Santa Time...

We took our annual trip to the mall to sit on Santa's lap. I love this, because I never know what is going to happen. This year all three boys were fine. Logan was not scared at all. He did escape Tyler at one point and ended up running all the way into JC Penny. Then Sam followed and we had two kids running through the mall. Yes - we are those parents. Jack was very serious, I started giving him tips and he said, "I know mom, talk loud, look him in the eye, and tell him what I want." His list was a bit long and very expensive. Sam was really quiet but cute. Logan sat on his lap when it was time for pics. Next we need to work on getting them all to look at the camera at the same time. But as far as Santa pics go, this one turned out pretty cute.

Pie Night!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at our home. Our friends the Horner's came over, and everything was YUMMY. Jack made darling name cards for each guest. I was so busy with the food that I forgot to take pictures of the spread this year. Trust me, it was great.

Later that night we invited several families over for pie night. We started this tradition while Tyler was in law school in Nebraska. It is a fun way for everyone to enjoy their family dinner, but still get together. It also allows us to try little slices of a whole bunch of different pies and desserts. This is Tyler's favorite holiday of the whole year! Here are some pics from our evening.

Jack was upset that I would not let him wear this for Thanksgiving dinner. He felt like this homemade Squanto costume was totally appropriate. I am so mean!

Charlie was also horrified that I made him dress up in a silly sweater. See him cringe and put his tail between his legs.

Logan loves Charlie! He is reading him stories and giving him loves. We also noticed that the dog is getting very fat because Logan is constantly feeding him.

During the prep, Logan discovered the candy dishes that I was getting ready to put out for the guests. He has no problems getting himself up on the counter and quickly helped himself to the chocolate. He screamed and screamed when we took him off and moved the candy where he could not reach it. Once the party started, he spent most of the time finding the various candy dishes and either helping himself or making friends with the closest available push over. Sam was a bit sneakier, but he snagged several handfuls too.

Here are all of the yummy pies and desserts! The unofficial theme of the night is "more pie than any human should possibly eat", or "eat till you puke".

Round One for Jack!

Soooooo Coooooold!

When every other word out of the weatherman's mouth is Arctic, you know you are in for it. We are expecting/experiencing record low temperatures this week. There are a couple feet of snow on the ground, school was cancelled because of the high winds, and Jack is in heaven. The kid stays outside in the snow for hours at a time. Sam has been a trooper and can stay out for almost an hour at a time. Jack was thrilled with his really cool invention today. He took a round sled and used it to slide down the slide on our swing set. I think it is a good thing I have insurance!
But this is the real reason I am blogging tonight! Jack came in from retrieving said sled with a bleeding tongue and lots of tears. He quickly explained that he put his tongue on something metal and it stuck and he had to pull it off and now he is bleeding. I am sorry, I am a horrible mom, but I laughed my head off - almost peed my pants. He was not impressed with my lack of sympathy. He also would have loved it if I wrapped his tongue in a gauze bandage just like they did on The Christmas Story movie, but I made him take a few sips of water and that was it. I asked him if he knew it would stick, and he said he didn't. He later confessed to Tyler that he knew it would stick, but not that bad. He also was unable to eat any salad with dinner because the ranch dressing hurt his tongue. I let him get away with that, because I was still laughing every time I looked at him. I should get credit for only asking him once if someone double dog dared him to do it.

Coming to you from Dayton Ohio

Another business trip, another hotel room...It seems that is the only time I have lately to blog. I have very cute pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes on my computer at home. Never got a chance to blog them. Sorry, just imagine a cute Jack the Army boy (face paint of course), Sam the Superman (sprayed black hair with a little curl in front), and Logan the darling dancing elephant. Something about the costume made him dance. Doesn't that sound cute? I also have pictures of the pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and carving pumpkins.

Oh, by the way it was Tyler's birthday on the 7th too and I made him another delicious apple pie. Happy Birthday Tyler, maybe I will get you a present by Christmas :) I would list 38 reasons why I love you, but I really don't have time for that either. I could totally do it though. I have known you now for 23 years - can you believe it?!?

I am really looking forward to a week off for Thanksgiving!

Germany!

It is my last day in Germany; I decided to blog before I get home and forget all that I have done. This is my trip report.

The purpose of my trip is to provide training to our US Army customers working in the Army bases here in Europe. We had about 40 customers from about 18 different facilities in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy... Typically our customers travel to out annual users conferences for this training, but it is not cost effective to send so many users from over sees to the US, so they planned this conference to allow those customers to get some the training they missed. For a regular conference, we send 20 or so people from our company to put it on. For this training conference, I travelled with one other colleague named Paul. Paul and I have known each other since 2000. He was one of my star students, so I hired him as a trainer and I used to be his boss. When I left the training position, he took my position. We have been friends all along. He and his family live in Warner Robins Georgia. Paul has been to Germany several times, so I was very glad he was coming with me; it was like having a free driver and tour guide.
I arrived in Heidelberg Germany on Monday morning after a full day of exhausting travel. My hotel was in the countryside right outside of Heidelberg. All of the leaves are in full color change, and the hillsides were gorgeous with changing leaves, old farm houses, and castles. The weather was perfect. It was comfortable outside in a sweater. It is very strange to be in Germany. It is not something I had ever considered before. I cant stop looking out of my window.

