Thanks for a great visit!

Tyler hamming it up. The rolled up piece of paper is his light saber.
All four kids. They are pretty wonderful, if I do say so myself.

Look at these cute boys! We were on a walk on the trail because a little after Joanne arrived we got a call and a real estate agent wanted to bring some clients for a showing. The story of our lives.

Ryan saw this picture and said: "I look like a chicken!" Tee hee, what a crack up.

And this picture just melts my heart!

Joanne came and it was so fun to see her again. Thanks for the great pictures!

Nobody Listens

This past weekend was Paige's musical theater debut. She played the role of Sam, the wedding planner's daughter in a retelling of The Emperor's New Clothes (quite a cute play, really). Sam is the "kid who knows the answers but. . .nobody listens to me," according to the words of her solo. Quite frankly, Paige knocked it out of the park. She was darling, confident, sang amazingly well and really stole the show. I lost track of how many people commented to me or Paul about how great she was.

We were so touched by our friends' support in coming to the show and being a part of this with us. We have the greatest friends! We were also so glad that Uncle Bryan came, even though his whooping and hollering was super loud (and embarassing to me and Katie!).

Thanks to those who sent her well wishes! Yeah for a fun experience!

Pictures coming soon, I promise.

Better things to do

I probably do have better things to do, but instead I'll blog about a few random things.
First, Ryan's birthday--great success, loads of fun. He is the easiest child to shop for, because if it is Star Wars related it is a hit. Highlights: golfing, lunch, and a trip to Game Stop (where he got to buy the Kung Fun Panda game and learn the valuable lesson of buying it second hand so you only spend $20 rather than the $50 at Target!). We've spent the weekend putting together Lego sets.
I love Legos, and I absolutely love putting the sets together. Simple, clear instructions, a reliable end result--nothing better. However--the little pieces make me anxious; not that we have kids that will choke on them anymore, just the idea of losing them! I hate losing things (major, major pet peeve of mine!) and it even bugs me to just lose one small part of a large lego set. We are already missing a shovel from the Indiana Jones set and it has caused me a disproportionate amount of stress. Get a grip Jeanne!
Conference was nice, but I have to honestly say that I look forward to sometime watching conference without feeling a lot of guilt. Not only do I end up feeling guilty about all the things I am not doing, or the things I am doing wrong, I end up feeling guilty for being distracted by legos, kids' quarrels, laundry. And the guilt of drifting off to sleep once I force myself to sit down and listen. Please don't bother giving me advice about this, because I guarantee I have probably already thought about it, it just doesn't work. (Grouchy, grouchy. . . )
One of the questions I asked myself during conference (it was 24 minutes into the Saturday morning session when the "living beyond your means" phrase came up): are we wrong to want to sell this house? Am I being materialistic, consumeristic? Am I trying to keep up with the Joneses? It is hard to answer, because I want to say that no, it isn't unreasonable to want a house with more than one bathroom for a family of 6; my husband works hard for the money he makes, and we can now afford a bigger, more expensive home, so shouldn't we do that? But then I remember the homes I visited in Russia--really, one ROOM apartments. And do you know how many really good people can say "Oh, I grew up in a small home with one bathroom and ## of siblings." My kids aren't being deprived, really, are they? Are my expectations, wants a little skewed?
Major highlight of the conference weekend: our good friends the Tanners came and had lunch with us in between conference sessions. It was good to visit with them, play games, eat a yummy lunch and then they went back to the stake center, and we turned the computer back on. I get such a kick out of how much both Tyler and Ryan adore President Tanner. And then we had yet another house showing.
So, time to gird up my loins, have a stiff upper lip, put my shoulder to the wheel and get ready for the regular school schedule to resume. Spring Break has been wonderful--best part: sleeping in. Am I ever going to feel like I get enough sleep? (And I say feel, because I do get enough sleep, it just never feels like it!) Don't answer that, because I know the answer, but a girl wants to dream.