Propiddy: Part Two

This past weekend I had to flex my independent camping muscles. Teag had to pick up his boss's wife in Lake Powell on Saturday night, so he packed us up Friday morning and flew off, leaving me and Dany to drive ourselves to Argyle Canyon alone. Teag would fly to Price with Maisie, leaving the plane there for a few days so he could camp with us until he had to leave Saturday afternoon.

Dany and I made the trip safely and without incident, other than being flipped off by a passing driver for no explicable reason, and a run-in with a suicidal squirrel. Teag then spent the majority of his time there helping the Rogers' men construct a bowery. They made a lot of progress in that 24 hours, and by late Saturday night, almost one half of the bowery had a tarpaper covered roof on it.

The girls are both very familiar with the area now, and are comfortable wandering up and down the paths, having adventures, and creating new games to play. One of the most entertaining things that Maisie and Henry did was to plant a "garden" outside of the little plastic house. They dug up dirt, picked the heads off of wild flowers, and planted them. Then they applied large amounts of water so that their plants would be sure to grow. It was incredibly cute, and pretty creative too! They also spent a fair amount of time coloring in Kev & Meg's trailer, as well as swinging in the hammock.

As for Dany, well, let's just say I've never seen a kid get so filthy so fast. She was in a constant state of dirty. And, much to my alarm, if you left her alone for too long, she'd inevitably wander up to where all the menfolk were working with power-tools, and heavy lumber. She seemed to be pretty fascinated with the whole process. After two days of wandering through the dirt, Grandma decided Rooster needed a bath in her trailer. Dany didn't seem to like the idea much, and was rather traumatized by the whole experience.

And just for Katie and Meg's sake, I must note that I played an awesome game of dominoes, killing them with a total score of 39 points! Is it sad if that's the highlight of my trip? :)

I dropped Teag off in Price on Saturday evening, where he dodged thunderstorms as he flew off to Powell. That night I packed us up as much as I could, and all us girls slept in my parents trailer, so as to get an early start Sunday morning. Little did I know that Teag was at home, suffering from a nasty stomach bug that manifested itself shortly after he returned from the airport. Unluckily, I managed to catch it as well, and we both spent the majority of Sunday feeling achy and icky. The last part of our trip may not have ended up as planned, but overall it was fun.

We have at least one more Propiddy trip planned for September, this time with Uncle Matie!

All We Needed Was The Ark!

My friend Alissa invited the girls and I, along with her two sons, Dylan and Brooks, to go with them to the zoo yesterday. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, and though it was hot and a little muggy, we thought it would be a fun little adventure. We packed lunches, loaded kids and strollers, and were off!

One of the first things we stopped to look at was the "Ghost of the Bayou", or the big white alligator. That thing is freaky looking if you ask me, and apparently couldn't survive in the wild, because it's too obvious to predators, and would get badly sunburned from lack of pigment. Sounds like Darwinism in action! Anyway, the kids were pretty fascinated by the pasty beast, and Dany especially didn't seem anxious to leave. (Don't you just love that hat, by the way?) We went into the primate building, where Maisie looked into one of the glass habitats and said, "Is that a Pygmy Marmoset?" Thank you Diego!

The weather stayed good as we moved throughout the park, seeing elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, zebras and giraffes. As we made our way toward the large cats, large clouds started rolling in, but even then Alissa and I both thought we'd get no more than a light sprinkle. Not so. To quote Forrest Gump, it was "Big ol' fat rain". It suddenly seemed like a good time for lunch. We found a nice grouping of tables, protected overhead by a mesh covering that allowed a very slight, cooling mist through. It appeared to be the perfect place to wait out what was sure to be a quick summer storm. Again, not so. As we looked out on the rain around us, we watched it increase to quite the downpour. Still we felt nice and dry under our shelter. No sooner had Alissa said, "That mesh makes it so you get a nice mist," did the mesh seem to reach it's max capacity, and the 'mist' wasn't so nice anymore. We ran to move food, kids and strollers under a sturdier roof, amazed at how quickly we were getting soaked. The rain continued for quite awhile, increasing the humidity drastically, and making handy puddles for the kids to play in. This is a picture of Maisie looking up at the rain-soaked mesh:

Notice the concern. Unfortunately, the rain cut our zoo trip short. The train was closed, and the park (which we'd promised the kids we'd stop at when we were finished looking at animals) was sure to be a soaking, muddy mess. It was kind of a bummer to end our fun trip on that note, but we still got in several good hours of exploration. I loved listening to how excited Dany got when she would watch an animal in front of her. "Wow! Cool!" were heard often. Maisie and Brooks had a great time palling around together, and we were all grateful for a chance to get out of the house! Thanks Alissa!

