What's going on?

Thursday the kids and I loaded up in the van (I LOVE IT) and headed south. Time for some sunshine. SERIOUSLY. We drove all day long and arrived at my SIL's house about 1 am local time. Yeah. We left our house at 8:30 am. So it was kind of a long day. The kids did GREAT! D couldn't get the DVD player to work. Too old, I guess. (Rick, I guess we are done borrowing your portable DVD player. You can have it back! Thanks!) Still we listened to Magic Treehouse books and kids songs on CD. There was loud singing, some crying, many stops, lots of stray pistachio shells, and only a few irrate "I can't. I'm driving!" All in all, not bad.
My favorite Idaho roadsign from the trip: "Miracle Hot Springs suchandsuchmiles suchandsuchexit Caution: Alligators" Um, no thanks.
For the record, Idaho has some of the craziest road signs. With towns such as Anaconda and Opportunity, as well as Roberts/Butte (imagine you don't know the proper pronunciation of Butte.....yeah, funny) there are some great mile signs.
Anyway, we stayed with Teanna and Brandon (THANK YOU GUYS!) and played with their adorable daughter in the morning. Then we drove the rest of the way to Grandma B's house. (She really hates the term Grandma B.) The kids exploded out of the car and have barely been seen indoors since. It has been sunny but not too hot. There is a sandbox, playset and trampoline outside. They have been dropping into their beds exhausted at night. Even A is having a great time.
K told me Saturday morning, "I stay gramma's house. I no go home." So she's having fun.

Saturday afternoon the kids and I headed to the local museum with Grandpa. It was their anniversary. ("2 th" if the sign could be believed ;) There is a special Topaz exhibit in the back controlled by an old HS nemisis/teacher. She is a great teacher but can be, uh, terrifying. She is also passionate about Topaz history. I feel it was an act of providence that my children made it out alive, between K sitting on an old chair that was expressly forbidden and D touching and potentially breaking a small scale model of a Topaz water tower. Somehow she didn't see either infraction. Miracle, I tell you!

Today was church. It's always good to see people from the ward who knew me 'back when...'. Mostly because I was an angel. Never a blot to my record. Emily, Natalie, I will deny any and all accusations to the contray!
Tonight I get to hang out with my surrogate sister. Since my parents never gave me a sister I had to find one myself. After 16 years, we still laugh hysterically at each other's jokes. That is the mark of a good friend. (EGADS! 16 YEARS?!)

So, that's what's going on.

Memorial Day Memories

Today, while I was drying my hair, I began contemplating Memorial Day. Why do I want to go home for Memorial Day? I began reliving Memorial Days of the past. I began to envision what this Memorial Day will look like.
Monday morning will find us heading to the cemetary. We will spend some time hanging out at my grandparents and great-grandparents graves before wandering around looking for other graves-- great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles.
Then at 10:30 The Program will begin. There will be short speechs that will seem like forever to the kids, there will be some patriotic music. Then the local veterans will fire off a 21-gun salute. (When I was a kid there were seven shooters who fired 3 times. They were old then. At this point, there may be three shooters who fire 7 times from their wheelchairs.) A lone trumpet will play Taps from a distant-ish hillside. There will be a moment of silence before everyone wanders back to look for more headstones.
Every grave will have flowers. The graves of recently dead children will be covered with pinwheels, stuffed animals and other various toys and flowers. Anyone who has served in the Armed Forces will have a small flag flying by his/her headstone.
Some of the living will be teary. Some will be rowdy (mostly kids). Some will be chatting. Some will sit quietly remembering.
Eventally everyone will meander homeward for a BBQ with family and friends. The mood will change from one of reverence to one of revelry.
I remember Memorial Days of the past. Uncle Kent and Aunt Bonnie would come up. Dad would go get Grandma. We'd throw a couple of lawn chairs and the plastic flowers that Mom dusted off the day before into the van and head up the hill to the cemetary. I remember Grandma sitting in her lawn chair enjoying the patriotic program that I was totally bored with as a child. The adults would visit the graves of family while my brothers and I would run around looking for the interesting headstones.
Usually, later in the afternoon, Mom would drive out to Hinckley to visit her grandparent's, great-grandparent's and great-aunt's graves and leave an offering of flowers. Sometimes we went. Sometimes we didn't and Mom would make the trek herself.
This year there will be no Grandma to pick up. She left us 7 years ago. There will be more headstones to put flowers on. But there is a new generation of grave visitors. A whole new set of children to run around and be disruptive. What better way to celebrate those who have died?

A new calling

*I've tried to link some of the 'mormon jargon' to definitions or explanations if you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about.

I've been called into the young women in our 'new' ward. A few weeks ago, our entire stake was reorganized- the boundaries for every ward in the stake changed (except one). There were some pretty significant changes to our ward that resulted in it being necessary to reorganize the young women, young men and primary presidencies plus two new counselors in the Relief Society presidency.
So...I'm the new secretary in young women's. I actually have quite a bit of experience working with the yw but I've never been the secretary. I've never been the secretary for anything. This is a fun new adventure. And how fun to start right at the beginning of summer. Right in time for dance festival, youth conference and girl's camp (three MAJOR activites).
Ironically, I've been watching Roy go to dance festival practice every week and been secretly glad it wasn't me. That was just during the regular weekly activity time. Now we are starting Saturday practice. yippee.
I don't mean to sound glum. I am really happy about this. I love love working with the yw. I am looking forward to doing the fun stuff. I think this is going to be a great opportunity.

