Snowed In...

Anyone want to guess where our yard ends and the street begins?

As in we really are.  Snowed in, that is.  Yesterday we found ourselves under a severe storm warning, and today it's a blizzard warning.  Who knew a blizzard was worse than a severe storm?  The things you learn.  Anyway, the city is shut down, schools canceled, the roads are closed and if you do venture out, good luck if you slide off the road, because no one's going to come get you.  By the end of it all there should be close to a foot of snow on my lawn, and the 30-50 mile an hour wind is drifting the snow, so it's even deeper in some spots, and you can't drive because visibility is zero.  To top it off, the high tomorrow:  4.  That is not a typo.  FOUR.  4.  FOR.  The low? NEGATIVE 11.  Balmy.  This is where I live.

All I keep thinking is, it's November.   If this is fall, what happens in the winter here?  Yesterday we ventured out in our "severe storm" to stock up on supplies like bread, milk, nacho cheese and Coke.  I thought we should buy things like water and batteries but, apparently, that is over-reacting and, besides, water seemed a little redundant.   I prefer the term cautious.  This weather doesn't seem to affect anyone here.  In SoCal, when it rained more than inch it became a county-wide state of emergency.  We'd watch Storm Watch 2010 on every channel for hours as we wait anxiously to see if that one dog is rescued from the roaring rapids of the L.A. "river".  An hour ago my sister called to ask if I wanted to have a girl's night tonight and I said, "There's a blizzard warning in effect until 11 pm." and she said, "And...?"  And?  AND?!?  And I intend my death to be from old age, not death by freezing in the TGI Friday's parking lot.

It has been 12 years since I've lived through a snowy winter and there are lots of things I've forgotten, like snow is only fun until you're old enough to pick up a snow shovel.  That's a lesson my two young sons are rapidly learning.  Also, it takes 3 times longer than the rest of your body for your butt to warm up.  This is because there is more fat in your rear end, which means less blood, which means less heat.  My tush is still warming up from yesterday around 2:45.   Also, there is a magical quality about snow pants that immediately makes every child have to pee.  It's a fact, look it up.

So I just wanted all of you to know we're fine.  We've hunkered down, waiting out the storm, doing things like making popcorn on the stove and playing Settlers of Catan with the boys.  We'll probably watch a Christmas movie tonight, under quilts, and drink hot cocoa until the kids start to bicker and fight because they've been trapped inside all day and someone is breathing someone else's air and then we'll all end up in separate rooms with a sentence of never-ending grounding hanging above everyone's heads if they dare speak to each other while Ben and I discuss how we're going to afford snow tires and Christmas at the same time.   It's gonna be a long, four five seven months.

Happy Winter everyone.  If no one hears from us by next week, please send help to dig us out!

In case you were wondering...

I'm sure some of you are struggling with what to get Mrs. Snowy Flip-flops for Christmas.  Well, to help you out there, may I present...

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/61959?from=SR&feat=sr

In green, please.

Little Miss Sassy-Pants

Scene:  Evie is taking a bath, I come in to check on her...
Me:  Evie, did you put that towel in the tub?
Evie: Yes.
Me:  Evie, you are not supposed to put towels in the tub!
Evie: Well, it's a little late now.

Scene:  Evie crawls into my bed about 2 am. into the empty space Ben usually occupies.  I let her f or a few minuted and then I say...
Me:  Ev it's time to go back to your bed.
Evie: I don't want to, I'm scared.
Me:  You can turn on the bathroom light.
Evie:  YOU can turn on the bathroom light, but I'M pretty much gonna sleep right here.

Scene:  Evie is looking through the Toys R Us catalog
Evie:  I think I'm going to have Santa bring me this WHOLE page.
Me:  I don't think Santa is going to bring you the whole page.
Evie: She looks at me for a minute, smirks and then says: That's what you think.

Snow

So.  It has begun. 

I don't generally watch the news here.  Prime time starts at 7 here and that means the news is at 10 and since I don't usually settle down to watch TV until 9 or so, I tend to watch the recorded stuff and head to bed.  Sunday, for some reason I was able to catch the weather and so was witness to the announcement that snow showers were possible on Monday.  Just a skiff on the lawns, he said.  A few inches in the mountains, he said.

Stupid, incompetent Idaho weatherman.

There is five inches of snow on my lawn right now.

I shouldn't complain, this is the good kind of snow.  Did you know there is a difference?  This is the wet, heavy snow, perfect for snow forts and snowball fights.  The kind that sticks to your lawn and leaves the streets out of it.  The kids were thrilled and spent the whole afternoon out running through the white stuff, setting up forts and carrying out wars with the neighbors.  They returned to the homestead at dusk with red, runny noses and numb toes and grins that split their faces. 

I, on the other hand, suspect I might be suffering from PTSD.  Can you have snow related post traumatic stress?   Cause I swear I'm having childhood flashbacks involving cold feet and runny noses and walking to school in below freezing temps, because if your mom grows up on a farm in Idaho anything above 0 degrees is manageable.  Anyhow, after the kids came in and warmed up we decided to hit a movie for Family Night.  Later that night, when we left the theater, it was dark and another inch or so had fallen.  I took one look and I climbed into the van and told the boys to sweep off the windows.  Yes, I am that kind of mom.  So I'm in the car and my teeth start to chatter.  Not the little shiver kind, but the break your teeth, sore jaw kind of chatter.  Then, and only if you have experienced places like this in the winter will you understand this phenomenon , but the muscles in my thighs and lower back start to seize up.  Now this little ailment can only be solved by concentrated breathing and and finding a meditative zen, which is super hard to do while your swallowing bits of your own teeth, but I'm managing.  (How is it, as mankind, we have managed to build a super collider that can create a black hole and destroy the earth and still do not have a way to produce instant heat in a car?)  Of course, then the boys finish up sweeping the windows and get back in the car, which lets another blast of cold air into the van, so I'm back to square one with the zen. 

