Catching up. . .

When Lauren's at school Rylee enjoys full reign of entertaining Bianca, the rat.

What a spoiled rat!

During my latest shift at the hospital a new game was invented involving socks on the lovely 1960's chandelier in our department (the girl's name for our apartment :) It was tons of fun until Rylee commented, 'Dad, it smells like popcorn'. I guess fried socks and popcorn have similar smells.

You can have a lovely bruise too if you take a running leap and slide head first across the kitchen floor! All you gotta do is land on your chin.

Rylee's 4th birthday! What a joy and blessing she is in our lives.

We love her determination, her vivid imagination. Her taste for things that are sparkly, purple, and frilly is carefree and addictive. I need to get a suit that fits this description.

It was a treat to have Grandma Sharon, adopted grandma Pat and Rylee's birth mom, Dana join us and some good friends at 'Pop's Malt shop'.

Lauren the ladybug, and Rylee the moth. I was trying to figure out how to be a flyswatter.

How exactly do pumpkins fit into the whole "Halloween" historical picture? Better yet, why exactly do we even have Halloween? Best yet, why do people cut open giant squash and remove all the guts? Genius idea for a holiday.

A favorite from the Halloween buckets, watch out Edward!

Fun at Black Island Farm.

Rylee swept the whole hayride tractor with her 'Broom Corn' stalk.

An engineers mind at work. The girls spent many quarters filling the little food bucket to pulley it up to the greedy goats.

This family's got TALENT!

To add to Friday night's celebration, Lauren put on quite a show. She definitely took the cake!

Red Rock Relay, 2009

Janna and I just completed the Red Rock Relay with 10 other good friends of ours. We had a 12 person team, two teams of six. Each runner ran three seperate legs of the race. The total distance was 180 miles going from Brian Head Resort, UT through Cedar Breaks National Monument, Zions National Park, St. George, La Verkin, Hurricane, Gunlock, and finally ending at Snow Canyon State Park.

To cover the total distance took us 26 hours - straight - no sleep. We paid money to do this. Sounds crazy doesn't it? Our team name: 24 Calloused Soles.

This is the end of Janna's first run and the beginning of my 1st run. It was a great experience for me and Janna to get to do this event together, we both had fun and made some memories that will last a lifetime.

Our whole team at the finish line.

Janna supporting me and giving me water and passing me my inhaler.

Janna scribes our team number on the back of Riley's calf.

The six runners in Van 1 gather at the starting line at Brian Head Resort, UT. Start time was 8:30 am.

Janna and Rachel hide from the hail as we wait for Marianne to finish her first leg of the relay. This area is some of the most beautiful country on earth.

Cedar Breaks backdrop

Although the race ran through southern Utah, it was not hot during day 1 as we started at an elevation of 11,000 ft. In fact, it hailed on Janna during her first leg of the relay.

Reflective vests and headlamps were required all through the night. This picture was taken while Janna was out on her 2nd leg of the relay.

Yep, it was crazy. But I don't regret it. Check out the COOL VIDEO at our team blog:

www.thecallousedsole.blogspot.com

Litros does Antelope Island

Come on! Dad in biker shorts! That's Awesome! Me and dad took a little trip to Antelope Island on Saturday morning, it's about 40 minutes away. The place is a wildlife refuge and is absolutely deserted except for long open roads for biking, randomly scattered buffalo in the fields, rolling hills, the occasional Egrid flying overhead, and lots of salt water surrounding the island. We took a good paced spin for about an hour. He did so good, if we lived closer together we would go biking together all the time Dad! This was one of my personal favorite times ever with dad.

We also went to Pineview Reservoir the night before Mom & Dad left back to Louisiana. We played in the mud and had home-made ice cream made in a bag, wrapped with newspaper, and precisely shaken for a half hour by mom.

Aaron! May I propose your next business plan. Insurance just makes the waters muddy, keep it simple with this plan. In my opionion - controversy is an effective form of advertising. I took this picture in an old blacksmith shop at "This is the Place" monument in Salt Lake City. You need this sign for your office.

