Scales and Tails

Yesterday we threw Brad the coolest birthday party on the planet.  He had about 12 friends come over and we played games and ate cupcakes and then we had a show put on by Scales and Tails Utah.  Shane Richins brought 7 of his closest reptilian friends to our house and taught the kids all about the scaly creatures.  He was really quite funny and the kids just loved him. 

  The tissue balls are a Martha Stewart project you can find here.

  I used spray-on food coloring I got at Wal-Mart and a star stencil I just printed off the internet to do the cupcakes.

  Brad’s friends were very generous and he got some really great gifts. 

We told him this year he had to choose between presents from Mom & Dad or a party and he chose the party.  I’m pretty sure he came out ahead.

When Shane got there he set up a back-drop and a little stage area.  He made Brad an integral part of the show, having him help introduce each of the animals.  Brad was nervous at first, but got more brave with each new one.  This was a Pancake Tortoise named, Shortstack.

This guy was a red-footed tortoise named, Fuzzy Wuzzy (who wasn’t fuzzy, was he?).  He weighed a lot.

He also brought an alligator scull and talked to the kids about how to tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator, and that both of them make very bad pets.

This lizard looked a little scary with his pointy horns, but he was very tame, even letting Shane tap on his nose without snapping at him.

 

Shane had Brad dress up in snake wrangler gear before getting out the milk snake.  At first Brad wasn’t too sure about the snake…

…but then he decided it was ok.

Which was good because then Shane brought out Naners – a 13 foot albino python.  Brad, Corbin and Kennedy were the only ones who wanted to get close to her when she first came out.  But Brad got REALLY comfortable with her!

And then everyone got a chance to get up close and personal with the animals.

     Lucy wasn’t a bit afraid

And I even got in on some of the action.

It was really a great party and even the kids who didn’t want to touch the snakes still had a fun time.  I will admit I may have gone a little overboard on the party, but I think I had as much fun as the kids.  It was time and money well spent.

Happy 5th Birthday Brad!

Today my little Brad turned 5 years old.  I’m still a little bit in shock.  Just 5 short years ago I was holding this tiny, helpless baby:

And now he’s all grown up!!

He chose pancakes for breakfast and I told him I would make them in shapes, thinking he would choose a “B” or a “5” but no, he wanted a bat…it was a bit of a challenge.

He also got a few presents…but I’ll be honest, they were all from the dollar store because we’re paying for a party this weekend.

Brad is such a fun kid.  He has a great sense of humor and usually the only time he gets into trouble is when he forgets he’s a kid and not an adult.  He is an amazing big brother always taking care of Lucy and playing with her.  He is really loving Pre-K and is learning a lot despite the fact that he still says they don’t “teach” things.  Lately we’ve been having a lot of fun playing board games together like Candy Land & Hi Ho Cherry-O.  It’s really fun to play games with him that I loved when I was his age.

I thought for his birthday that I would share a book that Brad wrote in Pre-K last week.  He drew the pictures and dictated it to one of the teachers in his class.  It’s called “Dragons Begin”  Enjoy!!

   

Better luck with the Pirates

Some of you may remember our experience with Brad playing soccer last year.  It was a bit frustrating (to put it mildly).  Brad was totally uninterested in playing and our little team was horrible, but we couldn’t quit because Joe had come the de facto coach.  Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical when he said he wanted to play again this year, but he did a short season of indoor soccer over the summer and that went well, so we decided to let him play again.  He’s doing much better this year with The Red Pirates (they let the kids pick the name).  He seems to understand the game a lot more and he’s actually become quite a good little goalie (which is the position he really likes).  He also has a friend from church, Kennedy, on his team, and one kid from his class at school, so I think that helps.  Another thing that helps is that we have 2 kids on the team named Ricardo and Ramon who are REALLY good, so we’re not getting our trash kicked every game.  I know that shouldn’t matter, but...It’s not fun when the entire game is spent going back to mid-field to kick off because the other team scored again.  I try not to be so competitive…really I do!

