Mighty Month of May

Since I'm trying to blast out a ton of posts here I thought I'd just mush most of May all together into one big old post. Here are the chapters of May:

Chapter One: A Sick Lizard.

Poor Samantha bit her tongue. Or ate a roach the wrong way or something. She got a big ouchie on her tongue and stopped eating. I finally caved in and found a vet who would see reptiles. Closest place was DRAPER. That's in the 100 souths. I live on 1 south. It's ok - I felt kind of cool to be driving along with a bucket of lizard next to me in the car. She's a sweet little lizard and I had a great experience at the vet's. They gave her meds and and tried to reassure me. I'm sorry to say though that this story does not end well - we did our best but in mid June we woke one morning to find that Samantha was no longer with us. (I know that's jumping ahead in the blog but since I have the pictures here I thought I'd just go ahead.) We were really really sad to lose Samantha - Chase was especially sad. He dug the grave himself. That tears at a mother's heart, just so you know, to see your very sad son tearfully digging a grave. We love our animals. Happily we still have Omnom, the male bearded dragon, and are trying to take better care of him. 

Chapter Two: Coop Plans

We have been working hard to get a more permanent coop going for our flock of nine chickens. We cleared this back corner of the yard and leveled the ground and have made many a trip to "The Depot" for supplies. This is just the picture of the cleared ground, but we now also have a coop platform and three walls thanks to Troy. The fourth wall is on its way - much more complicated with its built-in nesting boxes and swinging door. It's going to be awesome.

Chapter Three: Outings with Friends

Our aquarium membership is just about up and though it's been great we don't have plans to renew it. Too far away, my kids are getting too big. But it was fun to take friends of Romney's and Emma's along for a day where we got to hold butterflies and eat sloth cupcakes and watch 3D movies.

Chapter Four: Shows that Make Us Cry

We waited and waited for the next of the Avengers series. We knew that this last installment was going to come in two movies, which totally warned us that this movie would be a cliff hanger, a middle chapter, an "Empire Strikes Back," if you will. We were warned. And yet....sad feelings anyway!  I just have to say that I just loved sitting by my Romney during the show. There were some great moments and it was so fun to sit and laugh together, to repress our squeals together, to grab hangs with equal fervor. Oh, the entrance of Captain America. Good moment. We felt the same way about it. I could tell by the way we were clutching our sweaty palms together. So fun to watch together!!

Also, PBS made a new version of Little Women, one of my favorite stories. My girls didn't quite make it through all three episodes, but we watched the first couple together. I really enjoyed this version a lot, though not as much as the one from 1995 or whenever that was. Still, I loved it. And what I loved even more is remember my first experiences with the story as I watched my girls feel those same feelings as each memorable scene came along. Oh, how could Amy be so wicked as to throw that book in the fire! But when she fell in the ice? My girls were making the same exclamations I did at their age. Sometime we need to read it together.

Chapter Five: Planting Day!!

Pretty much from the moment we take down the Christmas lights I begin to anticipate the day we plant the pots on our porches. I can't wait for that trip to Western Gardens when we search out all our favorites: sweet potato vines, alyssum, lobelia, coleus, begonia. We always try out a few new plants here and there. We found great hanging baskets at Costco. It's a great day. Finally the cold has gone and our living space can expand onto our porch. (A July update - our porch plants are doing pretty well but not as great as last year. I've lost some lobelia and the sweet potato vines aren't going nuts like they did last year. I'm a little disappointed but our porch is still a great place to be. Hopefully things will get better.)

Chapter Six: Another Matthew Birthday

I know I kind of say the same thing every year when May 5th comes around.  It's hard to know how to say how much this day means to our family, how special the feeling is as we make the day special together. How extra sweet the kids are to each other and how pretty much all the fighting seems to just waft away. I love celebrating our Matthew. It's 11 years now. The sting of the hurt is all gone and the scar that is left over is quite beautiful, marking all five of us. We have an extra sense of the eternal.

We got some quick food - Dominos thin crust pizzas have been treating us right lately. Not too much money, tasty, everyone likes them. Panda Express is usually the take-out of choice but it's not as easy as this pizza. We enjoyed dinner then played for a few minutes on the breezy hillside where we have taken to gathering.

Of course we had to have a balloon incident. How many years out of 11 have we NOT had a balloon incident? Like two maybe? This year was actually hilarious. We must have gotten some crappy old helium because after we carefully wrote our notes, which I always feel very tender about, we attached them to our balloons and gathered at the edge of the hill to let them go. On the count of three we sent off our notes to heaven and they began to drift away. Sort of. A couple of them started up towards the heavens but mostly they just blew half-heartedly downhill to the west. I doubt they made it more than a mile or two. Luckily this incited gales of laughter instead of the tears we have had other years as our balloons have departed earlier than meant or gotten stuck in trees or popped. It's okay. It's part of the tradition.

