Ketchup

Greg asked me this morning what I wanted to do today. I responded, "Laundry. Oh, and catch up on my blog."

David overheard this and thought it was hilarious that I wanted ketchup on my blog. (I thought it was pretty hilarious too.)

So here is the "ketchup":

First, a picture of my kids at the DQ in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere West Texas that had nothing but a DQ but thank goodness it at least had that otherwise my firstborn would have been pooping in a farmer's field.

Second, a picture that proves you do not need a pick-up truck if you have a rack, some good straps, and a tall husband.

This pictures also demonstrates that, as any good Mormon man knows, there's nothing you can't do in a white shirt and tie. (This was a trip to Ikea after we attended the temple.)

Next, a typical view of the toy room at Grandma Evie's house.

Notice Tio and Tia totally engaged with my children. (Gosh, we are going to miss them.)

I suppose you could consider the above picture a BEFORE view this next picture an AFTER view. This is after I prepped the toy room for the packers.

Who votes we have too many toys?

(I do!)

While we have been working at my parents' house (sorting our things from theirs), we have been living at Greg's parents' house. David and Mary have loved swimming in the pool everyday and hanging out with Grammy and Grandpa. Mary has whole-heartedly embraced (after years of fear) the princess dresses in Grammy's toy closet.

And she's off.

Soon we will be off too.

Tomorrow the truck will be loaded. This weekend sometime we will set off to St. Louis, where we will pick up our other car and, at my firm insistence, ride to the top of the Arch. Then early next week we will arrive in Madison.

Now would be an appropriate moment for some reflection--on the joys of a family reunited, the bumps in the road to establishing a two-parent dynamic, the blessings of grandparents, my love-hate relationship with Dallas, the gut-wrenching good-byes that accompany every move, and, most importantly, how I got my dream ottoman.

Instead, all I'm going to leave you with is this.

Ice skating in hell

I am on Facebook.

If I know you, please come find me.

Thank you.

A post without pictures

Pictures I should have taken but did not.

1. {All four of my mother's grandchildren lined up in a row.} For a week my mom had all of her grandchildren, David, Mary, Caleb, and Annika, under the same roof. I loved spending time with my niece and nephew and their mom Charity. I especially enjoyed getting to know Caleb better. One night I got to lay down with him at bedtime, and I loved listening to him talk himself to sleep. The subject was firetrucks (and how his MOM should be the one cuddling in bed with him, NOT Aunt Alisa).
2. {My kids, one of the best dads ever, and that dad's kids.} My friend Liz married a super awesome guy. He happily and energetically played with my kids for hours so that Liz and I could enjoy a leisurely dinner of chile rellenos and conversation. Adding my kids to his kids is no small matter, so I am deeply deeply grateful for his willingness. I love Liz so much, and we needed that time together. We spent several afternoons at Liz's house, and David and Mary had a great time with Liz's kids. (I wish I had something more to show than this picture. But sometimes you're too busy enjoying yourself to bother with the camera.)
   
3. {David and Mary with Silly Uncle Andy.} My brother Andy drove down from Boise to spend the weekend with us. My kids were enamored! Especially Mary. She couldn't get enough of him! (David and Mary had a more love-hate relationship with his dog Miley.)
4. {David and Mary with Roderick.} Roderick the Best Dog Ever was a huge part of my kids' life this past year. Sadly, I realized I don't have a picture of them with Roderick. Every day David tells me that he misses Roderick, who is still frolicking in the Wasatch Mountains with Grandma Evie.
5. {Mary playing ball with Great-Grandma H.} We spent our last evening in Utah chatting on Greg's grandparents' porch with Uncle Daniel, Aunt Brittany, Uncle M., Aunt K, Cousin E., Baby A., and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa, as we watched the sun set on Mt. Timpanogas and were treated to key lime pie. My favorite moment all evening was looking up to see Mary and Grandma H. on the driveway playing with bouncy balls together. They were having a grand time. (This is the picture I regret most of all.)
   
6. {Me and Gina.} On our way across Colorado, we stopped to see the Thompsons. What a joy! David was thrilled to play with Caleb. He'd been looking forward to it all summer. Meanwhile, Nephi enchanted Greg with tales of climbing "14-ers." And I loved having time to talk to Gina. I miss her! (You know how sometimes it's right before you move away from a place that you finally figure out who your really good friends are? Well, that was NOT the case with Gina. We both moved to Ohio the same week, met that first week, knew right away we would be friends, and wasted no time in going about it. Pretty amazing, huh? And something I'm grateful for.)
7. {Somewhere on Highway 24.} We cut down from I-70 to I-25 on Highway 24. Oh, it was so gorgeous. I kept thinking, "I'm really going to move to the Midwest???" But my heart will always belong to the West. If only I knew when I will return again...
   

