Summer Is...

Summer is...

Growing season

Lamont Reservoir

Cabins

Mini skirts

Mosquito bites that make Karlee swell up like Quasimodo

Hiking

4-Wheeling

Taking the tram

Boatin' it

Feeding Chipmunks

"Come'ere Doodah!"

Grandpa's lap

Baiting your hook

Play Time at the Playmill

Serious Laser Tag and Go-Karting with the best friends in the Universe

Fireworks on the 4th of July

Rodeos

Drive-in movies

Fishin' with the kids

Hangin' with my girls

Chillin' with my baby

Sight-seeing

Driving the boat, knowing you're awesome

Going swimming in full attire

Brock swimming in no attire

Swimming with floaties

Sparklers

Redvines and root beer

Marshmallows



Ice Cream


Camping

Family Vacations

Joseph, Oregon

Hell's Canyon

Island Park

Being in the mountains

Throwing rocks for 3 hours straight
Throwing more rocks

Family photo ops

Learning to walk

Sneaking peas from the garden

Summer is AWESOME.

But summer is OVER.

I know this because it was Brock's Birthday. Happy 30th Brock!

I can't wait 'til tomorrow--you get better looking every day!

WELCOME FALL
my favorite time of all.

Nobody

And I mean NOBODY has a baby as pleasant as mine.

Adric is the most smiley, lovey, cooey, easy-pleasing baby there ever was or ever will be--I'm CERTAIN.

Last week, he had his hand surgery and I was amazed, as I am everyday, at what an angel he is.

Even after not getting to eat for 16 hours and being handed off to strangers in a strange place where he was drugged, poked, cut, sewed, pinched, and otherwise inflicted for hours...He came away sweet and serene. In other words, he was his usual self in no time.

Before the surgery on daddy's lap.

Post-surgery with mom.

Once he woke up completely, he sat and played with his tubes, his cast and his crib.

From the looks of things, I'd say it was harder on the parents.

At 2

My Kade is two. I'm not surprised.

Time moves before my very eyes.

Little things--squeals and splashes

Teasing grins, and tip-toe dances

spinning, dizzy, lap collapses

Fill my days and heart.

The way he whisper-shouts Hey Mom!

The way he cries when Daddy's gone.

Listen! watch for garbage truck!

Drink from the tub, but not a cup?

climb on up when head gets bumped.

Little Things make Love big.

Happy Birthday Kade. I love you!

Excuses, Excuses

There's a certain saying about excuses; They're like a certain place on the body...everyone has one...they smell... You know the one.

I hate that saying. I always have, too. And not just since I grew up and stopped laughing at potty talk. I hate it because people get it in their heads that excuses are bad, and then there's no reasoning with them after that. Like one time, for instance, we were traveling to Wyoming for a volleyball tournament and we needed to be at the school and on the bus at 6 in the morning. About the time we were ready to leave, we called a girl on our team that lived by us to see if she needed a ride. She said she didn't but that instead she would pick us up since we were on her way. So my sister and I walked outside to wait at the corner for her.

Well, she forgot about us. By the time we figured that out, woke my parents up to get dressed and give us a ride, we ended up about 20 minutes late. We ran onto the bus and tried to explain what had happened to the coach, but she wouldn't hear it. "I don't want any excuses!!" she said. And that was the end of it. For the rest of the day we were demoted to 2nd string ball managers. And it's still a mystery as to why the girl didn't come forward to stand up for us...

Since that fateful day, I don't share the capitalist society's common malcontent for excuses, I love excuses. I embrace them. I have given myself blanket permission to make them any time it allows me to do something I want to do.

So when Emily, Lil Mil and Nano find an excuse to come to Utah and visit us, I applaud.

And although my sisters and I normally don't need an excuse for making fools of ourselves, we recently had one. My mom was on the committee for the Gold and Green Ball. The theme was 'Blockbuster Moves' and you were supposed to go as a character from a movie...

Meet the 3 Amigos, the Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Lane Frost, and Indiana Jones.

The Jazz being in the playoffs is a good enough excuse to go to a game.

Why were we sitting on the very top row?

Either we don't want people spilling beer on us, or we like to take in a game with a bird's eye view...Take your pick of excuses here.

For Brock's Grandpa Carlisle's 80th Birthday, Jana planned a family fishing vacation on the Green River. That was the perfect excuse to:

1. Leave the kids with Aunt Missy for a long weekend.

2. Take in some beautiful scenery.

3. Spend time with the Carlisle crew.

4. and Learn how to fly fish.

Hey, Brock! My fish is bigger than yours. What's your excuse?

AND

Since Brock's college football days are fast becoming a thing of the past, he thought he needed a new excuse for getting into shape (or an excuse to wear spandex)...

SO he went and got himself into LOTOJA!!

I'll be there with him the whole 206 miles, too. Only, I'll ride in an air-conditioned car and unroll my window to hand him water and Goo at the check points...