The Stringham Scuttlebutt

Cupid Was Here

2012-02-14T14:54:00.001-07:00

The girls were up VERY early to see if Cupid had stopped by during the night. I sent them back to bed for a little bit, but it didn't do much good. They just couldn't wait to collect their goods and see the heart decor.

When Peter woke up and saw the stuff on his floor, I heard him yell from his crib, "What?!"

When I went in to get him he, just kept pointing to things and saying, "Loot, (look) Mom! Oh, loot at that Mom."

And yes, he started in on his cookie before 7 am. (That darn Cupid and his treats!)

Dinner time was a bit crazy, what with ballet, water polo and parent teacher conferences. I snapped a photo of the Valentine gifts before the food or plates were on the table, but didn't get any pictures of the opening. All the kids were thrilled with their new books, and Shawn and I will happily devour our cake bites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. (Yep, we both gave some to each other -unintentionally - because they are that good.)

A little more Valentine decor.

What was the favorite Valentine gift of all? A punching bag, of course. (I mean, really, what about punching something, doesn't say love?)

Duffy jumped right in to try some of her moves, and Peter gave it a shot, too, although the bag outweighs him by a few pounds and kept knocking him over when it would swing back.

Not planning on developing any prize fighters here, but hopefully it will be good to get out some aggression. No to mention that it is a great workout!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

And Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Samantha is 11!

2012-02-06T20:45:00.009-07:00

No matter how much I bribe them, my kids don't seem interested in staying little. Therefore, we had to celebrate Samantha's 11th birthday. (Oh, it kills me to say that. How did she get to be 11 so fast?!)

She was up bright and early, begging to open a present or two before school.

Look at that face. This is a girl who loves her birthday. She plans her cake at least a year in advance, keeps a running list of possible birthday presents and generally knows within a few days how much longer until her next birthday. (I don't feel the same way about my own birthday and my kids can't believe that I actually lose track of how old I am. I wonder at what age that shift occurs?)

Oh, phew! We gave in and let her open something in the morning.

I have to say the cake wasn't much trouble for me or the cake boss this year, although there were some very specific requirements and expectations. (Two full pages to be precise.)

She wanted a cake covered with Harry Potter candy. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have a mother who is on top of it enough to plan ahead to find the actual Harry Potter candies she had in mind, in a timely manner, so we had to make a few substitutions. I did my best to find something close to levitating sherbet balls, droobles, chocolate frogs and string mints.

When it came time to make her cake, she got tired of waiting for Shawn and I to make it, so she finally made it herself. (That was a good deal on our part.)

I had just finished frosting it when she got home from school and she decided she wanted to decorate it herself, too. (Maybe all of that "Cake Boss" and "Next Great Baker" watching is paying off. - She loves those shows!)

So, here is the final product - birthday cake by Samantha:

Just so you know, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans are absolutely disgusting. (At least the flavors that aren't just your average jelly bean flavors. Dirt really does taste like dirt, and there are much worse flavors than that.) My girls thought it was hilarious to watch me trying the various flavors. Really, they were laughing hysterically at my faces. YUCK!

Then of course, it was on to more celebrating by opening the rest of her presents.

She was very excited to get a few things to add to her Harry Potter arsenal.

And she has happily been creating all sorts of things with her rolls of colored and patterned duct tape as well.

All decked out in her Gryffindor paraphernalia.

And finally, blowing out the candles and eating cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday Samantha. We love you and are so proud of the young lady that you are becoming. You are becoming so responsible and helpful, and as always, you keep us on our toes and laughing all the time.

Sleeping Through the Superbowl

2012-02-05T20:51:00.002-07:00

Not even the commercials could keep everyone interested in the big game.

Really, one of my least favorite discoveries - having a toddler fall asleep in the late afternoon. Makes bedtime a bit more challenging. Maybe next year's game will be a bit more riveting for him.

Done.

2012-02-04T22:54:00.002-07:00

As of today, I am finished with P90X.

13 straight weeks of workouts 6 days a week. Never missed one.

Plus 4-6 days a week of running or spinning.

If I never have to do another pull up in my life it may be too soon. (And I didn't really mind them before.)

How did I celebrate?

8 hours of TRX training.

Now the question is, what to do next?

Boyfriend For Sale?

2012-02-02T13:00:00.003-07:00

Anyone know of a boyfriend for sale? Because apparently my 7 year old is in the market for one. I found this gem as I was tossing all of the kids papers into the ~~recycling~~

finished homework drawer.

In case you can't read it, it says,

"If I had $100 Dollars I would buy a new Phone & a Boyfriend."

First of all buying a new phone implies that she has an old phone. Unless there's something I don't know about, she has no phone. And as far as the boyfriend? Jeesh! What are they teaching them in school these days? I clearly need to restrict her access to all funds and discuss - AGAIN - that boyfriends won't be in the picture until she's 25. Man, talk about my lectures falling on deaf ears.

Apparently I should have been more concerned with the kissing episode in first grade. She clearly takes after Shawn. Now I'm wondering what the other second graders would buy with their $100.

Enlightening

2012-02-01T13:39:00.002-07:00

On Christmas Eve, sunrise was at 7:47 am, while sunset was at 5:04 pm. Today, February 1st, sunrise was at 7:34 and sunset will be at 5:44 pm. That's a whole 53 minutes of extra daylight! And it's only going to get better! A month from now, the day will be a full 72 minutes longer. I can practically see summer on the horizon. (If I squint really, really hard and use a lot of imagination.)

That is all.

For the Readers

2012-01-31T12:01:00.002-07:00

I know there are only a handful of you who actually read this blog, but for those of you who do and who also like to read, I have a blog link to share with you.

Admittedly, I have not been as diverse in my reading as I would like to be. I spend a lot of time reading young adult fiction in an attempt to keep track of what my older kids are reading. And a lot of time reading easy, fun reads that don't require too much thinking on my part, books that are mostly for entertainment. However, I am well aware of how many other good books and authors I am missing out on. There are lots of classics that I want to read or reread. I do try to squeeze one in every once in a while. I'm having a lot of fun reading this blog and learning a few things about different authors, and types of books. Plus getting a lot of suggestions to put on my reading list. (Man, that list is just endless. There are not enough hours in the day, or days in the lifetime, but I still keep collecting book ideas.)

Just stop in and take a look around. It really is interesting, and entertaining. I happen to know one of the blog authors pretty well. He's got lots of good things to say, as do his two friends who also write for the blog.

So check it out: Improve yourself, improve your shelf, as the blog says.

Instrumental

2012-01-25T15:26:00.002-07:00

If you were to come to our house and walk into the living room, this is some of what you may see. You might get the idea that we are a very musical family. That wouldn't be entirely true. Don't get me wrong. We are all music lovers, and clearly, there are at least a few of us who can play a few notes on some different instruments, but for as many instruments as there are around here, I would expect to be listening to someone playing something all the time. It doesn't quite go like that. The majority of the time, (except for the required practice time - usually in the morning), all these instruments just sit quietly. In addition to the piano, harp, upright bass, trombone, and guitars pictured here, we also have a keyboard, a 7 piece drum set complete with cymbals, 3 more acoustic guitars (1 big, 2 kid sized), 2 basses (1 accoustic, 1 electric), an electric guitar and a smattering of harmonicas and even a couple of recorders thrown in for fun. Oh, and don't forget the PA system. Do you think that's enough for one family? (And the 2 youngest kids don't even play an instrument yet!)

Samantha has been trying to remedy that last bit. Here she is instructing Peter on the basics of trombone playing.

He absolutely loves playing it. And the thing is, he can actually make some sound!
She has also been giving Duffy some very detailed lessons. (I haven't taken any pictures of their lessons yet, but I should.) Samantha writes down very detailed notes of things Duffy needs to practice and is teaching her the different slide positions and so on. The best part about these lessons, is they don't cost me a penny and I don't have to worry about anybody's practicing since it's just for fun. (I'm kind of maxed out with just 3 kids taking lessons - I don't know how others do it.)

In any case, we have plenty of instruments sitting around waiting to be played if any of you would like to come and entertain us with your musical skills.

Currently, we are looking for an ensemble piece involving the harp and maybe the bass, piano or guitar. Anyone know of anything good?

Dressing Up

2012-01-17T15:00:00.001-07:00

Maybe it all started with Shawn. He had to dress up as Abinadi for our Young Men's/Young Women's Book of Mormon reading catch- up breakfast. He did a fine job playing the part. (This is the second time he has been Abinadi since we've lived here.) He had to work really hard for those abs, too.Soon after that, the little girls begged me to get out the dress-ups. (They've been "put away" for a while because I couldn't stand the mess that is ALWAYS left after the dress-ups have been out.) Since it had been quite a while, I gave in and pulled them out. Then I was required to be the audience for a fashion show.

Amelia's friend Hallee has only brothers, so these dress-up opportunities don't come often and she was as excited as my girls.

Amelia displaying one of my dresses circa 1978ish? It screams 70's doesn't it?
And Samantha was a little too cool for the whole dress up thing but was happy to M.C. the show and was very dramatic in her announcements of the models. (She certainly keeps us entertained.)

Duff only wanted to wear one dress so she didn't make as many appearances as the other girls.
And of course, once the camera was out, Peter wanted in on the photo action as well.

Ta da!

The fashion show kept them busy for the afternoon, but of course, despite all promises, there was a huge mess all over the house. (Dress ups just can't stay contained to one room - ever.) So, after about 3 days of picking up boas, shoes, gloves and the like, I put them all away again. Constant access just doesn't work well here. We'll save them for a rainy day.

And several days later, Samantha came up with this lovely costume. She was obviously being a superhero. (This came about from a little video of Samantha and I that Shawn made and posted on facebook a while ago. Samantha dresses as a superhero and defeats the bad guys by playing harp music with her mind.)
I'm not sure who she was going to fight against on this day, but clearly the dress up fun continues. Can't wait to see what's next in the costume department.

Hijacked Phone

2012-01-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

The latest photos from my stolen phone. I'm guessing Amelia took them, but who can know for sure?

