Just Plain Nice

Remember how the kids and I flew home from Illinois on a Wednesday night then I had to unpack, do laundry and repack before going to Park City 15 hours later? Well, during my brief time at home, Michelle came over to share some thoughtfulness and help me regroup before I left again.


She brought Cafe Rio lunch for us AND Wendy's lunch for the kids!


She brought (and had made specifically) 2 loaves of her marvelous bread so that I'd have something to take with me to go with the dinner I was in charge of making while in Park City.


She also took the kids home with her for the rest of the afternoon until Randy was finished with work AND kept them all day Friday. This can be challenging with Whitney because she's not always super happy to play with Eva, and I really hate the thought of her complicating Michelle's day.


It was such a thoughtful and quick visit, but just what I needed before heading out again. We haven't had a Creative Friday since May 23rd! Say it isn't so! No wonder I haven't been sleeping well and am out of sorts, why didn't I think of this reason sooner?

**Can you believe her thoughtfulness?
Have you missed Creative Friday?
Anything Just Plain Nice in your world?**

A Summer Equation

What does 3 + 4 - 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 equal?

A really fun day!

3 Landon, Whitney and I
+ 4 My mom, Austin, Olivia & Ashley
-1 Then my mom left
+2 Then Madison and Taylor arrived
+1 Then Jared arrived to get some work done
+1 Then Baylor arrived to join the fun


Remember how good it feels to bake in the sun
after playing in icy cold water?

I didn't think to take a self-portrait of my mom and I (what the?)
so this is the only picture I have of her from today.

Quick, make like a flamingo in muddy water!

A rare moment of mixed company.

The girls got their daily intake of cheese.

The boys did stunts and had noodle wars.


Austin's stunt was a front flip into the pool.


This was definitely a Popsicle kind of day.

Jared did some two-fingered typing inside.

I kicked back with a magazine.


Oh, how I love these trees!

**Are you having days like this one?
Do you have good shade in your yard?
When was the last time you tried a stunt into a pool?
Have you had any Popsicles yet this summer?

Sunday Thoughts

I love this talk from President Uchtdorf from the November 2008 Conference Issue of The Ensign and especially like this story from it.

"Some years ago in our meetinghouse in Darmstadt, Germany, a group of brethren was asked to move a grand piano from the chapel to the adjoining cultural hall, where it was needed for a musical event. None were professional movers, and the task of getting that gravity-friendly instrument through the chapel and into the cultural hall seemed nearly impossible. Everybody knew that this task required not only physical strength but also careful coordination. There were plenty of ideas, but not one could keep the piano balanced correctly. They repositioned the brethren by strength, height, and age over and over again—nothing worked.

As they stood around the piano, uncertain of what to do next, a good friend of mine, Brother Hanno Luschin, spoke up. He said, “Brethren, stand close together and lift where you stand.”

It seemed too simple. Nevertheless, each lifted where he stood, and the piano rose from the ground and moved into the cultural hall as if on its own power. That was the answer to the challenge. They merely needed to stand close together and lift where they stood."

I really like the image of all these men working together to make a really hard task easy. I love that service is such a priority for us in our church, and I feel like I am learning that lesson over and over again as I see service in action.

Randy helped lay sod, along with 14 other men, in someone's yard yesterday and they finished the job in one hour! I have helped clean houses for people who are moving or ill. Seen a bounty of dishes be washed in no time after a ward dinner because of so many helpful hands in action. Every Sunday after primary the kids help fold up the chairs, so we're done just a few minutes' time.

I don't think life has to be as hard as we make it sometimes. We could all benefit from asking for help when we need it AND looking out for opportunities to help others so we can lighten their load.

**Thoughts??**

Sun Soaked

On Wednesday, the kids and I picked Lucas and Eva up for a day at the pool. Michelle had come home from girl's camp for the day to celebrate Max's 14th (wow!) birthday with a party of friends and had asked me to help out with Eva. It was a bonus for us that Lucas wanted to come because that made it way more fun for Landon and Whitney (we thought he might want to stay for the party).


