3-2-1...Contacts!

I got contacts today! Hooray!

I only have 20/30 vision and am nearsighted but it is enough to be annoying when I drive at night, go to the movies or want to try and focus in on things far away (aisle signs at the store, street signs, mountain tops, etc.) so I have glasses but don't necessary need to wear them all the time.

Well, as part of my birthday gift from Kent I got contacts for my birthday. I was very excited and counldn't wait. (We decided to go early since Kent III broke the only pair of glasses I currently have and like I said, not being able to see can get annoying sometimes.) I got through all the eye exam stuff just fine (no brain tumors :) and even though I hadn't had an eye exam in 5 years, my prescription hadn't changed) and then it was time for the technician to teach me how to put in my contacts. He showed me what to do and then let me try it out for myself. After only one try I was able to get my right contact in but my left contact took several tries. The technician seemed amazed. He asked me if I had ever had contacts before, I told him no. After that he asked, "Are you sure you have never had contacts?" several times. I did tell him I had a friend in High School who let me wear one of her contacts once (thanks again Steph!) but that I had never worn contacts beyond that. He didn't even have to give me any instructions for taking them out either, I knew how and got them out on the first try. He said he was utterly impressed at how good I was at putting in and taking out contacts and that of all the people he had ever taught, I had been able to put them in and take then out the fastest he had ever seen.

Although he was impressed with what seemed to be a hidden talent, I didn't find it necessary to tell him that during High School I was absolutely fascinated with watching my friends who had contacts put them in and take them out. (Thanks again for being so very patient with me all those years Steph and Meredith!) I am sure watching my friends like a hawk gave me a little bit of an edge on knowing what to do when I finally got contacts. :)

I am very excited and thrilled to have contacts! Thank you so much for the wonderful gift Kent!!

While waiting for my little contact class a woman in the waiting room said, "So are all these kids yours Cynthia?" I must admit it took me a few minutes to recognize who she was but when I did, I had to physically think about keeping a smile on my face and not letting my jaw hit the ground.

It was Kristina White.

For those of you that didn't grow up with me, Kristina was the bully of my Junior High school years. I can't tell you the number of times she tripped me, knocked my books out of my hands or her and her friends called me names. We even had to get the Counselor's and Principal involved several times. To this day I still have no idea why she singled me out to torment me all those years growing up.

And now, here she was, standing in front of me at America's Best smiling and asking about my life. I have to say, I am proud of myself, I smiled back and talked to her without any annimosity or guile. We joked around and I even felt real regret when she told me she was getting divorced. I even was able to share a few sound words of advice I found helpful during my divorce.

I was shocked to get to see her but grateful that life had taught me lessons of forgiveness and letting go. I am grateful that I did not allow her actions so many years ago to taint my view of life and sour the years since. I am grateful that I didn't harbor any ill feelings toward her so if and when the time came when I saw her again, there would not be any ghosts circling. I am grateful that while I talked to her, I stayed strong in the woman I am now and didn't revert back to the scared girl I was then. And most of all, I am grateful that I didn't keep the promise of my teenage self which was that if I ever saw her again I would smack her. :)

Today was also Savannah's first day of school. I can't believe she is old enough to go to Junior High! (And when did I get old enough to have a child in Junior High?!) The Junior High has kind of an orientation day for all the 7th graders where they basically get the school to themselves to find their classes and have a welcome assembly. (Next Monday the 7th graders stay home while the 8th and 9th graders start school and then on Tuesday the 7th, 8th and 9th graders all go together.) She will also have A and B days so that is going to be a fun change for her too.

I didn't get to see her off to school this morning but she came home after school. She was a little scared and got a little teary eyed when she was dropped off at school but for the most part was excited to be in Junior High.