Tuesday morning - Ate a lot of free breakfast consisting of fresh breads, cheeses, yogurt, fruit, and juice. (I will miss this bread). We went to the room where the conference would take place. We tested our Internet connections, and made sure all of the final touches on our presentations were ready. Then we went to Heidelberg to see the sites. We went to the castle and crossed the bridge over the Neckar river. I took about 150 pictures of all the cool architecture. I think I might have enough to make a book of pictures of the doors and windows of Heidelberg. We ate at a great little German restaurant. I ordered a dish that was translated into English as: spicy vegetarian flat bread served with goat cheese and Mediterranean vegetables. When it came out, I couldn't stop laughing. I had managed to order pizza off of a German menu.

I also had fun in the Christmas store and bought a few souvenirs. We met Juliet, our point of contact in Europe, for dinner. She lives in Mannheim, and took us to her city. She took us to a Turkish restaurant in the "Turk Town" area of the city. The menu was in German with no translation. Juliet tried to translate, but was having a hard time explaining, so she had us look at the pictures inside the restaurant. I learned a very important German word that night, chicken. It helped me on several later menus when I could not figure out what to order.

Wednesday - Our training conference started. I had 3 50-minute presentations. Paul taught a 3 hour class on report writing. For dinner, we went with the Army Headquarters contact, Pete, to a Greek restaurant. It was the funniest restaurant of the trip. Each booth had sheep skins stapled to the wood. There was one old Greek man running the whole show. He had one cook. It was packed. He basically yelled at us in German to order. Luckily, Pete speaks Greek, none of us speak German. Pete was able to order us chicken :) in Greek and that is all we knew. He tried to order himself a Greek item and ended up with a German lasagna with gravy. Our chicken was excellent - grilled with yummy Greek spices and served with french fries and a really yucky German salad. At the end to make up for the horrible treatment he gave us all a free shot of Oso. Neither Paul nor I drink, so sadly it went to waste. Pete did take a nip of his before leaving. We took his word that it was very good. He wouldn't take my credit card and yelled at me to pay with Euros. I don't know how I am going to sort out my expense report.

Thursday - 2nd day of training conference. I had 5 50-minute presentations. Paul had 2 50-minute presentations. Juliet arranged for all that wanted to participate to go to a Spanish restaurant in Mannheim. This restaurant has flamenco dancers who perform on a small stage. About 2o of us participated. The menu was in Spanish with German subtitles. I could figure out the foods in Spanish. I ordered an amazing grilled salmon dish. The Europeans are so laid back. We were at the restaurant for 4 hours. They just drank a little, ate a little, and talked and laughed and enjoyed the dancing. I was dying! I had to pack, and work, and talk to my family. I thought about how little time we spend eating our dinner. I decided that I am in too much of a hurry and it would be good if I slowed down every once in a while. I really enjoyed visiting with our foreign customers. They asked us a lot of interesting questions about the US government, geography, schools, etc. You could tell they were trying to make sense of things they had read or heard about the US. They are such generous, laid back, and kind people. I loved learning a bit about them. They did not share much though, because they kept asking us question. The funniest was asking us to explain different US phrases like "pulling your leg" and "your name is mud".

Friday - last day of conference. We had a wrap up, but ended early. Our customers presented with the most beautiful handmade rose leis. Paul and I drove to Frankfurt. That is where I am right now. We are staying in a high rise hotel right in down town. This is an amazing city. Very big, and modern. After we checked in, we walked to the down town shopping area. We found a urban fusion restaurant. We have a policy about only eating at a restaurant where the menu has English subtitles if there is no one with us to translate, but we were hungry and this place looked good. There were enough words that we could pick out by now like pizza, pita, chicken!, curry, etc. I ordered a chicken curry dish and it was amazing. I did accidentally eat a mushroom instead of a piece of chicken, but I didn't die. :) We are taking it easy tonight and eating at the hotel. My flight leaves in the morning. I am ready to get home to my kids. My in laws were nice enough to stay with them, so Tyler could work. I got to talk to them on the phone today and they seem to be in good spirits.

***I arrived home safely on Saturday afternoon. I am finally feeling back to normal. I had to wait and post this in the US, because my spell check was in German and I was too embarrassed to post without it. After running it this morning, I am glad that I didn't post!

