Talkative Tuesday A Week with My Sisters

My sisters have always been my best friends. I have not seen my sisters for two years and let's just say I get homesick for their company. This week my sister and her four kids came to visit me. My own children had the week off from school and so it was perfect timing. We had such a blast and managed to keep the kids busy. We talked and laughed and reminisced. It was good crazy times. I think my kids had 30 seconds of boredom total. And that my friends is a miracle in itself.




Our Week started out with a trip to the Washington Community Swimming Pool where the kids completely wore themselves out with 2 1/2 hours of play.


I had the kids all by myself one day and we made pretzels and candles. Crazy Aunt Rachelle decided it was OK to have a marshmallow cookout in the kitchen over Isaac's homemade candle.





Saturday we were joined by Tom and my brother Jake and we made a long adventure of it in Zion Park. Isaac and Jacob are standing in front of their namesakes at the Court of the Patriarchs. We visited the weeping wall and took the river walk. I have been to Zion numerous times and this is the first time I have done these trails. They were smile inducing beautiful.

On Sunday, Tom cooked us a great dinner and did the dishes, always a good Mother's day gift. I also got a long nap and the much needed game of sister Boggle.

Monday we decided to explore Fiddlers Canyon, the actual Canyon up the road from my home. We set off on our grand adventure where we found a fun little water hole, a charming creek, dragonflies, lizards, a few scraped knees. Colette slid down a small incline and Isaac kept disappearing, only to reappear on some giant rock above us. We came back with pockets full of rocks and thirsty hungry kids. I can't wait to hike back there again.





The older kids finished out the entire rest of the day playing games. Here they are enjoying the spring weather on the front porch. OK sometimes I just had to send them all outside.


We saw them off Tuesday morning and Isaac was literally holding back tears. My sweet almost 11, can barely get more than a grunt for a response child, just could not bear to see them go. I have to admit it was hard. Now I am going to be playing catch up all week so it is possible this will be my only post.

Green Makes me Happy

I really love St. Patricks Day and I am not even Irish. I am however married to a part Irish guy which makes all my kids part Irish so we love this green day.
Last night I sprinkled clover confettin in my kids beds so they woke up excited to see that the leprechauns were here last night. Isaac of course knew I was the real leprechaun, which I consider an improvement in his intelligence, since he used to think his Irish heritage would one day turn him into a leprechaun.

Becca ran to check my bed and informed me that the leprechauns must hate me because I did not get any confetti. I guess she didn't see all the confetti on my dining room table indicating that indeed the leprechauns do love me because I love St. Patrick's Day and because I hold an annual luncheon for the girls in my family. Of course they love me.

I served up some green eggs and ham for breakfast and then proceeded to to clean my house. I served my staple pesto alfredo fettucine for lunch with some asparagus, spinach salad and lime chiffon pie.
I added a new dessert to my green repertoire: blarney stones which are really just cake squares with frosting and then crushed peanuts on the outside. They were a pretty big hit. But we all know kissing the blarney stone brings good luck. The amazing part is I never make cake from scratch. I didn't realize the recipe was for cake and when I took it out of the oven I realized I had accomplished an amazing feat. I had made cake from scratch.

Later in the afternoon the kids came home and Isaac put together a treasure hunt. He is after all just a really tall leprechaun.

For dinner I made corn beef and cabbage salad. None of us really loved the corned beef so that was a been there, done that, don't need to do it again moment.
All in all it was a good day and my house only got moderately messy after 8 kids ran free for all through the house, while the moms just chatted an hour away.

Talkative Tuesday- Football, and the Unlucky Thirteen

I have been saving up for my Talkative Tuesday Post so be warned.

After a hectic week of canning I think I am almost finished, or at least ready to call it a week. If it can't be frozen or cooked in a pie I am done for at least a week. Too bad my tomatoes in my garden are all finally turning red and my zuchinnis up and decided to win the battle with the squash bugs and are now becoming a little to prolific. Please, I need a breather and so does my three year-old.

Saturday I had a great time at the SUU Homecoming football game. This was extremely surprising to me. It has been pretty well broadcast by me that I am no football fan. I just could never watch an entire game. Turns out I understood the rules even worse than I thought. So, as my husband, whispered sweet football nothings in my ear this Saturday I replied with things like, "Oh that is only worth one point." "You mean you can get an extra point for that?" "Oh that is what a down is." "They are not allowed to push the reciever out of the way?" I was shocked to discover that by half-time I finally got it. By the fourth quarter I was on my feet and screaming as fast as my football fanatic husband. I was aching inside for our friend the head coach as he just barely lost the game. I just can't believe it. I may actually go to another game this year. Tom bought season tickets. I still can't watch it on TV. I need the adrenaline rush of the stadium and my husband's commentary yell-muttering in my ear. I also need some sort of emotional attachment to one of the teams and that pretty much narrows it down to BYU, SUU and possibly PENN State.

