Life is Sweet

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

No Walk in the Park

Mauri and I were invited to spend the day at the park with our friends, the Rices. We were going to Wash (short for Washington) Park in the city. Big shade trees, walking and biking paths, ponds with paddle boats, and ducks. The good old fashioned park I remember from my youth.

We picnicked under a huge tree near the playground. During lunch, the girls noticed a few squirrels nearby, and fed them a yummy snack of nuts.

I bet that little fellow has a tummy ache tonight.

Mauri gave me a tour of the playground (her clever way of getting me to play).

No, I didn't crawl through the tight little metal tunnels. But they sure made for fun pictures.

I had to get a picture of her on this playground attraction because I clearly remembered a picture I had taken of her big brother at a similar age on a similar toy:

Which reminded me that he didn't write yesterday. (Imagine my fingers tapping right now.) Sigh.

Mauri snapped a picture of me navigating the slide. (Isn't that girl clever?)

After the tire swing (are you sick yet?),

we took a little ride in the surrey (with the fringe on top).

Can I just say, this was no walk in the park.

My goodness, most of that bike path around the park is uphill, and Steph and I have the exhausted calf and butt muscles (pardon my language) to prove it. I had imagined a nice, leisurely ride, wind blowing my hair, birds singing, the voices of happy children drifting across the vast open expanse of the park. Nope. I think we hit 3 short-lived downhill spots where we could just coast, but they were few and far between. Other surreys would pass, then fade out of sight in the distance. Was our brake on? And those sweet little girls could hardly reach the bike pedals, so their help was limited.

Truthfully, it wasn't that bad, but we did work up a sweat.

Afterwards, we thought about the paddle boats, but decided they would have to wait for another day. Our legs couldn't take another self-propelled device. Instead, we agreed a nice Slurpee would satisfy us and soothe the disgruntle lone boy who dreamed only of paddle boats. Sorry Landon. Delayed gratification is a hard lesson for a 4 year old.

Thanks, Steph, for helping me squash some of that I-never-do-anything-fun-with-my-youngest-child-like-I-used-to-with-the-older-kids guilt.

Post post: Mauri has been waiting patiently to get on the computer, because, you know, she NEVER gets to use it because someone else is ALWAYS using it. She read over my post, and said, "Yeah, you NEVER do stuff with me." WHAT? Didn't we just get back from the park?? But the subject quickly changed as she told me about how WHEN we get a dog, we NEED to buy Plaque-Attack. Because, you would KNOW if you paid close attention to the commercial, if you accidentally sprayed it into your OWN mouth, it's perfectly safe. Good to know. AND she would like me to invite you to view her blog if you are someone who we personally know. So please send your email, and we will send you an invitation. That girl wears me out.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Challenges and Blessings

The past couple of weeks we've had some car issues. It became very evident that one of our vehicles was unsafe to drive, so we took it in to be fixed. First we took it to a transmission place, because Bill believed that was the problem. Nope, they said, it must be the alternator, and they didn't do alternators. So we took it to another place. After their $125 diagnostic test, nope, they said, it must have something to do with the car's computer. So we took it to the dealership. After their diagnostic tests (also for a fee), they said they could fix it for $6000. WHAT? Are you kidding me? So we went to pick it up. When we arrived, the car wouldn't even start. Grrrrr.
Fast forward... the car is now fixed (for slightly less than the dealership's offer). As we drove it home on Thursday, I noticed that nearly every light on the car was out. When Bill looked it up in the owner's manual, it said that changing the bulbs was so challenging, it only recommended you take the car to the dealership to have it done. Of course. But Bill carefully diagnosed what bulbs needed to be changed (no fee involved), and tediously set about replacing them. Needless to say, this has definitely been a challenge.

Then on Friday I got a call from Lexee. She had been to the mall with her friend, had stopped by another friend's house on the way home, and now her car wouldn't start. Bill went to pick her up and check out the car. He couldn't get it to start. The engine wouldn't even turn over. Not a battery problem. We decided to go pick it up Saturday (after the swim meet), and we would tow it to the shop ourselves. Grrrrrr.

When we drove over to tow it, it started, no problem. Blessing.

Yesterday, as we returned home from church, we were greeted with a beeping sound. It was the oven. It had a "code." I dug out the manual, which said, "Disconnect all power to the oven for at least 30 seconds and then reconnect the power. If the function code repeats, call for service." Since we discovered that our oven doesn't have a plug (I didn't know that... did you?), Bill headed out to flip the switch in the power box. The switch labeled "oven" didn't go to the oven. So we powered down the entire house. Once the power was back on, within minutes the function code returned. Grrrrr. And not only did it return, the steady beeping of the alarm would go off within 2 minutes following a manual "clear." Challenge.

Luckily, the dinner I had planned only required the grill on the patio and a rice cooker. Blessing.

