Dear Family and Friends,
Another week and a half and Jeremy will be back home. Yeah! We went to clean the office yesterday and Robyn ran in looking for her Dad - was very sad - then she saw his stash of suckers and happiness prevailed again. Jeremy sounds like he is having a really interesting, fun time - mingled with late nights, not enough sleep, and monotony of having alone time in different hotels and on the bus.
After two days of high 90s and sunny weather we have had lots of rain/wind storms and cold weather. Whenever the sun comes out our kids run outside to play. Allison taught Robyn how to ride her tricycle a few weeks ago and Robyn will do endless laps. Whenever they can they have been eating their meals outside. We had the cousins over Friday for pizza and movie night and they had a great time running around outside. Even Raiders of the Lost Ark only caught their attention in spurts when they can push dolls in strollers or engage in mock sword fights. Bryn was having a sad night with an ear infection so we stayed up together watching the movie Becoming Jane - I highly recommend it to all Austin fans out there. Gives a whole new spin to Pride and Prejudice.
We took Lauri shopping this week as she wanted to try out an adult tricycle. It didn't work out for her but it was really neat. I think I will have to get one someday to bike to and from the library etc.
Allison had her last swim lesson this week. She can swim freestyle and backstroke for 15 yards but needs to start working on her strength. Allison and Spencer both have swimming lessons at the public pool in another week. Allison had all her last week of school stuff - a teddy bear picnic - a last day party etc. She had a great week. On the last day of school she went in the morning and Robyn and I went to pick her up. Then we went to get lunch and have our toes painted for a girls day out. Quite fun. Allison was disappointed she didn't get to have the full treatment but I explained that you have to be at least a teenager for that.
Spencer has one more week of school. Last week he had art day, music day, airplane day, movie day and field day - what a tough week - not. He is having a great time with all these special days at school. He continues to be into magic and has now officially learned all the tricks for kids on u-tube. Some of them he has gotten really good at - others you have to have a degree of tolerance for. Allison is the worst at the tolerance part - ie "no the card didn't disappear, its in your other hand - you can't trick me, it's not magic" - followed by a grumpy Spencer stomping away.
I finished up painting the kid's closets and got their rooms put back together. Spencer was so excited to have a clean room again he has been quite particular about putting everything away - see how long that lasts! But the girls rediscovered all their doll stuff now that they are organized. They both have been pushing strollers around and taking care of their dolls. Robyn is usually doing it while wearing high heels, a stethoscope, a tutu and whatever else she digs up in the dress up box.
Sunday is always a tougher day with Jeremy gone but today has been pretty good so far. Perhaps my enforcing quiet time where no one talks to Mom for an hour accounts for my peaceful mood! We even got to church early with everyone ready which is for us a small miracle. Allison did a talk today and after much practice yesterday and during sacrament was able to read the whole thing by herself. She was very proud and did a great job. I got to be in there as I was chorister - what a fun job, who would ever turn that calling down!
Taylor had his 12 year old check up this week. He is actually on the charts now with his weight at 2% which is 68 pounds. The doctor commented on how healthy he is for his condition. He had to get 4 shots but now is set until he is an adult.
Mostly I just have worked on getting our house to seem clean again - getting closets together, doing laundry, disinfecting the bathrooms etc. Robyn's friend taught her how to "paint" with blue toothpaste this week all over her room and the bathroom. Whoever invented blue sparkly toothpaste was not a parent! Got a few more plants in, visited the library, took kids around - all the usual. I did get two nice breaks this week where I went to a relief society conference on organization/kid activities/easy meals that was really good and I even got to go to the temple yesterday morning. So life is good and everyone is happy about a few more days of school till summer.
love to all, Heather

Dear Friends and Family,

Jeremy left on Tuesday and is currently in Belfast. We have been able to talk to him a few times via video chat which the kids have loved. He looks a little wiped out with the time change but is adjusting. He is busy with lots of cool experiences and is exploring London and Belfast (so far) when he has the chance. So I am being very thankful that I am not a single Mom all the time and glad I only have 2 1/2 more weeks to go!

It is 95 degrees outside right now. Last Monday they finished up our deck - in snow and hail with temperatures in the morning being around 40 degrees but by afternoon reaching 60. Spring in Utah. Our kids are loving the sudden unusual warmth. Allison and Robyn have broken out their swimsuits the last two days and have been busy running through the sprinklers and sucking down otter pops (I forgot the joy of finding otter pop wrappers all over the yard - every kid seems incapable of remembering to throw them away).

