UEA Moab, October 2011

We are not deer hunters.  But we do take advantage of the Utah Education Association teacher's meetings that happen every fall, wherein the kids get two days off of school and we get a four day weekend.  Usually we go to Nevada for some relaxation, but we decided to do something new this year.  We have never been to Moab (except Mark who went when he was 7-8), and we've heard such great things about it, so we decided to try it.  In July, we went to Yellowstone with some friends and opted to camp in the park, which turned out to be very inexpensive and very fun.  So, we decided we would camp this time around too.  It was inexpensive and fun, but it was cold at night!  We were hoping Southern-ish Utah would be warmer in October.  The great 70 degree hiking days made up for the night time chills (mostly).

Arches National Park was beautiful!  To me the appeal is in the contrast of the blue skies and red rock and the amazing formation of rock that seems orderly and disorderly at the same time (kind of like life).  We had fun exploring, hiking and playing!

James didn't quite get the hang of making it look like he is pushing over Balanced Rock. . or maybe he's so strong he can push it over with his pinky?

Delcate Arch: check off bucket list.

Sand Dune Arch was a favorite! We had to visit it twice!

The boys had a great time hiking and hiding in Goblin Valley.  I'm glad we did this one in October.  We would have lasted only 30 minutes in July!

Dead Horse Point was beautiful! It's called the Grand Canyon of Utah.  It's just outside of Canyonlands National Park (which we will have to catch next time).

We consumed quite a bit of hot chocolate on this trip!

D.J. discovered that with his visor on, his shadow looked like Megamind.

Then Spencer discovered that with his hat, his shadow looked like Voldemort.

The Astling family at landscape bridge, our last hike for the trip.

Comic Halloween

Here are my crazy, awesome boys!  Spencer is a transformer. D.J. is Hobbes and 

James is Calvin.

 Spencer made his costume a month ago.  He's been into transformers lately, so of course that is what he wanted to be for Halloween.  In the beginning of October he started begging me for boxes.  After I bottled applesauce, he took the apple box upstairs, along with some string and an hour later he came down with his costume.  We spray painted it at the last minute of course.  I was pretty impressed that he could actually transform from weapons mode to vehicle mode (a tank).  The costume lasted through the DJP party, trunk or treating and most of Halloween night trick or treating.

For the last six months our house has had at least two Calvin and Hobbes books at any given time.  Often you would find those books on top of the refrigerator because we had to take them away so the boys would actually listen to us!  After a trip to DI, two rolls of electrical tape, and some sewing machine magic, the dynamic duo came to life!

Wheelin' and dealin' with the Halloween loot.  I can't believe how many full size candy bars are given out!

D.J.'s class had a zombie performance this week.  It was dark in the room and a black light was pointed at them.  Pretty cool!

We participated in a trunk or treat and there were two costumes that were just awesome, so I had to feature them on the blog: a pink tank run by girl power. . . 

 . . . . and the cutest oompa loompa ever!

Happy Halloween!

Partner Astling

He says I can't call him that.  It's not typical anyway, like Dr. Astling, though technically I could call him that, since he has a Juris Doctorate degree.  After years and years of hard work, sacrifice, late nights, early mornings, many jobs, many moves, different schools, three kids, standing out in the freezing cold waiting for the bus. . . . Mark Lawrence Astling. . . .

IS NOW A PARTNER!!!! (At Durham, Jones and Pinegar)

Not a whole lot will change, but this is a huge milestone that an attorney looks to which indicates all the hard work has produced a capable, reliable, knowledgable, accomplished, talented, skilled, clever, proficient, efficient, effective, successful, useful, helpful, valuable, important person. And that somebody wants to keep him!

Here are just a few things he has experienced to get to this point.

Marrying me. I'm not taking credit for his accomplishment. I'm just happy to be along for the ride and hopefully provided, as my Dad put it, some "wind beneath his wings."

An assortment of jobs to get him through school: warehouse technician, home improvement salesperson, file clerk, courier, tax specialist, associate attorney, and other character enhancing employment.

The biggest character enhancement has been fathering three boys through all of this (which means he had to put up with pregnant me three times too). Mark was in charge of potty training (perhaps not resume worthy, but certainly important), pinewood derbys, making us all laugh, playing games, wrestling and rough-housing, fashioning costumes, making Star Wars movies, fixing broken things, keeping us all warm and comfortable, and much, much more.

We've moved eight times in 14 years.

As I continue to list things, I'm amazed at all that has happened in 14 years and I won't bore you with more.  But I will say this: Mark has always had a direction and he has worked really, really, really hard to achieve his goals.  He works in a field that interests him, that he is happy with, and that provides well for his family.  While a profession is not the end-all, be-all of existence, Mark is pretty good at that part of existence.

I'm so proud of him! I'm pleased to be a part of his life.

Fall Piano Recital

Our piano teacher has a duet recital every other fall, in which the participants are invited to dress in their costumes.  D.J.'s song was called "Pumpkin Patch Bop," but he didn't dress as a pumpkin, or rather, we didn't have the costume 30 minutes before the recital, so he dressed as an "army guy."  His duet partner, Abby Barton (a neighbor friend), dressed as a fairy.

