So much time and so little to do...

It'll take me all week to catch up on what happened last week, so let's just dive right in and go day by day.

April 20, 2010: Husband and wife for nine years.

Olen had planned a surprise getaway for our anniversary even after I told him I just wanted to lay low and finish organizing our {blasted} storage shed for our anniversary. I'm glad we went with his idea. 

What was written in for me in my planner:

Our kids were so excited for their own getaway to Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds' house. I hardly ever say yes to sleepovers so this was an extra special occasion for the kids to have one-on-one time with their grandparents. It was still hard for me to not say how much Porter would have loved this or how London would have had such a bast here or how much I missed Daisy's smooches though.

Sedona is beautiful. Northern Arizona has all of my favorite Arizona cities.

Getting artsy on ya, that's how Sedona rolls.

We have also escaped to Sedona for our 6th wedding anniversary and Olen took me on a detour through Jerome on our way home. He bought me three rings from a local jeweler's shop there, each with the birthstones of Porter, London and his own. On this trip we made plans to visit the retired mining town to buy a ring with Daisy's birthstone and maybe one with mine, too.

Jerome is such a fantastic, dusty old town. In its heyday it was a successful copper mining town. All the homes are built on the side of a mountain and the roads are curvy and narrow. Now the main street is lined with local artisan shops, antique stores, cafes and museums with old mining stories. Jerome isn’t really on the road to anywhere else, unless you want to take the scenic route to Prescott. The tiny town is a magnet for tourists, treasure hunters and the hippies that can call any one of the dozens of abandoned houses their summer home.

I put a dollar in these aspiring musician's tin cup so I didn't feel guilty about taking their picture. Yes, it really was a tin cup. They were singing a song about rainbows and water that got stuck in my head, I am so glad I can't remember it now.

A lot of the shops are also the shop owner's houses. They will usually live on the bottom or top floor of the house and run the shop out of the street-level floor. This was one of my favorite shops, which was sadly closed on this trip.

I was telling Olen that the people who live in Jerome must be half mountain goats. The residents park their cars on the street and then have to climb a million stairs to get to their front door. I loved what this house did with its stairs; I think climbing these every day would never get old.

 
 

I snapped this photo from the car on the way up to the town. (I regret not taking pictures of the heart of the town, but it's awkward to just take a picture of someone's house and I didn't have that many dollars to slip in their mailboxes to payoff my guilt.) This just gives you an idea of the architecture of Jerome but doesn't at all capture the spirit of the town. There are grand Victorian Painted Ladies at the top of the road that have boards over the windows and flaking paint on the door frames. To me, the town is bitter-sweet. It’s like visiting a loved relative in a retirement home and then leaving remembering the days when they could walk and run and live but still feeling happy that they are getting the quiet attention they require in their old age. It’s very romantic and forgotten at the same time.

 

The jewelry shop we came to see was gone, it is now a store for high-end leather goods. There were a handful of other jewelry shops in town, but I didn't find what I was looking for. I guess that means we'll have to come again.

 

Walking uphill all day wore us out and gave us an appetite.

For lunch, we ate at a local sandwich shop and loved it but for dinner, there's nothing like the Cracker Barrel. I know I'm really letting my hillbilly show, but I can't help it, I love a place I can buy old-fashioned Tootsie Roll sticks and John Deere onesies on our way out.

Olen tried to beat me at the table game of pegs. He sure did try, sweet boy, but I love a good game of strategy.

 

This is how I polished off my half-pound bacon cheeseburger. 

This is Olen asking me if I was hungry or something.

Back at the resort, I got to read without interruptions, such a luxury!

I started Little Women and never realized how much of a Meg I am. Mom always said I was Meg, but I stomped my foot and told myself I am really Jo. This is probably a subject for another post...

We slept too little and ate too much and left the iron plugged in without a second thought of it getting knocked over. 

For three days we lived just like newlyweds...who have been married nine years and couldn't wait to get back to their kids.

Yesterday was Porter's first Cub Scout Day Camp. It was my first too.

One of the perks of my calling as assistant wolf den leader is that I get to tag along with Porter to all the Cub Scout activities. It was actually a really good day and I learned a lot.

Our first class was learning the basics of how to play basketball. Porter was always twelve inches away from the coach teaching the class listening and watching his every move. He has so much natural talent at sports and is such a lucky boy to have a daddy that makes time to play with him.

Next we went on to the compass class. We were taught how to read a map and use a compass. Since Porter loves maps, graphs and math this was a favorite for him. He wants to "build cities and invent useful things for people to use" when he grows up, I told him in the adult world a person who does those things is called an engineer and he liked the sound of that. Good thing he also likes going to school.

