Sad and Scary, but OK

Now that I'm all mostly caught up on the "What we've been doing" part of our life, I thought I would share a few experiences that we've had lately.

I don't know if you noticed or not, but Malia hasn't attended any volleyball camps this summer, and she has decided not to. In fact, after much discussion, thought, and tears, she's not going to try out for the school team either. There were a lot of things contributing to her decision, but it came down to doing what makes her happy. There is a line from a song that my father-in-law likes that says, "When you have the chance, when you have the choice, surround yourself with JOY." And for right now, that is not volleyball. There was a change in the coaching at the high school, and for some reason the new husband and wife coaching team are not Finlayson fans. Other players and parents have noticed, and talked to us about it, and we've speculated why.... but whatever the reason, it made volleyball frustrating on a good day, and downright miserable on all the other days. Malia loves to play volleyball, and loved the girls. Now that the decision has been made though, and she is confident she has made the right decision, she is relieved and excited to see what else she can do. For now, part one of her plan is to run cross country. Right up until drivers ed messed up the schedule, Malia and Taisha had been getting up early and running 3-4 miles every morning. She's not very fast, but she's made it a personal challenge to stick to it and see how much she can improve through the season. Things have a habit of just falling into place for Malia, so I can hardly wait to see what she has waiting for her!

I mentioned in my last blog post that Malia got a job at a snow shack this summer. She was so excited to get this job, and works about 8-12 hours a week. It's a busy snow shack, so her time goes fast, and she was thrilled to learn that Taisha could come and help and hang out with her as well. The other night the girls were both there from 6-10. It had been a busy night, and they had just started closing down, when someone tried to rob them. The girls had closed the front of the snow shack, when someone (Malia said he was older than her, late teens, early 20's, and bigger than her) with a bandanna over his face, and a hoody on, came to the back door and yelled at them to give him the money. Malia told him "NO! It's not yours!" (So totally Malia...) She told me later, the thought didn't even enter her mind to give him the money. In her mind, where fairness and equality reign, he couldn't take something that wasn't his. He yelled at them again to give him the money, Malia said "NO!" again, and Taisha yelled for him to get out. Then they both pushed his arm out, they slammed the door, and wedged themselves so the door couldn't open, and said a prayer that he would go away and they would be safe. There was a van driving by that saw the kid in the bandanna, and pulled in. The kid took off running, and the man in the van, watched where the kid ran, while the wife checked on the girls, who had called the owner of the snow shack, who called the police. The owner was about to the snow shack when the girls called, the police were there minutes later, and I pulled in minutes after that. I got out of my van, and was trying to figure out what was going on, since I had just talked to them about 10 minutes earlier and everything was fine, and Taisha got into my van, locked the doors, and sobbed. Both girls were terrified. The police officer that was there kept telling my girls they did great, but that if anything like that happens again, just give them what they want. After the girls were out of ear shot he said that a gun store had been robbed a few nights before, so it's better to be safe, than sorry. He said it looked like it was someone who hoped to just scare the girls into giving him money, but probably didn't want to hurt them. I'm so grateful that they were looked after that night. I'm grateful that someone was paying attention, and noticed something wasn't right, and pulled in to make sure they were alright. I'm grateful the kid didn't have a weapon. I'm grateful for the priesthood blessings they asked for when we got home. I'm grateful they were there together, as they both said it would have been a lot scarier by themselves. And I'm grateful that they were so courageous and strong. There were a lot of tears, and they were both shaking, but they were safe. They didn't sleep well that first night, and Taisha didn't sleep well the second night either, but this morning, told me it felt more like a foggy nightmare, and that she finally had a good sleep last night. Both Taisha and Malia don't like to talk about it, and want to put the whole scary incident behind them.

Just to change the mood.... Anaya started violin lessons, and her teacher has me come and watch the lessons so that I can help Anaya while she is practicing during the week.... bahahahahaha! With McKay starting piano and Anaya starting violin, I have visions of the two of them playing violin/piano duets together in the future! McKay on the other hand, has a little different vision for the future: sky diving. We have had so many conversations about sky diving... Part of me is so excited to see how each of my kids personalities develop into adults, and part of me is just a little worried! =)

It's like we're playing Musical Kids!

