Rise and shout!

Rise and ShouT the CougaRs (Garricks) are out!

(**Warning! travel post= extremely long post with lots of pictures- but I swear not even a fraction of what I took!!**) 

For Labor Day weekend we took a quick trip to Utah for the BYU Football home opener. It was so exciting to be back on campus- especially when all of the students are coming back to school. We spent Friday (dragging the kids) around campus. Jackson LOVED the bowling alley in the ELWC, and just couldn't get past the fact that we were not going to go bowling.

We let them play a few arcade games, but then went up to the bookstore to get some new BYU gear! The kids liked it there- well, except for Jackson who kept screaming to "go bowling!!" Then we attempted to walk around campus in 95*+ heat looking at the latest changes to buildings, etc. The SFLC looks amazing- so much better than the old days. The kids didn't find it too interesting, just hot, boring and tiring.

We decided to go down the hill to Legacy Grill for lunch which is where we met up with Sunny & Hyrum.

(I was lucky enough to get to carry {41 lb} Jackson up these stairs after lunch! Ugh!)

I was afraid Hyrum would be a little overwhelmed with all of us and our excitement to see him, but he warmed up fast. After eating we went to Legacy Hall which is basically a BYU athletics museum full of memoribilia.

Everyone had to compare their size with the famous athletes.

(Hyrum has a way to go to catch up with Shawn Bradley!)

(Reagan's hand, Jillie's foot)

(We were excited to see a display about Ryan Denney- a current Buffalo Bill and a member of our ward!)

We had to go over to Lavell Edwards Stadium for the obligatory pictures with the Cougar of course!

We took some time to hang out with Hyrum & Sunny at the hotel

and then went to Derek's office to check out his pretty cool set up there at Omniture and then off to dinner at...

where we met up with a bunch of returned missionaries who served in our OP Ward. It was so much fun to see all of them again!

The highlight of the night for Jillie and Reagan was when Sister Ripplinger and Sister Meredith invited them to hang out after dinner! They took the girls bowling at Fat Catz and out for ice cream. They had a blast hanging out with the college girls! We just love them for doing that!

And by the way- a big thank you to Derek who helped a grumpy Jackson to quit laying on the restaurant floor and cheer up!

Next up: **GAMEDAY!!** WOOHOO!

Man was it ever hot! It was 100* up there in the stands, but oh so fun!

walking to the stadium...

the new Hinckley Alumni Center beautiful & really changes the look of campus

 

Did you know the touchdown cannon is called, "George Q?" :)

...Tangren's

Sunny brought us some BYU blue fingernail polish.

the kids "with" Cosmo

Greg in one of his "happiest places on earth."

Kobe was excited that the band played the Indiana Jones theme at half time!!

a happy afternoon for all!

And for any Cougar fans who wished they could've been there, watch this & sing along...

(You can see in this video how happy Jack Jack is to be at the game.)

And finally: The Last Day

Derek & Sunny invited the kids to sleep over at their place Saturday night- Jillie and Kobe went. Reagan opted to stay with us and keep Jackson company. We went to their ward on Sunday morning and then cut out after sacrament meeting to go to their apartment to change clothes and head to Temple Square.

But before heading north, we went back to Provo so we could take a quick tour of some of the places we had lived like the place we met...

(The Riviera- his apt. #34, my apt. #15)

(Our first apt. #77)

(Our 2nd apartment together)

We didn't go up to Wymount to take a picture of our 3rd apartment though. We moved around a lot while in Provo!

After the kids were thoroughly bored with this tour, we headed up to SLC. We toured the Conference Center. I was reminded what an amazing structure it is. Anyone who is interested in architecture, regardless of religion should go visit this place. Truly beautiful and amazing. Kobe especially liked this amazing work of art...

... and the waterfall that runs from the roof down the front of the building.

(Temple Square seen from the roof of the Conference Center. You can see the construction underway on the other side of Temple Square- the Church's City Creek Center. It will be beautiful, but right now it's just a huge hole deep in the earth.)

I'm glad this place will be fresh in their minds when we watch General Conference (which is broadcast from here) in October.
We also went over to Temple Square but soon the winds blew and the rain fell.

Kobe quickly escaped into the Visitor's Center to watch videos of President Monson while the rest hung back for a few pictures.

And the kids wouldn't let us leave until they could go up the ramp to see the Cristus.

It was a good, but fast trip. More good memories made. :)

Arrested!

