Parentheticals

This week Mike did more and more homework in hopes of finishing the semester with good grades. He is finishing up one of this finals, which is a paper documenting a project that he has been building all semester. His other project is 80% done, and since it is all due midway through this upcoming week he just has to get it done. On Tuesday we all went to the Classic Fun Center to celebrate Timmy's Birthday. It was really his birthday a long time ago, but this was the first time that we could go, so we did it then. Timmy had a fun time. We went in the jungle part, the ball shooting part, the bounce houses, and lazer tag, and we also played carnival style games in order to win prizes. It was super hot in there because it was over 100 outside, but overall it was pretty fun. On Wednesday the kids were invited to a sleepover at the Plastows house. They all had a fun time, but Boo decided at about 9:00 to come back home and sleep with us. It is too bad, because she was sad that all her si...

The Fourth of July went well. The Plastows came to our house for a barbecue, and Amy brought an awesome collection of fireworks from Costco (Rea really hopes we can find the ones called "goddess fountains" next year). It didn't have Pop-Its or sparklers or tanks, so we bought those. We didn't find any Bestest Crackering Ballz this year, though. It rained a tiny bit and then was very windy, which is not great for fireworks in a drought, but we survived and didn't even light anything on fire. We had a lot of fun. No-one got hurt, and we got to bed at a reasonable hour. Timmy and Gideon both ordered more Bakugan on the internet. Both packages arrived on Saturday, and they have been enjoying them a lot. For those that don't know, Bakugan are ball shaped toys that transform using magnets and springs to become monsters and robots. They are pretty cool. Mike is getting closer and closer to the end of this semester of grad school. He only has one assignment left from ...

This week was the camp out. Mike stayed home and worked and did homework. He is having a hard time getting all of his homework done during the night, so sometimes he has to work during the day on it. It is disappointing to him, since he has been really enjoying having such a lot of family time. Still - he only has three more weeks in this semester, so he is looking forward to a small break. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sheila invite him over for dinner repeatedly, but he only ended up going over one time since he ended up going up to the campout on Thursday night. When Mike came up, we hiked around and looked for edibles. There were lots of strawberry plants and some raspberries and elderberries and sticky currants. We're thinking of going back in a month or so to see what's ripened; nothing was ripe this week. Alison and the kids had a great time at the campout, although they missed Mike a lot. They explored the campground and played in the stream and did crafts like friendship br...

Surprise! This week was supposed to be our campout - except it wasn't. It's next week. Alison is not 100% sure how this misunderstanding happened, but there you go. Camping next week. There will be a trade blanket at the campout, and Alison found a really cool craft for growing crystals on rocks and painting them. It was gorgeous in the person's blog, and she got really excited about doing it and taking it for trade fodder. Unfortunately, she forgot that she and crafts have an inimical relationship. They did not turn out so great. Mike is trying to do it better, so that hopefully the kids will have something to trade. We'll see how it goes. (Mike is now making monkey paws as a backup. Alison is very grateful.) Mike has been doing research into how to insure other people's stocks, otherwise known as options. He is pretty excited to try it out, since obviously the insurance company always wins. (Alison was a bit worried about our lack of actuarial tables, but it turns...

We had a family reunion this week! Monday we drove up to Flaming Gorge to meet Grandma Sheila and Papa Mike, the Plastows, the Strombergs, and the Andersons and spend a few days on the river. On the way, we stopped at the Dinosaur Quarry in Vernal and saw the dinosaur bones still embedded in the wall. It was very exciting for all the kids, especially Boo. It was hard for the kids to believe that this was exactly what it looks like when paleontologists dig up fossils, and that these were REAL FOSSILS. It was fun! We got to the motel fairly late Monday, so Tuesday morning we headed out to raft the river. The water was really low, so the rapids were very mild. Mike and I were in the "calm boat" with the Andersons, and we brought in any other kids who needed a break from the excitement (mostly Boo and Gideon). Everyone had a great time on the river! Wednesday we took the rafts and inner tubes to the lake and swam and floated and wandered the shore. Papa Mike and several of the ol...

This week felt busy - even if there was not much that went on during it. On Monday the kids played with Logan and Dustin all day long. They are loving being so close to family members. On Tuesday the kids went to ballet at the Dalyias house.  Wednesday evening we also mowed the grandparents lawn. The Plastow kids came and helped pick weeds and earned some otter pops. Dustin and Gideon helped pick weeds while Rea and Sara mowed the lawn. Brooklyn mostly hung around, but she did help to bring in the mail for the grandparents. Thursday morning Mike took the car in to get an inspection and oil change. Additionally it was surprisingly cold weather.  In the evening we went out to pick some mulberries. We got enough for a smoothie.  It was mulberry banana and ended up very sweet since we added nothing sour to it. On Friday the kids and Alison went to park day and Alison and Mike built a LEGO robot for our date night. Saturday, first thing in the morning we attended Star's b...

We had a barbecue on memorial day, and had the Plastows and Rogers over to visit us. We played Mike's new RPG, and the kids joined in as well. It went well. We also ate lots of desserts and had a watermelon as well. Amy found a doll house and offered it to our kids earlier on in the week. They have been enjoying the doll house a lot. Baby even tried to climb into it herself. On Thursday Mike took a half day off and went to the bishops storehouse and cleaned up the floors, stocked the shelves, and washed food bins. On Friday it was 100 degrees and Alison took the kids to wild flower park. They managed to have fun for hours despite the heat. The moms mostly stayed in the shade. At the park one kid brought a doll to hand down to Elizabeth, which Elizabeth liked a lot, but she decided that it needed hair, so she found orange chalk, gave it hair and then proudly told Alison that the doll had hair. Saturday we did our errands and then invited the Plastow kids over to play.  Logan showed ...