Ironman: Chapter 2

Here we were - the week of the race.  The 3 guys headed down to St. George on Wednesday.  We rented a house for the 3 couples to stay, "Athlete's Village" as it was quickly dubbed.  They needed to sleep in their bed a few nights, they needed to feel settled, they needed to check-in, get their gear to each transistion, and they needed to rest.  Andrea, Alison, and I headed down Friday morning.  I had my kids spread out from hither to yon, so I could spare them going to St. George.  Megan and Lance (Derek's brother) got my boys, and Toby (my sister's husband) got my girls.  We were off . . .
   Friday, Team DK began gathering from all corners.  My parents came, my 2 sisters, Jen and Allyson, came, Derek's parents, and Derek's 2 sisters, Angey and Rainie, all covereged in St. George Friday night.  They came with posters, cow bells, sidewalk chalk, ribbons, and mounds of support for Derek.  I got us all matching t-shirts that said, "Derek is our Ironman on the front" and "Team DK" on the back.  We proudly sported our shirts Saturday, answering many questions about who is Derek, where he's from, how many he's done, etc.  With our group of 9, we stood out.  Derek could find us - which is exactly what I wanted.  At one point on the bike course, he spotted us before we spotted him.

     I feel very humbled when I think of the outpouring of support Derek had.  Not only did he have family there, but he had people supporting him wherever they were.  His brother Lance and his wife had our boys, and Toby had my girls. Toby was Mr. Mom that weekend because Jen had come to St. George.  Tate, Chris, and Paul, my 3 brothers-in-law were also Mr. Mom that weekend to allow Derek's sisters to come.  We had people emailing and texting all day asking about him and pulling for him.  It is in no way an understatment to say he probably wouldn't have made it out of the swim if it weren't for this support.  To all of you who watched kids, and thought about him that day, I say thak you.  Thank you.
  Saturday morning - everything you can do is now done.  The months of training, eating right, getting your gear to Utah, getting it to the right spot - it's all done.  It comes down to one day - your day.  Derek certainly had a terrible night's sleep.  Everytime I woke up he'd be pacing or on his laptop.  Finally it was 3:00 am and time for him to start the day.  He went off to the finish line where they bused the athletes up to Sand Hollow Resevoir for the swim.  It was when Derek got off the bus he realized he'd forgotten something - his wetsuit.

At 4:56 a.m. Andrea, Alison, and I all got this text from him:  Is anyone awake?!!!  Me:  I am.  Do you need something?

         Then he called.  It would just be really great if I could bring his wetsuit to the start.  I can't imagine the panic that went through him.  I assured him I could get it to him with plenty of time.  The girls and I got out of the house a little quicker than we'd planned to get him his wetsuit.  After parking and being shuttled to Sand Hollow I got off the bus, and found a very anxious Derek inside T1.  He had plenty of time to get it on, and calm his nerves.  His day was back on track.  Team DK was there, and Derek got very emotional as he saw so much support for him.
   The athletes began the long walk down the ramp into the water.  I love thinking about the thousands of hours these 1800 athletes have put into training for this one day.  All of their hopes and dreams were happening.  This is the moment they'd all dreamed of.  It was all coming to fruitition.   It was a beautiful morning, great weather conditions, thousands of spectators cheering them on - at the end of this day they were going to be called an Ironman. 

  They headed down the ramp, the national anthem was sung, the professionals were off, and then the cannon blew.  The race had started.  It's amazing to see 1800 swimmers all start at the same time.  I imagine it's less amazing to be one - and be kicked, and grabbed, and swam over in the chaos.  But they were off.  Fifteen minutes into this swim the wind started.  It picked up fast, and stayed.  The newspaper the next day called it a tempest.  Where did this wind come from??  I'd watched the weather for 10 days - it was supposed to be under 10 mph - and this wasn't that.  The wind was strong and we started seeing the havoc it created.  Kayaks were capzing and rescue boats were pulling people in - by the dozens, and dozens.  Athtletes were already back on land - telling everyone how horrible it was out there - they couldn't see the bouys, they couldn't see where to go, they couldn't breathe - it was horrible out there.  People were holding on to rocks and bouys waiting to be rescued, but the boats would have to pass them by because they were full.  Many wondered if they'd cancel the swim - but how do you call back 1800 swimmers?  I'm sure that if the wind had started 15 minutes earlier, the swim would have been canceled, it was simply very dangerous to have swimmers out there.  I feel very fortuante that no one lost their life out in the water.  All in all, 300 swimmers weren't able to finish.  As the swimmers would come out of the water Mike Reilly, the voice of Ironman, would tell the athletes, "I know, that was a rough swim. But look forward, and have a great race."
   Derek had told me when to start looking for him - 8:15.  So we were looking, and looking.  We knew he'd be behind his goal because of the wind, but we checked every swimmer that came out of the water.  Doug came out first - looking great.  The wind had not be been a problem.  Then Brady came out - looking great too.  Now  . . . where's Derek?  We waited and waited.  8:30, 8:45, 9:00.  He should've been out of the water by now.  He's a strong swimmer, and the wind shouldn't have slowed him down this much.  By 9:00 it was evident something was wrong.  What, I didn't know, but definitely something.  He had either had a leg cramp - which plagues him, or the wind had been too much.  Is there anyway we could have missed him?  Not likely, with 9 of looking for him, but perhaps.  Andrea went to look for his bike -still there.  I honestly hoped that his bike would have been gone.  I would rather have missed his transition than know he was still out in the water.  9:15.  Andrea tells me she's going to check the medic tent.  As bad as that would have been, it would be better knowing where he was.  I kept thinking, "This has got to be a dream".  I mean, this is Derek's day.  He can't have it end now.  The other nagging thought about his absence was the ticking clock.  Athletes have 2 hours, 20 minutes to get out of the water.  If they don't make the cutoff, their day is over.  No bike, no run.  You're simply done.  So I'm watching the clock thinking if he's still out there, he has got to beat this 2:20 cutoff.  The clock was ticking, getting to 2:18, 2:19, and then the dreaded 2:20.  I was crushed.  I was still waiting for Andrea to get back to see if he was in the tent when I see him come up the ramp.  HALLELUJAH!!  He was safe, he was upright, and he made the swim on his own power.  Now to the incessant clock:  Ironman's rule is that if you are standing in the water before 2:20 you're ok.  We were at 2:22 by the time he'd gotten up the ramp, where the timing strip was, so it's possible to have a time over 2:20, but still be under the cutoff - so had he made it??  YES!!  They were pulling timing chips off those who hadn't made the cutoff, but the official made a call about Derek and he had made it.

   He got out of the water looking a bit like a drowned cat, but the relief was evident on his face.  300 yards into the swim his leg had cramped.  Not being able to stop it, the cramp tore his muscle.  Now he had almost all of the 2.4 mile swim ahead of him and a calf muscle that won't stop cramping.  As he fought against the waves, that were pushing him backwards, he knew that the swim would not be the only killer of the race.  His run was ruined now too.  He's cramped enough to know that he'll be fine on the bike, but his body won't let him run.  As he was faced with the decision of what to do, and looking at the chaos around him, he had to tap into a type of mental strength I simply can't imagine.  He thought about his training, and Team DK on the beach, and simply dug deep enough to say, "This is still my day." 
   Relief for all spread over us as we saw him get on his bike and pedal away.  We were all quite worried that this day was going to have a very different ending.  Hugs were piled on me, and we couldn't stop smiling that he was on his bike.  No doubt a miracle that he was still on this journey.

