Savannah and the Swing

I don't think you can comprehend the full irony of this picture.
I was going through the storage unit and trying to find some things that we didn't need to pack and take with us across the country again. There is a consignment shop here and this swing was pratically brand new.
You see, Jonah and Ryanne wore our other swing out, so when Savannah came along, I went out and bought a new one. I got one that played music and had white noise and that you could set for certain amounts of time.
Savannah hated it.
She screamed everytime she was put in it. I mean, it was like a torture chair.
So, it never got used.
Of course, now that I want to get rid of it and brought it in the house to wash it off and get it ready to be sold, she won't leave it alone.
I keep finding her in it and telling her she can't be in it, but she doesn't listen.
I finally folded it up and put it in a small space by the piano until I could take it to the shop and she still managed to squeeze herself into it. Then she told me, "Don't come and find me." I just had to laugh.

Quality Time with Grandpa!

I just thought it was kinda cute to see the kids so intrigued by Grandpa reading a story.

My Grandpa's House in Meadow

The above picture was about a year ago when Matt and I were on the way to St. George to celebrate our anniversary. We stopped in Meadow, a small town, where my grandpa was born and raised. My great-grandpa built this house and even made the bricks. My grandpa was born there.
Anyway, on sunday my parents got a call saying that the house had caught on fire.

Yesterday they went to assess the damage.

I just thought this picture was kind of cool with the school bus in the background. The house didn't actually burn to the ground (Those were some tough bricks) but the inside is completely gutted. The insurance is counting it as a total loss.

Here is the story from the Millard County Paper

Home in Meadow burned Sunday
by Dean Draper

Aaron Richards left church early responding to a message his home was on fire. Harold Beckstrand watched from across the street as his grandfather Joseph Beckstrand’s house came to an inglorious end. The brick house was being consumed by a stubborn fire. “We were at church when the neighbors called. We’re renting the house. We are grateful our dog “Rebel” got out,” said Richards.

Meadow resident Jim Talbot said firemen entered the house to determine if anyone was inside. A fireman picked up the dog which promptly bit him causing him to free the dog. Rebel ran outside and was recovered by another neighbor. A neighbor noticed the flames and smoke on the back porch. They called the Meadow Fire Department who turned out in force. High winds contributed to the spread of a fierce fire throughout the brick house on 100 South in Meadow. The fire quickly spread through the 100+ year-old structure. It was soon totally engulfed in flames. Calls were sent out for assistance from Kanosh and Fillmore. Delta was summoned to bring men and equipment to form a “Red” team.

Richards and his wife Destiny moved a few items the firemen had been able to rescue to her parent’s house. Alan and Koni Erickson provided moral support as their daughter’s home continued to burn.A persistent flame kept going in the attic. Teams climbed on the roof to get access to it extinguishing it several times only to have it re-ignite. It was visible from holes in the roof and one prominent hole at the peak of the roof.About 2:00 p.m. the fire was mostly subdued as a strong storm front moved in from the south.

Buried Treasure

Since the sun has been out a little bit more and the weather was nice last week, we spent alot of time in the backyard. Grandma found some buried treasure.
I had no idea this little stuffed animal was missing. Anything left outside is game. Grandma saw the little pink plastic piece at the top sticking out of the mud and pulled a huge chunk of dirt out. The elephant was buried inside. Savannah was happy to have her toy back. Ryanne had also been missing one of her reindeer boots and it was buried as well.
Grandma couldn't find her tennis shoe and by this time, she knew to go looking out in the dirt for some sign.
Sure enough, the shoe was buried. I don't know if the dogs just get bored or what, but we have noticed anytime there is a shoe or toy out there, that Bucky starts furiously digging a hole. We have stopped her from burying other things, but it really is just kinda funny to find shoes and toys completely submerged in the dirt.
I think she might need her own toy.

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster.
I was up.
I was down.
I was happy.
I was crying.
It was all fine and good.
Two of my brother's young co-workers were killed in a car wreck on Saturday afternoon.
He worked with them on Friday night and on Saturday, they were gone.
It has really shaken me up.
I just can't imagine losing someone like that, in an instant.
Today as we were driving down the road, I just thought about how you say goodbye to someone that is going somewhere and then they never come back.
I just feel so sad.
I can't imagine as a parent having your child walk out the door with friends and to have them never return. Not knowing that would be the last time you would see them, in this life.
I am just in tears.
I don't mean to bring anyone down.
But, just take the time today to tell your husband, wife, child, parent, friend, that you love them. Take the time to give them a hug. Don't waste time being angry. It just isn't worth it.

Today

We were listening to the Sound of Music Soundtrack and Savannah was dancing. I told her to smile for the camera, so Daddy could see her face and she came up with this pained expression.

A couple tries later, we had something closer to a smile.

Ryanne was reading herself some books.

Jonah was of course looking at the Sports page of the newspaper. He looks at it multiple times a day and finds it fascinating.

Hope everyone had a good day!

Ladybugs

Some things are just so fascinating. (This was a hard pic to get. they are fast little bugs)

Like Ladybugs

They are interesting to watch

And it becomes a game- trying to keep them on your fingers

They tickle your skin

And make you laugh

And we all know laughter is contagious

Happy St. Patricks Day!

If you need a quick dessert tonight, check out this post for Thin Mint Cupcakes!

A Fun Day

On Friday we went to the Treehouse Museum in Odgen. A couple of ladies in my neighborhood planned an outing and invited us to come along. I decided that Jonah could skip school and come with us. The kids had a blast! This post includes lots of pictures, so hopefully someone cares (Matt?, Becky? this is for you!)

There were large maps of the United States and Utah that had landmarks and other places marked on them. You could press a little button and it would ask you a question and then you had to get to the spot on the map that is was talking about before the time was up. Ryanne found a horse and then we went to find where Daddy is- Georgia.

There were also little houses from all over the world that had dress-up clothes from that country and the interior of the houses looked like what you would find in that country.

The kids really liked the animals from Africa.

Jonah told the girls to come and join him in the "Japan" boat.

Our friend, Andrew, wearing a dress-up hat!

Savannah was having a good time in the little house, pretending to serve tea. I had her hair fixed, but being the independent person that she is, she took it out and looked like a rugrat all day.

Savannah wearing the little mouse outfit and getting ready to crawl through the little mouse tunnel in the house.
Jonah checking out the Oval Office.

The music room was exciting too. Lots of noise coming from over there.

Savannah found Georgia too.

Ryanne really liked the Medieval area because there were lots of little horses and a castle.

There is the huge treehouse that was in the center of the whole building. There was a really fun staircase that went up inside the tree and Savannah decided to transport the horse down the other stairs.

She still had the horse in tow when she made it to the music room.

Ryanne planting and picking the garden plants.

The school house
Savannah really liked the Fire Truck

Jonah joined her later in full fireman clothing.

Ryanne had alot of fun at the art center too. Painting with water and tracing dinosaurs.

Jonah and I did pretty well on the Utah trivia and then went to be the teacher in the little school house Savannah also really liked the baby/body area. She loves babies and carried this one around for quite awhile.We had so much fun. I love it when you go somewhere and all the activities keep your kids intrigued for hours on end. They were so enthralled they never even mentioned that they wanted to eat or anything. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!