Reflections "The world would be a better place if...."

REFLECTIONS - A program run by the PTA created to torture parents by encouraging students to do LOTS of extra work for no grade...

At least this is the exact definition I was given when I asked other parents about reflections as Ashtyn entered elementary.

And at first that might be what some think it is.  But as with everything in life after you experience it a few times and you figure it out.....

But now without a million struggles over the years though!
Man of man have we struggled....

One of the first years we had streams of tears because "I" had missed the deadline.

Another year I sent a framed photograph (no frames allowed) with no "proper" documents and signatures and had to deal with more dejected tears.

Finally (after a few years) I figured the process out and in the eleventh hour  (seriously 11pm or later) was begging a neighbor to help us figure out a way record and download the project in the proper way.  And at this point I was in agreeance with the other parents, torture, extra work, stress, etc...

BUT my determined kids continue to find those reflection applications every. single. year....

and every year they create great projects.

This year Alayna came home with an application for ALL 7 project categories and told me she was going to enter all 7 this year (Photography, visual arts, 3D arts, film, music composition, dance, and literature) And just in case you parents want to know, yes they can turn in all 7 projects.

my response to Alayna was

OH REALLY?!? 

I let her know I could help her with 3 and if she wanted to do any others, she had to do them on her own.  

So Alayna whose name is synonymous with determination worked tirelessly on multiple projects.  And in the end turned in 3 (Visual art, 3D art and literature) projects.  

It has been so fun to see how pleased and satisfied this has made her.  She just beams as her literature has won an award of excellence at her school, district, region and is headed to state.

\/ \/ BEAMING \/ \/

And just for mom, here is her story.

The Princess and the Colorful Scaled Dragon

Once there was a small kingdom and in that kingdom there was a King and a Queen who had an adorable little princess who became very kind and polite. When Penelope or penny for short was six she went to wander the kingdom. Penny saw much chaos because the people who lived in the kingdom were arguing about silly little things such as who had the best hairdo or the prettiest eyes or who was just the best at everything. As soon as she passed everyone bowed down to her but she believed no one was better than anyone and they were equally good and they each had good talents

Penny was fairly short with a huge amount of freckles everywhere on here body and caramel blonde hair with honey yellow highlights.She had amazing brown eyes and perfectly shaped eyebrows.Her lips were an amazing raspberry red. She wore beautifully simple dresses.

Penny had heard about an ugly dragon up on the hill to the east side of the kingdom. Penny was taught that no one was ugly or bad, and especially no one should be judged by their appearance. Penny believed this with all her heart. She knew that no one should spend their days in a cave all alone. She knew what she was going to do, she was going to go visit the lonely dragon.

      When she walked to the east side where no one wanted to live except the dragon who had no where else to go, Penny climbed the steep hill to the cave and knocked 1…2….3  times. No one answered but Penny was determined to walk back with a new friend, so she knocked 1…2…3… more times and suddenly she saw the eye of the dragon peering threw the peep hole. “Hello.” she said very sweetly and the door slowly creaked open “Why are you up here?” the ginormous and green creature asked. Penny made a plan quickly in her mind and then replied “Do you know where to find the ugly dragon?” The dragon was ashamed because he knew he was the ugly dragon she was looking for.

“I’m the the ugly dragon” he said “Well you are certainly not an ugly dragon, do you want to be ugly?” “ Well of course not!” the dragon exclaimed “Everyone says I'm ugly” he explained to Penny. “You are the most amazing dragon I've seen” and with that nice compliment Penny saw one of the dragon’s scales turn bright orange.

“May I ask what’s your name” Penny asked politely. “My name is Theodore but you can call me Teddy, everyone made fun of my long name at school.” Penny replies “I think long name’s are lovely in fact, my name is long, my name is Penelope but I go by Penny.” Penny said this as if she understood everything the dragon had felt. “Really? No way!” Teddy was so excited. “I love your name!” Penny watched as one more scale turned a bright yellow.

