Aspen Grove- Solomon Family Reunion- Part 1...

7.19.13- 7.26.13
After picking Rusty and Russ up at the airport we drove down to Ron's house and let the kids run loose until bedtime.  I started the packing process knowing we would have to leave for Aspen Grove the next afternoon.  The next morning we took the boys to Thanksgiving Pointe again, but this time it was to the movie theatre to see Despicable Me 2.  Boston fell asleep part way through after throwing a full Icee and hand fulls of popcorn.  We went back to Ron's and finished packing and loading the car while we waited for a few more Solomon's to join us to drive up to AG.

After saying our goodbyes to Ron & Robin we caravanned up American Fork canyon to Aspen Grove.  We checked in, got settled, got our schedules and went to dinner.  The picture above is a taken from across the bridge looking at Aspen Lodge.  This is where we stayed. We were on the Third Floor which was perfect because we were on the same level as access to the Amphitheater, the Store and everything else.  It was great.  We could actually just look right out our window at the Amphitheater, which came in handy when Boss was being a turd during church.  Anyway, that night we had the Orientation and the kids split up into their age groups and learned a little cheer.

 When Brenner's group went up on stage the director of AG noticed the very green teeth Brenner had from the ring pop he was eating, and made us all laugh.  Brenner liked the attention, and I had to get a picture to remember just how green those teeth really were.

Boston was a Romper, Brenner was a Stomper, Berk & Jaci were Bobcats and Braden was a Panther. They would stay with their groups all week.  The rooms in the Lodge were a basic hotel style.  Boss had a crib, Brenner and Berk had one bed, Rusty and I the other and then Braden slept in Noni & Pops room.

Sunday was our first full day.  We went to breakfast and then got ready for church in the outdoor amphitheater.  Boston was cranky, and mid way through sacrament we went back to our room, and I put him down for a nap.  The others went to the rest of the meetings, including Primary.  They run things so smoothly up there.  After lunch they kids went to their groups while the adults got to go to a fireside presided over by a member of the 70.  It was an interesting meeting for sure. But, between dinner and the fireside we had a little surprise party for Nana & Bopy! 

 Boston was a fan of the balloons.

 The boys, big and little, had fun playing in the old west town nearby.

 Their pretty, and yummy cake.

 Jared and Boston- hair twinners.  Long Hair = Don't care!

 Once they finally got the signal to come over we waited to yell surprise.  And then laughed and laughed because they were still too far away to really hear us!

 75 Years Young!

 Honestly, those balloons were worth their weight in gold for keeping Boss entertained.

 Brenner loved the extra sugar in his day.

 Aunt Steph put together a book of photos from all of us.

 I HAD TO take this picture.  Rusty's cousin Carter and Berkley got into some sort of competition with apple juice.  Berkley ended up chugging 4 of the little bottles, and then he felt like puking.  It was sad and funny at the same time.

 The view of the back of the Unitas.  I couldn't get over the beauty of them.

Monday morning, we started the routine of AG. Breakfast is at 8.  And then the kids groups met at 9:15.  Each day was themed so they did different crafts, activities etc everyday.  We would pick them up at lunch time and then they would meet again around 1:30 each day for group until 4:30.  Boss did pretty good going to his little Rompers.  Some days he would nap until the afternoon session was almost over so we didn't take him back a few times.  That afternoon was the Aspen Follies so the kids stayed with us after lunch.  We competed as Team Flight Deck and did pretty good.  We definitely had fun playing.  The games were more about family bonding and having fun than really who won.

These next few pictures were taken by a AG Staff photographer.

 (this is from Brenner in the Stomper room)

Boss with the Rompers. 

 Trying to get the rubber chickens off the parachute...

 Catching the balls we tossed at Carter...
 Hannah and cute Katie.  She is helping us expand the generation of great- grand kids for Nana & Bopy.

 Sarah was a charmer with my boys.  And her new hubbie Max fits right in with us crazies.

 Kelcie did almost all of the follies that day with Brenner in his arms.  Trooper!

 Boss could have cared less about most of the follies, he loved the swing however.

These pictures are from my iPhone or other peoples cameras.. I wish I could upload the videos I took. They really were amazing. 

That night my Uncle Kent and Aunt Marie came down from Mapleton to take our family pictures.  I will post those once we get them.  Memories from the photo session include bribing Brenner to smile- unsuccessfully.

 Nana & Bopy Solomon and all of their great grandkids -for now, Cliff and Katie have a baby girl on the way!

 We were celebrating these two and their 75th birthday! 

