Thursday, April 28, 2011
Red Ledges
Last night we threw off our groove, which we desperately needed to do, because it was starting to feel less like a groove and more like a rut. So instead of cooking dinner, I whipped up a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and some other snacks, and we jumped into the van and headed up Spanish Fork canyon. At work, Aaron had heard about this place called Red Ledges that had an arch made of sandstone and wasn't too far off the road. We decided to check it out.
It wasn't Arches National Park or anything, but it was beautiful, didn't require any hiking to get to (a plus, since we had Adelia and not the hiking backpack), and it was exactly what we needed to change things up a bit. It was a great spot for the kids too, kind of enclosed, and not too steep, and plenty of small rock formations for them to climb on to their heart's content. I want to go back. I'm already planning family parties and BBQs with friends up there once it warms up a little.
Monday, April 25, 2011
FHE: What Jesus Did For Us
It was Aaron's turn to plan family home evening tonight. I love when it's his turn because he really has a talent for being able to take more difficult concepts and explain them to the boys in clear, simple, and fun ways.
Tonight he layed my Moby wrap out across the living room to make a path. On the path he put to "barriers" made out of MagNeatos. The red one was death and the green on was sin. He put the boys at the start of the path and told them that the rules were that they had to stay on the path (so no going on the carpet) and that they absolutely could not cross the barriers, but that they had to get to the end of the path, which was heaven. It didn't take the boys long to realize they were stuck.
Aaron told them that Jesus had built a bridge (or banana chair in this case) for them so that they could get over, or overcome death. Because Jesus died for us, now everyone can overcome death.
The next obstacle was sin, and again, it didn't take the boys long to realize they were stuck. So, Aaron explained that Jesus also made a way for us to get around sin.
Aaron set up four chairs. The first chair was for repentance, the second baptism, the third receiving the Holy Ghost, and the fourth enduring to the end. As the boys climbed across onto each chair, Aaron briefly explained what that step meant, and a little bit about it. If we continuously follow the four steps that Christ layed out for us, then some day we'll make it to Heaven where there are lots of wonderful things waiting for us (like Easter candy, in this mini scenario at least).
Easter 2011
Sunday best, (yes, Aaron photoshopped Adi into the one with all three of them, but you can't really tell, and there was no way all three would ever actually cooperate for a picture like that.)
Did our own thing Easter morning, then went up to Hooper for dinner. Fun day.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Astronaut Preschool Unit
(Don't mind his bunny face, we'd just been at an Easter event where they had face painting.)
For the last two weeks or so, Lincoln and I have been working on an astronaut preschool unit. The bulk of our lessons we did out of an astronaut preschool pack created by Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations. You can download all of her packs for free at http://homeschoolcreations.com/preschoolpacks.html. I love all her stuff, she's done a really great job putting these together.
I started by searching 3 local libraries for astronaut books. These are the ones I found. We read a different book each day, and afterwards, I had Lincoln answer two questions for me. #1 What was this story about? #2 My favorite part of the story was.... I wrote down his answers as he told them to me. Some days he did better at following the story than others, and I think we need to work on his comprehension of what "favorite" means, but I thought this was a really good exercise. We stapled all his "book reviews" onto the front of our file folder. Every day Linc also practiced writing his name. We stapled these to the front of the folder also. And we cut out and glued all the letters to spell astronaut on the front as well. My favorite book was On the Moon, mostly because of the illustrations, they were beautiful and very life like, and they show angles and view of the world and moon that mostly get left out of kids books. If you don't read any others, read that one.
Inside the folder we glued the pouch to hold all the astronaut vocabulary words. Lincoln's favorite thing to do with these cards was to act out stories with them. He'd take the astronaut, put him on the rocket and blast him off to the moon, then he'd have the astronaut put on his helmet and gloves, then get him out of the rocket, put him on a moon buggy, and have him put a flag into the soil. I thought it was good role playing, even if we were just using cards with pictures on them.
One of Lincoln's favorite games was the shadow matching. You match the astronaut pictures with their shadows.
One of the days we made a rocket (out of a paper towel tube, white and black paper, tin foil, and streamers, pretty easy.) and used the countdown cards (10-1) to blast the rocket into space (aka Lincoln running around the living room at full speed). Also, because I want Linc to be very aware that numbers aren't just arbitrary, but actually have quantity and value, we stuck the corresponding number of star stickers onto each card.
Another day we made an astronaut A out of foam. Lincoln loved this, he even brought it to church with us on Sunday (must've snuck it in the bag while I wasn't looking).
We also sorted rockets by size. To make the game a little more fun and active, I had Linc close his eyes while I hid the rockets all around the room. Then he had to look for them and bring them back and hang them up on the wall according to size. We played three or four times, he couldn't get enough.
There are several tracing activities in the packet, which I decided to laminate so we could use them over and over. One was "help the rocket get to the moon" where Linc had to trace, six different lines. When he started at the rocket, we'd do our countdown from ten, and then he'd yell blast off as he traced the line all the way to the moon. Another tracing activity that I laminated was the begining sound cards. They had a picture and them a word spelled out, but the first letter was dotted to be traced, one card for the capital letter, one for the lowercase. Then the third card had the first letter missing, so Linc had to come up with what letter he was supposed to put in the blank by looking at the picture and saying it out loud to determine the begining sound, and then remember what letter made that sound so he could write it in the blank. This was a little bit challenging for him, but it a really good way. Once he got the hang of it and then it was a fun game for him to try and guess the right letter.
We've had a lot of fun with this preschool pack. And I only mentioned parts of what's in it, so if you are interested in the rest, please go check out the Homeschool Creations website.
I was really happy with the progress I noticed Lincoln making as we worked through this pack. He wasn't previously able to grasp the concept of how to count backward. Now he's a pro at it (at least from 10). He's also come a LONG way on his lower case letter recognition. He isn't perfect at it yet, especially if he's looking at an unfamiliar font, but if he misses it the first time it usually only takes him one or two more tries to get it right. Also, he's starting to have a desire to write the lower case letters. When he's asking me how to write something, he'll say things like, "No, I want to do the small 'a' tell me how to write the small 'a' Mom." And when he writes his name, he goes back and forth between wanting to do it in all caps or in lower case.
