Pioneer Day in Sevens

That is 1847, Seven Peaks, 7 hours, 7 people sleeping in our house . . .

Having staples in his head and missing swimming lessons turned out to not be as traumatic for Andrew as I feared. I was able to go visiting teaching during the lessons, and I only mention that because Andrew felt like he was going on play dates. Hooray for both of us. He also got invited to play at a friend's house, and I told him it was "play club" because he's too little for the book club Josh and Noah are in. He loved it all and played with a huge smile, and didn't complain about not swimming, even though he loves it. Sweet boy!

Tuesday night brought another fun visitor to our house - Shannon! By the time she got to our house it was time for bed, though not before the boys "impressed" her with a jumping off the couch show. I told the boys Aunt Shannon is in the army, and Andrew went upstairs and put on his play army helmet. She loved it, of course.

Fun traditions started out Pioneer Day the next day - pancakes from Gary (blueberry!) and taking Andrew to the urgent care to get his staples out. We'll only carry on one of those traditions. Right after that we loaded up the van and headed to Seven Peaks. Not only did Shannon come, but we met Eric there, and later on Sara and her 5 boys joined us.

Lissy just chillin' in a tube while she waits for the others.

Haha, I uploaded the wrong picture . . . will have to replace this later. It's a group shot of the Seven Peaks crew!

Josh is great at the rope swing.

This picture cracks me up. After nearly 7 hours at the water park, Gary agreed to take the boys on one last slide. Noah was too tired to agree on what to do. Haha!

We've been to Seven Peaks several times this summer, and played with many fun people there, but I hardly ever take pictures. It's a water park! I randomly got those shots at the end. We had such a great time on Pioneer Day with Shannon and Eric that we stayed for 7 hours . . .yeah, unplanned, but we kept having more fun. So many adults to take kids on slides and such.

At one point there was a miscommunication about who was watching Andrew.  I was in charge of Lissy, and  she was loving the slides in the little-kid area. She sat on my lap as I went down, and the second we got to the bottom, she was motioning to go again. We went down over and over, and then over again, Lissy squealing with excitement every time. After a while I needed a break, so I decided to take her on a tube slide. I was kind of nervous about needing to hold onto her, and she seemed a little freaked out, but when we got to the bottom she said "fun" for the first time.

After the tube slide I sat down and talked to Sara for 10 to 15 minutes, and then decided to go find the rest of my family. I found my kids enjoying lap after lap in the lazy river with Shannon. All of my kids except Andrew. Shannon said Gary was riding a scary water slide with Eric, and Andrew hadn't ever been with her.   I hadn't been with Andrew for over an hour, oh my goodness!!

I ran back to the little kids' pool and started feverishly searching for him. I thought of every possibility, planned what I'd say on the news, and tried my best to stay calm while doing so. When I didn't find him in any of the pools, I almost started bawling, but I took a deep breath and kept looking. I found him by the side of one of the pools with his hands on his knees. When I shouted his name and he saw me, I expected him to come running, or tell me how scared he was . . . but he just said, "I need to go to the bathroom." I asked him if he'd been having fun and he said, "Yes, but I was waiting." Poor kid. Sweet as sugar kid. I love that boy!

My favorite memory of the day was right after that when I took Andrew and Lissy to the wave pool. It's actually very shallow for quite a while, and we just relaxed and played. Andrew and Lissy had water bottles - one to drink fresh water out of, one to pour on each other. We jumped some waves, and layed back and let the water wash up on our bellies. Cutie pies.

Of course after 7 hours of fun we were starved - and lucky for us, Eric and Shannon came to our house to have a barbeque! Nothing fancy, but it was delicious, and great company. All of the above is just what the pioneers would have done, right? Well, if they had water parks and grills.

Thursday morning was the last day of swim lessons. Andrew finally got to participate, and I got to chat with Shannon while the boys all swam. Josh passed level 3 and Noah passed level 1 - way to go boys!

Noah in his class.

Josh passing off a skill for his class.

Can you pick out Andrew?

There he is!

It's the swim-party move.

One of the reasons swim lessons are so amazing - friends!

Before we went to swim lessons, we all ran over to the track to get some exercise. We only got a few laps in before it turned into a football game of Me and Josh vs. Noah and Shannon. Both teams got touchdowns, but I guess Josh did some trick at the end that made us win? I don't know, I was gone by that point, and felt sure Noah had us beat with "Blue 42." (The play he ran, of course.) Shannon says next time they'll win. We'll see.

