Prized Possessions

I was thinking about how each of our kids has something they are completely and utterly attached to. Sometimes the attachment is a little overboard if you ask me.

Let's begin:

The Blankie:

Sydie has been attached to her pink blankie since she was a baby. No other child of ours has ever had a "blankie" so we found it to be kind of cute at first. She would always couple sucking her thumb with holding the blankie, also a kinda cute at the baby stage. Now Sydie is 6 years old and still can't live without this blankie. We tried to talk her into realizing she was too old for this, but it didn't really work. It was as if we were talking her into cutting off her left hand. So needless to say, she got back the blankie. We're suckers for giving into wailing and death cries for hours. When she did get it back she spoke to it (which she often does). "Blankie I will never leave you, you'll always be my blankie". The guilt!!! How could I be so cruel???!!

The Dog:

Katrina's p.p. (prized possession) was a little bit of a toss-up between the dog and Lily, her stuffed cat. The dog was the winner though. She loves the stinky, maggot hosting, run away guy. He's a pretty good playmate I'd have to say. He lets her dance with him, put clothes on him, lets her tease him incessantly and hug and kiss him. She'll spend an hour a day just playing with him, so he's been a better investment than any toy that's for sure. Poor Lily has had to take a back seat.

The Piano:

I think the fact that the piano is not portable is one of the only reasons we don't see that thing going everywhere with us. Coby is always playing that thing to the point of driving us bananas. When he's starting to learn a new song he's constantly playing it over and over until he gets it right. He was born to play I guess. One day I got on him for crying too much and he says, "The reason I cry so easily is because I play the piano and I know how to express my emotions easily." Hmmmm, Ooookaaay. Maybe it's getting in his head a little too much I say.

The Guitar:

Now I use to think the piano was played too much until Ace started getting into his guitar. He plays ALL the time. If he sees, he'll play it. It's like some strange magnetic force draws him to it, even if he knows he needs to be doing something else. He is totally late for something and yet he'll walk over to his guitar, sit down and play with this dazed looked on his face like the guitar has possession of him. It's kinda weird if ya ask me. His friends even get on his case for playing it too much. He was going to a friends house one night and grabbed his guitar to take with him. I had to make him take it back into the house before we left. He wants an electric guitar for Christmas and I know my sanity would not be able to handle it so we're going to have to go for something else. Note: The picture of Ace is awful b/c he refuses to take any pictures. I tried all kinds of sneaky things but that's the best I could get!!

Koda--Master Escape Artist

He looks innocent enough, right?  We seem to think we're pretty good dog owners too, but apparently not.

Here's a run-down of his successful attempts to leave our loving home this week:

9/18:  The Escape:  Ran through side gate that "no-one" left open.  Found by:  A teenage boy named Mitch during the homecoming parade who actually scored quite a few girls holding the run-away.  

9/19:  The Escape:   Ran again through side gate at 6:30 a.m.. Didn't learn our lesson the first time.  Found by: BWD as he almost ran over him leaving for work.  Phew!

9/20:  The Escape:  Garage door left open in the morning.

Found by:   Brian our neighbor who swiftly stuck him in his own backyard.  Good move.

9/20:  The Escape:  Ran through the gate as a neighbor was entering.  Found by:  Neighbor kids long-boarding down our street.  They were probably worried he'd pee on their boards so they grabbed him.

9/22:  The Escape:  Side Gate.  Lesson still not learned by the Fowlers.  I really don't think unconsciously we are trying to get rid of this dog!  Seriously.    Found by:  BWD, who jumped out of bed and ran him down at 6:45 a.m.

9/22:  The Escape:  Back gate--wind blew it open while I was working out.  Found by:  A lady named Janelle who saw him peeing on things in the park behind our house.  

I'm buying two locks today and doing some research on how to prevent your dog from running the minute he sees an opportunity.  

9/22:  The Escape:  At this point it's embarrassing to even note that this is the 3rd time TODAY.  We have no idea how he got out this time.  We didn't even know he was gone to tell the truth.     Found by:  Cody, on his way home from our house.  Now it's time to consider the invisible fence that zaps the bejeebers out of him each time he crosses the line.  The gloves are on Koda.

Tripping Out in UT

So, we haven't really gone on any road trips or vacations all summer.  Labor Day was going to be our big vacation of the year, and who wouldn't want to spend the long weekend in UTAH? There's no place like it, right?  Coby was especially excited to find and buy some peaches after hearing how heavenly they were.  

We arrived in good time and I might add with NO puking, in Alpine.  Home (temporarily) of our friends the Wheatleys and the Robbins.   After getting settled we went out as couples (cuz the thought being with our kids any more that day was going to put me into a straight jacket) to Magleby's and kind of caught up.  

The next day we headed up the Y.  And just wondering.... Y the Y?  Y not the B? or the BY? Anyway,  checked out the campus, walked wayyyyy too much, and ended the night in the mountains around a firepit with the Wheatleys.  Fun day, really exhausted.

The next morning the Wheatleys suggested we go to sliding rock.  A natural waterslide in which you slide down, yes, a rock!  And IT rocked, let me tell you.  That was my family's favorite part of the trip, just b/c it was so different.  When everyone ('cept me and Sydie) took a plunge into the ice cold water we headed to BYU for the BIG opening game.  We ate at one of our fav. places, Brick Oven with the Wheatleys once again.  The line of the day was from James who turned to the waitress when asked if there was anything else she could do.  James:  "Yeah, how 'bout a rootbeer that is NOT flat and warm?"  I love his tact.

Grandma Victor was next on our list of visits.  She's 97 years old, mostly blind, two hip replacements, but has an amazing mind.  She doesn't even introduce herself using the last name of the girl sitting next to her! (I need to splain that one later).  She's got it together though.

Good ol' Aunt Sheila was the last stop before we headed out.  My kids describe her as having "lots of energy".  I asked them if they thought of me like that and I got a unanimous "NO".  GREAT!  I'm going to have to start taking shots of redbull now.  One of the highlights of the visit at Sheila's was the peaches that she gave us.  We weren't able to find any peach-selling shacks off the side of the roads so it was an answer to Coby's prayer!  

On the way home we stopped at Little America and had a horrible night's sleep thanx to Ktrina.  She yells in her sleep every 30 minutes all night long.  Yeesh! 

Right off of 1-80 there's this place called Arlington.  We stopped there and tried fishing for bit but NO luck.  It's BWD's favorite place cuz we're usually the only one's there.  

That's it for our 2008 Trip.  Next year we're going to do something big.  Stay tuned!