tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84787567736951056382024-03-12T22:21:22.185-06:00The Stringham ScuttlebuttThe stories and snapshots of 7 scintillating Stringhams making their way in the world...skinnyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17960108165541594264noreply@blogger.comBlogger907125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-18310837264811311482016-10-05T18:31:00.001-06:002016-10-05T18:31:22.562-06:00Amelia Takes Over the Blog<div style="text-align: center;">
My mom, Melissa Stringham, has let me, Amelia Stringham, take over the blog. So, here I am. I do cross country for my school, dance and water polo (I am a Stringham, of course I do it)</div>
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I will update this blog every Sunday, so , stay tuned for that folks. Sometimes I may spam you, sometimes I won't. You won't ever know what is coming. (let's be honest here, I'm a Stringham and Stringham's do crazy things.) Well I have to go to YW so, </div>
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Peace Out, </div>
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Amelia the bestest person ever</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-27328477836226018742016-01-24T16:07:00.000-07:002016-01-29T16:07:58.594-07:00Jonas Rocks!<div style="text-align: center;">
There was an emergency change of venue for Jonas's concert, so instead of going to Pat's Barbecue, we ended up at Leatherhead's Sports Grill in Draper. It ended up being a pretty decent venue, and Jonas and his band were awesome in my totally unbiased opinion. (I promise, they are really good!) I love watching that super quiet, reserved boy performing on stage. You can just see that he loves doing it.</div>
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A selfie before he went on stage.</div>
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And here are all the members of WOLFE.</div>
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Jonas, Sherri, Emily, Mac, Eric and other Tanner, (so as not to confuse him with Jonas's friend Tanner who is at our house regularly.)<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUxjb69Q99I/VqvtGH8nynI/AAAAAAAAX1w/uiBQBkbWiP8/s1600/IMG_5588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUxjb69Q99I/VqvtGH8nynI/AAAAAAAAX1w/uiBQBkbWiP8/s640/IMG_5588.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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On stage. They played about a 45 minute set to a packed house.</div>
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There's my boy, with an actual, real smile on his face!</div>
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Apparently, Jonas is rocking the East coast as well - or at least winter storm Jonas is.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-44523079639694863662016-01-22T15:50:00.000-07:002016-01-29T15:50:49.457-07:00Meet Scout<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, I know I've introduced the puppy already here, but he didn't have a name at that point. After much debate, a name has been selected.</div>
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Meet Scout.</div>
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(As in the ski run at Brighton - just like Ziggy is also a ski run at Brighton.) We toyed with Marley, because Ziggy Marley, but ultimately it was voted down along with several others. His litter name was Titan which we almost stuck with, but instead kept it as a middle name. So officially, he is Scout Titan Polo Stringham. (Because Titan Polo is a significant part of our lives, obviously.) No Murphy, no Louis, no McDuff, no Bob, no Polo, just Scout.</div>
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I will admit those first couple of nights were pretty rough. We didn't have a crate yet, and anything we put him in he could get out of. Plus he cried and whined and barked. I think he was seriously missing his pack of 9 brothers and sisters to cuddle up with. Samantha was a trooper and took some night shifts, but there definitely wasn't much sleeping going on.</div>
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Once we got through those first few nights and he was sleeping through the night, things got much better. He is so sweet and so mellow, I just really, really wish he were house broken. That's my only complaint. (Well, occasionally, the wrestling that goes on between the 2 dogs gets a little tiresome, too, but that's manageable.)</div>
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I mean, how can you resist that face?</div>
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Seriously mellow.</div>
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Fortunately, Ziggy accepted the puppy right away. He definitely lets him know he's Alpha dog, but they get along great. Sometimes they just play and wrestle until it exhausts me, but that's not really a bad problem to have....</div>
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In fact, the first night of sleeplessness was actually due to the fact that Ziggy was so excited to play with this new creature that he couldn't settle down and sleep. So no one slept. And the puppy was exhausted. So on night 2, we helped Ziggy out a little bit by giving him some melatonin. That was a good choice.</div>
