I finally did it

Julianne walked in the door from school and the first words out of her mouth were, "We've been invaded!" She could smell the scent of clean...a smell that because I'd been here all day, I hadn't noticed as strongly.

And the reason she could smell that scent of clean?
Because I finally did it.
I hired someone to help clean my house.
This is something I've been conflicted about for a long time. In my neighborhood, I'm in the minority because I don't have a cleaning lady. And yes, my house is slightly on the big-ish side. And yes, I've had a hard time keeping up with it.
But seriously, I can clean my own darn house!
And I told myself that over and over again. When I would see the cars pull up weekly or semi-weekly in front of my neighbors houses ladened with cleaning ladies and their supplies. When my friends told me stories of how incredibly fabulous it was to not have to dust. Even when I would dissolve into fits of anxiety at how often my house looked like a bomb went off.

I can clean my own darn house!

And I can! Except I wasn't doing it. I can blame it on being busy. I can blame it on being lazy.
Whatever it was, despite the fact that I refused to hire someone to help me clean, I secretly really desperately wished for it.

It was pride. And not necessarily the bad kind either. There is definitely something to be said for hard work and a job well done, yes? But pride all the same. And maybe a bit of a martyr complex.

I also still remember well my sister telling me a story of a friend of hers. She had hired a cleaning lady with the explanation that it was needful because her time was more valuable than spending it mopping her floors. Her kids needed her. I remember being really turned off by that. "What? You're saying that your time is more valuable than ours...the rest of us that are on our hands and knees scrubbing our own toilets? Your kids need you more than ours need us?" I would've respected her more if she had simply said something along the lines of, "I don't really like to clean my house. I'd really rather play with my kids. And thankfully I have the money to hire someone."

So though I'm finding myself a little bit embarrassed to have finally acquiesced....let me assure you, I've hired someone to help me clean my house because even though I can clean my own darn house, I really don't want to. I'm having a hard time keeping up with it and it's stressing me out.
I'm rather excited about the prospect of having a sparkling clean house every other week. (Which is a lot more frequent than has been in past months.) And the idea of not ever having to scrub bathrooms for the foreseeable future. (It's my least favorite chore.)

We worked hard today. Both of us. And I'm downright giddy about the results! I think maybe the giddiness might be able to drown out the pride and embarrassment.

(When I told Julianne that I had hired someone she was surprised and then...somewhat bothered. "I feel white and privileged" was her reply. Apparently that was not a good thing. And then a little panicked, "Please tell me she's not hispanic!!" Too stereotypical, I suppose?)

Wanderlust

I was having a happy dream this morning. Julianne and I were in New York City. We were just finishing up lunch at a sidewalk cafe where not only were we enjoying some fabulous food but also taking in the sights and doing some major people watching. We were talking about heading to the theatre district next...I was so excited to take my drama queen daughter to see the big marquees over the theatres advertising all the fabulous shows on Broadway.

And then my alarm went off. And I experienced a big old let down...seeing that not only was it 6:30 and time to wake up even though I was still tired, but the realization that my happy day in NYC was only a dream.

I've got a serious case of wanderlust today. After getting the kids out the door I spent quite a bit of time on Pinterest looking up and pinning pictures of beautiful places and amazing adventures to my "travel bucket list" board. And with each pin my wanderlust grew to the point that I could actually feel it physically.

I started to worry that this Pinterest drooling was going to lead to some serious discontent. After all, I'm lucky enough live in an incredibly beautiful place already. A place that I take for granted but that others very well may be pinning pictures of to their own bucket lists.

But the more I thought about the things I've already seen, the places I've already been, the adventures I've already had....I realized that I'm pretty darn lucky.

