may and june 2012

 There were so many days to be grateful for in May and June.  For the sake of family history, and in the spirit of self-indulgence, I'm finally posting my summer archives. 

 As the end of the school year approached, Ben performed in his middle school's production of Seussical Jr,

 The Grinch is a small role, but with lots of on-stage time, and a short solo.  I was impressed by Ben's confidence and excited to hear him sing. I could possibly be the only person with this problem; I don't actually cry when I watch Suessical Jr. I weep.  I can't hear Horton sing I'm alone in the universe without uncontrollable tears. I think it could be the companion song to the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Under the Bridge. Just a thought. Now, as it turns out, the girls will be in yet another production of Seussical Jr. this fall, so I may start counseling now.

There he is with the barbells.

In May, Kyle graduated from elementary school, none too soon, in his opinion. Ben finished middle school, and Sam completed his freshman year of high school. This was our celebration lunch at one of our family traditions, Diego's Taco Shop.

The same day the kindergartners held their end of the year performance with lots of dancing, singing, and recitation.

As school ended the sleepovers began, and became so frequent, and politically charged, they had to be outlawed.

And the lessons I vowed to make happen began as well. It felt like I spent most of the month of June in the van.

All the big girls had dance class. I forced them to be in the same class to avoid too much driving or hanging around. Bethany may not forgive me for that. We'll see.

Caitlin went to a week of sewing camp. This skirt was one of her projects.

This is our wonderful Miss Jenny. Her school is called Thimbles and Threads.  I never imagined I would take a daughter to sewing lessons every week, but Caitlin's good friend was going and invited Caitlin to come along.  Caitlin has had so much fun, and came home with so many cute creations, now all the sisters want to go.

   Mary and Olivia went to three days of basketball camp at UVU.  The girls loved their coaches, and Mary is excited to play basketball again this winter.

Sophie was inspired too.

Ben, Kyle, Bethany, Olivia, and Mary went to bluegrass camp. This was their end of the two weeks performance. It was a blast. 

 And while I am in that neighborhood, Kyle had been a huge help to Grandma Martha while I was away in Colorado, so to thank him we went to his favorite restaurant, Se Llama Peru, on Center Street in Provo.  It is located next door to the Great Salt Lake Guitar Company where the kids take music lessons.  In the cold months, I am easily persuaded to stop in for two to-go cartons of their delicious french fries that they serve with a wonderful spicy green chili sauce called aji verde. I asked the waitress for their specialty and she recommended the lomo soltado. It was amazingly savory.

Sam didn't go to any classes in town, but discovered an affordable video equipment rental business called Underfunded Productions in Provo. He spent the month of  June experimenting with new equipment and working on a short movie with his siblings and friends. He was also the only one in the family lucky enough to stay at a Marriott this summer. He flew to San Antonio for with his teacher and classmates for the FBLA nationals.  He had a great time touring San Antonio, especially the Alamo, Ripley's Believe It or Not and Six Flag's. Sam really deserved some fun time away.  

Sam experimented with building some of his own equipment too, so I spent a lot of time wandering the aisles of Home Depot while he gathered his supplies.

I had some mom and daughter time with the girls, Farr's Fresh and MIB 3. I cried in that too.My college roommate Kathy came to stay with us for a few days because our roommate Carrie was getting married.  

I was grateful to see them both and be a part of Carrie's happy day.

Kyle and I took the younger kids to the zoo while Sam, Ben, Bethany, and Grandma Martha went to the long awaited Utah opening of Moon Rise Kingdom at the Broadway theatre in Salt Lake City. I saw it later and it became one of my new favorites.

I just realized William wore his pajamas to the zoo.

The new Rocky Shores polar bear exhibit.Picnic in the van.

Grant spent too much time playing with my phone and other electronics.

So did Caitlin.

And William.

So I attempted to relieve them of their addictions with outings like this to Utah Lake. This one didn't go over so well. It was too hot, the air was thick with smoke from the fires, and apparently Utah Lake is creepy. But I was grateful they were willing to check that off my summer to do list.  I would love to go back with happier kids and kayaks.

nest prep

At my Monday visit with the midwives we scheduled the baby's birth date, Friday, September 3. That always seems like a bit of a confrontation with Mother Nature. Makes me nervous. But, considering the heart complication and the positive group B Strep test,  we decided it was best to be calm and prepared for the delivery.

After the appointment I walked over to the hospital to pre-register and felt myself lured into the gift shop when I  saw pumpkins and black cats through the window.  I love Halloween decorations, even if I don't buy, I have to look.  Monday I was particularly nostalgic about my hospital experiences and decided to pick out something for the baby.

Bethany couldn't believe I would buy a blanket because traditionally, the special blankie is supposed to be homemade. Well, it's come to that.  This one definitely had the aura of a sweet, silver haired candy striper.  Can you see the pandas and gorillas and the words "protect me?"  The phrase reminded me of how the kids regard their blankets, more for protection than warmth. 

