Tidbits

Lori went out of town recently so we babysit the kitties. Whitney took this job seriously and did all the unpleasant scooping. She also made this kitty place center which they loved.

When the cousins were here visiting I took them to the pool two days in a row. My beach umbrella has seen better days for sure, but this time the wind really did a number on it. I feared other people would be recording me for Funniest Home Videos as I tried to turn it right sound out! It was frustrating and hilarious at the same time.

Our house is so small that I've had to get creative with jobs for the kids. I had Landon vacuum and wash behind the buffet (the vent there gets super dusty so it was good to get it done).

One day last week both kids stayed home doing their own thing and then ended up playing together just like old times.

One of Whitney's random vignettes...poor guy.

I bought a lot of fruit. I fear fruit. It seems like such a gamble because I never know if it's going to be good and it's such an ordeal to wash and chop it all, but I like having bowls of it ready to go.

 

Whitney "helped" with the fruit.

 How cute are these cds and player Whitney made?

I met up with Adam for a spontaneous lunch at JCWs, it was delightful.

Five for Friday

 1. I scored 15 books at D.I. this week!

2. Last Saturday Landon decorated the sidewalk with messages to welcome Whitney home from Girl's Camp, so sweet. (Notice the lush edge of our lawn...the sprinkler doesn't get it well without soaking the sidewalk so I spot water it, but it just looks like hud.)

3. Is it just me or is he officially a big ole teenager?

4. Brother Pew's symphony did a free concert at the amphitheater on Monday and played despite a light rain. He had members of the audience hold umbrellas over the stringed instruments...it made for a cool scene for sure.

  5. The cousins have been here for a sleepover since Wednesday afternoon. One of their forms of entertainment was performing High School Musical numbers for each other in the front yard.

6. I took the girls to the pool for 4.5 hours yesterday. It was beasty hot but I brought a squirt bottle as a personal cooling system and was able to stay behind my umbrella all day while I read; I used a cooler and a swim noodle for an ottoman. I started my book at the pool and ended up finishing it at 3:00am this morning...what in the world?!

Five for Friday

1. I remembered I had a gift card for Pier 49 Pizza so the kids and I went there for lunch last week. But in my frenzy to also utilize a coupon for $5 off $15 I forgot to use the giftcard! Classic. It was a mighty good lunch and now I still have a giftcard, ha.

2. I've been in a bit of an end-of-summer funk this week since I'll be going back to work next week and really wasn't in good form for bookclub (so I skipped it...gasp!) or Creative Friday. I didn't want to miss getting together with Michelle though so we opted to take Eva and a friend to the pool so we could talk and read (Whitney was at the cousins). It ended up being a nice day in the shade. The crazy thing is that Michelle forgot to bring her book, but I had brought 2! Fortunately she ended up getting sucked into my other book or else it might have been a very disappointing day for her. Also, I must confess that I succumbed to the craving and got a big Coke after going 10 days without any. It was glorious, but not so good that I am going to fall back into my one a day pattern. Surely I can have moderation in some thing right?!

3. I met up with Amy to retrieve Whitney and the girls and actually didn't mind when they said they wanted to go to the pool. I've hardly gone there at all this summer and since I have a good book I'm reading I was all for it.

 I think this photo is hilarious.

 We were there for about 4.5 hours. 

 Snow cones all around...the grape flavoring in mine was a little weak.

4. I have no photo of it but I coached my first soccer game of the season last night. We were missing 5 of 11 girls (@#$!) due to vacations, so we lost 1-4. They did better than I expected, especially since I don't know them yet, but it was still frustrating. It was my first "yelling" of the season so I was hoarse and exhausted afterward.

5. We caught the tail end of Landon's football practice after the soccer game. It was so hot outside, I really can't imagine running and doing push-ups and all of that with all that padding and helmet on!

Not Quite Easy Casual--Day 3A

Water activities seemed like the best bet for our crowd, so Whitney and I got online to search out another fun pool for the day. We settled on the Scera Pool in Orem (which we had never been to before) because it had 2 diving boards, slides and lots of fun stuff.

We got there right when it opened at 12:30 and took this quick self-portrait that Owen and Whitney somehow missed out on.

It was overcast, but the it was supposed to be sunny and 91 degrees that day so we weren't concerned.

The new floatie was a hot commodity, especially since I'd accidentally popped the blue one while closing the back hatch of the car.

Lathering up!

I enjoyed all the colorful Adirondack chairs.

Owen entertained himself by going off the diving board over and over again.

The rest of us hung out in the pool next to the diving board and took turns on the floatie.

Betsy, Landon and Whitney went down the slides a few times, but it got kind of cold so there was only warmth to be had in the water.

My kids are huge.

We lasted almost 3 hours but were so freezing by the end that I was having visions of hot chocolate and a bread bowl of soup! It was ridiculous to feel so cold on a summer day and it made the outing feel like a bust.

