Athena's Antics

momdot.com

2009-05-07T12:17:00.002-06:00

fun giveaways at momdot.com. A blog giveaway for every day of the month of May! Go check it out!

Ed and Beth Retire

2009-04-27T09:59:00.002-06:00

Ed and Beth Dayley, Athena's parents, have chosen to retire this year. They have both worked really hard, just recently for the Davis School District as Computer Specialists. Knowlton Elementary recently honored Beth for her service and I have posted some pictures. I'm really happy, mom and dad, for all the hard work you've put in to support us kids and teach us to work hard and have strong work ethics. I look forward to spending more time with you after your retirement.

Klondike 2009

2009-02-22T17:37:00.004-07:00

James and Dirk went on the winter Klondike campout this past weekend. They had lots of fun and had a grand adventure. They slept in snow caves (all 9 people that went on the campout). They built three really large snow caves (6 feet by 8 feet by 3 feet tall), so they couldn't stand up, but they even built tunnels to connect the caves. One picture is an air hole at the top of the snow cave, the other is a connector tunnel to the other cave, and the last picture is the entrance to one cave. They chose to camp near the entrance, using the snow from a snow plow for their caves. As they were packing up, some other scout troops took over their snow caves, calling them the most awesome caves they had seen. The kids competed in the competition, with orienteering, firestarting, etc. They didn't place in the competition, but they were some of the few that finished the comp. On the way back from the comp, they had to travel over the Causey dam (which had been walked on the whole weekend). James, following the people in front of him, managed to find the one weak spot in the lake and fell in. He screamed for help and they got him out after he got thoroughly soaked. Thank goodness we packed extra snow boots, extra snow pants, extra everything. One of the things they do at Klondike is ice rescue and the kids actually got to use it getting James out (actually a leader and some older scouts got him out). They said he did everything right and it was an actual path, but that the ice had weakened just enough to fall through. Aside from snow caves, the competition, the fall through the ice, getting sunburned from the sun on the snow (there was a ton of new snow - about 4 feet in the last week), there were no major incidents. Dirk and one of the other leaders took the scout sled down the side of the hill and tumbled over the sled and banged up his knee - shame on him for goofing off. They had a blast and would do it again. I'm just glad they survived and made it home.

Eagle Scout

2009-02-22T17:09:00.008-07:00

My fabulous son, James, received his Eagle Scout award. It was a great ceremony, with his grandfather, Ed, giving him his Eagle award. Jenni and Emma read a poem. Many members of the family took part in the ceremony and we were able to visit with many relatives and old friends. We are so proud of James and the work he did on his Eagle project, in scouting, and in his testimony in the gospel. He is small in stature, but large in spirit. He will go far in life with his dedication and determination.

Snow Cave

2009-02-22T16:56:00.003-07:00

So, we have recently had so much freakin' snow, the kids decided to make a snow cave. The began the cave under the trampoline so they could have a nice, dry opening. They then began to dig out the cave. Well, the cave is about three feet in diameter wide, and six feet deep. The snow is as high as the trampoline and pretty solid since it's where we throw the snow we shovel from the side of the house. So far it has been a week and the tunnel/cave still exists. It's been fun for them to have a secret hideout. Even if itis cold. I have, however, ruled out them sleeping in it for fear it collapses on them.

Fun with Sarah

2009-01-28T15:09:00.003-07:00

After Christmas, my niece Sarah came to Utah with her brother Joshua and her mom. We had a lot of fun visiting and Sarah was able to spend the night and go to Surf and Swim with us. Come back, Sarah, Emma misses you and so do we! They had their hands in their mouth all the time, wiggling their loose teeth. Nona loves to share stories with the girls.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-28T15:03:00.004-07:00

The kids were so cute. Right before bed, they wrote notes and left cookies and milk for Santa. James even made a Lego santa on his sled. James being the big kid he is, and wanting to make sure the girl believe in Santa, wrote a note from santa to the kids responding to their letters.

Christmas Day

2009-01-28T14:38:00.003-07:00

So Christmas this year was great! Diana came into town (and I didn't even get one picture of my sis, sorry). So we slept in a little (if you count 7:30am sleeping in). Got up and opened presents and then went to my parents for breakfast with my family. Then we stopped by the Dirk's parents house and visited with his parents. Christmas Eve we had a big family dinner with Dirk's family. Hot spaghetti which burns your mouth with how spicy it is - youch! The rest of the day we spent at home playing with toys. The kids seemed to be thrilled with what they got and played for hours with their toys. Dirk and I fell asleep early since we stayed up really late putting together a basketball hoop (with his brother Hank's help). No fights, no problems, a nice Christmas. The next day we spent with my family (me and my mom and sis shopped) and then we played games that night. Christmas night we got a huge snowstorm and had a very white Christmas. Brrr.

Christmas photo shoot

2009-01-28T14:30:00.005-07:00

Another tradition of ours is to take a picture in our matching Christmas outfits the Sunday before Christmas. Once, again, this year was no different. We set the camera on a tripod and used the timer to take the pictures. Emma just couldn't stay in place long enough and we got several pictures of her walking toward the camera to see the picture as the picture snapped. We all missed it one time. The first picture is of me setting up and Jenni playing the piano.

Decorating the Tree

2009-01-28T14:23:00.003-07:00

So every year on St. Nicholas eve, (December 5), we decorate the Christmas tree. It's a tradition of ours. St. Nick brings an ornament for the tree that night and puts it in the kids shoes that they leave outside their door (the Dutch tradition). The kids love it and we got to celebrate Christmas in our new home.

Christmas Concerts

2009-01-28T13:39:00.006-07:00

Jenni and James both had Christmas Concerts for their respective choirs. My kids just love singing. James had a solo and did great. Jenni was hidden in with all the kids, but had a blast.

2009-01-28T13:31:00.001-07:00

And here is James' photo shoot.

2009-01-28T13:25:00.001-07:00

And here is my little actress posing.

