2014 August | Life Elevated Mom

Why you should totally feel sorry for Hadley

August 12, 2014 By Amber

Hadley’s reentry into “the real world” has been a bit rocky. Not that I’m surprised. The girl loved every moment of our 3,000-mile road-trip. Reconnecting with cousins. Stampeding in Calgary. Her free reign at the lake to roam and do whatever the heck she pleased. An extra week and a half with Jamie’s parents in Utah where yes, she worked hard helping Aunt Tammy move and watching the twins but there were shopping trips with Grandma, fancy wedding receptions and outings to the museum.

She arrived home last Thursday to much fanfare. How we missed her!

And how she apparently needed a Grandma Detox because she complained about what we had for dinner (chicken quesadillas, though we redeemed ourselves with red velvet cake), having to do chores and that night as she was going to sleep, she announced she needed a bigger bed. Grandma’s spare bedroom had a Queen.

Sorry, dear. You’re a princess-in-training and you’re stuck with a Twin.

She starts school on Monday, which will be an even more startling transition.We’re simply not ready. We’ve had a busy, fun holiday and the summer doldrums never hit.

But apparently it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. As she was reflecting upon the last few months, she observed.

“Mom, this summer has actually been really hard.”

“Really! HOW?”

“All the packing and unpacking.”

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

How to honor pioneers in the easiest way possible-Part I

August 11, 2014 By Amber

Pioneers are a huge part of Mormon history and Pioneer Day is an official Utah holiday that is celebrated annually on July 24 in commemoration of when Brigham Young and a company of Mormon pioneers entered the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. New LDS converts had made the harrowing 1,300-mile-long journey from Nauvoo, Illinois and since they couldn’t afford wagons, they pulled human-powered handcarts. Many lost their lives but the stories of sacrifice and survival are downright inspiring.

Every four years, the youth in our stake (and hundreds others) go on a mini-Trek for four days on a portion of the actual pioneer trail in Wyoming. Jamie was in the first youth group from our stake to do the Trek and has a lot of fond memories.

And not-so fond ones of the turkeys they killed, plucked and cooked in a pit.

Fortunately, our Treks aren’t quite so extreme but I guarantee most kids have never done anything so physically demanding as pulling handcarts for hours on end over four days, sleeping on the ground, cooking their own meals and enduring extreme heat, rain and wind. My friend Tiffanie went on the Trek and took these fabulous pictures of our youth. It was one of the hardest things they’ve ever done but also one of their greatest spiritual experiences.

The testimony meeting following the Trek is always the best part as the youth spoke of how they banded together and were deeply inspired by their pioneer ancestors.

Hadley will go on the Trek when she is 14. Bode will just miss the cut-off (he’ll be 12 and needs to be a minimum of 14) so he will go when he is 16.

During our 3,000-mile road-trip to Canada, we had to do a massive detour after a road closure in the armpit of Washington (read: ugly). Wildfires were blazing, the temperatures were sweltering and I was grateful for our air-conditioning. I shared stories of our pioneer heritage with my kids and mentioned how at that exact same time, the youth from our ward were on the Trek traveling several miles a day on foot.

Then, there was silence.

After a while, I asked the kids, “So, what do you think? Doesn’t Trek sound like fun?”

Bode was the first to respond. “It’s nice and all to not forget about the pioneers. But can’t we just honor them by doing a play about them or something?”

Filed Under: Bode, Humor, LDS

Okanagan Lake: A season to soar

August 8, 2014 By Amber

‘Twas an awesome week-long family reunion at Okanagan Lake in British Columbia where we:

Learned to wakeboard

Walked on water

Birthday partied

What else was there left to do? Turns out, plenty! When we weren’t boating, swimming and kayaking, we:

Caught plenty ‘o fish off the docks.

Played a lot of Rook, Scum and inhaled Jane’s delicious cooking (we’re not talking sub-par food, either. We’re talking a menu that included grilled tenderloin, Eggs Benedict, pina colada chicken burgers and smoked pork tacos).

And the woman even hand-delivered Screamers in her “spare” time when she wasn’t busy cooking and teaching everyone to wakeboard and surf.

We also:

Had campfires on the beach,

Spent hours building sand castles…

Mothering from my hammock

Or rather, sand toilets which are so much more practical.

We brought our volleyball net. My brothers and I were all MVPs of our high school teams and what started as our Return to Glory Tournament…
…ended with the one-bounce rule.

There was plenty of time for just hanging and chilling out.

Superhero cousins

Is it just me or does The Pumpkin Man glow orange?

We visited charming Davison Orchard Country Village where the six cousins posed for cheesy family tree photos.

Touched the sky.Toured the beautiful orchards on a “Johnny Popper Apple Train,” sitting in authentic apple bins as we were pulled by an antique John Deere Tractor.

And we bought jams, syrups, fudge, cobbler, fruit and lots of pies from the Country Market.