Ah, January

2012-01-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

So nice to have Christmas put away and have a little time to breathe and try to return to regular life after the holidays. Just me and Peter hanging out at home in the afternoon. Fun time with my helper.

2011 Reading Stats

2012-01-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

After begging Jonas to keep track of his reading (just so I wouldn't continue to get him books he had already read - and by the way - to no avail. He just refused to write them down.) And after realizing, some way into a handful of books that I had, in fact, also already read them, I decided to write down all the books I read in 2011. I didn't set out with any specific goal, but as I got later into the year, I started considering the possibility of 100. If it hadn't been for the craziness of the Christmas season, I might have made it, too. Oh well. I'm sure if I were to count my started but not completed books, I would have been over my goal. Maybe next year - or maybe not. (It's possible that I put a little more time into reading than I should have in pursuit of this goal. Some other things may have suffered a little. But let's not dwell on that.)

So here are the stats:

96 books completed

28,264 pages

avg. 78.4 pages/day

(That last one is an interesting number to consider. This is not at all how it happened. There were days with well over that number and many days with none at all, but that's how it averaged out.)

Like I said, I have no particular plans to read a certain number of books as of yet, but I will continue to keep track of them just for fun. (And to avoid unknowingly reading books I've already read.) And maybe I'll get around to actually posting my books on Good Reads, but then again, maybe not. I am the worst kind of Good Reads participant. I probably get the majority of my book recommendations from my friends on Good Reads, but NEVER put mine on there. Maybe that should be a goal. I'll think about it. As for now, I'll just continue reading.

Some Skiing Fun

2011-12-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

We have been doing our best to fit in a couple of ski days over this Christmas break. When we couldn't make it happen during the day, Shawn and I decided to make a date night out of it. I'd never been night skiing before, but I really liked it. There were no crowds. We could find runs with almost no one else on them, and the cold (which I was most worried about) wasn't that bad either. This is definitely a repeat activity - for date night or with the older kids. (There's still that bedtime thing to work with with the younger ones.) More snow would be nice though. A few of those runs are still a little rough on the skis.Shawn also managed to get up to Snowbird to ski with our friend, George. (I got to stay home with our continually sick children. It's been a rough break as far as that goes.) It was a beautiful ski day, and started out well....

...but unfortunately ended like this.

Not to worry, though. It wasn't a torn meniscus as we feared. Just a strain that should heal in not too long with a bit of physical therapy. Poor George. Every time he skis with Shawn something happens to cut the day short. Last time it was a broken binding on Shawn's ski, and this time, a knee injury (also on Shawn.) Here's to more snow and more skiing!

Handmade for Christmas

2011-12-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

It's not often that I go the hand-made route for gifts. First of all, I'm just not that crafty. Most sewing projects leave me gritting my teeth and trying not to swear at my sewing machine, or throw things. (I'd like to say the machine is the problem, but it's much more likely that I'm the problem. My machine and I have gotten on a little better in our past couple of meetings, so maybe there's still hope.) Then of course, there's the whole time crunch thing I run into. By the time I get around to whatever project, I've run out of time to actually complete it. However, this time, I was thinking way in advance, and managed to pull it all together in time for Christmas.

These are the waitress kits I made for 2 of my nieces and for my two younger girls. (I have to admit, I got the idea from my friend Eliza. Her sister-in-law gave this to her girls as a gift last year.) My girls love playing restaurant, taking our orders and delivering the food (pretend or real), so I hoped it would be a hit. When I found the owl fabric, I thought it would make a cute apron. It just so happened that when I went to Target looking for some sort of tray, I found the owl plates and decided they would work perfectly. Each apron has a pocket just the right size for holding a pencil and a restaurant check book. And of course, you can't play restaurant without menus, so I included 2 of those - well laminated - as well.

And then, since I was on a roll and had planned in advance, I dug into my fabric scraps and pulled out felt pieces to make some felt food to go with it. I made each of the girls eggs, pancakes and bacon:

and bowtie pasta with red sauce. (Both of these meals, were of course, listed on the menus.)

I have to admit, that was the most fun I've had playing with food in a long time. The felt food was so easy and fast. I think next time I can find a little spare time, I'll whip up some more. Here are my nieces taking orders at our family party.
It was a little tricky keeping it a secret from my girls. Obviously they saw me working on them, but I just told them I was making them for their cousins, and surprised them with their own sets on Christmas.
It was really a fun project. And clearly, since I was able to do it, then you know it was also a fairly easy one. Now we have to see if this leads to any more sewing projects for me in the future. (Don't hold your breath, though.)

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-26T16:44:00.006-07:00

The first part of Christmas Eve day was fairly low key - cleaning up the ski stuff from the day before and cleaning up the house and maybe running a few last minute errands. Unfortunately, poor Amelia woke up not feeling well and spent the day in bed as we went to our various festivities. I think she was completely exhausted and a fever was her body's way of saying she needed some rest.

In the afternoon, our first stop was at my Grandpa Backman's house to celebrate with all of my Mom's family. We visited for a little bit while everyone was eating, but had to move on to our next stop before they got to the nativity and presents.
We made a quick stop at home to check on Amelia and to pick up presents and then headed over to Grandma Cathy's for Christmas Eve dinner.

Samantha is being well trained in the art of making ebelskivers. I hope that this will serve us well one day soon since neither Shawn or I have ever actually made ebelskivers ourselves. (We do have a lovely pan but it is waiting to be seasoned.)

We are sitting patiently at the table waiting to gorge ourselves.

I laugh every time I see this picture because it looks like Jonas has eaten himself sick, but really, it's just a bad photo, he had barely gotten started.

That's more like it. (There were more foods available but Jonas, as usual, stuck to just the basics.)

More cooking.

Ah, ebelskiver perfection.

After getting sufficiently full, we moved onto the next phase of the evening - more present opening. Generally, Cathy goes with some sort of theme so it is fun to see what it will be each year. Everyone has nice, big boxes.

And we each wait patiently until it is our turn.

What could it be?

Oh, there's a little hint on that box I'm holding...

Of course, we give presents, too.

Peter, offering his present opening services once again.

So, what is it that we all went home with? A brand new pair of Uggs for each of us. We will all have toasty warm toes for the rest of the winter!We didn't stay too long since Amelia was at home alone, so we headed home to wrap up Christmas eve there. We had to wake Amelia up to open a present. I felt so bad, but knew she would be upset to miss out.

Everyone is excited to open one last present before going to bed.

And the Christmas pajamas are on and everyone is ready for bed. (Well, at least Shawn and I were ready for everyone to go to bed.)

Seriously, how many pictures does it take to get just one where everyone looks decent? (Apparently more than we were willing to take.)

And finally, one last sleep before the big day.

A Very Judy Christmas

2011-12-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

Shawn put the annual December 23rd Marsh Family Christmas celebration on the calendar in those words: "A Very Judy Christmas." When Jonas saw it, he moaned and said, "Ohhhh, do I have to go to that play?" Only if you want to celebrate Christmas with your family, I guess. It made us laugh.

It was a little tight to rush back from skiing, get almost everyone somewhat presentable and head downtown, but we made it - only a little bit late. It didn't help that trying to park downtown near Temple Square at Christmas time is already a bit of a nightmare. We ended up parking quite a bit farther away than we intended to and made quite a spectacle carrying folding chairs and bags of presents with kids trailing behind us. Oh well, we're used to the whole spectacle thing.

Once we got there, of course, the first order of business was finding cousins to hang out with. I love this picture of Samantha and Joey. (By the way, in our rush to get out the door, I forgot my camera, so all photos in this post are courtesy, once again, of Michelle. Good thing she was more prepared than I was.)

Peter had to hang with the girls since Rob and Michelle weren't kind enough to supply him with a same-aged cousin. (Matt and Anne either for that matter. He's kind of on his own.)

All the kids were spread around the place at different tables since the main table just isn't big enough to accommodate everyone.

Silly girls.

Peter was at a table with cousins Clara and Charlie. It was fun to have them in town for a few days, too.
Dinner prep is underway with all of the kids sitting ready and waiting for the grub.

This picture looks like Shawn was giving a big speech or something, but I think I would have remembered if he did, so I think he was just standing there.

And the great gathering around the table begins...

A few of the attendees:

My Grandpa Backman and Grandma Janet (They always get a special invite.)

My brother Dan with his hideous "Brigham beard" and his wife, Lisa.

My brother Jake with two of his fans.

My brother Rob (looking his best) with his wife, Michelle.

(And a slightly more tame picture of the two of them.)

My brother Matt, with his wife Anne, and baby, Colin.

I guess we missed a picture of my parents and of course my brother Joe and my brother Rich and his family weren't there. Still a full house.

The kids all love Uncle Dan. (It may have something to do with the fact that he usually has some sort of candy in his pockets for them, but I could be wrong.)

No get together with these boys would be complete without at least some time spent staring at a gameboy or ipod or something.

Apparently there was enough space and leisure time for a little light reading.

A little time spent chatting before listening to my Dad's words of wisdom and watching a couple of videos he wanted us to see.

As always, the view is spectacular.

And finally, it was time to open presents.

No one gets to open presents without help in this crowd.

I just love how all of the kids gather around to see every present that is opened - whether it will interest them or not.

Even Peter got lots of help.

For a kid who talks non-stop about going to the zoo and seeing the animals, an elephant fur-real pet is just the right thing. He loves it.

Samantha had a pretty good idea what her present was and couldn't wait to tear into it.

Yes, just the thing she was hoping for - Hermione's wand.

She began practicing her spells right away.

Duffy was pretty excited about her Tangled doll, as well.

These are the waitress "kits" I made for my nieces. My girls were begging for them, too. I think the girls seemed to like them since they were busy taking everyone's orders for the rest of the evening.

Ellie and Amelia got some American Girl clothes and magic hair detangler. (Something our dolls are in great need of.)

More order taking.

Peter, once again showing his willingness to step in and help in a time of need. We gave Joey Snape's wand, so of course there were wizarding duels taking place almost immediately. (We had to put a quick kabosh on unforgivable curses.)

Shawn and Michelle were clearly having a fun time.