Spencer's duet partner had to attend a funeral, so it was my privilege to play along with him.  Our piece was called "Blue Ghost Waltz," so we were thinking of wearing blue sheets with eye holes, but we could think of too many possible difficulties in which eye holes move around or sheets fall over our hands or piano.  We opted for an oriental theme since we had a Tae Kwon Do outfit ready to go and I, of course, had an oriental looking robe from one of my reading costumes.

The recital went well (and under 15 minutes), with little mistakes!  However, after the recital, I discovered that the video recorder turned off and we didn't get a recording of either song.  So, we performed once more after everybody but D.J.'s partner left.  Both pairs made many mistakes in the second go around! Oh, well!  There will be many more recitals to come!

A Spencer Post

After downloading over 300 pictures, I realized I have a lot of history recording to catch up on.  First, Spencer turned 11 on October 2! This is the day, when I sadly realized he does not have enough fingers to show us how old he his. So, we used a nerf dart:

Spencer wanted a Harry Potter:Battle of Hogwarts cake. It's not as spectacular as the movie, but recognizable.  Thanks goes to James and D.J. for helping me locate HP lego people!  He received many gifts that he liked, but the biggest deserved a lap.

He took a victory lap after he opened the Nerf gun he has been wishing for.  It is essentially a machine gun.  What we once protested and resisted getting for him and the boys has now become a fun family activity: shooting at each other with Nerf bullets. Some coming from automatic weapons, others from single shots.

On a separate Spencer note: he has been in Tae Kwon Do classes since August and has loved it!  His first testing was in September to move from a white belt to a yellow belt.  He had to memorize a few Tae Kwon Do mission statements, moves and break a piece of wood.  He broke his piece in the first try!

It's hard to believe that 11 years ago Spencer came into our lives! It's amazing to watch him learn and grasp the world around him.  He still has so much fun with life and can make many things fun and involve many people in his schemes and plans. He really lives in the moment!

Great Odds and Ends Pictures

Here are some great pictures that I couldn't resist posting. Hope they make you smile like they make me smile!

I don't know who took this picture, but it's a great action shot of Dad and James at the pre-season Ute Day where the kids get to do all sorts of sports activities.  I was not there, so when I returned and saw the picture below, I thought all the boys were in some sort of accident.

We went on a short hike with Grandpa Wheeler. . . . . . .

 . . . . . and found a hairy friend . . . .

 . . . . . and a great sunset!

Uncle Matt showcased his talent while helping D.J. out with his piano duet.

This is Spencer's frustration face.  Even though it's burned into our brain, we had to record it for posterity.

James build a pyramid of monstrous proportion!

The week after my accident, James decided he would finally ride a bike.  He did it all by himself, which was great because I was in no shape to run behind him while holding the seat!

This is why I have to buy a new pair of shoes for Spencer every 3-4 months.  It does not matter what brand I buy, they all end up like this:

D.J. brought a cabbage plant home from school last spring.  It grew in our kitchen window until we could plant it in the garden. It grew so big we made a huge salad for a school party (his teacher was so pleased) and for steamed cabbage the next night.  Good thing my boys like steamed cabbage!

As a result of Dad's new toy: his iPad, he has another new appendage: James

On Aug 15th, D.J. Turned 9!

My kids are getting older. No really, THEY ARE GETTING OLDER!  This is not like birthdays in toddler years where you just think it's cute they are getting older, because now they are ACTING older, complete with sarcasm and eye-rolling.  It just seems we are definitely past the toddler stage of life and into a graduated potty humor and punch-line joke stage.  We are having fun with this and will enjoy it as long as we can before the eye-rolling and sarcasm reaches levels of insanity.

D.J. finished reading Harry Potter #7 right before his birthday so he could see Part 2 of that book while still in the theaters.  He was so excited to do this right on his birthday and worked extra hard to finish the book. This was a very fun experience to take Spencer and D.J. to a "late" (8 p.m.) movie. They loved it and talked about the differences in the movie and the book together throughout the movie. Being in the Harry Potter mode, D.J. requested a Harry Potter cake, a scene from book #4 where Harry is dueling Voldemort in a graveyard.

This shirt that Grandma Wheeler gave him sums up D.J.'s personality well.  It is a Wimpy Kid shirt that says "I'm pretty much one of the best people I know."

D.J. got many presents he liked, but this is one of the best: a gerbil.  Granna gave him the aquarium and accessories and took him to a pet store to pick out his own gerbil.  I finally thought getting him a pet would be a good idea, because I just couldn't handle him calling the potato bugs under the front yard rocks his pets anymore.  The kid needs a more interactive pet (I'm just not up to a dog yet).  He wanted to name her Bellatrix (the second to most evil character in Harry Potter), but I persuaded him to try a nicer namesake, so he went with Lily Chompers Lestrange, which is a compromise (Lily is nice, chompers is animal-like and Lestrange is evil Bellatrix's last name).  She has finally gotten used to D.J. and will let him hold her without wiggling out of his hands.  I, however, have not gotten used to hearing little noises in the house and still freeze when I hear them, thinking I will have to deal with a violent intruder.

He really has fun watching and caring for her, as we all do!

Happy Birthday D.J.!