THIS is so GOOD I'm posting twice today

but dont' forget to read my last post cuz it's good too.

There is a boy.... Carly would describe him as a "really nice, sweet, punk skater person type thing..."

We can not find a classification for him on the cheese scale.  we are stymied.

Maybe feta: a little salty

Maybe mild cheddar: a little immature but with potential (you'll see what we mean later)

Y'all have any suggestions?

anyway he's not really in Carly's inner circle of friends but is a friend of a friend on the inner circle.  you with me so far? We'll call this intermediate friend "the snitch"

"The snitch" has been telling Carly that "mildfeta" is crushing big time on her and teasing poor "mildfeta" about it.  "mildfeta" is not handling the information leak well at all.  He runs away whenever Carly is in the vicinity.  Today he gave Carly a note.  Actually, he gave a friend a note to give to Carly.  Handing the note to Carly himself would have been the act of a medium Feta kind of guy and well, he's just not there yet.  The "deliverer" told her she "better read it now" as it was "in her best interest read it now".  

When Carly showed me the note I clasped it to my heart in delight and begged "can I post this???"  She snatched it back and said "I don't know.  Get a hold of yourself you're a thirty.... a thirty...... how old are you? 32?"  "yes, I'm 32!"  "you're a 32 year old woman!!!!!! wait, you're not 32.... how old are you? 37?  "I am not 37!!!!! (indignant expression)  "Okay... you're a thirty something year old woman!!!!"

She finally granted me permission.  I think she feels guilty over the whole sock hunt thing.  I may get anything I want for weeks! :)

Here it is in parts.  I'll transcribe  as we go because it's just too great for you to miss even a word.  

weird.  couldn't get my photo to turn upright here....  oh well. you can see what the note looks like alltogether.

and in parts...

So these 2 photos should go side by side...

"How would you rate me and it is just between me and you" ( I know Mom/Gma C! It should be "you and I")

1.  Fin (does that represent what I think it means???? he is salty!)  ugly   2.  ugly 

3.  ok    4.  cute    5. hot  

 6.  I would go out with you     7.  wird (gotta love those 9th grade boys and their creative spelling)   8. freaky     9. you would run away from me

I like a boy who can deliver a complement! Carly can hold her head high knowing she is a "4" and a "6".  

She is drafting a response to him as I type letting him know "thanks" but I dont' go out and you know it would be okay if you talked to me so we could become friends.  She's stressed about getting the wording just right.  She doesn't want to be mean, yet she doesn't want to get his hopes up, yet she doesn't want to be harsh, yet she doesn't want it to sound like she likes him...

She just shouted "I hate boys" 

I smiled and patted her shoulder.  That's okay sweetie.  For a couple more years that will do just fine.

Velma... minus Carly

So as you can see... My orange socks didn't turn out as dark as I hoped.

After school today Carly came up and hugged me and said "I want to talk to you but please don't interrupt. ( oh man, she knows me soooooo welll) I don't want to fight and I have something to say. (I nodded at this point) The socks are GREAT!!! They're perfect but my sweater is too dark (don't you LOVE how she's working me here. The socks are perfect.. it's the sweater's fault. I LOVE her.) I know you've done all you can do so Abby (her friend) needs to go shopping for her Daphne costume and could I go with her and WITH MY OWN MONEY, you've done enough, see if I can find something that works a little better?"

"sure! as long as I don't have to do anything"

... actually I did have to pick her up from the store but I'm cool like that. I didn't even lecture about the time invested in her costume already. I was relieved to not be responsible.


She found these AWESOME socks and this long-sleeved t-shirt at Target (nod to Amy. How did I not get to Target with all my store hopping. Maury's theory that Target is the bomb is supported) but I think they look good with the original Velma turtleneck. See supporting photo below. What do you think?

Bubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble....

I am awake, out of my comfortable bed, at 11:24 p.m. simmering this on my stove......

