Lindsey LuLu

Lindsey's nickname just emerged on it's own, like so many nicknames do. Lindsey Lu is a natural enough variation, but the "Lu" had to be doubled, and the Lindsey dropped, and pretty soon she had the same name as the girlfriend of that nerdy guy on "Gilmore Girls."
The other day she raged at me "LEAVE ME ALONE," while in a fit of frustrated, 2 year old independence.
"Lindsey, that is not a nice thing to say." I replied.
So she looks at me, mulling over what I said, then opens her mouth, "please leave me alone mama."
We love our Lu. Two quick funny stories about LuLu:
A few months ago the Elders dropped by in the middle of the day. We chatted at the front door since Jared wasn't home. I offered them glasses of water, which they happily received due to the oppressive heat of the day. Then, before they left, I decided I could receive additional blessings by offering the missionaries a snack, so I left them to sip at their drinks while I went to dig through my makeshift pantry down the hall (which is literally 7 inches wide and 2 ft deep, a real cave, I could probably lose a jar of Costco pickles in that thing). And while I am one head and two elbows deep into the pantry digging up any snack with individual wrapping that I could find, this is what I hear:
Lindsey: "Hi!"
Elders: Some greeting I can't recall, and then, "do you want to take this glass for me?"
Lindsey: (all excited to help) "Yeah!"
Then, her little feet pattering into the kitchen and . . .
CRASH!
She totally threw the glass into the sink and obliterated it.
She then returns to the missionaries all happy to have helped out and I start guffawing in the pantry as I hear the missionaries' stuttered questioning of Lindsey.
When I returned to the front door with my kill from the hunt (some granola bars), the one Elder is staring at me with a white, pasty, guilt face, just knowing that he should never have trusted the 2 year old with a glass. The look on his face was so funny that it easily repaid for my grunt work cleaning up the sink.
I quickly assured him everything was fine when he questioned and sent them on their way with the bars, but his face never regained it's color. As far as Lindsey knew, she was the cutest little missionary helper they'd seen all day.


The other thing I wanted to remember was how she has been finding bugs lately. I love when it happens--it is one of my favorite shows. Several times she has come to me, SO excited.
"Look mom, my friend! Look mom, my friend! Look mom, my friend! Look mom, my friend! Look mom, my friend!" (Her little voice intonation full of pride in her love for the creature.)
She continues until I stop and kneel down to see what she has most recently befriended. It has always been a bug that is either crawled up into a ball pretending to be dead, or is dead. Because once Lindsey's friend starts to move, (or even if her hand moves and the dead bug flips over revealing more of it's buggy legs or wings) the friend is tossed into the air and the screaming starts. And it is shrill.
I'd hate to know how she treats her enemies.

Cones Wanted

Does anyone know where I can purchase those cones that businesses use when they've just mopped the floor? "Cuidado," or some-such Spanish vocab, is printed on them, along with "Caution, Wet Floor."
Our Davie has a relentless spit-up problem, and on numerous occasions, has left some serious slipping hazards in public places. I DO let a lot of things slide, but I couldn't forgive myself if someone, especially the elderly, hit the wet slippery spot and wet flying, only to land in Davie's wet stomach contents. And although there is nothing more graceful than a mother with full-on baby Bjorn--the 4 month-old's head bobbling, doing some strange yoga position in the middle of Mervyns in order to wipe the floor with a diaper wipe that she just yanked out of the bottom of her bag (causing 3 other items from her bag to fall on the floor), I don't tend to do yoga well. I, truthfully, don't even know any real poses. And I'm pretty sure what I have done would not qualify. So I really need those cones, some telescoping ones in a diaper bag size, if possible . . . or maybe some inflatable ones would do?
I can see myself now, the mother machine that I am, pushing a stroller with a stack of possible clothing purchases on the top of the stroller sunshade, a bag of clothing returns in the bottom of the stroller, the two and four year old in the stroller eating crackers while leaving a Hansel and Gretel trail in the mall, the five year old trailing miserably while holding on to the stroller's emergency brake cord, and Davie alternately cooing at passersby and chewing on the edge of the Bjorn. Complete harmony--and then the upset occurs. Davie spits, and I, without losing a beat, simply yank out my portable cones (probably still spilling bag contents on the floor), flick to expand, and secure the area, all while circling the problem area (because if the stroller stops that is every one's cue to ask if we can buy some absolutely essential object), and I'm back on my trail without any bending, twisting, or overextending whatsoever.
So, please, comment if you know, or know of a good deal on some paper snow cone cups. Aftie has been pining to use Jared's yellow highlighter, and she should learn to write "cuidado" anyway, so we could pay her a nickle per cup colored and put her to work producing those cones. On second thought, does anyone know someone who would like to buy some caution cones? I may have a little entrepreneur lurking in me yet.

