Bear Lake...

We spent a relaxing weekend up at Bear Lake over Memorial Day. There is nothing better than being at my parents condo together as a family. We veg in front of the TV, snack, play games, nap, play at the park and just plain relax. Depending on the weather we also do the regular swimming/beach stuff. But since this weekend was pretty chilly we didn't do much swimming. Mine and Shane's attitude on other vacations is to get in as much as we can in the area that we are because we may not come back again. So we run from morning to night and do everything that the area has to offer, but Bear Lake is our TRUE vacation. For three mornings in a row we didn't even set an alarm, I don't think that has happened since last summer at Bear Lake... and it was awesome!! When we were first dating and I invited Shane up to Bear Lake (15 years ago), he wondered what we would do since we didn't even have a boat. He was convinced that a toy was needed to enjoy your time at Bear Lake, so.... he rented a jet ski... without the insurance, and 1/2 hour into his time a Chinese guy on another jet ski crashed into the side of him, leaving an 18" crack in Shane's rental. Shane was nailed with an improper lookout ticket and $400 in repairs... (The ticket was lame - since when Shane realized he was Chinese he started saying all of the dirty Chinese words he knew and the guy told him he got confused and didn't know where the break was... He never let go of the gas... Shane was left speechless at that one!!) Needless to say Shane (along with myself) is very convinced that Bear Lake is much more fun without "Lake Toys."

Jadyn could slide all day, she loves it! She tested out all of the slides at least 10 times each. The curly one was her favorite.

Obviously not a warm day since this was our beach attire. Our brave Saige did pull her pants up as high as she could and ventured out into that frigid water. She begged us the whole rest of the weekend to let her put her suit on so she could prove to us that she would go all the way under. There was no doubt that she would have though... and she wanted money for it... so we never took her back down.


Remember once when Merry-Go-Rounds were fun?? If you still think they are fun, I consider you young! I get sick just watching them now - a true sign of an aging person!!


And if you don't remember when people used to be able to dock their boats in this marina you must be young! My girls are amazed at how long ago that must have been. They have the same incredulous look in their eyes that we all did in Elementary School when they walked us over to the ranger station and we looked out over the "island" and they told us that the whole area, even where we were standing, used to be Lake Bonneville. The only problem is that I'm afraid my children put those two events in the same era...


I did have one awkward moment up there. I saw an old boyfriend at the park with his family. His wife was very sweet and chatty, but he didn't say a word, just smiled. AWKWARD... After we walked away I started thinking about how different my life would have been if I hadn't married Shane. Nothing would be the same, and there is nothing in my life that I WANT to be different. First off he has 3 boys... what would I do with those? And what would I do without my girls? Then I started thinking about how everything would be different, I wouldn't live where I live, or have the awesome neighbors and friends that I have now, I wouldn't have had the same experiences and memories that our family has been able to share together. I wouldn't have been the places I've been. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get up this morning and go walking with Shelby who has been my best friend since 1st grade, we talk for the whole hour and altogether enjoy the beauty that this valley has held for us our whole lives. But most of all I wouldn't have the best husband in the world. His whole life is dedicated to making our family happy and strong and I so appreciate him for all of those efforts and desires. Yes I sometimes mention "flaws", but notice they all involve "vehicle" problems. Not stuff that really matters. And my blog wouldn't be very exciting if he didn't bring me home good stuff like that to write about! Because truly my life is pretty steady and constant, and perfect in my opinion, but it wouldn't be perfect without him or my four girls. Marrying him was the best choice that I ever made. I love you Shane!!

Warts... and Duct Tape...

Yesterday I decided that the small bump on my finger must really be a little wart. What in the world... I haven't worried about getting warts since I sat by a boy named "Andy" in Miss. Anderson's 1st grade class. All my friends and I were sure that he must have played with LOTS of frogs to have had that many warts on his hands! We lived in fear that he might touch one of us and we would get them too! Oh, the good old days when that was our biggest worry! So I have no idea where this came from, because I have not touched any frogs (or this Andy boy lately!) So not being sure that's what it actually is, I decided it was time to break out the duct tape anyway... yes, that's right, duct tape. A little strip every night will take it away! We have tested this theory in our home and it truly works!

