A visit with Dad...

There are some treats as Jerry Seinfeld once put that should be used as Door Stoppers, not treats... his was referring to the "crap" orange peanuts that unfortunatley were one of my dad's favorites. Pink Pepto Mints, Orange Slices, Lemon Drops, Hostess Sno Balls... we all decided that his choice in snacks was to keep the rest of us at bay. As long as he ate the "crap" candy then he wouldn't have to share. (I've tried this trick with my own kids as licorice, since none of them like it :) He wouldn't have gotten these treats past my Aly-girl though, she dove in with both hands after we opened them up to share and couldn't get enough of them. Double fisted she wouldn't even chew a full piece before she was dropping and grabbing for more.

We wrote our notes to Dad on balloons, the grandkids love to see the notes float up to Heaven where he can read them. Its always a bittersweet event to be all together, but missing him... and boy some days I miss him. Those bear hugs like no one else gives, the forver fan in the stand, his quirky jokes that he loved to laugh at... Miss you Dad xoxox

Green River Sand Dunes

Digging Holes

Climbing Mountains

Reag's in the Sand... boy she's tan :)

The Water Crew

Lovin that Background scenery...

Some traditions are just staples in life, and spending a spring Saturday covered in Red Dirt at the Sand Dunes past Green River are one of our favorites. I remember taking a "sand bath" as a kid, washing and scrubbing and finding yourself sitting in an inch of sand as the tub water drained... well this year was no exception. As we were headed in with a few of the smaller kids and grandparents in the backs of trucks, Uncle Widge got his heavy diesel truck stuck. Gary, my cousin, driving his much more agile and lighter Toyota decided quickly to choose another path... as he did his front end dropped and the rear wheels sunk. In an effort to move us forward just another few inches, he gunned it, the back wheels spinning, the 5 foot WAVE of sand cascading right onto our heads in the back of the truck ;) Haven't had that much sand in so many places... well ever, but thanks for the fun memory of how it feels to scratch your head and find a good inch of sand there.

Kids had a ball chasing lizards, climbing our own family staked "Sand Mountain", digging holes, sandy Sloppy Joe's, and four wheeling fun. We don't see our Quarnberg cousins nearly enough, but sure love when we finally get to. Thanks Aunt Pat and Uncle Widge for starting such a fun tradition.

End of School Festivities

Bailey's end of year "Car Show" and drive-in and her school program, add in Chance's Kindergarten Graduation, and the chaos of summer is just about to begin... You'll know that as I update our blog in July for events that happened in May :) Bailey had a singing part in her music program and Chance pulled of some incredible disco finger moves in his dance perfomance of Jack-be-Nimble. I may not be a concert pianist or a professional choreographer but helping accompany Bailey's program and teach Chance and his buddies a 30 second dance reminds me of the many reasons I feel so blessed to be a stay-at-home mom and actually be able to be there for all the events of their lives... even in 1st Grade and kindergarten.

Cousins! Cousins! We Love cousins!

Never let it be said that my kids don't have enough cousins to love. I start looking at the last few months and what we've had going on and I realize with extended family starting right here in Nephi, to my cousin in Cedar, follow my sister and her kids to St George, throw in a visit from Gi's brother from CA, and tie it all up with grand "cousin" picture with all 22 Frame cousins, you'll never hear my kids wish they had cousins around to play with. I love it! love it! love it!

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To sum up...

Never a good excuse for my slotful ability to stay on top of this blog :) but at least some is better than none and I'll try this week to hightlight the last few months of life at the Rogersons. In the meantime, at least give me credit for getting a family pic with Aly in it before she turned 4.

Dad: Finally home for a few days after making up a hairy work load that should have been done before Christmas. Throw in a couple of days back to California for his brothers reception and some much needed "Guy" time with the old buddies fly-fishing and I'm now not sure what to do with him underfoot :) but glad to see him home for a few days in a row

Mom: Survived the holidays (just barely) started back to the work-out routine of Jillian Michaels, keeping up with 4 kids and 20 some-odd YW still keeps life busy, throw in a couple dozen year-end tax reviews and you've got life coming at you pretty quick.

Bailey: Now the proud owner of 4 missing teeth! Two Front, and two lowers, looking really "gummy" these days. Still the best big sister, and finding out in a hurry how well she's doing with piano. Love to hear her play even if it is the same song for the 10th time that day :) Still walks in her sleep some nights, and wakes each day to ask if she can wake Aly up before she goes to school, she just doesn't get to see her enough.

