TALKIN' 'BOUT MY GIRL

Haven't spoke much of my Shea Shea lately sooooo....
She decided to try her hand at gymnastics this year, even team, and had great fun! She came home with a slew of medals and a lovely plaque. She says she's ready to try something else now, maybe tennis.

She continues with violin and does well. We have her spring recital coming very soon. Time to get a concert dress. She continues to ooohhhh and awe us with this talent. Her site reading is amazing and her interpretation/expression of the music is equally impressive. We hope she continues for many years.

I actually was motivated to do this post because I just returned from her rainy day field day which was moved to the gym. :) They finished the event with a battle ball tournament. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my short statured gal was the only female rushing to and hanging out on the front lines with the guys. She did well and made me proud. We watch her antagonize her brothers, but I can now see that maybe that's not such a bad thing. ;)

And lastly, she's a tweenie bopper...loves to shop, loves clothes, hanging out with her friends, wants a phone, loves to sing along with the radio, Justin Beiber...She is fun!

HAPPY EASTER

I have thoroughly enjoyed this weekend! OH MY GOODNESS!
But what made it great...
*Night out with the gals
*Shopping with my daughters
*Pinkalicious party with Ivy
*Asa's Ballgame
*Shea's new haircut
*Having Rusty ALL day today
*General Conference weekend
*Easter
*Being reminded how blessed we are to have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus
Christ in our lives!

With that last one said, I'm so stoked after 2+ sessions of conference. Last Fall conference, we attempted to view it in the privacy of our own home. But it just wasn't working. Our sweet offspring just couldn't maintain much reverence and we (Rusty and I) found it difficult to cue in to it all. So we, Rusty and I, made a vow that we would go to the church for Spring 2010 General Conference. With various activities on Saturday, we missed those sessions, but today we were there...in our Easter Sunday Best and I loved it! The first session was tremendous although my children didn't feel the same. On the way back home after the 1st session, Rett was really not wanting to go another 'round' and inquired 'why?' I told him one of the reasons we go is to be obedient and we will be blessed. That was it. The 2nd session was WAY easier. They pretty much were catching on. I know most will think I've lost my marbles when I say this, but we are sold that attending conference at the church is THE WAY to get the most 'bang for your buck.' I got so much more, as did my children.

I PRESENT TO YOU...

The (new and improved) President of the United States.

Asa presenting his wax museum project as President Ronald Reagan

SAN FRAN...

Time for Rusty and Is' annual getaway came somewhat early, but not really (we missed last year). This conference would be in San Francisco, I was NOT going to miss. The forecast was pretty much rain, but it cleared out when we touched down and was gone for us to play hard.

Friday night we met up for dinner with friends then for a drive to Oakland to see the temple

Our friends, the Bamricks, from Arizona met us in SF for the day and we headed for the city to meet up with Rusty's cousin, Scott, who resides in SF. Scott took us to a lovely cafe for breakfast so we could tank up. Boy did we! So far, SF was living up to it's delish food reputation. We were ready to hit the town.
It was a bit cloudy with some drops, but that cleared out later...just for us!

And so went our day:

The Gang at Golden Gate!

Flat Kassy looking out of Coit Tower at the Bay

Scott and Kathleen at the Chinese New Year's Parade (BTW...It's the year of the Tiger)

More good food. Bob, Rusty, and Kathleen at dinner
Day 2 held more adventures which began with THE BEST HOTEL BREAKFAST E-V-E-R then off to Alcatraz!

Rusty illustrating the height of the cell. He wouldn't let me lay down to illustrate the width (which was 5 foot). lol

Kathleen and SanFran

We picked up Scott (Bob and Maci had to go back to reality aka life in Arizona) and headed down the Pacific Coast Highway with Santa Cruz as our destination. We thoroughly enjoyed the view on the way and ate at another fantabulous restaurant (Mexican).

2 handsome Speidel men: Rusty and Scott

After touring Scott's old stomping grounds, Santa Cruz.

Scott made sure Rusty saw some Redwood Trees he so LOVES.

Upon return to the city, Scott found us another great restaurant, NOPA's, to close off a PERFECT weekend!

'PILLOW' TALK

Now that I have your attention (lol), we had a fun Family Home Evening the other night. After a thought provoking lesson from our teen regarding the City of Enoch (I love being taught by my children), Rusty quickly exitted from the couch and room to set up for our activity. 'Back up' to when we moved into our home over 7 years ago....

We had been in our home just a couple of days and the toilet on the main floor backed up. It, in addition to the kid's bathroom toilet, has continued to be a problem...until I cracked the main floor toilet and we replaced it. However, the children's toilet has continued to be a trouble maker. The ongoing problems had initiated Rusty's FHE Activity...

He returns to the room with our kitchen stool (so many puns - lol)and toilet paper.

Rusty proceeds to call Asa to the 'stool' aka porcelain throne aka toilet. Then Rusty poses as a toilet paper holder. (cue the laughter) He continues by teaching Asa to fold a minimal amount of TP into a...'pillow' like wipe.

He also demonstrates, a wad. (laughter is fully ensued) Wads are unacceptable in our home.

Then we all get to watch Ivy take the 'quiz' to see how well she listened.

Yes. It was a memorable FHE!

SLOW DOWN?

2010 is going too fast. Perhaps it's my weekday schedule which goes like this (My mom has always encouraged me to write it down cause I'll forget how crazy things were):
5:00AM Beep...Beep...Beep.....
5:30AM Workout
6:30AM Wake kids
6:45AM Breakfast
7:20AM Tour de school bus begins
8:05AM Tour returns home
Laundry, Work, Teach, Grocery shopping, Appointments, Classes....
2:20PM Elementary school pickup
Grocery shopping, Piano, homework....
3:30PM Middle school pickup/Violin on Th (juggle...juggle)
4:00PM Gymnastics on MF
5:00PM Gymnastics on TTh
5:30PM Teach piano Thurs
6:00PM LaCrosse WF and S at 12:30PM
6:30PM Pickup from Gymnastics MF
7:00PM Lacrosse M
7:00PM YM/Scouts on Th AND/OR Pickup from Gymnastics TTh/FHE on W
7:30PM Pickup from Basketball on M


Would I change it? NO WAY! I love being a teacher, taxi driver, cheerleader....24/7 MOM. It's exhausting, but I wouldn't change it. I've thought about how I would scale back, but I love that we can provide our children with opportunities to develop their talents, expore opportunities, and learn. Plus, it keeps them busy, busy and my mom said that kept us out of trouble. Thanks mom for your wisdom, love, support, example. She did all the above for us growing up AND worked. Wow! (I think she started her days at 3:30AM/4:00AM)

35 PLUS YEARS AGO...

Who would've thought this is were we'd be the end of 2009. I'm fourth of five children and now we're all grown up. The silver lining to my grandma's passing was that we, all 5 children, were together for some quality time. I can't recall the last time that occurred. Honestly. There have been some brief gatherings, but not really any sustained time. My grandma gave us that and it was fun with lots of laughter. Sunday following the funeral, we ALL went to our old home ward, we were ALL there for our family Christmas party, and it was delightful. (A big thanks to my sister-in-law for making sure we got a picture of us all.)