Week Eleven, Summer's Last Heaven

The last week of summer came without ribbons, it came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. (Wait, wrong season.) In fact, our last week came with plenty of wrapping and fuss because Fête Day was that week, but we all know that Fête Day needs its own post. Plus, that wasn't until the end of the week. Plenty of adventure happened before then.

Let's go back to the beginning of the week.

MONDAY: Neilsen's were still in town. We had a great evening grilling and playing 4-Square. (Four-Sqaure is the new favorite around here. We realized that the sport court out back has four-square lines and we got an official ball and we love it. We make up our own rules like Bombs and Corner Bombs. I like Double-Tap and Dad likes playing Vanilla, although he added a weird Dodge-ball rule recently. Eric created the Mighty King, and June likes making everyone start in their corners. It is loads of fun.

TUESDAY: Ivory got to go to a swim party with her activity day group the week before, but they had a chance to go again. (Super spoiled to get two swim parties.) They were short a leader, so they invited me to come, and I brought the whole gang. The girls had so much fun swimming. I had mostly a lot of fun. There were several squirt guns and I told the kids that the rule was that you could only squirt someone who wanted to be squirted. So, can you guess who they squirted the whole time?? Me. There were times I couldn't get a word in edgewise because so much water was drowning my face. The pool was a residential pool and it had some cool features I hadn't seen. I really liked the small ledge that went around the deep end. There are always kids clinging to the sides of the deep end, but with the ledge, they could stand and play there.

WEDNESDAY: The day started busy with June off to do DRA testing. I got the harder job taking Robyn in for three teeth to be extracted. I was nervous because we went to Half Price Dental Clinic for the first time. I was nervous because when you save money, it seems they might be skimping in other places, and you sure don't want incompetent people working on your teeth. I was telling a friend that I was nervous for Robyn because I know how painful the anesthetic shots can be. She was saying, "Don't worry, they numb the gums beforehand. She will be fine."

I'm thinking about this conversation as Robyn sat in the chair. Then in comes the doctor, talks to her for about 1.2 minutes and then says, "Let's get this thing going," and he opens her mouth and starts administering shots. NO NUMBING GEL WHATSOEVER. (Guess we know where they skimp now.) Supposedly they are attached to a dental college, so they get their supplies for a huge discount from the college, but I am aghast that they can't spring for numbing gel...at least for the kids.

Robyn was a super champ though and even her ankylose teeth that were fused to the bone came out easily. So far I would recommend Half Price Dental, but only with a warning that they give shots first and ask questions later. Here is Robyn with her three teeth ready for the tooth fairy. Her smile is not quite back in place yet.

THURSDAY: I can't remember what we did during the day on Thursday, but in the evening we went to a Mother/Daughter activity in the canyon. (That means me and FIVE girls. Tyler spent his evening getting us a new camera.) It was a beautiful night and almost a bit chilly with occasional bursts of rain. Ivory jumped right in doing what Ivory does best.

Dinner was potluck style and everyone found something they liked.

There was a pinata and everyone but Daisy took a swing at it. (Daisy does not like blindfolds.)

There were a lot of hula hoops for the kids to play with. I put all my kids in one and took a picture.

And because it was a Mother/Daughter activity, they had someone taking pictures of the mothers and daughters. I have to say, I am pretty proud of my bunch and I love spending time with them.

FRIDAY: The week was quickly sinking into the horizon. The Hulse's invited us to the park and to go swimming and I figured it was a great way to spend the end of the week. (Another day without pictures. Sometimes I just gotta have fun without documenting, although that almost always leads to regrets of not bothering to take a few shots.) We stayed out long enough that I got another sunburn. (What does that make? Like four or five this summer? I even put on three coats of sunscreen. Nailed it.)

We came home and made it just moments before Grandma Cazier showed up. She came to take Daisy out for her birthday. (Yes, Daisy's birthday was a while ago, but G'ma Cazier is so busy, we were happy she found a day to come visit.) They had a blast shopping together. There is something special about one on one time.

But you'd better believe once she came back everyone pounced on her. They wanted to show off their baby book. (Big surprise.)

SATURDAY: Also know as Fête Day!!!! I already told you it gets its own post. The color was gray. Very cheery. But it was one of the best yet.

p.s. Not sure what day this happened on, but June made another pretzel alphabet. They take a lot of work, so I feel the need to preserve them in a picture. We have a smaller version here.

