The Lythgoe Ledger

Our Christmas Tree

2009-12-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

And yes, I was having fun with my camera...

Christmas in the Heart of a Child

2009-11-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

Callie's play opened last night - it is really a collection of 6 mini-plays. Callie appeared in 5 of them, mostly in minor roles.
The first one was "Santa and the Gimmee Gimmee" I bet you can guess the plot:

Then the "Nutcracker" which was primarily a made-up backstory to the ballet. In the backstory, Callie played "Madamoiselle Mouserinks" who is the mother of the Mouse King. The backstory was played out in shadow while Drosselmeyer narrates. Callie is the middle one in the shadows below:

In the "Gift of the Magi" (which was just the traditional story) Callie was a background player in a scene on the street. You can see her in the purple dress in the picture in the bottom middle:

After intermission was the LITTLE plays, starting with the "Little Match Girl". Callie's only role in this play was to be the Match Girl's dead body lying on a corner of the stage in the scenes where the match girl is in heaven. Being the mommarazzi that I am, I still got a photo:

Then came "The Littlest Angel" - the only play Callie was not in:

And finally, "The Little Drummer Boy". Callie was part of the "Child Angel Chorus" and did a lot of ribbon twirling:

Then came a big finale number with song, dance, and the various casts taking a bow:

Callie has had a lot of fun and really enjoyed her stage debut!

(The photo on the bottom left is Kyra talking to Chris Heimerdinger, Callie's castmate and author of the "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites" books. She used to LOOOOOVE those books and so she went and introduced herself to him.)
The play runs through Dec. 7 if you want to see it....

Brigadoon!

2009-11-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

So Kyra is doing an amazing job in this show! There is one more show Monday night if you haven't seen it yet and want to! Here's a bunch of pictures from Thursday and Friday's shows:

And.....I think that's enough!

November's half over....

2009-11-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

So I thought I'd post a wee update. Notice the Scottish accent? That would be because Brigadoon is opening this week, and Kyra's practicing her accent is kind of rubbing off on me....
So what have we been up to?
Well, I had a birth up at LDS hospital, and the view of the capitol as you're leaving the parking garage is stunning at 4 am:

And Darrin got a new laptop:

And Callie & Brynn won a trophy and a medal at school for their poem and drawing. (respectively)

And Darrin & I went to a hockey game. (Yes, a hockey game!)

But I didn't know the women were supposed to bring their knitting:

And just in case you were wondering if Satan is real, he is. We saw him at the hockey game. I got photographic proof.

And that's about it!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

So Brynn made her own ballerina costume, Callie was Little Red Riding Hood, and Kyra was Thing #1 from Dr. Seuss. (Everyone always wanted to know where Thing #2 was, but Thing #2 forgot to make a costume...)

The bottom picture is from the IAT party, so it also has cousins Zack, Syndnee & Ashlyn (Dave's kids) in it. Bonus for you, lucky readers! Sadly, it is the only one I got of Kyra in her costume. Not sure how that happened!
We carved Jack O Lanterns from pumpkins we grew ourselves this year. Brynn even carved hers all by herself!

It was a busy 3 day affair this year, with the school festivities on Thursday, several parties on Friday (Including one Callie hosted for her friends) and then the church party and trick or treating on Halloween itself!

So you don't miss it...

2009-10-19T21:02:00.001-07:00

I added the promised photos to the post below...

What's that flying by the window?

2009-10-19T07:36:00.001-07:00

Is it.... could it be.... a PIG? Yes, it's true, pigs are flying, and I'm updating my blog!

It's been a crazy couple of months around here. Want to see what we've been up to?

Well, first off, I went to Atlanta for a conference. Took an extra day to see the Georgia Aquarium, the largest one in the world, and very, very cool!

You can see more photos from the Georgia Aquarium HERE. The conference was great, had some good southern food, and very much enjoyed the break.

Then school started. Kyra is a Junior this year, Callie is in 6th grade, and Brynn in 2nd grade. I got first day pictures of the 2 younger ones, but I was barely coherent when Kyra left to catch the bus at 6:30 am and totally missed that. Sorry kiddo!

(That's Brynn's teacher Ms. Demke. Brynn thinks they look alike.)

September brought some fun stuff. Darrin's extended family put on a play written by Darrin's grandma Janet in honor of Grandpa Lynn's 90th birthday. There were also other birthday celebrations throughout the month. We also took a day and hiked to Donut Falls:

We also replaced the carpet in the office, living room, stairs, landing, upstairs hall and downstairs hall with hardwood. Replaced the stair railings, too. It looks great!

September also brought the finalization of Charlie's adoption to his daughters and on October 1, Charlie & Dara were sealed to them. I got to play photographer:

Our October can (mostly) be summarized in one word: REHEARSALS! With Kyra starring in Brigadoon, there are plenty of them. But then Kyra had to go and add a role in the school's ensemble scene for the Shakespeare competition in Cedar City and a monologue in that competition as well. And then (since we needed more rehearsals in our lives) Callie auditioned for and got several small roles in the Draper Arts Council's Christmas plays. So yes, rehearsal craziness!

Kyra went to Cedar City to see plays and compete the second weekend of October. No one from Jordan won anything, but she really enjoyed performing on the stage of the replica of the Globe Theater they have there.

Last Staurday we took the kids to Gardner Village for the annual "see the witches and buy fudge" trip. Lots of fun was had, even though it was insanely crowded!

Kyra is in the Women's Chamber Choir at Jordan as well, which means (yup, you guessed it) more rehearsals and performances. Some photos from the choir concert and the Shakespeare Showcase where they perform their competition pieces at the school for parents:

As for me, I've been busy with births, teaching at the hospital, teaching at the midwives college, doing maternity, newborn and birth photography, and with my new adventure: blogging for Lamaze International at Science and Sensibility.

Oh, and learning to make collages in photoshop. (Can you tell?)

And when I am lucky, catching my breath.

Hiking Alta Ski Resort

2009-08-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Kyra was off at Trek, so Darrin & I decided to take Callie & Brynn off for a hike, too. We went up to Alta Ski Resort and hiked through Albion Basin to Cecret Lake. More photos are on my photography blog, but here are the ones with people in them:
At secret lake where they climbed out on a natural jetty

On a big flat rock that looked out over Albion Basin:

At a point where the trail branched off and they took the other way:

It was not a very long hike, but Brynn had a hard time. Darrin promised her fruit snacks at the lake if she didn't complain on the way up. She got her fruit snacks, but as soon as we started hiking down, she asked "Can I complain now?" and when Darrin said something to the effect that it would be best if she didn't, she said "Well, I can if I want, I already got my fruit snacks!"
And then she just reached a point where she sat on the trail and didn't want to walk any more because "all my legs hurt so much I think there are 4 legs."

Parade Preview Party

2009-07-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

We went to the (air conditioned, not crowded, not early in the morning) float preview party this week and saw some of the floats for today's parade. More pictures on my photography blog.
Big shoes to fill:

Callie's mentor:

Kyra's favorite thing these days:

And all 3 of my girls getting to pretend to ride on a float and wave to people:

This one had my kids giggling. It's from the BYU float, and it had the names of the graduate schools all over it. This one was broken:

And my girls kept saying "I can't believe BYU BROKE THE LAW!" and giggling.
Happy Pioneer Day!

It's VACATION PICTURE TIME!

2009-06-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

So we just got back from spending 9 days on vacation. We drove to San Diego, stopping in Las Vegas on the way. We stayed in the Excalibur - which Brynn LOVED since it was a castle - and saw some of the sights of the strip, went to the Las Vegas and San Diego Temples, went to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, the Wild Animal Park, went to the beach at Mission Beach, visited the Point Loma Lighthouse and tide pools, walked the shorelike trail in La Jolla and spent time at the Seaport Village shopping center and Embarcadero Park.
My scenic pictures - the ones with no kids - can be found HERE. For family pictures, look out below!

A good time was had by all - in fact, probably too much of a good time as we are all worn out!

Walter Wick exhibit

2009-06-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

My girls ALL love the "I Spy" and "Can You See What I See?" books. They are all photographed by Walter Wick, and when I heard that the BYU Art Museum was having an exhibit - had to take the kids!
They had many of the pictures from the various books in HUGE prints on the walls, and they had sets and things from a few of the books. Also short videos to watch about the making of the photos. It wasn't a huge exhibit, but it was very interesting.
The first picture shows Seymour, a character in the "Can You See What I See?" books who appears on every page and Brynn LOVES to find Seymour. When she saw the REAL Seymour at the museum, she talked to him, danced for him, and tried to kiss him through the glass.

