Overdue report on Grandma and Grandpa Hale's visit

We were thrilled to have a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hale two times this winter. We hadn't seen them for 2 1/2 years--since summer 2007, except through wonderful Skype. This was partly because they were on their 3rd 18-month mission to Villa Hermosa Mexico, and partly because we only get to Utah about yearly and we didn't make it out to Utah this past summer when they returned. My parents did a cross-country trip visiting all their kids, friends and geneology sites. They showed up on our doorstep just in time for dinner on Saturday, November 14th. We had them for 3 nights and then they stayed over at Joey and Katy's house. Mostly we did a lot of great chatting. The biggest topic of conversation was where and when to do the family cruise for my parents 50th anniversary next year. They came to church with us and met lots of great people and made a great impression. They kept on asking my Dad to relate his opinion as he'd been a mission president--he never had been, but somehow they got that idea. On Monday night for Family Home Evening they shared a lot of pictures from Mexico. Talmage was really desperate for him to show a picture of a snake, but alas, he only had pictures of a 4-foot iguana that they found hanging out in their dryer vent. Katie and I took my Mom to the Pink Palace museum, it was not that great of a museum. But it was fun to drive Mom through mid-town and see all the beautiful old mansions, and through a ghetto part of town that had Harvard, Yale and Hale streets.
They stopped by again the first week of December on their way back West on the 40. This visit was less chaotic because we had them all to ourselves (Joey and Katie enjoyed their time alone with them too). It was the first Family Home Evening after Thanksgiving and they helped us decorate for Christmas. We made them breakfast in the morning and sent them on their way. The boys really enjoyed the time with them. This was my parents first time meeting our Trace. We were excited for them to meet him because he's such a cheery little guy. My Dad said, "He's always smiling."

Two Goofies

Merry Christmas! Please excuse the crazy long intro!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Dictation

Last Friday Talmage came home from school early with an earache that ceased to bother him the moment he crossed the threshold. From now on I'm taking Motrin to school and sending him back to class. But anyway, he and Jack started in on a craft, which involved sticking Christmas-themed foam shapes onto a foam sheet. This kept them thoroughly engrossed for a good hour. When the masterpieces were complete Talmage offerred to write Jack's name on Jack's project. So Jack spelled his name out for Tal, letter by letter and Tal wrote it on Jack's project. This tickled me no end. First it's hilarious that Talmage, age 8, could not be bothered to waste brain cells on figuring out how to spell Jack's name. But it's also so exciting that he'd volunteer to write anything, as writing is right next to waterboarding as far as Talmage's favorite things to do. And it's so sweet that he'd want to help out his little brother like that. The other hilarious thing is that Jack can totally write his own name, but he seemed totally jazzed that his big brother was helping him out. And he seemed so proud that he could coach his big brother on how to spell his name. The whole exchange made my week.

Cole Turned 7

About two months before Cole's birthday it began. "Mom, what did you get me for my birthday?" (50x) "Mom just give me a hint." (50x) "Mom, where did you hide my presents?" (50x) "Mom, you have to come here and see on the computer what I REALLY want for my birthday!" (1000 x) And finally, after black friday: "Mom, could you stay up all night again and get me this present, instead?" (1 amazing x) If there's one thing we Cresaps do well, it's obsess! And boy, that Cole sure was excited about his birthday! I finally told Cole 2 days before his birthday that if he asked me where I hid his presents one more time, he wouldn't get his presents until the afternoon of his birthday, instead of the morning when he woke up. Horror of horrors. That produced an amazing amount of self-control in Cole and, still not able to think about anything else, he was remarkably speechless for a couple of days. But the day finally came, and after all that build up, I hope it didn't disappoint too much. We started with his favorite breakfast, cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, then we did some present opening: Indiana Jones Legos, a leapster and games and a Ben 10 movie.
Later I went to his school class. His teacher, Mrs. Rios met me at the door and said, "I just love Cole! He's like a little man, so mature! And he's so funny! (Under her breath) I wish all the kids could be like him." I said, "I kind of like him, too." I read the class a book, my cousin Nate Hale's (check out his amazing blog here) The Dinosaurs Before Christmas. Then we made a little treat, brownie trees with green frosting, candy for ornaments and preztel sticks for the trunks. It was a big hit.
On the weekend we had a friend's party at Incredible Pizza, kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese without the cute characters and with things older kids enjoy like a roller coaster simulator, a go-cart race track and bumper cars. It's the kind of place kids love and I can't wait to leave! But the kids had a blast and so we'll call it a success. The friends who came were Ethan Pate, Ethan Sterbis, Ethan Welch, Brandon Wery and David Wery.
Happy Birthday to Cole!

