July 4th

This month is going way too fast. I feel as though this is our true last week of summer because next we will be 'gearing' up to go back to school. This month began with our annual 4th of July celebration at the Lake. Nearly every year, we spend it on the lake and finish the evening with fireworks. This year was no exception. We had more family on the lake this year because of the Hamilton reunion and we had a great time! I'm always impressed with how much fun we can cram into a small space of time. We boated, lounged, ate, slung water balloons, ate, watched fireworkes, ate, auctioned, rode the restored go cart, 4 wheelin'.... All within' a 48 hour period.

Hamilton Reunion 2008 at Lake Arrowhead
Uncle Randy recreating memories on the restored go cart
Slinging Waterballoons per Big Al, Rusty, & Danny
King of the Mountain ~ Tubing Style ~ Steven, Jared on top of Grant, & Rett

20 YR Reunion

Recreating our Senior picture less 2/3rds

I just returned from one of the most memorable trips...my 20 year class reunion. I know. I know. You can't believe I'm THAT old. Anywho...we had the best time! At least I did. Rusty said it was a crime how much fun I was having. Rusty was such a good sport and continues to make friends with those from my former life. He commented how blessed I was to have been raised with so many great people! Yes I am! This past weekend was also the annual town celebration bringing home so many. That just added to the wonderfulness of it all because I ran into family, YW president, former teachers, etc....My cup is running over big time!

A few of the highlights:
Staying up late and visiting until some of us were snoring

Seeing really good friends I've lost contact with and now they're on my Christmas list

Getting together with the poopmobile gang (ALL 6 of us ~ less Kristi...we missed you)

Seeing my best friend from preschool. She drove down just for this. Thanks Nic'

Going to Joseph and, not only seeing but coincidently, sitting RIGHT next to family



Rusty solving the mystery of the secret baker that would anonymously leave fresh baked goods on his counter when he was a missionary...we think

Laughing. Laughing. Laughing.

There were so many more memories, but too many to list. Once again, my Father in Heaven has blessed me so richly.

"Poopmobile" (aka "taxi" aka my dark brown '79 Pontiac Sunbird) Buddies/Partners in Crime/Click/Friends to the bitter end!
My Homecoming Date ~ Evan Larson
Nicolle & I BF since 4 yrs. old
Fast forward 33 Years. I went to Kindergarten with these gals! Can you believe that?!

Memory Lane Tag (taken from Renee)

Memory Lane...the tag that gets everyone involved. Be a good sport and play along. Here are the directions: As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Tears of ...hysterics & emotion.

A 3-year-old tells all from his mother’s restroom stall By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it
quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we’re in the library, the
grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly
he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to
turn up the volume. It’s always fully cranked. There’ve been several
embarrassing times that I’ve wished the meaning of his words would have been
masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than
last week at Costco.

Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me
into the restroom.

If you’d been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what
you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall: ’Mommy, are
you gonna go potty?
Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy?
Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now?
Mommy, what are you doing?
Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?’
At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the
bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full ... 4? 5? Maybe we could
wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and
reveal my identity.

Cade continued:
’Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren’t you?
Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy!
Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see
doze stinkies, Mommy!
Oh .. Mommy! I’m trying to see In dere.
Oh! I see dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!’
I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either s ide of me.

Where is a screaming new born when you need her?
Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a
long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, ’Why don’t you look
in Mommy’s purse and see if you can find some candy. We’ll both have some!’
’No, I’m trying to see doze more stinkies.


Oh! Mommy!’
He started to gag at this point.

’Uh - oh, Mommy. I fink I’m gonna frow up.

Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!!
Dat is so gross!!’
As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. I quickly
flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with
myself: OK. There are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be
reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will
be long gone.

’Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going
stinkies! Get up! Get up!’ He grunted as he tried to pull me off. Now I
could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my
door.

’Oh, are you wookin g under dere, Mommy?
You wooking under da door?
What were you wooking at?
Mommy? You wooking at the wady’s feet?’
More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the
situation. ’Mommy, it’s time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now,
Mommy.’ He started pounding on the door. ’Mommy, don’t you want to wash your
hands? I want to go out!!’ I saw that my ’wait ’em out’ plan was unraveling.
I sheepishly opened the door, and found standing outside my stall, twenty to
thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud.

My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, ’Where’s the
fine print on the ’motherhood contract’ where I signed away every bit of my
dignity and privacy?’ But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while
he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I’d sign
it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.

Lake Lubbers!

