Bees and Primary

Today I was finishing the lunch dishes (church gets out at 12:00pm) and made the proclamation that "the kitchen is now closed until dinner time!" Taylor perked right up, and ran into the cooking area where I was standing and exclaimed,

"Oh, no it's not, I can still get in!"

He had this smug smile on his face that cracked us all up.

Today in Primary, our Jr. Primary was sooo noisy for all of the announcements and sharing time. The leaders and teachers had tried to quiet the kids down several times without much luck, (I think the 2nd counselor went home hoarse...) so by the time it was my turn for singing time, I was very worried.

So I got up, put my mouth really close to the microphone and in a low, quiet voice, told them about a strange thing that came to my backyard a couple summers ago. I explained that I could hear a low, kind of humming sound coming from one of my fruit trees. It sounded like this..."bzzz....." (still talking quietly in the microphone).

The kids were dead silent, then exclaimed "they were BEES!"

"Yes! About 20,000 of them!" I responded.

And you guys kind of remind me of those bees!" Suddenly, to my detriment, their eyes brightened up and they all started buzzing!!

"No, No, No!" I protested. "It isn't a good thing!" I tried to explain that if only one bee was buzzing I probably wouldn't have heard it, but because they all were, it was noisy. Only one bee is allowed to buzz right now, and do you know who the queen bee is?

They smiled and replied..."You!"

"Yes. Thank you."
Throughout the remaining 20 minutes, I occasionally heard little 4 yr. olds making buzzing noises...in fact I over heard the four yr. old teacher pull aside one very cute blond buzzer and say, "no really, she doesn't want you to do that..."

Aminals

Don't you secretely love it when your kids can't say words correctly? Ashlyn came home from her fieldtrip to the Thanksgiving Point Farm and told me all about the "aminals"! I hesitate correcting all the cute, mispronounced words, ie mazagine, pascetti (spaghetti), calling potatoes...tomatoes etc.

I asked her if they watched the cow being milked? She replied, "No they milked it at five." "Oh," I said, "so they'll probably do it again at five-o-clock tonight then huh? She looked at me confused and said, "no just at five..." I wondered how many other kindergarteners went away wondering what "five" was. It was cute.

Stephanie's Kitchen

For all those cooks out there who are constantly trying to "wow" their families with amazing home-cooked meals, and treats (or at least get them to eat SOMETHING...), here is a great recipe site by a local gal. She has the prettiest pictures of food I've ever seen, I could spend hours just looking at her creations. I made the chocolate bowl for a bridal shower, and it was the hit of the party!! So if you're like me and occasionally peruse cookbooks for your reading pleasure, take a look at her site. (I've started posting fav websites on the blog...)

Warning:

If you see the beautiful picture of the chocolate mint brownie cookies, you'll surely want to make them.

You'll have to go to the store to get that one ingredient that you don't have on hand. (probably the green mint chips..it's worth it sisters...)

You'll see lots of other things you need to buy, and before you know it your cart will be full.

Then you'll go home and make those delicious looking cookies.

You'll be too anxious to wait for the completed product, so you'll get a spoonful of batter and lick the spoon clean.

No doubt little helpers will appear out of the woodwork, climbing on the counters to give you assistance in licking the bowl.

You will probably have to share a spoonful of dough with them too.

When that buzzer FINALLY goes off, you'll read the rest of the directions and notice the next step: Let Cool. "Not a chance!" you'll say, so you'll pop a cookie in your mouth.

You'll continue following the directions like a good girl, and then gobble several down without counting. MMMM..heaven.

You'll most likely feel a little guilty, so you'll go and get on the treadmill for 1/2 hour (just so you can justify more).

When you return to the kitchen, you'll find those little helpers have helped themselves and all their friends to YOUR cookies!!

Feeling a little irritated, you may go and play on the computer a little, where you'll see that picture of the cookies again. "That's it!" you'll say, and you'll decide, "I must make more for me".

Realizing you only bought one bag of mint chips, you'll head back to the store...

If you don't get this, then you probably haven't read the book

"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"

It's a keeper!!

Spring Break??

I find it funny how we refer to a week with all the kids home, begging to do something fun every minute ("I'm BORED mom!") as SPRING BREAK?? I guess they didn't call it "Spring break for mom's", now did they...Well, we did have fun, despite the HUGE snow storm that hit us on Wednesday!! We just chose to make lemonade out of lemons...or should I say snowmen/forts out of 2 feet of snow!

On Monday we enjoyed the beautiful 70 degree weather, and played outside all day. Tuesday it rained the whole day, so we went to the BYU Museum of Art and looked at the collections of Walter Wick (the "Eye Spy" guy) and Dan Steinhilber (makes art out of everyday items). The kids loved the displays, we would highly recommend it.

Wednesday we were stunned to see a typical December winter wonderland had hit our yard over night! It was something else! We went swimming in our neighbor's indoor pool, then came home, donned our snow clothes, and played for hours outside. Fun day.

