Conversations in the car

Since my oldest child could speak, I have been having conversations.  If you are a parent, you have had or will have these talks.  Once we got to talk about (well, mostly we listened to a monologue about) Morgen's frog dream.  Another time it had to do with why we walk on the sidewalk and not in the road.  I remember overhearing an exchange between two of my children that began with:
"You're an idiot!"
And ended with:
"Well, you're something even worse- you are an IDIOM!!"
And, while they can be frustrating, they are also really funny :).

But with my younger son now 10 years old, I thought the days of these sorts of dialogues were over.  Not so, it appears.  A few nights ago, Hyrum and I went over to the high school to pick Walker up after his performance (Pirates of Penzance- last show is Saturday!).  We had gotten back into the car, and I reminded the boys to put on their seatbelts, like I always do.  And then this happened:
Hyrum- "I'm invisible! I can't wear a seatbelt because then you would see me!"
me- (trying very hard not to giggle because he totally makes sense) "It's an invisible seatbelt.  Wear it or fly home, superman."
Hmmmm.  Apparently, invisibility is not one of Superman's powers.  But it is one of Hyrum's.  Who knew?!

This is the costume that never ends...

Unfortunately, I am not speaking of Halloween costumes.  These are policeman costumes for the Pirates of Penzance.  And I will say only 2 things about them: first, period-authentic Civil War costumes, while they look AWESOME, are probably not necessary for a live theater production that does NOT take place in the USA during the Civil War. (hello, button fly!  you do not lend yourself well to quick costume changes.)  Second, TECH EDITOR FAIL.  It’s a very good thing that I (and by “I,” I mean “we,” since my MIL sewed almost all of the jackets, leaving me to cut out the pattern pieces and sew the pants together.  I know, she IS a saint!)  know how to put together clothing.  Also, that I (again, I mean "we,") am good enough to improvise when the instructions are MISSING BECAUSE THE TECH EDITOR IS IMAGINARY!!!  Or lazy. Or illiterate.  All of which are actually likely, considering the absolute disaster of a pattern…  Seriously.  They hired an imaginary, illiterate tech editor who was lazy.  Or aliens.  Aliens would work, too.

But all I have left to do at this point is to hem the pants and jacket of the second costume.  Originally they were meant for somebody who is about 6 feet tall.  After skipping too many practices, that person has been replaced by a much shorter person.  So, hemming.  Except I can't just chop off the too-long bits and do a simple hem, because what if they use these costumes again and need it to be for a tall person?!?  Which means hemming by hand, very carefully, to take into account the disparity between the hemline needed and the extra fabric involved.  Blech.

Okay, I feel better now :)  

This furlough thing- I would be much happier if none of the Senators were getting paid until they solved this problem.  Jared has to work, as he's considered essential personnel, but he isn't getting paid.  Assuming that the Senate gets their act together, he will eventually get reimbursed for his time.  However, this makes me grateful for our emergency fund and our food storage.

And on a much happier note, it snowed Thursday night!  Quite a bit, actually, and we had snow on the ground the next morning for my daily walk.

It didn't stick, but it surely was a beautiful sight!
Also, today and tomorrow my church has their semi-annual conference, which means I can feast on the wonderful spiritual messages.

So, happy things:
* snow!!!!
* and because of snow, hot cocoa and other delicious winter treats :)
* beautiful music
* spiritual messages
* lots of yarn with which to crochet and knit.
* good friends and neighbors.
* my family is loving and supportive.
* homemade jams and syrups (chokecherry and blackberry) mmmmmm.
* we're all healthy and we have plenty of food and clothing.
* God is good.

Maria

I learned something really cool yesterday that tied a song from "Paint Your Wagon" to the practice of naming storms after women. This is from the wiki entry for "They Call the Wind Maria:"

 "In George Rippey Stewart's 1941 novel Storm, he gives the storm which is the protagonist of his story the name "Maria."
The success of Stewart's novel was one factor that motivated U.S. military meteorologists to start the informal practice of giving women's names to storms in the Pacific during World War II. The practice became official in 1945. In 1953, a similar system of using women's names was adopted for North Atlantic storms. This continued until 1979, when men's names were incorporated into the system.