 Here was about the best we got for family pictures.  We had had such a long day and Berk pulled faces in so many pictures, plus Brenner and gah, don't forget Boss is a toddler.  So, I am happy with what we got.

 This is what most of them looked like.  BOYS! 

 Love these cute ones of Jaci and Berk

 Mr Brenner was turned around in most of the pictures so Uncle 'Knucklehead' Todd had to change his attitude for him.

At least the big kids can pose 

 The Grandparents and the grandkids- minus Cliff and Brock Solomon

 The Whole Clan

 The girl cousins

 Outlaws on the ends, love it.  L-->R 

Me, Maryn, Courtney, Jill, Meredith, Kelcie, Cassidy, Bergen, Sarah, Hannah & Katie

 This last one is my favorite.  This is the bridge we crossed a couple times a day to get to the kids. 

Up next Part two! 

Life Right Now...

Some of my favorite posts to re read are the snapshots of every day life.  So here is a current one.

Boston: Says "There it is!" "Here it is!" "Uh oh, fall" (whenever he throws something.) He says "Dah" over and over again. But hardly ever will he say Mom. But he is my shadow. If I pick up my keys he runs to the garage door, and if the car door is open he will crawl up into a seat. He sleeps 7-7 most days and still takes 1-2 naps. He is the best about being carted around to all his brothers activities. He can open any door. He can and will open any cupboard without a child latch on it.  He can even open the pantry door, which is hard for even the other boys! He thinks he is so funny. He laughs and laughs. He giggles before you even tickle him.

Brenner: HAS to be the first one in and out of the car.  Finally buckles himself, if he's in the mood.  He also has to open the door to the house, which causes me to come in quickly, since the alarm is always set... He says he hates preschool, but comes home every day with a smile.  He is the best big brother to Boston. He loves netflix and watches Rescue Bots or Iron Man cartoons non stop.  He has to have his socks feel a certain way. He doesn't want to go to "the place where we sing" (Sharing Time) but likes that his Uncle and Aunt are his teachers.  He is finally showing interest in potty training, and somedays goes the whole day in the same pull-up without accidents, other days, not so much... He goes through a box of bandaids a day.

Berkley: Quick to tears over everything.  EVERYTHING.  He is doing so well at his first go with baseball.  He is obsessed with the Skylanders game on Wii, DS, iPod, and PS3. He does really well in school and I love watching him on Wednesdays when I work in his class.  He has a sense of humor. He hangs well with the big boys, but is the first to share whatever he is eating with Boston. He and Braden can play outside for hours and hours.

Braden: Is doing better on working through his anxiety, he is amazing at math in school.  He is such a good helper for me, and will usually do what I ask without complaint.  Especially, if we are out somewhere, he is my second set of hands.  He is progressing so well in piano.  It shocks me sometimes to hear what he plays.  He is super busy with baseball, piano, scouts, homework and seems to balance it well, most of the time. He loves the garden almost as much as I do.  He loves picking the carrots.

Lazy...

I've been lazy, I was almost caught up with 2012, and now here it is March and I have a lot to write so I can order my 2012 blog book!  But I was sick of seeing the last post so here is a picture from our trip to Disneyland in Feb.

Opening Day 2013...

It was a super exciting day in our household. Both Braden and Berkley are finally playing the same sport.  It's gonna be a challenge with two kids on two different teams, with two games and practices a week per kid.  Bring on baseball!!!

Braden- Minor League the OWLZ

 Batting and stealing are my favorite things to watch.

 Braden is playing Third base a lot this season.  He's great.

and later that day we did it all again for Berkley!

Berkley- Coach Pitch Mariners

His very first at bat ever he hit a triple.  He was so excited.  If it weren't for the mean third base coach (his Daddy) it would have been a homer. Rusty is helping coach, its been so fun. 

Playing third like big bro!

 These pictures aren't actually from the opening day, but they were better than those.  These crack me up every time I look at them.  Every single time.

Play Ball!

Rusty's Second Marathon...

Shortly after his first marathon, Rusty started training for the Phoenix Marathon.  It is a lot of miles to prepare for the marathon.  He ran long runs every saturday with a group of friends.  Hundreds of miles go into the months leading up to the main event.

His cheering section, along with the photog Kelcie! 

Looking strong for the finish!!!

 I knew I wanted to be at the finish with the boys.  Thankfully Kelcie came and helped me, because it was insane.  So many people, and such cranky boys!

 I got very teary when we heard his name, and knew he was coming across the finish line.

