Best Tree EVER

Every year Troy and I go out together to buy our Christmas tree. We love the kind with really sparse branches so you can see the ornaments. Troy found out this year that the kind of tree is called a silver-tipped fir - just so you know! Anyway, every year we go out together to buy it and are generally horrified at the price of the trees, and we end up talking each other out of a tree that would fit the size of our living room ceiling. The ones we bring home always look big at the lot, and then we get them in our living room with the 10-foot ceilings, and they don't even go up half way. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much. Well, yesterday, Troy was headed to a friend's house, CTP in tow, to help out on some construction. I suggested they pick up a tree on their way, which they did. C picked it out. The thing, according to Troy, did not look that big on the lot, but when we tried to set it up this afternoon, we had to snip off six inches on the top to make it fit. It's huge! I totally love it.

We set it up this afternoon and then had to let it drip-dry for a couple of hours because it got so packed with snow after sitting on the roof of the car during a blustery evening last night. The kids were appropriately wound up about it, and tried hard to be patient, so when we finally busted out the box of ornaments they got right to it. Really sweet, dont' you think? I must say, it was so quaint. Picturesque? Troy built a fire (it's still going...ahhhhh) and I made cocoa. There was Christmas music and the kids were fighting over the candy cane ornament...everything you'd expect from a festive evening at home, decorating the tree! Actually I'm very proud of C, he's trying so hard to be generous and patient. He's starting to think about others' feelings. In the past if I have ever asked him about a gift he'd like to give to someone else, be it a grandparent, sibling or aunt, he of course couldn't imagine that they'd want anything but a dinosaur. But this week he got quiet and thoughtful for a moment and then asked what he could give to Daddy for Christmas. When I asked him what he wanted to give, he said, "A new saw. And I want to give Romney a talking Dora doll." Not that we need another battery-operated noise-maker around here, but how sweet! I was really touched.

1:30 in the morning, Matthew on the mind

Hello friends. You'll have to forgive this rambling, as it is occurring at a very late/early hour, but I'm feeling inspired. I have just spent a joyful and sorrowful evening with women whom I love. We gathered to support our friend, who is only 3 1/2 weeks past losing her baby, Asher. He was due on Dec. 30th. I felt so glad to be a friend to her. Losing Matthew was not easy, but I am grateful to be able to have helped my friend and welcome her into this strange little club of people who know a very tender kind of loss. I guess I am writing this entry to celebrate the fact that for the first time in seven months I've been able to write some feelings about Matthew that I haven't been able to. I'm supposed to be asleep but instead I'm at the computer writing and writing about him and it feels wonderful. A poem, which has been lodged in an unreachable place is finally taking shape in a way that feels very true. I'm grateful for that. I'm not ready to share it, but I wanted to document the satisfaction and catharsis of writing. I thought that because it didn't happen right away it might not ever happen, that the more time passed the less I'd feel. I guess the pot of emotions just needed to settle and clarify a little. I'm so glad, and grateful for my life, my husband, friends, my beautiful children. I know I write a lot about parenting frustrations, and I need to say that my children are darlings. Okay, this is kind of a weird entry. That's what you get for being privy to my journal, I guess.

This IS the Place!

Our stake did a great thing this week and put on a Christmas party for all stake leaders and held it at the This is the Place Heritage Park - the pioneer museum-group-of-buildings across the street from Hogle Zoo. Somehow Troy, who is the ward mission leader, ended up on the invite list - I guess that's a stake calling around here. Anyway, Troy was in Denver, but it looked pretty fun, so I took the kids up by myself. The park puts on a great Christmas activity each year, and it was really neat for our church leaders to have the party there. By the end of three days without Troy I wasn't sure I was up to a big evening outing, but I thought it would be a shame to miss it. Besides, little R had a nap that day, so what else were we going to do to kill time until midnight?

