I Invaded and I Laughed

At our house every Tuesday night is "Guy's Night." Aly and I usually go to Young Women which leaves the boys home alone. Calvin is a great dad and tries to build a solid relationship with the kids, individually, so Tuesday is the night he takes Adam to get ice cream. (He takes Aly to breakfast every Saturday morning.)

Tonight was a stake activity and I didn't feel like going. (The YW Pres is my next door neighbor. I yelled out the door that I felt like staying home and she gave me permission.) Since I was here, hangin with the guys, they invited me to go out with them. (Nice, eh?)

(You're guessing that I'm building up to this week's Adamism aren't you?)

So we pull into the parking lot and the car we are next to has a guy and girl in the front seat (not even sitting next to each other). Adam jumps out of our car, looks at their car and jumps back in and in a voice filled with horror and disgust whispers, "MOM!! Be careful! Those people want to suck face!" (Seriously, they were sitting so far away from each other they could have been in separate cars!)

For a moment I felt like Inigo Montoya talking to the Sicilian:



I couldn't get out of the car for about 2 minutes while I laughed.

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I went to the doctor today about my lung pain. It has all but gone away, but I wanted to make sure that I was okay before I drive 900 miles away. Who wants to be sick in the Happiest Place on Earth?!?!
He was quite perplexed and couldn't really make a diagnosis for me. His initial thought was a blood clot (eeeek!!), but due to the fact that I'm still upright and breathing, he crossed that off his list. He thinks I diagnosed myself correctly (pleurisy), but wants me to watch things closely until we leave. There is a slight chance that I "blew a gasket" (not doctor verbiage) when I sneezed last week. What that means is that when I sneezed I could have exploded a little lung sack or something like that. (Due to the fact I never attended medical school, I don't know all the technical terms and I can't remember what he called this condition.) That does have the potential to be dangerous, so I will be very careful over the next few days. If it starts hurting again, I have to have an x-ray, which I don't want to pay for. However, I remain optimistic that all is well and that my pleurisy is on the mend.

I Is a Stoodent!

I usually hate going to the mail box. In fact, I only go once a week or less. There is never anything worthwhile in my mailbox. Pile after pile of credit card apps, a bill or two and a few charities asking for money I don't have.

This week I got something cool. The university I applied to (hint: it's located in my town) sent me a letter of acceptance. I am now a student!! Granted, I'm considered a non-traditional student and I can't take more than 6 credits at a time, but heck, I can't do more than that and still be a mom anyway.

I'm very happy.

And excited.

I plan on taking a photography class. (A real photography class. Not like that one I took through Continuing Education last year.) I will be enrolled in January 2009.

It Stings!!

Poor Adam.



We went to P. Reservoir yesterday to take some autumn themed family pictures and in one of our adventures, he fell into a thicket of Stinging Nettle.



(Thicket seemed the most appropriate word when referring to the amount of Stinging Nettle there was. The last time I saw it was when we lived in Oregon and there was only a plant or two. This was a field full of the stuff. On the bright side, now we can identify it if we see it again!)







Today, he is fine. He had a slight rash this morning when he woke up, but tonight all evidence of his mishap has disappeared!!

(I took pictures because we weren't sure at first what he had gotten in to. We were concerned that we might have to take him to a clinic or something and we needed to document the injury.)

***********************************************

We got one really great picture (I might be saving it for C'mas cards). Unfortunately, the trees weren't as colorful as I anticipated. We did find a cute little creek and I wanted to try a "water picture."

This was cute of Aly and Calvin, but I couldn't get one of the family together. I'm just not fast enough to push the timer button and run into the middle of a cold, slimy rock creek. You can see how close I got. Oh well, we tried!!

Breathe In.... NOT

I can't breathe.

Okay, I guess I can a little bit. (Obviously.) But it hurts!!

