August 2012: Lake Tahoe

The first half of August 2012 was devoted to getting ready for, traveling to, and then finally getting to enjoy our summer family vacation. We were gone from home for almost two weeks in which time we drove 2220 miles throughout three states.  We began our adventuring with a drive up to G'pa & G'ma S's where we stayed for a few days.  For the first time ever, the drive that usually has taken us 11-12 hours only took us about 9.5 hours--SO nice!  While we were there we had fun visiting with extended family and preparing for the three-day S Family reunion in Tahoe.  

Once in Lake Tahoe we were joined by J-rod's two brothers and their families, J-rod's Grandma and Grandpa S, as well as his Grandma S.  The house Mom and Dad S rented out is located in the South Shore portion of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe and is called "The Party House".  Fortunately it was big enough to fit us all as there were 21 members of our family there! 

While in Tahoe Mom and Dad planned lots to keep us all busy and happy.  We spent a day at the beach at Zephyr Cove where the water is almost crystal clear. We rowed boats on the lake, had fun swimming and/or splashing in the lake and watching our kids enjoy their time with their cousins. M, Li'l J, and I were the only ones CRAZY enough to actually swim in the 70 degree water--but trust me, it was FABULOUS compared to the over 90 degree water we left back home in our pool!  

The rest of our time in Tahoe we enjoyed a great FHE/devotional given by J-rod's dad, celebrating my sister-in-law M's birthday, watching old home movies J-rod's brother N transferred over from VHS to DVD, cheering on all the little kids as they played a game of "Minute to Win It" hosted by J-rod's sister C, watching the Olympics every night as a family, playing in a family baseball game, archery with Grandpa, family portraits, and of course, lots of yummy food!

Minute-to-win-it

Happy, Happy Birthday Aunt M!

Family portraits--behind the scenes

(photo credit © Amy Hunter Photography)

Family portraits:

1. Everyone

2. Grandparents with 

their grandchildren and 

great-grand children

3. Dad and Mom S with

their grandchildren

4. Dad and M S with

children

5. Our little family

6. BJ & C's family

7. D & M's family

After our goodbyes from "The Party House", our little family travelled on down the road a bit to the California side of South Shore.  Here we stopped to picnic among the blue jays and yellow jackets, hike for a little bit (we were rewarded with some gorgeous scenery), and then finally, a swim at Kiva Beach.
  

Lunch time companions

Kiva Beach, South Lake Tahoe

After enjoying our time at Kiva Beach on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe, we called it a day and drove on to Sacramento.

July 2012

Our melted dishwasher!

Despite some mechanical hiccups July 2012 turned out to be a pretty good month, one where we felt really blessed.  At the end of my last entry I mentioned that our fairly young dishwasher died on us and that it went out in a great cloud of smoke. What we discovered is that the wiring to the heating element malfunctioned, overheated, sparked, and ultimately melted itself to the plastic casing on the underside of the dishwasher.  There was no repairing it, replacing it was our only alternative.  So we began July preparing to spend a big chunk of change on a new dishwasher.  As J-rod's only day off the first week of July was the 4th, we then planned to spend a good portion of that day at Lowe's picking out a new one.  Blessings were sent our way and by the middle of the afternoon on the 4th of July we had a "well-taken-care-of 2 year old 'upgraded'" dishwasher installed.  A family in our stake (who's daughter and son-in-law are in our ward) had recently replaced all of their kitchen appliances and were looking to find new homes for the ones they changed out.  As a result we were able to replace our old one for only $75.00!!!  Seriously blessed!

Not too long after replacing the dishwasher, on one of our extremely hot AZ afternoons my car overheated while C-sta and I were out running errands. For the second time in four months I had to have my car towed to the mechanic.  No fun!  J-rod and I thought my radiator had blown and again we prepared for a hefty bill.  Fortunately it turned out to be a cracked manifold that connected three hoses and it wasn't as costly as we had thought it would be.  Once again we are so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who watches out for us!

The rest of the 4th we enjoyed as a family by going to see "Brave", swimming, grilling up some yummy steaks, watching fireworks from across the country on t.v., sitting on our drive-way to watch the fireworks from the high school that sits behind our house, and then setting off some fireworks of our own on our street.  It was a fun day!

Having fun at swim lessons, town pool

Underwater in our pool.

When the kids finished up swim team and lessons mid-month we were finally able to devote some mornings to a favorite summer past-time that we all enjoy: sleeping in! : )

Swimming until the last possible second 

before the dust storm hit us!

A few days later, storm free pool fun.

