Partner in Parenthood

The progression of a father.

Steve with his firstborn, Ethan.

Steve and his second child and son, Luke.

Steve and his third child, first daughter, Sadie.

I love you, Steve!! You are the most important man in these children's lives. No other man will have as much of an impact as you will. How's that for pressure huh? Haha. You can handle it. They are in good hands. I can't believe this is your fifth Father's day already. What? You got your wish today. Both your boys went up to the front of the chapel and sang with the Primary. Wasn't that one of the best feelings ever? I thought I was going to cry more than I did. I didn't believe Luke would go up there but he did. You convinced him. Wasn't it adorable watching him walk up hand in hand with Ethan? Ethan is such a good brother. Those two are great kids. And then Sadie snuggling with you at dinner, that was a picture I want in my head forever. Isn't that one of the best feelings ever too? I think five should be the cut off age, no growing beyond that. You're a great father.

Love you,

Your wife

What's for dinner?

This is a dreaded question. My kids don't really ask it yet, I just dread trying to figure out the answer. I go through times when I'm really organized and I plan out our entire month. Then other times, like this week, I don't plan anything and then each day is an agonizing debate in my head. Can't we just eat at Stonefire every night? Pllllleeeeeeeeeeeeease? So in an effort to get back on top of things I'm posting my menu here. Its always flexible and sometimes I don't stick to it exactly, tweak it hear and there at the last minute. But its nice to just have a plan. I'd love to hear what you're having for dinner. Th 6/18 - TJ's sundried tomato pesto pasta with chicken, salad F 6/19 - hubs and boys at campout so I'll eat whatever S 6/20 - homemade pizza or blts with TJ's sweet potato fries Su 6/21 - Father's Day, Steve requested strombolis M 6/22 - grilled steaks, blt salad with avocado dressing T 6/23 - chicken kebabs (red onion, mushroom, zucchini, pineapple), black beans and rice W 6/24 - mock bolognese Th 6/25 - homemade pizza F 6/26 - sister's birthday probably out Sa 6/27 - mock cafe rio salads with creamy cilantro lime dressing Su 6/28 - family dinner, don't know who is in charge yet M 6/29 - potstickers and asian noodle salad or my fried rice T 6/30 - grilled chicken or salmon and pasta salad W 7/1 - shepherds pie Th 7/2 - leftovers F 7/3 - grilled cheese and beef stew Sa 7/4 - grilling, maybe ribs; potato salad, chips or s.p. fries

32

I've been carrying this picture around in my bag for a few years now. Its got crease marks and is about to tear because I've never laminated it or anything like that. I should. I carry it around and pull it out to look at every now and then. This is the man I married. You might think thats scary, I guess its up for interpretation. He's actually being very silly in this picture. I remember what we were doing and where we were. We were camping with my family. He put on these glasses that were too small, or maybe they are goggles, and the monster was created...picture snapped. He's such a nut. Happy Birthday, hubs. Thanks for bringing a little more pizazz to my life.

7 months, any resemblance?

For Sadie's seven months post I thought I'd include a picture of me. The first few are of Sadie. I tried to get a picture of her but most of them were fuzzy since she wouldn't stop kicking and moving. She's not crawling yet. She scoots a little bit but mostly just to turn around. She has started having her tongue out all the time. Its kind of funny. I was glad to capture it here. She has her two front teeth on the bottom and I think her top two might be coming soon so maybe that's where the tongue comes from.

I love this little girlie. She is such a happy little girl. She sleeps so well, two naps during the day and sleeps all night long (please don't change that!). She sucks her two middle fingers to go to sleep. I keep trying to get her to take the pacifier instead but she just spits it out. :)

This is my picture. I'm not quite sure how old I am but it looks pretty close. Steve thinks Sadie looks a lot like me.

Grad and his cake

A few weeks ago we went up to Vegas for my BIL's graduation from Dental School and the blessing of their newest addition, Evan. We LOVED being with all the family and playing with the cousins. One day my boys were in the pool for seriously four or five hours. I could not believe it. My SIL asked me to make a cake for the party. I told her to not have very high expectations. I'm so glad she liked it. She told me she liked it more than her own wedding cake....too nice. Congrats, Allen!!

Do it all? What?