My kids are geniuses... or something

Every mom has those times when you feel proud of something your child has learned or done; something that makes you feel like your efforts aren't being wasted. Teag and I have had a few of those lately.

Since Maisie was about 3 1/2 she's shown a substantial interest in learning to read. We encouraged her, and answered any questions she asked us, but we didn't do a whole lot to teach her. She picked up most of it herself. By the time she turned four, she was doing basic reading, and six months later, she's fully reading by herself. It's been amazing to watch; especially when you consider the English language and wonder how in the world anyone ever learns to read when you're inundated with "silent k's", "g and h together sometimes say 'f'", etc. And don't get me started on vowel sounds! Now, to our extreme surprise and pleasure, Maisie has started writing her own stories. I must admit, it feels like a bit of an homage to me, since she's always asking me about my story when I'm writing. Anyway, I'd like to share some of these little gems. Hopefully, you'll find them as entertaining (and heartwarming) as we did.

Pretty self explanatory, isn't it? Be good to God, and you get good food, got it. Simple and straightforward. This one was written during church, I might add. Not hard to see where the inspiration came from. Next: I'd much rather read this than, "My Mom got mad at me today," or "I hate my little sister." I'm grateful that these are her sentiments now, though I'm sure it won't always be the case. And finally:
I don't know about you, but I didn't see that twist coming, there at the the end. Suspenseful.

There are several more stories I don't have enough room to post here. I hope she keeps writing them, and who knows? Maybe one day she'll get paid for all that creativity :)

Then of course, there's Danyn. Such a sweet little thing, who by all accounts, has had a rough go so far. But has that affected her development? Certainly not! Take, for example, the ingenius way in which she attempts to eat her corn:Forks are for the small-minded! Over-sized implements are all the rage! Well, at least for a brief moment. After awhile, she switched to something much less unwieldy.
I'm always surprised to see what new entertainments my kids will provide me with. I hope they never stop.

Doilies vs. Blackberries

There’s a chasm of difference between Elders Quorum and Relief Society lessons. The startling contrast was especially evident this weekend, as I helped Ree prepare to teach Relief Society. There’s a reason women are more spiritual (pronounced spiri-chul in Utah county) and the secret seems to be in labor, and perhaps tablecloths.

Since Chris was out of town, Ree was pinch hitting. After a lot of reading, pondering, and discussion with her mom, she was inclined to emulate the popular game show, “The Price is Right”. With her creative mind flowing, the jazzy and exciting show, “If the Lord Commands, DO IT!” was hatched. Sounded simple enough: get some posterboard, some markers, make some games, all great fun, right? Sure.

The picture below was taken at 11:50PM after 8 hours of intensive posterboard labor. Bravo to Kerri for still mustering a smile after being hunched over on the floor, sniffing markers for several hours (maybe the huffing helped the smile?).


The floor is littered with construction tools: staple gun, utility knife, box tape, crane, concrete pumper, dump truck. Ok, so it just felt like we were using heavy equipment after that much time. After scouring the Internet for Price is Right theme songs, printing pictures of the prizes for the contestants, (blessings from heaven, eternal rest, etc.) and making name tags, we were in bed around 1:30AM. We only left 1.5 more hours of work to do in the morning.


Now EQ prep: remember to bring the lesson manual with you to Sacrament Meeting. The preparation process is now 90% complete.

While “listening” to the speakers, crack the manual and read through it for the first time. Now think of a sports analogy or bizarre life experience that is minimally tangential to the lesson topic. You are now all set to teach. Close the manual and eat a few Cheerios you packed for the kids. You are the man! Preparation doesn’t really matter anyway- the “students” will be sleeping (not so subtle in a class of 3, by the way) or playing games on their Blackberries.

Ree’s lesson went well and I’m proud of all her hard work! Thank you for not being the kind of mom/wife/church member who does things half-heartedly! It was all worth it in the end, Ree! And if you need a nap after the late night, I hear EQ down the hall is a good place to doze…

I'm short, I get it!