 This novel was also the inspiration for the song. Isn't that cool? Stewart wrote a novel, which inspired Lerner & Loewe to write a song, which led meteorologists to name storms after women.

 I really like the internet.

this is my favorite version, because it uses the minor key in the second verse, which sounds so much like the wind moaning. there are others available on youtube :)

and my happy list:
* good friends.
* it snowed in the mountains yesterday!
* hot cocoa to warm me up.
* reliable cars.
* a mother-in-law who sewed 2 costumes for w's school musical.
* h did his homework without me asking him to!
* w did a load of dishes without me asking him to!
* m cleaned up her breakfast mess without me asking her to!
* kids who do their chores without me nagging :)
* good music
* warm house
* podcasts
* the internet
* i have lots of warm things to wear
* God is good.

Volunteering

So a week ago last Thursday (Sept 5), Jared called to let me know he might be working out of town over the weekend.  It was disappointing, but after 9 years in the military, we've learned to be flexible.  Friday afternoon he texts me, "Forgot to let you know that I agreed to the family speaking in church Sunday."
I sent back "very funny" and he replied "not kidding."

I was eager to spread the happy news, and when the kids got home an hour later, I greeted them at the door with the exciting information that they got to give talks in church in less than TWO DAYS!!! HOORAY!!!!!

They did an amazing job- W and M wrote their own talks, and I pulled a few church magazines out and handed them to H.  He wrote his own talk, had me edit it, and I made him read it through several times.  Then I wrote my own talk :) and put in lots of extra research just in case the kids were quick.  They were, which left about half the meeting for me to fill.  I managed, with the help of Heavenly Father and some divine inspiration :).

Today, the choir performed a song, "Draw Near Unto Me."  (i looked on youtube, but couldn't find a complete rendition of the song. oh well.)  Despite the fact that it has taken much more preparation and time than did my talk, I enjoyed leading the choir so much more than I did giving that talk.  I feel much more comfortable in a musical setting, I guess.

School is progressing well, I think.  H is playing football- tackle football!!- and has practice 3 times a week, plus 1 game a week.  It means he has very little free time, since he has to fit in scouts and homework on the days he has no practice.  However, he absolutely loves practicing and playing.  As in, he's ready well before he needs to be, and bugs me to drop him off early so he can in some extra practice.  I'm really glad he has found something he enjoys so much.

M is doing well- she likes most of her classes, and loves her art class.  She is still working a few days a week, and we've had at least one episode of staying up really late Sunday evening trying frantically to finish up homework for Monday.  She is learning to better manage her time, though, which is good.

W is busy with play practice (performances are October 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, and 26 at 6:30pm).  He's had several tests already, and works hard to keep up in all his classes.  However, he's already talking about what classes he wants to take next year, as well as his senior year.  I cannot believe how quickly the time is passing- I still remember taking him to the bus stop for his first day of kindergarten!

Jared is working a lot, and preparing for the upcoming hunting season.  He has big plans for an elk- he and Morgen will be hunting this year.  I'm not sure where we'll put all the meat if we get more than one elk though.

Gratitude List:
* running water.  hot and cold both!
* flush toilets
* blackberries (we made jam from the ones growing in our yard- delicious!)
* a juicer and water bath canner.
* fish for dinner.
* cooler weather :)
* music, both sacred and secular, that inspires me.
* good friends
* family
* Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father
* podcasts, and the ability to store a lot on my iphone so i can listen to them.
* Jared is home this week, barring any unscheduled emergencies.