Aunt Sue and her pies

We had plenty of cousin time and on the last day, I asked cousin Connor (the blonde in the middle) if he had a good vacation.

“I’m glad I don’t have sisters” was his only reply.

Of course, a family reunion isn’t complete without family photos. Do you know those people who color coordinate and micro-manage every last detail of their perfect pictures? We are not those people. We were unshowered. Unmatching. Unclothed.

Grandkids

The menfolk

The “winners” of the unshowered club

And I wouldn’t have them any other way.Thanks to my awesome family for letting us soar with them this summer.

Filed Under: Canada, Family, Family travel, Humor, travel

Birthday boy (and cakes) at the lake

August 6, 2014 By Amber

Bode and birthdays go together like cake and ice cream. Since we started spending July in Canada a few years ago, the kid has scored on multiple “pretend” parties leading up to his big day.

1) His party with Denver friends (this year it was with Rolling Video Games Denver).
2) He’d have a family dinner with Jamie because Jamie was rarely with us up north.
3) He’d have his real birthday in Canada.
4) This would be followed by another fete with Jamie’s siblings when he returned.

For his eighth birthday, he only got three birthday parties but made up for it with five cakes. Impressive, non?

We were vacationing at Okanagan Lake in British Columbia for his birthday. Early that morning, I bought 100 Timbits from Tim Hortons, his favorite food on earth.

Not familiar with Timbits? Think the most delectable variety of doughnut holes on earth. And sorry Dunkin’ Doughnuts–your sub-par Munchkins don’t even come close.

The boy had a fabulous day boating and playing with his cousins on the dock and our beach.

But his real win on his birthday was in cakes. I had casually mentioned I planned to get him an ice cream cake for his birthday. I called in the order but unbeknownst to me, my generous Aunt Sue and mom went to Dairy Queen and bought two birthday cakes. I figured I couldn’t cancel the order after they’d already made it so we ended up eating three birthday cakes that week.

No one complained, especially not Bode.

We topped off the day with movie night on a friend’s beach. Hadley’s birthday at The Broadmoor was pretty tough to beat.

But this came pretty darn close. Happy birthday, Bode man!

Filed Under: birthday, Bode, Canada

Vernon, British Columbia: A week walking on water

August 5, 2014 By Amber

My entire family hasn’t been together since our glorious trip to the Outer Banks four years ago (how could you forget our poetic and HILARIOUS crabbing by moonlight adventures)?

My brother Pat and his family are big boaters, have top-of-the-line everything and are so generous with their time and expertise with our family of newbies. The kids and I joined them in their lake house in Vernon, British Columbia for the second year in a row. New this year were Jamie, my brother Jade and his boys. It was surely a week to remember.

Though I’m just trying to forgot those 100+-degree temperatures. Remember how I like to spend July in Canada to cool down?

Regardless, if you’re going to have searing heat, 135-km-long Okanagan Lake is a good place to be and what a fun week we had full of crazy adventures.

Of course, there was the boating where the kids tubed, kneeboarded and my sister-in-law Jane taught them to wakeboard while she tutored Jamie and me in surfing. We spent oodles of time on the boat cheering everyone on as we marveled at my family of experts…

Wakeboarding Hadley

Pat clearing the wake

My bro Jade and his boys

Perfect views, perfect day while getting her wakeboard on

Meet the parents

Sisters

The pumpkin man and me

Boat babe

Nerves before wakeboarding

With my technicolor nieces

I love boating over to the West Side where the water is calmer and the views prettier. We jumped overboard and splashed, played, dunked each other off the tube and competed. Least memorable was Jade’s “crack dive” (just say ‘no’ to crack; I’ll leave that up to your imagination).

Even more disconcerting was Jamie’s initiation into the family dive-off. I had high hopes for him. He’s the strongest swimmer in our family and I just knew he could dethrone Pat and my niece Ashton for being able to dive the longest and furthest.

Oh, how quickly my hopes came crashing down.

I’m not sure what happened. We counted down and everyone did their sleek missile dives into the lake. Everyone except my dear husband who unceremoniously plopped into the lake. Sadly, my brother Pat was once again crowned king of the dive-off.

Jamie represented himself in his defense case. “I was pushed!” he accused and I believed him. Until I reviewed the photographic evidence. He is on the left in front of cousin Connor and there was no physical contact in the previous photos.

There was only a man who apparently slipped and entered the water looking like a prissy school girl skipping to school.

Better luck next year, Honey, and remember: say “no” to crack.

Stay tuned next time for more Vernon adventures!

Filed Under: Bode, Canada, Family travel, Hadley, Humor, Jamie

A day to remember at Okanagan Lake

August 4, 2014 By Amber

We’re coming off a week-long boating vacation with my family in Vernon, B.C. I’ll have many more details to come but it was on our second day I was so darn proud of my kiddos. They’ve never tried wakeboarding and have had a strange/unhealthy fear of it, which is surprising given how many adventures they’ve been on and what stellar alpine skiers they are.

