Weekly round-up

I'm trying really hard to remember what we did this last week . . . Oh, right.

Monday was the twenty-fifth of July and our local celebration of the twenty-fourth. Dan maintains that the town parade was entirely in his honor. In any case, we joined Sarah and crew and Bubby and Poppy to watch the parade (much shorter, thankfully, than the 4th of July parade). We particularly enjoyed watching the 9th ward kazoo band--that was our ward, and almost all of our friends and neighbors gave us weird looks as we waved to them from the sidelines. (Turns out, our ward won the "most participation" award for the parade. I can't escape the irony.) I think I might even have pictures, but of course, I don't have the camera with me right now and I'm too lazy to go look for it.

The one thing I'm starting to dislike about small town parades is other people's children. Specifically, the children whose parents encourage them (or at least, don't discourage them) from racing into the street to grab as much candy as they can, regardless of the fact that they are now standing in front of much smaller children (my children), and regardless of the fact that we came 20 minutes early to actually get a spot on the curb . . . It raises all of my mama bear hackles. At least, we're trying to teach Andrew better manners than that. (In any case, it didn't do him any good to hoard candy--he put it all in a styrofoam box in his room, and the next day it was swarming with ants. Yuck. On the plus side, he won't be hiding candy in his room any time soon!)

We spend much of the rest of the week working on our swimming lessons. Andrew successfully passed his class and will now be doing level 2 (the same as his cousin Lydia, apparently). Evelyn did well enough in her class, but her teacher recommended that she stay in that class because she's still so little. She doesn't seem to mind--I think she just likes the water. The last day of class they turned on all the works at the aquatic center: Andrew got to go down the big slide and Evelyn went down the little slide on the little gym in the center of the pool. Afterwards, they both got otter pops, which as just about as close to bliss as they could come.

We also had dentist appointments this week. I was a little nervous, since I would be taking the kids without Dan (and I wasn't sure what would happen when I had to lay down for my appointment: would my kids wreck havoc on the office?). As it turns out, the dental tech (both the dentist and his tech, brothers, are Laurie's cousins) was very complimentary about my kids: he said they were both well-behaved, and you can tell they come from a good home because their teeth look so good. I was a little surprised to hear that: don't all parents make sure their kids brush their teeth? He said you'd be surprised to find how many parents don't, in fact, enforce that--and as a result, how many kids have a mouthful of fillings by the time they're ten. My appointment was a little more eventful--Andrew was willing to watch the TV in the waiting room, but Evelyn wanted to be right in next to me (rubbing the mole she just discovered on my arm. I should clarify that it's her discovery that's recent, not my mole). When she got bored, she wandered into the next room and told the dentist that she saw a buffalo. I *think* they were more entertained than anything else, but they did make sure she found me again shortly.

This weekend we tried to get in our fill of playing yesterday. We went down to SG to get Dan's hair cut at Arthur's and to hit the clearance sale at Dillards. While Dan got his haircut, I took the kids to the splash park where they got drenched, of course. Bubby and Poppy joined us there and Bubby took the kids on the new carousel. Afterwards, we went with them to Dillards--we found a shirt and several pair of pants for Dan, and some fancy rainbow Sketchers for Evelyn. Sadly, the shoes were the style and size Sarah had been looking for for Lydia, but once Evelyn saw them, I couldn't pry them away from her. To be fair, I made the mistake of having her try them on before I remembered that Sarah could use that size, which to her little mind sealed the deal. Even asking if she wanted to give them to Lydia--whom she loves--didn't move her.

We had lunch at Jimmy John's with Bubby and Poppy--Poppy took a darling picture of Bubby and Andrew sharing a rootbear which I hope (hint, hint) that he posts. After lunch, we took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2 at the discount theater. Andrew, predictably, cried when the main character found out that his mother had not, in fact, abandoned him, but had saved his life. (To be fair, I cried too.) Otherwise, I think he enjoyed it. Evelyn did too, although she kept asking me why it was so dark in the theater.

After the movie, we hung out at the condo with Bubby and Poppy some more before running our final errands: a trip to Costco, frozen yogurt at Dixie Nutrition, and dinner at the Red Robin. (Andrew just picked at his dinner, but he drank nearly two full cups of milk. We should have been paying more attention, because when he got still more milk at bed-time, the results were predictable. Bed-time was delayed by a good ten minutes while Dan and I cleaned up.)

It was fun--it's also a good thing we don't do that all the time (or even every weekend) because our budget couldn't stand it!

