The Bells go to the Capitol!

Brennan and Grandma steering the kids through the Capitol Little cousin Benny.
Lucy roaming the halls

Don't get too excited it isn't the U.S. Capitol, but we did go to the Utah State Capitol to see Grandpa Bell do his thing in the Senate and have lunch with him. It was a fun day, and very fitting for Presidents Day I would say. The Capitol has been really nicely redone and is sort of newish to us this year so it was fun to walk around and see the small differences and updates. I realized while I was up there that my mom gave tours of the Utah State Capitol, and I gave tours of the U.S. capitol when we were living in DC. Kind of a fun family coincidence. Anyway....it was a fun day, and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves.



We also had a great weekend. We had Ike stay overnight while Molly and Randy (and Ollie) went overnight for Valentine's Day. It was alot of fun. Ike is such a sweetie , and so easy to have around. My kids adore him, and he so comfortable at our house .......I love that. Rex and Lucy interact with him so differently. Rex really looks out for Ike, and wants to show him stuff, and will stick up for him if he is fighting with Lucy over something. I have noticed Lucy , on the other hand, loves Ike because she loves having a protege. Ike will follow her around, and do all that she says. Their conversations are great, I heard Ike say, "Lucy, is Santa coming?" and Lucy will say in a very grown-up way, "Not for a while Ike." Or Lucy will say , "Ike I have to go do my exercises now", and then Ike will just follow her wherever saying "okay" or "yeah". It is really cute. Ryan took them all on Friday evening up to the library to check out some Greek Mythology books, but the library closed right after they got in there so they headed over to the King's English to look around in the children's section. It sounded like they had a great time, but when it was time to go Lucy picked up her bundle of books (mostly sequels 3, 4, and 5 of "Fancy Nancy") and said, "let's go check them out." Sadly , she was thinking it was like at the library and that we could just walk out with ten books. Ryan had to explain the whole process of the bookstore, and you have to buy them , etc. She sadly put her Fancy Nancies back. Sad. Anyway, they had snack and all slept great! Then Saturday it was our turn to go out, and Ryan and I decided to go up to Brighton and go skiing for our date. It was alot of fun. So different from the last time I skied with Rex and Lucy where I was always carrying someone off and on the lift, and sometimes even down the hill. It was such a treat to just relax and enjoy it. We are definitely not very skilled, but we have always enjoyed it, and it was fun to bring back those memories. Then we went for dinner. It was a great night!

Sunday night we headed up to the Florences cabin up little Cottonwood canyon, and had a great time with the Lewises and Florences. The kids went sledding and played, while we chatted , and had dinner. It was a fun evening with good friends and great conversation.

Here are some pics of our kiddos lately.


Molly June......Happy girl!
Lucy and her Daddy love

Sister Love

About me!!

So I have been tagged a few times in the past months and haven't ever gotten around to answering so I decided to finally do it. I picked my favorite of the "tagged" questionnaire. Here goes.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:00am

2. Diamonds or pearls? pearls
3. Last movie you saw in the theater? Enchanted
4. What is your favorite TV show? Lost,Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, or anything on the food network

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oatmeal

6. What is your middle name? Pew
7. What food do you dislike? tomatoes

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? My mixed cd ryan made for me....it is a good one.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Suburban

10. Favorite sandwich? Turkey Cranberry

11. What characteristics do you despise? arrogance or boringness

12. Favorite item of clothing? skirts and cardigans, oh and flip flops

13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Hawaii or maybe Paris

14. What color is your bathroom? taupe

15. Favorite brand of clothing? Jcrew or Ralph Lauren

16. Where would you retire? Wherever Rex, Lucy and Molly live hopefully
17. Most memorable birthday? All my birthdays are really special, I have always loved my birthday, and make sure it is the best!

18. Favorite sport to watch? hmm, sports huh...I guess Figure Skating
22. Favorite saying? "I know it is here, It can't just disappear"

23. When is your birthday? march 11

24.Are you a morning or a night person? neither one these days
25. What is your shoe size? 71/2
27. What did you want to be when you were little? A tv broadcaster

28. What are you today? a mom

29. What is your favorite candy? Peanut butter twix

30 Your favorite flower? tulips

31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? My 30th birthday!

