County Fair

Talmage is an excellent teacher and has very talented students. Each year he encourages his students to enter their drawings into the County Fair. Every year we go to the fair to see how many ribbons his students receive but also to enjoy the fair. Each year is a little different. One year it was so hot we didn't stay very long. Talmage gives me a hard time because we only stayed for 30 minutes. To my defense...it was 108 that day so walking around in the sun was NOT my idea of a good time. Last year only Talmage and Grant went. They had a fun time and stayed in Sacramento that night so they could fly out EARLY the next morning to go to his brother Taylor's wedding. Kenzie and I stayed home because I was pregnant with Tyler and couldn't fly that close to my due date. This year turned out to be a very pleasant year. It was hot but only reached about 95? There was a welcomed breeze that would blow that made it even more enjoyable. The kids had a fun time so we of course had a fun time.
We stopped in at the petting zoo.
We checked in on how well Talmage's students did.
Then we watched the "Dog Splash" show.
The kids planted pumkin seeds.
We watched the Farm Follies little show. It was hot for the animals so they gave a half-hearted performance.
We walked around the livestock area to see the sheep, pigs, and cows. Tyler really gets excited when he sees animals.There was a cute little farm area for the kids to do things that are done on a farm...feed the horses and pigs, milk the cow, wash the clothes and hang them to dry, gather eggs from the chickens, dig up a potato, pick a carrot from the garden, pick an apple from the tree. Then they took all of their items to sell at the Farmers Market. After selling their items they were paid $5 play money. Then they went "shopping" for a toy with their "money." It was a fun thing for the kids.
We watched a kids Tractor Pull competition.
Talmage and the kids got us some Cotton Candy which made it "taste" like a fair.
Then we watched the cute little pig races.
We were heading towards the gate to leave when we heard they were taking sign ups for the kids tractor pull. Grant wanted to participate so here is his valiant effort to complete the tractor pull. He was pulling 50 pounds in the trailer so that made it a little heavy.


After leaving the fair we went to "The Panda Store" aka Panda Express, for dinner. We were all a little hungry.
On our way home we stopped at the park in Riverbank. The kids had a fun time playing and it was a nice evening until a bug supposedly touched Kenzie's toe. She doesn't tolerate pain OR bugs well. Tyler was also getting restless from being held or in the stroller all day so we knew it was time to go. A great day though!

A vacation?

I feel like I haven't been home much lately but I can't quite say we went on a vacation. Most of my days have been spent out at my parents house. I've helped my mom with a couple weddings. It has been such a fun little job for me. I love helping with weddings. Brides are always so beautiful and it's such a fun occasion. Our latest wedding of Ashley and Jimmy... She was absolutely breathtaking. I've been helping my mom narrow down pictures from the weddings and play in photoshop with a few of the pictures. So much fun and something I could (and do) spend HOURS doing.

Then last week my brother Tim was at football camp at BYU so my mom thought it would be fun to paint and redo his room to look like a boys room. Tim's room was my old room. I only lived in that room for two years of high school and a couple summers during college but my Barbies have been well displayed on the shelves since we moved into that house in 1996. The room was vacant for many years once Jenn and I got married, over 7 years ago, but would see visitors during the holidays and on occasion during the summer visits. I'm not sure why it took so long, but finally Kevin moved into that room. He didn't complain about the Barbies. He said he didn't care since he didn't spend much time in the room anyway. I didn't know where I would put all of my Barbies so if he was okay with them in the room on the shelves, then I was okay. When Kevin left on his mission Tim moved into that room. He too said he wasn't bothered by the Barbies...for the same reason. The time he spent in that room he was usually sleeping so it didn't matter. It was time to update the look though, so we spent MANY hours on several days cleaning, organizing, dusting, painting, etc. Talmage was so good to help us. It was much easier and faster for he and my dad to move the furniture than my mom and I. The room looks great! I don't have pictures, but it looks good. The Barbies finally came down and have found a nice temporary place in our garage. We also cleaned out the boys' old room. I wish I would have counted but I'm pretty sure I found:

30 pocket knives
5 lighters
2 bottles of lighter fluid
2 sets of walkie-talkies
interesting samples of welded metal
a few wooden projects like a birdhouse and a tool box
a pellet gun
two other guns
an old little skateboard
candy (still in the wrapper)
wrappers (without the candy)
5 socks that didn't have a mate
BYU meal cards from Football camp last year and the year before
3 Cub Scout books (I only have 2 brothers)
and that's just naming what I could remember...

