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.!

There! I'm in a Wheelchair.

We just had to get out of the house.  So, my friend Melissa and her boys went to the Zoo with us.  I rented a wheelchair.  I just couldn't bring myself to rent a jazzy for $25.  My boys were all too excited to push me around in the wheel chair.  While they were very helpful, the experience was a little like that Wild Mouse ride at Lagoon where you think you are going to ride straight off the track at full speed and then at the last minute YOU TURN!  More than one time I used the heel of my sandal for brakes.  Thanks to my friend for taking pity on me and pushing me some of the way - she's a trooper and more muscular for it!

 D.J., Spencer, Seth, Theo, Ethan and James.

Back to School Jumping Jacks

I know, I know.  The first thing I do after I get all kids in school is come home and blog about them.  The apron strings are still firmly attached.  I can't say I didn't a little get choked up, but there were no tears rolling down my face, contrary to Mark's anticipation.

I just have to record James' behavior this morning.  It all started at 7 AM when James came up to me with his arms open and said, "Happy first day of school Mom!"  Like it was a holiday!  Then he starts singing to me, in the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas: "On the first day of school, my Mom gave to me, a red angry birds shirt!"  We got him a new backpack so he got that out and clipped of the tags.  After he got dressed he asked if it was time to go.  I said no, but please go clip off the tags on your back pack.  "I already did Mom."  Oh, then go clip off the tags on your lunch box.  It's quiet for a minute or two.  I walked upstairs and he had clipped off all the tags on his, D.J.'s and Spencer's lunch box and set them in the doorway of each bedroom like it was an Easter basket.  He found his pencil box and wrote his name on it and his lunch box.  All the while D.J. and Spencer were saying this, "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ."  They were still asleep!

After D.J. woke up he started getting a little excited but tried to hide it.  Spencer was just ho-hum.  James was also excited that he got to pick out the one hot lunch I let them have each week - ravioli on Wednesday.  Our neighborhood has a first day of school breakfast, so they were all excited to get to that.  Too excited in fact, so Mark ordered them to do jumping jacks to get some energy out.  James learned to ride his bike this summer so he was excited to be able to ride his bike to school and asked me at least four times during breakfast if it was time to go.

When it was time for him to get in line with his class, he knew exactly what to do, he gave Dad a high five and didn't look back. Sigh.

Here are the wacky, wonderful Astling boys, whom I love and am so excited for:

Time for my pedicure!

All My Children Will Be in All Day School as of Tomorrow!

What am I going to do?!?! What am I going to do?!?!

Should I read Gone with the Wind?
Should I watch all six Star Wars movies? My Fair Lady? Fiddler on the Roof? The Sound of Music? Extended versions and all the extras of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy?
Should I eat chocolate and vanilla bon-bons?
Should I begin watching the latest soap-operas?
Should I take bubble baths every day?

Maybe not all in one day.  Seeing as how the first day of school is early out, and I have to go to a classroom meeting for Spencer during the day anyway, I think I'll just get a pedicure and get rid of the purple toenails I've had since the end of school.

I have been thinking of many projects I can do and many fun things too.  Painting some rooms in the house (after James's room, THE STENCIL APPLES IN THE KITCHEN WILL VANISH!), going through the dreaded file cabinet, organizing closets, cleaning all the dirt and pond scum that has collected over the summer.  Fun things: meeting Mark for lunches, friends for lunches, mother-in-law for lunch, sewing projects of my own, using art kits that my mother-in-law has given me over the years, helping my sister, keeping up on blogs.

Of course these things will happen after doing my regular enjoyable volunteering at the school in each of the boy's classes and with the PTA and with the local library and whatever nutrition counseling I'm called for.  So, maybe I won't get to all projects I'm listing, but I'm just saying, I'm coming up on a new part of life.  I'm just not the sort of Mom who cries when my babies leave for school.  I'm also not the sort of Mom who is desperate for them to go back to school (the last few days excepted because of intense bickering caused by too much time together).  I get excited for them to move on and learn new things and discover more about themselves.  I get excited for me to do the same thing about myself.  Because they are in a new phase of life so am I, and I'm up for adventure!

Marysvale Was Great Anyway!

