King Tutankhamun

Last Thursday we took off, with the majority of my brother's and sisters, to Seattle to visit the King Tut exhibit at the Seattle Science Center.  Alyssa and I were actually supposed to go in August with the Sumsions, but we had to postpone, because of Brian's grandma's funeral.  So instead, Nelsa switched our tickets for us, and we made a homeschooling trip out of it.  Christina called our group the Rise and Shine Homeschool, and it was fun to line up with all the other "real" schools that were there that day.

Christina's oldest kids went with Nathan to go see "Wicked" on Thursday evening, while the rest of us went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Becca was so crazy and on and off my lap and wiggly, that I got my cheesecake to-go and ate half of it on the drive back to the hotel.

Putting one baby without a crib or rocking chair and three bouncy kids to bed was crazy, and I was a cranky mess.  That part was not fun, and I hotel-voice yelled a lot.  (That's one thing I've decided I really need to work on: not yelling.)

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and went to King Tut.  One word: awesome!  Even Marcus and Ethan had a good time.  It was so cool to see the things the kids have learned about in History - things that were thousands of years old.  The gold masks were my favorite.  I wish I had pictures to share, but we weren't allowed to take any.  Sorry.  We also saw the IMAX movie about mummies.  My favorite part of that was watching Rebecca.  She was so amazed at the huge screen.

After visiting the butterfly house at the Science Center, our little family broke off and went searching for ice cream.  We went to Molly Moon's Ice Cream Shop, where I had the best ice cream of my entire life: honey lavender ice cream.  It was soooooo good.  I bought the recipe book.  Oh, and it was so funny, too - while we were walking to the ice cream shop, we passed a doughnut shop, and Brian went in to see if they had any cruellers (spell check isn't helping with that one) and there were these two little girls sitting at the table facing the window.  They were looking through a book, and while the kids and I stood outside the door, waiting for Brian, they held the open book flat against the window.  I looked at them and saw that the picture was what I am now calling, "educational nudity."  So they were holding this picture up to the window, and once they saw that I noticed it, they started laughing so hard, and they just kept laughing and laughing.  It was great.

On Friday evening we all went swimming, and had pizza for dinner.  Then, Philip asked the hotel to open the breakfast room for us, so we could eat the chocolate cake Tallia picked up for Michael's birthday.  After our first not very good night in the hotel, I was determined to make our second night better.  The kids were already in their pajamas for the cake party, so once we got back to our room we had scripture study, and the kids got into bed.  I pulled the office type chair in front of the television, and I told the kids we could watch T.V. until they fell asleep.  There were 44 channels, and the only thing on that was remotely interesting for families was "Wicked Tuna" on the National Geographic channel.  I kid you not - we watched the "What's On" guide for about 10 minutes, then we went though the loop a few times before stopping on the tuna show.  It was actually pretty interesting, and the best part about it is that it helped the kids to fall asleep quickly.  Once Becca was ready to lay down, I pulled the leftover cheesecake out of the fridge and ate it between the two beds so Ethan and Marcus (who were on the hide-a-bed, and were the only kids left awake at that point) couldn't see.  It was a much better bedtime for all of us.  (Oh, and that's another thing I'm now working on: eating less sweets.)

Saturday morning was spent packing up the car and browsing the aisles of Fries.  (It's an electronics store, not a french fry store.)  Then we headed to Pike's Place Market, where we had some awesome crepes for lunch, then we headed home.  I really enjoyed the drive home, because Brian and I took some time while Becca was sleeping, and Alyssa was reading, and the boys were discussing random boy things in the back seat to talk about how we feel our kids are doing in life.  We talked about their strengths and weaknesses, where we see them going in their extracurricular activities, and things we'd like to see them become.  We also decided to start having a special night once a month, during our Fast Sunday family council, where we talk about the things that we think are awesome about our kids.  We even followed up on our plan by having our first "You are Awesome Night" this evening, and it was great.

