In Which Abe Turns 43 and Goes to Space Camp

In what can only further solidify our position as one of geekiest families on the planet, we went to space camp for Abe's 43rd birthday last night. 
Not the whole family, mind you... we'll wait till Clark gets back for that.  No, we invited a few of our friends who we trusted would still like us after it was all said and done. 

 IT WAS AWESOME!!! Super fun!  I suppose the activity is mostly intended for children (it is located in an elementary school), but they can scale it for adults and it's really quite a riot.  It is stressful at times! I suppose it can best be described as being in a real life Star Trek episode.  If you're into Star Trek, which actually, I'm not, but I love space camp anyway.

Our captain giving us an inspirational speech before we began the mission.

Evan and Jeff--The security team.

Camille was the clear choice for tactical.  She just really wanted to blow things up.

Candice handled communications-- she was kept hopping!

They Thygersons kept busy with damage control.  Who knew there would be so much damage to control!

Keith was a no-brainer for engineer.  He is an engineer in real life and the coach of the robotics team. So...he didn't get much choice in the matter.  Keith and Camille are doing their training before the mission began.

Michelle was the helm (pilot) who safely steered us through some very tricky situations.

Frankly, some most of us had no clue what was going on most of the time, but no matter.  It was still so much fun.  I was the Captain's First Officer.  I was pretty much a waste of space on the ship as far as my usefulness, but once again, no matter. 

I do think they should invest in some adult size captain's uniforms.  These were a stretch (pun intended).

It's a pretty awesome setup.  The whole experience is great for working on problem solving.  Like when our ship got boarded and we all got stunned and had to leave the bridge.  Fortunately we were locked in a part of the ship where our armory was kept.  We got a hold of some guns and we took the Orion pirates down!  Action packed!

Captain Fox with Chief-of-Operations, Kendall.  I loved how Abe had nicknames for all his crew.  Kendall was just "Chief".  Michelle the Pilot was "M" and I was the First Officer "Number One" or "Hot One".

After the two and a half hour mission, we enjoyed dinner at Pizzeria Limone. 
Happy Birthday, Captain Fox!  I do love this adventure with you!

Pleased With Themselves

Why is Greta in a milk box?  Why not.  I have no explanation for this picture except that she fit and she was cute and she was exceedingly pleased with herself.  

You know who else should be exceedingly pleased with themselves?  THIS GIRL!  She just finished her first year of high school swim team and we couldn't have been prouder of her and her accomplishments! 

 I quite enjoyed spending Friday afternoon at her Regions meet-- where she finally got under 30 seconds on her 50 meter freestyle race.  29.99!! NAILED IT!

Getting into this fast skin suit was a workout and accomplishment all on its own.  That they can even move in them is a miracle!

She is pretty bummed that her season is over and is anxiously awaiting water polo tryouts in a couple of weeks.  She is the tall one in the center up on the blocks in this picture.

Elinor LOVES her Aunt Laura. And I love Aunt Laura who helps Elinor see tall is gorgeous!

I got quite a kick out of last Tuesday's Walmart run for individual half-gallons of ice cream.  Once again, why not?

Actually, for myself, I can think of several reasons I shouldn't down a half-gallon of ice cream.  But it was fun to watch them have at it.

This is my favorite picture of the week.  Since before Clark left, Cannon has been looking forward to going to an all day Heroscape tournament at a game store in Sandy.  Clark was really involved with these (roughly) monthly tournaments for the past several years and has let Cannon tag along for the last year or so.  

But seriously, what kind of mother would I be to let my nine year old hang out alone at a game store with teenagers and grown men?  

I AM SO GRATEFUL to Zach who let Cannon tag along with him.  Clark introduced the game to Zach when he was younger and sort of showed him the ropes.  Clark was like a big brother to Zach and now my heart is swelled with gratitude to him for being a big brother to Cannon.

So Little Miss Greta isn't talking at all yet.  Lots of babbling.  Lots of intonations.  Lots of non-verbal gesturing.  But no words.  So we've started down the path of speech therapy-- just like we did with Peter.  And just like Peter, she has an appointment scheduled with an ENT this week, because I'm quite certain she has fluid in her ears and can't hear a darn thing.  

Kind of bummer, but at least we knew what to look for this time around.  

Even with her ear infections and fluid in her ears, she is still a sweetie.  No really... I have seen the other side (with a child who shall remain nameless) and I do not take for granted a child who  doesn't scream all the time.  Once again, not naming names.

I found a whole series of muscle-selfies on my phone the other day.  I thought this would have been more of boy thing, but Faith relishes her beefcake status in this house.  She's been practicing her tumbling a lot and it's exciting to see her get so fast with her back hand springs and solidify her tricks.

Go Utes! Did I Just Say That?

The evening was meant to be a girls night out with the three older girls (sorry, Greta!)  But then Elinor got a babysitting job and she's pretty much broke, so she did the responsible thing and worked rather than played.  And we missed her, but like any loving family, we partied without her. 
The girls and I went to the gymnastics meet up at the University of Utah.  Once again Faith got season tickets for Christmas and we've thoroughly enjoyed starting this new tradition. 

Bethany's friend Connor came along and used Elinor's ticket and was cooperative in taking the obligatory bad selfie picture I insisted we take on Trax.  What a good sport!
Yeah, I didn't give much of a choice since I was holding his ticket ransom.

The girls...

