The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Call me crazy, but I kind of like the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. I like the parties and the programs and the lights and the anticipation. It makes for some fun memories. Also, Alex usually takes at least a week off so we can spend some quality time as a family.

We like to go to Mt. Charleston and go sledding at least once in December. This time we stopped at the Mt. Charleston lodge for hot chocolate after sledding. It's as close as we come to a "white Christmas."

I love the oohs and aahs of Christmas morning. That's actually the best present I could get.

Sometimes for a quick little vacation we go to St. George. This year the day after Christmas we went there. We explored the local church history sites such as Brigham Young's winter home, Jacob Hamblin's home, and of course, the beautiful St. George temple. The temple is all lit up for Christmas and has a lovely nativity outside.

We were just going to stay for one day, but then decided to stay for two. We were able to visit my Grandma Haynes who stays in St. George for the winter. We were also able to visit with my Grandpa Herschel. He is almost 93 years old. His body is getting weaker, but his mind is still sharp. We had a great visit with him.

Our trip to St. George would not be complete without eating at Cracker Barrel. I like it because I feel like I'm eating good homemade food that I  would not make at home. The kids like it because they find unique goodies at the country store.

Lance's Baptism

It was a day to remember for more reasons than one! Lance's baptism was scheduled for December 10, 2011 at 3 p.m. We sent out nice invitations to all the friends and family. It was going to be a tight squeeze in scheduling because the kids had a dance and tumbling show at one. But I thought they would be first then we would have plenty of time to get there. However, Wednesday the 7th I was informed that due to the annual Henderson Christmas Parade being changed to an evening light parade, the baptism would have to be rescheduled. The problem was that since our stake center is right on the parade route, parade entries such as school marching bands would be lining up and practicing right at the same time as the baptism. The stake leaders decided to avoid that commotion by moving the time up to one. That presented a problem for us because of the tumbling show and also  because Alex wasn't getting off work until 2.  So we could either reschedule for another day or find a different chapel so Lance could have his own baptism. After calling around I was able to get the Palo Verde chapel, which happens to be the building of our previous ward. Then we had to call everyone and tell them that the place had changed. So the day comes and I thought we should take our things so we could go right to the church when the kids were done. But then I thought we would have enough time to go home and change. As it happened, the kids were last on the program and we had to rush home and change. So we didn't arrive quite on time but good thing we weren't the last ones there. Lance asked Grandma Susan and Grandma Sharon to give talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost. All of the cousins sang "I Know that My Savior Loves Me." It was really personal for Lance because he was the only one getting  baptised.

It's Great to be Eight!

I can't believe he's eight already. Lance's due date was December 13, and I had planned on getting all my lessons ready for when I was on maternity leave over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I was in the office at school and felt some leaking. Later at my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment I mentioned that small detail. The doctor checked and much to my surprise she told me that I needed to check into the hospital. Three weeks early! What!? I was not even ready at school for the next day, let alone for the next few months. But there was no stopping. I checked into the hospital at about 4 p.m. on Tuesday and at 4:10 a.m. (after only about twenty minutes of pushing) on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I brought forth my first born son. Six pounds, ten ounces, 19 inches long, the spitting image of his father. I was overwhelmed with happiness when they put him in my arms, sobbing actually. I was a mother, and he was my beautiful baby boy.

Now he is eight years old. Still sweet, still beautiful. I love his personality and his sense of humor. He's smart and friendly and a good boy 95% of the time. He wants to be an author and illustrator someday, but I think he could be great at anything. He likes to try new things and has done baseball, basketball, tennis, tumbling and a few piano lessons. I feel so blessed to be the mother of this wonderful child.

NIne is Fine

So it's been nine years since we got married. August 30, 2002. This year to mark the occasion we are listing nine things that we love about each other. That's right: I said WE. Alex is making his debut contribution to this blog. He asked me what I wanted and I told him this was it. I may just die of shock!
Here's nine things I love about Alex, in no particular order.

