Summer Stuff

So far we've had a really fun summer break. Here are a few of the highlights:

• BIKES: Chad and I finally bought bikes. I kid you not, we've wanted bikes every year for the last ten years - pretty much our whole marriage. What took us so long? I have no idea. Anywho, we bought them and LOVE them. We can go on family bike rides now. And Ethan and I have fun riding around together. Yay for us!


• JUNE: Is all about celebrations for us. Within a week span we celebrate Chad's birthday, father's day and our anniversary. We've been married 10 wonderful years!


• DENVER: This is a picture of the Denver roadtrippin' crew, minus Carrie and Fiona (the dog). They were one of our fun little pit stops on the way home. Carrie is the BEST host ever. She had a bottle of water, chapstick and chocolate/candies waiting for us on our beds. She even had our names written on the bottles. I know, she's the best. That was honestly one of Ethan's highlights of the whole trip, was stopping at Carrie and Todd's.
• Well, that's it for pictures on our Denver trip. I decided to take out my camera for the first time on the way home of our 8 day trip. LAME! It was a fun trip, despite the lack o' pics. We got to hang with my brother Ben and his family. Chad came out by plane. The guys played tennis. It rained. We ate. It rained. We ate some more. We visited Adam and Mindi. It rained. We talked. We laughed. We played games. We swam. It rained. And I have no idea what the kids did, they pretty much just entertained themselves the whole time. :)
  
• DRAMA CAMP: Ethan's in drama camp this week. He'll get to be in a play at the end of the week to show off his new acting skills. He was chosen to be the prince in the Princess and the Pea. He's having fun but he's not happy that he's the prince. Its a known fact that he doesn't want to get married so the fact the he's playing the part of a prince looking for a princess really rubs him the wrong way. Other than that he's having a lot of fun.
• AND of course there's all that other fun summertime stuff: Park days, BBQs, free lunch, movies , watermelon, etc.
• WANNA SEE TITO FREAK? It never fails:

All Things Must Come to an End

I'll be honest, I've been counting down the days for the last month (maybe two) until school gets out. Mainly 'cause summer vacation means I don't have to be playground lady. :) Yay for me. Honestly I haven't loved the job, mainly because I feel more like a playground cop. Although there are some parts of the job that are sort of interesting to me. Being the sociology major that I am it's been fun to observe the playground from a Sociologist point of view since elementary school really is its own little society. Since being at the school I've been reminded everyday of my childhood. I've sometimes wondered who I would have been friends with if I were young again, going to that school. It's been intersting to watch the kid's playground habits, how one week they're all about four square, another week it'd be kickball, etc. They always changed. But I wondered what made them change and who instigated it.

I tried to figure out who the "popular" groups were. And what made them popular. I was witness to the birth of a "mean girl." You know that movie Mean Girls? This little kindergartener would have been perfect for that part. I watched how she and her sidekick hung on the monkey bars and the mean girl commanded her to, "DROP!" The sidekick looked at her for a second and just dropped from the monkey bars. It was crazy. I was shocked at the power she had over her friends. A whole group of little kindergarteners followed this mean girl around like a little puppy. I pulled them aside once when the mean girl was off in a huff and tried to help them understand that they didn't have to put up with someone who was being mean to them. They agreed that she was mean and could be a brat sometimes, but they still wanted to be her friend. I tried to figure out what made her so popular. I never could figure it out. Maybe next year.

I wondered why one week a group of fifth grade girls would break up into two groups and be at odds with each other and then be back to playing with each other the next week. Just an FYI, out of all the grades, fifth grade girls bring the most drama to the playground. It made me happy if I was able to catch someone kicking a ball with the intent to abandon, 'cause then I knew just who I'd have run and get it. For some reason that was quite satisfying for me. Probably 'cause I knew I wouldn't have to run and get it. It was interesting how I could memorize who someone was just by the jacket or sweatshirt they'd wear everyday. I took pride in catching someone who was trying to be inconspicuous and have them be amazed at how I knew what they were up to. I enjoyed seeing Ethan out there on the playground and giving him a high five when he came out of the lunch room. I liked knowing when he went to the nurse, then I could go in and make sure he was ok. I liked knowing who the bad kids were and who the good kids were. I enjoyed knowing the teachers and the staff. I felt involved with the school in that reguard. There's something to be said for having a presence at your kid's school.

