Getting There

I had what I hope will be the final procedure for this little drama done on Thursday. I am home recovering and hoping to be able to eat, sleep, and have a normal life soon.
My kids miss having me come to help at school and I really miss going to the gym and listening to Harry Potter on my Ipod while I run/jog on the treadmill.
Despite no exercise, I have found myself several pounds lighter. I guess not eating much for three weeks will do that to you, and I am not complaining about that.
I have found myself begging my husband to take me out on the town: last night we went to Wal-Mart for a birthday party gift and got a frozen yogurt that I ended up wasting.
But it was nice to get out.

Burke took both the boys skiing on Wednesday. They had so much fun. Kade did ski school in the morning and kept up with Burke and Nathan in the afternoon. He whispered in my ear that he secretly thought he did better than Nathan did. Nathan whispered that he thought Kade did okay, but needs more practice to keep up with the big guys.
They were all exhausted when they got home and they all looked like racoons because Burke forgot to put sunscreen on them until after lunch.
Now the girls are waiting for their turn.

I am hoping to have some more energy to do something productive with my blog and life soon...

Stay tuned.

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.

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:

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!

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.

Spring (?) Break

We spent spring break up in the mountains. It wasn't so spring-y, but it was a much-needed break.

The first challenge was getting into the cabin. This picture was taken with Nathan standing at the entrance to the driveway.
We decided to take our chances and try parking on the road. "The Man" left us a nasty note, but by then the neighbors took pity on us in our poor minivan and let us park in their plowed driveway.
Then we had to get all the stuff in our work-horse van into the cabin. It wasn't pretty, and involved some yelling and wet boys, but we finally got settled in and warmed up with some hot chocolate.
After that, the fun began. We played games, watched movies, and went tubing. We tubed and tubed and tubed.
The best part was there was a really long hill where we could drop off the kids and one adult and then meet them at the bottom. We loaded everyone and all the tubes up and drove around to the top to let them go down again. It was so much fun.
One morning we availed ourselves of the local Easter-egg hunt. It was a massive undertaking. There must have been a thousand kids in the events center. For us, it ended up being a moderate success.
Adrienne had a bit of a struggle to pick things up with her cast on, but I let her tough it out. There were many parents who got in there with the 4-5 year olds and grabbed candy, though.
It was a little ironic because the grumpy man who kept telling me to leave my 4 year old daughter there alone felt pretty dumb when I was the only parent who was actually waiting on the sidelines and letting my daughter get her own candy.
Annika seemed destined to "find" all the stupid scraps of paper the organizers spread out as advertisements for the sponsors. She mostly ended up with a bag full of papers. Nathan's bag mysteriously developed a hole in it, so as he was furiouly filling it, other (rotten) kids were coming behind him picking up the stuff he was dropping. The kids had fun though (except for a disappointed Nathan) so that is all that matters, right?

After the big hunt, we went to the city park to play fox and geese, a family tradition on my side. I was appalled that we had never taken the time to play it before. I got to teach the kids and Burke to play. It was hilarious. When Adrienne got tired of running around, she said that she wanted to play fox and squirrels and she was going to be the squirrel hiding in its burrow. She walked away and sat in the snow to rest. After the fun in the park we let the kids play on the playground for a while. We had it all to ourselves, since it was freezing. The kids didn't seem to mind, though.


We finished the afternoon with a stop at the famous local burger joint. I got a turkey sandwich (sigh) but treated myself to a nonfat yogurt shake with Oreos that I'm sure kept it nonfat(YUM).

That night it snowed. A lot.The kids decided to take advantage of the new snow and tubed down the driveway while Burke and I loaded up the van.
We were a little worried we would have to move in until Memorial Day, but our faithful minivan got us out and we headed home to check out the Easter baskets the Easter bunny had left us.
It was an amazing weekend and we had so much fun. Thanks for letting us use the cabin Grandma and Grandpa!

Trust Me

I learned this morning how much my dad must have loved me even when I was a snotty teenager and he didn't have to.
But in a roundabout way.
We have been working on getting better at reading scriptures as a family lately.
Burke likes to do it in the evening before bed, but wonders why I have such a bad attitude about it then.
(I explained that after a full day of kids, bills, kids, making meals, kids, and shopping I am DONE and ready to fall into bed after we get the KIDS to bed).
We decided to try doing our reading in the morning.
Quite a commitment since Burke leaves for work before the sun rises. (In fact, Adrienne insists we are waking her up in the middle of the night because it is still dark.)
We have tried it all this week and found it to work out much better. They are a bit of a captive--if unconscious-- audience.
What does this all have to do with my dad?

