Together . . .

Ansen and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this year.  Last year on our anniversary we talked about what the next 12 years would bring . . .

Addison graduating from high school . . . maybe married (we hoped not)

Maybe moving?

Olivia driving and dating

More kids?

Another job loss?

Cancer? Death?

What will our kids do or be?

Financial hard time or good times?

Vacations we hoped for . . .

And 3 months later we experienced our biggest challenge yet . . . my car accident. 

We survived it together and we are better for it. 

Who knows what is in store next for good or for hard, but it's good to be doing it together. 

To celebrate, we went to Wicked  - and loved it!

Restored

There were 2 major losses in my accident . . .

1.  My red Costco Coat.  I mentioned it several times on this blog so you should get that it was important.  I spent a whopping $30 on it, but it's really a great winter jacket.  I could go into the particulars of what makes it great (and trust me I did with the friend I met at Costco that I convinced to buy one) but it's lost was morned.  

Look at all the documented love in just the short time that I had it.

(The scooter club picture is in my black one . . . but I usually wore my red one).

I opened my eyes in my car for a brief second as they started to cut up the arm of my coat to put an IV in . . . I remember thinking that I was sure they could have found another way.  But they did it that way and it was gone.   

Lisa texted me that our coats (she loves them too) were back at Costco and they had red again.  I was there the next day and am again a proud owner.  In my excitement, I literally convinced a women I met there and then my friend I ran into, to buy one. 

2.  My iPod.  Ansen remembered getting it out of the car and putting it in my purse.  I remember seeing my purse at the hospital and then not again for 2+ months.  My iPod was MIA.  The kids and I have dearly missed our play list for the car and hunted high and low.  I had given up . . . it was gone.

Ansen bent over to plug something in, the sun hit it just right and he found it under our dresser. 

A miracle.  What a miracle!

These 2

We're no stranger to napping during the summer.  Like, napping late and long.  Ansen came home {from work} to this.  I was there too but preferred not to be photographed.  

When I'm out cold that is how I sleep . . . hands up.  These two take after me.

Addison says she knows that Olivia is actually asleep at night and not just faking when her mouth is open and her arms are up. 

Swimming Lessons Round 2

Drew became a busy boy with soccer and swimming lessons and he was so thrilled to finally be able to do things like the big girls. 

He actually is much more "advanced" in the pool then the girls were.  They recommended that he skip the next two levels (someone validated what his Mom thought she knew).  These pictures only show his elementary skills . . . but he's a self proclaimed mermaid (or as we like to push - dolphin).

Liv came a long way this year and is pretty proficiently swimming in the deep end.

She's pretty proud of that "12 feet deep" water she "drives" into. 

Again . . . I was sitting and sewing or reading . . . :( 

Summer Part IV

Splash Park - You can't hate chillaxin at the Splash Park.  I think this might be our last year though with all three . . . Addison brought a book and though she didn't read it this time it means the water is starting to not be enough. 

Hale Center Theater - We took a tour of Hale Center Theater, which I highly recommend.  It was completely interesting and there was so much I never thought about.  We came home jazzed to take their theater acting lessons and buy season tickets.  (phone pictures)



Lunch with Dad - For the third year in a row, we finally made it to lunch with Ansen in the last 2 weeks of Summer. 

Outdoor Movie 2 - We made it to another outdoor movie and it was perfect.  We saw the Muppets.   

He made it until the very end of the movie.  We went prepared in our jammies though.

Pinterest & Treats! - We tried a new dessert pinterest recipe every Sunday and worked on our cooking skills.  We couldn't afford to eat them all so we ding dong ditched our neighbors with the rest . . . another pinterest idea.  I was trying to make all the time I've spent pinning things actually "useful."  The kids really loved the whole door bell ditch idea so it was pretty fun.  We might keep this one up for awhile . . .

Sleep Over  - at Banna and Branda's!  Banna planned some fun stuff . . . "laterns" and star gazing, new clothes for their build a bears, homemade pizza, good breakfast . . . I caught up on a lot of work! 

They came home happy and tired.  Black got some new Cars pajammas . . . thanks Mom for that added activity to our bedtime routines . . . but that's what Grandma's are for . . .

My little boy

I was pretty excited to finally have a little boy that could play itty bitty ball!  How could it not be the cutest thing ever?  There was no disappointment - it was cute. 

The first day there I sat down and got out some of my quilting to work on.  As I looked around, I suddenly realized that everyone else was entertaining other younger kids and I was just sitting there sewing or reading. 

