Just Kidding Sam

Sam feels that it was a bad idea to mention online that I am considering "mysteriously losing" a child at Cave of the Winds. (see previous post "mean kids"). His reason is, "What if something really did happen to "Brandon?". So I would like to say publicly that it was meant as a joke, and I truly do not wish "Brandon" any physical harm, but I am not removing the statement from my previous post because I thought it was funny and more important it was therapeutic.

Mean Kids

Yesterday after school I asked Nate how is day was. He likes school and generally has a pretty good attitude. He answered "It was good." then he hesitated. Then he says, "Well except for one thing" . He goes on to tell me that at lunch, a boy in his class, we'll call him "Brandon" (cuz that's his name), was sitting next to him. "Brandon" asked another boy in their class if he could sit by him. The other boy said that there was not enough room so "Brandon" says, "Fine, I'll just sit by the freaking dork". Ouch.
What do I do about that? Well this is what I did. I said to Nate "Wow, sometimes kids can be really mean. I'm so sorry that happened to you." Then after Nate was gone I cried to my friend about it.
Later when I had more time to talk to him about it he told me that after "Brandon" made this hateful comment that Nate said "Hey I heard that" and then "Brandon" said "so, your wearing dorky clothes." (In "Brandon's" defence, and he needs one, it was "80's" day at school and Nate was dressed up in "80's" attire and we all know that the 80's were kind of dorky.) Nate then responded by saying "uh, it's "80's" day." and "Brandon" went and sat at another table.
So here are the two options I came up with for how to handle the situation going forward.
1- Let it go for now unless it becomes an on going thing. After all Nate did stick up for himself.
2- Next Wednesday I am going on a field trip with Nate's class to Cave of the Winds where "Brandon" could just mysteriously disappear.
I don't know. What do you think?
Nate really is the sweetest kid and is always so concerned about other people's feeling so it breaks my heart that he had to deal with this.

Follow-up to "Duck"

So on Saturday we went to Lowe's to pick out a new window to replace the one broken by a 1 1/2 lb. weight (see "Duck"). Now Bryce is the one who threw the weight but it was decided that Nate and Bryce were equally at fault for the breaking of the window therefor they would share the responsibility of paying for the window. While at Lowe's Nate pointed out which windows he felt we should get i.e. the cheapest ones he could find. In the end Sam and I chose a nice Pella window that came to about $350.00, I commented to the boys that I would have to get creative to come up with $350.00 worth of extra chores for them to do. Nate responded by saying, "Man, I wish I hadn't ducked. I'd rather get hit in the head by a weight then have to pay for this new window." I love that kid. He can always make me laugh, even though he was completely serious and felt that there was nothing funny about it.

Lake Powell 2008 Slide Show

11 Adults and 17 Kids and we all lived harmoniously together for a full week on a house boat at lake Powell. I can't say enough about how much we love the Bridgmans and love taking this vacation with them every year. I'm so glad that we did this together. And of course we love our other friends that have gone with us. We made great new friends and can't wait to spend more time with you on and off the lake. I had over 600 pictures on my camera. This is just a sample of our awesome trip.

Family Bonding

Sam and Rey in a little game of one on one

The 19 Wacky Tenney Cusins

Sam's parents are leaving on their second mission in two weeks. They will be serving in the Cape Town South Africa mission. They will be traveling trough out the mission doing well fare work specificly with employment. Today they spoke in church and then we went to Kathy's house in Colorado Springs for dinner and football and hanging out. It was a nice Sunday. Sam's parents gave great talks. His mom spoke about the Church Well fare System and It's purpose and how and way it was started. Sam's dad's talk also had to do will the well fare system and humanitarian aid given by the church. I feel so blessed and humbled to be a part of an organization that does so much for the people of the world. It is truly amazing what can be accomplished when people forget themselves and direct their energy toward serving others. We really can change the world. Unfortunately the most memorable part of Rey's talk was when he spoke about how we have been given the charge to "feed the naked". Of course he meant "hungry" and he quickly corrected himself but it was too late. It got a good laugh and I'm sure it will make for a fun family joke for years to come. He also reminded us that we are so very blessed and all we have has come from our loving Father in Heaven. We should show our gratitude in all that we do, and the best way to do that is to serve each other and to share what we have been given with those who have less.

