Not Creepy At All

Not something you want to see when you look in your rearview mirror!!

 

Something Grew!

The first harvest from my little garden, two zucchinis!

City Olympics Champion

Carter cleaned up at the city olympics this year. The Olympics is a two day event where kids can compete in events that are centered around volleyball, tennis, soccer, basketball, football, and baseball. He had too many medals to wear, so he had to hold them instead!

We Have a Ten Year Old

Yes it is true, we officially have a ten year old in our house. It's not much different than having a nine year old, but double digits are pretty cool.

Cali picked out a chocolate and whipped cream cake, which we all enjoyed. She also picked to have her birthday dinner at Applebees, which she and the kids really enjoyed.

She really really really (there are not enough really's in the English language to describe how much she) wanted a pair of "sparkly Bobs".
 

 

Success!

Church: According to Caleb

Caleb thinks that napping under the bench is an acceptable way to get through church.

He also thinks that Elwood and Jake are, "missionaries".

It looks like we're doing a great job as parents!

 

Cali's Pre-Birthday

 

On our way back from Las Vegas we picked up our kids in Bountiful. It was July 21, the day before Cali's birthday. Vicki made sure that she had a cake, some candles, and she opened her presents from the Pollastro's. It was a great way to kick off her many birthday celebrations!

A Lot of Emotions for One Day

Happiness: Waking up to the beautiful sun shine.

Exhastion: Going against my better judgement and trying to run outdoors after 5am.

Elation: Randomly meeting Pete Rose, getting his autograph, shaking his hand, and upon standing being called, "A G.D. Linebakcer". He meant Christian, not me.

Joy: Meeting up with my childhood best friend and his amazing wife for dinner before the Matchbox 20 concert.
 

Frustration: Trying to get a decent picture with Christian
 

Accomplishment: Finally getting kind of a decent picture with Christian.
 

Anticipation: Waiting for Rob and boys after the Goo Goo Dolls.
 

Nostalgic: Listening to so many great songs from the '90's.
 

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Tired: We don't see 1am very often, but this is what it looks like in Vegas.

What Happens in Vegas... Gets Posted to My Blog

The week after my birthday, Christian and I headed to Las Vegas for a little birthday celebration with Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20. We dropped our kids off with Vicki in Bountiful and headed down the I-15 corridor to freedom. On our way we stopped in Cedar City to say hi to Dory. She showed us around her apartment and introduced us to this very retro kitchen wall of hers.

We've heard that there have been NO ship wrecks in Cedar since this lighthouse was erected. Phewww...

Later that same day we checked into our room at the Mandalay Bay where the concert was being held on the following night. I was a little bit excited, to say the least.

In true tourist fashion we walked a few blocks down the Las Vegas Strip. Ah, the smell of pee and the sight of strippers, it was super magical. Christian's Achilles tendon is doing much better, but he does have to stop and take breaks from time to time. We stopped and sat down on a concrete bench, which seemed like a good idea for the first few seconds, until we scorched our back sides. This picture was taken moments before we realized that not even our pants could save us from the heat!

We met up with my best friend Nicole at a fancy Christian-style restaurant. Christian gets treated to fancy dinners pretty often as a result of his job, so he's eaten a lot of good food. He's an impeccable judge of good food, a great photographer, he is not.

Nicole and I ate this!

Christian ate this!
 

We got cake drunk, and then things got... well...

 

In our crazy chocolate sugar stupor Nicole and I made Christian stand under his birth year sign outside the restaurant.

 

Playing Dress Up, Caleb Style

Some kids just prefer a good old fashioned card board box... any size will do.

Happy Birthday, to Me!

Birthday's don't usually get me rilded up. Getting older, is just one of those things that happens when you keep living. That, I can deal with.

What I cannot deal with is small ninja children climbing their dresser on my birthday eve. We were just about to leave the house for the morning, when I heard a loud crash. I probably don't move as fast as a regular mother, since loud crashes are kind of like an everyday sound. This one however, was truly unique.

There was screaming, the physical containment of the "F" word, and the launching of kids into my bedroom where I could lock the door. After staring for a few minutes, I picked up the stuff, tipped the dresser over, and went to work. Oh, and I resassured the kids that I wasn't going to hurt them or send them to the military academy.

The next day, on my actual birthday, I found that Cali had composed this note for me via a translating app she downloaded on her iPod. I don't speak much Spanish, therefore, I too had to download the app to figure out what she was saying.

 

Regular Kitchen Tongs? Or Super Spy Goggles?

 

 

Punk Rock

Update: several weeks after this picture was taken we had to shave off the mohawk. I believe that it led to a considerable decline in his behavior and an intense escalation in attitude.

Do not give a wild kid, a wild hair cut. I have learned a valuable lesson.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Kind of Like the TV show, Cheers)

 

We spent a few of our summer afternoons at the Blair Town Park water slide. It's a small slide into a shallow pool, and perfect for my kids. Caleb refused any help whatsoever, and insisted on breaking all the sliding ediquite rules.

 

His reckless abandon for all things rules, caused the lifeguards to identify him by name. During one whistle-blowing scolding from a lifeguard Caleb said, "wait, guy, I talk a you?" The lifeguard made the fatal mistake of saying, "sure", and was quickly inundated with random three year old knowledge.

 

It was just the distraction Caleb needed to continue on with his antics. Several days later we again found ourselves at the Blair Town Park water slide, where Caleb was greeted by the lifeguard on duty with a, "Hi Caleb." We haven't been back in a while, but these lifeguards have his name, literally.

Finally, a Summer Project!

What would the summer be without a good old fashioned work project? This year Christian took on he task of updating our deck. He peeled the redwood stain off with some seriously toxic-wood-eating-leg burning stuff. After the alotted time, he painted the stripped down wood with a really cool deck finishing product. The special paint is textured and comes in every color of the rainbow. I thought that orange was a good choice, but we settled for a neutral gray. Now, all we need is some cool deck furniture and we'll be ready to enjoy some nice fall evenings!

I Love a Parade (Not Really...)

There are so many things that kids seem to suck the fun out of. For me, parades are one of those things. As a kid I loved a good parade. As an adult, I prefer to buy salt water taffy and throw it at my children in an air conditioned house. However, this year we made it to the Flaming Gorge Parade. It was hot and sweaty and the candy to waiting-in-the-sun ratio was too low.

 

The kids loved it, and I tried to love it, and we came home one bag of candy richer!

 

Cali's First 5K

My friend Jessy, Cali, and I ran the Flaming Gorge 5K together. It was too hot and too uphill for my liking, but we had a great time together.
 

Somewhere a long the way Cali got a little bit turned around and ran an extra 1.5 miles... No big deal, she still finished in under an hour! I asked her if she wanted me to stay with her, but she insisted that we each run our own pace. We stayed pretty near each other for the first mile. After that she hung with Jessy, so when Jessy crossed the finish line I assumed Cali was not far behind. After backtracking down the hill and around the last turn, I saw her in the distance. She'd missed a critical arrow along the trail, and instead of finishing the prescribed route, she completed the entire first half of the race...again.
 

She got a medal for finishing in her age group, and I won my age group...which was easy because I was the only one in it! Apparently 30-35 is good age group to be in!
 

Cali met up with some of her friends, and they can't pass up a weird photo op!