kidless

kidless day #1:
    1. drop kids off at airport at 6am.  wait to leave until 7:45 when their flight was supposed to have taken off.  During which time I lost Quizup 50 states quiz to a Brit.
    2. return home. spend 3 hours stripping old sealer off of my back patio with stripper, a putty knife, and a wire brush attached to my drill.  Took a break during which I calculated that at my current rate it would take me 10 days to finish stripping the patio before I could stain it.
   3. decided 'what's another hour' and picked out a spanish movie to watch on netflix called blancanieve (snow white) to use for my practice time.  was 5 minutes in before it occurred to me that I had yet to hear anyone say a word of spanish.  looked back at the movie description. it's a silent movie.  haha.  Picked a different movie.  ate an entire tupperware of 1/2 sugar tapioca pudding (shannon's idea).  decided 1/2 sugar doesn't probably do any good if you eat twice as much.
  4.  30 minutes in, paused the movie to work on the patio for 2 more hours.  tried out some different techniques to try to quicken the pace.  decided I wasn't going any faster. began to rain. cleaned up and puttered for a while. suddenly a thought.  'cover the whole patio in stripper.  wait 2 hours.  powerwash it.'  it has to work. my prayers are answered.
  5.  look around the house at laundry on the couch, bed unmade. sheets in dryer. dishes undone. etc. etc. 5pm.  but knowing Brandon had a late meeting and wouldn't be home until 6:30 decided to run to Home Depot for more stripper and clean when I got home.
  6. found different stripper in concrete section.  looked at instructions: cover the whole patio in stripper.  wait 2 hours.  powerwash it.  Seriously.  I was so inspired.
  7. return purse found in abandoned shopping cart to customer service. good deed done. check
  8. return home to find Brandon home early.  oops.  guess i'll get to cleaning tomorrow. ;)

Ever have one of those days that you work your rear off and don't feel you actually got anything done?

TEXAS in July

Well we had a lovely trip to Texas.  God was generous and gave us unseasonably cool weather the first week.  With the overcast skies and cactus in bloom, it was beautiful.  We spent the first 5 days hanging out with Nana and Grandpa Dave on their mission.  Sean thought it was pretty cool that he got to pass the Sacrament to all of the airmen at Sunday's service and also get to hang out with a couple of them as well as the young sister missionaries at Family Home Evening later on in the week.  Also want to note that the swimming pool at the parents apartment is rocking.  

We packed in a lot in five days.  Along with the above mentioned activities, we also toured a local cave and, of course, tried out Sea World.  The cave tour was probably the best I've ever been on.  It wasn't discovered until the late 80's or 90's and was hidden away from even the bats; meaning that the hundreds of delicately thin soda straw formations remained intact.  Really beautiful.

Keeping with tradition, I only remembered to take out my camera on a few occasions .

Ringing out their clothes after a couple of runs on Rio Loco at Sea World.  Sean nicknamed the waterfall on this ride that soaked us "Waterfall de muerte"

 

Thomas sizing up the fish that he is about to feed to the Sea Lions.  He and Catherine were glad this wasn't their lunch.

There is always time to stop to feed the ducks!  Don't you love that aquariums can get the public to pay to feed their animals?

So apparently I didn't get any pictures of myself or mom and dad.  Hmmm.  Mom, do you have any to send along?

The fifth day we met Shannon and her kids in San Marcos and got to climb the mound of dirt that was soon to be buried under Nana's garage.  Gorgeous lot.  Can't wait to go back when there is a house to sleep in!  We did see the model home, though, that had their floor plan.  The kids may have gotten a *little* rambunctious there, but I suppose they were just feeling at home.  Which is a good sign.  From their we parted ways with mom and dad and went to Austin with Shannon.  The kids got along as if they had never been apart.  We got to experience the 'back to earth' ways that we love to visit Shannon for: getting eggs straight from the chicken, eating pizza from the outdoor clay oven, and wandering her beautiful garden and all the surprises that it holds.  We also had many outings which included the picture documented trip to the lake and visit to the parkour course 'Hot lava'.  And, my personal favorite, got to renovate a bathroom. Fun! A little bit of everything: wallpaper stripping, electrical, contortions fitting Shannon and I under the sink at the same time (really regret not getting a shot of that one), drilling, and dremel cutting pipes when brute strength wasn't enough.  Thanks to my wonderful family for putting up with us!  We had a fabulous time.

High fives for Marc's expert speed maneuvering of the boat. 

This pic was taken before Rin and Ana were dumped in the lake.  3 times.

The kids were bummed when we had to stop swimming at the lake.  They had a blast.

Can you see the speedy hula hoop?

Seriously, raise your hand if you could do this as a kid! (my arm is staying down) Go Gwen!

Ana, sweet like the banana

Thomas doing that jump back and forth thing (is there a name for that?)

Sean ready to fly over to the net.

Rin and Eva discovering their upper body strength

Shannon was too fast for my camera in this pic as she crossed the balance beam

Gpa Dave getting his checkup from Catherine.

Sisters, sister, there never were such devoted sisters...

