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.