Quilted Memories

Tuesday, May 27th - 2008

A couple of weeks ago Stacy mentioned to me that she would like to make a quilt for Adam for graduation. My Grandma Betty started the tradition of making a quilt out of material from clothes that we once wore. I got mine when I was 11 or 12, and I still have it over 20 years later. It is frayed in several places and worn thin, but it is still one of my favorite blankets. I use it all of the time. Stacy and I made one for Paul a few years ago for Christmas. His included favorite shirts worn by his boys over the years. We also had some pictures put on it. So, when she decided to do one for Adam, I said I would help out. I didn't realize we would be making it the actual DAY before graduation. She had already cut out the shirts she wanted to use and laid them out. Stacy, my mom and I literally spent all afternoon and late into the evening (It was after 10 when we finally quit for the night) working on this thing. We made a lot of progress, but it became quite apparent that we were not going to finish it on time. Oh well! He will get it eventually.

My favorite part of the day was when Adam noticed a piece of his favorite brown t-shirt on Grandma's table. He said he had been wondering what happened to that shirt. He was mad that his mom cut it up. Why would she do that? He didn't know what we were up to. The quilt was supposed to be a surprise. My mom tried to cover by telling him to not be too mad, that we were making quilts for the homeless, and that his shirt was being put to good use. I had a hard time keeping a straight face while she told him such an obvious lie.

I had fun spending the day (and half the night) with Stacy and my mom. I think I got a little too bossy about the whole thing, but they put up with me. Thanks to Jared for the D-backs tickets for Brian, Joe and Dallin. It kept the boys out of the way while we worked.

Memorial Day

Monday, May 26th - 2008
In typical memorial day fashion, we had a BBQ at my mom's house. Nearly everyone was there. We missed Grandpa, Alex and Michael, who were working at the cabin. We also missed Stacy and Joshua. Joshua was sick, so Stacy stayed home with him. We were joined by Grandpa Lambson for a little while, and Erik and Amelia and Tim, Becca and Melanie stopped by for a bit too. I wasn't feeling well either, so I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, but here are a few of my favorites that I did capture. The top picture is Emmy. She just recently learned how to swim. She was hillarious in the pool. I love Emmy. She is just the cutest little thing.

I liked this picture of Max. I think he is trying to make use of all of Grandma's pool toys at the same time. I love Max. He is one of my most favorite people in the world.

I think this picture of Addy is my favorite. I was trying to get a picture of her new haircut, but she was not having it. She thought it was hillarious to keep running back and forth in front of the camera so I couldn't take her picture. I told her I was going to take one anyway. When I showed her the picture, she thought it was funny. She kept laughing and laughing. Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?

Sick Day

Sunday, May 25th - 2008

This is the only picture I took on Sunday. I was soooo sick. I'm lucky I remembered to take a picture at all. I literally spent the whole day in bed. Brian was sick today too, and Joseph didn't feel well either. He was pretty good about entertaining himself today while Brian and I were out of it. When I got up to get some water that night, this is where I found him. I'm guessing that's where he spent most of his day.

What was I thinking?

Saturday, May 24th - 2008

Yeah, I took 5 boys to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull today. What was I thinking? Actually, they were all really well behaved. We all had a good time.

Enjoying the Weather

Friday, May 23 - 2008

The weather was so nice today, cloudy and cool. I told the boys it would be one of the last times that they could actually go outside to play and not sweat to death. So, they spent the afternoon outside enjoying the weather. Dallin came up with a creative way to give Joshua a ride. He loved it.

You Knew This Was Coming

Thursday, May 22nd - 2008

You had to see this coming. With all of the rain we had today, you had to know that there would be rain pictures. I love the rain so much. Joe and I went for a long walk in the rain today. It reminded me of when he was little and he had those Darth Maul snow boots that he wore everywhere, all of the time. When it rained, we would go outside and splash puddles. We splashed a few puddles today, but there were no rain boots.

I also thought this picture was funny today. I walked into my mom's house today to work. Usually it is full of people working, or kids playing. Today when I walked in, the house was totally quiet (very unusual). My dad is alone, sitting at the table doing a Mickey Mouse puzzle. Apparently he was helping Max and Rowan do a puzzle, but they ended up leaving, and my dad wanted to finish what he started. I just found the whole thing amusing.

