California

So I took off for California leaving Todd and Garrett at home being bachelors. It sounds like they had as much fun at home in the peace and quiet as the rest of us did in California. I twas Todd's birthday while we were gone so they went golfing to the movies and out to dinner. I don't think Todd's ever had that much fun on his birthday since I've known him. Okay I don't think Todd's ever had that much fun since I have known him. Usually when I talk to Todd on the phone when I am gone with the kids he is depressed and misses us soooo much. This time all he talked about was how much fun he and Garrett were having- long quiet talks, making dinner together, no chaos, doing whatever they want. They profess to have missed us but I'm not sure of how much. We had a great time while we were gone too. We crammed a lot into our visit. We would have stayed longer but Bridget's schedule kept us at a week. We normally would stay with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson but they had a full house and so we stayed with Grandma Roskelley. It was a different experience and it was fun. We got there on Saturday night and went to church with her on Sunday. Elijah went straight to nursery and loved it. Lydia, of course, was a little more apprehensive so we hung out together in primary. It was weird because I grew up, there had three children before I left there but I don't know very many people in the ward. Even the ones I do know didn't recognize me. Could it be because I'm fat? Maybe. Then that night we went to my brother Ron's in Auburn for a family dinner. It's always fun to see everyone and to see all the cousins play (the grandchildren and great grandchildren). Sadly I didn't get any pictures of that. But the kids had a great time. Suddenly they get to California and everyone they see is their cousin. Quite a change for us here. On Monday we went to the with my sister-in-law Sarah and cousins Jake, Eden and Noah. It looks like someone had a personal problem -probably the giraffe.

Elijah loved the Orangutans and the chimpanzees.Lydia loved the Anteater. This was pretty cool. It has a super long skinny tongue.

Grandma bought Jake and Elijah matching batman hats. They LOVED them. They were both reluctant to get out and get an up close look at anything for fear that they might lose their place in the stroller. So poor little Eden and Noah had to do most of the walking. Fortunately they didn't seem to mind. Especially since Bridget was just as much fun as a stroller.

It was so much fun hanging out with the cousins. Especially for the little ones. They just don't get that opportunity too often.

After the zoo we went to the park across the street for a picnic.

After that the cousins went home for a nap and we went to FairyTale Town.

It has all the fairy tales there. A castle with round table.

There was lots of slides like the one on the old woman who lives in a shoe. The huge shoe is a slide. They have live animals like the three little pigs, Eeyore and I can't remember the cows name and Peter rabbit and all his friends. Lydia insisted that Bridget be Cinderella and Eli the footman while she drove the carriage.On Tuesday we went to Sunsplash, a water park in Roseville. It was wet wild fun. Everyone enjoyed it. We spent as much time as possible in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. The kids loved it! They had fun swimming with cousins Riley, Hannah, David and Bryte. Elijah fell in LOVE with these "spiderman" goggles. (They are really power rangers but we're not telling) Riley was kind enough to give them to Eli who took them everywhere and slept with them after that.

Bridget really did do more than this. I have lots more great pics but Samantha has them on her memory card and she wont send them to me!

Dallin spent most of his time playing catch the Frisbee while jumping in the pool. It felt sort of like I had a dog but he loved it.

On Thursday we went to Six Flags Marine World. It was so much fun. There was so much for the little ones to do we never got see it all. And the big kids got to go have fun on all the big rides. Our favorites were the dolphins and whale shows.

And the treats that go with it.

Elijah loved the thrill rides. I thought the kid roller coaster would be to scary for a three year old but he just laughed the whole way through and then yelled again! Again! when it came to a stop. Lydia liked to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground. She loved the butterfly exhibit where all the butterflies fly all around you and the giraffes and elephants and pretty much any animal. They both loved the elephant ride and kept going as long as they could since no one was in line. Elijah loved making it go up and down.

By the end of the day Superman and Wonder Woman were tuckered out.

