Ticket to Ride

I received some tickets to ride the tram for free from two of my students, Kyle & Karsen's parents, who both work at Snowbird. Since it was such a beautiful day yesterday, I decided to go up and use them. I packed up a picnic and the boys and we went early in the afternoon. 

Tram ride to Hidden Peak - Elevation 11,000 ft.

At the top of the tram it was so nice and cool, about 62 and breezy. A welcome relief from the heat of the valley.

Morgen was at his friend Brittany's house, so he didn't come with us. Ben came up for his lunch hour and ended up staying the rest of the afternoon.

I felt like I was in Austria again, there were just fields and fields of wildflowers.

Sorry, these photos just don't do it justice. It was AMAZING!

Of course Max was way more interested in finding the coolest rocks, the ones that sparkled in the sun.

There was a huge snow field that we hiked over to see up close.

Markus making a snowball

I loved looking around and listening to the silence. It was so quiet I could hear the bees buzzing.

On the way back up to the tram, Max spotted this little squirrel and told me a story about the one he saw just like it at Mill Hollow.

After the tram ride down, we also went on the alpine slide. Fun way to spend the afternoon.

No O2

Connor had his two month post surgery check up yesterday. And guess what? He doesn't have to use the oxygen at night anymore! Such good news for my little buddy, he is getting so chubby and busy.

 I just can't believe that he will have to go through another surgery like the one he had a few months ago, he just looks too healthy, but that is what the doctors say will be his course. Anytime that his oxygen stats start to dip again. But that may not be for another year or two if he keeps growing and getting stronger. 

   

Sheri came down early yesterday morning to drop Shane off at his training at the airport and then came over to hang out at our house after she got her hair cut, and Connor and Whitney's. I love his little "faux"-hawk.

 Then she took him up to Primary's for his appointment. I am so glad that it was good news, as Sheri gets so nervous before going up there to see what the prognosis will be. Josslyn didn't want to leave our house, she was having too much fun. Love those cuties so much.  

Game Ball

Last night Max's all-star coaches had an end of season party at a park, with pizza and prizes. Max was presented with a game ball from the state qualifying tournament and a team photo while his coach Jim talked about Max's strengths both on and off the field. All the coaches took turns talking about the boys and presenting them with their awards. Then the coaches let the boys throw water balloons at them! Of course the boys all loved that and then they played a full nine inning game of kick ball, with all the siblings that were at the party. What a fun way to end a great season with amazing coaches, and fun loving boys!  

(Max displayed his game ball and team photo on his dresser, right next to his pocket knife, yo-yo and marbles.)

What Morgen does all day...

Morgen goes between texting his friends...and playing video games. ALL DAY LONG!!!

Last night he had his friend Alex over to spend the night and guess what they did? Played video games and texted! Until 5 a.m. and then they slept until noon. Oh Boy!

The Help

I started reading a book tonight, The Help, and couldn't put it down. I have heard so much hype about it, I kind of thought that maybe I wouldn't really like it that much. But so far, I have enjoyed reading it, as I read more I will keep you posted. Here is the synopsis about it:

Kathryn Stockett spent five years writing The Help, her debut novel. After facing more than 45 rejections from literary agents, The Help was bought by Amy Einhorn Books and was published in February 2009. The buzz around The Help grew from the instant it was in stores. It was a #1 New York Times Bestseller and has now been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 55 consecutive weeks and still holding strong. The Help has sold all over the world, translated into 40 languages, and is a nationwide phenomenon in the US that has sold almost two million copies. It is soon to be a major motion picture.

Clean House

I cleaned the house today. Again. Sorry if you missed it. It will be clean again next week.

Guest

After sharing time in primary today went ok, I was surprised to walk in to Sacrament meeting to see Elder Oaks, of the quorum of the twelve of the church sitting on the stand. His daughter, Jenny, is married to one of the members of our ward, Dr. Baker's son. They are visiting their parents for the summer and have been here for a month or so. Jenny and her three daughters were playing a musical number in the meeting today and so Elder Oaks came to see his daughter and granddaughters play the violin, cello and piano. The scheduled speakers for the meeting were really surprised and nervous, as you could imagine, but they all did a good job. At the conclusion of the meeting he bore his testimony and it was an interesting testimony for that fact that he talked about being educated in several other faiths, but that the fullness of the gospel and priesthood belong to this church. It was a simple testimony.

Pioneer Day

Spent most of Pioneer Day at Lagoon.

And a good part of it in the water at Lagoon-a-Beach.

I was glad that I wasn't a pioneer on a day like today, so, so HOT!

Morgen wanted to go on the Sky Coaster again, since he went when he was at Lagoon for his ninth grade field trip. So, Max decided he would go as well. Ben is in the middle of those three daring boys.

Max loved it and said it felt like he was flying!

Morgen and Markus hanging out on the swings...

Max won a little stuffed dog for knocking over some plates with a baseball at one of the gaming booths at Lagoon. And when he came home he placed it in front of Molly - and she thought it was real! She was freaking out trying to attack it. It was so funny. I finally had to let her sniff it and touch it before she would stop being so crazy about it. I still don't know if she knows for sure that it is just a stuffed dog.

Dreams

What happens when you have a dream with in a dream, with in a dream? You get lost in a movie called "Inception".

