School

 School started this week and it is lovely. 

 Even though the five of them came home with 2 hours worth of  forms for me to fill out (the same forms four times over...), it is a small price to pay for a quiet house and kid learning.

 Jeff says he is excited about the awesome things they will learn this year.  They will even get to dissect animals in science!  And learn about world wars and so forth in social studies!  Rad.

 Bug is excited to be in 6th grade (practically middle school!).  She even has a homeroom teacher!

 The 5th graders are even going to different teachers for different subjects!  Pickles is excited to be in almost middle school too.  She is pretty giddy.  And as I looked into her tear filled brown eyes this morning when Jeff took her bagel, all I could think was, 'She is so pretty.' 

 Alana gets to have the same teacher for third grade that she had for first grade.  Pretty awesome!  She is actually getting bigger, I promise.  She has been going gangbusters on reading every evening, Junie B. Jones totally has a Peep in her Pocket.

 Punkin Eater gets to go to preschool.  He goes to a different school than the big kids and as I drove him there the first day he said, "Are you going to take my picture and give me a hug and a kiss?"  He is all for fair treatment.

He is still getting used to having a school career.  He is bummed that he isn't as big as cousins Zeke and Afton who are kindergartners this year.  But his chin goes up when I remind him that he is bigger than Stone and Yubsie.  And he always will be.

Next year they will all five be at the same school for one year until Jeffey heads off to be a high schooler!

Aack.

I had to...

The award winning photographer, Arnon Livingstone, gave me a disk of the pics she took on our trip to Canada.  It is so very handy to have had a fabulous picture taker on our vacation.  So here are some of my favorites.  Above is Alana at Waterton Lake.

 

We took this one because when Phil first saw the bee boxes in the fields he said, "Why did someone leave their legos in the field?".  So we thought a photo would be cool, unfortunately as you can see by the kid's faces, being in close proximity to a million bees was not a happy thing for them, they were all mad as hornets about being made to pose for a photo in front of bees, and it amuses me. 

They were very good sports about rubbing gravestones and did a really great job.  They made some beautiful rubbings and had a great time doing it.

 

This is from the family history treasure hunt.  They were looking for Great Great Great Grandpa Will Redd at the library and found him.  Peter's eyes are excited!

This was taken during a long family history day.  I just love their faces, they did great.  And I think they secretly liked most of the day.

 Here is Grandpa B telling us a story about when he was a young boy at this very school and the scrapes and fights and adventures he had.  He had great stories and the kids liked them a lot.

 

  

This was taken shortly after the above pics, I LOVE this picture.  Note Alana's face, and Grandpa's face.  An ant crawled on her foot.   We learned that Canada ants don't bite, unlike their mean AZ cousins.

 I climbed down from the path to get the video of Leah falling in the river at Red Rock Canyon. 

 

 

 

 

 At the squirty water park with Brad and Kirsti, the kids had a great time soaking Uncle Brad.

  

Lots of pretty grassy steep hills to hike up.

Happy campers.

Ultimatum

Peter:  Mom!  Give me a rice krispy treat now!  Or I will get out of the family and join another family!  Now Mom!  Want me to get out of the family?  Mom, want me to walk away now?!

softly: Mama, could I have a rice krispy treat?  Or else I will get out of the family, now.

So, any families out there who feed their children rice krispy treats for dinner, I have a four year old for you.

Finale finally

Our Canada trip was really too fun.  Here are the last few things we did while we were there...

We had another fun afternoon at Aunt Willi's house. The kids were wacky crazy. They loved playing in the hot pots. Ryan arrived that night (hooray!) and the next day we did fun things together. This place is called Big Rock.  It is pretty strange to see this huge rock out in the middle of the plains.  It was supposedly left there a long time ago by a passing glacier.  We climbed on it. The kids did great at climbing, well, all but Phil. Phil is a cautious soul. He kept saying, "I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" He survived. It was a really fun place to play. The kids were sad to go and wanted to go back. Ryan got invited to play softball with his cousin, Nathan's league. He was happy to be invited and he did well. The kids and I went to watch the first few innings then we had to head back for the family dinner. We were glad we went at the beginning of the game, in the first inning their team scored 11 runs and never again did they score. So we saw all the good stuff. Their team won and that is nice. Ryan got to run and play and the weather was lovely.

We had to go home the next day and that was sad.  We stayed that first night at Uncle Mike's in Cardston.  We all love it there, Uncle Mike is a great man and Aunt Jane is such a sweetie, we certainly ate well at their house.  Ryan and I got to go to the temple that evening, it was my first time at the Cardston temple and it was so lovely.  It was a nice way to spend the day before a long drive.

