Over The Weekend.

Over the weekend I forgot to take a political science quiz which actually frustrates me because I read the chapter for it and everything.

We purchased a TV table and then canceled it, realized it looked exactly like the extra desk piece we have in the office so why don't we just use that instead?

And by moving the extra desk piece out of the office and into the TV room the office now has more room to create it into a type of reading room, or library per se, and to my utter surprise, The Man agreed.  He'll still have his work space in there but we'll now set up so that people who want to chill and read (at least half our family, thank you very much) will have a place to do it without camping out in the TV room.  It's going to be my favorite room when it's finished, I can tell already.  Also this is the room that we've painted gray, so that helps abundantly in it being my favorite room.

Although I was told recently that gray isn't a color, it's a shade.  So in that sense I guess I don't have a favorite color.

I have a favorite shade.

Except right now our entire TV room has been crammed into our office because some of the wood floor we put in shifted and now it needs to be fixed.  But we're on our way to being done with the details of that TV room and it will feel good to have one of our project rooms completely finished.

Especially since I've started tearing Tay Cali's room apart to start redecorating that place for them.

It never ends.

I faced the dreaded grocery shopping and our house now has food in it again.  Which is good since I forgot to send Cas with lunch money so she had to make a lunch this morning.  Having food in the house is generally a good thing.

We took the youth to do baptisms at the Draper Temple.  But instead of sit in the baptistery chapel and wait for them, we snuck out and did initiatories instead, which happened to put me on cloud nine for the rest of the day.

I finally got to listen to my Brad Wilcox talk on CD as I drove to halfway to Vernal to retrieve my girls.  I love how that man puts things and I hope to one day be able understand and teach as he does.

And I stopped at Strawberry Reservoir to take this picture.

And Tayler and Sean got their student council shirts on Friday.

You know, the ones where Tayler earned her money in two days flat and where Sean said, no thank you I have better things to spend my money on.  But then Sean was told it wasn't optional.

Which turns out to be okay because now that he has it, he hasn't taken it off since.

Happy one year! Spring get into my life! And Netflix isn't updating.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

 Welcome to another Monday.

Happy Anniversary to my twin and my newest sister.  One year down and a lifetime to go.

I love them.

Over the weekend I got to have dinner with a dad and a sister, a niece and a nephew. It was one of those things that just comes together last minute. I might have the best family ever.

 Ever.

 And while I'm on the subject I love the growing relationship I have with my sister McKell who is Amazing with a capital A.

I wrote my last paper on Obamacare.  Can I get a hallelujah on that?

Hallelujah.

Insta Friday #4. And More Valentine's Day.

The stories behind this week's Instagram pictures.

I'm @thecircus6 if you want to follow along.

A lot of times when I have to drive my kid to meet their dad in the winter, we are met with snowstorms that make the drive... hard.

I curse the snow on all sorts of levels while trying to maintain that I'm grateful for the moisture that our desert state needs for the summer months.

And often times the storm changes during the drive.  What was snowing and blowing and freezing just an hour and half earlier is clearing up on the return side of the drive.

That leaves me with mountain sunsets like these:

All those pictures where taken on the same drive.  Sometimes the beauty just catches hold of my attention and I can't deny that I love living where there are mountains.  And though driving for 3 hours to meet my ex is not on my top favorite things to do list, I can't deny that my drive is spectacular.

Sometimes I can't tell where the white, snow covered mountains end and the clouds start.

 Our elementary school holds a 6th grade Valentine's dance.  The kids have dance cards where they sign up with partners for each dance (though most of it is just different types of line dancing).  They work for months to learn all the different dances they'll be expected to do on the day.  Elaborate decorations are thrown up in the gym, the kids are told to dress up, and a dj is brought in to play specific types of songs to match the specific types of dances.

This year they even had chocolate fountains for the kids.

Jayme was happy that we showed up (she reminded us about it daily for two weeks) to take pictures (as parents are expected to do for this occassion) but she wouldn't stop to talk to us.  She had partners to find and dances to dance.  She needed to be on target.

The Man and I slipped out for lunch for Valentine's Day and we found this hanging on the front door for us.

For dinner I called in help from the girls who cut and chopped veggies to throw in the dinner pot and dipped strawberries and bananas in chocolate for dessert.

As it goes every year we gathered a number of candles from around the house (that probably only get lit on Valentine's day) and turned off the lights.

Frankly, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the holiday.

Dear weekend, it's going to be a busy one.  Bring it.

Linking up.

