Reflections Poem

Anna entered the school's Reflections contest with the following poem:

How I Broke My Leg

I went to the mailbox one day,
To see what my birthday cards say,
A car hit me instead, and me in an ambulance fled.
To a hospital it went,
And my leg bone was bent!



She was invited to a luncheon for participants where she was given an Award of Merit.
Her first "real" trophy, she's was so excited.

'Liza turns 6

Eliza's birthday was on a Saturday - Conference Saturday actually, I guess that's what happens when your birthday is in early October.
We opened presents early in the morning, she got some replacement parts for her bike, a ukulele book, a reading book, some wooden ninja dolls and....Roller Skates. She actually went with me to pick them out a week earlier and was extremely anxious to finally get them.
She spent the morning trying them out.

For a "party" we had Girls Night Out at the provo rec pool with Gramma and the Oliphant girls. It was lots of fun. We had dinner and cake afterward with the men, which was unfortunately pretty late.

Eliza is growing up too fast. She loves kindergarten and riding her bike, she is just few brave minutes away from ditching her training wheels. She wants to play with friends every second of every day. Every morning we work together practicing gymnastics and yoga, she is mastering those hand stands.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Calvin's preschool had a Teddy Bear Picnic last week, where all the kids could bring their favorite stuffed animal for the day. Calvin isn't a big stuffed animal kid (despite the adorable and perfectly executed Hobbes Tiger that I made for him), so he initially wasn't going to take anything. Then the girls convinced him to take his Chompy, based on the chain chomps from Mario's adventures, here it is in stuffed animal form:
















So that is what Calvin took to the Teddy Bear Picnic at preschool. His teacher was very accepting.

Second Place!

Anna had a little karate tournament - emphasis on little - She competed against 4 other girls with white or yellow belts (I think it was coincidental that they were all girls). They were tested on how well they memorized a form, which is a rote set of movements they learned in class, and their kickboxing skills.

I did take video but can't find it and can't move it into blogger. She was very cute.

She got 2nd place in both categories! She was so excited about it and loves to show off her ribbons so I thought I'd handle telling the internet so she didn't have to worry about that.

Good job Anna!

Paragliding to Infinity and Beyond

I went paragliding in July - I was waiting for the company to send me the video we took, but I think that may never come -
My siblings gave me this opportunity for my birthday, to check off my bucket list! So nice.



It was pretty awesome, flying through the air - like a roller coaster! In order to climb higher though, you go around and around in circles and you get tossed around without much control. This led to me getting quite nauseous and cutting my trip short after we got up level with the point of the mountain. My nice pilot tucked our chute ends in and we descended quickly. I did vomit, but not until after I was on solid ground. It was neat though.

Thad and John came with me, that's Thad in the green parachute - I think.

Thad, upon landing.

I was most impressed with the community of fliers up at the flight park, everyone seemed to know everyone else, willing to lend a hand with takeoff's and landings and very friendly. Very nice.

Growing Up Way Too Fast

Calvin turned 4! We had a fun-filled day to celebrate

Day before, opening presents at Grammas with cousins, he got some great puzzles and superhero gear and Red Sox socks

We left early to get to Kangaroo Zoo - his favorite bouncing place. This boy loves to bounce.

Itty bitty chimp cones from Macey's, we ended up getting lunch there too, but Calvin kept trying to run away and get lost.

He wanted a pumpkin pie instead of cake - so that's what he got! 

We got him some new train and car tracks, Gramma Lynne sent a 3 Little Pigs play set.

Happy birthday Calvin! You are growing up so fast, you are so fun to play with and talk to. We love you!

Hamilton Party!

Ben is super into Hamilton these days so we decided to throw him a Hamilton birthday party! 

Anna and Eliza decorated some pumpkins for the porch- (yes we have pumpkins ripe in August) - they are very into it too, and we're excited to party

For dinner we had HAM-BURRgers

You'll never be Satisfries

Theodosia Salad

Lieutenant Kernels (corn on the cob)

I'm not throwing away my Jell-O shots 

This hat was passed around

This rockstar delicious cake made by Beetle - Anna and Eliza freehand iced the star/guy

DUELLING!!! Ben got shot like 3 times for some reason.

Singalong time! Russell accompanied us on the piano as we struggled through the lyrics

We finished up with fireworks. 

It was so fun - Hamilton is the best. Happy Birthday Ben

Kwitcherbellyakin 2016

Family reunion times started earlier this month as soon as The Francisco posse rolled into town. We love spending time with them when they come and stay in the summer.

They slept over and came to church with us twice while they were here. Taking 9 kids to church isn't exactly a cake walk, but we managed and learned and persevered.

This baby conference was so adorable on the kitchen floor. The conference agenda was all about nap times and how to get parents to value them during the upcoming reunion. (Julia wasn't there, but they took her needs into account)

Day 1 of the official reunion started with the kids 1 mile run.

Everybody finished with a smile!

Then some of the adults ran a 5K - I ran and enjoyed it, best run in recent memory.

Then we spent the afternoon at South Fork. And an outdoor movie/sleep out at Grampa's

Day 2- headed up to the lot to run chainsaws for 3 hours ⛰🌲🙉 

Becca managed a nap in my new baby carrier

Calvin managed a S'more in his hair and on his face and his shirt

Day 3- we went to a local pond for swimming and picnic then back to HQ for Carnival night! We had a bounce house and face painting and photo booth and more!

One of the booths was driving nails into this wood for one of Jethro's art projects. These two loved it the most

At the end of the night it was time to say goodbye to the Francisco's and get some sleep. It was so much fun, thanks to the Oliphants for planning it all

Deck Watch

And now for an overly detailed, long description of how we built a new deck.

Dad was the head honcho on this job, Jan, Thad and I were apprentices. 

This is where we started, sure it looks fine, but in reality I haven't stepped on the right half of the deck for a year- 

-Because of what was (or wasn't) supporting it. During demo, three of us fell through the spongy rotten under deck, but there were no injuries.

We cleaned it out and built the framework.

Then got the decking and railing.

And now all stained and finished, it looks great, it's super sturdy, and just what I envisioned. We still need to work on the landscaping before we can check this one of my summer to-do list.

Update: here is the final product, loads of black bark, a few pavers, and pretty plants make it look so good! Thanks Dad!

Ninja Anna

Anna started taking karate in January, but of course with a broken leg we had a 3 month intermission, so she just barely advanced to a new belt - yellow! This pic was at the belt promotion ceremony where she was showing us her flying side kicks.

She's ready to move up to the next level and get ready to do black belt training. Not sure if I am ready for that commitment though.

High Ropes Course

 

I'm finally tall enough to do the ropes course at the Curiosity Museum, so we went this week to try it out. First there was a bridge with far apart and crooked pieces of wood that I had to walk across.  It was easyish-hard. Then there were two parallel ropes and a grid going up and I did that twice. There were tons of different courses and at each platform I could choose from several different ones. There was one with ropes on either side, and steps that you had to walk up and down. There was a guide rope that the leader said to put on your shoulder to make it easier. There was a course I didn't go on, it was a shaky beam that you walk across. Another one I didn't go on was like lily pads on poles that you had to go from one to another.

It was a scary and fun experience. I would do it again. Everyone should try it.

-Anna Gaines