Along with sleeping in we also attended summer-time movies (where we discovered a few new favorites), went swimming in our pool, worked on better organizing our house in preparation for the new school year, weathered some pretty crazy dust storms, and enjoyed watching our cute little Jeffery as he and Copper play and enjoy each other's company.  Apparently that last activity captivated a lot of our attention as I found that most of the pictures we took of this month were of the two of them. : )

First picture:

"You got something in your teeth Copper. 

Here, let me help you get it out".

Last picture:

"There, there. All better buddy?"

Best buds in the making!

Bishop's Night.

In the middle of month J-rod and I headed up for a half day and evening of fun at Girls Camp.  The theme this year was "I Know Who I Am" so the leaders incorporated a lot of owls into the decorations, t-shirts, crafts, etc.--it was super cute!  We really enjoyed being up there with the girls and the leaders.  The theme of the day was "What's in a name" so the after dinner program included a fun game an uplifting segment where each bishop shared stories from their personal history of either family members who they were named after or family members that honored their name.  It was so neat to hear all of this great stories and gave me cause to reflect on the great women I was named after and evaluate how I am doing on honoring them and the names I was given.  After the program we visited with our ward girls and leaders as we shared a strawberry cheese we brought for them as a surprise (a tradition Jared began when he was called as bishop) and then joined them for their testimony meeting.  It was so neat to hear the many sweet and growing testimonies shared that night.  

On a side note, it was also nice to note that we had our very one "Bear Grylls" (think of the show "Man vs. Wild") on hand as one of the priesthood members there for the night.  As the girls lined up to share their testimonies I heard one of them exclaim, "aw, don't hurt it!" followed by a very distinctive rattle.  Off to the side of where the girls were lining up, our "Bear Grylls" had quietly spotted, corralled, and was then ultimately able to dispose of a rattle snake that clearly had come way too close to where we had gathered for testimonies!  Afterwards he showed us the rattle and I have to say, that is the closest I EVER want to come to one of those!

Ward Pioneer Day activity.

A fun little photo shoot with C-sta.

At the end of July 2012, we spent a lot of time as a family watching as the Summer Olympics began in London. In light of the Olympic games I was asked, "what event would you like to compete in (you know, if your life was slightly different than how it is and you were a professional athlete). Second....make up an event that you would win the gold in." My answer was, "without a doubt, if things were different and I had the opportunity to compete in the Olympics I would LOVE to compete as a swimmer.  In high school I was a sprinter and enjoyed swimming all but the butterfly.  My favorites were the breaststroke, freestyle, and relay events.  I'd be happy to swim anything from a 50m to a 200m.  A made up event in which I think I could be a pretty fierce competitor for the gold would have to be the, "running into someone I know, no matter where on this planet I may go" event. " : )  Ha, ha!

June 2012

The first day of June is always J-rod's birthday. June 1st 2012 J-rod turned 35 years young.  We celebrated his birthday by attending the boys Spring piano recital.  For this recital M and Li'l J's piano teacher combined with another teacher and both teachers had each student play two pieces. M played "Canon in D" and "Musette in D Major" and Li'l J played "Reverently, Quietly" from the Primary Children's song book and "Dual of the Fates" from Star Wars.  After the recital we took J-rod out to dinner and the next day we had some friends over for swimming, sub sandwiches, and cheesecake.

M & Li'l J with their piano teacher D.H.

The next big event after J-rod's's birthday was our stake youth pioneer trek: 18 miles over rough terrain, wearing pioneer clothing, pulling a hand cart the whole way over 3 days.  J-rod was asked to go as a big brother and had a great experience.  A sister from our stake who is a professional photographer and her daughter, a professional videographer, traveled along side those on trek and documented the journey.  Later in August of 2012 there was a "trek reunion" fireside where a beautiful video was shown of the experience.  Each person who attended the trek received a DVD of the video and a disc containing thousands of pictures.

J-rod leaving for Trek. Mom S made his shirt and vest.

J-rod on the trail with his Trek family.

(photo credit © CjCarroll Photographs)

J-rod's Trek family.

(photo credit © CjCarroll Photographs)

The 6 Bishops in our Stake with our Stake Presidency:

(R-L) Bishop N; Bishop W; Bishop H; Bishop P; 

Bishop H; Bishop S (J-rod); Pres. K; Pres. B; Pres. G.

