PSA: Something Every Child Should Know

The front of your underwear is NOT an appropriate make-shift pocket.

Great Escape

So last week I hit the road for a girl's weekend in Washington DC with a good friend from my college days, Pittsburgh Sara. This was a totally unprecedented trip. Usually if I'm spending a night away from my children I come home with another child. On the whole, I'd say this was 8ooo times better than staying in a hospital for four nights.

I don't have pictures (I left the camera here so Chase could capture every moment of my absence). I'll just tell you that it was a lovely experience. My parents came down to see me (I grew up mainly in central PA, about 2.5 hours away from DC) and we visited the International Spy Museum and ate in Chinatown. That first day I kept feeling this weird sense of disconnect whenever I would look into my purse and not find wipes, diapers and action figures. Or when we got back to PSara's house at 7 and I didn't have to immediately start dashing around putting people in tubbies and getting jammies out. It was an odd sensation to say the least. But I soaked it in and just enjoyed it.

During my trip we also did Georgetown (complete with Georgetown Cupcakes which is the kind of place where people stand in line out the door and down the street IN THE RAIN. It's that good.), sushi, my lil sis Bird came down, we vegged in front of the TV, shared new favorite music, girl talked until the wee hours, and rolled over and went back to sleep every morning after waking up excruciatingly early just because that's what my body is trained to do. It. Was. Great.

I DID come home to find five staples in Miles' head. The story is that Cameron and Miles were fighting on Great Grandma's trampoline (after spending the night on it) and Cameron swung a backpack at Miles' head not thinking about the filled-to-the-brim metal water bottle in it. So he split Miles' head wide open (I do have pictures of that below...don't scroll down if you don't like gore). Chase managed to pack them all up and rush to Urgent Care. And AFTER that he managed to get them all home, tubbied and off to Church on time for him to speak. And apparently it was a great, not-to-be-missed talk...

Anyway, I just happened to have a friend, Michelle, who ALSO had a girl's weekend right before mine. Her husband, Jedd, had this to say about the business of Daddy Daycare. It made me laugh so I figured I should share. I did change their son's name for privacy purposes. But I kept it natural so you shouldn't be able to tell.

"As both Michelle and Anna skipped town recently to visit girlfriends/sisters and "recharge their batteries," I thought I'd make a few observations.

First, I'm all for some "me" time like that, as taught in the Book of Mormon and by Oprah.  You need some time away from your loving families, especially your loving children (the nightly cries of "where's my mommy?" and "why won't mommy come home?" were no trouble -- really.  They didn't last long at our home, as I kept forgetting to feed the kids so their energy levels were low and they quickly fell asleep.)

Anna, you missed a great talk by Chase.  I think I even heard our ward's resident general authority emeritus say he learned something new from the talk, which is really saying something for a GA.  (Too bad for you it was one of those singular, "too special to repeat" talks).  Also, I understand the well-stapled gash in Miles' head was caused by innocent roughhousing and will NOT result in any visit from CPS.  Chase said the Police Dept. assured him of this.  Oh, and Miles' adorable venture up to the podium during Chase's talk was handled expertly by Chase--he didn't miss a beat.  Everything was totally under control at all times.

Silly things happen while moms are away -- like My Child With XY Chromosomes almost lighting the house on fire, the kids "accidentally" watching Curious George 15 times in a row, Cheerios becoming a new food group, screaming about lunches that are "not how mommy makes them!", playing outside during lightning storms -- it's all very quaint, kind of how Tarzan might have experienced life in his early years.  I worry that thoughts of things like this going on while you're away will weigh on your minds, perhaps cause you to feel a tinge of guilt.  Don't let that happen!

My point?  You need to take MORE trips and worry less about what is going on at home.  Put that cell phone away, relax, watch "Pride & Prejudice" 67 times ("Jedd, see how he looks at her!?").  Because Chase and I already prepaid for a weeks' worth of babysitting at Going Bonkers for the next time this happens (that's the place with padded walls, right?).

But please come back.  On the earlier flight if possible."

Thanks for that, Jedd.

  Camping on the trampoline

 

Staples in the head below...Don't scroll if you can't handle it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh sucka!

