Dave Coulier

For our date night last week, Brandon and I got to go see Dave Coulier -- otherwise known as Joey from Full House. I've wanted to go to a comedy show for a long time, so that's one thing I can now check off my list! It was a good show. Mostly pretty clean. But I think I laughed the hardest at one of the guys who did a pre-show act.


Saturday I watched my husband sweat 5 pounds off himself. He installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom. No big deal, right? But he had to climb up in the attic to get the fan box installed. It was so hot, he about died! Chloe had a lot of fun climbing up there with him. Sophie was pretty scared, but she got up the courage to go up (never really into the attic, though). We also got a fan for the girls' room, but I had to order it online and it won't be here until tomorrow. The good news is Brandon got their fan box put in at the same time, so hopefully no more attic time.

Today we enjoyed having Brandon home with us. This is (I believe) the first Pioneer Day he's really got to celebrate -- just staying home. We're usually on the road this time of year, but our vacations are coming later. So... did he get to sleep in on his day off? No. Sophie still wanted to get up at 6:25 with him and go hiking! We had gone up on the mountain Saturday, but there wasn't time to do a long hike so she made this request to go today. They did it, but she was nervous about being back in time for her babysitting class. We got a few things crossed off our to-do lists, including a photo shoot I've wanted to do with Chloe. I've always taken her and Soph together, but this time I wanted it to be just her.

Last Week

Last week we got to have two fun activities. On Thursday we invited some neighbors to go miniature golfing with us. It was a little warm, but other than that we had fun. I need to remember that I should not try to golf with the girls. It's much more fun to watch them! They don't want to stand around and wait for me (for however long) to get my ball in the hole. Unless we're doing a one-on-one date, then it would be fun to golf together. Chloe did tell me the next day that she may be interested in real golfing. We'll see if that goes anywhere.


On Friday I took the girls to Cold Stone. We had Sophie's birthday certificate to use. I heard the most amazing thing while watching the girls eat their ice cream. Chloe said something nice to Sophie (I wish I remembered what it was!), so then I made some silly comment like, "What, you like her?" Chloe replied, "Well, I'd rather play with her than anyone else." And then Sophie said something nice to Chloe. It was simply amazing! Totally worth the ice cream.


Afterwards we ran over to Barnes & Noble because Chloe wanted to pick out some workbooks. She told me her dream is to have bookshelves in our house that look like the ones at B&N. Specifically, she wanted the aisle that had all the biographies and science books. I'm working on a library - that's a dream for a future house.

Zip-a-dee-ay and Heigh-dee-ho

My little monkey turned 9 yesterday. That's right, she's growing up on me. She wanted to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but I didn't get up early enough to make them so we ran to the grocery store and bought some. We took them to the Jr. high to eat because she started her babysitting and art classes that morning. She only ate about 1/2 her cinnamon roll; she kept saying she was full. I think she was just super excited about the day. We had plenty of time, so we just went in the school and hung out. I met both of her teachers. Her babysitting class is held in Ms. Gelwix room. I'm not sure what the relation is there, but I did notice all the rugby paraphernalia in the room.



After I picked her up from her classes she had tons to tell me about. She really likes her babysitting class; didn't have quite as much to say about her art class. We had lunch and then I let her play on the computer to help kill some time.

Gifts:
Grandma Nicholls sent her an alarm clock about 3 weeks before her birthday. I let her open it as soon as it came because she was driving me crazy wanting that thing so bad. She uses it to get up at 6:25 in morning, so she can have some alone-time with Brandon while he gets ready for work. It's been a good thing.

Grandma Bateman gave her a watch -- just happened to be the exact same one Chloe has! It seems like there is a theme going on for this birthday, but it really wasn't planned. Guess Sophie just wants to know what time it is -- day or night.

She had also received a couple cards that I let her open while we ate lunch. She really liked the charm bracelet that came with the card Nicole sent!



After chilling for a while she needed to get out of the house so Brandon took her to the park to play frisbee. I met them after I realized I didn't need to work on a dessert quite yet. She was hot and exhausted by the time I got there, but I convinced her to hang out in the shade for a while.


Then it was finally time to go to Chuck E. Cheese! Her favorite game was "Deal or No Deal." She and I both won the top prize our first times playing. Even though it was a "baby ride," she said she really liked the clock that you could ride on. Chloe's favorite game was the water shooter.







In place of a cake, we took her to Galaxy, a new frozen custard place that just opened up. She's been watching the progress as they've been working on the building. I guess it was fitting that it opened just in time for her birthday.


