Teenage Drivers

Witness the perils of letting teenagers drive.

 

I asked Olaf's step dad to look at it. Nothing's damaged except my paint job. Oh, and Middle Child's pride. Olaf's SD said not to bother fixing it until there's a few more dings and scratches. Augh! Don't say that! I guess it's only payback. My parents are probably rubbing their hands in glee and evilly laughing. Mwahahahah! I can hear it all the way from Vegas.

Childrenisms

Last week was a good week. I got to have lunch with several friends three days in a row. It was awesome.

On the first day Baby came home from school early because he wasn't feeling good. I set him up in front of the TV with a drink and told him I'd be back in a few hours. Don't worry, he knows my cell number and could call me if he needed something.

The next day he still wasn't feeling good so the rest of the family met our friends and had a long leisurely lunch. When we got home his food was stone cold. Should've thought of that and ordered before we left, but who wants to stand in line twice?

On Saturday when I was taking him home from his basketball game I told him I was having lunch with another friend and that I'd be back in a few hours, again.

"Mom, we're not French! They may have several courses for their meals, but we don't. Why does it take you so long to have lunch?"

I laughed and laughed. 

Another day we were talking about who knows what, but apparently adulthood because I said, "It really sucks to be an adult sometimes."

We both sighed. And then I said, "Cuz you have to pay bills."

And he replied, "And you're not light and stealthy on your feet like a kid. Unless you train like a Ninja!"

Sometimes the children are priceless.

Competition

I love that Baby and I have competitions on who had the hardest workout the night before. He is taking Karate and is only two belts away from a Black Belt! I'm in Roller Derby.

Baby: We had to do 25 push-ups

Me: We had to do the push-ups while slapping our neighbors hand, then walk 5 steps(?) one directions and start all over again going the other way.

Baby: We had to do a bunch of squats.

Me: So did we, 30 seconds and 45 seconds with our butt against the wall. (as you can see I don't get down nearly far enough yet)

Me: And then we had to do group squats while we went around the circle saying different things.

Baby: Huh?

Baby: We had to do 50 sit ups.

Me: We had to do a ton of sit ups and push ups and jumping jacks. We started by doing 30, skating a bit, then we went down by 5 every time we finished skating til we got to 1 and then we went back up to 30.

Baby: We had to do a ton of jumping jacks too!

Me: I had to do it all on Roller Skates.

Baby: What! That's hard!! You win!!!

A Picture for Every Year

Scouts Honoring Nicholas Ivie

Once again the Boy Scouts have done it. When called to serve and honor others they just can't help themselves. It's a wonderful trait. Today the body of Nicholas Ivie was laid to rest in our cemetery. He is from Utah County and his mother lives in town. To show their support the Boy Scouts came out.

The Fire Trucks hung the garrison flag over the cemetery entrance.

Here's my boys on their corner about two blocks down from the cemetery.

After waiting for a bit the motorcycle cops signaled it was coming. Up in the sky you could hear the news chopper.

The motorcade began.

And it kept coming

And coming

And coming

After most of the emergency vehicles came the hearse

Followed by a ton of family and friends and people come to honor him. The motorcade drove down our street for over 20 minutes. It was amazing.

After the motorcade was done we walked over to the cemetery. I hadn't planned on going to the graveside ceremony until I realized that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

 I wanted to see the boots in the stirrups, backwards.

I wanted to hear the beautiful bagpipes and horns play several songs, not just Taps.

I wanted to hear the 21-gun salute.

I wanted to see the meticulous reverence the Border Patrol showed the Flag as it was folded one last time before it was given to his wife.

I wanted to hear the final transmission from the Border Patrol vehicle.

I wanted to not cry, but it was hard.

It was incredible to watch. I was amazed by the amount of people that came to honor this man. There were even Mounties from Canada. They work with the Border Patrol.

They thought it was beautiful here. And the media couldn't resist talking to some of the Scouts that lined the streets.

Olaf is on TV this time, not me for once.

I was thoroughly impressed with the answers Middle Child gave to the reporter.

And as Baby said, he is a Media Magnet. Watch Fox13 news tonight, maybe they'll even make it on.

 Updated: The family made it on TV, again. Just like Baby said, he's a Media Magnet. He's on right before the others, saluting the Flag as it left the cemetery. Click on the link belowe to see them.

Olaf and Middle Child were featured on the 5 o'clock news.

It was a beautiful day to pay tribute to a wonderful man. May his family feel the peace of the Lord.

Good Bye Cast

Things I've had a hard time doing in the last 2 1/2 weeks

1. typing
2. driving
3. washing my hair (thankfully Olaf is now profecient enough to work as an assistant in a salon)
4. applying makeup
5. styling my hair
6. applying deodorant or let's just say any personal hygeine for that matter.
7. cooking & baking. we've eaten out a lot these past few weeks
8. opening doors while attempting to not drop anything
9. getting dressed, although getting undressed is even harder
10. opening child proof containers - like pain pills
11. sewing - lesson learned
12. cutting my food
13. shopping!

My favorite thing to tell people about the cast was that I hadn't broken anything when I was younger and had been feeling left out. Hence all the signatures I solicited.

Here's a picture of me in the ill-fated parade with my fellow derby girls.I'm in the middle wearing the white skates. It was a lot of fun skating in the parade even though...

Tomorrow I say Goodbye! to the cast! Hopefully I can skate again real soon!

