Many Many Happies

I did a fun thing last night. I was in Bountiful helping out my friend for a bit, and both of us realized that we had occupied husbands for the evening so we decided to hang out at Costco. Perhaps this does not sound like a very exciting field trip to you, but we had a great time. The two of us plus our combined six kids made for quite the gaggle, but she has kids a little older whom C totally adores and follows like a puppy. We ate pizza and hotdogs, and then wandered through the toy section. Usually at Costco I feel like I'm on some sort of mission impossible trying to prevent my kids from even seeing the toys. Sometimes I'll drive them through the isles, but I never just hang out there and let them touch everything they want, which is what we did. The hit of the evening was this giant horse - giant like as tall as my five-year old. R about went berserk. Kids could sit on it and it had battery power to move like a horse. It was quite a trick to remove her peaceably from its back, but we managed it with offers of heading to the free chocolate milk samples.

Anyway, on to the "happies." Our first happy this week was to C - happy fifth birthday! When we got home from our trip on Sunday night, he received his first big gift: a leopard gecko. He's wanted a real lizard for a long time and we got one. It's quite young and small, and very wily, making it hard to hold, but we're hoping to help it learn to be calm eventually. Our friends the Grundvigs have a leopard gecko that's about three times as big as ours, and she's totally mellow. Being C's lizard, we gave him the honor of naming him. First he chose "Polka-Dotty-Dot," but happily he moved on to a much better name: "T-Rex." I think it's pretty cute. The name, I mean. Actually, the lizard's cute too.

On Tuesday we had a birthday party for C. I invited nine kids - many of the kids C plays with also have siblings he plays with too, so there were three sets of siblings. It was kind of crowded in our little house, but the party went great. The kids were invited to wear their costumes, and almost all of them did. Pretty cute! Parties are hard, you know? Last year I made some key mistakes. First of all, I went a little crazy on the decorations - I actually paper mache'ed balloons and painted them like dinosaur eggs - stuff like that. Also I had made the party two hours long which is definitely too long for a little kid party. This year I reeled it in on the decorations and only had the kids for 1 1/2 hours. Also my mother-in-law gave me this book she had when her boys were little - Betty Crocker's Parties for Kids book or something like that. It's from 1964, and is totally awesome. There are like 50 pages of games in there, so I prepared the games a little better and we had a good time. It's funny how kids will get so specific about what they're interested in. C really wanted a "kimodo dragon" party, but I talked him into a general "reptile" theme. I made a snake cake - cute and easy, except that I suck at making frosting. Someone please remind me that I need to follow a recipe, okay? What I made ended up looking like melted green marshmallows. Yuck. But the cake was cute and the kids didn't care.

I was fairly exhausted when it was done but felt good about it. Despite being tired, after the guests left I took the kids to Ratatouille -Troy's on such a groove on the house that I wanted to give him more time sans-kids to work on it. Let it be known that R is not yet ready for the theater. She moaned and cried most of the time because she wanted to go. I was able to distract her with lipstick and gum for a while, and then we got some popcorn, and other that that she kind of either ran around or rolled around on the floor. I know, gross. But C was loving it. This was the first theater experience he's had where he didn't sit there with his hands over his ears. It was a really cute show. Luckily we were sitting in two seats right by the exit.

And then there was Halloween. We had had such a big week with the trip and the birthday that I just thought we should hang out quietly in the morning of the big day. I still maintain that this was a good idea, but the kids did go a little nuts. Finally at 4:30 we garbed up. I had been planning on participating in the holiday - I borrowed this big poofy princess dress from my mom, but I just wasn't feeling it. My inner child did not feel "princessy" in any way. So I bagged it. The kids looked great. C had his pterodactyl costume, and luckily we had a kitty costume for R, so even though her witch costume is still in the mail I didn't have to buy yet another costume for her. Our first stop was Morris & Carol's - they always love to see their grandkids in costume. My sister-in-law Kathleen was there with her two boys, and C ran around the street with them trick-or-treating at every house. I'm so glad they got a chance to do this - it seems as if trick-or-treating (man that's a doozy to type) is becoming a thing of the past. Carol likes to keep count of her trick-or-treaters every year, and this year she only got 9. They used to get 60 or something like that. Anyway, it was really cute to see the boys running so excitedly from house to house. It seems like trick-or-treating is a more honest way of getting loads of free candy. Do you know what I mean? At the trunk-or-treat, which we headed to next, you get so much candy so fast, and the traditional method at least has you walking farther than 100 yards. Anyway. I'm glad that C got the chance. R wasn't too interested, she was feeling shy and buried her head in my shoulder. She didn't emerge until the sun was going down, and suddenly her second-wind kicked in and she went nuts. Running, twirling, jumping, hollering... Here's C at the second trunk-or-treat we went to, put on by a student ward at a building in the avenues. They have a pretty elaborate set-up in the parking lot, plus a "carnival" inside. This is the "mummy wrap" station, which C got a major kick out of. Well, that's all I can think of. We pretty much came home and crashed after that. We're still recovering a little bit. What I can't believe is the HAUL of candy we pulled in - now in a GALLON container on top of the fridge. The kids have already kind of forgotten about it, but I sure haven't!

Gonna be a Good Day, oh yeah and I went on a Trip

So I couldn't sleep this morning because I'm throwing CTP his 5th birthday party today and I have so much to do. I just keep thinking and thinking about all I have to get done, plus a few other pressing issues like unreimbursed church receipts and parking tickets and MY BLOG! I lay there thinking that if I didn't get up and blog about our trip to Colorado right now, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, so here I am blogging in the dark. Of course, C woke up with a wet bed right after I sat down - help me people! How do you get a kid to stop wetting the bed? He doesn't do it very often, but when he does it seems like he does it several times in a week. Of course this happens on the day of his party, plus our washer is still on the back porch and the dryer is unavailable, and it's going to rain today. While the kids and I were gone, Troy worked his little keister off on the laundry "nook" (not quite big enough to be called a room) and it is going to be so awesome - it's so tidy and all the pipes and wires are in one neat little corner, there's a huge pantry above it...it's going to be awesome. It just isn't done yet. Anyway, so now C is in the tub and R is still sleeping and I'm going to try to get a few details down about our trip.

