Tag

A. Rules of the Game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each Player answers about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 others and leaves a message on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and to read your blog for directions.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Paul and I had been married about 9 months and we were both in school and working(at the 2nd vet hospital-you'll see below). We had also just acquired the cat of many colors that has been a permanent fixture at the foot of our bed for the past ten years.

2. 5 things on my to do list:

a) paint my beige house(not paint my house beige-it needs color!)

b) learn to knit.

c) put in sprinklers and a lawn-technically this is on Paul's to do list.

d) keep unpacking.

e) potty train Asher.

3. What snacks do I enjoy?

pepperoni and pepper jack cheese (preferably together)

cottage cheese and pineapple-also preferably together

graham crackers and milk-together of course

strawberries and sugar-you guessed it-together

I'm a mix all my food together kind of girl-none of this must keep my food separate stuff for me.

4. 3 bad habits

a) popping my knuckles

b) letting the tv "babysit"-but seriously, how else would I get dinner made?

c) giving in to the late night munchies-frequently

5. What would I do if I were instantly a billionaire?

Finish paying off the student loans, house, etc. then.....the house on the coast- east and west, the one with the horse property, the one in England, etc, etc, etc, but I don't know, I haven't thought about it that much, hee hee.

6. 6 places I have lived.

Milpitas, Ca

Highland, Ut

Cincinnati, OH

Murray, Ut

Midvale, Ut

and back to

Highland, Ut-it's ironic how things work out

7. 5 jobs I have had:

a)Kennel Attendant at Veterinary Hospital-age 16, scooped poop for $4.25 an hour and thought I had the greatest job in the world.

b)Veterinary Technician at a different animal hospital.

c)Veterinary Technician at yet a different animal hospital.

d) a very short stint at Discover Card as a bill collector.

e)Again, a veterinary technician at an even different animal hospital than the previous three.

Man, I need to branch out!

8. 5 things most people don't know about me:

a) I guess you probably figured out that I'm a veterinary technician.

b) I hate anything touching my face-water is the worst and I sleep on the edge of my very flat pillow so it doesn't touch my face.

c) I can pop almost every joint in my body(see bad habits)

d) As much as I love animals one of my biggest pet peeves is barking dogs. Unfortunately there are many out here in the country.

e) I am extremely competitive-fortunately I have relaxed a bit on this since having children. I guess I'm just too tired to care anymore.

I tag Deanna, Melissa, Shelley, Darcy and Marissa

Sunday Funday

It was so nice Sunday morning to have all the fun, candy, chocolate, basket stuff behind us(although the chocolate lingered all week long.) Anyway the girls got to wear their new dresses and dressy sandals and I curled their hair(a rarity for 9 am church) and Asher got to wear his new outfit as well. We went to our Midvale ward one last time because I am the primary pianist and had been practicing with the kids for the Easter program and the newly appointed primary president was very nervous about it, so I told her I'd be there. It was a nice program and it was really good to be able to say goodbye to everyone. Many people didn't know we were moving because it all happened so fast. We were also able to come home and have a little down time before the festivities began.All the kiddios

On Saturday, I did all the prep for Sunday's dinner and Asher's cake. The cake took 4 hours! My younger brothers were over to play the wii, so I put them to work. Jared was on potato duty and Josh volunteered to cut out Wiggles characters for the Big Red Car. I was hesitant to let him help on such an important project, but gave in after he gave his best word to do an awesome job. He didn't dissapoint. He got a box cutter and cutting board and cut around every cowlick in the hair, wrinkles in shirts and air space around fingers. Wow! An hour and a half later and we were ready for the finishing touches. I thought Asher would be thrilled, but somehow he was freaked out! Oh, the potatoes turned out pretty good too! Thanks Jared.
This is not a happy face-he is screaming!
He did mellow out enough by Sunday to sit and cheese it up by the infamous cake.
Paul wanted to get Asher a drivable car for his big day. I did not. We compromised on the mini-quad.
He loved opening his presents and being the center of attention. He got lots of cars (a current obsession), books-which are also another love and the Bee Movie (another obsession-fortunately we all find this one amusing).

