What's at the End of a Rainbow?

This is a picture I took on our way home from Beaver. It was the most vivid rainbow we had ever seen. It took us a few minutes to pull back onto the freeway after pulling over for the picture but it was worth it!

4th of July

July 4th, Independence Day! This time of year is such a great time to reflect on our nation's history and the sacrifices of so many who blessed us with the fundamentals of a great country. I have been reading some history on the founding of this nation and I continually catch myself reflecting on how inspired the men were who laid the foundations of our government. I am impressed with the desire of the colonists to have a government based on representation, that recognized the God-given rights of all men, and the struggles of the framers to design a government that met the desires and the needs of the time. There were so many open and honest debates about what liberty meant and what powers should be given to government to allow freedom while controlling anarchy-- there is a fine balance. Did you know, that when Washington City (as it was called at that time) was being built and established as the nation's capital, the statesmen would come and stay for about half of the year and then return home to their regular jobs? Because the city was newly established there was a limited number of places to stay. The representatives would bunk together in boarding houses and eat at the same. This wasn't always an easy situation as bunkmates weren't always from the same party and would have different ideologies. Keep in mind, the bunkhouses did not have air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and were full of men. There were many heated discussions and open debates but the men were there because they felt a duty to build and serve their country. They weren't career politicians, but simple men who had a love for country and fellowman.

Compare that picture to modern-day and I think you'll agree, we have strayed far from this. Our representatives are wined and dined by lobbyists and big companies. They spend the majority of their time in Washington DC, returning home to campaign and make public appearances. Many have run on the platform of term limitations but end up making careers out of their service. There is no longer open, honest debate about issues but rather last minute, 1000 page bills dropped on politicians desks with only hours to read before voting. These bills aren't even written by the representatives (and rarely read by them) but are prepared by staffs of hundreds of people who weren't elected and aren't accountable to anyone. And with these bills, are freedoms and liberty is slowly being whittled away. I think our founding fathers and early colonists would be disappointed in what our government has become.

Now that I've had my time on the soapbox, this is still a great country filled with amazing people who continue to want to make a difference. People who go to work everyday to support their families and build better lives for those around them. Military personnel who are willing to sacrifice their time and lives for the principles this country was founded on. These are the people we salute and celebrate along with the many, many men and women who preceded us and gave so much to this country in so many different ways.

The 4th of July was a fun time for our family this year. We spent the day with our Anderson cousins. We started the day at Lagoon. This may seem like an odd choice but it turned out to be a lot of fun. As most people were watching parades in the morning, the park was not crowded. The kids a lot of fun going on the rides with their cousins. Savannah has made it her personal goal to ride all the roller coasters. She is exactly the right size to go on these rides and wants to take advantage of it. I've gone on many with her and she looks like she is hating it the whole time, but when the ride comes to a stop she is all smiles and says how much she loved it. James and Taylor got caught up in throwing a baseball to break plates. After winning a couple of stuffed animals, they decided they should win more so that siblings wouldn't feel bad. With Taylor's help, James was able to win a prize for all the girls which they were happy to have.

As the park got crowded, we headed back to our house for a barbecue. James manned the grill and provided quite the feast for us with brauts, chicken and steak. Combine that with all the treats that everyone else brought and we had quite the feast. There was a lot of fun conversation going on at the table most of the evening and the kids played in the backyard and in the arcade. There was never a shortage of activity going on.

When darkness hit, we headed out front for a firework show. Luke and his cousin, Bradley, were finally old enough to light the fireworks. They had great fun providing us with a show. The street over from us had quite a few of the illegal fireworks so between theirs and ours, we had a great show. The city fire engine crept down our street looking for the wrongdoers but it wasn't us. The kids had a lot of red, white and blue glow sticks which provided entertainment in between the fireworks. I think everyone went home happy with only a few mosquito bites.

End of the School Year

The first week of July marked the end of the school year for my kids. Going to year-round school starts to feel really long when they don't get out of school until July. I've learned you have to let the bedtime rules slide a little bit during the summer so the kids feel like they have time to enjoy the summer months. The three oldest kids all had great school years. Heather was really sad to end her year, she said she would miss her teacher sooooooooooo much! Lindsey is going to miss her friends. Her teacher got sick half way through the year and took a quarter off and then had a substitute about half of the days during the last quarter so it became difficult to figure out what the expectations were for various assignments when there was so little consistency but we made it through. Luke's teacher was a lot of fun. She focused on the sciences which Luke loves. They did many science experiments in class. As much as they enjoyed their classes, however, I don't think any of them miss the homework and they're happy for a little break.

