Husband

Well after my last post I was able to sit down (lock myself in the bathroom to be precise) and unload via email to my dear husband. And he did a wonderful job "listening" and went on to share some things he had also been thinking about. And there was one part that stuck out to me that I thought a lot of other moms/wives who read my blog could relate to. So I decided to share...hope that's ok babe. I mean, I am giving you credit for this wisdom, right?

"Remember, because we learn best by analogies and stories, and our day to day

lives generally revolve around running a household, the prophets tell us to
make our house a refuge from the world. Running a household is our life.
Life is work. Most days, it's HARD work and we get to the end of the day
exhausted. Even if we had nowhere to go, just keeping the house in order is
a full time job (just ask Omi...). Well, I thought there is a spiritual
lesson here to be learned. "

Omi is Jason's never resting always cleaning something or feeding someone Grandmother who we named Lydia after, so to say we adore her is quite accurate. And yes, I am having a much better week, so far...knock on wood! The biggest difference is in Noah's moods. He has been very joyful and easier to talk to and get interaction from this week than he had been before. And for those of you who have met mini Jason then you know how rough life is when Noah is cranky. We start piano lessons with a Sister in the neighboring ward tomorrow. For both Elina and Noah a half hour each, so I am excited and so are they! We'll let you know how that goes!

Sundays

I am absolutely baffled at how quickly my children came home from church today, inhaled some rice pudding, and passed out! And the worst part is how I am actually frustrated and complaining to you all that all three of my children are asleep. And at the same time, that is no small feat. But when you go to church from 11-2 and start your after church nap at 3, well you do the math. We are going to be up until 10 at least. Oh how we miss you 8am church!

So I got a lot of "How are you doings?" and "Man, I can't imagine coming to church with three kids while my husband is deployed" after sacrament today. I didn't think we were that bad. I only had to leave with Noah twice, one timeout with his nose on the wall in the hallway, 3 string cheeses, 2 color wonder books, one flying puzzle piece and we didn't even scare off the nice Young Women who was probably bribed by her parents to come sit with us. So when I get the sympathy check ins from all the ladies afterwards, all I could do was laugh. No answer, not even a "keeping up appearances" answer, just a laugh. I guess I didn't have anything nice to say so "just say nothing at all"!

Someday they will be big enough to sit by themselves. And someday I will be able to hold Jason's hand and actually hear what they are saying during the talks. And someday I will only carry my scripture bag to church. And someday I won't have to leave from teaching my primary lesson to change a poopie diaper. But that day is NOT TODAY! :)

Renaissance Festival

On Saturday we went to one of our family's most favorite place to be. The Colorado Renaissance Festival! To my children, this is the equivalent of Disneyland!

Noah and Elina with Twig the fairy.

Lydia and her beautiful French Braided hair with flowers woven into it. Yes, she pulled it out as soon as her Mummi would let her!

Elina and Noah getting their face/arm painted by the same lady we have been going to for 4 years!

Mummi the Fairy Queen!

Lydia CRASHED after a chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick!

Noah and two knights after the joust show. And then below you will see Poppi bandaging the good knights wounds. Yes, Poppi and Noah wore matching outfits, courtesy of Mummi's sewing talents. She also made her own purple dress!

Elina and Noah were both heavy enough this year to do the jumping ropes. And they had so much fun! Elina was even doing backflips and frontflips like a pro! Noah was a little more reserved, but still had a blast going "really, really high!"

Last video is of Noah in the Washing Well Wenches show! They pick people from the audience to participate and when Noah saw allthe guys raising their hand he jumped right up on the bench and followed suit. ADORABLE!

cache valley cheese factory

On your way from Cedar City to St. George is a little town called Beaver UT. And in Beaver you will find the Cache Valley Cheese Factory. All my life I can remember stopping there with my grandma and grandpa Burnside to get a special treat we called "squeaky cheese". It is really just the fresh cheese curd from the big cheddar batches they process there, but when you chew it it makes little "squeaks". What a treat it was from me to be able to share this with my children as we drove to my grandma's house this summer!

LG ALLY

WOOOOO HOOOOO! I just got a new phone, if you can't tell from the title of this post. And it is amazing! I can already tell how convient it is going to be in my busy life like directions and online banking. But the best thing I am looking foward to is a free app called skypemobile. I can call jason in iraq anytime from my phone as long as we are logged into skype! Oh my goodness! I'm so spoiled!

Elina's PreK Graduation

Noah's End of year Preschool Performance