Doing the Duty

 Here I go, here I go, here I go again - I'm sure I said I wouldn't do this again.  I was persuaded to take on membership this year.  With Mallory gone three days a week I felt like it was doable and a little bit of my duty with my extra time and three kids in that school.  I hardly do anything or ever volunteer.  I'm dead weight:-).  Time to do my fair share.  I saw the printed out board roster - Third VP - Rainie Graham - it sounds fancy to me.
Here is what makes PTA so much better then it sounds - working with these amazing ladies!!!!!  Here we were decked out in our Green gear at Back to School Night.

See, the job doesn't look so terrible.  

I think this must be my "You know you wanna join" face.  

Here was my handy work of a bulletin board.  Teaching elementary school might be alright, coming up with bulletin boards - not so much.  However, I love how it turned out.  Our school has an All-Star sports theme this year.  Those are scoreboards - even if students told me they looked like robots.  The home score will be how many from the class have joined, the visitor score is how many are left to join.  

Reading Rewards

Since we all love our free time in the summer to read and relax, we thought we should reward ourselves.  I actually thought it would be fun to see how much we actually read.  We made a goal at the beginning of summer, our family number was 100!!!  My personal contribution was 4 books, Chris was supposed to contribute 2:-)  I don't think we even pulled that off but the kids made up for it and more.  I think we finished it the first week of August.  We rewarded ourselves ever 25 books. 1-25: Bowling, 26-50: Frisco Aquatic Center, 51-75: Pie Eating Contest and 76-100: Magic Time Machine.

I don't have pictures from all of our rewards but here is Charlotte - so proud of herself for making our pies:-).

And here is the whole family enjoying them.

R squared

My new school clothes are in.

  I can't wait to wear them with my fancy custom made button from awesome friends

driving my awesome mini van with my Mitt decals, looking at the awesome Romney/Ryan yard sign as  I drive by.  

Flashback election 2008.  I love the good ole USA, I'm very patriotic, I'm easily offended (to much) by those who are aren't but chose to live here anyway.  I'm so grateful for our democratic process and the right to vote - so grateful - so much that sometimes I tear up in the voting line and booth. True Story.  So when I had to make a choice between McCain and Obama it kind of hurt. When they were both chosen as the nominees,  it kind of hurt, when they both chose their VP's - that's when things got crazy.   Palin and Biden - are you kidding.  

Fast forward to 2012.  My heart belongs to Mitt.  We call him Mittens at our place, he's on our fridge, his family's Christmas Card was on my wall, and then it became clear that he'd be the nominee.  Jubilation.  Then he chose Paul Ryan as his VP.  It was a happy day at our place.  If only the majority of the country felt the same way about it as I do.  

I'm so thankful for all the loud vocal people who are fighting so hard for him on his behalf to get to him elected and restore America to it's greatness the founders envisioned.  Will they be successful - who knows, realistically, probably not.  :-(.  There's enough people that benefit from government programs and assistance that would never vote for someone who wants to cut and reduce government spending.  I get it. I'm just so excited to have someone who I believe would be an amazing president, with an amazing resume and character to back him up, to vote for.  It's the democratic process and I'm grateful for it.

P.S. I also have a huge girl crush, huge, on Ann Romney.  Love, love, love her.  

P.S.S.  I love Barack and Michelle too!!  I think they would make great couple friends, they're just cool people, I can see the four of us hanging out.  It's just when it comes to leading our country I have to pick policy over personality.  Mitt for Pres. .....Barack for my neighbor:-.  

Houston

Six years ago, Chris and I packed up the last of our belongings, left secret treasures with the kids in hidden corners of their rooms, and drove down South Brenton Knoll for the last time as residents.  Then I cried and cried and cried.  If I had been at the wheel I might have turned us around. 

Houston was our first home away from home.  Provo was a 4 hour drive from "home". The perfect distance for blessings and baptisms and birthdays but far enough to be our own.  When we first got to Houston, our expectations were very low.  We had only heard horrible stories, where the adjective of armpit was used a lot.  Yet we were excited to go off and do our thing, it was sure to be a temporary adventure.  I guess a good lesson to learn was that when you have low expectations, they're usually exceeded and ours definitely were.  We fell in love with our Houston life.  It was our first home, our first job, our first family ward, first paycheck, etc.  

So when we left, it was with every intention that we would come back a lot, every month, every few months, every weekend:-).  Not every 5 years.  That's what happened.  We waited one year to go back.  I really struggled our first year in Dallas, it would have been to hard, and to soon.  Then fast forward life and schedules and vacations and 5 years have past.  

With a few weeks left of summer I decided to take the kids.  Chris was working and couldn't make the adventure.  As I drove through our old neighborhood, I was beaming from ear to ear - sometimes even laughing.  It was pure happiness to look back and remember the good ole days, simpler days, one car stuck at home kind of days.  

The house:  I still remember knocking over the "available sign" in the front yard and thinking, am I really this lucky that I get this house.  It was so fun to make that house a home, throw our personality into it and start the decorating experiments.   Mallory never lived here but how could I kick her out of the picture.   

My two Houston babies in front of the hospital.   

The beautiful Houston temple.  I remember packed session, I mean jam packed, on our ward temple nights.  If you got there late, you'd have to do sealings - also packed with other ward members who came late.  We were all so young and enthused and committed.   