I guess we decided during the summer to take a trip to Boulder to visit Adam and Whitley because we didn't feel like we got enough time with them on their last visit, plus Troy and I have been talking about me getting the kids out of the house for a few days so he could just work like crazy on the construction. I would have liked to visit Peter and Sheri and their wee babe in Monterey, but I didn't think my two kids all over their baby was a good idea yet, not to mention the drive being significantly longer. Anyway, we ended up going on this particular week because Whitley is the activities committee chair in her ward and they had a Halloween party on Saturday. We went to try to help out with the kids and stuff because it was a huge party. I hope we were helpful - we added enough chaos that it may have come out even in the help department, I'm not sure.

Luckily my Mom was coerced into joining us - I don't think I could have driven all that way without a separate adult to help the kids in the car. Poor Mom had just been on a quick trip to Monterey to meet her new granddaughter. She left a week ago Thursday, was home on Monday. We left on Tuesday morning, and the kids did great. We did have a really fun week. Having been back to Boulder only six months ago, I wasn't really there to see all the sights or hang out in town, we just wanted to be with Adam and Whitley. Mostly we just spent time together playing, going to the park, trying to help Whit. We did get in a trip to the Denver Zoo. I was hoping to have recognized something from my youth, but I really didn't. It was a fun zoo, though. We got to trick or treat at Adam's work, plus there was the Halloween party - it was a fun week.

You know, I probably should have blogged daily while I was there because there were a lot of fun things that happened, but now that I'm looking back on the whole week it just seems like a big fun loud messy blur. I would say that the highlights of the trip were RAP finally making friends with her uncle Adam, of whom she has always been very shy. It turns out that Adam is absolutely darling with kids. I kind of knew that already, but watching him with R was charming. On Friday evening one of Whit's friends held a "Witches Night Out" and Mom and Whit and I all dressed as witches and went - it was really fun. Adam totally handled all four kids, putting three to bed easily plus hanging out with R all evening. She had a nap every day of the trip so I didn't get her to bed before midnight a single night. But they just happily hung out, and she totally adores him now. That was fun.

The Witches Night Out was also a highlight, minus the degradation of my very silly costume. I'm definitely going to host one next year if I can - we all dressed up and hung out eating yummy treats and then we told scary or embarrassing stories. I of course told my classic and still super-great embarrassing story of walking on campus at USU with the entire back of my skirt tucked under my backpack. Let me know if you haven't heard it.



Other highlights? Well, Smith and C were kind of a highlight/lowlight situation - they'd play their hearts out together for hours then just totally melt down. Whit and I both got quite frustrated trying to keep them well behaved. I'm afraid my mom saw more than she wanted to of our, uh, firm parenting. I'll just say that by the time Friday night rolled around both Whit and I REALLY needed the night off. I wasn't sure what my mom was thinking until I asked her if she were horrified (both Whit and I had been totally frustrated with our boys because they were screaming and crying and unable to focus on us enough to let us even finish a sentance. I'll admit that voices were raised....) and she replied that she couldn't do anything but laugh. I asked her if she had ever just totally lost it, and she asked if I didn't remember the time we were fighting and she actually climbed up on the table, stood up, grabbed our crayons and THREW them on the floor. I'll admit that I have no memory of this, which is probably good. It might mean that my kids won't remember me losing it either. And it filled my heart with a warm flood of joy knowing that my own mother, so sweet, optimistic, cheerful and loving, lost it enough to actually stand up on the kitchen table to yell at us. I imagine her up there like mighty Zeus, fist raised above her head, clenching not bolts of lightening, but our beloved crayons, her eyes blazing....warm joy, I tell you.

Baby Laine is such a sweet happy baby. She was fun to spend time with. She doesn't have much stranger anxiety. She's also tiny. I mean itty-bitty, but she's trying to learn how to walk. She's only 8 months old, and she scoots and climbs and pulls herself up and is really trying to take a step. Sorry, Whit.

Of course the party was a highlight too - Whit put so much effort into the details. The decorations were so carefully crafted and the food was terrific - she needs to be careful, or they'll never release her. She's too good. Adam dressed up as Nacho Libre and was totally hilarious - I think he won funniest costume. I went as a troll - a costume mom purchased from a SLC theater company. Mom couldn't resist her Halloween fetish and dressed as "Red Death." She had a red cloak with hood, long red gloves and a scary sort of ghoulish face. She wanted me to paint her as the figure in the painting "The Scream" but I talked her down. I wanted our children to not be traumatized. This is an improvement from ten years ago when she wore this costume but also had a skeleton face, skeleton hands, a scythe, and she wore dry-waller stilts so she was about 7 feet tall. My mom has a Halloween problem. I think it's because it's the one day a year she feels that she can misbehave.

We also had a mini-birthday for C, who turned 5 on Sunday. We were leaving that day, but I made a breakfast birthday cake - all the grownups loved it and the boys wouldn't touch it. It must have been too brown without actually being chocolate. It had apples and whole-wheat flour, you see. Too brown. And healthy. He opened some presents and then we packed up and headed out of town. I only left one thing there - one ENTIRE bag full of dirty laundry, including the kids' Halloween costumes. Aren't I brilliant? I think we have some spares for the actual holiday, and I'm very sorry that Whitley has to UPS dirty laundry. That's just the kind of brilliant mind I have.

Well, it's now 10 in the morning, and R should probably get out of her nighttime diaper. I'll be back soon to report on the excited adventures of birthday parties and Halloween!

