The girl and I started our summer off by taking a quick road trip to Park City, Utah with a couple of her lacrosse teammates to play in the Ski Town Shootout. We headed to SLC on a Thursday afternoon and spent the night with my Aunt Diane and Uncle Hiram in Riverton. We got up super early to get to Park City Friday morning for opening ceremonies and then we spent the next 30 hours or so playing five games. The girls had a pretty good time I think. They were super busy and tired and the second day was pretty darn cold. Ken and I spent an hour on Saturday laying the seats back in the car and sleeping because the car had been in the sun and was warm. They didn't do so hot in the tournament, somehow we ended up playing every great team in the SLC area, but I think that the girls all learned a lot. And we did get some fun shopping done at the outlet mall there.

 

 

 

The girls went to go buy chips at the store by my aunt's house and guess what else they came home with?? A grocery cart that they proceeded to abandon in front of their house.

 

 We were all like ... really you leave it in front of a cop's house, if you would have left it down the street nobody would have noticed. So they ended up taking it back. Silly girls ... we all got a good laugh. Even the cop. All this while the rest of us hung out on the couch and watched the first game of the Fifa World Cup.

 

 

Playing around at the outlet mall. I couldn't believe that the girl could fit in that thing.

 

They loved the fishing hats that they got from the tournament. They wore them most of the weekend.

 

 

 

And then we were finally heading home to get laundry done and head out the next day for our long awaited Hawaiian family vacation!!

We are finally almost done traveling for the summer ... that's good since the last two kids start school on Monday. So, maybe I can update on what's been happening with us over the summer. I packed my laptop with me on most of our travels so that I could update, but didn't hardly ever bring it out, which is a good thing since I enjoyed my time with my family.

So, we did end up having C's rescheduled middle school transition meeting after the disaster that was the first attempt. Surprise of all surprises, what they thought that we could get through in 20 minutes took us an hour and a half. We came out with a pretty good idea of what his middle school schedule would look like and I felt okay about it after I left. Not great, but not sick to my stomach like I had felt for the last week after the first attempt. I did pretty much let them know that they had about a month when school started to convince me that it would be a good fit for him or we would be making other arrangements. The meeting ended with them inviting us to come and have lunch and sit through a couple of classes in a few days.

We went on a Thursday and had lunch and explored a bit and then sat through an adaptive science class in the resource room. Just a couple of observations. They were trying to tell us that he would be sitting with the other resource kids at lunch. He doesn't have quite the social issues that some of the other resource kids have, so I had to let them know that he would be allowed to sit with his friends from outside the resource room at lunch and be able to hang out with them afterwards. From talking to them I'm not sure how their communication skills are. I think that they are used to parents that aren't quite as involved as we are and that don't expect accountability from them.

School got out for the girl the next week and then the kid finished on the 11th of June and then we spent the next week preparing to be gone for the rest of the summer.

We did a family minus Ryan hike today. It pretty much always goes like this ... K, do you want to go for a hike with me. Sure mom!! C, do you want to go for a hike. No and you can't make me. Yes, I can and if you don't whine, we'll go to Red Robin and you can get a drink. No. Well, guess what, you're still going and now you don't get to eat or get a soda. He ends up going and if he doesn't whine too bad we take him for some Cheesy Mac N' Cheesy at RR after and let him get a soda since we don't have it in the house anymore. Poor Chris, no more DC at home.

 

So we decided to head up 8th Street and do the Upper Hulls Gulch trail. I packed my bear spray just in case. Not in case of a bear, but in case of wolves. I guess a wolf killed a sheep dog somewhere near Upper Hulls Gulch so I figured I'd be prepared. We didn't see any sign of sheep, so I'm assuming that they are up there in a different area. Anyhow, the hike is a bit over 8 miles. It's actually not too bad, most of it is pretty flat. There is only about a mile and a half loop that you actually have to climb up and then go back down. I was the only one that almost hit the ground. Caught my foot on a rock and hit one knee before I caught myself. I think I did something to my hip though, I was pretty sore this afternoon. But, that might be because K and I decided to trail run the last 2.3 miles back to the trailhead and leave Chris and C to make their way back walking. There are some pretty neat rock formations on this hike, so it's one that we enjoy.

 

 

Oh, an C's reschedule IEP meeting is tomorrow afternoon .... so excited.

 

I hiked up Table Rock this morning ... all by myself. It kind of freaked me out, but I ended up really enjoying it because I could just put my ear buds in, turn on the music and just go. I didn't have to worry about keeping people entertained and I could go at my own pace. I was also able to jog down, which was good because I've been wanting to try trail running but have been nervous about it thinking I'd end up falling on my face. I was surprised by how stable I felt with my footing and made it down the hill in about 20 minutes or so. Not bad.

