Loyal, Strong and True

For our second week of break we took our children to our very own "motherland" -- BYU. I'm pretty sure my kids are going to grow up and spend obscene amounts of money taking their kids to Disneyland because their parents only ever took them on "crappy vacations to Utah." But here's the thing, we all love it.

This year was the best year yet, although we had to make it short so we didn't get to do everything and see everyone we wanted to.

Thursday we pulled into Provo and met up with the Greatest Aunt of All Time (that should totally be a title and my aunt Kristine would win it) for lunch at Guru's. I think we sat there for 2 hours or so while she doted on my kids and they looked at her adoringly.

Then we all headed up to the Bookstore. It was raining and cold and the lots were crowded, but of course the Best Aunt of All Time works for BYU so she gets smoking parking. I'm embarrassed to admit that we also spent 2 hours here. It took about that long before Sadie could convince me she needed a BYU cheerleader chihuahua.

By this time the kids were all bored and starting to entertain themselves by taking strange photos on my phone, so went back to the hotel. We went swimming grabbed Subway for dinner which we ate in our room at 8 pm when we finally finished playing for the day. Luke fell in love with Nate's reversi-pal and took "Chubby" for his own. I kept telling Nate to let Luke play with it, but he was convinced that eventually I'd let Luke play with it so much that one day I'd think it was his.

Friday morning was "friend and family" day. We took two of my Laurels who are up at BYU out for breakfast. It was so fun to catch up with them and hear how well they are doing. I'm ecstatic that they now love BYU as much as I do.

 

We had planned on meeting up with my sister to hike the Y, but she hadn't been feeling well (turned out to be a raging case of strep throat -- she's a superhero), so we hiked solo.

The leaves were all changing colors and it was absolutely gorgeous out.

 

We had to hurry down from the top to meet up with all the Skinners at the Cougar Eat for lunch.

 

 

I also needed to run BACK to the bookstore to buy Luke his own reversi-pal. We took over the entire eating area and I told Ellie to go get me brownies when she came back with. . . plain brownies. We could not find mint brownies ANYWHERE. I had not been to The Chocolate either, so no mint brownies was a definite let down.

But the cousins were NOT! 

After lunch we drove up for bowling and dinner with the Hortins. The kids match up perfectly and got along great.

Saturday started off with breakfast at Kneaders and more delicious french toast. The place was packed, so we packed ourselves into a little booth for breakfast. Can you spot "Chubby" the reversi-pal in the photo below?

 

 Then onto the PARADE with Kristine and Meg (from our Idaho family who is now down at BYU too). Only I needed to go to the bookstore one more time. This time for pom poms and a I picked up an awesome megaphone so we could all hear what Ol' Strep Throat had to say.

 

Please enjoy lots of parade photos:

 

 

 

Kristine and Meg's mom, Yuki, came down especially to watch all the little ones during the game. Best babysitters ever. Seriously. -- and instead of us paying them, THEY paid us in potatoes and BYU swag. Yuki pushed the kids around on the ottoman at the hotel pretending it was a train for hours and Kristine ordered them anything they wanted to eat for dinner.

Meanwhile, we met up with some of our old college friends to tailgate before the game. Only my sister crushed that beautiful image when she pointed out that picking up burgers from Cubbies and sitting on the grass for a picnic is not tailgating. The kids could not sit still for a picture.

 

 It was especially fun to see the Soelbergs who we hadn't seen in 12 years. I also ran into my mentor teacher -- who is amazing --  from when I taught school and got to sit and catch up with her for a long time.

Kathleen used her megaphone. We cheered.  We ate cougartails (just not blue ones). Dustin found me MINT brownies. We won. It was the best game ever.

And then we ended the best trip ever, after the best game ever, with the best Aunt ever on the best tradition ever.

 

I can't wait until we're all together again.

Give Me a Break

October Break (which technically started in September) came at a perfect time. When it hit me, I wasn't ready for it, but I can't resist having my kids home with no commitments, so I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure if it's because I love my children so much or if I am super lazy.

The first week we spent hanging around playing with friends.  Our quick list of highlights:

* saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with our neighbors. It was pretty cute, but I mainly enjoyed it for the clever animal names. Luke loved the Cheese Spider.

* spent almost every day with friends and neighbors. I gave up cleaning the house.

 

* Extreme Air with the Christensen's. Wednesdays are half price, so it was a perfect distraction for the afternoon.

* Baby shower for my sweet friend Maren where we once again played Heavy Heavy Hangover. I have never heard of it before, but I am obsessed with it now.

* dinner at LGO where I fell in love with pretty much everything on the menu (because we literally ordered everything), but I've bee craving this dessert for weeks.-- a warm sea salt brownie with sea salt gelato on top.

