We Did It!

Last night I accomplished the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in one month.   Yipee!   Hooray!  It was so fun!  Actually I am really sad to see it end.  It was such a great learning experience!  I'm a bit surprised that I actually finished!  There were many days that I did not type the daily 1,667 words required to finish in a smooth and well paced manner.  At one point I was 13,000 words behind and I despaired of ever catching up.  But I did!  It feels very strange -- almost uncomfortable --  to say that I actually finished a project, and I even did it one day ahead of schedule. Both things  are very uncharacteristic for me.  I can't wait till next year!  Who wants to do it too?  Try it, you'll like it!  

The kids participated in the Young Writer's Program, and they all accomplished their word count goals as well.  It was so fun seeing their ideas and their progress!

Here is a little about their stories

Kadin: 1,220 words.  He told it to me while I typed.  Two boys who are magic have scary encounters with a villain named Mr. Bad Guy.  Of course the boys win.  Kaylee is drawing illustrations so he can have it published.

Madeline: 3,046 words. She started writing a cute story about an inch worm named Mimi and her friend Anna.  After about 5 chapters she got bored, and switched to writing a collection of short stories. One is about a worm who learns to drive a train. Another is about a mouse who outsmarts a cat.  She hand wrote it all, and then I typed it up.  She will also have it made into a book with pictures.

Jillian:  5,000 word goal reached but the story is still going.  It is about a girl from Alaska who moves to a new place, and has to make a new friend.  Jillian got part way into her story, and got a serious case of writer's block. She decided that if she switched to the fantasy genre, she could do a lot more.  So the story becomes an adventure with magical elements.

Dallin: 5,000 word goal reached but the story is far from finished.  It is a major science fiction work, and is full of Dallin's amazing inventions and his wildest dreams. He is hoping that it will be spectacular enough to be published for real and widely read.  His main goal (besides the sheer joy of creating) is to make millions of dollars off it.  Sign up now if you'd like an autographed copy.
                                                        

Our Next Crazy Endeavor

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It starts tomorrow!  The 4 homeschool kids and I are going to participate!  


Here is a blurb from their website:

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.  Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Here is a link to the website in case you want to do it too!  

www.nanowrimo.org

The kids are signed up in the "Young Writer's" division.  They get to set their own word count so it is not so overwhelming.   If they reach their goal, they can send the book in to have it published into a real book (free for the first copy!)  If their books turn out well, family members may receive copies for Christmas!  Wooo Hooo!   They have been working hard preparing their character sketches and plots.  I told them that if they participate, they can get out of their journal, critical thinking and writing lessons for the entire month! 


 Although I have been thinking about this off and on since last November, I have no idea what to write.  Aaaaa!   I have always wanted to be an author.  Back in college, I planned on writing psychology type books that would launch me into a career of being a well-known and respected psychologist, philosopher and lecturer.  (Don't laugh.  I had a higher opinion of myself back then.)    After motherhood and life beat down my career ideals, I switched to dreaming about being the next Erma Bombeck.    I certainly have had enough laughable family related  trials to fill a few books!  Now, my brain has become rather mushy, and I don't think I could even pull off a few short stories with any quality.  Maybe I could crank out some children's books.  You know -- plots where the main characters learn to count from 1 - 10,  talking animals, small words...

Are we normal? Part 2

Kaylee took this picture for our "Are We Normal?" Series.  This is our vacuum cleaner.  A while ago, the cord broke.  I was happy about that, because I did not like the vacuum, and was excited about the prospect of getting a new one.   However.   Frugal, engineer father got an old extension cord out of the garage and wired it to the vacuum cleaner.  Now it works -- good as new.  Actually it is even better than new, because you can go practically anywhere in the entire house without having to switch outlets!  It is rather cumbersome to lug the lengthy cord around, but everyone seems to manage.  We were just wondering:  How many other people in the world have a vacuum cleaner with as amazing of a cord as we do?  Surely this is not normal.

General Conference Snack Mix

I was in charge of a Young Women activity tonight.  Matt had the great idea that I should focus on the General Conference that is being broadcast this Saturday and Sunday.  (Here is a link where you can watch the broadcast.  http://www.lds.org/ )


As part of the activity, I decided to have the girls make a snack mix to munch on while watching General Conference.   My helpful children and I came up with a way to link each of the 12 Apostles and the 1st Presidency members to the various ingredients.  I was going  to write it into a spectacularly clever poem, but my brain just couldn't do it. 

Anyway, tonight, as the girls put each ingredient into a ziplock bag, I told them how it could help them remember the name of that general authority.  They were good about going along with my quirky mnemonic aids, and even revised some of my ideas into much better ones.  So, here is the "recipe" in case you want to use it.  I admit that some of them were a pretty big stretch, and some are outright lame.  But I think we did pretty good for a last minute, off the top of our heads composition.

General Conference Snack Mix
Monson -- one jaw breaker (about 1 1/2 inch diameter). (He is solid and strong, and there is only one president of the church.)

