Happy Birthday Mom

In honor of my mom's birthday this week, here are 10 things I love about her!


1. Mom knows how to have fun!



The "whipped cream on the nose" Thanksgiving tradition would never have caught on without Mom going along from the start.


2. On a snowy December 22, 1973 you and Dad joined together to start our family.



















3. On another snowy day - December 23, 1974 you became my Mommy!


From the look on your face in this picture, one would never know the physical pain you endured (and would endure in the coming days). You wrote then that "joy replaced the feelings of pain". I always feel loved when I read those words.







4. Thanks for always being there.


I knew that every day I came home from school, you'd be there. If I was sick, you were there. When I came home from a date, there. When there was a piano recital, there. When there was a chance to take your 8 yr old daughter as your date to the symphony or other concert, you chose to be there with me. When I went to the temple, there. When I need advice, there. When my kids have something special to share, you're there for them. When I need a friend, still there.






5. Thanks for sacrificing with Dad so that we could grow up in a great place, with great friends, with room to play (with drinking fountains in the yard!) and in a home where I always feel welcome.
6. You gave me my sister!
(Ok, there's a longer story here, let me explain).


One night we had a chat before bed and I had again prayed for a baby sister. As much as I loved my two brothers, I wanted a sister so badly. I remember wanting a sister more than any Strawberry Shortcake doll or any piano book. You never discouraged my wishing and were always so tender in listening to my prayers. Then finally when I was almost 8, the sister came. My life wouldn't be the same without my sweet sister Carrie.

7. You are multi talented.

Here we are on Randy's blessing day in 1985. Notice the cute smocking resses that Carrie and I are wearing. Remember the play clothes, T-shirts, jammies, bathrobes you used to make? And the beautiful Christmas stockings. Might be time to bust out the sewing machine again for the grandkids!

8. You shared your testimony.


I remember mornings where I woke up to find you in the living room reading your scriptures in your famous red bathrobe. Even when you read alone, I noticed. You always attended Relief Society and Homemaking and served faithfully. I loved it last year when you memored the 1st Presidency's statement of the Living Christ and recited it for us from memory.

9. You make friends for life.

We kids have heard (for years) the stories of your high school bunch and the favorite cousins you played with growing up. I was touched by the beautiful flowers at Dad's funeral from the "Bear Lake High School Class of '68". I was happy to see so many of your cousins at the funeral, having traveled some distance. It was fun to go to lunch with you and your "Lunch Bunch" of friends from the ward this week, and to see your friendships that have lasted for so many years. I remember the "Sew and Tell" group that has remained close for going on 30 years. You make good friends wherever you are.


10. You taught me to love music.

At first I'm sure I wanted to play the piano just to be like Mommy (and not to be left out of the group of kids who came to our house weekly for lessons). But it didn't take long before I loved it! I listened to you play beautiful songs and couldn't wait to learn them. I then learned them more easily because I'd heard you play them for years. When I tried to make my own violin from a shoe box, a wooden spoon and rubber bands, you and Dad gave in and got me a violin. You never forced me, but always encouraged and supported me. I was so honored to play with you when we played Rhapsody in Blue for the stake, and then at the tabernacle for the Freedom Festival. Thanks for being my favorite duet partner!

Bonus #11!!!
11. You are a strong lady!

You haved faced the challenges of the last few months with a strong heart and a positive outlook. I'm sure there are many days when you cook lots of "Tear Soup". I'm sure there are many lonely times. But you have shown me that those times are not all the time. I've loved spending time with you at Deer Valley, Disneyland, Christmas, or just at the house sorting papers. You are stronger than I ever knew.

Happy Birthday to the beautiful lady in the center below. Bust out that tiara and let's sing a round to the birthday girl (with harmony, of course).

(has it really been more than 8 years since our last family picture? We need to work on that...)

My Super Speller

Hayden has worked hard in spelling this year. Last week his teacher gave the class a challenge with a list full of very difficult words. It was up to each student to choose if they wanted to try them or not. I was so proud of Hayden for accepting the challenge and studying hard all week. Hayden came home with his test a few days later to reveal the score of his test: 100%. Way to go Hayden, thanks for working hard and trying your best!

Can you spell better than a 2nd grader? Take this test to find out :)

1. inauguration

2. dehydrate

3. responsibility

4. paleontologist

5. salutations

6. autumn

7. Massachusetts

Winter Camping

We are really enjoying all the fun cub scout activities we get to do with Hayden. One of the achievements is to plan and cook a meal outdoors. While I would have preferred to do this task in a warmer month, Hayden set a goal to earn his Wolf by a certain date, which meant that we got to do our outdoor cooking in February!

We searched on the internet for the best tin foil dinner recipes. We settled on roast beef with carrots and potatoes. We choped the veggies into small cubes, then Hayden tossed them in a plastic bag with salt and spices. We used a beef stew seasoning mix and a bit of water and tossed the meat cubes. We sliced up an onion. Then we carefully assembled each dinner with a scoop of meat, a scoop of potatoes, and an onion volcano on top (this idea courtesy Tepanyaki!). Daddy was charged with carefully folding each dinner. For Emma's diner, we tried a recipe we'd read about online: Pigs in a blanket. We carefully wrapped 2 hot dogs in some ready-to-bake crescent roll dough, then wrapped the dogs in tinfoil. We wrapped the remaining rolls from the pagage in tin foil, they would be our dinner rolls. We packed a few other supplies and headed up the canyon.

It was cold. It was windy. While we waited for the coals to heat, we made snow angels, walked trails near the river, explored a bridge.