Today's major excitement came after church. We walked to church despite lowering clouds because, honestly, how often do we get a major rainstorm in Utah? It sprinkled a little on the way over, but we didn't think much of it. When we came out, it was raining pretty steadily. We waited a minute or two for the rain to lighten before heading out. We made it to the corner by the parking lot (near a big tree) when the skies opened. Literally, it was like someone dumped a bucket of water over everything. We huddled under the tree, but even with that cover, it didn't take long to get thoroughly wet. Our neighbor kindly offered to take Dan to get our car; another ward member pulled up after they'd left and said she could take two of us. My only thought was to get the kids dry--I hustled them into the car, but it wasn't until the car had driven off that it occurred to me: what were the kids going to do when they got home? I wasn't sure if Dan had seen them leave--what if he came back to get me before the kids got dropped off?

Luckily, the kids caught up with Dan at home and the woman who'd dropped the kids off came back to get me. By that time, of course, I looked (and felt) like I'd been standing in a shower with my clothes on, handy tree notwithstanding. I suppose I could have gone back to the shelter of the building, but I was already wet (and waiting for Dan to come back), so I stayed.

The good thing about living in a desert is that the occasional rainstorm (and drenching) feels more like an adventure than a nuisance.

Milestones

This is a busy weekend for us--in addition to celebrating Pioneer Day with the rest of the state, tomorrow is Dan's birthday and our eighth anniversary (!).

Tomorrow promises to be an active day: right now, though, I'm so tired I just want to put my head down on the keyboard and sleep. But I promised myself I would post (so don't blame me if it's boring!)

This last week my parents came out to visit. It was fun having them here--they got to observe swim lessons first hand. It's clear that neither of my kids is nervous in the water: we could typically see Evelyn bouncing up and down with excitement from her perch on the steps (hers was the beginner class) and Andrew typically spent his time submerged when he wasn't being helped by his teacher. (His teacher, incidentally, is a former student of mine. She must have liked me, because she took both her English 1010 and 2010 class from me, and then told some of her friends to take my 2010 class . . .)

We also got to spend some time hanging out, and, of course, attending some of the festival plays. I went with them to Noises off on Tuesday while Dan stayed with the kids. (The play was hilarious, but the third act was disappointing after the second act, which was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time). Wednesday afternoon, my parents saw A Midsummer's Night Dream and that evening they watched the kids so Dan and I could watch The Music Man. That was truly a pleasure to see--the cast had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and I got to see my visiting teaching companion (one of the town ladies) throw herself into her role. Thursday, before my parents left town, we went to the Ninja (the local Japanese restaurant) and the kids discovered that they don't mind Japanese food--and that they like chopsticks. It's a good thing, because we went again yesterday (Dan missed out on Thursday).

The weekend has been a little down-key. We spent yesterday mostly doing errands around the house and then we had a lovely dinner on the back patio with Bubby and Poppy. We made this salad, out of the newest Family Fun magazine. It was quite tasty--especially the chicken. A lot of the ingredients were fresh from our Bountiful Basket that morning, and the basil we actually got from our garden. (One of the few things that survived our month hiatus). For dessert, Dan made a fresh strawberry pie using fresh strawberries, again from the basket.

Today, I taught Sunday school (substituting for the 14-15 year old class) and Dan subbed in elder's quorum. The RS room is being remodelled in our building, which means most of the Sunday school classes have been displaced. They put us in the kitchen last week, and we were there again today. Last week, the kids said that being in the kitchen made them hungry, so this week we brought brownies to class. I'm pretty sure this last fact is a large reason why I just got a call from the bishop, reporting how much his daughter enjoyed our class today. :)

This afternoon, we drove nearly two hours to a ranch just outside of Zion National Park to visit with Dan's cousin Jon and his family. Bubby and Poppy and Sarah and Aaron all made the trip as well--we had a nice leisurely dinner and watched the kids play for a while before heading back. (This probably explains why I'm tired--that's a lot of driving for one day).

We listened to the rest of Harry Potter in the car (we'd been reading book one with Andrew). It was funny to watch Andrew's reaction. It took him a little while to process some things--for instance, when we got to the end and Dumbledore was assigning new points to Gryffindor, it wasn't until the colors were changing that Andrew, with the look of someone newly enlightened, said, "Wait. Did Gryffindor just win the house cup?" He was pretty excited about it, although we had to explain how it happened. His final verdict: "It was awesome!"

Evelyn's questions were: "Who is Voldemort?" and "Who is Harry Potter?"

Pictures

This is to make up for the weeks of no pictures. Finally, the pictures from the reunion two weeks ago that (I think) I promised to post last week but was waylaid by fancy British TV shows.

If you want more details on the reunion, look at my post from two weeks ago. Here, I'm just providing short labels.

Kids crafts:



Hanging out at the park in the morning after breakfast Friday morning.



