Ward Campout

First off: cute picture of B & Syd. Amanda was at Brynna's sleeping over (have you ever heard me say we don't do those.....yep, I thought so, too). Anyway, Sydney can't sleep without Amanda and Brandon can't go to sleep by himself ever since we went to Lake Powell. Perfect solution, put them in Syd's bed together and off to la-la land....

Ok, the ward campout was back in August, but with school starting and other fun things, I haven't had a chance to blog it out. We were not that excited about planning a campout. But, thanks to our wonderful committee and really my hard-working hubby, we had a great time! We had a few bumps in the road on the way up to the campground....from trying to find an air mattress at Sportmans through all the construction, to dragging and ruining the wire to the trailer lights on the Shulz' trailer (no trailer lights), to no good food for dinner....but we pulled it together and started to feel more optimistic when people started arriving. Our campout was Survivor themed, and we had some immunity challenges set up for early arrivers....such as No speaking in church for a year, to first in line for breakfast. We had our annual Men Only Dessert Contest and I was worried that it would flop since it would be more difficult to bring desserts camping, but we had a good showing and Mike ended up winning again this year. He defaulted and so Brad Wilson, Casey Francis and Richard Fawcett won, with a good showing from Rick Orison's cobbler.

The winners with their bedazzled wooden spoons! Brad is our home teacher and hasn't made any of our activities. His guilt finally kicked in and he made sure to make it to this activity, despite his hatred for camping. Thanks, Brad!

The Bishop gave a great devotional around the campfire. I thought it was so cute how his daughter, Kate, snuggled up next to him. Lots of marshmellows a-roasting and consuming of the contest desserts before heading to bed.

Bright and early the next morning (6am), we got up to start breakfast. Jared and Jenny B and Mike & I worked long and hard cracking eggs and trying to determine the egg to milk ratio for 60 eggs on Thursday so that we wouldn't have to crack eggs up camping. We must have called back and forth 5 times before getting it down. That was a fun memory...the breakfast went great! No lines, and good hot food. The only downside.....bees and hornets. Brandon getting more marshmellows. Once again, I know that Heavenly Father helps us be able to do these activities by having our kids behave so great! They are always good, not crying and taking care of each other.

We designed the Survivor games to be for families and to be self-starting...we figured we'd be cleaning up, etc. So, we posted rules at each game and let people guide themselves through. It worked out great! Here is Sydney & Amanda in the three-legged race. The girls had a great time doing the games even without their parents. When a challenge was completed, then you take a ribbon to put on your family flag. We had some great flags and I really wish I got more pictures of them.

Shulz's....part of the committee

The Bartons...part of the committee
The Smiths...part of the committee

So, in the end, we were pleased with how it turned out. We got home by noon and went right to bed! As we talked to the other committee members, they did the same thing! It takes a lot out of you to put on an activity....that or we are just getting old. I guess it went well enough because the Bishopric has already requested a campout for next year....

Our kids had a BLAST! Here are pictures of them on our way home....dirt covered and happy.

Sydney

Amanda

Brandon & Larsen McCleary

A good thinker thought

Just sitting here cruising blogs and thinking about updating mine with events that happened 2 weeks ago, when I came across Pioneer Woman. I love the last paragraph of her post today. I think one of the reasons I enjoy her is that she is back to the simple life. Where pretty much what you see is what you get. Where you don't have to worry about the trivial things that consume our day. Where kids can play and entertain themselves all day without being 'bored' or holding a video game in their hand. I sound like I'm a 100 years old, but I could see myself living this way...interesting, huh...

"As someone who grew up in a residential area on a golf course and lived for years in big, exciting Los Angeles, I especially cherish these reminders that exist around me now—reminders that there was once a time in America when slick feed trucks and prefab steel barns weren’t all the rage, when mega houses and SUV’s weren’t seen on every street…and when decency, resourcefulness, hard work, and kindness were the measure of a person’s success.
But then, the wide-eyed optimist in me knows that we still live in that place. We just have to remind one another every once in awhile."

Ok, ponder....

Saturday in review

See below for Amanda's great Saturday. But, Sydney also had a game today. She played great and stayed in the entire game! She was lucky to have Uncle Darin and Uncle Steve, along with Zach and Abi come see her play! Steve was getting their 'stuff' out of our basement and D was the hired help (or the volunteer help).

We had a great time with the uncles and cousins! Thanks, guys for helping me when I had to get kids to different places at the same time! Also, the fun lunch at Wendy's.....anyone want to play with a barrell full of monkeys?