The worst part for Savannah was lunch. She got in line to get her food but then got out because she saw people holding papers they got when they registered for school and seemed to be using them to access their lunch account. Then she got back in line because some of the kids didn't have those papers. Then she got back out of line because she realized they had their papers to look up their ID# and she didn't know her ID#. Then she went to her locker to see if she had copies of the papers in her binder. She didn't. Then she went back to the lunchroom and realized her ID# was on her school ID card so got back in line. By that time she only had 10 minutes to eat her lunch. Poor girl!

She really likes all her teachers and especially enjoyed the welcome assembly and thought the student council's skits were funny. There was even a girl from the student council that came and talked to her for a few minutes while she was eating lunch so she appreciated that (especially after the crazy lunch she had). She thinks she would like to try to be on the student council next year; we'll see if that goes anywhere.

She is excited to learn the viola for orchestra, isn't looking forward to showering in gym and thinks her English teacher is hilarious.

All in all a crazy, fun, exciting, nerve racking first day for her. But life wouldn't be nearly as much fun as it is if it always went smoothly, right? :) I am excited for her and this new year of school for the changes and chances to grow it will bring her. I hate to see my baby grow up but there are so many wonderful things on the horizon I can't help but look forward to them with her!

Heaven Sent Helpers

I watched my niece and nephew for the last time today. I didn't even realize it was going to be the last time until it was time for them to go home. If I had remembered I would have done something with them a little more fun then moving huge planks of wood around, that's for sure. I think I will plan a day I can take them to do something fun 'just because' and as a thank you for all the help they have given me this summer when they have come over.

Today we got a rain storm for about 10 minutes while it was bright and sunny out. I just love it when it rains while it is sunny. A little bit of the impossible on an ordinary day. It always seems to be as if someone is telling me, impossible things aren't as impossible as I think they are so stop using that as an excuse.





This afternoon I had to get some projects done which meant the housework was put on the back burner yet again. I mentioned to Savannah that it was a little frustrating for me because it seemed so many things kept getting in the way of picking up the house but I just didn't have enough time to do everything that needed to get done each day.

Well, my sweet girls decided to surprise me and help with housework while I finished the projects that needed to get taken care of today. They picked up and vacuumed the living room, hallway, bathroom and Samantha made my bed and picked up my bedroom. (That was actually one of my favorite parts of the day. "Mom, you can't go into your bedroom until I say so, ok? No questions asked!" Hahaha! Okay, no questions asked!)

They were very thoughtful and kind acts that helped me so much today, not only did it make me feel very loved but it helped bring a little peace and calm and order to the house.

I just feel so blessed to have such caring children. You know, it is supposed to the parents teaching the children life's lessons but to me it seems it is often the children that teach the most poignant lessons of love. I thank my Heavenly Father several times a day for the blessings in my life that are my wonderful children.

It was a day to recognize and be grateful for the many blessings and gifts in my life and a day that filled me with the hope and promise of good days and better tomorrows.

Ice Skating in August

My brother Sean (my sister Sallie's husband) works for the 7 Peaks Ice Arena doing computer related things and as a perk is given free passes to go ice skating at their indoor arena. Sean was kind enough to let us have a few of his passes today so we meet him and his kids at the arena for an afternoon of 'cool' fun.

This was the first time ever the girls had been ice skating so they were very excited. I felt a little weird packing up jackets as we left since the weather has been in the 100's, however, I knew we would need them once we got to the arena.



Kent III refused to let me put his skates on and since you had to have skates on to be on the ice, he just had to watch. He was fascinated by the skaters though and loved watching the Zamboni.





Aren't the baby skates just too cute?!



The girls roller skate a lot so I didn't worry too much about them. After a few pointers they were off and having fun.





Left to right: Samantha, Sarah, Donovan, Savannah







Sarah and Samantha



Leaning on each other for support



We had a lot of fun and it was a wonderful bonus to be doing something so different and so cool (forgive the pun) in the middle of the summer. I would definitely recommend 7 Peaks Ice Arena to anyone!

