Crickets

No--not the sporting event beloved by the British Empire. I'm talking the disgusting insect that infests the desert (as seen above). We have 3 geckos and a turtle (along with the 6 parakeets and the dog) as pets, and crickets are a staple of their diet. We had run out earlier in the week, so on Friday, I had to pick some up.

I was running late so I didn't pick them up on the way home from work, but after a ward activity (which ended up involving a Jello food fight, but we didn't start it. REALLY.), we had just enough time before the pet store closed to pick some up. Because I also had to pick up a birthday present for the following day with Madi, I sent Reagan and Tre' in with instructions to pick up 15 minnows (for the turtle) and 20 crickets (primarily for the lizards).

Imagine my surprise when I got a call from Reagan, just AFTER closing time, asking where I was because she had 200 crickets. 200 crickets? Did I hear wrong? Nope....she got it wrong by a factor of 10. 200 crickets. AAARGH! Oh well, the lizards wouldn't be hungry for a while, right?

WRONG--she got baby crickets instead of the regular large ones we go for, so the actual food content was probably about the same. Fine. We dumped them all in the cage. About 15 minutes later Madi was shrieking as the baby crickets came pouring out of the mesh top of the cage (about 1/8" square mesh holes). Yes, I now have 190 crickets jumping around my house (the lizards ate 10 to begin with). I have just enough time to call the bug guy......

Campaign 2010

We've move into election mode in the Risk house--every summer, we start plotting and planning our strategy and then we run through a variety of different logos with associated themes with focus groups (usually we'll find our focus group in the various friends over during the summer). Once we're good with what it looks like, we'll brand the entire campaign, from posters to the speech he'll give. Oh--and buttons. Did I mention those? This year, we've made over a thousand buttons to hand out at the schools.
Reagan is running for president and Tre' is running for vice-president in their middle school. Madi is running for vice president at her elementary school.
Reagan and Madi both liked the same theme--there have been a lot of discussions at their school between different groups of students (English vs. Spanish, etc.). They wanted to find a way to use all the different languages to say that everyone could like a candidate. We didn't want to limit it to just English and Spanish, so we went through a variety of languages (English, French, German, Russian, Mandarin, and Spanish). To honor Madi and her love for animals, we chose dogs from all the different countries. For the buttons, each button has one of the dogs and the phrase "I like Madi (or Reagan)" in the associated language. (At least I HOPE the button says that. I was relying on the translator that was in Word. As long as it doesn't say "Eat at Joe's", we'll be fine.) You can see their posters above--with the pronunciations for each phrase. We'll see how it works out.

My Josh turned 7--and he's been SO excited about it (Poor kid--first day of school and it's your birthday. That's got to stink!) When we've been asking him what he wanted, he's listed things like "an Android phone" (good luck on that one), a million dollars, 36 video games, and a go-kart. However, he's always listed a remote control helicopter as well. OK--we could do the remote control helicopter (we sure weren't doing the million dollars).

He opened it, started it up, and started the hovering process. I've neglected to inform you of the birthday cake that was sitting right in front of him, in its double decker glory. I've also neglected to let you know that I was sitting to the side of the cake, where the reflected trajectory of frosting and cake "could" splatter if the helicopter was to stop hovering.

It did. Josh DIDN'T stop the blades from rotating either. Neither the cake nor I looked fabulous after that.

When You Wish Upon A Star....

There's a lot of reasons to love August in our family. After all, who can't love 120 degree weather in the desert (although that doesn't hold true this year--we've been rather cool for most of the summer in the low 100s!) We have Madi's and Josh's birthdays to celebrate, we have back to school shopping (thanks Kristen for taking Reagan!), we always have new releases of books (can't wait for Mockingjay!), and we have the Perseid meteor showers.

Last year, we didn't get to enjoy these because DJ was still on his way back from Alaska, and I was lazy and slept. This year, however, we wanted the best seat in the house. That seat is found up at the back entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. We headed up there with our beach chairs, drinks, and snacks--of course. Actually, before we headed out, our little black Pomeranian decided to bolt--and YOU try finding a little black pom in the dark WHEN THERE ARE NO STREET LIGHTS!!!!!!!! We eventually got on the road.