It ended up being a very late evening and our kids were all exhausted, but it was so nice to spend time with family enjoying the Christmas spirit.

Peter Hits The Slopes

2011-12-24T16:08:00.002-07:00

Yes, finally, at the ripe old age of 2 1/2, Peter gave skiing a try. Up until this point, Peter has accompanied us skiing a few times and been snuggled into the bjorn or the backpack, but this time, he's riding his own sticks. He has been asking to go skiing for weeks now. (The subject of skiing is something that comes up pretty early in the season around here - generally long before there is any snow. - Not that there's any snow now, but still, it's been on his mind.) I'm not sure that he really even remembered what skiing was, but he knew he wanted to go. Once he had his helmet and goggles on, he didn't want them off, and rode most of the way up to the ski resort that way (until they got in the way of eating his bagel.)Skiing with a family of 7 requires just a bit of equipment. 14 skis, 14 boots, 10 ski poles (for now), 7 large bags full of 7 coats, 7 helmets, 7 goggles, at least 14 gloves, plus a few more pairs of liner gloves for some, and 7 neck gators. Plus long underwear, ski socks, snow pants, and various other clothing layers to clothe the 7 skiers. My, there's a lot of work involved in getting everyone ready to ski.
And once we reach this point, Shawn is ready for a nap. But finally, everyone was dressed and buckled securely into boots and skis, ready to hit the slopes.

The wee one:

And with his ski buddy, Duffy:

It was awesome. The 4 older kids are all 100% self-sufficient as far as getting on and off the lift and getting down the mountain. I was amazed that Duff didn't require help after the first "reminder run". She did great. And Peter was awesome, too. Other than being upset to leave the little hill I had been dragging him up and having him slide down, once he got the hang of it, it was pretty cool. I think Shawn almost saw a little glimpse of his ski dream. Everyone still needs to learn to get all of their own equipment on by themselves, but this was a pretty good start. And I saw how maybe one day, skiing with the family could actually be fun for the whole time.

Did Peter like it? See for yourselves:

Holiday Happenings

2011-12-23T15:48:00.001-07:00

We have been busy the entire holiday season, it seems, and despite being asked repeatedly if we could make a gingerbread house, it just hasn't happened. Thankfully, Amelia was able to make a small one at school and she asked me to please take pictures of it and post them on the blog. So here they are.

Also despite repeated attempts to go and see Zoo Lights early in December or even into mid-December, or at the very least, before everyone was out of school, that didn't happen either. Just too much homework and too many other activities/lessons to work around. We finally made it to the zoo the night of the 22nd with all the rest of the Salt Lake Valley. It was freezing! The lights were really cool and everyone had a great time despite the crowds and the need to duck into every available building to warm up a little bit. But this was the only photo we took:
This was at the very end as we were leaving. It was just too cold to take my hands out of my gloves and take pictures during the event. It was more important to keep everyone moving. So the little girls were about done at this point and not too happy about having to stand there for a picture, but at least I have proof that we were there. I think it's something we will do again (especially since Peter thinks that going to the zoo is about the best thing there is to do,) but hopefully we'll get there a little earlier in the month and avoid the crowds - and if we're lucky end up with warmer temperatures, too.

A Christmas Tea

2011-12-20T10:44:00.010-07:00

So, Shawn, being the good guy that he is, followed through on his plan to host a Christmas Tea for the girls. Of course, originally, he thought there would be about 8 girls there, but the guest list grew quite a bit and we ended up with a houseful of girls (and that's not counting the 6 that couldn't make it.)

He and the girls delivered invitations to their guests inviting them to a tea party at half past four on Saturday the 17th, and asking them to dress up and wear a fancy hat. (Thanks to Shawn's Grandma Phoebe, we had plenty of extra hats for those who didn't have one.) First, they were invited into the sitting room where they discussed proper etiquette for young ladies at a tea party. There was quite a long list of rules, but they had fun discussing them. (Didn't realize the camera was on the wrong setting until after the fact, so the photos aren't great, but it's what we've got.)

As you can see, they all sat very nicely in a lady-like fashion while they listened.

I took a few shots of the group before they were escorted to their tables.

You'll notice that Peter decided to join the group although he clearly wasn't dressed properly, nor was he wearing a fancy hat. We had hoped that Jonas would entertain him elsewhere for a bit, but once the party set-up began, Jonas couldn't get out of the house fast enough, saying something about too many girls. He escaped to a friend's house for the duration. So Pete got to be part of the tea party.

Shawn then walked each group to their places. Duff and her friends, Avery and Ainsley:

Amelia and her friends, Hallee, Caroline, Katie and Ellie:

And finally, Samantha with Mary, Clara, Emma, Lila, Maren, Abby, and Tatum.

Everyone began with cups of hot chocolate and marshmallows. I'm not sure if toasting is a regular part of a proper tea, but it was part of this tea party. The big girls:

The medium girls:

And the little ladies in training:

Hot chocolate was followed by a large assortment of finger foods to choose from, all served by the host and hostess.

This table had so much fun. They were speaking in British accents the whole time and speaking so "properly," it was very entertaining to listen to them.

The medium girls gave it a good try, too. Everyone seemed to be happy and smiling the whole time. And they were so polite. We may have to pull out fancy table cloths and candles more often!

The host and hostess. (One of the girls had asked to trade hats with me at this point.) Who knew that throwing a tea party could be so exhausting?
After the food was all eaten, they returned to the "sitting room" and most of the girls played something on either the piano or harp. This is a very talented group of girls.

There was some time spent admiring hats and outfits.

And some time spent listening to others perform.

We took our girls to the London Market so they could each choose something to share with their guests. Amelia and Duffy each chose Happy Hippos which Amelia is munching on here.

(And still munching on here.)

Eventually, the tea party morphed into a dance party which probably isn't the norm for the end of a formal tea, but it worked in this case.
The host and hostess survived the party. It is still to be seen whether this was a First Annual, or just a blip on the radar of Christmas memories.

Christmas Performances of the Dance Variety

2011-12-14T19:57:00.006-07:00

And the final performances of the week were Duffy's and Amelia's ballet class demonstrations. Like I said before, this overlapped with the band concert, but it was a tender mercy that the 5th grade band played very first and I was able to still hear Samantha play and make it to Duffy's ballet performance. Duffy was so excited to have me come and watch her.They showed us all the things they do in their regular classes, from warm-ups,

to leaps and jumps.

Then they had a little dance all choreographed for us. I took video but didn't have the patience to wait for it to load onto the blog. Maybe I'll add it later.

It's definitely a bonus to have your best cousin in your class with you.

These 3 girls are so silly together. It was impossible to get a decent picture of them. (Ainsley, Duffy and Lulu.)

I got to come back the same evening to watch Amelia's class demonstration.

She's in the same class as Ellie - which was really the whole point for her.

It was the same routine - demonstrations of their warm-ups,

and then their usual class activities.

Then they had a quick change and performed their dance for us. It was really cute - a Spanish dance done to a song from Ratatouille. I thought I had taken some pictures of it, but it turns out it was all video, so this is her and her class after the fact.

And of course, a picture of the 2 amigas.

Ah, and now a few days off from kids performances although we have a couple of concerts to attend before the week is wrapped up.

Christmas Performances of the Musical Variety

2011-12-14T19:30:00.007-07:00

'Tis the season for all sorts of fun, but especially performances. In the past week, I have attended 7. (Three in one day.) The first two were Samantha's and Amelia's informal dance performances at school. I didn't even take any pictures. I was too busy trying to keep Peter entertained and quiet. Oh well. Next was Jonas' orchestra concert at the junior high. He was supposed to wear a bow tie. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to tie one, and Shawn was out of town. Thank goodness for the internet. I managed to snap this picture just before my phone died. And then we were in a hurry because of the tie issue and I forgot to take the camera. Still, I love the upright bass. Every time I hear it. It was fun to watch him play and listen to all the songs. (I have to say I was so impressed by Evergreen's Jazz band. They were really good. I'm now trying to talk Jonas into playing with them.)
On Saturday (the 10th) Amelia had her piano recital. She takes lessons from our neighbor, so it was nice to just walk up the street for this one. You can see that Jonas was absolutely thrilled to be there.

Amelia spent a lot of time practicing her Christmas songs, and played great.

I got to play a duet with her. It has been a reeeeeaaaaalllllllyyyy long time since I have played piano in a recital.

But I survived. And I didn't mess her up too badly or anything.

(Still Jonas is thrilled to be there.)

Here are all of the students lined up afterwards.

And here they are with cute Emily. Amelia just loves her.

Lucky for Amelia, Grandpa Quincy and Fran brought her flowers. She was so excited about that.
Next was Samantha's band concert at the elementary school on the 13th. Did I mention she plays the trombone? (We have quite an assortment of instruments at our house.) At this point she is the sole player in the brass section - all the others have dropped out, so it was a good thing that she knew her parts. And I could definitely hear her.

As soon as she finished up her songs, Duffy, Peter and I ran out the door to make it to Duffy's ballet performance, but that is for another post... Phew!

Let the Christmas Festivities Begin!

2011-12-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Quincy and Fran came into town and we held our first Christmas celebration of the season. The kids were thrilled to get to open a present already and it was fun to spend a whole day with them. We didn't remember to take pictures of the event, but here's the post-present chaos.We decided to head downtown to see the lights at Temple Square in the evening. We first stopped at Gateway to watch the fountains and enjoy the fires.

Also, that big tree in the back was amazing. It was constantly changing colors and stripes. I think every inch of it was covered with lights.

Peter was mesmerized.

We also made a little stop at the planetarium. My kids could spend hours in the gift shop and wandering around looking at all of the cool displays. (Our original plan was to see Santa vs. The Snowman on the Imax, but it wasn't showing this year, much to everyone's disappointment.)

Eventually, we pulled them all away from the planetarium (that was quite a feat) and headed over to Temple Square. The lights were beautiful, as always, but I would have preferred to be viewing them with a couple hundred thousand fewer people around. (I know, ending up there on a Saturday night after dinner time wasn't our best choice but we had limited time to work with, and that's how it worked out.)
The kids were so excited to ride Trax (even if it was only for a couple of blocks.) The evening ended with a few being a little cold and one in tears - but that's to be expected. All in all, everyone held up pretty well.
I feel like we've covered that one for this year. We don't necessarily need a repeat performance. I think we'll just enjoy the view from my parent's condo next time we feel like going to see the lights.