Also, today was the start of "So You Think You Can Dance". I've been looking forward to it for a long time. It did not disappoint. I went to my mom's house to watch with her. It was awesome of course. This was my favorite guy. He was freakishly flexible, I've never seen anything like him.

Oh, I almost forgot. This morning I went to the visitor center with my friend Elise. We saw the Reflections of Christ (I hope I remembered that name right) exhibit. It is a photography exhibit, with photo's (re-created, of course) of the life of Christ. It was really cool. No picture taking was allowed - hence, no photo here. If you want to check it out, either go to the visitor center, or check out the website: reflectionsofChrist.org.

Joshua

Wednesday, May 21st - 2008

As my mom so kindly pointed out, today is Saturday, and I still have my Tuesday picture up. I've been taking my pictures, I just haven't posted them yet. Here are the pictures for Wednesday.

Wednesday, I babysat Joshua for a while. He came with me to pick up Joe from school. This is the cute face that I saw everytime I looked back.

Joshua and Joe played trains after school at grandma's house.

Joshua found a withered old grapefruit outside, and thought it was an apple. Here he is trying to cut himself a piece.

Stocking up

Tuesday, May 20th - 2008

Confession - I HATE to grocery shop. It's true. I put it off as long as I possibly can. I finally had to go yesterday. The cupboards were bare - literally. I think we were down to like, bread and milk. My problem is, that I wait until I need something, and then I'll go to the store and just buy one or two things. I literally end up going to the store almost every day. Or, I'm sending Brian to go pick up like one or two things. So I decided that for someone who hates to shop, I spend a lot of time going to the store. So yesterday, I decided to get organized. I did some major planning, wrote up a list and did some actual shopping. This is probably only half of what I got. It took forever, it was incredibly hot outside, and I did not enjoy it, but at least my shelves are stocked. I won't have to go again for a while.

Shaved Ice and the moon

Monday, May 19th - 2008

Tonight Joe and I went to Xander's baseball game. It was a late game, so we didn't stay the whole time. Brian stayed home. He had been sick in bed all day. I think I figured out why Joe likes to go to Xander's games the most. It's the shaved ice. Before we even got out of the car, he is rummaging throught the spare change, stealing all of my quarters. I barely had time to set up the chairs before he was over at the snack shop buying one. After he let me try it, I can see why he likes them so much. It was yummy!















On a side note, the moon looked awesome tonight. It looked the best around sunset. It was low in the sky, and huge and orangeish. Joe and I tried to get a picture, but we were in the car at the time, and the flash reflected off the window. It just didn't turn out. So, I took this picture right before I walked into my house. It really doesn't do it justice. I need a better zoom lens so I can get in closer.

Sweet Treat

Sunday, May 18th - 2008

I love Sunday. It is my total lazy day. Brian pretty much does all the cooking. Probably because he knows if he left it up to me, we wouldn't be eating. This is what he came up with for our family home evening refreshments. I sent him to Costco yesterday for a few things. He always comes home with more than a few extra's - I guess that's the price I pay for him going instead of me. Anyway, this was the "extra's" he came home with, so I won't complain. Yum!

Working and Playing

Saturday, May 17th - 2008

Joseph has been wanting a certain toy for a long time now. He asks me every day if we can go buy it. I tell him that when he earns the money for it, then I'll take him to go buy it. He is nothing, if not persistent. Today he actually decided to earn the money. He mowed Grandma's lawn for her - front and back. That is a whole lot of lawn. It was really hot, and while he was mowing the back lawn he had to watch a bunch of his cousins having fun in the swimming pool. I totally thought he would complain, or give up, but he didn't. I took him over and hour and he didn't complain once. He also washed my car for me. Needless to say, he earned enough money for the toy.


Tonight the boys got to play. Brian and Joe went to an ASU baseball game with Paul and Michael, and then out to dinner at Lucille's. Michael and Joe hung out by the dugout and got their tickets signed by a bunch of the players. I thought it was funny that he was so excited to have their autographs, but couldn't tell me the names of any of them. They had a great time.