Finally, the meals were ready.

They were delicious!!! We ate quickly because it was so very cold.

The rolls cooked more quickly than we expected (only a little burned on the bottom).

We were too cold to enjoy our planned desert of banana boats with chocolate chips and marshmallows. We'll try those out this summer. We had a great time, it was fun coming home smelling like campfire in February!

Christmas Treasure Boxes

Hayden has never had a "list" of things he hopes to get for Christmas or Birthdays. He can make a toy out of anything. He loves to create things like art projects and lego colonies. He often turns our home into a museum of many wonderful creations. This year I was having a hard time coming up with a special gift for him for Christmas. One night when Hayden was feeling a little sick, he asked for a story. He loves to hear stories about his birth, about our family, cousins and Grandparents, family trips, etc.

The idea came to make a Treasure Box for each of the kids. I shopped many stores before deciding on the right box for each of them. I wanted it to be big enough to store their precious artwork, momentos, other things they might find meaningful. But I wanted it to be small enough that they could each carry it and be responsible for keeping it safe.

Inside each box, I placed some special memories: ultrasound pictures, birthday party invitations, baby pictures, etc. I included a small framed picture (2x2) of Dana and Me on our Wedding Day (they still think it's strange that we could have had a married life together before they were born). I typed up a birth story for each of them and tied it together with sparkly ribbons. We wrote them each a poen and included little notes about what we love most about them.

The boxes were a big hit. Hayden was really touched that he had his special birth story and the memories we'd saved for him. Emma carried her box around for most of the week saying "Mine Box!". She especially liked the wedding pictures and kept saying "Tiny Daddy, Tiny Mommy in Mine Box!". This will be a gift we remember for a long time.

Christmas Catch-Up #1

Time for some Christmas Catch-up entries!

Sometimes I forget that Emma is so young and still learning and exploring. She loves to be included in everything we do, she loves to participate in "big kid" things with Hayden. She loves to be included and I sometimes forget she is only 2. I realized this year how hard it can be for little ones to wait until Christmas to open beautifully wrapped presents.

Hayden had lovingly picked out some Disney Princess dress-up shoes for Emma.

He picked out some pretty wrapping paper . This beautiful package was the first present under the tree this year. Of course Emma knew it was for her (the princess wrapping and all). She tried every day to steal away with the present and open it up.








After a few days we took it from under the tree and hid it in another room. She found it. We moved it again. When she couldn't find it, she cried and cried.




I begain to think about things from the 2-yr old perspective - how mean it is to wrap something so beautiful with all the clues pointing to it being for her. And since she most likely can't remember last Christmas, she must have thought it a terrible trick that we were all playing on her!

On Christmas morning, she was thrilled to FINALLY open her present. It was worth the wait, she put on the shoes - over her flannel jammies with feet - and ran around the house in her high heels. The wait was finally over!

Martin's Big Words

Martin's Big Words:
The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Doreen Rappaport,
Bryan Collier.

I highly recommend this book for all readers, but especially those with young children. The story is very well told in simple language. The illustrations are breathtaking. The first time Hayden and I read it together we both cried. It's become one of our favorites.



This week at school Hayden's class has been working on a play to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They take turns acting out and reading different parts. The class set up chairs to represent a bus, some children played the part of bus riders, one played Rosa Parks. Hayden was thrilled to get to read the part of Martin. It really touched him to get to act out and learn this story in such a real way. My thanks to his awesome teacher for another great learning experience for Hayden.

Merry Christmas Surprise!

On Tuesday I received a wonderful Christmas surprise - a trip to go see my favorite pianist, Lorie Line, in concert! For those of you not familiar with Lorie Line, I invite you read about her story here

Lorie is a very gifted musician. Her music is so beautiful and she is an inspiring performer. I especially love her arrangements that include instrumentals. She has a violin/piano arrangement of Silent Night that my mom and I have played together for years. I loved it so much when I first heard it that I trascribed the violin part from the CD, listening over and over again until I got it just right (I've even recorded the piano part so that I can play my violin along with myself). Yep, I'm one BIG fan.

Lori Line performs about 100 holiday shows across the country in November and December, but doesn't often come to Utah. Every year I'm excited to review her holiday tour schedule, then disappointed to see that she's not coming to Utah AGAIN! A few years ago Dana gave me one of her concert DVDs as a Christmas present and I just loved it. I played parts of the DVD for my music students last week as an example of how practice pays off. But I'm always sad that the holiday concert does not come closer to us. Well, this year she was playing in Denver. Dana figured this was close enough and decided to surprise me with a trip to the concert.

Tuesday morning he woke me up early and gave me the concert tickets in a little gold bag. He then told me he had arranged plane tickets and a hotel close to the concert hall. My sister would be coming over after lunch to stay overnight with the kids. We would catch a plane at 3pm to Denver and arrive just in time to eat dinner and get to the concert. What a great surprise!

With a few minor airport delays, everything went just as planned. Hayden and Emma enjoyed spending time with their favorite aunt (Thanks a million, Carrie!). The concert was wonderful. When the lights dimmed and Lorie walked on stage, I started to cry right in my seat. I was so excited to be there and so thrilled that my husband had arranged such a great gift and kept it all a surprise! The show was wonderful, every note was perfect. The costumes and sets were breathtaking, all the musicians complimented each other so well. I came away with some Lorie Line CDs and music books (yes, I've been playing from my new books non-stop since we got home!). We flew home Wednesday morning, right on schedule. Thanks Dana for such a thoughtful gift and for lovingly arranging it as a surprise. It was fun to get away together and enjoy such a great concert.