Saturday, July 31, 2010

This is Never Going to Fit

There is no way I'm ever going to fit all the pictures I want to into this blog entry.  Don't you hate that?  We just got back (well, almost a week ago now,) from a simple laid-back weekend in Bear Lake with some dear friends the Griffiths and even though there weren't that many events to report on there are a million pictures showing our complete bliss as we spent three days in heaven.  We lounged in the pool, frolicked on the beach, kicked back on the expansive lawn, watched the sun go down and the bats come out.  We enjoyed the full moon, we participated in sidewalk chalk art, ate more hamburgers than should really be eaten in one weekend, (which for me would be 1). We stayed up late watching hilarious British comedies, we invented recipes for blueberry crisp out of breakfast cereal. We slept in.  It was magic.  Listen to this: my children didn't fight - with each other or the three Griffiths boys.  I didn't play one single game of pretend with Bitty.  Vacation.

Okay, it wasn't total perfection. I did forget to put Stomper's luggage in the car, (minor detail,) but when you're vacationing with a family of three boys you can pretty much come up with a pair of undies and a tee shirt here and there.  And what you can't find in their drawers the KOA campground store can readily supply, as I already learned a couple of years ago on my last excursion to the Lake when I forgot my swimming suit.  (I think I finally passed the resulting "Camp Cutie" tee-shirt along to someone much more suited to its title.) And yes, the upstairs neighbors were slightly on the obnoxious side, the height of their ill-manners being the  tossing of a baggie containing a dead mouse over the balcony and onto the porch right at our feet.  Luckily Marianne has skills in communication and the kids who did it figured out that people don't like dead mice being tossed at them.  So yes, there were the minor glitches here and there, but as in fine Japanese art, the mistakes are there to show off the perfection all around.  Thanks, Griffiths.  We want to come back now.




Saturday, July 17, 2010

Two Sides of Bundle

I took these funny pictures of Bundle the other day - she was completely cracking me up We had the sprinkler going in the back yard and she was demonstrating her passion for/lack of fear of the spraying water.  Any time she spies sprinkling water she can't wait to walk right into it.  She'll stand there laughing or tugging the hose around or just investigating the workings of the nozzle.  Every once in a while she'll stick her head right by the sprinkler head and take it full on in the face and that she doesn't care for so much.  She actually acts surprised that she's getting wet.  Not that she'll move at that point.  She'll just sit there being upset until she's rescued. 


I'm posting these pictures to remind myself that Bundle is actually a sweet, happy and adventurous baby.  I forgot for a while because she decided to provide habitation for a nasty virus this week and has transformed herself from a baby to a barnacle.  Pretty much she's cried and puked and held on to me for four days straight.  Okay, the puking stopped after two days, but the crying and refusing any physical separation from me have been pretty non-stop.  I don't know what else to say but that I hope tomorrow is better than today, which was actually a little better than yesterday.  We're recovering slowly and now we're all just dying of cabin fever.  Luckily I have friends and family who took mercy on me yesterday and provided many hours of entertainment for my older children.  Thank heavens for that.

In an effort to further evoke the presence of the healthy, happy Bundle I'll post another picture Troy took of her in the back yard a few days ago.


Ah yes.  I remember that girl.  And I hope she's back tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Periwinkle

I just had the most wonderful evening.  Every year the women in our church get together for a supper of summer salads and decadent desserts which we enjoy while sitting in someone's back yard.  Tonight was the night and it couldn't have been more lovely.  We were in this glorious (and very well tended) back yard which was shaded just enough to keep us from melting. There were flowers everywhere. I sat on the swing with my friend and swung lazily while sipping limeade. The salads were fresh and flavorful, and someone brought fantastically gooey brownies covered in piles of fresh raspberries.  Like I said, lovely.  Well, our group (aka Relief Society) just got a new president, and after we had slurped up every last bit of salad on our plates she got up to say a few inspiring words.  Actually, she had us (about 35 women) each introduce ourselves and share what our favorite color is and why.  Seems simple, but she said that she imagined that after we went home and considered more about why we love our favorite colors we'd each end up gaining a little insight into our souls.  Which is exactly what happened. 

My favorite color is periwinkle.  I know, you would have guessed purple, due to my zeal for a good purple pad and matching pen, but no.  I really only go for the purple because no one sells note pads in periwinkle.  As we were going around the circle I was thinking and thinking about why I love the color so much.  I supposed it was because it is such a calm color, but that doesn't really seem like the reason. My turn came around so I shared my color and didn't have much to say but that it's just a great color. Lame. Shortly after that I got The Call from the babysitter (Bundle was ready for my return) and headed for home, still pondering the value of periwinkle.  I just kept thinking how much I love that perfect balance of color - it's so hard to get it just right.  Not too much red, or you've got lavender.  Not too much blue, or you've got, well, blue.  A perfect balance. Balance. Ah ha!  Balance! THAT's why I love it!  It was a total insight into my soul - what I'm striving for is perfect balance.  It's a constant effort: balancing being a mom with being a wife, finding time for me but not being selfish or absent, between cooking and savoring fantastic food and just plain eating too much, between giving into my creative mind and never creating anything.  Not an easy place to rest, that's for sure.  I think periwinkle gives me hope that the perfect balance of life can in fact be pulled off and the result, though not easy to attain, is one of great beauty, calm and strength.  Worth it.

