Shillig 4 Family

I realized yesterday afternoon that I wanted to color eggs for FHE (family home evening) . I made some phone calls, ran to the store, and voila, INSTANT FHE ! It went great. We just had to keep the girls from drinking the vinegar/water solution and try and keep my white counter-tops from being turned a beautiful array pastel colors. Jordan lost interest after a little bit and preferred to watch CURIOUS GEORGE in the playroom. Deep down I wished my girls liked TV enough to watch CURIOUS GEORGE in the playroom. It was stressful keeping an eye on them while trying to make smoothies. Beau came home from Rugby practice just in time to join us. The smoothies we made were his choosing. He likes CIB (carnation instant breakfast) smoothies. The elders showed up and shared with Beau (and us). It was the perfect FHE lesson. Aimi Lark is DEFINITELY right handed. She ONLY had color on her right hand. We think Mali Su is a bit more ambidextrous because BOTH her hands were EQUALLY color...

We were watching an episode of LOST on the computer in our room. Noah Lubben calls and Jake tells him he'll call him back after the show is over. 10 minutes later there is a knock on our door. Guess who is back from his one month stint in EGYPT with the Air Force!? NOAH! It was so fun to catch up with Noah and his family. Asher (their son) and Malachi got to know each other with their father's encouragement. (don't mind Aimi Lark in the background without pants on...they were in bed already when we got the knock on our door)

I know I've said it before but it is SO MUCH FUN living near so much family! Yesterday we were leaving " Shillig Sunday Dinner" that Larkie hosted and Jordan was more than upset that we were leaving. We already had her car seat in our vehicle from an earlier hang-out that week so we said she could just come over. I have dreamed of this day where cousins get to just come over and play! It was just as fun and exciting as I had hoped. Jordan had fun, my girls had fun, it was good times had by all! Jake had to take some extra bedding down to our storage unit and the girls just HAD to join him. All that hard work made them REALLY thirsty. Then we had to throw away the bottles (which took FOREVER since they couldn't get the hang of throwing the bottles in). We rearranged our living room and then played on the porch. I like to be able to access our sliding glass door during the spring/summer but during the winter the couch is usually in front of the glass doors. Playi...

Started out with Malachi taking a nap in his high chair. I moved him to his bed and he angrily woke up. I guess sleeping upright was more comfortable. Brody takes our family STATE FARM soccer ball to warm up with. Jake's brother Nate is an agent here in Utah. Beau brought his Rugby ball and kept himself and Malachi well entertained. Having the games with playground equipment right near-by is wonderful! Malachi has never minded grass but I think it was the transition from the blanket to the grass that was getting him. He would begin to crawl off the blanket and lift up his hands looking confused. Finally he just took off crawling across the grass. Aimi Lark LOVED this little walk-way bridge/stepping stone type thing. She didn't get how to do it at first but she caught on quick. At one point there were tons of kids on them crossing each way. There was a boy across from her about to step on the same one she was and she said, "Excuse me, can you please move?" in...

so I might as well blog. The first night Jake was gone I slept wonderfully. A nice DEEP sleep without interruption. Last night I was not so lucky. Aimi Lark attempted to pull an all nighter so I was up til she went to sleep around 11:30PM. I sat and read way too many camera reviews while she watched Tarzan and followed by Pocahontas. Then my sweet son decided 4AM was when his all-you-can-eat breakfast was to start (I disagreed but fed him anyway). I put him back to bed (awake) and tried to fall asleep myself (yeah right). Aimi Lark decided being up before 6AM was the way to go, you know the old saying "late to bed, early to rise (while Daddy is gone) makes for one delirious Mama?" Yeah, I don't know that one either, it's just kinda how I feel at the moment. But here are some pictures I took yesterday with Kayla's camera. She has kindly let me borrow it when needed (and for me that is pretty much continually throughout the day). I am picture taking obse...

(field training exercise) He emailed me this picture today. I miss him. I'm excited because Luke is gone to AZ this weekend so Kaylene and William are coming over for dinner tonight! Husband-less wives LOVE company! Oh funny/long winded story: I took Kayla to work and since the kids were already loaded up (my mantra these days) I decided to make a much needed trip to Costco. When I got all three kids in the buggy the wind was blowing HARD. We went inside and shopped. I only spent half of what I expected to so I was feeling pretty good. THEN the box stuff up guy at the check-out said something about the weather. I looked outside and it was a BLIZZARD! I about died (or started crying right then and there). If you don't already know I DO NOT UNDER many circumstances shop alone, with kids, ever. I thought about "waiting it out" because it is a SPRING blizzard so those are supposedly short. But it looked like EVERYONE wanted to "wait it out" at the Costco ...