Frozen Through and Through

Sometimes when you drive to pick up your kids you realize that the 10 degress (F) that you left at home my not be so bad after all...

Sometimes when you have to drive through places that are -20 degrees, ice forms on the inside of your car windows.

And your hand burns with cold when you try to use the touch screen on the Redbox.

This winter storm was so big they even gave it a name:

Gandalf.

Well played, Gandalf, well played.

We have been frozen through indeed.

Classes start for me again today.

I've spent the morning going through the syllabus for each class and marking due dates in my planner.

It's going to be busy for the next few months.

Good thing I know how to use a crockpot.

Also, you should try this crockpot ravioli recipe.  (pinterest here).

It's my new favorite meal.  With garlic bread.

For reals.

Also, I'm drinking probiotics like it's going out of style.

I will not get sick.  I will not get sick.

Although these sinuses of mine are trying to tell me otherwise.

Oh, and I can't end this post without a funny story about The Man.

We spent Friday afternoon making a four hour round trip in the lovely Winter Storm that was big enough to be named Gandalf, driving through canyons that had been closed except for "chains or four wheel drive," to take my girls to their dad. We, luckily, had four wheel drive.

It was quite the ordeal and not one that you would think you would forget.

The next morning we could hear Tayler and Cali's alarm clock going off in their room.

I sluggishly pulled myself out of bed to turn it off when West mumbles from the covers, "let the girls turn it off themselves.  They know how."

I stumbled on towards the hallway, a little aghast by his comment.  "They're not even here!"

"Oh yeah."

We'll blame it on morning brain.

I Never Pick Up Hitch Hikers. Except That One Time.

It was a dark and stormy night, miles from the nearest town.  The two lane road curved through the mountainside, cliff rising up on one side, steep mountainside on the other. The temperature had dropped to freezing and the rain was falling in cold sheets.

I was cruising along, my iPod cranking out my favorite music and my heated seat keeping me toasty as I drove to meet my ex husband and get my girls back from their weekend with him.  After years of making this very drive, every other weekend, I knew the curves of the road like the back of my hand and I flowed with the road easily, despite the weather.

I turned a bend and saw a minivan pulled off to the side of the road with the flashers going.  With my new "don't just think, do" attitude (middle of this post) I contemplated that minivan, but then came to the conclusion that in this particular incident there wasn't a thing I could do.  So I continued on my way.

I turned another bend when my headlights caught a figure walking down the side of the road, shoulders hunched to protect himself from the cold rain, thumb out.  He wore only jeans and a white sweatshirt.

{pic source}

I flew by him, but that feeling was already settling into my gut.

That, "you know what you need to do" feeling.

"Gah!" I exclaimed as I hit the steering wheel.

"I don't pick up hitch hikers!  It's not safe.  I'm alone.  I have no cell service."  Because I talk to myself like that when no one else is around.

In my mind the answers to those statements gnawed at me.

His car broke down.  He has no cell service.  It's literally freezing cold.  He isn't remotely close to anywhere.  You can just take him two miles to where you're meeting your ex.

And I felt calm.

God works that way.

So I flipped around, and went back.

And flipped around again and pulled up beside him.

He was cold and shivering and grateful.  "My family is waiting for me in the car.  It's new and has a flat tire, I didn't realize it didn't have what's needed to change a tire.  I need to call for help."

"I can take you up here a couple of miles to where I'm stopping.  Maybe my ex can help you from there."

"Current Creek?"

"Yes.  But you know they tore that down?"

"Yeah."

"Sometimes I get spotty cell reception when I'm there.  Maybe you can get a call out."

By then we were there.  He noted he had one bar on his phone and maybe he could get a call out.

He walked a little to the side and I explained to my ex what was going on as we switched kids and bags from one car to the next.  And then we both waited for him to get off the phone.

He turned around and said he'd gotten through to someone and they were coming, though they were an hour and a half away.  That was really no surprise since we really were in the middle of nowhere.

I told him I could take him back to his car and his family.  Or I could even drive him to Heber where he could wait somewhere warm with his family until his friend could show up.  Unfortunately Heber was the wrong direction for his friend to be coming so he'd have to wait in the car.

So I drove him back and wished him well, and continued on my way back home.

And gave my girls a stern lecture about how we never pick up hitch hikers.

But how many times has that been me stranded on the side of the road?  Even on that very drive, and every time someone has stopped and helped me.  The hitch hiker said it well to me, "isn't it always in a situation as this that things happen?"