Leaving on a jet plane...

Today I embark on a girly weekend with my friend Pittsburgh Sara. Who doesn't live in Pittsburgh. So anyone trying to stalk me in either Pittsburgh or Chi-town this weekend is straight outta luck. THAT"S why I kept the CHI-TOWN reference in my blog. Confuse the stalkers!

Anywho, I'm looking forward to my little vacay but have to admit I'm kinda sad. This morning Chase went in to grab Sophers out of bed and she only wanted mommy. Like, I had to go in there and get her. She wasn't budging for anyone but the REAL THING. So that made me sad right away because I don't want to think of her starting off each day for the next couple of days sad at the world because I had to go off and be selfish.

But, really, it's going to be great for all of us, right? Because come Monday night guess who is going to get the Daddy Treatment (ie. children screaming like you're the beatles when you walk through the door - Chase gets this every. day. must be nice to have your own personal fan club. i wouldn't know.). Yeah, that's right. ME! I'm already picturing the frantic screaming when they pick me up curbside at the airport that shall not be named.

Ooh, goody.

Anna's Advice For Making Every Day a Great Day

Doesn't matter who you are, this advice is for you! I would add my testimony that when we dedicate our time, efforts, thoughts and all our strength to the Lord something miraculous happens; we are blessed with abilities beyond our own. It's something that must be experienced to fully understand. When we turn our will over to the Lord - giving back that tiny part that is truly ours to give, for all other blessings are His already - He blesses us beyond our capacity to receive. For this, and so many other reasons, I love the Lord.

Can a werewolf imprint on a cougar?

I stole that line from a clip I saw online. Some chick in her 30's was interviewing Chaske Spencer(? that's his name, right?), who plays Sam The Werewolf in New Moon...I thought it was humorous.

Anyway, here's a cool rundown with clips from each song on the New Moon soundtrack. Also too, I've included Entertainment Weekly's review of the soundtrack. Oct. 20 will be a good day for me.

"After the success of the first installment, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy) gets her pick of the alt litter here, with each contributing original, previously unreleased material: From the opening chords of Death Cab for Cutie’s dusky guitar rapture ”Meet Me on the Equinox” to the spooky robot-ennui of Thom Yorke’s ”Hearing Damage” and Grizzly Bear’s gorgeous folk-pop pastoral ”Slow Life,” New Moon rarely falters. A peacocking remix of Muse’s shamelessly operatic ”I Belong to You” becomes a Bowie-esque glam-rock stomper. In its wake, Bon Iver and St. Vincent quietly unfurl ”Rosyln,” a duet of hushed, almost church-like beauty.

Moon (due in stores Oct. 20) yields several happy revelations from its lower-marquee names: Nordic songstress Lykke Li’s nearly a cappella ”Possibility” is a lovely little Swedish snowflake, and jokey rockers OK Go achieve an impressive sort of Flaming Lips-y quirk-gravitas on the sprawling, cinematic ”Shooting the Moon.” Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s acoustic campfire lament ”Done All Wrong” segues seamlessly into the jaunty, Strokes-ian guitar fuzz of Hurricane Bells’ ”Monsters.” Think of New Moon as a sort of survey course in new-now-next rock: a mixtape with teeth. A"

Tylenol Recall

If you haven't heard there was a massive children's and infants Tylenol recall. Check it out here and clear out your medicine cabinet!!

Eye candy

Even with a dirty post-cookie-consumption face she's crazy cute. How's this for an outfit? I kinda feel like she's channeling Mary J. Blige here.

What do you think?

She just...you know...GETS me.

So I have this friend. She's basically awesome. So one day this friend (let's call her Stephanie Bean) shows up to my house with a little pink bag and says, "I don't care if you like it. I just had to make it for you."

When I opened the bag I found this:

Yes, that WOULD be an Edward fan shirt with blood dripping from the heart. I literally almost fell over when I opened it and then starting laughing really loudly. Like, make-the-kids-stare-in-panic loud. This shirt is fanfreakingtastic. Will I wear it to the mall? Probably not. But that's beside the point. The point is she gets me. She loves me and she gets me. It's like I said, "Hey Steph. How much do you love me?" And she said, "This shirt much." I mean, she cut out the little letters and blood drops and sewed them individually. That's love, folks.

