to remember

I want to remember how Layla cannot keep her hands off of any baby that she comes in contact with lately.  Seems like we've seen a surge of babies around us, and she strokes their faces, noses, eyes and probably drives the mother's crazy (in fact, I'm sure she does).

I want to remember how Ellery and Layla were sitting behind us in church- invited to hold the new baby in that row-  and how somehow the topic of freckles came up and as my girls each pointed to every freckle or mole they have, Ellery whispered to the new mother, "And I have one here on my leg, and it has a hair coming out of it."

I love how this morning, perhaps in a moment of nostalgia- McKay had the idea for all the kids to pretend they were my dogs, just like when they were little.  I named them all and McKay worked hard to put a fort-cage together for them to live in.  Ellery did tricks, Layla licked me and McKay crawled around on his hands and knees.  It made me smile, but also sad, to think how pretty soon he will be way too old and cool to do something like that.

I want to remember how McKay is trying out for some club soccer teams this week, and today it's all he wanted to talk about.  I know this boy, and I know that a hundred questions can only mean one thing:  he's nervous.  I think he's gonna do great, but I must admit, I'm nervous too.  This is a big step for us and our schedule.

I want to always remember how affectionate my little Layla is.  Almost too much so, but feeling those sweet little lips on mine, or all over my face, really, is just about one of the best feelings out there.  She loves to show her love through kisses and I don't mind, although I do have to draw the line at princess kisses.  You should only do those with a prince.  Another thing I always want to remember about her is how she shows affection by rubbing her hand on your neck.  She gently moves her hand up and down my neck, often with a compliment on how soft my skin is.  If she does this to you, you know you are loved by that girl.

I want to always remember McKay practicing for the 3rd grade talent show with his friends.  I never thought McKay had much rhythm...but he surprised me and was the leader of the choreography!

I want to remember how Ellery looks as she walks into my room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and hops in bed to snuggle right next to me.  She takes a long time to wake up in the morning, and is usually the last one up, so it's a treat when I get to snuggle her in bed like I did this morning.  She's been my best sleeper and snuggler all her life!

april in photos

A pretty good idea of how to eat raspberries.

Easter Egg Hunt 2015

Ellery giving Layla a foot rub.

One morning Layla and I said goodbye to Brian as he went on a run.  A few minutes later he walked back through the door with blood running down his leg.  He had tripped and fallen off the curb.  Layla was very concerned and helped him bandage himself up and off he went again.

A common way to spend our afternoons is taking the bike down to the church as this girl rides around and around.  She flies down the hill (usually with a helmet on) and screams "Whoooooooooo!'  the whole way down.  She is fearless and it scares me.

Ellery holding our neighbor's new baby, Reagan.  She couldn't get enough.

Grovecrest 5K

McKay ran with Granddad this year and they did awesome.  He pushed himself and of course Granddad was there to motivate him to push even harder.  

Ellery ran with Brian and she did great too!  We were so proud of them for working so hard.  They had trained with Brian the weeks leading up to the race and it was great to see them accomplish a goal.

The running crew, plus their number one fan.

Brian's truck is the preferred mode of transportation these days, especially if they can all jump in the back like this.  Look at my son's hair.

Layla and her cousins at the Dinosaur Museum.  We bought a pass to Thanksgiving Point and I think it will be nice for us to have somewhere fun to go during the day- especially next school year.

We celebrated Grandma and Granddad's 30th wedding anniversary.  We are sure happy those two got married and started such a wonderful family.  

We hiked up to the hot pots for family home evening one night.  It was awesome- all the kids did great.  Layla was especially impressive as she led the way and hiked at an incredible pace for a four year old.  We loved the hot pots and thankfully didn't see any questionable characters while we were up there.  We did have to sit in the water with some dogs, which was kinda gross.  Some of the pots were so hot that we nearly got burned.  

I got to go on a field trip with the first grade to the Bean Museum.  We had a good little group and they had fun roaming the museum.  I love being able to do this with my kids, at least once in awhile.  It's so fun to see them in their school environment.  We had lunch at a park afterwards.

mon-thurs

It's the end of May and school is nearly out.  I am counting down the days until summer because life is so crazy right now and I cannot wait for it to slow down, get a little lazy around here, and do many things around our house and yard that have had to be neglected.  Do what we want to do, instead of what we have to do.  It sounds nice.  But with that in mind, I've decided I want to record our happenings in a typical week this year.  Since McKay is trying out for a club soccer team and we are trying to figure out some more serious for Elle with gymnastics (she's so ready for more!) so I have a feeling that this schedule will look like a cake walk compared to next year.