Chapter Seven: Late Nights at the Zoo

Are we too old for the zoo? So sick of going because we've been a million times? I guess not, especially on a cool evening in May when they are open late. Granted, Chase wasn't too interested in coming but the girls and Troy and I sure had fun. It's just a pleasant place to walk, to munch on popcorn, to enjoy a little animal life.

Chapter Eight: Sausage Surprise

Best Mothers Day Ever. Normally, we celebrate mother's day with the girls bringing me breakfast in bed. I love it. Very sweet. And that's about it. We aren't too big on gifts and grand gestures around here which suits me fine - I feel a little weird about it anyway. But Troy totally surprised me this year. He knew how much I wanted an apple watch; we had been talking about getting me one since about New Year's. I sure wasn't expecting one for mother's day though. And then as I happily ate my eggs and toast in bed with Troy and the kids eagerly sitting around me, Troy pulled out a gift. It was a little weird for them all to be so excited about me eating eggs, but the gift delivery made sense. A long narrow box...could it be? I excitedly opened it to see an apple watch box! Yay! Hurriedly I opened the  box and there lay.....a sausage. Doesn't maybe sound that funny but we all busted up and laughed together really hard. I thought it was very funny. Luckily Troy had the watch not far off and I left the rest of of the family to nibble on delicious sausage while I got acquainted with the new toy which I enjoy a great deal. Thank you Troy. I still love my watch.

Chapter Nine: The Last Days of School


Here I am with Emma at her field day. There were a lot of ups and downs about working at the school year this year - I learned a lot, connected with many good folks, enjoyed being near my Emma. It sure wasn't easy though! Something that made it better was having a chance to see my gal in her day-to-day life. I think she loved it too.

Here's Ellie, my partner in crime, my fellow parent/employee/recess duty friend. I was her Young Women's leader long long ago but now she's much more of a help to me than I ever was to her! We sure bonded a lot as we roamed the playground together every day.

One other event worth mentioning that I don't have a single picture of is the annual Arts Showcase at the school. I have to say that this was a major year for me because it's the first year in about seven years that I wasn't stuck in some back room checking volunteers in and out all evening. I wasn't in charge of the volunteers! Did you hear that?? I did sit at a PTA table but it was out in public and I got to get up and walk around and go see things. GO SEE THINGS. This was amazing and I was super okay with it.

So there you go. That's most of May. Just little snippets but they added up to a busy month and happy times.

At Last At Last...a Date with Alexander Hamilton

Ever since about October when my friend Anne told me she could get extra tickets to Hamilton and she'd let me buy them and Troy said ok and said I should take Peter and since I waited and waited for Christmas Day when Peter would be opening his Christmas Gift from me which was a cleverly wrapped hint about Hamilton tickets and he got really happy when he opened his present and since
I've been listening to the soundtrack on repeat ever since.....   I've been pretty excited to see Hamilton.

I'm really just so grateful that I had the chance to go. Troy and I talked about sending me to Chicago or something just to see it and instead I was blessed with a sweet friend who knew how much I wanted to go.  The tickets were pricey, for sure, but a heck of a lot less than if I were also flying out of state and staying in a hotel.

Oh but wait! Before I start, I have to include these super cute photos of Emma at her "Wax Museum" presentation that the 3rd Grade does at our school. She was one of I think 3 Abraham Lincolns. She was so funny - she had little actions to go along with her speech like bowing her head solemnly when she mentioned the date of his death. It was so cute.

Ok - Hamilton. April 21 - the date has been on my mind for months!! Peter and Sheri arranged to come up for the weekend and Sheri and Troy were super nice and supportive so that this could happen. It was such a nice night. I was so nervous! Why? This I can not tell you. I felt as nervous as if I was going on a first date. I guess it had something to do with not wanting to be devastated if I didn't love it as much I as I wanted to love it. Before the Saturday night performance though we of course had a zoo visit:

The evening was wonderful! We started out with the four grownups going out to dinner - how nice that Romney and Siena are totally capable of babysitting the younger kids. Well, Chase is totally capable too but much less interested in doing it. So thank you Romney and Siena. We got food at Taqueria 27 - a very tasty joint with maybe my favorite salad around. Butter lettuce, pumpkin seeds, pears and this tangy creamy dressing. This is not something anyone needs to know but I must report it anyhow. Then we went home and got all gussied up and decided to walk down to the theater. It was sunny and warm, perfect for walking. Sheri walked us halfway there.

 I hadn't been to the Eccles Theater before - so beautiful!

