Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic

The kids started school this week....FINALLY!  And no, I don't say that in all caps because I was dying for them to go back.  In all actuality, the older I get (the older THEY get, really) the more I kind of wish summer would last longer.  This year I actually got my wish.  Over the summer, the powers-that-be in our school district decided to have school start the day after Labor Day rather than the normal 3rd week in August.  So although it was quite nice to have that extra two weeks and we did indeed pack it full of as much end-of-summer fun as we could...it almost felt a little bit weird, especially when just about everyone else in the state went back to school earlier.  (Although I do have to admit, it was kind of fun to say "neiner, neiner...we're at Cherry Hill while you're stuck learning about past participles and common denominators!")

Rebekah is a junior in high school this year.  I know, crazy right?  A big difference this year will be the fact that she is dating (which means big dances and therefore expensive outfits.  Anybody know where to get a great Homecoming dress?)  Also, in the very near future this girl will have a car at her disposal and will be driving herself to and from school and other various extracurricular activities and study groups.
Her schedule...you know, for posterity and all:

1. Foods
2. Limited Edition (women's show choir)
3. Seminary
4. Algebra 2 (potentially honors...her teacher is considering moving her up)
5. English honors
6. Chemistry
7. U.S. History
8. Financial Lit

 Julianne is a 9th grader at the Jr. High.  Big fish in the pond and all that.  Julianne's school is a new one, this being only its 2nd year....and because of its newness, it's become a pilot school for all sorts of new trial programs.  One of them, Netbooks.  Every single student has one.  Which means that all of the teachers have electronified their teaching styles and curriculum.  Rumor has it that the high school is a little bit worried that the kids coming up in the ranks will feel like they've gone back into the dark ages when they get to 10th grade.  Something along the lines of, "Paper, pencils and books??  What are those??"

Another experiment....a mixed up class schedule.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday they have all their classes 1-7 for 50 minutes each.  Thursday they have classes 1-4 in the block schedule, each 90 minutes.  Friday they have classes 5-7 along with an "intervention" period...whatever that means, exactly.  I think it's study hall-ish.
Julianne's schedule:
1. French 3
2. Seminary
3. Gym
4. Earth Systems (science)
5. Geography
6. Secondary Math I honors (some sort of mixture of geometry, algebra 2 and pre-calculus)
7. English






Brandon and Lilian both attend the same elementary school....Brandon as Mr. I'm-So-Awesome 6th grader and Lilian as a giddy and beyond Kindergartener.

The 6th grade teachers at our elementary school claim that their main goal is to prepare their students for Jr. High.  Which more or less means one less recess and a boat load of extra homework and projects. Well, that's all fine and good but having had two daughters in their 6th grade and then those same two daughters in Jr. High....I can tell you from experience that 6th grade is harder and just, well....MORE, than anything they did in 7th grade.  Which means that Brandon is in for a lot of homework this year.  It will be a shock to his system seeing as he also has to fit in 14 hours weekly of gymnastic workouts.  I guess he'll be learning some time management skills.

Lilian can hardly contain her excitement about being in Kindergarten.  FINALLY.  She insisted on an Angry Birds back pack.  Which made me laugh.  (Lucky me, I found one with a big yellow, girly looking bow on it.)    

So, being in Kindergarten also means Lilian gets to take the bus.  You have no idea how long Lilian has longed to climb onto that bus!  I've never put a 5-year old on the bus before.  When my 3 other children were in Kindergarten, we went to another school...one that was within walking distance.  I didn't think I was a Kindergarten-Mommy-crier.  And not that I cried really....but there is definitely something different about putting your baby on a bus and watching it roll away out of your control.  Luckily Lilian goes to school with not only her older brother but also a lot of other little neighborhood Kindergarten friends.  And so far the bus driver has only dropped Lilian off at the wrong bus stop once.  (!!!)   

All of this means that I now have almost 3.5 hours to myself EVERY! SINGLE! DAY!  I'm still not entirely sure how my routine will shake out.  But one thing you can be very sure of...I am super excited!

Animals and Waffles

We go to the zoo once a year.  I've always felt that was enough.  I never had any desire for yearly passes.  But with all the upgrades they've done I'm starting to re-think that policy.  Because, wow....I can't believe how much fun we had!  Plus, it cost me over $70 smackeroos to actually get us all in for the day and I'm guessing that a season pass would ultimately be a better deal.

So here's some pictures.  We were joined by Brandon's best friend and gymnastics buddy, Andres...along with his brother, Mathis and his mom, Hade.

The new Rocky Shores area that houses the seals, sea lions and bears is absolutely amazing!  It probably helped that the animals were all extremely playful that day.  This polar bear was doing laps...swimming under water right up to the window, popping up and then kicking off in a back stroke of sorts before dropping down under water to do it all over again.  He seemed extremely conscious of all the people and was totally playing to the crowd.  It was awesome!

