Catch Up

Blogging has been one of those things that keeps nagging at me to get done, so since Elliot is home sick today (and we can't leave the house because it's been snowing all day - this is after a 75 degree week), I thought I would take the opportunity to get caught up. Here goes........

*Henry started indoor soccer in January. His team is full of his ward neighbors and playmates, so he really likes it. He hasn't scored a goal like he wants. Goals are actually hard to make in indoor soccer - without grass to slow down the ball, it just keeps rolling after it gets kicked. So, basically we watch ten little boys chase a ball around the court in one big herd. Kinds funny. His last game is this Wednesday. It will be a relief since Elliot has already started his outdoor soccer practices on the same night as Henry's games - also the same night as Nathan's scout activities and Samantha's Young Women activities. Can you say hectic? Wait a second....Henry is starting outdoor soccer too (same teammates) and his first practice is right after his last indoor game. I guess there's no breathing quite yet! These pictures are from Henry's first game. The lighting was really yellow and gross, but I don't feel like fixing them in Photoshop. So, enjoy!

Coach Summerhays and Assistant Coach Beutler

*Samantha attended her first dance in February. The sixth graders had a Valentine's Dance during school the day before Valentine's Day. They had spent the few weeks prior learning some dances, like the waltz and the swing. When I picked her up from school that day of the dance, she wouldn't give many details, but I found out later that she was asked to dance many times - in fact, she was asked by the same boy six different times! Ooh la la!

*Nathan took us to a bird sanctuary a few Saturdays ago. His buddy at work, who is a wildlife photographer, told him that there were bald eagles that were nesting in the sanctuary and we decided to go have a look. The sanctuary was about 45 minutes away, near Farmington, close to Lagoon. The sanctuary was a beautiful backdrop for photos since it had just snowed, giving the whole area a wintery marshy feel. But, because of my lack of a telephoto lens, we didn't get any close-ups of the bald eagles. We ran into John, Nathan's co-worker, who had been there all morning getting some great shots. (We always run into John when we go check out the cool places he recommends!) Here are my pics:

I bet John got some awesome pics - take a look.

http://tetontrailphotography.com/

*We went to Gillian's 5th Grade performance a couple of weeks ago. The theme was American History and immigration. The songs were cute and each child had a speaking part about one of their own ancestors. Gillian spoke about Grandpa Mortensen and how he was there when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. Good job Gilly!

*Here's Samantha at her St. Patrick's Young Women's activity. I made broccoli soup and green jello like I always do.

Also, on St. Patrick's Day, I got a call from my cousin Amber. Her family was in town visiting other relatives and wanted to see us too. So, we all spent the next day in Salt Lake City at Temple Square. We saw the Joseph Smith movie in the JS Memorial Building, where we also had lunch. We stopped at the distribution center and the old Tabernacle before taking a tour of the Conference Center. These were all things that I've seen, but was happy to see them again with Amber's family, who hadn't. Bella never let go of my hand and I was glad to have such a cute little buddy for the day. It was nice to see them all and spend a nice 70 degree spring day together.

*Lastly, we were fortunate to get free tickets to the Real Salt Lake soccer game on Saturday. Our friend, Greg Summerhays, got tickets for a suite and gave them to us and another family in our ward. It was super cool. We hadn't been to the brand new Rio Tinto Soccer Stadium yet. The suite was awesome. The kids couldn't get enough of the endless hot wings, nachos, popcorn, soda and cookies. The best part was the dessert cart that came by and we all got to pick what we wanted from ice cream, cakes, candy and the biggest caramel apples I've ever seen. The suite was nice, but the weather outside was even nicer, so most of us sat outside on the balcony. I've never been to a professional soccer game (all the soccer I see involves little guys ages 7 and under) and it was was fun! Thanks Greg!

Final score: Real Salt Lake 3, Austin Aztecs 1

There - all done!

