Dear Family and Friends,

Robyn decided this week to give me an early birthday present and switch to wearing underwear. I just thought she was holding it as she never produced anything when I would take her to the bathroom but then I caught her sneaking in to just take care of business herself. I was overjoyed at the idea of being down to only one kid in diapers PERMANENTLY! But although Robyn is doing great she has yet to figure out how to poop in the toilet. Since she refuses to wear a diaper most of the time now that leads to some smelly situations. Usually she tries to hold it till night time and then let loose but she can't always make it. I keep reminding myself that this is the last time I will go through this phase of life so I might as well laugh about scrubbing down a shrieking child in the shower.

Tuesday was a treat/endurance test for me. I got to drive and chaperon for Allison's field trip to the planetarium up in SLC. Robyn was thrilled to spend the day with a friend and I enjoyed seeing what Allison was like surrounded by her friends. I dosed off during the show which probably wasn't very chaperon like but I had fun following the kids around and listening to their stories. Between both kids having piano then the field trip, gymnastics class and then karate class I hit my bed very early with a big piece of chocolate in hand.

Spencer discovered the world of blogging this week. He made himself his own blog and was hard at work coming up with a look and what to say on it. He anxiously told everyone he knew about it. Had a bad hour or two when he realized Jeremy was going to make it a private blog. Shouted out to Jeremy that a real dad would never do that. Jeremy, manfully sucked it up and hopefully knew that that is exactly what a real dad would and should do. Moment like that gives me glimpses of the teenage years and the sight isn't pretty! On the plus side kids got report cards this week and Spencer was thrilled that he got a B in math (he got a C last term). He was at an A until the last test when they began working on decimal numbers - still a hard concept for him.

Allison was invited to do swim lessons with her friend again for the next 6 weeks and started Wednesday. She had a great time swimming and was very excited to try her new swimsuit out as it doesn't have a saggy bum like her others (glad Speedo swimsuits are but tight!). Her favorite part is that her teacher lets them play in the pool after lessons for 15 mintues as long as a mom will watch them. Allison of course had straight As and was excited because she got moved up to the second grade class for math. I was a little worried but she just keeps telling me how easy it is and does her homework quite flamoyantly effortlessly to rub in the point.

I have decided I can blame more than my rolls around my middle on chocolate as I went to the dentist on Friday. No root canals - yeah! But a couple of cavities which with my swiss cheese like teeth can't just be "watched" and then drumroll...gum disease in 3 spots. So I get to go back as they numb me up and scrape off all the diseased parts and pack the spots with anitbiotics. So I am swishing with gaggingly bad mouthwash and bought an electric toothbrush. Hopefully my gums will heal - think I should look into overdosing on vitamin C for a while.

Friday night was a family night. Jason's family was over for cousin night where the spirits (and noise) were very loud. I tried out a calzone recipe that we all decided was a definite keeper. And kids learned that mom and dad can yell in unison as we tried to coral the random loud noises, shouting conversations and giggling. Kids had a great time. Then at the end of the evening my brother Daniel and his wife Mimi and daughter Claire showed up for a much anticipated week long stay.

Saturday Mimi and Jeremy spent the morning learning about Light Room, at a photographic class. Daniel, Claire and I and kids got to hang out, do jobs and enjoy being together on a Saturday. Then in the afternoon Nicole, Mimi's sister came over and we tried out the nearby hill with our sleds and then leaving Taylor with Meredith went out to dinner at the Mayan. We had a ridiculously long wait in the lobby for an hour and a half but then had an amazing meal and watched kids be enthralled by the show of cliff divers and the lights. Then we came back home where Mimi had stocked us up with these huge rice crispie treats from BYU that were as big as our kids' heads. Kids got ready for bed VERY fast so they could dive in. Don't know where they put it all.

Today my parents came to spend the day and with Daniel's family and Nicole here we had a fun time hanging out. Jeremy had to duck out for some morning meetings and I had to duck out for some afternoon meetings but it still felt like a fun filled family type of day. We ate a ton and enjoyed being together.

Robyn is very excited for her birthday tomorrow. Her cake just came out of the oven. I am hoping a red velvet cake with pink and blue frosting will look cinderella enough for her. I got a little prince and cinderella figurine to put on top. Robyn's new word this week is humongous. As in "Mom, your pants are humongous!" or "I want the humongous glass" (instead of the little sippy).

I finished Brisinger, the third and supposedly final book in the Eragon series this week. Only to find out at the end that he couldn't wrap it up so I now need to wait a year for the fourth book! Very frustrating but another book to look forward to I guess.

This week Jeremy and I did some major food storage shopping. Jeremy met me at Macey's for their sale during his lunch break and we loaded up on wheat, oats, milk, sugar etc. Our stake and us personally are really pushing to get our year's food supply. I would so like to be able to tick that commandment off in my head! And now that goal is in sight, its pretty exciting.

Love to you all, Heather



The hungry and happy crew at the Mayan.



Robyn trying to eat her humongous rice crispie treat.

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Allison and her friend walking on the moon at the Clark Planetarium.



Jeremy and Robyn after a happy nappy.




Allison took this picture because she thinks its so cute how Robyn sleeps with all the blankets piled on her head. Robyn must be growing because we are always having to wake her up from naps or in the morning. She is just out.