MONDAY:  Laundry day, McKay Piano @ 5pm, FHE

TUESDAY: Layla Dance @ 4pm, Ellery Dance @ 5pm

WEDNESDAY:  McKay Scouts @ 4pm, McKay Soccer Practice @ 5pm, Ellery Gym @ 5:15 pm, Ellery Soccer Practice @ 6:30pm 

THURSDAY:  Layla Swim @ 11:30- Free Afternoon!  This is the day the kids can schedule play dates with non-neighborhood friends.

The weekend is filled with a couple soccer games each, and whatever else we have going on.  

spring break staycation 2015

Since Brian only gets Spring Break off every few years, we have to just find things to do around here most of the time.  

Discovery Park with the Sundbergs

Layla and Jude

Ellery and Nash

McKay took a spin on this little thing for awhile.  Soon after we left, and McKay didn't feel so well in the car.  In fact, he requested a bag to throw up in, and he delivered.  Poor guy.  He kind of felt sick the rest of the day and has sworn off that little spinner for good.

We went to Swig to get a treat before going down to BYU with Jenn and Darrell and their kids.  These guys loved the swings.

The crew at the museum.  We even walked over the bridge to another art exhibit on campus.  

Thanksgiving Point with the Fuehrer crew.  I love how even these older boys came.  

thoughts on a sunday

• I'm sitting here thinking, "who blogs?" and sometimes when it comes up in conversation (rarely) I laugh that I'm still at it.  But where else am I supposed to keep this record.  It's the easiest place.  I wish I made time to do more of my thoughts, but that's hard for me to keep up. But here I am, today!

• Today in Relief Society we had such an amazing lesson on the Word of God.  The scriptures.  I heard many things that inspired me and helped me want to do better.  We discussed Lehi's dream, which I have been thinking about a lot lately.  It's just...well, it's happening right now.  All of it.  It's so easy to compare and assign symbolism in life happening right now and that dream.  

• We talked about how sometimes we make things more complicated than they really are.  I thought about how holding tightly to the rod, with both hands, is really all we have to do.  There are distractions all along the way, but if we hold on we will make it.  It's very simple, and hard.  But simple.  Other things make it seem complicated, but it's not.  

• Another great thought is that the scriptures, basically God's declarations, are our most powerful weapons.  Oh I need to remember this.  I need to do better and discovering the scriptures for myself and making them a priority.  That's a hard one for me, always has been.  It was good to hear that certain blessings come ONLY through the scriptures.  I may being doing good at a lot of other things, but if I'm leaving that one thing out, I am missing out.

• Another thought I have been having a lot lately is how my prayers are being answered.  Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like they are not.  But then I have to remember that the Lord answers in small and simple ways.  And often very quietly.  I pray often for inspiration regarding my children.  I realized this week that I have been touched by the spirit by way of warning against potentially harmful things for my children.  Not once, but several different times about several different things.  That is what I am praying for, and I hadn't put it together that those warnings were answers to that prayer.  I am grateful to realize this.  I am grateful to have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide me and help me know.

• Ellery is addicted to cart wheeling.  She does it on the road- in the middle of the filthy street- without a thought.  She does it on dirt paths, driveways, kitchen floors, stairs, and decks.  She cannot stop.

• Sometimes I look at McKay and I see how much he is growing up.  He is such a good and nice boy.  He has had some struggles with anxiety this year, and maybe always, but it was particularly bad in January.  Things have improved a lot since then, mostly due to the fact that we were made aware of situations going on at school with another student, and being able to pinpoint that a lot of his difficult behavior was from anxiety.  That is a story for another day, but I just wanted to say that he is working hard and doing better and I love him.  

• Layla gave a talk in church today, and I hope I can always remember the sound of her high little voice in that microphone.  Sometimes I wish I didn't hear it so often, when she's shrieking around the house, but in talk-mode, it was pretty adorable.  I actually am quite acustomed to her shrill voice, and only notice it occasionally.  And when that happens, I wonder how every one around her who is not so used to it is doing.

