More of the Garage Door Story

Here is a picture of the door.


I had wanted to just call the garage door company and have someone come replace it. I've heard that if the spring snaps it can be horribly damaging to whatever, or whoever it hits. However, Matt watched a youtube video about how to work on garage doors, then felt he was sufficiently expert to attempt a do-it-yourself repair. I was dubious, and unsupportive. (All I could imagine was the addition of a hospital bill to the garage door expense and the automotive shop bill.) Since I was an unwilling assistant, he employed a couple kids. They spent several hours on Saturday fixing it. It actually turned out fine. He was very safe about it all. They took out all the panels, bent them back into a mostly straight plane, then reattached them. It was heavy work, but Dallin and Kaylee were good about it and I think they had fun doing something so unusual.

The motion is a bit rough, but now the door can at least go up and down again. We haven't quite decided when to replace the door. Matt commented that we should at least wait until Kaylee is done learning to drive. She did not think that was very funny.

a bad day

We should be in UT right now, but we are at home. Let me tell you why.

Over the weekend Matt started working on the car to get it ready for our trip. He needed to replace a universal joint that makes the rear axel work properly. When he got to the parts store for the new part, the guy said it would be Monday before they could have the right part ready. Monday Matt worked on the car all evening and stayed up until 1:30 AM trying to get it ready. But then he had to quit. We were planning on leaving at 4:00 AM Tuesday morning, however it quickly became obvious that it was not going to happen like we planned.

The next morning (Tues) he resumed working on the car. The kids were not cooperating and wouldn’t get the things done that they needed to in order to be ready, and the parents were getting exasperated. Finally, at 2:00 PM Matt finished the car and said, “Let’s go.” THEN the kids decided to start being helpful. They worked hard, but it was 5:30 by the time the car was loaded. At that point we decided it was not worth driving for only a few hours and hitting Seattle rush hour traffic and then having to pay for a hotel only 4 or 5 hours down the road. So we went to bed at 6:30 and determined to get up at 3:00AM and hit the road.

This morning we got up on time and were happily out of the house at 4:15. We drove the 30 min to the freeway in relieved excitement to finally be on our way. As soon as we got up to “freeway speed” the car started some heavy vibrations. Something just didn’t seem right. So we stopped and prayed to know if we should continue. Matt felt nervous about it so we went back home. As we drove, we talked about what the problem could be. It was either an insufficient repair on the axle, or it was that the snow tires that Matt had just put on the car were out of balance.

Arriving home at 5:30, we decided to put the other tires back on and see if that was a simple fix to the problem. So Kaylee and Dallin immediately set to work in the garage helping Matt change out the whole set of tires. At least they had fun with the new air compressor that we had just bought. It made changing the tires go so much faster. Faster, until one of the lug nuts flew off and hit the long wall of shelves that was covered with garage type stuff. We spent the next 20 minutes looking for the missing lug nut. After several silent prayers from all of us, we found the dang thing. We were all wondering if this was all a sign from God that we should give up and quit trying to leave, or if it was “the adversary” trying to mess us up so we’d get discouraged and not complete our goal of being with family for Thanksgiving.

As soon as the car was ready, we piled back in, and drove off. This time in nervous anticipation. Matt tried to push the speed on the 55mph road that was close to home so we could tell if it was going to be ok or not. He hit about 65 and the car seemed fine. “Hooray!” We said, and relaxed a little. Then we got to the freeway. As soon as he was going 70 the vibrations started again. We got off at the next exit and headed back home. We had now been in the car for 2 hours, and were right back where we started. It was 7:30 AM. (We volunteered to drop Kaylee off at school before we stopped at home, but she didn't think that was funny.) Dejected, everyone piled out and went back to bed.

Matt called his family to tell them we weren’t coming, took a nap and then decided to make the best of things. He started working on various repair projects that had been on his “to do” list for several months. I went to the grocery store and bought all the required food items so that we could cook our own Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. The day progressed slowly and with a cloud of gloom. The kids laid around and read the books that they had picked out for the trip. We also processed about 30 pounds of apples that our home teacher had given us off his tree. We made a lot of applesauce. It was good to have them out of the fridge and off my “to do list” before they rotted. After realizing that we were short a few ingredients for dinner tomorrow, Kaylee and I went back out to the store and to the library. When we left, Matt had just worked up the courage to go back out to the car to trouble shoot the axel problem.

When Kaylee and I got home, I pulled into the driveway and noticed light streaming out from the side of the garage door. Then I noticed the door looked a little curved in one spot by the ground. Then I noticed the whole front had some crinkly looking shadows. It was dark out, so I hopefully assumed it was just the shadows. But then as we were still staring in wonder, Dallin came running out. “What happened to the garage door?!” Kaylee asked. Dallin quickly explained in a quiet voice, “Dad had the car up on ramps, and it rolled off and hit the garage door. He’s really sad, and so don’t freak out about it and get mad at him. OK?” We went in to see it. It turns out that Matt was under the car at the time. He stopped the car with his legs too. Luckily he and the garage door helped each other stop the momentum – otherwise one of them would have been much more damaged. (Matt is fine. Not even a bruise.) Whew! Now Matt is really sad. As you can imagine, the cost (and mental anguish) of this whole fiasco would have been less if he had just taken it to the shop. We have been trying to find the positive things to think about. One is that even though we can’t get the garage door up, the car that works is on the outside. We can’t decide whether to laugh it off or cry. We know that everyone has trials and it would be silly of us to think that we shouldn’t have anything bad happen to us. On the other hand, it seems like things are really piling up. I keep wondering what is going to happen next.

Well, I’d better go. Matt wants to use the computer to look up the company that makes garage doors, and see how soon we can get a replacement.

I hope everyone has a happy and trial free Thanksgiving day!

KayBee's latest cartoon and some trivial news

KayBee keeps herself occupied and quiet during sacrament meetings on Sundays by drawing cartoons about what has happened in our family in the past few days. (The dog was an embellishment to add to the effect.) Do the people who preach that motherhood is a joy and a glorious occupation have children? Or at least children like mine? I doubt it.

