Bugged...

I have some spyware on my home computer so I'm working from the laptop today! I've been working for a couple of days to get rid of it but to no avail. UURRRRGGGHH! But for now, the laptop is still working. It's older than the hills but dependable. The only problem is that we're missing quite a few keys from the keyboard. I don't have a 1 key, { key, or a ; key. We were missing an O key but we swapped out another key from a lesser important spot on the keyboard. Juliet likes to pick keys off the keyboard. But for now, I'm off to choir practice.

Diaper Land...

It's not as much fun as Disney Land, Lego Land, or Candy Land, believe you me. Maxine's the evil genius behind the whole 'land' concept. Diaper Land was the first in an ever-expanding series of lands. Maxine decided to throw ALL of the diapers out of the box and ran around laughing hysterically, "It's Diaper Land!!" As I stared at the diapers strewn about the room, I was less than amused. But Jacky has picked up her exploratative habits and has conquered exciting new worlds such as Sock Land and Flower Land. Juliet helps by establishing Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Land. All of which end in a big, fat mess. Merril tried to construct "Going to Bed Early Land" but was met with resistance.

Tuweep...Toroweap...whatever...

The Grand Canyon is one of Merril's favorite places to visit because no matter how vividly you remember it or how many pictures you take, it still doesn't compare to the real thing. We decided to go to the campground out by Tuweep Point. (Some of the signs spelled it Tuweep, others say Toroweap. Pretty much everyone pronounces it too-WEEP.) So anyway, the only way to get there is by 60 miles of dirt road. Unless you go the other way and then it's more like 95 miles of dirt road. It's at least an hour and half of bumping and sliding around and can take up to 3 hours, depending on which way you go. (It can take even longer if you get a flat tire. We brought 2 spare tires just to be sure. Merril's friend, Jared Hummel, once brought 4 spare tires and got 5 flats.)

Tuweep is remote so there are NO fences. It's fun yet very scary at the same time, especially with kids. So we had a little talk about no running around and if you want to get close to the edge, you HAVE to have an adult and be laying on your stomach because there's a sheer 3,000 foot cliff if you slip. It makes me tingle just thinking about it. Here's Maxine with her two cousins.

If you have an aversion to heights, I wouldn't recommend it. But we had a lot of fun!!

We had a great time camping because the weather was perfect! Sunny and mid-80s with just a teensy breeze! It was perfect!

Here's Jack, supremely happy because...well...that's just how he is.

Juliet liked playing with my phone but was a little on the grumpy side...that's just how she is.

And here's the cousins on the top of a sandstone mountain by our camp site. They were all very pleased to have conquered the mountain themselves. (They're all smiling at Grandma Campbell if you were wondering.)

Portraits for Maxine!

I love pictures of my kids! I've always thought that portrait studios are kind of a racket because they know you love your children and think they're the cutest kids in the world, and you're going to pay for it too. So it came time for school portraits and I was surprised that the prices were pretty reasonable and thought, "Oh well, at least it'll be done." So we picked out cute clothes and curled Maxine's hair and crossed our fingers. Maxine's smile looks a little forced but overall I'm pleased!! It's time to get Jack's done again too.

I just paid how much?

Gas prices have been coming down lately and I'm grateful because my Tahoe is a gas guzzler. I've made peace with my Tahoe and try not to think about how much gas is. However, I drove through my little town and noticed that gas is dropping a lot faster than in our nearby city, when usually they run about the same. So while all of my family and friends who live in the city are paying around $3.49 or so, I somehow nabbed gas for $3.19! That's a 30 cent savings per gallon! It almost feels like stealing somehow!!

And on a side note, Merril and I fasted and prayed and decided that Maxine should stay put in Kindergarten because she needs to grow up. And shout out to my sister who has started potty training her son!! (My son will be wearing diapers forever because I'm lazy.) :)

Marathon pictures...

I've been lazy about posting pictures from Merril's marathon, mostly because I didn't get a great one. Most are blurry or with a weird color so I think I'll just order from the race photographers. (They're seriously over priced but Merril will probably only run one of these things and I'd like to have at least one good picture.) So anyway, here's what I snapped from the race.

We picked a midway point to go and cheer. It was totally rainy on race day so the kids weren't real happy about that. Juliet was good for a while but got fussy.
Jack was pretty happy for about a half hour.

Maxine was kind of grumpy from the start and kept wondering where Daddy was. She really didn't want her picture taken! She was upset that her sign, which she'd spent hours making, was getting ruined in the rain. I'm sorry girlie! This melted into downright sobbing towards the end. Grandma did her best to keep the tears at bay.

After an hour of waiting, we were about to give up hope and figured we'd missed them. I was halfway to the car and talking to Merril's Dad when I spotted Merril and his brother, Jared. I had Juliet in my arms and RAN to try and snap a picture. I took one and then ran ahead to try and take another one. This is the best of the two but it's still blurry. (Merril's in the background in red and black, Jared is in the foreground in white and grey.) So I stood in the rain for an hour with my camera on and poised for the perfect shot and all I got was this. Oh well. So we packed it up and headed towards the finish line.