32. What are you listening to right now? my kids "trying" to go to sleep, but mostly chatting, singing, etc.

33. What was the last thing you ate? Beef Stroganoff and pineapple

34. Do you wish on stars? nope

35. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? sky blue

36. What is your pet peeve? over dramatic types that just do it for attention.

37. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Glo

39. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke

40. Favorite restaurant? Market Street Broiler, the Dodo, or the Mandarin

41. Hair Color? Blonde, well I think.
42. Favorite day of the year? My birthday

43. What was your favorite toy as a child? dolls, dolls, and more dolls

44. Summer or winter? Summer

45. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

46. Chocolate or vanilla? vanilla

47. You want your friends to e-mail you back? yes

48. When was the last time you cried? the other day, holding my little molly thinking about it I were to lose her, and I started crying for real. (I know I am pretty weird).

49. What is under your bed? umm, everything. Bins of baby clothes mostly.

50. What did you do last night? Ate dinner with Ange and Brennan, and went to bed early.

51. Favorite smell? rain

52. What are you afraid of? noises in the night

53. How many keys on your key ring?4
54. How many years at your current job? I have been a SAHM for 5 years now.

55.. Favorite day of the week? Friday

56. How many states have you lived in? 2

The Perils of Praise

One of the great tricks of parenting is figuring out how much to praise your kids. Though it's clear that too much praise has its dangers, it seems most parents try to err on the side of helping their kids feel loved, and hoping that any unwanted side effects will be outweighed by the security and confidence that results from feeling truly love. That's been our approach, and lately I'm wondering whether we've created a monster.

Last week we had our first EVER visit from home teachers in this ward. The kids were pretty rambunctious and had a hard time sitting still. The home teacher was asking Rex what he likes to do, and soccer came up. We talked about how his son is on a fun soccer team, and then Rex said "If he's on a team he would want me to be on his team because I always score goals and we would win if I was playing." We all laughed a little. He's had his share of praise for his soccer skills, and that praise clearly has not gone unnoticed.

At the end of the visit, I asked Rex to say the prayer. He said a really deep, involved prayer, giving thanks for numerous gospel principles and focusing on some real spiritual blessings. It was very sweet. Then, the very moment he said amen, he said quietly "I think that was the best prayer I've ever said." The sweetness of the prayer suddenly deflated as I realized it had been a bit of a stunt, an attempt to say the kind of prayer that draws impressed comments from parents and spectators. Sigh.

Ah well, Rex was never going to be the blushing, demurring type. I just hope we can find a way to temper the ebullient cockiness that he sometimes runs on. I take hope in the fact that his confidence doesn't seem drawn from a need to overcompensate from insecurity-- whenever he sees that Lucy is strong or fast, or Nate always beats him at this or that, he always brags them up too. But still, we may be focusing on humility for a little while to come.

What are your thoughts on how much, and how, to praise a child?

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I guess it is about time we put something up on this here blog. I think that I was thinking Ryan was going to do it, and well he must be thinking I am going to get going on it. Neither of us have had that blogging energy lately , I guess. I realized that I go in big spurts with blogging and have lots to say, and then I get in a blogging funk, and hate it, and want nothing to do with it. I don't know what it is. But, it is Valentine's day, and I love Valentine's Day so I thought I should say something. I love doing little things for my kids on Valentine's Day like writing them letters, buying them cute little Valentine items, or maybe a swimsuit(that was always my moms thing to do on V-day, and I love it because it made me think summer was getting closer) making valentine breakfast, although my kids don't appreciate it because they loooove CEREAL too much.

Today my sister Molly had her 2nd annual Valentine luncheon. I wish I had pictures. It was fabulous. From the homeade chicken ceasar salad with heart shaped croutons, to the darling heart shaped marshmellows, cranberry lemonade, shmidts flaky rolls, and tons and tons of yummy treats. She put on quite a spread.

I also love thinking of fun, different things to do on Valentine's day for Ryan and I (or for us probably the weekend after). Like trying out the new latest and greatest restaurant we haven't hit yet, or seeing a great movie, or this year we might go skiing just the two of us. I love that Ryan always sends me flowers , but not the typical roses. I hate that. I love getting a bright spring bouquet of daisies or my favorite, tulips! Anyway, mostly I love what this holiday means and what it reminds us to do for one another. It's a good one.

P.S. Ryan , don't forget the Sabayon!!!