Sunday, June 29, 2014

Hello, Goodbye

This morning we got to church early enough to get a bench seat.  When we sat down I opened the bulletin and saw an announcement for a ward activity.  I opened my phone to put it in the calendar and saw a reminder for Claire Forste's mission farewell talk.  I said to Scott, "Aww, it's Claire Forste's farewell talk right now."  He said let's go.  So we got up, walked home got in the car and drove to Orem.  We made it right when the sacrament was finished just a few moments before Claire spoke.  She gave a beautiful talk on having faith, doubting our doubts, relying on Christ and His perfection.  She spoke for just a few moments and shared her testimony.  She is going to be a wonderful missionary and have a wonderful mission experiences.  Then the Miller's oldest daughter Kristie reported on her mission.  She gave an amazing talk on missionary work.  She was very inspiring.  We loved visiting with and seeing old friends from the ward.  We really enjoy those people and look forward to keeping up contact and friendships with the people in that ward and neighborhood.

Scott got done with AT on Wednesday.  He came home Wednesday in enough time to go to the pool with us.  We also took 2 of the Platts with us.  Ann Ashton came later with 2 of her girls.  I left them at the pool and headed to YW activity which was in the Wimmer's back yard.  Then went back to pick everyone up at 8:00.  Thursday afternoon at final formation Scott received his promotion to Sergeant.  The kids and I were able to attend.  We met many of the soldiers Scott works with.  This is a big deal for him, I didn't really think about what a big deal it was until the officers and leaders kept telling me it was.  Then I remembered when Ben became a Sergeant.  Scott is now an NCO.  He has always been a leader in whatever unit or section, or whatever he is in, but now he is officially an officer.  We were able to stay and have dinner there with the unit.  Scott was able to show Eric and Rubie some of the guns, and BIG guns that were there at the armory.  There are some pretty cute pictures of Eric holding guns as big as he is.  Apparently Rubie did not want to touch the guns.

Friday morning I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point Museum of Curiosity again.  Again it was super crowded.  We went to two rooms we didn't go into last time.  The Water Works, and the Motion room.  Very cool.  Lots of displays that are physics based.  I am excited to go there after school starts on one of the kids' day off of school when it will not be so crowded so they can enjoy it more.  The Tullet's came over in the afternoon.  Then Scott and I had an activity to go to with his unit.  It was called Strong Bonds.  We had dinner at Rodizio Grill at Trolley Square and then the chaplain gave a talk and strengthening our marriage relationships.  It was a very good talk and has given me some things to consider.

Yesterday morning I had Ruthie come over early, Scott had to go work for his last day of AT and I went on a bike ride with a group of people James gathered.  I love riding again.  I love getting to know other clients of James' and getting to know him better.  We biked Squaw Peak, South Fork, then the Alpine Loop.  I am becoming a better cyclists.  I feel good about the shape I'm getting into.  We are going to be making some upgrades to my bike to help me improve even more.  Yeah!

This week we are looking forward to our camping trip this weekend to Strawberry Reservoir.  I'm excited about it.  Eric and Rubie are only so-so about it.  But they will get more excited and I know that we will have fun.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Family Pictures



























Mid June

We have had a busy week.  We spent a morning at the dentist office where all three kids received cleanings.  No cavities!!  Eric had a few sealings added to some new molars and his front tooth was pulled.  The tooth was placed in a little yellow treasure box and sent home with him. He was so excited to put it under his pillow.  But the next morning, he found the tooth still in the treasure box, not exactly under his pillow, but still on his bed.  Oh no!  What happened?  Could the tooth fairy not find his tooth?  Did she somehow not know his tooth came out?  What happened?  But the next night it went back under his pillow and in the morning there was a crisp dollar bill in its place.

Wednesday morning I decided we needed to do something fun before Isaac came because I didn't know what it would be like once he got here.  Since the weather was chilly and had rained earlier in the week we went to Thanksgiving Point to the new Museum of Curiosity.  What an amazing building and museum.  We spent 2-2 1/2 hours there and only saw 2 rooms of the 5 that were there.  It was so crowded it was even hard to walk and maneuver around.  That made it hard for Samuel to explore.  Eric and Rubie had a great time.  I bought us a membership and plan to go once a week throughout the summer.  We also have an Odd Day Pass to the PG pool.  Between those two things we will be kept busy because we also want to hike, play with friends, go on the Murdock Trail and other things.

I was given 2, yes 2 callings in Church today.  Scott and I have been asked to serve as Family History Consultants (the ward has recently called about 5 couples to that), and I was asked to serve in YWs again.  I was put right back in to the mia maid class.  I am thrilled to be there.  We have a great group of girls that I am very excited to get to know better.  I feel like with being mom, and training, I am now going to be very busy. 