They are great examples to us all. We are exited for them and want them to know that they will always be in our prayers. We love you Rey and Marillyn.

My Morning, Play by Play

Usually at least some of the kids are up before 7 am, but last night we were up kind of late so everyone overslept. Not too much. I mean if nothing out of the ordinary happened we would have been fine. So, the kids need to be out the door by 8:20 to make it to the bus. I woke up at 7:45. 35 min, no problem. The boys skipped there showers but they're still young enough that they can get away with not showering every day and they don't stink. The problems started when Abby got up and went to McKay's room to get him out of his crib. You see last night we ran out of diapers so we put McKay in a pull-up. Not the best leak protection. So I put McKay in the tub with Gracie and went down stairs to start breakfast for the other three kids who had to get to school. Then Gracie yells from upstairs, "Mom, McKay pooped in the tub." I run upstairs get them out of the tub and start to drain the tub. I go back down stairs and finish getting the kids breakfast ready. Then Gracie yells from upstairs, "Mom, McKay just pooped on the carpet." So I run back upstairs and cleaned the carpet. By then Nate, Bryce and Abby are done eating. Brush teeth, comb hair, find shoes, find backpacks. "Mom, Max (he's the puppy) pooped on the rug.", clean up more poop, say family prayer, and they're out the door at 8:19, Yea! Now I go back upstairs, clean the tub, refill the tub and put Gracie and McKay back in. I wash their hair and bodies and I jump in the shower. I get out, get dressed, get the kids out, get them dressed and the phone rings. Bryce forgot his planner. Luckily I'm headed to the school anyway to pick up Nate for a 9:30 Dr. appointment. So we're off to the school. Drop off the planner, pick up Nate and we make to the Dr. on time. They get us right in. Both Nate and Gracie were being seen. They did great until the "S" word was mentioned, "shots", followed by 10 min of Gracie screaming, "I don't want shots", accompanied by giant tears. Did I mention that McKay was with us at the Dr. He wanted on the table. He wanted off the table. He wanted on the table. He wanted to wrap himself in the paper on the table. He wanted a book. He didn't want a book. He turned the lights off. He turned the light on. You get the point. All super fun.
Guess what Sam is doing this morning. Golfing. He sooo owes me.

I did have something good happen that I can tell you about. Yesterday I put a can of soda in the freezer to cool it down fast and I actually remembered to take it out before it exploded.

Any way, another morning survived, but at some point during this post I realised that Gracie and McKay never had breakfast. Maybe that's why they are sitting on the table right now eating Cheerios right out of the bag. Gotta go.

Duck!

You know how boys are. Some times they are actually fighting and other times they are just playing too rough but it always ends the same way. With someone hurt and crying or something getting broken (as was the case last night). This time I think they were just playing too rough but it's hard to tell. From what I've gathered Nate hit Bryce with his recorder so of course Bryce had to throw a dumb bell at him. I guess I should be glad that it hit the window instead of Nate's head. I think that new windows are a little less expensive than new heads are, but to be honest I've never priced out either. Anyway, there goes their allowances for a very long time. I hope the Pokemon card industry can survive.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BURKE!!!

Top 10 favorite things about Lake Powell...

at least the ones I can share. You know there are some things that happen at Lake Powell that stay at Lake Powell.
10. Showering in waterfalls after the rain.
9. Mafia
8. Sand castles
7. Falling asleep under the stars.
6. Waking up in the fresh air and beautiful scenery.
5. Bryce swallowing a minnow whole for $10.
4. Jumping in the lake when your hot.
3. Itty bitty frogs.
2. King of the raft.
1. Being with my family and my awesome friends for a whole week.

Top 10 least favorite things about Lake Powell
5. Sunburn
4. Telling the kids to put on their life jackets 100 times a day.
3. The smell after the toilet flushes at the end of the week.
2. Sam stressing about docking the house boat.
1. Missing my baby.
I could only think of 5 things. The good definitely out weighted the bad. I can't wait to go back next year.
I'll post pictures later. The ones I can share anyway :)