No April Fools here

This is a REAL spring time thing I love. It has nothing to do with the weather, but I'm pretty sure they only come out at spring. The milk chocolate goodness is too much to resist. I've tried other milk chocolate eggs, and they don't come close. There's something extra . . .ooooh . . . I don't even have the words for the flavor. Do you see the blue one there? That color I'm pretty sure is called periwinkle. I love the color and I love that word--periwinkle!

Man Scouts

So you've heard of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. But how about Man Scouts? That's what we're calling it here. I went into LL Greens to buy some sandpaper for Hunter's space derby. The young man working there said, "Oh yeah, I remember the space derby. Let's see. I'm not sure what grit (of sandpaper) he should use. Actually my dad did my space rocket." I swear the father's were as into it as much as the boys, if not more.

So as the boys and men were busy in the gym, I looked for the girls. I found them in the Primary room. When I walked in, Tenney gave me the shush sign.

I asked the girls what they were doing. "Playing church," they said.

Lovin' Idaho

Okay, you all know how I love Idaho! Really, I love the summer, Alturas Lake, Hunter's fishing, hiking, marshmellow roasts in the back yard, tennis, barbeques. And Fall, love it! The trees changing, getting that butterfly feeling for the holidays and family and friends, school starting, Matt and the kids hunting trips. And you all know how I feel about winter here. There's just too much fun to be had with the snow. But spring . . . not so much! Ugh! If the weather is semi-warm, it's okay, but it's ugly. The melting snow uncovers all of our litter and scat and dead weeds. It's muddy, and in one day Idaho can have psychotic warming sun and then a blizzardy blowing wind or sleety snow or snowy rain, so even if you're going to brave the mud to get out in it, you can't really get away from the elements. So I've decided I'm going to find things that make me happy in the spring. I'll post them as they come.

Polka Dots! Okay, okay, I know you can have polka dots anytime of year. For me, polka dots say spring, at least what spring is supposed to be. You know what I mean--festive, new beginnings, colored eggs, confetti, the color of flowers that should be growing outside my windows. So today, it's polka dots for me. They give me smile!

Thank You!

Thank you! That was so nice. I loved the flowers and I love the chocolate and you are so kind and thoughtful. Who are you? Do tell.

The Unraveling of Me

Do you see this bottle? It's just a glass milk bottle. This bottle about undid me today. The thing is, it could be a bottle or a shoe in the hallway or the cheese wrapper in my couch, but this month, today, it was a glass bottle. I actually passed the test, which is pretty amazing knowing my circumstances. See, I'm just about to well . . . you know. . . I have those intense hormones. I feel stressed and tired and irritable. I ran to the store at 5 o'clock right before Matt and I were to teach a temple class. I was off to pick up Matt's prescription that I forgot to pick up when I was at the store only two hours before. As I'm running out the door, I see the empty milk bottle. Hunter loves this milk, so I quickly rinse the bottle (that bottle is worth $2.50) and drive to the store. I run to the south side of the store to grab the milk. Then, I run to the north side of the store to pick up the prescription, all the while lugging the glass bottle with me. I put it all up at the cash register, and the cute little cashier says, "I can't take that bottle. It has to be cleaned out better." I say, "I did rinse it out." "I'm sorry. I can't take it." I said, "Listen, I bought the milk when it was almost out of date. We didn't even get to drink it all, but it was kind of chunky at the end. I really did rinse it out like twice." At this point I'm not making much sense, I know, but I do not want to take it back. "Sorry, I'm just telling you I can't take it." So I think: Should I just jump across the desk and scream "You're taking the freaking bottle, girl!" or do I go find the store manager or do I just take the bottle home and clean it out better. Against my natural self, I say, "Well, I guess you'll have to put the milk back." I sign my card, humbly grab my stupid, dirty milk bottle and leave the store. On the way home, I am so angry, and then I think "Seriously! Are you going to let a silly milk bottle undo you?" Yes! So when Matt gets home, I ask him, "I rinsed out that milk bottle. Do you think it looks like it's rinsed out?" "No, not really," he says. I start laughing. "Why?" he asks. When I start telling him the story, I start to cry, and when I reenact how I wanted to jump across the counter and grab the cashier by the throat, I remind him of my mental and physical state. He just pulls me into his arms, smashing my face to his chest (probably so I'll just be quiet and stop scaring him) and says, "It's okay." So I'm thinking of cleaning out the bottle and filling it with flowers. It's worth a lot more than $2.50, you know? It can be my PMS vase. If I were really great I'd bring them to the little cashier. I'm not that good though.

