Jun 05
Everyone,
We are coming into our last few days here in Utah and then it’s back to home and humidity. We’ve loved being here but I think it’s time to go back to our own house and our own routine. I, for one, am looking forward to having different shirts to wear instead of the same thing every.single.day.
Today my Dad and I joined I Heart Faces on their photo walk across America. We had a blast taking pictures and meeting a bunch of people in the group and in Salt Lake. I’ll show some pictures when I get a chance to go through them. Here is one of the last ones I took today of my dad.
When we got home, I had to get everything ready for our annual friend bbq. We had just a few people this time, and were missing some key friends. However, it was still a great time. We all sat around the table and chatted while the kids ran screaming (literally) around the yard. Heaven.
The kids didn’t get to bed until after 10pm tonight so tomorrow is going to be awesome, I can tell.
Safire
Safirefriends, photowalks, picture taking, trips to Utah friends, my Dad, picture taking, Utah
Mar 11
Everyone,
Tonight was the night I go to my church and help run the bi-monthly activities for the 8-11 year old girls. I’ve been doing a little over 2 years now, and it is so much fun! I’ve come to know all these girls and watch them mature into beautiful young women.
Our activity tonight was all about making friendship bracelets. We also talked about what makes a good friend. Here is the list they came up with.
A good friend is
- Honest
- Trustworthy
- Fun
- Helpful
- Loving
- someone who really cares about you and cares about you back
- likes to play
- likes to call you on the phone
- picks up your homework when you’re sick without asking
- doesn’t ignore you on the playground
- picks you on their team when it’s their turn to be captain
I think this is a great list. It’s something you could apply to any of your relationships, not just your friends. Because I’m sure Juice would pick up my homework for me if I was sick. (I think he did that once in high school. I know he helped me with my homework several times. There’s a reason I know the 16th president to this day.)
These girls were so excited to talk about the good things their friends had done or things that they had done to be good friends. Then we got down to the fun part. Braiding! Check out this video of someone else doing what we did tonight.
Did I ever mention that I was a camp councilor for a year? No? Well, it was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had. And these friendship bracelets were HOT. Everyone had them. I taught horseback riding lessons for the summer and we would always pull out the hair in the horses tails to make these bracelets. I still have that bracelet and it’s one of my treasured souvenir of camp. I also made one out of the horse’s tail that I owned at college. But at camp, these bracelets were our currency. I never did get very many, but I had enough that I was happy with them. This is the easiest way to make a fun and interesting braid. Everyone made at least one and everyone went home with someone else’s.
I imagine we’ll be seeing these around church for awhile. At least I hope we will! (Especially since this was supposed to be an hour long activity and after 2 hours, we had to kick everyone out. They had a ball!)
Safire
Safirechurch, crafts, friends
Sep 12
Everyone,
Today I woke up feeling a little bit better. And instead of canceling on my grandparents, went ahead and went to their house for the morning/lunch time. I think it’s important for Butterfly to know who her great grandparents are because I think they are wonderful people. They have done so much in their lives. My grandpa is 80 and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean by boat twice and the Pacific Ocean by boat twice. He walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on the day it was opened. He has been to over 25 countries and 47 states. My Nana lived in England during WWII and survived her house being bombed and her school as well. She was willing to leave her home country of England and be married to my grandpa (whom she met while he was on his mission there). She was telling me she had several marriage proposals at the time but liked Grandpa the best. A good reason to pick him! And I’m glad she did. 
In any case, not being near them is one of the reasons I’m sad about not living in Utah. It was nice to visit today and have some actual time at their house, not just an in out and on our way type of visit. We had an awesome lunch of egg and potato omelet and bread pudding which was awesome!
The only down side to today’s visit is the fact that I still don’t feel all that great. I seem to do okay if I don’t eat anything. Because then there is nothing to upset my stomach. But when I eat, I feel awful. Still, my Nana’s bread pudding was worth feeling ill. Yum yum!
I also went to a park and met a friend who used to live in Maryland and moved here just a few days before we came here. It was fun to see her and her 2 boys but I’m sad that when I go home she won’t be there! We’ve made it a point to keep in touch and we’ll probably get together when I come back into town.
Going to bed now. (Still no progress on my book club book…sigh…)
Safire
Safirebook club, friends, Great Grands
Sep 03
Everyone,
This morning I was able to meet up with 2 of my roommates from college, Michelle and Julia and their kids. It was great to see Michelle especially because I don’t think I’ve seen her since our year at Ricks ended.
I have vivid memories of that year. It was probably my most demanding year socially. We had a roommate that we did not get along with. (We being Julia and I.) It was the year I had my horse and I think fondly back on that often. I remember Michelle sitting on the counter to do her makeup. I remember when her and her husband started dating that year. I remember our food fight at the beginning of the year. I remember another roommate buying herself a fake diamond ring (don’t remember the reasons) and having it get caught between a chair and the wall and having the stone crack. I remember walking to class with another roommate and hearing her magnetic atom kit rocking in her back pack.
