The Last of My Summer Entertainment List Checked Off!

Lelu is in the top middle swing and Mr. T and Caden are in the bottom leftish area.

Why has a place that has so many happy memories from my childhood turned into such torture as an adult? We used to go every summer that we'd come to Utah to visit our grandparents. It was the highlite for me. Do I now see it with jaded eyes or is it just grosser?

I promised my kids, as well as our friends the Maxwells promised their kids we'd go to Lagoon this summer. It always seemed too hot to go and let's face it, it's not something I was looking forward to. Unbelievably, yesterday was the only Saturday that Lelu did not have a soccer game, so we went for it. For Lagoon, it was the best possible day. The weather was perfect in the 70's and it wasn't too crowded. The kids loved it as much as I remember loving it. I even went on Wicked, which I must say is aptly named. B was a good sport and just followed along carrying the backpack, staying with Ari when needed (she does not like "scary" rides). He rode a few of the non-twirling, jerking or nauseating rides. I was the only one who got completely soaked on Rattlesnake Rapids. We were out of there by 6:00 when all the spooks really come out. They each had a friend to hang out with. D went to homecoming last night so was busy with the day date etc. Blog for that coming soon when he gets the photos.

Even though it was a good day, I know we wouldn't get that lucky again. I won't be making that promise again for a few years.

I Wish It Were a Cute Little Alien...

My home is in a state of chaos and reconstruction. A little leak from my ice maker in my island went unnoticed over a few months because it was trapped under my island. There a forest of mold grew happily "with the best environment" undetected until I started to smell something. That's a really bad sign, by the way! What I thought would be an ice maker repair turned into Pandora's box. With each person called to come check it out, I got worse and worse news. They needed to remove my granite and try not to break it. If they broke it, then I would have to replace all of my granite. I just figured with everything else that was going wrong they would break it. Oh that darn pessimistic attitude I've tried exorcise! But they DID NOT break it! Hooray! However, my island is completely torn out and the basement ceiling is torn down. These photos are of the kitchen containment area. I wish I would have taken photos of the guys in white suits with masks and the hoses coming out my door into vans - it looked like a smaller version of the "ET containment area". Every surface had to be hepa vacuumed (whatever that means) and sprayed with sporicide. Then we had the "industrial hygienist" (code word for goofy Icabod Cranish microbiologist) come back and test again. THANK HEAVENS WE PASSED!

The worst part has been the comings and goings of construction workers. I realized just how vulnerable I am being at home alone during the day. Our home owner's insurance is covering everything except the ice maker repair - I thought that was funny! We've been told, however, that they will be suing whoever they deem responsible - plumber & home builder or ice maker manufacturer.

Someone has got to take the blame, right? It can't ever be the CRAP HAPPENS! I should be repaired by next week and B's teaching me some self defense moves. Phew!

Blog Worthy But Without Photos, Sorry!

It's not that we haven't been up to anything blog worthy the last 2 weeks, I've just become so addicted to adding photos and I never even took my camera out of my bag.

Last weekend, B had his work users group meeting up at the Stein Erickson in Deer Valley. This is where his clients all come to hear the latest updates and things they are working on. They come from all over the country. Taz got a smoking deal because the Stein is under construction. All his clients loved it there, but I don't think they'll get the same deal again. I went up for a couple days to mingle with his clients and relax. I went hiking by myself one morning. It's 8500 feet up there and holy cow could I feel it. I got my heartrate up to 190! I was jamming to my ipod and all these songs kept coming on with lyrics that was exactly like the soundtrack to my hike. Like "Suprisingly good to be moving around" or "Don't you shiver, shiver" as I'm putting my jacket back on and I am shivering from sweating and cold air. Or "A spider web is tangled up with me, Oh no what's this? A spider web and I'm caught in the middle," as I am pulling spider webs off my face that I walked through. It made me think of "The Truman Show". It was awesome but a little creepy too.

D asked a girl to homecoming and it became quite a production too. It's so unbelievable the efforts these kids go to just to ask someone to a dance. He had 5 boxes with clues and toys in them to go with the clues. Then she came back and decorated his room with army guys (some of the toys from a box) and a sign that said "It'd take an army to keep me from going to homecoming with you". So yesterday I asked D when homecoming is and he didn't even know. I think he better find out.