I was laughing at myself the whole time because I hate so much feeling like 1 of a million fans. So insignificant. My PTA friend Cory and I later laughed about how we were each thinking the same thing while maneuvering through the crowds in the lobby, that no one there really loved the show as much as we did, that no one felt more personal about it. I'm sure it was true, right? I love it the most? No, of course not. But I did feel shaky with excitement to be there. 

A bad picture of us:

A good picture of us:

A shot of the stage:

We got in our seats, we joked with the guy next to us, we felt wary of the young teen in front of us who was surely going to dance and sing along (she did, really only on one song and it wasn't too annoying) and the loud person behind us who did indeed have a really loud laugh at strange moments but at least she was into it and not talking during the show. (BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER.) The show began and thus began the waves of shivers as song after beloved song was performed. I really have no words. Just...wonderful wonderful wonderful. Immediately I wanted to see it again. I was breathless! I'm so happy - I got to see it!!

Us after the show:

The walk home was quiet as we soaked in the experience. We did have one big "We Saw Hamilton" hug. Then we just quietly walked until Troy caught up with us in the van and drove us home. We sat down on the couch and I had to have a good old cry. Because it was so good, because I'm so happy I got to see it, because it was over. Good tears.

And now can I just see it again please? Actually what I really want is some type of video recording like that old version of Into the Woods with Johanna Gleason that I love so much. You can see every detail of a great performance, and you can watch it a thousand times. I heard a rumor that that might happen so I'm just sending out my wish to the universe. Because once was such a blessing, and also I hope I can see it again.

Thanks to Peter for being my fan-buddy. We wish we could have had Margaret there too. And Troy and Sheri. And Adam and Whitley. I bet my mom would have loved it.

Ok enough already  - Yay Hamilton!!

The Mighty Elsa

So way back in March we had some neighbors who found themselves in need. They are a super nice family who moved in a couple of years ago. They have some older kids from the wife's first marriage and then a couple of really darling little kiddos together. They also have this dog - this HUGE white husky-ish dog. I saw her right away when they first moved in and of course immediately wished I could meet her and get some doggie love from her. Look to the right here and you'll see that we still have a picture of our own Husky Alex up on this blog - he passed away 8 years ago and we still keep him near and dear to our hearts. So of course I wanted to meet their dog, which I got to do a couple of times. Well, this family is experiencing some health troubles and one evening after bringing them dinner I chatted with the dad for a few minutes and asked him what else they needed.  He let me know that they could sure use some help walking their dog. 

I immediately agreed and was super excited to return later that evening to get her. She is so much like Alex it's a little creepy. Except...she's way bigger and way stronger. I found out just a few weeks ago that this dog, Elsa is her name, is not the Husky-Great Pyrenees mix I had guessed her to be. She's half husky, 1/4 malamute and 1/4 wolf. Oh yeah, she's a big girl. A total cupcake - such a sweetheart. But she is LARGE and STRONG and my first walk with her was a lesson in "Alex was nothing and you are about to get towed across the entire valley by this monster." Really, walking her is more like going on a hunting trip and I could use a few more people on my end of the leash to help me out. I fear for every squirrel, bird, cat and dog on our route every day. And sometimes myself as well. 

I started out walking her a few days a week, and I think it was a great relief for this family. It was awesome for me too because I am always a little doggie hungry and this dog totally fills my bucket. It's almost like I'm a grandmother. I really get to enjoy her a little bit then I send her back home! Anyway, what started out as a few times a week has become every day but Sunday. I love walking in the early mornings and the family finally just handed over a key to their house so I could snag her every morning to get her out for three or four miles. There have been some interesting antics as I have not always been able to unlock the door or Elsa was in the backyard that I couldn't access but she could see me through the windows of the house. True to husky form, she can holler like a Wookie and doesn't hold back when she sees me coming. Sorry family!!

It's been a delight to spend time with her, despite the bad incident with the magpie (may it rest in peace....) and a few close calls with kitty cats. I will especially always remember the cute and very old man in his bathrobe out walking his miniature dog with no leash, who assured me to not worry because his dog was nice. This as my 120 lb. dog was lunging with all her might to reach his terrified little pup. That was hilarious once I had gotten by safely and replaced my arms into their sockets. 

Anyway, I'm grateful that my wish came true, to get my hands on this crazy girl. I love her dearly.

Ok, Here Goes. The Ketsup Marathon. (Also Spring Break)

Oh dear blog. How I so desperately want to keep up with you. How I wish I was still writing multiple times each week, writing thoughts and observations rather than just sporadically updating the basic events of our lives. But...I'm not giving up. It's now July the 10th and over the next two days I shall be making an attempt to catch up on the events of the Preslar Family for the past few months. As I scan back over the past years of our blog I find that keeping this record is still really important to me - no matter how rushed or poorly written anything has been, it's a treasure to have a record of the stepping stones of our family. So....here goes.


