The many uses of duck tape

Well, summer is here. Kids need something to do. Something fun. Something economical. Something that won't make the mom (who is helping the kids out) go ballistic. That really narrows it down, huh?

We checked our calendar, invited a few friends, and headed out to the craft store for a "free" duck tape wallet demo.

Here are the numbers we had to endure:

There was one small table.

One employee who had to keep looking at the directions to see how to make these things. Seven kids crowded around the small table.

Four kids I brought with me waiting to make a lovely (free) Father's Day gift.

One mother (me) who had about had it with 2 of the 4 children she brought (they were not my own children either...).

Fifteen minutes of torture and impatience that passed before I wised up and decided I was getting out of there before heads were going to roll.

I marched back to the duck tape aisle. Commanded the children to choose 3 colors and 3 colors only. Marched up to the front of the store. Paid for 3 colors and 3 colors only. Drove home and made our own duck tape wallets. Whew.

After I had regained my composure, I took some pictures that I thought I'd share.

Three colors and three colors only..

.

Measure, cut, fold, repeat...

Concentrate...

Help out a friend...

Put on your finishing touches...

Display your work of art...

Now I expect all those wallets to be used every.single.day.

Anyone interested in a free lesson on duck tape wallets???

I promise I won't go ballistic.

Well, maybe.

Spring happenings

Wow, where has the time gone? It was spring, now it's summer vacation. I've blogged next to nothing, took a million pictures, posted some of them on Facebook, but have so many more to share. Unfortunately, due to my lack of patience, Blogger's "problems" loading my pictures, and fat fingers on a laptop, there are not as many pictures as I had hoped to share. Sigh. Oh, well, here are some photos showing what has been going on in and around our house and family. Enjoy the pictures.

DISCLAIMER:

(Lori, I am totally copying you on this, and I want to thank you for YOUR inspiration. You get all the credit for this update!!!)

This spring was a:

First place time of 13.22 seconds in the 90m for Payton in the city track meet taking,

Lindsay triple jump leaping,

Blue ribbon showing,

12th birthday celebrating,

Kiss stealing,

Air soft war preparing,

Baby chick feeding,

Race for the cure walking,

New coop making,

Griffey exploring,

Table rock hiking,

Payton, Seth, and Ben posing,

New baby Brock holding,

Cemetary visiting,

Kourtni 9th grade photo student award winning,

6th grade tie-dye graduating!

Farewell to Freshman Dance attending,

Crappie fish catching,

Kind of spring.

Wow. Sort of summarizes everything up. Until next time...

Belated Mother's Day

Ahhh. It's so nice to be a mom!

Sure missed Lyss, though...

Happy Mother's Day.

A little belated but, hey, we moms like a little recognition on more than just one day of the year, right??

Dear Espana

Dear Espana,

Is it ok if I call you Espana? I'm not sure since I don't speak your language well/at all/occasionally/poquito; I only pretend to know which verbs are being conjugated as I listen to my daughters converse as their Spanish homework is talked about and completed. Would you rather have me call you Spain? Whatever the case, I want to let you know that today, April 28, 2010, there is a group of fresh-faced BYU students arriving in your country to grace your borders for about 2 eternally long months. Oh, I'm sure the time will fly for the co-eds, but for me, as a mother, one who feels like she just gave birth to that college student yesterday, it will go on forever; of this I am sure.

You see, Espana, my daughter got a bee in her bonnet to spend a semester away from her family, on a different continent, speaking a language that is becoming more and more natural to her as the time goes by, for a whopping two months. What is so great about you? Is it the culture that she will get to experience? Is it the people she will get to meet? Is it the meat (gasp) she will probably/definitely/most likely have to eat if she doesn't want to offend her host family? Is it the wonderment of a new, exciting corner of the earth waiting to be explored? Just what is it that you can offer her? I admit I am being selfish, immature, selfish, immature, and selfish about this.

I admit it.

But, you see, she was just born 19 short years ago. I'm still in the elementary/jr. high/high school frame of mind where there are parent meetings, parent letters, packing lists, parent signatures required, medical releases to be signed, etc. There was NONE of that for this trip, Spain. And she isn't going across town on a field trip.

She's flying across the Atlantic Ocean and there was not one parent letter, list or signature required of me. sigh.

What is wrong with this picture, my Latin American country?

Please take care of her. Please ensure that your many inhabitants will treat her well. Please keep her money, passport, laptop, cell phone, and other necessities safe. Because, Spain, I love her and want her to spread her wings. I want to see her thrive in a country where she can speak with the locals and learn from them each day. I want her to feel comfortable in a place where traditions and customs are muy importante (see, there's that Spanish I know!). I just wish it was a little closer to home.

I'll quit my complaining now, Espana. I know she would be totally disgusted/embarrassed/and shaking her head if she read this right now. "Don't worry. Get some sleep. I'll be fine." That's what she said just yesterday. Yeah, easy for her to say. She's not the mother of a daughter who was just barely born.

Spain, I'll definitely be checking up on you.

Just sayin'.

