TVs in Bedrooms?

This morning Hunter and Emma were telling me how terrible it is that they don’t have their own TV in their bedrooms. Hunter started naming off friends that do, and Emma said ALL of the kids from her class do. I said, “I happen to know that Ashley doesn’t.” I am good friends with her mom, so I could call Emma on that one. She then replied, “ok, two kids out of my whole class…” But she didn’t finish because I started laughing and she could see I wasn’t going to change my mind. I like to know what my kids are watching and feel like one TV is plenty. Emma said when she grows up she will definitely have one in her room, and Hunter said he’ll let all of his kids have one in their rooms. We’ll see…. What do you think? Agree, Disagree?

Baptism and Blessing

I know it was a while ago now, but I feel like we should document this big weekend. Mammy and Pappy flew out and got here on Friday night. Rob left from work to pick them up from the airport. They picked up Panda Express and brought it home for dinner. While we waited for Nana and Papa to arrive, Mammy pulled out a huge suitcase full of clothes for the kids from her and Heather. It was like Christmas! Nana and Papa arrived around 9:00 pm, just as Rob and I were returning from the grocery store to get the food for the weekend. The kids were so excited to have both sets of grandparents come to visit!

The baptism on Saturday was great. Chris, Tracy and Adriene made it up here despite a setback from a hole in their tire! The baptism was pretty small because so many people were gone for the 4th of July. It was mostly just family. Hunter planned the program and asked Tracy and Nana to give talks. They did a great job, and it was a special experience for him. The few primary children that came sang the baptism song, “When I Am Baptized,” and then Hunter was baptized in what was probably the fastest immersion in history. Hunter has a hard time with getting his face under water, so Rob promised him it would be less than a second under the water, and he delivered! After the closing prayer, Rob and Hunter came out and I asked Hunter how he felt. He said, “It was good. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was great.”

On Sunday we all went to Sacrament meeting together. Sabrina was blessed first. Rob gave her a beautiful blessing that reaffirmed to us what a special spirit Sabrina has. We were not surprised to hear that she will be an inspiration to many people and that her faith and education will not only bless her life, but the lives of those around her. She was beautiful in her white dress, and I was proud of Rob for bringing such a peaceful spirit as he gave her the blessing. He always does a great job blessing our babies.

Hunter was confirmed next and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was also a very nice blessing and Hunter who had a fever the night before, and didn’t plan to go to primary after sacrament meeting, came back to his seat and turned to me with a big smile and said, “Mom I feel well enough to go to primary now!”

We had a BBQ, did some swimming, and had a few times that were nice to just sit and chat. My aunt Jeanette and uncle Dan came by on Sunday night too, which was fun. Thanks to the people that made the trip to come, we really enjoyed having you here!

New Photos in Gallery

There are new pictures in the Gallery. I used my SLR for most of the baptism and blessing pics, so I don’t have those to post yet. I have to get them on a disk first. I haven’t had much time lately to compose anything, but don’t give up on me, I’ll be back. Hunter thought it would be funny to post this picture of him, so I had his permission. I am just learning how to make these pretty chiffon bows and hope it will be a way to earn some money for our “Buy a House Fund.” Let me know what you think of them. Will they be wildly popular?

Father’s Day Fireball

Well, Father’s Day was a huge success with one exception. I’ll get to that in a minute. The day started out with breakfast in bed for Rob. Emma made the scrambled eggs, Hunter made the juice and toast, Hannah put the honey and ketchup on the tray and we came in singing Happy Father’s day to the tune of “Happy Birthday.” Rob loved it and ate it all even though he’s not a big breakfast eater and probably only wanted half of it. After the kids and Dad were all bathed and dressed, Hunter and Emma presented the cards and gifts they had made for him. Emma made a book telling all about her dad, and Hunter made a large card saying what he likes about his dad (to my surprise he said, “when he teases me.”) Emma had made him a paper airplane too and let Hannah give that to him because she was feeling a bit left out. Church was nice. The Primary sang a new song all about how “God gave me a dear earthly father, so I would remember His love.” It was so sweet. The Young Women even handed out a big cookie to all of the dads afterwards.

I thought it would be fun to grill a tri tip steak for dinner. It seemed like the ultimate Dad dinner. Rob was in Hunter’s room with Hunter and Emma playing school and I could hear a thump thump sound that meant they had just started gym class. So I got the roast ready and even put a digital thermometer in it so I would know when it was done. I figured I should cook it until it reached 160 degrees since I don’t like to see blood when I cut into my meat. It was doing well and I was getting the side dishes ready while it cooked. When it reached about 80 degrees I thought it was time to turn it over. No problems there. I stuck the thermometer back in and it read 82 degrees so I closed the lid and went back in the house. Almost 10 minutes later I looked at the thermometer and it still said 82, that seemed weird. Shouldn’t it be heating up faster than that? I went to take a look and noticed that the paint on the outside was bubbling. That can’t be good. I opened the lid to find that the tri-tip was literally a fireball! The flames were really going and the thermometer was burned black. I stuck it with my giant BBQ fork and moved it to the upper rack away from the grill, but it was still on fire. I turned off all of the knobs and hoped I wouldn’t have to run for the baking soda. It did die out quickly, but I was left with what looked like black volcanic rock. I thought about taking a picture to put on the blog, but the thought of having a permanent record of it almost put me in tears. Now I wish I had because to my surprise I was able to save it. The middle was still raw so I put it in the microwave and hoped for the best. When I took it out and sliced it up it didn’t look bad at all, and dousing it with Worchestershire sauce helped add some flavor. At dinner everyone was very kind and even the kids said they really liked it. I think they wanted it to be a success after hearing my fireball story. I am still upset about the permanent damage to the BBQ, but Rob just laughed about it…. He did order a How-To-Grill type book today from Amazon and insists that he had already had his eye on it and was going to get it anyway. I think I know better.

Mother’s Day

Last weekend was not only Memorial Day for us, but also Mother’s Day. Because Rob, Hunter and Emma had been gone for the funeral on the official day, we postponed it a couple of weeks. Rob and the kids were so excited and did a great job making me feel special. Rob took Sabrina for the second two hours of church, and he was even teaching a lesson. It was so nice to have that time to concentrate on what I was doing in primary. Especially since I was in charge of sharing time. Rob took over the day and did everything. Dinner, dishes, laundry… and I took a nice long nap! Hunter made me a cute little flag that had a card hidden in the flagpole. Emma drew me a lovely picture of the two of us together on her card. Rob restocked my “secret” chocolate stash and gave me two new movies. And Hannah and Sabrina were just so cute:) Thanks guys, I love you all very much!

Humble Pie

I have a bit of a stomach ache from the giant piece of humble pie I was forced to eat. Last night I asked Rob to show me how to do something on this blog and I was less than gracious when he stopped what he was doing and showed me. It had been a long day and I wasn’t thinking about anyone else’s feelings… So I thought I knew what I was doing, and it turns out I can’t get it to work this morning. A little payback from “Karma” I suppose. I love you Robby!