A couple of things

I'm leaving to go camping with my family tonight, and we won't be back for a couple of days, so I won't be posting again until maybe Sunday. I will be taking my journal with me. (Expect more Excerpts!)

I saw a couple of people last night at "Big" that I wasn't expecting to see: Amy, DeeDee, Laren, and Sharon!!!! Yippee! Sharon is in Utah!

Here's a bizarre thing to add to my blog; a list of people I talked to at "Big" last night.

Amy W.
DeeDee R.
Greg B.
Seth B.
Derek S.
Keolani S.
Laren L.
Sharon L.
Mark D.
Michael H.(LFN)
Jim D.
Kelly D.

By this time my sisters were tired of waiting for me and actually left without me. Oh well. I think if I'd been in their position (waiting for a chatty sister, but look! I have my own transportation!) I would have left as well. It's okay. I still beat them to Sconecutter.

Just a Hint

Don't ever give an 8 yr old a sling shot.

If you do, don't let him shoot it in the house.

If he does, don't let him shoot hard things.

If he does, don't let him shoot it at light fixtures.

If he does, pray they are not glass.

When they break, try really, really, really hard not to yell at him.

Prince Caspian

I really liked this movie a lot. It wasn't my all-time favorite, but it certainly is one of the best movies I've seen this summer. (Wall-E and Iron Man being the other two)

Sometimes if a movie is based on a book, you really should have read the book before you go to the movie, otherwise you just don't get all the important pieces of information (Harry Potter being the prime example). This is not the case here. I loved the book, and I will most certainly read it again, but it's not necessary to enjoy the movie. The screenwriters did a fine job of translated CS Lewis' work for the big screen.

The actors are well cast, the location is well chosen, the music is well composed. I could go on and on.

In short...it's a movie worth seeing.

Monday, Monday

At least it wasn't a Rainy Day. Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

I gave blood again yesterday. I find it incredibly sad when I know the questions and the order of things better than the person who was taking my blood. Yes, they were training.

I suppose that I'm a good person to train on...I've got a great vein in my right arm. It doesn't roll, it doesn't hide, it doesn't collapse, it just lets the needle go in. And I'm more or less patient with the technician. I really tried not to anticipate my answers (okay, just once I answered the question before he asked it).

On the home front, I taught lessons, I cleaned house, I read a pretty good book (Odd Mom Out). It was a pretty typical Monday.

Unknown

Sometimes when you teach a lesson, you really don't how it's received. You don't feel great when it's all finished, you felt as if you stumbled your way through the material, and aren't sure you made your point at all. Even the "that was a good lesson" comments that you're given don't really seem all that sincere.

Then the sister comes up you and says, "Thank you so much. I've been struggling with ??? and your lesson was exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you."

And on the way home your daughter tells you, "You gave a good lesson today, Mom. My Sunday School teacher came in and told us all about it." (I was wondering how she knew anything about my lesson...she's in Young Women's and not Relief Society.)

And all the stress and struggle seems worth it.

yesterday

Riding my bike...5.7 miles.

School shopping with Sarah and Grandma Barney...$200.

P.F. Changs for dinner...39.08.

Spending time with David...priceless.

Take me out to the ballgame

We took the kids to the Bees game last night.

The Bees won.

There was an okay fireworks display afterwards.

The kids behind us were the most annoying children I have come across in about a million years. I wanted to throttle them.

I didn't.

Me...a Geek?

60% Geek

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Shuffle

I saw this on Megan's blog and I thought, "That sounds like a lot of fun!" Then I saw it on Rachaels's blog, too and I knew I was going to do it. It took a little while for me to find the right day, but I'm here, and it's time, so, here goes!



I pulled up my ipod, put on the shuffle and these are the first ten songs that came up.



If I Had it All - Dave Matthews Band - Everyday

I'm Alive - David Cook - American Idol (David Cook is a Rock Star!)

Ask Me Again - Michael Feinstein - Nice Work if You Can Get It (one of the best Gershwin interpreters in the world)

Danny Boy - Harry Connick, Jr. - Come By Me (duh...I love Harry! Probably not as much as Rachael, but I still do.)

