A new house to house my girth

I realize that I just posted about something that Jake said, but this one was so funny, I couldn't resist.

We had pizza for dinner. I decided to eat one more slice...yeah, I know...
Anyway, here's the conversation.
Jake: "Mom, you are getting full. Good eating!"
Me: "Yeah, thanks...I guess"
Jake: "You're getting bigger!"
Me: Mouth full "Oh!?"
Jake: "Yeah, you are getting bigger. We'll have to get a new house."
I just about lost a mouth full of pizza because I was laughing so hard. Who needs a diet plan when you have the honesty of a 3 year old boy.

A bike ride to Italy

Tonight, as I was getting Jake dressed in his jammies, he said
“Mom, I love to snuggle you”
Me: “I love to snuggle you too sweet boy”
Jake: “I love to sneak into the bed and snuggle you”
Me: “Yes, you do. What are you going to do when I am in Italy next week and you can’t come in and snuggle me anymore?”
Jake: “I’ll get on my bike and ride it to Italy, then snuggle you in your bed.”
Me: Laughing, “That was a cute thing to say, I need to go in and write that down.”
Jake: Laughing too, “Yeah, I say cute things.”

Trading toys

The snowmobile magazines start coming out in August. Why does that matter to me, you ask? Well, for one thing it means I have a buddy to read in bed with. Mike hates it when I stay up late reading. I grew up falling asleep with the light on reading, then when I got married, I had to start reading in another room (only when I wanted to be nice). The lights bug him and he wakes up every 15 minutes and asks when I'm going to be done. It's not really worth staying up unless the book is really good. Anyway, on the day the snowmobile magazines come out, he will stay up and read.

The other reason my life is affected when the snowmobile magazines come out is that Mike wants to go pick up his snowmobile in Star Valley. We always leave it up there for the summer. This year, we had the boat parked on the side of the house. When those magazines came out, Mike was ready to make the switch. It didn't matter that there might be a few good boating days left in the year, he had the snow bug.

So, yesterday we drove to Star Valley and made the switch. Now Mike is spending his Saturday getting the snowmobile ready to roar. He might have to wait months, but it's here and it's ready!

Maybe she'll be an avid reader...

I was on the phone arranging visiting teaching schedules and I kept hearing "THUD....pitter patter...grunt...pitter patter...THUD..." repeated over and over. I was concerned, but needed to finish the conversation, so I ignored it.

A few minutes later, I went to investigate and found Allie adding all the books in Jake's room to her crib. When she saw me, she squealed and ran into her room. She climbed in and started to read. You can't really tell from the pictures, but she really had made progress in the moving department. We cleared out a corner for her to sleep and she is in there reading right now.

I used to read all hours of the night (now I just listen to the books all hours of the night). Maybe Allie will be like me and love books.

I hope so...




This picture cracks me up because it looks like something from out of those I Spy books. I spy a doll named Brooke, pink bear, and an elephant sitting on a very unstable tree...

The reason I don't mind doing dishes this time of year

This is the view from my kitchen window. Obviously I went outside to take the picture or you wouldn't have been able to see the pretty colors through the hard water stains on the window. I can look past that, although I have thought about cleaning the window just for the season...

"Look Mom! A Hog!"

When you have a two year old, sometimes you wish they came with a few manuals. People always joke that it would be nice if kids came with instructions. With new talkers, sometimes I just wish for a translating book. Allie gets very frustrated with me when I don't understand the words she is so repeatedly screaming at me. If I didn't understand the first time it came out of her mouth, chances are the next 42 times she repeats it I'm still not going to get it. Can she point? Can she use it in a sentence? Give me the word origins? All those things might help. Anyway, there have been a few break throughs on understanding the language barrier lately and I thought I'd share them with you...



When I washed Allie's hands a couple months ago I grabbed the towel to dry them. She said "Look! A spider" I was startled (spiders aren't my favorite) and looked all over trying to find the spider. I didn't find one, so I thought maybe it had scurried under the stove. I avoided that area all morning, then forgot about it. The problem with that is that she repeated the proclamation every time I washed her hands. I tried to figure out if I was hearing her wrong, but she said "spider" pretty clearly. I just reasoned that she was wrong (like the times she excitedly says "cow" and points out horses.)


Point of the story...the mystery was solved when, after months of saying it, she finally pointed and I made the connection...

It could look a little like a spider, I guess. It does have 8 leg things...