I dried pants and socks with the truck heater on the way into town. I stopped at a gas station for a hot chocolate and hot dogs for the kids. (Spirits were improving by now.) We drove to Merril's grandma's house and played around for about an hour and dried coats in the dryer. Then we headed to the finish line.

Merril's leg had started cramping up towards the end so Jared came in first.

Merril was a couple minutes behind Jared and was able to finish in just under 5 hours.

He's finally done.

It took forever to get through town and Merril said he wanted a burger and fries because he was starving! The burger joint was packed so by the time we pulled into the driveway, Merril had been sitting for about an hour and a half. He opened the door to get out of the truck and I said, "Hey wait! I'll come help you." He was like, "Oh, I think I'm good." Then he tried to swing his legs out and said, "I can't move."

After a shower and a nap, under 2 blankets because he was still cold, he was doing okay! He walked like Frankenstein for about 2 days but seemed pretty much back to normal after that. So there it is. I lament that there aren't clearer pictures but I'll take what I can get! Congratulations babe!

McSkippy...

I'm conflicted. Maxine's been lucky because the first grade teacher at her school invites Kindergarten readers into her class for reading time. Maxine loves to go in with the 1st graders and I was excited she'd have some challenging work. About 3 weeks ago, Maxine's Kindergarten teacher asked if we'd want to jump Maxine into 1st grade. I hesitated. I asked, "What does Maxine think?" She said that Maxine said she wanted to keep things how they were. Okay, subject dropped.

On Saturday, I ran into the 1st grade teacher Maxine reads with and she said, "We should really think about skipping Maxine into 1st grade now or jumping her straight into 2nd grade next year. She reads and writes better than my 1st graders." Again, I hesitated. She'll be so much younger than all the other 1st graders because they're turning 7 this year and she'll just be turning 6 next month. I'm not worried about her academically but it's the emotional/social aspect that I'm most worried about, and this decision would affect her entire k-12 school experience. Not a decision to be taken lightly. She won't get to date or get a driver's license until November of her Junior year in high school. Again, I asked Maxine whether she'd like to be with the 1st graders and she said, "Well, maybe after I turn 6." I kind of feel like she still acts like a Kindergartener, not a 1st grader. So I don't know.

If anyone has any opinions of the pros and cons of grade skipping, I'd love to hear about it. Don't hold back. Do you think she could handle first grade?

WWWOOOOOWWWW!!!

Merril ran the marathon today and the weather conditions were yucky! It rained on them for almost the entire race! Merril's estimate of around four hours was pushed back to about five. But he did it! He ran in the rain for 5 hours and I still can't believe it. We don't have the official times yet but we're hoping he came in under 5 hours. 4 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds would be wonderful! I don't know if I got a good picture yet so I'll do pictures later. (I'm going to ask family and friends if they snapped any good ones too.) Jared, his brother, ran the marathon too and came in a couple minutes ahead of Merril! They both did great and I'm glad he finished! He's even got the medal to prove it!




Later...Merril's official race time came in at 4 hours: 57 minutes: 58seconds so he barely made it under the 5 hour mark!! Great job babe!!

Lake FHE...

The weather was nice on Monday so we decided to go to the lake for Family Home Evening. Since it's October now, we're thinking it was our last lake day or one of the last. I think it's supposed to cool down next week. So here's one of the kids.

And one of us.

And then I wanted one of Juliet and me walking along the beach.

Merril kept the kids out of the shot for as long as possible. Finally, they couldn't resist.

And then we just laid around the beach for awhile. After about half an hour, a huge flock of big birds took off from across the cove. They flew in V formation and were nice looking white birds with black wing tips. Seagulls are common at the lake but these birds were different and seemed like the migratory sort. As they flew by, I said, "Those look like pelicans, don't they??" We watched their V formation fly to a muddy bump in the middle of the lake and settle in. As we left to go home, they were still resting there so decided to go have a closer look.

Sure enough, it was a flock of around 18 pelican birds. (Excuse the picture, I had the optical and digital zoom maxed out so it's grainy. The birds were jittery and this was as close and we could get.) Our lake is a nice migratory stop over for birds. When we come out in the late fall to go to the adjoining sand dunes, the lake is often covered with birds, but I've never seen pelicans before. It was groovy.

I've been busy working on my first patchwork quilt, something new and scary for me but lots of fun!

I also need to mention that our ward was re-organized on Sunday. We're part of the new ward that'll start going to the new church right by my house. We have the 9:00 slot and we'll be the first ward to the use the building, the Sunday after General Conference. At the meeting to divide the ward, the stake center was packed! The stake president got up to welcome everyone and said, "Our opening hymn will be 'I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go'..." and the whole congregation busted up laughing! Merril said that's the most spontaneous laughter he's ever heard in a meeting. We've been waiting for the changes for about a month and I think a lot of people were really worked up about it. I'll be missing some friends but our new ward will surely be just as wonderful.

AND, Merril will be running the marathon on Saturday!! If you're out on the route and see him (He'll be wearing red, of course) give him a big cheer!! I'll be posting pictures of his dead corpse Saturday afternoon.