 

About half way up Table Rock looking up at the cross.

 

Looking down from the same spot at above.

 

From the top!! This is why Boise is the City of Trees!!

So, I became "that" parent today at school ... and I don't even feel bad about it. I walked out on C's IEP meeting this afternoon. Yep, you heard me right. I just told them that it wasn't going to happen today and up and walked out. I figure I have that right when our meeting is set for 2:15 pm and they aren't ready and the middle school resource teacher doesn't even show up til after 2:35, which leaves us less than 25 minutes to discuss all his test results, discuss what he qualifies for next year, figure out what classes he's going to be taking and his schedule and if he's going to be going to general ed classrooms or with a small group or an aide. All this after this same lady cancelled the meeting we were supposed to have at the middle school last week to figure out most of this stuff out. Yep, 25 minutes isn't going to cut it for me when I'm sending my kid off to middle school with no idea of what to expect. So yep, I am that parent ... and I don't even feel bad about it.

So, what did I do. I walked out of the school and got in my car and proceeded to bawl my eyes out for the next 20 minutes. Drove around to where I pick up C and bawled some more and then came home and locked my door and crawled on my bed and pulled a blanked up over my head for another hour and a half. Sometimes it sucks to be a parent, especially a parent of a kid with learning issues and a parent whose spouse travels all the time and can't attend these crappy meetings with you. And then you look at your phone and realize that there is absolutely no one in your contact list you can call because no one on your contact list has ever had to deal with anything like this and won't get why it's so freaking hard. OK, done with my feel bad for me rant.

And now I'm back to trying to decide whether to send him to middle school, homeschool him through the state's virtual academy or do a combo of the two and just send him to the middle school or PE and other electives and do the heavy stuff at home. Guess I'll be doing a bunch of research in the next little bit. I guess this is why I went to college and graduated with the certification to teach grades 6-12. Little did I know I'd never use the knowledge in a school setting, but rather in my own home. And I guess the part of my patriarchal blessing about teaching may just be coming to fruition. Hopefully my sanity will survive whatever may come.

On to some fun stuff ... I promise my life doesn't completely suck all the time.

The Girl's JV lacrosse team took second place for the season ... I am so proud of her. She picked up the sport pretty quickly and had a great time. We've got her signed up to play club this summer, when we are around and fall.

 

She's the cutie to the right of the coach. He was pretty great. Most of these girls had never played before. The sport isn't sanctioned so we have a board that manages everything ... guess who they've talked to about being on the board next year ... that's right. Supposedly it's not supposed to take up tons of time. It should be fun though. She also got to dress with the varsity last week for one of their tournament games. Too bad I missed it, but it was for a good cause.

 

The Kid and I went for a road trip last week ... I picked him up from school after lunch on Thursday and we took off for McCall. So glad that the in-laws have a place we can crash at for the night on these road trips. We stopped at a place on the lake for dinner. He's such a crack-up when I go to take pictures of him

 

 

And then in the morning we headed for this place ...

 

 

Yep, we picked up the Boy from his first year at the U of I and moved him home for the summer. My house is now a disaster area, but it's nice to have him home ... for now. I think that he had a good year, finished this last semester with four A's and two B's. Pretty good. And this is how I'm sure I'll be seeing him for the next two months (okay, he did mow the lawn today).

 

 

  

I can't end this til I do a fitness update. I had my two year appointment at my dr.'s office today. I'm officially down 165 pounds. They are impressed and I am down more than they thought I would be at this point. I figure if I could get rid of the weight from the excess skin I'd be down lower than I was in high school. So, it was basically a good job and keep up the good work and we'll see you next year.

 

I picked up some new running shoes a few weeks ago. I'm probably about 30 miles or so into them and so far so good. No blisters so far. Yay!!

 

 

 

And I just have to document the mileage on my Nike Run app.

 

 

Got my hind end kicked in the "First Fatty to Fifty" running challenge I was doing with some friends. You shouldn't invite friends to participate that routinely run about 15 miles a day. One lady kicked everybody's trash and finished in less than a week. I'm at about 44 miles, so I should finish on Monday. I figure I'll finish faster than most of the people in the challenge, so I'm not feeling too bad. I've been trying to get some strength training in every day, so I've toned down my mileage to about a 5K a day, that's about 3.10 miles. Then I either do abs and arms, abs and legs or arms and legs after each run. I'm so sore. I figure both of these things will help me to lower my time for my 5K. I'm not a fast runner at all, so any improvement would be great.

The girl is still going full steam with the lacrosse season. They had a rough game on Tuesday. Their goalie couldn't save a darn thing in the first half. I think they were down about 3-8 or something at half and came back and only lost 10-11. They had like three shots at goal in the last 10 seconds or so. Imagine if their goalie had had a good first half. I think we've got three games left and tournament. I haven't taken any pics of the games, but my father-in-law took a couple the other night. Doesn't she look pretty hot with her goggles and mouth guard hanging out??