(photo credit © CjCarroll Photographs)

Our stake president asked J-rod if I'd be interested in going on the next trek in 2016 so J-rod and I can serve together as a "Ma and Pa".  One the one hand, I'd LOVE to go as I know it would be an amazing experience.  I've been hearing all about it since the last trek when I was pregnant with C-sta in 2008.  Since I was pregnant then, my going was not even a consideration.  This year I couldn't go because we didn't have anyone who our kids could stay with had I gone.  All the people we usually leave our kids with in this area when we go somewhere, were also on trek.  I'd also love to go next time around because M will be old enough to go and I think it would be fun to be there with him (though by that point in time, M may not want his parents around).  On the other hand, anyone that knows me well knows that 1. I CANNOT choke down oatmeal for breakfast and that is what they eat for breakfast each and every morning of trek.  2. The only ones on trek who have access to "porta-potties" are those who go as "back-up camp" (those who help set-up/take-down and cook throughout the week).  Again, those who know me well know that I have NEVER, not once, been able to...how do I put this delicately? Um, "squat" when needing to go potty.  For those two reasons alone I don't know how I'd do on trek (let along all the other challenges) and J-rod really wants me to go as a "Ma" and not as part of "back-up camp".  Hmm, we'll have to see what the decision is come Trek 2016.

While J-rod was away at trek, I had a local photographer come take some fun "lifestyle" pictures of the kids to surprise J-rod with for Father's Day.  This is a photographer that was offering a great deal to come take photographs in your home of the daily things you and your family enjoy doing.  I had her photograph the kids at our new piano and playing in the pool.  She delivered the cd of pics the afternoon J-rod got back from trek, the day before Father's Day.  It was fun to have these pictures taken and surprise J-rod with them.  

M.

(photo credit © Serene Images)

Li'l J.

(photo credit © Serene Images)

C-sta.

(photo credit © Serene Images)

Siblings.

(photo credit © Serene Images)

At the pool. I like this series so much, 

I can't decide between black & white or color!

(photo credit © Serene Images)

Father's Day the primary kids sang in Sacrament meeting as well as J-rod and I with the ward choir.  My favorite was when the primary kids sang their second song, "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" and the Bishopric sang with them.  At the end of Sacrament meeting the YW passed out homemade chocolate chip cookies to all the men in our ward.  When J-rod got home from church later that afternoon we had a yummy dinner, showed him the cd of the kids pictures, and called his dad.  It was a good day.

C-sta finished up ballet for the summer with a second recital.  Unfortunately when she went on stage and realized she was the only one in her age group there that afternoon and that her two teachers would dance with her, she just hung her head down and cried.  She later said she missed her "dancing girls" terribly.

She loves it when she gets to wear make-up!

Cute ballerina toes!

Such cuties!

J-rod and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary a few days early in Las Vegas.  Our kids spent two nights and two days with our friends the H family who we've been swapping with for anniversary celebrations for the last three years.  

On the way to Vegas.

Where we stayed.

J-rod and I stayed at our time share a couple blocks off the strip and then shuttled over and used the Vegas monorail to get around.  Though J-rod and I have driven through Vegas numerous times over the last thirteen years, this was the first time we'd been there together.  Neither of us had spent any time on the strip since high school--J-rod went a few times for state track competitions and I went once to Circus Circus on our way back from a camping trip in Utah with my family.  It was fun to see how things have grown and changed.  We enjoyed delicious meals at two different buffet's (which made coming home to my cooking feel a little...blah), walked through many of the different themed hotels, took lots of pictures of all the fun buildings, rode up to the top of the replica of the Eiffel Tower (which had some pretty amazing views of Las Vegas--it reminded me a bit of being at the top of the Empire State Building in New York), took in a clean comedy/magic show that was such fun, enjoyed the dinner show at the Excalibur--Tournament of Kings--and enjoyed the water/music show on the lake front of the Bellagio Hotel.  

Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino interior boulevard

Exterior of The Eiffel Tower Las Vegas

View from The Eiffel Tower Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Temple

Vegas selfie

On the strip

At night

The day we headed back home we met up with J-rod's brother D and his cute family in Henderson for a short visit--our nephew C had just celebrated his third birthday the day before so it was fun to deliver his present in person.  While we were away our kids and the H kids swam in two meets.  Bless D and K for taking all six kids with them!  

Happy to have Mom and Dad back home!

The following week we took our turn and got to have all three H kids over while D and K went away to celebrate their fourteenth wedding anniversary.  We too took all six kids to five hours worth of swim meets.  Good thing all six kids get along SO well, or we wouldn't even have attempted it!  

