Bedtime Conversation

C:
"Mom?"

Me:
"Yes Chase?"

C:
"Did Dinosaurs have warm heads?"

Me:
"I don't know, honey."

C:
"You don't know a lot, Mom."

Me:
"I know."

C:
"But you do know a couple things."

Me:
"Thanks, C."

Not Really Hungry Now

CTP:

"Wow mom. Are you cooking meat? Are you cooking COW meat? That smells really really good. That smells as good as a cow!"

CTP in Five Chapters

Chapter One: Dinotopia

Have you heard of this book? It's incredible. Beautiful illustrations and a really fun concept of a father and son discovering, after being washed ashore an island following a shipwreck, a society where dinosaurs and humans have lived in harmony for generations. About five years ago a made-for-tv movie came out based on the book, but updated to a modern pair of brothers who also washed ashore following a plane wreck. We've rented this movie from the library a couple of times and we've checked out the book several times as well, pretty regularly over the past 3 years. I don't know what clicked for C about 2 months ago, but Dinotopia suddenly became his main topic of thought, conversation and play. Just ask his cousins, especially Hannah. I think if C asks her one more time to play Dinotopia she's going to run away screaming and pulling out her hair. I have actually now offered to PAY her to come play Dinotopia with C because he loves it so much. I finally decided to just buy the dang DVD, thinking that he could watch it occasionally instead of always asking us all to play it with him. You're wondering what I was thinking, right? Me too. His efforts have doubled. He has a stuffed dinosaur that used to be named Topsy-Turvy the Triceratops. However, there's a chasmasaurus (similar to a triceratops) in the movie named "26" (don't ask) and now poor Topsy will forevermore be called 26. Here's C grinning from ear to ear on the day his DVD arrived in the mail.

Chapter Two: First Summer Vacation

Here's CTP at his last-day-of-school water party last Thursday. Let it be known that we have ADORED Miss Patti - she is the neatest teacher. We found her through our friend Marianne, and although she lives far away from us in the Canyon Rim area, about 15 minutes away, she was so worth the drive. Next year we're going to attend a pre-K class closer to home, and I'm just so sorry that we're not going to Miss Patti. Luckily the school at Bennion Elementary was recommended by several friends, so I'm sure we'll do great. But it's hard to leave Patti. Also, I've only just started to get to know the other moms. I guess all winter long at drop-off and pick-up times we just sat in our cars and watched our kids come and go. With the warming weather, we're actually getting out of our cars and talking. I've gotten to know two moms in particular and we've had some really fun play dates. I'm just about the only person not returning next year. It would have been so fun actually knowing the other people. I even considered taking C there again next year despite the addition of one more day a week, but then we thought that at Bennion, C might be in a class with kids he'll go to kindergarten with, which is certainly not the case now.

Chapter Three: Prepositionally Challenged

Picture this. I'm sitting at the computer, which is next to the bathroom door. C comes running up in a panic, announcing that he has to go to the bathroom. He likes to keep me informed. He runs into the bathroom, yanks down his pants, and has at it. Then he says, "Ooops! I think I tinkled ON the potty, not IN the potty!" I look over. Indeed, the lid remains closed, though the deed has been done. Thank heavens for antibacterial bathroom cleaner.

Chapter Four: The Rematch

S came to town. You know, S, C's cousin, son of Adam & Whitley, sibling to L (the disappointingly non-Flash sister), the one child who seems to raise C's sense of competition more than any other. They had a showdown at my folks' house. Guess what. They did great! They played dress-up ("We're being GIRLS!!!"), played Twister, ran around the yard and played in the hammock. I don't think they had a single duel. They probably just didn't have enough time to really get going. My dad got really creative with the Twister game, what with C and S not really knowing left and right just yet. "Put your belly button on yellow!" "Put your armpit on green!"

