Once upon a time it was April…

6 weeks ago.  I can’t even remember what happened. 

Oh no!  I just looked at my pictures folder and there are, like, 6, and they are all of Easter.  This is going to be sparse.

We decorated eggs and went easter egg hunting and it was a very lovely sunny day (which is ALWAYS a blessing here in Spokane).  Ryan had us on a mean budget and so I didn’t even get to buy new Easter clothes so no Easter Sunday pictures.  Here are some the activities we could afford (just kidding, Ryan):

 

We had playgroup at our house, with a Spring theme and it actually was Spring-ish (note the blossoms), so thank you, Mother Nature, because playgroup is A LOT more fun when you can go outside.

I just texted Ryan, asking for pictures from his phone and this is what he sent:

(he was King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon for a primary activity)

and we went to the Museum of Arts and Culture and looked at their Native American exhibit and their VERY COOL impressionism exhibit. (Can I just say:  my kids are superstar museum goers, especially Gabe.  They totally listen and go slowly while I explain stuff.  I love it.  I always feel like an awesome mom when we go.)

After he sent me those two pictures, he texted:  “I don’t have much from April”

and I said  “Me neither”

and then he replied “Take a picture of a soccer ball, cause that’s all we did.” 

Which is true.

Except we also (and by we, I mean, Faith) thought our Sonicare needed airing out and decided to leave it on the front porch for a day or so.  That’s worth taking a picture of…

And Gabe continued to swim:

And Emma, Jane and Seth all did after-school running programs (wonder where they get that interest?), but I have no pictures of it, except this one of Gabe and Seth cheering Emma on at her first meet.

 

And Faith is funny and her favorite thing to do is play “castle”, which is just a more elitist form of house.  The BEST is when she plays with Ryan…he lays on the couch and she walks around telling him all of the stuff they are "doing” (“Okay.  You be the PrinTH and I am your Printhess and mom is da queen.  And we go on our hortheth, with our pretty dretheth.  But you don’t wear a dreth, wight dad?)  He always has some pretty hilarious additions, but my favorite is how she is completely satisfied with him just lying there while she spins her fantasy world.

So that’s April.  The End.

Mothers Day Bests

1. When I realized that Emma snuck out with Ryan at 11:00 Saturday night to buy me these flowers.

2. When Jane said her favorite thing to do with me is "read scriptures in the morning". I love it, too, and am glad it's a happy time for her.

3. Seeing how much Gabe really cared about making sure he could make me breakfast this morning. Things were running really late before church and he was pretty bummed when we told him we'd have to do his muffins and scrambled eggs for lunch. I could tell he really wanted to do something special.

4. When, in church today, an older mother whose son had gotten married this week spoke of the joy she had felt all week and she bore testimony that she knew it was a result of the daily efforts...trying over and over again to teach and love her children. It was just what this mother needed to hear today.

5. When I came home from choir practice to a slightly chaotic dinner preparation. Finally Ryan said "I'm sorry. I need your help. It's really hard getting all of this ready". Honestly, just having him admit that the thing I do every day was difficult for my super capable husband...made me feel valued and accomplished.

6. Skype-ing with my mom and sister...total craziness but everything that woman says and does makes it clear that she loves me and she loves my kids.

Good day.

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How to be a Great Mom (By Ryan)

Moms are great each in their own way.  On this Mothers Day I wanted to share 3 things that make my mom a stellar one.

1.)  My mom can do anything.  When there is something ... anything to be done, my mom just does it.  She doesn't whine or complain or wait for someone to come save her, she just rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.  Having a mom teach you this everyday of life through her constant steady example is invaluable.  Thank you mom.

2.) My mom is selfless.  My mom isn't happy unless she is helping someone else.  As a child I watched her make meals for sick friends, pack boxes for people who were moving and scrub the home of a friend that just needed a little extra help. 

As a twelve year old boy, I had a paper route. Often my mom would come help me with the task of rolling and rubber banding 180 newspapers.  I cherished the help at the time as it saved me from a task that I hated.  But it wasn't until recently that it came into perspective how kind and selfless this was of her.  Here was a tired mom of 7 rowdy and obnoxious children  who went to bed at midnight and woke up at 5am taking 30 minutes of her 5am hour to help her son do something he could and should do by himself.  I now appreciate the generous act many times more than I appreciated the help with my job when I was twelve.  Thank you mom.

3.) My mom is kind.  I am sure that my mom had people in her life that annoyed her or rubbed her the wrong way.  I think we all do at one time or another.  However, I never knew about them.  My mom didn't gossip about people when they weren't around, she didn't make mean comments about the people she interacted with when she talked with friends.  She chose to be kind.  I didn't know it but she instilled in me a discomfort with rude personal attacks because they were absent from my life.  I didn't see them occur or happen to overhear them as I was near her.  I appreciate her teaching me the value of living a kind life.  Thank you mom. 