A Note from Clint: The Best Birthday Ever

Clint here: I don't blog, and I don't know that I've heard many 40th birthdays described in glowing terms before. But I guess there are exceptions to most rules, and my entry to the world of the middle-aged would be one...

So Sarah and I had talked about going somewhere memorable for the occasion. At one point Cabo was bandied about, but I didn't want to spend the effort and time to travel to to Cabo San Lucas and not dive (Sarah's ear drums are broke and out of warranty). Navy life with 4 boys under the age of 8 being what it is, we'd settled (I thought) on leaving our children at home and doing a combined 15th Anniversary/40th B-day trip to Nashville to see the CMA's in November. Which was a blast. In the meantime, however, Sarah and sis-in-law Katie (in on the plot) stated they wanted to take the kids to Nashville to see the Opry Hotel lights and other assorted Christmas sights, so they planned a joint Cresap/Hale Nashville excursion for this past weekend, and rented a house in support of said plan.

Now, I'll be the first person to admit to being less-than-sensitive to wifely non-verbal signals (especially the sneaky ones that aren't intended to send a signal) but it was obvious she had something planned. So when she announced on Thursday night that the Hales weren't going, (which Katie confirmed with a dramatic "I'm eight months pregnant and too tired, so I'll stay here and watch your kids" - which makes zero sense) it just confirmed for me that something was up. But there was no way I was going to complain about getting another no-kids weekend away, and I certainly didn't see any benefit to prying into her "plan", which, incidentally, suffered from a serious lack of details, so I kept quiet. And off we went early Friday afternoon, with "dinner reservations" in Nashville at 5:00pm.

We made good time, and pulled into the parking garage in downtown Nashville at 4:40. As I turned into the entrance, I got a quick glance at a red-haired woman, facing away from me, on the corner. More than a passing resemblance to Jessica, but this is Nashville, she's in Arizona, and I just had the one glance. So I didn't think much of it. I parked and we walked down to the long line outside the restauarant, and as we did so, Tyler called me. And proceeded with a very bizarre series of questions about AK-47's. I noticed that as soon as Tyler called, Sarah got a call as well. At this point I got a little suspicious... especially as Sarah left me in the line to go "check" on our reservation, from which she returned and announced that it had been lost and they'd recommended another place down the street.

As suggested, we walked down 2nd Ave to the Riverside Grill, and as we walked in I immediately noticed someone that looked like Robyn standing next to the pool table in the corner. However, when the person that looked like Robyn (Robyn being in Colorado, so this couldn't be her) saw me glance at her and then giggled and ducked behind the corner, I realized that it really WAS Robyn. And that meant it actually was Jessica standing on the street corner, and that the awkward telephonic distraction of Tyler's meant he was in on it too. And that it was probably too much coincidence that the people who looked just like Ike and Chris and Kristen standing around the corner with the Tyler, Jessica and Robyn look-alikes weren't actually Ike, Chris, Kristen, Tyler, Jessica and Robyn. I mean, what would the chances of that be???

So for my 40th Birthday, the greatest group of friends in the world rearranged their hectic December schedules, pawned off their children, and flew from Colorado, Utah and Arizona to Nashville to surprise me and spend 48 hours sitting around talking. True, there was some eating out, and a Civil War battlefield in there somewhere, and an aborted attempt to get within walking distance of the Opryland Hotel, but mostly it was just a bunch of friends sitting around talking. It is a rare gift to be possessed of a friend with whom, even after years of living in different states and separate lives, there is no distance; with whom, when you are reunited, the relationship returns as strongly and effortlessly as it ever was when you first became acquainted. It is a rare gift to find one, and I've been blessed with six. Thanks, guys, for giving me the best 40th Birthday anyone ever had. This one was a keeper.