Today is the first Saturday since mid September that we have not had soccer or other activities scheduled. It was wonderful to sleep in, go running, and get things done around the house that we have not had time to do. Matt took the Suburban apart -- he was trying to change the universal joints. He's been meaning to do it for 3 1/2 years. Would anyone like to place bets on how long we will be without the suburban? It needs to be fixed by Monday, or we'll be driving the mini-van to UT for Thanksgiving. Yikes!

Today I gave the boys hair cuts. I had to fix the self-done haircut Hunkey gave himself a couple weeks ago. I know you won't believe it, but he did it the day before school picture day. He did it on a Sunday night, and I was too tired to care about fixing it. I had forgotten that it was picture day, plus he was adamant that he liked it the way he had done it and did not want any changes made. So, I left it. (I am beyond caring what the other parents at our homeschool co-op think about me.) However, I must say that we will not be buying and distrubiting school pictures this year!

We now are a two-teenager household. Brother turned 13 yesterday. He was very excited to get a cel phone, and I even thought ahead and ordered it early so it would be here in time. It has not come in the mail yet and he's feeling a bit dejected. His siblings pitched in and got a couple things to help him feel better. They decorated the kitchen and living room. Since we were out of streamers, they used toilet paper.

I signed up with the National Novel Writing Month thing online. It is like a marathon novel writing event. For the entire month of November, people are supposed to just crank out as much writing as they can. The goal is 50,000 words by the end of the month. It sounded so fun, but I have not gotten very far. I always dreamed of being the next Erma Bombeck of my generation. I have lots of great ideas, but not time to write. One day I came up with a title, but Homie laughed at me when I told him. Just wait, some day you will see a book called "10,000 Dirty Diapers: a Trashy Novel about the Joys of Motherhood" on the top 10 bestseller list.

Well, that's all for now. I taught the adult Sunday School lesson last week about how we should all be working on our Family History work. I figured that since I taught the lesson and challenged everyone to Do Something this week, I should try also. Updating our family blog counts!

More word play (w/o swearing this time)

So now it is Brother's turn. He is keeping up the Prince Family's tradition of making horrible puns. His great grandfather would be proud:

Yurtle the turtle often gets restless in her cage and starts repeatedly banging herself against the side of it. I can't tell if she is trying to get out, or if it is some kind of repetitive exercise routine. In the summer, when she did it, we'd let her go outside for the day, but now it is cold and yucky weather. We have found that if we let her out, the cold immediately sends her into hibernation mode and she crawls into the gravel area and buries herself. So lately we have just had to endure her thonking around. Also, she has begun sleeping really late, and then being more active later in the evenings. So, a few nights ago, after dinner and family scriptures, Yurtle started up her banging game. Kadin asked, "Why is she doing that now?" Dallin quickly responded, "It's because she's becoming knock-turtle."

Communication gap with highschool kids

Warning: The following post might be mildly offensive, but I think the humor outweighs the reference to a bad word.

Recently Kaybee missed a few days of school due to illness. A few days later I was checking the school's website thing that allows parents to see their kid's classes, assignments, grades. etc. When I got to her Biology class records I was shocked. "KayBee!" I exclaimed! "You have an F in Biology!" She came in from the other room, with her eyes big. "What? I know I have homework, but I can't believe you just said that!" she replied with hurt surprise. I pointed to the screen and showed her the grade, then repeated, "An F in Biology." Gradually she started laughing and said, "Oh, I get it. I thought you said something else." Then I heard myself through her public high school kid's ears, and had to chuckle too. F'n Biology is what a lot of kids had for homework that night.

The Pantry Game

No picture on this one. Sorry

Last week Homie got industrious and completed several small projects that needed doing around the house. One of them was installing a motion sensing light switch in the pantry. He did this because usually it gets turned on in the morning and burns all day until Homey gets home. He turns it off, and then turns it off several more times before we shut down the kitchen for the night. Now we have a neat-o apparatus that turns the light on when it senses someone walk in the pantry, and then automatically shuts off 5 minutes later. It is very helpful. I'm sure that our next electricity bill will reflect a substantial decrease. The other benefit to this little switch is that it has provided hours of entertainment for the children. They have a quest to get into and out of the pantry with something in hand without the light coming on. I have to admit that I have even tried it -- but not to the extreme lengths that the kids go to. So far no one has made it. They are still testing out the parameters of the motion sensor. Maddo almost made it by slithering along the floor and moving very slowly, but then once she had something in her hand she retreated too quickly and zing!

The switch came in a 2 pack from Costco. We have been discussing where to put the other one. Homie is threatening to put it in the kids' bathroom. He's hoping it would have an effect on their 20 minute showers.

Where's Waldo (AKA Kaybee)

Here is a picture of "Husky Band Day" in Seattle. The University of Washington (Huskies) has a day where they invite many of the high school bands from the area get together and have workshops, practice a couple songs all together, and then they all do the half-time show at the football game that evening. It is a lot of fun for all the high school kids, and provides the small, inexperienced bands with a great vision of what "band life" could be like at college. Kaybee went, and had a great time. Here is a picture of part of it. See if you can find her. She's pretty easy to pick out. (Clue: they are in purple) She has made many friends who are good kids. She says, "People in band are a little nerdy and smart, but not too weird. They are friendly and fun and don't think they are better than everyone else." I think that is a good place for her. A few days ago when we were talking about what colleges she wanted to apply to, she said, I want to choose ones with big bands. Which colleges have good marching bands?

The band director is brand new -- right out of college (Huskies) and is so excited about it all. He has opened up band to the 5th & 6th graders, plus taken on the 7th & 8th grade band at the middle school. Kaybee's enthusiasm has spread to the rest of the family. So now, Brother has a new trumpet, and is going to the middle school every morning for 45 minutes for band class. Tomorrow Peachy will start going too with her new (used) clarinet. She only goes 3 days a week. She really wanted to play the saxophone, as we already have one in my closet -- leftover from my high school band days. However, the elementary school kids have to start on one of 4 "beginner" instruments, and sax isn't one of them. As soon as she hits 7th grade, she'll be ready to switch over though.

