Category: summer fun (Page 5 of 7)

Why I love living in Highland

August 12, 2010 / Superpaige / 3 Comments

Last weekend was our town celebration, the Highland Fling. It’s one of our favorite activities as a family. Last year, however, we missed it because we were taking a family trip to Yellowstone, and several family members complained about missing the fling. Seriously? It was a vacation, guys. You are not allowed to complain about what you missed while on vacation.

On Friday night, we went to a “so you think you can dance” type competition. It was a blast to see so much good and great dancing. After the competition, one of the judges, Gev Manoukian, came up and did his own performance. It was amazing!

And then they had a “Moms and Dads’ dance off”. They invited all the parents to come up and compete. I am not a dancer, nor do I pretend to be one, so I didn’t go up, but our good friend Sherry was not afraid to get up there and shake her stuff. That’s her there in the jeans, white dress and green jacket.

She danced her heart out and even did “the worm” up there. She ended up winning a Cricut from Provo craft. It was a fun activity!

Saturday morning we got the gang up and out of the house for the wonderful pancake breakfast. Our Chinese girls must think that we have a big outdoor pancake breakfast EVERY week, since two out of three Saturdays that they were here, we had our only two big breakfasts of the year. We even sat by and talked to the mayor! (he’s in our ward, so it’s not so rare to see or talk to him.)

After breakfast, the kids went exploring before the parade started. Megan came and told me that they were giving away free Webkinzes for the first 200 people in line. So we got the kids together, and went to stand in line. We had to wait about 40 minutes, and were hoping that they really were giving away Webkins animals, but we had nothing better to do, really, so it wasn’t a bad wait.

They were indeed giving them away, and we were in the right place at the right time. Every one of the kids, even the Chinese girls and the boys, got a free little animal.

Then we settled in to watch our favorite small town parade.

We went back to the park later to check out the shops and booths set up, and also for Cole and Megan to compete in the burrito eating contest. When I signed them both up for the eating contest, the guys at Barbacoa didn’t actually laugh at us, but they kind of smirked in a “really?” kind of way. But when we got to the contest, there were only 5 people total at the table. I thought their odds were looking up.

I mean, they should be able to beat out a little girl and her grandma, right? There were a few last minute recruits, so the eating pool looked more like this when they started.

They gave it their best. Trying to hork down those three pound burritos.

But this guy had them beat from the start.

In about three minutes, this guy finished his. Cole made it about 1/2 way through his burrito, and Megan ate maybe 1/4 of hers. We took their leftovers home and Ryan and I split Megan’s burrito and ate them for lunch the next day. They had fun, and got free food out of it. I’m proud of them for actually entering the contest, and giving it their best shot.

We also introduced our Chinese girls to cotton candy. I didn’t think they would like it, but they did. They each bought a bag of cotton candy.

Later that night we went back to the park for our favorite fireworks program. It’s not a long show, but we sit with friends, it close to our house, and we love it. We could actually watch the fireworks from home if we didn’t feel like going to the park, but we love actually being there.

Warning, Mormon lingo ahead

August 8, 2010 / Superpaige / 4 Comments

Sunday morning I got a phone call from Brother N in the bishopric asking if he could meet with me before church. Don’t you just LOVE phone calls like that? He said he could come over to our house, or I could come to the church, whichever was more convenient. What? I was busy trying to get people ready, also putting the final touches on my Relief Society lesson, but I told him I could come about 15 minutes before church started. Hopefully he’s just telling me I’m doing a great job in my calling, and maybe to ask me how things are going. Maybe they were really calling RYAN (who hides out in the nursery playing with little kids each week) to a calling and were asking me if I could support him. They couldn’t be releasing me from my calling yet, though, because I’ve barely been in this presidency a year, and I’m just getting the hang of things.