Happiness is a Good Dog

This is what a happy doggie looks like.

You know how a couple of weeks ago I took the kids up Millcreek Canyon and got all
desirous to go up there with just me and the doggy? Well...don't faint now...I actually did it. This is very unusual of me. My mom gave me a couple of hours on Friday morning. Normally I would do some cleaning, catch up on stuff around the house, maybe go for a walk, do a crafty thing, but I actually packed up poor old Alex and headed for the hills. I went to the same trail that I took the kids to the first time. That day we took about 30 or 40 minutes to get up the initial switch-backs of the trail, and this time I was done with that part in a few minutes, and was already sucking air really hard. Turns out it's harder to go uphill at a normal speed! But Alex and I had a wonderful time hiking along for an hour or so. He's so fun to hike with because he just takes off and bounds around like a puppy, and then he'll always check back every few minutes to make sure I'm still moving my sorry butt along. He comes roaring back down the path, skids to a halt to say hello and maybe get a little drink of water, and then is off again.

It wasn't much of a hike - I was worn out after an hour but Alex really didn't get all chilled out for the rest of the day like he does after a long hike. Hey buddy, I did my best, okay? I so loved being up that canyon - it's quickly becoming one of my favorite places on the planet. Really - the aspens were pure gold, and their leaves carpeted the trail like cobblestones. The color was everywhere, the air was crisp, I couldn't stop staring at the beauty surrounding me. I've got to try getting out into nature a little more often.

Here are some silly pictures of me trying to get a shot of me with Alex. Didn't turn out so well...















Oh well. I'll just end with a shot of a joyous sight - my puppy running right for me to see if I'm still there. He was such a good dog. It used to take some serious forsight to get him back in the car at the end of a hike - doggie biscuits in the pocket, the leash behind the back, etc, but this time (he's getting old!) he just ran up to the back of the car when we got back. Awww. Good dog.



One last note: sometimes Alex gets a little freaked out at home if Troy and I are moving around too much - construction, cleaning, playing with the kids - he just gets anxious and wants us to hold still. Here is Alex with Troy as Troy is trying to build the closet. He just squeezed in there despite the hammering. The picture isn't very good, but it's funny.



By the way, this is my 100th post! It comes just shy of the one year anniversary of my blog, which is pretty much my favorite hobby these days. I'm loving it, and appreciate friends who take the time to read it. Thank you!

The Scarecrow Festival

Just so you know, it's currently 11:30 on Sunday evening. I'm writing now because I have failed for four days in a row to write, and I can't take it any more. I guess I'd rather do this than sleep. I was hoping to have been sitting here much earlier than I am now, but of course, little RAP zonked out this afternoon. Who could blame her? She woke up at 6:30 in the morning. So sue me - I let her sleep for 90 minutes. She went to bed about 30 minutes ago. I had to use a Jedi Mind Trick - going for a drive. If you think this is bad parenting, please don't tell me about it, because I actually already know that. I try very hard to avoid the drive-to-sleep method, but some days, it's that or the benadryl and I think I know which one could be hazardous to my status as a parent.

Okay, on to the explanation of this lovely photo of my son. On Thursday my good friend April convinced me that I could handle a few hours at the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We drove down after school and it was actually very fun. Here's CTP after a trip to the fishing pond, displaying the array of little gross Halloween things he caught on the end of his fishing pole. Most of them have already been placed in the trashcan, but please don't tell him about that. So the festival is a school fundraiser for my friend Paul's school (he's the principal) and it's a very big deal. They have about 10 of those huge vinyl blow-up toys you climb on and through and down. RAP fell in love with two aquatic themed slides - a shark and a whale, both of which you climb inside up a huge stair/ladder thing and then slide down the tongue and out the open mouth. I wish I had a picture of her on these things, but I don't because I was with her on every slide. I think I burned at least 1,000 calories clambering up and through, over and over, hauling my 2-year-old along. She's still asking for the shark and the whale, and I'm trying to break it to her gently that they just won't fit in our back yard.

If you ever get the chance to attend this festival, it's pretty worth it. They have everything. Face painting, pony rides, wagon rides, food, games, a really dorky juggler (okay, skip that part), a climbing wall, a haunted house... The last of these C really wanted to go through, but when I tried to accompany him R just freaked. C decided to go ahead on his own - I waited at the exit, listening for a panicking child, but he came out looking somewhat wide-eyed but very proud of himself. We really had a pretty good time. April's kids are younger than mine, so she had to take off an hour or so before we did, but we stuck it out through the cold evening, a very persistent wind and empty tummies to have every last bit of fun we could stand. By the time we were done we were tired, frozen and hungry. We stopped in at the food stand for corn dogs, which the kids devoured before we were five minutes out of the parking lot, and were begging for more food. There was an Iceberg on the way back to the freeway, so we stopped for more quality nutrition - I think I should starve my kids more often because they just ate and ate and ate. By the way, Iceberg french fries are delicious. I felt I had earned them after 20 trips up and down the whale.

"I did it with my nose"

Sorry, folks. Time for more disgusting news from the Preslars. This time from C. He was playing with a balloon, and brought it to me to show me his creation: a long clear shining streak spanning the entire circumference of the balloon. Enough said.

"I gave it to Daddy!"

Imagine this phrase uttered sweetly by a happy and proud two year old. It seems innocent enough, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. That's because RAP pooped in the potty for the first time today (hooray!) and this phrase was said in connection with her subsequent emptying of the potty. I guess with the 5:30 hustle and bustle of dinner-making, laundry-hanging, closet-building, etc. we failed to notice that the blessed event had taken place until she stood, log in hand, wrapped mostly in toilet paper, generously presenting it to daddy. I think Troy only accepted the offering because he was afraid of what would happen to it if he didn't. Anyway, enough of the gross. These are the cherished moments I hope to remember always. But hey, maybe potty training isn't that far away!

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.

Welcome to the World!

