Tagged Again

I was tagged by my friend Katy awhile ago, but have been sick and busy, so it took me some time to get to it (sorry, Katy!). This one is going to be a little difficult for me because I have to share seven weird facts about myself. Now, we all know that I am the most normal person in the world..... so I really have to dig deep for this one. Ok, here goes....

1. I found out during a recent trip to Disneyland that I actually have to clean up the room before the cleaning staff can come in and clean.... that's totally normal, right?

2. I'm freezing cold in a 73 degree air conditioned house and prefer to sit under a blanket, with cushy socks on my feet, along with that, I was totally comfortable in 93 degree weather ~ barely sweating, with no problems standing directly in the sun while everyone else in our party was dying and wishing they were home in their 70 degree air conditioned homes ~ perhaps I was a lizard in a previous life and am totally at home in the desert on a sun-baked rock!

3. Whenever I eat something sweet, I need to balance it with something satly (I'm right with you here, Katy) which is why I prefer peanut M&Ms as my candy choice.

4. If I can make it to midnight, I immediately turn into a person that cannot quit giggling.... and then I can't breathe and have to make sure the air makes it into my lungs by fanning my hands in front of my face, as if to shove it in there... it works, I promise. Unfortunately, I think the only people that truly appreciate it would have to be my family, as it brings back memories.

5. (I'm running out here).... I'm obsessed with Disney.... I always wanted to be a voice for a Disney character, I buy all of the animated classics even though my boys no longer watch them, and I continually dress up as Disney villains for Halloween.

6. I cannot vacuum my house without moving the furniture.

7. I almost cannot function without my watch. I have two clocks in my classroom, but if I don't have my watch on, I feel naked.

Ok, there you have it. I'm sure that my family could tell you more, but it truly is hard for me to think of the quirky things about me... Now I'm supposed to tag seven people~but I'm only going to be able to do six, so here goes (sorry, there are only so many of you that pay attention) ;-) Tammy, Christy, Steph, Anne, Jenna, and Mariah. Have fun!!

Tagged by Tammy

My lovely sister tagged me from her blog (who was tagged by my lovely sister-in-law). I guess I'm supposed to go into my picture files, go to the fourth file and choose the fourth picture and tell about it. There's not a lot of selection, since the desktop crashed, so here goes:

This was taken in March of this year when we went with several members of my family to Disneyland. This one was in the California Adventure in front of the sun/waterfall. Obviously, I'm really the only one that is "into" the picture thing... Jake is staring at something much cooler than the camera, and Nate is giving the most "I'm so tired of this picture thing" smile possible. By the way--can you tell that I'm a natural red-head... those white legs... I can't tan to save my life!!

So, now I'm supposed to tag three people... this is a little difficult, considering the same thing Tammy mentioned on her blog--I'm not nearly as popular as Anne ;-) Because of the people Tammy and Anne have already tagged (Christy and Steph) my options are limited, so I guess I'll try Katy and Jenna, and I think it'll just have to stop there...

Football Frenzy

Jake is currently just over half way through his first season playing tackle football. He was initially trying to get onto the Oak Canyon team, but there weren't enough sixth grade kids to make a team, so he was assigned to the Canyon View Falcons. He plays on both the kick off and receiving teams, and he also plays defense.



The coach likes to have the names on the jerseys, so there he is, #75. Jake has had a lot of fun playing. It's been tough and tiring at times, but he's doing well. He's met some kids that will be at Oak Canyon with him next year, so that's good as well. At least he'll know a couple of people when he gets to the Junior High environment. This is Jake with his friend, Calvin, right before the game started.

That's my boy, on defense, trying to keep his guy away from the ball. Way to go, Jake!!

Finally, this was after the kick off team had just kicked the ball, and Jake was going after the receiver. They got him down right before Jake got there, but he stayed with them the whole time!

So far, it's been an interesting season. They've lost most of their games, but went from scoring nothing in the first game, to two touchdowns in the second game. The third game was Jake's favorite--he played against a couple of kids from his school--one in his own class. His teacher came to watch, along with a good portion of his class. They won that game 32-13. He loved it. This last game, we put up a good fight. The other team was undefeated--and their kids had some really hard hits (they could probably hold their own against a high school team) think six of our kids got hurt enough to sit out for a little while at least! Anyway, we lost by two touchdowns, but we scored two--which was pretty impressive against this team!

This picture is actually one of my favorites--it's really hard to spot Jake because he's doing what he's supposed to: getting right into the thick of it and keeping his man in line, even when he's got two guys pushing on him!! Gotta love it! The last two games are in Heber--this week and next week--Can you believe I'm driving to Heber for sixth grade football? Oh, well--it's totally been worth it!