Chapter Five: I didn't quite catch that

Today. Five p.m. I'm fixing dinner while C is sitting on the kitchen table with a giant green glob of playdough we just made and he's stuffing little dinosaurs into it and pretending to dig them out. He says, "Look Mom! I'm exhibating dinosaurs!" What? The award for creative combination of two words into one goes to my son, CTP.

Memorial Encounters

For our Memorial Day, we decided to totally overdo it. It was really a fun day. We started out with a "first-thing" trip to the zoo, followed by grocery shopping, several hours at the park and then landing, exhausted, at a BBQ. We were wiped out.

I'm so glad we made it to the zoo. "First thing" is the only way to go - be there five minutes before it opens. We really wanted a glimpse of the visiting "ghost of the Bayou" - a pure white, though not albino, alligator. I had a hard time getting a good picture of it, but it really was a sight to see. If you get a chance, I recommend a visit. After the alligator, we high-tailed it to the farthest corner of the zoo: the big cats exhibit. Because we were early enough we were the only people there, and we were rewarded for our efforts. The cats are quite active in the mornings and we had an uncontested up-close view of them. The Amur leopard was especially intriguing, and the new tiger, who was pacing all over the place, is always a favorite.



Then we strolled over to the giraffes - again, we had an almost-alone chance to watch one animal playing and eating with his ball-on-a-stick. This is not a great shot of the giraffe itself, but you can see where he was:


Once we started back towards the entrance we hit the wall of people who all wanted to go to the zoo at the same time. That was our cue to leave - 90 minutes at the zoo is just perfect. For the rest of the day, Troy spent time with his Dad so the kids and I hit a couple grocery stores and spent a gorgeous few hours at Laird Park. Laird Park will always be a favorite for us - although my parents no longer live in that neighborhood. We call it "Oma's Old Park." The weather couldn't have been any better - Warm, cloudy, slight breeze. The kids were so happy that we stayed for more than two hours, which left us just enough time to rush home, throw together some food, and head over to Zach and Charisse's for a backyard BBQ. Then we all came home and crashed.

The 25th of May

Always a magical day in my book. I turned 34 yesterday - thirty FOUR. The nice thing about being married to Troy is that I never feel old - because he turned 34 three and a half years ago. Okay, okay, that's not the only reason I like being married to Troy. Here's what I love about my husband. Every year for my birthday, he surprises me. I never ask for a gift because it's too fun to see what he'll pick out. I always love seeing what someone gets you for a gift because it says something about how that person sees you. Troy is excellent at remembering something I said weeks or even months ago, or thinking about what I might really like. He's great at this. I wish I were as talented at choosing gifts for him. This year he gave me some nice hair care products. This may not sound very special to you, but he listened to a conversation I had with my sister in law, and then researched out the very best equipment. I'll just say that the people at the beauty-supply shop were very impressed that a guy was picking out nice stuff for his wife without even having been asked. Way to go, Troy.

The day was a lovely one. My friend Becky watched my kids for a couple of hours while I some time to myself. I filled that time by buying underwear and vacuuming out the car. It's amazing how your self-esteem can rise with clean underwear and having a car no longer littered with crusty french fries, wrappers, crumbs, dirt...etc. etc.etc. So, yes, I purchased some self-esteem for myself.

Then my friend Terri Lyn decided that our neighborhood friends needed to gather at the park for lunch. My birthday was just a good excuse to do it. I'm so grateful for the wonderful people in the 'hood. We went to Laird park where the shade was glorious and the only trouble was that the slides were too hot. I appreciated so much the effort TL went to - normally I feel a little silly having a birthday party for myself, but this year it felt good. My eyes have been opened a little to the gratitude I feel at being surrounded by beautiful souls.

After a little quiet time at home my parents took the kids while Troy and I got some Italian food. How does this sound: Shrimp and asparagus risotto. Yum. Plus, in the afternoon the kids and I put together a lemon cake to share with my parents. I really just made it because I thought the kids would feel bad if we didn't sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out candles and stuff. Turns out, they didn't care very much. They didn't even eat a bite of the cake. That's okay. I think they had a good time making it.