Our week!

2009-05-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Realized I forgot one thing from last weekend! Brynn & I went to the grocery store to get some stuff for our picnic lunch up American Fork Canyon and when we got to the store, they were having a big fair of some some. Lots of booth, inflatable fun houses, and a FIRE TRUCK and AMBULANCE to look at!
Brynn had a great time exploring both and talking to the firefighters that were there.

OK on to this week! I'm still working on my photography and have posted some of my new pictures on my photo blog. Feel free to check it out.
I put out a call for practice models for more maternity and newborn pictures - and got 6 responses! YAY! So I'll be busy practicing and learning with those.
Most of the week was boring with school, work, etc. Yesterday was pretty good though! We worked in the yard, and Callie got her own garden spot planted. She's wanted her own patch of ground for flowers for a long time, and spent hours poring over gardening books picking out what she wanted! She planted some marigolds, zinnias, nicotinas, alyssum, and snapdragons from the garden store and she also planted some poppies and black-eyed susans from seeds.

Then we went hiking to the Rocky Mouth waterfall:

After our hike, we cleaned up and met Darrin's family at the cemetary to see Darrin's grandparent's graves and do some annual cleanup:

And then had a fast food dinner and went home for baths and bed.

Catching up!

2009-05-17T08:26:00.001-07:00

Oh my it has been a crazy month! I've posted a bunch of stuff, you may want to go back to the post about Brynn's birthday and read them in chronological order. I think this is my 8th post for today.
Some hodgepodge catching up that isn't really worthy of its own post:
1. Kyra attended the drama club banquet and won an award for best stage makeup. She's been learning it in her theater class and is pretty good. Some examples:

2. Kyra's been very busy with rehearsals. First for the one act plays, then for the one act plays AND the Draper Temple Celebration simultaneously, and now just for the temple thing. Plus end of the year stuff, like the AP test and other big projects and tests for school. Plus she's learning to drive and will be taking driver's ed this summer.
3. We found termites in our house. Sigh. Dealing with it.
4. Mother's Day was fun, and I didn't even have to do a birth! (Mother's Day is the only holiday I've ever missed for a birth before. And when I had a client a week over due, well, it could have easily happened!) We just stayed home all day (except for church) and relaxed.
5. Kyra's getting a real interest in photography, and she's pretty good! I'm going to start teaching her some things. Here's an example - she had this picture framed in a rich wood frame and gave it to me for mother's day:

It's nice to share that interest!
6. I have had my first practice sessions with pretend-clients-who-are-really-friends. I did maternity shots of my friend Angie and newborn shots of her baby Piper afterwards. The maternity ones are on my photography blog, the newborn ones are not ready yet. I've been immersed in learning to edit photos as part of this. I'm also doing quite a bit of practice and trying to learn how to better use my camera. It's almost an obsession.... Here are some pictures I took of the girls with my new black background:

(yes, I did buy this the day Kyra learned to do wound makeup in her theater class...)
7. End of semester and beginning a new semester at the Midwives' College is always time consuming. We're implementing the 6 new courses I wrote earlier this year.
8. I've done 2 births since I last blogged.
9. Got our garden cleared, tilled and planted!
So you see how crazy (in a fun and adventurous way) the last month has been? No wonder I haven't blogged!
You may all now stop bugging me about blogging...

American Fork Canyon

2009-05-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we took the whole family for a picnic up American Fork Canyon. It was a much WARMER experience than our last trip! We ate, walked around a bit, and drove up to Tibble Fork Reservoir. It was nice to get outside and not spend all Saturday on chores!

Timpanogos Cave

2009-05-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

Last week, Darrin and I set out to do what Darrin REALLY wanted to do for his birthday: Timpanogos Cave! It didn't open until the 9th, so we had to wait. Darrin took Monday off work so that we could go. But then my client called at 5 am Monday morning when her water broke, so we had to reschedule for Thursday. (It was a good birth, though LONG since she didn't deliver until around 6 am Tuesday!)
So Thursday as soon as we were done with the states program we set off to hike to Timp Cave and do the tour.

Spring afternoons are a GREAT time to visit the cave! There were only 6 people total on our tour and the rangers were all bored, so we got to take a much longer tour and take as much time as we wanted. We asked lots of questions, took lots of pictures, and had a great time. Our tour was at 3pm. Earlier they'd been flooded by school field trips, later the after school hikers come. 3pm turned out to be perfect! I brought my big flash, and used it wirelessly to take pictures of cave formations. You can see them on my photography blog.

States Parade

2009-05-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

With the end of the year comes a boatload of projects, big tests, and performances for parents. Kyra took her first AP test on the 14, and on that same day Callie had her big State Report project, 3D model, poster and float for the parade. (WHY do they have to do SO MUCH?!?!?) Callie was "lucky" enough to draw Iowa!
Callie's 3D model was a ferris wheel from the Iowa State Fair. We used
it on her float as well, along with a barn, some livestock, some corn, and a cardboard version of the Iowa State Quarter.

Since we don't own a wagon, we had to scramble to borrow one (Thanks, Dave & Jenny!) I really felt sorry for the parents of the triplets that are Callie's age, putting together THREE sets of state reports. And finding three wagons!
For the performance, the kids sang lots of patriotic songs and did some square dancing. (Don't ask me why square dancing. It makes no sense to me, either!) Then the kids all pulled their state floats all around the gym showing off their work. Then we got to go back to the classroom and see the written report, poster, travel brochure, etc. Darrin has all the pictures from that on his computer, I'll try to remember to get them and update this post when he gets home.

Good intentions, bad idea

2009-05-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Fresh off our fun hike up Battle Creek Canyon, Darrin & I decided to do a family hike. We chose Donut Falls, having heard it was a good hike for kids. Apparently, not until July! We were not prepared for the snow at all.
We didn't make it to the falls, but had fun anyway.

We'll probably try Donut Falls again in August.

One Act Plays

2009-05-17T07:36:00.001-07:00

Kyra performed in a student-directed one act play at her school. She played Eve in "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" by Mark Twain. She did a great job!

Michael, who played Adam, is the same guy who played the crazy Christopher Wren in the Mousetrap.

Darrin's birthday!

2009-05-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

So Darrin had a birthday and to celebrate, he wanted to go hiking. We went up Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove. A long hike, but beautiful and it felt great to be getting up in the mountains again!

You can see more of the scenic pictures I took on my photography blog.

Brynn's Birthday!

2009-05-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

So Brynn turned 7 and had a pink princess party. NOT Disney! Just regular REAL princesses! (as she kept telling people.)
Yes, she invited a boy to her pink princess party. He's a good friend of hers and was a very good sport about being the only prince at a princess party! (Darrin even dressed up like a prince to try and help him feel better, but I don't think it was necessary.)
We made wands and played games. Made picture frames and everyone got their picture taken with the Brynncess as well. Cake and ice cream were a royal tea party.

Easter Morning

2009-04-12T10:58:00.001-07:00

Callie & Darrin have a wierd "war" going on right now. Callie cut out this picture of "The Money You Could Save by Using Geico" and keeps hiding it in odd places for Darrin to find. He returns the favor every time. Last night, just before bed, Callie hid it in Darrin's church shoes. He found it before she woke up and put it in her Easter basket - the fastest turnaround yet!

Easter Dresses!

2009-04-12T10:35:00.001-07:00

Had a fun photo session with the girls this morning. I'm including some of my favorite outtakes, too:

Three for Three!

2009-04-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for about a week, but I kept forgetting to take pictures. Today I took some quickies just as the kids were heading off to school. The lighting stinks, but hey, at least you can see what they look like.

We are now officially three for three on producing children with bad eyesight! Kyra was in first grade when she got her glasses. Callie started asking for glasses in 1st grade, but bad mommy that I am, I thought she was just wanting to be like me & Kyra and I didn't take her in until the start of 3rd grade! Well, Kyra & Callie were due for their annual eye exams last month, so I thought I'd get Brynn's eyes checked, too. Good thing I did!

