Time to Drive

Life is ramping back up again. I can feel it.

The kids have homework every night and there is generally a rehearsal or a practice for someone. Crafty and I have spent about 8 hours in her car this week every night after school. She has been doing all the chasing (with me in the passenger seat, of course).

We have plenty of time to talk while she drives, so she has been filling me in on her many activities. Today it was her worries about the Cupcake Club. I reminded her that we had most things already finished for Club Rush next week. She simply needed to get her posters up and plan a time with her officers to make the mini cupcakes that won her club $50 last year for being one of the most popular clubs.

It will be so nice when she can drive herself everywhere. I have so much to do before we get on that airplane on Sunday. I don't even know what to pack! My sweetie is insisting that I take my oxygen with and that will be a suitcase all by itself. What's the weather like in Philly this time of year? Do I need a jacket?

Sadly, we won't have time for a baseball game since there are no home games that weekend. Someday, maybe.

So Much Going On

The Dog Walker and I got a chance to go to the temple this morning. It is the first time I have been there since Princess was married. My dear friend, Astrid, is very sick and she was the one who always went with me.

We have much to be grateful for with all the new babies and now another wedding. My quilt frames have been up in the family room all week. We finally got the quilt finished for Little Warrior; it only needs binding, and the same for the one for Princess and The Frog.

Blocks are cut for Bossy and Gamer's baby quilt and we are also putting one together for Fajita and one for Drama Queen. (She thinks getting a new house should be enough of a reason to get a new quilt.) I wish I had a little more time to spend on making the quilt tops. It's always so fun to put them together and then to see how they turn out when they are finished.

I seem to be nursing a cold this week and I'm sure hoping it has settled down by the time we fly on Sunday. Did I tell you my sweetie and I are going to Philadelphia for a few days? Our anniversary isn't until September 10th, but he has to be in Dallas that week and it wasn't a fun trip for me to go with him, so instead we are sneaking away a week early and to a totally different destination.

Thank goodness I have Drama Queen and the Dog Walker to hold down the fort while we are gone.

More Good News..

When it rains, it pours!  Check out what happened to our Fajita this past week. 

Wolf-ems for FHE

When we were packing the van to go to Idaho last week, it seemed like we just didn't have enough room, so I had Drama Queen help me unload everything so we could start over. I was surprised to find a couple of extra bags that I wasn't expecting.

One of them was the tent, which I reminded the Dog Walker that we didn't need to take with us. The other was full of the wolf-em sticks and gobs of fixing. When I told the Dog Walker we wouldn't be able to build a fire in Idaho, he got rather upset with me so I promised him that the first Monday night back he could make and share his wolf-em's and s'mores with the family.

Tonight was the night. He picked up his cute girlfriend, the Cat Lover, and they went to Seven Peaks Water Park and then came back to the house for pizza and a firepit. Grandpa shared a lesson on writing our own personal histories, and then the Dog Walker brought out his stash of stuff for his favorite treats.

We set aside the s'mores stuff for another time, and we got to work on the wolf-em's. The sticks have a wooden tip where biscuit dough is stretched and cooked over the fire and then we filled them with chocolate pudding, cherry pie filling, Nutella, whipped cream, and a bunch of other delicious and unhealthy stuff.

We had a great time, visiting and munching away. Thanks, Dog Walker!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie

We had a great party tonight for my sweetie's birthday. All the kids were here except Prima Donna (school starts for her on Monday) as well as our brand new little grandson. Some of the kids hadn't even seen Little Warrior yet, so they were pretty excited when Beauty and The Beast came inside.

Rather than have the kids playing cards or board games, I had the baby quilt for Princess and The Frog set up and they all tied a couple of knots for them. Drama Queen and my sweetie made dinner for everyone, so I didn't have to do much with any of that. I didn't even get to make the cake! They are truly spoiling me here.

It's pretty obvious that I married an amazing man. He was only 19 when we met and he celebrated his 20th birthday just days before we were married. We have been together for nearly 35 years, and married for 34 of those. I love him so much more now than in our early days. I never would have thought that were possible. We have literally grown up together and now we are raising our own children and rejoicing in their independence and happiness.

