Piggy Tails and Tootsie Pops

We finally tried out piggy tails in Josie's hair. They really look like little pig tails because they curl up just like the pigs. She has lots of natural curl in her thin little hair. She had a very firm hold on the sucker.

Holes

We have a very large sandbox in our backyard. Ok, that's all we have in our yard is sand. :) Our kids, especially the boys, love to go out and dig holes. Carter knows that someday he is going to find a treasure. He is very diligent in digging for this said treasure. Kind of cute that they are wearing matching polo's. Carter has to wear polo's for a school uniform and so that is all Mason will wear also. He really admires his "big brother."

I love the determined look in their faces.Look at the strain in those muscles!

Oh, the strength of a lion!

I can't wait to get some grass for the kids to play on, but I think I will

miss seeing them work so hard digging.

Mom & Dad's Bed

When I was growing up, my bedroom was the closest to my parents. I liked it that way, because I would often wake up and feel afraid. As I would lay in my bed shivering, I knew I needed to get to my parents bed, but that would mean having to dart from my room, through the living room, small hallway, and into their bed, and who knows how many dark scary shadows between here and there. I would eventually reach the point that I couldn't be brave anymore, so I would make a run for it. I was always welcomed by a warm bed in between two warm parent's bodies. At last I would feel safe.

I knew that I wanted my kids to have the same security of "Mom & Dad's Bed" that I felt growing up. We received a king size bed from my parents when we were first married, and that seemed like plenty of bed for kids...and parents. Well, our kids do come into our bed often and we are grateful. However, we didn't know how small a king size bed really is. We have resorted to making one rule and one rule only for "Mom & Dad's Bed." That is...you have to start out the night in your own bed and then at any point during the night you can come get in our bed. This works nice, so that Matt and I can at least get a few hours of rest before our bodies have to kink and bend in order to fit all 6 of us.

Whatever makes our kids feel safe...we will make the sacrifice. We know that someday, that bed is going to be too big for us.

Hosting the BYU Young Ambassadors

The BYU Young Ambassadors came to visit Rio Rancho, New Mexico. A sign-up sheet for Host Families was sent around the Relief Society in our ward. I decided to sign-up thinking it would be fun for the kids. At first they didn't need us to host, but at the last minute they had some families cancel and so they asked if we would be willing. We were excited, but besides me, no one was really sure what they were all about. Matt took Carter and Chloe and looked them up on the internet. http://pam.byu.edu/similarpage.asp?title=Young%20Ambassadors They watched a few of the songs and got excited to see who would be the ones to stay with us. Silently, they each picked their favorites.

As the day of the show arrived, we found a babysitter for Mason and Josie, while the rest of us went off to be entertained. We sat in the balcony and had a great view of the performers. Carter was glued to his chair and didn't utter a word...I often wondered if he was even enjoying himself. Chloe played musical chairs a little bit, but loved the singing and dancing. I think she is an aspiring Young Ambassador. :) The show was wonderful and we had many highlights to the afternoon. One of Matt and my favorites was "Defying Gravity" from the Musical Wicked. It was really incredible. I really liked Unwritten also. The theme was "The New Music Makers" and they sang songs from several eras. Matt said it was a life changing experience for him...he had never seen anything like this. (I seriously need to get him out more often!!) Too bad he wasn't around to witness us in Madrigals. :) Just kidding!

Anyway, the night was lots of fun. As we left the show, feeling inspired, we asked the kids what their favorite parts were. Chloe liked when they sang Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen. Carter said his favorite part was the girl in the red and blue dress from Act 1. I wasn't sure who he was referring to, but Matt said it was the girl they had seen on the internet. We talked about who they hoped would come stay with us. Any guesses who Carter hoped for? You'd be right...the girl in the blue and red dress. (I must mention that during intermission Carter was very studiously studying the program.) Chloe said that she hoped for several of the girls, including the one with blonde curly hair.