Happy Anniversary

Honeymoon

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. We celebrated on Saturday by having some friends in the ward take our kids for the day. We decided to spend the day in Salt Lake City shopping at vintage and consignment stores (my favorite thing to do - thanks Nate!) We started at the Deseret Industries in SugarHouse, thinking there would be lots of things donated by the people who lived in those neat old houses in that area. We were way wrong. A garage sale in South Phoenix would have had a better selection! We browsed through a few more shops in the area before we got hungry for lunch. We ate at the Blue Plate Diner, which was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives recently. As we were waiting for our table, Nathan leaned over to me and said, "I love places like this." I knew what he meant. The century-old diner was packed (probably most of them locals and loyal customers). Memorabilia covered the walls and we could tell that the employees actually enjoyed working in the busy diner on a Saturday afternoon. We left the diner stuffed and ready to do some more shopping. The funnest thing about looking through vintage shops is getting glimpses of all of the dishes, Tupperware, lamps and kitchen chairs that we saw in our mother's and grandmother's cupboards, kitchens and living rooms when we were growing up. There aren't as many vintage shops in Salt Lake (especially modern vintage like I prefer) as there is in Phoenix, but there were enough to keep us busy for an afternoon. We even happened across the strangest furniture store we've ever seen. It was a huge warehouse stuffed to the rafters with old and dusty chairs, desks, piano benches, dressers, end tables.....anything made out of wood. Almost everything was broken and piled on top of each other so that we couldn't even tell what anything was. The only words Nathan and I could find to describe the place was a furniture graveyard. It felt eerie and haunted, so we couldn't get out of there fast enough - but not before we got the whole story from the only human we could find in the building. Apparently, every piece of wood in that warehouse had been collecting dust for the last 50 years in Liverpool, England until it was brought across the ocean to Salt Lake City. I don't know what they're going to do with all of it...probably not sell it! After all of our shopping, we stopped at a chocolate shop for a treat, saved the Russians* and then took a drive through the Avenues to see all of the old cool houses. I saw quite a few homes built in the 1960's that I would kill to live in. We finished the evening at Rodizio Brazilian Grill for grilled meats and pineapple and the best lemonade on the planet. It was the best day ever and I'm glad Nathan and I got to spend it together. Love you Nathan!








* We ran into some Russian women who were having some car trouble. They were late for something, so Nathan gave them a ride while I waited in a cafe' (there wasn't room for me in the car). They were so grateful that they gave him some Russian chocolate. Sweet!

I Know

I know, I know that I need to update my blog. I'm not busy, I just haven't felt like it lately. Hopefully, I'll get motivated soon!

Last Night

It was windy last night. When it's windy, something bangs against the side of our house (can't figure out what it is) and we can't sleep. So, at 12:30 am, Nathan and I decide to go down to the basement and try out the futon we bought for guests - gotta see if it's comfy. It's pretty good. Sometime in the night I hear Henry call out my name. He sounds panicked - Mom's not in her bed. Poor little guy thought I was gone. After I get him back in bed (the banging sounds louder in his room), I can't sleep because I keep thinking I hear Henry come out of his room. Just the wind.

The weather is miserable outside today. Cold. Slushy. Windy. I guess I won't return the library books. I think I'll stay inside and curl up under a blanket with Henry. We'll read books and watch Spongebob. Me and my buddy.

Love For Nie Nie

Nathan and I were lucky to attend a benefit concert for Stephanie and Christian Neilson Monday night in Provo. The musical improv group, The Thrillionaires, was the opening act. They were very funny, especially since everything was sung! Hysterical. Next, Mindy Gledhill, a friend of the Neilsons, performed. She has a beautiful voice and a talented band. She sang some songs that she wrote for Stephanie and Christian and sang a song with two of Stephanie's super adorable daughters. There were a couple of guest performers as well. Ryan Shupe, I'm guessing, is a local LDS musician. We had never heared of him, but the rest of the audience was thrilled when he came on stage. He sang a funny song about a two-year old, played the Nintendo Mario Brothers theme song along with the bass guitarist (which was a riot), and played some serious fiddle during The Devil Went Down to Georgia. David Osmond also sang a song at the end of the show. Apparently, he was on last week's episode of American Idol, but we missed watching the Salt Lake City auditions last week. He is a really good singer - I'm not surprised that he had received a golden ticket to Hollywood! The auditorium we were in was smaller than a high school auditorium, so it was a very intimate concert. We were in the 10th row and all of Stephanie's family were sitting in the rows in front of us - LOTS of bright orange hair in that family - so cute! I got a really sweet picture of Stephanie's little Claire sitting on CJane's lap (too bad it was taken with Nathan's cell phone camera). What a nice family. Overall, the evening was entertaining and inspiring. And successful. The silent auction raised quite a bit of money. The photo session that I donated ended up going for $126, I think.

After the concert, on our way out, Nathan and I ran into Mindy Gledhill. We told her how much we appreciated her generosity and her beautiful voice and then she autographed my ticket stub. Cool.

To read more about the evening, see http://haywusup.blogspot.com/2009/02/love-for-nie.html.

For a small glimpse into Stephanie and Christian Nielson's story, see http://ldslivingonline.com/article.php?articleId=72688 To see how Stephanie is doing now, visit her own blog http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

To see more on David Osmond, go to http://davidosmond.com/ I came home and looked him up on the internet. He also has quite an inspirational story!

And buy Mindy's CD's! http://www.mindygledhill.com/

How Old?

The year 2009 proves to be a year that will really age me. My oldest daughter turned 12 two weeks ago and started attending Young Women's. Yikes! Samantha received some grown-up items for her birthday, including make-up and a bra (which made Elliot scream). I remember turning 12 and getting make-up and a bra for my birthday(not that I needed a bra - my mom said it was more appropriate and modest for a girl my age to have her chest covered). And so it is for my daughter! She sure is turning into a nice young lady. She's been helping me cook dinner and I've enjoyed her company in the kitchen, having more grown-up conversations. In fact, she got a Rachel Ray cookbook for Christmas and has making entire meals for the family - things like shrimp scampi, pesto pasta and vegetable chili. Yum! Samantha's also very responsible and does all of her homework and school projects on her own. I've been letting her stay up a little later at night. We watch TV shows together that we enjoy, like Jon & Kate Plus 8, while Nathan stays downstairs and watches dumb stuff like tennis and extreme fighting. Sometimes she plays with my hair - you know, girl time. On the flip side, she also is showing signs of becoming a true teenager, being dramatic and argumentative. Oh well - girls aren't perfect!