We've been trying to schedule a family trip for this summer. We thought we had the perfect trip to visit the grandparents. Then something came up. Something always comes up doesn't it. So now we are back to the drawing board.

Anybody want to come visit me this summer? I promise to show you a good time. Beach, mountain, zoo, museums, we can do it! (but not all at the same time) Macey? Danielle? Sarah? Val? Mel? Bueller? Anyone???

Just a few things

D told me yesterday that 20 linus (minus) 10 = 10. I naturally affirmed this but asked him how he knew. I was curious to hear his answer. What he said made my little teacher/mom heart glow! He said, "Well, I know that 10+10=20 so if I take back one of the 10's then 20 linus 10 = 10." *big satisfied sigh*

We were letting the neighbor's dog out while they were out of town. Today when we went over, there was a Roomba going. The kids were totally freaked out about it. D recovered when he heard it was a robot. But K was just terrified of it. Something about it moving on it's own I guess.

After we let the dog out, I set A on the deck without really thinking about it. The dog is a big yellow lab but she is so gentle and well behaved. Naturally, the dog was curious about A and went to sniff her. A's face was priceless! She was trying to crawl backward and debating if/how hard to cry. The dog turned away quickly and A was fine. I forgot that she has never really met a dog before.

K was eating a pear while we were there. She kept feeding the dog bits of pear. I seriously hope pear is okay for dogs.

We are thinking about doing some concrete curbing between our flower beds and grass. I had someone come give me an estimate today. He seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. Once I got him to understand what I wanted, he seemed to think it was a silly thing to have him come all the way over for an estimate. Then he said it would cost $900. *cough*cough* Then he wanted a decision right then! Uh... don't call us, we'll call you.

In happy news, the county was going to charge us $320 to move a roadsign off our lawn. The bill came back well under half that amount!

Other happy news:

*notice the fence posts and roto-tilled yard (behind the fence posts)*

K wants to be a squirrel when she grows up. I couldn't be more proud.

So...it's been two weeks

since I last posted. Well, nearly two weeks anyway. Last Saturday we went to the zoo unexpectedly. A friend offered us free tickets that were only good for that day. So, off we headed. Much fun was had by all. There was a bit of a safety fair going on so in addition to getting to see all the animals, we also learned about safety. bike safety. gun safety. fire safety. 9-1-1 safety. accident safety. car safety. You get the idea. There were 10 different 'stations' set up where we would stop to learn about something and then get a stamp on a paper. At the end, the kids each received a bag full of goodies donated by different places (think rubber bracelet for bike safety, coloring book from the fire station etc.) Plus most of the animals were pretty active. Except the lions. They are never active. They just sit on their rocks and watch the people parade.
Tonight is fathers and sons. For those who are unfamiliar, this is a time honored ritual where fathers take their sons out and let them sleep in the dirt, eat fire roasted marshmallows and just be manly men. This would be a lot more exciting to me if two year old girls could go to. Trust me, she would love it. D was trying to come up with ideas to smuggle her in, but decided her long hair was too obvious.
Today I went to lunch with a friend. We go every once in a while. (haha, last time I only had 2 kids....just to give you an idea of how frequently we go...) A couple of weeks ago, Roy introduced me to a little delicacy called Thai food. Oh how I love it. Today I had "Ugly Jungle Noodles". Don't be put off by the name. DEEELISH. Last time, Pad Thai. SO GOOD. Seriously, if you haven't had the pleasure of Thai food, GO GET SOME. Uh, but start with the mild unless you're one of those crazies who can eat jalapeno seeds like candy. Then feel free to start whereever you like.
It might rain. Which could put a serious damper on the whole fathers and sons thing. (haha, damp-er, get it? I don't even plan these things!) Which reminds me of one MISERABLE girl's camp experience. Thankfully we were in Oak City canyon and could be rescued. Still, my scriptures have never been the same.
A is growing like a weed. She now has 6 (!) teeth. Four on top and two on bottom. It's cute but kind of sad too. The toothy grins of a baby growing teeth are adorable. But so are the toothless grins of an infant. A can stand up at the train table now. She can get virtually anywhere she wants. (Except downstairs. She refuses to learn how to go down the stairs!)
D needs a dentist appointment. Our bishop just happens to be a pediatric dentist. I'm hoping since D already knows him, this will cut down on the intense screaming and thrashing about. Or, it could just be that we will have to sell this house and move after D's dental visit. We'll see.
K....*sigh*....K....That girl is the funniest, sweetest little trial anyone could ever ask for. As Roy points out, she will owe us a BIG apology when she grows up. For now, I just sigh and unplug the toilet. Or sigh and wrench open the drawer she broke. Or sigh and take away the dental floss, again.
My camera is a piece of you know what. I really do need to replace it but I just keep putting it off. I also need to mop my floors but....no squirt bottle.
Uh, my stream of conscienceness is running out. But I think I hear A waking up anyway. So, see you in a couple more weeks?
(Just kidding Macey. I'll try to be more regular. I promise. . . . . maybe.. . . or not . . . . .uhhhh.. . . maybe)