Without Wisdom

Teeth that is...I finally had my wisdom teeth taken out. It was the first of my splurges on AP expenses. My dentist has been harrassing me about getting them out since we moved here. "You should have had it done when the only thing you had to worry about was the Junior Prom...blah, blah, blah..."

Dave had the week off so I thought I'd schedule it with him around. All four came out with some "aggressive" effort apparently but it hasn't been too bad. The big disappointments include not being able to gorge on ice cream as planned (it's too cold) and not getting any really good drugs (darvocet, whah whah whah).

I'm rather swollen up, as you may be able to tell from the photos, but some people said they couldn't see a difference. I've gotta lose some weight if this looks normal!

I'll definitely make sure my kids get them out before they leave home!

Summer Highlights...One for Mom

Okay, some of you are going to think I'm cruel, but here is my recent summer highlight....the boys sitting on the couch complaining they're bored and there's nothing to do.







More than seven weeks into summer, with less than four weeks to go, I've been waiting for this moment. With all the fun we've managed to pack in including Mr. Biggs and movies and mini golf and the batting cages and trips to Costco and the mall, I thought we'd never be "bored"! Quite frankly, I'm a little exhausted. Shouldn't part of childhood be wrestling with boredom?


With that in mind I've been making Princess Rachel endure more of her brother's activities, like baseball and the batting cages. Not everything is about one person when you're in a family. Buck up, Rachel. Dance lessons will be figured out for fall, which is just around the corner!


In any case, I'm thrilled we finally had some boring moments here and survived them. :=)

Disney Princess?...That's Me

I got this from Laura's blog. It seemed fun and novel since I haven't had a subscription to Seventeen magazine for over 20 years! There's nothing like a good quiz to determine who I really am...


You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?


Rachel wanted to be a princess too, so here are her results. No suprise really...Sleeping Beauty is a favorite.


You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Cub Scout Day Camp

Ben went to day camp 3 days last week. I was able to go with him on one of the days. It was brutally exhausting. Hot, sunny, dirty and very busy. Each day they left before 7:30am and returned home after 5pm. Whew. BB guns and archery were of course the favorites.

The last day, he returned so filthy that I took his picture before throwing him in the tub. He's so dirty though that you can't tell that it is mostly dirt and not a tropic tan. I should have taken a picture of the tub. Yikes. The picture with Evan shows the kind of dirt we're talking about on Evan's shorts. Oh, man. That's some serious fun.

Jake is off to Scout camp next week and he tells me there are no showers. Eewwww. Should I consider anything he packs disposable? Five nights is a long time to be gone. I miss him already, but not as much as Rachel will.

The day I went to day camp Jake watched Rachel for 10 hours. That is a long, long time. I paid him well because he earned it. They had a tea party, watched Little Mermaid, played princess dressup, made pink cupcakes, read books, had grilled cheese for lunch, got her to take a nap and (drumroll, please) had the whole house cleaned up upon my return. He's amazing, I know. Thanks so much, Jake!

Baseball 2008

Ben is playing baseball with the West El Paso baseball league this season because Dave's friend and coworker is a coach. It is also the only machine-pitched league that we know of for this age group in CS. It's a long haul down to El Pomar for the games, which seem to be every time I turn around, but it has been fun.

Ben only knew one kid on the team when he started but he had no trouble getting to know all the boys. In this picture he is telling them all about the scandal that happened with the UFC reality-tv show that he heard Dave talking about earlier. They all think he's so cool to know about the smashed up limo and reorganized final fight, despite the fact that most of them have never even seen the show, including Ben! He does know how to work a crowd. And be CAREFUL what you say in front of him, he's listening!

My proudest moment of the season so far was when he was in the dugout while his team fielded. I caught him cleaning up the chaos from when they were at bat. Bats, helmets, water bottles, ect. were everywhere. I could not have been more proud if he had hit a grand slam! My child actually does recognize a mess and he voluntarily organized it! So, so proud.

Summer Highlights Part 2

We visited Utah on the spur of the moment...The kids and I loaded up and drove to Utah on Sunday June 29th; we left Dave here to work. Unfortunately, I did not document the trip very well with my camera so I don't have pictures of all the people we visited. Darn it. It took about 11 hours to get there because of all the stops, one of which being a fatal error on my part. I stopped for lunch at a Quiznos, right next to a GameStop. Not a very quick stop! Oh well. We left at 6am so it didn't seem so bad to arrive in time for dinner.

