Flowers

Here are just a few pictures I took of some of the gorgeous flowers from the last time we went to the gardens... I just wish the pictures could do justice to the beauty that surrounds you when you're there.

Silver Lake Reservoir

Well, today we went up to Silver Lake Reservoir. It's up American Fork Canyon, and its really beautiful, and a terrific place to hike and throw rocks! Here are some of the pictures from our trip. (Sorry I'm not writing more, but I want to get to bed!)

Farm Country

Well, yesterday we went with our wonderful friends Maryanne, Ellie and Tanner to Thanksgiving Point (the home of the Dinosaur Museum and the Gardens) to go to Farm Country. It's a really cool little place where you can feed farm animals and just run around.

They also have these cute little buildings for the kiddos to run around in. You can't really tell, but in the picture of Serayah & Ellie looking out of the windows of the "jail", Serayah's got the biggest, saddest pout going on... I guess she was trying to play the part!

Obviously, Serayah had to ride the ponies (She's since informed me that they're "Horses, not Ponies, Momma"). She was SO excited, as was her friend, Ellie. Cam... not so much. He rode for about 20 seconds... that was enough for him. Actually, Serayah got to ride twice, and decided that the little horses weren't her style, so as you can see from the picture, she went on a big horse. About 1/2 way through the ride (Honestly, it was the longest pony ride ever), she looked at me as she was going by and said "I want to go my myself, Mama". Huh? I wasn't holding her.. I didn't get it. She finally got it through that what she wanted was to have her horse unhooked, so she could go off riding in the field by herself.

Cam had a great time too... He really likes little Miss Tanner, and they loved being in the little buildings... I guess they felt pretty big. As you can tell from the last photo though, Cam wasn't too sure of that suspicious looking calf! Actually, I walked over and started petting it and it tried to eat my shorts, so maybe he knew something I didn't!!!

Here comes trouble

Well, as many of you know from my ramblings, Camden can be a force to be reckoned with.

Never on earth has there been a child with more determination to get into any and everything he knows he shouldn't.

A new addition to his arsenal is his new found ability to drag chairs from the dining room into the kitchen to have full access to all counter tops. I knew this... Why, oh why, did I think setting nice, vine-ripened tomatoes on the aforementioned counter was in any way a good idea?

I was on the phone with my friend Michelle yesterday when Serayah started freaking out. I turned around, gazed into the kitchen and was greeted to splattered tomatoes and juice all over the kitchen floor, with a little boy sitting in the midst of the destruction laughing like the deranged maniac that he is.

So that leads us to today. Once again... I should have known better. I know that I should never, ever leave a bathroom door open (I have no idea what I'm going to do when he figures out how to turn doorknobs). Toilet paper, soap, water + Camden without direct supervision is not a good combination. Somehow I'd forgotten to shut the door. I was picking up the living room, and heard a little shuffling noise. I realize he's in the bathroom, so I drop everything and run in. We've got a shelf-thing above the toilet with baskets of different stuff in them... Cam's standing on the toilet, realizes I'm there, quickly throws something back in a basket, turns, puts his hands behind his back, smiles angelically and says "Mama!"... (no, I am not making this up, and yes, he's not yet 2...).

Actually I was rather impressed... some of the mascara managed to end up on his eyelashes.

Splashin' Around

Well, yesterday after we got back from the gardens (and after Cam took a much needed nap!), we broke out the little pool for the first time this year.

Of course, Serayah's a little fish and couldn't wait to jump right in. I don't think there's anything she likes more (well, except "Curtables"... but that's another story). Cam...well... not so much. As you can see from the first photo, the prospect of splashing around in the pool wasn't such a great one for him. Finally, he sat down and was content to play with his ball. If the ball went out of his reach, well, then we had a problem. There was no way he was going to budge from his spot ('cause if he did, he might get an otherwise dry area of skin wet), so he'd yell at us until either Serayah or I would give it back. Oh well... I guess competitive swimming probably won't be his thing.

Cam was more than happy to get out, but Serayah stayed until the last drop was drained (and she's already been bombarding me with requests to pull it back out today!).

The Gardens

Yesterday, we decided to venture out to see the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was a beautiful day, and I figured this would be a great place to go with kids... they could run around to their hearts content.