So anyway, now I'm driving on the snow swept streets of Idaho Falls, doing Lamaze breathing, and I'm trying to figure out how to not have to leave my house again until May.  Then I take a look around, and...It.  Is.  GORGEOUS.   Like something out of a Christmas card.  Sound also gets muffled in the snow, so even on the busiest streets there is a calm that is hard to describe.  It really is just another world.  We drive up to our house and the porch lights are reflecting off the untouched snow in the front yard and shining on the bare branches of the birch trees.  I want to race inside and and set up my Christmas tree and bake gingerbread.  It helps me remember how much I love this and how happy I am to be here.  I guess that's a good thing.

Two things I learned during our first snowstorm:

1.  My 12 lb., three legged, poodle mutt is, apparently, part husky.  He loves the snow.  LOVES it.

2.  When your husband is out of town and the snow has knocked out your Dish signal, your 5'11" son, armed with a broom, a lawn chair and a squirt bottle filled with hot water makes a pretty entertaining substitute.

It Is the Week/Holiday/Post That Never Ends...

Bellatrix and Dobby, aka: Evie and Eliza

So about 11 years ago I was preggo with a little boy who I begged to not be born on Halloween. You see at this point I only had Cooper and he was only 2 1/2 at the time and Halloween consisted of trick or treating at 6 neighbors and a hand-me-down costume. Still I knew people that had holiday birthdays and I always felt sorry for them because they always seemed to get gypped. So I begged little Zac to come before or after Halloween so that we would always be able to have a special day just for him. Wasn't I such a cute new mommy? Awww...the naivete.

Draco and Voldemort

Let's begin...it all started two weeks ago with the going away party for my sister Lora. Lora was moving to St. George and since she loved Harry Potter so much and it was just before Halloween, why not have a Harry Potter themed party? It was a few days later that my niece shows up as an owl delivering our scroll inviting us to Hogwarts for a party, costumes required. Ben takes one look at the scroll and shakes his head claiming that my sister and I share the same disease. I assume he means gift because, HELLO, a red-headed OWL, just showed up at my door with a PARCHMENT SCROLL, inviting me to a party at HOGWARTS!! That is not a disease, that is party planning at its finest. But anyway, now the work begins. This is two weeks before Halloween and I have to convince my kids that what they really want to be for Halloween is Harry Potter characters. This flies with Isaac, because he knows it's all about the candy and Draco Malfoy is just another conduit to sugar. Evie, on the other hand has been talking about Princess Tiana for months and no matter how hard I try, Bellatrix is not an equally acceptable option. But whatever, I hold the purse strings and Bellatrix it is. We round out the family with Fred Weasley (Cooper), Professor Umbridge (Me) and of course the bald guy went as Voldemort.

Food

So the party was great. I brought pumpkin pasties and licorice wands, Holli had the butter beer, cauldron cakes and jelly beans and others brought cockroach clusters, baked brie, acid pops and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. We also had pigs in a blanket, because what party is complete without those? We played games, were sorted into houses, had a tri-wizard tournament. Okay, maybe it is a disease. Plus, I want to mention that I never said we weren't the dorkiest family on earth. Don’t judge us.

Ron Weasley

So now we come to the week of Halloween. First on the agenda are school parties. These happen on Thursday because school is out for end of term on Friday. These are relatively painless, as all I have to do is send costumes to school and treats for Isaac's birthday. That night we decide to go to the trick or treating/Halloween Carnival at the assisted living center down the street. I figured this was a very sneaky way of hiding a service project: my kids get candy; we make old people happy; everybody wins. It actually was pretty fun, my kids loved the seniors and, with the exception of the one lady who had her teeth out, covered in candy, and was hitting the kids hands as they came anywhere near her bowl of stuff, the seniors seemed to enjoy my kids.



We follow that up the next night with my parents Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook-off. I was was robbed, I tell you. My chili was that is. I suppose that's what happens when you have two 19 year old boys from the Midwest judge. The winner’s tasted a lot like baked beans. I will not be bitter, but I will refine Idaho’s palate, even if it’s one mouth at a time. Anyway the kids garnered even more of the sweet stuff and we enjoyed the company of my parents and a few of my siblings. Let just put it out there that SoCal has it ALL over I.F. in the trunk or treat department. Can we say BORING? (Sorry, Mom and Dad) My kids were looking around like, "This is it? Where are the handfuls of candy? Where are the awesomely decorated cars?” The flip side was it was a gorgeous night with perfect weather.



So next. (See it really is the week that never ends). Ben was leaving for L.A. on Saturday, so instead of a birthday dinner, Isaac opted for a birthday breakfast. He wanted McDonalds, so we had McDonalds. Nothing like a week’s worth of saturated fat to start out your 11th year. Ben headed out the door shortly after and we started getting stuff ready for the rest of the day. Our ward had an afternoon party, which I wisely decided to skip, because one really can have too much fun. Later that night, the rest of my family here in town came over for pizza to celebrate Zac's birthday. The kids did their best to eat, but most of them were too hyped for trick or treating that most of them just played with their food. So, since we live in a predominately Christian area, everyone trick or treats on Saturday. I hoped, perhaps, we would only have to go to part of church and get released early to enjoy the festivities of the day like we do at Christmas, but…no go. Apparently, there are some fundamental differences in the two holidays. So…trick or treating…home for cake and presents…everyone in the shower(not together, that would be weird)…off to bed.



Good grief, are you tired just reading this, or have you all just given up, due to the novel like nature to this post?



Sadly, we are not done.

Sunday, real Halloween, we head over to my parents house for hot chocolate and my Dad's famous cinnamon rolls, and Christmas music. Just like most families on Halloween, right?