We took several self-portraits in the car, but this was the best one. It's tricky with 5 people, especially when 4 of them are kids.


Before going to the pool we stopped off at Smart Cookie to use the free cookie coupons we had gotten from the walk-a-thon at school. They were going to expire on the 30th and we had 4 of them so this worked out well. Surprisingly (or maybe not) Eva did NOT want a cookie. She said she'd already had lunch and that she didn't feel like having a cookie (what the?).


She seemed to have forgotten all about being full from lunch (which I don't think she'd actually had) not long after we got to the pool. We had only packed a stack of Oreos, a partial bag of chips and a box of crackers (what were we thinking?!) but she was very happy with those.


I hardly saw the bigger kids except for a couple towel breaks when we were all kicked out of the pool so they could test the chlorine levels (and encourage people to go to the bathroom).

Landon and Lucas are always great together.

During the 2:00 break the bigger kids went to get snow cones for all of us, so Eva and I were hanging out at our little towel camp.


She borrowed Whitney's sun glasses, but had a hard time managing them since they were too big. It was fun seeing her in this darling bathing suit that used to be Whitney's!


This photo of Whitney from summer 2003 just hurts my heart. Could she be any cuter? She wasn't even 3 yet when she wore this suit, and Eva is already 4!


The kids returned with our snow cones 35 minutes after getting in line! I don't know if there was only one person working or what, but that was some serious dedication and commitment.

I just like this photo.

Eva and I spent about 4 hours (except for maybe 20 minutes in the Lazy River) in the kiddie pool. She was super cautious in the beginning and not keen on people splashing (ha), but gradually warmed up to things and had fun.

I saw multiple friends from church there (and just tried not to think about the horror of them seeing me in my swim get-up) and ran into blogging friend Jenny and got to talk to her for awhile.

It was a very quiet (as in no talking) car ride home since we were all exhausted from being at the pool for 5 hours. Eva fell asleep right away, which was good because she had been campaigning to go play at our house and I feared she wouldn't handle hearing "no" for an answer very well. Instead it all worked out great.

**Do you have to psych yourself up to
wear your bathing suit in public?
Would you stand in line for 35 minutes for a snow cone?
Does seeing photos from when your
kids were tiny hurt your heart?**

Double Celebration

Our Girl's Weekend in Park City ended with a visit to Eagle Mountain so we could celebrate Father's Day and my mom's 61st birthday all together.


I love it that it worked out that only the guys were in this photo (usually we have such a swarm of people around the island when it's time to eat). We had steak, chicken, 7 layer dip, spinach salad and roasted potatoes for lunch. (The croissants were left over from Park City.)


I absolutely adore the screen-in porch at my parents' house. Lori actually thought it was too cold to eat out there...what the? She and I are similar in so many ways, but the disparity in our body temperatures is truly heinous.


Adam was in excellent form, as usual, and had us all laughing hysterically throughout our meal. I don't know how he does this so consistently. He never runs out of great stories and is totally comfortable having all eyes on him. He's got great story-telling skills, hilarious word play and just the right amount exaggeration to push the stories over the edge.


He's the only person I know who can make our dad laugh like this! That's quite a talent!


It was nice to have everyone together and laughing, especially after our Group Think Weekend in Park City.


Andrew came in multiple times for drive-by hugs. He also flashed most of the group (luckily my back was to him) after getting out of the tub in my parents' room. I'm convinced he's selectively retarded and does this to be funny. It's quite scandalous!


My mom had to share her birthday with Father's Day this year (pesky June 21st), but hopefully had a good day.

**Do you ever have to share your birthday with a holiday?
Do you have a hilarious family member?
Are you a good story teller?
Are you comfortable with all eyes on you?
Ever been flashed by your brother?**

Return of the Popsicle Sticks

Now that we're home from our trips, this week feels like our first real week of summer. I really want us to have good habits, yet it's nice when summer vacation feels different from the routines of the school year. I'm actually the one having the most problems because I've been sleeping so poorly. I'm in a bad cycle of being up at odd hours during the night and then sleeping in late in the morning...not good. I bought some Tryptophan tablets thanks to Adam's recommendation and was actually able to sleep for 6 hours in a row last night, woohoo!