Day with Daddy

The day with Daddy began very early this morning, just after midnight, when Mary cried out in her sleep and discovered DADDY had come to her rescue. Later, when I went to check on her, she said, "Daddy's home! Daddy's home! We're all together again!" At her request, Daddy came in for one more hug. They shared a loving, intimate moment as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed his face, and kicked her feet with joy and excitement. Then she rolled over and went to sleep with a smile on her face.

This morning at the reasonable hour of seven, David came in and happily crawled into bed between his mom AND HIS DAD. Oh happy day!

After Greg dutifully took care of the important task of cleaning and vacuuming the car, we drove over to The Canyons.

No, our intention was not to play in the bobsled again, but the cousins couldn't resist.

The purpose of our outing was to ride the gondola and go for a little hike. Here are some pictures of our fun adventure. Note that Uncle Andy, Aunt Charity, Caleb, Baby Annika, and Grandma Evie were all there too!

I am super proud of David for being so brave! Last year we did this same hike, and he was too scared to walk down to the creek because it made too much noise. He also didn't like the sound of the breeze in the aspens (my favorite sound!). And he thought he would be eaten by a bear. But this year he was a regular mountain man.

I am also super proud of Charity for jumping into the frigid water to save a Croc. (My feeling of pride also extends to Annika, who wisely did not jump into the water after her mom.)

Charity and my mom stayed to do some more hiking, and the rest of us headed down on the gondola.

After Greg, the kids, and I grabbed some lunch, we braved the Saturday crowds at the Olympic Park for the weekly ski jumping show.

David is so much fun at events like this. He totally gets into the cheering. This time instead of the standard "Woo! Hoo!" and "Alright!" he cheered, "You can do it!" and "Just do your best!" and "Don't give up!" It was kind of funny hearing a five-year-old cheer on professional athletes in such a manner.

The show was pretty amazing. We've been up there before watching beginners and intermediate amateurs, which is fun. I think having spent some time watching people learn how to do freestyle jumping made me appreciate the show. Most of these athletes have competed in the Olympics, and they were AMAZING! It was almost unreal.

I think what was the most unreal was how many stairs up the athletes have to carry their skis. I was amazed with these guys (and girl) before they even set foot on the jump!

Then look how high they jump.

Or even higher.

Or even higher!!

Plus imagine a millions flips, twists, and turns squeezed in there.

Wow!

When we left, David was worried that we wouldn't be staying here in the mountains where he could train to be a ski jumper. (Actually, he wants to be a snowboarder.) He knows that our move from Park City to Wisconsin is the nail in the coffin of his Olympic dreams. "Now I'm never going to be in the Olympics." Oh, David. Little does he know he's already missed his chances for the Olympics, slacker parents that we are.

Once at home, Daddy and Mary crashed, snoozing the afternoon away together. Meanwhile, Uncle Andy took Caleb and David swimming.

And the fun still isn't over! Charity, Andy, and Greg took all the kids to a free open air concert up at The Canyons. That is why the house is so quiet right now. That is why I am supposed to be packing. But that is also why I am blogging instead.

It was a fun day with Daddy, that's for sure. And now I'm going to think about packing...

Life marches on.

Some fun with double the cousins

Yesterday afternoon Charity and I took our kids down to the Discovery Gateway, where we met Aunt Le and her kids. It was shaping up to be a cousin-fun-extravaganza, with cousins from BOTH sides of the family. Mary had a fabulous time for an hour; David had a pretty good time for an hour; then my kids were finished. FINISHED. They were both draped on my lap begging to go home.

SERIOUSLY? They had been looking forward to this for days!

In their defense, I think they were sick. (Isn't everyone who was there that afternoon--and there were more than a million people jammed inside--just so very grateful I brought my sick kids to touch all the balls, fake food, and magnetic blocks?) We bailed two hours before their four cousins did, and David and Mary slept all the way home, registered mild fevers on the thermometer, and went straight to bed. Poor babies.

I have no pictures to document the event. I was too tired to pull out my camera. It was a crummy day, to be perfectly honest. An unbearable amount of whining from everyone. I told David I didn't think we were going to make it through the day: "Daddy comes home in two days. We're so close, but we're not going to make it. We're all going to implode from whining and grumpiness and exhaustion, and Daddy will come home and all he will find is three little piles of dust." David knew it was best just to walk away from Mommy after a speech like that.