So...is it wrong if I go buy a new periwinkle outfit or purse or something to remind me?  Oh no, wait, I have to balance spending too much money with being slightly nuts.  Okay, I can do this. 


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Holy Ship

Well, what was I supposed to do?  Bitty had her cousin Laine over to play and they were having an absolute ball together.  So I left them alone.  They were in Bitty's bedroom pretending to go on a trip on an ocean liner.  I was outside the room listening to their  funny older cousin/younger cousin banter.  I was enjoying listening to them chatting about needing to pack so they could get on the ship.  I guess what I should have done was not just listen to them but do a little looking as well, because after about one hour of this I actually opened the door and took a peek.  Want to see what I found?  Look out, it's pretty scary.


They really did pack.  And apparently Bitty's bed was the suitcase.  What's even scarier was how long it took to get it all put back again.  It's amazing how very very many things we have in our tiny little house and just how very very mixed up they can get! 

Friday, July 09, 2010

Celebrations

Not that anyone really cares, but sorry for the very late post.  I'm still struggling with a bit of post-holiday hangover.  I've decided that I don't care for Independence Day falling on a Sunday because it creates a three-day celebration instead of just one.  Please don't think me unpatriotic.  I'm not.  I'm just the mother of small children.  And the kids made it abundantly clear that three days is too many. Can you say, "meltdown?" We really did have a fun weekend - Romney family get-together on Saturday plus fireworks for Troy and Stomper that night with friends at Sugarhouse park.  More friends for dinner on Sunday - nothing big, but we couldn't let the actual 4th of July pass without doing something, right? Then Monday was the annual burger-fest and early evening fireworks at The Becky's.  Plus, both Adam's and Peter's families have been in town and we've had lots and lots of good cousin time.  Zoo, sleepover, hanging out, cousins beating the crap out of each other... more on that in a moment... Basically I can't believe it's Friday already and I have accomplished almost nothing but feel fulfilled with lots of time with beloved friends and family.

Back to the beating the crap out of each other. So. Stomper has but one male cousin on the Romney side, and thankfully they were born within a year of each other.  They're lucky to have each other because they are completely surrounded and submerged by (count 'em) NINE female cousins.  (I know, I've mentioned it a few times before, but I can't help it.  That's a lot of girls!)  I think it was Tuesday that we had a day-long cousin-fest beginning at the zoo and spending the 2nd half of the day at my house.  We had just received a hand-me-down back yard play set from a friend that morning and the kids were so excited they climbed all over it instantly, producing another memorable photo op:


Despite the happy tableau presented here, the day was actually a pretty wild one.  There was some sort of nervous, crazy energy floating around my house that day.  Pretty much every kid had their moment of totally freaking out.  Some kids freaked out all afternoon.  The highlight...well, let's call it the lowlight, was an incident involving the two boys, the lack of a shirt, and a three-foot-long rubber snake.  1) Smith wasn't wearing a shirt.  2) Stomper had the snake.  3) Stomper got ticked.  4) The entire family heard a whip crack equaled only by Indiana Jones himself followed by unholy screaming.  5) Smith may or may not have a permanent red mark on his chest, reaching from one shoulder to the other.  The welt that instantly appeared on his chest after Stomper expertly snapped him with the snake was really rather alarming, especially to Stomper, who got so upset that he expressed much self-loathing.  He tried to tie himself to the tree with the snake, he ran to his room and de-sheeted his bed declaring that he only deserved to sleep on a bare mattress, and as I passed out ice cream cones to ease everyone's tender feelings (and chests) Stomper let me know that he wouldn't allow himself any ice cream.  Only broccoli.  And potatoes.  With butter, he ended up adding.


I was a little afraid that they would never speak again, thus disrupting the next night's sleepover plans.  Luckily Smith shook it off and Stomper bucked up.  The boys have been having one sleep over per visit for a while now, and we decided that it was our turn to host.  We've never had a sleepover here, but it turned out great.  One really important thing to remember in hosting sleepovers is to totally exhaust the participants and keep them up way past bed time.  That way, when you take them out to the tent in the back yard and read them a story, they roll over and instantly pass out instead of giggling for hours.  It's an effective technique and I highly recommend it.  It makes me very excited for when Smith's younger sister Laine and Peter's daughter Siena are old enough to join in the fun.