Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween, during the school hours, we had Dilbert, and a native American. When evening came around, Dilbert and the native American disappeared and were replaced by a Marching T-Wolf and Jack Sparrow who were joined by a member of the Claus family and a howler monkey. Jack Sparrow escaped before I could get his picture, but I caught him with his trick-or-treating accomplices when they stopped by for some play-doh!

Awesome Pre-School Project

Miles brought home the awesome-est project from school today. Evidently they've been singing "Eensy Weensy Spider" in school and today he brought home a visual aid for the song. Isn't it cool! They taped a bendy straw to the house for the waterspout and threaded a spider ring around the straw which keeps the spider attached, yet mobile. So simple, but so cool!

St. George Escape

This weekend we made a pilgrimage to St. George. The marching band season culminated in a pair of competitions at Dixie State and we went down to support Jonathan (even though we didn't really get to see him since he was busy with his band friends). We left at 5 a.m. Friday to get to St. George in time for my band duties- hydration! We "watered" the band then watched them perform at the Red Rocks Competition where they took second place and the best visuals caption award! Look who I saw in St. George! After the competition, I walked over to the bus to deliver the band their lunches (which I was up late Thursday night preparing) and the band serenaded me with a lovey and loud rendition of "Happy Birthday". Yes, Friday was my birthday and I am 40. I'm okay with that. After all, did you know that 40 isn't old.. for a tree! After the band was taken care of, Dan, Nolan, Miles, and I went to Snow Canyon State Park. It was beautiful. We had so much fun. First we had a picnic where Miles preferred climbing a fence over eating. Then we went to the Sand Dunes. So much fun! The sand was so soft. We played in the sand, wrote in the sand, slept in the sand, dumped sand on Nolan's hair (and that's when we discovered that the magical, soft sand doesn't brush off and we were covered in sand!). After the dunes, we went over to Jenny's canyon- a small slot canyon that was fun to play in. Then it was time to check in to the condo and clean up! We grabbed a quick dinner then went back to Dixie State so Nolan could see a few of the "big bands" compete. We spent Friday night putting together Saturday's lunch for the band.

Saturday started off early because the THS marching drew an ugly performance time for the BOA competition- 9 a.m. We had to be at Dixie State by 8 a.m. to hydrate the band. We watched their performance, delivered their lunches, then went back to the condo to get breakfast! After breakfast some of us dozed off (that's what happens when you are officially OLD!). We spent the afternoon at Zion National Park. We planned to walk the riverwalk which ends up at the end/beginning of the Narrows. Miles wasn't the most cooperative. He just wanted to throw rocks in the river. Dan abandoned the plan and took Miles to the river while I finished the walk with Nolan. I showed Nolan where he will finish his backpacking trip of the Narrows next summer, then we walked back to find Dan and Miles. Miles had thrown 118 rocks into the river before we found them (and threw at least 150 total rocks before we could get him to leave). Miles wasn't the only one throwing rocks... After Zion's, we stopped at Durango grill for dinner. Dan and I used to crave Durango burritos. We ate there regularly, until they went out of business in Orem (then we settled for Cafe Rio). We were so excited to eat at Durango! Well, I guess I'm truly a Cafe Rio convert as I wasn't impressed with my burrito. Bummer! After dinner, we went back to Dixie State to watch some of the BOA finalists perform (Nolan is a major marching band enthusiast). Jonathan was awesome and saved us seats in the band section. We saw several bands perform before Miles had a melt down and we needed to leave to get him to bed.

Sunday we leisurely got up, ate, packed up, and left. We stopped at Kolob Canyon, which is part of Zion's, on the way home. We got back mid-afternoon and I was greeted with a decorated house- not Halloween decorated, but birthday decorated. The fact that I am 40 has been announced to my neighborhood. I immediately blamed McKenzie for the decorations, I left a message on her phone that said she deserved to die and that, at the very least, I should never speak to her again, but I could be a big girl and forgive, and besides, her 40th birthday is still coming. McKenzie called me back a few hours later. She had nothing to do with the decorations, but she knew who did it! My lovely little sister Aly and her family drove up and made sure as many people as possible in the free world knew that I am 40. Good thing I'm comfortable with being 40, or else, or else, I don't know... she should just be glad I'm okay with it! So I called Aly (who I'd already talked to about the decorations and told her that I blamed McKenzie) and we laughed and laughed. She got me good! And the "40 isn't old... for a tree" poster that was on my front window was priceless.

I'm #2

Every night as Miles is getting ready for bed, I tell him what's happening the next day. Last night I told Miles that today was "play" and that he would get to "play with Mommy". Miles went ballistic and started in on a tantrum and yelled "No! School Bus! School Bus! School Bus!" I know where I stand.

Miles' School Record

The other day I logged into Skyward, the school district's grade/attendance/schedule/information center for students and parents. I was surprised to see Miles listed there next to his brothers. I started clicking on the links that corresponded with Miles to see what they said. My favorite is below. It's hard to read, but imagine it in table form. I love his "grade level". Miles is in -3 grade!

• Academic History

Entity	School Year	Grade Level	Class	Description	Department	Subject	Terms	Grade One	Grade Two	Grade Three
191	2012	-3	ZCPKA / PNa	SP ED Pre AM	SE		1 - 3

UEA 2011

The boys' fall break was last weekend. We had a busy and eventful, but pretty lame break.