Luke hosted his annual end-of-the-year party. He has been doing it for about three years now. When I went to his class to give out treats for his birthday in September, class members asked me about the end-of-year party. It was then that I realized how much his class looks forward to it. He invites his whole class and a few extra good friends that weren't in his class. We barbecue burgers and hot dogs while the kids play tennis, dodge ball, video games, volleyball and whatever else they can find. A new dimension to to the party was added this year-- a dance contest. The kids decided they wanted to have a dance-off which consisted of each participant dancing to some music then the others voting. The winners made it to the next round and so forth, until there was a winner. It was fun to watch, some of them really got into it. I was surprised they would be interested in such an activity, I didn't think they were old enough to be interested in dancing but I guess I was wrong.

Of course, some of the favorite songs were those sung by Michael Jackson. With his recent death, he has become quite the hot topic among the kids. As I listened in on conversations, I had to laugh (to myself of course). These youngsters were all of a sudden experts on the life of Michael Jackson. Apparently it was far too much discussed on television. I finally had to tell my kids that he was a man who did a lot of great things but also had a lot of trials, I'm sure he is happy now and finally at peace and we don't have to keep talking about him.
The evening ended as a great success. Luke's teacher dropped by, which the kids were excited about. A dance champion was chosen, and everyone went home full. As people were leaving, it started to rain with lightening and thunder. We couldn't have asked for better timing or a better time.

On the Lake

July started off with a 100 yard sprint and hasn't seemed to slow down yet. James' sister, SalliJune, came to visit with Sadie and Megan. It was fun to see them and spend time with them. We finally found time to pull the boat out of storage and take it to Pineview. Pineview is a lake up in Ogden canyon that we like to go to. We were actually able to find a great beach spot at the back of the lake where the kids were able to play. There was a big tree right on the beach that provided a shady spot. Up the hill from the beach was picnic tables and a bathroom. We went on a Monday so the lake was quite uncrowded. It was fun to pull out the wakeboards, surf board, and knee board and try to renew our skills. I think we were all able to pick up where we left off last year. In the evening we beached the boat and joined the barbecue. There was so much good food it was hard to stop eating. It seems that good food always makes the ocassion more fun. A lot of good memories with the cousins were made that day.

Dress Rehearsals, Class Programs, Recitals, Oh My!

The last week in June was very crazy for us. James headed to Youth Conference with our ward which left me as a single parent for a few days. It just so happened, those few days were some of our busiest. The girls dance, tumbling, and cheer recital was that week. The studio that they take classes at likes to have the recital in Ogden at the Weber State University theatre. This means that there is a lot of driving involved. They have the dress rehearsal in the daytime, after which, they have class pictures, and later that evening is the recital. The recital is actually over two days. They have two different casts because there are so many classes. Lindsey and Heather were slotted to perform both nights, however.

This time of year is also the time for end-of-year class programs. Heather's class did their program the same night as the recital. This is where the day got interesting! As I had Lindsey in Ogden at her dress rehearsal, I realized I had forgotten that Heather would be performing twice. She takes dance but is also in the same tumbling group as Lindsey. I asked their coach what night she would be performing and as it turned out, they were going to perform both nights. Somehow, I had missed this fact. I told him Heather wouldn't be able to come that night because she had a class program but she would be there the next night. He responded that would be O.K. but asked if I could please have her there for dress rehearsal at 4:00pm (once again, I had overlooked the fact that there would be a dress rehearsal for tumbling, which meant Lindsey needed to be there too) so she could be in the pictures. That was the first kink in my plans.

I had planned to return home after Lindsey's morning dress rehearsal and not go back until right before the show. Now, I had to have Lindsey and Heather back in Ogden at 4:00 pm. We headed back to Syracuse and waited for Heather to get out of school. Once she got home, we wisked her away and headed to Ogden (not before we made babysitting arrangements with one of Luke's friends for Matthew--there was no way he was going to last through another rehearsal, while Luke went to piano lessons.) After the rehearsal and pictures (I've decided to take my own team pictures from now on, but that's another story) I explained to Heather that I would take her back to Syracuse and drop her off for her program, which Grandma Marcia was going to come watch, and I would head back to Ogden with Lindsey for the recital. Lindsey had costume changes and needed someone to help her. This began the next kink in my plans.

When Heather realized that no parent would be at her program, she started sobbing. I tried to explain that Grandma would be there but she really wanted me to watch her part. I worked it out with Lindsey to drop her off for the recital early and I would go to some of Heather's program. We waited as long as we dared before dropping Lindsey off (we didn't want her to be there too long by herself) then headed back home. Heather started getting quite nervous as the clock was ticking down closer to start time. I promised her I would get her there before the program started. Sure enough, I pulled up the school two minutes before showtime. I dropped her off, found a place to park and headed in. Her program was really cute. It was about being friends and getting a long. There was a lot of singing with small skits in between each song. Heather is quite a performer and you could tell she really enjoyed it. She did a great job on her skit. After her skit was finished, I headed back to Ogden to help Lindsey.