Being a good sport again. 
Why do I do this to myself?  Why do I continue to post these most unflattering pictures?  When I was younger I would NEVER have willingly shared pictures with the world in which I had quite so many chins.  I feel certain that a picture like this in the 8th grade would have completely undone me.  You hear what I'm saying, right?  I suppose that is about the best thing about getting older--- you just do not care anymore!!!  I had a grand time with grand people and I want to remember it and that's all there is to it.  I'm telling you, getting older isn't all bad.

Sugar and spice and everything nice.  This is a favorite spot of her's lately.  I like it!  I also like her hair style here.  We do try, but she pulls out her little elastics when she takes naps.

More.

She really is too much sweetness for our family.

His nickname is Mr. Dancey Pants.  He dances-- quite a lot.

And today I discovered that a ballet bar in the living rooms makes a perfect drying rack for wet snow clothes.  That's what's been missing from my life!

He talks to me about different ballet combinations.  It's like he's fluent in French now and I have absolutely no clue what he is talking about.  I can't be one of those dance moms, because I can't even understand a single word he says.  It's all Greek to me.  Well, French, but...

Faith wanted to miss one of her gymnastics classes this week because she'd been invited to a birthday party at a trampoline gym that conflicted with her class time.  So we  made a deal.  She had to turn in a total of 1000 practice back handsprings in order for me to take her to the party.  The little work horse did them all!  Here she is with her tally sheets.

Poor little sickies were both down with ear infections this week.  Peter got tubes just before he turned 2, but one of the tubes has come out and that's the ear that's hurting him.  Greta doesn't have tubes, but I think she'll be getting them sooner rather than later.  Kids can't learn to speak if they can't hear.  And as we learned with Peter, they can still scream if they can't hear.  Theoretically, if they can hear, then they can learn to speak and then (if we're lucky) they can use words rather than screaming.  And THAT is the goal.
I think it is a reasonable goal.

The Greatest "Snowman"

Be still my heart! 
Saturday is P-Day for Clark in the MTC!
I've been sending Clark packages each week he's been gone.  Besides very heartfelt prayers, it's about all I can do for him.  But I did ask something in return this week-- a picture of just him wearing his missionary tag.  He is a good boy and sent me one today.  Happy dance!
I love to read his letters and hear him share his testimony, but also share some of the funnies of a bunch of 18 and 19 year old boys living and learning together.  He's quite entertaining to me.

This picture?  I'd love to know more about it because 1) Clark doesn't wear glasses 2)Why is he wearing Abe's mission coat inside? 3)Who are his fellow dashing young missionaries?
We sent him off with Abe's old mission trench coat.  It was in good shape, it fit, and it was free.  But then I was feeling a little bad and thought his coat was outdated and maybe I should go buy him a new coat while coats are on sale.  I asked him and he said "NO!"  He said he liked the coat and it was an object of some notice in the MTC-- other missionaries hoping to trade for it. 
Who knew? 

Abe and I went to a movie this morning.  THIS MORNING!! You want to feel like you are shirking adult responsibilities?  Go to a movie before 11:00 am.  It was glorious.  We went to see The Greatest Showman and HOLY HANNAH!  It was.... I am really struggling to find words to describe just how much I loved it.  I've been listening to the music all day.  

In other very, very exciting news... as of Friday, Abe has officially left Winder Farms!  In November he started working for Business Promotions, consulting with dentist and orthodontists offices around the country (no traveling involved).  The company designs websites and does search engine optimization and such and it's great and he loves it and the work hours ROCK!!!  

We're so glad to have him around on Saturdays again!  And much to the joy of the children, we had our first snow of the season-- better late than never.  The snow looks pretty patchy in this picture, but it was much better on the actual hill.

Girl party!

It is so great to find a family with whom the ages of children match up AND you thoroughly enjoy one another's company.  The Chases have three kiddos that match up with our youngest three.  SCORE!  And fun on the sledding hill!

Dog pile, penguin style.

Preparing for the Mom Race-- head first on stomachs.  Pretty brave and crazy for us.

And we're off!

It's been a while since I've done good sledding-- with pregnancy and nursing babies and such.  Today was really fun.

Peter was a great sledding buddy.  Then we made a lot of snowballs and had a grand snowball fight.  I think some of my piano students we were sledding with had too much fun throwing snowballs at their piano teacher!  Rude!  But I suppose I had it coming.  Oh, and I totally retaliated.  Yep, I'm that kind of adult.

I hope we get some more snow this year for more sledding.  I don't think we quite got our fill for the year.

A  funny moment was when the girls buried Connor's head in snow and then we sang, "I can't feel my face when I'm with you."  So that's what that song is about!  Ha, ha, ha-- so funny.  My kids tell me I made jokes and then I crack up at my own jokes.  Guilty.

In the same way that Clark doesn't like ice skating,  Elinor is not a fan of sledding.  Most people like it, but she just doesn't want to do it.  Is it the cold?  It is the danger of hurtling down an icy hill?  Is it the trudging back up the hill to do it all again?  Whatever her reasons, she does not, and has not, liked sledding for quite some time.  So fortunately for me, she stayed home with little Greta while the rest of us played.

But she is lovely and if she doesn't want to sled, she doesn't have to sled. 

On a side note, the sledding hill was practically deserted.  How could this be?  It was the first snow of the season on a Saturday.  Well, I'll tell you.  There was a man-hunt for a criminal fugitive in the area.  I think there was a some sort of shelter-in-place lock down in nearby neighborhoods.  Ooh-- freaky!  All's well that ends well.  

Handy little snow shovelers this morning.