Rumor is 3 is harder than 2

I've recently decided that having 3 kids is hard after all. Everyone said it was going to be the hardest, but I thought I was handling it fairly easily. I just had to rearrange priorities and change my routine and figure it out - you don't really have a choice, right? You've just gotta do what you've gotta do. Now that Levi is walking and getting into everything, and the other two kids are still demanding a lot of attention, I don't really have any down time. I am glad when I can find a few minutes to take a shower.

Some people say that once you have 3 you might as well have 10. But I think I believe my sister when she says that 3 is much harder than 2, 4 is much harder than 3, and six is much harder than 5. How can you do everything and be everywhere? Although another sister says that 4 is a little bit easier than 3 because you've already had to make those HUGE adjustments in your life that allow for more kids - I believe that too.

Mostly I think you still just do what you've gotta do.

The Rumor is I made something

Normally, that would just be a rumor. But surprisingly this time it is true.

Next week is girls camp and I had to come up with a home-made gift to give my secret sister. I don't know her yet - since I'm going with the Stake and this girl is in a different ward - so I wasn't sure what to make. I decided some kind of cute hat, and the easiest one I could find was a beret. I don't know if she likes hats, but I hope so. I ended up with enough fabric and made three hats. I'm not sure which one I should give away. They are cute, as long as you don't look too closely. I don't know why I have such a hard time sewing. Guess that's what happens when you only take the sewing machine out once a year.

If you are interested, I found the pattern at this site. It was a simple enough idea. I bet you all could do it.
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/woolen-beret

Here's hoping my secret sister likes it!

Rumor is I got a new plate

A long time ago I started a collection. Rather, my mom started a collection for me. It was a collection of decorative plates. Each plate was given in memory of a school or community play I participated in. I think the first play I was in was when I was 7 or 8 years old. I auditioned for many productions, and was fortunate to make a few. In seventh grade I had the greatest opportunity to perform as Anne in Anne of Green Gables. I loved it. It was one of the neatest experiences in my life. I know my mom looked for a plate to commemorate the occasion, but couldn't find one. It didn't care much about it at the time anyway - she gave me several Anne dolls, and calendars and books and journals to make it special (really she went overboard). When we moved into this house and I was looking for a good place to put my plates I was sad that I didn't have one to represent Anne of Green Gables. I looked online to see if I could find one now - I could, but it was much too expensive for me at this time. I knew my mom would buy one for me, but she was gone. So I put it on my list of things to get some day.

Today I got a knock on my door and the mailman was standing there with a package in his hand. There was no indication of who the package was from, but I opened eagerly and inside was this beautiful Anne plate. I can't believe it! I have no idea who its from, but I am so excited to get to add it to my collection. Thank you, thank you mystery giver. What a generous and thoughtful gift.

Adventures at Haigler Creek in Arizona

We spent our Pioneer Day holiday weekend enjoying the mountains of Arizona. The afternoon thunderstorms made the weather great. It was our first time visiting my dad at his new house in the middle of nowhere. Now he and Jana have been called to serve as full-time missionaries in the branch there for the next two years.

We went on a few different quad rides. Brian loves riding - he grew up on a dirt bike, but I get pretty nervous. I'd rather just ride behind him and hold on tight. We went on one ride with the kids all the way into "town". It took quite a while to get there. We stopped at the little country store and got a treat, got caught in the rain coming home, and stopped in the middle of the road to catch a real live tarantula. It was HUMONGOUS. We put it in the glove box of the four-wheeler and brought it back to show everyone. I'm sure he didn't like the ride.

My nephews Chas (from San Francisco) and Quincy (from San Marcos) were there visiting as well. We took them on a little hike around the cabin and got very lost. Luckily we found our way back, and hopefully none of the kids knew how nervous we were.

There were crawdads in the creek to catch. It was fun trying to catch them. We even cooked them up to taste. Verdict is that it is way too much work for the half a bite you get to eat.

The zipline was fun and very, very, very, fun. And I had a good time. I liked Grampa's house. And I liked the creek. And on the other side of the creek we found a good spot for catching crawdads. And then we cooked them. And then we ate them. I didn't eat one.
-From Paige

Remember we got stuck in the zipline. And then I didn't eat a crawdad. And then I ate pancakes. And then we goed home. We goed to church too. Then I went to the zipline after Paige. When I got stuck in the zipline, I didn't want to go again. But it was very fun.
-From Ashby

The End of the Monarchy

Sorry, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Here's the thing about reading

I have never been a reader. In fact I have pretty much always said I hate reading. In elementary school my mom entered Tasha and me in "Battle of the Books" - which was a competition to read books from a long list and then answer trivia questions about them. For some reason I always came away with a trophy, but it didn't help me to like reading. In junior high my mom would bribe me to read - $20 per book. I think I took her up on that offer once. I read A Wrinkle in Time. I can't remember anything about it, but I remember I liked it at the time.

