It's Just Too Hot

It is way too hot to put effort into anything... including blogging. Our swamp cooler's not working right and we're hoping someone will come to fix it today. But the past several days our thermostat has read in the 90's- degrees, that is. It does not affect our moods in a positive way. Sigh.

Kite Day

The other day, Nichole decided to make a kite. She had a piece of paper and a pair of scissors and a pen and made a "kite."

She had me tie a piece of yarn on it so she could take it outside to fly it. Jr. again wanted to be like his sister so he took a piece of paper that he'd cut some bits off, quickly drew something on it, and had me tie a piece of yarn on it.

He was too wiggly for a non-blurry picture.

So, we went outside and I took some pictures of them "flying" their kites.

Ah, imagination and creativity are a wonderful things.

Happy Father's Day

To a great husband and father who works so hard to take care of his family. We love you always. Hope you get some rest on this Father's Day.

Inspirational Thought

The other day I was driving down Geneva Road to go walking with my sister-in-law at a park. I passed a sign that said the following and I wanted to share it:

The only people you should get "even" with are those who have helped you.

My Picky Eater

Maybe my mom will know this one. Was I this picky in this way when I was younger?


I was so thrilled the other day when I was going to fix dinner and Nichole said that she wanted broccoli and carrots. Hurray. I hope she actually eats them. So, we went to the frozen vegetables- Normandy Blend from Costco- anyone else get that? It's so handy. All vegetables that I will eat. Nichole let me know that she only wanted broccoli and orange carrots, not the other things. I let her know, well I will eat the yellow carrots and the cauliflower. So, we put them in a pot to steam while the rest of dinner was made.
When it was time to eat, I neatly divided up food for her in different sections on her plate. She often doesn't like her food mixed, whereas I'm the person who, at a buffet or potluck, will have things piled on top of each other, cherry pie running into my mashed potatoes. So, neatly divided into different sections. She let me know where to put the carrots and where to put the broccoli. Perfectly satisfied... until she was about to eat. Then she got upset because the vegetables were warm. Of course they were, we warmed them so we could eat them. She didn't want warm carrots and broccoli, she wanted them freezing. Sigh.
Well, I made her wait until I was done eating my carrots and broccoli and cauliflower, then I got the frozen vegetables back out of the freezer and gave her a few pieces. She was perfectly content. She ate them that way. And she was happy. She ate quite a few, too. She was picky enough to care about which vegetables she ate and how they were prepared. In this case- freezing. Sigh.

But what can you say? She's eating her vegetables, right? This is the girl, who for a long time, refused to eat something if it was green. She's eating that green broccoli now... as long as it's frozen.

The KAT's Meow

Me: How you doing, Nichole? You worn out?
Nichole: No. I'm just tired because I did lots of sweeping with my broom.

I can't think of a good title for this one.

After Thursday's show at the library, we were DONE. They were cleaning up some of the decorations when one of the library workers offered to make Nichole a skirt from the little streamers that they'd been using. Of course Nichole was very excited about it- especially since it was purple.

The lady was sweet enough to make one for Jr. as well.

He sure likes to be like his big sister.

Summer is the Busy Season

Summer is the busy season for Balloon Guy Entertainment. Usually I'm the stay-at-home mom, but every once in a while, I get to be involved in a big event or a big build. Last week and this, we've been working on...

Wonderland.

The Orem Library is starting their summer reading program and the kickoff event is always a Teddy Bear Picnic. This year's theme is the Mad Hatter's 'T' Party. With some other balloon twisters, Brendan and Marshall and Mike, donating their time and talent, we created the March Hare's house, a tea table, the Mad Hatter, a playing card, the Cheshire Cat, and numerous giant flowers and giant mushrooms. We started last Thursday at the library and twisted all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, rested on Sunday of course, then set up where the 'T' party was to take place and finished building on Monday. On Tuesday, today, and tomorrow, Jeremy did or will do a magic show (with a little juggling thrown in- get it? Thrown in). So if you want to see the last show and Wonderland in person, the Mad Hatter's 'T' Party begins tomorrow at 10:30am. Get there early (half hour?) because for the last couple days it has been packed.

If you aren't able to make it or just choose not to, here are some pictures of what we've done:

The beginning

The middle

The End

Now I have been involved with big builds before, but this is the first time I've created a large sculpture all by myself (as you know, Jeremy does it all the time). I must say, I'm pretty proud of my "little" table.

