July 24

We survived our first T-Ball experience. It has been over for a while, but I just remembered I hadn't put this pic up yet.  We tried T-Ball and Karate this summer.  I think Karate was the big winner.  We are giving soccer a go next month.....yikes....but we'll see what Cade ends up liking in the end.  I figure I'll let him try it all out while he is young enough that it is all fun and games and not so competitive. 

July 23

Okay since I failed to get any pictures as proof that Eric and I actually had a date!!!! I do have the menu from where we went out to eat.  The Village Grill actually opened, and it is quite tasty!  I love the atmosphere and I highly recommend it (and not just because someone I know started it up.)  It is adjacent to a pond in Clearfield and it is quiet and in the theater that I do a ton of my performing.  I had a spinach salad (blackened salmon, dried fruit, walnuts, honey dijon dressing, bell peppers.....yummmmmmmmy!)  The presentation was awesome and the Village Nachos......they are simply sweet.  It is the house desert specialty kind of like fried ice cream only six times as large with twice as much carmel and fried cinnamon tortillas and ice cream and are you hungry yet?  Anyone that lives near here should check it out.  They offer to go food also, and it will not disappoint.  So Friday we had a date and I mowed the lawn.  It was a perfectly awesome day (except for the whole cut the dead brown grass thing........)

July 22

I told Cade he had to have some pictures taken before school.  He begrudgingly did so, but also requested that we all had to have one too.  My favorite was David's response.  He really really really wanted to participate in the photo parade, can't you tell? 

July 21

Are you sick of Kindergarten pictures yet?  I think that is all I got pictures of this week....so I hope that you can bear with me.  Cade's 1st day of kindergarten all by himself went great.  No tears on either side of the fence here, just lots of smiles, and lots of excitement.....and drumroll......I managed to get him to school EARLY all 3 days this week!   Wahoo!!! I'm on a roll!!!   Cade loves his teacher already.  She gave him a welcome packet, and by his idea, he penned a pretty lengthy thank you note and delivered it to her on the next day.  He writes in all caps, but he does okay with creative spelling :)  This school mom thing might be fun after all.  

July 20

Here is the obligatory 1st day of school for the 1st child photo.  We'll see if I remember to do this for Davy.  1st day of Kindergarten went off without a hitch.  The first day was more like an orientation that I had to go to, and Eric had to stay home with David during.  It went fine.  Nothing interesting happened, ad I suppose that is a good thing.  Cade played at the playground, and I watched in my antisocial stance as all the moms that knew each other gabbed and gabbed about who knows what......I probably came off as a snob.  All the moms were trying to introduce their kids to other people's kids and were smiling really big....and I just stood there....thinking....man I'm glad I'm done with public school.....I think I'll stand back and let Cade do the talking and let Cade make his own friends....I've been there done this once, and I don't really want to do it again.....I'll let him have the experience.  I guess I'm not quite going to be a helicopter mom after all.   

July 19

Monday was Cade's last day of freedom before being chained down to the fun rigors of formal education and tardy bells for the next umpteen years.  Sadly, I can't remember how we even spent the day.....but we did have Back To School Father's Blessings and we were all super excited.  It's so funny I distincty remember the night before I went to Kindergarten, and how I couldn't sleep for the life of me.  I sat staring at my yellow walls and orange toy chest (OUCH!) holding some cuddly stuffed cat named Katrina? and being peeved that the Kindergarten teacher thought my favorite color was pink the week before when I met her...ummmm noooooooo way....my favorite color is/was/will always be yellow.    I can only guess what crazy thoughts were peeling through Cade's mind as he tried to sleep........

July 18

The stress began about two days before Kindergarten started.  I thought I had everything under control.  No sweat, right?  I have been soooo looking forward to school days.  I'm not a mom who sheds the tear as the child enters the classroom doors, no....instead......my thoughts have been more, "Why isn't the Kindergarten last all day ?- 2-3 hours you've got to be kidding me!"  I love Cade, and I love spending time to him, but I simply cannot keep him occupied enough to his satisfaction.  I am not capable of stimulating him as much as he wants. 
So why the stress?  I lost his immunization card.  And since most of his shots were done in CA from three different doctors (two med students now gone) - and the offices have moved - I've spent the last three months trying to track down proof that I believe in vaccinating my child.  Although they told me that the records were in storage and they'd locate them shortly.....it still hasn't happened.  So....I ended up getting a waiver. I just hope no one gets the chicken pox or else Cade can't go to school for a few weeks. 