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He is the biggest in his litter and certainly doesn't look like an 8 or 9 week old puppy, does he? He's enormous.</div>
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Lots of puppy bonding going on around here.</div>
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Pure joy and happiness.</div>
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Part of Peter's gang. This boy is in heaven.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-10650538533109017092016-01-18T14:35:00.000-07:002016-01-21T14:35:25.027-07:00Martin Luther King Day Beignets<div style="text-align: center;">
Normally, we have beignets 3 times a year - 2 conference Sundays and on Christmas. Apparently this is a very strong tradition, because when we had vomiting kids on Christmas, it was unanimously decided that we couldn't possibly have beignets if everyone wasn't going to be able to eat them. Nor did anyone want to run the risk of eating beignets, then getting sick and then never wanting to eat beignets again. So we aimed for New Year's beignets instead, but since the stomach flu was still running it's course through the house, that also had to be postponed. With morning swim workouts and skiing on the weekends, Martin Luther King Day was the first chance we had to fit it in once everyone was healthy. It was a little bit quicker than usual because Shawn did have to get to work, but we finally got our beignets. So everyone should be happy until April conference.</div>
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The kids still wanted Christmas shapes though, since these were technically our Christmas beignets. Plus, we don't own any MLK cookie cutters.</div>
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Mmmmmm. Delicious beignets!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-3672233606316319062016-01-17T16:34:00.000-07:002016-01-28T16:38:19.886-07:00It's That Time of Year Again<div style="text-align: center;">
I've already posted the countdown to water polo chain that's hanging in my kitchen. Now comes the fun stuff. Choosing team gear. Here's this year's selections.</div>
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Deep down, I'm dreading the start of water polo season, but even I can get excited about the gear.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-72155292694549974852016-01-16T22:30:00.000-07:002016-01-28T16:32:50.252-07:00An Epic Day<div style="text-align: center;">
So, because of the whole stomach flu over Christmas break thing, we had not actually had an opportunity for the whole family to go skiing yet this season. (Believe me the breaking of the Christmas Eve Family Ski Tradition was harsh, and not taken well by all.)</div>
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Since the kids were out of school on this Friday for the end of the term, we decided to give it a go. It was a fantastic family ski day. It wasn't crowded since it was a Friday, the snow was amazing, the temperature wasn't bad, and everyone could ski together! There was very little whining and I think everyone enjoyed themselves and being together. We look forward to doing it again! (And that's saying something!)</div>
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And just in case the ski day wasn't awesome enough, we came home and found this waiting for us in the kitchen.</div>
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I think the kids were pretty surprised. We had them convinced there was no way we were taking one of the neighbors puppies. (I was also pretty convinced we weren't going to, but somehow I got talked into it, despite my better judgement.)</div>
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Peter, in particular, didn't quite believe it. He kept asking if he was ours and if we actually paid for him. He was so excited. They all were, but you have to understand that Peter hauls his "gang" upstairs every morning - his gang consisting of a puppy pillow pet, a very large stuffed dog as big as he is, and any number of smaller stuffed dogs that he can manage to fit in his arms. He LOVES dogs!</div>
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I loved finding this sign on the white board.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J9yoB4pQPZo/VqqWZirUbtI/AAAAAAAAXus/XJOiOhcACOE/s1600/IMG_6645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J9yoB4pQPZo/VqqWZirUbtI/AAAAAAAAXus/XJOiOhcACOE/s640/IMG_6645.JPG" width="640" /></a>From there, everyone had to hurry fast and get out of ski clothes and into regular clothes for our next adventure, which was, of course to go to Petsmart and buy all the puppy accoutrements and food we didn't have.</div>
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And THEN, we got to go to a surprise party for Jake. Of course, with a brand new puppy, we couldn't leave him behind so he went with us, too. I'm sure my sister-in-law wasn't thrilled with that plan, but we kept him off the floor at all times and tried to keep him quiet and contained.</div>