Where are that girl's parents?

I didn't know how to title this entry. So many things came to mind, such as, "How to be a bad parent" or, "Serenity NOW!" or "Who's child are you REALLY?" My daughter has decided that now is the time to give us a serious run for our money. You know how sometimes you know something is going on for your child - it could be a new tooth, it could be early onset of the terrible twos, it could be a rare pancreatic parasite...you don't know, there's no way to find out, you just know that it's SOMETHING SERIOUS.

Yeah, something's up with RAP. She's doing that fun thing where she cries and cries and cries. You ask her what she wants, and she tells you. For example, some chocolate milk. So you get the milk. You pour it into a cup. She cries for the plain milk. So you give it to her, and she screams that milk is yucky. So you offer to put the chocolate in it (anything to stop the screaming, which is also accompanied by thrashing her body so violently you nearly drop her) and then she cries and cries and cries because her milk is now brown. Or because you put it in the wrong cup. And suddenly all you can think to do is throw the milk at her, which of course you refrain from doing because, after all, you're trying to retain some level of acceptable parenting here. So you put her and the milk down and walk away. That's when the real tantrum starts, which is surprising because you thought that it already was going full force. Wow. I nearly threw a few tantrums myself over the past few days. What this leads to is that I will now do anything R wants. ANYTHING. There, I said it. I'll do whatever she wants just to keep the child happy. Today this included letting her sit on the counter and gnaw on an entire block of cheese. See photo.

The thing is, although the past three days have been dreadful, she manages to throw in just enough absolutely darling behavior to save her life. I really thing she's a clever and charming girl. Of course she's got something going on - we all do. She's sensitive to the emotional signals in her house, even though she doesn't understand the details. I'm not surprised that she's had a difficult time. We all have. It's just the FURY with which her emotions are released. Frankly, I'm a little afraid for the future. Can you imagine her at 13? Me neither.

Beautiful

We're back to spring weather in SLC, after a short burst of early heat. Glad to enjoy May while it lasts. I'm sorry to say I always dread the summer for its heat. I'm going to try to focus on enjoying the sun, the perfect evenings and not get too grumpy about the heat.

RAP helped me do some yard work today. I couldn't help but post a shot of my lovely girl.

I'm so excited because my garden is thriving this year. I absolutely love shade plants: columbine, bleeding hearts, hostas, ferns... I started putting plants in this spot in front of our house several years ago, and they're all really gorgeous this year. For the past couple of years we've had work going on, like replacing our roof last year and replacing the windows the year before that just flattened my shade garden. But this year it has room to really grow. Plus, since Troy stripped the paint off the house and cut down our ugly (and dead) trees in front, it looks great. Okay, the porch is in need of some serious attention, but that is a project for another year. Probably another decade. I was worried that cutting down the trees would let too much sunlight on the garden and kill the plants, but so far so good. We still have a maple in front that protects it from the harsh afternoon sun. This is probably not information anyone was interested in, but there you go. It is what made me happy today!

And now I hear Troy coming in the front door with a raspberry concrete from Nielsen's frozen custard for me....nothing is better than that!

Mamma's Day

We had a really nice Mother's day. Actually, we skipped out on church. It would have been our first day back since we lost Matthew, and I knew it would be emotional anyway, and it being Mother's Day on top just seemed like too much. So, we enjoyed a morning at home together and then in the afternoon Troy took the kids to the park for a bit so I could have a nap. Here's CTP jumping off the bleachers at Sunnyside park:

He was very proud to show me what a good jumper he is.

Then we headed over to Troy's folk's house for a nice evening with them as well as Troy's oldest brother Rick. Dinner was terrific, plus the evening's weather was so nice that we just frolicked in the back yard for hours. Well, I left most of the frolicking up to C and R. They sure had a great time. R, it seems, fears nothing. She loves being tossed around like crazy. She kept running up to Troy with her arms in the air crying, "Daddy! Up High!" And this is what he would do:

Please don't call DCFS. She was screaming with delight.

