UT Summer Road Trip '08

Check list of things to do while in Utah...

So, for some of you who don't know, I am in Utah for a week at my moms with the kids. She flew into Spokane a week ago today and then the next morning we drove the 10+ hours. I was a little crazy trying to keep on schedule and drove past many exits that we should have taken. Next time we WILL go to that cute town in ID (I think it was Wallace) and we WILL stop at the "nations best opal town". The kids did better than I thought...making tents in the backseat, looking at all the books I got from the library, and that one DVD that oops only made it through half the show, etc etc etc.& blah blah blah. I did resist to eat the gross McDonald's and will continue to do so for rest of the trip! Anyhow, we are here and enjoying the family and friends we get to play with, but as I always say, "Great to visit, never to live!" For me anyhow!!

Here is our check list of things done so far (photos will come later)....
~wake up after 9!!!! (that's 10 Utah time)
~drive around in uncle Andy's HUGE truck and blast country or rap.
~talk to chickens, feed horses, watch hermit crabs crawl.
~ chase Mimi's kitty until it scratches and leaves a mark (Cozy mainly)
~ find places to swim since Mimi's pool has turned into a salamander swamp.
~ Shop for nothing that I need!
~ get a demonstration of how to use my mom's Dyson vacuum by my cousin Heidi.
(part II comes tomorrow)
~play with all of Liz's old littlest PET Shop toys and leave them scattered on the living room floor.
~ eat only the marshmallows in Lucky Charms
~ watch more Olympics than I did at home!
~ drive in crazy traffic and be thankful that someday I can go home to Chelan to NO traffic lights and ZERO traffic!!
~try not to be brainwashed by my friends that Mini-Vans are cool!
~ eat Popsicles for dinner!

more to come....
Happy Summer to you all because it's almost over!!
H

Launch yourself on every wave....

I was reflecting back to a memory I had when I was very young. I must have been in jr. high or maybe a bit younger. Anyhow, it goes something like this....
I was wandering around in my aunts room when she wasn't home (I hope she doesn't read this) and I was in awe of all the neat college stuff she had and then I stopped to try to make some sense of this large paper on her closet door. It looked like a chart of some kind with little dots leading up to shape a pyramid and then I realized what it was. She was keeping track of how many days her missionary boyfriend had been gone with a sticker for each day. It was an enormous chart that I am positive was looked at everyday in agony of when she would finally be able to place that last sticker on the top of the pyramid....that would be the day! I remember thinking, "How pathetic!"
So ,why do I tell you this story? Well, I am not a number person (that would be Amelia), but on a bad day last week I was trying to figure out how many call nights I would have to endure until this fellowship is over and we can go back home and continue to live out our "real" life. Don't get me wrong, there is much to do and fun adventures, but there is also long tired days and lonely nights for both of us! For a split second I thought about making a chart and then this story came to my mind and then I thought... "How pathetic!"
I am grateful for the perspective a distance memory can have on the present and I know there is growth in every challenge!!

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.” ~Henry David Thoreau

reality of a "fellow" & my purple pedicure...

Here is a glimpse at what we individually are up to in our new surroundings.....
(I thought I would add the few photos that I do have on my camera)


Photo of Benny on a bumper boat ride at SW. He had a good week off and then an extra few days and then it was back to reality, but a reality of long ago! He is enjoying his work and finding time to play with us without the lingering charts. It is nice to have him home, when he is home, and not being called in though sometimes he is at home... asleep.

One of my few goals here is to take time for "me" each day. Besides the usual grind of finding a way to run on the treadmill without pausing every mile to put order back into the house, I will try to add "delight" to my day! I have met some fun girls in which I will try to create a running group and a girls night out group once school starts for the kids. I love the close shopping and great eats as well as the pedicure places within walking distance!! (I had purple painted on my sister Mia's bday)

water boy~ Atticus

Atticus makes us laugh.....
On a family walk Atticus ran after a runner with his light saber! The runner thought it was pretty funny and probably helped him pick up the pace.. so we enjoyed it too!
He continues to yell out his window when someone is disturbing his sleep (no AC= all windows open at night)

We are so lucky and happy to be in such a great and newer part of Spokane. Just a couple miles from our apartment we have an aquatic center that just opened up. It is also very affordable (Cozy is free, Atticus is $2.50 and adults $5) Atticus loves the lazy river and could float all day (sounds like Liz but you'd need to add a Pina Colada to the mix!)