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So, yes, we had already had a birthday dinner for Jake on his actual birthday, because the only way to keep a surprise is to not mess with all of the usual things that you do, so we still had our El Farol's dinner to throw him off the scent.</div>
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He got some really awesome gifts, like this Ken doll costume, complete with plastic hair, and these cool #30 glasses, because you only turn 30 once, after all.</div>
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This is a seriously mellow puppy.</div>
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Ken wearing his "the big 3-0 pin".</div>
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These glasses were an absolute favorite and just about everyone wanted to try them on. I'm going to save this picture of my mom somewhere special.</div>
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Peter with creepy eyes.</div>
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And Jonas.</div>
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There were some other people at the party that were totally enamored by the puppy as well.</div>
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I hope I can continue to love him through this whole house training thing.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-88696660137364890082016-01-13T22:00:00.000-07:002016-01-21T14:05:07.245-07:00Jake Turns 30 and A Couple Other Things<div style="text-align: center;">
We took Ziggy to the Dog Wash for a long overdue bath and some family fun. Always a good time when the dog shakes all the excess water off. No one left dry.</div>
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We celebrated with our usual gathering at El Farol's where Jake donned the birthday sombrero and enjoyed fried ice cream for dessert. (OK, most of us shared in the dessert part.)</div>
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It wasn't Jonas' birthday but I guess he felt worthy to wear the sombrero anyway.</div>
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Nothing makes you feel old like having your youngest sibling turn 30, so thanks for that Jake.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-67666967213148750622016-01-10T21:30:00.000-07:002016-01-25T15:49:17.430-07:00When The Cows Come Home and A Science Fair Project<div style="text-align: center;">
The view outside Shawn's office generally includes the Chick-Fil-A cows. I think the kids think it's one of the best parts about going to his office. Every once in a while, the cows get taken down and disappear for a bit. We were all so relieved to get this text from Shawn.</div>
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"Great News! My cows are coming home!"</div>
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Phew! All will be right with the world again.</div>
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Did you know cows could fly?</div>
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Do you ever have plans to get lots of things done or maybe go do something fun for a change? But then you realize that instead you have to do a science fair project? Yeah, me too. This took up pretty much the whole weekend. But now we know that the much more inexpensive FitBit Zip that you wear on your hip is more accurate at counting steps than the more expensive FitBit Surge worn on your wrist. In case you were wondering...</div>
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Everyone in the family got to be a subject.</div>
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You can tell we were all super excited and enthusiastic to be spending our night doing this.</div>
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Yep, even the little guy participated.</div>
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Then we pulled in the big guns -all the teenage boys that were hanging out. That was awesome. It definitely bumped our numbers up.</div>
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So glad it's over. Can hardly wait for the next big project that comes along.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-83777657753327697092016-01-04T14:11:00.000-07:002016-01-19T14:13:04.610-07:00We Like Big Instruments, We Cannot Lie!<div style="text-align: center;">
Once upon a time, I believed that the cello was a fairly large instrument.</div>
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I have now come to realize that I was wrong. </div>
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I mean, I guess compared to a piccolo, it's pretty darn big, but compared to the other instruments in our home, it's pretty darn portable. </div>
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We didn't set out with any thoughts of having our kids only play large instruments, but somehow it happened. I've hauled the bass and cello back and forth so many times, I can't keep track. Fortunately moving the harp is a less frequent event, but it's always an event. Who knew that our car choices would be limited by which ones can carry harps and basses? Not me.</div>
