October (and a little November) happenings

Many of you took your kids voting. So did I, however, mine got to vote!

Trunk or Treating

Spencer plays a very convincing tin man.

Olivia, Donna, Grace and Uncle Robert. Good thing he went to law school. That costume is great!

Sarah and Nick are clearly going as the engaged almost married couple.

Robin is suppose to be a stick figure, which actually looks great in the dark with the glow sticks.

Cameron went as some star wars clone character. If I was the perfect mom I would know what the name is.

Cameron wanted a Halloween party and so after realizing how many Halloween parties my older kids had at this age with the Rochester friends I gave in.

Jacob's band concert was a costume party. They played Phantom of the Opera, which had a very cool Bassoon part in it.

I was going to post these a while ago, but then someone posted a really nasty picture of a broken, stitched finger on their blog and these didn't seem quite as impressive.
He fell down the stairs and the compassionate mom that I am I asked his brothers if Cam was crying or just making a sound like an airplane.

They had to push his toe back into place. That was pleasant. Fortunately, they numbed it up pretty good first.

Obama does equal change

Today in my study hall period a kid brought in a cardboard cutout of Obama and stuck it facing the window. It was so funny, the kids in all the other classes were trying to figure out why Obama was smiling at them! Then we had the bright idea to take it and sneak it into other classes windows (think the Burger King). It was SOOO funny!!!!! Best day of school I'v ever had!!!

reading-- what a wonderful thing.

What a great weekend of General Conference (LDS church thing). I always come away motivated to be better, do good things and make a difference. To bad I can't keep those feelings past a few days. Anyway, so this morning I am trying to figure out how to be a better person when it is time to go to school and we can't find the dreaded Library book. I really hate library books and would much rather buy a book then check one out ( I think I still have a fine in Rochester). So, trying to turn it around to being "gratetful" (we learned that this weekend) Here is a list ,although it be very small, why I am greatful for library books.
1. It incourages people to write books so people like me can one day rip apart their house looking for it.
2. I know where my spare change goes. Remember when a day late was 5 cents.
3. My child learns a healthy respect for the Librarian, or at least how to avoid her.
4. My child speaks to me at least once a day by telling me the librarian wants the book back.
5. I clean my house, even if is is under protest.

If you know where Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase is PLEASE let me know!

How high can you count

It has come to my attention that I do not always motivate those who hear of my exercise adventures into exercising themselves. So, let me inspire you with this latest installment of my learning to swim. I can NOT count. I usual swim with my friend Jeanne who is very good at counting and will tell me when we are done. Today I swam alone. As I swam back and forth I decided to try to swim a mile. That is 73 lengths. I should have known better. It should have taken me 50-55 minutes. I hadn't really thought that through. That is a really long time to swim and keep track of lengths. When I finished what I thought was my 73 time I stopped and looked at the clock. I don't get swim clocks, why can't they put the hour hand on them? The clock said 5 minutes to something. I'm thinking it better be 10, other wise I have been swimming a really long time. Oh, by the way, I am the only one left in the pool at this point. I get out of the pool and figure out it is 11:00! I swam for 1 hour and 20 minutes! I won't tell you that I am worried about being able to lift my arms tomorrow morning because that might make you not want to try swimming.

I think I can still smell pool water.

sounds of fall

Well, the leaves are turning, the nights are cool and the homework is piling up, that can only mean one thing...Marching band season is here. Last night was parent preview and wouldn't you know it, I forgot the camera. I guess it really doesn't matter since they all look alike and I can rarely find Ethan in the mix (what kind of mother am I). He has several more performances and we will try really hard to get a shot of him in his band outfit this year.

Jacob brought home "the farting bed post" this week. Some of you might know what that is, I certainly did not. It is the Bassoon. His band teacher apparently is desperate and begged Jacob to give it a try. He is excited to try something new, and as long as I don't have to pay for him to play it, we're all good. I guess I'll take his oboe in and get it tuned up in the mean time.

School marches on. Cameron has made it 2, count them 2 days (just this week) with out crying before, during or after I drop him off at school. I am absolutely sure he is a payback child with a little bit of "mothers curse" added just for good measure. The other night he woke me up twice just to make sure I was still there. Hmmm, where else would I be at 12:15 am and 3:39 am!