-Clint

PS - Enjoy the sentiment while it lasts. This took about a decade of emotional sensitivity out of me. Not sure where I found it but there ain't any left where it came from.

PPS- The tissues are on the side table, Ike.

PPPS - If you are arranging a surprise trip for someone, and they say "No, Cabo would be too hard for just a weekend", and the alternative is Tennessee in December, you ASK AGAIN!

15th Anniversary Celebration

Clint and I celebrated our 15th anniversary this year in September. We went on a simple date to a really bad Mexican restaurant here in town. Good thing the company was so good. We saved our real celebration for this month and went to Nashville for the Country Music Awards. We both like Country music. I know most of my friends and family don't. I was converted when I worked at the BYU library for 3 years and had to listen to it--it grew on me. I don't even make qualifications about not liking the twangy stuff. I appreciate it all--old and new. I think I appreciate that you can always understand the words and hear real instruments. Even if it doesn't represent my own viewpoints, it tells real stories of different cultures right here in America. Clint and I have watched the awards in their entirety the last three years, which is saying something because we rarely watch TV. We were really excited to see Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift and Sugarland, o.k. I'll stop listing--we were excited to see everyone on the whole program.

So we left the boys with Katie and Joey--the boys were so happy about that.

Talmage: Yay! I get to spend 3 days with Aunt Katie and Uncle Joey!

Me: Hey, are you going to miss us?

Talmage: Yeah. I'm going to miss you a lot more than you're going to miss me!

Me: O.k. Just checking!

I started to relax the moment we pulled out the driveway. I realized it's been since May 2007 since we've taken a trip alone. Too long. Do you see that expression on my face in the picture? That's what I look like when I'm relaxed.

The drive to Nashville was gorgeous and I loved Nashville moment we drove in! It is beautiful and clean and not depressed and scary like Memphis. I loved the hills covered in the autumn trees.

We checked into the Gaylord Grand Ole Opryland Hotel, one of the nicer hotels we've stayed in. And, hey, we've been around, ya know! It had 3 huge indoor gardens with waterfalls and rivers, one of which you can even take a boat ride on. It was awesome just to wander around leisurely and see the sights. Then we walked to the Opryland Mills mall next store and walked the mall and updated Clint's wardrobe for his upcoming birthday--every decade or so, we just have to do that. He has like 3 civilian shirts in his closet. We ate at the Macaroni Grill and got the cheapest ever couples massage in the mall. There were these things that looked like suntanning beds - you get in and there is this rubber sheet on top of you and these water jets move up and down your back giving you a massage. We got there 10 minutes before closing time and on impulse bought two 7-minute massages for $20. She gave us a full 15. I was very relaxed after that and felt so much better because after walking about 3 miles in that mall my back and legs were killing me.

The next morning we went for a run around the property --one of my top activities to do with Clint. We used to do it daily, now it requires a babysitter. Then went to the Pancake Pantry near Vanderbilt University. Heaven. Who knew something as simple as a pancake could be so divine? And the service was genuine Southern hospitality.

That night we went to the CMAs and it didn't disappoint. Favorites for me were Darius Rucker--AKA Hootie, of Hootie and the Blowfish. I've got to buy his CD. What an amazing voice and a genuinely nice person. Glad he got "Best New Artist". Best song of the night (and Clint's favorite) was from Sugarland--Jennifer Nettles' voice filled that auditorium, and that is saying something. The Sommet Center was so huge that even with our binoculars we could not make out faces on the stage. It was awesome to feel like we were backstage on the TV show and it was happening right there in front of us.

Our last morning we checked out of the hotel and went to see the Parthenon at Centennial Park. Amazing! As a humanities major, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. But I have to say I never really got the big deal about the Parthenon till I walked inside and saw the statue of Athena filling the whole interior of that building, her helmet brushing the ceiling--41 feet tall! Apparently over the years this Nashville structure has gathered enough attention that many groups, even school children, have raised money to improve it. It was built for the Tennessee Centennial in the 1890s. In the 1920s the white plaster structure was so deteriorated that they rebuilt it with a golden-colored cement. It is built to the exact dimensions and is the world's only full-scale complete reproduction of the Parthenon. In 1991 the statue of the Athena was added to the interior and in 2002 it was gold plated with 24karat gold. It was so inspiring I thought I might convert! :) JK!