All of these classes were designed so that the boys earned a patch or a loop or something that attaches to their clothes. In the next class the boys had to choose a menu for a meal and then prepare it. They were given a check list of all foods available and the boys could check what they wanted then were given the ingredients to put it together. Porter checked off every item. He prepared a hot dog over hot coals with all the stuff that goes with it and some healthy sides. The boys' favorite was the outdoor ovens used to bake cookies. Pretty cool stuff, the cookies were perfectly baked in ten minutes. Porter gave me half of his cookie and it was mighty tasty.

The last class was Porter's favorite because it was building your own tool box. Not a wimpy tool box either that holds just one hammer and a screw driver, a real man's box that could hold about any kind of tool for any kind of building project. I was helping Port hold the sides straight and he would stop and readjust and double check to make sure he had perfect angles. He screwed, tightened and then glued just to make sure it was done right. He wants to paint his box General Lee orange. Shocker. 

After the cerimonial Cub Scout cheers and the flag was retired we gathered up our prizes from the day and came home jazzed about Cub Scouts and a little wiser, too. Porter "taught" Olen all the new basketball terms he had learned and then asked to go to Google Maps and find our house. He gave London the cotton candy he saved for her and London gave some to Daisy and turned her face blue. Then I took a nap.

Check out the look on his face in this picture. You could almost hear his brain saying, "Whoa, this is what I'm talk'n about!"

This picture will go in the slide show when he's an Eagle Scout. And as one  proud momma, I will say how I was there from the start.

This Tuesday is our ninth wedding anniversary. Olen is taking me away for a few days on a "surprise" getaway. I am both so excited and nervous because I made him tell me where we were going, but he still won't tell me all that he has planned. I hate surprises. They only make me pack twice as much.

London has been telling me lately that we all smell the same because we are a family. I asked her what we smell like and she says, "Mom, you know! How a family smells!" I have no idea how a family smells, but I guess as long as we all smell that way together that's what matters. London asked me to call her the "Curly King" today while I was doing her hair for church. If you see her, I know you would get a great response if you called her that too.

Friday, April 16th Daisy turned six months old - a whole half of a year! I can't post her six months pictures yet because I still need to go pick up her five-month pictures from the studio and I don't want to go out of order. I really can't believe she's been with us for six months already, the time is going by too quickly for me.

Chelsea said it best when she described Daisy as "melting" on to you when you hug her. She makes me so happy.

Now off to pack for who knows what on my anniversary surprise.

One thing I do know for sure is how much I love this man. I am one lucky girl and I know that too.

Mamma knows best

Yesterday we played beauty shop at Aunt Colleen's house where Jessica gave London her first perm. In true London fashion, it was anything but boring. I wanted London to tell me the story of the perm in her words but when I asked her what happened all she said was, "I cried." Which is very true and pretty much sums it up. 

Colleen and Nola and Jess and I tried every kind of bribery to keep London happy and occupied while Jessica could wrap her head in the perm rods. Considering London only holds still an average of three minutes at a time, she did really well. 

For me, at least, all the tears and yelling "I hate playing beauty shop! I hate the beauty!", the end results were worth it.

"Porter, I look like a lion now! Rawwwrrhhh!"

I see a lot of Chelsea in this picture.

This experience made me remember when my Aunt Colleen would come over and help my mom wrap me and my sisters hair in perms every summer. Girls, do you remember this? I remember not liking it at all and how happy I was when the rods were finally taken out. My hair felt like it had been replaced with ramen noodles and mom would glow and say how lovely her girls all looked on Sunday morning with our matching curls and bows. Now I understand how mom could spend a whole day wrapping the heads of five weepy girls and a million stinky wet towels. Boy do I love being the mamma now.

P.S. A huge thanks to Jessica, who has proven she can do hair in any situation. And my Aunites Colleen and Nola for knowing just what to do and making two nieces feel really special. And to sweet Meagan, who I used to hold as a baby, for holding my baby.

JUMP!

(This one's for the out-of-towners who haven't seen Daisy's new tricks and toys yet.)

The Jumperoo!

It's pretty much the best thing ever created for baby and momma. She gets going with her teeny tiny feet and we gather around to laugh and cheer.

At the end of the video Daisy is waving hello!

(No, she can't really wave yet. She's actually trying to grab my camera because she wants to eat it but, ya know, it looks like a wave.)

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

I fell into Olen's arms after a late night of catering on Saturday.