Doesn't she look CUTE!
Callie also got new glasses. Since we don't have vision insurance any more, I was thrilled she picked frames from the clearance rack that cost only $50. Even MORE thrilled when the rang up at $32! And Target was having a sale on kids lenses for only $25 with the purchase of frames, so I could have kissed the sales clerk since we had to buy THREE sets of lenses!
Anyway, here are Callie's new glasses:

Yes, pretty much identical to the old ones. She's happy, I'm happy, who cares if they don't look any different?
Kyra, on the other hand, did something I am not even brave enough to do. She got contacts! I think she finally decided that she wanted them when she had to do the whole Mousetrap play without her glasses on.

Because her prescription changed so much, she did need to get backup glasses, too. (Did I mention I am thankful for the sale? Because I AM!) She chose a new semi rimless style. I'm still totally not used to it, probably because she wears the contacts most of the time.

If she looks funny in that picture, it is because I made her put the glasses on when she had the contacts in, and it made her feel a little woozy. Plus the "Just take the picture, mom, so I can get on with my very important teenage life" attitude.
Not much else going on here, except for the massive amounts of highly unfair snow that we've been having. I'm going up to a conference at the homestead resort Thursday & Friday. It will be a nice break.
Oh and last weekend we got a new birdfeeder and I have been having fun taking pictures:

And yes, I had a birthday. My family was nice enough to get me lots of new stuff (some photography gear I will have fun playing with!) and Darrin & I went out for dinner and a movie.
Well, I hope you all have a happy April Fool's Day and aren't too mad that Brynn doesn't really wear glasses (the picture is her in an old pair of Kyra's) and Kyra didn't really get contacts. Credit for the idea for this post goes to Callie and Kyra, who hatched the idea when we picked up their new glasses yesterday. GOTCHA!

Bragging Rights!

2009-03-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

So I'm the mom, I gave birth to them, so I get to blog about their accomplishments, right?
That's what I thought you'd say, so here I go:
First, Kyra!
She'd been chosen to represent her school at the regional drama competition in the pantomime category. She and her partner had done quite a bit of practice and prep, and the competition was Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, it isn't something parents get to go to - they are just performing in a small room before a panel of judges.
But she got an overall superior rating and will advance to the state competition! YAY KYRA!
Here is the medal she won:

Being a typical teenager, she wouldn't even reenact the pantomime for me to take blog pictures, sorry!
And now, CALLIE!
She had the Central Utah Science and Engineering Fair today. And THIS I got to go to! And you know what that means, right? PICTURES!

She had worked very hard to improve her project, conducting 2 follow-up experiments, revising the display, practicing for the interview, etc.
The judging was in the morning. She was interviewed 3 times by 3 different judges, including one who was a physics professor at BYU, which really WOWed Callie. When I arrived, she was just finishing the last interview, so I snuck a picture:

Then Callie got some lunch and we wandered around looking at other projects. They had some people standing in the hallway with a contraption that made bubbles filled with the fog from dry ice. The kids were all crowded around getting the bubbles dropped on their hands or head. When the bubbles popped, the fog went everywhere!

Then we watched a "mad scientist" show. They made lots of bubbly foam, played around with ph and air pressure, blew smoke rings, etc. I got a few pictures, but the lighting was really bad!

And then she asked for a volunteer and picked Callie:

She had Callie sit on a flat wooden board with handles. It had a hole where she attached a leaf blower and it forced air under the board and made Callie hover over the floor. The first pictures I took were really blurry. For some reason I like this one anyway:

But then I turned on the flash and got one where you don't feel dizzy looking at it:

After that show, we hiked clear across campus (from the Harman Building to the JSB) for the awards ceremony. Callie had been considered for a special award for "Best Use of the Metric System" but did not win that one. She did get a 4th place award for the Physics category! She got a certificate, a trophy, and a check for $15! She was happy. I was happy. It was a great day.

And Brynn? Her greatest accomplishment this week was talking me into a pair of cute pink church shoes she didn't really need. But they match her Easter dress, so I caved. You'll have to wait until Easter for pictures of that!

Our weekend

2009-03-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had the chance to go to the Draper Temple Dedication. We had tickets to be inside the temple, which was a LOOOOOOONG drwan out process. It was over 7 hours between the time we left home and the time we got back. We had to wait at the chapel where we parked, get on a bus, wait at another chapel near the temple, wait over an hour in a tent tunnel, and wait in our seats. Then wait for a bus back to our parking area.
We drove to the place where we would park to take a shuttle over to the temple. The Draper temple is a small temple, not a full-size, so there is very little parking on site. We all had to park at church parking lots in the area and take a bus to the temple. Darrin had said that the last bus would leave at 2, so we got there at about 1:40. Turns out that the FIRST bus was at 2, so we were on it. They had 4 church parking lots and each was designated with a color. The color of your parking lot was also the color of your ticket. You had to make sure to get on a bus with the right color to get back to the right parking lot. Well, it just so happened that the blue parking lot where we were was also the place where the white ticket people were meeting. The white ticket people are the VIPs who get to sit in the celestial room. The white ticket people had to be on the first bus.
Soooo we ended up being the first people entering the temple behind the white ticket people, and that meant we got to be in the celestial room!
It was amazing. There was a small choir that was incredible. I enjoyed watching Callie and Kyra's faces as they saw the prophet for the first time.
No pictures since I couldn't take my camera.
Spending Saturday doing that meant no church for us on Sunday. Regular meetings were canceled so people who didn't have tickets could go watch it by satellite. It was SO odd to not have church on Sunday. It was a cold, windy day, so Darrin and Brynn tried flying a kite in our backyard:

But the winds were so gusty and swirly that they kites couldn't stay up and would come crashing down with no warning:

We also hung up our new bird feeder, to replace the one that broke. And spent some time bird watching:

I made a big turkey dinner. Last fall we got a free turkey but never needed it for a holiday, so it has just been taking up room in our freezer ever since. I never had time to make it. But yesterday was a whole free day, so I went for it!

It was really nice to spend a whole day together at home!
And finally, spring in Utah can be so unpredictable. Saturday was lovely and warm, in the 70s. I wore capris and went barefoot most of the time we were at home. Today I woke up to THIS:

Yes, that is about 6 inches of new snow. And it is still coming down!

Hiking!

2009-03-20T21:18:00.001-07:00

We went hiking near our house tonight just around sunset. It was beautiful! Some pictures:

(Kyra had a babysitting job, so she wasn't included in the hiking)

Red Rocks

2009-03-06T21:46:00.001-08:00

We went to the U of U Gymnastics Meet tonight. I had fun taking pictures. Kyra brought a book. Callie was bored after the first half hour. Brynn and Darrin took lots of walks around the Huntsman Center. Our seats were rather nosebleedish:

See where the portals are? We were between the portals a few rows from the walkway. I brought my biggest zoom.

Some of the other pictures: (Arizona is in maroon and gold. Utah is in black and white.)

I see a future creating pop-up books

2009-02-26T15:35:00.001-08:00

Brynn LOVES to create things from paper. If she wants something for a story she's creating while she plays with her toys, she just makes it out of paper. I think she'd be happy for hours with some paper, scissors, scotch tape and crayons/markers. For example, she made this stage out of a cardboard thing that came with one of Callie's Christmas presents.

She has made lots of crowns like this for her various toys to wear:

Here's a cage for Diego to keep the dangerous animals:

She makes books quite often. Once she was working on a whole bookstore!

A bookmark commemorating the day she got one of her stuffed pandas. Note the tassel she made on the top:

One of her dolls got stepped on and the legs broke off. No problem! Brynn made him a wheelchair!

Dora got married and needed a wedding cake:

There was a contest of some sort among the toys, and the winner got this trophy:

We needed a mailbox for valentines for her family night lesson on love:

This is a basket of fruit. Can't remember the reason behind it:

Sometimes art imitates life. Dora won the science fair with this project:

I don't think any of it is around any more, but Dora once went on vacation to an imaginary country and Brynn made an entire souvenir store in a shoebox. Little keychains, magnets, hats, t-shirts, etc.
And the Oscar for creative use of paper goes to

BRYNN!

Brynn's poem

2009-02-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

Tonight Brynn wrote a poem. Enjoy.
Obama has a llama
and the llama has a mama
and the llama mama does lots of drama
Oh in this sentence I forgot a comma
Oops! I am in a trauma
And now it is time to get in my pajama
Good night!

Opening Night!

2009-02-19T21:48:00.000-08:00

So Kyra's play "The Mousetrap" opened tonight. She did a GREAT job! I took a few pictures. (Well, OK a lot of pictures!) Here are some of the best. Backstage before the performance:

And a few from during the performance:

If you want to see it, there are still performances Friday, Saturday and Monday nights! Call me for details.

