Hair Cut for Brayden

We decided that it was time to cut Brayden's hair. It didn't seem that long until it fell into his eyes. However, when we were at the salon and they wet his hair down and pulled it up it was LONG (at least for a well groomed boy). I sat in the chair and was caped, then held Brayden on my lap and was also caped.

According to the Polynesian tradition, you should not cut your baby's hair for the first year of their life. This keeps them "healthy". I think it has more to do with how hair is cut in a 3rd world nation than the timing of when it is cut. At any rate, we decided after 11 1/2 months Brayden would need his hair cut for all of the photos that will be taken in the next month.

In other happenings, Sabrina and Moira traditionally have the same sandwich everyday for lunch. Wendy got the girls their lunch then stepped out of the room for a minute. When she returned Sabrina proudly showed her what she made from her sandwiches. It took Wendy a second to figure out what it was. Here is a picture so you can place your guess.

If you look close you can see that she took bites in just the right places to turn them into a "R" and "L". Pretty clever!

Adam

Personal Revolutions

As posted previously, I've decided to go back to work, at least temporarily. The more I think about what I'm doing and why, the more I find myself unsure of what label to put on this decision. I'm working again, part-time, in the evenings, for how long? Trying to find the whole work/life balance has seemed elusive over the past two years since I first went back to a full-time job when Moira was one year old. I seemed to drift in and out of working like one drifting in and out of restless sleep. I quit when my balance was off and went back when I regained my equilibrium. In fact, the more I pondered why I did this the more I realized that I always felt this way. Even as a high school and college student attempting to plan out my five and ten year goals, ambitious achievements would top the list. But at the back of my mind was the ever present echo of wanting to marry and have children. I couldn't see how to do both then, and certainly the way is not any clearer now. I did, however, just stumble across an article that articulated my conflict for the first time. I saw myself in some of these women, though certainly not with their list of credentials. Yet, I too was drifting back and forth across the great divide that is career vs. family life.


My first job after three years of maternity leave was at a fast-paced, intense business with many egocentric men. I was only looking for a job. My employer was looking for someone who could keep pace with these high-flyers. After five miserable months I concluded that this environment was not healthy for me or my children. The stress I was under meant that all four members of our family never had a peaceful day. So I drifted out. It took five weeks to reestablish my balance and then I drifted back into another job. I stayed there for six months until my pregnancy became too difficult for my working body. I gave notice and went on bed rest until Brayden was born two weeks later. Then when my son was ten months old my employer contacted me about returning as a Christmas Temp. I considered the idea and decided to go back to work for a few months. Now that I have been working for two months I can see myself working until such time as I don't need it anymore. I drifted back into this position and when I no longer have any use for it I will drift away.

Where am I headed? My long-term goals are consistent, that hasn't changed. But the means I use to get there change as my needs and my families needs change. And I think that is the true definition of freedom: the ability to adapt to one's circumstances without outside constraints.

I know this seems too deep for this blog, but just thought I'd share. If it's too thick, you can come over and try the fudge that I made in my very Susie Homemaker home.

Follow-up on previous posts

Just to follow-up on some of the happenings in our family:

I took Moira back down to Primary Children's to follow-up on her thumb surgery. It was not releasing like they said it would. The doctor took a look at it and concluded that they had failed to cut enough of the tendon to release her thumb. On the good side, most of her thumb has released and when she does "pop" it up it doesn't hurt her anymore. He explained the procedure like this: With children they have to use anaesthesia for obvious reasons and as such they can't check that they cut enough so they have to use their best judgement. If they cut too much it causes the thumb to not retract, so our result is of course the more desired of the two. Our options at this point? Make her use it until it loosens up and hope she grows through it. OR Have her go back into surgery to have the last little piece cut. He advised just waiting, so I'm going to go with that option. At some point down the road if we decide it's not working then he will go back in and do the surgery. He would rather not have to do it because then his track record of re-do's will double. (He's only had one out of the thousands of thumbs he's done.)