*I've taken a helicopter to the top of a glacier in Alaska and drank pure glacier water from my cupped hand.
*I've stood at the railing of a ship and watched lava from a volcano in Hawaii spit and bubble and flow down into the water where it then doused itself in a hiss of steam.
*I've bundled myself up in multiple layers so I could sit outside in 16 degrees to watch the opening ceremonies of  the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics.
*I've prayed in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York.
*I've been to Stingray City in Grand Cayman, standing in the gorgeous blue-green water with huge stingrays swimming around and brushing up against my ankles...and then had the opportunity to hold them (and kiss them for 9 years good luck).
*I've hiked Angels Landing in Zions National Park and sung "Oh That I Were an Angel" at the top.
*I've seen the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in person at the National Archives in Washington D.C.
*I've walked across the ornate Tower Bridge in London and watched the pomp and circumstance of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.
*I've taken a boat through choppy waters right up to the base of Niagara Falls, the mist blowing into my face...and freezing because we did it all in a freak early autumn snow storm.
*I've climbed to the top of El Castillo in Chichen Itza. In 110 degrees.
*I've skied "the best snow on earth" in Park City, something that people come from all over the world to do. (And where I fell on my face 7 times.)
*I've prayed at the Wailing Wall and then had the overwhelmingly spiritual experience of standing inside Jesus Christ's tomb in Jerusalem.
*I saw "Anything Goes" on Broadway just a few weeks before it won Best Revival and Best Actress for the incomparable Sutton Foster at the Tony Awards. Oh, and I also saw that one little musical called "Wicked"....you know, as long as I was there and all.
*I've vacationed on a house boat at Lake Powell. Multiple times.
*I've walked the Las Vegas Strip.
*I've been to the Alamo.
*I've sailed to Alcatraz.
*I've driven across the Golden Gate Bridge.
*I've explored Metropolitan Museum of Art.
*I've wandered through Central Park.
*I've visited the homes of George Washington (Mount Vernon) and Thomas Jefferson (Monticello).
*I've parasailed over the waters of the Caribbean.

Not to say that I'm satisfied. I'm not anywhere close to saying "I've seen enough in my lifetime...I guess I'm done." Because I'm itching for all sorts of adventure and new places to explore and experience. But it did help to reign in my raging case of wanderlust....at least for a little while.

Pink Lightning

Lilian begged and pleaded for me to sign her up for soccer this year.
She insisted on a bright pink soccer ball.
Pink is her favorite color.
Mostly due to her love of the "Pinkalicious" books.
(Have I mentioned how tired I am of reading those "Pinkalicious" books?)

Lilian was hoping she would get a pink soccer uniform.
I told her it was unlikely.
So she was delighted when the soccer uniforms were indeed pink!
She suggested Pinkalicious for the team name.
The team settled on Pink Lightning.
She was only disappointed for about 5.2 seconds.

Lilian's enthusiasm level waned after the first couple of practices.
At the first game she only played one quarter.
And told her coach that she "hated soccer."
Luckily her coach laughed.
And I promised a trip to Yogotogo after every game if she would actually play.

Her enthusiasm began to re-grow little by little with each game.
She especially liked to play goalie.
And enjoyed wearing her bright pink fishnet "power gloves"....as her coach nicknamed them.
(Actually they're mine from the Electric Run.)

(She got kicked in the knee by a member of the opposite team as she tried to save the ball from going into the net. She cried a little. Her coach gave her a big hug and words of encouragement.)

According to her coach, Lilian grunts every time she kicks the ball.
(She says it's very cute, actually.)
She dances out on the field.
And sometimes her coach has to pick her up and physically put her in the spot she wants her to be.
Because Lilian is pretty clueless.
But she's improving.
I can see it.

We went to Yogotogo after every single game.
Even when the game was played in the cold and rain and we were already freezing.
And even though she got treats after every game already.
Holding me to my promise.

The fall season is done now...no games till spring.
Amazingly, Lilian is sad about this.
She's come a long way.

Pumpkins and Hay Mazes

Fall. It's my favorite. And one of the reasons is what the season is named after...the falling of the leaves. I love the colors, I love when they tumble to the ground, I love the crunch they make when you step on them.

A few days ago I had just sent the kids out the door to school and things were quiet. As I sat at my computer I heard some geese honking. Heading south for the winter. It got louder and louder and seemed never ending. "Good heavens," I thought to myself..."How many geese are there?" So I got up, opened the front door and stepped out onto the front porch. Tons of them was my answer. Over head, tons of them flying in V formation. Coming in waves. And they were loud! But in a really delightful sort of way. The wind was blowing in a storm so the leaves were raining from the trees and blowing down the street in that crackly sort of way they do when they are dry and crunchy. It was the perfect little slice of Fall goodness.