* weddings and receptions. It always kills me that Dustin can legally marry people.

* conference weekend. Saturday night is always a potluck at the park while the dads go to Priesthood. And then my kids have sleepovers with their "cousins."

 

The big girls stayed up until 3 am and pulled a some pranks. Ellie actually didn't come home for 2 days.

 

Sunday morning is a brunch buffet that has morphed into dinner while the kids work on some project. 

 

This year it was a film about Prom. It was hilarious. Nate's official character was "cool guy," and there was lots of romance to be had. Then there was the a Teen Beach Movie costume contest.

*Austenland with girlfriends. Funniest movie I have seen in awhile.

 

* breakfast out with kids. My kids don't actually sleep in, so we like to go out for a nice early breakfast when no one else is around.  Unfortunately we also go with gym/bed head.

* dinner out with Dustin when he was in town for 18 hours. Since our schedule was so flexible I played taxi for Dustin and spent 4 days out of 5 either dropping off or picking him up at the airport.

* park days. My kids always cry Friday mornings when they hear Luke gets to go to playgroup. Fall break is the best because we spend hours on end outside.

* And then we headed up to BYU

Wake me up, when September ends. . .

I am denial that it is already October. We spent all September getting into the swing of things, and now my kids are home for two and half weeks to throw my schedule all off balance again. I can't believe we're already a quarter of the way through the school year.

The last day of each quarter is "free dress day," and my kids were excited to get out of their uniforms. I ended up teaching Art Masterpiece that day and could hardly recognize the kids. It's amazing how much personality comes out when they get to choose their own clothes.

I've actually been loving break, not because my kids sleep in or the house magically stays clean, but because we take it sloooow. Monday morning I came home from the gym to find all 4 of my kids up so we went out for a little run. I think all the neighbors heard the Rogers' kids were up because by 8 am my driveway was full of bikes, scooters, chalk art work and children.

We've been to the movies, out to lunch with friends, ice cream date, and over at all the neighbors. Today is play date day so Sadie is gone and the other kids have friends over which miraculously makes the house quieter.

And lastly, a companion piece to my random picture post  to finish up our September.

 6th grade had an Egyptian Day. It was actually a fun project because the number one rule was that it had to be made completely of things found around the house and no parental involvement.  

 

While the boys were off playing in Utah, I went to my own BYU party.

 I took the kids lunch up at school. Don't let Sadie fool you.  She just picked off the tomatoes, cucumbers and pickles and only ate those. I was left with a huge bun and meat.

 Last outing with my Laurels for Rylie's birthday. After 3 years, I'm getting released. I'll miss YW, but I'm excited to have a new calling.

 Making banana bread with some little monkeys.

 Book Club -- always one of my favorite nights of the month

 FINALLY the weather is cooling off. I've been forcing my kids to take bike rides with me. I love being cold in the morning when I start my run.

 Mission call openings. I can't get over how many kids I have watched grow up over the years are off serving missions now. I am so excited for them but it makes me panic to think that this could be Ellie and me in 8 years.

And finally, I saved the best for last.  Quite possibly my favorite pictures from the last month! Luke came out one day and begged me to take pictures of him as a "dinosaur trophy."He had different poses for every single one. (Please ignore the messy shirt, he had just tried to eat an apple *through* it. It's in the trash now).

 This is a T Rex. I about died when he asked to see the picture and he said, "See, I'm a dead t rex."

 Stegosaurus

Stygimoloch

I don't even need to worry about what an emotional mess I'm going to be in 8 years when Ellie goes off to college, I've already got to deal with letting this guy go off to Kindergarten in three quarters of a year.

Let's Get Physical

Much to my friends and family's chagrin, I've spent the last 9 weeks participating in a Fitness Challenge with my gym buddies.

Forgive the terrible picture, we had just finished working out for an hour and the lighting in the gym isn't exactly photo shoot approved. If you can believe it, there's one that's even WORSE than this one.

Seven days a week we lived by 5 hard and fast rules:
* Keep a food journal (I wanted to burn mine by the end)
* Drink 8 glasses of water a day (I think we all know this was not a problem for me since I've actually gotten drunk off of water before -- literally people -- LITERALLY)
* No sugar (cue my sobbing right now)
* One hour of exercise (except Sunday)
* No eating after 7

On weekdays a die was rolled between 8 and 9 pm for a bonus point for the day. If you followed the rule that corresponded with the number rolled for the day you got another point.
* No soda
* No white flour
* No fast food
* Half hour of extra exercise
* Bed by 10
* 5 servings of fruits and veggies

Each Sunday night you had to e-mail Melinda with your total points (worth one more point) making each week worth 40 points. We did get one cheat day a week which made it all bearable.

