Art Weekend

Over the past few weeks I have slowly achieved some small organizing feats within my house. It has been so long since I have gone through my kids rooms & playroom and it.was.time. One of the changes I made was I moved all the art/drawing supplies from the playroom into the kitchen area where we do homework. There were too many times we needed scissors, glue sticks or markers to keep running back and forth. Aside from convenience, a new perk is that my kids now draw pictures all the time. And I mean all the time. Also, new problem: I must find contained areas for display. Case in point, Luke has been using his door. This was too funny to not share. Do you like that hot pink school flyer he added?

Speaking of creativity, I had a sweet chance to escape to Salt Lake for the weekend and take some cool art classes. Scott willingly let me go and took care of everyone for the weekend. It was SO nice and fun and very informational. My main goal was to figure out how to do home screen printing (so I could decide whether or not to invest in the Yudu) and it was all worth it. Andy, our teacher, was extremely knowledgeable and thorough. The class was exactly what I needed. I'm so excited to try it out! I also took two additional classes- one on Scherenschnitte ('Sharon-shnita' so says my teach) which is paper cutting and it was fab... check out my teachers site here (I have some more examples of what this is in my art blog-amazing!) and another class on how to make complex patterns in Illustrator. Those were also each really great and fun. I came home with my own paper cutting and am playing with patterns already (note my chevron bird below). Tweet!
Aside from a good creative dipping, I also got to enjoy my family again and the beautiful season, even if it was only for a slice o' time. The weather was so temperate and the surroundings were very November. I stayed with Rich & Randi one night, we checked out Marty & Jess' new place a couple of times and I even got my hair cut. The trip was short but trés sweet. Thanks everyone for feeding me, putting me up and giving me rides.
Now I've got to get crackin' on some projects because GND is coming up!

Halloween Party

Here is a sneak peak of the Dark Circus Bash we had last Friday night. I think this was the first party in years where I didn't have a ton of last minute stuff to do (or care enough to do it) so the day was a good one as we got all ready. I made these spooky flag banners earlier in the month and my treat contribution was cotton candy. I will say, it was some freaky looking stuff because I could NOT make it look good. That takes some special talent to swirl the paper stick in the bin and come up with a beautiful swaff of orange cloud... mine were like wadded Trump comb-overs. Spooky! Scary! Weird! Jess made some delicious pumpkin muffins with tasty cream cheese frosting- I wish I'd taken pictures of them because they were really good. There were some great soups (new this year thanks to a friends idea), "interesting" and funny videos and fantastic company. Our party is only as successful as the attendees effort and what an effort everyone made. We are so grateful for such clever and fun friends! Thank you for your participation, excitement and attendance. It means a lot to us. Hope you all had a great Halloween!

PS-More pics on the party blog for those of you who want more

Halloween!

Hooray for Halloween! It is so fun. The costumes, the pumpkins (I just realized I didn't take any pics of the night we did that-probably because I was the gloop scooper), the music, the movies, the anticipation... the kids are really getting into it which makes holidays the best ever. We had a kids party planned that afternoon and I have to say, I was getting partied out. After that full week of parties (school and otherwise), I didn't have the motivation to do one more thing...like the cupcakes I was in charge of and didn't do. Luckily the friend I planned it with felt the same so we ended up doing a couple of chill games with the kids and just hung out. Then it was off with Jess to the grocery store to make chili and cornbread and get ready to trick-or-treat!
We could not have asked for a better, more temperate evening. It was a perfect 75 or so degrees out and calm. We set out around the neighborhood with Scotts parents and caught the Lords doing their rounds as well so all of us tromped around together. The kids looked so cute in all their costumes running through the orange lit sidewalks in the night... I loved it! Kids make this stuff better than anything else.
We got home, gorged on some candy, sent the kids to bed and the four of us stayed up to watch Mission Impossible 3 on TV. Nice. Hope you all had a great Halloween!
*Could my nephew Graham be any more cute!?!