Eggheads

One of my favorite childhood memories is of the Easter egg hunts my Grandma Bowen would hold for the grandkids at "the field", her families' property in Alpine. That ended a few years back when the property was sold and parceled out into residential habitation, that will in no way be as magical as that field with the mysterious bathtub (we never did figure out why there was a bathtub in the middle of a field), the creek that sometimes flowed with water and the candy hiding in the scrub and oak. Since this time, we have still gathered with my extended family at various locations to BBQ and do the hunt. This year Easter came a bit early and the hunt was postponed, so we started our own little tradition of egg hunts at Grandma Jolene's. Fortunately my brother and his wife were in town, so we had all the Monson cousins(all six of them) to participate. It was especially fun to watch Asher and Grace as they tried to grasp the concept. These two are only a few weeks apart, so this was really the first Easter that they were old enough to participate. It took awhile to catch on and when Asher would encounter a non-egg looking sweet, he would pick it up and chuck it. Funny since he won't actually eat eggs.Asher, so proud of his first egg.
All the cousins examining their loot on the infamous army blanket-I didn't know it still existed!
Asher and Grace swinging together.
My mom put the boys to work in the yard and the kids-yes all four of them are in the trash can-helped stomp down the weeds in the garbage can.

Crazy Times

It's been awhile since my last post. You can only imagine what I have been doing. A big thanks to my dad and brothers for making our move possible and to Emma and Asher for being so entertained by bubble wrap. Also, another shout out to Shelley for watching Emma and Asher the entire day Friday-what a life saver that was. We loaded the truck up on Thursday the 13th, closed on the house the morning of the 14th and moved that entire day. Paul, being spurred by the desire to only rent a truck for 24 hours worked feverishly to finish the job. He would literally go to any length to save even a dollar. I know, I know, I should be grateful. Anyway, we had all of our stuff in our new home by that evening. Whew! My mom and sister-in-law, Julia helped me (pretty much did it all) get the kitchen in order. That is always the biggest chore as those of you who have moved may know.

We spent that weekend and the next week getting settled and shuttling girls back to school in Midvale. Their last day was Wednesday, the 19th when Jordan school district went on spring break. Alpine school district doesn't have spring break until April so I sent them right to their new school on Thursday. They were a little nervous and I was a lot nervous. I took them to meet their teachers and classes and then I just left them. When I picked them up, I asked them if this new school would be better than their last school(s) and Abbey replied, "No, (long pause) WAY better!" I was so relieved. They had both made friends and loved their teachers and were so excited about the move in general.
There will be many things we will have to adjust to though. We came from a ward with 20 kids on a really good day in primary to a ward of 190 kids on any average Sunday. It was a little bit of a shock, but again, the kids were thrilled. I was not sure how I felt about moving back to the city I grew up in, but I very soon realized this is not the city I grew up in. It has grown so much, while still maintaining the small town feel. This I love! I love the wide open spaces, the pastures of horses we drive past daily and the deer on the way to school. The only alarming thing about the deer is that while we have many deer prints in our dirt that one day will be a yard, with those deer prints are some BIG cat prints. We only hope our sweet little bunny will be safe in her cage until we get a fence in. One other thing I love about our new house is the view out the front window. I also love sitting in the family room at night and looking out the back window and seeing nothing but night sky filled with stars. Ahhh!

Marching Along

This last week has been an incredibly busy one. My poor son spent most of the week watching t.v. with this lovely display of bedhead while I worked on making every room in the house look like the next picture. The one day that I took Emma and Asher to the park, I ended up getting in a tiff with a very immature girl/woman over whether or not she should be smoking on the playground. Yikes! As my friend Shelley so kindly pointed out, I probably won't encounter that scenario in Highland. One point for the "pros" list for moving to Highland.Every room in the house has turned into this.
Claire had her turn to go to a "get your hair and nails done" birthday party this week. It was also a dress up party, but unfortunately her dress-ups were all packed so she borrowed this one from her friend, Annie.
Claire's hair all done up-beautiful.
Abbey's class made about 15 quilts for the Roadhouse Shelter and had a quilt open house. She is standing by the quilt she worked on.
Disclaimer: I am not a fan of sleepovers! (although that was one of my favorite childhood past times) That being said Claire's friends' mom needed me to keep Annie overnight and since she is such a delightful child and she and Claire play so well together, I consented. This did not bode well to Abbey who also wanted a friend over. I figured I should probably just get it over and done with in one night, so I said yes. I figured since we are moving and they won't be seeing their friends as much it couldn't hurt. So Claire and Annie were kind enough to invite Emma to sleep in the basement with them so she wouldn't feel left out and Abbey and Laurel slept upstairs. I finally got them into bed around ten although some didn't go to sleep until eleven. Note: my girls usually go to bed at eight and get up at eight. They were up at six a.m. on a Saturday!!! This is what warrants my first disclaimer. Nobody gets enough sleep and I get to deal with bears the next day. Or in this case, Shelley got to deal with bears the next day. (Thanks again, Shell) On a side note, the girls really did have fun and don't we all need a little fun now and then?
Claire, Annie and their dolls and matching p.j.'s (thanks to Annie's mom- the seamstress)