This photo is just for cousin ELSA! We have been using our web cam and TRYING to talk with Greg and his family who just moved to Geneva,Switzerland. Elsa asked to see Atticus' room so here it is. Benny's old star wars sheets kept by his mom are a classic and his solar system mobile from Mimi is a favorite(he swares he sees aliens floating in the "milky galaxy")

Water is a must for us EVERYDAY! Whether it's at the pool by our apartment, the aquatic center, splash pads, long baths (that is in addition)... you name it and we have probably already hit it!

crazy COZY cakes

I spent a couple nights making really cute sparkly hair things for Cozy now that she has enough hair to put them in...she likes them, but ripes them out after a couple minutes.

She loves the fact that she can get into the fridge here by herself, eat whatever looks good, and play with the light(we have a bottom freezer in our house back home making it difficult to get into the fridge).


Cozy has found that she won't be messed with esp. when it comes to Atticus and older kids. She is also fearless in the pool and at the park. She acts older sometimes because of this fearless attitude. When we went to Silverwood Theme Park when we first got here she wanted to do any ride Atticus would do. She took here seat belt off on the kiddy ferris wheel (this sent Atticus into a worried frenzy),rocked the cart and had the conductor bring them down and let her off. I wasn't too worried because there was no where for her to go, but I was kind of embarrassed at the parents that couldn't believe I would put a "baby" on the ride (hello, she's over 2!) Anyway, she thought that was pretty great and wanted to try the real ferris wheel next.

This is just a cute photo of Cozy in my new running socks. She put them on and said, "oh, wow... soft!" She still loves to wear different shoes or try on any ones shoes when they come over. I caught her checking out kids shoes in nursery the other Sunday. Definitely a gene that got skipped (my mom is a shoe lover).
The cutest thing Cozy has done lately was just tonight when we went to visit dad on the L&D floor on-call. We went to see the newborns through the glass and she wanted to take one baby home. She was very persistent about it all the way home! Hmmm....that gave dad a good,"hey, ask mom to make one for you!!"

4spokanedames

We are here!
It has been a little over a week since we first packed up everything and filled up the u-haul to then drive a long 3 hours (kidding) from the Chelan area to inland Spokane! Benny and Atticus went in the moving truck, the Girls in the Forrester and Matt D. in the grandpa Harold "battre". (~thanks a ton Matt! He put my whole kitchen in order here after I was frazzled from the move!) We have realized that we brought way too much stuff, but are glad that we have a garage to keep it all in. You really don't think you have a lot until you try to pack in all in small boxes and move it. I will be having a few yard sales in the spring because of this!! Moving is a pain and I think I forget that until I am right there packing up the last box, sweating, tired, and wondering why I am doing this (kind of similar to having babies?)The plan is already to have someone move us back while we vacation somewhere warm (I am holding Benny to that one!) We feel that we are spread out over the state of Washington right now with a townhouse in Renton with a new renter, our house in Manson with renters coming in in a few weeks (Matt is there now), and our apartment home here in Spokane. Cozy asked on day four if we could, "go home and not stay at the hotel anymore!" Other than that the kids have adjusted well and haven't asked about anything from "home." We have kept busy (without our camera) running around the city finding fun things to do! Today started Benny's first official on-call night (his credentials didn't go through so he had an extra 5 days!!). He will be at work from 7am to 7am tomorrow morning thus starts the single-parent life for me. I am finding that there is a lot to do here and I have already begun my new hobby of making little sparkly hair barrettes for Cozy! I will try to load some photos from Silverwood and a photo of our apartment...and I will take my camera with me from now on!