I will be calling for service this morning because the oven is randomly doing the craziest things. Maybe by so doing I will prevent a fire. Save a life. I'm sure there's a blessing in this somewhere.

And this morning I had to get my girls to different places at the same time. Challenge.

Mauri needed to go to swim practice, Lex and Shi needed to be at the church for Youth Conference. There was a little tension as we headed out the door (especially when I asked Lex for her phone, which leaders had asked to be left at home).

But the girls all made it where they needed to be, and Lexee was smiling. Blessing.

Later, when I got home from picking Mauri and Lauren up from swim practice, we were met with a locked garage-to-house door. I don't have a house key on my key ring, because we never lock that door. On occasion the door will lock itself (seriously), and this was such an occasion. Challenge.

Thankfully, I had opened the back patio door to let in the cool morning air before heading out to pick the girls up. This isn't something I usually do, so it was definitely a blessing that I happened to do it this morning.

I love this quote by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin,

"Adversity, if handled correctly, can be a blessing in our lives. We can learn to love it."

He also said, "The next time you're tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."

I'm going to try to keep that in mind (and hope that we're done with the stuff-breaking-down challenges for a while).

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Faceless

For some reason, today at the swim meet I had a few problems getting pictures of my girls. This wasn't intentional (you know, those pictures that you take thinking, "This will make a great post.") It just hit me as I was downloading them that I didn't do a great job at getting their beautiful faces. But hey, it makes for a unique spin on the weekly swim meet pics.

Nearly-Faceless Shilo

Completely Faceless Mauri

It wasn't my best photo day.

And here's Mauri swimming the 50 free.

(I know these videos aren't the best... one of these days I'll learn how to download the real videos and NOT just the ones from my little camera.)

I am so impressed with Mauri's improvement in swimming this year. Last year she was in the 8 & under age group, and only had to swim 25s. For her first year at 50s, she's done great.
Good work, Mar!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

They're HOT (and tired)

This morning I went with a couple moms to pick up Lex and some of the other girls at cheer camp. They had survived 4 days of intense cheer instruction, bad food (3 options every day: pizza, sandwich, or a burger), hot weather, dorm rooms, and that closeness you can only get from being around each other 24/4. We watched their performances and applauded as the awards were handed out.

All the teams are taught the same cheer and dance for the final review, making comparisons a little easier than typical cheer competitions (they are so subjective... which tends to lead to parental frustration on occasion). The tumbling and stunting following the dance portion is choreographed by each individual team. Here is Legend's dance ~ Lex is in the back row, right side.

Both the Varsity and JV teams won every event, but, in the name of fairness (Rebecca), there were no other JV teams at the camp, and only 5 Varsity teams in attendance. In the past, the team has attended a larger camp at CSU. This year the coach opted for a closer campus, which apparently isn't as popular.

(I personally believe they would have done equally as well at a larger camp.
As President Hinckley would say, "I am an optimist.")

The Varsity team's theme this year is HOT. And today, they were HOT. And tired. Very little sleep last night, and a few minor cheerleader-meltdowns (which didn't involve my mostly non-dramatic daughter, thankfully).

They held up well under the pressure. Good job, girls!

I, on the other hand, practically melted in the heat. I didn't see the other moms in attendance glowing like I was. It must be hormonal. The air-conditioned ride home with a stop at Sonic for a diet limeade and then a nap on the couch in the coolness of my house was just the ticket.

Lexee, in her exhaustion, asked to hang out with her friend Hailey.
"I thought you were tired. You should take a nap," I said.
"We probably will," was her response. I guess the camp togetherness was not quite enough.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Good-bye, Girls

After a morning of swimming, cleaning, and laundry, Shilo and Mauri are headed off to go camping. Our neighbors recently purchased a super-cool trailer, and man-oh-man, have they put it to good use. My family (and other friends and neighbors) have benefitted greatly from that little purchase.

Thanks, neighbor!

When we lived in UT, we considered ourselves a camping family. We went at least 3 times a year. Most of Bill's family have trailers, so even though we were tent campers, we benefitted from the warmth, air conditioning, bathrooms, kitchen appliances, and televisions contained in those trailers. We have many happy memories of family togetherness in the wilderness (mostly up Fairview Canyon). It was a great, inexpensive get-away from everyday life.

Since living in Colorado, a state widely known for it's "vivid landscape of mountains, plains, mesas and canyons," (it's called Colorful Colorado, you know), we have camped very little. At least as a family. Bill has gone on innumerable Scout Camps, I've attended 3 girls camps and 2 YW overnighters (Bill's been to those too), and we've managed a few Ward Campouts. We've also met up with Bill's family a couple of times back in Fairview (UT) to camp, but the last time we tried that, we had a few bouts of spousal frustration mingled with a little murmuring from both of us, and decided that it was too hard to pack enough stuff for a family of 7 to visit the city AND camp with the fam. That was 3 years ago.