As they sat in the dragon’s cave that was very dark and gloomy Penny was bursting with love for the dragon and went on to say nice things to Teddy and with each nice complement  a scale went from dark green to a bright new color.Very slowly as Penny continued to visit the dragon Teddy’s whole body was covered in beautiful colors and soon Teddy started to feel happy again.The years passed and Penny and Teddy remained closer than close. 

When Penny was eight she taught Teddy to read but one day the dragon refused to read the book that Penny brought for Teddy because the cover was boring and the book had no  pictures Penny very calmly said “Why do you judge this book by the cover?” “There are no pictures and its a boring book!” exclaimed the dragon. “Have you ever read it?” Penny asked politely. “No”  “So how do you know for certain it’s not good?”

Penny explained to Teddy about judging people or books by how they appear is not right like how the people in town judged Teddy.Teddy understood and wanted to read the book and in two days the dragon finished his new favorite book.

As Teddy sat in his bright new remodeled cave that Penny helped with, he realized how Penny never judged anyone until she truly knew them. When Penny was finally ten she realized that Teddy had never been to the castle and invited him. The King and Queen were just as polite and elegant as Penny and were very excited to meet Penny’s friend.

When Penny and Teddy were walking through the village they met very judgmental people and taught them how they were all equally great no matter who they are or where they are from.

When they arrived they had dinner. The colorful dragon learned about how important the things Penny had taught him and the village and from that day on the kingdom never judged anything or anyone by there appearance and Penny and the dragon remained close friends forever.

The End.

One Lullaby And A Bunch Of New Names

I am NOT one for long night time routines.  

I never have been.

When it's time for bed I am usually out of patience and wanting to go to bed myself.

I have been known to bribe kids with quarters to get jammies on, brush teeth 

and get in (and STAY IN!)  bed.

I don't know if it is Grinch like symptoms that have made my heart grow or if I just ran out of quarters but I have a new bribe for the babies of the family 

Baby Jacob age 7 and Baby Allie age 3

Although I'm pretty sure the girls wouldn't mind if I bribed them too.

So here it is...

IF their rooms are clean (NO legos on the floor for me to step on or toys to have to climb over)

IF they have flushed, brushed and washed...

IF they have behaved reverently through family prayers

without relentless encouragement on my part

THEN

Julie Andrews and I will sing them a lullaby.

Julie joins me via youtube on my iphone for 2 reasons

1. Even after 50 times singing it I still forget words

AND 

2.  Their memories will be of a beautiful voice and I just might get the credit ;)

I know, it's a diabolical plan including bribes and fraud seeing how I don't have the voice of an angel but it achieves the goal of them happily going to bed.

And in doing so I might just trick them into thinking I am as sweet and patient as Mary Poppins or even Truly Scrumptious....

Which brings me to the other song I love to sing and have sung back to me.

All my kids know it and Jay especially loves when we sing it in the car on long road trips (insert groans and eyerolls)

But man oh man I love the thought of this song.

"Toot sweets sound like what they are

So do lollies in a lollipop jar. Gingerbread men have a ginger bread sound we found.

Sugar Plums, Cinnamon and Lemon Tart tell you what they are right from the start

and your name does the same for you."

Truly Scrumptious is exactly what her name says

and I have often wondered if I could name my children exactly what they are what their names would be.

Maybe Ashtyn would have a first name along the lines of Angelic or Radiant.  Anyone who knows her would not deny this.  She is an angel who radiates integrity.  And for her last name something she is always striving for, Perfection or Excellence. I appreciate every effort she makes in seeking for Excellence. The world would be a better place if more people tried as diligently as Ashtyn.

Radiant Perfection 

Maybe Alayna would have a first name of Wonder or Inquisitive because she is always seeking for knowledge. Which makes her very, very smart.  She would need a middle name of Perpelxity and her last name would be Compassionate or Deliberate.  She has such a tender heart, especially for those she sees in need and not just the outside needs.  She has an amazing intuition of the needs that most people don't see.  She is always very deliberate about filling those needs and is compassionate towards them.

