I'm Busy, Busy Terribly Busy. . .

I am stuck in a vicious cycle.
When I have time to post, I don't have anything to write about. When we are doing interesting things, I don't have time to create a post that will do the event justice. Once I have the time to make a decent post, I feel like to much time has elapsed and it will be old news.
Well . . . no more. I am going to create many wonderful, funny, insightful and elaborate posts about all the wonderful things we have been doing this summer. Then I will cleverly change the date stamp so they appear to be timely. Be warned . . . the post from three months ago, may have been written yesterday.

The Happiest Place on Earth

For the first time since we all lived in Arizona, nearly 11(!) years ago, Bill's family got together to celebrate his mother's birthday. Thanks to her generosity, we all met at Disneyland for two days and three nights of fun.

The children had a wonderful time. The fist ride we all rode together was Pirates of the Caribbean. Brianna and Ellie were covering their eyes most of the time. Once we came to a stop Ellie said "I did not like that ride."

Luckily, everyone had a chance to experience plenty of rides they did like. Everyone loved the Carousel the teacups, the Tiki Room and Finding Nemo. . .

Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary were generous enough to let all of the parents of children to short to ride 'Indiana Jones' use their fast passes while they watched all of the children. Thanks to the fast passes, we weren't gone very long, just long enough for Uncle Steve to become a jungle gym.

We also ran into one of Andrew's preschool friends from our Boston days. Cole and Callie live in California, they just happened to be at Disneyland that day. We were very excited to see them and see how much they have grown.

During lunch, Kaiti was part of the entertainment.

On July 16, all 22 of us went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Judy's birthday. We were quite a sight.

We had a great time. Happy birthday Grandma Judy!

Happy Birthday Ellie Bean!

Five years ago we welcomed a delicate little girl into our family.


A little pixie full of curiosity.

A darling little child always ready with a smile and hug

A very thoughtful girl who adores her Daddy

She is often to observant for my own good!

When I asked what she wanted me to write about her she said: "I'm nice."
Yes she is and we are delighted she is in our family.
Happy birthday Elbow!

Favorite Story of the Week . . . so far

When I have time to blog, I don't have anything to write about. When I am doing all sorts of fun things with the children, I don't have the time to blog. Such is my dilemma.
This week is the Lehi Round-Up. My home town's week-long community pride celebration. It's my favorite week of the year and I do intend to write about it . . . later. My brother Crazy-Uncle-Tony has been in town and related the following tale:
Crazy-Uncle-Tony and his daughter Abby went for a walk and Crazy-Uncle-Tony ran into a spider web. As he brushed the spider off he said "I hope that wasn't a radioactive spider, if it was I might turn into Spiderman."
Abby responded: "Yeah, Spider Old Man." Then she began to sing "Spider Old Man, Spider Old Man Does whatever a Spider Old Man can. Can he swing on a web? Probably. But he'd hurt his back . . ."
I'm so proud of my niece.

Happy Birthday Bri Bri!

Two years ago, we went to the hospital expecting a 7 pound baby boy. We left with a 9 pound baby girl. She has been surprising us ever since. Luckily, most of the surprises are pleasant.

Things I want to remember about Brianna at this age:

1. She speaks in full sentences. When she has something to say, she composes a complete thought.

2. The way she says "Get out of my chili!" when someone bothers her.

3. She loves babies. All of her dolls are named after babies she knows. (Emmy, Kate, Brionna . . .)

4. Her comfort items are her 'binki', her 'blue one blanklet', her right index finger and a strand of hair.

5. She likes me best. For now, I am her favorite person. (That will change, but I intend enjoy it while it lasts.)

6. The way she asks for 'chlocolate".

7. No matter where we are going, just like Grandma Kathleen, she wants to go too. "Wanna come, wanna come wish you."

8. She loves baths so much she has been know to climb into the tub fully clothed. Making 'bubble beards' is a favorite bath-time activity.

9. She can be trouble. If there is a mess, she is generally in the middle of it.

10. She can (and does) sleep anywhere. She has been know to fall asleep pretty much everywhere. The easy chair, the laundry room floor, the car, the kitchen counter. She has even been know to climb into her own crib and go to sleep when she is tired.