I am tired. I am not even hungry. shocking... I know! What am I dong??? I am cooking socks. yes. Socks! I have spent a good portion of my day looking for orange knee-high socks. It was not very productive. I spent about an hour last Week looking at Shopko and K-mart. Nothing. I spent my whole morning today dragging Mason to every sporting goods store in town and all over the mall. NOTHING!!!!! who knew it would be this hard to find orange knee-high socks for Carly's "Velma" costume? I bought her knee-high brown socks but she wouldn't wear them. "I'll look dumb". She wouldn't wear her Velma costume to the ward party on Thursday night without the orange socks! She wore this costume---

Which was cute -but left me wondering why I had now been shopping for 2 different costumes for her this halloween season and she was not wearing EITHER one!

(okay... she is wearing the "velma" glasses and the "cape" I made for the witch.... but still!)

Tonight I went to walmart. Still no orange socks. I am done looking. These items are my last resort, Velma's last chance to shine this Halloween.

We'll see how it goes. It is now 11 minutes after midnight and the socks are off the stove and I rinsed one out and I'd like it to be darker so I'm going to bed and the socks will be soaking in the dye all night in my sink. I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow. Oh and after relating this story to my sister Maury on the phone at Walmart, she reminded me I'm due for a little stubborn "I'm not wearing it without the orange socks" trouble from Carly. She has been the easiest kid in the world to raise! So that is why I'm here now....... tired mother.... trying to make her Velma dreams come true. ( oh and thanks Maury, for the advice on fabric dyeing & for suggesting the dye tonight. Mark also suggested it yesterday but I rolled my eyes thinking it wouldn't turn out and feeling sure if I just looked a little more I'd find what I was looking for. I should have listened Mark.)

Oh and here's a quick peek at most of the rest of us at the Ward Halloween party last Thursday. I don't know how I didn't get Jacob. I guess he never stood still long enough...

Here's Rachel.....

And Samantha.... not a very good picture but it was hard to get the little ones to stand still long enough to get a picture. They had other interests like eating diner, playing with their friends and playing the kid games set up by the activities committee. I'll get better ones on Halloween.

Mason found a very good use for his cowboy hat....

He'll always stand still if he sees the camera. He is a CheeZehead!

Can you tell what Mark is? (Fried egg) after getting everyone else ready, all I had time for was to throw on an apron and grab a spatula. Mark wasn't going to be able to come to the party because he had a scout training scheduled but was able to change it at the last minute so I rushed around Thursday morning before work trying to get all the supplies for his costume. The foam the magazine called for didn't exist at our fabric stores so I found a box big enough and cut it out and painted it. I bought a clear plastic bowl at the dollar store and yellow paint at the craft store and painted the bowl and then decided the costume looked better with a flatter paper plate so I painted that yellow. Mark did add a 2nd coat of yellow paint to the bowl when he stopped by the house while I was at work and he helped glue/tape the strap on. When we got to the party Mark looked at me and said (in all seriousness) "I think this is the easiest costume I've ever done." I just looked at him and replied, "I think you're right!"

Sunday playtime

So this is a church for "the guys".  Mason and Jacob were quietly playing in their room while I got dinner ready after church.  They came downstairs soooooo excited.  "Mom! come look at our church!!!!!!!"   I wondered what they meant.  I followed them upstairs and beheld quite a scene.  Apparently the Red Knight had been asked to speak.  Since the congregation is all Male, I am thinking it is a priesthood leadership meeting of some kind.

A view from the pulpit.

A view of the pulpit.

Looks like the Red Knight is getting a little wordy... Brother Caveman began by "resting his eyes" and now he's falling off his pew. You know how cavemen are.... And can you see the blue guy in the back poking Brother Troll? I can just hear him, "Wanna go get some pie after this?"

What every superhero congregation needs.... Monster truck parking!

A close-up view of the animal paddock. Handy to have if you flew in on your dragon or rode to meeting on your sabertooth tiger. ...

An ariel view of the whole setup: parking lot, chapel, paddock.  Those boys thought of everything.  Maybe they'll be architects some day.

