The Hike

Thad and the scouts made it home safe and sound on Saturday. After 6 days, and 56 miles of hiking, they made it from Mammoth to Yosemite with only minor trauma. They were swarmed by mosquitos, blistered feat, and Sunday all of their noses were pealing from sunburns, but other than that, all is well. Here are some pictures Thad took on the hike. He took several hundred. Here is a shot at the church building before they left. Apparently they dubbed themselves "the fellowship of the Half Dome" and gave each other names from the movie.

Surprisingly there is only one bear story from the trip, and of course it was Thads. He went fishing just before dinner to get a "treat" for the boys and a man and his little girl came up to the river and asked if they could watch him fish. I guess they'd never seen fly fishing. He'd already caught a few fish and had them in a bag in his vest, so when he caught the next one he backed over out of the river by his audience.
The guy said, "I can't believe you didn't run."
Thad: "Run? why?"
Guy: "From that bear"
Thad: "What bear?"
Guy: "It was right behind you, look I took a picture."
and sure enough there is a big bear just watching Thad and the fish in his vest flop around.
Thad: "Why didn't you run? or say something?"
Guy: "Well, I thought if you were okay being that close, we were okay."
Thad: "I didn't see it!"

So Andi's nightly prayers that Daddy and the boys would be protected from the bears were answered. She also started praying for us to be protected while Daddy was gone in a disturbing fashion. I said prayer the first night and she asked me,
"Mom, is Heavenly Father protecting us from bad guys?"
Me: "Yes, He is."
Andi: "What do the bad guys want to do to us?"
Me: "uh, I don't know Andi."
Andi: "Do they want to kill us?"
Me: "Maybe, don't worry about it. We're fine."
So every night she prayed to make sure the bad guys did not come and kill us. Creepy.

We are working on getting Sammy to talk more. He will now say a few more words, but only if you tell him to, or withhold what he wants till he says it. He has started saying Andi(nani), out, drink, nose, toes, moon, tv, sippy, up, and hello. He signs please, and more, but that's about it. He's just a stubborn little beast, and I'm pretty sure when he feels like it he'll start talking like crazy.

Perspective

For the last two days I've been meaning to get on and post some big time ranting and complaining, but my internet has been very finicky and every time I tried to get on to blogger it would die. Today however I have had a change of perspective and don't feel like complaining and voila, the internet and blogger are working just fine. I think it's a message. I will just say that being sick, and having sick children when your husband is out of cell reach on a week long scout hike is no fun.

This morning the kids and I were in the yard and I noticed my stargazers are finally opening. Okay, so only one is opening and it was just starting to open, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. Then I went around taking pictures of all my lovely flowers and I thought i'd share some of my favorites. These are in the back yard.

Like I said, it was just starting to open, and somehow while taking the picture I didn't notice that little green spider.

This seems to be the last of the magnolia blooms for the year.

Our hibiscus plants are so full of color!

These hydrangeas are all along the front of the house. I love the different colors each plant has.

Whatever these are, are in a pot by the front door. They are so dainty ;)

And this is the pumkpin patch, which is trying to climb out of it's little gate and take over everything.

We've got about a dozen of these so far.

Andi's two favorite things to do are "crafts," and making "homes." Today she lucked out and got to do both. She was very specific about her craft today and said she wanted to make hats out of paper. Riiiiight. . . . so pipe cleaners, scrapbooking paper, glue dots and stickers, and this is as good as it gets. That's her "home" behind them made out of a sheet and the dinning room chairs.

With Thad gone my evenings have been pretty productive. I made a baby blanket and matching burp cloth for my sister's shower in a couple weeks, and am halfway through formatting my 2009 blogbook. I'm also halfway through Wuthering Heights, gotta say, I don't love it and I'm not sure why it's a "classic" other than it's old. I mean well written, sure, but the story is depressing and I'm pretty sure the bad guy wins. Lame. Those Bronte girls and their "realistic" books. . . give me a happily ever after Jane Austen any day!