Yeah, its over. So, yep, Isaac being born the day before Halloween really helped us out. Silly young mommy.

I'm Not Sure What I Was Thinking

Every year I make a resolution to start journaling.  I always do.  Start, that is.  Then I peter out when life gets inevitably more hectic.  I'm not sure why I thought blogging would be so much different.  But alas, here I am after 6 weeks of not blogging.  I should vow it will never happen again, but lets be honest here, friends...it will.  So enjoy this while you can.

So fall is in full swing here.  Real fall.  Not SoCal fall, where the leaves just give up the will to live in the unatural heat, turn brown and fall off the trees.  The streets here are on fire in reds and yellows and oranges. (Santa Clarita friends:  my street is not actually on fire.  I know that out there that statement might ring too true.)  The weather is gorgeous, jackets and sweaters have been donned and kids are downing hot chocolate by the vat.  I forgot how much I love Autumn.  We are starting to see peeks of the coming months, with frost covered lawns and nights that dip into the twenties.  We turned the heat on a couple weeks ago, but really only use it in the mornings.  I'm not sure how long this will last, but while it does I am enjoying it.

So to cover a couple of the events over the last few weeks:

The Cooper family 5K.  So members of my family decided that they wanted to run a 5K.  Some members.  Not me.  I only run when I'm am being chased by a murderer or a bear.  And then I'm just as likely to lay in the ground and play dead as I am to actually run.  I have prayed for a love of running, I really have, but to no avail.  So anyway, they all wanted to run a 5K and I guess there wasn't one happening at a time that everyone could make it, so we made are own.  I thought we should make t-shirts, but no one jumped on te idea of crafting and running, so it was a no go.  I was the water girl and I have to say a pretty fine one.  I also sang the Chariots of Fire theme song as they ran past.  I think it really helped.  Isaac had a football game that morning  so he and Ben headed there for warm ups while Evie, Cooper and I stayed behind. Cooper actually ran the thing. He came in third, right behind my brother, who is training for the FBI and my baby sister, who is training to get herself a man! (sorry Joy!) Evie ran half of it, keeping up with my sister, and when you consider how short her little legs are, I consider that the whole thing. I was really proud of Cooper and he was super proud of himself. Up to that point he'd never run more than a mile at a time. I guess football conditioning is paying off

Speaking of football.  It is over. 

On the second weekend of November, we had our firstever sisters weekend.  The original plan was for everyone to come out to California and spend the weekend.  Well, I kind of messed up the plan when I moved.  So then the plan was Vegas, which I vetoed because Vegas is a cess pool.  (Sorry people who love Vegas, but it is).  Anyway somehow we went from weekend in SoCal to weekend at my house in Ammon.  We live the high life, I tell ya.  It was still really fun.  Everyone was there except for one sis-in-law (missed you Tamra) and we ate good food, saw a movie, made hair bows, ate more good food did some other stuff and just enjoyed each other's company.  These are the times when I quit feeling sorry for myself and actually enjoy living here.  I never would have been able to do this last year, especially in the middle of October.  I have great sisters and it was nice to have that reminder.

So let's see what else...honestly, not anything exciting.  The last few weeks have been a crazy mixture of football (5 days a week), school carnivals, scouts, homework, church and family.  The days last forever but the weeks, and as far as October goes, months, fly by.  We are alive, thriving and trying to find our place here.  It works better some days then others, but today we are happy.

Stay tuned for the Halloween week that never seemed to end.

If You Were Here...

...these are the things we would talk about as we passed in the hall at church or waited for our kids after school or as we set up or took down some sort of event.  I would tell you...

That I miss you.

Right now my house smells like apples and cinnamon and bacon and a little night air.  I think if I could bottle it I would be a millionaire.  The nights are stating to smell like wood smoke and I open all my windows even if it's 40 degrees outside because I love the smell of night and smoke.

There are THREE houses with life-size, metal, moose cutouts on their front lawns on the way to Cooper's school.  I don't understand this particular aesthetic;  I could chalk one house up to quirk, but there are three of them.

Ben and I had the discussion the other day about which we'd rather have Evie marry:  a over-privileged, BMW-driving, condescending, blue-blood or an uneducated, jacked up truck-driving, redneck.  Still not sure where we fall on that one.

I bought peaches from a lady's roadside stand today.  Well, roadside stand is being generous, it was actually the trunk of her giant, white Buick.  Ten pounds for $10.  They are the size of softballs.  I think, perhaps, I will make fresh peach ice-cream this weekend.  If you come visit me, I will give you some.

Ben and I discussed, for the first time, what it would look like if we decided to stay here.  I cried the whole time.  We stopped talking.

Sometimes I feel guilty that my sisters and my mom are not enough and I miss my friends terribly.

There are kids on both Cooper and Isaac's football teams with broken arms and they both still play.  They wear padded cast guards.  I'm still trying to decide if this is dedication or bad parenting.  Now I'm trying to decide if I am judgmental.

At this very moment there are two little boys (5 and 7) from next door, trying to get Evie to come out and talk with them.  She is taunting them from our living room window.  One them just said to the other, "Forget this, let's just go up there, open up the door and tie her up." 

I have one pair of closed toe shoes, my sneakers, and one pair of full length pants.  I'm thinking this may pose a problem for winter.

But mostly I would tell you that I miss you.  Lots.

How You Celebrate Labor Day in a Red State

Photos courtesy of my two sons. I was not there to witness this particular excursion. I have been informed, however, that if my homestead ever needs defendin', my kids area a pretty decent shot.

Isaac, bringing back the Old West and the 80's in one afternoon.

Sisters Joy and Lora-- Why yes, they are both still eligible, send inquires here!

"I'm back, but this time I'm armed."

The instigator, my dad, and his posse.  My nephew, Max, was apparently raised on the mean streets of Idaho Falls.