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My kids don't practice nearly enough, but I love listening to the music they make. (Most of the time.)</div>
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Samantha's (first) instrument of choice is the harp. But she also plays the trombone and dabbles in piano, guitar, ukelele and any other instrument she can get her hands on.</div>
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Amelia chose (with help and encouragement), the cello. I've always loved the cello and hoped someone would play it.</div>
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Jonas was supposed to play the cello but instead came home with a bass. I thought I would be disappointed, but I love the bass and it has been a perfect fit for him. This is a 3/4 size bass which is about 7 feet tall. Thank goodness he doesn't need a full size because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit.</div>
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He does usually wear shoes when he plays...</div>
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Oh, hi. There I am.</div>
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Sometimes Jonas has to be remind that his bow is not to be used as a weapon.</div>
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Megan, thus far, is also playing the bass. I was leaning toward the flute just because she would be able to carry it in her back pack, but instead, she's playing the bass because we already owned it. Maybe we can still convince her.</div>
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And Peter was mostly feeling left out so picked up the ukelele for fun. He has his heart set on playing the drums. (Where in the world would we put a drum kit?) But I'm making him start out with piano just like everyone else.</div>
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He's a bit of a ham.</div>
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We have some serious work to do before they're ready to perform in public...</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-91449439484063088292016-01-03T15:42:00.004-07:002016-01-03T15:42:31.752-07:00Giving It Another Try in 2016<div style="text-align: center;">
One of my resolutions this year is to bring back the blog. I know I have missed cataloging our daily lives and the kids have missed it, too. I don't want to set my self up to fail, so no hard set expectations here, but definitely trying to post on a more regular basis.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Since we spent 9 days of Christmas break with the stomach flu, there wasn't a whole lot that happened around here that anyone would want to read about. We're just glad to put that behind us and move on, although none of us is ready to go back to school since we feel a little cheated on our vacation.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Samantha has anxiously been counting down the days to the start of the high school water polo season. (There is a strong possibility that she is even more excited for the END of the high school swim season, but we don't need to get into that here.)</span></div>
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The chain is still pretty long, but I know the days will fly by. I'm excited for water polo season too, but I don't need it to get here any more quickly than is necessary. The rest of life kind of shuts down at that point, so I'm OK for it to be a ways off still.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Shawn and I managed to squeeze in one ski day in between sick kids. (No Photos) And we did hike up Millcreek and sled down with 4 of the kids, but since my phone stopped letting me take pictures, this is the only proof we have of it. It was really cold, but we had a great time, everyone laughing and smiling.
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<span style="text-align: center;"></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wd_KfMNyCRY/VomHb8NXJKI/AAAAAAAAXZU/QZkVLzdwlmY/s1600/IMG_6594.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wd_KfMNyCRY/VomHb8NXJKI/AAAAAAAAXZU/QZkVLzdwlmY/s640/IMG_6594.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Shawn took the "littles" skiing at Brighton yesterday while I stayed home with the "bigs". They had a great time. All of them lapping Snake before the end of the day. Shawn's ski dream may still come true. In fact, I'd bet on it.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E64L96nhjqI/VomH0GgM5ZI/AAAAAAAAXZc/Jd4WIlQbVzo/s1600/2016-01-02%2B11.47.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E64L96nhjqI/VomH0GgM5ZI/AAAAAAAAXZc/Jd4WIlQbVzo/s640/2016-01-02%2B11.47.43.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cGzF5FC2pNc/VomH08_Z8FI/AAAAAAAAXZk/dJud1Xq4H2A/s1600/2016-01-02%2B12.30.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cGzF5FC2pNc/VomH08_Z8FI/AAAAAAAAXZk/dJud1Xq4H2A/s640/2016-01-02%2B12.30.19.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="text-align: center;">I was a little jealous to be missing out on the bluebird day, but relaxing at home and staying warm wasn't all bad either. And the little kids needed some adult time all on their own.