.... It's the circle of life... (it's probably time to watch The Lion King again). Happy birthday, Sweetie.

Awards Picnic

We started football this morning about 9:00 and didn't finish until after 2:00. Then tonight we celebrated the end of the Girl Scout year by having a family awards picnic. My sweetie made us pulled pork sandwiches and we shared salads and chips and brownies, of course.

I love giving out the awards and reminding the girls of some of the fun things we have done during the year. They always love Tuacahn the most, but other fun times were swimming, the aquarium, cooking, and crafting. I love the many opportunities for new adventures.

The kids had fun playing football on the grass except for Baby Doll. She was wearing her Heeleys and she sure enjoyed zipping across the pavement as fast as possible. She loves being a girl scout.

Scout was our only girl bridging to a new group tonight. Drama Queen made an awesome paper bridge and we sang to her as she crossed in front of it. Then, in not so typical girl scout fashion, but perfectly understandable from a girl who just started to play tackle football, Scout crossed around behind the banner and proceeded to run through it!

Bingham vs. East

We had our swim party today. It is the first time I have been in the water in a long time. Honestly, it wore me out, but it was fun.

After we got home and picked up the kids from football practice, the three youngest all wanted to go to the high school football game. It was Bingham vs. East and supposed to be a huge rivalry game. I was hoping my sweetie might be willing to take them since I was already dragging, but he still had work to do.

Curly in particular, was devastated. He was certain his entire team would be there! I finally relented and ran him to the school. This started an amazing chain reaction, but to make matters short, after several more trips to the school, Bossy and her two boys, Scout, Baby Doll, Sport, and Crafty all joined him at the game.

We watched it here on TV while I worked on Little Warrior's quilt. They had so much fun! There were booths with games and free Powerade. They won a couple of shirts, some sunglasses, and other treats.

When the game was finally over and Bingham was once again victorious, Bossy and the kids helped clean the bleachers before Drama Queen ran over to pick them up. I love that my kids are service-oriented. I just wish they could learn how to do that at home...

Tough Day

Today was rough. I had jury duty... enough said about that.

We have a big weekend coming up and I have been trying to get ready for it. Things almost always seem to take longer than I think they will and I sure miss having the extra drivers home! As much as I just don't need something extra to do, I really need to get Crafty out on the road.

We finally went back to the DMV and had her Learner's Permit renewed so she could have another year to learn to drive. Her time on the range at 10 miles an hour is just not the same as driving out on the road. She drove us home from the church a week or so ago and it was terribly painful. I'm afraid I haven't been forceful enough about her time behind the wheel. Life gets so busy and she will be 17 next month.

Tomorrow is our Girl Scout swim party and then we have our awards picnic on Saturday. That finishes out our scout year and I'm pretty excited about that.

It feels like time for a change.

Eclipse 2017

Sorry to keep you waiting. My life is not my own.

I told you about Saturday already. So on Sunday we got up and went to church. There were people everywhere, but honestly, not as many as we thought there might be. We explored Sugar City (that means I took a nap while my sweetie wandered all over with the kids). We visited with family and played games.

We tried to get the kids to bed early, but they were way too excited. They finally settled down when we turned off all the lights. Morning brought a restless group, so my sweetie walked down to the festival with the kids. We had already decided we wanted to just be by ourselves when we watched the eclipse rather than in a large crowd of people.

We set up in the front yard and I read to the kids while we waited. Every 10 minutes or so we would put on our glasses and watch the progress of the sun. The Dog Walker kept saying, "Is the temperature dropping yet?" We assured him it wasn't although by the time the eclipse was over it had dropped 17 degrees.

Time approached and finally we had totality. We pulled off our glasses and for a couple of minutes we were able to look directly at the sun. It looked like it had a ring of fire around it. A flock of bats flew over the house. We shivered with the temperature drop and the kids turned in circles so they could see the 360-degree sunset. We could hear screaming and cheering from the park in the eerie dusk.

All too soon the celestial ring appeared and we put our glasses back on. One of the kids pointed out the crescent-shaped shadows of the leaves and my sweetie pointed out that his shadow was different too. We gathered up and walked back down to the park to enjoy the festivities.