Conclusion:

• I actually like Germany. I am pleasantly surprised by this, and it makes me want to see more of Europe. My instincts are much better than when I travelled overseas back in 2000. I guess I grew up a bit in the last 10 years.

• I cannot read, understand, or speak German. I should not even try to say the words I see written on signs. It feels like my brain can pronounce them, but when I speak them it sounds ridiculous.


• I am an American! I enjoy quick and convenient things. I like alarm clocks in my hotel rooms, and TV that I can understand. I will try to slow down when I eat, but 4 hours is way too long for a dinner out!

Cross Country

I love Jack's elementary school. They have such fun programs. During the fall, the kids can participate in cross country. They practice on Tuesday and Thursday after school. At the end of the season, they have a track meet against another elementary school (each grade races separately). They have one more huge track meet at the high school against all of the schools in the district. I only had my camera at the first meet. Here is a play by play.

The starting line up

half way around the course

Sprinting towards the finish line (love the grasping of heart)

A happy finisher! (They get cookies)

In reality, Jack finishes right in the middle of the group. In Jack's estimation, he is pretty close to winning. "Probably 4th or 6th". I love Jack - he is such a positive kid, and he gives everything he has to everything he does.

Jack is also taking piano lessons right now, and is pretty good. He loves it, so that helps a lot. We have a great teacher that comes to our house which helps me out a lot. He is also loving scouts and is busy every night with homework. He is always interested in adding activities, but I am hesitant to overload him. Right now he wants to take a martial arts class. We'll see what is next for Jack!

Sam's Surgery

After Sam's scary penicillin allergy our doc sent us to see an Ear Nose Throat doctor. He checked out both Jack and Sam. While Jack's tonsils were on the larger size, Sam's were gigantic and causing him to mouth breath, so we scheduled him for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy on Oct 14th.

The kids had the funniest reactions. Jack was very jealous that Sam got to have surgery and he didn't, and Sam was excited to go to the "blue hospital" where he was "borned". When we got to the hospital, Sam was darling. He was all grins and enjoyed having mom all to himself. He was polite and quiet and practiced using the mask on himself and his dragon named "drag-o". All the nurses gathered for his enactment of how he would fall asleep after he got the gas. When they gave him the meds to relax him, he was absolutely hysterical. He got all glazed and was amazed by my hair. He decided that his surgery doll was a Super Dentist that was saving the world. More nurses gathered to enjoy the fun. He went right back and had no problems breathing in the mask. He really wanted to blow up the purple balloon for the doc.

Surgery went great, and he was very calm in recovery. He ate his applesauce, and drank some juice and they sent us home with the normal warnings.
And then the fun begins... Carrying him into the house from the car, he tells me that he feels like he is going to throw up. I put him on the counter in the bathroom and run to get a bowl. I come back and he is a black puddle of blood. Scary. I lay him down, and give him his meds. He throws up another bowl full of red blood. After several repeats, I call the doctor. I try to explain the amount of blood, and that his nose is bleeding and wont stop. We try everything he says and it continues, so he tells us to go to the ER. Luckily I handed Sam a barf bag, because he threw up two more times on the way and in the lobby. He was pale, and tired, and miserable. They gave him some anti-nausea meds and and IV full of fluids. He stopped throwing up, and the clots were able to form on his adenoids. If he would have bled one more time, he would have had to go back to surgery for more cauterization. They moved us to peds and we got to sleep overnight. Sam was very very mad about that. I had told him he didn't have to sleep overnight at the hospital. I lied, and I learned a lesson about not promising things that I cannot control. He is doing fine now. Still pretty drained and whiny! They said his voice would change, but now he sounds like Mickey Mouse. I wonder if it will change back.

I handled this all surprisingly well, because this is just the way things have been going for me lately. If you are close to me and start to have bad luck, sorry it is probably just me.

3rd Grade

A little late for the first day of school post, but better late than never. Jack LOVES 3rd grade. He was a bit nervous, because he thought the homework was going to be really really hard. I had a talk with him about the workbooks he had done this summer - they were 3rd grade level, and they weren't hard. Good ol' Jack came back to me and quickly agreed that he is very smart and very good at things like math, spelling, and science. He was a little disappointed that none of his friends were in his class, but got over that quickly too - he can still play with them at recess.

He was most excited about his shirt. If you can't read it, it says "homework does not compute". He thinks that this is hilarious and likes to look in the mirror. He came home from the first day very excited. His teacher has a ton of incentives that he is all over. The rules were similar to what he was used to, so he felt like he would be ok with them. He has three pages of homework each day, and he comes up with a lot of "strategies" for completing his work. I get to hear detailed explanations of his strategies as I correct his work. I think his teacher must talk about strategy. He also reports to me every person in class who got in trouble that day and lets me know that he has yet to even receive a warning. He thinks that he is the best behaved kid in class, and might get student of the month, because he is really "displaying all of the character traits." He also started cross country, and after the first practice I asked him how he did. He said, "I did great, I ran until I couldn't." I would love to know if that meant, a few yards, half way, almost to the end? I didn't press him for that information. I want him to always think he is doing great.

