Proud Mom Moment!

Alex loves to play the piano and that makes me happy. She has been playing for about three years and is getting better and better. I thought I would showoff her talent:

Alex playing "Love Story" by Taylor Swift

Horse Crazy!!!!

Alex L O V E S horses! She has been asking for a horse for a very long time. Last fall break Alex went to a horse camp where she had a daily riding lesson and every morning they had to clean the stable, feed the horses and learned how to groom the horses. The camp accelerated her love for the animal. Last weekend I took Alex to the Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale. I hoped this would satisfy her hunger to have a horse and it would make a nice Alex-and-Mom day. My friends, Lisa and Erin, went with us and Erin was able to talk shop (stable?) with Alex. She had horses growing up in Indiana and also rode competitively. The day was really nice. We walked the stables and pet the horses and watched a jumping and costume class.

At the end of a nice day my plan backfired: Alex went home with tears in her eyes. "I really want a horse!" She asked if she could go online to look for horses. I thought that was a great idea . Horses cost a lot of money and this hopefully would stifle the dream of owning one at the age of 9 1/2...

Mom and Alex at the horse show. Notice the cute horse shirt and necklace she wore that day.



Alex went on Craig's List and found horses for sale anywhere from $500 dollars on-up. This made the situation worse because now she realizes that she has enough in savings to buy her own horse. We did find a lady on Craig's List who needs someone to feed her horses 2 x's a week with some lite stall cleaning and in turn will give one FREE riding lesson a week. What a great opportunity for Alex to work for something that she really wants and learn responsibility and how to care for horses. Alex is willing and ready to commit to this great opportunity the only problem is... Am I willing and ready to commit? What is a parent to do!?!?!?

This is a picture of the horse that Alex found on line for $500--Spanish Mustang Filly.

She has been begging and pleading to buy this horse. She even offered to sell all her beloved stuff animals and do yard work for $5.00 an hour to cover boarding expenses. She will need 20 yards to make $100 each month to cover the boarding expenses.

Cooking 101

Alex cooked rice pudding today all by herself. I stood by just to capture the Kodak moment

She measured out all her ingredients

Waiting for the ingredients to boil and photo opp with mom.

Voila...it's ready to be chilled:

The taste testers...

Two Thumbs Up!!! It was delicious. I'm so proud of Alex this was her first time cooking, aside from boiling water to make hot chocolate. She is becoming a lovely young lady.

White Christmas ; )

Alex's Piano Recital

Check out Alex…. We are very proud of our pianist.

Bow Making Classes - Every Friday Night!

I have a talented husband and daughter. They are making bows for our Christmas tree. Seth's getting more handy to have around as time goes on. I think he's a keeper!

Daddy Daughter Camp Out, part 3

7:45ish...Out like a light!! I should send them on campouts more often.

Daddy Daughter Camp Out, part 2

Looks like they had fun – they came home smiling and smelling like a camp fire!

I was so happy last night to have the bed all to my self and not have to sleep with earplugs (Seth snores really loud). I slept in the middle of the bed and woke up this morning with absolutely nothing to do for anyone. I laid in bed for abut 30 minutes got up, took a shower, lounged on the couch for awhile looking at my Pampered Chef magazine. Sounds fabulous doesn't it? Are you jealous? It was fabulous for about an hour. Then I got really bored and I missed my family.

Welcome home guys, I missed ya!

Daddy Daughter Camp Out, part 1

Seth took the girls camping last night. Can't wait to hear how it went. Watching them get ready was pretty funny. Seth told the girls to pack a back pack for the camp out. This is what they packed for one night of camping out.

Rachel: 3 pairs of underwear, 5 shirts, pair of jeans, and 3 pair of shorts, and six pairs of socks.
Alex: 3 pair of underwear, a couple shirts and 3 shorts.

Seth told them to go upstairs and repack. They were only supposed to take one pair of underwear, one shirt and a pair of jeans or shorts for the next day. As the girls were walking up the stairs to repack a stuffed animal fell out of Alex' back pack. Seth looked at me and I said, "Let them take a stuff animal." Seth asked Rachel if she had packed any stuffed animals and her response was, "Uh, maybe." She had packed 5 of them!

Scared Silly

Alex's birthday celebration tonight was pretty scary. First, Grandma and Rachel and a few friends came to the house for supper and cake. Then we took the whole party to Rawhide, and into a haunted house called Asylum. Mind you, the six girls with us tonight range from eight to eleven years.
Through practical experiment, we discovered that eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds can handle no more than two minutes of such a frightful production, swiftly rising to an ear piercing crescendo of screaming, crying, and pleading for an exit. We stayed inside less than five minutes and saw less than half the exhibit before rushing outside to relative peace and safety in the old-west main street.
One of the girls stayed outside with Grandma, to which another girl said afterward, "She's a smart girl."
We walked around Rawhide for a short while, saw an arrest, an execution, and a headless horseman.
After taking everyone home, Alex, Evon and I watched the 1968 version of The Fly with Vincent Price.
I suppose that's what you get if you're birthday falls in October. I'll see what David thinks of that idea Sunday, as we celebrate his thirty-ninth.

