We went to a parade a few weeks ago and were privileged to have seen some Star Wars characters. Alex and Jordan are not pictured here because they are spending a few weeks with grandparents. They would be pretty sad to find out they missed Darth Vador

Going Public

Its official--I'm going public. Now all my long lost cousins and friends can now get to this blog from other family member's blogs. Yippee. (Please do not use our last name or place of residence in the comments.) If you'd like, you can also subscribe to this blog by clicking on the subscribe button at the top of the sidebar. HAPPY BLOGGING!

"TACOS INCOMING"

These cousins are among the funniest people I know. In a game of Quelf you're never sure what's going to bring on the next round of laughs. Will it be Leigh with toilet paper wrapped around her head, Casey and his George Bush style chicken talk, or Dan's rousing rendition of When Johnny Comes Marching Home followed by a 21 gun salute and, "Tacos incoming, everyone to the ground." The funniest is when everyone actually listens, flattening themselves on the ground earning one more point on the board.
You know, its moments like these when I realize a little bit more of my humor development. Casey's "Criminitly Trigger, put that peashooter down" and the breakout into "Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters. . ." made me feel downright comfortable. Who else would say that kind of stuff while playing X Bugs and Alhambra and you actually know what they're talking about--only family. I figure since we lived so close while growing up that we couldn't help but develop our senses of humor together--except the Elmer's are like 10 times more developed than our families

While we were taking pictures Dan stood up right in the middle of everything singing, "If I were a rich man" from Fiddler on the Roof and dancing. It was so funny! See how the Elmers are only just smiling--I'm sure stuff like this happens all the time

11 FABULOUS YEARS

I would have posted a wedding picture but couldn't find an electronic one.

I'm pretty lucky to have been introduced to Carl almost 12 years ago. He's been such a great husband--like 10 times better than I expected. (I didn't expect that he would be a bad husband but I wasn't expecting him to be so helpful and involved I guess.) These are my 11 favorite things about him:

1. As soon as he gets home he gets right to work with the kids or dinner or dishes or whatever we might be doing. In fact, he's the hardest worker I know. He goes to work between 4 and 6 in the morning just so he can come home by dinner time.

2. He's a great handyman. There's not much that Carl doesn't think he can do but if he finds something, he honestly admits it.

3. He's calm. Apparently he was born with this trait and even if I try to rile him up, it hardly ever works. There's not much that ruffles his feathers.

4. He's really funny. He can make the kids laugh so hard just by laughing himself. They love him for it.

5. He is loved wherever he goes. So at MY grandma's funeral last week everyone knew his name but couldn't quite get mine. I try to be understanding and think "its probably because I am one of 4 sisters who have some similar characteristics." This happens a lot though--not just with family. People just remember him.
6. He's great in front of a crowd. Its really funny how Carl gets not with but in front of a group of people. He smiles a lot and just generally makes people comfortable. He told some stories at his parent's 50th anniversary celebration. It was quite entertaining. He also recently spoke to a group of women at church. I had such a great time watching him--I wish I could describe how he was acting--suave and smiley are the only words I can think of.
7. So handsome. In Sept of 1996 some of my friends were a little surprised that I was dating nice looking Carl. I think they figured (like I did) that nobody that looked like that would ever be interested in me. I really lucked out. One of the older women (I'd say in her 70s) at church that heard Carl speak told me later, "he's so handsome."
8. He's spontaneous. The grocery store scavenger hunt for example or his sudden breakout into hillbilly talk.
9. He's practical. He can really bring me around to reality when I'm get frustrated over not measuring up to my ideals.
10. He loves people in general. Always giving everyone the benefit of the doubt I've very rarely heard Carl speak negatively of others. This is probably why he is so loved.
11. He loves me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

One of my fondest memories of my mom is watching her give my younger siblings a bath. She wore this purple plaid button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. I remember how the veins popped out of her arms while she was washing hair in the bathtub. I thought it was so great her veins popped out and I figured she was pretty strong from all the work she always did. I remember wanting to be a mom just like that. Against my will (at times) she taught me how to sew, weed, quilt, persevere, play games, mix cookie dough with my hands, wake up early, and make friends. THANKS MOM! I'm glad I was sent to your family.

Pictured here is MIMI with Grant at the bowling alley. He only lasted one turn.

PST

When I was in Cross Country, not a workout went by when the coach didn't talk about Positive Self Talk. Naturally when you do something like a race you think "this is hard. I don't know if I can make it to the end." It was amazing though what that positive talk did to my races. You can really talk yourself into anything. Yesterday as I was getting dinner ready (it always happens to me if I don't fix ahead) I was reaching my breaking point when Carl called to see how things were going. I replied, "I'm done," to which he said, "alright I'm coming home." (Its nice to have a husband who knows its time to come home.) After he hung up I found myself saying, "you can do this." Suddenly I didn't feel like locking myself in my bedroom and crying I just kept going and even felt pretty happy.