Oh, and another thing I loved about this trip was trying to hold our breath through all those long tunnels in Seattle.  There was one that curved in a circle, and I tilted my head to see if I could look further to see the end of the tunnel, and Brian started leaking air through his lips, because he was trying not to laugh.  I have to say, though, that we made it through every tunnel without breathing.

And here's some pictures:

Becca, at the beginning of our trip.  We borrowed my parents' van, because we didn't trust our old geezer van.  We turned Becca's car seat around just for the trip, and she thought it was awesome that there was a T.V. in the car.

Kenna and Alyssa after King Tut.  Alyssa is purposefully not smiling for some reason.

Marcus and Ethan on a pretend spaceship, or more likely, a real spaceship, for pretend.

Alyssa and Callie in the butterfly house.

Marcus and his friend

The kids at Molly Moon's.  They sat at the window table, and Brian and Becca and I sat outside.  And no, that guy is not a cyborg - that's the reflection of a hub cap on his head.

Brian's salted caramel ice cream with a fresh made waffle cone.  Poor Becca slept through the ice cream party.

This is Becca waking up a little bit when we put her back in the car after ice cream.  She fell asleep a couple seconds after this picture was taken.

Zombies and Halloween

 First, Erin's zombie party.  Philip set it all up perfectly.  We all met up at my parents' house, then when we gave the word, Philip took his family for a Sunday drive while we snuck over to their house and hid in the backyard.  They were soon home, and Erin found her new diaper bag, which says, "Zombie Survival Kit" on it, and pulled out the toy gun, because she was being attacked by niece and nephew zombies!  It was fabulous how they came out from the shadows and inched their way along the dark grass.  Erin was soon overwhelmed by them all, and if it had been a real zombie attack, she would have definitely had her brains eaten.  Ethan wanted to be a snake zombie, so a few minutes after we had all come in, we were wondering where he had gone to, and we found him still in the dark backyard, slithering along the wet grass.

the brain cakes

Brian zombie - he had to go to a meeting halfway through the party

The progression of the attack.

Yesterday, for Halloween, we had a party for Activity Days where we made monster bookmarks and pine cone owls, and played pin the heart on the skeleton and musical chairs.  Then, all the cousins came over to go trick-or-treating together, eat pot luck tacos, and watch Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 

My Halloween tricksters.  Marcus and Ethan are both wearing costumes that my mom made for my brothers when they were little.

Becca in the wig Jenny Rose made for her.  Technically, her costume is a doll witch, I guess.

I started my costume a while ago, but when I learned I wasn't going to be able to go to the ward trunk-or-treat party, because of Tombstone Tales, I stopped.  Then, right before going trick-or-treating, I didn't feel festive enough, so I threw it on and had Erin do my make up real quick.  She did a good job, for just working with what I had in the drawer.  Halfway through the night, my niece Megan said, "There is nothing appealing at all to your face."

full shot of zombie Snow White

Rosie the Riveter leading the kids in a Thriller conga line

I was trying to take a picture of my mom with Norah and Becca, but Callie kept photobombing.

Pretty soon we had so many photobombers that you can't even see what I was trying to take a picture of.

In other news:  Alyssa and Ethan had their first showcase of the year at MCP.  Ethan built a Mesopotamian ziggurat to share, and Alyssa did a division problem on the board.  They did a great job!

Boy, Is My Face Red

Here's me in a self taken cheesey picture in my super cool Columbia River Power Marathon t-shirt

Okay, so my face turns red when I run.  Every single time.  I think it only takes about five minutes, and it looks like I've run for five hours.  I ran my first half marathon this weekend, which, of course, turned my face bright, bright red, but all that blood rushing to my face (Is that what causes it?) because of exercise wasn't the only thing making me blush.

There was a lot of other stuff that happened this weekend besides that half marathon, though, so I need to back up a bit and tell the whole thing.  Backing up to early September:  I signed up for the half marathon of the Columbia River Power Marathon, which is a super cool race to have as my first, because it takes place in two states, Washington and Oregon, and you get to run over the McNary dam.  Fast forward two days later, and I got an email asking if I wanted to do Tombstone Tales this year, on the same weekend of the run.  No big deal, I thought, I'll run in the morning and just be stiff and tired for Tombstone Tales that afternoon and evening.  I said yes.