Matthew's Blanket

I'll begin by saying that we are so so grateful for every bit of love and care that we have received over the past week. Flowers, food, gifts, calls, hugs - every little bit has been precious to us and a reminder of so many wonderful people that we are blessed to know and love, and be loved by. Great. Now I'm crying. Again. Anyway, our dear friends Mike and Misty came by the other evening with a very precious gift; a blanket they made to help us remember Matthew. We call it the Matthew Blanket, and it is soft and warm and sweet, and filled with the love of our friends.

During this experience, CTP has been pretty steady, occasionally asking questions but really not showing much emotion. But one thing is his attachment to the Matthew Blanket. Every time he cuddles up for a show or goes to bed he asks for it and just cocoons inside of it. Somehow this comforts me, to see C reaching out for comfort from something that brings so much to us.

Our Sad News

I think most people who read this blog already know about our story, but I thought I'd record a little of our experience over the past week. About a week ago I noticed that I could not feel our baby kicking in my belly anymore and that it had been a number of days since I had. By Thursday I really knew there was a problem, so I went into my clinic to check for heart tones. Indeed, we could not find any, so after two ultrasounds it was confirmed that our baby boy had passed away, probably about a week prior to this.

Friday morning, Troy and I checked into Salt Lake Regional Medical center, luckily just across the street from our home. Because I was 23 weeks along this was considered a stillbirth and not a miscarriage. We were admitted to labor and delivery where I was administered drugs that induced labor, and our boy, whom we named Matthew, was born at 1:30 am, Saturday morning. We were able to hold him and see his tiny body. This was a precious and indescribable experience.

Although our hearts are heavy and we are certainly grieving the loss of our son, Troy and I feel grateful for the tender things we have felt and that we have been drawn closer than ever before through this trial. We can feel, almost tangibly, the presence of peace and comfort that surrounds us. We are grateful, more than we can express, for the two beautiful and creative children that we have, and grateful also for outpouring of love and support that we have received. Most importantly, we are grateful for our faith, and that Matthew was able to come to us, even for so short a time.

Boys in a Bucket

This weekend my brother Adam and his family drove here from Boulder for a wedding. The reception was on Friday night, and S came here to play while they were gone. C and S did much better together than on our trip to his house. C got a little sensitive and huffy, but S was so excited about the new turf that I don't think he noticed. They had a pretty great time. One of the best things about having an unlandscaped yard is that there is plenty of mud to dig and play in. I put both boys in grubby t-shirts over their undies, turned on the hose, and let them go for it. There is nothing quite like seeing little boys playing in the mud. They exude joy.

After I let them get completely and totally filthy, it was time for cleansing. I figured we needed to do some sort of pre-rinse before heading straight to the bathtub. So Troy and I filled our big blue gardening bucket with warm water, stripped them down, and plunked them in. This made for some great pictures, and when they started singing opposing "raining" song, it made for a cute little video (see bottom of post), in which you can see C getting huffy and S not noticing.

S stayed pretty late, and so we put him in some of C's jammies and piled everyone into bed for stories. R even climbed in bed and pulled up the covers all by herself. This is significant because she's a notorious covers-hater. She can't stand to have anything on her while she sleeps and will violently kick off anything that's touching even her feet. I thought she was pretty sweet to tuck herself in. Why isn't she pictured in the mud? It turns out she can't stand getting dirty. "Muddy! Muddy! Messy! Hep you!" (help me) Here's the bedtime shot. Cousins are the greatest!

The Duet

This evening, post bath. Yes, I know what you're thinking. "She's going to tinkle on the piano!" Don't worry, the second I took off her diaper before the bath, she tinkled on the floor, so it was already taken care of. CTP has been spending a lot of time at the piano, mostly practicing the theme to "Jaws" or what he calls, "DA da DA da." He'll then compose original themes called "baracuda jaws" and "megaladon jaws" and other types of large marine carnivores. RAP contributes as much as he'll let her.