I have spent the week focusing on pulling weeds, planting our vegetable garden and making a mammoth run to the nursery for the last few plants. I need to shift my focus this week to our house as things have gotten sorely messy inside.

Robyn woke up Thursday with a crusty ear from a popped ear drum. So she is on antibiotics right now. She never had a fever but has definitely had an "edge" lately. This morning I put on some bicycle shorts on her under her dress so she would stop taking her diaper off at church like last week. Tears and wailing for 20 minutes as she tries to take the shorts off. Such a tough life. She is a little busy body and always is trying to find a friend to play with. We babysat three times this week where it was a girl her age and she was in heaven. She asks for Jeremy a couple of times a day and gets giddy when she sees him on the computer.

Allison has one week left of school. She had a pizza party Friday to celebrate their kind deeds they have done all year. She thought she was very cool to eat at school and is so excited for next year when she will bring a lunch to school. Two weeks ago Jeremy accidentally left the hamsters out and the next day they were gone. No sign of them since but we have a very happy cat upstairs. Maybe its cruel of us to think of bringing any more hamsters into this house! However Allison is already planning a trip to buy a new one with Jeremy when he gets back.

Taylor went fishing this week with his class and he caught a rainbow trout. They go every year where this group of anglers helps every kid. On Monday I met with this years teachers, next year's teacher and the district rep to figure out how it will work for next year. The teacher for next year is getting more confident on how to work Taylor into the classroom and understands that Taylor sitting and "observing" most activities does not work. I think it will work out but I don't think she will be coming up with great ideas on her own. Luckily they have good therapists who will be coming into the classroom. Taylor also got new daffos this week, they are huge! They come in 2 parts and should help prevent him from walking with his knees leaning past his toes.

Spencer is having May days at school where it seems like most days he needs to bring something to school (and is starting to do better at asking me a day or two ahead of time instead of the morning of!). He had a Hawiian laua this week (his contribution was Hawiian punch - which he was very proud of going in and buying at the store by himself), he has had a magic day, a joke day etc. We went to the library this week and Spencer checked out a bunch of magic tricks and has been watching how to videos online. So he is constantly asking me or Allison to be his dupe in the trick. A painfully long process sometimes as he tries to remember all the steps or his hands don't cooperate. Spencer also lost a tooth this week - the tooth fairy even remembered at midnight to slip a silver dollar under his pillow.

Yesterday we had to go shoe shopping. Taylor needed new shoes for his daffos (he is in the mens section now - a very painful price jump). All the kids needed sandals and Spencer needed tennis shoes where his toe didn't stick through the tip of the shoe. Kids did pretty good at the first store but Spencer was convinced he needed to go to the mall as that is where he got his first shoes with Jeremy. So I gritted my teeth in anticipation and we went. Spencer does really good most of the time now. But Mervyn somehow looked different than what he remembered and had planned for and he just lost it. Tears, anger, grabbed a pair of shoes but didn't want to try them on. 30 minutes later we were sitting at Taco Bell for lunch before going home and he apologized. Most of the time his anger outbursts are like hiccups, rare and infrequent and go away fast and not too bad. I forget easily how some things he just can't handle very well. At school there is a group of 3-4 kids who think its funny to try to make Spencer mad. He hasn't physically hurt anyone for a while but he will call them jerk etc and really struggle not to loose it. So his teacher suggested anytime he needs to go sit on the bench in the school and read a book if the kids are bugging him he can. So that is what he is doing.

For Mother's Day Jeremy gave me gift certificates for massage apprentices. Last night I went and indulged and it was great. Afterwards I laid on the grass eating a piece of cheesecake from Kneaders next door and reading a magazine. Pure slice of heaven in my week. I am trying to do better about not lifting Taylor as I am starting to feel it more. He can walk and get into things. It just takes more work.