This summer has felt different than summers in the past, and for me, it's taking some getting used to. The kids have been nice and busy doing all sorts of fun things, but it feels like we are rarely all home at the same time. It's making planning things to do as a family especially hard. Here's a quick run down of what I mean:

Malia had and AMAZING time a EFY. She was actually really sad to come home after such an uplifting experience. She's already saving to go again next year.

(Malia with Tana, her EFY counselor )

(Malia's EFY group. She was SO sad to leave them all!)

While Malia was at EFY, Anaya went to art camp and started violin lessons, McKay started piano lessons, and Kayden went up to Island Park for a student council retreat. Anaya played t-ball the month of June. Last year they named their team the "Yellow Bananas," and this year they were the "Pink Raspberries." I'm noticing a trend...



Malia got home from EFY, had a few days at home, and then left with a friend to Boise to play at the water park, and Taisha went to volleyball camp. Malia got a job at a snow shack for the summer, so whenever she was home, she was working. Malia got home from Boise, and she and Taisha packed and left for girls camp.

(Malia repelling)

(Marshmallow guns)

(Awesome group of girls!)

In between all of that, Kayden got a job renting kayaks at Rigby Lake, and he has been running, running, running. He has logged over 450 miles so far this summer. He's also been mowing lawns and has spent many days staining decks (the one he is working on now, is HUGE, and has taken over 25 hours so far.)

(St. Anthony Pioneer Day Fun Run - Kayden is #291)

(Slow day at the Yak Shack!)

While the girls were at camp, Rik and I took a quick over night trip, and Kayden started working on his assignment for student council: the 4th of July float for the parade. After many late nights, here's how it turned out:

(Kayden pogo-sticked the first hour of the parade!)

While Kayden was pogo-ing down the parade, the rest of us went to Lagoon. Once again, we lucked out, and the weather was perfect, and the lines were OUTSTANDING.

(Malia and Taisha riding the tram across Lagoon)

We got back from Lagoon, and Kayden left for California with Kristen and her family. Have I mentioned how much we like Kristen and her family?


Kayden had a BLAST! They went to the beach, the temple, and Disneyland. His first morning back, he walked up the stairs SO sad, and asked if I could just drive him back to California... and then asked where his continental breakfast was!

At some point we got the garden planted. It was beautiful. Rik had drawn up a plan on graph paper, he tilled our 50 ft x 80 ft lot until it was weed-free and fluffy, and we planted everything in perfectly straight lines, with seeds perfectly placed. Imagine my shock when I drove out and saw this:

Yep, somewhere under all those weeds are our little plants having the life choked out of them! So we've spent just about every available evening out there weeding... and weeding... and weeding.

(CRAZY amounts of weeds!)

Oddly, the kids have so much fun out there with their cousins, and they look forward to the ice cream when we get done weeding for the night.

McKay has been loving every second of Scouts, and had the opportunity to go to day camp a couple weeks ago. Even though he has been waking up anywhere from 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning, on the day of day camp, he was up and dressed at 7:00! He was so excited to shoot bb guns, hike, and do all the other fun things they had planned.


My mom sent me a link for some instructions to make crocheted headbands, and Taisha has been busy making them. She's also done snow cone/cotton candy stands in the front yard, and is babysitting A LOT.

Malia finishes drivers ed this week, and then gets to practice driving with Rik and I for the next 6 months or so. Malia and Taisha have spent a lot of time together this year, and I have loved listening to them talk and giggle together. They run together in the mornings, help each other with their babysitting jobs, and Taisha loves going to work with Malia at the snow shack. They've been going to the temple together with some of the other girls in our ward. I love seeing them becoming such great friends.


So do you see what I mean? Someone is always coming or going, or completely gone, and my house feels weird to me when people are missing. Maybe it's because whenever someone is gone, we have "The Great Bedroom Switch Around." When the girls were at camp, McKay and Anaya took over their rooms. When Kayden was gone, Taisha moved down there, and Anaya moved into Taisha's room. When Malia was at EFY, Taisha moved into Malia's room. The saddest part for me though, is knowing that this is how it is going to be years, and I'm having a hard time getting used to the idea. *pouts*

Some of the other highlights of the summer have been having Nathan and his family visit, visiting with some Canada family, fitting in a quick visit with my high school best friend (who came up for our 20 year class reunion), getting called as the Primary chorister (most favorite calling of all time), and Melanie and Trevor had their 6th baby!

Logan William Palmer
Born July 11th, 2011 at 7:42am
6 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long

On a completely unrelated note, if you'd like to see Kayden's photo shoot for his senior picture for the yearbook, and weigh in on which one he should pick, go here.