And I think the most important thing about this unit, is Lincoln's love for rockets. He's always liked space things (thanks to Buzz), but I feel like now he has some kind of understanding and knowledge about it. He knows what part of the space ship the astronauts sit in. He knows that one of the fuel tanks drops off once all the fuel inside it is used up. He knows what a lunar lander is, and a basic idea of how it works. He knows that astronauts have to wear special suits to be able to breath in space. And lots of other things that he'll tell you about if you ask him. He's excited about rockets, and he's excited about learning about them. And I'm hoping we can keep that up as we move into our next unit.
Springville Egg Hunt
We went to the city's egg hunt this morning. It was cold. There were a lot of people there. The kids had a great time. Ivan wasn't really happy to be photographed this morning, but he really did have fun. Adelia observed her first city egg hunt, and all the chaos the ensued. The boys collected candy, but not too much, which was just fine with me. All went home happy.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Early Easter Fun!
I took the boys to Macey's in Provo today for their Easter Egg Hunt. (What possessed me to drive into Provo on graduation day when I didn't have to is beyond me! Traffic was crazy!) We went last year too, and I really like they way they do it because they eliminate all the competition and crazy parents who can't seem to let the kids find their own Easter eggs (pet peeve, sorry, if your kid is old enough to walk and say "look there's an egg" they don't need your help in the hunt, so back off). Anyway, what Macey's does is hand out a paper to each kid, with different animals on it. The kids walk around to each department (bakery, deli, produce, etc.) and find the picture that matches one on their paper, then at the counter they tell the cashier what noise the animal makes (pig, dog, cow, rooster, etc.) and the cashier gives them a plastic egg with candy or stickers in it. The kids have a great time. They also paint the kids faces to look like a bunny, and make them some rabbit ears to wear.
We met some of our friends from our old neighborhood there and walked around with them.
Kaitlyn, Ivan, Nathan, and Lincoln
Carson, Ivan, Nathan, and Lincoln with the Easter bunny.
This is Adelia (and me) watching the kids hunt for eggs at Hadley's b-day party. She's wearing Lincoln's jacket and no pants, because she peed through all her stuff and I only had an extra onesie. Silly girl. I think she looks kind of angelic in this picture, but don't let her fool you!
We also attended two birthday parties this week, which were a lot of fun. The first one was for little Hadley, one of Adelia's friends from our apartment complex. She was turning the big 0-1. Hadley's mom set up an awesome egg hunt for the kids, which my kids enjoyed and were even more excited to find candy and stickers inside! We also ate delicious (and beautiful) cupcakes and ice cream. Ivan was happy too, because Amanda made some "special" cupcakes and ice cream just for him (and a couple other kids with allergies), so he could eat them too.

Here's a picture that has nothing to do with Easter, but it's a cute one of Ivan and Adi in their jammies.
And...here's a picture of Adi's second time ever on a swing. I didn't have the camera with me for her first time. And I almost didn't get this picture either, the battery kept dying right when I'd try to snap the shot, but I was persistent and kept trying until I got one. This is the only one I got too, so I'm glad it turned out ok.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Parents Don't Dress Your Girls Like Tramps
I guess I'm kind of on a roll lately with y reading...but this article was too good not to share. This is the link to it. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/19/granderson.children.dress/index.html or you can just read below, I copied all the text.
Parents Don't Dress Your Girls Like Tramps
Editor's note: LZ Granderson writes a weekly column for CNN.com. A senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, he has contributed to ESPN's "Sports Center," "Outside the Lines" and "First Take." He is a 2011 and 2010 nominee and the 2009 winner of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for online journalism and a 2010 and 2008 honoree of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for column writing. Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) -- I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye.
Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie "10" (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her "Xtina" phase). Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.
You can tell she had been vacationing somewhere warm, because you could see her deep tan around her midriff thanks to the halter top and the tight sweatpants that rested just a little low on her waist. The icing on the cake? The word "Juicy" was written on her backside.
Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see alright. ... I hope her parents are proud. Their daughter was the sexiest girl in the terminal, and she's not even in middle school yet.
Abercrombie & Fitch came under fire this spring for introducing the "Ashley," a push-up bra for girls who normally are too young to have anything to push up. Originally it was marketed for girls as young as 7, but after public outcry, it raised its intended audience to the wise old age of 12. I wonder how do people initiate a conversation in the office about the undeveloped chest of elementary school girls without someone nearby thinking they're pedophiles?
What kind of PowerPoint presentation was shown to the Abercrombie executives that persuaded them to green light such a product?
That there was a demand to make little girls hot?
I mean, that is the purpose of a push-up bra, right? To enhance sex appeal by lifting up, pushing together and basically showcasing the wearer's breasts. Now, thanks to AF Kids, girls don't have to wait until high school to feel self-conscious about their, uhm, girls. They can start almost as soon as they're potty trained. Maybe this fall the retailer should consider keeping a plastic surgeon on site for free consultations.
We've been here with Abercrombie before -- if you recall, about 10 years ago they sold thongs for 10-year-olds -- but they're hardly alone in pitching inappropriate clothing to young girls. Four years ago the popular "Bratz" franchise introduced padded bras called "bralettes" for girls as young as six. That was also around the time the good folks at Wal-Mart rolled out a pair of pink panties in its junior department with the phrase "Who Needs Credit Cards" printed on the front.
I guess I've been out-of-the-loop and didn't realize there's been an ongoing stampede of 10-year-old girls driving to the mall with their tiny fists full of cash demanding sexier apparel.
What's that you say? Ten-year-olds can't drive? They don't have money, either? Well, how else are they getting ahold of these push-up bras and whore-friendly panties?
Their parents?
Noooo, couldn't be.
What adult who wants a daughter to grow up with high self-esteem would even consider purchasing such items? What parent is looking at their sweet, little girl thinking, "She would be perfect if she just had a little bit more up top."