One stressor down and only one more to go.  The tardy bell.  I have been having massive anxiety freak out issues realizing that it is my job to make sure this kid gets to school on time.  This is a problem.  I can't get myself on time to anywhere.  I was always tardy, and my mom would leave without me so many days if I wasn't ready, and I had a college professor take a clock off and change the time on the wall when I actually showed up on time one day so that it was still rigged that I was late......I am horrible with being on time.   So, I'm not freaking out that Cade is going to kindergarten....no....I'm freaking out because I'm realizing I'm supposed to be the resposible adult here....and it scares the living daylights out of me!   I think I'm going to have a massive meltdown if he gets a tardy ticket.  It just better not happen. 

July 17

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a random picture of David that I put up because I really really really just wanted to catch up on my silly blog goal and I'm out of pictures, becuase I really haven't taken any for a while.  Maybe I will be able to sleep tonight now that I have almost caught up. 

July 16

For the last two weekends I have been having an absolute riot in downtown Salt Lake City.  I love love love being downtown.  I got asked to play for another show this time at the Off Broadway Theater on Main Street in downtown.  I'm playing for HMS Pinafore and absolutely loving it.  It has meant driving through yucky construction three times a week, but it has been worth it.  The last two Saturdays we've had rehearsals, and I have stayed after the rehearsals for a bit and really enjoyed myself.  Last Saturday they gave us free comp tickets to their current show Robyn Hood Boyz in the Hood.  Since I was already in SLC  I had three or four hours of downtime before the show.  I decided to stick around so I wouldn't have to drive home and drive back.  I went to Temple Square, a Japanese Obon Temple Festival, and the Gateway.  I had a great dinner and even went shopping for some new tennis shoes.  Later Eric and the boys met me and we went to the show.  Even though we didn't get home until nearly midnight, we had a great time.  I am soooo ready to sell my house, get rid of all my junk, and move into an apartment downtown.  Okay, not quite really, but maybe one day.  If I didn't have so much stuff, I really think I'd love living in a high rise loft apartment in the center of everything.  Maybe that is how Eric and I will retire.  Our dream house :)  And better yet....I wouldn've have to worry about killing every green and living thing in my yard. 

July 15

We had a fun primary quarterly water activity.  It was super cheap, and I think the kids had a lot of fun.  Kick ball and lots of other water games made it perfect on a hot hot day.  Since our whole family is in primary, we all got to go, and it made for a fun Saturday morning. 

July 14

So I haven't quite killed everything in my yard.  Perhaps I exaggerate a little.  We actually have had some success in our garden.  We have had lots and lots of peas and carrots and radishes.  The peppers and lettuce didn't make it, but at least we have had some success.  The peas have been delicious. 

July 13

I wanted to plant a circle of sunflowers and bamboo for the boys to have a little hideaway.  Those things are supposed to grow really fast and be really fun to watch for kids.  Neither of them ever grew, and instead I ended up with a big big patch of weeds.  So when life gives you weeds - what do you do?  Pull them and make room for a sandbox.  Our neighbors gave us this great sandbox, and although it isn't the hideout I had initially envisioned for my boys, it has provided a lot of fun hours of play.  One day I'll grow my hideout, though, just you watch!

July 12

I have such a special gift.  I've been blessed with a black thumb.  I can manage to kill just about anything and every living plant.  Here is the tree I planted.  Result? Dead.  My flowers? Dead.  My grass?  Brown.  Houseplants? Haven't even bothered in the last year.  Flower pots?  Dead.  Sunflowers?  Dead.  Bamboo?  Dead.  Half of these things never even grew before they died.  You can look forward to some more pictures of all my recent growing conquests in the near future.  The sad thing is that I really like to try to grow things, I just think I lack the patience to research and follow through with making sure they actually grow.  I lost interest, and things just end up dying.  One day I'm sure I'll learn to grow something!

July 11

These are from David, our budding photographer.  I think they are his first pictures.  So glad that I kept them on my camera for posterity's sake. 

July 10

This is the last I will post of my billion pictures of boys in hats.  This is as good as it gets. 