Jenni's photo shoot

2009-01-28T13:16:00.003-07:00

Here is Jenni's photo shoot.

A Fun Foto Shoot

2009-01-28T12:56:00.004-07:00

So before Christmas we had a photo shoot to get our Christmas pictures. We were very happy with the results. As we were waiting, the kids wanted to practice posing. So I pulled out my camera. Here are the ones from the studio. Then I'll do a post for each kid. Boy do I feel fat in these pictures.

It's raining leaves

2008-11-04T16:16:00.005-07:00

Our multiple trees are shedding their leaves. We had so many in the backyard that we had to dig a path from the garage to the house. We spent an afternoon raking and leafblowing and then playing in it. The kids put in under the tree swing and would jump off the swing into the leaf. What a fun fall activity. Next task - stick em in the tub and de-leaf them.

Halloween

2008-11-04T16:09:00.004-07:00

So this year for halloween we had a vampire queen, cheerleader, Belle, magician and a pirate. For the trunk or treat our ward did Emma was a cheerleader, but that night she was Belle from Beauty and the Beat. Jenni stayed a dead vampire queen (thanks Marc for the costume - it's gorgeous), and James was a magician for the carnival the honor society put on and a pirate for trick or treating. They whined a little when they got rained on, but the weather was fantastic otherwise and it only rained half the time. We got boatloads of candy and the kids are on rations (3-5 a day). ha ha - like that'll happen. Dirk stayed home to pass out candy - go figure.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-04T15:13:00.005-07:00

The Wednesday before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. Nona and Papa Dayley came over and we carved them all up. James made a Frankenstein, Emma made a moon with stars, Jenni made a vampire queen, and Nona and Papa made a skeleton head with a scar like papa's from his surgery. It was loads of fun and made loads of messes, but it was fun to just relax and have fun as a family. Dirk and Athena didn't make a pumpkin - we were too busy helping out the kidlets.

Choir Concert

2008-11-04T14:45:00.004-07:00

James is part of the Central Singers for Central Davis Junior High. That is the madrigals/honors type of choir. He has a lot of fun and really enjoys singing. At this past concert, between the central singers and regular choir, he had about 8 songs. One of my favorite songs was when the boys sang "Next to Lovin' I like fighting" from the musical Shenandoah. They also did a medley from Mama Mia the musical.

Flag Football

2008-11-04T14:43:00.003-07:00

James decided to play flag football in the church's intramural league. Their team went to the playoffs, but unfortunately, they lost. He had a lot of fun the six weeks he played. He realized how much he missed football in Virginia. One of these days we'll actually get to a college game with the kids so they can really see the fun of football. He's the short one with a white t-shirt and blue flags around his waist. Sorry it's grainy.

My creative side

2008-11-04T14:07:00.005-07:00

Well, with all else I have to do, I have been really loving making cards. I have a section in my house devoted to scrapbooking and card making. It is my solace in the crazy life we lead. I have recently been focusing on my Christmas cards since at that time I'll be in the middle of finals. So here's my showing off the cards I've made. The first card is Emma's party invitation. So leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite.

The road less traveled

2008-11-04T13:45:00.005-07:00

So we went back up to the cabin over the fall break at school. We thought it would be really cold and stocked up on the cold weather gear and it was actually very nice - about 60 degrees. We had a lot of fun. It was just me, Dirk and the kids. Gretta and Kyle came up and spent the night Friday night, but other than that it was very quiet and peaceful. We had a resident bald eagle across from the cabin. Nobody was really vacationing up there so we had the whole area to ourselves. We loved it. We went into Yellowstone on Saturday and then on Sunday we went home through the park. Normally we go back through Idaho to go home and it's about 4 hours. This time we wanted to go through Yellowstone, down through Jackson Hole, and back into Utah through back roads in Wyoming. It took us about 10 hours, but was a ton of fun. We saw things in Yellowstone we hadn't seen before (Moose Falls, Lewis Falls, a mountain goat up close, lots of elk and bison, and new and different geysers, etc.), We loved the drive through the Tetons (Athena reminisced about the time she hiked the Tetons (25 miles over the ridge in two days). We stopped at Jenny Lake and were amazed at the peaceful quietness of the lake. Then we went back roads through Wyoming. We passed over into Utah in the dark. Our trip over the Rockies was on a two-lane, pitch black, multiple switchbacks, 7-9% grade, 51 miles of no pull-outs, stores, gas stations, nothing. It was a little nervewracking to say the least. We were disappointed we weren't able to enjoy the scenery through this quaint area, but at that point, with fists clenched through the terrorific ride, we just wanted to get home. It was really nice taking the road less traveled and for once the kids never fought the whole ten hours. This is a trip to remember.

I lost my front tooth

2008-11-04T13:42:00.002-07:00

Emma has lost her third tooth. This time it was a top front tooth and it wiggled for 2 months. The last week it was barely hanging on, but she wouldn't let anybody pull it out. She couldn't eatch much with her front teeth because it was so loose, but finally I bribed her and we pulled it out together. She's been singing the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" ever since. Funny, it's been two weeks and no sign of another tooth coming in, so we may have that song come true.

A trip to the Pumpkin Farm

2008-11-04T13:30:00.003-07:00

So we decided to take the kids to the nearby pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkins, go on a hayride, enjoy the fun games, and go through the corn maze. There were three cornmazes and they were fairly difficult. One we got through without the map, the others we needed to use the map to get through. I'm glad we went through in the daytime, we would have been totally lost at night. It was a lot of fun and we got some great pumpkins.

National Junior Honor Society

2008-11-04T13:26:00.002-07:00

James was recently inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. A very nice thing for him - he's worked hard to be involved in school and church activities as well as keep high grades. They have already done many things including a halloween carnival for the women and children's shelter in town.