READY

I've been feeling lately like an unprepared batter standing at the plate without helmet and bat. The balls are coming fast and hard and there's nothing I can do about it. That's what happens to me when I wake up at the same time the kids do. They need me right now and I'm not ready to help them. So I've determined once again to wake up early in the morning and take care of myself first before they get up. I figure if I do it for a few weeks straight I'll have it down again. I'm so much happier when I've showered, dressed, gotten my hair done and makeup on, read my scriptures, exercised and organized the day a little (including thinking about meals) before the kids get up. It kind of sounds like a lot of things to do but only then do I feel like that prepared batter: helmet on, toes square to the plate, ready for anything.

QUINGIE

One of the nice things about living here is getting to see more family. Quingie is what we've always called my grandma. I'm glad I got a chance to visit her a few times before she passed away last weekend. She was great! She must have felt pretty miserable during the last few months but she never let on. She giggled as she told me, "I've seen better days." She made a joke of losing her hearing and memory--just a downright positive person. Usually a bawler at funerals, somehow I don't feel really sad about Quingie. I'm happy she gets to be with her husband James McQueen who died over 22 years ago.

Hopefully when I reach the age of 89 I'll be just like Quingie.

END OF VACATION

We wrapped up the vacation with Carl's parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. We were only there for 2 full days but we were so busy that it seemed like a week. While the adults were setting up for the anniversary party the cousins were playing their little hearts out.

swimming at Aunt Amy's

Jordan and Nick

Grandma's great sand table


Yay! more girls for Katie

the cousins singing in the anniversary program

So now we are back home and down to 1 -- yippee. Katie will be home tonight though to keep Grant company. Jordan and Alex will spend a few more weeks with Grandparents.

DAY 7 CAMPING?

Day 6 was the end of our home vacation. Day 7 was supposed to be a camping trip. But here's how the day unraveled. After packing and cleaning for the upcoming road trip we finally left the house at noon. We drove one hour north to Honeyville Utah's Crystal Hot Springs. After driving 30 minutes away to a restaurant and purchasing some non perishables for dinner (we couldn't fit the cooler on this trip) we drove the 30 minutes back to camp and set up our tent. We spent the next 3 hours swimming in the hot springs and going down the water slide. The place was more run down than we were expecting but the kids didn't notice so it probably didn't matter.

We then went back to our campsite and had a little dinner (if you can call it that) consisting of cherries and rice cakes. Near the end of dinner Carl said, "Why don't we just head up to Washington tonight. We're not going to get a very good sleep anyway" (the camp site was mostly rocks and dry grass.) It took him a few minutes to talk me into it. (The kids were pretty easy to convince since it meant more time with cousins the following day.) So we took down the tent and headed out.

The Trip: Carl thought I could sleep for a few hours while it was still light and then we'd switch. Sounds like a good plan right? I have such a bad memory sometimes. I forgot all about Grant's car yelling, "MOOOOOOOOOM." He can see me perfectly from his seat and I think he does this every few minutes to make sure I'm alive. He keeps it up until I make eye contact with him and say, "what?" Even when I answer, he can't seem to remember why he wanted to talk to me in the first place. This went on and on until he finally went to sleep after dark. Since I'm the worst driver when I'm tired (its the hum of the car that puts me right to sleep) Carl ended up driving all night. We did stop for a 2 hour rest at some point and ended up in Washington at 6:30 am. The kids woke up and everything went smoothly from there on out.

More to follow on the rest of the trip.

DAY 6 BOONDOCK MARATHON

MAIN EVENT: Boondocks

We spent a great (and exhausting) day at the Boondocks today. We bought passes for unlimited Laser Tag, Bumper Boats, Go Karts, Miniature Golf and Kiddie Cove (like McDonald's Playland only bigger and better). We also got lots of tokens with the package and played video games that spit out tickets at lightening speed. Grant was pretty funny during our mini-golf game. He'd hit the ball and then run and pick it up and move to the next hole. He also spent his time examining rocks and kicking other people's balls. He liked the Kiddie Cove and played in there for quite a while until at some point he lost interest and ran around and around a column outside the cove. He's so entertaining and exhausting to watch.

SERVICE PROJECT: Sweeping sidewalks. Since there weren't enough brooms, Alex used a snow shovel. Don't think it helped much but he did.

QUIET ACTIVITY-none. We went back to Boondocks since we payed a pretty penny for our passes, which were good for all day.

DINNER: We got around to eating our barbecued pork and chicken at around 8:30 pm. I don't think we've ever eaten that late-ever.