I think about society and how it makes us scared to reach out and help each other.  Because you never do know who that stranded person is.

But how grateful I am for the spirit of God that whispers to kind people when I find myself in need, find I'm the stranger on the side of the road.  And how always, I've had help.

And how grateful I am that I can hear the whispers myself.  And be there to help.  God hears our prayers.  And usually the answer comes through someone else.

May this Christmas season be spent in the service of our fellow beings. May we know in whom we can trust.  We are not alone, He is always mindful of us.

when driving half way to vernal you must

McD's drinks and Maroon 5.
Now if that doesn't make you want to take a road trip with us, I don't know what will.

pride issues

On Friday, before taking the girls to their dad, we stopped at the mall so Tayler could get some new shoes.  And since we were there I figured we'd just hit the food court for dinner so I didn't have to stop again after we hit the road.

Cali has had, recently, an obsession with those Dorito taco things at Taco Bell and she was begging to go to Taco Bell for dinner.

We were already stopped at the mall.  I tried to convince her that the cool thing about eating at the mall food court, is that you don't all have to have the same thing.

The other girls quickly chose Panda Express, and I let Cali wander around to see what there was and to see if anything caught her fancy.  She finally settled on Panda too. 

The thing about Cali is that she is Stubborn with a capital S.  And probably the T and U should be capitalized too.  That girl really knows how to dig in her heels and resist.  This can be a problem when I'm trying really hard to just feed the kids and get on our way and she's not at all happy with the fast food place that I've chosen.  She doesn't want anything there.  She doesn't know what she wants.  So instead of bucking up and trying to chose something that she can tolerate, she just shuts down and won't say anything.

Silent protest.

It has now gotten to the point that when she does this, I simply tell her that she will be ready to order by the time everyone else is finished ordering, or she just won't get anything, because I can't stand there, with the guy at the cash register looking impatiently on, for her to stand there and not say anything.  And she won't say anything either, so waiting does no good.

She's only been without dinner once.  She learned.

So I was beyond relieved that even though she was pouting about wanting Taco Bell, she was still cooperating and ordering food.

Until we got to the drinks.

The child shut down over a choice of drink. 

Since it came with the meal she had ordered I told her that if she didn't say what she wanted then I would just pick and be done with it.

She stayed silent.  She refused to speak.

So I picked her drink for her and we found a table.

And this is how she sat for the time that we ate, not even touching her food.

I have pride issues.  And I've come to learn that in life, no one can beat the pride out of you faster than your own children.  But sometimes, sometimes you have a right to your indigent feelings.  Sometimes those kids need to learn lessons on backing down in the pride area too, it's not just me who needs to learn this.

Frankly, I'm thankful for Cali's stubborn pride because I believe that's what kept that little girl going during my high risk pregnancy with her (here).  She dug in her unborn heels and wasn't having anything to do with not being born healthy.

But over a drink...  She told me she just couldn't decide.

Cali, when you can't decide then you just pick one.  You don't say I can't decide and then don't.

Heaven help me when this girl is a teenager. 

But do you know what?  This girl is going places.  I can feel it.

I couldn't imagine life without her.

Does Vernal count? We're headed there right now!

volunteering at a 5k, wyoming bound, cali's program, and a mom date

I try very hard to avoid any event or activity that requires me to use an alarm clock on Saturday.  Saturday is that one blissful morning when I can just let my body be on its own. 

It would seem though, that running has my number.  I have a love/hate relationship with running.  For whatever reason I seem to crave it.  I want to go.  Enough that I slide dinner, work, and even sleep, around to get a run in.

I can't seem to wrap my head around it while I'm out pounding the pavement and this is where the hate part comes in.  I wonder why do I do this to myself?  I'm not going to do this again.  I'm done with this hobby, let's find a new one. 

When I'm finished I'm on cloud 9 and already devising how I'm going to beat my own time, or go a longer distance on the next round.

I can't get away from it.

Our neighborhood put on a 5k on a bright, sunny Saturday morning.

I groaned as my alarm clock rang. 

Why do I do this?

I wasn't even running.  I had volunteered to help "run" the 5k with my friend Suzy, who looked a little wild eyed and desperate as she walked around with the sign up sheet, looking for names of people to help her. 

To be honest, if I'd not signed up to help Suzy, I'm sure my craving would have kicked in and I would have been there with my running shoes anyway.  Why not?  It was a free event.

Instead I drug Cas out of bed and walked around the corner to the local church parking lot where we met up with friends and cut fruit for the finish line.

To Suzy's credit, she had it mostly done already.