People had moved quickly and already the pictures showed the freeway backed up. We loaded our van and waited until 4:00, hoping things would have thinned out a bit.

It took us 2 hours to drive about 30 miles, so we got off the freeway in Ammon and saw a movie and ate dinner. Just after 9:00 pm we pulled back onto the freeway. The first little bit was pretty good and we were hopeful, but it wasn't long before we were in stop and go traffic.

We finally arrived home just before 3:00 AM. My sweetie did a great job behind the wheel and Crafty managed to still get up for her first day of school. It was definitely an amazing trip and well worth the time and money invested.

Now it's back to real life.

On the Road Update (via Drama Queen)

Hey y'all!

Momma just wanted me to let y'all know that they had tons of fun hanging out in Idaho.  They got to see the eclipse from the zone of totality and I bet they have some cool pics.  They ended up waiting a few hours, but even after stopping to eat dinner and catch a movie, they are still caught in a bunch of traffic.  Latest update is they are just outside of Pocatello and the freeway is totally stop-and-go.  Dad's guessing they won't roll into town until four in the morning.  I hope its a bit sooner than that, but really, who knows? Once in a lifetime events end up with once in a lifetime traffic!

Momma will post tomorrow with more details of their awesome trip.  Night, bloggers!

Running to Idaho

Yesterday we had a fantastic day of football! Scout, Sport, and Curly all won their games as did Burrito and Taco. Bingham really does have an amazing program.

When we finally returned home from the football field, we finished packing up and by about 4:00, we hit the road. Yes, we are joining what we heard were thousands of other eclipse watchers in the Zone of Totality.

My sweetie has family near Rexburg and his aunt and uncle kindly shared their little rental house with us for the weekend. It has no furniture, so we filled it with air matresses and sleeping bags, but we are so grateful for a place to stay!

This morning my sweetie took the little kids including Burrito to explore this little town. They found a fun park and he managed to make them all sick at the park. We are getting ready for church now, but I will make sure to share all about our adventure with you.

By the way, so far we have not seen any crowds or craziness, just busy gas stations. We were even able to buy ice.

Meet Little Warrior

My very first order of business this morning was to go and see that new little grandson of mine. It was about 10:30 before my sweetie and I finally got on the road to the hospital. I have to confess that our poor Beauty was still so very tired that I just didn't have the heart to post any pics of her, but I can attest to the fact that she is more beautiful than ever.

When we first arrived, The Beast was holding his tiny son and feeding him from a bottle. It was my first picture and my best. Little Warrior is perfect (both parents have approved the name, so it will stick). I'm just going to leave you with pictures; some that I took and some that The Beast sent me later after we were already home.

My turn, my turn!!

Now that's a good-looking grandpa!

Getting ready for his first bath.

He's an expert already.

All finished. Daddy did a great job!

My mother/grandmother heart is bursting with gratitude and love. So proud... so happy...

Congratulations to Beauty and The Beast!

Beauty and The Beast were blessed with a gift from Heaven today. Our Little Warrior was born on August 17, 2017 at 2:35 p.m. He is 19 inches long and just shy of 7 pounds. Everybody is tired, but things are going great!

Those are mostly The Beast's words and I took the liberty of using a blog name without complete permission, so forgive me if we change it in the next few days.

Beauty was treated to a surprise C-section so she will be in the hospital a little longer than they had planned. Hopefully she will get a chance to rest (and take a few more pics!).

So excited to go see them tomorrow!

Yanking Out Prima Donna's Wisdom Teeth

Prima Donna's appointment with the Wisdom Teeth Only surgeon was at 11:00 this morning. She didn't get in until late last night, so it wasn't too difficult for her to fast food and water for five hours before we got there. One of her teeth was actually coming in, so she was having a fair amount of discomfort and had requested that I make this appointment.

The first thing (after piles of paperwork) was an X-ray. We were surprised to find out that she only had 2 wisdom teeth, but of course they were in adjacent quadrants. The entire surgery was less than 30 minutes.