They have all been honking around all week on their new toys. Oh wow! What a noise. I can't wait until they learn some real music, and improve in their abilities!

Food Storage

Here is Homie in the garage after we filled 30 buckets with various food substances. It was a sort-of-fun project. We hope we never have to move it!

A Fun Beach Trip

While Homie's brother and his Family were here, we made a trip to Laraby State Park at super-low tide. We were able to walk among the rocks and tide pools and see various sea creatures. The purple and orange star fish were among the favorites.

Painting The Deck

Homie took off work last week and worked to get the deck and trim on the house painted. After spending the greater part of the first day using a hand tool to sand the dirt and old paint off each railing column on just one section, he was very dejected and tired of the whole project. We made a previously contemplated - impulse decision to buy a power washer. Oh! It is so cool! Why haven't we had one of these things our whole life? Besides making a really cool "industrial" noise that impresses the neighboors, it has an awesome projectile spray. It is quite powerful, and made really quick work of cleaning everything off. Homie was even able to get the cracks between the flooring cleared. The sidewalk that had always been gray is now a lovely concrete-white color. The possibilities are endless! I think we will do our pond next. I offered to give the kids thier evening bath in the yard with it, but they didn't think that was funny. Homie worked hard with it all day, but I think he was having a lot more fun than he did the day before.

Next he began painiting. Some of us helped him a bit, but it was mostly his project. The difference was amazing. We took a before and after picture of the two sets of stairs in order to remember the contrast. Brother is sitting on the finished part. Over the weekend Homie was up on the roof doing the trim around the windows. That was scary. He's not done yet, but it already looks a lot better. Hopefully he'll be able to finish before it starts raining every day.

He still isn't sure about what to do with the side of the house that is 3 stories high. I keep encouraging him to have a professional come and do it. However 2 neighboors mentioned that they need to do something about the super high places on thier house as well. There was talk about renting one of those man lift things and passing it around the neighboorhood. Yikes!

We have a new pet!

On Monday we found this spider in our pantry. It is the third one we found in our house in the past couple of weeks. (More about the other 2 in a minute.) When we looked it up on the internet, we were positive it was a brown recluse, but just to be sure I called the county extension agent. She said to put it in the freezer and bring it in on Wed when there was a spider expert there to help us. Do you know how awful it was to open the freezer and see that thing lurking there!? Ug! Shivers! Creepy! It's not really our pet. I just put that title for shock value. Thankfully it died in the freezer!

The first one we found was in my water glass that I had left on the counter in the kitchen overnight. It was drowned, but I'm really, really, really glad I didn't come downstairs in the night and get a drink in the dark! (Which I have done before!) The second one was in KayBee's room. It was on the lamp shade right by her bed. She thought it was a fake one her brother had put there and started to pick it up. As her hand got close, it moved. After screaming and freaking out for a bit, she spent the rest of the night in her sisters' room. None of us slept well that night.

Anyway, the spider expert lady was very helpful. She picked it up and showed us various parts of it that helped to identify it. We got to look at it under the microscope too! It really was amazing to see how intricate and detailed it was. It is called a Giant European House Spider. Curses on the European who brought the dang things to America! When we asked her if it was poisonous, and what would happen if it bit us, she cheerfully assured us that all spiders are poisonous, but their venom has various degrees of reactions in humans. This spider's spit is not like a black widow, or brown recluse, but it will produce a reaction. (Which I believe I have experienced -- but that is another story.)

Hopefully this weekend Homie will be able to spray human-made venom around the perimeters of the house, which will produce a reaction in all the remaining spiders who are contemplating coming inside!

Garden Update -- kinda boring. Feel free to skip.

Ok, so. Are ya'll sick of all my posting? After a few months of nothing, I'm trying to catch up, and ease my conscience for being so negligent. Besides, it's the weekend, and I don't feel like doing my other work. At least this "leisure activity" is still productive. Right? Anyway. Probably no one wants to see a picture of someone's garden, but we are so pleased with it, I just have to record it for our own happy memories. The tall things in the back of the bottom picture are the sugar snap peas. They are a bit out of control! They have exceeded the supports that Homie set up for them. Now what do we do? The purple stuff is the lettuce that is also producing way more than we can eat. The white flowers behind that is the cilantro that already went to seed. Oops. But, I just learned that cilantro seeds are called coriander, and are used as a seasoning. So, we'll just act like we meant to do it that way. Yeah, we didn't need cilantro. We just wanted the coriander. The middle picture has corn in the back that is not doing so well. The front is obviously tomatoes that are lovely and bushy, but have very few little green tomatoes on them. Arrg. I think after not doing tomatoes for about 10 years, we need to catch up on our tomato skills. Although I'm not sure what to do. In Ohio we stuck them in the ground and pretty much left them alone (except for watering.) They grew up to the eves of the house, and had more tomatoes than we ever thought possible could come off of 3 plants. The top picture is our broccoli. I bought some "heirloom" kind at the nursery because that was all that was left. It took a really long time to get a head on it, and when it did, it kinda scared us. The kids say it looks like some alien plant that landed in our garden. It's really crazy looking, but it tastes just like broccoli!

So, there is an update. Let's see what else I can find to post about. Homie is out helping someone move, and Kaybee is at a B-day party. Brother is engrossed in a book called "The Mysterious Benedict Society." Actually three of us are all reading it at the same time and we fight over who can have the book. Brother is glad to let me have the computer so he can have the book. (We also fight over who gets the computer.) The other 3 are giving an improptu piano recital to each other. It's funny. They stand up, announce thier name and what they are playing and then crank out some really amazing (as in overwhelmingly loud, crazy and mostly un-rhythmic) creations. As long as the status remains quo, I'll keep cranking out my own amazing (as in rambling, boring or silly, insignificant to the world) creations.