Shannon was such a big help (hello matched socks in the laundry), so great to talk to, and so fun with the kids, we didn't want to see her go. However, we have lots of family, so she had to move on. The kids immediately asked, "When is Shannon coming back?" Hooray for awesome aunts!

Careers, Cousins, and (Seriously) Dangerous Content

With only a few days left with Sarah, you bet we lived it up. On Sunday we stayed up playing Ticket to Ride and eating decadent chocolate lava cakes. That was Sarah's request, or else I wouldn't have made it. ;)

Monday was the first day of swimming lessons for my boys, and they were excited to be in their new levels. They love their teachers, and last year decided they'd be life guards like them. However, after the first lesson Josh changed his mind.

Josh: I decided I'm not going to be a life guard. It's boring. All you do is watch people swim.
Me: Well, when you're a teenager, you have two options. Cook the hamburgers in the back of McDonalds or be a life guard. Which one do you guys want?
Josh and Noah in unison: Lifeguard!
Josh: Do the lifeguards get money?
Me: Yes.
Josh: How much?
Me: Probably about 8 dollars each hour. So, if they teach kids swimming lessons for 3 hours and then watch people swim for 3 hours, that's almost 50 dollars.
(The sound of amazement and elation.)
Noah: Dad should have made the choice to be a lifeguard, then we'd have lots of money.
Me: Dad actually makes 3 times what lifeguards make, or more. There's just lots of things we have to pay for.
Josh: Okay, I want to be what Dad is, the guy that does stuff at the state capitol.
Noah: I want to do something like be a builder. Do those guys make a lot of money?
Me: It depends on what you build and if you're in charge.
Noah:(after throwing out a few suggestions) How about hotels? Will I make a lot of money building hotels?
 . . . And that is how my 5 year old worked out his American dream.

On Tuesday Miss Madeline and Miss Violet fed the ducks with Lissy and me while the boys did swimming. It was adorable to see cousins and ducks, even if Lissy ate the bread like they were croutons. I will post pictures when I get them. After that, we all stayed for open plunge, and of course it was too fun. Josh and Noah could spend all day going off the diving board. I really don't know when they would stop if I didn't ever leave. Lissy decided she likes floating in the deep end, and was extremely upset that I wouldn't just let her go. Besides swimming, we had all sorts of cousin-fun . . .

My boys introduced Madeline to this game - she's no wimpy girl!

Andrew's sunglasses kill me.

This was the most-participated-in activity for these two little girls. They would activate the  music on the big toy, then dance around as they cooked in the little play kitchen.

Every CF treatment was a huge draw for the kids. Can't resist a book.

Another treatment, another arrangement. They can't get enough.

Sarah couldn't go all the way back to Pennsylvania with no Cafe Rio, so we had to do Taco Tuesday with her. As we were pulling out of the driveway, it was cloudy, but not raining. Josh saw a few "strucks of lightning." Then, as we grew closer to town, the rain started, then got worse and worse, until it got so severe I would have had Gary pull over if we weren't a hundred yards from the restaurant. Gary pulled up right in front of the door so I could get out with the kids, and there was nothing but a mini-van between us and the building. I jumped out grabbed Lissy, and ran in, tripping and nearly crashing both of us to the floor. When we all got inside I couldn't believe it - we were so soaked it looked like we'd jumped into a pool, and we couldn't have been outside longer than 10 seconds. I have never seen rain that hard in my life, and I've seen some wacky storms in Hawaii.

Dinner was marvelous, of course, and when we left we did a little kid-swap and each went to different grocery stores. We took Madeline, and Sarah took Noah. Mads didn't want to get out of the car, but then Josh said, "They have really cool carts for kids to drive." She jumped right up and said, "Mommy never gets those." (I understand, lots of moms don't.) The girls were very excited to drive together, and the dynamic of having 2 of each gender was so different than our usual 3 to 1 ratio.

They're so excited to be driving together!

Sarah and I stayed up talking until 3:30, and just barely scratched the meaning of life, so I guess not long enough? They were set to leave on Wednesday, but not before the kids got some major playing in. I mean major, I think they showed Madeline every toy we have. And then left them out. It's not every day they get to play with their PA cousins, though, so I let them go and go.

This is probably my favorite thing these two did. So funny and adorable.

The climber/trampoline jumping game got a whole new dimension when super-hero costumes were added.