Love to you all, Heather

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Mother's Day Mom and all the other mom's out there. Yesterday Jeremy and I got to have a special outing in the morning and go to the temple and then out for french toast at Kneader's. They have the best french toast, covered in real syrup and strawberries and cream - and free yesterday to all mom's, even better! This morning I got breakfast in bread and opened all the presents kids made for me. I am so grateful for teachers who take the time to make all these cute things because the kids are so proud to see their efforts turn out so great. Spencer made me a notepad and pen and Allison made me a special plate she colored on. They have been asking all week when can I open their presents. Tonight we are having Jeremy's family over to honor his Mom and enjoy a Costco dinner (I don't cook on Mother's Day).

This week our house didn't seem quite like a construction zone but still seemed busy. Our kids and dog were getting cabin fever because they couldn't play in the backyard during the day as they worked on our deck. It is almost done, they just need to finish up the stair rail and the trellis. Our finish guys finished up everything they could do before cabinets were installed and a guy in our ward started working on putting up tile for us in the basement shower. Its slowly coming together. I am really excited to get our food storage room done but everyone is thrilled about the deck. Our kids keep asking if they can eat out there every night for dinner now. I'll have to set up a little table out there! It seems like all this work is getting done at once but we have talked and planned it out for so long it doesn't feel as sudden as it does to all our neighbors whose driveways who are getting blocked by construction worker trucks.

Taylor turned 12 this Friday. We found the biggest balloon I have ever seen and tied it to the back of his wheelchair for school. His class gave him some more balloons as well to tie to his wheelchair so everyone knew that it was his birthday. They eat lunch in the cafeteria with all the other kids and all of them came up to wish him a happy birthday. Between all the slaps on the back and hugs and doughnuts he brought to share with his class Taylor was chirping happily away all day. Allison and Moms and Muffin day at her school so I got to go with her to class for the first hour. We made Christina's chocolate muffins (muffins is the wrong term for those things, cupcakes is what they should be called!) to share with everyone and did a bunch of crafts together. After school we picked up Jeremy and Lauri to go to Spencer's piano recital. He did so good, got himself ready and calmly there. Said he didn't want to play through his songs one more time at home as if he thought about it too much he would mess up. He did a great job on his songs and didn't freak out when the program was changed due to missing kids and he was 2nd instead of 4th. Such a big difference than his recital last year. Robyn decided to be an all out pill of noise and energy from the get go so I snuck in to hear Spencer's song but spent the rest of the recital in the hallway. After the recital we all went out to dinner at Costa Vida - one of those fresh-mex type places we love. Spencer and Allison were thrilled to learn that nachos were on the menu and each downed a plate. Robyn would eat anything dipped in chili con queso. Taylor just kept opening his mouth for more. When we were all done, the place looked like a hurricane had swept through but our kids were happy! We decided we need to do that more often as they went on to clean the office with smiles on their faces the whole time.

Saturday night we had Taylor's annual birthday BBQ. We had 7 families come over and 3 more drop by at the end to eat a bunch of food and birthday cake. We usually do it more at the end of the month for better weather but since Jeremy leaves Tuesday we moved it up. It turned out to be wonderful weather and kids had a great time running around while adults visited. I had my camera with me but forgot to take any pictures! We had everyone bring a side dish and I found a recipe for sloppy joe mix for 50. It turned out pretty good and was easier than trying to BBQ enough for 50 people.

With the BBQ, I spent the week trying to fix up the yard. I have filled our garbage can with weeds many times now but there is still more to go. I went and got 2 more trees, a amur maple and another hawthorne which I think will be the last trees we will ever put in! A bit sad in a way. My friends have been asking me what will I do when I don't have to plant anything anymore but I am sure just weeding and keeping up will more than keep me busy. I started the shopaholic book series that Mimi told me about once, they are quite frivolous fun and have kept me reading much too late into the night.

Jeremy is busy getting the last of his camera gear together and all of the last minute honey do's that I have - getting the kayaks up on the garage ceiling, planting trees, fixing all the broken sprinklers etc. He is excited to leave Tuesday although 3 weeks is starting to hit with the reality of it. He has gone down to film the Osmond rehearsals leading up to the tour and getting everyone more comfortable with his presence.

Spencer is enjoying May Days at school. They have all their state testing but its interrupted by the 3rd grade talent show, bubble gum day, cinco de maya day where they made pinatas and so forth. Allison only has 2 weeks left at school and I swear its becoming a non-stop party in her class. Robyn wants to always be outside and is either very cute or a wiggly screeching bundle of will-power. Taylor is enjoying the warmer weather and is consistently more happy.

