What a month...

Welp. There goes October. Crazy how that happens. October was a good month for us.

Sugar Plum turned three. Man, what a darling little thing she is. It'll be interesting to see how this next year goes, though--because for my kids, it has been the threes that have been 'terrible.' And I can already see the craziness showing up in Danin. She's started throwing fits and developing a temper that she's never had before. Uh, huh. I've seen this before. Great. But anyway, for her birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese. We had never been there as a family before. Interesting place--one that I am WAY too cheap to frequent. Thanks to the special occasion and an on-line coupon that came with 100 tokens, my kids got lucky. And they loved it. We all did, really. Brian and I joked that our 100 tokens would probably earn us just enough tickets to get the kids each one tootsie roll, but would you know it? Brian hit the "Bonus" on one of the games and it spat him out 190 tickets all in one shot. So you'd think that'd be enough to get like a radio or a huge stuffed animal, right? Nope. TWO tootsie rolls AND a plastic frog. Man, those places are crazy. But whatever. It was Dan's birthday, and she loved it.
Becky came up just in time for Camp's birthday. It's become kind of a tradition. She spoils the kids by making them fancy cakes--the likes of which I do NOT have the skills for, and they all totally love it. She even makes and decorates a cake for Jane's birthday while she's here and puts it in the freezer so that Jane will have a fun cake, too, come her birthday in late November. Anyway, for Camp's birthday, we ate Subway and went bowling and then returned home for cake, Oreo blizzards and the new Karate Kid. They did a pretty good job on that remake-- I've gotta say--except that a 12-year-old romance is a bit ridiculous, and NO ONE could EVER replace Mr. Miagi (how the heck do you spell that?!!)
Lucky for the kids, I forgot to send Becky home with Rachel's costumes that she had sent up with Becky LAST year for Halloween, and upon going through the bag, we discovered that there were costumes that fit the kids this year that hadn't last year. So Dan was a butterfly, Jane was a vampire bat, and Camp (again) wore the very same karate outfit that Brian had worn when he was a little guy. So awesome. ( I really am sorry, Rach, for forgetting to send those all home with your mom. You really have saved me every year.) Unfortunately, I never got a picture of Danin in her costume even though she wore it for like three day straight, but I did manage to get photos of the kids with their jack-o-lanterns and of them with their candy, so that will have to suffice. Being that Halloween was on a Sunday this year, things were a little different, but everything turned out really well. Early in the month, I had determined that I didn't feel comfortable with the kids trick-or-treating on Sunday. I wanted them to realize that keeping the Sabbath day holy often times means sacrifice. So anyway....I managed to broach the topic with them one evening, and the idea of not trick-or-treating did NOT go over well. I reassured them, however, that whatever happened--I would make sure they got lots of candy. (Sacrificing can only go so far, after all.) So as it happens, I had a handful of neighbors who found out (either because I told them or they were told by another neighbor) that we would not be going trick-or-treating on Sunday, and were totally happy to have us come on Saturday evening, instead. Now that might be normal in Utah, (and I swear we went trick-or-treating on Saturday in Vegas when Halloween fell on a Sunday) but I can tell you this--the Lacouture kids were the ONLY kids in Florence out trick-or-treating on Saturday night. And even though we were only able to hit about seven houses, those seven houses took care of us. (Man, we are so lucky to have such kind neighbors.) Additionally, this year I made an extra effort to lobby for trunk-or-treating in our ward, which has never been done here (that I'm aware of). Another mother and I made sure that the ward party would have candy and games and everything to make little kids happy, and our ward members really delivered. Some of you have got to be thinking, Does it really matter THAT much? It's just a pagan holiday that involves tons of candy! Yes, it does. Halloween memories of sorting and trading mounds of candy are among the sweetest (pun partially intended) of my childhood.
As my siblings will remember, our childhood started out with my mom being the one to take us trick-or-treating every year. And every year, she would give us a little brown lunch sack and take us to the houses of a handful of ward members and the neighbors whom they recommended as being safe. One fateful year, though, the responsibility of taking us trick-or-treating was delegated to my dad, and though none of us would ever have guessed it (no offense, dad) that absolutely changed everything. That year, we were armed with pillowcases and those suckers took in a good load of candy. And we just could not believe our good fortune. Needless to say, mom was never invited back. What's a few razor blades in a whole pillowcase full of candy, anyway?
So, yeah. It matters that much.

