Spooked

This afternoon there was a knock at the door and THIS is what I opened the door to find.

In the picture it looks kind of like a hermit crab. But no, it is a spider. Does anybody know what kind of spider it is? This is my new quest. I have never seen anything so freaky.

Of course this happened while Travis was at work. In a meeting. I took a gazillion pictures of this THING so I can look it up online later. I called Travis two or three times in a row on both of his numbers and kept leaving messages about this monster spider on our front door. Yes, this was an "interrupt the meeting" kind of emergency! I wanted him to tell me how to catch it or kill it. This whole time I'm shuddering with the heebie-jeebies. Finally, he answered the phone and said he had left the meeting to take the call. When I told him what was going on he laughed at me. That was not the reaction I was hoping for. I wanted him to drop everything and jump on his horse to fly home like my knight in shining armor does and save me from this dragon on our front porch. You'd do that right, Travis? Hmm...not for a "dumb" spider. He said, "Just kill it." I asked stupidly, "With the end of a shovel handle?" (Who thinks of killing spiders with that sort of weapon?) He told me that would make it too difficult. Duh. "Just knock it off the door and step on it." Interrupt for a heebie-jeebie dance. "I can't do that. This thing is gigantic. I can't just step on it! EEEWWWWWW!" "Well I can't just come home." "O.K., I'll figure something out." End of conversation. More pacing.

Then I hear Tyler crying in the house. Oh right, he probably thinks I have abandoned him. I ran in through the garage to summon my two knights-in-training who would hopefully jump to my aid. I told them I needed their help to get a huge spider. They ran outside full speed to see our celebrity spider. Justin says, "Oh yeah, that's kind of big, Mom." And then he promptly ran over to the other side of the house to build a stream from the garden hose. Tyler on the other hand runs so fast he almost skids into the creepy crawler. "Oh Mom. What are you going to do with it?" "I need to get rid of it." Tyler thought about my answer and said, "When I get bigger, I'll just hit it with my shoe. But his spider family will miss him." And off he ran to splash in Justin's stream.

After I paced for another 10 minutes holding Travis' basketball shoe, Justin said, "Why don't you just knock it down with this broom and than hit it?" What a smart boy. The extra-long broom stick gave me a big boost of bravery and with a big swipe and a "ha-yah!" he was a goner. And I feel much better now. As long as his little spider family doesn't come looking for me...I'm spooked.

Employee of the Day

Costco's newest little employee, Tyler, had a fun first day on the job. His "official" employee name tag and hairnet gave him and his other five preschool friends a free pass into the secret world of Costco's Bakery.



Did you know that they bake all their own bakery goods except the french bread? And over 2,000 pumpkin pies a day during the holidays. They can hardly keep them on the shelf.

Tyler was very brave when we walked past all the loud muffin batter mixers, but cried so he wouldn't have to walk into the refrigeration room. Then he was the first of his friends into the freezer room. Go figure. He later told me the refrigerator room smelled funny. (Everything smelled like cake to me. I could have stayed there all day!) After the tour, the baker put the newbies to work frosting cookies. They gave the kids a bunch of colored frosting and sprinkles to create their own masterpieces. I tested out Ty's work and I think I'll send him back to work tomorrow. This is going to be good!

As a side note, Tyler wants to wear his Costco name tag whenever we leave the house. He wore it to weed the yard with me and to pick up Justin from the bus this afternoon "because I'm a baker!" I'll post pictures as soon as my computer gets all set up again.

It's a date!

This week I got asked out three times by three different boys! Yeah, it's still legal and I loved it!

First date, Justin asked me to go see his teacher at back-to-school night. He watched the calendar AND the clock for a week before to make sure I was still planning to go and would not be late. The kids weren't invited, but it still counts as a date because I went just for Justin and ended up being the only parent meeting with his teacher during the second session. So I enjoyed getting to know his teacher, Mrs. Anderson. She told me that she has enjoyed having Justin in her class. She is happy that he is good at following instructions. Keep up the good work, Buddy!

Second date, Tyler took me on his first preschool field trip to the library on Thursday. We cuddled during the library's story time as we listened to stories about rats and mice. He told me I could go run some errands while he picked out some books "by mine-self". He's my independent guy! He told me I could come on this outing with him if I brought lots of bread to feed the ducks and geese in the ponds behind the library. (I freeze lone bread loaf heals and then combine them into a bag so we can share the love with all the quackers. Boy were those happy ducks! And yes, they like frozen bread.) We walked around the ponds with my friend, Adrianna, and her cute kids. The kids had a lot of fun crunching in the fallen leaves and hiding behind the big tree trunks.



On a side note, Tyler is totally potty trained now! Yippee! I can't believe it only took ONE DAY! Of course, this totally came from him and I don't think I had anything to do with it. When he decides to do something, he's going to do it by himself! I always made fun of those books about toilet training in just one day. I didn't think it was possible. Boy was I wrong! I think I like being wrong!