Evelyn being unhappy about something (up the canyon, Saturday afternoon).

Blowing bubbles (Liza came prepared for small children with bubbles and ring pops and the works).
Naptime. (I'd appreciate it if you'd look at Evelyn, not me.)
The two amigas. I love that they get along so well together.


Andrew's talent (He read, How do Dinosaurs Eat their Food?)
Evelyn, singing "Popcorn."
Katie and Lydia modeling some of Bubby's creations.
Jasper and "my Ted." Ted wasn't very excited while Jasper was singing, but as soon as Jasper finished, he launched into an enthusiastic version of "I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim . . ."
"Kella" (Leo's name for Clara) and Ted. Lots of cute cousins.

Family Reunion reprise

Trisha sent me this picture from the family reunion. I thought it was too cute not to post. (And see all those stickers on their hats? By the end of the reunion they were mostly scattered thither and yon through the park. For future reference: stickers do not stay on sparkly hats very well.)

July quiet

This week has been a quiet one--much needed after the excitement of the last several weeks. We cleaned house, weeded the garden, and generally got our life back in order. That's not to say we didn't do anything fun: we read lots of stories (we've started Andrew on Harry Potter), we went to the park, we went to story time at the library (they had a real hand bell choir performing! an unexpected bonus) and we wandered around the Renaissance Fair for a bit, before deciding that everything was overpriced and there weren't any interesting food booths. We also got to see the cousins, Leo and Clara, a couple of times before the headed off on their long drive back to Texas. (Sarah went home on Monday, but we have word that they'll be back soon.)

Friday night, we had house guests: Steph A. from our State College days came down with her roommate to attend the Shakespeare festival. We didn't see much of them that evening, but the next morning at breakfast our kids talked their ears off. In case anyone was wondering, no, our kids are definitely not shy.

Probably the most exciting things to happen--and not in a good way--happened yesterday. Evelyn didn't quite make it to the bathroom and peed all over the floor. Within fifteen or twenty minutes of that happening, Andrew was wondering around with a blanket over his head (which he's been told not to do) and split his lip open. I was a little alarmed by all the blood, but it turned out to just be a small cut. And of course, this happened while Dan was out of the house. At any rate, everyone survived.

This week promises to be a little more exciting (in good ways): my parents are coming down for the festival and the kid start swimming lessons. The best part? I don't have to get in the water--Evelyn has graduated to her own class (not a parent-tot class).

I have some pictures from the reunion that I meant to post, but the new PBS mystery, Zen, is starting, and since it a) got good reviews from Entertainment Weekly and b) stars Rufus Sewell (he's still my favorite in Cold Comfort Farm, though he's done lots since then), I'm afraid I'm going to abandon the blog for the TV.

Eves family reunion

The last three days have been spent in varying degrees of debauchery and abandon at our family reunion. I'm exaggerating, of course--but I will say that the Eves' family does know how to enjoy itself (especially if food and cards are involved). This particular reunion is a small one, involving Dan's grandparent's descendents. So pretty much everyone there was an aunt, uncle, cousin, etc. Or married to one of the previous.

Sarah was this year's planner extraordinaire (although I think Bubby and Poppy helped some). We started the festivities on Friday at a local park. After a fabulous breakfast involving egg casserole, muffins, fruit and OJ, the kids spent the morning playing on the playground, making crafts (that was my assignment--let's just say they had a little too much fun with the puffy paint and t-shirts. I forgot to tell Katie and Andrew not to squeeze too much out at once), and the adults chatted and played cards.

That afternoon, we went to the aquatic center--always a favorite for my kids. Andrew finally got up the courage to go down the slide with his dad, and then went down 3-4 more times. Evelyn even went down with me. (Actually, I had to go down first and catch her at the bottom). The slide tunnel is long, dark, and pretty quick. Evelyn came out the bottom on her stomach, with her feet towards the pool. She seemed a little shocked when I caught her. I asked if it was fun, she said yes. I asked if it was scary, and she said yes. I asked if she wanted to go again, and she said no. It's amazing how much more fun the pool is when the cousins are all there.

We had dinner at the clubhouse behind Bubby and Poppy's house--Bubby ordered takeout from Cafe Rio, so the adults were all thrilled. Andrew took some convincing to realize that the food was actually good. Andrew also commandeered a group of younger kids and taught them how to play one of our recent game purchase, a fun little game called "Sleeping Queens." Leo wrecked havoc on the group, though, by periodically running off with cards. I had to laugh at the glimpses I caught of Leo, scampering delightedly by a doorway with a fistful of cards, and Andrew following behind in enraged pursuit.

