Guest Post

We've returned from a great visit to Utah.  We had a great time with family and friends.  I'll post some pictures soon.  While there we had dinner with two couples that we lived near in downtown Salt Lake.  There is always fun to be had with that group.  It made me think of a post Joe wrote that made me laugh so hard my abs were sore for a week.  Maybe it's the fact that I know the players in this little comedy that made it so funny to me.  Hope you get a laugh as you visualise what Joe is writing about.  Here you go:

I have been told this is the stuff of legends. I suppose it could be. Families sitting around the dinner table years from now will look back to smirk and guffaw; and were I totally innocent of doing the same, I might cringe. But alas, I myself still get a chuckle at long ago instances of fast meeting testimony singers and too-detailed health updates and travelogues. So here you go, all those that missed the actual incident. Jest away (everybody else in church did)!

So there I was....I remember it as though it was yesterday. Probably because it was yesterday. It was the end of a fine sacrament meeting and Denny was playing the organ for the congregation. We have been trying to get Emma to settle down a bit in church, so I sat near the front with her. Denny joined us in between hymns. After the last speaker finished, Denny went up front to play the last tune, ol' number 35, "For the Strength of the Hills."
The first three verses went as expected. In fact, if Felicia D. Hermans had stopped writing at three verses, I wouldn't be telling this sad yet fascinating tale. Where was I? Oh yeah, Emma started walking slowly to the front. I was thinking "she won't go up to the stand." I flashed her the sign for "candy" as she glanced back, and she quickly returned. She took off again, having broken the proverbial "up on the stand" barrier and went directly to Denny, who now had her attention divided. As Emma climbed up on the bench, two things happened. The world slowed waaaaaay down, and Denny looked down and asked me to come up and get Emma.

I took off for the stand, ducking under poor Sister Gurr who was leading. As I went around the back of the organ, I stepped down on Denny's organ bag, slipped, and nearly went down like a sack of hammers. Them organ bags is slippery. By this time, any hope of surprising Emma was out the stain-glassed window, and she latched on to Denny's neck like Crusher Kowalski doing a full-nelson on a weaker foe (weren't they all weaker?).

In retrospect, I should have taken my chances with letting her stay on Denny's lap. Instead, I grabbed on and pulled, expecting her grip to give. It didn't. Must have been a fine sight. I'm told that those who were asleep or missed church are still kicking themselves. Denny's glasses were totally askew, and her hair was across her face. I had Emma around the waist, and she was hanging on to Denny's neck for all she was worth. A bizarre sight by any measure, much like a scene from Dante's "Tag team match from hell."

I finally got Emma free after nearly pulling Denny off of the bench. To her credit, and to the amazement of the whole congregation, she never missed a beat! Great work. Eye of the tiger. Battle zone organing.

Some poor soul had to then come up and give the final prayer amid the laughs. Emma then jumped down like nothing happened, and scurried into nursery.

There you have it. Use it. Share it. Change the names if you wish or quote verbatim. It's all true. My only hope is that it quickly fades from everybody's memory, or that something even more bizarre happens in church to somebody else. Fat chance. Ok then.

I Will Never Be the Mom Who...

I will never be the Mom who tells her kids they can't play in a summer rain storm.  It's goes against everything I am for a puddle to go un-jumped in.  Isn't there a law somewhere that kids should be allowed to play in rain puddles?  If I, clean freak that I am, think it's a good idea, it should be the right of every child.  No matter how old they are.

I love the drops hanging from his ears.

Watching him play made me think of the first time he played in the rain.  I can't believe he's grown up so much.

Sometimes I Can Be Really Thick

On Saturday I opened the door to a sweet note and gift.  I didn't think anything of it because it came from the RS President and that's the kind of thing she does.  When I checked my email a few minutes later there was the nicest email from some friends.  I did wonder what made them send such a note, but again, it wasn't out of character for them.  Then another friend shows up with flowers.  She said she brought them early so I could enjoy them before we leave town.  Again, a very plausible story, don't you think?  I still wasn't clued in that a conspiracy was in the works.

When the third person shows up at my door bearing birthday greetings I FINALLY catch on.  I decide that my decision to not take a shower that day would need to be rethought.  (I was recovering from a migraine from the day before and had planned on doing nothing but sitting and moaning).  I manage to shower and clean the front room before the next set of friends arrive.