Jack is also working very hard to earn his wolf badge in scouts. We only have a few more things to pass off.

Sam is in preschool. I am not sure why I didn't take pictures. Maybe later this week, and then I will post about his adventures. They are many!

The last hurrah

We always try to do something fun the last weekend of the summer before school starts. This year, we had free passes to Silver Wood (local amusement park). Before we could go, Jack and I went to a baptism of his good friends Zach and Savannah (twins). On the way home, the fire fighters were in the street collecting money for Jerry's Kids. I told Jack to roll down his window. We were in the prism which does not have automatic windows. Jack looked at me like I spoke a different language and asked, "How do I do that?" Am I seriously getting old enough that kids don't know how to roll down a window? Once we got home from the baptism and made a quick change, we loaded up in the car for a fun trip!

When we got into the gates, Sam looks at me and says, "Mom, just drop me off in the kid's area." He was totally serious as if it as OK to just drop my 4 year old off to play on his own. For a while, we stuck together while Jack and one of the grownups rode a big ride. Jack is fearless and wants to ride every thing possible. Here are some fun pictures of him and Tyler on the Panic Plunge. He was not nervous at all.

Then we moved to the kids area where we all rode the elephants. This is the first ride for Logan. He LOVED it. The lady yelled at me to make him sit down, but I couldn't keep him in his seat. He wanted to push the green button that made us go up high. I also love that Jack was just as happy to ride the kid's rides with Sam. He is such a cute big brother.

After a round on the kids rides and some lunch, we split up. Tyler went with Jack for a while, and I hung out with the kids. Sam was hilarious. He would get in line, and then make a friend. He would spend the whole time in line making plans with his "friend". They would discuss which color they were going to ride and what their "mission" was going to be. If he saw a baby, he would tell me that it was Logan's friend. Logan was so good in his stroller. He didn't take a nap, and didn't melt down once. We stayed until closing (10:30 pm). As soon as Sam and Logan got into the car, they were zonked out.

Tyler switched with me, so that I could ride some with Jack. I love rides too, and I can ride almost anything. Age has made me a bit queasy on the round and round rides, so I only ride a few of them. Coasters are my favorite. It is so fun standing in line with Jack. We have awesome conversations about anything that pops into his head. Plus he holds my hand and thanks me over and over again. I like him at this age. I like that he likes me.

Today (Monday/Labor Day) we got a bonus fun day. What do you do for fun when you are married to a total geek and live with three dirty little boys? You go digging for garnets. Tyler did not explain this to me very well, so I was not prepared. He said we would get "a little dirty". When do we not get a little dirty? I dressed the boys in their cute outfits and off we went.

To find garnets, you first dig holes from a big pile of dirt, clay, and rocks and put what you dig into buckets. You can have two buckets per person. I figured 1 bucket per person was plenty.

After your buckets are full (and very heavy), you go to a sifting area where you sit on dirty buckets and sift out the sand. Our four buckets yielded one full (and very very heavy) bucket of rocks. Then you go to a washing area and clean your rocks to see if any of them are garnets. Seriously, a little dirty Tyler?!? This is also the spot where you ask each other 5000 times, "Is this one?" I loved that they all kept asking me like I had ever done this before." I just said sure to every question. When you find the garnets, you put them in to a baggy.

After a couple of hours of this, you think phew our bucket is empty and we have some garnets in a baggy. Lets go to a cute restaurant and eat something, but that is when your geeky husband and his prodigy decide that you definitely need to go dig some more. So off you go to fill another bucket, which actually ends up being two buckets. Then repeat the steps and now we have more garnets in our baggy. This time, I found some large ones that got praise from the bored forest service guy who stands around and answers the question, "Is this one?" When you are done, you take the baggy to the forest service desk. They shamefully go through your bag and pick out the rocks that apparently are not garnets, and weigh those that are. We came away with 4 oz. This, I was told, is pretty good. The limit is 5 lbs per person. They assured me that no one ever gets the limit. Jack was pretty happy with his bag. He is going to use them to start his rock collection for one of his cub scout requirements. I will put the bag next to the other bag of rocks and the box of fossils that we keep in his closet. Hint to Tyler, NO MORE ROCKS!