We are now in the full swing of fall sports. Lelu is playing competitive soccer. So Sagan, as much as I prided myself on NOT being a soccer mom. I am now an official soccer mom. Another never gone down in history (I'll never have a minivan, I'll never have more than 4 kids....) Yesterday was a tough game because no one had mowed the lawn on the soccer field and the grass was about 8 inches long. The ball would only go about a yard every time someone kicked it and these poor girls were working twice as hard to run in it. Mr. T starts flag football this week too. One more year until he can play tackle.

All the coordinating it takes to get kids from place to place is exhausting. Do we do this because we all have dreams of producing another Steve Young, Mia Hamm or Shawn Johnson? I do like that it keeps the kids in shape, but sometimes I wonder.

Flashback Photos

Sometimes I look at my little Ari and think I'm looking in a time capsule mirror. Even that expression on my face, I've seen on hers 1000 times. It's not just looks either - it's personality, which really scares me. My mantra is "She will use her strength for good or evil and I am praying, teaching, watching and hoping for good!"

The big 12th Birthday Bash

Lelu lucked out that her birthday landed on Friday so that she could celebrate all day long. There were 12 girls including her, for pizza, swimming, playing games, watching movies and half of them spent the night. I have a rule in my house, no sleepovers after 12 - so this was the final hurrah! Half of the girls' parents have the same rule - which was so nice because when Aub was that age, none of her friends had that rule. I was the overprotective mean mom!

The difference in sizes of these girls was incredible too. I'd say half of the them are like Lelu, still look like little girls and the other half are women. 4 of them are like 5'6" to 5'9" and 12 years old. I think girls are getting so much taller than when I was that age. There was only like one or two that were tall like that. I think everyone had a great time, there were no super dramas and they all got along pretty well considering there was quite a mix of girls from our new ward, old ward, old school and new school. Today she gets to go to YW. I think that's where she'll really make good friends and feel included.

First Day of 7th Grade & D starts 11th

But I have a Disclaimer for not posting a first day photo of D: He decided to take early morning seminary against my recommendation, so he leaves at 6:10 am. I do not wake up until 6:30 and even that is a difficulty for my "late night reading time". So the truth is I didn't get up or take any photos. I tried to get him to let me take them after school but he said that's being dishonest. Thus my disclaimer! This was of he and B playing thumb war and it's from this week, so this is what he looks like right now anyway.

Lelu is now attending the neighborhood middle school. She is very excited about not having to wear a uniform, but the crowds are a bit overwhelming to her. There are apparently 37 kids in her first class and 40 in another class. I am not too happy about those numbers, but it's too late to send her back to the charter school. She only knows a couple of girls at this school so this is going to be the year of making new friends. The first couple days she couldn't get her locker open because it was jammed. The school times their bells differently for 7th grade and then 8th and 9th, so they aren't all in the hall at the same time. But her locker caused her to be in the hall when the older kids were let out and she literally got knocked down and trampled a bit. Not so fun for the 2nd day of school. It's funny how many people comment to me that 7th grade was their hardest year. I've been telling her that the large majority of 7th graders all just want friends and to be accepted. Be friendly and accepting. But the fact of the matter is: Jr. High is the pits!

A Role she Was Born to Play

Some little neighbor girls (the tall ones in the back) love acting and decided to do a little acting class in the neighborhood. They put together a production of "Alice in Wonderland". So my little Ari went to the class fully intending she'd get the lead role because "I look like Alice" and indeed she does. The big girls thought so too, so she got the role. I was very worried about it because she has selective stage fright. They practiced 4 hours a week for a month and took it very seriously. Thursday night we went over to the church for the big performance. It was very exciting for her. She totally got into it and played the total diva smiling and bowing etc. The big girls worked really hard trying to keep all these little girls remembering their lines and what to do for over an HOUR. I'm afraid I've got another thespian on my hands.

My kids had never seen Alice in Wonderland, so I went on a hunt to buy it or rent it and couldn't find it. The neighbors had a copy and so the twins watched it. Mr. T thought it was awful "mom they smoke in it and chop off heads, that is not a kids movie!" This from the kid who lives for Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean. He'll probably love it when Johnny Depp is the mad hatter, but in a cartoon there's apparently a moral code to keep to.

