Brielle Turns 9

Happy Birthday Brielle. Why is it that the last child never gets pictures of her. I had a birthday party for Brielle and we invited 4 boys and 6 girls. I had my camera out but I never took a picture, I guess I was too busy.

We played the candy bar game with 15 candy bars. You roll the dice and if you get a 2 or 4 you grab a candy bar and put it in your brown bag before someone sees. Then after all the candy is gone you roll the dice again and if you get a 3 you can steal a candy bar from someone but you have to remember what they have and name it. Brielle won but we gave the kids a choice of a candy bar in their treat bags before they left. We also played the detective and the frog. Everyone sits in a circle someone is the detective in the middle and one person is secretly the frog and everyone else is a fly. The frog discretely sticks their tongue out and kills the flies and if they stick there tongue out at you you dramatically die. If you kill everyone before being found you win. This is a great game for this age. The detective had a hard time.

Nine Things I Love About Brielle

1. She always has a smile on her face and is always happy.

2. She loves to laugh at funny stories or shows. I love the sound of her laugh. She said this summer I probably won't live very long. I asked how come. She said because I don't laugh very much and they say laughing extends your life. I told her she is always laughing and then we watched some Sponge Bob together and she felt better.

3. She is all girl with wanting to dress and act like a girl.

4. She is amazing with peoples names and faces. She can remember a face, name or event and you can ask her and she can tell you all about it. Even if it didn't happen at her school. She  can visualize a person by how someone talks about them and she can pick them out in a crowd. It happened last year about a guy who liked Whitney and we were shopping at Christmas time and I know Brielle had never seen him. She said she saw him and then she pointed him out to me and it really was him.

5. She has great ambitions and is open about her feelings and things she wants to accomplish and do in her life. I hope she will always keep her hopes high so she will be able to attain anything she wants to do.

6. She can read a persons nature if they are good or not. And she has since she was 2. She didn't like her dance teacher from the first day because she was nice to Brielle but not nice to her own daughter.

7. She is concerned for others feelings and hates when someone has been treated unfair or poorly. She will stand up for them.
8. I love her petite body, big blue eyes, round face and cute little pointy chin. She is my only child that looks like this. She reminds me of what Grandma Wood probably looked like when she was little.

9. I love Brielle Mary Wood because she is excited about life and has been since the day she was born. She wants to be here and experience it all. She knows my life wasn't complete until I had her. She was born with the attitude I'm here now so lets have some fun. Let's do it all!

College Road Trip

Am I really that old? Sending my first born off to college. It seems like last year when he was rocking in his swing and laughing at Rick saying Boo! Then it was just last month that he was watching Barney and learned how to say Go to da doct- er. Then he advanced to bigger words like air -condish -a- refrator, Fridge-refrator and the woo-die-her and pacifier-dat. Translation Air conditioner, refrigerator, blow dryer and pacifier. He was 15 months old.

Then I remember taking him to preschool and being told he knew who the President of the United States was. I was so proud. A boy said George Washington and Spencer confidently said no he's not, he's dead! Who is it then asked the teacher? It's President Gordon B. Hinckley! Wow he was so proud of himself. His baptist teachers were quite impressed as well. They had to ask me who this Gordon B. Hinckley was with the middle initial. So Spencer brought the Ensign tthe next day that had a story about President Hinckley and also the latest release of the Proclamation of the Family. It was a great example of the church for these ladies and they were very impressed. Yeah my sons a missionary.

