Go Me!

Only two classes and one internship stand between me and my undergraduate degree. Fall semester has officially wrapped and I am ready for a quick break before hitting it hard for the final stretch.

Golfing with Grandpa!

While Tara toiled away on some of her final assignments for this semester, the boys and I snuck in an afternoon of golfing with Grandpa Barber and Uncle David. It's always a rarity to sneak in a round of golf in Northern Utah after Thanksgiving. 

Romney shows us here that he has learned a lot from Grandpa. Here is the line up and practice swing. 

 Followed by a great hit onto the green. A great day all around!

A Different Type of Flying William

With Christmas about a month away, Bill decided it was time to use his present from last year, a hang gliding lesson. (The year before's present only took 9 months to use). He came home with a giant smile on his face, and said it was a lot easier and a lot spookier than he thought it would be. Now I just have to come up with a clever idea for a present he can postpone using for another 9-11 months.

Monkey Turns 10

My monkey turned 10 today. 10 years of laughter. 10 years of keeping me on my toes. 10 years of seeing things in ways I never imagined. To celebrate our favorite monkey child, we let Romney choose his party. He was specific. A sleepover with his best friends. Dinner at the Gateway and money to spend for him and his friends and the new toy store downtown. Dinner was eaten, yo-yos were chosen, and it was all capped off with a movie projected up on his wall while Romney and his friends all snuggled up in their respective sleeping bags. (P.S. When you are 10, you are way too cool to smile, even when having the time of your life.)

He was spoiled by his buddies in the morning with some very thoughtful gifts. His buddy, Lucas, gifted him an entire box of pins with funny sayings for his collection. Romney has proudly added them to his "pin hat" and is wearing them proudly.

Only a very good friend would know how much Romney wanted bath salts for his birthday. Seriously. This item was high on his wish list. He has bathed in them twice already (and I can't tell you how nice it is to smell lavender coming from the back bathroom, rather than pre-teen/teen boy smells.) Added to the bath salts were 2 packs of Pokemon cards. Such an eclectic mix of non-traditional boy and traditional boy. Exactly how I would describe Romney.

Romney had initially said that on his actual birthday he wanted a Mama breakfast date at the Original Pancake House. But, this morning he woke up and said "Never mind, Mom. I just really don't want to be late for school." So, he went to school on time and had a normal breakfast here at home. After we all got home from school, Romney got to open the family gifts. Bill made Romney a holder/carrier for his duct tape and we added a few duct tape rolls to the collection. He has been dying for a flash drive to put the cool presentations he makes at school on to bring home to show us, so he got a purple monkey flash drive. He received a Zombie Romney for President shirt. And, from William, a giant sock monkey stuffed animal.

The Universe gave Romney one of the most stunning sunsets we have seen this year.

Romney couldn't wait to put on his Halloween costume and stand next to his giant new friend. I personally think the monkey on the right is the cutest monkey I have ever seen, even hiding under the Zombie Sock Monkey facade.

I Couldn't Resist

I just can't resist posting this! I am a T.A. for a class called Doing Sociology, with the nicest man alive as the professor for this course. This is a professor who gives half points for "trying", even if the answer has nothing to do with the question. This is a professor who will assign only 1 point to a difficult question and 10 points to a question asking for an opinion to see if there were any problems with the quiz. I mean, he has to be one of the nicest, most generous professors I have ever seen! But some people just can't be helped, and I am afraid the person who answered the following question incorrectly may be one of them. The question read: As of 1997, every nation now has at least one TV station. (**Hint: This is FALSE!!!)-- and the student answered True. When the professor gives you the answer and you still get it wrong, that is not a good sign for the rest of your college career. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw it, and I couldn't resist posting- though I did resist posting on Facebook in case I embarrassed any one who took or is taking the class right now and also missed that question. Too good!

The Monkey and The Snowman

First big snow storm of the season today. It is the time of year when the snow is novel and fun. Knowledge that it will soon melt makes it easier to appreciate the white stuff.

Another Year Older

Another year has passed and our little boys are becoming little men. Handsome ones at that. William is now 14.

Romney is mere days away from turning 10.

Both have braces, both are hilarious and both are growing up entirely too quickly.

Scary Stuff

Scary stuff happened around our house this Halloween. First, William out grew trick-or-treating. He decided he wanted to stay home, decorate the house spooky and hand out candy instead of heading out with friends gathering goodies of his own.

Dr. Doom hanging in our front yard also pretty spooky.

A zombie sock monkey and his ghoulishly green faced friend spent a warm Halloween evening perusing the neighborhood on the hunt for the ever elusive full sized candy hand out. (All of the spoils were "sold" back to a dentist and his parents-- he walked away with $9.00. Not bad for one night of trick-or-treating fun!)

