The Olympics

I have so much to catch up on with this blog, but I could not let my ugly photo stay at the top of my page any longer! I figure since it's the first day of school, I have to at least do one thing for myself today as I enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with only having one kid at home.

So I was up last night after everyone else was in bed and I turned on the TV to fill the silence. The Olympics were on and I literally stood up yelling and cheering all by myself during the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay. It was so exciting! It was one of the first times I've been able to sit down and really watch since they started, and it reminded me of how much I love to watch them. Here's some of my thoughts on the Olympics:

*They're only every 4 years, so you don't get sick of them. As opposed to most other sports that you can see pretty much every day of the week. I often wonder why we see so little of certain sports except for during the Olympics, but it does help to make them more exciting.

*It is so amazing to be reminded of patriotism and how great our country is. We spend so much time disagreeing about so many issues that the Olympics help unify our nation, even for just a short amount of time. (Immediately following the Olympics, we have the political party conventions to divide us up again right away, don't worry!)

*Even though the Olympics encourage healthy rivalry with other countries, I think it is great to see people from around the world, reminding us that no matter where we come from, we are more alike than we are different.

*Olympic pet peeve: When the media spoil the results because of the time difference. I'm glad to see that MSN's homepage (also my homepage) allows you to hide the results if you don't want to know yet!

*The dedication of the athletes is astounding, and it reminds me that my goals are attainable also, if I am willing to put in the effort to attain them.

*My first Olympic memory: Mary Lou Retton. Resulting in several attempts at gymnastics, which I never really stuck with. But I could do a mean cartwheel back in the day.

*One thing that I don't like about the Olympics is how much attention is given to the end result. There are sometimes hundredths of seconds separating winners from losers, and those same hundredths of seconds determine whether someone goes down in history as the best ever or leaves them relatively unknown for all their accomplishments. Of course everyone loves to win, and I get that, but I do always feel bad for the losers. Maybe I'm just still bitter because I really wanted to be either the valedictorian or salutatorian of my graduating class, but I ended up as number 3 instead. I mean, they don't even give a title to number 3. I think I'll call it bronze from now on.

*By the way, if I was an Olympic athlete, what do you think my sport would be? Come on, leave me a comment and if you say Sumo wrestling I'm going private and not sending you an invitation.

Ugly Photo Tag

I'd like to thank Anya for this wonderful opportunity to show you an ugly photo of myself. More difficult than I thought considering that I take all the photos and therefore I am not in any of them (and I delete the ones I really hate). But really, does it get uglier than about to deliver a baby with an oxygen mask on your face?

I will be checking your blogs, people. Just do it.

Summer Vacation Part II

I'm sure this is way more detail than anyone really cares about, but I just don't want to forget!


We woke up on our first morning in Utah with lots of energy and feeling ready to explore. We had a busy day. We started out with a trip to the local grocery store to stock the little kitchen in our timeshare. Even though we were on vacation, it was so great having a kitchen and being able to prepare our own meals. It saved lots of money and kept us from getting so sick of eating out. We ate pretty much every breakfast, and more than half of our lunches and dinners at the resort. (I packed most of the food from home and then just needed to buy all the fresh/refrigerated items when we got there.)

After breakfast we explored the grounds of the resort. It was fairly small, but had a really nice pool. We spent a few hours out on the lawn playing baseball, catching little fish in the pond, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery.


















After lunch we headed into Ogden for a visit to the Eccles Dinosaur Park, where they had a small indoor museum and then a large outdoor trail with all types of dinosaurs.







We were all terrified to see the world's most dangerous creature. Thankfully it was in a cage.



We had dinner at the very yummy Cafe Rio and got a glimpse of the Ogden Temple and tabernacle (the temple looks pretty much identical to the Provo temple). We then drove back into Eden and decided to explore the Eden/Huntsville area and the Pineview Reservoir. It really is a beautiful area, with some quaint little houses and lots of gigantic mansions! Being really close to several ski resorts and also the water, it seems to be a popular vacation spot. We found the swimming/beach area of the reservoir and talked to the park ranger. He let us know that "if you want to come on Sunday, come early because church gets out at 11:00 and then it gets packed." We were quite entertained by that and decided that we would not come back on Sunday. Sadly we didn't make it back the rest of the week either. (I'd rather swim in a clean swimming pool than a reservoir anyway.) We found the home of President David O. McKay in Huntsville. We were too late for the tour but it was cool that we were able to see it. We also found a monastery that looked interesting but visiting hours were over there as well. (The daylight savings really threw us off. It stays light until almost 9 pm).