When Saige was about 3 she had a wart on her toe, there was no way that any over-the-counter products would work for her, because she freaked out if we even got close to touching it. She didn't really like the duct tape much better, and would scream "NO! NOT THE DUCT TAPE!" I hope none of our neighbors heard those cries, but I wonder what they were thinking about if they did??! HMMM...... Eventually she got used to it and much to our amazement it worked, no more wart! The best part of the story was that a couple of weeks later we were at an Aggie game and Saige was sitting by a lady who she kept staring at. Finally Saige reached up and touched a mole on this lady's face and said, "You could use some duct tape on that!" The lady was laughing, but of course had no idea what that meant! My mom explained to her why she had said that, and I thought I would die of embarrassment! (while laughing at the same time.) If I had the same knowledge in 1st grade as I had now, I would have given Andy a roll of duct tape for Christmas... Poor kid. (I'm sure he turned out to be a great guy, and he probably doesn't have any warts anymore... unlike me apparently! But those memories are pretty vivid, similar to the girl in Shane's second grade class who was a real nose picker/eater. We see her from time to time, and being 35 she probably NEVER does that now, but Shane just can't get that image out of his head!)

Twilight...

OK, I haven't had a chance to post lately... Actually I haven't done much of anything for the past couple of days, except for reading a couple of great books! I started "New Moon" the second book in the Twilight series on Saturday and finished it and the 3rd book - Eclipse on Tuesday. That's right over 1200 pages in 4 days! I've told several people that I don't read much... this is why. When I start a book I use every spare second (and even those that aren't spare like sleep minutes) in order to finish it quick. They were great though! Saige made the greatest comment ever last night, she said, "I have a good one for you mom... it goes like this... I almost forgot what your face looked like you've had your nose in that book for so long." Sorry for my break from reality girls but... I'm back! (I will be taking a couple of days off again in August when the 4th book is released!)

The following is a the trailer for the upcoming "Twilight" movie in December. I hope the movie will do the book justice! (Push pause on the music bar first)



UPDATE - Tonight while talking to some friends of mine about this book I found out that one felt I was "nigh' unto a sleeze" for liking these books (not her exact quote of course, just how I felt.) But I liked them! I don't know what that says about me, and I am not advocating them to my young daughters, but thanks Mom for recommending them to me. (She liked them too... Like Mother, Like Daugher... I don't know what that says about you either mom!)

My baby has a shiner...

Jadyn wrestling with her Daddy

+ a fireplace
= A SHINER!!

Hold on to those pop cans...

The other day I was talking to my mom who was sitting on her "Lanai" in Hawaii soaking up that fabulous Hawaiian breeze when she got nervous and said, "Oh, stop, stop, stop." I was a little confused, but she informed me that her Diet Coke can had toppled over and was dangerously close to falling off the deck and tumbling down from the 22nd floor. DEJAVU. I reminded her of another pop can incident that wasn't nearly as innocent.... and proved to be my closest run in with the law!! I think it is time to document that story!


Several years ago (I was in 7th grade to be exact...) my parents took me and my older brother Nate on a vacation to Hawaii. We of course were having a wonderful time, but my parents were ready for a night out on their own, so they left us with pizza and pop in the hotel while they went off to dinner. I must admit that I am not sure that this is something that I would do with my own children at that age... but obviously they felt that we were exceptionally responsible teenagers. (which of course we were.... but teenagers all the same!) Nate was sitting out on the deck (or "lanai") on approx. the 18th floor, finishing up his pop, and looking at the completely empty pool below. I remember him calling me and saying, "Watch this...", he then proceeded to launch his pop can off the deck catapulting it into the pool below. Not to be outdone, I swallowed the last sips of my pop and followed suit. I wasn't nearly as practiced at pop can launching apparently, because mine landed outside of the pool with a hollow thud. We both stood looking over the edge at our cleverness when we saw two men... walkie-talkies in hand looking directly at us - start off into a sprint. Nate dove into the room pulling me after him, we turned off all the lights as if to hide the evidence... but we had already been caught.


