Homecoming

Grandma & Grandpa Mayfield finally returned from their mission in Zimbabwe. It was a massive greeting at the airport...

The Big 2 was a reference to Africa's Big 5 -- elephant, rhino, leopard, lion and tiger.

Great Grandma White was definitely happy to see her daughter back safely.

Paige wore this blue skirt to remind Grandma & Grandpa of Victoria Falls, which they were lucky enough to visit.

So Elle followed suit and wore an African- inspired print, too.

And here they came ....

I absolutely love the sheer joy on mom's face!

What a great moment. We've spent the last week having cousin sleep-overs, a massive campout at Grandma & Grandpa's, listening to them give their report in church, a swimming party and spending lots of good quality time with that side of the family. It's definitely good for everyone to have them home.

Last Child Syndrome

This is what happens when the youngest child gets to go to Lagoon alone with mommy. Mommy suddenly becomes a little less stringent with the "Please can I get my face painted?!?" and "Please, can I have ice cream?!?!?"

We might be in trouble in 10 years if this pattern continues. Gotta reign it in.

Been to the zoo lately?

These mechanical, roaring, life-like dinosaurs even impressed Christian. Which is saying something. The fact that he agreed to even go to the zoo in the first place was a stretch, so thanks to Hogle Zoo for making it even more fun for my skeptical pre-teen.

Look at this baby...

Isn't she yummy?? This, my friends, is my adorable niece, Leokadia. And that's her daddy, my little brother, Thomas. Unfortunately, they live way across the country so I don't get to see them, or Leo's wonderful mom, Katie, very often. But they texted me this picture yesterday and I'm dying to get my hands on her. Seriously.

Homeless

Believe it or not (I'm still in shock a little bit), we sold our house. :) Technically, I guess we haven't sold it yet but we're under contract with a nice family who are transferring here from California. We close next month, just a few days from when we close on our new house. Since we want to update the new house a bit, though, we won't move into it right away .... which is where we become homeless for awhile. Good times. :) I suppose we could always move in with family (you'd love that, huh mom? haha) but since the kids will be in school and involved in lessons and stuff, we need to stay here close by. So we're on the lookout for something short-term. Wish us luck or we might just wind up on one of your doorsteps, begging for a place to stay.

Hogwarts

The other day, I walked in on this Potions class, conducted by Professor Christian...

The best part was the names of the ingredients they were using to make the potions... troll boogers, unicorn pee (nice), dragon blood and water from Durmstrang (a fellow wizard school). Apparently, he also took them to Olivander's wand shop (the front yard) to choose their wands (which were plucked from the branches of our trees). These girls adore their professor. And this headmaster does, too.

Tea parties galore

We've been having tea party heaven around here lately. Sydney spent the week with us while her parents jaunted around Europe (whatev...). Haley, Syd & Paige threw 2 fabulous tea parties for Elle and her friends -- all with no help from me, trust me. They took this tea party business very seriously.

Here's the food and the cute girls who were lucky enough to attend...

I love the tiny weed that became the centerpiece.

Love it already. But then the big girls decided that visits from princesses/characters would be the perfect entertainment for the party-goers. I could hear lots of giggling coming from the bathroom/dressing room while they got each other ready. And trust me, the little girls were in absolute heaven.

Truly, a real Sleeping Beauty.

I should seriously hire these girls out, huh? Our little friend, Brooklyn's mom told me that she has been begging to go back to Elle's house ever since. Yeah, no kidding. :)

Pre-Teenage Rebellion

By special guest-blogger Mike

Parenting is definitely a contact sport. You teach, preach, conjure and nurture. You try to pass on time-tested values that you know will bring your children happiness. You lay awake at night...wondering if you are making a difference and hoping that your lessons and example will take hold in your children's hearts.

And then, one day, you walk in and find this:

To Paige and Sydney, on behalf of the Ute-Loving Mayfields and the True-Blue-Cougar-Fans Blakes--you are both grounded!

The routine

This summer has been a little weird.  Weird to have our house up for sale and have to keep it clean all of the time.   I'm a fairly neat person but not near what this past month has done to me.  We've had the house listed for 3 weeks and have shown it 15 times, so our typical schedule goes something like this ...