My grandma recently got a poodle, a little black and white fuzz ball named Pepper. The night she was supposed to pick it up Maisie was at her house, visiting while Teag mowed her lawn. My grandma told her she was getting a new dog that night, a poodle, and Maisie asked, "What's a poodle?" Teag answered, "A poodle is a dog that's short, and cute, and has curly hair." (Can you see where this is going?) Maisie then said, "Hmm, that's kinda like Mom!" I suppose if I try hard I can see it as a compliment.

A few days before that Maisie said, completely out of the blue, "Mom, how come you're not big?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Mais: "How come you can't reach me up to the monkey bars at the park?"
Me: "Well, I'm just not very tall I guess."
Mais: (after a moment of thought) "Maybe you should grow."

Alright, now that my self confidence has taken a beating, I think I'll go cry myself to sleep...

Happy 4th!

The 4th of July was a flurry of fireworks, family, and red, white & blue. We had a very full day, and the girls, for the most part, had a great time celebrating the anniversary of our country. We started off with a neighborhood kiddie parade and breakfast. Kids decorate their bikes, scooters, and strollers and then ride along the Jordan River Parkway on their way to the park where the breakfast takes place. The night before Meg and I decorated Maisie and Henry's bikes with a plethora of crepe paper. We seemed to be more excited than they were about the whole concept, at least at first, but the end result was pretty cute.

I didn't want Dany to be left out, so we decorated her stroller, and gave her her own little flag to wave :)

The kids had a great time riding their bikes, and we avoided any major crashes or calamities, despite the crush of people all crowding on the small path. All in all, a great way to start the holiday.













When we finished with breakfast, the kids wanted to stop the ride home to play in a small playground along the parkway. The slides and swings were a hit, and Maisie enjoyed being a giant "Maisie Spider". As you can see, Teag REALLY enjoyed the swings. What's more funny though is how much the girls seemed to enjoy Teag!

After a few hours of R & R we enjoyed a BBQ and a few fireworks with the Bayly's, then we headed back to the Roger's for some more incredible (and legal!) fireworks. Maisie tolerated them slightly better than in years past, but still isn't a big fan of them as a whole. Dany seemed excited and would say "Wow, cool!" until she got tired and ran out of patience. Both girls were very typical in their fascination with sparklers though. Who doesn't love sparklers?
Lastly, we finished the day out watching "Shanghai Noon" projected onto a sheet in the backyard, (yes Tom, we ripped off your idea. Now we're even :)). The kids were getting sleepy and restless, but the adults enjoyed the novelty, and hope to have a repeat before too long.

Teag and I both agreed, this is one of the best 4th's we've had in awhile. Happy Birthday, America!

Camping at the Propiddy

This past weekend we packed up the car and headed to the piece of property members of the Rogers' family so proudly purchased last year, just outside of Price in Argyle Canyon. For all the creativity my family possesses, they still haven't been able to come up with a better name than "The Property". All that aside, it really is a beautiful little spot, and we all had a very nice weekend in the much cooler climate.

Dany did surprisingly well on the uneven terrain, even managing to pause in her exploration to take a swing in a hammock (which she loved!), and steal some watermelon. She was thrilled to have so much freedom, and could often be seen meandering up and down the steps and around the little road that goes throughout the area. She has the wander-lust! The only real mishap she had was when she managed to wiggle herself down to the bottom of her sleeping bag and woke up in a panic.

Maisie had a great time with her cousin Henry (when they weren't fighting) playing in the tiny playhouse, infiltrating grandma's trailer, and roasting marshmallows. After much begging, she even managed to convince grandma to let her sleep in the trailer on Saturday night, only to fall asleep the instant she was tucked in! She was also really interested in the giant windmills we passed in the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, and was excited to see them again on the trip home.

One of the highlights of this trip was heading into Price to try out the "Desert Wave", a wave pool that claims to be the largest in Utah. Both of the girls were having a great time until the waves started; then we had a bit of a meltdown. The nice thing about wave pools is they have an extremely shallow end, which was perfect for them to hang out in. Teag and I braved the giant swells in the deep end and got fairly pummeled, laughing hard as we tried to 'jump' the waves before we got dunked.

We had a really fun time, and it was great to have a whole piece of land the girls could run around on without worrying about other campers, cars, etc. With a couple more trips planned this summer, I'm sure we'll have many more stories to tell and pictures to post!