Ironman: Chapter 1

This is one of those "Where do I begin?" posts.  But begin I must.  I'm warning you now - it's going to be long.  So get some popcorn and get comfy, or plan on taking some breaks, or stop now and save yourself some time.  But here goes the Ironman saga:

Derek has been doing triathalons for years now.  It started years ago when my brother talked him into doing one in Burley.  This was his first one, Olympic size, and a big deal.  He trained hard, and did great.  For several years he kept doing smaller sized tri's, and really began enjoying them.  He found it to be very motivational for him to get exercising. 
Four years ago he made the jump from Olympic tri's to his first half-Ironman.  This was a big jump.  Our first experience with the Boise Ironman was realizing that this was the big leagues.  This was definitely not put on by the local YMCA, but Ironman was a brand, and very professional.  He did the Boise Ironman 70.3 3 years in a row.  After the half became do-able, the full became something not as far out of reach as he'd always thought.  Somewhere between these half Ironmans doing the full landed on Derek's Bucket List. Both of us thought that some time down the road, a ways down the road, he would do a full Ironman.  Sometime when our kids weren't so little, and training time wouldn't be so hard to come by.  But 2 good friends sped that timeline up.
Derek has 2 good friends named Brady and Doug.  They are also triathletes and have done the Boise half with Derek.  They have enjoyed countless hours swimming, cycling, and running together.  And oddly enough the 3 of them are in our ward's Elder's Quorum Presidency together. 
These 2 started talking about doing the full - Ironman St. George.  They talked about doing St. George, for reals.  And I think as far as Derek and I were concerned, we thought they should do it, for reals.  Derek, not so much.  Brady and Derek decided what we needed to do was to go to St. George last year and watch the race.  Drive the course, scope it out - and then we would could make an informed decisison.   So off we went, Brady and Andrea, and Derek and I. As Brady reminded Andrea and I as we were off to Tai Pan, this was a business trip - not a vacation. But don't worry, Andrea and I snuck in a vacation.  We had a great weekend - watched the race from 7:00 am to midnight - and loved it.  Watching an Ironman when you don't have an athlete in it is awesome!  Just fun and still very inspiring.  After we'd seen the course I thought that would make the decision easy - no way.  This is the hardest course.  Literally, it's between the St. George course and a course in Europe for which course is the hardest out of all Ironmans.  The bike course is a killer, and then there's the run.  Now, to our benefit, the run course had been changed this year because of road construction that made the run course considerably easier.  The reason we would do St. George over an easier one is because it is one of the few in the US on a Saturday.  Most Ironmans are on Sunday, so our options were smaller.  So we came home from St. Georege and the talk began.  Doug and Brady were in.  Derek - on the fence.  We came to the conclusion that if a full Ironman is on the Bucket List - you might as well do it when your 2 best training buddies are doing it too.  So Derek was in.  He registered for the Ironman.
  Training began in November.  To toot Derek's horn I have to say he was incredibly considerate of our family being involved with this.  Almost all of his swims took place in the 5:00 a.m. hour. He was always out the door 2 hours before anyone else was even awake.  He rode and ran during his lunch hour and was always home at night.  Saturdays he would run and ride early - to be back before the day really started.  He'd ride 100 miles and come home to a honey-do list, and do it.  He never said (or probably dared) say, "I'm tired - I just ran 20 miles!  I can't mow the lawn."  He'd just mow the lawn.  This impacted our family as minimumally as possible.  Doing an Ironman is a family committment, but Derek really paid the bulk of the price by training when the rest of the world was still asleep.
   To be more trained for the race Derek did Ironman California in March.  This is a half Ironman distance, allowing to guage how you feel, to make adjustments, and to give your body a really good training day.  So Derek, Doug, and Brady all wanted to do this race.  Doug's wife, Alison, and 2 more guys from our ward all did the race too. This happened to fall during our kids' spring break, so we turned it into a family vacation - with 5 families from our ward (more like a ward vacation). 
   This deserves its own post, but lets be honest - that's not going to happen!  So here's the highlights.  We went to St. George the first day, so those who wanted to ride the bike course there could.  This was great for Derek to be able to actually ride the course.  It actually put his mind at ease, knowing he could do it.

The next night we were in Vegas where all of the girls went to Phantom of the Opera.  Amazing.  We spent 3 days at Disneyland - happiest place on earth.

 Then we all headed south to Oceanside for the race.  The 5 families all stayed in the same beach house - don't worry, it was quite big enough.  Right on the beach - absolutely beautiful.  We went to Seaworld, played at the beach and then it was race day.  Oceanside was great - Derek had a great race, and his new personal best time for a 70.3.

    We came home, had a few more weeks of training, and then it was here.  Time for the race. 

*After writing all this, I see this is going to turn into a chapter book -

so I'm going to do you a favor and end a chapter here.  More to come . . . *

Participation Mandatory

Background:  My girls share a room, and my boys each have their own room.  Emmy asked me a week ago why she had to share, and the boys don't.  I told her that she and Bailey have the biggest room, so they have to share.  The boys' rooms simply aren't big enough to share.  She said, "Well give them our room then."  Quite genius of her.  So after mulling it around for a few days Derek and I decide the girl's got a point, and we're up for having the boys share for a while.  Here's how that went down:

Me:  Tyler, this summer you and Logan

 are going to move into the girls' room,

and the girls are going to get their own room.

Tyler:  I am not participating in that.

Bay's turn

My last post was about the funny thoughts of Ty's, but Bay's had her own gems lately.
Last night we took our kids to a live nativity - which we love by the way - and on the way home we asked each kid what was their favorite thing. Here's the run-down:

Tyler: the camel

Emily: baby Jesus

Derek: the city gates

Me: the angels

Bailey: the cookie buffet

She must have really been touched by the meaning of Christmas.

And then another gem today: I have been sick all day and it was my turn to drive the kindergarten carpool. So I went to pick up the kids a little too casual, and the kindergarten kids all were asking why I was still in my pajamas - which by the way, I was not in my pajamas! It was a little casusal, but not pajamas. Think more like yoga pants and a hoodie. Agreed, not my best, but not pajamas. So tonight as Bailey was going to bed she said, "I hope you feel better tomorrow so you don't have to wear your pajamas when you pick us up again." That's one sympathetic little girl.

Musings of Tyler

Tyler's had a few gems lately - so here they are:

Today he and I were driving home and we were talking about different stores. He always asks why we don't have a Super Target - ya got me kid.

Tyler: Every store should have everything, so you don' t have to go muliple stores.

Me: Yeah - like Walmart - they have everything.

Tyler: Yeah, and every store should have a gas station.

Me: That would be nice.

Tyler: And they should all be shaped like castles.

Me: . . . speechless . . .

Then a few minutes later we had moved on to restaurants. And he started saying that every restuarant should have food that you not only buy to eat there, but you buy restaurant food that you can cook at home.

Tyler: so that way you could buy a McDonald's patty and cook it at

home when you feel like a McDonalds hanburger.

Me: yeah, that'd be cool.

Tyler: And then, when you're having a real fancy party - like really fancy -

you could cook up some 5 Guys burgers.