Last year for our anniversary we were at a restaurant here in Memphis and we started listing our favorite memories--they were all part of trips away together. Now I know this last trip will definitely make the short-list of best times together.

Halloween 2009

It was clear early in October that Cole was headed for a Star Wars Halloween.

Jack and the Pumpkin Stalk

Click to enlarge.

Lucky Leadfoot

All the suspense this past month has really messed with my concentration. I've been pulled over for speeding three times the last month, and each time I got off with a warning. I'm so stinking lucky! Lucky that is, to be married to the Navy. Every time those officers watched me pull my Tennessee (luckily) lisence out from behind my military I.D., I'd see them softening. This is a very red state. They'd ask me about Clint's service in the Navy then send me off with a warning. The second time I got pulled over I was late for a cub scout den meeting. After the officer asked me about the Navy he asked me to roll down the back window and he got a good look at all four boys in their seatbelts. There was Talmage in his full cub scout uniform, complete with hat, holding the American flag across his chest. We'd just folded it before we hopped in the car. Then Trace beamed at him as only he can do, and the the officer told me about his son the same age. The poor officer, he just couldn't give me a ticket. All I can say is it's a good thing warnings aren't recorded or they'd have thrown me in the slammer on the third one. Instead, the officer asked me when was the last time I'd had a ticket. I scratched my head and said, "I think high school!" I must have been pulled over 30 times since then! Phew! All I can say is I'm now being SUPER careful and use my cruise control to go the exact speed limit everywhere I go!

We're Moving to Utah!

August 2010. Clint will be the Commander of the Salt Lake City Reserve center at Fort Douglas on the corner of University of Utah campus. For all you Utahns, we're looking forward to seeing more of you!

Apples!

In September I volunteered to do a craft with Cole's 1st Grade class. My whole motivation for this endeavor was to make Cole feel special by showing up in his class. You know, give him some cool points for having the nice mom that comes in and does a fun craft. I spent weeks prepping for this. I decided on a theme of apples and tried out several ideas on the boys before settling on doing apple printing. I would make a print of their forearm for the trunk of the tree, and then print the green treetop and apples on the tree with the cut apples. To fill the hour I brought picture books about apples for Mrs. Rios to read while I took two kids at a time and did the fore-arm prints. I also thought an apple snack would be nice so, I brought caramel dip and Mrs. Rios asked all the kids to bring an apple that day. She wrote the parents in their weekly newsletter about it and also put a note in their agenda books the night before to remind them. Still, I felt nervous that some kids would be without apples, so my last stop before arriving at the school was to pick up a bag of 10 apples.
The craft went great. The kids totally loved it. And the books were good too, even the one by Madonna--a surprise (I guess tromping around the stage in your underwear doesn't automatically disqualify you from having brains).
Next I had the kids line up to hand me their apples to be cut. That's when the kids started buzzing, "But what about Cole? His mom forgot to send him an apple!" Apparently, all the parents remembered, but me. Mrs. Rios said to me. "They've been very concerned about Cole. I assured them that Cole's mom would bring him an apple when she came." Her assurances obviously didn't stick. They kept on saying, "Cole doesn't get a snack! How come Cole doesn't have an apple?" I said several times, "I brought Cole 10 apples!" and pointed to the bag on the table. One little girl had two apples and I asked her why, "My mom said I should bring two in case someone's mommy forgot to send them an apple. This apple is for Cole!" Through all this conversation Cole sat at his desk like a brave soldier while all the other kids lined up to get their apples cut. When we were down to the last kid and Cole still hadn't joined the line I said, "Cole why aren't you in line? I have an apple for you." Cole brightened and said, "I do?" Poor guy, but really! After weeks of planning and an hour in the class room, what was the impression left with the class? Cole's Mom forgot to send him an apple! I'm just glad I brought that bag of apples because I had to replace one kid's apple that was totally bruised inside--he must have a really sorry mom!