Other than that, Brian's turn for a birthday falls on Sunday, so on Friday, he and I will be heading to Ashland for a day or so where he will be running his THIRD marathon in just over a year. Crazy. And this one is a 26-mile TRAIL run. It's no coincidence that I finally bit the bullet and got Brian some life insurance. He BETTER not push it too hard.

And I'm doing just fine. Like I've said before, I love being pregnant--and part of that is because my body looks so much better this way. It's the only time I have an excuse for no waist and ugly legs, AND I'm finally filling my 36-B cup again. Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful.

With that, I'm about out of words--so I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Oh, one more thing. I apologize for the additional pictures of the house, but I rearranged some furniture and got a couple of fun yard-sale finds, and I know Brooke (if no one else) will appreciate seeing the changes. I've included a couple of the before pics of my kids' rooms so you will know why it is so special to have these rooms clean. Anyway....

Recovering The Past

Despite waking up to the kids fighting this morning, today has been a wonderful day--peaceful (after the morning squabbles were over), relaxing and enjoyable. Brian and I were--for the most part--able to watch both sessions of conference without interruption! I'm not even kidding. I know there are lots of amazing mothers out there who find creative ways to have their kids pay attention to conference, too, but I'm not there yet. I just feel grateful for having gotten to watch it myself. I did, however, take a few seconds to tell my kids why Conference is so important to me. Oh, and I'm just remembering that the kids did get a little of Conference because Camp recognized a reference to the stripling warriors and commented that he likes all the stories of the Book of Mormon. Anyway....

I was in such a good mood afterward that I even let the kids build toilet paper fortifications and have a marshmallow fight even though I just cleaned the carpets this week. Brian voiced his disbelief at my leniency. I told him its important to live a little. Ha Ha. It's amazing (and pathetic) how often the subject of my carpet finds its way into my blogs and conversation. It really is important to me to have clean carpets. It takes a great deal of effort, and causes a significant amount of stress, but it just makes such a difference to have clean carpet. And I'm trying to sell my house, remember, so the carpet has got to look good. As a kid, my grandma Hatch always kept her carpets remarkably clean despite the millions of kids traipsing in and out all the time. It makes me happy to know that she would be impressed to see my carpets now. I know having clean carpet is really, really low on the importance scale, but it gives me a little thrill none the less. Anyway....

Oh, my heavens! You know what I did this week? I successfully transferred over 6400 picture and video files from old hard drives onto our current computer! I had been feeling really sad lately because I've realized that it is already so hard for me to remember specifics of when Camp and Jane were little, and all the records I had to jog my memory were contained on two old hard drives tucked away in the bottom of my file cabinet. I had at least removed and saved them before we tossed our two former computers, but I had no idea how--and if really--I would ever be able to have access to those files again. I'd put off calling a computer guy forever, mainly because of what I feared it might cost, but my need to reminisce finally compelled me to take action. And I didn't end up calling a computer guy at all. Instead, I turned to the source of all worldly truth and knowledge--Google. I did a search for "how do I transfer pictures from old hard drives to my new computer" and a few minutes later, I was on the phone ordering two hard drive cases for a total of just around 25 bucks. When the cases came, I did another Google search for how to install the hard drives into the cases and connect them to my laptop, and before long, I was sorting through thousands of pictures and videos of my babies with a big smile on my face. Oh, and I was especially excited to watch one of the videos--for two reasons. First, it seriously made me giddy to be reminded of how darling Janey Mac was as a little girl, and secondly, I was singing in the back ground and I sounded on tune! You never really know what you sound like when you're singing--you know what I mean? We had friends growing up who were convinced they sang really well, but to our whole family, they sounded somewhat awful. I realize it sounds horrible to say that, but really it was about self-reflection. We had always thought that we sang on-tune enough, but how were we to ever really know? It takes a really close friend to tell you your singing stinks, and we'd never had that kind of friend. Wait a minute! I wonder if my mom ever asked Pam Alger if our singing stunk or not. She would have given us the truth, for sure. Anyway...it seems reasonable that it might be easier to be objective about one's own singing when he/she listens to it as a third person, if you will. I've often wondered at the people auditioning for American Idol with clearly no singing talent. Do they really think they sound good? For sure the delusion will be over once they actually see and hear themselves performing on TV, I've thought. Do you think it is possible that they might hear themselves and still believe they sound amazing? Hmmmm.....It would sure be horrible to find out that not only do I not sing in tune, but I can't even identify when someone else is singing in tune.. Oh, well. I'm choosing to believe that in that video, if not at any other time, I was singing on tune. And that's cool--cool because I love that song. It's the song that I cried and cried to as I drove down the dark highway to meet up with Brian when we were really struggling in our first year of marriage, and it's the song I cried and cried again to when I sat in the Doctor's waiting room after my second D&C. It just means something to me. Something totally unrelated to the lyrics of the song.

