Kate's Birthday and One Thanksgiving Photo

 We'll start with the Thanksgiving photo.  We were at Grandma Joanie's this year for Thanksgiving.  I always look forward to our big Turner gatherings.  We have such a great time together.  I didn't take many photos but managed to grab this one of the kids at the kid table.  We love our cousins!

 Kate turned twelve in December!  It's hard to believe that she is twelve.  She had a great party with her friends.  We went on a mall scavenger hunt.  It was a blast.  I couldn't believe how quickly those girls could rip through the mall to get their lists completed.  We had a little bit of time leftover so all the girls convinced Kate to get her ears pierced!  It was so fun.  Sidenote on the ear piercing:  I say 8 years old and my girls can get their ears pierced, Greg says 16.  So we compromise at 12.  Kate was really nervous but was determined to go through with it because all of her friends were there watching. 

 Here they are giving her support to go through with it.  Cute girls!

 The moment of truth!  (I have to admit that since the girl doing the piercing had so many piercings of her own I figured Kate was in good hands.)

 Time for a photo at Bath and Body Works.  This was the easiest party.  We did the scavenger hunt, got Kate's ears pierced, then I bought everyone a little lotion at Bath and Body.  We left the mall and went to Cold Stone for ice cream and presents, then took everyone home.  Perfect!  It was so fun, minimal stress on me, and probably was one of the least expensive parties I've done. My friend Barbara came with us and we left Greg and the kids at home.  Thanks Barb!

My beautiful 12 year old girl with new earrings.  Kate is a joy.  She is my right arm.  I love her so much and am so thankful she was sent to our family.  She's the best!

November Projects 2010

 I got the bug to redo my kitchen.  I still really liked my red walls but I was ready for a change.  Something lighter and brighter and less cave-feeling.  My awesome mom came over and helped me paint primer over the red and then two or three coats of blue (I can't really remember how many coats - I'm thinking two).  Heidi came over the next morning and jump started me into finishing the painting.  I have the best mom and the best friend!  The new color was just the change I needed!  I also got new blinds for the kitchen/great room area.  The blinds had been wood tone.  They really clashed with the blue paint not to mention they darkened the whole space whether they were tilted or not.  So I put the wood blinds in the storage room and replaced them with crisp white blinds.  It really made a difference!  Even Greg noticed!  The kitchen/great room windows don't let a whole lot of natural light in so the white blinds really brightened things up.  The painting took two or three days - I couldn't have done it without my mom and Heidi.  I had forgotten how tricky it is to do these types of projects with a crawling baby.

My other project was to paint my kitchen table and chairs black.  This was a doozy!  I used a paintbrush and not spray paint.  I'm glad I did because since I used oil-based paint the result is a really hard finish that has stood up to kids.   I started with sanding everything.  Then one coat of primer and two coats of paint and then touch ups.  After that I put two coats of urethane all over everything - legs and slats too (still with a paintbrush).  Then I put two more coats of urethane on the tabletop and the seats of the chairs. Holy smokes it took FOREVER!  I think it was a week of going to bed no earlier than 2:00 AM.  But it was totally worth it!  I have been really happy with the results.  The tabletop has had some scratching which is disappointing since I paid a mint for the best urethane at the paint store.  But the rest of it has held up beautifully.  I think I will just lightly sand the tabletop and put a fresh coat of urethane on it every 6 months.   

October 2010 Highlights

Halloween Vampires
(Is that seriously the only picture I have from Halloween?  Mother of the year, my friends, mother of the year....)

Pumpkin Patch for Preschool

Hayride to said pumpkin patch

Sarah crawling full force - clothing optional

She continues to be the most loved and kissed baby ever!

Lookin' Down on Creation

When you look up at the mountains out our back windows, you can see two little balls of white on the tippy top of the mountain. One Sunday in late September Greg decided we should drive up there and see what those balls are. Turns out they sit at the Francis Peak Radar Site. The ball structures themselves weren't all that neat but the view, oh the view! We were on top of the world! With binoculars Greg said he could see our house. I never could find it but I certainly could see the general area where our neighborhood is. The drive up the mountain totally gave me anxiety - it was a narrow dirt road winding up a mountain with steeeep drop offs. (On the way down the mountain I just closed my eyes and slept because I seriously was having a heart attack on the way up.) Once we got to the end of the road we walked a quarter of a mile or so up to the radars. The kids were loving it. It was such a beautiful day and was so fun to get out and do something different. We were about ready to leave when some parasailers (is that what that is?) were hiking to the top to fly down with their parachutes. So of course we stayed an hour and a half longer watching them ready their gear, visiting with them about the whole process, and then waiting out the wind so we could watch them take off. What a treat! I would LOVE to do that someday - tandem of course!

My cute and awesome husband. I love how he gets a bee in his bonnet about doing something as a family and won't let it rest until we do it!

Can't you just hear Karen Carpenter?

September Highlight - Nauvoo

I think there are about four people who will read this since I haven't blogged in ages and nobody checks my blog anymore. I'm going to try to do one post for each month (starting with September 2010) that shows a highlight of the month. Once I get caught up to the now, then maybe I can blog normally again. Who knows? Why haven't I been blogging? I suppose the main reasons are - not in the habit, time consuming, and the fact that my pictures are more difficult to access than they used to be - yeah, it takes like seven clicks now instead of three - and all the photos are on Greg's computer and he has to send them to my computer and for some reason that just sounds too hard to me.... (the ellipses are for you, Heidi!)