My husband and I have been married for 13 years. This week I started to think that maybe 13 years is an unlucky number for household appliances. It is ridiculous how many things have broken just this week. As I started to reflect on the number of items that have broken this year (not just household appliances) I have started to lean towards becoming just a tad suspicious. Within the past week my hairdryer, oven, and washing machine all started acting strangely. The oven is completely broken. The washing machine has a 50/50 chance of leaking water all over my laundry room floor and my hairdryer is, well gone after it started screeching at me.
Let's just review the list of broken things this year.
1. My van. The engine broke for the second time. We had to buy a new car, which I love by the way.
2. My lifetime warranty sink cracked. Thank heavens for lifetime warranties.
3. My piano has at least two keys that don't play.
4. My crockpot up and died last month in the middle of cooking. It was thirteen years-old after all.
5. The stucco finish is peeling off my columns. OK that started last year but it is getting worse.
6. My husband felt the need to buy me a new toaster for my birthday because some of it was broken.
7. My oven is currently broken.
8. My hair dryer broke, oh that reminds me
9. My curling iron broke earlier this year too but that happens all the time.
10. My washing machine is on the fritz.
11. October
12. November
13. December
I have three more months to go and I hope that the broken appliances pace themselves. Because I am running out of a budget for new appliances. The Christmas budget is starting to disappear.
P.S. I bought an extended warranty for my oven and washing machine earlier this year. I thought it might be a crazy thing to do. But the $50 warranty is now paying for a $600 repair. Whew. Dodged that bullet.

Talkative Tuesday - Eagle Adventures and lawn mowers

On Saturday while the boys watched the first BYU football game I took my girls and some of their friends to watch a rehabilitated eagle be released into the wild. Unfortunately, this was the only photo I was able to take before my battery ran out. So you don't get to see the beautiful eyes or the bird soaring over our heads or the bird almost knocking down the reporter trying to take its picture. This eagle was rescued by Martin Tyner a wildlife rehabilitator in Cedar. I can't remember if this is the eagle that was hit by a car or rehabilitated to hunt rabbits instead of cows. Eagles that hunt livestock are often threatened by said livestock owners. Martin has had several eagles rehabilitated recently. Next Saturday they are releasing yet another eagle. They released this bird to honor cancer survivors and victims. According to a Native Indian legend an eagle can carry 7000 prayer to the Gods. One for each of its 7000 feathers. Tyner invited everyone to touch the eagle and say a prayer for someone before the release. I of course believe I can say pretty powerful prayers without an eagle but many people still said their prayer with the eagle or touched it. Lia's Papa took her to pet the eagle. It still had its blinders on. I could not believe she reached out and touched that intimidating bird. She has serious panic attacks everytime a fly is within five feet of her personal space. I just really think she trusts her grandpa. You can see him holding her in the picture.

Rebecca was pretty awed by the bird too and a little more afraid to touch it. In fact she refused. The woman that released the bird is a cancer survivor and represents down winder cancer victims. She was such a little lady and it was pretty amazing to see her release that eagle with a wing span almost as big as her. When Tyner removed the blinds the eagle just sat there until Mary let go and then he fluttered down the side of the mountain a ways. Like I said he almost took out the photographer located down the hill. The reporter had to do some serious ducking. The eagle soared above us for a good ten minutes, reveling in the air currents. He drifted off into the distance a speck against the red cliffs of Cedar and then returned and circled above our small party. Someone, who looked exactly like Mayor Rocky Anderson (and Bruce and I are pretty convinced it was him) remarked that he was returning to say thanks to Martin for helping him. We all strained our necks until the eagle was a tiny speck against the clouds in the sky.

Sunday I came down with a monstrous sore throat and spent the day sleeping and resting. Cedar City is petri dish for germs. Everything goes around at least once.