There was a train car ride at "This is the Place" monument. We also met Brigham Young. Have you ever met Brigham Young?

So I put dad to work, we sanded our deck off and are now in the process of restaining it. I couldn't breathe good for 4 days after this dumb project.

Rylee gets INTO the water fountain, being small has its advantages.

Janna's new hairdo number 2,589..... in 2 hours. Guess how much water spray it takes to do this?

We celebrated Lauren's 6th birthday in style. Also Mom & Dads 41st anniversary, but I couldn't get mom to go on the slip & slide. All of Lauren's little girlfriends loved it though.

Best 10 Minutes of 72 Hours

This past weekend for the fourth of July we successfully did the following:

• Swam in a lazy river at a new water park in Lindon
  
• Went down the big slide in the waterpark
  
• Watched the Provo Freedom Festival Parade
  
• Saw amazing fireworks displays
  
• Ran in a 10k race on the morning of the 4^th, down the parade route (this was very cool)
  
• Lit sparklers
  
• More amazing things
  

Why is it that the things we (parents) think will be "so much fun" are the things that ARE fun but not memorable to our children? For example, after the weekend was over and I was checking the mail before going inside for the night – I asked Lauren to go with me and she said, "Dad, why don't you get your skateboard and I'll ride my scooter and we'll go to the mail box together." So we did. We took the LONG route up and down the sidewalk before finally stopping at the mailbox – I was sweating and my calves were burning. This 10 minutes of skateboarding was more fun than all the events we did over the 4^th of July – she keeps bringing it up over and over and telling me how great this was.

I'm convinced, spontaneity is the master approach for making memories.

Dishwashers for Hire

Is there anyone who didn't play in the sink when they were a kid? I'll admit - I still do it sometimes. It's a habit I picked up somewhere, sometimes me and the girls like to see how many levels of plates, cups, pans, and spoons we can use to make waterfalls over the dishes. This isn't a video of a waterfall, however, it is a short clip of the REAL Rylee that you don't get to see all the time.

It's all fun and games until. . .

Is that a buttering/basting brush?

Girls Camp Calculations

 As I have watched Janna gives selfless hours to this project - I often catch myself thinking two things:  First: "Man, I wish I was a girls camp list."  And secondly: "I wonder how many hours these leaders have had to put into this project as a stake."  

I have found I can calculate fairly accurately how many hours the women have put into this project by counting the number of papers in their binders.  I have discovered an accurate method is to allow for 45 minutes for one sheet of paper.  

• If it's double sided, then go with 2 hours.  
  
• Decorated binders = 2 hours. 
  
• Emails to one person:  30 minutes
• Emails to multiple people: 1.5-2 hours to compose, insert graphics, attach any documents (creating these documents are not included in this variable), gather email addresses from other lists, and read/re-read before sending.

Crafty handouts: 

• If it's large enough to put on an easel: 4-5 hours (these include graphics, construction paper, coloring, tracing with Sharpie markers, and usually an information sheet of some type with different girly style fonts and printed in color.
  
• If it's laminated, add 1.5 hours.
• One 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with lots of little things to cut out = 2 hours
  
• If magnets, glue, tape, string, bows, ribbons, candy, or brads are involved - allow 1 hour extra for each item.  The only exception to this rule is staples - these only require an additional 10 minutes, but they don't look as good.  Consider yarn, it's only 45 minutes.
  
• If a table cloth is involved, add 3 hours.  This implies a table setting that has to have a full complimentary array of items to go with it such as fragrant candles, a wicker arrangement, a picture in a frame, a homemade treat with the recipe, etc. These things take time to decide on and work through all the little details.  

Meetings:

• With an agenda: 2 hours
  
• Without an agenda: 2 hours + two more meetings.
  
• If the subject of Twilight arises, allow for an additional hour.
• If a light refreshment is involved, add 1 hour to the meeting time, and 3 hours to the preparation time.  This preparation involves making the treat at home (never buy one, because you can't pass out the recipe), going to the store to buy that random ingredient, gathering eating supplies, setting up, and cleanup afterwards.

