Abstract or Concrete?

Typical of most nights when only one adult is home...

4 kids sit on one side of the counter.
I am on the other -

Serving dinner, cleaning, and checking up on homework.

A song heard earlier in the day pops back into my head, and as usual
I start singing, microphoning, & in general "rocking out"

to the good tunes of my youth.....

"Love bites, love bleeds,
it's bringing me to my knees....
(come on - you know the words)
Love lives, loves dies,
it's no surprise...."

To which, my 10 year old Mickinley replies....

"Actually mom, that kind of is a surprise...
Love is abstract, not concrete. It can't live or die."

Hmmm.....

Before and After

BEFORE we even knew that Thanksgiving Day was a great day to go to Disneyland, we invited ourselves to go along with family. We were pleasantly surprised! AFTER going the day AFTER Thanksgiving too, we realized how good we had it the day BEFORE when we could move with ease!

And never BEFORE had I seen the castle AFTER they had put up the Christmas lights. It was beautiful.



And Lincoln had NEVER before been to Disneyland. It was his 1st time.

And here's a picture BEFORE he went on his 1st rollercoaster...

and AFTER..........

Reaganland

A favorite place to visit.

Now and then, and all the time, a special little someone in our house goes to another place. I find myself saying "Reagan, what are you doing? Get your homework done!" or "Reagan, I just told you 3 times to go and do .........." Only to hear in response "Oh, sorry mom, I was visiting Reagan Land again."

You see, Reagan Land is a VERY complex place and takes a lot of time to maintain. So many things and so many places all crammed inside one little head. There are a lot of streets...Diamond Street, Ocean Street, Lava Street........and there are people in our family that live at each street. Mickinley lives on Diamond Street in a diamond house and Reagan is just across the way. Erik lives on Tie Street in a normal house of course. There's a mayor of Reagan Land, who happens to be ....... Reagan.

So, any time you'd like to visit - You only need ask a few questions and you will quickly find yourself with plenty of descriptive details, to the point you can imagine yourself there. We visit most days.

At Veronica's Request

So, I went through our pictures. Every single one that I have on my computer, and I couldn't find a normal picture of myself. There are some that I'm far away (which is good) and a few in which I'm making a weird face (just to deter the picture taker), but no normal pictures of me all by myself. Maybe this is because I'm rarely by myself these days? Even when I am alone I keep myself company.

So tonight, I broke down, grabbed the camera and the best photographer in the family (which happens to be Reagan), and got this picture just for you. So there you have it. I'm even smiling! Like I'm having fun or something.

I WAS smiling...........until I downloaded this picture onto my blog and started over analyzing it. That smile disappeared fast! I'm getting old! When did I get all those wrinkles in my forehead (or as Elle calls it - "headboard")? Or resurfacing teenage acne for that matter? When did I get that mole? And I realize it's very late and my make-up was put on WAY back at the beginning of this tiring day, but when did I get big bags and wrinkles under my eyes? YOU must have seen it coming. THAT'S why you wanted a picture! Oh YA! THAT'S why I couldn't find one!

Cast Your Vote

It might be a tie! There are multiple daily comments around these parts.

Wanna cast your vote?

Blow it up as big as you need, over analyze, and give your best answer.

Who does Lincoln look like?

(And why are my older/larger children in a play pen?)

Avery Visits

As some of you may already know (but just in case you didn't)........Avery came to visit us!

Sort of a last minute decision made by associated parents. Our girls wanted her to come and little did I know, until the last day of the Prince Family Reunion, Avery's parents were actually up to letting her come with us! So, with a few clothes in a pillow case and a small little scared farewell cry (not because she missed anyone yet, but because uncle Erik teased her about having to pull lots and lots of weeds at our house) Avery plunged right in. I'd have to say, she fit in well! Since Mickinley was gone visiting Kira and her family in Oregon it was still three girls. This made for easy counting and a not so confused mom.

Our Avery Adventure started out with a long trip back to Utah. We stopped at a motel in Idaho the first night and hung out with Leah and family. Although we were visiting them at a hotel we still slept in the trailer, just trying to hold on to the last few remaining moments of camping life with our family. The next morning we swam at the pool and then headed south. We did stop again in Twin Falls and spent an hour rolling down the grass hills and marveling at the water fall.

And we finally made it home.

Our days were full of blissful Avery fun........

We did all we could - dress ups, barbies, sprinklers, swimming, fireworks, 6 am hot air balloons....... We crammed it all in until we all got tired and grouchy, then we slept it off and started over. We learned that Avery really is a princess who wants to meet the queen of England (as portrayed here during dress ups with Grandpa's clothes).

It was also very obvious how much she LOVES her aunts and uncles. She was SOOO excited to surprise them on the 4th of July when we went to Marlyse and Kenny's house for fireworks, as they didn't even know yet that she was in Utah. Marlyse was the first to find out. She saw a little girl running around and thought something to the effect of "wow, that little girl looks a lot like Avery! That's funny........Wait......It is Avery!"

Then as it started to get dark I noticed that Trevor was behind us. I quickly located Avery and took her over to see him. He looked at her curiously for a moment (a recognizable face but the wrong mom in the wrong place) and then realized who it was. Avery was happy to see Trevor and Trevor said how funny it was that he was in the house several minutes earlier and had seen Marlyse holding a little girl that he thought looked so much like Avery! That's funny.......(10 minutes later)........it is Avery!

