I wish, I wish, that I were a fish......

Swimming lessons round 1 are over. Travis and Tyrel both passed their stroke development class last year, but I thought it would be good review and keep them in shape to do it again this year. I was amazed at how much better they were than the other kids in their class. All of the other mother's kept saying, "Your boys are such smooth swimmers." They kept laughing at their kids thrashing around the pool. It was kind of comical to watch the others. Travis and Tyrel make it look effortless. After listening in to their classes, I decided I should probably take a class because I'm sure I don't do it right. The teacher gets very technical going over every little thing to make sure everything from their fingertips to their tippy toes are doing the right thing at the right time. It has been really beneficial for them and they are both little fish (I guess not so little anymore) and love being in the water. I am debating signing them up for a lap class later in the summer where they just swim and condition. We'll see what finances are like after we get our yard work done and our front steps replaced.

Trevin didn't quite pass his class this time around. He is really scared when he knows he is in water over his head although he is getting a lot better about it. I'm definitely signing him up for another session probably in August to reinforce the progress he has made so far and hopefully get him over his fear. The pool we take lessons at is a private pool here in Elk Ridge and it is landscaped beautifully. Their teacher said that they have quite a few weddings scheduled for their pool and yard this summer.

We are having to get our front steps and porch replaced because the wonderful builder forgot to put a barrier down on the old porch and then he put tile on top of the wood, so now we get water that leaks through the grout lines and collects in the light fixture in Trevin's bedroom and then leaks all over the floor when it rains really hard. What fun! This time we are putting down the water barrier and putting an epoxy finish on top. I think it will look really nice.

We have also got the front yard almost shaped and ready for the rock retaining walls to go in. I'm hoping we can get more than that done this year, but we will have to see how far our money stretches.

Sean and I went and bought peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, more ground cover and a tree for Father's Day today.

He is going to be busy tomorrow planting it while I host Andrea's baby shower. The back yard is looking really good though. I'm excited for it to be finished.

Andrea's baby shower is tomorrow at my house. I was in charge of invitations and favors. Heidi is doing the games and my mom is doing the food. I thought the invitations turned out cute and I think the favors are cute also. I'll have to post pictures another day in case she reads my blog tonight, I don't want her to see what they are before the shower. I'll also post pictures of the gift I made her later. Stay tuned!

Grandma Richardson

I was thinking about my Grandma Glenda Richardson yesterday. Tyrel was the one that got me thinking. The boys are out of school now and he wanted to make macaroni and milk for lunch, so I had some with him. I'm sure many of you are saying "gross" right about now. I know Sean is. But, I remember when I was little and she would make me macaroni and milk to eat. It was one of my favorites. My mom would make it for me when I was home and requested it, but it never tasted the same and it took me until I was an adult out on my own to figure out why. You make it kind of like macaroni and cheese, without the cheese, so the ingredients are cooked macaroni noodles, milk, butter, salt and pepper. "Butter" being the key ingredient. When I got married, Sean and I decided that we liked butter better than margarine. I made macaroni and milk one day and it tasted just like grandma's. I figured out then that it was the butter that made the difference as my mom always used margarine.

I know this is all useless information for most of you, but just in case some of my cousins remember this and were wondering the ingredients, and because this is one of those weird family traditions that I want my boys to remember, I am putting it here for posterity. This dish is actually one of the favorites of all of my kids although Sean won't touch the stuff. This is what they always request when dad is out of town and mom doesn't want to make a big dinner. So, think what you will, we love it! And, every time I make it, I remember Grandma.

She had MS for most of the time I remember her. After Papa passed away, she would take turns living part of the year with each of her kids. So I remember when she was with us, I was like her little nurse. As soon as I got home from school, I would go to her room. I loved rubbing lotion on her feet, helping with her exercises, rolling her hair in curlers, and giving her the pills and vitamins she had to take daily (she cold swallow more pills at once than anyone I ever knew). We also spent hours playing gin rummy together. I also watched "General Hospital" with her. I wasn't so much a fan of "General Hospital" as my mom had me hooked on "Days of Our Lives", but it was fun to watch the whole Luke and Laura thing with her. I can't believe I still remember their names. Actually, I can't believe I watched such corny shows with such bad acting. My favorite time with her was when she would tell stories from when she was little. I wish I would have written them down, because there are few that I remember now. My favorite one that she would tell was about when she sat in a pile of red ants. My nephew had a run in with ants not too long ago and it reminded me of grandma telling that story. Anyway, this post is getting long and I have work to do, so farewell for today.