After garnet hunting we were going to go to Paul Bunyan Day's (or as Sam says, Small Onion's Days) in St Maries Idaho, but we were "a little dirty", and it was all shut down. We ended up driving home and grabbing some dinner on the road, so that we could get Jack in bed on time. Tomorrow I will take the traditional pictures of him standing on our porch in his darling school outfit going off to 3rd grade. We had a great summer, and we will miss the freedom!

P.S. To the locals that read my blog, garnet hunting season ended today. Sorry, you will have to wait until next year. Also, you will not get a little dirty. People were wearing rain gear and boots. Additionaly, if you tell your four year old to stay out of the muddy puddles, people will laugh at you.

Out of town - again.

I guess this post will be about me and not the kids. That doesn't happen very often. I am in a hotel in Orlando Florida missing my cute family and getting ready to go home. At the same time, I am enjoying myself very much. Every year, my company throws a user's conference. Earlier this year, I received a promotion to product manager and my career - life has changed a lot since then! For this conference, I have given 6 different presentations in 4 days. One in front of the entire group (~250 people). I have gotten reacquainted with customers and colleagues that I spent a lot of time back in the day before I had kids and stopped traveling. I have also met a lot of people that I have only spoken to over the phone for the last few years. I am very lucky to have some of the greatest people to work with. My new job as product manager means that I am responsible for determining the future road map for our product. It means that I have to listen to my customers and then decide what will be best for all of us. I have spent many years of my career taking the customer requirements - creating a design document and then working with programmers to develop the software to the requirement of the users, but I was never the one that decided which features to include. It is scary to be in this position, but it is also really exciting. I love working with people who have a passion for their jobs and are dedicated to protecting their employees and the environment. Also, the hotel is amazing! There are alligators in the pond outside of my room in a giant atrium. Crazy! I also found out today that I get to go to Germany the first week of November. I will be getting a new passport as soon as I go home.

The best part is that tomorrow my brother David and his family are coming from Tampa to visit me. I cannot wait to see them and meet their little baby Lucas for the first time. It is also wonderful that my parents flew out to CdA last weekend to spend this week with my family. It is much easier to relax and concentrate here when I know they are home taking care of my boys (including Tyler). Apparently, mom made them meatloaf and it was the best thing they had ever eaten. Definitely not one of the meals that I make; I still do not eat hamburger and have not since I was 11 years old. We don't usually have it at our house, but Tyler had a client that gave him 20 lbs as a thank you. It has been fun teasing him about what he will get next - chickens, pigs?

I will be home Friday - my boys better get ready for lots of hugs and kisses. I miss them!

Happy Birthday to Sam!

Sam turned 4 on the 15th. This was a fun birthday year; Sam asked every day for several weeks, "what day is it today?" He was very excited. As excited as he was, he could not tell us what he wanted for his birthday presents. He could only provide general instructions like, "I want that star wars guy, and that star wars be-hicle (vehicle)." Tyler's parents came, and we decided that we would just take him to Toys R Us and let him show us what he liked. Then he went to the car with grandma; grandpa, Jack, and I stayed behind and picked out some of the items. He also wanted everything spiderman. I decorated the kitchen table, and he was so cute and excited when he woke up. He about burst when he saw his presents all wrapped up and waiting. He kept picking them up and asking me, "Is this one my star wars guy?" He would go through the whole list of items that he saw at Toys R Us. After church, we opened presents, sang, and had cake. He was so excited about everything he opened. It was a lot of fun to watch him concentrate on opening. I love this picture of him with his tongue hanging out. That is such a "Ballard" thing.
I am also glad that he was thrilled with his spiderman cake. I get off pretty easy when all he needs is a spiderman candle to be thrilled with his cake.

Then we went for a drive to explore a new area. We found people picking huckleberries, so we joined the fun. We picked enough to make a home made huckleberry cobbler. Sam sat on a stump and ate huckleberries. Jack was all business and picked his purple little fingers off. Logan enjoyed being carried in the back pack and loved getting a huckleberry popped into his mouth every once in a while. For dinner, Sam requested pasta bake. I also made chicken parmesan and everyone gobbled up dinner.

I don't know where the time has gone, I still think of Sam still as my baby. He is getting all lanky and grown up. I miss his chubby hands and feet. Luckily, his cheeks are still soft and squishy, and oh that grin...! He also tells me that I am beautiful almost every day. I love my Sam!

It also must be documented that this is the 3rd year in a row that he got to his cake before it was served and used his fingers to get a little taste!

Are you kidding me?!?

It has been crazy around here. I got back from my trip to Alabama and then my brother Steve and his family came to visit the next week. We had so much fun, and I planned to post all about it, but Emily posted today and she did a great job. If you want to read about it, click here.

