July 24th Celebration
Everything is Lucy Goosey 7/25/10
Since Katrina’s birthday fell on a Sunday this year she arranged for a party the Friday before on the 23rd. I say she arranged because literally she arranged all of it. Her only request was that I provide some food. The afternoon of the party I came home from Smith’s to find her friend Hailey had already arrived. She said that she was here to help. Though she and Katrina were both standing helplessly in the middle of the kitchen, “We don’t know what to do.” Luckily this wasn’t the first party I’ve thrown and I had them busy blowing up balloons and hanging streamers on the porch. They used ALL the streamers to create some sort of barricade for the guests to have to crawl under to get to the door. They watched through the window with the Flip camera recording the bewildered expressions. I was almost embarrassed when I went out front and read the signs, “Crawl…Crawl!!!” That girl definitely has her own sense of humor. Being a holiday weekend about nine friends came. They were mingling okay but it just seemed something was off. I asked Katrina afterwards, “So did everyone know each other or was it an odd combination that came?” She concurred, “It was sort of an odd combination.”
I provided food as requested and then Matt set up his projector on the b-ball pad for a movie. Knowing he was going to do this I made cupcakes to go along with the movie theme. Though they turned out adorable with the marshmallows looking exactly like popcorn, they did not taste good. I didn’t have shortening for the icing and so I used cream cheese, which would have been fine had I not run out of powdered sugar. I think I put almost all of them in the trash afterwards. I’m just keeping it real folks.
The babes were never far from the punch bowl and candy jars (and neither was I).
On Sunday she had a new birthday dress to wear for her first day of Mia Maids and she looked as cute as a button. It was nice having her and Mallerie in Beehives together for at least a couple of months, for me anyway. She enjoyed an extended family dinner afterwards here at the house and ate her dream cake from Corner Cakes in Midway. It really is a great cake and I’m noticing it makes blog posts on a regular basis. I guess you could say that cake is part of the family.
While she was at girls camp the week before her birthday I scoured her room and spent an entire day catching up on her laundry for her. Romney and Reagan said, “I’ve never seen Katrina’s room like that so clean and organized.” If only it could last. Yet, we sure love our Katrina Lucy.
A Mile High For the Week (written a mile long)
To save some dough we combined our summer vacation with a week Matt was working in Denver. Company gas and company hotel, which provided six of our meals, was a real bonus. The week was July 12th-16th. Matt promised spectacular views along I-70 and it did not disappoint. The river and canyon made me feel at home like I was driving through Provo canyon but on a much larger scale. Rafters were enjoying the white water along side us, the train tracks were elevated, and the tunnels were LONG. One in particular was three miles. The kid’s comments revealed how cool they thought it was. The only downfall is that while we were in the tunnel we crossed the Continental Divide. That's a term I've learned but couldn't remember exactly what it meant. Matt couldn't imagine this, "YOU don't know what it is???" He learned that I don't like someone saying that to me. Who does? Anyway, to refresh your memory like mine had to be, the Continental Divide is what separates the water that drains into the Pacific Ocean from the water that drains into the Atlantic Ocean. So basically the river before the tunnel was running west and the river after the tunnel was running east. I'm with you; I want to see where it divides! And how does that impact those white water rafters? “YOU don't know???”
The most breathtaking of the drive was through Vail and Aspen. I had dozed off so Matt nudged me, "Vail." The similarities continued Matt said, "We have Bridal Vail they have Vail, We have Aspen Grove they have Aspen,” We got out for some leg stretching and diaper changing. The air was a bit "cool" and Matt said he could sense the snobbery (doesn't TomKat have a house there?). The rest of us sensed something entirely different in the air as we drove away our eyes were itching like crazy. Poor Mallerie looked like a sickly TomCat.
In trips past we have loaded coolers full of food for the trip. This time we didn't so much as bring a box of crackers. We just didn't feel like it. Besides, we knew we would be staying at a Residence Inn where a kitchenette is provided so we figured we would just buy some groceries in Colorado. The grocery store was called King Soopers. Not Supers, Soopers. It is a partner company with Smith's and I was jubilant after scanning my Fresh Values card to hear the computer say, "Welcome valued customer." We grocery shopped after dinner on Monday because we were too famished to go before. Therefore we had to eat out. We found ourselves ravishing over the menu at Perkins Family Restaurant. The sign in the window boasted, "Kid's eat free on Tuesday's." The fact that it was a Monday made me almost want to go somewhere else. Then I realized we'd still be paying for the kids to eat so we went inside. See what couponing has done to me? We were practically the only ones in there and decided fairly quickly on what we wanted since our empty stomachs made everything look appetizing. I pointed to the turkey dinner I had ordered and Matt said, "That turkey looks processed." To me it looked divine. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a meal at a restaurant of any kind and I feared that I am now too finicky to enjoy eating out. But I'll tell ya what, I can't remember a time I was as happy with a meal as I was with that processed turkey. There were no complaints all the way around. They brought the wrong meal out altogether for Graham and only left it because I insisted it was fine. Graham smiled and dug in. On our way out of the parking lot we spotted a Winchell's Doughnuts. Matt promised we'd get some while in Denver.