After Tom came home from a half-day of work on Monday, Isaac got to do something he has been begging to do for months. I don't really get the fascination with this event. But then I am not a boy. Tom finally let Isaac mow part of the lawn. I have to say that in at least one way I am spoiled. I have never had to mow the lawn. I don't really ever want to. But Isaac has been chomping at the bit to get his hands on that lawn mower. So Tom finally let him take a couple passes. Isaac was in man heaven. I keep telling him "once you know how to mow the lawn you can never be an innocent bystander again. Someday you will be sick of mowing that lawn because someday it will be your new chore." But he did not care. The best part was his squiggly mow line next to Tom's perfectly straight lines. There was something so poetic about that squiggly mow line. Afterwards, Isaac claimed he was going to use his rip stick as a weight to strengthen his arms so he could push that lawn mower straight next time. Boys, are they not the best? And by the way, I will make Tom teach the girls to mow the lawn someday also. I believe girls should have such talents, even if I do not regret my own ignorance in this area.

The rest of our uneventful labor day was spent touring a few homes in the newly dubbed "Festival of Homes" and playing a round of bowling with the kids. All I have to say is I am grateful for bumpers and not necessarily for the kids' use. Tom's score 158, mine 67. I tied with Rebecca and even Isaac beat me. Must have been his newly strong lawn mower arms. Of course, I was sharing turns with Lia. But really, I am no good at bowling.

Talkative Tuesday

I feel a little talked out today. So, I won't write a long post.
What have we been up to the past week. I watched my kids play in the rain, flushed two dead fish down the toilet (prizes from the 24th of July carnival, made bread twice, went swimming - in the rain, bought a new five dollar fish to replace free carnival fish, tucked my kids into bed each night, cried over other people's broken hearts, rejoiced over other people's long awaited victories. Now I await my husband's return from a week long male bonding trip so I can unload a thousand saved up conversations -- poor Tom.

Talkative Tuesday

I have to say that as much as I love summer, I am so ready for school to begin again. My kids can't go five minutes without a fight, a temper tantrum or a tattle tale. Due to hateful words and hateful actions my children are all grounded from TV and friends today. Their only recourse is to play with each other. I know this sounds like a crazy solution but they are actually playing together and having fun.

I bought a plastic pool yesterday. I have been searching for one everywhere all summer. When Wal-Mart runs out of something for the summer there is a little chance of finding it the rest of the summer. Well, I finally tracked one down, stuffed it into the back of my very versatile new Honda Pilot and brought it home. It is already worth the hours of peace it brings me. All three of my kids are out there playing go fish for the Littlest Pet Shop animals right now.

It is always a miracle when all three kids find something they want to play together. They are such totally different personalities. The only thing that is the same about them is their big age gaps.

Lia is three and probably my most stubborn child. All my children are stubborn, they have a stubborn mother, but she is by far the worst. I have learned that you just have to outstubborn her if you are going to win any battles. My SIL Camille watched all three kids on Friday and Saturday when Tom and I made a trip to Salt Lake. I have to give Kudos to Camille for her ability to not give in to Lia. Lia told Camilled she wanted to wear her yellow dress. I had not packed the yellow dress. There was no yellow dress. But for Lia it was the yellow dress or nothing. Fine with Camille. She told Lia she could wear the clothes available or go naked. Lia decided to go with the naked option. She wanted to wear underwear but Camille said "Nope its get dressed or go all the way naked." Lia ran around buck naked for awhile until she finally realized she was actually not going to get her way. I would not have had the courage to let her run naked due to the fact that she is still not all the way potty trained. Kudos for Camille for following through on this risky venture.

Rebecca's personality can be seen in this latest incident. We were out shoe shopping at one of the two department stores in Cedar. One of the male sales associate had on a very vibrant outfit of tight lavendar pants, a white shirt and a lavendar tie. As he walked past us Rebecca said very loudly and very snidely. "Is he really wearing purple?" I responded with a suppressed giggle, "Did you really have to say that out loud." A few minutes later she asked me this very astute question. "If they call girls who like boy things 'Tomboys' what do they call guys who like girl things?" I could only respond, "Good question."

Rebecca always says whatever she thinks. It doesn't matter how rude or crazy or inappropriate. She is also extremely smart and sees things so clearly for a six-year-old.

Isaac is all silliness. If only he would stop teasing for five seconds the daily dose of girl screams would be cut in half. At the recent 24th of July celebration Isaac kept getting in line again and again for the dunking booth, not the throwing part, the dunking part. After a couple of hours he was close to growing fins.

I do so love my kids and most days, navigating their differences is a humorous and joyful experience but on other days I am grateful that next year our summer break will only be six weeks. I am sooo excited about the year-round school at the charter school my kids will be attending this year.