We had a nice little dinner in the upstairs of one old buildings. I was so proud of little C, who insisted on dishing up his own food from the buffet. Much to my shock and delight, he filled his plate with vegetables and fruit. Did you hear that? VEGETABLES and FRUIT. This is unlike my child. Okay, there was also a small mountain of meatballs and a ham sandwich on the side. The most amazing part is that (are you ready for this?) he ATE all of it. I credit his delightful little preschool with the progress in the consumptionary arts - every day I ask him what the snack was and is always something like squash, cucumber and oranges; things he regularly rejects at home. But I digress. I was happy to see at dinner a good friend in our neighborhood, Ben Behunin. He's a guy I met in junior high, and who became an incredible potter. He's lived in the 'hood for several years and we've worked together a couple times for church stuff, and I just have to say, I think he's a great guy and a fantastic potter. I guess I was thinking of him and his wife fondly because I talked to him right when we lost Matthew and he tried to help me out with some jewelry. I hadn't seem him since then and it was nice to connect. Neat family. Okay, moving on.

The park has a very festive holiday scene going on - we had a great time. We rode a "train" (it had rubber tires, but did have an engine-type thing up front and made all the appropriate whistles and 'choo choo' noises, so it was all good) and we made Christmas ornaments. There was a St. Nicholas-type guy (C didn't really buy it) and story tellers. Ever heard the one about the Christmas spiders? Yeah, it was a new one for me too. There was a live nativity in a barn with some extremely real (smelling) cows, sheep and even a donkey. Joseph and Mary were kickin' it with some hot cocoa, but can you blame them? It was cold! We went in the Brigham Young house where the prophet himself was there telling stories and showing us around. A fun surprise was seeing an old missionary from my parent's mission, Alex Bigney of Kirkmount fame, playing the harp in the parlor. If you need a good Christmas CD, check theirs out.

Anyway, it was a really fun evening. At least it was a great distraction for my son who continues to pepper me with "Hey Mom, it's Christmas day now, not Christmas time, right?" type comments from sun-up until sun-down. I keep trying to help him feel the joy of anticipation but it's like reigning in a thoroughbred stallion all day long. I remember December taking as long as every other month combined when I was a child, crazy with excitement, and so I am trying to be patient with him. I bet I drove my parents NUTS. My memories of Christmas don't hold any specific feelings of irritation and exasperation radiating from them, so perhaps C is not picking up on mine.

By the way, our family recorded what I think is to become a new Christmas traditional show for us - Shrek the Halls. It was hilarious! And pretty true - basically saying that everyone experiences feelings of chaos and failure during the season, but that's all part of it. As donkey says, "It isn't Christmas until somebody cries!" How true is that? I had some low moments today but have perked up in time to stay up extremely late working on projects I don't have time for but have committed to do anyway. Why am I blogging? Avoidance, really. See how I keep on typing even after I have nothing left to say? It's a tactic I've been working on.

Goodbye, Fall!

What a lovely fall we had. Really. I got to do so many fun things - hiking in the mountains, doing lots of Halloween stuff, collecting leaves...I feel like I thoroughly enjoyed the fall this year. Sometimes it just seems to rush by too fast. Or it stays summer-hot too long and then suddenly it's snowing. Not this year. It was great.

There was a big storm that came through Utah this weekend. On Friday I swore to Troy that I heard on the radio something about "4 to 8 inches" of snow. He thought I had it wrong and that it was the mountains that were really going to get it, which is great. On the news that evening the weather report didn't say much about snow in the Salt Lake Valley, and we got the impression that we might get a few flakes but mostly rain. This didn't sound too bad, after all, we still have piles of leaves to rake and hoses to put away and stuff like that. Well, at what...three in the morning? (whatever time RAP needed a drink) I was up and looked out the window to see rain quickly turning slushy and fat. By the time we got up there was already at least an inch on the ground and it just snowed all day. I think we got around six inches. It was so fun to get the white stuff on the first of December! I was even in the mood for Christmas music. What I liked best was hearing a favorite tune, Let it Snow! without being bitter that there was no snow in sight. We had a very lazy Saturday puttering around, baking, playing, and I ventured out for a little shopping. I have such a good husband. Saturday is always a big day for him to get stuff done on the house, but he needed a lazy day as much as I needed to get stuff done, so he spent a ton of time with R (CTP spent pretty much the entire day at a friend's house). Little R does love her daddy.

