Gardening

We met Nate and Saxon down at Thanksgiving Point yesterday, and walked through the gardens there. I got pics of my kids in the mazes, and all the kids in the wading pool around the Noah's Ark sculpture. The gardens are beautiful, and I'm really glad there was so much shade :) One bad sunburn per summer is about all I can handle...

Sunburns and swimming lessons

So can anybody tell me why, when I put sunscreen on, I get sunburned? And not just a little bit, but bright pink don't-touch-my-legs-or-I'll-scream burned. Hmmph. Good thing Jared tans well, and that he passed that skin down to our kids. Got pics of M and H at swim lessons this week. Since H's hair is wet, you can't see that he's bleached blond from all the sun he's had this week :) And Morgen's at the diving pool- it really is that blue :)

Tools are a fine, fine thing

IF you have a husband who knows how to use them :).

You may already know that my dh cooks well. That's important to know for this story! Jared had just finished baking some of his very tasty and completely made-up-by himself cheesy biscuits. He left them in the oven [turned off now] to keep them warm while he finished cooking chicken for our Sunday dinner. Morgen, who was in the kitchen bugging her dad [I mean helping LOL], was warned several times to stay away from the stove. As in, "Don't touch that!!" So, the first thing she does when Jared's distracted? Yep. She touched the stove. Actually, she pulled the lever on our SELF-CLEANING OVEN that turned on the self-cleaning mode, and broke it, so the oven was locked shut, with the biscuits still inside. Jared had to unscrew the front of the oven [did YOU know that the front of your oven can come off? I sure didn't...], and pull and wrench some metal thingies, but he finally saved the biscuits. :)And, he put the stove back together and fixed the lever [which we never use, but it was a nice thought]. Pretty impressive, eh? Yeah, I married Superman. ;)

Moving on

We took a big bag of stuffed animals and blankets to the Boys' and Girls' Club of Utah today. I kept the kids out of school long enough for them to come with me [this is the last week, and I'm sure they missed some very important movie...]. I didn't think it would be a big deal to hand off that bag. The blanket was a gift from the Medical Examiner's office, and had no sentimental value at all. Neither did the stuffed animals- we received them from many sources, and I let the kids pick out a few to keep, but we had no need for that many, and didn't feel right just throwing them away. Anyway, I handed the bag over to a lady at the B&G club office, and got all choked up. Then, of course, Morgen wanted to know why I was so sad, and I couldn't answer without crying, so I kept quiet. She repeated the question [standard behavior for her] until she finally got an answer- I got frustrated enough w/her repeating that question that my tears dried up :). So, I guess it's a good thing I brought my kids with me LOL.

And, in other news, I have a nephew: Owen! He was 7 pounds 9 oz [brother Luke was 7' 10" and sister Val was 7' 8"- or maybe it was the other way around]. And he looks adorable. Way to go, Emily!!!

So I was all pumped

about this week being the last week of school...








or NOT. Turns out that my kids have school through June 5th. That bites. In fact, the last two days are pretty much a waste of time- awards assembly and a half-day of watching movies in class. Yeah. Oh, not that any of the days next week are actually devoted to LEARNING anything, but Tuesday is their annual Field Day [similar to a carnival, but usually outside and the school pays for the rides and stuff]. Monday, well, Monday is another 'let's watch movies' day. sigh. I am so terribly ready for the summer, and our trips, and to have 2 weeks of school after Memorial Day just seems wrong to me. :)
Although to judge by the weather- wet, cold, and rainy every day this week- we're still in early spring...

We had a very wet Memorial Day weekend :). Monday we drove up to Heber to visit Myles' grave, and spent some time geocaching afterwards. And it rained almost all day long. I swear, I felt like I was in Iowa! I haven't had to water my garden at all this week.

N 40° 39 W 112° 01

If you have a GPS, you now have close to the exact coordinates for our home :) [don't laugh, I had to edit it for national security reasons LOL]. My Mother's Day present was a little GPS unit, and we went geocaching Monday night. We got coordinates for 2, found both of them, and we've got the bug! Since we ended up at a park, we let the kids play 'till it was time to go home. We talked about what Myles would be doing if he were here. It's good to remember, and getting less painful.

And, the other day, someone noticed a toddler in a car and called the police, who broke the window and rescued him. That's the silver lining in our cloud right now.

Memories

I'm sure this will get easier with time. Right now, I am thankful for all the pictures I have that help me remember Myles.

I can't promise to post as often; we're working to find a new daily routine here. But our family has been greatly blessed during the past week and a half. We can feel the prayers and good wishes supporting us all. Thank you. We are more grateful than we can express.

Where in the world...

is my husband today? LOL, okay, I know where he is- on a plane, headed for Casablanca, Morocco. Then on to Rabat. And, for those of you who have forgotten your African geography [I'm raising my own hand here], Morocco is located on the northern coast of Africa, across the Meditterranean Sea from Spain and the Rock of Gibralter. It's also the setting for the movie, "Casablanca" which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Oh, and my sister has a few friends who live there. And that's absolutely the limit of my knowledge about Morocco. So here's some snazzy pictures that I found on that wonder of information, the internet!





And that's all for our tidbit of Morroco culture for today!

Today in lists

- I stayed up till 5am reading, because I wasn't tired enough to go to bed. I finished 6 1/2 books before my eyes started drooping.

- Got at the grocery store: creamy peanut butter, bread, noodles, milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, carrots, apples, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper [because Hyrum asked for it, and 4-year-olds don't normally ASK for vegetables], olives, celery, broccoli, granola bars, corned beef, potatoes, spray starch, ice cream, cheese- cheddar, parmesan, mozzerella, and eye shadow [because I dropped mine in the toilet yesterday]

- Places I drove today: dropped a friend off at a meeting in SLC, drycleaner's to pick up Jared's uniform pants, Gardner Village for some yarn and needles [and 2 donuts to share between Hyrum, Myles, and myself], grocery store, gas station, and back home.

- I made: breakfast [oatmeal and chocolate milk], lunch [pb&j sandwiches plus a granola bar], and dinner [chicken and rice], knit half of a dishrag, piles of clean laundry on my couch that are still waiting to be folded, plans for Saturday, a trip next door to visit my neighbor, another list of books I want to look through, Myles spit out the dogfood he was tasting, and my kids mad by forcing them to play outside while the weather's nice.

Writing practice

So, Morgen got into trouble the other day [Jared handled it, not me] and later that day she handed me a sheet of paper. She took it upon herself to write down some sentences:
1. I will not be mean to Walker and Hyrum. [her own sentence]
2. Honner thy father and mother so thy Days shal be long. [I did not assign her these!]
3. I sall love one another as I have loved you.
4. I will not be rude. [back to her own sentences now]
5. Some times ther are thins a girl shold Never do no mater how raty her brother is. [Oh my goodness, ROTFLOL!!! Thank heaven she handed me the paper and walked out of the room LOLOL!!!]