Curious Enigma Kindhearted

Jacob I feel like he would be Christmas because generally that is the way he makes people feel.  Happy like everything in the world is just right. The way you feel on Christmas morning. And for his last name Maker. Maker of Legos, messes, destruction Maker of happiness and love. He is a special boy who can make people feel like they are royalty.  

Christmas Maker

Allie, the newest little spirit to our family is a little trickier and maybe in a few years I will change what her name would be but for starters I will go with Cheerful or Jubilant.  She is almost always happy. And if she isn't.... Wait a minute and she will be happy again.  Not much gets this girl down.  She loves to laugh and be silly.  I will wait to give her a last name she has so much more growing into her personality that will be the dictator.

Jubi

None of the names roll off the tongue quite like Truly Scrumptious so I will just keep them Ashtyn, Alayna, Jacob and Allie but at least you know "what they are" 

Babysitting and cars

My dad has lost his hearing completely in one ear and his other has diminished. He has tried hearing aids that didn't help and most recently had a Baha implant. Where a stud is placed in his skull, then a device is attached that allows him to hear so much better. 

Unfortunately the stud fell out. 

Just thinking about it makes me sick. 

He loved it so much that he decided to repeat the surgery this past weekend. 

He had to be to lds hospital 45 minutes away at 5:30am. I brought Allie with me while Jay got the other kids off to school. She kept Dad entertained while waiting to go into surgery and waiting to be discharged. 

He tried to walk out on his own but the nurses caught him and told him he had to ride. 

Here he is on the other end of the wheelchair. I took the picture for mom to see how the tables had turned. 

On the way home dad was craving I HOP 

The server was so nice and put Allies whip cream on her pancake "just like Daddy's owie". We had to correct her it was grandpa. 

Fingers crossed when I'm 64 someone will think I could have a 3 year old 

We got him home and medicated and he slept. Jay and I had to go to a recruiting dinner. I made them dinner and left Ashtyn to babysit. As we were leaving the restaurant heading home we got a panicked phone call from Ashtyn. 

"Mom, we are in the lowes parking lot, grandpa wanted a doo rag. He said he wasn't feeling good and for us to stay in the truck and then he threw up 2 times just outside the truck and now he's inside and we are worried! He didn't look too good!" 

We happened to be right by lowes so we pulled in and Jay found dad in the bathroom doing fine. 

I am still giggling about the jock strap looking contraption he let the kids decorate with butterfly stickers and is wandering lowes (and apparently the auto parts store) 

Too bad they didn't have a welders doo rag bandana. But a good thing he didn't get pulled over and given a DUI from the meds he was taking. There's a reason they say don't make any decisions and stay in the care of an adult for 24 hours. 

*note to self don't let Ashtyn babysit grandpa. 

When we got home he looked at old cars for sale on the internet with the kids. He even showed them the car he bought for me and IF I got straight A's, we would restore it.

 Well... To my regret I didn't get straight A's.

I didn't take the straight A's seriously. I thought he had already bought the car and he wasn't going to really sell it?

I was taught 2 great lessons though. 1.Then as a kid that good things come from good grades whether it is a car, knowledge, satisfaction or a scholarship. 

2.And now as an adult, if you make a deal with or discipline your kid, the follow through is the most important. I try to make sure if I say it, I can follow through. Sometimes it's hard and I'm sure it was hard for dad to follow through but I am grateful he did. 

I do still kick myself to have never been able to ever drive this cute little Nash metropolitan {{sigh}}

So after all the meds wore off 😉 the next day we let Jacob go look at cars with grandpa. He loves cars just as much as grandpa and I am excited to see how their relationship blossoms in the garage. 

New Year, New Goals

Life is great! We love it here in Ogden.  We are coming up on our living here 1 year anniversary {WHAT?!?} I know, it went by so fast!!

And I am so excited for this new year.