Then a few weeks ago we were having dinner and the kids were talking about their day at school. Tyle rtold us that he had seen Emily at recess, and she was "trying to go all popular". What does that even mean?? Now we always ask Emmy if she's still trying to go popular. She gets really mad and insists there's nothing wrong with having a lot of friends.

Kids are too funny.

A Fishy Tale

Yesterday while I was in and out of my girls' room I noticed one of Emmy's fish was not looking good. She was just hanging on on the bottom of the tank, not swimming at all. Everytime I looked at her I was surprised to see she was still alive. Emmy came home and quickly noticed the same thing. She came into the kitchen to tell me the news:

Emmy: Mom, Lolly's struggling.

Me: Yeah Emmy - I saw that too today.

Emmy: Should we just flush her now?

Me: . . . stunned silence . . .

Needless to say Derek and I have reservations about leaving her in charge of decisions when we're in our golden years.

Just as a side note, before she got her fish she was thinking of what she wanted to name them. At one point she was going with Lollipop and Sucker (you know, both types of lollipops), but wouldn't you hate to be the one named Sucker? Luckily she settled on Holly and Lolly (and Lolly's still alive!)

Our Raccoon

We often call Logan our little raccoon. He's always getting into the fridge or pantry and helping himself to whatever he feel likes. My other kids don't do this - they always ask before they get a snack. Not Logan, I just find him eating a cheese stick in his room.

But today takes the cake (no pun intended). This morning he was sitting next to Emmy during breakfast. Emmy had one bite of her waffle left on her plate. She was still sitting there, talking to Tyler. While she wasn't looking he snatched it off her plate and put it behind his back. I was standing there watching all of this, so surprised he just taken food off her plate. Then he waited for his next opportunity of a talking Emmy - and shoved it his mouth. As soon as it was in his mouth, and his snatching-victory was assured, he proudly informed of her what he'd done.

With our raccoon getting more aggressive, you might want to eat fast if you're sitting next to him.

Think She's Excited?

One of our favorite things to do as a family in the summer is to go to the water park.

We'd told the kids we'd go after dinner.

Emmy was ready.

She really ate this way:

Logan's Latest

I have often said that I could write book with Logan's latest antics. Though I've missed the majority of them, here are a few highlights:

Watered my flowers with his bubbles . . .

went to bed with a pen . . .

and cleaned out my frosting bowls . . . all by himself!

What do I do with this kid???

Happy birthday Tyler!

Tyler turned 10 yesterday and we had a great day celebrating. He started out the day with his favorite breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes, homemade syrup, and sausage. He got sung to at swimming lessons and had a fun party with great friends. We went miniature golfing at a glow in the dark course. We had the place to ourselves and had a great time.

What do you want to be when you grow up: video game designer

Favorite book: The Hobbit

Favorite food: cinnamon rolls

Favorite family activity: camping

Favorite free time activity: reading

If you had a million dollars: buy lots of DS games and have an endless supply of cinnamon rolls

My favorite things about Tyler: Tyler is the most creative person - his imagination is always going. Another favorite is that Tyler always has a book in hand, and he will use anything for a bookmark - pencil, CD, spoon, whatever is closest at hand he'll use. I love finding unexpected bookmarks in his books (the library probably doesn't love this trait!).

Funny Side of Bay

Here's a few of Bailey's more classic comments:

Yesterday she was watching High School Musical and Zac Efron was singing -

Bailey: I like that kid. He's handsome and has a good voice.

For FHE last night Tyler was Activity and he picked Open Mic Night - basically everyone got 2 minutes to have the floor, with everyone's goal to make our family laugh. Tyler told jokes, Bailey danced, and then for Emmy's turn she danced.

Bailey: Do something funnier!

Yep . . . we had a heckler at FHE.

Oh baby . . .

Tyler's teacher is pregnant and due this month, so when I was volunteering this week we were talking pregnancy and babies and she said, "You can tell this is old news to Tyler". I asked what she meant and she said "When we were doing our Oregon Trail project Tyler was a father of 3 and his fake wife was pregnant - and had the baby on the trail. In his journal entry after the baby was born Tyler wrote, "the baby kept us up all night!". Tyler knows a thing or two about babies.

Shhh . . .

This is what I found last night hanging on Emmy and Bailey's

door when I went to check on them:

Logan Yells at the Home Teachers

Today our home teachers came over. We have the best home teachers - they always bring a great lesson geared for the kids, and then at the end they quiz the kids about the lesson. Every time they get a question right they get a piece of candy. The kids love for the home teachers to come.
So today we had the lesson and the quizzing had begun. Tyler had the first question and got peanut butter cup for his correct answer. Logan saw that Tyler got a treat and wanted one. The home teachers had gone to Emmy next and Logan was getting nervous about getting his treat. After a minute of fussing about it he went into our pantry where our candy jar (unfortunately) was within reaching distance of him. He found in the candy jar his own peanut butter cup and was quite proud of his problem solving skills. He was showing off his candy to all of us when we all started laughing at him (more with him, than at him). Then he got embarrassed and took his treat into the pantry and shut the door (so he was just standing in their dark!). So then we really were laughing at him (this time, definitely at him). Then he got mad . . . and he'd open the door and yell "Not funny!", we'd die laughing, and he'd yell "Stop it!" It was hilarious! We'll see if they bring candy next month . . .

Bailey Crack-ups

Here are a few things Bay has said lately that has cracked us up:

(The background you need for this story is that in Cinderella 3, Anastasia says, "Stop the wedding Mother!" - and this quote is said a lot at our house -

I don't know why . . .)

Last night we took the kids swimming, and as we were coming out of the gym the kids had wet hair, were in flip-flops, and it was in the 20's. We were all freezing! Derek had just buckled up Logan, and then while he was starting the car he said, "Stop the wedding Mother!". Bailey yells to the front of the car, "Dad, there's no time for that - get the warm air going!"

Today in the middle of Sacrament Meeting Bailey leaned over and asked, "When you were a little girl did you love the number 4?"

Bailey has changed her name to Jailey. In preschool they all say their name with their first letter replaced with whatever letter they're learning that week. So Derek and I would be Jerek and Jamy. For whatever reason "Jailey" has really stuck with her. She came home Thursday telling me to call her Jailey. She's started writing "Jailey" on all of her things (with the J backwards every time), and told her Primary teacher today to call her Jailey. In a moment of frustration this weekend when no one was remembering her name change, she said to me "Why can't everyone remember to call me Jailey?!".

That girl's a crack up.

The Groundhog was Right

Though Puxatony Phil seemed to get his forecast wrong for most of the country, he seemed to get it right for me. Yesterday I saw my daffodils had poked through. Part of me says: oh little daffys, I think you might have jumped the gun a little! I hope a frost doesn't come that does you in! But a much bigger part of me says YAY! YAY! YAY! The first day I see my daffodils come through is really and truly one of my favorite days of the year. I love to think that we are through the worst of winter and spring is on it's way. I love that it's getting lighter and lighter in the morning. I love that soon I will not be fighting coats and socks whenever we go somewhere. I love that soon I will not be cold all the time - I am always telling Derek I've been cold since October. I love that my kids will be playing outside longer than it took us to get them ready to go oustide. Spring cannot get here soon enough.

Emmy is Baptized!