Madeline was definitely into her batman role.

The little girls were getting bounced too high by the super heroes, so I  decided to put out a quick water play activity for them. They were excited, but then it turned out so were the super-heroes.

The kids were disappointed that the vehicles wouldn't float, but then Noah remembered using foil to make boats at preschool. They each got a piece and had made some great boats.

Lissy did a treatment for almost the full half hour the day Sarah and company left. She loved it, and Noah captured it on camera. I think I need one of these to keep her occupied.

Madeline and Lissy popping bubble wrap together.

Cousins in the summer - what could be more amazing?

The second Sarah and children drove away, I was sad. Boo for living far away. I guess the point is, though, hooray for having people in my life that make me feel like life is awesome.

This is where things start to get dangerous. Actually, they got super dangerous on Tuesday when Noah literally stuck a fork in a light socket. He scorched the socket, burned a hole in the side of the fork, and tripped the breaker, but says he felt nothing. I had the griddle plugged in, and he thought it would be a good idea to saw the fork between the plug and the outlet. I seriously saw sparks fly, and I cannot believe he avoided the hospital on that one.

This picture doesn't do it justice at all. The fork looks much worse in real life.

Thursday was the perfect day for swimming lessons. The boys enjoyed themselves as usual (Josh was learning to "shred" water, so that's awesome), and then we all stayed afterwards to swim. Lots of people we know were there, so we chatted and played until late in the afternoon. The perfect way to beat the heat and enjoy a relaxing summer. We came home absolutely beat. We did have an incident where Lissy flipped off the top of a railing that is above my head and landed kinda on her head, but she was fine. Once again avoided medical care.

As I was making dinner, Andrew asked if he could swat some flies. I let him, and he was on the hunt. He was on the top of the couch trying to get a fly when he slipped and fell. I saw him as he hit the ground, and ran over to console him, when I saw blood going everywhere. I know head wounds bleed a TON, so I didn't immediately know if he would need stitches. The problem was, there was so much blood I couldn't find where the wound even was. I was putting pressure on it and considering cutting a chunk of his hair out, when Noah suggested ice. Brilliant! Between the ice and pressure, the bleeding slowed enough to see the gap in his head. It was a short gap, but definitely a gap that wasn't going to heal without some help. Noah was sooo sweet to sit there and hold the ice pack on his brother's head, and our neighbors were awesome to take my other 3 kids all half-dressed as they were. I think Noah and Lissy had a full outfit between them.

After all the accidents at our house that week, Andrew was the one who had to go in. He was super brave at the urgent care. He was sad, but not crying, just quiet and huggable. The doctor and the nurse were so impressed with him as he got his 3 staples. Those staples were so gross - if it were anywhere but the back of his head they would have had to do something else to keep it together. I was planning to get him a get-well treat, but he was so tired out he fell asleep in the car after about 2 minutes. Aw, buddy . . .so sweet. He slept until we woke him up at midnight to check for head injuries. Maybe an over-board precaution, but I didn't want to be that parent who ignores advice and ends up in the E.R.

They made him a pink ninja when we first got there to get the numbing gel activated. Love this boy.

Andrew's injury wasn't so bad as far as injuries go, but with one sad consequence - no more swimming lessons. He was only 4 days into his 9 day class! He loves swimming so much, and his brothers were still having their lessons, so I felt super bad for him. Also,we had plans with friends to stay after lessons to swim, so sad for all of us, none of that could happen.

On Friday I took Andrew to feed the ducks during lessons, and that was a pretty awesome substitute for the day. Once again, what a sweetie-pie! He was so good at getting little pieces, and so delighted when the ducks would eat them. He would share with Lissy willingly any time he was asked. Lissy actually got into the spirit of it, and learned how to tear off small pieces and throw them herself. What great strides she made in 3 days!

From the top of his head, Andrew could be Josh at that age. Which wasn't very long ago. Which is why I blog. Sigh.

From Burned Feet to Boise Cousins

Poor Lissy burned the bottoms of her feet really badly when she stepped on the hot metal on the door at the Idaho house. It bubbled up all yucky, and the poor girl screamed and screamed. Luckily, we were in a house with lots of medical professionals who wrapped it up right away, and also luckily, we had people on tap to give her a priesthood blessing right away. When she was getting the blessing it struck me how many ways we'd seen the priesthood in action that weekend - a baptism, confirmation, baby blessing, the sacrament, and then the blessing for the burned feet - all in a weekend. What incredible privileges the Lord has given us!