Anyway – here are some pictures from last night’s game.

Waiting for the game to start

In this shot Brad was getting tired of waiting and started spinning on the field…that did remind me of last year.
 

Action Shot:

Checking for a skinned knee

Protecting the goal

Brad has decided that screaming his “Pterodactyl Yell” at the other team as they come toward the goal is good defense.  It actually works quite well.
 

Lucy cheering “Go Brad!”

And this is my favorite – doing a somersault to celebrate a goal
 

The Call

Disclaimer: This post is probably going to use a lot of Mormon jargon.  I’ll try to put a little glossary at the end for those of you who aren’t familiar with all the terminology.

I knew before I married Joe that I was going to have to share him with a lot of people.  The fact is that the man just has a lot to offer.  He’s smart, funny and incredibly at ease in talking to pretty much anyone about pretty much anything.  I was sure that his skills would be put to good use within his job, our community and most of all our church.

Shortly after we moved to this ward Joe was called to be the Young Men’s President.  He’s been doing that for about 4 years now.  It’s a pretty big time commitment.  He has meetings on Sundays, activities one night a week and often on the weekend plus camping trips a few times a year.  He’s been REALLY good at it.  I think all the young men in our ward have really come to love him and to see through his example why it’s important to stay close to the gospel and to work hard and do what’s right.  Of course, any time you’ve gotten really good at something and really comfortable, it’s time to move on.

A few weeks ago our Stake President stood up in sacrament meeting and announced that the next week they would be reorganizing our bishopric.  The current bishop had been serving for over 6 years, which is a pretty long time for a bishop around here.  I immediately thought that this reorganization would probably include Joe in some way, but I think he thought he was home free because no one had asked to speak to him yet. 

We were on our way out the car after church when the Stake Secretary literally chased us into the parking lot and said that the Stake President wanted to see us Wednesday night.  3 days was a long time to wait and speculate, however when we finally got there they asked Joe to be the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric.  Of course he said yes.  That’s what he does.

So the big change happened the week before last, but I still don’t think we have much of a concept of what it really means.  I know it means more meetings, more assignments  and most of all more responsibility.  I have total faith that he’s going to do an amazing job.  That’s who he is.

Oh – I should probably add that while we were talking to the Stake President he literally said, “By the way, since you’re here…” and asked me to be the Stake Primary Secretary.  I’m going to be doing that in addition to the Primary Music in my ward each week.  I’m looking forward to getting to know more people outside the ward and to learning some new things.

We have always said that we choose to live in this area because we feel like we are where we’re needed.  I know the Lord will bless us as we take on these new responsibilities and I’m grateful for all the support we’ve already received.  It’s going to be a new and exciting chapter in our lives.

Ward - A group of Church members who attend church at the same time in the same building, similar to a congregation.

Young Men’s President – the Ward leader who is specifically responsible the young men ages 12 – 18.

Call/Calling – In the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints we have a Lay Ministry, meaning basically that the members are called to lead the church and volunteer to do so without professional training or pay.

Stake - A collection of wards (the actual number varies widely depending on the area) that represents a distinctive geographical area.

Stake President – The man with the primary responsibility of leading and organizing the Stake.

Sacrament Meeting – Sunday worship service

Bishopric – The leadership of the Ward consisting of a Bishop and 2 Counselors.

Primary – church organization for children under 12

If you have more questions check out mormon.org

Heber Valley Half Century

On September 25 Joe and I rode in the Heber Valley Half Century bike ride.  We rode 58 mils through Heber & Midway, up to Summit County, through Kamas and Francis and back to Heber.  The map says 56.69, but somewhere we picked up an extra 1.3 miles.  It was a serious challenge, but we had a lot of fun and I’m really glad we did it.