And then I remember the little girl at the airport. And the girls we've all seen at the mall. And the kiddie beauty pageants.
And then I realize as creepy as it is to think a store like Abercrombie is offering something like the "Ashley", the fact remains that sex only sells because people are buying it. No successful retailer would consider introducing an item like a padded bikini top for kindergarteners if they didn't think people would buy it.
If they didn't think parents would buy it, which begs the question: What in the hell is wrong with us?
It's easy to blast companies for introducing the sexy wear, but our ire really should be directed at the parents who think low rise jeans for a second grader is cute. They are the ones who are spending the money to fuel this budding trend. They are the ones who are suppose to decide what's appropriate for their young children to wear, not executives looking to brew up controversy or turn a profit.
I get it, Rihanna's really popular. But that's a pretty weak reason for someone to dress their little girl like her.
I don't care how popular Lil' Wayne is, my son knows I would break both of his legs long before I would allow him to walk out of the house with his pants falling off his butt. Such a stance doesn't always makes me popular -- and the house does get tense from time to time -- but I'm his father, not his friend.
Friends bow to peer pressure. Parents say, "No, and that's the end of it."
The way I see it, my son can go to therapy later if my strict rules have scarred him. But I have peace knowing he'll be able to afford therapy as an adult because I didn't allow him to wear or do whatever he wanted as a kid.
Maybe I'm a Tiger Dad.
Maybe I should mind my own business.
Or maybe I'm just a concerned parent worried about little girls like the one I saw at the airport.
In 2007, the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls issued a report linking early sexualization with three of the most common mental-health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. There's nothing inherently wrong with parents wanting to appease their daughters by buying them the latest fashions. But is getting cool points today worth the harm dressing little girls like prostitutes could cause tomorrow?
A line needs to be drawn, but not by Abercrombie. Not by Britney Spears. And not by these little girls who don't know better and desperately need their parents to be parents and not 40-year-old BFFs.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.
Parents Don't Dress Your Girls Like Tramps
Editor's note: LZ Granderson writes a weekly column for CNN.com. A senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, he has contributed to ESPN's "Sports Center," "Outside the Lines" and "First Take." He is a 2011 and 2010 nominee and the 2009 winner of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for online journalism and a 2010 and 2008 honoree of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for column writing. Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) -- I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye.
Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie "10" (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her "Xtina" phase). Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.
You can tell she had been vacationing somewhere warm, because you could see her deep tan around her midriff thanks to the halter top and the tight sweatpants that rested just a little low on her waist. The icing on the cake? The word "Juicy" was written on her backside.
Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see alright. ... I hope her parents are proud. Their daughter was the sexiest girl in the terminal, and she's not even in middle school yet.
Abercrombie & Fitch came under fire this spring for introducing the "Ashley," a push-up bra for girls who normally are too young to have anything to push up. Originally it was marketed for girls as young as 7, but after public outcry, it raised its intended audience to the wise old age of 12. I wonder how do people initiate a conversation in the office about the undeveloped chest of elementary school girls without someone nearby thinking they're pedophiles?
What kind of PowerPoint presentation was shown to the Abercrombie executives that persuaded them to green light such a product?
That there was a demand to make little girls hot?
I mean, that is the purpose of a push-up bra, right? To enhance sex appeal by lifting up, pushing together and basically showcasing the wearer's breasts. Now, thanks to AF Kids, girls don't have to wait until high school to feel self-conscious about their, uhm, girls. They can start almost as soon as they're potty trained. Maybe this fall the retailer should consider keeping a plastic surgeon on site for free consultations.
We've been here with Abercrombie before -- if you recall, about 10 years ago they sold thongs for 10-year-olds -- but they're hardly alone in pitching inappropriate clothing to young girls. Four years ago the popular "Bratz" franchise introduced padded bras called "bralettes" for girls as young as six. That was also around the time the good folks at Wal-Mart rolled out a pair of pink panties in its junior department with the phrase "Who Needs Credit Cards" printed on the front.
I guess I've been out-of-the-loop and didn't realize there's been an ongoing stampede of 10-year-old girls driving to the mall with their tiny fists full of cash demanding sexier apparel.
What's that you say? Ten-year-olds can't drive? They don't have money, either? Well, how else are they getting ahold of these push-up bras and whore-friendly panties?
Their parents?
Noooo, couldn't be.
What adult who wants a daughter to grow up with high self-esteem would even consider purchasing such items? What parent is looking at their sweet, little girl thinking, "She would be perfect if she just had a little bit more up top."
And then I remember the little girl at the airport. And the girls we've all seen at the mall. And the kiddie beauty pageants.
And then I realize as creepy as it is to think a store like Abercrombie is offering something like the "Ashley", the fact remains that sex only sells because people are buying it. No successful retailer would consider introducing an item like a padded bikini top for kindergarteners if they didn't think people would buy it.
If they didn't think parents would buy it, which begs the question: What in the hell is wrong with us?
It's easy to blast companies for introducing the sexy wear, but our ire really should be directed at the parents who think low rise jeans for a second grader is cute. They are the ones who are spending the money to fuel this budding trend. They are the ones who are suppose to decide what's appropriate for their young children to wear, not executives looking to brew up controversy or turn a profit.
I get it, Rihanna's really popular. But that's a pretty weak reason for someone to dress their little girl like her.
I don't care how popular Lil' Wayne is, my son knows I would break both of his legs long before I would allow him to walk out of the house with his pants falling off his butt. Such a stance doesn't always makes me popular -- and the house does get tense from time to time -- but I'm his father, not his friend.
Friends bow to peer pressure. Parents say, "No, and that's the end of it."
The way I see it, my son can go to therapy later if my strict rules have scarred him. But I have peace knowing he'll be able to afford therapy as an adult because I didn't allow him to wear or do whatever he wanted as a kid.
Maybe I'm a Tiger Dad.
Maybe I should mind my own business.
Or maybe I'm just a concerned parent worried about little girls like the one I saw at the airport.
In 2007, the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls issued a report linking early sexualization with three of the most common mental-health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. There's nothing inherently wrong with parents wanting to appease their daughters by buying them the latest fashions. But is getting cool points today worth the harm dressing little girls like prostitutes could cause tomorrow?
