Sunday, August 24, 2008

8 years and beyond

This


is my best friend.

We have been married for 8 years today. I can't imagine sharing my life, my children, or my love with anyone better.

He never complains about my lack of homemaking skills rather he compliments me often on how he thinks I am doing a terrific job in that area. Love makes people blind you know.

We've known each other for 11 years and he still makes me laugh.

He is a the human version of Google.

The kids adore him and he has always been a hands on dad. I've never had to ask him to help out more with them.

He thinks I'm the hottest thing around.

He loves me.


Happy Anniversary!!!



Hit by bricks

The door bell rang. We answered the door to find our son, the middle child, on the front porch.

"Karaia is crying."

"Why is she crying?"

"Because she got hit by some bricks." said as if this is a normal everyday occurrence.

"What?!" Random pictures of bricks flying through the air causing great gaping, bleeding, wounds in the middle of foreheads start flashing in my brain. " How did she get hit by bricks?!"

"She turned too fast by the wall and the bricks hit her."

Translation: She turned the corner too fast and ran into a brick wall

So refreshing to hear a classic mishap with a bit of a twist from an imaginative 3 year old.





Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Rockiosaurus

Overheard by Beckham's mother:

"Karaia, I had a dream last night about a Rockiosaurus. It's called a rockiosaurus because it breaks rocks and sauruses. And they bite people and they are robots. So I roared at them. And they said roar back so I lifted them up on my cold blanket and they turned into people. That's what they do.

And they do what other people do. They smoke and they do cha cha cha cha (imagine karate sounds). Well, that's all rockiosauruses do. Oh, and they ride scary rides like the Tidal Wave"

Karaia, "And?"

"And the spooken house"

In a horse wisper, Karaia corrected "HAUNTED house"

"Right, haunted house"

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Coco karate girls

Beckham says that there have been some Coco Ricas in our house. And the occasional Karate girls. Really, they were Costa Ricans. We hosted two dancers from Costa Rica for the local annual Summerfest for 11 days.


They speak Spanish.

I don't.

I got really good at Charades.

The kids didn't care that Anna and Maria couldn't understand them. They talked their ears off anyway. Anna and Maria really liked the kids.

It was a unique experience. One that we will repeat, but not for at least 6 years. As hosts, we were responsible for providing housing (our spare bedroom came in very handy), food, and transportation.

They each brought 8 dresses.

16 dress = 8 hours of ironing

The first day (August 2nd) we took the girls to Antelope Island. They didn't dare walk through the cloud of flies to be able to touch the water but over all seemed to enjoy seeing just how big the Salt Lake really is.

Day 2: We went to church. By we I mean our little family. We invited Anna and Maria the night before, but they didn't come out of their room until we were heading out the door. We left at 10:45 am
- We took the girls to Kevin's parent's house for dinner and a few rounds with the Wii. Maria said Anna kept waking her up that night because she was moving as if she were playing tennis on the Wii.

She was grateful they didn't choose to play boxing.

Day 3: They had a practice with their group and then we had a family night lesson on temples that evening. Followed by a competitive game of boccie ball.

Day 4: More practicing . Their group went up to the local temple and they were excited to show me the pictures because we'd just had a lesson on them. Then Anna and Maria met their group at the local amusement park that evening.

Day 5: More practicing. That evening was the street dance. Kevin took Karaia while I put the overly tired boys to bed. Karaia showed me her dance moves when she got home. I missed out on somethin' special for sure!

Day 6: Summerfest opens. The kids and I hung out there a lot. Karaia was glued to all the different dances. Beckham liked the food. Surprised?

Day 7: More Summerfest.

Day 8: Last day of Summerfest.



Day 9: Church for us again. Before hand we dropped the girls off so they could go on a tour of SLC.

Day 10: Some of the host families took the group water skiing

Day 11: The kids and I took the girls to Gateway for shopping and fountain fun. We said goodbye to our Costa Rica friends at 8:30 pm

It was a long time, but the only stressful parts came when I was shopping with them. They had a habit of going to other stores/departments without bothering to tell anyone. That made it a bit challenging/frustrating when I am hauling around 3 very done-with-shopping kids. Other than that they fit nicely into our little lifes.

Still.....it's really nice to have my house back.

Karaia told me this morning, "Now we don't have all the rooms COVERED in people"

Very well put.