Over Fall Break Heather and I took the kids to a nearby hay maze. I didn't expect it to be as impressive as it was seeing as it was just a little local place. It's always nice when expectations are exceeded, yes? The hay maze was huge. We got ourselves good and lost in there for a long time. But being lost had a purpose in this maze. Beyond just wandering, we were searching for 10 different hole punches that matched the shapes on the little cards we were given as we first entered. A treat was promised at the end if we found them all. We climbed up and over big hay bridges, crawled through low to the ground, claustrophobia-inducing tunnels. (Thank you iPhone flashlight app!) And basically stayed lost for a good while....long enough to find all 10 hole punches and earn ourselves a prize. Also long enough to get hay down my pants and to keep me itching the rest of the evening.

And in other Fall related news....

Token picture of Lilian at the pumpkin patch trying to find the perfect pumpkins to reign over our front porch Fall/Halloween display...and then to turn into a jack-o-lantern the week of.

I volunteered to help Lilian's 1st grade class do "pumpkin math." We measured the pumpkin...its height and its girth. We weighed it and counted its grooves. We described what it felt like on the outside....and on the inside. We guesstimated how many seeds there would be, and then actually counted them by tens. (559 seeds, thank you very much.) And then we carved the sucker. First graders are enthusiastically cute.

Halloween Dance

The Halloween Dance is girls choice and apparently competition is fierce to get your choice of date. (Boys are so much more mellow, apparently.) So two days after Homecoming, Rebekah was already putting together an official "ask." She asked Trevor, a good friend who she hangs out with a lot.

Back and forth discussions about costumes resulted in somewhat of a Disney theme. Rebekah and Trevor dressed as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. Others in their group were Hercules and Meg, and Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit.

Don't they look great?

Halloween 2013

I'm starting to think our Halloween's are a little big jinxed. Oh, we always look forward to Halloween and have great fun with all our traditions. But I've started to notice that we seem to have strange things happen near or on Halloween about every other year.

2009: I got Swine Flu on Halloween. Granted I didn't realize it was Swine Flu till a few days later. But I could tell I was coming down with something and I felt darn awful.
2011: The day before Halloween we crashed our truck through the garage and out the back wall. We spent most of Halloween dealing with insurance agencies, getting a rental car and trying to pick through the mess to see if their was anything to salvage. We didn't even get around to carving pumpkins that year. (See "That's a pretty big oops" here)
2013: Within a week of Halloween this year Rebekah got in a car accident (thankfully she was not hurt, nor was it her fault), Julianne's English teacher was arrested for having an inappropriate relationship with the male student T.A. in Julianne's class, and Brandon broke his nose at gymnastics (well, maybe...we never did get it x-rayed).

Makes me wonder what's in store for us in 2015...

Regardless, we had a great time this year.
Halloween Costume Fashion Show:

REBEKAH aka Tinker Bell
This was her costume for the big Halloween Dance. Her date dressed up as Peter Pan. (Pictures and stories soon to come...)

JULIANNE aka Snow White
She and her friends decided to coordinate Halloween costumes this year with a Disney princess theme. Originally Julianne was to be Rapunzel, but after looking in 4 different stores and only finding Rapunzel costumes meant for toddlers, we gave up in the interest of time and went with Snow White instead.
Julianne had a rehearsal for "The Little Mermaid" on Halloween afternoon. Sigh. Her director moved up the time so the kids could be done by 7:30, an hour earlier than normal. And though I understood why, seeing as Thursday was their normal rehearsal day and their show was opening in one week, I was still not excited about her being gone. But being a teenager meant that festivities with her friends would still be going strong when she got home.

BRANDON aka umm....skin man? Or something?
I'm not sure what you call this costume. But there sure were a lot of kids wearing various colors of this same thing.
Brandon ended up still having a gymnastics workout on Halloween. His coach moved the time up to earlier in the day, and cut it to three hours rather than four, thankfully. Though I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a workout on Halloween at all, it did mean that Brandon ended up bringing teammate Porter home to trick-or-treat with him.

