Grandma Henriksen

JUNE 2014

This picture has nothing to do with anything, other than I found it in the cache of phone photos.  I am actually posting about my grandma Henriksen.  

She has been living with us for the last three years, in a little room in our house.  Some days were easy, and I loved having her with us.  Some days were hard and I found myself yelling into my pillow in the bedroom.  But in all... I am so grateful that she came to stay with us.  

A couple weeks ago, Grandma fell and we had to move her to a nursing home, and she passed away on June 14, 2014.  

Our house is a little less busy now, and a little less cluttered.  But I miss her.

I am glad that my kids got a chance to know her in a very real setting.  Tyler was always on the look out for her.  He ran her errands around the house and was constantly relaying messages back and forth from her and I.  When she fell in May, Ty was actually the one who found her.  He was always making sure that she was comfortable.

Ryan's most favorite job in the world was taking grandma dinner.  In the beginning of her stay with us, she joined us at the table for dinner, but as her health declined, she took more and more of her meals in her bedroom.  And finally, meals in bed.  Ryan thrived on taking her dinner to her and making sure she had her Ensure.  And he always went back for her dirty dishes.  I never had to ask.  Grandma was always on the periphery of Ryan's thoughts.

And Kate.  Oh sweet Kate.  She LOVED my grandma.  And my grandma begrudgingly loved her back.  Before you judge my comment... let me set the scene.  Grandma loved watching the news and The Price is Right every morning.  Never failed.  Never deviated.  Until Kate figured out that grandma COULD change the channel and find her Sesame Street.  Grandma never changed the channel for any other person... but for Kate... she would do anything.  Kate would sneak downstairs after breakfast and snuggle into grandma's bed and they would watch Elmo together.  I would hear them giggling and talking... I could never bring myself to get after Kate.

It's strange now having the house to ourselves.  I'm sure we'll get used to it.  But for now... there is a definite void.  Miss you grandma, but I hope you are finally at peace.

Ryan's Spring Sing May 2014

Just a little update... our computer crashed and with the loss of our not so important documents... we lost A LOT of pictures.  So there aren't as many here as their should be... but I'll take what I can get.  Luckily, Shaun was able to find some pictures that were buried on our phones so that I could piece together the little gap we have.  Sorry... hope that makes a little big of sense.  So if the pictures for a little while are less than stellar... that's because that's exactly right.  

Ryan had his last Spring Sing in May... hard to believe my middle will be running off to Kindergarten in the fall!!  He has come so far this year- I am so grateful that we made the choice to hold this one back.  He has grown so much... I honestly hardly recognize him now.  

His previous Spring Sing's he has flat refused to be a part of the costumes and a lot of the dances as well.  I joked with his teacher, Miss Tammy that if he didn't take his shoes off for "George of the Jungle" she had to keep him another year.  And I had to laugh when Ryan's class came marching out... Ryan did indeed have his shoes on... the only one AGAIN!  But I'm almost glad... he is so much a perfect version of himself that I would have questioned him if he HAD taken his shoes off.  

I wish I had pictures of him and his classmates WITH their heads... but I guess we'll just have to remember them ourselves.

Great Minds

You know what they say... great minds think alike?  Kate and I got to the preschool this morning and our friend Lily was dressed in pretty much the same thing as Katie.  Lily's mom and I had a laugh and I snapped a quick picture.  Love these friends of ours!

Cow goes Moo

APRIL 2014

We have a little historic farm here in Salt Lake, called Wheeler Farm.  It's old and is a gorgeous place to come and take pictures if you ever have the time.  They also have a little pond, some animals and an awesome playground to keep the kids busy for hours.  It's a great little place to visit when the kids just need to get OUT!

This was one of those days... The kids were driving me mental (moreso than normal) and so I finally threw the laundry down and told them to put their shoes on.  We ended up here and I know the pictures aren't anything special, but my babies love cows.  It's kinda sweet... reminds me of my own childhood at the ranch, watching grandpa with the cows.  

Moo says Bessie.