The other word discovery was last week when we went for a walk up the canyon. She kept telling us she was seeing "a hog!" As we weren't at a farm, we once again questioned her brilliance. After many "hogs" were spotted, I made the connection. She was pointing out logs.

She is getting better at talking, but there are always days of confusion and frustration (she gets frustrated, I get confused). Overall, this stage is really fun for me. I love to watch her figure things out and learn to communicate her feelings.

Rock Band on the BIG Screen

We have an awesome neighborhood. Some of us have been talking about getting together to watch movies out on a projector at night, but in the summer it stays light so long we just never did it. Then, right after school started, they got a plan together to play "Rock Band" out there.

Heather took the pictures, and it took me a while to get them from her. So even though it was over a month ago, I just wanted to brag that my neighborhood is cooler than yours...

We had the party in Heidi's backyard...thanks for letting us play! That big sheet was our screen, and when it got dark, it was perfect.

This is Jake's friend Carson eyeing the tasty cupcakes Heidi made...note his swollen eye from a mosquito bite. The poor guy got a little beat up at our house the next week when the truck he was pushing found a dangerous pot hole. I couldn't help but say "Adrian" in a lame Rocky accent every time I saw him until the swelling went down...sorry for the short off topic wandering, I was just reminded of the scrapes when I looked at this picture, so I thought I'd add this one...

Anyway, the party didn't really get going until after dark but it was really fun. There were enough instruments for anyone who wanted to play.

Allie actually shows promising ability as a drummer...
And a dancer...Here's a picture of most the crowd.

It really was a fun night, and now we are all sad to see those long summer nights go. Thanks for the pictures Heather...I was too lazy to go get my own camera. We left when it was too dark to find the kids when they ran off. Besides, the mosquitoes were having me for a late night snack. But there were some hard core gamers that stayed out until after midnight...

We love our neighbor friends. See why I say my neighborhood is cooler than yours!

Temple misconceptions

Jake has some funny beliefs about the Temple. For a while I didn't worry about correcting his thoughts, but now I think I need to intervene. See what you all think...

When he started Sunbeams he started to talk about the things that Jesus created. He would point out random objects in his room and emphatically say "Jesus made that for me!" He also told me that he made our house (I guess in a really round about way), and all of us. He told me that Jesus lives in the Temple. I agreed that if he were going to be anywhere here upon the Earth, it would be the Temple, but I really just left it at that.

I also try to tell him stories about his Grandpa Johnson a lot. It makes me sad to think that they don't know him, so I show pictures and talk about him. So that he isn't confused with Grandpa Joe, I tell him Grandpa Johnson lives in heaven. Jake started saying "yeah, he lives at the Temple with Jesus." Once again, I agreed that maybe he would be able to visit the Temple and left it at that.

Anyway, since our neighbor Ginny was born, Jake has been asking for a new baby. The other day he told me that babies come from the Temple. He told me that Ethan (Ginny's big brother) went to the Temple with his Mom and got Ginny. Then he asked if we could go to the Temple and "buy" a new baby. If it were only that easy son...

Making the cash

Today Mike and I went down to Salt Lake to assemble some computer tables he sold to a school. We shipped our kids off to Aunt Tara for the day and knew they were in good hands. Now that they are a little older, I can leave without really worrying too much.

Here are the things I discovered today...

• Even though we were working, it really could just be considered a very long date. We talked for almost 8 hours straight. The tables were at West High in Salt Lake. Watching the kids there made us remember stories of our own High School days, and it was fun to reminisce.
• Jake would be really out of place at West High. I didn't see one blonde haired, blue eyed kid in the whole place. Maybe the ones with stretched out ears and dyed hair used to be blonde...who knows.
• We were at a disadvantage for not knowing Spanish when we needed to ask to borrow a drill, and when I tried to tell a girl she dropped her cup cakes...her loss, my gain!
• When you are gone from home all day, the chances of coming home to a clean house are very high. That was nice. (I learned from my Mom the art of the "whirlwind clean" when people are coming over. I thought Tara was going to bring the kids back to my house, so I did a quick pick up.)

Every time we do this assembly thing, I realize that I really am blessed to be able to stay at home with my kids each day. I enjoy the break, and I enjoy making a little extra money, but the thing I like the best is when I hear "Mommy I missed you" from Jake, or see little Allie come running for a hug.

Food storage Tetris, and kids that grow out of clothes too fast...