What I didn't know was that the gardens (which are only around 12 miles from our house) would be so beautiful! It is the home to the largest man-made waterfall in North America (the photo doesn't do it justice), and a bunch of themed gardens. The Italian Garden (the photo of Art and Serayah going up the steps) was breathtaking. The Monet Garden (hence the waterlilies), and The Secret Garden (right out of the book... if you've ever read it), were especially fantastic too.

The best part: the brochure says "Oh, by the way... feel free to walk on the grass".

What's even better, they have a separate set of gardens just for kids... there's a Noah's Ark replica (a great water feature designed for children to play in), Caves, different rock formations... and that's just what we read about. I'm sure I'll be posting that adventure when we go there. We ran out of time yesterday, but I'm sure we'll be heading there soon!

Rapunzel

OK... Rapunzel might be pushing it a bit.

I feel pretty weird posting a solo picture of myself, but my hair hasn't been anywhere near this long in 13 years, so this is for all of you who keep wondering how long my hair has gotten. For those of you who don't know, I'm waiting for it to be long enough cut off the necessary 10 inches for a Locks of Love donation (The hair goes to make wigs for pediatric cancer patients).

I'm still the world's biggest wuss, and I tear up every time I have to fight through tangles. Art's not looking forward to me having short hair again, but he doesn't have to deal with washing and brushing a bunch of hair.... (Love you honey!)

Salon

Well, on Friday (after the Carnival), Serayah had her 1st appointment at a Salon to get a haircut. Serayah's stylist was the wonderful MaryAnne. Serayah wasn't too sure about the shampoo sink, or the hair-dryer (as you can see from the pictures), but she loved the experience. She's already informed me that she will need Miss MaryAnne to cut her hair in the future... I'm not good enough anymore!

Carnival

Well, our little town is celebrating "Pioneer Days" (We're on the actual Pony Express trail), and so we had a carnival in one of our parks in another part of town. Serayah and Cam were really excited to go. Art had flown out to his brother Kelly's wedding in California, so he wasn't able to make it with us, so that was a bummer, but Grandpa's here, so the kids had a whole lot of fun anyway.

First we went to "Old McDonald's" (Serayah's name for it) and had pancakes for breakfast. We ended up at the carnival right when it first opened for the day. This ROCKED. There were no lines, and we were always able to walk right up to any ride we wanted. Serayah and I did the Ferris Wheel (very fun) "We're really high in the sky, Momma!", the Scrambler (I remember it being a whole lot more fun when I was 16... but Serayah had a ball), then Cam and Serayah hit all the rides that were for Camden's height. They had SO much fun. We went down the giant slide time after time (the carny had just hit it with Orange Pledge, so not only was it fast, we came off of it with a light, citrus scent... BONUS!).

They really liked the Boat ride, but Cam wasn't pleased with the way someone was looking behind him (We're hoping that road-rage won't be a problem for him in later life)

What a terrific morning!

Graduation

Well... I know that children grow up, and this was inevitable, but the day came. Sniff... Yes, Serayah graduated from her 1st year of preschool!

Serayah insisted on wearing a "princess dress", so as you can see from the picture, she was a bit overdressed for the occasion, but she didn't care. It was a really cute little program, the kids from all classes (they were aged 3-6... Serayah was the youngest of all of them) all sang some songs, and were handed diplomas. During one of the songs, the kids were supposed to play air-guitar during the instrumental parts. Some of the boys were all over this. The girls... not so much. They basically stood and sang and didn't want any part of the theatrics. Well, there was one exception. There was this really cute little girl wearing glasses who was decked out in a blue pouffy dress who felt the need to lay down on her back for the air-guitar portion. Yep... you guessed it.

Later they broke out the huge water-slide. Once again our demure, shy little Serayah felt the need to compete with the boys. You'll notice her sliding down upside-down/head-first, then bouncing after jumping down from the top. "You think I can't do it 'cause I'm a girl??? Just watch this"... I think this may be Serayah's future motto. Lord help us if she ever gets an ATV.

Man vs. Dirt Bike

My dad got here yesterday afternoon, and after hanging out (and grandpa getting lots and lots of hugs and kisses☺) we were going to go out to dinner.

Art’s friend Dan called, and Art told me that he wanted to go over to Dan’s house because he was having problems w/ his dirt-bike, and he wanted to give his buddy and helping hand (what a terrific friend), then they might go out if they got it fixed and see if/how it was working.

