Traditions

This year marked our fourth annual Jones Gingerbread Decorating Party! We love that this has become a fun part of our Christmas tradition. Our designs have improved with each year. I have sort of worked myself into a corner, however. My kids now believe that it is possible to craft nearly anything out of gingerbread, a task which gets more and more difficult to live up to each year. This was Todd's "lighthouse" in progress. I've already thought of improvements we could make were we to do another in the future.I have a battle between wanting to make Todd do things on his own and loving the fact that he wants to work on things together. He's got a bit of his mom's perfectionism in him, so he likes having help. But I also know he needs to learn how to let things go. This mom thing is a balancing act, that's for sure.

Still not feeling 100% after the head-on collision

This is Ben's "castle", a much better design than last year's castle.

Ben is always surrounded by girls. His luck of the draw is that most of the kids his age that we spend time with happen to be girls. And cute ones at that.

Viola! The finished product.

Thanks, Jones family for your hospitality. We love this yearly event.

Head-on Collision

Todd and Ben made up a new game about a month ago called Tarock. It is a strange combination of football, soccer, and rugby played indoors on one's knees with a beanbag. Todd has a select group of friends with whom he will play this highly specialized "sport." These are friends who listen well, follow instructions, and allow him to change the rules (I'm not sure I would be allowed to play).

Well, a few weeks ago at the annual Jones Gingerbread House decorating party, in between the delicious soup buffet and the decorating, the kids went upstairs for a quick game of Tarock. Todd came down about 20 minutes later in tears. After about 20 minutes sobbing on the couch with the ice pack,
This was the result. I'm a little disappointed that in our cool city of Vegas, there was not a Star Trek convention going on that weekend. He could have dressed up as a Klingon or perhaps a Ferengi:
This was Sam, the other half of that fateful collision. The story finally came out. Apparently, Same and Todd were actually on the same team, running some sort of "tricky play" which involved facing each other on the snap. They collided head on in mid-air.

Either Sam has a harder head or the main force of the blow landed on Todd's head. Not sure which. Either way, about three weeks later, Todd still has a visible lump on his head and a hard protrusion. Thinking perhaps he chipped off a piece of skull? Good mother that I am (recall the shoe sizing problem I had a while back) I'm thinking perhaps I should take him to the doctor?

There have been no games of Tarock since the incident.

FIRST Lego League

I made my coaching debut last weekend at the FIRST Lego league tournament. Really that meant I carried the camera around and read the schedule of events and the map of the school. The kids did everything else. We had a sister team from our Freedom Academy and their coach was the one with actual engineering knowledge and know-how. I learned a lot. Our team, "The Dudes + One" took home the trophy for "Innovation and Strategy" It was a super fun day.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego League is a research and robotics competition. This year the theme was "Body Forward." The kids chose a body system which they then researched. Our team chose the respiratory system. They then had to identify a problem with this system (asthma) and propose a possible solution. Their solution was a surgically implanted device that would sense when the patient was having an asthma attack and instantly inject medicine directly to the airways and lungs. It was called the Asthma Attacker.

The second portion of the event was the robotics challenge. The kids designed, programmed, and built a robot (Lego NXT) that had to navigate through a challenge course with a medical theme. Super cool stuff.

My very favorite of the "Dudes"--It was fun to "coach" Todd's team.

Don't tell these kids that robotics competitions aren't stressful. See that tension in Sofie's face? These were the kids from the other team represented by Freedom Academy. We all prepared for the event together, but I wasn't their actual "coach" on game day.

The whole team. Skyler has our robot in the front row.

The giant minifig (is that an oxymoron?) the kids constructed for part of the research presentation.

On stage during the research presentation skit. That's "Asthmaman" and "Dr. A"

The real highlight of the event--the robotics challenge. I don't remember if our robot was Fred or George.

The "Core Values" portion of the event. This was a teamwork challenge: 4 decks of paying cards, a bajillion binder clips, and a softball. They had five minutes to make a tower to hold the softball. Our team bombed it big time, but they cooperated well in doing so.

