Happy Birthday Elliet!

Elliet turned six on Saturday. Six! She is getting so old. I should be looking for gray hairs (okay, on me, not her). She is growing up to be quite an interesting and artistic girl. Her imagination is always going and her questions are getting interesting and fun. I love spending time with her and watching her grow. It is special to see her becoming a young girl but sad to see the little girl fade away. She already has her first loose tooth! What next? Teaching her to drive? Wedding colors? Wow. I know, so deep and cheesy when she is only turning six but she's my oldest so you'll have to deal. :-)





We had some fun filled days last week. My friend had a really cool Art Camp that was going on all last week in the morning so I signed up the three kids for that. They made some really cool stuff and learned about all kinds of artists and their techniques. I personally think that she should do the same art camp for adults. I would go and wear my oversized white T any day to make some Mondrian. The kids came home with sculptures and paintings so I'll try to get some photos up once they are returned from the MOMA (Museum of Mysterious Art).





We also swam a lot last week with friends. Summer is all about those hot afternoons in the pool and it's so great. Complete with snow cones, as you well know. Could there be a more perfect treat when it's so hot outside? If I ever have to be stuck in some hot desert starving and dehydrated, this will be my mirage... a sea of snow cones... just waiting.... and maybe a cheeseburger with it. It's even time for me to order some more flavors. Requests anyone?
We tried to have a fun family Birthday party for Elliet and Friday night ended up being the best time to do it so we had everyone over for a BBQ, cake and swimming with cousins. It was a beautiful night and great to see everyone.
Saturday was her actual Birthday so we went to pick out her present: A bike! Her first one ever and she was very excited. What color do you think it is? Do they make girls bikes any other color? Well.... I guess, don't get me started. I think you could make some really cool kids bikes that aren't so bulky and dripping with branding but no one else really cares so why should I? It's a ghastly pink Barbie bike with fringe and a pouch and attachable vanity so you can put on lip gloss while you ride (not really). She was very excited to get it. Problem is, we didn't ride it much on Saturday and couldn't on Sunday and Monday morning we left early and headed for the beach (more on that). So it's waiting anxiously to be used when we return tomorrow. Pretty pink, blurry pics to come! Thank you Mimi/Bobba and cousins for Elliet's fun presents. She loves them (especially the realistic "neighing" horse that she activates every 20 seconds. It's awesome).


PS- Must say, I reluctantly saw Mama Mia this last week.... It did not look good even from the previews but I wanted to join some girl friends and go, so go we did and guess what? It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Did anyone else experience this? Plus- didn't know Colin Firth was in it so that immediately helped. The footage was beautiful and some of the men's fashion was great! Chuck Taylors with bare feet? Fitted swimming suits? Scott may not like my new influence but he'll look summer smart! Plus that shot at the end when they are all standing on the dock in the stars was incredible. Time to travel to Greece!

Fugly Hope

Actual product description:

This ugly bag is guaranteed to cure ugliness. Directions: Open bag and place over head of ugly person with face side facing forward. Instantly creates beauty where there is none.
Note: For extra ugly persons, two bags may be necessary in case one breaks.

Breaking Reality

Oh, yes.
It is pre-ordered.
It will come the day it is released.
It will be a good day.
It will be an annoying day for my husband and children.
It will be a day where beautiful weather will be wasted on me because I may not even remove my eyes from these pages.

What? Go to the midnight pre-party? Are you kidding? I am not THAT crazy..... A wig? glasses? oh please....

