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.