Today Jake told me how General Petraeus (4 star Army General and commander of the US Central Command) would be speaking at BYU. Kayla kindly came to our rushed/last minute rescue and babysat for us so I could meet up with Jake at BYU to take care of the flag detail and also be there for the speech. We first went to where Gen. Petraeus was having dinner. I spoke with Pres. Samuelson (President of BYU) as they were leaving dinner. He was so kind. I also watched from a few feet away as Gen. Petraeus shook the hands of the cadets of the BYU ROTC Sandhurst team. A full bird Col. told me to go in and take a picture with him but because of my fear of Army "what's ok and what's not ok" I chose not to and kicked myself for it for the rest of the night. Oh well because later, Jake and I both were extremely impressed by Ret. U.S. Army General Amos A. Jordan who introduced General Petraeus. Amos Jordan served as president of the Pacific Forum CSIS from 1990 to 1994 an...

BRODY! I am so excited for Brody to play soccer. His first game was today. He volunteered to play goalie for his team. I think that is quite a lot of pressure for any 12 year old but I am so proud of Brody! He will be such a great player for his team! Of course the girls were OBSESSED with the playground equipment that was near the field. Brody has another game on Saturday. These boys and their sports are definitely keeping me on my toes. I just wish Jake was not gone for some field training. I don't like standing on my toes, alone.

-A morning of playing at Larkie's house (after dropping Jake off at BYU). -Lunch at J-Dawg's (we were a sight to be seen...I think we made every college kid there want at LEAST 10 kids) (J-Dawg's-famous hot dog place by BYU, I think he won some entrepreneurial prize money from BYU to start his business and it took off). -A visit to the BYU duck pond (the girls (especially Mali Su who excitedly squealed and chased ducks) loved it). -Lots of errands in between = one GREAT day. -I will miss this.

Aimi Lark has come to love FANCY NANCY in the last two days. Yesterday she only answered to the name, Fancy Nancy. She kept telling us she was FANCY NANCY. Today she has relentlessly carried around her Fancy Nancy book. Talk about cute cute cute.

Last night Josh and Kayla babysat for us. We even left Malachi! We went to a movie and it was so wonderful to spend time just with Jake. He leaves for an Army field training tomorrow so it was a perfectly timed date. Everyday this week has been busy, busy, rush rush rush. Today was no exception. I had playgroup here this morning and I loved it! We had such a great turn-out. I love having people over at my house. I am so much more relaxed that way. I'd rather have company than to be company. During nap time Aimi Lark was a cute ball of energy so I decided to let her get up (and we left her siblings sleeping). I sat flipping through Jake's family cookbook from the Shillig Reunion in 2008 and stumbled upon a recipe from his Aunt Stacey. I have really wanted to try my hand at homemade cinnamon rolls and since I had the time (and the energy), I went for it! We first ground our wheat for our flour (we needed 10.5 cups). Aimi Lark was EXCELLENT at this part! (don't mi...

My DROID really cannot compete with a real point and shoot digital camera. Luckily my sweet mother is saving the day and offered to buy us a new camera. Feel free to give me some input on what camera would be a good one for us.

I walk into Zumba this morning... into a room full of Latins speaking Spanish. (makes sense, it is a Latin based dance class but I was the only white girl/non- Latin in the room at the moment) I begin to stretch (I just came from Spin class) and text Jake. In walks our instructor, a cute Asian girl. As the music starts up and the speaking in Spanish behind me continues. I cannot help but laugh to myself. Latin music playing, Asian teacher ( overly excitedly) teaching, and Latins behind me dancing/speaking Spanish. There I danced (not so gracefully) with the few other white girls. It was a FUN( ny ) morning in Zumba class. The workout was amazing though! Just for some more FUN( ny ) stuff in this post here are some pictures I took of us trying to get the kids into bed last night... (thanks Kayla for letting me borrow your camera...did I mention my video camera stopped working this week too?) Malachi goes down quite easily in his crib these days. But sometimes the girls find it nec...