (while I slept) and then Larry bbq me a steak and made me homemade fries! I didn't do one dish, or lift a finger all day! I went to bed with a clean kitchen, too! It was great!


(Then I stayed up half the night because of my late nap and worrying about leaving for Lake Tahoe in a few days and I am totally NOT ready! ARG!)

RACHEL AND CLAYTON GO TO SENIOR PROM

Tonight was the BIG night! Here is Rachel all dressed up and ready to go.

A close up of our baby. Yikes!!

Rachel attempting to put on Clayton's boutonnière. It was cute that her hands were shaking and she could barely get the pin through.

They look so cute together! Clay's tux has nice pin stripes, it is a smashing suit

Don't they look happy?

Now for the paparazzi pictures taken through the living room window. I was so distracted, I forgot to zoom. You can see why below:

As they walked down the sidewalk they MUTUALLY reached for each other's hands. I gasped.

The ride was a SWEET black Lexus with gold trim (belongs to Clay's mom). Rachel had a WONDERFUL time and felt like she was treated like a princess. Oh, and yes, they double/triple/group dated, Rachel was the first pick-up.

JOSEPH PISCASSO HILFIGER (formerly Joseph Gianni Versace)

Today is the Mother's Day Program in Kindergarten so I asked Joseph to "put on a shirt with buttons" and "a nice pair of shorts - not basketball and not cut-offs". This is what he came up with.

Below is a portrait Joseph drew of me and presented to me at the Mother's Day Program. I LOVE this and I am going to frame it. Shelli asked a question that I should have clarified: I do not have Heterochromia iridium - the different color eyes are the artist's prerogative (and one of my favorite parts - my eyes ARE greenish brown).

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from The Princess Bride

"This is true love - you think this happens every day?"

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

What more can I say?

JOSEPH'S PRAYER

Last Wednesday morning, my neighbor Stephanie Jones, called to tell me "something that's gonna make you laugh".

Ohoh.

We both have four boys (her oldest took Rachel on her FIRST (aka nice) Homecoming date) and well, things can be pretty interesting when it comes to the eight boys between us.

Here is the story she told me - Noah and Joseph came into their house looking for Noah's sword and they looked everywhere and couldn't find it. Finally Joseph said, "I have an idea! Let's say a prayer!" Noah looked confused and then said, "Good idea!" And dropped to his knees. Joseph joined him on their family room floor, kneeling, and said, "I will say the prayer." He then prayed, "Heavenly Father, Noah and I really want to play swords and we can't find Noah's sword. Please help us find it. And we really love our parents and please bless the food. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Noah looked around and said, "It isn't here!" Stephanie interrupted at this point and said, "Noah, it isn't magic! You have to look around and maybe you will be prompted where to look. Like, when was the last time you saw it? Where were you?" Noah thought and thought and then shouted, "I know where it is!" He ran downstairs and got it off his bed. Joseph then exclaimed, pumping his arm in the air, "YES!!! I knew it would work!"

Such simple faith in 6 year old boys!

And that picture is from this week - Grandpa Hathaway pulled out one tooth (already had the new tooth growing in behind it) and then the next day (Monday) Joseph was jumping on furniture (because of course, I allow that, encourage it, even, this is a barn, not a house) and he crashed into my cedar chest and popped the tooth next to it right out. Still had some root - ouch! But he was fine. Two teeth in one week - yay Joseph!

EXCUSE #2372

Ben's reason today to try to get out of early morning Seminary - "I think I broke my jaw by yawning so much trying to clear my ears." (He has a raging ear infection.)

WEEKEND UPDATE

First of all - here are some pictures Larry took of my darling angels helping out around the house - and doing a good job!

Ben's chili and spam snacks (gag, I know) are the primary reason our microwave gets dirty. It seems only fair that he is the one to scrape it off ...

Miss Sari with our pile of dirt ... maybe I should have cropped that part out ... the sheets that were our curtains are in the background. You can see why I needed to do something right away! Oh, and you can see that my room is yellow now instead of taupe/batcave greyish-brown.

I think this was posed. Rachel is never this happy vacuuming the stairs.

Don't men look so great when they are mopping the floor or doing other housework? Yay Ben!

Kristine saved my sanity when she took Matthew to the park with Katherine to play. The clouds rolled in so they headed to Target and Matthew got a bouncy ball AND gum!! He was in heaven! He shared the gum with his greedy siblings. I don't have any pictures of the day but here is what Kristine reported in my comments area of a previous post:

Matthew is such a gentleman. Whenever Katherine was stuck or couldn't quite make it up or over something, he would pull her up. What a great kid! I'm afraid Kat talked his ear off. On the way to Target we played a game trying to find the things in the world of a particular color. First was blue, then pink (guess who picked that?). Matthew said, "I think this is going to be willy hawd." So cute.

He also helped his dad build some new shelves.

The highlight of Joseph's week was when Grandpa Hathaway pulled out his loose tooth! He is so excited to bring home the tooth book from kindergarten! (You can see some of my new cafe curtains in the background. And yes, that is orange ric-rac. I love ric-rac! There is just a little bit of it and it adds some definition since the fabric is very softly hued. I got all the window treatments done - yay!)