While they were gone, I had the whole house to myself. I had every intention of doing something productive - blogging, scrapbooking, catching up on some ironing - but then I realized that MTV had been running old episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" all day. Brian, the sweetie that he is taped them all for me. So, I spent an evening on the couch watching SYTYCD. I got nothing important accomplished. It was great.

On a side note: I scared Addy today. I totally didn't mean to. Joe and I were just getting ready to leave Grandma's house to go home, when Darrel showed up with Addy and Ro. So, we decided to stay a little while. I was on the couch talking to Addy, we were having a great time, when she happened to notice the shirt I was wearing. It was Brian's black "Freedom or Death" shirt. It has a skeleton face on the front. She slowly got off the couch and backed away from me, then she went running down the hall to find Grandma. I put a pillow up in front of me to hide the shirt after that, but she still wouldn't come near me. I felt bad, but I also thought it was cute too. I guess no more "Freedom or Death" when Addy is around.

Ben's game

Friday, May 16th - 2008

Friday night Brian and I went to Ben's baseball game. Joe was at Hamilton pool with the Gonzo's. We got to hang with Sheri, Max and Evan. Mostly with Max. Sheri spent most of the time chasing Evan around. Max is awesome. He shared his gummy bears and he showed me a bunch of tricks with his yo-yo. My favorite was the "around the world and hit yourself in the head." I also enjoyed the one called "the chair". Basically, you take your yo-yo and you throw it over the chair. Brian got in a little tickle torture - one of Max's favorite games. Ben did awesome in his game. He got a couple of good hits and he made a great stop out in right field.

Brian made a new best friend. His name is Guiness. This dog was really sweet, Brian did not want to leave him.

Proof

Thursday, May 15th - 2008
So I had a pretty lousy day yesterday. I felt bad physically, which lead to feeling bad mentally and emotionally. Then, yesterday afternoon, out of the blue I heard it raining. So, I hurried outside. This wasn't the sad little sprinkles that you hardly feel, this was actually rain. It didn't last long, but I got to stand in the rain for about 5 minutes. I enjoyed every second of it. As soon as it was finished, I grabbed my camera. I needed proof. So here it is, the street in front of my house, proof that it rained yesterday. I also see it as proof that good things happen every day. You just have to recognize it. Proof that all it takes is 5 minutes to change your perspective and your mood. And, proof that miracles do happen (like rain in Arizona). Proof that Heavenly Father is watching out for each of us, and if he needs to send a little rain to prove it, he will.

Amazed

Wednesday, May 14th - 2008
Brian and Joe started guitar lessons today. Joseph was super excited all day. Tonight before bed, Joseph was reviewing what he learned. He played a few songs for me: Smoke on the water, Beethoven's Ode to Joy and the Darth Vadar song - you know, the music that plays whenever Darth Vadar enters a room. Then he looks up (all proud of himself) and asks "Do I amaze you?" Yes Joseph, you do amaze me! I was impressed that after one 30 minute lesson he could play me 3 different songs. It's cool that Brian and Joseph get to take their lessons together. We'll see who progresses faster.

Today I also went to lunch with my mom. She got to pick the place - Olive Garden. Tonight I went to Sheri's young women's activity. They were making matching pajama pants for girls camp. She needed people with sewing machines to come and help out the girls. My mom and I went. It was fun and I learned how to make pajama pants.

Clouds

Tuesday, May 13th 2008

This cloud was my best friend today. I love clouds, rain, wind and all around cold weather. I know, I totally live in the wrong place. That is why I am so grateful for the clouds and cooler weather we had today. With 5-6 months of intense heat coming up, who knows when our temperatures will be in the 70's again. When Joe was little we called this a "go to the park kind of day". Too bad he was in school. I miss those days of hanging out at the park, feeding the ducks, pushing him on the swings. Kids grow up way too fast!

Anyway, lots of clouds = great day!

Lighten Up

Monday, May 12th 2008

Tonight was the 5th graders performance at Joseph's school. It was called "Lighten Up" (I think). The entire 5th grade performed songs that were silly and fun. They also told jokes inbetween the songs. Each class did their own song and then all of them did a few songs together. Joe's class sang the gummy bear song. It is from a video that Joe and his friends watch on You Tube. Grandma and Grandpa came to watch the performance. I think Brian and my dad had too much fun sitting together. At one point Brian was giggling (is that spelled right?) hysterically (for all of the wrong reasons). I almost made him leave.

