Week #35: The Best Year Yet!

This week...

...four of my five children went off to school. Benjamin and Claire started Kindergarten! They love it! They weren't nervous about leaving me at all. They get up so early and ready so fast that they are impatient and badgering me to get them out to the bus stop. I have to convince them that arriving an hour early to the bus stop won't be any fun.

Lainey is going to preschool, and we couldn't leave her out.

My cuties waiting to cross the street to their school.

I promised Ben that the picture at the house would be the only one. You can see how he liked me asking for just one more. We have Mrs. Collins and student teacher Miss Benesuti.

Paul has Mrs. Cruzen for his second grade teacher. Emma had her as well. He was not worried at all with the start of school.

Emma has Mrs. Vandervert for her fourth grade Spectrum teacher. She was nervous the first day, but there are already so many fun things that she's looking forward to.

Coming home from the bus stop on the first day.

Me and my Emma girl. (I had to lighten it up so you could see our faces better.)

*Upon their return, I heard good reports about school. Their first days went very well. And for Emma, my nervous one, it turned out better than expected. Almost as an afterthought, I learned that Benjamin got lost on his first day. Poor little guy! They went on a tour of the gym, music room, and art room. After the music room, Ben lined up with the wrong class and started to cry when he realized that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Eventually, someone helped him figure it out. But I think that put a damper on things for a while. Oh, man!

...we had a cool back to school night for mutual. It was a pep rally theme. Go Pasco 2nd ward and 5th branch!

Back: Boryeon (foreign exchange student from Korea), Jaki Quintero (soon to be baptized), Savannah Florez, Emily Christensen, Emily Hale, Noreen Hale, Emma Nieforth, Isabel (forein exchange student from Germany), Brendy Smajlovic, Livi Palomino Middle: Lisa Jimenez, Mckensey Slaugh, Alma Rueles, Perla Valdovinos, Egla Gonzalez, Sister King, Jalisa (Brendy's friend), Sister Norman, Sister Votaw, Sister Nieforth Front: me, Isabelle Soriano, Michelle Dawson, Mya Martinez, Natalie Marley, Miriam Martinez

...I created mustache/top hat monsters. I printed some templates for photo props and the kids had so much fun making their own. I have more fun seeing the props under noses and on top of heads. My little sillies.

 

 

Can't you see/hear him saying, "I say ol' chap." 

...Jason and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. We are not newly marrieds any more. We have arrived. Haha! Jason's parents watched the kids Saturday afternoon until Sunday morning. We have 12:20 church and so we had plenty of time to pick them up and get them ready. We had a lot of fun going out together. We met up with my sisters for dinner at Bob's burgers. We went to Costco, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. For dessert we stopped in at My Fro Yo (I had the salted caramel popcorn flavor-Yum!) in the mall before we went to see Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Then a quick trip to Walmart, back to our house, and we were done. 

You know you have a good guy when he will go to Hobby Lobby with you and he gets you flowers on your anniversary. Haha! We didn't actually buy this flower, but we needed an anniversary picture. We just snapped it with our phone. It makes me laugh just looking at it again. Jason is so good at being spontaneous and making me laugh. Although, I am pretty funny early, early in the morning. We're just not usually awake for it. :)

Week #34: An Old, New Dresser and Desk

This week...

...Jason sprayed a dresser and desk for Emma's room. These were part of my mom's bedroom set when she was growing up. With the renovations at my mom's, they didn't need these pieces anymore. They graciously let us take them for Emma. And Jason graciously gave them a happy, white face lift. 

Before...

The dresser drawers were lined with this nasty green contact paper. We ripped it out and put in plain, beautiful white.

After...

Here's the after shot of both pieces in Emma's room. The knobs are yellow with polka dots. I got them in Arizona last October hoping to use them in my candy shop kitchen on the cupboard doors. Only thousands of miles and four states later, I find out that Jason didn't really want me to use them at all. Now he tells me. So they've sat in the garage wishing for a purpose. We finally found the perfect use. They're so cute! We also hung her mirror and her coat rack that Uncle Wade made for us. Her room is all put together now.

...we stayed home and had a we-couldn't-go-to-Silverwood-so-we-had-a-blast-at-home-instead day. My back went out again and carried over into the start of this week. (I'm getting some physical therapy help this time around.) 

This is me propped on the couch trying to find the most comfortable spot to get ahead of the back pain.

So we weren't able to make it to Silverwood as we had thought and planned. We had our cousin Grace with us so we turned the day into another mini staycation. We went to Vierra's. When in doubt, go to Vierra's. We went to Walmart and let the kids pick out one toy each, which we NEVER let them do. We went to the movie Planes. No, we didn't get popcorn, but this is a record two movies in one summer. We're pushing the fun barrier here. We then went swimming at Grandma Zae's pool, which I thought would help my back but didn't. We topped the night off with a trip back to Grandma and Grandpa Erickson's for dinner and pie to celebrate Uncle Bill's birthday. I would say that's a pretty packed day.