UEA Saturday A.K.A. Watching out for Dick Cheney...

Okay, Okay... I know technically it's probably not UEA saturday, it's just  saturday but I'm kind of running with a vacation theme here so humor me....

Saturday was to be a continuation of  funFUNfun  for me and the kids. (Mark was due home midafternoon)  We slept in (so nice) and watched cartoons and lazily got ready for our big plans which weren't til after lunch.  We were supposed to get together with our friends, The Leach family, to hike the Grotto Trail in Payson Canyon.  It's supposed to be a family friendly hike with a waterfall cascading into a little cave at the end.  Here's a picture I stole off some random blog. 

Wouldn't you like to go there?  and the leaves in the canyon would be beautiful.  A great plan!

That is until Adam said, "umm... there's one thing we may want to consider before heading up the canyon... It's opening weekend for deer season and there are kids as young as 10 or 12 with tags... "  That means kids with guns and I'm fresh out of bright orange hats and vests.  If our illustrious VP can have an accident with his years of experience hunting I didn't feel like taking a chance with my little family knowing there could be Deacons with guns on the mountain.  

So we went here instead.  Bridal Veil Falls.  Just a little ways up Provo Canyon, includes a waterfall and changing leaves.  AND the really big point in it's favor?  It's out of the way of deer hunters.   We played along the riverbank.  We took lots of pictures. We had a great time until.....

we decided to try the hike up to the base of the falls like we did last year.......  

We couldn't remember where the trail started and Carly and Rachel saw 2 steep looking paths and said we'll check these out and tell you if they connect to the trail.  I looked away for one moment and the boys are both scrambling up behind them and didn't come back when I yelled.  So Samantha and I started up after them. I figured I had better climb the treacherous slope with them so we could all fall together.  It was a little frightening at times because it was steep and there was a lot of loose rock that would slip under your feet.  We hit a dead end and had to climb down.  Samantha was very frightened although she held it together better than she did last year and that was on the right trail. By the time we got down none of us were in any mood to find the right trail and give it another go so no triumphant "we did it" pictures at the base of the falls this year.  Next year I am pretty sure we'll remember to walk a little further to find the REAL beginning of the trail.  

When we got home Mark was home.  Yea! I gave the boys haircuts.  We all took a shower and got cleaned up.  That night we watched "It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown".  It was the first time for the kids and the first time in many years for Mark and I.  We told the kids how we would watch for the commercial telling us when it would be on and mark the calendar so we wouldn't miss it.  There was one chance a year and if you missed it, you missed it! They thought it was funny.  

Vacation day #3:     beautiful.  wet. colorful. scary.  fun.  Over.

UEA Friday A.K.A. Needy Girl with a phone..

Okay... The house is clean.  Friday begins.  What will we do?

Halloween Shopping for Carly & Rachel!

The little kids costumes are complete.  Here's the rundown.

Mason: Cowboy: we have a dollar store black cowboy hat, a dollar store sherrif badge/pistol/holster set,  black jeans from his dresser drawer and a very Western red/blue plaid Wrangler shirt complete with very cowboyish snaps with the pearly finish.

Samantha: Bocahontas: She is wearing an indian dress I made several years ago for Carly and Rachel to play dress up in.  It is just an off white color and we'll make a headband since her current haircut will not support braids very well and lucky us, The Gublers just gave us some hand-me-downs that included a pair of moccasins that are just a bit too big.  We'll stuff a little cotton in the toes and they'll be perfect.

