BYU & UEA, FYI

I know, I know, you've heard all of the jokes before. But it's not often I get a chance to say it and mean it without feeling guilty afterward, so allow me this indulgence - We went on the best dam trip ever last weekend!
Jef was going to go the the BYU game in Las Vegas with some members of his family. Somehow at the last minute we all managed to get ourselves invited. It was fun all around with lots of good memories. My mom always says that no matter how much fun you have on a trip, it's always the things that go wrong that you remember the most. Not much went wrong, luckily, but here are some of the weird things that we'll all remember:
-Frantically packing late Friday night and leaving early Saturday morning.
-Lots and lots of gas station and fast food restaurant bathrooms.
-Jonathan's heart-stopping sprints away from us in crowded places.
-Seeing the funny looks people all gave us as we walked through the casino to go bowling in the bowling alley that had like 100 lanes.
-Explaining to the kids what slot machines are. (Later Jane described them as machines you put money into, but not as much money comes back out.)
-Jef gambling away the kids' college funds in a matter of minutes. Ha, just put that in to see if you were listening... Our kids don't even have college funds!
-Hannah becoming enchanted with Jef's cousin Kevin and not leaving him alone the rest of the trip. Don't worry little brother, she called him "another Kevin."
-Jay and Taylor in their new BYU hats, and Taylor's first Cougar football game.
-Taylor exclaiming every time we passed a sports car.
-Jane falling out of the hotel bed in the middle of the night.
-Hannah waking up and realizing we'd moved her into Jane's bed and then wandering around the hotel room requesting me to get her towels from the bathroom so she could make her own bed on the floor.
-Waiting in lots of dam traffic.
-Logan being amazingly good most of the time and then inexplicably screaming his head off on the way home.
We've been talking lately about trying to get away and take a long road trip and discovered on this one that a 6 hour drive and two days was plenty long enough to do for quite a while. How did we ever manage to drive from Minnesota and back? Anyway, thanks to Jef's parents for the fun time!

Outside a Carl's Jr. No matter where you go in the world, isn't it comforting to know that all fast food restaurants basically have the same facilities?

Sam Boyd Stadium or Bust

While some of the kids argued that they most enjoyed "swimming" in the hotel's hot tub, the rest of us agreed that going to Hoover Dam was our favorite part of the trip. We didn't take the dam tour, but we did think just walking around looking was really cool. They are building this HUGE bridge above the dam so that people don't have to drive on the dam anymore. The bridge was nearly as cool as the dam. I hope we can go back someday when it's finished.

Come on, vamanos!

Possibly the first person ever to cross Hoover Dam while simultaneously devouring rice cereal.

"I'll turn this bus around!"


Jane was really worried about getting back by Monday so that she wouldn't miss her handwriting segment in school, but she tried to have fun for our sakes.

Jono trying to explain to Sandy that he "NEEDS to run faster."



Now Jono is trying his tricks on Ray, but he is foiled again! Thank heavens for quick grandparents.

The whole dam family
(Sorry, but it's just not getting old for me yet.)

What could cause such awe? We were passing a train when I took this picture.

If the trip last weekend wasn't good enough, we had UEA this weekend so there was more fun and two days off school. On Thursday the kids and I went to my Mom's and we all visited my Dad in his office at the BYU.

Thank you, Mom for always being willing to help me take the kids on fun expeditions.

Grandpa has the coolest stuff in his office!

Thanks for the candy Grandpa!
But maybe we'd better go now - I don't think this office is used to such "excitement."

Nothing like the good old Bean Museum.

Tarzan, meet Jane

Taylor and the Kodiak

Just when you thought this post would never end, here are more pictures. Logan's first haircut. Doesn't he look different and older?

He's learned to tilt his head. Quite a fun diversion when you're 5 months old. It makes everyone around you laugh too.

Suckers are necessary equipment for haircut night. Only the boys got the cuts, but apparently all enjoyed the suckers.

Last but not least, Jef doing more really neato stuff with our camera. Have each kid take a different glowing device and wave it around. Fun for them, fun for Jef, and makes a really cool picture.

So, some much needed fun and vacation. We have not seen much of Jef lately with his new school schedule, so we were excited that he took a day off on Friday. He spent the last two days doing some projects around the house and hanging out with us, which was really nice, especially since Logan has been sick and the extra hands are welcome. The older kids played with their friends like crazy in the nice weather. Since we moved into this neighborhood, they actually like to stay home and hang out instead of constantly begging to "go somewhere." Jono even managed to run away yesterday and made it to the next neighborhood over, but that's another long story.
Today Hannah and Jono are getting sick, too. It's getting to be that time of year, I guess because I've heard that lots of kids have been missing school lately. What can you do? Just give them lots of love and attention, and enjoy the excuse to have some down time, I guess. The result is this very long blog post, so there you have it.

What DO I do all day?

Yes, it's true, I lead a glamorous life.

Okay, maybe it doesn't sound that cool to someone who's never tried it, but it keeps me busy and happy and learning a LOT. I can't stand it when people say I'm not a "working mom." I know that I am really, really lucky that I've been able to be with the kids full-time, and I don't want to sound ungrateful. I just don't like being referred to as someone who's not working!
I thought once summer was over and things were more "routine" that I might have a little more time on my hands, but it hasn't felt much like that so far. In fact, it feels like our family has been really, really busy. Busy with what, you ask? Well, I don't really know.
I've come to the conclusion that motherhood is like running on a treadmill. You work really hard, but rarely feel like you are getting anywhere. For example, I clean the house, and yet, it never seems to be clean. I cook the food, and then I have to cook more. I change the diapers, and they always seem to fill up again. I ask the kids to do things and they look at me like I am completely crazy. Also, Jonathan throws his sippy cup at me and calls me an idiot.
I do it all with the hope that somewhere down the road I will suddenly realize that my kids have grown up into very cool people. I get glimpses of that all of the time, and think that maybe we're all getting somewhere after all. In the meantime, like a treadmill, I know it is definitely making me a much stronger person. Also, even when it seems really sweaty and gross, I have a lot of cool songs on my mp3 player. And then there's Jef, of course. He's like the guy at the gym who always turns the TV to stupid channels. Ha, ha. Please know that is a joke, I'm just not one to gush about my EC in public, but we really do love each other and all that.


Here are some pictures of the last month since I haven't blogged in ages. I've already written a novel, so I will try to give condensed explanations.

Jono, bath. No sippy cup thrown, but much splashing.

Goodbye summer, we will miss you.

Logan in crib. Wide awake as usual, but cute enough to pull it off.

Cousin party. So fun. Thank you coolest Aunt ever.

Lord of the Dance.

Mom, why are all the people at Wal-mart smiling at me? Well Hannah, I think they really like your hat.

May not look a lot alike, but act much the same.

Woah, Logan and solid food have really hit it off.

Midair shot, nicely timed, Jef.

Windgardium Leviosa to you too, Taylor.

Train conductors hat meets fashion diva.

Yes, dear, your hair does look okay in the back.

One more tooth to go, and you'll be able to sing that song for Christmas, Jane. You know which one I mean.

Toby, Oh Toby.

No tea parties here, but plenty of kool-aid parties.