Emma's Party

2008-11-04T13:18:00.003-07:00

Since we had just moved into the house when Emma turned six, we waited until school started before we had her birthday party. She invited several girls and it was a dress-up tea party. All the girls came in their fancy clothes and they had a fancy tea party. Jenni was nice enough to help them all make fancy gem bracelets as well. It was a lot of fun and they loved posing as models at the end.

Kids Golfing

2008-11-04T13:01:00.005-07:00

So my kids have caught the bug for golfing just like their dad. Dirk will take them to the golf course driving range and let them hit buckets of balls. Gramps VanderMeyden got them all their own set of clubs, so they don't have to share. Me - I don't enjoy golfing - so I just take pictures and read while they do their thing. So here's their fun afternoons golfing.

Crazy hair day

2008-11-04T12:56:00.002-07:00

The junior high had a crazy hair day and James who had shaggy hair decided to go whole hog for it. He had us shave chunks of his hair off and then we spiked it all. We called him cancer boy at home, his hair was that awful looking. He did win the craziest hair in all of 8th grade, though, so he said it was worth it. We then buzzed his hair after that day so it all looks nice again.

Our House

2008-11-04T12:22:00.005-07:00

Well, at long last, we finally have finished the last room of the house and have cleaned the house well enough to take pictures of. So for all of you nosy nellies who like to see how everyone else lives - here it is. I'm kinda proud of it since I painted and decorated it all myself. It's an older house - my age - so it's got its bumps and bruises, but overall, we love it. So enjoy the pics. The pink room is Jenni's, the yellow is Emma's, and the green room is James'. Our house has three bedrooms upstairs with a living room, kitchen and dining room. Downstairs, we've got a huge family room with the pool table and computers and wii, a bedroom size pantry, separate room for the toys plus a really large separate laundry room with a full sink/cupboards, etc. Then we've got our room with an attached den for me to relax and scrapbook in. We've got three bathrooms. We've got a two car garage (we actually can fit both our cars in it and do), a separate shed in back, plus an extra large side driveway for an RV (or basketball court - whichever you prefer). Our backyard is fenced, with an apricot tree, three plum trees, three apple trees, a pear tree and about 5 pine trees. We're on the corner, so only one neighbor. We're very happy we found this gem - got a great price for it too - well below market price. I guess we'll stay.

Snow day

2008-11-04T10:24:00.003-07:00

In September we had a crazy crazy snow day. It was at the end of the month, but it snowed and snowed and the kids had a grand time playing in it. As I speak now in early November, it's snowing again. I wonder if this is going to be a snowy winter - any predictions?

I'm still here

2008-09-22T11:17:00.003-06:00

Okay, I'm still around. My life is crazy right now, as many of you know. When my kids went back to school, so did I. I'm currently taking three classes through BYU. Economics, Marketing, and Business Writing (yes, I'm getting my business degree - how could you tell?). When I finish this semester I will have 2, YES 2, classes and my thesis and I will be graduated. All my free time is currently taken up by studying. I occasionally check the blogs as a way of relaxing, but my posts may be a little up and down. What is fun is that I take the transit system to school. I have to give myself 1 1/2 hours to get there, but at least I'm not driving in the awful Salt Lake traffic. I drive 2 miles to the front runner station, take front runner (an elevated train - think the EL in Chicago) into Salt Lake City, then switch to the trax (an in-town electric train - like a trolley) to get to the Triad Center. It's nice because I can relax and not worry about driving in the winter with the snow and ice. The scary part is that one of my classes gets out at 10pm on Tuesdays, so I'm hanging out at a train station late at night - but there are lots of police around because of the homeless and drunks that are located in and around the Greyhound Station right next door. I guess I should buy me a tazer or can of mace, huh? I'm lucky because at least one other person in my class take the train home as well. The cost of commuting beats the cost of driving in about 6 weeks and my pass lasts all year so I don't have to buy one next semester. I'll try and get pictures to give you an idea of what I go through.

The agony and the ecstacy!

2008-08-28T11:19:00.006-06:00

So for my birthday I wanted two things. My laptop fixed and a grill. Well, my wonderful parents tried fixing my laptop over many hours and we thought it was fixed. It ran great for about 16 hours and then went kaput, so we are sending it out to be fixed and hopefully somehow, someway it will be repaired and I don't have to sit at James' computer and blog anymore. The second thing I wanted was a grill. I have been looking at grills all summer, coveting and dreaming about the grill I wanted. Finally the grill I wanted was on sale this week. It's normally
$300, and was marked down to $200. Still more than I could afford with my birthday money from Dirk and his parents. Then I earned some money from making some cards and I was finally up to $150. Still less than $200, but I decided to go to the store and try and talk the manager into letting me buy the floor model for less. Well, I get there yesterday morning and overnight they had dropped the price to $150!!!! Exactly what I had. The only model they had left was the floor model, so we loaded it into the car. I mean this is the grill of my dreams. Stainless steel, four burner, 52,000btu, side burner for corn on the cob, and cupboards out front. We loaded it into my van, I took it home and grabbed my neighbor to help me get it out of my van. We had had to tip in it to load it and as we were pulling it out, the lid (that heavy stainless steel beautiful lid), slammed on my wedding ring and dug the ring into my finger about 1/4 an inch. I ran inside and promptly passed out while rinsing it. Next thing I know, my neighbor is kneeling over me. Three stitches later, swollen and bruised knuckles, and great pain (yes I am a big baby), I am home again. I insisted that we grill last night to teach that grill who's the boss. So to sum up my great experience: grill - $150, Dr. visit - $25, taking the ring to jeweler (unknown - some of the ring bent and doesn't fit together anymore), eating hamburgers from the grill in my backyard with a family I love for my birthday - priceless.

It's a party, yah, yah, yah!!

