Independence Surprise

Can you guess where we spent the Fourth of July?? This might give you a pretty big hint:

Someone told us the park is pretty empty on the fourth. I feel like it was average busy in the morning and afternoon, but by early evening most folks were headed to BBQs and family gatherings, and you could walk onto many of the rides. So overall, not a bad choice of days to go.

We always do our ritual sunscreen slathering and stashing of the cooler and then it's off to the rides.

June requested the Odysea so we could get a little wet. (Although by the end of the day we would find other rides that would fit that bill even better.)

Pearl was digging going on the big rides like her sisters.

Because there are still some littles that don't fit the height requirements, there were times that people had to wait. I was impressed that the girls were fairly patient most of the day.

We brought a plethora of snacks. This may seem boring to list them all, but I am putting them on here so I can remember later and perhaps they might spark an idea for you.

Doritos
Applesauce cups (don't forget spoons, and if you do (like us) a straw might work for you)
Grapes
Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches
Beef Jerky
Sliced turkey
Fig newtons (or any type of cookie)
Dry cereal (we choose froot loops)
Muffins
Go-gurts (frozen so they can thaw on the trip there)
Craisins
Yoo-hoo drinks
Capri-Suns
Water
Hard-boiled eggs

The eggs were a new one. I was surprised that most of the girls really liked them. Daisy, who doesn't even eat scrambled eggs at home ate hers, minus the yolk of course.

Oh, and don't forget to bring some wipes, especially if you choose chips like Doritos. Everything you have will be orange.

I recommend aqua socks for Lagoon A Beach .

June was required to wear some because she sliced open her foot only days earlier and I wanted to keep it as clean as possible. But the whole time I was there, my feet were burning on the ground or being scraped by the rough floor of the lazy river. I told June I was frankly jealous that she had aqua socks, and she pointed out, would I like the pain in her foot as well? Well....no.

Another purchase that I am thrilled about is rash guards, or swim shirts. I took the kids swimming a few weeks back and managed to get a sunburn. (And yes, we used sun screen. I think the trick is to reapply.) Since I use sun screen every year and I still inevitably get a sunburn, we decided to try a new method.

The kids were digging the new shirts. I didn't find mine uncomfortable or restrictive. I actually think my swim shirt is my new best friend in the water. (Spoiler alert: no one got a sunburn, except Tyler and he didn't have a shirt. Guess I need to go buy another.)

We had a blast at the water park. We got our overpriced tubes and played on the slides. I love that I have kids old enough to play on the slides with me. Robyn and I would race down the waterfall slide. I kept hoping she would fall off so I could catch up. No dice. At least you get 'free' drinks when you turn your tubes back in. Everyone can appreciate that.

The girls have picked up on the raise-your-hands-on-rides-because-obviously-you-are-braver-if-you-do-so routine. (I've never understood that.) The older girls would demonstrate.

And Pearl would dutifully follow along.

Here's another one, and I think this photo might win 'Happiest Smile of the Day.'

It is rare to find a ride that holds all the kids at once, but we got this photo at the dragonfly that almost accomplished five in one shot. (Too bad I didn't bring the wide angle lens.)

We had put off the big rides until later in the day. Ivory was having problems with her height. She was just shy of the 46" mark. The hairs of her head would brush it, but the ride attendees were not bending well. I felt bad because we were headed over to all the big rides that she STILL couldn't go on. Sure enough, at The Spider, she was too short.

Dad took her to The Wild Mouse, and they let her on there under Dad's special supervision. Were the height boards shorter, or had she grown in the 100 yards between rides? Then off to Wicked. They let her on no problem. She was in heaven. These four are living it up.

Then on Colossus. She went through like a dream. I was starting to think that she must have grown half an inch, or perfected her knack of surreptitiously tip-toeing. So I told her we were going back to The Spider, but we weren't going to measure her. She was just going to walk on like she owned the place. Worked like a charm.

And lest you worry about Daisy and Pearl who still didn't fit the height bill, we still found plenty to entertain them. Can you see them there with Dad?

They also loved the carousel. Daisy is clearly loving her ride on the magical dragon.

And I think Pearl enjoyed her swan even after she realized it didn't move like the other animals.

Tyler wandered off with the littles at one point, and we others kept eyeing Cliffhanger. It was broken last time we visited, so we hadn't seen it in action. From our viewing, it appeared to be a frightening ride that got you super wet while hanging you upsidedown. How can you say no to that?? June, Robyn, and I left a very frowny Ivory sitting on the bench. (You had to be 50" here and no amount of tip-toeing would get Ivory in that range.)