I have a spot in my left lung that feels like I've got a really sharp stick poking out. As long as I take short little puffs of air in, then that big pokey thing doesn't hurt. But if I have to... say... sneeze, cough or even burp, (all of which requires a large intake of air) then watch out! That pokey stick feels like it's ready to break through my skin! The sneeze is swallowed, the cough sputters and the burp, well, it doesn't live up to my reputation! (It turns more into a Kristi size burp. Not that I knock Kristi's burps. Heavens!! When I first met Kristi, she didn't even know how! I'll take what I can get from her!!)

**sidenote: Happy birthday to Kristi this week!!

I have my suspicions on what I might have but I'll go to the doctor first to make sure. Let's hope I can get in tomorrow. In the meantime, take a LARGE cleansing breath in for me, will you?

I miss breathing!!

Happy Birthday

I was a child in the 70's. I was a girl in the 70's.

That means I knew and LOVED Shaun Cassidy. I had his records and I had his posters. I watched Hardy Boys religiously. I also watched re-runs of The Patridge Family because that was Shaun's mom and half brother on the show! (DUH!!)

That feathered hair....

Those big brown eyes....

His deep sultry voice.... (well that's what I thought when I was 11)

He was as cute as Andy Gibb and Leif Garrett!!





Today is Shaun Cassidy's 50th birthday!!


Dude!!! He's old enough to join AARP!!!

It's Missing!

**Editor's Note: Before I get into the heart of this post, I have to say thanks to those who gave me their advice (or just said hi) to my request for Disneyland help. I have taken notes and will use this information when I sign up for Ridemax. I would still love any advice that you think of...
(Hi April! Of course it's okay that you come visit here! Please feel free to leave comments!!)

Moving on ------

I hesitate to even post this Adam-ism. Is it appropriate? Hardly. Is it funny? Hilarious. But since I have plans to eventually print off all my blog postings into a memory book for my kids, I kind of feel like I have to include this. This one is a whopper:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This morning Adam came running to me after a trip to the bathroom. He was in panic mode.

"MOM!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT? MY BUM HAS A HOLE IN IT!!!!"

(In my 40 years of living, I can say that I don't think I have ever had a conversation like this!)

When Adam is totally serious and dramatic like this, it pays to keep a straight face. I can get so much more information from him when I act like I'm taking him seriously. So, I swallow my laugh, take him on my lap and in a concerned voice say, "Oh really?....." (It's really hard not to laugh. Really hard.)

"Why do you think your bum has a hole?"

Adam is feeling the shock and the horror of his realization. You can tell in the way he answers (which I can't convey in written word. Too bad.) "That's where my poop comes out!"

I can't help it!! A little snicker erupts from my closed lips. I have to close my eyes to compose myself. I've resorted to one syllable grunts.

"Mmmmm....... Hmmmm......."

"And do you know what else, Mom?"

Tears are leaking out of my eyes. He's so serious and I'm a ticking bomb..... Hopefully he thinks I'm crying because of his damaged bum. He doesn't fully understand that people can laugh so hard they cry.

"What else, Adam?"

"The crack in my bum is...... missing!!! The hole took it away!!"

(I can hardly type. Remembering this conversation has wracked me with convulsive laughter!)

My poor boy!!

In spite of my amusement, I grow concerned. HOW DID HE FIND THAT HOLE IN HIS BUM?

I had to ask.

He answered me in a tone of voice that made me feel like the dumbest potato in the sack...."A mirror!" ---Like every person in the world should just put his bum up to a mirror and check it out!

The thing about my boy is that he is a sharing kid. He tells stories to anyone who will give him a kind look. His Primary teacher knows more about our house than I do! When I pass her in the hall at church, she snickers and looks away. He prays about our family in Sharing Time. My visiting teacher (who is the primary pianist) calls frequently and says, "I was calling to see how ____ is," because Adam was praying for it.

I can only imagine what his kindergarten teacher thinks. Did he go to school today and announce his deformity? I'll know tomorrow when I volunteer in class. If the teacher and her aid can't look me in the eye, then I'll know.