RAP's latest

RAP has moved on, just briefly, from "Old Donald, a cow, a cow." See if you can figure out what she's singing now:

"pinkal pinkal thtar
howie wagon....are
up high"

Yeah, I'm not sure where the wagon part comes from , but that would be R's rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" that she sung so winningly in the bathtub the other night.

Hasn't this been FUN?

I must say, I feel as if I'm returning from a sojourn in hell. Pardon my French. I think I've had other entries complaining of illness, and I do apologize for adding another, but it's got to be said. Being sick when you're pregnant just isn't fair. Today is day 14 of possibly the nastiest cold I've had in a decade. It's been horrible! And I need you all to feel bad for me! I think the part of any cold I hate the worst is the sore throat, which usually only lasts two days or so - I had one for more than 10 days. And the sinus infections, headaches, no sleeping, the violent coughing....plus, both the kids got it too. And Troy. Today, I still have many symptoms but I at least feel like I'm turning a corner. I really would like to continue moaning and groaning about this, but it doesn't make for a very interesting entry. I'll sum up with this: Let it be known that I have felt really horrid for a lot of days.

I will comment on a few of my favorite kid moments over the past few days. We've had a LOT of down time. I'm really trying hard to not spread this illness too far and wide, though I did let CTP go to school last Tuesday. I couldn't help it - he was having his first big field trip! He was so excited, and his cold wasn't too bad yet. They went to Cactus and Tropicals, a local nursery. My guess was that they were learning about plants, but all I could get him to tell me about it was that he and his friend Issac were detectives looking for clues. I love his creative little mind.

Anyway, one evening after dinner, we were all enjoying some Oreos dipped in milk. I then let the kids watch a show while I did some cleaning up. After a few minutes CTP came running in and very excitedly told me, "Mom. I just saw a preview for Oreos! We HAVE Oreos! THEY'RE MILK'S FAVORITE COOKIE!!!!" As he said this last part he clenched his little fists and enunciated each syllable by shaking his fists in the air. It was so funny. A "preview," by the way, is his word for commercials. He's picked up on a couple of other commercial messages of this type. Perhaps my favorite was a couple of weeks ago I was brushing C's teeth and he stopped and said something along the lines of, "Mom, does this toothbrush have a tongue and gum cleanser? 98% of bacteria are on your tounge and gums." Okay, thanks for the message that I need to turn off the tv!

RAP is really into "Old McDonald." She loves it when we sing it to her, the more verses the better. Little did you know that Old McDonald's farm includes tigers, monkeys, owls, and even the occasional dinosaur. Lately she's started singing it to herself, almost non-stop. Her version goes, "Old Donald, a cow a cow, moo moo moo." She will sing this to her self 50 times in a row, and I love it. You can get her to add a pig or a sheep once in a while, but her focus is on the cows. Then she figured out she could be funny, and sing about silly things on the farm. "Old Donald, a feet, a feet!" or "Old Donald, a Chase, a Chase." Then she took a look at me and sang, "Old Donald, a tummy, a tummy."

My Favorite Part

When I made my gender announcement, I forgot to mention my favorite part. CTP, of course, has been certain that he had a brother coming all along. If you have ever taken my advice and read my brother Adam's blog about his son S, you'd know how very very upset S was when his new baby, born in February, turned out to be a girl instead of a boy, or better yet, Flash. C obviously picked up on this because when we told him that he was going to have a brother, his first reaction was, "YAY!!!!!" His second reaction?

"Smith wanted a baby brother, but I'm going to get one first!"

Yeah, no competition there.

It's a....

BOY!!!!

