Future Filmmaker

Leah announced today that Bob the Builder is clay-mation. Then she asked me what that meant. So, tonight's after-dinner activity was making a stop-motion video. We didn't quite get to the clay part. After we did a video MY way, she got to do one her way. She was so excited to make a movie! She told me she has been wanting to make a movie forever! She is very creative. I had to do the narrating for her because she couldn't say it all in 12 seconds. Enjoy Leah's directorial debut!

Poduncadick 2011

We survived Poduncadick! August 11-13, 2011 (Perseid Meteor Shower), Strawberry Reservoir, Utah.

5 Popes

7 Duncans

5 Fosdicks

2 Days

3 Tents

6 Adults

11 Children

Lots and lots of dirt

We had a blast on our camp out where the children truly relished in the dirt. We pitched our tent at probably a 30 degree angle, amidst trees and stumps, but managed to sleep pretty well owing to our 2 inches of memory foam. Fun, not as relaxing as I had hoped, but I did manage to finish a book. Audrey was the easiest--she slept all night twice, and managed to stay quite cheerful and comfortable in the 80 degree days and 40 degree nights. It helped to have so many willing baby holders. We had only minor injuries and one potty accident. The kids tried all day to catch a pot gut, but in vain. We enjoyed the campfires and board games, french toast and fajitas, shooting stars and full moon, surprisingly decent flush toilets and most of all the company of fun friends. It was really nice to leave my iPod behind for two days and never look in a mirror once or brush my hair. I was the only one to get a lobster red sunburn, lucky me. It took a full week to clean up all the gear and I lost track of laundry loads at about 7. It was a great experience and I'm already looking forward to next year's camp out.

Some photo highlights:

1 jumbo marshmallow=28 birthday candles

Yesterday we had an awesome birthday bash. I like to do something different every year on my birthday, and this year I wanted to have a campfire (if you know me at all, you know that I am somewhat of a pyromaniac). The torrential rain ceased just in time to set up my new firepit on the patio and roast marshmallows with friends. We had a blast! I had friends come from all walks of life, friends from home, from college, from work, neighbors in the ward...It is so nice to be loved by so many people! Thank you all for making my birthday so wonderful and memorable!


We all know that marshmallows + chocolate + graham crackers= yummy deliciousness. Let the record show that s'mores made with dark chocolate is pure heaven!

16 Weeks plus Thanksgiving Dinner

Here is that standard side-shot of the pregnancy-in-process. I was very full after having just eaten Thanksgiving and its fixings, therefore it was a very good opportunity for the obligatory photo. Before you comment on whether or not you think I'm skinny for 16 weeks, please see the rules.

We had a superb time with the Swensons of Las Vegas for the Thanksgiving weekend, and all 6 children ages 5 and under got along famously. The little 2 year olds were especially cute admiring Ben, who is only 2 months old; the 4 and 5 year olds mastered the art of imaginative play famously. The adults were fully occupied by keeping all the little ones fed and clean (and making sure all the bleeds had band-aids), followed by keeping the kitchen clean, and discovered that engineering ginger bread houses is best left to engineers. There is hardly the need to leave the house much when there are more little kids than adults.

Liz showed me how possible it is to be a mom of twice as many kids as arms and to keep a house organized all without losing your mind, and I think it all comes down to that iPod touch...

We are especially grateful for good friends; For the option to simply sit around and swap stories; to laugh at ourselves and analyze family dynamics, figuring out why everyone needs therapy and how we will mess up our own kids and ensure them a spot in therapy, too; For good friends who have to like you even though they know all the dirt there is to know about you. And now our kids have no choice but to like each other by nature of being 4th generation friends. Isn't that great?

Kitchen Helpers

A New Skill

How do you teach a four-year old how to jump rope? I'm not sure. I just had her watch me jump rope and she practiced and figured it out in a day!

Here are my little show-offs for your viewing enjoyment:

Explanation: Samuel is wearing underpants during our 3-day attempt at potty training.

Vacation Part 3: Tired

25 ft of nylon rope: $10

1 old tire: Free

add 1 ash tree plus 25 years=

Years of fun and many more miles: Priceless!

Anachronistic Spring

Framed by a spring-budding tree, you will see our three-inches of snow and a lumpy snowman, which features a pumpkin head. This is what happens when you keep your word to a three year old--It doesn't matter what the calendar says, if there is snow, it should be played in.

The Dust Settles (again)

Remember the last time we did this?

So we are successfully moved in. The first two weeks were plagued by half-finished projects (like breaking the drill bit so I couldn't finish installing brackets for curtains, or having lost a couple screws to put the crib together, etc). Now the chaos has died down a bit and I was able to actually finish something.

Samuel can climb the furniture and is starting to say a few words (uh-oh, cheese, shoes, mama, dada), can sign a bunch (milk, cheese, baby, bath, all done, etc) and looks longingly at the fruit basket at the mention of bananas. Leah walks around demanding taxes, reciting movie lines and singning like Ariel (Oh Eric, I have legs! Now we can be dagezer!). I am enjoying my job as the Culinary Arts Procurement Specialist. In other words, the food shopper. It is really quite fun, I love having a variety in what I do daily, and I just bought a new laptop with my earnings :) Oh, I forgot to mention--I think I lost five pounds! The first five. Ever. Since having two children. Or maybe my scale is broken, but that's okay with me. And Chris is working hard to support our family, exercising 6 days out of 7 and doing homework. He even makes dinner more often than I do. What a guy.

