Lamest. Mom. Ever.

To show you just how lame I am, I didn't even get Halloween pictures this year.  None at all.

Tessa was Hermione from Harry Potter - she is currently reading the third book in the series and loves it.

William was a basketball player.  I made him put on shorts to go trick or treating because it just looked like he was going to school wearing a Jazz jersey.

And Henry didn't trick or treat this year.  We made the decision for him and told him no.  He isn't interested in dressing up at all and was just going to put on a jersey and basketball shorts again if a friend wanted to go.  I told him at some point that you are just a kid going around asking for candy and it wasn't cute anymore.  He ended up playing Wii with a friend until 8 o'clock while the trick or treaters came and went. We had some candy left over so he will still get some treats.

I did, however, let Henry go over to a neighborhood house that really goes all out.  They make scones!  I have never gone because Jay typically takes the kids out for Halloween but this is everyone's favorite - they make scones out in their driveway for one and all.  Very fun.

All in all, a fun Halloween in a fun time of year.  I guess it's the Christmas season now, at least according to my email inbox.  I swear every email from a vendor or retailer was Christmas themed.  I can only hope I will remember to take pictures on Christmas morning.  Sigh.

Mountain Goat Moo Moo

So you know how you give your kids really weird nicknames?  Well, Tessa has a couple that we all use alot - LuLu and Moo Moo.  I have no idea where they came from - I think when she was a baby I made up a song about Tessa Lou and it just morphed from there.  Anyway, that is what we call her in our little circle of Wrights.

She now has a new name - Mountain Goat Moo Moo.  She gave it to herself after a Fall Break weekend spent in Moab and Arches National Park.  She has now decided she loves hiking and is quite good at hiking around rocks and such, like a mountain goat.

We all had a lovely time.  We hiked around Arches and looked at Indian petroglyphs and dinosaur footprints.  William bought a fossil and Henry threw up after eating five cookies the size of his head.  Good times.

I'm sure there are pictures floating around of our adventures in Moab.  But I don't have them.  I do, however, have some pictures that He Who Has An iPhone finally gave to me:

Tessa's birthday on May 3rd - She got a scooter:

 Tessa showing her favorite dance pose before her Dance Revue in mid-May:

 Henry and Jay went to Scout Camp and did a 10 mile hike in June:

 William's awesome baseball team - they only lost one game all year:

 William hiked with Jay up Logan Canyon to the Wind Caves:

 Jay hiked with the Varsity Scouts from our ward to King's Peak, the highest point in Utah:

By Christmas I am sure I will have pictures of our trip to So Cal and our UEA trip to Moab.  Perhaps I should just start taking a real camera when we go places and, I don't know, take pictures.

Nah.

The Golden Question

Want a quick ego boost?  Go to Walmart and buy cold medicine.  They will ask you if you are over 18.

I know they have to ask.  The clerk asked and kind of rolled her eyes at the same time.  But still.  I actually got asked if I was over 18.  I haven't seen 18 in a couple of decades.

Still, it was nice to be asked.   

And, just for fun, proof that I, indeed, am over 18.

And another of the whole family from Disney:

OK, one more.  

September.....

I know I haven't posted pictures from our vacation yet, but I only have the ones we got at Disneyland.  I'll let you guess who has the rest of the pictures on their phone.  Said person is really busy at work though and I feel like a heel pestering him about them so they will have to wait.

September has been....OK.  Henry broke his arm last weekend while mountain biking at a Scout campout in Idaho.  He dislocated a bone and has a fractured wrist.  No surgery needed, thank heavens.  He gets his cast on Monday.  We're hoping for a shorter cast to allow him greater mobility.  Partly for his comfort and convenience and partly because he really, really doesn't like needing help for the simplest of tasks and Jay and I spend a lot of time taking deep breaths and counting to 10 as he reminds us just how unhappy he is about all of that.

William is famous!  Well, kind of.  He was mentioned in a newspaper article about his elementary school's PTA fundraiser.  You can find it at the link here:
http://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/article_9173ef58-1cfc-11e3-9ff2-001a4bcf887a.html

If you don't want to scan through the entire article, here is his part:

Nine-year-old William Wright, also from Summit Elementary, came out to the trot even though he didn’t have any sponsors.

“I’m here to show support for my school,” he said.

 I wouldn't say he didn't have sponsors - Jay and I donated to the fundraiser. But I was a good sponsor. I even bought him a Slurpee after the run, which is more than some sponsors would do.