Let's Just Take a Moment....

2011-12-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

...to appreciate the fact that the Stringham's actually have Christmas lights this year. Like, real, true Christmas lights. It's not like this time where it was December and we still had Halloween light up. This hasn't happened in years. (At least 3 kids and a couple of houses ago.) I'm not sure where Shawn's renewed Christmas spirit came from, but I'm not going to question it too much. I'm just going to enjoy the lights. (They look much better than my poor nighttime photographic skills could portray. Just use your imagination a little.)It's nice to fit in with the rest of the houses and not be the neighborhood scrooges any more.

Yeah for Shawn and Christmas lights!

The Reason for the Season

2011-12-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

So, it turns out that I have a thing for Nativity scenes. I blame my Mom. She collected them and one of the things I remember most about Christmas is getting out all of the Nativities. There's a whole lot of talk about Santa around here, a lot of looking for hidden elves, a lot of writing Christmas lists and so on, so I like having the reminders all around to hopefully, occasionally remind us about the birth of Christ. That doesn't, however, mean that I don't have a little fun with the nativities.

We have a wide variety, ranging from the standard Willow Tree:

to the much loved and MUCH played with, indestructible, Fisher Price:

to the reenactment by Charlie Brown and friends:

to a snowman nativity, complete with chocolate kisses for hats, and cookies as gifts: (Unfortunately, the gingerbread stable was the first casualty of the season and is currently sitting in the pile of Christmas ornaments and decorations in need of super glue repairs.)

to the simplistic:

This is a favorite because the shepherd watches over all sorts of animals like a lion, a goose and a pig, but there isn't a sheep to be found in the set.

This is the smallest one - made to appear like it was carved into a walnut.

We have several others, a Hansen Classic, a quilted advent calendar that the kids fight over every day, a pewter set, a puzzle, and, well you get the idea. I love having them around. I'm always checking out Nativity scenes that I come across. I don't really have space to display them all, all the time, but I am still drawn to them. And to be honest, I've still got my eye on a couple of my Mom's sets, too. I like the reminder and they bring me joy during the Christmas season (and not all Christmas things do,) so I imagine that I will continue to collect and admire them for years to come. And I'm hoping that at least a little bit of the importance of Christmas will rub off on my kids because of them.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

2011-12-04T22:53:00.001-07:00

This is probably the earliest we have ever gotten a Christmas tree. I am really hoping we can keep it alive through Christmas. It's pretty nice to have it up and decorated already, though. And it smells wonderful!

Shawn is always on lights. It's his specialty.

There was a brief battle over who should be allowed to put the star up, and it was determined that the one who was most in need of Christmas spirit would have the honor. So it should have been Jonas, but he was so darn grumpy that the honor passed to the next in line. (It wasn't so much Christmas spirit that she was lacking, but generally nice behavior has been in short supply. Hopefully, this will fix that.)
Ta da! A tree picked entirely by Duffy in an attempt to make Samantha happy because it is much bushier than our usual Charlie Brown style tree - which Samantha has clearly made known that she HATES.

Now we'll just have to wait and see if we end up with any presents under the tree.

Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal or How to Make the Best of Your Child's Obsession

2011-12-04T20:36:00.002-07:00

So Samantha has been OBSESSED with Harry Potter. Since last October she has probably read the entire series 10 or 11 times. (It was a requirement to read the books before being allowed to see the movies and she was hooked! Never mind that I had been trying to get her to read it for a couple of years before then.) Now, on the one hand, I am thrilled that she loves reading so much, and even happy that she likes Harry Potter because I like Harry Potter, but I am having a hard time getting her to spend much time reading anything else. Sure, she dabbles here and there in other books, but as soon as she's done with a book, Harry Potter is right back in her hands. She knows the books so well that she can tell us what page and what chapter of which book certain things take place. I decided that since she knows it so well, and since she doesn't plan to give up reading the series anytime soon, we ought to get a little more benefit out of it. So I am making her (yes, it has taken a bit of persuasion) read it in spanish.It's a little bit slower process than the typical first book read through, but I still think it's going to be good for her. (What better way to put that Spanish immersion stuff to good use?) Next up - Harry Potter y la càmara secreta.

'Tis the Season

2011-12-02T21:36:00.002-07:00

Santa stopped in at our ward Christmas party last night. As luck (or planning) would have it, Samantha was first in line and she was there before the program was actually over, so she and Peter just hung out with Santa and Mrs. Claus for about 15 minutes. I couldn't believe how willingly Peter climbed up onto Santa's lap. Unlike some of my other kids, there was no fear or hesitation. He just sat there during the whole rest of the program, happy as a clam and studying Santa carefully. (Sorry about the camera phone pictures.)
We missed the picture of Samantha on Santa's lap but she was sure to tell both of them that she wanted a phone. Unfortunately for her, even if Santa brings her a phone (which I don't think he will), she won't be allowed to keep it. I just don't think any 10 year old needs their own phone. So, of course, I'm the meanest Mom out there.
The other girls had to wait in line for a bit, but eventually they got their turns, too.

Shawn also insisted that we needed to sit on Santa's lap. Santa was very accommodating.
Now, all we need is some snow to bring in the Christmas season.

Oops

2011-11-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Part of our annual Thanksgiving tradition is for the kids to unwrap their first present of the season - always a Christmas ornament. (After years of doing this, the older kids have finally caught on and actually start asking me about it in advance. It used to always be a surprise - every year.) The problem is that although I had carefully chosen their ornaments, I forgot to pack them when we went to St. George, so they opened them a couple of days late. No one seemed too bothered. Now if only I could get a decent picture of all of the kids together!
I gave up after just 2 tries. I'll just have to imagine that they all have their eyes open and are looking at the camera and smiling. It's always fun to pick the ornaments. A couple of them are easy because they are part of a series, but with the other kids, I pick something that is an obsession (I mean an important part) of their lives at the time. Amelia is a little obsessed with Gnomeo and Juliet, so it was fun to find an ornament of them. Jonas got Scooby Doo, but if I had been able to find a pink panther ornament I would have gotten that instead. He has been watching all of the old Pink Panther shows on netflix. I considered Harry Potter for Samantha, but just didn't like the ornament, so she got her usual penguin one. (Her school mascot is a penguin, so that has been an obvious choice for the past several years.) Duff also got a part of a series with a penguin and a polar bear, and Peter ended up with a Woody and Buzz ornament that he was very excited about.
And now, the Christmas season can officially begin!

Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T13:58:00.002-07:00

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in St. George with my family. The weather was beautiful and the company was pretty good, too. I just love Thanksgiving. I love the simplicity of it, the lack of commercialization and the fact that I take the time to reflect on how very blessed I am. I truly feel thankful for all that I have. We had a pretty good crowd this year despite the fact that 3 of my brothers and their families weren't there. (Maybe one day we will all be in the same place at the same time.) I think there were 28 of us all together. We were joined by my Backman grandparents, my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Bill, My aunt Barb and Uncle Rod and their family (minus Megan's husband who was getting ready for a football game and couldn't make it.) Once it was time to get dinner ready, we sent the 9 kids outside to play so the 19 others could work in peace. (Actually they spent a lot of time outside anyway, but at that point it was a necessity.) They found plenty to do.
I love this photo of all the kids lined up. My kids love being with their cousins. (Something else we are thankful for.)
Lots going on in the house: Ralph slicing the turkey, with Nick on quality control and Rob moving stuff around.

The big kid table.

The little kid table.

More kitchen work.

And of course, some eating.

This was the really big kid table. For some reason, Shawn and I were seated here. Does that mean anything?
Instead of the typical Turkey Bowl football game, there was a rousing game of dodgeball, because what's more fun than trying to slam a ball into your own relatives? Sadly, I missed the fun because I was back at the other house waiting for Peter to wake up from an hours long nap, but thanks to Michelle, I still get to see the fun through the photos.

There's some serious intensity here from Shawn:

And from Jake, too. I can only hope they are trying to hit big people here and not the littles.

I'd say fun was had by all, and this may be a repeat event next time we are all together for Thanksgiving.

Dinner was delicious and it was fun to be with people we love. The nice weather didn't hurt either. There was plenty of golfing and being outside to make for a pretty decent weekend. (And now that it's over, I'm ready to listen to Christmas music.)

Pilgrims: An Artist's Rendition

2011-11-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Amelia drew pictures of most of us as pilgrims and handed them out at Family Home Evening to be colored. Shawn and I loved them so we're keeping them for a bit. Here's the pilgrim Mom:

And the Pilgrim Man. You'll see that he is in the process of shooting a turkey, and smiling about it.

A pilgrim girl. Apparently just fresh off the Mayflower but already collecting water or milk.

This one is Amelia. She's got a dead turkey, a bucket of water (I think for watering those beautiful flowers with the deep roots), and a bucket full of milk. She is one busy little pilgrim.

This one is Samantha. She's just been milking the cows. I've been wondering, did the pilgrims even have cows? Well, these pilgrims did.

I can't locate the turkey that she drew for Peter and I think she left Jonas off her list of pilgrims, but I've been enjoying these pictures so I thought I would share them. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Celebrations

2011-11-22T14:21:00.004-07:00

I know it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but we have been counting down the days to Thanksgiving break. Samantha has been excited because they were having "Colonial Days." She chose to attend as an Indian, but some also went as pilgrims. (Fortunately, we had an Indian Costume so I didn't have to do anything extra.)They set sail on the Mayflower a couple of days ago, all being assigned a particular person and having to experience some of what they had to go through- such as being limited on what they could say or who they could talk to because of their social status. Samantha thought that was pretty rough. She came home today saying it was the best class party she's ever been to. They made sock dolls, did some tin work, and dipped their own candles.
Meanwhile, I was in Megan's class, helping with her Thanksgiving feast. They also were dressed as pilgrims and Indians, talked about what they were thankful for and then enjoyed a complete Thanksgiving meal: turkey, stuffing, rolls, carrots, olives, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Sorry, no pictures of the actual feast, I guess I was busy serving food from that point on.