After they left, I had the busiest week of my whole life. I had several deadlines at work, a busy YW week, swimming lessons, scouts, and everything else that comes along with 3 little boys. I ended up working until swimming lessons almost every night, then staying up late to get everything else done. That would have been enough, but Sam started throwing up and had a fever - again. Being the best mom on the planet, I gave him Tylenol and made him go to swimming lessons. In my defense, what was I supposed to do with him while the other two had swimming lessons and swimming lessons are expensive! Don't worry I still feel guilty. Then Sam stuck his tongue out at me (in a totally darling way, not a naughty way :) cuz that is what kind of kid he is cuz I am such a great mom). It was covered in a white crust. So gross! From experience, I knew that Sam had a nasty strep infection and needed antibiotics. I took him into the instant care, they did a rapid strep test, and sure enough it was strep. We picked up the yucky pink medicine and started the fun. He felt better after the first dose, so we went about our daily routine. This consisted of me realizing at 2:30 in the afternoon that no one had eaten and asking Jack to feed them lunch. Nice.

Fast Forward to Tuesday. Work has calmed down, and things are almost back to normal when I notice that Sam has some spots on his belly as he got out of the pool. I called his pediatrician and scheduled an appointment for the next morning. When he woke up, he looked like this.

We rushed in and guess who is allergic to penicillin. He has had it several times without a reaction, and he had 8 out of 10 days worth of medicine, but from now on - penicillin is forbidden! I kept him home from swimming lessons last night; can you imagine what you would think if a kid got into the pool looking like this? The dilemma is what to do today. It is the last day, and Tyler is in Canada. Do I take him and risk the stares? Should I make a t-shirt that says, "I am not contagious!"? Or do I skip it all together and go the grand opening of Hobby Lobby?

The Great Goggle Debacle!

Maybe, I should buy this poor kid some goggles. The problem is that I hate goggles. They never fit right, so the kids spend the whole time at swimming lessons adjusting their goggles instead of learning how to swim. The rubber piece breaks off, so you have to tie them with knots. Then they don't adjust properly, they are too loose, or too tight. All of these problems trigger whining.

This year, I have deflected the goggle request, but the other kid in Jack's classes has goggles. Oh the horror! Yesterday about a 1/2 hour before we left for lessons, Jack came up with a brilliant plan. I am pretty proud of myself. Instead of telling him that there was no way this was going to work, I took his directions, tied his knots, and almost kept a straight face. When he saw me smiling he said, "You are going to take a picture of this and put it on your blog aren't you?" Yes goofball, I am! After the bottles failed, he found a second alternative. A battery package was a lot closer to the proper shape, but alas it did not keep water out of his eyes. Then he asked Tyler to buy him goggles. Tyler said no, and he cried. Good times!

Poor Tyler

This week I am on a business trip in Huntsville Alabama. I thought I had everything taken care of back home. - Day care arranged, lists made for each day, laundry done, etc. On Monday morning I dropped the kids off at the day care. Cried for a minute, because it is the longest I have been away from my baby. Pulled myself together and got to the airport. Spent the next 10 hours on three different flights, and arrived safely in Huntsville. I was tired, but I woke up the next day early so we could meet with the folks at Redstone Arsenal. Then I got the first text from Tyler. "It said, Sam has a fever." Instead of following my perfect plans that were left behind, Tyler had to cancel his full day of appointments to stay home with a sick kid. Today, Sam was fine, so Tyler sent the kids to day care and worked hard to make up for his lost day. Then tonight, I get a text that says, "Logan just puked all over the van." I guess Tyler is getting a dose of the reality of single parenting. I feel so bad that I am not there to take care of my sick babies, but I know Tyler has it all under control. He HAS to be in court tomorrow, so hopefully all kids will be fine and able to go to day care. So much for my super organizational skills making everything run smoothly while I am gone. :)

Here in Alabama, it is 100 degrees with 75% humidity. My hair is UGLY, my makeup lasts only a few hours until I sweat it off, and today I got chewed out by a lady who thinks we "lied" about her in a meeting. I will be glad to go home tomorrow night even thought I don't get in until midnight. I have one more meeting at NASA Marshall Space Flight center in the morning - I don't anticipate any yelling, but you never know... I can't believe I used to travel like this all of the time. It is a lot of work, and I am exhausted.

Our trip to Utah

This will be a fairly long post highlighting all of the fun we had in Utah over the 4th of July.

We made the LONG (11hr) drive with out any incident. I found out that Jack can ask questions about volcanos and thunder storms for several hours without a break, and Tyler can answer them all. We dropped Tyler off in Idaho Falls where he joined his dad and brother for their annual fishing trip. They ended up in the Island Park/Yellowstone area. Here are a few pictures of their trip.

On June 27th, we had the privilege of baptising Jack. He was very excited and very prepared for this day. I held it together even though I was so overwhelmed I wanted to cry and cry. Jack brings me so much joy and pleasure, and I am so happy that he made the decision go be baptised. After the baptism, we had brownie sundaes at my parent's home. Yummy!

