Paradise

This past weekend we decided to join a few family members on a quick camping trip in Southern Utah at a place called Goblin Valley. How have I never heard of this place?! It was amazing. As soon as we arrived Noble busted out of the car like he was on fire and never quit exploring until we left the next day. After dinner Friday we did a quick hike among the goblins (unbelievable sandstone formations) which ended in a beautiful harvest-moonrise (we could have stayed out by the moonlight - but Sully was tired).

(Sully as night falls among the goblins)

(Casey and Grace in one of many caves)

We explored a sweet slot canyon the next morning...
...where we were surprised by this tiny desert toad in the narrows.
(Helen and Jessie checking out a small rain-water cistern)

Thanks Casey and Helen for the excellent idea. We'll be game for another goblin trip any time anyone wants to go.

Off to Chiapas - again.

I love my siblings. They really are my best friends (after Mitch-darling). Somehow we've all managed to live in the same state (same metropolitan area) for the last several years and it's been heaven. The exceptions are the few semesters a year my little brother spends going to school up at Utah State (he left on Sunday) and my older sister, Holly's, stints with her husband and 2 kids in Mexico doing archaeology (they left yesterday morning). My poor mom. It's tough to say good bye - especially when my sister and her family will be gone almost a year this time. Thank goodness for Skype and internet phone service (my little niece called us last night from their hotel in Mexico City to inform us that she had just had her bath). Plus Mike and I are planning a trip down next Spring to visit them and the site.

Grace is trying to be brave about it, losing her bosom friend, Emory, for so long... ...and I miss my sister so much...which is ironic given the epic battles of our youth and just not "getting" each other until we were in our 20's.

On the bright side, everyone is excited for this archaeological season - and the great professional opportunity it represents for Bruce & Holly. They're funded by National Geographic (I knew my subscription was going to pay-off some day) and Fulbright - so hopefully we'll be able to read all about it next year some time.

To help take our minds off all the separation shock - we've had a few big events to think about:

#1. The Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication on Sunday. That was so cool. I took my usual run up there this morning. I love the view of the valley from the bluff it sits on in South Jordan...I can see the Jordan River Temple just a couple of miles to the east and the Draper Temple up in the hills below Lone Peak where I used to run back in high school.

#2. The start of school today. This is Tillman's first year. I was a little emotional last night about it. He, of course, took it in stride. When I picked him up today he acted like it was just another day.

It's hard to believe that Summer is already past - but if I was having trouble accepting it, all of these sudden changes are helping to punctuate that fact.

Say good-bye kitties...

All of the kittens have been adopted out...more easily than I thought. They all went to homes I felt pretty good about (we personally knew all of the families). We still have one living with us until his new family returns from vacation this next week. It's a good thing too because this gives the kids a little step-down therapy rather than letting go cold-turkey. Baby animals are one of the magic experiences every child should have, right? (Not that I'd jump into that on purpose. Still, it was fun while it lasted.)

Pluto (mother cat) has an appointment with the vet NEXT WEEK.

Mike's Own Private Idaho

Mike's been gone all week on the Salmon River in Idaho with some buddies - while I hold the chaos in check here at home.

We had a rough start on Monday ...but I was feeling my stride as the week wore on, not missing him all that much because life was demanding my undivided attention. I thought I was going to make it through without a major breakdown and then the A/C stopped working yesterday afternoon (keep in mind we just paid $4000 last summer to replace the system). I cried for about half an hour, then I pulled it together & called the A/C company who installed our system last year. They gave me a relatively simple solution. (It works again!) I can't help it, I panic when the A/C quits and it's 100 degrees outside.

Overall, we managed alright this week, thanks to our families who took pity on me - I only had to cook dinner ONE night -(thanks Jacque, Mom, Beth & Kay!). That on top of giving me a breather at other times: Jacque taking each of the kids in turn to her school, Holly watching the kids so I could go to the temple one day, Howard taking us swimming at Great-Grandma Helen's on the 24th, my dad filling in again for 4H, my parents insisting on a backyard sleep out last night. I was thinking, "Mike ought to do this guy-vacation thing more often...." but then I thought better of it.

