A Series of Unfortunate Events, or It's Hard To Be A Girl

As a caution, if you have a weak stomach, or cannot find humor in bodily functions, please stop now....
"We" decided that we would go for a little ride up the canyon for a really great hike last Saturday afternoon. The weather was beautiful so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be outside. There was beauty all around...

Lots of opportunities for throwing rocks into the water...
But as is usually the case when you throw children (and husbands) into the mix, things do not go as planned.
Intitally, we were supposed to go up to a trailhead that would start us on a wonderful hike to the top of the mountain that we see every morning from our house.

We had driven about an hour on a dirt road to get there, getting higher and higher up the side of the mountain, when we encountered snow. Burke was confident in his new truck's ability to get past it, and put it into four wheel drive.
We slid.
Then he got out and locked the hubs and tried again. We slid again, this time accomanied by screaming all around.
Then we had a little discussion about how sliding off a cliff is not in the best interest of his family. Or his truck.
He acquiesced and we did some driving gymnastics to turn around and find another hike that wouldn't be so dangerous.

Little did we know what lay ahead...

We found a little lake with what appeared to be trails around it. We pulled off and decided to make the best of the situation.
We had been hiking for about 10 minutes when the kids all declared they were starving to death. I couldn't believe the dead moose we found didn't kill their appetites.
We stopped to give them a snack and let Burke play with his range finder and binoculars and relive his deer hunt. While we were checking out the lay of the land through the binoculars, Annika wandered off. I looked over my shoulder to see if I could find her, and noticed her standing off in some bushes.
Thinking that was strange, I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was using the bathroom.
Only I noticed that she didn't seem to be squatting. I asked her if she needed help, and she told me she had just finished.
As she got redressed, and rejoined the group, I saw a giant wet spot on the leg of her jeans. When I asked her what it was (hoping against hope I wasn't right), her answer was, "It just isn't fair that the boys can just stand up and go wherever they want."
Yep.
And it wasn't fair that she was the butt of jokes for the next 15 minutes (but it was pretty funny).

We decided to press on, following Burke into more and more snow.
Finally, the trail was gone and we were proceeding down the side of a hill falling and sliding in the cold wet muddy snow as Burke strolled on a quarter-mile ahead.
I rebelled and told Burke what I thought about his wilderness guide abilities.
Then we turned and headed back, while Burke stubbornly led himself on a wonderful-- yet short-- hike.
The kids and I found some great rocks and spent some time throwing them in the water, until Annika told me she needed some help to finish the aforementioned job.
When she had previously felt the warmth seeping down her leg, she decided to cut it off, but still needed to answer the call of nature.
As I explained to her, every woman must learn the best and easiest way to take care of business. I took care to stay out of her way.
At this point, Adrienne decided she needed in on the action. I explained and helped, until she told me she needed to go #2. (Sorry about the graphic nature, but I tell it like it is.)
I don't even like #2 at home, so Burke got to step in at this point. He helped her, cleaned her up, and got his pack back on (the awesome Eagle Scout was even prepared with toilet paper!)
Unfortunately, after the job was done, he didn't watch where she was stepping and neither did she.
Yep.
It was ugly.
Blech.
Burke laughed.
Then I did. What else can you do?

The shoe came off and went in the lake for a good washing.
Then we decided we had had enough fun and headed back to the truck.

That is when Adrienne found her "very useful walking stick". It was helpful until she tripped over it, landed on it with her mouth, and came up with a mouthful of blood and a very loose front tooth that was previously not loose at all.

Needless to say, it was a very somber, very smelly ride home.

Halloween, At Last

Yes, I know I am finally getting around to posting the Halloween fun, but it is worth the wait.

Right?

Nathan, after much consternation about Kohl's not sending his much needed accessory, was a Doctor for the school Halloween party (we improvised using the scrubs I work for work when I was pregnant with him, with some tailoring, of course).
Annika borrowed a costume from her friend again because of Kohl's late shipment (not my fault, I proclaimed as I clicked purchase on October 21). Annika was very cute as an Asian princess, or as Mulan, whichever she decided was more glamorous.

Kade was a mummy. Which I sewed. With lots of cheesecloth bits flying up my nose as I did it.

