Miscellaneous

I have a few random things I wanted to scan and put on the blog.









The kids love taking crazy pictures of themselves on the iPad: mirror images, twist and squeeze effects, xray and rainbow, they can take 300 photos of themselves in one sitting and laugh until their sides hurt. So there's a sample of some of their photography.



Weston thinks he wants long hair. His hair is hard to do when its long, its really really straight and thinks it can do what it wants, but this day it looked pretty handsome.


Wendy Snow sent us this random picture of Jared and Savanna in Mississippi, and it was so adorable I had to scan it. Savanna is so little! She had just turned 2 in this picture.



I had scanned these pictures a month ago but I think I forgot to post them. Fiora's clogging class, she is learning some great dances and gets lots of exercise! Its kind of tough and sometimes Fiora gets a little discouraged, but she can do hard things!



A scout leader gave these random pictures to Jared in church, apparently there was a green screen photo shoot at the scout Blue and Gold banquet and they turned Jared and Weston into cowboys exploring southern Utah. Funny.


Fiora drew this picture and taped it to our front window for the entire month of March. I thought it was a nice of her to decorate for me. The kids also made their own leprechaun traps, its nice they get into the spirit of the holidays even though their mom doesn't.

And last but not least, I discovered this book Weston had compiled in his back pack, and it was so cute! His background plaid stripes and balloon scripts are so great, and the story is so true to Weston's life. I kept asking him if he had help with this but he insists he did it all by himself. Its one of my favorite works he's done this school year.








Stay tuned for a soccer post, the kids have begun the spring run of Orem Rec soccer and wow its already been an adventure and we've only had one week of practices and games...

March

Well, two weeks into March, and what have we to show for it...

not much.

And no pictures. I guess that's why I haven't posted, there's no news. No news is good news. We continue to be safe and healthy and keep moving forward. Life is short, time goes fast.

One new development in our house has been the implementation of "Teaching Kids to Make Breakfast" program. One morning as I was making breakfast for the kids, Savanna wandered upstairs and sat down at the table expecting to be served like royalty, no offers to help, no efforts to get herself food, and then Weston and Fiora came up and did the same thing, just sat at the table waiting to be handed their plates. I had a vision of ten years into the future, of her at age 20 coming up the stairs and sitting down at the table expecting to be served and I almost became ill. I thought, "What am I doing? I'm reinforcing my children to be dependent on me and expect to be served. This will never do." But what to do?
I stopped buying cold cereal a while ago because 1) its NOT good for you, 2) my kids don't even like it, they complain when they "have to have cereal." So just going on strike and letting the kids fend for themselves, which I did the next morning to see what would happen, results in ramen noodles and PBJ's. So I decided the kids were going to learn how to make breakfast. Every morning one of them takes a turn at being in charge. The child chooses what they would like to make, I am their assistant and make sure they don't hurt themselves, but only instruct and never take over. Weston started, he made french toast, it was a little tricky for him flipping them over in the skillet, but otherwise he did a fine job and was very proud of himself. Savanna took the next morning and made custom-ordered omelets for each of us, Wes and Fi had ham and cheese omelets, I had onion, pepper, and spinach omelet, and Jared had an egg white only veggie omelet. Savanna served herself last, with an everything omelet. Fiora woke up early on a school day and made pancakes and fruit. She is also learning how to make a great fruit smoothie, which she has every night because she is 10 days away from ending her dessert-free contract and needs something sweet to get her through. This morning was Weston's turn again, and he made scrambled eggs and toast, with a tangerine on the side. The kids are loving learning how to cook each morning, they all have their next meal in mind and I just need to buy the ingredients! Its not only teaching them a skill, its boosting their self esteem!

Jared has been on a "no-cholesterol" contract for all of 2012 trying to get a "good deal" on life insurance payments on a higher policy. He had his physical examination for his life insurance "refinancing" this very morning. He has shown amazing iron will since January 2nd, eating only low or zero cholesterol foods and exercising regularly and taking fiber and vitamin supplements trying to reach his goal of weight loss and low cholesterol reading. He lost 20 pounds and his readings were stellar. So it paid off, literally! His brothers all have bets on how quick he will gain it all back, the first thing he did to celebrate was go out for hamburgers. But it was a major accomplishment nonetheless!

Creative kids

Savanna had a 5th grade project to do this month on Colonial America. She was told to pick one of the 14 original colonies, research about it, and create an advertisement convincing people to live in this colony. The research part was a little difficult for her, but the advertising part she was on fire! She loves creating things. She may not get the A+ scores in math, but when it comes to projects like these she gets A+++. In fact all three of the kids are creative, I put some paper, crayons, stickers and scissors in front of them this morning and said "Make birthday cards for your cousin Kayden" and they went to town! I didn't get even one traditional card out of them, I got a box with a ninjago in it from Weston, a boat and a crown and a paper airlpane from Fiora, and a paper man from Savanna with a wallet in its pocket full of money! Wow!