This little man is under serious house arrest.

He is REALLY trying to exert his independence and it is scaring me to death! He spends a lot of his time running away from me- going in the opposite direction that I am going- and thinks it's a very funny game. I am exhausted.

About a week and a half ago- while we were staying in a hotel in Salt Lake City- he enjoyed his first big 'adventure'. I had an arm full of snacks for the rest of the family as Jackson and I got off the elevator to return to the hotel room. Jackson took off in the opposite direction down a long hall. With a headache so bad I'm sure you could have seen my head pulsating in pain, I pleaded with him to come with me. He didn't so I did the whole, "See you later. Bye!" thing and went around the corner. Every time I peaked around the corner he was a little closer but would stop when he saw me. Then on the 3rd time I peaked, he was GONE. I didn't know if he was hiding in a room doorway, but I assumed he'd gotten on the elevator since he was OBSESSED with elevators on this trip. I pressed the button, the door opened and the elevator was empty! I ran back to our room told Greg I thought Jackson had gone down the elevator by himself and he called the front desk while I went back to the elevator. Luckily there were only 3 floors, and I figured he'd probably had pushed the one with the star. I reached the main floor ran around the corner and there he was- laughing when he saw me. He is very proud of himself that he rode the elevator all by himself.

Since we've been home we have had him run out into the street or sneak out of the back yard from who ever was watching him only to (thankfully) show up ringing the front door bell. Time to put a lock back on the fence gate!

Today he and I were at Target. I had a lot to get so the first time he started to run away from me I chased him around the store until I caught him and made him sit in the child seat which he's getting too big for. The seat strap doesn't fit around his waist anymore so it's a wrestling match the whole time trying to keep him in there. Anyhow, I got tons of stuff there (of course!) and made it to the check out. He kept trying to stand up in the seat so I let him down- sternly reminding him that he needed to stay right here with me. Luckily it wasn't a busy time at the check out because I had to run and catch him a couple of times. Then while I was paying, he took off again. I left my cart there and went for him... and couldn't see him anywhere. He is so fast and sneaky these days. The cashier sees him down by the cards. I ran down to the card aisles where he went in, calling his name- and he was gone again. Then I hear another mom say, "He's down here in the clothes." I run that way- again, no Jackson. The helpful mother says she seems him running into the purse section. Finally I catch him. I am not happy. Jack Jack just thinks he played the funniest joke on me. I explained how that was not a nice thing to do and there would be no lunch until after he had a time out... in his room... behind a locked door (because that's the only way he'll stay put and not make time out into a game too!) He was not happy.

I still don't think he really gets it though- he really doesn't understand that he cannot do those things. He doesn't understand that I am the one in charge here, not him! That is so frustrating. Maybe he's "normal", but then I suppose my other kids were above average because they never put me through this. He is a challenge. Makes me want to find him a preschool- not to get rid of him- but to find him a new voice that might help him understand. (and to a small degree-a safe place to be while I get my errands done!)

I am a...

...Blogger.
Greg got me this sweatshirt today (isn't it cute?) so of course I had to take a picture. But when you have a head cold I guess you forget that taking a picture in a mirror gives you a reverse image which I didn't even notice until I downloaded the picture... and now I don't even care... so too bad if you do.

I guess this means whenever I need to blog I just put on the sweatshirt and everyone quietly goes away and leaves me to my memory recording. Right? No? Oh well. So here I sit, regardless of the time, the PTO meeting in the morning, the stuffy head, or the cough because it's about time I get some things recorded before I forget. And I would forget. 

I find it much easier to blog if I go through my pictures and just start telling the story behind them. Here's some bits an pieces of life lately...
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Back in the middle of August, we took the kids to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Broadway version) at Art Park. It's a lovely performing arts venue situated on the Niagara River Gorge.

The girls each brought a friend from church- Corinne & Annie.

Kobe didn't even think he'd like to go- let alone invite a friend to the show! (He did like it though!) We gave our 2 extra tickets to some nice women from our ward. It was a really good show. Jackson kept trying to sing along to songs he didn't even know and got quite chatty so Greg took him home at intermission. That was fine since it was already pretty late by then... and I probably enjoyed the show a little more without trying to keep him quiet.


