Out of Towner

Jessie and Bella are in town visiting Michelle for a couple of weeks so they "got" to join us for our weekly outing.


Michelle and Jessie didn't get to hang out very much since they had Bella and Eva to entertain. They ended up wearing themselves out and getting totally bugged when the lazy river ended up being super crowded.


Amie and I relaxed at camp all day except for going one time around the lazy river. Amie ended up saving this poor, old lady's life by offering her one of our umbrellas. Apparently this woman comes with her family and they usually sit under some trees but the area was roped off this week (blasted Seven Peaks!) so she was out in the sun. Amie hammered in the umbrella for her and seriously saved her from heat stroke and sun burn!!

Seeing the kids in goggles cracks me up every time!

Michelle and Jessie got to sit down and join us for a bit when they ate lunch. The double tube made for a 4-man ottoman and a playhouse for the girls.


There were grumblings when I insisted on taking a self-portrait, but it had to be done. Who knows when or if Jessie will ever choose to brave Seven Peaks again?

Monday Morning--A Poem

Ah Monday morning, you've come around again.
The laundry has accumulated,
the dust has settled and the floors have crumbs,
but all of that will have to wait until tomorrow
because Mondays are spoken for.

Oh Seven Peaks, you're a flawed and fleshy place.
You have claimed your space on the calendar,
thus other things have moved. I say "no" to
the cleaning, "no" to any meetings, and "no" to
other invitations because we are booked.

**What happens on your Mondays?**

Sunday Thoughts

Since today was the 5th Sunday of the month that meant our music leader got to do Sharing Time and we got to sing for 40 minutes. Our leader does such a great job, and I love the music so much, I wish we could do this every month. (I'd gladly give her my week of doing Sharing Time each month.)


I knew what she had planned for today so I brought my camera with me. I don't ever take photos during church (probably because it would be distracting), but today was a special exception and I'm so delighted to have these pictures.


The music leader (the one seated in front) had a Twister spinner and had assigned different ways to sing the songs to the different places the spinner could land. The choices included, singing fast, singing staccato, loud and soft, stop and start, dividing the room, hiding a ball then singing loud or soft depending on how close one of the kids was to finding it and so on.


It was highly effective and a great way for the kids to review all the songs they've been learning for the primary program. (In this picture she had one of the presidency members tell a pioneer story about how singing calmed their fears and helped them through a hard time.)


She surprised all the kids by having them quietly line up and walk outside so they could sing "I Love to See the Temple" while actually looking at the temple.


Our church building is just down the street from the temple, so it's pretty neat that we can walk outside and see this gorgeous, Holy building. I don't think they'll forget this experience any time soon.


I am so grateful my kids get to go to Primary every Sunday to learn from great teachers who share the gospel. It's such a blessing for them to be able to sing their testimonies and to feel the Spirit as they sing the words to these beautiful songs. I love, love, love primary and feel so happy and blessed to be a part of it.


The presidency member's baby (she has 5 kids) slept right through primary today. It's so sweet that he was lulled to sleep by the primary kids' singing. How many babies all over the world enjoy this blessing? Lots I'm sure.

Psalms 105:2
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.

Happy Birthday Rebecca S.!!!

**How does singing at church make you feel?
Do your kids learn from singing at church?
Any memorable experiences like this to share?**

Free Day

Today was my first obligation-free Saturday in weeks. In the past month I've had a baby shower for a cousin, then the family 5k, then a bridal shower for a cousin...phooey! It was glorious to be able to sleep in this morning, lounge in my jammies and then be able to just hang out.


Lori brought lunch over this afternoon, then we went through her disc of pictures from her Australia trip 2 years ago (already!?), then made her a great collage with some of the pictures. (Did anyone see that Marc posted the challenge for July??) This was my 4th time working on a collage, though this time Lori made it based on my instructions, and it was much easier. I had a math break-through that's really too embarrassing to share because it was so basic, but it ended up making things much easier for me...duh!