Vacation Rental pictures

view of the driveway entrance from the house:

side yard- lots of grass, volleyball court; you can see the edge of the deck on the side of the house here:

side deck- dad's trying out the deck chair and you can see the volleyball court on the far right:

deck wraps around 3 sides of the house- here's the front view of the house/deck- i'm standing on the far right corner of the deck in the same place i stood to take pics of the side yard.  deck surface is poured concrete, railings are pine:

view of the backyard from the deck- underneath my feet is the downstairs patio area which has a hot tub and a gravel-covered ramp leading up to the backyard:

 the tree line at the back of the volleyball court is where the dry creek bed is located:

closer look at trees behind the volleyball court, you can see the rocks in the creek bed behind them:

view of the back of the house from behind the volleyball court:

you can see some of the extra parking space available behind and to the side of the house here:

pictures of the back deck- the french doors open into the dining/kitchen area of the house:

 those red deck chairs are the ones dad was trying out earlier:

dining room table with doors going out to deck:

kitchen and island:

garage side of the house:

Birthdays

Well, Hyrum is officially in his double digits now.  10 years old- however did it happen?!?

He wanted a birthday party at the local gymnastics gym, and we were able to reserve it for an hour of jumping and playing.  The boys loved every minute, and I was glad they had a good outlet for their energy!

I believe this was Hyrum's favorite part- he managed to do a few back flips while in harness, and has talked about it the rest of the week.  I'm so glad he had fun :).

We ended the day with cupcakes and presents, then watched a movie until the kids had to leave.

Gratitude List:
* my family members are all healthy and happy.
* cool nights even in the summertime.
* allergy medications.
* our garden is growing
* rain and sprinklers
* morgen is home safely from girls' camp, which she loved.
* good books
* good music
* God is good.

Overheard

"First grade wasn't my best year.  Second grade, now, that was my prime time.  Second grade was a good year."

-Hyrum

As we are approaching his 10th birthday (next week, actually), I find it amusing that his best year is already behind him, at least in his estimation!

Gratitude List:

* cashmere.  i absolutely love to knit with it.
* air conditioning in the car.
* chocolate.
* French Onion Soup mmmmmmm
* electricity
* lots of lovely knitting projects waiting for me to begin or finish them.
* my family
* God

Yarny goodness

I love yarn.  :) And I'm sure this comes as no surprise to those who know me well.  But look at these colors:

Now what to make with these delicious smooshy yarns....  it is a lot of thinking to pick a pattern that works well with each yarn and the gorgeous colors.  But the possibilities are exciting!

W tried out for the high school's musical- this coming year they will be performing "The Pirates of Penzance."  He has practices all summer long :) and I love listening to him sing.  Gilbert and Sullivan were so clever with words!

M is still working hard, but I think I've convinced her that taking one day off each week is a good idea.  Next week she'll be camping with the young women, and I will miss her but I'm sure she will have fun.

H went to TWO scout day camps last week- one for the bear scouts (his age group) and one for the webelos (they're 10, and his birthday is this month, so he was invited to this one, too).  One of the activities was archery, and he got a bulls-eye! He has also decided that he really likes boondoggle (a weaving craft with plastic cord).

Jared is working, as always.  He's been able to fish a little bit, and took the boy scouts (12-14 year-olds) camping last Friday/Saturday.  This summer he has several camp-outs planned for scouting, and one for the family.  I think he'd be happy with another 2 or 3, but that's all that he could fit in around his work schedule.

I'm very sad that my allergies are so severe this summer.  It has been so beautiful outside, and I sneeze whenever I open the doors or windows.  But I'm getting some knitting done, and enjoying the fruits of our garden (rhubarb and strawberries right now), and I am grateful for anti-histamines.

I've missed my gratitude list, so I'm making one today:

* good music
* podcasts
* kids who want to earn money, because they'll do all sorts of extra jobs like deep-cleaning cars.
* beautiful yarn and fiber
* a working washer and dryer
* stain removers
* dry air, because I can hang my clothing out and it dries in an hour or so.
* hot cocoa :) it never gets old
* free patterns!
* my family.
* new nieces and nephews
* my family is healthy and well.
* God is good

Beauty All Around

This is the view from my car window, driving down the canyon from my house towards Provo/Orem:

I am almost always a bit distracted by this view when I'm driving.  Luckily the road is never too busy.

This is the view from my front porch:

Those irises came from my father's garden.  He got them from my sister Melissa's husband, who got them from his own father.  They are beautiful!  And no, I have no grass in my front yard.  I like it very much :) but it is less comfortable on bare feet than grass.