Favorite part of this Halloween season? Watching my favorite zombie sock monkey publicly dance Gangham style!

Best Babysitter I Ever Hired

Last night, Bill and I had the opportunity to go to the Ballet together. With our schedules so crazy right now with school and soccer, it is a rare treat to get to leave the house together to do something more exciting than a date to the grocery store. William's 8th grade class has an annual trip to the Tetons Science School coming up and the kids are supposed to try to pay for as much of it themselves as they can. (It is $400- ouch at 13-14 years old.) William has saved pretty much every penny of his allowance since June and has been helping out around the house to try and put some cash into savings. We told him we would pay him to watch Romney for us last night, but only if he acted like any other babysitter would be expected to act. What we were looking for was William not to be too bossy with Romney and not to come home to a ridiculous mess. What we got was: a happy, sleepy Romney; vacuumed floors, clean bedrooms, dishes done, 2 cleaned bathrooms and he even made our bed. Now that is a babysitter! (p.s. He scored financially for that kind of effort!)

Turning 14 and Taking to the Sky

Remember what it was like to be 14? Did it look anything like the image on the left?  Our home was filled to the brim with youthful exuberance during a sleepover extravaganza celebrating William's 14th birthday.  William and 6 of his friends stayed up late eating pizza, watching movies and talking about whatever it is 14 year old boys talk about.  (I wish the 14 year old girl I once was could have listened in on the conversation.) Sports were played, running was done, games were created and blood was drawn on only one of the boys- I'd call it successful.
But that was the just the party, the gift was the real star of the birthday. We gifted William a very special experience- piloting a plane!  William has expressed some interest in becoming a pilot for a career.  While that may or not be his path in life, we knew there was some serious interest.  So, we recruited his Grandpa Barber, a Certified Flight Instructor, to give William his first flying lesson in a little Cesna 172.
William was beyond thrilled with the prospect of being behind the yoke of a plane.  He could barely contain his excitement while waiting for Grandpa to do the check ride in the plane before taking William up.









He was so excited, he even forgot he hates to have me take his picture and smiled from ear to ear, revealing all kinds of metal and dimples.













Once the check-ride was complete, William, Grandpa, Bill and Romney took to the sky. Though the morning had been stormy, the luckiest boy on the planet struck again as the clouds parted and allowed a perfect weather window for the birthday boy to have a chance to fulfill his dream.
Concen- trating hard, William was a pro. He was a quick learner and a conscien- tious pilot.  He quickly got the hang of how to keep the plane level without too much effort and had a blast zipping around. He got to fly over the state capitol and find his house from the air.  He got to head over Lagoon and see all the rides from above.  They look a lot like toys from that perspective. He was so happy after his hour was up. "I didn't even kill anyone!" He exclaimed jokingly. You can tell he had two happy passengers who loved having William pilot them around town.

Brace Face Romney

Wonder why you haven't seen as many photos on this blog recently depicting fun and exciting family weekends on the road?  Me too! Well, not really.  It has been a sad year for road tripping in the Barber household for a plethora of reasons.  But one of those reasons has to do with this face here on the left.  Do you see those teeth?  Those are the teeth that made the orthodontist make an exception to his "not-starting-kids-in-braces-this-young" rule.  And where part of our road tripping fund ended up-- in this cute boy's mouth. He doesn't believe it yet, but I am completely sure that one day he will thank us for putting those horrible things on his teeth. (And this is just round 1 of many, many rounds to come.)  He was not thrilled with having to get these on having had a chance to see William go through it, but he was at least glad he got to pick the color that went on the braces- he picked hot pink.  He did like showing those off at school since he decided to go back after the torture, uh, I mean appointment, was over.  That was a minor miracle in and of itself, but for a different post.

Let's Hear it For The Boys

Raising boys can be like a daily foray to another planet for mothers. (After all, boys are from Jupiter and girls are from Mars, like the old playground chant goes.) From trying to remain conscious and alert during seemingly endless soliloquies about the virtues of Nerf guns, Pokemon,and Lego mini-figures who have been adorned to look like action heros to trying to referee what we mothers have been assured is normal play for boys--- the impromptu wrestling match with another boy, Moms are at their core just trying their best to help bring up good boys who will become good men (at least that is what THIS mom is trying to do.)

 William started the 8th grade today. At the end of 7th grade he was chosen by his principle to serve as a school ambassador this year. Normally, this is not a role William would take on, but with some gentle prompting he accepted this role with pride. His principle told him it was because she saw leadership potential in him. William came home with the news and wondered aloud what on earth she had seen that made her think he was a leader. Tonight, I believe he answered his own question.

