Spring in Alabama

This weekend we went to Bessemer Alabama and visited some old plantation houses. Spring has came to Alabama and Wayne took this picture of a purple flag. Many people don't think much of flags they seem to be too common, but flags hold special meaning to Wayne and I. Naomi Geraldine Swift Hays, Wayne's mother loved flags. They were one of few flowers that grow in the alkali soil in Magna. They came up early in the spring and was a sign that winter was over and summer was not far away.

When Kip was a young boy he want to do something special for my mother. So one Saturday after chores he took his little red wagon up to the canal bank and filled it with flags. He made many trips and planted his gifts of love in front of the fence in the front yard. Later many of them were moved to the back yard, but I can't see a purple flag without remembering my brothers gift .

Bessemer Alabama is South of Moulton and Spring is well on its way there

I am not sure who is hiding on the blossoms.

Here is a picture of me doing my missionary work

Love Mom

The Holden Brag...part I

Recently Holden has been very busy and we expect that to continue well into next month. He has had speech and debate tournaments almost every weekend lately - yesterday was National Qualifiers which I judged at - 2 weeks ago it was the State Tournament and Kirk and I both judged there and took Brennan & Jordan with us and made a day of it. It's actually really nice to see what these kids are doing at the tournaments. As a parent of a child in Speech or Debate I don't think you can really 'get' what all that hard work is about unless you've competed yourself or you've been to a tournament and seen what really happens.

Even though I think Holden enjoyed his time during high school on Football, Tennis, Dive, Swim, and Yearbook, I think Speech & Debate has been the highlight of his high school activities.

We were so proud of him because he took 3rd place in Poetry in the state tournament. With LOTS of tough competition, it was really great to see all his hard work pay off.

This is him with a few of his speech friends and the speech adviser Mr. Gold, taken at the state tournament. It was taken on Kirk's Iphone so it's not the best photo , but you get the idea.

A few weeks ago I went to the school and missed another great opportunity to take photos of Holden in action at a school wide assembly where he and 3 of his friends were the MC's - they had the whole school laughing and clapping and it was pretty awesome. High school would have seemed so much more fun if I could have had my whole school laughing at my jokes. I was pretty proud to be his mom that day!

Last month they were in a talent show and wrote some original poetry which they performed - it was in the slam poetry style. It was really, really great and they took 2nd place in the competition at their school. I think it was the first time some of the kids at their school were able to see just how cool poetry could be. One weekend earlier in the year Holden and some of his friends asked if they could go to Flagstaff on the weekend to a slam poetry thing. We gave them permission to go overnight. It was nice knowing I could trust him to go somewhere overnight with friends and totally trust him - and also nice to know that the reason they wanted to go out of town was for POETRY! In some small way it makes me feel like Kirk and I have done something right in raising him these past 18 years.


This week he was in the Prom Fashion show. Prom Fashion Show is this kind of tongue - in -cheek fashion show where the prom theme is revealed for the first time. There is a try-out to be part of it and the most basic qualification is that you have to be funny. Holden played the part of a nerd who goes with a gorgeous girl (in the beginning he is typing on an old computer an the theme to "Weird Science" is playing - then a gorgeous girl comes out of a box as though he's created her on his computer) - in the end he takes off his glasses and voila it turns out he's pretty good looking too. I did actually manage to get photos of that - although the lighting was tough and I had to be pretty far from the stage without my telephoto.


Part of the point of the fashion show though is to model for a local dress shop and tuxedo shop to help drum up business for them for prom. He and and Danielle look nice in their matching red. He's known Danielle since elementary school - they were matched up by the prom fashion show committee for the fashion show and are not going to actual prom together - he's asked Noelle to go to prom with him, so she is coming down from Flagstaff for that.

And below here he is with Austin Wheat. Both Holden and Austin were in the show. Austin and Holden are both going to BYU Idaho this fall and I think they're pretty excited about it. They've been friends since 3rd grade! There's lots of good things happening in Holden's life right now and we're very proud.

Look for another braggy entry later when he competes in Mr. Shadow later this month (his schools version of a silly pseudo - beauty pageant competition for the senior boys), Seminary graduation and REAL graduation next month!

My first post

Life has been so crazy here that I haven't had much time to sleep little well post, but it's my day off and I'm going to post. We have moved in to our own place and it's so good to be back on our own.

Here is the outside of our apartment - I'd show you the inside, but still working on that part.

And here is our view, not too bad if I do say so myself. Life in Idaho is... COLD. There hasn't been much snow lately so I think you have us beat there Jen, but it is fricken feezin. Other then that our lives our going great; Kristi is enjoying having her own place and has done a ton of cleaning and organizing to make it seam like home, Nicole is one happy baby and I'm working myself to death:).