Lunch With Dallin and Aftie

This is a quick video that Jared took of lunch one day. It has had great response from some viewers (Brad, Nick, and Dylan), so I thought I would post it for your viewing pleasure. The video explains all . . .

I'm sure our kids' annoyance with each other's eating habits is an anomaly none of you have experienced. Have you ever tried the ol' knock-on-the-table-bottom-and-see-if-someone-runs-to-answer-the-door trick that Afton pulled? It's a regular one at our house. Feel free to share in comments.

Engineered Camping Fun

We camped this year in true style. Granted, there were porta potties hauled in by a local potty pusher, but Cherry Creek, itself, consists of pure wilderness, a horse trailer full of food, about 50 decks of cards, swimming at the sulpher-smelling hot springs, a couple sets of horseshoe pegs and a horseshoe tournament trophy, stacks of sourdough pancakes, good campfire stories, and a bunch of smoky smelling Kings and Sorensons. It's awesome.

Everyone knows that wilderness, in and of itself, is loads of fun for the 0-12 age set. But the Idaho mountains mixed with Jared Parker becomes even more fun for kiddies. (As Jared's mother Barb describes, Jared could create fun times in a room full of crap.) This year at Cherry Creek Jared made a swing for the kids.

After scanning the area for the best natural swing frame, Jared donned his zippered hoodie, (with hood pulled and tied so tightly it revealed only his eyes and nose from it's gathered edge), then took on two tall pine trees in order to tie a rope about 25 feet high, from one tree to the other. He descended victoriously, despite numerous encounters with large deposits of pine sap. From that rope he hung the second rope with which he strung up the young'ns with a climbing harness and a life jacket and sent them sailing as easily as a spider dangling from a web in the wind. Just about every kid in camp gave it a go.

It was not your average tree swing, and I must admit that I, as a parent, was not content just watching and cheering on their fun and wonder at the sensation of flying. I was sorely jealous. Next time I am so insisting on the adult version. It's my turn to be Tinkerbell, Aft.

Luckily, I talked the Big J (Jared) into making a movie out of some of our video and pics from the swing. Unluckily, the video doesn't show how high the kids actually got over the course of the two days. Afton eventually got all the way up to 25 feet when Jared had her going at full speed, but you'll get an idea.

And, for anyone who knows Lindsey very well, it will come to no surprise to know that she, hands-down, won the dirtiest kid in camp award this year. I would occasionally chase her down with a wipe, but her then-cleanish cheeks wouldn't even last 5 minutes.

Thanks to Mom's cousin, Alice for bringing horses, and to Mom for riding with the kids.

David took 3rd place in Spencer Andrus's favorite people in camp. 1st was Jenna (his 10 yr old girlfriend) and 2nd was Grandpa King (it's fun to watch someone put on a prosthetic leg.)

Spencer wanted David to sleep by him in his tent, but Davie had to stay with us. Davie seemed OK with it.

This is what Cherry Creek can do to your kids too (let me know if anyone wants to come next year).

Who could possibly be behind these dirt rimmed fingernails?The Dirtiest Kid in Camp! who is actually showing a lot of skin for her average camp day.