1. Alex incorporates the kids' words into his own vocabulary. We remember some of what the kids said when they first started talking because Alex still uses those words. For instance, Lance used to say bok for milk and oofs for shoes. Alex still says bok and oofs. One day when Luke was little Alex was in the bathroom when Luke knocked on the door. Alex said, "Who is it?" and Luke said, "It's the Kook kook." Every day Alex says, "Who is it? It's the Kook kook." Lacey for a short time added an extra syllable to her words ("watch-a my show") and now Alex adds an extra syllable to his words: "It's time to get in the big-a bed-a." It's annoying and endearing at the same time.

2. He tries to to his best at everything he does. Whether it's being a manager or riding his bike he does everything he can to be the best.

3.He admits I'm right by saying it was his idea. Like when we were in Salt Lake for our vacation: I wanted to go to the Blue Lemon right across the street from Temple Square, but he didn't see any other families there so we went to another place down the street. The kids started to whine about eating there so I said we should go back to the Blue Lemon. After eating a fabulous meal, Alex said, "I told you we should have come here in the first place."

4.He tries to make wrong things right. Recently some friends of ours bought tires from Alex but there was some trouble and they had to take time out of their vacation out of state to have the problem fixed. Alex offered them some free tires for their trouble which they declined. But always trying to make the customer happy, Alex offered to take them out to dinner, which they accepted.

5.He goes out of his way to help people. A guy in our ward brought his bike to Alex to see if he could fix it. Alex doesn't really fix bikes, but he paid for it to get fixed.

6. He's not handy, but he makes enough money to pay people to be handy for us.

7. He is genuine; he does not try to be something he's not. When he's happy, he's happy. When he's mad, he's mad. What you see is what you get. But this quality makes me trust him one-hundred percent.

8. He makes up silly songs for the kids.

9. You wouldn't guess that he's going to be 45 this year. All that bike riding is good for something.

Here's what Alex loves about me in his own words:

1. beautiful

2. understanding

3.support me

4.comfort me

5.love and teach our kids

6.righteous

7.same girl i feel in love with!

8.awesome family

9.(edited for the purposes of this blog-TMI!)

A Song is a Wonderful Kind of Thing

I have been in many church callings in my life, but by far my favorite has been being Primary chorister. I have never felt the Spirit like I have each week singing those Primary songs. They are simple yet powerful. They teach the doctrines of the restored Gospel. My heart is touched each week as those sweet children sing so beautifully, and the Holy Ghost witnesses that what we are singing about is true, absolutely true. One Sunday I was teaching the hymn "Praise to the Man" and I told them a little bit about the life of Joseph Smith. Tears were pouring out of my eyes as I gave my testimony of that prophet and restorer of the true church of Jesus Christ. The children sat in rapt attention and I knew that they were also feeling the Holy Ghost in their hearts. A few weeks later my own son gave the family home evening lesson and repeated, almost word for word, what I had said. If he learned that important bit of information, I'm sure others did.

So it is with great sadness and reluctance that today I had to give up that calling to accept another calling. I tried to talk them into letting me keep it until the Primary program in October, but they didn't think it was a good idea. Sad, sad, sad. However, my new calling also has to do with music. I am the new ward music chairperson. That means I coordinate the Sacrament Meeting hymns, schedule musical numbers and supervise the ward choir, among other things. The first and second counselor in the bishopric reminded me that the Lord calls people He need for particular callings at particular times, and I always try to be where I'm supposed to be and do what the Lord wants me to do. But I will certainly miss Primary.

July 2011

It's been a while since I made a slide show so I decided to make one of our events in July. From Luke working on getting his first tooth out to Family Reunion at the ranch (which included Minute to Win It, Family Fun Run) to more pictures of our Utah Vacation, July for us was what summer is all about.

Super-Dooper Utah Vacation

We recently spent six days traveling through various parts of Utah as a family. That was certainly our longest family vacation, and definitely our funnest. Here are some of the highlights:

Capitol Reef  National Park

Of course we couldn't have a vacation without a bike race, but at least it gave us the excuse to visit a new place. Capitol Reef National Park is located in south central Utah and we passed through several small towns (including Circleville, boyhood home of Butch Cassidy) to get to Bicknell where we stayed at the Sunglow Motel. We arrived on Thursday, and Alex did two races on Friday. While he was racing we explored the town and went into the National Park. I thought it was a good history lesson due to the fact that all the little towns were originally pioneer settlements and before Capitol Reef was a national park, there was a pioneer settlement named Fruita near where the park visitors' center is now. The orchards those settlers planted are still there as well as one of the original homesteads. It was called the Eden of Wayne County. Saturday Alex did an 80-mile race and we arrived at the finish line just in time to see him cross. Here is some of what we saw on the first leg of our trip (Lance was the photographer that day.)