He's a Pirate! Part I

McKay has been REALLY into his pirate figurines, and he got this brilliant idea to have the whole family come together, learn the pirate song on different instruments, and record it, so he could have some background music when he's playing with his pirate guys. He thought Malia, Taisha, and I should learn it on the piano, Kristen and Christine should play it on the violin, Rik and McKay would be on ukuleles, Kayden would be on guitar, and McKay even found a drum ap for the iPod that Anaya could play. We've all been practicing for our pirate-paloosa, so it's been a bit piratey around here. Malia and Christine decided to do the pirate song for the talent show at EFY this week. They had a practice session the night before they left for Logan for their parents. The "arg!" in the middle is when Malia's fingers got a little tangled! Needless to say, McKay has been in HEAVEN! Speaking of McKay, he has decided he wants to be a stunt man when he grows up! Sounds about right. =)

I've received a couple texts from Malia saying that she is having the time of her life at EFY.

Summer!!!

To kick off summer, we decided to have many of the appliances and/or household items break, fall apart or die completely! The ride on lawn mower needed a bunch of work (hundreds of dollars of work.....), the air conditioning in the house and van both stopped working, the garbage disposal died a slow drippy death, the motor and/or pump went out on the dishwasher, Kayden did a back flip onto his cell phone that now doesn't work, and just today, the power supply on my upstairs computer started making an "I'm gonna die any day now" noise. *sigh*

In other news, Kayden and his friend Jake ran the Skiller 5K, and took 1st and 2nd place overall.

1st place: Jake Powell 18:13.31 and 2nd place: Kayden Finlayson 19:18.98

On Sunday we had stake conference, so as soon as we got home, we packed a picnic and headed to Balanced Rock, near Twin Falls. It was kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so we got to see lots of farm land, and dairy farms, before dropping into the rocky canyon. We stopped about a mile before Balanced Rock, at a picnic area and wandered around a bit. The kids were climbing on some rocks, but Anaya told me she didn't want to climb on the rocks because there was some kind of "weird mouse" on them:

It's one of those "hairless" kinds of mice I guess! Anaya wanted nothing to do with the lizard rocks!

McKay, Taisha and Anaya

Then we headed over to Balanced Rock. It's 48 ft. high, but balances on about 3 feet at the base.

Kayden was the first one up.


Then Taisha and McKay.

Anaya and I made it up next.


And finally Rik and Malia got up there (Malia is NOT a fan of heights!)



After we left Balanced Rock, we swung by Shoshone Falls, had our picnic, and headed home. The falls were awesome this year. SO much water pouring over them!

Happy Birthday Malia!!

Malia turned 15 on Saturday! We had such a fun day!


Here she is with some of her gifts. She's wearing the Hoberman Sphere on her head. I'm pretty sure that's not what you're supposed to do with a Hoberman Sphere.... She's also wearing her cupcake apron. Her favorite gift was the duck crossing sign. There is a similar duck sign down by the river and temple. Every time Malia goes to the temple, she comments on the duck sign. Taisha suggested it as a gift idea for Malia. While most kids might have a picture of the temple to remind them of their goals to go to the temple, Malia has a duck sign.


We went to Texas Roadhouse for her dinner, and then came home to whatever this raspberry dessert is called. We are hoping for non-winter-like weather on Wednesday so she and her friends can play night games and have a hot dog / s'mores roast for her birthday party.

Yippee!! School's Out! (At least I think Yippee...)

That was one of the fastest school years on record.... right up until the last two weeks, which went painfully slow. There were some really good moments though. I have report cards for my elementary kids, and they are all straight A's. McKay and Taisha both earned Faithful Attendance awards, and Presidential Fitness awards. McKay did gymnastics in the 2nd grade talent show, went on a field trip to Walmart (ya, I know.... budget cuts made the field trips a little odd this year!) Taisha played the piano for the 6th grade talent show, and walked to Sonic for their field trip. Anaya walked to McCowin park for a picnic and had SO much fun on field day and the hot dog reading party.

Probably the coolest thing was Taisha was awarded the Hope of America award. It says on her award: "Presented with honor to Taisha Finlayson who has demonstrated during this school year capacity for leadership, ethical and moral character and outstanding academic accomplishment." (Incidentally Kayden was also awarded this when he was in 6th grade.)

(My camera takes terrible pictures in the gym!)