The Last Week

The busy final week of October. Let's see if I can remember all the shizzle that went down...
I was responsible for a project for the twins Kindergarten class on Thursday and finally committed to making a hinged skeleton the kids could cut out and assemble. It turned out awesome!...for 2nd graders. It was more advanced than they could do (oops) but there were plenty of other activities so luckily my failure wasn't too obvious. I was in their class all morning helping out and it was fun to work with the kids, but man- I was wiped out at the end of that day. I don't know how their teacher does it! This year the school did not do the trunk or treat like last year and instead had a Halloween parade outside (not as cool but whatevs). As usual, the PE God Mr. Shenkberger was the master of fun and lead everyone in Monster Mash dances outside. Look at the dude- what kid wouldn't love that PE teacher? Then it was back inside and this time I went to Elliets class for her class party. I was in charge of cupcakes and have wanted to make those Martha monster cupcakes forever so I used this as a reason to finally do it. Scott helped me do these the night before... I didn't know he was so creative with marshmallows. The kids had a really fun last day of school (Friday off for Nevada Day) so it was a good set up for the weekend ahead.
Marty & Jess decided to come visit us last minute and we were so excited to have them come. They arrived late Thursday night and stayed through Monday. We hung out doing little preparations here and there for the party that night (more on that later) and Jess and I even got in a work out up at Red Rock. The weather warmed up beautifully in time for the weekend and was perfect for Trick or Treating (since I want to keep this post short I'll do those pics next). A good Thursday (and whew, it was done).
PS- If your kids are bored and/or want to give them a busy anatomy activity, email me and I'll send you the pdf for Mr. Bones here. :)

Neglected No More

Sorry the posting has been sparse. Been busy as all get out and having lots of fun on the side. Here is a very brief and probably boring update of some of the goings on:
Halloween is afoot! The kids have class parties on Thursday which I'm helping with, our Halloween party is on Friday - still have to finish costumes, make award ribbons and our video for that, a little party for the kids on Saturday and then Trick-or-Treating festivities that night. It's going to be a helluvaweek at sea, sir....
Finally finished my book and hosted book club, checked out our friends band down at House of Blues, joined some girlfriends on an impulsive attendance to Justin Timberlake (oh he's just as yummy in person, me thinks), caught the Leadville 100 screening (fascinating), and went to U2 last weekend. This I will expand on a little bit (see below).
Scott and I also got mountian bikes and have gone out half a dozon times in the past two weeks. It's been fun to go through the learning curve together. It's definitely different than road biking and a challenge- but I've been bored with my fitness lately and am enjoying the change. Even if it is kicking my rear (for reals, yo). I've decided it's like an abusive boyfriend: I'm bruised and I curse and yet... (cue romantic fan blowing on my bike) I fall in love deeper each time and can't stop myself...when can I go again?
Here's a snap of JT singing to me. "It feels like sumtin's heatin' up- Can I be wich yoo?" LAY-DEHZ

So here is my small sum up of U2. Scott got tix and I didn't know until a couple of week before. I wasn't really that stoked to go (he knew this already so don't feel bad) but hey, he wanted to go so "I will follow". I dig old U2 but haven't gotten much into newer U2, and these mega-thon concerts are kinda annoying. But I also know that of all mega-concerts, U2 does go all out on production and knew it wouldn't disappoint. And I was right! Here is what the stage set up looked like before the show. I swear half the time they performed I had so many engineering questions and design curiosities enter my head. I want someone to do a backstage/behind the scenes show on that. I bet it would be wickedawesome. That black half-cone shape thing above the stage was a TV screen compiled of hexagon panels that stretched down into a funnel during the show (the next pic).

The colors and design were so so so impressive. I loved watching what changed with each song. And they did sound great and put on a good show because, hey, that's what they do so it's expected. It was a perfect 70 degree calm night for an outdoor show. Thanks, Scotty-man for taking me on a fun date!

Grande Greed

I want all this dinnerware by Paola Navone.
I love the delicate beading on the edges of some of the pieces. It's actually not as expensive as I thought it would be, but that means nothing ... saying that is like isolating a pillowcase from the bed set you want... and I want the whole bed. You can understand, I'm sure. These are fab.

RICHSKEY

Happy Birthday to mine broder Richard-Ricarldo-Manto-Bahn.
Rich! You are like a fine wine- aged well, full of flavor and... smell good from a glass?
I LERV YOU ever so much. How could I survive without my mirror sibling? You are creative and fun and full of life. I'm proud of you and love you to bits. I hope you have a 'heppy' day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GROUND!

Get Ready...

I have Halloween on the brain. Not only is my office littered with projects to do, I am reading a spooky book for book club next week (has anyone read this?! Holy Holmes, eh?). This time of year is so fun, even if I am over ambitious and underachieving. Soon I should have fruits of my labor posted so you can see what I've been up to but until then- I MUST share the glee of this years display at Rogers Gardens. It's in Newport and it was the one place I wanted to stop while we were there for Disneyland. Yes, yes - I realize that, as a courtesy to you, I put a collage of family photos together of our trip so as not to bore you with tons of pictures. But this is Halloween. It is so very serious. And obviously more important that family memories because I am sharing these images with you one by one. :) Skip now if you don't like the holiday. Read on if you can appreciate it. Tally Ho!
Rogers Gardens is an extravagant and beautiful nursery and outdoor store with a few small enclosed buildings that contain housewares, yard decorations, etc. At Halloween they transform one of these rooms entirely and it NEVER disappoints. They really 'get' it and have some great effects and ideas that I keep tucked away. So here is your little tour of the place:

In the back corner of the store was this old wheelchair. How creepy is that thing-just sitting there? Uh---Changeling?? And nearby was an old stuffed chair and lamp, little side table with oddities, empty and bare, facing the dark back wall shelved high and full of old televisions turned on displaying static. Um, yeah. Again-uber creepy. Uh...Poltergeist?
This was from the potion/lab area. I thought the skeleton chandeliers were cool.
After making Halloween award ribbons last year, I have noted any others I come across. I may try my attempt (and probably fail miserably) at some of this ribbon folding nonsense...
Last year at the store they had elaborate dining tables set up with black dishware and the tables were covered in all these great, black ceramic busts. This year they were up on a shelf, all mummied up. If you don't have busts, just give Benadryl to the kids and use them.
Some cool paper mache styles and face ideas...
I was very impressed with this part. A table with a make shift laboratory, complete with electricity buzz and friction sound effects, slow blinking strobe lights, and hoses that came down from the ceiling into the water tubes/vials making things bubble.

Thought this was a cool hat. And Patch girls, note that this would be a cool way to use the skull masks?
There were piles of glittery stuff everywhere but I liked these little coffins the most. Small, glass glittered skeletons were rested on moss in little white paper boxes. And WAY overpriced. So I'm funna make me one.
Old dolls painted gray. I mean, ALL gray. Hair, clothes, eyes, everything. Very very eerie. Last year they had an old black victorian stroller near these dolls that was motorized to rock forward and back invisibly. Dude- it was spooky, folks.
And lastly, cards running along wire arches to look as though they are flying invisibly. Cool effect. Last year they did this with books a lá the "Ghostbusters" famous library scene.

The Latest

So yeah, been a bit since an update. But I'm full of love for you, my readers... because I am keeping it simple and sweet. Updates here for family and condensed photos so you non-family peeps don't have to gag at it all. :) (And because I am a wee bit blog lazy.)

Last weekend we went with our little family to Disneyland, or favorite October trip. It is always the best time. The weather is perfect, it's much more empty and DUH- it's HALLOWEEN. We did something different this time and spread the visit to two days. I have to say, as nice as it was to try out some new stuff, that's probably all I can do. I enjoy Dland as much as the next guy, but I got a little maxed out on Mickey. How do people go for a week? Enlighten me on whether or not I must stay open minded to this.
A few deets to mention that made this trip unique:
-Scott was our park planner and lined up some new things to try. We did the drawing workshop in CA Adventure and drew Winnie the Pooh. All the kids did great!
-The new Toy Story ride is super fun (and Scott and I slipped in CA Screamin' again!)
-We finally got to ride the much acclaimed Soarin over CA. It's as good as people say (and way better when you go first and have no wait)
-We rode a few more mature rides again.... the kids are getting braver but Space Mountain's new Halloween fright theme was a bit too much. But Splash Mountain? I think the girls faces in the bottom left image says it all.
The kids are so fun to hang out with. We had a good time and am so proud of how they tromp all over two days in a row and handle it fine.

On to other minor things, the kids were drawing and taping little Halloween deco's throughout the house so I finally put up some black paper to contain everything in one place. Since taking this picture, a few have been removed yet again and found their ways on bedroom doors and walls... oh well.


















And Luke's soccer team took pics again this year and I so thriftly snapped a few behind the photographer (check out his arm... I'm so good, right?). Luke loves playing soccer and scoring goals for the opposite team. Go Lucas!

I'm An ADULT!

Oh man, this is one of the best Andy Sandberg shorts yet. If you missed this on SNL when (the delicious) Ryan Reynolds was hosting, you must check it out. (er.... rated PG-13 for language. I mean, it is still Sandberg...)

Scott and I have been giggling for days and quoting some of our favorite moments:
"My Dad's not a PHONE!".
And our most favorite...
"HappyBirthdaytodaGROUND!"
Ahhh, so funny. As a result, we now end half of our sentences with that. "Eat your green beans todaGRAOUND..."
Good stuff.

Professah?

Now THESE are clever.

I think I will make some for homework time.
Because, you know, it's so serious.

Spooky Spooks

October is here and the kids have been antsy to get the decorations up. As much as I love this holiday, and as much as I love to find cool holiday stuff, I realized last year I am hitting my storage capacity limit. Yes. It's so sad for me, too. So, even with my commendable discipline in not purchasing more this year, I still have much to face for the process. I wasn't that motivated last week to attack it but now I'm glad we did it so early. It's done and we can enjoy the month. Scott says it looks like Halloween throws up in our house.
And he's probably right (probably).
I remember as a kid how much I enjoyed this so it's fun to see my kids get into it.