I took the boys to see Despicable Me tonight and Ben & Morgen went to Inception. Since our movie was a little bit shorter (by an hour) than theirs, we went in to see the last part of it. I thought it was interesting  but while many people are raving about Inception, I’ve never heard so many expressions like “What was that about?” upon leaving the theater after seeing the film. I just thought I was confused since I had missed the first 1/2. And, although I don’t believe moviegoers are unintelligent, I can’t help comparing this movie’s transitions to someone reading the Cliff Notes of a Shakespeare play to a pre-school class. Inception becomes its own nightmare by trying to be too smart. One of the dialogue lines in the movie, “Whose dream is it this time?” was met with a chuckle out of me, as if the character was thinking the same thing.

I’ve read in a review that writer-director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) spent 10 years working on this story; so maybe that’s the problem with this overblown movie. While listening to an interview with DiCaprio, many of his remarks reflected some of my own thoughts. Some of his comments included: “We run around in someone’s head,” (viewers only have to figure out if it’s in the first, second, third or fourth level of human dreams, all which have different affects to the real world); “it makes you think” (until you realize you can’t rationalize it); “it’s really challenging” (you think?) and when asked to clarify the ending of the film, DiCaprio answered, “I’m not sure; you have to figure it out.”

If you like being impressed by some pretty cool CG affects, than you should check out this movie. As for me, I figured out rather quickly that watching Inception gave me a headache. And Max a backache, as he was sitting on one of the steps in the theater, while Markus feel asleep in my arms, I suspect he was dreaming of better movies.

Twenty

Twenty things I did today:

1. cut music for Zumba class
2. cut music for my student Toni's new program
3. showered before 8 a.m.
4. fixed three boys breakfast
5. taught an hour private lesson to Callie
6. taught skating camp to 25 kids from 10-2
7. attempted teaching my first off-ice Zumba class (explaining the music I cut this morning)
8. ran home to fix lunch for my boys
9. brought them back to the rink to skate with me
10. taught power skating to 4 hockey players, Corey, Che, Will & Sam 
11. choreographed a new routine to teach one of my figure skaters, Toni
12. ran errands to drop off old drape at D.I.
13. washed the car
14. cut out 50 hearts at Pebbles in my pocket (scrapbook store) for primary
15. picked up some groceries for dinner
16. made dinner
17. did dishes & laundry
18. checked my email
19. planned sharing time for Sunday
20. snuggled with Markus and read him a bedtime story

Action is the antidote to despair - Joan Baer

Journal Blog

I started a new blog today with my old journal entries. I am reorganizing my closet and decided that I don't need to keep all my old journals on a shelf anymore, taking up space and gathering dust. So after I type my journal entries on the computer I will pack them away in a box to keep for my kids - if they want to read my handwriting someday.

No Phone Zone

I noticed on Facebook last week that my friend Becky Brown had posted this article about her cousin, Bunny, who had been hit by a truck while cycling in Draper with 9 other women early Wednesday morning. As I read about Becky's Cousin in the news article I was reminded how fragile life is. And I hoped that she would be okay and recover quickly from the incident.

But as I read Becky's post the next morning, Heaven has another beautiful angel, I couldn't believe it. She was so young and alive, she had a husband and two beautiful little girls waiting for her at home. Why? It all seemed so senseless. I was shocked and sad. I couldn't stop thinking about it and crying all day. All week. One of Becky's friend who also happens to be in our ward, Wendie Hale-Moran, commented on Becky's post that she had heard that the driver of the truck was texting when he caused the crash. If he had not been texting while driving, Bunny would still be alive. Becky posted this link Sunday night. It is so hard to imagine the scene today of her sweet little girls at her funeral.

I am posting this today and hoping that you will sign Opera's pledge and stop texting and driving. I just did. I know that I used to text while I was driving sometimes, but I am not going to do it ever again. It is just not worth it. Morgen is getting his driver's permit next month and I am asking him to sign it as well. 

Camp

I dropped Max off at his school this morning for a school sponsored camp with his friends, Mikko, Sina and Noah. He was crying and hugging me for so long in the car before we got out, but once he saw his friends he just smiled and waved goodbye while he hopped on the bus. I am going to miss that cute little guy...even if it is just for two days. My little buddy. :)

Football?

Sign-ups for football season started yesterday...already? Really? Wow. Max wants to play again this year, so I guess I will sign him up. Baseball just ended as well as the summer 3 on 3 hockey league Max & Marko have been playing in. Which, speaking of, I also received a couple of emails yesterday regarding hockey league sign-ups beginning in August.

Days of '47 Children's Parade

The float and children arrived promptly at 8 a.m. this morning.

Our ward had a pretty good turn out...

and the children had fun while they were waiting, and waiting...

and waiting...

and waiting for the parade to begin at 10 a.m. I played as many games as I could remember from trek and youth conference with them, trying to keep them from asking one more time, "How much longer until the parade starts?!!!"

When it finally started at 10:20 everyone let out a cheer!

Only to wait a little bit longer until our float finally started rolling, since it was entry #35 out of 50.

I think our stake would have told everyone to come two hours later had they known that it was going to take SOOO long for the parade to get started. But once it did, I think the children had fun walking the short four block parade route to the City County Building.

I know they were all excited to get there and play (for free!) on all of the carnival blow up toys.