Are you serious?

Okay. I know it's been awhile since I last updated my blog but almost two months have gone by? Seriously, I thought it had been just a couple of weeks, maybe three. I'm a bag blogger! Well, here's a little of what's been going on since Aug. 31.

Mark's bro and sis came from SLC and Phoenix, respectfully, with their daughter and son, respectfully, and met us at Lake Powell over Labor Day weekend. It was just like summer...hot during the days but it cooled off so nicely at night we could actually sleep. We had a really good time waterskiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, riding waverunners, tubing, cliff jumping and swimming. And of course we hit the marina for ice cream and carp feeding.

A couple weeks after that we headed north for a trip to Lagoon during Frightmares. It's always been fun to take the kids there even when they were really little but this time was especially fun because Emily is tall enough to ride every ride. I was amazed when she got on The Rocket rides, Blast Off and Re-entry. This is a 217 ft tall tower that shoots you up in the air at 4.5G's. The re-entry is a 200 ft free fall. The last time I rode that ride I thought my entire stomach was going to come up my throat and I screamed so loud my voice was gone the rest ofthe day. Then she rode Wicked which again, shoots you straight up in the air only to drop you straight down the other side. She's a thrill-seeker! Yeah!

Josie had so much fun riding the kiddie rides and Lindsey was able to ride most of the rides. In a couple of years she will be able to ride all of them. That's going to be really fun. I miss my kids being little but it's sure fun to do big kid things with them.

This is a picture of Lindsey picking out her pumpkin at the local pumpkin patch.

That brings us to last weekend when we headed back to Lake Powell for one last trip of the year. It was Fall Break so we got a long weekend and the weather was beautiful. The water has started to cool down but it was still swimmable, the water was smooth and the sky was a deep blue that you'll only find in the fall.

We took a couple of friends this time and had a blast. Emily and Lindsey both got up on the kneeboard behind the boat for the first time. It was really funny because they were both pretty nervous about starting in water but as soon as we put the boat in gear, they popped up and got onto the board. It was the funniest thing to watch...the boat was barely moving but I guess it was just enough to get them up.



This picture is of a tarantula we found crossing the stream in Moki Canyon. I've never come across one of those in Lake Powell.

A couple days later was my dad's 71st bday and now it's time for Halloween. The fun never stops!

The Last Hoorah!

The last hoorah before school starts back up began on Friday with a trip to the pool with a bunch of moms and kids from our ward. It was a ton of fun as the mom's showed off their long-suppressed tricks on the diving board. I wish I would have taken my camera for proof but trust me, it was hilarious and the winners of the competition were:

Longest Dive goes to Marni (her facial expressions won this event for her).
Best Cannonball goes to Teresa and her sychronized diving partner, Dallin.
Best Back Dive goes to Amber...what form!
Best Toe Touch goes to Jana...STRETCH!
Highest Butt in the air goes to me...the pike will do it every time.
Best Flip...can't remember.
And Rebecca won the award for holding out the longest...15 years!!! Hopefully,it won't be another 15 years before she goes off the diving board again.

That night we took off for the mountains and the cool, crisp air. We rode horses, Mark went on a mountain bike ride and the kids just played and played.

 

This is me riding "Roy" on top of the world. What a view!

 

Josie and I went for a short ride. She loved it.

 

Today was the first day of school and here are Em and Linds in their first day outfits. The drop off went well...no tears...much better than last year. Both girls really like their teachers and they're willing to go back tomorrow. Phew!

 

Mountains vs. Desert

Last week Mark and I took separate vacations. He went with a bunch of guys from our ward on what they called a "Scout backpacking trip" to the Uintahs. What they don't want everyone to know is there were 11 men and only 3 scouts. If they hadn't recruited those 3 scouts (and one of them was from a different stake) they would had to have called it a "Men's Only Trip" and none of their wives would have let them go. Mark is so lucky to have such a cool wife who encouraged him to go. he he he

He had a great time hiking, fishing and riding horses. The girls and I went to Lake Powell with my family for a few days and we had a blast. Mark had the camera so I don't have any pics of our trip but here are some from his trip.

 

 

 

My kids belong in the zoo!!!

So, I read all these mom-blogs where the authors sing the praises of their little angel children who are just the cutest kids in the universe and never do anything wrong. There is never a cross word spoken, kids just play all day while their mother's complete incredibly cute projects, and never, ever mess up the house that was just cleaned.

Let me tell you about a recent day I spent with my children at the zoo. To give you a little background, when I have to get up for some event in the morning, I will not sleep the night before. I'm going over lists in my head, what snacks to take, don't forget the stroller, things like that. And to make sure I don't sleep through the alarm, I won't sleep at all. So the day starts out really bad anyway and put on top of that 4 hours of driving, walking around a stinky zoo in 97 degrees, feeling like I'm melting, trying to keep wandering-Lindsey with the group. It just makes for a really long day. But I pride myself on being a pretty fun mom taking my kids to do all kinds of fun things most days of the week. Despite it all, we had a good day at the zoo and Josie was fascinated with all the new creatures she got to see up close. However, the kids favorite part of the zoo was this giant carved elephant that sneezed and spit water and air out of its trunk. The kids couldn't get enough!