We've been so excited to a get a peep at the newest member of the Romney clan - that would be young Siena Ann Romney, daughter of Peter and Sheri. Congratulations to them! Siena was born on Thursday the 27th of September, weighing in at 7 lbs 1 oz, and reaching the lofty length of (I think) 18.5 inches. We're going to meet her in November when she comes to Utah for her blessing day. I'm so thrilled she got here safely and I wish much joy to the new family.

Random Gratitude

Things I am grateful for today:

1) A windy Friday.
Troy is working so hard getting our stairs up (yay!) and framing in the closet. This means that our washer and dryer are on the back porch for a few weeks. This is not that big of a deal - I just hook the hose up to the washer, set the drain in a bucket and I can wash our clothes. We have a clothesline in the back yard to dry stuff and it works great. A lot better than heading off to the Laundromat with kids in tow. The weather is getting colder so the clothes are taking a lot longer to dry, but with the wind yesterday, everything dried in a snap. And just think of how environmental we are! I feel very in touch with Laura Ingalls right now.

2) A rainy Saturday.
Continuing on the construction theme, today is the perfect day for a fire. We have the greatest little wood-burning stove, and Troy is providing ample firewood for us today what with all his chop-sawing. Very cozy, wish you were here. Also, our lawn is finally looking green again - very refreshing after the long hot summer.

3) The "Out-of-Season" clothing box.
I love pulling out that box every change of seasons. It's like going shopping or something, finding all the piles of things I so happily put away last spring. I'm not quite ready to let go of the capris, but I did enjoy building up a nice thick stack of my favorite sweaters on my shelf. Also in years past I have lived off of two or three pairs of jeans but thanks to getting thinner (just a little) and making several great garage sale finds I have 8 pairs of jeans I love. I know, this is not actually information you need to know, but I have to share my joy. 8 pair! I'm in heaven. And it's what I'm grateful for today.

4) Used kids clothes.
I'm grateful that as I sorted through all the kids' clothes, putting away the too-small things and opening up boxes of the "waiting to grow into it" clothes I found so many great things handed down from friends and found at Kid-to-Kid. I need almost nothing for my kids for the winter. It's always fun to shop, but sometimes as the seasons change it feels pretty daunting to have to re-wardrobe both kids completely.

5) Good friends.
This morning there was a knock at the door. Part of my gratitude was for the fact that I had just barely showered and dressed because it was pretty late in the morning. I did not have to be witnessed in my jammies at 10 a.m. At the door was a good friend of mine who moved to Bountiful. She has two kids, a son and daughter, each just a few months older than my son and daughter, and we love them dearly. We're sad that they moved away, and with school starting we haven't been in touch for a while. She was so cute - she thought that today was CTP's birthday - so close! She was only off by a month. But what a pleasure to see mom and son standing on our front porch with a bunch of ballons for C, one for R too, and a bag of daffodil bulbs and a nice card for me. What sweet friends. Here is what was on the card she gave me, "Woman Reclining on a Bench" by Carl Larsson. I love it.

Holy Wednesday, Batman!

What didn't we do yesterday? Hard to say, seeing as how I felt like we did it all. What a fun day. The weather couldn't be better - it's so fresh and cool outside, still warm enough for short sleeves, I just love it. I was having a quiet morning when my friend Misty called to let me know that the pre-circus elephant parade was happening down town. I guess every year when the circus comes they do a little parade on the first day. I have zero plans to take kids to the circus this year, perhaps some other year. But it was really fun to head down to the gateway and sit on the curb surrounded by many excited kids and watch the elephants go by. You're not going to believe this, but I actually took CTP to school one hour late so he wouldn't miss it. I know, it was only a five minute parade, but it's a little sad when your baby gets big enough to start missing all the kinds of things you used to take him to. I even offered to let him take the day off because he's been reluctant to go lately, but he really didn't want to miss school altogether, so after the parade we hustled to drop him off. I'm glad he likes school.

After school I ha told the kids that we'd go to the canyons to see the leaves. The hills are all speckled in red and gold already and I know if we don't get up there soon we'll miss it. I feel like I haven't celebrated fall until we've been out among the leaves. Despite my desire to commune with nature I didn't want it to take too long, meaning I didn't want to drive all the way to the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon or something. I thought we'd go to Emigration Canyon to a small area called Killian's Canyon (no idea how to spell that, by the way) where there's a trail and a stream and stuff. Of course, it was closed due to construction. As long as we were headed up Emigration already, we just went over the top and went to Little Dell reservoir. Well, I didn't realize there would be a fee station, and I only had a card with me, so we almost got turned away. But the really nice guard knew we would only be there a short time and so he let us through. It wasn't a great spot either - no trees covered in beautiful leaves or trails to wander on. We just walked down towards the water as close as we could (I took one step closer than that and ended up ankle-deep in mud) so we could throw rocks. You may be aware that rock throwing is among the most popular pastimes of all children. At my house, anyway. We threw rocks for a long time. But, I still wanted leaves. I thought, "Ah ha! Millcreek Canyon is not far away!" We were already there before I remembered that they too have a fee-station. Next time I just need to stash a check-book in the car, don't you think? By this time I was defeated, and we just headed to the oft-requested "Sunnyside-Up Park" for a romp on the swings and slides, and of course a few minutes ruining our clothing in the pine-tree cave.