Yesterday, after getting up early (before 7am) and doing all the household stuff, I spent an hour on my porch, looking at that lovely view and knitting.

Spoons and Forks

We ate dinner with my in-laws last Sunday.  We had a delicious dinner, and (of course) dessert afterwards.  Dennis was eating his ice cream and broke the plastic spoon he was using, which happens a lot with plastic utensils.  Morgen, sitting next to him, burst out "These are the worst forks EVER!!"  Well, yes, since they are actually spoons...

Lovely weather

This is how I spent most of yesterday afternoon: sitting on my front porch and knitting.  The weather was lovely and warm, but not too warm.  I could smell flowers blooming and see bees flying around.  It was a beautiful break.

Then I had lunch, and pulled out one of our jars of elderberry jam.  We (when I say "we," what I mean is "everyone except for me") picked elderberries about 2 years ago.  Jared & I juiced them and made lots of jam.  And because my mother taught me well, I labeled the jar lids "10-2011" and "elder" because "elderberry" wouldn't fit.  Then I had to go do something not in the kitchen, and when I got back, Jared had finished labeling the jars.  Only he was more creative with his labels:

yep, that says "deacon."  There were several other jars with interesting labels, too**:  "sister," "high priest," and "teacher." I love my husband!

Oh, and the jam is excellent, of course.

Also, a bit of a brag on my kids.  First, W.  He's kept a 4.0 for the first 3 terms of 9th grade.  If all goes as expected, he should finish out 4th term with a 4.0 as well.  Monday night we attended a "honors award ceremony" and he got a certificate and his picture put in the paper.  Hooray!  He's worked very hard this year to earn those grades, and we are all proud of the effort it took.

M had two pieces of artwork on display in her school's "Hot Arts Festival."  She is becoming an excellent artist, and was thrilled to see her work included in the display.  I am so excited to see her get this recognition!

H just finished a "mini-society" in his classroom.  He and 2 friends figured out what they wanted to sell at their business, made flyers and coupons and a store-front sign, and then made the products they sold.  H says they did very well :) and I'm proud of his hard work and cooperation.

Jared is training hard this month.  And I am knitting lots of things, and trying to remember to water the garden.


** an "elder" is the title we give to our male missionaries. it has a rank in the priesthood, so men can also be elders without being missionaries.  the women missionaries are titled "sister."  "high priest," "deacon," and "teacher" are all ranks in the priesthood as well.

Plan of the day

I am a list person.  I do much better goal-wise if I can write down what I want to accomplish, then cross them off as I finish them.  However, it is rather easy for me to get really excited and write down ALL the things, forgetting that I only have 24 hours in my day.  Also, I have these kids (and sometimes a husband) who will plan things and forget to inform me, throwing off my schedule.  So, I have started making lists I will actually follow, which has two benefits.  I can write down things like "eat popcorn for lunch" because I KNOW I will get that done, AND I get to cross it off :) later.  Also? It takes up visual room on my list, which convinces me I am being productive every day.  Which feeds my desire to finish things on the list, making me a more productive person in reality, and has the added benefit of adding humor to my sometimes dreary days.

This is a compilation of some of the things that I've put on my recent POTD (plan of the day) lists.  Please note that, while I may have done several of these things in one day, I have not (yet) done ALL of them in one day.  :)


up.
eat chocolate bar and cherry coke for breakfast  see, i totally did that and then wrote it down because if it is on the list, i MUST do it!
wrap teacher appreciation gift for younger son
explain to younger son why taking a bag of already-popped-popcorn to school for his teacher may not be the best way to show his appreciation for her, even if popcorn IS her favorite snack.   done, but i'm not sure he believes me
meditation this is code for "read a page of scripture,then pray that everyone survives the day"
kids off to school.
♫ la, la, la ♪  this is code for "fun!!!!!!!!!" which can be anything, really, depending on my mood at the time of reading.
internet- look for a fish-shaped pattern on Ravelry and get lost in the wonder of it all for 2 hours
shower
dress
knit on something fun today.
fold and put away my laundry
ignore oldest son's laundry, which is sitting glumly on the couch.
exercise
rejoice that my strategy of ignoring oldest son’s laundry actually resulted in it disappearing from the couch before i got up this morning!!!  this is an ongoing rejoicing, btw
eat popcorn for lunch
make kids get into the car.  be sure to act a little bit angry or annoyed.  don't answer when they ask where we are going.  drive to movie theater and see [insert really cool movie title here]
laugh at their faces when they realize they're not in trouble.  
make oldest son cook dinner so i can knit more.
:) knit while waiting for soccer practice to end
BED.