But all the grandkids were given the same edict: you need to try at least three times. If you don’t want to do it after that, fine. But you need to at least try.

My sister-in-law Jane is the perfect teacher. Not only is she patient but she gets down in the water with them and walks them through every step.

Eleven-year-old Connor was first. An excellent athletic and superb hockey player (his team is nationally-ranked), it was no surprise to anyone when he popped up and boarded around the lake.

Next came darling 6-year-old Naomi who got up..and then down a few times, an awesome effort given how little her legs are.

My brother Jade’s son Jaxson had us laughing the most. Extremely cautious, he kept babbling to Jane over and over again “do you know how dangerous this is?”

Cousin Jaxson, the epitome of cool

Yep, how can you tell and Bode are related?

With each passing kid, we could see Hadley increasingly freaking out on the dock. “Get her on the board now,” Jamie called out. When she gets worked up about something, it takes her a long time to talk her down.

She dragged herself over to cousin Emily who set her up on the wakeboard and over to Jane. After a few minutes of instruction, she yelled “hit it.” At first, Hadley’s expression was panic but within a couple of seconds, she popped up and was cruising around the lake. She was the only one who was surprised–I absolutely knew she could do it. By her second run, she was already carving back and forth and begged to go again after all the kids had their turn.

Wakeboarding Hadley

Bode was next. He was surprisingly nonchalant on the dock and started to look worried when he went in the water with Aunt Jane. His first attempt was a flop (literally) and that was when he got scared, realizing it was tougher than he had thought to get up. Then he had another failed attempt. By now, he was scared. Tears started flowing down his cheeks as Jane soothingly talked him through his final attempt. “This is it,” I thought. “He’s so freaked out there is no way he’ll be able to do it.”

But gosh darn if he didn’t muster every ounce of determination that he had in that little body. As the boat started to drag him, he leaned forward and fought, fought, fought his way up, almost falling several times but eventually regaining his balance and was standing. He proceeded to wakeboard for several miles until my brother called out to him that it was OK to let go of the rope.

Bode fighting to get up

I’m telling you I’ve never been more proud of him. I want him to always remember this day. How he tried something hard, something he never thought that he could do. How he worked through his tears, conquered his fears and literally floated on water.

That day was one to remember.

Filed Under: Bode, Canada, Family, Family travel, Hadley

Calgary: My Home and Native Land

August 1, 2014 By Amber

Bode and I have just returned from a 3,000-mile roadtrip that covered two countries and 8 states–and that’s not including the 4-day jaunt I did out to California for BlogHer while the kids stayed behind with Grandma in Salt Lake City.

Can you say whirlwind?

What made this trip particularly taxing was Jamie usually drives at least one leg of it with me but he flew in and out of Vernon, B.C. to save time so that meant I spent 50+ hours driving with the kids.

Hadley is staying in Utah for another week with Grandma and they’ll all be driving out here next week for Bode’s baptism and then school starts the following week.

Can you say whirlwind? (Sensing a theme here?)

We had a great time in my hometown Calgary and I only wish we could have stayed longer. For six blissful days, we played in the mud pits, played and biked in Fish Creek Provincial Park, terrorized the neighborhood on the golf carts and raided the Bulk Barn’s 4,000 bulk products. My mom was generous and let the kids have at it and she paid for a lot of food.

Me: “I can’t believe we spent almost $100 in candy!”

Cousin Connor: “Is that so wrong?”

For my mom’s birthday, she requested we go to Peter’s Drive-in, an iconic eatery infamous for their shakes.

Hadley, Bode, Jaxson, Connor and Grandma

One of the reasons we go to Calgary in early-July is so we can hit the Calgary Stampede. This ten-day event bills itself as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” and features one of the world’s largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing and First Nations exhibitions.

The entire city comes to life. Everyone dresses western, parties and there are literally hundreds of free stampede pancake breakfasts setup in parking lots all over the city (SCORE!) For the third year in a row, my friend Stacey and I volunteered serving dinner at the Stampede Roundup.

My sister-in-law Jane’s family was visiting from Washington so we had to hit the midway and finally quit 11 hours later.
Stampede is alllll about the food. While we opted out of the popular scorpion pizza (ewww!) we ate a lot of tasty fare.
How do you say red velvet mini doughnuts covered in cream cheese in Calgarian? You say OHHHHH YEAH.

I wish we could have stayed in Calgary for a month but our next stop was Vernon, British Columbia. Located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, this bread basket of Western Canada has hundreds of orchards, fruit stands and glorious lakes. I drove it for the first time in years last summer and I had not realized we needed to go through infamous Banff National Park to get there. This year, I resolved to make at least one detour to glacially-fed Moraine Lake nestled in the Valley of Ten Peaks.

Since we had a long drive, my only intention was to hop out, take a few pictures with the kids and be on our way.