A line needs to be drawn, but not by Abercrombie. Not by Britney Spears. And not by these little girls who don't know better and desperately need their parents to be parents and not 40-year-old BFFs.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Book Review: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The acclaimed author of the groundbreaking bestseller Schoolgirls reveals the dark side of pink and pretty: the rise of the girlie-girl, she warns, is not that innocent.
Pink and pretty or predatory and hardened, sexualized girlhood influences our daughters from infancy onward, telling them that how a girl looks matters more than who she is. Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as a source—the source—of female empowerment. And commercialization has spread the message faster and farther, reaching girls at ever-younger ages.
But, realistically, how many times can you say no when your daughter begs for a pint-size wedding gown or the latest Hannah Montana CD? And how dangerous is pink and pretty anyway—especially given girls' successes in the classroom and on the playing field? Being a princess is just make-believe, after all; eventually they grow out of it. Or do they? Does playing Cinderella shield girls from early sexualization—or prime them for it? Could today's little princess become tomorrow's sexting teen? And what if she does? Would that make her in charge of her sexuality—or an unwitting captive to it?
Those questions hit home with Peggy Orenstein, so she went sleuthing. She visited Disneyland and the international toy fair, trolled American Girl Place and Pottery Barn Kids, and met beauty pageant parents with preschoolers tricked out like Vegas showgirls. She dissected the science, created an online avatar, and parsed the original fairy tales. The stakes turn out to be higher than she—or we—ever imagined: nothing less than the health, development, and futures of our girls. From premature sexualization to the risk of depression to rising rates of narcissism, the potential negative impact of this new girlie-girl culture is undeniable—yet armed with awareness and recognition, parents can effectively counterbalance its influence in their daughters' lives.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter is a must-read for anyone who cares about girls, and for parents helping their daughters navigate the rocky road to adulthood.
The title of this book is what caught my eye, especially because I am NOT into pink, or girlie-girlness, and I am terrified that my daughter will be and I won't know how to handle it. This book was well worth the read. The author asks a lot of questions, and some of the things she found just shocked me (like that some people will actually pay FIVE HUNDRED dollars, to take their child's doll to a doll salon, and that was one of the sillier things, some of the findings were really a bit scary).
I agree that the author doesn't offer a whole lot of advice as to what to do with all the information she's just piled in front of you, but I don't think that is a negative thing. I think the author is showing the facts, and letting parents make educated decisions based on the information.
What I found very interesting was the angle the author was coming at it from. I feel like I come at the book and the problem of societies sexualization of young girls from a religious/moral view point. The author is a feminist and comes at it from that angle. Surprisingly, even though our view points are so different, I found that she and I agreed about a lot of things. But I did also find that there were things she and I were worlds apart on.
Anyways, I loved the book. I would say if you are raising a girl in this crazy world we live in today, then this is a very informative, eye-opening read. It's also very humorous and entertaining, which is a nice feature.
Easter FHE
Tonight we had an Easter themed Family Home Evening. I wanted it to be fun, but I still wanted it to be very clear that Easter is about Jesus Christ, not bunnies and candy. So I took 10 plastic eggs and put Skittles inside, and then each one had a slip of paper that gave directions of what we were supposed to do. These were my papers.
#1 Watch His Sacred Name- An Easter Declaration
#2 Watch this testimony from Elder Uchtdorf: Jesus Christ Lives Today
#3 Sing the hymn: He Is Risen!
#4 Read 2 Nephi 2:6-7
#5 Richard G. Scott said, "Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His atonement made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven."
#6 Read the last page of My First Story of the First Easter (a board book we have) by Deanna Draper Buck
#7 Listen to I Know That My Redeemer Lives (we listened to the Lex De Azivado version, which is absolutely beautiful, but any version would do nicely.)
#8 Sing On a Golden Springtime
#9 Read What is Easter by Michelle Medlock Adams (another board book)
#10 Watch He Lives: Testimonies of Jesus Christ
Then I hid all the eggs in our living room and let the boys take turns finding them. Every time they found one, we'd eat a few Skittles and do the activity listed on the slip of paper. Lincoln had a lot of questions afterward, and Aaron was able to and explain the crucifixion and the resurrection to him a bit more clearly. I really liked the spirit that was here during family home evening, and am thinking that maybe we will do this one every year.
#1 Watch His Sacred Name- An Easter Declaration
#2 Watch this testimony from Elder Uchtdorf: Jesus Christ Lives Today
#3 Sing the hymn: He Is Risen!
#4 Read 2 Nephi 2:6-7
#5 Richard G. Scott said, "Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His atonement made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven."
#6 Read the last page of My First Story of the First Easter (a board book we have) by Deanna Draper Buck
#7 Listen to I Know That My Redeemer Lives (we listened to the Lex De Azivado version, which is absolutely beautiful, but any version would do nicely.)
#8 Sing On a Golden Springtime
#9 Read What is Easter by Michelle Medlock Adams (another board book)
#10 Watch He Lives: Testimonies of Jesus Christ
Then I hid all the eggs in our living room and let the boys take turns finding them. Every time they found one, we'd eat a few Skittles and do the activity listed on the slip of paper. Lincoln had a lot of questions afterward, and Aaron was able to and explain the crucifixion and the resurrection to him a bit more clearly. I really liked the spirit that was here during family home evening, and am thinking that maybe we will do this one every year.

Have I Done Any Good?
Lincoln and I have been practicing this one at bedtime for about three weeks now. Pretty good for a 3 year old, if you ask me. He picks up songs so quickly. Currently, he can sing Have I Done Any Good, Count Your Blessings, The Spirit of God, True to the Faith, and almost all of Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel. And that's not counting all the primary songs he knows, which are too many to list.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Grandparents
(Ivan, Debbie, Lincoln, and Chuck)
We have really enjoyed having Aaron's parents stay with us off and on for the last two weeks. They came into town to help with Baby Asher and to participate in his blessing, but we got lucky enough to snag them down from Salt Lake a couple times to stay here in Springville with us.