See, that's the kind of list I can do every day.  Well, maybe not the coke for breakfast part.

Signs of Spring

* the furnace only turns on in the evening, overnight, and morning.  during the day it is quiet, mostly!
* there are buds on everything!
* our garlic and onions are sprouting, and the raspberries have little green leaves.
* the sun is coming up earlier every day.
* my online competitive knitting group is gearing up for another three months of crafting.
* i've been weeding.
* the front porch is freshly swept and chairs are set up.
* we moved the bikes from the basement to the garage.

look: baby lilacs!

Baking

So I made cookies.  Not today, though, and they're all gone now.  But, I put sprinkles on them because sugar cookies are better with sprinkles!  See?

(Yes, those are mickey-mouse shaped sprinkles.  I found them at Disneyland.  They make me happy)

In less sugary news, I also made bread yesterday and today.  I'd forgotten how easy this recipe is, and I like being able to add herbs to change its flavor.

Oh, and W is now 15.  He doesn't have his permit yet, but I promise I will warn everyone before I let him drive.  :)

Sunday Afternoon

H decided to make something.  He has been experimenting with different structures, and has figured out which ones are more stable.

M wanted to bake something.  I said "no" because I am a very mean mother, and also because there were no clean dishes, and guess who was responsible for both making the dishes dirty, and for loading the dishwasher?  if you guessed M, you get a gold star.

W fell asleep on the couch. This is a pretty common Sunday afternoon activity for him.  And he's so cute when he's sleeping!  He snores like his daddy.

I was (obviously) taking pictures, and knitting.  But not at the same time.

Jared also took a nap.  In the interest of marital harmony, there are no pictures to prove this.  Nor are there any recordings of the snoring.
Oh!  I do have a picture of the cake pops though.  Well, one cake pop.  The last cake pop.  It's gone now because I ate it. Mmmmmmmm.

The Benefits of Baking

I may have gotten Morgen an Easter present that was really for me.  :) It was a Cake Pop Kit.

I believe...

Bob Ross is a wise man.

also, cookies:

These rather random items are here because they comforted me today.  Jared's unit is working security at the SLC marathon tomorrow.  And in less than a week, Walker can get his driver's permit.  Both of these things are scaring me, for very different reasons.

It must be the oatmeal

I dropped my bowl in the sink yesterday, and managed to break it almost perfectly in half.

The other explanation is aliens, and I don't like that one.

Also, this is my kitchen windowsill:

Yes, there is snow on the lawn outside. Yes, I know it is April.  And yes, that is an egg dipper from Easter.  It isn't put away because I don't know where to put it. But hey, the windowsill is clean.  That other little white thing?  Oh, some kind of bone- vertebrae, I think- that Jared washed off and saved.  I have no idea which animal lost it.  What do you mean, your windowsill has no vertebrae?!?  What kind of a house are you running, anyway?

If you're jealous of my vertebrae, I might be willing to lend it to you, just for a week or two.  But I'll definitely want it back.

Spring Break

Kids had spring break last week.  We drove down to St George after school got out on Friday, then spent Saturday with my SIL's family at Zion's National Park, hiking and playing in the stream there.  We all hiked the short hike to Weeping Rock (picture), then Jared, Walker, Scott, and I went on another hike to Hidden Canyon, and Emily and Morgen took care of the smaller kids.  We all had ice cream afterwards, and I believe Eliza's ice cream cone was equally distributed between her outsides and insides.