To finish off my evening, I walked up to the Football Facility for night two of the women's football clinic. I'm really enjoying it so much. We did a little less touring around the facility this time and got more information from coaches. We heard from the head of the Athletic Trainers and then we listened to both the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators. Quite an honor, really. Not to mention a lesson in penalties from Coach Whittingham himself. It felt pretty similar to getting sprayed down with a fire hose. So much information, so fast, every moment realizing more and more how much there is to know about football, and how little of it I understand. Sounds depressing, but really it was a blast. I am slowly understanding a little more about the complexities of the game but mostly I just feel like I need to buy a book that slowly spells it all out for me. And eventually I would like to be able to watch a play and know where the ball is. That's still my biggest difficulty! It's fun caring, though. As we were leaving we caught Coach Whit in the stairwell. Poor man - these guys just do not get a break during the season and he looked so darn tired. But he was gracious and friendly and was perfectly happy to have his picture taken with us. When Troy saw the picture he laughed and said it was a good thing that I didn't do this with Urban Meyer because I would have blushed like crazy. It's true. I totally had a crush on Coach Meyer. I took it very personally when he left me. I mean when he left. Anyway, I reassured Troy that I'm developing a new crush on Coach Whit. Troy thinks it's cute when I get crushes on these guys.

Bad Weekend. Really Bad.

Okay, there were some good things about it too, but after the Utes horrific loss to UNLV (whom we haven't lost to since 1979) I just had to say it. It was so bad. How could we have creamed a #11 ranked team and then been shut out by UNLV? Not so good.

The Utes got smashed nearly as completely as did my father-in-law's car when he was involved in an 8-car pile-up on I-80 and 9th east on Friday evening. Scary. Troy and I were out enjoying some Thai food when we got a call from Carol. Somebody was speeding and swerving all over to get in the fastest lane and hit someone who then hit Morris. Happily, he was not hurt badly, despite the fact that his car was flipped over and he slid along the road upside down for many yards. We're so grateful for his protection. He spent a night and a day in the hospital, and he's certainly very sore but he's here in one piece, and that's the important thing.

Other events of the weekend included a totally crazy birthday party for one of CTP's schoolmates. The party was at a nicklecade on Redwood Road, and I must confess that I really didn't want to go. I tried to think of a good way to get out of it, but really, I knew how bad CTP would feel if he knew he missed it. So we went. Wow. Never been to a nicklecade before - quite the experience. I've never heard bedlam like that before in my life. After cake and presents in the party room, we were set loose on the games with a plastic cup full of nickels. C just about went berserk. The lights flashing and whirling, the constant pinging, dinging and ringing of all the games - he didn't know which way to turn. He'd stop at a game and just shove nickels in, and he'd give the thing about 10 seconds. If he couldn't figure it out by then he'd whip around two or three times until another game won his attention. No chance he'd give a game a second try to attempt to do better at it, one chance was all anything got. That is until he found the Lost World game, in which you sit in a booth and shoot at dinosaurs with a red or blue plastic gun. It was in use when he saw it, and was willing to wait for about 15 minutes for a turn. When we finally got in the thing gobbled up nickels so fast we were done in about 2 minutes. C was disappointed but coped well and didn't flip out when I told him our lack of nickels meant it was time to exit. R was with me too and she bopped from game to ride to game almost as quickly as her brother, just usually in the opposite direction. By the time we made it to the car I had a pretty ringing headache, but was happy all the same that we went because the kids had a great time. Oh yeah, I did try really hard to help them earn some tickets. You know, you play ski-ball or something and if you do well a little slot spits out orange tickets at you. People were walking around with streams of tickets wrapped up in their hands. I obviously don't have the nickelcade-knack, because despite my best efforts we wound up with a total of 33 tickets, and that's after four of them were donated to us. At the little shop at the end of the room, we were able to purchase 33 tickets-worth of plastic crap. Luckily 33 tickets buys you only very little crap. One blue sticky hand, one plastic diamond ring, and one miniscule green spider. I must say, I'm a little tempted to go back and try again on that ski-ball. I'm hoping to up my prize to a blow-up hammer, which costs 250 tickets. It's going to cost a lot of nickels, I think.

Dad's going to kill me, but I also must confess that I think he must have done something to make my mom very angry, and she has taken sweet revenge. Just kidding. Really what happened is that they both love Charlie Chaplin, and there was some sort of Chaplin night down town. There was a movie playing and you could go see it for the very 20's price of two bits, and dressing up was encouraged. I'll have to save another blog entry to describe my mother's Halloween-tick, but she ADORES dressing up. Dad - not so much. But he adores my mom, so when she wanted to dress up, he said okay. I don't think he realized that she would be getting him a chain-gang outfit, not a dapper 20's golfer or gangster or something like that. They came over on Friday night to show off their costumes and they both looked great, though Dad had a bit of a grim set to his mouth. As it turns out, not many of Salt Lake's Chaplin lovers share my mother's passion for costumes, and my parents were one of maybe 20 other people who got gussied up. As Halloween approaches, perhaps I will blog an ode to my mom and her many costume episodes. I love you both.


Here's miss RAP attempting the now forbidden nap. Forbidden because when she takes them she's up until midnight. Darn it, she's still just a little too tired to go without one, though, so this is the result. Falling asleep standing up. By the way, this evening when I asked her if she was ready to get in her jammies, she replied, "No, I need to be in my poop."

Quotes of the Week

This week I placed a "U" sticker in our car window. RAP asked was it was and I said, "it's the letter U." She said,

"Yeah, it's the letter Me!"

One of our favorite parks is Sunnyside Park. CTP asked me with great sincerity,

"Can we go to Sunnyside-up park?"

I guess he's been learning about eggs, too.


The mudfest continues in our backyard. The weather is so warm and lovely that the kids just flock out there and roll in the dirt. Literally. I still find the best defense is to just remove their clothing. I was helping RAP do so and she stated,

"Look! I'm so naked!"

Beware the Preslar's House

Be prepared. If you want to come to our house to play, you're going to get filthy. Absolutely filthy. I have a theory that it is literally impossible to come over to our house and stay clean. The dirt in our back yard is just too alluring. The dog hair is just too abundant. My theory has been proven true time and again - kids come over, and I feel I need to have their parents sign a waiver or something so they won't make me pay for the clothing that is about to be destroyed. I know I should say no to the dirt-play, but I just can't. I don't think there is a healthier pastime out there. I just love watching kids having the time of their lives, their creative juices flowing, their imaginations creating new worlds. I guess I love it except for the nerve that starts pulsing in my temple when I think about getting them clean before their parents get here.