Hope everyone enjoys their Mother's Day. Mom, it amazes me more and more how much you did and with what a good attitude as I look back and understand more of the pressures and demands placed upon you. I will always be grateful. Love, Heather

What a poser

Dear Family and Friends,

I am having trouble loading pictures tonight, so maybe later I'll add some. We just got back from a weekend of camping with 2 other families, the Skaggs and the Blacks who both have trailers down at Palisades State Park. We went there last year with the Skaggs and had a great time that we wanted to start a tradition of going. It is a beautiful area surrounding a man made lake. There is a mile long path that goes around the lake that we walked several times - saw snakes, deer, lizards and fish. There is a golf course there too but this year Jeremy opted for a much needed nap Saturday afternoon instead. We took Rocky with us and he had a great time and did really well sleeping in the trailer at night. He would sit and whine when he would see kids playing on the beach without him as we tried to keep him either on a long chain attached to the trailer or on a leash. We rented a paddleboat Saturday and a canoe Sunday. I forgot how much work a paddleboat is especially as my boat was me and a bunch of kids!

Kids did really great on the trip except for having to pin Robyn at night while she screamed herself to sleep. Everyone came home sunburned (despite it staying in the 60s Sat) and tired - Spencer went to bed for a 2 hour nap as soon as we pulled up! The girls all tried to catch tadpoles all weekend and only had luck by having some other kids share their bounty - they were fast little things this year. Spencer played football a bunch and tried to see how far he could skim a rock. His favorite part was going on a quad ride with his Dad and Bruce to the top of a mountain. Robyn mooched on anyone who had treats, an open lap or was willing to push her on the swings or dig in the sand. Our friends the Skaggs brought their dog Sophie who looks like Dad's old dog Goldie - she loved her and followed her everywhere.

I forgot how much work it is gearing up for a camping trip - especially the first of the season. Just making sure we had everything, cleaning the trailer, cooking the food, packing everything we might need etc. We cleaned the office Thursday night so we wouldn't have to worry about it this weekend. It was sure nice to get away from any responsibilities though. You still have kids to take care of and entertain but no house/yard/church jobs calling your name.

This last week our house felt a bit like a construction zone. Our finish guys worked all week on the basement and added some shelving upstairs while they were at it. It made for a noisy house. Then we started our deck on Wednesday. Its great to have everything coming together but makes for a chaotic household. At the moment all the stuff from the office and the girls room is in our bedroom making going to bed a tricky business and forget about any midnight trips to the bathroom unless you want to break a leg! I am hoping to paint their shelving and get stuff back out of our bedroom soon.

Answering construction guy questions and stressing that they did a shelf wrong etc has been most of my week. I feel like I need to stay home as much as possible with all these different people going in and out. Rocky got to go to Spencer's school this week for show and tell which Spencer loved. Spencer is really struggling with not eating too much. Several of his pants can barely button. I feel torn between whether the med dosage he is on is worth it. His teacher says he no longer paces the classroom but will sit at all the appropriate times for reading etc. He got up at pack meeting this week all excited to take part in a skit. There are a lot of plusses. But I feel like I am giving him a complex talking about his eating all the time and reminding him to slow down or not eat so much. He gets a lot of negatives thrown at him all day long, its hard to remember the positives.

I am looking forward to tucking our kids in bed, taking a cool bath and pouring a bottle of lotion over myself! There is a mountain of laundry sitting in our hallway that I will think about tomorrow. It was a good week and an even better weekend. Love to you all, Heather

Dear Family and Friends,

We did it again. This weekend we got our 3rd lab, a 6 year old rescue dog named Rocky. We've talked about getting a dog when Robyn started school and then this last week one of my friend's daughters said that Utah lab rescue had the perfect dog for us named Petey. Jeremy with great grace, as he had no real desire for a dog gave into pleadings to consider it. Petey ended up having a deep hatred for cats which we knew would not work. We told the head lady of the society exactly what we wanted and she found us a great match with a dog named Rocky. His family had to move out of state and couldn't take him with them so he was given to the rescue society to find him a new home. We drove up to meet him Sat morning and explained to the kids how this might not be "the dog" but that we would check him out. Of course they all agreed and then a minute after meeting him Spencer and Allison are both saying "this is the one, this is him". His original family had moved Friday and had left him at a kennel where we met him so he was a little excited when first let out. He gave Robyn a big lick on her face and with her thinking all dogs were tiny chiwowa like our neighbor's she was very tense and scared about the situation. They offered to let us have him for the weekend to make sure he was a good fit before we officially adopted him. We continued on to pick up some tile for our basement shower and while waiting in the parking lot Robyn fell in love with him as he would crunch on any stick she gave him. Now she just mauls him and follows him around everywhere.