My parents came to visit us on Friday they made rootbeer floats for the kids and rootbeer is Daniel's favorite thing ever. Sadly, he can't have it because of his braces. I was so proud of him. He ate icecream, lots of it, but didn't have any rootbeer, even though Larry and I weren't there to monitor his behavior.

My parents are into geo-caching and they took the kids on a couple of "treasure hunts" near our house. They all loved it! Ben looks stoic here, but we have some pictures that show he was really having fun.

Sari had her bookclub at the Grover's house. It was a lot of fun. We had read the book "The Candy Shop War". Although it is written for kids, it was a fun, quick 400 page book that kept me interested and I was a little surprised at the ending. I think I will read more of Brandon Mull's books. Sari is so excited for Girl's Camp! This week she learned the Heimlich and CPR.

The best part of Ben's week was that he went to a knife shop with his Grandpa Hathaway and found a knife that cost $90 and "is worth every penny". ???? I just don't even know what to say to that.

Rachel answered Clay’s prom invitation. It turned out to be a huge pain. We were planning to make little jello cupcakes and put in little cut-out laminated words saying yes through some cute poem we made up. But it didn’t work. The jello wouldn't set up hard enough (I guess I don't know how to make jello.) It took ALL NIGHT on Monday! Finally sometime after 11:00 p.m. I went to Albertsons and bought the jello pre-made and we stuck the laminate words in. Oh, and I ran out of laminate, because we had to rewrite the poem because they don't make blue jello in the pre-packaged kind so I had to peel the excess off the roll and stick it together myself. Rachel and Ben drove over to Clayton's house before 6 a.m. and dropped it off on his front porch so he would see it on the way to his car. I hear that he liked it.

We got Rachel a different dress. It is pink. She LOVES it. It is a long story. When I am ready to post about it, I will. Also, she has my camera so check back, when she gets home I will add a picture of her in it (pre-sleeves).

Rachel is also fully annoyed that the Beehives picked RAINBOWS AND LEPRACHANS AND GOLDEN POTS to be on their camp flag this year. AND someone decided they should all wear overalls every day!!!! She is ready to scream! I do feel sorry for her ... overalls? Ugh. And it makes me wish I had asked the head-swinging chick from my Rock You Like A Hurricane post where she got her overalls. (If you haven't checked out that video, I suggest you do, it is funny!)

So, Tuesday night the stake clerk called and had Larry make an appointment with the Stake President for Thursday night. These kinds of calls are best not answered. So I worried about that for two days. But not to worry! Larry will be released from the bishopric and now he is on the high council. All the high council wives (okay, the three that I talked to) report that this is a cushy calling in our stake because the stake is small and everyone knows that you can just hang out there for many years and disappear. Larry is kind of bummed out because he loves working with the youth.

And now ... my talk in Stake Conference ... by way of comfort, my friend Jan said, “Don’t worry; all you have to do is not say anything you will regret later.” Like that has EVER happened! I practically live with my foot in my mouth!

I think I did well (or is it good - Kim, where are you when I need you?) on my talk. I was so nervous because my assignment had a huge impact on my life and I just didn't feel like I could verbally express that. I tried to. And I had a lot of positive comments. It is hard to comment on yourself talking. Here is what Larry said in his journal, "Tif gave an excellent talk, of course. Just the right amount of humor and lots of the spirit. We both got lots of comments on it, and I learned publicly that I am a “very annoying happy morning person.” For the record I said, "annoyingLY happy morning person" which makes a big difference. Rachel said, "My mom spoke in stake conference today and everyone loved it! She did a great job." This is what Kristine said about it on her blog: "Your talk was my favorite--you're a fantastic speaker, Tifani!" Kristine is too kind (and she was in charge of the music and it was the best choir I have heard short of the Tabernacle Choir - really - they were THAT good), but she doesn't give out froo-froo compliments, so I took her words to heart.

I also had the rare privilege of watching our Stake President have a canary on the stand and I don’t mean the bird. I mean that he has a detailed syllabus of how long these things take and the first speaker had 10 minutes and took at least 20. They took the red light off the podium so he took a hymnbook and slid it forward on the floor with his VERY LONG legs and tried tapping her shoe. She didn’t notice. Eventually he managed to get the hymn book under her foot so when she stepped back, she stepped on it and looked down to see what it was. She still didn’t get the message and continued on. I was cracking up! I paused when I went up immediately after her, giving him a chance to say, “Don’t worry about it, Sister Sant, she took your time, too.” But no, he just nodded at me. I had ten minutes and I took nine.

And that is the Sant week!

Whew!

(P.S. - Elizabeth asked - in December my Stake President called and asked me to "make spiritual goals, re-evaluate them as necessary, focusing bending my will to the Lord's and putting on the full armor of God" and then report on my experience, taking 10 minutes of Sunday Stake Conference.

Something else kind of funny - sitting in the second row was my old zone leader and his wife and kids - Jon and Allison Sok. They were so kind and both gave me two thumbs up after I was done.)