Remember when we used to sign each others' yearbooks?

And yes, that is permanent marker. Lovely.

Walk-a-bout

Mike and I were in charge of a little party at our church over the weekend. We spent most of Friday decorating for it and getting ready. I love these tissue flowers so we decorated with them, hanging them all over the place. It was funny hearing the women walk in that night, ooh'ing and aaah'ing over them and the fresh flower arrangements (compliments of my master decorator friend, Krista -- thanks again!), while the men looked at these tissue creations and scratched their heads trying to figure out what they were. (No, this picture is not a recreation of the evening. I wish. Stock picture from Martha Stewart.)When it was time for the party to begin, I took the kids home and left Christian in charge. Elle was not happy to be left out of the party since she had helped me all day to get ready for it. She was teary when I left but otherwise fine.

I went back to the church and started serving up ice cream and doing kitchen duty. About 30 minutes later, Elle came walking into the church kitchen. Her cheeks were bright red from the cold, she had a few tears still running down her face, and she had a bag of bread in her hand. She looked up at me and sobbed, "Caa-aan you help me open this br-read?"The child had walked by herself from our house down to the church where she knew we would be. She hadn't told Christian she was leaving and he still hadn't figured out she was gone. Granted, we only live a block from the church but still ... I was slightly freaking out picturing my little 3 yr old walking around by herself.

After we dried the tears and opened the bread :), she stayed at the party and helped us serve ice cream. When the entertainment started, she crawled into my lap and promptly fell asleep. Too much excitement for us both.

I've never...

... broken a bone.
... had liposuction, although I wish I had.
... been in a car accident that was my fault. I'm always the one being hit.
... been snowboarding. I'm a skiing-kind of a girl.
... had a desire to run a marathon or even a half-marathon. A 5k was plenty.
... sky-dived but I would actually like to.
... been to Moab. That's weird for a Utah native.
... seen It's A Wonderful Life all the way through. I know. I know.
... been to Disneyworld. Disneyland, yes, but not to Florida. We need to change that.
... actually seen the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Kind of strange for a girl who likes Hollywood stuff.
... had a desire to eat caviar.
... seen the Letterman show in person. Tried once unsuccessfully. It's a bucket-list item for me.
... learned to play the cello. That will change soon.

This is one cool kid....

Yes, he broke both boards.

Only one more belt promotion and he'll test for his black belt. He pretty much rocks. In my very biased opinion.

Photography 101

As I'm sure is the case with most parents who own a digital camera or a phone with camera capabilities, my kids often hijack my camera/phone and take a myriad of random pictures. Case in point ...It's only when I look through the pix later that I discover these little "gems."

But occasionally, there are some genuine gems in the middle of the randomness...The talented photographer this time was Haley D.

Bowling with whom??

The spiritual side of Christian

by Mike & Misty

Scripture study with children is always a bit of a challenge. We want the kids to understand the scriptures, but sometimes we end up using less than conventional methods to help the scriptures come 'alive' for them. Sometimes we have the kids act out the stories so that we know they are getting the gist of what we are reading. The downside to this approach is that it often leads to some fairly irreverant moments. Try to imagine what it would be like if you walked by our house and heard Mike (channeling his inner-Charlton Heston) bellowing at the top of his lungs, "LET MY PEOPLE GO!" I'm sure the neighbors think we are crazy.

Christian, recently, has really started to add his own sense of drama to scripture study. He really can't help but inflict the scriptures with his love of Star Wars/Greek mythology/the underworld/supernatural powers. When you put that all together, you've got an entertaining combination.

After an Easter lesson during Family Night about the feast of the Passover, Christian was in charge of the activity. He handed out pencils and paper and said, "First, draw a line down the middle of your paper. On one side, draw an angel." When we had done that, he excitedly said, "Now draw a picture of what you think the destroying angel looked like." Christian's "destroying angel" looked remarkably like a dark Sith Lord. Are there really light sabers in the Old Testament?

Another time, Mike was teaching the kids about how Christ and Satan each have very different ideas about how this life should be lived. He suggested that the kids role-play a great debate to see who had the more persuasive plan for mankind. As Mike role-played Christ, he very gently told the kids, "I am Jesus. I love you all so much that I will give my life for you. With my plan, you will all be free to make choices and you can repent of your sins and return to live with Heavenly Father some day."

