april random

It's great fun to have 2 neighborhood teenage boys who, with their own money, bought creepy camouflage, head-to-toe Gilly suits.   Every once in a while they come sneaking down the street, hiding in people's yards and scaring unsuspecting children.  We were the lucky ones this month.  Never a dull moment around these parts.

Alyssa watches everything her older siblings do.  She noticed all their scripture charts and tracking systems and went and made herself one (It's on the wall behind her, along with the Articles of Faith poster of which she has almost memorized already).  She also made one for Ash. 
Gosh, I love this girl.

I love her so much that I reluctantly agreed to go on the ever-anticipated 3rd grade ice-skating field trip.  I was told I would not have to skate.  I was told wrong. It was a modern-day miracle on ice, comparable to the 1980 Olympic hockey team,  that I got this old body out on the rink.  And I didn't even fall, not once.  My ankles were sore for a week.

 

Bug catching season is here! 

 Hours of fun with those little dollar store bug catchers and death trap tweezers. 

 Poor bugs never stood a chance.

This month we enjoyed some Sunday afternoon reading time.  We had a thing where every Sunday night after dinner we gathered some library books and read them on the porch. 

 It was too nice to stay inside.

Look at that blue sky and green grass.

There is nothing like the Spring in Utah.

Skyping!

We skype cousins in Oregon.

We skype cousins in Hawaii.

We even skype cousins in Orem, even though we see them all the time.

This time we were skyping cousins in Norway, which can be very tricky with the time difference.

They were going to bed, we had just gotten up, but everyone was happy.
Isn't technology wonderful?

And that's a wrap for April.....finally!

True Princesses

Last year Ashlyn really wanted a princess party, but she had too many "boy" friends so we opted for a Candyland party instead.  This year there was no getting out of it. 

A Princess Party she wanted. 

 A Princess Party it would be.

We sent out the invitation inviting all maidens in the kingdom to come to the party.  At the party they would undergo several tests to determine if they were indeed true princesses.  They were instructed to come dressed in their rags (normal clothes).  This was apparently uspetting to some. 
"But mom, I don't want to wear rags!" 

When the maidens arrived they were each given a bag of pink play dough.  They were then instructed to make it "royal"  They could choose between all colors of glitter that they sprinkled on their play dough and then kneaded it in to make it sparkle.  They also each choose a gem to mix in.  Their sparkly princess play dough was then placed in their goody bag.

The first game was Snow White's pass the poison apple.  They passed around an apple to music.  When the music stopped and they were left holding the apple....

...they had to take a bite. 
And if they were a true princess, well, then this would happen:

And wouldn't you know it, all of those maidens fell to the ground - very dramatically, actually - eyes closed, arms spread; they were very serious about this princess testing.

Test #1 was passed with flying colors.

The next test was Ariel's underwater gem hunt.  They all sat around this bowl filled with soapy water.  I told them that they each had to reach into the water and try to pull out a gem.  If they pulled out a gem they were a true princess.  If they pulled out a black rock, they were not.  To get them started I took a turn.  I reached in and pulled out a black rock.  They gasped and felt very sad for me that I wasn't a princess.  (I actually was holding the only black rock as I slipped my hand in) 

After my mishap they were all very nervous when their turn came

But against all odds, they all found gems.  It was a true princess miracle.

Next they had to pass the Rapunzel-frying-pan walk.  They put on the Rapunzel hair, grabbed the frying pan...

...and carefully carried the pink balloon across the room and back.

It was difficult, yes.  That hair is heavy and the balloon light; it could have very easily floated out of the pan, but they pulled through and another test was successfully completed.

After reading them the story of the Princess and the Pea they attempted this test.  Could they sit on each of these pillows and guess where the pea was?

Yes, yes they could.  An obvious sign of a true princess.

We then prepared for Cinderella's glass slipper test.

If the shoe fit, they must be princesses. 

And sure enough, every one of those dainty feet fit slid right into that glass slipper. 

Their final test was from Jasmine and it was my favorite.  They had to take a jewel...

...and without touching any other treasures, tiptoe through the course and...

...gently deposit their jewel in the magic lamp.  And after some close calls, they all completed this difficult test.

Having successfully passed each and every test to determine who was a true princess, their fairy godmother arrived, tapped them all on the head and transformed them all.

From plain maidens dressed in rags to the beautiful glorious princesses that they really are.

And then it was time to celebrate.

To celebrate this princess. 

This little princess and all of her royal friends. 

 It was a grand celebration indeed.

 

Some notes:

*I did provide a new apple for each round of the pass the apple game, so there were no germs being spread around.  That would have been very un-princess like.

*The Rapunzel hair was Sarah's masterpiece for a Halloween costume.  The girls were dying over it.

*When I did this party for Alyssa on the Cinderella game I had a pair of dress up shoes from the dollar store for each girl.  They got to take them home as part of the goody bag.  Wouldn't you know that this year the dollar store didn't have any dress up shoes.  So, I dug through the dress-up bin to find my glass slipper and just used that on each girl.

*All of the jewels and beads are things we have collected over the years.   They are stored in a treasure chest in the playroom and are played with almost daily by my kids.  And that Aladdin genie lamp? Well, that is probably the best fifty cents I ever spent at D.I.

the last dance

Kara had mixed emotions about her Senior Prom.  She was so so excited, but she was also sad, because this was her very last High School Dance.  As her friend Lindsey so eloquently put it, "Kara, do you realize this is the last time we will feel this pretty until our wedding day?"  Putting that nice thought aside, Kara pretty much had it all that night.

For example:

She had a stylist.

I kept calling Sarah Cinna.  She told me that she would kill me if I put this picture of her on the blog.  Well, Cinna, you know where to find me.