New Bunk Beds

APRIL 2014

I don't know about you guys, but we switch things up all the time (at least it feels that way sometimes).  My boys have been sharing a room in the basement- but Ryan is SUCH an early bird that he keeps waking Ty up in hopes that it's time to play.  Not such a big deal right?  Wrong.  Ryan likes 5:30.  Ty is pretty good about sleeping in until 6 or 630... but sometimes if he's left alone- I can squeeze 7 out of him.  Not so much with Ryan.  He loves the morning!  

And coincidentally- so does Kate.  So we are putting our two early birds together in the hopes that they will just let the rest of us sleep.  Cross your fingers for me alright?

As it is... Kate's room is too small for two twins next to each other... so we stacked them.  And really... if I'd known that bunk beds would have been such great entertainment... I would have bought them years ago!

I do think it's kind of funny that we have one bed decked out in PINK and PURPLE and the other is covered in red U of U's and Star Wars.  It's kind of cute.

Here's to sleeping in Ty!

Zoo Bears

And then we went to the zoo.  Because we love the zoo.



I know it looks like Kate does NOT love the zoo... but she was mad because Ryan had the map.

PS... this next picture was taken almost exactly a year ago... I cannot believe how they grow!!

Spring Break

Spring is a happy time for me... things are getting warm and sunny.  Green leaves are poking their tips out of the dirt and blossoms are covering the branches of the trees in my neighborhood.  Love it.  It's a sure sign that my favorite season of all is just around the corner.

But Spring Break is the universe's way of saying it has a sense of humor.  It has snowed all week.

Not that it slowed us down too much.  We headed to the University of Utah's Natural History Museum on Tuesday.  I can't remember the last time I went... I vaguely remember going with my dad- he was wearing a white sweatshirt and we looked at a lot of fossils and Native American baskets.  I think I was 7.  It's since been re-done and it's AMAZING!!



The kids had a great time- it was 4 floors of everything you could want to look at.  And probably some stuff they didn't.  I told them they had to tell me one thing they learned at the end of the day or they had to go to bed early.  They didn't disappoint.  Ty took in all there was to see/ learn about dinosaurs.  Ry loved the weather station and I couldn't pull Kate away from the dinosaur lab.

Here they got to "dig" for dinosaur bones...


And here, we were learning about erosion.


And here, the kids learned about magnets/ weights/ measures.


It was a super fun day- I'm kind of glad it snowed.

School Days

Maybe my title is misleading.  It's not so much school days as it is school pictures.  I kind of hate them.  I feel like I have an obligation to buy them each time they come around because it's a school picture.  We all have them.  Usually 12 in all by the time we get finished- showing a dizzying array of hairstyles and all the actual proof that we ALL went through that awkward stage.   Some of us (present company included) never really grew out of all that awkward- it's okay though.  I make it work.  Anyway- my point here is school pictures- I sometimes wish they did a better job of actually capturing the kiddo... or maybe capturing a little thumbnail of who they really are. 

I wanted this.  Pretty badly.  So on the first day of Spring Break, I bribed the kids.  I told them if they cooperated I would buy them a slushie from Sonic.  Totally worked.  Love it.  

This is Ryan.

And this is Ryan's cat Skippy.  He's old.  Really old.  And he's going bald.  He's long been without his whiskers and I've glued his eyes back on more times than I can count.  Ryan LOVES Skippy.  Skippy joined our family one hot summer afternoon at a parade.  One of the parade floats was throwing out stuffed animals and a little gray cat landed in Ryan's lap.  Skippy was named after Ryan's favorite book:  Skippy John Jones- a book about a cat that thinks he's a chihuahua.  You can see the appeal to someone like Ryan... he beats to his own drum too.  Ry rarely goes anywhere without Skippy tucked under his arm.

Or perched on Ryan's shoulder.

Ryan also has another favorite cat (too bad he's badly allergic to the real thing).  This one is a stuffed snow leopard named, Spottsy.  He picked him out from the zoo gift shop last year for his birthday.  Spottsy gets his share of the love now that he's around, and sometimes Ryan has a hard time deciding who gets to go to grandma's with him... Skippy or Spottsy.

I guess the reality is that Ryan LOVES them both.  A lot.

This is Kate.

These are Kate's toes.  They are pink because right now, my toes are pink.  When I change colors... so does she.  I kind of love it.  She's the cutest little shadow.

This is Kate looking deceptively sweet here.

