Where did you go, June?

Seriously, where? HOW is it already June 28th, with only two more days in this month to go? I mean I know how, but where did June go? This Saturday is the 4th of July! I love summer, it's so nice to take a break from reality, which is what I do during the summertime, but I also hate summer because it sneaks up on me, shouts "Boo!" and then it's over!

Even though I don't know where June went it will be nice when it's over because Ben is now done with work. Yay! He worked the month of June at his school, their schedule is a little different than other Iron County schools. Anyway, he's all done, and now we're hoping to pin down some things our family would like to do this summer. Possibly visit Zion or head to the Grand Canyon. Our kids like to go out and play tennis with us. Actually, Melanie plays with us, Carter makes sound effects when he swings his racket and eventually comes up with some game involving monsters, and Riley is excellent at fetching balls. We'll definitely get out with them a couple of times a week.

I've been playing pickleball with some ladies on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I love it! Some people (ahem, my brother-in-law Jon) think it's a sport for old people. Jon told me maybe he'll learn it when he's older. You know, when he can't quite get to the racquetball in time? I say, bring it on, Jon, bring it on. :) But it's actually a lot of fun. The court looks like a miniature tennis court. It's similar to tennis in the way you swing, except you have a big paddle and the balls are like large wiffle balls. There are a few different rules, certain places you can't stand on the court. SUU has indoor and outdoor pickleball courts, and it's free for me to play on them. Otherwise, it's only $2 for the use of the courts and balls, and depending upon who is working in the equipment cage, you can rent the paddle for free. I'm hoping to teach Ben this week. I'm even taking a pickleball class this fall. I have class during the time my ladies play on Tuesday and Thursday, and taking the class enables me to play during the school year and better learn the rules of the game. You know how people sometimes leave out the rules they don't know when they're teaching someone else? Like a certain pretty blond telling me the lines were out when she taught me tennis? :)

The only bad thing about June being over is that I told Melanie she couldn't have a sleepover until her dad was done with work. Well, he's done now, and I'm going to hear "Can we have a sleepover?" ALL THE TIME! That's fine though, because the only people we have sleepover are her cousins, and they're family so it's not stressful. Just busy. And sometimes busy is OK.

Summer Games Update

THE BAD:

My everything hurts. My hand is killing me. I wasn't in the best shape for tennis in the first place, but four matches in one day just about did me in. Last night when I was done my left knee around the outside edge was just painful. I couldn't figure out why my left knee hurt and not my right. It's not like I lunge more on that side or anything. I eventually solved the mystery. It's the way I pick up the tennis ball. I use the inside of my left foot and my racket to lift the ball. I guess my knee just didn't like doing that movement a million times yesterday.

I didn't place. Having not played serious tennis in a while, I knew coming in the odds weren't stacked in my favor.

I made copious amounts of unforced errors. It's one thing when my opponent hits a nice shot, but when I just keep acting like it's baseball and not tennis it makes me crazy.

I felt like I haven't seen my family in the last week. What with my back hurting this week and people being so generous when I asked for their help with my kids, and then the USG, I feel like I haven't had any time with them.

I'm tired. Exhausted. Worn out. Practically dead.

THE GOOD:

I had fun! I played doubles with my niece Kya, which was great. We won two matches and lost two - even though one of our wins was by forfeit - I'll take what I can get. It was fun to get to know her a little better.

I learned a lot about my tennis game and what areas I really need to work on. I need to follow through and not hit the ball long. Had I not done that, I would have won several more games. My serve needs some power. It spins nicely, but it's quite weak.

Not only did I have fun, but I did that and played competitively at the same time. That has never happened for me. It's usually fun OR competitive, not both. I was happy whether I won or lost.

I realized how much my family loves me. I had a lot of support watching not only my matches, but my kids as well. Tennis didn't exactly hold Riley's attention very long. Imagine that.

I'll definitely be playing in the USG next year. Ben won't be working during June and he wants to play mixed doubles. That should be some definite fun! As long as I don't get smacked with the ball when he serves. It's happened before. Ouch.

When the timing really stinks...

As in today I'm playing tennis in the Utah Summer Games and my back went out Monday. Needless to say, I'm a little...frustrated. That's putting it mildly.

My back is still quite tight and I'm supposed to play singles this morning at 11:00 and doubles with Kya at 2:00. And those are just the initial matches. Whether I win or lose I will be playing two more matches today.

It's not a big deal if I can't compete to the best of my ability, but it's much easier writing that fact than living it! I know there is a lesson in every trial in my life, but could I please be given the cliff notes on this one and get on with it!

On a lighter note, you know your six-year-old has been watching too much TV when he picks up a box that looks like the Splenda box (we have Carnation Instant Breakfast boxes at our house, and it looks similar to the Splenda box) and says: "This looks like Splenda no-calorie sweetener. It's just like sugar and you can put it in your lemonade and it tastes really good." I just shook my head. I guess there are far worse commercials he could have found interest in!

Stickystuffaphobia

Yeah, I don't know the medical term for it, but Riley has it, and here is his story.

He really doesn't like band-aids, stickers, tape, or anything of that sticky nature. Now, he doesn't mind food that's sticky - he has no problem at all with that - but anything that might resemble something tape-like sticking to him or his clothing he wants nothing to do with it. From the time he has been able to express his own opinion, and for him it was very early on, he has made it known he does not like sticky things. When I take my kids to Payless to buy shoes, the salespeople will offer my kids a sticker. If Riley is with me, he just shakes his head and says, "No, no, no," and slowly backs away from them. Seriously. It's really funny.

