Privacy Please....

Too many horror stories over the past few weeks about blogs. And people stealing pictures and inappropriately using them. And stalking. Boo. I never thought it would come to this, but I'm going private. Yep. Now you'll have to log in to view my life happenings. And hear about the things I think about. I'm guessing that will deter some of you. Sorry about that. I know that I love to read blogs. All kinds. And a lot of them are people that have no idea I check up on them. So. Come out of the wood work people. If you really care to read about my life. I won't judge you. There is nothing worse than trying to read the blog of a sister of a friend and getting the old "you are not invited to read this blog" memo. Shoot me an email and I'll add you to the invitee list. Think of it as one great big party and you are getting the invitation. But only if you want to come. eansie2005@yahoo.com

Introducing....

This is the newest member of our family: Iron Man. This kid truly thinks he is Iron Man.

He gets this deep throaty voice and says, "I am Iron Man". If he says it enough in a short time span his voice goes hoarse. Sometimes when I call him Iron Man he'll say, "I'm not the real Iron Man. Only the fake Iron Man." But. I never know when the real one appears and the fake one leaves. I always give the benefit of the doubt. Last night he was climbing up a 15 foot ladder to do a zip-line (another post). I said to him, "Landon please be oh so careful. I don't want you to crack your head open". His reply? "Mom. Iron Man never cracks his head open." Let's only hope. Let's only hope.

On the baby front. I've discovered these:I've seen them around and thought they suspiciously resembled leg warmers from my "flashdance" days. And that's what they are. Only they mask themselves under the name "baby legs". Clever. And truly adorable. Who can resist those juicy thighs peeking up around the tops?

Come cooler weather I imagine her drawer to be full of all colors and patterns. Even if they really are legs warmers in cognito. Too cute. Sorry to say you will not see me sporting these babies anytime soon. I think the term "baby legs" means just that. Keep them on the babies. My thighs squishing around the top might not appear as adorable.

A LOT of Firsts....

These 3 hooligans started school this week. New schools for each.

Jack is at the school dubbed only for kindergarten. His first year going all day every day. And eating lunch on the premises.

Of course I walked him in. He is just starting school. Kennedy's first day of 3rd grade. Her school is 1st-3rd.

I sent her with a friends mom. Yep. She preferred it that way. Ethan's first day of 4th grade. His school is 4th-5th. I sent him with the same mom. They each get their own school. And they all get out at 3:30. Which means I am supposed to be 3 places at the exact same time. Though I've perfected multi-tasking, I have yet to complete the cloning ability. I was blessed enough to be invited to join the neighborhood carpool. (I happened to meet and become friends with Erin who is seriously connected. And really fun. A bonus.) The carpool is arranged per school. Only. I'm not carpooling anyone. I know. Crazy, right? The women thought having to sit in the kindergarten parking lot was punishment enough. So. I'm only toting Jack. And Landon on days when he attends school. Which also happened to start this week.

I had to walk him in. It was mandatory. Something about him being only 3 and needing adult supervision. He could have found his way alone. Excitement is a serious understatement.

Jack also started soccer this week. He is on a team in a competitive league this year. Funny since he is a complete novice. A friend Jenifer's husband is the coach. (I sure do meet connected people. ) Lovely.He loves it. He is clueless when it comes to the game. But he's teachable. He'll catch on eventually. And if he doesn't? He'll have a good year watching the other kids chase the ball.
And me? This week I started waking up at 4:15 so I can go running with my friend Julie that teaches school 30 minutes away. I'm home by 5:30 so I'm showered and ready for the kids to get up for school. And also ready to go back to bed myself. I'm hoping to get used to this new early routine and start getting to bed earlier. We'll see. I might have to change it up after the 1/2 marathon we are training for together. I don't know if my body can hack this kind of sleep-lacking torture. And I don't know if Shawn can handle the repercussions of my sleep-lacking. And Shawn. His first this week. NOTHING to study. Except me.

Babes in Photos...

Raquel sent me the pictures she took on our "girls night out" at the Gateway Mall. Me, Lacie, Karen, Tisha, Natalie, Jenny. And Raquel up front. What a bunch of babes. Collectively we have 24 children. Raquel and I own almost 1/2. Out of Control.

