Girly-Man

My son has a very slim chance of not being somewhat girly. Today his sisters convinced him to wear lip gloss. The conversation went something like this:

Porter: Mom! I have on lipstick!

Mom: Porter, lipstick is only for girls.

Porter: No! The girls told me I could have it!

(Girls are giggling in the background)

Regan: I can't believe we got him to wear it!

Mom: Where's the camera?

Porter only posed for one picture before he wiped it off and ran away. I guess there's hope for him, yet.

Four!

Poor Porter. We spent his birthday (June 9th) driving in a car from New Mexico. We did sing happy birthday to him, but any sort of celebration just kind of fizzled. So, a couple of days ago I decided that we had to do something. I didn't want to make a big cake, seeing as it was just our family, so I made dirt cups instead.

I think that Zoey enjoyed it the most!

Of course, now Porter says he wants a cake for his birthday. Sheesh. Some people are never satisfied.

We Should Have Taken A Left In Albuquerque

This trip kind of snuck up on us. I think I was concentrating on the last week of school and all of a sudden it was time for the trip. In fact, we took the kids out a day and a half early to go.

So Thursday afternoon we hooked up the RV and hit the road. Scott had it in his head that Cortez, CO would be the perfect place to stop for the night, but didn't want to pay anyplace to camp, so he found an LDS Church building out in the middle of cow pastures (and nothing else) to stop for the night. Of course, we didn't get out as early as we wanted, so we didn't get there until 11:00 pm. We didn't even unhook the RV from the truck and piled inside to sleep. I am my mother's daughter, so I slept very poorly that night, with visions of a cop knocking on the door at 3 am to tell us to move. I could picture waking four sleeping kids to load them back up in the truck and drive somewhere else! Every time the dog moved, I'd wake up, sure someone was outside. Much to my relief, nothing happened.

The KOA in Albuquerque was really nice. We were close to the pool and playground. It was really hot, so the pool was a great place to spend a lot of time.

Here is Scott and Zoey, hanging out.

Porter and Hali doing the same.

When Regan wasn't swimming or at the playground, she had her nose in this book. She must have read it six times on our trip.

We spent Friday and Saturday with Jeff (Scott's brother), Lori, and their girls, Katie, Marissa, and Emma, but they had to leave on Sunday. (We left on Monday.) So we decided to play the tourists and see the sights in Albuquerque. We went "downtown" (in quotes, because there isn't much of a downtown. Salt Lake has a bigger downtown.) and walked around Old Town.
They had a lot of stores with cheap, ugly souvenirs. I had to take a picture of this, just because it made me laugh so hard. I have never seen a Jesus action figure! I mean, seriously?!
The drive home was LONG! We left at 8:30 am and didn't get home until after 11:00 pm! But we took our time, not to mention we were hauling a trailer. We took a little side trip, too. We stopped at the four corners monument.

Here are the kids, one in each state. Regan was in Utah. Porter in Colorado. Hali in New Mexico. And Zoey in Arizona. It was pretty cool.

I have to say, this was a contemplative trip for me. We drove through a lot of Native American Reservations and I saw a lot of poverty. I think I sit in my nice house, with plenty of food in the cupboard, with drawers full of clothes, and just live my life. I often fall into that "keeping up with the Jones" thing and wish for better than what I have. But really, what I have is good. I have a great life. And with the economy what it is right now, it really hasn't made that much of a difference in my every day life. I haven't had to tighten my belt to afford gas or groceries. I think this trip has grounded me a little. I guess every once in a while we need to be reminded of the blessings that the Lord has given us. Especially when we take them for granted.

Albuquerque Century bike tour

On Saturday Jeff and I participated in the Albuquerque, NM century bike tour. It is 100 miles around the city of Albuquerque. There were a number of unofficial photographers along the course and this is the only picture of our group. At mile 84 I had a blow out. My tire ruptured and the tube protruded out and blew up. With a large hole in my tire I was unable to continue. Jeff and the group continued on and finished the ride. I was disappointed not to have finished when I was close to the end. This week I can redeem myself with the Tour de Cure Century. I have new tires and hope to put that bad luck behind me and have a great ride this Saturday.