We never do this. Okay, ONE of us never does this.

A month or two ago, one of my oldest best friends, Tammy, emailed me about coming to visit.  Adrianne, my OTHER oldest best friend, was coming to see her during the weekend of Tammy’s baby shower.  They both thought I should come too.  Of course, I said yes.  I’ve learned over the years that spending time and money to let someone know how important they are to you is always worth it.  One reason we’ve stayed friends for more than 20 years is because we make these kinds of efforts to be together at important times.

So I was all set to go.  And then…we were at dinner with our friends, the Beykirchs.  Kevin began to talk to Ryan about a Southern California sailing trip some guys were putting together.  They wanted him to come.  “I can’t”, Ryan said, “It’s the same weekend as Jessica’s Girls Trip”.  And then the craziest thing happened:  Melissa, Kevin’s wife, said, “I will watch your kids.  All 5 of your kids.  And all 4 of mine.  And my brand new puppy.  All by myself because my husband will be off surfing with your husband in Sunny California.” (So, I added those last few sentences.  But that’s actually what she was saying.  And everyone needs to know the magnitude of what she volunteered to do.)

Here is a list of the things Ryan does his best to avoid:

1.  Spending money on himself

2.  Putting people out

3.  Getting scratches on his car from the handlebars of kids bikes.

This trip was obviously going to require him to do 2 of the 3.  I thought he’d never do it.  That’s why, when I got the trip itinerary via email, I gasped out loud in Target.  I couldn’t believe it.  I got 3 texts from friends within 2 days expressing the same shock. 

So while Melissa (with some help from other devoted friends) wrangled all of our kids, I did this:

(hiking in the Oakland hills)

(lots of GOOD food eating)

(pedicures)

(at the baby shower)

 

and Ryan did this:

(christening the boat)

(surfing…and breaking the board)

(runs on the beach)

(navigating…when he wasn’t trying not lose his lunch due to seasickness)

 

And Melissa has qualified for sainthood.

Thanks to the friends who invited and organized and stayed home with our kids, so that we could have a fun, girls/guys bonding weekend at the same time!

On the advent of spring

I love where I live.  I think I’ve said that many times.  Spokane has so many things going for it (no traffic, good schools, beauty, low cost of living, neat communities), that we all just overlook the weather.  And when I say overlook it I mean we deal with it, but feel very free to complain about it…mostly in March, April and May.

Because in Spokane, spring sucks.  It’s gray and cold and rainy and while every holiday, every news report, every clothing advertisement tells you it’s warmish and pinkish and sunny…in Spokane, it’s not.

Except for a few days here and there.  And when those days happen…it’s like you live in Disneyland or something.  Because everyone is so happy and everyone is outside and the grills are going and the parks are full and the shorts come out and you feel like you just got a free vacation or something plopped in your lap.

It happened here last week.  We had a week of sun and temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s. So the Romneys…

1. Got out their new summer clothes.  My kids are so much cuter in their new, non-ripped, non-stained clothes.

2.  Had 5 meals outside (in the backyard, at the park, at the soccer field).

3.  Ran and biked like crazy in SHORTS!

4.  Walked to church and back.

5.  Hiked Tubbs Hill and ate on the deck of the Coeur d’alene resort.

6.  Pointed out every blossom and tulip and daffodil that came across our path (life again! instead of bare limbs and yellow grass!)

7.  Grew a whole bunch of cute freckles.

8.  Had a hard time getting much done because when it’s that nice, you really just think you need to play.

We are back to the 50s (but still sunny! yay!) and back in our long-sleeves, but that week was the shot in the arm we needed to get us all the way to late June…which is when real summer starts around here. 

Quick Quote

 

Seth: P_________ is kind of the class clown.  But I don’t really like his jokes.  Because they are mostly about caffeine….and your tush.

 

NOT CAFFEINE!  NOT YOUR TUSH!!

March!

So in March we had St. Patrick’s Day:

And went to Utah for vacation.  Here’s us at the zoo:

Seth was in love with my cousin Rachel (who is 4):

I took the big kids to a live session of General Conference, which was a neat experience:

We got to hang out with baby Molly (Sam and Stephanie’s first baby).  Gabe was very feisty about getting his turns…it was pretty cute.

We stayed with Aunt Betsy for a night and had fun at Hunger Games and at this play place with this crazy ropes course.

We ate tons of food (here at Sweet Tooth Fairy)

and got to tour the church I went to when I was 4-5 (built 114 years ago!) and saw my old house.