I also bought a couple of those kind of Utah looking plaques.  One says, something inspirational...can't think of what right now...The other says "Love as if  there were no tomorrow."  That kind of reminded me of how my mom would always say' I love you' when we left the house, especially if we had been arguing.  I think  she always wanted to be sure that we left on good terms, just in case.

Tuesday I took Grant and William to the pediatrician for check-ups and immunizations. Grant kept saying "I don't want to get shooted" but when all was done he was quite proud of his band aids, and made sure to show them to his big brothers when they got home from school.

Wednesday I got my first burst of pre-baby cleaning enthusiasm.  I broke out the shop vac and hit the van, which was sorely in need,  then moved on to the garage, where it's quite possible to get a bit OCD about all the dust and leaves, especially with the shop vac where you can move back and forth from the blowing out to sucking in nozzle.  Sam came home just in time to share in my enthusiasm.  As I knew he would, he started dreaming up special effects he could create with the blower. In  the evening we went to the salmon fry.

Thursday, Grant and William dumped half a box of Rice Krispies on the floor. I took the four elementary school kids and the three who stay home, back to school for parent-student-teacher conferences. We were an awkward bunch moving from teacher to teacher en mass but  we survived.

 In the evening I took all the kids to Diego's for beef nachos.  We ate at Diego's with Grandad and Annie and Eric the night before William was born. We thought we'd also "celebrate"  William's last night as the baby...though we were quite sure that celebrate wouldn't be his word of choice.

Thursday night, back at home, I begged the kids to help me with my last minute, nest cleaning.  Olivia wanted to help me mop the kitchen.  She was singing as she worked, little earnest Cinderella, when I noticed she was scrubbing away on hands and knees with the toilet brush.  Yum.

So here I am leaving for the hospital Friday morning.

much about nachos

Monday, July 26 I was determined to get my first batch of suitcases out of Grandma's basement before all the Raines siblings arrived for the reunion.  Thankfully I had started packing the Thursday before, as packing always takes exponentially longer than I think it will.  The boys helped me drag suitcases up the stairs.  It's funny how no matter how much I reduce my stuff, it always feels like a relief to reduce more.  The basement felt lighter with five or six suitcases gone. As we were piling kids in the van, all the helpers (and even those who were less helpful) got a lollipop from Aunt Bekah.  I noticed William's hands and had to think how life is humbling. I have to love these  lollipop hands. (Look closely)


We drove down to Granddad's house, where we'd planned the drop off, but since he was out at the time of our arrival, owing to our being three hours later than intended, we decided it was the day to pay our respects to Diego's...not our friend Diego's house as Grant hoped, but the Diego's Mexican restaurant of our family tradition.  When Diego's was east of Center Street, back in The Day, my roommates and I would walk there for the monster sized nachos, the chicken is not good, always get the shredded beef.  My husband and I  went as well, as poor students. It was a meal we could count on for six dollars and one cent, assuming we shared an order and a large Hawaiian punch.  If you don't share, you don't forgive yourself afterwards. 

I have to buy like five of these now-a-days. 

Sam won't believe this, but when I was pregnant with him I couldn't stand a thing about these nachos, especially the sour cream and the way the lettuce got a little cooked in the box. I'm glad I stopped having food aversions after my third pregnancy.

Here's the new Diego's, west of Center, doesn't hold the same nostalgia as the old for me, but west of center is better than right of center, so we still embrace it as familiar territory. How much can I write about a taco shop?  The old place was like a cross-roads, a place I'd frequently run in to friends visiting from California. Well this new location, which had doubled in size since we last visited, a pleasant change for our large family, this new location has the distinction of being the last place I ate, in December of 2008, before I went in to labor with William. He seemed to sense the significance of the place. Don't you think?

Grant gets excited about free refills

and seeing close-up pictures of his face.

As we left it was raining. Mary and Olivia wanted to be "singing and dancing in the rain." Olivia has never been able to keep herself inside during a rain shower.

This was the pose Olivia insisted upon.

So to pass a little more time I took the kids on a little tour of the place. They actually cheered at the suggestion. That was unusual.

I first pointed out the old Ivy Tower, now a private school I believe, and told them about my days in the alternative room, the soul room, most often shunned the top forty room, but on occasion couldn't resist. How long ago was that? The kids seemed unimpressed and almost as if they'd rather not imagine me dancing. There were things I liked to do before I was perpetually pregnant.

And here are the railroad tracks that I was crossing with a bunch of milk and cereal from WIC, so I had no free hands, when I was pregnant with Sam and dutifully wearing a pair of bright, very bright blue, stretchy, homemade by my mother-in-law, maternity pants that at that moment on the tracks decided to give way to the broad curve of my belly.

And here is the little house where we lived (in the basement) when Sam was born. Lola was our landlady.  She must have passed on by now. This basement smelled pleasantly like mold and the cheap cinnamon candle I tried to mask the mold smell with.

Last site on the tour I made the mistake of driving the kids by Seven Peaks. That will haunt me. (Not pictured.)

And then we played at the kids' elementary school,and it was a really nice afternoon that stretched into evening, because it was too nice to leave, even with the light rain that was falling. After all that we made the drop-off at Granddad's and headed back north.