First of all...it's amazing the house didn't burn down. But what a contrast between the "Barbie" room and the "BOY" room. So much to look forward to with boys. I have a feeling my boys will be a little different than my brothers. Fast forward 12-14 years...what will I find in my boys' room???

It's finally GREEN

We've lived in our house for almost 7 months...hard to believe it's been that long! I'm sure most homeowners have an on-going list of projects to work on and things that are needed. At least I know I have a list of things I want to do and things that I want for our house. It's just time and money. Both of which are not in abundant surplus. But we finally completed one of the BIG things on our list. We now have grass in our backyard. It's been a long process since Talmage has been so busy with school and scouting and taking classes. But here are pictures... The "before" any work. Just weeds.
Before my brother Kevin left on his mission he came and helped us bring in fill dirt and rotor-till the backyard. He was so much help! I was disappointed that he left before we finished because he was so helpful.
It should have been ready for the sod but we had been having a problem with a sprinkler that Talmage hadn't figured out yet. We also needed to add some compost or fertilizer before the sod. SO after getting the sprinkler fixed we were ready for the fertilizer and rotor tilling again.
Nice to have family that can help! Talmage got some fertilizer from my uncle Don's chicken ranch. Then my dad and brother Tim helped spread the fertilizer and till it one more time.

We were lucky enough to get some extra recruits. My cousins Kacey and Robert came to help lay the sod. That was especially nice because my dad and Tim had appointments to get their hair cut.

And the final result. I love the green. We still need to figure out what to plant in the border but at least we have the grass. The "after."

Our almost family trip

We almost made it. Not to Utah, but we almost made it to Nevada before turning around to come home. Car problems? Of course not. I just took the car in to get all checked out before our trip to Utah and ended up getting a new belt, oil changed, new TIRES and alignment. There was no way our car was going to be the reason we didn't make it to Utah. It was the kids. I'll back up a bit...
Thursday May 21st was Grant's last day of school. It was my week to drive and being the last day I thought I would walk Grant up to his classroom. He had a tough time, for some reason??, on Wednesday so he actually asked if I would walk him to class. I didn't mind. But as we were walking up to the entrance of the school he started saying his stomach hurt. I didn't want him to miss his last day of school so I insisted he would be fine and go have a fun last day. I picked him up that day and everything was just fine. He was happy. (This picture was taken as we left school). That afternoon he was playing like usual and watched a movie. On Friday I had made plans to go with my mom to Modesto. Grant wasn't too eager to go because he said his stomach was hurting again. He didn't have a fever. He wasn't throwing up, so I just thought we would go run our errands anyway. He seemed more tired than usual so he took turns with Kenzie in the stroller. That afternoon some little bumps appeared on his face but were gone within a few hours. That evening we went to a high school graduation gathering and my sister Cortney asked what bit him because he had bumps on his back and legs and arms. Weird. Later that night they were all gone. Saturday I was helping my mom with a wedding while Talmage had the not so fortunate privilege of washing our comforter, sheets, blankets, etc from our bed after Grant threw up on them. Sunday he was feeling a bit better. Monday a lot better. Tuesday Grant was back to normal. Wednesday...Kenzie got sick. Poor girl couldn't keep anything down. We expected Kenzie to be feeling better by Friday but she still couldn't eat or drink anything and keep it down. We figured she would be feeling better on Saturday for sure so we packed up the car and left around 2:00 on Friday afternoon. We had planned to stay somewhere along the way to break up the trip for all of us. Poor Kenzie was a good sport and just slept. Grant watched a few movies but asked every so often if we were there yet. We had driven about 2 1/2 hours...probably closer to 3 because of traffic in Sacramento...and Tyler threw up. Talmage and I looked at each other as if expecting the other to make THE decision. Do we keep going and hope for the best? Is Tyler just car sick? It wouldn't be the FIRST time we had a child get sick driving that road. Or had Tyler finally gotten the BUG? We were planning on going to see my sister Jenn and her family in Orem for a few days. Talmage was going to speak and present one of his past Scouts with his Eagle. We were going to visit his grandparents in Orem. I was going to meet up with one of my dear old roommates Bree whom I haven't seen in 7 years. We were going to take the kids around BYU. We were going up to Layton to see Talmage's three brothers, their wives, and our two new little nieces. We planned on going to the Oquirrh Temple open house. Talmage wanted to tour the Real Salt Lake Soccer stadium. We hoped to take the kids to the Ogden Tree House. We actually had THINGS we were going to do. Neither one of us wanted to MAKE the decision. We both really wanted to go. No, the drive wasn't enticing, but the end result was going to be so worth it. With one little girl still not feeling well and a little boy covered in stuff we knew what we had to do. Much to OUR disappointment we headed back down the mountains and home. We didn't want to tell Grant but when we got to Escalon and he asked if we were there yet we told him to look out the window and see if he knew where we were. When we told him we were just going back home because Tyler was sick and Kenzie was still not feeling well, he let his disappointment be known. Poor kid C R I E D. He wanted to go to Mason's (Jenn and Sipa's) house SO BAD. We tried to cheer him up with ideas of what we'll do this week instead but NOTHING was working. It takes a lot to pack up a family of 5 for a week long vacation so I was disappointed once again when we had to UNPACK the same day. At least everything was still folded nicely and smelled clean...well all except Tyler's clothes he was wearing.

