Lelu Turns 11 very Quietly

Just a family party this year and her school has a new policy of not letting us bring in treats for birthday's BUMMER! B got her up at 6:30 am to go to IHop. She wanted to go to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner where we met up with Michelle T. We went back home to meet Aub after work for cake. I am at heart a party planner but there's something to be said for being "just with the family". It makes a mom feel all warm inside.

School Year 08/09 Begins

We got back from Lake Powell Saturday night, B & I gave talks in Sacrament meeting on Sunday (after preparing them that morning), and the kids all started school on Monday. I always say I can't believe how fast the summer went - but I blinked and it was gone. It's been nice this week to actually decompress and enjoy my home a little. Next week starts all the extracurricular stuff and I put on the hat of 'taxi mom'. Just 4 1/2 short months until I have a second driver. Yeah!

Ari Enjoyed Catching Lizards The Most! Mr. T Loved Everything!

It's just too bad that we sold the lizard cage at my garage sale. I am SO SAD because I just love keeping lizards;)

Mr. T kneeboarded, tried wakeboarding, cliff jumped off of the highest cliffs he could, wanted to go as fast as possible on the wave runner, paddled on kayaks, cried his eyes out that he couldn't do the big boy zip line - I think we've got a real dare devil on our hands

Lelu Gets Up on the Wakeboard! B loses his shorts! D the 3 minute tube Champion!

We saw the competitiveness of Lelu come out a bit on this trip. Once she saw Whitney (who's 9) get up, she was braver to try and then so proud when she got up. She also wasn't too fond of going fast on the waverunner until we were racing her "BFF Morgan" and her mom. Hitting the wakes and catching air was great fun for us together. She made lots of use of the slide off the back of the boat.

D was learning how to jump the wake and getting quite good, he was also the insane tube rider-challenging again to knock him off in a minute - he found a great strategy and it actually took 3 minutes to dump him. It took exactly one big bump to teach me I am not fit to ride the tube.

B was up early skiing pretty much every morning, he attempted the wakeboard but didn't quite master it - he body surfed off the back of the boat and managed to LOSE HIS FAVORITE SHORTS to the bottom of Lake Powell. (Good thing he had some whitey-tighties on or it could have been awkward)

Lake Powell - Now We Know What all the Fuss Is All About!

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE THE ZIP LINE

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This is the zip line for the "Adult & Teenage Male Thrill Seekers". There were thrill seekers all over the lake checking it out too. I could hardly stand to watch - but at the same time couldn't NOT watch.



No Doubt about it, it's a spectacular place to spend a week on an airconditioned houseboat. I've been told - we really lucked out having our first experience be a luxurious one. The water is really warm and the cliffs are amazing. Our boat had 5 families (32 people) for the first 3 days. Then a few left and a few more arrived. This is the "kids" zip line between the 2 boats.

1ST EVER Taylor Reunion (If there's a 2nd, I'll change that to ANNUAL)

In all I think they caught 35 fish, here's what we brought home for a yummy fish fry.

D (with Landon as his shadow) wanted to prove to all the Taylor's that he was a Penguin and took a dip in Gem lake.(10,000 feet & snow still around) It was only an 8 mile hike round trip to this lake. We passed 5 other lakes on the way in. From my perspective - any one of those lakes were more "picnic and hang-out friendly" than Gem. But as B had to explain - the water at Gem is the prettiest and holds the best memories.

Jeff is in his element making pancakes in the High Sierra's.

We took a very quick (the drive wasn't quick, but I've decided not to dwell on that horror) trip to the Taylor's favorite summer memory maker. Michelle planned it way back when? Everyone but Paul made it up there. Some of the highlights were: J.D.'s creation of the Greatest Campfire area for making smores & hanging out; an amazing star filled view out the roof of the camper while falling asleep; discovering Mr. T's amazing fishing talent (7 fish); hiking up to Gardiski lake with B, Jeff, Brett, D, Landon, Wyatt, Mr. T., Joshua & Lelu; and Mono Cone. If I've forgotten anything - I'm sorry - I'm way behind in my posts and everything is blending together.

Landon Came to Play

BOONDOCKS

At the beginning of the summer, Christina & I planned for Landon to come spend a week with us. D has had the pleasure of being spoiled by their family a couple of summers - they took him to the beach, Knott's Berry Farm, Lizard hunting, Santa Barbara and various other excitements. Of course, when we planned Landon's trip, we were not moving. It just worked out that he came up here the week before we moved.

Here is the super fantastic exciting trip to IHop. I did manage to get him to LAGOON with D, Lelu and cute Celeste(Brie's sister). Not quite a California amusement park - but it's the best we can do here in Utahrd. BOONDOCKS, including Cherie's boys, was the biggest hit of the week. Laser tag, race car driving, video games, bumper boats - a kid's heaven - they lasted for 9 hours and still weren't ready to leave. Then in the midst of movers arriving, Michelle T. came to the rescue and took Landon and Lelu to the airport to go home and go to Arizona respectively. I seemed to pull off a good time even being a totally neglectful aunt! (except for the "prison I locked them into" at sports camp at the gym one day).