Also in 2009, Elliot is going to turn 8, be baptized and start the Cub Scout program. He's looking forward to doing the Pinewood Derby. AND, Henry is going to start Kindergarten and leave me all alone!

See? I'm getting old!

Christmas Vacation

I guess I better catch up. Not much to report on Christmas Day. Everyone in the Salt Lake Valley was snowed in, due to a yucky blizzard. It didn't bother us none, because we weren't planning on going anywhere anyway. We slept in until 7 am this year since we didn't have to open our presents at lighting speed and get over to my parents house by 9:00. That was a nice change. Everyone got what they wanted for Christmas, so the day was spent actually playing with toys. We relaxed, made Christmas dinner and packed for our trip home to Arizona the next day.

Our two week vacation in AZ consisted all of the following:

-Driving 14 hours (9 of those hours on icy roads)
-Opening presents
-Handing out presents
-Attending two Christmas parties
-Relaxing
-Thawing out in the 60+ degree days
-Guitar Hero
-A marshmallow gun war (guns provided by Nathan)
-Mexican Food
-Cousins
-A day trip to Miami/Globe, AZ to see Nathan's grandmother (and more Mexican food)
-Taking a ride on The Metro, Phoenix's brand new Light Rail, which opened while we were there.

-The Cheesecake Factory on New Year's Eve
-Ringing in 2009
-More Guitar Hero
-More Relaxing
-The Fiesta Bowl Parade
-Being introduced to my little sister's big belly
-Sending Nathan off on a plane back home to Utah
-A candy craving, resulting in a run to a gourmet candy store
-Macadamia Nut Chicken at The Kona Grill (first time - yum!)
-A dozen bottles of soda at Pop! The Soda Shop
-Discovering that eating a grapefruit w/sugar will take the edge off a migraine headache
-Dinners with the fam
-More Guitar Hero (sheesh, I need to buy it!)
-Watching Jay Leno with my parents (haven't seen him since we got cable 5 years ago - haven't missed much)
-An emergency haircut at the WalMart salon.

-NOT going to Bahama Bucks for shaved ice like I wanted to. Maybe next time.
-Driving home just me and the kids - skies were sunny, kids behaved, roads were dry and total trip time was 11 hours. No problem - except for the migraine. Eating a grapefruit.

Addicted to Technology

Finally! Our 4-year old computer became terminally ill and died right around Christmas. Fortunately we had recently bought a second hard drive and transferred all of the important stuff - so no big deal. Except living without the internet was much harder than I thought it would be! I don't even know how to look up an address or phone number without it (what? what's a phone book?) Nathan went ahead and bought all of the parts and built a new computer himself (I was very impressed). So, 2 days ago, I finally got my internet back - yeah! Now I've got to catch up on my blogging, which won't be too hard because I haven't taken a single picture since we went sledding in December. Bad girl!

Sledding

On Saturday, we took the kids sledding for the first time this season. There was only minimal whining and everyone had a good time - especially Henry, who yelled "Yeah, baby!" every time he reached the bottom of the hill.

MythBuster

There is a secret date candy recipe that has been in my family for a few generations. Great Grandma Nana Frederickson invented this treat years ago and it is made only at Christmas. As the legend goes, See's Candy tried to buy the recipe from Nana, but she refused. You must be or marry a descendant of Nana to be allowed to make the candy - even then, you are not allowed a written copy of the recipe until you prove yourself worthy after you've produced a few successful candy batches. The candy must be made in the presence of either my Granny (Nana's daughter-in-law) or someone who has been trained by Granny, such as my mother. The candy can only be cooked in one of two cast aluminum pots, using only fresh dates from a date palm tree (my Granny has a guy in the east Valley, AZ that saves his dates for her every July). The dates must be peeled and ground (twice) in a meat grinder and then placed in the freezer to await their candy destiny later in December. And, the recipe requires twelve cups of pecans (I didn't say that this candy was healthy) that are carefully sliced one by one, not chopped from a bag bought at the store. Well...........this year I was on my own in Utah. I didn't have Granny, my mother, a cast aluminum pot, a meat grinder or a "date guy". But, I must announce to all in my family who have fretted about this Mount Everest of candy-making, that I have dispelled the myth! This year, I bought dates and chopped pecans at the grocery store. I mashed the dates - no grinder. I cooked the candy in a stainless steel stockpot from IKEA. Did the date candy turn out? I answer......oh, I can't answer right now, my mouth is full of delicious, chewy, mouth-watering, perfect date candy! Nobody tell Granny!