The best part of this shirt was Steph's explanation of how the shirt came to be. She said she was just laying in bed one night and it came to her, in detail, exactly how she should make this shirt. I mean, it's not quite the same as hitting your head on the toilet and coming up with a flux capacitor, but considering it's a Meyer-based shirt it probably makes sense. 

Oh, Pat. You slay me.

Just to prove that my dad really does believe in the power of a good lecture (and that I get my sense of humor from him and mom equally), I have to share the following email we got from my dad after he read my last blog.

"Chase, congratulations on your lecture complete with flow chart as seen on Anna's blog.  A couple of suggestions:  

• Make sure you save the material.  I always used manila folders but that was before computers were in wide use so you may want to do it electronically.
• Start a numbering system.  You can simply number them sequentially or you may want to develop categories for your lectures using alpha characters and then use numbers as you have to issue subsequent lectures within the category.  For example, S-1 could be the first lecture in the series related to behavior at school and so on.

If you are diligent, you will not have to do nearly as much preparation when Miles, Sophie and subsequent children are in need of the same lecture.

The numbering system will not only enable rapid recall of the lecture material when needed, but when one of your children requires repeated re-issues of the same lecture (as Anna did) you will eventually be able to simply ask them to reflect on the required lecture by referring to its number and save both of you a lot of time.

You are becoming a very efficient father.  That's a good thing.  Keep up the good work."

And it should be duly noted that Chase's reply to this email was, "Thanks for the "Pat" on the back."

I can't tell anymore where he ends and I begin.

My dad would be proud. Of Chase.

At Cameron's school they use the stop light system for behavior. When you're being good you're on "green." Misbehaving gets you moved to "yellow." Continue on and you're on "red." Cameron has been on green every day of his school career thus far - we're so proud. But today as I arrived to pick him up he rushed out to me with a very serious look on his face and blurted, "I'm on yellow. I had to move my clip to yellow." He was riddled with pure guilt...I just said, "uh oh" and looked to his teacher for some explanation. She said that Cam had been pretty sassy with his P.E. teacher.

After getting in the car I immediately called Chase for a consultation. Cam wasn't sharing details, claiming he "forgot" what had happened. I couldn't decide if he needed a time-out, if he needed a firm talking to or what. So Chase just said to wait and let him deal with it. Fine by me!

So I had to run out and finish up some errands this evening and I arrive home to this:

My dad would be so proud. Chase was in full-on lecture mode. And what's a lecture without...

yeah. a flow chart. Where you at now, Cameron? Huh? Huh?

As you can see, Cameron was talking to Tristen and the coach asked him to stop talking. Cameron didn't stop talking and missed out on getting a sticker. He was mad so he told the coach he was never coming back to P.E. and never coming back to school. The coach's "feelings were hurt" (I'm sure he's at home nursing a pint of Ben and Jerry's right now), and thus we see how Cameron landed on yellow.

Sometimes I just LOVE being married to a CPA.

Oh, good grief.

It will require a TI-82 to figure out how many times I will likely see this movie.

Behold...

Stress blogging?

I have about 4.6 bajillion things on my "to-do" list right now. At the top of the list?

1. Procrastinate by blogging even though you jolly-well know better.

So. Some thoughts.