This ride was much more difficult than any ride I had done before because there were some MAJOR hills.  Joe’s ride tracker said that we gained a total of 38oo vertical feet!  The biggest hill was going up highway 32 from Heber to the Jordanelle Overlook.  The hill was about 4 miles long and at times it has an 8% grade.  If you don’t know what that means let me just say that it’s steep enough for them to put up signs warning trucks of how steep it is.  I will freely admit that twice on that hill I made Joe stop just so I could catch my breath.  I did however make it to the top.

And I was still smiling.

Joe also had to wait for me at the bottom of that hill too, because I was not willing to go 45 miles an hour and risk killing myself.  We all know I have control issues.

One fun feature on this ride was that they include a “Biathlon Option.”  When we got to the first rest stop at Soldier Hollow where the Olympic Biathlon was held, we got to hop off our bikes and do some target shooting.  It was fun!

Oh, I also have to mention that I totally fell over in front of like 100 people about 1o miles into the ride.  There was a lot of traffic (bikes and cars) going up to Soldier Hollow and we had to stop at a stop sign and I unclipped my right food from my bike, but I was leaning left and just fell right over.  I was SO embarrassed.  People were rolling down their windows to ask if I was ok.  Nothing hurt but my pride.

Joe and I had 2 free nights at the Westgate Resort in Park City (because we once wasted 3 hours of our life listening to their time share presentation) so we made a weekend of it and Grandma and Grandpa Tibbs took the kids.  We had a really great time and it was a lot of fun to do a long ride like this together.  Joe was very patient with me and only really left me behind on the downhill portions. 

Maybe next year we will ride the century course (100 miles).  But then again…58 seemed far enough.

 

And so it begins…Pre-K

Warning – this will be the obligatory first-day-of-school post.  I don’t want my child to be the only one in the blogoshpere neglected.

We’re lucky to live in an area where there is a district run Pre-K program.  I knew as soon as I found out about it that we wanted Brad to participate.  While he’s highly developed when it comes to social skills, he’s just not interested in having Joe or me sit down and teach him anything about letters or numbers.  I was hoping an actual classroom environment might be better.  I guess we will see.

Brad is going to an elementary school about 5 minutes drive from our house.  It’s not our local school, but it’s closer to our day care provider’s home and she’ll be picking him up most days, so it was the best option.  Of course I had to practically sign my life away to get the district to approve him to go to a different school.  I had to make 4 different phone calls and appear in person – twice.  I just kept reminding myself that I’m going to have to deal with these district people for the next 16 years so I better be patient.

On Friday I went to the orientation and met his teacher.  Her name is “Mrs. Keri Lynn” and she may be the nicest person on earth.  Of course she must also be a tiny bit crazy to want to spend several hours a day with a room full of 4-year-olds.  Yesterday Brad and I went together for a “visit” day where he got to meet the teachers and the other kids and see what it would be like.  He had a great time and was very excited to go back today for his “First Day of School.”  I walked him into the classroom this morning and he smiled at me and said, “Bye Mom.” and went to play.  I am glad there was no tearful scene, but I must admit I was a little sad to be letting him go.  Even though he’s been in day care at least part time since he was 3 months old, this is the first time I’ll be turning him over to someone I didn’t personally choose and in to an environment where he’ll be judged on how he acts and the things he does might affect his future.  It was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

When I picked him up he told me he loved it.  I asked him his favorite part and he said “playing on the playground” which is typical.  I asked him if he made any friends and he said “no” but when I asked him if he met some people he thought he would get to be friends with he said, “Yeah, all the little girls.”  I guess that’s typical too. 

I also asked Brad what he learned today and he said, “Well, they don’t really teach us anything.”  I have a feeling that they just do a very good job of hiding the teaching inside of other activities.  Either that, or the parents and the district are all wasting a lot of time and money! 

Anyway – here are the pictures of my grown up boy!

Lucy is still not sure if she likes the idea of Brad going anywhere she’s not going.  She has never spent this much time away from him!  Hopefully it will be a good learning experience for her too.