Youth these days

You know you are getting older and a little more out of touch when you start to analyze the actions and motives of the youth of these days.  Ben and I were asked to be Youth Conference parents over the weekend.  It was a crazy weekend and we could only do it half of the time, Friday night for the kick off and Saturday night for the dinner and dance chaperoning and Sunday testimony meeting.  I LOVED and still do LOVE Youth Conference.  I felt the same type of nervous excitement I felt as a youth about the unknowns of the weekend.  These were my observations:


1.  Kids are very unpredictable and irrational.
2.  Kids are very impressionable
3. Kids need approval from their peers as much as they need air.
4.  Confident Kids are hard to come by, but when you meet one they are a breath of fresh air.


I love working with the youth... i do not love enforcing rules/church standards.  I just like being the fun leader, but felt the need to step in a couple times aka, kids giving each other massages cause we all know what that can lead to (back massages in the front room lead to front massages in the back room).  Ben too had to step in when a boy was dancing super raunchy on a pole... pole dancing.  


For the most part the LDS kids of these days, kick serious butt.  The stories I hear about the crazy/inappropriate/despicable things they face on a daily basis is enough for me to throw in the towel on humanity.   But then I hear their testimonies and I am blown away by their strength and courage to stand alone at times and be persecuted for not following the worldly curve.  They are an example to me and I give them props!


President George Q. Cannon:“God has reserved spirits for this dispensation who have the courage and determination to face the world, and all the powers of the evil one, visible and invisible, to proclaim the Gospel, and maintain the truth, and establish and build up the Zion of our God, fearless of all consequences. He has sent these spirits in this generation to lay the foundation of Zion never more to be overthrown, and to raise up a seed that will be righteous, and that will honor God, and honor him supremely, and be obedient to him under all circumstances.”⁷

Lulu age 16 months

Lulu is a funny kid.  She makes the funniest faces with her gapped front teeth and her big eyes.  I love how she toddles around falling.  I love her baby sign language that is constantly telling me "please" and "more" by patting her chest and bumping her hands together.  And I love how tough she is to older children, she seems to be a kid magnet and they all want to lead her by the hand around and jump in her face.


The down side to that baby is how she howlers when she needs help, which is constantly.  She holds to the swing we wants to be pushed on

scream/cry/yelling.  I know... stages... she will grow out of it.  But for now it really bugs.  She also takes standing baths.  She is the only person I know that stands the whole time they take a bath.  She doesn't like being IN water.  She is fine playing with it and splashing.  Ben believes this fear stems from when she was a baby and we gave her a bubble bath, she was scared of the bubbles.

This baby loves to be held.  She is very strong willed and determined.  When she looks at you... she really LOOKS at you, making eye contact for some times an uncomfortable amount of time.


She is really good at holding on to a big kid swing without falling down.  She is fearless around Gus and she has an infectious laugh that is usually a result of tickling or Ruby getting in her face, for some reason she thinks that is really funny.

Caught Lulu playing in Gus' water bowl, Don"t worry I washed it out just before this picture

Recent Online Purchases... on Amazon

Growing up I always had a small complex that I was not girly enough.  I had to observe and mimic the actions and movement and speech of my fellow girlfriends.  I liked competition and sports and not clothes and shopping.  Guess what??? Not much has changed.  I still like sports and competition and still do not like to shop, at least at malls and large department type stores.  I have embraced this and moved forward with life... Until I discovered the wonders and ease of online shopping probably six christmases ago.  I did my main shopping on ebay and amazon.  To this day I prefer this method over the  gamble of retail shopping.  If I know exactly what I want why waste a day driving and search for it when I can cruise the World Wide Web in five minutes and usually find a better deal.  My most recent online purchases that I would recommend to anyone:

1. Baby Wise- a present to Cody and Berkeley to bring glorious sleep to their lives, which it successfully did.

2. Love and Logic- a present to Cody and Berkeley  for a later time in life, the second parenting book I swear by.

3. Pandemic the game- to my uncle Mike, the game we (me, Ben, Gail, and Jimbo) are obsessed with... love this game and would recommend it if you need a good game to bring everyone together but may involve modest arguing amongst each other.