This weekend I tackled the organization of our food storage room, and the place under the stairs that holds all our kids clothes. As discussed in an earlier post, my friend Mike makes me fit everything in our house because there isn't a square to spare in the garage.
Anyway, I knew I was going to tackle this project, and I knew I wanted to write about it on the blog, so I thought about taking "before" pictures. The problem is, it was such a big mess I would have been embarrassed to document it on film. (yes, I know I don't use film anymore, it's a figure of speech).
I had just gone to a case lot sale, and had nowhere to stash the stuff I bought, so I just stacked it in piles in the already disorganized room. If any of you are fans of the show Friends, this room is to my house as the closet is to Monica. (for those of you who aren't familiar with the show, Monica is a clean freak, but she has a secret closet that is an absolute mess.) I am not a clean freak, but this room is out of control. It is my craft, scrapbook, food storage, things I don't have another home for, sewing, deep freezer, and things that should normally go in a garage room. As you can imagine, it is a mess. I have had it under control at different times, but the room seems to be shrinking, and the mess got out of hand.
Back to the point of the post...Mike gave me a "kid free day" on Saturday to sort it all out. (Not exactly what I would have loved to do on a kid free day, but I'll take what I can get.) The biggest glitch of the day is that my iPod froze up and I had to wait for the battery to die to be able to use it. Not a big glitch you say? I rarely do anything without listening to a book, so I couldn't get started. Then I remembered my old MP3 player and I was off. It took all day, but I got it cleaned up.
I added 3 big garbage cans to the room to hold my sugar, flour, and wheat. I use those things enough that I didn't want to store them in #10 cans and keep opening them. This way, I just take out a bag when I need it and put it in a 5 gallon bucket.

I was even reluctant to take "after" pictures, because although I did get the food storage part organized, the other half of the room is an absolute wreck. But, the camera couldn't get that part in anyway because of the angle of the room. You still can't get a real idea of the place from these pictures, but I did have to add some pictures or you'd get bored.

The other huge project to tackle was the kids’ clothes. For some lazy reason, I hadn’t sorted and put Jake and Allie’s old sizes away for almost a year. I just had piles stuck in bags and tossed into the room under the stairs. Now that it is getting colder and I needed the clothes behind those clothes, I sorted that all out too. (Sounds complicated, I know…it was).
As I was looking at the clothes they both wore not so long ago, I was getting a little sad. I can’t believe that Jake has grown out of a 2T. I looked at some of those warm jammies and couldn’t believe he’d grown out of them. I can remember him running around the house begging me to chase him, Allie running close behind in her little pink jammies too. I was getting sad, but then I reminded myself that it is a good thing to see them grow up. Not only are they growing out of some difficult stages, they are growing. That right there is a blessing. I’d be sad if they weren’t growing and progressing. So, I put the clothes away, and was glad I am constantly taking pictures. I may not want to document the messy room downstairs and in the corner, but I do want to document the messy faces (and cute clothes) of my two favorite growing kids.

The power of advertising

Today as I was putting Jake down for a nap, I noticed that his leg had some mud on it. (After the weeks of playing in the river bed across the street, just having it on one leg is surprising).
Anyway, I grabbed a baby wipe and started to clean it off. He said "Mom, did you know that Clorox disinfecting wipes are stronger?" I burst out laughing because that is such a random thing for him to say. I never discuss the cleaning power of Clorox wipes with him, so it must be the t.v. that has taught him.
Jake loves The Backyardigains. My only complaint with the show is that, unlike the Disney Channel, they show regular commercials in between episodes. We record the shows on the DVR and there is always an overlapping few minutes where the commercials are on.
I have tried to be very careful to turn it off before the commercials come on because of the Clorox commercial that made Jake fear the toilet seat. I wrote about it before, but for those of you who forgot, the add states that "millions of bugs live under your toilet seat" (insert scary picture of millions of bugs waiting for you to sit down on the seat. They have huge fangs, and scary hands...who wouldn't be afraid to touch the toilet seat after seeing that?).
Anyway, the target audience of toddlers appears to be working, because mine is a walking advertisement. "Mom, can we get Clorox toilet bowl cleaner to kill the bugs in our toilet?" And apparently we need to buy more Clorox disinfecting wipes, as they are stronger than ordinary wipes...

"Oh, do you need to go potty?"