When it was Christian's turn, he pulled a Zeus-style "lightning bolt" over his head and bellowed in his best evil voice, "And I am Satan! Follow me or I will drag each of your spirits down to the nethermost corner of my realm!!"

To our dismay, the girls all thought that Christian was more persuasive.

So, if you walk past our house some day and happen to hear strange voices shrieking at each other and Christian shouting, "Put that monkey down and go clean out the elephant bins!", please don't call child protective services. It's probably just the Mayfields talking about Noah's Ark.

Rain Forest Rumble

Haley's 3rd grade class wrote and performed an opera. I'm still amazed by the whole process. The Opera by Children program goes into schools and helps the kids with the whole thing. First, the kids brainstormed and came up with characters, a setting and a storyline. A music mentor recorded them singing the different parts the way they thought it should be sung and then he strung it all together and wrote a score. The kids planned and painted the scenery, choreographed the whole thing, decided which parts they wanted to be, learned the entire 15 minute score and then performed it several times for different audiences. Their teacher, Natalie Merrill, obviously helped them through the process but I was amazed as I watched her leave the decisions up to them. She wanted this to truly be their opera. The costumes were amazing, thanks to many creative parents, and I had the fun job of teaching the kids the music and accompanying them on the piano.

The storyline was funny, too, since it was the kids' idea. A group of famous people are flying to a "famous people convention." They end up having to jump from their plane before it crashes into the Amazon Rain Forest, where they meet all of the animals, bugs and plants that live there. At first, no one gets along but then they all work together and end up as friends. These are some of my favorite lines from the opera:

* "We're sooo famous!"
* "Let's skedaddle before they eat us."
* "Those are homosapiens!"
* "We have gorgeous hair! We paid trillions for this hair."
* "We don't care about our fans anymore -- let's have a Rain Forest convention!"

The characters that the kids chose were so great, too. The famous people were Einstein, Hannah Montana, Taylor Swift, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes & Princess Leia. Haley was a black widow. There was a dung beetle, a leaf bug, a walking stick bug, a Venus fly trap, a gila monster, a milipede, tropical birds and animals... The whole thing was such a great experience!

So you think you can dance?

It's dance recital season again and Paige & Elle have been busy. Paige performed in the ballet Swan Lake and was thrilled to have such an amazing costume. She's clearly got her priorities straight, right?She did an amazing job, though, and loved her little moment in the spotlight. I'd expect nothing less from this little performer.

A month or so later, Paige & Elle performed separately in the creative/jazz recital for Creative Arts Academy. Wish I had better pictures -- these are from rehearsal.Elle even had her little moment on stage with her class. Even though Elle's class is a Mom-and-Me class, thankfully we moms didn't have to perform with our girls. Elle is the oldest in the class (at a ripe age of 3 -- the other girls are 2) and so was a little more able to follow the teacher and perform the dance the way they were supposed to. One little girl in their class ran around the stage pretty much the whole time, and almost leaped right off the stage itself. Good entertainment when you put 2 yr olds in the spotlight.Both girls were thrilled to get flowers at the end of the performance. Elle is already asking when she gets to dance on the 'big stage' again.

Creative use for a Swiffer

Apparently, nothing makes a better microphone for a future rock star than a Swiffer sweeper.

Bring on the sugar!

Haley's self-inflicted sugarfast ended a month ago. She was completely faithful for a whole year. I'm still amazed. I know I would have caved in the face of something really tempting and yummy. But not Haley.$125 is a lot of money for a kid. And she has big plans for that money. Combined with upcoming birthday $$, she's planning on buying an iTouch.After seeing Haley receive all that $$, Paige asked me, "Can I do a cinnamon-fast for $100??" Nice try, chica.

Saving $$

I've been under-the-weather for far too long now. Between my knee injury and pneumonia, the past couple of months haven't been the best for me or the fam. I'm not usually a sickly person, either. That's partly what's been hard on me.

There have been a couple of side-benefits to all of this, though:

* We're eating well. Between my mom, my neighbor, Kim, and my wonderful friend, Heidi, my little family has been eating better than if I were up and around. Kim had everyone over for Sunday dinner and brought us dinner another night, grandma brought cookies, oranges, a veggie tray & tupperwares full of food. Heidi brought me a gift bag of magazines, bath salts and a massager, not to mention dinner on 2 different nights. Rumor is my sister is bringing us dinner tonight. I'm not known for my love of cooking, so it's been wonderful.