Cub Scout

I love this boy in his uniform. He's pinning me.

Why we love winter in the Idaho Mountains!

My sweet children with the pipe smoking snowman.

We built him when the snow was the perfect consistency of wet, hence the reason he's not so big. He was super heavy.

Tenney skiing down quarter dollar. Just so you know, I'm taking the picture while skiing backwards. That's right, backwards. I know it looks flat, but it is a slight incline.

Tenney is seldom seen skating without her partner, the plastic chair.

The ski racer, Hunter. He's really improved this year. This was at the beginning. By the end of the season, during the last ski practice, he came so close to the gate that he accidently hit it and lost his ski and pole. He really put a big bruise on his shin. Ouch, that smarts! I came into the little snack shack at Rotarun and he was laying on the couch, his leg up, a plate with 2 pieces of pizza on his belly and all of his friends around him talking. I knew he was fine!

Tessa: "I've learned that . . ."

Last month Tessa wrote: "yesterday i realized that i have been here for exactly 6 months! so in my journal i wrote down the things I have learned so far. i thought you would like to have it in an email since i know you are keeping my emails and also are going to write a book, haha! Ive learned that time flies and you have to enjoy every second. Ive learned that usually when something is really hard at first, it is really worth it later. ive learned that it is difficult to put your fears away to learn and that it might never be easy, only necessary. ive learned that there are a lot of paths that i can choose but only one that will give me everything i wnat out of life, and that is the lords. ive learned that all families are different, but the one thing that will keep a family strong and happy is love. ive learned that it is not always bad to feel or be alone. ive learned that cooking is fun. ive learned that knowledge really is power. ive learned that i love argentina and i also love sun valley. ive learned that god really really does have the big picture of our mission, and we just have to trust Him. ive learned that ballena is whale....not seal. ive learned that often times learning from mistakes is the best way to learn. ive learned that its always better to laugh at yourself than to take yourself seriously. ive learned to dream in spanish. ive learned to love to serve. ive learned to hate all cats and dogs outside my window. ive learned that youll never understand how much one smile can mean until youre the one who really needs it. ive learned that one of the most wonderful gifts someone can give you is patience. ive learned that the siesta after lunch is a beautiful thing. ive learned that really looking both ways before you cross a street matters more outside of the united states. ive learned that argentinans have open hearts and homes. ive learned that a big smile, some shy girly eyes, a polite disculpame señor with a foreign accent can get you a looong ways with the Argentinos. Ive learned you can pretty much go anywhere and find a blockbuster and mcdonalds. ive learned that good friends take time. ive learned that almost every word in the spanish dicitionary can be turned into cute and little with the addition of ito or ita on the end including things that arent cute or little. ive learned that here an arañITA (know that araña means spider and then refer to previous statement) is basically UGLY and BIG enough to eat me alive. ive learned that almost anything is possible when you learn to step out of your box. ive learned that its hard to be different but its even harder to always be the same. ive learned that it is not the experiences youve had that make you who you are but how you react to them. ive learned that for the rest of my life there will be a part of me that calls pacheco, buenos aires, argentina my home." Thank you, Tessa. We love you!

Tessa, do you miss us?

Remember your house? And the sunsets?

Remember your Huntey-boy?

See, I do her hair sometimes? Aren't those the same smiles?