This morning my mother came over at 8:30 so that Troy and I could make the grueling trek across the street to Salt Lake Regional Medical Center and have an ultrasound of our latest offspring. To tell the truth, I've been almost positive that we were having a girl. This pregnancy has been much more similar to RAP's than to CTP's, and when we heard the heartbeat at one of my appointments, my midwife told me that it was pretty fast, thus much more likely a girl than a boy. Also, and don't laugh, but have you heard of the Chinese gender horoscope? There's a calendar based on the age of the mother and the month of the baby's birth that predicts the gender of the baby. It's been correct for both my kids, and is often correct for friends I know. Well, it said that I was having a girl if the baby was due in September, which my midwife predicted. However, today at the ultrasound, it was determined that I'm farther along than that, and I'm actually due in August - just the day after RAP was due. And yes, the Chinese calendar predicts a boy for me if it's due in August. Funny, huh.

Needless to say, we're very happy. It's a little strange whenever you have to adjust your thinking like this. I really truly thought I was having a girl, had been imagining a girl and planning for a girl, remembering all my favorite little things that RAP wore, thinking of names, etc. And suddenly, that person doesn't exist. It's a boy! I'm really happy that CTP is going to have a brother. I think RAP will probably enjoy being the only girl. Of course, only time will tell us that. I don't have any boy names picked out at all, but it sure is fun for us start thinking about that, and seeing that healthy little body growing and moving around in there. We got to see his little hands in front of his face, and we saw him yawn. He's a kicker, too. Wow. I'm actually getting more excited to meet this person. Of course, this evening when C dumped an entire glass of milk on the floor while R was clinging to my legs and crying, it was hard to imagine throwing a baby in the picture too, but I'm sure we'll all survive, right? RIGHT???? Of course we will.

A Visit to Thanksgiving Point

I've always known that Thanksgiving Point had a great Dinosaur Museum and I've always meant to take CTP down for a visit. However, it's pretty pricey and I just never made the effort to make it happen. Then my friend Emily let me know that Monday nights are only five bucks a person - now that I can manage. So this evening she and I, C and R and Emily's three darling boys piled in her van and made the trek. Wow was it worth it! Of course, I've become of bit of a dinosaur zealot, but I really think it was pretty neat. The displays were set up along a chronological pathway with both skeletons and life-like models combined in realistic settings. C was so ecstatic that he could hardly contain himself. I think he missed most of the museum because he couldn't stop running and running from one display to the next, hardly even pausing to look carefully because he was overcome by all the prehistoric delights surrounding him. There were some wonderful play areas dispersed among the displays as well - including a great water and sand play pool filled with mini toy dino's to scoot around and build mountains for and bury. Really neat.

By the way, on an unrelated topic, I feel the need to let you know that RAP is a genius. She is not yet 20 months, and can recognize a circle, heart, star and triangle, and she also knows the colors yellow, purple, and green. I'm telling you, she's brilliant. Don't you think? C cares very little about learning the letters of the alphabet, but I find that forgivable since at the museum tonight he saw a giant millipede and informed me that it was an "arthroplura." The thing is, I'd be better if he'd stick to just dinosaurs, but he's starting to expand to all prehistoric animals, both pre- and post-mesozoic era. I can't keep up.

Pastoral Filth

We've entered a wonderful time of year. Wonderful, yet so filthy! I no longer work quite so hard to keep my kids busy and happily engaged in meaningful activity...I just open the back door. They both just run outside and spend hours having an absolute riot just getting dirty. We have lots of (for lack of a better word) "wilderness" in our back yard, and lots of currently unused garden space. This means there are mounds and mounds of soft dirt just begging for playing in. A hose usually gets involved as well. I suppose as a mother I should have qualms about this. They really do get so unbelievably dirty - and their clothes are nearly hopeless - thus, they generally end up naked as well. This time of year this will go on for an hour or two or sometimes three, and then they're so cold and dirty that they come begging for a bath. Thus the cycle begins - from a romp in the back yard, me going out and sponging them off to at least get the clods of dirt off, and then running a hot bath for them to play in for another hour or so. Often, the kids would like the cycle to begin again as soon as it's over. I just can't help loving how much they enjoy being outside, no matter the resulting laundry challenges.

