Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Despite all of my parenting woes, I still like to have fun with the girls. So the other week, Emmy, Azia and I all went out to get pedicures and manicures. Wayne had given me a gift certificate at Christmas and it expired in 6 months, so I was frantically trying to squeeze in time to use it before it expired this month! Azia asked Grammy for a pedicure for her birthday (which was in March) and we just barely managed to get organized enough to get it done. My mom graciously paid for both Emmy and Azia to get it done.

This was the first time they have done something like this and they were loving it! They loved the warm, bubbling water that their feet soaked in, the loofah scrub, leg massage and massaging chairs. It took them forever to pick their polish colours...not the best decision makers, but I let them make their own choices and tried not to steer them in one direction or another. Emmy picked a lovely blue and Azia chose a vibrant orangey-pink!

So we are all ready for sandals this summer! I'm not a fan of feet so you won't see mine, but the girls hands and feet looked so cute. Grammy took all of the pictures of us. We wished she would've been able to join us, but work always seem to be looming. It was a fun girls afternoon of pampering!

Are we doing something wrong?

These past couple of weeks have been a very trying time for me as a mother. I've been wondering if the kids are learning anything we are trying to teach them. They seem to have lost all of their manners, obedience, desire to listen to us at all and they've picked up these attitudes!

Azia screams and cries about everything...and I MEAN EVERYTHING! Parker has started to really push Cardiff's buttons. He purposely tries to get Cardiff in trouble. Cardiff's new favorite words are "NO! WAIT!" Not good when we are on a tight schedule. But Emmy has had an especially rough week or so. She has a bad habit of not following through with what we ask her to do. I find that I am repeating myself numerous times a day before she actually does what I ask. Cardiff requires repetition, but he is not quite 3 years old. Emmy is 10! It gets very frustrating! We have fairly simple rules...no clothes on the floor, clean up after yourself, listen to mom and dad, say "Sorry" when you do something wrong, etc. These are all very basic life lessons. However, Emmy sometimes refuses to follow these simple rules! She constantly has clothes on the floor because she changes her outfit 4-5 times a day. She complains that she has nothing to wear even though she has so many clothes, they don't fit in her dresser! Don't get me wrong, I do love her and she often has moments of pure love, helpfulness and good-doing, but we are in a rutt right now.

Even after a week of poor behaviour, she managaed to get Wayne to buy her a new bike! She promised to do better. But the piles of clothes still lay just inches from the dresser, the papers and junk still cover the floor (ohhhh, how I hate the junk!) and the repetition continues. So the other night, I decided to have a long talk with her about her poor choices (I'm sure she dreads these "talks"). Many tears were shed. She knows what she should do, she just doesn't do it. The next morning, I found her making these signs and putting them up around her room to remind herself of what needs to be done. I had to chuckle because she also included her own self-imposed punishments!

I admit that I am a pretty stern parent, but I believe you need to start while they are young. Emmy really is a great little girl, she just needs to focus and follow through. We have been blessed with 5 really well-behaved kids and I shouldn't complain. But am I doing something wrong? Or is is just a phase that they are going through? (I sure hope it is a phase!) I had someone ask how I get my kids to behave so well during church. "They all sit so quietly, are reverent and do well considering your husband does not get to sit with you." Well, we are far from perfect, but I am trying my best. I am always open to parenting suggestions!

"Use 'Em, Don't Lose 'Em"

OK, I know it seems like I do nothing but computer stuff all day, but I don't. The kids are in bed, Wayne is on the other computer and we are actually sitting next to each other for the first time today. I just have to write about my wonderful hubby and his determination.

One of Wayne's biggest pet-peeves is when the dish towel falls off of the handle of the oven. With 4 kids running around the kitchen, wiping who-knows-what on the towels, they usually end up on the floor at least 20 times a day. So tonight, Wayne had disappeared upstairs and I found him with a wire hanger and a couple of pliers. He was determined to rig up some sort of wire "clip" to keep the towels in place.

I have to admit that they do work! They aren't pretty, but they keep the towel in place. He was all to pleased with himself and his little contraption!

The Dances

Azia's Tap

Emmy and Azia's Jazz

Emmy's Hip Hop

Little Dancers

This weekend was Emmy and Azia's dance recital. It was a long week full of rehearsals, followed by 3 shows. The girls did wonderfully of course! This year Emmy took Jazz/Ballet and a Hip Hop class. Azia took a Tap/Ballet class and managed to get in on Emmy's Jazz class since she had to wait until her class was done before getting picked up. Their teacher was kind enough to let Azia join in and she eventually just became another member of the class.