We left the zoo around dinner time and headed for an old favorite restaurant of ours...Robintino's. This kids were pretty wound up but didn't make too much of a scene. Only one guy kept staring at them as they giggled and played with their food. We left the restaurant and drove to the mall where I wanted to get a shirt for my class reunion which was the next night. I don't normally go shopping with all three kids...let me rephrase that...I don't normally go shopping, period. But since it was a special occasion I had to stop while I was in the big city.

We got to the mall and as soon as we entered the only store I wanted to go to Josie said she needed to go potty. Arrggghhh! I figured she could hold it for a minutes while I looked around since she went less than an hour ago. Within two minutes of entering the packed store I had to get after the girls for messing around and being too noisy. I picked out some shirts and headed to the dressing room with the three girls in tow. I tried some things on and had to go back out into the store to get something else. All of sudden I hear glass-shattering squealing and Lindsey yelling at Emily in the dressing room. I went back in and scolded the kids, telling them to be quiet. Josie reminded me she needed to go potty. I said, "Ok. In just a minute." She said, "Ok, mommy."

Tried some more shirts on going as fast as I could, back out into the store, more squealing, yelling, crying and laughing coming from the dressing room. Hurrying as fast as I can, trying to pretend like they were someone else's kids. Went back to the dressing room and hear Josie say, "Mommy, peepee!" Looked down at her to see her peeing all over herself and the brand new stroller I had just bought that morning! Oh my gosh! What do I do? Got some paper towels from the store employee who offered to clean up the mess until I told her that my child had just peed all over the dressing floor. She said, "Oh" and handed me the paper towels. Good thing it was a concrete floor.

By the time I was done cleaning up the mess I was so angry with my kids I thought I was seriously going to hurt them. I was shaking and it took every ounce of my being not to lose control in the store. I decided I would save it for the car. I couldn't believe how selfish and inconsiderate they had been and how poorly they behaved in a public place after I had just spent an entire day with them at the zoo in the heat, spent a ton of money on them, bought them lunch and dinner and they couldn't give me 30 minutes to shop for a shirt without making complete fools out of all of us! I was sooo mad. I think I even let a few choice swear words fly as I was cleaning up the puddle on the floor. Did I feel bad after swearing at them and giving them a complete tongue lashing in the car? Heck no. They needed to understand the consequences of their behavior. What are the consequences? No more fun mommy. No more fun activities. At least not for a few days anyway.

So to all you mommy-bloggers who tell everyone in cyberspace how wonderful your kids are, I have one word for you...LIAR!!!!

Pres Uchdorf Rocks!!

Last week we had a great experience at Young Women's. We attended the Castle Valley Pageant in Emery County. We got a tip from one of the girl's friends who was in the cast that Pres. Uchdorf was going to be there so we were really excited that we might get to see him and get a picture. Apparently everyone in Carbon and Emery Counties had heard the same thing because the place was packed! We got off the bus and immediately started looking for a tall, white haired man with a crowd of people following close behind.

We didn't see him right off the bat so we decided to walk around the pioneer village when we heard an announcement that the cast meeting was starting. Being the wannabe groupie that I am, I figured the cast meeting would be the place where Pres. Uchdorf was hiding out and I was right! We decided to wait just outside the tent and be the first ones to get at him. My counselor thought I was crazy but it's not everyday that girls from small town Utah get to meet a general authority. So we waited and waited and he finally came out. You could tell he was trying to avoid the crowd of people who had gathered but we snagged him anyway and him and his wife were somewhat happy to take a picture with us.

As we walked away he said, "Goodbye, Princesses!" That was so cool because we had gone to the General YW Meeting where he had given his famous "Happily Ever After" talk so the girls knew what he was referring to. Yeah! It was better than meeting a rock star.

International Days!

Karen says I need to update my blog but for the first time this summer we've had about a 10 days where nothing has been going on. It's been kind of nice to lounge around the house, go swimming, do some chores here and there but have no real obligations. The girls have been attending a science camp through 4H and have had a really good time. Luka came down and went to the Slimy, Gooey, Gross camp with Lindsey. They had a great time making snot, mold, gloop, glow in the dark bats and exploding Diet Coke using Mentos.

International Days finally came around again and the kids had a great time watching the parade and collecting candy.

Josie didn't like the sirens on the firetrucks so much.

Lindsey got to ride in the Dance Technica float during the parade. After the parade we headed up the park so I kids could ride the carnival rides and I could get my annual Funnel Cake fix. Yummy!

Huntington Triathlon

Mark and Emily ran the San Rafael Classic Triathlon at the Huntington State Park today. This was Mark's second time running this triathlon and he finished 9th overall and third in his age group. Last year was quite an interesting experience. He finished second in his age group...right behind my ex-boyfriend from high school (Mike from Emery County for those of you who might remember) and the guy I broke up with probably 4 different times! Boy, was that awkward. I was really hoping he would be there today because Mark has gotten much faster but he wasn't. Oh well, maybe next time.

Emily did great finishing 10th in the girls division. It was a blast watching her. She got right in on the swim and Mark helped her with the transition to the bike where she got passed up by quite a few racers because she was on a Huffy bike from WalMart with no gears. She did really good on the run and after she finished I asked her how she felt. She said, "I feel GREAT! That was so fun!" Oh, to be young again. Mark is hurting pretty bad tonight but Emily went throughout the day completely unphased.

Emily is the in middle of the picture in the black life jacket.

The girls had a great time playing the water while we waited for Emily's race to start. I think next year Lindsey will do it too.