Allie loves her new doll house. She is so cute to watch. She has conversations with the people in the house. She feeds them, she bathes them, and one by one she has them use the potty. It's so funny to hear her encouragement "good job! You did it! Now wash hands...cute!" (I don't know where that comes from, except that I usually end up saying "cute" a lot when I am talking to her so she thinks that is an appropriate ending to a sentence.)

She has set things up so the farm is in the back and they can come in for dinner when they are hungry. The mom drives a car and parks it on the side of the house and goes in the front door...it's all just so "cute". I guess this is so exciting to me because she is actually playing with her toys. Jake likes to line things up and look at them, she is playing. I love it.

Garage Tetris

Mike is (to put it kindly) a garage hog. When we moved into this house, he made the boundaries clear. I could put anything I want into the house, but the garage was his. I grew up in a house where there wasn't even room for one car in the garage because there was so much "stuff", so I thought it was fine that he was particular about what took up space in "his garage". Now, it is a little annoying. If I have porch decorations, Christmas lights, woodworking tools, my bike...things of that nature; they can't take up space in "his garage". I'm not kidding about this. I even went out and bought a shed with my odd job money a few years ago so I could store my bike and wood working tools in it. Guess what is in the shed now...the lawn mower and other annoying yard tools that were taking up too much space in "his garage".


There are a few things of mine in the garage (I fought to get the blue recycling garbage can in there) and I have my strollers, but I live in fear of what he will find in there as he is cleaning it out. He took a trip to D.I. today, and I guarantee there were a few things in there that I would be annoyed to lose.


Anyway, the point of this post is to actually applaud Mike. Each year he makes our two car garage a three car garage. He begs my Mom, his Dad, anyone he can find to beg, for a space to fit his '52 Chevy in for the winter. Every year he is turned down and he has to play garage tetris. By now he has it down. He backs the '52 in and turns it sideways, then there is room to pull both cars in. The motorcycle fits in between the two cars, and in the winter the snowmobile takes that place.






You can only imagine the "discussions" we've had about where to park the boat for the winter...anyone have a space?

Fun at the "curly haired" Grandma's house

We were in Orem this weekend. Jake calls my Mom the curly haired Grandma. When you have 3 Grandmas you have to start thinking of different traits I guess.

My Mom got a new boat, so I tested its ability to pull a skier...it passed with flying colors.
We let the kids play on the dock for a minute before we took off. They were trying to see fish through the water...good luck this time of year. I had to talk myself into getting in that brown foamy water. Obviously you have to do that to ski, so I did, but I came home with a different colored swim suit than I went in with...thanks Utah Lake!

We went to my nephew's football game on Saturday. If football were "cute" it would have been soo cute to see them all out there in full gear running around, but football isn't "cute"...so it was just cool. Easton is number 65...

As the other kids played on the bleachers, Allie must have found every consumable thing out there...do we worry?

We also went down to the park behind my Mom's house. There are ducks in the pond and we tried to feed them. They were snooty ducks and only came to sniff at our bread, then swim away. I guess they were holding out for the "not stale" variety.

The kids loved playing at the park. Jake is getting really good at all the playground equipment. I only had to climb up to help a child down the slide once.

The main reason we went down this weekend was to pick up our truck. We have been waiting all summer, and there will be more waiting. For those of you who don't know the gruesome details, we bought this truck in May and have been waiting to convert it to natural gas. We finally got sick of waiting, so we picked it up and have an appointment to convert it next week...gas under a dollar a gallon here we come!

We had a great time in Orem, but as always, it's good to be home.

The promised Billy Bob pictures

I can't even look at these pictures without laughing

Make the Connection

The other day, Jake and Allie spent lunch enjoying their drinks. Jake was using this straw, and Allie had to have one too, so hers was a little less cool, but still effective.

Jake is potty trained, and hasn't had a nap accident for a long time...curse that curly straw...

Happy 63 Dad!

Today would have been my Dad's 63rd birthday. I have thought of him all day, and even felt a little sorry for myself that he isn't here to enjoy my kids. Then I was remembering our old tradition of going to Lagoon around Labor Day to celebrate his birthday. (I always thought it was named Labor Day after my Dad because he was a twin, and that must have been a difficult labor...) Anyway, we went to Lagoon as a family last month, and I was remembering Dad on all the rides. When we were small he would let us stand on his foot and he'd raise it up so we would hit the "you must be this tall to ride this ride" mark. He'd embarrass us in line as he'd stop to comment on some stranger's tattoos, or make a new friend with the guy behind us. Then when we finally got to the ride, he'd squeeze himself into the seat, cram down the bar, say "think thin", and we were off. He loved the white roller coaster and would yell the whole way. I can still see his red face and wind swept hair when the ride finally came to a stop. He loved life.