Anyway, the other day he was playing out on the patio and fell and scraped his knee. It was a good little gash and it wouldn't stop bleeding. The cut needed a band-aid. Riley disagreed. He was fine while we washed the cut off with water, and he didn't make a peep when I poured hydrogen peroxide over the wound. He watched ever so still and patient while I applied Neosporin. But when Ben and I mentioned the word "band-aid" he went ballistic. Hysterical. Crying and screaming. Ben attempted to pick him up, but Riley fought him. I want to aptly describe his resistance, but don't know if I can. He wound his legs around the back of Ben's calves and WOULD NOT let go. Neither Ben nor I could untangle him. We just stood there laughing. What else could we do?

He finally relaxed enough to enable me to detach him from Ben's legs, and I held him to try and calm him while Ben snuck over and hastily applied the band-aid. From then until the band-aid was removed 40 minutes later, there was continuous crying. He just cried, and cried. He wouldn't walk because he wouldn't put any pressure on the leg with the cut. He also wouldn't bend the knee on that leg. He needed a bath, so I took off the band-aid before he got in. The crying stopped as quickly as it began.

But there's a second part to the story, and it's even better than the first.

The next day we were running errands. I had just come from that fresh produce stand that is set up next to the Zion's Bank near Wal-Mart. I mentioned to the kids that we were stopping by Grandma Jeanne's so I could run in and pick up a couple of cans from her pantry, and that it was only me that was running inside, everyone else would wait in the car. Well, Riley loves to go to Grandma's, so he wasn't happy about that idea. I tried to explain to him we would be going back to Grandma Jeanne's later in the day, but for now I was just running in by myself. He was all upset and wouldn't listen, so I said, "Riley, if you don't calm down and listen I'm going to put a band-aid on you."

Silence.

He listened after that, and was a nice calm boy.

Ben said I'm a meanie. But really, it's just a band-aid.

Hiking and an accidental experiment with mosquitoes!

On Friday our family decided to take a hike near Kanaraville. Apparently, there is a hike up one of those canyons that has ropes and ladders, and no, that's not the hike we took. Well, if it was, we didn't get far enough in the canyon to find the ropes and ladders.

The kids were troopers. They were tired on and off on the way in and Ben and I took turns giving them occasional piggy-back rides. The next day my back told me Melanie is a little too big to get piggy-back rides anymore!

Melanie loves to draw things from nature - flowers, trees, animals, rocks. So this trip we brought along the camera and she had a blast and went overboard with pictures. There were a lot of beautiful flowers along the way. There was one section that had a bush similar to a rosebush, but the flowers were little pink five-petal flowers. They smelled absolutely amazing. I wish I could have transplanted some to a bucket, but alas, my black thumb would have just killed it. Here are some of my favorites.
I don't know if I took this picture or if it was Melanie who took it. Either way, both of us need to work on focus. I love orange, and these little orange flowers stood out beautifully among the foliage. Besides that great smelling flower that I neglected to get a picture of, this was my favorite. It reminded me of a starfish. The color was this great pinkish reddish. Maybe Tearese can tell me what color that would be? :)


Here's a picture of the kids before they got tired - we're right at the beginning of the hike here. I should have taken pictures of us coming out of the hike because it would have been a totally different picture - literally.

This little guy was one of our favorite finds. He was in a hurry to cross the trail, I'll tell you that much. He didn't want to stop for a photo shoot, but the paparazzi got him anyway.

We actually saw a lot of interesting wildlife out there. We saw a couple of lizards, but they really weren't about to sit still for some camera time. We saw some huge spiders, one of which had these orange and brown stripes. He blended in really well with the red sand. The cicadas were out in droves and we could hear them clicking and buzzing. Did you know cicadas live underground for most of their lives? We found all these little holes on the trail, and a cicada was sticking it's head out. They had also been molting and their skins were everywhere near those holes. Interesting bug.

This little stream was running back and forth throughout the trail. Both Melanie and I loved this picture, where the stream sneaks into the protection of the trees. She said she wanted to take the picture to President Eastmond, our Stake President who is an artist, and ask him to paint it.

We finally made it into the canyon, and turned right back around. This picture of Carter should illustrate why. You know the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Well we had some very hungry mosquitoes. I'm not an outdoorsy type of girl, so you can't blame me, but you can blame Ben because he knew the mosquitoes would be having a "frat party" as he put it. And let me tell you, they were! But, Ben is the only one who paid for it.

You see, I'm not allergic to mosquito bites. They suck my blood just as much as anyone else, but I don't swell up and itch - at all. My dad is the same way. I told Ben even though I inherited his stubbornness, it's a small price to pay for not being allergic to mosquitoes. Anyway, we always wondered whether our kids would be lucky enough to pick that trait up from me. No more wondering. They have. Ben got eaten alive out there. He was still itchy Saturday evening. But not I nor any of our kids had any kind of reaction to the mosquitoes. I can see several places on my arms and legs where I was bitten by the nasty little things, but I never itched or swelled up.

I don't think they like the way I smell because they weren't swarming me like they were Ben and Carter. And it's funny because Carter has the same skin texture as Ben, but Melanie and Riley unfortunately inherited my excema skin. It's rough and bumpy and burns easily. But even though they liked the way Carter tasted, he didn't have a reaction to their bites.

The hike was great, and the funniest part was Melanie at the end. Once we got to the canyon, where there was more water and significantly more mosquitoes, Melanie was so ready to go home. When we turned around she led the way without any complaints. She just started walking and didn't check to see if we were following. Ben said she reminded him of a horse that has smelled home. She smelled the van, and there was nothing we could do to stop her from getting there as soon as possible!