We spent the last two days shopping for school clothes and of course See's Candy our fav! I hated the feeling that someone was missing because Garrett wasn't with us. He is always my right hand man when Dad isn't around. It just made his soon to be departure all the more real and that was sad. But, Bridget got home in time for her to be a freshman mentor at freshman orientation. We got home about 10:30 pm on Sunday and Todd left at 4:3o am the next morning for a Young Women's white water rafting trip. Although he acted like he was dragging his feet to go, he had a great time. Bridget was sad to miss out but had other commitments. The next weekend Bridget went to a student leadership camp and had to miss out on the shopping trip to Portland that she was planning on with her friend. Choices, Choices. Anyway it was a fun trip and Grandma wasn't too sad to see us go because she got to keep Samantha.

Family Portraits

Well since everyone was home for a short time I had to break down and get a family portrait taken. What is it about the family portrait that makes me insane. Is it the clothing and color coordination? Is it coordinating schedules, making sure everyone is happy, well fed, had enough sleep and in a good mood all at the same time? Is it the fear of the last minute near the scalp self hair cut by the four year old- (Bridget)? Or oops someone dropped the baby on the heating vent and scraped up her face?- (Bridget again, she was the baby) Or, "Sorry Mom I was playing capture the flag (or some other outside, run around in the middle of the night game) and didn't see that black mailbox which attacked my face" (Dallin this time). Or is it that I want to vomit when I see myself in photos? Something always has to happen. Although we have had the kids portrait taken a little more often, It has been 13 years since we all were in the picture. Mostly because I don't want to be in the picture. We have all the kids portraits on the wall except poor Eli. He is over three and he is still not represented on the portrait wall. But then Lydia is five and her picture is of her as an infant. What can I say? It stresses me out. The older ones can always be threatened but the little ones must be bribed. Dairy Queen in our case. I know, I know you are thinking parent of the year nomination. By the end of the shoot Eli was seeing visions of Dairy Queen all over the college campus we were on. He kept pointing it out to us all over the place. He was a real trooper and smiled on cue every time. And every time he would say, "Okay Dairy Queen now?" Hey whatever works. Lydia, of course, was a little more shy. She didn't want her picture taken and wouldn't smile for about the first half of the shoot. Suddenly she switched and she turned into a little model. It was a hot day and I was melting but the background was beautiful. I thought the photographer did a good job considering what she had to work with. See what you think. Okay this seems like a lot but I'm choosing from 122 pictures. Samantha doesn't like this one but I think it is okay.
I know Lydia's shirt stands out but after a huge effort to color coordinate I just gave up. Now she is the star of the family.
I like this one except it looks like I am laughing.
Eli is making a funny face in this one. Otherwise okay.
I'm not sure where Eli thinks the camera is.

I like this one because it shows all the height differences.

I love this picture of the boys.I like how different each girl in our family looks.I loved all the pictures of the older girls.

Samantha calls this Garrett's "smoldering" look

You can't even see the big scrapes on his face from the mailbox attack. I put some make up on them but don't tell him I told you. He doesn't want anyone to know.

It's hard not to smile when you see these.

When a friend of mine looked at these photos. She said, "Can you believe you did this." I had those same thoughts when I first saw them. It's been so long since I saw a picture of us all together like this it was kinda surprising. So I have been doing something with myself these past twenty years.

What a WEEK I'm having

Samantha came home a week and a half ago. It's been an interesting week. She's only home for a short time this time and then she is off to live in California. Garrett will be leaving for college in a matter of weeks. Soon we will have only four kids at home. Who knows if or when we will all live together again. Garrett will leave for his mission next summer and then I don't imagine we will ever live together again. I guess life is constant change. Change is good. I wouldn't want my kids to live at home forever. But it's still hard to see it end. It's a strange time. Sending some out into the world knowing their time with the family is short and yet still having some that are barely potty trained.

The little kids have still been taking swimming lessons. Garrett was Lydia's teacher this session. He was a good teacher. Some little girls in his classes would bring him flowers others would cry when he had a sub while he worked at another pool. The kids have learned quite a bit and have been little fish this summer. We have spent a lot of time at the pool.