Lori and I finally left the house around 6:00pm to get some dinner at The Italian Place and then to go see Iron Man. I've been practically begging her to go see it because Randy and Landon liked it so much, so she finally gave in tonight.


The theater was surprisingly crowded and my personal space was invaded by the young couple sitting to my right. They were obsessed with their cell phone and kept messing with it during the movie. It drives me crazy and bugs the crap out of me when people do this. Even if the sound is off, the light on the phone is so bright and distracting. Why must they mess with their phones during a movie? Is focusing on one thing for 2 whole hours too much of a stretch?? How did everyone function before cell phones? Does anyone else miss being unavailable sometimes?

It was a pretty low-key day. Randy took the kids to see Kung-Fu Panda and vegged out at home too. He's so weary from his first week back to work. He had gotten into the habit of staying up way too late and sleeping, so these early mornings (7:00ish) are kicking his butt. Ha.

**Did you make a collage?
Will you do Marc's July challenge?
Do you like steak & cheese sandwiches?
Did you see Iron Man?
How do you feel about cell phone fidgeters?**

Time to Exhale

This was the scene when the girls went to bed last night. Bella got Landon's bunk, Whitney slept in her own bed, then Megan (who was already asleep in this picture), Tess, Ashley and Olivia all slept horizontally across the futon. Oh to be so tiny and able to sleep in such conditions!


I took this picture in the dark bedroom around 1:00am (when I was finally going to bed) with only my camera's flash for illumination. I thought it was hilarious that the girls had all migrated to one side of the futon and were all uncovered. They all slept through the night without any problems, so apparently this is an effective arrangement.

Robyn picked up her girls and returned Landon around 10:45 this morning, so things seemed much quieter quite quickly. I guess going from 6 girls to 4 makes a big difference, though the cute quotient when down as well.

My mom brought pizza for lunch today (woohoo, no more mass production of pb&js). The girls ended up showing off some of their pool stunts for her and were happy to have a fresh audience. We had a hard time taking this self-portrait, but finally got all of us in.

Even though this was day three together, Whitney and Bella still had lots to talk about. It cracked me up to see them lounging like this in the pool.

Otter Pops for those who don't know what they are.

The door to the garage never did get shut, even though I reminded them every time they went in and out. It just wasn't meant to be I guess.

This is the pile of the girls' gear on the bedroom floor. The Hodge Podge of it cracks me up.


At one point today things were eerily quiet, and upon investigating this is what I found...Megan cacked out on the futon in a seated position. I don't know if she had been sitting there watching Landon play video games or what, but she slept for at least 1.5 hours until I had to wake her up (not easy) before it got too late in the day.


Adam showed up bearing gifts of Los Hermanos food for dinner, a bag of Sonic ice (I ran out last night and was missing it today), and some groceries. He's always so generous. We ended up chowing down the food and having a good SEP discussion. Randy joined in when he got home from work (that's right, work) and though we didn't solve anything it was a good two hour discussion.


Adam had a little Perrier mishap tonight in our freezer. Just as he was about to leave he went to retrieve his beloved beverage and instead ended up having to clean out frozen Perrier and chunks of glass from the exploded bottle. I haven't checked his work yet, so the jury is out on whether this was amusing or not, ha. (Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the severity of the mess.)

Overall it was a great 3 days and 3 nights of cousin camp. I think everyone ended up happy and having fun. I don't even feel particularly frazzled or annoyed, it's all good. Who am I?

**Do you move a lot in your sleep
or do you stay in one spot?
Do you eat outside much in the summer?
When was the last time you lounged?
Ever exploded anything in the freezer?**

Money Well Spent

The new pool was a tremendous hit today and is definitely the best $25 we've spent in a long time. I'm kind of glad the other pool wouldn't inflate yesterday because the new pool is bigger and helped make for a fun-filled day outside.