PS. Sorry about all the typos. I can't tell if it is the computer or my brain-finger connection. I have been going back and correcting them on the blog website, but I'm tired of doing that. So, please don't think I'm stupid. I really do know how to spell, and, use punkuation and CApitals.

It's Peachy's Turn

Now I will post about Peachy's art. During the school year, the kids Art teacher introduced them to water color. They got to use all the fancy tricks and techniques that come with that method. The morning they were supposed to do thier final project, the kids told me (as we were walking out the door to class) "Oh, Ms. S said to bring a photograph that we can use as a basis for our paintings." Aaaarrrg! So, we looked around us frantically. The first thing we saw was a family portrait in a frame. KayBee took that one. Next we spied Homie's college photo album on the book shelf. We opened it and Peachy chose out a picture of me standing by our old pick-up truck. It was taken when Homie and I were out on a river rafting adventure when we were either still dating or first married. The truck and I were much younger, and looked a lot better then! Peachy painted it, then submitted it in the school district's end of the year art show. It won the "postcard" prize. (That means that they photographed it professionally and will print it on the postcards that they use for various school district correspondences.) She was delighted, as she is often overshadowed by KayBee's art and Maddo's personality. It was a fun thing that made her feel really special. Then a few days ago, a lady called us and asked us to please submit it in our town's Art Festival youth division. That was a surprise! So tomorrow we will take it downtown and turn it in. Now all three girls' art is posted here. I asked Brother if he felt left out and he said, "Not really. I do good in soccer and other things, so it's ok."

I have never been good at decorating, and we hardly have any pictures on our walls. I am too picky. I find things I like, but they are so expensive, it turns my stomach, and I can't bring myself to buy it. Frankly, I'd rather have nothing on our walls than something I only sort-of like. Having artistic kids has solved that problem. Now I can decorate with our kids' art. It's cheap, and of course I will like it! I just have to make sure that they only paint things that go with our current decor. Hee hee!

PS. The Title is "In Loving Memory: Ford F250 1980-2006"

She Finished!

KayBee finished at 1:30 Tuesday morning. She had to finish because she had to leave for girls camp at 8:00 AM that day. What a relief to be done with the project! We figured she spent about 45 hours painting it. I took it to the building where they were accepting the entries, paid the 10 dollar entry fee, and then learned that it was a jurried show. (I had to ask what that means.) It means that judges come and judge the painting and not everyone is accepted into the show. They told me we would get a postcard by Wednesday to let us know if her painting was accepted. If it was, she was supposed to come to an artists' reception and pre-view show for people who wanted to buy the art there. So we waited on pins and needles until we got the card saying she was accepted. Yipeee! Then we found out that the reception was a wine tasting party as well, and that she was not allowed to attend. That was fine with us, as the town is 45 minutes away, and also I would have had to pay $12.00 to get in with her. We will go as a family to the public (free) part on Saturday. It is like a huge street fair with tons of booths and food stands and various galleries open around the town.

Another funny part is that when I was registering the painting, the lady asked what the price was. "We don't want to sell it!" I told her. She explaind that if it was in the show, it had to be for sale. Luckily, a nice lady nearby who was experienced with this art show said, "Put $1,000.00. People will get the subtle message, or they will think Kaylee is pretty arrogant about the value of her art. But we can just laugh that off." So that is what we did.

These photos don't look nearly as nice as the painting. The photos have lots of white flecks in them that aren't really in the painting, and you can't really see the texture of the small details. If you want a better view, please come visit us!

Maddo's Apple Art

Maddo decided to enter the Washington Apple Association Art Contest. She has worked hard on several projects over the last few months. Here are the two that she finally decided to submit. The top one is called "Hungry For Apples" and the second one is called "Apple Array." The top one is cool, but you can't tell because she did it with melted crayons. She put paper on the electric pancake griddle and then after it was warm she drew on the paper with the crayons. She drew slowly and so the wax melted and left bold, vivid lines that covered the paper in a thick layer. I highly recommend this art form. It's really fun and it looks cool and the smoothness feels neat as you draw, and it smells really good too. (That is if you like the smell of crayons -- which I do from happy childhood memories) Just make sure you put a cookie sheet between the griddle and the paper because the oil from the wax sometimes seeps through the paper and can leave colors on the griddle. The day after we did this, whe had a few lovely, multi- colored pancakes!

KayBee's Painting Project

KayBee has been taking oil painting lessons from our favorite art teacher. All summer she has been working on a picture to enter in a local arts festival. The deadline is tomorrow morning. So, she has been out in the garage painting all day for the past couple days. The picture that she is painting is from a couple photographs that we took while we were with Homie's sister and family. We were sight seeing in the Hoh Rainforrest in the Olympic National Park. There was a giant tree that we were all fascinated with. It took 13 people (some were toddler size) to get all the way around the tree. When she submits it to the art show, it will technically be for sale, but I hope no one wants to buy it! Although, it would be fun for her to say that she sold her first oil painting at age 14. I'll post a picture of the finished project soon!

