Savannah the Photographer

the camera is always FULL of pictures taken by Savannah. She usually points the camera backwards and upsidedown. Here are some of my favs.






again, naked, i know ...

Savannah the Baker

I was doing some baking the other day and Savannah decided she wanted to bake too. She pulled up a chair to the counter and proceeded to take pinches of flour from the flour bin and sprinkle it all over her tummy. I looked down at myself and saw flour all over my torso. I laughed as I realized what "baking" means to a three year old.




and FYI, my bread turned out great!


and yes, savannah is always naked down to her pullup whenever she is home. ALWAYS.

a new life...gonna make new friends, but keep the old!

This is not a new announcement, but we are moving to Las Vegas/Henerson, Nevada. Brian started working last month at a great company and has been commuting on the weekends. We've been trying to purchase a house in Vegas, but the market is so overwhelmed that its taking the banks forever to make any decision. And since just about every home there is in shortsale, we are at the mercy of the banks. So we finally decided this weekend that we are moving at the end of October whether we have a home or not.

Ironically, the lesson in church yesterday was on Faith. I really feel like this is a huge leap of faith on our part. We have no idea where we will live, but we are moving forward with those plans. We need to be together as a family.

Brian will start looking for houses to rent and I am going out there the first weekend in October to look as well. We may even look at homes to buy to put another offer in, in case our current offer gets denied.

Truth be told, I am nervous. But I think that is normal. I hope . . . :) Each week at church is getting harder and harder to face. But I know we are being led by the Lord to our new location.

Packing is such a pain! I've only done a little bit, but I'm gonna kick it in gear this week. I've set a goal to pack for 2 hours a day. It doesn't sound like much, but with 2 little ones at home, 2 teenager schedules, and a fund-raiser bake sale I'm doing - it's pretty hard to find 2 hours.

Brianne has started a new blog about our move from her point of view. Check it out, she is a great writer :)

my day

I had a really full day today. I thought it would be interesting to spell it all out for 3 reasons.

1. Some day when I think about having more kids, I will read this and remember why I decided to STOP!
2. Some day when I am feeling sad about not being good enough, I will read this and remember I AM!
3. Some day when my kids think I'm a rotten mom and only remember the bad things I did, they will read this I realize IM NOT!


In order to get a full effect of my day, we have to start with last night. Savannah fell asleep (for the 2nd night in a row) at 4:00 pm and slept all the way to 11 pm. She woke up thinking it was morning and insisted on cereal. I therefore stayed up with her until she fell asleep at 2 am. I slept fast and woke up with Jainna at 6 am. 4 hours sleep - good start! At 8 am I went on a bike ride with Maegann over to her school. She is taking a summer reading class. I rode home by myself and quickly gathered my things to go to the grocery store.

I spent an hour and a half at the store. Buying groceries, a swimming pool, and Toy Story 1 AND 2. By the time I got home and the groceries unloaded it was time to ride my bike back to the school to pick up Maegs. It's 11 am, I ride to meet her, only to find out that her bike had a flat tire. So I race back home to pick up the van so we can load up her bike and come home.

Once home, I bribe all the kids to get their chores done by telling them I had "presents" from Walmart. It seemed to work fairly well. The house was picked up and lunch was consumed and cleared so I put on Toy Story 1 and left to take Brianne to meet some friends swimming. It's 1 pm. It should've only taken me 15 minutes to drop her off, but instead it took me 45 minutes since I refused to follow the directions (I thought I knew a better way).

Once home, I reboot the laundry, change TWO (2) stinky poo-poo diapers, and take a personal potty break for myself. After "freshening up" (i.e. washing hands and applying a new layer of deoderant), I go downstairs to the kitchen. I begin pulling out ingredients and supplies to make homemade breadsticks and wheat bread in preparation for tomorrow's bread demonstration at Super Saturday. It takes me a little over an hour to get everything in the oven. Then I'm off again to pick up brianne at the swimming pool. 3:30 pm.