Last night I had a couple of friends over to make a Halloween banner (pictured at the end. I have more pics/instructions in Academe if you are interested). We talked about getting together for something like this for a while, so it was good to begin doing what I keep talking about. I feel lucky to know great friends and especially friends who will do silly stuff like this with me. As we sat there with glitter all over, we kept coming up with more ideas of things to make. Interested in joining our 'Make-Dates'? Let me know-anyone is welcome. We're gonna make some groovy stuff!
Jennie posted about how this month she is going to start a lot of the 'doing' in her ambitions and I need to commit to that myself. So here's to a month of fun and accomplishing. Let's see if I can prove it to myself with results.
In the meantime, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mini MacGyver

Cool little recycled bikes on CB2.
I don't care how bored you may be at the office using paper clips. This is good.

October

Happy first day of month #10!
Temps are cooling down (though I loved summer) and I am glad to be back into jeans again. Here we go- diving into the seasons once more. This is when it all rolls fast until January. I'm looking forward to some fun stuff this month with family and friends. Hope you are excited, too!

Happy UnBirthdays

It's Party Hat time around here. "Happy UnBirthdays" because I am very LATE in posting celebrations to some of my fams. But still haven't forgotten! Obviously my posting frequency has dropped recently and as a result I missed wishing a very Happy Bday to my Dad, Jessica, Randi and Julia. So here it is! Overdue, but here in bright lights for all to see.
I love you all so much and hope you had dandy Birthdays. Happy Happy!

Lotoja 2009

Here we go! Another fun year at the LoToJa race. Scott and some friends (plus my bro-de-bro, Rich) did the relay last year and enjoyed it so much they did it again. Our friend Boyd decided to skip it this time and ride the entire thing again this year (read 'crazy') so Josh took his place. Merideth and baby Ronan came along so it was fun to get to know them better and hang out.
This year Scott designed & made team kits officially declaring them the Space Invaders.
The weather was great, the food was great, and the company was the best! Such great people and some good laughs as always.
I figure now that it's been over a week ago, I'd better get my act on it and post these pics. There will be quite a few, so consider yourself warned.

We decided to try some different things out this year so we made the pre-race dinner reservation early at a new restaurant called Elements. It was tasty yums.



After dinner, it's hotel-party-prep-time. Two of our rooms were joined so we spread out across them both and prepared for the big day. I don't know why but I always like this part of the weekend. Commotion in the parking lot because practically everyone there is doing the same thing. The conversations always end up revealing new things... for some, like how Rich & I are brother/sister (which explained my slapping his butt all the time) or, I learned this year that Shep has a thing for assembling miniature doll house furniture. Who knew! ;)

The next morning we got up early to pack up and send Josh off. Even little Ronan was excited.

Here we are at the first feed zone. Here is Rich, ready to go take the second leg to grandma's house. I downloaded a cool app to track his placement on the route. It was awesome!... when it was working. Maybe next year they'll have the bugs worked out on that, but I was still proud when I watched his little green dot move speedily along the map....

He and Randi were like, mackin' all the time it was like, get a room already....
(so cute)

And thanks to Rich, he suggested we get some Space Invaders stickers for the cars, so I had those whipped up right before we left. Maybe one year some fat sponser will give us each G wagons so we can all look as cool as Josh & Mer.... :) No? Spaceships then!

Here is Shepton waiting to go. Take a good look at his tan now because this boy can ride feee-ast.

Shep & Tracy as we caravan to the end (I thought he would appreciate this picture because it looks like the heavens are opening above his bike). It was getting hot later in the day- I kept trying to look for places to pull over in the shade but found none. ltph.

Here is spaceman Danny cruising along all speedy-like.

Some last team-cheer stops before the end.

Here's my man. He had the last leg and said he felt great. Aww... good job, sweets!

After the long day of riding, there is nothing better than recounting the stories of the day over dinner. So again- we made a reservation at a place that has been recommended to us for a while called Calico. Yummers!

Sunday we all met for breakfast and said good bye to Danny/Heidi & Boyd/Michelle. We went into Jackson and hung out for a while before Josh & Mer left. Away the Space Invaders went. Those that could extend the fun a little longer joined us and we headed to a huge town in Wyoming called Boulder (population 71) where Scott's parent's have a home. Yeehaw! Git yer hats on, the party's not over yet.
Here is the team (plus the Ericksons):
Josh/Mer, Tracy/Shep, Randi/Rich, Scott/Me, Michelle/Boyd, Danny/Heidi

On the way to Waaaaaahhh-omin. People are almost crazy to live in such isolation, but it is darn beeyootiful. Flip.

While settling into the house, Rich spotted this ginormous Owl cold-kickin' it above the front porch. When he looked at us, it looked like he was staring into your soul. This is nature, folks!