There are all types of people at Lagoon. Dad (who was not the skinniest guy on the block) would say "Sue, if you eat all the right foods, you can look just like that...but you have to eat all of them". I always wanted to shrink and hide in the corner because he didn't whisper. Maybe he thought he was, but his hearing loss prevented volume control.

Anyway, I was just thinking of him today, and wanted to write down a few memories. I read a quote today that I really liked.

"We write to taste life twice, once in the moment and in retrospection" Anais Nin

I guess I am just reminding myself about Dad. We all miss him. Even though we aren't sad every day, it is still hard to want to remember him because the sadness does come. But every once in a while, I think I need to remember to taste that life again...

Happy Birthday Dad.

Here are a few pictures of our "Regoon" (as Jake calls it) trip.

These kids ride double decker all the time and I love to see people's reaction. I think it's cute.

"Oh no! My bebe ball!"

There's a new trend going around our neighborhood boys. Some of them got air soft guns and they go out and have wars. As far as I'm concerned, this can only end badly, but they have fun. I don't mention it because we are involved in the war part. (If you wonder why I write about this, and are envisioning Jake armed with a gun and ski goggles). We are, however, reaping the benefits from these wars.

The Pros:

1. Jake has always been obsessed with balls, and these air soft bullets are lovely, collectible balls.
2. They are the perfect size for little fingers to find and pick up.


3. Allie thinks they are food, but they pass right on through and make for a nice collectible the next day in the diaper. (or is that a con?)


4. Jake and Carson can spend a whole afternoon in the same area searching for them. (That means that I don't have to worry about him wandering somewhere that he shouldn't be.)


5. I even enjoy searching the grass for them. It's very therapeutic.
   
   
   
   This is from when we found the mother lode of blue ones in the road. This find bought us Moms almost a half hour of un-interrupted talking.

The cons:

1. I find colorful balls in the bed.


2. I find colorful balls in the tub.


3. I find colorful balls in the washing machine.


4. I find colorful balls with my bare feet in the middle of the night.


5. My disposal has never been the same since we washed the dirty ones and let a few escape.


6. My vacuum rattles, then pings as it ejects the colorful balls out the side, only to be found in obscure locations later on.


7. Allie and Jake fight over the one ball they find on the floor that I didn't find with my feet. "NO, it's my bebe ball!!"


8. When Allie drops one, it is the end of the world. She threw a 20 minute fit the other night because one rolled under the stove and we couldn't get it back. It's not like there aren't thousands more out there!


9. I think the biggest con is that Mike and I live in fear that the lids will come off these jars. Jake walks around shaking them and I just cringe. (he collected enough to need the second jar after the blue bebe mother lode).

"Mom, it's poo!!!"

Allie got an addition to her Fisher Price farm for her birthday. It came with this chicken...

Yesterday, Allie came to me and threw the chicken at my feet saying "It's poo Mom! It's gross" Then she tried to wipe her hands on her shirt and asked me to hurry and wash them. At first, I panicked thinking that she had played with poo again and got it on the chicken (the playing with poo thing had been happening on a regular basis). I got a little carried away when I found her painting with poo in her crib last week becuase I was tired of it. (which I don't think is unreasonable.) It was the third day in a row and I told her that it was gross and she should never do it again. I put the fear in her and later regretted that I had gotten so frustrated, but I think it worked, because there hasn't been another incident in over a week. That is almost a record. Anyway, when I looked at the chicken, I noticed that the brown paint on his tail resembles poo. When I put it all together, I laughed and chased her around the house trying to "wipe the poo" on her because that is what you do when you want to scar your child for life, or at least prevent her from ever touching that chicken again.

About that same time, my friend Heidi came over to return a book and I told her the funny story. She has a daughter the same age as Allie, so I told Allie to show Lily the poo. Allie reluctantly picked up the chicken to show Lily. I got distracted talking and the next time I looked at her, Allie was tentatively licking the "poo". So that is my daughter for you. She was grossed out by the chicken, wanted me to wash her hands, and screamed when I chased her trying to wipe it on her. But she will give it a taste and see if it's any good. Mmm! Poo!