Savanna Fiora and Weston all participated in the school Patriotic Sing Assembly this past week. They wore red white and blue. Savanna played "Star Spangled Banner" and "Hymn to the Fallen" in the orchestra, and Wes and Fi sang "Abraham Lincoln" in the school choir. These three also bravely performed "Hymn of Praise" in Sacrament meeting last week, again Sav on violin and Fi/Wes vocal, and did a great job! So brave and talented.


Weston and Jared were invited to the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet this past week and were asked to dress like cowboys for the event. I can't believe Weston is going to be a scout this year. He is growing up whether I like it or not. He lost his third tooth on top in school this week and had a 3-tooth gap for a while. The second picture shows it somewhat. So cute! I mean, handsome boys.




Savanna did buy a beta fish and gallon tank this week. Sadly, we've already lost the beta :(. Savanna says,"I hate fish from Walmart." Since she bought such a nice tank, we will go somewhere else and try and buy some more fish for it. It did not die from neglect, she was very diligent about feeding it and turning on the air for it every day.
Savanna and I had a very fun Mommy Daughter date this Friday, we got tickets to a community Symphony Orchestra and it was surprisingly really well done! We both enjoyed it, Savanna made comments after each piece, pointing out to me what the violinists had done and telling me what parts she liked best. We both agreed the last piece was our least favorite, and the guitar concerto was our favorite. And bonus, my friend from highschool and college Cami Turpin was performing on viola! What a positive and bonding experience for us. Jared took Wes and Fi to a BYU mens volleyball game that night, they said it was fun but I think we got the better end of the deal!

Thank you Jared

Dear Jared,

I thought I'd write you a letter telling you thank you for the wonderful Valentines Day this year. After 12 years of marriage I have come to expect very little on this day because I know your sentiments on giving flowers (they end up in the garbage) and gifts (buy what you want) and candy (I don't eat candy). I wasn't feeling very Valentiney myself this year, because I'd exhausted my resources on Fiora's birthday the day before, so I was glad we mutually expected nothing from each other on the "day of love."
But what a surprise I was in for! You woke up early and had breakfast with me and the kids, then you did the dishes! You got Fiora and Weston out the door so I could go to orchestra with Savanna, which you do every Tuesday but it counts as a service this day anyway. You met me for lunch at Kneaders, a restaurant you know I love but you don't really care for. Then you came home at 5:00 and sat down to dinner with us! I don't know if I remember the last time we had breakfast, lunch, AND dinner together! Then you so kindly offered to take Savanna to her violin lesson and put gas in my car for me. Then you sat in the hot tub with me and gave me a back massage. All my cares melted away that day. I'd take all that quality time and service over a flowers, candy, gifts any day!

Thank you,

Love Heather

Birthday Girl

Fiora turned 9 years old yesterday! She had a wonderful Sunday evening before her birthday and a super day Monday all day of her birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Barrett came over Sunday for dinner and brought her five gifts, one from them, one from Aunt Heidi, and three from Krystal, Kynsie, Rachel, and Joseph. She got a Polly Pocket, cut clothes, and a giant stuffed bull dog! She loved them all. I bought her an oreo cake and mint ice cream and the Barretts sang the birthday cantata for her (its a tradition in the Barrett family to sing "Happy Birthday to you", "You've had another birthday", "This month is such a special one", "You've had a birthday", "Happy Birthday Happy". Savanna has decided to add a song to that list, it goes like this:
"We hope your birthday is as happy as the gooses wings are flappy on this day your dad became a pappy and your butt the doc did slappy."
We're not sure if the Barrett Birthday committee will allow it to become part of the cantata but Savanna keeps trying.
Monday morning Fiora ordered bacon and chocolate chip pancakes, it was a bad start to a day of a lot of junk food, but it was her birthday breakfast wish. Jared and I gave her our gifts to her, an MP3 player and a nail polish dryer and nail polish. She loved the gifts. She also got a fish bowl and fish for her birthday, kind of a long story, stay posted. Fiora had popcorn chicken for lunch at school and got two Airheads and a whole packet of notes from her classmates wishing her a happy birthday. I thought that was nice. At three oclock her friends came over and we had a "Trip to the Jungle" birthday party. The kids sat on a makeshift airplane and we served them snacks (corn nuts) and they watched Tarzan as we "flew" to the jungle. Savanna made them passports and everything. Then we stepped into the basement where I'd made vines out of construction paper and decorated the basement like a jungle and had jungle music in the back ground. We played "Pin the banana on the Monkey" and danced to jungle music. Then we hiked up a mountain and out to the deck where we fished in the jungle rivers for exotic fish, and Savanna was down below the deck putting prizes in the bags which had a gummy worm in them for bait. Then we were tired from our jungle adventures so we had a snack--dirt cups--and sang happy birthday to Fiora. (Fiora was complaining of a stomach ache about this point, but after 2 dirt cups she still counldn't resist having a sucker one of her friends gave her in a gift!) We opened presents, Fiora was very grateful for all, and then everyone got their swimsuits on to have a dip in the jungle hot springs. They stayed in the hot tub for over half an hour! Then jungle adventures were over and kids went home.
After friends left, we met Jared for dinner (and surprise! another gift, Grandma Neil sent a check for $9.00 for Fiora, thanks Grandpa!) We went to Sizzler and used our gift cards from Aunt Shawna and Uncle Justin. Fiora was really hurting, too much candy and junk food, and she ordered steak and fries, which didn't help much. I should have insisted she do the salad bar I guess but it was her birthday. Poor Fiora, she went to bed that night still not feeling too well, but was she ever happy and grateful! This morning I made a nice cleansing fruit salad for her breakfast.