The Twins Start 2nd

Does anyone else feel like they are living in a time warp and someone just keeps cranking up the speed?
So half my children still living at home started school last Monday. They constantly tell me how unfair it is that Lelu and D don't have to go. It doesn't seem to matter how much I try to strip them of their blissful childhood by telling them that life isn't really fair, they still proclaim their outrage. But so far so good, they like their new teacher, who've I heard is quite strict, and they aren't completely devastated that their BFF's from 1st grade aren't in their class this year. They still have each other. I love that the school gives me the choice whether or not to keep them in the same class. Until and unless they each figure out that the other is better at a subject (and I am not verifying anything on here since they read this) and that particular twin can do one set of homework and vice versa.......they'll stay together in class until Jr. High when I'll no longer have the choice.

Now to get D and Lelu off to school this week - the house will be mine for 6 hours a day, woohoo!! It'll be clean for about 4 of it.

Lelu's Favorites

I am adding an element to my blog called Favorites. My kids love to play this game in the car by asking each other their favs. Since it seems to change rapidly I thought it'd be fun to record them from year to year around their birthday. Lelu's is next week. Big 12!

Movie: Legally Blonde

Color: Turquoise

Restaurant: CPK (California Pizza Kitchen)

Birthday Treat: Chocolate Molten Cake

Food: Shrimp

Day: Friday

Holiday: Christmas

Song: Clocks

Musical Artist: Chris Martin (I have a lot of influence at this point in her life;)

Vacation: San Francisco with Mom (see above)

Book: Harry Potter

Animal: Panda Bear

Career Choice: Elementary School Teacher

How many kids in her future: 4 (2 boys 2 girls)

College: BYU

Dream Place to Live: Maui

Quote: Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

She wants to have all of her kids before 30 so that her poor kids won't be embarassed by how old her parents are.

Fun in Jackson Hole!

Even though I moved and left all these amazing friends back in my old ward, they take pity on me and invite me to hang out with them. For some reason I am just not settling in to my new ward. Maybe these girls are just too awesome to compare to. B tells me it's my oxymoron - I have a lot of great friends but I am antisocial. Hmmm, I'm going to ponder on that awhile.

From the left we have our new friend "Soon Yun Lee", Staci, Angie, Sharon, Antler Biker Dude, Heather, Cherie, Stephanie (crouching) and me. Soon Yun just showed up in our photo so we went with it. Behind the girls is our new friend Moosey who just seemed to be annoyed by our antics outside of the cabin. The cabin belongs to Angie's parents and she was kind enough to invite all of us. I came home with a scratchy voice having talked way too much but feeling so much less stressed after some good group therapy and only a couple bruises from a slip down the hardwood stairs. A cold front came in and it was a little cold, but fun to put on sweatshirts and breathe the clean air! I swear every mom needs to do these things to be a better mom. Our husbands rock for holding down the forts while we went!

Melinda Visits and Give a Reason to BBQ

Roman is definitely an AZ pool lover!

A couple weeks ago Melinda came up from AZ and so everyone came over to BBQ. We even had the pleasure of Aunt Ramona, my cousin Andrea & her cute daughter Riley, as well as my other cousin Ashley and her baby Roman. The teens stuck together, the adults enjoyed catching up and there was way too much food. Porter & Mr. T hit it off and were lost in Lego heaven too. D convince his "really cute cousins" Kari and Kalee to go hang out with his friends playing night games. They were really good sports and D's friends were impressed. It was a nice night and so fun to see everyone!

Another Girl's Camp, Lucky!

Hello, this is not Lelu blogging about girls camp because she has her friend staying with us for a few days, so I am going to write about what she told me.

First of all, this ward has 18 beehives so she went with a much larger group. She is officially the youngest and smallest girl to go too. She doesn't even turn 12 for another 2 weeks, but since she's going to 7th grade she was allowed to go. All the girls were asked to bring a charm for each girl there that represents something about her. We searched and searched for a a cheap running shoe, (since she had to bring 36 charms) and couldn't find one. So we settled on a charm with a peace sign, a heart and a musical note. Lelu is definitely the peace maker in our home, loves everyone and they love her and she loves to sing and is learning to love the piano (Chris helped with that!) Also since she was the tiniest she got lifted up to do all the obstacle course activities. This summer was a great entrance for her into Young Women's. And I stole all these photos off one of D's friend's facebook. Thanks Linda!