My Nursery Leaders are Cooler than Yours

Your nursery leaders might be a grandparents in their 60s like ours, but are they stock car race drivers? Ours are! They and their son race stock cars. I'm especially impressed with sister Kahler because she is one of 7 women out of a field of about 80 contenders on the track. Her favorite moment was when she was driving on the WALL of the track, "I looked out my side window and all I could see was dirt! I had a choice to slow down and fall on my roof or go faster and hopefull right myself." She chose speed. That manuever made it onto the track video screen. She also does all her own auto mechanics and retrofiting. She says her husband and son are busy on their cars, so she figures she should do her own. Right now, she says, her car is in pieces, the only thing intact is the engine block. I have two things to say about these people: I totally admire them, and no wonder they are always smiling! Gotta love the South!

Meet me at the Fair

We attended the Delta Fair last weekend, and our first stop was the Farmer's Market where we learned a little about the life of bees! A young man with many tattoos showed us this observation frame you can see behind the boys. He told us a lot of fascinating things like how the new queen chirps when she emerges from her cell, bringing on a confrontation with the old queen wherein they battle it out, and whomever loses is ushered out by the worker bees. Also, the male drones are kicked out of the hive every autumn. Pretty amazing stuff about them bees.

Here's Trace. I need to take more pictures of this cute meister. He's growing up so fast!

The boys crawling on a ATV on display next to the hall where the beauty pageant was going on. An interesting slice of Southern life.

Speaking of interesting slices of culture. We got our first exposure to the roller derby. These ladies are not so intent on being beauties. I'm pretty sure the aim is intimidation by scariness. Yes, that is underwear over the top of the red and black leopard leggings--it really completes the outfit. Clint and I were pretty fascinated by this punkette subculture. It is actually a sport. As far as we could make it out: two skaters race around the track to complete a certain number of laps. Meanwhile there is a herd of skaters that they have to skate through who block them, shove them down or run interference for them, depending upon whose team they are on. Kind of like mud wrestling on wheels. Once we figured it out it was time to leave. I was relieved to hear Cole say, "This is boring!" If he thought the girls were hot, I'd have felt really guilty for corrupting my son.

Next we checked out the helicopter rides which were only $10--unbelievable!! But of course it was broken down. Bummer. I've never ridden in a helicopter and I feel so jipped.

Next was the Jousting Tournament. "Carnies on horses," quoth Clint. We had a great seat and it was fun. But it was also really hot. Because the crowd was lethargic and didn't cheer on the good guy enough, the bad guy won. Shucks.

This was the only ride of the day. It moved so slowly I'm pretty sure it had no Gs at all, but the boys thought it was a blast. I'm just glad they are up for rides now, and glad they are not in a hurry to be too old for kiddie things. I'd rather they take their sweet time growing up.

We left before they got thrown in a real one of these. I actually took the older 3 boys back 2 days later--glutton for punishment. I saw the helicopter flying and I wanted to give it one more try. But this time there were 42 people in front of us. I figured that was at least a 2 hour wait in the hot sun with four boys. It wasn't worth it. I know a helicopter pilot. I'll just have to have him get me a ride someday. It would probably be cheaper to rent a helicopter than to pay any more admissions to a fair!

Conflict-free Gourmet Cooking

My belly is so fat and happy because tonight I made Tortellini with Chicken and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce. How did the kids like it? I wouldn't know. They didn't get any. I have a whole handful of "Mikey's." The most traumatic night in their life to date was the night I made lasagna--horror of horrors! Since then we've come to a grumpy truce. They don't have to eat anything I cook, but they are to keep negative comments to themselves and they get to get their own dinner. Still I usually try to make my meals so that at least half the pasta or rice is plain, etc. and it's left me not able to cook many of the yummy recipes I'd like to. Today I had a brain-wave. It was fast Sunday and the boys had all gorged on leftover pizza after church. That meant I could cook whatever I wanted for just Clint and me to break our fast. So I set a nice table for two and we enjoyed some whine-free dining. So here's the dish:

Tortellini with Chicken & Gorgonzola Cream Sauce
prep time: 15 min.
cook time: 15 min.
Serves 6 (or 2, three times!)