At the Capitol Reef Visitors' Center

One of the herd of buffalo we saw on the way to Capitol Reef

Lovely scenery

Rock formations in the National Park

Provo/Orem
For the first three days the kids kept asking when we were going to the hotel pool. So when we arrived at the Travelodge in Provo on Saturday, all they wanted to do was swim in the pool. I think if all they had done for the whole vacation was swim in the hotel pool with their new life vests, they would have thought it was the best vacation ever. It was a good idea to get the vests, actually, because wearing the vests made the kids more confident in the water. But before we let them into the pool we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Gloria's that had an accordion player who played Disney songs to keep the kids entertained. Bless him!

Sunday we had a quick but fun visit with Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Jeff. Then we went to Provo Canyon for a picnic in Vivian Park. I have been to Provo Canyon before, but this time it took my breath away with how beautiful it was; so green, so inviting. The only thing that dampened our great day was that Luke got stung by a bee while he was playing on the playground. He said through his tears, "It's not fair that a bee could sting me for no reason! I was just minding my own business and the bee stung me." But he forgot all about it when we got back to the hotel pool. We had dinner at the Los Tres Amigos restaurant right by our hotel, and we were lucky that my brother Austin could join us for a little bit.

Temple Square

Monday we went up to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square. We first went to the South Visitor's Center and saw displays about how the temple was built. Then the kids threw pennies in the fountain and made wishes.

Lance said,"I know I can't go inside the actual temple, but can I just go in the lobby?" I said I wasn't sure but we could go over and see what they say. When we got to the entrance of the lobby a greeter said that we could go to a certain point, but then a gentleman at the check in desk waved us in to the lobby. He gave each of the kids a silver token and said, "Now you have proof that you have been in the Salt Lake Temple." They all had smiles from ear to ear.

Luke, Lacey, Lia, and Lance on the steps of the Salt Lake Temple

After that we went into the tabernacle, and it's true: you can hear a pin drop from the podium and it also looks bigger on TV than in real life. From there we went to the Assembly Hall for a quick peek inside. The Seagull Monument is in front of the Assembly Hall and I told Lance about how the pioneers were about to lose their crops to a cricket infestation, but then miraculously the seagulls came and ate up all the crickets. Lance was impressed.

We then went to the North Visitors' Center where there are a whole bunch of paintings depicting scenes from the scriptures. But the best part was seeing The Christus statue. Of that Lance said, "I feel like I'm in Heaven," and Luke said, "This is like being in space!"

Church History Museum
After a yummy lunch at Blue Lemon, we went to the Church History Museum. I could spend a day on each floor there if I were all by myself. The bottom floor had an exhibit of childrens' art. They also had a station where kids could color or draw their own pictures and they would be shown on the "wall." 

The main floor has an exhibit of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from it's early beginnings to the settlement of Utah into the modern age. I wanted to read every detail about every display, but we had to keep moving to keep the kids engaged.

This was a great place to visit the week before Pioneer Day.

The top floor of the museum has an exhibit dedicated to all the prophets since the restoration from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson. I went to the bathroom and Lance looked at the exhibit but the other kids were starting to get restless. Alex thought we should call it a day, but I knew the best was yet to come: the quilting exhibit! Just kidding. There was a quilting exhibit but we passed it up to go to the childrens' Book of Mormon exhibit. This area was very child-friendly: interactive displays in English and Spanish that told a story from the Book of Mormon and a related story about a child's real life. The first display was Mexican dancing. A how-to video showed the children what steps to do and they could dress up in skirts or vests and follow the video. Well, my little dancer, Lacey,spent the whole time doing that. She was in heaven with the twirly skirt and the dancing. I had as much fun watching her as she had doing the actual dancing.