Once we hit Joshua Tree, there's a pull off we go to every year, with a nice wide concrete area, with plenty of space to set up the chairs. The stars were amazing--it's scary how much gets filtered out around civilization. The Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. We made plans that when we saw a shooting star, we'd say "12 o'clock", "3 o'clock", "6 o'clock" or "9 o'clock." I don't think we did that once--it was just "OOOHH look at that" or "THERE." Lots of laughs, giggles, and kids sneaking up behind mommy to put there fingers on her and say, "Is that a tarantula?" We also told the story of DJ's first Christmas gift to me--he did that "Name a Star" radio thing. We found where it was on the star charts, went out to look for it--and then (dramatic pause here)--it fell. Right then, right there. Who would have thought it?

We stayed for about 1 1/2 hours, and saw 100 falling stars (more or less--I think Josh may have been counting by twos--or maybe it was me towards the end). There were a couple of brilliant ones that lit up the sky, but most were fleeting. I'm glad we took the moment to enjoy--and continue the tradition. Star watching next fall anyone?

Arachnophobia

A couple of days ago, I woke up, got ready for work, looked down at my leg and thought--"Huh. I must have had an ant bite." (One of the glories of the desert is the fact that we don't have mosquitoes. That's right. NONE.)

Later that day, I thought, "Huh. That ant bite is really itching!" Then it turned into, "That hurts!" By the time I got home, tore off my suit and looked down at my calf, it was swollen, had a bright red patch about 6 inches by 3 inches, and did NOT feel good. DJ slathered on the cortisone cream and a huge piece of gauze.

Let me introduce our major predator in the desert. Her name is Latrodectus mactans--and she is a tricky little devil. She's a lady of the night (in the best possible sense) but has a zillion kids.

It's a black widow. She must have thought I was tasty. By the time I discovered what had happened, it was too late for anything besides cortisone and Advil (also Benadryl with the added benefit of sleeping soundly through the night!). It's much better now, but I think I'll take the mosquitoes from now on.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

We had family movie night last night. Because we are frugal (whoops--CHEAP), we wait for the movies to hit the dollar theater; then because we are REALLY CHEAP we wait for Monday nights when its 75 cent night.

Recently we've sat through Clash of the Titans (it wasn't any better than the 1982 version), numerous kids flicks, and Reagan and I wanted to see "Letters to Juliet." Tre' nixed it at every opportunity, but he's at Scout Camp this week. Monday night--movie night--let's go to see "Letters to Juliet."

Reagan and Madi were on one side, DJ and I were in the middle, and Josh was on my other side. Every so often I'd look over and Reagan and Madi were munching on popcorn, making gooey eyes at the screen, and loving every moment of it. At one point, the Taylor Swift "Love Story" song came on, and they were mouthing the words, smiling.

Josh. Wow. What a difference. About two minutes into the movie, her started complaining about his stomach. Then he started ROLLING around on his seat. Then he grabbed the popcorn bucket and ate non-stop. Then he complained some more. Then he put his head between his knees. THEN I sent him over a couple of seats to do some more. By the time we were at the climax of the movie, he was lying upside down on his seat, legs in the air, throttling his neck with his own hands. I've never laughed so hard.

As A Lowly Aggie--Take THAT--BYU.

Utah moves to the Pac-10! from Semper Ute on Vimeo.

We were in Utah when the PAC-10 announced that Utah would be invited to join, but BYU wouldn't. Two days previously, we visited BYU's campus in an attempt to excite (brainwash) the kids about going to BYU when they were in college.

Every ounce of my Aggie body was screaming that there was another school too. We go to space! We do research! We have Aggie Ice Cream (most important!). However, I just saw this, and died laughing.

Gotta Love Those Rugrats!

They're growing up. It's rather scary being the parent of a 13-(going on 38) year old and a 12-year old. Just wait. Thank goodness they're pleasant (usually) because I'd probably die otherwise.