Third date: Last the best of all the game! Travis took me to a Counting Crows/Maroon 5 concert in Vancouver, WA. We took advantage of our trip through Portland with no kids in tow and stopped at IKEA before the concert. Our quick 45 minute shopping trip was worth 2 hours for sure if we had been chasing kids around the store. Travis is going to be a busy boy this week assembling away.


The concert was awesome! Travis has been a huge CC fan for a long, long time and has been so keyed to go see them again! I am more of a M5 fan, so we were both happy to be there. I loved seeing him groove to the music with the biggest grin on his face!

Bring your own water bottle

Meet our soccer boys:


Travis is coaching Justin's soccer team this year and I have been helping out with Tyler's team. They are both having fun kicking that ball and we have enjoyed seeing so many of our friends each Tuesday and Thursday night on the Stake Center soccer field during the games. Just a few more weeks of games and it will all be over...so sad.

Catch the softball craze:

Travis and I are having so much fun playing softball together on our city league team. After winning last night's game, we are in first place for our 'B' league division. Playoffs will begin in the next week or so and that's when the competition really heats up. Travis made some awesome plays last night! I wish I had them on video! He plays 3rd base and I play 2nd base and right center. Justin and Tyler love to go watch our games because they get a babysitter to play with them on the playground. Last night, they came into our dugout as I was heading up to bat. Tyler yells really loud, "Mommy, why are you wearing your pajammy shirt?" Yes, it was a t-shirt I sometimes wear to bed. Then I struck out and he yells, "Hey, you're supposed to HIT the ball, Mom! Why didn't you just hit the ball?" So funny that he somehow knows when to say just the thing to get everybody laughing! He cracks me up!

Make a touchdown:

Travis has been playing on a Portland city league flag football team with his friends from work. He has had late games on Tuesday nights and so we haven't been out to cheer him on. But, I know he's having fun because he comes home after every game covered from head to toe in mud.

Cheer with the zoobies:

Two weekends ago, Travis drove up to Seattle, Wa., with a friend to go see the BYU vs. University of Washington football game.

They had a fantastic time and now he's plotting to go back to see a Seattle/Yankees baseball game the next time they play each other.

Fly to the moon:

While Travis was in Seattle, I took the boys to "Out of this World Pizza & Play". We spent 5 1/2 hours climbing up the space shuttle, riding wiggle cars and sliding down the bounce house slide. They didn't want to leave! I had to lure them away with a promise of a movie/popcorn night to watch "Alvin & the Chipmunks".

Hmmm...we will really miss summertime and this awesome warm weather! The days are already getting cooler. I'm going to vote for an indian summer!

Big Boys In Training

Justin wins an award today for "No More Training Wheels!" on his bicycle! I got to make dinner in peace while Travis took the boys out for a bike ride. He said it was as easy as pie! Dad took the training wheels off and away Justin flew! Way to go, Buddy!

Tyler wins an award today for "I'm Wearing Underwear!" He tried out all 6 of his new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Elmo underwear. I'm still feeling pretty hopeful since he did "make it" to the bathroom many times today. I just keep reminding myself that "I can do this!" Sounds like I'm the one in training! When I was cleaning up one surprise, Tyler sighed and said, "This is hard work, Mom!" Let's keep up the good work, Ty!

My computer crashed again...so, I'll post pictures as soon as humanly possible! (Yes, I'm reading Breaking Dawn.)

Criss-Cross Applesauce

We have a preschool boy! This morning, Tyler was so excited to put on his preschool backpack and grab his train lunch box to head off to his first day of school. Last night he told me that I could stay home because he would just ride his tricycle to school. That's my independent guy!



There are 5 kids in our preschool group and each mom will have a chance to teach as the year goes on. It was so fun to watch these cute kids.





Tyler thought Miss Julie's "criss-cross applesauce" name for sitting cross-legged was so funny. They learned about shapes today and Tyler was chosen to bring home the preschool pet, Bobolito Bear.



He gets to play with the little stuffed bear for one week and we'll fill out a little journal page with pictures to turn back in next week. Tyler's squeal of delight when Justin came home from school and he showed him the bear was priceless.

Wow! Now we have two boys in school. That's a little bit strange, but I think I like it!

8:06 a.m.

At exactly 8:06 a.m. this morning, Justin jumped up from watching a show and ran into the kitchen gasping, "I missed the bus!"

"It's Saturday, Bud. You're O.K."

He giggled with relief and said, "Oh good, well it's great I have one free day a week!"

Poor kid, this was his first week of school and with that I mean EVERY SINGLE DAY school. We're all a little shell shocked. Last year I could handle two or three days a week no problem. But every single morning...oh my!