Waterbabies

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Today after reading tutor we stuck around at my parent's house to take advantage of their pool. Below are a few pictures of the water fun.

My new favorite picture of my three adorable children:



Samantha going down the slide:









Savannah going down the slide:











Samantha on the diving board:







Kent III just loves playing with watering hoses.



Cheese!



Watching his older sisters play.



Contemplating the universe by the side of the pool.

Stop Bugging Me!

We have two pumpkin plants growing in the flower beds we have in our front yard. (Each mound actually has two vines coming out of it so technically there are four pumpkin plants.) The ones to the East of the front door are Kent's pumpkin plants and have grown quite large. The ones to the West of the door are my pumpkin plants and are a little smaller but climbing the railing around the front porch nicely, just as I had wanted.

Several days ago one of my pumpkin vines died. No warning, just died.



I figured it was the heat and such a small tender plant couldn't deal with it. I removed the dead vine and did what I could to help the other vine survive.

In last couple of days our big pumpkin plant seemed to be wilting too. I thought it was the heat, it had been 100°+ for the last few days, however, water didn't seem to help it and it didn't perk back up during the cool evening hours. Today while Kent and I were checking it out we found a bunch of bugs hiding all over it. We can only deduce they are the reason our pumpkin plants are dying.

Kent's poor pumpkin:



We have no idea what the bugs are though. If you do, please let me know!

Fully mature bug:



In between stage:



Adolescent bugs:



Eggs:





We sprayed Kent's big pumpkin plant with bug spray and hours later I was happy to see a hundred or so of their rotting corpses littering the dirt. When I went to check out my pumpkin plant however, there still seemed to be a ton of the tiny adolescent ones crawling all over the plant! I had to pour fully concentrated bug spray on them to get the to die but I was finally able to get them off my pumpkin plant.

It is very upsetting to think we could loose our pumpkin plants, they are truly one of our most favorite things to harvest from our garden. A sad lesson learned as we continue to become better farmers/gardeners.

If anyone out there in cyberland knows what these bugs are and how I can prevent them from coming back, please let me know!

Kent thought they might be Japanese beetles because our area is working to rid ourselves of those pests, but this is what a Japanese beetle looks like (so I know our bugs are not Japanese beetles):



As a side note Kent got a call from Jared, the other scout leader today. They were given a two hour window to pick up all the camping equipment. Jared was able to get help from several men in our ward and they all went up to Maple Dell and quickly packed up the camping equipment. (They had to have an escort from the Sheriff's office drive them to the campsite.) Once they got back from the campsite they had to unload all the items on Jared's lawn and do a little separating but all the gear is safe and out of harm's way.

**Edit** After doing some research I believe I have found out what kind of bug we have killing our pumpkins. It is a... *drumroll*

Squash bug!

Read more about them here: http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/cucs/squabug.htm

Fire Alarm

The girls came home this morning at 9:00 a.m. and shortly thereafter we picked up the dry cleaning then it was back to the house to wait for my niece and nephew to be dropped off at 10:00 a.m. They were running a little late so as soon as they got to my house we quickly packed up and hurried to Springville for reading tutor at 11:00. On the way to the appointment I realized my cell phone hadn't charged overnight and was dead. I got a feeling like I would really need it today so I stopped by my parents work to borrow a charger.

We finally made it to reading tutor with only a moment to spare. (Pam pulled up as I was unlocking the door.) My sister had the day off of work so she came up to my parent’s house to work on baby gifts with me. I realized I needed a few things for the projects so ran down to Wal-mart to get them. What a nightmare! The Springville Wal-mart is redoing the floor plan in the store and things are all over the place. I had to ask where items were three times. I waited in line for what seemed an eternity as most of the check-out stations seemed to be broken. An hour and 45 minutes later I finally got back up to my parents house. Sadly the kids would have been swimming most of the time I was gone if I hadn't accidentally taken their swim suits with me. :(

While getting Kent III ready to go swimming his diaper strap broke so he insisted on holding it up until someone could run downstairs to get the diaper bag with his swim diapers in it. He just looked too cute holding his diaper up that I had to snap a picture.