The secret is out!!

(Of course, when Calvin got home from work, Adam had to tell him his horror story. When he finished, Calvin looked at me, eyebrows raised, curious look on his face. I don't think he believed that Adam was having a serious conversation. I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away. My stomach muscles couldn't handle suppressing that much laughter again.)

Your Opinion, Please

I know I have a lot of lurkers here on my blog.

My sitemeter tells me that I have a lot of visitors even though most don't leave comments. While I love getting comments, just the fact that you want to visit is okay. Well, today I'm going to ask you to come out of the shadows for just a moment --

(Believe me, I'm a lurker too!)

Here's what I'm looking for. I want you to tell me what your favorite part of Disneyland is. When you go, what do you have to do every single time?

For example, I have a friend that said I need to get a Mint Julep from the French Quarter. I didn't even know there was a French Quarter!!!

Another friend told us to eat at the Golden Horseshoe and watch the show they put on. Okay. We can do that.

Someone told us to buy a membership to ridemax.com where they make an itinerary for us to maximize our ride time and reduce line waits. I would love to do that, but I'm not sure what rides are a must (Indiana Jones?)

Your expert opinion means a lot to me.

Now, you can go back to lurking.

(I allow anonymous comments here, although it would be fun to see your first name!)

Adam's Moment

I think Adam is going to be the one kid of mine that likes to cook. Today we had my niece, Sarah's, best friend Caroline over for dinner (she's attending the University here) and Adam wanted to help peel the potatoes.


He climbed on the counter (his favorite spot in the kitchen), grabbed the peeler and got busy. He was so proud of himself! And he did a GREAT job!

(It was HIS idea that I take pictures. He was peeling and said, "Hey mom! I think you need to get your camera and take a picture of me!" And you know me... I never turn down and opportunity to snap a photo. Especially with such a willing subject!)

Calm & Quiet

I guess when you're faced with a major family vacation, the weekends leading up to it are fairly calm and quiet -- like this weekend was for us.

(Disneyland = 2 weeks from today!!!)

It rained on Saturday (a delightful thunderstorm), and that relieved Aly of mowing the lawn. She was soooo disappointed....

....NOT!!

(But she still had to

do dishes and clean the bathroom.)

The HIGHLIGHT of the weekend was being able to spend an evening with my brother Greg

and his family. They were here visiting from the glorious state of Colorado. Greg is one funny (and gassy) dude! We enjoyed a delightful barbecue (in the rain) and a crazy game of Rummy played with Rook cards.... an old family tradition.

Greg's son, Logan and Adam had a blast reconnecting. Little boys (aged 7 and 6 respectively) are amazing. All you have to do is give them a spoon and a crayon (or a couple brillo blocks) and they can imagine super heroes, villains and whole villages that need saved. The only time they came up for air was when one of the superhero boys, in the act of saving someone important, accidentally knocked a bottle of Famous Dave's BBQ sauce off the shelf in the storage room. A quick clean up and they were back to battling bad guys.

(Both boys, in anticipation of seeing each other said to their parents, "I wonder if Logan/Adam will recognize me because I grew so much and lost some teeth!" It's only been 10 months since they've seen each other!)

Another highlight of the weekend was Calvin and my first ballroom dance class. It was HILARIOUS!!! Calvin has no rhythm... seriously. I love the guy, but after about three claps on the beat, he's lost it.

I, on the other hand, have zero coordination skills. I can keep a beat til the cows come home (as long as I'm not clapping along with Calvin), but I trip over my feet ... standing still.

We make a GREAT dance team!

The teachers, a cute little married couple who LOVE to dance kept watching us and giving us encouraging glances and thumbs up... but you could read in their eyes that there is no hope.

Well, we'll show them!!!

This week we're going to move the coffee table out of the living room and practice the cha-cha til our feet are bloody stubs. AND WE CAN DO IT TOO!!!

Until you turn on the music and we have to find the beat...

and then start dancing.