Friday the 13th

2009-02-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

Turns out Friday the 13th is lucky for Callie!
Last night was the Jordan School District Science Fair. Nearly 300 entries, 120 of them advance and compete at the BYU Science and Engineering Fair next month. Callie was so nervous about the interview! We practiced and practiced and it paid off, as one of the questions we'd practiced so much was the one the judges asked her!
She won a big blue ribbon and gets to go to BYU on March 25 for the next round of competition.
The waiting was very intense. She and her friend Taylor both huddled in front of the stage, holding hands and crossing every body part they could.

But fortunately, both made it!

Callie is over the moon with happiness and hopes to win some of the $50,000 in prizes and scholarships that will be awarded at BYU.
And that's not all, folks! The 5th grade has a big contest every year for the best decorated box for collecting Valentines. Callie was hoping to win the "High Tech" category for her class with her jukebox valentines box. She used her snap circuits to set it up so that when you push a button at the top, it plays a recording of "Thank you, and Happy Valentine's Day!". She won not only her class competition, but the competition for the whole grade in the High Tech category. I wish I'd gotten a picture before it got taken apart!
(The grand prize winner was - no kidding - a LIFE SIZE wedding cake made out of cardboard, complete with paper "frosting" roses and a bride and groom. Took 2 people to carry it into the classroom!)
No bad luck for Callie on Friday the 13th!
And just so they get some blog time, here's Kyra in her stage makeup for the Mousetrap, which opens in only 5 days!

And Brynn just being cute on the 100th day of school:

And I got some pretty yellow TULIPS for Valentine's Day - it's making me so excited for Spring. I love tulips and daffodils because they mean winter is OVER!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Draper Temple

2009-02-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

Discovered tonight we can see the new Draper Temple from our back deck. It's only visible through a narrow gap which doesn't line up with any of our windows, which must be why we never noticed before.
At maximum zoom, on a tripod standing on a table in the wind, 30 second exposure, this is what I got:

We took the kids on a tour last month, and yesterday I spent 5 hours helping with the open house. People were coming through at about 700 an hour!
Two weeks from tonight is opening night for Kyra's play. Send me an e-mail if you want to come.
Otherwise life is pleasantly boring.

A post! FINALLY A post!

2009-01-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

So I posted every single day in December and got totally burned out on blogging. So, January so far:
- Cleaned off and organized my desk. I bought my laptop in September but hadn't cleared out my old computer yet. There's SO much more room now!
- Started on a new year's resolution project.
- Put up with cranky kids:

- Worked like crazy on projects for the hospital and midwives' college. Attended 9 hours of meetings/teaching sessions in 2 weeks time! (It's usually 2 hours/month)
- Missed the regional Reflections awards ceremony because no one told us when it was. Found out the next day that Callie's poem WON and she goes on to the next level, which will be on Thursday of this week. And since we know, we'll go!
- Taught Brynn to blow bubbles with "Gubble Bum" as she likes to call it!

- Went to the Draper Temple Open House with the whole family.
- Watched the inauguration. Callie celebrated by making this:

- Went up to Park City to get away from the foul air. Walked Main Street during the film festival. Didn't see any celebs or get many good pictures at all. Well, maybe we saw some celebrities but we're old so we didn't recognize anyone. Had fun anyway.

- Had no electricity last night for a few hours. Kids were asleep. Darrin & I played UNO by candlelight. Hard to tell green & blue apart that way.

Even though it was just after 10 pm when the power went out, it was eerily light outside. I took these pictures through the window just before midnight. No flash. There was no visible source of light at all. Just lots and lots of snow bouncing light all around.

Look out!

2008-12-31T15:25:00.000-08:00

Kyra's got her driver's permit!

A leisurely lunch...

2008-12-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

I had lunch at an awesome restaurant today! I came upstairs from doing the treadmill to find Callie and Brynn had transformed the kitchen into a restaurant, just for me!
I was not allowed into the kitchen area:

And I had my own personal waitress:

Who gave me a menu to choose from:

My choices were quesadilla, frozen burrito, bagel (toasted or not), Teriyaki bowl, leftovers, omelette, scrambled eggs, soup, or custom order. I could choose from sides of salad, instant mashed potatoes, a cutie, apple, banana, crackers, chips and salsa or anything else I could think of. I had drink and dessert choices, too!
My waitress took my order:

My chef made my meal:

And I enjoyed my meal!

And the final cost?
Meal: 2 hugs
Side: 1 kiss
Drink: 1 hug
Dessert: 2 kisses
Tax: 1 hug and 1 kiss
I paid both the waitress and the chef, with a 50% "tip" as well.
(Thanks go to Kyra for taking pictures for me, too)
It was a fun surprise for me!

It's Snow Fun!

2008-12-29T06:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, we have a LOT of snow here....

Basketball

2008-12-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

Brynn LOVES playing basketball with the little indoor hoop we have. She tries and tries and tries. She has a goal of making 100 baskets by the end of the year. I think she's in the 60s now.

She can make baskets pretty well, but sometimes she gets a little frustrated and needs some help:

Christmas Day

2008-12-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

The had told the girls they could not come up before we came and got them, and that it would be around 7 am. Callie & Brynn woke up earlier than that, but listened to the radio and talked in the dark until we came to get them.
Waiting upstairs for them was:

Some castle building blocks for Brynn

A telescope for Callie

And some Wicked stuff for Kyra
They were all very happy with what they got and we spent a few minutes looking over those things before we started opening presents. One of Brynn's presents was a box with a note that just said "Go look in your room". So she ran down the hall and found that while she was sleeping during the night, Santa's Elves had been using power tools to hang a new canopy over her bed!

She loved it!
Kyra & Callie got lots of books, books, and more books. There will be much reading around here.
We finished opening gifts, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and got dressed and ready to go. Went back to Dennis & Marti's to exchange gifts and eat leftovers for lunch. We'd hoped to see Charlie or Dave's family there but Charlie's family was still sick and Dave's family wasn't there. I think they came later, but we didn't see them. For the first time since we've been married, we didn't see ANY of Darrin's siblings at Christmas! (Spence & Bonnie were in AZ with her family, Kelly & Preston were in VA and didn't come this year) It felt very wierd!
After lunch we headed out to Eagle Mountain to Tim & Brittany's house for dinner. We had some yummy prime rib:

Played the game Apples to Apples, had dessert and headed for home. Halfway home, we got hit with a big wall of snow & wind, and the second half of the drive was in blizzard conditions, but we made it home safely and collapsed into bed.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-26T14:03:00.000-08:00

Most of the day was pretty dull. Laundry, cleaning up the house, etc. But in the evening, we went over to the Lythgoes' for dinner.

We expected to see Charlie and his family there, but when we arrived we heard they were all home sick! So it was just the 5 of us, Dennis & Marti, and Darrin's aunt Nancy and her college age kids Jennifer & April.
We had a very good dinner and then went downstairs for the annual talent show. (I took pictures, since I don't have any "performable" talents. Face it, you can't exactly calm a laboring woman on a stage.)
Marti and Darrin built a nice fire:

Brynn did a magic trick with a dollar bill.

for a most appreciative audience:

Kyra & Callie played a duet on the piano.

April played and sang for us, too.
We had our annual nativity pageant. This year, the role of Mary went to:

Brynn!
And our handsome Joseph was played by Darrin!

There were shepherds:

Wise guys:

An angel:

And our traditional narrator:

And we even had an audience:

(much smaller because of the many roles in the pageant)
After the cast took its final bow:

We went upstairs and had pie. YUM!

And then we went home, got all the girls settled sleeping together in the basement, and then got started on the work of Christmas Eve! You'll have to tune in tomorrow to see what we were up to.....

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a Merry Christmas, and invite you to watch this slide show of what we've been doing THIS year to celebrate the Christmas season:

Christmas Eve last year

2008-12-24T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is what we did on Christmas Eve last year. It was lots of fun. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas this year!

Callie's Birthday Party

2008-12-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

What goofy friends she has....

We made friendship bracelets, guessed baby pictures, played the M&M game, ate cake and opened presents. Callie had a lot of fun!

Blast from the Past Christmas with the Lythgoes 1981

2008-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Kelly & Spencer

Dave, Charlie, Darrin

Friends and missionaries come for the pageant.