I liked the line in one song: "When life makes you sweat, use deoderant." I also liked the joke: "What happened when the cat ate a ball of yarn?" The answer: "She had mittens." Ha Ha!

Visiting Grandmother

Sunday, May 11th 2008


Happy mothers day! I went to church with my mom today. I pretty much go with her every mother's day. The speakers were really good. I'm glad I went.

After church Mom, Dad, Cathi and Terry were going to go visit Grandmother. Joe and I tagged along. We love to visit grandmother, especially Joe. She goes out of her way to make sure he has good snacks and something yummy to drink. She showed me all of her beautiful flowers that she is growing out back. And, she sent me home with some seeds for the pretty purple ones that I liked the most (Of course I can't remember the name of them now).

Grandma got a new camera and a printer to print off all of the awesome pictures she will be taking with said camera.

I had a great mothers day. Brian did all the cooking, and he even did some dishes too. I was spoiled. I got 2 new movies, a new cordless back massager (the cat's chewed through the cord on my other one), and a brand new kitchenaid mixer. In my 12 years of being married I have never owned a mixer. Every time I made bread or rolls I had to borrow my mom's. I'm loving the green color right now. I just painted my family room walls that color. The kitchen is going to eventually be yellow. I think my green mixer will fit in nicely. Now, if I could only find my other kitchen appliances in this color.

Rescue

Saturday, May 10th 2008



This picture has nothing to do with what I did today, I just thought it was funny. Tiger was trying to reach what was on the ironing board and his claws got stuck. I had to go and rescue him.

I had most of the day to myself today so I did some much needed cleaning. The kitchen now looks awesome (though I'm sure it won't stay that way for long). Joe and Brian went to James' baseball game this morning. This afternoon they went to see "Ironman" with Ian, Alex, Jared Tricia and James.


Tonight I took Adam's pictures for his graduation announcements. I can't believe he is old enough to be graduating. Time goes by too fast. His best friend Kaitlynn (not sure if I spelled that right) came with us, so I took some of them together. It was fun.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Friday, May 9th 2008


Today I went to see my niece Anna in her kindergarten play. The play was called "How Does Your Garden Grow?" Anna was a Tulip (The second one from the left). I guess she was originally cast as one of the weeds in the garden, but at the last minute she got changed to a flower. I think that is a much better fit for her. She is definitely a lovely little flower!

Missed Opportunity

Thursday, May 8th 2008


I wasn't feeling very good today so I skipped out on working and stayed home. Apparently I missed out! My mom was babysitting Max and Evan today. Also, Rowan and Addy were there. I can't believe I missed out on a Rowan and Addy day! They had a tea party and watched Toy Story. I picked the wrong day to stay home. (Imagine me saying that with a pouty voice).

The benefits of work

Wednesday, May 7th 2008

I love working at my mom's house. It's definitely not the work that I love. It is the environment. So many people go in and out of that house every day. When I'm over there I feel like I'm in the loop of what's going on in the family. The best benefit is that Sheri and Darrel work there too. They often bring their kids to work. This is great for me because I get to see my nieces and nephews more often. Max has become one of my favorite people in the world because I get to see him almost every day. We talk spiderman, batman, spongebob, etc. He keeps me company alot while I'm grouting that fireplace. I love it when Rowan and Addy visit too. I actually don't get much work done when they do because I'd always rather stop what I'm doing and play with them instead. This is a picture of Evan. We aren't best friends yet, but I'm working on him. He used to not give me the time of day, but now when I talk to him he'll smile. He'll play peek a boo with me, and if his mom isn't in the room then I even get to hold him sometimes. I'm slowly winning him over. He is such a cutie. Here he is helping out grandma by vaccuming her floor.




Here is Joshua. I don't get to see him all that often, so I was really happy when he showed up at mom's house today. I'm trying to win him over too. Usually all of the kids really like me, but Joshua is too attached to grandma to even notice me half the time. But, grandma had to run to the store while I was there so I got him to myself for about 15 minutes. I made the most of it. Toy Story is his favorite movie. He loves Buzz Lightyear. Here he is telling me he wants to watch it. I couldn't figure out my mom's dvd player (I am so technilogically challenged). So, instead we went outside to swing on the swings and watch the birdies. It was great!

