Growing pains.

Today at church Becks' teacher, Sister Stuart,told me that the usually well- behaved- answer all the questions -child of mine was a real stinker!  She said it was like he traded places with one of the usual troublemakers, but he was entertaining her so she decided to let him live.   She wrote the word "reverence" on the board to which one of the little girls, the usual troublemaker, says, "That's not a real word"  Beckham looked at his teacher and said with more attitude than I can write, "Yeah, that word means Blah to me." or rather Buuuulllllaaaahhh.  He then said ,"Sister Stuart..are you smiling at me?  I see a smile"
Turkey.
 He makes me laugh every day, but lately I feel like he has turned a little corner that I am not too happy about.  It's the 'I'm going to be a total rebel and do anything and everything you don't want me to do and look at you like 'what are you going to do about it' corner.  He told Kerry the other day, "Yeah, well you can ground me, but you can't catch me!"
(I'm trying not to fast forward 10 years to see how this behavior might repeat itself..)

As I look back a month or so ago, I can almost pin point the day he decided to take his life into his own hands.  He told us he was tired and the next thing we knew he had put his jammies on and put himself in bed.  When I went in, I couldn't believe what a big kid he was turning into.  He asked me to close the blinds and said matter of factly, "Good night mom."  I kissed him goodnight and let him sleep.  Later that night I went in to do a quick check on him before I went to bed and noticed the all too familiar smell of urine.  I followed my nose to the garbage can by his door and saw that he had decided to pee into his bedroom trash can rather than making the long walk to the bathroom 3 steps away.  He flat out denied it the next morning until he couldn't keep from smiling.
Total turkey.

Quick shout out cuz I'm tired..

I think I took 3 pictures last night from Kerry's party, and they are on the old 35 mm film....long story.  Anyways, I'll have to post them later.  But just wanted to send out a big Thank You to all of you who came by- we had so much fun and Kerry 'Stick in the Mud' Westenskow felt very loved.
We had a great time and wish you all could have stayed longer!  We ended up on the deck talking with friends until almost midnight (and let our kids fend for themselves, running amuck in the neighborhood playing night games all hours of the night)  and then Kerry and I watched his gift from me - the movie of his fam and friends roasting him any way they could.  It was gut busting and he loved it.  Thanks for all of your help!!  We stayed up way to late  - 1:30am is killing me and I now need to get ready for Monday fun and I really just want to go back and sleep.  But had to send out lots of hugs for all who were able to be there or sent emails or videos.  We love you all! Thank you :)

Y.E.S. is starting the fun early....

Kerry 'old man' Westenskow walked into this as he opened his office door this morning...

All of you in the office rock!  That's pretty funny - nicely done!

Dinner at 4:30. In bed by 7.

This week is baptism and 40th week.  Ethan is getting baptized and Kerry is turning 40.  40!  I'm still trying to come to terms with both of these...the fact that I have another 8 year old and that the 40th party I am planning is for my husband, not for my dad.  Aging is interesting.  It's like you are the last to know you are getting older.   I used to listen to people say "I really can't believe I'm 30/40/50/60/70....I still feel  20"  and I would think they were just being dramatic and making conversation.  But now I get that they were dead serious - that they were really trying to process  and come to terms with their age in their own minds.  In fact those are the words that are now coming out of my own mouth..."I can't believe I'm blah blah blah."
So anyway, we are celebrating big time again this week.  It's like the fun never ends around here - I just want someone else to be in charge.  Any free party planners out there?

Let. Me. Eat. Cake.

