Zion National Park 2012

Let's begin this post with what may be my favorite ever picture of George.  At 26 months he is the youngest of all of our children to make his first visit to Zion National Park. 

Although we live in Utah and this park is only about four hours away and people travel here from all over the world to see the beautiful formations and hike the trails, we have never been.  How lame of us.
Well, I came for a very brief visit a few years back but I just rode the scenic tour bus up and back down the canyon.  I don't think that really counts.

Then again, by that criteria, today's visit shouldn't really count either.  But we did do a little bit more.  We ate lunch at a picnic table and "hiked" about 1/2 mile.  Not much more, but a little.

I am not complaining, merely stating a fact, but it's hard to do a lot more than that with this many littles in tow.

Clark opted out of this picture because we are annoying parents who take too many pictures.
And we needed a photographer.

The first lizard of the day was caught due in part to my annoying parenting techniques.
You see, Clark and Bethany were arguing about who was going to lead on the trail.  Clark argued that if Bethany went first she would scare all the lizards away before he could find them.  Bethany argued that Clark had no rights to permanent trail leadership.
Judge Mom sided with Bethany.  I ruled that whoever was fastest got to be first.  Oh cruel capitalist mommy!  Clark was mad, Bethany was sad because Clark was mad.  Family togetherness in the great outdoors can be a drag sometimes.
I called for a family meeting on the trail to make clear my verdict and beg for civility.  Just then, Clark spotted the first lizard of the day.  A big fat, juicy lizard that was too slow to get away!

Three cheers for Mom and her family meeting!!

And not to be outdone, Elinor quickly went over and snagged another one.
Like I said, they weren't terribly quick.

The three peaks are named the "Court of the Patriarchs".  They are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Someday I would love to come back to Zion National Park and do some real hikes.  But I will only come with people who swear an oath and sign their name in blood (or at least red ink) that they will NOT COMPLAIN about anything, including but not limited to, the heat, the distance of a hike, or hunger. 
I think that is very reasonable.

Is it because we home school and the kids are denied the opportunity to ride a school bus that makes any bus ride so special?  We haven't been on the airport shuttle bus for a while, but the last time we were on it "it rocked!"-- and according to Elinor it smelled so good.  This shuttle bus today had sun roofs and hand loops for standing passengers to hold on to.  George loved those hand loops so much he made monkey noises while trying to swing his body and almost kicked a nice German tourist lady in the face.

So the day was not all it could have been, but was perhaps as good as it could have been, all things considered.  There were some lovely moments and as the kids get older these things will get easier.  Right?

Can I get a "right", please.

Thank you.

Tuesday Evening

Do you see the hymnbook that Clark is holding?  It is tattered and torn and not only falling apart, but actually fallen apart.  This is the very hymnbook that I learned the hymns out of and now Clark uses it.  There are hundreds of little marks throughout the pages I made to mark sharps and flats in songs.  Clark, however, is quite a bit harder on it than I was and sadly it needs to be replaced. 

When I was 13 I was called to play the organ in an LDS ward in California.  It was terrifying and I practiced those hymns to death.  I would get bored so I would play them fast, jazzy, staccato-- any style to teach my fingers what to do.  I still remember the first hymn I ever played in church, "With Wondering Awe".  I played it so much that to this day I don't think I could play a wrong note if I tried.  I also remember playing "The Iron Rod" super fast in church because that was how I had practiced it.  I was so embarrassed when my family told me afterwards that I'd played it way to fast. 

I am in the process of picking out Christmas recital songs for all of my piano students, so I suppose piano is on my mind tonight.  Just a little trip down memory lane this evening.

Elinor has had a breakthrough.  She and I spent the last school year going the rounds getting her to focus on getting her school work done each day.  School days were long and when she chose not to do her work it carried over to the next day-- making for some long school weeks.

We're almost three weeks into this school year and this girl is on top of her school work every day!!  To quote her this evening, "I've gotten my school done every day and I don't plan on stopping!"

Hallelujah!!!  

Someday when all of my children are grown and gone I will attempt to count up all the pets we've ever owned.  It will be some obscene number.  It is already some obscene number and the younger three haven't even had any pets yet.  Currently we house "Fugitive" the garter snake (center), "Zeus" the rabbit (left), and "Pebbles" the cockatiel (right). 

Aren't you glad I told you where the animals were?  Lest you be confused thinking Bethany was holding a snake and Clark was holding a bird.

Side note about Pebbles-- we finally clipped her wings.  It was super easy and now she can't fly around the house.  I don't like any animals moving around the house and the bird was no exception.  Well, the bird roaming free would be better than the snake, but still--good cages make good pets.