And THEN. . . THEN comes the actual camp.  That's gotta be a whole separate blog.

Me and Kyle Knighton are starting a support group for any husbands who are interested.  

Louisiana Pictures, May 2009

Everyone gathers around the pool.  A little lunch before we all get in together.

Rylee decides it's okay to touch the little green lizard.  

This was taken just moments before the beast pulled Aaron in.  

Party in New Orleans with very few clothes on.

Look how perfectly focused the background is.  I gotta work with Janna. 

It's been a long time since I went outside just to hunt for a lizard.  Lauren could teach Dora the Explorer a few lessons on outdoor adventuring, she loves it.

A Week in Louisiana

Let me tell you about it. . . 

First, we trekked through the airport and found an airplane destined for Nana & Papa's house. This is a major highlight of the trip - Lauren was as excited about the airplane ride as she was about swimming in the Steiners' pool.  By the way, great picture Janna!  These girls were TROOPERS all day - taking turns pulling their luggage and riding on mine.  

In Leesville, we decided to catch one of the crawfish that lives in the backyard.  These mudmounds spot the entire backyard.  Lurking somewhere in the depths of these holes are six legged monsters brandishing bone crushing pinchers and long antannae.  Ok, maybe it is just a crawfish, but the mystery of the hole is intriguing - isn't it?  Admit it, you thought they just lived in water. . . True, but they also live in Nana's backyard.

A bit of string, raw bacon, and a safety pin might coax him out of his den.  Aaron lowered this string until it committed no less than 18 inches to the beasts lair before stopping at a turn in the tunnel.  Then suddenly. . . the line went tense. . . and pulled Aaron right off his feet.  This is much better than Ice Fishing - we actually caught something.  Once he clamps onto the bacon, we coaxed him all the way out of his hole.  He was big alright, snagged Aaron with him down into that hole.  

These little green lizards live all over the bushes, walls, gates, and fencing.  They change color rapidly from brilliant green to dull brown - turns out their best defense is to hold very still making them relatively easy to catch.  Although, Lauren couldn't figure out why he would want to jump out of her hands.

The Leesville Country Club Park.  Rylee likes to go slow, Lauren likes it fast.  There was a time when my brothers & I revved this Merry go Round up to about 500 RPM's.  I believe Aaron learned how to fly that day.

Rylee, Lauren, and Calyn beating the Louisiana summer heat in the front yard of Nana's house.

Dakota, Lucy, Hazel, Rylee, Lauren and Craig - Dr. Gooch.  This guy is by far the most animated, gregarious, spontaneous, and affable person I have ever known. A doctor of Emergency Medicine at Duke University hospital.  This man is extraordinary in every way, and his wife Jordan keeps up with four kids and Craig and still makes time to train and run a marathon.  Simply amazing.

In case the resemblance is not readily apparent, this is Seth - Craig & Jordans oldest.  Maybe you just didn't recognize him because of the shiner on his left eye. This was the result of colliding with Lauren's knee in the pool.  But, he was having too much fun to let a little thing like a black eye slow him down.

The little kids wouldn't let Aaron in the big pool.  Calyn is soon to be a big sister - Jeni & Aaron just announced they are expecting! This announcement came on May 16th, Craig's birthday (33) and Aaron's graduation day from Dental school - he is now a Doctor of Dental Surgery. It was very satisfying to see Aaron achieve such high honors - he and Jeni have worked very hard for this. Aaron recieved two elite awards at graduation - including a "Best of the Best in Prosthedontics."   Smart dude.  They are in process right now of moving out of New Orleans and into Alexandria, LA where Aaron will start practicing Dentistry.

Lauren, Seth, Dakota.  Look at those chicken legs on Lauren.  She's already sporting the best "six pack" on her stomach I have ever seen.   She loves to be outside and engaged in something fast. This puddle was about 6 inches deep when it was in the middle of the rainstorm - nobody does puddles better than Louisiana.