Little Evie Oakley: No need for Dad to carry a shotgun when you've got your own to fend off the boys.

FYI: That is not a cigarette in my sister's mouth, it is a lollipop.  Nothing says dangerous like a lollipop and an Aeropostale sweatshirt.

Night Games

One of my fondest memories from childhood were the summer nights we spent playing night games. We lived on a dead end street with, I would guess, 30-40 kids and we pretty much had free reign during the summers. we would play all sorts of games while our parents sat on porches or visited with neighbors. It really was idyllic. When I mentioned this to Isaac, his little brain hatched a plan. He was done with just trying to catch kids when they were outside and he decided to be a little more proactive. Hence, the flier:

He made about 30 of these and then went door to door asking people if they had kids or if no one was home looking around for signs of kids (like bikes or basketball standards) and leaving them with a flier.

That night we had about 15 kids show up. They started out with kick the can and then as dusk began to fall they started capture the flag. Granted, there was a serious lack of strategy on their part, mostly you were on your own if you got tagged and the fastest runners always ended up with the flag, but they had a great time. Ben even went out and helped Evie play for a little while. I think it was a hit and Isaac ended up making a couple new friends. They are even making plans for an encore this Friday.

I was so proud of my boy. It took a lot of courage to do what he did. He wanted more friends and he thought outside the box to get them. Nicely done, Zac.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

On August 2nd, my boys started tackle football.  Both boys played flag football in CA, but this year is their first year in pads.  Actually, Cooper was supposed to start tackle last year, but he got shot at a parade, so, you know...that didn't happen. We had been advised, and we agreed with the advice, to keep our kids in flag until Jr. High to avoid injuries and to teach them the game without the obstacle of pads.  So Cooper has played 5 years of flag and one year of full contact rugby and Isaac has had 3 years of flag.  Here in Idaho Falls, well, that's not how they roll.  Kids start tackle in 5th grade, the end.  We figured Isaac had a good base and would be fine and Cooper was already chomping at the bit to play, so we went ahead.  It also gave them a chance to make friends before school started.  They love it...well most of it.

I know I've talked about sea-level lungs before, but you can't really get it unless you experience it.  The air up here is thin, very thin.  My kids aren't out of shape and they got winded coming up the stairs.  It's better now, but for that first six weeks things that required breathing were tough.  Well, the fist week of football practice is all conditioning.  Even the kids that live here call it Hell Week and they don't have oxygen intake problems.  That lethal combo brought us the following conversation after the first day of practice:

Me:  "So, how was practice?"
Cooper:  "Awful.  I kept thinking, 'It can't get any worse" and then it kept getting worse.  Then at the end we had to run laps and at one point I tripped and I fell down and I just wanted to lay there for the rest of my life, which I figured wouldn't be that much longer."

My boy is funny.

Isaac's coach was a little easier on them, since most of the kids had never played before.  Isaac may have never tackled anyone before (which has found a true love for) but because he had three seasons of flag under his belt has come out a little star.  His coach has put him on the both the O and D line, which confused us because Isaac is a runner and is pretty fast, but then we saw his first practice scrimmage and got a good look at the rest of the team we realized that Isaac was one of the biggest kids on the team.  There are kids on there that aren't that much bigger than Evie!  Hmmm...if I had a kid that size I'm pretty sure my first choice in sports would not be tackle football.  I said to Ben that at least at that size they're fast, and Ben said if you had someone twice your size chasing you trying to put you in the ground, you'd run fast too. Good point.

So both boys started games this week and it looks like it will be a good season.  Isaac won and Cooper lost, but they both had a blast and that's what matters. 

So, what, might you ask, does Evie do during all these many hours that we spend at the football field?  Well, she lies on the grass and makes up songs to sing.  At Isaac's last game she made up a great one.  I can't recall the tune but the lyrics went like this:


I hate football
I hate football
I hate, hate, hate, hate football.
I want to go home
I want to go home 
Because football is stooopid,
I ha-a-a-a-te, fo-o-o-otBAAALL!

Someday, baby girl, they are going to have to sit through your dance recital, and then you will have your revenge.

We're Back!

I have determined that August is not a good month for blogging. Some people can reach around all the crazy this month produces and document each day and activity. Sadly, I am not one of them. We did have a great month and hopefully I can remember the high points, at the very least. We may need to break this up over a couple posts.

We started out the month with Ben's family's reunion. In Ben's family each of the kids take a turn planning the reunion. It's a great way to get the "flavor" of each little family and we also get to see some places that we wouldn't normally see. This year was no exception. My sister-in-law's family owns a lodge in Torrey, UT.  I didn't know where Torrey was before the reunion began and to be honest I'm still not quite sure where it is, only that it is in the middle of nowhere. It is right outside Capitol Reef National Park, and, if I remember my 4th grade Utah history well enough, that is right in the middle of what we Utahns like to call, Color Country.  (Are you proud of me Miss Harrington?) Torrey's population is approx. 200 and "downtown" consists of a church, two hamburger joints, a gas station and the only store, called the Chuck Wagon, which only carries diapers up to size 2, which I know because my SIL needed size 5 and had to drive to Loa, 20 min up the road, to get them. I also think that the only road in the whole town that is paved is Main Street. I hope this paints an accurate picture, because it will perhaps help you to experience the shock and awe that we felt as we drove up to Cougar Ridge Lodge.

