Okay, okay!

So I haven't been very inspired to blog this week. That's partially because I have been a single parent for a week. Troy found out last week that he had to go to and from Moab in one day, and then get on a plane that same night and go to Portland for a couple of days of company meetings. He left on Tuesday, came home on Thursday, and Friday morning left for the annual elk hunt (aka rifle hiking, in his words) with his dad and one brother. You'd think I'd be going nutty by now, but let's face it, I'm too far gone already. The week has been surprisingly pleasant, despite the lack of my husband. Don't get me wrong, I miss him and am pretty excited to see (though not smell...) him tomorrow. I'll smell him AFTER the shower. Of course. (That's from Christmas Vacation, by the way.) Anyway, it's been an okay week! The kids have been good, I've managed to be patient with them and we've done some fun things.

Last week we spent two separate afternoons up Milcreek Canyon. The first day was a whole week ago - a pleasantly cool and rainy day. I think we went because of our failed "leaf time" from the week before. I'm not super familiar with Millcreek, so I wasn't sure exactly where a good wandering/leaf-collecting trail would be, so we just randomly pulled over at a trail-head. Elbow Fork? I can't quite remember. Anyhow, the trail turned out to be a pretty steep one, with lots of switch-backs, but the kids did great! We just walked up the mountain for half an hour or so, pausing to take pictures, jump over things, throw rocks, and collect leaves. We of course didn't actually make it very far along the path, but we did make it to the crest of one little "mountain," and CTP was so proud! I must remember how well they did walking along and take them for more hikes as the weather allows. It made me wish I was up there with just the dog. Funny, I'm not usually the kind of gal who's in the mood for a good hike, but now I'd really like to go. Maybe next week. I did love that RAP insisted on bringing along her baby, who also seemed to enjoy our outing.

Our second trip up Millcreek was due to an invitation from my friend Emily, mother of three very cute boys. She wanted to do some fall-leaf photo shoots and I recommended the very near Millcreek Canyon as opposed to Big Cottonwood or American Fork Canyon. Spanish Fork? I can't remember - I get confused. Easily. Just ask my camp friends, but that's another story. SO we all headed up on Thursday, which was much warmer and sunnier, and found a much more level path along the river and got some fun photos. I think Emily may have come up with some frame-able stuff, but I was going for blog worthy, not frame worthy, so we're okay.

I made sure the rest of our weekend was very full. I kind of overdid it, but it sure helped our days go quickly. We packed in playdates like crazy. We ate Indian food (the most celestial of all food, didn't you know?) at the Mayfields while watching a mostly-satisfactory football game, (Go Utes!), we made soup and very yummy breadsticks for Becky, who is about 99.9% pregnant. We swapped playdates with friends in order for the grown-ups to have at least a shot at watching a few minutes of General Conference.

I think my favorite moment occurred when one of the play-daters, who shall remain nameless, decided to have an argument with CTP as to whether or not lizards are reptiles. He seemed to think that they were amphibians. He picked the wrong kid to argue with. CTP knows his biology, I'm telling you. So the kid comes out and asks me what I think. I confirm CTP's opinion, and the kid looks me straight in the eye and says, "You're a liar." You know how sometimes you have this immediate reaction to something where your blood is just instantly boiling? I got so ticked! What a thing to say! To a grown-up! I calmly told this young person that calling me a liar was not okay with me, and he just said, "Yeah, but you're a liar because they're amphibians." I'm sure that the word liar is in his vocab because his parents have tried to teach him not to tell lies, but when it comes out like that, well, I wanted to drop-kick him. And I had to laugh at myself at how much I needed this kid to know that lizards really are reptiles. I actually made him watch a video we have about reptiles. And I kept wanting to say, "See!! I told you!" Yeah, very adult of me.

So, big week. Lots of ups: a trip to Shivers with Grandma, playing with Adam, Whitley, Baby-Lainey and the infamous Smitty at Oma's house, enjoying a few talks from General Conference, rain storms, Indian food. A few downs: our dishwasher sounding like a jet-engine at take off and then suddenly sounding like nothing at all, missing Troy, RAP taking a 10-minute nap in the car and then staying up well into what was gong to be my alone-time, doing that again, and again, (you'd think I'd stop her from taking the nap in the first place - believe me, I tried!) working really hard on knitting a sweater and discovering several major errors. But I'm grateful that it's the end of the week and I seem to be reasonably sane. At least as sane as I ever am, which is not very, but let's put it like this. I'm still in a good mood! Wow.