We are all plugging along.

In the trenches of raising and being a family.

Life, really is. good.

I have so many goals and plans for this new year it makes me so excited!

One that is so exciting it SCARES me,

Going back to school.

It is one I have tried to do multiple times and have struggled to get er done.

This time I am a little more focused and have a plan.

I am starting with a 3 credit online class and then plan to get on campus in the fall.

So super exciting but so super TERRIFYING at the same time.

Looking at my book that was only $130 and my first online module, panic attacks are in full force

 BUT you know what pinterest says.....

But seriously....

This is going to be a good year.

"Just so stylish...."

There was this one time when I had just one very obedient, compliant child who I could dress up in all sorts or fun and trendy fashions. That time seems so long ago.
 Last week before church I had to pick a few battles. I wanted matching tan mary janes and she wanted yellow plastic Belle dress up heels. We ended up with white tights and white sandals....sigh

Then there was this guy. I wanted to comb his hair and he thought he could do a better job.

Yes, he went to church just like that prideful grin and all.  

When Jay sat and looked down the bench he couldn't believe I didn't fix it.

And then there's this adorable monkey.  I've surrendered to any battle with this one.  I just know she will be in a tshirt / hoodie and chuck taylors. Even on the day they had to dress up to take a field trip to the symphony she wore a beautiful lace dress with her chuck taylors.

  But the reason for this picture was to document a comment she made as we were walking into Target.  

"Mom, I just love this shirt! Not only is it so soft and comfortable but it is so stylish!!" 

And although you won't be seeing any of these styles on pinterest or in a gap catalog, their smiles will grace every page of my heart!  

Sleeping babies

Life is moving at freeway speeds right now! Sometimes freeway speed is fine 

if you are on a familiar freeway... 

Using cruise control... 

But that's not the case. We are in a spaghetti bowl of unfamiliar thoroughfares hoping to make our destination. 

As I check and recheck on my precious passengers, I am reminded there is little that is more satisfying to me than my sleeping babies. It gives me such determination to arrive safely at our destination,

but more importantly

ENJOY THE RIDE.

Truth is...

The truth is, this little guy is one of the most genuine, kind, thoughtful little 6 year old out there. He loves his grandma and has a very special relationship with her. He loves to visit, tell stories, listen, play games with her and when she gets worn out he will just play by her. He is a great example of pure love. I love this picture of mom because you can see she is truly happy.

The girls made this snowman outside grandmas window and he made one right next to it. Such fun happy little guys watching over grandma.

Jacob loves to work with grandpa too! Here they are painting the tractor Allie gave him for Christmas. It was funny to listen to the two of them working together. He is growing up so fast. 

The night before we left the cabin Jacob came to me. I was washing the dinner dishes and he says mom we need to talk... Grandpa was standing nearby. Jacob looked to him asked for privacy so we could talk. With that, I knew it was going to be something big. He begins by asking for a second chance at making this bad choice a good one. Telling me how he needs to tell me something so he's not lying or living a lie. After verbally working through getting it out I asked "well what did you do?" He replied with "I played with matches" barely holding in the tears. "I promise I will never make that bad choice again" I asked him where? "By the wood pile..." I had to really calm my initial instinct to "what in the world were you thinking!?!!?" I told him to go talk to his dad. Jay was able to see Jacob had already been tortured and disciplined by himself that he calmly talked about the consequences of playing with matches and left it at that. We have had more discussions since then regarding his choices. I need to remember he is a curious, happy, thoughtful, smart little 6 year old who is always reminding me to do things the "Christ way". And he blesses my life in so many ways. BUT THANK THE HEAVENS we did not have to put out a raging fire!! 

A few weeks later, he caught me sneaking this shot of him helping a lady put her groceries on the belt. (She is trying to shake his hand in gratitude) He offered this help without a prompting from me. (I had my nose in a trashy magazine {{blush}}) 

My hope for this post is that as he gets older and decides to take the truck for a joy ride or some other decision that makes me want to pull my hair out I can remember who this wonderful little boy really is!!