Macaroni and Milk

cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. Drain. Add milk, BUTTER, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Serve. I don't have exact measurements because I just make it and never measure.

Shar the Star continued.....

Shar had an article in the Deseret News yesterday. I tried to copy and paste it here, but it wouldn't let me, so here is the link. Hopefully it works for a long time. http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700229312,00.html?pg=1
Great article Shar!

Mother's Day Gift

I'm a little late here, but half of my household was sick on mother's day, so I didn't get my annual mother's day picture with my boys until a week later, and my gift has been a work in progress, so I am just finally posting the pictures.

Sean asked me for weeks what I wanted and finally, the day before Mother's Day, I said I wanted a garden. We had just opened our last jar of salsa and we haven't had a garden since we moved to this house, so I figured that would be a good gift. Sean, Travis and Tyrel (Trevin was sick) worked really hard that Saturday before mother's day to get it ready, but the garden shop was out of top soil, so they didn't get it finished. but we did get it mostly done yestereday. We got tomatoes, zuccini, yellow squash, rhubarb and strawberries planted. We still need to get some cucumbers and peppers planted this next weekend. THANKS GUYS! It was so cute on Saturday when we were working on it. The boys were out working on it and I was doing the inside chores. Trevin came in and said "Mom, can you come help me grow a garden?" I had to drop my work and go help him plant. He was pretty excited to get things in the ground.

Odds and Ends

We had my dad's retirement party on Friday. It was fun to go and see how much everyone looked up to him and respected him. Some of his old bosses flew in from out of town for it. Me, being the dork I am, brought my camera, but didn't find out until I got home that my memory card was not in it. So, I have no photos. Maybe someone will feel sorry for me and email me theirs.
I spent the day on Saturday working on Andrea's baby shower gift and invitations. Sean, Tyrel, and Trevin went on a scout campout/fishing trip over the weekend. Only 1 fish was caught so with the price of gas to get the trucks and boat there, Sean said it was $200/lb worth of fish. The boys did have fun catching and eating crawdads though.
We had Stake Conference yesterday. I especially enjoyed President Trevort's talk. He said that he used to teach his kids "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Later he learned a lesson and they changed their family motto to "If you can't say something nice, think of something nice and say it." I need to live by that motto also. We all need to look at the bright side of things and try to find something good in everything.

Mother's Day and Dad's Birthday

I wanted to take a minute to tell my wonderful mother how much I love her. I appreciate all she has taught me through the years. My top 3 things I am most grateful she has taught me (at least at this point in my life) are:

To be organized - my mom is the most organized person I have ever met, she has lists and plans for everything. I'm don't keep as many lists as she does and I don't plan things out as well as she does, but I have learned to keep things on a calendar, make a menu so I don't have to go to the store so often, and stuff like that.

To serve others - my mom is always taking dinner to others and helping others out any way she can, I also love to take meals in to others and try to look for other ways I can serve others

To cook - I am so glad that I know how to cook. I have learned this from my mom also. We spent many years in 4H and I also cooked at home a lot under her helpful eye. Sometimes I wish I didn't cook well, then maybe I wouldn't eat so much and I could lose some weight, but I am thankful it is a skill I have.

I love you mom!

I also have to thank my wonderful mother in law for the things she has taught me. I don't know why people don't like their in laws, mine are wonderful. Top 2 things my mother in law has taught me:

To be spontaneous - this balances out my organized side, I have learned that it is okay to do things spur of the moment and it is even fun to do things you hadn't planned on. This was really hard for me when I first got married, but I have loosened up since then.

To Scrapbook - she got me started on scrapbooking and it is one of my favorite pastimes now. I love it.

Love you too!

I also want to say happy birthday to my dad. I'll save my top 3 things for him for Father's Day.

I also want to tell my husband how much I love him and my boys how much I love being their mother! I love all of you. They got my garden almost put in on Saturday (that is what I wanted for Mother's Day this year). I know it was a lot of hard work and you are all tired and sore, but I am grateful for your work!

Books continued......

I was asked to rate my books. Obviously 5 stars are the books that were my favorite. Some have no stars at all because I thought they weren't worth the time. All of the books with 1 star I sold back to Amazon because I have no desire to read them again, except for the teen books with 1 star, I kept them because my boys liked them better than I did. I put a "T" at the side of the books that are middle school/teen type books. Hope this helps.