Oh, the shame...

When I taught school eons ago, I remember getting notes from parents like this:
"Please excuse so-and-so from his homework last night, the night was jam packed with activities and it is my fault he never got around to it." Or, like this: "Last nights homework was confusing to my child, so we okay'd him not to do it. Could you please help him with it in class?" I even caught a few parents actually DOING their child's homework for them. How did I know it was a parent? It was a handwriting assignment done in beautiful cursive. It was supposed to be done by a 5th grade boy. I remember being appalled at the parents for teaching their kids such a lack of responsibility. Why couldn't the kid just take the heat and get the grade he deserved for not doing his assignment? I vowed never to write a note to a teacher to get my child out of an assignment. It's not acceptable. The child needs to learn consequences. Unless of course that child happens to be MY child. The really quiet, perfectionist child that only wants to please her teacher and would never do anything to disappoint intentionally. The one that sits at the counter in my kitchen for an hour in silent tears fearing the teachers scorned look when that homework isn't turned in the next day. She broke me. My little daughter broke me. She accidentally left her folder in her desk. The folder with the homework. What could I do but write a note asking for a second chance to complete the assignment? I did mention in the note that we discussed responsibility and my child promised to never leave school without checking for her folder. I added that as sort of a justification on my part. I don't want to be THAT parent. The one with all the excuses. After school today I asked how it went with the note/homework situation. Kennedy's response? "My teacher said if I hadn't been talking then I wouldn't have forgotten to put my folder in my backpack like she'd asked." Great. Now I have to face this teacher at parent-teacher conference in October knowing that I've become one of those dreaded parents that make excuses for their children. I guess I love my child more than I do my pride.
***Mom, I still think the kids in your classes are just LAZY and not like my daughter. We are the exception, so don't think less of me for writing that note.***

Shawn's Sweet Tooth...

I found out shortly after Shawn & I got married that he had a sweet tooth. Our cupboards were full of sugared cereals. We even had a "candy" cupboard where we stored all our sweet treats. Shawn has also always chewed gum. We had only been married a few weeks when I started finding pieces of chewed gum in random places like the end tables in the living room, the counter next to the sink, the dresser, and the arm of the StairMaster. I complained, like any new (or old) wife should after sticking my hand in a piece for the umpteenth time. Shawn's excuse? He got tired of chewing and was too lazy to get up to find the garbage can so just stuck it wherever he happened to be. At least he was honest. Smart man that he is quit that habit. He still chews gum, only now the chewed wads somehow actually make it to their proper place. Our cupboards are no longer full of cocoa crispys and honey comb, but we still have our "candy" cupboard. Shawn's most recent find to add to our hiding place is sweet taffy from Salt Lake City. We found it in a grocery store in Driggs Idaho, and it tastes EXACTLY like the flavor it is named. Red licorice? Just like a red vine. Root beer? I might as well have a straw to go with it. Cotton candy? If it weren't for the texture I'd think I was at the circus. I am probably crazy for admitting this, but we purchased 5 pounds of the stuff to bring back to our cupboard. Shawn claims it's to share with others the joy he has experienced by being introduced to this marvelous wonder. Right. It's actually too large to fit in our regular place, so it's currently hiding in Shawn's closet. If it were in my closet I'd eat it. Out-of-sight-out-of-mind for me. I know Shawn eats it, it is where he's started to eat it that makes me laugh out loud. The good hard belly laugh kind.Yes, this is the shower. I was about to rinse the shampoo out of my hair when I noticed wrappers on the shower door ledge. It was when I realized that my dear husband was eating taffy in the shower that I burst into uncontrollable laughter. The shower? Really? Is it because he doesn't have time in his day to simply sit down and enjoy a piece without kids attacking him? Is it because he rises before the sun and has to rush out the door that indulging in taffy needs to become part of his cleansing ritual? Is it simply because the man likes taffy? I'll probably never know the real reason my husband eats taffy in the shower, but I now know he's serious about his sweet tooth.

Survivorman Part 2

I've got to give props to the man. He actually got the motor to run by using a small battery. Genius I say. He did try to start a small fire at the park, but was unsuccesful. I guess if I need to power up a flashlight he's the go-to-guy, but if I need to cook dinner over a fire I better look for matches. The kids really got into this activity and are probably hoping for more. Jack, however, wonders when he's going to get his camera put back together. I'm trying to avoid that conversation with him because I know where all the pieces are. I was able to dispose of most parts, but Shawn insists on keeping this small batch. You know, because they are probably useful for something. I find it not worth the effort to try to change his mind.
***I don't know what the deal is with some of my pictures lately. Sorry about the funkiness.

Survivorman....

