Enjoy the Journey

Monday, March 23, 2009

No More SNOW!

What a difference a day makes! I am SOO done with the SNOW! Waking up to SNOW this morning was not a good way to start the week off. Last week we did a whole lot of this.......

I can't even tell you how exciting it is to see Bree doing this all around the park!!

This is Bree signing "baby"-she saw a baby at the park and kept doing the sign.

We played at the park and out back for hours-it was beautiful!

Bree LOVES being outside! She sits by the door looking out back until someone lets her out.

Kyra and Jaxon enjoying a snack at the park

Bree is trying So hard to be a big girl and go down the slide by herself and this

it what she does--because she is so flexible she can bend her arms clear back without even blinking-it looks like it would hurt!

Adrie loves the balance beam

Ky loves the monkey bars

Halle looks a little squished!

This is what the little ones looked like by the end of the park outing. They enjoyed their chocolate chip cookies though! I am ready for a lot more of these days and no more Snow days!!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Last night President Obama appeared on the Jay Leno show. Kris and I watched a few minutes of it and were even commenting that although we are not big fans of his, he did seem real and personable. Well than we turned it off and apparantly towards the end of the interview he made a self depreciating remark about his bowling skills at the expense of the Special Olympics. Here's the exchange:
LENO: Now, are they going to put a basketball -- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. I have been practicing my bowling-- (laughter.)
LENO: Really? Really?
THE PRESIDENT: I bowled a 129. (Laughter and applause.)
LENO: No, that's very good. Yes. That's very good, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something. (Laughter.)
LENO: No, that's very good.
THE PRESIDENT: No, listen, I'm making progress on the bowling, yes.

I found these comments on Macey's mom's blog and I hope she doesn't mind me sharing them. She said just what I was thinking....

"I must say I am quite disappointed... In so many aspects of this simple exchange. I am confused as to why the President of the Free World, who has claimed discrimination himself, feels that it is OK to target the Special Olympics and by proxy those involved, as a joke. Would he think differently if one of his 2 daughters happened to have a disability of some sort (which they could acquire at any time)? While this would just seem a simple joke and no big deal to a lot of the population, including individuals in my own life, words like these really do hurt SO many people.How is the teenager proud of their hard earned Special Olympics accomplishments going to feel when they see the President they respect to lead the country degrade them? I can tell you how a mama of a precious baby girl feels to hear of this... hurt once again and worried about Macy's future interactions with others.The comments at the end of the article make things even worse and all I can do is hope and pray that the majority of the people we have daily contact do not think the way so many others do, those who express rage by this so-called imposed "political correctness" getting in the way of their free speech. While I am extremely grateful for the freedom of speech we enjoy I wish we all (including you Mr. President) would be a little more careful in the words we choose.To his credit, Mr. Obama did apologize to Tim Shriver, President of the Special Olympics. He realized the error of his ways (or his PR people did). I wonder if he was sincerely sorry for his words, or just sorry he said them on national television.One of the best responses I have read comes from a lovely young lady named Sarah please read it here.I also love the thoughts of the mother of Emma Sage."

I felt a little better that he made an apology so quickly, at least that was something. I guess we all make mistakes but I just would have thought that in his position and his platform of "equality" that he would have known better.

Words do hurt and we can all do better at being careful not to make jokes at other peoples expense!

When Tom Shriver, the president of the special Olympics was interviewed about it on the Good Morning show this morning one of his comments was this""This kind of language needs to be a teachable moment for our country, I think," Shriver said. I would help every parent that's at home this morning watching this show could turn to their children and say, 'this is a chance for us to recognize that when we talk about Special Olympics, when we talk about people with special needs, let's make sure we talk about it in an affirming way."

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy GREEN Day!

We woke up this morning to find our house in disarray from those mischievious little green guys....

EVERY cupboard and drawer in the kitchen open.....

Chairs overturned....

and even the couch was turned upside down......(which was the girls favorite part)

Then the leprechauns had left them a scavenger hunt through the house

And at the end was the "pot of gold" or in this case a hat of gold..... (apparantley the leprechauns chose the same hat for Julie too)

We ate some GREEN donuts for breakfast...