I bring Savannah with me this time because she is forlorn about being left behind again. However, I quickly regret it when she realizes we are at the pool and she is not going IN! She throws a huge fit and I once again use bribery to take the edge off. We pull into the gas station and I fill up on gas and get myself a refill on my Dog Pepper, Savannah some Smarties and Brianne gets a Slushie.

At home, it's 4 pm and I've barely got time to sit at the computer and type up a fast flyer to be printed so I can make copies for the handout at tomorrow's bread demo.

I once again leave the house at 4:15 pm to take Brianne to Lehi because she is in Marching Band and they have a parade tonight (night parades? who knew!). After dropping off Brianne, I cruise over to the freeway exit to meet up with Brian at 5 pm. He needed me to bring him his bike because he needs to fix some things on it before his big ride tomorrow morning.

I then jet into the local grocery store because I've realized I forgot an important ingredient for tomorrow's bread demo. I'm in and out in less than 10 minutes. I decide to pick up a Papa Murphy's Pizza for dinner because I am TOO TIRED to even think about dinner. I quickly make my copies for tomorrow while they make my pizza next door.

I am home by 6 pm. I pop the pizza in the oven, then wash and pack dishes/ingredients to take to the church for the demo. Feed the family dinner. Snarf down a piece of pizza while holding Savannah in my lap.

7 pm and it's time to take Hannah to a birthday party. I drop her off and take myself to the church. I unload the van and set up my table and chairs. I am rushing myself because I've left Jackson at home to babysit. Even though Jainna was sleeping when I left, I worry that she'll wake up and need me while I am gone.

I come in the door a few minutes before 8 pm and the house is not burned down. I have to knock on my own front door because Savannah has a fascination with locking the door when ever she see's it. I am grateful to find that Jackson has done well with his babysitting skills. Apparently Jainna did wake up, but he got her up himself and made her a bottle, fed her, and burped her! What a MAN!!!

A few minutes after 8 pm and I am sitting at the computer typing up my day. As soon as Brian gets home, I am going to visit a friend who is having a Michael Jackson tribute marathon. Did you know today is the one year anniversary of his death? She is a big fan. I'll bring the baby with me because I miss her. I've hardly held her all day. She has been so good through it all.

I am hoping to veg-out on my friend's couch and not move a muscle. But at 10:30 pm I need to go pick up Hannah from her party. Brianne also has a party to go to as soon as she gets back from the parade. But thankfully Brian has agreed to take her and a friend is bringing her home. PHEW!

TWO FUNNIES . . .

#1 Maegann:

After realizing the case of Dr. Pepper got left in the van after grocery shopping, I had this funny conversation with Maegann.

me: "Maegann, please go out to the van and bring in the Dr. Pepper."

her: "DOG PEPPER?!!!??" (with a very surprised and questioning tone)

me: (sarcastically) "hahaha, ya DOG PEPPER!"

She goes outside and comes back in 2 minutes later.

her: "Mom, I can't find it!"

me: "Go look again, I know it's in there! It's in the middle section behind the driver seat."

She leaves once again, only to come back empty handed. So I take her outside with me and open the van door. I point directly to the case and she says "oh, that soda?"

me: "yes, of course! What did you think?"

her: "I was looking for dog pepper!"

I'm not sure what she thought dog pepper looked like, but I found it really funny. I have to remind myself that Maegann does not (never has, and may never) understand sarcasm. Heaven help me!

Ever since, I can't help but call my favorite beverage "Dog Pepper".

#2 Jackson:

After buying Hannah a new bra at Wal-mart.

me: "Hannah, come get this B-R-A and try it on." (spelling it out so as to not embarrass Hannah or to make Jackson squirm)

maegann: "Mom, what does B-R-A spell?"

me: "you can figure it out, you're a smart reader now!"