We went to the lake yesterday and had a good time. Summer is halfway over and this was our first time on the boat this year. Shame on us! Shea knee boarded/tubed, Rett skied/wakeboarded/tubed, and Asa tubed. Asa & Shea continued working on their dives and strokes while Ivy anxious got in with Daddy. Of course my fair skinned children got too much sun...again. It's nearly impossible to get through a summer keeping them burn free. Not only is their skin fair, but it's sensitive. Sometimes sunscreen just doesn't agree with them and it hurts their skin or eyes or whatever. With every burn, the guilt of premature aging and skin cancer grows. What's a mom to do? I don't think stop going to the lake is the solution. We are lakelubbers!

Whatta' weekend

We had a jam packed weekend. Not only did we celebrate father's day, but we also celebrated 17 years of pure blissful marriage! We are quite proud of ourselves. ;o) Rusty says we've had our license for a year now, next year we'll be able to vote. I caught on and said "So when we celebrate our 21st, can we drink?" hehe. We had a great evening. I looked around ATL for some great entertainment, couldn't find much. What seemed appealing was the Punchline. We are usually wary of comedians because you don't know if you're going to pay for something funny, then have to walk out because it quickly became lewd and offensive. Well punchline had this guy named Henry Cho He turned out to be awesome! We laughed and laughed. I highly recommend him. Totally safe and in the fall you'll be able to catch him on primetime. Following some good entertainment, I introduced Rusty to The Container Store. Being anal and a neat freak, he LOVED The Container Store. I can't wait to take him back! ;o) We followed shopping up with good eats at The Cheesecake Factory. We even got to go around in Rusty's fun 'date' car. And our little darlings didn't even call to bother us. It was a perfect evening.

Sweet Home....Arizona!

So we just returned from a trip to Arizona. The main objective for the trip was my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary. How neat is that?! It turned out better than I planned. Actually, we didn't really plan so I guess you could say we couldn't go wrong. Between my fabulous sister-in-law, my "twin" sister (we look and sound alike, but she's 6 years older - it's eerie), my neice, and Shea, we actually pulled off some fun and creativity. My mom thought we had really "planned" it all out, but we just went off the cuff (and some adrenaline) and it was great. We decorated their condo, tried to leave chocolates on their pillows every night, decorated their car (like newlyweds, my mom loved it because my dad didn't allow it to happen 50 yrs ago), bought 50 red roses, hmmmmmmm.....what else? ate yummy cake that was decorated in their wedding colors, ate at a nice restaurant, my sis. made a 50 year + dvd/slideshow,......fun and more fun. We also played games every night with my dad being the 'butt' of the play. He's kinda' an airhead.......

We also saw my grandma who will celebrate her 91st birthday next month. She is one of my heroes. She has a cheerful disposition and just a sweetheart. People call/visit her when they are feeling down because she cheers them up. When I was in labor with Shea, I called her for a pick me up and she had me laughing in between contractions. One the hardest parts of leaving Arizona each time, is thinking this may be our last visit here on earth. She verbalized it this time and I could barely contain myself. She is amazing! Thank goodness for eternal families.

Before the anniversary fun began, we spent time in my home town where we visited with family, old friends, the children built forts in the cedar bushes, and we combed for pottery. This brings me to one of the highlights of the entire trip...I call it pottery combing because it's like "beachcombing" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beachcombing but there is no beach. My parents appear to live on some ancient indian ground. So most times I visit, I go out on their land and comb for pottery that has "surfaced." I'm probably the die hard in the family. I love it! I would love to find some whole pieces some day, but for now, I gather bits and pieces. This visit was an exception. I was starting to head in and stumbled across an ARROWHEAD! I was elated. It's taken me over 30 years, but I finally found one! They are not easy to find, but occasionally, a newcomer, will take one home with them and I have grown more envious each finding, but this time, it was the veterans turn.

I love Arizona! It's such a beautiful place. It's WAY different from the south, which makes it impossible to compare. You can't compare apples to oranges and you can't compare desert/prairie to rainforest. But it all can be enjoyed equally.

This time I wallowed in the warmth that was relieved by a breeze or standing in the shade (NO HUMIDITY - yeehaw!). You can truly just soak in the sun because it feels sooooooooo good. You don't have the humidity "raining" on your parade. ;o)

I look forward to returning in less than 6 weeks for my 20 year class reunion. It will be fun to visit, see how friends have 'aged', meet spouses and children. Let's hope I can find reasonably priced plane tickets.