We just had a wonderful weekend with my parents, but I'm not sure if it was much of a vacation for them: we put them to work putting up shelves, hammering the fence, weeding and planting bushes (when it wasn't snowing), sewing curtains, and of course, playing with two cute grandkids. We got the basement (somewhat) organized--meaning you don't have to clear a path through the boxes to cross the room, and we unpacked my china cabinet. Unfortunately the guest accomodations at l'hôtel Fosdique are not ideal: the floor was more sleepable than the air mattress. Maybe we should retire the air matress?

We had a great weekend, including get togethers with both the Sorensons and the Benacs, watching Conference, and Chris and I even managed to get an hour in at a Mission Reunion. But now we're back to the daily grind, which includes going to work and paying a babysitter, washing our own dishes and laundry, and finishing the rest of the curtains on my own

My first item of business this week is to put up some pictures. I want to get an idea of where everything is going to go before I start making holes, which is proving to require lots of planning and switching and restarting.

Here is a mock-up of what I'd like to do on the fireplace, but some critics seem apalled at the idea of covering up the brick facade. So, here we are. I want you to tell me what you think of my fireplace cluster. I have a poll on the left for a vote, and you can also leave a comment with your input.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Figure 3:

Mommy-daughter fun

Cookie Decorating

100 Balls

Spread thin

Well, the kids are both in bed and it's only a matter of time before one of them bounces, so I'll do this quick. (Man, I'm not looking forward to 1:00 church!)

Here's the lowdown from the past few weeks:

Leah is just about fully potty trained (but how do you really know when you are done?). She has only had one accident in the past two and a half months and usually wakes up with a dry pull-up as well. She has gone two weeks without a binky. Combine that with having a big girl bed, I'd say she's....well, a Big Girl! She recently made her first ever joke. After hearing a car horn from outside, she said, "Horn! On the cob!" Very original!

Samuel is crawling and standing and creeping along the furniture, recently got his third haircut, and has two teeth with two more on the way in (accompanied by a fever and crying and stuffy nose and not sleeping). He eats everything we put in front of him, and other things we try to keep away from him. He has recently learned how to crawl up stairs and consequently how to fall down them.

I've been busy with all my many projects, and for a stay-at-home mom/Relief Society president ironically none of them have been dishes or laundry or cooking or cleaning or president-ing(presiding?). On the contrary, I have been doing lots of stamping (you know you want to!), I finally started scrapbooking our wedding (I got an awesome new photo printer!), and I've been working on Halloween costumes. Yesterday I made a cape for Chris, who will go as The Phantom of the Opera, and I have all but the finishing touches to apply to Leah's "Toy Story" Jesse costume. (Oh, and there are two boys across the street who will be going as Woody and Buzz! I can't wait to get a picture of the whole crew!) I've left plenty of time to create and perfect Cruella DeVille's Dalmatian coat for myself. I think it will be fun. We also attended a very fun and nostalgic dinner this past week with good friends from our old alma-mater and the origin of "Chris&Jenny", SVU!

Chris is taking a break dancing class and getting really good, and he continues to work out one and half or two hours 6 days a week. Oh yeah, he's also working full-time, being a full-time graduate student, and a full-time dad simultaneously.

Snow-capped Timpanogos from our back door. It's only a matter of time until that snow creeps down into our valley! (Chris took this one!)

A Fair amount of Fun

Hmmm. How to sum up the Utah State Fair? Good food, (chocolate covered strawberries--yum!), fun family activity, spent a lot of money(and tried to spend more but the ATM was broken--probably a good thing), and was really tired by the end of the day.

I wish we could have seen more animals (where were they all?) and gotten a face painting. And I really wanted my $5 foot long hot dog to have chili and cheese on it instead of just ketchup, and to throw darts at balloons to win a prize instead of handing over a five and getting a stuffed animal, but it was still a fun family activity. There were mostly businesses and vendor stands more than anything else.

We did get to see this tiger, who paced anxiously around the edge of his cage constantly.

Here are some highlights:

Leah is still too small for the Ferris Wheel, but she loved the Carousel.

We all took a turn jumping--Leah in a big inflatable box, and Chris and I on the bungee trampoline thing. He did it once before(I was pregnant at the time, so opted out), but this time he did even more tricks and double flips. It was so awesome--he made it look so fun and easy! Then I got up there and couldn't do a single flip--that takes ab muscles, and apparently I don't have them. Chris is afraid of heights, so he said that he just kept doing flips so he wouldn't have to look at the ground--I think he's crazy! That was so high up there that I was afraid of heights! Oh, and he'll never forgive me for getting still shots instead of a video of his impressive acrobatics. Sorry!

Leah got to ride on a dragon roller coaster and a "helicopter" ride. I think she really enjoyed all the excitement, but whenever it was the parents' turn to do something fun, she didn't like waiting.

Where was Samuel this whole time, you ask? Smiling happily in the stroller! What a trooper!

Here is a family picture at the end of the day. You can tell we'd missed nap time and it was time to go home. I think the exasperation on my face explains it all.