Actually, it has been a growing experience for me...and the kids. I'm grateful for that - but I'm not interested in doing this again.

Down.

Just returned from a walking the dog and kids this morning. As we came up the hill into our circle a big ol' boxer (you know those with the brown and black stripey coats that are all the rage in dogs these days) came out of nowhere from behind. Jess, behind me pushing Sully in the stroller, yelled to warn me. Before I knew it I was on the ground - banged my elbow and head on the pavement pretty hard in the process. The Space Donkey managed to come out on top and said boxer jogged away. ...My next dilemma: Jupiter on the loose (which is tricky in the best of conditions) with another dog keeping his attention. My head hurting, I followed them into the next circle where a second boxer was wandering, a car trolling along nearby (apparently the owners trying to gather the dogs up again). Jupiter tried his luck with this dog as well, and then decided his odds weren't as good - so he gave it up and came to me.

My elbow is sore.

Come to think of it - this reminds me very much of another experience with Jupiter where I ended up on the pavement - tangled in the leash while taking him for a run. I had road rash scars for a year and a half after that one.

Not to Beat a Dead Horse...

I know that I went off a while back about all of us being spoiled about food. Trust me, I'm really not obsessed about food. With that disclaimer... I've been slowly working my way through a book my mom gave me about nutrition, The China Study. Overall, I've been impressed. I say that with a few caveats. Mr. Campbell, PhD conducted long-term studies (30 years or so) to learn about the effects of nutrition on disease (specifically "western" diseases) - and was surprised to find that a host of diseases (from cancer to auto-immune diseases, macular degeneration, obesity, etc.) crop up at astonishing rates as a population consumes more meat and animal products (starting at a critical percentage of something like 10%-20%). I read the book sceptically at first, but actually found the volume of data compelling. On top of that I just found myself thinking that it was all just common sense anyway. In the end he tries to make the argument that people should be 100% vegan - which is where he looses me, especially when his data don't specifically show the benefit. He basically says, "if 10% is good then none MUST be best."

Here's my take: if you know a Mormon, or are one, read section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Eat real food/whole foods (MUCH less processed food). Eat fresh food as often as you can get it. Eat it simply. Take it easy on the sugar. Eat meat sparingly - really. Be grateful. Eat till you're full. Get out and work/play.

It was a worthwhile read.

Here's an interesting web site - with an interactive map of obesity rates in the US for adults and children. I think Utah has the lowest rate of childhood obesity, barely.

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/

#5 turns 1

Happy 1st birthday to Sully this week!

Because we got back so late Saturday night from Michigan and had church and stuff on Sunday there wasn't a whole lot of time to prepare any fancy party for the big 1st birthday - which was ok (he'd already been to two shared family parties: one with Melton cousins in Michigan and one on Sunday with Sullivans). He was just stoked that he got to have pizza and cake for the first time. Unofficial guests were a couple of neighbor friends who happened to be hanging out at our house that day. I picked up one of those tube/tunnel toys at IKEA earlier in the day (he test-drove his cousins' in Michigan and loved them so much we decided he had to have one of his own). AND as a bonus...he got to hang out in his underwear all day (onesies-only are a baby privilege when it's 95 degrees outside).

It's hard to keep up with the passing of time. It can't be a year already, can it?

As Grace would say, "I'm crying in my mind...."

Tripped Out

Finally back from our second vacation in three weeks... we packed in quite a bit.

Observations:

#1. It is SO nice to sleep in one's own bed again.

#2. I don't want to take 5 kids on any flight longer than two hours any time soon.

#3. Since Mike's only been into work about a week and a half this month so far, I doubt that I'll see him for the next week at all.

#4. My kids miss their cousins in Michigan.

#5. My kids miss the non-stop entertainment of vacation life.
#6. We packed too few pairs of pants for the California trip and far too many for the Michigan trip.

#7. Charge the iPod BEFORE getting on the airplane.

#8. Don't try feeding the kids dinner in the airport 30 minutes before your flight takes off.

#9. Pack tools in the car when you go on a road trip. (Or keep your brother in law within radio range.)

#10. Blowing a tire at Donner Pass isn't so bad - as long as it's not winter.

#11. BIG RV's don't mix with narrow, windy, terrifying roads out of Yosemite.