A couple of weeks ago we had our first go-to-Disneyland trip where I let Tre' and Reagan take off on their own. And by their own, they didn't even stick together. It was just the kid and his or her cell phone. They had to check in (calling or texting) every 30-minutes, but I didn't see them for at least 6- to 8-hours each day. We'd start off with the whole extended family and then after a couple of hours, off they went. They did fine--they even responded to my "where are you, what are you doing, and there are no strange people looking at you, right?" texts with aplomb.

We did have a great time at Disneyland. My sister and her family and my parents were all together for our 2nd annual . With 7 rugrats and 6 adults, my response was to pack a TON of treats (I originally bought 12 Sams Club & Costco cases. DJ made me return half of them.) Janae's family tends to eat a little healthier than ours, and so her kids eyes bugged out at the sheer quantity of Ring Pops, mini-Oreos, hot Cheetohs, and corn nuts. However, we did balance it out with organic apples & carrots (the only reason why they were organic was that the grocery store was out of non-organic ones). We enjoyed our time--I got to go on my favorite rides (yes, I love Small World!) and the older kids got to single ride the horrible Screamer roller coaster ad nauseum. I think Tre' said he rode it almost 30 times. The girls (mine, Janae's and grandparents) had lunch with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. It was adorable seeing the sheer joy in 5-year old Claire's eyes as the princesses sashayed over. Reagan was truly sweet--she hung with Claire, holding hands, and having a great time.

Speaking of growing up, Tre' was ordained a couple of weeks ago. Wow--that really brought it home that he's not the same goofy little kid (Now he's a goofy Deacon. I'll let you take your pick on what's worse.) However, it makes me think to see him in his slightly-too large suit passing the sacrament, being the errand-guy for the bishop, and bounding out of homes after collecting fast offerings (thanks Mattsons--after the cookies and soda, Tre' LOVES collecting fast offerings. We may have to start the feed the Deacon tradition in our family too!) It's reminds me to treasure these memories--and I can start to see the man he's growing into. However, its nice to still have the boy around; after the science fair, he leaned into me and just wanted to rest on me. I love being a mom!

We just finished the California State Science fair. After winning a school, district, and regionals, Tre' moved onto the State Science Fair. There were 900+ entries from the state, and it was held on the USC campus. What an amazing collection of kids. This was the first year it was webcast, so I was able to watch the setup and judging (however, not of Tre's division--that was on a different floor). I loved seeing the kids in their suits, and being prepared with their material. For me, it wasn't necessarily the science, but the experience of preparing and presenting that made the best impression (yes, I know I'm imagining presentations to the Supreme Court or different Boards, etc.). However, the science was impressive as well. The winning middle school projects covered things from studies of Alzheimers and brain inflammation (yes, this was a middle school project), to testing atmospheric gasses for amplifications of UV-radiation passthrough to testing the reactions of fish to different diving equipment (this kid is planning on building a undersea habitat that can sustain him for a week while he studies the reactions of fish to it). Tre' enjoyed presenting his Mexico to Alaska water tests, and he's already planning his next Science Fair project so he can go back next year. In true competitive spirit, so is Reagan. Madi can't go on to the state level yet, but she really, really wants to win a special prize next year. Yeah--the kids do take after their mom and dad just a LITTLE bit.

This is Perfect--

After 4 kids, and 15 years of marriage (in less than a month!), this is absolutely perfect.

Miss Congeniality

Grace under pressure--that's me. I'm trying to imagine that I actually LOOK like Sandra Bullock (yeah, I'm a comedian), but I was walking into the Club and right in front of a huge group of members, I managed to hook my heel inside the strap of the other shoe and went FLAT on my face. I've never fallen so quickly, and my feet got all tangled up. You know that scene where Grace Hart falls? Sigh.

Wow! What a week!

What a crazy week--it started off with DJ's dad's funeral--he passed away last week, and everyone came in to see him and be there for the funeral. We had 3 of the Seattle Risks staying at our home, and we had a blast. DJ and crew went to the water park every day, went on two desert hikes (and only got lost on one), captured some freaky kind of tadpole from the springs on the San Andreas fault line, and stayed up WAY past everyone's bed time. Reagan's already planning her way into traveling to visit her Seattle cousins again.