papa, ampa and amma

Asher just loves his grandparents. Of course his sisters do as well, but he's in that adoring his superiors stage. When we were looking at the house the other night with my parents, he kept running around the house saying, "Ampa, ere-ah-ou (grandpa, where are you?)" Then he'd find him and get all excited and say, "er-ou-ah (there you are)." He is going to love living closer to grandpa and grandma. About five minutes away to be exact.

Last night he came up the stairs bringing me Paul's phone and it looked as though he were talking to someone. I thought, "here we go again with the 911 calls." He gave me the phone and said, "Papa!" I answered thinking Papa (Paul's dad) had called and Asher just answered the phone. It turns out Asher actually called him and he was quite thrilled with himself. Paul has one of those fancy Treo phones where you can have pictures of the people on your speed dials and Asher saw the picture of Papa and must have been so excited he pressed it. Reminder to Paul, lock your phone!

Asher with "Ampa" M in May 06
Asher with "Amma" Pat in November 07
Asher and Papa-Thanksgiving in Cali November 06
Asher and "Amma" Jolene-Blessing day April 30, 06

Fond Memories

I love all things spring. I look forward to March 21 with great anticipation. This year I look forward to March 23 with eager anticipation as well. Asher will have his second birthday on Easter, but with each of Asher's birthdays, I remember an anniversary of another nature.
My dear friend Suzanna fought a valiant battle with leukemia that ended just two weeks before Asher was born. Over the past couple of years, I have struggled to find my peace with this. I wasn't able to see her before her passing and have felt that I had no closure. I was pregnant for most of the duration of her illness, so I thought I would go visit after the baby was born. It became apparent that she would not make it that long, so I scheduled my flight to go see her, but she passed away the morning I was to leave. Paul and I were able to go to her funeral, but I have always regretted not being able to say goodbye. Over these past couple of years, I have come to realize that maybe that wasn't the worst thing. I have no memories of her being so terribly sick. My memories of her are all vibrant and healthy and alive like she was. She was very funny. In what was our last conversation just a couple of days before her passing, I tried to keep things light. I didn't want to say goodbye over the phone especially since I thought I would see her in a couple of days. As sick as she was, she was curious to know whether or not we were going to have our baby circumcised. She had a great sense of humor and I loved that! She was also very fun. Her boys had the best mom ever. My girls went on their first slip-n-slide at her house and had their first ice cream cones there as well. Consiquently we have never been without a slip-n-slide or ice cream cones since. I have many fond memories of girls nights watching the "Bachelor" or just talking, the New Years Eve party she would throw each year, my girls playing cars at her house and her boys playing dress ups at mine. Maybe it's best that I only have great things to remember and that should be closure enough. At the kids first birthday party. L-R Deanna and Rachael, Suzanna and Ethan and me and Emma.

January Recap

Since I didn't start this blog until February, I though I'd highlight some happenings from January other than skiing. Since this is about all the journaling I do, I'm trying to be thorough for the sake of my children.The girls all do gymnastics and had a recital this month. They were so excited because they all got their first trophies. The thing that strikes me the most about this picture is the height difference. The age spread between each girl is roughly 2 years. Apparantly Abbey and Emma are on the tall end and poor Claire has inherited her mothers shrimpy genes.
We decided to embrace this winter whole-heartedly. Not only did we ski, we (I should say Paul) built a snow fort that housed multiple children.
Asher was so excited to finally get some man toys for Christmas.
Abbey's Reflections Contest entry "Windows of Change" went to region. When she was working on it, the bottom left quadrant was a picture of her feeding the homeless. On one of the buildings she had written "Subway". When Paul asked her why she was feeding people Subway, she replied, "No dad, it's the subway in New York."
Asher loves to snuggle in the girls beds with them and read books. He also tucks their American girl dolls into their doll beds and kisses them goodnight. He is such a sweet boy!