Corrupting the Kids

Michael and I bought season tickets to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival this year, because we thoroughly enjoyed the couple plays we were able to attend last year.  After we purchased our tickets we won a couple more at a school raffle. Hooray! We figured Ethan and Libby were old enough to enjoy it with us!

After perusing the play options, we decided a musical would be most enjoyable. We rearranged our tickets, added their tickets, and were able to get four seats together to Mamma Mia!, on a school night, with the play ending at eleven, and Ethan having early morning seminary starting at 6:30 the next morning. Sometimes we just have to make a bad decision or two.

When we got to the ticket office, about thirty seconds before the play started, we discovered our seats were not actually together. As Michael and I started discussing who would sit with whom, the lovely ticket agent offered us a table! Heck yeah!

We managed to make it to our seats while the director of Idaho Shakespeare Festival was still talking, so we didn't miss a moment of the play. We even managed to snap a couple photos:

Then the play began. Michael and I kept shooting glances at each other, "What have we done?" "Oh, my gosh, is that all they're wearing?" "Now they are dancing, and it ain't ballroom!" "I hope his short shorts don't ride up while he's hip thrusting, I already have enough guilt!" Our glances can say a lot. Ethan and Libby also have very meaningful glances "I don't want to see that forty year old woman's cleavage." "I didn't know it was legal to dance like that on a stage!"

We didn't realize quite how risque the play would be, and neither did our children. I apologized after the play and Ethan pronounced, "Mom, I go to junior high; it's not anything I don't see everyday." That didn't really make me feel better.

The play was more than we expected, but actually really enjoyed it and going as a family. If we do it again, we might opt for a little more research beforehand.  I don't need the guilt of corrupting my kids; that is why I send them to public school.

The 80's-Revisited

Some things were pretty awful the first time around.  So awful that they make a comeback. The 80's qualify wholly for this statement. Big hair, stirrup pants, t-shirts tied up in knots invaded the junior high. Libby, Ethan and a friend or two dressed in their 80's finery to attend the back to school dance.

Libby thought her hair was big enough, but her friend did need to break out the crimping iron.  Crimped hair was an 80's necessity. I waxed nostalgic just smelling the fried hair.

Libby's hair was made for the 80's. She just flipped it over to one side and was good to go.

Ethan threw a suit jacket over a t-shirt, jeans, and Converse, and was ready to party all night.  He also DJ-ed the dance.

These people! I can't understand how they are so big and grownup. And also why they feel it necessary to openly mock what was a wonderful (and truly ugly) decade.

Libby's Birthday

She has definitely hit the teenage years.  She is gleefully clutching a bag of makeup. She can barely survive unless she is at least wearing mascara, and smeared some on me, and on Grace. Ethan, Michael and Sam have managed to move quickly enough to have escaped her clutches. I don't know how long that will last.

Her aunt bought her a very apropos shirt. She wears it everywhere. She also received a pair of genuine Converse shoes. She got the shoes, the clothes, the makeup. And a vacuum-sealed water bottle because apparently she loves ice water.  She was very, very pleased with her birthday. Teenagers are weird creatures, but I kinda like 'em!

I'm not really sure where everybody went in this picture. I know her aunts and grandparents celebrated her birthday with us, but there seems to be only Grace in the background. I really don't know. On the other hand, see how snazzy the addition turned out? Happy birthday my girl!

Hot Springs

We haven't been camping just to camp for a few years.  We decided we needed a break only camping could provide. We headed up to Bonneville hot springs and campground near Lowman to enjoy some downtime as a family. The older kids brought the guitar and ukulele, we brought lots of food, and nature provided the rest.  It was just what we needed.

People have created dams with the rocks, making pools of different temperatures. During the hot part of the day we enjoyed the "swimming pool" temp area, and in the late evening we enjoyed the "hot tub" temp area.

This is the cooler side.  I am wearing a t-shirt because I neglected to wear adequate sun protection earlier.  Thankfully everyone else was tan enough and didn't even get rosy.

We stumbled across this meadow while on a little hike and decided it would be even prettier in the spring.  As for Ethan, when there is nothing else to do, you might as well whittle a stick.

Michael did not spend as much time in the river as the rest of us. "There's no shade!" I just have to shake my head in pity. While we hung out in the water Michael entertained himself exploring, crossing logs, traversing rocky river beds and enjoying the shade.  He was pretty pleased with this photo.

Breaking Down to Build Back Up

Our house is little. Our living room is miniature.  Our kids are big. We could sell and move, but we really love our location, the kids love their schools, they love the neighborhood, and Michael and I love our very small mortgage.  In an effort to make our home more livable, we hired a contractor, Christian, to make our living room 8 feet deeper, with a two-foot bay at the end.  Despite numerous setbacks, lots of conversations with the city, including discovering the city owns half our front yard, building finally started.

We had everything carefully budgeted, but realized we needed to make some changes to the electrical. With the lights we wanted to install and the extra outlets, electrical alone was going to cost an additional $2,800! There went our budget.  I called my brother who has experience running electrical and he said, "Do it yourself, electrical is easy." Our contractor said, "I bet you could do it. Electrical is easy." The guy at Home Depot, a retired electrician of 40 years, said, "You can do it.  Electrical is easy." Even my neighbor, who is a current electrician said, "Why don't you do it yourself? Electrical is easy." While visions of news articles blaming faulty electrical wiring as the cause of a catastrophic house fire ran through my head, we started running electrical. Ethan had the dubious pleasure of dragging wire through the rafters, while Michael with some direction from my lovely brother, started wiring outlets and switches. I drilled holes, ran wire, and wired lights, but mostly I just drove back and forth to Home Depot.  We are incapable of actually buying everything we need at one time.

With a little help, a lot of questions, and some time spent on YouTube, we managed to get most of the electrical installed within a week of working evenings. A big thank you to Joseph for spending a couple of those evenings with us, lending tools, guidance, and making sure we did not fry anything.

$400 later, and with more trips than I can remember to Home Depot and Grover's, we managed to make everything work, and install all our wants. We even managed to pass our electrical inspections on the first try! That means we are not actually going to burn the house down. While I would never tell anyone that electrical is easy, it was doable.  And that's almost the same thing.

Our fancy new pendant lights over the kitchen counter.  I'm not sure if we will keep these globes, but they were cheap, easily available at Home Depot, and I was past making hard decisions. The bright spots are three of the six dimmable, flush mounted, LED lights we also installed.

Our roughed in light switch, with dimmer!  It works and now, a few weeks later, looks much more respectable.

Our contractor made every effort to build the new front of the house before knocking down the inside wall.  Here is the front of the house, just before the living room became one room.

I pulled out the Sharpies and let the kids and visitors draw on the soon-to-be-demolished walls to their hearts' content.  The art lasted about a week before it was time to demolish.

When it was time for the dividing wall to come down, the kids looked at me with big eyes and asked if they could help take the wall down. Christian had no objections, and Ethan happily started kicking holes in the wall.  The spray insulation and framing you can see through the window frame is the bones of the new living room.

Libby started kicking the wall and our contractor leaned in the window to hand her a hammer.  He suggested she might do more damage with it.

They also let Sam use a hammer.  I really enjoyed working with our contractor.  He is young and energetic, and just seemed happy to be building things.

Ethan also had to punch the wall.  Christian popped his head in once again to check on the damage the kids were doing. He reminded Ethan to check for studs before punching things, and then left him to it.

As the rest of the wall came down, my kids just sat like this. I think they spent most of the afternoon watching the wall come down with the same intensity they reserve for Netflix.

The build is currently 98% done, and I will post pictures soon!