Salad anyone?

My sister Sarah calls me up to see if I can bring a salad to her son's Baptism dinner. I agree and ask which kind. She proceeds to tell me that my other sister Brooke is bringing a green salad and she is doing a Jello Salad. I ask her what other kind she would like and she replies, I once had this really yummy Oreo Salad maybe you can find that recipe. I get on the internet and find a recipe for Oreo "Salad". Basically it's pudding, cool whip, cream cheese and crushed Oreos. I look at the title of the recipe to make sure I read it right and sure enough it says Oreo "Salad". Now really does that sound like a salad?
Do others have such dishes for salads or is it my family tradition. Could be a Mormon thing like green jello and Funeral Potatoes. Maybe it's a rural Southern Utah tradition? Or is it a Mormon Southern Utah tradition? I'm taking a poll does your family think yummy cookie or jello dishes are salads?

Murphy's Law

An unknown Murphy's law states: " Try as a mother may, it is virtually impossible for an offspring's living quarters to stay tidy for more than a fraction of a second. Once dismantled, the same living quarters will remain untouched by the offspring until a fraction of a second after a mother cleans it again."

(The ideal)

(The reality)

A New Toy

Jane has discovered a new toy. This chair. She loves to pull the cushion out and climb in it and jump to her heart's content. It's perfect for her because it is low enough to the ground that she can easily get in and out of it. She often falls off but she jumps right up and is in it again. Sometimes I wonder why buy toys?

Kindred "messy" spirits

I was talking on the phone with my sister Allyson when I had this "motherly" sense that Emily was into something in the bathroom. I found Emily with an empty bottle of baby powder. I immediately hung up on my sister and evaluated the damage. My whole bathroom was covered in baby powder, not to mention Emily's hair. Emily response to the mess was "Mom you should put the powder up high so I can't reach it." After the mess was cleaned up, I called Allyson back to explain why I hung up so suddenly. Allyson unsympathetically responds "That sounds like a lot of fun. I'd love to do something like that if I didn't have to clean it up". I know I've got it coming. I remember well all the projects Allyson would get herself into and the mess it created. Amazingly my mom never prevented Allyson from fulfilling her "ideas" that led to extreme messes. I have a new respect for my mom.

(Earlier that day we made Heart shaped Sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. I'm guessing that is where the new love of powdery substances came from)

It's not everyday..

we get to look out our front window and watch a 50 year old building be demolished. Good bye Junior High! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bit sad. In fact I'm looking forward to it being replaced by a nice big green field.

A Great Example to my Girls

Bart's sister Sarah graduated from nursing school. Since I've known Sarah she has always talked about being a nurse. It's not an easy task and fiercely competitive to become a nurse, but I admire how Sarah has stuck to her goal and hasn't let anything like her health or getting married stand in the way! On the way down to Provo Bart was explaining to Emily about where we were going and said "Someday you'll graduate like Sarah is today" I'm so glad my girls have an outstanding Aunt to look up to! Congrats again Sarah, You'll make a great nurse!

Budding Writer

Emily is a fanatic about writing. 90% of the time Emily is carrying around a pen and paper scribbling little notes. My floors are covered in paper and you'll find notes taped to about every door with scribbles which Emily has informed me are "instructions about what I need to do before I can enter." She seeks out pens, crayons or pencils won't due, and blank sheets of paper and if she can't find them she'll improvise with any thing that looks similar. One day she taped a bunch of wet wipes to the wall and found her dad's stash of permanent markers and went to town not realizing that they were bleeding like crazy on the wall. Just for your info "Off "insect repellent melts permanent marker from walls. Although the paper mess and pen marks drive me crazy I try not to let it bother me so I can keep encouraging her.
She is becoming so proficient with writing her letters and can write all of our names without any help.

Here's a letter she independently wrote to her Aunt Ally.