Rebecca's busy November

This month was full of fun stuff for Rebecca. Near the beginning of the month, she and two of her friends competed in the "Battle of the Books," where each team has to answer questions about 4 books that they have read. Their team won! Now on to reading the next 4 books.
Next, Becca had her first Young Women in Excellence, which is kinda like a Court of Honor. She had only been in YW a month but she was asked to accompany the opening song, something she has never done before. She played "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," and she did great.
The next night was mind-blowing for mom and dad. Becca got to participate in a Young Lions choir concert. Kids (mostly 6th graders) from all the elementary schools that feed into Red Mountain joined with the junior high and high school choirs. It was surreal to have one of our kids up on the stage that Richard and I sang on a few years ago (or so it seems). Here is the combined elementary choir.

Keeping her eyes on the conductor...good job!

Cousin Jenny was also there! What a fun surprise!

It was a great concert and we are so excited for many more choir concerts in our future. :)
The following week was the Young Lions Band concert. This was pretty fun too, although not quite as exciting as the event was not organized as well. Still it was great to hear a big band playing, and Becca was very impressed with the HS marching band.

Becca's final event this month was a piano composition recital. She worked really hard and wrote a beautiful song called "Megan's Lullaby." (If only Megan would sleep whenever she heard it!) She (and mom) got to perform it at a recital and she got a small trophy.

We are so proud of all of Rebecca's blossoming talents. But what I love most about her is her willingness to help, her kindness, her sensitivity to others, and her good nature. We are so glad to have Rebecca in our family and we love her so much!

Sick....

I am sick of being sick.

[insert picture of nasty looking sick woman here]

I have been battling a cough/head cold for nearly 4 weeks now. I have had 2 rounds of antibiotics and 1 of steriods, and more over-the-counter medicines than I care to count. I'm still not better. I'm tired and run-down and just plain grumpy. Ugh! I just want to be able to feel normal and get my house and life back in order. Oh and to top off the sickness, I had to stop nursing Megan as the meds would not be good for her, so that just adds to the fun. (She is 10 months old now, and was only nursing a little, so she is doing just fine.)

So, since no one really reads my blog anyway (which is fine), I figured here was as good of a place to vent as any. But now that I'm typing it, I feel so foolish for whining about a measly sickness. There are so many people that are going through much more difficult trials. I really do have so many reasons to be thankful and rejoice.

My kids are all alive, safe, and relatively healthy (just slight colds, thank goodness! I'd much rather be the sick one than have them be sick.).

I have a wonderful husband who works hard and has a great job.

An abundance of other blessings that I really should write down somewhere...

The knowledge of the gospel and that my Heavenly Father knows and loves me.

My Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sick, shmick.

October in review

After our trip to Utah, it was a month to catch up on stuff, and we stayed busy, and I got sick (for nearly 3 weeks now...but getting better). Here are a few highlights.

During October break, the kids and I went to a little farm. It was hot and dusty and smelled like cows. We didn't stay long but the kids like to pet the horse and goats.

Dad is awesome and fun. He slept out on the trampoline twice with the older kids. Apparently it gets kinda chilly at night. I love how they all end up in a heap in the middle.

Megan is cruising around everywhere. She is growing up too fast for me! She got her first tooth on our trip to Utah (September 30th to be exact) but that's it so far.

Speaking of teeth, Katie lost her first tooth! She was so excited!

The older girls and I went to the school fall festival. One highlight was the human hampster balls. Cuz everyone wants to be a hampster, right?

Katie can hula hoop 2 at a time. I had no idea. She is learning lots at school.

And Breanna can do 2 on her arms, while walking. AMAZING!

Becca and Breanna had a little piano recital in the mall. They did a great job!

Halloween was fun! Here are a few pictures of our 5 little pumpkins...

 

 

 

 

 

(Sorry that last one is so dark. Richard was trying to get cool shots of the jack-o-lanterns but Jonny wouldn't hold still!)

Here's our kids (minus Megan) and cousins Emily and Kacy before hitting up the neighborhood for candy. In case you can't tell (from left to right), Kacy is a rainbow fairy, Rebecca is Hermione from Harry Potter, Jonny is Thomas the train, Katie is Agent P from Phineas and Ferb (lots of comments on her costume!), Emily is Rapunzel, and Breanna is a fairy princess.

 

Here's a family picture from our ward party. :)

 

And we can't forget a shot of our cutie pie, Megan, who got lots of "Oh how cute" comments as a pretty flower.

 

Utah Trip

So, the day of Becca's birthday we left to go to Utah. It was a hectic day, to say the least. After the traditional birthday morning festivities (hot breakfast and presents) I drove the girls to school. The car (the Yukon that we bought in July) started acting funny and by the time I got home, it was flashing warning lights and misfiring. Richard could fix it but he had to go to work and it would take too long. Not really an option. So we still had the van. The fan was running continuously but we could stop it by disconecting the battery when we parked. Great. I used that to take lunch to Becca and the treat for her class. On my way back, I noticed that the fan turned off. Must have fixed itself, right? (HA!) I came home and packed for everyone. We decided to try the van for the trip. After I picked up Richard from work and we were headed onto the freeway for Utah, the van overheated. The fan was broken and we may have damaged the car seriously. So, we cranked up the heater and drove cautiously to the rental car place. We got a good deal on this great minivan. Nice to not have to worry about it breaking down too. But we didn't leave the valley until 8:30pm. It was a long night....