Yurtle the Turtle

This past week we have been baby-sitting our friend's pet turtle while they are on vacation. It is supposed to live in a small fish tank inside. We began to feel sorry for her, and started letting her out in the back yard for short amounts of time. A couple of times we lost track of her and had to make a frantic search around the yard to find her. It is really obvious that she loves being outside. She also munches the horsetail weeds that are such a problem in our yard. Homie says we need a whole herd of turtles to keep the horsetail weeds under control! We made a special pen for her by blocking off both ends of the garden beds. We thought she would be happy there, as it was millions of times bigger than her little cage. We were wrong. After a few minutes in her outside pen, she found a crack and pushed until the board slid, and she got out. We put her back and propped up the board again. She didn't waste a second going to the same spot and getting out again. We put her back in and made the weak spot more secure. A while later we checked on her and she was gone again. She'd gotten out at the other end. This happened a few more times before we gave up. We didn't know turtles were so smart! Next, Matt secured the lower portion of the yard really well. Then we put her in, and intended for her to stay in that specific area. We thought surely she would be content there. She spent a long time checking out all along the fence, stopping and peering intently at every crack. Eventually she got to a spot that was not fenced, but it was a very steep slope up a hill and among the rock wall. It lead to the upper yard. Matt was certain she couldn't get up it. A while later I went out tho check on her and sure enough, she was 1/2 way up. Eventually she made it all the way up, and began checking out the entire perimiter of the fenced upper yard. This turtle has some serious boundary issues! Today she pushed the limits even more by finding a gap in the lattice work that led under the gazebo and behind the pond. I wouldn't let her go in. And moved her to a different part of the yard. I then wasted the next half hour studying turtle behavior. No matter where I placed her in the yard, she made a beeline right back to the spot she wanted to explore. Peachy commented, "If she was a person, I think she would be a Maddo personality." Finally I gave up and let her go into the space she wanted to see. I followed her everywhere to make sure she didn't get into a bad situation, or find an even worse crack to escape through. After she had seen enough she crawled back out and went around the yard to her other favorite places like usual. What a crazy little creature. Our friends arrived home today, and I told her how much fun we were having with their pet. She said we could probably keep it because the novelty had worn off with her kids. It is kinda the ward boy scout pet. There is a "Pets" merit badge that the boys can earn if they keep a pet for at least 4 months. This turtle has been passed throught 6 familie so far. I'm not sure I want to take on a full time pet, but it would be fun to have her for a while. The good thing is that we could then pass her on to the next family who wanted to earn the merit badge! We have been calling her Yurtle -- after the Dr. Seuss character, but Brother suggested we call her Lini. That's short for Turtle-lini.

Sunburn

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Not this past Friday, but the one before that, one of Brother's friends called up and invited Brother and Peachy to go out boating with their family. Our two children spent a wonderful, fun, adventurous day wake boarding, tubing and swimming in a nearby lake. This was one of their first all day in the sun activities without a Sunscreen Fanatic parent with them. So, they took the opportunity to be free of the yucky goop. Wooo hooo what a great teaching moment (week) this has turned out to be! They both came home with the most amazing sunburns ever known in the Homey Tanner Family. They were so miserable by that evening. Despite lotions and potions, they were terribly uncomfortable for the next several days. Brother had it so bad, he ran a slight fever the first night, and stayed on Advil for a couple days. Peachy wasn't covered so completely and didn't suffer as much. By the fourth day Brother was so sleep deprived, and sick of being in pain that every little thing made him cry. (Some of his siblings took great delight in asking him if it was "that time of month.") I let him stay home from church because I knew that some of his peers would not be able to resist the temptation to tease him and whack him on the back. I figured his mental state was not in a condition for him to deal charitibly with the good natured abuse. Brother couldn't even shower because the water hurt. He got pretty stinky by the end of the week! He also couldn't lift his arms very high, or move very well because it hurt so much. He gingerly sat on the couch and read for like 6 hours a day for 4 days in a row. (Good for his summer reading program! Bad for his physical fitness needs!) Kaylee had to do his paper route for him, and the rest of us pitched in to help him with his chores.

Anyway, it was a good lesson for them. Of course, being the wise parents we are, we took the time to point out that a few moments of "freedom" from the rules, often has longer lasting and horrible consequences. If this had happened during the school year, I probably would have been tempted to have them do an essay, or at least a journal entry about the concept. Hee hee. At any rate, I hope this will help them learn to make wiser choices on thier own. Homey and I reminiced about the days that we each got our own blistering sunburns, and how, after that, we never allowed it to happen again.

Now, the worst part (that I will not take a picture of) is they are peeling. It is so gross. Having never really experienced "peeling" all the kids found it fascinating. Wherever Brother or Peachy sits, there is a flutter of dead skin cells left behind. I am constantly yelling, "Brother, get in here and vacuum up your mess!" I never knew parents had to deal with such gross things like this! Do you think the other kids will learn from the others' mistakes? I hope so!

Yellowstone

Here are a few representative pictures of our family vacation to Yellowstone. We took so many pictures, it was hard to know which ones to put in here. I wanted to put the pic of Peachy looking miserable and holding her shirt over her nose. She really had a hard time with the smell. I, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of it. My favorite thing to do was stand in the direct path of the hot, sulfuric laden steam and try to soak up as much as possible. Clearly I have some deficiency (brain wise, or mineral/nutrition?!)

Also, here is picture of Maddo crumpled up in a ball sitting on the trail with her thumb in her mouth. Poor Maddo got sick of all the hiking, and all the in-and-out-of-the-car stops. At one point, she just sat down and refused to go any farther. KayBee was able to somehow talk her into going on.

One more picture -- Brother and the Buffalo. We saw so many, but we just had to take one representative picture when we happened along this guy so close to the side of the road.

Up a Tree

While in Utah, we met up with some extra-special friends that we knew in Alaska. It had been almost 3 years since we had seen each other. We spent a wonderful couple of hours in a nearby park visiting. While the mothers chatted away, the children found a little more adventure than we had planned on. Thankfully, they all made it back down safely. I had no idea they were up so high. It is probably good that I did not know until we got home, and I was looking at the pictures!

Hunkey Hates My Hair

After having my hair cut asymmetrical for a few months, I decided to be normal again. It turned out shorter than I anticipated, but I'm fine with that, as I won't have to go back for 6 months or so. When I came home, Kadin looked at me and said, "Mom, why did you do that? It does not look like you." Everyone in my family had the same reaction, but were more tactful in thier expressions. Even people at church, who never once commented on it when it was lopsided, managed a fake compliment this time around. (You know how you can tell when people don't reallly mean what they are saying. ) It's all very interesting and amusing to me. I like it, and it has already grown out quite a bit anyway, so it's not even an issue anymore. I just thought I'd put this in, so I can remember Hunkey's funny dissapointment.