And now on to the real Thanksgiving holiday - one of my favorites!

Fairy Fun

2011-11-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Amelia was invited to a fairy birthday party and was asked to come dressed as a fairy. (This was a perfect idea for this crowd since she spends much of her time reading fairy books.) I planned to just hand her a tutu and some wings and send her on her way, but fortunately for Amelia, she has a helpful and creative older sister who had other ideas. Samantha turned her into Amelia the Sugar Fairy. (Sugar, of course, being right up Samantha's alley.) She tucked dum dums into her ponytails, and created a dum dum wand. But my favorite part was the pink cheeks and the dum dum buttons on her sweater. I also like the striped legs. Amelia was thrilled with the final product and couldn't wait to share her dum dums with everyone at the party.And even more exciting, was the face painting at the party. I loved that the painting stays with the theme, with candy painted all over her face. She couldn't have been happier.

A picture with her friend Halle, the Happy Fairy.

That's one way to make 7 year old girls happy. (They were both a little disappointed that the next day was Sunday and they would have to wash it off before church.)

An Afternoon With the Girls

2011-11-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Samantha had a friend over and they decided to have a little tea party. They were serious about it, wanting candles, a table cloth and table decorations. Shawn decided to act as their server (winning total Dad points in the process) and the girls had a lovely time enjoying their hot chocolate, marshmallows and crackers.
Of course, if there is a tea party going on somewhere in the house, it doesn't take long for the other girls to gather around and join in. (Samantha is mid sentence here, but her face cracks me up.)
They even went so far as to go and get dressed up in fancy clothes. (That happened after I took pictures - I wish I had thought to take more but I was off preparing a Relief Society lesson, I think.)
Tea parties are a frequent occurrence at our house, but not usually done so formally, and not often documented. I'm glad I took the time to get pictures because I'm guessing this is one of those things that will one day just quietly disappear from our lives without much fanfare, and other than the work of washing tiny dishes, I will probably miss it.

There has been some talk of having a formal Christmas tea with the girls and their friends. (Shawn's idea, oddly enough. I'll be sure to document that if we make it happen.)

More Cyclocross

2011-11-06T08:10:00.004-07:00

This week, we headed up to Heber for the weekly cyclocross race. Despite all the snow that was at our house, there just wasn't much on the other side of the mountain. But it was still C-O-L-D cold!! (At least for those of us that were standing outside watching and taking pictures. Shawn managed to work up a sweat, but not me.)This is the guy that hung on Shawn's wheel until the last lap, and then took off and beat him. Totally uncool, I say.

With the barrier right at the bottom, there was no chance of doing any riding up this hill.

Shawn ended up placing 2nd. His first race with no flat tires, and fortunately no crashes this time either. I think just one more week as a rookie and then he's got to move up a level. That should be fun to watch.

Book of Mormon Catch Up Breakfast

2011-11-06T07:56:00.005-07:00

We were lucky enough to spend our snowy Saturday morning at home having a pancake breakfast for the Young Men and Young Women of the ward. It was a lot of fun. The youth have been challenged to read the Book of Mormon over the next few months in preparation for a big Book of Mormon Live event. So each month, there will be a catch up breakfast so anyone who is not quite on schedule can read and get caught up - plus eat breakfast. (I think that's the main selling point for the youth here.) Shawn made lots and lots and lots of pancakes.

We had kids everywhere - upstairs and downstairs.

And they even had a visit from Nephi as a little commercial break in their reading. (They had already met Lehi and Sariah at the kick off event.)
The lighting on this picture kind of made me laugh because it looks so ethereal.
Hopefully everyone left well fed, both physically and spiritually. It was a great event and I would definitely do it again with this group of kids.

Sugar!!

2011-11-03T21:49:00.003-06:00

Sometimes, one sucker just isn't enough.

And apparently, sometimes two isn't enough either.

I seriously need to find where this stash of candy is. I thought I had it all put away, but he's clearly got some hiding somewhere that I don't know about!

The last of the Halloween Posts (I Think)

2011-11-02T21:43:00.000-06:00

We live in the best neighborhood. No, really, it's true. We have so many fun parties and activities and such great neighbors. At Halloween, we have the big neighborhood pumpkin carving party. The house and especially the garage are decorated to the hilt with some of the coolest/creepiest Halloween stuff there is. We have a big dinner, tables and all sorts of carving implements are provided and then there is voting for the best pumpkins at the end and the winners walk off with trophies. It is an absolute favorite.Then, when the kids go trick-or-treating, they know that 2 houses up they will get a full sized candy bar, and 2 houses down, they can stop and rest to watch Halloween cartoons while enjoying a bag of popcorn. There's the haunted garage and nachos, and the house where they pick up homemade doughnuts. (It's no wonder they love it so much. Maybe if I went out with them, I'd be more excited about it, too.) And then we have some neighbors who take this holiday really seriously. Every year, they start months in advance to pick a new theme and build all sorts of creations in their yard to go with it. This year was nursery rhymes.

This is poor Humpty after one of Bo Peep's sheep knocked him off the wall.

This is Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater's house. Inside you will also find Mother Hubbard's cupboard and peas porridge in the pot 9 days old.

Here are Jack and Jill after they fell down the hill.

Peter is sitting on Miss Muffet's tuffet, although he's not eating any curds and whey. But clearly, along comes a spider...
Ah, here's Mother Hubbard's cupboard and the disgusting looking green peas porridge hot or cold but definitely 9 days old.

There was also the cow jumping over the moon, and the cat and the fiddle and so on.

It's just a regular party around here all the time. Like I said, we live in the best neighborhood.

Halloween

2011-11-01T21:28:00.000-06:00

Oh, finally, after what seemed like weeks of Halloween stuff before the big day, it actually arrived. Peter finally decided on the pumpkin costume for trick or treating and posed repeatedly for pictures.
I forgot to take any pictures at our neighborhood Halloween party where the kids all carved their pumpkins, so this last minute photo as the pumpkins are starting to sag a little is the best I could get. Duffy never did get hers finished, so when I found the Woody pieces, she was thrilled to put them on her pumpkin. It may be my favorite.
You can't see all the glitter on Amelia's and Samantha's originally had an afro, a hat and legs and boots attached. It just didn't all hold together. So you'll have to use your imagination.
Peter and Duffy got to go trick-or-treating at Shawn's office in the morning. You'll notice that they are both in different costumes here than they are at night (an elephant and a witch.) That's the joy of having lots of costumes to choose from I guess.
Here's some group shots before they headed out for the evening. They were very anxious to get going and not very happy that Shawn and I were trying to take pictures.

And one with a few of the neighborhood friends that they went with.

Here's a little piece of Shawn's costume.

He was dressed as Bob Harper, the trainer from Biggest Loser.

Jonas took a picture of himself in an attempt to get out the door quickly.

It didn't help. I made him come back for another one. He was an army guy - complete with his name stitched onto his uniform.
Samantha was dressed as a ham and cheese "samwich." This one took us a bit of time and effort, but I think it turned out great.

I especially love the fancy toothpick in her pickle hat.

Amelia was dressed as Juliet from Gnomeo and Juliet. We put her on a toadstool to help people to know who she was. (She pointed out to us numerous times, that the toadstool in the movie was blue, but hey, we already had a red one so that's what she got to use.)

And Duffy decided to use Amelia's costume from last year, and went as the tooth fairy.

No complaints from me, that was an easy one!

And back to Mr. Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater... (Like I said, he posed multiple times for pictures because he knows that's what you're supposed to do.)

Let the sugarfest begin!

Leaves

2011-10-31T15:49:00.001-06:00

This beautiful fall weather has given us lots of opportunities to play in the leaves. And we have plenty of them. (Nine huge trees in the front yard alone will do that.) It's nice that every few days the kids manage to rake up at least some of the leaves.
Peter absolutely loves it and sometimes goes around asking people to please rake the leaves for him.
We must have pretty good leaves or something, because there are usually some neighbor kids involved, too. The more the merrier, I say.

Sometimes I get a little disgusted thinking about what could be in or on all those leaves that they bury themselves in, but I just have to let that thought go and let them enjoy their fun. That's why they have baths, right?

Amelia and her friend, Hallee, hijacked the camera to take a few pictures.

We have just loved this weather. I am dreading the changes that are headed our way especially since we still have 80% of our leaves still on the trees. They will look lovely covered in snow.

Cyclocross Race #2

2011-10-30T21:58:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I was able to go to Wheeler Farm and watch Shawn race cyclocross. The race is set up in a circuit, so the riders do however many laps their race is. This is also nice for viewing because you can see so much of the course. Shawn is riding in the rookie league since this is only race #2. I think the rule is that after 4 races or 3 podiums, you have to move up a level. It is pretty fun to watch.This photo doesn't really show how steep this hill was, but you can see all the sand they had to ride through. This was one of the places a lot of riders had to get off and carry their bikes.

A few of the higher level riders managed to bunny hop these barriers, but none of the rookie riders did. I guess Shawn still has to work up to that. No podium this time, but he did have a flat tire (again) and got stuck behind a crash where the guy probably broke his leg. No good.
It looks like a ton of fun - for him. This is one that I just don't know that I will ever do. I just don't have the bike handling skills to make all the turns and maneuvers, and I struggle riding in a pack on a nice paved road. I like my space around me. In cyclocross, there's a lot of trying to cut around and shoot through whenever there's an opening. Plus that whole part about having to sprint up a hill while carrying your bike just doesn't appeal to me that much. We'll see how I feel after next week. I think there's a race in Heber and with the big storm that's predicted, it could be a big, cold, muddy mess. All the more fun, right?

Halloween Part 1

2011-10-29T21:51:00.000-06:00

One of the problems I have with Halloween is all of the costume pieces that are spread around the house for weeks, despite everything I do to prevent it from happening. This year, the elementary school decided to have the Halloween Parade and parties the Thursday before Halloween. (No school on Friday.) That meant costumes had to be ready to go by the Wednesday night before Halloween. (And yes, sadly, I was still working on costumes late Wednesday night.) This also meant that the costume box has been out and accessible for too long.

