We're back!

We're back from Aspen Grove. We had so much fun. I'm too tired to do pictures right now, so I'll post more later.

80's TV

Dave found this hilarious blog today about crazy '80s sitcoms and their terrible intros. I laughed and laughed! It brought back some funny memories. I thought it was at least lacking Perfect Strangers and Golden Girls, plus the original Land of the Lost was totally better, but otherwise it's a pretty good list. Enjoy!

Coincidence?

In my husband's family there is a

Dave Foley

Scott Foley

Mark Foley

Not to mention his uncles Axel Foley

and Matt Foley, a motivational speaker who lives in a van down by the river.


Okay those last 2 were a joke. But everything else is true!

And for those of you who watch the office, you know that Steve Carell's charater is named Michael Gary Scott. Dave has twin brothers named Michael and Scott, and his dad's name is Gary. Coincidence, or Hollywood spy? You be the judge.

Father & Sons

You may or may not remember the fiasco that was Father & Sons last year. Isaac and Dave drove all the way up to a camp that was above Heber...more than an hour away. He threw up, cut his lip, ran around like a crazy person, then woke up in the night screaming. They weren't in tents, mind you, they were in cabins with our entire ward. So rather than face the wrath of the men and boys, Dave opted to drive home. At 3:00 in the morning. And left all of their stuff there.


Well I'd like you all to know that this year, the campout was a success. It was only in Lehi, so it was much closer, and they got to use our cool new tent that I got at Costco (if you don't remember this post from before you have a very bad short-term memory, but just in case, my advice is to buy everything at Costco). We don't have sleeping bags so they just took an air mattress, also purchased at Costco, and sheets and blankets. It worked out great! Luckily, they didn't get eaten by a bear, as the poor kid in American Fork did...wait, is that poor taste to mention that? Sorry if it is. That is the saddest thing ever. Anyway, Isaac made it through the night and had a great time. They stayed up 'til midnight and woke up at 6:00 am, plus he woke up for an hour or so inbetween just for good measure, so there wasn't much sleeping going on. But he did like being in the tent. Here are a few shots of the fun that was had by all:


Some of the ward boys.... Isaac running...

Isaac fast asleep (or is he faking it?)....and waking up!

I have marshmallow in my hair.

We barbequed tonight (is that how you spell it?)...mmmm hamburgers.

And corn on the cob.

And then?! (can you feel the anticipation of what came next?)

S'mores.

I love s'mores. I could probably eat 15 of them and it wouldn't phase me. But as I was sitting here blogging, I discovered that I have marshmallow in my hair. How is that even possible? The marshmallow went from the skewer to the graham cracker to my mouth and it was gone in about 14 seconds. But there is quite a large amount stuck in my hair. And not just in one place. There's some on the left (the biggest chunk) and some more on the right. Which means now I have to shower again and wash it (this will be the third hair washing of the day, if you count my hair cut earlier today). Was it worth it?

Oh yeah.

Have any of you ever tried the s'more chocolate fondue at the Melting Pot? Mmmmmboy. That's all I have to say about that.

Go with Costco.

Delos will tell you this too: BUY YOUR ELECTRONICS AT COSTCO. Even with their changed return policy of 90 days, it's worth it. I bought my digital camera after my birthday in March and have been using it pretty much daily ever since. I dropped it on the tile Thursday and couldn't get the display to come on. The camera would turn on and it would even take pictures (I know because I downloaded them), but I couldn't see it on the display (and there's no viewfinder). So I took it to Costco Friday and told them the story. Not only did they take it back, they let me get a new one, and it's now $50 cheaper than what I paid for it due to a manufacturer's instant rebate and a Costco sale. In short, buy your electronics at Costco.

Trying to figure out YouTube...

Well people, I have finally decided to join YouTube and try to post some video. Rachel started "talking" yesterday, you know, repeating a sound over and over. She kept going, "mamamamama..." which made me so happy! My other kids said, "dadadadada.." first. Anyway, I was really trying to get her to do it on camera but of course she wouldn't. Anyway, this is all I got but I wanted to see if I could upload it and put it on the blog. If it doesn't work, bear with me while I try to figure out what I'm doing...

Happy Father's Day!

To my best Dad ever--Happy Father's Day!!
I sure am lucky to have a husband who takes such good care of our boys. I'm not sure how I got so lucky. But I'm glad I did! Happy Father's day to you too Dave!

What a good dad!