Beth brought Isaac down on Wednesday.  She and Andy were participating in their ward youth conference.  Andy came and picked him up this morning right before church.  He was a delight to have.  He is such a good little boy.  Eric and Rubie were so good to help out where needed.  Rubie really enjoyed playing with him.  He latched right on to her and followed her around and started calling her "Ma".  He and Samuel were so funny together.  Samuel was a little possessive of me when it came to taking care of Isaac.  Sometimes they had to exert dominance over the other one by pinching, hitting, or something else.  But Samuel was also very loving and wanted to hug and cuddle Isaac.  Most the time Isaac was not happy about it, he though Sam was wrestling or being mean.  Isaac just loved to be with the kids, playing, and having fun.  I did take all the kid for a quick grocery shopping trip, we went to the park, we went to the Manila Creek pond, I put Isaac and Sam in the double chariot for walks and a bike ride.  And they did great!  We loved having him here.  I set him up in Eric and Rubie's room and they slept in our room.  It worked out just fine.  I even had a babysitting on Thursday while I did a bike workout at James.  But I didn't feel like I could do that for a long ride on Saturday morning so I biked for 2 1/2 hours on my trainer.  That was a hard ride mentally, especially because I didn't have a specific workout to do.  But I got through it.  I am spending a lot of money on babysitters.  I don't know how else to do it.  I need to find more moms and families to help with the kids so I can make time for the temple, massage, even grocery shopping.  If I had more money, I would really have a house keeper that could grocery shop, cook, and clean.  That would allow me to do things with the kids and then take time for exercise, temple, and other things without having to worry about those temporal necessities.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day.  Scott is at Drill.  It is his 2nd day of AT.  Oh, he just walked in the door.  They let him out early because it is Father's Day! How nice.  Well, he did start AT on Friday.  From Friday thru Tuesday he will go morning to evening and be back here in the evening.  From Wednesday the 18th through Sunday the 29th, he will be gone to Wendover.  Those 10 days feel like it will be a long time.

I started training with James Lawrence.  So good!! He had me do some bike workouts that were hard work this week.  It was great!  The hardest part is that I need to them at his house on his compu trainer so I can go according to the watts.  But that means I have to have 3 babysitters.  I've got Bailee Wallace to cover one.  Carlee to do the other.  And now I need another one.  That is a money I have to spend on babysitters.  And with a Saturday ride.  Ouch!  And I'm paying James.  This is an expensive hobby for me.  Yesterday I went on a ride for over 7 hours.  I left the house just after 5 a.m.  Met Sunny and Arwen on the trail.  We rode over the Alpine Loop.  Arwen left us when we got down from Sundance.  Sunny and I continued up Provo Canyon.  The Utah Valley Marathon was going on and one half of the road was closed to vehicles for it.  So we rode up the canyon all the way to Wallsburg in our own lane.  It was AWESOME!  We were cheering for the runners as we rode and some were cheering for us.  As we were riding the old man with a beard in a T-shirt, running shorts, and a head band came on out and went right between Sunny and I giving us high 5's.  It was John Bozung!  A local running hero and legend.  I guess Sunny and James just know a lot of people in sport.  We continued riding through Heber and then on up to Jordanelle, the Rock Cliff beach where the Triathlon was going on.  Carlee and some other friends and athletes of James were there.  Carlee did really well at the Triathlon, she took 3rd in the Olympic.  Natalie Rasmussen, a friend of Sunny and James and a client, also has become a friend of Carlee's, took 1st in the Sprint.  Natalie is one of the girls that will be on the Saints to Sinners Relay team.  Well Sunny and I, Carlee, Natalie, James, and a few others biked home from Rock Cliff.  I say a few others because we never saw them after we started out.  The wind was terrible and it took us a lot longer than expected.  I had a babysitter here, Erin Hardy, for the kids.  I thought we would be back between noon and 1.  I got back and 2:30. I loved it though.  I thought my legs would be tired and sore, not so!  Just my neck and across the top of my shoulders.  I'm not sure why that part of my body always gets the worst of it.

Saturday night after Scott got home we went to an Elder's Quorum activity for about an hour.  We felt like we should go as there is usually just one activity like that each year.  It was a fun group of people in the Jenkins/Crosby's party barn.  But of course Samuel was mad about me leaving again.