Tesoro Run

Wowie. It's been over a month since I wrote. Yikes! So many blog-worthy things have been happening that I haven't even had time to record our activities. Phooey. So here are a few entries to get caught up:

Early in June we participated in the Tesoro Fun Run. Peachy, Maddo and Hunkey ran the 1/2 mile and Brother did the 5K. Last year Kadin needed me to run beside hime because he was scared and not able to pace himself well. He asked if I'd run with him again this year. You can see that within the first few seconds of the race that he broke away from me, and did fine on his own. I never did catch up to him. He took 3rd in his age division, and Maddo got 2nd in hers. Jillian placed fourth in her division. Dallin bumped up to the 5 K (3 miles) this year and was competing against boys up to age 15. He has some training to do in order to be more prepared for next year's race! He is planning on doing cross country at the middle school this coming school year. Hopefully that will be fun for him, and will be a good way to get in good shape! There are other races on the calendar that we will enjoy participating in later in the summer!

Spring Planting

Hooray! We put in 2 more fruit trees! Last year, we planted a peach tree. This year we planted an apple and a cherry tree. Maddo and Peachy were really excited to help. Did I tell you about how helpful they were? They were looking for a project and decided to dig a hole for the new tree. Homie and I said, "Fine." and showed them where to put it. After many minutes of contented digging, Maddo came in and said, "We hit a rock and couldn't go any farther." Then she added, "Also, the hole has a little water bubbling up from the bottom of it." Oh! Great! I was afraid to go look. Peachy thought it was pretty convenient. "It's a self watering hole!" She exclaimed. Well, it took about a month for Homie to fix the broken sprinkler pipe. It was quite a doozy to get at, then he had the wrong repair piece, then the pipe broke worse . . . After about three weekends of attempts, he got it fixed. We thought it would be such a simple thing to put a little tree in the ground! Never underestimate the potential complexity of a seemingly simple household project!

Because the tree had been in the garage for a month waiting to be planted, it got used to the warmer climate and started to get leaves on it. It had lots of lovely little leaves when we planted it. It looked so happy and eager to begin growing in the ground. We were a little worried about what would happen if it frosted in the night, and so every morning we looked outside to make sure the tree was ok. About 3 mornings after it was planted, we looked out and saw that the tree had no leaves! Oh no! We thought the frost had got it. Homie went outside to investigate. There were no dead leaves on the ground. Then he noticed that the smallest branch was much shorter than previously. Something had come in the night and CHOMPED our tree! Friends told us it was deer. We have never even seen a deer in our area, but something must have come in through the hole in the fence! Aaaarrrggg! The next night, a few children volunteered to sleep in front of the trees with thier BB guns. That was about a month ago, and the tree seems to have recovered ok. We barricaded the fence, and are still trying to get around to fixing it. We estimate it will take us one Saturday to replace the missing panel. However, after our last attempt at a simple project, I think I'd better plan on about a month of effort!

Our new toy!

Ever since living in Alaska, we have been wanting a tandem bike. Yesterday Brother found an advertisement for a used one for 150 dollars, so in the afternoon we walked down to the neighborhood where it was for sale. Dad is a bike junkie and knew what to look for. He said it was in okay shape and a reasonable deal. We were really excited, and we rode it (or tried to) all the way home. Riding a tandem takes some getting used to. If any of you have ever ridden one, you know that the person in back can't use steering to keep their balance, so they have to work really hard to keep themselves upright. The person in front has to work to keep both riders' balance by steering. It took a while to get the hang of. Peachy and I rode it all afternoon and actually got pretty good at it, although we still look like a slapstick comedy routine when we try to get off. This morning Peachy woke me up and immediately started pestering me to go out and ride the tandem with her right now! (hence the crazy hair and crusty eyes in the picture). We biked around for a while, but then it started to sprinkle, so we went inside.

That brings me to the other thing that's been happening. For once it has been sunny lately. It rained all Spring break, and then it all of a sudden got nice. There have been some cloudy days sprinkled in, but for about four weeks it has been blue sky. This is very, very rare. Normally I would be very happy about this, but I think whoever controls the weather must hate me. For the past three weeks, it has been sunny Sunday through Friday. And guess what I've been doing during this glorious weather? Sitting at a cold, hard desk listening to lectures on quadratic equations! I get so excited for Saturday, when I can spend the whole day outside, and then when the weekend is finally here, it rains. This has happened for three weeks in a row. Three Weeks. I think I am going to go crazy. Is anyone else ready for the school year to end? Or am I just weird?

Ok, that's enough for now. Maybe Mom will make me some breakfast since I typed this for her!

Love,
KayBee

Simon Says

Today I woke up and said, "I can't go on living like this..." Does anyone have those kinds of mornings / days? Sometimes I call them 15 minute days. I tell myself I only have to do my first task for 15 minutes and then I can quit. Then I do 15 minutes on the next overwhelming task. After several 15 minute periods, I start to feel ok about life, and have hope that I can get through the day in larger time segments. The funny thing is that I get a lot more done on those days because I am more focused on sticking to my little segments.

Well, anyway, today was like that. Except I needed to engage the kids in their regular school work, house work, etc. As I was carrying a load of stuff up the stairs, the game "Simon Says" flashed into my mind. I went back downstairs and told the kids that all day long we were going to play a game. They were leery, because I have come up with so many hair-brained tricks to get them to do their work. (Remind me later to tell about "the mystery object" game from my Sister!) I told them, "Simon Says, go clean up the Monopoly game on the floor in the front room." Peachy jumped up and got the other two to do it with her. Then I said, "Ok, now you can tell me to do a Simon Says." They conferred and then chorused, "Simon says clear off all the counters." (That was Maddo's job that she knew she was going to have to do before she got breakfast.") So I hurried and did it while they happily played. I hurried way faster than I normally would have, because it was really bugging me that they were sitting around playing when they should have been doing thier morning jobs and school. When I finished, I got to say something for them to do while I "played." This has been going on successfully all morning. It backfired on me when they all decided to say, "Simon says, make us chocolate milk!" But I did it anyway. Dallin got home from a school thing and said, "Ok! I'll play! Simon says, go to the park!" Yikes! I wasn't prepared for those kinds of commands! Luckily it wasn't his turn to issue a command. So far we have got a good amount done, although it is very out of order from what my priorities would have been. It is funny to see what they think is the most important things to do for school and for house work. In fact the reason I am typing this, is because in thier hope to get rid of me for a long time, their most recent command was, "Simon says, Go type your blog!"