What I won't miss are the attitudes. That's a whole other post, but I will say this, I've realized that when kids give me attitude, I give attitude right back along with some added sarcasm. Honestly, I can be a bit of a brat and its never one of my most shining moments. Its interesting the things you can learn about yourself out on the playground. Kids these days know a lot more than I knew. It scares me. Does it frighten anyone else that a 1st and 3rd grader were calling out to 1st grade girls, "Hey Sexy! Wanna have sex with me?" I didn't even know what sex was in 1st grade. I probably still thought that children just started appearing out of the blue once you got married at that point. There were other things that I heard that made me want to homeschool Ethan. I wouldn't dare repeat them here. It was interesting when I caught two sixth graders kissing. Oh how they begged me not to tell the principal. I did. I had to. It was also frightening to know that a 5th grade girl had written a detailed account of how she was going to kill a fellow student. The Vice Principal went to the store that day and bought the parents of the girl a gun case with a lock.

Its been fun to get to know the kids. I love seeing their reactions when they see me somewhere outside of school. Some yell out, "Hi supervisor!" Some question me, "Are you the supervisor?" Some avoid eye contact. When Chad and I took Ethan to the school carnival, a group of fifth grade boys started whispering, "Look, there's the supervisor with her boyfriend." Needless to say its been quite an experience. Its been eye opening. And I'm ready for a break from elementary school dramas.

Flashback Friday: Motherhood

A month or two ago at our family get together we started talking about the old days when we were young. Its interesting to hear the different memories that each of us has. We started hearing about the time when my brother Spencer was six or seven and was left at soccer practice all alone, in the dark. On the way to pick him up my mom got in a fender bender (not her fault I might add). By the time she got to the school no one was there except for Spencer, waiting, crying in the dark. I've heard that story many times but for some reason it made me cry this time around. Maybe its because I have a 7 year old and I can't imagine how I would feel if my son were all alone at a dark school waiting for his mom to pick him up. Thank goodness for cell phones and coaches that don't just pick up and leave the kids at school by themselves anymore.

In that same conversation we started talking about early morning seminary and how my mom and dad had to literally rip the covers off our bodies and yank us out of bed every morning. I figured with five kids and some overlap, there was literally 12 years in a row of early morning seminary for my parents. I asked my mom how that was and she immediately answered, "It was hell." That made me laugh.

Some of my favorite memories of my mom are the couple of times the two of us slept outside together on our cots so we could watch the shooting stars when they were at their peak in August. I appreciate her green salads that she prepared every night for dinner. The luches she made me every day including that ball of popcorn. Since most people got chips in their lunches, my popcorn was a hot commodity during the lunchtime trading sessions. Or how we'd follow a fire truck that had the sirens on just to see where it was headed. Don't worry, we didn't follow too closely. Sometimes I wonder what Ethan will remember about me.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day including a lovely breakfast of french toast and hot chocolate made by Chad and Ethan and then a treasure hunt in search of my Mother's day cards which was really cute. I also got to spend some time with my mom while we ate strawberry shortcake together. It was a lovely day. I feel especially grateful for Ethan on Mother's day. I always make sure to thank him for letting me be a mom. Its because of him that I feel very honored and blessed to be a mother. As we've struggled to have another child I have become especially grateful to be a mom and often wonder how in the world I've been so blessed. Where would I be without my Ethan??

Heard Em Yet?

Chad, Ethan and I have been listening to these guys for the last month. They're awesome. This song is from their recent debut album. The bass player (the one holding the boom box) is one of Chad's mission buddies. They'll be on Leno this Friday. Check em out!

While I Was Away...From Blogging

Stuff. There's always stuff going on. Things that keep me from checking blogs and well, writing in my own blog. I know, I know, I'm a bit of a hit or miss blogger. You'll just have to accept that about me.

One of the most exciting things that happened within the last month and a half was getting new floors in our kitchen/dining. Its been a long time coming and I love it. Although we didn't get off to the best start. Chad and I spent no less than 10 hours scraping that stinkin linoleum off the floor, and were only halfway done when we decided there was no way we had the time or energy to finish scraping. It was CRAZY! It was the biggest waste of time, since we should have just layed the Pergo right over it. People told us different things, some told us to take off the linoleum some told us not to. Now we know, don't ever take off the linoleum. That stuff was literally sealed to the wood.

We were originally going to put the floor in ourselves since we kept hearing how easy it was. After the scraping ordeal we decided we'd just fork out the money to pay a professional to put the floor in. That was the best decision we've ever made. Putting in Pergo flooring isn't as easy as they say, especially if you don't have the tools and especially since we...not so handy. We love our new floor and I spent the next week oogling over it. Love it.