Karen, Me, Lacie, Tisha, Natalie, Raquel. Jenny left before we got ice cream.
Ice cream employee in the background, as promised.Tisha, Raquel, Me. Man. I think I need botox. Or just some serious sleep.
Lacie, Raquel.

Natalie, Karen. With feet that were in pain.

Jayne, Natalie. This one was with my camera phone. Not bad. And I figured out how to load it on this thing all by myself. Thanks girls for the fun night. Let's do it again sometime.

Done....

Boards are over. Written anyway. Shawn will have to take Oral boards October 2010. Only that test is supposed to be harder. However. They always schedule those particular tests in a tropical climate like Hawaii. Or Puerto Rico. And I get to go. Even if I'm not invited, I'm stowing away. While poor Shawn is being grilled for his life, I'll be basking in the sun with a good book. Hmmm. I'm thinking I need to be basking on a beach BEFORE next October. I need a break. Not just a quick weekend somewhere without kids, but a real vacation. Hawaii is where my mind turns. Or a cruise. I'll be happy with either. As long as it's at least one week and I get Shawn's undivided attention the entire time. Something that will make me remember how good my life is. And how much I love my husband. Being away from my kids will help me appreciate them when I return. A refresher if you will. This has been a long journey. Medical school I mean. And I'm slowly realizing that my days of cooking and eating dinner alone with the kids aren't going away anytime soon. Like probably never. They will be less. But they will never be gone. And those ladies that like to have epidurals in the middle of the night to ease their labor? They aren't going away either. Shawn will still be tied to his pager a few times a week, and some weekends. Why was it I thought my life would completely change when he finished his training? Who knows. So. I'm proposing to my sweet dear of a husband that he whisks me off my feet to some romantic location and gives me the break that I need so desperately. (And he needs one too. Even if he pretends that he doesn't). It doesn't even have to be romantic. Just somewhere that takes me away from my everyday life.

The Last Week....

We left Darla and Brian's house around noon on Saturday. We met Katelyn at my aunt Laurie's house in Highland so we could swim with a few cousins that I haven't seen in years. My cousins kids happened to be visiting and they are my kids ages. They had a great time paddling around in the water. And drinking all the pop they could. And indulging in various types of Popsicles. Laurie told me that the perks of being a grandma is that you never say "no". Hmmm. I imagine sometimes that isn't too great of a "perk".

We left Laurie's bringing Katelyn with us. Headed to downtown Salt Lake City. Home of stuff I wanted my kids to experience. And the place I'd arranged to meet some girlfriends for dinner. I threw Kate into a lion's den. A hotel room with my 5 tired, hungry kids and a bag full of McDonalds. (I owe her BIG TIME). I headed off on foot to Gateway Mall. Alone. And excited to see some girls that helped me through some tough years. They were all sitting at a table in front waiting for me. We gabbed about everything for 30 minutes before we realized we hadn't even looked at a menu. That's how easy it is to be with these girls. We all came from various states and cities to visit family and arranged to meet. None of us had our husbands with us on our "vacations". Medical school does that. We ate, shopped,and talked until the stores closed. And we had to return to our kids. I had my camera in my purse this entire vacation. Except for that night. You'll just have to picture us lined up in front of Ben and Jerry's window posing while one of the employees took our picture and another employee leaped behind us trying to get in the shot. (Because none of these girls have emailed the photos they took. Not like I could figure out how to get it off my email and onto this post even if they had). A great night.

The next morning I had grand plans of touring Temple Square with my kids and maybe even letting them play in the fountains at Gateway. Only. They were wiped out. Still. Lack of sleep had seriously caught up to them. After breakfast all they wanted to do was watch TV in the hotel room. Bo-ring. But I relented. We had plans that night and I figured why fight this battle.

After some laying around, we headed to Provo. We checked into another hotel with my parents, Ben & Jena, Katelyn, Lyndsey & Brian and her two kids. Then headed up to Provo Canyon for my Grannies 80th birthday party celebration. All of her kids, her grand-kids, and even her great-grand kids were in attendance. Minus only 2. Pretty cool celebration for one cool Granny. The kids played in copious amounts of dirt

with cousins they didn't even know existed but loved anyway.

I was able to get one group shot of just my immediate family. My kids were thrilled.
After I gave my kids the 10 minute warning for our departure, we heard sirens. A wreck in the canyon. Traffic backed up locking us in for 3 hours. We decided to enjoy our time and take a little hike to the falls. At the top the kids had a seat. My five + Lyndsey's two. Quite the cute little group.

