My Kids' Kreations

For some time now, Cheyenne has been asking me to teach her how to decorate a cake. We finally did it a couple weeks ago. We baked a yummy white cake together, then she did all the decorating. She did a great job, and she enjoyed it. I think we'll be doing more in the future. Maybe she'll take a little stress off of me by becoming the family's new cake supplier!

In the meantime, Daniel has been busy creating in his own way. When I recently took my turn dusting the entertainment center, I was given a treat when I saw the newest accessories for the cute wooden fish we have as decorations. I guess Daniel was a little consumed with the "Core Testing" they were doing that week at school. (Just in case you can't see the picture well, they each have a "Coral Test" along with an answer sheet full of small round circles.)

And as a followup, the next time I went to dust, the tests were all piled up in the center of the fish so they could burn them in a fire! At least chores become an experience of discovery!

And just for the record, this was posted before midnight, so I'm still up with my goal!

She Lives!

Since starting this blog nearly two years ago, this is the longest I've ever gone without posting. May is always crazy with the end of school year activities and such. Then there are always the wildelife things that just happen. The reasons for my negligience are many. The month was busy, my head was more full of thoughts than my hands could really type (so I end up typing nothing instead of typing a little bit), and ironically, technological concerns have slowed me down. That is, Dale has been trying to consolidate all our pictures and such in one place. That means he downloads them all to his computer. I think about getting certain pictures to blog about them, but it takes longer these days, so I slack off. All lousy excuses. That happens a lot in my life.

So, today is a new day. I've set a goal for myself. For at least one week, I'm going to pretend I'm one of those big name, highly paid blogging moms who shares regularly. I'm going to post something every day between now and next Sunday. I certainly have enough ideas stored in my head to post every day for a lot longer, but that would be a little too much Cheryl, now wouldn't it?? I invite you to come along and share a week of a blog a day and see how it goes.

For today, my thought would be that I'm so thankful for kind, wonderful youth leaders who do things to strengthen teenagers. Parents can do a lot, but we can't do it all (and somedays can do nothing). That's when other adults can really influence these tender souls.

Daniel got to spend the last 3 days enjoying a youth conference put on by the leaders of our stake. They copied a very popular youth program called Especially for Youth. They had college-aged counselors, they played fun team building games, they saw concerts, they danced, they had workshops, they studied scriptures, they learned etiquette, etc., etc. Every night he came home beaming. Last night it was beaming mixed with humble spiritual awakening. He felt moved by knowing for sure that there is a Heavenly Father who loves him. All the other skills he learned will be beneficial in his life, but that kind of knowledge will be irreplaceable. Thank you again to those who helped him find that knowledge; it means a lot to a mom like me.

Mother's Day in the Land of Imagination

Today's blog is pretty self-indulgent. I am among millions celebrating Mother's Day today with mothers and children participating in a mutual admiration society. All children should think their mothers are the best and mothers think the same of their children. I have no intention of arguing with that. However, I'll go on record to say that I think I got the most original gifts! Surely there are few surprised by that. The whole day has been so nice - a beautiful yogurt parfait for breakfast, chocolate as a gift at church (Daniel even made sure I got the dark stuff), a lunch/dinner that I didn't have to think up or prepare, and even a nap in the sunroom. Then came the gifts. Sweet Cheyenne started with a cute card and great family portrait -- one of her original works. I love the hair! Notice that only Dale was painted with gray hair!

That was followed by a fun small LED flashlight for my purse. She was most excited about the wrapping which included paper, bows, tissue paper, and four increasingly large gift bags!
Then came Daniel. His package was wrapped in silver paper then turned into a robot. I knew it would be a treat. The rest of the package came in steps. I've recorded the pictures to present it just as I saw it!

Yes, that's a box wrapped in duct tape. When I opened it, I saw this.And underneath the paper --
It's a little tough to see all the detail, but next to the rake and shovel (of course made from popsicle sticks and hot glue) is a small sign to post in the 'garden' when I plant it. It has an ear drawn on it.

But wait - there's more! The next box --

Once opened, I saw this cage with an egg in it. It says "Grow your own garden dragon." "For the Fair Maiden in your life." The scroll to the right gives growing instructions.
"Brave Knight not included" but the egg contains Snap Dragon seeds.
It's always an adventure at our house. And now I'm off to go eat the homemade bread and garlic relish that Dale prepared for tonight. I love Mother's Day!!!

Equal Project Posting

It's only fair that I share an equal amount of time sharing a recent Cheyenne project. She had to do a big biography project for third grade. She chose Amelia Earhart. We read a book, she wrote a report, she made a poster, and she prepared an oral presentation. The final part was the oral report. The third grade teachers set up a Time Machine through which the kids would walk and then deliver the presentation as if they were visiting in 2009. It was all really cute. It actually brought tears to my eyes to watch her succeed at this project. She worked so hard. She practiced and practiced for this presentation then she stood up there and delivered it beautifully. For a sweet girl who sometimes struggles with schoolwork, she did an awesome job. She was right on par with the other kids. It was pretty exciting for me.

I didn't videotape the actual presentation because I just wanted to enjoy it, but you get to enjoy a dress rehearsal straight from our hallway. Don't worry, this one only takes a little over a minute - no need to pop the popcorn this time. But thanks for the ongoing cinematic support.

My Favorite Horror Film

So, I've been away from the blogging world for a bit because I've been consumed with school projects! I'll be really happy when today is over. In the last week we've been working on several major projects. I want to display them here on my blog because I'm proud of their work, and because I want to preserve them for posterity.