Thursday, Nolan and I spent over 2 hours at the optometrist office. Nolan is getting contacts! My contacts haven't been feeling "good" in my eyes for a while so I went to have them checked. My eyes looked healthy. My ancient lenses looked good- just a little warped from cleaning them for years between my finger and thumb instead of in the palm of my hand. The eye doctor gave my lenses to a technician and told him to polish and reshape my lenses. Meanwhile, Nolan and I had an eye dilation party. The technician brought my lenses back in and the doctor asked me to put them in. I did. I couldn't see through my lenses though. It seemed like there was too much wetting solution between my eye and the contact. I blinked and blinked, but still couldn't see though my lenses. The doctor took a look and informed me that the prescription was wrong for my eyes. I don't get how, but somehow, the prescription was no longer correct (I think Mr. Technician messed things up royally). The contact lens prescription for my right eye was 5 corrections too strong, and the left lens was 10 corrections too strong. No wonder I couldn't see. I couldn't focus on anything printed on this card he handed me. He asked me if I had a headache, I said "no". He was surprised. Anyway, the bottom line was that I had to order new lenses. I took the old lenses out immediately, but my eyes were so "doinked" from the wrong prescription that I could not see clearly. We finished up the appointment and were waiting to pay our bill when a monster headache hit accompanied by intense nausea. I was dizzy and needed to sit down. I managed to pay our bill and walk outside the office. I realized I could not drive. Luckily, the optometrist office is next door to MegaDiamond, so I called Dan and explained what was happening and asked him to drive us home. He did. I felt awful. My eyes still could not focus correctly. That was adventure #1!

Adventure #2 started with Jonathan driving Dan back to work. Jonathan still had his permit so I had to go along for the ride so he could legally get back home. My eyes were starting to feel better and Jonathan asked if he could drive to Heber City. I agreed. We got to Heber and he wanted to continue on up to Park City. I agreed. then he wanted to drive down Parley's Canyon and on to Salt Lake. Fine. He navigated everything well. He handled the I-215 to I-15 exchange perfectly (which I think is the worst interchange in the state). Then he wanted to go over Suncrest to which I said "no". I'd had enough and wanted to go home. Besides, we needed to be sure that were back in time for Jonathan's 3:30 appointment at the DMV to get his DRIVER'S LICENSE! Jonathan is now a licensed driver. On the way back from the DMV, he dropped me off about 2 blocks from home so he could drive solo while I walked. Today he's supposed to be getting a parking permit from THS so he can start getting himself to and from school.

Adventure #3- On Friday, Jonathan got his wisdom teeth out. The lucky punk only had 2 wisdom teeth. They were on the top and coming in straight. Simple surgery compared to my 4 wisdom teethectomy that left me with swollen chipmunk cheeks. I watched Jonathan "go under" then waited for him in the waiting room. After the surgery was finished, Jonathan was wheeled out to the car. I helped him get in the car, buckled his seat belt, then told him, "Don't touch anything". We headed for home. As we were waiting to turn left at a light, Jonathan said, "Wow! Look at that yellow truck. Oh wait, it's not even there." Nice hallucination. The rest of the way home, Jonathan repeated over and over again "I am so loopy. I must be totally drunk." We got home, I assisted Jonathan to his bed. About an hour and a half later, I went to check on Jonathan. He was lying there groggily and asked how he got there. He had no recollection of anything that happened between the sedation and waking up in his bed. Jonathan has healed rapidly- no swelling, no stitches, no "real" pain pills, no need for antibiotics, no dietary restrictions. What a different experience compared to what I went through.

The rest of the UEA break was basically uneventful. Nolan did a Spanish project with a couple of guys; he spread mulch around the yard; he finished another merit badge. I did some pruning and made chili. Miles and Dan went for a bike ride in Provo Canyon. Jonathan took it easy until he could put off his homework no longer. Like I said, a busy, but lame UEA break.

What Comes Around, Goes Around

Years and years ago, I thought it was charming to teach Amy and Leslie little obnoxious things (because it was cute when they did/repeated them). I taught them things like "Where's your crack?" and "Where did you come from?" with the correct answer being "From under a rock!". My dad took me aside and basically said that while he appreciated me showing interest in my youngest sisters, I needed to refrain from teaching them "crap". Yes, I distinctly remember my dad using the word "crap." Yesterday, the teaching "crap" came full circle.

Miles has turned into a myna bird and attempts to repeat whatever he's asked to say. I tried out my favorite stand-by of "Can you say farfenugen (from the old VW commercials)?" Miles made an attempt to say that awesome word. Then Nolan took over... "Miles, can you say shut up?" To which Miles replied "shut up." Lovely. I repeated my dad's adage to Nolan. The subject was dropped. Last night Nolan came in to visit Miles as Miles was headed to bed. Nolan asked Miles, "Can you say I love you?" Miles replied with "Shut up, Nolan." Nolan tried again, "Miles, can you say I love you?" Miles again replied, "Shut up, Nolan". It was hard not to laugh too hard! I think Nolan has learned the power of teaching Miles new words!