A Good Day

Maddie's Feet

Jack's Feet

Jacee's Feet

As we were getting ready for bed the other night, I noticed how filthy my children's feet were and I thought, "This has been a good day!" I love it when they come in from a hard day of playing covered in dirt. Sometimes I let Jack's face go dirty for a while because it's just so fun to see him being all boy.

It seems since we moved here they have done nothing but play, play, play. Everytime I turn around there is someone new a the house - and I wouldn't have it any other way. They have also got to spend lots of time with cousins. It's been great!

Now all we need is Grama and Grampa to move here (teehee!)

Go out and have get a little dirty and have a good day!

Amendment to the List

Seeing my Utah Primary Presidency - that's good!
Missing my Idaho Primary Presidency - that's bad!

Love you gals!

Utahns or Idahoans?

Yes, it is true, we are moving back to Utah. We just can't decide if we are Utahns or Idahoans. This will be our ninth move and we are in our ninth year of marriage. Pretty crazy.

We will be moving back to Saratoga Springs,
In our old neighborhood - so that is good.
Leaving our small town - that's bad.
Being near Cafe Rio - that's good.
Leaving Taco Bandito - that's bad.
More options for shopping - that's good.
More options for shopping - that's bad.
Going back to the Mecca of Ballroom Dance - that's good.
Leaving Jennifer and Melissa's studio - that's bad.
Having a neighborhood swimming pool - that's good.
Not being on the Burley Barracuda swim team - that's bad.
Jackson being in Itty Bitty sports - that's good.
Maddie not dancing with Jennifer and Melissa - that's bad.
Being in our old ward - that's good.
Leaving the 3rd ward - that's bad.
A neighborhood with lots of kids - that's good.
Leaving Lauren, Sammie and Sylvia - that's bad.


And the biggest pro and con of all:
Being near tons of cousins - that's good.
Leaving Gramas & Grampas - that's BAD.

As you can see there are lots of pros and cons, so we are just going to make the best of it.

We have absolutely loved living in Burley and are so grateful for what we have learned and the special relationship our kids now have with both sets of grandparents. Life will never be the same. We feel we know the reasons we have lived here and hope we can always remember those lessons and make them a part of our lives.

We will miss this old Burley town! (Jacee's words)

Jacee's Recital

Maddie wants to wear Jacee's "wiggy" around everywhere. Does she all ready know that she is destined to have very little hair in this life? Jacee laments that fact everyday. She wants long straight hair like her cousin Nia.


Jacee with her two wonderful dance instructors. We just feel there is not a studio like this one in Utah. One of the "pros" for Burley. We love Jennifer and Melissa!

Grama Binki is always so thoughtful, she bough flowers for us to give to Jacee. Jacee just thought she was the star of the show. We sure love to watch her dance. Yes, we are prejudice, but she really is quite amazing!

And the winds did blow! We had a little micro-burst last night that knocked out our power for about 3 hours and blew down a big limb from the tree in the front yard. A lot of it ended up on the porch roof, but missed all the windows and did no damage to the house. As you can see in this first picture - the big limb landed in a fork in the tree so most of the weight did not hit the house.
Here's one branch that was torn down.

And here is where the big limb split. Last night, John said, you need to get a picture in the morning. Well, I was woken up by the sound of a chainsaw at about 7am. Tracy King was up on our roof taking care of things. By 8:15 am, he had all the limbs cut into logs and stacked by the fend, the leafy branches were piled high on his Crawford Towing Truck bed and he was even raking up small branches. What a guy!

Jack was in the tub when the lights went out and Maddie was all scrunched up in the corner of her crib because the window was open and the wind was howling. It didn't last very long but the kids were a little freaked out so we all climbed in our bed with flashlights and soon the kids were fast asleep. Jack has told everyone he was taking a bubble bath and he started crying, but then he was strong enough to blow the wind away.

Today we have overcast skies but very warm. Now we just need to rake all the tiny twigs - AGAIN. Jacee was excited because that means we get to do our bon fire tonight!

Kindergarten Story

I have loved Jacee's teacher this year. She has had a wonderful experience in kindergarten. Jacee has written many stories this year, but one of the last assignments was to write a story that is at least two lines long and has a fingerspace between each word. Spelling did not count. This really gave Jacee some independence, because before she would only write a story when I was with her to tell her how to spell the words she did not know. Now she writes stories on her own, just sounding out the words and writing the sounds she hears. I love it! Here is the story she wrote for her assignemnt. I think it's pretty darling! Way to go Jacee!

My Momma

While I am trying to navigate my way through motherhood, it is a bit overwhelming to write about my own mom who did such a beautiful job raising 7 highly spirited children. I have so many moments where I look back at my own mother in certain situations and realizing I am falling dreadfully short, but feel relieved that I still have her to call and talk to when I need: advice, a recipe, a loving voice, a funny story, any piece of trivia - large or small, scripture references, dates, you name it - she knows it!

I know I get my love of family from my mom. She loves to be together and loves her children with a ferocity that would rival a lion and her cubs. I hope I am as good an advocate for my children as she has been with us.

She is supportive and funny and will listen for hours on end. She loves to spoil everyone and will always remember your favorite candybar.

It was such a blessing to live with them for a short time and very, very hard when they left. I don't know if it is harder that I am missing her or watching my children miss her. Jacee talks about them constantly and Maddie is always so excited to see a picture of Gamma and Poppa. Whenever I talk about Grandparents, Jack will always ask, "Which ones?" like my mom and dad will be back home anytime so why wouldn't they be the ones meeting us at the park.

I also realized how sheltered my kids are and it was so great to live with my parents so my kids would learn there are a greater variety of foods - some of which are actually green! And so many other things.
Now that we may move away again, I am especially grateful my children got to know Grama Mission on a very special level. They will always have a special place in their heart for her.

We walked in the house the other day and Jacee said, "It smells like it use to - like when it was Grama's house - I miss that." We're grateful to be in this house but Jacee just likes to have Grama's house to go to.

I'm grateful my mom worked so hard to create so many traditions for our family. My husband is getting better at the birthday tradition. He gets it right about every other year. There are countless others and I find myself trying to imitate them. (How many of my siblings do water guns, paddle ball, bubbles, and sunglasses in their Easter Baskets?)


Mom, this Mother's Day tribute is a little late, but it is still full of love. I love you and miss you. Can't wait until you get home.