So I thought that hanging 10 mirrors couldn't take THAT long.  Well, maybe not if they are all at eye level.  My sweet devoted Lys spent the good part of a day on her short visit to hang mirrors 15 feet up.  I love you, Lys!  (btw, if any other of my devoted sisters want to stop by, I've got few more projects on the list ;)

Sadly, but not surprisingly, this is only one of 2 pics I got of Alyssa on her visit.  And here I PROBABLY should have been holding the ladder...

We determined that it would be safer and more effective to first hang paper cutouts of the mirrors in order to locate places to drill.  Actually went more smoothly than I expected.

Saturday night we got last minute tickets to a family friendly murder mystery dinner and got put at a table up front.  Catherine was chosen to help announce the winners of the scavenger hunt.  And Alyssa was awesome doing the 'Chicken Dance'.

Here is Sean sharing one of the 'clues' with the audience.  As expected, he was a little bit of a ham and added to the humor of the evening.  And because I know you are wondering: the German did it with the cherry chocolate in the dining room.

 Out on a Sunday walk, Rin and Thomas tagged along on their bikes.  At one rocky waterfall area, the kids spotted a pretty large snake sunning itself (maybe baseball thickness).  After the initial freak out, it occurred to us to take a picture.  But by then the snake decided to take refuge under the rocks and so I only caught the very tip of his tail.  We had taken note of the markings, however, and (thankfully) the lack of a rattle.  After a few google searches at home, we determined it was a common Gopher Snake.  Yea for learning something new!  And yea for sisters!  I so enjoyed your visit, Lys!

Critisism

Why is it that we can be so hard on others?  Despite our own personal stuggles in life, we somehow often fail to recognize that others probably have unique but equally difficult struggles of their own.

You all know that I'm not a big facebooker as the anxiety of putting posts up for all to see is just too much for me.  However, I do still read on occasion. If you think that facebook is for only quick bantering, you haven't seen Spencer's page! I spent a good HOUR or more of my time the other day (thanks a lot, Spen ;)  reading his recent posts and the lengthy responses of other family members.  How grateful I am for my family (extended included) that can relate varying opinions with respect and the desire for understanding.

One of my favorite scriptures that I come to again and again is Proverbs 14:6
"A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not; but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth"

Critisism never leads to increased light and progression, in my opinion.  It blinds the eyes and distorts the truth.  Only by approaching others with the desire to understand will bring us unity.  Are we not all children of the same God?  For all the diversity in the world, do we not all, in the end, just want to be loved, be accepted and be understood by those around us?







Okay.  With that said, what do y'all think of my new 'do?

Guess who...

Just passed her driving permit test!

What's with the tornadoes?

So I realize that we do live at the edge of Tornado Alley, but, really.  This is getting ridiculous.

The kids last week of school had three days of tornado sirens blazing, late releases because of tornado watches, work lock downs with everyone in the basement, crazy hail that was reeking havoc on my poor plants.  Several touch downs (but no big damage).  Brandon did, however, view some pretty strangely acting clouds from his office at work.

Closest one was today, though. After Sunday School some nasty hail started up and then everyones phones started going crazy with tornado watch notices.  We all gathered in the gym for the next 20 minutes until things calmed a little, at which time the Bishop cancelled the rest of church.  Apparently a twister had touched down at a golf course 6 miles away, turning a trailer and a golf cart holding 2 boys, one of which sustained injuries (not sure why they were outside in said golf cart...).

Anyhow.  Global warming?  More fun to come, I'm sure.

Girls Day Out

So what does a mom, 9 yr old, and a 15 yr old do when they have an afternoon to themselves?  In our house that included McDonald's (to appease the 9 yr old who NEVER gets to go anymore), 2nd and Charles (our favorite used bookstore), and the antiques market.

It is becoming our annual tradition on Father/Son ward campout weekend  to NOT go on the campout but rather to have the 3 boys and the 3 girls separate and do our own thing.  It works for us, anyhow.

Brandon and I have been to our little antiques mall a few times, but have never bought anything.  Apparently mom was in a spending mood, as this trip was a little more fruitful.  First pick: new (old) rolling pin with red wood handles...so cute!  This was because ever since Henry made a series of teeth marks 4 years back in our current rolling pin, Brandon says it is pretty disgusting to roll anything out with it.  Mind you it HAS been well washed ;)  Anyhow, this ones for you, love.

Second (and third) find: a sweet summer dress for Catherine.  The ladies at the market were sooo excited that this dress was going to sweet Catherine.  She had also looked at some butterfly pins with interest.  After we got out of the dressing room to try on the dress, one of the vendors excitedly called Catherine over to look at some more butterfly pins that she had found.  'And don't look at the price, dear, I'll make it work for you.' And she did.  Voluntarily slashing the marked price 60 percent so it was in Catherines $10 range.  Catherine picked out a set of two red butterfly pins, but when we went to the front to pay, the lady said she had found another that would match her dress even better...a gold necklace with 'diamonds' a little purple gem.  Catherine readily agreed and a switch was made.

Our $12 find

Fourth find: A necklace for Milla.  No pic, but it was more organic... beads/flowers and such, choker length.

Last find: for mom, an amber glass float that reminded me of the floats Gma and Gpa Clark had on their fireplace mantle.  Plus, I just have a thing for colored glass.  Mmmm.  So pretty.

Along with some singing in the car, which ofcourse, included a rendition of 'Doe a Deer', it was a good  time.  The boys seemed equally happy with pizza and Monster Mini-Golf.