Financially we're doing better and it feels great to be taking care of my family. Right now I work full time at the cell phone company/Radio Shack, have a night paper route once a week, doing a morning paper route 7 days a week which gets me up a 4am, still doing reports for my father in law's home inspection company, job hunting and I'm gearing up for finals week at the U.

Kristi has been cleaning the house as I said, as well as sitting with an elderly woman 4-5 days a week, being a great mom, and trying to get her business up and running. She's a little tired as you can imagine but she's doing great and considering teaching ballet for a small privet dance studio here, she'll do great.

This is Nicole right after a nap. She's not napping as much as her mother would like but here is proof that she does nap.

She is a cutie and everyone that sees her agrees. She loves to be in the spot light, even though she has been a little fussy that last few days she was a perfect princess at church today. We were in a class today and she was as good and as quiet as could be until another baby in the room started talking and from that point until the end of the class they talked (coo-ed) back and forth. And she loves to look, smile and coo at all the people that we show her to.

The other day Kristi and myself were standing in the kitchen talking as she held Nicole. Suddenly we heard a mass amount gurgling and in a matter of seconds Nicole's pants, Kristi's pants, Kristi's socks and the entire kitchen floor was covered in a brown gooy "mess." Nicole had poo-----ed strait through her diaper and all over mommy and the floor. I thought it was funny but I wasn't the one holding Nicole.

We love you all - and goodbye until next time.

New Hampshires Breaks 100 Year Old Record for Snow

I know, I know you are tired of me whining about the snow here and yesterday I thought that I just might have to stop. It was a beautiful 51 degrees and I could actually see some patches of grass on my front yard. Spring was here!!!

That was until we woke up this morning...At first the news reports had the kids school on a two hour delay and then it was canceled altogether. Why would they cancel school in spring you might ask yourself? Good question if you lived in hot Phoenix or Alabama, even a descent question for San Mateao or even balmy Idaho. But in New Hampshire there can only be one reason... 8" of new snow. Which by the way, helped us break the record for the most snow in a winter in the past 100 years, 113" in Concord and they figure places like Milford probably got an additional 36". So just in case your math is fuzzy here is what that is, 149" of snow for us, which is just under 12 and a half feet of snow. And since our elevation is only 500 ft above sea level, the snow contains around 3 times more water in it then the snow in Utah.

I would love to send you a picture but my camera is out of power and I can't find the recharger. But it doesn't matter anyway, all you would see is white. And white really is quite a boring color, I should know I have been staring at it for 5 months. It is nothing bright and spectacular like the colors that Lezlee was showing off from Phoenix.

Yours Truly...

Whining on top of an Iceburg

Kyle Hays Family Easter

The Waterson Easter egg hunt once again came upon us. Only thing is the only Hays family in the state was us so we felt a need to represent our family. It was a bright sunny day with white snow capped Oquirrh Mountains and a mild chilly wind sweeping from the west.

Many of the day’s events were the same as years past. Aunt Debbie and aunt Cindy was trying hard to organize the little children into groups of older and younger children. Little ones with Easter buckets searching for candy, they walk past what seems like hundreds, as parents cheering them on. “Go to your right, no that’s your left.
(Debbie, Kelly, Joe and Calli)
Food, don’t forget the food. Their must have been about eight different salads and four or five different desserts and all of us bellying up to the table and wanting to know the recipes. Then their was aunts, uncles and cousins trying to catch up what has been going on in the past year, finding out which states uncle Corry has worked in. Then there were children, children and more children. As usual I must not have known more than twenty of them. One person who knew them all was Grandma Watterson. She was busy making her way around seeing that no one was left out and that all was having a good time.

There were some new things as well. Sean Tuttle is supporting a new beard. He looks good with it. It must be a Tuttle thing. The biggest thing is grandma’s new neighbors. The large field behind her house is now a big subdivision. I cannot believe the back yard where we played run sheepy run, smear the queer and softball is now next door to the latest development project.
Everybody says hi and wishes you all well.

jessica's cake

the cake I made yesterday.
me next to my cake

Helpful Nutrition Sites

I found these sites and they are extremely useful, helpful and free. The first is a great nutrition site that tells you all sorts of nutritional information about food and specific ingredients:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

The second site is called The Daily Plate, you can get a free account and track all of your food consumption. I find this very helpful because if I am forced to write it down, I think twice about eating it. It also allows you to track your weight and excercise.

http://www.thedailyplate.com/

Ashley sprained her ankle, and will be on crutches for a few days. She is a bit excited about this. Something about no P.E. for a few days.
Her foot looked much better today, the swelling was down, but she says it hurts more.
I have made a new rule that the kids can't watch t.v. Monday thru Thursday, so Ashley has been reading most of the afternoon. She is on page 225, and she is still reading.
She is getting around pretty good on her crutches. The first pair they wanted to give her wouldn't adjust, after moving the crutches this way and that to try and adjust them, sand started pouring out of them. I guess that's what happens when you live on the coast.
Have a great day.
Monika

What Makes Holden, Brennan & Jordan Happy?