Back to the point. The point is--I've finally recovered the past. I'm pretty much a computer wizard by now, and one happy lady, too. I amaze myself. By the way, Google will totally be on my list of my 32 favorite things this year.

Evening The Score

It's just occurring to me that Summer is officially over. Sad. Very Sad. After picking up Camp today, I drove over to the Tuesday produce stand to pick up some peppers and tomatoes, only to see a deserted gravel lot. No peppers. No tomatoes. No peaches. The season is over, and I'm not happy about it. It's a dang good thing that all the best holidays land in the fall and winter seasons, because otherwise they'd have no redeeming value. I've always said that the colder months are better because winter clothes are cuter than summer clothes, but now that my whole clothing sitch-e-ation has changed--not to mention the horrible things that added humidity does to my hair--my attitude about the fall and winter months has changed. Like I said--thank goodness for the holidays.
So far, Camp is really enjoying school. He gets annoyed by my asking for too many details, and he never says things are wonderful, but he always comes home happy and hasn't expressed any concerns, so I'm assuming all is well. I'll get to start volunteering in his classroom at the start of October, which I'm really excited about.
Jane and Dan are in swimming lessons again and Janey had her first soccer game on Saturday. Man, that girl is darling. She was a little timid at first, but soon enough, she was running all over the field--looking back every now and again to revel in Camp's cheering for her. Soccer will have been a huge blessing if for nothing else, just as a reinforcement to Jane that Camp really does love her.
And guess what? I got to do a little decorating recently. Nothing big, but exciting still the same. My friend Kim is in the middle of moving and was getting rid of a bunch of stuff, so she gave me some fabulous contact paper that she was done with. At first, I considered covering the backs of my bookshelves with it, but because I'm not sure it wouldn't harm the wood, I decided to just cover some books instead. I know it is totally lame to not be able to read the titles of the books, but it sure looks good. By the way--have I ever posted pictures of my family room after having painted it blue? Well here it is. I swore I'd never decorate with blue, but I'm eating my words now. I can't seem to get enough of it--although I 'm still accessorizing in green and red. (By the way--these are the new toss pillows I'll be asking for for my birthday. What do you think?)

I had a showing the other day, so I decided to take some pictures while the pillows were still fluffed and the lines were still in the carpet. Those things don't last long, you know. Man, I love it when my house is clean. I almost want to just move out onto the porch.



Brian ran a half-marathon trail run on Saturday in the rain after having worked through the night like half the week, and he still kicked fanny big time. So big time that I didn't even make it to the finish line in time to cheer for and congratulate him. Yikes. And he's just signed himself up for a marathon trail run for the weekend of his birthday. Can you imagine running 26.2 miles of trails?! I think I'll grab my next opportunity to go through his truck for illegal stimulants. The guy's obviously lost his marbles.
So anyway....


It's a good thing I just previewed my post because I almost forgot to explain the title. We're having a boy"! Final score (most likely): boys--2, girls--2. Tie game.

