IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Monday, June 16, 2008

My Reality

I've never really thought of myself as "old" until just recently. CJ's business (Envision Electric) is sponsoring a women's softball team this year. When he was asked to be a sponsor he said he would on the condition that I would play on the team. It's been about 12 years since I've played women's ball. I quit playing when I had Keaton.

Last Thursday was our first game and I was so nervous that I would make a complete fool of myself. The first time I got up to bat I think I dislocated my left shoulder. Then after I crossed home plate I had to head directly to the bathroom so I wouldn't wet my pants. Happy to say though, we won our game, 17-4. Later that night as CJ was rubbing Icy Hot on my shoulder I realized, sadly, that I am the oldest one on the team. :(

My sister shared a "kid conversation" that she overheard between Klayson, her son, and another friend. It went something like this:
Friend: What does your mom look like?
Klayson: She's tall and she has brown hair that's pokey.
Friend: Pokey hair?
Jayden: Yeah, her hair does poke out.
Klayson: And she's kinda fat.
OUCH!! The truth hurts!

Keaton is turning twelve in a few weeks and I was sad when I realized that he just sang the last of his Mother's Day and Father's Day songs to us. I know he is glad to be leaving Primary, but I kind of brings a tear to my eyes.
Kennedy continues to ask me if she can start shaving her legs. After trying to explain to her why she doesn't want to deal with the hassle of it, I just told her not to ask me again until she was twelve.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Thursday, June 5, 2008

They're Never Too Young!

So school's been out for almost a week now. I am glad to have some time to spend with my kids, but I will also admit we all almost went CRAZY on Monday. It seemed like every two minutes one of my kids was asking to have a friend over, fighting with a sibling, or the ever popular "I'm B-O-R-E-D what can I do?"
Tuesday morning things changed!! They each woke up to a list of jobs. Oh, life is good! They have gotten right in and worked hard so that the house is clean by 11:00. We even have a "Good Cleaner" award. This goes to the child who does their jobs really well without complaint. Isn't it amazing what they'll do for $1 or a slushie! Oh, how I hope this lasts throughout the summer!!!

Monday, June 2, 2008

A Bit of a Mishap

Friday afternoon my kids wanted a snack, but there wasn't much around the house because I desperate-ly need to go to the store. Microwave popcorn seemed like a good idea. I took off the plastic, put it in the microwave, and pushed the "popcorn" button. Like all moms I am a multi-tasker, and while the popcorn cooked I was vacuuming.

You know as well as I do that the popcorn is never done by just pushing the popcorn button, you always have to push the more button a couple of times. So while I continued to vacuum I asked Keaton to start the popcorn again.

Kennedy said to me, "Mom, what's that?" I looked up and my kitchen was filled with smoke.

I was a bit scared to open the microwave because I thought there might be a fire in it, but when I did even more smoke billowed out. I took the bag out to the deck and sent the kids running through the house opening windows and turning on fans. Needless to say, we spent the next hour playing outside.

Once the smoke had cleared, I came in to clean my microwave. I scrubbed and scrubbed and the inside is clean, but still yellow. I have managed to burn the inside of my microwave; which is why, even three days later, my house still stinks!

I told CJ the bright spot in all of this is that we are now taking our first step toward stainless steel appliances. :)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Klayson Nate -- We Think You're Great!

Okay, just another proud mother moment. I received a call from the secretary at Century inviting CJ and I to attend the Kindergarten/1st Awards Assembly because Klayson would be getting an award. Now, mind you, the assembly was in the a.m. so it was a special trip to attend and bring Klayson, since he's an afternoon kiddo. We got there and never saw Klayson's teacher, Mrs. Richins. We sat through the awards from all the kindergarten classes and nothing for Klayson, still no teacher either. Then they started on the first grader awards. I figured I had messed up and we came at the wrong time. After all the awards, the principal, Mrs. Shaffer, gave out some special awards. Klayson was chosen from his class to receive the "Principal's Award" for good citizenship, responsibility, academic, and leadership skills. Way to go Klayson!!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

My Son the CHAMPION!

Okay, it's my time to brag; because of course that's half the reason to have a blog, right?!Keaton has worked so hard in school this year. He has had tons of projects that have required A LOT of work. Like any kid, he was busy with chores at home, football, clogging, and scouts. But, he's managed to get a few 4.0s . So he and his lucky parents were invited to attend the Breakfast of Champions. We are so proud of him and his hard work.
The other bit of good news is that he was selected to be a Head Husky (student council) for next year. Yeah, Keaton!!

