Swimmin'!

I mentioned that we went to the pool on Saturday. I figured out how to get pictures back up, but we're having serious issues with viruses again. Ug!

Anyway, back to the pool... The kids had such a blast! Marian is now old enough to stand up in the 3 ft area and she was thrilled with that. She alternated between the 2 areas and had a good time. Joshua found some friends from school and he was off. He never even entered the baby area! Callie and Delaney stayed in the baby area and thought it was the greatest thing ever.Here are some pictures:

Callie was so pleased with herself. She could put her CHIN in the water! Yeah, she was hot stuff!

Delaney started off sitting on the side with that thumb in her mouth. She did get closer and eventually was in the water splashing like a maniac. She didn't want me to help her stand, so she toppled face down into the water several times. She was okay with that!

Marian was a good swimmer. She can do a back-float.... sort of! She really enjoyed the pool. Heck, everyone did!

And here's Joshua, from a distance. He's with his friends. He was practicing his swimming too. He's getting it, although the goggles don't really keep the water out.

Computer Glitches

We started having trouble with computer viruses again. Joshua gets on the computer and indiscriminately downloads stuff and Dan likes to watch random TV episodes on some wierd site, so its coming from that, probably. Still, I finally got another Antivirus program, because the old one said the computer was fine, when it so obviously was not. I am quite pleased with the better function of the computer, but now I can't open new web pages, and I can't attach pictures here! Aack! I have to figure out what's preventing that and fix it, because I NEED to be able to post pictures! Its half the reason for my blog. A medium for me to whine in is the other half, in case you didn't know! So, no pictures until I can correct this. Hopefully soon.

Other interesting things.... As I was napping yesterday (ahhh.....) Dan sat in the wrong place at the dining room table and when he stood up, he cracked his head on the chandelier. And he did it with enough force that it really hurt, but it also flew up high enough that it unhooked at the base where it kept the chain nice and short, so it unhooked the chain and gave it a good2 feet to fall back down. I'm not sure if it bashed into the cieling, or if the force with which it came down was the cause, but the darn thing nearly came out of the cieling! So there is a large piece of cieling about to fall and the base of the light fixture looks a bit pecarious, and Joshua is terrified that it will all fall down. I called a work order on it, so we'll see what they do about it.

And I am so wanting strawberries right now! Marian convinced me to buy some at Walmart today and we ate all of them! I want more! I'm going to call tomorrow and see if the fields are ready to pick now! Mmmmmm, strawberries!

Neverending Days

You ever have one of those days where you just can't wait for it to be over? Or at least till all the kids are in bed and you can drown your misery in a bag of doritos or a large bowl of Oreo Dirt Cake? (Yeah, we made that Oreo Dirt Cake and while it was good, we won't be doing it again- way to messy!) but back to me....

Marian woke me up with her vomiting last night at 11:30. She was uncomfortable most of the rest of the night too, which meant I didn't sleep well since she was camped out on the floor right next to me. I didn't get to sleep in either- Dan had to go on the Youth Temple Trip, so I had to be exercised and home by 8:30. I rode my bike about 4 miles and then ran 3 1/2 and that was actually the best part of my day. Sad, huh.

As soon as Dan left, it was horrible! Callie cried and whined non-stop. i don't know why. The neighbor girls came over and I made everyone go out to the park. That didn't last long. They came in screaming that there were wasses (wasps) all over. I only saw one. But the kids were done with outside. I tried to sort through toys. My plan is that everything that doesn't have a bin to call home is gone. That was going pretty well till I had helpers. I took one bin of stuff upstairs and came down to the true-pain screeches of Callie, who had climbed on the elliptical machine with Morgan, the nieghbor girl. She'd managed to scrape a good sized bit of her calf on it somehow. No bleeding, just the top layer of skin gone. The howling went on forever. Seriously.

I finally got her quiet, and got Joshua out of the house. He came back wanting to swim. Well, we trashed the yard yesterday doing that, so I said no. Our nieghbor Sara set up her pool, but got into trouble before anyone could use it. Joshua was about ready to go into super-whine mode. In a moment of delerium, I thought, why not? and suggested that we could go to the pool. We had a quick lunch of hot dogs and string cheese and got ready. Yes, I took all 4 urchins out to the pool. They loved it. I actually enjoyed it too. The older 3 are self entertaining and require little assistance. Delaney however.... she loved playing on the side, and once in the kiddie section, did not want help, which worked out badly for her. By the 5 dunking, she was totally okay with it though.