Greg, Kate, Sarah, and I went to Nauvoo in September. Greg's sister LaNae and her husband Blair came with us. We went to visit Greg's parents who were in month 5 of a 6 month mission they served in Nauvoo. It was so enjoyable to see them as missionaries! I am extremely glad we went. Nauvoo itself was fun - but I was really glad my other kids weren't with us. Nauvoo is a lot of historical houses and places that you tour and I could just imagine my little ones trying to touch everything they shouldn't and getting worn out and bored of seeing old houses. We took Kate along with us and even she got worn out at times. For the most part though, she was a great traveler.

The trip had two major highlights for me. The first was the first two hours we were in Nauvoo. We arrived in the nick of time for the play "Rendevous in Old Nauvoo" that was performed by a cast of senior missionaries. Greg's parents were in it and they got to sing a duet together for the show. Talk about amazing! It was incredible to see the spirit they had about them and the way they performed like they had been doing it forever. I would have never dreamed of seeing them perform like that back in their hometown - in their comfort zone. But there, on their mission for the Lord, they did it willingly and well. It was awesome. When the final curtain for the show closed, Greg and I looked at each other and said we could go back home right then, the trip had already been worth it.

The other major highlight for me was doing an endowment session at the Nauvoo temple. This actually surprised me that it was a highlight since I often struggle to stay awake and alert in the temple (don't tell, okay?). But that session we did in Nauvoo was very memorable and the spirit was very strong.

Those are my major highlights. I have two minor highlights as well. One was the place we stayed. It was an old historic home that is right by the historic shoe shop in Nauvoo. Greg's parents reserved it for us and it was a killer deal (thanks mom and dad!). The home was kept up but it wasn't a 5 star hotel or anything. The best part was the upstairs bathroom. It was the size of a kid's closet and I had to stoop over in the shower or my head would hit the ceiling. Ha! It made for some great memories. Kate said, "This is the kind of bathroom you would see on an email of crazy bathrooms!" It was fun - and we got just as clean in that dinky shower as we would have in a big one.

The other minor highlight was Sarah on the airplanes. Perhaps I should call it a lowlight. On the flight from Salt Lake to Denver, Sarah fussed most of the way - not too bad but still fussy. Right when we were landing she had a major blow out. I thought I could contain it but we couldn't get out of our seats because people were starting to stand up to get off the plane. So I laid Sarah on the seats and swiftly changed her diaper - c'mon, five kids and I'm a diaper changing pro, right? Miraculously her clothes stayed clean. Then I went to stand up and there was runny baby poo all over my pants! I looked at Kate and it was on her too - aack, it was all over the seat as well! When I had wrapped up the diaper I accidentally left a little hole that acted as a funnel and squeezed poop out all over us - including Sarah's clean outfit. Gross! We cleaned up as best we could, changed Sarah's clothes, got off the plane, and went to the next plane that would take us from Denver to St. Louis. That flight was horrible. Sarah cried about 80% of the flight. We tried everything: nursing, a bottle, treats, toys, soda, ice, cell phones...nothing worked. Toward the end of the flight I got out my baby Motrin and gave her some. Of course she was crying while I gave it to her and then she started to gag on the Motrin. Greg was holding her in the aisle trying to calm her and then she threw up all over Greg. Awesome. I had taken two extra outfits in my diaper bag and they both got used by the time we got to St. Louis. Going home we were spared the bodily fluids but she still cried the entire first flight. We did get a reprieve on that last flight - she was utterly worn out and slept the whole time.

All in all, I am so glad we went to Nauvoo. Seeing Alma narrate the carriage ride, having Joanie take us through the different houses, watching both of them share so much knowledge about the Nauvoo locations and early saints. I will never forget the strong spirit that was around Greg's parents as we got to experience them as missionaries. What a gift.

Just What I Needed

Greg and I went to the adult session of stake conference tonight. Two women from our stake (one from our ward) spoke on raising children. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Some things I want to work on: consistent family scripture study, more consistency with kids' chores (we recently started a new system), keeping anger out of my voice if I need to be stern (loved this concept), and focusing more on my kids' strengths (my job is to build them up every chance I get). Some things I think we're doing pretty well with: family home evening, creating a haven in our home, enjoying the moment, hugs, and family prayer. My spiritual cup was filled tonight. I love it when I can listen to talks like these and be uplifted and motivated instead of feeling like a horrible mother. Tender mercies, eh?

• Thanks Greg for getting me there! I seriously married the best man ever. (And he's cute, too.)
• Funny, in all of the talks, nobody mentioned that having a perfectly clean house helped their kids turn out. Phew!

Milestones

First Sink Bath
First Legwarmers

Last One of These:

"Aaron, let me take your first day of school photo with your teacher....um, okay, never mind."

One Dollar a Can

Here's a little treasure: The best birthday party game in the history of birthday party games. Shaving cream. All the girls lined up at the tables. I squirted out a pile of shaving cream in front of each girl. They mostly looked at me with blank stares like, "What now?" My reply? "Just play with the shaving cream." It took about three minutes for the giddiness to kick in. It was hilarious. They were covered. They kept shouting, "This is the funnest party ever!" (And no, I didn't correct them that it was actually the most fun party, not the funnest ;) And then when the shaving cream was gone, they all squirted each other off with the hose. Perfect for Holly's 95 degree August birthday party in the sun. I'm a freaking genius! (Oh wait, I wasn't going to say freaking anymore.) I'm a spectacularly wonderful birthday party game genius!