On another note, meaning lets talk about me, I have successfully learned to flip turn in the pool with having minimal water up my nose. Of course when I do take on water I am sure I am causing brain damage. At least that's what the pain in my forehead would lead me to believe.

What's for dinner?

So, I need to tell you about my new found friend. I don't really know her. She posts everyday and I love it. Her blog is crockpot365.blogspot.com If you are wondering what to have for dinner check her site out. Of course I don't really make the meals she does, but I could if I wanted to. She made buffalo wing soup today. Sounds good, I have the ingredients, and I have children who would not even try it. So if you are needing a daily blog fix or an idea for dinner you to can have a new friend you don't even know.

I can TRI, but I might fail!

So, Saturday was the triathlon. I could say it went well, but that would be a lie. I pretty much spent my whole summer learning to swim the front crawl so I could do the back stroke for the swim! I don't know if there is really a good reason for what happened, but here is my version of it anyway. We, my friend Jeanne and myself, stood in line to swim the 400 meters in the 9-10 minute section. As we stood there a fellow competitor asked the life guard if the pool was chlorine. WHAT!!! I have been learning in salt/ UV filtered pools all summer. Okay, I tell myself no big deal. WELL, apparently it was a big deal. I jumped into the pool when my turn came and I made it about 10-15 feet before I couldn't breath out my nose at all. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I pulled off to the side, let some swimmers pass and tried again, still, No air. Even worse, it felt like I was taking water in. At this point I have made it about 50 meters. I do the next two lengthens with my head out of the water. I can't believe what is happening, not to mention this kind of swimming is killing me. At 150 meters a girl close to me flips on her back and I say to myself, I can do that. 13+ minutes later I hit the last wall and climbed out of the pool. I am never amazed at how life teaches me these little lessons. I never even considered that I wouldn't be able to do the swim, I just figured I would be slow or it would be hard.
The rest of the triathlon went as I thought it would. The bike was a challenge. It had a big hill that we had to go up twice. I am clearly a social rider and this was not a social ride. When I finally hit the run I was so happy to be doing something I knew I could do! My total time was 1hour 21 minutes. Will I do another one? Probably, but right now a 1/2 marathon looks pretty nice.

So in seminary they had us talk about what we did during the summer. About half of the class said that they had gone on trek. I said "I spent 17 days camping on the Hill cumorah, sharing the book of mormon with 38,000 people, my summer trumps all yours". Ok, not really that last part, but it would have been funny.

Day of Firsts

It was a day of firsts at our house today. First day of Wesley's last year in high school. Jacob's first day of 9th grade. Robin's first day of 6th grade, last year in elementary school. Ethan and Cameron also had firsts. First day of 11 grade and 2nd grade. Cameron told me today when I woke him up that he did not want to go to school and then tried unsuccessfully to convince me he was going to throw up. Ethan on the other hand announced that he was dressed for the first day of school and immediately said probably no one would remember what he wore in two weeks anyway. I informed him they probably wont remember after school.
Another first, I swam 1050 meters today. This is HUGE for me. I have only been swimming 500 and today I thought I am just going to keep going and see how long I can go. I think I can finally count swimming as exercise now. The bike thing.... whole different story. It currently has a flat tire. Triathlon is in 12 days.

two weeks and counting

It is not cool to have your mother taking pictures as you head off to scout camp at the age of 14,15 or 17 for that matter. So, there is no proof that they actually left. All the boys are gone this week except Cameron. Clark leaves tomorrow and will come home on Thursday night with Ethan (Band Camp Friday). Hopefully they come back happy (and tired).

As per my usual, I said this morning to Robin and Cameron, "School starts in 2 weeks (yes, I got it right) how about we look at those summer reading programs." This was met with lots of groaning as you can imagine. Robin did show me that she had been working on hers before the summer trip. Cameron needs to read 10 hours before school starts. Hmmm, this might prove to be a challenge since he reads about 10-15 minutes at a time.

The triathlon is in 3 1/2 weeks. I am amazed at how often I feel out of shape while training for this thing. Today we biked for 10 miles (I fell over on my bike while clipped into the pedals) then ran 4 miles. The whole time I keep telling myself that 10 pounds would really make a difference. Then I come home and eat. Tomorrow the plan is to swim for an hour. It sounds like a long time, but when you take breaks as often as I do I am not sure it even counts as exercise.