Then just the girls. Lyndsey, Me, Kate, and Jena. (and my 9 year old that was so over being in the canyon. I was so over being his mother at this point too.)A late night back to the hotel to rest up for the next big day coming our way. Seven Peaks Water Park. Promising fun for all ages, and to gouge your pocketbook. We had a GREAT time. Thanks to all the aunts and uncles willing to tote my young ones up and down slide after slide. It made the day really fun. For all. But no food in the park. So my brother Ben and I snuck out to buy pizza and pop for us to eat on the front lawn. Outside the gates. Like law abiding citizens. Can you tell by my pictures which of my children weren't relentlessly dragging around relatives slide to slide?



The next day we were leaving town. Only us girls had big plans. The little girls started the morning by chasing each other down the halls of the hotel. Lily and Presley are just over a month apart in age. It was fun to watch them interact with each other.

Then we headed over to Grannies. Because at the celebration I wasn't able to see her, I thought I'd take my brood over to say goodbye.

The standard 4 generation shot. We are all the oldest child in our families.

We said our good-byes. And then parted ways. Even with the boys. Us girls were headed to Park City for a day of shopping. My Dad was willing to drive my boys home with him. Lovely. My girls came with me. Of course. I only took one picture. Right when we arrived and got a pretzel to hold us until dinner time. (My mom was also with us. She was just refilling her Diet Coke at the time.) No time for pictures when there are sales involved. I made out like a bandit. And only cried one tear when I found the pants I was actually wearing were significantly cheaper at the Gap Outlet than they were at the Gap purchased only the day before.

After our fun day we all headed back to Idaho to spend the rest of the week. We just enjoyed hanging out together. Presley experienced some new foods.

And the babes became better friends.

It was good to see people we hadn't seen in awhile. For some it's been years. Parents. Thanks for letting us crash your pad for a few weeks. And taking such good care of us. It made the looooong drive worth it.

Familiarity....

Since we've moved here it just hasn't felt quite like home to me yet. Granted, I left for 3 weeks shortly after arriving. But tonight. I was outside putting the cover on the grill and I heard the cicada's chirping. That lovely "it's hot and humid outside" chirp that they do every August. And I also noticed the tent spiders wrapping their ginormous webs around the leaves of the trees outside in our backyard. Reminds me of when we very first moved to the Midwest and these were all very new to me. Now I feel like I'm on familiar ground. Cicada's and tent spiders. Who would've thought those would be the things that connected me to my new surroundings.

Intolerable Tuesday....

I swear today can go down in history as the longest day e-ver. Shawn has been holed up in a hotel in downtown Kansas City since Friday. He takes boards on Sunday. 1 week of uninterrupted study time for him. A long week with the kids for me. I'm so ready for this test to be over. So is Shawn. And so are the kids. This afternoon we went swimming. We only left because a fight broke out due to hunger. I think hunger was the underlying issue. Could've just been that my kids really like to irritate each other. I opted for Burger King because of the play place. And because my fridge is sparse. Still haven't done the shopping I was supposed to do when we got home from vacation. Dinner was fine. No major issues. Except Jackson and Landon can't keep their hands off of Presley. And sometimes they are a little rough. Irritating. I decided we better go to Walmart while we were already out so we could put some food in the fridge and quit wasting our money on eating out. We had only been in the store less than 5 minutes when they called a Code Adam. A small child was lost. The mother appeared relatively calm. But I could see that inside she was panicked. And about to lose it if her child wasn't found. They found the child on the opposite end of the store where he was lost. And he was fine. Unfortunately this happened to be my child. Landon. And I was the mother whom everyone gawked at as they passed. I'm sure they saw all my other kids and thought "no wonder she lost one. She has plenty." I'm glad he was found. I wish I could say that it made me grateful that they were all there with me tugging the cart, begging for things like donuts, and constantly irritating each other. But it didn't. Not really. I still wished I'd left them all at home and ventured out late at night when nobody could bother me. It's finally close to bedtime. Presley is down. And now Jack and Landon are in bed because I told them if one more fight broke out the two involved would go straight to bed. Is it sad that I'm glad I was able to actually act out my threat? Ugh. I can't believe it's only been 14 hours since I woke up this morning. Feels more like an eternity has passed. I'm hoping tomorrow doesn't drag out like today. I'm hoping sleep brings me sweet relief.