You would think the day would be about over by this point, but we had to throw in one extra dessert! Sophie had found this recipe in my cookbook for a strawberry and rhubarb compote with cashew cream. I had a hard time finding any rhubarb around here, but I finally tracked some down at Whole Foods. I've been trying to make this since Saturday, but it seemed like more things were going wrong than right. But yesterday the stars aligned -- other than already having dessert. So we made it after we got home and called it a bedtime snack. It was good, but we really did not need another treat!

Still she wasn't done celebrating. She got a phone call from Uncle Shane after 10:00. I think she was just about asleep, but she was happy to take the call. Thanks for thinking of her!

We are so grateful for this funny little girl. When she was two and three years old I think we were about ready to give her away. I certainly didn't see myself surviving the teen years with her, but now I couldn't ask for a better kid. She is just amazing. She has a big heart and makes me proud. In perfect Sophie style, she just asked me to post on my blog that in lieu of comments she'd appreciate phone calls! Oh, she's a silly one.

Camp Kiesel

On Wednesday I got to chaperon the Activity Day girl's camp. They went to Camp Kiesel up by Causey Reservoir. I just had to hang out with the other leaders, the camp counselors took care of everything. We had 13 girls from our ward and they were combined with another 13 girls from a ward in Layton. Our counselor's name was Amy, and she was just a little too "hyper" for my liking. All the counselors tried too hard to be funny, but some of them did a better job than others. Our groups mascot was the Buffalo and they had to learn a cheer:

We're number one, not two, not three, not four;
We're here to win, not lose, not tie the score.
We're gonna beat 'em, bust 'em, cause that's our custom,
Go-oooo Buffalo!

Of course, they had to scream it at the top of their lungs at each station to be allowed to enter. Most of the girls in our group never got really into it, so we always failed the volume test. I thought they were plenty loud.


We were a little late in getting there, so we missed the opening flag ceremony and went straight to our first station -- the obstacle course.


Then we went to the rifle range. They just got to shoot bee-bees. I always loved the rifle range when I went to 4-H camp, but I must have lost my skill. I only hit the target once, but that was after I realized I wasn't lining up my sights right.


Then it was on to archery! The girls weren't so skilled at this. It was too hard to pull the bow back. Chloe didn't want to do it, but she shot a few arrows before giving up.


Next it was on to a presentation titled "Leave No Trace" where they learned how to act in a forest. My favorite part was when they pointed out that you should never take sticks, rocks, leaves, etc. home with you :) I made sure Sophie was listening to that.

After that they got to make a leather project -- Sheriff badges.


Then we broke for lunch. After lunch we went on the nature trail. They taught us about different plants and animals. I liked learning about which plants we can eat. I'm sure I won't remember for when I'm in the forest and get hungry, but I now know you can eat stinging nettle, but not lamb's ear! You can eat the poison, but not the antidote.

Next we got to paddle canoes. They told us to break up into groups of 4-5 kids and one adult. I had my 4 kids and we were all ready to get in our canoe, when 2 more kids and 2 adults came crawling into our canoe. That made it a little crowded, and then even harder to paddle with so many people telling everyone what to do. I normally love canoeing, but this was not one of the most pleasant experiences I've had. At least we didn't tip over!


Our last station was the trading post -- the one the girls were looking forward to the most. They didn't know about this last year when they went, so they were prepared this time. They took money. Chloe only bought an ice cream sandwich, but Sophie got a pocket knife and a bear (oh yes, another bear!)



And then we just hung out for a while before the closing flag ceremony began, and then came home with some very tired girls. Three out of five of them slept on the way home.

Bloomington Fourth

Since my grandma's birthday is on the 4th of July, it's always fun to celebrate with her. And like I already said, it's more fun to celebrate in Paris where the crowds are tolerable. We went up on Sunday evening and spent the night with her. Jason & Shalee had gone the day before to play in the lake. Her house was sweltering when we got there. I hung out with Grams as long as I could stand, but then I just had to get some air. Unfortunately, right before I got out there Jason had ran through the bushes and stirred up the mosquitoes, so then it wasn't even fun to be outside. I survived the night and the next morning I took Grams to the Bear Lake Ranger's chuckwagon breakfast in Paris. We got there at the right time, when the line was still short, but after we ate we had to wait around for the rest of the gang to show up. By the time they got there the line had grown tremendously. That was ok, because it was nice to sit outside. It turned out to be a nice, cool day (with just a tad bit of rain).