Everyone left on Monday, and Tuesday was the RIMS district science fair--that's the Riverside, San Bernardino, and two other county sci fair (for you non-California types, the population of that area is close to 5 million people). Because we had all those pictures from this summer, and we wanted the judges to know that our kids had done the projects themselves, we had built a digital picture frame into each of the board. Given the electrical requirements, DJ went up to make sure the projects were set up correctly, but the kids wanted to ride the bus up with the other kids from our district. While he was waiting, the person from the school district asked if he wanted to judge the 4th grade projects at the fair. DJ jumped at the chance--he had a wonderful time and enjoyed talking to the other judges. He saw Reagan and Tre' talking to the judges and giving their presentations. They both seemed to have extra interviews.

The next day was the awards ceremony. We got there, looked at the projects, then found some seats. First the organization went through some special awards--Reagan got one of three awards for outstanding solar research and Tre' got an award from CREEC (which has environmental education somewhere in there). Next came the actual placing. Reagan was disappointed with her Silver, but Tre' got gold, which means he gets to go on to the State Science Fair next month. He's so excited--

The next day Reagan got a letter letting her know that she was accepted to Tech Trek, a summer science camp at University of California Irvine campus; the fee is covered by a local women's organization that tries to "inspire" young women to go into math and the sciences. Her regret over Tre's gold and her silver was washed away.

Later that day we left for the Taylor Swift concert--that's what she got for Christmas. We were on the floor, and as we looked over to the celebrity section, we saw Kobe Bryant, Katy Perry, Jake Gyllenhaal (sp?), Justin Timberlake...wow--we were in the place to be Thursday night in LA. Reagan had a great time, waving her glow stick, jumping up and down, etc. All of a sudden, the lights focused on the stairwell leading down to our section, and there she was. She walked down and 2 feet from our chairs did another set. You can see the picture below. Reagan's the blue glowstick waving frantically (you can see the bracelets she wears all the time).


After the set, she went back front and did a set with Katy Perry (Reagan was able to touch both Taylor Swift's and Katy Perry's hands as they went up front). We got home at almost 3 am--and went to school and work in the morning. I may get my hearing back in the next month or so. 15,000 screaming girls tend to do bad things to your hearing.

Earthquake

It's just too cool of a picture not to blog about. Easter Sunday, getting Easter dinner ready, when Reagan yelled from upstairs, "EARTHQUAKE!!!!!" I shoved the two little ones under the bar and ran to the computer to see what the magnitude of the earthquake was (yes, wrong priorities there). However, I was rather proud that I reported the magnitude more quickly than CNN did!
Here's a picture of the mountain range by our home--the dust was flying from the movement caused by the earthquake.

[Queue in the gloomy, dismal music. ]

[See the lightning crash across the screen.]

[Hear the ominous thunder roll.]

OK--enough with the stage directions. My sweet little 6-year old just had 3 (yes, 3!) root canals and 2 fillings. For the past year (yes, I skipped the 6 month checkups), he said he was brushing his teeth. He was even gone long enough for it to be reasonable. Evidently, he stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself, because he had enough tooth decay to qualify himself as an example for dental school. Maybe even one of those public awareness ads.

Oh well--they'll be falling out soon anyway.

Heidi

Nestle Phone Number

It's been a while since I've blogged (Yes, Mom--I know). However, instead of working the way I should have been doing this afternoon, I saw a Facebook post regarding Nestle's phone number. You really, really, really want to do this.

• Call 800-295-0051
• After it answers and asks if you want English or Spanish, wait quietly for around 6-7 seconds.
• After that, press 4
• The best option is #7.
  
• Laugh hysterically, but quietly. Tears will run down your cheeks.
  
• Stop laughing when the member of the Board you report comes in and asks if you're OK and try to appear professional.
• When he listens and starts laughing know that you're OK.