I hate cats

Having grown up without pets, I've never been fond of animals in general. I like to go to the zoo, for example, but I would never want to touch a zebra. Living at Mom and Dad's is fun because they get deer in the backyard, so they're fun to look at. There was even a fox back there once. But lately, the best has been the baby squirrels. The past few summers there has been a lone squirrel back there, living in the rocks. This spring the squirrel had babies--five of them! They are so cute to watch, and they even eat out of our next-door neighbor's hand. So a few minutes ago I was watching the squirrels play and saw a cat crouching on the rocks. I thought, "hmmm, what's that cat doing crouched like that?" then all of a sudden, POUNCE! It got one. A baby went scrambling down the rocks and into a little hole where they hide underneath a rock. The cat made sure the squirrel was dead, then carried it off in its mouth, I presume, to eat it. It was disgusting. I don't know if it was a baby or the mom, but it looked pretty big. Now there's a squirrel crying out there--literally. I didn't know squirrels made noise, but we can see it sitting in its little hole making a chirping noise--it sounds like a very loud bird--because he's so sad about his mom. The thing that stinks is that this cat had a collar; it's just a common house cat that gets fed its regular meals every day. Why did it need to kill that poor squirrel? Mom is glad the squirrel is gone because she thinks it's disgusting that they're out there. I guess maybe it is, but still, I hate cats.

Here's a video of the poor crying squirrel:

Primary help

I'm doing sharing time on Sunday and it's about the Holy Ghost. I have been trying so hard to think of a good story from my own life about a time I was guided by the Holy Ghost--for some reason all I can think of are times I've found something that I had lost....but I told a story like that in a sharing time just a few months ago. So, does anyone have a really good (true) story about a time they were prompted by the Holy Ghost to do or not do something they would be willing to share? Kept from danger? Comforted? Guarded? Anything? Sharing time is in 2 days, so any comments will be much appreciated! Maybe I should just do a Father's day lesson and call it good...

Bob Barker, come on down!!!

Today was Bob Barker's last show on the Price is Right.

They didn't do the yabby song, but they did play Plink-o.

The last player cried when he got on stage. He lost his game.

Showcase #1 was a trip to St. Maarten, a trip to Ireland, and a Lincoln Navigator. The top-winner passed. The runner-up bid $61,000.

The second showcase was an electric grill, a Greek Island Mediterranean cruise, and a Cadillac convertible. She bid $84,800. The crowd gasped in agony.

Showcase #1 Actual retail price? $68,677. Difference of $7,677.

Showcase #2 Actual retail price? $90,761, difference of $5,938. She won!

Folks, remember to help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or nudered!

Thanks for 50 years of memories, Bob.

Just one reason you should've watched Arrested Development before it got cancelled...

What Did I Get Myself Into?

Last night Misty took me to the gym to go swimming and teach me how to do a real stroke. Ooooooh my. Let's start at the beginning. First of all, I am positive I would work out more if I had a membership to a place like that. HOLY COW, talk about nice. It's the nicest gym I've ever seen. 3 pools (at least, I didn't notice how many are outside), 2 gigantic spas, a full restaurant, a Bumble & bumble salon, super heaven dressing/shower rooms (I walked into the men's locker room on accident, more on that later), not to mention the fitness equipment I didn't even see. It was so nice. I was totally flabbergasted.

So Misty gets there and we go into the family locker room because there are separate showers and changing rooms there. Of course men are in their with their families, so I'm super uncomfortable taking off my clothes, even with my swimsuit on because, well, I had a baby 9 months ago and started exercising like 3 weeks ago...but also Ellen has all of my newest swimming suits for her Hawaii trip so I was wearing a pre-marriage tankini. You get my drift. Also, every woman in there has had plastic surgery, I'm convinced of it. Because you just don't look like Pamela Anderson after having 3 or 4 kids without having a little work done.

So I'm trying to keep the super tiny towel around me while trying to get a swim cap on....which is next to impossible with how much hair I have. So Misty's putting her cute one on and I'm trying to hold my towel and get mine on, and my towel falls to the ground as my swim cap slowly pops off my head, and I'm trying to catch my towel and my cap....Misty and I are in hysterics. Would have been much less embarrassing if it wasn't Misty (you know, 'cause she's so cute) and there weren't so many men/model women inside. I finally get it on and we burst out laughing again because it's see-through. The cap I mean. And it looks so weird. Anyway, we head out to the pool. Misty proceeds to teach me the basic stroke, breathing technique, etc. I'm TERRIBLE. I know in my head all the things to do but can't seem to do them all at the same time.