Adam is no longer calling-free. They put in a new Elder's Quorum Pres. last week (recalled the EQ Pres. from our dissolved ward--haha) and he called Adam as an instructor. Adam is happy because he prefers teaching to responsibility. All I can say is that the Quorum should be pretty happy now since they won't have to join the High Priests for lessons anymore. *SNORE* I guess it was pretty boring (there's a reason HP's are known for sleeping).

I stopped doing babysitting/daycare, too much stress on me and the kids. Sabrina was starting to have behavior problems again. I think she's extra-sensitive to stressors in her life. When I was working full-time and had the girls in day care she started stuttering pretty badly. When I quit and we took her out of daycare the stuttering stopped completely in two days. She hasn't been stuttering this time, but she was acting out pretty severely. So I had to quit something to refocus on managing and mothering her. I am still teaching piano and working swing-shift for the Postal Service. They are not time and attention intensive the way daycare is. And Adam does a great job taking care of the kids in the evenings.

We are excited about spending Christmas in Washington this year. We will probably drive up to my parents on Christmas Eve and stay for a week or so. Long enough to celebrate Sabrina's birthday and then come home.

Halloween 2008

Just a quick post so you can see our costumes for Halloween 2008.

Wendy made Brayden's spider costume and Moira's fairy costume. Sabrina was going to be a blue dog, but yesterday she decided she wanted to be Belle instead. They both got gobs of candy. We did the trunk-or-treat at the church again this year. They were very good about saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you." We were most happy about that. Wendy spent so much time working on the kids that she was not able to get into a costume. I wore my graduation cap and gown complete with my ropes and honors medal.

Adam

Everybody does it...at least once

We are so glad to have Annalyn staying with us for a couple weeks. We can hardly wait the next 6 years until we have a built-in babysitter in Sabrina. Until then, we take our chances. Wendy and I were able to go wander through the isles of Wal-Mart and the local grocery store on Saturday because of Annalyn's kindness. No good deed goes unpunished, though. When we got home Annalyn had just left the kids working on a craft project to get ready for work. None of us expected what we found. It only took about 30 seconds to discover that Moira had more crafts on her mind than cutting out paper robots.


In the couple minutes they were left alone, Moira decided she wanted to try her hand at hair styling. She grabbed a couple fist-fulls of hair and snip-snip gave herself a haircut at the kitchen table. She cut off about 6 inches on both sides of her head. I tried to muster up some kind of repremand, but it didn't look too bad to me. Wendy, on the other hand, did not think it was that good. I will let you be the judge.

See, you can hardly tell. Of course, if you look at her shoulder you can see the abrupt length change to her back. We were truly fortunate that she only cut the sides and not the oh-so-typical bangs. Wendy demanded that I call up our hair stylist and get an appointment ASAP. The gal we normally go to was not working on Saturday so I made an appointment for Monday night. That simply would not do for Wendy so I called and rescheduled for that day with anybody that was available.

Not too bad for a patch-job. You know what they say. The difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is about two weeks. Annalyn felt so bad that this happened on her watch, but all I could do was laugh. I mean, we are talking about a 3-year-old. After all, who hasn't tried to give themselves a little trim when they were that age. I know I did - the night before school pictures.

Adam

Back to da grind, mon!

In case you haven't noticed the economy is not doing so good. The prophet's counsel sounds better and better with each passing day. The mantra of living frugally, avoiding excessive debt, and saving for a rainy day is now being touted by society in general. In light of all this, I decided to go back to my old job at the REC Center in Salt Lake as a Christmas rehire. Just for a few months to pay off the car loan. The best part is that I choose my own schedule and I don't have to do all the overtime calls that are a nightly occurrence during the Christmas season due to the inordinately high mail volume. I told Adam today that I might even consider rehiring as a regular if they offer it to me in January. They pay really well, it's a low-stress job, and it's part-time. So, for the next two months I will be spending Mon-Thurs evenings sitting in a chair, staring at a computer screen, and typing away like a mad woman in a massive room that's eerily silent except for the clickety-clackety of 1500 keyboards. I know you're soooo jealous!