Reading was always a chore, because I only read the books I had to for school. And then it was annoying because we had to dissect and analyze everything. Why couldn't the author have just written it because he/she thought it was a good story? Why did everything have to have some hidden meaning to it? I was pretty sure the teacher was making up everything anyway.

I have always felt bad about not liking to read.
As an adult I've tried reading things that would be valuable - religious, classic, biographical, educational - but it takes me so long to get through anything that I usually give up. My eyes get blurry and I get lost on the page and it feels like I re-read the same paragraph over and over before I comprehend it.

The past couple of weeks I have started reading the Hunger Games books. They are so good and I've never had such a hard time putting a book down. But I still can't decide if reading is just a waste of time.

The difference between T.V. and reading:

- A movie will tell me the whole story in a couple of hours.

- I can wash the dishes or exercise or something while watching T.V.
- With a book I give up two weeks of my life, but with T.V. I give up 2 hours.
- Although with reading you use your imagination more. It has been kind of fun to get caught up in the world of Katniss and Peeta, I find myself thinking about them all day and I wonder who Katniss will choose and it makes me happy to know that I chose Brian.

Throughout the day, while doing other things, I just sigh - wondering how it's going to end, and mad that I can't read right then - I'm pretty cranky about it. And it's frustrating knowing that even once I finish the book I still won't really know how the story ends until the third book comes out.

Brian knows that reading anything is a big deal for me to accomplish. So I'm glad that when I say, "Wow I read 150 pages today," he is proud of me and doesn't point out the dirty dishes or growing laundry. I guess I beat myself up about that enough.

Rumor is we grew a butterfly

Once upon a time there was a little striped caterpillar.

We set it inside a cage and watched it crawl around.
One day when we weren't looking it shed its skin (see upper corner)

And built a cocoon high above the ground.

After about ten days the cocoon broke open (again when we weren't looking)
and out popped a very new and beautiful butterfly.

Now the question is whether to pin it in my bug collection
(because I don't have monarch in there) or let it fly away...

Tour de Levi

In honor of Levi's birthday and Bastille Day and the Tour de France we had a "Tour de Levi" on Wednesday July 14th. Brian's family came over and we biked down the river trail to Utah Lake. Brian is so excited that Levi was born on the French Independence Day. I wouldn't be surprised if we had many "French-themed" birthday parties over the years. We all enjoyed dessert crepes and cupcakes and ice cream.

Levi has been a very good baby and I'm glad that this last year with a newborn didn't seem to last forever. I'm a little nervous about what this next year will bring though. I think it may be a long one. It always seems like 1-year-olds are the hardest - at least that is my experience.

Here's to new adventures. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE LEVI!

The rumor is I'm a professional

Although I have no pictures to prove it, I went wakeboarding yesterday and did it! It took about 4 tries, but then I got up and and stayed up - except for when I would fall down - and then get back up again. The YW on the boat said I looked like a professional. :) I felt pretty good about myself because I was the only one that got up, out of 5 that tried. On my last turn I was up for a while and then decided to try going over the wake. I knew I would fall, but wanted to try. I hit the water really hard and knew I was done with that for a while.

It was the Stake Laurel High Adventure activity and we went boating on the lake. It has been nearly 10 years since I was last on a boat. I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it this time. Hopefully it won't take another 10 years to do it again. Maybe next time I will have more chances to try wakeboarding and can build my confidence up.

Besides wakeboarding, we also went tubing. I worked really hard on that tube. I tried to show the YW how to do it because they were all silly girls and wouldn't let the driver go over 15 mph. I made him go crazy - and it was fun! But I am VERRRRY sore today. I'm glad to know that even if I am not skinny, I know that I am strong and fit and I can do hard things.

The rumor is Brian loves Mountain Biking

Brian has been doing a lot of mountain biking lately. It is the one sport he can enjoy without his back or knees or shoulders hurting him too much. I'm glad he has a hobby he likes and is good at. This summer he's even ridden in a few bike races - which is a fun and new challenge for him. Many of the races are on Wednesday night - (and now you can figure out why I'm not enrolled in another summer school class).