After all that it was time to end our day with a dip in the pool. We had a great day. More to come . . .

Summer Vacation Part I

We had the chance to take a trip to Utah a few weeks ago, and I'm already starting to forget the details so I better document it now. It all started out with my parents inviting us to go on vacation with them using their timeshare. No cost for hotel? Okay, we're up for it. So we helped them pick a place that was close enough to drive and would have some good places to visit, and Utah it was. (The number one question we were asked while there: Are you visiting family? We might be unusual in the fact that we really have no family living there. Joey maybe has one uncle there, but that's it.) So that was all decided back in January.

Of course you remember that in March my dad had open heart surgery, leading to many complications that required a total of 5 surgeries and much stress! Since he is just going back to work tomorrow for the first time since March, my parents really couldn't make the trip because it just wouldn't be wise considering that my dad had only been off his IV antibiotics for a few days and my mom just couldn't take any more time off work than she already had. But since it was too late to cancel the reservation, we drove up without them. (Sorry Mom and Dad, we know you really wanted to get away, and you deserve a vacation!)

I was absolutely dreading the drive, which ended up being a total of about 14 hours including our stops. I just wasn't sure how my kids would handle it. I tried to be as organized as possible so that they would stay entertained. I did a little shopping to have some "surprises" in the car, we had the DVD player ready to go, lots of snacks and CDs, each kid packed their own backpack of car activities, and I made an activity packet of things I printed from the internet, mostly common car games and age appropriate activities for each kid. Then I tried to structure the time and only let them watch a movie at certain times, give them a snack at certain times, work on their packet at certain times, etc. I wasn't sure how it would go, but they were so great on the whole ride. I couldn't believe it. (We have an unfortunate vacation history over the last few years, which I'll save for some future blog, so now I always anticipate the worst when it comes to vacation!)

As it was getting dark we finally arrived at our destination: Wolf Creek Village in Eden, UT. It is north of Salt Lake, you have to drive through Ogden and then through a canyon and past a reservoir, a really beautiful drive to get there. We checked in, unloaded the car and set out to find dinner before every place in this little town was closed for the night. Thankfully we found a pizza place willing to serve us when they were only 15 minutes from closing time. After that we settled in for the night and assigned beds to everyone. There was a huge loft upstairs with a king size bed and a bathroom, which of course was for the grown ups! Hannah and Kendall shared the downstairs bedroom, and Noah got the pull out couch. We would have to start the real adventure in the morning because we were definitely tired!

(Is anyone still reading this. Wow, I just wrote a lot didn't I?)

To hear about our 4th of July including some unforgettable photos, click here.

My Baby Daddy

(playing Wii at a work party)

I must say that I didn't do enough to make Father's Day special for my man, so I thought I'd give him a little shout out here on the blog. We were out of most breakfast foods this morning so he had a breakfast of leftover pizza, and then we went to my parent's house for dinner where he had to grill the steaks. So there wasn't much pampering going on for him, it was more like a normal day. We did get him a gift card to Cabela's because that is now his favorite place to take the kids when I am out working. (And because he wanted a scope for his rifle, but when I asked the kids if that's what we should get him, Kendall said, "No, he might shoot us with bullets." I'm still laughing about that one.)

Joey's a pretty quiet guy most of the time, so I don't think a lot of people know his true personality. He is super duper smart. And I like to think that I'm smart, but he is constantly surprising me with how many things he knows about. We have fun together for sure, but we also really enjoy just having some quiet hanging out on the couch time. He loves to get hyper with the kids and play rough, which they don't really get from me so they definitely have fun with dad. He has also never been afraid to change a diaper, scrub the shower, or cook a meal. (In fact, he probably does all of those things better than I do! I thank my mother in law for that.)

