Am I over-reacting??

Crystal Light...we all know it and love it. Only 5 calories per serving, no caffeine, low in sodium, it's great. And my kids can't tell the difference from the Fruit Punch flavor and Kool-Aid. Another plus. It's lately become a staple at many meals in our home. But Josh has taken our love of Crystal Light to another level. Seriously...I'm concerned and frankly a little embarrassed. It has become his personal mission to try all the different flavors. He comes home from work with those "On-the-Go" packs and can hardly wait to tell me the latest flavor that he's discovered. No joke. He appreciates the simple things like the "On-the-Go" packs for an "On-the-Go" guy like himself. I just recently discovered a stash of "On-the-Go" packs in his car. Seriously like 3-4 boxes of different flavors available at his disposal. He just mixes them up in a water bottle and he's a happy camper. Look, I'm happy he's drinking healthier,but I think it's a little "girly" that he carries those around. I've expressed my concerns about him carrying around his Crystal Light drinks everywhere he goes, but he says he is secure in his manhood and isn't at all worried about it. It's nice he's being health conscience, really, I think it's great, but my feelings are--let's keep it at the dinner table.

Tennis Lessons

It all started with the girls taking some free tennis lessons early this summer. They loved it so much I signed them up for some more. As I sat and watched I found myself thinking, that looks like fun. I consider myself fairly decent at ping pong and badminton, so tennis kinda seemed like the same thing, right? So I requested a racket for my birthday, then thought...who am I going to play with? So I went and got a racket for Josh. We quickly realized we had no idea what we were doing so Josh suggested I take some lessons. Well, I didn't want to go by myself, I mean, what happens if I get really good and he still doesn't know what he's doing. Hey, it could happen. So I convinced him that it would be a fun thing for us to do it together. So he agreed. He made sure I understood it was not because he was interested in tennis, but just to spend time with me. Whatever, as long as you come. Well, we had our first lesson on Monday and let's just say one of us is really, really good. So good that the instructor didn't believe it was their first lesson. Yes, Josh was awesome! So good that after class the instructor told him to move up 2 levels next week. I may not have been as impressive as Josh, but I had such a good time. We both did. Even though Josh has already left me in the dust, I'm glad we've found a common interest. And who knows, maybe someday I'll actually get to the point where I can beat him. Hey, it's possible....

Emma's baptism day

This past Saturday our little Emma Rose was baptized. It was a very special day. She got to share her day with 3 of her neighborhood friends. That made it extra special for her. Her Grandma Bradshaw also gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Which was wonderful. That morning we gave her some special gifts. We gave her her baptism towel. It's the same one that Katelyn used and that we will pass down to all of our kids. She also got her first set of scriptures. She was very excited. I also pulled out this special ribbon that Emma wore on her blessing day around her wrist. All of my girls have worn it. Then they wear it in their hair on their baptism day. Next to be worn around their garter on their wedding day. So it has a lot of special meaning for us. I'm so proud of Emma and her decision to be baptized. She is such a sweet little girl with such a sweet spirit and we love her very much.

Back to School

It's that time of year again. And this year it's bitter sweet. I'm sad to see our summer ending but am ready for fall and for the kids to get back into a routine. The kids have been so excited for school to start and so far are all happy with their teachers. Mason especially has been counting down to his first day of Kindergarten. He said before he left for school that "today is going to be the best day of my life!" Ahhhh. He literally had a perma-grin the whole day. It's also that time where we are gearing up for all their activities. The kids are trying some new things this year so we'll see how that goes. It's a good time of year, I'm always ready for the change.

Swim Lessons '09

Today the kids finished swim lessons. They all did very well and 2 of the 4 passed! This was Riley's first year and lets just say it was an experience. Technically you are supposed to be 3, but she'll be 3 next month so I thought I'd give it a try. Well, there were definitely no problems with getting her in the pool and getting her to participate. The problem was she wanted to participate TOO much, when it wasn't her turn. Riley likes all the attention on her and doesn't like it when it's not her turn. There were many times she had to sit out because she wouldn't listen to her teachers and sit on the step and wait her turn. I'm so glad the teachers followed through and made her sit out. She needs to know it's not always all about Riley. (Below is a picture of her sitting out sulking with her head down. I didn't have my camera so my friend took a picture with her cell phone.) Classic Riley....hilarious!

I Can't Wait Until I'm 8....

My little "Emma Dilemma" just turned 8! She has been so excited. She had a birthday party with just her cousins last week and then another with her friends this week. Lucky girl. Her friend birthday party we celebrated by going rollerskating. This proved to be difficult for many of her friends. This was the first time for many of them. But we all had a good time.




But the highlight of the day was that Emma got to get her ears pierced! This is the 8-year old tradition in our house for the girls. So I took her to the mall in the morning and she was very nervous. She did shed a few tears but admits it was worth it.

I love my little Emma and we are all looking forward to her baptism next month. Such a big girl!

Enjoying the Fruits of our Labor

Lately I've been wondering when my garden's fruit and vegetables will be ready. Something other than lettuce that is. We're not rabbits, we can't possibly keep up with the amount of lettuce we've got. Last Wednesday I went out to check on the garden, to see if anything new was sprouting up, and still nothing. Just flowers. Then we went on a camping trip this weekend, came back, and then Sunday Katelyn went out to the garden and came back exclaiming we had zuchinni, squash, stawberries and raspberries. I did not believe her because I had just checked 4 days earlier. So I went out and to my surprise not only did we have zuchinni, squash, strawberries, raspberries, tons of lettuce and a tomato, the zuchinni and squash we're huge!! How did they grow so fast? I was like a kid on Christmas morning digging through the leaves and plants to see what all I could find. We actually had much more squash than we picked, we thought we'd let some get a little bigger. But it was so fun for me and the kids to see how what started out as a seed, or starter plants in some cases, was now food. And believe it or not, the kids were begging, literally begging for some squash for dinner!! I guess when you grow something yourself, it somehow tastes better. Now that I've got squash coming out my ears, anyone got any good squash recipes??