So the pool went well, till it was time to go. Callie made it to the parking lot before having a random meltdown. I carried her to the car, buckled her up and went to Little Caesar's. I LOVE thier drive-up window! However, no one wanted pizza but me and Delaney. Marian said she wanted Frosted Flakes and cried for 20 minutes till she fell asleep. Callie cried for some other reason. Delaney woke up from her nap and cried and cried. I do not know why they were all crying!! Honestly!

Finally it was about bedtime. I took them up for baths and Callie kept splashing and tossing water out. I pulled her out of the bath and she sat in the hallway, naked and wet and howled. Dan had gotten home 15 minutes before but he was surprisingly absent, which really made me cross. I should mention that my allergies are in total overdrive today and I am utterly miserable to begin with. I am sneezing, itchy, runny nosed and hating life. I swear I have had a good attitude with the kids, so don't tell me that's where their issues today were coming from!

On the plus side, it is 7:45, everyone but Delaney is fresh, clean, and in bed, and no one (so far) has had a bedtime meltdown. Now that I have spewed my frustrations out here, I shall go see if there are any more leftover Easter chocolate eggs and I will channel surf and make Dan deal with Delaney. Oh wait, no I won't. I have a sunday School lesson to peruse before tomorrow! Eeek!

Fun with My Family!

Okay, here's the background: My family has a reunion coming up this summer and we're trying to collect some of our family stories before then. Well, I am trying to do it. There is a decided lack of enthusiasm from other parties. (Or perhaps just less time!) I have been going through the stuff I have and getting everything onto the computer. Such fun! And tonight I am scanning my brother Adam's tales, and it has made me laugh out loud. That is my bar for sharing. If it makes me laugh out loud, I must share (which is why I plug thepioneerwoman.com all the time!). So, since I have completed the work of getting this tale computer ready, I shall now post it for your viewing enjoyment. Here is Adam's story, one of his many near-death exploits:

The date: some time in late April to early May 2001.
The place: Provo, Utah.
The people: Me...Just me.

With just days to go before making the flight from Salt Lake City to Anchorage, Alaska I was anxious to try to keep myself in reasonably good condition as to make myself as attractive as possible. So I ran. At this time after the Winter 2001 BYU semester had ended, and 1 was living off campus with Miranda and Dan. So it was from their house on 200E 248N that this journey began. I left with no real destination in mind, but quickly headed away from campus and towards the mountains. If you are familiar with Provo you might remember the famous "Y" mount. That's where I headed. I eventually found myself near 7 Peaks Water Park at the base of a formidable shale hill.

Picture this with me- A 90-foot high rock wall jutting up at about 75-85 degrees, getting steeper towards the top. In the middle of this wall there is a spot worn from water erosion that is full of good handholds that also gets narrower at the top. Above this the mountain leveled out and it was then just a hike up the mountain to get to the "Y". I, at first, had no intentions of climbing this, but the realization that if didn't go now it would be another 2 1/2 years before I'd ever make it to that famous BYU landmark encouraged me to go. Thus the climb commenced. Armed only with a worn down pair of running shoes, an old t-shirt, my running shorts, and my wit I started up the face, dreadfully unprepared. The first 30-40 feet was a cakewalk. There were many firm places to set my feet and hands, and my morale was still at Invincible Mode. Before I continue I'd like to give you a little back ground about shale, I think it's a kind of limestone that forms in layers. It's not very sturdy and it falls away in sheets. Meaning that you may have a good place to stick your foot for a moment, but after you apply pressure a large chunk of rock may rip out of the face, almost always making the place smoother and harder to climb. I'm sure by now you can see the problems that this caused. Now let's continue.

