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.