The Sweetest Wake-Up

This summer has been bad for me. I've developed a very bad habit of sleeping in late. It might be hard to break, come September, when I have to get up a couple hours earlier than I'm now used to, to get three girls ready and off to school. But today it was especially difficult to open my eyes, since I stayed up most of the night finishing the last Harry Potter book. (It was worth it.)

This morning, though, I experienced the best kind of wake-up there could be.

Hannah and Lauren had both climbed into bed with me, which happens quite often in the morning. As a bonus to the usual cuddling, today they got brushes and sat there brushing my hair. As I continued to snooze, they chatted across me, and then Hannah said, "Lauren, you're my bestest friend." It made my heart smile. I love those cuties.

Giddy-Up Girls

Katelyn and Emily had all the fun last week. They got to attend a Day Camp for Activity Day Girls on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I was so impressed with the stake staff that put that camp together. It was great. The girls came home every day and gushed about all the fantastic activities they were involved with. They made cute head bandanas that were color coordinated with their camp groups. They made jam and bread and candy. They made journals and pencil holders, and talked about keeping records. They made cute soaps and talked about keeping themselves pure and clean. They learned songs and a dance, which they performed for their parents on the final day.

Katelyn is towards the back, wearing a tie-dyed shirt

Last year we missed the day camp because we were at a family reunion. This year we specifically planned to be here for it, and I'll try to do the same next summer, because it was excellent. I wish it continued all summer!

The weekend brought more excitement. Our neighbor Becca had a birthday party at a pony ranch. The three older girls all got to attend the party, which included a 30-minute trail ride. The ranch was a very nice place. There were plenty of horses for the girls to google, and it was a beautiful setting.

Lauren rode "Amy"

Emily rode "Kermit"

Katelyn rode "Stormy"

And poor Hannah...How shall I say this?..... got the bum deal last week. While her sisters were out having a good time, Hannah's big event was buying a potty seat and beginning her potty training.

We'll just call this "Failed Attempt Number One". Oh well.

Let us not forget our brave hero, Doug. He spent all week working at the office, and all weekend working at home. While we were at the pony ranch, he was busy fixing the broken oven, and a leaky water spicket, and changing light bulbs. *sigh* What a guy!

Life in the Slow Lane

Our summer pace has returned to normal. We haven't gone anywhere or hosted any visitors for an entire week now.

Last week, however, we had my forever-friend, Erika, and her husband Mike and kids Zachary and Reese here for a few days. Erika and I had our second annual spa day. It was heavenly. We each got an hour massage (the best!), a facial (not all it's cracked up to be, in my opinion), a manicure and a pedicure. Oh yeah, and a bonus: a Swiss steam shower. Aaaahhh. Pure pampering. This is the only evidence I have left of that blissful day...

But oh, what enjoyable memories it brings back, every time I peer at my piggies. :)

On Tuesday we took a "Duck" tour of Seattle. The "Duck" is this amphibious vehicle, which drives you around the city for an hour, with a driver/tour guide playing funky music and being goofy while sharing a little history of Seattle. And then he drives the Duck into the water and putts around Lake Union for 30 minutes. It was pretty darn entertaining, but half the fun was just because Erika and I were being dorks together. Surprise, surprise. The highlight of the Duck tour was that they have these obnoxious yellow duck quackers that Erika bought for all the kids. With all six kids quacking loudly in line, we were secured a spot at the back of the Duck, separated from the other tourists by a couple of rows. ;)

The duck tour was almost as fun as Jump Planet. We took all the kids there Monday night, but no one had more laughs than Erika and I did on the giant inflatable slide. It's nice to have a friend who's your same age, both chronologically and mentally.

It's Erika's birthday today. Feel free to e-mail her a birthday message. And remind her to e-mail me her pictures of last week's visit. :) mailto:erikahaw@aol.com

The End of Liberty, and Justice for All

We regretfully announce the passing of

Liberty Larson

7/3/2006 - 7/7/2007

Summer = Trouble. The kids get out of school, and quickly get restless. They feel the need for something new and exciting. Last year, they focused that need on one particular target: Katelyn and Emily wanted a pet.



We don't do pets in this family.



We've tried.



First, there were goldfish. Dirty, and not very fun. Do they have a redeeming quality? Mercifully, they didn't last long.



Then came the cat we "rescued" from the pound, and then returned to its original fate. I don't even remember its name, probably because my brain has blocked it out. Unfortunately, I do remember some of the irritating, disgusting, and insane details of that 3-day trial. In the end, I decided my sanity was more important than my desire to give my children the chance to love animals the way I assumed I might have, if only I had been allowed a pet at a young and tender age, myself. It's ok. I'll accept responsiblity for raising a new generation of anti-pet freaks. When it comes right down to it, being an animal-lover is truly not the measure of a (wo)man. Am I right, or am I right?



Well, let's ask Doug about that. He doesn't seem to agree 100% with me on that.