Tomorrow his school is having a welcome back assembly. The ambassadors have been asked to put on a skit to illustrate why the other students should follow school rules. One of the teachers is orchestrating this effort and has asked some of the girls who will be performing to wear clothes that are not school appropriate. The boys in the skit will then be completely distracted from doing their school work, unable to take their eyes off of the girls because of their revealing outfits. William came and sat next to me this evening and voiced his opinion over the message of this skit as well as his desire not to participate in this part of the program. He felt it was a wrong message to send to kids. First he didn't feel like it was fair to portray the boys in that light. The injustice of the stereotype of boys was just too much for him. He felt that boys can be expected to not just gawk at girls all day even if they are wearing more revealing clothing, and to show that they just couldn't control themselves was unfair. Next he thought of it from the girls side and said "Is that really the message they want to send to girls? That if you wear a certain type of clothing that you will get undivided attention from all the boys?" After holding all of these thoughts in all day, they poured out of him in a quiet moment. He was sick over the thought that he would be participating in sending these messages he didn't believe should be sent. He thought about it for a while and then decided he would bring up his concerns with the teacher tomorrow and if they still wanted to press on, he would ask to not be in that part of the skit.

So my dear William, if ever you wonder what they saw when they saw your "leadership potential", this right here, is it.

Small Town Americana on the Fourth

Celebrating America's birthday is really not high on my priority list each year. Crowds and heat combined- so not my thing. When Bill and I were deciding how to spend the day together this morning, the only thing I wanted to do was get out of Salt Lake and do something we have never done. (Can you tell I need a road trip?) So we did.

We went north to Huntsville. We thought it would be fun to hit up the monastery there for some local honey. Bill wanted to see if Pineview had a swimming area he could use before his triathlon to get used to swimming outside and I just wanted to see what freaky stuff was lurking in this small Utah town. When we arrived we found: That the monastery is down to only 11 monks, apparently too small of a number to make honey to sell and they stopped producing months ago. Pineview has a swimming area, but it will cost you. $13 for a day use pass. And small town 4th of July celebrations can be ridiculously charming. Usually not anymore of a fan of small towns than I am 4th of July celebrations, we found that in combination, (just like the chocolate and peanut butter I loath alone, yet find tasty together), it just works.

Keeping on the theme of doing things we never have done before, we had a family snowball fight in 90 degree heat. Snowbasin trucked in a giant pile of the white fluffy stuff and in our flip-flops and sandals we formed it into slushy snowballs and had our first summer snow ball fight. Somehow it was much more fun in the sun.

See Ya' Later Suckers!

"See ya' later suckers!" That was pretty much the reaction of our favorite nine year old as we dropped him off at his first week long sleep away camp. As we were planning summer camps for the boys, knowing that I would be in school for the better part of the summer, I had asked the boys if either or both of them wanted to go to Camp Roger. William had gone last year and it had been a very positive experience. He loved it and came home so self-assured and proud of himself. But both boys said they were not interested this year. We let it drop and planned day camps instead. However, when a Groupon offer popped up in my inbox for 50% off for the very same week that we had originally wanted to send the boys, I asked again. William was still a no, but Romney had changed his mind and was excited to go off on his own for 6 whole days. Without the benefit of even one single friend accompanying him, nor an older brother to show him the ropes, Romney has been incredibly enthusiastic about having a turn to be on his own. I secretly wondered if as the time grew closer he would begin getting nervous or have doubts but he only became more and more clear that he was ready and anxious to go. With bags packed, he loaded up the car with a giant grin on his face. On the drive up, he kept asking how close we were to arriving at the camp. He met each camp counselor with a big smile and an "I am so excited to be here!" His only concern-- he had heard from one of William's friends that the bottom bunks were better than the top and he wanted to make sure he was first to check in to pick out his bunk. Alas, he succeeded and got first dibs and his perfect spot. He unloaded his belongings onto his shelf and pretty much let us know we could leave now. Romney had lectured me at home this morning about not embarrassing him at camp. No crying, no tearing up, no weird mom stuff was allowed. He said if I embarrassed him as he was trying to make his first camp impression it might ruin it for him, that everyone would always remember that he was the kid with the over dramatic mother. I promised I would not tear up and that if I did, those tears would stay safely behind my sunglasses. I told him no tears, but one quick hug at the very last second to say goodbye was a non-negotiable. He agreed. I kept my end of the bargain without so much as a wet eye, and so did he. Have you ever seen a bigger smile on any kid anywhere? I can't wait to hear all about his independent adventures when we finally get to pick him up again on Friday, where I promise again, no tears, only hugs!

