staying connected with my sisters

Click on over to Rachel's blog for a glimpse into what everyone's up to this week.

before & after

This is the chair we picked up a couple years ago abandoned by a port-a-potty at the beach house. It's taken me a while to get around to it, but I'm thrilled with the makeover. At every turn I had to apologize to those helping me for knowingly spending more on their services than what the chair is probably worth, but I think in the end it was worth it. I'm loving this fabric - exactly what I was looking for. The chair's going in the living room, so of course now I think the rest of the room needs a bit of a makeover to suit the new chair. Eventually...


On an unrelated note... this was the scene I woke up to this morning. Can you see what's going on here? Huck's holding a bottle in one hand and holding up the ipod to watching a movie with the other hand, with Scott on his ipad in the background. Do these kids even realize they're growing up in the FUTURE?!?!

our week in review - the beginning of Wiley Birthday Season 2011

Oliver's 8th Birthday

This year Oliver's birthday was on a Sunday, which meant a whole weekend of celebrating.

On Friday we took donuts to school and heard all the kids sing "Mr. Evensen's version" of the happy birthday song to him.
Then, Friday after school we invited 14 friends to go to Progressive Power Tumbling with us, then back to our house for cake & ice cream. It was the perfect activity for energetic boys.
We did the party on Friday so Brenden could be there. Immediately after the party, he went with the 11-year-old scouts to a klondike campout. He said they were freezing but it actually sounds like they had a good time.


When Brenden got home on Saturday afternoon, we met Mom & Dad & Christine and went to the new Provo Beach Resort. This time (we've been there once before) the kids did the ropes course, the laser tunnel, the jungle gym, and Huck and June did a round of mini-bowling while everyone else played a game of regular bowling - congrats to dad for a nearly perfect game of spares. Then Brenden gave the flow-rider a try and had a great time boogie-boarding - in Provo in the middle of winter.

After that activity, we met the Wells (along with everyone getting out of the BYU basketball game as well as a whole slew of dressed-to-the-nines Springville High School pre-Sweetheart-Dancers) at Oliver's choice - Brick Oven Pizza for dinner, free lollipop sundae and all.

Sunday was Oliver's actual birthday, and Scott got permission to skip his morning bishopric meetings so we could open presents and have a birthday breakfast together (sausage-filled Æbleskivers with bacon on the side). That evening The Lower Lights played a fireside in Orem so we got a sitter for Huck & June (currently not welcome at such events) so the rest of us could go watch. It was awesome as usual. Then Mom & Dad came over afterward for dinner and dessert - and to help us scramble to finish the school Valentines due the next day. And thus closed out Oliver's Birthday celebration weekend.

The next day was Valentine's day which brought a family trip to the mall to get a case for Oliver's new iPod and use his mall gift certificate,
and these gorgeous flowers from Scott (via Flower Basket). After bedtime, we had a romantic stay-in date complete with PF Changes takeout and the final farewell episode of Friday Night Lights - the best show ever on TV. I can't believe it's over. I don't think the reality's hit me yet.

On Wednesday June's glider bike got run over by the neighbor's car, which forced her to pull out the pedal bike and learn to ride it. Here she is showing Dad her new skill when he got home from work that day:

Day 1

By the next day she was starting by her self and going down the driveway:

Day 2

We are completely converted fans of the no-pedal gliders for teaching kids to ride. That plus the tricycle to learn to pedal allowed us to completely skip training wheels and falling and running along side her.

Wednesday night Mom & Dad took Christine, Grandma Z, Scott, and I to see Ballet West's performance of Sleeping Beauty. We had amazing seats, and I thought it was breathtaking. This marks the 3rd year in a row of this tradition, and I really love it. Certainly doesn't hurt to follow it up with dinner at Hires - always a treat.

Thursday Scott's sister Stephanie and her boys, along with Uncle Brett, came up from California for a visit.
We were more than ready to show them a good time.

On Friday we let the boys skip school and took the whole crew to Sundance to ski/snowboard. The boys all did great. Scott went with them in the morning, and then I tag-teamed him and skied the afternoon.

photo by Justin Hackworth

Sundance has got to be one of my favorite places on earth - and being so close and accessible makes it all the better.

Saturday was my 35th birthday. That sounds old. But I can't complain - it was a great day filled with family and fun activities and a great excuse all day to force people to do what I wanted them to ("no fighting on Mom's birthday!"). The day started with Scott taking all 6 kids by himself for breakfast at Krispy Kremes. Then we convinced the boys to babysit the little ones so Scott, Brett, Stephanie and I could go to have brunch at Communal. That was heavenly. Such an amazing place - great atmosphere and even better food.

When we got home, the kids were ready for an activity but we couldn't decide on just one so we decided to do it all. First we took them all to Jump on It for 2 hours of trampoline jumping. Immediately followed by Provo Beach Resort to do the flow-rider, and an alternate activity for those not tall enough to surf, Color Me Mine. With a day like that, can you think of even one reason for kids to complain or fight or be grumpy? Me neither. Especially on Mom's birthday.

We got home and everyone was exhausted, so we put the little ones to bed and Aunt Stephanie offered to bbsit so Scott & I could go out. My one request was I wanted to go somewhere quiet and simple and non-kid-friendly. We ended up at Spark with the Kendricks, who also had sleep-over babysitters so we got to stay out past midnight! That was the perfect way to close out my birthday.

The next day we left Huck with Grandma, made sure our ridiculously massive collection of ipods/iphones were fully charged, and ventured up to Park City to find some real snow. We took the kids tubing at Gorgoza Park.