Jacob: A Star wars clone warrior.  (Totally prepurchased costume.  I rarely go this route but Jacob has gone for very easy, inexpensive costumes the last couple years and he REALLY wanted this)

Rachel: An Asian beauty.  I found a gold Kimono for $7 at a thrift store.  It was in beautiful shape, just needed a couple snaps sewed back on.  It is slit up to the knees on both sides so she'll wear black leggings and black stockings underneath.  We went Friday morning to our trade network office where I had seen some beautiful beaded slippers I thought would look good.  There were a pair of silver slippers with a beaded butterfly design that had gold in it.  They were perfect.  A little big but nothing a little cotton in the toe won't solve.  Then we went to the mall to get some chopsticks from the food court for her hair.  Rachel begged to walk around a little while so we did.  We went into Claire's and there on the clearance rack were some beautiful silver hair clips with tiny gold accents that looked like chopsticks.  So for a few dollars I was saved the hassle of figuring out how to gussy up my free foodcourt chopsticks for her hair.  We found some white halloween makeup that we'll have to experiment with for her face.... wish me luck on that.  She's going to look beautiful! 

Carly: Velma fr0m the Scooby gang.  Her friends wanted to do a "group costume".   She has friends who intend to be Daphne, Freddy, Scooby and Shaggy.  She thought her new haircut would be perfect for Velma.  A couple weeks ago we bought a couple things for a witch costume but I told her if we could find things cheap enough I'd help her with the Velma costume.  So after Rachel and I got back it was Carly's turn to go shopping.  I really did not have high hopes we'd have success finding an Orange turtleneck and brown skirt.  (Today we found out by Googling Velma that it's a red skirt... ooops!)  We found an Orange Turtleneck that is actually pretty and she'll probably wear it later.  $6.  We found a long dark brown denim skirt that we cut off at knee length and hemmed.  $6.  We found perfect square black glasses that we popped the lenses out of $2.  I have brown loafers she'll wear but we still need to find orange Knee socks.  She looks cute.  

That took care of our morning and early afternoon.  Now it was time for some serious family fun! Mark was out of town at a boy scout conference so we got together with our friends, The Johansens, who also had a dad out of town.  They have a girl Rachel's age, Andrea.  They have a boy Jacob's age, Spencer.  We looked at the Dollar movie schedule.  The clone wars animated star wars flick and Journey to the center of the Earth were both approx. the same length and started within 10 minutes of each other.  We took a poll and Spencer and Samantha were the only clone wars enthusiasts.  I really thought Jacob would choose the Star Wars movie but he thought it looked a little weird.  Heather (mom) asked Spence if he was okay about going just with Samantha.  He said "sure! no problem."  She questioned whether Samantha could hold onto his arm and maybe lean her head on his shoulder if she was scared.  He replied "sure! That would be fine, (holds up his fist) I have a fist of Iron"  Heather had seen "Journey' already so she said she would sit with the clone kids until it started.  When she slipped into our theatre she said Samantha was a little worried so she had left her cell phone with Sam and showed her how to call my phone which was on vibrate if she had any troubles. Can you already see what's coming?

Phone call #1.  We don't answer but Heather graciously runs to next door theatre.

Problem: Samantha wants to go get a drink from the drinking fountain but thinks she is locked in.  

Solution: Heather assures her she can go get a drink whenever she wants and walks her to the drinking fountain.

Phone call #2: Heather again graciously runs to next door theatre.  

Problem: Samantha wants some more candy....

Solution: Heather reiterates that the phone is for EMERGENCIES only.... There is no more candy!

Phone call #3:  We ignore phone call #3

Phone Call #4: I feel bad so I start to get up but Heather very kindly and very graciously tells me to sit down, she will go again.

problem: When I push on my cheek right here, it hurts.  I want my mom to know.

Solution: Don't push on your cheek right there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I'll tell your mom.  AND THE PHONE IS ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Samantha & Spencer loved their movie.

The rest of us loved Journey to the Center of the Earth.  It's fun and clean.  They don't take themselves too seriously.  

Now it's 7pm and it's Crazy Dinner time.  We divided up the kids and we headed to Maceys.  We met at the front of the store and listed the rules.  Every kid had $2 to spend.  They could combine their money with one other person if they chose and they could not buy any candy or dessert.  They could buy Juice but not soda.  We had just had candy at the movies and we really wanted some semblance of a dinner not gummy worms, orange soda and tootsie pops.  