Finally, Mikey came home! I picked him up at the airport because he hasn't been feeling well today. It was cold and rainy in Canada and he was chilled to the bone. He brought us all presents and treats! Here are the pictures from his travels.....of which he says doesn't do the place justice. Enjoy!

Amanda's Great Day!

Cartwheel freeze frame!

Earlier today, Amanda said to me, "Mom, this is a great day!"

First reason she gave me was that her Daddy was coming home today!

Amanda loves her Dad!

She came with me to the airport to get him and was so happy to see him! Daddy brought the kids cute, cowboy/girl shirts from Calgary.

Second, she scored the first goal today in her soccer game!

It was an 8am game (early!) and a tad chilly, but she played great! We had treats today and I had to bring the wagon to transport the cooler because they played on a field far away from parking. After the game, I gave Amanda and her friend, Brinley, the royal treatment and pulled them in the wagon. They sat on top of the cooler and looked like they were riding in a parade.

Third, she tried-out for her ballet school's production of

'The Nutcracker' and MADE IT!

The try-out process is filled with drama. Last year was the first year she could try out and she didn't make it. She handled it beautifully, though, and we talked about not giving up and how it doesn't mean the world is ending and how in life we don't always get what we want, but there is usually a good reason for it. All these things and the fact that she's tall...they try-out according to height...which means she didn't try out with anyone in her age group, but was trying out with her friends older sisters, which included our favorite babysitter!

So, this year, she wasn't sure if she wanted to try-out. I told her that Daddy and I support her no matter what she chooses. She decides not to...goes to ballet...her friends talk her into trying out! So, she got measured and again isn't in any group with her friends, but is again trying out with her friend's sisters, and her favorite babysitter!

As I was driving her to the audition, she told me her tummy felt weird. So, I had the opportunity to talk about 'butterflies' and nerves and how to breathe in through your nose...out through your mouth! Also, stand with good ballet posture and smile!

As a parent, you aren't allowed to watch the audition. You stand outside the ballet studio when it's over and wait for your daughter to come outside with a paper in her hand that says, Yes you made it....or Sorry, you didn't make it.

Amanda's three little friends were waiting for their auditions and stood outside to see Amanda when she came out. I was worried how she would react to them if she didn't make it (because they probably all will again this year-short girls=lots of parts).

She came out, saw them, read her paper and it said:

Congratulations! You have earned a spot in this year's Nutcracker!

TEARS! SCREAMING and JUMPING for JOY!

Amanda was the underdog and she came out on top this time. She was bawling (happy tears) and I could tell it was a combination of happiness and relief from a high stress day. Then, my friends who were waiting for their daughters, came over, found out she made it and started to cry and hug her, too!

Did I say the try-out process is full of drama?

We are proud of you Amanda! (Always, not just today)

PS: Anyone want to buy tickets....we now are required to sell 15! Oiy!

Seriously?

Ok, I have just spent the past 3 hours reading this blog!

I did this most likely because Mike is on a golf trip and the kids were all in bed by 9pm

and the fact that I don't like to go to bed without Mikey.

I started reading her "Love Story" (look for it at the bottom with the cowboy/cowgirl picture) tonight and it is awesome!

(Thing is: I fell for Mike when he was wearing his cowboy boots!

No Wranglers...but definitely the boots!)

I miss my hubby!

W.O.W.

Last week when the girls returned to school, Mike asked me if I felt lonely.

I responded that I didn't really.

I mean I missed the girls a lot, but I still have Brandon to keep me company.

Well, that all changed yesterday! Brandon has started preschool.

Two hours for 3 days a week. Really not too big of a deal.

But, yesterday, he went to his friend, Matthew's, house right after preschool.

I didn't have any kids with me from 9:45am to 2:25pm!

It was the weirdest feeling......

I walked around the house in circles. Not productive at all. I used to always think that if I could just have the kids somewhere else for a few hours, then I would get so much done.

Not yesterday!

I spent time talking to friends on the phone and

slowly cleaning up our bedroom.

That's it!

I feel like a chapter in my life is over.

The part where I have small children with needs that consume my entire day.

Now, ALL my children are busy.

They all have little lives that exist beyond Mommy.

And although a part of my heart aches because I will miss them being little,

I can't help but rejoice in the fact that

Brandon LOVES preschool.

A huge smile accompanies his return each day as he tells me what they did at school.