After that, we decided that we were wet enough that we should just head over to the Rattlesnake River Rapids. (Also closed last time we visited.) I have been on many different rapids. You can plan on getting wet, but depending on the type of water features (waterfalls, spouts, dips) you may end up getting drenched. This was one of those latter rides. We were all soaked at the end. (Except maybe Pearl who was shielded by a sacrificing Dad.) The girls immediately wanted to go again, and since there was NO WAIT, we jumped on again. Tyler decided he would sit it out with Pearl, and he snapped a picture as we went by.

Ah, really soaked...that was us. We stopped in Pioneer village to empty out shoes and dry socks under the air blowers, but my feet still squished the rest of the evening. We saw a peahen leading her three little chicks around the village. This is me probably telling my kids to keep their distance, but you can already see Robyn thinking she is going to catch or pet one. They were pretty cute.

Tyler must have found the Dad later, because I found this beautiful picture on my camera.

Three brave souls decided to take on one more water ride.

And then, we just slogged our sloshy selves towards the entrance. It was evening anyway and the kids had had a great day. We stripped the kids down, wrapped them in towels and watched fireworks bloom through the valley all the way home.

I would officially call that a success for the holiday. Oh, and as an added point of interest, Robyn pointed out that she wore the exact same outfit the last time we went to Lagoon. I checked and she was right. (Her pants have been converted to shorts, but they are the same pants.) Not only that, but she wore the same shirt to Bounce back. I promise...she does have other clothes.

Closing and Closure??

So, we sold our house on Monday. We don't live there anymore. That is weird to me. I lived there for almost ten years. But unluckily, I took all my stuff with me, so this new place is rapidly feeling like home.

And sadly, my thoughts are not more coherent. Certainly not enough to formulate a concise blog post. But if I don't start somewhere, I may never start again. It seems there is always something I could be cleaning or organizing. (And this after an entire week of cleaning and organizing. That week of moving was one of the longest in my life. Every day I came home sweaty and smelly. I don't recommend cleaning non-stop in record heat.)

But even when I think that I can take a break from cleaning, I don't know what else to do? I guess I could watch TV, or read a book? I have almost become defined by my need to clean. I look around and see what else needs to be done. I really need to relax, or get a massage. (I don't even like massages. Maybe a pedicure.)

Okay....what else has been going on? The kids love the new place. There are occasional sighs and tears concerning the old place, or friends who don't live close anymore. But overall, they are doing very well. They like their rooms, they like the house. (The rental to be precise. Still looking for a permanent place.) The big issue has been leaving Moxy behind. This rental does not allow pets, which I find to be highly ironic since we live in a perpetual smell of cat urine. (I wish I were joking.)

See, the last tenants had a pet without permission. And I am pretty sure that they let this pet pee on the carpet. A lot. Specifically in one of the bedrooms and in the downstairs living room. I want to gag. And then, the smell will get on the kids and follow me around the house. I am sitting right now in the kitchen, but I can smell cat pee. Is it on my clothes? In the air? Am I imagining it now? Ug. The carpets were cleaned, but it was not sufficient. Hopefully we will get some more cleaners in very soon.

Other stuff. June sliced her foot up yesterday and has been limping around. (She stepped in a sprinkler system box that was open. Not at our house.) I chipped a tooth. (No idea how.) The tooth fairy came VERY late to retrieve a tooth lost in Idaho.

Oh, quick segue to talk about how awesome my in-laws are. They took the kids for a week so Tyler and I could pack, clean, and move. I don't know how we would have gotten everything done with so many little people milling around, and possibly undoing a lot of our progress. They had a blast at Grandma's and I am sure thanks is due to Kathryn, her boys, JR, Jamie, Jack and Rozz, and other wonderful people who cared for my kids. And even Grandpa did his share of babysitting. June told me how he would watch Motocross and check on the kids during commercials. (Ha ha.)

I cut my hair. It was getting very long, and I told myself that I would cut it when I was released from being Relief Society President. (You know, a weight off my shoulders.) Well, I was released two Sundays ago. So, I went and donated my hair to 'Locks of Love'. Twelve inches gone.

Frankly I miss my hair. I don't think I was ready.

Wait, I didn't finish about Moxy. We left her in Idaho, and Robyn is devastated. Moxy will be very happy there, but it is hard on everyone. (Yes, even me. I miss her. And I keep trying to call her to clean up crumbs.)