Uchdorf -- pretzels (Lots of people think pretzles are German food and Uchdorf is from Germany)

Eyring -- lemon drops (the oval candies look like eyes  -- EYEring)

Packer -- peanuts (think about "packing" peanuts)

Perry -- popcorn (alliteration)

Nelson -- M&M’s (Russel M) (I pointed out the similarity in the names of both Nelson and Ballard, and how both had an M, so I used 2 scoops of M&M's -- one for Nelson and one forBallard)

Oaks – Corn nuts (Oak trees have acorns which are nuts -- hence the corn NUTS could help them make a connection. (This one was pretty weak -- I know.  Maybe you could find something better.))

Ballard -- M&M’s (M Russel, see above comments)

Scott -- Skittles (alliteration)

Hales – Gold Fish crackers (Hales sounds like whales and the fish look like little whales.)

Holland – Candy Corn (When he was president of BYU when I was there, sometimes he said funny things.  So I told the girls he could be "corny".  But one girl said "You eat candy corns at 'Holloween' which is like Holland."  I liked that too.  Pick your favorite option.)

Bednar – Checks cereal.  (Some people eat cereal before going to BED, or in the morning after getting out of BED.  Then someone else said the cereal squares looked like little pillows that go on your BED.)

Cook -- cookie crisp cereal  (Cook-cookie, get it?)

Christofferson -- marshmellows (the longest names of both the people and the ingredients.  (Hey -- I was desperate!) )

Anderson -- almonds (more alliteration)

OK so that is it.  I hope you are not rolling your eye-balls at my wierd ideas.  Leave me a comment and tell me which ones you liked the best, or if you thought of anything better! 
 
Enjoy the Conference!   http://www.lds.org/
Deanne

Is Our Family Normal? Part 1

It has been a great concern to my youngest child lately, to know if our family is "normal."  He frequently evaluates something we do, and asks, "Do normal families ..."  I'm not quite sure how to answer that question.  

I decided to document some of the things that we do, or that happen at our house.  Maybe you can help us decide if we are normal. 

This happened while I was out of town.  I am not responsible for the condition of the bathroom that you see in the background.  As for the face on the potty --that would be Kaylee's creation.  A bit unnerving to sit on if you ask me...

Triathlon Adventure!

We did it! 
This was a great, fun, wild and crazy week with 14 relatives visiting us -- making 21 people in the house at times.  (The 2 grandmas were smart and got a hotel, so they could retreat for peace and quiet when it got too exciting at our house.)  The reason for this gathering -- besides the fact that we all just enjoy being together, was that 4 of the sisters/sisters in-law got it in our heads that we wanted to do a triathlon.  I am quite proud to say that we all cheerfully made it!  I am also incredibly thankful for Ali who stirred up this adventure, and for our family members who helped make it happen.  I hope that next year we will have even more family members participate!

That is me coming out of the lake, and peeling off my wetsuit.  I'll admit that swim was one of the most terrible things that I have experienced in a long time.  If I had a choice to repeat that or childbirth.  I'd choose labor and delivery.  I have a lot of work to do before I try another 1/3 mile lake swim.  The 14 mile bike ride was hard and tiring, but more like what I had expected.  I was surprised at how hard the run was after coming off the bike. Those 4 miles felt the same as miles 22-26 in a marathon.  I thought I'd do great with the run, as I am currently able to do twice that distance, but I was so focused while on the bike ride that I forgot to drink anything and became somewhat dehydrated.  Now that I have done one triathlon, I know what to expect, and how to train better.  I feel like I fell off a horse, and now I need to get back on.  I'd like to sign up for another one in September.  I'm afraid if I don't have a reason to keep working at it, I might never go swimming again. 

Dallin and Jillian participated in the youth triathlon.  they didn't even train, but just jumped in and did it for fun.  They did well.  Here are a few pictures of them.

Kaylee was a great help in getting bikes ready, helping with younger children, and cheering.  She did not have time to train for the full length one, and was too old for the youth one.  She hopes to do the full length one with us next year.  I'm sure she will beat my times easily. 

My Latest Creative Inspiration

Last night I realized that tomorrow was the last day of the month, and we had not gotten to visit all of the people we are supposed to Visit Teach.  I decided I'd just make treats and drop them off today, in a  feeble attempt to show that we care.  (About the person, and our record for 100%)   This morning when I woke up the first few lines of this song were running through my head.  I didn't even try to make them up, they were just there.  I revised the rest of the song, and felt pretty pleased with myself.  I'll print it on a card and deliver it with a bag of fancy chocolates, or flowers or something.  (I'm not even making treats because I'm so tight on time, and I don't want the kitchen mess!  The dishes mess is the worst part of making treats -- that and the fact that the kids and I end up eating the rest of the batch for snacks and lunch and snacks the rest of the day!)  Anyway, I'm digressing!
Here it is -- just to make you laugh.  I hope no one else needs to use this -- but feel free to if you do. 

The tune is "Your Happy Birthday" in the LDS Primary Songbook.  Pg 283. 

This month was such a hectic one;
It’s summer time, that’s true.
We really wish that we had come,
and spent some time with you.
Zip-a-dee-ay and heigh-dee-ho,
Here’s something we can do.
We’ll drop off treats and next month hope,
We will do better for you!