Monday I found myself at Walmart with all 4 kids. One of Lissy's foot wraps fell off, and it was the foot that wasn't burned so much, so I threw the wrap in the cart thinking I'd throw it away once I saw a garbage can. The kids helped me load the groceries onto the belt at the end, and I didn't notice they threw the yucky-used-bandage-in-the-shape-of-a-foot up there until the checker picked it up. Sorry!

Josh and Noah had their yearly well-child checks, and we discovered they've both grown taller and thinner, especially Noah. The kid grew like 4 inches and only gained two pounds! He's gone from the 60th to the 90th percentile in height since he was 3, and stayed in the same percentile for weight. We left with a page of instructions to deal with Josh's allergies and Noah's reactive airway. Since Josh got a prescription for allergy meds, I thought I'd go ahead and get Noah the peak flow meter the doctor recommended while we were at the pharmacy. After that he was SO PUMPED to use it. It's so funny to see what makes kids feel special.

On Wednesday we had a big Seven Peaks day with Cindy, Kristen, their fams, and special treat - my dad, Katie, Kayla, and Dave came, too. Oh, yes, and Gary got off to come, woo-hoo! We had a fantastic time, but I didn't bring my camera. The cousins had a blast together - it was adorable how Tate did such a great job sticking with Noah. I went on my first slide, but mostly fed Lissy's thrill-seeking habit but holding her on my lap while I went down the small kid slides. She also discovered floating on her ear is fun, and it was adorable. Last time to see my dad for a while, too bad, but it was fun being there with him.

Noah said a lunch prayer one day, said he was thankful he has such a great mom. Moments like those melt me and make me feel like we're doing just fine. Or at least Noah is a sweet kid.

Gary's favorite kid-comment was when Noah was taking a bath and said he was making sure to wash his leg-pits.

Special treat on Saturday - Gary's brother Matthew and family were in town, and we got to see them! Allison provided a delish berry-banana baked oatmeal (I've made it twice since then), and a place to chat it up, so we ate and chatted it up. Lissy was in heaven with girl cousins and girl toys. She followed them around, and they were so sweet to make sure she was in on the fun. I didn't take any pictures, but Rachel was awesome enough to share hers with me the second I asked. So good to see them. Eric took us on a Costo-adventure afterward, and while we didn't buy new flooring, we had fun with Eric, and the boys were a great excuse to line up at every sampling table.

Girl cousins!

Super-heroes have to take a break sometimes to study their craft.

They rode out the brief rain-storm in our van. Too funny.

After that day I was looking online to see how long it would take us to drive to Boise - we've got to get to their house!

I also realized I'd better finish the burn story - although one of her feet initially looked yucky, it was much better in a few days. I feel like it was a huge blessing!

Wild, Wild Week: Perfect Ending

After all the driving and activities we did this week, what could possibly get us to wake everybody up at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning and drive all the way to Idaho again? Yeah, it was that awesome - Tate got baptized and Keaton got blessed, all in one morning. It was so wonderful to feel the peaceful spirit that was there, and to see how excited Tate was. My kids were excited for him, too, and it was amazing that as silly as they are, they became reverent during the ordinances. They definitely felt how special the events are.

Afterwards we had food, lots of laughing, kids playing . . . and it all goes fuzzy in my brain after that. I know I enjoyed myself, and we stayed until Sunday afternoon. And looking at the pictures, it seems like, oops, I did it again - my parents were there, but we only have pictures of kids. I need to pay attention to what I'm taking pictures of . . .

Josh and Tate - so excited.

Tate was so cute with Andrew

It's our adorable blessing boy! Lissy is interested in him, but too tired to act like it here.

The men of the day and their beautiful mama.

Lissy and Violet

Cousins from all sides had a blast running and jumping into the pool.

The girls have to stick together.

Why are kids in goggles so adorable?

Josh and Tate working really hard on getting their Just Dance moves just right.  This would be better suited for a video, they were pretty serious about it. 

Double rainbow all the way across the sky . . . you can't really tell, but it was a gorgeous way to end the day.

See the concentration? The precision?

Lissy loved Braden sitting next to her. Every time he'd try to leave she'd say, "No, no, no."

All of the girl-cousins got matching Easter dresses, and since they weren't together on Easter, they did a little reprise on Sunday and we took some pictures. A cat was involved, so it wasn't easy.