The zookeeper was out getting things prepared for llama feeding time as we walked past.  She asked if the kids would like to help feed some lettuce to Harley and Larry.  Oh boy, would they!

Andres and his family are from Belgium, moving here to Utah just a little less than two years ago.  And this restaurant right here is the reason why.  Bruges Waffles and Frites.  It is located at 336 W. Broadway (300 So.) on the north side of Pioneer Park by Tony Caputo's.  We stopped here for lunch after our zoo trip.  I was glad because it has been on mine and Bryan's to-do list for a long time now.  And I knew it would be tasty....but oh my!  Seriously folks, you've got to try this place!  It is ah-ma-zing!!  It all started out as a waffle selling cart at the Downtown Farmers Market, eventually moving across the street to a more permanent, year-round spot.  It's tiny.  And they have only 3-4 things on the menu.  But oh, oh, oh!!!  You've never tasted anything like this!  Their Machine Gun Sandwich was even featured on Man vs. Food on the Food Network. Check out this review that was written a few months ago.  The place has received such great reviews on various food internet sites that people come from all over the country to eat here.  I've had serious cravings ever since our visit and I can't wait to take Bryan.  SOON!

Rain drops keep falling on my head...

Summer rainstorms....the very best kind.  Although I'll take rain in any season.  Well, maybe not winter.  Because if it's raining in winter that means it's too warm for snow.  Which means I'm irrationally grumpy.  Because I really get a kick out of snow as well.  In my opinion, winter is not winter without snow and lots of it.  But I'm starting to slide off onto a tangent now.  Hang on...let's get back on track.  Where were we?  Ah, that's right....summer rain.  We had some this weekend.  And Mother Nature was so considerate in her timing as to plan it for right after our trip to the zoo on Friday.  (More on that later.)

On our way home we found ourselves driving through a massive downpour.  Speeds on the freeway knocked down to 30 mph and windshield wipers flapping back and forth at such a high rate they looked like they were going to wrench off and take flight any moment.  We drove through the storm to the calm on the other side.  But about 20 minutes after we arrived home, the storm caught up with us.  The rain was so welcome to me that I stood listening and watching and found myself yearning (yes...yearning, really) to leave the dry safety of the the back porch and play in the wet.  But I stopped myself.  In an hour I was scheduled to meet some friends for a birthday girls night.  Did I really want to get drenched and have to change clothes and re-do my hair?  Did I have time for that?  As I was debating, Julianne and Lilian came happily tearing past me on their way to the delightfully soggy yard.  It took less than a minute of watching before I decided.  *YOLO!!  (As Rebekah's friends would say.  I think realistically the actual phrase that went through my head was, "Ah, what the heck!")  We ran through the rain.  We danced.  We sang rain songs.  We sought out and splashed in puddles.  And it was the most glorious fun I have had in a long time!

*YOLO: You Only Live Once

I woke up to pounding rain against my windows and thunder and lightning again that night.  And smiled before I drifted back to sleep.  Then the sporadic series of rain storms followed us into Saturday.  Uncharacteristically, I was conflicted.  We had tickets to a concert that night.  The Piano Guys at the Thanksgiving Point Amphitheater.  As a family, we had been looking forward to this night for a long time.  Unless the storm was a danger to the audience and performers, we were informed that the show would go on, rain or shine.  Dopler radar showed a no-doubt-about-it chance of rain.  Would my children, and even more importantly, Bryan, happily tolerate sitting on the grass in the pouring rain to listen to a concert?  I was determined to find out.

We dressed everyone in rain gear and packed not only a blanket but a tarp.  It started sprinkling on cue as the performers came out.  And then rained off and on throughout the evening....at times rather hard.  We huddled together with our tarp pulled around and over the top of us, almost like we were in a little tent.  And we stayed and listened and enjoyed.  Oh, we were most definitely damp and cold when the concert ended...and despite loving rain, would I have rather had dry weather for the evening?  You betcha!  But the music was grand, the performers were funny and unabashedly amazed and grateful that we all stayed despite the weather.....what a unique evening!

I never thought I'd say this, but....

For the love of all that is holy, are we done shopping YET????

I thought taking my teenage daughters school shopping would be easier and infinitely more fun than taking Brandon and Lilian.  And in some ways it was.  I got some new clothes out of the afternoon as well.  But despite the fact that shopping the City Creek Mall downtown Salt Lake City is ten times more interesting than shopping Target...my daughters are hard to fit size wise, and rather indecisive.  Which meant long waits in dressing rooms.  And sore feet from hitting store after store after store.  Oh, and did I mention we still aren't done?  Even after all that City Creek has to offer, ie: H&M, Love Culture, Forever 21, American Eagle....a trip to Target is apparently still in the works for Monday.  Sigh.  Remind me to wear flats...