I have a long to do list. That's not news. Every day is a long to do list. Some items are new but most are just part of the daily grind (i.e. laundry, dirty dishes that need cleaning, floor mopping, bathroom scrubbing, bed making, etc. etc. etc. etc.). Every day I walk a fine line. Its the motherhood line. Do I play with the kids? Or fold laundry? Do I read some books to my kids or have dinner ready "on time?" I feel like most days I completely flop on my face. Let's be real, my kids are always the first priority but where is the balance? Most days I can't concentrate on anything unless I have the basics done. The definition of basics changes with each mom, I've learned. But I've also learned that most moms feel the same. I am haunted by the possibility that my children's most poignant memory will be of me saying "Not now, I need to do such and such." Every once in a while the day comes to an end and miraculously I feel good about it. I feel that I've juggled everything just right. I hope my kids remember those days. Then there are the days when I wonder, what about me? I get bitten by the running-out-of-time bug. I want to go back to school, I want to have a career, I want to figure out what my dreams are and do them. Thankfully, I have help. I have a great mom. Even better, my kids have a great grandma. Around here we call her Vovo (missing the appropriate accents for the portuguese language). Today (she does this often) she has taken the boys so I can try to accomplish one or two tasks. Before she left with my two favorite boys she said "read this" and plopped an edition of the Mormon Times on my counter, appropriately opened to an article titled 'Women do it all - in sequence.' I sat down with my breakfast and read. It was like someone had disected my brain and put it on paper. I want you to read it. I know I'll be checking in with her regularly. Tiffany Lewis - Women do it all - in sequence (titled differently on the web version)

13.1

I did it. I finished. Somehow I managed to shave off 9 minutes from my first half time. In 2007 I ran this half marathon in 2:37. My time this year was 2:28. I was in a lot more pain this time. After about three or four miles I decided to do walking intervals. So I ran for 6 minutes (sometimes longer depending on how I was feeling) and walked 1 minute, repeat often. My family came down to cheer me on. The first person I saw was my mom. Thanks Mom!! She was right at the top of my first (and the most steep) hill. I ran right by her. The next people I saw were my sister Ev and her family. They were all dressed up for church but they were there cheering me on. My little nieces were so cute saying "Go Tia Mimi!!" Not long after them I saw Steve and the kids. He had his hands full with the three of them but it was so fun to see them there, especially since I had already run 10 miles by this point so they gave me the extra energy to finish. By mile 11 I was dying! I had just finished another hill and this one was long. Thankgoodness for a water station. I gulped down some kind of Gatorade concoction and was off. Then I saw my sister Mae and her family. She's the one I got these pictures from. Thanks Mae!! Right as I entered the last .1 of the marathon I saw Steve again with the kiddos. I got my extra kick from them. Thanks hunners. Next time I want someone to run with. Next time I am going to make myself a shirt or something much cooler than my old collection of free t-shirts from old races etc. Next time I will shave off one more minute, at least. When will the next time be? I'm not sure. Maybe October for Long Beach? Maybe next year at the OC again? We'll see....

Love this

"We can teach even a child to understand the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Begin early. We have the greatest opportunity with the young. The best time to teach is early, while children are still immune to the temptations of their mortal enemy and long before the words of truth may be harder for them to hear in the noise of their personal struggles. For every hour the power of doctrine is introduced into a child's life, there may be hundreds of hours of messages and images denying or ignoring the saving truths. The question should not be whether we are too tired to prepare to teach doctrine or whether it would be better to draw a child closer by just having fun or whether the child is beginning to think that we preach too much. The question must be, 'with so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine from me will fortify them against the attacks on their faith which are sure to come?' The words you speak today may be the ones they remember. And today will soon be gone." Pres. Henry B. Eyring, April 2009 Ensign, Begin Early This gave me goosebumps. So many people think we brainwash our children by "pounding the gospel into them" but this is the real reason I teach my children the gospel.

blog barf?

1. This is Sadie's six month picture. I don't know why but I thought I could write "six months" on an empty cereal box and have a little prop or something. It didn't work so well. Besides, my camera (and my photog skills) leave much to be wanted. But she is a beauty. Mae made this adorable onesie for Sade.

2. I practiced making a cake this weekend and this is how it turned out. I'll admit, I was surprised with myself. As I was assemblying it I had a pit in my stomach thinking how ugly it was. Then I finished and changed my mind. I didn't do so bad for my first fondant cake. I definitely learned a lot along the way. I forgot to cut the red velvet cake therefore I couldn't fill the middle with frosting. Then I forgot to put the fondant on the first layer before putting the second layer on, that was fun. I am going to make a cake for my brother in law, Allen's graduation from dental school (did you guess that already?). Cross your fingers for me, I'm scared.

3. Luke decided to cut off the tip of his pacifier today. Considering this item is so precious and dear to him I don't know what came over him, probably an evil spirit (just kidding). Now he wants a new one. I don't think so. Its about time for him to kick the habit anyway. I'm not about to go out and buy a new one for him. I want to. This boy is so persistent, there is no talking him down. When I left his room (after an hour of trying to get him to consider sleeping) he was sucking his thumb.....hmmm....trading one vice for another. I guess I'll just leave it alone. I'll let his friends shame him out of that one. ha.

4. What y'all doing on Sunday morning? Want to come watch a few thousand people run a ridiculously lot of miles? I'll be caught in that bunch. I wasn't nervous about the half marathon until I just started thinking about it right now. What was I thinking? I hope I don't do worse than my first time, that's my only goal.

Oh yeeaaaahhhh

Well, Sherrill, here ya go. My refrigerator in all its glory. Its actually quite bare right now. I haven't gone grocery shopping in at least a week. But we've got plenty of cheese and cream cheese to keep us going....hahaha.....