Although I planted these flowers, I’m not sure what they are called. They smell wonderful regardless.Although I planted these flowers, I’m not sure what they are called. They smell wonderful regardless.“These Imperial Officers are looking up ‘Rebel Plans’ on the Wikipedia! OH NO!”
–my son Badger, while playing the video game Lego Star Wars 2
May 232007
Sunny, Badger, and Friend found these instruments in the basement and formed an impromptu band. Please do not be confused, we have no musical ability and these are not our instruments. We are “storing” them for a family member. I don’t think this is the kind of “storage” they had in mind, but the kids were too damn adorable to stop. We were helpless against their cuteness! Plus they didn’t sound that bad. And we had been drinking.
May 182007
Sunny kicks the soccer ball and talks on the phone, at the same time.May 172007
About a week ago Leo started complaining that his old shoes were too tight on his feet. Leo has short, wide feet a lot like Chris’ feet which strongly resemble those of Fred Flintstone. This means that Leo’s shoes always start to hurt him on the sides rather than the end when they become too small. It also makes the right kind of shoes somewhat hard to find. They have to be loose and stretchable and reasonably priced so I won’t lose my mind when they don’t fit again in a few months. Naturally, I heard “shoes too tight” and automatically thought: Target! and Shopping! I immediately ran out and found these super cute shoes:
To me they say: loose and easy to get on, yet hip and fun! And initially Leo felt the same. He wore them to school for a few days, then he came home complaining that a little girl in his class kept stepping on his feet because of these shoes. Being as wise in the ways of women as I am, I know that a little girl stepping on a little boy’s feet= love. However to Leo getting his feet stepped on = pain. Not so much different from grown up love Leo! Learn your lesson now. Surprisingly this lesson is lost on him though, and his solution is to never wear the shoes again.
While at Target I also found this really cute shoes for Sunny, even though she hadn’t asked for new shoes, I saw these and I thought: how punk rock in a cute and sassy way!
But Sunny was immediately skeptical, saying she wasn’t sure if it was OK to wear these kinds of shoes to school because she had never seen anyone else wearing them. I pointed out that Leo had worn this very kind of shoe to school without any repercussions, other than being stepped on. He was not sent to the Principal, or asked to not wear that kind of shoes for any reason. This made no difference to her because he is only in first grade, and she is in third, so maybe the rules are different? So now I am somewhat worried about the implications of having a child who will not do anything unless she has seen someone else do it first. But I suppose I am mostly worried because that behavior really mirrors the way I was as a child, only I had way less personality and spunk than Sunny has. I am hopeful she will get past the fear of being different or wrong. It’s a hard way to live, wanting to be right for everybody else and not thinking about what is right for you. It’s something I didn’t learn until I was like 30.
This morning when Sunny got ready for school she put on her clogs, similar to these ones of Badgers (only hers are pink):
and as she headed out the door she said: “I’ve seen lots of people wear these kind of shoes to school, so I know it’s alright.”
I know Sunny is strong, and will be a leader. I’m sure of it. Just not when it comes to shoes.
“Mom, did you know you are only as tall as a 12 year old? But you are really so much older.”
–my son Badger
Excuses, excuses…I know. Lemme think of a good one here…..blargh! I got nothin! And that pretty much aptly describes the state of my lil brainsky lately…Nothin. No spark, no fire, no ideas. Nothin.
However, I will say that the weather in good ole SLC has been beautiful of late and I have been spending lots of time outside watching Tony take care of the lawn. Oh, and we pulled out this old dead tree in our back yard and planted a new one. The old one died a couple of years ago because at that time we didn’t really know that, guess what? Trees planted in the desert need to be watered! And watered a lot. So the poor thing shriveled up and died of thirst. But we won’t make that same mistake twice, no Sir! This new tree is getting all the water we’ve got, and if it dies I’m gonna know that Utah has beaten me, and beaten me good.
A week or so ago I came across this picture posted by Heather of a beautiful view of the Wasatch mountain range, similar to the view I get to see every day (I know, I’m lucky). Someone made the comment that it looked like us stupid Utahans had pulled out all the trees and replaced them with houses. That was like the funniest thing I’d ever read ( yes I’m easily amused). Because I moved here from Missouri, where there are A LOT of trees. Trees that just grow by themselves, can you believe it? And after I moved here, I kept telling Chris that this place sucked because NO TREES. And he kept saying “There are trees here silly!” But the thing is, are you listening stupid commenter that said we are pulling out trees?, THERE IS NOT ONE TREE IN ALL OF THIS VALLEY THAT WASN’T PLANTED AND EXCESSIVELY WATERED BY SOMEBODY. No one is randomly pulling out trees to build nice suburban houses and shopping malls. We are all fighting tooth and nail to keep these trees happy and alive. And these trees, every one I’ve ever seen here, they all look like they would really rather be living somewhere else. Sometimes I agree with them. But I have to say most of the time I’m glad that this place, where nature is rugged and beautiful and fragile all at the same time, this place is my home.
