Oops

I was patching sod today.  Wow, that's hard work.  I'm taking a break.  I had to cut the sod and needed a knife.  I knew that someone left a knife in the car center console.  I got that one and boy did it cut the sod really well!  I thought, "This sure is a sharp knife.  So glad I found it."
So... it got all muddy and gross.  During my break I brought it in and thought I should wash it off.  I washed it and dried it.  My mistake was not putting it away. 
Brian comes in, "What's this knife doing out?"
Me:  (looking innocent)
Brian:  "Did you use this knife to cut sod?"
Me:  (looking innocent)
Brian:  "You did! This is a $100 knife!  Didn't you notice?!"
Me:  "I did notice it worked really well." 

Motocross

Jack at the starting gate.  He has a red helmet.

The track

Red helmet, orange bike.

Jack started racing motocross.  The first race was a learning experience for everyone.  I learned that Hudson and I need to come at 7, when the race starts...not 4.  It was a steep learning curve for Jack.  He'd never raced before and this was a bike he'd only ridden once or twice.  He got clipped going into the first turn and fell.  He never made up the time and finished a lap behind.  He was devastated.  The second race was better, he stayed with the pack.  He still was last though.  He got behind this kid and would. not. pass.  We asked him about it and he said he was too nervous to pass.  Since this race, he's been to a track and practiced twice.  He's gotten better and he's ready for his race tomorrow night.  I'll show up just as it's time to race, not before.  What a disaster with Hudson waiting at the track.  We were there from 4-9 the first time. 

I'm famous-ish

I have ridden the Goldilock's Bike Ride two years in a row.  So, imagine my surprise, when a neighbor told me that my friends and I are now ALL OVER their advertising!  I have in my hands a postcard with my face on it AND it's an embarrassing picture!  Of course!  To see a little of what I'm taking about, go to their facebook page.  I'm the "timeline" banner picture on top.  I'm second from the right.  https://www.facebook.com/GoldilocksRide

PS.  Why is my mouth open?  Why am I making such a goofy face?

BYU Women's Conference

I was asked by my friend Jennifer to help her and another friend, Natalie, put together a Sharing Station for BYU Women's Conference.  It was a little daunting because, although I've been to Women's Conference, I had never heard of the Sharing Stations.  I have since learned what they are and that all the materials from past years are online and you can access them from the BYU Women's Conference website.  The Stations are different booths with different themes that are supposed to be helpful to women.  For example, how to get your kids to do chores, food storage, taking time for yourself, etc.  Our topic was assigned to us and it was:  How to incorporate good music into your family's life.  I think.  I can't really even remember what the original topic was.  : /  I felt singularly unqualified to do this because my kids hate all music that's not rock music.  Even Hudson hates singing.
The women I worked with were so awesome.  I would work with them any day!  We met together and had NO IDEA what to do, but it all came together.  We made assignments and we all completed them.  I know.. amazing.  We put together a lot of material.  Here's a picture of our booth:

This is a link to the information handout from our sharing station. 

Waiting for the opening meeting to start.

The concert that night.  In years past it's been lighthearted and funny. This year was pretty serious.  Eh... it was well done, but I prefer the funny one. 

 The ride home was scary.  It was so windy and rainy.  We could hardly see the lines on the road.  I loved going to WC and the women I worked with, but I can honestly say I was relieved when it was over! 

Knowledge Bowl and general update

Getting a pep talk

 I was Tristan's Knowledge Bowl Co-Coach this year.  We started studying in October for the competition in March.  The topic was 3rd and 4th grade science The competition was crazy intense.  It's like a game show format.  Anne was here for that weekend and it was fun to have her go with us.  On the down side, it seemed, at the contest, that Tristan was the only one who studied.  I don't know if the other kids just got stage fright, but Tristan was a one-man show.  His team didn't place in the top 10.  It was heartbreaking, once again.  You can even ask Anne.  It was frustrating for him to not have any team support.  Also, if one of his team members answered a question wrong, even if he knew the answer, Tristan couldn't give the correct answer, because the chance had been blown.  Frustrating.

Amanda, Tyler and kids came for a visit.  Here were are visiting Fireman Brian.

We had a slew of visitors in the past couple of months.  (1) Amy, Eli and kids came and we had a blast.  It snowed just enough to satisfy the snow requirement.  (2) Then we had Krista, Mike and kids overnight.  It was a quick, but fun visit.  (3) Austin, Chantel and kids came through on their drive cross-country.  We had a nice visit and I didn't envy them having to get back in the car and keep going.  (4) Anne came for the weekend and she and Tristan laughed like a couple of junior high kids during church. (speaking of that... it seems like someone in our family gets the uncontrollable giggles during church every week.  Someone almost always has to go out until they've "recovered".  That someone is usually Jack, but it's been me and Tristan too.  Come to think of it... only Brian doesn't seem to get the giggles.)  (5)  Amanda, Tyler and kids came for a week.  Amanda's kids were so well behaved.  Ethan only cried if Amanda was in the house.  Hudson showed that he'd never had to share his toys for so long, by being ornery and cross.  I watched all the kids one day so that Amanda and Tyler could go skiing.  I decided to kill time by taking them on a walk.  We were walking though snow, so it made it more difficult, but Nora says, "I'm just not that good at walking."  I had 4 kids, 5 and under.  A neighbor drove past and then mentioned it a few days later.
She said, "Hey was that you with all those kids on the side of the road the other day?"
I said, "Yes, that was me." 
She said, "That looked awful.  I should've stopped.  Sorry."
We did have a potty emergency and I called Tristan for some emergency support.  He ran up to us and I took Nora and ran home to the bathroom. 
After Amanda and Tyler left, (6) my cousin Nikki and her friend came for the night.  It was really fun to get to know her better... AND she thought I was in my 20's!  HA!  Wait... was she just flattering me?  It totally worked.