On another note, I was driving the kids around today on one of the seemingly 1368 errands I did. It was almost the end of the day, thus it was almost the end of my wits. CTP just gets so chatty and I guess super curious. I never thought I'd try to stifle my child's curiosity, but after 90 minutes of a constant stream of nearly unanswerable questions I have to put a cork in it somehow. I think my favorite question of the day was this:

"Mom, I know everything. Is there anyone else who knows everything?"

I replied, "You know everything, huh? Okay, what's the square root of 29?" (Not very a very nurturing response, I know.) He calmly answered with total confidence, "St. George." Well, I guess you got me there, kid.

Snow!

We got our first snow of the season yesterday - pretty exciting, I think. I just love snow for Christmas. I wish I didn't depend on it so much to feel "Christmas-y" but I do. I need to find another holiday-cheer trigger, because these days (darn that global warming!) we don't get a white Christmas very often. It's been a few years since we've had a truly white Christmas. When CTP was one we woke Christmas morning to a brown and dry day, but as the day went on we got pounded by a huge storm. Our car was buried for a couple of days - it was great! I of course have my hopes up for a wintry holiday this year too, but it snowed about one inch yesterday and it isn't even December yet. Thinking that this storm means we'll have snow on the 25th - that's like being one point ahead with 1:38 still left on the clock...oh yeah, we aren't talking about that.

Of course when the kids saw the snowflakes they immediately insisted on pulling on their entire array of snow gear - hats, boots, mittens, coats - just so they could go outside and play in the smattering of flakes. It's cute really, how excited they get. I was on the phone with my friend Becky while the snow was coming down and her kids were going berserk in the background. It sounded like she was babysitting the neighboring circus troop, but it was just her three whooping it up. She should have done what I did and sent them outside and shut the door. What I want to know is why do snow clothes have to consist of so many separate items? My kids had a great time outside for 1/2 an hour, but after that I had a mountain of clothing by the back door, dripping muddy water on the floor, which I couldn't attend to because I was busy making the demanded post-snow hot chocolate. Ah, well.



Last night the first on our list of Christmas shows was on t.v. It was "Charlie Brown's Christmas." I'm such a silly. We actually own this tape, but for some reason I have so much more fun watching it on live t.v. I can't tell you why - the tape has no commercials! I think it must hearken back to my childhood when my mom did such a good job of paying attention to when something would be on, like Rudolph or The Wizard of Oz or something. She'd push the couch up close to the t.v. and we'd all pile on and cuddle under blankets, eating homemade popcorn. It was great. So I did the same thing and pushed our big green chair up in front of the tube and the kids snuggled up for Charlie Brown. Pretty cute. RAP actually fell asleep there at 8:15, which was a miracle because she had fallen asleep in the car during the day. This usually ensures a late bedtime, but she crashed. Of course, she did wake up at 2:00 and wiggled in a very awake way until 4:00...

Women's Football Clinic

In the fall, you may remember, I participated in a football clinic for women up at the UofU. (Sad weekend for us, by the way. I don't want to talk about it.) Here is a video about it that got posted on youtube. If you look closely, you can find me - on the left side, third row from the front, long bushy brown hair...green vest...look fast or you'll miss me. It was really fun and I totally want to do it again next year!

Tagged

About 10 days ago my cousin Monica sent me a note that said I was "it" and to go see her website. She's such a faithful blogger - I love her! So I guess there's this thing going around where you tag someone and they have to write six interesting things about themselves on their blog. I'm sitting here in my late-afternoon haze, noticing how exhausted I am just because I actually sat down. I can not think of anything interesting to mention. Let's see...I'm only on my first diet coke today? Not that interesting. Okay. I'm going to try.

1.) ...
...still sitting, staring at the screen, watching the cursor blink...

I know! I was once on a t.v. game show in Korea. I was on my mission, and the t.v. station there needed some foreigners to join in a competition so they called the office and about eight of us spent the day recording the show. We played games, I jumped rope and did a tongue twister, and we sang a song. I was flat and sounded horrible. That was my 15 minutes of fame.