• Cameron is now six. For his birthday he got a new bike and a rad helmet that has skulls on it. Also too (and may I interject that I'm glad this Sarah Palin phrase has continued on all the UMC blogs...because she truly deserves to be mocked into the next century for using it repeatedly), it has been raining every day since Cam's b-day. Meaning his brand-new bike is sitting in my kitchen just waiting to be used. Cam comes home from school, puts his backpack on the table and then lovingly gazes at his bike and dreams of cruising around the neighborhood. It's a bittersweet experience for me. I'm glad he has the bike, he LOVES the thing, but it breaks my heart that the tires are still clean. It deserves to be out in the sunshine.
• And hey, speaking of school...I can't decide if I love it or hate it. I love that Cameron is having a good time. I hate that they send me notes requesting money every other day. Because my taxes aren't enough. I'm trying to figure out how they would feel about a pound of flesh being dropped in the mailbox with a note saying, "Now we're even. Sincerely, Anna."
• Sonic burgers. They're delicious. If you don't have a Sonic near you I simultaneously feel sorry and relieved for you.
• Smoking. My brother is quitting after smoking for nearly 20 years (I'm guessing here, but I think I'm close). He's also running and biking. So basically he's my new hero. I have a feeling he's going to kill the next Kilgore Reunion/Fanny Autrey Memorial 5K run. WOOT!
• MTV. I know it's not family programming but wowzers bowzers. It's just disgusting. Like, make me want to toss my delicious sonic burger disgusting. There should probably be hyphens in that last sentence. But really, I tried watching the VMAs on Sunday so that I could watch the New Moon trailer (because I'm 12 like that). My SIL was tivo'ing it and thank goodness she was because we were able to fast forward through pretty much every syllable Russell Brand uttered, Lady Gaga's weird lingerie-on-men's-faces performance, and much, much more. oh and we also were able to watch the new moon trailer over and over while certain people who are not me insisted on pausing on the scene where you can see rob pattinson shirtless but like i said that wasn't me. but for five bucks i'll tell you who it was. jeni. not me. jeni but not me.
• Kanye West. Just, yeah. (shakes head)
• Patrick Swayze is dead. And now Baby will spend the rest of her life in the corner.

A panther in the house of Joe...

Tonight as I sat in Parent Teacher night listening to my son's kindergarten teacher there was one thing that stuck out to me:
T-shirt days.

At our elementary school there are designated "days" when you wear specific t-shirts. I think this is probably pretty commonplace. Fridays are "Spirit days" and you wear the school shirt. The first Monday of the month is "USA DAY!" and you're encouraged to wear red, white, and blue or something patriotic.

But what I'm really excited for? Like, really, really, super-duper, crazy excited for?

Every other Monday is "College Day!" Kids get to wear the school shirt where mom and dad went to school. That's right, once a month or so I'll get to advertise Pitt Pride to the world as I send little Camstar to school. Yee-haw. I mean, I practically have my own travelling Oakland Zoo in the van already, right?

Leaving the school tonight I couldn't wait to run home and pick out a new Pitt shirt for my eldest. And in so doing I faced that old rush of feelings as I typed www.pitt.edu into the browser. Oh, man. I really loved Pitt. I mean, REALLY loved Pitt. When Chase was getting ready to enter recruiting interviews in his senior year we very seriously considered Pittsburgh because I have such lovely feelings about the place. I mean, Oakland is a filthy hole, but I just can't help myself. There's just too much to love.

For instance, how could I forget the place that (most likely) gave me heart disease? Or the best breakfast ever known to man? Or those days when I sat at the bottom of the Cathedral waiting for approximately four hours to get an elevator to the 30th floor for class? Or hanging out in Heinz chapel to study (is that sacrilegious?) because it was so amazingly peaceful? Or being lost in Hillman Library because it's enormous and I want to read everything in it? Then there's that super weird date I went on  between finals one time and the guy tried to impress me by telling me that he once brought a knife to school...in kindergarten. And I faked a final and left (ooh, look at the time!). Or the fact that I could take the bus anywhere, anytime. Or the greasy vendors set up on all the corners. Or the amazing parks and botanical gardens just minutes from my urban campus. The incredible architecture. Working for this guy and figuring out just how parties/people get elected (fill the potholes, get the votes). Pittsburgh-Sara, Jeanne, Melissa, Eileen, Kiersten and the entire Oakland Ward. The South Oakland Icon. My mom interrupting my upstairs neighbor/elders quorum president in the middle of his shower to help her hang curtains in the apartment that she didn't really approve of me living in all by myself but went along with because she's supportive like that. Sodas on the sofa - heck, just the fact that every student apartment had a nasty sofa on the front porch. Lugging groceries home from Giant Eagle. Learning the proper pronunciation of the word Steelers. Living in my dorm and then moving to 221 Coltart Ave, 15213 (you have to check it out on google maps so you can actually see it...it's the one on the right side. It's special to say the least). Sitting in my first honest-to-goodness journalism class and listening as my instructor (Marylynne Pitz, who just wrote this piece) called her editor on the morning of September 11 and whispered "Do they think it was Osama Bin Laden?". Returning home that afternoon to find frantic messages from my sister who was only getting news that a plane had gone down in Pittsburgh.