I guess things aren't easy when you don't live in your own home. It is a weird mix...this renting business. I'm not sure what I am supposed to cover and what I should call the owners about. The house doesn't have screens in all the windows, so I called about that and was told that not everyone likes screens. ARE YOU KIDDING?? I didn't even bother calling to tell them that wasps are nesting in the siding and there are nasty looking spiders living in the garage. I just called pest control and took care of that. But was that MY responsibility? I can just see the landlord saying, not everyone dislikes wasps and spiders. To be fair, I don't think our landlords are bad people. I am sure it is hard to have renters. (See mention of previous renters bringing in unwanted animals.) I hope we can prove to be good renters. And I hope we don't have long to prove it. I hope we find a house quickly. I have faith that there is a path for us. And faith that it is probably not on my time table.

I will try to take some pictures of the new place soon. I just need to get a couple more boxes unpacked. I feel that I should put some more pictures on here. I have reverted back to my original self...you know...the lady who talks forever without any interesting pictures. Maybe I will have a post with JUST pictures soon. That would be refreshing. But don't plan on anything until after this weekend. I plan to party hardy to celebrate this country. Not that I agree with everything that goes on in politics (hardly), but I sure love the USA. This country and what it was originally founded on is worth holding on to. Happy Fourth of July to you and your loved ones.

Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day!

My five little girls paid tribute to me this morning with some original artwork, among other things. Here's the stack I got this morning.

Ivory likes her dad. And...Her dad likes Her.

look on the back.

Ivory.

This is a faters day present.

Dad,

I love you very much. The things that I like about you are...

You have glasses like me

You care for me and love me

You make good dinners.

You have brown hair and eyes like me.

You are a good dad

evernight you come to tuck me in

You are the best dad ever in the whole entire universe and the whole world.

From and love a loving and caring person who loves and cares for their dad

Ivory Elaine Cazier

Tyler brigham Cazier

I think this one's pretty self explanatory.

June gave me this one. It's a Dad's Worksheet.

Once there was a king and queen. They had three wonderful sons. All of the princes had rich brown hair. The princes were handsome. The first was an excellent leader. the second was very smart. The third prince could fix everything he saw. 

The second prince left Potato Land early in life for Quest Academy in the Kingdom Hive. Quest Academy really work him. He had so many History Quests, Novel Reports, and Journeys-Into-Science, that Math-Out-Of-This-World seemed easy...but then, he met the most beautiful princess. With sky blue eyes and beautiful brown hair. And a perfect personality. 

They immediately fell in love.

They married a few weeks later, on December 23rd, and built a small, temporary, castle, and the beautiful princess gave birth to another beautiful, brown-haired princess.

The castle was so small that the baby princess had to sleep in a closet, so when they found out that they were to have a second brown-haired daughter, they made arrangements to build a new castle at once.

In their new castle, the gave birth to three more children, two brown-haired, and one blond princess, and they lived happily ever after (even as the princesses went to Quest Academy to start their own happily ever after)!

Who was the king? Grandpa Cazier

Who is the queen? Grandma Cazier

Who is the first son, the leader? Uncle Kolby

Who is the second son, the smart guy? Dad, Tyler, me

Who is the third son, the one who could fix anything? Uncle JR

Who is the beautiful princess? Mom, Maleen

Who are the four brown-haired princesses? June, Robyn, Ivory, Daisy

Who is the blond-haired princess? Pearl

Happy Father's Day! Love, June (that's me)

I think I'm going to adopt this version as the official "How Maleen and I met" story.

Dad!

Mommy and Daddy, I love you.

You are so awesome, Dad.

Dad is so nice, cool, and pretty.

I love him so much!!

Love, Pearl. 

(I think June helped with this one.)

Dar Dad,

You are a good dad. 

You snuggle with me a lot and 

that is my favorite thing.

Here are some things I like about you,

That you have glasses

Dating with you

like what you make

I like to kiss you at dinner time and sometime I kiss mom.

Love and from, Daisy

(I think Robyn assisted with this one.)

Da

Is

Y

From Daisy

And this is a story entitled, "The Family"

written and illustrated by Ivory Cazier.

The Family

written by Ivory Cazier

illistratted by Ivory Cazier

Once upon a time...

A little princess girl named Ivory was born.

(waaaaaa)

Her father named Tyler was the king

The mother named Mallen was the queen and she was 

married to king tyler.