(Sorry, no pictures of dance class!)

Glimpses

How many of us are anxiously waiting the 63 days until the release of the Twilight movie? Too many to count, I'm sure.

I was perusing YouTube and found this vid. First of all, I LOVE the re-do of the Bee Gee's song How Deep is Your Love. I don't usually like remakes, but I actually think this one is better! Secondly, I just liked the small clips of the movie. It's fun to watch. (Aly is going to be so jealous that I found this before she did!)




**Editor's Note: I originally thought the song was by Olivia Newton John and was "gently" reminded (coughs into hand) that it was BeeGees that sang it. Please forgive my memory lapse!

I Heart....

Lately, it's been very difficult to remain positive. I've been watching waaay too much news and all the negativity that is surrounding the election has finally driven me to be very grumpy! To combat this horrible influence in my life I have made the decision to lay off all news reports regarding Obama's pig in lipstick and Palin shooting 460,000 caribou from a moving helicopter. I've also decided to dedicate one of my posts to everything I *heart*. (This list is not inclusive, these are things that come to my tired mind late at night. If I haven't put your picture on here, please don't take it personally. I tried to find you Google Image Search and couldn't.)

Here's my list (in no particular order):

I *heart* Jack in the Box Chocolate Milk Shakes. Yes, with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

When I need some serious salt, I *heart* Gardetto's (but I don't heart the little dark brown pieces).

I *heart* Disneyland. We're going there in 19 days!! (Adam is counting.)

I *heart* the mountains of Montana

I *heart* silly teenage girls who wear big earrings

I *heart* little boys that sleep with their eyes wide open

I *heart* bald guys that want to take me dancing (and sometimes get food stuck in their teeth)

I *heart* good parents who love me even though I don't mop my floors as often as I should

I *heart* sisters. 'Nuff said.

I *heart* brothers who teach me everything I needed to know about hard rock

I don't *heart* fall, but I *heart* that there is plenty of fresh Candy Corn available this time of year!

I *heart* blogging. Cuz it lets me work through my frustrations and helps me remember to be happy.

And I *heart* my camera even though I still don't know how to use it properly (I put my application to the University in the mail today!! I'm going to take a photography class during winter semester.)

Isn't She Lovely?!?

A warning to all mothers of young daughters:

BE PREPARED!!! This will happen one day to you too!!

(So please don't make fun of the tears that were in my eye as she walked out the door!)

My Friend Helen

My dear friend, Helen, passed away this week. She bravely fought cancer for a year before it became too much for her.

I met Helen for the first time two years ago when our wards were split and I became a new member of her ward. Changing wards was very difficult for me and my neighbors. We were members of a great ward with a great bishop. Our neighborhood was split in half with some being left in the previous ward and about 20 families sent on to revitalize the new ward. I was able to keep my visiting teaching companion, (we have been together for more than 7 years) and we accepted our new sisters with trepidation -- could we love these new ladies as much as we loved the ones we were leaving behind?

Helen was one of those ladies. And I quickly learned that yes, I can love this new lady as much, if not more.

I still remember the first time we went to her house. The door was flung open, the biggest, sweetest smile greeted us with an enthusiastic, "Come in!! Come in!!" offered. We sat down in her formal living room and began to get acquainted. Helen was cheerful, and it was a cheer that radiated from within. Helen was one of those people that rarely let a frown cross her face.

I loved her immediately.

We enjoyed visiting with her that first year. She loved the lessons and attentively listened, even though she was the education counselor in Relief Society and had read the lesson a gazillion times already. We had many gospel centered conversations and Helen bore her testimony countless times to us. She was one of those who knew and lived the gospel.

Helen loved Adam. There were several times that I had to take him with us to her house. She welcomed him with hugs and always found a chair just the right size for him to sit in. She always had a stash of candy ready for him. Helen had traveled all over the world and collected many antique musical instruments. If Adam was admiring any, she'd get up, take it down from the shelf and let him blow in it or bang on it. This made me very nervous because it was irreplaceable, but she'd tell me to relax and that she wanted him to play it!! Helen loved my boy and my boy loved her.