I got to Ogden before Lindsey's first number. The timing couldn't have gone better. Lindsey performed with her cheer team and with the tumbling team. She has fun doing both of those things and it is fun to watch her. We finished in Ogden at about 10:00 pm. By this time Luke was calling us, he was worried something had happened to us. I was just happy we had made it through the day!

The next day went a little smoother. Savannah and Heather had dress rehearsal but Lindsey did not. We spent the morning in Ogden, went home for a bit, and went back for the recital. Grandma Marcia and Grandpa Dan came to watch the girls at this recital and Luke stayed home with Matthew. I'm pretty sure Luke is happy to babysit and miss the dancing. Savannah loved her dance. She got to be Belle, her favorite Disney princess, and dance to a song from the movie. Heather was the biggest surprise. All year she would tell me how her teacher would tell the other kids in her class to watch Heather because she knew the dance. I would always smile because I know Heather is never lacking in self confidence. But when we saw her dance, I was surprised at how good she is. Her love for performing comes out in her dancing too. Heather has always been more of a tomboy, I think that's why it was surprising to see what a good dancer she is. Marcia leaned over, as surprised as I was, to comment how good Heather was. I had to agree.

Cluffs come to Visit

In June we were excited to have our Cluff cousins come to visit. We don't get to see them very often as they live in Texas and make it out here about once a year or every other year. The kids had a blast renewing friendships and hanging out together. We were actually fortunate enough to have them up here twice over a couple of weekends. I was grateful to have Nicole go to nursery with me to help out. I'll take the help from anywhere, out of state or in my ward.

The first weekend they came up, the kids played outside a lot until the rain would start. We had one mishap when Tyson climbed over the fence to get a ball. He got stuck on the fence and did a nose dive onto the tennis court, chipping his front tooth and splitting his upper lip. I called Nicole,who was at the eye doctor, to ask if she'd like me to take him in for stitches but we decided to butterfly it. Luckily James is a dentist and was able to fix his tooth that evening. The kids all had fun playing "ghosts in the graveyard" at James office while I assisted James at the chair.

Lindsey and Emily spent most of the time together in Lindsey's room writing stories and poetry. They were able to put together a whole book during Emily's visit. They wrote a cute poem about being cousins and friends.

I had a lot of fun with Ryan. I got to spoil him and become his favorite aunt. I took him to the grocery store one evening and he showed me all the treats he thought we needed. When they came up the second time I told him I was happy to see him and that I'd missed him, he said, "I know." The cutest part was when he fell asleep sitting up against the piano during the home teacher's visit. He is quite a character. All in all, we had an eventful couple of weekends and a lot of memories were made.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

With the coming of Spring, came the beginning of baseball season. Luke, Lindsey and Heather all decided to take a swing at the sport. With three kids playing, we spent nearly every evening at the baseball fields. Matthew thought it was great because he got to play on the playground every day. Savannah liked it because she got to buy a slushy almost every day. I enjoyed the sunshine (at least most of the season, at the end it rained regularly) and watching the kids play.

This was a first for Heather, she had skipped T-ball and coach pitch. This was her first year playing. She hesitated when I asked her if she wanted to try it but after her first practice she informed me that she loved it. She turned out to be a natural. She hit the ball her first time and nearly every time after that. She could also catch and throw better than nearly everyone on her team. Heather played in the co-ed, machine pitch league. She was sad when the season ended, she said she would miss it. It was fun watching her play a sport she really liked.

Lindsey played all-girl, machine pitch. She hasn't played since T-ball but she also turned out to be quite good. I don't think she struck out all season, or for that matter, got out on base either. She played various positions but mostly short stop. She had a great coach who took the time to work with each girl. She also had one of her best friends from our neighborhood on her team, that always makes it more fun. She informed me that she liked this sport much more than soccer, which ended right before baseball season started. (I don't have a picture of Lindsey because her last few games were too rainy.)

Luke was lucky enough to play on the same team he did last year. I think the kids are always more comfortable if they are familiar with the coaches and the teammates. Luke's league was player pitch. That took some getting used to for Luke but he did manage to get on base a few times. His catching and throwing has greatly improved over last year. The last game of the season was the most fun to watch. The team they played had forfeited so Luke's team knew they had won before the game started. The pressure was off and they just had fun. There was a moment at the end of the game that I will never forget. The batter right before Luke was at the plate and there was two outs. Unfortunately, he struck out. The kid felt really bad because that was the end of the season. He was crying a little bit as he walked back to the dugout from home plate. Instead of feeling sorry for himself that he wouldn't get one last turn at bat for the season, Luke met his teammate halfway, put his arm around him, and told him it was OK--there was always next year. I don't know if Luke realizes his parents witnessed that moment but it was more priceless than watching your kid hit a home run!