Music, again

I got a new calling on Sunday. Actually, they called and asked me Friday night and then I was sustained on Sunday. I'm the Primary pianist. I know you are all shocked that I was asked to do this; it came completely out of nowhere! I've only had music callings for the last 5 1/2 years, not like I could do anything else you know! Forgive me if I sound a little caustic. I'm sure Adam would be feeling this too if he was called into the Elder's Quorum Presidency for 5 1/2 years straight (in three different wards, too). I told my friend Malissa that I am content with serving wherever the Lord called me and that if that meant music callings until the day I died then I was OK with that. But I guess the reality is that I'm feeling a little taken for granted. I do have capacities other than music and I would like to serve and expand my abilities in other ways. And just because other people have dropped the ball on developing their talents and abilities does that mean I have to pick up the slack for the next 50 years. ???

When I was set apart the bishop made some comment about wishing he was musically talented. I kind of got on his case, and the rest of the bishopric too, and said that I hadn't met someone yet who didn't have the capacity to be musically gifted if they chose to apply themselves. The Lord has given us all the ability to do many things and if we, through our agency, choose not to develop those abilities into talents than we miss out on the blessings and also reap the consequences for our weak stewardship.

Sorry to get on my soapbox but I actually gave a talk about this in Sacrament meeting about four months ago. It is a correct principle. I feel very blessed to have had a mother and father who both loved music and played the piano, imbuing me with a love for the instrument. And I'm grateful that my mom continued to sign me up for teacher after teacher as I pushed my way through more and more difficult pieces until I have reached the point where I can serve in the church and not have it be a struggle for me. But I resent church members, and leaders especially, who appear to take it for granted that some people have "got it" (musical ability), and that if they just pray hard enough those people will appear in their ward and the problem is solved. What I have "got" is 25 years of blood (paper cuts), sweat, and tears (fighting about practicing) under my belt until I'm able to perform music with such apparent ease that a bishop has no qualms about calling me to three music callings at a time. Whatever happened to asking people to rise to the call and magnify their talents through the application of prayer, fasting, and hard work? I told the counselor who called me that I had no problem accepting the primary calling as long as they understood that I couldn't play the organ in Sacrament meeting too. I'm still a nursing mother and I need to feed Brayden during the block (11-2 pm). When I went to get set apart, the ward organist was standing outside the bishop's office and made some allusions to the fact that I would be playing the organ for him when he was not available. Adam was quick to remind him that it couldn't happen until my baby was weaned. Thank you Adam! But that didn't stop the bishopric from bringing up my service as a choir director and reminding me of the fact that they don't have a ward choir because they lacked one. I told them that when they found a choir director I would be happy to join the choir!

Now that I've vented I need to go repent of my pride and resentful feelings. But I won't be answering my phone until next year!

Winter is here. BLAH!!!!

Sunday morning I awoke and headed for the bathroom. (You all do it, don't deny it!) As I stumbled for the door I happened to notice that our back lawn was not the normal dark shadow it usually is at 7:30 in the morning. With a great sense of trepidation I pulled the curtain aside and gasped loud enough to wake Adam. He rolled over and said "oh, we got a lot of snow!". Even without his glasses he could see the 6 inches of powder piled up on the deck outside our bedroom. Now, if you guys know anything about me you'll know I hate winter, cold, snow, etc. About the only redeeming thing that can be said for the winter season is that it brings Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in quick succession. Not to mention Sabrina's and Brayden's birthdays. But other than those five things I would be perfectly content without that season. I think we should just eliminate it from our calendars. If I could live someplace that didn't have winter but also didn't get above 100 degrees in the summer I would think life was heaven. Unfortunately about the only place that exists is in Hawaii and the cost of living is too expensive to make it worth my while. Maybe when I'm rich someday (HA!) I'll have a winter condo in Hawaii and retreat there six months of the year. And I will of course invite all of you to come and stay!