Blast from the Past Lythgoe Christmas 1979

2008-12-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Blast from the past Lythgoe Christmas 1978

2008-12-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Missing Ben

2008-12-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it has been 9 years....

Blast from the past! Lythgoes 1973

2008-12-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

First picture of what is now a long-standing tradition: the Christmas Eve Nativity Pageant!
Look! A cardboard fireplace just like the one MY grandma had!

Blast from the Lythgoe past! 1970

2008-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Only one picture but it's a good one!

Blast from Darrin's past! Christmas 1960s edition

2008-12-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

Dates are all pre-1970 but I'm not sure which years.

Blast from the past late 1990s Christmas

2008-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Unkown year, but late 1990s in Clearfield.

Blast from the Past Christmas 1991

2008-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

First Christmas in Morgan Hill, and the last one I before I got married.

Blast from the Past Christmas 1990

2008-12-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

Blast from the Past Christmas 1988

2008-12-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Crown Birthday, Callie!

2008-12-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

A Crown Birthday is a very special birthday in South Africa, where Darrin served his mission. It is your crown birthday when your age matches the date of your birth. Since Callie is turning 11 on the 11th, today is her crown birthday!
I'm not going to redo an entire video, so I'll just post this year's stocking picture and the video I made last year with all the others:

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Callie taken this year, along with my thoughts:

Callie is a real thinker. While we were testing the lights, I caught her lying down, gazing into the lights, just thinkin'
She LOVES to cook, and is always getting better at it. Someday I may just make her family chef and then Darrin & I won't have to cook any more. (I wish!)
She's very talented. Here she is with her trophies from the the school reflections contest. One for photography, one for poetry.
Let's not forget how much she LOVES science! Science fair projects are exciting for her.
She is a great big sister. Brynn LOVES to play with her!
She also loves all kinds of living creatures. Bugs, furry creatures, and even this SNAKE she found by the river near Sarah's house!
As a bat for Halloween. She almost always chooses costumes no one else thinks of, so I have to make them for her. This year was no exception. You would think there were bat costumes out there, but no, only batMAN.
Isn't she pretty? Taken at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
She's always wanting to look around and explore, she's very observant. In this picture she's looking at shorebirds nesting on a rock just of Yaquina Head Oregon.
Callie with two of her favorite things: Books and Cats! I think this bookstore in Seaside may very well have been her favorite place on our vacation. She made us go back for a second visit!
She can be very silly and goofy. I love that about her!
She and Kyra are also very close. Sometimes I have to tell them to stop talking and focus on other stuff, like getting to school on time!
This fun facepaint was a highlight of her summer. Animal Planet came to Liberty Park.
Hiking in the mountains near our house.
Don't you just love her smile? She is a very happy kid.
Fun self portrait we took at the park this summer.
Twirling in our living room!

With her good friend Andrian on a road trip to Utah County for a homework assignment. I think this is Bridal Veil Falls.
More silliness and cooking!
Happy Birthday Callie, I love you very much!

We take a break from blasting the past for this special announcement:

2008-12-10T15:18:00.001-08:00

Kyra will be playing the lead in the Spring play for her school!

She's very excited and told me I *HAD* to blog it! (I suspect she's most looking forward to the screams she gets to do.) The performances will be Feb 19, 20, 21 & 23, so mark your calendars if you want to see it!
And I have another Kyra accomplishment to announce. OK so this actually happened about 6 months ago, but I just found out about it today as I was bored and surfing the internet for images related to “Lythgoe”. Kyra entered a contest back in June for a free, all-expense paid trip to the Oregon Coast. We never heard anything and paid for our own trip, but today I found this:
http://visittheoregoncoast.com/2008/11/05/national-geographic-kids/
They posted her entry as one of the top 20! It’s about halfway down the page.

Blast from the Past Christmas 1981

2008-12-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Blast from the Past Christmas 1979?

2008-12-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

This is the only picture from this Christmas I could find! I think it is 1979.

Blast from the Past Christmas 1977

2008-12-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Blast from the Past Christmas 1973

2008-12-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas Choir

2008-12-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

Another favorite tradition is the elementary school Christmas Choir. The kids get up and go to early rehearsal twice a week for 5 weeks to prepare for it. This year's concert is on the 18th if anyone wants to come.

Christmas Lights!

2008-12-05T06:49:00.000-08:00

More pictures I never posted from last year. These are from our trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas decorations.

Gingerbread Houses at the Festival of Trees

2008-12-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

The creativity isn't limited to trees. They have a large gingerbread house section, too! (More pictures from last year)

Festival of Trees

2008-12-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

The Festival of Trees is one of our family's favorite Christmas traditions. It's always amazing to see so many different trees - the creativity and the outrageously elaborate themes. These pictures are from last year, but the Festival is this week at the SouthTowne Exhibition Center if you want to experience it for yourself. It runs through Saturday.

Christmas Characters

2008-12-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

Just some fun pictures I never got around to posting from last year's Festival of Trees.

The PINK! room

2008-12-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

Brynn wanted her room painted pink. We let her pick the shade. And boy did she pick PINK! This is what we did all weekend.

It's so PINK it emits a glow down the hall....

It's going to take a lot of getting used to.....

Christmas Rules by Brynn

2008-12-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas Rules: (transcribed from a written document Brynn left on my desk for me)
1. The new Christmas colors cannot be changed. Wich are: (pink and blue colored dots)
2. Always put up a Christmas tree.
3. Always, always, ALWAYS drink hot cocoa.
4. Always give Callie chocolate for Christmas.
5. Always give Brynn things on her Amazon wish list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:11:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Callie's favorite part of Thanksgiving: Helping Grandma cook!
She got to help make rolls

While Brynn helped tear up the bread for stuffing:

They both got to help make cinnamon rolls:

And Kyra got there in time to help with frosting the cinnamon rolls:

It was a fun afternoon. But today is MY favorite part: The eating, the family gathering around, and the eating!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

WOW!

2008-11-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

So the theme for this year's Reflections contest is "WOW!" Callie entered twice, once for photography and once for literature. Tuesday was the awards assembly, and this is the result:

YAY Callie, first the science fair, and now the arts contest! February should be a busy month with the district level contest for both. I'll keep you posted.

Thoroughly Modern!

2008-11-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

Last night was opening night for Kyra's play! She did a great job. Most of her scenes are in the first half, and her big scene (with all her lines) is right near the start. So don't be late! Here she is as Rita in her biggest scene: (You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them)

She's also a dancer in the speakeasy scene, with a costume change, so don't forget to watch for her in that scene, too! (That's her on the end getting her mug shot taken. Never thought I'd be proud to have a mug shot of my daughter on my blog....)

During the bows at the end of the play:

You can also watch for her helping with set changes throughout the play.

Callie's a Science Geek!

2008-11-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

(It's OK to call her that. She actually REQUESTED a T-shirt that said that for Chistmas last year. And I actually found one! She wears it all the time.)

Callie was one of 6 winners for the 5th grade and will take her project to the district wide science fair in February!
Congratulations, Callie! You're my favorite science geek!

Fall Leaves!

2008-11-17T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today Darrin raked the leaves under ONE tree in our yard and put a huge pile in the garden. Which of course, was a magnet for the kids. Which, of course, was a magnet for mom and her camera:

I've been LOVING the warmer fall weather the last week or so. Today Darrin & I wandered all over BYU in short sleeves with no coats and it was very pleasant!

It's science project time!

2008-11-17T20:52:00.000-08:00

(which, being translated, means "more work for mom time")
Callie's project involved freezing various liquids and measuring how much they changed in volume and weight. Callie was shocked that the volumes changed so much but not the weights!

It's due Wednesday and we still have to put together the display board, practice for the interview and fill out the FOUR PAGE APPLICATION.

Brynn's latest obsession

2008-11-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

A cardboard box on our deck:

It has all kinds of amenities (all made of colored and cut paper with lots of scotch tape) like a mailbox, a dresser, pictures on the walls, etc. She's been spending HOURS out there. The worst part? When she has to come in!

(I'm dreading the inevitable day the snows destroy it!)

She suffers for her art

2008-11-17T20:44:00.000-08:00

Kyra's director made her get her eyebrows waxed for the play. Before:

After:

OUCH! I've never been brave enough to do that!

What is it?

2008-11-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

A Baseball Bat! Har, har, very punny, Darrin!