Then it was early mornings going to all day kindergarten where he was the only blonde in a class of curly black hair. He was the glowing angel in the crowd of color. His teacher loved his hair. I loved his hair. The two of us would wake up early and I dressed him, fed him, brushed his teeth and styled his beautiful perfect hair. Then I'd open the front door that was never used by us except to greet our favorite friends. I never imagined that I would be opening it to let one of my children go out into the big world on there own. Bye mom love you! As he'd skip down the driveway carrying his Spiderman backpack eager to meet the world and ride the great big yellow bus. Spiderman winks at me and says he'll be okay. Everyday I'd ask myself have I taught him everything. Well here we are 13 years later we have managed to still smile through grade school, science projects, cuts and bruises, junior high and braces. Skateboards, Nintendos, Haro bikes ipods and cell phones. Soccer, basketball, football, hockey, lacrosse, skiing, snowboarding, cub scouts to earning his Eagle Scout. Learning to drive to jumping vans and motorcycles. May I suggest that motorcycles handle the impact a little better then mini vans and steering wheels never reattach the same after an airbag is deployed. Gorilla tape never looks pretty around a steering wheel. So today we took Spencer to Logan for college. We loaded everything into our car and rode with his roommate. Our first struggle was getting out of town. We wanted to leave by 10am and didn't get out of town till 1pm. Computer technical problems. Rick was downloading the last bit of software and things to Spencer's laptop. Yeah we are finally on the road!

Not for long Dillon's truck got a flat and he doesn't have a jack or a spare.

Who wouldn't have a jack in their car? Um we don't! We ruined ours first trip out with the trailer and we haven't replaced it. Oops, we're a lot of help. We had to wait for Dillon's brother to bring him a spare from his truck and then we went back to Pocatello to find a tire. No luck it needs to be special ordered. Off we go to Logan on a prayer with a spare not meant for his truck.

Whitney found the beauty in the moment.

Home sweet home for a year. The Student Living Learning Center or LLC.

Covered parking? How would it be? Only $140 a semester.

Outside view of LLC lounge.

Whitney made Spencer's bed, I put away his clothes and Rick helped set up the computer.

It's clean and it will probably be the last time it looks this way. Till check out!

Filled the kitchen with food.

Cool stairs. But where are the talking portraits like at Hogwarts.

Common room not as fancy as the Gryffindor Common room. But they do have a fireplace.
Have fun Spencer we love you! We are looking forward to family weekend in October.

Brinley and Clothes

Brinley has never been a shopper. This year that changed when I took her shopping with Preston thinking I wouldn't buy her anything I just wanted her to come along so she wouldn't be the only one left home.

That changed after we went into the first store. I asked her to get an idea for clothes and look around and see if she might be able to find something.

I use to have to force her to try clothes on. It was actually enjoyable to shop with her. After we went shopping Amy brought over a ton of Bethany's clothes and they were all perfect for Brinley. She was in heaven. Whitney cleaned out her closet and gave her belts, shoes and accessories and Brinley has been able to make up some cute combinations.

She decided on her own that she would learn how to curl her hair. After a week on her own she was able to make hundreds of barrel curls throughout her hair. Now she is using two sizes of curling irons for her hair. Because of the morning crunch in the bathroom she moved into her bedroom and has a wonderful mirror and glass top dresser. I went to the supply house and bought a metal curling iron holder that plugs in and holds two curling irons. She doesn't have to crawl under to unplug and they hold the hot curling irons safely. Mornings are more peaceful now that Whitney has the whole bathroom to herself.

Sleeping Out On the Trampoline

So the girls have been asking all summer if they could sleep out on the trampoline. I have had 12 years of experience and this is how it goes.