By the way, just on the off chance that one of you achieve this first, don't forget that I would've invited you! So, return the favor! (Kind of)

New Ward

Last Sunday was the first time we met as a newly rearranged ward. I've got to back up a little bit. About three weeks ago our stake leaders held a meeting in which they reorganized our stake. They dissolved two of the nine wards and rearranged the remaining wards so that everybody experienced changes. Our ward happened to be chopped into four pieces with each piece going into a neighboring ward. Our bishopric was dissolved and we all got released from our callings with one fell swoop. It was a bit of a shock, but we knew it was needed. As long as we've been in this ward/stake we have noticed that there aren't enough active members to fulfill all the responsibilities of a full ward. I have had as many as three callings at one time. So I really appreciated the inspiration that prompted the change. Of course it is hard not having the convenience of seeing all my friends every Sunday, but I'm not using it as an excuse to never contact them again! The ward we combined with consists of mostly well-established families with older or high school age children. Whereas our neighborhood is mostly young families, so it will create a healthier blend.

So far I am calling-free, as is Adam. But we don't think that will last long. I'm sure they'll come up with something. Though I'm holding out for sacrament meeting greeter! Everybody seems really nice and it's reassuring that people are pretty much the same the world over. We all are trying to do the best we can with what we have. Testimonies sound pretty much the same in the new Springbrook Ward as they did in the old Country Lane Ward.

To prepare the kids for meeting new friends in their classes, we had them practice introducing themselves to others. "Hi, I'm Mo-wa. What's yor name?" etc, etc. After church Adam asked Sabrina to name one new friend she met at church. Her response? "My teacher, but I can't me-member her name." Technically, that was a correct response, but not what we expected.

One thing I'm looking forward to in my new ward? Not having to negotiate Brayden's lunch hunger-pangs around playing the organ in sacrament meeting. The stake music chair happens to be the ward organist! And he's thumping good too!!

Moira's Surgery

One of the waiting rooms at Primary Children's. There are murals EVERYWHERE. Even the ceiling tiles are painted so children on gurneys have something to look at.


Moira had her surgery yesterday and it went better than expected. We had plenty of time to get where we needed to be and lots of toys in the various waiting rooms. Brayden even found toys to play with that kept him busy. Moira knew she was there for surgery and informed everyone that her finger needed to be fixed. The nurses were sure to educate Moira on what was happening next so she would be comfortable.

Moira got to wear yellow scrubs for her surgery. We had talked with Moira about wearing a mask to help her breath. She was so excited about the mask that I think she may have forgotten what it was for. She had her choice of flavors: chocolate, raspberry, root beer, grape, cherry.... When the anesthesiologist listed off the flavors Wendy and I realized it was lunch time and we were hungry. A couple minutes later, Moira was walking down a hallway with the anesthesiologist talking about flavors and we were shut outside the doors. That was a very sad feeling of hopelessness. It gave us a taste of what the first day of school must be like for a parent. Moira had no fears about what was to happen next. She did great. The doctor came out in about half an hour and said everything went well. A few minutes later we got to visit her in the waiting room. By the time I got all of our gear rounded up Moira had already downed two full cups of apple juice. Considering that was all she had eaten in 18 hours it was no surprise to me.

Everyone at the hospital thought Moira was the most darling patient they had ever seen. I take that with a grain of salt because this is coming from workers at Primary Children's Hospital. I am sure they tell at least one parent a day how great their child is. At any rate, that place was wonderful. I have seen ant hills with less workers than what we saw there. We were personally greeted by no less than a dozen employees in the short 4 hours we were there. Not to mention the droves of other personnel there to assist them.

We were told that the digestive system is one of the last parts of the body to wake up from general anesthesia. Knowing that Moira has a 3-year-old's timing for potty breaks we kept asking her if she had to use the bathroom. She repeated again and again that she did not. Wouldn't you know it, we were in the car for 5 minutes and she hollered from the back seat that she HAD TO GO!! We pulled off at some tire place in downtown Salt Lake City (no woman's favorite bathroom spot) and Wendy ran Moira into the loo. Beyond that there were no incidents, although, we do think we saw a street walker and a guy that had just relieved himself against a wall. Not what we would have expected in SLC.

Today, Moira's thumb still looks like it is bent, but we think that might be that she is still cautious with it. The bandage comes off on Saturday and her stitches should dissolve after a couple weeks.

