Strange things are happening in Utah

First off, this afternoon I saw two deer wandering the streets of North East Provo. This is the second deer sighting in my parents' neighborhood in a week. It was odd because I was on my way home from Cabela's where I had taken the boys to see all the stuffed animals, many of which were deer. 

Then, something REALLY strange happened....

I caught something from my mom. Nothing too serious...

...just THE DO.

(Clark, it's like looking into a crystal ball. Will you still love me 30 years and 1 Do from now?)

She's made peace with it.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I think I need to tone down the fun factor of my posts lately. Clark isn't buying the whole "I can't come back home yet because I'm taking care of my sick mom" excuse anymore*. The truth is, we have been doing a lot of fun things here in Utah in an effort to lift my mom's spirits. This morning, we planted some flowers in the front yard. And by "we," I mean my mom and Yaya planted flowers. I contributed by taking pictures, Ike contributed by eating dirt and Booker and his Baba contributed by scooting/skating circles around us. More of that here. 

*I finally have made plans to come back home next weekend. All it took was a plane ticket to Utah for Clark and the promise of his company/help on the drive back :-)

Tough Enough to Wear Pink?

We were and we did. 

Wear pink, that is, to the Lehi Roundup Rodeo. It was Breast Cancer Awareness night and everyone, including the cowboys wore pink. What we didn't know, was that the Lehi Rodeo (voted Best Little Rodeo in the West) would be SOLD OUT. It's hugely popular, apparently, and everyone made us feel pretty foolish for assuming we could just show up and walk right in. 

Here's how it went down:

Me: Hi, I know you're sold out but I really, really want some tickets.

Nice Ticket Guy: Well, I'm not supposed to sell any tickets. We've got a few tickets left for tomorrow night...

Me: Yes, but that's my mom over there. She has breast cancer. She just had her first session of chemo a week ago, so she hasn't lost her hair yet but I promise that she has breast cancer. I'm not lying. And it's breast cancer night at the Rodeo and she's feeling REALLY crappy. We had to beg her to come and she really didn't want to but she did. And now we're here and we REALLY want to see the rodeo. She has breast cancer. Stage 3. Not lying. 

NTG: Sure, I believe you. But I just can't...

Me: And there, that's my sister-in-law. She's Japanese. She doesn't have breast cancer but she's never been to a Rodeo before in her life. Last night, we showed her some clips on YouTube of cowboys roping calves and children riding sheep and she thought it was really awesome/strange. Now she wants to see the real thing and then tell her family back in Japan all about it. There are no rodeos in Japan, only weird game-shows.

NTG: Uh-huh, you see, I can't...

Me: But wait, those are my two SONS. Yes, sons. They're wearing pink shirts because it's breast cancer night and they're too young to know any better, but I'm humiliated on their behalf. But we did it, we wore pink because it's breast cancer night, and my mom, well, you know about her. And my dad, he even went to D.I. to get pink shirts for everyone. And his shirt looks suspiciously not-pink. But that's okay. We'll forgive him. It's breast cancer night and we really want to go to the Rodeo. Please. Please. Please?

NTG: Fine, but I don't ever want to see your face or hear your sad story again.

Well, he didn't say that last part but he did finally agree to sell me some tickets. Probably just to get rid of me. The rodeo, as always, was AWESOME. My poor mom stuck it out and Yaya probably had the most fun out of all us. Although Booker had a pretty good time himself- climbing the bleachers, getting super sticky and generally not watching the Rodeo action. My favorite part? The Rodeo Royalty, of course. Beauty Queens at the Rodeo? I'm sold. If only there there had been a parade with floats and carnival rides. Or a swim suit competition... on horses. I love that kind of junk. I got to see my first pair of hot pink Wranglers. Sadly, we missed the bull riding because it was getting so late but everything else was worth the trouble of getting in. A fun night! Thanks for letting us drag you there, Mom and for giving us an excuse to look cool in pink.

Same slideshow here. 

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Good news for the residents of South Jordan, Utah- you now have TWO temples within your city limits! Yes, with the opening of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, South Jordan is the only city in the world with two temples. Crazy. 