Happy Holiday Weekend!

What a weekend! I'm not sure I like long weekends anymore, they never feel restful. I think I/we forget that one extra day is really just that, and we try to cram a whole weeks worth of activities into the extra day. This weekend for example  we spent friday evening shopping for the upcoming scout 50 miler, I had a primary activity on Saturday morning, bought fireworks that afternoon, and had a BBQ with Thads family that night. Then Sunday, the usual primary responsibilities, but with half the ward being out of town it felt like a total fiasco, then dinner/my birthday cake/fireworks with my family. We got to bed way too late, but the kids loved it. . . or maybe just Andi did. Sam did not like the noise the fireworks made.  This is how Andi watched the show.

And this is how Sammy watched the show.

Thad took him further back from the fireworks and covered his ears during the noisy stuff and then after each one Sammy would raise his head and clap, then hide again as soon as the next one started.

There was no BC show this year, so we made our own, which was pretty sweet if I say so myself. At least we impressed Andi and her friends.Here are the kiddos all excited to start the show, note Andi's pose, that she does now for every picture. Ridiculous.

The totem pole of fire!

Then Monday when we all finally got out of bed we packed up the truck and headed up to the mountains to check out a couple of trail options for Thads big hike this coming weekend. I've never been car sick before, but I did this time and it was wicked! So we stopped at a general store somewhere up the mountain to get some Dramamine, which helped greatly. But then the "marked drowsiness" set in and I fell asleep while Thad played with the kids by the river and  It took till this morning to really kick the stupor, that stuff is strong! That night after the kids went down Thad and I divided up all the food for the weeks hike, which included measuring out dried fruit and trail mix into "daily rations."
So today I feel like relaxing. Maybe it's the Dramamine sill, but I need a nap!

Summer Fun!

Okay so last night I temporarily lost my mind and went to a midnight showing of Eclipse. The whole day I could not figure out why I was going. I didn't even really like the first two movies, they were lame. But even though I feel like I've been hit by a bus this morning, I am glad I went. It was a blast, and the movie was so much better than the first two. It stayed much truer(is that even a word?) to the book, the actors finally got the characters figured out and stopped acting like cracked out twitchy freaks, and they included a lot of the funny parts of the book that were left out of the first two. I think those directors focused way too much on the whole teenage angst aspect and ignored a lot of the other details. But this one was fabulous. Loved it.
We have been swimming a lot lately and Thad has been playing with the waterproof camera. Here are some shots of the kids in the pool the other night.
I liked this action shot, and don't worry, Sammy stood up right after she landed and jumped in as well.

Fun under water shot.

Sammy really wanted the camera.

Underwater shot of The Belly, and the sun ;)

I just really liked Andi's cute little ballet toes.

And this is how we Sam out of the pool. Bribe him with apricots from my parents tree.

A - you're adorable!

Today was Andi's first dance recital. She absolutely loved it. From the costume, to the make-up, to being on stage and having everyone clap for her, she loved it. I loved being backstage and watching her and feeling like I was sharing something amazing with her because it was always such a joy for me. She is dancing at my old studio, at the same theater we always performed in, and 24 years after I did my first show it still holds the same excitement and anticipation and it was bizarre and fun to see it from this perspective. Here she is at home before the show.

And haming it up backstage. 

With her teacher Miss Stephanie, who I actually taught before I went away to school .

And one of both of us with Miss Cathy, who taught me from the beginning. I can't even explain how happy I am that Andi get's to experience dancing with this amazing woman.