* I'm getting plenty of rest these days. At least compared to my normal life.

* Finally (and probably most importantly), we're spending a lot less money at the grocery store. It's partly due to the free meals I already mentioned, but it's definitely also due to the fact that Mike is doing the grocery shopping these days. When Mike goes to the store, he goes to one store and comes home with exactly what was on the list (except maybe an extra bag of chips & salsa). When I go grocery shopping, I usually hit 2 stores -- Costco for the big stuff and Smith's or Walmart or Target for the rest. My shopping trips usually go something like this:

Head to Costco, stop first to get hot dogs and drinks for whichever kids I have in tow, start perusing the seasonal items near the entrance, add a pair of cool gardening gloves to the cart, consider buying an iTunes gift card for whatever birthday is coming up, browse the spring dresses for the little girls and decide they already have enough clothes (except wait! That one is so cute. Elle and Paige could match. Two $15 dresses into the cart.), check out the book section for anything new or interesting (ooh! I heard this one was sooo good...), gotta have Avatar on DVD, check out the bowls & platters for an upcoming wedding gift, finally make it to the food, put a box of teriyaki something into the cart because the sample tasted really good, buy a ginormous cheap bag of bananas even though I know we won't be able to eat that many before they go bad, get all of the food that I did in fact need, see the spring tulip bulbs on the way to check-out and add that into the cart, etc., etc. $300 later .... See what I mean? And the regular grocery store isn't any better, even though it usually costs less than my Costco bill. I easily find things that I didn't know we even needed.Maybe Mike should always do the grocery shopping. We just might save a little cash that way.

When mom is sick ...

• the kids get used to babsitting themselves while I sleep.
• the family eats less than balanced meals.
• the house goes to pot. Seriously.
• there's more tv watching/game time than normal.
• Mike feels like a single parent.
• my jammies become my only wardrobe. And who needs makeup anyway?
• minimum errands get taken care of. Who really needs groceries or to exchange that Blockbuster video anyway?
• Christian becomes the sweetest kid. He tucks me in, rubs my head and feet (seriously) and is even more sweet with his little sisters than normal.
• I actually miss being able to workout. Go figure.
• I catch up on my DVR and am disappointed when I don't have a huge queue of shows to watch anymore.
• the laundry piles higher and higher.
• doing the bare minimum in everything suddenly seems just fine.
• my iPhone becomes even better entertainment. I've found all kinds of fun games in the app store.

I know it's only been 4 days but I feel out of it and really need to get back to feeling normal. It's not particularly comforting that the dr. was left scratching her head at my appointment yesterday. They're supposed to tell me what's wrong, right? Hopefully they'll have more answers for me today. I have a life to get back to, people!

** After a week of fever, aching, nausea, headaches and finally a cough and wheezy breathing, the doc finally figured out that I had pneumonia. Antibiotics are my new friend and I should be back to normal soon. Hallelujah!

Queen Paige

We went for ice cream recently, which Paige clearly loved...She loved the cone/cup even more and found all kinds of uses for it later.

Which one is Mike?

No, they aren't triplets. In fact, there's a 6 year age span between them. But Mike, Paul & Nate all have similar builds, hairlines and voices and are often mistaken for each other -- even at extended family parties and sometimes by people who know them well.

When any of our families has a child who is about 1 yrs old, these three like to play mind games with them. They'll lovingly go up to each others' kids and say, "Come to daddy. Come here honey...." The poor kid will sit there confused and unsure. Possible psychological damage? Maybe.

Back in college, Paul and I happened to have a class together and would walk to our cars together. Someone who knew Mike and me passed by and said, "Hi, Mike & Misty!" Paul just waved. It was easier than explaining.

Once at a family dinner, I came up behind Mike and put my arms around him. Startled, Nate turned around in my arms and said, "Hey Mist." Good thing I didn't go in for a kiss, eh? And in my defense, they looked the same from the back. I do actually know which one my husband is.

While Mike was serving as bishop, Nate came to our church meetings a couple of times. He was known to "release" people from their callings or cancel meetings. He'd never explain to people that he was joking or that he wasn't actually Mike.