Well, we got home and then had to wait several hours before we could pick them up and bring them home...they had another show to perform. Carter and Chloe wanted to wait up to go with daddy to pick them up. Anyway, they eventually fell asleep and when Matt came home from picking up the girls...any guesses who he brought with him? We were assigned the girl in the blue and red dress (which was also the girl that he had watched on the internet days prior) and the girl with the blonde curly hair! We couldn't believe that it worked out so great for the kids. We went to bed knowing that the kids were going to be ecstatic!

Since we have afternoon church, we all slept in. When Carter woke up I asked him if he wanted to know who daddy brought home. I told him it was Dani and Annie. (I know...too cute!) He seemed a little disappointed and said, "Oh, I was hoping for Frogley." I grabbed the program to look and see who Frogley was...after verifying the name and I asked him to tell me what Frogley's whole name was. He read Danielle Frogley and then got an enormous smile on his face. He wasn't the same the rest of the weekend. Shall we say, a little "girl crazy!" He is so shy that he was embarrassed to even be near her, but all could tell that he was a pretty happy boy. Chloe was just as thrilled to have Annie in our home. She didn't leave her alone or her side the whole weekend. Thankfully the bathroom door had a lock on it. :) Annalece Boothe was the daughter of the director and so we felt extra special to have her. :) So, here are a few pictures of our new friends.

Chloe soaking up the love from Annie. She has a new hero.

Mason wanted some extra attention, so he threw his basketball and hit Dani in the head. :(

Dani was so sweet, she took it with a smile.

These were their cute church outfits. They said they have matching outfits everywhere they go.

Mason was laying on the kitchen table enjoying himself, while Dani was running her hands through his hair. By the time I got the camera, he realized we were giggling about him and he turned around embarrassed.

Chloe posing with her new hero. (Annie knows Charpay from High School Musical!!) Notice the TV in the background. High School Musical was playing because Dani was in the 1st and 3rd movies. Wow, to be associated with 2 people familiar with our very own HSM stars! This is really big! :)

Josie hopes that one day her curly hair will be as beautiful as Annie's...

for now it is just wobbly bed hair.

Josie and Annie making funny faces at each other.

Mason pretending to be shy, meanwhile soaking up the attention. He is a ladies man for sure.

Carter wanted a picture with Dani, but he was too shy, so I took an angle shot and got Dani with both boy admirers. :)

Funny Faces...:) or in my case...scary! :)What a privilege it was to host such sweet, kind and fun girls. We really had a great time and hope to keep in touch with them. Our new resolution is to broaden our horizons and visit more musical events.

Valentine

Since I didn't get my wife flowers for Valentines day, I would like to give her some here.

So, Alice had her version of our Valentine evening. I promise, my version will be shorter. I must confirm that she is exact with the description. I am normally impatient when it comes to waiting for hours to eat. This night was different. I was just thrilled to be with her. I just love being with her. When you are with your best friend, what more do you want - right? Many days go by and we rarely get to just be together. There is always something distracting or demanding our attention. I feel we have a common bond that gives us security in our friendship and marital relationship. I have really put our family in a long and exhausting travel of life. Trying to lead our family has not been an easy thing to do. I know that without Alice being my cheerleader, my confidant, my support, and my friend, life would be very difficult to endure. She may disagree with me, but she really is the most essential person in my (our home) life. I wish I could write in words the love I have for her...I am an artist, not an author! With that being said, it will preface my poem I wrote for her...forgive me if it is innacurate or doesn't follow literary or rythmic laws. Here goes:

Laughter invites investigation
Harmonious familiarities
Your presence captures my soul
I surrender my loyalty to the One

Frequent encounters
Eye to eye contacts
Stimulating heartbeats
Forsaken feelings

Letters of friendship
Anticipation for arrival
Distant flights
Finally home

Anxious proposals
On bended knee
Security

Best friends
Love

Eternity is Ours

I love you Alice.

Simple Truths

Sometimes it is a struggle to get the kids to do the things we want them to do. (And for us adults to do the things we know we should...) Today, I said something simple and maybe even cliche', but I think it has a lot of truth. It might be another popular saying in our home from now on. It is something for even Matt and I to live by...

"If you do it, Then you'll get it...If you don't, Then you won't!"