I must give credit to these kids.  They really do take good care of their animals and I can't complain because I don't have to do much of anything.  The only thing I do is draw attention to any stinky animal odors and then they quickly get things situated.  I guess they know I mean business.  I'm mean that way.

I have no interest in hearing anyone else's food log.  I really don't care what you ate today or any day.  And I completely realize nobody wants to hear what I did or didn't eat today.  And yet, I am now going to use this blog as a sort of food confessional.  Sorry.

I baked 100 English tea scones for a progressive dinner our Relief Society did this evening.  I used tremendous amounts of butter and cream and the scones were scrumptious.
And I ate 40 of them.  With copious amounts of cream and jam.  And I don't feel nearly as bad about that as I should.

All right, it wasn't really 40 scones, but I am pretty sure it was in the double digits.  And there were plenty of leftovers so I'm probably not done with the scone damage this week. 

Winners and Losers

Grandpa is a winner for taking grandkids fishing at 5:00 AM on Labor Day.

Bethany and Faith on Mill Hollow Reservoir.

I was a winner for taking Cannon and George to the zoo while the kids were fishing.

I'm sorry to call my kid a loser, but Cannon was a loser for having a major pouting fit because I wouldn't buy him an animal shaped water bottle at the zoo.  I quote Cannon, "The only way I will be happy again is if you buy it for me."
Sorry kiddo, it's okay with me if you're sad for a while.

Abe is a winner for taking Clark, Beth, and Els to the BYU game on Saturday.  My Aunt gave us four tickets at the last minute and we jumped at the chance to go.

Clark and Bethany are winners for having a moment of peace together and sharing a slurpee at the game.  
The BYU football team is a winner because they won their game. 

And it was good to cheer for a winner, because sadly, Clark was a loser at his football game earlier in the day on Saturday.  And it wasn't even sort of close.  It was a blowout.  The kind of game that is painful for even a mother who doesn't really care about winning or losing to watch.

This dog is a loser.  Or rather its owners are losers.  Could it possibly be that my children are losers?  You be the judge.
I don't know whose dog it is, but it was wandering the neighborhood the other day and the kids were playing with it.  They named it Hunter, but then changed its name to Charlie.  Forty-five minutes was long enough for the seed of hope to sprout. The hope that perhaps Charlie had no home and Mom and Dad might let them keep him.
As you can see from the picture their wish was denied and the tears flowed freely. 

Clark is a winner for being uninhibited and enjoying an evening of vintage dancing with his friends.
His mom is a loser for embarrassing him by posting pictures for the world to see.

Georgie is a winner because he's two and its unacceptable to call your two year old a loser under any circumstance.  But he's got more in common with Clark than just the uniform.  I haven't encountered toddler tantrums like George's since the days of Clark's toddler tantrums.  I am afraid.  And I'm tired, but mostly afraid.

And now I will toot my own horn.  This is me at Clark's football game after I did my 20 mile training run yesterday.  I did it in just over 4 hours (great for me!) and I could still walk.  Surprisingly, this run was harder mentally than physically.  Today my body feels tired, but I'm not in any pain.  But mentally I feel completely used up.  It took a lot of mental energy to talk myself through 20 miles.

 In the first 10 miles I had moments of fear and panic.  I got concerned that if I wasn't feeling great at mile 9, how was I possibly going to make it to mile 18, 19, and 20.  I would tell myself I was going to complete this run, but I couldn't let myself think about the end of the run.  I had to focus on the "right now".  I told myself to just think about this mile I'm on right now.  Just keep going.  I did that for long enough and eventually I did finish.  Right now this is a good metaphor for me.  Don't panic about things, just keep going and trying and doing my best and eventually I'll make it through.

Don't you just love sports metaphors?

For the next three weeks I'll taper down my running and not go anywhere near as far as I have the last few weeks.   My training is pretty much done.
When I finished the half-marathon back in March I realized that the real accomplishment wasn't running the race as much as completing the training.  The training is long and lonely at times.  The training is the hard work.  The race is really the reward for doing the training.  I am feeling pretty proud of myself that I have diligently done my training and am now anxious for the big day.  I am glad that I have a bit of time to physically and mentally recover from these long training runs.

Sporty Spice

Abe and I went on a date this evening to Kohl's.  Armed with my 20% off coupon I had several items I was looking for.  All of a sudden Clark has outgrown just about every article of clothing he owns.  How did I miss that happening?
Abe and I were also in need of a few new things.  But as I've said before, I hate shopping.  I lack vision.