This week/weekend has been crazy busy, just like the entire month of May.  But it's all good stuff, so I want to do it all.
Schedule:
Wednesday:  all day field trip to the Uof U
Thursday:  kids soccer tryouts 5-8
Fri:  Ethan soccer / Kids Primary Activity / Ethan Scouts    Family bday party for Ethan
Sat:  Ethan soccer game / Brooke's baby shower / Eva's tumbling exhibition/ Ethan Party for Friends
Sun:  Dad's b-day celebration

All of the above (except the soccer and field trips) included rich, sugary, chocolatey, sprinkly, gumballed, yummy delicious cake and/or cupcakes.  And all of the above also included rich, frostingly, chocolatey, cold-from-the-fridge delicious leftover cake and/ or cupcakes.
I have no will power.  None.  None!  I've had cake for lunch and dinner and a late evening snack.
Just had to get that confession out there.  It wasn't like a dainty piece of cake here and there, either.  It was like 6 cupcakes and a big fat piece of chocolate cake eaten with a spoon out of the tupperware.  And that was just this afternoon.

I've analyzed this before - the lack of will power issue on sweets.  I think that what I am trying to do is eat the cake/chocolate that I am craving to an extreme so that I will eventually make myself sick to stop me from eating it.  Heaven forbid I use a little discretion or conscious eating practices!  Actually, now that I think about it...hormones could have something to do with it.  Yep.  It's not me.  It's the hormones, dang them!
As soon as I get out of my sugar stupor I'll have to post some of the fun stuff going on.  But until then...
I'm going to lick the batter from the beaters and from the spatula I used for the frosting, thank you very much.

US History

Watch it Sunday Night!  

I think this is one of the best shows out there right now.  If you have seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about.  It is a great way to learn basic US history and quite entertaining.  Fascinating, really.

It is so well done and I look forward to it each Sunday night.  I could do without a few of the celebrity interjections, and I'm sure there is a political slant to it.  But I like the basic overview it gives.  It is a series of 6 episodes and goes through American History from the first colonies up to the present day.   My kids were completely captivated  by the Revolutionary and Civil War episodes, especially Ethan who has an affinity for World Wars and  US Presidents.  Ethan told me about a dream he had the other night of George Washington: Ethan was fighting for him and it somehow also incorporated our Tahoe as an escape car....go figure.  Anyway, the point is, this kid really is intrigued by history and all things military.  

I never liked history growing up.  It wasn't until after I had graduated from college that I found the correlation between God and Country in the Revolutionary War.  This fascinated me.  The British Army, the most powerful army in the world at the time, being defeated by a bunch of farmers loyal to their desire for freedom.  It wasn't supposed to happen.  It never should have happened.   But it did, and God's hand was all over it.  This changed everything for me and I had a desire to learn more.  Kerry's parents are extremely patriotic and over the years it has been amazing to hear the stories that his dad has told from his time of service as the chaplin for the state of Utah in the National Guard.   I loved reading 1776 by David McCullough  because it goes into so much detail about the role of divine providence and the leaders who knew that they were called to such a time as this.  Good men. Honorable men.  Men I want my kids to know.

With everything that is going on with our country today, Kerry and I were talking about how we could study parts of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence with our kids for family night.  It really is being diluted and I'm afraid that they are going to need to know it, far better than us, to maintain the freedoms we have in place.  We haven't been great at family nights, a little sporadic, and we could definitely be better.  But I like the idea of teaching them about God and country, freedom and agency.  I want my kids to understand what they have and all that is at stake.  And to know the sacrifices so many made on our behalf.  And to do what it takes to preserve these freedoms.

Just Google it!

Technology is amazing.  Really, our kids are going to think we sound as ancient as the pioneers when we tell them how life was 'pre-internet'.  How we actually had to go to the library and look up subjects in large wordy books called Encyclopedias and sort through micro films to get articles from past newspapers.  If we wanted to take a vacation somewhere, you had to write to the local tourist bureau and have them send you informational brochures, then call a travel agent to see about what hotels to stay in and what they cost.  They'll think we are archaic when we tell them about the first time we had a 'car phone' (not a cell phone yet, it had to be plugged in to the lighter) that was as big as a brick.  How we actually had to make sure we were home or up at a certain time if we wanted to watch a specific show on TV, and that we used to actually write letters to see how people were doing. 
In the world they live in, information is just a few keystrokes away.  To prove my point as to just how powerful and all knowing the internet is in their minds, here is a google search that Eva put in to look for a new toy our family is getting.  


  Google search:
 every trampoline in the whole world for sale