The boys and Lia tried the dancing for a little bit but they went to other displays also. There was the one with the boat that had to do with the journey to the promised land. Lia got in the little truck which had to do with the family who picked up people for church in their truck.

We had to drag the kids away when it was time to go.

Our final stops of the day were at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and Deseret Book. Lance wanted to stay longer but the baby was getting cranky.

Seven Peaks Waterpark

Tuesday we went to Seven Peaks Waterpark in Provo. It has big water slides and a lazy river, and a wave pool. I thought the kids would be too scared to go in anything but the "tadpole" area, but with their life jackets the boys had enough courage to go on the big slides and Lacey and Lia went in the wave pool and lazy river several times. We rented a cabana and were able to stay the whole day without getting burnt to a crisp. So.Much.Fun!!

We left the waterpark and drove to Beaver to stay the night. We have discovered that it's not a fun trip if you have a crying baby for more than an hour or so. So the last leg of our trip from Beaver to Henderson was about three and a half hours and just about right to prevent a major toddler meltdown. After we got home Alex said, "We should do that more often." To which I thought "It took you nine years to figure that out, but better late than never!"

Year in Review-Lance

Lance did an amazing job at school this year. He got awards for Straight A Honor Roll (all year), Exemplary Attendance (missing three or less days), Citizenship, Taking Care of Business. Throughout the year he received awards in his art and music classes as well. All his teachers, and some that knew him but were not his teacher, said what a good boy he was and how helpful and creative he was.

Lance on stage getting Straight A Award

With his friend Emma. They were always at the top of the class together.

Lance participated in Desert Trackers, which anyone can join. Most mornings before school he ran or walked laps around the playground. He racked up 71 miles. The first graders accumulated more miles than the second,third, and fourth graders.

Lance's teacher was Ms. Claros. "She was a good teacher," said Lance.

Lance thought that it would be funny if Lia tried on his glasses and him wearing sunglasses.

Year in Review-Luke

Luke made tremendous progress in his Pre-K program. He enjoyed making new friends, participating in programs, having special family food functions, and going on field trips. At the beginning of the year he was a little behind on his skills but by the middle of the year he was "at grade level." His language, math, vocabulary, and communication skills have improved greatly. And more importantly, his manners and self-concept have improved. Now he is absolutely ready for kindergarten.

Luke and his friend Lloyd at the Thanksgiving feast.

At the Natural History Museum looking at the hanging manta ray.

With Lacey and cousin Dalin at the Gilcrease Nature Preserve. He did not like the smell!

At his Safari Program. His part was, "Walking through Africa, what do I see? I see a rhino looking at me."

Year in Review-Lacey

 Lacey had a great first year of preschool. In fact I would say that she is ready for kindergarten already, even though she still has another year before she can go. She can sound out words and can write some of the words that she sounds out. At her school's bike parade ( did I ever mention she taught herself how to ride a bike with training wheels?) she did laps for about half and hour around the cones in the parking lot. At one point I heard her singing "Three Little Kittens" as she was riding. She likes to sing a lot.

Lacey at preschool graduation in her favorite pink polka-dot dress.

Lacey with certificate of achievement

With Grandma Susan and Grandma Sharon on Grandparents Day

At a performance in March before the music started. She's holding her arms because it was super cold.

Lacey started a dance class this year. At first I was worried that she wouldn't pay attention and just be in her own world. But as the year progressed she got more serious and turned into quite a good little dancer. The best one in her class, if I do say so myself. But really, at performances she never had to look at other dancers because she knew the steps. And when she danced to "Ma Belle Evangeline" (from the movie The Princess and the Frog) she had the perfect dreamy look to match the song. It was beautiful to watch. I'll let her do dance as long as she likes it, but I hope that's a long time because I love watching her perform.

Father's Day Special by Lance

Well, Father's Day is coming up tomorrow. We found the best idea: Grandpa Lowell made a sign that says Families Are Forever with our family's names in a circle around the outside. It says Alex, Carmen, Lance, Luke, Lacey, Lia.

I think that Poppy is the best dad in the whole wide world. Every day before work he gives us a hug and says, "I love you too much." At night we all say a family prayer. He is a hard working dad. Once when we were in Pine Valley he said, "Wow! We caught 7 fish."