One week from tonight

2008-11-13T21:20:00.001-08:00

is opening night for Kyra's play. Anyone who wants tickets should e-mail me for details.

What it is like to play Scrabble with Darrin

2008-11-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

Score at start of game:
Darrin 0
Andrea 0

Score after we each take ONE turn:
Darrin 85
Andrea 15

As the season turns

2008-11-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday: 75 degrees, sunny and beautiful.

Today:

Unbelieveable!

What nerdy kids do with Halloween candy

2008-11-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

Overheard this morning:
Yesterday I sorted my candy by what kind it is. Today I am going to put it in ABC order! I'm really excited about that!
-Brynn

Overheard at breakfast

2008-10-31T09:15:00.001-07:00

Brynn: There's one thing I don't understand about the school party yesterday.
Callie: What?
Brynn: That thing they set up in the gym with the brains and eyeballs we had to touch, why did they name it after you? What's a "spoo"?
Callie: What?
Brynn: I thought you were gonna be in there since it was called a "Spoo Callie" but you weren't even there!

Don't You Know....

2008-10-30T22:06:00.001-07:00

.....it's the time of year when witches and ghosts appear?
Today was the day for Halloween parties at the elementary school. Brynn was a panda:

And Callie was a bat:

I'll have to post a picture of Kyra later, she wore her costume yesterday and I was too sleepy to take a picture when she left at 6:30 am. And forgot when she finally got home at 9:15 pm. Yes, she's a crazy busy teenager!
Tonight we carved our pumpkins, too.
Brynn's: (and unofficially mine, too)

Callie's: (She did all the carving herself!)

Kyra's

And Darrin's. Usually he goes with a Boston sports team theme, but in light of the Red Sox loss and Brady being out for the season, he went political this year. There has been a major debate around here about whether this pumpkin should be read with a long or short "o" sound. Feel free to weigh in on this. He got the template from this site. They have lots of templates for various "BarackO'Lanterns"

Fall Foliage

2008-10-30T21:43:00.001-07:00

Some pictures from a hike Darrin & I took up Bell's Canyon last weekend:

We saw a natural dam made from falling trees, and in it -- ICE!

And of course, it wouldn't be a set of hiking pictures without the requisite shot of Darrin trying to find a GPS signal:

Way to go, Idaho!

2008-10-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

(Quick, name that movie!)
A few weekends ago, I took the girls and drove up to Idaho to visit my sister and see her new house. It was a fun, relaxing weekend with lots of time for:
Playing with cousins

And their new puppy, Ripken:

Exploring the Snake River, right across the street from their house:

Climb trees:

Catch critters:

Ride the 4 Wheeler around the backyard:

Do crafts:

Visit the Idaho Potato Museum:

(Well, the outdoor exhibits anyway - it was closed!)
Do sparklers:

And stay up late watching movies:

(or at least TRY to stay up late!)
We had a wonderful time and my kids can't stop talking about how much fun it was to play with cousins. Sarah's new home is beautiful and we had a great visit. THANK YOU SARAH!
PS In case you're wondering where Darrin was, he was home, doing this:

Before & after pics of Callie's room will be coming, as soon as we finish getting her settled.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

2008-10-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today I:
Taught a class at the hospital
Scanned about 40 slides and created a powerpoint presentation from them
Washed, dried and folded TEN loads of laundry
Graded 6 papers
Unloaded, reloaded and ran the dishwasher 3 times
Canned a batch of "pearsauce" (like applesauce but with pears. Tastes like baby food but Callie LOVES it.)
Made 2 trips to Kinko's to get some files printed into a book
Gave Brynn a bath and made sure Callie got a shower without using ALL the hot water in the house
Dried 2 batches of apples dipped in cinnamon sugar (yes, my house smells GOOD)
Helped Kyra throw together a costume for tonight's stake dance

But you know what I forgot to do?
Call Brittany and wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

So sorry, Brittany, hope you had a good one!

Catching up

2008-10-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

Sooooo I finally have a new computer that will save files and photos and upload at a decent speed. So I have a lot of blogging to catch up on!
So I'll start with the most ancient pf the photos I need to blog. This one was taken back in July while I was in Vancouver. The kids went to Liberty Park with a friend for an Animal Planet channel activity and got the coolest face paint EVER!

And then there was the squatter that took up residence in our backyard:

And the first day of school! Believe it or not (I know I'm having a hard time believing it!) Kyra started high school this year!

ANd Callie is in 5th grade, but she says it still feels like 4th grade. Same teacher, same classroom and many of the same classmates.

And Brynn started FIRST GRADE! Yes that means I have no kids at home for most of the day. Brynn is loving going to school all day, especially lunch and TWO recesses.

Darrin just got back from a business trip to Boston, Kyra just got back from a school trip to the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, and last, but certainly not least, Charlie got married! His wife Dara has 2 cute little girls so now my kids have 2 new cousins.

It was wonderful to have all the Lythgoe cousins in town at once, too!

Dave & Jenny's daughter, Ashlyn & Sydnee:

Dave & Jenny's oldest, Zack with Kelly & Preston's oldest, Nick:

Kelly & Preston's daughter Brooklyn:

Congratulations, Charlie & Dara!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-09-16T20:48:00.001-07:00

I can't believe she would be 90 today. I miss her!

Kyra has few memories of her. She remembers the half-size cans of root beer that Grandma bought just for her and let her drink with a straw. She remembers that she made a Halloween ghost decoration grandma hung from her chandelier that later scared her to death in the middle of the night. She remembers grandma hugging her and telling her she was a good girl and very "purdy". She remembers grandma playing patty cake in the waiting room of the doctors. And that's about it.
Callie, of course, has no memories since she was only 5 months old when grandma died. We only have one picture of the two of them together and my scanner isn't working so I can't post it.
All this was brought to the surface today as I attended a beautiful birth before the sun rose today. The mom asked me what the birthday was a few minutes after the birth and when I replied "Your son's birthday is September 16" I remembered. And I haven't stopped remembering all day.
If anyone else is remembering grandma today, please share a memory or two in the comments.

Day 1 of our grand adventure!

2008-08-26T15:43:00.002-07:00

Left home before 7 am.
We drove.

And drove.

Kyra tripped at a rest stop in Idaho and smashed her watch.

Drove some more.

Kept driving.
Had a picnic lunch at a park in Boise.

Fed geese.

And drove.

And drove.
Stopped at a firefighter museum in La Grande (western Oregon)

Drove some more.

And more.
Stopped for dinner in Pendleton.
Drove some more
Saw the Columbia River.

Watched the tugboats push barges around while we drove.

And drove.
Drove some more.
Saw a dam on the river.

Drove. Saw another dam.

Watched the sun set.

Drove some more.
And finally arrived at our hotel in Portland for the night at about 10 pm Utah time.

Missed most of the Olympic opening ceremonies, but did watch the very last part before the parade of nations and the first part of the parade of nations. Fell asleep watching it.

Day 2 Newport and the Aquarium!

2008-08-26T15:43:00.001-07:00

Darrin & Callie woke up early, so while the rest of us were still sleeping they took a walk around the Portland neighborhood. They got rained on and had to use umbrellas.

As it turns out, that was the only time the umbrellas got any use! We had gorgeous weather the whole trip. When I woke up, I turned on the TV and they were replaying the Opening Ceremonies. Turned it on just in time to see the end of the parade of nations. Made it seem like it had gone all all night long!
We packed up and headed for the coast. Stopped to see the Portland Temple, which was beautiful!

So much greenery it is hard to get a good shot.

We drove down through the Willamette Valley and then over to the coast, through dense, intensely green forest, arriving in Newport at about lunchtime. The hotel wasn’t ready for us to check in yet, so we went to the beach and had a (very wind-blown) picnic.

After lunch, we checked in to our hotel room and were so amazed at the view!

Then we headed to the Oregon Coast Aquarium:

It was remarkable well-lit for taking pictures, and many of the fish tanks had gorgeous blown glass.

Brynn loved touching the animals. They had rays, starfish, anemones, abalone, and even a shark!

Everyone’s favorite part was the tunnel tanks.

They were built where there used to be a big tank that held Keiko the “killer whale”. Now there is a series of 3 connected tubes that go through the middle of tanks. One has fish found closer to shore, one is a bit farther off shore and has a fake shipwreck in it, and the third is deepwater with sharks and rays. There was even a window in the floor to see fish, though it was pretty scratched up and hard to see through.