Shawn: Where is the mini-screwdriver set?
Me: In the van. Why?
Shawn: I need to take apart that old camera.
Me: What? Why?
Shawn: So I can extract the lens and motor.(duh)
Me: And you need to do this because......
Shawn: Oh, I saw an episode of survivorman.
Me: (needing still more of an explanation) And?
Shawn: He started a fire with the lens.



Like it would only make sense that I am supposed to be so impressed by this.

I'm still wondering why we are taking part in this activity.

1) Do we need to use a lens to start a fire?

2) Do we want to prove we are as good as survivorman?

I'm just hoping no actual fires are started with this lens inside my kitchen. Even if they are "controlled" fires.

Grand Targhee

Targhee ski resort is a short drive from the lodge, so one morning my little family snuck up the mountain with Brian, Darla, and their girls Alyssa & Aubrey. We bought tickets to ride the ski lift up the mountain, then hiked around for a bit. What a beautiful day for a SMALL hike. I literally mean small. The kids were pretty whiney after Shawn made them pose on a bunch of different over-hangs trying for the perfect photo. I rode the chair lift up with Ethan and Kennedy, while Shawn rode ahead of us with the other boys. Ethan's conversation was hilarious. He was just kept talking about how high up we were and how bad it would hurt if we fell. He was just yapping away, and then paused for a long time, after which he stated, "Mom, did you actually see what this thing is connected to? That small cable that is supposed to hold us up? I know I'm not going to make it now." So matter of fact. I told him just not to look up, just look down and enjoy the scenery. Kennedy said she wasn't scared if she just looked straight to her left with her eyes closed. I got her to look at me long enough to snap a picture. She even smiled.


At the top Shawn took on the role of photographer looking for the perfect photo-op. I was frightened at the prospect of climbing onto this rock overlooking all of Targhee. We managed to get situated long enough for Darla to snap a few shots, and then were able to climb off safely. The things I'm willing to do for my husband.

Jackson was a willing participant and stood on a ledge with a beautiful backdrop. Darla made it into a shot with Alyssa without even crying once. (She also didn't know her picture was being taken.)

At the scenic overlook Shawn thought it would be fun to have all the kids gather around him for a picture. It worked, until Kennedy tried to jump on his back and they all came tumbling down.

Hilarious.

Then back down the mountain. For 5 bucks more we got what's called "lift & lunch" which is a fancy way of saying we could eat in their restaurant without having to pay restaurant prices. We found that the little extra money went a long way when it came to food. We left 10 lbs heavier and very satisfied. Beautiful scenery on the outside deck where we were served. Well worth the money spent.

Actual conversation with the kids playing horseshoes. I overheard secretly.

Jackson: Why do they call these horse shoes anyways?

Kennedy: Because real life Horses actually wear these things on their feet.

Jackson: They must be some REALLY big horses because their shoes are gigantic!

Kennedy: I know. They are.

I love to be the fly on the wall sometimes.

The Lodge

The lodge is this great place built by Shawn's Maternal Grandmothers Brothers & Sisters. It is located in Driggs Idaho, close too so many great destinations, but nestled all by itself on a mountain so you aren't bothered by anybody else. It sleeps a load of us, and we always have a great time while there. Shawn's aunt Nancy let us borrow her 4 wheelers this trip. I'm afraid Shawn has found a new love. I'm sure he's already picked out the make and model his heart desires. I know he's already found the truck he wants to pull the babies with. He toted the kids on these things a lot during our short stay. He also snuck off alone with Brian, Darla's husband, to forage ground un-tracked before. I was reluctant to get on one. I don't really know why, it just took a few days. I managed to sneak off with Rhonda one day and explore unaided on my own machine. Those babies sure do have power! Almost as fun as snowmobiles.

Grandma Angela and Rhonda had all their scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies spread across a table and the kiddos had a hard time avoiding temptation. They were nice enough to let each of the kids test their card making abilities, and patient enough to help them do it. The kids loved the arts and crafts time made available to them.

A ping-pong table downstairs occupied Shawn during the evenings when it was too dark and rainy to 4 wheel safely. His dad honored his wishes of a tournament. Not sure who won, but know a good time was shared.

Kennedy's Random Thought Process...

I wonder how my daughter gets by in life sometimes. Her focus is so scattered. Yesterday we were driving in the car and this is our conversation:

K: Mom, why is dad allergic to cats, but he wasn't allergic to Grandma's cat?
Me: He was allergic sweetie.
K: But I didn't hear him sneezing, or coughing, or getting sick or anything. Can you go through the temple if you aren't married?
Me: Well, if you are old enough, and not married yet, and decide to go on a mission, or are just ready to go through, then yes, you can go through the temple if you aren't married.
K: When I'm a mom can I have as many cats and dogs as I want in my house?
Me: Yes, you can have whatever and however many pets you want.