Adrienne was a cute little red witch.

Once the Kohl's shipment came (the day after the school parties) Nathan was Albert Einstein and Annika was still the neighbor's Asian girl costume because I got the wrong size. In my own defense, I ordered the size it said was for kids 8-10 years old. When it came, I said 8-10 years old= size 12-14. GRRR. Oh well, maybe she can wear it in 3-4 years.

I had the opportunity to plan the parties for the 2nd grade and for Kade's class in third grade. It was very stressful for me, but we got it done, and the craft and the games turned out to be lots of fun. Adrienne got to come and hang out in the second grade and the third grade parties, so she thought she was pretty awesome.


The weekend of Halloween, we headed up to the library for their annual party which is usually pretty fun, especially for the younger kids.
Nathan won the costume contest for the "Smartest" costume and was able to pick out a book.

Kade won too for the all around best costume! It validated all of the tacking of cheesecloth that took many more hours than I thought it would.

After the library party, the boys went trick or treating with their friends, and the girls got to go with their dad until a friend's mom picked them up and took them out for a little while.
They were soooo excited and felt like they were big like their brothers to be out without mom or dad.
Adrienne got separated from the group though, because the house they went to didn't give her candy fast enough and the other kids left her. She was a little upset at that, but seemed fine once she sat down to munch on her candy.

Burke and I were home alone on Halloween night.
He got to fulfill his fondest wish (next to getting his truck).
He wore a horrendous mask and scared the bigger kids who came to the door.
His chuckles and comments of "They screamed like little girls!" Were pretty funny.
Love that guy!

Oh, the Places We'll Go

We finally did it.

We finally got "THE TRUCK".

Many of you may not know the full import of this.

Many others do.

And if you do, you will rejoice with Burke.

He finally has his truck after all these years.

Now our lives can really start.

According to him.

Now we can really have fun.

Now we can bond.

Now we can go to cool places.

Now we can get all of those projects around the house finished.

Now we can get the Republicans in the White House and therefore save the world.

Maybe he didn't go quite that far, but it is pretty close.

Burke is very excited. His truck is very big, I feel like I am driving a big rig when I take it places. But I am getting used to it.

We currently have 5 vehicles at our home (6 if you count his motorcycle). Three of them are running, and one needs to be sold. But I have some hoarding issues with vehicles, and I find myself having a hard time parting with the one that gave me my sanity in Michigan.

But it needs to go.

Because his new truck is really big (I call it "jugly". It is a nice combination of jacked-up and ugly).

And I just realized I didn't take a picture of it for my post.

Another day.

It has been offically broken in by our family, however.

Literally.

We went up to my parent's cabin for the weekend. Nathan, trying to be helpful, locked all the doors because the little kids were playing in it.

Unfortunately, the keys were also inside.

After some yelling and threats of making Nathan walk home to get the spare set of keys, Burke and I broke in and unlocked the doors.

We all learned a valuable lesson: Nathan inherited the locking out gene from his dad.

The First Day

Adrienne has started kindergarten.
It was bittersweet.
She was so excited.
So was I.
But a little wistful.
I am now a mother without a baby, or a toddler.
I don't even have a preschooler anymore.

WEIRD!

I love the freedom, but miss having my little sidekick with me through the day.
However, I just realized on Tuesday that I can go to the temple in the morning if I am so inclined.
Or I can go back to bed for a nice little morning nap.
Or I can organize my closet, if I were so inclined.
So far I haven't been inclined to do the cleaning or organizing that I need to do, and told myself I will do when Adrienne is gone.
I have been going to the doctor for light treatments.
I just got a sunburn.
It hurts.
But hopefully it will help.

Anyway, here is my big girl on her first big day:
She was so excited the night before she didn't sleep well.
She finally fell asleep at around 6 AM. I woke her up at 7. She was tired and sleepy and told me in her sleepy voice, "Mom, I am five years old now. I am big enough to go to kindergarten, so I am big enough to know when I should get up. I am too tired right now."
She managed to make it up for breakfast, a cute first-day hairdo, and had her backpack on for half an hour before the bus arrived.
This is my kindergartener coming home from the first day.