Another day when I was again reading next to the pool amongst the splashing, I noticed a scene going on outside. The pool windows faced a church. I watched in reverence as a casket draped with an American flag was rolled into the building. I got up for a closer look. If I had it to do over again I would have put my hand on my heart. Matt obviously wasn't quite as moved as I was when I told him this because he said, "I bet we could get in on that luncheon and chalk off another free meal."
I grabbed a bunch of tourist brochures in the lobby to see what we might do while in the mile high city. The most interesting was the US Mint. There are only four in the nation and one is in Denver. "I can't BELIEVE you didn't know that???” I looked online for required reservations only to see they are booked solid till the end of August! The brochure wasn’t kidding when it read, Denver's most popular destination spot. With that crossed off the to-do list I thought back hard to when I visited Denver as a kid. I remembered a cool amphitheatre up so high you could see out to Kansas. It was all made out of red rock. I figured if we got too bored we could look that up. When Matt finished working we went out to hit the town. He took us downtown to the Sixteenth Street Mall. One street (16th) is closed off to traffic and kiosks and shops line the streets. Think Gateway, only dirtier, and it looked like everyone wanted to hurt us. We didn't get very far out of the car when the humidity hit us. I was caught off guard how muggy it was. We had barely looked for sunglasses when Katrina announced she was going back to the car. I felt uncomfortable having my 13-year-old away from us in the city but Matt was fine with it so we walked on. Now, Grayson hates shopping even under the most ideal air-conditioned circumstances so he wasn't having any of this muggy business. We didn't last much longer before peeling out of there, thankfully with Katrina still in the car. Second choice, shopping: No go. I'm calling the US Mint the first choice, which was a no go as well. I suggested the amphitheatre and though the GPS found it all right it didn't tell us we'd get stuck in a traffic jam because an event was happening at the amphitheatre and so you guessed it, the third choice was a no go. On our way out of there I remembered the Alpine slide we went on when I was a kid. But the GPS didn't know what we were talking about so you guessed it: It was a no go. Mallerie and Ava stayed busy playing the alphabet game. At least we knew we could end the day with Winchell's. Nope: Closed. You don't tell Big Momma she's going to get a doughnut and then not give her a doughnut. Tuesday was a BUST. The mint wasn't taking reservations till August and I didn't get a doughnut!
We just watched TV that night and Matt and I saw one of those Dateline type shows about a seemingly happily married guy who just disappeared to Mexico and changed his name. This all came out of nowhere to the wife. (I'll tie this in in a sec.)
Wednesday I was determined to do something while in Co. and we all agreed on the Aquarium. We emailed Matt and he agreed to take us when he was done working around 2pm. When he still wasn't there after 2 I sent another email "Have you changed your name and fled to Mexico?" The girls and me decided it would be easy to find him; he would be living in Mexico as Matteo Cavasos. But he emailed right back, "On my way, be there shortly." Katrina was quick witted and told me to write back, "To the hotel or Mexico?" The Aquarium was great! Pictures speak louder than fish so take a gander.
After the Aquarium we decided to go to the mall. The GPS led us to a nice indoor/outdoor mall that what-do-you-know had an American Girl store! They just opened it at the end of March and Mallerie, Ava, and I were down right giddy to walk around it. Katrina walked around with us but I wouldn't describe her as down right giddy. Matt immediately took Gray outside. A doll shop wasn't going to help his mood any. The store had a mini silk screening machine for little doll shirts. We all went to Borders Books afterwards. That Callie in a bookstore! She LOVES books. She wasn't so much interested in having us read them to her, in fact she preferred a big juicy novel to a children's book. She loved to carry it around and flip through its pages and pretend she was reading. We had to get her out of there before she could do full damage.
You can bet we made sure we were back for the complimentary meatball subs at the Hotel that night for dinner. Some older ladies were starring at us during dinner, the same who had stared at us every morning at breakfast. The next morning she asked, "Are you the one with all those kids?" She then proceeded to compliment on how well behaved she thought they were and she notice the older ones helping the younger ones. I had been certain she had been thinking more along the lines of: "Those kids are being noisy, those kids are being messy. Why are they taking up so many tables? I hope they don't waste all that food." (Maybe because that's what I was thinking.)
Graham's comments at Breakfast! "So mom...how is your day?" I answer, "Fine, how is your day?" He responds, "Good...I just went here." The next day, "So mom...how was your sleep?" And then at dinner as I was trying to get settled in my chair with my plate, "Keep it together man!" But the one for the record is as I dishing up breakfast he called FROM ACROSS THE ROOM, "Hey mom...What happened to your hair???" I had in fact slept with a wet bun on my head and it was looking a little strange. Then as I sat down, "Did you go swimming?" Was it really that bad?