Maegann makes a few failed attempts at guessing what B-R-A spells. Jackson decides to join in the guessing game and says "bray?" (emphasizing the wrong vowel sound.)

me: "No, the A says the 'ah' sound"

Jackson: in a really loud and excited voice "BRA!" instantly, without skipping a beat he realizes what he just said and in disgust screams out "OH GROSS!"

Hannah and I bust up laughing. The reason I had spelled it out was to avoid such a response. But instead I apparently drew attention to the item, but it was very funny.

The poor boy has many years ahead of him with a house full of bra's and other unmentionables. He will be a great husband some day, very sympathetic to his wife and daughters. He's a trooper!

Trek

I have a lot to say, and....I don't know where to start. I have posted this same thing on facebook. But for those who are not friends of mine on facebook will know how my weekend at trek was.

Lets start backwards, with Squeezy Pete.
Squeezy Pete was my family's little baby brother. He was a baby doll, and on the first day we were told to take care of him, and love him. We did love him, and take care of him, but we also got sick of him....REAL fast. On the last day of trekkin', we got a note that told us his life story. Peter was a baby who was in the Martin handcart company, as most of you should know, the Martin handcart company struggled with snow, and bad handcarts, and they ran out of food. He had 6ish siblings and his Ma and Pa were very ill. Him and his Pa died while sleeping in his Pa's arms in the middle of the night. Becca, my sister was very attached to Peter. She loved him, and had a hard time with Squeezy Pete dying. Since Peter died, we had to bury him. Chris, Drake, Josh, Becca, Pa, and I were the only ones there for his "Funeral". It was a very humbling experience for me, because it made me thing about what I go through if I had to bury my baby sister Jainna on the road to Zion if I were a pioneer. Most of us were crying, and it was very difficult. We weren't even that found of Pete! But we still loved him, he was our baby and he entertained us a lot. As we buried him, we sang "God be with you till we meet again"

Next. The womens pull. My favorite part of the whole trek.

The womens pull represented what the women had to do when the men had to leave. Us women had to pull our hand carts up one of the hardest hills in the whole trek, by ourselves. It was very steep. I am yet to find a picture, but you will be amazed when you see it. We sisters of the church combined two families to make it easier to pull up the hand carts, which meant we had to pull two handcarts up there. Before we trekked up the hill, my sister Amber offered a prayer. She asked Heavenly Father if he could take the burden, if we would do the walking. Us women, using all the power and will we had, got closer and closer to the top of the hill. It was, indeed, the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. All of my brothers were standing up at the top of the hill, singing "Come, Come Ye Saints". When I heard them singing that, I started to crying. Everyone was crying. The Spirit was so strong. When we finally got to the top, my big brother Josh was up there, and he gave me a big, giant, big brother hug. And we just cried. Then we had to go get the other handcart. I am just going to say that on the second handcart, we did none of the work. Heavenly Father did it all. It was easy. Very easy. We got to the top and we just sat down and rested.

My testimony grew bounds that day. I knew, right then and there, that my Heavenly Father, knows me, loves me, and is willing to help me if I have the faith. He took the burden, and we just walked up the hill, just as Amber had asked. I am so thankful for that experience.

Last but certainly NOT least. My family. I had the best family anyone could ask for. Ma and Pa were so great and so caring. They were the best anyone could asked for. I had the sweetest brothers ON THE PLANET, and I love them to DEATH, and my sisters.....well, lets just leave it at that. I can't describe how great they were. I was so glad we had no drama, or fighting, or crankyness, and everyone was happy all the time. I love my family so much, as my sisters and I say "Trek family's are forever as long as you get sealed in the dust of CRAZYNESS"!! I can't thank them enough for letting me have an amazing time.
WE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!! And you will double win if you climb aboard the Mormon ship.

Love,
Brianne

Jainna Lydia - 3 months

Jainna at 3 months ... featuring her cousin Tyler Whipple!