In the way of other highlights this past month (or two): My mom turned the big 7-0 in March. Isn't she cute? Me and my sisters had a little brunch for her birthday and I made her wear this birthday hat. I don't think she'd appreciate me posting this close up of her (she's kinda like that) but since she doesn't read my blog she doesn't have to know. :)
We had our annual Easter egg hunt and Easter dinner together. Please note Ethan's cool Halloween basket for Easter egg hunting.
And of course the cousins had their usual trading fest afterwards.For our Primary quarterly activity we decided to do a humanitarian project by collecting donations for an orphanage in Haiti called the Foyer de Sion. We collected beans, rice and clothing for those children there. It was a really great experience. For the actual activity, our Primary children were able to see video footage from the orphanage, learn a Haitian game from a little girl who was recently adopted from that orphanage and lives here now with her family, eat Haitian food and help box up the donations. It was neat to see the ward come together in this humanitarian effort.

After that activity I noticed that Ethan started praying more for the people in Haiti. I hope all the children who participated were able to see their own blessings and think more of those who aren't as blessed as they are.

I Believe In Miracles

On Thursday evening when I got home from a meeting, Chad relayed a message to me that Courtney had left, telling us that my sister-in-law Kathy had gotten in a car accident, but that she was ok. Keep in mind that I have a sister-in-law named Kathy and her daughter's name is Cassi. You can imagine that this would be very confusing when talking about either one of them on the phone. We tend to spend the first minute of a phone conversation just deciphering who we're talking about. Conversations have been known to go something like this: "Now wait, are you talking about Kathy the mom or Cassi the daughter?" "KaTHY with a K or CaSSI with a C?" (emphasis added) "Wait, KaTHY or Cassandra?" Once we're satisfied about whom we're speaking it is only then that we may move on with the conversation. Its always somewhat humorous.

Anyway, upon hearing the news, I called Courtney to get more details. It was then that I found out that it wasn't KaTHY, but CaSSi who was in the car accident and was air lifted to the hospital and was in critical condition. Cassi was a passenger in her friend Sam's car. As they were making a left hand turn their car was t-boned by another car going 55 miles an hour. Their car was pushed up on its side and Cassi had been knocked unconscious. One of the first people on the scene was an off duty firefighter. The firefighter instructed someone to turn Cassi's head in a way that she wouldn't choke on her own vomit. An action that saved her life. Guess where her vomit ended up? Right on her friend Sam. (Just a fun little fact). While in the car waiting for help Sam couldn't get Cassi to respond so he lifted his hand up and gave her a Priesthood blessing. Another action which I believe saved her life. They had to cut Cassi out of the car and then airlifted her to the hospital. After much testing, they have found that Cassi has bruising on her lungs and some scratches on her legs. The doctors are amazed that those are her only injuries. No internal bleeding. No broken bones. And she's alive! It really is a miracle. She's doing ok. In some pain of course, but they're hoping she can leave the hospital today. Its times like these that I realize how precious life is. Life as I know it can change at any moment and it helps me appreciate all those important people in my life even more.

In the way of other news: My mom's surgery went well and she is recovering splendidly.

Blog Worthy

You know how my mom has colon cancer and had 14 inches of her colon removed in August? After the doctors did a biopsy on the part of the colon that was removed they found cancer in the lymph nodes. It had also metastasized to her liver. That's when they decided to start the six necessary rounds of chemo immediately, which she just finished. Its been an uncertain time for our family and especially for my mom. WELL, after some testing her cancer has officially gone into REMISSION!!! Let me repeat that, its officially GONE, out of her body, see ya later cancer! (I of course know that remission doesn't mean it'll be gone forever, it could come back, but hopefully it won't and if it does I hope it won't be for many years). To hear that the cancer went into remission has been such a relief and I've felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Its a miracle. My mom is a fighter and I admire her strength and positive attitude through this whole ordeal. Even though its technically in remission, she'll be going into surgery on Wednesday to get the part of her liver removed where the cancer was and then she'll have to endure another 6 rounds of chemo. Keep her in your prayers for us.

NOW, in the way of other good news of the much more trivial sort: I'm officially retired from lugging a big ol' bag to church every week. I realize this doesn't seem like a big deal but I know that any mom who has been doing the same thing knows what a dream it is to have free hands and shoulders at church. It started off being a diaper bag but after seven years had morphed into a big bag o' crap filled with activities, snacks and treats to keep Ethan entertained during church. I'm no longer doing it. I am done. And I have to admit, its literally been a huge wait lifted off my shoulder, and my back. My official church bag is....drum roll please...

This pretty little number. It holds those church essentials: mints, lip gloss and keys. Oh, and a couple pieces of candy to use in case Ethan starts getting wiggly. Its a very effective bribing method I like to use. Now Ethan gets to sit there, like a big boy and play tic-tac-toe and hangman like we all used to do during sacrament meeting.