July 9

This is what happens when I try to get just one picture of the boys together.  I finally did get one or two shots with both their faces, but it only took a zillion tries. 

July 8

I wanted to take some pictures of the boys on the 4th of July in their funky hats.  You can see just how thrilled Cade was about that prospect.  While I waited to get my gems of pictures, I took a ton of my benches????  I do love my garage sale/dollar store outdoor pillows, though.

July 7

This is classic quality mom and Cade time.  I'm so glad my kids will be goofy with me!

July 6

Have you ever sat in the back seat of the car and put your feet all over the windows, and marveled at how funny it looks to have your feet be on top of the mountains or houses or trees?  Okay, I get really really really bored in the car.  This is what I did for a good half an hour on an hour long car ride.  I tried to take pictures of me walking on housetops......instead I just got my scary feet.  I think I might be a little odd. 

July 5

I went out to mow the lawn.....(AGAIN!)  We have been having to mow almost every 4 days, trying to keep the weeds from spreading.  This is what greeted me in the grass after I had taken three steps into the yard.  I found out I really don't like snakes.  I shrieked like a girl, ran in the house, and watched in horror as Eric picked it up with a shovel and threw it into the fields next to us.   Then, Cade went and found it so he could take a picture of it.  Snakes in my yard?  Yikes!

July 4

I think that I have amnesia.  I decided to pull a crazy akin to one that I pulled about a year ago.  I woke up July 3rd pretty early.  I had registered for a 5K in Salt Lake that was at the Capitol.  I ended up getting there pretty early (thanks insomnia.)  While I was waiting there were lots of people who were getting ready to load up for a Half Marathon.  So, crazy me got sick of waiting around.  I decided on a whim (for the second time) to run the Half Marathon instead.  So I went over to the desk paid another twenty bucks and hopped on the bus for The Freedom Half Marathon.  This is the second Half I have done without training.  Granted I do go to the gym most every day, but most all of it is cross training.  The last run I had done prior to this was a 5K the weekend before (Time - 27:02 my best ever! Wahoo!)  Before that.....it has been since September since I ran a race.  Most of the time I just go to spinning and do Body Combat and group gym classes. Most frequently I pop on an elliptical and read the newspaper and listen to my Pandora.  At any rate, I finished the race. My time was 2 hours 14 minutes and 3 seconds.  My last half was 2 hours 10 minutes.  I got the lovely experience of contracting runner's diarrhea along the way. It is so fun to run in more ways than one :)   I spent 4 and a half minutes in a cute little porta potty.  Multiple people were banging on the door telling me to hurry up, and finally they gave up and ran two miles to the next one.  Yeah, that part was not fun.  So if you subtract my bathroom time, I actually ran this race 30 seconds faster. Technically - it was slower.  I really don't care about the time, though.  I had a great time being outside listening to the radio and relishing that runner's high.  It was downhill for 6 miles (FUN!) It went through Emmigration Canyon, This is the Place Park, The Avenues, Red Butte Garden, and ended up at the Capitol.  What I was not prepared for was all of the miles of trail running.  LOTS of big steep uphills more like hiking than running.  I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one who had to walk up a lot of the steep parts.  I finished neck and neck at the end with a girl I sat in front of on the bus ride up.  That was kind of fun to actually race someone to the finish line - we had been playing tag for the last 6 some miles (after my potty stop.)  So the verdict?  Fun!  My calves hurt pretty bad for two or three days, but I recovered sooooo much better this time.  I also got to the end and felt energized not dead this time.  Don't know for sure what made the difference, but this race went a lot smoother and felt a lot easier to me.  Will I do it again?  Maybe.... who knows.  I still don't think I will ever train for one of these.  It is a fun experience to run for a long time every now and again, but I'm not sure you could convince me to train and do it for months on end in preparation. I enjoy a good 13.1 mile run every year or so, but I don't think I'd like one every month or so.  I think I might just stick to spur of the moment half marathon madness for now! 

July 3

We are the best parents ever.  We finally did fireworks with our own little family at our house for the first time ever.   We did a couple packs of sparklers and a couple of dollar fountains that were duds.  The boys had a blast.....looking at the moon and the big dipper.  They were more interested in the sky than the fireworks...but, after they decided that the sparklers weren't going to be too hot, they did end up enjoying the sparklers.