2008-08-28T11:02:00.005-06:00

So it's official!! The kids are back in school!!!! They love it and so do I!! James started his 8th grade year at Central Davis Jr High, and Jenni is in 5th at King Elementary and Emma is in 1st also at King Elementary! James didn't have his schedule until two days before school because he had to try out for Central Singers (the elite choir) at the Jr High. He made it!! The teacher asked him to do some scales and match a pitch and said - you're in! As an 8th grader, this is a huge honor, it's mostly only for 9th graders. As it is, there are only 8 tenors. Anyway, I had to embarrass Jenni, she ran into her class before I could get her picture at school, so I had to knock on her door and take a picture in front of all her classmates (sorry Jenni - when you make junior high, I don't come in the school). Emma is officially all day now. What fun for me!!

As of right now, I am a stay at home mom with no kids at home - what oh what will I do? Oh, yeah, party, party, party. On my first day I got me a Subway sandwich and didn't have to share with anyone!! Then I rented a movie and watched it all the way through - without having to answer questions or be bothered by anyone!! Then I got on my computer and surfed the net, without having to let others on to 'play their games'. It was a glorious day. What rejuvenation to have some alone time (and yes, I was able to enjoy it because Friday we cleaned the house top to bottom, so all the work was done). But reality sets in now and I will be starting my classes on 9-2, so my days of luxury are over, I'll be studying when I'm not cleaning, volunteering, painting, and a myriad of other things. It was fun while it lasted and I'm sure I'll sneak in other pamper-mom days.

Happy Birthday Emma

2008-08-28T10:58:00.002-06:00

So last Saturday was Emma's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! She is getting a party in a few weeks (after we get to know some of the girls in her class). For her birthday dinner she chose Ham and peas and potatoes. My kind of girl. She got lots of fun things and had lots of fun on her special day.

I couldn't get the pony tail out mom

2008-08-28T10:50:00.002-06:00

So my youngest daughter Emma just loves hair. Last year she got a treat and went to the hairdressers where they shampooed her hair and cut and styled it and she loved it, so weeks after that, she had to "cut and style" her and her friend's hair. Oops big time. Much yelling and crying later and a full year of her hair growing out and we are beyond that mistake. I thought. She is always putting clips in her hair, putting it in pony tails, whatever, she loves to "pretty herself". So the day before the family reunion and she comes to me saying "mom, I couldn't get my pony tail out, so I cut it out." W W W H H H A A A T T T?!?!?!? It was perfect to braid, put curlers in, the bangs had finally grown out and she had to do this???? Many more tears ensued, mostly from me, but we did our best to fix it. It is not super pretty, but Emma has to live with it. Luckily our next door neighbor is a hair stylist and fixed it best she could. Needless to say, mom does her hair every day now for school. Ugh.

And the Wind blew

2008-08-28T10:40:00.002-06:00

So a few weeks ago, I told Dirk that we needed to get some firewood for our house. We've got two fireplaces and it would be a good idea to get some wood to stock up just in case we lose power and need to heat the house. Well, the East Winds must have been listening, because that night while we were watching a movie, the wind blew and we heard this loud noise. No big deal, we live near an Air Force Base and hear jets occasionally fly overhead. The next morning I looked in the backyard and 1/3 of one of our apple trees was lying on the ground. Luckily it fell south. If it had fallen east, it would have hit the house (the tree is about 25-30 feet high). Now we have some firewood. We went to work with the chainsaw and clippers and many moans and groans from the kids. But it is finally off the fence and lawn and we are no worse for wear.

The Queen!

2008-08-28T10:28:00.002-06:00

So, our little Emma is a little spoiled. She seems to get what she wants, or she whines for it until someone gives in and we are trying really hard to break her of it. So one day, I was fed up with her "I deserve this" attitude, I made a smart aleck comment that she is not a princess and she does not get everything handed to her on a silver platter. She looked me dead serious and said "Yes I am a princess, Aunt DD said we are yelated to kings and queens, so that makes me a princess". Thanks alot Diana. Now I had to explain that we were related through the history to the kings and queens back in the time of Robin Hood - not the current monarchy, although I guess that distantly we might be. So fast forward a month, and I made a sarcastic comment about someone (no names mentioned) having a specific chore and if they got that chore done on time, then I'm the Queen of England. And once again, Emma pops up and says "You're not the Queen of England mommy, you're just yelated to her"..........time elapses........then she says quietly "maybe".

Our family reunion

2008-08-28T09:57:00.003-06:00

So we went to Idaho for a family reunion. We were planning on going for just the day, but Ed and Beth surprised us with a hotel room for that evening, so we surprised the kids by spending the weekend up in Burley. The family reunion was a blast. We got to visit with cousins from Boise and relax at the family homestead in Oakley. My aunts and uncles did their own histories for the occasion and it was great to read about those who were still alive, not just those who had passed. One interesting thing from those histories was when my Uncle Carl mentioned how one of his favorite memories growing up was when his big brother Ed (my dad) let him drive his car and he couldn't even reach the pedals yet. What's funny is I remember my dad doing the same thing - letting me sit on his lap and steer the car as we drove home. It was such a priviledge. Now if you even think about doing that with your kids it's a danger and you could be ticketed and everybody would be horrified. I want to know if anybody else remembers driving as a young kid and your opinions on it.

So the reunion was great. I don't see my Dayley family very often because we all are scattered, but it all felt like no time had passed and we got along great. (Looking back - the last time we had done this, Jenni was a newborn - 10 years ago). Boy time flies. The kids loved the reunion, but also loved swimming in the hotel pool after the reunion and also the morning after. They swam from the time they got up until 30 minutes before we had to check out. I just loved the hot tub. So thanks Ed and Beth for that special treat!!!

On our way home, we stopped at Promontory Point - a historical site where the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific railroad met up a hundred or so years ago as they were building the road across the country. The two railroads met up Utah and they nailed a golden spike into the tracks to commemorate it. The golden spike is now in some museum, but the two trains that met that day are still there and we had a good time reliving the history of the Old West.

Where to start?