2 packages 9 oz. cheese tortellini
1 T. olive oil
3 Chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 garlic clove minced (I always put in 4-6)
1 medium onion chopped
1 t. finely chopped sage leaves
2 cups fresh white mushrooms (or 1 can)
1/4 c. white wine
1 1/2 cups cream or half and half
1/4 t. salt
ground pepper to taste
1 cup. frozen peas
4 oz. crumbled gorgonzola cheese
finely chopped fresh parsely (optional)
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Saute chicken, garlic, onion, sage and mushrooms 3 min. or till chicken is cooked. Add wine and cook 1 minute more. Stir in cream, salt and pepper and cook 5 more minutes.
3. Gently stir together, pasta, peas, chicken cream sauce, gorgonzola. Sprinkle parsley, if desired.
Each Serving: 714 calories (with whole cream)

Saved by the J.W.s

Joey, Katie and Luke had just gotten home on Saturday after a mountain bike ride (my first in a year. I went with the Joey, Clint and Aaron, a friend from the ward). Suddenly, Katie and I noticed Trace and Luke were AWOL, but we also noticed that Joey was absent so we figured they were probably together. We found the three of them half a block away. Joey was curious how far they'd go and they'd taken him for a walk. So we all walked back to our house together, chatting about our independent toddlers. When we got to our house I bent down and pulled a half-a-dozen weeds out of our driveway while Joey and Katie hopped in their cars to go home. As they pulled out I thought, Wow! that was fast, they must have put Trace inside before they left. But when I walked in the door Clint asked, "Where's Trace?" I booked it back outside and ran into the street and there were the J.W.s who tract our neighborhood every Saturday, carrying Trace toward me. They said he'd gotten around the corner and was marching down the center of the street like he owned it. I tried lamely to defend my parenting skills as I grabbed Trace, but they still gave me an earful of preaching, and it wasn't about religion.

More Cole-isms

1. During a Family Home Evening lesson recently we talked about integrity. Integrity, I said, is doing the right thing even if no one is looking. Cole said, "Wow! I never heard of that trick before." This is very funny coming from Cole. He's an expert sneaker. He takes very literally statements like: "Don't ever let me catch you..."

2. Cole: Mom, when we get to heaven will we know everything?
Me: Yes.
Cole: Alright! (running off) Talmage, I've got good news!

Small Miracle

I think I've mentioned before that when we go for a family swim, Trace occupies himself patrolling the deck. His personal mission is to throw all objects into the pool. The brothers call this a game of "dropsy." Last weekend after a really great family swim I looked into the pool and shouted, "CAMERA!" Trace had dropped the digital camera into the pool and it had been there for who knows how long. I'd left it on some bales of cedar bark on the deck. I removed the battery, which had died earlier in the evening, and Clint put it in his shop on a shelf near his dehumidifier. And wonder of wonders--2 days later it works completely. Phew! We were so not ready for another $500 kick in the wallet.

1st Day of School

Ah...the boys are back to getting education on a full-time basis. Here is Tal on his first day of 3rd grade--feeling a bit spun up.
Cole, on his first day of first grade looking cool as a cucumber.
And here's Jack on his first day of pre-school, aka "Car school" as in a school you get to by car, rather than by bus. Since we signed up in March, Jack began begging daily to go to car school. Now that the day is finally here, you can see he's got his business face on. He takes this school stuff seriously. And he absolutely loved it.

Homesick

I think this may be the first year in our married life that I will not have gone home to visit. I've been feeling a bit bummed as I've missed in this month alone: The missionary homecomings of my first two nephews to go on missions, My parent's missionary homecoming, two baby blessings for a niece and nephew I haven't met, my brother's family sealing to his adopted Chinese son, whom I haven't met, and three family reunions. Boo hoo. But in reflecting about it I realize how lucky and blessed I am to love everyone in my family! They are the coolest people I know in the world and I feel so lucky to be related to them! I will try in this next year to be really cool and accomplished like them so that we have lots to share when we next get together.