Nine Years Ago Today…

After enduring six hours of back labor I gave birth to a 7 lb baby girl. Where has the time gone! Seems like yesterday I was changing diapers and waking up at least three to four times a night, which by the way didn't stop till she was two. I remember on the day she was born she was immediately placed in my arms and for most women they are in awe of this wonderful miracle that has just occurred and it's love at first site (at lease that's what I see in the movies). Me, I was in disbelief that this is what caused me all that pain and I was glad she was out. The love set in a little bit later. Alex has brought so much joy to my life and to those around her. I can't imagine what my life would be like with out her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXANDRA ELISE!! Please leave a birthday message for Alex.

P.S. I was so happy you were a girl!

Alex Through The Years

Fall Break

Rachel and Alex had the privilege of going to a horse camp for a week during fall break. Every morning they had to groom the horses, clean the barn, memorize the different parts of the horse and saddle. They even had a 30 minute riding lesson every day and had a daily field trip such as going to a horse show and a horse hospital. The last day they got to go on a 1 hour trail ride. They had a blast.

Jeremy spent his time at the bike park hanging out with friends.

Farewell to Summer

We had a great summer and enjoyed having a pool to share with our friends and family.

Piano/Clarinet Lessons

The girls decided to teach each other how to play the other's instrument. Rachel showed Alex how to play the clarinet and how to properly place her fingers. Rachel went over the notes and Alex got so excited she ran up to me and said, "Hey mom, guess what! The notes on the clarinet are the same as the piano! Can you believe it?" I joined in her excitement and said, "Wow, that's great!"

Alex gave Rachel piano lessons and gave her note cards to study and put tape on the keys indicating each note. She taught her about posture and the correct way to use her hands. She made notes in a notebook to let Rachel know the areas she needs to work on and also gave her very positive feedback like, "You are doing awesome." When Rachel would sit at the piano and get ready to play, Alex would say, "Posture," and Rachel would sit up straight. Alex is a little Sabrina in the making. You did a great job Sabrina. Alex misses you!

Rachel is a natural at the piano and she has already taught herself how to play several songs. And yes, I said piano not keyboard — we finally bought a piano!!! Jeremy was uneasy about us getting a piano because it doesn't have a headphone jack like the keyboard and now he has to listen to the piano being played. Last Sunday he asked if we could have a day of NO PIANO!

FHE-Funnies

We had Family Home Evening the other night and Seth talked to the kids about prayer and what kinds of things we should pray for. I decided to share an experience that I just recently had with prayer. I told the kids that I was having bad feelings about someone and that this person was annoying me and I felt bad about these feelings I was having cause I knew they were wrong. I decided to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help take these bad feelings away and twenty minutes later I felt better and by the end of the day I wasn't even thinking about that person. While I'm trying to be spiritual and share my experience during FHE and teach them by example I get these responses: Alex looks at me and says: "Mom, was it me?" No it wasn't you. Rachel: "Was it me?" No it wasn't you. Seth: "Was it me?" No it wasn't you. Seth: "Oh, I know who it was" (Jeremy wasn't here that night but it wasn't him, either! And for anyone reading this right now, NO it wasn't you either!!! Seriously. Especially if you're related or in a Ray ward! It's not you.)

Lemonade Anyone!

Rachel, Alex and their friend Maddi were feeling a bit entrepreneurial one Saturday morning and decided to have a lemonade stand. After hustling our neighbors (business was slow so they walked door to door) they made a total of $5.25.

"Jeremy" by Alex

Click to enlarge picture.

Happy Birthday Papa, 1924 - 2006

Today would have been my dad's 84th birthday. All his grandkids adored him and have many wonderful memories of him, like how he always had cookies and ice-cream at his house and of course they were allowed to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Whenever the cousins would sleep over at Papa's house all three cousins insisted on sleeping with him and of course Alex would have to be the one that slept next to him with her arms around him all night. I know that was one of his fondest memories of his grandkids. I think there might be a lesson to be learned here … it's the little things that create the best memories for our kids.

Back 2 School

OK, this picture was taken on the 3rd day of school. (My camera ran out of batteries on the first day). Jeremy started high school. He's not pictured because he was already out the door as I grabbed my camera. Rachel entered 5th grade and joined the school band. She said she loves her teacher. Alex entered 4th grade and started a new school and is busy making new friends. The girls go to the same school now. It was really cute to see them walk to school together with their friends on Monday. Guess my days of sleeping in are over till fall break!