The basement

I figured it was time to write again in the blog. We are getting our basement finished and I must say it is quite the process. We hired out, because basically, we wanted it done and Robert nor I have any skills in that department. It is also nice to give people a job during this hard economic time. They framed it when we were out of town at the Grand-daughter's weekend. That was the beginning (after Robert and some boys in the ward moved all the stuff out of the basement to the garage). In no particular order, we've had the electricians, plumbers, sheet rockers, finishing carpenter, painters, the carpet layers are coming to measure some time soon, and I am sure I have missed some people, specifically the framers and our contractor who has been in and out frequently. Needless to say, I stopped breast-feeding Evan about two weeks ago to make things more comfortable for all those involved. It looks really good down there but I am getting anxious for it to be finished. It was also fun to hide Easter eggs and baskets downstairs because it was raining pretty hard at the time we were supposed to hide them outside.

On another note, Robert is still working at ES Squared as an engineer, but sadly, some of his friends over there were laid off this week. Good Luck to all of them that need to find new jobs. They are in our thought and prayers. Life is Good!

The wind storms in Idaho Falls are something else....

I wish I would have gotten a picture, but I didn't want to lose sight of this strange but hilarious object floating in the sky. Yes, it was our light weight playhut school house that got caught up in a sudden wind storm. We decided it was not too windy outside, matter of fact not too much wind at all for Idaho Falls, and the kids were tired of playing with their three toys that were out due to the renovation of the basement. So, we let them take their little (about 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet tall) light-weighted material playhouse outside.

They were mostly done playing with it except for my two year old, Hyrum. He was inside it. I was hulling strawberries at the sink when I heard Hyrum scream and then I heard the wind. I dropped the strawberries in the sink and quickly ran to the back door just in time to see the hut (it is like a tent without a bottom) fly over the top of our house (thankfully the little kids umbrella was a bit heavier). I ran through the house to the front door to see the hut already across the street, still in the air, with some very curious on lookers. The hut then flew over another house, above the wires, mind you, and across another street. I had no shoes on and I was trying to chase it down. There was really nothing I could do but wait for it to land. It landed in the middle of the street and almost got run over a couple times. It was pretty far away and I didn't know what to do. Finally, someone else in a car that had seen the whole thing went to go get it for us. What's a girl to do? I am thankful for the kind stranger who saw the plight of a helpless mom and rescued our little playhut.

Pictures I Promised

Here are some pictures from the weekend we spent at Nana and Papa's house. This first one is of Hannah dressing up. I love to see her cute smile.





The picture to the right is of Aunt Andrea and the nieces in their new hats. (Jaycen, Molli, and Hannah)



This picture was taken at Temple Square on Saturday......









...And this picture was taken the next day in Nana's backyard.

Grand-daughters Weekend

This past weekend was a whirlwind of events and it's good to be back home. My mom wanted all of her grand daughters to come to Salt Lake for the weekend and I think it worked out well. My niece Jaycen came in from California and my niece Miriah couldn't make it from Texas, we missed her. I came down from Idaho and dropped my two boys off in Hyde Park to spend the long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Esplin. Robert stayed in Idaho Falls to work and "supervise" the work on our basement.

We stayed one night at a Marriott in downtown Salt Lake and the kids were so amazed at the "fanciness" of the hotel. I even got a hotel room all to myself, and my baby Evan, while the girls shared Nana's room. We went swimming, went out to dinner, relaxed, took the Trax to the Joseph Smith Memorial building, and walked on Temple Square. It was a georgeous day and I am glad my sister Andrea was there to help with the day, the who weekend actually.

On Sunday I played my violin with my mom at the piano in her ward. On Monday is when we decided to head back home and there was at least six inches of new fallen snow on the driveway that we had to get around before heading back. I will post some pictures of the weekend later.

Our basement is looking great and I am excited that it is getting finished.

Hannah's turn

I was just catching up on other people's blogs and came across Mark and Christy Weaver's blog. Their oldest, Caleb, was born on the exact day as Hannah and she told of a cute story that happened the other day to him and it reminded me of something Hannah had said a while ago that I wanted to write on this blog anyway. Christy's story of Caleb went something like this:
"...then he said something surprising. He told me he wanted to go to heaven and be in the fire. I tried to ask him about it to get some idea of where he got that from, but he just kept saying he wanted to go to heaven and be in the fire. Maybe he knows or remembers something about heaven that I don't know? Not unlikely. He got quiet for a little while and then he said, "sometime I want to hold Jesus." It was such a sweet moment. My heart filled with love and compassion for him and I wanted him to be able to be held and comforted by Jesus too. " Okay, that came right from her blog, I copied and pasted. I hope she doesn't mind. This was the comment I sent back to her about Hannah: "...as you might remember, my Hannah was born on the exact day as Caleb and I wrote something in my journal a bit ago about what she said one day. She said, "When I see Heavenly Father, I'll tell Him." First of all, we weren't even talking about Heavenly Father at that moment so I had no idea where she was going with that. So I casually said, "Tell Him what?" and she replied, "Tell Him that I love Him." What kids say these days. I just thought I would share that with you. Have a good day. -D'Lynne :)"

I think three year olds, almost four year olds, are very in tune with the spirit and we just need to let them teach us something every once in a while. Hannah is a great help around the house and she will make a wonderful mother someday.

Well, day three of Robert in Texas, what's a girl to do with five kids and a computer? Try to get the kids off of the computer so she can have a turn. Hence the reason I am blogging at 11:03 pm. Because Hyrum was being such a pill today, I thought I would write a bit about him. Saturday night he burped at the table and the rest of us looked at him expectantly for him to say, "excuse me." Thus he did but it came out like this, "Excuse me, dude." I couldn't help but to laugh. Where did he pick that one up? We still don't know. The cutest thing he says recently is, "delicious!" He even thinks his pretend food is "delicious." And finally, my favorite thing he says is, "Thanks, Mom." The other kids hear him say it and they remember that it is a good thing to say so they follow his lead. Did I mention that he just turned two? Hyrum really is a sweet two year old, just don't mess with his nap schedule and he does just fine.

I guess I better go to bed before the kids wake up so I will have at least some sleep.

I could listen to that all day

Yesterday was quite the day. I helped (in a lose sense of the word with four kids) set up the Relief Society room at 10:00am for our enrichment activity last night. At 1:30pm I went to the elementary school to watch an assembly on NED (Never give up, Encourage others, and Do your best) The yo yo man did a great job and even today one of the teachers said it was the best assembly she has ever been to since she has been an educator. After the assembly I took Molli home and rested a bit and changed clothes then went back to the school for a PTO meeting. The meeting actually went really well and ended in under an hour! While resting a bit at the house, I could hear Michael, Hannah, and Hyrum laughing and laughing. It sounded wonderful. I could listen to that all day.

Following the meeting, I went over to the church again to help set up the gym for our dinner. I felt like I was more help this time around. Setting up literally took up to the minute of when the activity was supposed to start. I finally got to sit sown when I was eating my dinner. I was in good company. We laughed almost the whole time we were eating dinner.

Next came the program. I was involved in this as well. Alanna and her friend wrote the program about a year ago and she was excited to put it on. It was narration and singing and I played my violin in a number. I practiced two times before we performed, but I said extra prayers that day that all would go well, and thankfully, it did. After my violin number of More Holiness Give Me arranged by Marshall McDonald, I sat down and Tara leaned over to me and said, "I could listen to that all day." I was very grateful she had said that. It made the program all the nicer. Now I will be playing that piece with Jessica again on Easter. Life is Good.