2.) I can curl my tongue into a clam-shell shape. Those crazy Romney genes, you know.

3.)My inner soul is a singer. In actuality I can't sing very well at all, but whenever I see someone singing with all their heart and guts I'm so jealous. I wish I could sing like that. Maybe when I'm dead.

4.) My grandmother's name was Oa. Two letters. O. A. I kind of love it and would like to pass it on, but she threatened us all with many curses if we did that. Now you know how she felt about her name.

5.) I no longer like playing Monopoly. I used to love it until I grew up, got married and bought a house. Now that game gives me ulcers. How interesting is that? I know, not very.

6.) Okay, one more. I'm the most compulsive list maker I know. I keep a running list of "to-do's" and my joy in life is crossing things off. I'm sure I have many friends in this club-o-nutties. I think it has something to do with the fact that as a stay-home-mom I have very few chances to feel like I've completed a task. There is ALWAYS laundry in the basket before I'm done putting the last laundry-day load away. There is ALWAYS something I forgot to buy at the store. So far, I have not been able to check off "raise kids." That one isn't even on the horizon.

So all in all, not too interesting, but there you go. And whoever reads this...TAG! You're it!

I Wasn't Last!

I know today is Thanksgiving and I should have titled my post along that vein, but I couldn't help it. My most exciting event of the day was running a 5k this morning. A couple of weeks ago I was driving to my friend Becky's house, and I saw a sign up for a Thanksgiving morning 5k run. Strangely, I felt a desire to sign up. This is so not like me. I HATE running. I've only run in one race before, and it was the Moab 1/2 marathon in 2002. I think I ran for about 8 or 9 miles before my lack of training caught up with me and I was done. Only I wasn't anywhere near the finish line, so I had to sluggishly plod along at a very slow walk for 4 more miles. But here I was, desireing to enter a race. Granted, a much shorter one, but a race none the less. I signed up, went for a total of three runs between then and today, and went for it. I tried in vain to get someone in my family to join me, but no one did so I was a loner. It was probably better that way - I'm not a real quick runner, so it spared me some humiliation. Most important to me was that I run the whole way. I really needed to feel successful that way. I'm happy to say that I did it! What a rush! And I wasn't even the last person to finish. Somehow I even got a little ribbon that said that I beat the mayor (of Cottonwood Heights) but I don't know how that happened unless he walked the whole way. I'm a REALLY slow runner. You know what the best news is? I don't hate running anymore. It's actually kind of fun when you plug into some good tunes and get into a groove. Troy and I are going to run the 10k in Moab this spring, but that's good enough for me. I'm not one of those people who really wants to run a marathon someday. I'm just psyched that I made it through 3 miles today.

The actual holiday of giving Thanks was also a good part of the day. It was a Preslar year so we got together with Troy's family at our church. It really worked out nicely to use the Church's stuff so we could push tables together and all sit down at one big table, use nice dishes and have plenty of space for the kids. The day wasn't even too stressful because I had been doing food prep for the past two days. Unfortuneately, my food was the least successful part of my day. As you probably already know, I adore eating (oh yeah and cooking) so Thanksgiving is a really big holiday for me! But my food all kind of backfired. I made this great cranberry chutney but forgot all about it until we were passing the turkey (too late!), and I meant to make my favorite sauted green beans, but the burners at the church wouldn't work, so I had to microwave them. I made a great salad with roasted squash and onions plus pomegranite, pear, and candied nuts. The squash was met with more surprise than delight by the feasters, I think. And then I made some pies and I tried a new pie crust recipe that just didn't go well at all. The fillings were pretty good, but I was mad about the crust. WHY can't I master this pie-crust thing? Mary Poppins said, "That's a pie crust promise - easily made, easily broken," and I don't know what she's talking about because I can't seem to get the knack for it at all! Enough about the food - I didn't mind that my contributions weren't of the A+ variety, because there was tons of other good food and we had a great time as a family together. Which is actually more important than the food. Only a little bit, though.

