Family Fun Day

Saturday we went to the Bingham Copper Mine! It was pretty impressive. Astronauts can see it from space, you know. "How did we pick that as a Saturday activity?" you may ask. I'm not quite sure...lately every time we try to think of something to do with the kids, Jeff suggests the copper mine. So...we looked up the particulars on the internet and were convinced when we realized entry fee was only $5 per car! Sounds do-able! Especially now that we have a DVD player in the car! Ahhh......peace and quite! It was quite a drive, and once we got out there we were informed that they were blasting and we couldn't enter for 1/2 hour. We drove out to DayBreak and got a view of the temple under construction out there. It was neat to see the temple at the end of a street of homes. Then we returned to the copper mine and had fun checking out the huge operation they have out there! It is really cool. We had fun looking at all the displays in the visitor's center and all the chatchki's in the the gift shop. Jeff even found a tour group of Chinese people to speak to! Imagine that! One of the men with the group was an American who spoke English. He lives in Taiwan teaching English. Jeff told him he'd been a missionary there and this man said he knows the missionaries. Some of them would play basketball with him and some said they couldn't because it was against the rules. Ooops! Hopefully those that were playing were doing it on P-day!

Next we went to IKEA. That was an adventure too! Our kids don't remember ever being there. Lauren sort of remembered it from a visit in California. We used to live close to an IKEA in Washington and would go all the time for something to do. Lauren, even at two years old, recognized it when we would drive by and would yell "IKEA". It was busy on Saturday, but we thought it was a great place--the girls have lots of ideas how we could redo their rooms! We liked eating the Swedish Meatballs and apple cake in the cafeteria, too! It was a good family day even though Lindsay had had enough by the end of it! Another sweet day along our journey, although I think Jeff and I wanted to ask, "Are we there yet?" when Lindsay began to cry out of exhaustion on the way home!

Back To School

I can't believe it's back to school time! And I'm not even sure if I want my kids to go back to school yet. They are such great helpers with Lindsay--I have a feeling she's really going to miss them. But I think I'll miss them even more than she will. Besides being great helpers, I enjoy having them around. Alli is in fifth grade this year. She was so ready for school to start today that she woke up at 5:30 am when she heard Jeff and me go running. She said she tried to go back to sleep, but woke up when she heard us come home at 6:30 am. She and Calvin (second grader) have been completely ready for school (bedrooms clean even!) since 7:30 am. They still have an hour to wait for the bus. They've been outside playing with soccer balls and scooters already as they wait. Now they have found a show to watch with Lindsay. Maybe I can still get a shower while they are home! I think they will settle down a little by tomorrow--we'll see. Lauren (eighth grader now) is excited for school to start, but then she wants it to be over in a week. (Probably enough time to wear all her new outfits and then what's the point? Right?) She has orchestra again this year and art and foods that she is excited about. She is also wanting to try out for the tennis team as well as volleyball and track. I hope she keeps this adventurous spirit! So I guess Lindsay and I are left to figure things out for ourselves. I'm sure we'll get a good routine going again. Time to look at life's journey through the eyes of a two year old. That sounds just about right to me!

Alli and Calvin with their buddies at the bus stop!

Happy Birthday Calvin

Yesterday was Calvin's 7th Birthday! He is getting big! Leading up to his birthday he kept saying he wanted to go to Boondocks with his friends for his birthday--or Lagoon, etc. Apparently we are rich! The week of his birthday we tried to figure out something that would be a little more affordable. Luckily we thought of a Mario Kart Birthday Party! It wasn't too hard to come up with considering all he talks about is unlocking "Dry Bowser." He's been trying all week with no luck. He is the best gamer in our house--even better than Daddy, although Dad might not admit it. So it must be a big deal to unluck this guy. Anyway...we had a fun party. We had all his friends dress up as their favorite Mario character and played some fun games. Alli dressed as Toadette, Lindsay was Baby Daisy (for about 5 minutes--I couldn't even get a picture fast enough), Lauren was Rosealina, I was Funky Kong-ette (Yeah, no picture of that either...wierd), and Calvin was Baby Luigi. Everyone really got into dressing up. The hat made Calvin's costume. I found an awesome pattern on the internet for any of you who are interested http://www.groovykidstuff.com/?p=167 It took about 5 minutes to make--really fun!