Well, I was partly right. They didn’t release me. They did CALL me to a new calling. Seems they were reorganizing both the Primary Presidency and the Young Women’s, and they would like for me to serve in the Primary Presidency as the 2nd counselor. What? Of course I said I would. While I’m thinking it will be more work than the Relief Society gig, I’m looking forward to working in Primary. It’ll be fun, right?

I still had to teach my lesson, since it was my month to do the Presidency Message. I had a lesson on faith all planned out, and I was going to show this video clip. It went so well with the message I was giving on having faith in times of trial.

Well, that video combined with this being my last lesson to teach in Relief Society for a while, and my last Sunday working with this amazing presidency who I have grown to love so much in the past year got me crying. I could barely see the words on the page. I tried to hold it together to get through the lesson–I’m really not usually a crier, dangit– and somehow managed to finish. I will miss working with those ladies. I’ve learned a lot from them and I love them, and I will miss them.

But I seem to be getting a little bit of a reputation in our ward. For the past several years, I’ve been bounced around from calling to calling. I was in activity days for a short time, just getting to know and like that calling, when they called me to Young women’s. I was getting used to that and having a grand time, when they called me to the Relief Society Presidency job. Then I do that for a year and get drafted into the primary. Maybe they think they want to work with me, then they realize I am not all that great and they want to get rid of me. Maybe they know I get bored easily. What they all seem to be forgetting, however, is that I already have a pretty major church calling. One that I devote at least four hours a week minimum to. Yes, playing bells IS a calling. A pretty great calling, if you ask me, but still a calling.

The funny thing is, they haven’t released me from the RS job. I expected them to call someone new and release me today, since it’s been a week, but they didn’t call anyone.

As a primary presidency, we are now scrambling to fill a whole lot of holes. Our president and one counselor were teachers, our music leader got called to be YW president, activity day leaders and scout leaders were also called into YW. So, we’ve got some shoes to fill.

Today we managed to pull together a quick sharing time, but that will be fun–coming up with sharing time lessons and all that. Oh, and writing and putting together a program, and quarterly activities. Fun, fun, fun.

Since we’re talking about church and all that, I went to my mission reunion last night. It was the Duesseldorf Germany 20 year mission reunion. Has it really been 20 years? ACK? I served from fall of 1990 to spring of 1992, so I guess it’s *almost* been 20 years since my mission. I guess they were speaking of President Wolfert’s 20 years, since he was called to that mission in 1990. It was fun to see many Elders and Sisters from my mission. Sadly, not one of my companions was there, although I did know many of the sisters that were there, and a few of the Elders. As a sister in the mission field, you have a little bit of a disadvantage because you don’t get to know as many of the Elders. After all, the guys have an extra 6 months. But it was fun hearing the mission stories, hearing what people are doing now, how many kids they have, and just seeing them. I missed out on my informal high school reunion that was also going on this weekend, but I’m really glad I got to go to the mission reunion. It brought back a lot of memories of what a fabulous experience serving a mission was for me, and also my love of the German people. I need to take my family over to Germany! I’ll have to work on that one.

Today I took Cole, Megan, Natalie and our two Chinese girls up to see Music and the Spoken Word. You can’t visit Utah and not at least try to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, can you? Ryan stayed home with John, who wasn’t old enough to go, and Jenna, who complained of a headache last night and an earache this morning. We got there early enough to get great seats, and listened to the run through. After the run through, there were some announcements and introductions and then they explained that we would have to be very quiet while the broadcast was recording, since this is a LIVE broadcast as well as being recorded for rebroadcast. One of my girls said, “you mean they are going to do that AGAIN?” Way to enjoy the beauty of the music, kiddo. One of my girls was complaining that it’s too cold, and the other one kept whining that it was too long. *Sigh*. I’m doing this for my two Chinese girls. This whole time we’ve been trying to give them new experiences, take them new and different places and have fun.