I can't believe Carl's energy levels. He didn't have any kind of down time yesterday. I, on the other hand snuck some piano time while Grant was supposed to be down for a nap (didn't work) during the Service Project and then again while Carl was barbecuing. So after all the kids were in bed at 10pm (totally off schedule) I found Carl doing stuff for work. Maybe its because we are on vacation and so he's enjoying everything we're doing and doesn't feel exhausted. I, who am pretty exhausted at this point, am in awe of his energy and hard work.

DAY 5 FAT CATS, CAR WASH & CAMPING

Day 5 was Katie's Day

Woke up at 7:30-Katie made French Toast for breakfast

Morning Work

10am MAIN EVENT- FAT CATS - Its like Chuck E. Cheese with bowling. We only lasted one game of bowling then the kids wasted away their precious allowance on games that would give them the most tickets. They happily walked away from that activity with all sorts of junk--whistles, disappearing ink, etc.

Lunch - Hot N' Ready ($5 pizza)

Service Project - FREE CAR WASH

RELAXING ACTIVITY - Camping in the Backyard

Carl and the kids watched a couple of shows on the laptop in the tent while Grant and I slept in the house. It turned out to be a relaxing event for everyone.

Days 3 and 4

Day 3 - REST - If I had only realized how much rest I needed for Day 4.

DAY 4

Wake up at 6am - Get ready for the day & do morning work. 6am your asking? I know, I know--all Carl's idea. He's not really a morning person on vacation but since he usually gets up for work between 4 and 5am I guess he thought 6am was sleeping in.

Breakfast - Sausage and Eggs

Home work and reading

MAIN EVENT: THANKSGIVING POINT DINOSAUR MUSEUM

The highlights of this activity were seeing one huge dinosaur made entirely of balloons (pictured above). It was huge. The kids had a great time building prehistoric scenes with water, sand, plastic palm trees and dinosaurs. They also swept away sand, uncovering dinosaur bones. We showed on popcorn as we watched a 3D IMAX called Wild Ocean.

SERVICE PROJECT: Baking cookies and taking them to neighbors.

The idea was that everyone would help make cookies-it would be one of those great family scenes you see on commercials with everyone smiling and acting like a great, loving family. It turned out that while Carl and kids were getting a head start on the next activity I made the cookies (which was great since I needed some alone time). Afterward, we delivered cookies while 2 out of 4 of the kids whined the whole 100 yards around the neighborhood.

RELAXING ACTIVITY: We borrowed a cousin's PS2 and spent 3 or 4 hours (as opposed to the 2 Carl scheduled) to play video games.

DINNER: Fast food hopping-Hot dogs and drinks at Costco, curly fries at Arby's and shakes at Shivers.

Alex chose all of the activities for today. Unfortunately since he woke up hours earlier than he's used to, he fell apart a few hours into the Main Event. Oh well, I'm sure he'll sleep well and be ready for an early morning tomorrow.

DAY 2 - Cleaver Vacation

HISTORIC WHEELER FARM


Pony rides were the highlight of this activity. The kids were even willing (though not expected) to pay their own money for a ride. Katie offered to pay for Grant's ride too.

We spent the evening playing games with Carl's brother Dallas and family. Ate at Bajios-had to leave early because Grant was out of control.

HOME VACATION

In an effort to save money, travel less and have Grant's bed at hand, we decided to have a home vacation this year. Jordan, Katie and Alex each have a day next week in which they are responsible to plan meals, choose a main event, service project and quiet activity. Carl and I took the 4th and 5th of July.

DAY 1--4th of July (Carl's day)

Hiked Mount Timpanogos--"Are we almost there?" was the most asked question on this hike and the second most asked question: (coming only from Katie) "Are we going to get ice cream when we're done?"

Fireworks at the Country Club--It took just a few minutes to walk to the country club. We could actually see 3 or 4 different fireworks from this spot. Grant was really scared and hid under a coat for the whole entire time the fireworks were going off right above our heads. Though Alex plugged his ears a lot, he and everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

OVERLOAD AND TWO-YEAR-OLDS

Recently on a trip to Spokane I had the "unique opporunity" to lay down during every nap and bedtime with my Grant in order to get him to sleep. He's normally a handful but on a trip without his dad and his bed things get even harder. One night after he fell asleep I layed there and watched him for a little while. (Afterall, if I'd left too early he would have woken up and we'd have to start all over.) Why is it that kids look so wonderful when they're alseep? How could he look innocent after a long days work of causing so much trouble. Looking at his cute sleeping face I thought how nice it is that he's mine. Then I remebered that he's not really mine, just on loan from heaven for this lifetime. (I wish I could write this and not sound "cheesy" as my friend April would say.) It occurred to me that Heavenly Father also uses the Overload Principle (see June 23rd post). He gives us loads greater than we are used to, giving us a chance to grow. It reminds me that other trials--sickness, financial trouble, losing jobs, and many other problems could be considered loads placed in our way in order to give us more chances to become accustomed to greater loads, thus improving our abilites. So I should be pretty happy that I have this great two-year-old load to help me to become something better than I am.