She came out in a wheelchair with these cute little ice packs for her cheeks and a handful of prescriptions.. She was hungry and a bit loopy, so we stopped by Wendy's and I bought her a chocolate Frosty. When we finally got home, I helped her get settled, and then I made a quick trip to the store for needed supplies (her meds, pudding, ice cream...).

By 5:00 she was feeling so good that Drama Queen took her back to Ogden so she could rest and recuperate on her own without all these interruptions and little kids running around. I'm so proud of her for taking care of these teeth. We tried a couple of times when she was in high school, but now it's done and she can be ready to start back at Weber soon... or maybe find a job...

Way to Go, Twizlet!

Teach started her contract days this week and today was the first day we had Twizlet all day. Thank goodness for all the kids helping out. Crafty played with her on the floor and she did the backwards scoot for about 5 feet. It won't be long before she is crawling!

Whenever Crafty is in charge, she ultimately ends up pulling out her phone and playing the YouTube opening sequence from Friends. For some reason, Twizlet is just fascinated by it; not the show, just the song part. She also loves to eat everything, including the buttons on my shirt. We gave her some fruit today and the strawberries gave her hives, so I guess she will have to wait a while before she tries them again.

Guess what's playing on that phone Crafty is trying to get her to crawl to...

Prima Donna is getting her wisdom teeth pulled in the morning, so I better get to bed so I can be her support system when she wakes up. Being a mom (grandma) is such hard work!

Brigadoon at the Scera

Last month we made sure to swing by the Scera and pick up our free tickets for Brigadoon with our Pass of All Passes. It has been running for most of August and it ends this coming Saturday, but we just haven't been able to get everyone together to go.

Off on another fun adventure!

So yesterday at Curly's party I put out a general announcement and tonight 9 of us managed to get down to Utah County to see it. The Scera Outdoor theater is fun because it is on a grassy slope. There are chairs available and Grandpa rented 2 of them, one for him and one for me, but then Baby Doll was so excited about sitting in one of the chairs that I ended up on the blanket with Drama Queen and Crafty.

Which was fine until she decided to join us and poor Grandpa had to enjoy the show by himself. (There was no way I was getting up off the grass once I was down until the show was over!)  Princess and The Frog joined us as did the Dog Walker and his cute girlfriend, Cat Lover. It's so fun watching him try to figure out romance. At one point he whispered back to me rather loudly, "She kissed my elbow!!!"

Trying not to laugh, I suggested he kiss her back. As of yet he has not managed to get up the nerve to kiss her although last date she kissed him on the cheek, so that's progress.

The show was good, but long for my Baby Doll who has school in the morning. Thankfully she was able to sleep all the way home. Football makes it so hard to get the family together for anything but a Sunday, but we are trying to do the best we can. I hate to waste all those perfectly good tickets. Maybe Bossy can manage to pull together a group to go again on Saturday.

Happy Birthday, Curly!

I know we have been talking about Curly's birthday for several days now, but he actually turned 9 on August 12, which was Saturday. He had a friend party on Friday, a party with his football team on Saturday (not really for him, but we are claiming it), and his family party today.

Just for fun, we started adding up the calories of the candy that he received from his friends. When we got to about 25,000, we stopped. I hope he shares or makes them last a very long time. He got other gifts, but I think his favorite was probably the one from us, a brand new shiny red bicycle!


He has grown so fast, he needed a new one. We jumped right to a 24" this time hoping that it might last him for a couple of years. He loves to ride and this is his first bike with actual gears so he can go very fast.

Scout said she didn't help blow out the candles, but I think we have proof right here!

Beauty and The Beast gave him the most fun to open gift; 9 kinds of candy/donuts wrapped over and over in plastic wrap and I think some clear tape. It took him at least 5 minutes to free them all.

My sweetie made BBQ chicken, one of the favorite foods of nearly all of my kids, baked potatoes, zucchini, and fresh peaches. I told you yesterday I made the cake. Curly wanted a zebra cake so I made one yellow and one chocolate and then poured them in concentric circles. It did look sort of like a zebra. But he was way more excited about the light-up football that was his cake topper.

Only one more birthday for August and that is my sweetie. At least he never hopes for a friend party...