Despite the frustrations, I did have a lot of fun hanging out with my sister and working on baby gifts together. She was very kind to be willing to take the time out of a precious day off to let me weasel in on her baby gift projects so I could make some too.

Around 4:00 I made my way down to the shop to return my parents charger. While talking with my parents we saw the smoke from a fire in Southern Utah County. As I was leaving my Aunt showed up and told me not to take the freeway home as there was an accident on the freeway between Provo and Orem and a semi had rolled over at the Springville exit I would have taken out of town. Since I had to go through town anyway I stopped at my sisters house to drop off a few things I had forgotten to give her. As I was leaving she got a call from work (she works for the Forest Service) saying there was a fire up Payson Canyon and everyone was going to be evacuated.

Eep!

Kent and all the scouts were up Payson Canyon. I was a little nervous but a little excited that Kent could be coming home today rather than tomorrow.

After we left my sister's house we went back up to my parents because Samantha had forgotten her reading tutor homework. While up there we had a much better view of the fire across the valley so I snapped a few pictures.





On our way out of Springville I called Kent's cell and left a message asking if he was coming home early and what was happening. (Of course, after offering a prayer of thanks that I had been inspired to get my phone charged up.) About five minutes later he called me back. He hadn't gotten my message but was just calling me to let me know they were on their way out of the canyon. Apparently they were told to evacuate and he only had enough time to grab his keys, his wallet and his cell phone before jumping in the car with some of his scouts. The other leader and scouts had to hitch a ride with another scout troop as half of the boys, the other leader and all the equipment had just been dropped off on Monday. All the scouts and leaders were meeting at a church in Payson and Kent would let me know what would be happening as he learned the news. He said from their campsite they could see big black billowing smoke but there was no immediate danger so they were fine.

A few minutes later I got another call from Kent asking me if I could stop at one of the boys' house and leave a note as they had been unable to get a hold of their parents to let them know what was going on. After I did that (I actually met the Mom in the driveway coming home so was able to talk to her) I called Kent and he asked me to stop at another boy's house and do the same thing.

Poor Savannah was tired from swimming for hours and longingly looked at our house each time we drove past it. :) I told her this was part of sustaining and supporting her father in his calling and that we would be home very, very soon. :)

In the early evening Kent called to let me know he was coming home because they were not being allowed back in the canyon but didn't know exactly when he would be home. He would need to get the ok to leave, wait for another vehicle to pick up the other boys and the other leader and then he had some scouts to drop off at their homes before coming to ours. He ended getting home a little after 8:00 p.m.

Tonight on the news he was pointing out how very close the fire was. It had gone up one side of a ridge and was at the top where the firefighters were able to keep it at bay. He kept saying, "See that ridge? Down the other side, is right where we were. We could see all that from our campsite."

!!!

Earlier in the day he had made it sound like it was very far way when it was actually pretty close. I am sure he did that so I wouldn't worry as much but it was still scary when he pointed it out.

If you are interested here are a few links to articles/information about the Spring Lake Fire:


http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=3912315

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10071351

http://www.utahfireinfo.gov/fire/Spring%20Lake%20Fire/Spring%20Lake.htm

I am so very grateful all the scouts and leaders were able to make it out safe and that others, who had to be evacuated from their homes, are also safe. I pray the firefighters will be able to put the fire out quickly and with no injuries.

I wanted Kent home, but not like this. Guess I need to be a little more specific next time. One thing is for sure...this is a Scout camp experience no one will ever forget!

My mind does keep wondering though, what it is about camping this year that seems to be such a bad thing for our family? I wish I knew...

A crazy, full day that you probably didn't need to hear all the intimate details about...but I have warned you, I tend to ramble! :)