 

On a side note, she mentioned wanting a better stick at Eater dinner on Sunday. I have to say that we didn't buy her a top of the line stick when she started playing because we weren't sure if it was something she'd love or not. So, we bought her a $50 stick and then ended up getting it restrung for another $40. So we are $90 into this cute purple and green stick. So she mentions at dinner that she had found a stick that she wanted and my father-in-law basically says, when can I meet you at the store to look at them. So she comes home yesterday with a new stick. Sometimes I really love that man. He's a pretty great guy and really didn't need to do that for her, but he loves her. And on the up side, we now have a couple sticks and now we can go out and really pass with her.

 

She also had Prom a few weeks ago. A cute boy from her seminary class had asked her by putting up those stars that glow in the dark up on her ceiling and a poster. It was pretty cute. We went to a park by The Village in Meridian and took pictures and then they went to dinner a Texas Roadhouse.

 

 

The girls and the kid ... isn't she a hottie.

 

Kennedy and Tanner ... it was a bit windy!!

 

With her friend Cassi ... love those girls.

 

We've been having meetings about the kid ... getting ready to send him off to middle school in the fall. I think I'm more stressed out about the whole ordeal than he is. I get a pit in my stomach every time I think about him. Socially and academically I just don't know if he's going to be able to survive. We did find out that he's pretty much going to be based out of extended resource and most likely won't be on his own in any class. He can have a locker, but the lockers that they give these kids have a key lock instead of a combination or they can have a crate in the room. He's excited about a locker right now, but we'll see how that goes when the time comes. They also have a changing room in the classroom so that he doesn't have to go down and change in the locker room for P.E., which will be a good thing cause there is no way he is getting changed and getting his shoes on and tied and to class on time by himself. It would take him a good 10 minutes just to tie his shoes and that's if he would change his clothes in front of the other boys, which I'm sure would give the kid nightmares. Boys that age are just not very nice. We are meeting again in a few weeks to actually get a schedule down and see exactly what classes he's taking and how that will all work.

 

The boy has about three weeks left up at school. He passed his Business Law midterm with an A ... one more test to go there. He's feeling good about that class. Didn't do so hot on his physics test, but if he does well on his final, should pass with a B or higher. I think he's ready to be done with his first year of school. Hopefully he's a little excited to come home for the summer, although he's not real happy that I told him he has to go to church with me every Sunday. I needs to spend that time with his mommy. He's not going to be able to find a job this summer because of our crazy travel schedule, so we are going to have to supplement his savings account and in return he gets to dig some post holes for the fence we are going to be replacing behind the house and mow our lawn as well. I'm sure he's super, duper excited about that. Hopefully his grandpa will let him mow his lawn to earn a little more money. He also found out that he will be living on the 8th floor of The Towers next year as an RA. He's excited about that. He'll have an okay size room to himself, but has to be back in Moscow the first week in August. He's only taking 13 credits so he shouldn't have too crazy of a fall semester and hopefully he'll still get to keep his job at the radio station.

 

Just want to share a few pics I found on my phone today ...

 

 

Love my niece Addy, she is such a character!!

 

Breakfast with the boy!! I'm going to miss his breaks in November and March when we get to spend a bunch of time together one on one.

 

The fam doing the MS walk last Saturday!! Had fun supporting a great cause ... all the money going to support research to try and find a cure. It's personal because my brother's wife, Kimberlee was diagnosed a couple of years ago. Love her and want to see her stay healthy!!

 

On a side note, hubby heads out again on Monday ... to California and then home for a couple of days and then off to New York for a couple days and then goes down to Sao Paulo, Brazil. There are a few travel advisories for Americans traveling to Brazil right now, so here's hoping he keeps his nose clean, stays with the group he's working with and comes home safe and sound.

 

I'm doing a running challenge with a bunch of other people. The creator called it First Fatty to Fifty ... nice huh. It started last Monday and it's been kicking my behind. I hadn't run for 3 weeks before it started. I tend to not run at all while Carter is off for his three week breaks in November and March and then start again. You wouldn't think that I'd lose that much stamina and speed in three weeks, but it's been killing me.

So, that's where I am now. I've been trying to go between 3 and 5 miles a day. I've been crazy sore though, so I've been trying to stretch out really well after I run and use a foam roller on my legs and hips. Just disappointed that it's going to take me awhile to get back in my stride.

 

The kids ended up doing great on his scout campout. It ended up getting down to about 20 degrees, so they all froze. He was the first kid up and cooked some eggs and was like, "let's go home now." He was the first one packed up and ready to go. He's not one for enjoying the outdoors when he's camping. He wants to go, but then he wants to take the iPad and hang out in the tent and watch movies most of the night and morning and come out when it warms up to hang out by the fire.