Ivory had a good family.

(I think I'm looking good here--I think we're doing the Macarena.)

One night while the king and queen were sleeping 

the baby princess was stolen.

(the baby is gone.)

The badguys name was Mr. Shooshie. 

His name was that because he ate shooshie.

(Did I mention he was fat.)

(Shooshie Shooshie)

In another family there was a prince named Eric.

He was a little boy that was up to save princess Ivory.

The boy went to the castle where the princess was kept.

We was brave and went inside it.

He found her locked up.

(waaaa!)

(I was informed that this is a blanket that locks

Princess Ivory down.)

25 years later

The King and queen found out the prince had saved Ivory 

so they had a wedding. 

And (I didn't mention it) they lived happily ever after.

The End

Best Dad Ever.

I agree.

So I certainly got the best reading material for Father's Day this year. But I also got some other fun gifts. Like this shirt that Maleen and the girls gave me. It says, "Visit Scenic Mordor." This I think is ridiculously funny. Maleen, of course, knew this, and hence the shirt.

The other brilliant gift that found my hands this morning was a framed piece of art from Maleen. It has one of my old missionary shirts' pockets cut out of the shirt. The pocket is stretched over quilt batting to make it puff out a bit. Then, the focus of the piece is the missionary name tag that graces the pocket. It's my original, somewhat worse-for-wear name tag. It brought back some great memories just seeing it.

Maleen was also able to raise her Dad on the telephone and had good talk with him.

I had a good long yak with my father up in Idaho. He's been great through this process of selling our house. He's always been there for me and always had excellent advice (if I was smart enough to take it). I owe a lot to my parents, for sure. I only hope that some day my children feel about me the way I feel about my parents.

Why I Shaved My Head

Before you go all crazy rumor mill, this is the Stallion, not Maleen; and yes, I shaved my head.

That story starts on this blog: http://wedigdoug.blogspot.com/. Doug, the star of WeDigDoug, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 Ewing Sarcoma. He started chemo shortly thereafter, and is currently in the middle of his prescribed treatment schedule. He expects to make as full a recovery as is possible.

Doug also works on my team at DHI.

After he commenced his chemotherapy, of course, his hair became weak and become to fall out. He then took up the only hairstyle popular with cancer patients...the bald look.

Immediately a few members of the team started scheming to see if we could buoy Doug up. We thought we might go visit him at Huntsman Hotel...and wouldn't it make it a surprise if we walked in sporting the same hairstyle!

I must say I felt more than a hint of consternation.

My wife has correctly noted that "I do think that song is about me." My precious locks!

But do not underestimate the power of social pressure, especially allied with a good cause. My teammates offered to provide a "Manhood Revoked" card when I successfully failed to shave my head. This, of course, was something far more precious than my lovely quaff.

For your viewing pleasure, he's the video summary of 2 May 2013's events: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNA0I6WnKZg.

For those of you who are not inclined to watch that AWESOME video, the following is the static photography version.

The stars of the play include these guys.

Jeff Foster, my awesome boss

Dorel Kynaston, host programmer

Tyler Cazier, the ugliest semi-bald guy around.

It looks much better fully shaved...everybody says so.

Brett Larson, web programmer

Caleb Iverson, web programmer

Langi Hola, host programmer

Brandon Allen, fellow designer.

Brandon agreed with Arthur that

they would both shave their heads if one did.

Eventually Brandon could take the pressure no longer.

He just sat down in the chair...everyone cheered.

Arthur Golebiowski, who couldn't bring himself to sit in the chair

once he saw Brandon's bald head.

Ron Francom, AKA "The Barber"

Here's the aftermath. Their was less hair than I expected, though this is still a LOT of hair. We wondered aloud what we should do with that hair.

Of course, we found something to do with the hair. We went out to the parking lot and opened the first unlocked car we could find. We have no idea who's car this was...

At the end of the day there were a few more bald heads in the world, and some friends who were a little closer together because of it.

A Little Note Before Father's Day

I've been attending the FPS GOLD Directions Conference this week, which is our annual user conference at work. It was held in Salt Lake City this year. Even so, I was still gone from 6:30 in the morning until about 8:00 or 9:00 at night. This makes my nightly ritual of hanging out with the girls pretty difficult.

Ivory made a special note for me and stuck it under my pillow on my bed—she was sure I'd eventually find it there. And she was right.