After chilling out and eating something lighter for dinner for a change, we whipped out the long-awaited debut of Beatles Rock Band and gave it a good work out. It was so fun. I think a contributing factor was we were all alone in this house in the middle of nowhere. Meaning... we could BLARE the volume and sing as loud (and as badly) as we wanted. Good times. And private ones. I can't sing too well. Look at my face, there... looks like I'm mad at Ringo or something.

And Scott with his Morrisey hair rocking out with vigor from the lounge recliner.


We were going to stay through Tuesday but too many duties were pulling us all away, so after some morning walks and great talks (oooh rhyming!), the boys went for a quick ride before saying goodbye.

Scott and I spent the night at my parents house before driving home Tuesday. Of course.... we had to whip out Rock band with them. I mean, c'MON. They are the ones who raised me on the stuff. Now my Dad is hooked and wants a Wii (wee!). I'm glad they liked it. And, uh, sorry Mom about you losing your voice. You sounded great, though... :)


We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed each other and some great friends. Thanks to everyone who made the efforts to participate & make it happen!

Jam Yums

During the week before Labor Day, I acquired a large box of peaches from California (Thanks, MJ!).
Oh boy- they were so so so so so good. Some of the best ever. I made a few bad desserts (they were actually really good hand pies and things but bad because I practically ate them all myself) but still had many left that were going to be wasted.
So I decided to can them/bottle them. Something I have never done.
I bought some books, did the research and went to work on the real-deal. No pectin or freezer stuff here, the long-simmering, boiling-the-jars stuff. And it turns out it wasn't so scary. I was afraid to take on this little venture because I thought the things would blow up in my face. I want to watch someone go through the process now that I have done it a couple of times and see if I am really doing it right. Otherwise I'll be gifting beautifully jewel- colored peach botulism in a jar come Christmas. Does anyone else reading this do this often enough? Is it spooky to open something months later and wonder if it will be okay?
But it did get me excited to try doing more things. Too bad the garden didn't produce tons of tomatoes. Some friends of mine have been blogging lately about bottling their family tomato soup recipe and it looks so good.
What to try next? Maybe pickled black widows....

Adventure Badge

The Scout bug has bitten my family and all the men have been collecting them. Not little boys sold on ebay, but old 4x4's from the 60's-70's. Poor Marty is still trying to find his very specific preference so he decided to sell his first one....to us. Apparently Scott loved Marty's first International Scout II. So while in Utah over Labor Day (to pick it up), we went on a "Patch Scout Adventure" (so coined by my Dad) while all the scouts were still in one location. We took a long, bumpy dirt road through the back of the mountains. The only person missing was Jess :(.
We grabbed some sandwiches before heading up the mountain and when I turned around to ask the kids if they were ready, Elliet did this:

Here is the fam parked as we get ready to eat lunch. The weather could not have been better for us that day. Nice cloud cover and perfect cool temps.


We stopped for lunch early in the ride. The veiws throughout the day were really beautiful.

Mom & Marty. I like how Marty looks like he's posing for some Land's End jacket advertisement.
And the trees are starting to change colors!


We stopped and took some family pics (but none with my camera) and this was one of them. I like Luke's arm laying in Elliet's lap as an acceptable form of "scoot close together".

The kids kept wanting to hike around. Here is Luke, tired of waiting, after telling me that he was going to go on a hike and headed off into the road.

A little scout-swappin'. The kids all rode with Papa & Nana for a while. Scott and I enjoyed some solo time which was nice. Sadie's little head looked so cute from behind with her little blond pigtails bouncing up and down.

And the final view before descending out of the mountains.

As always, so fun to be with my family. We had a great time and enjoyed each other muchos. The kids loved it and are chomping at the bit to do some exploring in the scout around here. Great idea, Dad!