Chloe was still feeling ill, so Brandon took her back to my grandma's house. He also took my grandma's hearing aide with him, so I had to borrow Lark's car to go get that before the program started. I got the hearing aide to her in time, but then I didn't get to attend the program or go decorate the float. I got assigned to sit out front and direct Jason when he got there. I called Jason to find out he had no plans of coming. Then I waited and waited for the program to end. When it was over I watched for Grams and Ross and Melanie to come out, but no sign of them. I went inside the tabernacle to look for them. They weren't there, so I headed over to the float. I was sure I'd find them on the way thinking Grams could not out-walk me. No, I didn't find them and I didn't find a float. It was missing. Oh, and I should probably mention that right at this time my phone battery died. So, I walked BACK to the tabernacle. Waited and waited, hoping I would see my husband drive by (who was on his way to the parade), or somebody. It was time for the parade to start, so I decided to start walking the direction I thought the parade was coming from -- and miraculously I found my husband! Yes, of all the people I knew he would come looking for me.

Now we just had to get to the start of the parade, find our float and hop on. But somehow they passed us without us noticing! So, now we had to try to run and catch up but this parade did not travel anywhere near as slow as the children's parade in Centerville did. Running, we could not get ahead. So, we just decided to wait for it to turn around and catch them on the return side. It actually worked! Brandon and I hopped on and finished the parade! But by the time we got on they were already out of candy to throw, so we didn't make any friends along the parade route, but it was great to watch Grams. She was pretty happy to be the star for the day!

After the parade we went back to Grams' for a late lunch and everyone hung out and played. My kids had some fireworks left over they wanted to do. I took lots of pictures and tucked them into a slideshow for anyone who'd like to view.

Centerville Fourth

The Centerville 4th of July was actually celebrated on the first of July (and second). It felt a little funny yelling "Happy 4th of July" on July 1st. We started out doing the children's parade. We actually got prepared this year and the girls decorated their bikes. We happened to get there at the same time and parked in the same spot as their friends (the Stephens) so that made it even more fun. But Chloe had issues with her bike seat. It was too high for riding so slow, so I rode her bike for her. They got Pace bars at the end and Brandon got to go talk to the Utopia dudes. I took this great little video to show the mass of people they get to show up for this event, and Chloe's lack of enthusiasm.



That night we went and watched the city's firework show. We have a favorite spot we like to go to. There was some disagreement about whether or not it was becoming more populated, but it's still better than trying to squeeze into the crowd at the park. The girls mostly enjoy running around on the lawn before the show starts -- and getting to stay up late.

Last year after dealing with all the crowds here I said I wasn't doing another 4th in Centerville, so I planned to go to Bloomington. We did that, but were not able to avoid the Centerville festivities. Along with the children's parade Chloe and Sophie wanted to do the Freedom Fun Run. I signed them up. Bright and early Saturday morning we went to do that. Chloe wasn't feeling well, so she didn't run, but Sophie did. Her age group did 1/2 mile.


Chloe's presence. Even though she couldn't run I wanted to show she was there to support her sister.


Here she is lining up for her race:


And she's off!





This is how she felt after the race:


Sophie wanted to stick around for the awards ceremony afterwards. They didn't give awards to the participants in the children's division (everybody's a winner there!) She got a toothbrush, ribbon, and a coupon for a frosty at Wendy's for participating. But after the awards ceremony they had several prizes left over, so they just started handing them out to the few people who had stuck around till the end. We all got coupons for Dilly bars @ Dairy Queen, Sophie got a pair of socks, and Chloe got a free pizza at Little Caesar's. That was fun, but as we got up to leave Brandon realized that it was 2 minutes before the town parade would start and there was no way for us to get our car out. We were stuck. So... after all my efforts to strike the Centerville festivities I believe we participated in just about everything!

To top everything off, the girls hosted their own fireworks party. I'm such a loser at having parties because I always sit and justify why I shouldn't do it, or how it would be a bother to the people I invite. But my kids don't seem to mind, so I told them to go ahead and plan it all on their own. They made their own invitations. Chloe drew pictures on them all by herself. They saved their money up to purchase the fireworks, and invited several families to come and bring their fireworks to set off with them. They got two families to come (which is two more than I expected to show up). I'm not sure how welcome they made their guests feel, but I know the girls had a ball. I made some "edible sparklers" to help out. They were just pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate on one end.

I am terrible at nighttime photography, but here's one picture I attempted to take to document the party:

Swimming

Thursday was the last day of swimming lessons for Chloe. She wasn't feeling well, so it wasn't that fun for her. She probably should have stayed home, but she really wanted to go get her certificate and lollipop. She really wants to do more swimming, but after looking at the calendar we just don't have time to squeeze it in with all the other activities we have planned. I'll just have to take them to the pool to play whenever we have a spare day. Sophie was even willing to try after watching how "easy" the level 3 was, she thought maybe she could do it. Oh well.