Rocky is 86 pounds, a black english style lab. He is in great health although a few pounds heavier than is good. He is extremely mellow and is greatly driven by food from what we have seen so far. He already knows to spread out next to Robyn or Taylor's chair. With Taylor every time Taylor's arm sweeps his tray looking for food he perks up ready to lap up any spills. He doesn't respond the greatest to commands like sit or stay but we plan to work on it. He did bark once during the middle of the night at some noise outside but besides that is quiet. He does sniff anyone new and licks their hand but doesn't jump or take off if the door opens. He leaves the plants and trees alone and doesn't seem to dig (although he did bury a bone under our porch today). All our kids are in love with him but Spencer is besotted. He got up this morning early ready for church and took Rocky for a walk, scooped his poop, put him in a crate with a toy and was just thrilled after church to run home and play with him. Rocky doesn't really want to play catch yet but Spencer is working on him. He is not a running dog but more wants to walk along and be with you for whatever you are doing. Robyn treats him like a small horse and thinks she should go for rides on him. I think he will be a great (and messy) addition to our family and will provide a lot of fun for our kids. Last night we had him sleep inside and he wasn't too content, and kept going to the garage door and slept in front of it. So we're going to see if he likes sleeping in the garage better for tonight.

That really is the biggest news of the week. A lot of other odds and ends made up the rest. I went in Tuesday to finish re filming a bunch of the Lincoln school video. Jeremy and I stayed up late re-doing the video and the end result was much better. Jeremy took time off Thursday to go show it for the assembly and I ran over to see it as well. I think the kids really liked it but the last 1/4 of the video couldn't be heard as kids were just non-stop cheering for each teacher that appeared. A bit disappointing in a way as we worked hard on all the audio but hopefully they will play it again so the teachers can hear all the comments.

Taylor got measured for new daffo braces this week. He has really grown - hence all the stretch marks on his legs. His new daffos are going to be bigger and more involved to help him not walk crouched over with his knees in front of his toes. I talked a lot with his current teacher this week about his school situation for next year. We decided that the regular junior high with the life skills classroom is the best bet for now although a lot of changes will have to be made for it to work - with a seemingly pretty inflexible teacher. But we'll figure it out. We can always fall back to the 100% disabled school by us but I really don't like it and once you're in, its hard to get out.

Spencer went and had a filling replaced this week. He is a pretty old hand at it now and just goes in, lays down, and takes his shot like a man. They shaved part of his chipped front tooth and will keep working on it to smooth it out for him. At school this week he and a large group of boys were all riding their skateboards, waves etc on the playground before school. Spencer "says" he thought the rule was only no boards in the school building not on the play ground as well. I take that with a grain of salt. Regardless they all had their boards confiscated and were told they couldn't bring them back to school for the rest of the year. So Spencer is back to walking. This week the weather couldn't tell if it was winter or spring as one minute it would be a blizzard and the next there would be sunshine. So I got a few desperate calls to pick him up when snow would fly and he would be in shorts. He has spent his afternoons looking up "how to do tricks" videos on skateboards and bikes and then going out to try the tricks.

With the warmer weather, as Jeremy puts it, I have entered into the spring fix-up stage. I have been tearing out weeds, moving bushes around, and attacking the dandelion rampage going on in our lawn. Robyn and her friends are having tea parties out there whenever the sun shines. I went and got the wood needed for our raspberry trellis and the sandbox. Now we just need to actually build them. I planted 5 sticks of raspberries that look a little pathetic at the moment. They are gold raspberries so I am hoping to find some red one to plant as well. I started digging the holes for the fence posts and after inches thought that was good enough but knew before Jeremy shook his head that a pick-ax would have to get involved. Jeremy got the screws needed to attach them to the boxes, we just need to finish the holes first.