Back to Utar

Yes, we were gone another weekend, right on the heels of the 4th. Scott wanted to ride the Sundance Hill Climb with Rich and Shep yesterday so we decided to return to the valley of Zion yet again. I left on Thursday and drove up with the kids and was able to spend some time with my Mom that afternoon and great sis-in-law Jess hung out with us that night. My sister called a friend to babysit on Friday so we took advantage and did our annual Halloween shopping trip. People, this is a big day for us Patch girls. Halloween is a revered holiday and is not to be taken lightly. It may seem early to some, but it is quite necessary to begin season shopping in it's prime... July! Shelves are newly stocked with the first of the goods so it's essential to attack now for the best selection. And attack we did. We went right to Gardner Village and spent a good amount of time stocking up there. When I was with my Mom the day before, we hit the Gate House in Orem and SCORED on some awesome stuff so I had to watch my indulgence on Friday. My garage can only store so much, see... but the temptation is ever so great. After ooing and ahing over it all, we ate at the cafe/bakery eating yummy fresh wheat bread sandwhiches (ooh healthy!) and then capping it off with donuts, cookies and milk (Oooh not!). Then we went to Tai Pan where I picked up some random, semi insignificant yet useful things. Which brings me to a word that I think of every time I unload from trips like this. When I carry all these goods into my house and put them away (or shove them where they will fit), I contemplate the process of "Absorption". Say it with me, now. Because it really is quite an interesting thing. Here, you have a loot, next, you don't. It's sucked into the cabinets and shelves like it never was. Only my statement knows the truth and does not let me forget so easily. Ah well. Happy Halloween anyway. Uh... where was I? Oh yeah... so shopping and then we hung out that night. Scott flew in and came home with Rich, bike in truck ready for the race manyana. I found a babysitter so I decided to do the race with them. Saturday morning we loaded up and drove to Sundance to do the climb. The weather was uber fantastic. It's the first official event I have done (well, I did a leg of Lotoja but never crossed a finish line) and it was fun to just see what it was like. I had the longest time announced among all the others that placed in their categories. But hey, at least I got a medal.... 1st place!.... in women's citizen... which included me and one other girl.... who was 13 years older than me.... so I'm not really fast at all. :-)
After doing family fun all afternoon we went to the Brick Oven for a yummy dinner, put the kids to bed and went to see Batman. It was a great trip and always so fun to be with my family. They are my best friends.
And finally, after unpacking tonight it was time to get my kids in the bath. I haven't used bubble bath in a loooong time and Elliet developed a method to get sudsy beards. It was hysterical to hear them laugh at each other so I had to include it.

Horsey Heaven

So... Do you remember me telling you the story about Elliet and I shopping and her finding a T shirt that was way over priced and very under-fashion but it donned a pegasus horse on it so she had to have it?
And do you also remember me explaining how I thought so cleverly on my feet and presented her with an idea of drawing her own horse that we would then sew on a shirt for her? And do you still remember how I shared with you that these words left my lips with confidence, yet my little brain was aghast at my promise because I have never DONE that??
Well... I am here before you to today to tell you that it can be done! It has been achieved in the Leaver household. Nay, it is a Christmas miracle.
Elliet drew her horse, oh yes, she drew it that very day we returned from the mall. That, um, was weeks ago. I could stall no longer and had to face my fate. She didn't quite grasp the concept because, as you can see, she actually cut out the horse, I think because she thought I was actually going to sew it on the shirt.
We then scanned it in and edited a few details. She wanted me to change the hair and tail, etc. It was cool to see her mind work as I edited to her whim. It also corrupted her because after the shirt was done she was asking me to add this or that. Uh, too late sister.
She was a very patient designer considering I was talking to myself as I tried to go through all the steps. Once scanned, I digitized it into a line art design and added the words "I love horses" per her request, she picked the font and thread colors, we hooped the blue T she chose and I crossed my crazy heart that it would actually work. I nearly put in the shirt sideways.... genius.
But it worked! And thank heaven she loves it. You know how kids are and clothes. She wore it for three days and has a growing list now of other things she wants to do.
Mind you, I am keeping my mouth shut.

Cotton Candy

There are a lot of loose ends in my house that need finishing. It takes me a while to find design that I like and then actually commit to it. I have been looking for some new bedding for Luke's room since I separated the twins and think I have finally found some contenders. I think the train art is so cool, I LOVE the look of the alphabet (and secretly hope it may help his letter identification as he drools on it) and the robots are great. Ugh. More decisions.... :-)

That 70's Shoe

I don't know. Maybe it's weird but I totally dig these shoes. They colors are so crazy and that heel is structured perfectly.
Hm.... what in the world goes with them? A mu mu?