"We played Duck, (pause), Duck (more pausing), GOOSE!"

I try to share my day with Brandon,

but it isn't as interesting to him as Duck, Duck, Goose was to me.

I rejoice in the fact that

Sydney LOVES school and has a fun teacher who gets that little ones need to be social and chat. She encourages it! Bless her.

I'm so glad that Sydney has found her fears from the week before to be unfounded.

She misses me because she's gone all day, but she can do it!

And she's thriving!

I rejoice in the fact that

Amanda is happy!

In this time of her life, as her body is changing and most of her friends are not,

I see her embracing her tallness! (She's a good head taller than all her friends).

I see her confident and able to handle the little issues that come with growing up.

I love that she can play soccer and then turn around and do ballet and sing/act.

And for now, she still likes her parents.

She still comes for big, long hugs and wants to talk.

I rejoice in the fact that

Mikey gets it.

He knows what I'm talking about.

He loves our kids, too.

And when there is a time that I can't 'deal' he steps right in

and

saves the day.

I think maybe I have been able to ponder a little more this week.

Perhaps that's the reason for the post.

Most of the time I feel too busy to think.

But I have been thinking

and I know

I have a great life!

Hmmmm

Where to start? It's Monday night. First day of school. And I find myself vegging on the computer while Mikey is getting in a power nap. We NEED to be getting the kids their school blessings, getting them to bed (I wouldn't be surprised if I go into the family room and find him asleep-BAD). So, instead of doing what I NEED to do...I'm going to post!

I want to remember that we went to lunch with a bunch of our fun friends for Mikey's birthday a couple of weeks ago. We tried to gather all the August birthday friends and Mike's friends-Kerry & Reed (and their wives), but in the end...this was the crowd. Elise & Darin J., Emily & Scott H., Kerry & Makell W and us. We went to Market Street downtown (we love that place), but found it weirdly not busy, probably due to the insane amount of construction. We had a GREAT time! Good food and fun friends...thanks to all that came...you made it a memorable birthday for Mikey!

We spent the next night (Sunday) at a neighborhood gathering at the Jarmans. We first drove to North Fork...the site of the upcoming ward campout...to check it out one more time. When we got home, we had Mikey's parents come to wish him Happy Birthday! So, we had an impromptu dinner with them before we ran to the neighbors. Thanks to Jim & Renae for doing the dishes....completely unnecessary, but absolutely appreciated. We had a great visit at the Jarmans and with the neighbors that only live on the next street, but because they are in the 'other ward' we hardly get to chat.

Now, Mike has arisen from his power nap and we are going to do FHE. I will continue to update at a later time! Ciao!

Yum-O

Mike & I went to dinner last night with Casey and Nicole and they introduced us to a yummy new(er) restaurant downtown, Faustina. It's kind of off the beaten path, but everything we had there was Yummy! The decor has a modern edge and the prices are $18-$25ish for dinner, but delish! Mike had a filet mignon...oh...so great. And I had butternut squash ravioli that tasted like Thanksgiving/Christmas. It was hard to explain, but it was comfort food that transported me to the holidays. Don't blink or you miss it at 454 East 300 South. I know, I should be a restaurant critic!

Happy, Happy Birthday Mikey dear

Party Central!

Today is Mikey's birthday! I am so lucky to married to such a wonderful man! He didn't want me to give him anything for his birthday

(he would like to forget them, but we aren't like that here....we like to party!),

but the kids wanted to make his day special!

So, Friday afternoon we picked up his special Mrs. Backer's birthday cake.

Amazingly enough, it has lasted until his actual birthday!

The kids woke up EARLY and waited for me to come get them. We made him breakfast in bed. Quite the accomplishment for us since our church starts at 9am. Then, the kids gave him his presents, an AC/DC rocker shirt, a Guitar Hero shirt, an iTunes gift card and wrote him an AWESOME candy poem. The girls remembered how cute Lindsey N's candy poster was when we were in NC on her birthday, and wanted to do one for their Daddy.

The girls reading their poem to Daddy.
It says:

Happy Birthday, Daddy.

You are one 'Hot Tamale'

You are an 'Extra' fun Daddy.

We like to give you bunches of 'Kisses'

You are a 'Life Saver' and a 'Sweetart'

All the other Dads are 'Lemonheads' and 'Nerds' but you are totally 'Chill'

You are a 'Whopper' of a good Daddy to all your 'Junior Mints'

The hugs you give us are 'Good & Plenty'

We like to see you 'Skittle(s)' around the house

You are a 'Whopper' of a good person

Everyone knows you are not a 'Gobstopper'

You are an 'Extreme(ly)' good Dad.