I think the boys (especially Lincoln) probably talked their ears off. They wanted to show Grandma and Grandpa everything, and tell them about everything, and ask them all sorts of questions, and well, you get the idea. Adi was happy for the extra hands to hold her (and extra people to spit up on!). She loved making smiles and giggling at Grandma and Grandpa. She was having a nap this afternoon, that's why she wasn't in the picture too.
We really enjoy having Chuck and Debbie come and stay. It's always good to see them, and we miss them when they go back to Washington.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Asher's Baby Blessing
Esther, Kelly, and Asher
Today we went up to Salt Lake to attend Asher's baby blessing. Kelly did a great job. The food was wonderful, the weather was PERFECT, and our kids were well behaved, including Adelia (which proves that miracles really do happen, since she hates large crowds), so I'd say it was an all around good day. :) Ryan and Melissa have the group pictures and some awesome shots of Adelia on their camera that I hope they'll share with me, but for now, here's what we got on our camera.
Kelly and Esther have an awesome backyard, and the boys had fun playing in it.
Lincoln, Grace (Esther's niece), and Ivan became good little buddies for the afternoon.
Ivan
Aaron and I
The other highlight of the day was that I got a haircut. I love getting my hair cut. And the lady did exactly what I asked her to, and even go the back right! Hooray!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Melissa's Art Show
One of Melissa's paintings
Our sister-in-law, Melissa, is an artist. She just got into the BFA program at BYU. Tonight she had an art show, and we decided to take the kids to go see it. She has some really great stuff. Probably my favorite was one that she did of some beehives. It really reminded me of a scene out of The Secret Life of Bees. If you click on the link, you can see her art blog. It's really good.
The kids' favorite was the one she did of Ryan and a few other people making faces, it's called I Am A Person. Aaron and Ivan tried to imitate the faces.
On the way back to the car, Ivan wanted to smell the cherry blossoms on the trees. He was so funny about it. His smelling sounded more like a pig snorting, but I think he was doing that on purpose.
My Granny Jan (so my kids' great grandma) sent Ivan some money for his birthday and told him to take the family out for ice cream. Since Ivan can't have ice cream, and since we were going to the art show in Provo anyway, we went to Earth Fruits Yogurt, because they have a dairy free frozen yogurt. I was happy about that, because it's one of my favorite places. Aaron and I split one, and Lincoln and Ivan split one. They enjoyed every bite. Thanks Gran!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Love This Husband
I love Aaron. It's still true. Last night we went to bed at midnight because we had family over, and we always lose track of time when that happens. Adelia woke up at 1:30am and took about a half hour to go back down. Ivan woke up at 2:30am shrieking at the top of his lungs because Lincoln had gotten up to use the bathroom and he didn't like the idea of being alone in the room. Adi was up again at 3:00, but would not go back to bed. She was in our room in the port-a-crib, because Aaron's mom was staying in her room. I didn't want to feed her, because I already had once in the night already. But, since she was at the foot of our bed, it was really practical to let her cry either. I walked around with her. Aaron walked around with her. Her diaper got changed. She got re-swaddled. We did let her cry for about 20 minutes, which was sheer torture to my eardrums. Finally at about 4:00am I took her downstairs to the living room. I let her play of the floor with toys. She was perfectly happy. I was perfectly angry. I facebooked. I blogged. I tried putting her down again around 5:00am. No luck. I took her back downstairs. She played some more, happily. I curled up in a blanket and bawled my eyes out. Finally at 6:30am she let me feed her another bottle and put her back to bed.
Lincoln of course, came bouncing in at 7:30am, happy as a clam after a full night's sleep. I think I said something like, "If you wake up Adelia you will be in time out for the rest of your life." But I can't remember because I was really tired. He did wake up Adelia. Aaron (probably fearing for both their lives) scooped them both up and took them downstairs. He let me sleep until 9:00am, when he woke me up to take him to work.
I was grateful to have Aaron's mom here. Having another sane adult around to keep me company all day distracted me from how tired and ornery I felt. She probably had a big hand in keeping my children alive for the day. She made me a chocolate milk shake and was so nice to me, even though I was feeling like Momzilla. She left around 3:00pm to go back to Salt Lake.
I was only alone for two hours, but today that was enough. Aaron saved my life again. He came home and took all three kids out to help him sift the dirt in the garden, so I could be inside by myself in the quiet to make dinner. He loves me. He always knows what I need. He always helps with the kids and the house, even though I know that a lot of the time he feels overloaded from school and work. He doesn't get a lot of time to himself, yet he rarely complains about it. Instead he thinks of ways to give me time by myself, and encourages me to do the things that make me happy.
On a completely different topic...Ivan was really funny with the toy drill today. He went around "screwing in" all the light switch covers. :) Love that kid.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Three Stooges
Of course all three of them would not look at the camera at the same time. This was the best I could get this morning, but I thought they looked cute all decked out in their church clothes. We went up to Hooper today for Burke's baby blessing (Tanya and Nelson's second). After the blessing we went and had lunch and hung out at my mom's house. It was nice to see everyone as usual, and the kids love their aunts and uncles, and especially Gramma Tam and Papa Kerry. On the drive up I was telling Lincoln everyone that we would see there, and when I was finished he said, "Oh! All of those guys are my friends." Then Ivan piped up, "Papa my friend. Papa my friend." over and over and over. It was funny.
After lunch at my mom's we drove to Kelly and Esther's new place in Salt Lake to have dinner with them and Aaron's mom. We had a great dinner together. The boys love Uncle Kelly and Aunt Esther, and are very excited about their new cousin, baby Asher.
Air Pressure
When Lincoln and I learned about weather a few weeks ago, I checked out a DVD at the library on storms. From that DVD, Linc picked up the idea of air pressure. He's always talking about air pressure, and filling his toys in the bath tub up with water and (after putting the lid on) tipping them over so no water spills out and saying, "Look! Air pressure!" So Aaron finally decided to show him something that really was air pressure. To repeat what he did, take an empty pop can and fill it with a 1/4 of an inch of water, and then put it on the stove until it boils (steam will come out the top). Once it starts boiling, pick up the can with tongs, and turn it over so the hole is face down, into a bowl of ice water. The can will crush. (And make a very satisfying crunching noise.)