Moments later we hear a pounding at the door, "SECURITY OPEN UP!" Me being the brave soul that I am vanished into the bathroom and locked the door. Nate answered... said he was alone... and was promptly escorted down to their "office" for questioning. I remember sitting in that bathroom thinking that I was so glad I hadn't been caught... but then I realized that I was all alone... my parents were gone... I was 12 years old in a hotel room by myself... without a cell phone of course - long before even the "brick cell phones" were out... and I was going to be the one who had to explain to my parents why my brother had been carted off to jail (as far as I knew).

I sat on the bed bawling and pretty much just freaking out while I contemplated all the scenarios. Nate finally came back after what seemed like 10 hours, but it was probably closer to 1 hour. He told me about his ordeal and let me know that technically it was my fault but he had covered for me for which I should be eternally grateful (his theory being that because I was the second one to throw... and I didn't do very well at that anyway...) I accepted responsiblity and assured him I was just glad that he hadn't ratted me out too! Together we decided that this would be our little secret... why tell the parents... security had decided not to take him down to the station, so there would be no record. When my parents finally got back Nate and I went to bed quietly and said nothing of our adventurous night. The next morning the guilt overtook us and we blurted out the whole harrowing experience. Guess what my parents did... they both burst out laughing... HUH! They thought it was quite hilarious, I'm sure mainly because we were so distraught about the whole situation and had decided to come clean. I even got the last laugh... since I "could not be identified by the security personnel" I got to ride the elevator all the way to the lobby with them... Nate on the other hand had to get out on the 2nd floor and walk down so that he wouldn't be "identified with my parents." Of course my parents laughed every time we left the hotel... So mom you hold onto those pop cans - they may look back in the "Hawaiian records" and realize slippery hands run in the family... and what would you do if they didn't let you come back to your favorite place on earth! We love you and hope that you had a fabulous Mother's Day!

Shane's Family Party...

We had Shane's family party today to celebrate Mother's Day. All of the siblings were there except Bill.... so Leslie his wife stood in for him.

SOME of the cousins!! This still boggles my mind! My parents were only children... thus I grew up with no aunts, no uncles and not one cousin. One generation later my children have over 50 cousins. The poor things will grow up like Shane.... Thursday at Costa Vida a guy came up to Shane and talked to him for a minute then asked him if he knew who he was. Shane had that look which said, "I have no idea..." turns out it was one of his FIRST cousins! I can count about 10 times that has happened in our marriage... bizarre!!
Tayler
Saige
Kenna and Shane
Our little Jady - yes she is trying to lick that dandelion!

"A rose can say I love you.

An orchid can enthrall.

But a weed bouquet in a chubby fist,

THAT is the best of all!"

Why I love Mother's Day!

Mother's Day for me is not so much about the flowers and gifts... (although Shane just walked in the house with flowers for me an invitation to dinner - and I of course love that!) But in my opinion it is hard to compete with the heartfelt little gifts that are made at Preschools, Elementary schools and Church. Among my all time favorites are the little questionnaires that kids are asked to fill out (or just plain answer). They say the cutest most basic (and sometimes random) things. But it helps parents' to stop and think of what our darling little kids really love about us. Kenna did one of these in her preschool this year and I found out that...

• the best thing I cook is corn dogs
• My favorite place to be is in Mexico (we stopped in Cozumel on our Disney Cruise, but the only other time was when I was a sophomore in High School - unless you count Tijuana...?)
• And she likes it when I say.... "It's time to get new shoes." (????? I don't know that I have ever announced that we were going to the store "to get new shoes". But a true girl anyway!)

Shane learned that...

• He knows how to make Mac and Cheese.
• A place she likes to go with him is to McDonald's. (McDonald's? Shane detests McDonald's, I can't think of the last time he ate there with us! But I guess he should!)
• And her dad is really good at reading her stories.

Here is the whole list from Kenna's preschool Rainbow Corner. Thanks Mrs. Lee you have been a wonderful teacher!

Arizona... Part two...