The second year of our acquaintance, Helen noticed that her hip was in pain. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with cancer. It was no surprise that she greeted this news with optimism. She wasn't finished living yet and she was going to beat it!! She immediately started treatment. It was hard for her, but she didn't lose the sparkle in her eye or the smile on her face. But we could see that she was getting tired and her hips really hurt. She maintained her calling as RS 1st counselor and did the best she could. Eventually, it became too difficult and painful to attend church. This broke her heart.

All the while we kept visiting her. Our visits became more and more frequent because she needed us. As she became bed ridden (Thanksgiving last year) my companion and I began take dinner to her on a weekly basis. Helen became entrenched in my life. I have visited with her almost every week for the past year. She became my friend and my sister, a grandma figure to me and my son. Every week we would hug, and express our love for each other.

Helen finally slipped away in her sleep on Thursday. She died about 3 hours before I was going to visit her. I have cried a lot. I will miss her, really miss her. She has changed my life and (I hope) made me a better person -- and I don't say that lightly. Helen has written about a hundred million life histories of people she knew and loved (slight exaggeration.... she has written about 20) which has inspired me to make sure I have stories written down from my life and my children's life, so that when it becomes time, I can get it in a book.

I know that she is happy now and without pain. I rejoice that she has been reunited with her dear "mama" who passed away when Helen was 7. I am so happy that she is with her sister and best friend, Maxine. Neither of them were married and they were roommates for most of their adult life. She missed Maxine terribly after she died (from cancer as well).

Here is her obituary:

Helen
1926 - 2008
Helen, 81, of *****, died Sept. 11, 2008, at Assisted Living after a courageous battle with cancer. She was born Oct. 3, 1926, to Egon and Anna in Blackfoot. She attended schools in Blackfoot. She was the first female student body president of Blackfoot High School. She attended Utah State University and served as executive president of Lambda Delta Sigma her senior year. She graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics. She later earned her Master of Science degree from Oregon State University. She started her teaching career in Rigby. She began teaching at Ricks College in 1953 and worked there until she retired 35 years later. In 1996, Ricks College renamed a women's dorm after Helen. She was a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served a mission in Denmark. She also held many positions, such as Relief Society President. She loved spending time with her family and friends. She lived most of her life with her sister Maxine. She and her sisters loved to travel. She also enjoyed writing family histories. Helen is survived by her brothers Fred and Egon (Connie) and nephew Jerry (MarLynn), all of Idaho Falls, and niece Connie (Dan) Baker of Orem, Utah. She was preceded in death by her parents, Egon and Anna, stepmother, Gretel, and her sisters Katherine and Maxine. Funeral services will be held at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at the North Stake center. The family will receive friends Tuesday from 10 to 11:45 a.m. at the church prior to services. Burial will be in the Grove City Cemetery in Blackfoot.

Something's Definitely Wrong...

... when I get excited to fill my car at $3.85 a gallon.

Something's definitely wrong when I get excited that it cost under $90 to fill the tank of my Tahoe.

Gratitude

Thanks for the words of advice regarding Adam and school. I now realize that I just need to give it time and let the teacher get into a rhythm. After volunteering in his class yesterday, I saw that there is certainly a wide variety of ability levels in his class. I'm sure there will be a great schedule for him sometime after Potato Harvest Vacation. (This year it's Oct. 6 thru the 15th.)

You're awesome!! Thanks again!

T.B.

(T.B. = Tired Buns)

The conversation Adam and I had today after school:

"Hey, buddy! I'm glad you're home!! How was school today?"

**heavy sigh**

"It was soooo boring. All you do is sit on your butt ALL DAY!!!!!!!"


A few hours later, here is Adam's nighttime prayer:

"Please bless me to be good....
Please bless Aly to be nice at school....
Please bless that I won't have to sit on my butt all day at school...."