Peter has been having lots of fun trying out different looks for the big day, though. This one was a favorite.

He makes a pretty cute duckling, too.

And he's not too bad as a pumpkin either.

One of the times that I asked the girls to clean up all of the costumes and dress ups, they insisted that I come down to see what a good job they had done.
Apparently, there wasn't quite as much clean up going as I had hoped, but it was a fun game, I guess. They all took turns, and asked me to come and see every time. (I kind of stopped being surprised after the first time, but I couldn't let on.) It must have been most fun with Peter because there were lots of pictures on the camera with him (or maybe he just fit inside the box the best.)

Here's to Halloween coming and being wrapped up quickly. (I am such a Halloween scrooge.)

While the cat's away...

2011-10-24T21:16:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, while I was in St. George, Samantha called to ask me something. After talking to her, I asked to talk to Shawn and she told me he wasn't there because he had gone to the bank to get some money to buy a new bike. Huh? Really?! So, I called Shawn to get the story. He has been looking for a cyclocross bike for a couple of years but hasn't had any luck finding a good one within a reasonable price range. He decided to hit the ski swaps Saturday morning and someone happened to have one there that met all the criteria: right size, good bike, good price, so he decided to get it. OK.

Well later in the afternoon, I am texted this picture:So he buys a cyclocross bike in the morning, goes to his first race in the afternoon and lands on the podium. Seriously?! Why am I not surprised? If that doesn't help feed the beast I don't know what does.

Apparently, he had a great time. Here are a few more photos from the race.

Yep, there are lots of places where you have to dismount and carry your bike in order to get through. Sometimes it's through sand, sometimes over obstacles.

That's him in the back, getting ready to make his move.

Does he plan to go back next week? Absolutely. And here's the culprit.

I was thinking about this time last year. Shawn was coaching an age group swim team, a Master's swim team, assisting with the high school swim team and doing the prep work to teach skiing, while entering into his busiest season at work as well. This year, he has dropped all of those things with the exception of coaching the high school team every other morning (and the busy season at work.) So I guess he was looking for something to fill all his extra time. So cyclocross is the next phase in the crazy life that Shawn leads. It should be fun to watch.

And he did spend the entire day before doing the fall yard clean up. I wish I had before photos because all of the gardens were overflowing with weeds bigger than our kids. To say the yard has suffered some neglect the past few weeks would be an understatement. Flower beds cleared out:

and pine cones cleaned up:

We should have a barbeque or something to celebrate. Just don't know when we will fit that in.

A Trip to St. George With the Littles

2011-10-24T21:05:00.000-06:00

I definitely wanted to get away over UEA. I needed a break from all of the nagging about homework, practicing, getting ready, doing jobs and so on. I was desperate to have some different conversations with my kids, but Shawn wasn't sure if he could get another day off of work, and my older kids weren't totally enthused about the idea of spending too much time in the car. I wasn't enthused about trying to convince people to go with me, so I took the ones that wanted to go as much as I did. (OK, Peter probably didn't care, but he likes to be where I am and leaving him home wasn't an option. Plus, he's pretty good company.) So, it was me and the littles off to St. George while the bigs stayed home with Shawn.

It wasn't a totally relaxing vacation since I had the neediest kids with me, but it was a change and the weather was beautiful. I got to watch several plays that always ended with bows by the cast (and enthusiastic clapping by me, of course.)

There was lots of riding scooters and bikes around the driveway and park.

We had some nice picnics outside on a blanket.

We played a little "Superhero."

We spent lots of time creating masterpieces in chalk all over the driveway.

We went on lizard and rabbit hunts, where we found tons of lizards, not a single rabbit, but a huge caterpillar, (probably 4 or 5 inches long.)

It always cracks me up to see Peter's organizational tendencies. (Probably because it's exactly what I would do.)

We lounged around watching TV. (It's pretty rare for that to happen at home, so that was a real treat.)
We went to the pool a couple of times. (Granted the second time was mostly for the purpose of taking a hot shower because the pilot light had gone off at the house and we had no hot water. I re-lit it, but it wouldn't stay on. No worries, though, we had fun.)

And we found some time to go out for ice-cream, too.

It was a much needed break from the craziness of regular life. I think Jonas and Samantha enjoyed not having me around nagging them all weekend, too. I think they spent the whole time doing next to nothing, which is nice to do sometimes. Either way, I don't think they missed me a bit.

Fall Catch Up

2011-10-12T15:29:00.000-06:00

Peter, Duffy and I have been enjoying walking the big girls to school every morning. The cooler mornings mean jackets and Peter's favorite froggy hat. This also means lots of hopping and "ribbit"ing.

I love that little face!

I think Duffy took these pictures.

Part of our daily routine involves stopping at the curb here so that Peter can say hello to the fishies. Because of the little picture of the fish and the fact that there is generally water in the drain, he is absolutely convinced that there are fish down there.

We have also taken a couple of trips to the zoo. If it were up to Peter, we would go to the zoo every single day. Literally. He asks to go to the zoo every day. I feel bad that we don't go more often. But he enjoys it every time. The elephants are a favorite. I was kicking myself for not bringing my actual camera this time because the baby elephant was playing with toys and running all over the place. I just couldn't get a shot on my phone. We were both thoroughly entertained.

Also, the tigers were eating. Once again, the actual camera would have been nice as the tigers were very active, and this one in particular kept standing up and swinging around what I'm pretty sure was a cow leg by the size of it and the hoof attached to it.

And no trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the carousel. (Or the train.)

We even let Duffy come with us one time.

Peter was very diligent about studying the map as we walked around.

Thank goodness for that zoo membership. We have been putting this one to good use!

Conference Weekend

2011-10-03T15:45:00.000-06:00

It was an absolutely beautiful conference weekend. Between the Saturday sessions, Shawn and I decided to ride our bikes up Millcreek Canyon. The weather was perfect and the fall colors were amazing. Unfortunately the pictures don't do it justice. The vibrant colors seem a little muted, so you'll have to use your imagination a little bit.

(The idea here is not to focus on my backside, but to enjoy the scenery.)

Shawn was the one behind the camera, because I just don't have the skills to ride my bike and take a picture, but I promise he was there, too.

I was so glad to squeeze in one last canyon ride while the weather was still cooperating.
Saturday night, Shawn and Jonas had tickets to the conference center for the priesthood session. I think Jonas was slightly more enthusiastic than this picture shows.
There were just a few other people lined up waiting with them. But look at the temple against that beautiful blue sky.

And of course, Sunday morning was all about making our twice yearly conference beignets, with everyone taking part. (One by force, but everyone else willingly.)

Mmmm. They were tasty. And then we enjoyed the rest of the day watching conference in our jammies on the couch. We love conference Sunday.

Cell Phone Dump

2011-09-30T12:59:00.002-06:00

It's always fun to see what pictures I have on my cell phone. I'm trying to keep it out of my kids' hands as much as possible, but they seem to keep getting a hold of it. Here's a few pictures from August and September. I love seeing life through their eyes.

A couple of profile shots:

Duffy's toes. (Toes and feet seem to be a very common photographic subject here.)

Posing with Teddy, the frog. Apparently this was deemed important enough to photograph...

...multiple times.

And of course, a couple of close-ups of someone's face - usually Amelia.

And there you have it, the latest installment of random photos taken by the kids.

Crowded Sleeping Conditions

2011-09-28T09:33:00.002-06:00

Duff is a bit of a collector, maybe even a bit of a hoarder. Things are constantly disappearing because she likes to carry all of her little collections with her in various bags or baskets, and then she forgets that that is where she has put them. But her bed is one of her favorite places to store her various collections. Every few days I have to go down and sort through all of the things she keeps in her bed with her - just to keep the mess under control. This was the collection from last night:2 pencils (1 sparkly silver, sharpened, and 1 unsharpened, brown colored pencil)

1 Olivia book (there was definitely a shortage on books - usually there are several)

1 large plastic unicorn (not at all cuddly - can't imagine it's comfortable to sleep with)

1 sparkly, purple, plastic star box (didn't even bother to see what it was filled with, but it was full)

1 pink blanket (this is not her regular pink blanket. That is currently missing because it was carried off somewhere and we haven't located it yet - I'm thinking it might be in the back of the car)

1 pair of snow white dress-up shoes (also not the least bit soft and cuddly)

1 regular size purple unicorn pillow pet

1 mini size purple unicorn pillow pet (at least they are both soft)

1 American girl doll (currently dressed but often I find various articles of doll clothing in the bed as well)

1 pair red, diamond-studded, cat-eye glasses (because who doesn't need a pair of those in their bed to help them sleep?)

2 pieces of paper (1 blank and 1 name writing practice sheet from kindergarten)

1 straw

1 pink silly band

I just realized I forgot to check under her pillow. Generally, I can count on finding coins, chapstick or lipstick, a train and some form of polly pocket item hiding under there as well. I don't know how she sleeps with all this stuff crowded around her. It would make me crazy.

I just have to look at it as a form of entertainment - discovering all of the things she takes to bed with her. (The fact that I find it entertaining probably means I don't get out enough, but what can you do?) Here's hoping that this doesn't lead to a life of hoarding!

Some Days are Busier Than Others

2011-09-25T16:49:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was a little crazy, but pretty fun. First, Shawn left bright and early to compete in the xterra triathlon at Snowbasin.

Now that is a nicely laid out transition area. (This is transition 1 - number 2 was in another place altogether.)

The kids and I didn't roll out until about 9:00. (I just couldn't see the value in getting everyone up and out the door by 6:30 on a Saturday.) While we were enjoying the hour long drive, Shawn was busy taking pictures of the start.
There is just something exciting about seeing all of the racers lined up at the start of a race.

There were helicopters all around.

(Apparently, pro races draw a little more attention than the typical triathlon. And I'm sure the fact that Lance Armstrong was there didn't hurt.)

Shawn snapped this photo of Lance putting on his wetsuit in the transition area.