This did not please me.

1. I was thinking this was awfully rude, seeing how my Dad had just gotten here (riding his Harley through rain/sleet for 2 days…which is another story, but he didn’t have any real problems…just cold hands and feet), and we were just about to walk out the door prior to the phone call.
2. I hate Art’s dirt-bike, and the time that gets put into it; either riding it, fixing it, cleaning it, looking for parts for it, daydreaming about tinkering with it, daydreaming about riding it…. The list goes on.
3. Dirt-bikes are my nemesis… Art’s relentless infatuation with bikes over the last decade has made me jaded… every time the word dirt-bike (in any context) gets mentioned by him, the Darth Vader / Storm Trooper theme starts playing in my head.

Anyhoo, he… being the smart guy that he is (and being married to me for 12+ years)… just looks at my Dad and says “Hey Terry, Summer thinks it would be rude for me to bail out on dinner to go and help my friend work on his dirt-bike”. Of course my Dad (being the laid-back, cool guy that he is) says “No problem… I don’t care” (which is totally true… as long as he’s got Serayah and Cam with him neither mine nor Art’s presence is really required). So off we go, and I leave Art with his “manly” pursuits of helping his friend work on his bike… Uh huh.

About 10 minutes after leaving (not really enough time to start digging into solving a mechanical problem, keep in mind) my cell phone rings with an unfamiliar Utah number….

Me: “Hello?”
Art: (Sounding giddy) “Hey… Where are you?”
Me: (Confused by the call) “Where are you?”
Art: (Really Happy) “Where are you?”
Me: (Really confused.. and still driving the car) “Why… Where are you???”
Art: (Gibberish)
Me: (Kinda more annoyed than when we left) “We’re on our way to dinner” (Duh)
Art: (Still Giddy) “Where are you?”
Me: (Rather ticked) “WE’RE DRIVING ON OUR WAY TO DINNER…. WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW???”
Art: (More weird background noise)
Me: “Have you been drinking?” (and those of you who know him, know that he doesn’t drink)
Art: (Giggle) “No” (Shuffling Noise)
Dan: (Sounding like a guy from Minnesota) “Hey”
Me: (Seriously Confused) “Why is Art calling me wanting to know where I’m at?”
Dan: “He doesn’t usually call you wanting to know where you’re at?”
Me: (Thinking his friend is an idiot) “No.”
Dan: “Oh. We’ll talk to him and make sure he does that more in the future”
Me: (What???) “Is everything OK?”
Dan: “Yeah.. Everything’s fine… I guess we’ll talk to you later… Bye”
Me: “Uh… Bye”.

I relay the conversation to my Dad… who’s been looking at me strangely hearing my side of the conversation. My Dad asks if he hit his head. I say no… of course not. (I’m thinking that maybe he knew that I was ticked and was trying to feel me out for true anger or not… not really his usual approach, but he’s surrounded by testosterone, so who knows?)

Then, my phone rings again… same number.

Me: (Joking) “Did you hit your head or something?”
Chris: (The other… and most together… guy with them) “Uh… well he’s not really hurt, but Art’s having some problems remembering some stuff… He doesn’t know how he got here and he’s acting kind of funny”
Me: (Heart falling to the bottom of my stomach, and trying to figure out if I can do a U-turn during rush hour) “Umm… What Happened?????”Chris: (with Art in the background yelling “I’m fine… go to dinner!!) “We’re not sure… he was behind us”
Me: (Finding a spot to turn around) “Can you please get him home so I can take him to the Dr.?” Art: (in the background) “This is stupid… I’m fine… Go to Dinner!!!” (Right.)

To make a longer story short, there had been an incident involving him, and excessive rate of speed, a cattle guard, a fence-post and a barbed-wire fence (which miraculously didn’t cause any real damage.)… I’d give you more details, but Art still doesn’t really remember what exactly happened.

I took him to urgent care, and because he was wearing his helmet, he doesn’t have a concussion (apparently short-term memory loss isn’t uncommon with a bonk on the head), his hipbone bruised a big muscle internally (he’s still limping), his shoulder (what apparently took the brunt of the fall) is really sore, and he got some “bumps and bruises”. The doctor’s main comment: “I’m giving you a prescription for the pain… which will be worse tomorrow… It’ll say take 1 or 2… Go home and take 2.”