Good times.

Another birthday tribute

My sister, Kelly, has written another tribute to our sister, Erin, for her birthday. More great pictures from over the years. Read it here.

Mayfield Update

Misty and kids took off for St. George for Spring Break. We swam every day, played at the sand dunes, played endless rounds of Nertz, watched Ponyo at least 10 times (Elle loves that show!), shopped and vegged. Sorry dad couldn't join us.
Almost gave up Diet Coke for good but then decided against it and jumped right back off the wagon.
Yay! No knee surgery in my immediate future. Still plugging away with physical therapy but I can see tiny specks of light at the end of the tunnel now.
Forest of Hands and Teeth -- one of the better page-turners that I've read in awhile. Think of the movies 'The Village' and 'I Am Legend' combined in one great read. I'm reading the sequel The Dead Tossed Waves right now.
InstaCare visit late Sunday night to confirm strep for Paige. The dr. kind of scratched her head when I said that Paige's breath smelled like strep (plus she had the other symptoms) but I know that smell!
Erin (my wonderful big sis) turned 40! We sisters went to a late movie and are having a girls' lunch with mom this week to celebrate. Then she'll move to Cali and we'll never see her again....
Lack of closet/storage space in our house is forcing me to constantly de-clutter. Lots of steady runs to the D.I. Funny how empty this house seemed for so long. Not so much anymore.
Date night with Mike and the Mayfield side of the fam. It's always pretty funny to hang out with Mike, Nate and Paul -- partly because they look like triplets and everyone else looks and stares, and partly because they all have the same twisted sense of humor. Now that mom & dad are on a mission, there's no reigning the boys in anymore.


U2 is coming in concert this summer! One guess which very cool, hip couple will be going??
Pre-pubescent Christian was mortified to attend his first Maturation lecture at school with dad. Mike said the best part of the meeting was when it was announced that the local grocery store, Dick's, had provided free donuts. All of the dads tried to stifle their laughs.
Driving a rental minivan for a few days while my car is being fixed. A cute 16 yr. old girl who had her license for a whole 2 days crashed into the back of my car. The poor girl was too scared to even get out of her car.
Ali & Maddie (2 of my amazing nieces) were on the front row of American Idol and had a couple of tv shots. They talked to the judges as they walked by and talked with the contestants during the commercial breaks. Score!
Too many movie channels at our house these days. Since switching to Comcast, we have free HBO and Showtime for awhile. I've been DVR'ing so many movies that I can't keep up with myself.
Ever feel like you spend too much time on Facebook, Twitter, blogger or e-mail? Me neither. Happily addicted.

Who's afraid of the big, bad ... bunny?

Easter is such a great holiday. It's a time to reflect on Christ's life and resurrection, my tulips and daffodils start to bloom, there's usually a hint of warmer weather ahead (not this year but it didn't spoil things entirely) ... And then there's the whole Easter Bunny thing.

At our house, we try not to focus too much on the Easter Bunny but he does do 2 specific things: he hides jelly beans all around the house for the kids to find and then also fills & hides their Easter baskets.

Which seems like a good thing. Right?

Apparently not for Elle. The older kids started telling her about the Easter Bunny, thinking she'd be excited, but she just kept asking, "A bunny bring me this? Where is the bunny? IN my house? I don't want that bunny hopping in my house." Mild nervousness about it turned into full-blown fear. She kept asking if the bunny was still in our house and was afraid to go downstairs. She never had that reaction to Santa, for some reason, but maybe because Santa is a human not a large furry animal.

Finally, I thought I'd put my little girl out of her misery. We had a private little conversation that went something like, "Honey, there is no Easter Bunny. Mommy and daddy gave you all of this candy. There's no bunny, ok? No bunny." That did the trick. She stopped having visions of a big creepy bunny hopping around her house. Easter has become a happy thing for her once again.

And if she tells her sisters what mommy told her?? I'm not worried. The girls would never believe the word of a 3 year old anyway.

April Fool's ??

Perhaps the most morbid April Fool's joke that I've received, from my deranged 11 yr. old son.

Paige had her own strange sense of humor, too. She taped a sign to my back that said, "I haven't showered in 1 week." Nice.