Not Quite Easy Casual--Day 1

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Betsy and I had a long phone conversation on my birthday which ended with her saying she was going to check into plane tickets for her and her boys to come visit us. I was totally shocked by this because it is no small feat to fly with two very active 4 and 7 year olds, I kept thinking she'd change her mind and decide to fly me to Michigan instead, but she did it! (For a title reference click the link.)

Whitney and I drove to the airport to pick them up, but stopped at my mom's to switch cars first (her car seats 8 mine only seats 5) and to pick up a bag of freshly made caramel popcorn (my mom has a gift for making this). Their flight got in 25 minutes early so we didn't have time to park and go inside to meet them, instead I pulled up to the curb and sent Whitney into to find them at baggage claim.

Apparently Betsy didn't recognize Whitney at first because she was expecting to see me! They were near the doors and waved to me but then took a long time to come out (apparently the baggage claim was slow). It was surreal to see them walking toward me, especially since her boys were 4 and 1 the last time we saw them!

Betsy opted to sit in the backseat in-between the boys (while eating caramel popcorn of course). It was so fun to listen to Emmit (the 4 year old) because he was just a baby the last time we saw him. He is so full of joyful personality that we just kept laughing at him. Owen was as pensive and smart as ever. He is an amazingly bright 7 year old and keeps everyone around him on their toes.

We came home to have some lunch and to get Emmit down for a nap (which was a challenge).

While Betsy laid down with Emmit, Owen showed me his homemade Pokemon cards (seriously impressive) and some of the cool stuff he had in his backpack. While describing some of the Pokemon characters he used the words "vulnerable" and "aggressive".

After Emmit woke up from his nap we got decked out for the pool. Getting this self-portrait was pretty funny as Owen tried "to box out Whitney" and Emmit wanted to make sure he was in it.

As we got to the pool I realized Betsy and I hadn't even taken a self-portrait yet...right the pool was a good idea.

Betsy's kids are little fish children so there was no time for sitting in our chairs talking.

Betsy took Emmit down the big slide and Owen braved it all by himself (a big milestone).

At one point Betsy and I were sitting down trying to talk when she spied some kid hitting Emmit. The seasoned teacher in her took over and she got right up and went over and took that kid by the hand to have him talk to Emmit. She got them to say what happened and then got the kid to apologize. Crazy!

I bought this hat on clearance at the end of last summer, but hadn't ever worn it. It doesn't seem like my style at all, but I need something to block the sun. So I was wearing it for a little while then had this conversation with Landon...

Me: Do I look totally ridiculous in this hat?
Landon: Yes you do. I just gotta tell the truth mom, but I love ya.
Me: Dang, I knew it.

Later when talking to Betsy about it she diplomatically informed me that my swim ensemble is sporty, so the hat didn't really go with it. Oh the shame..

We returned to home to dinner freshly purchased from 3 different locations by Randy. The grown-ups had Cafe Rio, our kids had Wendy's and Betsy's munchins each ate 1 taco.

Whitney impressed the boys with her Tinker Toy skills.

Betsy had booked a hotel nearby in an attempt to get the boys to calm down and sleep (and because our house is tiny). The boys were super psyched about this bit of excitement.

They immediately started jumping back and forth from the 2 beds (apparently this is the ultimate entertainment when you're a kid). Whitney and I left them to get settled and ran to Wal-Mart to buy a noisy box fan to help increase their chances of sleeping. They were wasted from their day of travel and from the 2 hour time change, but were very hyped up...poor Bets, she didn't get much sleep.

Birthday Getaway--Last Day

Even though we'd had 4 days and nights of vacation goodness it was over all too soon. We were supposed to check out at 11:00, but requested a late check-out and were able to stay until 1:00.

That gave us time to relax by the pool for awhile. It was so nice to go out each morning to the freshly cleaned pool and lounge chairs which for the most part we had all to ourselves.

I had my little tote of supplies and was able to finish my book (Peony In Love by Lisa See, 3 stars).

The pool was surrounded by these dead flowers (Irises?) but I thought they looked pretty cool, sort of architectural looking.

Lori brought the essentials.

There was a big pine tree on the other side of the fence that provided some nice shade in the morning. It was already in the 90's by 9:30am.

We didn't even get in the pool this time, just read peacefully.

We passed this "interesting" house each day as we drove back and forth to our hotel. I don't understand this kind of "art" but it made for a handy landmark.

We stopped by Brick Oven for lunch and had the nubbiest salads of our lives...limp, white iceberg lettuce. We should have said something, but we didn't.

The 4 hour drive back home felt like forever!

Lori was a champ for doing on the driving (her car is a stick shift and I can't drive those) but I was under strict instructions that I was not allowed to sleep. It was a challenge because we were both so tired we felt full-on jet lagged.

We listened to a Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris so that helped keep us entertained and sort of awake.