Spring Break 2018!!

One little issue I'm having with post-event blogging is that I can't remember very clearly exactly what happened. So that's another motivation for me to blog more regularly - I need the blog so I have some idea what has happened in my life because I clearly can't remember otherwise. Very encouraging sign. Sigh.

Okay, so it was Spring Break, end of March. The girls and I drove away from a chilly SLC to St. George to get some sun and cousin time. Troy decided to not take the days off of work, and Chase didn't join us because he went to San Fransisco. I'll tell you about that in a minute. I didn't have many days to spend in St. George because I needed to be home by the week's end so I could make it to The Becky's daughter's wedding (!!!!!). More on that in a second as well. So with these quick few days we just made a dash for St. George. We didn't see too much of Sheri because she is very busy - she's working three jobs at the moment and is being AMAZING. I did bring her a swig at the Emergency Department where she's working as her dad's scribe - he's an ER doc. And also I got to go with her to one of the classes she teaches - a water aerobics class that I really enjoyed even though I was about 30 years younger than most of the other attendees. No biggie, I would go all the time if I could, it was awesome. Peter was also pretty busy with some cello stuff so I got to hang out with all the kids together, once at a Five Guys burger shop where the 7 of us consumed a massive amount of french fries while being stared at by most of the other customers. If Emma and Cara were twins, which they practically are, they could all have been my kids. I even fielded a couple of, "are those ALL yours?" questions which was kind of funny.

We did enjoy some sun-shiny time at the park with Peter and loved being together. I'm going to give a quick shout-out to my Romney while trying to not divulge too much information. She was really not feeling very well on this trip - something to do with a monthly struggle girls have - and her monthly struggles have been horrific. Horrific to the point of going to see a doctor. Already TMI I know, but I'll leave it at that. I'll just say that Romney really rallied and did her best to have a great time and enjoy her cousin time. I was proud of her and I love her.

We returned quickly from the trip because The Becky's daughter got married. That was surreal. I can only imagine how much more so for Becky than for me. Sorry, didn't we just BARELY get married? Didn't we have babies and toddlers and new kindergarteners like last year? Oh...I guess not. Becky's daughter Rachel graduated two years ago from high school. She went up to BYU Idaho and promptly met this boy whom she was clearly destined for. I do think it's pretty funny that she met him pretty much the first week and they immediately started dating seriously and a year later got engaged. Wham Bam that's all it took. It was tough seeing Becky go through the stress and anxiety and finances of all this. Not easy. But she survived and it was a really really lovely wedding day. The temps had warmed a lot from the beginning of the week and everything went great. 

I was very honored to be a part of the day - I think I was there mostly so Becky had someone to look at with wide horrified eyes every once in a while as if to say, I can NOT believe I'm the mother of the bride! This is weird right? And I'd answer back with my own gaze of Yes this is definitely weird and you're doing great. Oh The Becky. She's so very beloved.

Okay so Chase. The thing about the first born child is that they require you to have answers to questions you didn't know were going to be asked. Such as, Can I go to San Fransisco with my friend and her mom and sister?  (Yes, that was a feminine pronoun.) Uh.....are we supposed to know the answer to the question, "Do we let our children travel for Spring Break?" or "Do we let our children travel with their girl-buddies?" I don't know!! We decided to give it a try. After all, this cute girl has been one of Chase's best buddies for a couple of years now, and they were going with her mom and sister and two other friends. Chase was indeed the only boy on the trip which I think is kind of funny - I'm pretty sure it was more awkward for him that way. 

From what we could tell, Chase had a great time. He and the gals spent a day in San Fransisco walking and seeing sights and enjoying street performers. They rented a beach house in Monterey where they spent a lot of time playing at the beach and also visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Knowing how much Chase loves the animal world I'm really excited for him that he was able to visit that amazing place. He didn't tell us a lot of details about his trip - he's not like his sisters who like to give us a play-by-play report of every experience they have, but from what I could squeeze out of him, ....it was fun. I think he's a lucky kid to have parents who let him go on a trip with friends. I'm not sure if he knows how lucky he is but maybe he'll figure it out at some point.

I'll post pictures if I can convince him to let me have some. 

Oh yeah and Easter! Easter was the week of spring break. Let's see....I know we colored eggs. Even my teens still love doing that. This year though Chase hid the eggs instead of looking for them with the girls. That's definitely a perk of bigger kids. Delegation! Help! I'll take it. I think he had fun doing that - he seems to really dig being behind the scenes, one of the grown-ups instead of one of the kids. I remember feeling that way. 

Okay, that's all I've got on Spring Break. Not too shabby, considering it was more than 3 months ago. Moving on to the next in my giant list of blog topics!!