10:00pm. Kids convince mom to sleep out on the trampoline. Mom, "Sure you can sleep out." Children, "No we want you to sleep with us." Mom bribes children and tells them they have to roll there own sleeping bag the next morning and put it away.
10:15 pm Mom gets all the sleeping bags out of the camper.
10:30 pm Kids are jumping on the trampoline while others want to set up their chosen sleeping bag. Voices escalate in the dark. Kids begin to fight over which sleeping bag they get to sleep in.
11:00 pm Little one wants to be in the middle because they are afraid. Older child declares the heaviest sleeps in the middle! Mom sleeps in the middle.
11:10 pm Everyone wants to sleep next to mom. Someone gets there feelings hurt and goes in pouting.
11:30 pm The next 20 minutes are spent begging sad child to come out and sleep.
11:31 pm Sad child gets their way and gets to sleep next to mom.
11:45 pm All are situated and child on the end wants dog to sleep with them.
11:50. Mom gets out of sleeping bag and helps dog up. Dog takes 10 minutes walking around stepping on everyones stomachs to find his favorite place. Dog sleeps on mom.
12:00 pm Lights out, everyone is content and settled. Oldest child needs to use the bathroom comes back out with two cookies not enough to share.
12:30 pm Like little chicks hopping out of a nest, one by one each child goes in gets a drink, eats, and uses the bathroom. Father from upstairs in his comfy bed kindly mentions it's late go to bed.
1:15 am Everyone is happy telling stories and pointing out satellites, constellation and how cool the moon is. Cookie package is empty.
2:00 am Mom wakes up with everyone squished to the center on top of her. 1st child wants to go in, mom gets up tucks them in bed. Mom hears Dad snoring comfortably in bed. She realizes again he is the smartest member of the family!
3:00 am 2nd child is cold goes in, mom helps them get a drink and tuck in bed.
4:00 am Dog is cold jumps off trampoline and is scratching at the back door. Mom gets up and let's dog in.
4:30 am 3rd child is cold goes in, does not wake mom.
5:00 am 4th child goes in only to use the bathroom, sees couch and decides to sleep on it.
6:00 am Mom wakes up and realizes she's the only one sleeping on the trampoline!
Mom gets up quickly, realizes sprinklers are coming on, brings in all sleeping bags dumps them on the living room floor. Sleeping bags sit there all day till mom rolls them up and puts them away. Mom has backache and exhausted. Kids can't figure out why mom is so grouchy!

Yes, that's the scenario of our summers sleeping out on the trampoline. Except for this year! Preston and Whitney got all the sleeping bags out. Preston gave me a mummy bag so I wouldn't get cold. And we didn't have to beg anyone to come out because of hurt feelings. We saw the most amazing shooting stars. Mars was so bright and the moon was full. It was beautiful! The wind picked up and the clouds rolled in as I woke up sporadically throughout the night to see who would be our first dissenter. I woke up at 5am with all the kids squished to the center on top of me but no one budged. The dog even stayed out because he's too old to jump off the trampoline. The kids actually rolled up all the sleeping bags and put them away. I still had the same backache and I was tired from staying up so late but I think we are going to actually sleep out again tonight!

Roaring River Youth Jam

I took the girls down to the Roaring River Youth Jam for some free fun. Whitney had to paint faces as one of the activities so I dropped her off and the girls and I set out for some fun.

Brinley is the hula hoop queen. She can go for ever. I have never been coordinated enough to accomplish such an amazing feat. Here she is holding a ballon eating an otter pop and doing her thing!


The National Guard brought their climbing wall and the girls gave their best effort. They had to climb to the top and push a red button and a horn would go off. Brinley is pushing the button and posing at the top.

Brielle couldn't stand in line that long for the wait so she ran off and did two crafts with some of the girls from our neighborhood. When it was our turn I ran to get her and I thought maybe she would decide not to do it. She left her stuff and came over to be harnessed up. She got to the top and sounded the horn. She was really quick for having some far stretches to reach. To see them climb was worth the two hours that we were there. Most of the activities are so wet and messy you can't possibly carry them around in the wind. Nothing survived the trip home. They need to think of dry activities to put together. Oh well they enjoyed making some of the stuff.

Hiking Lower Palisades Creek

We had a great time hiking with the Adamson's and Jensen's. This was the 2nd time we hiked this in less then a week. Brielle did awesome for her cute little feet and legs. The older kids could have ran to the top but I wouldn't let them put me to shame that bad. Oh to be young again and physically fit. Maybe in my next life!