And of course I have to give credit to our kids. They have been absolute troopers. It has been crazy dragging them back and forth to and from the library every day. This has been hard on them. But with three room changes during the build, they've been helpful transporting balloons, and playing mostly well while being stuck inside (at least it's not in our hot apartment). We've had our rough moments, but I want to say Thanks to the kids for being such troopers. And they get to go to a 'T' party for three days to see the Mad Hatter and Alice, and listen to storytellers, and watch Daddy's magic show.

It's quite an adventure.

Visiting Thomas and Friends

On Memorial Day, we headed to the Heber Valley Railroad to see Thomas and... friends. Not Thomas' friends, Percy and Gordan and the rest. We went to see our friends.

Balloon Guy Entertainment has been twisting balloons at the "Day out with Thomas" event since 2004. I was involved for several years, including when I was 8 months pregnant with Nichole and 7 months pregnant with Jr. After a while though it gets hard to ask people to babysit your kids for four 10-hour days during Memorial weekend.

Last year and this year we made quick trips to see our balloon twisting friends and some other friends who've entertained there over the years. This year we for sure had to watch the magic show done by Magic Century. We've been entertained by him for years. Our first couple years at Heber we were in the same tent as him, so we were able to listen to parts of his shows while we twisted balloons. This year we sat down right in the front row to watch.

Are you ready for the magic show, Nichole?

It's fun to chat with him before and after his shows. He makes as many jokes in normal conversation as he does during his shows. A definite showman, he is very entertaining.

Now without going back and counting, can you guess how many times I used the term or variations of the term "entertain" in this post?

The KAT's Meow- Mommy's Cooking

Nichole: What's in there?
Daddy: That's salt.
Nichole: Oh, you put it on the French Bread and it makes fire on it?

Catch of the Day- Camping Helper

The Food of Camping

What do you take to eat while camping? Besides trail mix to snack on (yumm), these are the things we brought on our latest camping trip.

While Jeremy was setting up the tent, we had a nice lunch of turkey sandwiches (with leftover turkey from a turkey dinner we had a couple days before- also yumm) and carrot sticks.

While Daddy was making the campfire, the kids enjoyed some watermelon- complete with spitting the black seeds out (hey, it's fun). It's a good thing we thought to bring the kids' "painting shirts" to keep their regular shirts from getting too much watermelon juice on them.

Click on the picture to get the full effect of Jr.'s spitting face.

Roasting hot dogs over the fire for dinner. See the nice long sticks we got so the little kids didn't have to be too close to the fire.

Again, yumm. We had barbecue potato chips on the side.

And of course, how could you have a campfire without roasting marshmallows- especially when you make them into S'mores?

Jeremy of course was smart enough to think ahead and put several graham crackers out ready with chocolate on them for when the marshmallows came away from the fire.

I could have sworn there was chocolate on these graham crackers a minute ago. Kids?

In the morning, Jeremy made dutch oven breakfast for himself and me. We finally got to use our little dutch oven that was a gift at our wedding but had never even been taken out of the box before. We knew the kids wouldn't eat it, so we brought along some cereal and milk for them. That and we had some hot dogs we hadn't used the night before so we were able to roast some more for breakfast.

Yumm. Camping food.

The Telfords Camping Trip

Who wants to go camping?

We made it to the campground. Now what's that sound? Why it's hummingbirds. A LOT of hummingbirds. See, there are a bunch at the caretaker's cabin.

O.K. The play area has snow on it, so I don't want you going on it, but yes, you can make snow balls to throw.

Are you watching Daddy set up our new tent?

Wow, over 6 feet tall and you can actually stand up in our tent.

Let's go for a walk. If the bugs scare you, you can scare them back.

Trying out the new sleeping bags we got with the birthday money Grandma and Grandpa Telford sent for getting a new tent and other camping gear.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa.

After dinner and dessert (hot dogs and S'mores), let's teach the kids to play UNO. It was a tradition for camping trips when I was young.

Good job, Nichole, you won your first time playing.

Good job, Nichole, you won again.

Ah, refreshing morning. The kids are still asleep in their sleeping bags. Though setting the tent on a slight decline caused the kids to slide down off their mats and Jr. onto Nichole's.

Look, there's no snow on the play area this morning. You kids play and I can watch you right from my spot by our nice warm campfire.

Packing up to head home?

This was a good family camping trip.