I learned a lot from my experience. We had two teams that had entirely different personalities. One team really had a lot of brilliance, but they couldn't stop arguing long enough to get anything done. They would yell at each other when they messed up. When they could get past their differences, they did amazing things. Luckily, this happened in the teamwork challenge and they rocked it.

The other team (my dudes) were delightfully easy going. They would laugh at each other's mistakes to the point of hysterics. But they were hard to motivate. They were so easy going that no one wanted to take charge. They sure had fun.

Kids are so different. They come in a variety of packages and with different presets. What a fun opportunity to try and figure them out.

The Bleacher Incident

So, the bleacher incident (see last post) must be written for posterity.

We did our morning Mayor's Walk and ended at the finish line for the actual marathon. We then decided it would be fun to watch the first runners finish, so we played at the park and stuck around. Then, we got caught up in the drama and excitement of the morning and ended up staying on the bleachers for about two hours. We made a snack trip and a potty trip, but other than that, we were people watching and chatting with new marathon friends. At the 4:30 mark, we were eagerly anticipating Dad's arrival when Ben said, "I need to go to the bathroom."

Now, I had made that trip already and it was a 20 minute hike around the finish line, the runner's zone, through the park, and back. "If we leave now, Benny, we'll miss Grandpa finish his race."

"But I need to go."

"Here's my iPod. That will help you forget," I responded. (Because I am a parenting champion).

Ten minutes later, "I really need to go," he said with urgency that cannot be denied.

Now, I had a dilemma on my hands. I love my kids. Really, I do. But I had been sitting on those bleachers for two hours to watch my dad and cheer him on at the finish. I had our sweet camera for some great zoomed in shots. I was not going to miss this. So I did what any self-respecting parent would do. "Here. Pee in this bottle."

Ben was not interested in this option, "No."

Of course I responded in a totally loving manner, "you can either pee in the bottle, hold it, or wet your pants. I'm not missing Grandpa's finish."

"Fine. I'll pee in the bottle."

So, my mom and I got out our "Go Grandpa" posters and jackets to make a shield around little soon-to-be-naked Ben. I was ready to help him with the delicate aiming procedure. He, however, took the matter into his own hands and while we weren't looking, he set the bottle on the bleachers, dropped his drawers, and proceeded to try and pee into a small-opening water bottle from 2.5 feet in the air. It was running all over the bleachers and dripping down the sides. He had this look on his face like, "I told you guys this was a dumb idea. Look at the mess it's making."

We could do nothing but try to cover him up and pull his pants up the minute he was done. I literally got him snapped up when mom yelled, "Here he comes!" So I whipped out the camera, avoided stepping in the puddle, and got my pictures. We were laughing and cheering all at the same time. When he'd run by, we poured an entire water bottle over the mess and quickly made our way off the bleachers.

We're still not sure how many people saw the event or if there is some sweet little St. George family scandalized by the spectacle they witnessed on the bleachers. But, we didn't miss Dad, I got my pictures, and Ben seems to have come out of the situation unscathed.

26.2

This is my amazing dad just after his first marathon a few weekends ago in St. George. He is amazing! . . . and then some. At first he said this was his first and his last, but he has softened a bit now that he can again walk without pain :)

Grandpa and my boys

crossing the finish line

Near the end--at first we didn't know what the National Guard people were there for, until runners started dropping and they had to catch them.

Dad liked this photo, "Hey. It looks like I'm still running."

"You were still running."

"It didn't feel like it."
Obviously these are in reverse order. This was right after an unfortunate bleacher incident (another post).
This was our morning contribution to the race, our 2.2 mile "Mayor's Walk." Todd actually ran the whole thing and was mighty proud of his accomplishment.

Thanks for the fun weekend, Mom and Dad. Let's do it again next year. Who can we sucker into running so we can come watch and feel like part of the festivities? Chris? Scott? Julie? Ryan? Tal?

