She taught me so much...

...A tribute written by Mikel Poulsen...

She taught me so much.... She instilled my love of music and musicals, and she never missed a performance of mine. She taught me to cook, and she taught me to sew, both of which have saved me more than once. She taught me the importance of being on time (ie: early) She taught me that patience is a virtue, and that many times in life, you have do things you don't want to do. She taught me to be strongly independent and endlessly compassionate - I hope I live up to those, though sometimes I wonder. And now the hardest lesson is at hand..... my sweet mother passed away on Saturday. I have lost my friend, my coach, my confidante. And although I'm so truly happy for her, it's very hard to be the one left behind.

Happiest Birthday Auntie Lara! We love you!

Lots and lots and lots....

Ok, so I'm bombarding the blog with posts and pictures.  Sorry for ALL the pictures but I've gotten a little  behind and I'm making up for it now.

Park day...

Afternoon at the park. Sayla has no fear when it comes to the "big" slides.

As we were leaving the park we walked by a sign that said "Burrowing owls. It is a crime to tamper or harm the owls and/or their nests." I have never seen or heard of burrowing owls let alone been this close to one. It was really awesome.

Spartan Tough!

Savea's Baptism

This was such a special and reverent morning. We are so proud of Savea for choosing to be baptized. This is a day we will never forget.

Lol

Savea: "Dad check these out!"
Me: "What are those?" (A green and red plastic stone looking thing)
Savea: "These are the crystals from my light saber."
Me: "Oh, WOW! I think that's what they use to light their sabers for a fight."
Savea: "Really, cuz I just use batteries."

uh oh...the bentley's are post dominating!

 this is what happens when mom is on the phone...strawberry-lemon juice-parmesan cheese muffins...ala clay

 so fun

 our three

 these truly smelled like grape bubblegum

 this is the end result of saying..."kids...go get dressed, we're going to the Temple to see the flowers!"

 bitter beer face

 at clay's valentine party...at school...yep (maybe that's the new girl in his class...I wonder what she tells her mom at home about their k-love affair...maybe "mom...I know clay loves me when he does his kung fu panda face.")

 valentine's morning...we heart attached the kids

 some people just aren't morning people

 our south mountain ritual...11 years!

happy-ness!

Claytonisms

So maybe even more for my benefit of recording these...here are some funny things Clayton has said lately.

1.
 Clayton: "Mom there's a new girl in class and I think she's in love with me."
Mom: "Really Clay...how can you tell?"
Clayton: "Well, she dropped her hu-lee-hoop at recess and when I gave it back to her she looked at me like this."
(demonstrates the side head tilt and batting eyes)
Mom: "wow Clay...that was nice of you...but are you sure that she is in love with you...I'm sure she is just a fun friend."
Clayton: "no mom...she gave me the Barbie look!"

2.
Driving to school this morning with the kids we were noticing the mountains and how cool they looked.
Clayton: "mom, how big are mountains?"
Mom: "all sizes."
Clayton: "are they as big as Arizona?"
Mom: "no...not quite"
Clayton: "as big as the whole world?"
Mom: "no...we can go look at a map later today to show you."
Clayton: "or mom, we could look on the computer."
Morgan: "I'll just ask my teacher today at school...she'll know." (that one felt good)
Clayton: "I know...when dad gets home, I'll ask that girl in his phone...she knows everything! I've talked to her before. Once dad let me play games on his phone and the microphone came on and I thought, whoa this is awesome. So I said, "hey baby!"

I know...I know...we're in for it!