...we found out what Emma does when she is bored. She was hoola-hooping while reading a book to help liven things up. Here she's reading Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. I read it and passed it on to her because I liked it so much. Definite hit.

...Emma and Claire got haircuts to spruce up before the start of school. We go to our friend Angie Sandoval who has a salon in her garage. It's close and affordable, and she does a great job. This was Claire's first real hair cut. She did very well. I took Lainey along to watch and she's the one who had trouble sitting still.

Emma was helping me keep Lainey under control.

Week #33:Lainey's got her own set of wheels!

This week...

...we celebrated Grandma Erickson's birthday. They came over for dinner and Aunt Shawnee's cupcakes. Claire got some chocolate frosting on her nose and then the rest of them thought it would be silly to do it on purpose. Then it just got out of hand.

...Lainey came home with her very own bike. She has been waiting all summer to have her own set of wheels. And she hasn't even bugged us about it like our kids do sometimes - when? when? when? She would just say matter of factly, "We need to buy me a bike" or "I'm going to get a bike." Well, we finally got her one. Only she walks it up and down the sidewalk because she goes too fast down the driveway dips and doesn't like it. Benjamin was Lainey's self proclaimed protector, riding alongside her in case she needed help. Very cute!

Jason and the masses putting the bike together.

Can you see this girl's excitement? She will never be the same.

...Claire tried to pass herself off as an alien. We played with chalk at the park. I guess it's "when it gets boring to color on the ground, color on your hands" mentality.

...we went back for more swimming at Grandma Zae's. This time we called one of Emma's friends to come and swim with us.

...Paul was super excited for his gigantic pancake. Paul and his bush had a great breakfast. :) (And you get to witness his bushy hair. Him and Ben both held me off as long as they could this summer. They don't like hair cuts that much.)

...I enjoyed some fresh basil. I cut some and put it in a pint jar on my counter. I loved seeing it and smelling it...and eating it on tomato, ham, cucumber sandwiches. Sigh!

Week #32:Take This Sinking Boat and Point it Home

This week...

...we said goodbye to an amazing woman. Lisa Hayter passed away after a long struggle with cancer. Jason and I attended her funeral on Monday of this week. I have never left a funeral feeling more inspired and motivated to be a better person. I wrote in my journal: "It was such a great day. Raleigh's family is amazing and we came away feeling so full. Lisa gave so much of herself and her life to others. We had such a sense that we want to be better, kinder, more helpful, more like Lisa."

I cried. I laughed. I cried some more. Lisa's sister Rachel shared a eulogy with some memories and her brothers, Sean, Raleigh and Dave, shared more memories. They talked of her hands and how they served and blessed the lives of others, cutting hair, baking chocolate chip cookies, or creating. In fact, when Jason was dealing with our dating woes, Lisa listened and set out to help him. They made up a batch of her chocolate chip cookies. She packaged them nicely and Jason put a card with them. Then Jason sent them down to me at Ricks with someone that was going down for a visit. I remember getting those amazing, chunky cookies. It was a sweet thing for Jason to do and for Lisa in helping him. Lisa was so involved in the lives of her family supporting them, inspiring them, mothering them. She cared for her own mother when she had cancer until she passed away in 2001. She then stepped in and became the mother figure for the younger three/four (Raleigh was out of high school) that were still at home. Lisa had style and an ability to make something spectacular from ordinary things. I loved Raleigh's story of how Lisa pumped him up one morning before he went to school. He'd started at a new school and the kids thought it was great fun to tease him because of his name or red hair. She made him a great breakfast, put on their favorite music, helped style his hair and pick out just the right outfit. He got to school early and felt pumped up to be alive and be a Hayter. Raleigh's said if there was anything that we could learn and take with us from Lisa's life it would be to - Be your best and be ridiculously kind.

I also loved Dave's story about how Lisa saved his life. Just before Raleigh and Jordan were married, Dave shot a candy cigarette out of a bb gun at Raleigh's neck. It went into his neck about a half inch and there was blood oozing from the wound. You can imagine Raleigh was out to get even. Dave ran and hid in his parent's room until he thought all was calm. When he finally came out hours later, Raleigh was waiting down the hall out of sight. When Dave passed, Raleigh rushed him from the side and tackled him to the ground and put a bb gun to Dave's head. Dave was trapped with his legs up in the air, afraid for his life. That's when Lisa came in and yelled at Raleigh to leave Dave alone and to get off him. Thus Dave was saved. This story had us laughing.

The musical numbers were amazing! Lisa's brother Harry sang Such Great Heights with his daughter Hatti. His son Aodhan accompanied them on the piano. Lisa's brother and sister, Spencer and Rachel, sang Falling Slowly from the movie Once, with her brother Dave on the guitar. Falling Slowly was Lisa's favorite song. And Harry said that there towards the end, they would gather around Lisa's hospital room and sing. They would sing Such Great Heights at the top of their lungs over and over again. Lisa really enjoyed hearing them sing. One part of Falling Slowly says, "take this sinking boat and point it home." I think of Lisa every time. her sinking boat has now been pointed home; she is home. Jason and I were transfixed by both musical numbers - the voices and emotion of having lost a loved one, the lyrics and meaning of the songs, the absolute clarity that they were so Lisa. I had the songs running through my head all day after the funeral and throughout the rest of the week. They are both now on our itunes playlist. 