See the randomness? I imagine her little mind was able to split the two completely opposite conversations into two distinct ones, but when vocalized it sounds almost like two seperate people questioning things. Random, but kind of funny to replay in my mind.

Grandma Rocks with Rockets

My mom is known to my kids as Grandma Deb. They LOVE her. As Ethan puts it, "she gives us whatever she wants, and lets us do whatever we want". I happen to know that isn't the case, but I'll let him believe it if it makes him happy. My mom teaches 6th grade science, and with that comes fun experiments. She always has something fun to build with my kids when we visit her house. This time it was bottle rockets. She had all this pvc pipe, film canisters, and 2 liter pop bottles configured into a rocket. Jump on the bottle and the paper weighted with the film canister launches high into the air. My kids used these until their bottles cracked from abuse. What a fun Grandma. I'm glad she seems to enjoy my kids. I'm sure after 2 weeks of entertainment she was ready for us to head on our way, but my kids seem to think she never wanted us to leave. In fact, just last night Ethan asked about us moving next door to Grandma when Shawn is finished. I mentioned there might not be a job available in two years, so Ethan suggested Shawn try to "get fired" from his job now so we can move next month. If only he had any idea what he was actually suggesting...........

Ice Caves

On our drive home from Bear Lake we took a small detour to some ice caves. They were small, but a fun detour. Ethan actually climbed deep into one and took a small tour with Matt & Brian. The rest of us just stayed in the first cave and explored there. Kennedy took it seriously with her flashlight-------I think she just liked being in control of holding the light. The boys enjoyed climbing on rocks and dancing around. Because there was ice, and dirt mixed with ice creates mud, some little feet became covered in the slimy substance. Chaos erupted when we climbed back into the van and Ethan stepped on Kennedy's seat, covering it in brown sludge. She started to cry hysterically. To make matters worse, I was holding her prize container of shells she had painstakingly collected over the week while I was cleaning off her seat and the contents spilled all over the ground. I calmed her down by telling her I would pick them up, but after 10 minutes had to neglect the ones smaller than a finger nail. More tears. I think at this point we all just needed a big long nap, and probably some food that didn't contain 50 grams of sugar per serving.

The Thomas Family

Since we were all finally together in one place at one time, we decided to take a family picture. We debated on getting all dressed up fancy and looking our best, but decided in the end to just take a picture as-is. Apparently I was the only one that got that memo and everyone else looked adorable. You'll notice that one of my kids isn't even in a shirt and the other one looks like the uni-bomber with the hoodie. That's my family.

The only one not looking in the picture is Max. He's Lyndsey & Brian's baby. Poor guy was pulled out of bed for this picture. Here is a close up of his cute little face since it isn't really visible in the group shot.Here is a shot of the 6 of us. I'm the oldest of the crew. To the right is Lyndsey. She is married to Brian and resides in Idaho. They have Max in their family now. She teaches special ed. in an elementary school and is finishing up a class so she can apply to OT school in the fall. Brian is the computer whiz at the school district my mom teaches in. Behind Lyndsey is Charlie. He's next in line. He lives in Alaska with his wife Keri and their dog racecar. He's an engineer up there in the north, and Keri has a demanding job that keeps her stressed out and traveling all over Alaska in small planes. Ben is on the far left in the back. He's #4 in the line of kids. He lives in Southern Utah with his wife Jena. He is an appraisor there and loving it, and Jena is working on her nursing degree. Matt is behind me. He's the youngest boy. He's also the tallest. Matt is a student at BYU when school is in session. This summer he was a tour guide in Alaska and lived with Charlie & Keri. I hear he's quite the guide and am sad I didn't get to take one of his tours. And last but definitely not least, is Katelyn. She is on the front left. She turned 19 in May and just finished her 1st year at BYU-I. She also just sent off a missionary so life is pretty hard right now. She's applying to be a nanny on the east coast while taking a breather from school. She'll start ISU in the fall of '08 in the physical therapy assistant program. I really wanted a shot of just my sisters and I. Shawn obliged. Well, I guess it was really Kate's idea, but I'm sure I would have thought of it eventually. Only 2 years seperate Lyndsey and I, so we shared a room pretty much our entire lives. We also used to fight over anything and everything. Age has mellowed me out, and now I can say we are pretty good friends. It's fun to see her as a mom, she is such a natural. She makes it look so easy to have a baby around.

Kate. Who doesn't love Kate? 13 years seperate us so I vividly remember rocking her to sleep at night. I secretly claimed her as my own. It's fun to watch her grow up and become a woman. Everyone is always telling her how much like me she is. (I'm sure it scares her to death to know what her body will look like after 4 kids!) She is actually much more patient and calm about things then I ever was. I'm so glad I have these 2 girls. I'm also glad that my married brothers snatched girls that are so much fun and easy to love. It makes me kind of sad that Kennedy will never have a sister. However, maybe she'll get some say in who her sister-in-laws will be.