The very next day was our 15th anniversary. We are normally big losers when it comes to anniversaries, but figured we better at least go out for our 15th. We ate at Rickenbackers which is another of my brother Steve's restaurants. It is a great steakhouse with a fantastic view. If you are in Ogden and want a nice sit down dinner, it is yummy. Make sure you try the butternut squash ravioli appetizer. I got sidetracked by food... The real story is that to my surprise, Tyler pulled out a jewelry box. Never a bad thing! He gave me this beautiful anniversary ring that I love. I was floored! He was so nervous, like he was asking me to marry him or something. It was very cute, and I love love love the ring.

The next big item on the agenda was a trip to Lagoon. It was a lot of fun. Jack is fearless and loves all of the rides. He was big enough to ride everything this year, so he did. Tyler was able to come which was a real treat. We all loved the ride called Wicked. It is amazing! Sam liked all of the kid rides and had fun hanging out with his cousin Lucy. They made up stories for each ride, like we are going to Costco in our spaceships... We were there from open to close. My mom took all of us, and it was a blast to hang out with her all day. Thanks Mom! I didn't take a ton of pictures, but these three are a perfect representation of the day: all of the kids enjoying their time together, Jack showing exactly how he felt about riding the "baby" rides with Sam (never complained!), and what happens when you make a 3 year old hang out from open to close.Finally, the 3rd of July celebrations. We went to the North Ogden Cherry Day Parade (took no pictures!), and some of us went to Cherry Days at the park (reliving our childhood). Then we had a slip and slide and water balloon games at my moms before we had a yummy dinner that she prepared for us - this makes it even yummier. As soon as it was dark, my pyro brother Mike and his lovely assistant Steve put on our annual fire works show :) It was a blast, and I was horrible taking pics that day. This the only picture of the evening worth posting. Happy 4th from Adam!And if anyone is counting, I ate at Sonora Grill 4 times - I was there for 9 days. Totally wish I would have gone back at least one more time.

I must end with the quote of the trip. This was a conversation in the van when I took Jack, Jake, and Lucy to Michaels to pick out their crafts.

Jake, "Jack! Your getting baptized on Sunday, there are firework stands everywhere, this is freaking me out!"

Muffled voices about Jake giving Jack a swirly...

Lucy, "Jake, I am seriously going to tell your mom, seriously!"

Jake, "Lucy, you don't understand! Jack wants a swirly! I wont get in trouble."

Jack, "Do you guys know how thunderstorms are formed?"

Lucy, "No, and I don't want to." (Coke might or might not have spit out my nose!)

Jake, "Lucy! Shut up, I totally want to hear this."

Jack gives his explanation.

Jake, "Jack, how do you know all of this stuff."

Jack, "I read it in books, mostly non-fiction."

And then they start talking about Star Wars. Hilarious kids! Jack also gave the cousins a lesson about Venus Fly Traps, but his "Science" lessons were not as intense as they were during our Yellowstone trip.

Congrats to those who made it through this entire post!!!

On our way...

We leave first thing in the morning for our annual 4th of July trip to Utah. The kids are very excited; Sam is so excited that he can't wear a shirt. ~I don't get it either, but he is half naked right now and seems to be very happy about it. He tried to convince me that his shorts were making him cold, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

If any of my Utah friends want to meet up for lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks, let me know. I know this place...

Here are a few of the fun items on the agenda: Tyler fishing in Montana, Jack's baptism, Lagoon, Crafts with Lucy and Jake (b-days), 15th anniversary, Ballard family 4th of July extravaganza, COUSINS, Grandmas and Grandpas, catching up with friends, and so much more!

A girl in the house

It is the time of year when all the young people 14 - 18 years old go on "trek". I find trek to be a funny Mormon phenomenon. I think that our pioneer ancestors are looking down saying, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS??? Are you crazy? You have cars! It's OK for girls to wear pants! We did this so you didn't have to!" :) That is why I have not and never foresee being asked in the future to be a "ma" on trek. I do have several wonderfully obedient, serving, humble friends that are gladly dressed like pioneers trekking through the desert as we speak. One of those friends asked us if their 8 year old daughter, Rachel, could come stay with us when they were gone. Rachel has been Jack's best friend since he was 4, so we happily said yes.

