Sometimes it's nice not to know

We all slept right through our next-door neighbor's good deed this morning. I went out to pick up the newspaper and noticed he'd aerated the entire front yard for us. I also picked up a plastic bag that was laying on the lawn, figured it was full of dog doo, and threw it in the trashcan on my way back to the house.

Later in the morning we were visiting with our neighbor, and he said, "So, what happened to the bag with the dead squirrel in it?

Weren't we just here?

School doesn't start until Tuesday, but Rhiannon was able to meet her new teacher at this afternoon's Open House. Ms. McDaniel was friendly, kind, and upbeat. She loves sports (we were excited to see several pictures of Michael Phelps on her desk!), and she's good friends with Rhiannon's teacher from last year.

Rhiannon's very best friend isn't in her class, but she handled it well and was excited to see some familiar classmates and smile and nod at those she didn't know. My first impression was, "Wow, they really mixed the classes up from last year! I don't know any of these kids!" My second thought was, "Hmm...there are a lot of boys in here." My third feeling was an appreciation for the truly multicultural nature of the class. I asked one cute girl how to pronounce her name, Nuzhat, and then she said, "but my people call me Akka." Another fun thing is that Rhiannon has 2 boys from Primary in her class; I hope she'll reach out to one of them who was new to the school.

It was cool to compare this event to last year's. Number one, the walk to the school from our house was SO much easier. :) Two, I remember feeling so weird at the Open House last year, amazed at how many moms AND dads had shown up, friendly but also "all business." I know better now, but everyone seemed so intense then! This time around things felt more "normal."

It's going to be a great year for Rhiannon. She's excited and looking forward to next week!

Last night

Rhiannon: Mom, you and Dad are so lucky, know why?

Me: No, why?

Rhiannon: Because you get to have sleepovers every single night!

Bedheads and broomsticks

Okay, so no broomsticks were involved, but I couldn't resist a catchy title. ;) Sunday was very full for us yesterday. Jason and I both visited some families before and after church, I taught a Sunday School class for a friend who was out of town, Wade gave another good talk in Primary, and we had some friends over for dinner.

On Saturday Rhiannon and I helped a friend out with his Eagle Scout project at a grocery store. We collected food for the local food bank--Rhiannon had SO much fun doing that. We spent over 2 hours there, and she didn't want to leave. My favorite part was watching her light up and say, "THANK YOU!" as people handed her the food they'd purchased for the project. At first I was glad that Wade had decided to stay home because mostly we just stood still passing out food lists to people, but he probably would have had a great time anyway. Jason was scheduled to help shelve all the food that was collected, but he ended up not being needed because so many others had signed up, too. So instead we all went to the pool! The kids were SOOOOOOOOO excited to have Dad there with them. We had a great time!

We have GOT to get to bed earlier this week or we're going to be in for a very rude awakening next Tuesday. :) And we've only got 7 more chances to enjoy the pool before it closes!!! Thursday will be especially exciting for Rhiannon--she'll get to meet her new teacher AND go to her second-ever slumber party.

Enjoy these videos of the kids--first thing in the morning.

Little project

This morning I've been working on a little family project. Mom and I thought it was time for a Sheen Family Cookbook revision. The first one was a binder with recipes printed out and placed in sheet protectors, with a few personal histories in the back. Not bad. But I came across this great website, and I think it's just the ticket. I've realized two things today: I'm a terrible typist, and my brothers' blog playlists are AWESOME. They have made the work a lot more fun and enjoyable. Thanks to Grandpa Rich and Aunt Amy for the first cookbook contributions! (Keep 'em coming!) Who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to put together a Cushing Family Cookbook, too!

A perfect summer vacation!

Whew! Kudos to all of you who've embedded slideshows into your blogs. It took me QUITE a while to figure out how to do it, but I'm glad I did. I just couldn't figure out which pictures to leave out, so you get 'em all! :) (HINT: you can click on the slideshow to view the pictures in a larger format...)

Last Wednesday we drove down to Virginia Beach. We stayed in a nice Holiday Inn and got an oceanfront view from our balcony. Our vacation included:

lots of beach time
Busch Gardens
IPMS Convention (think lots of cool plastic models!!!)
dinner with friends
strolling down the boardwalk
Virginia Aquarium

Rhiannon LOVED playing in the ocean. We got excited about the jelly fish, crabs, and schools of fish swimming by! Wade wasn't crazy about the big, scary waves, so he was quite content playing in the sand. At Busch Gardens Rhiannon was tall enough to go on every single ride there, even though she was scared off by some of the bigger, crazier coasters. All of us, including WADE!, rode the Big Bad Wolf roller coaster. I felt we were shook up pretty good, but Wade didn't seem fazed one bit.