Su amiga,

Kris (the parent of the cute blonde who didn't sign one permission slip for her daughter to go to Spain...)

These two are THE BEST SPANISH speakers to come out of Timberline High School I miss both of them very much right now.

Spring Break...with a lot of BAD weather

Every "spring" break, the kids and I usually head on down south of the border (Idaho border that is...) to brave the frigid temperatures, enjoy snow in March, eat waaaaaay too much junk food, spend waaaaay too much money shopping and eating out, and see our cousins and stuff. This year we had another excellent reason to venture down south: Alyssa lives south of the border now, too!

We left Bill in Boise to do this:

We're good like that.
But really, he NEVER gets spring break off so he stays behind. Alone. To fend for himself. To eat at Burger King each night. Or cereal. Or nothing at all. We miss him terribly when we go because we know how much he enjoys shopping each day of the break...

So I took along some friends I hadn't seen for awhile to help me out on the long trip:

You're such a bad boy... I haven't partaken of you for about 8 months, but you keep me awake for a good 6 or so hours so I'll invite you back next time!

You were a most delicious traveling companion. I enjoyed all of your fruity goodness for those hundreds of miles. I tried to make you last as long as I could. It was hard 'cuz you're so dang tasty! High Fructose Corn Syrup and all!

This momentous event took place on the way down near the thriving metropolis of Jerome, Idaho. A moment of silence for the Honda Odyssey. She is now past puberty.

We had fun holding, kissing, munching on, and passing around this little bundle. Oh, how I love new babies!

Lindsay put her friendship bracelet skills to work for a fun cousin.

More holding and cuddling a week old babe.

Acting goofy with the sis. Love her.

More goofy antics with the gang.

Posing with some of the girls.

Yeah, we had our "spring" break in Utah. We enjoyed all the March snow, the frigid temperatures, the junk food, the shopping, and eating out. What would spring break be without all that? Next time I might take even take a coat!

Gold's Sweet Gold's

I miss my Gold's.

Gym, that is.

You see, the kids and I are in Utah and the closest Gold's Gym is in a building that was once a grocery store where I accompanied my mother to buy food for the family when I was a child. Storehouse Market was its name. Writing the price with a black grease pencil on each product was the game. Squashing the bread with a big jug of syrup was a huge memory for me!

My Gold's is like a Greek Temple.

With columns.

With new machines.

With COOL group classes (that I'm too insecure to attend...except Gayla's :)).

With a nice cool down area complete with dark lighting for relaxation (and so no one can see how lovely I look at the end of a sweatfest...).

With lovely bathrooms and a nice changing room.

With 5 brand new stairmills (oh, yeah, I'm now the queen of the stairmill since my butt has prohibited me from running...).

With a separate ladies' workout area (that works for me when there are too many men flexing their pecks and peacocking it in front of the main weight area).

Yeah. I miss me my Gold's Gym in Boise.

But I really love working out next to my cute, lovely lashed, earringed sister Teressa!

*Sigh.*

I would like that occasionally. A cute workout buddy who can make the time go by in a flash!

I'll see you next week, Gold's Sweet Gold's!

Thursday Night Funny

Bill was hungry the other night and "needed something". That something took us to Jack in the Box where he ordered a diet Coke and two strawberry banana smoothies. (Actually the strawberry orange ones are waaaaay better, but he was paying, driving, and ordering so I just went along for the ride.)

As we pulled to the "next window" his diet Coke was handed to him as well as this question,

"Would you like any sauces with that?"

ummmmm... sure, we like strawberry, banana, sweet and sour, barbeque smoothies...

Another reason to stay in school kids. You don't want to be the butt of someone's joke on their blog.

Dinner Theater - Jr. High Style...

How do you solve a problem like Maria? Well, first of all, you sing that song from the "Sound of Music" over and over and over and over... Then you sing it some more... heheheh.

You gotta love junior high choirs.

Lindsay and Kourtni are both musically inclined and so they like to sing - in junior high choir. Fortunately, each year, our school puts on a dinner show so each of the 4 choirs can showcase what they've been working on.

It's a huuuuuge deal.
It's a huuuuuge commitment from parents since it's all parents who organize and put the thing on.
It's a huuuuuge thing for 13, 14, and 15 year olds to dress up and sing in a school gym over the munching sounds of parents, neighbors, and friends enjoying their dinner.

This year the theme was Broadway. I decided that, after the first dinner theater I volunteered with, I would never volunteer to work in the kitchen AGAIN. You see, our junior high has a kitchen nazi. This woman works for the school. She is about 4 feet tall. She is about 4 feet wide. She is a nasty little person who shouted condescending things, demanded rude things, and was basically awful to all the nice parents who were volunteering their time for the show.

Nope. Never in the kitchen again.