Emmy was baptized last Saturday, February 5th. It was a great day because we had so many people there to support her in this decision (Allyson's family had plans to come from Utah, but their family got hit the flu the day before and they weren't able to make it).
She was the most excited person I've ever seen to get baptized. She talked about it nonstop for weeks prior to her baptism. The night before she was up at 11:30 pm coughing - when Derek went to check on her she said, "it's almost Saturday, and that's the day I get baptized!". She was the most excited to be baptized.
Her baptism was at 6:30 so we had dinner for all of our family before and then were off to the baptism. Only 6 kids were baptized that night so even though Emmy was last it was a quick wait.
Our Bishop was there and had Emmy come up and look around at how many people were there. Then it was finally her turn to get baptized. They had filled the font earlier for a baptism before our stake baptism so her water was really cold. It was so cold that was all she could pay attention to. She got in and told everyone it was cold, she got out and told everyone it was cold, the next day in primary she told eveyrone it was cold - she really got preoccupied with it!
Afterwards everyone came to our house for dessert and to enjoy our great day together. Thanks to everyone who came - we really appreciate it!

It's Great to be 8!

My little Emmy turned 8 a few weeks ago and would definitely say "It's great to be 8". Her birthday was on a Saturday so we were able to celebrate all day. She had her favorite breakfast (eggs and sausage) and then a friend party. We only do friend parties on even birthdays so this was very exciting for her. We had 11 little girls here for games and lunch and Emmy loved every minute.
After her party my mom took her shopping to pick out her own birthday present. This is Emmy's dream come true. The girl can change her mind 1000 times about anything. My mom let her walk up and down every aisle and change her mind again and again. Finally she came home with 2 gold fish, a giant heart shaped pillow that says BFF on it, a giant red teddy bear, and many other treasures.
We met Emmy and my mom for dinner at the restaurant of her choice (Wingers - loves that popcorn). Then we were off to our school swim night at the YMCA.
The next day Derek's parents came and we had another party with grandparents and cousins - it was such a fun weekend celebrating Emily.

Fortune Cookies

Tonight we had Chinese take-out for dinner. After dinner Tyler was reading his fortune.
Me: What does your fortune say?
Ty: It says carolers will be coming to our door.
Me: Tyler, it can't say that.
Ty: It does.
Now I'm starting to think maybe they make holiday fortunes . . . ?
Me: Let me see it.

The actual fortune: Don't be hasty, prosperity will soon knock on your door.

I'm hoping for a more financial prosperity over some singing.

Snow Day

Tuesday night we got a lot of snow (here that equals 6-8 inches) so school was cancelled yesterday. The kids were so excited! There was just a sense of excitement at our house. Dance and scouts also got cancelled so our whole day was empty. What a perfect way to spend a snowy, snowy day. This is how we spent our day:

making snowmen (of course!)

decorating gingerbread houses

and making igloos with friends.

The kids had a blast - they'd play in the snow, come in to get warm, have something to eat, and head back out to the snow. Last night it was dark and I still couldn't get Bailey to come in the house. My kids were betting on another snow day today, but their luck ran out, and they're back to school. We had a great snow day.

Gems of Bailey

Here are a few gems from Bailey after the past few months:
One day I was helping Tyler practice the piano in our living room. Bailey and Emmy were playing in the family room. All of the sudden Bailey starts crying. Not "I want attention" crying, nor was it "I want Emmy in trouble" crying (moms can differentiate). This was "I'm really hurt" crying.
So I go into the family room to find her really hurt and laying on the floor. I ask her what happened and she yells, "Emmy made me do the splits!" Isn't that hilarious? To comfort Bay this is what Emmy added, "But Bailey, you really did the splits!"
Then this week Bay went to preschool and I heard this report from her teacher, "Bailey came up to me and told me she had an announcement" An announcement? From Bailey? What does she have to announce? Her big announcement to her class: "I'm popular".

That's what she told them - aye, aye, aye.

P.S. to the Fire Alarm

My friend, who's in Scouts, just told me that for Pack Night this week we are having a fireman come to talk to the boys . . . I just hope we don't recognize anyone. Or vice-versa. That is hilarious timing.

Worst. Stake Conference. Ever.

We just got home from the worst Stake Conference ever. Harsh, you say, hear me out. A few weeks ago a couple friends and I decided we should join the choir singing at Stake Conference. For them, it was about a love of singing and hymns being praises and such, for me it was a way to sit and listen to Stake Conference, from my cushy seat, for 2 hours, while Derek had the kids. Genius I'd say.
So today I was enjoying Stake Conference while watching Derek and the kids. Halfway through, I saw Derek take Logan out and leave the other 3 kids on the bench. Not too concerned at this point. Our last speaker was Cecil O. Samuelson - as in President of BYU and General Authority. Derek and I were at our Stake Center, becuase I was in the choir and all, but it was also being broadcast to 2 other buildings and 2 nursing homes (do we live in Utah?). He was in the middle of his talk when all of the sudden the fire alarm goes off. Ear piercing fire alarm. People covering their ears fire alarm. Babies crying fire alarm. It is so loud that he had no choice but to stop his talk. Through the siren he did manage to say, "kids are cute, but there are things they shouldn't touch".
Emmy and her friend were out getting a drink from the water fountain when the alarm went off, and they both sprinted outside.
The fire alarm is going and going and High Councilmen and the Stake Presidency have gone out to the halls to figure out what is going on. My friend Kim and I start asking ourselves if there's any way it's either of our 2 year olds, since they were both out of the chapel at the time. No way we convinced ourselves, they're 2 - they couldn't reach the fire alarm. It's definitely not either of our boys.
Finally, after several minutes, like 5 ear-splitting minutes, while Elder Samuelson can't do anything but stand there, the siren goes off. The strobe lights on each alarm, however, are still going strong. A counselor in the Stake Presidency comes back and assures Elder Samuelson that it was accidental, and we don't need to start evacuating, to which Elder Samuelson says to everyone, "It was an accident, we'll have a disciplinary council after the meeting. If you need surgery repairing your ear drums, send your bills to your Stake Presidency." And the meeting proceeeds.
Here's the unbeknowst to me part . . . Derek had Logan, and his friend (partner in crime I'd suggest) in the Relief Society room listening to the talk. Derek saw the boys looking at the fire alarm lever and he distracted them away from it. Ten minutes later Derek saw Logan beelining for the fire alarm - despite Derek's chase, the alarm was pulled. When it started Derek was hoping it was just in the Relief Society room, when he heard Elder Samuelson say, "Everyone stay calm" Derek knew he was cooked. Derek ran out of the room to see the High Councilmen looking to see what alarm was pulled. Derek told them where it was, and they told him to stay put. They had a key to turn off the alarm, but not the strobe lights. So the alarm was off, lights still going, and Derek and Logan had to wait otuside for the fire department to come.


After they got the lights off, they had to have a talk with Logan. I'm sure that went well. The firemen said since he had called them, he might as well get a tour of the fire truck. So Logan got a tour of the fire truck and met his first fireman.

Right after the alarm got turned off, Derek's friend - who was another building - text him and said, "It was your kid wasn't it?" Other favorite texts have asked if we think the fire alarm will make the report that Elder Samuelson gives when he gets back to Utah, the fact it was Logan who pulled it "was no shocker", and when will his disciplinary council be. My brother thinks we should print the picture of Logan and the fireman and mail it to Elder Samuelson with a note that says, "It was me".