Everyone was pretty good about sticking to the rules.  There was some misunderstanding on what constitutes "juice".

Spencer and Jacob came running up with bright blue Powerade.  

2 moms: That's not juice.

boys: yes it is! it's powerade! 

2 moms: Try again!

This is what we ended up with:

Carly: Bush's Baked beans

Rachel/Andrea combined and purchased $4 worth of Petite steaks: The girls thought they had some exotic meat called (sound it out with me) puh-tea-tae steaks.  

Jacob/Spencer combined and purchased: 1 can spaghetti-os, 1 can Ravioli, 1 bag tortilla chips,

1 string cheese, 2 single serve cheddar slices

Samantha: Western Family cheetos (yuck!) and 2 single serve cheddar cheese slices

Mason: 1 box hamburger helper crunchy taco flavor

Heather: head iceberg lettuce

I reserved my $2 for staples at home to round out. I thought I'd throw in a 1 lb package of hamburger for Mason's hamburger helper.

Mason however had a meltdown at the store, was warned, continued to throw a fit and lost his privilege to eat dinner with us so we shelved his hamburger helper and I changed my contribution to some leftover rice in the fridge and a can of cream of mushroom soup to pour over the steaks which we salted, peppered, floured and fried and simmered in the soup and milk for a gravy.  We had a lovely feast and by 9:30 we were done and the 2 moms were tired and ready for bed.  We said good bye and cleaned up.

The 3 youngest kids started fighting like crazy and I was pretty frustrated.   As I tucked Jacob in I expressed my frustration that after all the fun things I had provided for them he had chosen to end the day by fighting with his brothers and sisters.  I went to my room to wash my face and brush my teeth and then I would finish cleaning up.  I came downstairs to find Jacob quietly washing all the dishes and then he proceeded to sweep and mop the floor.  I was very touched by his kindness and my frustration turned to peace with his gift of love.

Vacation day #2: Productive.  Fun.  A little frenzied at times.  over.

UEA begins....

We are having our UEA break from school. What is UEA? I'm not really sure. I believe it has something to do with The Utah teacher's union and their meetings. My sister wondered "why don't they plan these teacher meetings in June when there is no school?" hmmm.... Good question.

The kids were out of school Thursday, Friday and will be off Monday as well. When they have a school vacation we try to plan something fun to fill our time. There will be later posts about the fun but Thursday was NOT fun. It became *housecleaning day* and seemed to last an eternity.

Our house was in BAD shape. With our visitors over the weekend and Me going to the BYU game our saturday work did not get done.

I need to point out that Samantha was the first one done with her room. She was quick and thorough and made a point to remind me several times that day that in case I hadn't noticed... she was the good child... she had finished her room a LOOONG time ago.... didn't I like her better than all the other kids since she was so obedient?........

I confess, for a few hours, I did like her just a tiny bit better!

The big girls had a hole to dig out. Their room was in terrible shape and I was merciless. I want that desk cleaned off! I want this dresser more organized! I want that shopping bag that you want to keep, that I have seen on the floor for 6 months, somewhere I can't see it or it's going in the trash next time I walk in this door! etc...

The boys were just in fighting mode which makes them very unproductive. We always have to divide the room. That is a given. They are both responsible for a certain half. When that is done, Jacob has to clean out the closet and Mason has to pull everything out from under the bed and then they have to divide up whatever comes out of those deep, dark places to put away. Dividing the room was not enough Thursday to keep the bickering down so we resorted to our Divide & conquer method which involes each boy sitting on the steps while the other cleans in 1o minute increments. They keep switching until they get it done. That eventually worked.

I took Samantha to Target to exchange a shirt from Auntie Maury that was too small. I told her she could get the same shirt or another one if she found one she liked better. she looked at me with horror on her face and exclaimed, "I could never trade away the shirt that Auntie Maury picked out just for me!!! It's special!!!!! I will always think about her when I wear it." I felt like a terrible mommy for suggesting anything else. See Maury, she may act all unconcerned about her gifts in person but they do mean something to her deep down.