So many memories.

I could go on.

But you want to know what's funny? My attendance at Pitt is something of an anomaly in my family. In fact, it's a point of ridicule with my Nittany Lion siblings. They go on and on about Joe Pa and his amazing ability to coach while in a state of cryogenic freeze; and how Penn State is so forward-thinking because they actually allow cows to enroll; and some professors come straight to class from their organic farms and blah, blah, blah. And you know, hey. That's great. Good for them.

But in that great debate of culture vs. agriculture, you know where my loyalties lie.

 

p.s. I should be banned from blogging. The length of my posts and my inability to edit myself in any way is getting slightly out of hand. All apologies.

Head of the Class

So here are the shots of Cam last Monday at his first day of school. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Cameron yesterday on his first sick day from school. He was irate that I dared keep him home from his beloved kindergarten. So irate, in fact, that at lunch he glared at me coldly and said, "If you don't let me go to school tomorrow I'm going to leave and go to Nana's. SHE'LL let me go to school."

So yeah, first day.

  Getting into Daddy's car! Cam has a booster in Daddy's car and he gets to ride to school with Daddy every day. Cameron thinks this is basically the best idea ever created.

Getting out of the car. Because it's important to catch EVERY MOMENT, right? Cameron will never again get out of daddy's car on the first day of his entire school career. I'm glad I have photographic evidence.

Us and Cam. Cameron is obviously trying to break free of our loving, adoring grasp. "Mom! There are PEOPLE watching!!"

The first thing you do when you arrive is head to the cafeteria and get in the line for your grade. We walked in and saw all those kids sitting there, the room humming with noise and activity. I looked down at Cam and saw his ghostly white face get even ghostlier. But he stayed strong. He walked to the back of the line and sat down. We stood to the side trying to find that balance between being close enough to make him feel safe and hovering.

Once the bell rings a teacher comes to take the kindergarten line to their classes. Again, we walked down the hallway trying to give the kid his space. As we got closer to his classroom Cam looked around and then made a grab for daddy's hand. This is the point where I very nearly burst into tears.

Cam showing off his sweet lunchbox (that broke on the first day).

The last thing I saw before I walked out of the classroom and left him to the care of his (totally rad) teacher. He was so brave! And trying to act pretty cool. I think he pulled it off, don't you?

My peeps.

Cameron

(Check out the eyebrows...)

Likes

• Coloring. Cameron could sit for hours with a stack of scratch paper and a box of crayons. He mostly draws super heroes, but occasionally will deign to draw pictures of family/friends. He gives me such enormous piles of pictures. I need to find a way to adequately show off some of them. Also too, Cameron loves to give his pictures as presents.
• Super heroes. Everything in Cameron's world is somehow related to super heroes. He comes by this naturally. His father is somewhat of an expert in the realm of super hero knowledge.
• Books. Cameron is a big reader and has always loved books. My favorite thing in the world is stumbling upon my children tucked away in quiet corners of the house engrossed in a book. Miles and Sophie have followed this pattern of book worship. I support it, naturally, with frequent trips to the library. But the beloved books on the shelf get plenty of play.
• His siblings. Regardless of how little they are, Cameron is usually quite patient (to a point, anyway) with them and is great at making compromises as the need arises.
• KINDERGARTEN! We met the teacher  tonight and Cameron is thrilled at the idea of starting school on Monday. He's counting down the days.
• Cars, action figures and the world of make-believe. Cameron is famous for setting up little towns all over the house. He'll clear a couple shelves on my bookcase, or use his megablocks to set the scene. Then his cars and "guys" can be found for hours on end in their own little world. If I'm being honest I'll tell you it reminds me of playing with my Barbie dolls; the cars all talk to each other. Though, there were probably far fewer threats of bodily harm issued during my Barbie play...
• Caesar salad. The kid loves caesar salad and would probably willingly eat it until his gut exploded.
• Taking showers. He thinks he's pretty cool now that he showers on his own.