Moira's thumb & Brayden's fall

Tomorrow Moira is going to Primary Children's Medical Center in SLC to have her thumb fixed. She is very excited! She has a congenital trigger thumb. In English it means she has a burr or bump on the tendon that keeps getting stuck making it difficult and painful for her to extend her thumb fully. As a result she won't use her right hand for anything--coloring, eating, opening doors, etc. She has learned to compensate slightly but it's obvious that she's not left-handed. The procedure should be fairly quick and simple. I hope to not spend the whole day in the hospital!

Quick follow up on Brayden standing. Monday morning Adam and I were awoken by the sound of a loud "thump" followed by Brayden screaming. Adam went and picked him up off his bedroom floor where he had apparently launched himself after standing up in his crib. Since all of our kids have done this we weren't terribly concerned. But we did lower the crib that morning since Brayden can obviously stand on his own now. They grow up so fast!

Standing for the first time

Brayden started his army crawl on 4 September 2008 and on 27 September 2008 he stood up in his crib for the first time. We were fortunate enough to be taking a video of him crawling when he stood for the first time.

Today, we went outside for just about a minute to find Sabrina and when we had returned we found Brayden half-way down the stairs clinging on for dear life. That little boy has gone from bump on a log to fully mobile in about a month. He is adding to his "battle scars" daily.

We finding out that we need to baby proof our house more with Brayden than we ever had to with his sisters. The other day we found him munching on the leaves of a house plant. Not that he was hungry, it was just there so he started munching. This might be an example of what is meant when they say, "Boys will be boys."

Brayden

Brayden has broken his first tooth. Yeah! (or not, depending on which perspective you take). I'm still a yeah since it hasn't occurred to him to use me as a human teething ring. It is just barely through on the bottom front. I love this age because all their pictures look so cute/goofy. He has no idea the delights that await him with functioning teeth. Corn on the cob, a juicy steak, chocolate bars, etc. Wow, I'm making myself hungry!

This last weekend we bought a second booster seat for Moira and moved Brayden into her seat--a convertible carseat. He is now sandwiched in between his two sisters facing the back window. He loves it currently but give him 10 years and he will cringe at the mere thought of such a seating arrangement. Good thing those teeth are sheathed, huh!

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for me. . .

Speaking of canning, Sunday evening after dinner the girls wanted to go for a walk over to a friends house so we pulled out the double stroller and set off. On our way we passed by a home with a peach tree out front just loaded with peaches. Some had already fallen to the ground and had been mowed over. When we arrived at our friends I asked her about the neighbor's tree and she came with me to ask if I could have them. He readily offered them to whoever would take them and so we cleaned the tree off, only leaving the small and bird eaten ones. Once the kids were in bed we set to work bottling them. After two days of working on peaches we had 35 quarts! So excited about it I could barely sleep. I had wanted to do more peaches but couldn't afford the price to can them myself. However, free is always affordable! It is such a testimony builder to see that when we are committed to following the commandments the way is opened up for us to accomplish them. We are contributing to our food storage in earnest now. But even more important than that is that Adam and I are being good stewards of the abundance we've been blessed with. It always bugged me to see some of the stuff in our garden go to waste, but now I can say that we are preserving as much as possible.

Monday, just as I finished cleaning up my kitchen from the peaches, my neighbor called and offered a sackful of peppers to use to do salsa. Wow more food! I already have the tomatoes and onions in my garden, now I just need to add garlic, cilantro, and jalapenos. I love this time of year! Food everywhere. I do love food. If only there was a way to hurry up the tomato ripening process, but no. Fortunately, the weather is optimal for ripening, a blissful 84 degrees. Perfect.

I also need to harvest all my basil and make pesto sauce. Mom said that you can freeze pesto. Great! Now I can have pesto all winter long.

Green Beans, Peaches, Tomatoes, and Rhubarb

It has been a busy past couple weeks as we have been trying to cram as much fresh produce into canning bottles as we have time for. Today we processed a few jars of green beans (4 pints), stewed tomatoes (5 pints), spaghetti sauce (12 pints), and rhubarb (17 quarts); all from our own garden. We didn't set out to do so much today. We got started and thought, "While we are doing this, let's see if we can do that." And the result was a warm house, hungry kids, and two worn out 30-somethings.