After it was over, I asked the girls what they thought of the whole experience. One of them told me, “We saw this with the school already.” I’m sure she didn’t mean to deflate my bubble, but I seemed to lose all my enthusiasm at that moment. “Yes”, I said, “you’ve already seen the building, but you hadn’t see the choir.” I said. I guess I was fishing for some kind of comment, but I didn’t get it. We drove home in relative silence. When I got home and Ryan asked how it was, I whined something like “why do I even try? You know how much the kids LOVE (I was saying this sarcastically, by the way) going to Music and the Spoken word? Daisy and Vivian seemed to love it just as much.” I was a little down and wondering why I try so hard. I mean, I would have enjoyed sleeping in this morning, too. I could have done without the two hours of driving up to Salt Lake City and back. I could have done without listening to the complaining. But I did it because I want to give them experiences. All of them. I hope that they did enjoy the experience. They just aren’t big talkers, so I guess I shouldn’t expect gushing enthusiasm, right?

So, it’s been a big week. New calling, lots of activities with the exchange students, Mission reunion. This week should be good too. Hopefully we’ll get ourselves organized as a Primary Presidency this week, and we can start to feel more confident in that. Oh, and hopefully soon they’ll release me. Because being in the Primary Presidency AND the Relief Society Presidency? That’s a little much.

Pioneer Days

July 27, 2010 / Superpaige / 3 Comments

Things just keep on happening around here. Yes, the play is over, but that doesn’t mean that we’re winding down. I mentioned that we had houseguests, right? We had fun with them all week, and are so glad they made the trek up to Utah to play with us.

We played, we swam, we hiked, they hiked some more (Robin took four kids up to the top of Timp–the mountain, not the cave), we had our toes done, we ate, we had fun.

Then for Pioneer Day we hosted a Relief Society Activity where we met at the John Rowe Moyle house in Alpine. If you are local and have never been there, you should.

You’ll learn about pioneer times, and an amazing man who never stopped doing what he should.

On Friday we picked up our two exchange students from China.

They go by American names so that we can pronounce them. Daisy and Vivian they are called. When I asked how they got their American names, they said that they picked them out themselves. I’m a fan of picking your own name, so I can understand. I’m hoping we can actually learn and pronounce their real names correctly by the time their visit is over.

On Saturday, July 24th, which is Pioneer Day, we met for a ward breakfast/primary activity. After eating, the kids walked around the track and heard a few pioneer stories. Then it was time for the big event. The firetruck!

For little boys, nothing is cooler than a firetruck. And cool it was. They hooked up to the fire hydrant and sprayed everyone who wanted to get wet.
Here’s an action shot of Megan’s friend. Can you see the force of the water hitting the grass?

Eventually, the goon squad started grabbing people and throwing them in. They even went so far as to pick Ryan up and CARRY him into the stream of water. That’s Ryan there in the center.

After that, my friend Lisa and I knew we were not safe, so we linked arms and walked into the mist voluntarily. We thought that would be enough for them, but NO, those bullies grabbed us and dragged us into the direct stream of the firehose until we were soaked.

We walked home (squish, squish, squish) and changed our clothes, dried our hair and got ready for the day. Again.

Then we headed out with the family and guests to Park City.

We ate at the train diner in Heber, and then it was off to the Alpine Slide. My own kids had never been before, so we thought it would be a fun activity for all of us. And we were hoping to escape the 100 degree heat. While it was a little bit cooler up there in the mountains, it wasn’t that much cooler. We did have fun, though.

Our girls didn’t go very fast. Maybe you can see the line of people behind them. Oops. But they had fun. John, however, told me he never EVER wanted to go on that slide again! That’s what you get for riding with DAD, who went as fast as possible.

We had thought we might go to Butlerville days with my parents, but the idea of sitting through a parade at 4 pm and then all those games and stuff in the heat was just too much for us. We ended up coming home. Everyone was pretty wiped out and I think the girls took naps before dinner.