When I first saw Logan after the meeting all he could say was "loud, loud". After we went into the Relief Society room to see just how low this fire alarm lever was. Logan was so scared he didn't even want to go in the room. Maybe the fireman's talk did sink in . .. . Needless to say, I will not be singing in the Stake Conference choir again - we need all hands on deck.

Heat Wave

We have had unusually hot weather the last 2 weeks. Today's October 1st and the high is 91. It's just still hot, hot summer around here (which I do not complain about, winter will be here soon enough).
This week Emmy wore a dress to school and she wanted to wear her dress boots with it. I told her it was too hot to wear boots to school but she insisted and off she went. She came home from school taking off her boots as fast as she could.

Me: Were your feet hot in those boots?

Emmy: Yeah! I told my teacher my boots were full of sweat!

Is that the sickest thing you've heard all day?

Late Start Wednesday

Every Wednesday our whole school district starts school 15 minutes later. The point is to give teachers 15 minutes of grade-wise collaboration time. So instead of school starting at 9:05, we start at 9:20. Last year we had Late Start but the buses still came at the same time - the kids just played on the playground for an extra 15 minutes in the morning. This year, due to budget cuts, the buses come 15 minutes later so they don't have to pay for the extra playground duty-people.
I love Late Start Wednesdays. School starts so late already that I never have to wake up my kids. So on Late Start days we get so much done before school. Both Tyler and Emmy get through their piano lessons, and can work on their spelling.
Tyler has the same spelling homework every week. On Wednesdays his assignment is to have his spelling list in one room and his paper in another. He looks at his list, starts with the first word, and spells it outloud while he walks to his paper and then writes it down. Logan has caught onto what he's doing and every Wednesday morning Tyler walks through the house spelling words outloud with Logan a step behind him yelling E I E I E I E I (I'm guessing from Old McDonald). Another reason to look forward to Wednesdays.

Second Grade Spelling

Today Emmy came home with the homework assignment of having to write a sentence for each of her spelling words. She decided that each of her sentences would be about apples. Here they are:

I studied about apples.
I hurried to pick apples.
I cried when there was a worm in my apple.
I worried about my apples.
People gave me apples when I got married.
(This was orignally: I married apples. I intervened.)
I carried my apples everywhere.
"I love my apples" I replied.
I tried to get my apples from the tree.
I copied my neighbor picking apples.
I fried my apples so they would be good.

I thought they were hilarious!

Mama

Tonight Derek is out with Tyler and Logan at our ward's Fathers and Sons. I love Fathers & Sons, and not because I get a break from the boys in the family. But because I love to have time with my girls. We planned a girl night - eating out, going to a park, and watching the latest Barbie movie.

When we were at the restaurant the waitress kept calling me 'Mama' - "Mama, can I refill your water? Mama, did you save room for dessert?" All night she called me Mama. Emmy said, "How does she know you're a mom? Is it becuase of me and Bailey?" Yes, it's because of you and Bailey. I hope everyone knows I'm a mama. I was proud to be called 'Mama' - even if by some stranger waitress.

7 Years Down the Road . . .

The rule in our family is that you have to be 12 to get your ears pierced. My girls talk about getting their ears pierced quite frequently - planning what kind of earrings they'll get, if it'll hurt, etc. But lately Emmy has been telling Bay that she'll wait until she's 14 so she and Bay get their ears pierced together when Bay's 12. That puts this 7 years from now.
So this week the girls come to me with a plan: they're going to get their ears pierced the same day and then they wanted to know if we could go out to lunch afterwards. 'Sure' I say, you got it. Then they say, 'can we go to Wendy's?' (I know, dare to dream girls). Again 'sure' from me. Then they say, 'I hope it has a playland!'
We'll see if 7 years changes things.

Family Laws

I just got home from Education Week in Rexburg. I got to go with my 3 sis's-in-law. We had a blast staying in an off-campus apartment and having some mom-time.
One of the classes I went to talked about having Family Laws. She told us that you need to have the kids help come up with laws and consequences so they buy into the laws. So the kids and I had a family meeting where I wrote down on all their rules they wanted for our family. There were some goodies:
No tattling
No arguing
Include everyone
Don't slam doors
Shut outside doors
"No" means "No"
Clean up after yourself
No jumping on others
No pouting
No screaming
Don't climb on couches
No blaming others
No hitting
Take turns
Share
No lying
No running over people with your bike
No food on the carpet
No whining
No punching
No choking people
Don't make others do what you want
No kicking
No pinching
No breaking stuff
Be tough about little things
No bragging
Don't put 2 things in the oven at once
No name calling
No pushing
Don't shoot anyone with your BB gun
Don't throw the exercise ball at others
Don't feel sorry for yourself
No touching others

I thought there were some solid new rules for our fam! Just in case you're wondering what we're going to do with 30+ rules, we put them all into 4 different categories so we now have 4 family laws, which covers everything - even shooting others with our BB guns.

Pine Wood Derby

The Pine Wood Derby

a.k.a. Night of Horrors

Last night was our first Pine Wood Derby. Tyler and Derek had picked out a model to make online, and then went to a friend's house who helped Tyler cut it out with his saw. Tyler sanded it, painted it, added a Batman tattoo, added wheels, and soon we had the coolest Batmobile in town. Not only was last night the Pine Wood Derby, it was also the night Tyler was going to get his Wolf Badge. This was a night I was really looking forward to. My parents came to cheer on Tyler.

The night had excitement . . . the night had promise . . . the night had some problems.

Now Derek and I are not the handiest when it comes to tools - and car making might be at the limit of our handy skills, so on the way there we really had one goal - just not to be embarrassed. We didn't need to win, we just needed to not be embarrassed. That was the whole goal of the night.

So we get to the church for the official weigh-in. Our car was too light so Derek added some weights to it. He taped the weights onto the bottom of the car with electrical tape, got it exactly 5 ounces and we were off to the races!

The gym was divided in half - for spectators and racers. To get into the 'pit' you had to have a 'pit pass' that all of the boys wore quite proudly. The races started and Derek said to me that he was worried that with the weights on the bottom he hoped Tyler's car wouldn't get high-centered down the track. "Oh that won't happen" I assured him.

Then they called Tyler's name - Derek and I were on the edge of our seats - with one goal in mind: don't get embarrassed. Off they go . . . and then his stops . . . half way down the track. The race-director-man declares a need for a pit stop so Derek can move the weights to the top of the car. So Derek goes off (calling himself Guido from Cars) to fix our Batmobile. Now the race has to stop and wait for our car because the race-director-man's brackets are on his computer and he can't skip Tyler and then come back to him. Well Derek thinks they're going on with more races, so he takes his time . . . his sweet time . . . his 'take all the time you want' time to fix the car. And the rest of us are just waiting for him to come back. The race-director-man starts telling jokes to fill this time. People start wondering what Derek is doing to this car. People start wondering where Derek went to fix this car.

Finally Derek comes back and the race is back on. Tyler puts his car back up on top and off they go . . . and Tyler wins (fastest time thus far too). So we won one heat - which wasn't even the goal, but we had lots of embarrassment which was the goal (so not really a victory). Then Tyler went on to win a few more heats - making our initial embarrassment lessen. We get through the whole race and Tyler ends up taking 5th - way better than we ever thought we'd do. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end here.