Chance: Ever the man of the house :) he's up building with Lego's before the Sun, and then anxious to get to Jimmy or Jeff's after school so he can try to finagle his way into playing their wii. Still my biggest lover of TV, but will pause at the mention of his newest favorite books.. Geronimo Stilton "Holy Cheese Bites!" (He actually said that out loud to me the other day :) Also slept walked this week into our room where he climed on the bed and giggled for nearly 15 minutes... not sure what was so funny, but he sure got a good laugh out of it.

Reagan: I'm sure its somehow going to come back to haunt me that I call this child "bi-polar" but I'll tell you when she is sweet, "Mom your bed looks so beautiful" as she helps me pile pillows on, to the she-devil herself screaming at the top of her lungs NOOOO while fleeing to her room... We have plenty of time together as she's not in school and doesn't nap, most of it really pretty fun. But if I ever try to actually leave the house for an errand she's always the first to beg to come with. Never a dull moment :)

Alyssa: Our sweet baby already 1... how is that possible, didn't we just get her here :( Bitter-sweet to have your last baby grow up so fast, and still so fun to see her try her first few steps this week. Poor thing ended up with a sinus infection and her eyes have been glued shut in the morning. Even still, as miserable as she is, she's always so happy to see you, really a content baby, and if she weren't busy terrorizing my semi-clean house, she'd be the perfect baby :)

So you see life is never dull at our house, kids in and out, fun all the time, FHE, library, school, karate, piano, YW, and Elders Quorum visit nights... these are our staples, Sun to Sat we really do live for our Friday night Pizza & a movie night to just see them all sit still for 5 minutes. Saturday after the kids had helped with chores, Chance left to Jeff's, Bailey and Reagan walked down to their friends, and Aly was napping, Gi and I were in our own home with silence for over an hour and just couldn't even imagine when the last time that EVER happened. This is our life, and we love it, but I must say a clean quiet home for a full hour was a fabulous treat too.

Sisters

I do have to throw in a huge HOO-RA for our annual Park City trip with my sisters and Mom. Every year Wendy spoils us with the chance at an overnight shopping frenzie and stay at her time-share in Park city. And this year Tam enhanced an already fabulous weekend with dinner (on her). Throw in a late night watching chick-flicks, chatting, eating some more, and spending time with your favorite people, I am spoiled beyond belief. And spoiled even more when I got home to a house with 4 little huggy people, and one huggy husband, PLUS... and drum-role please, PLUS a spectacularly clean house. (He even moved appliances and scrubbed my kitchen from top to bottom ladies) Who is this man, and what have you done with my husband :)

Finally the Pay-off

A great trip with a few too many self-portrait shots, but look at those sunsets, and the beach!!! Who could complain?

If you're following the pathetic catch-up string of posts here you'll now see why it all comes full circle that when you endure a couple of crazy hectic months, an ER visit, chasing 4 kids, 20 YW and ten years of marriage, you finally get the pay-off...

And of course after 10 years my sweet husband will understand the humor in harassing him about "enduring" all these years. We've had a great ride, and yes there are moments to endure, but for the most part we feel truly blessed to have so much happiness, so much chaos and mess with 4 kids, and so many, many, memories to cherish for 10 more years, and then 10... as long as we both shall live :)

Love you Giegh, Happy Anniversary!

Then came Thanksgiving...

The month of November should have been great, started the month of right with an overnight stay in Salt Lake with my Mom and Sisters at Time Out for Women, but fighting some stress-induced exauhstion and a Sinus Infection I just couldn't kick, I didn't get all that I should have out of my time there.

A week or two more til Thanksgiving and I'm bustling to keep up with my kids and still feeling like I'm waking up with a headache every day. Even Gi's recovered from surgery faster than me, fortunately I finally got on the right anti-biotics in time for our every other year Thanksgiving Feast with the extended Bird Cousins and I was so glad to be there in good health. 2 Grandparents, 3 kids, their spouses add 3, they procreate 16 grandkids who marry (add 16), the next generation tops 56 (and still counting at dinner that day)... All because 2 people fell in love. Thats nearly 100 people. Take away 16 for a few cousins unable to make it, a couple extra special family members passed on, and you still have a roudy group of nearly 70 to host at the Old Red Church in Orem. What a GREAT event, one note-worthy of pictures, food, fun, games, more food and enough leftovers to last til the next event... in 2 years. Never leave one of our family events hungry, it'll be your own fault.

So loved seeing my cousins, missed those who couldn't come, and missed Dad and Grandpa even more... So glad to still have Grandma in her 89 someodd years. We love her and feel especially grateful that we get to now live close to Salina to visit as often as we can. Happy Thanksgiving!!