Baking and Buddies

This is one of Ben's favorite people in the entire world, and with good reason. Maddie is hysterical--she has the best facial expressions of any four-year-old I know. She is sweet, funny, silly, and a great buddy to play with. Ben and Maddie are like two peas in a pod. I love seeing my boys with good friends who enrich their lives.

Eating the spoils of the birthday cupcakies--I actually caught them re-dipping their beaters in the batter for more dough. Shhhh. . .don't tell.

Cheeseball. Love him.

In defense of the burger

So, we have changed our diet around the McMillan house lately, meaning we have made a dramatic reduction in the amount of meat we consume and a dramatic increase in all plant-based products. This hasn't made me extremely popular in the eyes of my little carnivorous beasts.

So, the other day I was frying up some veggie-bean burgers (which are delicious, if you want the recipe). Todd was bemoaning his lot in veggie-life, quite vociferously I may add. He had commented on their taste, their smell, their general appearance. He paused for a moment and then looked up, "Mom," he said, "it's like taking the name of a burger in vain."

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

Jack is Back

So, call us crazy (we are. . .a little), but we made a special trip to Utah again for the Jack Johnson concert. And it was totally worth it. We went this year with my brother and sis-in-law (who think we're looney). Halfway through Jack's first song, Tal leaned over and said, "He's amazing live." Yep. That explains our lunacy. He is amazing live. And we love it.

Fun date night with the sibs.

Fun shots with the swanky camera. Lovin' it.

Cool screen.

Pre-show (laughing at the G-Love lyrics--not our favorite)

So many cute couples on our blog today.

Seriously fun date night. I'm so glad that I enjoy the company of my husband--(did you know some people don't love hanging with their husbands)? I'm a lucky girl. It was also a ton of fun to ditch all our kids and hang out with Scott and Tal. We both been married for 13 years this year. It's fun growing old/up together. When Jack is back again, we will be, too.

Boise Trip--August

We had a great time in Boise in August, enjoying the company of Grandma Cheri and Grandpa Kevin. The only event we got pictures of? The pool at Ivy Wild. We love this little gem of a water park. I think it costs us $9 for the family to get in. Every summer someone suggests we try out the "real" waterpark at Roaring Springs, but my kids always ask for Ivy Wild. I figure as long as they're happy with the less expensive stuff, why fork out $100 smackeroos? Let's just keep it simple. One of these days they'll want more, but for now I love that they're happy just being kids.

Aren't my mom and dad just the cutest? We had to -get this Vegas friends- wait for a day that was warm enough to get to the water park, and then we finally had to settle for a high of 72. Even as cool as the grandparents are, they wimped out and never even touched the water. But it was a nice day for shade-bathing.

Ben was not deterred by the lack of sun or warmth. He was shallow diving with the best of them.

This is the boy who refused to put his face even close to the water at the beginning of the summer. Thanks to Grandpa Glenn and some magic goggles, we are now a swimming family.

The incredible twin drop slides. Fun stuff!

What else did we do besides swim?

• Well, we chose the hottest day of our visit to go on a geocaching quest on a local trail. Grandma Cheri caught the geocaching bug and had a hard time leaving one of the caches unfound. It's much more difficult to find those hidden caches in areas where plants actually grow. I think we did find four caches in our 2 hours of hiking.
• We drove up the canyon toward Idaho City to Greyback Gulch. We had a fun time caching again and hiking. Ben had a crash and cut up his knee. We lost Ryan and Todd (though they claim they were never), we thought we lost Grandma, but we all made it back safely. Some gorgeous scenery and nice to be out in nature.
• We experimented with some delicious plant-based recipes.
• We enjoyed seeing grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles that we haven't seen in a while.
• Thanks for the fun trip, Mom and Dad.