The More You Grow

As usual, major catching up to do!
The kids have started school and as nice as it has been to have full days back to myself, I also feel a bit like a fish out of water. I need to do some time restructuring.... I'm so used to being limited with time that I feel I don't know what to start on my list first now that I have more. It keeps filling in with little things and I haven't had much to show for it.
But I do have THIS to show for it. I have needed dig into the garden and rip out old/dead stuff and prepare for the fall. I kept waiting 'for school to start'.
So, the first week in, I reserved a beautiful morning to get my hands dirty. Plopped in my headphones and went to work. I think the success rate of my first attempt to garden was about 50-60%. The rest was bumpkus. The tomatoes, basil, garlic chives and hot peppers (planted by accident) were all great. But the carrots (they were dwarfed, bitter nasties) and butter squash/zucchini which grew beautifully, all green, lush and huge... didn't work. I never got ONE zucchini from them which I think had to do with a lizard or other pests. Who knows. Ether way, out all that crap came. I decided to prune the tomatoes because the ends have blossomed again so I may get another harvest. We'll see. It was just niiiiice to work hard for a good 1 1/2 hours without being interrupted.
Also, I got to use my compost!!!!
Look at that muck- ain't it purdy? I am telling you, composting is so cool. This was a big old mess and it has broken down to rich, earthy smelling deliciousness for the soil. I can't believe the process yeilds something like that. I mixed that in with the current dirt and now it's ready for seeds. Woot. I encourage anyone thinking about taking this on to go for it (The kids get into it, too). I am a fan of doing this in the bins or cans because there hasn't been any bug or pest problem.
Though... I can't say that for the garden. Apparently I can't grow zucchini very well but I was able to grow a huge, healthy, glossy black widow just fine. Look at what I found when I ripped out the plants? Too bad for you I didn't have a hidden camera filming my reaction. It's huge! So shiznasty. Even the leaves were disgusted. And if you think you're not afraid of spiders, then click on the pic to full size and touch it on your monitor. I double-dog dare you. (Fine, but I am man enough to admit that even a picture of the thing is yucky enough)

Lake Mead

We recently went with some friends to Lake Mead for the first time. The first time! In all my days of visiting here and living here, I have never set eyes on the place. We weren't sure about the kids... I knew they would have a good time but I also worried they would be bored after a while. Who was I kidding? We all had so much fun and the kids just LOVED it. Which, as a result, made Scott and I enjoy it even more. We've been doing more with them lately and it's really fun to enter this phase in life where we aren't hauling diaper bags and sippy cups everywhere. They are like three mini pals to hang out with and taking in the world is fun to experience with them.
Riding in the boat (for their first time) was great. Elliet sat on the nose in the front with her face in the wind shouting songs, Sadie just looked around and giggled and Luke, my little thinker, kept expressing worry that we were going too far and we would get lost. He needed the plan! And when we stopped for the first swim (the water was a perfect 85 degrees) they were all a little cautious about this bottomless dark abyss.
After small steps of the new experience, we threw them on the tube and pulled them behind the boat until they rolled off like peas from a plate. I have to say that the laughing I heard while riding with them was one of the best parts of that day. I love them so much. They are hilarious.
This is what families are for.... having fun together! (Yes, a little 'Ladies Home Journal' but let me have cheese every once in a while)
Way fun. We plan to go back soon.

Ticket to Slide

Until I get caught up, I had to at least express glee..."Because" 09-09-09 has finally arrived (I've been waiting a "Long, Long, Long" time) and with that date comes,
THIS!

So "Come Together":
HOORAY HOORAY I can't wait to play!

This Is For Real Serious

So.... right now my kids are in this really funny stage where they are very convicted and serious when they tell me stories about where the ant crawled on the tree or if the princess dress is blue or really blueish-greenish. It's all very serious business. I love it. I love having such intense discussions and have wished there was a way to capture it for them to see one day. Well, I don't think it is easy. A video camera can capture some great things, but catching them candidly is an art in itself. Because when kids see a camera, they don't act like themselves.
But I tried nonetheless. I set up our camera last week and did little interviews. I told them to select three favorite toys that they could discuss during their interview and I asked them a bunch of questions. Some normal ones like current interests and then other silly ones to try and capture some of that goofy behavior. Thought I'd share this in case the idea interested anyone. And if you don't have any kids, film your spouse. I bet you'd get an interesting answer when you ask them how big the clouds are, too. (Asking them to sing a song is also a good one for laughs)

Time For Take Off

It's September 1st today. September!! Time goes by so fast. Of course... it doesn't feel very Septemberish since we've been having super hot days lately (ugh).
The long lazy days of summer are done and we are back into routine which is good in many ways, one of which is I am showering on a regular basis again (whatever- pool water counts).
As a last hurrah the kids wanted to sleep in a fort before school started and being the bad Mom that I am, I let them do it the actual night before the first day of school. Hopefully they didn't have slurred speech while introducing themselves due to fatigue.
I pulled out some old blankets and they seemed to sleep just fine. Elliet was determined to sleep under that desk. I don't know how she did it, but she did.

The first day of school was great fun. Scott had the day off which I loved- it was cool to have him there as we sent the kids off and then hang out together all day. I took the twins to their side and He took Elliet to hers. They were all happy and off they went.
They had a great first day, a great week. They like it, their teachers, the 'cold lunches' I've been making, homework, etc. Whew.
But alas, it's week 2. Let's hope that happy song will last. Here we go!

Winds Of Change

Oh goody gumdrops....
Fall is coming and shelves are getting stacked with spooky stuff.

Hooray for Halloween!