But we arrived safely in Cedar City around 5am. We tried to sleep as long as the kids would let us. We made a little stop at the beautiful Kolob Canyon.

Then we headed back to St. George to get Richard registered for the marathon! While he was doing that, I took the kids to a little park. It was so nice to be able to play outside and not be too hot! Sometimes I look at pictures like this and think, "Wow...I have 5 kids. How did that happen???"

We all met up at the convention center for a spaghetti dinner. Richard's parents, brothers Robert and Lynn, and sisters Annette and Cindy were all there. Cindy and Annette were running in the marathon too!

The day of the marathon was kinda crazy too. The runners left the hotel room around 4:30am. Many thanks to Robert for driving them, so I didn't have to. :) But I did have to get all of the kids ready and pack everything up and check out of the hotel before 8am so we could get to see Richard on the course. We made it just in time to see him at one of the first places we could get to. He looks way too good for running 17 miles. :)

The kids had a great time holding signs, giving high 5's, and cheering on all the runners. We waited for awhile to see Cindy and Annette, but had to move on to catch Richard down the course.

Here's Richard right before the finish line! We are so proud of him!

He finished in just over 5 hours. Can you imagine running for 5 hours straight??? Ugh. And this is his second marathon. Cuz once is not crazy enough. Cindy and Annette finished too and we are so proud of them! Way to go!

After the runners cleaned up, we all met up with Lynn's family at Chili's for dinner. What a fun bunch of people!

Then our family made the drive up to Salt Lake City, after a brief visit with friends in Beaver. It was another late night and early morning rush to get ready for conference. Richard and I took Rebecca and Breanna to the Conference Center to listen to our living prophet speak. It was a great experience. It is amazing to be there with so many other Latter-Day Saints. Many thanks to Richard's cousin, Genny, for babysitting the younger three kids for us!

After the first session, the girls and I spent some time on Temple Square while Richard picked up the other kids. These girls are sure growing into great young women!

After the second session and a little naptime at the hotel, we took a drive up the canyon to look at fall colors. (Fall? We aren't familiar with that concept in Mesa.) We had to stop to put our feet in a creek. Is it cold, Jonny??

Megan loves to swing!

After a good night's sleep, we headed for home the next day. Another long drive. But even though someone stepped on the portable tv and broke it, the kids did really well and no one went crazy.

We decided to drive through Zion National Park...mostly because of the really cool long tunnel (which we went through 3 times it was so cool). One last family picture on this trip on this weird rock formation. We are pros at taking pictures with the timer. Even Megan is smiling! :)

So that's all for this trip. Lots of memories in a short amount of time. Good to be home.

Now to get those cars fixed....

Rebecca's Birthday!

Rebecca turned 12 last month! I can't believe it! My little girl is really growing up. She celebrated her birthday several times (lucky!). She was debating on having a big party at our house or just inviting a few friends to go somewhere else to do something. Mom's stress level was relieved when she decided to go ice skating. Here she is with a few friends from school.

We also celebrated with the Towne side....

and the Eldredge side. We like cake.

Becca's main present was her own iphone (Richard's old phone)! She doesn't get to take it to school yet, but she still loves it.

Another big deal about being 12 is becoming part of the Young Women program at church. The 12-13 year old girls are called "Beehives" and they came and decorated her room during school to welcome her to the group. She loves going to the activities every week and is already planning some goals to earn her recognition award.

Happy Birthday Rebecca! We love you!

Richard's Birthday!

Last month, Richard turned 36. His favorite new toy is his new phone. I had to drive for a few days so he could spend ALL his time figuring it out. :)

Another highlight was having breakfast at IHOP. The breakfast was ok, but the balloon artist was AMAZING! :) Richard really doesn't like attention for his birthday, and with his new hat, he really stood out.

The very generous balloon guy also made something for everyone. Katie and Breanna got flowers, Jonny got a dog, Rebecca a great monkey, and I got a diamond ring. (Megan would have eaten hers.) What a great birthday!

We love you Richard!

First Day of School 2011-12

They are growing up too fast! I now have 3 kids in elementary school.

Rebecca is now in 6th grade so she is a big kid on campus...watch out! She loves that her teacher is almost as much of a Harry Potter fan as she is. Several of her friends from last year changed schools so that was hard at first but she is making some great new friends. She got new contacts and is growing into a beautiful young woman.

Breanna is in 4th grade and gets to be in the same class with cousin Emily and good friend Desiree. She has the same teacher that Becca had in 4th grade and we love her! It will be a really fun year!

Katie started kindergarten this year! Wahoo! The first several days were pretty hard, as she really missed mommy and wasn't sure about routines, etc. We made a chart where she had to go to school 5 days without crying and then she would get a date with mom. She did it! The thing that made the biggest difference? A note from mom and dad in her lunchbox every day. Now, she is doing great! She loves her teacher and has several kids she knows from preschool and primary in her class. She is one of four kids in her class to start the reading program already (usually the teacher doesn't start it until later in the year) and is zipping through books as fast as she gets them.

We are so blessed to have such beautiful sweet kids. (Wish they would be this sweet every minute of every day!)

So that leaves Jonny and Megan home with me all day, every day. Jonny is really missing his older sisters. That, coupled with the fact that it is too blasted hot to go outside for more than a minute at a time, he is really starting to act up and is being too rough with Megan. But we'll take it a day at a time and hope we all have a good school year!