Recently we had the opportunity to spend a night at the Cameo Heights Mansion . It's a Bed and Breakfast that our friends the Fieldings own and run. We stayed here in the Greek Suite. It was fabulous! The food the pampering the views the pool, everything was wonderful! The Fieldings daughter, Alainna, recently married Stephen Beus, a world class pianist. He gave a private concert that night for the guests at the mansion. We had heard him before but never this up close and personal. It was amazing. Sometimes his hands move so quickly it doesn't seem like they match the music. We were fascinated. He tours the world and here we were sitting in the living room watching from a few feet. He would stop and talk about the music to help us understand and enjoy it more then after the concert he answered all our questions. Alainna also sang us a song. She has a beautiful voice and is studying music at BYU. Todd and Alainna have had the opportunity to sing together on several occasions when she lived at home. After that we all went swimming. It was so much fun.

Okay I started this post quite a while ago and I am just getting around to finishing it up. While Samantha was home we celebrated her birthday. We had a lovely vegetarian dinner. Even Garrett thought he could become a vegetarian if he could eat like that all the time. We also had a vegetarian cake. Samantha's friend Katie came and decorated her room and left a present and some balloons so she would see it when she got home.

While she was here we went to the ward Pioneer Day picnic and swimming party. It got a little chilly after dark. But we all had fun. Bridget and Samantha got to spend some time shopping downtown together and they went to the midnight Twilight book release party the night before we left for California so they would be able to read it in the car on the way down. They both very much enjoyed it. I just started it. More on the California trip later.

Cheer Camp

Bridget went to cheer camp last week and had a blast. She says she learned more in that week than she has all summer. Although she has been working hard all summer. They have practice two hours a day usually starting at 7 am. They are constantly doing fundraisers because this whole cheerleading business is expensive! Since she is the smallest (but not by much) she is the one that does all the stunts. She is always up in the air. On the first day of camp they dropped her pretty hard. But she wasn't hurt too bad and she went right back at it. They got to stay in the dorms at Central Washington University and Bridget got to have her friend Shaylee as her roommate. Their squad won a "Spirit Stick" everyday they were there. Apparently this is a good thing. She had a great time but came home exhausted.

Bridget and Shaylee

The whole squad

I hope you think they look like a million bucks because their outfits almost cost that much!Bridget is in the first row on the far left.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!

Samantha's Birthday was Monday, July 21st and she turned 20! No longer a teenager. This was the first year she wasn't home for her birthday. She was finishing up at school on the 18th and I was going to go get her but we had a change of plans at the last minute. It turned out that she needed to be in California for a job interview the day after her birthday. Lucky for us her roommate Kathryn happens to be from there and had room in her truck for Samantha and all her stuff. Thanks Kathryn! That helped a lot! Samantha was a little sad to not be spending her birthday with the fam but she was not neglected for sure. On Sunday Grandma Roskelley had a big bash with the whole extended family for Samantha and Hans (my nephew) who share a birthday. Then the next day she went out to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and more extended family then that night she went out with her friends from college. The next day she had her interview with The Gap call center. (She got the job yay!) Then the next day she came home. She also went to church with Grandma Roskelley on Sunday. She says she always forgets how awesome she is until she hears Grandma brag about her to everyone.

So she is home now for a short time and will be back in California being roommates with Grandma. So if your ever in the neighborhood stop in the swingin single pad and see what is the haps.

Here is the picture of her from the hospital.

Everyone told me how their babies were not so pretty when they were born but I thought Samantha was beautiful. She didn't look scrunched or anything. Her original due date was June 23rd. Then they changed it to July 7th. Then she was two weeks late and had to be induced and then she still took 23 hours of labor to get here. Maybe she was a little anxious about the whole earth life thing.

I always hated this picture because I was fat and not dressed so beautifully. If I only knew. Looks great to me now.

Todd and I were the typical over the edge first time parents. We thought she was the best, smartest most beautiful baby ever. (And who is saying she wasn't?) Everything had to be perfect all the time. Now I lovingly call her our test child. I mean you gotta practice on someone, right? She has always been very smart and pretty. She learned to read at a young age and always did well in school. She has a quick wit and is very observant of what is going on around her. She picks up on things not everyone does. She has become our flower child. She is saving the world and loves politics and recently became a vegetarian. She likes to march to the beat of her own drummer.

She always loved to have her picture taken. Here she is at about 6. I remember this day. The photographer didn't have to pose her. She kept coming up with her own. I know this is one she posed all on her own.

Samantha is a complex being. I am not sure I can capture her completely in one post. For those who know her, feel free to make your observations about Samantha in the comments.