I did get pretty carried away with decorations....I actually steamed ice cream cones and bent them into little cornicopias to set at each person's plate. Last night as I was exhausted and yet standing above a pot of boiling water holding a slowly softening ice cream cone it occured to me that I may have finally lost my marbles. Why was I doing this? I guess I had been looking for a craft that the kids could do on Thanksgiving Day while all the grown-ups were talking, but it became clear that the kids, if they actually participated in the activity by filling each cone with treats, would be done in about one second. But I had already bought all the stuff, so I went ahead and did it. It was pretty cute, but carried the essence of "hyper mommy" all over them. Well, I wish everyone the happiest of Thanksgivings (hey - there's still 45 minutes of Thanksgiving Day left!) and a wonderful start of the Christmas season. Are we there all ready? Wow.



The Preslar Brothers: Rick, Doug, Sam and Troy

It wouldn't be Fall without...

...pictures of the kids jumping in the leaves. We just had to take them! Yesterday my niece MG was over and we had a great time frolicking. The weather has been so pleasant I can hardly stand it. Mild, sunny, delicious.





The above video is probably all the information you need on our afternoon, but I had to include the next one too because it shows R actually in a good mood, the first time in a couple of weeks, it feels like. I finally got her to sleep in after another late night and then got her to go nap-free for a day. What a difference. She has a cold, along with the rest of our family, but she was happy all day both yesterday and today. I like my child again, isn't that nice?

I'm Crazy.

But you knew that already, right? Here is today's reason. A year and a half ago we threw a "good-bye diapers" party for C. It was a celebration of his potty-training achievements. The very fact that we threw him this party is sounding crazy to me right now, but too late. We gave him a little gift - this stuffed animal triceratops, whom we named "Topsy-Turvy" and who immediately became C's indispensable companion day-in and day-out. I thought the name was clever and sweet. I think I probably mentioned this at some point in the past year of blogging, but C fell in love with this show called Dinotopia. Yes, I remember now that I did already tell this story, but too bad. In the show the hero helps deliver a baby dinosaur, and cheekily names it "26" because it was the 26th egg or something like that. C totally latched on to that and poor Topsy Turvy has been 26 ever since, causing much confusion to many people such as his preschool teacher. "Uh, C kept talking about 'his 26' today. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about!" Things like that. Well, today we were driving to the library, and 26 was sitting on C's lap. 26 accompanies us on many outings, waiting patiently in the car until we return. C was fondly stroking him and said, "His real name is still Topsy-Turvy, huh mom." I started laughing at myself because I immediately felt this wave of peace and happiness...what is my problem? I can't believe I'm blogging this - I'm such a dork! I guess I spend a lot of time with this little stuffed creature and I hated his name change. Why do I care? I don't have an answer for that, but I was happy to know that deep down, 26 will always be Topsy-Turvy. I told you I was crazy. Maybe I should get out a little more often. I feel like I'm a prisoner in a jail cell and have been there so long I have named all my toes and they've come to life in my head or something. Okay, I'll stop talking now.