It's Percy day - Hooray!

Tuesday, May 6th 2008
This day has been circled on our calendar for a while now. It's finally here! Today, the new Percy Jackson & The Olympians book - "The Battle of the Labyrinth" came out. It is the 4th book in the series that has quickly become Joseph's favorite. Yes, he even likes it more than Harry Potter. Sheri bought him the first book "The Lightning Thief" for his birthday in February. We have since bought book 2 and 3 and he finished them quickly. He has been waiting for this day. With chapter headings: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-algebra Teacher, I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom, and We Meet The Sheep of Doom, it's no wonder he is loving these books. They are loosley based on Greek Mythology. I've read them myself, and I can totally see why kids would love these books. They are funny and action packed. I quite enjoyed them. I can't wait to read book 4 (I have to wait until Joe is finished.)

We also went to James' baseball game today. They weather was gorgeous. It was partly cloudy with a slight breeze. Not hot at all! Emmy was too cute. She ate the stick for her fun dip, and used her finger instead.

Sidetracked

Monday, May 5th 2008

Joseph is easily sidetracked. He has such an active imagination and it is always going, that he often forgets what he is supposed to be doing. I wouldn't exactly call it stalling. I think stalling implies that he is doing it on purpose, that he is consciously thinking of something else to do to avoid the task at hand. His is more involuntary. He thinks of something fun in his mind and just gets carried away. I then have to steer him back on track. I understand this about him and so, I plan for it. If we have somewhere to be at a certain time, and I know it physically takes him 10 minutes to get ready, I allow for 30. He WILL get sidetracked. Usually he's playing some superhero game in his head, or thinking about a great idea for a book, or checking himself out in the mirror (the boy LOVES his hair).

We have an afterschool ritual. It includes: snack, homework, chores, reading, scriptures, and then if he didn't get sidetracked too much, there is time for play. We also have an after dinner ritual to get ready for bed. It includes shower, brushing and flossing teeth, family scriptures and personal and family prayers. If he gets it done in a timely manner then there is time to watch a tv show before bed. If not, then it's straight into bed. I always factor in plenty of "sidetracked" time to get everything finished and still have time for a show. But sometimes he is just in another world. Tonight it took him 20 minutes to brush and floss his teeth. He got distracted by the mirror. Needless to say, there was no tv show before bed tonight.

Family Home Evening

I love my family. The first Suday of every month we have an extended family - family home evening. There are now 27 of us. We take turns giving the lesson, planning an activity and bringing refreshments. It's always a challenge to keep everyones attention. I love it because all of the people I love most in the world are all together in one room. It's often loud, crazy and chaotic, but we are all happy to be there together and we all have a good time.

We had a super fun activity planned by Jared and Tricia's family. Sadly their kids got sick and they couldn't even be there to join in. We made homemade ice cream. Those ziplock bags are full of ice and then another ziplock bag with some liquid (I don't know what it is, but it ends up being ice cream.) My mom told a story. While she read, we were all shaking our bags. Every time she said "right" we passed the bag to the right. When she said "left" we passed to the left. At the end of the story, we had homemade icecream. It was fun!

These pix are for May 4th, 2008.

Photo-a-Day

So many times over the last couple of months I've said: "I wish I had my camera."

I love pictures. To me pictures are memories. It's true that a picture is worth a thousand words. I can look at a photo and remember everything about what was happening at the time. I have such a bad memory, that if I don't photograph something, I'll probably loose the memory.

My friend gave me the idea to do a photo a day blog. She got the idea from photojojo. I'ts simple. You post a picture a day, and at the end of the year, you have 365 pictures of what you did over the past year.

This is great for me because I'm a poor journal writer. I'd rather tell the story with pictures. Also, time moves surprisingly fast. I can't remember what I did yesterday, much less a year ago. The photo's will help me remember.

I know there will be days when I think there is nothing interesting to photograph, or that I didn't do anything exciting enough to take a photo of, or that everyday is the same, how do I keep it interesting? But, I also believe that life is about the inbetween moments, the small things.

So, this blog is for me. You are welcome to view. Leave comments, or don't. But I'm excited to look back over the year and see what I thought was important to photograph each day!