Dislikes

• Going to bed.
• Most of the Newberry Award books (with the exception of Where the Wild Things Are) I try to read to him. He knows I'm trying to broaden his horizons and he's having none of it.
• Cleaning his room. He HATES to help me clean. He'll do it, but there's usually a fair amount of garment-rending, wailing, gnashing of teeth involved.

Miles

Likes

• Having his back scratched. He asks us so often to scratch his back I'm surprised there's any skin left.
• Staying close to mom and dad. He loves us. What can I say?
• His gee-gee (hard g sound). It's his blanket. It's in tatters and it's filthy from being dragged all over the world. But he loves it and he's only little once, so I don't fight that battle. He has to leave it in the car most places, but otherwise I'm cool with it.
• His thumb. Of course the Geeg and the thumb go together. So yes, 2018 Miles, go ahead and blame me for the dental work you're going through.
• Music. Anyone who has spent any considerable amount of time with Miles knows that he has excellent musical taste. He demands Keane, Coldplay, Radiohead and the Beatles. Oh, and the Move It song from Madagascar and "I'm Blue" from Eiffel 65. But that's because it mentions the color blue.
• The color blue. Miles is insane about blue. He loves Sonic the Hedgehog because it combines the color blue AND music. His favorite outfit is blue shorts and a blue shirt. He loves brushing his teeth because our toothpaste is blue. When I pick him up from nursery I never have to guess which color page is his because it's always the one that's entirely blue. The kid just really, really loves blue.
• Songs at bedtime. yes, more music. But he REALLY loves his bedtime songs. He just lays there looking like an angel and snuggling up close, having his back scratched and listening. It's the best time of day for everyone in our house. The song "lullaby" from the Children's Songbook is his very fave.
• Swords, nun-chucks and other ninja paraphernalia. Just because.
• His trike. The look of sheer joy on his face when he's riding like the wind is a better gift than I deserve.

Dislikes

• Stuff that's not blue.
• Not being allowed to watch TV/Movies all day.
• Sophie getting in his face.
• Time-outs.
• Eating vegetables except broccoli and asparagus.
• Large groups of noisy people. It's just overwhelming, poor guy.

Sophia

Likes

• Being a diva. Girlfriend is a diva. There's no other way to say it.
• Getting her way. See above.
• Telling her brothers what's what.
• High heels. She was in Drama Queen Heaven (not to be confused with Dairy Queen Heaven, which is where I live) when we went to Nana Rawlins' house tonight and discovered high heel dress-up shoes! There was so much strutting going on tonight.
• Following Miles and Cameron around and taking their toys and then acting like a victim when they take their toys back. See above.
• Babies. She loves seeing real-life babies, and she loves playing with her doll/animal babies. She pulls out her old baby bathtub and bouncer chair and plays house. It's suuuuuuuuper cute.
• The thumb and the gee-gee. Our future orthodontist can go ahead and plan that Caribbean cruise anytime.
• Books. Sophia is also into books. As soon as I sit down to rock her before bed she points to the stack of books on her dresser and says, "book!" I'm not complaining.
• Eating three calories a day.
• Dancing and jumping. Dancing is at least safe. And it makes my heart hurt it's so stinkin' cute. She especially loves to get on my bed and hold onto the footboard and wiggle her bum. Oh thank heavens she was blessed with a cute bum. I think I would miss it if she didn't have it.

Dislikes

• Eating any kind of food unless it contains mass quantities of artificial preservatives. What's with that anyway, Soph? Enjoy your starvation diet. I'm not giving in.
• Getting her diaper changed. We're in the limbo land of not wanting diapers anymore but not quite ready for potty training yet. It's going to be a fun couple of months.
• Being carried. I'm thinking of changing her name to Kelly Clarkson she's been so independent lately! She screams "WALK" the minute I unbuckle her carseat. If I dare try to carry her she flails and flips and makes an enormous scene until I put her down - which I absolutely do.

More vacay pics...