Chloe was excited because it rhymed...I hope that she, and all of us, will soon understand that sometimes rewards come as a suprise, AFTER we do things just for the sake of doing them in obedience.

This has really got me thinking and applying to all aspects of life...oh, to think like a child...

Happy Valentine's Day at Zio's

What a fun day Valentine's Day is. I didn't take any pictures because our camera is giving us problems...very sad day! I hope that someday very soon, we can get a new one and proceed on with our picture taking. It seems that all the real "picture moments" happen when the camera isn't working...oh well.

The kids were excited about Valentine's Day and were thrilled to get a little bag of treats. We spent much of the rest of the day picking up little wrappers. It always brings a happy feeling when simple treats bring a smile to the kids' faces.

Matt and I traded babysitting with some friends so that we could go out on a date. Our friends went out Friday night and we went out on Valentine's night. We knew they made the smarter choice when we were greeted with all the crowds waiting in line at the restaurants tonight...

We had about 4 hours to spend together and we spent the first 2 hours waiting to be seated...about 45 minutes eating, talking, and watching all the "young budding lovers" (wow, I came up with that all on my own!)sit close to each other with glazed over eyes, and then we called it a night and picked up our kids early.

Anyway, did you catch the part where I mentioned we waited 2 hours to be seated...well that was a long and funny story. Ok, maybe not so funny, it was definately a story though, and maybe one not really worth remembering, but here goes.

The just of it...we were told that there was a 1 hour 30 minute wait to be seated. We figured that we would waste time traveling from restaurant to restaurant and be told the same thing, so we decided to save ourselves the hassle and just take the buzzer. It had my lucky number 24 on it, so we felt like it would be a lucky night for us. Well, we stood against the same column in the doorway and made many new friends while waiting for the first hour. We saw many people come and go, being told the wait was 1 hr. 30 min., then 1 hr. 45 min. and finally 2 hours. There were some very funny looks on people's faces when they heard the news, yet some like us, still took their chances. We also saw the seating hostess arguing with many people about how they had been waiting forever and their buzzer never went off and they didn't hear their name being called. We felt sorry for the hostess and sorry for the guests waiting to eat. We just kept waiting for our turn to be called. After we waited 1 hour 30 minutes, I decided to go and see how many people were still ahead of us. The hostess said about 5 couples. We continued our wait and had a great time watching the wide range of couples and families coming to eat. Our favorite was the lady with a ruby-red flapper-type dress with a bleached blonde mullet with dark roots grown out. She had really red high heels and was taking this holiday VERY seriously. It was cute to watch her, with her husband and 2 kids. They were some of the first to argue with the hostess about their long wait. We felt like the husband was a little sturn, but like us, figured they were hungry and tired of waiting.

Well, since I am trying to give the Reader's Digest Version of this very long story...I will continue to the meat of the story. :) We saw many more people go to be seated. I finally told Matt it was his turn to go and ask about our waiting status. When he asked the hostess, she said that they had called our name a few times and we didn't respond so they skipped us. OK, this is where Alice steps up to set the record straight. (I know, "Watch out, here I come!") We had heard this excuse several times that night...mind you, because we were standing in the same place (5 feet from the hostess and directly in front of her)for the past 2 hours. I also have a buzzer in my hand that has not flashed a single light nor vibrated in my hand...some lucky number!!! Her manager came up and proceeds to tell us that they called our name...I boldly told her that they did NOT call our name because were standing right there...I point at the column holding our 2 hour leaning print. I also told her that some of the hostesses calling out names were so quiet that nobody could hear...so they needed to start speaking up if they wanted people to hear their names. Anyway, to make a long story longer...we were immediately seated. FINALLY! We should have been the squeaky wheel an hour ago! We couldn't believe that we had sat right there watching, all night, these things happen to other people, witnessing that the hostess was really struggling to seat the reservations and walk-ins...and then for it to happen to us also! She had to see us standing right there all night. Sometimes, you just wonder...

In case you were wondering...the meal was delicious and I will go again...just not on Valentine's Day! :)

Loved to spend time with Matt though. He is a wonderful husband, father and he definately is my best friend. Happy Valentine's Day!