The Smiles and Bummers of Summer

One of the other mom's sent me this soccer photo & I've added a photo of B's hamstring pull from sprinting against D and the one swim party with friends.

The Smiles & Bummers of Summer:

Smile: D beat B twice, sprinting, after working out the other day.

Bummer: B pulled his "hand-spring" (everytime he calls it that, I want to scream HAMSTRING, now he just says it to bug me) sprinting against D. It's painful enough to go to physical therapy and he can't run & it left a big bruise.

Smile: We love having a pool to swim in every day!

Bummer: I've only had friends over once to have a swim party. I better get on that, time is running out.

Smile: B and D went on a river trip and had some really cool spiritual moments.

Bummer: I had to hear about those moments in testimony meeting today from another guy.

Smile: I am proud to say I worked out for 1 1/2 hours without my ipod!

Bummer: My ipod died after 2 songs into my workout (this is usually when I decide my workout is over)

Smile: I got released from Primary.

Bummer: I got released from Primary. Someone else got called to be Beehive advisor.

Smile: Lelu is going off to girl's camp tomorrow in our current ward.

Bummer: Lelu is going to be gone for 5 days at girl's camp.

Smile: Lelu is playing competetive soccer and they won 5 straight games this weekend to win the Park City tournament.

Bummer: She practices 6 hours a week not including games.

Smile: The kids start school again in 3 weeks.

Bummer: Summer is almost over and Lelu will be in Jr. High, twins in 2nd grade and D in 11th. Time is flying by.

Smile: Mr. T's hair is this totally cool surfer dude blonde and longer than ever.

Bummer: Ari got stung by a bee for the first time.

Smile: We are staying up late and sleeping in almost every day.

Bummer: My house doesn't stay clean and my laundry is not done.

Smile: Ari's jeans have grown too short, so she's had a growth spurt this summer.

Bummer: I need to get her new uniform pants.

Smile: Aub is working for B and we get to see her a lot more often. She is very happy to leave her job and join B's office, which has a very happy and productive environment.

Mostly our summer has been lazy. I still owe the kids a trip to Lagoon (Bummer!), a class at the Young Chef's Academy and a shopping day with mom. Stay tuned, I'll keep my camera close.

Lelu's a "town girl" not a "downtown girl"

Lelu's "ready to rock" concert attire!

Yes, I do realize I have some amazing opportunities to have a lot of fun! Lelu told B if she won the Moab 5 miler that she wanted to go shopping with mom somewhere. This was total retribution for the torture of Izzie (well almost as I'm sure she'll live for 15 more years). We decided on going to San Francisco since I missed going with B for a conference because Lelu was really sick. Since I am a super fan, I heard that Coldplay had just announced more concerts including one in SF. Ahhhh Serendipity! We had a bonding weekend of shopping, sightseeing (going up and down the crazy hills - good thing it doesn't snow there!) sleeping in and eating out. Some highlights: a homeless guy walked across the street while the top was down on the car and pretended to shoot at people and then Lelu didn't allow the top down very much after that; the skeleton performer at Fisherman's Wharf pretty much sent her into convulsions; we drove over and back across the Golden Gate bridge for $6; I bid on 4th row tickets on ebay the night before the concert and won them, so Christina and Landon drove up and took my other tickets and went to the concert with us; Lelu tends to be very scared of people who look "off", meaning scary or dirty or mean and there were plenty of them in SF. She announced that she isn't a downtown girl (remember our little mishap in Hollywood), she is a town girl - she loves Draper. But she wants to live near a big city. So I declared her a suburban girl. Now me, on the other hand, likes the big cities and can find my way around pretty well, but I wouldn't want to raise my kids in one of them. When they are all raised, I want to live in London and New York for a year. We had some great conversations about her goals for this year going into 7th grade. It makes me sad that my kids are growing up so fast. I cherish these moments! I look forward to taking D and the twins one on one sometime soon.