The kids were lathered up in sunscreen and outside by 8:10am this morning. I don't know how they dealt with the icy water from the hose, apparently the allure of the pool was just too great not to partake. Landon even joined in for awhile this morning, but abandoned the group upon receiving an invite to go play with his friend next door.


My sister-in-law Daniela (Randy's brother's wife) and her daughter came over to visit today. They're in town from Illinois visiting a friend who's having a hard time and ended up being able to spend some time with us. We really don't see Randy's family very often (which is why they rarely show up on my blog) so it's enjoyable to get together and get all the family news.


I had worked out a kid switch with Robyn so that her girls could join in the cousin camp fun and so that Landon could get out of this girl-filled house. The poor kid would be willing to play with them except that they're always pretending to be cats or something and he just doesn't go in for that kind of "fun". (Fortunately Robyn was on her way here and was able to pick up Cafe Rio lunch for Daniela and I, woohoo. I'm loving the pork quesadilla these days.)


The girls stayed outside until dinner time today except for the 556 bathroom breaks and clothes changes. Everyone except Whitney kept changing into their regular clothes long enough to get warm, then changed back into their wet suits (ew, I hate that feeling) so they could play in the water again.

{Supposedly they were posing for this photo.}

Crazy girls. It was 98 degrees today, if they had laid down on their towel in the sun for 5 minutes they would have been hot enough to brave the grassy, lukewarm water in the pool again.



I was neither Mary Poppins or Grumpy Gus today, just plain old me and that worked out for the best. I am managing messes and saying things like "Did you flush and wash?" "Did you hang up your swimming suit?" "Where did you put your clothes?" a thousand times a day, but I'm seeing some progress with them. They're just so excited to move on to the next thing that they can't remember the basics...except being hungry of course.


Good grief, for a bunch of bony kids (not mine of course) they sure to put away a lot of food. We're down a Costco sized strawberries, Costco sized grapes, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, 2 bags of fishy crackers, 20 otter pops, 4 apples, 4 oranges, tons of Dum Dum suckers, a bag of Harvest Crisp chips, 2 bags of popcorn, many gogurts, several string cheeses and a package of tortillas. Crazy! (Not that I'm keeping track for real, it's just fresh on my brain and kind of amusing.)

**What's the best $25 you've spent recently?
How was your mood today?
Do you love the sight of beach towels hanging to dry?
When was the last time you ate an Otter Pop?**

Survival of the Fittest

I'm 30 hours in to Cousin Camp and am doing alright. I was Mary Poppins on Tuesday night with all the kids at the baseball games (though my mom came to help and thankfully took over the port-o-potty duties). I had a bag of tricks (many water bottles, fishy crackers and Tootsie Pops) so they girls had a great time playing in the dirt with Whitney (during Landon's game--he did great by the way) and just running around being crazy. They were filthy when we got home at 9:00pm so that meant 5 separate showers for all the kids.

I was like a seasoned professional, feeding kids in the kitchen, supervising shower techniques (Tess didn't use soap until I triple checked with her?!), slicing strawberries (they couldn't eat them fast enough), providing towels, directing jammie dressing, setting up the beds for the night, and pouring more cereal. I did all of this without feeling flustered or fatigued, woohoo.


But today I woke up feeling grumpy...that's just not right. I just couldn't shake my irritability, though there was no reason for feeling that way. If anything I should be rejoicing because Randy is the groove buster no more! He started two different jobs this week (a strange, but good set up with part-time design work at two places, plus free lancing from home) so I'm on my own again.


Annoyance number two (the first being the unexplained grumpiness) this morning was that the little blow-up pool we bought last night would NOT inflate! It has 4 separate layers, so if there is a hole in one of them the rest should still inflate, but nooooo, I couldn't get any of them to blow up. The girls were in their bathing suits by 8:45am and were watching me and offering their "helpful" suggestions. Landon even tried to take over for me as if I didn't know what I was doing (aargh!). It never did inflate.