2008-08-19T20:29:00.002-06:00

Where to start after a month and a half? Well, the summer is almost gone. We've had an awesome one at that. We have gone up to the cabin three weeks this summer. The first trip Jenni had the biggest fish, the second trip Ed had the biggest fish and the third trip, Athena had the biggest fish. We saw more bears in Yellowstone. We haven't been to yellowstone yet without seeing at least one bear. This one was munching on the carcas of an elk. Unfortunately, we didn't get close enough for a good picture. We also went to Burley/Oakley Idaho for a family reunion (that's for another post). We moved into our house. We just have to put pictures on the walls. I tried to put the drapes up in the living room and failed miserably (in my defense, I was by myself, didn't have the right drill bit, the anchors were too small, and I wasn't feeling good). They went up and looked fine to me, but Dirk was unhappy with it and redid it all. We went swimming at Surf and Swim (a pool here in Layton that has real waves and no sand, yay!). Unfortunately, we all got sunburned, James worst of all - he got blisters on his shoulders and back and arms. OUch. Oh, James finally saved enough money to buy a Wii, um, yeah. Another fun post for that one. I think that about sums it all up. The summer flew by, but it was a great one. I'll try to post pictures soon as well. Oh, and yeah, my laptop died and our main computer also blew out big time. We bought the replacement part for our main computer, now at least we have one main computer. Now we just have to figure out how to live without my laptop.

Almost Done

2008-06-20T08:47:00.003-06:00

Whew! We are almost done with our house renovation. Just one more hallway and a stairwell to paint. One more light to put up and about 6 doorknobs to switch out. The bottom level needs to be shampoo'd and all the windows need to be washed inside and out, but then we will be done with the interior of the house. We are planning on moving in this next week. We've already gotten several kitchen boxes unpacked and are washing every dish in the dishwasher. Once we move in, we've got exterior renovations to do. I've never let my yard get as overgrown as it currently is. My every waking moment is either renovating or helping James with his Eagle Scout Project. But the end is near. I have nothing new to blog about since I have been doing nothing but the house. I promised to blog once a week, so here it is. Once we're moved in, we'll be going up to the cabin for another week - for us to unwind and celebrate the end.

Happy Birthday James

2008-06-08T22:12:00.002-06:00

Well, we now officially have a teenager in our house. Hopefully his attitude won't become that of a teen. James celebrated his 13th birthday last Thursday. We were up at the cabin, so we went to dinner to celebrate it and they brought him an ice cream with toppings - he was thrilled. It's a non-birthday party year for him, so he's going to take his friend Caleb miniature golfing as his special birthday activity. (The kids get birthday parties only on their even birthdays - 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. and a special activity with one friend and the family on the odd birthdays - 5, 7, 9, etc.) He got a jacket from Nonna and Papa, and money, a tie from grams and gramps, and money, money from Uncle Kyle, and money from mom and dad (and a bike he's been using for the last month). Can you see a trend here? All he wanted was money so he could save up to buy a Wii. He's less than $100 away from his goal and hopes to earn it all this summer by mowing lawns. I guess we're bad parents by not just buying him the wii, but Dirk said he had to earn it and he is saving and working for it, so it's teaching him some goals. His sisters have even said they will pitch in some of their money to help him pay for it, but I told them they could use their money to buy a game for it instead. So we'll see how long it actually takes him to actually earn the wii. He's currently working on his eagle scout project. He got the last signature he needed for it, so now he's going to be going to work on it. More info on that in a later blog. So Happy Birthday James!!!

Our latest Trip

2008-06-08T21:38:00.004-06:00

So this past week, Athena (me) and the kids (James, Jenni and Emma) went on our annual trek to the cabin. Dirk had to work and we have another trip planned up there in three weeks, so this was kind of a bonus trip. For those of you that don't know, we have a cabin in Island Park, Idaho about thirty minutes from Yellowstone National Park. Dirk's family owns it and we share it with his family. We've been going up for 16 years now and there are many fond memories. We usually fish, fish, hike, fish, kayak, fish, go into the park, fish, play games, and oh yeah, we fish. This year was a little different. There was still snow in places up at the cabin and the spring runoff made the river very high and extremely cold, so the kayaking was out of the question. It got to about 49 degrees high and was rainy off and on. So the weather made it a little uncomfortable to do too much outside. Still, we had a lot of fun (the warm stuff like kayaking and floating down the river will occur when we go back in July). We still fished a lot. At one point, I had a good sized fish on my line and it got away. Next thing I know, Jenni starts hollering that she had a fish and couldn't reel it in. So I get behind her and we reel it in. It's a cutthroat trout that measured 16 inches. Now we got lots of rainbow trout (more than 20), but this cutthroat had beautiful pink meat and was bigger than all the others. So, Jenni wins the fishing award for this trip. Mind you, Jenni and James have to bait, cast, and catch their own fish (James also has to gut his). Emma ends up getting all the ones I hook. They have gotten really good at it and I am hearing "can I go fishing with you?" or "when can we go, I know it's raining, but I have a raincoat". They love it as much as I do. On Wednesday, we went into Yellowstone National Park to enjoy and see the animals. For the fourth year in a row, we saw bears up close and personal. What a fun experience. Some of the animals we saw were: a grizzly bear and her cub, a black bear and her two cubs, a moose, a coyote, a herd of big horn sheep, a buffalo merging into the road in front of us, a herd of buffalo with their young, elk, and more elk, even some bull elk, pronghorn antelope, white tailed deer and other smaller animals, prairie dogs, and marmots and squirrels. James said this trip into Yellowstone would have been perfect if we had seen a wolf. I think it would have been perfect if I had remembered my purse. I got all the way into West Yellowstone and forgot my purse (and my gas light was on). So I had to call my dad (at 7am) and he gave me my gas card number over the phone and I was able to get gas, but I had no cash or cards to buy anything. Thankfully we packed lots of food for the trip - we just didn't buy anything. At the end of the day, my mom and dad met us in West Yellowstone for dinner at a great Mexican restaurant where we celebrated James' birthday and I got my purse back. One crazy thing was that it snowed on us while we were driving through the park. The snow was so high in places, it was higher than our car and it felt like we were driving through a tunnel. Other places in the park, the snow was gone - that tells you the difference in altitude in places throughout Yellowstone. The kids stopped at the Continental Divide and we saw the river from a lake literally go in two different directions (toward the Atlantic and Pacific oceans). Sorry for the long stories - we just had a lot of fun and I wanted to share all the fun stuff with you. More from the cabin when we go up in a few weeks. (Oh, the bald eagle was just sitting in the river outside the cabin - I was cooking breakfast and looked out the window and it was just sitting there - usually where the moose hangs out.)

