Joe Joe!

Happy Birthday Joe! Then

and

Now! Joe Joe turned 3! Therefore I must tell you why I love him. Because I knew you were wondering. I love Joe because he is such a peculiar child. For one thing he is the only one of my children who likes to get his picture taken. I love Joe because he is overflowing with life. Everything is very dramatic. Even the act of raising his eyebrows must be done with great enthusiasm. I love Joe because he loves everyone around him. He feels for them. If they are sad he is sad. For a little kid he feels things very deeply. Heck, for that matter, he feels things deeper than some adults. I love Joe because he makes me laugh. He makes lots of people laugh. One of my favorite moments is when he climbed up on his Uncle Nate and put his elbows on Nate's chest rested his head in his hands and very dramatically asked Nate if he wanted to ride in his car. A silly question but I guess the picture will be forever imprinted in my mind. At that point in time nothing was more important than asking his uncle to go for a ride in the car. The best part was that Nate couldn't help but laugh also. I miss these curls...
But I still have these eyes and this smile!Joe loves to play with the boys. He loves them all and asks about each one every morning to make sure they are where they should be! He sings "I love Aaron. He Loves Me, Happy Family!" and he will go through everyone in the family and I mean everyone. Including Hope and Walter. Hope and Walter are dogs. And they are not our dogs. Joseph loves cars more than anything in the world...
Except for maybe his blanket. Joe-Joe loves his blanket. The one with the fuzzies.
I love how affectionate Joe still is to everyone. He will come up with his blanket (the one with the fuzzies) and ask for a snuggle. He loves to give kisses and has a fun game he plays with his dad because his dad won't kiss on the lips. His favorite kind of hugs are Joe Sandwich hugs where Dave and I squish him between us. I love Joe because even when he pouts it is funny. He does it exactly as he should. Arms folded, lower lip extended, partially hidden. He does it well.

I love my Joe. He loves me. Happy family indeed!

Dad's Legacy

DISCLAIMER: I am not really as full of myself as I may sound here. I was honestly trying to get both of the "Tan Ones" to comment. Goal Achieved!

My dad had many good traits some of which he passed on to his children. I like to think I got all of his good traits (and none of the bad or crazy traits). That is just the way I roll. Positive thinker and all.

But. There is one I totally got ripped off on inheriting. His skin. Dad had beautiful olive toned skin. It made for a healthy tan year round and he never really got sun-burned. Ever. Two of my siblings got this skin. The rest of us did not.


I used to try every summer to get a little color but this is what would happen. On the other hand here is what the Dad skin coloring does. Sometimes I would be willing to trade some of my other inherited traits for a good tan. Of course my far superior sense of humor would be hard to give up just for a good tan. And apparently in my family you either get the skin or the humor.

Spring Break '09

WARNING: Lots of family pictures from our trip. You can just read this line and look at the one picture.

We had a great time on Spring Break. Here is a picture.For those who would like more details. (aka Mom)

Here is my long awaited vacation guide...

Goblin Valley:

Accommodations: Camping available but I recommend the Holiday Inn in Green River for those who can't pack all the camping equipment AND all the kids without bringing a second car. We thought about just leaving a few kids home but the family couldn't come to a consensus as to which two.

The hotel was great but they made a mistake and gave us a room with a king instead of 2 queens so in order to have enough beds Dave was on one end of the floor with 2 kids and I was clear on the other end with the 3 others. It was a big pain the first night cuz he had my contact case so I ran down and got that then I realized he had the toothpaste so I ran back down again. I did this several times but it was really good for the Lose for the Cruise program! The complimentary breakfast was yummy but horrible for those trying to partake in the Lose for the Cruise. (OK too much typing, it is now called the LC)

A not very comfy bed. See that tiny blue dot in the middle of that wall. That is a kid. Here he is using the zoom.

Activities: I highly recommend Goblin Valley to anyone who likes to climb or for anyone who has 5 boys who like to climb! I don't recommend that Mom's who have acrophobia watch the climbing! There is a really cool cave but the exit is so small Josh almost got stuck. For a dad with claustrophobia that was not a highlight. We also discovered an awesome canyon that lead up to an amazing bowl! It was like a natural coliseum!

See what I mean about heights? The boys loved playing tag and jumping from rock to rock. Did I mention they loved to climb every rock they saw? The also liked to find funny shaped ones and name them. I think this was Dino Rock!

Little Wild Horse Canyon: That afternoon we went and hiked this amazing canyon. It is a slot canyon that has crazy twisting walls and beautiful rock formations.

The boys loved to bridge the walls also.

Nine Mile Canyon: The next day we went on a LONG drive through nine mile canyon. Nine mile canyon for the record is more like 80 miles long. The walls are literally covered with petroglyphs. We found a guide online that had us on track to see some of the amazing scenery and artifacts in the canyon. It was truly amazing to see the Indian sites left by the Fremont Indians so many years ago. Here are some of the sights.

