Padding the Resume

I just added a new line to my mom resume - bike riding instructor.  It's a very proud moment for me.  I figure I've already done this two times with the older girls but it wasn't a moment that stands out. Mason on the other hand.......it was a process.  We've worked with this guy for a long time with no desire.  I probably should have given up because his lack of desire wasn't getting us anywhere.   He's the most content, laid back kid and riding a bike was not worth his effort.  The rest of us love to go on bike rides as a family and at 6 years old, I just couldn't pull him in that bike trailer any more, for his pride and mine.  While Chris was out of town I got the wild idea to do this.  It was practice every morning with the incentive of having some Wii screen time everyday he didn't complain or cry.  The added bonus was 3 donuts on Friday if he'd mastered it.  At the point we were at I would have probably offered a full dozen.  It was just enough incentive because he had the biggest and best show and tell for his dad when he got back.  The girls were the best cheerleaders and we were all so happy at his success.  

Ready

Set

Go!!!!!

Long Distance Relationships

Here is how our nights go down while Chris is away.  We can't get Skype or FaceTime to work so it's texting pictures back and forth while on speaker phone.  Not quite modern technology but better than nothing.

"Here is what I look like right now"

"Here is what we look like right now"

Today we had a few sad injuries to report on too. :-(  Poor Mallory.  First she fell and chin planted into some wood chips at the park.  Then she was running down the sidewalk and fell and skinned her knee. She likes to refer to it as her "blood."  "My blood hurts, don't touch my blood, my blood's getting wet, etc."

After all the details of the day are shared, we read scriptures, say family prayers on speakerphone and all say our goodnights.  Three more days to go - we're over half way!  

Grown-Ups Club

Chris and I have been together for 14 awesome years.  Sunday was a first for us.  He left on a 7day business trip.  I think we're real grown-ups now.  Prior to that he'd only gone on overnight adventures for work.  It seems everyone else's husbands travel for business regularly so I probably shouldn't be so wimpy or complain about the whole thing.  I texted Amy who's an expert in the subject for advice.  She told me to sleep in the middle of the bed, park in the middle of the garage and have pancakes for dinner.  Making lemonade out of lemons.  I'm used to long hours, so it's not even his help that I want - except he's an awesome helper when available- I just love having him close, knowing he's close and being able to share the details of the day during pillow talk.  Absent makes the heart grow fonder - and I was already especially fond of the catch I caught 14 years ago.

The Great Getaway 2012

We're back from our amazing 2012 summer vacation.  We had an amazing time with so many friends and family.  We were so spoiled by those we love.  The night we got back we were all hungry and wondering who was going to do anything about it.  The whole time away of being fed and entertained by everyone else kind of made me forget all about being a responsible adult.  Our life is good!!  So many times while I was away I had to stop and take in the awesome moments, the scenery, the people, the places that are a part of who I am and it makes my life good.  Being back in Idaho Falls is always a blast from the past.  Southeast Idaho is part of who are family is.

Here's a few numbers from the trip

Miles driven: 3500
Hours in the car: 60
Different Sleeping Locations: 7
Days gone: 18
Siblings visited: 7
Cousins visited: 26
Friend reunions: 8

Things I think about when I think back on the trip:
Road trip, pizza party, POPS, movies, hiking, beautiful scenery, sleepovers, Ricks College, running through campus, seeing family, Mrs. Powells cinnamon rolls, Gringos, Rexburg Rapids, Bear World, Red White and Pork, the parade, Reeds Dairy, the miracle of the burgers, fireworks, friend reunion with Sushi, girls lunch at Great Harvest, Pizza Pie Cafe, family talent show, Dad's magic show, Tate's b-day, hanging out at Angey's, Roaring Springs, Bounce, DK's delicious BBQ, Amy's homemade yummy dinners, Ticket to Ride, Clue, Halli's birthday, all the sugar cereal you can eat, the Lion House Pantry, temple square, Alisa's, Chris seeing Marshall and Jaren, just dance, visiting Brooke, Tera, Rochelle, McKenzi, Sarah, and Alisa, Heber City, Arches, 4 Corners rain storm,

COLORADO:

Horse Tooth Falls

Our first stop was Eaton, CO to visit Mike and Brandii in their new home.  We were so excited when they moved from California.  Living so far away for so long made 900 miles seem pretty close.  It was so fun to have a stopping point that wasn't a hotel and hang out with family.  Chris had been training the kids all summer for a "hike".  We found a trail, Horsetooth Falls, just out of Fort Collins and had our first family hike.  It was the first of three hikes that we took on our trip.  It was hot, really hot, really really hot!

REXBUG:

At the Gardens

After a few days we caravanned up to Rexburg with Mike and Brandii.  Spencer and Allison's family's  were already there and the reunion festivities began.  We re-visited our past and let the kids see the College and Richards old office and building.  Between Chris's family who grew up there and Brandii and I who went to school there, I think we had a story for every building on campus. 

