what I REALLY did this summer

In July, my sister and her hubby got to travel to Europe for 16 days as chaperones with a group of high school students.  They live out of state and months ago I offered to help with her 3 little ones so she could go on this trip (I got to go 2 years ago).  So, they arrived a week before the trip to help the little ones adjust to being in my house and adjust their sleeping schedules.  It was a crazy month, but a great one.  I've had a lot of family help me while Shayne and I travel over the years and I wanted to be a part of the solution to help my sister enjoy this opportunity.  I'm so happy they went and I had that time with my little nieces and nephew.  It was a lot of work - I won't lie - but it was worth it.

I had twins (16 mo's), two 3 year olds (practically twins), and my 3 older boys.  It was a house of 'littles'.  I took random pics on my phone throughout the weeks to show my sis what we were doing that day.  But our days were quite uneventful - I stuck to a schedule of 2 nap times and little outings (usually to the park nearby), sometimes a quick run to a store, or perhaps an outing to play at my brother's house in their indoor playhouse.  We kept life simple.

BTW - This is how we started out the visit.  His Mommy was helping at a rehearsal and his Daddy and I were the ones home with the kids.  You'd think that this would have changed their minds about leaving these little ones with me for the next few weeks!  He fell off my couch and hit his head on my ottoman, which is padded.  He just hit it PERFECTLY on the edge.  Nice aim, Mack!

So the adventure begins - 

I told Shayne I'd do all the work (he did not volunteer for this! and he felt a little overwhelmed by 7 kids) but I still needed my morning workout time.  So, he did early morning shift.  If the twins woke up early - which they typically did every day - he'd bring them to bed with him and put on a mesmerizing show to entertain them until I got home.  This was actually helpful for my sis, because up to this point, these little ones DEMANDED breakfast IMMEDIATELY when they woke up.  Shayne broke that cycle real quick.

Danny loved taking care of Mack.  He adored him and luckily, Mack loved Danny back!

Elise is a shoe lover.  

*everyone else's shoes

I taught these kids about vacuuming, I vacuumed a lot - the floor was dirty a LOT!!!

Julia shared a room with Skyler.  The twins had pak-n-plays in the Lego room.

Heading to the park.

Aren't they ADORABLE?  And they played GREAT together!  They kept each other happy and I kept the little twins happy.

More vacuuming lessons...  Mack loved the vacuum.

This is Elsie, my neighbor.  She was my helper every morning and many afternoons too.  I managed to get the parks with her help.  We loaded up babies in her bike trailer and the 3 year olds in my bike trailer.  Or we'd walk.  Elsie helped me everyday - just because she loved it.  She was a HUGE help.

This car was loaded with car seats!

Lots of high-chairs.

Lots of tantrums too.

biking and selfie??

The ONE fight between Julia and Skyler - She pushed him off the trampoline and he broke his collarbone.  Gotta have those lasting memories.

I started off the visit fixing Julia's hair.  After a few days, I gave up.  Too many other little kids - so Elsie took over hair duty.  She is so awesome!

I left Hunter with her for a short time - he gave her yogurt.  This is why someone invented bibs and high chairs... contains the mess.  

Two sets of twins

We miss these guys.  It was fun to get those baby snuggles and love.  It was especially fun to get to know these kids for myself.  When their mom and dad got home, it was in the middle of the night.  The next morning, everyone was happy to see mommy and daddy.  But whenever I left the room or the house, Elise was very upset that I wasn't there and would cry.  Lara kept saying, "Mommy is right here!"  hee hee....  I guess I got it right!  I hope they remember me a little the next time I see them!

Concertizing

Hunter officially had his first parade with just 2 weeks of experience on his clarinet.  Luckily, his director gets a truck with a trailer so he didn't have to march.  And there was an accomp on a loud speaker so the beginners could play their 3 or 4 songs over and over.  Not the highest quality performance, but hey, he had fun!!  Plus, we had Hunter's friend, Carter, staying with us so I lent him a trumpet and he played too!  Maybe there will be more parades in the future years?!

And Cole got to direct the Utah Premier Brass!  

*for a brief portion of a march!

Papa made sure he kept those fine musicians in line...

HALF MARATHON!!

Well, I remember very clearly the day I did my first 5K.  And it was a big deal.  I have done a couple more 5K's since then, and two summers ago I did a 10K.  I felt so good afterwards I thought - why not a half?  Ok - let's do it!  Then came the skiing accident and I took the year off from all athletic challenges.  So, this was the summer to get in a Half Marathon (that's 13.1 miles BTW) since the goal is to have it done before I'm 40.  I'm not 40 yet...

Kristy and I are workout-besties - every morning we're up by 5:30 to get our gym/therapy time.  We trained all winter-long and I recruited a few other neighbors to join my "team" so we could have a discounted rate (the things we do to save $5).  MaryAnne joined us for several of our long runs in preparation for the big day and I had the best running buddies EVER.  We did the American Fork Canyon Half - which means you take a bus to the top of the canyon and then you run down it back to your car.  It's supposed to be the easiest way to run that far (down a canyon) and improve your time too.  Here we are at the top of the canyon - watching the sunrise over the mountains.  Did I mention we had to be there at a CRAZY INSANE TIME OF 4AM?   Maybe it was 5 am - whenever it was, it really was too early.   

Personally this is how it went down.  The run down the canyon was fun and exhilarating - I remember a guy yelling out next to me "we're doing 6 minute miles".  WHAT?!?!  I was just going with the flow and running well beyond my strength which would become evident at the bottom. 

 When I got to the bottom of the canyon I felt like the rug had been pulled from under my feet.  I had run long runs preparing for this day and in retrospect I did not train well enough for two things: steep downhill and heat.  We were having a heatwave and even at 7 in the morning I was MELTING when we came out of the canyon.  (the canyon was perfect)  I felt like I couldn't breath.  Also, my legs felt like jelly once I was on flat surface from the steep downhill and I was only half way through the race.  It was a struggle.  Run, walk a little, RUN, walk a little,...  Once I got a half mile from the finish line, I didn't know if I could start running again - I had convinced myself to only walk for half a block - and it kept getting longer.  Then MaryAnne came up behind me (she had stopped for a potty break) and said "come on Lea!" and if she hadn't - I don't think I could have started again!  I finished running!  HURRAY!  And I FINISHED!!!  HURRAY! HURRAY!!   I averaged my regular running time (10 minute miles) despite my walking during that second half.  That downhill was REALLY fast.  I'm grateful for these beautiful friends of mine.  Will I do another Half?  Yeah.  I would like to...  but next summer I would rather be on my bike!

My T-ball machine

During May & June, Danny did T-ball.  He loved hitting the ball - and boy could he hit it!  He didn't really understand why he had to learn about the bases, catching, throwing and running, but it was worth it to hit the ball.