Bunny Rescue

Background information:  There are tons of wild rabbits in our area.  Since it is spring, there are even tonser of wild baby bunnies running around.  Duma (our 1 year old cat) is in predator heaven.  He has already caught one baby bunny, 4 or 5 birds, a mole and a frog.  All of these have appeared on our back porch steps in varying stages of deadness.  Also, our neighbors have a kitten. Duma has taken it upon himself to teach Farley how to hunt.  Both cats roam freely between our families' yards.

The story:  Over the weekend, our yard was full of small children.  There were probably 10 kids, most of which were age 6 and under.  They were all happily playing, while Duma and Farley hung around as well.  Suddenly Dallin noticed that Farley was attacking something.  Unfortunately, a lot of the small children noticed too.  Upon investigation, they realized that it was a baby bunny that Farley had gripped in his teeth and was shaking it around.  Such violence did not go over well with the young children.  They were screaming in horror.  Fortunately, since Farley was still small, the bunny was too heavy for him, and he dropped the poor thing.  The bunny was in a daze and couldn't make a run for it quickly.  Jillian was able to scoop up Farley and take him away before he had a chance to go after it again.  Dallin got out the leather gloves and went back to retrieve the bunny who had slowly crawled under a nearby bush.  They were all relieved to find that the bunny was still in one piece, with no blood or obvious damage.  The bunny struggled in Dallin's hands for a bit, but then must have realized he was safe, calmed, and retreated farther inside Dallin's grip -- trying to be completely hidden.  Dallin showed all the kids that the bunny was ok, then took him to an area with dense bushes where we know that several bunnies live.  Hopefully it was the right family group.  For the rest of the day, everyone kept a close watch on Farley to make sure he didn't try to go near the bunny hide-out.  Farley has lost an immense amount of favor with the neighborhood children, while Dallin has been elevated to the respectable position of Brave Bunny Rescuer. 

March Point Fun Run

Every year Tesoro hosts a "Fun Run" for the community.  I know some people cannot understand how we could use the word fun to describe the concept of "run", but for us, it is a fun little event to participate in.  Dallin ran the 5 K (3.2 miles) with a friend his age.  Maddo and Bryce ran the 1/2 mile run for kids.  Kaylee captured this cool shot of Dallin sprinting through the air at the end.  He was very tired, but happy at the fact that he ran the whole way.  

Here is Bryce headed toward the finish chute.  He also ran the whole way.  He placed 6th in his age group.  

Here is Maddo right after coming in.  She placed 5th in her age group, but didn't think it was fair that she (as a young 9 year old) was racing against 10 and 11 year olds.   She has not learned to pace herself.  She is like a shooting star -- she takes off with an amazing burst of glorious speed, and then burns out and walks.  After a minute, she takes off at comet pace again and continues until she gets some sort of pain, and then walks again.     She still had fun though, and shortly after the race was asking if she could go run some more. Possibly she needs to sign up for the 5 K next year!  

Matt's knee has been bothering him, so he declined running.  He helped with recording runners numbers and times as they came in.  It was amazing to see 2 men aged 81 and 82 years come dashing in ahead of a 28 year old guy.  And that was for the 10 K (6.4 miles!) I hope that we can be like that when we are 80!  Instead of paying $15 and competing in the race, I decided to run from home out to the refinery.  I left early and made it all 6 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes.  Matt had suggested that I ride with the family to the race and then run home, but I adamantly refused.  The route to Tesoro was predominantly down hill. I didn't want to give up such a great opportunity to run down hill without ever having to climb back up!  It was a great run!  I had forgotten how much I like distance running.  

This was the first truly glorious day of spring/summer, and it was so wonderful to be outside!  I am thankful for the blessing of health, and that we can run!  

Our Personal Lake

It has been raining, and raining, and raining. We have all felt very sunshine-deprived and irritated about all the lovely spring weather that we have NOT been having.  The gray drizzle has dampened (soaked) not only the ground, but our spirits as well.  After more than week of daily rain, the kids were desperate to be outside.  On Saturday they noticed that the drainage area in the front of our neighborhood had filled up and become a lovely little pond.  Shortly after commenting on the fact that we now had a lake in our own neighborhood, they began plotting how to take advantage of the situation.  First, they started asking if they could go look for frogs.  I said yes.  After the fun of that wore off, someone got the idea to get out the inflatable boat and see if they could paddle it around.  I believe I was on the phone, or only half paying attention when they asked if they could do that, because the next thing I knew, there was a great commotion of dragging the boat out of the crawl space, hooking up the air compressor, finding puddle boots, etc.   By the time I really realized what they were doing it was too late.  I was a bit worried about what the neighbors would say.  I wondered if paddling around in the decorative drainage area was allowed in the homeowner covenants.  Then I realized that Matt was involved in the process, and so I happily left it in his hands.  Here are some pictures of their big adventure.

The boat had a slow leak, so eventually they had to come out of the water.  Sadly, by the next day the water had drained away.  Although I do not ever wish for it to rain so much again, I do have the hope that if it does, at least there will be something good for the kids to enjoy outside.