We saw my grandparents, Kent and Carolyn, Bob and Vicki, Troy and Allison for dinner. We visited "the Chrzanowskis" , as Dave likes to call them. We went to the Farmington pool with the Egans (always a crowd favorite). Spent the day with Sarah, and had tons of fun with Grandma and Papa including shelling peas, making cookies and brownies, going fishing, going to the movies, and building model army tanks. Thanks for the FUN!

Dave arrived Thursday night on a flight from Denver. He nearly missed his flight, as per usual for Denver and Dave combined, but was in time for The Fourth with us (and some time at the beloved Layton skate park).

There's nothing better than the Fourth of July in Kaysville! We went to the parade all decked out in our patriotic outfits. We visited Jenny at the WalMart and picked up some fireworks. We had a BBQ at Grandma's with Bret and Sarah. Went to the fireworks with our dear friends, the Gerrishes. The treats were fabulous.

Come to find out, Rachel has joined forces with the boys in the family and she LOVES fireworks. I endure them, but now that I am so grossly outnumbered I guess I'd better lighten up. They set off an unbelievable amount on the fourth and fifth. Whew. That was a lot of noise and mess.

Jake's visit with Anson will remain one of his fondest memories of the summer. When are you coming here, Anson? It was great to see our friends and family in Utah. We love to see you and invite you all to come to Colorado Springs!

Seriously. Please come...

Summer Highlights Part 1

Do you ever open your own blog hoping to find a new post, all the while knowing there won't be one because you haven't posted anything in a long while, but still hoping?



I need to document some of the fun we've had this summer but haven't posted...



Our third annual block party with many of our neighbors was June 21st. It was a fairly low-key event but fun. Next year we'll have to plan some entertainment for the kids (Jake did not run games this year as in years past). Dave has threatened to buy a "Catalina grill" for the next one so that everyone can come and grill their own entree. Sounds fantastic. See you next year!





That same day our good friend, Dave Owens, came for a visit. It was great to see him and hear about his exciting life and reminisce about "the old days". He was a good sport to come to our block party and keep us up laughing until midnight. Our kids think he is soooo cool. He is. Thanks for visiting, Dave! This was definitely a huge summer highlight.

Prodigy Cup 2008

This soccer tournament took place shortly before our trip to New York but I wanted to show everyone the team, including Cole Miller(with the mohawk), who was the inspiration for the faux-hawk that Ben now sports. Cole is an amazing soccer player and an explosively fast runner. It's no wonder Ben respects (can I say idolizes?) him so much.

Ben's team played very well, and in fact ended up in the semi-finals despite having the hardest draw in the tournament.

We really signed up so that we could decide how serious Ben was about soccer. He loves it, of course, but what sport doesn't Ben love? Before we committed to travelling up to Denver next season, I wanted to make sure that he was passionate about soccer. Well, he let me know during the four games of Prodigy that it won't be a waste of time to travel. There was something about playing for an actual trophy that fired him up. He was super aggressive. During the semi-final game he played his personal best game ever. Way to show up when it counts!

A'travelling we'll go....

Another Look at Lady Liberty

This is the best picture we could get of us with the Statue. Sorry, Kayla about your face being blocked!

July First 2008 -- A Day We've Been Waiting For...

I guess you could say we are official Coloradans. Dave signed his contracts and officially became a "partner" in the best pathology group in Colorado Springs today. We're so proud of him and we know they are lucky to have him. He was an associate for three years, a fellow for one year, a resident for five years, a medical student for four years...this has been a long time in the making.

We celebrated as a family by going to the Melting Pot on Saturday night. It was a very fun and delicious experience. Rachel was thrilled to find pink-handled fondue forks at her place.

After dinner, we drove over to the new skate park being built in Memorial Park. This is another sign that we are meant to be here forever...Look at Dave's happy face, basking in the idea of concrete designed by Team Pain just for his enjoyment.

Happy Partnership, Dave. Just another milestone in a life of spectacular accomplishments. We love you and appreciate you so much!