A change of venue

For all the latest happenings you can now go here or http://9teen96.blogspot.com/.

Thank you.

Field of Heroes

At a park not too far from our house we found a beautiful Memorial display honoring those who have fought and died for our country.

The kids loved climbing around in this old Army jeep.

There were rows and rows of giant flags honoring fallen soldiers.

We were also able to watch some Boy Scouts as they properly disposed of old American flags.

Of course it was all so beautiful, so Aunt Katie and Uncle Chad wanted in on the photo opportunities as well.

Thank you to all who have served, and who continue to serve our country.

Meeting up with the Johnsons

A week ago we had the opportunity to head up to Kirtland to meet up with a very dear friend and her family. They were driving through on a church history tour and there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity for a little reunion. You see, I haven't seen my friend Marcy in at least 17 years and I have missed her terribly. What's cool is that her husband Jamey is also a good friend of mine as well. I had the great honor of being there the moment these two love birds met at the bell tower of BYU over 20 years ago. It was love at first sight for these two and now, here we are years and years later looking older but feeling like no time at all has gone by.

Here we all are standing in the obligatory photo spot. The Johnsons have three kids ranging in ages that correspond pretty well to the ages of my own kids which meant that each of my kids had an instant buddy to hang out with.

While we waited outside in the beautiful weather for the Johnsons to finish their temple tour, I decided to make my kids sit for a few pictures. This picture captures their moods perfectly. The boys had been at a Father/Son's campout the night before and so they were deliriously tired. This fatigue had left Tiger a little less than thrilled with life, Sparky was pretty slap-happy, and Woo was her usual giggly self.

I couldn't resist the chance to attempt a family picture. The kids weren't thrilled, but they humored me, and that's all that I ask. Although our time together in Kirtland was quite short, we had such a great time and we were so glad that we went. I will definitely not let another 17 years go by before I see these dear friends again. 

I'm trying not to think about it

Yesterday as I was walking up the stairs I noticed a black spider, about the size of a quarter, sitting at the top of the front door frame. This spider was far too big to squish with a tissue, and I was in too much of a hurry to try to catch it, or in all honesty, try to suck it up with the vacuum. So I continued up the stairs and decided not to think about it. I didn't want to think about its creepy little 8-legged self and where it might be going. I wanted to just pretend like I never saw it. So, that's what I did. At least that's what I did until I came back down the stairs a bit later and saw it crawling along the wall on the way to the blinds in the front window. But once again I didn't have time to deal with this icky little pest, I had a boy to get off to school. By the time I was done getting lunch for my boy I noticed that Creepy, for that is what I had decided to name him, was now situated at the top of the blinds and there he sat for quite some time. He was there as I ate my own lunch. He was there an hour later as I was cleaning up the kitchen. However, by the time the kids came home from school, he was no longer on his little perch on top of the blinds. Where did he go? Is he still hiding up there somewhere? Is he somewhere else nearby? Has he gone to get friends which are then going to invade my front room and form a spider crown molding, all the time judging me and threatening to attack at any moment? What is his next move?? These are the things I am trying not to think about.

7 days

1. Only 7 more days of school! We are all ready for summer to start.

2. Monday mornings are always so daunting as I look around at the trashed house from the weekend tornado that is our family. So much to do.

3. This week I must recommit to painting. I have miles of trim that needs to be painted and the thought of it makes me want to run for the hills screaming. Of course the thought of trying to finish it once the kids are home all day is worse, so I am determined to finish it in the next 7 days.

4. These last 7 days of school are going to be insane. I feel like we are jam packed with activities and whatnot as the school year comes to an end. I won't be sad one bit when this month is over.

5. Also in 7 days I will be acting as the photographer at a friend's wedding. This is incredibly nerve racking for me. It is one thing to take pictures for fun, it is quite another to be taking the life-long record of an eternal union. Throw in the fact that I am having issues with one of my lenses, and what you get is a clear case of nerves. But don't tell this to the bride. I know I will pull it off in the end, but if there is one thing that I have learned as I have prepared for this is that I have no desire to do this professionally. The pressure is just too much.

