A Common Occurance

What is it about wrestling, anyway?

Bradshaw Family Vacaynion (Part II)

On Sunday morning, we overwhelmed a poor little ward in Prescott Valley, AZ, by adding 30 some-odd people to their sacrament meeting.  Zach went to let the bishop of the ward know so that they could prepare a little--that seemed to help.  I'm sure the meeting was wonderful.  I wouldn't really know since I was out in the hall with Adam the entire time.  (I would have thought this phenomenon would happen less often as he got older.  False.)

After church, we went back to the Green's house and ate a delish lunch of chili and cornbread and then worked on our "40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration Skit" for Mom and Dad B.  It was a delightful combination of wit, drama, and tenderness.  I should know.  I wrote it.  Just kidding.  Not that I wrote it.  I did write it.  Just kidding about the witty, dramatic tenderness thing.  (But it really was.)

Anyway, we got the kids to act it out and if I had 3 wishes granted to me in my life, one would be to have pictures of my older niece and nephews dressed up in their 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's garb.  (Dear SILs who might read this: you have the opportunity to grant me this wish.  I know at least one of you took pictures of the show.  If you send me pictures, I'll love you forever.  Thanks so much.)

After the show, we had Mom and Dad B. (otherwise known as Gma and Gpa D) line up the kids according to age and birthdate.  That went well . . . sort of. 

After dinner, we headed over to the church parking lot to watch 4th of July fireworks.  There were no lines, traffic, or crowds.  Niiiiiiiice.

We had such a wonderful time at the Bradshaw Family Vacaynion that we decided to extend it a few days by going to the cabin in Forest Lakes, AZ with the Nelsons, Greens, and (some of the) Leavitts.  Cabin time is one of my very favorite times because the kids have so much fun collecting rocks, taking rides on the tire swing, not doing the fun craft I had planned b/c I forgot again, and playing games together.  And my very favorite part?  That we put the kids up in the loft every night at about 8 p.m. to watch a movie and fall asleep while we get to play games and eat junk food at the table.  One of the true joys in life.  Really.

Playing games: Katie, Kinley, Kye and Garrett:

Another of life's true joys--eating cherries:

We decided we love the cabin.  (Except maybe when 2 year olds draw on our van with rocks, but surely that won't EVER happen again, right?) 

Thanks, Bradshaw fam.  Thanks Luanne for planning it!  We love you all and look forward to our family vacaynion in 2012.

Bradshaw Family Vacaynion (Part 1)

The problem with waiting so dang long to blog about our fun adventures is that I forget most of the good stuff by the time I actually sit down to write it out.  So regardless of chronology, scale of funness, exactness, race, creed, or any other considerations, I'll just write what I remember.

The kids had fun decorating their bikes and scooters in July 4th regalia Thursday night after dinner.  We joined the Prescott Kiddie Parade on Friday morning and had a blast walking the 2 blocks from start to finish.  Those 2 blocks were pretty long and hard, but it was totally worth the ice cream sandwich each participant recieved after the parade.

Hmmm, apparently you didn't even have to participate to get ice cream:

Attempt #1 at a cousins picture:

Attempt #2:

Attempt #3 (and the best we got):

Family photo op: I'm still trying to figure out how I aquired that hat.  And why Zach looks shorter than me.

We spent the afternoon at my SIL's grandparents' cabin playing decorating T-shirts and not doing the awesome July 4th craft that I had planned because I forgot.  After dinner, we rented out a local pool and had a fun, freezing evening swim.  (I use the term "we" loosely here, as I didn't actually ever get in the water.)  The most exciting event of the night was Adam walking into water over his head, just past where he had been standing with Zach.  A lifeguard jumped in to grab him and we had to fill out an incident report.  Nice.

On Saturday morning, we attended our first ever parade (besides the kiddie one) as a family.  (Meaning I have never actually taken my kids to a parade.  Ever.  I don't mind parades.  They are perfectly fine.  As long as I can just show up because someone else has gone out early enough to save a spot hours before the parade starts.  Which was what happened at this particular parade.) All 30+ of us wore our decorated T-shirts and got lots of comments from the parade participants.  It was fun--the kids got lots of candy and flags, the adults got lots of pamphlets from politicians running for office, we all got a disturbing rear-view of a roller derby man-woman (couldn't tell) in fishnet stockings and hot pants who came over to give the kids candy.  Ah, the memories.

Kye and Lucy before the big parade:

Adam giddy with anticipation (or just biting his fingernail):

A much more successful cousin picture taking session:

Post Prescott parade, we met at a beautiful, breezy, shady park for lunch and spent the afternoon picnicing and visiting with family. Pretty much heaven on earth.