Time With The Crook-side....

After our week in Idaho we ventured into Utah for some time with the Crook side of the family. My Mom graciously kept Presley with her for the first 3 days due to our activities planned. Activities that would be less fun toting a baby in a stroller. Our first stop in Utah was to visit some med school friends. The Flinders. Lacie fed us pizza and pop and let the kids play their hearts out. It was a great start to a great week.

Notice the bags under my eyes? Apparently late nights show on a girl my age. Lovely.

Next stop was our destination. Darla & Brian's house. Darla is Shawn's younger sister. They were willing to put us up for a few nights and it was fabulous. They are amazingly wonderful hosts. We had to get to bed early for our big day the next morning. Lagoon. The place where dreams come true. Well, according to Ethan who's never really been to an amusement park before. We were joined by Shawn's sister Rhonda and her boys Logan and Atlin, Grandma Angela, Uncle Clinton, Aunt Anna, and of course Darla, Brian, and their girls Alyssa and Aubrey. What a great place for a reunion.

After entering the park we were all so excited we didn't even know where to start. The kids saw the bumper cars so they rode while we formulated a plan.

We decided to hit the rides near the back of the park first. The wet ones so we could be a little damp through out the day. Sweltering heat wasn't going to hold us back. Rattlesnake Rapids it was. Because there was no line we went twice. Alyssa didn't want to ride so we switched out staying with her. Landon thought once was good. Jackson was angry we only went twice.

We hit all the kiddie rides next. There really weren't any lines yet. It was refreshing.


At this point we ate our picnic lunch and then took the divide-and-conquer approach. Bigger rides for bigger kids (including some for the Moms and Brian), little rides for little kids. We met up occasionally for little snack breaks. And to drink from the 100 ounce drink I spent a small fortune on. Brian also bought one. Refillable too. Nice. (Shawn later asked why I bought the small drink. Funny man.)

The heat started to get to us after awhile. None of us really wanted to put on a swimsuit and go to the water park. That's where the crowds were. Our line-free day was only getting better. We opted for the water fountain at the front entrance.

The kids were so soaked I had to change their wet shoes into flip-flops. Blisters were starting to form. And really deep wrinkles. Only signs of good times. This is where the pictures stopped. It was late afternoon and there was too much more to see. We stayed until closing. 11 pm. We were wiped out. But still relishing in the excitement we had experienced. I really felt my Mom's graciousness for keeping Presley. We never would have endured that many hours with her in tow. Thanks again Mom!

The next morning we had tickets for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. At 10:15 AM. I was dragging kids out of bed at 9:45. Nobody was too happy with me. I only wish we had tickets for a later time. I think the experience would have been far greater. It was still great. But. It would have meant more if the kids hadn't been in tears from exhaustion.

That afternoon we just laid around. And ate. And then played at a park that evening. Early to bed because the next morning was a big day for us girls. The Deseret News 10k. Sounds easy to some. But I'd never run one before. All my sis-in-laws had. But never me. And Kate had come to town to run it with us. And to bring us Miss Presley. I had a hard time sleeping due to the excitement. And because Presley decided midnight was her bedtime of choice. 4:30 came pretty early. But I was ready. The race started at 6. Brian was so nice to be willing to watch my kids while we were gone.

My finishing time wasn't anything to alert the media about, but I finished 5 minutes faster than I'd hoped. Yeah for me! And. At the finish line I was able to see Becca. A good friend from a long time ago. She's a true runner and finished waaaaay before me. She is one of my inspirations. No pictures of her though. My camera was up at the car.

Not only did Brian watch my kids that morning, he bought all us girls pedicures. And then watched my 4 other kids while we were gone. Lovely. And so thoughtful. You rock Brian!

Because that day was the 24th of July, and a huge Utah holiday, everyone headed to Darla & Brian's for a bbq that afternoon. Brian set up their waterslide and the kids had a blast.

I realize as I'm posting this that none of the extended Crook family is represented here very well either. I guess I was too focused on being a mom than I was on photography. Sorry.

We were all missing Shawn pretty badly at this point in our trip. Every ride at Lagoon was followed by "Dad has to come here and ride that!" But. Our trip wasn't over yet. Still another week of fun was to be had. Another post. Man. These are looooong. What a great trip!