And since I just love being publicly humiliated (on holy ground no less) by a temper tantrum throwing almost three year old, I decided to go to the open house. In truth, Booker was only semi-bad. Not quite terrible enough to shame me into crying while he climbed over the seats in the sealing room, but definitely nothing like the 6 (yes SIX) perfectly dressed, perfectly well-behaved boys who sat in front of us during the movie (and their stupid perfectly perfect Utah mother).

Yeah, my kid wore Crocs to the temple. Get over it. 

Now that I've got that off my chest... it was really lovely to be there. Again, Ike missed out on seeing some beautiful, large scale Teichert reproductions. Oh well. The interior was beautiful and pristine. The cookies in the refreshment tent were delicious and abundant. And there were a bahzillion volunteers with too little to do, so they gave David and Yaya a ride on their little cart. Naturally, Booker was too scared to go so I was forced to walk the 50 feet from the cookie tent to the front of the temple.

A few weeks ago, the Angel Moroni was hit by lightening and suffered a little bit of damage. Can you tell? His arm, face and trumpet are blackened. Is that a bad omen?

There were volunteers in front of the temple whose sole purpose was to take your photo. Ours did a good job.

A Tueller Gathering at the Park

What is it about climbing up

and then rolling down a hill

that will keep a kid occupied for hours?

Maybe it's the company of such fun cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents. 

More of the same slideshow here. 

Good lighting guarantees a whiney/uncooperative child

with a crusty nose.

Really, up next- photos from the Tueller gathering. Sometime tomorrow...

MOA on a Rainy Day

Oh, how I love love love going to the BYU Museum of Art. Oh, how I love going to any museum of art, but especially the MOA because I got married there and because it will always remind me of the best job I ever held. It was so much fun to bring Booker there on a rainy afternoon and see some crazy stuff...

like a wall of balloons

or a sculpture of trash bags

or a wall of duck sauce

which apparently did not impress David

The garbage, however, was quite impressive (at least to Yaya). 

and some not so crazy stuff...

like a room full of Minerva Teicherts

and various other works by Minerva. Too bad Ike was taking a nap and couldn't come. He'll have to meet his namesake another time.

And finally, the main reason we went to the MOA- to see an exhibit by Walter Wick, the photographer/author of the I Spy series of children's books. 

By this point, I was politely reminded not to take photos inside the museum. But it was really cool, I promise. There were several photographs of the setups and some of the actual models themselves. Booker loved seeing larger versions of the pages from his books. If you're in Utah valley, I highly recommend checking it out.  

Up next, photos from our Tueller gathering on Sunday...

My Favorite Shot of the Day

A Chemo Diary

I spent the day at the Huntsman Institute of Cancer and let me just say, it was awesome (for me, not my mom). First off, I need to thank my sister-in-law, Cassie for watching my two boys ALL DAY LONG. Thank you so much Cassie, Lexi and Laney. I had total peace of mind knowing that my kids were not only well taken care of but also having a ton of fun with their cousins. It was so nice to relax and concentrate on my mom all day. 

After visiting the Huntsman, I'm considering a change in careers. Maybe I'll become an Oncologist or a Registered Nurse or a Janitor just so I can spend time in this building. I'd be happy cleaning the beautiful marble bathrooms or shining the beautiful marble floors or refilling the beautiful (not marble) hand sanitizers that were EVERYWHERE. Everything was so clean and sanitized and orderly. I imagine my Celestial Kingdom is a lot like the Huntsman Institute of Cancer. For example, has this little dilemma ever bothered you? You go to the bathroom, you wash your hands, you dry your hands, you grab the GERMY door handle to leave the bathroom and all your hand-washing efforts have gone to waste? Well, the brilliant minds over at the Huntsman have a solution: 

Tiny paper towels right next to the handle. I'm in love. 

Despite the cleanliness, the beautiful views, and the countless tables that were home to jigsaw puzzles, my mom wasn't able to relax. This is the worried face that she had on pretty much all day. Smile, mom, they're about to pump your body full of poison! 

