March 12

I am totally going to follow my own rules on this 12th.  We were traveling home from CA on the 12th and with me driving there was just not a lot I captured.  When I got home in the afternoon I was so into cleaning the house because the house was painted while we where gone. Thrilled beyond words about the house but my camera took a back seat.  So I added a few more days to the 12th and I'm perfectly fine with that.

1.  March 8 Went to the California Science Center and saw the Endevour Space shuttle.  Amazing

2.  Nana and Lilly made a pineapple upside down cake because Lilly had read about it in the Penderwicks.  

3.  March 10 We went on the ferris wheel at Santa Monica Pier.

4.  Uncle Matt spoiled the kids with a carnival game.  All of them won a fish. They were so happy,

5.  Hey Matt take a picture with me on the beach.  I like my little brother.

6.  March 11 mini golf with Grandma Candy and Shannon.

7.  March 12 Papa made sure we had enough citrus to last the summer and winter.

8.  Max playing with the wiki sticks that grandma gave them for the car.

9.  Passing the windmills, half way home.

10. Best part of the day coming home to a freshly painted house. I'm so in love with it!

11. Playing a game of family pit.

12. March 13 Making fresh lemonade.

Thanks to

The other day I kept saying in my head "thanks to that, that happened".  Then my next thought was hey maybe that can be a blog post where I just write little snippets of my life so here is goes.

Thanks to The Elisabeth Smart book
I woke up screaming in the middle of the night, scared Kevin to death and then he had to rub my back to clam me down.  Yep scary story. She is truly a remarkable girl.

Thanks to a new home cross fit workout
I have been doing I discovered a cherry sized rug burn on my tail bone from the sit ups I did.  I was happy to rule out some odd flesh eating bacteria. I was really freaked out at first b/c I couldn't think of anything that I did to cause a weird mark on my buttocks. Don't worry I will spare you from any pictures.

Thanks to Nicki
my new amazing wonderful neighbor she watched Luke so I could go and volunteer in Max's class on Friday.

Thanks to new water color paints
The kids spent some time painting after school.

Thanks to Read across America day
My kids have been all about reading for 2 days. They have even taken time to read to Luke. Which he loves. We also checked out almost all the Elephant and Piggie books from the library.

Thanks to Netflix
Kevin and the Lilly are completely enthralled with "Burn Notice" and have watched 10 episodes in Kevin style (that means the fast forwards any parts that have any drama or information about the story line) in 2 days.

Thanks to Mandy
We enjoyed a wonderful run Saturday morning in the rain.  It smelled so good.

Thanks to the Cultural Celebration
I have not seen Kevin for 2 Saturdays.  Last night was the big event when the prophet came to watch the 1200 youth perform. It was all worth it and the kids had an unforgettable experience of performing in the down pour.

Thanks to the Idea Museum
The kids and I enjoyed a couple hours of creating, art and robots. It was time that I put together a little video so if you have 2 minutes you can stay and watch it.

idea museum from Laura Modrell on Vimeo.

The day of Love

Let's back up a bit. I have had this post ready with all the pictures but didn't have the time to sit and write about our week.  I was especially excited to give the kids and Kevin the valentines I made for them. I made Kevin a quilt to have with him in his car.  For the kids I made coupon books with things like a free Saturday from jobs, date with mom, lunch date and dessert of choice. Valentines day the kids enjoyed the loot they got from their school parties. To cap off the day we had a family dinner with a heart shaped pizza and we enjoyed it by candle light.

Saturday I got ambitious and tired to fix Lilly's hair.  It turned out pretty cute so I was just a tad excited.

As I am creating this work of art. I hear "mom look what Luke just did!"  Yep right next to me he found the scissors and took a snip. The kid has so much gosh darn hair that you can't even tell where he cut it from so no harm done. We had another talk about what we use scissors for so I hope it sticks.

After hair Kevin came back home for shopping with Kyle for a missionary suit and we went to a family movie. THE LEGO MOVIE.  Yep EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!  We had a great time. Thanks Uncle Matt it was on your dime. 

Monday was President's Day Kevin didn't have it off so Mandy invited us to tag along at the Phoenix Science center.  We learned about the body.  Luke was excited to see what a bladder looked like since we are always taking about his bladder.

They learned about river ways and weather.

And physics.  I thought this was a great shot of Lilly spinning.

Learning about air flow.  

It didn't take long for Luke to study the affects of air flow on other objects like his head and hair. 

Life is never boring with this kid.

February 12

1  Breakfast. Nothing like sugary bowl of cereal.
2  Loose it app. Love it, hate it.
3  Max wrote this note for me this morning. He has no idea how seeing something like this can fill my soul.
4  Car pool
5  It is all about the letter r today in preschool today. Rainbows and rain.
6  A trip to Joann's.  Luke likes to be dirty and on the floor and touching all the fabric.  Not my favorite pal to go shopping with.
7  I let him play on the tablet for a moment of peace.
8 After school today it was time to put together our Valentines.
9  Luke's rock collection outside our front door.
10 Max spinning and lying all over my unmade bed while I put on clean sheets
11 Reading time.
12 I love to catch this girl reading. The Penderwicks she loves them as much as I do.

Waffles and a Spartan

I was going through my pictures from January and noticed that I had only taken 60 pictures in January. For me that was huge cut back and most of them I will never print or scrapbook, they were just shots.  I guess that was enough to get me out of my photo funk and pull out the camera, because I felt like I had missed moments that I would like to remember. 

Friday Kevin and I went out on a date.  He called me from work and asked if going to Ikea would mess up our date plans. Are you kidding a dream come true that my husband had to go (even if it was for work) but he wouldn't complain about going. On our way out there we hit up the WAFFLE LOVE.  Um if you have not tried them they are every bit worth the calories, and the wait. We will defiantly go again to have the kids try them.  

Saturday morning I went on my most favorite run.  I look forward to it all week long I tell you. Mandy and I hit the canal for a 5 mile run and watch the sun come up.  This morning it was especially impressive.

When I got home it was time to start Saturday jobs.  Max and Lilly are already done and Luke is finishing picking up and vacuuming the loft.

I cleaned up the kitchen and and admired the flowers that my neighbor dropped off the other day just to say have a great day.  We are so so happy that they have moved in. They really are wonderful.

I have been a mess all week.  I have never really gotten better from this head cold, my throat hurts, and I woke up with pink eye this morning. HOORAY.  Oh and I have a bad case of eczema that takes all my will power not to scratch off my feet and no amount of cortisone cream has been able to help.  So I'm not feeling on my game but I have managed to braid my hair.  Don't laugh too hard I really never learned how.

Kevin was a rock star today and set out with Pablo and Hannah to participate in the Spartan Race.  I stayed home with the kids b/c we just didn't know what it would be like.  Kevin loved it. He loved the mud, the obstacles, and people. He said he would most defiantly like to do it again. I wish I had a shot of him all muddy, I guess they had hoses at the end of the race to get most of it off, but there was still enough mud in his clothes as evidence.

Little Luke is busy being a boy and always dirty.  He hates to wash his hands.  Today it was it a little less of a chore when I heard from the bathroom "HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS" laughing, "I'm Santa!"