Day by Day.

So a good friend of mine "gently" reminded me that I should probably update my lonely blog.  I replied that I have nothing exciting to talk about.  However I must admit I am sick of seeing my big ole tree on my blog every time I come to my blog.  (It is strange because sometimes I visit my blog to see if someone has written something witty and interesting for me on my blog.  I am sometimes very annoyed nobody has updated it.  Is that strange?)  So I decided that I wouldn't look for something witty and interesting.  I will just write about what I did today.  No apologies for the past 4 months.  (OK I am really sorry). 

So today was an unusual day because today I spent a few hours doing genealogy. Yep today I got wrapped up in the world's 2nd most popular hobby (1st place goes to gardening, FYI).

 I was working with my mom on my dad's side of the family. She said "Wow, you have a lot of work to do on this side of the family."  Then she laughed wickedly because she is like that.   So here are some of the things that I noticed while working with my mom.

One observation to you people who are naming your kids made-up- funny- sounding- one- of- a- kind names.  Be warned. You are setting your child up for pure mockery.  Maybe not necessarily in his or her lifetime but eventually when their great-great-great-great grandchildren find them on FamilySearch.  They will laugh.  No disrespect to my ancestors but let me tell you.....

Nobody should be named Nimrod or Alethestan. Hello Nimrod! (Doesn't that sound insulting?) He does look a bit peeved.

 If you name your daughter Rassemine or  Henrietta nobody is going to use her name as a cute middle name.   Hey Henri!  She was pretty.

I hate to break it to you but Mads is ending with your son.  Here is old Mads now.  Guess what? He had a son named Mads so I lied.  It didn't end with your son.  It ended with your grandson.

Sophronia may be shortened to something cute but I can guarantee that Umpstead is not cute shortened in any way shape or form.  I mean really, Umpy?  Stead?  I guess you could go for Ted.

Speaking of Umpstead.  That poor man is so miss-named on FamilySearch.  Here are a few.  Umstead, Unstead, Upstead, Hempstead, Umpsteel, and my personal favorite Nimpstead. Poor guy.  That wouldn't have happened if his name was David.

Here are some of his children.  Have you ever noticed that people with unusual names usually opt for more traditional names for their children.  Here are Umpstead's children's names, Caroline, James, Mary, John, Peter, Abram, Elizabeth, William, Benjamin, Joseph, Emma, Ammon, Thomas.  Not a strange name in the bunch.   Ok Abram is strange.  But he was my great grandfather so back off.

So that is what I did today.  What did you do?

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Today was quite the adventure.  Good ole Davis County had HUGE winds today and it wreaked havoc on our neighborhood and our little home was no exception.  Our home was apparently fine at 5:00 am when Dave left.  At 7:00 when I was kicking my high schooler out to catch the bus he opened the door and said "Hey, our tree fell down."  I honestly thought it was a procrastination attempt so I said in my lovely cheerful mother voice..."Whatever, go catch the bus."  He was so shocked that I didn't believe him that I actually went to the door and looked.  According to my kids I gasped and said my traditional "Oh my stars!  Call your father!"  So here is what our house looked like.

My house is behind that tree.  If you look closely you can see the garage on the left and the roof on the right. So just in time for Christmas we have a new Christmas tree!  If only we could get out of our house we could throw some lights on it and call it good!  

But wait!  There's more!  In the true spirit of Christmas we shared our joy with our neighbors by gifting them a beautiful tree also!  You are welcome, neighbor!

Here is the another view of the tree.

Our fantastic Emergency Crew and our Amazing Neighbors took great care of us and after the wind finally died down they came and helped clear the one tree from the front of the house!

They were so helpful and we were so appreciative of their kind service and strong muscles. 

And here is the spectator gallery.  Just teasing they worked hard also!  It was a huge job but they made fast work of it!  What a grand adventure!

We are out of power at my house so I came over to dry some clothes at Mom's.  I will write more later!  

What does this mean?

I am not exactly sure what to do.  or think.  Today after I got the kids off to school I did dishes and laundry and straightening. I then sat around and watched movies and ate bonbons because that is what Dave thinks I do every day.  (By the way you will be happy to hear they now sell bonbons at Costco.) 

Then I showered, brushed my teeth, did my hair and very carefully applied some makeup. I got dressed in somewhat fashionable clothes.  I did this not only because it is important for hygiene and my mental health but I had a meeting with at the Jr. High with the counselor. 

 Today was a very important day for Aaron because today at the ripe old age of 13 we proceeded to plan out his entire life including high school, college and future career.  I didn't want you to be in suspense for the next 15 years so I thought I would just announce it now.  He is going to be a Dentist,   Or a Sports Trainer. Or an Investigator. Maybe.   