Love your 'Sugar Babies', the '3 Musketeers'

We went to church and both Mike & I had to substitute different Primary classes. He was in sharing time first, so I slyly talked to the Primary leader who was conducting before I went to class. When it came time for the birthday kids to get a song sung to them, they called up Mikey! He wasn't alone, however, our good friend, Casey, who is a Primary teacher has a birthday this week, also. I just wish I could have been there to see it. He said he was surprised!

So, we are going to let Mikey do what he enjoys doing on a day off....resting, watching the Olympics and I'm actually cooking dinner for his birthday!

Happy Birthday Babe! We love you so much! XOXOX

Doesn't feel like 20 years!

Last weekend we had the Colts Class of '88 reunion. I'm sure I mentioned before that Mike and I were asked to help with this endeavor. I don't have pictures of the reunion. They are posted on google picasa...so if you want to look, e-mail me for the link.
Friday night was an Alumni Only night at the high school. It really felt like the first day of high school walking in the front doors....except that Mike was with me (I didn't know him on the first day of high school!). The only thing we had to do for this night was take a turn sitting at the check-in desk...which was fun because you got to talk to everyone coming in! It didn't take long and there were over one hundred people there. Everyone was talking and having a good time remembering the good ole days. The guys were hard to recognize because they had changed so much (balding, spare tire, filled out in the shoulders), but the girls looked fantastic! There were only about 3 of us that were chubby. Anyway, I was not excited about going to the reunion, but Mike really wanted to go. I was so surprised how much fun it was! We had a great time chatting with everyone and catching up on their lives for the past 20 years. Jeralyn Alvey from Mike's Butler ward had me take a picture of everyone that was there from their ward growing up. They had a great ward with A LOT of youth! I'm hoping to get that picture from her soon. When the current VPrincipal kicked us out of the building (because he wanted to go home), he told me that we had the biggest reunion that they've seen yet! Everyone just moved to the front sidewalks and chatted there. Some people went to a bar (open invite to everyone, but of course we passed), and we hear the last person left about 11:30pm (the party was supposed to end at 9pm). My parents were nice enough to have the kids at their house, so after picking them up and then waiting in traffic because of a crash, we got home around 1am.



These flowers are from the Country club night...courtesy of Jami
Saturday, was the Alumni/Spouse or significant other night at the Country Club. We were in charge of the check-in desk (thanks to Kat & Cozette for helping with that!), the name tags, and the cd favor. It got kind of crazy checking 200+ people in as everyone was showing up on time! But, again, fun to be at the check-in desk to chat with everyone.
We took a class photo on the golf course...that was fun as we also had the class photo from 1988 there. Good times chatting with everyone again.
The Country Club ran out of food, but we had plenty of desserts thanks to Jami. (A few of us girls went to help her put together desserts on Friday morning). They were delicious and we had enough that we got to take some home! Our kids loved the little cupcakes.
Ok, back to the night. It was outside all night, which was fine except that it was 100 degrees and humid, so I wasn't in good shape for hugging people! That made me a little self-conscious, but then I had to get up and help with the program! I gave the stats of our class and then helped with the 'prizes' for things like: most marathons run, most kids, who had a kid that goes to Cottonwood. We then watched a video put together by Jodi C.'s brother and Matt Murdoch. It was a jaywalking type video where Heather H and Brad S. went to the school and asked current students things like: what do you think of when you hear Depeche Mode, or 1988 (the kid said Vietnam!), and would you go out with this person (pointing to Heather's picture-they said no way and that her hair was big!)
They also added the yearbook photos of classmates who have died-13...I hear that's a lot. Along with 'We will always be friends.' at the end of the show. Luckily, a lot of the 80's music we put on the cd, was also in the video...that was fun!
Back in Black from AC/DC was kind of a good theme from our class!

We finally left about 12:45/1:00am-ish. Mike's folks were nice enough to be at our house, so we felt like we needed to get home. We probably could have stayed and talked and helped clean up for another hour. The next day, the committee kept sending around e-mails saying how great it was and also that we were so sad it was over and we'll miss seeing each other and chatting. One gal said it best when she said she doesn't want to lose these connections again. Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch better. I'll see if Mike has anything he wants to add, but we just had a fabulous time and the reunion couldn't have gone any better!