When the water in the can boils, steam replaces the air in the can. When you put the mouth of the can in the bowl of ice water, the steam inside the can condenses back into water, leaving a vacuum inside the can. Then the pressure of the air outside the can crushes the can. Air pressure! (as Lincoln would say.) They had a really fun time with this experiment.
With a View
One (of the many) things I love about our new place are the many, many windows! No where in my house do I feel like I'm inside a cave. Even our laundry room has a window. I love the light that comes pouring in, even on an overcast day. And even better than that, I love the view. We are pretty much right up against the mountains, so this is what I see when I look out the kitchen window. I thought the fog yesterday was especially cool.
Garden
Ryan and Melissa (Aaron's brother and sister-in-law) have a garden spot that I am very envious of. They've gotten really in to square foot gardening this year. The more I listen to them talk about it, the more I want to try it out. I don't know if I'll get to it this year, because I think I might be to late in the planting season for certain things; but I definitely plan on reading up about it for next year.
As for this year, I consider it to be our experimental year. We have five garden boxes in our new backyard. And if it ever stops raining long enough to let our mud dry out, we'll be able to finish tilling and weeding and prepping the soil so that we can plant the plants that are in our kitchen window sill and our starter garden kit.
Aaron and the boys went out on Friday and tried to till some, but the ground was just too soggy to get much done.
Balloons
Ah, a new house. So many new things to do in it that we couldn't do before. This is a picture taken from our entry way, looking straight up. The boys got balloons at the grocery store, and soon discovered that if they let them go in the entry way, they weren't tall enough to reach them again. They ran up the stairs (to the right), and still couldn't reach them over the rail. Lincoln got creative and used this rolled up map to swat at the balloon strings. It was all very entertaining.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
8 Months Old
Well, the child has survived to her eight month day. It must be because she's so dang cute, otherwise, I don't know. Our biggest issue at the moment is sleep. As I type this I'm listening to her screaming up in her room. I'm waiting for her to fall asleep for her nap. She's exhausted. She fell asleep while I was rocking her, but the very second I put her down, she woke up and started crying before I could even get out of the room. Super. Why can't I have one of those kids who sleep train themselves? Why does every single nap have to be a battle that I lose? I lose if I let her cry, because I have to listen to her cry. And she will cry, for hours, if I let her. I lose if I go get her up, because then she doesn't get a nap and I don't get a break, which equals both of us being very cranky. I lose if I go back up and rock her to sleep because she'll only sleep while I hold her, so she might get a nap but I get nothing done, and I can only do that if both of the boys are sleeping, which happens so close to never that it's not even worth thinking about. Lose, lose, lose. I love motherhood.
I wish I could say night time was better. It's not. She used to be really good at falling asleep on her own if I layed her down at just the right moment while she was still awake. Then she learned how to roll over. So now, if she's awake when I lay her down, she instantly rolls onto her back. She REFUSES to sleep on her back, but hasn't figured out how to roll back over onto her stomach (she can, she just won't). In order to keep her on her stomach, we swaddle her just like a newborn, with her arms down to her sides, so she can't roll over. She hates it. She cries. She cries no matter what. She's still waking up in the night, at least once, sometimes twice. If I feed her a bottle she'll usually go right back to sleep. But the pediatrician said we shouldn't be feeding her at night anymore. For awhile we tried having one of us get up and walk around with her. She'd be fine as long as she was being held, but as soon as we lay her down the crying begins. I got to the point where I couldn't take the hours of crying at night, nor the hours of interruptions to my sleep schedule. Aaron and I agreed that we could feed her water at night. That's working ok, we'll see how it goes.
Her constant crying wears on me quite a bit, and by night time my nerves are frazzled and my patience is shot. Sometimes in the middle of the night when I can't take it, I turn on the fan in our master bathroom and the dryer in the laundry room (which is between our bedroom and hers) and put my pillow over my head to try and drown her out. Then I feel like a horrible mother and the guilt keeps me from sleeping anyway.
She needs bigger socks, but I keep holding out for warmer weather in the hopes that I won't have to buy any. Just about the time I give in and buy them will be the time the sun decides to show itself.
Adelia isn't crawling yet, but she is getting better and better at scooting. She kind of looks like an inch-worm going across the carpet. It's pretty cute. When she gets excited she bobs her whole body up and down.
She still spits up a million times a day. She doesn't seem to care that we have nice carpet now, or that sometimes we are out in public, or that most people, including myself, loathe the smell of baby spit up, especially now that she's eating solids.
On a more positive note, she is eating a lot better, and rarely fights the solids. We're still using stage one baby food, but I'm pretty sure she could handle stage two, and we'll probably switch to that once we run out of our stash of stage one. She seems to like pears, bananas, and squash the best so far. She doesn't really like peas. Is it just me, or have the flavors of baby food scrunk down to almost nothing? I can't seem to find anything but bananas, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and peas. I had to go to 3 different stores to find prunes and green beans. Odd, moving on...I gave her a pretzel rod for the first time the other day and she LOVED it. She made a ginormous mess with it, but it kept her happy for several minutes and allowed me to accomplish something in the kitchen, so I'd say it was a worthy mess. I'm a little hesitant with Adelia's foods, which is why it might seem like she doesn't eat very much for an 8 month old (by 8 months Lincoln had tried a lot of table food, for example), but I keep wondering if she'll have a milk allergy like Ivan. And if that's the case I want to stay away from a lot of processed foods (which are more likely to contain whey and casein) for the time being. Not sure what we'll do as far as introducing milk at her first birthday, but I have a few months to think about it.
So Adelia is 8 months old. Whenever I think about that, all that comes to mind is that she STILL hasn't been out of me longer than she was in me. And then I come to the conclusion that 9 months is a long time. And that pregnancy is not something I will willingly sign myself up for again any time soon.