In the meantime I realize a bit of the blase comes from the Memphis summer which is either drizzly or sticky hot. And have I mentioned we had our second tornado last week? The kind of excitement most could do without. :) I hope my friend Vicky forgives me for sharing, but I always think if her son, Troy, who spent his early childhood here, when he heard we were coming here he told Talmage, "Memphis is the worst place in the world to live!!" The tornadoes really left a scary memory in his mind.

But now for one of the good sides of living in the Mid-South. I've been teaching Church history in Primary this year and Clint has been teaching a Church History institute class to the Stake Single Adults. Living on the banks of the Mississippi and just below Missouri really puts some of those stories into context. For example, yesterday I taught my kids about Zion's camp and how as they camped between the forks of the Little and Big Fishing Rivers a thunderstorm came up that raised the river 40 feet and prevented a mob of 300 from crossing the river to attack them. I asked my kids if they've seen a storm like that--nods of 'yes!' We have frequent flash flood warnings in this area. A medium storm will raise the rivers 20 feet. The water can really come down around here! In addition members in this area frequently vacation to all the church history sites as many of them are within a days journey. We're hoping to do that as a family while were here as well.

So here's hoping to bloom a little more, while we're planted here.

Smash-nosed Supervisor

I was mowing the lawn last week like a bad mom. The bad Mom part was the part where Dad wasn't home and the kids were inside tending themselves. I'd rather have them inside than outside getting digits mowed off. Still every time I dumped the grass bag I stepped inside to have a listen. The first time I walked up to our front door I saw Trace with his little face smooshed against the glass of our left side light window, watching me, and grinning ear to ear. The rest of the time I was in the front he didn't budge. He seemed to think he really needed to keep his eyes on me. You never know what trouble parents might get into these days. Then I started with the back lawn and when I turned to face the house, there was Trace layered between the kitchen glass and the blinds, smooshed nosed and grinning at me and watching me like a slow tennis match going back and forth across the lawn. It was glad to have a little supervision, and It was nice to always know how my baby was doing.

PTA Rabble Rouser

I had a bit of a sweat fest this week. My kids go to a very new school and it's still a bit cold an sterile and not entirely welcoming to parents. Last year I tried unsuccessfully to be a regular volunteer in both of my boys' classes, but it didn't work out. So this year I signed up to be the Parent Tutor chair person. I made up two versions of calendars for the teachers to use for their parents to sign up at back-to-school night. I made a Parent Tutor Handbook and I made a bunch of posters for every hallway in the school encouraging parents to volunteer in the classroom. This morning I gave a presentation to the faculty encouraging them to use the parents in the classroom and showed them how the handbook I made will encourage parents to not be a nuisance while they're at it. I had a really great response. Many teachers came to me and expressed gratitude for the support. I just hope it makes a difference. Tomorrow I'll be at the school for 8 hours doing a sales pitch to all the parents who walk by. I really miss my wonderful school in San Diego! But since I can't have that, I'm going to bring some of the good things I saw there, here to Memphis.

Clint's Stay-cation

Do those boys look equipped, or what? Sunglasses, camelback, bike. Oh yeah, forgot the helmets at home. Oops!

Clint took last week off of work. Apparently his job is a bit stressful. His description: "It's like taking a college mid-term all-day, everyday, without any chance to prepare." Guess those teleconferences with D.C. get old. So he took 1 of the 8 weeks of leave he has saved up and took it easy at home. At first I was all over that free time with trip planning--how about Nauvoo? St. Louis? But ultimately we just decided to do a fun family thing each day here in Memphis, and relax. We went to the Gelato Cafe on Monday, a disappointment--but at least we got out of the house! Tuesday we went to see G-Force 3D, the boys loved it. Wednesday, Clint and I went to see Harry Potter and loved it--plus loved the rare non-temple date! Thursday we took the boys to Shelby Farms Park and biked around Freedom Lake (1.67 a lap) two times. The boys have come a long way! The new skill we had to teach Tal was, stop and wait for the family when you can no longer see us! Clint and I took turns guiding Jack or pushing Trace in the jogging stroller while sort of keeping up with the older two. I can tell I haven't run in a long tme because that was a faster pace than I was prepared to run! Jack still is not an official bike rider. He can go about 10 yards at time before he goes all wobbly. He's still not got the focus to go straight ahead, "Look at those ducks!"--veer! "Why is that man in the boat talking to me?"--wobble! But he's still young, maybe next year. Meanwhile I'm thinking about putting those training wheels back on for the sake of my poor aching back! I don't recall what we did Friday and Saturday, but I know we all feel a lot more relaxed and Clint feels a bit less stressed this morning as he heads back to the grindstone.