I volunteered to make, design, and copy the program. Ahhhh. No one yelled at me. No one shouted at me. No one demanded rude things of me. It was so sweeeet.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my cute girls dressed in their fun costumes. Doesn't Kourtni look great with her stage make-up on? "Don't put any of that stuff on me!" she begged. Ummm, sorry, dear. You are going to be seen from the audience. So I used all my knowledge from a former life called "Drill Team", and painted her up like a doll. She looked fabulous! "West Side Story" songs were so fun! What stage presence! What teeth! What a cutie! I was sorry she didn't have any solo parts. Dang driver's ed. (That was her teacher's excuse for not giving her any of the solo parts - yeah, driver's ed...) I know. Oh, well, a girl's gotta learn to drive!


Lindsay was a nun from Sound of Music. No stage make up needed for her! But what a cute nun she made! She had a great time practicing for this. So did I... We would break into sound of music songs whenever we could. Hey, Lindsay, how do you solve a problem like Maria? heheh
The girl's got some good pipes. I know, I heard her in the shower, in her bedroom, in the car, in the kitchen, doing her homework... Nicely done Linds and Kourt!


Payton REALLY enjoyed the evening. The picture below tells the whole story! He also owes me $12.00 for the meal I bought and which he left virtually untouched. I mean, what kid doesn't eat brownies and ice cream??? (Turns out he was getting sick and stayed home from school the next day.) I don't think he'll ever go to another dinner theater again - and from the looks of it, we have a lot more to go to before these musically inclined daughters of ours graduate from high school. So the question now is, "How do we solve a problem like Payton?"

To Nap or Not To Nap...

Thank heavens for 9:00 church time.
Dang that 9:00 church time.

Dang that 10 year old boy lesson preparation time at 6:30 AM.
Thank heavens for a nice, long afternoon!

Dang that rushing around to get the rolls made, shirts and clothes ironed, hair done, Sunday dinner started, last minute lesson items assembled, gum searched for, pantyhose looked for, and searching and searching for something to wear.
Thank heavens for church being over at 12 blissful o'clock!

Dang the afternoon meetings, home teaching, and dinner clean up.
Thank heavens for a soft bed and fluffy pillow to fall in to after dinner clean up.

Dang the mess I always manage to leave before 9:00 - in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, in the laundry room, and in the computer room.
Thank heavens for time to clean it up before it's time to go to bed.

Dang the missed morning walk with my honey.
Thank heavens for the brisk, late, windy afternoon walk with my honey.

But most of all, thank heavens for the nice 2 hour nap that I can take if I want to. Such leisure, such drowsiness, such grogginess, such bliss!
But dang the weird afternoon dreams which involve stealing my identity, stealing my purse, admitting that you took my purse and you've broken your probation, trying to cover up your theft with a jacket, and what in the world was I doing at a Kmart/Payless during the middle of the night with probation breaking purse stealing thieves in the first place? It absolutely woke me out of my slumber!

(Oh, well, weird dreams and all, my bed is much nicer than a nap against a pole at Payton's basketball game...yes, I said basketball game...)

Dang that 9:00 church time!
Thank heavens for that 9:00 church time!

A letter to Robie Creek

Dear Robie Creek,

Tomorrow I will miss you. I will miss sitting feverishly at my computer with fingers revved and poised over my keyboard to frantically try to type faster than thousands of other runners who, for some strange sadistic reason, want to enter your coveted race.

Tomorrow I will miss you. I will miss the anticipation of training in tall drifts of snow and preparing to climb your steep 8.5 miles, often by myself, to reach the summit called Aldape. I will miss the relief that fills my body as I go 5 miles downhill to reach the finish line. I will miss the delicious feast of food that waits for me after the finish line is crossed and my t-shirt is picked up.

Tomorrow I will miss you. I have managed to get into your race for the past 6 six years and I have finished your difficult course in less than 2 hours 10 minutes.

Tomorrow I will miss you. I will miss the comraderie of 1500 other crazies on race day who, together, make the trudge up your winding, dirt canyon road.

Tomorrow I will think about you. I will remember the way I put sunscreen on my face last year without wearing a hat. I will remember the way sweat poured down my face and trickled into my eyes and burned them incessantly until the sunscreen had worn off.

Tomorrow I will think about you. I will remember the lovely sunburn I received on my right arm that outlined my ipod attached to that arm. I will remember how that sunburn outline tattoo stayed with me throughout the winter to help me remember that gorgeous day.

Tomorrow I will think about you. I will think about the training runs Alyssa and I ran last year to prepare for the pounding we would take from you. I will think about the gnarly trails we decided to take in the freezing wind and icy conditions to the top of the world - to the top of the world of Boise anyway. I will remember how nice it was to have a running partner who enjoyed climbing the hills and trails with me for a common purpose. I will remember how well Alyssa did and how excited she was to win a "medal" for taking 2nd place in her age group.


Tomorrow I will think about you. I will think about how nice going for a run is. I will try to remember how it feels to have my legs move freely beneath me without feeling like my hip is going to explode. I will think about this when I am climbing an infinite amount of stairs going nowhere in particular inside a gym and doing a bazillion exercises meant to strengthen my core. Sigh.

Robie Creek, I didn't know how much I would love, hate, miss, regret, and enjoy you. Please don't give your participants a cute t-shirt this year. Please don't give a great swag bag on number pick up day. Please remember me, because next year...

I'LL BE BACK!!!