Last night my friend Becky and her family came over to eat dinner, play, and help us with our computer. The kids got so dirty it was unbelievable. When we finally caught their three-year old (pictured above before he started getting really dirty) and pulled off his pants about a cup of dirt rained out onto the porch. This was after I had to wipe both blood and dog poop off the kitchen floor - after that the kids were banished from inside. They just had to do their bleeding out there. For the record, it was C's blood, and he was okay. Eventually. Anyway, it was basically Filth-Fest '07. Wanna come over?

Good Weekend. Really Good.

What's that famous saying? Something about "Pride goeth before the whuppin'?" Yeah - what a fun football weekend! As you should already be aware, the Running Utes were set to play UCLA this weekend, and I was afraid we were going to get creamed. Forgive my lack of faith. UCLA is ranked 11th in the country. Correction: WAS ranked 11th. We've already had a tough year with two losses and four injuries to starting players. I could hardly stand to watch. Troy even got tickets to go see the game - his buddy Mike gave them to him because Mike was going to Florida to watch Urban Meyer coach the Gators for a game. Mike mentioned that this was a game he was okay to miss - he just couldn't stand to watch the bloodletting, and Troy wasn't that excited himself. While he and another high-school friend went to the game I tried to listen on the radio and catch a little on the tube while the kids played. I get so pumped during games - I actually made Romney cry twice when I yelled. So, we basically killed them - 44 to 6. They didn't get a single touchdown, just two field goals in the first quarter. I was bouncing off the walls with energy, waiting for Troy to get home so we could jump up and down together. When he finally came in the door, he didn't look that excited. He was totally in shock. He had these big wide eyes and raised eyebrows - he just looked like he couldn't believe it. What a fun game. I hope the team's confidence and energy continues for some more W's for the season.

Other fun events of the weekend included Indian Food (I could stop right there - that's enough for pure joy all by itself) with friends, two of whom were our dear Seattle friends, popping in for a quick weekend visit. I'm always so glad that they try to see people when they're here, no matter how short a time. The evening concluded with Hagendaaz ice cream bars at the Jacobsen's house, us gathered around the dining room table eating, talking and laughing. I'm so grateful for my friends. And thank you again, Margaret, for babysitting. My kids love you.

We got a report from a primary teacher on Sunday. Apparently a couple of weeks ago in Primary during sharing time, one of the leaders was talking about gifts, and asked if any of the kids liked to get gifts. C raised his hand, and when he was asked what kind of gifts he likes to get he replied, "The bigger the better!" Oh yeah, that's my boy. Seriously, where did he hear that? I don't think I've ever said that.

A Child's Prayer

Here's CTP's prayer tonight:

"We're glad that we can all be good. Next time we go to the aquarium please help me to get a Steve Irwin Crocodile Talking Guy. I really want one for my birthday. Amen."

Instantly I heard in my head, "...the Red Rider Range Model Carbine with a Compass in the Stock and a Thing that Tells Time..." We did make a visit to the aquarium yesterday. Our passes are running out next month, and we've put them to good use. Such good use, in fact, that I need a break from the place. We go there a lot because the passes were cheap, it's a great super-hot or super-cold day activity, there's lots to learn, and it takes a long time to get there and back. Unfortunately, the gift shop began to hold much more interest for C than any of the living animals. He still loves touching the rays and running around, but it doesn't last long before he heads for the toys. So I think we're done with the aquarium for a while. Well, I did think that but it looks like I need to make one more trip out there before the end of October.

Phone Call

CTP was so funny yesterday - he got on the phone with his friend, B. My heart kind of welled up just watching his happy little face, feeling so grown-up because he could chat on the phone too. He began by trying to tell B about his snack at school that day, which was spaghetti squash, and B could not figure out what he was saying so I walked into the kitchen to hear C repeatedly shouting, "SPAGHETTI SQUASH! SPAGHETTI SQUASH!" (I'm pretty impressed with his preschool, aren't you?) After that topic C decided he wanted to mention all the new groceries he could see in the pantry. Then the conversation sort of died down so they resorted to roaring at each other as loud as they could through the phone to scare each other, and then bursting into giggles. Pretty funny.

My favorite comment of the day ("Mommy, can I please have more sugar?" was a close runner-up) was, "Hey Mom! My skin is yellow! That means it can really camouflage my boogers!"

Farewell to the Greens

We've been good friends with Tyler and Marjorie Green for a long time. They lived in our neighborhood for a few years and then Marjorie and I miraculously stayed in touch after they moved to Riverton a couple of years ago. She is the friend with whom I went to Washington D.C. I was so proud of us for staying so well in touch because she moved so far away, and I think we're better friends now than when she first moved. I love her! They are leaving this very day to drive back to D.C. where they are moving. I'm so sad. It's always hard to say goodbye to friends, though I have faith that we'll still grow our friendship. On Monday we had a small gathering at the park to have lunch and say goodbye. My friends Eliza and Carrie also came, two other dear friends who have moved away from our neighborhood. It was a fun little reunion. I get such a neat chance to meet so many wonderful people who move into our neighborhood, and it's always hard when they all move away.

Here's a great photo - the four friends who were together at the park on Monday were all expecting babies at the same time in May of 2005, and we had our picture taken together. I don't have a digital copy of it, but I'll try to track down the negative at some point and post it. Yesterday we took a picture of the four of us with our four babies. Someday it will be fun to frame the two pictures side by side.