Jeremy had a friend want him to do a side project. Jeremy isn't taking on new projects anymore so to sweeten the deal he gave us an imac. So now I have this big honking screen in our kitchen and we have a fear of Robyn waving keys in front of it! It is pretty nice although it feels extravagant. Jeremy likes that he can do all his stuff on it as well.

Allison continues to just enjoy life. As I drop her off for kindergarten she calls out to any classmate she meets up with and is busy chatting away with who ever it is as they walk into their classroom. She has play dates, birthday parties, new dresses to design for her dolls and stuffed animals - life is always busy and happy for her especially if a friend is involved.

Hope all is well with everyone and love to you all, Heather

Dear Friends and Family

First part of this week was straight vacation. We took Cal Train up to San Francisco from Mom and Dad's house. Surprisingly easy to do and don't know why I didn't do it more when I lived at home! We checked into our hotel which would end up having the best bed I have ever slept in - Jeremy agrees - and a great view overlooking the whole city since we were 26 stories up right next to the Moscone Center. Jeremy and I walked through the city and then along the bay visiting Pier 39 and having the required clam chowder in a bread bowl. There is something about watching the sea lions and the boats and the salt air that makes sourdough and soup taste so good together. Then we took a ferry out to Alcatraz Island and did an audio tour out there that was really good and then just walked around. The day was extremely windy, so the ride out to the island was a little rocky and we were glad for our jackets. I don't know if I would do the island again but its definitely neat to do it once. Most of the history I had no real idea about. One of the escapes was made into a Clint Eastwood movie that I want to see now. I also never knew about the Indian occupation or had thought about all the children and families who grew up on the rock while their dad's were guards. Its a little creepy to hear accounts of children playing games outside these prisoners' cells. That night we met up with the rest of Jeremy's company to attend a Giants game, 5th row behind 3rd base. It was really fun to watch, and thats coming from a non-baseball fan. It was also really cold! Made the polish dogs with sauerkraut taste that much better. (I decided I focused too much on food this trip - I told Jeremy I figured out why everything tasted better on our vacation, I didn't have to make it and I could sit and eat my meal instead of taking care of kids all around me)

Tuesday Jeremy was at the convention all day and I spent the day wondering around and shopping. I found an H & M store which is one of my favorites. It always takes me aback when I try clothes on there as they do fashion sizes not vanity sizes. Their clothes are too nice for me to wear with my kids as I never know what disgusting thing I will be around during the day but I got a new church outfit. I met up with one of the other women to walk through china town - talk about some serious pushy saleswomen. Meandered around till I reached Ghiradelli Square and then took a cable car back. Before this trip I thought I was in pretty good shape but boy after two days of walking hills all day my calves were aching. That evening I thought of how grateful I am (now) for my eye surgery as I laid down for an hour to catch a nap before I had to meet up with the group. I can't remember the last time I slept during the day, what a luxury. That night we all went to the restaurant at the top of the Bank of America building. It has glass on all sides overlooking the city so we got to sit and watch the sun go down and all the lights go on. The food was amazing and I cheerfully and tiredly waddled back to the hotel afterwards.

Wednesday I ran, wondered the city and met up with Jeremy and then Christina for lunch. Christina's work now is really amazing, I am not sure how much of my opinion is based on the fact that I like the genre she is doing more now. Then we took Bart to the airport to wait for a delayed plane and then on home. Our kids had the best time while we were gone. Lindsay had everything cleaned up and had even washed our sheets and remade our bed. The next day the kids told me how she took them to the park and the animal museum. She had one of our 4 teenage brothers come over each day to play with Spencer - football, wii, basketball - which he thought was wonderful! She had her 11 year old sister come over a bunch to do crafts with Allison. And she had quiet time every day during Robyn's nap time during which Allison and Spencer had to quietly play on a couch, at a table or in their rooms. They said the biggest rule was that you didn't bother Lindsay for those 2 hours. I thought it was a great idea and one I will have to carry over into summer.

Thursday was a sad wake-up to reality. The kids all made me breakfast in bed - waffle sticks, juice, toast - I was very impressed. Robyn thought she should be crawling up into bed with me to help do the syrup so we moved the party downstairs to the kitchen. I spent the day facing a mountain of laundry and house cleaning but promised the kids we would make it to the park after nap time. So we did and our neighbors joined us so all the kids had a friend to run around with. They loved it.

