Happy Easter

Say What?

Sadie: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the hairiest of them all?  Daddy!”

Tissues are so overrated

 

etc.

My to-do list was sitting on the table and one of the items said something like,

“Do such-and-such, etc.”

Soren saw it and asked, “Mom, what does e-t-c mean?  Does it mean eat the cookies?”

No Soren, it doesn’t.

But it should.

HR

My brother Rob, a.k.a. HR (Handsome Rob), has been asking when I’m going to start blogging again.  I think of things I could post rather frequently, but somehow I never manage to sit down and actually post them.  And now it’s been so long that I don’t even know where to start.  So I’ve decided to roast pay tribute to the only person who seems to miss my ramblings — Rob.

Rob is significantly younger than I.  In fact, Rob turned 5 right after I started my first year of college.  I recently came across this note that he sent me at school:

“Hi Missy How ya doin I miss ya Love Robby”

Awww.  Isn’t that so cute?  He must have forgiven me for the haircut I gave him only weeks before school started.  Mom was in the hospital having baby Jeffrey so I thought I’d help her out by cutting Rob’s hair.  I’d never given a haircut before, but how hard could it be with clippers?  Did you know that you are supposed to attach an extension on the clippers before you begin?  Did you know that your subject will be bald if you don’t?  Um, yeah.  Rob was bald.  But hey, that much longer before he needed another haircut, right?  Sadly, I have no photos of that event.  Fortunately, he’s had great hair ever since.

As if great hair wasn’t enough, Rob is very stylish as is demonstrated in this never-before-seen photo:

Is that classy or what?  Even from a young age he has demonstrated an impeccable fashion sense.  Today you’re more likely to see him in a cardigan sweater or a frightening clever t-shirt.

Another great quality is that he loves loved cats.  We had a cat which was the runt of the litter and rather ugly and so we named him Yoda.  Rob loved Yoda!  And from the photo, it looks like feelings were mutual.  This is how they slept pretty much every night:

I’m wondering if Rob’s love for cats ended when Yoda ran away one year on his birthday.

Oh, and Rob is very talented/clever.  That can be aptly demonstrated by this amazing hat he created.  Again, his sense of style leaves me speechless.

Rob is the self-proclaimed “favorite uncle” to my kids.

It’s obvious they love him!

Rob is also an ultimate frisbee pro, killer bunnies champion, and amazing family historian.  It’s no wonder we put up with him love him as much as we do!

Talented Sheep

Having served a mission in Scotland, and being on the Isle of Lewis during lambing season, I grew to love sheep.  They had the right of way on the roads and it wasn’t uncommon to have to wait for a little lamb to finish eating before Mom and baby would move out of the way.  I remember eating at a member’s home one Sunday after church.  We were having a nice roast, which I assumed was pork, when I announced, “After serving on this island, I will never be able to eat lamb again.”  An uncomfortable silence followed before our host announced that the roast was, you guessed it, lamb.  Oops!

Enjoy the following video of some pretty amazing sheep — or maybe it’s the sheep dogs that are talented and several sheepherders with an awful lot of time on their hands.

In A Nutshell

Here’s a photo journey of some of the more memorable events that have occurred over the past several weeks in our little corner of the world. 

Jeff's bone grafting/rod replacement surgery

Sterling's legos gather for General Conference

Sam's surgery

crazy hair days at school

father son outing

University "Celebration!" - an annual family event

more snake handling

even more

a good way to use up 24 lbs. of strawberries

a better way to use up 24 lbs. of strawberries

weeping cherry blossoms

spring blossoms

Not pictured:  Jeff replacing the radiator in the van, Spencer reading the entire Harry Potter series in 2 weeks, Savannah’s awesome piano recital, Sam’s entertaining Choir concert, Savannah’s clever choir concert/musical, Soren’s cute kindergarten music program, getting rid of ants in the kitchen, finding and fixing the leak that caused our floorboards to buckle, etc…

So Far So Good

So I’ve been the mother of a teenager for several hours now and so far we’re doing okay.  It hardly seems possible that 13 years have passed since we brought this guy home – and I remember thinking at the time that I couldn’t believe they let us out of the hospital with a baby (as if we knew what we were doing) – but now we can hardly remember life before Sam was a part of it.

So here’s a big Happy Birthday to our Sam with 10 things we love about our favorite teenager.

10. Sam is willing to try new things, especially when that means spending time with Dad.

9. Sam is very smart and always does well in school.

8. Sam loves his family and can be very kind to his siblings. Yes, I said “can be”.  We all have our bad days…

7. Sam has an interesting perspective about many things.

6. Sam loves to have fun and is as silly as they come!  Never a dull moment when Sam is around!  Do you think maybe that has something to do with being born on April Fool’s Day?

5. Sam has always loved to play games. He loves to win, but is a good sport when he doesn’t. I can always count on Sam for a game of Phase 10, Five Crowns, Blokus, Rummikub, Rack-o…

4. Sam is a movie star!  He was an extra in the Joseph Smith movie that came out a couple of years ago.  (It’s shown in the Legacy Theater in Salt Lake and in Visitor’s Centers.)  It was a great experience, but he hated the wig!

3.  Sam is becoming quite the accomplished violinist.  He’s been playing for about 6.5 years. He’s not crazy about solo numbers, but loves to play with the University orchestra and is always willing to share his talent at nursing homes to the delight of the residents there.  I love it when he and Sterling play duets, accompanied by Savannah.

2.  Sam has a tender/spiritual side.  He is honest to a fault (unless he’s sneaking extra time on the wii) and always tries to do what is right. (This is one of my all-time favorite pictures. I love the butterfly net over his shoulder…)

1.  Sam is just an all-around-great-kid!  He is loved and respected by many.  The conductor of the orchestra commented the other day that to see Sam’s smile each week makes the blood, sweat, and tears seem non-existent.  His teachers have often told me how much they enjoy Sam in their classes.  Sam is one handsome guy and we’re so glad he’s ours.  We love you Sam and hope you had a great 13th birthday!

Loved This

Say What #10

Soren came home from school today and announced,

“Mom, if you want to know all about animals, just ask a vegetarian.”

Vegetarian.  Veterinarian.  What’s the difference?  Most animals would probably prefer to hang out with a vegetarian anyway.