All summer he has been so excited for school to start. On the first day, he wanted to ride the bus. So I told him we would follow and meet him at the school. Well, the parking lot was full and a million cars were trying to find spots. By the time we finally made it into the school he was not there. We found him in his new classroom coloring away at his desk. He told me, "Mom, I got a little bit lost but the principal and another person walked me to my class." Bless them! I was so proud of him that he didn't let that little bump in his first day knock him off kilter. His first grade teacher is Mrs. Anderson and he already has a few friends from the last school year in his class. We left him with all smiles.


I really haven't worried about him at all...until he came home from school the first day with NO smile. Oh dear! He wouldn't tell me anything about his day. I had to pry out any details at all. Later that first night, he said, "You know, Mom, first grade isn't very much fun." I asked him to tell me about it. He said, "Well, there are no toys and they don't have very many books. But I do get two days of P.E.!" (Funny that he gets the "silver lining" streak from me. I'm so proud!)

As the week went on, he was returning home with more and more smiles. On Thursday morning he missed the bus. He is supposed to meet it at 7:42 a.m. and it came about 5 minutes early as we were getting on our shoes in the garage. I watched to gage his reaction. He shrugged and said with a nervous giggle, "That's o.k., Mom, this happens sometimes." No tears, no worries. We just hopped in the car and in no time (we live just two blocks away) he was running into the school. School starts at 8:00 a.m. By Friday, he was positively giddy when he got off of the bus at 2:30 p.m. with his friend Shawn. What a relief for me to see he is getting it. Each step in growing up brings change and that change doesn't have to be a bad thing. It's just different.

Ty and I have noticed a big difference at home during the days. It is so quiet. I have to turn on the music at full blast. We miss Justin when he's at school all day and I can tell Tyler is so glad to have him come home so they can play.

The Greatest Show On Earth!

Last weekend, we went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Portland. We had such a fun time! At first Tyler was terrified of the clowns until the animals started coming out and then he became a fan.

I remember going to this circus with my family as a little girl. My biggest memory is of the elephants and the trapeze acts. Half of the pictures I took this time were of the elephants. I thought they were amazing!







7 motorcycles racing around in this dome...amazing!

Nothing but Laughs!

I'm back! My computer is working now...knock on wood. It has been a long three weeks! I didn't know if I'd survive! Just kidding! I do have a lot of blogging to catch up on, though. We have had fun with our few last weeks of summer. It's funny I have to look at the pictures we took to remember all we did. Here are the high-points:

Hillsboro Farmer's Market



We discovered a new splash park in Hillsboro



We went to Oaks Park for the first time.


OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)with Nicki, Lance & Brynlee


We went on a fun trip to Utah! Travis' Japan trip was cancelled at the last minute, so I talked him into working remotely from Utah. We were so happy to have him come with us! He did work most days from my Dad's office, but we were able to sneak in some fun stuff, too!

We arrived just in time to celebrate Heidi & Joe's daughter, Elana's 4th birthday. We had a fun costume party and marched around the cul-de-sac.

Here's Justin hiding from the costume party:


It was fun to meet our new niece, Kyra. (Amber & Jeff's 6th) She was 9 days old and so cute. It was fun to play with her sisters and brother all week at Grandma & Grandpa's house so Amber could relax. The kids had so much fun playing in G & G's backyard all week.




My sister Tawnya's birthday was on Sunday and so we celebrated with a birthday dinner on Saturday. My Aunt Kim brought her cute girls down from Salt Lake City to visit along with an old roommate of ours, Denise, and her family from Colorado. It was fun to laugh about our apartment days in Cedar City.

Who can top this F.H.E.? A picnic at the discovery park with G & G!





Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point



Barbecue with our friends Reg & Holli and Tim & Kari.

Justin with Krew and Jaxon

Ty and Jake

Thanks you guys! It was fun to see you again after all these years! We had a hoot running relay races with the kids! And my boys are still talking about your roller coaster!

We can't forget BYU Bowling with Grandpa Davis!


Justin has been saving all his quarters since we went last Thanksgiving so he could use them to play all the arcade games and earn a prize with those little tickets.



He earned 75 tickets and chose to "win" a little plastic bowling set. He was on cloud nine! Tyler was just happy to finally pick out his very own "buy-U" (BYU) hat. He has been borrowing Justin's without permission for a long time now. Now we can all be friends again. Life is good.

It was fun to catch up with my good friend, Jennie, and peak into her new house that is being remodeled. It was great to see you and I'm looking forward to the grand tour when we come back for Christmas!

Girls' Night miniature golf fun and a crazy jumping contest in SLC with Tawnya, Heidi, Shannon and Mom. (Shannon totally won the jumping contest!)

Tawnya
Shannon
Mom
Me
Heidi

Visiting the ducks with Grandpa.


Children's Museum in SLC with G & G Davis
This museum was amazing! We could have played for days! The boys especially liked flying this life flight helicopter and radioing to me in the control tower. Then off to the airport and back to Oregon. It was such a fun trip that was over too soon!