Chapstick

Have you guys all seen Napolean Dynamite? A couple months ago I put it on for my kids to see what they would think of it. They loved it. Isn't that funny?! So they've watched it several times now....Well yesterday, out of the blue, Camp said to me, "Mom, will you bring me some Chapstick?"
"No, buddy, but you can go get it yourself," I replied.
"But my lips hurt real bad," he quoted in Napolean's voice. It wasn't until then that I realized that Camp didn't want Chapstick at all. He just wanted to engage me in a fun Napolean Dynamite dialog. I was totally impressed and laughed for a second before I replied (the best I could in Kip's voice),
"Just get some from the nurse. I know she's got a bunch of them in her drawer."
Camp finished it off right on target with
"I'm not using hers, you sicko!"

Oh, man. What a cool kid I have. That kid's got a memory just like his dad's. I couldn't believe his timing and wit.

Speaking of Camp--his first day of first grade is tomorrow and I'm totally stoked about it. I'm stoked for him and I'm stoked for me. I get to go with him tomorrow for the first couple hours, and I'm feeling like it's my first day of school all over again, too. I wish I had a cute new outfit to wear. Do you all remember all of your first days of school? I remember how exciting it was for me to get a few new outfits for school over the summer and although I would never officially wear them before the start of school, I would line them up on my bed nightly and try them on often... Over several years, most of our school shopping was done at the University Mall in Orem--during our visit to our Grandma Hatch's house. Later on, I remember getting stuff at Contempo. I remember this pair of navy blue Squeeze brand (is that what those things were?)shorts that had white and yellow daisies all over them. I loved them. They were just BARELY long enough to gain my mom's approval, and I wore them with a matching navy v-neck. I was thinking they'd change my life. They didn't.
I have so many memories of being so excited to get new clothes. I remember this one time in elementary school when I was lucky enough to have my mom take me to K-mart to get a new outfit. I chose this ruffly white skirt with stretch pants attached and a baby blue t-shirt. I kid you not--I was so excited to wear that outfit the next day at school that I did not sleep a wink that whole night. I felt sure people were not going to be able to take their eyes off me. Oh, boy...
All growing up, I spent ALL of my money on clothes--I never spent a dime on CD's or fast food or anything else. I just loved getting new clothes. When I worked at the GAP in the Fashion Show Mall my senior year, I'd go over to the neighboring hotel on pay day, cash my check, and head back into the store to spend it on clothes. I didn't make much money working there--or I didn't keep much money, rather. But I got new clothes a lot.
It's interesting how my shopping habits have changed over the years. These days, when I am lucky enough to have a little money to spend on myself, I almost always spend it on something decorative for the house. I care much more about how the house looks than I do about how I look. I would still love to look stylish, but I just don't have the money or time to realize that dream. I shouldn't say that. If I never bought anything for the house, I'd probably be able to dress a lot cuter. But it seriously baffles me when I see other mothers here in Florence who always dress stylishly, because I'm thinking, Aside from anything else, how in the heck are you able to find the opportunity to go shopping to buy those clothes when you have kids? Where are your kids when you are shopping? The few times I have attempted to shop with my kids, I have become so exhausted and overwhelmed so quickly that I've been lucky to get out with a new pair of sweats.
ANYWAY...I'm excited for tomorrow, new clothes or not.

Oh, just one more thing about clothes before I shut up about it, I promise. On Sunday at church, a friend of mine commented to me that her mom had commented to her (did you get that?), "Ann shouldn't wear that shirt she's wearing because it makes her look pregnant." So funny. Luckily for me, I AM pregnant....almost 20 weeks along. Yep. Luckily for me, I am pregnant... :)

A First

Have any of you ever seen one of those medical mystery shows where they tell you about some crazy medical condition and then you (as the viewer) are supposed to try and guess what the medical condition is? Well I've got a mystery of sorts (not medical, though) that I'd love for you to figure out. Here it is:

Almost all of my shirts (like all four of them) have the same little cluster of rips right in the same place--a couple inches below my belly button. Any ideas about how in the heck this could keep happening to all of my shirts?