Last days of summerd

Alright, So I have had a number of people tell me they miss my blog updates. I hope you know that our lives really are not that interesting. We are doing exactly what everyone else is doing right now, counting down the last few days of summer. I do have to admit that leaving for almost 4 weeks has left me with an unfulled feeling about summer. By this time I am usually settling down to the idea of school, fall leaves, shorter days, etc, but not this year. I was shopping with Robin yesterday for a new watch and she couldn't make up her mind. I told her we could keep looking it was still 5 weeks until school started. She looked at me and said, "5" with that tone only a child who is completely dismayed can use. To this I said, "4" questioningly. The response this time was, " 2 mom, there are only 2 weeks left." Okay, in my mind I am planning on 5 I guess.

Last Sunday we did Sharing time in Primary. I made look alike costumes for Ethan, Jacob, Robin, and Cameron. I know that most of those children will never see that pageant, so I brought the pageant to them. We talked about our experiences and characters. We ended with the Song of Cumorah. Now if any of you know that song, you know that Cameron is likely the only person in our family that has a prayer of hitting the high A flat. We told them it sounds a ton better with 700 other cast members at 11 pm.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!! THE EAST COAST IS FREAK'N HUMID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:(

June Happenings

Hi, all
If you would like to follow along with our summer trip click on the link that says summer 2008 in the right hand column. Aside from that here is a quick catch up on the June happenings.

Jacob finished up summer gym and got his Eagle Scout Award. Wesley got an A- in his summer Intro to dance college class. Clark made a week long trip to San Fancisco. Ethan started summer marching band and sold $300 of cookie dough for his band trip. Cameron took swimming lessons, We learned "Thriller" for Cousin Carl's Wedding. We watched UJ drink goldfish after the kids played with them.Robin sat around telling me she was bored for 3 weeks before we left.

Trek

Me and the Jman went on trek last week in the wild wastes of Wyoming. The temperatures varied anywhere from about 65 and sunny to 25 and snowy. We decided that the warm parts were when we crossed over into utah. I don't know about J's group, but mine had about 500-600 pictures, so those might get posted, depends on if the readers are trustworthy :)

Memorial Day Rain

So, It is the third 1/2 marathon I have run on Memorial Day. Two of them have been in the rain and cold, today was one of those. It rained hard and we were Soaked! I'd like to say we were fast, but we ploded along at our 10 minute mile pace. We finished in 2:10. The good news of the race is that there was no photographer since there was so much rain. Running pictures are ALWAYS bad. The second good news was it pays to be 40. Yes, this year I jumped into a new age bracket and now instead of being one of the oldest I get to be one of the youngest. I took 2 place in the 40-49 year OLD women. It didn't hurt that the rain probably kept half of the people away. My next adventure is a sprint triathlon in the fall. I'll be spending all my spare time at the pool trying to learn to swim. Anyone want to join me?

Random Blurbs

So Mom was going to post earlier today, but took a nap instead. That must mean that its my turn to blog. This week is the last week of school for us, I only have Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday is yearbook day, and Friday is graduation. I think I got roped into going to graduation to play in the band, I need to check. On Thursday we're helping my uncle and his family move into their new house.

Next week is Trek, which means a trip to Savers or the D.I. for pioneer-like clothes. Last time the leaders prayed for adversity and the trip was subtitled "mudfest". This time I'm hoping that that doesn't happen.

Since the ancient Nephites and Lamanites didn't wear shirts, I've decided that I need to look good without one. Yesterday i did the bonus 'Ab Ripper X' dvd from the P-90X fitness program. Now my legs hurt? I guess that means that my abs were misplaced at birth and they are actually on my upper thighs, I'm a medical marvel!

So mom signed herself up for a Memorial Day half marathon, but then she forgot to pick up the registration, and now she has to go at 5:45 tomorrow morning to pick it up. She's not happy, which means that dinner tonight could have funky taste.

This is Ethan, saying 'vacuums suck', and c ya l8r

So, I should try to blog more apparently. Leaving it up to E is entertaining, but not always informative. May feels like December. Not weather wise, but definitely school wise. We are trying to wrap up tests, projects, field trips and band concerts all before the end of May. Some how I have scheduled myself for two field trips tomorrow. Hmmm, Not sure how that is going to work. I wish I could say that it will get better when school gets out, but that is so NOT true. The three weeks before we leave are filled with summer gym, college classes, summer band, swim lessons, youth trek, and a family wedding. I am trying hard to stay out of PANIC mode. If I think to much about it I get overwhelmed. I have started a box to put trip stuff in as I remember it. Right now it has sun screen in it which the airlines will probably confiscate.

