Nine Years Old!

You see this little girl? She is my baby. And she is turning nine years old tomorrow. I don't know how or when it happened. When she was born, I was 22 and Dan had just turned 23. We lived in a dark, wood-paneled basement apartment with a kitchen the size of a closet. I had been working for about 18 months and Dan was still in school. Dan had never changed a diaper in his life. We had not read every baby book on the market. We had not had long, intellectual discussions on our parenting philosophies. Taylor was the one that made us parents. So, being the first child, Taylor has been the one experimented upon. We have been hard on her. We have let her down. But always, always, always, we have loved her. She has taught us how to be parents, and we are continuing to learn as we go.

I adore my Taylor Bear. And it breaks my heart to seeing her growing up so fast. Almost every day is a new reminder that she is getting older and venturing further off into a world over which I have no control. There are boys giving her notes, girls who are catty at recess, problems that seem too big for her to solve, an already-present pressure to look a certain way.

But she will be wonderful, no doubt. She is nurturing, thoughtful, sensitive, competitive, daring, bright, fun, and simply sweet. I have every confidence that my Taylor is a superstar. She can and will do great things. I can't believe that half of her childhood is spent. In another nine years, she will be moving on. It breaks this mother's heart.

Kiddyisms

Last weekend, I was watching some Disney movie with Loryn and the couple ended up kissing at the end. She giggled and said, "I love this kind of thing!" This weekend, she and Taylor went swimming in the Duncan's pool with just the pool lights on and the overhead lights off. Loryn said, "Ooh. This is such romantic lighting!" Today, she was picking out a book to read and chose "Fox in Love" because "it has love in the title." Dear me, what am in for?

I adore Fisher's age right now. Sometimes I wish I could push the "pause" button. He is completely hilarious, adorable, and delightful. He has mastered the art of feminine flattery. Every day, he says something like "Mom, I love your hair. It's so byoofiful" or "Mom, your shirt looks super cute" or "Mom, you're a super awesome cool dude." He also loves to pray. And his prayers crack me up. I'll have to memorize one of them one day and recount it for you. And for months now, it is his nightly routine to ask for a popsicle in the morning. Not I love you, not good night, just "um, mom. Sometime I have a popsicle with you?" Every night. Every day at naptime. For three months. And he insists that I make up some new version of a fire truck song. I don't sing. I don't know any fire truck songs. So every night I make one up with different, stupider words, than the night before.

Fall is in the Air

Two weekends ago, our daddy was out of town for several days running the Red Rock Relay. Go daddy! I took the kids up to the canyon to check out the fall colors. We are so lucky to live minutes away from such scenery!

When Quincy has her hands on her hips, she means business. So stay out of the way!

We thought it was a great "find" to have spotted this fuzzy green catepillar in a tree we walked by.

Idaho!

This weekend we took a trip north for cousin Brigham's farewell. My kids were delighted to have a legitimate excuse to go visit Uncle Paul and Aunt Kathy's farm. We will miss Brigham, but he did a great job on his farewell talk and we know he will be a great missionary.

Above, Dan and the kids are standing in front of the conveyor belt that carries the potatoes and piles them up in the potato cellar. I wish you could see the ginormous, two-story pile of potatoes behind them, but it was a little dark.

I have fond memories of these potato cellars. My cousins and I would go up to the rafters and walk across the piles, trying to find ones in the shape of hearts or Mickey Mouse. Or we would simply throw them at each other. Or we would see who could run up the pile the furthest before slipping down. (probably not something potato consumers want to hear!)
That's a lot of spuds. (If you are a potato farmer, you call them spuds, not potatoes, by the way.)

Burgers Etc.

After a full morning of swimming in Auntie Kathy's indoor pool, we all needed refueling. I'm pretty sure that when you look up "greasy spoon" in the dictionary, there is a picture of Rupert's own Burgers Etc. This place is the epitome of a small town burger joint. It has saddle seats for Pete's sake, and that is the major draw for my children. Those and fry sauce. Note to self: every time I visit Rupert, I convince myself that we need to visit Burger's Etc. in the spirit of nostalgia and tradition. Reminder: The food is not good.