Well, after we finished reading this morning and Burke was gone and we were all lying semi-conscious on the couch, the phone rang.
You NEVER want a phone call at 6:15 AM.
I flew to the handset and learned that Burke was stranded on the side of the freeway. (Remember that post with a 200,000 mile odometer? Yep, it was that car.)
I was to come and pick him up and tow him home in our other registered vehicle (the one with 155,000 miles. It came home from the shop Thursday.)
Grateful that all my children were at least partially awake, I issued instructions for them to be fully dressed, rooms cleaned, and getting their reading done while I was gone.

Then I ran out to the van to head to the rescue of my beloved...
And found an empty gas tank.
Like REALLY empty.
Sigh.
Stopped to get gas...
Then went to the rescue of my beloved.

I found a grumpy and frustrated Burke and a sad, broken-down, previously-faithful vehicle pulled off the road.
Burke hooked up the tow strap and we were just deciding who was going to be in which vehicle when the cavalry pulled up.
Highway Patrol.
With lights on.
AWESOME!
He offered to follow us and make sure we didn't cause any problems as we attempted to get to the next exit.
Gee, THANKS!

Anyway, it came to me to be the "driver" of the vehicle being towed.
A job I had done once before, as I nervously assured Burke this morning.
As a teenager.
My dad had come to the rescue of his stranded and clueless teen daughter.
He told me how to control the brakes and steering when "driving" an incapacitated vehicle as it is being towed.
That was many years ago.

As I climbed in the car this morning and Burke pulled away from the shoulder (with the HP trooper bringing up the rear), I distinctly thought to myself, "I CANNOT believe my dad trusted me to do this as a teenager. What was he thinking? I would never let Nathan do this. I know he would crash into the van. He wouldn't pay close enough attention to what he was supposed to be doing. I can't believe that I didn't crash."

Then I found myself wondering what would have happened if my dad hadn't trusted me, or loved me enough to let me try?

It was a bit of a wake up call for me (literally).
As I teach my chicks how to fly, I frequently find myself clipping their wings. I think of it as protecting them (and maybe my future vehicles ;). But is it really good for them to never make a mistake because they didn't get an opportunity to try in the first place?

Thanks to a loving, trusting father, I was armed with knowledge that I needed this morning at 6:30 AM.
Thanks dad!

Thanks to a loving Father in Heaven, we were able to make it to our driveway before the tow rope broke.
Yes, there was a little prayer of ironic gratitude uttered when Nathan steered the car into the garage as Burke and I pushed from behind.

Randomness

How do you know spring is on the way? Surely not by checking the weather. Around our house, it is when the trampoline goes back up.
You may wonder why this photo is noteworthy... It is because the plate is Nathan's and he actually ate what was on it. Highly unusual for super picky Nathan to eat any sort of pasta. (He really wanted dessert). We had to record the event for posterity.

What do you do with all that Easter Chocolate?
Build a chocolate palace, of course! Mmmmmmm..... I wanna live there.

Yep, we're on borrowed time.
The other two have 155,000 (and in the shop right now) and 125,000 (currently unregisterable). Just hoping we can squeeze out another year.

Hey! Let's Go Bowling

We went bowling a couple of weeks ago. I figured out that bowling is not my strength. I think I should have had them put up the guards for my turn too.
Maybe I should have used Adrienne's technique:
It seemed to work for her. The boys also had a pretty good showing, except for one incident where Kade threw (and I mean threw) a gutter ball. The guards were up. And it went in the gutter. I didn't know you could do that. And darn it, I didn't get a picture.
Nathan was pretty good once he tried a smaller ball.
Annika was mostly there for the food. She would throw the ball and then run back to the table to eat her pizza without even checking to see how many pins she knocked down. There's a girl with the right priorities.
Of course, Burke ended up being the bowler of the day.

I think Adrienne had the most fun when she discovered the hand dryer.
We had a good time, and more importantly, everyone could gloat that they all beat mom!

#45

Kade has to write in a journal at school on an assigned topic. Then he brings it home at the end of the month and I get to read it. I came across this entry and was impressed with it. Here it is with misspellings and all:

February 22, 2010

I would choose my Dad as the next president because he is the best man I have ever seen. I think he is always having fun and he never is that mean. I think he has a great heart because of my Grandpa. So he should be the 45th president. I wish he would be the president my Gradpa would be very proud of my dad.

I think I would choose him too.

Engineers

Burke got to share all the engineering chops he has with a bunch of 10 year old boys who were up for the challenge.
His assignment was to help them pass off their engineering requirements so they could earn their pin.
He went the extra mile...
They learned about the power of pulleys:
Then they got to build and learn about catapults. Burke built each of them their own catapult.
Then they got to test fire their catapults.



When we were planning this little activity, I mentioned that I thought it would be interesting if Burke could show the boys as simply as possible how an engineer could use a formula to calculate how far the catapult could throw the object.
I didn't realize that keeping it simple doesn't jive with engineering. I knew we were in trouble as soon as he asked the three 10 year olds and Kade if they knew what sine, cosine and tangent were. I could feel my own eyelids getting droopy....
After a few calculations, they figured it all out and were able to move on to the good stuff...
Burke's job:
Rockets.
Of course, just the water, compressed air, and soda bottle kind.
But pretty fun, nonetheless.

