Week in Review 7/29/10

Hmm, this week had a rough start with #1 in hot water for ... not knowing how to be 16 yet. She lost her phone and driving privileges and was pretty much under lock-down except for work hours - needless to say, she pulled a double shift on Saturday to stay off my radar. ;) Sunday was the youth sacrament meeting and we got to listen to the youth tell us all about the different summer camps and youth conference. We also found out Sunday night that there was no way on Earth that #2 and Chandler were going to make it back from California anytime soon traveling standby into Salt Lake, so we had to adjust our plans.

Turns out the best fix was for #1 and I to roadtrip down to Vegas and pick the boys up from a flight there. Six hours in the car with my own daughter when we're barely speaking to each other ... let's just say neither of us were sure how we felt about it. I finished up my jetBlue shift, we each packed a bag, gave Izzy a quick bath and finished up the laundry and dishes and we were off. We topped off the tank and zipped through a carwash, grabbed some gross fast food and spent the next 40 minutes or so in awkward silence. Somehow ... thanks to my prodding, we were able to have cleared up most things between us by the time we pulled up to the Red Barn in Santaquin. We peeked around the shop and decided there wasn't anything we wanted so jumped back on the freeway. I have to say that being trapped in a car together without any other distractions and plenty of snack food isn't a bad way to work through some of these things and have a productive conversation with a teenager. (I'll have to remember that for future issues)

Anywho! We pulled into Vegas, checked into the hotel, grabbed dinner at Chili's and very quietly made fun of the couple who were sitting on the same side of their table. Next came the tricky airport business, luckily the boys were able to find us without a hitch. Back to the hotel ... kids texting and on iPods until who knows how late while I passed out. The next morning brought breakfast and the lovely drive home. Oy! Exhausting.

And believe it or not ... Wednesday was even more tiresome! I took the 3 bigs to a "Discover Scuba" class at Dive Utah and redeemed the groupons I'd purchased in June. It was a riot! The kids had a blast, but we were pretty worn out by the time we had to lug our gear back to the storage room. That night we had plans to go boating too. Scuba and boating all in the same day? Yup. Can I tell you I slept like the dead that night? Thursday we tried to keep the schedule more mellow .... it was dreamy.

Week in Review 7/22/10

We're desperately trying to get back on track here. For the most part we're back to a normal summer schedule, with plenty of play time. This particular week was a great one too. I was able to take #1 to go get her driver's license and she had her first few outings ALL ON HER OWN. (yikes) We took the littles out for a spin on the lake Friday night and went back again Saturday with all the boys + Chandler. East Canyon was definitely more crowded than we like ... and plan to go back to our mid-week boating schedule. Church on Sunday was awesome and we delivered a 'heart attack' to M that afternoon, to remind her that we love her.

Monday I took #2 + Chandler to the airport in hopes of getting them on a flight to Long Beach to visit Pops. There were 23 seats still available on the flight ... they were numbers 25 and 26 on the standby list. Tight - but somehow they made it on the first try. Yay jetBlue! Tuesday brought hiking with the Scouts. Wednesday I was finally able to finish up #3's book and give it to her. #1 chose the title "Embrace" ... because the whole book is like a big hug. :D I loved watching her reactions as she read through the book. She was really touched by how thoughtful her peers had been - it even made her cry. Twice. That's big. I count it as a huge success and will post more detailed pictures of the pages for you later. The week wrapped up with multiple trips to Top It to redeem our Groupons. Yum.

Summer on the Lake

There is nothing like being on the water in the summer. I adore it. Something about the water is so soothing to me. The look of it. The sound. The feel. I am fascinated by it. Last night we took a bunch of the girls with us and went tubing in the canyon. It was pretty crowded, so they spent a lot of time just swimming together by the shore. This left me completely free to snap as many pictures as I wanted of the water. I love how it looks like there are diamonds on the surface just glowing. It brought back all kinds of memories of boating with my dad. I miss him so much. I ache to just hear his voice again. But I feel him there with us when we are on the lake. And can almost, almost hear him laughing.

Clean Slate

I've wiped this blog slate clean and am starting fresh again. (sigh) I'm hoping this will be a place where I can ramble a bit and post tidbits of what is going on around the shop and in my life. With 5 kids running me around like a crazy person, there's usually something interesting happening. For the moment I'm gearing up for the American Craft Council show in San Francisco. I was accepted as an AltCraft artist this year and am a little nervous about the whole deal but am so excited to roadtrip there with my buddy Wanja. I've decided to count it as my birthday trip and not put a lot of pressure on myself for big sales dollars. We leave August 13th and will be back the 17th. I can't wait!

I'm also doing my best to keep the kids busy this summer. We've already finished up girls' camp, EFY, and High Adventure camp and 2 of the kids got to visit Washington DC with their grandparents for a couple weeks. We have everyone reading for half an hour in the mornings and then doing worksheets and writing projects until almost noon everyday. It's nice to see the kids work on projects they really enjoy too. I'm having the girls start a life story class that will get some of their creative energy out. Last weekend we secured a slip for our boat up in the canyon so we can run up a couple nights a week when Dad gets home from work. It's so fun to see them out behind the boat. Those are some of my best memories from my childhood.

I LOVE SUMMER!!