Our home: Point A. Our desired stopping place: Point C. Our clean up and turn around stop: Point B. At least we didn't get TOO far. We probably wouldn't have turned around if we had gotten much further. Although, for a health report... Kenzie hasn't thrown up since Friday but she's hardly been able to leave the couch. This has really hit her HARD. Tyler has thrown up several more times so at least we know it's not just car sickness. Poor kids! Not just 24-hour flu...this thing won't go away!! Looking on the bright side...the weather is supposed to be pretty nice this week so maybe we'll finally put grass in our backyard!

A busy week

A man walked right into my house today. After a few minutes I realized it was my husband. I guess he's been a little busy lately. Wood Badge, meetings for Wood Badge, meetings for school, camp outs, Wood Badge again, more meetings at school, Scouts, homework, class, Grad Nite...this guy is really busy! But even with him being so busy we've still managed to spend some time with him. Tuesday we finally made it to Palo Alto to see Talmage's brother Kimball. He has lived there for a year, maybe two? but we have never gone to see him. Terrible, I know. Last week we got a call from Talmage's brother Bradford who lives in Alaska. He and his wife Megan and their cute little Lucy were coming to California and were planning on driving up from Anaheim to hopefully meet up with Kimball and our family. We knew we couldn't pass up this opportunity.

So even with crazy schedules we all managed to get together at Kimball's work Tuesday evening. He's an aquatic director (or something like that) so we got to swim at his pool and BBQ. We had a great time. Kenzie was so anxious all day and kept asking when we were going to see Kimball. He was so great to take the kids swimming. I know they had a lot of fun with him. Kimball showed us the Montessori school that is in his same building. The kids loved playing. It was a late night back home but we were SO glad we went. It was good to be with everyone.
Yesterday morning Talmage left around 5:30 to go on the Senior Grad Trip. They went to Magic Mountain, then Disney California Adventure, then Disneyland. I think he had a fun time although I think the kids were a little jealous when they heard about all the rides he went on. Makes me anxious for us to go. But Talmage scored BIG when he showed the kids what he got them. Cute little Super Man capes from Magic Mountain. Kenzie was THRILLED with her PINK one and Grant took off running super fast as soon as he put his on. What a thoughtful dad! We're glad to have him home for a few hours before he heads off to the Father-Son camp out tonight...something Grant has been looking forward to for weeks.

Whose idea was this?