So the race is over and while they're letting siblings race their cars and getting ready for the awards I was standing at the back of the gym holding Bay. She had fallen asleep at home taking a really late nap, and when we went to Pack Night we had to wake her up and she never fully woke up. Through the races she was really clingy and kept trying to fall back asleep. So I'm standing at the back of the gym holding her, when all of the sudden - and I don't know if I heard it first or felt it first - but Bay starts throwing up . . .gallons. Gallons and gallons. It's everywhere - in her hair, in my hair, our shoes, and all over the floor. We're just soaked in the stuff. And I become a deer in the headlights. I don't even know what to do or where to start. As I'm standing there, horrified beyond belief, I just hear moms telling their kids not to get in it! While I'm still standing there petrified a few friends and Derek start bringing me paper towels - they're wiping me down, their trying to mop up this giant mess - and a few paper towels are not going cut it. So we're doing our best to clean up and in walks our friend with the giant mop and bucket (you know the one you never want to have anything to do with). So Bay and I head out to the car - where another friend gives me a gallon ziplock bag so I can strip Bay down. And we just wait for the rest of our family to come out. While I'm dealing with Bay, Tyler gets his Wolf and I miss it -though Derek did want Tyler to pin the 'mom's pin' right on me and my puke shirt! Derek gets Tyler a ride home with someone else so we can go home and end the horrification.

Poor Bay was really sick - after I scrubbed her to death - she climbed right in bed and went back to sleep.

The whole thing couldn't have been more embarrassing - and that was the whole goal of our family!

Notes to self for next year's Pine Wood Derby:

• Use electrical tape to add weights
• Tape weights on top of car
• Don't throw up

*Think this might win for longest post ever?*

Eenie Meenie

Both my girls are obsessed with doing 'eenie meenie minie mo' to decide between anything. They do it to decide who puts them to bed, what shoes they're going to wear, and how their hair is done. But Bay's Miley Cyrus twist cracks me up every time: "Eenie meenie minie mo, country-fi it, hip hop it, and my mother says that you are not it".
And here's a compltely random side note: since this week is Teacher Appreciation week, all of the kids in Tyler's class had to write a thank you to their teacher. I just got done assembling them into a book. Here are my two favorite (thankfully neither were from Tyler): 'You are stern, but fabulous.' and 'I like Mrs. B. she eats chocolate.' Kids are too funny.

First Grade Pen Pals

These are two letters from Emmy and her pen pal Jadan, who goes to a different school. Spelling and punctutation have been left alone.

Dear Emily,
my hair is blond to. I have the wii do yuo. I like you. My favorite color is pink! my favorte shape is harts What is yuor favorite shape. do you have a dog I do it's name is Magee! do you have a fish I do!
Love, Jadan

to Jadan,
I do not have a dog. Happy St. Patricks day. when is your birthday? Do you like Hershey Bars? Did you ever loos a tooth. I like pink to. I like you. Do you like the moon?
love, Emily

Church Comparisions

The Setting: Sacrament Meeting, during the sacrament

Bailey: Ya know what would be good, if we could have 2 breads and 2 waters.

Me: Yeah, that'd be good. Ssshhhh . . .

Bailey: Cool churches give you 2. But we don't go to a cool church.

Division Obsession

Tyler has a serious obsession with division right now. He had to pass of his division facts through 12's in school and the boy can't stop. He looks for division problems everywhere. His favorite place is a digital clock. He'll see the time is 7:28 and that's a math problem to him. He'll tell me the answer '4'. That's all he says, '4'. But if I don't look at the clock, see it's 7:28, acknowledge that the answer is 4, he keeps saying '4' , louder and louder, because he has to get me to see it before it turns 7:29! He tells me no less than 30 'answers' a day from the clock. Some times I'll see him just watching the clock if he knows it's about to be a math problem - like 5:14 - he'll just sit and watch it until it turns 5:15 so he can tell me '3'. Derek has now joined in and tries to beat Tyler to yelling out the answer - but you can't beat Tyler. He doesn't miss one. It was getting a little out of control so we've had to set some rules:
1 - he has to stop at 8:56 (7) at night. Every night Derek and I are happy to hear '7' come out of his room because we know that's the last one of the night.
2 - he can only tell me the answer twice. If I don't acknowledge after twice, he has to let it go.

We were driving through our neighborhood the other day and he saw an address that was a division problem - that's his next source of math problems. I'm all about loving math . . . but this is a little much!

Come, Come, Ye Youth

This year our ward's youth is doing a pioneer trek. This is replacing our Girl's Camp and the boys' High Adventure. When I got called to Young Women's last summer I was told that this year we were doing trek - this was the best part of being called to YW. I have always wanted to go on a trek and now I get to with the girls I've been working with for a year. I can't wait for trek. It's going to be 4 days and 17 miles through nothing but desert but I think it sounds awesome.
I really wanted to go, but Derek also is in YM so he really wanted to go too. So we've persuaded people to take our kids for the 4 days we'll be gone. So now that we've got them squared away Derek and I are set to go. Since we're both going we volunteered to be a Ma and Pa. We'll have 6-8 kids in our family to pull our handcart (Derek wants the Ma's and Pa's to get together and hold a draft to pick the kids - I don't see that happening). Everyone gets a 5 gallon bucket, and 17 pounds to bring with them what they want.
Everyone has to be in full Pioneer attire - no jeans, no ball caps, completely authentic (down to the bloomers). Everyone is responsible for their own clothes - buy it, sew it, borrow it - just get it. So today I went to the fabric store and picked up my fabric for my skirts and apron (I'm buying the bonnet off eBay - I hear they're tricky to make - and I'm trying to keep this authentic right?
So now me and my electric sewing machine can really start feeling like pioneers!

It's Not Just Me . . .

Today I noticed that my daffodills are poking up out of the ground. They're about 3 inches high. Nothing gives me more joy than my spring daffodills telling me winter is on it's way out. Coming up in January makes me think it must not just be me who's got spring fever.

A Fish Tale

A few weeks ago I needed to clean out our fish tank. So I moved the fish into Temporary Housing (a.k.a. a bowl on the kitchen counter). I cleaned out the tank, filled it with clean water, and left it on the counter so it could get to room temperature before I moved our fish back in.

Much later . . . Logan woke up from his nap and I put him in his high chair for a snack. His high chair, unfortunately, is right next to the counter where our 3 little fish were hanging out in their Temporary Housing unit.

Not giving my homeless fish a thought, I went upstairs to talk to Derek for a few minutes. All of the sudden Emmy comes running up the stairs yelling, "The fish! The fish! Logan got the fish!" Instantly I know what she's talking about - Logan in his high chair, perched next to the counter with the bowl, pulled it over for a closer look - dumping out the fish. I start yelling at Derek telling him he's got to save the fish (Derek has no idea what I'm talking about - but there isn't time to explain). So we all run downstairs and find exactly what I'm afraid of - the bowl, water, fish all on the floor. I fill up the bowl as fast as I can with new water and am yelling at Derek to pick up the fish. At this point the little guys aren't flopping around anymore - they're just lying there still, with their big eye staring at us. Derek's trying to scoop them up with the net and I'm yelling that their isn't time for the net - just grab the little guys with your fingers! He's yelling at me that if he touches the fish their fishy oils will rub off and they'll die - all the while, we're getting stared at by their big eyes! Derek finally scoops up 2 and gets them in water - then we realize we can't find the third fish. We're looking frantically for him when I have the horrible thought to look on Logan's high chair tray - yep . . . one still fish just lying there. Derek scooped him up and we took a collective sigh as all three fish are back in water - and miraculously are swimming around.