I thought nothing could compare to the summer vacations I enjoyed growing up, especially our family trips up to Grandpa and Grandma's cabin in the Idaho mountains. Now it's safe to say that BEACH VACATIONS ROCK, too! I'm so happy we could go and enjoy Virginia Beach together!

Expect the unexpected

Yes, I'm still working on VA Beach pictures. The trouble is that there are so many good ones, and so much to say. ;) I'll post about our awesome trip soon. For now I wanted to share two things that surprised me today.

One, this morning the kids and I were out in the backyard doing some much-needed clean-up. The kids were supposed to stuff my leaf piles into the trashcan. As we got into it, I noticed I didn't hear any noise coming from my helpers, so I lifted my head to yell at them but clamped my mouth shut when I saw that both kids were standing, with arms folded and heads bowed, saying a prayer! I'm so glad I caught myself and DIDN'T yell at them--they told me later that they were praying that the bees buzzing all around wouldn't sting them!!! ;)

And then tonight Wade really caught me off guard. He'd been watching a movie he'd borrowed from the library, Franklin and the Turtle Lake Adventure (we LOVE Franklin Turtle books). I let him start it while I was getting dinner ready, and about 20 minutes into it, Wade came into the kitchen with big tears in his eyes, crying and talking about Franklin's grandma and a fire and saying, "What if that happened to me?" I was stunned, for what could possibly be upsetting in a G-rated Franklin movie? Especially for Wade, who enjoys all kinds of movies (some way more intense than Franklin, I'll admit) AND willingly rides a big roller coaster at Busch Gardens? Well, come to find out, Wade's fears were legit. After dinner I watched the movie with him and found out that Franklin's granny lost her parents in a big forest fire. Wow. It was a good reminder to me to not take things for granted, particularly when it comes to our sweet kids.

We're back!

Virginia. Beach. Was. AWESOME,

Traffic. Was. Not. ;)

Stay tuned for pics and details!

New York...

Wow!!! We made it up to New Jersey this past weekend to see Derrick, Traci, and Max before they head back to school in Utah at the end of the month. (We'll miss having family in the same time zone!!!) Our fabulous tour guide Traci helped us get around New York, too. In less than 3 days we were able to:

--ride buses, subways, and a Staten Island ferry boat
--see the Statue of Liberty (by boat)
--see New York City from afar (by boat)
--stand and walk around in Times Square
--pass by lines of excited teenage girls waiting to see Stephenie Meyer at the Nokia Theater (for Breaking Dawn release)
--eat some divine Linwood Pizza made in New Jersey
--enjoy deluxe apartment accomodations! ;)
--make Max laugh, smile, cry, wiggle, etc!
--visit the New York Aquarium (we hung out in the Shark Exhibit for several minutes, waiting out a heavy thunderstorm)
--stroll down the Coney Island BoardWalk
--eat a Famous Nathan's hot dog (think International Hot Dog Eating Contest...)
--drive right past Ground Zero
--attend church with the very diverse Englewood Ward on Sunday
--play some Rummikub, checkers, and chess
--swim in the pool with Max and Traci
--hear more of Derrick's crazy, interesting experiences with his job
--introduce Rhiannon and Wade to Ghostbusters
--etc!, etc!, etc!

Our fantastic hosts!

Hanging out before church

View of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island ferry boat

View of the city from ferry boat

Times Square view

Traci and I got excited when we saw that!

Rhiannon and a real-life New York City horse

Coney Island view

Wade had a great time playing this game!

Jason can now say he pegged a guy with paintballs on Coney Island. :)

"Deal...or no deal?"

This was a fun place to ride out a thunderstorm!

Yummy!

Our tour guides Traci and Max!

Primo Times Square McDonalds, complete with Broadway tunes

For more pictures, CLICK HERE!

Activity Day Camp

Last week Rhiannon had a wonderful time at our ward's Activity Day Camp, a special 4-day camp for 8-11 year-old Primary girls, held for 3 hours each morning. Apparently our bishop's wife (and mother of 5 girls) felt there was something missing for that age group so she started an annual camp a few years ago, and it's been a hit ever since. The theme this year was "Bloom Where You Are Planted," and the girls got to do a little bit of everything. Rhiannon got a cute t-shirt and scripture tote bag, too, but I think her favorite thing just might have been the sewing activity on the last day of camp--she made a pillowcase! :)

Enjoy a bit of the dance number the girls did--Rhiannon is the 4th from the left, in the black shorts.