"The Talk"

2008-06-08T21:27:00.002-06:00

I recently had to have "the talk" with James. It was the night he turned 13 and he asked me a very pointed question. Unfortunately, Dirk was not there to help me out since we were up at the cabin and he stayed home to work. So me and my dad had "the talk" with James. I think he understood most of what we were saying, he's mature enough to understand most of it. Once I told Dirk about "the talk", he admitted that he should have been there and said that he will have to have another "talk" with James to straighten him out since we have very different ideas. I mean, what do you say when your teenage son asks you "Mom, what's the difference between a democrat and a republican?" I am a republican and Dirk is a democrat and I had to handle "the talk" about politics all by myself. James is currently undecided about which party he supports. To be fair, I did try to give him the good points of both parties: republicans like guns and democrats like abortion; republicans like to urge people to work, democrats like to urge people to stay home and live off of those that work; republicans support those that fight for this country, democrats take $$ from those who fight for this country. No seriously, I tried to be as good as possible and show the good points of both parties. That's why he's undecided.

Our new house

2008-06-07T21:30:00.003-06:00

We finally did it!! We bought a house! It's been a while since we have been in our own home (and we're still not in it yet). But we closed on our house in May and are renovating it before moving in. I insisted after painting our house in VA, and then painting my parent's house here in Utah, that I will not be painting and living in a house again. It's bad enough to paint 3 houses in 1.5 years, but to live in it at the same time is awful. So my parent's are gracious enough to let us stay with them while we paint and remodel it. Hopefully we will be in for good the end of June. I don't have any before or after pictures, but I will put some of our work in progress in a few days (I keep forgetting to take a camera when I go to the house). So here's the scoop on the house. It's in Layton (for those not familiar with Utah, it's north of Salt Lake City. We are at the base of the Rocky Mountains - beautiful pictures from our front windows. It's 2400 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths. All the kids have their own rooms, thankfully. I even have my own scrapbook/craft room. Dirk also has his game room with the pool table and game systems. We've got a bunch of fruit trees in the back: apricot, apple, pear, possibly cherry, 3 plum trees. Yum. We've got a garage that's oversized, yay, plus a storage shed. There are two storage rooms in the basement, one for the kids toys and one for the rest of us. We even have a separate kitchen/mudroom/laundry downstairs. The house is a little old - same age as me - and needs some TLC, but we specifically chose an older home with lots of space rather than a newer home that's smaller. It's perfect for our family - we love the ward/church we go to. They are very friendly. There's room out back for the trampoline, and a basketball court on the side and it's all fenced in. We are all anxious to move in, but painting every door, closet, room, wall, cabinet, etc. is very time consuming. I'm always painting or cleaning, or prepping, but it will be worth it. That has consumed all my extra (what extra?) time. So bear with me as we finish up the house - my blogs will be far and few inbetween.

Jenni's birthday

2008-06-07T21:18:00.002-06:00

Okay, so this is not in the right order, Jenni's birthday was actually April 28, but because I am so behind, I figure I better post her birthday. She had a great day on her special day. She had a field trip (of course). For her Sunday dinner at grams and gramps, she chose breakfast for dinner - yum. She had a birthday party the next week. She wanted a beach party (since she was born in Florida - it was only fitting). So we had a friend make a triple layer cake of polly pockets going down a massive water slide. We had Hawaiian music and the girls all got leis and bracelets. They had a really fun relay type race similar to "Survivor" and the girls ended up doing it 4 times. We buried shells in the sand and let them dig for it. It was a great party - a lot of work to get ready - I even hand-made the cards, but it was a smashing success. Jenni was thrilled with all her presents and at 10, feels more and more like a teenager.

End of School

2008-06-07T20:46:00.004-06:00

This last month has been crazy with the end of school. Jenni and Emma both had programs at school and did fantastic! They love to sing and perform. I finally went with Jenni on a field trip. She had 18 field trips this school year. It seemed like she went every other week. 4th grade is Utah history, so they went to every place they could. I hadn't been on a field trip yet, so I finally agreed to go to Antelope Island (where there was a farm) with her. It was interactive - I taught how they made wagon spokes. It was fun. I also went with Emma on a field trip to the zoo. We had a lot of fun there, and saw lots of animals. The girls also had their final recital for gymnastics. They have learned so much this year. Jenni also had her piano recital and did a great job with her memorized piece. Kudos to her. She loves the piano. James had a great end of year as well. He finished up band as first chair in bass clarinet in intermediate choir. He worked hard, having started out in clarinet and then switching to bass clarinet half thru the year. Another fun thing for James was his grades. He earned straight A's the whole school year. He came close to an A- once, but pulled it out at the last minute. He also failed to let us know that in March he was selected as 7th grader of the month out of 200 7th graders. We only found out when they sent home his certificate in the mail. It would be like him to 'forget' something like that. He was the top mathlete in 7th grade and earned $25 as well as going to state for a competition. As room mother I have had a lot of work in both of the girls' classes with teacher appreciation and end of year parties. Thankfully the year is finally over. I have posted pictures for you all to see their fun end of year activities. It was exhausting the final month of school, and because of that, I have decided to pull all the kids out of summer activities and let them just have fun. They will still have church activities, but we are not doing anything else all summer - let them be kids!!!