New School

The time has come, people.
The twins started all day Kindergarten and Elliet is in 2nd grade SO! I do not have kids at home during the day anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my kids. But I was not hesitant to send them off to school. Perhaps I should be one of those sweet Mom's who tears up at their growing up to fast or something, but having twins dissolved those feelings long ago. I feel like I've had triplets at home for years (As Elliet is so close to them in age) and I have been looking forward to this season for a looong time. But I did start to wonder during this last week of summer... will I come home to my empty house and actually be sad? I thought I would sing, but maybe the reality of it will hit me differently? As these thoughts were on my brain, I decided to put off getting school supplies/backpacks and smart preps to just keep playing with my clan. We hit the museum, went swimming, played the Wii and made forts.
Well, as usual they are in tow as we ran errands throughout the week...and it was like this:
-We stopped for lunch one day and I would get all sentimental and think... Wow- this won't happen anymore. They'll be eating lunch at school and I'll be all alone. So I then tell the kids these thoughts as they looked at me with mouths full of fries and spilling chocolate milk in the car....I tell them I'll miss them and that school will be fun and we'll have other good times.
Then we go into Target and they are running off in three different directions, hiding in the clothing racks, touching everything, shoving each other... and that's when I can't wait for them to be in school all day.

So here I am. At home in the peace and quiet and the time has filled up so far with lots of catching up things so I haven't had many moments of stillness to be too aware of the vacancy, but those moments come and I get excited to pick them up at 3:11.
Then they are shouting in the car, making messes in the house and interrupting my phone calls.... and life is as it was. Hooray for school! :)

Summer Fading

I am behind on the events of the past two weeks so I'll try to catch up in the next couple of days...

The last week of summer was probably supposed to be more full of preparation than I put into it. I was a little conflicted this year about school beginning again. I love the routine and it was time to get back into the swing of things, but it's also been such a great summer and I am a little hesitant to let it go. As a result, I spent the first week school (i.e. my open time with kids gone all day) catching up on what I put off. More on this to come, though....
Quick posts of a beautiful summer evening storm that blew through here last weekend. It was SO sosososo pretty. Calm temps and a gorgeous sky. I took the kids for a walk to the neighbors house and we decided to stop at the park on the way home where it rained on us a bit. It smelled great and the sky yielded some rainbows.


















Also, wanted to share a lazy treat if you're up for something fattening (aren't we all?). Was grocery shopping in the frozen aisle, saw the box of frozen puff pastry dough and remembered I had a jar of lemon curd from Trader Joe's sitting in my cupboard. See? Easy. Let it thaw, rolled it out, cut into squares, filled with lemon curd, ricotta and some fresh grated nutmeg (um... that was because I don't know what I was doing and it sounded fancy). Folded corners together, pressed closed, brushed with butter and cinnamon sugar and baked. They were geeeoood. Scott gave his official lemony seal of approval. Great desserts. And maybe for breakfast. Ok, and lunch, too. Whatever, just go make some.

Um, Yeah. I Think I Do

Oh dear....
Ohdearohdearohdear.....
Have you heard of this new home screen printer toy by Provo Craft called the Yudu?
I have wanted to screen print again for years but not sure where at home I could spread out the mess....this may be a nicely packaged answer.

I may need this before the next Girl Next Door show.

Lake Powell Pt. 2

While hanging at ThatTharLakePal, we did some exploring.
Jess suggested a little hike to the Wahweap Windows. It was a large pair of big boulders that were naturally hollowed from years of wind and rain erosion. My pictures are a lame representation but hopefully you get an idea and can see the variety of line directions that carved the walls. Lots of carved names from past visitors- the oldest dates I could find were early seventies. A cool place.



This was a cool old restored boat that we passed on our way out from the hike. It had white rib-stitched seats which I loved.

Makin' rockets with the rocket miester, which would be my Dad. Don't suppose you remember this rocket launcher our neighbors had but my Dad was so interested in it he bought one himself and brought the materials for us to have our own night of Space Camp. We sat on the top of the boat cutting and gluing fins and blew those puppies in de skies. Scott was on the ground retrieving for a while so we eventually made a toilet paper target on said 'dir bich'.
NASA, no copying.



My Dad on a rescue mission, which was futile...the little guys just didn't make it if they got wet.



On to WeatherHill Canyon, Ho! Another great day of excursion was one of the best memories I'll have of this trip. We drove the boat down a very beautiful and swervy canyon that narrowed gradually for a couple of miles. These are the things that make these trips so incredible.

This is what the first little bit looked like. Calm, flat, green.

The further in we go, the glassier the water surface gets.


Here is Rich looking majestic (mostly I loved the comparison of the rock right behind him and the height of the canyon above. That, and his pocket square.)

Then spots would open back up again to keep going... keep going.....



More beautiful clean emerald green water.