In Wonder - Newsboys - Go (I got this from Esther)

The Last Thing on My Mind - Neil Diamond - Stones (some classic rock is always a good thing)

Sad Eyes - Trisha Yearwood - Real Live Woman (yes, I love country, too!)

The Heart Won't Lie - Vince Gill - Greatest Hits (see above)

Kansas City - London Cast of "Oklahoma!" (this is the Hugh Jackman cast...who I also love)

Kathy's Song - Simon and Garfunkel - Greatest Hits (more classic rock)



I started wondering where all the musicals and classical music had gone to, and sure enough, very next up was "Beauty School Dropout". The classical stuff took a little longer...three or four more songs before I happened across a Bach Adagio.

I have to add...

Watch this commercial!

I laughed out loud, and...well...just watch it. (Especially you, Crystal!)

Not much

Happy Pioneer Day!

I'm going back to bed now.

A little sad

I nearly cried as I stood at my bedroom window and watched yesterdays hail storm demolish my garden.

Thank goodness the tomatoes survived.

Auditions

It went well last night. I was happy with the people that came out. As usual, I would have hoped for more men, but we got enough (and with some talent, too!) to cast the show.

Yay for that!

*Sigh*

Sarah's gone to girl's camp for the week.

*sigh*

Matt Bogart - Simple Song

Simple Song

Sing God a simple song
Make it up as you go along
Sing like you like to sing
God loves all simple things
For God is the simplest of all.

Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Schwartz

What we did when we left Discovery Gateway...

Corbin said, "What about the water?"

I said, "Sure!"

This is the result.

Corbin was holding his hand over the hole in the ground where the water is momentarily going to come up from.

Don't they all look like drowned rats? I mean, really.

That is not an unhappy look on Ella's face. She's concentrating so hard that she'd biting her tongue.

Josh, being Josh.

I call this picture "WET".

Caught Up

That's it! I've finished blogging about my vacation. Of course I've been home longer than we were gone, but it's all there nonetheless. We had a great time. I highly recommend Mt. Rushmore as a family vacation spot.

Here's what I learned, or at least bits and pieces of it.

1. My kids no longer need a movie in the van to help them travel well. In the past, we've hooked up the portable DVD player and let the kids watch movies the entire trip. This time, instead of that, I uploaded audio books onto my ipod and we all listened to "Inkheart" and "The Merchant of Death" together. Do you know what it did? It gave us all something to talk about. And when we got tired of listening to that I had a playlist that I made specifically for this trip.

2. Bishops are the same no matter where you attend church. The ward we went to in Gillette was teeny. They didn't even have an organist, accompaniment for the singing of the hymns was provided by a piano player. So, imagine the excitement on the Bishop's face when my family comes in and sits down on the back row. The bishop didn't say anything to us before the meeting, but he caught up with us half way to our car in the parking lot afterwards. (Stalker Bishop)

3. Joshua would eat ketchup straight if I would let him. I think that's pretty self-explanatory.

4. I love spending time with my family. Enough said.

july 7

excerpts from my journal

I spent the morning packing, packing, repacking, rearranging, cleaning and repacking the van.

And now we're on the road. Well actually we're filling up with gas and then we'll be on the road. We're heading home and I'm thrilled. It's been fun, but I'm ready to be done. I've learned a lot on this trip, and I'm grateful for it.

Reunion

I've spent so much time this week playing catch-up: catch-up the laundry, catch-up the lessons, catch-up the cleaning, catch-up the scouting, catch-up the blog, catch-up the reading, catch-up catch-up catch-up, that I've not really taken the time to write about what's happened since we got back.

I guess this is catch-up, too.

Sunday I went to a reunion of some of my high school friends. We graduated 20 years ago (ouch!) and our official reunion is in August, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go to that one. Really. I didn't know, or get along with, or even like most of these people when I was there, why would I want to spend 2-3 days and an exorbitant amount of money to be with them again? But, I digress. The reunion on Sunday was organized by one of my oldest friends (I've only known one person longer) because he currently lives in New Zealand and wanted to see all our old friends while he was in town.

The result was, a reunion of just the people that I called my friends in high school.