After my Mom and Dad brought us from the hospital to the cabins/rooms we stayed in, she asked, "Well, did you have a good time before the accident?"  To which I replied, "YES!"  I'm glad I remember everything up until the accident!  Marysvale is a beautiful place!  We drove to the tops of mountains, played in snow, ate lunch by a reservoir, but the best thing was being around family!

 We begin to head out after a great breakfast.  Mom and Dad had the cabin with the kitchen, so that's where we ate most of our meals and snacks and more snacks and snacks.

 When we stopped at the first reservoir, Spencer discovered a patch of snow a little up the hill.  He decided that he would throw a snowball at Uncle Jesse.  The first snowball was met with laughter.  The second snowball was met with a little retaliation.  Jesse carried Spencer down to the reservoir and dipped the top of Spencer's head in!  Ahh, Uncles are great! 

 You would think that he would think twice about doing something like that again, but I suspect he won't.

 D.J. is lounging and eating lunch on the four-wheeler I was driving.

 It really was very beautiful and vibrant green!

 Cousins + lunch + six-man + outdoors = a great day!

 A map and six opinions.

 The bed of a truck and food, makes a great play pen! Miles and Wade were a little territorial about those Cheetos!

 It would be an understatement to say that Jack loves four-wheelers.

Matt enjoying a summer foray in the snow, making a snow angel.  How angelic.

 The second lake we stopped at after Wendy made the biggest mud rooster tale with her truck. 

. . . . We pause the post now for an eighteen hour emergency break. . . . . 

. . . . . . beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. . . . . 

 Uncle Jesse decides to attempt the gazillion ounce hamburger for lunch the next day so he can get his picture on the wall.  After actually FINISHING the whole thing, their camera was broken! So, Jesse, here is your claim to fame on my blog. I'm sorry there are not many single women who read my blog.

 At home after the accident, Spencer and I share a reading moment. He's reading book 9 in the Ranger's Apprentice series and I'm reading book one.

Yellowstone: A Vacation Without Accidents

In the beginning of July we went to Yellowstone with our neighbors, The Riddles.  We actually camped inside the park this year and had a great time doing it!  Thankfully, our trip was before the bear attack, so I didn't spend the time paranoid.  I really liked going straight from our campsite to the awesome, beautiful viewing areas,without having to travel and hour in and out of the park.  We went to many of the attractions that we've seen before, but either saw new things about them or different perspectives.  I love being in nature and especially being in nature without cell phone coverage or wi-fi, so that our options were enjoying each other and this amazing world!

The first night we actually stayed in a hotel in Idaho Falls, which turned out to be a great way to decompress from a busy week.  One more night with showers and pools.

There was a nice walk around the falls with all sorts of statues and artwork.

On to Yellowstone! One of the first waterfalls we saw as we entered the park.  One of our neighbors had not visited Yellowstone before and the other visited 15 years ago, so we stopped at almost everything we could.

The first animal we saw was a bear!!  We were so excited.  We were far enough away we felt safe.  Thank goodness for zoom lenses!

We didn't need a zoom lens for this one! This guy was so close to our van it gave me nervous chills!

This gave me chills of a different kind!  We are at the top of the waterfall in Yellowstone canyon.  What a humbling feeling to watch this water move sooo fast and realize that you are a tiny, puny, powerless, little spec of dust compared to this.

Have you seen the Petroglyphs in Yellowstone? Very life like.

This white spot int he picture is a wolf!  A wolf and bear in one trip - oh my!

Ice cream at Mammoth Hot Springs because it was HOT there!

Could this be a product of sulfur?

Oh, yes, it's sulfur.  The bison doesn't seem to mind though.

Old Faithful, the big attraction at Yellowstone is best viewed through star shaped glasses, on Mom's shoulders and thankfully in the shade.

Another cool picture from my talented husband.

 We had this cool log teeter totter at our second campsite.  Thankfully no fingers were smashed. Our buddy Damon loved it too!

One of the reasons this camping trip was so great was Mark being able to orchestrate the boys helping with tent building and breaking.  They are old enough and big enough to help with nearly everything! Yee-haw! Mark looks like an official camping conductor with the great hat his Mom gave him. How did she know it would match nearly every shirt he has?

 If you are a camping sort of person - Yellowstone is a great place to do it! They've got great facilities and you can't beat the surroundings! Just take bear repellant now.