The Seven of Us

McKenna and Isaac on the boulder in my padre's front yard.

Well, I am finally ready to give the New York report! I will post pictures separately, probably this weekend. Our flights, both going and coming, were uneventful; we were on time and had no problems. On the way to NY, the kids and I left Tuesday afternoon and drove to a hotel near DIA. (Otherwise we would've had to leave home at the crazy hour of 3am. And it's been a long time since I've parked in short-term parking and I didn't really want to "expiriment" in the dark, alone, with 3 tired little kids--so I did what I know best.) The kids were pretty excited to stay at a hotel and eat at a restaurant. We went to bed early so that we could get up at 4:15am to get on the 5:00shuttle. I didn't sleep well, but we got to the airport, checked in and paid our bag fees (I really hate those! I wish the airlines would just charge us a little more up front. What a hassle.) and cleared security and got to our gate--all within an hour. At the airport I bought Einst...

Well...a lot has happened since my last post. I will be adding more today and throughout the week, but for now, here's some stuff about McKenna. The day before the kids & I went to New York (August 4th) Kenna finished her summer gymnastics classes. I went to the class, camera in hand, planning to document all of her progress for you. Caleb went with me that day and reviewed pictures on the way there. When I was ready to begin taking pictures, I realized he'd left the camera on, and the battery was dead. I was pretty sad about not having any pictures. For now, you'll have to try to picture these things: *McKenna on the balance beam. She walks along, doing tuck jumps the entire way (I think I would lose my balance on the landing, but she didn't--her toes touched down every time.) At the end, she did a really nice roundoff for her dismount. As the class went on she worked on adding more "spring" to her roundoff and she was able to land farther away from the...

Well...to do this post justice I really need a picture. I'd forgotten that I grew up in the middle of the forest! The "Adirondack Park", to be precise. When we arrived last night I was surprised to see so many ferns growing along the sides of the roads, and when we got out of the car to come inside I said, "it smells like a forest". And it does. We're off to explore in a bit. More on our adventures later!

Corbin was emptying the water from the dog dish into the puddle created by the sprinkler. What fun! Notice his muddy bottom & his swimming shorts. This is his daily attire. Sooner or later, he finds his swim trunks and brings them to me with his "Aren't I cute? Won't you help me?" look. Being the mushy mom that I am (and having given up caring what my kids wear long ago), I take one look at him, quickly consider his innocence, and cave. He will only be this age today. Tomorrow he may be done, so I'm enjoying today. A few days later, Corbin decided to test his "climbing shoes". I'm just grateful he stays in his crib.

I need to clarify what I wrote below. Just for the record, there are NOT 2 vehicles on my front porch. Sorry. You all know we're weird already; that really would've had you scratching your heads.

Being knee-dip into summer ("over my head" better describes some moments) causes me to reflect on some things that happen here each year. I gave a mother's day talk at church last year, but didn't mention these things...I was trying to inspire, and these just aren't too inspiring! But since these things sometimes weigh on my mind, I'll share. REMINDERS THAT I HAVE CHILDREN: *Every time I leave home, I return to find that the back battery panel on the phone is MIA. Today, it disappeared with grandeur; we haven't found it yet. When will I run out of uses for duct tape? *I have a perpetually open, but empty, ice cream carton in the fridge. (Regardless of how new the carton is.) *In order to keep yummy food stored in the deep freeze, it has to be buried under several grocery sacks and yucky cuts of meat. I can only retrieve this food between 10 pm and 6 am, and only alone. *My 2-week supply of sacrament meeting snacks sometimes lasts 2 weeks if I keep it...