Memorial Day

I have always felt Memorial Day is a very wonderful holiday because gives us a special day to remember those loved ones who have passed on. So much of who we are and what we have become is a direct result of previous generations. This day also gives us a chance to honor brave and valiant men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their own life for our country and freedom. I love going to the graves when we are home and have been lucky to have been visiting Utah over Memorial Day twice in the eight years we have lived in Kentucky (2005 and 2006). We always visit the Evergreen cemetery in Springville where my many of my dad's family members have been laid to rest. Grandpa Nance who died of a brain tumor during my sophomore year of high school, my dad's little sister Janice who died from meningitis when she was 11 months old, his other sister Janene who was killed by a drunk driver in 2003 and my cousin Tyson who was stillborn are all buried there, as well as some of my relatives on the Larsen side. It is a beautiful place that brings peace to those who pay their respects. We visit East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery in Provo, Utah where Rich's Grandpa Jackson is buried. He was a remarkable man that I had the pleasure to know for many years. What a blessing it has been for my children to at one point have 12 grandparents alive- all that were married to their first spouse. What a legacy they put forth for us to follow. We were not in Utah this Memorial Day so visiting our loved ones was not possible, but we did think about them during the day.Our holiday this year started out a bit slow since Rich was on call Saturday night and got home around 10 AM Monday morning. After a bit of food he was off to bed. Once the girls went down for a nap I took the boys over to our pool and we all nearly froze to death in the 60 degree water. The only way I stayed in was because I was numb from my neck down. Rich needed his rest so we could head to the Hamilton's home in Louisville at 3:00 PM for a goodbye BBQ for the Madsen's. Yes, someone that has been in school here in Kentucky just like us is FINALLY done with residency! Congrats Josh! After Todd and Kristi gave us grief about always being late (they were joking, but it is totally true) we arrived in Louisville and found that we were the second family there. It was a proud moment for me!! There was great friend, food and fun from the moment we arrived until sundown and then some. McKay just couldn't get enough of Kristi's delicious cooking.The girls LOVED the bouncy toys. Brynn's face says it all. I think I should get one of those things soon!Lacey (who's due with baby #4 in a month) and Tiffany under Todd's elaborate tarp contraption on the back deck. We were supposed to have a major storm pass through that evening, but since Todd spent at least an hour rigging this thing to the gutter and the fence, all we got were some light sprinkles. Figures.Big and little Josh.Rich and Josh have been friends for EIGHTEEN YEARS! Since we do live in Kentucky a fierce game of corn hole was in order. I've seen people play this thing for years and never thought it looked that fun. Obviously I hadn't play it myself. It was awesome! We are going to have to get a set of our own.Brynn got up close for the action.It was Josh and Ryan (the Californians) against Todd and Rich (the Utahans).Nice form Rich.Guess which team got the victory?The girls were up next. It was Kristi and me and against the Madsen girls.Kristi got the kids started playing red rover and Todd was a saint and played duck duck goose with the kids so the moms could play.Tiffany and I cheered our teammates on. Yes, we are dorks, but it was fun. And no we didn't hurt ourselves either. (Kristi and I won- woo hoo!)Kristi worked her dog magic and charmed Kaitlyn to touch their newest foster dog Jackson. That was a miracle.The Kentucky Madsens: Cynthia, Tyler, Tiffany and Josh.Much to my Josh's delight he finally played a game of corn hole with his brothers and Keenan. I don't think he would have gotten in the van if he didn't get a chance to play.After Ty and Cynthia and the Williams said good night, we just couldn't pull ourselves away. Sure is was a school night and it was well past 10 PM, but it was one of those magical nights that you didn't want to see come to an end. It's hard to believe our original Louisville gang is down to the Hamiltons. Where have the past eight years gone? Fast!
We love you Josh and Tiffany. Thanks for all the memories and here's to a lifetime more!!! Best wishes in California. I promise we'll come and see you as soon as we can. Like in three years. Promise.

Random Bits of Life....