So Happy Father's Day, I love ya.

And even though my dad has never looked at my blog, although I wrote down the address for him today, I'm sooooo grateful he's still with us this Father's Day. Having gone through so many surgeries the last few months and so many close calls really makes a girl appreciate her dad even more. Thankfully he's doing really well now!

Fond Farewell

Denial. That's where I've been these past few months. I kept hoping that if I didn't acknowledge the fact that Tonya was moving, it wouldn't actually happen. I finally had to overcome my denial and so today I said a sad goodbye to a dear friend. Actually, I said the sad goodbye yesterday. Then I said a happy goodbye today. Then I felt like crawling up in a little ball and sobbing. Then I ate some chocolate.

You know the kind of friend who you talk to every day and hang out for no reason at all, and it's always fun no matter what? The kind of friend who makes you want to be a better person, but loves you even when you're not. Someone you can call late at night without worrying about how late it actually is. A friend that you can call at the drop of the hat for babysitting, and whose kids you love so much that you never worry about who owes the other one more babysitting, because it doesn't matter and it all evens out in the end, and you'd do it for them a million times even if they never could repay the favor. You know that kind of friend?

That's the kind of friendship we have. And while I'm going to miss the every day interaction, and the laughing at ourselves, and the many, many trips to the park, I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to share a little part of my life with this amazing lady.

Of course we'll miss ALL of the Shallenbergers. I know there are some teenagers who have had the course of their lives forever changed because of Rob's influence. And Robbie is such a fun little character, so full of life and adventure. Little Lana is one of the few babies that has ever given me more baby cravings with her beautiful smile and sweet nature. And of course I don't know who will protect Kendall and tell other kids off when Bella is not around to do it. There's nowhere Kendall would rather be than with Bella.

So to Tonya, I say thank you for all you've taught me through your example, all the fun times, the presidency meetings that seemed more like a party, and for always being there. And thanks for reminding me of the value of friendship--I haven't taken the time lately to let some of my friends know how much they mean to me, but you've reminded me that it's worth the effort to have good friends.

I'll miss you guys. You rock.

A Great Weekend . . .

Joey and Noah went on the Father and Son's Outing from Thursday-Saturday, (where apparently my foil dinners were the envy of the camp--who knew?!)

so imagine my surprise when the doorbell rang Friday morning and these

were delivered to my door. It actually made me tear up when I read the sweet card from Joey and the kids. You have to understand that getting flowers from my husband is a rare occasion. (He gives a great back rub, but is not great in the gift department. Most of the time, I'd rather have the back rub and pick out my own gifts anyway.) Apparently my Noah has been urging Daddy to get me flowers for weeks now. Haven't I trained him well?

Friday night we celebrated Hannah's birthday with a few friends by going to Dramagenics, a new family-friendly improv club. It is just starting up, so our group of 6 made up about half the audience, but it was a really fun time. The girls loved it, and some of them even got to go on stage and participate. They all got t-shirts too. It would be a fun date night or even night out with the family. (They also had buy one, get one free coupons in the Val-pak mailer a few weeks ago!). The birthday party turned into an unplanned slumber party where I went to bed and the girls stayed up way too late, which I suppose is the way slumber parties are supposed to be. We've found it's the perfect opportunity to do this when the boys are out of the house!

Sunday morning I got to sleep in while Joey made breakfast. Of course we ended up being late for church because of it, but it was worth it. He's rarely home before church because he has so many meetings, but it seems like whenever he is home we are late. I'm not blaming it on him, it's just that I get lazy and think I have more time since he's here. At church, my kids did the traditional Mother's Day singing with the Primary, and it was the last time all of my kids will be in Primary together. Makes me a little sad. My kids also showered me with fun homemade gifts, but I forgot to wear my "Super Mom: Hero of the Universe" button to church.

After church, we enjoyed a nice dinner with my family and Noah finally lost that tooth. Then he literally lost the tooth. Lucky for him, we have some good connections with the tooth fairy and she came anyway.

(Hi Randi, I know you're stalking my blog!)