My review on the concert is that Salt Lake's concert was the best. There was an amazing energy in the crowd and the band seemed to thrive on it. Maybe it's because 95% of the attendees aren't wasted. I don't know but there was a definite difference. I would still follow them around the world because they put on an amazing show. We got lost on the way home from the concert and my phone was dead so I couldn't use my navigation. But Christina and I found our way back and was just glad Lelu was asleep in the back with Landon.

First Girls Camp

Hello everybody that is reading this blog! This is Lelu typing right now because my mom says that I have to tell about girls camp myself because I was the only one in my family that was there! Well, it was awesome! I loved it! I went with my old ward with a very small amount of girls, only 16 girls were there (as you can see.) This was my first girls camp ever and our theme was, "not all that glitters is gold" so we were pirates. Not my favorite theme but it turned out to be the most fun theme in the stake, and I have to say that it was fun to go with my old ward because I knew every body there, and also my best friend, Morgan is in that ward (she is the one with me on the right that looks like Captain Hook.) This experience was also very spiritual for me, my testimony is now stronger and so is my friendship with the ward. I learned a lot of things at camp. The first thing is that you never get sleep, the second thing is that you never go 20 minutes without laughing, the third thing is that every one there is so nice and caring, and the fourth thing is that there is no such thing as snipes. I can't wait tell next year!

Lake Powell 2009

This being only the second year that we've gone to Lake Powell, we learned a ton. This year, I brought enough sun screen and cover-ups and B learned to handle a boat better (except forgot that his blackberry was in his pocket when he jumped in to free a rope that got caught). We are especially blessed to have friends with a houseboat that have kids our kids ages and are kind enough to invite us to go. The great thing about going down there is that no one is ever bored! The kids never once came to me and said they were bored. They pitched in for every meal and clean-up. They had constant friends to play board games when they needed a break from the sun. This year, Dave & Shel were coming to visit at the same time as we were invited to go and since there was room, they got invited too. I think they had a great time too, even with 2 little toddlers. Here's a few of the highlights:

Mr. T never stopped until he fought his eyes closing each night. There were 5 little boys who kept really busy climbing cliffs and jumping off them, tubing, digging in the dirt, swimming, canoeing, riding as fast as possible on the waverunners with whoever would take them, jumping out of boats, trying kneeboarding, wake boarding (not quite staying up yet) and occasionally the Wii (only in the hottest part of the day). He was in heaven!

Should I jump? Should I jump? Should I jump? .........

D made the decision for her.

Ari pulled lots of attitude, but wouldn't try any of the sports. The funny thing is that I'm sure she could get up on whatever she wanted. She's such a little tough gymnast.

Yay! Lelu learned to wake board! She got up every time and stayed up for a long time. She was really nervous about it too because the other kids (who are super boaters) could all do it and she didn't want to be embarrassed if she couldn't. We were so proud and I'm pretty sure she was too.

B is the super skier, that I actually never saw ski because he got up everyday and went with the early risers. Then he skippered the boat all day so everyone else could have a turn.
D surfed in the wake, body surfed, wake boarded, knee boarded, cliff jumped, super tubed and took off on the wave runner with Hannah (cute teenage daughter of friends from Nevada) and Griffin (friend he brought along). All that kid is missing is melanin to really enjoy Lake Powell. He fried the top of his feet and back of his ears. I think it's the only time he doesn't like his red headed complexion.

Dave pulled Shel and the kids on the tube with the waverunner. I'm pretty sure Dave won't have any trouble talking his boys into being a boating family in the near future. Taylor loved the speedboat with the wind in his face. Christian just went to sleep with the motion. Start them young, right?

Pretty much anyone can drive the houseboat, so each kid took a turn including Taylor. Sharon (owner of said houseboat) is usually the Pied Piper too, between she and Michele, the lizards and speedboats - I never even entertained my kids! It was awesome;)

Lelu Beats Her time by 32 seconds

Lelu competed again at the State Track meet at BYU. She ran the 1500 (just shy of a mile) and beat her time from last year running it in 6:01. She took 3rd place this year behind these two girls who are a year older. She was hot on their heals and once again we were in awe at her ability to run! NeNe and Papa stayed long enough to watch her run & Michelle came down to cheer her on too.