(Pictures of Azia and Emmy with her friend Alicia Smid)

Both of the girls were also asked to participate in a special group number based on the poem by Lewis Carroll called "Jabberwocky." They rehearsed every Saturday for 2 hours for the last 6 weeks or so.

I'm going to try to post their dances once I get the files made smaller...hope it works. Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Some Family Fun

There is a month left of school for the girls, (they go right until the end of June) and the kids are already daydreaming about summer holidays. They were just itching to do something fun so we told them they could have a campout in our backyard. The only problem was that the last couple of weeks have been very WET! It has rained almost everyday for almost 2 weeks! So when the winds picked up and the skies clouded over, the kids knew that their campout in the yard was doomed. Thankfully, we have a large, open basement...perfect for an indoor campsite. (This is my style of camping...nice and warm, no bugs, indoor plumbing and MOVIES all night!) We set up our Woods EZ tent (the easiest 10-second set up tent in the world!) and let the kids have their fun! Good times!

While I'm on the topic of Family Fun...I came across a site for FABULOUS FHE Lessons (thanks Cianne). These are FHE lessons complete with a topic/theme, spiritual thought, song, lesson, activity and even a treat recipe! It really takes the guess work out of what to do for Family Home Evening. They are put out by Deseret Book and there are dozens of topics; from covering each of the Gospel Standards and Young Women Values to Scripture Stories and the Latter-day Prophets. If Family Home Evening is a struggle for you, check these out! They will take away all of the guess work and stress over lesson planning! (Print them off and put them in page protectors and binder to use time after time! Wouldn't this make a great Christmas gift for a family too?)

To Utah Again!

I really do love Utah. I really feel like it is our second home. We lived there for 4 wonderful years, Parker was born there, my sister Jade and her family are there and Wayne's brother Brian and family are there. We have so many friends in Utah and are there every 2-3 months! We just got back from our 2nd trip this year. In fact, this was Sawyer's 2nd trip and he is only 4 months old!

Our Utah trips can almost be scheduled out the same every time. Wayne heads off to the recording studio and blows a bunch of money. I head off to do some shopping and try to find the best, cheapest deals in town! I really am CHEAP! I have a difficult time paying more than $5.00 for any item of clothing or shoes because we've gotten so many deals where things have been less than that. Is that pathetic? I'll be the first to admit that I'm cheap...the better the deal, the more fun it is. My success in shopping is determined by how much we saved!

So here are some of my favorite UTAH things...
NPS (Market Square) - OK, so this store is totally ghetto! It is a discount store that sells odds and ends and out-dated, damaged goods. Some of my regular purchases are toothbrushes for $0.25-$0.79, cereal for $0.99 and Ben & Jerry's ice cream for $0.99!! If you don't mind ghetto, this is a really fun place to find deals!
JC Penny - This is our new favorite store for super clearance deals. There are often final clearance racks for 90% off the regular price! I've found some great stuff for the girls for less than stuff at a second-hand store!
The Danskin Outlet (in Draper) - I'm always having to buy the girls stuff for dance and it is so expensive here. At the outlet I can get it for a fraction of the price!
Ross Dress for Less - I'm not a big brand-name person, so this is a good place to find some good stuff. The only con is that you have to "dig" through racks of clothes to find it.
Macey's Grocery Store - Probably the one thing I miss the most is grocery shopping! I loved shopping at Macey's and their "Wall of Value". We just don't get the same kind of grocery deals here in Lethbridge!
Cafe Rio - This is usually the first meal we eat when we arrive. Love, love, LOVE the pork burrito (enchilada style) with a side of the creamy tomatillo dressing! I keep telling my parents they need to open one up here!
Jamba Juice - I'm always up for a good smoothie!


This was a very productive 4-day trip. Wayne was asked to perform some of his spanish songs at an outdoor concert in Murray. He had April Meservy and Miguel Garcia perform as well. It was a great opportunity to promote his Spanish CD "Me Convertire".

He also worked in the studio on his upcoming Christmas CD. These were some of the young kids from a local children's choir that he got to do some vocals on a couple of the songs. Emmy and Azia also sing on one of the songs.


We also had fun with Jade, Mike, Rhome and little Rhett. This was our first time meeting Rhett. He is 6 weeks old and already a little chunky monkey. Rhome sure loves his little brother! Cardiff and Rhome are two-of-a-kind, monkey-see-monkey-do, double trouble BOYS! Whatever one boy did, the other would copy! I think they will grow up to be good friends! They got along really well and had fun playing with each other and showing off their baby brothers to each other!

We spent an evening with Brian, Noi and their kids too. Great fun, great food (Noi has the best marinade in the world!) and great company. I think we see them more than we see any of Wayne's other siblings that all live within 2 hours from us!