There was lots of waiting around which didn't help her nerves. 

Finally, she made it to the Infusion Suite, which kind of reminded me of the first class section of an airline (a really crappy airline where everyone gets cancer) complete with snack cart and warmed up blankets. 

Coffee, tea, adriamycin cytoxan cocktail?

Mom is chemolaxing- "relaxing" while she gets chemo.

Meanwhile, dad is busy organizing the MASSIVE cancer notebook/briefcase. So much information, so many appointments to keep track of.

And lastly, we got a visit from Oakley, the therapy-dog. Apparently the therapy-rabbit and the therapy-hairless-rat had the day off. No joke, the therapy-hairless-rat. To each cancer-patient his own, I guess.

So there you go. DeNeece, you made it through a tough day! You deserve a big chocolate cake and 5 different types of anti-nausea medications to help you eat it. I'm proud.

Tucson Stake Girls' Camp 2009

Girls' Camp was a... 

REALLY SUPER AWESOME TOTALLY FANTASTIC FUN TIME!!! 

That I'm so glad is over. 

It was extremely exhausting. Here's what I did when I got home yesterday:

- Cried for 10 minutes. I think this was a combination of missing Clark and the boys a lot (there was no cell phone coverage at all) and waking up that morning at 4 a.m. for a sunrise hike. 

- Next, I used the bathroom for the first time in a week (if you know what I mean). How on earth did my bowels know that I was home? Is that WAY too much information? Probably. 

- Then I hugged Booker a million times (Teichert was taking a nap), showed Clark my photos and passed out on my comfy, clean bed for a few hours. While I slept, all my stuff was magically unpacked and every last article of clothing got washed. I have the best husband ever. 

- Next came one of the best showers of my life. This was a wash-your-hair-twice and shave-your-upper-thighs kind of shower. It was glorious. 

- Then I had a delicious dinner at Texas Roadhouse where I enjoyed being the only girl at the table and forgot all about my diet. Yum. 

Boy, I am glad to be home. 

Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time. I'm really impressed with our group of Young Women. Each girl was so hard-working, so kind, and so much fun to be around. I thought teenagers were supposed to be sullen and ornery. They were all so delightful and pleasant. And funny- really, really funny.  I'm glad the only prank that succeeded involved dry ice in the biffy (an outdoor toilet) and didn't require any intervening on my part. 

Overall, I think my favorite part of camp was sitting around the fire pit (with no fire because they weren't allowed) and chatting away with the girls. The conversation inevitably turned to boys, dating, boys, kissing, boys and oh yeah, marriage. And boys. My only advice? Marry the nerd, not the jock. I don't think they took me seriously, though. I'm really excited to see what life holds for each of these girls. I hope they don't mind if I personally stalk them all for the next 10 years. Facebook should make that easy if we move out of the ward. Hooray for digital stalking!

Besides getting to know the girls, I'm also grateful that it was such an invigorating spiritual experience for me- one that I really needed right now. I feel prepared to make the trek to Utah where I'm sure my emotions will be running high. If I can take care of 11 teenage girls, surely I can handle my mother. Right? Let's hope so.

I may not have slept very much, I may have eaten a hot dog that rolled off a plate and into a pile of pine needles and I may have smelt like an armpit all week, but I had a fantastic time. I hope I get the chance to go again. 

Here's a little slideshow of all the fun we had:

And another one with views of the sunrise yesterday morning. Mount Lemmon is truly breathtaking and this particular sunrise was well worth the sleep loss and the freezing cold. I think you can see Venus in the first few shots. 

Blog Catch-up

I haven't been blogging much lately, here's what's new with us: 

- I have bangs. Not severe straight across the forehead type bangs but side sweepy type bangs. I'm still getting used to them but I'm quite pleased. I drove all the way to to Mesa to get my hair done by my sister-in-law Callie because she does such an awesome job and she gives us an amazing discount. Thank you, Callie. 

 

- I fell in love with Pandora all over again. 