We're all starting to calm down when Emmy says, "I'm so glad my fish already died so he didn't have to go through that!". Even though that third fish didn't have the fall from the counter to the floor we're pretty sure he got the worst end of it being within poking distance from Logan. Amazingly enough . . . all three fish are all still alive, I don't know how. We now call Logan "Darla" from Finding Nemo. Now there's a fish tale!

Chappy

Emmy came home from school yesterday saying her lips were really dry. She demanded requested politely that I give her chapstick to take to school. Then she tells me that her teacher said she could bring some chapstick and keep it in her pocket. Then she tells me that she went to the school nurse for her overly dry lips.

. . . the nurse . . . over dry lips

Yes, you can call her Napolean.

Money Bags Bay

Last week at church our ward's financial clerk gave Derek the tithing statements for our family. He told Derek he'd need to look over them because he was wondering if there was a mistake on one of them. When we got home we opened the envelope wondering what kind of mistake could have been made. It didn't take us long after looking at ours, Tyler's, Emily's and Logan's to realize that something was definitely odd about Bailey's. Apparently in 2009 she paid $2,000 in tithing - in several different payments. We laughed all week thinking about how Bailey's making such an income - all in secret - and definitely against child labor laws.
So today we went to tithing settlement and I explained to our Bishop that there was mistake - Bailey hasn't cleared $20,000 this year. He just laughed and laughed and kept telling Bailey "Way to go Bailey!". She'd just smile at him and say, "thanks". It was hilarious. If you need a loan, I know a girl . . .
Just as a p.s. - I just found Logan hitting our decorated Christmas tree with a Fat Bat. When I took that away, he quickly picked up a basketball a chucked it at the tree. And people tell me we should add a dog to this circus!

How Happy Would you Be . . .

This happened months ago, and I'm still laughing - must be post-worthy!

The background info needed for this post is that my brother Robb has a dog named Rusty.

My parents were tending the kids while Derek and I went out. When we stopped by to pick up the kids my dad told me that Emmy had asked him a question he couldn't quite answer. Knowing Grandpa can answer any question my kids have, I was intrigued. Here's the stumping question:

How happy would you be if Rusty was your dog?

Bad for Everyone

Today's conversation with Bay:

Bay: What are we going to do now?

Me: We're going to dust.

Bay: I don't like to dust.

Me: Me either.

Bay: Dusting's not good for everyone.

Me: What is good for you?

Bay: Church. Church and peanut butter.

Now I'm off to dust - even though it's not good for anyone.

Skeleton Sentences

Emmy came home from school with this today. I don't know what I like more - what she said or how she spelled it!

Skeletons

by Emily

translations below each line

Skeletons are ckreeppee.

Skeletons are creepy.

Skeletons are nis.

Skeletons are nice.

Skeletons are wite.

Skeletons are white.

Skeletons cant wock.

Skeletons can't walk.

Skeletons are in yoor botee.

Skeletons are in your body.

Skeletons are skaree.

Skeletons are scary.

Skeletons plteck yoor botee.

Skeletons protect your body.

I licke my skeleton.

I like my skeleton.

Evre in the wrld hass a skeleton.

Everyone in the world has a skeleton.

First Day of School

I'm thinking a better name for my blog would be "Better Late than Never" because that's certainly how I operate! I know it's October, but I'm finally getting around to posting first day of school pictures. I can't believe I have two kids who are gone all day - Tyler in 3rd and Emmy in 1st. They get on the bus together, are gone all day, and come home together.
We got great teachers this year and everyone has settled in and is loving school. Tyler still eats hot lunch most days, and Emmy is mostly a cold lunch eater. They play together on the playground - with Emmy's friends chasing Tyler's friends.
The biggest change has been for Bailey. Poor Bay has lost her best friend - she just doesn't know what to do without Emmy. And Logan isn't cutting it in the friend department. She follows me around the house all day asking if she can go to a friend's house. We have the discussion that you can't invite yourself to someone else's house every day! So we have friends over all the time, we go to story time at the library every week, and she's in dance, but it's not enough to fill her social calendar. I have a feeling Bailey will be more than ready to start school!
On a side note, I've noticed that Emmy is transitioning into an Emily. She's writing Emily on all of her papers - whereas in kindergarten it was always Emmy. She wanted her teacher to call her Emily. "Emmy" has been my favorite - I'm starting to get sad thinking she could be done being Emmy.

Weekend in Utah

We just came back from such a fun trip to Utah. It was my Grandma's 93rd birthday Saturday - so the family threw her a big surprise party. Derek and I left Friday afternoon and drove to Allyson's house in Logan. It is always so fun to stay there - she is the ultimate host. Everything's there waiting for you even before you think to ask for it - including made beds for all 6 of us - yes, Paul had set up the pack and play for Logan complete with baby blankets. The kids had the best time playing with cousins. We never heard a complaint from anyone - they were all having such a wonderful time with each other.
Saturday morning we drove from Logan to Lehi and took the kids to Cornbellys Maze at Thanksgiving Point. This is the funnest fall place to be. They had so many activities for the kids to do: a mountain of slides, jumping pillows, mazes, cow trains, hay rides, 3D haunted houses, pig races (with actual pigs of course - Bailey even got picked to be an assistant!), and tons of other things. You could play there all day with your kids. If we lived in SLC that would be definitely be a tradition for our family.
Then late that afternoon we were off to the party. It was at my aunt's house in Lehi and she had a house full! It was fun to be there to celebrate my grandma's birthday with her. My kids sure haven't grown up with her so it was neat that we could be there for this. It was fun to see all my cousins that I don't see as much I'd like to. It was such a fun night with dinner, cake, and games. My kids came home with more prizes than they get at Christmas! I'm really glad we could make it to her big day.
Afterwards we went to Orem to spend the night at my other grandma's house. It was also great to spend time with her. I just love seeing my kids get to know their great-grandmas better. It was certainly a busy weekend - and we crammed in as much as we could - but it was wonderful.

Newest Member of the Loser Club

Emmy is the newest member of the Loser Club (lost teeth, of course!). She's had her first wiggly tooth for the past week and every day it was getting more and more wiggly. She loved showing everyone how loose it was and giving everyone updates. Then last night during FHE she turned to Derek and said, "pull my tooth out". He reached over and had it out in 2 seconds. She was grinning from ear to ear! She's showed us all the whole in her smile a thousand times already.

She was so excited to have the tooth fairy come to her room in the night. Not everyone shared her excitement though. Bailey was very nervous about sleeping in the same room that some magical fairy stranger was coming. So Bay had to go to sleep in our bed and I couldn't move her into hers' until that scary fairy was gone!

I woke up this morning to Emmy right in my face saying, "She came! She came!". She was so thrilled with the treasures the tooth fairy left her. She's already on the prowl for her next wiggly tooth.

Bad Dream for Bay

A few nights ago Bailey woke up in the night and I put her back to bed. The next morning I inquired of her why we were up:

Me. Bay, why were we up in the night?

Bay: Because I had a bad dream.

Me: What was it?

Bay: I had a dream I was wobbly.

Me: Wobbly?

Bay: Yeah, I was wobbly.