Stories

I can't believe I've never said anything about this. More than a year ago, on a long drive home from a friend's house (darn you, Becky!) C was getting very antsy and whiny, and I thought the perfect solution would be to tell him a story. I think it was the three pigs. He ate it up. Loved it. Asked for it again and again, until he started asking for new ones. Every single time we got into the car he'd ask for a story. I went through every story I had ever heard. Stories became a reward. Punishments became not telling stories. When I finally ran out of ideas we started making up our own stories. It was pretty fun at first but I have to admit that it didn't take long for my creative juices to run dry. I don't know if I can express to you how many stories I have told. If you heard me now, you would think me a wicked witch. My dear sweet boy says, "Mommy, could you please tell me a story?" What mother wouldn't love to hear that? But I have started to come up with every and any excuse I can find to not have to tell a story. My muscles tense a little when I hear him say that because I dread it so much. I don't know why. I just can't think of any more stories! Especially because we got into a pattern of me requiring C to come up with the characters and plot of each story, as a delay tactic, me hoping we could make it home before he was done deciding. Unfortunately, he usually comes up with the same idea every single time.

The conversation goes like this:

C: Mommy, can you please tell me a story?

M: (after a long tired pause, during which I'm unable to think of a kind way to say NOOOOOOOO!") Who's in our story?

C: gives a list of characters, usually including family members, movie characters and/or several dinosaurs.

M: What's happening in our story?

C then goes on to give the setting of our narrative. He gets into grooves. For a while it was all about The Incredibles playing in our back yard, and then it was Dinotopia, and then it was Jurassic Park III...He'll tell me like 10 different dinosaurs and people who are "On Jurassic Park III" and then I'm supposed to come up with what happens next. I know, I know. I sound so bitter. It really was fun for a long time, but can you imagine trying to tell three or four stories every day for a year? I will admit, sometimes I get a fun idea and get rolling still, but it doesn't happen often any more.

The reason I thought of this whole part of my life that I feel needs to be recorded for future generations was because of a funny comment C made last night. We're driving home from Troy's co-worker's home in Layton. C says, "Mommy, are you done taking a story break?" (Now you know my latest excuse) and Troy gallantly steps in (after only a little pleading from me) and asks C, "Who's in our story?" He replied, "Me, mommy, my friend Sydney, a Spinosaurus, a Celophysis, and a Velociraptor with a broken toenail." Piece of cake, right? I mean, once you've got a Velociraptor with a broken toenail, the story just kind of tells itself. Not.

Park Problems

I took the kids to the park yesterday morning so Troy could have some quiet alone time. I discovered long ago, when I first started taking C to the park as a baby that I have some social anxieties. Park politics have long been a source of mild panic for me, though I have certainly learned to master my feelings a little in the past nearly-five years. For example, when kids bring toys to the park and then leave them unattended, is it okay for your child to touch them? At some parks yes, some no. For some kids yes, some no. Do you speak to the person standing inches away from you while you're both pushing your child in the swings? How long do you attempt to carry on a somewhat awkward conversation? If other kids ask you questions, are you allowed to talk to them? Do you touch another person's child if you believe that child is in danger? Perhaps these types of questions don't bother you, but I, who have always thought of myself as a socially comfortable person, found myself avoiding the park at "peak" hours so I would not be faced with trying to carry on conversations with strangers or have other people watch me parent my child. I know, I probably sound nuts, and I am, but there you are. I cope better now than I used to.

Back to the story. We're at the park. Little R, who is very small for her age, is quite a climber. She loves to climb those metal ladders up to the top of the play equipment and has gotten very good at it. For the most part I stand near her, usually with a hand on her bottom, to spot her should she fall. Now that she has accomplished the feat at least a hundred times, I have to admit I'm getting bored of standing there. So yesterday I was sitting on a rock, near the climbing R, and watching her carefully. Part of me feels like I need to back off a little bit and just let her do her thing. As she got higher and higher on the ladder I started to wonder if maybe I should stand near her after all just in case. Well, before I could do anything, some other kid's grandma stepped in and assisted R to the top of the ladder, over the gap, and onto the platform on top. I felt really stupid - of course she thought I was a crummy mother - you should have seen the look she gave me as she shook her head. She didn't speak English, as far as I could tell, because she spent her entire park visit cooing to her granddaughter and mumbling in what had to be a Slavic language. Feeling sheepish I figured I really should stand a little nearer my daughter. Then on R's next ascent I really was standing RIGHT there, I just didn't have my hands on her. Hey - she's a good climber and I want her to feel independent. And again this grandma grabbed my kid to help her up - obviously very nervous for her safety. Sheish. Hands off, lady! I was so irritated. Did I "use my words" (as I constantly urge my own children) to express my discontent at her lack of confidence in both my and my child? Of course not. My excuse was that I don't think she spoke any English.

This episode was a repeat of a similar incident just a couple of days before at a different park. It's hard to know if someone's child isn't being watched carefully and they're getting into trouble or if the parent is indeed watching and knows their kid is capable of whatever it is they're attempting.

Am I the only one who has park anxiety? Should I spot my 2-year-old on every climb? Do I do it just so other moms/grandmas won't take over, thinking I'm a very neglectful parent? I think I need a drink.

Awwwwww

Last night was scrapbooking night at my house. I had a couple of friends come over to try to get some pages done. The kids were actually pretty cooperative, but when bedtime came Troy was wonderful and took them both back to CTP's room to read. He came out, alone, only a half an hour later. I swear he is so much better at putting the kids to bed than I am. RAP fell asleep with C in his bed as Troy was reading to them - isn't that cute? And she had a two-hour nap yesterday. A nap and she was asleep by 10:00? A miracle, I tell you!