{Notice Whitney's inside out and backwards shirt.}

But I digress, one of the things I want to work on in the summer is teaching the kids some life skills (remember this post from last summer?) along with having them do some work each day. Last summer I initiated the Popsicle-stick job bag which involved them pulling a Popsicle stick with a job written on it out of a bag. It worked well and was fun too, so we're doing it again this summer, but I added about 25 more jobs to the bag.


Some are super easy, some are fun, and some are a bit hard, but overall they are helping the kids learn to clean and help run the house.


Whitney's job on Monday was to make dinner. She was totally excited about this and chose to make spaghetti. I was in the kitchen with her the whole time, but had her do everything. She browned the meat, boiled the water, preheated the oven for the rolls, set the table, and so on.

Clearly, she's satisfied with her work!

Landon's "job" today was to write a letter to one of his cousins. He was happy doing this, but wouldn't have been had I just suggested it for something to do. I hope the kids catch the vision of some of these activities along the way.


Whitney and I made a reading chart for her to record and rate the books she reads. I really want her to gain a love for reading. She loves books, but is so visually-oriented that she prefers the books with pictures of animals, dinosaurs and such.


Another one of Landon's "jobs" this week was to list 20 things he's thankful for. I was impressed by how quickly he was able to do it and by the wonderful things he listed. He did this completely on his own. (I have no idea what made him think to write that last one.)

**Any job suggestions?
Do you have goals for the summer?
How did you gain your life skills?
What do you wish you knew how to do?**

Group Think Weekend

Last weekend (18th-21st) was our 2nd annual Girl's Weekend in
Park City to celebrate my mom's birthday.

We were well prepared and had tons of food.
It felt like we moved in for real.


Gotta love the snacks.

Amy taking a picture of the rainbow outside our balcony.

We brought loads of movies, and ended up watching
What Happens In Vegas, What About Bob and Ghost Town.

I love random shots like this because
they capture such a feel for the purpose of the trip.
Cameras, chick-flicks, games, books, a journal and a water bottle.

I sat on the balcony to put on my make-up.
I was loving the cool, mountain breeze.
(My companions did NOT. They're coldies.
It felt like a serious compatibility issue to me.)

Girlie stuff went on.

This is the view of my loft night stand.
I had my books, my headlight (of course),
a water bottle, and a pile of good mail to read.

It's a good thing we didn't have altitude
issues or hiking Main Street would
have been a challenge.

I love the look of Main Street in Park City.

Of course I had to send post cards.

We browsed the book store and found
a seat as well. It was amusing.


Amy took this picture of me checking
out the stationery in the book store.
Will I ever get sick of looking at stationery?

We had a tasty lunch, though the Sweet Potato fries were limp.


I did not order Sweet Potato fries.

Oh how we love, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

There was some shopping going on.

I'm just not a shopper, so I love it
when there are chairs in the store.
This store even had magazines to read.

Our Main Street self-portrait.

Our post movie photo, nice poster right?
We all liked the movie a lot, though Robyn
was having heat stroke during it.
(I was glad it wasn't me for a change.)

We played cards for awhile, but abandoned
them after realizing we weren't having fun.

The early risers had plenty of time for
reading, while the normal risers got ready.

Figuring out where we're going to eat.

This is what it looks like when the
rest of the group orders the salad bar for lunch.

(Funny tidbit, the same people seated diagonally
from us at Ruby Tuesdays were seated next
to us that night at Fuego...what are the odds?)

Misty mountain goodness.

Visit #2--I bought treats for Randy and the
kids along with an English Toffee for me.

My feelings about group think.

Can you say downpour?


Who doesn't love Italian food?

It's not everyday one gets to wear
a birthday crown during breakfast.

We had some group-think issues that put a damper on the overall mood of the weekend. I'm not sure why this happened, but it did. I'm now wondering if it was hard for us to relax and enjoy, because we all had our own ideas about what that meant. Everyone tried to be easygoing, but somehow it didn't feel like anyone was.

**Thoughts??**