Can it be true???!!! I had no idea Hollywood was making a movie of Les Miserable! And the cast is sublime!


Anyone who knows me well, knows that I lived and breathed Les Miserable every waking moment of my adolescent life. I did homework to the music, I cleaned to the music, I slept to the music, and I was Cosette and I was Eponine (depending on my need- my teenage tragedy or non existent romance). I even smuggled my moms tape recorder and taped myself singing the songs. How embarrassing it was when I was on a road trip with my mom and sisters to the middle-of-nowhere Nevada, that unmarked tape was inserted and everyone in the car heard me belting out strains of "On my own."  Lesson learned. Destroy tape after you record yourself singing. Especially if it is me singing.

I'm grown up now, but after seeing this trailer, I've realized, I'm still an adolescent nerd at heart.  Leading up to the month of the movie release (Christmas time!!!) I will probably be swaying with the dishes to "Bring Him Home," cleaning the kids' room to the conquering beat of "One Day More," and secretly dressing up as Eponine (Not hard, all my clothes look like her's) and video recording myself tragically singing "On My Own."

Fred, Village Reunion in DC, and Memorial Day

Lohn and I were driving when Lohn SLAMS on the brakes and yells "No WAY!" I was wondering what was wrong when Lohn puts the car in park and runs out into the road to rescue this little guy. We turned right around to drive home and show the kids.

Ander lovingly dubbed him Fred.

We didn't keep him for long. Just a few hours.  Gunnar was the most heart broken when we let him go.

 On Thursday I got a call from my dear friend in Dallas and she told me that her family was flying out for the weekend, and can we meet them at the zoo? Um, YES! We got the word out to other local Village friends and had a great (although HOT) day. I had sweat puddles under my pits. Pretty.

Julie, Mehreen and Muqaddam.  Why, oh, why didn't I get a picture of all of us???

 Lohn was reunited with his buddy Ali.

It was so stinkin' hot that we let the kids bask in all the misters.

At least I got a picture of all the kids...

If you haven't been to the DC Zoo, the orangutan crossing is the coolest ever. This guy (or gal?) crosses from one side of the zoo to the other along these cords.

The kids wore out pretty quickly, so we had to leave sooner than we wanted to.  I am so glad we got to be with our dear friends.

We spent the nights at Amy's house and went to their church Memorial Day picnic. SO FUN! The following is the pie eating contest.

Tamsyn was being too meticulous, so I told her unless I see pie up her nose and in her eye lashes, she can't come home with us. So she put her finger in the cream and wiped it on her eyes.

Okay, that works too. We brought her home.

Cousin Kyle. Whoa.

Sylas with Cousin Mason. They are only a few months apart and best buds.

The bath water was black, FYI.
A great weekend. How was yours?

Mothers day art overload

How was your mother's day? I got a LOT of art work, so I thought, I would take a picture of all of it, post it on here, and thus immortalize it so it won't matter when I throw it all away today in the big black garbage can where the kids won't see it and pull it out. Whew. That was a long sentence. 

My Honey bought me a dozen pink roses from the cub scout fundraiser. 

Yes they are in a milk jug. I got rid of all my vases 3 years ago. Time to stock up again!

Gunnar made this enormous envelope to hold all the following art all for me.

He made this one at church. I thought it was so cute that he spelled my name phonically above, and then almost correctly below. He's learning everyday!

My Hug-A-Bunch from Gunnar

Tamsyn gave me chocolate kisses, and wildflower seeds. And lots of love notes :) And yes, number 3 reason she loves me is because I feed her to keep her alive. Hmm. Maybe I need to work on my cooking skills.

Ander made the following

I don't know what he's talking about. I never tickle him. hehe

I feel kinda bad that all my kids have noticed how much I love to read. Maybe I should take a break from the novels for a while, eh?

Artwork Gunnar made for me at home. I told him I love the symmetry in it :)

Gunnar painted this picture of me. I am pretty, yes?

On Mother's Day morning, when everyone was piled on top of me in bed wishing me a happy mothers day and showering me with gifts, Sylas felt bad he didn't have anything, but then he remembered this that he painted. He ran to the fridge to pull it off and give me.

And on the other side, the art he made at scripture tots.

Truly I am one blessed woman. Nothing was more special to me than being woken up in the early hours by 4 enthusiastic children that were so excited to show me how much they love me.  Could life be any more wonderful???

Also, I wanted to share my latest pinterest find. These are tiny magnets I made my mom of all of her kids, and one of her with dad with they were young and spunky. Pinned here. I made some for my Grandma and Mother in law too. Fun and cheap and easy!

Dare to stand alone

It is one of my greatest wishes for my children, that they will have the courage to stand alone. I got them out of bed tonight (they weren't asleep yet) so they could watch this. And nearly every morning I am giving them a pep talk on making good decisions. One of the sayings I tell them every morning is "Remember who you are, who you represent, and act accordingly." I love this story, Thank-you President Monson!

Contests, teacher's week, and Ruff

So Tamsyn won a writing contest. One winner was chosen from each school in the district amongst the 4th and 5th graders. Tamsyn won for Evergreen Elementary! She was invited to a city council meeting to be tortured honored. I was extremely grateful that Sylas slept through the entire hour long meeting. Yes it was 85 degrees and yes he is wearing winter gloves. That's the way he rolls.

 They gave her a really big and heavy plaque to put on her wall. I am so proud of my little writer!

 Did you know that it is Teacher Appreciation week? On Monday, my kids were to bring in a flower for their teacher. On Wednesday, a treat for their teacher. And on Friday, a school supply. Well, 3 kids x 3 gifts = expensive.  So instead of buying flowers I made these, and stuck them to chop sticks. Free. For the treat, I am giving bags of Secret Popcorn with a note that says something along the line "I have a secret to tell you. I think you are poppin'!" or something cheesy like that. 40 cents. And as for the school supply, I have all these leftover notebooks that have never been used, and in perfect condition. Am I a cheapo? I really do appreciate the teachers. I do! I just also happen to really appreciate money too.

And here is a weird mind-blowing story for you. What you see above is Gunnar cuddling Ruff and Baby Ruff. When we moved back to Indiana after Lohn's internship (1.5 years ago!) we lost Ruff. I assumed we left it in Cedar City. Gunnar was super upset and pined for months for that dirty, mangy stuffed animal. At the following Easter time, I found a mini Ruff and gave it to him. He was really happy and consoled. Since then we have moved 2 times. No Ruff ever showed up. And yesterday? Ruff shows up. We have no idea where he was hiding, just that Gunnar was all of a sudden playing with the mangy thing. Where was it this last year and a half??? It's not like it was in the couch or under the bed, WE'VE MOVED 2 TIMES SINCE WE LOST HIM!!! We. Don't. Get. It. But pleased for Gunnar all the same.