One time Poppy said, "Hey, wanna go on a bike ride to Grandma Sharon's new house?" Me and Luke said, "Yeah!" Poppy said. "It's going to be a long way." In the middle of our bike ride my back hurted so much that we had to take a break. At the end of our bike ride we said, "How come you didn't tell us it was going to be that long?" "I did," Poppy said. "But you didn't tell us it was going to be 7 miles." We called Mommy to come get us from Grandma's house, but then we decided to ride back on our bikes anyway. We took an extra shortcut back, that made it 13 miles altogether. What a ride!

Poppy always says, "Watch out for Bigfoot!" But we don't have all the proof that Bigfoot is real.

Poppy is the most athletic, funny, kind, hard worker I have ever seen.

I love Poppy.

Can't Stop the Cuteness

Lia is 19 months and continues to be adorable. She says "ma" for mommy, "da" for daddy, "kanka" for blanket "amma" and "ampa" for grandma and grandpa, "dee-dee-dee" for Dora, and "agh-agh-agh" for SpongeBob, and she says uh-oh, baby, and bye-bye. When she wants me to play Wheels on the Bus with her she puts her finger to her lips and says sh-sh-sh. She is getting the hang of being in nursery, and although she is shy about singing songs in class (and I know because I do music time there every Sunday) she often wants to sing with me at home. A few weeks ago we had pizza for dinner and someone left a slice on the couch. I asked, "Who left pizza on the couch?" and after three "not me"s, Lia raised her hand. No way is she being left out. She's so sweet, I could just eat her up!

Lacey in her birthday castle, painted by Grandma Sharon

Lacey is Miss Personality. Everything is funny to her. These days she adds an extra syllable to her words like this: "I want to watch-a my show." and anything that has an 'or' in it gets an oy-fork=foyk, store=stoy. I think it's adorable. Except she hasn't been wanting to go to preschool because she says it's boying. I think she was watching a cooking show or something the other day because she came to me and asked if we could have rose"berry" chicken for dinner. A few days later she had fun helping me make rosemary chicken but then she wouldn't eat it because she said it was dirty. She enjoys drawing and painting pictures which I think are really quite good for her age. Her brothers decided that since she turned four she is now old enough to play Club Penguin online so now she's a big fan of that, too.

Luke is turning into a clever kid. I took the kids to the store one day and as I was getting Lia out of the car a man said to the other kids who were hanging out by the back of the car, "Stay out of the street there's a lot of cars here." When the man passed, Luke said, "Mind your own business!" Cheeky. At preschool recently he was playing with his friends and they all wanted to ride inside the wagon. Luke said "Let's play rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to be in it first." His teacher heard him say that and was so impressed with his problem solving skills that she asked him to share with the class.

Lance has been asking some interesting questions lately. One night he asked me who I thought he should marry. I told him he would meet a lot of girls before he was ready to get married. Then he said, "Yeah but what girl should I marry?" The rest of the conversation went like this: Me: You should marry someone that goes to church and keeps the commandments. Lance: Like M____? Me: And someone who wants to get married in the temple. Lance: Yeah, like M____? So it looks like he's pretty set on marrying M____ in about 14 or 15 years. And I will say that I approve of that choice. :) Lance continues to do well in school. Everything comes easy for him-reading, math, art, music. He says he wants to be an author and illustrator someday and I'm sure he can.

I really find it a great honor to be the mother of these wonderful children. I enjoy where they are now and look forward to what they will become.

Little mouse, little mouse, are you in the Pendleton house?

A little over a week ago I was up late reading a book when I heard a scratching sound coming from the wall. I ignored it at first, but as it continued my mind began to concoct all the things that could be making that sound. A giant roach? A rat? The ghost of a construction worker accidentally buried during the construction of our house? I finally concluded that it must be some kind of hideous rodent trying to make an entrance into our house. I gave the wall a pound and the scratching stopped. The next day I told Alex and he said that he had heard it that morning. He put out some traps with peanut butter for bait.

A few days later our pest control guy, Kevin, came for his monthly appointment. I told him about the rodent problem. He put out a box trap with bait in it.