Wow

We just got back from our Trailer trip to New Mexico (more on that later). I just added up the receipts for gas and it totaled:

$545.56

Holy Cow! That was more than half our budget for the trip! I think I'll go have a heart attack now.

Being An Adult Stinks

I think we are getting to the point where our house is past it's first blush of youth. Last year, our refrigerator motor died. We got lucky and it was still covered by the warranty. We didn't get so lucky this time. On Sunday afternoon our dish washer decided to take a vacation. Actually, it decided to work overtime. We started it when we left for Amy's party and when we got back it was still going and had just started leaking suds. So for the last few days I've had to hand wash the dishes. *shudder* It brought me back to the early days of our marriage when we had no dish washer, except for these lovely hands. I hated it.

So, the repairman came today. And after all was said and done, it would cost over $300 to fix it. And although, they make their money off of repairs, he basically told me to go buy a new one. Man, we made sure we got the upgraded dishwasher! I didn't realize that dishwashers had such a short shelf life. Ugh. Now, I have to go buy a new one. Normally, this would make me rejoice, but frankly, I just don't want to spend the money. I thought when I bought a new one I'd go all out and buy the top of the line kind of thing. Yeah, that's not happening. We have a couple of RV trips planned and with gas prices what they are, we need the money. Adulthood sucks sometimes.

Amy's Birthday

As I was loading all these pictures on, I realized that we didn't even get a picture of the birthday girl! Sorry, Amy! And Happy Birthday, tomorrow!

On Sunday evening, we went up Millcreek Canyon for Amy's birthday. We had tinfoil dinners and s'mores. It was a beautiful evening and the picnic area was right by the river.

The kids had to show me their favorite area by the river.

Zoey was fascinated by the water going under the bridge. She kept saying Whoa, over and over again.
This is Regan's favorite rapid. I didn't realize we were there long enough that she could find a favorite rapid. I'm not sure what Porter is doing. Maybe he's channelling Indiana Jones.
Zoey sure loves her beverages! She doesn't care if it's a sippy, juice box or coke can. She just LOVES drinking something.
It was great being out of doors, although a little stressful with the river. With all the snow we got the river was fast and cold. So we really had to keep an eye on the kids and make sure no one went swimming.

I do wish I had a video camera. Olivia (our almost 2 year old niece) was running down a hill and fell. Not that that was funny, but she did the most amazing thing. It was like a somersault, but untucked. Her body was perfectly straight and she rolled, face first, with her legs going up and over her head! I was closest to her and she had this look on her face, like, I know that was pretty amazing, but I really didn't like it much. She was fine, a little traumatized and a few scrapes on her face, but mostly unhurt. The video would have perfect for AFV!

Pioneer Village

Tis the season of the school field trips! And somehow, I ended up going to both Regan's and Hali's. Usually, Scott gets to go to one, but he had work to do, so couldn't go on Regan's.

This field trip took us to the This Is The Place Heritage Park. That's a mouthful. We took the kids here last Pioneer Day, but it's a lot different when you go with a school group. We had a tour guide in each place that would tell us what life was like back in 1865.

Here is my group: McCoy, Regan, Karli, and Conner.

They have a petting zoo there with sheep, goats, pigs, baby chicks, peacocks, and snakes. Luckily, the snakes were in cages. Although, they kept warning us that it's snake season, so stay to the paths. They had already caught a couple of rattlesnakes that week! Paths are good. We like paths!
This is the barber shop. They also performed small dental and medical procedures. They showed us this hook thing that could pull teeth and a little contraption for blood letting. Lovely. They even practiced shaving on the kids.
The coolest part (in my opinion, but then I didn't have to pull the thing) was the handcarts. They split the kids up into groups of six and had them pull real handcarts around this dirt track, which included a small hill.
Drama Regan made an appearance. The last part of the track was downhill and Regan started having "flashbacks" of the time she fell while riding her bike down a dirt hill. She started crying and having a fit. All the parents kept asking me if she was ok, thinking she got hurt by one of these heavy handcarts. Um, yes, she's fine.

We got to go to the school and learn how kids had to bow and curtsey to their teacher as they walked into the room. And we even got to learn the Virginia Reel in the Social Hall. And as Regan's class has more boys than girls, several of us mom's got to dance, too. Much to the horror of the boys who had to dance with us! It was a pretty fun day.