Nervous

I made by wonderful Mom nervous with my cryptic post so I better finish off the poem.

I did not.

I must be brighter

 Than I thought.

I dim....

Just to keep it real,

in the words of Carol Lynn Pearson...

I dim

I dim

I have no doubt

If someone blew....

I would go out.

9/10/12

On Monday Miriam informed me that it was one month till our Mom and daughter NY trip!

Miriam planned an ice cream party to give Morgan (her doll) her new t-shirt for the trip because she is, of course, coming with us! Mimi felt sorry for Meg (my doll) and wasn't sure if she should be included, but I assured her that Meg is such a sweet, rational, even tempered girl....there is not a jealous piece of plastic in her body.  She is the perfected version of me.

Our New York reading is still going strong.  It's such a fun way to build the anticipation and excitement for the trip! 

One Month!! SQUEEE!!

Okay...next topic.  This is the first year that my kids were aware of 9/11. I was taken off guard a bit when Miriam mentioned it at dinnertime. Not that I don't want them to know, just that the whole thing makes me feel uneasy and fearful so I was waiting to talk to them about it.  M asked me what it was like for me, and I started to cry from the flood of feelings.  Because, at that moment I felt like the world was ending. I felt like meanness, and anger had won over humanity.  But the one thing that brought me comfort at that time, and the thing that I tried to tell me children is that my father remembers feeling the same way in the 60's.  Strange that I get comfort from that but, I realized that awful inhumane evil things have always happened and they always will.  But we are still here.  The world didn't end.  Anger and hate didn't win after all. 

This is Bub's message to the terrorists:

"If you don't like America, don't die over it, just stay away from us!"

First Day

Back to school we go!

Going on 4 years using this backpack, sadly, I think this is the year to retire, her school binder isn't fitting very well.

Bub's new backpack

Bub's cool Ninja Pre-school shirt.

Soren, as always, not wanting to be left behind.

And they are off!

Darin rode with Miriam on the first day to attend her back to school flag raising ceremony.  Soren and I went to take Bub to his first day of Ninja school.

We had our traditional back to school dinner and blessings the night before.  I made our alphabet cookie pudding but was  disgusted when the whole box of cookies only had one E and NO T's! Can you believe it? I had to spell "Do Your Best" using an L at the end and then the only other word I could come up with was Kind, not even Kindness or Be Kind. 

We read about what school was like for Immigrant children in New York (still getting ready for the big trip).  After Darin had given M and B their blessings, Soren jumped right up for his.  It was so cute, and so funny I could hardly contain my laughter during the prayer.

I was all over the place the first day. Ninja pre-school, back to Miriam's school for Back To School day, then rush to pick up Bub, took him to the pet store looking for tadpoles (no one sells them), ran to Costco for bread and school lunch snacks, ran back home to wait for M who was getting out early. I gave some of our neighbor friends those popper bottles to pop at Miriam when she came into the back yard.  This was so fun for the boys and the neighbors, Miriam didn't really groove on it. She just wanted to unload on me all the ins and outs of the first day.  I think she would have rather just been alone to talk to me. I had to laugh when my friend Stacie pointed out that the stark difference between boys and girls. As she asked question after question to her son and got one word answers, I didn't say a word and Miriam spilled her guts! She came home very excited and very overwhelmed.  New school, new back to school schedule, rides bikes to school with a new group of kids, new teacher, new friends, homework on the first day, new dance class, try outs for the school play....it was all a lot for a girl to take in!

Byron, the typical boy said pre-school was fine, the craft was fine, the kids are fine, his teacher is nice....but he loved the huge  karate trophy's around his classroom. His teacher told me he was very helpful to his classmates, and not a bit of trouble.

and me?
I'm lovin' it!

Labor Day

Danger? We laugh in the face of danger!

On our way up to get peaches in Brigham City, we stopped at Smith and Edwards to pick up some nylon para cord to make survival bracelets.  So we are ready when disaster strikes! We had invited ourselves up to spend the weekend with Darin's parents so we just kept going north. Darin and his dad spent one day making the yummiest pear leather ever.  So when we left we came home with not only Brigham city peaches but also a box of very ripe pears to make MORE yummy fruit leather, bags of grated zucchini,  a few varieties of squash AND some strained raspberry juice.  My in-laws are so very generous with their garden! While there we finished Harry Potter and got to have our HP movie night on their flat screen. 

The next week I canned the peaches (only got 9 quarts...wish I had gotten more), made more pear leather, some pear butter (which is heaven on toast), raspberry jam (attempting syrup but over boiled it, which is funny since when I tried to make grape jam, one batch turned into grape syrup...whatever, its all sticky sweetness great for pancakes!) and roasted tons of our tomates for 4 quarts of tomato sauce.

It was fruit fly haven in our kitchen, but those buggers just kept me motivated to get it all done. I will be roasting tomatoes for the next two months so don't be surprised when I smell like garlic the next time we meet. 