 I get very easily overwhelmed in big clothing departments, trying to pick out the clothes that are right for me.  It is paralyzing to me to have so many things to look at and try to find the needles in the haystacks.  I know I don't have a very well defined sense of style so that makes it even worse.  I am swayed by the trends, but I'm afraid it's always a year or two later than everyone else.  When I go shopping I usually end up wandering the aisles in despair and just want to go home and get in my jammies. 

I know I'd be an idiot to pay full price for anything at Kohls. They want me to think I'm getting a killer deal because it's 50% off!  Wow!!!  Except that if a shirt is originally marked at $38.00 and it's 50% off, then the shirt is still going to cost me $19.00.  That's not actually that great of a deal.  And just about EVERYTHING is on sale.  So besides being overstimulated by all the colors, shapes, and fabrics, my brain gets exhausted from all the math!!  I homeschool my children-- I get sick of doing math!  JUST PUT THE PRICE YOU WANT ON THE TAG!!!

Another style issue I've encountered is my insistence on wearing my tennis shoes every day.  Oh, sure, I'll put on my black sandals for fancy occasions, but since Cannon's pregnancy, I mostly stick with my tennis shoes.  I'm on my feet all day and I need to feel comfortable.  So even if I buy more stylish shirts and pants, I'm not going to give up my tennis shoes.  The contrast between my clothes and shoes makes me look even more clueless than I actually am.

As I aimlessly rummaged through the clearance racks this evening, trying to find shirts that spoke to me, I piled lots of "possibilities" in the cart.  Bless Abe's heart, he tried to help, but it wasn't going well.  I headed to the dressing room and even Abe, who usually says everything looks great on me, admitted that nothing was that great.  One shirt he said looked like it was covered in bird seed.  Another looked like lizard skin.  Dang, the night was going to be a bust.

But rather than making a beeline for my jammies at home, I was relieved to discover the plain, solid colored t-shirt rack. 
Did I sell myself short by purchasing 7 different colored t-shirts?
Perhaps.
But they were cute (relatively) and I felt comfortable in them.  I felt like me.  Dare I say I felt sporty?  Yes, I did.  I felt sporty.  I still have no idea what my clothing style is or should be.  But for the next few months it will be sporty.  And these shirts won't clash at all with my old running shoes.

For My Daughters and Daughters-in-Law

Dear Daughters and Daughters-in-law,

I pray that someday you will have a quiverful of clever, creative, energetic children.  They will be your life's work and will teach you and bless your lives in so many ways.  At times you won't quite know what to do with them.  You might think of me, your mother and mother-in-law and wonder how I did things in raising my children.  If I am wise like my own dear mother-in-law, I will offer you no advice whatsoever.  I will conveniently forget all my child raising years and tell you you are doing a wonderful job.  I'll let you pray about it and support you in however you decide to do things.  But I won't tell you what to do.

If I'm wise.  It's going to be hard for me to be that wise, but I'll try.

But if you really want to know what it was like around here when my kids were young, you can read this post and get a pretty good idea of the tone of the house-- the good and the rest.  Then you can see what I did wrong and "never do that with your kids", and hopefully a few things I did right.

Snapshots of the day:

-- Two days ago my friend gave us 3 boxes of Captain Crunch cereal she had stored in her basement that she bought on sale and were about to expire.  They are gone.  Mmmm, candy for breakfast!  We don't have a lot of sugar cereals but when they make their way into the house everybody wants in on the action.

--George subsists on chow mein noodles, roasted peanuts, frozen peas, and dry frosted mini wheats.  He's a heavy drinker, asking for bottles way too often.  Yes, he's 2 and he still drinks out of a bottle.  I don't believe in bottle-rot-teeth.

--My whole family might suffer death by chicken and rice.  When I run low on dinner ideas I resort to variations on a theme of chicken and rice.
I'm sick to death of chicken and rice.

--Clark was asked to be the pianist at the Stake Youth Standards Night last night.  He did a great job with his songs, but he was pretty nervous to be playing "on a larger stage".  I told him not to worry because if there was a need to worry, I would worry way before he needed to.  I'd let him know if he needed to worry.

--Bethany is eleven.  Clark explained to her that the reason she was being grouchy was because she was eleven and she was right in between being a kid and a teenager.  He reassured her that when she came all the way into teenage-hood it would be better.
True.