• Can't keep my body horizontal.
• Can't stop lifting my head completely out of the water to breathe instead of just turning it to the side. As I lift my head out of the water, my horizontal body becomes vertical and I'm basically doing a glorified doggy paddle.
• Can't get my stroke right.
• Can't keep my head down low enough in the water because I'm afraid I won't get it back up in time to breathe.
• Can't keep my eyes open, even though I'm wearing goggles.
• Can't go more than 3 or 4 strokes without stopping for a break and gasping for air.
• Can't get the rhythm of it down: right left, breathe, right left, breathe, right left, breathe, doesn't sound too hard, but I swear it's impossible.

After about 2 hours Misty was ready to go so she taught me the basic backstroke, which she did for the whole triathlon swim last year and it only took about 22 minutes...I'm pretty sure I got that down pretty quick. So she left and I practiced a bit more and decided to leave too. I knew we hadn't changed in the women's locker room, so I just went into the locker room right next to the womens assuming it was the family one. I could smell cologne, but didn't think much of it until I saw a man showering (in his swimming suit). WHOOPS! Wrong locker room. I turned around and started walking out as a worker started coming in. I go "Is this the men's?!" and he bursts out laughing and said yes. OH man. I obviously do not belong in gyms.

So I shower real quick and head home. And this morning, I can barely move. I never knew swimming was so hard, but I should have guessed from seeing pictures of this guy.

I have been running every night too, doing a beginners running schedule (first week run one minute, walk one minute, second week run 2 minutes, walk one minute, etc.). So the other night I did a one mile run (running the whole time, no walking) to get my mile time and couldn't quite make it the full mile because of the excruciating pain in my side, and it took 10 minutes 30 seconds. Yikes. This thing is going to take me hours. I've ridden Misty's bike twice. Once with no problems, the second time with a completely flat tire that I didn't notice for about a mile...so we put a new tube in yesterday and I'll probably go biking tonight, if I can move my legs by then.

The Larson Cup is on July 14th. I seriously think I might die during it, so if I do, will someone take care of my kids? Thanks.

A Day Out with Thomas

Isaac got tickets to ride on Thomas for his birthday. You should have seen him Saturday morning. I have never seen him so excited. He was jumping around, dancing, literally bouncing off the walls (and I do mean literally). Here he is when he first got on the train:

I'll translate. He said he's riding on Thomas and coaches, then when Dave asked which coach he said "AnnieClarabel". To him, they're one entity.

So the hour long drive up to Heber must have done him in, because this is the moment of the actual train ride (Dave had the camera turned sideways, sorry):

He says he had fun anyway! Who wouldn't love sleeping on a train? They decided not to do any other activities because Isaac was so tired and when he's tired, he refuses to walk. He weighs 35 pounds and is very hard to carry these days. He says he had fun at least! Happy birthday again kiddo!

Snips and Snails...

We played outside in the sprinklers a few days ago while Grandpa was doing yard work. Grandpa found a snail and brought it over to Isaac, who was totally fascinated. He held it forever and then would put it down and watch it move for a while, then pick it back up. I stopped paying attention after a while, then looked back and realized Isaac was trying to write on the sidewalk with the snail. I'm pretty sure he killed it. In a pretty horrible way. But, it was fun while it lasted! I told Isaac to be very careful with animals. I hope this isn't a sign that he's going to be a serial killer.

Here's Noah trying to get out of the stroller. He can't wait for the day that he can walk and run in the sprinklers with his brother!

Motorcycle Weekend at Knools

Well, here are our pictures and video from Knolls where we took the kids motorcycle riding with neighbors. Three sets were there and between them they had 18 or 19 motorcycles, so there were plenty for us to try. The kids were super excited and loved it! But David was too brave to start, hit the gas, hit max speed and then crashed and got scared. He didn't try again until he saw Alex tooling around for about an hour straight. Austin was a natural, just took off and drove like crazy all around. Misty was nervous to get started, but fine once she did. First time for everyone (but me).

More Summer Fun...