Week Ten, Checking in Again

I won't lie...school has only been going a week and I am exhausted. People think I sent four kids back to school, but in reality, I have signed myself up for four different grades. The catch is that I don't attend class, but I am still responsible for all the homework. No, I don't DO the homework. But I have to know the intricate details of each class and when each assignment is due. It would be nice to trust the kids to get everything in on time, but that isn't realistic for the younger ones, and the older ones have planners that I have to check off each evening regardless. Today I supervised and checked one class job application, corrected one math assignment, checked a homework sheet, practiced spelling words and raced the clock, read beginner level books, edited one essay, and helped take pictures for an upcoming assignment. And that is TUESDAY folks. No wonder I fell asleep while Tyler was talking to me yesterday. I'm beginning to think Education Week was the easy week.

But before I start lamenting school (which I really do love) I need to finish up the summer. Egads, I must get this off my plate. Week ten was great...not that I can remember that far back. We painted rocks. (Actually, I lie. We painted those earlier, but I can't remember which week.) It has taken me weeks and weeks to take pictures of the rocks. By now they have all stuck to each other and have had paint peel off in odd places. Take pity on them. They were once just right.

The ones on top I painted. I call them my 'Granny Girls.' I do not think one of the kids is plump....that is just the rock I had.

Ivory painted the cute minion. Here you can see some of June's designs with the swirls, and Robyn's have holiday designs.

The ones on the left here are mostly the littles' rocks. They loved painting. I think they would be happy to paint every day.

The real activity that took up all of week ten was scrapbooking. I got the supplies out on Tuesday and we then proceeded to scrapbook for the next four days straight. The older kids LOVED it. I have baby books for each girl, but I have only done the first year of baby pictures. All the other birthday pictures were stacking up. Each girl took their stack and went to town. They did every picture I had. Every. One. They are so proud of their books. If you came over and asked to see their baby books, they would be so excited to show you. I meant to take pictures of each girl holding up their favorite page, but I never got that far. But I did get a couple during the mad scrapping days.

The weekend came and we went to the temple.

Then the Neilsen's came to visit. Remember how we saw them recently? Well, it was our turn to host. They had a crazy schedule visiting both sides of their family, but they were so nice to spend a day with us. We had them over on Sunday and invited friends to visit all evening. It was SO nice to chat with everyone. Camille is one of my favorite people of all time. We stayed up late and gabbed. Love her.

The next day we played some more, but the time was gone too quickly. (Eric, we will forever remember the 'Mighty King' in 4-square.) We sure love the Neilsen's and we hope we see them again soon. Sending happy thoughts and kisses on the breeze all the way to Seattle.

One more week of summer to document, and it may be the busiest yet. They say you have to cram it all in at the end and we sure did. Stay tuned...

Back to School

Last night we went to back-to-school night and I had a moment, looking around the all too familiar halls, where I felt like we had never left. Did we have a summer? Where did it go so quickly? Are we truly back to homework and projects and the grind?

Yes....yes we are.

This morning was a crazy rush of herding kids out the door at the appropriate hour. But we all made it, and even more shocking--I got pictures. Let's take a look at my lovelies and their favorite things at this point in time.

Can't believe they are all getting so big. I am slightly in denial about Daisy being in school all day, but I do like that she can ride the bus with her sisters. Aren't they so cute waiting for the bus?

I would like to say that Pearl and I had a fantastic day of bonding, but instead I went to Education week. In fact, this will be an insane week of running away at every possible moment to go to classes. Don't worry, I deliberately came home in the afternoon to welcome children with fresh baked cookies. This made me feel less guilty when I wasn't home to tuck them in tonight. Pearl and I will have to do some extra bonding next week.

In case you were wondering my burn is doing much better. Dad, I can't thank you enough for the Carrasyn gel. It was a life saver. My arm looked so good the second day, and didn't hurt at all. There is still a blister that could potentially pop, but I am being careful. It hasn't slowed me down hardly at all.

And now I must run to bed in order to get up and do it all again tomorrow. Phew.

Give Me a Break...Or a Burn

That is the face I make when Tyler takes a picture of me while I am icing my burn.

In a Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup accident today, I received second degree burns on my arm. Not the smartest move I've made this week, but it is only Monday.

Besides back-to-school pictures, I'm not sure how much blogging I will be doing this week. I'll see if I can keep up.