3...2...1...Blast Off

We went to the last test firing of the last shuttle booster last week. It was an amazing and sad experience.
It is the end of an era.
In more ways than one.

We are not fans of the current president at the moment.
Hoping we keep the job that pays the bills.
Grrr.

But
It was really fun to be able to go see daddy at work. And the firing is an awesome two minutes of absolute power. Poor Adrienne was scared to death. She thought it was too loud and complained that she could feel it "rumbling" in her chest. I guess that would be scary for a four year old. The video is a little jumpy because she kept grabbing my legs while I was taping it. She finally let Burke pick her up and hold her during the firing. It is so far away it takes about ten seconds for the sound to reach us where we are standing.

This is the smoke trail that was there when it was over.
The really interesting thing was that it was an overcast day so on the way home the soot and smoke that was in the air came down as muddy rain. Adrienne thought was was pretty cool. I wasn't that excited, I had just gotten my car washed.

Pizza, French-Fries

Nathan's class went skiing at school last Friday. Because he is so benevolent, Burke took the day off of work to help the teachers keep the kids in check. The resort gave the kids a free rental, lift ticket and lesson. Nathan got to learn how to make his skis do the "Pizza, French-Fries, Pizza French-Fries".

I think the lesson was better than the one I got the first time I went.
With this guy I really liked.
I crashed. Bad. It hurt. Bad. I wanted to cry. SO Bad.
But I sucked it up and nursed a sprained thumb for a month.
**I digress**

My guys had a great time and even had some male bonding going on.
Burke said Nathan was pretty good by the end of the day. Good enough that they went back to the rental shop and got some poles. Nathan thought he looked cooler (is that a word?) with poles.
They had a fun afternoon and since Burke drove separately, they were able to stay all day. We are thinking of giving it another go sometime; Nathan really enjoyed it. I don't know if we dare take the girls though. They are truly fearless and would probably out-ski both Burke and me.

Because He Loves Me

... and has for 14 years.

Through fourteen years we have moved 8 times, had a combined total of 6 jobs, four pregnancies and four deliveries, six hospital stays, a bout with carpenter ants and the "crazies" that came with them, three broken bones, one set of stitches, three car accidents, one lawsuit, and lots of vacations.

It has been a wild ride, but I'm ready for more.

I love you!

A Super Duper Derby

It is that time of year again.
Pinewood Derby!

Nathan's last, Kade's first, Burke's 6th(?).

The boys had a great time designing their cars, especially picking out the colors. We went with gold and blue this year.

Nathan's was The Comet. Kade's came to be known as The Truck. (Very creative, I know. That's just how we roll.)
Burke spent waaaaaayyyyy too much time on his car. But he finally got it to work. It lasted for one race. But then Nathan picked it up and it didn't work right after that.
Kade took second place, Nathan was fourth.

It was a lot of fun.

Last week we rented Down and Derby. It was hilarious and somehow appropriate...

A Birthday Guy

Happy Birthday to my guy!

We celebrated with yummy grilled ribeyes (I had a grilled portobella mushroom, which was really quite good and the kids had hot dogs, because they don't like real meat).

He is a big fan of banana cream pie. I cannot make them very well (surprise, surprise), so that was provided courtesy of Village Inn.

We had a nice evening eating, celebrating, and enjoying family movie night.

I didn't actually interview him, so these are my best guesses:

Favorite color: Olive green. Every time we go shopping for clothing for him, he ends up with something that color.

Favorite food: Tony Roma's ribs, when he can get them. Or my Chicken Cordon Bleu. Or steak.

Favorite activity: Hunting, fishing, shooting, watching movies.

Thing that makes him happiest: His family.

What he wants to be when he grows up: A pilot in Alaska.

What he is now: An engineer. Who explodes stuff once in a while.

Favorite vacation: That is a hard one. I think that he liked Disneyland, although he may complain that I didn't stop long enough to let anyone eat. But we also had a lot of fun at Mount Rushmore and Chicago.

Happy Birthday to a great husband, father, son, and sweetheart.

He Belongs

To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Kade was baptized January 2, 2009.
He was so excited.
During family prayers the whole week before his baptism he prayed that people would feel the Spirit at his baptism.
I think his prayer was answered.

I did a spotlight to share how special Kade is,

Grandma W talked about baptism, Grandma T talked about the Holy Ghost.

We all knew that Grandpa W was there.
Thanks to all the family and friends who supported him in this big step.

We love you Kade!

A Christmas Party

We had a ward Christmas party. It was a breakfast and turned out to be a lot of fun, and not just for the kids.

Burke had his fun as well...