Friends:  Here are just a few of the favorites.  It was so fun to see some old friends.  I don't think 6 years have passed because this is exactly how I remember everyone.  When I first met this group below there were 8 kids between the 5 of us.  Ten years later there are 25!!!  Four hours together is all we got, but their goodness is contagious, and I left happy with my tank filled.  

Our -way to quick of a visit- with the Berry family that we love.  Sarah was such a sweet friend to me when I lived there - I just love this family so much.   

Speaking of - way to quick of a visit- the whole trip was.  There wasn't enough time to see everyone.  We would have loved to have stayed the weekend and gone to church.  Next time - it won't be 5 years away.  

I'm so sad that I have no pictures of our friends, the Hawkins, who were so kind to let us crash at their new house, keep their family up late and eat their food.  They're more friends that might as well be family - we had our own late parents night, laughing at all the best you tube videos we could find.  It was so great.  

2012 London Games

We get a little excited about the Olympics around here.  Over the past few weeks we've slept very little as we find ourselves glued to the tube and Bob Costas giving us our prime time updates.  I've cried through lots of victories and medal ceremonies.  One morning I was catching some of the previous nights events.  Of course I tear up - I turned to Charlotte and said I've got to turn the Olympics off and get myself together (we had friends on their way over).  Some of my my favorite athletes of the games in no particular order were the amputee runner from South Africa - amazing and inspiring, Gabby Douglass who won the all around gold, Jordyn Weiber who didn't qualify for the women's all around gymnastic competition but was the most sportsmanlike team mate, smiling and cheering through it all, Michael Phelps's mom :-), and Misty and Kerri the three time Olympic Gold Medalists. My favorite was definitely the new rising swimming star - Missy Franklin.  Her personality was gold!  She was always so humble, and showed so much gratitude.
This was our pre olympic craft - some olympic ring headbands.  I think we made a total of eight.  Rozlyn was quite the crafter.

This is what Olympic fans eat for the breakfast on the morning of the Opening Ceremonies.   

This is what Olympic Fans eat for dinner who wish they were watching the games live in London and not on their TV in America.  Roast beef and potatoes, yorkshire pudding and Olympic Ring mini cheesecakes.  

Snuggling up ready to watch the Opening Ceremonies.  I loved them.  They were so impressive, from the James Bond skit with the Queen skydiving, to "Mr. Beans" orchestra/Chariots of Fire moment, J.K. Rowling, Mary Poppins, Paul McCartney, David Beckham, etc. - I loved it all.  

This was a sign of what was to come.  This is how we were found many a nights watching the Olympics when we just couldn't keep our eyes open for another moment.   

Last night we had some friends from Chris's work, the Hamiltons and Stevens, come over for some of our own Allen Olympics.  

Maren showing off her archery skills.  

The Graham's rhythmic dancing.   

The cute medals at stake.  Gold, Silver and Bronze.  

There was also the javelin throw and some horseback riding but I was to busy watching to get pictures.   It was only fitting that the home team would win gold.  We're so proud.  

The Hamilton's had a Makayla Maroney moment:( (the silver medalist on the vault).   

Tonight are the closing ceremonies.  Also tonight....... the countdown to Rio 2016 will also start.  

NSAI Olympics 2012

Chris's company work party might make the top 5 list for summer fun.  The kids love it!! Petting zoo's, rock climbing walls, unlimited soda, snow cones, popcorn and dessert, crafts, face painting, bounce houses, playground, water balloons and the list goes on.  This years theme was the Olympics and even in the 100+++ heat we had a great time.  If Chris tries to make a career change our kids might protest.   

The petting zoo:  Charlotte and Mallory LOVE it!  Rozlyn tolerates it and Mason and I hang out in the corner watching.   

The rock climbing wall.  The kids all did it, even Mallory.  Once was enough for Rozlyn and Mallory but Mason and Charlotte did it 3-4 more times.   

They had a fun kids playground. 

Face painting at it's finest.  I posted Mason's face painting picture onto Facebook and my friend commented that Mason looked like mini Chris - haha. Mason came up with this on his own.  There were no examples of it, he hadn't seen a picture of it he just climbed up in that chair and said I want side burns, a mustache, a beard and some glasses.  The artist worked her magic.  

Mall received a special invite to be an honorary member of her siblings mustache club.  

Crafting corner - go ahead kids, go crazy - all the glue, glitter, sand art and paint you can handle - and it wasn't in my kitchen or at my table - perfect!

Creepy hand torch centerpieces with the Olympics on the big screen in the background.  

Olympic relays.

Mustache enhanced egg toss.  

It was a great night.  I remember the little details of my dad's company parties as a kid, the games, the food, the prizes that I sometimes won, and I think it's so fun that my kids get to have the same experience.  It was a late night getting home, followed by showers and face paint cleaning to be up and ready to go for our 9:00am church the next day.  It was totally worth it!  

Options

Mallory always cracks us up with the way she thinks and the things she says.  At church on Sunday we were looking at a reverent book during the sacrament that showed Jesus on the cross.  She looked at me very seriously and said "Mom, I don't' want to die on the cross".  I tried to reassure her that she would not.  You could see the wheels turning in her head as she turned to me and said, "give me my other options".  How do you respond to that?  I love conversations with a 3 year old.

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.