Friday, September 30, 2016

Not So Fun Run

Today was the annual Fun Run (or Not So Fun Run as it's known at our house).  In year's past, I have run with the kids, but this year, both of them said they didn't want me to run with them.  Blythe was going to run with Maggie and Brandt was going to run with his teacher, so I was not needed.  As a result, I took a starting line picture of each of them, then helped as a volunteer.  I stood near the beginning of the race and warned runners away from an area of reseeded grass, then took stickers at the end, so I saw both Brandt and Blythe as they ran past (I'm not sure Brandt was really running at all), then they both said hi at the end.  I like the Fun Run and hope, eventually, my kids will come to like it, too.  Brandt only has one more year.  My hope may be in vain.



Rocky, the new school mascot


Blythe on the outside edge with Maggie just in front of her.

Brandt very near the back with the slow moving folk.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Playing Kickball

The Dudes' birthday and Grandma Sue's birthday are on the same day, and celebrating them is sometimes a two-day/activity event.  We get together for lunch for my mom, but do something else for Crew and Griffin.  That's how it went this year, with the Dudes opting for a picnic and a family game of kickball.  How fun is that?  Super fun!  We met this evening at the park by Westridge, had some sandwiches and chips, then all got out and played, from biggest to smallest.

Well, that's not quite true.  Cora had to watch from the pack-n-play, but everyone else played.
No. Kent went to visit Craig and Monica, but everyone else.  Absolutely everyone else.
As I think about it, Blythe and Makenna were party poopers and stayed well away from us, and Mikayla can't run so she took pictures, but everyone else played, which really was most of us.  We had a great time!  Here are pictures to prove it.


 


 
 

 





 


Saturday, September 24, 2016

Goldilocks and a Family Concert

We had a busy morning, though not all together.  This morning I participated in the Goldilocks bike ride, a non-competitive all women's ride.  I rode with Janie Rasmussen and her friend Jen Hodnett who we have biked with before.  The ride began here in Provo, down at Utah Lake State Park, and had various distances you could ride.  There was a 40 and 60 mile distance, but we felt 60 was a bit too far and 40 not quite far enough, so we rode 50 as both of those distances were out and back routes.  It was well supported and on roads we were all familiar with, the company was great, we drafted each other and made good time (just over three hours for our 50 miles), and the stops were hopping with music and fun snacks.  The only downer was that it rained 47 of the 50 miles we rode.  The weather forecast had been for rain Thursday and Friday, but clearing for Saturday.  It did clear up, about 3:00 in the afternoon.  But our whole ride was about 47 degrees and wet, wet, wet.  We tried to draft slightly staggered so we weren't getting splashed directly in the face, but in the last 15 miles, I quit worrying about it and just got sprayed because I was so wet it didn't really matter.  I had on four layers of clothings on top, two on bottom, and I was grateful for every layer.  We were soaked to the skin when we finished; I wrung out my socks before I got in the car.  Not only were we wet, we were dirty for all the road spray.  But they had hot chocolate at the end and homemade cookies, plus we got a cute necklace as an end-of-ride prize, and so all was not horrible.  We did laugh about the conditions knowing that if it had been any other day, there is no way any of us would have been out biking.  But we took it in stride, pedaled away, and made the best of it.  I took a 20 minute shower to try and warm up, and then stretched and stretched to try and make sure nothing tightened up uncomfortably.  Here are before and after pictures of me, Janie, and Jen.  I'm not sure you can really appreciate how wet and dirty we were.

At the beginning.
Jen on the left, Janie on the right.
It hadn't really started raining, so we're dry though still chilly.



At the end.
Soaked, dirty, happy it's over, but pleased to have ridden 50 miles together.

While I was biking, Kent took Brandt and Blythe to a family concert at BYU.  The Beverly Taylor Sorenson Foundation and BYU sponsor four free concerts a year, all with different music, all geared to families with children.  Today's concert was by the BYU Philharmoic and was called The Musical Zoo.  Here is Brandt and Blythe's report.  "The concert was really fun.  They showed us a picture of a walzing cat and then played what the cat would do or say.  The music said, 'me-ow' with a violin and we took out our hands and petted them like a kitty.  There was an elephant and they used the biggest instrument, the bass, and they did 'bum bum bum, bum bum bum' (music from Night on Bald Mountain) to make the sounds.  They also did a swan and there was a girl named Anna, she's 14, and she had danced on that very stage when she was 2.  She had a really beautiful white dress and she was the swan. There was also a donkey (music from Grand Canyon Suite) and they showed us a video of the Grand Canyon with donkeys.  There was also a lion and they did brave, bold music.  They used a musical map for the lion, following paw prints to a lion head where everyone roared together."  How's that for a report!  They all really liked the concert and then really liked lunch at Del Taco and yogurt at Yogurtland.  Fun, fun, fun for the whole family today.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Email Exchange

Brandt has an email account at school, and he often sends me funny emails.  Here is an example, received and replied to today.

(no subject)

Inbox
x

Brandt Barrus

9/22/16
to me
hi mom i am awesome😊😂😂😂😂😎😎😎

Katherine Barrus 

9/22/16
to Brandt
Hello Brandt!
Yes. Yes you are.
😘😘😘😘😘

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

An Email Missive to Charles

I have found that my emails to Uncle Charles are interesting enough that I want to keep them, and this seems like an easy enough way to do it.

Hello Nunc!
It was so great to see you.  I'm glad you made the effort to come to Utah and be with us.  We need to make the effort to come to Washington and see you.  If I can convince Kent to leave the county, and convince the children to behave, we might come.  Don't hold your breath, however.

I'm in the throes of cleaning my house.  Ah! The exciting life of a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM).  I've been going through closets and drawers and getting rid of stuff as well as doing very thorough cleaning.  I read an article just yesterday about those who have so little that the idea of simplifying and paring down are ridiculous.  We are rich--in wealth, in stuff, in blessings, in food.  I'm grateful for all that abundance, but I'd like to have just a bit less of it in the stuff department.  Not Kent so much.  Last night he proudly displayed a trumpet mouthpiece he bought at a yard sale for 25 cents.  While I recognize that 25 cents is nothing, I asked what had possessed him to buy it.  "Look how cool!" he exclaimed (or something to that effect), and then blew me a little tune, a very off key little tune.  "What will you do with this?" I asked.  "You never know when you're going to find a trumpet that's missing a mouthpiece."  True.  So if you happen to run across an incomplete trumpet, I know where you can get a mouthpiece.

The children have just returned from school.  I didn't start this missive soon enough.  Now I must go get them an after school snack.  Kent wanted me to forward you the attached link about global warming.  It's from him, not me.
Love you lots and lots!
Katherine


Tuesday, September 20, 2016

A Reader

Since school started, Blythe has been reading like crazy.  We've been encouraging her to read on her own, as well as aloud to us.  Kent and I are still reading to her each night, too, so lots of reading is happening.  But Blythe's own reading has really taken off.  I catch her all over with her nose buried in a book, and the frequency with which she asks us to read to her as increased as well.    Today she finished not one, but two books, all on her own!  At the beginning of the year, she set a goal to get 25 AR (accelerated reader) points for the term, and a couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Miller upped her goal to 30.  As of today, halfway through the term, she has 32.9 points.  We love a reader!  

Here are just two pictures of her reading, one at the Dudes flag football game, and one in the living room.