Crazy Hair Day

If you look closely you can see Jeffy's ponytails. He has four down the middle like a mowhawk. As I was putting them in he was reminiscing about the last time he wore a ponytail when it was for medicinal purposes. He is funny.

Jeff called Leah "Little Orphan Annie" but Leah said her hair should be red. We'll work on that for next year. My dear Mother helped me tie all the girls hair up in rags last night before bed. Thank you Mom! It would have taken me ages!

Tessa was much more pleased than she seems in this picture with the effect. Oliver didn't want to let me do anything to his hair, but he let Jeffey do some stuff to him. It's down on half and up on the other half. Pretty wacky, eh?

Alana was happy with her do until I started to pull the curls apart for a fluffier look, but you'll see what happened after that in a second. . .

Here's the back of their little melons.

Alana was a bit distressed about her hairstyle until I put a headband on her head and reminded her that it was Crazy Hair Day after all!

Good times.

A Quick Funny

We've been enjoying the new school year so far and have been adjusting to the new schedule and demands very well. Here's a funny conversation I had with Jeffey shortly after school started:

(setting: the kitchen, eating popsicle's after school)

Jeff: Mom, will you go to the drug store and buy me some deodorant?
Mom: Why do you think you need deodorant?
Jeff: My teacher said that usually in fourth or fifth grade kids start to get stinky and need to ask their moms to go to the drug store and get them deodorant.
Mom: (internally laughing) Well, my darling, how about we just keep a close eye and nose on you and if you start to stink we'll make sure you get as much deodorant as you need. I'm sure your sisters will let you know in their own gentle way also.
Jeff: Okay.
Mom: But do keep an eye on your armpits, when they start to grow hair that is a sure sign that you need deodorant.
Jeff: Yeah, because sweat on hair is really stinky.
Mom: Yup.

Poor kid, little does he know that it will be more like junior high or later for our little beasties considering what late bloomers their parents were!

Buckle Up - It's a long one

It has been a busy week. Last Tuesday Arnon, Terry, the kids and I left for Utah for the Livingstone Family Reunion (taa-daa). We liked it. So here's how the trip went:

We got to stop and have a lengthy visit in Flagstaff with my dear friend Gaby. We loved the cool pines and we went on a lovely walk in her neighborhood to the park. There is a long involved story about why Lindsey's kids are there but I'll just leave those of you who don't already know the story in the dark about it - trust me, it isn't that exciting and I'm being succinct (right Ryan?). But we had so much fun with Gaby and we are already planning our next trip up to see them later this month. We love those guys!

We got up to Utah eventually and found our long lost Tessa! Who would have thought to look for her there? She had a wonderful time with Aunt Katie (she called me Aunt Katie for the first couple of days) and Uncle Kent and Sweet Afton. It is nice to have all my children back again.

The Livingstone Family Reunion began on Friday. Here are the three Livingstone brothers John, Terry and Mike with Aunt Linda (Uncle John's wife). These men had an amazing mother who passed away three years ago, her children and 20 grandchildren and 54 and counting great grandchildren rise up and call her blessed. It was wonderful to hear them talk about Nanny and the influence she has had on the lives of so many people. It isn't just ourselves that we effect with our decisions. . .

We played at a park in Orem that is next to Ryan's cousin Patti and Ben's house. It was a great park with an excellent hill for slip-n-sliding.
Make sure you see Alana in the picture above, she's between Jeffey and Tess, she is itty bitty.

Alana sliding.

Tessa sliding.

Leah sliding.
Jeffey slid a lot but I somehow didn't get a picture.
Sorry dude.

Kate and Afton on a grassy knoll.
Thanks Kate and Kent for letting us stay with you, you are brave.

Afton and Peter giving kisses.

Tessa's tooth finally came out, she's only been working on it all summer.

Rock Band at Patti and Ben's house. We adults played too and we rocked it, I got to sing because I'm not organized enough to play drums, guitar or bass :)

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house on Saturday. I was so excited to be able to take our children inside the temple and show them around and tell them a little bit about what happens in temples and try to explain how much I love temples. They are always fascinated with me when I get a bit teary eyed but I think they got a little of the point. It was lovely to be there with all of them and all of the other thousands of people who were making their way thru the tour, it was the last day of the open house and it was busy! And we temporarily lost Oliver. . . but on the whole it was lovely.

Then we came home Sunday night and Monday morning bright and early it was time to head back to school! Woo-hoo! So off we trudged in the 100 degree heat. This year we have Jeffey in 4th, Leah in 3rd, Tess in 2nd, Alana Kay in Kinder and Oliver in Kinder. It was fun to see our little group with their new backpacks on and their hair combed. I love school. Amanda was so cute dropping off Ollie, her baby is all grown up!

They are cool - but not too cool for school.

Alana Kay at her desk. She is cute.

Tessa Lou at her desk. Her teacher had Leah last year so she knows Tessa's
nickname is Pickles and she already calls her that. Fun times :)

Well, I'll keep it short even though I'm sure you know I could go on and on. . .