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Friday night we went to our high school football game. Go Quakers! (Yeah... kind of hard to get excited about that name. Then there's the mascot- a cute, sweet, smiling little Quaker man whose name is written across his cape... "OPIE". Yeah... we're tough.But we did blow out the other team 44-6! ) Our friends the Lewis' were there which was nice since I haven't seen them in a little while. We went because Reagan performed at half time as a part of the Junior Color Guard.

There she is in white ready to begin the show.
They did a nice little routine, but unfortunately it began raining just before they began. We were soaked as we waited for her to finish and then make the hike back to the car. Wet, but funny!

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Our experimental garden has verified what we already knew to be true. We really don't know much of anything about gardening... and we have been neglectful weeders. We need to improve out efforts next year!

The tomatoes of course have been growing like crazy. I love having the cherry tomatoes around to munch on. The Celebrity tomatoes are fine, but not great. Probably need a different variety next time.

We got this cute little cantaloupe that smelled SO fragrant and had the perfect texture... but had no flavor. Tasted like water.

Our little watermelons and cucumbers are still doing their best to grow despite our neglect. We'll have to wait and see if they are edible!

We did get a few sunflowers to grow and bloom... but they always look over our back fence at the neighbors yard. I guess they are ashamed of us and our gardening abilities.

Try, try again next year!

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Well, of course I'd hoped to accomplish more, but Jillie gets up in about 4 hours so I'd better get some rest.

Back to School

We arrived in Michigan at 3pm on Tuesday and literally 24 hours later we were leaving to go back to NY. We pulled in just before 11pm. We had to be up nice and early for the first day of school. None of us were really excited this year I think, but luckily everyone got up and ready in time. Jillie was the first one out the door. 7th Grade?! See her texting her friend who was already on the bus to make sure she saved her a seat? Oh my. I'm starting to feel old.

Very sleepy Reagan (5th) and Kobe (2nd) jumped on the bus about an hour later with some good bye kisses from Jack Jack.

This proved to be a surprisingly emotional day for me. Reag & Kobe had missed the meet your teacher day due to the funeral. I told them I would meet them at school this morning with their big bags of school supplies so I could help them find their classes and meet their teachers. When I got there and tried to sign in I was told that I was not allowed to take them to their classes. (There were plenty of teachers and staff available to help any kids find their rooms & letting all of the parents down to the rooms would probably be a mess and take longer for the kids to get settled.) Anyhow, this must have been the straw that broke the camels back for me. I just lost it. I couldn't stop the tears and I felt so ridiculous. I was extra embarrassed when the PTO president put her arm around me and said, "this is hard." I managed to squeak out "we had a funeral yesterday" and "crazy how this hits you at the strangest times." I didn't want her to think that I was crying about leaving my 2nd and 5th graders at school without their Mommy! I'm sure that was a part of it though combined with:

-trying to keep my emotions in check about Grandpa

-feeling like I hadn't done my job as mom to get the kids settled in properly (although they weren't the least bit nervous or unsure and really didn't care at all - maybe even a little relieved that I wasn't walking them to class!)

-the busy day ahead of me

- the ENORMOUS list in my head of things that need to get done to get us organized and back on track again... everything from cleaning and organizing pretty much the entire house to signing Reagan up for gymnastics to finding just the right preschool for Jackson still to teaching Relief Society (1st time in my life!) this coming Sunday....

-probably the biggest culprit- Fatigue from days of traveling and major lack of sleep in the last week

All of that is not a good recipe for an 'in control Nikki'.
When I got to my car I decided I'd better give myself a good (private) cry, get it out before I tear up again in front of strangers! Jackson (fake) cried with me for a minute and then offered me a tissue and told me to,"stop crying!!" The cry did little good though- still feeling overemotional.

Good news today ... Jackson had his 4 year check up. (41 lbs and 41.5 inches) I got a kick out of the nurse trying to give him a hearing exam and a eye exam. Jackson identifying shapes on an eye chart was funny. For circle he said, "basketball". For cup he said, "milk". :) Anyhow it was really nice to talk to the doctor about his developmental delays. When we talked about his low muscle tone, she said, "You know that is very common, especially with boys and he will grow out of it." So nice to hear normal when talking about Jackson. I always worry about him and put blame on myself for his physical and speech delays. Nice to be reassured that in the end he'll catch up. :)

OK, this post is way longer than I intended and a true personal journal entry I suppose. Hope you enjoyed the tour around my brain! (scary!) It's good to get the thoughts out, but now I need to do myself a favor and get some sleep. :)