We woke up the next day and headed out, we made it to Idaho in the late afternoon and met my parents, who happened to be staying in Soda Springs for a bit, in Lava.  We rented tubes and rafted down the river there in town, the river was warm because of the hot springs nearby, the kids were a little scared of the river at first but they quickly decided it was the best thing ever!  It really was so fun.  I floated that river when I was a kid and it rocks (also there are pointy rocks, keep your feet up!).  My Daddy took video and maybe he will send me some so I can post it (hint hint).  We had dinner with Mom and Dad then we said goodbye and got to Katie's in Spanish Fork that night. 

The whole of Utah is under construction so it took a while but we made it, eventually.  (Those stupid barrels all over Utah are so annoying!!).  Kate had taken her family to Iowa so we didn't get to see them, but we appreciate them letting us stay anyway!  We went to sacrament meeting at a random ward that met at 9 and we were on the road for the last leg of the journey.  It was lovely and overcast and rainy a bit and we were happy to arrive home last night!

Today I mucked out the car and washed it and I've done a lot of laundry and cleaning.  The kids are anxious to see cousins that they've missed so we are off to do that now!

Episode 3 - Oh, Canada!

 We drove and drove and of course stopped in Choteau, Montana for obligatory ice cream and dinosaur pictures.

We made it across the border with no trouble, here we are climbing out the sunroof.  And to follow are several videos I've made since. 

We went up to Okotoks, where Ryan's Grandparents and a set of aunt and uncle and cousin live.  Okotoks is just south of Calgary.  The Calgary Stampede was on and the morning after we arrived was the big parade in downtown Calgary.  So Ryan and the kids and I went off in search of the parade.  We managed to somehow find it, we looked for blocked off streets, found one, parked and walked towards the commotion.  There were thousands of horses, aboriginals in beautiful costumes (aboriginals is what they call the First Nation People, or the Native Americans), cowboys, bagpipers, Mounties, it was amazing.  And they serve free pancake breakfasts all over the city, you just wander in, get a plate and a box of orange juice and get pancakes, sausage and bacon.  With real butter, mind you.  The free breakfasts are a big deal here during Stampede Week, I can't even imagine how much pancake batter they went thru.  We stayed thru most of the parade and Jeff counted over seven hundred horses.  It was really fun and the weather was lovely. 

We had dinner at Uncle Ken and Aunt Willie's house in Okotoks and Ken and Willie convinced Ryan, myself, Aunt Leslie, and cousin Rory to go to their hot yoga hula-hoop class.  We were intrigued.  I am pretty awesome at hula-hooping so I was in and I was surprised that Ryan was willing given his skills with the hoop...  But we went along.  The instructor wasn't ready for us when we got there so she gave us hoops and we started to warm up.  On the sidewalk.  In front of the store.  All six of us hooping away for about a half hour.  You should have seen Ryan trying to keep that hoop up, he was a maniac.  I kept telling him there is a rhythm and it isn't go as fast as you can go.  He eventually got it, in fact, all six of us were hooping very well by the time we went into class.  It just took a little practice.  Class was very warm and we had such a good time, we did a little yoga and a lot of hula hooping.  I got some fancy moves down a little, I could get the hoop up to my kneck and back down to my waist, and I eventually was able to get it going around my foot while laying on the floor.  It was just fun to see all those family members getting sweaty and hula-hooping.  Ryan had to catch his plane home very early the next morning and I was very sad to see him go.  He would be gone back to work for 11 days.

The next day we went to Uncle Ken and Aunt Willie's house here in Okotoks, their house is on a community lake and the kids spent the whole time on the water, there were two paddle boards and a boat and they just stayed and stayed out there.  It was lovely.  Ryan's cousin, Nathan and his wife Rory, her brother who was 12 had a great time with Jeff, and their son Baron and Peter did battle.  Neither of those two boys back down so they butted heads a lot.  The next day the kids and I gathered up Grandma and Grandpa Bateman and dragged them down to southern Alberta with us to meet up with Terry and Arnon and Philip and stay at Uncle Mike's house in Cardston.



Since my camera has forgotten that I like to keep the pictures I take, I took lots of video.  Here we are on top of Bears Hump in Waterton.  It was warm hiking up the trail and the kids were pretty sure they were dying the whole way up the .75 mile hike.  Hikers coming down told us of lovely views and cooling breezes up on top.  We were pleased to find that it was just as lovely as advertised when we made it up there.  Just as beautiful as I remember.  Last time I was here I was with my new husband and we did not have any children and the trail seemed shorter and less steep :)




We had lunch at a picnic area near Waterton Lake and the kids had a great time trying to fill the lake with rocks and driftwood.  We saw these little ground hogs near our picnic table and the kids had to feed them crackers and carrots.  There were signs everywhere saying not to feed the deer (with fun pictures of deer kicking and maiming people), but there wasn't anything saying not to feed these fuzzy critters.  It was naughty to do but so cute.  I like Peter's song at the end of the vid.