Okay, so we had our camera with us but we had memory card issues. That's why I only came home with pictures of the jumps and karaoke. Here are a few more that I've stolen from my SIL Sara.

If you didn't know it, my husband is part fish. At our last reunion in Colorado he earned his reputation (with my family, anyway...his family knows all about his amphibious tendencies) by immersing himself - for no good reason - in the icy, mountain stream that ran behind our condos. This year he maintained his rep by never letting any body of water pass him by.  The man is loco for liquid.

Me and Cambo (rhymes with Rambo...) People I love hanging in mid-air. Chase and Cam on the waterslide.

Ober Gatlinburg was awesome. Particularly the Alpine Slide. If you've never done one, you should! Just maybe not the one in Winter Park, CO. My sis, Lyss, lost her hide on that Alpine Slide.

All of us. How we normally look.The sibs. I'll admit I don't love pics like this now...only because our family feels "naked" without the spouses. I prefer pics with my Siblings-in-law who are so awesome they make me want to start a fan club...

33 people in my family. 33 reasons why being a Kilgore is basically better than being almost anything else...Just sayin'. And our t-shirts? That's a skull and cross banjos logo. Yeah, I know. We're that cool.

Hanging with my main man, B. We'relikethis.

Okay class...

We've all read this by now, right?

The second book, "Catching Fire" is coming out in a couple weeks. I just pre-ordered it (thanks again for that gift card, Eric!) and will be sitting by the mail box until it gets here. Will Katniss choose Peeta or Gale?!?! And what's going to happen when they get back to District 12?!

September 1, where are you!? (and while we're at it, November 20, where are you?)

Great Smoky Mountains Vacay

Alright, so first off let's clarify that SMOKY is actually a correct spelling of that word. Looks weird, right? According to dictionary.com the word smokey refers specifically to police cars, while smoky describes all things having to do with actual smoke. This is as great a shock to me as it is to you (unless you're Chrysta and you just happen to know these things as a result of your freakish' DNA).

With that out of the way, I'll tell you we had one flippin' good time. Great place to stay, great activities, GREAT FOOD, great company, GREATAMAZINGFABULOUS food. Did I mention that the food was outrageous? It was.

We all arrived Saturday and sat around starving while we waited for Chrysta to arrive with the food. Which she did around, oh, 1 or 2 AM if I'm not correct? Yes? Anyway, we eventually ate and we liked each other a lot more after that.

Sunday we laid around catching up and eating food (this will be a theme). Jerry and Sam - both triathletes (the former getting ready for his 2nd Iron Man), decided a scenic bike ride was in order. They left at approximately 10 AM and returned about 8 hours later. At which point we all went on a lovely waterfall hike. It was described to us as family-friendly. Meaning, if you place your children in a headlock the entire way they will narrowly avoid falling to their deaths over the sheer cliffs that lined the entire trail. In fact, while hiking the trail we happened upon a man who had done just that and was sitting, bloody, in the middle of the trail waiting for the National Park Service Search and Rescue team to, well, Rescue him. Happy Sunday everyone! We stepped gingerly over him and kept trekking. By the top my nerves were utterly shot and I was an anxious mess. Chase, who thinks nothing of risking his life, de-robed, climbed the rocks and held himself in the largest part of the waterfall for a few minutes. On the way back down the mountain we got to stand in line while the Search and Rescue team stabilized the aforementioned bloody man.

Monday began with the first Kilgore 5k run, which was later re-named the Fanny Autrey Memorial 5k (because our finish line was in a cemetery right next to dear Fanny's tombstone). Before setting out we drove around looking for a flat course. In the middle of the Smoky Mountains. So yeah. What we ended up finding was the Great Diablo Course From Hell. My IronMan brother was driving and I was in the backseat. My sisters-in-law Christy and Sara who are half-marathoners and triathletes respectively, were all, "Oh yeah, this looks okay." I was crying and shaking. So let's just cut this description short by saying that what I ran was the Fanny Autrey Memorial 2.5k. And I have zero shame. I nearly died on that course more than once. I will add that I cruised in at 21+ minutes AFTER my IronMan brother who finished the entire thing and then pranced around for a couple minutes before saying he needed to get more miles in and proceeded to run up the Pikes Peak look-alike that our lodge sat atop of.