So here's the line-up for this past weekend:

Friday
- 3:45 Alyssa's ballet
- 6:00 Tombstone Tales
-8:00 Alyssa's Nutcracker Practice

Saturday
- 5:45 wake up to drive to Umatilla
- 8:00 Columbia River Power Marathon!
- 12:00 Alyssa and Ethan's soccer games
- 1:00 Tombstone Tales
- 6:00 Tombstone Tales and Ward Halloween Party

Sunday
- 9:00 church, which the kids and I skipped, because I was so sore
- 3:00 dinner at Brian's parents'
- 6:00 Erin's Zombie Attack Birthday Party

I threw in Sunday's schedule, because I'm super excited for the zombie party.  Philip even had me decorate two brain cakes.

Okay, so Friday.  Becca and I took Alyssa to ballet, and while we were waiting in the parking lot, Becca dropped my car keys down the hole where our car stereo sat before it was stolen.  I called Brian, and he brought the boys and the extra van key to come get us.  We couldn't reach the keys in the parking lot, but Brian got them out later.

I raced home to get dressed in warm clothes that would fit under my costume, picked up my niece Megan (who was a grim reaper this year) and headed to Tombstone Tales.  I played Sadie Conway this year, who was originally from Texas, so I faked a Southern accent and had fun with it. 

Becca woke up a lot on Friday night, which wasn't fun, and she also woke up at 5:30, then wasn't asleep again by 5:45, so Brian took over while I went to get ready and head out the door.  On a side note, she's being weaned starting tonight, because she's at that point when she doesn't nurse at all during the day, but then she and I can't sleep, because she wants to nurse all night.  This is the week, starting tonight, and I'm sad and excited all at the same time.

I drove forty minutes to Umatilla, met up with Nelsa Sumsion, who came down from Seattle to run, learned about cow bells (they're awesome) and how they're fun to have rung by the people cheering you on, and started the race.  I ran over the dam, under a tunnel, through the pouring rain, over a bridge, and on a tiny little rock path along the Columbia River.

Oh, wait.  I wasn't supposed to run the little rock path (with hills!) along the Columbia River.  That was for the people running the full marathon. I was supposed to turn around just before mile 11 and head (uphill!) to the finish line.  But, I misread the sign and kept going straight.  See, they had a big piece of wood that was painted white with the vinyl numbers "1/2" on the top, then there was a printed piece of paper underneath that which said, "marathon turn around."  I saw the paper, which registered in my head as an important sign, and completely focused on the "marathon turn around" part.  I even hollered to the high school cheer leaders, "I'm running the half.  Do I go straight?"  to which they replied, "Yeah!  Good job!" and then did a cheer that involved saying that I'm cute.

So I kept going.  I ran up a big, rocky hill...kept running...ran down a bit...made a few turns...up another hill...kept running.  Really, I was a little concerned this whole time.  I was in the middle of nowhere, and I knew that I was getting close to thirteen miles.  I kept thinking that around the next bend, there would be a park or something, then they would shuttle us back to the hotel.  It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's all I could think of.

I passed the 13.25 mile marker and wondered to myself if I really knew how long a half marathon was.  I kept running until I passed someone on the way back and asked them which trail I was on, the full or the half.  He said, "Full," and I said, "Oh, crap."

This is when I turned around and started walking.  I called Brian to tell him to get my mom to come watch Becca and Marcus so he didn't have to take them out in the rain for the kids' soccer games.  I called my sister to tell her to call the Crehst museum and tell them that I was stranded in the middle of nowehere, and I didn't know if I would make it to the afternoon session of Tombstone Tales.  Then I called Nelsa to tell her not to wait for me at the finish line; I was going to be a while.

