Smiles and Dress Up

We actually had a pretty chilly day today so Max wore this sweater - probably for the first and last time. He is growing so fast. He was flirting with the camera for this shot. What a funny toothless grin. I was taking Amy to a friend's house and came back to find that Summer had convinced the boys to play dress up with her. They thought they were so funny - don't they make pretty girls? Dale was mortified when he saw this picture.
And then there's cute Summer in her dress up. She was sad when I made the boys get their more masculine clothes back on.

Strawberry Banana Icecream

We made homemade icecream and it was mm mm. I won the icecream contest in highschool with this recipe - ofcourse my mom made it and I just took it to school so technically she won the contest.

Strawberry Banana Icecream

1 pkg strawberries chopped and mixed with 2 1/2 cups sugar for 3 hours

1 3-oz pkg strawberry banana jello

1 cup boiling water

3 Tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of salt

1 pint whipping cream (2 cups)

1 can evaported milk

Whole milk to fill ice cream freezer 2/3 full

2 bananas chopped

Dissolve Jello in boiling water. Add to strawberries and stir to dissolve all sugar. Add lemon juice and salt. Add remaining ingredients and place in a 4 quart ice cream freezer. Follow directions for the ice cream freezer. YUM!

Innocence & Hell

The other day Kendall came in the house upset and said, "I want to tell Taylor that I blank him." I said, "Blank him? You blank him? Kendall I don't think you should blank him." I got a smile out of him and he forgot that he was mad. Then Taylor walked in and I said, "Taylor, Kendall says that he blanks you." Taylors jaw dropped open because he knew what I was talking about even without saying the word - then we laughed. We've taught our kids that hate is a strong word and you don't ever want to say it to people. I hope that they continue to be so innocent and good and say blank instead of the real thing. Amy on the other hand picked up on the word hell and I heard her say, "What the hell are you doing?" I explained to her that it was a swear word and we don't say it. She said she didn't know that and wouldn't say it again. I told her if she did that she would get hot sauce. I'm telling you, not one minute later she said it again. I thought, "Has she gotten in the habit of saying this and I had no idea and now she can't stop?" Well, she got hot sauce and I haven't heard it again. That hot sauce must burn those words right out of their mouth - well that's what my mom used to tell me anyway.

Leu Gardens

Today (President's Day) we ventured to the Leu Gardens. It reminded us a lot of Thanksgiving Point gardens except for all of the tropical plants that would never survive in Utah. People gave me strange looks when we ALL walked by - you would have thought I had 10 kids with me (no offense to Dale's mom). These gardens are free on Monday mornings for any of you here in Florida. All the kids - except Max ofcourse who was sleeping peacefully in the stroller - had to pick up a stick. They look like headhunters in this picture except for Kendall who dropped his stick to look cute for the picture. I could hardly keep Amy on the path. She wanted to touch and sometimes pick everything.
Then on our way home we passsed this street so I had to stop and take a picture. Hyer is my maiden name and not all that common here in the East - I wonder if I have distant relatives here in Orlando - hmmmm.

I've gotten into the playlist website and have found some songs that I haven't heard in a long time. I don't have the CDs to most of these songs so it's fun to hear them again. Isn't the internet amazing?

Sunshine in February

While the boys were at baseball practice last Saturday, the girls decided to put water under the tramp because it was getting so warm. Is this really February?
Shelby is addicted to balls. She will even fetch this big ball by pushing it with her nose and guiding it back to you. Our backyard has a hill in it and she is still really fast. Check out that nasty grass - you really don't like to play on it too much and definately don't lay on it or the ants will get you or maybe a lizard. It's getting warmer and the toads are coming out again at night.

Daytona 500

Milwaukee bought a bunch of tickets to the Daytona 500 and Dale was fortunate to get 3 tickets for he and the boys. They got to go onto the track and even got a bolt from the car of Dale Earnhardt Jr. There were games and all-you-can-eat chicken wings to Taylors delight. It was a late night, but they had a good time.

Dale turns 35!

Dale is finally as old as me - not for long. The next night Dale was invited to go with our bishop and a few other guys to the Magic/Lakers game. They sat right behind the Laker players then at half time Tiger Woods walked right past him! He had a blast.

Bath Time

Max loves the bath. I love to wash his cute little body as he kicks his legs. We have a neighbor across the street who works at Target. She loves to shop and when there's a holiday she brings the kids all kinds of deals she finds at work. She brought Amy a sheet of tatoos and silly Amy put the whole sheet on her belly at once. Dale was not too happy with this, but at least no one can see it.

Ripped Pants

We went to Epcot last Saturday. They have a big aquarium with trained dolphins. They picked all our kids to go up and wave their arms at the dolphins and the dolphins waved their fins back. So cool. Kendall also got picked to ask Crush a question in the turltle talk "ride". It wasn't really a ride, it was an interactive thing where the turtle talks to the kids - Disney sure knows how to do things. Well I wore some new pants on our little excursion this day and while bending over the stroller, I heard a little riiip. Uh oh I thought - well no one will notice. Well every time I bent over the stroller I would hear a little more riiip. Finally I went into the bathroom to check out the damage - whoa the rip was like 8 inches long - how embarrassing. I went to the first aid which was next door and got a couple of safety pins. Well, I guess it's time to lose some weight because when I sat down the pins bent and came right out. I so didn't want to leave the park because of my stupid pants so I pulled my shirt down and made Taylor walk behind me. We did leave earlier than I wanted, but Dale was being a party pooper and wanted to leave anyway.
So Max is a thumb sucker. I was a thumb sucker and I remember how addictive it was for getting to sleep. I've tried hard to make my kids take a binky so they wouldn't be thumb suckers, but to no avail with this one. He loves his thumb.

I have a new plan with my kids. If anyone knows Amy, they know she has her own agenda. It's hard for her to give up what she has in her mind to do what I have in mind. So I thought I would attack her nightly prize - a snack. The kids now have to earn their snack (okay I know I shouldn't use food as a reward, but these kids can't go to bed without a little something to eat). So I thought - "I need to notice the good things my kids do instead of nagging them about the things they are doing wrong." So for about a month now, I have been telling them when I see them doing something good that they have earned their snack. It has worked pretty good because they ask me if they earned their snack and I have to tell them what they did good - because I truly want them to get the snack. Amy has improved and really tries to do her best bless her heart.

Yesterday at church a few families - including us - were asked to go without buying food or watching TV for a week. They were trying to similate being prepared and what it would be like without electricity. Well we know what it's really like without electricity for a while from our experience in Washington last year and this is nothing. At least we have our fridge, washer and dryer, stove, and dishwasher. Going without TV will be a piece of cake - except Dale missed the super bowl. It's also Dale's birthday this week - good thing I got the steaks already. They told us we couldn't go out to eat either. Now if they had asked us to do this for a month - we might have had to dip into the wheat and beans and oats in the garage. I hope they're still good after being in the hot garage. I got my powdered milk out and it said "Best by April 2004" - Yuck.

I went for a bike ride this morning - it was beautiful - it's supposed to get up to 80 today. There was a blue jay flying nearby and cute squirrels scurrying up the trees. Then I saw the picture of Dale's dad shoveling snow in Utah and I was quite grateful for our beautiful weather here.