A couple weeks ago a neighbor friend of ours called up and said, "My peaches are falling off the tree. Come get as many as you want." We loaded up the kids, as many grocery bags as we had, a box or two and headed over to glean. We took every last peach off of her tree. They had not been thinned this year because of various reasons and as such the fruit looked more like large apricots than peaches. We didn't mind, the last price we saw for fresh peaches was $21/half bushel. Talk about your price increases! Four years ago you could get the same peaches for $8/half bushel.

We brought home about the peaches and set right to work on canning the first batch. After it was all done we ended up with about 20 pints of yummy peaches. Now, you might be thinking, "I can go buy these things for less effort than what it takes to can them myself." You are probably right. However, there is a sense of pride in knowing you have accomplished something most won't even attempt anymore, no matter how small the deed.

Adam

36 Minutes 12 Seconds

We are so proud of Wendy! She completed her first 5K run in over 10 years. (probably closer to 15) It was a good experience for her. She was able to start the race with a bunch of friends. Of course, as with any race it doesn't take long to get separated by a stride or two. By the time I was able to get the kids to the race she had finished already. So much for taking 45 minutes!! So we missed the big finish, but we were there to help congratulate all of our friends as they handed out awards.

She finished in a time of 36 minutes 12 seconds. Considering that the course was uphill for the last mile and a quarter and that her treadmill time is closer to 45 minutes that is really good. Her only complaint was that some of the other racers (one in particular) had such an irregular pace and their breathing sounded like a semi-truck gearing down that Wendy had to focus hard to keep her own rhythm. Wendy was undaunted and insists that since she can beat a male police officer "semi-truck" she will keep training for more races. Good for her!! She is setting a great example for her kids.

Adam

It's official

It's official. I have paid my dues and am now registered for my first 5K race. I'm nervous to say the least! I have been working out consistently for 6 weeks now and would like to say that I can run 3.1 miles in twenty minutes or less. But, no. Try doubling that number. My friend Joanie convinced me to do it (easy for her to say she ran a marathon when her twins were 6 months old!) I figured it's now or never. And I really want to run a half-marathon before the year is over so I have to start somewhere. I do have a goal for myself: I have to finish in 45 minutes or less because Brayden wakes up at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast, which is me. Race starts at 7:00 a.m. Finish by 7:45 a.m. Rush home to nurse baby at 8:00 a.m. A mother's work is never done. I would like to have Adam there to watch me, but unless we can convince someone to watch our kids on a Saturday morning at 7 a.m. it's not happening. Who knows, maybe by the time I'm ready to try a half-Ironman my kids will be old enough to watch themselves and Adam can come cheer me on. One can always dream, right?

Other news: Brayden had his 6 month checkup two weeks ago. He is 19.5 pounds and 28 inches long. BIG KID!! We attended my mother's family's reunion (Sampson family) and compared him to my cousins children that were around the same age. He dwarfed them all. And not by a little bit, either. We are proud, but our arms are sore from hauling him around. Brayden has also discovered his voice and YELLS and SCREAMS a lot. It makes my throat sore just listening to him.

Sabrina is learning to read and write. My mom started us on the program that she teaches: The Writing Road to Reading. It's a phonics-based program which I'm totally impressed with. My little 4 year old can read simple books and is learning to identify more complex combined sounds and recite the rule for each one. I'm enrolling her in Pre-school this fall.

Moira is the great middle child. Happy, funny, sweet, content. She's delightful and wonderful. Currently she enjoys chasing Sabrina around the house and playing with Brayden. Her third birthday is coming up in August and as per our tradition we're going to do a huge party for her. She is so excited and talks about it constantly: "pink cake with pink fwosting and white letters and white frowers". Maybe she'll be an event planner someday. I'm thinking a super-hero theme, that would be fun! Then we could have a slip-n-slide in the backyard and have them practice their super hero flying on it! OOOOH, good idea!

