I LOVE IT

Baby Banana
Baby Bear

So I have been a mom for almost 51/2 years now. Growing up I was always one of those people that mothered everyone. It was just a natural thing for me to be with kids and read stories and play. I always thought that I would be a good mother. I was told by multiple people what a good mom I was going to be. I had worked in daycare for years with other peoples children before I became a mom. I had studied Child Development and Child Psychology. But to be perfectly honest I am not sure that any of that really prepared me to be a parent. I don't know if it just because I get so worn out working with kids all the time but there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't at some time during the day feel like a terrible mother. But the more I work with families and get to talk with other mothers- the more I know that is a universal feeling. We are so hard on ourselves. I am setting a resolution right now to take the time to find more joy in motherhood. I LOVE being a mom but I think we all get so caught up in the good things in life that we forget to revel in the best things. Like when your daughter sings you a song that she made up herself all about how much she loves you and wants you to have a happy mothers day. Or the 2o mothers days cards that your kids made you by taping and gluing together notebook paper and other various objects found around the house. I will take more joy in when my crying daughter just wants me to hold her to make it better. I have 2 amazing girls. They couldn't be more different from each other. They challenge me in a new way every single day. I Love them more than anything. I have so many hopes and fears for them. So to my Babies thanks for taking this crazy lady that always loved kids and thought she knew everything and teaching her that no matter how much you think you know there is always more. Thanks for making me a mom and blessing my life every single day. I Love You!
Mom

Junior Olympics

Bananas gymnastics place held their annual Jr. Olympics this morning. She has been so excited about her routines. Here are a few pictures. She did really well but I think it made her nervous to have so many people there. I of course was more worried about having the right hair than anything else.... that is my job though right. She rocks the routine I rock the hair!
All the kids got t-shirts and medal for the event. She also got ribbons 2 blue for vault and bars and one red and white for beam and floor. It was a lot of fun! We are proud of our little Banana Good work girlie!

Bear Lake Picnic

After church today we decided to go on a car ride to Bear Lake- we took along a picnic so we could eat dinner while we were there. The real reason we needed a car ride was so Cam could study for his anatomy test tomorrow. He likes to have me quiz him and read him his notes while he drives. That way he is doing something and he also can't get away from it. I decided it works much better when we are freeway driving than canyon driving- all those twist and turns and elevation changes made it really hard for me to concentrate on his notes today.....

We had our picnic at the Garden City Playground. They really have the most unusual playground equipment there. It also looks a little dangerous but the girls really had a lot of fun. I think that the playgrounds they build now days are a little too safe sometimes but......
Here are all my children on the hangey-twirly-nater-thingy - yes it was Cams favorite too.

We called this the spiders web. Both of my girls climbed up to the top! When Bear got up there she goes "I the King"

Here we are skipping rocks at the lake.


We really love Bear Lake. It is so beautiful. I hope someday we will be able to afford a Cabin or something up there. Today was a lot of fun. It was relaxed and we felt adventurous. We need to do more outing like this. The best part was when we ran out of rocks and started throwing mud balls into the lake. You will never guess which one of my "kids" came up with that idea.....
Look two posts in one day- Yeah Me!

Easter

In spite of the cold weather we had a really fun Easter this year. Once again we spent Easter with Cams parents. I don't think we have ever celebrated Easter at our own house. It was also conference weekend so it was nice not feeling guilty about missing our own ward.
Here are a few snapshots of Easter.Our bunny cakeReady for the egg huntLook what I foundTHIS is what Uncles are forThe loot!!Dyeing eggsGetting our baskets readyMiss BearMiss Banana
Seriously this is the best picture I could get. I took a gazillion pictures of them together in multiple locations and this is the only one that came out remotely normal. The out takes are cute but Ahhhh crazy mommy just wanted a nice picture where they were both smiling looking at the camera- there has got to be a secret to getting your kids to do that.
Take Care!!
Trina

Because Easter is just a HOP SKIP and a JUMP Away...

I thought now would be a good time to finally put up some pictures of St. Patrick's Day at our house. We celebrated by making a fabulous Chocolate cake and then decorating it (and ourselves) with green icing, sprinkles and all the colors of the Rainabow.
Here are the girlies with the finished cake! I was really proud of how cute it turned out for the last minute project that it was.


I just thought I would share some of the cute pictures of us making messes!
Lots of Love
Trina

Escapeing into a Good Book or 4

This last week I have read more than anything else. I have given up much sleep and much time that should have been spent cleaning my house to it. Here is the list of what I have read
Forest Born- Shannon Hale 389 pages
Book of a Thousand Days- Shannon Hale 306 pages
Fablehaven Keys to the Demon Prison- Brandon Mull 588 pages
The Host- Stephanie Meyer- but only the best parts.... I skip through some of it so I probably read only like 250 of the pages
I am not going to do the math because I don't really want any guilt about how much time I spent doing "hobby" type things this week.
Something you need to know about me is I am an escapist reader. When I delve into a book I don't really do it for intellectual purposes. I have in the past but at this point in my life it is an indulgence to read. I like nothing more than throwing myself full force into another world and living with the characters through the stories. I don't like to be the character I just like to pretend I am curled up with them and hearing the story first hand. My favorite brand of escapism is YA fantasy. I love it. It is easy to devour and usually really fun. The thought provoking things are there if you want to look for them but they don't bash you over the head. You can still just enjoy the story without feeling like you are being told that you should think or feel a certain way. I am also a person that can read books over and over and over again. I have always been that way. A lot of times I get to the point like I was saying above that I skip parts and just read the ones I love the most. I have lost track of how many times I have gone through many of them.
I just love to read and I hope that my enjoyment rubs off on my children. I want them to see the joy I get from literature and feel that joy when they read. My parents both read all the time. I grew up thinking everyone just loved to read. It never occurred to me that there were house without books. My house was overflowing with books.... I don't exactly know where I am going with this post maybe you have something you would like to share about your experience or style of reading. I would love to hear about it.

Neglect

So this blog is a little bit neglected....sorry I never can think of anything interesting to write. But I did start another blog- this one is for school so it is not really about me but more about what I do everyday in my class. It is designed for a teacher parent communication tool. If you want to check it out that would be totally cool with me. www.dinofours.blogspot.com. That blog is getting updated all the time this one however.....
Just as an update we are doing good right now. You know busy busy work, school, kids, church calling, not cleaning my house.... good busy though.
Hope that all of you are doing fabulous and starting to get as excited about the spring as I am
All my LOVE
Trina