Well, Dear Friends, you made turning fmghth not so bad.  Let's just say that my third decade of life didn't have the most stellar celebrations and I had declared, to a certain someone, that I was hoping to just let the next decade slide by.  Well, she didn't listen and I'm glad she didn't.  It was fun to be on the receiving end of a fun conspiracy and try to wiggle hints out of people as to who pulled it off.  (Here's a helpful hint, if you make people believe that you're in the know they reveal a lot).  :-)

Here is a sample of the birthdays I had in the past decade:
*Telling friends that I thought it would be fun to bike Solitude only to find out too late that the trail doesn't follow the nice meandering cat track.  I walked my bike the whole way down.  Can you say embarrassing?  Just what I wanted to do.  Go for a walk with my bike. On my birthday.
*Arriving in Ithaca for grad school 2 days before my birthday with no one knowing me or I them.  Yay, fun day!
*Spending the next birthday in Ithaca while Roland was doing his internship in Oregon.  Once again no one seemed to know and I'm not the kind to tell. 
*Being somewhere in Canada during our 6 week Canadian Odyssey.  This trip is where I camped myself out.  I honestly don't even know where we where.  Maybe, Prince Edward Island?
*Moving to the DC area then needing to spend 2 months in Utah to help settle Pappy's estate and get things in order.  The first holidays without a loved one just aren't fun.  By the time I got back to DC I didn't know many people.  Although, Roland had been set up with a nice lady for the ward's small dinner group.  I'm sure she would have helped celebrate if we'd asked her.

There were a some good birthday's mixed in, so it wasn't a total wash.  There have been a few years that we've been in one place long enough to have friends to help celebrate.  And, Roland did arrange a surprise party for me in 2005.  He would have pulled it off too if the restuarant I wanted to go to would have taken reservations.  Since it didn't he made plans for the place the "Bush family frequents".  I figured out he had something planned when I asked for the third time to go where I wanted and he said no.  Dead give away.  Not giving the birthday girl what she askes for.

So, wonderful people who helped to celebrate me, THANK YOU!  I think this decade is off to a great start!

5 Minutes = 2 Hours

We took our semi-annual trip to the pick your own orchard last week.  We filled the car up to the brim with friends and headed out.  Peaches are always a big hit and we also came home with a hand full of blackberries, even though we were in the patch for half an hour.  I really think the orchard should start weighing kids, and adults, before they head into the fields.

No trip is complete without a stop at the town market for pulled pork sandwiches that we eat by the river.  It was such a nice day that I didn't object when Aaron went into the water.  Neither did any of the other moms.  We were happy to sit on rocks and tree roots and let our children be children.  I gave a 5 minute warning that somehow turned into 2 hours.  So what if we missed naps?  So what if all the boys had to ride home in diapers or undies?  These kids had a great time doing what they do best.  The Mom's were happy to let the kids explore for a few hours and put aside all the things at home waiting to be done.  For a moment all was right in our world.  Our kids were happy, we had a cool breeze and good friends to chat with.  How I wish everyday could be so perfect.

Peter and his new BF watching the older kids.

Huck Aaron

Peter before his new BF pushed him into the water.  Even that didn't break the good mood.

Both kids with dirty rears.  Isn't that the good life for a little boy?

You're Never Too Old for a Swing Set

Grandma and Grandpa S. came out for a visit.  We decided to go to Elk Neck State Park and Fort Delaware.  I still can't believe that I agreed to it, but we stayed in the "rustic cabins".  Let's just say that the first 5 minutes were sooooo bad that it could only get better.  I got dive bombed by numerous bugs when we went in the door and the spider the size of Peter's head HAD TO DIE. 

Here are some highlights of the trip:

Notice that I'm not on the swings.  Those things are torture for my hips.  I brushed a female deer tick off of Peter when he got off the swing.  I think it's sad that I know the difference between male and female deer ticks.

Peter kept knocking on the cabin windows.  The real fun came when he found one open and tried to put his head through it.

Aaron and I had to wait for the slow pokes to catch up on the hike we took.  I was wishing I'd worn running shoes.  Aaron is fast on the trails.

See?  I wasn't lying.  It's, I should say was, the size of Peter's head.