An Afternoon in Rupert

Before the excitement of the fire, the house got a little quiet while the little kids napped and the adults "watched" the BYU football game and "studied" for upcoming tests. I had to take a picture to prove that they were doing neither!

My girls got a little restless, so our beloved Auntie Megan sprung into action and volunteered to help the girls make purses. She rustled up some extra fabric from Aunt Kathy's endless supply and went to work. The girls' loved this little activity (especially since their mother doesn't sew) and the opportunity for some one on one time with Meggie.

The Fire

One of unexpected highlights of the Idaho trip was a huge brush fire just across the street from one of my Uncle Paul's fields. We were literally standing across the street from the flames watching the jack rabbits dart out of the fire, until we had the good sense to move back. Fisher thought it was "awesome" to see the crop dusters dropping flame retardant and the helicopters dropping water, not to mention all the fire trucks and firemen.

Potato Harvest

While my kids have been to Uncle Paul's potato farm a dozen times, they have never been during harvest season. We took them out to the fields to watch the potatoes being harvested and followed them through the whole process. We watched the "spuds" being loaded into trucks, taken to the cellar, and then to the produce. The girls got a kick out of the super tiny potatoes left behind. Fisher, of course, loved all the massive machinery.

Reality Check: See that picture of my kids with cousin Taylor standing in the field? I have the same picture of me as a kid with my cousins and Uncle Paul. Time flies! Another generation doing the same things in the same places.

Reality Check

I dedicated this blog to "keeping it real," telling the nitty gritty of being a mom that is far less than perfect. And I just realized that my latest posts paint a pretty rosy picture of life. It's true, I'm lucky and I'm blessed. So many of the things that have been all to real recently aren't really fodder for casual blog posts, but here are some the "reality checks" worth sharing.

* Loryn got a "red card" her first week of school for talking too much. She had to stay in from recess and called me at home to admit her infraction.

* I don't recall showering before 3:00, if at all, any day this week.

* Loryn told me my tummy looked like I was going to have another baby. And Fisher called it "squishy."

* My mom suffered a mini stroke and possibly a brain cyst/tumor, reminding us all that life could change in an instant.

* I sent my girls back to school only to get sick. They had hacking coughs, exhaustion, and fevers. They've already missed a couple days of school!

* A woman rang my doorbell as I was literally dripping wet and pulling on clothes after the shower. She INSISTED on "peeking" in at my house (because it's for sell). Dishes piled out of the sink and all over the counter. Popsicle melted on the floor. Cheerios stuck to the table. Cushions pulled off the couch for a fort. Clothes flung all over the entry. I didn't even let her see the rest of the house. I kid you not. I almost died of humiliation.

* I stayed out late (1:00am) with my high school friends only to realize that we're total lightweights and can't party(and by party, I mean chat into the wee hours) like we used to. I was completely dysfunctional the next day. And the conversation was even more of a reality check. Now, WE'RE the worried moms for a change. Friends are divorced. Others have died. Family members are struggling . . . lost jobs, lost spouses, diseases, prison sentences. Just a reminder that we're the adults now.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at either event to document the excitement because I'm afraid to take my camera around water. But this week, I took the younger kids to my friend Jamie's indoor pool with super steep slide and zip line. Fisher was so brave to zoom down the two story slide that still gives me butterflies!

And today we had Seven Peaks Waterpark almost completely to ourselves for two whole hours. We were able to go before the park opened and only had to share with a handful of other families. Our kids loved going on slides without waiting in lines and were running from ride to ride. So fun!

First Day of School

The girls started school on August 24th. Loryn started first grade and Taylor started fourth. And, in an instant, our world was turned upside down. It seems like we haven't had a moment to even catch our breath! Soccer four nights a week, friends from out of town, grandma's health troubles, church callings, homework, lessons, decisions to make, and sick kids have kept us on our toes. Talk about going from zero to sixty!

Fisher started a "co-op" preschool that I am doing with another mom. He was uber excited to start school like the girls. It's only two mornings a week, but it's just enough to whet his appetite for being a big kid.

And this is the reason we don't send Quincy to school.

Family Pictures

I am beyond delighted when family photos actually turn out. I was thrilled with the handful of shots we were able to get of my little family a few weeks ago.