It Pays To Do Laundry!

I love doing laundry!

A few months ago, Homey commented that when he switched a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, he got a tip! I realized that he must have been talking about a load of KayBee's things. She is supposed to do her own laundry, but sometimes she forgets to switch it, and we end up doing it so someone else can use the washer. KayBee has a lot of babysitting jobs, and not a lot of concern about money. Frequently I find rolled up 20 dollar bills lying around her room, and in her jeans pockets when I borrow them. I used to give them back, along with a short lecture on the importance of keeping track of her money better. However, now I have decided to keep whatever I find and consider it payment for my hard work! For the past three laundry loads that I have had to switch for her, I have found between 5 and 20 bucks left loose in the washer or dryer each time! I told all the kids if I am cleaning and find $ laying around, I get to keep it. Doing laundry provides me with a great income! I am trying to save up to buy a really neat (but expensive) set of curriculum for some of the kids' schooling next year. All the money I collect from my housekeeping endeavors will go to this! Oh! This is so fun! But don't tell Brother. If he finds out he can make $20.00 for switching a load of laundry, it will be a huge race to the laundry room the minute the buzzer goes off. I don't want any competition!

May you all be blessed in your laundry adventures today!

Love, Maawwm!

Swallow the Elders

Wow! I didn't realize it has been so long since I have written something. So here is a small paragraph to satisfy my need for typing stories, and the grandparent's need to hear them:

During scripture study Hunkey frequently blurts out unrelated things. It is really obvious that his brain is not on what we are reading. Lately, when he raises his hand or starts to talk, we ask him, "Is this related to the scriptures we are reading?" Thankfully, he has gotten way better at sticking to the topic. So we were surprised the other night when he suddenly raised his hand and said, "Why did they swallow all the Elders?" I thought he was trying to be silly and break up the boringness. We all looked at him baffled and a bit annoyed. Then I kind of heard in my mind the last few sentences that Peachy had read. I asked her to re-read what she had just read. She started, and this is the part that made us all start to laugh: ". . .and so all of the elders. . . " She had been droning on and reading a bit sloppily. Poor Hunkey. Sometimes I wonder what other wild and crazy ideas the kids must be getting from the unfamiliar wording in the scriptures. I have to admit that I was delighted that he was listening, and that he cared enough to clarify when something seemed really wonkey! Maybe I could get the kids to tell me all thier strange interpretations and I could write a translation of the Bible called, "The New Children's Version. I bet it would introduce all kinds of interesting stories and new doctrine!

No Pictures -- Thankfully.

So, A picture is worth a thousand words, but in some cases, I'd rather have the 1,000 words. Last night is a perfect example. Hunkey had been feverish for most of the day. Part way into the night he ended up in bed next to me so that I could keep an eye on him better. About 3 AM I felt him flopping and breathing shallow and knew it was time for more Tylenol. I groggily trudged down the stairs to get it. About 1/2 way down I overstepped a stair and THWONK... thwonk, thwonk, thwonk. I bounced down the next few stairs on my tail bone. I sat there stunned for a minute, then slowly made sure that I was still in one piece. (One of my still-intact pieces hurt way more than I ever imagined it could hurt, but I knew that structurally, I was ok.) Since I still had a feverish child upstairs, I had to finish my errand. I got the medicine and went back up to our bed. I handed Matt the medicine then sunk down onto the floor in a wave of nausea. I do not recommend a super-size dose of adrenaline on an empty stomach! Matt -- only half awake and unaware of my true discomfort made a funny remark, "Did you drop a bowling ball down the stairs?" I did not find it amusing. When he realized I was hurting, he braved the treacherous stairs and went and got me some Advil. About an hour later I was able to fall back asleep. One HALF hour later, Maddo came in to our room. "Mom, I peed." She quietly announced. Granted the fact that she has been peeing by herself in the potty for several years now, I knew she was not telling me this in order to get praise for using the potty correctly. My heart sank. Why do the children never come in to our room in the middle of the night and say things like, "Dad, I peed." Or "Dad, I just barfed all over my bed, brother and floor." It is always, Mom that they want. I painfully got out of bed and helped her through that clean up. Approximately another half hour passed and then she woke me up again because she was scared. I tucked her in beside me and hoped that this was the last interruption of the night. I don't think I ever really got back to sleep.

I love this parenthood thing. Many of you could tell stories that are way worse. Why do we do this to ourselves, and keep having kids? I think that part of why I love my kids so much is because I have to do hard, awful, gross things for them that I would never do for anyone else. I know it is a true principle that we love those we serve. So, by serving our children in such difficult, inconvenient situations it must help us to love them "really a lot." (That's a Hunkey term.) I'm just glad that such a night as last night is rarer now that our children are older. I'm also glad that I don't have pictures of the ordeals of the night. A feverish child, Mother sprawled on the steps and bedroom floor, A sad-faced, pee soaked child, and 4 people crowded into one bed are not the pictures I'd want to have in my scrap book! Hee hee!

I hope all of you have a peaceful sleep tonight, and wake up in the morning grateful!

The Book of Mormon 179th Anniversary

Today KayBee was on the internet looking up why the school and library flags were at 1/2 mast, and came across a "today in history" page on Wikipedia. We were surprised to find that today was the day that the Book of Mormon was published in 1830 in Palmyra, New york. So, everyone take a minute to think about and appreciate such a wonderful book!