By the time we got home from Target the other children were miraculously finished with their rooms and Mark was home so we went to Macey's to get ice cream. For you locals... they have a new frozen yogurt machine besides the traditional chocolate/vanilla soft serve. They had strawberry and banana this week. I don't usually like artificial banana flavors but the deli clerk insisted it was very good and gave me a sample. It was. It was very subtle and so I got a strawberry/banana twist. It was yummy.

When we got home they finished their room chores and we were finally finished with *housecleaning Thursday*!!!!!!!! Mark had a friend coming over for the BYU game and I was headed to the temple with a friend. Both of us set aside the evening for worship. :)

If you follow football or love someone who does, you probably already know that Mark's evening ended very very very badly..... DANG TCU!!!!

Vacation day number one: Frustrating. exhausting. Over.

'sponsibilities.....

Remember these two?

Mason's still certain she's the one.....

A conversation today:

Mason: I want to live with you forever mom!

Mom: You can live with me as long as you need to.  I bet when you get big you will want your own house though.  You'll want to get married and be a dad!

Mason: When I have my own house, will I be in charge???? (hands rub together, eyebrows raised)

Mom: you sure will!

Mason:  (thinks it over for a minute)  Will  I  take Ayden to the hospital when she's gonna have a baby?  Would that be my 'sponsibility?

This was the happy couple tonight at the Provo River Halloween Cruise.  (sounds fancy.... s'not.  But it is fun!)

The West family joined us again this year for our little jaunt down the river.  There are carved pumpkins lining the riverbanks; an assortment of traditional Jack-O-Lantern faces, dracula, spiders, bats, Medusa even..  The river at this point is not moving with any current so the "captain" pulls the boat down the river by pulling on ropes overhead.  A pirate tries to board at one point and makes silly pirate jokes and the "captain" did a pretty good job of telling us "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" complete with voice characterization and some sound effects.  

Samantha claimed to be a little "freaked out" by the story. Mason really did look "freaked out" when we got off the boat and headed back down the path to our car now that it was REALLY dark out and the spooky decorations were a little more noticeable.  With a little prodding from her dad, Ayden serenaded us on the rocks while the kids gathered for the following photos with "I got soul but I'm not a soldier"

The kids had fun and then we came home and had Wendy's Apple hill cake and watched "The ghost and Mr. Chicken"    

Our favorite line ....

"my whole body is a weapon" -Don Knotts as Luther

It's ironic Jacob is flashing the peace symbol when about 95% of the books he checks out of the library are about weapons, military vehicles  or war throughout the ages....  oh.. maybe it's "V" for Victory!  Then again, maybe he has NO clue what it means in either context but he's pretty sure he's lookin' cool when he does it.

Carly and Claire

Samantha is NOT cold!

Mark's not cold either with his warm wool capote and cute daughters to snuggle up to.

A 'sponsible guy! Look at that face.  He's ready for anything!

.....bats, spiders, contractions........

rah rah rah rah rah..... GOO-O-O-O-O Cougars!

Mark has season tickets to the BYU football games.  He's been going for several years with his brother.  It's nice for them to get together and enjoy their passion for football together.  I feel very, VERY blessed that Mark has what I see as a moderate appetite for sports.  He enjoys having BYU season tickets and watching the away games on TV if he can.  He also enjoys watching a Jazz game or two during basketball season and really gets into the playoffs but that's about all.  I can totally handle that. 

My Mom and Dad have recently retired, served a spanish-speaking mission in Texas/New mexico and relocated to Southern Utah.  I know! They HAVE been busy.  Now that they are closer, they are also indulging in their passion for BYU football.  For the last 2 seasons, they bought 4 season tickets so they can go and take family and friends.  I and any of my interested siblings can pick a game to go to with them.  They even take Carly and Rachel.  We tried Jacob out last year and he was great during the 1st half but then he was done and wasn't much fun the 2nd half.  We have decided to let him mature a little more before he goes again.  