On Sunday, there was a family occasion, as Ryan’s nephew came home from his mission in Peru. We went to their church and then there was a big family lunch at Ryan’s brother’s house. The girls, even though they didn’t know anyone except us, held out pretty well. I was remembering how long and boring church can be when you don’t really understand the language, let alone the church service. I think it was good that we only went to Sacrament meeting, instead of all three hours of church.

Monday their classes started up. They have classes and activities at their school in Provo from 8:15 until 5. My two oldest kids are signed up as “buddies”, so they go every day for about 6 hours. They do one hour of English class with them, then have lunch, and then do an activity. On Monday they basically played games. Tuesday Cole and Megan went at 8:15, and the activity was to hike to Timpanogos cave. I know. We just did that last week. Aside from the fact that I’ll be driving to Provo once or twice a day for the next 2 1/2 weeks, I think they are in for a lot of fun. They all came home tired today, but I think they had a good time.
Wednesday’s activity is swimming and waterslides at Seven Peaks, and so on.

We try to do something fun (that they aren’t already doing) on the weekend. We’re still undecided on this weekend, though. Any ideas?

It should be a fun packed couple of weeks, and an experience the kids will not forget. I can’t afford to take my kids to China, but I can give them some memories and experiences with our Chinese friends that will last forever.

Summer!

July 20, 2010 / Superpaige / 1 Comment

Hey, it’s summertime! And we’re not ONLY doing a play around here, we’re doing other stuff, too.

Like go to the farm.

The kids love Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point, so we went there for some fun animal time. We went after dinner so it wasn’t crowded, and the kids had a blast, as usual. They pestered me about wanting to get goats, bunnies and chickens. Maybe someday, kids.

Like camping.

We had our family reunion camping trip last week, and we had a fun time at Payson Lakes. And by fun, I mean we didn’t get much sleep, got really really dirty, and spent about as much time getting ready and cleaning up after the trip as we spent actually camping.

Like playing at the lake.

The kids had a blast at the lake, as they usually do around water.

Like have visitors.

Robin and kids are here visiting from Arizona. They have to do something to escape the heat, and we’re happy to have them come. The kids have so much fun together.

Like hiking.

We decided to hike up to Timpanogos Cave
We started early to avoid the heat, and that mile and a half up is a killer! But we made it, toured the caves, ~~and had a good time~~, well, let’s just say we made it.

We finished up the show.

Last night was closing night for the Wizard of Oz. It was a full house and we all did our best to put on the best possible show. It was wonderful. I’ve had a blast. I’ve made new friends, I’ve learned new songs and dances, and just enjoyed my time with Alpine Community theater. Natalie also had a very good time with the play, although it was a little sad that we were not in any scenes together. Alpine Community Theater is very professional and does a wonderful job. It’s seriously community theater at it’s best. I’m so sad that it’s over, but I’m relieved and glad to be able to have some free time back.

So, as you can see, even though my life has been consumed with the wizard of oz, we’re still busy with the summer. Stay tuned for more adventures. Things like toilet replacement, more hiking, swimming, pioneer day, and even visitors from China!

Even a miracle needs a hand

July 13, 2010 / Superpaige / 2 Comments

Last night we had another performance of Wizard of Oz. We have a cast meeting at 6:30 where we get notes, warm up, have a devotional and prayer, and get ready to perform. At 6:45, the director still wasn’t there to begin the meeting. When she came in, she looked very upset. Somehow the lighting cues had been wiped out. And when they tried to run the light board manually, the numbers weren’t corresponding, either. Light #2 would light up as #5, and so on. They were keeping the audience out of the auditorium while they tried to get things figured out, and were going to try to start 1/2 hour late, at 7:30. If they couldn’t get things working, they would have to send everyone home and hope they would come back for a different show.

She asked Bill, who was doing the devotional and prayer, if he could please ask for a special help and if we could use our combined faith to ask for heavenly help. He gave a beautiful prayer, asking for help with our technical difficulties, so that we could perform for friends and family who were in attendance. He asked that we could put on the best show that we could possibly do.