 

He also has been doing great with his contacts when I can get him to wear them. He was so excited about them, but now that he knows that it takes a little bit of work to put them in he'd rather wear his glasses. He can be such a stink, but we love him tons. We've also decided to cut out all the soda and candy that he's been consuming lately. He could really stand to get in a little better shape. So, we aren't buying anymore crap for the house and we are doing an "After School Fun Walk" every day after school. About a mile or so. I figure it's good for all of us.

 

The boy made it back to the U of I and is back in the swing of things. I think he's got about 6 more weeks of school left. He's got his Business Law midterm this week. I hope he's been studying because it's one of three grades for the semester. he got an A on the first one, hopefully he'll do as well on this next one. I still don't think he's enjoying school as much as he could. I wish he'd get out more and meet some more kids and do a bit more outside, but when you sit in your dorm room on your computer that's not going to happen. Hopefully he'll figure it out sooner or later.

 

The girl has got lacrosse going full steam now. They had a game on Friday and beat Bishop Kelly 12-3. She did really well. They are really playing defense well and are getting better all the time. She's got three games this week. At Eagle tonight, tomorrow at home and Wednesday at Centennial. Let's go Mavericks!! She's also got Prom this weekend. I'm excited for her to go. I got the flowers ordered today and got her an appointment to a spray tan on Thursday with a lady in our ward. So glad she could do it on short notice for us. The boy she's going with is a nice guy from her seminary class. He's come over a few times and I think that they will have a good time with the group that they are going with.

 

My parents came for the weekend. They got to watch Kennedy's lax game on Friday and on Saturday we watched General Conference and went on a tour of the Old Idaho Penitentiary. We met my sister-in-law Rachel there with her kids Mason and Addy and her parents and a brother and his family. It was actually pretty cool. I've been here over twenty years and had never gone. My parents were telling us that when they were seniors they came from eastern Idaho and went on a tour, so it would have been 1968 or 69 and that there were still prisoners there. They actually walked them through one of the cell blocks that had prisoners in it. I think it scared them pretty good. My phone was about dead so I didn't take any pictures. We'll have to go back and take some.

The girl has had two lacrosse games this week. They lost the first 7-9, but she scored her teams first goal. Knocked the ball out of the other girls stick and then picked it up, ran it in and scored. Pretty spectacular. They won 10-9 last night. Their team was down by two and ended up scoring three goals in the last couple minutes. Some girl from the other team was chasing down one of our players and ran smack into Ken and then started stomping after her telling her she better watch out. It was kind of hilarious because of how she looked when she was doing it. Probably wouldn't have been too funny if she'd gone after her with her stick. The girls don't wear helmets because it's supposed to be a no-contact sport. I guess the guys get pretty rough because they play full contact. I might have to check out a game. Could be entertaining.

The kid goes on his campout tonight. I'm heading out to Cabela's or Sportsman's in the next little bit to get him a new sleeping bag. The ones that we have are a little temperamental and all we need is for a zipper or something to malfunction while he's there and he freezes or something traumatic. And I might as well make the whole "first scout campout" a big deal. Maybe get him a new flashlight or something. Anything to hopefully make this a good experience for him since he's so excited about it.

We went to the eye doctor on Monday ... guess who got to try out contacts when they came in on Wednesday??? That's right, the kid did. He did pretty good. Can't get them in by himself, does pretty good getting them out. We just want him to be able to wear them when we are in Hawaii this summer for snorkeling and all the other stuff we've got planned. Because his prescription is so bad the contacts he has to wear are thicker and heavier so they slide off his finger pretty easily when he tries to put them in, hopefully with practice he'll get it pretty quick.

Spring break is flying by for the boy. He heads back to Moscow on Sunday. He's covering the Treefort Music Festival for the campus radio station he works for. I think he had fun last night. He sounded pretty excited when he called me at 11:30 last night when he was walking to the car to come home. He's got to hang out with his friends a bit and had a little excitement pulling out of the driveway with his dad's car. That passenger side view mirror comes in handy when your backing out, until you take out the recycle container with it ... and then your mom makes you help her friend's son replace it before your dad can get back from his business trip to Philadelphia. It's been fun having him home. He's got less than two months til he's home for the summer. Crazy, this years been flying by.

The hubby's been in Philly since Sunday. We pick him up late tonight. Hopefully he makes all his connections. It didn't happen last time. Then it's laundry dash to get everything done by Sunday so that he can take off again on Monday. Hopefully it's a quiet weekend. Too bad he gone for the younger kids spring break. I guess I'll have to try and find stuff for us to do.