• I will end with my favorite story of this week.  In the middle of the night, as I'm sound asleep, I suddenly hear a tiny panicked voice call out, "I'm gonna throw up!"  I sat straight up in bed and tried to form my first thought into words.  "Okay, throw up in your...."  I could not think of a single thing for them to aim into from their bed.  "Throw up in your...quilt"  A blanket, afterall, can be tossed in the washer.  It was the best I could do at 2 a.m.  As soon as I got that out of my mouth, I flew out of bed, determining I might have time to catch it!  I ran into the girls room, threw on the light and dove for the barf bowl that is kept under the bed.  With the bowl in my hands, I shoved it into Ellery's face and immediately got angry/concerned that she was still lying down.  She was supposed to be aiming for the quilt!  It was then that I looked in her sleepy, squinty eyes and realized that she had been sound asleep.  She was confused and a bit startled at me having jammed a big blue bowl in her face and I quickly apologized to her, just as I noticed McKay hunched over the toilet in the bathroom.  Wrong kid.  Oops.  But when someone claims they're gonna throw up, Elle is my go-to gal.  

• He did not throw up after all.  False alarm.

Happy Sunday.

march pictures

Puzzle day where Layla did every puzzle we had.

Ellery has been great at reading to Layla.  This is a joy that I never anticipated.  Elle gets her reading done, and Layla gets read to.  How great is that?!

I have recently been into making pavlova- and when I was assigned to make dessert for Sunday dinner with the Matthews, I decided to practice my merengue.  Brian and I each decorated one and asked the kids to judge which they thought was prettier.  This was torture for Ellery, as she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.  But, I mean, you can tell who wears the face of defeat.  Can't win them all, Bri.

 Teacher Appreciation Week was in March, and I did another door- this time for Ellery's class.  It was a lot of work...but fun and it turned out like I had hoped.

The Art Extravaganza was also in March.  Here is Mack showing off his work of art!

And Elle with her cute little alien guy.

March Maddness was serious business around here- as you can tell by McKay filling out his bracket.  It was quite stressful for him.  He got second place in our family, and was thrilled to have beaten Brian.  Duke delivered for me- which means I get to pick myself out a prize.

St. Patrick's Day green dinner.  I randomly picked up those green drinks for the kids, and Brian quickly noticed that they were called Fruit Shoot.  He had quite a good time coming up with all sorts of jokes with that.  The kids, of course, think he is hilarious and I am constantly having to remind him that they repeat the things that he says and does.  I don't know how it's so hard for him to remember this when it comes to potty humor, but it's a real struggle.

In preparation for hosting a dinner for Missionary Month, we got out all of Brian's New Zealand stuff...which turned into going through Brian's box.  It was cute walking in on them surrounding him looking at all his treasures.

It can be boring sometimes with the kids in school all day, but if I get this girl into some water of some sort, she is good to go.  This day we did a cooking show and she helped me chop fruit for dinner, and then she spent an hour doing the dishes.  

This is the first funeral I did in my new calling as compassionate service leader.  It was for a veteran in our ward who died from ALS.  His wife isn't a member and this was a great way to show her support and love.  She was really happy with the luncheon and the patriotism that was displayed.  This happened to be the same day that we hosted some young women in our ward for Missionary month.  Brian was supposed to do my friend Tamara's epidural- he just happened to be on OB on her induction date- but I asked him to trade for an early shift, since I had this funeral, plus feeding the girls that night.  It was a good decision.  I was at the funeral luncheon for several hours, while he was at home taking care of dance and groceries and cooking most of the dinner.  

I didn't get a picture of the table- in which I used for the first time ever, Brian's New Zealand stuff he brought home from his mission.  But it turned out cute.  We had a lamb roast (which was a bit on the rare side), root vegetables, sliced white bread and a fruit salad.  All of which are as close to New Zealand family dinners as we could come up with.  And of course pavlova for dessert.  

I must say, this was extremely stressful.  I was at the church cleaning up until 6:40, and the girls arrived for dinner at seven.  It put a lot of stress on Brian, and really we just weren't as prepared as we would have liked to be.  But there was nothing we could do about it, and the girls got fed and it was a good experience for them... I hope.  They were sweet.  In the pic above, we were doing a Tim Tam slam.  

This is quite the hairdo, a result from  her "Ugly Day" hairdo at preschool.  She thought it was fantastic.

Layla has swimming every Thursday.  We usually play with Jana and her kids afterwards.  This was a fun day at the park.

Waking this child up in the morning is my first difficult task every day.  He is not a morning person, Monday-Friday.  This is the "lay on top and squish him" method.  It is mildly effective.

I love when I drive by the school at the right time and see this cute girl and her friends at recess.  Often times if I pull over, she will be near the fence and run over to say hello.