"There's plenty of bait in there," he said.

So I said, "So the mouse eats the bait and gets poisoned then dies?"

"Right. So if you find a dead mouse just get a tissue and pick it up and throw it in the trash."

Gag.

Two days ago I was in the garage loading the kids in the car. Something, which looked like trash on the floor, caught my eye. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was a little brown mouse. Not a huge rat like I had envisioned; just a little, almost cute, brown mouse. It looked like it was sleeping.

I left with the kids to run errands and when we got back I showed them the mouse. Then I got some toilet paper and picked it up and put it in the trash. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but part of me felt bad for the mouse. It was just trying to find some food. It meant us no harm. So rest in peace, little mouse. Someday we'll have a world where we can coexist.

The Trip to Utah

On April 20th 2011 the Pendletons went to see Grate Grandma Haynes in St. George.But she was in Orem! Lance was really sad. We stayed overnight in a hotel. Our hotel room had a microwave and mini refrigerator. Alex said "Why don't we go fishing in Pine Valley. So we went to Pine Valley and went fishing and caught nothing. When we were done fishing we went to lunch at the Brandin' Iron Steakhouse in Pine Valley. Lance ordered grilled cheese with a side of fries and lemonade, Lacey and Luke got fries, Lia got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Poppy got fried fish and a diet Coke, and Mommy got a club sandwich. Then we got ice cream for dessert. When were done we left and went to the car. We were driving and Lance sat next to Lia. Lance's seat was wet and Lance didn't know until he touched the back of his pants and it was wet. He played his Mario game and played Mario and Luigi "Bowser's Inside Story." Lance played it to get his mind off the wet. He played and thought he needed Kyle's (his cousin) help on a part. Back to the trip: It was a long drive. Lia spilled Gatorade all over the car. 42 minutes until we get home said Poppy. 40 minutes later we were at the Fiesta. When we got inside the gate everybody cheered. Lance was so relieved he could get out and stretch his back.
Written by Lance

It Was One of Those Sundays. . .

So yesterday I took the kids to church by myself because Alex wasn't feeling well. Usually when I'm by myself at church with the kids they are pretty well-behaved, sometimes even better than when Alex is there. But this was not one of those times. I made the mistake of letting Lance pick the seat. He chose the long middle bench, second from the front. Not that I mind the front, it's just easier to corral the kids if we are on a short bench. Also, Lacey hadn't come in with us because she had a boo-boo on her heel and just couldn't walk all that way. Then the freedom of a long bench was too much for an 18-month-old to resist. About two minutes into the first talk I had to leave with Lia because she was screaming because I wouldn't let her walk on the bench. We went out into the hall where I expected to find Lacey. Well she was wandering around the church--shoeless. Then Luke followed me out and he and Lacey proceeded to run through the semi-empty halls. We took a little break in the nursery, but about 15 minutes until the end of the meeting I said, "I came here to listen so we are going back in and you all had better be good." Yeah, right. We didn't make it another two minutes before we had to leave again. This time I was mad. I was mad at the kids for not being quiet. Mad at Lance for picking the front. And mad at Alex for not being there. I was "this close" to dishing out a helping of "butt-whoopin' soup" (as Alex likes to say) right there in the church.

When the meeting was finally over I was trying to gather up the remnants of our time there--fruit snack wrappers, crayons, paper, shoes--when the man who had been the last speaker (I didn't catch his name because we were out in the hall) tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I want to tell you that you are my hero. I watched you the whole time and I thought "How does she do it?" You really did a great job with those kids. I know it's not easy, but your children will be the recipient of your faith." By then I was sobbing, partly out of guilt for thoughts which had they been acted upon would have resulted in a meeting with child protective services, and partly because his words were so sympathetic and just what I needed to hear at that moment. I could only blubber out "Thank you. . . thank you."+


So the lessons I learned were if you see someone struggling with rowdy children in church, offering kind words might be the best thing you can do. and don't let your seven-year-old pick where you sit in church. :)

Halloween 2010

Alex and Carmen-50's; Lance-Mario; Luke-Ironman; Lacey-Tinkerbell; Lia-Minnie Mouse