See? Trailer city. Our tent is back behind all of those.

As I look through the pictures, I'll admit it. It's worth the effort. My bad.

We really should go again. If not this year (we are seriously so busy!), it needs to make it on the calendar next summer. We still won't have a trailer... that will come after

fixing the car (wow! that was an expense),

finishing the basement,

painting the house,

remodeling the kitchen (becoming more of a need than a want... a long story for another day),

paying for college (approximately 9 more years until we get a break for a year -- a scholarship or two would help out...),

possibly more missions (girls?),
and (dare I say?) weddings.

But (and as my sister would say, "That is a big but,") it shouldn't stop us from going. Hey, we're pretty darn good with tents. We've camped in a tent with a 1-month old before (Shilo). And we have more adults in our immediate family to help (if they can fit it into their schedules).

Definitely something Bill and I can chat about tonight... we have the house to ourselves.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Outstanding in the Field

As I mentioned, yesterday was Field Day at FVE. From what I gather, this has been a tradition for people everywhere for a very long time. Bill remembers Field Day. That was a long time ago. I, on the other hand, only vaguely remember once or twice during my elementary school years having a day of healthy competition between classes. More along the lines of a "track and field" type of event. No parents in attendance. No building excitement among the participants. No long-standing tradition. At least as far as I can recollect, which may not be saying much.

I don't even remember my kids having Field Day when we lived in UT. I think they had one. I don't think it was something parents were invited and encouraged to attend. Or maybe I was just oblivious. BUT in CO, Field Day is {glorified}. The kids anxiously await the day near the end of the school year when they get to go play random games in the sweltering heat while camera-and-younger-sibling-laden parents stand by.

Matching shirts. Water bottles everywhere.

Drawing from my years of experience, I selected to arrive when there was about an hour left of the games and fun. I knew Mauri would be disappointed if I didn't show. This year, at least, there were more water games to keep the kids cool. And you could pre-purchase a Jamba Juice.

I sympathized with parents that had multiple elementary school kids, who had spent the first half of the day with one (or two), and the second half with another (or two). Yep, I've done that. I could fully appreciate the fact that I only had a single child to support, and an hour at the field was sufficient. There are moments when I want to go back to the days of a younger family, younger children... they were easier in a lot of ways.

But Field Day does not inspire those nostalgic feelings in me.

The sixth graders run the show, and they really did a good job. As Mauri's class did this activity, I heard the young man in charge say, "Okay, you can stay under here as long as you want, but as you can tell, it gets really hot. If any of you starts to get hot and feel sweaty, you have to speak up. Be honest. We don't want anyone to get too hot." Then I heard some of those 3rd graders say, "Yeah, be honest. You gotta say if you're getting hot." There's some good peer pressure for ya.

In all, I think those kids had a great time. And my timing was perfect too. I was just beginning to feel as though I might start "glowing" from the heat. Then the horn blew, and Field Day 2010 was over. Two more to go. (And, to be honest, I can't tell if I'm happy about that or not.)

Monday, June 21, 2010

Weekend Recap

Saturday: swim meet, Toy Story 3, church dance.

The swim meet started out cold. We were worried that we were in for another frigid day. But...

...it warmed up enough to NOT want a towel after a race, and to turn shoulders a nice crispy red.

Shilo did not sign up to swim the 100 Fly, but her coaches put her in the race anyway. She had never competed in this event before, and asked that if I record it and she comes in last, to delete it. And please don't courtesy clap for her if she is the lone swimmer still going after everyone else has finished. There were only 3 competitors in the event... one other girl and one guy (combined events). Shilo handily won the race. Possibly with an All-Star time. Can I just say, I'm impressed.

After the meet, we headed off to see Toy Story 3. Matinee prices. Great show. Then Shilo and her friend Cheyenne got ready to attend the church dance for their first time. The jury is still out on whether it was a good enough experience to go again... lots of talk about how hot it was in the church, and how sweaty all those boys were. Lexee wants to go to the cannery dance (outside) this upcoming weekend. Will Shilo go along? I'll keep you posted.

Sunday: Father's Day

Bill enjoyed his day after completing his talk in another ward.

He was treated well by the ladies of the house, who got a kick out of...

...his These Ain't No Dad Jeans dance. Followed by his Ken impression a la Toy Story 3. He keeps us in stitches. (We will be returning the jeans for a slightly larger size. Even though, I reminded him, he wore his jeans that tight when I met him...)

Monday: cheer camp, field day.

Lexee left this morning for cheer camp. It happens to be a very convenient time, since we have one car in the shop, and have had difficulty the past couple of weeks sharing a vehicle.
Hopefully by the time she gets back on Thursday, the car will be fixed (my fingers are crossed -- it's been a complicated mess).

She was thrilled, as usual, to have her mother there to take pictures.

Field day pictures tomorrow.