We sent Grandpa Terry, Uncle Mike, Jefferson, Peter and Alana home with one vehicle so that Jeffey could go do baptisms at the Cardston Temple with Uncle Mike and Grandpa and Peter and Alana stayed at Uncle Mike's house and rested (they truly needed rest).  And the rest of us went to Red Rock, which is a canyon in Waterton Park.  It was a beautiful drive and the canyon is so lovely.  We had a great time exploring.  I am going to need to know who carved that graffiti though... 



The kids and Arnon went walking up the canyon from the bottom after our hike around to the bridge and they went quite a ways up.  I climbed from the top down a little to get this video and I'm so glad that I did.  I would have missed Leah's tumble.  I love how she just sat there for a while, and that water was pretty cold!!

We toured around in Southern Alberta for a day or two with Terry, Arnon, and Grandma and Grandpa Bateman. We went to Lethbridge and Raymond to see historical family sites, did rubbings on gravestones and took pictures in front of family homes. It was really neat to see all the old places and the kids handled it all really well. Arnon and Grandma B had the kids doing packets with family history, there were riddles and questions to answer about places we went and ancestors and my girls were very very into it!! Leah ended up with over 700 points, Tess had over 500 and Alana had over 300. The small boxes of Smarties they got after every stop were a big help too (Smarties are Canadian candy, like thick shelled M&M's, hardcore Canadians claim to love them more than M&M's). The boys were slightly less enthusiastic but we are pretty sure something good rubbed off on them.



After a brief stay in Okotoks (near Calgary) at Grandma and Grandpa B's we went up to Edmonton to play with Aunt Kirsti and Uncle Brad.  They have a beautiful log home out on an acreage outside the city and the kids were in heaven in their back yard and playing with their sweet kids, Skye and River.  Kirsti is expecting number three in a few weeks.  She is a trooper to have all 11 of us stay with them!  The kids absolutely loved it there, they would still be there now if they could. 



We went up to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.  It is a beautiful museum with lots of really cool things for the kids to look at.  I took lots of videos but here is the one I will show you.  It amuses me.



We went to church and the kids were crazy wild after, so here is the video we took.  That is little Miss Skye on the left.  She is a doll.



We left Kirsti and Brad's yesterday morning and headed to the Royal Tyrrell Museum at Drumheller (the big dinosaur museum, 110,000 fossils, that sort of thing).  The joint was hopping with people and the museum is vast so I kept counting to six and peeling Alana off the exhibits to catch up to the others (she wanted to read E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G).  It may have stressed me out a bit.  This bubble wall calmed me.



Here is an example of how yesterday was.  We didn't lose anyone for long and I didn't beat the children in front of strangers so it was a success.  We got ice cream cones on the way home to Okotoks and even though it was a long driving day the kids survived...



... Thanks to Grandpa and violent songs.  They love this song.

Ryan will get here late tonight and for that I am so very grateful.  We have had a fantastic time up here but I miss my sweetie. 

Future plans and posts will include more lake fun, Banff, family dinners, and the long road home :)

Episode 2 - Canadian Adventure

We spent the fourth of July with Katie and Kent in Utah.  We took the kids to this lovely reservoir to splash around in.  The water was cold but we still got in.  Jeff, Leah, Tessa and Kate swam all the way across and made their muscles strong!

We had a good time.



 Baby Stone is such a sweetie.  By the end of the trip he was calling Ryan "Dad" and me "Mom".  I guess majority rules.  I tried to pack him up and bring him with us but Katie hid him from me the morning we left.

Tessa.  Ah Tessa, we can count on her to fall and scrape some part of herself on any adventure.  It usually puts an end to the outing and we go home.  Her knees and elbows are currently covered in scabs at various stages of healing.  Good times.  We can also count on her to behave as though her leg or arm has been severed upon injury.

 It was my Ryan's birthday and we had a big party for him with Robert Redford and corned beef sandwiches, his favorites.  He is pretty wonderful.  He is flying up from Phoenix today!!  11 days is way too long to be without my sweetheart.

 Jeffy went out on the deck to clean up the tent and was stung by a wasp on his finger.  This is how his hand looked the day after the sting.  It swelled up like a balloon!  He felt pretty sorry for himself.  Then I asked if he would rather it had been Stone, or Afton, or Aunt Katie, or even baby Ced!?  He admitted that he was the best candidate for a sting and he was glad to put himself in harms way.  Kent, Ryan, and Justin went out and sprayed wasp nests and got rid of the danger.  Jeff is a real Sydney Carton (Tale of Two Cities, "Tis a far better thing I do...").

We burnt fireworks out by the garage.  The kids were very pleased to see sparkly and bangy things. 

We had so much fun with the Griffiths!  We left the next morning and Peter is still asking when we will go back to Afton's house. 