Self portrait in an old metal scuba helmet you could put your head in:

We got to watch the otter get fed:

And they have marshlands with real wildlife, like this shorebird:

But they also have an aviary with captive birds, many of them were found injured and brought here for care. This one’s for you, mom:

The kids also liked playing on some cement statues of marine animails:

After the aquarium, we found a pizza place for dinner, walked around the touristy shops at the harbor, where we saw sea lions:

and then walked on the beach a bit and I took silhouette pictures of the kids:

before we went back to the hotel to watch the sun set out our window.

Then we watched Olympics and went to bed.

Day 3 Newport area

2008-08-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

Darrin & I started off the day by leaving the kids in the hotel room and going for a long walk on the beach. It was nice and we enjoyed having some time to talk without the kids hearing every word. And of course, we took some pictures:

After we cleaned up and got ready, we attended church in the Newport Ward. Brynn was sad that she couldn’t kill time in Sacrament meeting looking to see where all her friends were sitting. But we’d saved a brand new Friend magazine for her and that helped.
After church, we headed to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. Yes, that is the official mouthful of a name. We had a picnic at the visitors’ center, excuse me, I mean “Interpretive Center”! Nothing in Oregon has a visitors’ center, but everything has an interpretive center. We watched some kind of large bird glide in circles over us as we ate, and listened to the sound of the waves. After lunch, we walked around to the lighthouse. It is a beautiful lighthouse, tall and white and on a bluff overlooking the ocean.

We got to go inside and climb to the top. Brynn really wanted to do it, until she got about 75% of the way up and looked down. She started screaming and crying. But we were able to help her be brave enough to get to the landing just below the lens. We all got the chance to climb halfway up the last set of stairs and pop our head up in the lamp area. I took a few pictures of the view

And the lens - a first-order fresnel lens - the brightest available in the 1800s and imported frmo France!

And even a reflected self-portrait

Brynn freaked out and refused to go any further. Until I told her it was time to go back down. I think going back down scared her more than anything, so in an effort to delay going down the stairs, she said she wanted to go look out. And she did!

But she was very scared going down and we had to take it very slow and with Darrin & I each holding a hand, on in front of her and one behind. Darrin got her a pin that said “I survived the climb up Oregon’s tallest lighthouse!” and she wore it proudly for a few days. As you can see, she now loves that lighthouse!

We took some other fun trick pictures with the other girls

Out behind the lighthouse there was a bald eagle sitting in a tree!

And there was a park ranger there who let us look through her telescope and binoculars at all the birds on the rocks.

We then took the long stairs down to cobble beach, a beach with round stones instead of sand. They make a very different, beautiful sound when the waves go in and out.

There were some tide pools and rocks to explore as well, but not much wildlife. Darrin climbed up on some big rocks and found the best tide pools up there:

The view of the lighthouse from Cobble Beach was pretty incredible, too.

Brynn was doing her best to build “rock castles” since she couldn’t build a sand castle on this beach:

We then headed back to the hotel and tried to decide what to do for dinner. Ended up going to a restaurant called “Georgie’s” where they had the best clam chowder of the trip. I could just barely see the lighthouse out the window the restaurant.

Then we went over to see the Yaquina Bay lighthouse, a smaller, older lighthouse that looks over the entrance to the bay. It was closed, which is why all the windows are shuttered, so we were not able to go inside this one.

We also got some good shots of the Newport bridge, which is very close to this lighthouse.

Then we went back to the hotel and watched some Olympics before going to bed. After the girls were in bed and the TV/lights were off, I watched the moon come up and light up the waves. It was beautiful.

Day 4 From Newport to Seaside

2008-08-26T13:12:00.001-07:00

We were sad to leave our lovely Newport hotel behind, but it was time to move on and head for Seaside. We packed up everything and Darrin was loading the car while I supervised the final bathroom stops before we hit the road when I looked out the window and FINALLY saw some ocean life! There was a pod of dolphins swimming in the waves AND a whale off in the distance. And darn it! All the cameras were already in the car! I consoled myself that surely in the days we had left I’d have another chance, but sadly, we never did see anything more except for seals. So no pictures for you, but I have memories!
We headed up the coast and first stopped at the Devil’s Punchbowl, a large round sea cave where the roof collapsed and so now you can look down into it and see the water churning around. I don’t have a wide enough lens to get a picture of all of it, but here is the best I could get:

Also here was a colony of squirrels living in the cliffs. It was amazing how they leapt all around and never fell. Brynn thought it was fun to watch them run all around, far more interesting that that boring ol' ocean everybody else likes to look at!

We continued up the coast and took the “Three Capes Scenic Drive”. We first stopped at Cape Kiwanda where we watched surfers and even a kayak-er!

Took pictures of the big rock off shore

And watched people climbing the biggest sand dune ever!

(Click on the picture to make it bigger and look for the itty-bitty people climbing up!)
People were driving SUVs and trucks right down into the sand to launch their boats, and one family in a minivan decided to try and got stuck! We were glad we’d left our van in the parking lot.
We continued to Cape Lookout. There was an AMAZING place where you could pull off the road and see this:

The pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. You can see for miles. I can only imagine how far you could have seen without the mist. I think this was probably my favorite view of the trip! We drove by the three arch rocks, which kind of look like a water serpent.

After a quick potty break, we continued on to Cape Meares – which is the SHORTEST lighthouse in Oregon. It’s so short because it is upon a HUGE cliff and so doesn’t need to be very tall.

Brynn also climbed this lighthouse. Also had a bit of a panic attack, but was brave enough to go up and walk all around the lens in order to get a sticker.

The views from here were pretty nice, too.

We had a picnic and then hiked to see the Octopus Tree (and unsuccessfully hunted for pillbugs on the way), which was called that because it had 8 limbs. Callie counted and something happened to one of the limbs because it was cut off and now there are only 7. Callie continues to annoy all of us by correcting us when we call it the Octopus Tree by calling it the “Septimus” tree. She’s too smart for her own good.

(do you see the kids there? The tree is HUGE!)

(Note Brynn is wearing her pin from the Yaquina Head lighthouse!)
We finished the Three Capes drive with a leg around Tillamook Bay and ended up in the city of Tillamook. Went to the Tillamook Cheese factory for the “tour” – which was just some glass windows you could look through to watch the slicing and packaging of cheese. No actual tour, no actual cheese making. Kids were disappointed at that. We got to sample some cheeses and then we had some ice cream cones, which were VERY good!

Hit the road again and drove through Cannon Beach on our way to Seaside. Arrived in Seaside and only got a little bit lost before finding our hotel. This place wasn’t anywhere near as nice, but it was a small suite with a bedroom for the girls and a mini kitchenette.

We did some grocery shopping, made dinner in the room, and walked down to the beach and watched the sun set.

This couple was nice enough to stop and kiss right in front of the sun for me!

And then we went back to our room and watched Olympics before going to bed.

Day 5 - Astoria here we come!

2008-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

We headed up to Astoria in the morning and our first stop was the Maritime Museum, which was wonderful. Lots of fun displays:

And included a life-size tugboat bridge:

And the actual bridge of a WWII era battleship. The thing is so big they actually built the museum AROUND it. Kids loved playing in it.

Then we got to go explore the lightship Columbia, which served as a floating lighthouse marking the entrance to the Columbia River for many years.

It was replaced by the unmanned bouy light in the foreground, which has since been replaced by GPS systems and is also on display at the museum.
It's not very big, but it was interesting. Brynn was terrified while on the deck, and had to be carried down the stairs, but loved exploring below deck.

Mini fire hydrant on deck:

After we were done there, we decided to drive across the Astoria Bridge into Washington state to have a picnic lunch. Darrin, Callie & Brynn had never been to Washington State before, so we couldn't be that close and NOT go!

I wanted to drive 10 miles up to see Cape Disappointment lighthouse, but no one else wanted to, so I was disappointed. We could see it (barely) from our picnic spot:

Do you see it? Do you? Maybe? Just barely? Were you hoping for a better view? Yeah, me too.
We ate and the kids played for a while while I closed my eyes to try and get rid of a migraine. Had another disappointing pillbug hunt.

Kyra thought it was cold:

Then we headed back into Astoria and went to the Astoria Column. It's a huge pillar covered with murals depicting the history of the area.