WEIGHT LOSS SHOUT OUT

In the last few months I've known a few people who have lost a lot of weight. We recently got back from Spokane where my friend Beth and her husband lost 25-30 pounds since I was there at Christmas. They looked really great. Then there's Casey and Amanda who look awesome after participating in homemade Biggest Loser contests. We have another friend from MA, Tom, who lost 55 pounds in about 6 months and says he loves to exercise now and apparently enjoys eating healthy. YAY FOR WEIGHT LOSS! Its very inspiring. Tom used sparkpeople.com to reach his weight loss goals. Its a really great website complete with personalized exercise and nutrition plans, healthy tips, and support groups.

SHOCKED AND AMAZED

Not the best picture of Jordan but isn't so much nicer to read posts with pictures?

I don't know what has come over Jordan but he has had some stellar moments these past couple of days. On Monday I was teaching him the effects of putting wet jeans in the laundry basket and leaving them there for a week. I suggested that he hang them up until they're dry. He totally surprised me when he said, "Thanks for telling me that mom. I didn't know that would happen." Minutes later he said, "Mom, I went the extra mile and put all the floaties in the swimming bag." (Typically I get scowls when I ask Jordan to help out.) Then again yesterday when everyone was hungry and I was lazily reading a book, Jordan had this great idea to made Top Ramen for everyone. He had Grant on a chair next to him and was teaching him about boiling water. I was amazed when he said, "Mom, I'm so much happier when I'm helping people." YAY! He's getting it. Not to say that he didn't spend a good part of the rest day pestering his siblings but I have to take the rewards where I can get them.

AND THE WINNER IS...

CHRISTY'S name was randomly drawn out of a hat for this months apron giveaway. Christy, look for a package in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for future giveaways.

Here is the list of TIPS on ORGANIZATION given by giveaway participants (incase you don't read comments):

Buy yourself something fun to organize/clean up with. Something cool like those hanging clothes organizers or something.--Jan

I bought me a really big plastic tub with a lid and I put all of my tuperware and their lids in them and I put it on the floor of my pantry. It's really good for me because then I don't open up a cupboard and get bombarded with flying containers.--Jan

In my recipe box I have my main dishes divided by meats. Chicken, beef, and pork. That way when I'm trying to come up with an idea for dinner and we had chicken last night I won't look in that category.--Cathy

When you open the mail put it right where it goes immediately. I put all the bills in a desk cubby, all Dan's stuff on his nightstand, anything I want to keep in my files, and all the paper in the recycle garbage. It's the only thing I put away right away.--Leigh

I am noticing the kids rummage through the cupboards more, so I have 4 plain boxes, with names on each. Inside are snacks. Once your box is empty for the day, that's it. (I am trying to hold the line). Also, I have a stash of already cut up veggies in the fridge that they can reach for anytime snacks.--Christy

I try really hard to stay in ONE room at a time when I am cleaning. I will create piles that need to go upstairs, downstairs, etc...because if I go to where the things actually belong I get distracted and start picking up and cleaning that room and then I never get back to the room I started with! So I end up with a bunch of half finshed areas! I try my best to stay put which is really a difficult task!--Lisette

The book is called: Creation Plan: A Seven Day Approach to Guilt Free Homemaking by Betty Meyers. First day: Unorganized matter is organized 2nd day: Waters3rd day: Light divided from darkness4th day: Vegetation and beautification5th day: Animals created6th day: Man created7th day: The Lord restedso...translated...Monday: Organizing and cleaningTuesday: Laundry, ironing and mendingWednesday: Personal enlightenment, planning, reading, writingThursday: Yard and garden work, home decorating.Friday: Shopping and errands, special animal care.Saturday: Time for self and family.Sunday: Rest from labors. Physical and spiritual renewal.So, I broke it down even more, according to the rooms I have in my house, and my interests. For example: On Tuesday, day of waters, I focus on laundry/sewing. I have 1st Tuesday of the month, clean the laundry room. 2nd Tuesday, Iron and Mend...5th Tuesday dry clean, etc.On Wednesdays, day of enlightenment, 1st Wed of the month, Journals and get Birthday cards ready, 2nd Wed: Write to family, 3rd Wed: Read a book, 4th: Write to a Friend, 5th: Surprise a Secret Sister-also, wash windows, develop talents, plan and read scripture stories to the girls.--Jessica

When you're getting dressed in the morning, instead of just taking the shirt off the hanger, take the hanger with it and put all your empty hangers in one place.--Jessica

Put a lanyard on your keys and it works wonders. instead of losing my keys everyday. i just lose them once a week! it's amazing!--Emily