You see that little circular rock formation in the center of the picture. That is a granary left by the Fremont Indians years ago. They would store grain there to hide it from their enemies. The amazing thing is the location. Can you find it now? It is on this wall. Here it is. Guess how long that took us to find? And that raises the question. Who in the world found this in the first place? Another thought. That sure makes a trip to the pantry take on a whole new meaning. It would have been life threatening snack for goodness thanks! (Wait that might be a good idea for those on the LC plan!)Here is a watchtower that is still in great shape. Here is a huge panel of petroglyphs that is down a little side canyon. It is called "The Great Hunt". Amazing isn't it? I wish would have found one called "Going to the Granary" After our trip we took a small detour to Mountain Green/Boneta to see Dave's Grandma Crawford's grave. Yeah we are totally turning into old people who stop by old cemetaries just for fun! After this detour we headed home.
Well, that is it. Spring Break 2009! I came home with tired, dirty and very happy kids! (And lots of laundry!! Curses!!!)

Chunky Challenge!

UPDATED: SEE BELOW

So a few weeks ago my brother B. Rad told the family he had a business proposition for us. For those of you not familiar with B. Rad this may sound strange but B. Rad often comes up with some crazy schemes. For a while there we only saw B. Rad a couple of times of year but inevitably he would always ask for ideas on a family business. B. Rad likes business.

The proposition was this... We all had to make a goal of how much weight we wanted to lose in the next 4 months. We added up the total (190) and agreed if we all make our goal then we will go on a cruise together. B. Rad also offered a monetary incentive per pound to put towards the price of the cruise. Nice B. Rad. As soon as Mitch heard about the deal he drank a gallon of water to up his weight. He lost 2 pounds in the first few minutes of the challenge. Some people chose a very low goal so they could for sure lose it. I am starting to think that was a good move.So we all weighed in on Mom's scale which has become the official Chunky Challenge scale. Thank goodness you can turn the talking feature off (yes folks it will tell you your weight out loud for all to hear). I don't know what sadistic person designed that feature but they should be stoned with Weight Watchers Snack Cakes (carrot cake flavor to be specific)!

Here is the scale after I weighed in!

Anyhow. There were some rules.
1. Tricia can only lose up to 5 pounds then it starts to count against her.
2. Haley can't lose anymore because she just had Ben and looks better than a recently pregnant/nursing mother should BUT Ben has to GAIN at least 8 pounds. He even had to weigh in!
3. If we don't make the 190 goal no monetary donations and no cruise.

Of course the B. Rad's business plan had some immediate flaws. First, this was done the Sunday before SPRING BREAK/Vacation and the week before Easter (which should be read as the week before Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs.)So there it is people. We are on the Chunky Challenge! On second thought I am going to rename it Lose for the Cruise.

PS The real reason I am doing this is that B. Rad promised that if we make our goal he will wear a speedo and take a lap around the deck and we can take pictures AND I can post it here! I may have to go private for that or there may be some inappropriate content complaints.

Updated: Alli told me she had posted some pic's so I am adding a few.

I forgot one of the funniest things of the night was Andrew. Andrew got really got caught up in the moment and he asked Brad if he could go home and fast and pray about his goal. Here he is pondering. The other funny thing was that Dave and I refused to look at the scale. Here I am hiding the total from Dave! Such fun. I think.

Easter!

Hello all! I feel the need to reassure you that there will be a future blog with many family vacation pics but I really was excited to share with you how I celebrated Easter this year in a new and very unique way!
As you know Easter is a time of renewal.

I felt spiritually renewed and rejuvenated after conference. My favorite talk was this one by Elder Holland!

I felt emotionally refreshed after taking our quick trip to Goblin Valley/Little Wild Horse Canyon/Nine Mile Canyon.

I felt physically comforted after feeling the sunshine while on said trip.

But the thing that made my Easter very unique and different was... I IRONED. For those of you who don't exactly understand what this means (like my children) I looked it up... "the act of pressing clothes or other fabrics to remove wrinkles"

Yes folks, for Easter this year I ironed. And not pillowcases or handkerchiefs mind you but Sunday Shirts. Five of them. A big thanks to Mom for lessons 15 years ago so that this day was possible. My children gathered around in amazement because the last time I ironed this was what I used.

Change is possible. Let this stand as a demonstration of that fact.

Wish You Were Here Day 2

This was one of the views we saw today....

The boys are exhausted and so am I...

Wish You Were Here

Well folks! It is Spring Break in the land Bountiful and we of the Dave Rollins family have taken off to warmer climates (actually it is the same temp here as we were at home but still)! We will be spending a few days here....
More later....