J.J. and Jay

I don't know how he does it, but man oh man this little guy can make you feel 10 feet tall. Like you are walking on sunshine.  Like you are the only person in HIS little world that matters.  And the crazy thing is that it's not just his mom he is able to make feel this way.  Any time he sees an aunt, grandma, friend, neighbor, he hollers their name, runs and squeals til he reaches them and nearly takes them out with a tackle hug.  So authentic and palatable. I could go on and on about what a good big brother he is to Allie.  How he gets her up in the morning, makes her waffles or gets her yogurt.  Always gives up what he has to Allie when she is squawking for it. (Not always happily, but always gives it to her) He is such a protector, play mate and friend to Allie. BUT that is NOT what I intended this post to be.  

Every morning and every night Jacob wants his Dad.  He reminds me over and over and over and... over... to have Dad tuck him in.  He tries so hard to stay awake til Jay gets home, by reading books, sneaking toys and lights into his bed, turning the light back on after I've tucked him in. When Jay gets home he always tucks him in.  In the mornings we say family prayers when Jay leaves at 6am and Jacob never fails to ask "can I come see you at work? Will you call me?"  This is done ritualistically and occasionally while he is still asleep.  One day this past season he asked Jay if we could come see him at work. Jay said yes and Jacob fell back to sleep.  The minute Jacob got home from kindergarten he asked can we go see Dad? and the pestering did not stop until we were in the car headed to the facility.  As we were pulling out of the driveway Jacob was repeating the morning's conversation for the umpteenth time.  I was playing along....

ME: What did you say to Dad this morning?

JACOB: If I could come see him.

ME: What did he say?

JACOB: He said yes!

ME: Are you sure....?

JACOB: Would a best buddy say no?

It melted my heart.  He and his Dad truly are best buddies and I love it!

Looking through my phone pics I realized one of the reasons Jacob loves to go see Dad at work is so he can eat with him at the cafeteria.  Dad lets him have cinnamon toast crunch and ice cream EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Alayna likes the frozen yogurt and berries just like her Dad.

We all love eating at the new facility and from the pics it looks like we all have our favorites. The blurry one of me was taken by Jacob because of course he didn't want me to feel left out of the pictures.  He is far more considerate than most adults.  

So tonight as I was telling kids to go to bed, Jacob got upset and started to have a fit about Dad being gone recruiting and how he wouldn't be able to tuck him in.  Of course I was not going to have him pitching a fit especially when it was my fit to have, after doing the dinner drill, homework, more homework, discipline, carpool, Allie fits, cleaning, and now tucking in all by myself.  I started to get after Jacob when he stopped me with genuine sincerity through sniffles and tears "HE'S NOT JUST A NORMAL DAD!!!....HE'S A.....GREAT GREAT DAD!! and I want him to tuck me in."

I'm lucky to have such great men in my life. Love both of them to the moon and back!

Life Lately...

I think about this dumb blog daily.  It kind of annoys me sometimes.  But I can't shake the feeling that I need to get things written down for my kids.  I wonder all the time how my mom must have felt as a mother of 4 crazy kiddos.  The emotions she had, the worries, the funnies, the frustrations.  I want my kids to know that I am an imperfect human trying to live life to the fullest.
(Although for now they can just continue to repeat after I ask, what does mommy know? "everything" Brainwashing at it's finest)

So to give you an idea of what our life is like, here are some of the most recent pics from my phone.

Allie: She HAD her hair in two adorable heart shape top knots that Alayna had very lovingly put in. This is similar to the hair that inspired me to dress her up as Albert Einstein for Halloween this year. This pic was taken after she had kissed, slobbered and smeared 15 linear feet of mirrors in Ashtyn's dance class.

This is a pic sent to me by Jen from the wives trip last weekend.  My favorite weekend of the year. Such beautiful ladies inside and out.  So lucky to be a part of this Ute family.