Stingray Part II

This morning we enjoyed the 100 degree morning at Todd's second swim meet. He greatly improved his performance since his last meet and was dog-tired and GROUCHY by the time we got home. After a PBJ he's improving. . . In his individual heats, he placed 1st in freestyle, 1st in breaststroke, 2nd in IM (individual medley), and 3rd in butterfly. Way to go, little man.

Stoic after his warm-ups (we can't call him Vast the Stoic, perhaps Skinny the Stoic?)

Putting on his game face

Check out the 6-pack on this kid. (And his race tattoo)

After a good race

Getting some good height on the butterfly--poor kid in the next lane lost his goggles

Freestyle form

Treading water waiting for the other kids to finish

Sierra Ranch Girls Camp 2010

So, I have an excuse for my lack of blogging presence for at least one week--I was at Girl's Camp. And it was fun! I had many offerings of condolence when I was called as the assistant camp director, but I was excited. I have only great memories of my time at girl's camp as a youth. My mom and aunt were my camp leaders every year, first in our ward and then at the stake level. I didn't appreciate them or their efforts nearly as much as I should have until this year. You guys were both amazing to share girls camp with me for FIVE years! Love you both.

It was surprisingly FREEZING up there at night. Coming from the mid 90's, this girl was freezing. I had a serious claustrophobia attack in a tent with four other adults and a sloping ceiling. I'm used to sleeping with very few covers on in the heat, so that zipped-up sleeping bag about did me in. Then, when I'd finally talked myself into relaxing, we hear, "Sister Warner!" Ginger got out to check and seconds later yelled, "Back up." So I hopped out of my sleeping bag to find a puke-covered tent. Delicious. Note to self for next year--don't give the girls free access to the snack box on day one. That was seriously a test of my constitution. Ginger Warner is the most amazing woman I know--it didn't even phase her. Then back to the sleeping bag and another round of claustrophobia, and another half hour of clenching and unclenching my feet to try and relax. Finally, I drifted into that blissful land of nod when, again, "Sister Warner." This was followed with another, "Back up." At least round two only consisted of emptying the bowl. . .After that we finally got to go to sleep for the night.

So, we did have a bit of drama and there were moments of homesickness. I wanted to strangle a few of the girls repeatedly. But overall, it was fantastic. There is truly something amazing that happens to so many of these girls when you get them away from the city. One afternoon during free time I looked over to see little groups of girls spread across the hill. And they weren't holding anything. . .no phones, no iPods, no nuthin'! They were talking and laughing and having a good time. Electronic devices were not only prohibited, there was absolutely no reception up the mountain, so sneaking them in wouldn't have helped. Aside from the lack of technology, there is just something about being close to the Father's creations that I truly believe brings out a spark of divinity within these young women. The world around us is so filled with things that simply aren't real. When you can take a girl away from that, she is filled with things that are real, that are tangible, and that bring out her true divine nature. I loved it.

On Friday night, the bishopric came for dinner and testimony meeting. It was a serious crack up to me. Those girls were so excited for these three middle-aged men to come up for a visit. They asked me all afternoon when they were coming. I kept reminding them that I had been with them all week and I had no idea when my bishop husband would show up. When they arrived, the girls surrounded them and sang them camp songs for an hour straight. This is in no way an exaggeration. They were giggly and giddy--it cracked me up.

I was glad to be back home and sleep in my own bed on Saturday night. I was glad for a return to my flip-flops. I was even glad for the heat so I could sleep with a sheet and not wrapped up like a mummy. A little sunburned, a little sore, but happy to have shared a week with these amazing young women.

Watching the flag ceremony. The girls called the bandana look "beast mode"

Brother Dill cooking up some good food

Brother Thiriot

Cute Miss Meaghan

Ally and Katie--"Spirit Fingers"

Only at girls camp will I play a raging bull--sorry you all missed it

Emily (with a peek from Aubrie)

Our flamenco dancers

Allyson Gunnell (and Ginger's hands), Cami, and Hayley

The dancers strut their stuff

Dutch oven deliciousness