I don't know who was more annoyed, my husband when I would scarf down a meal at 6:55 before putting anyone else's food on the table, or my friends when we went out to eat and I grilled the waiters and passed on dessert.  Or the last Friday night of the challenge when I had to go to bed at 10 pm.

But guess what - I WON! Well, I tied for winner. Whomp whomp. I guess that means it was too easy? It didn't feel too easy. We're revamping the rules for round 2. Yes, I'm crazy. Not only did I sign up for round two. . . I'm in charge.

Gooooo Flamingoes!

What's super cute, wears pink and loves sugar?

 

This girl!

Sadie's playing soccer again this season, mainly because we both love her coaches and all the girls on the team. It's fun to get to play with some of your favorite friends twice a week.

 

Their team name?  The Cotton Candy Eating Pink Flamingoes!

 

Sadie had a great game and almost scored a goal!  We were so proud of how aggressive she got.

Holy War

The football game between BYU and the University of Utah is called the Holy War. It's a fierce rivalry and 2013 was the last year until 2016 where the two teams will meet. Dustin and his friend, Mike, decided to fly up with our boys for the game.

 

We didn't tell Nate until the morning he left. I woke him up for "school" about 30 minutes before he was suppose to leave for the airport but Dustin wasn't home yet, so I was trying to stall him from getting dressed in his uniform. I think he probably hated me as I made him clean his room, take out the trash, pack everyone's lunches, take out the recycling. . .

When we finally told him, he was in shock. He looked at us like he couldn't quite process that it was happening. He kept popping up and saying, "WAIT! I really don't have to wear my uniform?" And "So THAT'S why you said I was having a sleepover with Daven on Friday."

We sent them off and then I harassed Dustin for pictures all weekend.

Thursday they landed, got the car and went out for burgers at Cubbie's.

Then they headed to the Holy Land aka the BYU bookstore to buy game day shirts and get the gift buying out of the way and it's a good thing they did because I guess the place was mobbed by Saturday.

After grabbing some dessert at my favorite cafe, they ran by some birthday gifts for two of my old Laurels who are now at BYU.

By now it was dinner.

 

Nate is a HUGE salad lover, so they went to Zuppa's followed by a night at the Nickelcade!

 

I asked Nate what his favorite part of the day was and he said, "Spending time with my dad."

I wish I were making this up, but the first thing they did Friday morning was. . . go to Crossfit. My husband makes me laugh.  Another thing we ALWAYS do when we get to Provo -- Hike the Y!

 

By now I think Nate was already worn out and you can tell it in his eyes.  Dustin said he ate that entire plate of french toast.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with our friends, the Bryners, who had just gotten into town. The boys were happy to be reunited, even if their bitterest rivalry was just about to begin.

 

Mike's parents graciously opened up their home to everyone and even fed them all.

Saturday morning Mike took the boys around to a few new places (since we hardly ever do much in Salt Lake). First up -- This is the Place Monument!

I did actually pack shirts that fit for Nate to wear, but Dustin let him wear his PJ shirt because he didn't want his game shirt to get dirty before the 8:15 pm kick off.

They also hit up The Pie for lunch. I don't know what Dustin was thinking taking him there -- it's a Ute hang out AND there's lots and lots of cheese, but Nate was a good sport and got to sign the walls. Finally the made it back to Provo to hook up with my Brother-in-Law Kyle who has also flown in for the Holy War.

Kyle had to do his own shopping at the super crazy Wilk, so the rest of the boys were just hanging out when Dustin noticed Kyle VanNoy, so he grabbed Nate and ran over to get his hat signed.

 

Lucky Nate! One more trip to Cubby's for another burger and then it was time for some tailgating!

Nate got his hat signed by some other famous BYU player, but even better. . . he met COSMO!!!  Cosmo is a big.deal in our house.

Dustin said Nate had a hard time during the game, especially when BYU couldn't manage to score in the first half. There may have been tears shed. There was also an incident where Nate and Dustin got separated on a bathroom trip, and the part where Dustin hauled all over the stadium to get Nate a BLUE cougar tail only to have Nate turn up his nose at it because it he doesn't "like blue frosting." Apparently he has a thing against artificial food coloring?

And then of course on top of that we lost (please note how Kyle had to sit between the two frenemies). But Nate perked up in the 2nd half and cheered when the Cougars scored.

We were eager to have them home the next day. Sadie kept watching the clock counting down the hours. We didn't get much swag since we're going back in just a few short weeks, but we did get our awesome game day shirts!

Nate said it was the best trip ever. I am so glad he and Dustin got some down time and I'm all ready to send them off for a repeat in 2016.