- receive a text from our realtor sometime in the morning, letting us know about a scheduled showing that day
- get chores, lessons, summer band, whatever done for the day
- clean and clean and clean some more
- take a large laundry basket, fill it with things from bathroom counters (hairbows, kleenex, handsoap, toothbrushes, etc.)
- throw any extra laundry (or even dirty dishes sometimes) into another basket
- put all of it into my car
- turn on every single light in the entire house so it looks bright and cheery for anyone walking through
- send the kids outside and do a final walk through, wiping down counters or whatever just to be sure
- take off and go play until the showing is over

That has happened almost daily this past 3 weeks.  Yes, we've played a lot .... Lagoon, Cherry Hill, Cabella's, swimming, movies .... but it's still a weird way to spend a summer.  The laundry, ironing, dishes can't pile up at all so I spend my evenings doing those.  I haven't read a book since before trek, and for me that's saying something. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  I'm grateful we've had good traffic through the house--maybe we'll sell this place soon.  And then our new house will likely be a dirty mess for awhile, cause believe me -- I'll be done with cleaning.

She said

"Your spot is over there, Blondie."  (Paige to Elle as they were fighting for a cuddling place next to me.)

"Mommy, you need to come see your husband."  (Elle, laughing about putting hairbows on daddy's head.)

"Grandma calls us expensive kids. She thinks we're worth a lot of money."  (Paige, after my mom took all 4 kids to dinner and a movie while Mike & I were out of town.)

"Why would you want to do that?"  (Elle - knowing that Mike & I were heading to trek soon - referring to the frostbitten pioneers pulling handcarts through snow in the movie 17 Miracles.)

Makeup artist

Elle loves to play with my makeup and is getting really good, actually, at applying it well. Especially lipstick, believe it or not. Check out her lips this morning...

Paige's response when Elle showed off her new smile? "Have you been kissing clowns? You need to stop going to the circus, sweetie."

Life as we know it

* Just got back from trek:  4 days, 30 miles, 400 people, freezing nights & hot, hot days, live chicken chase, prairie dodge ball, tar & feathering, smuggled diet cokes, blisters, cow pies, paper dart wars, "buffalo meat" (aka, giant chocolate bars), sunburns, 1 hr silent pull .... Those kids can definitely do hard things.  And we all had fun along the way.

Now that we're back, the kids and I plan to play as much as possible before school starts.

* Having a house "show ready" at all times while everyone is home all day is some good times. We've had 8 showings in 10 days so we're getting pretty darn good at it now. Today, we had 15 minutes notice before a showing and still managed to have it look ok and run out the door just in time. Hopefully, all of the activity will result in an offer. Crossing our fingers and toes ...

* Took Haley to see Harry Potter tonight. Man, I love that series. Loved the books and thoroughly enjoyed the movies. Would it be too much for a grown woman to wear this shirt?

Just wondering.

* I took my oldest 3 kids to the dr. today to have warts frozen off. None of them were happy with me for having made the appointment in the first place, and the fact that the procedure was pretty painful didn't help matters. They were all ticked by the time we got to the car. I offered to take them to ice cream at Sub Zero which, ironically, uses the same nitrous oxide to freeze their ice cream that the nurse used to freeze the kids' warts. They didn't think it was very funny, even though I found it pretty amusing. Cruel twist of irony, wouldn't you say?

* Summer band started this morning for Christian. He's taking the trumpet and began playing it outside on our deck after he got home. Our neighbors will be thrilled that we're moving if he keeps that up.

* Time to go sleep on my cushy, soft mattress. Nothing like 4 nights of sleeping on the ground to make you appreciate the miracle of a comfy bed.

That's my girl

Haley is definitely her own person. She doesn't usually care what other people think of her and will fight tooth & nail for something she believes in, which comes out in various ways.  

* She had a detailed conversation with daddy once about interest and how you can either pay it or earn it.  Since then, whenever we have to borrow money from her (which is fairly regularly since she always has cash around), she charges us interest.  Cracks me up.

The whole money thing is such a big issue for her.  She saves and saves every penny she earns and so rarely spends any of it.  She's up to almost $200 right now.  If she ever sees something in a store and says, "Oh, mom, this is so cool!"  I'll say, "You have plenty of money.  Go ahead and get it."   And then she'll stop, look at the thing and almost always put it back on the shelf.  She'll look at me and say, "Nah, I don't really need it."  I tease her about being so tight-fisted with her money but I'm also quick to praise her for it.  When I ask her what she's saving her money for, she always answers, "Yale."