Li'l J and M

Friday night after we met D & K at the temple to return their kiddos to them and then J-rod and I attended our ward temple night.  We had the best attendance so far for a ward temple night, and then all from our ward who came for the session stayed after hours to help clean the temple for a couple of hours.  After our cleaning tasks were completed, the custodial crew treated us to some of the "behind-the scenes" of the Mesa Temple. What a neat night!

Next exciting thing on our list: the replacement of our 5 1/2 year young dishwasher asap!  One night during the last weekend of June 2012 as the dishwasher was beginning it's dry cycle, it began to smoke horribly!  Fortunately we were home when it happened and were able to turn it off right away.   We were prepared with the fire extinguisher when we opened it just in case there were flames--so glad there weren't any!  Bummer, we were hoping to make it quite another number of years with it.  Pictures and more details in my July 2012 entry.

May 2012

May 2012 was filled to the brim with activity—lots of the usual and lots of firsts too—and by the end I was a little worn out. I have a friend who says that we live an "active" life...too true. Better busy and active than not, I suppose.  I guess I’ll start with the big-ticket news items that began and ended the month for us.

First, I must ask, are you sitting down?  At the beginning of May we surprised even ourselves and got a...KITTEN!!! Super-duper adorable! Can you believe it??? Yes, you did read that correctly--we not only have a dog, but we now we also have a cat!  Have you recovered from your shock yet?  I'll give you a minute. Thought you'd never see the day?  Yeah, neither did we!  Ha, ha!  We brought Jeffery home with a very specific purpose in mind.

Part-way through 2011 our good neighbors moved and took their cats with them: an indoor hairless cat named Chowder that was so ugly, it made him endearing, and their black outdoor cat named Elvira that would keep the birds away from their house and ours.  On a side note, Elvira is the same cat the snuck into our house a couple years back one night as I was rushing Li'l J to the ER--good memories!  

Anyway with the cats gone, the birds (pigeons, doves, sparrows, black birds, etc) began to call our backyard home eating Copper's food and drinking his water. Copper would chase them away in the mornings but then in the afternoons when he naps, it's a free for all and our back deck, table, and chairs are covered in bird poop. I quickly grew tired of it all!

I tried only putting Copper's food outside for him at night, but all it did was make him grumpy and bark...A LOT. Seeing that his food bowl is full, even when he is full and isn't going to touch the food, is a comfort thing for Copper. When he has finished eating and his bowl is empty, Copper comes to the back door and barks incessantly until someone comes back out and refills it, only then will he quiet down. Funny dog!

J-rod's dad suggested putting Copper's food and water bowl in an enclosed area, thinking that would keep the birds away. So...we put the bowls in the doghouse Copper refuses to use. Doing that kept the pigeons, doves, and sparrows away, but not the big black birds. All it did for them was move the problem and make them LOUDER. The black birds would congregate in front of, above, and inside of the dog house squawking at each other as they fought over which one was going to go in next to get food. It was incredibly annoying!

So...my friend has a cat that was having kittens. This mama cat is a known hunter and was teaching her kittens to hunt too, so my friend suggested we take one of her kittens. The kids and I went to check them out when they were 5 weeks old and immediately FELL. IN. LOVE. with the one kitten that came right too me and snuggled up! Wait, what? Me??? But I'm not a cat person! Yes, yes, it's true. That kitten tugged on my heart strings and when it was 7 weeks old we brought it home and introduced it to Copper.

Our kitten is the SWEETEST little thing with only half a tail! He and Copper are best buds. They sleep together and both complain when we bring the kitten inside so it can eat. Copper barks and howls until we bring the kitten back out. We keep them separate during feeding times since J-rod's dad warned us that the kitten's food will upset Copper's tummy. Plus the kitten tries to eat Copper's food, which is too big for it and would probably not be good for him either. When we take the kitten back out, Copper picks him up like a mama cat, by the scruff of the neck and carries him around for a bit. It scared us at first, but he hasn't tried to hurt the kitten and he just wants to move him away from us to check it out and then lets it go. We keep a close eye on them when Copper is doing that just to be safe! I have given it a bath almost everyday because when Copper does that, it leaves the kitten coated in dog slobber and it ends up sporting a big Mohawk.

The kitten came to us as Jeffrey, but we think he might actually be a she so we are still trying to agree on a name everyone likes. J-rod and I like "Skittles"--skittish+little+kitten. Too bad the kids are not fans of that name! Li'l J wants to call it "Furry" because it is definitely one fluffy and furry little thing with all of its long hair. C-sta is still upset that we didn't bring home the other one that looks similar to ours that was named Lily. M suggested: Fur-mione (pronounced like Hermione from Harry Potter...of course).