All of that aside we are finally having some great weather. Clark would disagree with that since he hate the hot. It's a good thing he gets to go on the father and sons campout this weekend in 60 degree weather and rain and not me.

briefcases, sandals, weather

its E again, sorry we haven't posted in a while, but Moms getting nervous after seeing an article in the newspaper about how mom bloggers can endanger their families (ie, no more pictures/you need a password to enter the blog). So Clark got himself a new briefcase/laptop bag with a combination lock. Problem was, when he set the numbers, they weren't what he thought they were! He/Wes/I spent about a week before we unlocked it (the #s were shifted one over, oops).

So apparently the pageant is very specific about footwear, you have to wear sandals that look like they actually might have worn. When Wes asked why he had to wear "Moses sandals", the response, "Because there weren't really any Tennis Shoes among the Nephites".

The weather has been really crazy this last week or two. In the past 5 days we've gone from 70 to 45 and back up to 70 again, with next week back down in the low 50s (all Fahrenheit, not Celsius). I think mother nature may have Alzheimer's.

On a self-centered note, I was rejected from joining the top band at my high school (waat, wat wawawawawawa). Mom's trying to cheer me up by saying that I'm needed in the other band because I'm the stronger player by myself (oboe is the loneliest instrument). I only really wanted to get into that top band because I would be with somebody, which I haven't been able to do yet (there were 2 spots in that band among 3 players). Oh well, next year I'll make it.

Have fun, be safe, and remember, without chickens there wouldn't be any eggs to throw at people.

With the passing of our beloved prophet, President Hinckley, there is a grass roots kind of movement to do something in his honor. It's called the Hinckley challenge. Those willing to accept the challenge are trying to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. One day for each year of President Hinckley's remarkable life. We have accepted the challenge and are on our way. If you want to participate check out the website. Brother Anderson has put a tremendous amount of effort into the site in a very short time. His hope was to have a million pages of the Book of Mormon read during the 97 days. So far 19,300 plus people have signed up.

www.hinckleychallenge.com

Super Tuesday....Ethan follows the race so close (He's 15) It's killing him his older brother Wesley gets to vote in the November election. Ethan's advice- Get out today and give us someone worth voting for in November!!!

More December Catch up

Cameron shows off his favorite transformer that he got for Christmas


Robin is NOT sitting on Santa lap this year.











Cousin Nick takes a new approach with the ear rings.


That's how we all feel about hoop ear rings.


Cameron and the Jolly Old Elf.

December catch up

Ethan and Jacob play an oboe duet for Christmas eve.





Robin played Angels we have heard on high. Jacob plays the piano and Oboe, but would trade both to play the saxaphone in an instant.




December was a very musical month. Ethan and Jacob both had band concerts. They play the oboe. Ethan is in the santa hat. Rob bob and Jacob played in a piano recital.

Snowy Days

February 4, 2008. SNOWY DAYS. Cameron and Robin sit in a snow bank by the Jalomi ( formally known as the jalopy and before that the 1961 mercedes.)
We have been pounded by storms this January. I don't know how much snow, but it feels like New York. We had six inches this morning. This is Cameron walking home from school. This is the corner we live on. I went out last week and told the snow plow guy that if he keeps pushing snow onto my side walk I wont be able to keep it shoveled. His response was "I have to put it somewhere." Can't he put it SOMEWHERE else?


Robin got a snowboard for her birthday (Yes, her birthday is in the spring--it's early). Clark took her over to the school playground to try it out.

It looks warm, but it is only about 18 degrees. We had the coldest January on record.

We always go out and cut our Christmas tree down the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Robin LOVES her hats!

We hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. Yes, it was very warm for that time of year.













Jacob finds the perfect one.



















Cousin Brielle (soon to be MRS. Rucks)
wishes it could be her birthday.




Cameron gives us one of his many funny faces.































Welsey and Cameron celebrated their birthdays during November. Wesley 17 and Cameron 7.

































Robin and Cameron trunk or treat as a fat tourist and something star wars.
This was before Cameron's obsession of transformers.




Ethan Shows us his muscles from all the push-ups in band.









Cameron enjoys his pie with just a little whip cream. Don't bother with the plate or fork.