I told Kate that I was going to follow her around one day and take pictures of all her funny faces.  This is one of my favorites.  I see it a lot when I ask her what she's doing.

This is baby Abby.  Kate LOVES baby Abby.  Abby joined our family on Kate's first Christmas- and has snuggled with our baby girl each night ever since.

Abby gets strapped into the car next to Kate, and has her own seat in the grocery cart.  There isn't much that Kate wouldn't do for baby Abby.

This is Ty's hand.  It's dirty.  He literally showered ten minutes before this picture was taken.  And he's already dirty.  That's how we roll.  He's also sporting his CTR ring (someone remind me to go and buy him a good one... his finger is turning green) that he got in Primary a few Sundays ago.  He's been wearing it this week to remind him to Choose The Right... he's been having some problems at school- maybe the little reminder on his finger will help.  I guess we'll just have to see.  He's also wearing a rainbow loom bracelet.  They are all the rage these days.  In fact- I think it was his buddy Jake that made this one for him.

This is Ty.  I'm pretty sure he's looking at braces in the next year.

This is the Ty that I see a lot of.  He's kind of a stinker.  But I love him anyway.

This is Yellow Baby Hoo Hoo.  I have no idea why it's called a hoohoo.  Ty used the name when he was 18 months old and it's kind of stuck.  Yellow Baby is getting pretty old.  I have to wash it in the gentle cycle now.

These are my babies.  And I love them all.

Schneeshulaufen

Did you know that at one time, I was fluent in German?  Why is this relevant you ask?  It's not.  I just wanted to point it out.  And also- schneeshulaufen is german for snow skiing.  And THAT'S what this post is about.  Skiing in the greatest snow on earth, on the most beautiful mountains on earth, and with a few of my very favorite people on earth.  

It has always been my dad's dream to ski with his grandkids.  Mission accomplished I think.  He has taught my oldest, is currently working on my middle and he thought that this was the year to start on my youngest.  Kate was stoked.  She hates being left out of anything- even if it's hard.  So we outfitted her in the cutest pink helmet we could find and set her loose on the mountain...  Actually what's funny about this picture- I have one of me at the same age doing the same thing with the same stubborn look on my face.  I should dig it up...

"Grrrr.  I'm ready.  Show me the mountain."

Look how tiny her boots are!!  The skis were to die for!  And... she actually did really well for her first time out!  That girl has legs of steel!  She was so cute to watch- she would sit and chant leg movements to herself.  "French fry.  French fry.  French fry." (straight skis) "Pizza.  Pizza.  Pizza." (snowpolow) "HAMBURGER" (that's code for fall on your butt).

And Ryan... as ever... looking stoked about having his picture taken.  Oh wait... no.  No he's not.  But he was excited to go skiing- even if he didn't look like it.  He's still pretty cautious on the slopes though.  And he has a hard time remembering how to turn when the run gets steep... he just about went off a cliff- until SuperMom sped in and saved him.  

At least I can always count on Ty for a goofy smile... he was excited too.  He loves skiing, and after today- I have to admit he's getting pretty good.  He can go just about anywhere.  He loves going fast too.  He left grandma behind in the trees on one run.

Love this bunch of skibums!

Hair's Away

Look at this gorgeous spring day!!!  The sun was shining, we went outside, bared our legs, and pulled out the sunglasses.  I LIVE for these days when the winter blues start kicking in.  And look who I found in the backyard... a cute little blonde haired girl...

Who's hair is getting really long.

Seriously.  Look at all that hair.

She and I decided it was getting to be TOO much hair.  Too many knots.  Too many tears.  So we called our favorite stylist, Jamie who promised she could help us out.

Here she is... securing  a ponytail...

Snip.  Snip.

Holy smokes!  Look ma!  No more  hair!

Kate was a total stoner while Jamie styled her... I was getting worried that our chances for a complete melt down was close at hand and we were going to have to glue her ponytail back on...

Turns out though... little Kate LOVED her new 'do.  

See?  She's even laughing.

She ended up cutting off about 10 inches, so we wrapped it up and sent it off to Locks of Love.  Kate was so excited to tell her dad about her "helping kids who were sick."  It was pretty darn sweet.