Disclaimer:  I actually adore Target.

Spending my birthday at the temple

It was my birthday yesterday.  I turned 39 years old.  And although I've always thought I wasn't too terribly freaked out about getting closer and closer to the big four-oh...I have to admit, I was surprisingly relieved that yesterday I only had to admit to 39 when people offered birthday wishes and asked about my age.

A couple of weeks ago, when looking into making reservations to attend the Brigham City Temple open house, I saw that there was availability on the 30th and decided then and there that that's what I wanted to do on my birthday.  And truly it WAS such an ideal way to spend the day.  There is something rather perfect about being in the temple with my whole family, children and all.  And to have it be on my special day...well, I definitely think it will be one of my most memorable birthdays for a long time to come.

At one point on the tour, we found ourselves inside the front lobby.  As we looked out the beautiful glass windows in the front doors, we realized we could see our friends Kim and Brian and their children, outside in the courtyard.  We had no idea until that moment that they had chosen today as well to tour the temple.  As we watched, they came closer to the door, obviously gearing up to take some pictures.  We waved crazily, trying to get their attention.  And though it looked like they were looking right at us, they clearly couldn't see us.  All the same, we stood there waving like fools thinking surely, any minute somehow they would notice all of us obviously standing there, peering out the window at them.  But it wasn't until they got right up next to the door that one of the children peeped in and saw us.  He relayed the news to his parents and siblings, and pretty soon, all of them were exchanging smiles and waves with us.

It wasn't until we got outside that we realized why it took so long to get their attention.  The windows on the front doors were reflecting our own images back at us.  Not until you get smack up next to them can you see inside.  And I thought, there has got to be some kind of lesson there.  Something along the lines of our Savior standing inside the temple...trying to get our attention, beckoning to us to join him.  He's patient and will never give up...calling, waving, waiting.  But all we can see is our own worldly reflection staring back at us... until we get close enough and make an effort to peer inside.  Then and only then will we be able to truly see what we have been missing.  

  

 Okay, I just couldn't resist adding this picture....I can't stop laughing!

Tea party dress up

My parents have insisted, as they de-junk their house, that I come pick up all my old prom dresses and school play costumes.  And seeing as I have teenage daughters that are coming into Prom age I ended up taking my youngest sister Rachel's dresses as well.  (Hers are actually still stylish as opposed to my lacy creations.)

Julianne has been completely thrilled about our new acquisitions.  Mostly because being the drama queen that she is, likes to play dress up.  A few days ago she convinced her friends to come over for a tea party.

The pink and white lacy wonder was my dress for Senior Ball my junior year.  The green dress was a costume I wore in "Mame".  The blue and pink dresses were my sister, Melissa's.

 I wore the white lacy dress to both Sweethearts AND Jr. Prom my junior year.  Yes, yes....a fashion faux pas certainly...I DID in fact, repeat a dress.  At back-to-back dances, no less. (Gasp!)  But I got asked to Jr. Prom only 2 days before the dance so what else could I do?  By the way...it was Bryan who asked me to that Jr. Prom.  It was our first date.  I think originally it was to be a "You're not going to Prom, I'm not going to Prom...maybe we should go together as friends?" sort of date.  Obviously it didn't turn out that way and I got my first kiss that night.  And a husband a few years later.  :)

The other white dress is one of Rachel's that I think Rebekah or Julianne could still potentially wear to a Prom of their own.  Here's hoping...because Prom dresses have only gone up in price since I was in high school.

Unfortunately I don't think any of my haul will work as a Homecoming dress.  Despite the fact that school hasn't even started yet, Rebekah got asked to the dance a couple of weeks ago.  What do kids even wear to Homecoming these days?  

Sliding down the alpine

Sometimes I think it would be rather ideal to live in or around Park City.  Not only are the surrounding views always amazing...but personally, I love the temperatures.  Cooler in the summer, an earlier fall, and a guaranteed white Christmas every year!

Yesterday was no exception. Reveling in temps that hovered in low 80's, our little family along with our friend Heather and her 4 children, spent the afternoon playing on the alpine slides at the Park City Mountain Resort.  (Did you know the leaves are already starting to change up there?  In August?)  We bought tickets for the 5 older kids to do the slide and alpine coaster once each while the adults took the youngest 3 on the slides twice.  One of the best things about the slides in my opinion?  The fact that you have to ride the ski lift to get up to the top.  So relaxing and pretty....even if Lilian was a tad nervous.  (She was a little more mellow the second ride up.)  I was worried that Lilian would freak out about going down the slide.  I had talked it up, shown her pictures on-line, reassured her that she would be sitting on my lap the whole time.  She seemed excited about the whole thing.  But this is a girl that still refuses, year after year, to go on the dragon water slide at Cherry Hill....a wimpy little slide where she gets to sit on my lap and the water is only 2 feet deep at the bottom.  And although she did express some slight nerves the closer we got to the slide...ultimately she was determined to be brave, and then laughed the whole way down.  I told her I could control our speed and if she wanted me to slow down, she just needed to say so.  Nope.  She didn't necessarily ever ask me to speed up....but she did tell me to NOT slow down.  And then looked at me triumphantly at the bottom and said, "Let's do it AGAIN, Mom!!!"