I worked on average 5 1/2 - 6 hours a day through this school year. This was new for me, and meant that things at home had to run REALLY smoothly. I felt like I was operating in some type of hyper-efficiency mode. I was never behind more than a load or two of laundry at any given time, dishes were washed and unloaded the night before, backpacks were packed, planners were signed, homework was done and corrected, lunches were packed (I hated that part), and laundry was folded and put away, all before I could go to bed that night. Trying to squeeze sports, homework, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and church responsibilities into the mix, made for exhausting days. But at the end of the week, I always had this feeling of accomplishment. I had to cut a lot of extras though. I didn't watch TV all year, not even the news. I have no idea what happened in the world or community this year. I didn't do anything with friends (I've missed that though!) I have eaten terribly this year, and what used to be a rare pop every now and again, turned into a once a day pop habit. I made it to the gym a whopping 2 times. I did a slap-happy job visiting teaching this year (lots of phone calls and just running a treat around quickly). But over all, I'm pleased with how the year went, and I loved my job at the school.

We've had our first day of summer break, and depending on when you talked to me, I was either overjoyed, or super grumpy. I was thrilled listening to Malia have time to practice the piano for 2 hours, while Taisha and McKay were on the couch reading the latest Friend magazine. And loved watching Anaya spend part of the morning drawing and coloring while Kayden was applying for jobs. But banning Kayden and his friends from the basement until further notice after an aggressive Nerf gun / Rockband war left my basement in shambles, and a foot and a half of wall that now needs to be repaired.... left me kind of grumpy. And scrubbing the words "McKay wrote this" which was written in ballpoint pen all over the kids closet doors had me a little frustrated (and as you can guess, McKay didn't write that..... ) And I haven't quite adjusted to the chaos level in the house.... but I got to sleep in!

Here's Anaya's dance pictures from this year. I love it!!

And Kayden brought home his prom pictures:

Kayden and Kristen

I sure do like that Kirsten girl (probably not as much as Kayden though!)

The Merry Month of May!

I tend to go through May celebrating when something ends. I don't know if that is good or not, but it makes me so, so happy! Wrestling's over, track is over:


and Malia and Taisha had their last volleyball games last weekend (you have no idea how happy I am that 5:37am practices are over.... I almost cried on my way home from taking Malia to the last one, I was so happy), McKay and Anaya have both met their reading goals, and they are both done with math homework for the year, Taisha is done with piano for the year, Seminary graduation is over (Malia had to play some REALLY hard songs on the organ for this), and as of last night, dance is over:


and all the major papers and projects are done, including the non-meatloaf, non-hotdog project that turned out like this:

and today was the 6th grade track meet. The weather was cold and SUPER windy, and Taisha came home exhausted, but she had a lot of fun! She got 10th in the mile, 3rd in the hop, skip, jump, and 4th in the 4x400 relay.





and all the proms are over.... including the ones I didn't know about. I got home from volleyball last Saturday, and was trying to figure out where Kayden had gone. Here's how my texts to him went:

Me to Kayden: Where are you? You're supposed to be watching McKay and Anaya!
Kayden to me: (nothing for several hours then....) We just got done with the day date, and there was water involved, so I didn't have my cell phone with me.
Me to Kayden: Day date??? For what??? I have news for you..... prom was LAST week.
Kayden to me: Not for Hillcrest. For IF.
Me to Kayden: What?! With who??
Kayden to Me: Mackenzie
Me to Kayden: Mackenzie who? Did you rent a tux?
Kayden to me: Nope, just wearing my 3 piece suit and my black, grey and white tie.... gotta go, heading to the BBQ.

Turns out a friend of a friend wanted to go to the dance but wasn't asked, so Kayden took her. He even ran out and got a corsage last minute and everything. Shouldn't I know things like that? I'm starting to notice a pattern with Kayden. Yesterday he text me that he was being inaugurated into student council RIGHT NOW. There was no way I was going to be able to get there with the camera and record anything for his posterity, because he let me know as it was happening. Apparently I'm supposed to be proud, and show my love and support from a distance. But I'm on to his ways now.....

Kayden and Mackenzie

Kristen has been helping Kayden learn to play piano. Here's their first piano/violin duet:

(I downgraded the quality so it would upload quickly.... sorry!)

We are down to 5 days of school left. And even though the weather doesn't feel like summer, I'm really looking forward to summer break!!