Caroline

Potter Gold
Have I ever told you about the time
that I told LG that I thought Potter
would be a really cool first name for a boy?
I like surnames for boys.

LG looked at me
and said,
“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“Alice. Think harder.”

Me: “What?”

“Potter?”

“Yeah Potter.
Isn’t it cute?”

LG:
“Hmm. Potter.”
(giving me more time to think)
“Potter Gold.”
(said with his best British accent)

Me:
“Oh no!
Well, maybe someone else can use it.”

One, it just can’t go with Gold.
Two, everyone knows
we will never get a boy.

Here are some more photos of our
farewell to Potter.

Me and my main man.
Before the party.

Me as Bellatrix.
I love how this photo turned out.
Don’t mine the cleavage please.
Don’t mess with me.

This is Launi.
It was her party that we attended
for our final Potter premiere.

LG at the party.

I so wanted to use the real word on his shirt.
Maybe if we were still in TN.
I decided to censor
Mrs. Weasley’s
B word.
Making me a better mother.

Here is Mad Eye Moody
as a boy.

Harry Potter comes to the 21st
century as a middle aged boxer.

All the prizes.

The sorting hat.

Hagrid and Mrs. Trelawney.
I never knew they were married.
Doesn’t LG look so excited
about our big date night.
Thanks for being a good sport honey.
I wish LG could have figured out a way to
smuggle home Dobby.

Yummy couldron cakes
from Sweet Tooth Fairy.

Here is Lyndi Lou.
Launi is her mom.
I’m her visiting teacher.
I love this man.
I think that
Gryffindor’s beanie works for him.

Not quite the same.
But close enough.

Caroline sports Tom Riddle’s diary
for the matinee the next day.

Abigail pretending she is about
to get on the Hogwart’s Express.

Bella is as close as we are going to get
to having a real Potter Gold.
Posted by Picasa

The Toddling Tornado
This is what happens when mom blogs too long.

And this empty bucket can only mean one thing.

Nerf bullets everywhere.

Oh, and don’t forget to dump out the blocks.
If you are going to do the job,
do it right.
But isn’t she cute?
Someday I am going to miss having
my toddling tornado.
But not today.
We spent plenty of time together
while cleaning up all the messes.

The Abbey Road Show
We had the great privilege of witnessing
the Abbey Road Show
in Provo
last Friday, July 1st.
Local Provo artists
covered the songs from 
The Beatles’ 
Abbey Road.
And they were
A-MAZ-ING!!
I think it was on my facebook
on our way home from the concert
that I said that they were better than
the original.
And I meant it.
You know how we are
true Beatles fans
around here.
I would never say that 
The Provosts 
were better than the original
lightly.
Ryan Innes was my favorite.
Go and check him out.
It was the most amazing concert
I’ve ever attended.
And if the whole concert wasn’t good enough,
guess how it ended?
Me snuggled up to LG
watching 3 of our 4 kids
rock out
to our favorite
Hey Jude.
The song was awesome.
And then as if God was
putting his own stamp of approval
on the experience
(as it was an experience,
not just a concert)
fireworks started going off all around us.
I won’t lie.
I teared up.
Quite possibly,
this concert made my
life’s 
Top 10 
moments.
Seriously.
And guess what?

At the beginning of the concert,
before very many people had arrived.
I walked right past 
that CJane
and I didn’t even say Hi.
Because she is too good for me.
And I am not giving her the time of day.
And I didn’t want to 
sound desperate like the other girl
who was saying,
“I know you don’t know me,
but I have a blog,
and I follow yours religiously.”
CJane’s response:
“Oh, don’t we all know each other?”
Oh really then?
Why don’t you return my e-mails,
if you know me?
Huh? Huh?
Not all bloggers are created equal.
And LG says my best revenge
will be to get a greater 
readership.
Which I will do.
And when her 5 minutes of fame are over
and mine are happening,
I will show her how to be nice,
and I will return her e-mail.
Oh yeah,
back to the
most amazing concert.
I will give it to CJane
about her rooftop series.
Best concert of all time.
Really.
Even if I am pretty sure that the
people who set up for the concert,
set up chairs and blankets in
any good viewing spot of the stage
early in the day
I won’t hold a grudge.
As we could hear the music, 
and that is all that matters really.
We were maybe number 50-55 to arrive
and there was not a single place to
lay out our blankets  
where we could actually see the stage. 
boo hiss!