You know me....a little camera crazy.  And when combined with the pics that Heather took also....well, you were forewarned.

  

Grieving a house

My parents are moving.  I'd been instructed to keep the news under wraps while they did their house hunting.  They didn't want to put their current house up for sale until they had another one in the works.  Living in the same house...and therefore neighborhood, ward and community for 34 years meant that news of their leaving was going to be met with surprise and dismay.  They didn't want to deal with that until they were ready.  But the new house has been bought.  The current house is getting ready to go on the market.  And the news has got out.

Which means it's all official.  And surprisingly....seeing as my parents have been talking about doing this for years now....I'm having a hard time with it.  Ridiculous, really.  They aren't leaving.  They aren't even really moving out of their town...just relocating a few miles down the road.  I don't even want to think about what this would be like if they were leaving the state.  No, my grief has to do with that house.  It's my childhood home.  We moved there when I was 4 and 1/2 years old from Houston, Texas.  My parents picked it out on a quick house hunting weekend trip after my Dad had been hired by an engineering firm in Salt Lake City.  Not knowing much about the area and not having a lot of time to really research it out, they figured they'd live in the house for a year or so while they decided where they really wanted to settle.  But they stayed.  For 34 years.  Because it turned out to be an ideal little area to raise a family in a community filled with wonderful people.  So that house turned into a home that is now filled with so many memories and so much love that I can hardly walk through the rooms today without crying.

(And to my parents...I am sorry if I am being overly sentimental about this.  The last thing I want to do is make this move harder for you than it already is.  I know that it is time to go and I know it is the right thing.  Your new home is beautiful and perfect and I am truly excited for you.  Really I am!  This grieving over the old home has caught me by surprise.  I, myself, haven't even lived in the house for 19 years.  I guess I was still more attached than I realized.)

My Mom has been doing massive amounts of de-junking.  My sisters and I get emails almost daily asking if we want this thing or that before it gets hauled to D.I.  A few weeks ago I was instructed to come pick up my wedding dress that has been stored in one of the downstairs closets with all my sisters' wedding dresses.  And though the actual dresses have been archived into special bags to keep them preserved, Lilian had a grand time trying on the veils.  Here she is admiring herself in the mirror wearing the same veil I wore 19 years ago when I was a bride.

        

Hint, hint...

Okay, okay....I can take a hint.  Julianne is out of her growth hormone medication and wants me to arrange for more to be sent.  Right?

An update:  For those who don't know...Julianne has been giving herself daily injections of growth hormone since she was 12 years old.  At her last appointment with our endocrinologist, she was 4' 10" (and a 1/4...Julianne is particular about making sure we don't forget that 1/4).  This is a good thing seeing as originally the doctor wasn't sure she would ever make it past 4' 8" without intervening medically.  We're hoping to get her to 5'.  See here and here for more details.  

Playing volleyball

I played volleyball yesterday.  This is momentous.  Why?  Because I haven't played volleyball since I was oh, something like 13 years old.  I'm not overly coordinated when it comes to sports.  I tried, and tried to like volleyball when I was young.  I wanted desperately to get good enough at it to not embarrass myself when we would play church ball.  (Which we did...frequently.)  But it was all for naught.  I was hopelessly bad.  And playing was more of something to be endured...with slight fear that the ball would come my way and I'd actually have to try and hit it.  But the day I tried to set the darn thing and brutally jammed my finger, I gave it all up.  Clearly, volleyball was just NOT my thing.  And from then on, I became the cheerleader on the sidelines.  Even in college when we had a sand volleyball court right across the street from our apartment....I always watched.

But last night we were invited to join a couple of other families from the neighborhood for a combined Family Home Evening at the park.  A big family volleyball game was the main event so I decided that maybe it was time to give it a try.  Oh, my coordination still hasn't improved much.  But I did actually get a few decent shots in.  And I was even okay at serving....so yay me!  Mostly though, we laughed a lot and that was the funnest part of all.

Bryan set up a couple of slack lines and the kids had fun trying to balance on those as well.  It was a great night.























P.S.  Brandon insists that I inform you that these pictures do not do him justice...that I didn't get him in best form.  Just so you know.