And apparently that’s all we did, because I have pictures of nothing else.

 

How about a little review of each kid, for journaling’s sake?

Emma is doing well.  She had a little bump in the Doing All My Assignments road (exactly like last year) but she got back on track quicker than last year, so that’s progress, right?  She is in the Spokane Area Children’s Chorus and they had their first concert last month (right while we were in Hawaii, so no pictures!).  She’s also started track, which we are pleased about.  She is a girl with lots of athletic ability and little interest.  But she’s realized she’s fast and has decided to try to be a sprinter.  Fun!  She’s pretty even-keel, even as a teenager, but there are still friend dramas that come up.  After reviewing this paragraph, she seems like a pretty normal girl!

Gabe is at a good stage as well.  It’s fun to see him pick things on his own (trombone, swimming) and excel at them.  His grades were good…truly would have had straight As if he’d only had me sign his Language Arts planner and his Band practice sheets.  He’s realizing that it’s pretty silly to miss a 4.0 for lack of a few signatures. His favorite thing in the world is to be out on the culdesac playing the big crowd of boys who live here.

Jane continues to be funny and so serious about doing what’s right.  Mention something that she could improve on, and she gets right to work on it.  She’s a good girl.  She plays piano and soccer right now and loves when it’s the weekly 8-9 year old church activity day.  She’s also hilarious…constantly making up dumb songs (it’s like we have our own soundtrack, sometimes) and she’s got this new chest-thumping pose that she says is her new “thing”.  Silly.

Seth is doing great in school, working about a grade level ahead of 1st grade.  He’s still a little spacy, but he’s aware of that issue and I feel like he works on it….when he remembers.  He’s always everyone’s friend and his motto is “Why Use 8 Words, when 58 words will do?”  He enjoys playing soccer, but we have to be careful about complimenting him on something as he dribbles by, because he will seriously STOP in the middle and chat with us about why he did what and what the coach said, while we urge “SETH!  Talk to us later!  Keep moving!”

Faith is SUPER fun to be around all day long.  She’s still the queen of routine (hey that rhymes!  Something she can also do.), and if you do something, ANYTHING two days in a row, she will seriously think that’s the way it should always be.  She loves going cross-eyed, because I make a big deal about how it’s disturbing.  She also CAN TOTALLY WHISTLE!  What 3 year old can actually whistle?!  She memorized her first Scripture for primary and I have it on video, but I’m way past the point of including video in posts.

We are boring…I’m marathon training and Ryan is running a weight loss contest at work.  Our spring has been decent, which is HUGE around here.  I’m realizing I’m in a new Older Kid Phase of parenting which requires 1) Lots of Driving and 2) just being around a lot so you catch them when they want to share.  I love being a mom.  I’m reading actual books more, which means blog reading and facebook reading is suffering (but I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing).  Ryan does homework (5 classes away from his MBA degree) and church stuff and handyman stuff around our house and our rental place.

Sorry that you just had to read a Romney Christmas Card in April!  I just thought I should record some every day things.  On this sunny, quiet Spring day…the every day seems pretty great.

What Jesus Christ means to the Romneys—An Easter Post

 

Yesterday was Easter.  At church, someone commented that she felt bad that she hadn’t shared with a non-Mormon friend what Jesus means to her—specifically as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It really struck me…I wanted to express for my blog readers, for my kids, and for the blog book what Jesus Christ means to our family.  For our Easter Sunday family lesson time, we watched the video at the end of this post and then shared with each other our beliefs about our Savior.

Ryan:

Because we know Jesus, we know that we will be together with our loved ones.  It takes away fear, because we know that he died and was resurrected.

The other thing that I think when I think about Jesus is something that Jessica said in class one day in regards to repentance.  The thing that is a blessing is that after we make a mistake we can get rid of that awful feeling that results by repenting.  We can repent and change and be forgiven and start again.

I know Jesus is real and as we follow him, we have good things come into our lives.  I’m grateful I know about him and I’m grateful I can follow him.

 

Jessica: 

I know as well as I know anything that Jesus Christ is real.  I know that he lived, that he was the literal Son of God, that he died for our sins and that we can be completely clean and free from sin as we practice repentance and following him.  I believe that as the son of the God of the Universe he was able to work miracles when he walked the earth and that he continues to work miracles in our lives now.  I am confident enough to promise that following his teachings of love, obedience, service, moral purity and honesty is the best way to find a true and lasting happiness.  I know that because he actually rose from the dead, we will all live again and with our families after we leave this earth.