I continue to struggle to find time to train, cook, clean, grocery shop, and have fun with the kids.  We bought an Odd Day pass to the PG pool.  We can spend hours there.  Eric and Rubie love it.  Sam doesn't love it so much.  He will play in the shallow water for a few minutes and likes to just wander around the pool and explore.  I would love to be able to send Eric and Rubie with some of the other families in the neighborhood that have pool passes. If I could have a little more $ for nanny/babysitters it wouldn't be so hard.  I could have someone take Eric and Rubie to the pool, and maybe someone else for Sam.  Or someone here while I train, grocery shop.  Just a couple times a week would be great.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Second week of June

So what has happened this week...I was released from the Relief Society Presidency today.  That is a big deal because of the time the calling takes and all the time it occupies in my thoughts.  There have been parts of the calling I have really enjoyed and parts that have been very difficult.  Eric and Rubie had swim lessons this week.  We went to the Swimming Hole with Shelia Morrison.  She was recommended by some parents of some of Eric's classmates.  She really is great.  She had the kids doing things I didn't think they would do.  They put on goggles and fins and started diving in the water, holding their breaths, and doing swim strokes.  We went every day for 30 minutes and they loved it.  We will take another week in July and August.

I also feel like I have started back into training and I'm very excited about it. I biked yesterday with a group of people the Alpine Loop.  There were so many cyclists out, I loved it!  I hope to be able to receive some training  to become better and more prepared for the Saints to Sinners relay in 8 weeks.

Last night we had Scott's siblings and family over for a bar-b-que.  It was Angela's birthday and a good reason to celebrate.  We had a great time.  The kids really enjoyed their cousins.  I loved to see how the kids all interacted.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Summer Vacation Official

We officially kicked off our summer time with a little trip to Capital Reef.  Scott booked an inexpensive hotel room in Bicknell, a few minutes North of Capital Reef.  We set out on Friday evening.  We all stayed in one room with 2 queen beds.  Saturday morning we went into the National Park (Rubie is convinced it is not a REAL park is there was no playground) to explore and hike.  We made our first stop at the Visitors Center to find out about appropriate hikes with the kids.  We spent some time there and then we to the Grand Gulch to hike to the Pioneer Registry and The Tanks.  It was easy going along a river bed with high steep red rock canyon walls.  When we were just a few minutes to the end and before hiking up to the tanks Eric and Rubie were insistent on turning around but we pretty much made them continue forward.  We hiked out just before the rainstorm came in.  Sam would not be happy in the baby carrier and insisted that I carry him in my arms.  He was tired and this trip was hard on him as we did not cater to him taking naps but expected him to fall asleep while hiking or driving.  On our second hike we figured out that if we gave him bunny in the baby carrier that helped him fall asleep.  The drive in the rain was beautiful.  We drove to Loa for some groceries and went back to the hotel to eat, swim, and watch a movie.  Sunday was much the same.  We did 3 little short hikes.  One to Hickman Bridge, a natural arch, the Petroglyphs, and Panoramic Lookout Point, and Sunset Point.  Again ending before rain came in the late afternoon.  We went back to the hotel for swimming, playing, and eating.  Monday morning we decided to go to Fish Lake.  It was a beautiful drive.  Scott rented a little aluminum motor boat.  We donned life jackets and boarded the boat.  It took both Scott and I to get Samuel into his life jacket.  He hated it from the second he saw it.  I got on the boat with him and he was uncontrollable.  He was screaming and sobbing and throwing such a fit.  He was trying to harm me and I was afraid he was going to go over in the water.  We went out for probably 15 minutes or so and Sam would not let up.  People on shore could hear him and he was not making it fun for the rest of us.  So I had Scott take us back to the dock.  As soon as I got him out of the boat and took the life jacket off, he calmed right down.  So while Scott took Eric and Rubie around the lake, Samuel and I explored a bit of the shore of Fish Lake, bought $16 worth of crackers at the little store and settled in for a snack when Scott and the kids showed up.  Apparently the boat was not a big hit with any of the kids.  Oh well, we tried.  So we headed home.  We made a lot of fun memories on this little trip and look forward to more to come.  We were reminded how important naps are for little toddlers.  Samuel loves his bed and his bedroom and his schedule.  He does not want to sit at restaurants and eat.  Each time we went somewhere to eat, I spent the whole time walking around the restaurant inside and out following Samuel around and keeping him safe and out of trouble.  I tried to send Scott out to get food as often as we could and bring it back to the hotel, or we just got snacks to eat in the car.

Friday the kids and I hung out at the The Pit with so many others in the neighborhood for the neighborhood party with a bounce house, blow up water slide, and lunch.  Friday night Scott and Eric went to the Father and Sons campout at Mutual Dell.  Rubie had Paige and Julie over for a late night play date.  And last night Scott and I went out with the Tulett's to Tucano's.  We had Eli, our nephew, come babysit.  Eric and Rubie are looking forward to having swimming lessons this next week.