Thursday we were worn out and just hung out at home, I also went to lunch with my cute friend Stephanie, and Friday...hmmm, truthfully it's a blur, I don't remember anything special about the day, (I think I made the kids clean the house..) oh, and Karl and I went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant on a date, then on to Home Depot (very romantical I know, he's mine ladies...) then a stop at Macey's for milk and Capri Sun juice drinks. (well...they were on sale!)

Overall, it's been a crazy, busy last week, when you throw in Easter and all. I'll be glad to send the kids to school tomorrow and re-group a little.

Easter Cousins!

Aunt Allyson and aunt Adrienne hosted an awesome egg hunt for the kids!
Before the storm...Connor get's in a little "kite-flying action"!

April 15th...

The Ferry kids joined the Jensen's in the best snowball fight of all time!

Frosty...he didn't last long.

(I've sure gotten my $5.00 out of those "tole-painted" snowman accessories we made in HOMEMAKING years ago...who knew?!!)

Yeahs and Boo's...

Week in review:

Yeah...

*Conference weekend! We had a great time just hanging out as a family and listening to our church leaders. Sunday was especially fun, we played lots of games, made homemade oreos, and had a nice FHE that night.

Conference Bingo!

More bingo, and just watching conference from bed.


Taylor and Parker made a hut to play in during General Conference. We had several conference worksheets that the kids filled out and redeemed for treats during the meetings.

More YEAH'S...

*The Batson's (aka Batmans...thanks Taylor..) came to stay with us for a few days. They were the easiest guests ever, and we had so much fun laughing and talking until late each night.

*Went to a "Ma and Pa" training for stake trek this summer and practiced our dutch oven cooking. I am so stoked! Karl and I can't wait to go and spend time with the youth and other great people from our stake!

*Went running this morning, haven't done that in a while...too cold!

*A new Wal Mart just opened in Cedar Hills! Only 3 minutes from my house!
*Easter this weekend, lots of fun planned, and Spring Break next week! Parker asked "what are we going to do?" SLEEP IN!

BOOooo...

*Karl had to have surgery on his clavicle that didn't heal following his scooter accident last Fall. It's been a long week for him, keeping the pain at bay, keeping ice on it, and trying to work from home. Poor guy.

*My 3 oldest kids were sick at some point this week with the stomach flu, and head colds. Yuck!

*One of our adult chickens mercilessly pecked at one of our new chicks, injuring it so badly, that we had to kill it. Then she started to go after the other little chicks, so we killed her too. Sad for the baby chick, not sad for the mean chicken.

Utah History on Site

Today I went on a fun fieldtrip with Connor and his 4th grade class. We visited the Utah State Capital Building, which is magnificent!! Then we ran over to the Daughter's of the Utah Pioneers Museum, and finished off at This is the Place Pioneer Park. The weather was very snowy and blustery for the first 2 stops, but cleared out enough for us to enjoy This is the Place park. That was a huge blessing since we walked a lot as we visited the pioneer cabins. The kids had a great time, except for the dancing part. "EEEEWWWW! I have to touch a GIRL??" "Someday you'll like it boys..."they look at you like you're crazy!

Connor's class at the Capital Building

Pulling those handcarts


Connor was chosen to demonstrate how a misbehaving child would be punished in a pioneer classroom...can you say child abuse???

The kids ended their trip with a ride on a small train. It started to snow just as we turned the corner to our vehicles.

I love going on fieldtrips with the kids!!

He...SHE... GOT ME!

Generally I'm not a really big prankster kind of person, however once in a while I pull something off on April Fools Day.
Yesterday, I placed a large, rubber snake underneath the top towel in Alyssa's bathroom for her to discover. It worked beautifully. After her shower, she grabbed for the towel, and the snake came tumbling out, right on cue! I had my laugh, the kids went to school and I figured all was done. I even forgot it was April Fools Day, until...10:30pm that night. I had made the mistake of relating my success to my husband that morning, and he got a sneaky look on his face. Dumb me, I dismissed it.
When I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, I noticed my toothbrush ready for me on the counter, with toothpaste on it and everything! At first I thought Connor had accidentally put toothpaste on the wrong toothbrush, (since he keeps his by mine), realized his mistake and just left it for me. Then I was naive enough to think, maybe someone is serving me. We did a sneaky leprechaun service activity this year, (I'd find my P.J.'s folded and waiting on my bed etc.) and I thought "maybe someone wanted to serve me, what a good mom I am to teach my kids service that lasts...) Ooooh NO, I had been HAD! With it so late, and being totally exhausted, I placed that toothbrush in my mouth, vigorously attacking my teeth, only to discover it was laced with SALT! I spit out the nasty stuff the best I could, and tried to reclaim my mouth. After quizing each of my angelic children who claimed no responsibility, I realized my "soon to be dead" husband was to blame. He got me!

Later this morning...the mystery unravels...and takes an unexpected turn! After reading my blog, Karl called me totally laughing. "It wasn't me! Ha ha! You may want to quiz your 'other daughter'". Apparently my sweet little Ashlyn (who was sleeping when I interrogated the older kids), came to Karl asking which toothbrush was mine, and did the dirty deed all by her little self!! Oh, and Karl, you know how all the soap was missing this morning from the shower??? Guess who???