Abbie's class performed two skits, but the one she liked best was The Seven Chinese Brothers, which I remember when I was a kid. However my favorite part of Abbie's program was the Poetry Jam where each student performed two poems, one that they had written, and one that was written by someone else. Abbie performed My teacher Ate My Homework, by Ken Nesbitt.




Finally last week we had a surprise party for my mother's 60th birthday. Her birthday isn't for a few more weeks but my brother and his girlfriend were able to come in from out of town for the holiday weekend and so we planned it. We had each child,  in-law, and grandchild write a letter for mom telling her a favorite memory and/or something that they had learned from her.

I was worried that my mom had caught onto the surprise but (she claims) she had no idea. The best part of the surprise was, of course, my brother's visit. We had a lot of fun. We all see the world very differently, but we all love each other and have a lot of fun together. For those of our family who weren't able to come, thank you for the letters and you were missed.

 4. One of the many things I love about where we live is that we are so darn close to the mountains. Yesterday the temperatures were heating up so we took a ten minute drive from our house to a picnic site in the canyon and let the kids go crazy. They climbed rocks, threw rocks and got dirty. I got to enjoy the mountain air and scenery and relax. Pretty much a perfect recipe for success in our family.





 3. Today the local historic farm near our house had a community fair. There was a petting zoo, wool spinning (spinning of wool? spinning wool into yarn? yarn spinning?) tractor climb on cows to milk and bees hives to observe. Going with friends made it so my kids were in heaven (despite Nathan's expression).

 2. Also today (it was a busy one) Savannah had her end of year recite for Let's Play Music. Savannah has learned to read notes (all the way to eighth and sixteenth notes!) and can identify all the notes on the key board. She can play a C scale and as well as play and identify the dominant chords in music theory. The program she is in is really incredible in the level of skill it teaches kids at such a young age, and Savannah has done such an amazing job learning it all. She works hard practicing and performed so well today. She stayed focused and had her timing perfect. I am so very proud of her!


1. Last but not least is a fun moment from last Sunday. At church the girls got an M & M game to play with their mothers. You take turns picking out an M&M and, depending on the color, you ask each other different questions. (i.e. If you pick a yellow, ask "What is something you like about me?, red "What do you like doing with me?") The question for brown  M&Ms was, "What question would you like to ask me?" Abbie mostly asked questions about what college was like.

Savannah...

Savannah asked the following for her two brown M&Ms.

"Mom, how come peregrine falcon's eat other birds?"

"Mom, how come animals still are afraid of people even if they are not protecting their babies?"

Umm........I guess if you have questions that are really pressing on your mind, this was the perfect opportunity to address them.

I have many great examples of mothers in my family. Each one has taught me some amazing things about being a mother, motherhood, grand-motherhood and our role to love those around us whatever our gender or season of life in which we find ourselves. I have learned many more things from each of these women but I mention only the most prominent here.

First, my mother-in-law, Laura.  Laura has been the primary caregiver for her mother Eleanor for as long as I have known both of them. For most of that time Grandma needed little in terms of care other than just a friend and watchful eye. But last fall Grandma fell and broke her hip. At first this seemed to be something that she - even in her nineties - would be able to bounce back from. It was not to be. Her health gradually, then quickly declined. Laura was there for everything she was driver, she attended doctor's visits, she took over all the meals and home care. As Eleanor declined even more Laura took over her personal care and toiletries. Laura had some help but the vast majority of the credit for all of Grandma's care goes to Laura. Grandma died last week and she is loved and missed by us all, but we are grateful that her pain has ended and that she is at peace.

I can't imagine the pain of losing my own mother, but Laura not only dealt with that but personally managed the great responsibility of caring for her during that time. And she did it with love and grace. She said she was grateful for the opportunities it provided and had succeeded in creating a wonderful bond between the two of them. Laura has taught me love through service.

Second is Russ's step-mom Petra. Petra married Russ's dad while he was on his mission so she was never a mother figure for him. But she was given, and accepted the enormous task of being a grandmother and step-grandmother to fifteen wonderful children. Balancing that act of loving all of these children but not stepping on toes is not for the faint-hearted yet Petra has reached out and loved all of these children and they all know that she loves them. They are all very lucky to have her in their life. Petra has taught me grace under pressure.