The director disappeared, and we continued getting ready. At 7:30, the show started, so we assumed they had gotten it worked out. During the show, I didn’t notice any extremely awkward dark spots or light spots, although I’m not on stage all that much, so maybe there were some. I did hear from someone that the stage crew were moving scenery and it wasn’t all the way dark, but generally it looked like they had somehow managed to either manually operate the lights, or program them in time.

I am thankful for small miracles.

After the show, the cast goes out into the cafeteria/auditorium they call the cafetorium and greet the audience members. It gives people a chance to meet or take a picture with their favorite character, and gives the cast a few more minutes to bask in the after show glow. The director walked up and I said, “You must have gotten things figured out, right?” She gave me a hug and said, “That was the worst show of my life. I don’t ever want to go through that again. But we made it through.” I’ve seen her rattled and I’ve seen her stressed out, but I’ve never seen her as emotional as I did last night. I told her that my wish for her was to sleep in the next day and enjoy her day off. I don’t know if she was able to do that, but I hope so.

As actors, we often forget ALL the work that’s going on behind the scenes. Sure, we know of scenery changes, and we help with all those things back stage. I myself spend a few scenes behind the witches castle just to help open and close the window curtains so the witch can make it through. One of my friends climbs underneath the castle to help the witch unhook her skirt to help with the melting. But we don’t realize the magnitude of the technical aspect of the show. We can be as talented as Broadway stars, but if the audience can’t see us, or can’t hear us, it won’t matter.

It’s like that in life, too. Each of us has a support staff to make us “look good on stage”. We have teachers, parents, spouses and friends who keep us in the spotlight. Friends who rescue us from stupid mistakes or unfortunate experiences. People who help us laugh at ourselves when things go wrong and help us make the best of our experiences. But more than that, we have heavenly helpers. Angels who are there to help us look better or sound better than we actually are. Angels who help convey the message that is in our hearts when our words are not doing a good enough job. We have a Heavenly Father who rescues us from our own stupidity and an older brother who paid the ultimate price so that we can repent of our sins and make it back to live with him some day.

I’m thankful for my tech crew–those that I know about, and those unseen. And for all the miracles in my life.

We’re off to see the Wizard

July 10, 2010 / Superpaige / 5 Comments

Oh, things are busy around here. Very busy. Hubby did indeed come home from his long business trip, but he’s spend the last 5 days dead dog tired trying to recover. I’ve had rehearsals every night that go quite late, so I’ve also been pretty tired. But all the rehearsals have finally come to an end. For last night was OPENING NIGHT!

I have SO many pictures, but I’ll try not to totally bore you with ALL of them.

Here are the munchkins. Can you spot my Natalie? This is actually only 1/2 of the munchkins, as they have double cast a lot of the roles to let more kids be in the show.

And here we are, the apple trees.

I’ve had so much fun with these ladies. I know them both from previous shows, but they are truly a TON of fun, and I’ve had a blast with them.

as you can see.

And see all those people?

They’re having fun, too. Well, most of them are. The kids find it really long to have to sit around and do nothing the whole second act just to come on for the curtain call at the end. (There are no munchkins after about the first 1/4 of the show).

We’ve had many laughs as we’ve rehearsed. I guess that’s one reason I just love to do these shows. It’s so much fun. The other night, they brought me a mic, but there was no clip on it or mike belt. I’ll just stuff the mic pack (which is about the size of a think deck of cards, but heavier) here in my shorts that I wear under my costume, I thought. But by the end of the show, the mic had slipped down through my shorts and was just dangling there, hanging by the cord. Not good. So, the next night I asked if there was an extra mic belt I could use. Nope. My fellow apple tree Felecia said to just stick it in my bra. Hmmm, that works. So, although I’m pretty sure that everyone who looks at me can see this big LUMP at the side of my bra (maybe I should get that checked, you think?) they’ve assured me that it’s not noticeable, and it’s actually a pretty secure place to keep a mic. But it makes me laugh, that’s for sure.