I flung my shoes across the family room and recalled the dishwasher not working, not enough place settings for the bridal party and the groom's mom actually telling me to "chop-chop".

"So how was your night? Did Daisy go to sleep ok for you?"

"Well, I need you in a really happy mood before I tell you something."

Any chances of a happy mood have just been recalled by this request.

"No luck. Lemme have it. What happened?"

"Daisy was super fussy and I would get her to sleep and then she would wake up five minutes later. So I thought she was poopy but she wasn't and I left London combing her doll's hair in the family room [I should mention Porter wasn't home. If he was, this would have probably not happened because he would have stopped it.] then I came back in with Daisy and Elle was on the desk with the scissors and the brush and I was too late."

"Too late for what...?"

Then he shows me this:

I burst into tears and I never do that. Olen was in shock, not really what he expected me to do. I explained through my sobs that I had just made an appointment to take London to get her first perm this Thursday. I didn't tell Olen because I wanted to come home and surprise him with London's curly hair. 

"Love, it doesn't look that bad, I promise."

I cried more.

Olen rolled his eye.

Anyways, London twisted the brush into the top back area of her hair and it got stuck so she cut it out. Olen took London down to my sister-in-law's house that does hair for an emergency hair intervention. Olen was more worried about how I would take the new look than what the new look actually would be so he was trying to get things fixed before I got back. 

"Cara said it was too short and thin to make any layers match so she didn't cut it at all. She thought you should look at it first and decide."

"Too short and thin??"

I tip-toe next to London's bed and run my fingers through her hair, a few stray hairs cling to my hands. It was already too late on a really long day to think about this anymore, so I just went to bed.

In the morning London and I had a little chat about scissors while I rocked her and we hugged. Olen was right, it doesn't look that bad. I parted it on the other side and used mousse to scrunch it up for church and that seemed to hide the short and thin parts pretty well so I didn't cancel our hair appointment after all. Besides, it will grow back. Like by the time she's ten.

Easter Start to Finish

The Easter festivities started for us on Thursday. It was such a big weekend and I know you don't want to listen to me go on and on about it. So I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking and drop a line now and then to guide you through.

The Start, Thursday: Okay, this one requires some story-telling. About a month ago Porter had the idea to sell lemonade to the masses of people who would walk by our house to the Easter Pageant. You knew we live in the east-side shadow of the Mesa Temple, right? Olen and I said he could host a lemonade stand from in front of our house and we would buy the cups, sugar, and ice if he picked the lemons off our two trees and juiced them himself. He was so excited and made plans for his "stand" all week. I was worried about how he would do with the customers and serving the drinks and taking money, but then Aubrey came to the rescue lending moral support and giving change.

I set up the stand with Port but couldn't stay because I had Daisy and London alone in the house unsupervised. I walked out to check on how they were doing and they always had a customer or two so I just watched. It was quite a sight; both kids bare foot but in sweater jackets advertising "ice cold" lemonade. Porter was so in to it, I just loved watching him. In fact, after Aubrey had to go home Porter stayed out another hour till the Pageant started selling his homemade lemonade. He would cup his hands around his mouth and holler “Ice cold lemonade! Refills can be free!” I almost died when I was walking out to check on him and heard him yelling this. We had a talk about where we were and where people were going and how yelling may not be the most appropriate selling method this time.

Although I don’t know that it hurt; after Porter paid Olen and me back he still earned over twenty dollars that night. Port said that a few times people would walk by and say “no thanks” to the lemonade but give him one or two dollars anyways. I’m sure being adorable and bare foot on a chilly night had nothing to do with it. Porter wanted to pay Aubrey for her help and give the rest for tithing. "What do I need all this money for? Couldn't it help someone?" How do you tell a kid it's okay to not pay all their money for tithing? I couldn't. I couldn't say anything at all, I was so touched by his faith. Olen said he didn't need to decide right now how he would spend his money and to think about it till tomorrow. In the morning Porter set aside his tithing and is depositing the rest into his mission savings account. That lemonade stand taught Porter more lessons than just how to give change.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

Friday

Reynolds side - Clar and Kristen's house, Laveen, AZ

Grandma Reynolds helps guide London to where the eggs are hiding.

Watching London on these hunts was one of those parent-moments when another layer of your child's personality is revealed. She was such a dedicated hunter and heaven help any one who got in her way. When she felt satisfied with her findings, she was done and would sit wherever she was and start shaking and opening all her favorite eggs.

Porter, of course, is more casual in his approach. He hunted where no one else was and cleared the area in a blink.