Later in the day the girls were so desperate to make it work they propped up the sides of the pool with chairs and put water in it anyway. They stayed outside all day, so at least it was good for something but I was very bugged. Randy actually went and bought a slightly bigger pool at Big Lots tonight and it inflated in about 5 minutes.


After spending 8 hours outside today (with only 1000 visits inside the house, leaving the door open every single time!) the girls then wanted to cram themselves into the bathtub. (Whatever floats your boat eh?) They stayed in there for over an hour until it was time to get jammies on and have a pizza picnic in the family room.


I was so irritated with the fact that I felt irritable (is there a term for that condition?) that I ended up talking to myself saying "I want to feel better, I want to feel better" and took 2 Excedrin. I then put a "Friday Night Lights" dvd in the computer and started cleaning up my scrap room (it's so long overdue it's ridiculous). Look a clear surface!!! Probably only people who have actually been in this room will be able to appreciate the magnitude of this accomplishment.


I framed the Women's Conference photo grid I made a couple weeks ago. I had it printed at Costco and it turned out great. It's only $2.99 for a 12x12 print.


I finally made room for the cool, red storage container thing Kristi sent me for my birthday almost 1 year ago! I moved all my scrapbooking idea books (which I no longer use and want to sell) to make room for it. I love the burst of color and am happy to have a home for it at last! I also did some serious cleaning up on this table, though the untrained eye may not be able to detect my progress.


So my day was salvaged, my irritability left around 3:30 this afternoon, I love Friday Night Lights, I can actually walk in my scrap room, and tonight was So You Think You Can Dance, woohoo! Wish me luck tomorrow.

**What do you do when you wake up grumpy?
Why wouldn't that pool inflate?
Do your kids ever remember
to shut the door in the summer?
Who do you like on SYTYCD?
Is anyone reading blogs and
actually commenting this week?**

Bullet Point Blogging

• We originally canceled for Seven Peaks this week due to relatives coming in from out of state, but they rescheduled as of 10:00am Monday morning so we quickly regrouped and got ourselves together in order to join Amie and her kids at Seven Peaks (Eva was sick so Michelle wasn't planning on going.)
• We stayed for 6 hours and though all I did was sit, I still ended up feeling completely spent.
• Today has been a scramble because I didn't stay home to do the things I needed to do for this week's Cousins Camp with Adam and Amy's girls here. I had big plans to organize the garage to make more room for them to play, grocery shop, Costco shop, go to presidency meeting and prep for the kids' last baseball games (gift for their coach).
• I've managed to do everything except the garage, but am oh so weary and have yet to go to the games. I sure am glad it's over 90 degrees out, nothing's better for a fat girl than unapologetic heat from the late-day sun. (I'm honestly surprised I haven't melted yet.)
  
• The next 3 nights and 4 days I will be house bound with the 3 extra girls, and I'm actually looking forward to it. It's so fun for the cousins to have an extended sleepover and to play in the water all day. Plus, even though it means more work and messes for me it also means I don't have to go anywhere and will end up tackling some projects at home. (Remember last year's 16 day sleepover?)

Amie and I enjoy using an inter tube for an ottoman.

Some clouds blew in and then out, but I love the umbrellas.

The kids did great sticking with their buddies this week.

**Do you enjoy bullet point blogging?
Do you ever expect to melt in the heat?
Would you be up for cousins camp?**

Girl's Weekend

The festive balloon Lori got for my mom's birthday.

Adam took this group shot of us before we left his house on Thursday evening. We made my mom wear the birthday crown...how often do you turn 60?


We finally arrived in Park City and unloaded all of our gear (which was a lot) to our 3rd floor condo (we felt the burn) and sat down to eat dinner at 8:45pm. We had toasted ciabatta bread with Michelle's tasty chicken salad on it. We lingered around the dinner table and stuffed ourselves sick (at least I did).