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<span style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pPtlFWzjYDk/VomH1ItLE_I/AAAAAAAAXZo/q3L7ybZy7a0/s1600/2016-01-02%2B14.19.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pPtlFWzjYDk/VomH1ItLE_I/AAAAAAAAXZo/q3L7ybZy7a0/s640/2016-01-02%2B14.19.23.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Sleeping skiers is always a sign of a great ski day!<br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-35528131479665021822015-05-10T21:30:00.000-06:002015-05-13T12:24:06.734-06:00Mother's Day<div style="text-align: center;">
My Mother's Day was fairly nice and relaxed. I am working hard to not have such negative feelings about Mother's day and it seems to be helping. All of Shawn's bishopric meetings were cancelled, so it was really nice to have him home in the morning. He and the kids made brought me breakfast in bed and gave me presents. I loved the handmade cards from my kids and got new shoes and a skirt out of the deal too. We will also refer to this Mother's Day as the year of the kitchen stool. I had mentioned that new kitchen stools were on my wish list, and well, Samantha delivered in her own special way.</div>
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I had intended to go to Shawn's ward to help him teach a class, but ended up helping out in primary instead.</div>
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They played a game of Guess the Mom. We had to answer questions about ourselves to give them clues. In Junior Primary, I did such a good job of disguising my voice that they guessed I was Peter's Dad instead. (That's me in the cool glasses, second from the left.)</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TGLIvzKR0ME/VVORqsmYoQI/AAAAAAAAXA8/TElmUCAU5do/s1600/IMG_5995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TGLIvzKR0ME/VVORqsmYoQI/AAAAAAAAXA8/TElmUCAU5do/s640/IMG_5995.JPG" width="640" /></a>I'm pretty sure my birthday gave it away to my kids in senior primary. It was fun to participate.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tSAGawKwSGk/VVORrQdfCBI/AAAAAAAAXBM/LP-CGtrHtAA/s1600/IMG_5996.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tSAGawKwSGk/VVORrQdfCBI/AAAAAAAAXBM/LP-CGtrHtAA/s640/IMG_5996.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Shawn's Mom was in Ivins, so we headed downtown to visit my Mom only to find that my parents were in St. George. So we took the scenic way home, taking the kids past some of our old haunts, enjoying a Sunday drive.</div>
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We managed to squeeze in a quick picture before sending the little kids off to bed.</div>
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Still can't get a shot of everyone just looking at the camera and smiling. Not sure why I keep trying.</div>
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I believe Shawn said the words, "Now everyone lick someone!" Just before taking this last picture. You can see my reaction. Don't know why my kids were all so obedient on this one...</div>
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Happy Mother's Day!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-55305081570324059182015-04-23T20:00:00.000-06:002015-05-13T12:01:04.694-06:00Orchestra Festival<div style="text-align: center;">
Yes, I realize it has been about 5 months since I last posted something. Initially, I ran into some computer problems. I was really worried that all my photos would be lost forever. It took a while to sort out the problem, but they finally got it fixed, then life just got crazy, and before I knew it all this time had passed without a single blog post. I'm hoping to slowly work on getting caught up, but I'll start from here for now.</div>
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Today was orchestra festival for the junior high and high school. For me, that involved moving Samantha's harp multiple times this morning. (Shawn actually did most of the moving, but it was a joint effort.) First to her school for a rehearsal. Then for fun, we were sent to the wrong school. We had the harp unloaded and in the school before the orchestra teacher found us and told us we had to go to another school. So, we loaded it back up, headed to the third junior high of the day and unloaded it for her performance. (A flute would have been so much easier!) And I won't even go into the part about how one of the harpists backed out 2 days before, leaving Samantha and Maren to learn her part in 2 days, because that was so awesome. Anyway, at festival, the school orchestra "competes" against other school orchestras from the area. It's kind of fun to listen to them play.</div>
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Once she was done, I loaded up her harp again and took it home. </div>
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Then in the afternoon, it was Jonas's turn. Despite the fact that he also plays a large instrument (the bass), my part was minimal. It involved me tying his bow tie and telling him to play well. Then he was out the door, where he drove himself to the school, got his school bass and got on the bus with the rest of the orchestra students. Let me tell you that was way easier.</div>
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But it was fun to catch them both dressed up. (Although Samantha had ditched her shoes by this time.) Even with only 2 kids in a picture, I can't get them both looking at the camera at the same time. It's a serious issue.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-62960849198757759732015-01-15T16:54:00.000-07:002016-01-29T16:55:08.663-07:00Some Random January Events<div style="text-align: center;">
This picture pretty much sums things up. There's Shawn all happy and having fun sitting on his bike, and there's me obviously, thinking "why did I think doing this race was a good idea?" Ugh. Winter training.</div>