Update and Request

As you can tell by the lack of posting lately, things are really crazy ~ good, but crazy. School is in full swing and keeping all of us busy. Jacob is playing tackle football for the first time and loving it! It keeps him very busy, but also is a huge motivator to get his homework done earlier (why didn't we think of this before?) Nathan is bummed that he can't play yet, but we've told him that he can't play until he starts eating (he's too picky for his own good, and will often choose to go hungry instead of eating). Hopefully this will be a good motivator for next year ~ he actually ate three bites of a cheeseburger the other day, and liked it! What kid doesn't eat cheeseburgers?!?

We went to Boise over the weekend, but I forgot my camera! We had a great, if busy time. I got to attend the memorial for a favorite Boise State professor of mine who recently died in a fire. It was a great service, and there were great stories about Mary Ellen from her friends. I was so glad that I was able to attend.

We got to be there for part of my neice, Tabitha's birthday party. She was born after we moved to Utah, so this was a first. Grandma had me make her a necklace an bracelet and I was so worried that they wouldn't fit because she's so tiny, but they were perfect! It was fun to see everybody there.

After that, we got to have a BBQ with my family--well, all those that were still in Boise, although Tammy and Mandy were greatly missed! It was great to be able to catch up. There was lots of talking and laughing and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins.

On Sunday, we went to the Davis' house for lunch and to church for Suzanne's blessing. She is so cute and tiny. We love hanging out with the Davis family. They are such great people! Jeff and Robert have been best friends since high school, and that friendship has expanded to include myself, Jeff's wife, Sara, and our children. We love to be able to see Grant and the girls as well. Paige and Lauren are so fun and have grown so much! They are fun to be around and play with. Grant is their first born, and was born very premature and has some disabilities because of those circumstances, but he is one of my favorite people in the whole world! His spirit touches me every time I see his smile and listen to him laugh. I don't know anyone that reminds me more of the love Heavenly Father has for his children. He is absolutely amazing. I know that he holds a special place with Heavenly Father and I am a better person because I know him.

After the blessing, we headed for home. It was a fun trip, but we were very tired after cramming so much stuff into a day and a half.

Ok, so on to the request part of this post. Our desktop computer crashed at the beginning of the school year. This has not been a great burden, since we have the laptop, and now I have my laptop from school as well. Yesterday, however, I was thinking that I wanted to change the background and screensaver on my school laptop to some pictures of the family and such. At this point I realized how many pictures I lost because of the computer crash, and I almost panicked! I have a number of them on cd, but so many of them were from my digital camera and stored on the computer!! We've tried to get back in to the hard drive in order to save any data from it, but it is completely fried. So, if any of you have any pictures of my family--mainly the boys, I would so appreciate it if you could send them to me. I still have a lot on my laptop, but there were some great pictures stored on the other computer.

I've decided that from this point on, I am going to back up all of my pictures on a jump drive, so that this won't happen again. I love all of the technology that we have, but it is easy to forget that it is not always stable and that it can be lost. It makes me appreciate the negatives and hard copies of the pictures I have.

Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone. I'm trying to set a goal to update at least once a week, but please be patient with me ~ it is easy for me to get lost in life and forget that things are actually going on.

Out of the Pool, or Lake, or Whatever!

Ok, the point has been made! Although, sometimes treading water is the best that one can do. So, to appease my loving fans, I will come out of the pool, or lake or whatever it was that I was swimming in. As far as I am aware, nothing dire has happened, no need for the swim diaper, sharks and, so far, no cryptosporidium (I'll let you know if that changes). But thanks for the suggestions. . .

I'm leaving momentarily to be a hot momma on the back of my boyfriend's motorcycle. More to come tomorrow.

Just Keep Swimming!

Things have been crazy lately, and it feels like it's been forever since I have been able to post! We've moved--or at least have mostly moved. There are still some things at the other place and I have to get it cleaned, but things are definitely happening. The internet finally got hooked up yesterday, after sitting around for hours waiting for the guy to get here, wondering if he was actually coming, having Robert call and discover that they had decided not to send anyone out! Long story short, they were here within an hour of Robert's phone call and the internet is finally up and running.

I have been absolutely exhausted. Tammy came over on Monday to help me unpack my kitchen (which is the only room that is complete, and it's a beautiful thing) and Tuesday to help me paint the boys' rooms (well, prime them anyway, the color will get up before too long). I've been emptying boxes, bringing stuff from the other house, and cleaning from morning until night and hit the bed totally exhausted!