It was Christmas Eve, 2002. Doug had come home from work (yes, he always had to put in a half-day on Christmas Eve--but that's another story for another time), and I had noticed a big package, "hidden" with dark shopping bags, taking up the back seat of his car. I smiled a secret smile, and wondered all day what exciting and romantic gift my thoughtful husband had in there for me. After the girls were all asleep, and we started getting ready for Santa to arrive, Doug asked me if I wanted to see what was in his car. "Yes!!" I could handle a sneek peak.



If you're anything like me, you'll never believe what it was.



It was a bird cage, and everything to go along with it, except the bird. And, obviously, it was NOT for me! He's a sneaky one, that Douglas. He knew that there was nothing I could do to stop him at that point. And he came off looking like a true hero the next morning, when the girls giggled with glee and talked about the pet they would soon adopt. Thanks, Daddy!



A week later, we brought home Lucky Buns Larson, a small green parakeet. I must admit, Lucky turned out to be a pretty decent pet. It was a family rule that I would have absolutely NO RESPONSIBILITY for the care and keeping of this bird. Doug and the girls were excited enough that they didn't mind doing everything for Lucky. In fact, Doug took upon himself the responsibility of clipping Lucky's wings one night. As we all know, there's good reason that Doug did not become a vet or any type of medical professional. That little escapade ended in the death of Lucky Buns. Oopsie.



We immediately replaced Lucky with another parakeet, this time a blue one. We decided it was a girl, and gave this bird the feminine version of Lucky's name: Lucy. Lucy Goose Larson. (I think naming pets is the only aspect of ownership that I actually enjoy.) If Lucy had been a real goose, she would have been served up as a fancy French pate a few weeks later. I found her food and water bowls empty, and reminded Katelyn that it was her job to keep those clean and full. She complied. That afternoon, however, I found Lucy bloated and dead at the bottom of her cage. After reading up on parakeet care, we think she might have stuffed herself, after her long fast, and caused some sort of internal injury, like her stomach exploding. Oops, again.



We took a break from pets at that point. But we kept the girls hanging onto the thin hope that we would once again have a pet, because Doug (who is famous for throwing things away) refused to get rid of the bird cage. We even paid to move it here to Washington. After we bought our house and moved it again, I finally found an opportunity, while cleaning out our garage, to get rid of the silly bird cage.



Now, back to where I started. It's the beginning of summer break, 2006. Katelyn and Emily are too bored and spending too much time sitting in their room concocting crazy ideas. They become obsessed with the desire for a pet, once again. They harass me about it all day. I tell them no. They plead, argue, and whine. It gets to the point where I pull out the last stop: "Talk to your Dad about it when he gets home." That was the wrong stop to pull. In short, he said yes!



So, July 3rd, they pool their allowance together and buy a new cage, and a new bird. In honor of the holiday, they name this blue parakeet Liberty (li-bird-ee....get it?). My only consolation was to think, "We've never had a parakeet last more than a month. I can hold out that long again this time..."



To everyone's suprise, Liberty lasted. She lasted one entire year. We actually had to arrange pet care during a couple of vacations. How bizarre!



However, during her one year anniversary in our home, Liberty took a serious turn for the worse. We had noticed that she had some sort of skin condition recently, and Doug thought maybe it was a diet deficiency, so he tried giving her some fruit along with her regular bird seed. But one day, just after the 4th of July, Liberty's condition got very bad, and she was bleeding quite a bit. Doug was ready to release her to the wild, the girls were ready to take her to the vet E.R., and I was ready to vomit. After a serious family council, we decided that it would be best to take Liberty to a nearby forest area and "let her go." Emily and Lauren wanted to hold the bird one last time. While taking these pictures of their last moments with Liberty, I noticed that whatever parasite or condition she had, it was attacking her face, too. It was serious cause for the HeebieJeebies.



I feel completely justified in saying, "I told you so!" Pets are honestly gross. And I'm pretty sure Liberty is the very end of our experiments on that principle.



But it's ok, we're not completely anti-animal freaks. We have a family pass to the zoo.

Once Upon a Trek...

I wish I had taken the camera with us on Trek, because I have about six thousand words to type, if I want to do the story justice, and I would much prefer to just post six pictures rather than type all those words. So I'll try to give you the condensed version.

Here's a photo of Doug and I before we went to Trek.

After we came home from the Trek, we looked pretty much the same, but with dirt caked on every surface and bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep. Maybe a little bit of crying added to the red eyes, but they were not sad tears--just emotional ones. It was an incredible experience.

We left on Monday morning, about 150 of us, including over 100 youth between 14 and 18 years old. We were loaded onto three chartered buses. It typically takes about 4 hours to cross the state of Washington and enter Oregon. However, that day, the bus that Doug and I and our little "family" happened to be on had a few technical challenges, and ended up breaking down, twice. Short story version: we ended up condensing all of the youth and a few adults onto the two working buses, and the rest of the adults had to rent minivans and take turns driving for the rest of the week.