Most people that know Talmage know he is very involved in Scouting. I am very aware that it runs in the blood. Talmage and his six brothers are Eagle Scouts. His sister could practically consider herself an Eagle Scout being that she was not only involved with her brothers but she also worked for the Boy Scouts as a profession. His dad currently works for the Boy Scouts in Seattle. His mom is an incredible support to her husband as well as amazingly involved in the scouting program wherever they have lived. Talmage's uncles and grandfather are and were dedicated to this great program. Of course there are times when I get a little jealous that scouting gets more attention than I do, but I know Talmage is great at what he does and he truly believes in the scouting program. This weekend he is taking part in the second half of WoodBadge training. No, not as a participant...he's done that already. He's there on staff. The (sorry to say) few times that I join him for scouting events I always hear how GREAT he is. That he's a NATURAL. That he is so INSPIRING. That he does an INCREDIBLE job teaching. I know all of those things and it's nice to hear it. I've only met other great people when I join him on those occasions.
But all of the nice things aside...Whose idea was it to have PATCHES for everything?! I am not completely incompetent when it comes to sewing. Not to say I'm good at it or that I do it very often. But I've sewn a few things in my lifetime. Nothing worthy of a blue ribbon at the fair. Probably not even worthy of a PINK ribbon (which I looked up is 5th place). BUT I know how to use a sewing machine and I know how to use a needle and thread. Why is it that I just DO NOT like sewing patches on?! For those who have tried and feel as I do, understand that those little patches are hard to hold in place and stitch on STRAIGHT. Luckily for me, the last time Talmage needed patches sewn on his mom conveniently came for a visit. I was excited she was coming to visit but I admit I was thrilled I wouldn't have to sew those little things on. In fact I remember trying to wake up one morning and as soon as I realized she would be able to sew them on I practically jumped out of bed to go tell Talmage my genius revelation.

Talmage left early Friday morning for WoodBadge and unfortunately he has a patch that hasn't been sewn on his shirt. He actually tried to do it the other day since he knows how little I enjoy that task, but I think he decided he didn't NEED it on quite yet. I think he's actually sewn one or two on his shirt but when I see him working on it I feel bad and feel that it's a WIFE thing to do so I break down and do it. I've told my mother-in-law that I'll just mail it to her, but how practical is that... If there is anyone (local) who just REALLY loves to sew patches on...let me know.

Start spreading the news

Last night was Grant's Kindergarten Graduation. I've always thought it a little much to have a graduation for Kindergarten, but of course the kids get very excited about it. Grant had been telling me that his teacher said they could invite their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors...everyone is invited. Well last night...it felt like EVERYONE was there. It was totally crazy. First of all there are 6 kindergarten classes with about 20 kids in each class. Then there is a SMALL cafeteria to fit all 120 kindergartners PLUS parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and neighbors. Yes...it was a BIT crowded, to say the least. And of course we got there later than anticipated. I was standing at the door until Grant's class went up to perform and I walked in and sat right in front on the floor so at least I could see. Talmage, Kenzie, and Tyler sat outside. I felt bad for everyone that came that didn't get to see or enjoy the performances. My grandparents came but of course left because there was no seat and no chance they would even see or hear what was going on.

I think the school learned A LOT about what NOT to do next year. It was insane! SO...here is the BAD video I have with my little camera... Grant is still cute!



After the performances we went back to Grant's class for their little "graduation." After the crowds left the room Grant showed us the things he has done this year. He's very proud of his work. He's a very smart boy and so sweet.

And lastly, when we were leaving the school there was a major traffic jam in the parking lot. We sat there for at least 10 minutes not moving. Finally I told Talmage he and the kids could just walk home and I would catch up with them later. After they started on their way and I sat there for a few more minutes I noticed a new opening in the parking lot so made my way through and passed up about 15 cars. I'm sure they weren't happy with me cutting in front of them but I was happy to finally be out of there. I caught up with Talmage and the kids in front of our old house. What an EVENING! Although, the best part was Talmage got out of his responsibilities at WoodBadge that night so he could be with us. He debated about staying the night and leaving early in the morning or leaving that night...He stayed. He had to leave around 5:20 this morning but it was NICE to have him home last night.