But really – 
Mountains.
Rooftop.
Paper lanterns.
The NuSkin towers’ reflection
of the mountains.
Hoards of music lovers.
The Beatles.
Amazing musicians.
Perfect weather.
Families
dancing together
and
Fireworks.
What else could a girl
ever ask for?
Not much.
Except a returned e-mail.
Or five?
Enjoy the photos.
And if you have never listened
to Judicial LG’s version
of Hey Jude.
You must head over now.
So bad
and hilarious.
(You can forgo CJane’s write-up and just go here for the video of the Hey Jude experience)

Artist Cherie Call.
She was 
the opening act.

There she is.
It’s the best picture I could get with my little camera.
Like I said,
even though we arrived plenty early,
the only spots left
were in the back.
Waaaaay back.

The kids loved the street vendors.
Caroline wanted a doll really bad.
Caroline can’t wait for the music to start.

She’s got her dance on.

Oh, and do you remember the people watching we did last time?
And I told you that LG and I have a hard time understanding up to date fashion?
Check out this guy’s butt.
I have no idea why he thinks that skinny jeans can be worn like a gangster.
We got shot after shot of his underwear throughout the night.
I wonder if he would even care
if he knew we were checking him out.

Glad we had something to make us laugh
while we were waiting for the music to start.

Sure Signs of Summer
It’s officially summer!

Here is a haiku poem a wrote and memorized 
in the 5th grade.
School is out today.
Here the children scream
yeah yeah.
School must start again.

Pretty deep if you ask me.

I wonder if the kids want me to surprise them with an after-school slurpee again?
I think Caroline is a true Southern girl.
Slurpees are too sour for her tastes.
I think she might prefer icees.

I think we need this oversize chair for all the camping we plan to do.
Or I could just watch slip and slide time out my kitchen window.
Either way, it’s definitely summer.
School is out today.
Hear the mother scream
yeah yeah.
Lazy days I love.

Charlie
The other day at church someone called out to their kid who was running down the hall.
“Charlie!”

Caroline looked all around.

She didn’t see Charlie anywhere.
She starting questioning
“Where’s Charlie?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that he lives in Tennessee.
And we live in Utah.
And that there is now another kid named Charlie
who happens to be running down the hall.
But it’s not her Charlie.
Wouldn’t you know it?
You can never have everything.
In Tennessee, Caroline loved Charlie, but hated nursery.
Now, she loves nursery.
And she still loves Charlie.
But he isn’t here.
And that is pretty identical to what her mom is going through.
I love so many things about Utah.
But I still love so many things about Tennessee,
but they aren’t here.
I can look around and feel that hole in my heart
where Charlie is missing,
or I can just keep moving forward
looking for a new Charlie.
Man, I hope he arrives soon.
Because I am kind of floundering.
And that was metaphorical.
Because I am happily married.
Most of the time.

Posted by Picasa

My Little Monsters
Artistic Caroline presented by LG’s smartphone. Such a perfect depiction of her almost 2 year old attitude.
Sophia has been really sick.
And this mom has been really worried.
She didn’t have enough strength 
and was in too much pain 
and couldn’t go to school all last week.
They say she just has two really bad ear infections.
But I am not sure if that is right.
This girl has had A LOT of ear infections.
2 bouts of Swimmer’s ear.
Three sets of PE tubes.
And she has never been like this.
Her lymph nodes were huge on Friday night.
Visibly huge.
I also think she has a little whiplash from her cheer-leading class a few weeks ago.
Thankfully she looks a lot better today.
I am keeping my fingers crossed.
And praying more than crossing my fingers.
Especially since she just said her ear is hurting.
She already had one round of zithromax
and 3 shots of rocephin.
Sophia hasn’t been sleeping as much as she should. 
Her eyes were really really red and bloodshot yesterday.
Despite her lethargy, she was dying to go to church to be the reverence child.
(I looked for a link to an explanation for a reverent child, but I couldn’t find any –
a reverence child is the lucky kid who gets to stand in the front of the LDS sacrament meeting –
they stand with their arms folded and act as an example for the adults to remember reverence.)
Another side note: there is nothing like an assignment to be 10 minutes early for church to make a family 2 minutes late for church. We have been early for the past 6 weeks. Sorry Sophia.
After Sophia got dressed all pretty for church, Abigail voiced her observation:
“Look mom, Sophia looks like Rosalie (from Twilight).
Abigail was right. Sophia looked like she needed some blood bad. And fast!
Now I have two vampire children.
Just what I always wanted.
Thanks to all of our fallen soldiers who made it possible for me to raise a bunch of monsters.
We live in a wondrous country, despite the politicians.