Girls Camp at Zion National Park

I was just called into YW for the first time a couple months ago as the miamaid leader. I was so excited. The girls are so great and I really like all the leaders. I was having a great time. So when I found "my home" it made me sad to have to leave my calling. So I sort of begged to still be able to go to girl's camp. I knew it'd be tough to move & then leave. But I really felt like I should go too. I am SO GLAD that I did. The last time I went I was 13. Our theme was We ROCK Zion"Rely On Christ our King". All the cabins had their own flag "The rock stars" ," The rockettes" etc. Our leader cabin was "The polished rocks". Our laurel president had just returned from Israel and had gone on the same tour as Melinda did. She did a slide show presentation with photos, music & scriptures of where Christ walked. It was amazing for a 17 yr. old girl. Our new bishop came down for the devotional and testimony meeting. He's going to be a great bishop. That's when it really hit me how much I'm going to miss our ward. I've watched most of these girls grow up and they are great examples for my girls. Let alone how much this ward has supported us through tough times. So far we haven't seen or heard from our new ward..... but I have faith this will be a good move in all aspects. I hope I get called into YW again.

Me & the leaders I'll miss the most
There was a "no swimming" sign, but after hiking at 2:00 in 104 degrees. There wasn't much stopping them.

Moving Day!

It's official - We've moved! Mostly.... I still have some stuff at the other house that I will (against my previous "nevers") be selling at a garage sale. I really hate garage sales and I swore I'd never have one - but I have too much stuff to try to sell one at a time. I keep

having to eat my words. "I'll never have a minivan. I'll never have 2 in diapers." You get the idea.

I packed for 3 weeks - Moving truck came Saturday - finished at 10:00 pm - I unpacked Sunday & Monday - Left Tues at 6:30 am to go to girls camp - Came home Thurs night - Unpacked Friday - Weed whacked at the shack on Sat & then went to Ogden for Stolworthy family reunion (only made it for the last hour). Thank you to Roma for really pitching in to help pack, unpack & watch kids while at girls camp! I don't know how I could have pulled it off without her.

The kids LOVE the new swimming pool. I feel HOME after an 8 month search. The dogs (my thorn that is always digging) are going insane & trying to ruin the yard as quickly as possible. Whew - I'm tired! And the summer still has a couple adventures planned.

Sad but True - Dishonesty at the Draper 5k Run

5 people from our neighborhood won medals. I thought that was pretty cool. The bald guy's wife won for her age group too but she had to leave so that's why he has two.

D is running cross country for his high school this summer and finished in 21 min (which beat his time from last year by I think 5 minutes) and Lelu finished in 24:10. She was following a girl that B kept saying "we better pass her", but Lelu kept saying "there's no way she's 11 or under Dad, I'm sure she's in the older division." Well the girl beat Lelu by 10 seconds and CLAIMED she was 11 where she picked up her first place medal & Lelu picked up her 2nd place. Then we saw the girl at the gym where she was talking about going into 8th grade so Lelu asked her how old she was and she told her 13. Well, this was very upsetting to Lelu - so I verified it with the gym kids club manager and guess what SHE IS 13! I feel like a wrong must be righted. What the heck are this girl's parents teaching her? That girl also won a cash prize for 1st place. Lelu is the true winner for age 11 & under! I don't know if there's anything we can do about it - but I'd sure like to say something to the race officials.

State Track Meet at BYU

Lelu took 2nd place in the mile run. She ran it in 6:33. The girl in green back there told Lelu at the beginning she would probably beat her - so Lelu's fiery spirit took over and she passed the greenie girl up with the girl frantically trying not to let her. The girl who took first is a year older than Lelu and is Nationally ranked. Just give Lelu time, she just seems to get faster. It never fails, I tear up every time I see her running across the finish line.

D ran his first heat nearly coughing up a lung with the bronchitis he hasn't been able to shake since the week long. I took a photo but it is so blurry it's not worth posting.

Boating Fun!

Lelu & Morgan would like to get off this wild ride!

It surely pays to have friends with Toys. We went up to East Canyon lake last weekend for the day. We all had a great time. It was really hot (but the water was freezing). That doesn't seem to affect the kids. We went with the Maxwells, whose kids are Lelu and Mr. T's best buddies. They were breaking in new wave runners for Lake Powell and we were all too happy to help them. Esp. me. I much prefer to be in control of a wave runner than to be pulled at random by people whose goal it is to give you Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. D bet Sharon "the mom" that she couldn't knock him off the tube for 3 minutes. Not only did she knock him off in 1 minute, but she gave us all whiplash and nausea riding in the boat. D is now on a mission to convince B that we need a boat.......If it were up to me, I'd rather have wave runners but don't tell D.

I Just Don't Like the Number 40! But it Came Anyway.

I had lunch with most my friends. It was a great day. I felt very blessed. Christina came up to hang out and ended up helping me organize my office - it's such a relief and I am very grateful.

B arranged for flowers & a cake to be delivered!

Cherie & Kelly announced via my garage to the neighborhood - also balloons were about the trees.