J-rod has accepted that we have a kitten and loves that the rest of us are happy, but thinks that with our allergies that I'm CRAZY to have brought one home! To be fair, he just might be right. So far our allergies haven’t been any worse, so we’ll see.  Hopefully as our little addition to the family begins to grow, it will start to “earn its keep” and keep the birds away!

Isn't he darling???

At the end of May as J-rod and I were headed to the temple for a brother in our ward that was going through for his first time, we took a little detour. Every May the ASU Music Department teams up with the AZ Piano Co. to hold a sale of used pianos.  The school hosts the sale, the AZ Piano Co. brings in used and/or demo piano’s from it’s store, plus a few that have been used on campus by ASU and then donates some of the proceeds from the sale back to ASU to help the Music Department purchase new pianos.

We went with the same intention we always go with when looking at a big purchase: “just to look” and that is exactly what we told the salesman.  Ha, ha, famous last words!  J-rod had been researching baby grand pianos: makes, sizes, prices, etc. so he had an idea of what would work for us.  J-rod “test drove” a number of the available selection and noted that the prices were far below what we expected, so we asked the salesman for a few minutes while we discussed whether to wait a year (as originally planned) or go for it.  Decision made, we called the salesman back and totally made his day by signing on the dotted line, setting up delivery, and walking out about 20 minutes after we had walked in.  We were probably his easiest sale of the weekend!   Not that we could have spared more than the 20 minutes we spent there as we had a temple session to get to.

Baby Grand's first picture in our home. (Grainy cell phone pic).

So there you have the stories of how we ended up with two new additions to our family in the month of May.  We are thoroughly enjoying both of the new additions and have no regrets as to welcoming them into our home.

Now let’s see, what else went on in May?

C-ta danced in her first ballet recital the day before Mother’s Day.  All three little girls in her age group looked beautiful and performed very well!  They danced to “You Are My Sunshine”.  One of C-sta’s favorite parts of the day was getting to wear full “performance” make-up for the recital!

C-sta living her dream!

Mother’s Day was wonderful.  Since breakfast in bed wasn’t an option with early morning church, Li'l J made me my favorite sandwich as soon as we got home and served it to me with chips and string cheese while I lounged in J-rod’s recliner. It’s important to note that he did this all by himself. For dinner J-rod made yummy BBQ beef sandwiches.  Everyone showered me with great gifts!  The one that made me smile the most was Li'l J’s  “Top Ten Reasons Why I Love My Mom”, and the gift that surprised me the most was J-rod’s: a brand new sewing machine!  The nearly fifty-year-old machine we inherited when we got married (a family heirloom that belonged to J-rod’s mom from when she was a teenager until she passed away) finally quit working back in February, so it was time for a new one.  I was neither expecting one, nor one as nice as the one I received.  I am indeed blessed!  Now I just have to schedule a tutorial at Jo Ann’s Fabrics so I can learn how to use the modern model.

Mother's Day 2012

Both M and Li'l J participated in their school track meet and had a lot of fun doing so.

M at the shot put, with his teammates looking on.

Li'l J running like the wind with the baton.

M and friends. Ready, set, go!

M neck and neck with his buds J and I.

M and his friend J in the hurdles race.

Li'l J and friends.

After all the races, there was a fun relay for everyone to participate in.

Li'l J rocked the hula hoop!

Ribbons: Li'l J, friend J, M, friend I.

Mid-way through the month, preschool for C-sta ended for the year and she missed it like crazy once it was over.  Truthfully, so did I.  Once C-sta finished with preschool, the count down until the boys finished school began so C-sta could have someone to pal around with throughout the summer.

C-sta with her class and teacher Mrs. B.

With preschool over, what is a girl to do while she waits for her brothers to finish up with school? Why, spend a fun filled afternoon at Build-a-Bear with one of your besets friends of course!  B, one of C-sta's friends from preschool invited C-sta to go to Build-a-Bear with her to celebrate her birthday (and Zippy got to go along for the fun afternoon too).  This was C-sta's first experience at Build-a-Bear and she couldn't have been more excited to be there!

C-sta and B got matching bears. 

C-sta named her bear "Elizabear" 

(in honor of one of her favorite YW from our ward).  

By the middle of May, the swim season was in full swing with team practices for both M and Li'l J, as well as fun swim days with friends in our pool.

Time for a haircut? 

Both M and Li'l J performed in end year concerts and were recognized for their hard work and academic achievements at awards assemblies.

C-sta wanted to pose for a pic too!

Li'l J moves on to 2nd grade and was given

 "The Jolly Rancher" Award for his 'jolly' attitude.