As the fireworks were about to start I was doing my periodic "locate all the kids and make sure they're all okay search" and I said "where's Avery?" Some random guy behind me repeated "Avery?". Still not seeing her I turned and asked Erik "where's Avery?" Random guy again repeated "Avery?" Then I turned to Grandma Prince and said "Have you seen Avery?" Random guy responded "Avery?" Okay, seriously (I think in my head) maybe copy catting is funny when you're 5, but.............. and then I turned around and saw that "some random guy" was..................Travis! Oh my goodness. So, I again quickly located Avery and took her over to see him! Oh the joy and the fun of it all. Then Travis says something along the lines of "that's so weird! I saw Trevor holding a little girl and thought to myself, I know I'm in Utah and it couldn't be, but man that looks a lot like Avery! That's funny......(10 minutes later).........it is Avery!

Well, it was definitely her night. And despite all those activities that had prevented us from getting enough sleep to keep us healthy and un-grouchy, Avery kept going......and going...... and going until the kids started drifting off into a warm summer nights sleep.

But not Avery, she was having the BEST time with people who love her SO very much and she just kept going........and going.......and going......until the adults starting drifting off into a warm summer nights sleep.

One story that has traveled far and wide occurred one day during a quiet counter top lunch. While all of us ate and I relayed the memorable events I experienced during Avery's birth to her over PB&J, Avery shared that she wanted to travel like her parents did before they had her. Since this particular day happened to fall somewhere in the middle of her stay with us she was missing her family, and although she wanted to go on our next vacation with us she decided she'd like to bring her mom and dad along. When I asked if she had enough money to bring them she simply exclaimed "well, I don't' have as much money as I ought to..........I spent it at a rummage sale." She continued on with details of her love for rummage sales and their usefulness for acquiring inexpensive toys and dress up clothes. While she carried on, Erik turned to me and said "hoitee toitee" (how in the heck do you spell that?). Avery liked the sounds of these words and repeated them over and over. Eventually Erik said "Well, Avery, if you love rummage sales, then you are in the right place. We have the BIGGEST rummage sale ever and it's EVEN indoors. (Avery's eyes got very big) It's called........D...I!"

So, despite the - back seat car dancing and singing, big water slides at 7 peaks, the constant happenings of the girly Briggs home, and a 4th of July firework show that lit up the sky right in front of our eyes for what seemed like forever.......... It could be said that Avery's last day visit to DI may have trumped it all.

.......and we can't wait until we get to do it all again.

Nephi Visits Lehi

It's an annual tradition in the Sunset 1st Ward to have "The Bike Parade". At this event, all of the kids that attend decorate their self propelled vehicle of choice - bike, scooter, big wheel (do they make these any more? I seriously loved mine) and all together in a huge mass follow a route around the neighborhood selected by the primary presidency. There are three or four stops on the parade where each of the kids get to hear something great about cool stuff. Of course, the topic is also selected by the primary presidency (this year happened to be Book of Mormon prophets), the food is selected by the primary presidency (hot dogs and Otter Pops - yum!), and (in this case) the entertainment is provided by some of the primary presidency's husbands........

Okay, so here's how it went down. It was a hot June day and I'm running around making sure there is adequate streamer and playing cards (for making noise in the spokes of course) on all of the bikes. When "Nephi" pulls up in his car with "King Benjamin" and asks "now where am I supposed to be again?" I quickly inform him and "Nephi" drives off to drop off "King Benjamin" at his designated "tower". So, we're a go. Opening prayer and we're off. We arrive at the 1st stop........and there's no Nephi. No "prophet" at all. I look down the street and notice "Nephi's" car going up the wrong street. I notice and so do a bunch of other adults in the ward. Great. So (of course) we decide to sing "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet". All of the sudden towards the end of the song "Nephi" comes walking down the street. Hooray - the bike parade is saved! Perfect timing really.


"Nephi" actually explained that he was late because he was dropping off his good buddy King Benjamin. Luckily, he had wonderful inspiring things to say. At one point, along with a familiar story, he even explained how hard it was for him to sometimes go and do what the Lord commanded. Of course, Nephi did what he should no matter what. He compared this to how it might be hard to get to church on time by 9:00 am (our ward attendance has been down since the time change) and urged the kids to help their parents get out of bed. What a great guy that "Nephi" is. Of course, he also thanked everyone for living in a town that was named after his dad. How much better can it get? Due to these and other great words of wisdom, my girls felt a strong attraction.



The other cool thing about this Nephi is that he was up making his costume with his mom until 1 am. They hit DI just before it closed and everyone knows DI is full of incomparable treasures. Although you can't see them here, the sandles might have been my favorite.



But the real moment of Primary Presidency glory and church calling satisfaction finally came when the lady in this picture (the one on the far right) came up to me after "Nephi's" speech and told me what nice legs "Nephi" has. Told me in three to four long sentences. Perfect. Just as I planned - the real intent of all our hard work. I'm sure she heard every inspiring word.

"Nephi's" real life best friend "King Benjamin".