It's a little hard to see on this small picture, but Lance is that front, center orange cap.

These are the pros starting their swim.

And the rest of the racers waiting their turn.

We got there in time to watch the pros come off of the bike and transition to the run. I could have reached over and knocked Lance off of his bike. (Of course, I would never do that, but it was still cool to be close enough that I could have.)

We moved to the finish to watch the pros come across, but my picture of Lance wasn't as successful as the bike one, but it was still plenty close. Then there was a lot of waiting. The kids kept themselves mostly entertained although there were several declarations of, "I'm bored." "I'm hungry." And so on.

Jonas made himself comfortable - at Peter's expense.

The fall colors were beautiful and the weather was perfect.

More entertainment.

Shawn also made his way across the finish line after suffering a bit on the mountain bike. He said it was steep and technical. Plus, he got a flat tire and after stopping to fix it, his back brakes kept seizing up and stopping his bike, so eventually he just disengaged them and made his way in. (One of the pros that came in rode in on only his rim with a completely shredded tire. It looked pretty cool. I guess when you've got sponsors you can afford to do that to your bike. Apparently Shawn needs to get some sponsors.) And at least he didn't end up with a demon thorn in his leg like last time.

At this point the kids were ready to move on to something else.

So we took a quick ride on the gondola to the top of the mountain where we stopped for a little snack.

And then we headed back down. We were in a bit of a time crunch.

Everyone was happy for a few minutes at least.

The gondola provided more spectacular views of the fall colors.

We drove all the way back home, dropped the kids off, changed clothes and headed up to Soldier Hollow for the Dirty Dash. We missed our original start time, but slid in just in time to go with the last wave of runners. It was a blast, and true to it's name, we were dirty at the end of it. It would have been impossible to stay clean in this race. It was so slippery and muddy, but so much fun.

Here we are with some of Shawn's co-workers who also ran the race although they had clearly already gotten cleaned up by the time we found them. (I even had jello in my hair, thanks to Shawn. Not sure why they passed that out at the aid station!)

We were cold and glad that we had forked out a couple extra bucks for the warm showers.

And to top it all off, we saw Moses and Kaylee from the Biggest Loser. Shawn stopped for a picture.
(A banner day for seeing famous people - Shawn also ran into Elder Scott at Cafe Rio later that night.)

Whew! Like I said, a crazy, busy but fun day. We were ready for a day of rest!

Nothing a Little Super Glue Can't Fix...

2011-09-17T16:25:00.002-06:00

My 2 year old loves to take a shower. I heard him singing and dancing in there for a bit before I heard the fall - and then the tears. I didn't come rushing because I just figured it would be a bump. But no such luck. He apparently caught the edge of the tile step with his eyebrow. There was some blood and concern from the older sisters, but fortunately, it wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches. Just a little glue to hold it together while it heals. I'm hoping it won't scar too much, and he doesn't seem bothered by it at all.

Finally...

2011-09-17T10:18:00.001-06:00

...the fraggle tooth is gone. It fell out this morning while she played on the computer.Thank goodness. Anything is better than that tooth sticking out at crazy angles all the time. And I love a toothless grin.
It's just too bad that adult teeth are going to come in and change her look completely. It won't make her any less crazy though, I'm sure.

Crazy Hair Day

2011-09-13T11:41:00.004-06:00

It's Spirit Week at our elementary school this week. (Oh, it's so nice to have everyone at just one elementary school - but I digress.) Today's theme is crazy hair day - a favorite for the girls (and therefore we spent much more of our morning doing hair than typical.) Since Jonas is in 7th grade, he didn't participate - at least not officially. He generally has crazy hair everyday that we work hard to make look normal.

Samantha's creation. (At least this year it didn't require any wires.)

Amelia's hair - by Samantha. (It was a nice surprise to come home from my run this morning and find that this was already taken care of. One of the few times Amelia didn't mind having Samantha "style" her hair.) Now if someone could just take care of that fraggle tooth in front that has just being hanging there and sticking out at odd angles for weeks! (She won't let us touch it.)

And last, but not least, Duffy's crazy hair.

A little crazy face to go with the crazy hair.

Peter wanted in on the photo action, too. Samantha and Amelia had gotten him dressed this morning and also given him crazy hair (a mohawk - with vast quantities of hair spray.) Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it before he decided to climb in the shower this morning. I'm sure another opportunity will arise - the girls are always trying to "fix" his hair.

Here we are on our way to school, with Amelia's friend Hallee and her crazy hair, But what you should really notice in this photo is Samantha's trombone. (Yes, somehow she talked Shawn into renting a trombone so she could play it in the band at school. We are on instrument overload around here.) I told her that I wasn't going to drive her to school twice a week just because she wanted to play an instrument (yep, I'm the mean mom who expects my kids to use their legs to walk to and from school everyday.) I tried to suggest that she should pick something smaller so she could carry it more easily, but she wouldn't be deterred. (I guess I should be glad she didn't pick the tuba, although it would have gone so nicely with our other enormous instruments - harp and upright bass.) Anyway, after a couple of times of having to carry it, she's been trying to come up with a "solution." So today, she used lots of packing tape and carefully taped her trombone to this little skateboard so that she could wheel it all the way to school.
Of course, once she gets to school she'll have to untape it and she didn't take extra tape, so this was this morning's conversation.

Shawn: "So, Samantha, how are you going to get the trombone home?"

Samantha: "Oh, that won't be a problem. Someone else always carries my case so I can be a one-man band."

I guess that means that she's been playing the trombone for all of the neighbors to hear as she walks home. Hmm, that might not be too bad if she could actually play music on it, but so far it sounds mostly like a sick elephant. (My apologies to everyone on the 1 mile route from school to my house.) And I'm still not sure which of the kids she has finagled into carrying her case for her.

I hadn't thought that my hair was looking too spectacular in it's post-run pony tail, but in comparison to the girls, I guess it looks pretty tame. Anyway, we enjoyed another beautiful walk to school - crazy hair, trombone and all.

Lotoja 2011

2011-09-12T11:41:00.002-06:00

September 10, 2011 - that most anticipated end of summer bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A total of 206 miles covered in one day (the longest 1 day race in the country sanctioned by USA Cycling) with nearly 10,000 feet of climbing. (I think the people who do it are a little crazy.) This year, though, they decided to do it as a relay instead of as individuals - and that makes all the difference. Here's the team: Jim, Shawn, Rob and Troy.

Showing how tough they are,

and how much less training is required when you are riding the relay instead of the whole thing as an individual. (Apparently not enough training to work off the winter bellies - except for Jim who is either too mature to participate in this photo or who must not have a belly to display. We can only guess.) **** Interjection by Shawn - Apparently his is a "service" belly - from all of the service he was doing around the house instead of training. Either way, not the most flattering pose. *** But really, usually it is hours and hours and hours and miles and miles of training. This year in August, I started asking Shawn if he planned to do any riding at all before the race. He pulled it off with just a handful of rides as training.
This year the fam did not tag along and I think, for the first time since Shawn has done this race (7 years), our car was not the support vehicle.
Can you tell that they are just giddy with excitement? (Or at least ready to just get the whole thing over with?)

Bikes loaded and ready to go at the start.

Troy ready to lead off the relay. (Although, in this photo his eyes are still closed. Maybe he's still sleeping?)

Riders lined up and ready to go.

And they're off....

Rob and Jim getting the next bike (and rider) ready to go.

Rob getting ready to head out on his portion of the course.

Troy in...

Rob out.

A cool view of the riders along the road. A peleton in Star Valley. (Beware the rumble strips.)

Jim and Rob riding Snake River Canyon. Apparently Jim can keep up without even holding on to his handle bars.

More Rob in Snake River Canyon.

And more Jim riding Snake River Canyon. Not so many pictures of Shawn riding since he was the one with the camera.

The main reason that Rob and Shawn signed up to do this race again this year, was to go and pick up this:
It's the Lotoja 1000 trophy. The award for completing 5 individual Lotoja races, which happened last year for both of them.
Each of the little gold disks has the Lotoja insignia with the year of each race completed. It's really pretty cool looking.

Woohoo!

Can I say how glad I am that neither of them feels the need (at least right now) to go for the Lotoja 2000? I'm really glad. That being said, I still think it has been a good experience for Shawn. I think that he feels like after completing what we affectionately call, "Snowtoja 2005" and last year's "Throwtoja 2010" (referring to what was being done with the contents of his stomach all along the last 60 miles or so) he can look back and say, if I finished both of those races, I can do just about anything. Talk about doing hard things.

And just for a little icing on the cake... Team Stringham finished in 5th place!

Not a bad way to end this little Lotoja run. (Don't worry, I'm keeping in mind that they may still ride the relay a few times, but if training goes like this year, it shouldn't be any sort of hardship on any of us.) And of course, when Shawn decides to ride it again as an individual, I will be fully supportive!

Life is Good!

2011-09-08T12:34:00.002-06:00

Last night we went to a Court of Honor where Jonas received several merit badges he has worked on over the summer,and where he also received his rank advancement to Life Scout. (Very carefully trying not to poke me with the pin.) It's nice that they give me a pin, (for all of the nagging I have done,) but having good scout leaders is a big help, too. And we have definitely had good scout leaders.
I don't know about you, but I think becoming a Life scout 1 week after your 13th birthday is pretty cool.
Now we just have to wrap up a couple of merit badges and start on an Eagle project. At this rate we could have this scouting thing wrapped up in just a few months. (Well, until we start the whole thing over again in 5 1/2 years when Peter becomes a cubscout.) I hope he can keep the momentum going for just a little longer.
Life is good because of this little face, too.
And you know what else, when I came home from my run this morning, (also a good thing to get that exercise stuff finished up early) Shawn had dinner going in the crock pot. How cool is that? Yep, he rocks. And it smells soooo good.

Life is good.

TRX: Serious Exercise Equipment or...

2011-09-07T12:09:00.003-06:00

...indoor swing?

I'm pretty sure she's having more fun than I am.