Hatchet Hansen

It's been a while and I'm not making any excuses. But I might be back to blogging. a little. it's hard to type with one arm in a cast, even if it's only temporary. That word temporary makes it sound so...so...wussy. Tomorrow I get the real thing and then I'll feel much more legit.

Middle Child started High School this year. And Baby is in his last year of elementary school. Even when I don't feed and water them they keep growing!

Olaf was called into the bishopric at church. It takes up a little bit of his time. So to get back at him I joined the local Roller Derby league. It's close, but not quite as time consuming as his church job. But I think he might have a better chance of getting into Heaven with his extracurricular activities than me.


But my activities are much funner. Mainly because I get to pick an alter ego name! Seriously, every one should get to pick a fun name for themselves; whether it's for racing or wrestling or game playing or roller derby. it just makes life so much fun.

I came across my name in an unusual way. I was sitting in church next to the sweetest lady. I was hesitant to tell her I had started RD because I was afraid she would shake her head at me. But when she found out she surprised me with loads of support! I told her I needed a name and it had to be kind of mean sounding. And instantly she said "Hatchet Hansen." Immediately I fell in love with the name. But I took a ton of suggestions from people and checked them all in the database and then gave them to my family to vote. And the winner was...Hatchet Hansen!

And that was how I came to have my very own roller derby name! What would you choose as your roller derby name?

Things I Learned This Weekend

This weekend Olaf and I went to a Halloween Party. It was thrown by our favorite DJ and we, on a whim one day, bought tickets. We haven't been to a Bar/Party since we've had kids. I learned a few things that I'd forgotten in the last 17 years.

1. Several days after I bought the tickets I looked at them. I quickly texted Olaf "The party doesn't even start until 9pm! In downtown SLC!" I had forgotten that nothing of consequence starts before 10pm in the Party World.
2. We tried to get there fashionably late but left early because with the highway construction you never know when they're going to shut the whole thing down and wind you through town, making your trip twice as long. Unfortunately we were on time. A big no-no in the Party World.
3. We weren't the only middle-aged, responsible, babysitter-at-home, type. We weren't even in the front of the line for the party. 
4. They carded us at the door. I've never had my ID looked at with such scrutiny and I used to go out with my friends back in college (they needed a driver).
5. Once the doors opened we were faced with the possibility of actually hitting the Dance Floor. Something we were never good at before and a 17 year absence makes you feel even more insecure.
6. All we had to do was wait an hour for people to get good and drunk and then it didn't matter what we looked like on the dance floor.
7. There's No Smoking in bars anymore!
8. There are a lot of Boob Jobs out there, and they like to show their assets off to the world. Hence the costumes: Slutty Pirate, Skanky Cowgirl, Bad Angel, Delicious Devil, Sexy Kitty, and of course Black Leather-Clad Go-Go Dancer.
9. I left my cell phone in the car, I didn't want to lose it, drop it, break it, get it stolen, etc. But I learned that the Cell Phone is an accessory to the dance floor nowadays. People were taking pictures and videos and posting them to Facebook, Twitter, their blogs, and anywhere else they could. Apparently if you go to a party and don't document it, it didn't happen. So sorry, no pictures of us in action.
10. 12:30 with an hour drive home is really late nowadays, we were both so tired the next day. And we didn't even have a hangover the next day to nurse.

We had a blast doing something completely out of the norm for us. We might even go next year if there's another one. We'll have forgotten what it was like by then. Maybe I'll even take my phone for dance floor pictures.

Rain Boots

The other day it was raining wonderfully hard. It was dark and wet and beautiful. As I was getting ready for work I decided I would wear my Rubber Rain Boots. I love them and it doesn't rain much here to I have to get as much use out of them as possible.

While I was at work I decided to go to the Library, I think Middle Child needed another book. (That is the best perk of where I work, access to a good library).  That kid reads so fast that the library has saved me a small fortune. As I was looking at books one of the librarians started walking towards me. I moved closer to the books so she would have room to pass through the aisle.

But then she stopped right in front of me and said, "Can I ask you a question?"

I knew I had paid all my fines so I wasn't sure what was coming next I said, "Sure."

"Where did you get your boots!"

I instantly felt good. Here was a lady commenting in an enthusiastic tone about my boots, I had made a good choice. And then,

"My daughter would love them!"

I wasn't quite sure what to make of that. If she's buying boots for her daughter she can't be that old. Maybe I need to start shopping somewhere else.

Halloween Purses

Remember how I mentioned that I went a little crazy and bought way too much Halloween material? Remember how I created my own Holiday called Halloween in July instead of Christmas in July? Remember how I decided to make all my sisters, mom, and sister-in-laws purses since I had bought so much luxurious fabric?

I did it! I finally finished the last two bags! I had previously mailed out all the bags to everyone and now my littlest sister has finally got hers. Of course, I didn't take pictures of all the bags, I'm forgetful sometimes. But this is the front of my bag in that hideously wonderful Alexander Henry 'The Ghastlies' old lady fabric. I love the old ladies in this fabric. You can just feel them glaring disapprovingly at you whenever you look at them. No wonder I feel guilty all the time lately.

Even thought I bought yards and yards of many different, velvety soft, cotton fabrics I still had to piece the front of my bag together because I didn't have enough. I guess I should have bought just a little bit more.

Lesson learned for next year, 'When in Doubt, Buy More Fabric.' Thought I already knew that, but obviously I didn't. Next year I will be better prepared. Maybe you need to place your order now, then I'll have even more excuses to buy fabric!