I remember getting a lot of A’s that year. I remember feeling like I had hit my stride with school and I felt like I was acing everyt
hing except French. (I did too.) I went to a lot of dances with Julia on Wednesdays. I didn’t dance much beyond the line dances, but I felt it was important to go and have a good time. I met the girl who became my roommate at BYU the next year. I think I feel like I changed the most that year. I think about it often.
So it was great to see Michelle and Julia and see how much we have changed in 7 years! Michelle assures me she still sits on the counter to do her makeup. Julia still has a great laugh. It’s amazing to see them being mothers. And good ones too! Sometimes I wish we could go back to that year and all it’s crazy hard fun times. But I know that we wouldn’t give up these kids now for anything.
Who knows, maybe we’ll see our kids being roommates one day. That would be weird and cool at the same time!
Safire
Safirefriends, old roommates, trips to Utah
Aug 21
Everyone,
Today has been a visiting day. Cappy came early again this morning and was smothered by Butterfly exclaiming “I love my cousin!” My BFF Mink came over with her daughter Spider and kept me company. (Also loaned a hand…she makes a mean sandwich!)
I think Butterfly might be a little too rambunctious for Spider. She kept yelling “Girl!” as Butterfly ran through the house. It was pretty funny to watch. We were also able to introduce Spider to the wonderfulness that is sidewalk chalk.
The boys all took 2 hour naps today, and Butterfly took a fairly long one as well. It was heaven to have all the children sleeping at once. Thank you nap gods for that little gift. I did not nap (but should have) and instead poked around online and read a little of my book club book for next month. I also did some laundry. Which did not get done and is still sitting in the dryer. Maybe I should get that…
Butterfly went to ‘school’ at my aunt’s house and her daughter (who is 12) and the neighborhood kids. She had a great time and brought home a workbook page of a few letters and a book. She is going to LOVE real school.
Cappy’s Mom came by and we went grocery shopping for another friend of mine to come over and have dinner. Zuke and Melissa and their 3 kids came for dinner. I got to meet Melissa and Tyler and Addison for the first time. It was so much fun to have them here! Tyler and Butterfly hit it off and I think that Vinny has some competition. They ate, ran through the sprinklers and wore themselves out. Can I just say I love having a yard?! My dad has a cute picture of all the kids in their pjs that he’ll have to put up on his blog or something.
(Speaking of my dad, don’t forget to enter his pay it forward contest!)
It was funny to see 4 car seats and 3 sets of small shoes floating around the entry way.
Now I am exhausted and will once again crash in the bed. Hopefully Professor will sleep better tonight since the past 2 nights he’s only slept when he’s been jammed up next to me. Right now, he is sleeping peacefully in his crib. I love to hear them both breathing so restfully. Now I’m going to go get some of that rest myself!
Safire
Safirecousins, friends, trips to Utah
Jun 07
Everyone,
It’s been a whirlwind week for us. My parents have been visiting all week and left to go home this afternoon. This has also been a week-of-serious-car-buying. Yes, you read right. We are buying a car. Bought. Van. We bought a van on Tuesday. Okay so it wasn’t a week of car buying. Only two days of it. It felt like a week though. My dad and I furiously rushed around the local car places in hour and a half increments throughout the days. That was as long as the boys could go between feedings. I felt bad for my mom and Flower the last day because both boys were inconsolable towards the end. They did very good and allowed us to find a great car. Van. I mean van.
Butterfly wants to name the van Sally or Lightning McQueen. “Or we could call it Chick because it’s green! And Chick is green!” Our van is green. I’m leaning towards calling the van Fern but Butterfly won’t let me. Anyway, for all you car people, the van is a 2004 Kia Sedona with 14,000 miles on it. The miles were right. The size was a bit small but we can fit all the kids and us in it plus one. It does have a dvd player in it. The price was excellent. We were able to buy it out right. I love not having a car payment!
I also love having doors that slide so I don’t have to worry about hitting other cars with them. I love being able to unlock the doors from a key chain. (A funny story about that. Our friend Julien came to visit about a month ago and said he needed to check if he locked the doors of his rental car. He walked outside, took about 5 steps, and walked back inside. Juice asked him if he could see from there if it was locked or if he had a cool key chain thing. Julien said, “Juice, everyone but you has a cool key chain thing.” It was so true. And now we have one! Sweet!) I love that I can fit my strollers in the back (although I do have to take the wheels off). And I love that now we can actually go somewhere with everyone, including Flower. Yay for space!
So, all day Monday and Tuesday I spent driving cars. Wednesday we drove to the mall and got the kids’ pictures taken. (Super cute, email me for the password if you want to see.) And then we spent 3 hours trying to get home. There was a huge storm (go here for a video of it). It downed trees all over the area. And of course, we were trying to get home through the back roads. Which had more downed trees and downed power lines. We had to stop twice to feed the babies. (Once in front of our bishop’s house where a tree had smashed a car and their roof! No one got hurt thank goodness.) I had been in touch with Juice and we still had power but a lot of people didn’t in the area. It was nice to finally get home.