On our way home from our weekend visit we did a drive by to the Brigham city temple and then drove through the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

We were there from just before dusk to sunset (when it closes) and it was gorgeous! We saw pelicans, American Avocets, Great Blue Herons, tons and tons of Coots, American Bittern, Black Crown Night Heron, White-Faced Ibis, Snowy Egret, raccoons, 2 deer, and lots of huge carp stuck in the receding river mud.

It was fun, and I am glad we went but lest I give the impression that we have nothing but fun! fun! fun! when we do family outings I will write a script of what it was like in our car on the drive out.

We had been singing Pioneer Children and then Soren took it to the next level.

Soren: "and walked and walked and walked and walked........(for the next 10 min)

Byron: "SOREN STOP! STOP! STOP!"

Darin: "Byron you are making it worse, just ignore him!"

Me attempting to distract B: "Byron here are your binoculars."

Miriam:"Give them to me!"

Me: "No, they are for Byron."

Miriam: "I don't have anything to see with!! Well, at least I get the window seat."

Byron: "MOOOOOM I can't see out of the window!

(Soren still saying "walked and walked and walked and walked. . .")

Byron and then Soren: "can we watch a movie?!"

Darin: "We are NOT watching a movie while in this amazing bird refuge!"

Me: "maybe we should put something in for Soren...with headphones so he will stop talking."

(I put in Very Hungry Caterpillar, which the other two aren't too interested in.)

This went on for a good mind numbing 15 min.

When we tried to let the kids out for a better look, the mosquitoes and horse flies would swarm us, rolling down the window caused the same problem. Until the last stop at the outlook, I guess by then it cooled off too much or something and it was pleasant. 

Family time is not a break that is for sure, but it is worth it.  I am glad we went, and I would go again (with more treats, lots of bug spray, some sort of non-whining bribe).

My Birthday Party!

Yep...it's come around again this year.  

My birthday.

I planned my own party by suggesting all the girls on my side of the family get Wicked tickets together. I first asked Darin to go, but he wasn't super interested, so I talked Darin into coming down to City Creek with us for some family time before I met the girls for lunch.  We took THE BUS all the way into Salt Lake.  There is a stop on the road by our house, I have wanted to try it out with the kids but felt more comfortable if Darin came with us the first time.  It was so fun! Being at the bus stop on time makes me nervous, but time on the bus is very relaxing.

We ran to the Disney store as per kiddos request (not my happy place), then took them to "squshie Dinoland" for a while. The boys had and afternoon with Dad while

Mimi and I ran off to the Blue Lemon.

Oh yes I did...I took a picture of my lunch.

Loved it, of course. I knew I would.  Cried, of course. I knew I would.

Good times with the ladies!

The Fair of course, it's August.

This was the cleanest, sweetest petting zoo with some exotic animals.

(baby camel, baby kangaroo, and a turtle!)

The same can't be said for the traveling sting ray tent....putting my hand in cloudy water ewwwww.

On the other hand, the horseshoe crabs were fun!

Soren loved it so much he grew ears!!

Haircut time.

 Love baby cows.

See these hand stamps? That means these brave kids held the tarantula!

The scorpion wasn't out:(

Reunion

Our cowboy reunion

with a cowboy/pioneer parade

line dancing and games....

bull riding.

I love my family.

Even if I could hand pick my relatives, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I will claim them....even the ones that are nuts. 

Hopefully they feel the same way about me!

Just Us...at Scofield

We went to the cabin with just us, which is strange since we almost always meet up with cousins there. We love it both ways, but this was a nice change.

We hiked.

Fed the horses.

Went to the swings.

 We canoed to the island for breakfast with a pelican and a beaver (we think it was a beaver).

We also were able to watch the Olympics which was so fun since we don't have a TV at home.

Miriam fell in love with rhythmic gymnastics, Darin got excited about the wrestling matches.  We all loved the track and field and volleyball.

Uncle Mark came up Saturday night.  We (Mark, Darin, and I) stayed up past midnight to watch the Perseid Meteor shower in clear beautiful mountain skies.  We laid out on the driveway talking and watching "falling stars" while bats flew inches from our faces.  

That takes some guts people....even if they are sweet-faced fruit bats.

Pirate Ballet and a Flirty Polar Bear

Miriam's summer ballet had a pirate theme.

The dance they learned was so cute.

Lots of sword fighting and across the floor leaping.

Her cute teacher let the boys play pirates after the "Mom performance".

Then we met cousins at the Zoo.

The sea lions were zippin' all over the place, and that polar bear.....

well, she was playin' up the crowd!

Attention greedy zoo animals are the best.

Ahhhhh, the refreshing water fan.

Holy Moly Goshie!

"Holy Moly Goshie" is Soren's catch phrase. 

It's what he says when he is amazed.

Our last trip to the Eccles Dinosaur Museum before our pass expired.