Usually you can climb up it and get a great view, but it was closed, so all we could do was view the outside and take fake pictures:

Should have gone to Cape Disppointment, I tell ya!
Returned to Seaside and walked along the beach for a while, stopping to let the kids play on the swings:

Went into "downtown" Seaside and had the kids ride the carousel:

Bought some fudge and went back to our hotel where we ate the fudge and watched the Olympics.

Day 6 Astoria revisited

2008-08-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Today we were up & out a little earlier because we wanted to make it back for some swimming time at the beach near our hotel. We arrived at the Uppertown Firefighter's Museum in Astoria as they opened at 10. They have some really neat, really OLD fire trucks

and some not quite so old but not exactly current fire trucks:

and some fun stuff for the kids as well:

Looking up a hose drying-tower:

Don't know what it has to do with firefighting, but there was a big comfy chair there as well!

Upstairs from the firefighter museum was the Astoria Children's Museum. They had all kinds of fun things up there for the kids, a fire station:

some Lewis & Clark dress ups:

A sailboat for fishing:

And even a medical area:

When I developed a sudden severe toothache, I sure was glad the equipment was there to get me feeling better FAST!

Kyra was a little OLD for this place, but she found a nice place to kick back & relax:

After we were done there, we went to Ft. Stevens State Park, which was WAY too windy to have a picnic for lunch, so we ate in the car:

And explored an old shipwreck on the beach - the Peter Iredale that has been there since 1906. (You can click on the name of the ship to learn more) Only the steel reinforcements of the hull are still there, but there are small iron bits popping up form the sand all over, so I wonder how much is still buried!

There was a guy there using an antique camera to take pictures - it was kind of cool!

We then explored a small concrete bunker just inland from the beach. This is the only place on the US mainland to take enemy fire since the war of 1812. It was shelled by a Japanese submarine in WWII. SOunds more dramatic than it was, though, since the sub missed, ther was no damage, no injuries, and no return fire. But it was kind of an oddly interesting place and the kids enjoyed exploring.

We then went back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits and spent a couple hours swimming. No cameras there, though, so you'll miss the delight of seeing me in a swimsuit. Please contain your disappointment.
That evening we ate dinner at a small Oregon Coast chain called "Pig and Pancake" - it was similar to an IHOP - we all ordered breakfast and the kids ate the best they had all trip!

And they even sell these:

We spent the evening shopping for t-shirts for the kids. Brynn got bored with the shopping so Darrin took her back for more swinging on the beach!

And then we went back to the hotel and watched more Olympics, I got a foot massage (without even asking for it!) and then we went to bed.

Day 7 - Cannon Beach!

2008-08-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

Darrin got the girls up EAAAARLY to go out and do some beachcombing at low tide before everything was all picked over. Still didn't find much. I enjoyed sleeping in.
After breakfast, we headed to Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach where we got our best views of Tillamook Rock lighthouse.

Above is with my camera - no good telephoto! Below is with the digital zoom on Darrin's camera

And some beautiful panoramic views:

Ecola (which is VERY different from both Ebola and e. coli) is a very wooded penninsula. Many places have no vegetation at ground level because sunlight can't get through. In places where the trees are thin enough for light to get through, there are tons of ferns all over the ground.

After hiking around for a bit,

looking for pillbugs without luck, and having a picnic lunch, we headed over to another part of Ecola, a place called Indian Beach. We waded around and looked at tidepools. Watched some surfers, too.

(raise your hand if you can't wait for high tide to come back)

After we were done there, we drove over into Cannon Beach and walked around the beach. It is quite a busy place, there were people zipping all around in these unusual bikes:

And lots of creative sandcastles:

We walked all the way to haystack rock:

And we'd timed it to be there at low tide, but found that this was not very low for a low tide. There were some nice tidepools to look at, but the volunteers there were telling everyone it would be much lower tide the next morning, with much, much better tidepools to explore. We did see ONE sea star and ONE Dungeness crab.

When we were done exploring, we walked back into town and had dinner at a nice seafood place called Doogers. Darrin & I both got a mixed seafood platter with all kinds of good stuff, and the kids got tamer meals of clam chowder, shrimp and chicken. Later Brynn got mad that she's had chicken because this was a seafood place and chicken isn't seafood. But when I reminded her that she had PICKED chicken over the seafood options, she stopped whining. (Thankfully!) But all three girls were brave enough to try the calamari from our dinners, even if just so they could tell their friends they'd eaten squid.

After dinner, we wandered around Cannon Beach looking at shops and stuff. Darrin found the perfect place to sit and rest for a bit:

And mom, here's another one for you:

And once it got dark, we went back to our hotel and watched more Olympics.

Day 8 Bye, Bye Ocean

2008-08-25T07:23:00.001-07:00

The day started out very early as Darrin & I got up and left the kids sleeping in the hotel room. We drove over to Cannon Beach to explore the tide pools at the very low tide. (For the record, we offered to take any kid who wanted to go with us, but they all chose to sleep!)
It was VERY foggy and we almost went back to bed, but decided to just go for it. Fortunately, the fog was MUCH thinner over in Cannon Beach:

There were TONS of sea stars on the exposed rocks!

Darrin & I really enjoyed walking around taking pictures:

We got back to the hotel room at about 7:45 and Callie & I went down to the beach to collect specimens for her to look at under the microscope when we got home. The fog was SO thick in Seaside that for a while we couldn't see the water OR the beachside buildings. No other humans, either. Just sand, fog, and the two of us! We gathered different kinds of sand, seaweed, shells, seawater, even a dead jellyfish! (Maybe some other time I'll post microscope pictures. Not today - I'm doing enough today!)

As Callie & I walked back to the hotel at about 9, I realized it wasn't even 9 am and I'd been to TWO beaches that day!
We packed up the car, checked out of the hotel and hit the road for home. Drove straight through Portland and up into the Columbia River Gorge. Our first stop was Multnomah Falls, a beautiful waterfall in a small creek just before it joins the Columbia. There are two falls, a thin tall one with a smaller, wider one below. There is an 80 year old concrete bridge between the two. Here is the lower falls and bridge:

And the upper falls: (I don't have a wide enough lens to get the whole thing in one shot.)

We hiked up to the bridge. Brynn wouldn't go out on the bridge, but she did a lot of looking for pillbugs on the trail on the way up. Didn't find any. We were beginning to wonder if Oregon had pillbugs!

We found a spot to have a picnic near the Multnomah Falls parking lot. Other than the staff, we were the only picnickers! Turned out the picnic spot was right next to some busy train tracks!

Fortunately, the kids thought it was cool (and not scary) so it turned out fine. Darrin & Kyra ran to the car to get the picnic stuff, and Brynn did even more pill bug hunting. And had SUCCESS!

Turns out they DO have pillbugs in Oregon! Brynn says they are redder
than the ones in Utah, and have pointier ends as well.
After lunch, we headed to the fish hatchery at Bonneville Dam. They had these HUGE sturgeon! As in 10 feet long and 450 pounds of fish! This is Herman, the biggest and fattest:

I wish there had been some way to give some scale to the picture because it doesn't really show how big he is!
In another pond, there were some ducks diving for food and it was SO clear you could see them under the water as they fed.

The kids loved seeing all the fish they were hatching at the hatchery. (If only our friends, the Hatches were there, we could have had lots of fun wordplay!)

Next we moved over to the Bonneville Dam. It's right near the hatchery, but the hatchery is on the bank of the river, and the dam visitor's center is on an island in the middle of the river. At this visitor's center, they have windows into a fish ladder that are 4 stories underground. One window had a couple of lamprey eels latched on to it!

We saw all kinds of fish swim by, ranging in size from smaller than my pinky nail to larger than Brynn!

And this, my friends, is the best dam picture I could get: (har, har, har)

After we left the dam, we drove and drove and drove, then stopped at Jack in the Box for dinner, then drove and drove and drove and finally arrived in Baker City, OR where we stayed the night in a motel. And watched Olympics.

Day 9 - Home Sweet Home!

2008-08-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

Day 9 was kind of boring by comparison - mostly driving! The one stop we made (other than for gas) was in Twin Falls, where we were able to go through the open house. They were not allowing pictures on the grounds, so the only one we got was this one taken from the car as we drove away:

We found a small park nearby and had a picnic lunch before getting back on the road again.
We arrived home at about 8 or 9 in the evening, and tried to do as much unpacking and laundry as possible before collapsing in bed around midnight, without watching any Olympics. The "Day of Rest" the next day was so welcome!