Apparently the newness of kindergarten has worn off.

Apparently Adam forgot that "butt" is not an acceptable word.

Apparently, there's not enough going on in kindergarten to keep his attention. I don't think he's being challenged enough, which can be a problem for an active, creative young boy. Right now his class is just learning the alphabet -- how to recognize and write the letter.

Adam knows all of it. He's reading --not Harry Potter, but he's putting 3 & 4 letter words together! He needs more. He will stay on task and stay sitting in his chair if he's given something difficult to work on. Learning what the letter "B" looks like is not challenging!

I don't write all this to brag. Heavens no!! It's just been 11 years since I had a kid in kindergarten and I don't know what's correct protocol. Do I bug the teacher for harder more stimulating work? I can't believe he's the only kid in class that knows the alphabet, am I the only whiny mom?

I'm hoping that Kristi, my dear 1st grade teacher friend, will weigh in with her opinion on this. Also, Thorkgal is heavily entrenched in an elementary school as the librarian, so I'm hoping she'll have some thoughts. I welcome any other thoughts that might be out there--

I Need A Paper Bag

cuz I'm in hyperventilation mode!!!!

Okay, Chelli, calm down.

AUGH!!!! GASP!!! ARGH!!!

I'm all wigged out because I just purchased a non-refundable room in a hotel for Disneyland. For most people this is no big deal. For me, it's HUGE!!!

I'm a tightwad when it comes to certain things and I hate putting down a chunk of change for something I've never seen before. Especially money that I have no hope of receiving back if things change and we can't go on this trip.

It's been almost 31 years since I've been to So. CA and Disneyland (for the math challenged, that means I went in December 1977). I was in elementary school. Certainly things have changed since we were there.

Okay, breathe deeply!!

I reserved rooms in the Holiday Inn, which got great reviews in all the websites I checked out. The rates were actually very reasonable. It's just that NON-REFUNDABLE word that is flashing in my brain. It's lingering. I'm sure I'll have nightmares of a dollar sign ($) chasing me through the city streets screaming, "I'M NON-REFUNDABLE!!! I'M NON-REFUNDABLE!!! MUWAAAHAHAHA!!"

(I'm dramatic that way.)

I love going places and I'm very excited (really I am!!) to take the family to the Happiest Place on Earth. The kids are thrilled and Calvin is too. I should have made him make the reservations, but he's so busy and stressed with his job that I needed to bear this burden. I also have to find and purchase the Park Hopper Passes (obviously the cheapest way possible), so I'll be stressing out again soon.

Does anyone else freak out like this? Or am I the only travel-drama-queen?

I promise I'm excited to go!! It's going to be great fun!

Can you handle one more video of my family?

This one is of Aly. She was invited to Homecoming by a boy in Utah. He sent up a package with some goodies along with the dance invitation. She and I made this video in response:

David Cook? Nah! Not Even Close!

My boy sings Bohemian Rhapsody on the new American Idol Wii game:

Silly Saturday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLlGbbeheek

A Hodge Podge of Thoughts

This week has been kind of a blur. I can't believe the last post I made was on Monday... and here it is Friday! I don't have any one specific thing to write about and I'm not feeling very creative or "fluffy" enough to write about nothing and make it interesting. (Actually, I'm feeling very tired today -- ZERO energy levels!!) I've got a hodge podge of things running (sluggishly) through my brain cells:

My weekly date with Calvin was last night at the East Idaho State Fair. We look forward to the fair each year. It's a big deal here in Eastern Idaho. People from riles amound make the pilgrimage to Blackfoot to eat greasy/unhealthy fair food, go to concerts, muck around in animal barns and ride the unsafe rides in the midway. We (personally) go to eat greasy/unhealthy fair food -- HELLO tiger ears and caramel apples!! We also love to hang out at the back end of the animal stalls... well it's the only end available to hang out in!! It's always a game to see if we can run away fast enough when a tail gets lifted. And believe me, a lot of tails were moving last night as we walked by! We don't usually go to the concerts (Poison was last night) and I have a personal mission to never allow my family to sit on any ride that can be taken down and stored in a truck at the end of the week. So no roller coaster rides for us!! Instead of concerts and the midway, we spend the rest of our time people watching.