Mason teaching us some of his wisdom

There were sleepovers, and adult talk time a plenty.  The very late nights, night after night, lasted the whole vacation.  Monday morning Stu's family arrived.  We hit the new Rexburg  water park, and a nostalgic dinner at Gringos that night. Tuesday we hiked R mountain.  There were quite a few of us on the trail.

At the top of R mountain. 

  We went down to IF where the boys saw a movie and the girls went to the salon for pedicures.  Chris and the kids also got to stop by Richard's cemetery.  We went to Bear World that night which was so awesome.  For years I've driven past, never bothering to stop.  I really was missing out.  I loved seeing the bears and wildlife and we had the park to ourselves, including the cute amusement park rides.

IDAHO FALLS:

The height train - maybe a new tradition

This family's got talent

There's no place like home, especially for the 4th of July.  The tradition of Angey's Red, White and Pork breakfast continues!  Then the usual, parade, Reed's Dairy ice cream, (where you can personally thank up close the very cows who made the ice cream so delicious), BBQ then the Melaleuca Freedom Festival.  We forgot to take our radios which was a bummer but the fireworks were still great.

The next day the grown ups had fun playing games while the kids were entertained by Tom and Jerry.  Everyone was happy so nobody complained. :).  We had an awesome family talent show that night.  One big regret of the trip is that nobody recorded the fine display of talent - and there were some amazing acts!!! Some favorites were, Lance and Chris's mini man duo, the Toody Show, Jimmy Hot Fudge's Bench, the invisible bench, Charlotte playing the piano to a strobe light effect thanks to Mal, and Mason and Rozlyn's giant hungry worm skit just to name a few.

TABLE ROCK HIKE:

On Friday Chris, Tate and Derek woke up early and headed up for a big hike.  They were supposed to go on Thursday, the weather looked horrible on the mountain.  The phones were checked a million times hoping the news would improve.  The guys were optimistic and packed up there stuff the night before to be ready - the packing was a great memory.  Everything after midnight is usually funny - including packing for a hike. Who knew?  Anyway, Thursday morning they woke up, got dressed, checked the weather, saw the severe weather warning, felt sad for 2 seconds and went back to bed.  There are some amazing pictures that capture the hiking day.  It makes me a little jealous that I had to miss out this time.

SATURDAY:
If we could erase a day from the vacay, this would be the day.  It was bad, really bad.  The morning started with Mallory throwing up.  It happened to be right before Chris was leaving to go back to Dallas for work.  The timing seemed more then unfair.  I wasn't looking forward to being the nurse in someone else's house and we thought about just throwing the stuff in the car and driving back together. I decided to be a big kid and not freak.  More throw up followed (including at Wal-Mart and all over her carseat).  Angey was so nice to let us hang out, while we cleaned things up and Mallory rested.  We got to celebrate Tate's b-day especially with Angey's cooking - yummy.
Chris had his own bad luck. He was sad to leave us in our condition.  He then had a delayed flight, boarded, de-boarded, waited, re-boarded, took off, flew around for a few hours only to to return to SLC.  His flight was then delayed again and finally cancelled.  He had to find a hotel, and didn't get back until the next day.  He missed church, which was the point of going back on Saturday and missed being with us.  Worst day.

BOISE:
More sleepovers, more delicious food, 2 days of water parks, late nights of games.  I loved being in Boise.  I loved all the cousin time that my kids had.  I loved sleeping in and relaxing and not having any big to-do on the schedule.  I loved spending more time with my sister who came down and sister-in-laws.  I love them all.  I'm so happy I had that week.  We split up our time between Derek and Lance's house.  The only sad part was no Chris, I feel bad that he had to be home working while we were playing.  We got to have a mini surprise party for Halli, her birthday was only a few days away and when do we ever get to celebrate cousins birthdays, never.  So we did and it was awesome.

UTAH:
On my journey back to Utah we got to stop in and see some old friends.  It was great.  That night we met up with one of my first neighbors from BYU and had a mini reunion.  It was so good to see Alisa - being around her and at her home made me feel so happy.  The bad news/good news was that before we even made it inside Mason threw up-on her doorstep.  Literally.  I was ready to put the kids back in the car.  We put him on a hammock instead and still had a great night.  While his timing was horrible, had it been 5 min earlier, there's no way I would have gone.  I'm so glad I got that visit in.

The next day Chris flew back!!!  I took the kids to the Humanitarian Center and then we got Chris and walked around City Creek, spent time at Temple Square and ate at one of favorite places, The Lion House.  We then headed up to join my dad's family for his reunion in Heber City, UT.  It had been awhile since I'd seen those cousins and that part of the family so the reunion was needed and great.  We all reminisced about our favorite memories of growing up and Grandma and Grandpa Morris.  I'm sure they were smiling up above.

Freezing cold in Heber City

DESTINATION ALLEN:
After 16 days away we started our journey back.  We went through Arches National Park, went on a mini hike and got awesome pictures.  We then went to see the 4 Corner Monument and took the necessary photo to prove we were there.  We had to get drenched in the rain to do so, but we did it.  We drove out of the way to see it so we had to see it, torrential down pour and all.  We waited for a while for a little bit a clearing then went for it.  It was a muddy mess, but we can check it off our list now.