Could three children be enough for me? I'd always pictured us with a bigger family than that. I guess we'll just have to see. But today the odds are definitely not in favor of a big family.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Everything Since We Moved...
Really the title should be, Everything Since I Blogged Last, but oh well. I thought for a half second about trying to make several different posts for catching up, but lets face it, the last two weeks are pretty much a big blur as far as what happened when. I feel like I'm doing good getting down the things I do remember, so here it is. In no particular order. :)
Suzy did preschool two weeks ago. She talked to the kids about how in the Spring baby animals are born. She read them some stories about animals. Then they each got to pick a different animal mask. They took turns hiding their masks so the others could go on a hunt to find them. They practiced their animal sounds, and sang some really cute songs too.
This picture does a really good job of describing my feelings as a mother sometimes...the old ball and chain...it's a good thing they're so cute. I literally dragged Ivan around the house while he was holding onto my leg, so I could get the much needed packing done. My poor neglected children...
Here's another great shot of Ivan. Aaron and I thought he looked so adorable in his bath towel, but he was not very happy to have his picture taken, or in general for that matter. One defining characteristic of this move, my children have been staying up WAY too late, and not getting the ideal amount of nap time in. We've been pretty cranky around here. And it doesn't help that I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get everything ready to move, and then trying to get everything unpacked so we can get back to our normal lives...whatever that is, right?
Things went reasonably smoothly with the move, although there was the constant confusion of when exactly we were going to be allowed to move in. The original date we'd talked about was the 26th, the last Saturday in March. We wanted this day because we had to be out of our place by the 31st and we wanted a Sat. to move so that Aaron didn't have to take a day off of work to do it. They called us on Tuesday night and told us we were good to go for Saturday, all we needed to do was come and do a walk through with them. The husband said his wife would call back to schedule the walk through. She called back Wed. night and was majorly stressed out talking 400 miles per hour to Aaron about how there was no possible way she'd be able to have the house ready by Saturday because of a million things that hadn't gone the way she thought they would, on and on. Aaron asked if we might be able to just have the garage to put our big stuff, since we had people coming to help on Sat. That was questionable. In the end, she decided she was majorly stressed and that she'd sleep on it, and look at the situation again in the morning and let us know when we could move.
Thursday night she called and said they'd been up all night working on the house, and had called the ward and gotten help, and that we could move in Sat. Relief. We went to do a walk through Thursday night. The lady was super high strung and up-tight, I'm sure from stress, but it didn't make things any easier. They made some (what Aaron and I thought were very minor changes) to the contract, but acted like they were a super big deal. Then she mentioned that she'd probably be in and out on Saturday finishing a few things, but that she hoped to be out by noon so we wouldn't have to see her. Aaron said we'd planned on getting as early of a start as possible, and we'd probably be bringing the first load in by noon. Another high stress situation, she explained that no, we were not allowed to be in before noon. We were paying starting at noon, and we'd have until noon to be out the last day, whenever we decided to move. Huh? That didn't make any sense at all to us, but she was very adamant that that was how it was going to be.
Anyways, Saturday morning we had lots of great help from friends and family. We got to Springville slightly before noon, and sat in the church parking lot for about 8 minutes just to make sure we didn't show up until we were supposed to. *Roll eyes* But things went really smoothly after that. We found a note on the counter with a bottle of Martinellie's welcoming us, and giving us a few last instructions. Which makes me think, that (hopefully) our land lords really are nice, down to earth people, but that they just don't cope well under stress and that they hadn't planned their time very well for how long it was going to take them to move, and that's why they were so stressed. I think we're going to give them a break, but we'll probably walk on egg shells the first little while just to make sure all is well.
Aaron's twin brother Kelly and his wife Esther, had their beautiful little baby boy Asher (LOVE the name by the way), a week before we moved. So a lot of Aaron's family ended up planning to be in town the week right after our move so they could see the baby. We are always happy to see Aaron's family, and we'll take them absolutely whenever we can get them, but I'll admit I was a little stressed out to be having house guests with my house still in boxes. Mostly because I like having house guests, and always want everything to be as perfect and comfortable as possible, and I didn't feel like I could give it my best shot with most everything I own still in some unidentified box somewhere. The result was a three-day mad-dash to get, at least the down stairs of my house, into some sort of live-able state. I feel like we ish-succeeded.
Lisa's family stayed first. They are on their way down south to look at houses. Lincoln was positively delighted to have his cousins (a concept he's just starting to understand) staying at his house. He idolized Lisa's kids. And they were so good with him, and Ivan and Adelia too.
Saturday morning, Lisa and I took her two oldest boys to the morning session of conference. It was a lot of fun. Her two youngest and all our kids, stayed home with Aaron. They had fun playing in the sandbox, and with the Mag-Neatos and Wedgits. Thank you Spencer for rekindling my kids love for their Mag-Neatos. They'd gotten a little bored with them, but Spencer taught them some new things to do with them, and now they are all the rage again. :)
Sunday morning we were surprised to wake up and see four inches of snow in our yard! Very first thing, even before breakfast, the kids all went out to play. They had a great time. Then we made blueberry waffles, and listened to conference as best we could. (We didn't have Internet at that point, and we don't have a TV. We tried to borrow an Internet code from a neighbor, but the connection was pretty slow so only the audio was working.)
Sunday night we went to birthday dinner and Uncle Richard's and Aunt Debbie's. Then Stacey and Rob and family came to stay the night. In the morning Bennett "taught" Lincoln how to play chess/checkers. They had such a good time. It was fun to see Ivan and Jeremiah interact, since they are the same age. They got along pretty well for both being two year olds. :) And Audrey was so good to play with Adelia, and hold her, and kiss her good night. I wish everyone lived closer so we got to see each other more often.
Monday afternoon my Mom came down with Bryan and Emily's little girl Penny. Bryan and Emily had come to town quickly for a funeral, and my mom was watching Penny. We were glad to see them, even if for only a couple minutes. Lincoln passed on his newly acquired checkers knowledge to Penny, who was happy to learn. They were so cute.