As I steadily climbed upwards, my pace decreased drastically. Not only was it getting harder to find a firm place to hold on to, but also the need for them was ever greater because of the increasing angle of the cliff. I'd also begun to get sloppy and found myself almost twister style (left hand on red, with right foot on yellow....) only 15 feet from the top. Off balance, out of reach, and slipping I was rather stuck. At this point I had two choices. I could either attempt to throw myself the remaining 5 yards to the top, and hope I make it, knowing that if I don't my body will tumble the 75 feet, bouncing off the wall to the bottom; or I could start a slow, controlled descent from where I was currently stationed with the hopes that by the time gravity overcame the friction between my shoes and the rock that I'd be far enough down that I could only be semi-horribly maimed. I actually had a third thought come to mind.

It was a slightly less realistic thought, but my mind clung to it in desperation. I fully expected a Spanish swordsman to come to the edge of the cliff offer me a rope or a tree branch or something. As you can imagine in this I was sorely disappointed. However, I did wait several minutes in hopes of this. I think you now have an understanding of how bad my situation was. I was starting to get just a little scared, but the realization that I needed to go on a mission gave me some hope, "I can't die yet." I thought.

It finally dawned on me that Anigo Montoya was not going to appear, and that I could not propel my body straight up 15 feet. I had to go down. Slowly I flipped myself around so that my back was to the wall, my feet facing down, and I began the descent. Going up is always easier than going down, and I'd made the journey even more of an odyssey by destroying all of the foot holes on the way up. Bad luck. The first few feet were very, very, very slow going. Knowing that if you move to fast, or without thinking that your body will fall helplessly 8 stories before crashing to the ground has a way of captivating your mind and making you think very hard before each move. Thus I began to move my left foot down, grab hold with my right hand, Oh!! Stay strong with left hand, slowly lower, watch out that rocks loose!! Careful it's really slick here...

Unfortunately, despite all my efforts, this pattern only continued for about 5 feet, Some how; it escapes my memory, I made an error. Shocking yes, but it happened. While lowering myself down the rock I was clutching for support- gave way beneath me, I pressed in with my feet to try to stop my fall; but it was futile. Luckily I had anticipated this, just not so quickly. As the rock I held broke off, and the slide began, I pushed my bum off the rock while stretching my hands out to try to slow me down and, with luck, stop completely. I then used my Adidas running shoes as skis while I shot down the mountain. You'd be amazed at how fast a 180 lb boy can get going. Just think "bobsled team" minus the protective bobsled.

As quickly as it began it was over, almost instantly I'd covered the 70 feet and was at the bottom. Just before impact I stood up as if running down the face of the cliff so that the transition from going down at 80 degrees to moving 180 degrees wouldn't shatter my legs. It worked. My downward moment was absorbed by the forgiving gravel and changed into forward movement. For a second I was stunned. I was alive! I looked quickly at myself. Yes, I still had all of my major appendages. Arms, legs, hands, still intact. Butt, bruised or broken. Shoes, still runnable. Me, alive. Me, happy, very happy.

As the initial shock wore off and I was able to inspect myself closer, I noticed several gashes in my hand from the rocks, but all in all not bad. I was able to run the mile or two back home without incident to receive competent medical help, a hot bath, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. While doing so I discovered several scratches on my butt, but my shorts weren't torn (happy day, clothes don't heal) and a few other cuts, but nothing compared to the dismemberment I should have faced. It was a good day. So the moral of the story is when you go rock climbing bring a Spaniard with you.

Yes, this is my baby brother and his fabuous wife!

Spring has sprung

Have I mentioned that Callie only wants to wear dresses now? She has 3 she loves and I have washed them several times this week. Today she also wanted to wear her rain boots. They are way too big for her, but she loves them. They are quite darling, with little faces and antenna on the front. So that is what she wore today... to take Marian to preschool, to the commissary....Yeah, Callie got distracted by the dandilions in the preschool lawn. But those are cute boots!

Today it was finally nice outside. When Joshua got home from school, he wanted to get wet. We had to rustle up swimsuits for the kids and I hooked up the sprinkler to the hose. We made the yard a mess of mud. Yep, that's what we did. Delaney was so cute in her suit. She liked the water a lot more than I thought she would. Her face was so cute and confused. Unfortunately she tried to eat a large chunk of dirt. Me, the loving mom that I am, watched with the camera. i was hoping to get a cute, dirt-smeared face shot, and I thought she'd spit out the dirt, but she didn't. She tried to swallow it, then gagged and barfed. Not so cute.

A very good time was had by all. Love those chubby baby thighs!!