Ode

I like things that are on my team. My favorite teammate is, of course, Ryan. That's right Babe, I'm talking about you! But I'm not really talking about him because today I'm going to tell you about my second favorite teammate.

Kermit the Frog asks us, "Why are there so many songs about rainbows?" And I will tell you, that it is because they are so very awesome. First there's the rainbows in the sky that rock, they remind us that we don't have to build huge boats and plus they are pretty. I've even seen a couple of them lately with our "monsoon", no rain, but I've seen rainbows (sorry Hawaii!). Then there's our chicken named Rainbow, she's my favorite (don't tell Fish Blob). Then, there's my favorite rainbow of all. My wonderful vacuum.

We've had our dear Rainbow since we got Leah and I can tell you that the vacuum has been infinitely more helpful around here than the Bug has been so far, maybe in the next 8 years the race will be more even (hopefully, she's pretty lazy so far).

I had to take my dear teammate into the Rainbow Doctor this week and I'm telling you - I love my Rainbow! Apparently I had sucked up a barbie boom-box and it was caught in the hose and was preventing maximum performance. The Doc had to take the handle apart and pull out the junk, it was a lot of junk (I did brush off the boom-box and bring it home). He also spiffed my friend up with a new brush roller and rubber bands. Today we worked together just like in olden days, it was fantastic! I emptied the water out like 6 times and it was pretty yucky every time. I guess having a not working very well vacuum is quite different from having a really "sucky" vacuum.

About a year ago a vacuum sales lady came by the house and tried to get me to listen to her, I told her I had a Rainbow and she was like, "Eww, water and electricity? Hmmm." And I was like, "Yes, I am electrified every time I use my Rainbow, I am exhilerated and astounded at it's ability to clean the floors and air and trap all the dirt and dust so effectively in it's watery tomb!"

Well, I wish I would have said that.

What I got out of just my room alone!

Hot

Is it pathetic that I have been trying to rush this morning (an every morning lately) to get out and run errands before the heat of the day sets in? I just caught myself looking nervously at the clock, it said 7:45am and I was like, I have got to jam! It is going to be yucky out already!

I found this online.

• you no longer associate bridges (or rivers) with water.
• you can say 113 degrees without fainting.
• you learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
• the temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
• you've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
• you would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
• you discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
• you discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• you notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• hot water now comes out of both taps.
• it's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is out on the streets.
• you actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• you break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m. before work.
• no one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car or not having air conditioning.
• your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
• you realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

I didn't even laugh at these, I just nodded and thought, yep.

Missing Pickles and Sedona

We are missing one of our sweet babies. After the wedding we took a count and noticed that our Tessa had stowed away with Aunt Kate, Uncle Kent and Sweet Afton and gone to live in Utah. We will pick her up in a couple of weeks when we go up for a family reunion and boy, will she be in trouble when we get her home! Just kidding, man you guys are gullible. She really is gone, but she isn't in trouble, silly.

But she is having such a good time! Aunt Kate, the talented and beautiful ballerina, teaches at a dance school up the road and our Tessa gets to take dance classes, lots and lots of dance classes! She loves it so much, I get little calls from her throughout the day telling me about the most recent class she went to. She did have one little homesickness pitty party a couple of days ago but has since decided that she is having way too much fun to come home. We miss our funny girl and it feels unbalanced at home but we are excited about the opportunity she has to play with her Auntie and Uncle and cousin and get to do lots of special things. So to help ourselves feel better we went to Sedona for an overnighter with my parents at their timeshare. Ryan missed out because he had to work, sucker. And my Mom left the evening we got there to be home in time to help my sister Whitny deliver baby number 6. She had him at home in the tub (on purpose), she did great! And he is a beautiful little baby.So we lounged about in Sedona, we ate our breakfast outside because when you are outside in Sedona you don't drip sweat which is unique for us Phoenicians.
Then we went for a very tiny hike in the backyard, Jeffey only wanted to look at rocks and try to find creepy crawlies.
They were nice to each other.
Alana and her scared to death look, I peeled her off after I took the picture. She wasn't that high.
Fearless Leah Bug.

I did it Mom! She is such a sweet little peanut, I like her.
Pretty Red Rocks of Sedona and our funny lookin' group.

Bath time which Peter LOVES.
There were two tubs at the place and we had them both going at the same time, boys in one (except for when Pete started out with his sisters, he was so mad when I took him out but very happy to see that I was just relocating him to a different and just as good jacuzzi tub) and girls in the other.

We had such a lovely time on our mini-vacation. Thank you Mommy and Daddy for letting us stay with you! And also, the Emmons' came down from Flagstaff to see us for a little while and play at the pool, of course there are pictures but they are on my Dad's camera but little Coco is getting so big and it was lovely to see my Gaby friend again, it was hard to recognize her without her huge belly though :) Tierney and Avery are just as darling as ever, it was fun to watch them run around and play with my kids.

Happy Wedding Day!

We just got back from the temple where Jessica Joan Livingstone and Mitchell Lee Clerc (the "c" is silent, it's french) were married for time and all eternity.

Yeah!
Photos by Steve Watson (he rocks)