What? When did that happen? 

 I'm the mom sitting quietly doing whatever I want?!  I had longed for that day for years and now I'm totally devastated that it's here. 

Poor, little thing would prance around his coach waiting for praise every time he kicked the ball and when he didn't get it had to run over to me.

I finally taught him our family sign for "I love you" and that seemed to do the trick.  He flashed me the sign every few minutes and if I wasn't paying close enough attention he had to run over and tell me that "he just did this."

This was his other special sign for his sisters the day they came.  

He loved it and I really, really loved watching him. 

 He loved his special green "kicking shoes" that Ansen picked out especially for him. 

He took his balloon everywhere that day until he lost it outside that evening . . . 

his heart was broken.

I was talking to our neighbor and saw his balloon start to float away and knew we were in trouble.  We heard his blood curdling scream as he started running across the front yards towards me.  Poor little guy.  I tried hard to think of how I would feel if my phone or wallet just floated away . . . you know perspective (from Bryan Reagan :)).

Now

- Drew is finally in the 50% for height and the 40% for weight.

- Addison has read 6 books in the last 3 weeks.  As long as I keep them coming, she keeps reading.

- Olivia blow dries her own hair now.  She stands on the edge of the bathtub in my bathroom and sings at the top of her lungs - I'm walkin' on sunshine . . . ooooh-oh.  She's way off tune - just like her Mom.

- Drew blessed Jeff on his mission twice in one prayer, got embarrassed and wouldn't finish.  Now after every prayer he says - "I only say Jeff once." 

- Addison is my co-pilot. The little kids will often watch movies in the back and Addison sits in the front with me - talking or singing.  She's usually in charge of music selection and my official text responder.

- Olivia finally learned to do a cartwheel.  She's done 10 per day most of the summer.  With all the complaining, 10 must sound like 100 to her, but she does it and she's getting better.

- Addison babysits now.  It's awesome.  We pay her a little.  I can't believe we are starting into this phase of life.

-  We had to leave Olivia at home finishing her 1 hour of work she had earned earlier that day while we went to the pool.  She cried and cried.  I wish I done that at the beginning of the summer instead of the end. 

-  Drew calls you his "best friend" when he needs something from you.  It started out genuine, but it's morphed into manipulative.

-  Addie is saving to buy her own iTouch.  She has enough now, but wants to save $100 over what she'll need so she still has money.  Can you tell her parents' are accountants? 

-  Olivia is trying her very, very best to love Harry Potter.  She can only handle about 3-5 pages at a time.  I think she really does like it, she just doesn't have the attention span Addie had. 

-  Drew is usually laying in bed with me when Ansen leaves to work.  He always makes sure Ansen gives me a kiss before he leaves  . . . "Dad, kiss Mom."

- We do a "house sweep" every morning and every night.  We all start in a room together and pick up and then move onto the next room together.  Everyone works, no one cares who got out what and it gets done.  It's the only thing that really came close to working this summer. 

- Addison almost always makes breakfast.  She's a champ at eggs and muffins. 

- Drew is sooo into gum lately.  I bought him his own pack one day and though he did share it with everyone, it was gone in hours.  I "blame" the Grandmas - Banna always has gum to give and Carol bought Liv a gumball machine.  I give everyone a piece when they report to me ready for church on Sunday mornings.  It's such a motivator for Drew. 

Blue

Addie tried some other things, but in the end is back to cheer leading.  She worked all summer on her back handsprings and they are looking so good!  She's working on her tucks now and I can't even fathom how you just decide to throw your body into a tuck and hope you land, but she's doing it.  The tramp has really helped out. 

She was in the Draper days parade a few weeks ago.  Ansen was out of town again, I had already walked a long way from the parking, it was getting sunny and I picked a nice shady spot at the beginning of the parade.

The parade got going, Addie's group came through and I never even saw Addie.  I had to run along the side of the parade until I caught up and found her.  I couldn't go all that way and have her not see her supportive, loving mother!

A couple of minutes later, Lisa, who was meeting us at the parade, called.  She was late and was chasing after a group of cheerleaders, but half way through decided she better make sure she was chasing after the right cheerleaders. 

I know a parade moves pretty slow, but when you're weaving through people, chairs, blankets and strollers, it is no easy task to catch up with the parade. 