Saturday morning, the boys (of the grown-up sort) competed in their annual orange ball golf tournament. This meant I got to take the kids to bountiful baskets to pick up our weekly fruits and vegetables. We spent the rest of the morning home, waiting for someone from DirectTV to come install a new antenna (we just switched from Dish Network--not that anyone cares, but that's what we did).

In the afternoon, we went up the canyon where we had lunch (leftovers from Friday), played cards, blew bubbles, and talked. Evelyn was so worn out that about 3 o'clock she climbed on my lap and fell asleep while I talked to Dan's aunt Carolyn. She stayed asleep on my lap all through dinner preparations (needless to say, I didn't help much). Everyone pulled out all the stops for dinner: we had hotdogs roasted in bacon and brown sugar, pork loin, rice with chicken and mushrooms, sweet potato salad, stuffed jalapenos, and a fancy sort of bean/avocado/corn salad that Matt made. Everything was cooked either in a Dutch oven or grilled--even the dessert (monkey bread and a coconut bread pudding with chocolate sauce).

Afterward, we had a short talent show: Andrew drew a picture and read everyone a book (by himself--he picked the book without consulting either of us and did a pretty good job); Evelyn sang "popcorn" and did an interpretive dance while she sang; Leo sang "It's a Grand Old Flag" with Jake (who also did some yo-you tricks); Katie and Lydia modelled some school fashions by Bubby and sang a song. The Alton family (Dan's cousin's family) also sang "When I'm 64." It's pretty apparent that they actually have a few real singers in their family--the harmonies were pretty impressive. Jasper and Ted also sang--well, Jasper sang and Ted watched, then when Jasper finished, Ted launched into "I had a tiny turtle . . . " (Ted's maybe 3 months older than Evelyn). It was pretty cute.

When we finally got home, it was late (for us), but I think everyone enjoyed it. Today was the final day of the reunion. We went to sacrament meeting at Uncle Phil's ward, then retired to Phil and Karen's house for an amazing lunch spread: funeral potatoes (I think that's what they were), grilled chicken, London Broil, melons, salad, frog-eye salad, fresh bread, and, for dessert, cheesecake and red velvet cheesecake (which is just what it sounds like: red velvet cake with layers of cheesecake in between).

As you can tell, we had a great weekend punctuated by food. Now, I'm tired.

Conversations with Evelyn

Evelyn's at that fun age where she says lots of things that are (unintentionally, of course) funny.

Two days ago, at a park, I asked her to put her shoes back on.

She said: "But mom, mermaids don't wear shoes!"

Then this morning, as I was helping her take off her nighttime diaper and put on underwear, she said, "Look at my beautiful bum! It's like a bear. That's because it's bare. And it hangs down."

Indeed.

Hair by Stacha

For several years now I've been hearing about Stacha--Sarah's favorite hairdresser. Today, Evelyn and I had the chance to finally meet her (although Evelyn keeps calling her Anastasia). Evelyn had her first "big girl" hair cut (this is only the 2nd time she's had it cut, poor girl). No more toddler-style mullet!


I got my hair cut, too. I was contemplating something shorter, and then chickened out. Maybe next time. So, since I almost never post pictures of myself on here, here's one for the record book.


As I was downloading these pictures in my camera, I discovered a few from our time in Park City. Apparently, I do sometimes take pictures. These are from a trip to the Hogle Zoo in SLC with my sister, her kids, and my sister-in-law Mitcee and her kids. The Hogle Zoo has these animatronic dinosaurs that are pretty cool. The little kids, though, were all scared of this one which is why only 3 of the oldest kids are even in the picture (the rest of the kids were cowering against the fence on the opposite side of the walkway).

And here's Evelyn--perfectly blissful because we managed to snag her favorite animal on the carousel.


Alas, I didn't get pictures of the 4th (or Andrew's buzz), but I'll post a link to Poppy's blog when they post pictures over there . . . :)

Home, sweet home

We're home again for the first time in nearly a month, and, while we enjoyed seeing cousins and grandparents and visiting different places, we're also very glad to be home, sleeping in our own beds.

I'm still unpacking, though, which is less pleasant.

I don't have a lot to report either. We spent out last week at my parents' house pretty quietly. Friday, I did get to go to a Segullah staff retreat and actually meet in person some of the amazing women that I've had a chance to work with online (as we edit the submissions for the journal, etc.). In the morning, we did a temple session followed by lunch, followed by lots of talking, dinner, a writing exercise, and more talking. I didn't spend the night because we were coming home the next day, but I do feel like I've made a few new friends.

Tomorrow we have all kinds of festivities planned for the fourth of July, so you might actually get a post with pictures (if I remember the camera). Andrew got his hair buzzed tonight (by Poppy), so you can look forward to his newly shorn look.