The snow was melted by noon. The paint on their snow clothes lasted much longer.

]]> http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?feed=rss2&p=2816 http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?p=2812 http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?p=2812#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:05:11 +0000 jenny http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?p=2812 Not bad for a last minute announcement of Hippie Day.  Why must they wake up and suddenly remember what they forgot to tell you yesterday?

Kyla expects a lot on her b-day. So there is a lot of pressure on the ole’ padres to make sure her day goes off without a hitch. She has high expectations and therefore is easily disappointed when the pieces sort themselves out in a way that is not to her liking. This only means there isn’t much wiggle room for error.

We started her day with breakfast at Kneaders for Kyla’s favorite french toast. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. De-lish. We almost blew it out of the gate though because while we were scrambling to put some finishing touches on party decorations we were also making a starving 7 year old wait. And well, her patience was lacking. Come to think of it, I’m not sure Kyla even knows the meaning of the word. But we made it and the nice fellow behind the counter put a b-day rush on her order which earned us a few points.

Kyla is our New Orleans Mardi Gras baby and so it was decided that this year she’d show these Utahans how they celebrate down south. Lots of beads, decorating masks with glitz, glitter and feathers, background jazz music, piping hot beignets doused with powdered sugar and a Manny Randazzo King Cake shipped straight from New Orleans helped to make our party as authentic as possible. We had fun and not even Kyla was disappointed. (insert a well deserved pat on the back for Matt and I here.) Especially when she opened the only thing she asked for. A pink digital camera.

Already her focus is racing ahead to her next b-day. Heaven forbid she just enjoy being seven for a year. Always in a hurry to get to the next thing-convinced that it will bigger and better. She’s pre-planning for that new set of scriptures she’s dying to have, getting baptized, and she’s up in the air if she wants a new CTR ring. “Only if they have pink.”  Well, at least we’ve got that one covered.

Just for fun here’s a quick look back to one year ago. A year makes a big difference.

A bike with training wheels to a bike with no training wheels.

Having the longest hair in the family to the shortest.

Moving from Missouri to Utah.

Finding a favorite little friend named Courtney.

More teeth fell out.

Some things change while others do not. At least not this year.
She is still loud and still working on that inside voice (without much success).
She is still wild and fun and crazy. “Spunky” as her 1st grade teacher calls her.
She still sucks her thumb.
She still likes to cuddle but she’s not a fan of getting or giving kisses.
She still loves to read and write.
She still likes to call the shots around here.
She still is a very picky eater.
She is still one of my favorites.

Happy 7th Kyla!

She insisted that she wanted no part of my shenanigans to capture our moments of waiting for the neighborhood school crew to clamber into the car-but the poses just kept coming. I do believe that  I’ll never tire of this girl’s smile or silly faces or even pictures of her size 10 pink shoes that she just had to have. It’s fair to say that today I got much more than just a front-of-the-line-pick-up-spot at school.

It appears that Avery didn’t get much more than a headache though.

A love-hate relationship is also blooming with my P90X work-outs. I’ve been loyal. I love it. And hate it. Who does “corn cob pull-ups” anyway?

Lucky for me February will eventually end, warmer days will come and thanks to those P90X workouts I’ll be ready for the pool and that swim suit I bought in February!

Since its still snowing what are you going to do other than play in it. Sooo, last weekend we took the kids tubing at Soldier Hollow with some of our neighbors. Matt and I were a little hesitant to pay for sledding since living in Utah its not exactly hard to find a hill covered in snow for free. However Kyla would not allow us to turn down the invitation from her best little friend Courtney’s family. And because sometimes the kids call the shots around here, we went and payed a penny or two for a whole lot of fun. The kids had a blast, especially Ellie who has a sad history of not being a sledding’s biggest fan. Her change of heart can most likely be linked to the tow rope that gives you and your tube a lift up the hill and the fact that on this particular day they didn’t seem to mind if we linked tubes and made huge trains.

I’d go again just to hear Ellie squeal the whole way down and listen to her insist on swim goggles because she doesn’t have snow goggles. And it doesn’t matter because they will still keep the snow out of her eyes so her eye balls don’t freeze and fall out. Would you argue with that? Definitely not.

If you are going sledding, let me recommend this as a way to go. With goggles of course because we wouldn’t want anyone to have their eye balls fall out!

Dr. Dahl is good on the slopes. Just like tubes and tonsils, it’s kind of like his bread and butter. He loves it and I must admit that he looks very sexy doing it. Something about the way he shreds down the mountain with his skis perfectly together and his hips moving rhythmically from side to side that really gets me going. And then, if that’s not impressive enough, he takes off his ski’s to hike higher because something about skiing where only a handful of others dare to go really gets him going. There was just one thing slowing him down-the gal he climbed the mountain with. OK yes, I was looking for his approval and maybe another invitation to ski with him so I spent the day skiing way too fast and being totally out of control, which, by the way, he says is a good way to ski. Oh, the things I won’t do to keep up with that sexy guy. Now I know why he wears a helmet and before I tag along again I think I’ll be purchasing one too.

I could have called it a day when the lifts came to a halt but those Jazz tickets were calling.  We got home with just enough time to shower and order the kids pizza before we headed out again. Good game only problem was the stadium seats. Definitely not roomy enough to stretch out my aching knees. Hmm, does that make me sound old? I’m blaming Matt. Too many mogals for one day.

A long day. A whole day. I need another day. To do it all again.

Matt gave a lesson from the Friend “Cease From Anger” (pg 28 if you’re interested). There was a quiz included, which we modified enough to make it more relevant, and with flying colors my kids aced it. Matt challenged them to be more honest and not give the right answer but the answer which more accurately describes how they would handle the given situation. Oops, suddenly the scores dropped exponentially. Sigh. Meanwhile Ellie who is now bored and clearly not listening anymore to this very applicable lesson is yelling at McKenna for touching her toys. Is it wrong to find comfort in the fact that at least they know what they should be doing even it they don’t do it?

Anyway, our lesson ends and we move on to the part of FHE that is the reason the agree to join us Monday nights. Activity and treats. You’d think if we made it this far it would be smooth sailing from here. Typically I’d say yes, especially since we just had a lesson about patience and how we should treat others, particularly sisters. But it was not to be tonight. It was Kyla’s week for the activity so she chose a game which incidentally did not go according to McKenna’s plan, so instead of putting the lesson into action (which should’ve still been fresh in her head seeing that only 2 minutes had passed), she hits Kyla over the head with a pillow. Hum? Not seeing the blow coming her way she was not prepared and Kyla’s mouth bangs into her knee. The results are blood, a missing tooth, tears of pain and tears of guilt. Lovely, just lovely. Actually, it was quite comical and Matt and I were having a hard time keeping a straight face and trying to pinpoint where it was exactly that this night had gone so wrong. Can you guess what next week’s lesson will be focusing on, again?  Like I said, just because you try doesn’t always mean you’ll succeed.  Thank goodness for chocolate. It has a way of smoothing things over nicely!

I’m sure she was somehow guilty too but this li’l rascal walked away sittin’ pretty last night.

]]> http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?feed=rss2&p=2704 http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?p=2680 http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?p=2680#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:55:43 +0000 jenny http://www.thedahlfamily.org/?p=2680 I knew it. I had a captive audience from the title.

I’ve been recovering or I would have told you sooner.

Don’t get too excited though, only one implant for me.

It wasn’t the one I wanted, just the one I needed.

And after flippin the bill for this one, my other two are going to have to wait a while longer.

Dang dental work.

Just because everyone laughs doesn’t mean it’s funny!

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