Coming up:  videos of us in Waterton, Edmonton, museum adventures and silly car behavior.

Trip to Canada - Part 1

We headed out, finally, on June 28 in the early evening.  We switched vehicles about three days before our scheduled departure so we had to get the new suburban outfitted with a dvd player and a radio, you know, essential traveling equipment (our pioneer ancestors would be so proud), we had to register it and get it inspected on top of getting us all packed and ready for a three week long trip.  (now I have the Gilligan's Island theme running thru my head...)

 Needless to say, there were some minor bugs remaining in the new ride for our first leg of the journey up to Katie's house in Spanish Fork, Utah.  But they were minor and the new car operated beautifully.  We were grateful.  We arrived very early in the morning (about 3:30) at Kate's and our excellent host and hostess had everything ready for us.  Unfortunately, at that time of day I am terrible at following directions so I jumped in the first bed I saw, the bottom bunk of the twin sized bunk beds Kate and Kent set up (it was Kent's bunk bed when he was a kid and they are lovely), and Ryan climbed in after me so we spent that first "night" cuddled in a twin size bed.  It was heaven to finally be able to sleep in the arms of my beloved.  However, when our hosts woke up and went in search of their guests they found the lovely double bed they arranged for Ryan and I empty and wondered if we were even there at all, then they opened the other door and found all seven of us piled in the one room littered all over the place.  They laughed at Ryan and I curled like kittens in the tiny bed and we quickly moved to the more spacious bed next door.  They were just lucky to not find us asleep on their driveway...

 Later that day Katie and Ryan (while I slept) took the beasties to this lovely squirty park nearby.  They had a great time and were happy to play in the sunshine of Utah without boiling as we do at home.  It really did take me a couple of days in Utah to feel like it was safe to go outside.  Arizona summertime has conditioned me to fear non air conditioned spaces.  I am easing back into the sun, I may never fully recover but, baby steps...

 Katie took all of these lovely photos you see in today's post.  She has caught her mother's disease of knowing how to handle a camera.  I'm glad I am surrounded by that kind of person.  I like the one above of Jeffy being hit in the back by a spray.  His feet are totally off the ground!  The kids had such a good time in Utah.  Earlier there was a picture of Peter and Afton hand in hand.  Those two love each other.  Peter was excited to, "Go to Utah and stay in Afton's room and sleep next to Afton!"  They managed to do that a couple of nights.  I think Pete has gotten over the bitter disappointment he suffered at Chris and Heather's wedding last December when Afton refused to dance with him.  Alas, forbidden love.

 We stayed there for almost a week.  Ryan commuted to work at the branch office they have there in West Salt Lake, it was an hour drive away but better than taking days off.  It worked quite nicely. 

 The day after we arrived we went up to Salt Lake to tour the lovely places up there and meet Ryan when he was finished with work.  We toured the Conference Center and it was so beautiful and huge!!  The kids were impressed, none of us had been there before and it was exciting to be in the place we watched on TV every Conference weekend.  We loved the art and going up on the roof, that was nifty.  Ryan caught up to our tour group up on the roof as we were finishing the tour, we were excited to see him.

 Then we walked over to Temple Square, Jeff was all prepared and excited to get to do baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple but it was closed so that they could renovate the A/C system.  Sad.  Oh well, he had more opportunities as you will eventually see...

 We ate lunch then the men (Ryan, Kent, and Justin) went to go play sand volleyball with some guys from Justin and Kent's work (they came home filthy).  While Kate and I took the kids to the North Visitor's Center.  The kids were troopers after a long day of sight seeing.  My favorite parts were walking up the circular ramp towards the room with the Christus (above) and Afton running past saying, "Jesus is up there!"  I may have gotten a bit misty both then and now writing about it. 

 And here, Peter and I were sitting on a bench looking at the statue and talking about Jesus.  It was a lovely moment.  I may have shed some tears then too.

 The next day was Sunday and we attended Kate and Kent's ward.  Kate taught Gospel Doc and did a great job, she has also inherited teaching talents besides photographic skills.  The class participated really well and Kate made some lovely points. 

 After church we took the kids on a little hike to this pretty waterfall.  It was so nice to be out in the woods where it was cool and take a little walk.  Jeffy climbed up to the top and posed dramatically.

On the way back down he did an impressive trip and scramble to catch himself, this photo was taken just after he managed to not plummet to his doom.  I was kinda terrified.  It was steeper than it looks. 

Well, that is all for now.  Stay tuned for the end of our Utah trip and the beginning of our Canada adventure.  Currently we are in Okotoks (just south of Calgary) at Ryan's grandparent's house, we returned from a three day southern Alberta tour last night and today we plan to head to Edmonton for a few days to see more family and have too much fun.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...