Sorry

2008-06-02T17:51:00.002-06:00

Sorry everyone for not posting sooner. Lots of stuff has happened, I'll try to post more details later. Here's the highlights: we bought a house and are renovating it before moving in. Lots of hard work and hours put in and more to do. Schools out for the kids, yay - lots of end of year things for me to do with their classes as room mom. We are at our cabin in Island Park ID (near yellowstone) and I'm sitting outside a cafe typing this. We fished and read books and fished and played games and fished and did puzzles. Very relaxing - but going wifi-less is hard. More details later - thanks to my friends Laura and Jayme for guilting me into writing something. (love you guys).

A Democrat in Utah?

2008-03-27T12:04:00.002-06:00

What do you get when you put a democrat in Utah? A pretty lonely fellow. Dirk, my dear hubby, is a democrat. We live in a very republican party of Davis County. So, this past week, he went with his mom to the democratic caucus for our area. You can guess what happened. Six people showed up for his mom's precinct. In his precinct, Dirk was the ONLY ONE!! So not only does he get to be precinct chairman, he is now officially a DELEGATE and gets to vote in the democratic convention. So, where my vote as meager as it is can count, his will count much more because he is a real DELEGATE. Delegate by default is how I put it. He's happy though because ever since we got married, he has not had many opportunities to do politics, so this is his avenue to get back in to his college degree (political science).

Please help me choose

2008-03-16T19:33:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I have a card club that I am going to in two weeks and need to bring 15 of the same baby cards. I created two different cards and want your help in choosing which one to make 15 cards of. So fellow bloggers, jump in and give me your opinion. If you want to see me change anything, please let me know what you think would help it look better. Thanks a lot! (ps - I'm calling the first card 'peek a boo' and the second 'babies touch world with love')

3 good things

2008-03-16T19:24:00.002-06:00

Well, for my three good things:

1. Emma lost her 2nd tooth this week. She pulled it out all by herself. She was very motivated for the $$$ (who would have thought $1 was a lot, but to a 5 year old, she feels rich).

2. Jenni played "I Am a Child of God" in primary today on the piano and did a beautiful job. She's doing great in piano lessons and loves to practice.

3. James is feeling better and heading to the state math tournament on Tuesday representing his school (he was the top 7th grader in the whole school and won $25).

4. A bonus - Happy Birthday Beth (my mom). You are an awesome woman and I admire you for all you have taught me over the years. I love you!!

A downer - we put an offer on a house, but backed out because it just didn't feel right. So we are back to the start - looking for just the right house. Hopefully it will happen soon.

Sick weekend

2008-03-10T09:27:00.003-06:00

Okay, I have read all your blogs about kids getting sick and was so grateful that we missed it. It couldn't last forever and this weekend, we got it. Friday James came home from school and had a slight fever and went straight to sleep. Later that night he was running around claiming there were bugs all over him and whining that he couldn't sleep. Saturday he was coughing and just looking awful. I was at the store when he called me about something and I just got the feeling I needed to take him to the doctor, so I called and they closed in 5 minutes but would stay open till we got there. An hour later, he was diagnosed with influenza A as well as strep. Dirk gave him a blessing (thank goodness for the priesthood). The insurance wouldn't cover the $125 tamiflu meds but we did it anyway (they suggested the whole family get on it, but I couldn't stomach $500 on the chance we MIGHT get sick). I'm so glad I listened to that gut feeling (the spirit) and taken him in. By Saturday night his fever was 104.8 and he wouldn't budge, but just sleep. I made him take a cold shower and that lowered it to 104.3. It's very scary seeing your child so sick. All his medicine he threw up within an hour of taking it, so we never knew how much he got in. Some must have helped though because by that night his fever was down to 102.7, very reasonable considering. By Sunday he was doing much better and Monday morning he was bouncing on the walls and insisted on going to school (Mr. 4.0 perfect attendance would never miss school unless he was in the hospital). Now let's just pray that nobody else gets it.

I need advice

2008-03-04T12:46:00.003-07:00

Alright all you bloggers out there. I need your opinions and advice. Last year Dirk and I got three cell phones, one for me, one for Dirk and one for the kids since we didn't have a home phone. Now Dirk's job got him a blackberry phone and is paying for it, which frees up a phone. James, being in junior high, has been using the kid phone whenever he has to stay after school or has activities. We currently have a house phone. The question is...what do we do with Dirk's old phone? We can't disconnect it since our contract is until next January. It only costs us $10 a month since it's in a family plan. Jenni wants it really really bad and has taken to carrying it around with her, even though she never calls anyone. Emma likes taking pictures of everyone with the camera on it. I have a lot of trouble giving a 9/almost 10 year old her own cell phone. So I want your advice. Do we just let Jenni and Emma use the phone if they are going somewhere (gymnastics, friends, piano lessons, etc) or do we stick it on the shelf and never mess with it again? Speak up!! I want to hear your opinions.

Three Things

2008-02-21T16:51:00.004-07:00

I stole this from my sister. She does three good things that happen during the week. So not to let a good thing go (and honestly - it's easier to think of three bad things than three good things that usually happen to me) I'm going to try.

1. I got through James solo and ensemble in band. For the first time, James had a solo and ensemble thing with band and had to play on the bass clarinet in front of judges. Since all his other solos have had accompaniment with a CD, this one couldn't, so I was appointed his accompanist. UGH! I am not a great pianist and to play in front of a judge knowing my son's depending on me is hard. But I did it. I didn't make any mistakes, he did well on the bass clarinet and we all were happy. Whew. Hopefully I don't have to do that again for a while.

2. I got an A in my class. Well, I took my final last week in my Organizational Behavior class on leadership and got my grade back today. I got an A- in the class. I am really excited about this. The class wasn't hard, but really tedious and dull. I started my new class this week and so far so good. I'm done with the second chapter and I know I am going to be sufficiently challenged (it's advanced business writing and I'm realizing I've forgotten all the grammatical junk I learned 20 plus years ago). So wish me luck.