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January 12, 2015 will forever be known as the day Jonas finally got his driver's license. It has been long time coming, and he had to be forced into it a bit, but it's official! This kid can drive! </div>
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Hallelujah!</div>
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One of Samantha's beautiful selfies.</div>
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I really can't even believe I am posting this. It's a serious embarrassment, but now you'll know how things are at our house. My kids are absolute slobs. Sometimes when you move the couches, and it's been a while, you find all sorts of fun stuff. Apparently, shoving things under the couch or under the cushions is equivalent to throwing it away around here. I have failed as a mother.</div>
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Peter's kindergarten dance informance. Still breaks my heart a little every time I realize how big he is.</div>
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More selfie fun with Samantha.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-15602289784162064702015-01-02T16:28:00.000-07:002016-01-29T16:38:01.051-07:00Starting The New Year off Right! - With a Water Main Break<div style="text-align: center;">
Woohoo! Because we really know how to party and have fun, this is what we came home to on New Year's Day. We left to drop the girls off at Rob and Michelle's for cupcake wars and a sleep over, and when we pulled back into the driveway, we discovered all this water and a lovely little gushing fountain coming up from under our driveway. Oh joy.</div>
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Despite the amount of leaking water, the city let it run all. night. long. (The good news is, the break is on <i>their</i> side of the line, not ours, so at least it is only an inconvenience and not costing us an arm and a leg.)</div>
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Eventually, they sent someone to take a look at things. They had to cut out the bottom of our driveway to access the break.</div>
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Nothing more fun for a little boy than watching tractors at work in your own front yard.</div>
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They made a mess.</div>
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And because it's winter, we get to have our lovely little mud hole until spring when it is warm enough to pour concrete. Can't wait. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've been hoping for snow and freezing temperatures just to keep the mud from being tracked all through my house for the rest of the winter...</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-16930491286993278492015-01-01T16:24:00.000-07:002016-01-29T16:24:55.990-07:00New Year's Eve With the Kinkarts<div style="text-align: center;">
Our friends, the Kinkarts, invited our family to celebrate New Year's Eve with them. We had individual, home made pizzas which were delicious. We played games.</div>
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We take our Jenga very seriously.</div>
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An action photo of Shawn trying to sable the tower from collapse. </div>
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(Pretty sure that's against the rules.)</div>
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I didn't do a very good job of documenting the evening with photos - a sure sign that we were having fun, I guess.</div>
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It quickly became apparent that our boys just aren't cut out for this late night stuff. Staying awake until midnight just wasn't in the cards for them.</div>
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The girls and the adults had a great time.</div>
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We did make Jonas wake up when it was time to drop the ball. He is 16 after all, he should be able to hang with he little kids on that one.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-1715018816427175732014-12-23T16:00:00.000-07:002016-01-03T16:00:19.871-07:00A Very Judy Christmas 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
Some pictures of the festivities at my parents house for our annual December 23rd Christmas gathering. We always have a nice dinner, followed by gifts, a talk from my Dad, and finish it up with the reading of the Christmas story and singing carols. This was the first time in a long time that all of the cousins were there together. Wish that could happen more!</div>
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Samantha couldn't be happier about her gift. The Iliad and the Odyssey. (Don't know how many other teens make that sort of request but she really wanted them.) Books are always a win.</div>
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The younger cousins put together a little performance for all of us. This is one of the favorite things to do when they get together - write and reforms plays and shows. They are always a good time.</div>
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This one was complete with solos. This was Megan's.</div>
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Peter was pretty happy with his light saber. Loving the decor.</div>
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It is always chaotic and crazy, but I love getting together with my family and having my kids spend time with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents. I hope they will always cherish these memories.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-90281097699292611112014-12-22T23:00:00.000-07:002016-01-03T15:17:06.115-07:00Shawn and Samantha at the Olympic Training Center<div style="text-align: center;">