It was a great day. We attended the viewing and funeral, the graveside service, the family dinner, and then hung out with some of the family later for a swim party. The Hayter family is such a great, dynamic family. I'm glad that I have the chance to know them because I married Jason.

...Jason took our friend Erik Miggliaccio on a ride-along. Erik is our friend who is confined to a wheel chair. This was a special treat for him. He got to ride in the patrol car, get a tour of the Sheriff's office, get finger printed, and go out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I got to go to take pictures and help out. It was fun to see Erik having fun.

Erik and Jason all ready to go.

Guess where I got to sit? Yep, in the back of the patrol car where the law breakers sit. It was not the most comfortable ride.

 

Erik enjoyed seeing everything that Jason showed him. He met deputies, saw the line up room with the one way window, saw the break room and the briefing room, and met the clerks up front.

These are the clerks. They're great! Jacki, Andrea, Kathy, Linda, Lana, Shelly, Erik, and Deputy Erickson.

Erik and Jason at Texas Roadhouse. Yum!

...the kids had swim lessons. I'm so glad we did swim lessons this summer. They were so excited to learn and be in the water. Claire was the only one who had trouble because she isn't that comfortable going under the water.

You can see Ben and Claire are in that center diamond. Ben was a little fish in the water-pouring water on his head, going under, and dropping off the diving board with no problem. Claire had more of a rough start, but by the end she was more willing to go under.

Ben and Claire practicing their kicks.

Paul did very well for not ever attempting more than going under water for several seconds at a time. He took off when they taught them how to dive under for rings and use their arms for strokes.

Emma gained focus for her already emerging water skills. She learned that she was already on the right track to legitimately swimming and loved every second of their lessons.

My instagram of Lainey as we waited for the big kids.

...Lainey picked the m&m's out of Grandpa Zirker's trail mix. You know how frustrating it is when someone picks out all of the good stuff in the trail mix? You know how there's an unwritten rule that you have to take a handful at a time and eat what you will, chuck the rest? Well, Lainey doesn't follow the rules when it comes to trail mix. She wants the m&m's and that's it.

...the kids played Harry Potter and Lainey rode a broom. I'm sure it was a Nimbus 2000. This is our first time through all of the Harry Potter movies as a family. The kids had pencils out as wands and were spouting all sorts of made up spells.

...we made cinnamon rolls with a master baker. Jason found out that the wife of one of his training officers has cancer and he immediately wanted to help. The people at the office love my cinnamon rolls (even though they are far from stellar creations) and so he started a bake sale at work to help earn money for this family to help with medical costs. We knew that we would have too many orders for a humble, domestic kitchen such as ours and so we called the master baker, Joan Risenmay. She's the mind and hands behind Joan's Confections-pecan logs, fudge, caramel turtles, bark, etc. She knows her stuff, plus she has an industrial kitchen. We were thrilled when she agreed to help us and our cause. 

Friday, we went down and mixed up enough batches of dough to fill our order of 142 cinnamon rolls, plus extra to sell fresh on delivery day. My mom helped us mix up the dough and cinnamon sugar filling.

Lainey kept busy with a little bit of flour and sugar and salt. She would mix and pour and concoct, and stay out of our way. 

Lainey didn't give us any trouble except for when she came over to the big mixer where Jason was adding the flour to our triple batch of dough. She innocently tried to add her bowl of mad concoction to the mix. Time stopped in that moment and we reached for her in slow motion to save the dough. Phew! Luckily, she did not succeed in thwarting our baking progress.

Saturday morning we went back to Joan's kitchen to make, bake, and frost the cinnamon rolls.

 

Reese and Joan are wonderful! They helped us the whole time, making sure that we did it right and sharing tips along the way.

We pulled the dough out of the fridge (it has to chill for at least 8 hours) and Reese helped us weigh it and divide it into thirds.

They used their handy dough roller to roll the dough out to our desired thickness. That sure saved time.

Then we set up stations to spread, sprinkle, and roll the dough into cinnamon rolls. This was the fun part. We were joking and laughing just like the old days of working in their candy kitchen. We kept joking that we would mark the ones that Joan made so that we'd know which ones were the best.

Our beautiful cinnamon rolls just out of the oven to cool.

Here we're adding the finishing touch of delicious cream cheese frosting. These cinnamon rolls are spectacular. We wrapped each one individually to help them stay fresh. I was concerned that doing so would ruin the frosting, but I found that the frosting stays on the roll when you take the saran wrap off every time.

My journal, August 6, 2013:
"I'm glad that Jason includes me in his efforts to give back and make 'help' happen."