Friday I had promised the kids for spring break we would go to the zoo and get our pass for the year. They were bouncing around as I tried to eat breakfast ready to go. It ended up being high 70s and sunny so it was a great day to go. 2 of our neighbors ended up being up there with their kids as well which made it nicer for everyone. Robyn loved the wild turkeys running around and took a while to believe us that they would bite her hand if she grabbed them. Spencer and his friend noticed all the nature aspects of the zoo - i.e. poop hanging off a monkey's rear - and giggled together with enjoyment most of the day. After 4 hours as I pushed Taylor's wheelchair up a steep heel with a 2 year old on my back I just looked in disbelief as Allison and Spencer complained at how tired their legs were! But if you walk to the back off the zoo you have to walk out! We stopped to visit Kelly and her girls on the way home. They have been finishing up some yard projects, new fence, deck etc and we wanted to check it out. Their girls came home with us for cousin pizza and movie night. Got home 8 hours after leaving pooped but with happy kids. We have been having warmer weather and although snacks disappear at an alarming rate and kids need to be bathed every night to get the dirt off, the house is much calmer now! Kids ran around, enjoyed a bunch of pizza, strawberries and ice cream and laid around worn out, sunburned and ready for bed. Jeremy and I decided we had become callous as we listed to Kayla yelling at us from her couch that she wanted to go home, Robyn singing and Allison complaining while we calmly ate ice cream and watched an old tv show quite happily.

With the warmer weather here the last few days I have been eager to dive into our yard. I pulled a ton of dandelions yesterday in our lawn before mowing it and this morning it still looks like there is yellow polka dots all over. We cleaned a bunch, with Jeremy's work and a church assignment but our kids brought along a friend each so they were happy for the work. As I watched Robyn race around the church pushing a carpet sweeper I wondered how much work they actually did but at least they were there. That night I went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point with Jeremy as he was meeting his photo walk group there. I got to wonder while he and his photo geek friends got to discuss lenses and angles to their hearts content. Winning solution for both of us.

Jeremy also helped with a photo shoot Saturday morning. He has really been diving into photography and his online groups more. He is ramping up a bit as he prepares for this big Osmond project he has coming up. I remembered Christina saying when I got married that she wanted to marry someone who ironed as Jeremy spent Friday night catching up for me on all the ironing - which was quite a daunting task. He tries really hard to balance everything out but there is always more to do than there is time it seems. He was gone from 6-12 today and then got called back to do tithing for an hour or two this afternoon. What a guy.

We found a finish guy and a tile guy for our downstairs. They do the finish work starting the end of this week for which I am very excited. I need to epoxy our food storage room floor before they can shelf there which I am not too excited about. Jeremy has vacuumed (Shop Vac) out the basement many times but there is still a lot of dirt and dust down there. And the floor has to be all clean before we can paint it. See how much happens this week!

Coming back home is always nice and always a shock to the system. Thoughts of, do I really do this much and is this how I am always treated start running through your mind. Just need to remind myself to delegate, buckle down or let it go. Missed our kids though and appreciate even more their hugs and kisses. It is nice to do trips with Jeremy though as it reminds us of our non-kid personalities! As I sat on a bench overlooking the bay I remembered the story of the grasshopper who didn't work all summer but looked at the flowers, sounds and nature all around him. Then during the winter he entertained the other grasshoppers with his stories, pictures, and sounds. I think of times like this past week of storing moments of peace, beauty and calm that I hope I can remember when I need to go to a 'happy place' during stressful moments. Love to you all, Heather

Dear Family and Friends,

You can't beat yesterday, we slept in (which for us was 8 am CA time) and then I got to go running around all my old schools and neighborhoods (feeling very pumped at how easy it is to run here versus home with the lower altitude), stop at a store to find a button down shirt for Jeremy and then off to Santa Cruz to walk the beach, lay with a good book and enjoy the 90 degree weather. am sure its partly my memories but walking along the pier, smelling all the fried sea food, hearing the sea lions, walking through the old candy shop Christina and I used to visit just makes me happy. We even escaped with only a few patches of sunburn where sunblock rubbed off or we missed applying - I never even thought of applying sun block to my arm pit area but live and learn. They closed the freeway on the way back for 3 hours which made me really regret that big gulp at 7-11 I wolfed down as we left Santa Cruz! but without kids it wasn't too bad to just sit and visit.