St. George

Now that we've been home almost a week, I thought I might write about our trip last weekend! While I was on the trip I kept thinking of all the funny little incidents that I wanted to blog, but now that it's been so long and I have a head cold, that information has departed my puny brain. And my little RAP has been quite a challenge this week. QUITE a challenge. That probably started with the trip, because of course I couldn't keep her from having naps in the car, and that plus the excitement of the trip made her so hard to get to bed. I am really glad I went. I took the kids down on Friday. The rest of the family was coming on Saturday and going back home on Sunday, and I didn't want the kids to do that drive twice in two days. The drive down went pretty well, though it is hard to drive and parent at the same time. I had looked online for a motel that had an indoor swimming pool, and found one on St. George Boulevard. It was kind of an extended-stay deal, and it was pretty slimy. But, it was cheap and had a pool. I went swimming with the kids three times in twelve hours, and they loved it. We got some park time with Peter and Sheri and baby Siena before the hoards arrived, which I was so glad about. Sheri's sister got married that weekend, so her family was totally crazy with wedding stuff plus the blessing on Sunday. They were a little short on time. So Friday afternoon at the park was fun, plus we made the obligatory visit to the Pizza Factory. Can't go to St. George without a visit to the Pizza Factory! I have to share my favorite park moment - though you'll think poorly of me because it made me laugh. R was happily climbing all over the playground equipment by herself, and decided to take one of the slides headfirst. At least I think that's what happened - I wasn't looking until I heard her crying. She was sitting at the bottom of the slide with a face-full of wood chips. I've never actually had to pull those things out of one of my kids' noses before. Her mouth and nostrils were pretty packed with them. Luckily the injury wasn't serious and once I had excavated her orifices she was ready to play again. There was also a very good moment at the Pizza Factory. If you've been there you know about their gigantic breadsticks served wrapped around a dowel and standing upright in a pewter mug. We ordered one for each kid and when they arrived their eyes lit up like someone had just handed them the best treat in the world. C went to gnawing on his like corn on the cob, and R took to hers like it was a lollypop. Luckily I brought the camera.



On Saturday morning after another swim, some mediocre "continental breakfeast" and checking out of our very questionable motel, we played at the park some more until my parents arrived with my husband. We met up at Smith's to do some shopping, where R fell asleep on my shoulder as we were shopping. She was so wiped out. Margaret and her girls arrived shortly thereafter and we took off to hang out at my uncle's condo. It was a nice afternoon. We enjoyed some banana cream pie to celebrate my niece's birthday, we talked a lot, we ran around the back yard where R fell and cried for the next three days about her scrape. (That is not an exaggeration, by the way.) Peter and Sheri joined us, and I eventually took C, R and one niece to the dinosaur track museum on the north side of town. Then we all trooped off to dinner and then we crashed Sheri's sister's wedding reception. We heard there was going to be a chocolate fountain and we just couldn't stay away!

Sunday was the blessing, and Peter did a very nice job. Siena is a sweet chunk of a kid who seems really mellow and happy to be alive. We enjoyed some lunch at Sheri's parents' home. They were so nice - after throwing a big old wedding, to have us all over too seemed like it would be too much, but they're so gracious and fun. They aren't that much older than Troy - it's kind of a weird thing. Sheri is the oldest in her family and Peter is the youngest, so there's some funny age things like that. Sheri has siblings that are the same age as Margaret's kids, Troy and Margaret are only like five years younger than Sheri's parents...kind of funny. Anyway, it was a nice trip. We really missed Adam and his family - our entire family hasn't been all together since Peter got married 2 1/2 years ago! I don't think we'll get the chance again until next summer. So, great trip.

Validation

I just got back from St. George and am excited to blog about that adventure, but I'm still trying to locate my floor under the trip-debris. We were gone for three days. That's it, and still, my life has been thrown into total chaos. In the meantime, I had to post a paragraph from a blog that my sister sent me about Toddler sleep issues that I find myself relating to in a serious way.

"As usual, the time change last week completely screwed with the pace of our daily schedule, and by mid-week when I thought we were nearing the end of the transition Leta fell asleep in the car on the way to the grocery store. At 5:30 PM. For those of you who have children I probably don’t need to go into too much detail about what that did to her bedtime, and what that delayed bedtime then did to the mood she was in for the next… oh wait, she’s still upset about it. For those of you who have never had to worry about the sleep schedule of an incorrigible, three-foot-tall shin-kicker, let’s just put it this way: this time change? It’s like running at full-speed on a treadmill while balancing an egg on the end of spoon that you’ve got clutched between your teeth. And if you drop that egg? Everyone dies."

Is it true for you too? Right this moment my extremely volatile 2-year-old is sobbing, hanging on my leg, and letting the flow of boogers run freely down her face. She's been doing this for about two weeks. Solid.