I walked and walked, and even though I was still moving, just slowing down made my muscles start to stiffen up, and after a few miles I had to literally tell my legs, out loud, to keep moving.  I made it to the turn around and headed uphill toward the finish line.  They told me I had three miles to go.  After a little while Nelsa and her mom found me and drove me to the hotel, where they let me out so I could run through the finish line.  I was so thankful to have Nelsa and her mom there, and I've decided that I'm never going to a race alone.

Anyway, I was able to hop in the car, soaking wet and stiff, and I made it home with just enough time to shower and get ready for Tombstone Tales.  Brian did a great job of taking care of things while I was gone.  He rented a movie for the kids and him to watch, made bacon wrapped jalepeno chicken stuff and even saved some for me to eat when I came home on my break, and got the kids to bed before I came home that evening.  He even sent some hand warmers with my parents when they came to see me.  Then he had a little hot cocoa station set up for me when I came home.

Well, it's 2:57 and Brian isn't home from church yet.  I guess we'll head to his parents' house without him?  And then on to the zombie party!

And here's some pictures I stole from Nelsa's Facebook page.

This is where Nelsa and her mom saved me from the (about) two miles I had left to walk.

crossing the finish line - finally

wet, cold, and tired

In other news:

Rebecca is a cutie.  These were all taken just before she got her cast off on the 19th.

She's starting to pose for photos.  I guess this is a sumo pose.

This is her I-know-you're-taking-a-picture-of-me smile.

This is what the boys do after each shower.  I put a towel around each of them and tell them to dry off and get dressed.  "But I'm cold!" they say.  They still haven't figured out that if they go get dressed, instead of collapsing to the bathroom floor, they would be warmer.

This is where I stuck Becca while I got ready for church a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the monster cake I made for my mom's birthday.  I asked what she wanted it to look like, and the only request she gave was orange, for Fall.  We went with orange monster.

Marcus fell asleep on Alyssa's floor last week, and used her robe as a blanket.  I didn't know he was in there, and I freaked out when I didn't find him in his bed in the middle of the night while I was up with Becca.

Ethan made Rebecca a third eye and stuck it to her forehead a couple weeks ago.  She wore it for a few hours.

We made it home safely from the zombie apocalypse party.  It was awesome!  I'll post pictures once I get them on the computer.

Casts and Birthdays

You can see the zig zag crack right above the elbow on the left picture.

 So Becca got her splint taken off and a cast put on last Monday, and she get's it off on the nineteenth.  She was a pro at the whole getting a cast put on thing.  When the doctor got the sock thing to put on her arm, all he had to do was take a step toward her, and she stuck her arm out for him to put it on.  She knew exactly what he was going to do!  I nursed her while they wrapped the cast on, which I wish I would have done with the splint, because she screamed when they put the splint on, and hardly even cared when they put the ca,st on.  She has been slowly not nursing as much each day, and I can see her being weaned in the near future, but I'm glad that she was still nursing when her arm broke, because she didn't eat very much real food for about a week after she broke it.

She's gotten quite used to the cast, and it doesn't look like it bothers her at all.  I miss seeing her little birth mark on her left wrist, and I know she's had to get used to doing things with her right hand (she normally uses her left), but overall she's been fine with the whole thing.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner for Brian's birthday, and he discovered that her cast is great for cracking peanut shells.

 She thought it was pretty funny.

 And then she tried to do it herself.

I think Brian had a good birthday.  We went to his parents' house for dinner the night before, then had all of our family over for peanut butter cream pie afterward.  Then, on his birthday, I sent him to work with a batch of cupcakes with his favorite type of frosting (the store bought stuff with the little sprinkle chunks already in the frosting), and then we went to dinner with his parents and brother to celebrate.  I also gave him tickets to the Brian Regon concert tomorrow, and he's going to take me along.  I'm excited!  As you can see from the picture above, he also got an Ethan.  Not everyone get's an Ethan for their birthday!  Ethan came up with the idea over the summer that he was going to wrap himself up as a present for Brian's birthday, and we went with it.  It was fun to see Ethan's excitement, and it was especially fun to see him shuffle across the floor after I wrapped the paper around him.