Curing a germophobe

So most of you that know me, know I'm a little bit of a germophobe. Fear not because 4 kids and doing church by myself (Matt is in the bishopric so he sits up on the stand) are curing me. Today, Tenney kept crawling under the pew in front of us. She would get up from under the pew chewing something. I really was trying to listen to the speaker. "What are you eating?" I whispered. "Gummy bear," she said. "Where are you getting it?" I asked. "There," she pointed to the floor. The cute Hill boys were sitting in the pew in front of us. Their mother had them all lined out with gummy bears and great coloring books and candies. "Okay," I said knowing it was keeping her busy. Hunter then leans over, "Where is she getting that?" "The floor," I said. "Sick!" Hunter said. "That's gross." "Yeah, pretty much," I agreed. Then Tenney stands up with a huge Life Saver. I didn't know they made them that size, about the size of a quarter. "Whoa! She's got a Life Saver," Hunter said. "I'm going down." So now Hunter is under the pew looking for Life Savers to no avail. You snooze, you loose or should I say you're afraid of the floor, you might not get the candy. "Man! She hit the jackpot," he said covetously. Oh, I know what you good mothers are thinking. I know those gummies and Life Savers could have already been sucked on. That's the chance you take for a little peace in church.

School in the winter

Some friends want to know about home schooling. Tenney goes to preschool three mornings a week. It's easier to work with only one child. Parents that homeschool many children have a lot of work.










Hunter reads to me about an hour, maybe an hour and a half everyday. We always begin by reading the scriptures. He's flying through his math. I bought a math series called Singapore Math. It is named that because it is the math students use in Singapore. He doesn't really like writing, but we do 10 spelling words a day, and he usually writes about his reading. He did work on an autobiography of his life, and he is going to send it to his birth mom. He wants her to know (in his own words) "how great I am now. I don't want her to find out when I'm 18."

Home schooling gives incredible opportunities for us to talk, really talk about what's important, what we're interested in. Not that we didn't have those opportunities before, but now it seems we have more of them.

I try to make sure he gets to do things outside. He's in the LASAR program (ski racing) after school.



Hunter grew out of his skates, but need not fear our friends the Alberdi's went to Hawaii for 6 months, so we're borrowing them. I'm practicing ice skating too. I feel like I have PE almost everyday too. I'm a horrible ice skater, really just learning. I had to begin today by pushing a chair around. Pitiful! I even went back to the car to get the helmet because I was afraid I'd break my head open on the ice. Nice image, eh?

Hunter is learning too, but he doesn't have the fear like I do. He just skates into the wall or over to the snow berms and falls. I know home schooling isn't for everyone. It may not even be for us more than this year, but it is truly a year I and I'm pretty sure Hunter will treasure.

Painted Nails

This is Tessa's fault. Tenney probably had her nails painted when she was a few months old. Yesterday, Tenney's friend Taylor was over to play. When I had Hunter check on them, I heard, "Does Mom know you're painting your nails?" We took that polish off and painted both girls nails.

The next day: Tenney's friend Laura is over to play. I hope their moms don't mind a little paint.

So for Christmas I got glasses. Not the reading kind but the I can't see distance very well kind. I was trying to look sexy, but my kids kept jumping in the way. You can't see Hunter, but I'm kicking him out of the picture. I mean literally kicking him.

We did get a serious amount of snow for Christmas. It was fun to have Kelsie & Jeremy home, and we missed our Tessa.

There was amazing sunset this night, but my camera couldn't quite catch it. I love Christmas! I love family!

I know some of you won't like this, but it's our life. My man and our son are hunters. They love it. That is how we got Hunter placed in our home. Hunter's birth father picked our family because Matt hunts. I know it's crazy, but true! We went to California for New Years. Matt grew up in Gridley which is in the path of the Northern Pacific Flyway. You have never seen so many geese and swans (you can't hunt them) and ducks in your life. Hunter went out with his Dad one cold foggy morning and had the time of his life. Goose Hunter. These geese they call Specks. Hunter would say, "Yeah we got four Specks. They are the best eatin'. He was right about that. They were so good!