I am so proud of all of my children. It is a great blessing for me to see them grow up and learn new things and try different experiences.

A Marathon, in Bites

I was asked in April if I would be interested in participating in a marathon relay. Meaning I would be on a team of four other women who would all run approximately 5.2 miles, adding up to a full marathon at 26.2 miles.

This is most of the larger group. There were two teams of 10.

Knowing myself the way I do, I knew if I didn't have anything to keep me motivated over the summer, I would probably take the summer off and never exercise. I figured the pressure of knowing other people were counting on me to not make a fool of myself by running 1 and walking 4.2 miles would keep me going.

This is my team of 5.

It did.

But the pressure was a little more than I bargained for in the two weeks leading up to the race.
The dreams were ridiculous.

I didn't get to the point where I could do it in under 50 minutes like I planned in April, but I finished strong and didn't have to walk once.

Burke came to watch.
He was the only husband able to make the drive and support us (thanks to Grandma for watching the kids). He was so sweet. He stalked me at the mile markers and snapped some photos of me.
My first mile was in 9 minutes! A personal best for me. I love that Burke knew that when I shouted it out to him at mile 3.

Mile 3. I improved my time over my 5k in the spring!

Although mile 5 took a good 11 minutes (plus), I didn't stop, even when the pigeon hiding in the bushes jumped out to get me.

Mile 4. Getting tired, but no longer freezing to death.

I kept going.
I knew Burke was waiting for me at the end with a big hug and an "I'm proud of you".
'Cause he knew how hard it was for me.

At the finish, almost there!

I'm not a runner. But I try hard.
And I made it.

Done! Passing the baton. And rejoicing!

My Boy

Nathan is my first born. He's my oldest child, and yet remains an enigma to me much of the time. He and I are very alike in some ways and complete opposites in others.
Which makes us butt heads more often than I would like.
But more and more I find myself being pleasantly surprised by his attitudes, opinions, and ideas.
And I like it.
He is growing up and we are finding interests we can enjoy together.
We spent the weekend up at my parents' cabin. Nathan inserted himself into an adult game of Pictionary.
I am sorry to stay he surprised me, but he did very well.
He was so proud and so am I.
It is nice to be able to associate with him in that way.

I think I am ready for the teen-dom. The good and the bad. Because the good is going to be a lot of fun, and the bad can't be too much worse than we have already endured, can it?

He keeps me hopping, that is for sure. Like yesterday when he brought home a progress report from school that had all A's. Except for vocabulary. Where he said he ran out of time (4 days) to look up definitions for his assignment in the dictionary, so he made them up. **Sigh**
Looking at the positive, trying to work with the negative; we congratulated him on his good grades and offered to help him learn how to use a dictionary more effectively. He took us up on the offer.

He started his first "job" this summer as well. He is mowing the lawn at our bishop's business with the bishop's son. The first time they went, it took them 4 hours. The second time was three. Mowing time has been speeding up for them and they finally did it in under two hours the last time. And were rewarded with a sundae.
He is saving his job money for an electric scooter. Not just the namby pamby kind. He wants the one with the most power (hear the manly grunting?).
He has been very diligent about saving, tithing, and putting some money in a long term savings account.
He is hoping to have enough money by the end of the mowing season. It should be enough, perhaps with a few household job ideas from mom and dad.
I am looking forward to seeing more goal setting from him.
He has told me he would like to run a 5k with me next year.
I told him to get his running shoes. His teacher gave his class an assignment to write what is called a Bio-Poem. I have never heard of one, but this was Nathan's:

Nathan
Small, nice, gamer, and smart
Brother of Kade, Annika, and Adrienne
Lover of candy, fun, and science
Who feels happy, entertained, and weird
Who needs fun, games, and candy
Who gives laughs, smiles, and winks
Who fears homework, death, and fire
Who would like to invent something, go to space, and get a job

The Birthday Girl

Adrienne had her birthday in August. She was more than thrilled to finally turn 5!

We decided to celebrate with a party with friends. (I am a bad mom-- this is only my second friend party ever).

We had a big waterslide courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa T. There was a watermelon cake and many gifts.