And ya, that's what we've been up to the last two weeks. We're looking forward to spending some time with Aaron's mom here in the next couple days, and going to a few baby blessings. Good times. Some day, I'll finish unpacking my house and try to get our life back in order...and when I do, I'll post some pictures of the house. :)
Suzy did preschool two weeks ago. She talked to the kids about how in the Spring baby animals are born. She read them some stories about animals. Then they each got to pick a different animal mask. They took turns hiding their masks so the others could go on a hunt to find them. They practiced their animal sounds, and sang some really cute songs too.
This picture does a really good job of describing my feelings as a mother sometimes...the old ball and chain...it's a good thing they're so cute. I literally dragged Ivan around the house while he was holding onto my leg, so I could get the much needed packing done. My poor neglected children...
Here's another great shot of Ivan. Aaron and I thought he looked so adorable in his bath towel, but he was not very happy to have his picture taken, or in general for that matter. One defining characteristic of this move, my children have been staying up WAY too late, and not getting the ideal amount of nap time in. We've been pretty cranky around here. And it doesn't help that I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get everything ready to move, and then trying to get everything unpacked so we can get back to our normal lives...whatever that is, right?
Things went reasonably smoothly with the move, although there was the constant confusion of when exactly we were going to be allowed to move in. The original date we'd talked about was the 26th, the last Saturday in March. We wanted this day because we had to be out of our place by the 31st and we wanted a Sat. to move so that Aaron didn't have to take a day off of work to do it. They called us on Tuesday night and told us we were good to go for Saturday, all we needed to do was come and do a walk through with them. The husband said his wife would call back to schedule the walk through. She called back Wed. night and was majorly stressed out talking 400 miles per hour to Aaron about how there was no possible way she'd be able to have the house ready by Saturday because of a million things that hadn't gone the way she thought they would, on and on. Aaron asked if we might be able to just have the garage to put our big stuff, since we had people coming to help on Sat. That was questionable. In the end, she decided she was majorly stressed and that she'd sleep on it, and look at the situation again in the morning and let us know when we could move.
Thursday night she called and said they'd been up all night working on the house, and had called the ward and gotten help, and that we could move in Sat. Relief. We went to do a walk through Thursday night. The lady was super high strung and up-tight, I'm sure from stress, but it didn't make things any easier. They made some (what Aaron and I thought were very minor changes) to the contract, but acted like they were a super big deal. Then she mentioned that she'd probably be in and out on Saturday finishing a few things, but that she hoped to be out by noon so we wouldn't have to see her. Aaron said we'd planned on getting as early of a start as possible, and we'd probably be bringing the first load in by noon. Another high stress situation, she explained that no, we were not allowed to be in before noon. We were paying starting at noon, and we'd have until noon to be out the last day, whenever we decided to move. Huh? That didn't make any sense at all to us, but she was very adamant that that was how it was going to be.
Anyways, Saturday morning we had lots of great help from friends and family. We got to Springville slightly before noon, and sat in the church parking lot for about 8 minutes just to make sure we didn't show up until we were supposed to. *Roll eyes* But things went really smoothly after that. We found a note on the counter with a bottle of Martinellie's welcoming us, and giving us a few last instructions. Which makes me think, that (hopefully) our land lords really are nice, down to earth people, but that they just don't cope well under stress and that they hadn't planned their time very well for how long it was going to take them to move, and that's why they were so stressed. I think we're going to give them a break, but we'll probably walk on egg shells the first little while just to make sure all is well.
Aaron's twin brother Kelly and his wife Esther, had their beautiful little baby boy Asher (LOVE the name by the way), a week before we moved. So a lot of Aaron's family ended up planning to be in town the week right after our move so they could see the baby. We are always happy to see Aaron's family, and we'll take them absolutely whenever we can get them, but I'll admit I was a little stressed out to be having house guests with my house still in boxes. Mostly because I like having house guests, and always want everything to be as perfect and comfortable as possible, and I didn't feel like I could give it my best shot with most everything I own still in some unidentified box somewhere. The result was a three-day mad-dash to get, at least the down stairs of my house, into some sort of live-able state. I feel like we ish-succeeded.
Lisa's family stayed first. They are on their way down south to look at houses. Lincoln was positively delighted to have his cousins (a concept he's just starting to understand) staying at his house. He idolized Lisa's kids. And they were so good with him, and Ivan and Adelia too.
Saturday morning, Lisa and I took her two oldest boys to the morning session of conference. It was a lot of fun. Her two youngest and all our kids, stayed home with Aaron. They had fun playing in the sandbox, and with the Mag-Neatos and Wedgits. Thank you Spencer for rekindling my kids love for their Mag-Neatos. They'd gotten a little bored with them, but Spencer taught them some new things to do with them, and now they are all the rage again. :)
Sunday morning we were surprised to wake up and see four inches of snow in our yard! Very first thing, even before breakfast, the kids all went out to play. They had a great time. Then we made blueberry waffles, and listened to conference as best we could. (We didn't have Internet at that point, and we don't have a TV. We tried to borrow an Internet code from a neighbor, but the connection was pretty slow so only the audio was working.)
Sunday night we went to birthday dinner and Uncle Richard's and Aunt Debbie's. Then Stacey and Rob and family came to stay the night. In the morning Bennett "taught" Lincoln how to play chess/checkers. They had such a good time. It was fun to see Ivan and Jeremiah interact, since they are the same age. They got along pretty well for both being two year olds. :) And Audrey was so good to play with Adelia, and hold her, and kiss her good night. I wish everyone lived closer so we got to see each other more often.
Monday afternoon my Mom came down with Bryan and Emily's little girl Penny. Bryan and Emily had come to town quickly for a funeral, and my mom was watching Penny. We were glad to see them, even if for only a couple minutes. Lincoln passed on his newly acquired checkers knowledge to Penny, who was happy to learn. They were so cute.
And ya, that's what we've been up to the last two weeks. We're looking forward to spending some time with Aaron's mom here in the next couple days, and going to a few baby blessings. Good times. Some day, I'll finish unpacking my house and try to get our life back in order...and when I do, I'll post some pictures of the house. :)
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