I would like to tell you that I went into this interview having discussed with him before all of his desires, talents and interests thoroughly.  But I didn't.  I just tried to get there on time, be in the right place and be presentable.  I just needed them to know that I am a "concerned, loving and stable" parent.  I thought that was sufficient even for this very important occasion.  

When I got home I was shocked to see that I failed to even meet those simple goals. 

This was what I had on.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  
Don't even ask about the next 3 THREE places I went.  I am not ready to talk about it.    

So I must ask.
Does this mean that my next step is to go out with curlers in my hair and wearing a house dress.
Do they even make house dresses anymore?
What is a house dress?
Do I wear a kerchief over the curlers or just go?
Should I just prearrange that my skirt is tucked up in my pantyhose?
Blouse inside out or right side in?

These are the fashion decisions that I must ponder.

PS I think I will blame my counselor in 8th grade.  She should have seen this coming. She should have prepared me better.

Dirty Dash!

A few weeks ago Dave, Josh and most of my siblings and my mom had a unique Saturday morning.  They participated in the Dirty Dash.  The Dirty Dash is a 10K race.  Now it is not your typical race because this race is all about the dirt.  Wet dirt to be exact.  MUD.   

The course is mud, slides, water, marshes, snow, and other obstacles all wrapped into 6.2 miles of fun!  The race took place in beautiful Soldier Hollow where some of the Olympic events took place 9 years ago. 

  

Mitch and Haley were voted most creative for their costumes.  Of course I was the only one voting.  

 Here is Mitch as Superman!  Notice the cute curl!

Here is the clean crew at the beginning of the race.   The t-shirts say We're Great but No One Knows It.  It was our family theme about 30 years ago.  It came from a Girl's Camp song.   Please notice Jacob's short shorts.  Very 1980's Jacob. 

 You start the race by hiking up a huge mud hill which was very slippery.  Apparently Josh was tackled in the first few minutes by Andrew.  At the top of the hill they sprayed all the racers with a fire hose.  So you were cold from the very beginning.  

Not too dirty yet.  The middle kids.  B. Rad, Alli and Andrew.  (Tricia doesn't count as a middle because she thought she was my twin from the very beginning)

 Tricia is doing some kind of Dirty Dash strut here.  They were hiking through one of the muddy rivers.  

 A big mud hole in the road.  Part of the fun was you never knew how deep the puddle was at any given point.  You could be walking next to someone and they disappear up to their neck.  See how muddy Andrew is compared to Brandon.   

 Alli with some stylin glasses.  She was the brave one who took a camera in several ziploc baggies so we could have some pictures of the actual race.  Thanks Alli.  

 Here is one of the least favorite obstacles.  You had to climb through the mud filled tube.  That wasn't the bad part.  

The bad part was that on the other end they were spraying out snow from their snow maker machine. They were freezing cold at this point.  

 They look happy here.  You will see that in the background there is a woman running.  Some people took this race very seriously.

 Here you had to either climb over or under these walls.  This is Alli going under but trying to keep as clean as possible. 

 Here are the boys.  You can see that even when it is not an obstacle it is still a big mud slop of a road. 

 This was their least favorite part of the course.  These are sewer pipes that they are crawling over.  Thye determined this by the horrible smell all around them!  Of course this is the place that Alli slipped into a hole and went in over her head!   NAAAASSSTTTYY!

 Here is the snack station.  Yum!  Muddy jello.  

One of the last obstacles is the giant slide.  Only Dave flew down this thing.  Everyone else had to inch their way down.  (This isn't actually Dave flying.  People can't fly.)

 The kids waited at the big mud pond at the finish line. 

 They collected water balloons to throw at their parents.  They were so excited! 

The racers all waited for each other at the slide so they could finish together.  The first ones in were Josh and Jacob.  (Of course)

 Jenn, B. Rad, Tricia, Andrew, Brandon and Dave were next.  I love how Tricia seems to be trying to be careful going in.  She didn't want to get dirty I suppose...

 The last ones in were Haley, Alli, Mom and Mitch.  

 Wow.  Mom.  You really do not fit in with this crowd!  They are all smiles though except Dave.  

 You see Dave couldn't see.  He was completely blind.  He didn't even know which way to go to get out.  

 B. Rad, Brandon (Who lost a contact)

 Jenn, Mitch,

 Josh,  my baby,

 Mom and Tricia

 Dave still blind.  Mom.

Mitch, Alli, Tricia

 Jenn, Andrew.

 Mitch and Haley

Here is the after photo.

What a fun day for us all!  Thanks Sara and B.Rad!   

Now I am going to post the full video (3 minutes) on youtube for the family to see how lovely they look.  It is too big for blogger.  But I need to preface by telling you that I was holding 2 cameras.  One took all of the pictures that you see above.  The other was my attempt to film but it was really more of a chest cam.  The video camera just rested on my chest and whatever it captures is what you get.  I edited out my running because it would have just made you motion sick.