#12. Put my kids in pull-ups diapers before putting them in the RV to ride with Grandma and Grandpa (you'd think with a bathroom on board they could make it in time).

#13. Screen Tillman's responses when a living history museum volunteer asks for any questions. (Instead of "How does a pit saw work?" the guy got "Do you play flag football?" - Come on man, the bright red bandanna hanging out of your pants like that? What did you expect?)

#14. Sully likes the wind.

#15. Babies LIKE to eat sand.

#16. With a cool name like Battle Mountain - why would a town shame themselves by painting BM on the hillside for everyone to see?

#17. Snobby historic hotels charge A LOT to take tea ...don't make promises to a 7 year old girl unless you plan to improvise.

#18. My Grandma Gertie and her sister Patsy are cute.

#19. Tami is the best family vacation coordinator I know. (Thanks Tami for everything!)

#20. I'm happy to be at home for a while.

Weekend blur

An action-packed weekend. I know we're not the only people out there with too much on the calendar - all it takes is a couple of kids - and pretty soon you find yourself double and triple booked. We managed to make it to everything...only because of family and friends. Thanks. Friday night we dropped Jessie and her stuff at Sullivans so she could sleep over and my parents could take her and the horse over to the arena early Saturday...that way we could be up and make it to Noble's piano recital at 10Am (Jessie missed for the second year running because of a scheduling conflict)...had lunch with Mike's parents......after which we traveled to the arena to watch Jessie for an hour or so (just enough time for Tillman to swell up from exposure to horses and dust)...then I rushed off with the boys to make it to Tillman's soccer game at 2PM (trying to dilute the allergens with bottled water along the way- he drank almost a whole liter)...the "Black Widows" came away with a tie and Tillman with wet shorts (we didn't make it to the potty in time after all that water) ...sent Tillman home with our friends rather than have to drug him up with Benadryl, and returned to the 4H show in time to see Jessie compete in her last speed event, which she handled well ...helped clean her horse's stall... ...gathered everyone up and made the trip home ... the realtor called during dinner to ask if people could come look at the house this morning (Sunday) while we'd be at church. (Do you know how hard it is to keep the house perpetually perfect with 5 kids, animals and all the stuff we have going?) I had unfinished laundry (we're leaving on a road trip through No. California on Tuesday for a week) & a messy house. So I stayed up folding laundry...but I should have checked on the cat because she was "queening" (giving birth) to 4 kittens out in garage sometime during the night. Noble found them this morning and ran into the house to announce that Pluto had her kittens (later he told us that at first when he saw them he thought that she had mice).

I'm reminded of that children's book: Meanwhile Back at the Ranch. All in a day's work. No wonder I get so tired.

As a side note: there was a polo match going on at the same time as the 4H show on Saturday at the equestrian complex. Our usual parking area had been reserved for the upper classes attending the polo match (I think we actually parked in Prince Charles' spot - Mike stuck it to "the man" and parked there anyway). I couldn't resist taking this picture of the label on the gate and of the RED CARPET (I'm not kidding) leading from the parking lot to the covered seating area with medieval flags along the way. Don't get me wrong, polo is fun to watch (they play at the equestrian park all the time), but I thought this was hilarious.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Celebration

The Temple Celebration went really well. I was really surprised at how GOOD they were. These kids were very patient and cooperative - with the marathon dress rehearsal (8 hours - we were out until 11:00 PM - on a school night) and with the demands of the performance. I couldn't believe that a bunch of teenagers would go so many hours without food or water and NOT complain.
The result was pretty amazing. With the dress rehearsal I'd seen it twice already but I was still glued at the performance. Pres. Monson talked for a few minutes to the kids and Pres. Eyring was there too. That was definitely a highlight for everyone. It kind of made me wish my kids were a little older - just because I know they'll probably never get the chance to do something like this.

Here are a few photos posted by the Church News.
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57417/Oquirrh-Temple-Youth-Celebration-Photo-gallery.html

And - here's another article with lots of pics just about the Oquirrh Mountain open house. Mike's up there today parking cars.
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57353/Media-tour-Oquirrh-Mountain-Utah-Temple.html