I wish I had the time and space to describe how Cougar Ridge came to be, because this place started out being built as a barn and somehow turned into 15,000 square feet of posh-ness. Holy cow. First off, this place is set in the most breathtaking scenery ever. Red rocks, green pastures, silver sage... it's just stunning. Then you walk into the the place and your heart stops. The first floor is home to the kitchen of my dreams, I think it is as big as my first apartment, and just down from that are the bowling alley, theater room and the virtual reality room (yes, that's right, the VIRTUAL REALITY ROOM!) Upstairs are four suites, all with king size beds, flat screen tvs, and mine just happened to have its own private jacuzzi. (If you go to the website, which I suggest you do, my room was Scotch Ridge). Everything in the room, from lights and temp to the tv were controlled by a touch screen remote. This makes for hours of fun when your husband is in the shower and you can turn out all the bathroom lights and force him to listen to Lifetime movies really loud in the dark! There is also a gym, steam room, dry sauna and a great-room with a more realistic dream kitchen. Third floor is the kids' domain with bunkbeds and endless forms of entertainment. I think you get the point.

So, while this place was amazing, the company was even greater. I have been blessed to have my closest friends be family. I love my sister-in-laws as much as I love my own sisters and I feel the same about Ben's brothers. There are few people I would rather spend time with. So even the fact that it rained at least part of every day only made the time there sweeter. The sad part is I was having such a great time I forgot to take pictures. When I finally remembered, it was the last day. I KNOW! So stupid.  But I will use my limited gift of language and the small amount of pictures I have to detail our days there.

We arrived Thursday evening and spent most of that night visiting and trying to figure out the remote in our room.  There was a lot of, "Ali!  I can't turn off my tv!" and "It is 62 degrees in my room and it won't stop playing John Tesh, I think I'm doing something wrong." going around and many inappropriate jokes made by my BIL Shon, which I won't share here.  After an amazing dinner and an even more amazing lightning show, we settled into bed.

Remember what I said earlier about getting a flavor of the families that plan the reunion?  Well BIL is a doctor and SIL is a personal trainer so when the 6 mile hike was announced at breakfast no one was surprised.  I bowed out because "Evie" wasn't in the mood to play mountain goat especially at an elevation of 9000 ft and "Evie's" sea level lungs are having a hard time making it up the stairs at 5000 ft.  So "Evie" stayed home and ate hummus and red peppers.

That night we had a family chili cook-off.  We divided into 4 teams and were assigned a protein.  My team got beef, and as team leader I decided to go for a southwest-y chipotle style chili with grilled corn, fire roasted peppers and black beans.  Now I have never cooked with chipotles before and so had no real idea what I was doing, but I do pretty well with flavors and figured I could wing it.  Well, the end result, while tasty, could melt the eyebrows off your face.  That was okay though because my MIL's vegetarian chili could melt your whole face.  We ended up coming in 2nd to the pork chili that tasted like Indian food but left taste buds. 

This is turning into a novel so I'll just hit the highlight of the next day, which was the ATVs.  Now we didn't do a whole lot of four-wheeling in SoCal.  Something about .08 acres just doesn't lend itself to that type of fun.  Both the boys have ridden in the past out here but this was a new one for Ev.  There weren't enough to go around so we took turns letting the older kids ride alone and the adults heading out with the littler ones.  What I am about to describe was my favorite reunion memory and I'll do my best to give an accurate description...

I had gone out with my niece and we were up on a ridge where the road was and which you could see from the "staging" area where everyone waited around for their turn.  As I was headed out I passed Ben coming back in with Evie.  I offered to switch riders, as my niece was a little older and wanted to be a bit more adventursome, which Ben provided and I did not.  So we switched riders and I headed back.  At this point, Evie decides she wants a turn at driving, and not the kind where she puts her hands on mine while I drive.  No, she wants full control and she keeps knocking my hands away when I try to help.  So with my hands off to the side of hers and my foot firmly over the brake, I let her go.  She's crazy.  She couldn't go fast enough.  My in-laws were down in the basin and could see us up on the ridge.  My FIL, Arden, turns to my MIL, Lorraine, and says, "Wow, Aimee is a dare devil on that thing."  A few minutes later as we FLEW past them, Arden again turns to Lorraine and says, "Oh my word, that's Evie!"  We spent a few minutes more "off-roading" and then pried her off the thing.  That's my girl!

Okay, enough about the reunion.  Needless to say, many tears were shed at the end of the week as we said good-bye to our family.  Someday we are going to buy a compound and make everyone live on it so we can see people everyday.  I think ATVs might come in handy there.

The Family History Tour

So, Ben had an audition in Salt Lake, and rather than him go down on his own we decided to make a family trip out of it. Ben's parents live in Orem and since we had only seen them for a night when we stopped through during our move, we decided they needed some grandkid lovin' time. Now I love, love, love Orem. I couldn't have picked a more perfect place to grow up, so I love taking the kids back and spending time doing what I did as a kid.


First stop, BYU. My dad went back to school when I was 3 or 4 and so I remember taking family trips to the Wilk and the bookstore, Sunday walks on campus and walking through the buildings he had class in (which was some science/computer building that I have never been back to). I have lots more memories as a grown-up, but those little kid ones with my parents are awfully sweet. So we took the kids back and did the tour and explained to them how we would still love them, but perhaps just a little bit less, if they chose to attend college anywhere but here. We focused our time on the HFAC (Fine Arts Center) as that's where most of their dad's time was focused (and a good portion of their mom's because of that).

My "slab rat" kids. (Give me a holler if you get that reference.)


We toured the theaters he performed in and visited for a while with his favorite professor, Barta, the heart and soul of BYU's theatre department. Ben's dad also teaches (voice) at BYU and his office also happens to be in the HFAC, so we stopped by and visited with him in his office for a bit. There were also a couple of great art exhibits going on and we spent some time going through those.

While Ben and I continued with our visit with Barta, Ben's dad popped in and took the (bored) kids over to the bookstore. We caught up with them a little while later in the Wilk eating Creamery ice cream cones that they were supposed to have finished before we got there as our plans were to visit the Creamery off campus later. They proudly showed off the books Grandpa had also bought them and then we headed back to the bookstore to buy fudge and Grandpa headed back to his office to finish up some work. After a bit more sight seeing we finished off the day by heading to the Creamery (hey, Mama needs her ice cream too and it's summer and no one ever died from two ice cream cones in one day!). So yummy.