3. Um, um, not thinking of a third yet.
3. see, I told you, it's sometimes to think of three good things.
3. oh, yeah. I made dinner last night. We pulled out some trout that we had frozen and brought home from our latest cabin trek. I cooked it up. Then I made potato salad from scratch (not really my son says - I didn't grow the cucumbers, potatoes, onions and celery). I had my mom's special recipe she finally gave me (it's a secret - if I told you what was in it, I'd have to kill you). It was yummy. See, occassionally I cook for my family.

So there are my three things. Hopefully having a positive outlook on life will make me a better person. Don't worry, though, I'm human, and I still complain a lot and will post them on this blog.

2008-02-21T16:51:00.001-07:00

Happy V Day

2008-02-16T14:14:00.004-07:00

I hope everyone had a great valentines day. We definitely did. The kids had fun at school and at home. I made mailboxes and they have been sending secret notes to each other. We have done sugar cookies, cards and the whole kit and caboodle. The girls even had a valentine tea at school where they dressed up in their finest and had juice and cookies in a formal setting. James had a dance at school where he danced with two girls (of whom he had sent a candy heart to earlier in the day). Dirk sent me a huge bouquet of lilies and surprised me by having it delivered and I got up at 5:30am to clean off the snow from his car (yes - it snowed 4 inches overnight) and shoveled behind the cars so they could get out. Then I made him breakfast and a lunch for him to take to work. He was very surprised. I also made pink pancake hearts for the kids for breakfast. It has been a great day!

Torture

2008-02-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have a love hate relationship with an entity? Mine is college. I love to hate it. For twenty one years I have been playing this game. I went to BYU for three years, then my parents moved to Utah and over the summer I got a real job and dropped out. Two years later, my job sent me back to college part time. This time I went to the University of Utah. Then I married Dirk and got pregnant and dropped out. Then ten years later I find out that BYU will let me graduate from a distance (now we're in VA), so I re-enroll. To get me degree I have 15 classes to finish. Four years later (mind you I restarted this all with a 2 year old) I am down to my last 5 classes. I am taking my final in my business leadership class Thursday and ordered my next two classes today (Business writing and Marketing Management). Watch me stress as I am hoping to take two more classes by September. My goal is to graduate next spring. I hate taking classes and studying and writing papers. Yet I know I'll miss it. So I love to hate college. It's torture.

Snow

2008-02-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

That is all I can say. If I try to be positive, I'd be lying. This winter has been full of it. We have probably had at least 10 snowstorms hit so far and another one is hitting right now. December we saw 29 inches of snow. January 18 inches of snow and in February already, we have had 10 inches of snow. The weatherman said that we have had measureable snow every other day for the last 2 1/2 weeks. Ugh!!! Guess who does the shoveling? ME! It always seems to hit in the night and all morning when everybody else is at work or school, so I am out there shoveling by myself. I keep trying to remind myself that moisture is good for us, and the kids love it, but let it hit everywhere except my car and the driveway and sidewalks. Albeit a pain in the neck, my southern kids have loved it. There is a good hill in the backyard and they sled down it a lot (it's hard to get up right now since the snow is 1 1/2 feet deep they are trudging in). We need to borrow gramps' snowshoes. Jenni went on a field trip with school skiing. James' young men's combined activity next week is to go skiing. Only Emma will not have tried out the ski slopes this year. James wants to try snowboarding, having used a plastic one in the backyard, so we'll see. James went on his klondike campout two weeks ago and they camped on top of the snow (it was apparently very very deep in the mountains) and had to use snowshoes to get in to their campsite. He loved it, though, and said he wasn't cold too much. We have had enough snow to make a good sized snow cave if the kids ever finish it. I will post pictures soon of all this fun. So you Virginians and Floridians just think of us. Even in the hardest snowstorms of all, there is no snow day from school, the kids still trudge through the unplowed sidewalks to get to school (sometimes I'll drive them, but usually I make them walk). I miss the snow days. I miss never shoveling. I miss temperatures above 32 degrees and nights above 10 degrees. We should get to 42 degrees this weekend so I will rejoice by wearing a short sleeved shirt outside - it will be downright balmy.

So who is visiting my post?

2008-02-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone, here's your chance to let me know who is visiting my blog. So just leave me a comment, or just leave your name here, let me know who really cared enough to visit my blog. I'm hoping to get at least 10 comments on this posting, that way I know people care or don't care what is going on in our lives. Dirk bet me I'd have more than 10, so let's prove him right. Just leave your name or leave your name and a message. I'd love to hear from you all!

Why do I cave in?

2008-02-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did it. I am now officially (as if I never was before?) a cool mom to my girls and a sucker to everyone else. Saturday, I hauled out the old checkbook and took the girls to see Hannah Montana, the concert, at the movie theatres in 3-D. Wow were they excited. Emma sat at the edge of her seat the whole time and beebopped singing (very loudly) every lyric of almost every song. She was ecstatic. Jenni on the other hand sat there watching it all going "mom, make her stop", "mom, quit bopping your head, people are looking". "mom, movies are for watching, not participating in." (Has she never heard of the Rocky Horror Picture Shows?). As we left, she said to me: that was so awesome mom, thanks. See, I am a cool mom. The sucker part comes when you find out I spent $18 a ticket, yes a ticket, to see the show. Now I feel foolish and part of the rest of the world being drawn into the commercialism of disney. That said, would I do it again? Absolutely, because in a few years, when my girls are teens, I doubt I will ever be considered a cool mom again. The things we do for our egos and for our kids.

First blog ever

2008-01-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

So I finally caved. I now have a blog. Who knows how often I will post to it, but if it helps me postpone my laundry, studying or cooking, then it's good, right? I don't know if I'll ever have fun things to post, but I guess I'll try.