Seven Peaks

Yesterday was a CRAZY day.  Working 3 days a week is a new switch for me after being home for the last 17 years.  I am off on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I really like to do something fun with my kids.  We have seven peaks passes again this year that so far we have only used once so I promised the kids I would take them.  First we had swimming lessons from 10 to 10:30.  Then I had a Stake Beehive activity until 1:00 and then I had to go visiting teaching.  Which was great, I love the ladies I visit and we just went to lunch so it was actually faster than visiting everyone separately.  I finally got home at 2:30 and we quick and changed our clothes and headed down the canyon.  Raging Waters in Salt Lake has recently become a Seven Peaks location and we decided to try that one.  Oh. Boy.  It was an eventful few hours.  I wish I would have taken my camera. 

The first slide of the day Allen and Rachael conked heads and by the time we got out of the water, Allen's cheek had already started to swell and had a little purple broken blood vessel on it.  OUCH!!  We wiped the tears and headed for more fun.  We went down a couple more slides and then ended up on a yellow one.  Rachael, Allen, and I were on a triple tube.  We went down FAST!!  So fast in fact, that we almost hit the concrete stairs at the end of the pool.  There was a little girl just climbing out so I stuck out my foot to keep from hitting her.  She ended up in the little space between my legs, the tube and the concrete.  WOW!!  That was close. But it was so fun we wanted to do it again :)

While standing in line we were watching all the other people coming off the slides.  A few minutes later we see another triple tube come down the yellow slide with a man and a lady, skim across the water, actually hit the stairs and slide onto the concrete throwing them both onto the sidewalk.  I'm pretty sure they both got hurt.  Because the next thing we know, the yellow slide is closed, there is a new life guard and there are 3 "official" looking people with clipboards watching life guards go down the slide while they assess everything.  Interesting.

We go down some different slides and as we are about to go home, the yellow slide opens again.  Brayden, Allen and I decide to go just one more time.  Well, the yellow slide is still SUPER FAST.  On the first drop off we actually caught air!  When we landed I cranked my neck and slammed my jaw shut super hard.  I was glad my tongue wasn't in the way :)  Brayden and Allen both complained of their backs and tailbones hurting when we got off.  We hit the pool at the bottom and were going faster than I had the first time.  We saw the life guard see us and brace himself in the water. We hit him and then he grabbed our handle just before we hit the concrete.  Thanks heavens for the life guard! 

We sat and watched him for about 15 minutes after we got out.  He got his workout for the day that's for sure.  He got plowed over by several more tubes, rescued people that had tipped over and/or fallen out of the tube on the way down.  It was not like that in the morning so I don't know what happened to make it crazy like that. 

We had a GREAT day though.  I love these days to spend playing with my kids!!! 

We decided we liked this old Raging Waters. 
It may be a million years old but we all decided we liked these slides better than Orem. You just have to look past the rickety staircases :) 
Oh yeah, and watch out for run away tubes  :)

Lolipop or sucker? They are not the same

Today I worked until 5 and then hurried home to get my boys to YM/YW.  We were having a combined boating activity.  Kirk is out of town, Brianna was on a date and Rachael was at Activity Day Camp until 9:00.  That would leave Allen alone, so I decided since I had already been gone all day, to skip YW and hang out with Allen.  I told him we had to go to the bank and then I would take him to Wendy's for dinner.  He loves the bank because he gets treats there.  He climbed up on my lap at the teller window so he could see himself in the camera that they have.  The bank teller then asked him if he would like a lollipop. He got super excited and said "yes!"  I knew he liked suckers but was a little surprised by his enthusiasm.  So she then asked if he had a preference on what kind.  He looked at her, kind of confused and said "no....".  The little container came back with my receipt and a dum-dum sucker which I handed him.  He just looked at me with his disappointed face and said, "this is not a lollipop, it's a tiny dum-dum sucker.  Lollipops are big and round and have lots of colors.  Grami had one and I saw it."  (Now I'm beginning to understand the enthusiasm and then confusion at her original questions.)  Then he unwraps it and says "And this is the worst flavor ever.  I hate this blue kind.  If I knew it was this kind of sucker I could have told her I wanted root beer."  He slumped down in his seat.  All I could say was "Sorry Allen.  I think actual lollipops are just too big for the little container."  There were several moments of silence and then he said, "Mom,  I think that lady needs to learn to call things what they really are and then people won't get confused".  Poor kid :)   But think about it....If you were expecting this:

 

But got this instead:

I think you would be disappointed too.......

Life Goes Fast

So I have a lot to catch up on.  I did this whole blog thing really well when Kirk was out of town in Texas and then I just got lazy I guess.  Just because he isn't gone for so long doesn't mean I can give up on my journal.  I really need to do better because life goes by fast and what isn't written down is easily forgotten. 

And right now I don't want to forget these times in my life.  My family is growing up and I think it's a little fast.  I wish I would have written more when they were babies, but all I can do is start now I guess.

So tonight we went to an SEOP at Brianna's school with the counselors to plan her senior year schedule.  Yeah that's right I said SENIOR YEAR!!!  I can't believe it.  Where did the time go?!  I thought I was a senior just a bit ago.  Anyway, she is amazing, so much better than I ever was when I was her age.  Her grades are incredible and she is on a great track for college. 

She is planning on elementarty ed or maybe special ed or even social worker.  We met with a wonderful teacher who didn't try to force her own agenda on Brianna like we have had in the past.  Brianna has been taking college classes this year and with her schedule the way we set it up she will graduate high school with almost a year of college credits under her belt.  Wow!!!!  I could't be more proud of her and all her hard work!

But I have to admit I walked out of the school and almost started to cry.  With all this talk about college and moving out, it only highlights the fact that the time with all my kids under one roof is limited.  Kirk is always reminding that every stage is fun and he is completely right.  (That doesn't mean that sometimes I miss the other ones though.) Right now I need to soak up this next year and enjoy every minute of it!! :)

Porch Kisses

Well, it's official.  Brianna has been invited to Jr. Prom.  We came home from the Issues Conference tonight to find our porch covered in chocolate kisses...

With a little note...

So fun!!  Although I bet from the title of this you were thinking something different weren't you :)