July 4th Week

BE WARNED! There are a tons of photos here.... I think the most I have ever posted.
After Brianhead we went up to Provo to be with my family for the week of the 4th. I grew up on Center Street in Provo so I have a big love for fun and festivity this holiday. The city parade went right in front of my house so we were always up late (usually all night) and playing well into the next day. We don't live there anymore but I still like to share it with the kids so I love going back home for this holiday. It is beautiful there in the summer and the weather was perfect. Great evening breezes and perfect sunny days. It may be a little hot for some, but coming from Las Vegas is a nice change. Besides, summer is about sweating a little anyway so the sno cones taste that much better.
We tried to plan some fun things with the kids to break up some of the long days.
My brother, Marty, married the most awesome girl, Jess. She is so cool and fun and has a great family. Her older sister is my age (same grade in H.S.) and we tried to do some things together since Jess' family was also in town all week.
On Tuesday we met up at Boondocks and introduced the kids to the short sighted "token" consumerism. We rode on water boats and soaked each other, rode in the small race cars, played mini golf, climbed in their huge jungle gym, got in some Air Hockey and then blew all our tokens on lame video games that spat out hoards of tickets which redeemed very small, insignificant prizes. It was great fun. The mini golf was hilarious to watch. The kids adapted more of a sweeping hockey technique which worked horribly. Needless to say the heat did not really help with the frustration and they had a few emotional break downs on the green. Luckily we went inside after that, where shortly after I found Scott and Chris playing a very competitive game of air hockey. I got cocky watching them and challenged Scott to a game which ended really fast... I think he beat me by more than 5 points. Erg!
That night we attended Julia's Thrillionaires performance. VERY funny. She is so talented and I could never do it--- just stand up there and be funny for an hour, making up stories as you go. Talk about anxiety.... but it's no big deal to her as she does this on a daily basis for us, so... it was great! (She's the hot blond, btw- Yeah... try growing up next to that. Not that I have a complex or anything....)
By Friday we had filled most of our week with the park, errands, etc. all in preparation for the big day. Late Thursday night Scott, Richard and I drove down town to the parade route and rode our fixed bikes along the streets overflowing with people saving spots. The energy down there is so fun! There are people EVERYWHERE and it's such a fun summer atmosphere. We cruised over to a family's home that we knew growing up and visited with them for a while. They have a cool tradition on every 3rd of July where they project movies on the side of their house late into the night (well, into the wee hours of the morning). It was fun to catch up with them. We were probably out until 12:30am before we headed home. We didn't get to bed until after 1am.
Then at 4:15 am my alarm went off and I stumbled out of bed (yes, only three hours later) to go pick up my brother and save a spot for the parade. Usually Jess' family gets our spot every year but I felt like we need to have a turn so Marty was my partner in fatigued service and we got down there and snagged a great place. Then back home to wake Scott and the kids and head to the Balloons! Always so big, colorful and fun. We barely made it before they took off but it was fun to walk around the field and watch them go up. The kids love it. Then back home to get ready for the parade. I have to admit that by now I was running on fumes and getting a little light headed from my lack of sleep and nutrition there of...and with some other setbacks we didn't even make it to the parade this year, but every one else went and said our spot was tops so it paid off. Yeay!
Jess' family invited ours to her home for a big BBQ lunch a couple of years ago and it's kind of become a tradition now to spend the afternoon swimming at their house and enjoying each other. They are seriously so fun and this year was no different.
Last year they had one of these little cars laying around and by the end of the afternoon, the boys were placing record times on a lap around the pool on it. There were some serious injuries from the competition! I think Marty rubbed the skin completely off his knees.
So this year they not only had another car (the last one broke), they had TWO! After eating a delicious lunch of way too much food, strawberry shortcakes and sno cones, the races began. First Marty started off the races with an introductory lap complete with a flag sticking out of his hiney. Chris even set up some Chariots of Fire tunage to set the mood. Jess, your family is so fun. Thanks for hosting us every year. It's make the 4th so fun!
By the end of that afternoon we were all so tired so we ditched our plans of driving to PG to watch fireworks (Sorry again, Juls & Cody!) and just went down to the school with Marty and Jess and did some fireworks and sparklers with the kids. All in all, it was a great day!

Brianhead Pre 4th

Still trying to catch up from our trip two weeks ago!
The weekend before we went to Utah we joined our friends up at Brianhead to do some high-altitude (translation:nausea) road bike training. It's been a tradition for the past couple of years and it's always fun to hang out with the other families and enjoy the cooler temperatures.
The weather was beautiful and you can't beat being so close to the clouds. One of the mornings we took the kids on a hike. Other than finding a lone snow patch off the trail and immediately heading for it like moths to a flame, there wasn't much adventure to report. Just happy trees.
Our teams major sponsor (friend and member of our Stake Pres.) was also up there that weekend and invited us all over for a great BBQ on Saturday afternoon. It was so generous of them to give their time to host all of us. The food was great and the place was amazing. They had a new zip line along the back yard which all the kids took turns riding. Out of all my three, Luke was the most excited. He had the biggest grin on his face from beginning to end. Look at how cute he is just anticipating his turn!? And don't miss all the kids smiling as he is shooting down... I think that is such a precious thing to capture when people delight in others happiness.... They all look so cute!
After all the fun we all headed our separate ways for the 4th. We didn't leave until Sunday after church, which, I have to say, they know how to do it up there because you can wear jeans and it was less than an hour long. Yes, the church is true in good old BH.
Next post, our patriotic week of fun!