Observations

As R and I were leaving the house the other day, she tripped over the door frame and let out a big, "Oh Crap!" Yeah, I know, all parents get to enjoy listening to our kids repeat things they hear from us. "Oh Crap" isn't the worst thing in the world, and I can be grateful for that! C was next to me one day when I muttered that phrase under my breath and he said, "I heard that, Mommy. I hear everything you whisper." Now that scared me.

Today was one of those jam-packed days - C had a friend over in the morning and then we went straight to school at lunchtime. During school I took R on about five errands, and she hung in there pretty well. Then immediately after school the three of us headed up to Bountiful to Misty's house. She had gotten the two of us tickets to hear Shannon Hale speak. I dumped the kids off at her house with a babysitter, sure that R would panic and completely wig out, but she did well. I enjoyed hearing from Shannon - she's funny and clever, which you can tell from her books. The event was slightly unorganized, but still fun. I sneaked out early to relieve the sitter while Misty attempted to get our books signed. I was really happy that my kids are so comfortable and happy there, just like I am! And THEN after that we went straight to my sister's house. She offered to watch C and R while Troy and I went to a wedding reception, and then she wanted me to try to teach her kids how to knit. By the time that last activity started it was after 8:00 and we were all near tears, so despite the deep sadness of the girls we abandoned the effort. We'll try again soon. After that we finally came home to a very messy house. I'm leaving with the kids in the morning to go to St. George to see Peter and Sheri and their new baby, so I had much to do. I didn't start reading to the kids until 10:00. C was trying so hard to listen to the story - I kept turning my head to see him trying desperately to keep his eyes open and failing. Finally he started crying with frustration. I asked what was wrong and he tearfully told me that he couldn't see anything. I told him that was because his eyes were closed. He said, "I know! They don't work at all!" His little eyes were closed for this whole conversation - it was pretty funny.

So now I am being crazy and blogging when I should either be sleeping or getting ready for the trip...I can't help it. I think I'll go to bed. The kids will sleep in and I'll get ready in the morning, I suppose!

The Finer Things

Anyone see "The Office" this week? Apparently we have a little "Finer Things" club going on at our house as well. This Sunday afternoon I've been trying to keep the kids busy so they don't fall asleep on their faces on the living room floor, which has been known to happen. So I let them help me make pizza dough in the kitchen. Afterward, C spotted one of our spoons from the plastic tea set, and asked if we could have a tea party. He LOVES having tea parties. We pulled out the cups and plates and set it all up on the table. I had been listening to NPR, but the voices in the background got kind of drone-y (not a word, I know) so I switched to classical 89 and now there's a lovely Mozart piano-violin duet going on. Very high class, you know. And there's C, daintily pouring chamomile tea into his little cup, adding cream and sugar and sipping away. Then Troy walks in, comments on the tea party going on and Chase replied,

"Yes, would you join us?"

Troy and I immediately had to purse our lips to keep from laughing. Oh, he's refined, I tell you. Troy graciously accepted and C fixed him up a cup as well. I'm sure part of the reason C loves the tea parties is the sugar bowl, but I make him fill up his cup almost to the top before he adds the cream and sugar, and he can't have more until he finishes the whole cup of tea. I think it's probably a good way to keep him hydrated.

I have to say that I feel pretty strongly about including kids in the kitchen. Frankly, it's a pain in the behind because they spill, they are clumsy, they argue about who's turn it is next...etc. But I know they both love it, and it's so great for them to be such a part of the family. So although I have to remind myself to be patient, I kind of love letting them get their hands in everything. I just think it's so healthy. When I went to my cousin's house for dinner a couple of weeks ago they had a quote on their fridge that just rang my inner gong. I have no idea who said it, but here it is: "You must sacrifice perfection in order to teach responsibility." Was that it, Monica? Anyway, it rang true to me. The pizza dough may not be perfect, but my kids are learning, and being a part of our family process.

I would have loved to snap a picture, but our camera battery is recharging. Instead, I'm including a picture from a few weeks ago of the kids helping me with bread sticks. Also a picture from about a year and a half ago, when our dear friends the Van De Graaffs invited us (mostly they were inviting C, whom their daughter both babysits and adores) to tea at a little shop downtown.

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.