I was going to go on to describe two days last week when the filth got out of control when RAP decided to use the tub as her potty not once but twice in a row...but that seemed like maybe more information than anyone would want....

On a different day last week we got the chance to try out our new kite. It's a really cool kite - a big ornate dragon CTP just went nuts over when he saw it. There was just enough breeze to suggest that we might be able to get it off the ground. We made a quick trip to Sugarhouse Park with the famous kite flying hill (the same hill that's famous for death-defying sledding in the winter.) The kite never really took off. I don't know if that was due to the lack of quality in the kite or the breeze, but it was still fun. And one of those happy moments when you watch your family having fun together and remember what all the filth is for. Yes, I thought a great deal about George Banks.

A Trip to my old Boulder

It's so hard to even know where to begin! I moved to SLC from Boulder, Colorado just before the start of sixth grade in 1984. It was a tough move and my family went through some hard times after we got here (don't worry, we're all okay now:) But each of the four kids in my family have absolutely the fondest of memories of our childhoods in Boulder. Of course, some of us remember a lot more than others, but even saying the word "Boulder" seems to conjure up images of safety and happiness for each of us.

My Brother Adam and his wife Whitley are now living just outside Boulder in a town called Superior - he's a lawyer in a firm in downtown Boulder. They just had their second baby in February, and were planning on blessing her Sunday, March 25. I really wanted to go meet baby L and visit Boulder for the first time since I was 18, and for the second time ever since I moved away. I didn't think it would be possible - I couldn't imagine my kids managing 8+ hours in the car. But my mom and dad urged me to caravan with them, and we made it. Actually, the drive went great. Thanks to a portable DVD player on loan from a friend and my mom in the car with us, the ride was almost the easiest part. It's exhausting to have little kids in a strange town.

I was delighted to meet L - she is a tiny little thing, and sweet as can be. My first thought was that she looked EXACTLY like Adam, but as the week went by she seemed to grown into her own little face. CTP and his cousin STR got to spend a lot of time together, and let's just say that they were the best of times AND the worst of times. There was a lot of fun play and also a little rivalry there that got quite explosive, but there's no need to go into detail. Believe me.

What a thrill to see so many of my old haunts! When we first got to Boulder, there was little I remembered, because we were driving through a part of town that seemed to have been turned into strip-mall heaven, and I was very disappointed. However, we got around to many places, everywhere from my old neighborhoods to the library, from schools I attended to the grocery store I remember best (King Soopers!) What I was really surprised about was what small little landmarks I unexpectedly remembered and realized had meant a great deal to me. For example, our neighborhood of "Spanish Hills" was a couple of miles outside of town. In between were several fields and farms, and there was one specific field always full of cows that sort of marked the point for me when we were officially in or out of town, depending on which direction we were going. When thinking of Boulder, I hardly ever thought of that field, but once I saw it I felt instantly like a 10 year old again. I loved that field, and looked for it every time we went to or from home.

I also really enjoyed learning the layout of Boulder - I never drove there before, and didn't have a very clear picture of the layout of the city in my head. Suddenly to understand where the library was in relation to the Pearl Street Mall - this great outdoor walking mall where we played our instruments as children on weekend evenings - it was so interesting.

Of course the best part was spending time with family, seeing Adam and Whitley happy and getting settled, enjoying the new baby and S's ferocious energy, eating Whitley's mom's good food...ah yes. I could ramble on forever, but I'll put in some photos instead.

R was delighted with L, which made me happy. Usually she has absolute fits of rage and jealousy if she catches me even so much as looking at another baby.

Our house on Caballo Court, in the neighborhood of Spanish Hills. This is the house we lived in when Peter was born, and the house we all remember best. Just looking at this photo makes me want to tell a hundred stories. In my marriage, Troy has always been able to tell me the stories of his youth as we drive around town, and I've never been able to do that. I don't see those places, and I was so sorry Troy wasn't able to join us on this trip. Another time, I hope.