She had a prep team.

We were mostly there to adjust and to watch and to visit and to ooh and ahh.

Cinna and Kara really did most of the work.

She had admirers.

They thought they had died and gone to princess heaven (they kept calling her Belle).

I'm pretty sure they won't be quite so excited for the years of Tuxes that are in their futures with 3 brothers next in line.

She had to wait.

A certain someone left the corsage at home and had to turn around and go get it.

She had a doting date.

Silas, ever the gentleman.
 So respectful, so polite, so fun.

She had pictures. 

Tons of them. 

 (You might actually think this was her wedding)

She had the whole night ahead of her.

And she had the time of her life.

It was the perfect way to end, this, her last night of beauty.
Until her wedding day, which better be a couple of years away, at least!

i'm going there someday

On a gorgeous warm Utah Spring evening we gathered together on the grounds of the beautiful Mt. Timpanogas Temple for Family Home Evening.  We laid out our blankets on the grass, organized our supplies, and then began with the flag march, because you really can't have a Family Home Evening without a flag march now can you?

We began our lesson with all of the aunts and uncles and Grammy and Poppy showing a picture of their wedding day.  They each talked about the temples they were married in, how they felt that day, and then they bore their testimonies as to why it is important to get married in the temple.

We then headed to the steps of the temple where we discussed the steps that needed to be taken to get to the temple someday.  As we discussed each one, we went up one step closer to the temple.

We  enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the perimeter of the temple. 

 So fun to see all the beautiful spring flowers and the immaculate landscaping.

It was so wonderful to be there with our whole Fuehrer family.

Cousins today.  Cousins tomorrow.  Cousins forever!

We discussed our goal as a family to be gathered together inside someday, just as we had gathered together on the outside on this great night.

That is my dream. 

To be inside the temple someday with all of my children and all of their spouses and all of my sisters and their families, and my mom and dad who are true pioneers in our family.

And tonight we got one step closer to that goal.

We love to see the temple.

We'll go inside someday.

Together Forever!

the magic mug

It was time again for the annual 3rd grade Invention Convention.

Let's review:

We have produced some great inventions from within the walls of this home.  We have been the masterminds behind  the "Pea-liminator", the "Super Spider Remover" and the incredible "Everlasting Air Tank."

All very great and successful inventions.

But it was time this year for a little more feminine touch.

Something for the kitchen perhaps. 

Alyssa was up for the challenge.

Her creation:

Introducing The Magic Mug!

This mug is a must have.  It holds the hot chocolate or milk.  It warms the cookies underneath.  It has containers to hold the cookies for dipping, the marshmallows for melting and the spoons for stirring.  It even has a contraption to lower the cookies in and then retrieve them out all sopping and ready to eat without even getting your fingers wet.

Now that is one magnificent mug!

 

It was a hit and I'm sure it will make millions.

And it's a good thing, because we need it!

grass house

A neighbor dumped some left over sod into the back corner of the empty lot on our street one day.

My kids had it sniffed out in about 5 minutes.

They put their little heads together and made a plan.

They recruited some cheap labor.

And a new adventure began.

They were going to make a fort.

 (Does this sound familiar?)

 

They heaved and tugged.

They stacked and laid.

They were serious about this fort.

Serious enough that it took them a couple of hours to complete this masterpiece.

They had grand plans to water it each day. 

 To have picnics on it. 

To even mow it if necessary.

But none of that ever happened.

I think some big kids messed it up the next day and the fort was abandoned, forgotten, left to dry out in the sun.

But, it won't take long for them to find another treasure in that good ole empty lot to create with, I'm sure.

And they better get going because I  heard that the lot has finally sold.

I don't have the heart to tell them just yet.
Maybe tomorrow.

we needed a break

Spring Break 2012.

Our last one together as a family.

(Next year Kara will be at BYU where they don't have a Spring Break)

It was supposed to be big.

It was supposed to be exotic

It was supposed to be a cruise.

But you kind of need a job to do a big Spring Break trip.

You really kind of need a job to take 9 people on a cruise.

And, well, a job is something we don't have right now.

So instead of cruising through the Caribbean we created our own somewhat tropical adventure.

One day we swam with cousins in the far off exotic city of Saratoga Springs.

It is, after all, a natural hot springs pool.

 

My kids probably jumped off the diving board 200 times.

Plus I had to put this picture in.  Hello, can you say skinny?  I can count his ribs and then some.  The sad thing is, he is my stockiest kid.

One day we hiked the Y with other cousins.
 It was the first time for some of my little ones. 

Kara and I had to hang back to do some very important scrambling to get her into her future dorm room.  And we did it!  It was a miracle, a true answer to prayer.  And as soon as we stopped screaming and jumping around we hightailed it up the mountain to catch up with the crew.  And, duh, we didn't even bring water.  But we made it and we were very proud of ourselves on many levels that day.

We spent one day by ourselves at BYU.  Part of our day was spent in the Bean Museum.

As always, we cannot go to the museum without stopping by to say hi to the 2 headed snake. 

He has been there forever and is our favorite exhibit.

We walked around the Library and my kids were fascinated by the rotating and moving aisles.

Simple pleasures.

Our final stop of the day was to visit our Uncle/Brother/Brother-in-law, and celebrate his new position as the new Registrar at BYU.

One day at the beautiful gardens of Thanksgiving Point.

And we ended our glorious break with an old Fuehrer family tradition.

Ice cream for dinner.

And ice cream for dessert.

(This was perhaps the most exciting thing my kids could imagine!)

And that was it.

It wasn't a cruise.

It wasn't California.

Heck, it wasn't even St. George.

But it was home.

And it was busy.

And it was practically free.

And that is the kind of break we needed this year.