Gabe:

I think of Jesus as an example and as an amazing person who suffered for our sins, then died on the cross for us, so that we can get back to heaven and live with Heavenly Father forever.  I think that is amazing because it shows how much he loves each and every one of us, that he would die for us.  I think it’s amazing we can all be resurrected again because of the Plan of Salvation.

Emma:

Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.  I know that he loves me and that he lives.  He is my big brother and my comforter.  He is perfect and he is my example.  I know he suffered for our sins and that he loves everybody.

Jane:

When I think of Jesus, I think of love because he’s been always loving to us.  He prayed for us to go back to heaven.  He was nice to everyone and set a perfect example for us.  I think it was great that the last words he said was “Forgive them”.  It just means that even though they killed him, he’s not mad at them.

Seth:

I know that he died for us so that we could go back to heaven.  And that we could repent of what we have done, like hitting brothers or doing mean stuff. 

Faith:

Please bless that Jesus was resurrected so that we could know him. 

 

The following video is a link to a YouTube video of the last days of Christ’s life and his resurrection.  It only contains the words of the King James New Testament and is beautiful.  Please take a minute to watch the story of the true reason for Easter.

You win some, you lose some

good idea:
Telling the kids they'd get their German pancakes after they finished their spinach smoothies.




bad idea:
Checking the long range (April/May) forecast on this snowy "spring" day--colder and wetter than normal. Kill me now.

Good idea:
Bagging my weight-lifting plan in order to spin and chat with Laura for an hour.

Bad idea:
Waiting for 60 minutes to run dry boots to Seth at school. They kind of forgot about him and by the time I got there, he'd been hanging out in the nurse's room OUT OF CLASS for almost 2 hours. I can just picture him, oblivious and chatting, as each new person came in. Why would it not have occurred to him to wonder why he was not in class all morning??

Good idea:
--learning time with Faith. Best 20 minutes of my day. Especially when she points at a hexagon and says "hey! That's a hexagon...I leawned it from Abbyth Flying Faiwy Thchool."




Bad idea:
--deciding to pay my kids' allowances/babysitting money. Without going into detail it revealed one child's ridiculous over-spending habits, another's losing $ habits, and one's tendency to borrow without asking and not pay back. Disturbing 30 minutes at the Romney house. Someone tell me they won't be homeless and broke someday?

Good idea:
-/making this dish for dinner: http://www.marthastewart.com/354733/spaghetti-savoy-cabbage-and-breadcrumbs



seems like a bad idea but was actually a good one:
--middle school band concert. Those kids are GOOD.



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The Hawaii Recap! Yay us!

 

It’s probably obnoxious to have any negatives when you are discussing your trip to Hawaii, so let’s just do those first:

LOWLIGHTS:

1.  Rain.  It was the worst weather in a decade.  Isn’t that sad for us?  You probably heard about it on the news.  Because I come from a rainy area, it really bummed me out that my Hawaii trip was rainy. (Here’s us, in the rain, at Pearl Harbor, where we couldn’t go out to the USS Arizona Memorial, due to rain.)

 

2.  How dang expensive everything in Hawaii is.  $15 for a bowl of oatmeal at my hotel?  Seriously?!

3.  How far our (awesome) resort was from anything.  It just meant we had to pay a bunch of extra taxi money to get to the bus/tram to sight see.

4.  Our airplane’s windshield cracking, the resulting delay, missed flight and overnight stay in Seattle.  It was kind of excruciating to be in the Hawaii airport for 6 hours without getting to enjoy the long-awaited sunshine.

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

(There are much more of these)

1.  Spending 5 straight days with Ryan.  I love that guy and don’t get enough time with him and I LOVED not having to share him with anything else.

2.  The GORGEOUS resort we stayed in.  Ryan was awarded this trip at work (because he’s awesome) and his company treated us SO well.  The pool, beach, restaurants, dolphins, room were all just amazing.

 

3.  The Polynesian Cultural Center.  I loved every minute we were there (okay, except for the dinner…not so good).  There was such a neat feeling there and I loved the grounds and the shows and all the stuff we learned.

 

4. Eating sushi 4 times.  I feel like I know it now and I am officially a fan.

5.  The weather perking up the last 2 days.  I got to run my long run for the week (15 miles) and it was while I was running that the sun came out and stayed out.  We vegged on the beach the whole day.

6.  Meeting up with our friends from home.  It was fun to hang out with them 5000 miles from our little Washington town.

7. The tour we took of the LDS temple in Laie.  I was overcome with the beauty of the building and the truth that families really can be together forever.

8.  The pineapple.

Writing about it makes me sad it’s over, especially on this dreary day in Eastern Washington.  It was so dreamlike and we were so lucky to get to have those days together.