So, the fish. Savanna got this idea in her head with the help of her friend Ella that she was going to buy a fish with her own money and take care of it. She told me her plan, telling me all the reasons why she and Ella should have a fish, and she was getting all offended at my rational reasons why this was not a good idea, and she was not listening to any of my useful details she was not thinking about, i.e. who is driving you to the store to get this fish? Well, it was almost a week before I could take her and Ella to Walmart, and she was so excited to pick out a fish and take care of it. ? So we get there and I'm thinking too rationally, (if I don't get more than one fish the odds are that it will die, fish always die in transition) so I talk Savanna into getting a fish and letting Fiora get a fish and keeping it in her bowl. Well that sounded great in the store, but it caused all sorts of contention at home, ("I want to feed it, its MINE! I get to change the water, its MINE! I get to keep it in MY room because I bought it! Well mom bought me a fish for my birthday so I get it in MY room sometimes! etc etc). Well, I was right, and the fish that Savanna had labeled as HERS did die that evening, and Fiora's fish is still alive. So I did not make Savanna pay for the fish, bowl, food, or rocks and we decided it would all be Fiora's and just be a nice birthday gift. I was hoping that's where the fish drama ended, but this morning Savanna remembered all those great reasons that she did want a fish and started talking about how she is going to buy ANOTHER tank and another fish to be in HER room with HER money, and Jared was shooting that idea down with all his rational details, and I had to say "We ARE NOT talking about fish this morning!" because I know where this is going.


This is Fiora's fish. I'm sure there will be another fish to write about next week.

Some time since last I wrote

Some time since last I wrote we had a snow storm which actually left snow on the ground for a while. Its been a snowless winter for us this year, which I don't mind a bit, I wish it was also a coldless winter but we've had plenty of cold. The landscape sure does change when its covered in white, so I took some pictures in case it doesn't snow again this year.





Sometime since last I wrote my sister Karli left for the MTC to prepare for her mission in Tucson AZ. We all went to her favorite restaurant Carrabbas one last time before she left. She gave a great talk and we had a great big extended family dinner the Sunday before she left. My dad conducted as bishop and my mom led the choir and gave an excellent RS lesson too that day so it was lots of family fun at church. Karli will do great, we are proud of her!





Sometime since last I wrote I got a perm. My hair perms well but I actually haven't bothered getting one since I was in 5th grade. But now that I have I don't know if I'll ever go back. Its so great to just let it curl and go, minimal effort and looks better. My hair has been going flat in my old age.


Some time since last I wrote we applied for passports for the kids. I think their little passport photos are cute, what adorable children I have! That was a chunk of change. And yes, there is a reason. We are hoping to go on a California/Mexico cruise for spring break, but haven't booked it yet so that is subject to change. We thought it would be a good idea to all have passports nonetheless, so we aren't limited if we ever want/need to travel out of the states.




Sometime since last I wrote Weston lost his other top tooth, so he has a completely empty slot on his top row of teeth. Its very cute. He is going to look so different when those big teeth come in, boo. He asked me today, "You know mom how you give me money when I lose teeth?" I said, hesitatingly, "yeah..." Weston said, "Well when do you come do that? In the middle of the night?" "I guess you realize there is no tooth fairy eh Weston?" "No really mom, when do you come in? Does dad do it at midnight?" It was a very practical conversation. Savanna, listening, commented, "Mom we know there is no tooth fairy, but we still expect money."