I WANT 'MaLee!

My mom was in DC last weekend for a American Librarian Association Conference. She extended her ticket to leave on Thurs morning instead of Tuesday so she could come see us for a day and a half. I picked her up midday and we had fun trying to keep the girls happy at Bennigan's. We mostly talked and watched the kids play. When Thomas walked in from his summer camp and saw Gramma he said "When did YOU get here?!" The kids got to play on and around GrammaLee all night while she babysat and Tom and I went to dinner, blockbuster, and Trader Joe's. It felt so great to go out on a Tuesday night! The next day we dropped Tyra off at her Girl's Scout Camp and Thomas at his Camp Sunshine (at two different neighboring Elementary Schools) then my mom did laundry while she babysat the girls and I went to my last psychologist appointment. I don't know what my kids are going to think when they see their clothes actually FOLDED in their drawers! Well, when the kids realized Grandma would be leaving after dinner none of them were happy. Tyra said quite a few times "Why do we only GET you for ONE DAY?!?!" and such things. The next day, in spite of all the friends Elizabeth was around she kept saying forcefully "I WANT 'MALEE!!"

Achievement Days Girls Camp

Boy, this IS just like my old jourmals. I always get stopped when I need to write about a big event and don't have the "umph" for it. (It was usually a Christmas or other holiday) Then when I get the urge to write I sit down and realize that big event is not what I want to write about so I don't write anything. Silly, I know, but I have MANY journal entries that finally write the event in a nutshell or apologize (to whom? my future self reading? Like anyone reading could care!) So I loved Utah, have much to write and wonderful pictures to sort through and post, but not yet...

Tyra went to her Achievement Days camp last Wed, Thurs., Fri. She really seemed to enjoy herself. When she was trying to tell me about it Wed afternoon she said "It's like school and church and girl scouts all together!" Sister Beasy Sanders was the stake leader in charge and did a great job. I had worked with Beasy when I first moved into this ward 9 years ago in our ward's Ach. Days. Elizabeth is still in the crib that she lent me when Tyra was born. She's the one who threw Tyra's baby shower when we were so new in the ward. Now I'll let Tyra write a bit about it before I tell you how well she did in the program Fri evening after our potluck dinner:

We made a group name (CTR Superstars),motto (We work for what is good.), and cheer (C-T-R-Su-per-stars! Go - team!) We also made a flag. I made different things (journal, babysitters guide, and a prayer pillow) I wish it had lasted longer - it was only three days!


The skit they did for us was about the destruction of the newspaper office in Missouri when the two Rollins sisters saved the pages from the Book of Commandments then hid in a cornfield. Then when they all read what they thought they would be doing in the future Tyra said "I would be at BYU studying to be a scientist, maybe ocean scientist. Hopefully I can help the world. My mom is nuts that I'm grown up." Or something like that, it was longer.

It was just nice to have her rub shoulders with other Daughters of Faith in the area. I got the number of someone she'd like to have a playdate with. She had so much fun in Utah with the short contact she had with girls her age. She had Tom's cousin's daughter sleepover one night. And she was already friends with one of the neighbor girls by the time she saw her in primary.

Fun in Utah

We've been having such a fun time in Utah. We came in last Wednesday and have been having fun every day. I've been waiting to blog until we get home and I have my pictures, but I'd like to write some anyway. I'm going to do a little travel log for my own sake.
Wednesday: DadTom picks us up in the old blue wagon then drives home later in a new used SUV. GramaLee comes up to visit. Janine and Brian are already here with LindaMom and DadTom. Lily loves shopping with GramaLinda.
Thursday: I shop all afternoon with my mom, Tyra and Lily for summer stuff. I run into old Heritage Maeser Hall roommate Julia Johnson. We eat chinese for dinner, per Tyra's request and Lily eats with chopsticks for the first time, the entire time.
Friday: Me B&J do the Costco run for supplies for our trip to Capital Reef with my mom. Rob and Ang come in the evening and we get to see Ellie for the first time. She is super sweet, especially after 30 hours of traveling.
Saturday we finally got off for Capital Reef around noon. JandB followed us with Tyra and Lily. We stopped off for a pregnancy (Janine!) walking break. Somehow we missed an important turn right there and our 3 hour trip turned into 6 with EJ throwing up and Brian and Janine's car breaking down completely! I drove the 4 kids into Torrey where we were staying and DadTom went and picked up Tom with Brian and Janine and the car and took it back to the closest town and they didn't get in until after 9. I took the kids swimming cuz I'd promised but as we were all trying to fall asleep in our room (4 kids in the same room while it ought to be dark but I want light to read while I'm waiting for them to fall asleep, maybe you know how that goes?) I started to get a burning throat.
Sunday: We went to church in Torrey, the building was next to the Chuck Wagon motel we were staying in. Bigger ward than I'd imagined. (or maybe it just seemed big because it is such a tiny chapel. DadTom and Brian stayed with Tyra for the rest of church while the rest of us went back to switch rooms or sleep. Then we finally went in to Capital Reef. We did a fun hike (Capitol Gorge)to see some emply tanks that sometimes have water. Brian really banged his foot and ankle hard doing a jump from rock to rock. Elizabeth demanded the freedom to walk up the trail by herself loving the rocks and finding her way. DadTom had his hiking poles and coordinated the trip.
Monday:

Thomas' Two Teeth

Thomas lost one of his top front teeth last week. Then 2 days ago at dinner time he was eating his plain noodles and all of a sudden it looked like he had tomato sauce on part of the bite that came back on his fork. Well, Tyra and I screamed and screeched watching him dangle his second top front tooth around by a tiny bloody bit. I was about to yank it when Tom came in and said not to because it might be held on by too much skin and could really hurt. (Apparently the one time he remembers getting a tooth pulled that was the case. For me it seems like most of my teeth were pulled by my dad and I could never believe he actually pulled it out until I saw it because I couldn't feel it come out.) But before a few more screech-y minutes were past the tooth was out, and our Thomas is now classic kid ready to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". I'll post a photo soon, just wanted to write it before I forgot. He sure is so so so so cute!!

It's a strange feeling I get ALL the time with ALL my children. I am constantly amazed at how old, big, and mature they are while being amazed at how young, small, and immature they are! It is an amazing thing to be a kid, and I love watching that ever changing thing called Childhood!

Ticks and Picnics

Well, I am starting to put more than one tick per baggie, but this is getting ridiculous! I have been pulling ticks off our children (and Tom got one off my shoulder) ever since the weather got warm enough to start eating outside. So far, no big bull's-eye rash, but it's hard to pull ticks off of both "the girls" and then see them get runny noses and fevers shortly thereafter. I'm freaking out that I'll miss the signs of Lyme disease. But I'm trying to be vigilant! This is coming up because we just went to Petapsco State Park for Tom's yearly work picnic and Lily had her second tick in 2 days eating her upper thigh!

Besides that though, the picnic was fun, as usual. There is a little playground nearby, and as more and more of Tom's co-workers have kids it becomes a busy social place. It's fun to see the updates of people's lives I only see yearly. It's fun to eat good food outdoors :) This year one of the interns brought along his fire-juggling set, and that was interesting! But the girls favorite part was not the food, the playground, or the juggling. It was the stream, and throwing rocks into it for almost an hour straight.

So, while I hate ticks (and poison ivy, and humidity, etc) I love what comes with it, the beauty of nature, of picnics in places where the grass is just cut undergrowth and it's all so green and growing. I love, love, LOVE, the aesthetic of my children surrounded by (somehow dwarfed and magnified at the same time) the great green outdoors.