I do have to give a shout out to my knight in shining armor. I sent Tyler this message:

When one spills boiling soup on oneself and blisters ones arm, one sure wishes one didn't have to clean up one's own stupid mess. Ow.

and he raced home to offer assistance. I told him I could handle it, but he wanted to be there just in case. And the ice he gave me was quite a big help. (The picture....less so.)😞

Ogden Temple

I feel we are very blessed to live near so many temples here in Utah, and even more blessed to be able to see new ones being built and being able to take the kids inside for a tour. We try to make it a priority, even if it means a long drive. We saw the Draper Temple when the kids were little. We saw the Brigham City Temple when it was built. And now the Ogden Temple is to be re-dedicated, so I jumped online as soon as possible to get tickets for our family to attend. (I'm also excited because the Payson and City Center Temples will also be finished in the near future.)

It wasn't too long a drive to get there. We were scheduled for an evening tour, so we were racing the sun and I was hoping we would still have light when we exited the temple. Here we are arriving.

A kind lady took a family photo for us.

I am not very good at knowing what each temple looks like, so I was surprised to realize that the Ogden Temple was one that looked like Provo. Here are some interesting facts I found out. The Provo Temple was announced 10 days before the Ogden temple, but they were built at the same time and the Ogden Temple was completed and dedicated almost 3 weeks before the Provo Temple, making them the 14th and 15th operating temples. And they looked very similar. The Provo Temple did not have a Moroni on top until 2003, and I'm frankly not sure about the Ogden Temple. (It seems to have a Moroni in all the pictures, but it is hard to find a Provo picture without one now as well.) This is the Ogden Temple before.

2004, Rick Satterfield

And now it looks very different.

It is more fun each time we walk through the temple with the girls. I was pleasantly engaged in discussion with June through the whole building. She peppered me with questions and we were able to whisper our way down the hallways. I saw Tyler had his hands full answering questions from Robyn, Ivory, and Daisy. But it is great to able to talk with our children about the temple and its importance.

When we exited, there was still some light left. Group shot with Tyler. (I lamented that he wasn't wearing the same tie as before, but in looking back at other pictures, Pearl is wearing the same dress that she wore two years ago.)

Everyone, look at Moroni.

He is really high up there.

And don't forget a group shot with Mom. The water features are new for the temple and quite nice.

Here is Swirly Pearl, and her just a little too small dress.

As we left the temple, we passed by a clock that the girls insisted I take a picture of. They said it looked like a fantasy clock. And it does. You can almost see the white rabbit scurry underneath and Alice running behind.

I sure love my family and all the crazy chaos and happiness that comes with them. I am happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have temples that seal my family throughout eternity. Heaven wouldn't be heaven without them.

Kuh....King

I'm a little behind in my blogging duties. I'm not even sure what happened in week ten, let alone have pictures to put on here. But I will try and get my life organized. If anything, I should have a lot of down time in about six days when the majority of my distractions will be at school six hours a day. However, my main goal this school year is to NOT ignore Pearl, or resort to dissolving her brain slowly with the television. At the same time, I think I have earned some time to myself. It is tricky balance, but I think I can come up with something.

In the meantime, someone completed her resolutions for 2014!! (Hint: It is not me. Sadly, I have not even thought about herbs this year. I still have time...)

That was Pearl in January.

Just last night, she was asking for gum for the millionth time this week. (Uh...gum. How I dislike thee.) Despite having told her 'No' for the millionth time this week, I stopped short and said, "Pearl, say 'gum' again. (Besides the 'k' sound, Pearl struggles with the 'g' sound. When she asks for 'gum' she usually says 'dum'. This breaks up the monotony of the constant asking, because at least I giggle to myself when she wants 'dum.')

Pearl: Gum. (Said perfectly.)

Mom: Wow, that was fantastic. Hey, say King.

Pearl: King. (Also said correctly)

Mom: WHAT?!?!! That is amazing. Say kite, kitten, and girl.

Needless to say she got all the words I threw at her. She still trips up sometimes and says a 'd' sound instead of 'g', but she now knows the difference. I'm so proud of her, but I will miss her saying "Cha-ching" instead of "Kuh-King." Love my sweety Pearl.

Week Nine Was Mighty Fine

Another week under our belts. What I really need to do is fix my camera, because I am mighty tired of using my phone for everything. To be clear, the camera still works, the LCD screen still does NOT work, and I might need to get used to taking pictures I can't see. I mean, isn't that how it always worked in the old days? One would take pictures, drop off film, and see the final products a week later. As it is now, I would only have to wait until I got home to plug the card into my computer. Seriously, why am I being so dumb? Resolution in place. Better pictures starting today. (Well...tomorrow.)

This last week was fun. On Monday, Robyn and I went to a play together. It is the third play we have attended in the Youth Season at the Hale Center Theater. I think this one was my favorite so far. It was Cinderella. They had an epic slow motion chase scene. At the end, we got a picture with the princess.