THAT'S a treat!!

Holy cow! there is a plethora of "interesting" people in this part of our state! (Do I dare say "redneck?") I live in a very conservative part of the state. Most of the residents here are LDS (90%) and we live in the most republican county in the country, so when we leave our little haven it's always shocking. There were tattoos, and earrings. I saw waaay too much cleavage -- both on top and bottom. **cringe** (I wanted to shout, "pull up your pants and cover your chest you 14 year old!")

To be honest, I would LOVE to take my camera and just sit and take photos of all the interesting faces I see. I could fill a book.

Maybe another year.

Bullies in school
My boy was pushed around in the bathroom at school yesterday. That bugs me. Why do they let kindergartners share a bathroom with 4th graders? I still don't know all the details, but I'm going to keep an eye on things and if they get bad, I'm going to play "Mama Bear" and growl at the principle. He's already on my short list for not okaying a crossing guard at a very busy corner by the school. He thinks there's not enough kids walking to warrant the expense, but I counted 13 kids that crossed that street in the 5 minutes I stood there. I think if there were 5 kids, that's enough to pay someone minimum wage for 1/2 hour a day -- yes it would probably be me. I tend to gravitate toward those kind of jobs.

Homecoming
When you start school the middle of August, Homecoming comes up quickly. It's next week for our school. Aly was invited to the dance today. She's very excited. She's made a friend (a boy) in Utah and his dad is driving him up so he can take her to the dance. Did I mention how excited she is?

American Idol
Yes, we're fans. It's the only show on TV that we watch as a family (don't you miss the days of Happy Days and Little House on the Prairie?) We love it and clear our schedules in the spring so nothing interrupts our viewing of this show. Yesterday on the way to the fair, Calvin and I stopped at Best Buy and while we were browsing, we came upon the American Idol Wii game. We don't usually splurge like this.... but we bought it.

HOLY COW IT'S A FUN GAME!!!

Tonight we played it (as a family) for something like 3 1/2 hours. Yes, even Calvin "chimed" in and he and I competed against each other. It was hilarious as we tried to goof each other up so we'd sing off-key. It was also hilarious listening to Randy, Paula and Simon (real voices) critique us. Even when we stunk (most of the time) the judges were quite complimentary. Simon was even ... (gasp) NICE!! (The game has to be rigged. When Adam sang --quite off key-- there was no criticism. It just led him back to the song list to make a different choice.) This game is like Karaoke on steroids. It was fun!!

Step out of our comfort zone
Today Calvin signed us up for beginner ballroom dance classes. I think it's sweet, but I can tell you right now that we'll be the comedy relief for the class. I used to enjoy this style of dancing. I even took "social dance" when I attended Ricks College and did fairly well. However, more than 20 years have passed since then, with little or no dancing in all that time. My right foot has gradually morphed into a left and now I dance with two left feet!! Calvin's not known for his amazing rhythmic abilities (believe me I'm being kind), and that's why I'm scared. We'll be quite a show!!

The reality is that it's very sweet (maybe even romantic?) of my hubby to want to spend time with me like that. It's a nice break from our normal activities. Thanks Calvin for a great idea!! (Not that he ever reads this.)

How Was Your Weekend?

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our weekend (I ended up with over 300 on my camera)! It started out nice (weather wise) but ended on a very cold note (as you will see). We enjoyed spending time with Mom & Dad and Chrissy who came up from Utah. Thanks everyone for fun, good food and great laughs!

Sunset over Hebgen Lake

Getting ready for our Sunday afternoon "walk"

Wildflowers picked by Adam for his Mommy

(The temperature reader says 38*!)