The good news, on the other hand, is that we are now in a house that is about 2 miles away from my school and 3 miles away from Robert's work. It is a 5 bedroom house that has a living room and a family room, with a big back yard for Cooper (it's kind of dead, but it's big!). While it is an older home, and there are several projects we are going to complete (back yard being a big priority), it is nice to be in a place where I have room for everything.

I'll get some pictures posted as soon as I get a chance to take some (probably when things are more like they should be and less boxed up). I'll also get my take on the Police concert posted--I just have to have a minute to breathe and catch up on my Master's class since I haven't had internet for a bit. Dory's line from Finding Nemo has been running consistently through my mind--Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!! I'll get there eventually!

Trying Again

This video that Robert sent had a bug or something in it and switched back to the default settings. Hopefully this will work this time!! It was my favorite of the two.

Breakin' 2

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What a Surprise

I went to bed on migrain meds last night, so I was completely unaware of what my husband was doing on the laptop right next to me. Anyway, I was checking my email and this was what was there. Enjoy!!

Disco

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Orr Cousins

I was just going through a bunch of pictures to send to Anne, and I found some that I had forgotten about. I figured that they were so cute, I'd have to post them. These are pictures of all of the Orr cousins. I absolutely love them!

Orr Cousins from left to right: Nathan Lister, Max Orr, Becky Orr, Jacob Lister, Abby Hartvigsen (on Jacob's lap), Sarah Orr, Audrey Clark, Jaxon Clark

These next ones have all of the grandkids and Grandma and Grandpa Orr. They were taken at the Children's Gardens at Thanksgiving Point summer 2007. There are several of them since it's hard to get all of the kids smiling at once ~ especially little Abby. Anyway ~ these are awesome.

These are the most recent. They were taken in Idaho at the end of June. The cousins all had such a fun time being able to hang out together. The first one is of Abby--she's a lot bigger in this one, considering she is a year older (go figure).

I love this one of Jacob and Becky. They are the oldest grandkids and possibly the closest. They were born two months apart from eachother, and spent a lot of years playing together before we moved to Utah. I'll have to go back and scan in some of their baby pictures in, but when Anne sent this one to me, I thought it was my favorite of the bunch. It's nice to see they're still so close after all of these years.

This is all of the big kids on the Bonzai slide that was in James and Anne's back yard. They played on it for hours and had so much fun.

Finally, my favorite recent one of the cousins.

Happy Birthday to My Brother!

40 years ago today, a very individual, unique soul entered this world. My brother, James. He is a character in his own right. He makes me laugh a lot, he used to frustrate me to no end (I guess it helps to get older in that regard) and I really miss having him and his family around--that's really my fault, since we moved away. After Mom died, and before we moved to Utah, we used to hang out with them a lot! We went to Disneyland with them, played games, and just hung out. I loved having that opportunity to get to know my brother better--as an adult instead of as a little girl being annoyed by her older brother. So, today he celebrates his 40th year--and I am miles away! I can't put 40 trick candles on his cake, or show up at his party wearing black with a bunch of Over the Hill balloons, I can't even give him another chicken (I gave him a chicken related gift for every birthday or Christmas for several years)--although I tried to find a chicken e-card, but they just weren't very fun. What I can do, however, is tell the world that he is awesome, and I love him tons, and show a bunch of fun pictures of him.






Happy Birthday, James!!

Just Thinkin'

Robert and John took the boys to a movie ~ a bit of a boys night out. My plan was to get some more reading done, catch up on some sleep, but I got side tracked. So, I've been sitting here for a little over an hour, looking through pictures so that I could add to the layout of the blog. I've gone through so many different sets of pictures and all I can think of is how much I love my boys!

They are the most amazing guys that I know. They make me crazy, test my patience, make me laugh, cry, throw my hands in the air and just completely fill my life. Tammy and I were talking just yesterday about how quickly they are growing up! She couldn't believe that Jake is going to be 12 in January (I cringe just thinking about it, but am also so excited I can't even stand it). Tonight, going back and looking at pictures is a huge reminder to me at how quickly they've grown. I am so proud of both of them. They are smart and caring and, even though they are growing up, still stop every once in a while ~ without my even asking for it ~ and give me a hug. I guess I just needed to share.




Now I need to go crack a joke before I start crying.