***I also didn't get the memo that I was supposed to wear a red shirt with a white one underneath. Funny thing is, they didn't intend to dress alike, sisters just do that sometimes.

Bear Lake, Utah

While we were out west, we had the 1st official Thomas Family Reunion. It is the first time in about 5 years that all my siblings, spouses, and parents were together. We decided to rent a house at Bear Lake in Hidden Harbor. We were 1.3 miles from the beach, and a short walk from the associations swimming pool. We all spread out in the house and filled it to capacity. The very first night we got in early evening, so Shawn & I took the kids down to see the water. We rolled up our pants and waded in. It was the beginning of an awesome trip.

For the next 2 days we headed down to the beach early to reserve our spot in the sand. We had 3 canopies but the wind was so fierce the first day that one side on each canopy broke. Lyndsey's handy husband Brian and my Dad jimmy-rigged them up to vehicles so they would stay put. Anyone tired of the sun's rays hung out reading or eating under those canopies, everyone else dug in the sand and splashed in the water.

Jena and Keri buried Matt in the sand complete with the added female anatomy. Jack wanted to help and figured he would start on Matt's head because that was the only part everyone else seemed to forget. Sorry Uncle Matt! Thanks to the ingenuity of Charlie and I, Matt will be able to continue to use his eyesight.

Kennedy LOVED being around so many Aunts. One day I caught her having a heart-to-heart with Keri in the hot sand behind the canopies. (Excuse the wierd camera problem in this one)Later, I caught her being the ring leader in a heart-to-heart with Keri's niece from the other side, Gracie.

When we weren't down at the beach, the kids wanted to be poolside. Luckily there were enough aunts and uncles around that somebody was always up for another swim. Kennedy and Ethan loved launching themselves off of uncle Matt, and when they wore him out they went to the side of the pool. Uncle Ben was also used as the catapult a few times. The endless energy of children always amazes me.

At night when all the kids were tucked into bed, we played games and ate milkshakes from the famous LeBeau's. Wonderful. What a great vacation. I can't wait until the next Thomas Family Reunion!

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old.....

I've been very blessed in my lifetime with great friends. I can look back over the years, and various places I've lived, and actually see why some of my friends were placed in my life. My family moved about every 5 years while growing up so I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people. Now I live in an area where I'm staying planted for awhile, but others are moving in and out, making it possible to create even more friendships. This little vacation I took out west allowed me to cross paths with some old, but dear friends. By no means are these the only 3 people that have impacted my life greatly, these are just a few that I was able to get in contact with.

This is Stephanie. She was the very first person to actually talk to me on the first day of school my junior year. That was the year we moved to Moses Lake. Yep, I said junior year. Rough time to move. But, Stephanie introduced me to a lot of new friends, helped me find my niche in the area, and basically helped me survive. We are grown up now, and she's pregnant with her 5th child. We talk about twice a year. It usually ends up being to tell each other we are expecting another baby, and then again to let each other know we've given birth. I'm stopping at 4, so she still better call me!

This is Rhonda. I met Rhonda my first year of college, but really got to know her while we were roommates our second year. She was that crazy-stay-up-all-night-and-just-hang-out type of friend. I was totally myself whenever I was around her. She was along for the ride with my relationship with Shawn, and listened many nights to my thoughts on that subject. This picture was taken at 7 am the morning we left her house to head back to Missouri. I'm sure she'll be happy that I'm stating that for the record. This picture doesn't do her beauty justice. The great thing about Rhonda? I married her brother so we are now not only friends but sister-in-laws.

This is Becca. We became friends right after I gave birth to Ethan. She had Andrew a few months previous, so we had an instant connection. She was student teaching for a few months after we met, but as soon as she was done we became connected at the hip. We didn't do anything without the other, and if we did, it seemed almost wierd. Becca really helped me adjust into motherhood and staying home full time. Her friendship was priceless, and still is. We got to have lunch together one day a few weeks ago, and though it was short, it was like we'd never been apart.

I wish there were enough space on this entire blog to do a small entry on all the friends that have helped me get through certain phases of life, or just people that have taught me life lessons. There are so many of you out there. Who could forget the entire "Ching" circle? Apartment 007 because the 3 fell off? The girls that got me through that 1st year of med school and are now helping me get through residency? The girls that let me be their friends even though I'm just "that girl that's been in SAA for 6 years"? When I think of all of my friends, I think of a song I learned in Brownie Scouts when I was 7--------"Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold".

***If you would like to be a featured friend, you need to arrange to see me while on vacation!***