Initially, I hate initalisms.

Initalisms, or acronyms. Blah. LOL, LMAO, OMG, and my least favorite, WTF. Why can't we as Americans quite playing to the lazy stereotype and defend our own language?! If you're going to swear, have the guts to really swear. And type it out for pity's sake! If I have to hear/see your less than eloquent way of speaking/typing, then do it for real. Acronyms are a cop out.

2010 Red Rock Relay

September 10 and 11, Trent ran with a team from work in the Red Rock Relay.Red Rock goes from Brian Head to St. George, 186 miles, from snow to sun. Each team runs 36 legs divided among 12 runners.
12 people, but two vans. He had a blast! He didn't sleep all weekend and ran more than 18 miles. They timed really well, especially considering that for most of the team this was their first really big race.

Their team name this year was the "How did we get into this mess?" Appropriate. Next year they are considering "Do these shorts make my butt look FAST?" Also appropriate.

First Day of the Rest of Your Life....

My baby started her formal education today.

This is her carpooling buddy, Miss Lucy. They were holding hands all through class. It's nice to have a friend in a new situation.
Mrs. R is the best! We love her to bits!
Instead of school t-shirts, the PTA at our elementary school decided to do "Spirit Sleeves." Tyson has been bothering me since school started to buy some, but I kept forgetting cash.

Who knew the world end if Tyson didn't get leg warmers for his arms?I know they don't look thrilled in the pic, but the sun is in their eyes. They spent a good half an hour after school figuring out how many different ways you can wear spirit sleeves. I have to admit, as funny as these things are: no funky kid sizes, inexpensive, and the kids love them. Spirit sleeves are brillant! Any bets on how long before they each lose one half of their pair?

Back to School (2010 Edition)

And we're back! Tyson started third grade last week! He was very nervous about it this year because there are two Mrs. D's that teach third. He was afraid he would have the more strict Mrs. D. He doesn't, and he loves his new teacher, mostly because she bribes them with candy and she has an old porcelain bathtub in her classroom filled with pillows for reading time.
When we attended the Teacher Meet & Greet, he told Mrs. D all about how happy he was that he was in the "good" Mrs. D's class and not the "bad" Mrs. D's class. Mom's face was all kinds of red. Way to make that first impression Tys!

Cameron started Kindergarten today! He had a meeting with his new teacher, Mrs. T, last week, but they are old friends from when Tyson was in her class. He wasn't one bit nervous, just excited to get going, probably because he is so familiar with Mrs. T and her classroom. He asked every day, "How many more days until I start?" "I'm going to make lots of new buddies." "Mrs. T likes me already because she likes Tyson and we have an awesome family."

He could hardly wait to get going this morning. Tyson was so excited to play the big brother role and show him where to go. After a quick pic with CR the Cougar and C, who carpools with us, and shaking hands with Mr. B the principal, they walked to the door with their arms around each other!

Bad Hair Day Revisited

I looked a little more online this morning before Kaylee woke up. I had a suspicion that the current oily state of her hair was more from the baby oil and less from the Aquaphor. So I dug around in my cupboards until I found some body wash without any moisturizer or conditioner added, and gave it a try. One washing with the body wash, one with her normal shampoo, and her hair is pretty much back to normal! YAY! She won't have to wear a hat to church on Sunday after all!

Bad Hair Day just doesn't do it Justice...

Kay has a nasty obsession with girlie things. She gets into my make up. She loves lotion. She even sits still and plays with the bottles on the bathroom counter like dolls, while I spend forever doing her hair. She loves clothes, and changing her clothes...often. I don't know where she get this girlie streak. Obviously, not from her mother. She looks so innocent. Don't be fooled. Kay knows there are some bottles, like lotion and soap, that you put on your hands, and some bottles, like hair gel, that go in your hair. This is where Kay's understanding of bottles gets...messy.
This morning, Kaylee confused Aquaphor with hair gel. A lot of Aquaphor. Yes, she did do this before with Vaseline. And lotion, several times with the lotion. After four shampoo-ings this morning, a good bout of research this evening, a treatment of baby oil (this was the remedy they said to try online), and another two shampoo-ings, these are the fabulous results. Nope. Her hair is dry. It only looks wet because it now contains Aquaphor and baby oil.
Actually, it's a big improvement over just the Aquaphor. I guess we'll try the egg remedy in the morning.

Backyard (Almost) Done and Jensen Family Reunion

This is my view from my bedroom! No longer dirt and rocks, but grass and plants and trees! However, we have one fly in the ointment. They just dug the two lots behind us and there is a little dispute as to where the property lines are. The developer has one set of measurements, we used the measurements the county has recorded.... The pink stakes are the developers markers, the orange peg in the ground is ours. Do you see the pink over spray on my fire pit!!! It will all get resolved tomorrow morning, so we'll see what happens.
Still no railing on the deck, but all the plants are in and my favorite is turning out to be the fountain grass we bought on a whim. Someday we will cover the foundation posts with rock.
This is the current project. A retaining wall to keep the mulch in the planter since we had to move the trees in. Yes, we've been dealing with this property line garbage in one form or another for a year now. The landscaper who put in the yards on both sides of our backyard didn't exactly do his due diligence when it came to the property lines. We assumed he had until we were trying to measure our back line out and couldn't get anything to line up. So, we had to move trees and mulch on both sides, just in case somewhere down the line we put a fence in. But now we will have a nice retaining/seating wall by the fire pit.

Fire pit is in and getting sufficient use. Can you say s'mores with peanut butter cups?

Our little garden is in. Lots of strawberries and peppers; cukes, tomatoes, and zucchinis on the way. Kay loves picking the strawberries.

Water fountain in! Trent wanted to do a great big water feature that involved drilling a hole in a rock, which I admit would have been pretty. He compromised with me and we picked up this pot on sale earlier in the summer. It was really windy tonight! That's why the water is off to the side.

Planters mulched, plants in, trees relocated!

We are loving having grass this year and being almost to the stage where all we have to do it mow and weed. So close! There are before pics in my blog archive from June and March 2009 if you want to see the difference. Can't wait until those lots behind us are landscaped too!

Jensen Family Reunion was last month. We had a great time with all the cousins and their kids. It's so fun to get all together and we don't do it nearly enough considering how close most of us live to each other.

Trent rented canoes from the local university and they were a total hit!

They caught two fish and Tys passed off a ton of cub scout stuff! I got sunburned on my shins (who does that?!). Everyone had a blast.