Ten Years

We tend to measure life in years, and we celebrate those years: birthdays, anniversaries, reunions. Monday, June 30, 2008 marked ten years since Mom died. I can't believe it. So many things have happened in the last ten years, it's hard to believe that she hasn't been here for them. Anyway, since the tenth anniversary for anything is a pretty big deal, we decided to have a very small family reunion to celebrate our mom--and the fact that we've survived so long without her!


Tammy and Heath, Jessica and Cory, and Robert and I (along with the kids, of course) traveled up to Idaho on Friday. We met up with James and Anne and went to the cemetary on Saturday morning. We brought miniature roses, and a Diet Coke--Mom's two favorites.


It was fun (I'm not sure that's the appropriate word, but I guess it works) to be there with my family, brothers and sisters, and all my neices and nephews. We took a minute to commerate the moment, since we haven't been out there together since the funeral, and took some pictures, James danced on her grave (I know, it seems awful, but you'd have to know Mom--she would've loved it!) I think the only thing missing was Pink Floyd's The Great Gig in the Sky.





Love you, miss you.

Zion National Park

Have you ever felt absolutely, truly insignificant in this big, great, wonderful world? I don't mean the times when we feel alone, or like we've done something wrong--almost the opposite. When you know without a shadow of a doubt that there is something out there that is greater than us all and that this world has been created just for you and your enjoyment--and awe. That was very much the way I felt a short while ago, when we visited Zion's.

I didn't really know what to expect. I had an idea--we'd been to Bryce and Arches, but I was not aware of how incredibly amazing it would actually be (how do you like that, coming from a creative writing teacher--absolutely no creativity!)

We drove in and felt incredibly small, and yet, I had no idea what was still coming. We took the park shuttle up to the Weeping Rock--where water that has been saturated into the rock years ago--they've found water there that is estimated to be 12,000 years old--is continually 'weeping' out of the rocks. It was like walking through a sprinkler! It was awe-inspiring--and very wet!

We went on the hike to the narrows--and the boys wimped out on several occasions and had to have a break. I was very impressed that my two balls of energy would wimp out before I did!

We saw all sorts of wild things (but not the kind that hide in Max's closet):

I thought it was fun that so many of them posed for pictures! (I know, I know, it's a squirrel, but the picture was cool!)

Who would've thought that you'd find a turkey there--if you look closely you can see both the mama and the baby! And check out the tail on this guy!

We had such a great time! It was absolutely gorgeous--about 87 degrees--and sunny!

But, after a few hours of hiking around in the heat, we were all ready to catch the shuttle back to the parking lot and head home! I couldn't resist this one of all of the boys. Brothers, all the way around!


We went out the opposite way than we came in--through the tunnel--which was really cool. The last picture we weren't really sure about. We don't know if this happened because of the blasting, or just over time, or both. Either way, it was amazing!


I love having such beauty so close to us. It's one of my favorite things! It helps me to remember that no matter what is going on in life--no matter how busy I get, or how crazy things are--there is a grander purpose out there--and I am just one small part of it.

Oops!

Ok, so I made a goal about three weeks ago to update this blog on a more normal basis--three weeks later: yup--no new posts! So, I've updated, but it is all below--in the order in which it all occurred. Maybe I'll do better over the next couple of weeks. There's always hope, right?

Two Boys, a Roll of Tape, and One Uncle

So, Robert's brother, John, moved down from Idaho to live with us for a little while. It has been an adventure for all, but especially for my boys, and their uncle (who I'm not sure is used to the way these boys behave on a normal day). They're all handling it great. The boys love having their uncle here--and pester him continually. So, here is what happens when you have a roll of tape, two boys and an uncle:

Need I say more?

Pinewood Derby

Nate had his first pinewood derby this year. We went up to Boise at the beginning of March, and his Uncle Russ helped him cut out the perfect car! We brought it home, painted it and put on all of the finishing touches, and things went really well! First of all, Nate earned his Bobcat that night, so they painted his face--although he wasn't too happy with it since it made his face feel funny.


Then it went on to the races! His car is in the second lane from the right--black with a lightning bolt on the hood. He named it #43


Almost every time Nate's car raced, he came in either first or second. There was only one car that he couldn't beat--not bad for a first try! He raced four times, and we got to cheer really loud for him (sometimes I think Mom was the loudest of all--what can I say? I was proud and excited for him!) We got to see his name light up on the scoreboard--how cool is that?!?

Ultimately, he came in second place and won a ribbon for his little car. We had a ton of fun. Nate was really happy (although you can't tell in the picture--I think he still believes that having his picture taken will steal his soul).


Great job, Nate--and thanks a bunch to Uncle Russ!!