And while I don't have all the pictures from our vacation, here is my favorite picture from Disneyland:

Back to School

Henry - 7th Grade

 William - 4th Grade and Tessa - 2nd Grade

Back to School!

The Abyss of Dentistry

William informed a neighbor that I took him to the Abyss of Dentistry.  I'm sure it feels like that to him.  And he only had to have one cavity filled.

Poor Tessa had to have two cavities filled and two more teeth pulled.  Bless her heart.  Her cute little mouth just isn't big enough for all her teeth to come in without a little help.  She did really well.  Well, kind of.  She resisted the nitrous oxide and then threw up all over the place after gagging on the numbing gel.  It was kind of disgusting.  Then she agreed to do the nitrous and didn't even flinch the rest of the time.  Not even when he pulled her teeth.  Magic stuff, I tell you.

Next up is Henry, who needs a cavity filled (I swear we brush our teeth around here) and two teeth pulled. His permanent teeth are coming in in front of and above the baby teeth and they need room to move into the right place.  He doesn't seem too upset about it - he is working on getting them loose and after seeing Tessa yesterday realizes that it won't be that bad.  He might even be able to get them to come out before his appointment in two weeks.  I have a feeling it won't be hard to talk him into using the nitrous oxide.

Then we don't have to go back until February.  Thank heavens.  Out of the abyss until then.

So Cal 2013

Another odd number year, another trip to Southern California for our little family.

Highlights:

1 - Three fun-filled days with the Royal's of Yucaipa, CA.  We played games, shopped, ate, and went to The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  The aquarium was a big hit with everyone, but I would say William enjoyed it the most.  Who knew he would get such a kick out of petting sharks and sting rays?  He was so wet, he might as well have gotten in the pool and swam with them.

2 - For the boys (including Uncle Philip), a Yankee win at the San Diego Padres.   They got to see one of their favorite players, Mariano Rivera, close it out for the Yankees.

3 - Disneyland!  We did three days at Disneyland and it was great.  The weather wasn't too hot at all (it felt hot, but was only about 80 or so during the day) and we were there early every morning to beat the crowds.  We rode everything we wanted to ride multiple times, including the new fun Radiator Springs Racers.  You have to plan ahead to ride this without a long wait, but I stood in line every morning to get Fast Passes and we were able to ride it with only a 15 minute wait instead of the posted standby line wait of 120-150 minutes.   The favorite consensus ride among our family is Star Tours.  We rode it multiple times and had a blast.  William was even the "Rebel Spy" on one time through!

4 - World of Color at Disney's California Adventure is amazing.  We saw it our last night at Disney and it was a great way to end the visit.  Again, you need to plan a bit to get a good spot but ours was good and we really enjoyed the show.

5 - Our new strategy to drive back over two days was great.   We drove from Anaheim to St. George on Friday and from St. George to Hyde Park on Saturday.  Lots less pressure for us to hurry home and a much more relaxed drive.

Lowlights (because of course, there are some during a 9 day family trip):

1 - So Cal traffic.  On the day of the Yankees game Jay, Philip and the boys went to a restaurant in the Pasadena area for lunch and then down to San Diego.  It took them over three hours to drive what should have taken half that.  They actually missed the first have of the first inning.  It was crazy.  Traffic was just busy most of the time - it made us really appreciate our Cache Valley traffic.

2 - Crowds at Disneyland - It was a summer visit and we expected crowds but it seemed even more crowded than our last visit.  It wasn't unbearable or anything and we had a great time, but we noticed by 11 am every day it was really crowded.  Thank goodness everyone in our family was on board with getting up early on vacation because it really paid off in terms of weather (overcast and cool) and the crowds.

3 -  Motion sickness - Tessa got car sick on our way home.  Bless her heart, she has learned her lesson not to eat Spicy Doritos in the car, that's for sure.  She was fine afterwards though and fine for the rest of the way home.  Jay suffered a bit on our first day at Disney - he made the mistake of riding California Screamin with Henry and had to sit out a few rides afterwards until he felt better.  

4 - The mountain of laundry after a 9 day road trip.  I even did two loads on the road but it still took me a while to catch up.  Sigh.  I hate doing laundry.

I'll post pictures when I get them organized and sorted.  We used Photopass Plus at Disneyland so I have over 100 pictures that were taken of our family, including Tessa's official picture with Ariel at Ariel's Grotto and all the ride pictures from Splash Mountain, California Screamin, and Radiator Springs Racers.  We get them all on a CD that is on it's way to our house as I type.            

Next up, school starts!  Yay!