We played Pin the Hat on Dry Bones (Lauren drew him for me in about 1/2 hour!), Golden Coin Search, Musical Pipes (Musical chairs with 5 gallon buckets), Who am I? (guessing which Mario Character is taped to your back), Duck, Duck, Goose--Mario Kart Edition, and of course Mario Kart Wii. The kids had a lot of fun. They even ate most of what they took of the "Rainbow Road" Cake.

Calvin's Birthday was a big day for him. He started the day with family presents, then went to a neighborhood Sports Camp, followed by a swimming birthday party for a school mate, and then he hurried home to get ready for his own party. We also had visits from Grandpa and Grandma Clarke and Grandpa and Grandma Barrett later that evening. It was a great day--I guess that's what you should expect when your journey is along "Rainbow Road"!

Happy Birthday Calvin! We love you!

Girl's Camp

Whew! Last week was Girl's Camp at Heber Valley. Man is it gorgeous up there! It was fun to go with Lauren again this year. It was Stake Camp (where the girls and leaders are mixed up together by age groups), so we were both a little unsure that it could be much fun...don't you need to be with people you know for that? We were in the same cabin (or yurt) and even had a few girls from our ward with us so all was good. It was nice to have Lauren there for a hug when I was tired and missing home. (It seems like she felt the same way.) She is a good girl and had fun with her friends--new and old! It is funny to see your teenager with her friends acting silly and being a kid. She is such a mature girl that I don't see her acting like that very much. It was nice to see her let her hair down. I was with great leaders as well--Heather Penrod, Karen Keyser and Nani Wood! I think someone was looking out for me! Our girls were very sweet to each other and even went along with our rule of lights out at 11:00 pm, and just flashlights and whispers after that. We kept busy with certification, waterfront, hikes, the confidence course and we were fed like kings--or queens! There was a little to much singing of loud and obnoxious songs for my taste, and who taught these girls the cup, table pounding game? (Do you know what I'm talking about?) Every time we're sitting down at a table, out come the cups, and if they don't have cups--their hands will do! Uggh! Some of the things about camp make me feel old! On the whole, though, we had so much fun that we were dead by the end of each night. Jeff and the kids were spoiled, because they had so many people taking care of them while Lauren and I were gone. Thanks to everyone (Mom and Dad Clarke, Kanani, Mom and Dad Barrett, and Paige Littledike)! I think they only had to feed themselves on Wednesday night! Spoiled! Thanks for all the help on our camping journey! We love you guys! Paige sent me some pictures of Lindsay living it up--I thought they were pretty cute!

Why is it that my child doesn't know how to eat a cookie without getting it all over herself? Drew seems to know how to do it! Oh well.

Fun in the sun! This is what they were doing when Jeff came home from work! He told me about this over the phone at camp. Cuter than I imagined!

Pudding on the Rice

We finally tried "Pudding on the Rice" last night! Yummy! I just thought I'd recommend it to anyone interested. We tried the Raspberry and Castaway Coconut. The raspberry was good--real raspberries and almond flavoring! But our favorite this try was the coconut! Wow! Poor Jeff, he ordered the coconut and I had the raspberry. I decided to help him eat his coconut, why have the extra calories eating the raspberry and the coconut? Our portions were actually very big (one up from the smallest) so he was fine with me sharing--he's always been good with that...I still need a little work. (I, on the other hand, am a little possessive when it comes to my food. It could be growing up in a family with eleven kids...) The girls were excited because I brought them home a treat--Raspberry Rice Pudding! (It's not that it wasn't good--we were just really full!) The good news is, if you like rice pudding, this is a great place! You can even enjoy yourself a little more while you're eating it, because they say it's better for you than ice-cream! Just a little tip to help you on your journey!