11. Crazy-Uncle-Tony calls her feral. I prefer to think of her as self-sufficient. Her favorite thing to do is eat off of her siblings' plates. As soon as they get up from the table, she gets a mischievous grin and a twinkle in her eye, climbs down from her chair, climbs into the recently unoccupied one, and eats whats left on the plate.

12. The nicknames she has for her siblings Own Kay-Kay, Crisis, On-Dune and Elbow.

13. The way she says "My Daddy home!" when he walks through he door. Whether he has been gone one minute or one week, she is delighted to see him.

Field Trips and Field Day fun?!?

I have so much to catch up on. With summer vacation hitting me square in the head, I have spent less time on the computer so I can spend more time with my children exploring "The Motherland". Which means that I have more to blog about, but no time to actually write.

Just before summer began, I was able to accompany three of my children on adventures with their classmates. I intended longer, more detailed (i.e. whiny) posts about each trip. But lucky for you, I want to get this posted. You will have to make due with the Reader's Digest version.
In late April, Ellie's preschool planned to end their farm animals unit with a trip to Thanksgiving point. The day started out cool but sunny. As soon as we got out of the car, the ever-present wind at the point of the mountain hit us with full force. As you can see, we were miserable. The children sought shelter under the blankets Miss Lisa brought for our picnic. My girls took shelter with 'Duncan's Mom'. She did her best to protect the children from the elements and ended up looking like Mother Ginger from the Nutcracker ballet.

Miss Lisa, being a sensible teacher, rescheduled the trip. (We went back the next week - April 28 - on a lovely day. and had a wonderful time. )

The day after we opted not to have a field trip to Thanksgiving Point(April 24), the entire 3rd and 4th grade planned a trip to This Is The Place State Park Even though the day was colder than the day before (with snow in the forecast), we couldn't reschedule this adventure. Originally, Bill was supposed to go, but he had to be out of town on business. (Un)lucky for me, Grandma agreed to watch the girls so I could go with Caious.

It was cold. Very cold. My charges and I huddled together as we learned about native animals and native people (I think that is what they talked about. My teeth were chattering so loud, it couldn't hear very well). The children ground corn, examined animal skins, assembled a tee pee and looked at various animals. The entire time we experienced 30 degree weather, wind, rain and snow. One of the girls in my group said "This day can't get any worse." She was wrong. It started yo hail. (Caious is catching it in his hands in the photo.) I found myself thinking about the pioneers who settled this state. It reminded me that one of my friends from Boston commented that had she been a pioneer, she would have been a headstone. With the nasty weather and limited shelter, I have a deep respect for those who survived and thrived in the harsh climate. When the trip was over, I was convinced I would never be warm again.

Even though the weather was miserable, I am glad I got to go with Caious and meet a few of his classmates. I had a great time seeing how much This Is The Place has changed since I was in elementary school.

Continuing the trip down memory lane, I accompanied Ellie's preschool to Hogle Zoo. It has really changed in the past 25 years. It was very nice and oh so crowded. I counted no less than 17 school groups there. Our biggest challenge was keeping everyone together. The children loved looking at the animals. Sometimes too much ("Has anyone seen Luke?!?") they often wandered off to get a closer look.

But with animals like this, just feet away can you blame them?

The final adventure was the 1st grade mini field day with Andrew's class. The weather was beautiful (73 degrees, no wind) and my job was to escort the class from one event to the next and hand out popsicles. It was a great day. And so cute to see the children hula-hooping, tricycle racing, going through an obstacle course and playing with a parachute. They were so adoreable. I also got to give popsicles to several children in my Priamry class. I got a kick out of how they were very surprised to see me outside of church.

Tea Party

Last year, when Kaiti spent a week during the summer at Grandma's house, they got to have a tea party. This year, she wanted to do it again. Kaiti and Grandma made all sorts of wonderful delicacies . . . finger sandwiches . . . . chocolate dipped fruit . . . bon bons . . . lemonade and tea -herbal - of course.

Our good friends Rebekah and Elizabeth from Tucson were visiting so they were also invited to the party.

They got all dressed up in fancy clothes. Grandma even let them wear Great-Grandma's hats, furs and jewelry. They looked lovely. All of the girl cousins got to come.


Kaiti is quite an accomplished hostess.