Oh, and here’s a shot for your vampire fans.

The family came last night for opening night. They enjoyed the show, too!

Notice that we have a real dog playing Toto, which is a bit of a challenge. Last night he (she–her real name is Daisy) ran off the stage to her owner in the wings. She also whined a barked a lot when she was tied to the post by the scarecrow. I guess those crows forgot to give her the bone they had hiding there. But she really adds to the show, and the kids all love her.

After opening night, it’s customary to go out to eat. We were invited out to Chili’s, and I invited the family. I wasn’t the ONLY person who brought family along, but almost.

Jenna, John and Natalie came with Ryan and I, and the kids were super tired.

That witch even came in full makeup and costume. Some kids at Chili’s thought THAT was pretty weird. She even had some parents and a little boy come backstage and seek her out during intermission just so that he could be reassured that she really wasn’t that scary. I promise;

I’ve met her and she’s quite nice.

We got home well after midnight, and Natalie slept in until almost noon this morning. How heavenly does that sound?

So, it’s one show down, and 7 more to do. We have a show tonight, but Natalie won’t be in it. She only gets to do four of the 8 shows, but that’s about right for her. Then she can still do some fun things and not be tied to the show every night.

I wish you could ALL come see the show. It’s fabulous, if I do say so myself. There are really cool special effect, incredible scenery, and extremely talented actors. There’s an article about the show here and here. It’s so much fun.

We’re off to see the the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz.

Whatchu been up to, there?

June 14, 2010 / Superpaige / 4 Comments

My posts have been a little bit sparse here lately. That doesn’t mean there’s been nothing going on, it means we’ve had so much going on I haven’t had the energy to compose a string of words into a coherent sentence.

But it’s summer, Paige, the time to relax. What have you been doing?

Cough, cough. Well, for one thing, last week was concert week. So that meant four trips and about 15 hours in Salt Lake for costume fittings and rehearsal and a concert. Our concert was Friday night.

I’m pleased with how we did, although we tend to make brand new and different mistakes during a concert. Nerves, I guess. I don’t know if we are trying so hard to watch the director and smile that we lose track of which measure we are on, or what, but I heard from several people that they made mistakes in places where they have NEVER made a mistake before. That’s frustrating, because we really want the songs to sound the very best that they can, and we only have one chance to get it right.

But I am generally pleased with our efforts.

Ryan and the family did not come. Yes, he was out of town this week, but he was so kind to arrange his travel into one REALLY LONG day instead of being gone for two days, so he was back by Friday. But it was the Father’s and Son’s campout! John was so excited he wanted to pack his bags on Tuesday or Wednesday. But Friday loomed cloudy and threatened of rain. By the time I went to pick up Natalie from her week at Clearcreek camp at 3:00, it was POURING RAIN. I was seriously wet and my curly hair was no longer curly. When I got home and it was still raining, I was worried about how wet my sons and their father would be on this campout. But I didn’t have to worry about that anymore, because we got a phone call telling us that they had canceled the campout. John was very disappointed, but Ryan was relieved. I mentioned that they could now come to my concert, but since it was so late and we hadn’t planned on that or made arrangements for a babysitter, he decided to just take all the kids somewhere and miss the concert. He has been to every single other concert we’ve done in 5 years, so it’s not like he’s unsupportive.

And when I wasn’t at rehearsal for the concert this week, I was at rehearsal for the Wizard of Oz.
I know, I know. I said that there was NO WAY I could fit a play into my schedule and that I was way too busy this year to do Community Theater. But I’m going to make it work anyway. No, I didn’t get the part I was going for, but I do get to play an Apple Tree, which makes me excited. I’m also an Oz beautician. My lovely daughter Natalie is playing a munchkin. It’s fun. Fun, that is, except for these darn dance rehearsals that go on FOREVER. Oh, I’m so not a dancer, but I’m trying. This week we rehearsed Thursday night and Saturday morning for one large dance scene. Thursday night I went home and my feet ached SO BAD from four hours of learning this dance. Seriously. Four hours. Thankfully, there was yoga on Friday morning so I could stretch and hopefully help those muscles to not freak out on me. Saturday we rehearsed that same dance number again. And again. And again. Not four hours worth, but enough to hopefully learn it.