We had the fruit finished before the run started and it half crossed my mind to go home and change and join in, but on this particular weekend our schedule was a little skiwampus.  Instead of driving the circus part way to Vernal on Friday, I was taking them to Wyoming (again... here) on Saturday morning.  I'm not a fan of when these drives cut into my Saturday, but I suppose that sometimes it's just the nature of the beast.

After cutting up the fruit I had just enough time to walk home with Cas and whip the circus into a frenzy to get dressed (they were all awake by the time we got home), brush your hair and teeth, get your chore done, and get packed.  We're leaving in a half hour.

Do you want to know how amazing my kids are?  The got it all done in a half hour.

After we hit the road I received a text from my ex saying he was running behind because of some ordeal with the pilot car not being ready.  Again, nature of the beast.  Sadly I'm well acquainted with a trucker's life, so I had empathy in knowing he really couldn't do anything with a situation like that.  But this gave the circus and I some extra time on the road.  We drove around Park City but couldn't find anything fun to see.  I really need to brush up on how to get around Park City, there should have been a ton to see.

I think before the next drive I'm going to have to google Park City so I can at least find historic Main Street.

We did find a McD's for drinks...

Since Park City was  a bust due to my lack of knowledge of the area we decided to see what we could see in Evanston.  We ate lunch and then drove around looking for a park to untrap ourselves from the car.

Evanston is quite the sleepy little town. 

We never did find a park, but we found a cute stone church with a flowering tree so we stopped for a few pictures.

Luckily by that point my ex arrived and we headed to the truck stop.

At this rate I'm going to know every truck stop in Wyoming.

Cali had her 1st grade program on Friday.  To say she was excited about it would be an understatement.  She mentioned her program to me everyday for two weeks.

The night before she asked me five times to please put an alarm on my phone for noon so I wouldn't forget.

Does she know me or what.  I reassured her five times that I already had the reminder alarm in place.

My favorite part about these programs is when the kids are filing in, and they stand there in the noise and search the crowd in hopeful anticipation.  Did my mom make it?

And you sit there, stretching your back as straight as it will go and craning your neck to make you as tall as you can get so they'll see you, even though you took a seat in the front on the edge of the middle aisle so you'd be easy to see.

And then they see you and their face lights up.

I love that.

I also love the giant flower sitting front and center on Cali's head. *sigh*  The things that happen after you've left for work in the morning...

After the singing program we went into the classroom and the kids put on a reading presentation.  It was actually really entertaining.

This momma was busting with pride every time Cali read her parts.  I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face.

The 1st grade teachers had sent a note home asking that you either check your child out after the program or sign up to eat school lunch with them.

I opted to check Cali out and take her to lunch.  Her choice.  I was thinking she was going to pick Taco Bell or Subway.

Imagine my surprise when she dropped "Olive Garden" on me.

I'm trying to do that more often.  Take the circus out for one on one time. 

Maybe even for no reason at all.

the best day

Sometimes when your ex husband is a trucker, you get to drive for a long time to a different place to retrieve your children...
Like yesterday when I got to drive 6 hours (round trip) to Rock Springs, Wyoming.  It was a beautiful day for a Sunday drive... a very long Sunday drive.
But it was fun to shake it up a bit and go somewhere different.

 And since Ft. Bridger is on the way, we decided to stop and see what we could see.

I'm a little frustrated though, I took some fun pictures of my girls with these old, neat structures, and they're no where to be found on my phone.  Grrrr.
I'm pretty upset about this. 

We stopped to pay and found the price to be extremely cheap.  As in $4 for non-Wyoming residents... and that's only for those over 18 years.  Under 18 was free.  I tried to hand them my debit card and was told that it was really hard for them to run a card, did I have cash?  Psh.  I never have cash.  I looked in my wallet and pulled out $2.  "I have $2 or a debit card."
The price for a Wyoming resident happened to be $2.  Congratulations, today you are a Wyoming resident.  Welcome to Fort Bridger.

Bear trap... bears scare me.

The entire drive we were surrounded by beautiful clouds that floated all around us as we drove.

We found shapes in the clouds all the way home.  My favorites were
an elephant,
venus fly trap,
flying rabbit,
a hand doing a peace sign,
a dragon blowing smoke.
The girls saw some pretty fun things floating around up there.

Exhaustion eventually settled in on The Circus:

I'm posting this song, because it's my song with my girls, and we hear it every time we take our long drives thanks to the iPod.  It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it, and I hope they'll always feel this way.