The next day we headed to Scera pool. I spent a good portion of my youth doing Scera related things. My childhood best friend's dad did something at Scera, I forget what, but we spent our days going to (free!)movies at the theater and our summers at the pool. I took swimming lessons there as a little kid (it's old enough that my dad actually learned to swim there, too) and the Scera pool snack bar was my first job. Later, as a teenager, I spent my whole summers doing shows at the Shell (outdoor theater). So, again, fun to go back. Now, the Scera pool today looks NOTHING like the pool did when I was growing up, they did a major overhaul several years ago, but it still takes me back to my childhood. Perhaps that is why I neglected to put on sunblock. Are we detecting a theme ? The boys had a blast going on the waterslides and off the diving boards, while Ev and I splashed around in the wade pool. Now I don't go swimming super often, so my skin doesn't see a ton of sun. I did remember the air show tragedy from the week prior and slathered my face and chest with sunblock (good thinking, Aimee, you are on the ball). But here I am, sitting in 2 feet of water, back and shoulders totally exposed, for 2 hours! It did not even occur to me that I might just be frying my lily white skin. Apparently, it is a summer of lessons, my friends. Needless to say, I burned. Badly. So you add the leprosy type peeling on my face, the giant cold sore that prevents me from opening my mouth all the way that I also got from that same sunburn, to the fact that I can no longer move my arms because that moves the skin on my back and shoulders...well you can imagine. I think the neighbors were outside my door with burning torches and pitchforks. We did end that excursion with a visit to the Sno Shak where I got my favorite, raspberries and cream. I love me some Sno Shak. Totally worth the burn.

So, anyway, that was our last day there and it really was tons of fun. It will be nice being able to get down to see Ben's parents more often; we've missed them. Perhaps we'll forgo sun-related activities for a while though.

Blue Angels

I'm not sure how we didn't learn our lesson with the Edwards Air Force Base Air Show disaster of '09. Maybe because Isaac, since the time he knew he had to grow up and get a job, decided pilot was the way to go. Or maybe it was the scene that unfolded three days before the air show here:

Scene: Isaac and Evie are outside playing in our cul-de-sac
Door slams open and Isaac races in, I meet him in the hall. Isaac is panting and can't speak:

Me: Isaac! What's wrong? What happened?
Isaac: pant, pant, pant
Me: (thinking perhaps his sister has been run over or kidnapped) ISAAC, CALM DOWN. WHAT HAPPENED!?!
Isaac: pant...Outside...pant, pant
Me: (at this point I am half running to the door, knowing full well that something tragic has happened, only to find Evie, safe and happy) Isaac, what is going on?
Isaac: pant... Two...pant, pant... Blue Angels... pant, pant... flew over... pant...the house... pant... so close...

I think it was at that point we knew it was inevitable: we were going to another air show.

We left the house early Saturday morning and drove across town to the high school to meet the shuttle. We picked the shuttle stop furthest from the show figuring that it would be the least crowded and easiest to get back to at the end of the day. That decision bites us in the butt later on. Anyway, we meet my parents and my nephew there and board the school bus that takes us to the airport where the show was. At this point, things are good. It's a nice day, the crowds aren't bad and to be honest, the stuff they have at these shows is kind of cool. We toured a giant cargo plane and saw some vintage stuff as well as some new-ish planes and helicopters. These shows tend to be really hands on (I read in the paper that recruitment goes WAY up after this type of thing) and the kids were having a lot of fun. At about noon we decide to grab some lunch (the show forbids outside food and drink, INCLUDING water!) and that is when the trouble started. I guess they were expecting about 8,000 people at this show and about 38,000 showed up. This caused some problems. My mom and I waited in the burger/pizza line for the kids while my dad and Ben went in search of something more appetizing for the grown-ups, deciding on Hawaiian. On the positive side, there were TONS of choices, downside was every single line was at least an hour long. We get about 2/3 of the way up the line and it stops moving. Just stops. No explanation, we are just no longer moving. Finally, after about 10 min. the poor little 16 year old girl manning the booth yells out that the grill has run out of propane. At this point there is NO WAY we are getting in a new line (after 45 min in this one) and we announce to the kids they get pizza or nothing, and they all agree pizza is a good choice. We get to the front buy our pizza and eight bottles of water and head back to our chairs. Once we get there, Ben calls to say the line they have been waiting in has run out of rice and it will be 20 min before the rice is ready. The Hawaiian place says they will give them macaroni salad instead if they don't want to wait. Let me explain this dish: it is this saucy, sort of sweet, slow cooked chicken or beef served over rice. The sauce flavors the rice and the combo is quite yummy. Does anyone at this point think that that over macaroni salad sounds even the slightest bit tasty? Again, NO WAY they are getting in a new line, so they wait for the rice to finish cooking. At this point, the show has started and I will admit there are some pretty cool things. Ben and my dad get back with the grown-up food (with rice) and we all eat our lunch, faces pointed to the sky.

I think this might be a good point to mention we have applied sunscreen to most places on our body at the beginning of the day. I, however, did not apply any to my face, as my moisturizer and foundation both contain sunscreen. Ben did not apply any to his face because he is a man. More on that later.

So...panes, planes, planes...blah, blah, blah. Really cool stuff, really long. Finally, the moment we've been waiting for: The Blue Angels. Now this really is good stuff. It was pretty spectacular. I was positive on more than one occasion that there was going to be death and destruction and we were going to be featured on "World's Deadliest Crashes" (I know this is an actual show, because I have boys). Those pilots are amazing.