Oregon's mascot took a fan's box of crackers and was eating them, which made me think of and miss my kids.  Had to get a pic for them but was happy to have them at home so I could watch the game. Although, when we lose, sometimes I'd rather have my kids to distract me.

These next two I took of the stadium hoping they would send to Drake (our friends little boy).  He is such a Ute fan and the cutest one there is.  But like most stadiums, cell service wouldn't send til after the game :(

We saw this pole when we walked into the stadium.  Thinking it was a good omen, I snapped a pic.  Unfortunately, there will be a yellow one put up for this game.

This is a pic of a house flyer I sent to Emily.  They are/were in the market for a house near Jeff's new chiropractic practice here in Murray.  She let me know they are going to hold off on moving here probably until school is out and then try to find a place then.  I still enjoy searching homes and pulling flyers.  Some days I think I should have been a real estate agent.

This is a screen shot I wanted to save from instagram because I love the stone on this fireplace.  Jay says planning and dreaming about the cabin is his happy place.  I love that he loves to dream the same way I do. We will see what the cabin becomes.... Right now in our heads it's going to be grand!

I was listening to the red hot chili peppers pandora station and it is a familiar place for me.  For whatever reason it takes the loneliness of the season away for a minute. So I screen shot what I was listening to.  If I want to mellow it out a bit I go to my Sarah McLachlan/Natalie Merchant playlist. For some weird reason they feel like old friends.

I take a picture of the board at crossfit with the theory that I will see my progress and be able to keep track of times and wods.  But many times I forget to take the pic and then I have yet to look back and see what my times are, so my theory is pretty much dead. Occasionally, I do show Jay my times and proof that I came in first beating the 3 other guys in class that day.

This is a pic sent to me from Jamie the first time I climbed the rope.  I was so excited to have reached a life long goal.  I put it here because I am stinking stoked that I did it AND because I want my kids to know I am proud of reaching goals and accomplishments.  In a parenting article it talked about why kids idolize the Taylor Swifts and Michael Jordans of the world.  It's because they do amazing/cool things or do things really well! They suggested that you as a parent do something really well and amaze your kids.  I'm not going to ever sing on stage or win an NBA championship, but I can climb up that rope!

^^So this was a bad day..... When you get in a losing slump and your wife taking your picture is NOT fun There's not much else you can do but eat a 1/2 pound reese's peanut butter cup.  (*for the record I was told NOT to take this picture OR to put it on the internet. I will just claim the statute of limitations applies here...? Oh and he did not make it through the whole cup a few bites and he tapped out.)

....And I will end this post with the same adorable, slightly spoiled spunky kid.  I seriously considered getting this for Jay.  I imagine him carrying it around all day with his mt dew or coke like Si from Duck Dynasty carries his Tupperware iced tea cup.  Can't you just picture Jay out on the practice field toting this honking mug....in the weight room....on the sidelines of the game. {{just makes me giggle}}

So there you have it, a small peek into the regular life of the Hills.  What I would give to have a weeks worth of pics from my mom's life 30 years ago!

Southwest...._______?

This is one of my latest favorite go to recipes. It is so quick, easy and easy to keep the ingredients on hand. Ultimately I'd like to get my whole family eating clean on a regular basis. But in the stage we are right now it's not always optimal. So especially when the kids have chosen a meal I have very little interest in eating (waffles or Mac n cheese) The best part is it is right at 200 calories.
So here it is.
1/3 cup corn & black beans ( you could use just onions and peppers, but I like having beans in it. )
1-2 cups cabbage (sometimes I use coleslaw when I can't find plain cabbage)
2 egg whites
1 whole egg
2TBS salsa. I'm currently loving tostitos restaurant salsa

In a skillet heat up the frozen veggies and the cabbage. When they start to get soft push them to the side and add the eggs fry up the eggs. I like to scramble them. Once firm mix the veggies back in. Add salsa and cook till all liquid is gone. Then enjoy! (With a plastic fork, of course)