My parents, Layla and I went to lunch at Masa.  I had heard good things about it, so I dragged my parents there as we were running errands together.  It was a really long, unanticipated wait, and the food was not good at all.  We laughed about it during and after, but I also was really annoyed.  We live and learn, I guess.

I cannot keep this monkey off the counter.  It's like her little perch.  Here she is eating the flesh off of mango skins.  She really is a monkey.  And sucking the leftovers from mango skins is something that gets her very excited.  Excited enough that simply sitting on a stool is not acceptable.  

warm weather trip 2015 (aka, the family reunion)

I usually make a book of our Disneyland trips, and I still plan to do it...but just in case I don't get to it, I thought a post on here wouldn't hurt.

It was in the Fall when I decided that our family was just at too good of a stage to not go to Disneyland for our warm weather trip...even though we went there the year before.  I told Brian and it's not very hard to talk him into going to Disneyland.  He mentioned it to Darrell, and much to our surprise, they were interested in coming with us, and adding a race in St. George to the trip.  Of course McKay, Adele and Marilyn are always on board when someone's going to the happiest place on earth, so we were happy that they were coming too!  At this point we all talked about making this the reunion for 2015, but it wasn't working out for everyone else, so we left it at that.

Except...somehow...all the stars aligned at the very last minute and suddenly everyone was in!  And it did become the 2015 Matthews Family Reunion!  It was so exciting and a real dream come true for us all to be there together.  It's a trip we will remember forever and cherish that we got to experience such a fun trip as a whole, big family.

We started with going to the race expo and then dinner at Brick Oven.  It was crowded and we waited a looooong time, but still fun.  

The next morning was the race and Brian, Darrell and McKay made us proud.  The race was held at Staheli Farms and the kids had so much fun playing around on the "farm playground" equipment- including a rope swing off of hay bales (with a pig sleeping soundly underfoot), slides, teeter-totters and other fun things.  

After the race we headed off to Glitter Hill, which was an amazing activity that the kids loved.  They all collected about a hundred rocks.  

After that, the men took the kids swimming and the ladies shopped for a bit.  Pioneer Park, or as we call it, Red Rock Park, was next and we all had fun climbing and exploring the red rocks.  Except Marilyn.  I'm not sure she had fun hobbling around, but she was a trooper to try.  My favorite moment from this was when Alex had a car full of little boys who all suddenly needed to go #2, headed for the bathroom.  

Next up, in this marathon day, was dinner at Denny's- where kids ate free!- and although it wasn't very quick, it was the perfect restaurant for such a big, rowdy group.  Dinner was followed by the St. George temple visitors center.  I didn't think we could do it, but we got every activity we planned done.  

The next day we drove the rest of the way to California, where we got settled into our cute little house, and met the rest of the family.  

There are entirely too many pictures of our time in California, but here are a bunch of my faves.

This little thing was afraid of nothing!  She surprised me by going on everything from Tower or Terror to Star Tours and Space Mountain.  She loved all of them.

It was so fun being around the cousins who lived far away.  I could watch Iris all day long- she's such a cutie.  And I loved watching Rock casually join other families- such a friendly little guy.  McKay especially loved playing with him.

In an effort to entertain in probably the longest line we waited in (Toy Story) the kids took the sour ball challenge.  They were all pretty brave.  I was lucky because Wayne chose me to go on this ride with.

Pin trading was something we had never done before, but it ended up being such a fun part of this trip for all the kids (and some adults).  

Back at the house we had fun relaxing and talking after our busy days.  Yoga-like practicing and watching zit/ingrown hair videos on youtube were some of the highlights.

Adele and Layla's first time on Tower of Terror.  

Beach Days

I don't know if it was the weather, the company, or the beach we went to, but this was our best beach experience yet.  The kids stayed busy for hours- playing in the water and the sand.  

The first beach day was spent at Newport Beach.  This is McKay as a mermaid.

I am actually heartbroken because I had some amazing pictures of Ellery doing cartwheels on the beach- the water and sun behind her.  I took some really beautiful shots of her.  But somehow they are no where to be found.  The only solace I have is that we are going to a beach in July and I can take some more.  

We went to Little Corona Del Mar for our second beach day.  There were tide pools and the kids had fun collecting shells, crabs and sea creatures.  We even saw a seal bobbing around in the water.  

This was the day that we had to say goodbye to the cousins...which was sad.  It was so fun having all these kids together.

I guess the perfect end to a perfect trip would probably be this gigantic ice cream sundae that we shared at Farrell's.

Such a fun reunion.  I'm so happy we could make these precious memories as a family.  We are lucky to belong to such an amazing one!