I'll just tell you because I don't want to ask the question and then likely have no one answer me. The fact is, when I stand at the kitchen sink--which I do for like five hours of every day--it just happens that the counter hits me at exactly the height of my pants' button. So the friction caused by my shirt constantly getting rubbed in between and metal button and a stone counter results in holes in the same place on every shirt. Isn't that horrible? It's horrible, alright.
Anyway, so partly because of that and partly because I hate to have stuff that stains splatter on my four shirts when I am cooking, I really like to wear aprons. I have several of them and I wear them often. And I've found that once I have one on, I usually wear it for the rest of the day. I love being in an apron for some reason. It makes me feel domestic and I feel like it's flattering, and I just feel protected or something. One of the aprons I often wear is a red one with the name Jurgen embroidered on it. Who's Jurgen? I don't know. This particular apron is one of those reject items that was sent from Pottery Barn to DownEast Home because it had a flaw or had the wrong name embroidered onto it. Anyway....

And guess what? Something really remarkable has happened in my home--and more specifically, in my shower. My shampoo and conditioner will be running out at almost the exact same time. Have you ever had that happen? I haven't either! What an amazing first....

I guess it's been a while

Yikes. I'm not sure I've ever gone this long without writing before. And now I feel journal guilt. I hate rewinding.

We went to Vegas and Utah for a few weeks. It was a great trip, as always. The kids had a ball with their cousins and in the water, and I LOVED (and always do love) getting to spend time with my sisters and brothers and sisters and brothers in law. My favorite times with either family are when everyone is together, sitting around talking or playing games or whatever.

There was one night at my parents' house when a bunch of us sat around for a while playing Balderdash and laughing and telling stories, and I was so happy to be a part of it. I think it was the next night when a few of us were still up-- trying (unsuccessfully) to get another fun night going, when Laura slid the following note across the table to Audrey.

So funny. I still laugh when I think of it. (I kept the note and now use it as my bookmark. I'm currently reading The Book Thief. Any of you read it?)

Anyway, during the trip, I even got to meet relatives that I'd never gotten to meet before--Brian's grandma Gigi and uncle Chuck, and nine new cousins on my mom's side. My aunt Becky adopted nine Haitian boys several years ago, and I finally got to meet them.

One of the highlights of my trip was getting to spend the last four days at Sarah's house. It was the perfect end to my trip because no matter how wonderful a vacation is, after about 2 1/2 weeks, it becomes hard to be away from home. The day before going to Sarah's house, I had gotten to that point. I called Brian sobbing. What was so wrong? Oh, who knows? I was just at that point; you know what I mean? But anyway, being at Sarah's house couldn't have been more relaxing. The kids played and Sarah and I just enjoyed one another's company. One of the days we were there, we were able to go to my cousin Ben's wedding reception. It think it was the most unique reception I have ever attended. It was up in a canyon and they had a tin foil dinner buffet. My other two cousins were dressed as hobos and just hung around the fire all night, tending the dinners. Pretty fun.
Anyway... upon arriving, Sarah and I realized that we hadn't put together anything in the form of a gift (we had been running errands and taking the kids places all day). No matter, though. I just scavenged around my endlessly messy van and found a homemade but blank-inside-thank-you card that Camp had made in church on a previous Sunday, wrote a quick note inside and stuffed it with the few dollars we had on hand between the two of us. Bet none of you got a child's thank-you note for your reception. We were so proud of our cleverness. We sat there in the van laughing at our gift and the note inside for at least five minutes. Like Brian always says--no one really cares about the card, anyway. It's all about what's inside that matters. Brian and I are always calculating how much more money a couple could collect if people just forewent the lame little lovebird cards in lieu of a simple envelope from the junk drawer, and just gave the couple the 3 bucks they would have spent on the pointless card. But anyway....

Now I'm back to real life, and to be honest, real life isn't super wonderful right now. But don't you worry. The silver lining to this little rain cloud is that our circumstances have allowed me to come up with the idea for this year's Christmas letter. What more could a girl ask for?
P.S. Oh, and guess what?! While Laura and her husband John were in Vegas, John tried out for the Blue Man Group and made it!! He starts training at the Blue Man headquarters in New York in September and then after two months he'll be assigned a location. See Laura's blog for all the details.