Me: What's wobbly?

This part cannot be transcribed but let me tell you the girl started

shaking like she was having a seizure. Wobbly indeed.

Look Out Mia Maids!

Ok, this post is really old - this news actually is 2 months old - but if the old adage holds true, better late than never.
I got called to be the Enrichment leader in the end of February. I did one Enrichment - couponing - and quickly got released in June. It certainly made me wonder how bad that Enrichment was - - - I'm going with really bad. I mean, to be released after one?! Not even a chance to redeem myself! Yikes. But released I was . . . and Derek loves to point out that my Enrichment legacy is couponing. Yes I'm cheap, but I don't need the ward to know it. And I was loving Enrichment - loving going to Relief Society, loving not having to worry about getting a sub for Sunday, - Enrichment is a good place to be.
Maybe the Mia Maids in my ward have a spending problem because I got called to be the Mia Maids advisor. I've never been in YW before. I've always felt I am too selfish to be in YW - Sundays and Wednesdays seem like a big time commitment. I like to be with my family at night. And it's just not Sundays and Wednesdays - it's birthdays, girls camp, firesides, fund raisers and all the rest. YW is a big calling - and I wasn't sure I'd love it. Everyone I know who's been in YW loves it - they cry when they get released and beg to get back in. I wasn't sure I'd be that kind of leader.
But I have found out in 2 months why they love it - it is the funnest place to be in the ward. Hands down -it's the funnest. The girls themselves are so fun - and they can make any activity fun. I love hearing about school registration, sports, and all the rest of their activities. It turns out YW is a good place to be too.

Tyler's Baptism

Tyler got baptized August 1st. What a day that is, to have your kid be baptized! I'd felt the pressure of having him be baptized all summer. All of our FHE's have been focused on baptism. I want Tyler to really understand what it means, what he's promising, and that ultimately it's his choice. I was so proud of him to choose to be baptized. We had a wonderful day.
We waited until August so Derek's parents, who are on a mission in California, could be there. They got a 2 week vacation at the end of July and got to stay to see Tyler be baptized.
We had so much family come - it was wonderful and very supportive. We had all 4 grandparents, my 3 siblings and their families, 2 of Derek's siblings and their families, and one of Derek's aunts from Eastern Idaho. Surely Tyler felt very loved.
I had dinner at my house before and then we all headed to the church. They'd asked me to speak at the baptism - and I had no problem staying under my 5 minutes! I had worried that with a stake baptism we could be there all night waiting for Tyler's turn for the font. There were 7 kids being baptized that night and we lucked out that Tyler got to be second - we were all loving it when they called his name!
Derek baptized him and then afterwards he was confirmed at the church in our own room. Tyler had 10 men in the circle - such a showing of love and support.
Afterwards we had our family and friends come over for dessert. It was so fun to be celebrating Tyler's decision to be baptized.

Derek's Family Reunion

At the end of July we went to Derek's family reunion. This was so fun because we got to see Derek's parents (who got a 2 week vacation from their mission! YEAH!!), and also Derek's sister and her cute family who live in Dallas. It was fun to spend a weekend with lots of family we don't see often enough.
Derek's sister organized everything and she had so much planned: frisbee golf, tie dying shirts, pin trading, letter boxing, and games. She organized all the food for 24 people - what a job that must have been! We had a great time spending time with everyone.
My kids just loved spending all the time with Grandma, Grandpa, and cousins.

Redfish Lake

In January Derek and I (more Derek than I) decided we wanted to take the kids camping. We talked Derek's sister and her family into joining us and we booked a weekend at Refish Lake. In January it seemed like a great idea, in July it seemed like a lot of work! We spent 2 nights there and had a great time. I'm so glad Angey came - it was way more fun with cousins!
We left in the afternoon and had a long drive there. We were packed to the rafters! We took out one seat in our van for more room and I still had to have firewood at my feet for the whole drive (and having stuff at my feet in a car is a huge pet peeve of mine)! To add to our insanity we took Derek, Tyler, and Emmy's bikes - which started falling off the bike rack halfway there!
We got to the campground and set up our tent and had dinner. The kids just had a great time running around, picking up sticks, and throwing rocks in the lake. The next day we went to their Junior Rangers program which was excellent. They learned all about the native animals of the area. We hiked, played in the lake, geocached, cooked s'mores, and made ice cream. The kids loved every minute.
Everyone's favorite moment was when Derek was taking things out of our van and a chipmunk jumped in. The chipmunk would hop in and out, in and out, and I kept trying to get a picture of him in our van. He finally left and I never got my picture so I shut the van door. Then, here he comes again. He jumps right into the van - completly bodyslamming himself!
Taking the bikes was really fun - this is where Emmy mastered her 2 wheeler and now she's an expert at it. Tyler and Derek would go for rides and loved it.
The kids had such a great time - it was worth packing the food, cooking outside, outhouses, bugs, and putting up with all the dirt. We had a great trip.

Tyler's Birthday

Yes, Tyler's birthday was in June. Yes, his friend party was in July. Yes, his baptism was in August. Yes, I'm blogging about it now. Yes, his birthday has taken up my summer! Nevertheless, here it is:
Turning 8 is quite the big deal - so we tried to make it lots of fun. Since he was turning 8, it was time to jump into Scouts. So for his birthday we gave him the shirt, patches, and book that he needs. He opened it and said, "huh, a Scout suit", and promptly chucked it aside! That night we had tons of cousins over for his campfire birthday cake. The funniest part of the night was when he opened presents and 3 of his aunts gave him Bionicles. They were all different colors so it worked out perfectly (2 of his aunts also gave him Reese's Peanut Butter cups - how coincidental is that?!). We had a great time celebrating his birthday.
Three weeks later (yes, 3 weeks - I'm not proud of that!) we had his friend party. He had a Batman party and we had lots games and relays. I'd filled lots of water balloons and it turned into quite a water fight - I completely lost control when the 8 boys went for the hose! I sent home very wet, very happy boys. It was lots of fun.

Childhood Dreams

Many children dream of one day being something amazing . . .

. . . an astronaut

. . . a policeman

. . . the president

. . . a doctor

. . . something impressive.

Tyler and Emmy have their own dream . . . to have a video of them on America's Funniest Home Videos.

My kids . . . the dreamers.

And just to show their dedication to their dreams, they practice falling off of everything possible and begging me to get out the video camera. That would just be such a accomplishment, wouldn't it?

Dare to dream kids.

The Funny Side of Bay

Bailey is such a crack up -here are two of my favs.

The other day she was sitting at the barstool waiting for me to make her lunch. I handed it to her, and started to make my lunch. When I was finished I was headed for the table and she said, "Mom, sit by me" - I have the thought that it won't be long until she doesnt want me to sit by her so I should take advantage of this sweet moment . . . but I'm also thinking that barstools don't have backs . . .feeling torn . . . but sentiment wins out and I sit next to her. We're both on our barstools, lunch in front of us, and now she says, "Now rub my back." Sentiment met its match that day!

Last night we were having family prayers and it was Bay's turn to pray. In her hand was a set of those colored, plastic, keys babies play with. Here's her prayer: "Father bless the day (every prayer starts that way). Help us not to hit Tyler with the keys that I am holding in my hands above my head. Amen" I guess she must have been fighting off some pretty strong temptation and praying for strength to resist - at least that's what I'll tell myself!