Finally, my mom. For me, my mom is the standard, the voice in my head, and often the words I hear coming out of my mouth, I first heard from her. I didn't learn how to cook from her, but that wasn't because she didn't try to teach me.It has been said that parenthood is the most important thing we do in life and we don't get any training for it. Watching my mom was my training. I learned that family dinner and family time are important. I learned to love nature, and to let my kids get dirty. I learned how to clean a house (although my application of this is less than). I learned about faith and hope even when it seems like an impossible situation. I learned how to talk in measured tones even when frustrated. I learned how important stories before bed and special talks are for kids. I learned that it is important for parents to apologize to their kids when they make mistakes. I learned how to work....hard.  I am very blessed to be able to say that if I can be like my mom when I grow up, I will be very lucky.

I have been blessed, so very blessed by the many woman in my life.

Today kicked my butt. I did the Goldilocks Bike Race - 60 miles.

I had trained for 40, but last week my friend that I was going to ride with wanted to switch. I kind of wanted to as well. The 60 mile route looked like a lot of fun. From what I  remembered  it was quite rural, mostly flat with a few rolling hills.

I think that might have been the case ten years ago. Several new cities have popped up along the route in the last ten years and it seems the majority of the drivers drive big white trucks.  I don't know if the roads are new, but the hills are definitely more than rolling. One of the hills we hit at the 50 mile mark was the longest steepest hill I have ever done.

This would have been challenging enough but there was a second, more exhausting element at play..the wind. It was very, very windy. Headed south we had a wonderful tail wind. I got up to 38 miles an hour going down Monster Hill. It was fantastic.

Unfortunately, we went down first and then had to face the monster hill plus head wind starting the last twenty miles of the ride. It was brutal. The wind was blowing so hard I couldn't hear a sound from my headphones, that I had turned up to high. (Sorry, Peter Segal) There was an army camp at the top of the hill and not the rest stop I was hoping for. Unfortunately Monster Hill was followed by several more, less challenging but still exhausting numbers.

Before Monster Hill the wind played another fun trick on us. We were riding East, perpendicular to the wind on a road that didn't have much of a shoulder.  For whatever reason the entire town seemed to be driving by in their big trucks at that moment. This would have been stressful enough, but the wind was making it crazy. Time after time after time I thought the wind was going to blow me over, not into the trucks, but in order to keep my balance my upper body would swerve that way. I kept feeling like I was going to fall, with no place to fall but where the trucks were driving. I have rarely been so scared biking.

All of that drama aside I am really proud of myself. This is easily the hardest ride I have ever done, and while tired and sore I felt good at the end. I fueled well and pushed hard. The ride was run really well and all of the volunteers were wonderful.

Did you know that shortening can go bad? I did not. I found out after I had used it to make three pie crusts. The hours that went into that process are something I can never get back, the pies innards were delicious, but the crusts......disgusting. I truly didn't know that shortening can go bad. I thought it smelled and tasted a little off in the process but I knew I had followed a very good recipe exactly so I didn't worry about it. The crusts were golden, flaky and beautiful.....and as mentioned, disgusting.

I had another mishap with the pies (before I realized they were disgusting). I took two strawberry rhubarb pies out of the oven to cool on my counter. Later I opened the cupboard and....wait for it...a bowl of salt fell out on top of one of the pies. Thankfully I was able to peel off the section of crust covered in salt (only later realizing that the crust didn't need salt to make it disgusting) and eat the filling.

I am determined to learn how to make a good pie, but I clearly have a ways to go.

Saturday the girls did an amazingly quick job cleaning their room, the play room and the bathroom. So we decided to go for a quick hike. It was a lot of fun.  The hike was short enough that even those who started with a bad attitude soon lost it, and there was a waterfall at the end. Everyone under three was quickly covered in water and everyone three to nine quickly started climbing all over the rocks. Nobody wanted to leave when it was time. All in all a successful outing.