Here is my 10 sec video of the awesomeness:



I'm sure that gave you all a real taste of what we experienced. :-)

So the show is over and we start making our way to the gate and eventually our bus. This is the point the day takes on a surreal quality. We make our way to the gates with thousands (38,000 to be exact) of other people. No one knows where to go or what to do. There are no signs, the people who look like they should be in charge are as baffled as the rest of us, and there is just plain (there's a pun in there) chaos. You know those Armageddon type movies where the world is going to end and there are all these people with their strollers and their crying kids, looking like they have already been through hell and they are all trying to get on buses that will take them to the only safe place left on Earth, but there are only enough buses for a 1/4 of them and people are starting to get a little crazy and fights over who was there first start breaking out? Those movie scenes are filmed at air shows. The lines are hundreds of people deep, there is no organization at all, and people at this point don't even care if the bus they are getting on will take them to their shuttle stop as long as it JUST GETS THEM OUT OF HERE. There is no water or food (remember, they won't let us bring that), it's 90 degrees and people are standing in sprinklers just to cool off. The other problem is that there are no police directing traffic, so even if you manage to get on the bus you aren't going anywhere. When the first fight breaks out, we decide it's time to just walk the 2 1/2-ish uphill miles to the car. Now, apparently, my mom had somewhere to be because she was speed walking to our destination, and my poor sea-level lung-ed family is doing its best to keep up. I really thought I had been saved from the air show crash tragedy only to die walking to my car. Finally, we made it to a gas station about 1/4 mile from the car where we stopped and I bought a 44 oz cup of ICE, and we ran into a member of my parents' ward who drove Ben and Dad the last bit to the parking lot and they came back with the cars. It was at this point my pioneer ancestors started weeping, because I was so glad to have air conditioning that I cried.

If nothing else, I learned a valuable lesson: If you are going to spend the day with your face pointed at the sun, you, perhaps, shouldn't rely on the SPF 8 in your foundation, especially when you don't put it up all the way to your hairline. Ben also learned a good lesson, man skin burns just like girl skin. By the next morning both of us were praying for botox, because every time we moved our foreheads a white hot pain would shoot through our bodies and by day five we looked like we had leprosy.

Good times.

Splash Park

About 1/2 hour north of us is Rexburg, the home of BYU-I, the only place on earth more conservative than BYU. The upside of that is the whole community is bursting with wholesome family fun. They have a place up there called the Splash Park. It's a park playground type place with water but no pool, and the best part is it's free. My sister Holli,her kids, Isaac, Evie and myself (Cooper is apparently too old for this kind of stuff) drove up for the afternoon and we were joined later by my brother Joe and his wife Necia and their two kids. My baby sister Joy, who goes to school up there, stopped by for a little while but she was packing her apartment to move home for the summer and couldn't stay for the day, but she did bring me a 44 oz diet Dr Pepper to soften that blow. The kids had a blast, running around free, and typical of my son, he had two new "best" friends after about 20 min. We've hit this park before, but Evie was always too timid to do anything but splash her feet in the puddles, but this year she kept up with the best of them and was crushed when it was time to go. Thank you Santa Clarita pool swimming lessons for curing my daughter's water phobia!

After awhile, the little girls got cold and wanted to take a break. Evie noticed some college girls there at the park "laying out" (seriously? Do people still "lay out"? Do they not teach about skin cancer at BYU-I?)and decided if that what big girls do then she was all for it. So she corralled her other two little girl cousins and pulled the towels into the sun and did their best to get their sun on. We didn't bother telling them they were all wearing SPF 45. On a side note...what the heck are college girls doing tanning at a splash park for little kids? Is that not just a little bit creepy? Maybe this was part of the skin cancer lecture they obviously missed.





And now for all my big city friends, I present to you the Rexburg crime fighters...



Heehee.

My House

I kept thinking I'd wait til I could take pictures of the inside of my house before I posted this entry, but if I wait til then it may never happen. We're at that point where all the necessities are in place and real life has settled in and getting pictures on the walls or those last junk boxes put away always seem to put off for things like meals or laundry. I keep threatening to make everyone who stops by hang a picture or a shelf but so far have not had the guts to make that happen ("Hello, new neighbor, I'd love to chat, but first, here's a hammer, make yourself useful."). So I'll post the ones I have and maybe I'll post more later, after my neighbors hang those pictures.

So, about the house... This new house is almost exactly the same size as my SoCal house, close to 3000 square feet, but my second story happens to be in the ground. I forgot how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE basements! Do you know how nice a basement would be during the blazing hot Santa Clarita summers? I also forgot how nice it is to have storage. I have a storage room...that's right, a whole, freaking room devoted to the storage of things. Unfortunately, that square footage has to come from somewhere, and that ended up coming from my bathrooms and kitchen. The bathroom one causes some logistical problems (our other house had one more bathroom and they had separate sink and toilet/shower areas. I'm pretty sure I could fit my whole master bathroom in the shower of my SoCal house) but the kitchen one makes my heart weep a little. I shouldn't be a complainer, I know it's only for a year and the kitchen is more than functional, but my last kitchen had 14 drawers, my new on has 4 1/2 (one is a very small drawer, used to store...what? I 'm not sure yet). This causes problems. Big problems. Like where to put the hotpads. You can't put hotpads in a cabinet. I believe it's the law. Look it up. The upside is I have a HUGE walk-in pantry. This makes me smile.

Then there is the back yard. Oh my laws, the backyard. If you want to know how big my backyard is, ask Cooper, he had to mow it last week and he'll be more than happy to share his views on that. I think the lot is a half acre, maybe a third, I don't know; truth be told, I have no idea how big and acre is. But the backyard is big; very, very big. There is a large garden plot, fully planted, but it looks like the family that lived here before us gave up on it when they decided to move and it was overtaken by weeds. Sadly it's not salvageable and it's too late in the season to start over. Breaks my heart. Still, even with the large garden, the backyard is at least triple what we had before. Our dog thinks he's died and gone to heaven.