Sunday we went to church with them, then drove out to Los Angeles.  We were very lucky- all of Jared's traveling meant we were able to get a 2 bedroom suite with a complete kitchen and living area.  Boys got one room (with its own bathroom, thank goodness!), Morgen slept on the sofa sleeper in the living room, and Jared and I shared the other bedroom/bathroom.  All that space was wonderful!  Especially the part where we had 3 tvs, so there were no wars over what to watch :)

Monday we spent at the pool, doing nothing much (which drove Jared nuts, but he was very understanding and didn't run around the hotel screaming because he was bored...).
We also watched some tv, and bought groceries, and did laundry, and planned what we wanted to do for the rest of the week.

Tuesday was our Disneyland day.  It was quite crowded (which drove Jared nuts, but he didn't run around the park screaming either.  The man has a lot of patience and self-control.), but we managed to ride most of the roller-coasters.  Hyrum rode everything once, then decided he wasn't a fan of the Matterhorn, or Space Mountain, so he begged off of those rides, and I sat out with him.  We stayed until 11pm or so, then everyone was tired and we headed back to the hotel.

Wednesday we spent at the beach- Goff Cove in the Laguna Beach area.  We had a beautiful spot, lots of shade in the morning, and a bit even into the afternoon.  I sat in the shade and knit (and kept myself from crisping to a nicely done shade of red), while everyone else played in the water and sand.  Walker built a rampart of sand next to Jared's moat, then bet him as to which one would crumble under the tide first.  Walker's rampart won.  I do need to point out that his was also 18 inches further away from the tide line than Jared's.  Location is everything!
Thursday was also a beach day- somewhere in Corona del Mar, but since I wasn't driving, I didn't pay attention to the name of the beach.  Lots of cool tide pools, though, and plenty of sand and sun and surf.

Friday we went to the California Science Center in LA, which was free, and quite crowded, but still an interesting visit.  Then we stopped at a yarn shop (hooray!) where I spent about 15 minutes by myself.  This is where I got my souveniers :).  Jared took Hyrum and Morgen to the pool until dinner.  Walker slept (he is, after all, still growing), and I did laundry again. Whee.  Then we packed everything up and went to bed.

Saturday we drove all the way back to Midway, stopping for lunch/dinner at a Japanese buffet in St George.  I have to say that the driving went remarkably well, especially considering our vehicle- we had 5 people, plus luggage, crammed into a Ford Focus.  But we listened to audiobooks (the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan- excellent YA fiction) whenever we were in the car, and had an almost pleasant drive!

Here's the trip in knitting and yarn: all projects were begun and finished during spring break :)

Heartbreaking

My cousin in law's 18-year-old daughter passed away last week.  A clot traveled from her leg up to her lungs, cutting off the oxygen to her brain.  We went to her funeral yesterday.  My heart is breaking for her family.
 

Date Night

So, whenever the stars align, Jared and I go out on a date.  Last week we had a church thing on Saturday evening, so we went out for dinner afterwards:

Those shakes were awesome.  

I finished the knitting project you can see on the table- it's a hat:

And I'm trying to decide if the snow we had two days ago is a sign that I should not be planning my garden.  Actually, I think I'll ignore all the signs of continuing winter, and plan away.  I am really looking forward to fresh peas from our garden. :)

Speaking of gardens, this is what our starts look like now:

We had to scrap the science fair project because EVERYTHING grew.  And while that is awesome news for our gardening, it meant we had no results for the science fair.  Hyrum ended up testing a bunch of fruit to see which ones (besides the lemons) would be able to power a light.  

Jared spent most of last week in the basement, working on a project.  He's pretty happy with the results, and I'm pretty happy that he's finished with them, and able to come upstairs for more than bathroom breaks.

Tomorrow the kids have no school.  That should be interesting...

Supervising

Apparently, bread-making requires supervision.  H is providing this service for his dad.  Notice he has dressed up in honor of this: baseball cap, guitar (instead of a shovel), and a pillow in his shirt to make a cute little potbelly.

Oh, and the bread came out very well, thanks!