Of course we were missing a few: schedules are just too busy, vacations got in the way, Brian is teaching music in Italy, but the majority of my group of friends was there. And we had a ball.

It's funny to see people for the first time in 10 years (we did a get together like this 10 years ago) and see all the weight people have gained. Or the new wrinkles, or the gray hair, or the lost hair, and realize that we have all gotten old. (When did that happen?) But Dana is still skinny and kind, Carrie is still soft spoken and gracious, Cindy still takes care of other people, Angie still feeds everyone who walks through her door, Scott is still ridiculously funny, Danny is still a tease, Kelly still has a need to be the center of attention, and Jared is still everyone's friend.

Me? I'm still overdramatic. (shocker there...Rachael, you can quit laughing now) (you too, Kate) (what am I saying? Everyone knows it's true.)

But, it was fun. And I'm glad that I went. I know why these people were my friends; they still are. The best part is that I feel even less desire to attend the "official" reunion now. Woohoo! I just saved $114!

july 6

excerpts from my journal

Yesterday was a big travel day. It had to be because now we're in Gillette, Wyoming.

I slept in a bed last night. I had a shower yesterday and one this morning. The kids have their own room and think it's amazing.

Yesterday's trip included one last stop at Mt. Rushmore - I Love that place! We bought a DVD and had pie in the cafe. Then we all said goodbye to the President's and loaded ourselves into the van.

Our next major stop was Devils Tower in Wyoming. It was really impressive, the hike was okay, and I'll probably never go back again. It just wasn't that great. But the kids did the Jr. Ranger program and I got a bunch of pictures, so I figure it was worth it.

Now we're in Gillette. Church - not our ward - is starting in a few minutes. the kids are a little nervous, as am I; someone else's ward is always a little uncomfortable.

Ghost Rider

The kids, and David, well heck, we all love this song. I put it on our ROADTRIP playlist, and when it came up, we were all singing it (belting would probably be a better word) together. So when they played it at the chuckwagon, I couldn't resist.

Sorry I missed the beginning. Things like that happen.

july 5

excerpts from my journal

Yesterday we went to Wind Cave. The drive out there, through Custer State Park, was gorgeous. I wish we could have spent more time there, but Sarah was getting car sick and we were all a little stir-crazy. I did put in my Tab Choir "God Bless America" - so on July 4, driving through a beautiful land, we listened to patriotic music. I felt very much like Fozzie Bear (Sarah even did the "Da da da Dum Dum").

In Custer State Park we saw deer, bison and prairie dogs - hundreds of prairie dogs. We learned at Wind Cave that prairie dogs are key to the ecosystem. The Wind Cave Jr. Ranger program had a lot of non-cave stuff in it. It reminded me a lot of Yellowstone.

Sarah and Ben got their picture taken by the Ranger when they got their badges - it will be posted on the nps.gov website. I told them "Joshua will be jealous and Ella will be excited." I was right! Yea! I do know my children - except apparently Ben doesn't like cherry. When did that happen?

Our camping neighbors/cousins told us about this chuckwagon that we should try - so we did. It's called Circle B and there was so much to it. Activities for everyone. Ella got a pony ride (on Buckshot) Joshua and Ben panned for gold and came away with a bunch of iron pyrite (they didn't care). David got to have a chat with a champion woodcarver, his name is Doug Ladd, and his work was displayed at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. later he recognized me in the food line and told me I'd have to do dishes *grin*. We had our choice of chicken, beef or buffalo (or combinations of the three) along with a baked potato, cowboy beans, applesauce a biscuit and gingercake. (Josh ordered a hot dog) there was plenty of lemonade and water (no coffee for us, thank you!) We all say at big, wooden tables, cafeteria style. After dinner there was cowboy music - the family who owned the chuckwagon performed, and it was quite a treat. Sarah bought a cd, I'm really glad, and we all had a great time. Thank you, Bransons!

We took the kids to Custer to watch fireworks. It was, after all, the fourth of July. The kids were very hyper. We ended up playing 'duck, duck, goose' in the park. We laughed and laughed - it was my favorite part of the day. The kids got really creative about their ducks - "brave duck" "cute duck" "skinny mommy duck" (that was nice *grin*) "old fat duck" (David did laugh) and it went on and on. The fireworks were okay, but the evening was brilliant.