It has honest-to-goodness original art expressing a simple phrase: "I love you!" Since I'm not one of those puffy-eyed softy dads, of course I just smiled and didn't get one of those annoying emotional lumps in my throat or squeeze out any tear—or that might be a complete lie.

She reminds me as well that "This is isn't for fathers day," which means I might have another one of these babies. YES!

Maybelline Hates Me For Not Investing

Where do I even start? My brain is in constant flux. And I admit that I spend half my time trying to pull my thoughts back together after one of my children has interrupted another tenuous try at two minutes uninterrupted time.

Even as I wrote that paragraph I was interrupted by three children, and answered four texts. My brain is slowly melting.

This is extremely aggravated by the fact that we are moving.

(Ah, two more children and one more text. It is no wonder that I haven't blogged in almost a month.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, moving. I guess this is a good time for that story, although I feel like I have told it a thousand times since every new person wants a rendition. I apologize if I have spoken with you and have left out many details. Or maybe you were on the other side and wanted me to shut my trap already. (Honestly, house details aren't that interesting.)

But let us rewind to where this all began. About 4.3 years ago, Tyler found a certain real estate site called 'Zillow'. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this site. He thought it was interesting that they not only listed houses for sale and others for rent, but you could list your house under a 'Make Me Move' price. The housing market was quite low at the time, so he put his 'Make Me Move' price out there and then it faded into the background as many things do.

Fast forward to last April. I will freely admit that we have been browsing the housing market, but somewhat sporadically. Zillow would send me updates if a house fell under my search criteria. Then one day, I get a different email from Zillow. It said someone was interested in my house. (Odd, I had just been thinking that I should ask Tyler to take our house off the site....after all, no one was ever going to bite....) The email stared at me, and I stared back. Then I picked up the phone and dialed up destiny. (Meaning the future...destiny wasn't her name.)

The couple on the other end asked if they could come see our house in two days. (They would be there for the weekend from Idaho.) I told her that sure, she could come see it, but it might be a waste of her time, because the house wasn't for sale. But they came anyway.

My neighbor's house went up for sale the next day, so I actually told this young couple that they should look at both houses. They did, and seemed to like ours more. And then they left. Tyler and I sat and talked about moving and if we would and what it all meant. We laughed and talked and then let it drop and we went back to browsing the listings.

A week before Memorial Day, we get a text saying, you mentioned that you might sell for less than the 'Make Me Move' price. What would that be, and when can you move?? Wow. Moving?? We didn't have anywhere to go. But we texted back and she asked if her sister could come look at the house. Sure, that would be okay. Her sister came and browsed our house. People are very different when it comes to looking at your home. Some stand back and take it all in. Others open every cupboard. It is a little surreal. Her sister seemed satisfied and then she immediately went next door and put an offer on my neighbor's home (which was still for sale).

That is when it hit me. This couple from Idaho wanted to buy our home. Her sister would be living next door. Her husband would work less than 3 miles away. I was going to have to find somewhere else to live.

They made an offer two days later. There was a lot of hemming and hawing. At one point, we almost backed out completely. But, we managed to strike a deal and the day after Memorial day, our house was under contract.

It is a bit of a blur. We have a rental to go to. But other than that, no great long term plans. Don't even get me started on the rental process. I alternate between wanting to cry and actually crying.

And glory be...do you know what I think often? You'll never guess, so I'll tell you. I am thankful for my fake eyelashes. Because I cry. Off and on. All the time. I think about leaving my friends around here. And cry. I think about my kids having to leave their friends. And cry. I think about leaving this school system. And cry. Church is a joke. It seemed everyone found out at once, and no one is happy to see us go. Just as I am not happy to be leaving. And I cry.

We have to be out by July 1st, but we'll be gone by June 29th really. We are speaking in church on the 23rd. I already know it is going to be a riot. How am I going to speak while I am crying? But thank goodness that I am not spending a fortune on waterproof mascara. (I've never liked the stuff. I can never get it off.)

I have a LOT of faith that things will work out for our family. But I admit that some days it is hard only seeing  a few steps in front of me. I don't know if I will suddenly see that this path is a dead end, and I need to turn around and start all over deciding which direction to travel. I always thought that I would have all the time in the world to live here. But perhaps these little birds (meaning us) were not learning to fly, so we got pushed out of the nest for our own good. Perhaps.

And in the end, I am content. Because I get to take the most important things with me. I have the best team ever. My husband and my girls keep me going. They rock. It makes me cry.

No surprise there.