Tal, the Engineer

When Tal built this Lego vehicle with power functions and a remote (in less than an hour) I had to take a video quick, while it lasted. And good thing, it was later smashed to Lego pieces by a cute young one. But we've still got the video!

I Caught a Fish THIS tiny!

Clint took the boys fishing again. His co-worker has a fishing pond in his backyard and as his wife and kids were out of town, it needed to be fished. Tal got the award for the smallest fish. It was about 1 1/2 inches and as the hook was 1 inch, that was pretty impressive. Jack gets the award for having the least qualms about getting the bait and fish gook all over his hands. They kept their catch in a fishbowl then poured it back in the pond when they were done. Thanks, Dad, that was fun. And Mom got to spend a relaxing evening with just Trace.

Happy Memphis Day to Us!

So it's our one-year anniversary of moving moving to Memphis today! And to celebrate I'm going to show you the biggest measure of our time here, our blondie Trace. I have to document these blonde locks as they will come off with his first haircut and will never be seen again. His blue eyes are now green, as well, and will probably be Cresap brown before the year is out. I've always loved blonde hair and brown eyes together.

Cole's Thoughts on Kindergarten

This is Cole reading an essay on his favorite things about kindergarten at his year-end program. It's only 10 seconds long, but it comes with a classic Cole grin. I tried to post this before but Youtube wasn't cooperating.

Jack Turned 4 on June 6th!

Click on the jpeg to enlarge.

Child Brain Vs. Adult Brain Part II

Clint has been very concerned lately because there's about a dozen young men in our stake between the ages of 19 and 35 who are completely addicted to video games. They are under or unemployed, not going to school, not married, not socialized, living with their mothers playing video games all day. I told Clint no worries. We'll just talk it up and make sure the boys would never want to be like that.
So the other day I turned off the Wii after an hour of play and the boys threw their usual fit. I returned with my best wide-eyed voice, "Did you know that some people become addicted to video games? They play video games all day. They don't get jobs, or get married, or have children, or go to school and they live their mothers and just play video games all day."
Talmage: But Mom what happens next? What's the bad part?

Shark Attacks in Largest Hot Tub in Memphis

My brother Joey has the greatest ideas. For a long time he's been wanting to set up his digital movie projector beside our pool and watch Jaws while floating in the water! Last Friday we did it and it was so much fun!

It was the Hales, the Cresaps, our friend Beth Smith (pictured here drinking Joey's Red Chum Smoothies with Katie and I) and our friends Loren and Cindy Smith.

I only let out 3 blood-curdling screams. I couldn't help it.

And then there was the matter of the water temperature: 98 degrees! Too warm for me. Our pool has a dark blue automatic safety cover that is closed whenever we're not using the pool. It's been heating our pool up like crazy. I never imagined a pool could get too warm. We didn't even swim in it after this night, while we brain stormed how to cool it down. There was a pool cooling system for 3k we didn't even consider. Then we found a little PVC gadget on the internet for $38. The pipe plugs into the water return spout and sticks out of the water. It has about a thousand pinholes that water sprays out of. The first night we ran this, it cooled our pool down from 98 to 92. The second night it went down to 82! Yay! Our investment and summer is saved! We had such a refreshing swim today!

Flash Back on Jack

I had to share these pictures of Jack back in San Diego last summer. He can't seem to take a bad picture because he's always in an action figure pose. He IS an action figure!

I've got my sword and my boots and I'm ready to fight the bad guys!
Oh look, there's a bad guy right there!
Take that!
Oh the Bad guy has a sword too, and a chariot!
But no matter, I will intimidate him with my sheer fierceness and my complete disregard for the safety of myself and others!
Whack, Whack! WHACK!Tal: Game over. I'm outta here! (Click on this photo to see Tal's expression)