Today's workout was kind of a bust. Between the continual hijacking of equipment, and the 2 year old that kept parking his little body underneath my extended arms whenever I tried to do a push up, there wasn't as much exercising as I had planned on. And that, my friends, is why I can not skip the early morning workout hours. Maybe one day I will learn. (But really it was only because I woke up with a terrible headache, and, o.k., the wind was blowing. I just wasn't feeling it this morning.)

Park City

2011-09-03T16:15:00.000-06:00

To celebrate our anniversary, Shawn and I went to Park City. We rode the Alpine Coaster,

and the Alpine slide, (both of which are way overpriced, but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly anyway),

and we walked all up and down main street and enjoyed dinner at Wasatch Brew and Pub, next to a very rowdy U.S. Freestyle ski team. The food was good and we were well entertained by the skiers.

Not a bad way to celebrate 17 years.

17 Years

2011-09-01T14:37:00.003-06:00

And what a great way to spend those 17 years - and even better, what a wonderful person to spend them with! (Two big aging events in 2 days - yeah, I'm feeling a little old.) I would do it all over again. (Except maybe minus the stress of "the summer".) I am grateful every day for having Shawn in my life. He is a wonderful husband, father and friend, and makes me a better and happier person.

Still can't believe how young we were - or at least how young we looked.

We aren't the only ones who have gotten older. (Ahem. Hopefully, I won't offend anyone with that statement.) I pulled out pictures from our wedding dinner and reception just to look at. Here we are with Shawn's parents: (Pretty sure that's a smudge on the picture and not some big clip in my hair.) I think Cathy and Quincy were only 5 and 6 years older than Shawn is now. Whoa.
Me with 5 of my brothers. Jake was just a little widget, and I have absolutely no memory of Matthew being as tall as I was at that point. Rob still had his pony tail. (He kept it for the wedding just to make my Mom mad, I'm sure, because he cut it off shortly afterward. Also funny because nowadays, he can't stand to have his hair longer than about 1/2 an inch.)
My Mom and Dad had a bit less gray hair. (I guess that means we can attribute most of their gray hair to Rich, Matt and Jake. It certainly couldn't be because of me.)
Amazing to see how we have all grown and changed over the years. There are 3 more spouses and 15 kids added to that bunch in the past 17 years.

Here's to many more! Happy Anniversary, Shawn!

Lucky 13

2011-08-31T21:02:00.001-06:00

As of 6:25 this morning, we are officially parents of a teenager. Yep, Jonas has reached the ripe old age of 13. (According to Shawn's calculations, we will be parents of teenagers for the next 6,422 days, 917 weeks, or 9,247,680 minutes - or roughly 17 years and 7 months - give or take a few hours -until Peter turns 20 on March 31, 2029. Whew! Let's hope we survive!)

Poor Jonas got stuck being the one to break us in. He may have things a little harder, but there are advantages, too. I'm sure he's gotten away with a lot because we had no idea what we were doing. Either way, I am so glad to have him. He even posed nicely for me in the birthday hat. We'll see how many more years I can make that happen.
Samantha took the close up of the present opening because she feels that is the most important part.

A gift card - every teenagers favorite gift.

Jonas didn't ask for anything (he never does), so sometimes we have to get creative and hope we find something he likes. So he ended up with some rock climbing gear. (I've only agreed to gym climbing thus far.)
He also made no special requests as far as cake goes, so he ended up with a frosted cake blob. I've made this yummy brownie cake so many times. (It was the go-to birthday cake at my house growing up - and I've made it several times since.) However, things just didn't go quite right. It could be that I tried making it as a round cake instead of a sheet cake or that it didn't quite get time to cool completely (I was trying to finish it up before he got home from school.) Either way, it just wouldn't hold together. It was a bit of a disaster to look at but still tasted great.

Jonas loves these specific jelly beans from sweet's so I made a special trip to the candy factory to get some for him. As you can see, he was over-joyed.
Still can't believe it's true - I really am the parent of a teenager. Thanks for making me a parent Jonas!

Kindergarten!

2011-08-29T16:02:00.002-06:00

It has been so painful for Duff to have to wait an entire extra week to start school. She was ready! All morning long she kept asking me, "Is it afternoon yet?"

"C'mon Mom, it's time for my first day of school pictures."

I hope this happy attitude lasts beyond today.

She stopped at the doors to have a picture taken with her friend, Jakell. They're not in the same class but will carpool together. Of course, Peter wanted to be a part of everything, too.
Duff walked right in and found her seat and was ready to go. She didn't seem sad at all, but I sure was. Can't believe we're here already.
But it was the very hardest on Peter. He just couldn't understand why his buddy wasn't coming home with us. He was very unhappy with me for leaving her there, and just kept yelling , "Mo-om, Duffy home!" in his angry voice. I know he is going to be lonely, but I hope he adjusts quickly.

A Very Hot Afternoon

2011-08-26T21:08:00.001-06:00

Before school started, we had planned to go to Tracy Aviary, but as things were winding down, it quickly became apparent that we weren't going to fit it in, so Michelle and I decided we would go on the first Friday after school started. At the time, we didn't know it would be 100 degrees, but I'd already told my kids, so we were committed. (Joey decided it wasn't worth it to go out in the heat, so the girls invited their friend Hallee instead.)We were all mesmerized (and totally disgusted) watching the King Vultures tear apart their fish.
I used to keep parakeets as pets, but somewhere along the way, birds kind of started creeping me out. (Probably after watching, "The Birds." In which case I guess I have to blame the Boydens because I'm pretty sure we watched that with them back in the pre-children days.) Despite that, I still always think that eagles are beautiful and majestic looking (even if their talons and beaks are a little intimidating.)
Peter spent much of the time running around flapping his arms and "tweeting" like a bird. (Of course, we are talking actual tweeting here, not the social networking type.)
We stopped at all of the photo spots although I didn't actually take photos of all of them. Mostly I was trying to move from shady spot to shady spot while emptying my water bottle.

We forced everyone to stop for a group photo. I think Peter was still trying to fly and didn't appreciate the interruption. (It was just after this photo that a kid fell into the water. Fortunately, not one of ours. I felt bad for the poor kid because the water was disgusting, but as far as I could tell, he just walked right off the edge of the walkway, and it was a little funny. I didn't stoop to taking a picture of the scene, but in hindsight I kind of wished I had. That's the sort of thing that makes these little visits memorable.)
The kids had all brought swim suits to run through the fountain at Liberty Park, but it was the consensus that full water immersion would be required to cool down, so we headed to the Tennis Club to swim instead. (Had I seen this coming, I would have brought my own suit. I didn't have any plans to be "that lady" running through the fountain, but I certainly would have gotten in the pool. As it was, the kids played and I was hot.)

(Almost) everyone returned home refreshed and hungry and ready to enjoy our weekly pizza and movie night.

The Aquarium

2011-08-25T15:39:00.000-06:00

One of the advantages of being home with Mom after everyone else has gone off to school is sometimes, you get to go on little adventures. Today, it was the aquarium.

The penguins were definitely the favorite. The Duff and Peter just laughed hysterically as the penguins jumped and dived and zoomed past them.

And a picture of Peter on a frog. Next time, he'll have to wear his frog boots and frog hat to complete the scene.

Stopping to Smell the Roses

2011-08-24T09:39:00.002-06:00

This is why I love having a toddler. I am constantly reminded to stop and notice the world around me. I love his enthusiasm about everything. It's sad that that dissipates as our kids get older.

This is also why it takes us 2-3 times longer to walk home after dropping the girls off at school than it does to get there. It's alright, though. Like I said, I need the reminder to not always be rushing through life. So take a moment today, and stop to smell the roses.

First Day of School - Take 2

2011-08-23T13:42:00.004-06:00

Now that everyone is feeling better, we get another chance at our first day of school (on day 2) pictures. Amelia was up and ready, jobs done, back pack on with PLENTY of time left before it was time to go. (It was awesome.)
As you can see, she has not yet been corrupted by her older siblings and is still excited and happy to go to school. She is heading off to 2nd grade.
Samantha puts on a good show of being upset that school is starting, but her social side definitely enjoys being in school. I loved 5th grade, I hope she does, too.
And just for a fun time lapse comparison for the grandparents, here's the difference between the first day of junior high...

and the first day of kindergarten. A lot changes in 7 years!

Now here's hoping that I am ready to take on another school year.

Shawn's Birthday

2011-08-22T14:30:00.000-06:00

The celebrating of Shawn's birthday was pretty minimal. It fell on the last day of our Bear Lake trip which meant that he got a couple of Happy Birthday wishes from the kids (and possibly a couple of, "Wait, it's your birthday?" comments.) And then the morning was spent packing up a week's worth of stuff and loading it all into the car, and cleaning up the condo. Fun, huh? Then we piled into the car and drove home where it was time to unload and put away all of the things we had packed up just a few hours before and clean the boat and so on. This took the majority of the day. I also didn't have any presents for him since I had been busy trying to get ready to go to Bear Lake and there's not a whole lot of shopping in Bear Lake, although I did offer to buy him a lovely Bear Lake t-shirt for his birthday, but he declined. Late in the afternoon, we went and spent a gift card at Salt Lake Running Company, that he already had and then later that night (after going home to put kids to bed) we went out to eat. So no presents, no cake, no candles. All in all it was a pretty sad day as far as birthdays go.

But when he went into work this morning, this is what he found when he opened his office door:
lots and lots of balloons stuffed in there that spilled out all over the floor.
And fortunately, since he hadn't had the opportunity to unwrap anything, everything in his office was wrapped in paper towels, so he got to spend some time unwrapping after all.

So thanks to the people at the office, Shawn got sort of a birthday celebration. We'll try to do better next year.

Not Our Typical First Day of School

2011-08-22T08:52:00.003-06:00

I never quite got into the whole groove of summer and now it's gone...just like that. How did we get here already? None of us were quite ready for the first day of school, but here it is anyway. Jonas is headed off to junior high - and not very enthused about it. I am really hoping he has a good day!

First day of 7th grade

And, well, that's it for our first day of school photos because I have not one...
but two, kids sick in bed.
Not quite how the day was supposed to go, so we'll try again tomorrow. I guess this year we'll have second day of school photos. Peter, however, is as excited as ever to start the day.