Today's display is Daniel's math film. The assignment from his Geometry teacher was to make an entertaining video that simultaneously teaches a math concept from their book. Daniel's first idea was a horror flick. I found the finished product pretty entertaining. We had a five minute version done when he re-read the instructions saying it could not exceed 3 minutes! Arghh! So, the final version he turned in was heavily edited and the instructional pieces were sped up which also made his voice really high. It was funny, but this extended version was overall more fun. This is about 5 minutes, so pop some popcorn and enjoy!!

Today's Word of the Day -- Decomposition

So, I spent most of my day today doing yard work. It was time to mow for the first time, then I spent a couple hours pulling weeds. While weeding, I ran across at least a hundred earthworms - they are decomposers, you know. After I finished the weeding, I picked up a cubic yard of compost and put it in the garden.

This afternoon one of my tutoring students came for help with geometry. He showed me that today's homework was from a chapter titled Vector Decomposition (no lie!), and he didn't understand it. That was fun!

Then just before dinner, Cheyenne delivered the "very sad news" that her pet goldfish Dorothy had died. Her dinner insights were as follows. "It's okay, she's gonna go to fish heaven....that's the toilet, you know." After dinner, she gathered us in the bathroom for the official flushing. She gave her tribute, then asked, "Do you have anything you'd like to say, Dad?" Dad offered a thought. "Do you have something to say, Mom?" I gave the concluding remarks. Flush! And so the decomposition begins.

And now for the serious thought of the day:

After weeding, I was driving our groovy 1984 pickup to get the compost. I was looking pretty scary in my sloppy t-shirt and exercise pants that were now dirty. I noticed my hands were stained from the dirt and mud I had been digging in. It made me think about the whole process of Spring and new birth. It occurred to me that new birth, growth and progress are sometimes messy events. I realized that in order to get the beautiful flowers of spring, you have to get your hands dirty and you might get a splinter or two. To get the lush green grass to enjoy in your bare feet, you have to cut down the grass on a regular basis. And to get new blossoms and stronger branches, you have to prune the trees.

Everything about the thought process made me think of life and the ups and downs that come along with each of our lives. Sometimes life is messy. Sometimes we're covered in dirt or mud, or even someone/something else's decomposing material. Sometimes we get cut back, but we might be a little lusher when it's over. And haven't we all been pruned once or twice? Let's hope we come out a little prettier, fuller, and stronger because of it. And in the meantime, may we all just enjoy the spring!

Pickles, Tickets to Alaska, and 1,000 French Bread Bags

I recently told a friend that I think it would be an interesting exercise to record my daily life in 5 minute increments. It's so varied, so interesting, sometimes so bizarre. However, my 5 minute increments are usually so full that I don't get much of a chance to record anything. I'm determined to record a little of my life, just to make me appreciate the tapestry that is my "Wildelife."

Note: What I really want to do here is have a collage of pictures that you could click on and see details. But, alas, I am technically incompetent. If any of my readers who are savvy enough to teach me to do such a thing, I'd love for you to stage an intervention. I really should break out of the basic mode of just inserting one picture at a time followed or preceded by text! Until then, here goes!

When we went to visit my parents the day after Easter, Grandpa sent Cheyenne home with the mega jar of pickles. She was thrilled. And because she wanted to be sure it made it safely back to our house, she even buckled it into a seat belt for the journey home. It almost made it home before it fell and went tumbling to the floor. There really aren't words for how grateful I was that it didn't break. A lifetime of dill pickle/van smell sounded pretty awful.



Spring Break brought a variety of tasks, moods, and adventures. There was homework, there was swimming at Colleen's and the dinosaur museum with Cathy. And then there was the snowstorm. This is what 8+ inches of snow looks like in mid April. Gotta love Utah!


And let me not forget to mention that it also brought my first ever chance to catch and pick up a live chicken because it didn't want to go back in its coop for the night. Yeah, that means that if you need us, the Wildes do chicken sitting.


On Friday we had some friends over to play games. At one point, we had all the parents playing against all the kids. When we (the parents) got a couple of answers right, Daniel's teenage buddy accused us of being "telepathetic." I think it was an attempt at using a big word, but it was probably a true Freudian slip.

Between Friday night and Sunday afternoon, Dale and I made a somewhat impulsive decision to take our family to Alaska this summer. Thanks to Angie for being willing to house us in Anchorage on our visit, thanks to Delta for having a frequent flier program, and thanks to all of you, my friends, who believed that someday your "telepathetic" friends could make a quick decision to do something fun. This will truly fulfill a lifelong dream for me as well as cut my list of states left to visit from 8 down to 7! (For future reference, that list would be North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Delaware, Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska.)

Monday's activities included watching Daniel and his friend destroy a chocolate bunny with the aid of a fuse wrapped around its body parts which was then lit by a magnifying glass. Following the melting, they entertained themselves by driving the death-r-mobile they created down a nearby hill. It was composed of a hand truck, a scooter, and a lot of bungee cords.


The afternoon was also highlighted by the arrival of 1,000 French bread bags. The intention was to buy a few for Daniel to use for his Saturdough bread-making business. Well it was only slightly more expensive to order 1,000 of them than it was to buy 100 of them off of ebay. So, we did what any self-respecting parents would have done, and we ordered the big lot. Maybe we'll sell them in groups of 100 on ebay. Or if any of you need some, please let us know. And thanks to my cute nieces for coming to make bread that night so we could give away our first two bags! 998 bags in the box, 998 bags. Take one out, give it away, 997 bags in the box!