Shawn and Samantha were invited to go the the Olympic Training Center in Colorado for water polo. Samantha as an athlete, and Shawn as a coach. What an awesome experience for a 13 year old girl!</div>
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This is Samantha with her new friend, Jenny Scott. They were the only two athletes from Utah.</div>
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Training where the Olympians train!</div>
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Samantha with Olympian Melissa Seidemann and Nicole and Morgan from the Junior National team.</div>
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Samantha with her team for the Snowball Classic.</div>
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Apparently the new car did it's job well and got them where they needed to be.</div>
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Smiley face. That's a good sign.</div>
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Running drills after dinner. Samantha said this was always the most exhausting session of the day. They'd already had a full day, then food in their bellies then back to work. Their days started at 7:00 when they headed off to breakfast, then 20 minutes of "chalk talk". There were four 2-hour sessions in the water the rest of the day broken up with either lunch or rest periods. Lights out at 10:00. But the after dinner session was always the hardest.</div>
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Listening intently to the coaches. (Black #11)</div>
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Samantha has always had a "thing" for Michael Phelps. I'm sure she would have liked to see him in person even more, but training in the same pool as him was pretty cool.</div>
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Shawn and Samantha with picture of Tony Azevedo. #waterpolohero</div>
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One of the paralympians was using this for training during the week. Samantha never climbed it but said the rope fibers were all over in the pool, got stuck in their suits and so on, but it was cool to watch them train.</div>
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The snap, quarter turn, up and shoot drill.</div>
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Passing drills. (Samantha is black #11)</div>
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One on one time playing with an Olympian - Melissa Seidemann.</div>
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"Pulling lane lines in this pool was the worst!" Much bigger, longer and heavier than our high school pool lane lines.</div>
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Selfie time.</div>
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Samantha enjoying a meal with some junior national players and Jenny at the back table, while Shawn eats with the coaches.</div>
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Awards and closing meeting.</div>
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Utah athletes unite! </div>
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More selfies.</div>
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They both had a great time and learned a ton! While Samantha was in the water with Olympians and learning form the National Team coaches, Shawn was also working with and learning from the coaches. Hopefully this all pays off in the water back home!</div>
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I think she spent the entire drive home in this state. She was exhausted from long days in the water and being sick the whole time. I'm guessing she had strep whileshe was there, but she toughed it out and made it through.</div>
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Shawn's views:</div>
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While they were away, Fred took the opportunity to nap in Samantha's bed.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-68268128723795559222014-12-22T15:33:00.000-07:002016-01-03T15:33:59.121-07:00Juanito Bandito<div style="text-align: center;">
Shawn and Samantha drove back into town just in time to make it to Juanito Banditio's Christmas show with the Marsh family. </div>
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Fun thing to do with all the cousins!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-33748321257390974782014-12-17T13:49:00.000-07:002016-01-03T14:40:20.324-07:00Random December<div style="text-align: center;">
Shawn has been on the hunt for a new car for quite a while. Since he's needing a way to drive to Colorado next week, this seemed like a good time to move forward on it. (That and the end of year deals.) The '87 Volvo he's been driving just isn't cut out for that sort of driving anymore. So Merry Christmas to Shawn with this new Subaru, and Merry Christmas to Jonas who will get to drive the Volvo!</div>
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How often do you get to see Santa driving something other than his sleigh? I though his choice of vehicle was pretty awesome, though.</div>
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I don't even remember the last time I could fill the suburban for this much. I am loving the gas pieces right now!</div>
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Poor Fred, he's had a couple of rough days. Emperor Zurg and Anakin/Darth captured him.</div>
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Not even Woody and Jesse could get him out of this. Hopefully he'll find a way.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-53083143874149067912014-12-11T12:59:00.000-07:002016-01-03T14:33:16.565-07:00Christmas Decor<div style="text-align: center;">
Amelia made this cute little gingerbread house at Activity Days and wanted to be sure it was well documented before her siblings got a hold of it and started nibbling it all away. (Good thing I got pictures when I did, because all the candy pieces started disappearing shortly thereafter...)</div>