The end of the story is that the chicken is no longer a part of the farm. He has been disgraced and ostracized from the community for having poo on his tail.

"Mrs. Lamb is nice Mom, she gave us pretzels and car snacks"

Today was Jake's first day of pre-school. I cried the day he went into Sunbeams at Church, but for some reason, today didn't phase me. I think it was because I was at the dentist getting drilled, so I didn't even notice that he was really gone.

Anyway, he said he had fun. He is a man of few words, so I got the details from his friend Aubrey in the car on the way home.

When Mike heard me asking Jake about preschool at lunch, he said "he's like me. He doesn't like questions. If he wants to tell you something, he will." Wow...I guess that's a not so gentle reminder not to ask him how Allie did while I was at the dentist. If he wants to tell me he will.

I guess Mike was right because just as he was snuggled in for his nap Jake told me that he liked Mrs. Lamb and all about snack time. He talked about the puzzle piece he worked on, he said that they sang a song, read a book, etc. He even told me that there was another boy named Jake S. in the class that had brown hair...I couldn't get him to stop talking so I could leave and let him sleep. I guess next time, I'll wait for him to tell me instead of playing 20 questions.

We came home dirty, does that mean we had fun?

We went to Star Valley this weekend for an overnight trip. I used to love going to Star Valley. It was so relaxing. Time seemed to stand still. I got homework done (when I was in school) and when I was finished, I could read until I was sick of reading. Mike would play out in the mountains on his snowmobile, or on the motorcycle. We would go fishing, go up to Cottonwood Lake...all the fun things you can imagine. Then we had kids. Life changed. When they were small, I'd get a few pages into the book, then have to go find the source of the rustling I could hear in the next room, only to find Jake sharing the cat's food. The house became a place of nightmares when it comes to things a kid can get into...stacks of movies to fling around, a garbage to go through, phones, remotes, pictures, glass things, etc. For some reason, that house was hard to contain a kid in. The fact that time seemed to stand still was no longer a good thing. Mike always had a great time playing in the mountains, or fishing in the river by his house, but I always came home in need of a vacation. It seems like the tides are finally turning again. There are lots of cousins to play with now. That means that the house is a little more kid proofed, and there are toys to play with. Mike's Dad also finished the upstairs so there are two rooms and a bathroom now. We can put the kids down for a nap and walk away. I think it also helps that the kids are older now. Jake had a great time playing outside and not having boundaries. Allie is a little easier too.

This weekend we wanted to go camping. We didn't get much further than the front yard, but I love the cool nights in Star Valley, and I wasn't disappointed. The night got almost cold and I got to snuggle down in my sleeping bag and enjoy it. Mike chickened out and slept inside. After our last camping experience, he opted for sleeping. The kids did great though, and other than a few earwigs climbing on me in the night, I slept well too.

The next day we went fishing. Each of the kids got to reel in a fish.

Allie fell in the river and got covered in mud...that ended our adventure a little earlier than planned.

In the two days, she went through four outfits, and ended up just wearing her swimsuit while I washed clothes. It came in handy though because we went down to the river to play with all the cousins. There are getting to be a lot of us. These are Mike's brother's kids, and that is his Mom, Bonnie.

The day would not be complete if Allie didn't find something to put in her mouth that does not belong there. She found berries on this bush...who knows if they are poisonous, but she ate a few and is still alive, so I find hope in that.

In case you are wondering why I am taking a picture and not getting her out of the berries, this is after the lecture. I told her not to eat the berries (in a stern voice) and she promised (in a sweet voice) not to eat any more. But she couldn't resist picking them and throwing them in the river. So that is what she is doing in the picture. I'm sure she still snuck a few when I wasn't looking but what do you do about that?

The best thing about Star Valley for the kids is the fact that there aren't any rules. What's a car seat? Get in the back of the truck. You want to pee off the porch when there is a perfectly lovely bathroom in the house? Go ahead. You haven't had food, but you want more ice cream? Sure, we'll feed you when you get home. You don't want to nap more than a half hour? That's okay, here's a candy bar. You don't think there should be that many people on a motorcycle...hop on anyway. Who needs a helmet, we're in Star Valley! (note, I look worried...you can almost hear Mike saying "Na, we'll all fit...just have fun!")

It really was a fun weekend, but I sure was glad to come home and get clean.