Today is the last day of school!!! The best part is that the boys will have their same teachers next year. They have K/1 and 2/3 classes so they will just be the older kids in the class next year. I LOVE their current teachers. Each one is perfectly suited to their personalities. What a blessing!

I think the girls got the memo too. It certainly feels like summer. The temperatures are warming up daily, grass and trees are green, the days are long and sunny and I think we are all ready for a break from homework. Swim team started on Tuesday night. It's been warm enough to swim, but the water nearly froze me to death when I spent a half an hour swimming with the boys on Memorial Day. I swear the water wasn't warmer than 62 degrees. The only way I could stay in was because I was numb after just 60 seconds after diving in. Here's hoping to some warmer nights or that they purchase a pool heater! They will begin their Monday- Friday morning practices on Monday. Their meets will be every Wednesday evenings through June and half of July.
So I ran to our neighborhood Wal-mart to buy swim diapers for the weekend this morning and grabbed a watermelon and headed to the check out. The watermelons were priced at $4.99 there while I knew they were selling for only $3.50 at the Super Wal-mart down the street. When I asked the checker if they would honor the lower price, she said nope. They can't compete against themselves. Huh? I was really surprised when they said no since it was their low price to begin with. Strange.

I have the Scripps National Spelling Bee on as I type. (The girls were up to their old tricks as I listened and typed. And no, I don't think chicken bullion cubes are tasty Kaitlyn.) Anyway, these semi final rounds are on ESPN. Man those kids are AMAZING! I have no natural spelling abilities. Seriously. I'm horrible. Thank heavens for spell check and even then I still get things wrong. How in the world can these kids spell these insane words. I haven't heard of any the ones they have asked the kids. There were children as young as 8 competing. Oh my! The kids seem so composed and collected, but they show shots of their parents who often look as if they are either going to throw up or pass out. The commentators talk about possible issues with the word in hushed tones reminding me of watching a golf tournament. They even have Erin Andrews there interviewing the kids. Too funny. They showed one boy even totes around 30,000 words to read and study where ever he goes. Now that's dedication! There is even an LDS girl competing from Fresno. She's still in here during round 6. She said she's read the dictionary SIX times!

(Josh's How to Be A Pirate Entry)

This morning as I went through the boys back packs and all the random things they brought home I found Josh and Matt's daily journals. Those were serious good reads! I loved each page. It is always fun to read things from their perspective. Though after reading their 'inventive spelling' I'm not sure a trip to Washington DC to spell competitively is in the future.

(Matt's last journal entry)

Matt finally lost his other front tooth last week. That thing hung on forever! The poor thing had a hard time biting into anything since it was so wiggly. Sadly the Tooth Fairy didn't arrive on the first night, or even the second, so she left him not one dollar but two when she finally made it on night number three. What a patience guy!The other night when Rich was on call. (He's been on call every other night for a week or more now- painful for him and me!) I had gotten the boys to bed, but decided to let the girls play upstairs while I straighted up the kitchen. I didn't realize that I had stuck my wallet in the swim bag and left it on my floor. Oops!I came upstairs to find they had emptied out their PJ and blanket drawers and there were 'stickers' as the girls called them covering various bags, on the wall, on their shirts and carpet. These so call stickers were really stamps. Oh no! They had stuck an entire sheet all over the place. As I gathered my 42 cent a piece stickers, they began modeling MOST of my shoes and all the clothes they could grab. Such funny girls!There was some good news though. After I tucked them in bed, I discovered Matt had left three of his stuffed animals on my bed for me to sleep with since I was alone that night. What a cutie!

I am having a sort of freak out moment today when I realized the girls have learned how to open the fridge and freezer. This is bad. Very bad. So far I've wiped up spilled pizza sauce Brynn bit open on the carpet, mopped up yogurt courtesy of both of them, picked up carrots the girls tossed on the ground and just wrestled a bag of Popsicles out of their hands. I think I need to go buy a bungee cord soon. Or a huge padlock.