All in all he was really lucky. (See the post below for the picture of his thigh, which he tells me, “doesn’t bug me at all… my hip is kinda sore, but its my shoulder that hurts the most”.
Fantastic… that bruise doesn’t hurt in comparison… but he’s just “fine”!!!

After all this, he was ticked that I put the kibash on his plans to go riding in the morning.
You might think that he really did get a concussion with that brilliant course of thinking, but sadly, this is just typical Art… and is par for the course.

I guess the moral of the story is that bailing on dinner plans last minute to go play with your friends will not end well… and to always wear a helmet.

The Aftermath

Fun at the Park

.....................................................................

Hey all...

This will just be a quickie, but I took the kiddos to the park today for a fun "picnic". We went with our neighbors, and the kids had a ton of fun. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pics of all the kiddos together so you could see the beautiful Ricks children (they couldn't stay very long), but here are some of Serayah and Cam. I swear, Serayah's going to be a rock-climber or something! If she sees some other kiddo do something, she's bound and determined to give it a go too. Oh, and if I didn't mention it an earlier blog, Cam said his first sentence. "Want my Daddy!". Figures, huh?

☺

Interesting information

I was tagged by my friend here in Utah, MaryAnne (wife, mother, marathoner, hairstylist extraordinaire) Here's some stuff you may (or may not) know about me!


10 years ago

Ten years ago I was working in a dental lab in Oakland, Oregon. I'd been married for a couple of years, and we were living in Winston and had 2 dogs, Jordan and Chloe.


5 years ago

I was still working at Novellus. I was commuting from Portland to Phoenix ever other week. Art and I were thinking that maybe it was finally time to start thinking about starting a family.


5 months ago

That would be December.. Lets see... Art and I had celebrated our 12 year anniversary, and my Dad was here for the holidays. :)


5 things on my to do list (today)

Take the kiddos (w/ some other bunchkins and mommies) down to the park for a snack-picnic
Laundry
Sweep/Mop floor
Marinate some chicken to throw on the BBQ
Get to bed before midnight


5 things on my to do list (my life)

Have my children grow up to be relatively normal, productive, moral adults
Visit Ireland
See New Zealand
Renew our wedding vows on a fabulous beach
Go skydiving


5 snacks I enjoy

Wheat Thins
Yogurt
Grapes
Popcorn
Crunchy Cheetos (yummm!)


5 things to do if I were a billionaire

Get a 1956 Ford Thunderbird
Have a beautiful home back in Oregon (and one on the Oregon Beach, too!)
Teach my children about different cultures, then take them to the corresponding countries.
Buy Art a helicopter (after he'd become a licensed pilot... (it's one of his dreams)).
Have a maid come in twice a week (Yeah... I know I'm a terrible housekeeper!)


5 bad habits

in love with shoes
no willpower
I don't keep my house picked up
I'm a huge procrastinator
I don't always have the most tact or diplomacy (I do try though!)


5 jobs I have had

Waitress at the Rose Cafe' (yeah... that was a winner) Roseburg
Chief Cheezers Pizza assistant manager (The title was only so I could look better on future applications... Thanks Herm and Sherry!) Roseburg
Commercial Voice Girl for KTBR Roseburg
Crown Works Dental Lab Oakland, OR
New Product Development tech for Novellus Systems, Tualatin OR



5 things people don't know about me

I have a tattoo
I wrote a song that was copyrighted in high school
I dream of doing voice-over work for Disney
I love early 90's rap
I hate hate hate licorice

5 people I tag, (but I'd love an email from any of you about this!)

Sheila
Michelle
Faith
Christy
Shalynne

Earrings

Well, the other day we were walking through the mall, and I decided to go ahead and let Serayah get her ears pierced. She's been saying she wants earrings, & I told her she'd have to wait until she got older, but I just decided that she could go ahead and get them done now.

Being the mean (smart?) mommy that I am, I never actually let her know that it would hurt, so she was pretty caught off guard when the actual piercing happened. All in all, it went well (there were 2 ladies piercing her, so it would be done all at once). She cried for a few seconds, but then she spotted the mirror.... All tears dried up instantly. From that moment on, there was never a mirror passed without Serayah stopping to twist and turn and proclaim herself beautiful. You can't really tell from the picture, but the earrings are little pink star-shaped crystals.

Also, I'm posting a picture that Art took of the 2 of us the other day.