Right now Adam and I are losing weight. I, because I burn a ton of calories every day through exercise and nursing and still eat light; Adam, because he eats watermelon for breakfast, cucumbers for lunch, sensible dinner, and no snacking after 8 o'clock. We both have goals that we're shooting for, he will probably meet his before I meet mine because he has less to lose AND men lose weight more easily than women. GRRRRR. But he's very encouraging, especially with my gym membership and getting out of bed in the morning at 6 a.m., which has proven to be more difficult than I thought. Will update the blog on this topic as noteworthy milestones are achieved.

What's in a name?

I have been teaching Moira her parents names in case of an emergency. Initially it was pretty rough going: "Damn Jay Bowers". But now she has Adam's name down: Adam Jay Bowers. My name has proved a little more difficult. Every time I ask her my name Moira says:

"Wendy Bowers Awesome."

No joke.

When she was learning and would say my name right I would respond with an enthusiastic "Awesome". Somehow she must have thought that I was correcting her rather than cheering her on. But since the name seems very appropriate to me (what mother wouldn't agree, I ask you!) I have allowed the name to stick!

Maybe by the time she starts school I'll fix it, until then I will enjoy my sweet toddler calling me awesome every time she says my name!

Grandma's visit

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Adam's mother came for a visit last weekend. We always enjoy having her and the kids LOVE it! They won't leave her alone. She told me she tried to escape to the guest room in the basement but they followed her downstairs anyway. On Saturday we all went to lunch at Chuck-a-rama for Father's day. Apparently it's the favorite lunch spot for the Senior community. All the grandmas and grandpas oohed and aahed over our kids. They are pretty charming. I'm sure Adam's mom was busting her buttons with pride. Afterwards we went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Pretty cool! The kids loved the robotic T-rex battling with the Triceratops and her two babies. Sabrina wants to go back and see the "robot dinosaur with the spikes". (a.k.a. Triceratops) They also loved walking through the acres of park with the huge replicas of dinosaurs. Some were even fighting and killing and eating their prey. The sound effects creeped them out a little bit. I imagined myself experiencing the "Land of the Lost" as I wandered through the underbrush hearing dinosaur roars just over the next hill. Surreal! We had a lot of fun despite the mild heat exhaustion we experienced.

Camping trip

We went camping last weekend with our friends the Atkinsons up at her family's cabin. Very rustic conditions, no running water or heat. And it rained half the time. But the kids had a GREAT time! They loved it and begged us to come back soon. They even dealt with the outhouse situation OK. (And Moira is still potty-training, now that's miraculous!) The cabin is right next to a small river so Adam and Greg Atkinson went fly-fishing to their hearts content. They both caught fish, but Adam accidentally released Greg's fish and out of penance subsequently released his own because he felt so bad. Guys--sheesh.

Meantime the girls--Sabrina, Moira, and the Atkinsons two oldest girls went wandering around the property (a couple of heavily wooded fenced acres) and scared themselves by imagining a bear coming out of the trees. I had just walked out of the cabin to check on them when I heard them shrieking at the opposite side of a large grassy area. I saw Ellie (5) and Abby (3) running towards me and doing that make-believe screaming (any mom can tell the difference) followed by Sabrina (4) who was actually screaming. And trailing significantly was Moira (2) who by this time was screaming and crying in earnest, looking behind her and fully-expecting a bear to come lumbering out of the trees. The poor kid was hysterical! I was expecting one too based on their behavior and raced to get Moira. And as I was running back to the cabin carrying her I scolded the other three about leaving her in the dust while they ran for their lives. We all calmed down enough to realize that Ellie had been pretending and fueled by Abby and Sabrina had started running and screaming, thus creating a real crisis in everyone's mind. Hilarious. I'm just glad there wasn't a real bear. I'm not sure how I would have handled that one.

Gardening

We bought our house nearly 3 years ago at which time the flower beds were masses of grass and weeds and the lawn was the shade of ripe wheat--dead, dead, dead. Now, 3 years later, I am finally planting flowers everywhere. We went to the nursery today and filled our car with annuals and perenials. Sure love that "stimulus package" check.