To top it off we live in a cul-de-sac off the end of a dead end street. No traffic. The kids ride there bikes and scooters with the other kids on the block til dark every night. Did you catch that little headliner I threw in there nonchalantly? THE OTHER KIDS ON THE BLOCK. As in more that one. The next door neighbors have five, across the street are three more and on the corner there are three more. Isaac already has a new best friend, Dylan, who lives next door. They do things like was cars (poorly) for spending money and ride their bikes down the street to throw rocks into the irrigation canal (did I mention I live in the country-ish). Linus had even made three new doggie friends. This is good stuff.

So, in conclusion...I like it. Pretty good for not seeing it before we moved in. If we had come out here with the intention of staying long term, it would not be on my top ten list, but it's a home we can be happy in for the next year with very few complaints. And the kids love it. Can't beat that.

Who Needs a House?

Three hours before we arrived at our house the landlord called to tell us it wasn't ready for us to move in. It needed to be painted, and the carpets needed to be cleaned. We tried to explain to him that we didn't care, but apparently we have the most conscientious landlord on the planet and he insisted that it was not fit for living. (Let me just break in here to say we went through it when we arrived and it looked brand new except for where they had patched the wall from the previous flat screen tv. Seriously, brand new.) Anyway, he agreed to not charge us a pet deposit (he had overlooked the part on our application where we mentioned our 12 pound, three-legged, poodle mutt) if we allowed him to paint and clean the carpets before we actually moved in. So we did what any normal family would do...we moved all our stuff into the basement storage room and garage and then went camping.

Yellowstone National Park is about 2 hours from Idaho Falls and just outside of that is a place called Island Park (not an island, named by some wishful thinker snowed in at his cabin, is my guess). We've camped there before, but not in my kids' memories. My parents, my sister and her family, joined us and we found a couple of campsites together (well, sort of, this is Idaho camping, you can't see your camping neighbors from your campsite) and the sites were right near the banks of the Buffalo River. This is the slowest moving river I have ever seen, and it was more like a lake than a river. My parents brought a raft and it was about 7 minutes after we arrived that the boys headed down to do some manly exploration. That left me, Ben and Evie to set up the Hopkin Hilton Tent Palace. If you've seen my tent you know it is the biggest tent that has ever been and takes a small village to put up, but we managed.



(When we went to buy a new tent we wanted one that 6'3" Ben could stand up in. Apparently they get wider as they get taller. I believe our tent sleeps 14.) The boys returned later, trailing leeches behind them. Karma anyone? Next time, set up the tent, boys.


The rest of our days were spent eating and resting and a taking few side trips. On our last day there, the rains came. Big rains. Thunder and lightening rains. We-are-not-prepared rains. The rest of my family had shown up (with the exception of one sis and her family) for a wonderful dutch oven feast and to spend the night, when our 20% chance of rain turned into a big fat 100% chance. It poured. I wish I had taken a picture of my husband, two brothers and a sister-in-law valiantly trying to hold a tarp over the food table while taking bets on who was most likely to get struck by lightening.
Perhaps they had the right idea as the rest of us were running around looking like drowned rats trying to pack up what accumulates when 22 people camp together. However it happened, we successfully packed up and drove the 1 1/2 hours home where we finally ate our dinner, all crowded around my parents kitchen table...at 10:30 pm.

It may not have ended the way we wanted, but I assure you it's a camping trip my kids will never forget.

Our house was done when we got home. It didn't look any different.

Here We Go...

We were dreading the trip out to Idaho. We have done that trip what seems like a hundred times and none of them can be descibed as wonderful. Fifteen hours in a car with anyone, let alone three kids, is never fun even when you do your best to be entertaining(Okay kids, whoever can not fight with someone the longest gets to pick where we stop to pee!). So we were suprised when this trip turned out to be...pleasant.

Ben left with Isaac, Linus the dog and the truck around 1 pm on Saturday and Evie and I stayed to pick up Cooper after scout camp. Ev and I went to get pedicures and then went shopping for a bluetooth for the trip. Good girl time. Cooper arrived back at about 3 pm and the plan was to head over to a friend's house for him to shower off the scout camp stink and then head out. Cooper arrived smelling suprisingly good (thanks to a combination of a shower the night before and the ferry ride from Catalina, he smelled like the ocean. I still contend that scout camp on an island is not real scout camp). We skipped the shower and headed out right then. Thanks to Ben and Isaac's numerous pit stops we arrived at the hotel just outside of Vegas about the same time. We relaxed, headed to the pool and ordered take-out and had a nice night.

The next morning we left Vegas and drove to Orem, to stay the night with Ben's parents. We had a fun, but short, visit with them and the next morning made the last 4 hour leg of our journey to Idaho Falls. I think that's when most of the panic set in. What the heck were we doing? I was moving into a house I had never seen in person, in a town I swore I'd never live in, where I know exactly 9 people, all based on a feeling. Then Ben called to let me know that the landlord had just called and the painting and carpets still hadn't been done and we couldn't move in yet, and what did we want to do? This is not exactly the path I saw my life taking (not even three weeks ago did I see this path). Then my dad called to let me know that he and my mom and my sister's family were meeting us at the house and that they had arranged for the elders quorum to help us move in, and Mom wanted to know what we wanted for dinner. Slowly that knot in my stomach began to untangle itself. This is why we are here. Family. I'm sure the Lord has some other concurrent plan working (or maybe he doesn't, who knows) but for now I have family. My parents live 2.34 miles away (yes, we googled it), same with my brother's family and two more sisters, my other sister lives about another half mile from there. My kids have cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents here. I have brothers and sisters and parents. That's really cool. I don't know for sure why we are here. I do know the Lord told us to come and we listened even though it made no sense. If it really is all about family, well, that's pretty okay to me.