We stopped by Lisa's house afterwards . . . I hadn't been there since BEFORE my accident.  The kids had spent the night and in memory of that night Lisa still hadn't washed off a small spot on the wall behind the door of blue vomit from Drew (I know, what a sentiment).  Yes, Drew vomited at Lisa's house and it was blue.  I didn't believe how blue until I saw the evidence.  He had eaten blue chips for dinner.  Look at what memories my accident created for all of us! :)

Pioneer Day

We tried to create a holiday adventure that would appeal to all participants.

For Lisa and Ashleigh - we hit the Park City outlet stores

For the kids -  the Alpine Slide

For Branda - shakes at Dairy Keen in Heber

And then sliders, Lisa's birthday party, cake and ice-cream and games at Banna and Branda.  Okay, we didn't get specifics for everyone, but we were hoping the Alpine Slide would work for Ansen, shopping would work for Mom and food would work for Matt.

We shopped, then we grabbed lunch and headed to the Alpine Slide.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but something was really funny (mostly to Matt) and then something scared Olivia . . .

The Alpine slide was an adventure in it's own since Olivia had a huge, huge melt down when at the top they decided she needed to ride by herself. 

It sure was gorgeous up there.

It didn't help that they had closed two of the slides due to a terrible crash where the ambulance had to come. 

Here's Olivia pre-melt down.  

In the end, they let her come with me, if we promised to go slow.  Half way down she started complaining that we were going too slow and it turns out Mom was right again . . . . she loved. it. 

At the end of the day, the shopping was terrible, Olivia had the huge melt down at the slides and the shakes were runny.  So despite our efforts, nothing went great, but everyone had fun. 

Fancy's back . . . unfortunately

Earlier this year, Drew painted a fairy sun catcher all green and named her Fancy.  It was devastating when he left her at Banna and Branda's one night, but we got her back and he kept pretty good track of her for quite awhile. 

Eventually the love of Fancy died down and she got lost (in the garbage) somehow. 

We restocked on sun catchers and when one afternoon Olivia and Addy started this project . . .

it wasn't long until Fancy was back . . .

Summer Part III

The Zoo - We took Halle to the zoo and we saw the new Polar Bear exhibit. It was fun until it got hotter than hot. I do not do well in the heat. But another benchmark - I pushed the stroller around all the hills. On our way out (and up the largest hill) I didn't even realize that I was pushing Halle and OLIVIA (while Drew was walking). I was in the zone and only figured that out at the top. But hey, I did it!

Halle's favorite stuffed animal is her "Polie Bear" so the girls were so excited to show her the new polar bear but of course, she's one and could almost not have cared less since the connection was lost.

Lunch in the big city with Lisa - It's always fun to be with cool Aunt Lisa and to be in the city . . . and look at all my kids in plaid shorts.  It wasn't planned until Addison realized what was going on and went with plaid. 

Parade Preview - We went to this last year and loved it, so we headed up again.  This year it was a touch more crowded, but there was lots more interactive kids' activities!

Last year the face paint line was quick and painless and this year it was not.  But we did it last year, so we had to do it again this year - obviously (to the kids anyway). 

But check out that green snake . . . Drew was in heaven. 

And if this sign EVER applies to me . . . I think I'd rather die.  Okay maybe not die, but I might consider another car accident  . . . where I live and recover, but I don't make a float.

Late Night - Banna and Branda were in New York and Ansen was in Nashville so we took our late night party over to Banna and Branda's for a change of scenery. 

This turned out to be a smart move on my part since Banna's house is so interesting and fun.  My plan is to do this more regularly now.  The kids can watch a movie and I can use Banna's quilting machine downstairs and get some of my quilts finally finished. 

New bank accounts - We opened bank accounts in March, but we were already finding it difficult to keep track of our long term savings vs. our spending when it was all lumped into one account so we opened second bank accounts for the girls and the confusion is gone!

Library - The same day as the bank we made our debut at the Lehi library after a 4 year leave of absence.  We happened to be there for story time and crafts.  And though I remember why I was disappointed in the Lehi library after coming here form the Salt Lake COUNTY library system, we were still happy with our experience and findings.

We made it an Anne of Green Gables summer since they had them there at the library and watched a little every night the week Ansen was gone.   I remember the summer my mom got us Anne of Green Gables while my dad was out of town.  The girls (and Drew) got really into and surprisingly loved it. 

We still had to make our way up to the Salt Lake library (with Lisa's card) and check out a few books we had no hope of getting in Lehi before the end of the summer.