LILIAN aka Mummy
I'm not sure where the idea came from, but Lilian was insistent that a mummy was what she wanted to be. Certainly it was a less expensive costume than the other three kids so hooray for that. Apparently we didn't wrap her quite as securely as we thought seeing as half way through the evening she started to unravel and trail her wrappings out behind her. But hey, made for a good leash when I needed her to slow down....

For the third year running Heather and family joined us again for Halloween this year...one of our very favorites of Halloween traditions. And per tradition, Heather and I took pictures together out on the front porch.This year, a gangster and Superman. Well, more homage to the Man of Steel than anything else, really.

Other pictures of our Halloween night festivities....

It was a comic book style superhero theme at the Elliott's home this year. (Past years have included Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Dracula) "Superman" was pleased with my choice of attire. "Batman" on the other hand, jokingly told me that I needed to get out of his yard. Hmph. He had told me earlier that this year was to be all about superheroes...he just didn't specify which one was his superhero of choice. haha.
After Superman and I posed together Lilian pulled me aside and shyly asked, "Do you think I could get a picture with him too??"

(And in the interest of full disclosure, I totally lifted a couple of these pictures from Facebook because they were so much better than what I got in the dark with my little iPhone camera. Clearly I need to start hauling around my nice camera with me trick-or-treating. So Rob, if you are reading this....thanks!)


And then down the street we also had the 2nd annual Shadows of Fear haunted house that raises money for charity. This place was hopping and had a good 40 minute wait to get in. But there was also plenty to keep you entertained in line...people were dancing to "Thriller", there was a fire-juggling creepy clown...just to name a few.

Lilian and I lost our place in line and missed our opportunity to go through the haunted house because she "had to go potty." I'm not feeling to bad about missing it. Impressive as it supposedly was, I'm a chicken....

















And of course Halloween is not complete without doing the candy inventory and swap. Here's Porter, Brandon, Noah, Garett and Lilian all going through and sorting their stash...

Have backpacks, will hike

Bryan has decided we need to be a family of hikers.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Bryan changes hobbies frequently. Or, rather than change really...maybe I say he adds to his list of interests and hobbies frequently. Or maybe we could describe it as going through phases? Because although the interest remains, eventually it does fade a bit. Remember when he was into magic and balloon tying? Or when he would spend hours building wooden blocks and puzzles with his newly bought power tools? How about when he decided he wanted to learn everything there was to know about music theory? Or the late nights he spent perfecting his juggling routines? The summer nights we would spend at the park slack-lining? He is still interested in all of these things....but the amount of time spent on them has diminished. Mostly to make room for new interests. Right now he has been working on learning to re-load used gun ammo....a complicated and time consuming process, but something he has been enjoying immensely. And, as I mentioned earlier..hiking.




















I think the hiking bug may have come from association with our friends Hade and Frederick. They live up in the foothills of Bountiful with multiple hiking trails practically at their front door. I've been hiking with them once. Bryan has gone a few times. And since then, hiking has become his outdoor activity of choice. We haven't been able to go as much as we'd like...mostly because in order to find a time when the whole family is home and available seems to take something just short of a miracle. Stars aligning and all of that. **

But we are ready for when those moments come because now Bryan has even invested in some hiking backpacks. Smaller ones for day hikes that have a water bladder in them as well as room for a few other odds and ends. Also some bigger ones if we wanted to go on an overnighter and carry food and shelter with us. (Also doubles nicely for emergency preparedness, yes?)

Luckily for us, we live in a state with an abundance of hiking trails and gorgeous scenery. A few weeks ago after church we decided to check out a trail right up the canyon from where we live. It was a harder hike than we had expected but the colorful leaves and the waterfall at the end made it very worth it.

Bucket List item....Bryan wants to hike in New Zealand. Scenery from Lord of the Rings fame. Can you just imagine???

**The stars did not align on this specific hike....Rebekah couldn't join us because she was scheduled to work.