In other news:

1. General Conference was wonderful.  It may have been my favorite conference ever.  I love the announcement changing the ages for missionaries.  Every woman my age that I've talked to that didn't serve a mission has said, "I would have gone!...but then I wouldn't have met my husband," and I'm in the same boat.  I would have totally gone on a mission if I was able to go earlier.  I'm excited to see what happens in the next little while in the number of missionaries serving around the world.

Conference seemed to fly by this year.  I remember when it used to drag on and on, and I couldn't wait for it to be over, but now it goes by so quickly, and I find myself wishing for more.  It was also so nice to just stay home as a family and relax together, instead of running around the whole day, which we've been doing a lot lately.

2. Alyssa had her first Nutcracker rehearsal last week, and she loved it.  She mentioned a few times that day that she didn't want to do it anymore, probably because she was nervous, but when I went to pick her up, she didn't want to leave.  She has two little girls that she's "in charge of," because they're the baby mice that she fights during the battle scene.

3. I've been preparing to run a half marathon at the end of the month.  I ran 13 miles for my long run last Saturday, and it wasn't too bad.  It helps that I listen to books while I run, because I think keeping my head "in the game" is my greatest struggle with running for long amounts of time.  Lately I've been listening to C.S. Lewis' "Til We Have Faces," and I've really enjoyed it.

I'm also starting to prepare for this year's Tombstone Tales.  This year I'm Sadie Conway, a Kennewick resident that came from Texas back when Kennewick wasn't even Kennewick yet.  I've been working on my Southern accent and have started to memorize my part.  I've also been putting together a costume, because CBC seems to give me the same costume each year, no matter who I play, and I'd like something different this year.

I Went To A Soccer Party, Everyone Was There

Last Friday we hosted a get-to-know-you party for Alyssa's soccer team.  It was our first garden party in our yard, and I love it!  We worked so hard making our yard pretty in the Spring, but then we spent the hot summer days swimming at my parents' house, plus we thought we had more work to do until we had a party, so we didn't really enjoy all that hard work as well as we could have.  So when I was thinking that someone should have a party so the girls could get to become friends, I then thought, "Why not us?"

Brian's mom came over on Friday while Brian was at work to help us clear some extra weeds and dead head the rose bushes, and Alyssa and I strung white lights on the pergola.  It actually didn't take a whole lot of work, and it turned out so pretty.

The girls played Do You Love Your Teammate? and did a team building hula hoop activity, then they filled their plates with food and answered get-to-know-you questions while sitting under the twinkle lights.  After a while the twinkle lights were getting to me, because they were twinkling so fast, so I fiddled around with them, trying to find a slower setting.  The girls took advantage of this to start dancing under the crazy lights, and we ended up taking them inside for an impromptu dance party.  They danced for 40 minutes!  No breaks, just dancing.  It was so fun to watch, and it looked like everyone had a great time.

In other news:
1. Soccer is going great.

2. We celebrated Oktoberfest on Saturday.  Lots of brats and root beer, with some German red cabbage and German chocolate cake.

3. Becca broke her arm yesterday.  I gave her a graham cracker in her high chair booster seat, but I didn't strap her in, because she can climb up and down out of it.  Then I went upstairs to switch the laundry to the dryer, heard her crying, and came downstairs to find her waiting for me, still crying.  When she didn't settle down, and even kept whimpering when I tried nursing her, I knew something was wrong.  I called my mom, and she was luckily in the neighborhood on her way to my sister's house, so she came over and we isolated the pain to Becca's left arm.  I called the orthopedic office (I've learned to bypass the emergency room and just head straight to them - much faster and cheaper) and took her in that afternoon.  She has a splint on it now, and then they'll put a cast on it next week.  It's so sad, but she is feeling better now that it's immobilized.  And I've learned my lesson; we'll be strapping her into her high chair for a long while yet.