Summer

I am grateful for friends who think of things to do during the summer. I have not been the initiator when it comes to getting the kids occupied with friends so any new idea is welcome to my lazy plans.
Before we left for our vacation for July 4th, we were invited to join a group at a jumpy house near downtown. It was air conditioned and full of large, soft shapes for my kids to go nuts on. Perfect.
I wish I had some better pictures of the kids. They really are crazy on these things .There are signs around that say you have to put your feet first but I didn't notice those until we almost left. I was too busy watching Luke's creativity as he would stand at the top and survey the descent, contemplate a position and then quickly turn backwards and fly down on his back headfirst. Thats my boy. The one that will be a few fries short of a happy meal later in life....
"Mom, why can't I do simple mathematics or eat with a spoon?"
"Well, son... it was the bouncy slides. I watched you the whole time and never stopped you. I am so sorry. But your foamy helmet is cool and the kids don't make fun of you too badly, right?"
Anyway, good times. Their smiles are addictive. Look at Elliet mooning the whole world with her dress flying up. So funny. They need to have these for adults. Do they? Like, waaay bigger slides and mazes. And we could sign an agreement that we wouldn't tell anyone we are acting so young so we don't have to be ashamed of acting so juvenile. Even wear super hero masks to protect identity! Dude, you know I am on to something....(just no dresses)

And seriously, this is SO not blog worthy but the fact that it is too common in my household has made it so.
I love my husband. He is a very capable person. He knows where I keep the tupperware. He knows where I keep the plastic wrap. He even knows where the trash is. So, when he puts the pasta away the other night... this is what he did. He just stuck that open bowl right in the refrigerator. Does any one else encounter this lapse of judgement in their household? I mean, who would eat that the next day? Because you know what happens... the noodles on the top get dry and hard and form this volcanic crusty 'lid' over the contents. It's uber nasty. It just prolongs the inevitable: throwing the leftovers away. Only now my fridge smells like them. Nice.
Big kiss, pumpkin. Love you!

Randomness

Alright, peeps. Who has done the Ragnar Relay?
Scott's partner and our good friend, Mike, did the race for the second time this year. I offered to help him do his Team T's and think they turned out quite alright, no? (I am not showing you the shirts that the machine chewed up a little bit in order to gloat)
But during the whole process I actually considered doing it next year and think it would be kind of fun. I mean, running a 200+ mile relay with three random run times (day or night) sounds like it might be a crazy good time. It must be the bobbin thread talking because I don't enjoy running (trail, yes... road, yawn). Anyone else up for it? We could start to plan the outfits now and really make a bang because I won't be making any impression with my 10 minute miles.
Anyway, glad the shirts turned out well enough as it's still a small step in learning how to use this machine o'mine.
I was shoe shopping with Elliet recently and while we were looking, she saw this bad rainbow tye-dyed Tshirt with an iron-on unicorn on it. It was nasty, people. And guess what! She wanted it. Yikes. It was so bad and it was, like, $35! Are you kidding me? I could not by it, even if they paid me to take it. But boy oh boy, how the temptation grows when your childs big eyes implore you for something they deeply desire. So, as brilliant as I am, I suggested we go home and she draw a horse (can you hear the shovel hit the dirt?) and then I'll scan it in my computer and digitize it (deeper shoveling sounds now) and then have my machine sew it on a shirt for her (deep grave now). Oh boy! She is happy now, tragedy averted and I am walking behind her with a fake smile on my face trying to think of how to actually uphold my promise.
I will keep you posted on this one.
Pray for me.

Happy Fathers Day

So this post is waaaay overdue. I got all caught up in June right after Fathers Day with great intentions of posting about my favorite Dads and now it's three weeks later. Sorry, guys.
But it's no matter, right? These are the men that I love.
First, my Dad.
I swiped this great picture from my sis-in-law. They recently went to Powell and it's a great shot of a happy Dad. We grew up spending summers on that lake and it's still one of his favorite places. My dad is one of my best friends. I deeply admire his wisdom and perspective and humility. He taught us the value of hard work and how to have fun.... and maybe how to modify lyrics to Christmas music. I love you, Woddies! Thank you so much for the example and great man you are.




Now for my true love, Scott. My husband is a such a fun father to our kids. He always makes me laugh and it's no different for the kids. Playing shark in the pool or threatening to put on their underwear (and getting it almost on, too!), it's never a dull moment in our crazy household. Thank you, Scott, for being such a great example to them, good teacher and best of all, FUN! Our kids have a great Dad and love you very much.

Privacy Please

New change, I know. I decided to go private and will post more soon. In the meantime, I may have missed some people so please tell them to bug me so they can join the par-tay (or lack there of). Hope everyone had a great 4th of July week!