Central Vacuum

How do I love thee, let me count the ways . . .
to dust the fan, the blinds, the desk,
and even the armoire
is oh so simple with a hose
that reaches everywhere.

For the past several nights I have been in misery trying to sleep. I can fall asleep fine, then I wake up for several hours in the middle of the night with an allergic attack. Last night it was particularly bad. I imagine it was because Dave rearranged items on his "desk" without paying attention to the dust he stirred up. So today I started at the top of the room and I'm working my way down. There will be nary a speck of dust left. Hopefully I can sleep again tonight.

Jeremy started swimming on Elaine's swim team. He is quite good. He only knows backstroke and freestyle so far, but he is learning breastroke and butterfly. He also wants to play summer soccer. Alex is doing baseball. I missed the first registration for swim lessons at the Y, so I guess I'll attempt to teach Ben when the water gets a little warmer. Liam doesn't care how cold the water is, and he swims with his floaty suit just fine. Last year Ben could swim independently for about 10 feet, but he has yet to submerge in our 74 deg pool this year.

I'm going to start lifting weights at the Y with Dave's second cousin Sharee Jackson Williams. She did the Casa Grande Triathlon last fall, and will be training again. Hopefully I'll have the nerve and gumption to train with her.

TTFN

Easter

So on Easter morning while driving to church I was discussing the resurrection with the kids. I asked who else would be resurrected. Everyone said, "me, me, me." Except Ben. He said, "well, I don't really like nails in my hands." That Lutheran preschool he goes to is really making an impression.

Spring Skiing

So we just got back from our spring break vacation where we went to 2 weddings, and 2 ski resorts. One wedding was for Dave's cousin, and the other was for a young man from our ward in Texas. Nana watched all 5 kids for the weddings, and the youngest 2 for the ski days. We had a great time. In the pictures, Alex is in yellow, Jeremy in a green coat, and Elaine is all red. We bought helmets and rented skis, etc. Luckily, there were no funerals even after Dave and co. risked some dangerous slopes (see photo with skull and cross bones). We went skiing at Brighton, then The Canyons. We met up with a few of Dave's cousins and their kids, and also my brothers and one child. Too much fun. Especially for me. I pooped out after half a day at The Canyons.
We drove home through St. George, stopping to say hi to Grandma and Grandpa Porter. Then drove over Hoover Dam (aarrgggh!!!!!) and through Wickenburg. What a cute town. Dave and I might go there for a weekend getaway. His great-grandfather ranched near there.

Spring in the Desert

Eventually I will take a class from Chelsea and learn how to post photos with subtitles rather than uploading them and hoping they stay in the right order. Anyway, here are some pictures of the hill behind our house covered in Mexican Poppies and other wildflowers. We even have a few bluebonnets and blue bells. I don't know what the small, light purple flowers are, or the small yellow ones. In one picture you see a fairy duster (mostly gone to seed) mingling with some poppies. It really is surreal to look out the window at our usually brown hill and see all this color! Apparently, we had a wet winter. I got most of the shots while the sun was hiding, but a few you can see where in the bright sun, which makes it hard to see the flowers.

Boys Room Makeover, and Dave Gets Fired!

I don't have pictures yet, but we finally put up bunkbeds in the boys' room. William was so excited about his new bed that the next day he asked me to put him back in pajamas after breakfast so he could get in his new bed. He tells me several times a day, "mom, I love my bed." The other boys are not as enamored, but still enthused by their new room.

In other news, Dave switched practices. It is quite a stressful but fun experience. More details later.

The Land of Valentines

We have officially entered the pre-teen years with all its accompanying dilemmas. The sixth grade at our kids' school rotates through different classes throughout the day. Therefore, they did not do mandatory valentines, as each one would have had to prepare over a hundred. Instead, they had a little party altogether at the end of the day. Well, apparently, some of the kids took the opportunity to single out their "favorites" and give valentines to a select few.

When my kids got off the bus and came inside, the boys were excited while Elaine had a disgusted look on her face. "Mom, I got a valentine . . . from Philip," she said with a resigned tone of voice. Philip had obviously spent time shopping with his mom and found a really cute heart shaped snowglobe with Mickey Mouse inside looking bashful and holding flowers. It was in a cute little gift bag with some candy. He had left the bag by her lunchbox in the morning.

Elaine has no feelings for Philip, ("he's annoying," she says), but decided to give him a thank-you card so his feelings wouldn't be hurt. Sigh.

The boys then started admitting their fancies for girls in their classes. Love is in the air.

Elaine, Uberpilot

This last Saturday morning, Elaine got to fly an airplane. She got to lift off and control the plane in the air. It was part of a program called "Wright Flight" where they studied aviation history, and took a test on history, navigating, and course plotting. She and another girl were in the air for about 45 minutes. They landed once so the other girl could take off and have her turn. Pretty exciting. Alex and Jeremy played awesome basketball games. William and Benjamin ran around the gym.