Adrienne was in heaven.

I would have liked to post some pictures, but they are all gone into cyberspace.

It was a great day and she felt like the VIP that she is in our family.

Now for the interview:

Favorite color: Pink and Purple

Favorite food: McDonalds Happy Meal with Chocolate Milk

Favorite book: Olivia

Favorite movie: Pink Panther, Aladdin

Best friend: Ella

Favorite thing about going to school: going in the keva to listen to stories

What she wants to be when she grows up: A doctor

Favorite thing to do with family: go out for ice cream

We love her so much.

She is our last little princess, and is off to school this year. I miss her, but I am excited to be able to help out in school this year a little more than I have been able to in the past.

Wrapping It Up

So, I would like to post some pictures of the rest of our summer, but between our camera, computer, and the operator, the rest of our summer pictures and the first day of school pictures were deleted!
Grrrrr.
Oh well, life goes on, and I'm sure they will be kept in my mind's eye forever.
Right.

Anyway, I do have some great pictures from when our friends invited us to come on their boat for some end of summer fun.
We had a great time. I attempted to waterski with minimal success, but Nathan and Burke took on wakeboarding. There are no pictures of my skiing, unfortunately. I think Burke and company were too busy laughing at my self inflicted water torture to think of taking pictures.
For his first try to do anything like that, Nathan did fairly well (better than I did). He got up on his first try, but his chatty mom missed the photo op (which lasted about 2 seconds).
Burke did great. Got up (after a few tries) and cruised all over the place. The rest of the kids went swimming around in the lake and played on the beach when we took a break. We all had a great time, despite being unable to move the next morning.
We even got to take in a beautiful sunset. Thanks for a wonderful evening of family fun!
Here is some video of Burke's Sweet Moves:

High Adventure Camp: The Conclusion

Nathan finished up his high adventure camp with indoor skydiving.
He really liked it until they turned up the air flow on his last turn. He panicked and started flailing around because he said he couldn't breathe.
His poor instructor thought he had a wild man on his hands.
Needless to say, that last turn was cut short.
Other than that, it was a lot of fun and we were sad to see it end.

The organizers said they will try to do a parent-child camp next year. I'll be all over that one!


Here is Nathan on his second run. You can tell when they turn up the air speed. He freaks out and his instructor gets a little frustrated.


He missed the last activity of the session (kayaking) because he decided to stay with his out of state cousins for a week.
That was high adventure itself. He has never been away from us for that long. I think it was a little difficult for him, but he had so much fun.
Thanks to them for being such great but sudden hosts to a shy but excited cousin.

Funnies

I love kids. They are so funny and say the most hilarious things.
For instance:

We have some stray cats that hang around our backyard. Actually they hang around the field behind our backyard, but seem to have adopted our yard and our garden as their personal hunting and litterbox area.
(Hunting mice is fine, the litterbox I have a problem with...eeew. That is why Burke got a pellet gun for Christmas. He is too soft-hearted to use it, however.)
Anyway, one of the cats is expecting and we were talking about kittens over dinner one evening when Kade announced that he thought he had seen one of them "laying her kittens" in the garden. (Thankfully, it didn't really happen. I think he was just witnessing something else. Eeeeww....)

Adrienne loves swimming lessons. She thinks she is a pro. She thinks she already knows how to swim. How wrong she is. She jumped off the side of the pool with no floatie or teacher around.
Once she was rescued and after I regained my ability to speak, she told me, "See, I told you I can swim."
She has been repeating the desire to not wake up on the wrong side of the bed whenever she says her prayers. I finally asked her what that was all about when I tucked her in one night. She told me she had to move all the way over to the side of the bed against the wall because if she slept close to the edge of the bed, she might fall out and land on the floor. And that-- she said-- is the wrong side of the bed.

We had a ward pool party last month. Burke told me he was going to take Annika and Kade over to the diving pool. I assumed (you know what they say about ass-u-me) that he was going to have them hang out in the shallow area while he dived.
When he came back about half an hour later, he told me, "Hey, did you know that if the lifeguards have to rescue you, you have to fill out paperwork?"
Apparently Annika jumped off the diving board and floated like a rock.
Burke didn't realize that when I told him about the kids jumping off the diving board at swimming lessons, they always had a floatie.