I went to Ky's school to help in her class and it was so fun to see how excited all the kids were when they walked into their classroom to find the leprechauns had visited, making messes and leaving footprints on their desks! How great is it to be a kid?!!!

While I went to the school Adrie and Bree got to play with Aiden adn Avery.. I LOVE this pic Julie took of the girls laughing with eachother..

The kids loved playing with the silly hat...

Bree liked to play peek a boo......

Fortunately, Adrie got one picture of me and Bree this morning before I caught the flu bug the leprechauns must have left me...not the meaning of GREEN I wanted to experience today..

Luckily for Adrie, Julie took her to the park with her kids instead of having to spend the rest of the day couped up on the couch with mom.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Great Point!

I am really impressed by "Dr. Cox". This video clip made me cry-particularly the end part! He said it perfectly!! I have learned alot since Bree came into our life about unconditional love and accepting differences. She makes me strive to be less judgemental and more understanding and kind to everyone.

These pics are for my brothers....I took them awhile ago but hadn't posted them. My brothers always say Bree reminds them of Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch and so when we found this Cindy Lou who shirt at Costco we had to get it. The funny thing is Bree was so excited about it-I swear she recognized it from the Grinch (she loves that movie). When I put the shirt on she kept looking at her chest and touching the picture smiling.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

What we've been up to

This is a random catch up post about some of the things we've been up to.

Adrie gave a talk sunday in primary and she was SO excited about it! Her and Kyra are very different in that respect-Kyra gets really nervous and Adrie doesn't even get bothered by it. She is so smiley and happy when she gives her talks-it is really cute. In her prayer sunday morning she said "bless me to be able to give my talk without moms help" She still needed my help a little but mostly did it on her own and she was very proud!

Random Adrie funny moment: Last week I had a Primary Presidency meeting here and the next morning Adrie was asking me who came to it. I said "Julie, Monica and Cindy" she gets this look of awe on her face and says "you mean you had a meeting with Cindy Lou Who?" It was hilarious!

Bree LOVES sundays because she gets to have her daddy around for a few hours! She is a total dady's girl when he is around-even to the point of throwing a little tantrum in the morning when he leaves her. She has learned to give real kisses and we love it!!

She is also doing TONS of walking lately!! We are SOO proud of her!! It makes me teary every time I see her diong it! I will upload a video later for Chaly and Cam if I can find a cord for my camera

We were glad for a few springlike days last week to be outside...

The girls had fun with the new bubble blowers Bree got for her birthday

Bree was really fascinated when the bubbles would land on her

Kyra is loosing teeth like crazy right now. She lost two within a couple days of each other and has a few more that are loose.

I found this cute little tin at the target dollar spot and thought it would be cute to have for the tooth fairy. So Ky puts her tooth inside and puts this under her pillow(well more like next to it)

and wakes up to find this..Poor tooth fairy is going to be broke at this rate

Adrie is my sweet little middle child and lately I have been feeling like between Kyra's school things and Bree's therapists and classes, that Adrie is lost in the craziness. So instead of doing my "chores" as Adrie calls them while Bree was sleeping, Adrie and I had a lunch date with her baby doll. It was really nice to spend alone time with Adrie. She was SO excited to have me actually playing with her! I guess I need to actually sit down and "play" with my kids more.

She spent a very long time setting the table just right before I could come in!

Me and my Adrie Lou Bell!

Kris and I have had a chance to go on a date the last two weekends (making up for not seeing eachother all week). One date was to Tepanyaki with our good friends (lovely picture op) and the other was with Kris's family to the Provo High state basketball game and then to Davids kitchen! It is great to get out with adults once in awhile!

A few weeks ago I got to go with my sister in laws and my mother in law to the Celine Dion concert! My brother in law had given us all tickets for Christmas over a year ago and we were supposed to go to the concert in November but it got rescheduled.