One More Ride

Introducing...the Circle B Cowboys! (After they've had a shoot out and served our dinner, of course.)

This is part of our celebrations on the fourth, which I wrote about on the fifth because I write in my journal mostly in the morning, but I wanted to add it to my blog today, so I'll write a little about it now.

We took the kids to a Chuckwagon for dinner on the fourth, and the price for dinner includes a show (which is why Joshua got a $17 hot dog). It felt like a great way to celebrate, and you know what? It was.

july 4

excerpts from my journal

Happy Independence Day!!!

I hadn't realized how much I've missed writing in a journal. I've been blogging all year, and yes, I've blogged every day, but I love paper and pen. I take notes about everything. I have pages and pages of lists. I hope when this vacation is over that I don't just go back to only blogging.

Sarah was sick yesterday. That curtailed a lot of our plans, but it turned out to be a good thing. The skies cleared up, the temperature warmed slightly, and yesterday felt like a real camping trip. We sat around and played games. The kids, except Sarah, walked everywhere in the campground. We had a campfire, so we made tin foil dinners, and s'mores. We sang silly campfire songs (by this time Sarah had quit throwing up, slept all day and was feeling better) played silly games and ended the night with a couple of round about stories.

Also, we took three of the kids into Rapid City for some supplies. Ben was sitting in the van by Ella and was driving her nuts. There came a point when she had had it, turned to him, spoke in a loud voice and said, "You stinkin' little rat!" It took all of my control as a mother not to burst out laughing right then and there. Where in the world did she hear that?

headache

I woke up with a migraine this morning, so I won't be writing any more than this until I feel better. Hopefully later today.

I had a lot I wanted to say this morning. Darn!

The Story of Evil Tickles as Told By the Rogers Family

E - Bad Tickles was trying to chase me.
D- No!
E- They he just tried to hit me!
P- Really?
E- Uhhuh.
Then I just stopped like that.
S- Then he decided to make Sarah sick. And he did.
E- No he didn't!
S- Yes, he did!
B- Then he tried to take over the body of Joshua.
J- Hey!
E- No he didn't! Then he tried to take the body of me!
B- Okay, Ella.
E- Then I was running around. Then he just did something.
P- What did he do?
E- He just tried to hit me again.
(S- Ella, do you want a marshmallow?
E- No.
S- Josh, do you want it?
J- Yes.)
E- Then bad Tickles was chasing us on our walk.
B- Then bad Tickles got a whole bunch of explosives, exploded a hole in the ground and put Josh in it.
S- And that's what we call an out house!
J- Uh!
P- The End.
E- That's not the end!

july 3

the good - we pack all our stuff into the van so it wouldn't get wet (as we traveled yesterday)

the bad - my air mattress seems to have a leak in it, I am currently on the ground

the ugly - I really need to wash my hair

We took a tour of Jewel Cave yesterday. It was pretty cool. It's not the same kind of cave as Timpanogos (which is a wet cave), with stalactites and stalagmites, it has mostly crystal formations. Ella had been very scared to go into the cave, but she was really brave once we were there. I would venture to say that she even enjoyed herself.

On Tuesday Ella told us a story as to why she's been misbehaving. It would seem that her (imaginary) friend Tickles has an evil Tickles as well. Not an evil twin; she assured us of that, but an evil Tickles. and she was running around trying to escape from him.

We met our camping neighbors yesterday morning. They saw our Utah license plate and came over wondering if we're Mormons. We are. : ) We got talking, and it turns out we're related! Isn't life funny?! They are distant cousins on David's Mom's side. Anyway, they invited us over for a campfire and marshmallow roast last night; we had a great a time. It was the most camp-like thing we've done so far this trip.

huh

When did 15 miles become a short, easy ride?

Cause it was.

i want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike!

Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle!

Yes, I'm riding my bike this morning. I'll blog more later.

Wall-E

I took my kids to see Wall-E yesterday. It turns out I have a new student this month, one who wasn't figured into my budget, yet, so I had a little bit of extra and taking the kids to see a really great movie seemed like a good idea.