Whatever effort was put into planning and carrying out this trip was so worth it.  We've made countless and awesome memories with so many people that won't be forgotten.  I could make a huge book with all the pictures taken and I might.  I just wanted to capture the moments so I'd always have them with me and for my kids.

Tiger Shark Alert

 These two crazies are at it again. 

It was hot and they'd been waiting in line a long time for team pictures.  That's the only excuse I've got for Mason's face

 Which means we committed ourselves to wake everyone up at 7:00 am, everyday of summer, again.  Charlotte took the year off, she felt like she was getting two old :-(.  At first I was sad that my arguments didn't persuade her to stay on the team.  Then I realized what an amazing helper and entertainer she is and how helpful she could be with Mallory.  Suddenly I was supportive of her idea.

!!!GO TIGER SHARKS!!!

Jam Day!

It was an 18 container kind of jam making day around here. I guess we'll be doing it again in a few days because according to Roz's calculations, this will only get us through the winter. We definitely don't want a jam famine next spring. We love our raspberry jam.
It still pains me just a little that we have to buy raspberries here while they're falling off the bushes in Rexburg. Chris actually proposed one poor summer that I walked around at the international folk dance festival and sell them. .......
Now every summer when they go on sale they start shaking when I go shopping because they know there defenseless against me and my jam making.
Once you do freezer jam- its the only way to do jam.

Intervention

Fathers day is right around the corner so naturally Chris and I have the conversation about his wish list. He is a really easy guy to please. The requests were,
1. A new faucet, that a plumber installs. The main message being that he wants a new faucet but doesn't want to install it. Good enough, he deserves it.
2. New dress socks....................

New dress socks. So I argue he has far too many already, that his take up one entire drawer!!!! We're not even talking about white athletic socks. I argue that he has a 6 week supply without even having to do the wash once. Since I'm a good wife and he's the best father, I compromise that if he'll get rid of some, we'll get some new ones. Here's what he came up with.  I got home from my workout this morning to find this arrangement.





The sweet guy woke up at 6:00am to line up and organize his socks.  He loves his dress socks!  The front row are the keepers, the back row are the tossers. He sorted them by color, brown, blue, green, black and gray. He's figured out that he needs 4 of each color, so I'll be shopping for a brown, green and gray pair this week. That leaves us with 25 pairs that don't meet his standard. When is my next white elephant party, I just had an awesome idea.
If I had to choose and addiction that my husband would struggle with, dress socks probably would be near the top of the list so I guess I shouldn't complain and just be grateful for how good I've got it.
To be funny I sent him this validating text this morning. His reply is priceless.

I guess at times it was rough growing up with 4 boys.  

SCHOOLS OUT FOR THE SUMMER

This is what I heard last Thursday as I pulled up to pick my kids for the last time this year.  Yes, good ole Alice Cooper's hit made it to Green Elementary and was blasting from the PA system at dismissal.  Reason number 1000+++ why I love my kids school, it's just such a fun place to be.
Since our goal for the home improvements was the last day of school we filled our days to the max so we wouldn't have to be home with the workers, the noise, the dust and NO AC.  Yes, no AC in Texas, ouch - they turn off the units while the work so that dust doesn't circulate through the house.
So here are some of our entertaining events in no particular order.

Mallory and Mason went to swim lessons every day for a two week session.  We are a floaty free family.  

One of our eating out extravaganzas.  I just counted over 50 missed meals in our kitchen over the last three weeks.  The thought makes me throw up.  

Charlotte's harp recital.  She played "The Grenadier and the Lady".  

The proud family with our "Superior" Charlotte.  She was judged and received a score of  1 - the highest!  

Hoarders alert - all the big furniture is in our garage, everything else is in our bedroom.   

End of the year class party

End of the year class party.  Rozlyn doesn't have a picture because I was party mom for the 5th grade at the same time.  This party also marks my resignation from being a party mom.  

Discovering Rolli-Polli- villages.

Doing extra pages in a math workbook for fun.  The teachers sent home extra workbooks, Mason's goal was to do one a day.  Weird.  

Loving rolli-polli's.

More eating out. Blah.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.  WOOHOO!!!!

The forecast for the last day.  In Texas.  Also weird.  

End of the year teacher gifts.  Between my four kids we had 8 teachers - that was a lot to be appreciative of, and we really were!  

Mrs. Courtney

Mrs. Thomas

Mrs. Love

We have no picture of Charlotte with Mrs. Srader.  After the final bell rang, I heard what sounded like a buffalo stampede by the doors.  All 100 5th graders came charging out, full speed, in a line, yelling at the top of their lungs.  They didn't stop running until they were long gone.  I had to load up the family in the mini van and go catch her to take her home.
I've never been more excited, or ready, as I was this year for summer.  Here's to making it our best one yet.