The purpose of the Arizona trip was really for work - Shane was to replace about 5 rooms of carpet in the Mesa Arizona LDS Temple. Saturday morning we went to the Temple to do a session and to meet with the engineer about the work that would be performed on the following Monday. Of course I was the weak link on the trip who forgot her recommend. (I remembered about 30 min after leaving for the airport... no time to go back.) So while we waited to clear that up we noticed very quickly that this was a VERY busy temple. The place was "hopping" with a steady stream in and out. We were told that this is one of the very busiest temples and the new Gilbert Arizona Temple that was just announced would be only 12 miles away, the closest of any temples in the world. That is pretty cool! When we met with the engineer it was quite apparent by walking through the temple that their priority list could go on to include the whole building if time permitted. (Time didn't permit... they had one day and 5 guys to do the job...) I was truly amazed though, people ask Shane all the time if the carpet in the Temples really get THAT dirty. After walking through this one I will never question it again... it was filthy, almost black down the middle of the halls. I truly don't understand how! (Some of the carpet being replaced had only been down 9 months too!) Shane was a little worried that they were adding more on him, but of course didn't complain or say "no way" like I would have.

Sunday night we picked up four of his guys at the airport and headed back to the hotel. They weren't smiling when Shane told them they would be starting just before 4 AM, but of course they weren't surprised either. (They actually had all guessed on the plane what time he would want to get going and that was the consensus!) So 3:45 came and he was up and going - don't think I was, but I did jump up after he left to lock the door. When they came back around 9 I was still sawing logs (even though the girls had called twice and Shane had called 3 times to talk to me - oops... it was on mute.) So when he put the key in the door he was surprised that it wouldn't open. I jumped up and got it. He said, "Oh, I didn't think you would get up to lock the door." I replied with, "better to be safe than sorry..." To which he replied, "Well, I figured you were safe, there were 2 police cars parked right behind me and 4 more in the next parking lot. We saw that they had one man apprehended and were looking over fences with flashlights for someone else I guess. That's probably what the helicopter was doing circling over us last night with the spotlight"

OK right here does anybody else think it would be common sense to have stuck his head back in the door and ASKED me to lock it!!!!?????? His reply to that is, "Well I didn't want you to be nervous, plus the door is still "locked" and if there was anybody out there looking for trouble they would have thought the room was empty." A long silence followed from me... and then I of course reminded him that.... it would have made sense, except for the fact that it WASN'T empty!! Is this lack of concern for me as his wife supposed to tell me something!!????? He did admit the following morning that it probably would have been a better idea to follow "my plan" just to be safe. ( That was only after his guys pointed out the lead story in the paper. "Serial Murderer Apprehended in Mesa." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I must admit... I wasn't all that amused. He promised me that next time there was a serial killer around he would think more about it... I'm fully reassured of his concern for me now!!!??)

Well back to the long work day for Shane... after breakfast I went over to the temple with them. I'll tell you what that is a very odd experience... being in the temple in my capris and sandals just doesn't feel right. I know Shane is used to it and thinks nothing of traipsing through the whole building, it was of course neat, but it made me nervous and I felt like I was intruding somehow. I left soon after because... well I wasn't much help, so I layed by the pool and finished up the book "Twilight" (I had started it on the plane. - Thanks Missy!) I rarely read, but when I do I don't do much else, so I of course fried the back of my legs! Around 2:30 they were ready for lunch. Being "Cinco de Mayo" we headed to a Mexican restaurant referred to us by an engineer at the temple. It was great - the guys were wearing down though. (I reminded them that most people would call the 10 hour day they had already put in enough... they all looked at Shane - he had no comment!) So back to work they went, I went looking for penny smooshing machines (that is our girls favorite collection, Shane thinks it is kindof lame, but I think it is great and I look at the "penny collectors site" before going anywhere.) I then started a Mary Higgins Clark book and just plain enjoyed myself. Shane called at 8 PM (now 16 hours into his work day.) And asked me to bring shakes up to all of them. I stayed at the Temple with them after that, helped pick up scraps, and basically watched them work for another 2 hours.) They ended the day at 11 PM and we stopped at "Denny's" for dinner (the chooses are slim at that time of night). No one was really hungry so most of the guys ordered ANOTHER shake AND brownie pies a la Mode. HEALTHY! But after a day like that, I really don't think they cared that I thought it was gross!