Utah Football for Chicks

The other night when we were having dinner with the Mayfields, Misty told me that she was going to participate in a Utah football women's clinic - for three nights during Sept. and Oct. you go up to the football center and have fun, learn more about football and hang out with your girl friends. I think the point is kind of to get football wives more involved in the game, and enable us to understand it a little better so that we can enjoy it along with our husbands. There are some fun opportunities to see parts of the facility that aren't open to the public and get a good inside look at what goes on there. Troy was so excited when he heard about it - it was the most enthusiastic he's ever been about a girls' night out. I think his second emotion was pure jealousy, but I tried to enjoy it enough for the both of us. On Wednesday evening Misty and two other women, Tami and Megan, picked me up and we went. I really had a great time. We saw some football films and toured the facility, and got to have Coach Whittingham himself teach us a little more about the game. I don't quite get it all yet, but I'm working on it. Whenever we're watching football, Troy looks at the field and sees everyone in their own position doing their own job, and I see a big bunch of guys smashing into each other. I think my goal is to just become less baffled.

A great moment of the evening - hanging out in the locker room. Kinda stinky, I have to admit. But it was fun to see the gear and all the decor that encourages the team. Here's Misty getting excited about quarterback Brian Johnson's stool. Hey, who wouldn't be excited? My most embarassing moment of the evening came while we were in the weight room, where Coach Whit was finishing up his workout, and Tami wanted to take our picture. She told us to pose with the big heavy chains hanging on one of the racks, and I thought they were attached. I picked the thing up (it was so dang heavy!) and leaned on it, and of course it was not attached. It came crashing down, everyone stopped to look at me, including Coach, and I turned bright red, and then Tami snapped the photo. I will not be including that picture in this entry, by the way.

Favorites

Okay, I'm totally behind. I have not been in the mood to blog this week - but there have been so many things I want to remember, so I've got to get them down. I thought I'd mention my favorites from the past week.

Thing 1: favorite CTP moments

CTP has done and said some funny things this week. Troy's favorite was overhearing him playing and saying, "Attention all herbivores! Attention all herbivores!" No idea on the context of that one, but it was pretty funny. My favorite was at the park yesterday - C was swinging and R was climbing a 12-foot ladder to a slide and I was running back and forth between the two of them - a common park dilemma, by the way - and I was explaining to C that I couldn't push him all the time because R needed help too. He said, "Mom, you to do it all." "You want me to do it all, huh?" "Yeah." "I'm trying, honey, I'm trying!" That made the mom next to me laugh. "Aren't you supermom already?" she asked. Also, C has gotten into telling jokes to his friends. "Why did the dinosaur stand on the tiny rock? Because he wanted to get rolling! Get it? Get rolling! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" This joke actually makes some sense, but it's the only one that did. The rest were a bit random, but he sure thought they were funny. And I loved his addition of "get it?"


Thing 2: favorite RAP moments

I couldn't ever get her to say the whole poem on video, but I sure enjoyed R playing "Humpty Dumpty" while leaping off the laundry basket. I also enjoyed and agreed with her declaration this morning, "I'm NOT a good girl, I'm a BAD girl!" I laughed about it until it became a little too true, and now she's sleeping.

Thing 3: Brighton Girl's Camp 10-year reunion

On Friday night the staff of our girls camp from 10 whole years ago got together for a party. Okay, it was actually a little weird at first because so many of us hadn't seen each other for such a long time, and we're all doing such different things. But then we got eating and chatting and of course singing (we did meet at a summer camp, after all) and it was great. I was so impressed that we got almost half of our staff there. It was a really great summer, and I adored the people there, especially my marvelous assistant director, Echo. AD was her title, but let's face it, she was way more capable than I. I wish I had a picture to post but they all turned out horribly.


Thing 4: the weather!

I think I made some dopey comment a couple of weeks ago (still in the middle of August, mind you) that I thought that our high summer heat was gone for the year. Duh. Of course it wasn't - it got up to 98 or something like that on Monday. But then a cold-front came through and we had two days of pouring rain - my friend Becky was so funny. She said, "Huh. I wonder what this strange moisture is, coming from the sky?" It has been such a dry dry summer here, we forgot what rain was like! The past few days have been around the 80 degree mark (ahhhh.....) and though I'm sure we'll get up again, I really do think this time that our upper 90's days are gone for the year. I have a desire to pull out the sweaters and start baking pies already, but I need to just settle down and enjoy wearing shorts without sweating to death for a couple of weeks. Here's C with our neighbor friends enduring the heat last weekend in a makeshift tent. They always want to build forts in the living room, but our couches are starting to show the strain a little.


Thing 5: favorite outing

I have tried to cut my kids' hair by myself ever since C was a baby. Once I gave in and took him someplace, and they did a horrible job, but it was still better than what I do. I think C has only one scar on the back of his ear from a very early attempt, so that's good, right? C's hair fianlly reached the "unpleasant" level this week, and I caved and took the kids to Cookie Cutters - a hair shop specifically for kids. Okay, it's a little pricey, but it was fun! And we even managed to get a cut for R too, though it was tricky. It took the stylist and myself to keep her distracted enough to not freak out. I loved the fun carnival-ride type chairs and the bubbles at every station. They also had DVD players at each station as well, but it didn't really help R and C could have done without it, but they had a good time. There was also a slide, video games, and a balloon for everyone. Not where I'll take the kids once a month, by any means, but I can see a mid-winter outing for haircuts.


Thing 6: favorite dinner

On Sunday afternoon we packed up the car and made the trek to Bountiful for dinner with our friends, the Mayfields, each of whom we adore. I grilled pizzas on the back porch to enjoy with salad and fruit, followed by ice cream and berries. Terrific. I have all these great memories as a child of our family going to another family's house for dinner and an evening of play. All the kids would disappear and play and play and play - I never thought about the evening being about the adults in any way. But as it turns out, they probably wanted to get together for themselves, not us at all! Weird, huh. The best part of the evening was Mike, the leader of the Mayfield clan, describing in detail his vision for the opening scene of the movie we're all hoping for: Twilight! It was very dramatic. He thought it out well and acted it out - complete with soundtrack and sound effects. I was entranced. He should definitely write it up and send it to Stephenie Meyer.