Having a girl around has been so strange. She listens to me when I tell her something. She actually does what I ask...the first time. She wants to play with the baby all of the time. When I ask the boys, "Where's Logan?" He could be sitting on their head, and they would have no idea. When I ask her where Logan is, she knows. She put him there, and she is keeping him entertained. She can hardly stand it when he naps. She keeps getting him out of his crib. That part is pretty funny. Jack just looks at me and says, "I don't know why, she just did it." Rachel likes everything I feed her. She doesn't ask me for anything. Instead, she quietly says, "Jack I need to tell you something." They leave and I hear whispers. Then Jack comes and says, "Mom, can Rachel, I mean we, get Logan out of his crib?" She makes up fantastic games where Jack and Sam are exterminators and she is a Walmart employee who sells them their gear. She lets Jack tell her all about the critters he is exterminating. She is so patient with Sam and makes sure he is included in everything. They didn't even watch TV today! Plus when Jack does some obnoxious boy thing, I catch her rolling her eyes at him.

The best part is that she has several different pairs of shoes packed in a ziploc bag and bracelets and earrings to match each outfit all packed into a darling pink suitcase. I watched her go through them this morning trying to decide which ones to wear. It is kind of nice having another girl around. Tomorrow she will go back to her family and things will be back to their loud, crazy, normal self again. No one will be wearing bracelets, and no one will know where Logan is!

Yellowstone!

Back in 1999, the Ballard family took a family vacation to Yellowstone after attending a family wedding in Jackson Hole. We had so much fun together. My brother Mike and I were the only married kids, and this was the first time we had vacationed together since any of us were married. This is my scrapbook page from back then. (Love the old school scrapbook pages!)

Fast forward to 2010...we decided to do it again. You can read my sister in laws post for details and more pics. This time we had Mom and Dad, Me + 3 (Tyler had to stay home), Mike + 4, Steve + 6, and Karen +1. We were missing David and his family. They were definitely in our thoughts throughout the trip. Love you guys! If you add this all up it equals 10 adults and 10 little kids all under 10 years old. Here is a pic of some of us.

Tyler couldn't go because he had a trial during the trip that he couldn't get out of, but I thought I could handle it on my own. My family would be there to help. The drive over was great. Jack is an amazing car traveler and he takes care of the other two for me. Our DVD player broke before we were at the end of the street, so we did make a pit stop to Walmart to purchase another one. It was the only way I could do this on my own.

The first day of our trip was rainy and cold! We were so wet, and it was hard on the little ones. I volunteered to take the little kids back to my cabin while the other adults and bigger kids enjoyed a few more attractions. On the drive home, this is what happened:

I carried each of them into the cabin where they all woke up. I fed them cookies and played with them until the rest of our group came back. Gretchen (girlie in the blue and pink jacket) is so much fun. She loves to "babysit" She wanted to bath Logan and Myckaleigh as soon as we arrived. We just loved them and held them instead, because the cabins did not have bath tubs. I had fun holding both Logan and Mychaleigh at the same time; neither of them liked me holding the other alone.

Jack and Jake didn't mind the rain at all. They were having fun in their rain ponchos.

The next day was beautiful. We hiked a lot, saw lots of buffalo, elk, and even a coyote. When we saw the coyote, Sam said, "Mom are we in Africa?" I carried Logan in my Kelty pack and several adults tried to keep track of Sam. Sam was a little difficult. He would take of running and wanted to be carried a lot. This picture is a perfect representation of Sam on our Yellowstone trip.

Here is a fun picture of me with all three of my boys. I need to remember to get in front of the camera every once in a while. I definitely like taking the pictures better than being in them, but this is a fun picture of all of us.

I am so glad my family planned this trip, and that I was able to go. I love them all, and I think we travel together very well. I can't wait to see them all over the 4th.

I will finish with a few great quotes from the trip:

Jack: "I don't need to get out to see the buffalo unless they are going to head butt."

Jack: "Wow that Yellowstone movie was really good, I didn't pay attention at all last time."
Jack: "Can I have a pocket knife?" repeated 5000 times until I gave in!

Jack: "Do you see this spear? I am pretty sure it was made by Indians." Holding a freshly sharpened stick probably used for some hot dog roasting the night before.

Jack: "Those Elk are probably domesticated, Buffalo are herbivores, Bears are carnivores, fish are intelligent, and every other fact he knows about animals." Repeated throughout the whole trip. Seriously, I sat through a lecture about the mating habits of cuddle fish. I can't wait for him to ask me what mating is. Maybe he already knows. UGHH.

Jack: "I am glad it is non toxic, or I would probably be dead by now." After he bit a hole into a glow stick and got it in his eyes and nose.

Sam: "Mom, what is that!?!" Pointing to the phone booth. An older couple stopped to listen to me try to explain it to Jack and Sam. They were laughing their heads off.

Sam: "Can I go to Grandma's cabinet?" He called our cabins cabinets. It was really cute.

Sam: "Carry ME!!!"

Sam: "My legs hurt! Give me tylenel!"

Sam: "But what about our friends?" I would say what friends, and he would answer, "You know our cousins!"

Sam: "Where are we going?" "But we already went to Yellowstone!"

Sam: The second we got into the car to leave, "I really miss Grandma."