We arrived in CA Friday afternoon and spent the afternoon and evening visiting and going out to dinner - I learned that broccoli and carrots can taste good in burritos. Walking around down town Mountain View was a bit strange as things have changed so much since I lived here. I realized I haven't really live in CA for 16 years now, hard to believe. Today Jeremy and I spent the morning over at Shoreline walking around. I took a tour of the Rengstorf house where we had our reception 14 years ago. Not much has changed. Then we went to the Heritage Oaks ward where everything has changed. I no longer really care if I attend Mom and Dad's ward as I know so few people there. Tomorrow we head up to San Francisco until Wednesday for Jeremy's conference.

Our sheet rockers finished up this week. They left a stack of unused sheetrock in the basement that I am not sure what we will do with. Next is tile in the bathroom and finish work. We got one finish work bid back but its a bit hard to take when we think of how we could do it ourselves - but I am not sure how long it would take us or how good of a job we would do. Being in CA and seeing Mom's garden has me eager to jump on all our yard projects. We had snow two times this week and its been pretty cold and windy in UT.

Jeremy spent many long hours at night finishing up Allison's school video. On Tuesday when he had set aside the night to finish everything up, his computer died. He ended up having to reinstall everything with a big frown on his face and an all nighter Wednesday to make up for it. Of course after that on Thursday the school board member over the project didn't fully like the end result so we are tweaking it when we get it back.

On Monday the girls and I toured the two options for Taylor's junior high next year. He can go to a self enclosed classroom at the regular junior high where he would be by far the lowest functioning student there or he can go to an all disabled school where he gets more services but he is surrounded by kids just like him and unable to talk and interact. I like the regular junior high option better but I wasn't too impressed with the teacher there and worry how well she would work on Taylor's goals. His current teacher who goes above and beyond is touring the schools for me next week so I am hoping he will have some ideas to help.

Spencer was thrilled this week to be honored at the school assembly for being in the top 10% on the standardized testing they did. He also successfully memorized his two recital pieces for piano so he feels like he is on a roll. He has been expanding his circle of friends lately so he has been playing with different friends after school. Its been nice to see him reach out as he isn't heartbroken when his one friend next door can't play. The motivation behind this is that his one friend started hanging down at the trampoline with some older skater boys on the street. They taught Spencer a joke that was really bad so we had a big talk about walking away from bad environments and how to not be rude but choose not to play at that time. Hard thing to implement but he is trying. He is pounding food lately and we worry that the side effect of increased appetite and obesity of his meds is starting to affect him. For example he comes home from school and a granola bar, cheesestick, apple, banana, and go-gurt, later (I kid you not!) he wants to know when dinner is! This is in a 20-30 min period so we have been talking about slowing down and letting the food hit your stomach. Jason and family gave him the Chronicles of Narnia for his birthday and he has finished The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe and is on to the next book. He thinks its cool to have such a big book.

Jeremy and I have a new peeve with Spencer's school. They had a book fair this week and Spencer was there 5 min early with money in hand to buy some of their overpriced, cheap toys. I always thought book fairs should only sell books! Spencer and Allison both are in love with their little gizmo's that they ponied up for though.

Allison was excited this week to pass level 3 of swimming and move on to dolphin and butterfly. She and Spencer fight over who gets to play with Robyn as they both try to offer bribes to her. Its usually a love hate relationship with the girls. Allison is either trying to "mother" Robyn or yelling at her for ruining her latest art project or trying to play with the big girls.

Robyn is still a cute little bundle running around and begging to go outside. She throws tantrums that we all laugh at as she spits at us, tries to hit us and bite us. But she stays in time out really well yelling and screaming. But then when she gets up she says I'm sorry and gives us a hug and all is forgiven. She usually looses it when she doesn't understand why we won't let her do what she wants - i.e. whats wrong with writing on the wall or hitting someone who teases you.

Kids seem to be doing fine without us and we are enjoying the break. We don't call home when we are gone as they do better without the reminders of us being gone. I don't realize how much we stay on our toes with kids until they're gone and it feels strange to just sit or lie in bed and not worry over how much time you have before you hear a kid yelling for you. Love to everyone, Heather