Besides these wonderful experiences in the arts, I’ve been trying to keep the kids happy. We went to summer movies, softball games (when they weren’t rained out), made cookies, and played with friends. This week we’ve got a Scout camp, more softball games, a trip to the library, summer movies, and maybe some miniature golf at Boondocks.

How’s your summer shaping up? Busy? Relaxing? Vacation? Well, whatever you are doing, I hope you are enjoying spending time with your kids and family!

Back to school!

August 23, 2009 / Superpaige / 2 Comments

The first day of school came and went, whether we were ready for it or not.

On the Monday before school started, I let the kids camp out in the backyard. We’d tried to do it on the weekend, but it ended up being windy and rainy. The kids set up the tent by themselves, and took it down, too. They hauled out their sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, and even took in two little tables to play games.

After we said prayers and told them goodnight out there in the tent, they each came into the house multiple times. But they did sleep in the tent all night, and had a grand time. The next day they promptly decided they hadn’t had enough games, and they started in with Monopoly.

On Thursday, it was the first day of school.
We got Cole off to early morning seminary by 6:45, and then the other kids enjoyed the traditional breakfast at the bus stop.

Off they went on the bus and their carpools. It’s a little bit overwhelming with kids in four different schools. I’ve got kids leaving at all different times and then John is on his own Kindergarten schedule starting this Thursday. It’s something to get used to, that’s for sure.

The next day, I decided to take John to Seven Peaks Waterpark. I got two free passes from the Music store when we rented Natalie’s saxophone, and since John was the only one home, I thought it would be a fun thing to do with just the two of us. So we packed a lunch, got our swimsuits and sunscreen, and headed off to Provo. We paid the $5 to park (what a rip-off!) but got in free with the passes ($21 each? Gasp!). I was going to go and rent a tube for us so we could go down the lazy river and do some of the other mild rides, but John saw the kiddie pool first. So, into the kiddie pool we went.

He was happy to slide down this little tiny slide.

In fact, he went down that slide over

and over and over.

I tried multiple times to get him to leave the kiddie pool so that we could explore other areas of the waterpark. Look, there’s a wave pool. It’s just like being at the beach. Look, there’s the lazy river, let’s go do that. Each time I suggested we leave and do something else, he got all fussy and said, “I don’t wanna go to another slide!” I decided it wasn’t worth the battle. Weren’t we here to do something fun, just the two of us? So I let him play in that little pool for hours, and go down that same slide over and over again. There were, in fact, three or four OTHER slides in the kiddie pool, but he would NOT even consider it.
Eventually I got my book and sat at the side of the pool reading.

I didn’t feel comfortable just leaving him to go do some slides myself, and he wasn’t having any of it. If the other kids had been there, we could have taken turns watching/playing in the kiddie pool with John and I probably could have convinced him to go on the lazy river, at least. But with just me, I was a captive audience at the kiddie pool and that one slide.

At about 2:00, I suggested to the little slider that we take a break and have some lunch. So, we went to the eating area and had our lovely lunch. Then John said, “Mom, let’s go home.” What? We have ALL DAY passes, and we don’t have to be home until 4:00, and you want to go home? And I didn’t even go on a single slide? Well, I take that back. I went on the same slide that John went on. Once or twice. I couldn’t believe he wanted to go home. Oh, whatever. Sure. We can go home. So, we packed up our stuff, got in the car and went home. I am SO glad I didn’t pay for those day passes. And next time I go to a waterpark with just one kid, it’s not going to be John. He could have had just as much fun with the slip-n-slide and the blow up pool at home. But it was a memory making experience, right?