I have always told Shane when he goes "on Temple trips" that it is "like a vacation" for him. In some ways it is, he does usually have a little down time to see a few sites. But I do have to agree that the work part is no vacation at all! You the man Shane!!

Lunch break with the guys. They weren't nearly that chipper by the time we got to dinner!!

Arizona... part one...

That hot Arizona sun was fabulous this last weekend. It was in the low 90's each day and actually not as "HOT" as I thought it would be... I loved feeling the sun beat down on me after our long cold winter. But arriving home and looking at the beautiful green which surrounds our valley in the spring was a major contrast to the barren Arizona backdrop. We had fun looking at all the different cacti species (which we both, just HAD to touch... word to those wiser than us... yes they are prickly!) and "zeroscaping". But I have decided I am a grass girl... I love being "barefoot in the grass" and thinking about it, I just don't think it would give me the same rush if I was "barefoot in the gravel" or "barefoot on the 220 degree cement". So I'm happy to be back to the cooler spring temperatures, even if I do have to check outside each morning to decide what I should wear for the day... thermals and a sweater... or shorts and a T-shirt!

The view from my backyard... It's definitely worth coming home too!

While we were off enjoying ourselves, our kids were home bawling all day because they missed us so much... NOT! They were being very well cared for by our awesome neighbors and friends Jimmy and Rachel. I wanted the girls to not be sad of course, but I wasn't sure that I wanted Kenna my 4 year old getting quite so excited when we jokingly asked her if she wanted us to leave again this weekend. There was FAR to much enthusiasm in her hopeful "REALLY". Truth be told it was very reassuring to leave our precious girls in such loving arms, we feel very blessed to know people like them. (They spoiled my little Jadyn though - she wanted me to read her books ALL DAY LONG today! That's how I know that they will make the best parents ever! I'm going to have to take some lessons from them!)

Being away from my girls is a very odd experience for me. I find when I leave them that I can actually forget about them for an hour at a time... and I don't like that! They mean everything too me and every moment in my daily life is filled with where they are, what they are doing and where I need to get them to next. When they aren't around me and I don't have that responsibility on me I feel a little lost... lonely... and guilty while at the same time I am enjoying the peace I am experiencing. (I'm sure that this may remind my parents and Andy of the little breakdown I had in a Burger King in Cairns Australia - in my defense I had left my then two little girls for 19 days and we were only half way through the trip - Most mothers might have had the same reaction , I mean would they even remember me after that long?? But the beautiful Great Barrier Reef was admittedly a strange place for me to freak out at!) All in all taking some time off was a good experience for all of us. It helps us to realize where our greatest treasures lie. For me it is wherever my family is all together!

More about Arizona tomorrow... my girls are hungry...

April Showers bring May Flowers??

Well it is officially May... and this is what we awoke to this morning! The temp is currently 27 degrees. I am ready for full fledge spring - although this is pretty much typical for spring in our valley. Perfect one day and cold the next. My house is plastered with signs that say "Think Spring" - and believe me I am... I guess I need more faith though!

My kids have not entered the teenage zone yet, but on a day like this 80% of the kids at the middle school bus stop are still standing there (at 6:45 AM) in flip flops, shorts and a T-shirt... I'm not sure if that is faith or just being stupid, but they are definitely "Thinking Spring".

Tomorrow Shane and I are flying to Mesa Arizona. I have never gone with Shane when he is actually installing the carpet in the temple - anyone who knows Shane knows why... he works like an ANIMAL from earlier than sunup to later than sundown... But since he will only be working on Monday he convinced me to come!

The high temp in Mesa yesterday was 95 ... I hate to be picky, but going somewhere in the mid 70's would have worked best for me! Hmmm.... My parents are leaving for Hawaii tomorrow - maybe I will just switch planes and take off with them... That would be what I call "Thinking Spring."