It was Matt's turn to take the kids to the pool that night and I loved being in the hotel room with nothing better to do than surf the Internet for cool tubs and sinks. I had brought a design book to read and it had my mind going crazy. But hey, I had nothing better to do! I was a little stir crazy though when Matt and the kids came back to the room. I went to get the water jug from the car so Mallerie came with. It felt wonderful outside and we walked or jogged around the building three times. I didn't feel entirely safe so we moved inside. They have a little workout room there and I had been missing my weight lifting so I told Mallerie to take the water and car keys to the room and then come back and join me. In my mind Matt knew where we were because he had seen her come back. In the workout room we lifted weights, ran on the treadmill, used the elliptical and bike, and then returned to the hotel room. Matt was not there. He had gone looking for me! He hadn't seen Mallerie come back; in fact he thought Mallerie was asleep in her room. So he was pacing the grounds even checking in the bushes! I felt so horrible, just horrible. He said, "I started to wonder if you changed your name and were on your way to Mexico." That special was really messin with us.
Matt met some folks at the pool and later I met them at the gym. Our party of 8 was unimpressive to their TEN kids. They live in Eagle Mountain. Here you think you're going to meet someone exotic and exciting on vacation and then they are from Eagle Mountain. That's always a little disappointing.
On Thursday the sun was baking the land big time and it was the perfect day for Water World. America's biggest and bestest water park. We got in for nearly half the price by going at 1:45 pm instead of when it opened at 10 am. They were sticklers and made us wait till exactly 1:45 before even buying tickets. It was a scorcher that day so waiting was painful with the water so close. We had brought stuff to make PB&J but our jelly couldn't be brought in because it was in a glass jar so the worker poured it into a plastic cup. Then they threw away the hotel knife cause it represented a weapon. Matt was bewildered, "How am I suppose to make my sandwich?" I didn't mind because it was printed on the brochure: NO GLASS, NO WEAPONS OF ANY KIND. It was really our mistake. But stuff like this really bothers Matt it seems. And that was bothering me more than the knife getting chucked! I took Kat and Mall and we headed for some slides. The lines weren't long but SLOW. They practically wait till the person is off the waterslide and making their PB&J before letting the next person down. The water felt so great. We went on two rides before going back to our picnic spot. No Matt and youngins. After searching the kiddy land and wave pools we took the 'air bucket' (like a gondola) down to the other area to look for them there. There were some fun slides for the girls and I didn't want to make them spend the day looking for the others so I left them there and took the footpath back to the picnic area to wait. I looked all over but to no avail for Matt and the younger kids. I wanted Matt to be able to go on some big rides and I also wanted to see the babies play. I got tired of standing for a while and sat on the grass to wait. Surely he would check back eventually right? Next thing I hear, "Abby!" They were already on the air bucket sailing away from me. SERIOUSLY? It's so close to our picnic area I couldn't believe they wouldn't check. So now I just had to wait or I would have been trying to catch up the rest of the day. My other option was to go off by myself but I waited and waited and waited. I got on a couple more slides at the end of the day but never did get to see my babies play. Maybe that’s a good thing because Matt said he was trying to balance both Graham and Callie in the wave pool when a wave crashed on them turning the tube over, which left Matt pulling sopping, sad kids out of the water. I'll have to take them to a water park before the summer ends cause SERIOUSLY?
On the way home we stopped for gas somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't keep my eyes off the mechanics garage. It was spotless. Everything was orderly: hoses were wound, bottles were aligned, the floor was swept. A place for everything and everything in its place. This must have been the reason for my organization fluids to flow the Monday after when Katrina and Mallerie left to girl’s camp. I looked around at all the stuff I don't really need or use that's Matt's: golf clubs, tools, and camping gear galore. Then I looked again and saw that he'd probably say the same thing about all the holiday décor, chargers, and goblets. I figured we are even. It's sixes.
We stopped in Vernal at Wingers for dinner and entertainment. Callie was the entertainment. She was very busy removing the contents from the back of the booth and putting them on the table: the Splenda packets, the salt and pepper, the catsup, the bucket for wing bones. Matt would pick them up as soon as she had turned to get more and place them back on the ledge just as she turned again to place the item on the table. She seemed unaware that it was the same stuff she was moving over and over again and would have done this all night but Matt protested, "My arm is getting tired."
We were nearing home from our 8-10 hour drive when Matt asked everyone to guess what time they thought we'd be home. It looked like he was going to be right on with his guess of 10:22 pm as we neared home. Katrina piped up, "Hey! I didn't guess. I guess 10:23." As we drove down Mill Road the clock in the van flipped to 10:22. Matt sped up as I counted down the seconds, " 59, 58,57,56,55,54..." He threw caution to the wind and was really speeding. It looked like he was going to win...then just as the tires hit the driveway the time flipped to 10:23" The car erupted into cheers and if you had been walking by on the sidewalk right then you would have thought to yourself, "That was some vacation they went on!"
PS: Do you know why Denver is called The Mile High City? (YOU DON'T!!!!!) Well, it's because it's a mile above sea level. See, I'm always learn'n ya.
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