Zach chillaxin in the awesome shirt I made him:

Lucy climbing trees with McKell, Madi and Travis:

We spent the rest of the day at the cabin riding quads, eating yummy food, not doing the awesome July 4th craft I had because I forgot again, hiking, sleeping, playing cards, and having a movie out under the stars.  Good, good day.

McKell, Lucy, and Madi (with Aunt Allie and Skyler in the background):

Adam crashed out on the couch:

And this ends the Vacaynion Part 1 post.  I have pretty much zero pictures for Part Deux.  Still trying to figure that one out.

Top Five--July 2010

5—The 2 year olds hone their creative skills: while in AZ, Adam had ample opportunity to hang with a posse of other 2 year olds. They had so much fun chasing each other, and eating snacks, and watching movies, and drawing. On my car. With rocks. We discovered the masterpieces on 3 sides of our car after we gave it a good wash to get rid of all the dirt from our drive home. All I have to say is that one of them better darn well be the next Michelangelo with the sacrifice we made to stimulate their artistry.


4—Isaac: What if our whole family was blind? Would we have a watchdog? Or a watch monkey? (I can only assume he meant a seeing eye dog. Or a seeing eye monkey.)

3—Zach: We can go swimming when we get back to the hotel . . . maybe.
Adam: DON’T CALL ME A BABY!

2—Unintended consequence of raising bookworms: when they read words they’ve never heard, they pronounce them however they like. Like Lucy pronouncing canopy “caNOpy” (same inflection as cannoli) and no matter how many times I tell her the correct pronunciation, she forgets. And Kye saying “canneries” when he means “canaries.” Also, Lucy has been reading Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew (the old ones) like crazy and I realized that besides proper pronunciations, I’d better teach her that though it was not uncommon in the 1950’s, it’s not exactly polite to refer to African Americans as Negroes in today’s society. (I was glad I was the only one who heard that one so we could talk about it right away.)

1—Due to travel and general gone-ness from home, I didn’t get a chance to record all of our best, worst, and weirdest. But I can say that our trips to Arizona to be with the Bradshaws and to South Dakota to be with the Feslers were hands down number 1 for July. We love our families!

The Price You Pay

What 20 minutes of peace and quiet cost me:

Following in the footsteps of his older brother Isaac, who also does his best work when joined by a friend, Adam was able to wreak the maximum amount of havoc possible in just minutes when joined by his ever-favorite sidekick, Audrey-bear.  It only took ALL of us about an hour to undo their destruction.

The Big Hole in the Ground

That's what Zach calls it.  I told him it is named The GRAND Canyon for a reason, but he still insists.  Probably much the same as when I always call Mt. Rushmore "Rount Mushmore."  You know, just because we've always said it.  We got a chance to take the kids there (The Big Hole, not Rount Mushmore) before our Bradshaw family vacay-nion in Prescott.  We went on the perfect day--a little sprinkle of rain off and on, overcast and slightly breezy, manageable crowds.  It was very nice. 

We had a wonderful visit and might consider taking the kids back to hike it when they are older.  Maybe.  (But probably not to Mooney Falls because lots of people seem to die there.)

Before and After . . . and After That

I got this cheap little laminate bookcase on sale for $10 and decided to dress it up a bit for Lucy's room.  I tried the turquoise spraypaint and didn't love it, because there is so much turquoise in other areas of her room.  I had already painted one shelf before I thought to take a before picture.

BEFORE:

I lightly sanded it, sprayed it heirloom white and added the scrapbook paper behind.  And viola!

AFTER:

Here it is in her room.  It looks much better in the picture than it does with actual books on the shelves because it covers up my awesome paper.  (Yes, I should have put the picture frames lower, but I decided tol look for a few taller things to put on the shelf to balance it out.  Suggestions?) 

AFTER THAT:

p.s.  Mindy, those were not my first grey hairs, just the only ones I found that day.

A List of Random Blather

As I reorder my life after nearly 2 weeks away from home, I feel the need to jot down the random thoughts bounding around in my brain:

1) I need a haircut.

2) Something smells in my kitchen sink and no amount of scrubbing the garbage disposal has helped.

3) I miss my SD and NJ family.

4) I need to remember to pay the kid who mowed my lawn while we were gone.

5) Omaha is hotter than Brookings.

6) I think I should listen to books on CD during all the driving time I'll have this coming school year.

7) I cannot believe Adam fell asleep during rest time.  Hallelujah.

8) I pulled 2 grey hairs out of my head this morning.

9)  One of the things I love most about summer is that you can just throw on flip flops and head out the door.  No need to mess with socks or jackets.

10) I wonder what I should make for dinner tonight.

That's all, really.