Clones

So last week we saw on the local news a fathers day contest was going on. The "spittin image" contest where people sent in a picture of them and their dad and who ever looks the most alike wins. Of course Thad couldn't resist, so we sent in this picture, which doesn't even really do the clone-ishness of these two justice. But they won anyway. Now we are waiting to find out what they won ;)

blah

Sammy has been sick this last week, which has made it a very long week. He started coughing Friday morning and just kept getting worse, so Monday we were at his Dr bright and early to get some antibiotics for this new strain of pertussis that is going around town right now. Yes, they vaccinate for that, but I guess this strain is new. Lovely. I think there is also something in the yard making his allergies nuts because we were out back for seriously 2 minutes Monday before he came over to me fussing because his whole face was draining. Eyes, nose, mouth(because his throat hurt so he was drooling a lot). But he seems to be feeling much better today, thankfully. Here his is having a breathing treatment and holding the mask all by himself. Andi used to fight me on this until she was like 3, but I think Sammy gets that it helps him feel better so he just holds it while we read books.

Andi would really like Sammy to get better so we can resume our afternoon pool routine. I sent her over to a friends Tuesday because she just kept asking me to take her to Grandmas to swim, and when I'd say no she would say, "Mom, just call someone to take care of Sam and we can go swimming."
I also started P90X this week and am proud to say that I am only slightly limping today, as opposed to the hobbling around I was doing last weekend. Andi's daily swimming routine is what motivated me to get working out.
Today is Andi's last day of dance class for the summer. Her recital is next weekend and she is really excited about the costume and make-up. We'll see what she does when she has to go out on that big stage. I have a feeling we'll have a harder time getting her off the stage than on.

Has it really been a week?!

It's been an interesting week. Thad was in Vegas for a few days last week doing another training, got home Thursday night and came home from work Friday with the news that he had to leave again on Sunday morning. So we crammed as much as we could into Saturday and got a lot accomplished. One of the things Thad worked on was finishing the entertainment center re-vamp from a few weeks ago, and he had some help.

"This is where it goes Daddy"

"Oh, let me do it."

"There, perfect!"

Sammy get's so excited when he hears the power tools going, and can entertain himself for hours with a plain old screwdriver .

We got a new hose reel for the backyard, which has turned into just one more thing for Sammy to climb. 

And, despite the "fence" we put around the garden to keep the kids out, they sneak in to dig. 

Yes, he's rubbing dirt in his hair. Awesome.

We finally got to the bank yesterday and brought Thad's truck home. And now we are fighting over who gets to park in the driveway ;)

You say Good-Bye and I say Hello

I'd like you to meet Thad's new friend. He is going to come live with us this week.

Mater will be retiring (for the second time) to Thad's parent house where Thad can still visit him on occasion. Farewell Mater!

Memorial Day

For the first time in three years we remembered to bring our camera to the Memorial Day festivities. Which was a very good thing because Thad's Mom was not there to be our paparazzi like usual. She was up north with Tenille and Matt helping out with the newest grand baby, who I'm told is a perfect angel already :) I'll call you in two weeks Tenille and you can let me know how things are going then ;) Congrats you two, and good luck!
We started the morning off at the cemetery and then headed to G&G Richards for the annual BBQ/swim party extravaganza. Thankfully there were no sunburns or fun island casualties to report. Just a ton of good food and fun with G&G and the Morgan cousins.

This is the face Sammy made, accompanied by gasping and pointing, whenever he saw a flag. Keep in mind we were at a cemetery on Memorial Day. LOTS of flags.

He finally stole one from one of the cousins, whose parents wisely brought their own so they didn't have to keep chasing their kids to stop them from yanking up all the flags.

Thad brought the water proof camera this year and had fun playing with it in the pool. He even took a video while doing a front flip into the pool, just to see what it looks like. If you watch it too many time you will probably puke. But this one if from halfway in the water.

And this is how excited Andi was all day. In the few minutes she was taking a break to eat she said, "Mom, I love this day!"

Sammy was pretty brave around the pool.

No, we did not let him jump off the diving board, and that is the face he made when Thad told him to smile. Mostly he sat by the steps in the shallow end playing with squirt guns or trying to get Thad to let him play with the camera.

It was a great day, and seems to be the official kick off to summer. It's been crazy hot ever since.