Here's something else I learned about London this weekend; she likes boiled eggs but only the yolk. She would bite the egg like an apple, eat out the yolk and spit out any whites and shell. I don't know how she did this. I'm getting goose bumps just remembering it.

So much for this shirt. This was the début and closing call for this number. Yes, I've tried spray-n-wash, I go through gallons of that stuff. Blue Magic may be my last hope. Oh, but this mess represents so much fun, okay, what's one more stained shirt.

Porter hates boiled eggs and candy. He gave everything he found to London. I swear I would have a hundred kids if they were all like this one.

I'm surprised Port let Uncle Houston, Olen's brother, swing him like this. As a baby he would stop breathing and [eventually] cry because he hated heights and spinning. Actually, I'm surprised Houston didn't throw his back out.

Here's Daisy with her younger cousin, Trace, Brawner and Melissa's newest.

Okay, he's only two weeks younger but it makes the story of this picture funner if you don't know that, right?

Daisy found her tongue.

I know, right?! Just when you thought she couldn't get any cuter, she finds a way. My kids are always doing this to me.

Easter Egg Hunt #2

Saturday

 Rollins/Richards side - Usery Pass Park

London was so sweet to take Daisy's basket out for her.

Also - toot-toot! That's me tooting my own horn, because I made London's shirt and one for Daisy just like it. Dressing my daughters the same is a dream come true for me. 

Olen would follow his girls to the end of the earth if asked to. It's one of the reasons I love this man.

Aunt Whitney had the genius idea to place tickets in her eggs that could be redeemed for candy too awesome and big to fit in an egg. Porter is finding his first ticket here. 

Daisy was with me wrapped in her Moby all day so I didn't get any pictures of her except for this one that I just held the camera back and snapped. But I like this one, it shows her soulful eyes so clear and blue.

I don't know how this picture fits in, I didn't take it. It was just on the camera's memory card at this point and made me laugh. This is London - I love it. Smiling so big that her eyes have to sacrifice space on her face to accommodate her mouth. I am starring at this picture and can hear her high-pitch squeal and can't help smiling for my precious Buttercup.

Easter morning

I love Daisy's look: "And why is this exciting...?"

The Easter Bunny brings books to our house. He's a swell guy, I've got his number if you ever need to call him up and have him talk to your kids about the real meaning of Easter. I promise that even an eight year-old would be talking about it for a week afterwards.

This year the Easter Bunny really scored big on the coolness factor. All books were a huge success and one has already gone to show-n-tell and one had to be in bed while she slept and the other one has been read twice and eaten.  

I almost left dyeing the eggs out of our weekend activities. The kids enjoy it, but I don't think they would have been bummed out if we didn't dye eggs this year. It's just messy and we don't eat boiled eggs (well except for London I guess) so I am throwing eggs away for a week after. It was fun this year, but we'll see what happens next year.

Yes...we'll see what happens next year...

So you know how we have four sister missionaries living in the duplex in our backyard? No? Well, now you do. We like them and wanted to be their Easter Bunny. Port and London ran the goods to the door step, rang the bell and then ran back inside our house. I snapped these pictures from our back window. The sister said, "Oh wow! Sister look!" when she opened the door and my kids were jumping up and down and clapping their hands. That moment was the highlight of my Easter day.

Having General Conference land on Easter Sunday was such blissful timing. I loved cuddling with Olen and listening to our Prophet's voice. So many messages about the family and parents and children. I see that I have a lot of room for improvement and I want to be ready.

I got this one and only picture of how we watched General Conference on our computer; London eating her Peeps. I think it sums up the morning pretty accurately though, just being comfortable and really happy. She ate that whole tray of Peeps, by the way. Since the Easter Bunny brought it just for her, we didn’t have the heart to take it away. All other Peeps have been stashed away to get good and stale because that's when they're best. Like fine cheese, ya know.

Easter Egg Hunt #3

Sunday

Tietjen side - Aunt Collen and Uncle Rhett's house, Queen Creek, AZ

You can never have enough egg hunts I've learned.

My kids don't wear shoes, like me, for very long so they are almost always bare footed. London found a "pokey in the grass" the hard way. It was a pretty big thorn and she tried to be brave. Mostly. 

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb. I asked who was who and they told me that they take turns being each one. Whoever has the best idea gets to be Tweedle Dee and whoever doesn't, well, is the other one. Aubrey and Porter, my little sister and my son, you can't have one without the other.

Such a happy Easter weekend filled with reminders of our Savior's love for each of us. I know He loves me because he's given me so many people to love and who love me.