I turned on the morning TV yesterday and realized that Kathie Lee Gifford is working on the Today show at the same time they air Regis and Kelly here. Funny to see them competing against each other now. That's business for you. Also, Pat Sajak was a co host with Kelly. I've seen him before and I think he's great. He could really do a talk show instead of a game show and do really well. He's smart, funny and fun to listen to. I never imagined him to be that way before I saw him fill in for Regis. One more thing- I had to laugh when I saw him because there is a dad that walks with his kids from school each day and he looks just like Pat. Seriously they could be brothers.

One last crazy story. So the kids and I were driving home from cub scouts on Wednesday night and stopped at a gas station for some drinks to go along with our Little Caesars pizza which we were taking to the hospital for Rich to eat with us. There next to the gas pumps was a car that was seriously smoking. Seconds later two fire trucks pulled up and followed by a number of police cars. I didn't know what was going on other than it looked like the car had been on fire. Not a good thing at at gas station. When I went in to buy our drinks the fire alarm was going and they had to shut off all the pumps. (Great idea BTW). It was then that I found out the cause. This lady was trying to jump her car and switched the jumper cables putting the red on the black and the black on the red. Mega mistake, though I had no idea it would cause an explosion in your car. Poor lady. I think that qualifies as a very, very bad day!

Happy Summer!

Straight from their mouth....

When we pulled up to the school this morning I noticed Mr. Mackatee dressed in a suit for 5th grade graduation. I mentioned to the boys that their PE teacher was wearing nice clothes for the last day of school. Josh said, "Yup, he's like a doctor of sports stuff."

While visiting the Cincinnati Zoo Matt was pouring over the map helping us see where to go next when he exclaimed, "I can use the four cardinal directions to help us navigate this place." Trey added, "Never eat soggy waffles!" (I grew up saying Wheaties or never eat shredded wheat!)

Matt asked me why he gets bumps on his arms when he is cold. Josh informed him that "goosebumps are made when your skin squishes together making hills, just like how mountains are formed."

This past week Trey has gone on and on in great detail about his love for Hannah, a girl in his class. He's not the only one. His best friends Parker and Dylan are twitterpated as well. Parker was going to hand her a note yesterday that told her he liked her. Trey told him to add his name to the list. Parker first wrote P + H and then below wrote T + H. Later that day Trey asked me if it would be fine if he stared at her all through swim team practice. I told him I thought that wasn't such a great idea. Josh is still in love with Katie and she likes him back. Man, I am in TROUBLE!

The girls' vocabulary has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. They have added such wonderful words like stop, mine and nope to the list. They also use ear piercing screams to get your attention to help them off the table, fix their stroller, put a dress on a Barbie or get them a drink of water. Nice. Why can't we just learn to say 'I love you' instead?!

Seems like old times....

Sometime life just hands you such a surprise you really almost can't believe it's real. Yesterday I got one of those rare treats. My dear friend Leslie who shared all of my life growing up in Salem with me called me and told me she just happened to be in Kentucky and wondered if she could stop by with her kids and visit today. I said YES in a heartbeat. We had been best friends for YEARS and in between Christmas cards and occasional letters and emails we had kept up a bit, but I hadn't seen her since my wedding- 11 years ago. It was high time for a reunion.

Sixth Grade Twin Day 1988

Leslie lived on Aspen Way while I was just a skip and a hop down the street on Apple Blossom Way. We were in the same primary class and young women class nearly our entire lives. We were in the same third and fifth grade classes. We had endless sleep overs, played on her computer, baked in her Easy-Bake-Oven (something I never owned), played Clue, tried on clothes, rearranged her bedroom furniture, rafted on the pond, made fancy breakfasts and ate them in her dining room, played Barbies and dress up and did each others hair. She was the kind of friend every one wished they had. I was a lucky girl- now and then. It was great to see her and catch up. It was like time had stood still a bit. Until I looked at our kids and knew we weren't 18 any more. She now lives in Missouri so I hope this little get together can repeated in the future.

Thanks so much for the visit Leslie. You're amazing!! Third Grade Mrs. LoftinFifth Grade Mrs. BradyOctober 1988Senior Year December 1994Malorie, Brandt, Jocelyn and Leslie