- I'm gearing to drive up to Utah in a few weeks to take care of my mom. I've been trolling Pandora to find new music for the trip. Any suggestions? It looks like my brother Chris is going to fly from Cairo to Tucson/Phoenix to help me with the drive. I haven't seen him in a year and I can't wait to have him trapped in a car for 12 hours with me and my children. I'm not being sarcastic. I really can't wait. He's a cool kid. 

- I have awesome friends and family who have kindly offered to babysit my kids while I'm in Utah. Thank you thank you thank you. 

- Before I go to Utah, I'm going to GIRLS CAMP! Five days of no cell phone, no laptop, no diet coke and no boys!?!?! (Whoa, look at all those exclamation marks. I'm going to fit right in at Girl's Camp). Am I nuts? The answer is probably yes but I'm still really excited. Camp Zion is located on Mount Lemmon where apparently it gets really cold. Mount Lemmon even has a little ski lift that operates in the winter. I welcome the cold with open arms. Also, there are bears on Mt. Lemmon. I welcome the bears with open arms- Timothy Treadwell style. Seriously, a bear sighting would be amazing. Unfortunately, there have been several skunk sightings in years past and not a lot of bear sightings. I'm sure I'll have a full (and TOTALLY AWESOME!!!) report of Girl's Camp when I get back.

- Have I mentioned that it's really hot? It is. I bought a slip and slide this morning and set it up during Booker's nap. When he woke up, I showed him some YouTube clips to give him an idea of how to slide on his belly. Parent fail, right? Right. It didn't work and I ended up having to suck it up and show him myself how to run and slide. I'm so grateful that only my two boys were witness to my pathetic attempt to slide.

 His swimsuit was too big and eventually slip'n'slided off. 

- You can't quite tell here, but our small patch of grass is hardly big enough to accommodate the slip and slide. I'm ready for a bigger yard and a new house. We've settled on a great family friendly neighborhood just north of Tucson proper and we're getting ready to put an offer in on a house. Crazy. How did I go from paying $235 a month to share a crappy apartment south of campus with 5 other girls to buying an actual house? Growing up is a strange thing. 

- Eight weeks ago I made the switch from Weight Watchers Online to actual Weight Watchers Meetings. Since then, I've lost a measly 10 pounds. I say measly because this morning Clark informs that that he, too, has lost 10 pounds. What the?! I didn't even know he was TRYING to lose weight. I'm at the gym EVERY morning and I stick to a pretty strict diet and I'm lucky if I shave a pound off each week. Clark, on the other hand, switches from eating out 5 times a week with his co-workers to only eating out 3 times a week and automatically drops a million pant sizes. Ugh. 

- Clark has lost 10 pounds and I'm genuinely happy for him! I'm trying not to be jealous of his weight loss success. Some people are just good at losing weight and don't mind working hard to do so- can I pay those people to lose weight for me? It's much more diffcult for Clark to lose weight because the last thing he wants to do after a 10 hour work day is go to the gym. He's pretty faithful about walking every night with the boys and I'm pretty faithful about sitting in front of the TV and enjoying a house to myself while they walk. 

- Ike endured seven days of exploding diarrhea/vomiting and didn't end up in the E.R. Hooray! We're so glad to have him back. He's recently learned how to pull himself up onto things and is loving the new view this offers him. 

- Booker is transitioning from the terrible twos to the even terribler threes.  Last night, I put him on time-out in the bathroom because he was hitting his bedroom door with a baseball bat. He made himself comfortable, lay down on the ground and curled up with a towel as a blanket. He was as happy as a clam in there for a good 20 minutes until he thought he saw a bug. He freaked out and begged to come off time-out. Sigh. When will I have my sweet, attitude-free little boy back?

- Besides my kids, I've been keeping busy with lots of interesting and varied projects- from the usual patent drawings to grad announcements to flyers for a mixed martial arts gym. This week, I'm working on a logo for a Sloppy Joe stand that will provide employment for the saints in Indonesia. How cool is that? 

Anyways, I'll sign off now because the time has come for me to think skinny thoughts, find my most light-weight clothes and attend my weekly WW meeting.