P.S. Now that the week is over, here is a report. Romney gave us a good scare by looking incredibly stone-faced in all of the photos we got from camp during the week. Even in photos where everyone was acting silly. Everyone but Romney. It took all I had not to run up the mountain and rescue him. Thank goodness I did not. He had an amazing time. He wants to go every week this summer, but will compromise with one week at home, one week at camp. He feels very proud of the dog-tags he earned. One archery, one mountain biking and the final dog-tag of "Responsibility". He said he picked that goal to work on since he felt he could improve on that at home. He was torn between Responsibility and Respect. He said he could improve on "Respect" at school. He made a very cute little buddy named Sam and had a wonderful attitude the entire week. He had a great time teaching everyone the evils of the chicken farming industry. His poor counselor couldn't finish his chicken nuggets after Romney explained the ins and outs of cruelty to animals. That's our little man. Oh, and when asked about looking sad in all the photos Romney said "I just prefer to look serious in pictures, Mom."

An Open Letter to NYC

After the twin towers came down and left New Yorkers forever changed by the events of September 11th, the Beastie Boys wrote an anthem called "An Open Letter to NYC"; a love letter to the city. This is my "Open Letter to NYC" of sorts, in which I will try to convey using words and photographs the two and a half day blitz that was our 15th anniversary trip; our attempt to get a small taste of the big apple. Between Bill and myself there are not that many major cities in Europe and North America (and parts of Asia) that have yet to be explored, by one or both of us. That we like to travel is not a hidden secret. What was a wonderfully hidden secret for the better part of a month-- that to celebrate 15 years of wonderfully blissful married life, Bill had planned a surprise trip to NYC, a city neither one of us had visited (though that seems scarcely possible) to serve as the perfect adventure to start building the next 15 years worth of memories. Children safely placed with willing family and friends, we embarked on our adventure and disembarked in New York City. Hiring a taxi to drive us in from JFK and watching the names of places previously only heard about in song or seen in popular media the first hours seemed almost surreal. It was already late afternoon when we arrived, but not wanting to waste any time after depositing our bags we headed straight out of the hotel door to explore the most touristy of all tourist spots, Times Square, just a mere block or two away. We explored the theater district, walked through Bryant Park, found a vegan Korean restaurant with the most perfect ambiance and tasty kimchi, and rode the elevator to the top of the Empire State building where we took in the romantic energy that comes from gazing out from atop that lofty man-made artifice over the electric gleaming landscape that is Manhattan by night. After a late second dinner and a brief sojourn of sleep in the hotel, we woke to once again personify the consummate NYC tourists. We grabbed Bill a breakfast bagel and hit the fashion and garment districts. The MOMA was atop of my list of must experience NYC institutions and it did not disappoint. I was turned onto a new personal favorite female photographer, Cindy Sherman, whose work will forever be locked in my feminist consciousness. Again, we donned our tourist personas to board the tour boat that gave us access to the NYC skyline from all angles of island. It also brought me up close and personal to another female NYC icon, Lady Liberty herself, who was stunning and absolutely the only thing in New York that was the same size as I had imagined in my mind. I feel confident in saying that I don't believe it is humanly possible to do anymore in that city in the amount of time we had than Bill and I did. Our tired and bandaged up blistered feet carried us all over that tiny island. A few highlights include a quick photo op at Radio City, a glimpse of Columbus Circle, a walk through Central Park, a tour at lightning speed of the MET, Rockefeller Center including the top of the Rock. Following the lead of many tourists who had paved the way for us we made it to the World Trade Center memorial pools to experience ground zero eleven years later, rode the subway (though we quickly realized we were not such fans of the dirty and unreliable system that is the NYC metro), ate dinner in Little Italy, shopped the touristy junk shops of China town, unsuccessfully tried to use the bathroom at Trump tower, climbed the stairs to take in High Line Park, explored the ghost town that was the financial district on a Saturday afternoon, and watched street chess matches in Union Square. We walked and ate our way around the upper west and east sides. We covered some serious ground for only 2 1/2 days. Did I mention the food--mmmmm...yummy! Really the whole experience was incredible. It was perfect. And that is my ode to New York City; thank you for setting the scene for the perfect way to celebrate 15 years of this life I both lucked into and chose. Though my ode to New York may be over, my love letter to Bill is constantly being written. In the seemingly more mundane moments of our day to day to the magnificent adventures we experience together, I couldn't possibly have found a better companion to accompany me through the journey of life. I love you! .

4.0

Not to brag or anything, ok, I am totally bragging, but this is how I did this semester. At least in the two classes that are posted online. Rest assured the other two would look pretty similar.