On our third day in town, I insisted that we go on an official outing someplace. We took S with us to visit the Denver Aquarium, which was fantastic. Here is C looking at the otters. There were amazing shark displays, huge turtles, wonderful fish of all kinds, and even a pair of tigers. The highlight was probably feeding the rays. I've never felt anything like it. You held a little dead fishie in between your knuckles in the water and these rays, two and three feet across, would swim up your hand and suck it out. C was much braver than I was. The other highlight was mom and dad buying these massive suckers for the boys.

After the aquarium, we decided to drive home through Golden, Colorado. Yes, home of Coors Beer. Also the home of a train museum that we visited as kids. It's a big yard just packed full of old trains from all ages that you can climb on and walk through.

This is the downtown library. We loved going to this place. Of course, the inside is quite different - completely remodeled, and nothing about that was familiar. I was so glad that the facade at least was the same. Our favorite part of the library was a giant book they kept on the floor of the children's area. It was made of all sorts of fabric, like a crazy quilt, and had several big padded pages that it took a couple of kids to turn. I think it must have finally become a health hazard and been incinerated or something.

Doulgas Elementary School. It looks absolutely exactly the same as it did when I attended. Certainly a boring picture for you, but it takes my breath away.

The Pearl Street Mall is about three blocks of down town Boulder that has been paved in bricks and is an outdoor shopping mall. There are lots of neat little shops, and you can always find someone playing an instrument with the case open before them, hoping for tips. As kids, we did that a couple of times. We were a hit. I remember some summer evenings with acrobats and jugglers and tightrope walkers and everything. It was pretty quiet on the Sunday afternoon we went there, but there were still the two little play areas for kids I recall with absolute clarity and adoration. One has several boulders just for climbing and scampering on. The other has four animals, two stone and two bronze. They were both crawling with kids and I loved seeing my own children taking part.

So that's probably more information than anyone wanted to know. I'm so glad I got the chance to go. I won't say it was easy - we were all exhausted by the end and my kids took about a week to recover. I was going to go visit Peter next, leaving in just two days, but it was too much - sorry, Peter & Sheri! The kids did so great but really needed activity every moment and it was a lot of work. Worth it, though. I'm so grateful to my parents for towing me along - I certainly didn't make the trip easy for them. It was a great chance though, and I was so glad to see Adam's family. Peter, we'll get there soon!

Snotty Even in His Sleep

I'm writing this post partially to procrastinate writing another one - it's now been a week since I returned from a trip with my children and my parents to my home town of Boulder, Colorado (or as CTP says, "Codorado,") and I'm so full of feelings and joys and about 200 pix to chose from I just haven't sat down to write about it yet. Tomorrow.

For tonight, I must tell you that my husband is a very witty person, always quick with a snappy reply or clever response to what you have to say. He does this even in his sleep. He has the uncanny ability to carry on a conversation as if he were awake even when he's not, and many are the times when I have irritatedly reminded him of something we already talked about only to realize that he was asleep when the conversation happened. Some of my very favorite incidents occurred early in our marriage when I was still getting used to his snoring (and before I started snoring myself, apparently and much to my horror.) I'd gently nudge him and say, "Troy, roll over." Once he replied, "how about you roll over instead," and another time he said, "well, which way should I roll?" Snotty, I tell you.

Over the weekend we really didn't even attempt to watch the LDS General Conference. We just wrestle the kids for two straight hours and get frustrated. So we DVRed the whole thing and have planned on watching one talk an evening, starting last night. After we finally got RAP to bed we decided to watch the first talk of the first session, Elder Scott's talk about prayer. Almost as soon as the talk began I looked over at Troy and he was already, uh, ....listening with his eyes closed. If you know what I mean. I said in disbelief, "are you already asleep?" He said in a perfectly normal conversational tone, "No, I'm just saying my prayers." I sheepishly left him alone, until this morning I mentioned it and he started laughing out loud because he didn't remember saying that - of course, he really was asleep.