Our field trip this week was simple. We went miles away to the BYU Creamery. Always love a trip out for ice cream.

And a selfie every now and then.

The coolest part of my time at the Creamery was running into a friend from the old hood. I grew up with her and her sister and admired them both. June was nice enough to take a picture of me with Makell.

The rest of the week held great adventures for us. Tyler's brother, J.R., was nice enough to bring the boat down for a youth activity. But since he was going to be down here....with a boat....we figured we should introduce the kids to some water fun. (I'm thinking that June and Robyn may have been boating before, but if so, they were young enough that they don't remember.)

The weather was less than ideal. It was windy, a little rainy, and the water was pretty choppy. But that didn't stop us. If you are boating, you are already planning to get a little wet.

J.R. was our designated driver. Look, he is almost as handsome as his brother.

I think we are all ready to go. Can you see the monster tube we are pulling back there?

I have never seen one quite like it. It is made for three people. You can lie down and hang on, or there are hand holds up top and you can stand and try your luck that way. I found it is easier to remain on the craft if you are lying down. But I wasn't the first to test it out. Here are our first three victims volunteers.

They actually did quite well. Look at them out there having a frolickingly good time.

They made it look so easy that even Pearl thought she would give it a go. The next three up were me, June, and Pearl. I was concerned that Pearl would not be able to hold on and she would slip off the back. Ironically, we had the opposite problem. The nose of the tube and the rope were a bit underwater and as the boat started off, water flowed over the top and pulled us down. Three bodies slid forward into the drink. Pearl was not ecstatic about her first tubing experience. I hoisted her back on the tube and shivering she pointed to the boat and said, "I want to go back on there." And so ended her foray into the water. (There is always next time.)

Everyone took turns on the tube. Daisy finally decided to take a turn. (I'm thinking that she was hesitant after watching Pearl's adventure.) Tyler was driving and he took it nice and slow for her and she never fell off. She decided that she was the BOSS of tubing.

Everyone else got dunked at least once. The girls took a tumble or two.

Robyn was super brave going with J.R. alone. He tends to bounce around quite a bit. (I think his ultimate goal is to end up in the water.)

And if he doesn't fall off, he just jumps right in.

I got to drive the boat once, and I dumped both Tyler and J.R., but I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with my driving.

June was freaking amazing at holding on. One trip, I was half in the water, and June must have been more than half submerged, but somehow she managed to hold on. Every time I thought she was gone for sure, I would look back to see her clinging to something. She was quite determined to remain onboard.

The last run, no one fell off. I was frozen since the weather never got all that sunny. After two people disembarked, J.R. thought he would toss me in the water by turning the tube on its end. However, my icicle grip hadn't released, and I just held on as he lifted the tube. It was funny to see his head pop over the side and his quizzical look that I was still clinging to the tube, and was not in fact, in the water.

It was great fun. I was a little nervous taking pictures at high speeds. I was forever worried my phone was going to go flying overboard, but it survived in one piece. I even had time to take a selfie.

And Pearl, despite her first abysmal take-off, was pretty chipper the rest of the time.

(That is, as long as she had a blanket.) Thank you so much J.R., for taking us boating.

Thursday, I skipped making a treat, because I was saving up to make fudge on Sunday. When finally made, it looked really good, but I didn't like it as well because I used milk chocolate chips. It was just too sweet. Note to self...stick to the Semi-sweet chips.

Friday, we watched some movie. Oh yeah, it was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. I never saw the first one, but I did enjoy all the food puns in the second one. My favorite were the Flamangoes. (Made from mangoes, of course.) A close second was the Tacodile, and I really liked the hippos that looked like big baked potatoes, but I don't know what they were called. Maybe a Baked Hippotato?

Saturday, I took June with me to give blood. I need moral support, in case I get lightheaded. June is not old enough to donate yet, but she did spell my name with pretzels. (That is also useful.)

And another selfie. (I guess this was the week for them. Too bad we managed to center our picture around someone's caboose.)

Finally, we had a small celebration for Foot's birthday. He is still the most beloved bear in the universe. Happy birthday Foot!

Goodbye week nine. I can hear school in the distance, its heralding trumpet bleating the cry of home lunch and backpacks full of papers I haven't checked. I need to get my school goals in order. This year I'm bringing my 'A' game. I have to. Have I mentioned that we will have TWO science fair projects this year? That is what I should have done this summer. Maybe it's not too late...