Nathan keeps telling me that he thinks he has hit puberty. I hear it every day when he comes up with something else. The latest was when he left me a message on the answering machine. He listened to it himself later and then proudly told me, "See, I don't sound like a girl anymore."

Cousins and More Cousins

We have had lots of family time lately. We spent the 4th of July with Burke's family. Everyone gathered together to remember Burke's dad, as it has been one year since he passed away.
The cousins were so eager to play with each other.
Adrienne especially loves her cousins Acacia and Ava.
They are joined at the hip.
They absolutely love each other.
I'm sure they made Grandpa laugh.
We also were able to be present for the blessing of my newest nieces, Paisley and Zoey. I forget how tiny and sweet babies are until I am around them.
They were adorable and fun and I loved holding them and giving them a bottle, and everything else that comes with babies.
I am sure Grandpa would have loved to have been in the circle to bless his granddaughters, and celebrate their birth at the family gathering afterward. He was missed.
Later that week we traveled to visit Burke's brother Justin and his family. Justin was called to be in the bishopric in his ward, and asked Burke to ordain him as a high priest. It wasa wonderful opportunity for all of us to be there and for Burke to perform the ordination in place of his dad.

As we were leaving, they invited Nathan to stay with them for another week. He jumped at the opportunity, and we (a little wistfully) re-packed his belongings and said good-bye.

He was so excited, and I was thrilled for him. But I am a mother hen and have been worried about him already and it has only been one day.

Burke and I called him tonight. I reminded him to brush his teeth. Really good. Because his aunt really can't tell him they look gross the same way his mom can. Can she?
He sounds like he is having fun, but maybe missing us a little more than he thought. (Or that's what I'd like to think.)

Maybe we're missing him a little more than we thought too...

Summertime

Nathan has been keeping busy with plenty of summer activities.

He completed his second year of robotics camp and had so much fun, again. We are truly a bunch of nerds. When we went to pick him up, the rest of my kids were excited to see what he had programmed his robot to do each day.

He is also involved in a High Adventure Kids Camp that goes through mid-July.
The kids meet once per week and get to try "adventurous" activities.
The first week they did rock climbing:

The second week it was surfing.
Kind of. It was indoors and probably safer, although Nathan did get pretty banged up. He toughed it out and ended up carving some bodacious waves by the end.


Nathan has also been involved with city baseball. His team did very well and were undefeated all season. They have been invited to the county playoffs next month. Nathan played in the family place of honor: right field. He was excited to be on a team that won more than they lost.
The last game of the season was a blowout, so Nathan's coach let him have a turn pitching. He was so nervous and excited that he struggled. But we were so proud of him and glad he had a chance to try.
In the midst of all this, he is also doing piano lessons. He really enjoys it and tends to practice longer than is required just because he likes it!!!
I don't know how much longer that will last, but I am going to make the most of it while I can.

We have all been doing swimming lessons, going to the splash pad, and reading some good books. I just finished the first in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series-- Captured. Nathan is reading the Red Pyramid and can't keep the information to himself. He is going to make sure I don't need to read it to know the plot.
I don't complain, though. I am just grateful he is enjoying a book. He is so picky about what he reads.
I am trying to figure out what to get him to read after Red Pyramid is over. It looks like we will pass that milestone tomorrow.

Catching Up

Since my laptop died and the kids got out of school for the summer, it has been really hard for me to keep up with blogging.
We are keeping busy with summer activities.
Here goes:
Everyone is in swimming lessons,
Nathan is participating in a High Adventure Kids Camp,
He also started piano lessons (better late than never),
Kade's dojo is closing,
But we are looking for a new one (to start in September),
I spoke in the Saturday evening session of our stake conference,
Had a conference related hair emergency,
Which led to being able to visit with my newest twin nieces,
Burke still has a job,
and nobody has even gotten a sunburn yet because I have been on top of the sunscreen this summer!
Yea me!
That's it in a nutshell.
I will try to post photos later, once I figure out how to do it with my new camera on my old computer.