My point is that it wasn't the best of days. I was so looking forward to driving down to Salt Lake City and dropping off my children to be adopted by Aunt Le. The problem is that Aunt Le hadn't had the best of days with her children either, so I was pretty sure she wouldn't be too keen on permanently adding mine to her nest. Bummer. I also considered Aunt Charity as a possible adoptive parent, but her day ended with a big fat migraine, so I figured she had her hands full.

So there we were, three moms, all single (for different reasons and to different degrees), all with two children, a boy and a baby girl (baby to different degrees), and ALL having a crappy day (even though our kids were having the time of their lives, though my kids' fun was curbed short by a fever). And for some reason all that mommy grumpiness and exhaustion makes me...feel comforted. I can look back on the day and smile, knowing we were all in the crummy boat together.

By the way, there was a highlight of the day.

We saw Elder Christofferson! Finally, I bump into an Apostle. I feel like everyone else comes to Utah and bumps into this Apostle in the airport or that Apostle visiting their cousin's ward or talks to the prophet himself in some elevator somewhere. I go years and years and never see anyone even remotely famous in Utah. (I've even been to the Sundance Film Festival!) Oh, until the other day when I saw the dooce lady at Ikea. I come to Utah and who do I run into? A famous anti-Mormon. What does that say about me? Is the Universe telling me something? Is that what I deserve?? Listening to Heather pick out bathmats with her husband instead of having a meaningful encounter with a Man of God at the Delta check-in counter? Is the Universe telling me I should read less blogs and more conference talks? (Probably.)

But then I saw Elder Christofferson. Actually, Aunt Le spotted him. Since his niece was my college roommate, it was easy for me to approach him and confirm his identity. I also met his lovely wife. They were there in the capacity of grandparents. He was very kind, just as you would imagine. (You can read more what we spied, er, observed, on my sister-in-law's blog.)

So here is the exact highlight of the day: At one point I turned around and there was my nephew Caleb driving a farm truck...with Elder Christofferson. The image of those two, hands on the dual steering wheels, is forever etched in my mind. The thought warms my heart. Ah, maybe the day wasn't so bad after all.

P.S. Yes, today is the 16th. THE DAY. But Greg's flight doesn't get in until 11:30 pm, which is why I am sitting here blogging. (What am I feeling? Nothing. As Charity perceptively pointed out, all of my emotions are expired.)

Final fun with these cousins

Today we headed down to the valley for a finale of fun with Cousin J and Baby N.

At first the kids ran around with some neighborhood kids, having a ball. Then Aunt Le kindly made us lunch. And then we headed to the pool.

I forced the four cousins to pose for a group picture. This was the best I got.

Two buddies ready for fun.

Now, this is one prepared little girl!

After swimming, we headed back to Aunt Le's house, where the boys promptly disappeared into the bedroom. It was wonderful. Two cousins quietly playing, making those cute little noises that children make when they are happily engaged in make-believe together.

Finally, after an hour or so, the girls wandered in too.

It wasn't too long before that situation deteriorated and it was time for naps all around. So we sadly said our good-byes.

We have been so blessed to hang out regularly with this family throughout the year. It's hard looking ahead and not knowing when we will see them again. (I might start lobbying that they take a road trip to Wisconsin next summer!) I love that my sister-in-law is one of my closest friends. I love that she married a super cool guy. And I love that our children love each other too (despite radically different personalities between our boys).

It was a bittersweet farewell. Bitter because we will miss them. But sweet because I'm so glad they are a part of our life.

How many cousins fit in the neighbor's boat?

How do you feel when your neighbor lets you play around in the boat he keeps in his garage?

Yup. Just like that.

The cousins (including Baby Annika) had a great time playing in the boat.

Thanks to little W for being a great host and captain on his dad's boat.

Fun with more friends

This week we enjoyed a fun afternoon play date with my friend Jacqui. The kids disappeared to the basement while Jacqui and I enjoyed a luscious, healthy fresh salad appropriately counter-balanced with cookie dough. Yum!

Jacqui and I went to high school together, and she is one of the very very few people I keep in contact with from those days. I love that we have an adult friendship now, especially since Jacqui is so dang awesome. (Wow. It's good to be an adult, don't you think?)

We got together last summer too. This time we were determined to get photo documentation. So here's the proof. This is Mary and David with Jacqui's two youngest (who are perfectly matched in age and gender with mine).

Why post just one picture, when you can post another?

And another?

Then we needed a picture of US. We turned this responsibility over to our eager children, with mixed results.

Here is one of the first attempts.

And it pretty much went down hill from there.

So we finally took matter into our own hands.

Thanks, Jacqui, for a wonderful afternoon of conversation and catching-up.

P.S. I got to see THE KITCHEN! Fabulous!!!