--Last year I swore off soccer.  I don't like soccer and I've never been good at it.  My kids aren't good at soccer either.  There, I said it.
Guess who we just signed up for soccer again?  Cannon, Faith and Elinor.  I have no idea how we're going to fit 3 soccer schedules into our family schedule.  Abe and I's plan is to "make it work".
That's my plan a lot.  Make it work.  That's a pretty good plan.  At least it's an optimistic plan.

--I spent several hours today finishing a book for my neighborhood book club this evening.  It was North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I did not love it, but I did love the chocolate cake we had for refreshments.  There is a severe price to be paid for spending several hours of the day reading a book.  The price will be paid tomorrow morning as I try to catch up on dishes, laundry, cleaning, checking school work, and vacuuming peanuts and chow mein noodles.

--The kids and I also finished the last couple of chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird.  So great and the older kids were enthralled.  I LOVE reading books together.  Last night and this morning, as I plowed my way through North and South, the kids grabbed their books and joined me for a read-a-thon.  Clark read Hunger Games, Bethany read Percy Jackson's Lightning Thief, Elinor read The Tale of Despereaux, and Faith did puzzles.  She's not so comfortable reading on her own, but she is making great progress.

--I need more sleep.  I'm happiest on 9 hours a night, but I'm regularly going on 7 hours a night.  Not enough.  But there are so many good, needful things to do.  Many good things which are best done while little ones sleep.  That's how I know I'm not depressed.  When I've been depressed I don't really want to do anything.  When I'm happy there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I'd like.
So I'm happy I'm happy, but I'd really like some more sleep.

--Elinor hurt her leg somehow today.  I don't know how serious she's wounded, but she did resort to army crawling around the house to relieve any pressure on her leg.  Clark took it upon himself to convince the family that she was overreacting.  This, of course, induced copious tears from a senstive nine-year-old.   She called every friend she has in the neighborhood and no one could play today.  Not her best day. 

--Bethany had a violin lesson today and then plead her case to be excused from practicing because she had a hard lesson.
No.  You still have to practice.
Tears from the eleven year old- "Mom, All I do is eat, sleep, drink and poop violin!"
Ouch!  That must be painful.

-- Cannon is about to give up napping.  Big sigh.  But I love to put him to bed for naps and at night because we do crazy kisses and crazy hugs.  I kiss him like crazy all over his cheeks and he squeals in delight and I can't get enough.  He's not really going to turn 5 next year is he? 

Now look, I've done it again!  It's past 11 o'clock and I'm only going to get 7 hours of sleep!  Someday if when you're exhausted from chronic lack of proper sleep and not enough hours to do all you need to do, you might call me in tears to ask advice on something with your children  I probably won't remember anything I wrote tonight.  But if you read this you'll know that at one time I knew exactly how you feel.

Temple Open House

Yesterday was our first day of school and I am happy to report that it went very smoothly.   But we don't want to rush into things too fast, so we started today off with an early morning field trip to the Brigham City Temple open house.

 

The temple was so beautiful that it was well worth the hour and a half drive each way.  We parked a little ways away and rode a charter bus to the temple.  George loved the bus rides!  In fact, throughout the open house tour he was quite vocal in his desire to get back on the bus.

It was a long day between our outing, school work, piano lessons, tae kwon do, football, friends playing, and meal preparation.  We're all tuckered out, so I was so thankful Bethany offered to paint my nails for me.  I think red toenail polish has magical powers.

I guess Bethany is on a mission to help us all look our best.  On Sunday she curled Faith's hair for her.  I am so grateful. 

We were all celebrating this evening when Faith got her back-handspring!!! She's been working on it for a while and she did it with Abe helping her this evening.  Hooray!!  Next up is her round-off back-handspring.

Cannon is a very social creature and would happily play all day every day with friends.  And fortunately he has several little friends in the neighborhood who rotate around to each other's houses to play.  I don't think any of my other little people played with friends so much when they were so young but he seems to thrive off it.  

As long as we only see these faces when they are playing tough guys.

Missing You

I am missing my blog. 

I haven't been writing as much because life has been busy-- that's my excuse.  But it makes me sad because I truly enjoy writing this blog.  It helps me process my life and my brain gets feeling rather muddled when I'm not writing frequently.  

Perhaps it seems that I am posting a lot of pictures of myself running.