We arrived at Martin's Cove, Wyoming, about seven hours behind schedule on Tuesday afternoon. We hiked with handcarts to our campground, and started setting up the tents in very gusty windy conditions, as it was getting dark. We didn't sleep very well that night, worrying that tents were about to blow away in the wind.

The next day, we walked through the Cove. Then we loaded up the vehicles again and drove to the Willie Center (aka. Sixth Crossing). While dinner was being prepared, we had a big tug-of-war competition, and I'm very proud to announce that the Larson Family came in 2nd place. We were so tough! (And I still have bruises on my arms to show for it.)

Thursday we were supposed to hike 10 miles, but they shortened our planned trek because of our experiences thus far. Things were taking much longer than we had hoped, and we were concerned about the kids getting dehydrated and exhausted. After crossing the river, we encountered the "Women's Pull". The boys and men were taken away and had a discussion about the Priesthood and womanhood. Meanwhile, the girls and women had a separate discussion about the same topics. Then the men stood silently and watched as the girls pushed the handcarts up a hill without their help. It was a moving experience.

That afternoon we packed up camp again and drove to Rock Creek Hollow. This was one sight Doug and I had not visited during our last Trek in Wyoming, four years ago. It is my new favorite spot there. It was an amazing, dedicated, holy place. We didn't do any more trecking with handcarts. The last evening and the final day were dedicated to spiritual learning and reflection, and it was a very powerful time.

We were so blessed to have every member of our stake presidency and their wives with us, as well as every bishop from our stake and their wives, plus we had the special priveledge of Elder Nash of the Seventy with us on our Trek, along with his wife and daughter. Elder Nash addressed us Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and we were also taught by our stake president. Friday morning we woke up and had a testimony in the Hollow there, which has monuments and actual gravesites of the Willie Company in this beautiful little meadow. It was a very special thing.

It was amazing to me to see the couple missionaries who host those sites, and how emotional they become about the stories and experiences they share with us, even though they do it every day, and you would think it might become routine for them. It doesn't. It was amazing to me that we had virtually NO complaining from our youth, despite the adversity and challenges they faced during this Trek. And it was amazing to feel the tangible spirit that permeates these places that are so full of history and sacrifice.

After the testimony meeting, we loaded up again and began the long drive home. We stopped in Evanston, Wyoming, at a Rec Center, where we had less than two hours to swim and shower (not to mention, use flushing toilets!) for the first time in days. Our next stop was Temple Square in Salt Lake City, where we had dinner at a park and then watched the new Joseph Smith film. By the time the movie ended, it was dark, and we sat on the grass near the Church office building, looking up at the temple, which was lit up against the night sky. Elder Nash spoke to us one more time, and it was the perfect ending to our week.

It was almost midnight by the time we were all loaded up again and on our way. We drove through the night and day, and finally got home to our families at 5:00 Saturday evening.

Clark and Liesel and the girls were there at the church parking lot waiting for us, and I was so happy to see them all! We were completely exhausted, but we didn't have time to rest. We went to dinner and tried to briefly catch up with Clark & Liesel before we had to take them to the airport for their flight home that night.

It took a couple of days to catch up on our sleep and feel like our normal selves again. And we jumped right into our next adventure of the summer on Monday morning....but more about that in my next post!

It's not raining, but it's pouring...

They say that summer doesn't arrive around here until July 5th. Sadly, it's true. But this year it came a few days early. The gray has stayed away all week! Hooray! I love the sun. We've had the perfect weather for having lots of fun.


On Independence Day, we started our celebration with the annual ward breakfast at the park. From there we headed down to Fort Lewis to meet up with FAMILY. Wow! One of the hardest things about living here is being so far away from all extended family. But we do have Brad's (Doug's brother) family who lives about four hours south, and now we know his cousin's (Dave)family lives just an hour-and-a-half to the south of us. So we spent our first holiday in Washington (in 3.5 years of living here) with "local" family. It was fun. We had a picnic lunch and let the kids run around and play while the adults sat in the shade and chatted. (That's how you know it really warmed up here--we were sitting in the shade!)


That afternoon, we left there and picked up (Doug's brother and his wife) Clark & Liesel from the airport. As Clark said, for now they are our "honored guests", but starting Monday morning, they'll be put to some serious work! They'll be taking care of the girls while Doug and I are on Trek with the youth.


We tried our best to get them off of their east coast time schedule by keeping them up as late as possible that night. We took some munchies and headed to the mall parking lot to watch the local fireworks display, at the high school field across the street. We thought we had a great view, until we started getting pelted by falling fireworks debris. *hence the title of this post* After the show, the ground around us was littered with chunks of cardboard and ash. I had to come home and shower before bed, to get the stuff out of my hair. I think they were trying to help us appreciate our freedom by experiencing a tiny glimpse of life in a battle zone. So, thank you, America. I'm grateful!