Here it is online for your convenience! http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/contents

Homey Rides His Bike to Work

Part of the reason we like living here so much is that Homey can ride his bike to work. He loves the exercise, and is happy to save money on gas. Here are some pictures of him as he is arriving home. Happily, the sun is up earlier and later, so he doesn't have to ride in the dark as much. The ride is down hill half of the way to work. Coming home is much more tiring! Lately, after he gets home, he goes running with me. Wowie! He's getting into great shape!

Thoughts Without Pictures

Here are some things that have happened lately that I want to remember. They are small, but funny or meaningful to us.

1. Ever since Elder Eyring's talk a couple General Conference's ago called "O Remember, Remember" http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-24,00.html I have been trying to keep a "hand of God" journal. At night I ask everyone if they have any thing for me to write. Of course the input varies in quality and quantity. (We don't remember to do it every day either.) A few nights ago, KayBee said, "Write that I was safe from the power lines." She had been riding her bike on her paper route and, while stopping in front of one house, had sensed something near her head. She looked up and was startled to find the power lines running from the street to the house sagging about 6" above her head. She said it really creeped her out. Quickly she rode away, but for the rest of the night she couldn't stop thinking about all the "what ifs." She said she felt blessed and protected and thought that such an experience was worth including in our journal.

2. As our oldest children become more concerned about what they wear, it gets harder to find things that are just right. For the last few mornings in a row, KayBee has spent many minutes digging through her piles of dirty laundry strewn on the floor, and roaming in and out of my closet -- unsatisfied. Her closet contained many hangers, a few too small shirts, and lots of empty space. "There's nothing to wear!" She fumed. "It's your own fault for not doing your laundry in 2 weeks!" I retorted. Finally she wandered into her brother's room and came out wearing one of his long sleeve T-shirts. He was still asleep, and could not defend his property. I chose to stay out of it. The next morning she didn't waste any time. She went straight to his room, and found another satisfactory shirt. I remember swapping clothes with my sisters, but is that normal for a sister to steal her little brother's clothes?! Luckily for the peace of our family, KayBee had selected shirts that Brother didn't really care about. They have now joined the pile on her bedroom floor. I have put a ban on her borrowing clothing from anyone until she does about 5 loads of laundry. As I was typing this, I suddenly remembered that when they were 6 and 7 years old, KayBee would sneak and borrow Brother's underwear because she never knew where her underwear was -- clean or dirty. Brother always kept his neatly in the drawer so she knew right where to find it.

3. Brother has found one more justification for buying his PSP. Recently we discovered that it can connect to the internet. On Saturday evening he was playing one of his games on it. He had worked hard to earn the ability to play. Homey announced it was time for scriptures and told him to put it down. He was irritated, disgruntled, frustrated and a few other adjectives of similar meaning. Suddenly KayBee had a great idea and saved the evening! "Dallin! You can go online to the church website (www.lds.org) and read the scriptures from there!" she recommended with a mischievous smile. The parents were not prepared with a negative rebuttal and so Brother was able to continue holding his prized possession as First Samuel scrolled across the screen.

I am never leaving the kids home alone again!

I was out jogging, or running errands or something. Maddo called and said, "Mom, I finished my math. Can I have 10 chocolate chips?" (Yes, sometimes I use bribes.) The chocolate chips had been put way up high at the back of the pantry to discourage children (and grown-ups) from munching handfulls indiscriminately. I told Maddo to wait until I got home so that I could reach them for her. She was not happy at me and hung up the phone with a comment that left me wondering why she had even bothered to call me in the first place. She has a strong tendency to do things her own way -- regardless of any preceeding counsel or subsequent consequences. When I got home everything seemed in order. "Thank you for being so good while I was gone." I told them all. I hugged Maddo and kissed the top of her head, in an attempt at motherly affection. She looked so cute and smelled so good -- like chocolate. Suddenly my Trouble Sensor Alarm went off: "EEERRRRPPP EEERRRPPP EEERRRPPP! MADDO SHOULD NOT BE SMELLING LIKE CHOCOLATE -- ESPECIALLY HER FOREHEAD!" I casually asked her why she smelled like chocolate. Before she could answer, KayBee jumped up and ran for the camera. "I have evidence! I'll SHOW you why she smells like chocolate! It's not my fault! Maddo told me that you said she could have them!" She continued ranting as she showed me these pictures. Although I encourage the kids' creativity and artistic expression, I think I have to draw the line somewhere. Too bad I didn't think to draw it BEFORE this effort. Who would have thought I needed to say, "Oh, by the way, no drawing on your faces with melted chocolate chips." Obviously we have a few things to discuss in Family Home Evening this week. The chocolate chips are now in an undisclosed location on a very high shelf in a very remote part of the house.

Sunday Evening Dessert

Ever since we started using the wood stove, the kids have been dreaming about roasting marshmallows in it. Finally I remembered to buy a pack. We had a lovely bed of coals going. The amazing thing is that it only took a few seconds for the whole thing to turn perfectly golden. I think we have found the epitome of modern convenience! Next Brother is going to want to do hobo dinners!

Scripture Time

Hunkey has found there are advantages to being the youngest. He doesn't have to follow along in the book, or take a turn reading yet. He also gets the best seat in the house.

Does this happen at your house?

I was cleaning KayBee's room and found this cartoon. Things like this make me wonder what goes on while I am gone. I hope that someday she will be the next Bill Watterson, presenting a female version of Calvin and Hobbes. I keep telling her that she needs to put together a book of cartoons for one of her Young Women Value Projects. Our family life certainly provides her with enough subject material! I'm sure that many of you also have things that would fit her themes. I have a great idea! How about you send us your stories, quotes and any other funny, embarassing, distressing, ingenious, etc. experiences with your children so they can be featured in her cartooning as well! (I just want to know that we are not alone in this crazy adventure of child raising!)

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Happy Command Day! (March Forth!)

This holiday has long been observed by the Prince Family. I am delighted to see that our children will carry on our silly tradition. Peachy stayed up late last night preparing numerous signs. She posted them around the house so that everyone could wake up to the fun surprise. Here are a few of her creations.