Things I learned on our trip to Yellowstone

August 5, 2009 / Superpaige / 8 Comments

–According to the one Ranger we talked to, Moose sightings are pretty rare in the park these days. They haven’t had many Moose in the last few years.
–The big animals we commonly call ‘buffalo’ are really called ‘bison’
–Try as I may, I can’t stop my kids from getting sick, even on vacation
–Vacationing with grandparents is THE WAY TO GO. They put two of our kids in their hotel rooms, took two kids in the car, and were a lot of fun to hike with, picnic with, and hang out with!
–You can never have too many pictures on a vacation
–Geyser steam makes my hair instantly flat
–It doesn’t matter if you have gas or not when you are hiking around the hot pots–No one would know, anyway.
–On about the 100th hot spring or geyser, you just really don’t care so much. In fact, my five year old was overheard saying, “Geysers, geysers, geysers! That’s all we see are geysers!” Well, it is Yellowstone National Park.
–At the end of the day, having a hotel with a pool is all the kids care about
–My kids have never heard of the song “muskrat love” and they thought I was pretty weird when I sang it to them when we saw two muskrats swimming in the stream.
–Listening to multiple episodes of Gilligan’s Island while in the car can cause a person to want to jump out of a speeding car, even if it is keeping the yahoos in the back entertained.
–Never say, “he could run around and play here all day” when the five year old is balancing or jumping on down trees. The minute you say that, you have jinxed it, and sure enough, he will be crying and needing band-aids in 5-10 seconds flat.
–Sacrament Meeting in the outdoors is a wonderful experience
–Lodge pole pine trees have two kinds of pine cones. One that drops their seeds after two years, and one that opens and drops their seeds when temperatures reach over 150 degrees.
–There are a heck of a lot of lodge pole pine trees in Yellowstone.
–When you are at a place with nice bathrooms (and by nice, I mean toilets that flush and running water where you can actually wash your hands), you should USE that bathroom, even if you don’t really think you need to go. You never know how nice the next facilities will be.
–The Junior Ranger Program is WELL worth the $3 they charge for it.
–Even the most simple of new toys, such as a happy meal stuffed animal or a little plastic shoe, will entertain the kids in the car, as long as it’s something NEW.
–The Grand Prismatic Spring is breathtaking.
–With whiny, tired kids, even a .3 mile hike is too long.
–I look pretty good in a cowboy hat. Especially a red one.
–Eating healthy while on vacation is not really possible.

I don’t know why I’m so tired. Yawn.

July 29, 2009 / Superpaige / 5 Comments

Things haven’t really slowed down all that much since the play ended. Well, I take that back. I am not enduring seven hour rehearsals, nor do I leave my home at 5:00 every night for a show. So, I guess it HAS slowed down, but not a whole bunch. We had guests here for a lot of the month of July, and that was GREAT. My kids get to have friends here to play with and entertain them, we all have a great time and we don’t have to go anywhere. Of course, that also means there are lots of dishes to wash, lots of food to make, and lots of noise. But that’s a small price to pay to have people we love travel to see US, instead of us having to travel to see them.

Last night, after the Annie Get your gun cast party, I was home by 8:30. I went to bed.

I think I’ll just show some pictures from some of the fun things we’ve done this summer.

Oquirrh Mt. Temple open house with family.

playing in the pool in the backyard,

Took the girls to a High School Musical sing and dance along at Thanksgiving point,

swimming lessons

some horsing around at Colonial Days,

We tried to take a decent family picture,

played with cousins,

Went camping,

and even got Megan’s braces off.

And in the middle of all that, we did a play!

We also…

Set up a waterslide in the back yard,

played games

went to a waterpark

went to a baseball game for Ryan’s company party,
height=500

and had a family pool party.