Well, with Rachel being sick, we haven't done much lately except for Hannah and Charlie's daily swimming lessons. We went to our neighborhood pool last night and you wouldn't BELIEVE what a swimmer Hannah has turned into - she is a FISH! Face in the water and really swimming. It was awesome and makes me feel much more confident about toting all 3 to the pool by myself. I'm excited about our teacher and how much improvement I'm seeing after only 4 lessons! Huge bonus - this teacher is charging $35 for 10 lessons and the place I originally had them signed up was $125. So, now that Rachel is feeling a little better, we ventured to the Museum of Fine Arts after swimming this morning. I had serious doubts about taking 3 little ones to the art museum, but it was a success - mostly! These are a few of the pictures we actually saw.
I don't know ANYTHING about art except that I really enjoyed being there today. The paintings were amazing and it was fun to look at them and see what the kids looked at and liked. Hannah seemed a little distracted by a few sculptures (is that spelled right?) we saw walking through - can anyone guess why???
They have this cool "story-time" for kids where a docent walks a small group of kids to a painting and then asks them questions about it and then they talk about the artist a little bit. Our first painting was a Monet and then we read a kids' storybook about him and it was very cute. After that, my kids were sort of done so we skipped the rest of Storytime but I'm telling you, I'm tempted to go back just for me. I loved it!
This painting is at the MFAH but it was closed today so I'm excited to go back and see it. After Storytime, we went to the "Creation Station" and Hannah painted a watercolor for us to take home. It was pretty cute but unfortunately looked nothing like any of the things we saw in the museum today. We were only there for an hour and 15 minutes and had a great time. Bonus - it was free day so we only had to pay $3 for parking!

I love electricity.

Sunday night we were eating dinner outside and Austin came out to inform us that nothing but the phone in Grandpa's office (the only non-cordless) was working (meaning, no TV so he could watch Hannah Montana).

The power was out for about 4 hours, one of the longest blackouts I've been in that I can remember. We put Noah down for bed around 7, and then the party started! We lit candles--Isaac's FAVORITE thing in the world--and played a little Crazy Snake (you wind this weird McDonald's toy up and it just goes...it's so weird, there is no rhyme or reason to its direction. This is Isaac's favorite game but I get so sick of chasing after the snake and putting it back up on the counter)....Anyway, my flash is better than I thought so it actually doesn't look that dark, but it was seriously pitch black. So here's a little Crazy Snake...

Then Isaac had a candlelight bath. That was a HUGE hit. We'll have to try this when he refuses to do a bath some nights...

Then when he went to bed, Dave and I played Phase 10 in the candlelight.

After less than one phase though, we could hear the ceiling fan start turning, so we turned on the lights and finished...but we only played 5 phases. Dave won. What I learned from the blackout? I love electricity. And it's HOT upstairs with no A/C.

Ode to IKEA

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and cheapness

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and decorating.


I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most sitting or sleeping needs (YES, that is a sofa-bed for $599),


by sun and cool lamp-light (Shade? $8.99).


I love thee freely, as women strive for cute furniture;

I love thee purely, as purely as this coffee table for $39.



I love thee with a passion put to use

In decorating my new house (if our offer gets accepted).

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

when I discovered I couldn't afford cute furniture,

I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of these past 3 years! --- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after we move.

Maui

So here's our trip in a nutshell.
Saturday we went to Big Beach. The waves crash right on the shore and are huge (over 5 ft). It's good for boogey boarding if you're local and know how. I was too scared to get anywhere near.
Sunday we went to the top of Haleakala, a volcano that's 10000 ft tall and watched the sun rise.


Then we biked down
After that we went to Iao Valley where King Kamehameha killed a bunch of people, and it's pretty.

Monday we went to Wailea Beach and kayaked and snorkeled, but those pictures are on the water camera so I'll have to post them after we get them developed. We also went to Lahaina which is an old whaling town and looked at a gigantic Banyan tree (that's one tree you see with roots coming down back into the ground) and ate at Bubba Gumps (that picture is taken from our table where we were sitting).

Then we went to Ka'anapali beach to watch a guy jump off Black Rock but we were too late by about 3 minutes, so here's Jared.
Tuesday we went on a Snorkeling Cruise out to Molokini, a sunken crater, but again those pics are on the other camera. But if you look closely you can see a dolphin in the water right off the boat. There were about 20 of them swimming alongside and playing, it was awesome, but by the time Jared got back with the camera they were leaving so we didn't really get any good pictures.
Wednesday we did the road to Hana. It's 37 miles and took us 4 hours there, 2 hours back. You can stop about every mile to hike to waterfalls or to just see them from the road. There are also about 50 one lane bridges, so that's why it takes so long. It's the epitome of how you think of hawaii and beyond beautiful. In the second picture you can see the road on the side of the mountain.

Just past Hana is a place called Seven Pools (there aren't seven so who knows why they call it that) where there is a pool then waterfall, pool then waterfall, etc down into the ocean. It's sorta fun. Here's Jared doing a double hawk off one of the waterfalls into a pool. Then sitting on the edge of one. On the way home we stopped at Ho'okipa which is where wind surfers from all over the world come to wind surf. I didn't take any pictures and I wish I had taken our video camera so I could show people the amazingness. It was awesome.

So that's it for now. Thanks to mom and dad for watching our kids, we sure had fun.