On Friday, our good friends who moved away to St. Louis, came to visit. We had a great time with them! And it just confirmed to me that boys will never grow up because Juice and Juilen spent the morning shooting each other with foam guns and missiles. Never mind that the kids wanted to play too! I really miss them and it was fun to have a morning to connect again.
I feel like we have been moving all day, every day. Add on to that taking care of the twins and Butterfly (could not have been done without Flower!), I am exhausted. But this is just the beginning of summer for me. And I love it!
Safire
PS- All local gals, we are invited to swim at the bishop’s kiddie pool on Tuesday at 10am! Hope to see you there.
Safirefamily visiting, friends, new van, storms
Jul 13
Everyone,
I heart our local farmers market. It’s probably silly, but I get hyped up all day on Thursday to go there and see what new treasures they have for sale. Butterfly’s good friend Vinny and his mom, Lelo, come with us every week. We’ve kind of turned it into an exercise/dog walking party. Lelo brings her wagon, I bring Soot, and we trudge the mile or so down the street to city center and the farmers market. There is a lot of talking between Lelo and myself. There is a lot of “Hey! Keep the rope inside the wagon!” There is a lot of waving to the cars by the kids. There is also a lot of sniffing and peeing by Soot. A great time is had by all.
July is National Blueberry Month. And boy do we have blueberries! I buy quarts of them at the farmers market (one quart for $5, a steal in my opinion…at the grocery store they are one quart for over $8) and we have blueberries for snacks. We have blue berry muffins. We have blue berry pancakes. We also have blue berry poo which is black sludge. I have to lock the fridge shut to keep Butterfly out of them. They are big, juicy, sweet, and oh so good. We seriously can’t get enough of them here. Join us in the blue berry bonanza. Buy some from your local grower and you too can have black sludge as a result.
The gem this week at the farmers market was peaches. When we first moved here, I got all excited about being in the south and having fresh good peaches. I was disappointed when the peaches I bought in the store were moldy on the inside, and crunchy like apples. They had no taste. This week, I bought a big bushel of fresh picked (that morning) ripe peaches. They are about as big as your fist, and juice just runs down your arm. You really don’t even have to chew the flesh…it just melts between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. The taste is rosy and sunshine and makes me think of hot summer days.
Listen to me wax all poetic about fruit. Ending now.
Safire
PS- Butterfly waves at the cars like she is the Queen of England. She has the wrist wave down, and the look on her face is “Oh, hello good people of the realm. Hello, hello.” It is SO FUNNY. Lelo and I joke that her majesty is the royal carriage when she does this.
SafireButterfly, farmer's market, friends
Jun 25
Everyone,
Every Monday morning at 10am you will find me hauling Butterfly and Soot out the door to walk the mile to our town’s city hall. Butterfly happily sits in her stroller, pointing out birds and that park we walk past every week. (“Look Mommy! A park! I can’t go there…” which is code for I’d really like to go there.) Soot runs helter skelter around for about the first half mile. Then she pants next to my side and really gets into the business of walking.
We arrive on the lawn of City Hall, sweaty, panting and in need of water. We skirt around the other moms and their kids and stake out some blanket room under a Japanese maple planted in memory of someone. I tie Soot to the maple and give Butterfly some water because she wants to drink out of mine before I do. I meet up with friends from either my Mom’s group or church or both. Today it was both. VaVa and her mom, NayNay (sorry NayNay, if you read this. It was all I could come up with.) Also Butterfly’s friend Vinny and his mom, Lelo.
Today on the mics was a group called Almost Recess. They are a male A Capella group and they were pretty good. They did a fun thing at the end where they sang one of the songs in different genres. Blues, opera, rap, techno. My favorite was techno. They are not as good as my favorite male A Capella group called Voice Male, but they are pretty good. They have sound bites on their website if you’re interested in it.
Vinny, Butterfly, and Vava ran up and down the small hill behind the maple and got all sweaty. They did dance a little, but they were more interested in that hill. Good way for them to get some energy out.
Only one thing marred the nice day. The butt cracks. To my fellow moms, if you are going to wear low rise jeans, please realize that when you swat down, you look like a plumber. And it’s not attractive. I know I have a lot of work to do on my butt to make it look nice, let alone be able to show off my crack. When you are trying to squeeze into your pre-pregnancy jeans, please be mindful of the people behind you as you swat down to talk to your child. It’s really, not pretty.
I walked home with Vinny and Lelo (Soot and Butterfly in tow of course) and we went to see our good friend Tena and her kids. Then, off to lunch with everyone. So much fun! I love having friends out here. For so long I felt so lonely. I had so much to do all the time, but I felt like I really didn’t have any friends, just people I hung out with. But now I feel like I have friends. And so many of them! I knew if I kept plugging along and went to as many places as I could, I would find someone to hang with. And I have. It’s nice.
Safire
PS- Hormone levels all back to normal, supposidly my body is back to normal. We shall see…
Safirefriends, kid concerts, other moms