The first gift we gave my mom was a box full of matching nightgowns for all of us. We finally got in them around 11:00 (what in the world were we doing in our regular clothes for so long?) and attempted to take a self-portrait. This proved much harder than we thought (mainly because of my girth) so by the time we finally got to this one we were laughing to the point of making weird faces (me especially). Poor Amy and Robyn were doing squats to try to fit in the photo. It was quite the production, but hey we documented the nightgowns.


We brought a ton of chick flicks (we had even more than this) and several games, but only ended up playing Speed until 1:30am that night. Amy and I were the big winners that night (woohoo), and we played until mom and Robyn felt like their eyes were going blurry on them.


We finally retired to our beds for the night, this cot was home for me and was surprisingly nonsqueaky and comfortable. I slept in the same room as my mom and Robyn (they shared the queen-sized bed), Lori slept on the pull-out couch in the living room, and Amy slept on an air mattress on the floor of the living room. Not too shabby for a 1 bedroom condo and 5 people.


In the morning, I woke up to an empty bedroom because my mom and Robyn had snuck out to go running. I opened the sliding glass door in the room to take advantage of the mountain breeze and got in their bed to read. Lori brought me a smoothie to enjoy while I read in bed, so I got a peaceful morning of reading for an hour and a half...it was glorious!


I was the last one (by choice) to get a turn in the shower, so when I finished getting ready they were all fresh and fancy and waiting for me. It was nice not to have a schedule and to not feel rushed. We didn't end up leaving the condo until almost 1:00pm.


We went to lunch at Redrock Junction and then to the outlet mall for some shopping. I'm not much of a shopper, so I ended up spending most of the time waiting for them outside each store. It wasn't bad really because the weather was perfect and there was a nice breeze for me. After several hours Lori, Amy and I went to the movies to see "Get Smart" while my mom and Robyn kept shopping.


After all of this we were ready for a nice dinner so we headed to Main Street to find a restaurant my dad had recommended. It was Friday night and there was a Food/Jazz fest going on in the middle of the street. It was rather festive and the Jazz music wasn't too bad though I would have preferred an acoustic guitar fest instead.


We finally ended up an Italian restaurant (after hiking up the street for quite awhile) and thought we were in for a great night, but our waiter seemed to be "high" and he didn't put in our order, so we ended up sitting there for an HOUR before he came to tell us they were out of swordfish (which Amy and my mom had ordered). We couldn't believe he'd left us sitting there for so long and our food wasn't even being prepared! It got a little tense at the table, but we ended up with pasta for dinner (which was good) but he only gave us 10% off our ticket and a birthday dessert for my mom. Not good.

We got back to the condo late and ended up watching "The Holiday" before going to bed. We were too tired to play games and too full to eat any of the tasty treats we'd brought with us...bummer.

We had to check out by noon on Saturday morning but Lori managed to squeeze in a pedicure for my mom, complete with a relaxing leg massage. (The photo is blurry, but necessary.)


After packing up all our gear and loading it into the cars we headed for lunch on Main Street. We sat out on the patio and had a gorgeous view of the mountains. (I had to take this picture of my mom and Amy with their matching sunglasses.)


After lunch we rode the ski lift up, up, up the mountain. This is one of my favorite things to do, but I've never done it in Park City (I've only been to Sundance). It was a tad too warm and we all ended up getting a bit sun-kissed, but it was a relaxing and beautiful ride.

Lori and I were in a gondola behind the others.

We finished just in time to say farewell to Park City and head back down the mountain to Adam and Amy's house for a family party.

Adam made this cute cake for my mom, complete with personalized wording mixed into the design.


I love it when we're all together and the kids are all over the place and there are 20 conversations going on and lots of good food. It makes for a great party.


Our final gift to my mom was a huge frame with this great time-capsule collage made by Amy. I had picked out the photos for it and Amy arranged them. We were trying for a personalized gift that recognized my mom's 60 years of life, it turned out great!

**Have you been to Park City, Utah?
Do you like to ride ski lifts in the summer?
Can you believe our waiter?
Do you think this would be a good birthday?**