It is just beautiful to see the white washed rock disappear beneath the edges of the water. We kept asking my Dad, "What is the depth now? How about here?" because it would seriously be 130 feet, 57 feet, 84 feet, etc. SOO deep and yet the walls are right next to us.

Now, one thing I don't have pictures of, but want to remember, is we didn't get much further before the boat would get stuck. And the spirit of adventure was too much to leave unanswered so Scott, Jess and I put on life vests and decided to swim further up and see if it either opened up more or ended. We would swim a about 100 yards and the end would turn, so we'd go. Then another 100 yards would go on to another turn. So we did that, too. I think we did this about 5 or 6 times and, yes- I was wondering if we'd made a mistake when I could hear Marty, Rich and Randi following up behind. Fun! Friends in our foolishness. And soon after Scott announced an ending which didn't amount to much after all that work. We only walked up the sandy path a little while before we turned back. Ugh- and had to swim allthewayback. Us Patches are not great swimmers- Marty, Rich and I took up the rear and were laughing at how pathetic we were. My poor parents and Julia did not think we'd be so long (neither did we!) so I felt bad they had to wait all that time but they were great about it. Really cool day. Love this place.

Lake Powell 2009

We returned a week ago from our Annual family trip at Lake Powell. This is something I look forward to every year as I am really close to my siblings and parents. The trip was just us- no kids- just my brothers, sister + spouses and parents. A total of ten (cuz Rich finally got married- woot!). Soon our kids will be old enough to bring to the boat (parents rules), but until then I am more than happy to just relax with adults and act like children. Nine of my best friends were there and the fun never stopped. I have decided to just slop on a bunch of pictures so be prepared to scroll down a bit. I've also added commentary/journaling which may bore you but hey- pictures alone don't explain much... which in some cases may be a good thing, eh? I've only got half of them contained in this post. More to come soon.
*PS- I tried a different format for this post so hopefully the commentary will line up properly with the pics. Cross your teeth, peeps...

As we took the houseboat out to beach, the clouds kept opening and closing which created great shadows everywhere. It would turn the top of the boat bright white and the water dark green. One of my favorite things to observe in the clouds here is how the sun reflects off the orange/red rocks making the cloud shadows orange, not the normal purple or grey. See that? Do yeh?! Mighty purdy, me says.

We all pitched in with the menu and everything we ate was SO GOOD. A typical dinner prep atmosphere complete with fun music. Embarassing dance moves were had as we are all old and out of practice. Who needs alcohol for good times? Not when you watch me try to do the "reverse running man". I promise.

We had wind the first two days which kinda stinks for boat goofing. But when you have lemons- you make fruit punch! We flew kites and the boys made some sophisticated water games. It's not as easy as it looks, folks... those mats sink pretty fast before you can get to the end.


Our trip is not complete without some Guitar Hero. Oh boy! The best memories this time were:
1) Sweet, innocent Jessica.... who does not know the Beastie Boys very well, had to sing "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" while Julia & I were, like, tearing it up on the gee-tars. Oh man- I haven't laughed that hard in ages after listening to her sing about "money in a stack and classy ho's".
2) And the best was watching these three here... Marty, Rich and Julia go for "Livin' On A Prayer". Rich and Marty* were close, and yet so far, from completing the song. One of them always kept getting boo'd off the stage for missing the notes (in their defence, Juls and I did hand them over still in the "hard" setting) so they would have to re-do the song. By the 3rd or 4th time, we were all yelling the chorus trying to encourage their victory and when it wouldn't happen, we'd all "OHHHHHH!!!" and do it again. There was a peaceful, older couple beached not too far away from where we were. Poor sweet folks probably expected a nice, quiet night on the lake. That full moon was serenaded by us shouting JB Jovi. As Gilly would say, "........sarry."
*Look at how hard he is concentrating in every picture. So funny.


Ah. Some boat fun. It's a serious matter as demonstrated by Scott and Randi here. Go Jess! She was hands free by the end of the week.


Rich is a show off.

So is my Dad.

So I tried it one upsies with my eyes closed to boot!

...and drifted too far back and sunk like a dumb rock. Nice.

Finding little pets is easy on der bich (inside joke- careful saying that one out loud).

Last year Rich had a lizard on his head. He did it again.

We went on some cool hikes on the hills around. It's so fun to go in the warm twilight and look for vampires. I mean, views. Sorry for the fuzzy pics- I'm bad at adult photography (Not that kind..... shame on you!).


At the end of the day it feels darn nice to jump in the lake and wash off the sun block and such. That is, if you don't have a dead body reach up from the depths and grab your ankle! (Whatliesbeneath!) I love memories of this and tried to get a good image of what it's like. Jewel dark green water, warm light and crazy dare dives from the top into the darkness (and dead bodies. Srsly).

OhYesIDid

In the cart it went.


Like, don't judge me.