What a great year its been, but at the Roberts house we're sure glad that there is only 1 day left!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

What an Incredible Trip!

I know, I know, I know! Its been more than a month since my last post. I freely admit I'm not a good at this blogging stuff. I enjoy reading what everyone else writes, but don't like to take the time to do posts of my own. Actually I started this post shortly after we got home and just haven't gotten back to it to download pictures. Anyway--our trip was absolutely wonderful! Here's the low down of our eleven days in Peru, you may find this boring. If so -- stop reading now.
Day 1 - We flew from SLC to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Lima on April 23.

Day 2 (April 24) - Tour of the city - We visited a cathedral (can't remember the name) that was incredible. After that we went to San Francisco Monestary. Probably the coolest thing about that place was going down to the catacombs. Some people may not like it, but we thought it was awesome. You go down below the monestary and see all the bones and skulls of the thousands of people who were buried there. Definitely not for those who are claustrophobic and don't like weird smells.

We saw tons of other stuff in the city and our guide, Fernando, shared lots of interesting information about the history of Lima. Later that evening we had the oppoutunity to do a session at the beautiful Lima temple. The temple President and his wife are a couple serving from Michigan, but used to live in SLC. We are used to the large temples of Utah, but in this temple there were only seats for about 30 people per session.

Day 3 (April 25) - Pachacamac Ruins - It was so fun to be able to walk all over these ruins and hear the history behind them. There were even a couple of groups of elementary kids there on a field trip. Oh, those poor teachers!
Gold Museum - CJ found this very interesting. A guy has his own personal collection of all kinds of military stuff, dating way, way far back in time. The reason it is the gold museum is because so much in it is made of gold. Later we went to a great mall. We thought it was just a beautiful park, but then you go down an escalator and there's the mall, underground, yet opening out to the beach. That night was went to the fountain park. This was so much fun. There are thirteen fountains and at night, on the weekends, there is a laser light and music show at the main fountain. It was so great. Our kids would have loved it!

Day 4 (April 26) - We flew to Cuzco. After a short rest from the flight,

we went to see some more ruins, Sacsayhuaman. (Or as CJ pronounced, Sexy Woman) Now I know visiting all these ruins may sound boring, but it really wasn't. Our guide in Cuzco, Betho, was so knowledgable. We really learned a lot. After the ruins we did some shopping for cool Peruvian sweaters and those great hats you always see. Later that evening we went to a theater for a live performance of traditional Peruvian dance and music. Great fun!

Day 5 (April 27) - Cuzco/Aguas Caliente. We got up and went to church with Betho, Rueben, and his wife Cynthia. It was really neat to attend and see how humble the members are. They definitely do not take their membership for granted. Surprisingly, there were a few other Americans in the congregation. One sister missionary, who was just going home, and her family from Canada, the couple behind us grew up in Smithfield and they were with friends from SLC. Small World! After church we traveled to a small village where we learned how they make and dye their yarn. It's all done with roots, plants, and bugs. We took a beautiful drive through the mountains to the Sacred Valley.

As we drove we just kept seeing terrace after terrace so high up on the mountains. These people are such amazingly hard workers, and they know no other kind of life. I hate to say I could never even last a day in their shoes! In the afternoon we boarded a train to head to Aguas Caliente (no matter where I am I'm always in "hot water" with CJ). CJ and I had the absolute best seats on the train. Right at the front! The whole front was one big window. What an awesome view! Aguas Caliente is the small village at the base of Macchu Picchu. The only downfall of this part was that you could not take all your luggage on the train, we could only take one small bag with what we would need for two days and we left the rest at the hotel in Cuzco.

Day 6 (April 28) - Aguas Caliente. We got up way early, boarded the bus to Macchu Picchu, and were at the top of Macchu Picchu for the sunrise. This was so incredible!

We've never experienced anything quite like this. I really don't know what to say about it, because words do not do it justice. Our guide, Betho, was so knowledgeable and shared so much information with us. He had been a porter for those who hike the Inka Trail for 9 years. He has hiked to Macchu Picchu 164 times in those 9 years. The Inka Trail takes 4 days and 3 nights and climbs 14,000 ft above sea level. CJ really wants to hike the trail with Keaton when he is a few years older.

Day 7 (April 29) - Aguas Caliente/Cuzco. Happy 14th Anniversary to us!!We got up early and got back on the train to head back to Cuzco.