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Fred has kept himself busy keeping the kids in line, as well. Sometimes I think he's got a pretty good gig.</div>
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OK, maybe being chewed on by a dinosaur isn't so awesome, but the rest of it's pretty good.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-28467264142937510592014-12-08T22:00:00.000-07:002016-01-03T14:29:07.366-07:00The Tree<div style="text-align: center;">
Since I'm technically writing this about a year later than it happened, the details elude me a bit. Suffice it to say, that we found a lovely tree lot, argued back and forth a bit over which tree to choose, finally settled on one, paid a large sum of money and bought it home. (I still just love the smell and look of a live tree. I can't help it.)</div>
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We got lights on and everyone helped to decorate it, Jonas being the only one tall enough to get the star on top without needing a chair.</div>
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Sometimes getting and decorating a tree can be such a pain, but sitting in the dark, looking at the decorated tree with all the twinkling lights (and breathing in the fresh pine scent) is one of my absolute favorite parts of the season.</div>
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At least we look ready for Christmas now!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-63909623350261315482014-12-06T23:00:00.000-07:002016-01-03T14:21:41.988-07:00YSA Christmas Party<div style="text-align: center;">
The kids are not always overly enthused to attend the Young Single adult activities, but we dragged them along to the Christmas party. </div>
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They did have fun in the little photo booth.</div>
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I can usually count on this kid to be pretty happy.</div>
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Shawn and Bishop Graham rocking their ugly Christmas sweaters. The 3D nose and scarf on Brett's sweater were the best.</div>
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There were skits and things for entertainment. Unfortunately, i can't seem to get our musical number to upload. You'll just have to use your imagination and know that it was awesome with Shawn on guitar, Jonas on upright bass and all sorts of helpers as back up singers and percussion players. Oh well.</div>
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Good times were had by all, I hope.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-63536491302350958642014-12-05T15:29:00.000-07:002016-01-03T15:30:37.113-07:00Christmas Concerts<div style="text-align: center;">
Samantha did triple duty at the Evergreen Christmas Concert this year. She played the harp with the orchestra, </div>
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and the trombone with both band and jazz band.</div>
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Tuning time and making faces at Dad back stage.</div>
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There's a lot of stuff to move around for these concerts. The trombone on it's own isn't a big deal, but throw in a harp and a harp bench and it took a couple people to get her set up. (Having a harp player means putting in a lot of time moving large instruments.)</div>
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The thing is, I know Jonas played the upright bass in the Olympus Christmas Concert, but can I find a single picture? I must have been in charge of pictures that day instead of Shawn. Mom fail. I promise it was awesome. Listening to my kids perform is always so rewarding.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-75061612692774789852014-12-05T12:47:00.000-07:002015-05-13T12:47:43.807-06:00Christmas Wish List<div style="text-align: center;">
All she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth!</div>
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Fortunately for her, one is finally making an appearance, but no guarantees that they'll both be in for Christmas.</div>
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And I'm thinking that Amelia should be set. With a doughnut this size, she shouldn't need anything else to keep her happy.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8478756773695105638.post-20270904249474740902014-12-04T12:42:00.000-07:002014-12-04T12:42:19.082-07:00The Elf Is Back and He Brought Some Serious Magic <div style="text-align: center;">
As I'm sitting here getting ready to post this, I'm suddenly wondering if I shouldn't in case it makes the magic disappear. Oh well, I'm hoping for it to last. "Tis the season after all.</div>
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So, Fred showed up on December 1st like he always does. He's very dependable that way. (There was some serious excitement around here.) And at bedtime, something amazing happened. The child who has not been going to bed in his own bed for nearly 6 months, (yes, the one who has chosen to sleep on the wood floor, or any floor that is close to where I am, as opposed to his warm, soft bed,) went down to his bed with no prompting and, get this, stayed there all night!! And then did it again the next night, and the next! Fred has managed to do something just with his mere presence that we haven't been able to accomplish with any number of bribes, threats or desperate pleas. <br />
It's a Christmas Miracle!<br />
Peter made this decision all on his own once Fred was here. He said something along the lines of, "Fred probably doesn't like us to sleep in other places that aren't our beds." Nope, buddy, he likes to be able to tell Santa that you are in your bed at night. Hallelujah!<br />
Now I'll just cross my fingers and hope that the Christmas miracle lasts.<br />
Thank you Fred. I love you.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0