It was a really great movie. I loved it! I know my kids enjoyed it, too, but the content itself was a little beyond them. That's okay, they loved it anyway (except Ella, who fell asleep on my lap).

It's charming. It's lovely. It's not what I expected. I would go see it again.

Take the time to see Wall-E. It's worth it!

july 2

excerpts from my journal

We got in so late last night, I really had no intention of waking up so early, but it's raining again, or maybe it's still. Who knows? So David and I are discussing options. I wonder if this is what my folks did when we went to Bear Lake and it rained the entire time. I know they bought a trailer right after that.

We had a huge day yesterday. It started with grilled breakfast (David almost always cooks breakfast when we're camping).

It was our first day at Mt. Rushmore. How do I describe the excitement we were all feeling? Palpable is the best word I can think of. It's a good thing it's not farther away from our camp ground, I think the kids would have exploded.

What can I say? Mt. Rushmore is totally cool. They have three different Jr. Ranger programs: 0-4, 5-12, 13+, so all my kids got to participate. Ella has always been too young, and Sarah had deemed herself too old. Anyway, we spent the morning wandering around the visitors center and such.

It started raining. A few light sprinkles, really nothing to worry about. By the time we were in our car riding out it was pouring. And there were huge lightning strikes. Obviously if we went back to the campground we would be trapped inside a tent trying to keep four children entertained. So, we went to Crazy Horse Memorial instead.

It was still raining when we finished, so we drove into Hill City (just like Park City) and Rapid City (more like Provo) to do our grocery shopping. It was decided that we would have dinner at Mt. Rushmore and stay for the lighting ceremony. We did, and it too was pretty cool. Ella fell asleep and didn't care one whit about the lit presidents.

Temper Tantrum

This is what happens when you are four years old, very tired, very ornery, and not getting your way...at all.

Be prepared for a four year old's version of graphic violence.

Did you notice the beautiful trees, the birds in the distance, the idyllic campsite?

Of course not.

july 1

excerpts from my journal

I don't know if it's the light or the birds that woke me up. But it's barely 6:00 am and everyone else is still asleep. I'm here staring at the trees and the sky out the tent window: the same window I stared out at the stars last night.

It's beautiful and peaceful.
I'm glad we're here.

I got back into my habit of writing in the morning, so all the events of a day are listed under the next day. I know it's confusing, but it works for me, so tough.

first day back

It turned out pretty much as I expected it to. The kids watched TV and goofed off all day, David went to work, and I did laundry.



I'm thinking of grounding them from the Tv today in hopes that they might actually do some chores.



Will it work?

june 30

excerpts from my journal

Oh Dark Hundred.
My Dad used to say that all of the time. It indicates freakin' early in the morning in navy speak.

We tried to leave at Oh Dark Hundred and didn't quite make it. Things were not as put together as I'd thought. Oh well. We still got off before 6:00 am.

We stopped at a place called Will-Yum's for breakfast. The food was homecooked and pretty decent, but my favorite part had to be when the waitress asked "Who's ready to order?" and my three youngest just raised their hands like they were in school.

Will-Yum's is located in Ft. Bridger, Wyoming, and to my delight, the fort was open when we finished eating. I knew it would make for a long day (I was right, by the way), but I wanted to look around the fort. The kids did, too, and so we did.

The rest of the drive was pretty dull, we listened to a book and some music, we drove and drove...

Our campground is beautiful, but minimal. No electricity, an outhouse not too far away. There's a faucet not too far away as well. (but we shared it with the rest of the campers)

YEOUGH!!!!!!

I

HATE

LAUNDRY

!!!!!!

We're Back!

Well, we made it back.

I didn't kill any of my kids on this trip.
I didn't overspend my budget.
We didn't die.

I did have to buy a new air mattress.
I did eat way too much fast food.
We had an amazing time.

I have to finish unpacking.
There's laundry and laundry and laundry to be done.
I still have lessons to teach today.

I'll catch my blog up on everything one way or another in the coming days...there's so much! We took hundreds of pictures and a few videos, too. I wrote pages and pages about our adventures, and the whole family contributed to a story about "Evil Tickles". Like I said earlier, we had an amazing time, but right now, the laundry is calling me.