In order, Triathlete, Army Guy, Half-Marathoner, IronMan, Triathlete, uh, me, Marathoner/Navy guy.

After the FAM5K (wow, that looks like Fam 5K, which is what it was), we gathered the rest of the crew and went tubing on the river. That was so sweet! There were lots of mild areas and lots of areas with rapids. At one point you could paddle over to the side and jump off a rope swing. All told it lasted about 2.5 hours and was a slamming good time. Cameron and Miles were able to go with us, too! Cam even got his own tube and we teamed up while Miles rode on daddy's lap. Cam got so good by the end that he was telling ME when to lift my bum to avoid slamming it into rocks (which I did - OUCH!).

Tuesday was free day #1 and we did some additional laying around before heading back to the Park to find a good swimming hole. We found one with some decent sized rocks and Chase, Jerry and a couple of the kids decided to jump off of them. This, of course, set the scene for Wednesday.

I can't let Tuesday end without including our Iron Chef cook-off. There were so many good dishes I almost became diabetic. Mmmmm...

Sweet obesity, that cobbler was good.

Wednesday. The boys had their usual golf day in the morning and when they arrived home that afternoon we decided to go jump off some cliffs. I am not usually one to do things like cliff jumping, but I figured why not. When we arrived we saw a sign that detailed exactly how many deaths had occurred at that location and advised us not to "be next." That's always encouraging.

So we hiked up to the spot and jumped in:) My first jump was nearly fatal, I'll admit. I lost my nerve just as I was jumping and ended up kinda falling. My husband and brother were NOT happy, but I resolved to try again. It looked VERY high from the top but once you were at the bottom it looked manageable.

Chase, Jerry and Scott all took turns scaring the daylights out of me by jumping off higher rocks or doing backflips off the cliffs (and asking me to TAPE their almost-deaths! WHO DOES THAT?! "Hey honey. I'm going to try to kill myself. Can you make sure to hit the record button on time?!"). Anyway, it ended up being a freaking good time.

Just FYI, we're meeting with our insurance agent (Bro-in-law) tonight to discuss more life insurance. Not kidding.

Bird                                              Bird and Carl about to launch

My brother, Scott. He can fly planes and go to POW training but jumping off of cliffs is a little scary.

Sara and Lylla (and Bird) took turns yelling crazy things whilst jumping. My faves were some Harry Potter spells and "I Like it Chunky" from Madagascar 2. Jerry pondering

Thursday was Girls Day Out (a much-anticipated day by all the females over the age of 12). We hit Gatlinburg for some window-shopping and people-watching. Good things to do in Gatlinburg - lots to see:) We mostly just enjoyed being together. I'm blessed to have sisters and sisters-in-law who are just rad. I just love being with them.

That evening the real party began with Kilgore Idol. I've already posted some videos of the event but let me tell you it was AAAAAAA-Mazing. Who knew we had so much raw talent in our family? Mom and Dad even joined in the fun! Sara earned some serious UMC bonus points when she appeared looking like this to sing Pat Benatar. Ooohhhhh yeah.

"One ticket for the side-pony express, please!"

Scott got censored. Supafreak indeed.

Lydia singing "I Will Survive." The girl's got soul! (Apparently not inherited from her black-hearted mom)

Friday was the last real day of the reunion and a free day. We started by hitting Ober Gatlinburg to do the Alpine slide and some other rides before heading back to the cliffs for some more jumping. After everyone returned for jumping I served Heart Attack Chili for dinner followed by Coronary Cupcakes. Mmmm...

Saturday it was time to pack up and head west. A horrendously sad day. I'm not going to bother giving you the details of our 15 hours in the car. You can probably guess.

But it was totally worth it:) Love my fam.

I'm not afraid to embarrass those I love either.

And I don't mean just by the fact that I exist (Chase can assure you that my very existence has embarrassed him many, many times).

Here's sister Chrysta attempting to sing The Rose. She was rocking some sappy affectations when other sisters Cathryn and Alyssa (Bird and Lylla) had to show some "support."