Then to top it all off - B planned a surprise party for me at a restaurant when he got back. No one happened to bring a camera and my cell phone takes crappy photos with no flash. So I'll just have to paint a picture with my words- B took my cell phone, copied down all my numbers and called all my friends two weeks in advance before he left and invited them & spouses and everyone kept so quiet about it. I had NO IDEA! ....And Christina came back. I couldn't believe it. I have the most awesome amazing loving husband. 19 years and he just keeps getting better. I told him about 4 months ago that I would love to have a dinner party with the husbands since all us girls get together all the time but rarely with our husbands. He took note and it was really really really cool. Thanks to everyone and their birthday wishes too. I'm not sure what it means that "40 is the new 30" - but that seems to be the phrase of choice. If anyone can shed light on that I'd be happy to hear it.

The Massive Macho 50 Mile Hike! Glad I'm a Girl.

This one was in Navajo country on the border of AZ & UT. I wanted D to write about their adventure - but he's far too "busy" (distracted) to help me out. So here's a synopsis from my perspective as told to me by the boys. On average they got 4 hrs of sleep per night - not so good for B - he needs his sleep. But they are all very macho! They went on splits
with the missionaries and by D's excitement telling me about it, I think he really enjoyed it. B had the realization that he doesn't much care for heights. Just like my aversion to flying: I am not scared for other people to fly for my plane is the only one that is vulnerable. B wasn't worried about everyone else on the ropes - he just thought on his turn the rope may not hold. Yuck and he didn't even have any Xanax! One canyon was full of water and yet they plowed through with slight hypothermia. 1500 feet rappells; hiking through sand carrying 80 lb back packs; freezing in the shade; baking in the sun; spiritual devotionals every morning (although I haven't got the scoop on those); only 2 injuries the first day. I missed them a lot - esp since they missed my 40th birthday. So glad they came home safe and sound.

A Hike

My boys are my sleepers, which I find to be ironic since you all know B is not a sleeper & I am. The boys were still sleeping while B, Me Ari, Lelu & Izzie took a hike. I think Izzie was carried as much as hiking, Ari took just a few breaks (like her outfit?) and Lelu worried herself sick because the weekend before she, B and D went mountain biking and she stopped on the trail at the same time a rattle snake decided to slide off the mountain directly next to her. Thank heavens B stopped too and noticed the snake sliding towards her and with rapid reflexes lifted her up and away to safety. In her mind, now all mountains have rattle snakes lurking everywhere. Frightening, it's going to take some total immersion mountain time to get here over it-- if she ever does.

The Shack

It has become a self fulfilled prophecy naming it "the shack". We went up there for a quick weekend and the chimney had tipped over - so no heat. The water on the mountain has been drained in order to work on it - so no water. The power was left on somewhere and it was overcast - so no solar powered electricity. AND the snow broke something in the propane connection - so no cooking ability. But isn't our meadow beautiful right now?

Just a little side note - this morning my water heater was leaking all over, my garage door broke (both have to be replaced) and there is a beeping smoke detector that we CANNOT find going off - all in time for B and D to take off for a week! Nothing that can't be fixed but what a pain fixing it all!

Performances galore!

Lelu played a hostess from a QVC type channel in the fifth grade play about the American Revolution. She definitely had the most feminine of the roles in there. Her BFF played Paul Revere. I don't want to say she was typecast - but the part fit her very well. The whole play was very entertaining but I wish they would have opened it up to guests other than parents (there was limited room) and they performed at 9 am.

Lelu as a Parisian Ballet Dancer! It's amazing how many zillions of parents are willing to sit at a recital for 3 1/2 hours to watch their child for exactly 90 seconds. Because let's face it - none of us want to watch a bunch of other kids. Our child is always the star and the rest of them are just time wasters;)

D In His Final Role At The Middleschool

This was the last play of D's ninth grade year. Called "Kamelot-Kontinued" written by the students. There was a bit of drama attached to the writing of it. Apparently some of the content was "offensive" to an anonymous critic. While they were rehearsing, somebody wrote an anonymous letter threatening to have the theatre teacher fired if they performed the play as is. There was some cross dressing and sissy femme boy characters in it. Not D's part - he was King Arty. So they rewrote some of it and ad-libbed a lot of it. What do you expect from a bunch of 9th graders writing a play? There was still cross dressing & sissy characters (just toned down?) - but I enjoyed it MUCH more than "Pedagogy Project" or "Voices of the Holocaust". The students at the school were far more entertained by this one too. D was in his element with a lot of physical comedy and the bruises to prove it.

"The Optimists Creed"

This was written in the early 1900's - I LOVE IT - and wanted to share it.....................


I Promise Myself:
To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.
To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true
To think only the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet.
To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.
Christian D. Larson

Happy Mother's day to "The Second Mom's"

Barton and the kids did a great job making me feel loved yesterday. But as I thought about it - I've been very blessed with other fantastic women who have loved and helped me take care of my own kids. So to Michele S., Michelle T., Christina and Anne - Thank you for all of the care that you have shown our family! The four of you are an inspiration to me in so many ways. Happy Mother's day from me, B and the kids. I really should be a little jealous because my kids have each said right out or in so many words that they'd rather have each of you for their mom. But I'm not.......I AM JUST TRULY GRATEFUL!