* Haley takes great interest in Mike's profession and often asks details about cases he's working on.  The other day, Elle complained that Paige had eaten some candy that she had gotten at a birthday party.  Haley later presented Paige with this demand letter. We've got a little lawyer on our hands. I mean, seriously!

* A couple of weeks ago, we went to Provo to hear my sister play with her band at the Freedom Festival. Understand that Haley is a fiercely loyal Utah fan and will make gagging noises when we even drive by Provo on the freeway. She knows that Mike & I both attended the Y (before both graduating from the U) and have great memories of our time there, but her loyalty to Utah always rules out. Anyway, after the show (which was amazing by the way, Erin -- I was so proud!) we stumbled across a face-painting booth. Any doubt what Haley would choose, right smack in the middle of Cougar country?

Independence

A tradition we plan to continue with, even after we move, is our neighborhood's 4th of July festivities. It starts with a children's parade, where kids decorate their bikes, scooters, strollers, wagons, whatever ...

Someone's child got going a little too fast and was rescued by one of her favorite people, while her mother grabbed the camera and documented the moment instead. Some people.

Then a little program at the church -- the scouts conduct a flag ceremony and the choir sings.

And then the breakfast....

Neighbors from years past and extended families of ward members come back to visit. It's such a fun morning.

And then we finish the day off with Street of Fire, formally known as Driveway of Fire. Our crowd grows every year, which I love.

It's official....

Our house is up for sale.  We found a home that we're really excited about just a few blocks away.  It has more open space that we've been wanting and room to grow.  We're hoping to close the first of October.

In the meantime, we say goodbye to this wonderful house.  I've loved this house.  I remember when we first moved in, I couldn't believe it was really ours.  Most of the rooms were empty for quite awhile since we truly had no furniture.  And now we're bursting.  So many memories here.  3 of our 4 kids were born while we've lived here.  We've slowly remodeled and I really like the way it feels.  I love our neighbors and our ward.  That's the heartbreaking part with any move, I guess.  We're excited about our new neighbors, many of whom we already know and love.  I console myself that we'll still be at the same schools, same stake and the same Smith's and Costco.  I'll still see everyone, right?

So if you or some great family you know is looking for a house, come see us.  My neighbors have teasingly threatened us about choosing who to sell this house to, so we're hoping for someone who they'll all love.., and who will love this house, too.

Mid-Summer Update

* I'm loving Lagoon this year. We've been about 8 times so far this summer, usually for about 4 hour stints here and there. It's perfect. The other night, we arrived at 6pm, swam for 2 hours, went on a couple of rides and were done. The marathon Lagoon days are over which is sooo perfect for me.

* The pioneer trek preparations continue. We leave next week and are madly getting the games ready, buying the stuff for crafts, scrounging pioneer-style clothing, rounding up our own supplies and arranging the farming out of our kids. We've been rolling 1500 paper darts for a pvc pipe/paper dart shoot-out in a ghost town we'll be passing through.  I've had my fill of paper darts, believe me.  I've also been walking with the young women a few times a week to try to get us all ready. Good times ahead, I hope.

* We've been having informal bbq's in the front yard with our neighbors, a tradition that started a few years ago when none of us had anything prepared for dinner and decided to combine our efforts. Now, we do it a few times each summer and just set everything up in our driveway while the kids run wild. Very posh. But a fun tradition, nonetheless.

* Steph and I have been taking tennis lessons. 7am semi-private lessons (since we're the only ones in the class) have given me something to work toward. We both laugh at how chatty our teacher is -- we have to really work to keep him on track -- but hopefully I'll learn enough to improve my game. My swing looks great when he just drops the ball in front of me but when we play a game, I revert back to my old habits. Practice, practice, practice.

* Took the fam down to Provo to see my sister perform with her band.  She sings backup and plays keyboard for a cool little band in LA.  The lead singer won an Oscar for his songwriting in the movie, A Mighty Wind.  She sang a duet with him that James Taylor and Alison Krauss just released called "How's the World Treating You."   Made me cry.  My dad loved Alison Krauss and I couldn't help but think of how proud he would have been to see Erin sing on stage.

* Other plans for summer:  Our orthodontist-sponsored free day at Cherry Hill, an Ikea run (since my older kids keep asking to go play there), a field trip to Cabella's, a 4 day extended playdate with cousins while their parents go on a biking trip to France (whatever!), swimming lessons, scout camp, princess dance camp for Elle, and anxiously awaiting the grandparents' return from Africa in a few weeks. :)