After a day of touring and travel, we came back to our hotel and there was a beautiful bouquet, sent to us by the travel agency. CJ had also arranged for us to have a massage. It was heavenly. Our guide, Betho, also invited us to come to his house for wedding cake. You see, that's what his wife does for a living, makes cakes. We enjoyed dinner and got to meet all of his children. For dinner we had chicken and potatoes in some kind of sauce. It was good. Then the real treat was guinea pig. When they eat guinea pig, it's kind of like Thanksgiving for us. Yes, I tried it. It tastes like chicken.

Day 8 (April 30) - Puerto Maldanado. We flew to Puerto Maldanado, which is the jungle area of Peru. We were met at the airport by our guide, Jackson. He took us to the boat dock where we boarded a not-so-safe-looking boat and headed down the river to the lodge where we were to stay.

I really was not expecting too much from the lodge, but it turned out great! As it turns out there was a whole tour group from Utah staying at the same place. Again, small world isn't it! Once we got settled in our bungalo and had a couple hours to rest we put on our "irrigation" boots and went on a jungle walk. You wouldn't believe the huge trees. I think my favorite part was swinging through the jungle on a rope. Just call me Jane. Actually it wasn't that glamorous. I did the swing out part great- but when I was swinging back I smacked into a tree. Late that night we got back in the boat to go caiman sighting. They go in the dark because the caiman are hunting food. You know its a caiman, not a bird because when light shines in their eyes they are red. It was a bit scary in the dark, in the boat, looking for alligators. Oh, by the way cold showers in the jungle. Not enough electricity to even power a blow dryer. And they turn the power off at 10:00pm; not to come on again until 7:00am.

Day 9 (May 1) - Puerto Maldanado. It rained during the night and when we awoke the river had risen at least a meter. There were all kinds of debris and tree trunks that had washed down from the mountains and were floating down the river. We put on the boots, boarded the boat again and went to Monkey Island. This was not Jackson's favorite part of being a guide because last year he had been attacked by monkeys. It was pretty neat on Monkey Island because you can totally hear the monkeys all around above you jumping from tree to tree. Then they came to the area where we were because we brought them food, you guessed it bananas.

From Monkey Island we went further down the river to some place where we got out, hiked through the jungle 3 miles, got in another boat, rowed across Lake Sandoval, and had lunch. Before we went back CJ (aka Tarzan) went swinging from a rope in a tree into the lake. Right as he landed the second time someone spotted a balck caiman not too far off in the water. As we rowed back we say all kinds of birds and monkeys in the trees. It was just like being on the Jungle Ride at Disneyland, except all of it was REAL!

Day 10 (May 2) Puerto Maldanado. We got up really early and hiked through the jungle to a clay-lick where hundreds of parrots come every morning to eat clay. The need the minerals found in the clay. We waited, and waited, and waited. We could hear them in the trees, we saw several start their gradual descent, but then something would startle them and they would fly back to the treetops. After and hour of this we gave up and went back to the bungalo. We packed up and boated back to the village where we shopped a bit, and boarded the plane back to Cuzco. We didn't even get off in Cuzco, just picked up a few passengers and headed to Lima. Once we got to Lima we were met by our travel agent, Carmela. She took us to dinner and we did some final souvenir shopping. We got back to the airport about 9:00pm and waited until our flight at 12:30.

Day 11 (May 3) Let the AMAZING RACE begin!!! Because of some stupid paper work in Atlanta our flight was two hours late leaving Lima. (Now, this was a completely awesome trip, but I'll freely admit I was missing my kids and was ready to be home.)

Consequently we arrived late in Atlanta. From the time we landed (and I mean touched down) we had 50 minutes to board our next plane, at 10:30. Wouldn't you know we landed at gate A and departed again from gate T. As soon as we got off the plane we RAN to baggage claim, WAITED, RAN to customs, WAITED, checked our bags again, RAN to security, WAITED, RAN to gate T, only to find that the gate assignment had been changed to GATE B (can you just hear the anger in my typing at this point)!!! We RAN back to gate B. I got there and no one was at the little desk, and the gate door was closed. I went to the next desk, panting, out of breath, and told the guy I had to be on the plane that was just sitting right out the window. Of course I pointed out that the time was only 10:23 and the door should not be closed until 10:30. He politely informed me that, by federal law, once the door is closed no other passengers can board the plane. UGHH!
We went to the Delta service desk and found that the next flight to SLC left at 5:30 pm and we would get 1st class. Tempting, not really. I certainly did not want to spend another day in an airport. The sweet lady at the computer did lots of finagling and got us a flight out of Atlanta at 12:30 to Denver, from Denver to SLC, arriving in SLC at 2:30. Hoorah for me! Home at LAST! It was great to see my kids again!