4. School Books- Because I am taking a continuing education class for bookkeeping.  The class was good and the books were very necessary and half the price on amazon than in the school bookstore.

I just love the ease of click, click, click and done.  I also love to receive gifts that were purchased online, such as flowers from flowers.com.  That is always a nice treat dad.  

So if you plan to purchase an item online, just click on my little widget and we all win.  You get an enjoyable shopping experience and I am promised money for having their advertisement on my blog.  It is a win win in my book, which was purchased on amazon.com.

Worth mentioning-D-land trip

So many times I go to Disneyland and it is not worth mentioning or blogging about, because we show up and leave in three hours and in that time have done the monorail, Small World, Tea Cups, and if I get my way Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise and usually some other kiddie ride.

But today was such a fun day at Disneyland. Friend Sarah and I got a sitter for the little tykes (Lulu and Franco) and booked it over to Disneyland with the older and TALLER kids. Life changes when you are equal to or greater than 40 inches tall. As of today Ruby has been on The Matterhorn, Star Tours, and Thunder Mountain. The best part is - I think she likes it and will go on said rides again! Thank you Disneyland for letting tall three year olds ride on fast and somewhat scary rides.

Deep Thoughts #1

Deep thoughts by Katie Schultz.

I hate when I type my last name and the spell checker always wants me to change it and that I always click on the spell checker to see how I misspelled it and the only suggestion is "Schmaltz". "Come On! SCHMALTZ!!! Since I guess Schmaltz is so much more common than the #1 last name if your German. I also Hate it that every time I do our Christmas Card and have Ben proof read it he can always trick me by telling me I misspelled my last name. It's just weird... You know the whole silent S and whole last part just always plays tricks on my eyes.

I have to admit I really had a love for my name. I just feel like my parents really got it right. They named me Katie and not Catherine or Kathy. They gave me a solid middle name- Louise which I love so much I named my second born after and then a refreshingly short and non threatening last name- Hill. Put is all together and TADA- Katie Louise Hill. So cute.

So thanks mom and dad for the killer name... while it lasted and not naming me Norma P Einus. Or... I am going to stop, but feel free to keep going if you have a good one you have heard.

Started up the garden again

Yah, I know what you are probably thinking... It has been two months since the last post and nothing better has happened to post about???

That's the thing, there have been so many things to post about that the pressure mounts every time I begin a post. I will get around to blogging about all the other awesome things that have happened, Like:

1. Heather Schultz marrying James Georgianna

2. Easter Fun

3. Utah Snowboarding Trip

4. Cody's Sweet baby Claudius

5. Lulu learning to walk

Stay tuned for these in the future, cause right now it is the garden.

After I get bored of tending the garden usually around October, I shut off the water and let everything die and let the weeds grow like crazy. So I had a BIG job of clearing everything out of that area. I cleared weeds little by little and the day came when I could finally see the ground again.

Sorry no pics yet, but I can describe it to you... I am growing corn and squash in pots because I hate how they take up so much space and try to take over. I am also growing: Tomatoes, Basil, Red onion, spinach, bell peppers, snap peas, cilantro, celery, cabbage, green onion, carrots, and cucumbers.

I started the garden March 27th. I used old seeds and was nervous about them not sprouting, but everything seems to be growing even the snap peas that ruby thought were weeds and so helpfully pulled out. She is getting better about walking through the garden, wish I could say the same for Gus and his big paws, some how he is hurdling the fence we made... what a punk.

Hope to write more better

My newest Sister in law...

Not to long ago, January 16th Sam married Nikki. This is his second marriage and hers. She has two cute girls, Taylen and Ryah. The Wedding was so pretty at a cute chapel in Santa Ana and the Reception was off the hook! Reception... or dance party?

Nikki and Sam with her family.

Nikki getting ready with Ryah, Ruby's new cousin. Ruby and Ryah are a lot alike... they play really well together- off by their-selves, avoiding the crowds.

Ainsley and Taylen are best friends, it is so cute how much they love each other.

Pretty Bright, but this is a Schultz siblings pic.

Our family pic