Summer Fun

We are furiously making plans for the summer.
The kids are working on the fun stuff.
I am working on getting more organized and teaching them how to help around the house.
(A nice way of saying they better be getting their jobs done before I end up yelling.)
I have some ideas, but haven't implemented them yet.
I will let you know how it goes.
But probably not for a few days because my beloved laptop is now officially a glorified paperweight.
I have to go alllll the wayyyyy downstairs to get on the internet now, and I am basically lazy, so I am only down here every few days.

But I am getting more accomplished around the house.
Hmmmm.....
Could the two things be related?

Struggles

I have been thinking about the struggles we all have.
I had an epiphany with the help of a friend the other day.

She told me that I sure seem to "have it together".
(Then she said that since she knows me better, and knows the things I struggle with, she also knows I am indeed not perfect).

It made me feel good, in a strange way. Apparently, "fake it 'til you make it" works for me.

In the past year, I have learned a lot about struggles.
I have helplessly watched my own children struggle with their problems, seen my sister deal with hers, and watched my father in law in his fight for life.
It is so difficult to watch others suffer and know that there is little, if anything I can do to help.
Then I remember that is what we are here for.
To struggle.
And to learn.
And to become stronger as we go through our trials.
We learn to accept help, learn to be supportive, and be supported, even when we don't like it.
We learn that we are not alone as we struggle.
Life is good, even if it is difficult.

I recently had the opportunity to hold a sweet baby girl who was born just shy of 28 weeks.
She was 2 weeks old and 2 lbs and 8 oz at the time this photo was taken:

This little girl has had to struggle each day of her life. But she is strong and beautiful and and has an amazing mother and a loving father to help her through every day.
I am trying to be the same type of mother: supportive, loving, and involved.
But I cannot take all of my children's struggles away.
Because they need to learn from them.
I can only run by their side and cheer them on as the work toward the end of the marathon.
Then we can celebrate together.

Goals

I completed my first (and probably only) 5k Saturday.
It is something I have always wanted to do, and I finally did it.
I wasn't very fast, but I ran (jogged) the whole thing.
I didn't stop to walk even once.
And by doing that, I fulfilled my goal. Which felt great!
I was very proud of myself, especially since I am not much of a runner and I hurt my foot right before we left.
A little tape and I was as good as new.
Kind of.
It was a good thing it was cold, because I think it kept my feet numb and I didn't feel a thing.
Burke did the race with me.He hardly broke a sweat and could have run ahead, but he stayed by my side until the very end when he let me finish first. What a guy.

The best part, aside from finishing, was when I was the winner of two movie tickets at the end of the race.

And then we went to breakfast at Village Inn.

And ate crepes

with whipped cream

and strawberries....

YUM!

We've Got Talent

***Warning****

Mother's bragging is to follow, proceed at your own risk.

Kade had his talent show this past week.
He was so excited, but very nervous because he hadn't practiced his Kata (fancy name for a form) very much.
He performed well, but did panic a little about halfway through when he temporarily forgot what came next.
He figured it out and finished up with a broken board.
He was so afraid he would hit it and it wouldn't break.
In the end, he was tougher than the board.
He did a great job, and I am very proud of him.
We have more practicing to do, he has been asked to perform in the whole school talent show as well as Annika.
It is a surprising feat to have two of my kids in the talent show. They only choose five children out of each grade to perform.
Nathan also participated in his talent show. I missed it because of a miscommunication with his teacher, so I don't have any video to post. He did a couple of magic tricks that my own kids were very impressed with. I am hoping to try to get him to do it again at home so I can post it.
I am so proud of all my children for conquering their fears to perform in front of such a large group, especially of their peers. That alone should deserve a medal, it can be frightening.

Here is Kade's video with the beginning cut off because my camera is not working very well these days. (I seriously have to open the battery compartment and lick the battery, then push the on button about six times to get it to turn on. I wonder what Burke will get for Father's Day :)

Fishin' In The Dark

Burke took Nathan and went fishing the other night.
An old friend from the college days went with them.
They had success, despite Burke taking a very cold bath.
Nathan had a lot of fun and learned how to gut a fish.
He shared the experience the next evening over dinner accompanied by his sisters' squeals of disgust.