On the way to Bisneyland!

Hudson has been asking to go to Bisneyland for months!  He fake calls hundreds of people on his plastic phone, telling them about going.  Amy got him the Mickey ears and he was super hyper all the way there, until he fell asleep.  We were on vacation for 6 days, but really only stayed in CA for 4.  We stayed at Dad and Jeri's house and had a good time.  It never feels like enough time.  We never get to see everyone we wanted to see or eat at all the places we wanted to eat.  Oh well.  Next time.

Hudson in his "ninja" costume that he and Jeri made.  He wore it for 2 days straight.  

 

 

 

 

This is Camp Lone Peak.  Formerly called Camp Buffalo.

Jack and his friends decided to make a "camp" across the street from our house.  I'm not sure why it changed names, but it was the cool place to be for a few days.  Most of the boys immediately took off their shirts when they arrived in camp. Right?  Cause it's so hot here.  It was like 60.  I was down at camp because Hudson couldn't be left out.  You can see Hudson in the orange shirt.  I had 11 boys down there!
Jack has big plans for Camp Lone Peak.  He is going to make money by putting videos of Camp Lone Peak on YouTube and getting a lot of subscribers.  I said, "Go for it."  Tristan keeps trying to tell me and Jack how it's not going to work.  Hey- it might.  Jack typed out a list of things they need to work on before it's "camera ready."  It's hilarious.  I'll keep you posted. 

Wait... Did I leave him in time out too long?

Sometimes he just can't make it through lunch.

One last shot of the ninja.  I couldn't get it to move up to the other one.  bah.

FLL Gear Heads

This is Tristan's First Lego League team, The Gear Heads.  Wait... is Tristan the shortest?  I think so.  The kid, two kids to his right, is even a year younger.   

This was our first time doing FLL.  We started practicing with our team in September and the competition was in January.  The kids had to solve several problems with a robot that they designed and programmed.  They also had to do a project where they came up with a "new and innovative" solution to a food safety problem.  Food safety issues make millions of people ill each year, so they had to focus on solving some problem.  Our team had an idea to make a machine that used ultrasonic waves to kill germs in your food.  We had to build a (fake) prototype and research the feasibility of their idea.  Turns out, researchers have done tests with ultrasound and it DOES kill germs.  Yeah, don't worry.  We didn't win. 

This was during the competition.  The kids were so nervous they were shaking.  The coaches couldn't help and only 2 kids could touch the table.  They had to change attachments several times and we just didn't practice that part enough.  They only have 2 minutes to complete all the challenges so they were rushing.  Next time, if there is a next time, we will be like a well run pit crew.

At the end they gave out awards.  We didn't win anything.  It was really quite arbitrary.  The points for the robot game were straight forward, but they got points for "robot design" and "enthusiasm", etc.  What constitutes good robot design and how are these people qualified to judge this?  And don't even get me started on judging the enthusiasm.
One of the teams that made it to state won "most enthusiastic".  Uh, yeah, their project was on how chocolate milk is a health food.  They were a really nice team, and their project was nice, but HOW IS THAT FOOD SAFETY RELATED?

Ok, I'm ok now.  I'm not sure we'll do it again.  It was really fun to do it with the neighborhood boys.  Yes, the same boys we play Jr Jazz with.  Our friends, the Terry's, acted as coaches and they were lifesavers.  It quite took over their lives for several months.

Tristan said on the way home, "Well, that was a lot of work for nothing."  I see what he means, but sometimes that's a learning experience too.  Sometimes you work really, really hard and don't win.

We're maybe thinking of doing the Google X robot challenge if they do it this year, instead of FLL.

Jr. Jazz

What??? Who plays Jr. Jazz???

In action.  Fighting for the ball.

 I admit that Jr. Jazz basketball is fun to watch.  Tristan says it's fun to play too.  He's on a neighborhood team with all the same kids he plays baseball with, goes to school with and goes to scouts with.  :)  Their coach is so positive.  I love it.
Coleman plays too, but his games are more and less serious at the same time.  More serious in how hard they're playing and less serious in the fact they're silly.  They all call each other and wear goofy things to the game... like short girls' running shorts and headbands.  Speaking of silly... there was a boy on Tristan's team that wore a fake mustache to the last game.  Classic. 

The Leonardo Museum with Andrew

Tristan wearing fake prosthesis to see what they feel like.

The boys in front of a green screen.

This really cool sculpture that had like hundreds of sensors so that it could sense people or movement.  It responded to the input by moving and changing.

Another cool sculpture that changed colors with the wind speed it sensed.

This was an art piece made out of a map.

Close up.

Computerized animation.  The camera filmed the kids moving and then created a computer animated guy doing whatever they did.

More green screen.  I can't be bothered to arrange all the pictures together.

Fall 2011 (I know.. I'm behind)

View from our front door.  The patches of gold on the hill are Aspen trees. 

 

We went to Cornbelly's with Grandma Plummer.  Cornbelly's is a corn maze and pumpkin patch.

Uncle Andrew came too!

They had a lot of wood structures to play on.

Tristan is pedaling hard... trying to ram Jack.

Contact!

You could shoot these air guns at the old cars.  Don't ask me what that has to do with pumpkin patch.