That is true.  I am.  But I am running a lot and Abe likes to take pictures of me running, so there you have it.  
This was this past Saturday as the girls ran the last little bit of an 18 mile training run with me.  EIGHTEEN MILES!!! Can you believe it?  It is still shocking to me.  After the disastrous half marathon the previous Saturday I was very nervous for this run.  Actually, of all the training runs I've had to do this is the one I feared the most.  I'll do a 20 in a couple of weeks, but that doesn't scare me as much as this one did.  But miraculously, this was not so bad.  I mean, I was tired but not dead-tired.  I hurt, but not any acute alarming pain.  This gave me hope that a marathon was possible when last weekend I felt utter and complete dread.

And then look what my little Faith drew for me.  I tell you, she is an angel, an absolute angel

And then as if to prove to myself that I still had something left in the tank we decided to take the kids to the zoo.
 I've been meaning to buy a membership all summer.  In fact that was my plan for fun this summer-- buy a zoo membership and go a lot.  That's it.  That was the whole plan and I never did it.  Hmmm, maybe we should have had more fun this summer.

 I guess I just needed Abe there to finally do it.  It was hot, but WOW!!-the Hogle Zoo has come a long way.  In the past when family came from out of town they would ask about the zoo and I'd tell them, "Don't waste your time."  It is so much improved.  And I guess the word is out because it was also way more crowded than I have ever seen it before.  We homeschoolers should know better than to go to the zoo on Saturday.  You go during the week when all the kiddos are in school.

We loved the sea lions.  If I could pick an animal to be I think I'd like to be a sea lion.  Or maybe a sea otter.  They are cute.

Do you notice that Clark is missing?  He spent the day at a friend's house and told us we could do any family activity without him except go to Lagoon.
As it turns out he meant to put the zoo on that list as well.  He was bummed and it does seem very wrong to take the family to the zoo without Clark.  Good thing we have a membership now.  Anyone want to go to the zoo with us?

The days activities weren't over yet-- Saturday night we had our family book club in the park.  By this point I was feeling pretty wiped out, but it was relaxing to sit and talk with friends.  The chasing George around the park was not so relaxing but there were lots of helpers to keep tabs on him.

Bethany brought Zeus the bunny to the park to play and nibble on grass.  I was impressed that they didn't lose him, but he was on his leash.  The kids ran around non-stop playing games.
I did not join in any running games.

If you look really close you can see three figures standing on the rocks.  It's Clark and two friends.

There's a little closer up.

And there be the victorious hikers.  And I didn't even get too nervous while they were gone-- even though there were signs saying mountain lions had been reported in the area.  But even as I write this I'm thinking that maybe I should have been more nervous.  Oh well, all was well.

I suppose Abe did go on a Lagoon ride of sorts that evening.  David Flynn (in the Hawaiian shirt) recently got himself an impressive new car and took the menfolk for a joy ride at the end of book club. 
When questioned by the kids afterwards about the car and the ride Abe said he really liked our minivan because it could seat our whole family.  Really, what else could he say? 

I don't know if it can get much better than this.

Or this.

Catch the Vision - Encampment

Abe here.  Late Saturday, August 4th, Clark and I returned from a massive LDS Scout Encampment near Spokane, Washington.  My father, Jim Fox, was the General Chairman of the entire week-long event and had been planning this 18 stake, Aaronic Priesthood "Jamboree" for 2 and a 1/2 years.  It was a COMPLETE success on every level.  My dad was inspired to give the encampment the title "Catch the Vision".  Much more than a large scouting event, this encampment was a grand gathering of the priesthood - learning from and serving one another, growing towards God and catching the vision of who we are and what we can become.  Here are some pictures from this once in a lifetime event.

Fox men from left to right: Jesse, Baden Stuart, Abe, Adam & Clark.

There were TONS of awesome activities - providing for a very, VERY exciting week.

My nephew Adam, who was Clark's tent-mate for the week, enjoys a dip.

My youngest brother Baden makes a daring leap on the C.O.P.E course (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience).

It was the ULTIMATE Father and Son's camp-out!

Grandpa Fox (my dad) with his three priesthood-holding grandsons (Ford, Clark & Adam).

Shooting - Lots of shooting guns!!

Hatchet Throwing!!

Cousins enjoying the water.

Adam and Clark with the Young Men's General President, David L. Beck.

Clark having a blast on the zip-line.

Clark and I going for a new record at the log cutting activity.

My dad on the big screen just before the closing ceremonies.

4 of the 7 Fox Brothers.

Congratulations James Russell Fox on an incredibly, fantastic event that will never be forgotten by those who were there, and more importantly helped thousands of young men "Catch the Vision" of what the Lord expects of them.  Thanks Dad!!

Here is a link to a 4-page article about the encampamnet in the LDS Church News:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62645/Camp-Sunrise-Catch-the-vision.html