This year I opted to go to the same game as my sister Maury which was YESTERDAY.  BYU Vs. New Mexico.  Maury is the only one in our family who graduated from BYU although my dad attended for a year and one brother and one sister both spent a couple semesters there.  I went to BYU-Idaho before it was thus called and BYU-Hawaii but I don't think that makes me a cougar however I can to the hula....

We all rode together; Mom, Dad, Mark, Maury & I.  We talked Mom & Dad into stopping for a little yummy greek food on the way. They looked a little skeptical about trying it but Maury and I wanted it BAD!  We tried to be open.  "So where do you want to go? the Greek place is really good.  but whatever...  so do you want to go to the greek place or um.. maybe somewhere else? so what are you in the mood for? That Greek chicken we mentioned? okay.  great. but, only if you want to."

 

May I reccomend to any of my local readers "The Ultimate Broiler & Grill" on state st. just South of 400 North.  It says "Greek Food" on the sign and the window and it is wonderful.  I only get the Chicken Souvlaki (chicken kabobs) with rice and salad.  Mark likes their seasoned potatoes but I like their bright yellow lemony rice with my chicken.  It is seriously the best chicken ever.  It's always tender and seasoned just right.  YUM! If you get the double chicken souvlaki (2 kabobs) then you have enough for lunch the next day.  Just a suggestion.....

I knew I'd have fun going with Maury and I was not disappointed!  She knows the fight song by heart and she LOVES football.  I didn't' think she'd mind helping me out a little when I didn't understand a ref call or a play.  She was awesome.  I always felt a half second behind in being aware of what was happening as I processed what I saw on the field, often checking the scoreboard for the number of yards gained or to watch the replay.  Maury totally had a handle on it, yelling to the refs on a bad call or exclaiming after a play "That's what I'm talking about!" or "what are you doing?!?"  It was fun to sit with her.  It was Homecoming and a sell out game but we were lucky the people right next to us and right in front of us were no-shows so we had a little extra wiggle and leg room.  ahhh!  The weather was great.  Chilly, sweatshirt and extra blanket weather but none of the rain or snow predicted. yea!!!!! Nothing worse than being cold AND wet! 

Even though Mark didn't sit with us I got to hang out with him before (we like to get there early) and see what he likes to do at the games.  We went to the "cougar den" to buy him a new visor and the snack bar where he bought me some hot chocolate and introduced me to the cougar tail!  (like our matching sweatshirts?  it pays to buy sweatshirts when it's 90 degrees outside.  He picked them up at Walgreens, 2 for $15 back in August and saw the same ones this week priced at $25 each.)

A couple of times as we were milling around the stadium before the game started my parents would start off in one direction and he another and my instinct was to follow Mom and Dad because I was sitting with them and he would say "stay with me. I'll show you where the seats are".  It made me feel good that he wanted to be with me, that he seemed excited to have me there.    He was so thoughtful.  In the cougar den he saw me looking at some hats... "Do you want a BYU hat?  At the snack bar "what do you want? do you want anything else?"  I hope I say this right.... because I don't want to imply that he is not often thoughtful and caring because he is.  But for me it felt a bit like when a cute boy takes you to the carnival and wants to buy you a corndog and win you a stuffed animal and go on rides with you....  and you feel a little "twitter-pated" because he's so "sweet" & wants to do all these nice things for you.  Maybe it was the new environment, the excitement of the event, but after 16 years it's a little surprising to get"twitter-pated".  Nice! but surprising!

Of course BYU won and It didn't take nearly as long to get out of the parking lot as we expected it to, we got home and the kids were all safe and in one piece.  whew! Don't you just love Happy Endings?!

As the kids get older I look forward to the time when Mark can buy 2 season tickets and I can go to more games every fall with him.  I'm not ready to be away from the kids that much yet on Saturdays yet but someday...