June was very nervous at first, but thanks to their great toddler practice area (plus a $1 bribe) she soon found her nerve and tried out the big hill and had a blast. The boys had a great time too in spite of the super snowy and freezing cold conditions.

After tubing we went to Main Street for dinner, then headed home (the boys completely crashed in the car). At home we watched The Karate Kid remake (although Scott refused to watch it since he thinks it's blasphemous that someone dared to remake his beloved original Karate Kid), and enjoyed some hot cocoa with whip-eez homemade whip cream for dessert (thanks Rachel!). The Wileys leave bright and early in the morning to head back home.

Needless to say, this has been a rather exhausting week. But, really, it's nothing to complain about.

skiing is fun

Yesterday I arranged for my mom to watch Huck & June for the afternoon so I could go up to Sundance and ski with the boys (who were there with their school ski program). I talked Christine into going up with me and even though we got there late and only got about 5 or 6 runs in, I thought it was a total blast. I was really struck with how beautiful it was to be outdoors, how nice a resort Sundance is and what a great resource it is to have it so close, how fun it is to have kids getting older and more capable to do fun grown-up things with, and mostly how nice it is to do something outside of our usual routine.

Here's a snapshot of our lives today:

Huck and June are asleep right now. Oliver went next door to play and Brenden and a group of friends walked over to the Wilk to play at the arcade. I'm going to put that in the "Pro" column for living in Provo - if I'm going to have an independent pre-teen who wants to walk to the arcade, I'm glad it's at BYU.

I'm in the middle of sewing new curtains for the guest room in the basement. I'm anxious to finish that project. I'm also in the middle of knitting a Christmas stocking for (new baby niece) Mi Na - nice and early for Christmas 2011. I'm in the middle of finally refinishing the chair we picked up at the beach a couple of years. I picked fabric and painted the chair so it should be done soon. I'm excited about that. I want to put together a new photo wall in my kitchen. I've been talking about it for about a month now but need to just sit down and do it one of these days.

This weekend I need to: make a spotlight poster for Oliver to take to school on Monday. He's supposed to do an Oral Presentation in his Chinese class - I hope he'll let me go and film it. I also need to make and deliver birthday party invitations for Oliver - I think we'll take a group to Power Tumbling (trampolines, foam pits, gymnastic mats) - seems like a good place for energetic 8-year-olds to burn off steam. I really should work on Valentines this weekend, since next weekend is going to be crazy, but I'm not sure we'll get to that just yet. Anyone have any cute ideas for homemade Valentines? I need to come up with something.

I'm in the middle of scheduling concerts and tours and firesides for The Lower Lights for the upcoming year. It's like a total jigsaw puzzle figuring out 12 work/vacation/family schedules plus venue availability plus host availability plus expenses and accommodations, etc. Good things I like puzzles.

I'm also in the middle of figuring out the lineup for the 2011 season of the Rooftop Concert Series. We're hoping to have the funding and lineup all figured out and ready to announce by April 1. I'm really having a blast working with Mindy Gledhill, Justin Hackworth, and Courtney Kendrick again on that project - getting to have weekly meetings with those guys makes the extra work totally worth it.

I've got a couple new assignments at work these days which are actually kind of exciting and fun to work on - it's been a while since work has been stimulating and not just drudgery.

For Christmas Scott got me a slow cooker cookbook from Williams-Sonoma which has totally changed the way I do dinner. I have tried about 10 of their recipes so far (about 80% success rate so far) and the family is loving it. I have the time & energy to prepare food in the morning which I absolutely do not have in the evening. We've gone from about 1-2 home cooked meals per week to about 5 or 6. Pretty impressive. We'll see if I can keep it up.

Huck had his 18 month appointment this week - he's 80th% for weight, 70% for height. Dr says to continue to just ignore his high-pitched-blood-curdling-screaming - he needs to know that's not how you get our attention. Unfortunately it sure gets the attention of anyone we see in public. Huck is in his water phase now - obsessed with pouring water from one cup to another or really pouring water on anything. He is not satisfied with sippy cups. He is also obsessed with buttons - the car door, light switches, garage door, TV, CD player, door bells. He doesn't talk much - Uh oh, No, Mom, Daddy, P.U., Hi, Bye, Nigh-nigh, and Dadu (we think this is Dog or Creature or Animal or something), are about his only words. The Dr said not to worry too much about his speech - just continue to read books and work on flash cards with him - yeah ok we'll "continue" to do that. Oops might have forgotten a few developmental steps with this 4th baby. He climbs like crazy, is a bit OCD about closing drawers and cupboards, and is overall still a total rascal.

June asked me to sign her up for skating lessons. I should look into that.

We are still hoping/planning to go to the East Coast this spring. I need to figure that out.

I've become totally addicted to chips and salsa lately. Well I've always loved chips & salsa, but I found a new brand of fresh salsa that I'm loving (Jack's Special from Costco) and unfortunately, like any of my other food obsessions, I've gotten to where I go through a whole bag of chips (Tostitos bite-size rounds) and a whole big jar of salsa in about 2 or 3 days. By myself. So now I'm going to have to cut myself off. (Well I don't really mean "now" - but you know, eventually pretty soon.)

I'm finding myself a little disappointed about turning 35, and this is the first time I think I've ever cared. That's starting to sound rather old to me. No longer close to 20. No longer barely 30. Now I'm entering almost 40 territory. That's kind of sad.

Guess that's all for now. I should go put a bunch more pictures in and link to all my friends/family/products/groups mentioned above, but I'm going to keep this simple and ease myself back into the swing of blogging.