The following things make the kids happy - maybe you can figure out which things go to which kid...


New Clothes!
Lots of Friends!
Girlfriend
Hip Hop Dance
Making Lists!
1972 Buick Electra
Books, Books, and more Books
Music, Music, Music
Animals
Spray Paint, Spray Paint, Spray Paint

Ashley fell out of the tree in our back yard tonight. She said that one of the smaller branches broke, and down she went. Her foot is a bit swollen and discolored. Eric was able to move her foot around, and she didn't cry out. We gave her some Motrin, and hopefully it will look better in the morning. If not I will be taking her into the doctor's. I will let you know what we find out.

Monika

Ashley is ready to start the Easter Egg Hunt. We did our family one on Saturday, the kids were still a bit sick. So we did it in the house.
Ashley and Michael were the only ones trying to find all the candy, except for Eric who decided he wanted to still be a kid.
Here they are just before the hunt started. I decided to buy big bowls instead of doing baskets this year. They make great ice cream bowls. Matt and Jessica are trying to hide in the picture to symbolize that they hid the Easter candy, since they were to old to look for it. They did get plenty of candy in their bowls of course.

I had reinjured myself Friday night, not too bad but enough that I wanted to be in very comfortable clothes on Saturday. It was either this outfit or a dress. Anyway, I had to go to the store, and Jessica wanted to go with me. She was appalled that I would go in my pajama's. She did go with me, walking ahead of me a few feet.

I hope you all had a great Easter. Love you all.
Monika

Happy Easter

I hope all of your families had a wonderful Easter. Hopefully we'll get to see lots of pictures of nieces and nephews scouring the house for eggs and candy.

With Jordan now almost eleven we decided that early morning Easter egg hunts are a thing of the past. So the kids just enjoyed their Easter baskets and we enjoyed sleeping in this morning. But that doesn't mean that there was no egg hunt in our day.

After church we drove out to my work and the kids decorated all the offices and work spaces.



We started to do that a few years ago and I think the kids have more fun hiding candy than finding it.

Lezlee is going to do a post for mom about things that make the kids happy, but I'm going to open up the challenge to everyone or anyone who would like to take a stab at telling me about someone they admire. I didn't mean for it to be hard, it's just a way to understand a little more about each other since we don't see each other very often. I at least expect Jennifer to do a sarcastic entry along those lines. So officially, I tag everybody.

Happy Easter! Kirk

Easter Morning

It is early Easter Morning and my soul is full of love. Love for each of you my children. You have given me such joy and happiness. I want you to know that I love you and I am proud of you and your families. I want you to know that I love God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

Someone once told me that they could not believe in Christ because

their conscience was to big. I too have a very active conscience, that is why I love Christ. I can live each day because I know he is there to make what ever I do perfect, acceptable before God. As I live my life with Christ as my center I have an inter peace that as long as I do my best I will be accept by the Lord.

One day I was in the temple doing temple work for a name on a small pink card. I clearly heard a small voice say to me "I am not ready yet". I knew the voice was the person I was taking through the temple that day. I prayed and asked God what I was to do. The answer penetrated in my very soul. "you can do her work before she is ready, Christ payed for your sins before you were ready." I had always believed to Christ but some how that very moment I understood all that he had done for me. I promised the Lord that I would always remember his Son and thanked him for his sacrifice. I know Christ lives, he loves each one of us. He came to make it easier for us to return to that God that gave us life.

Love Mom

Chandler's Starving

I finally had a fairly decent picture taken of me. So here you go...

Nothing big has happened. Other then Chandler begging and pleading for me to make him dinner, like that will ever happen. He claims that he's starving, I told him it would take several weeks of me forgetting to feed him for that to happen. Then he reminded me that it has been several weeks. But I know he's got a good 2-3 days left in him...(he's so melodramatic!) He doesn't find it amusing that I am typing this instead of feeding him. I guess I'll go feed him, just remember it is his fault that I didn't have an opportunity to tell you about all the exciting things going on in snow-incapsulated New Hampshire