6. My little man starts tee ball this week. He is going to be adorable. I just hope he likes it as much as he thinks he will because the games are many and the season is long and hot.

Mother's Day

I love these little pickles.

Today

1. My little Tiger man is home sick from school today. The poor boy has a yucky cold and a stomach bug. It has been a long 24 hours for this boy and I.
2. I have a cold, which was given to my by my little Tiger man, which is making it much harder for me to be loving and sympathetic in his time of need because all I want to do is sleep and be left alone and all he wants is for me to be right next to him, not sleeping, and not being alone.
3. On the bright side, the pinched nerve in my back is almost gone.
4.We only have 17 days left of school. I have a lot to get done in those 17 days.

Here's a picture of my poor little man as he tried to sleep in my bed last night. He spent the whole night moaning, whining, and rolling around, but in this picture he was peaceful. It is these peaceful sleeping images that make me love these kids again after a hard day.

Reasons for sporadic blogging and a Girl Scout trip

1. Painting, painting, and more painting due to trying to get my house ready to sell. By the way, painting baseboards is the worst!
2. Kid insanity
3. Personal insanity
4. Mental exhaustion due to trying to figure out what I am going to do with all of the stuff in my house so that we can sell it.
5. Pinched nerve in my back, leaving me unable to move for 3 days.
6. Allergies out the wazoo for the kids as well as colds.

However, I was able to go on a little excursion with my Woo and her Girl Scout troop a couple of weekends ago. It was the annual over-nighter and this year we were in a historical museum/village set in the days of the Civil War.

 The Apothecary's office.

 A happy, but cold Woo.

 Another part of the Apothecary's office.

 Since we went through the village at night, everything was lit by lanterns.

 I love this girl to pieces!

 Woo, working on bandages to help with the Women's suffrage movement in the Doctor's house.

 A skeleton in the Doctor's house.

 We slept in various places around the museum. Here is the view at the top of my bed where I had the "pleasure" of "sleeping".

 And here is the view at the foot of my bed. I was so worried that the lights weren't going to go out in the display cases when it was time to go to sleep and that they would keep me up all night. It turns out that I didn't need to worry about that at all. It turns out what I should have been concerned about was whether or not they would turn out any of the overhead lights. They did not. Sleeping in this museum was far from my favorite.

 Early morning soldier roll call.

 Woo, working the spinning wheel. She would have done awesome if she had lived in the 1800's.

 Is there any mail for me?

We couldn't leave without getting a picture with the giant Mastodon. I love going on these trips with my girl. She is so much fun and so adventurous and I can hardly wait until our next one.

The story of Sparky's concussion

Through a comedy of events, our dear Sparky has sustained a mild concussion. This is both sad and very inconvenient, but he should be back to regular life by Monday. Until then, he is stuck sitting around and doing absolutely nothing. No soccer, no TV, no video games, no reading, nothing. I think this will be a great exercise in patience for my boy. It all started Wednesday night. He was playing around in the gym at church after scouts. He and a friend were playing with a big bouncy ball and they were entertaining themselves by ramming into each other and on one of those exchanges Sparky was knocked down and whacked his head pretty hard on the wood floor. As he was trying to be manly about his pain he stood underneath the basketball hoop talking to another friend when a flying basketball air-balled and nailed him right in the head. This head bonk was more than one boy could take and it sent him over the edge for the night and left the kid with a hefty headache so we went home and tucked him right into bed. He woke up the next morning feeling much, much better and was in great spirits, ready to take on a day of standardized testing at school. After school I was asking this boy how his day was and he informed me that he got hit in the head once again at school. He was standing out in the field talking to a friend when a kickball made a line drive to his head and knocked him over. See, a comedy of events. Through further investigation I also found out that Sparky had been feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous all day long. So, off to the doctor we went where it was determined that he now has a mild concussion. So, there you have it, the story of Sparky's concussion and a case of bad luck.

A Dad and His Girl

A couple of weeks ago Woo had a Daddy/Daughter Girl Scout dance and her dad was more than happy to be her date. She was just the cutest and was so excited for a night of dancing with her dad. The evening did not disappoint for they had a great time and danced their hearts out.