 Can you spot him?  I love that in neon orange and at 6'4" he's pretty easy to find in a crowd. When we finally got his attention he came over to the gates and said hello.  Look at that nice shiny medal! 

The race was on Russ's birthday and he ran the half marathon.  So he was the lucky duck that go to go in the runner area and hug Rusty first.

 Our (lame) signs for the runner s

 We tried to get there in time to watch Russ cross, but I just could not get my act in gear that morning!!

 Official time was 3 hours 55 minutes.

 Yes, I dressed to match him. I try to be the best coordinated running team member, since I don't provide any of the running part of the running team.

 Brenner was finally happy once he got some cotton candy!

The only way to get them all in a picture was sitting down! So proud!

Provident Living...

I have wanted a garden for a while. I was lucky and grew up with parents who always had the most amazing gardens, growing everything from corn to squash to strawberries. We have a wasted space near the fence in our backyard that I thought would be the perfect place for some raised bed gardens.

We had my dad map out three beds, but after putting two of them in we felt like that was enough. I took the boys and my dad to get some plants early one saturday in October. We ended up planting an entire bed of califlower, one of broccoli and one with mostly herbs like cilantro, basil, rosemary and oregano. We also planted rows and rows of carrots, radishes, green onions and butter lettuce. Yes, if you did the math we ended up with three beds.  And now that we are loving it so much we plan to take out a bush in the corner and add two more.  The kids want us to plant pumpkins and corn in the fall!

Here are some pictures of back when we planted...

 My dad and Braden prepping the soil.

They were so small!

And today...

 The bed on the left has Broccoli and green onions and on the right cauliflower and butter lettuce.

 All three beds.

 The herb bed. Cilantro, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, and there are radishes and carrots in this bed too.

 Look at that beautiful lettuce! It is great on tacos and burgers.

This just shows the whole area, the big bush on the right didn't survive the harsh freezes we had, so I will work on cutting it down and hopefully we will be up to five beds by the time we plant our spring garden!

A New Look to the House...

I know asking for baseboards for Christmas was kind of a weird request. However, it was exactly what I wanted.  After ten years in this house I felt like we needed to do some updating. We spent most of the week after Christmas painting and installing the baseboards.  Rusty also thought some beadboard would look great under the countertops. I mentioned, while we were doing al this we may as well repaint the kitchen. Rusty wanted to paint red, but I have been toying with the aqua, red, yellow color pallet. So, I was more than shocked when he said sure, let's go pick out some paint.

 I hesitate to show this pic, but really, it makes for a great Before.  The baseboards are beat up and once we replaced the carpet a few years back, these tiny baseboards all but disappeared. And yes- the wall under where the boys eat is nasty.  Having it nice and white makes it so much easier to clean.

 So much better, right!?! It's like a little slice of heaven right there.

 The kitchen before. And yes, I am a piler- as in I pile things all over my house until they bug me enough to put it away.  Don't judge. We painted this olive green color about a year after we moved in.  Since our lovely countertops are a mix of -shall we say- seafoam green, my kitchen color choices are limited. Thus the olive.

 The kitchen after.  The beadboard made such a huge difference.  I think the color on the walls especially pops against the molding we put up around the windows years ago.

 It's so bright and cheery.  And, as an added bonus, it makes the countertops look more grey and less green!!! As we were finishing the kitchen, Rusty relented and let me go a head and paint the family room as well.  So we painted the family room a fresh grey color.  I love it.  It has enough brown in it to still look great with our couches, carpet etc.

This was one of my side projects.  It was white, and after we painted I wanted just a pop of color on the wall, so I painted it red, and then added some black-bronze paint to bring out the details.

I added that turquoise pillow too, but switched it for this super cute yellow damask cover instead.  I love it.  This is the grey after we finished the paint in there.

(This was the before picture- it's from a party in October, but it shows what the old color GoldenGate looked like )

We have a list of things we want to do now.  Like paint the rest of the interior the grey color, put rock on the fireplace surround, do the baseboards upstairs, and paint the kitchen cabinets-I say WHITE, Rusty votes for a darker wood stain.  So, until we decide, that project is on hold!

Rusty's New Calling...

When our ward was spilt and we became the Highland Park ward Rusty was called as the ward Sunday School President.  A few months went by and our stake was split.  The boundaries were kinda insane and if you drive down my street just two blocks you hit a new stake.  Anyhow, when the new Gilbert Highland West Stake was created Rusty was called to be the 2nd councilor in the Stake Sunday School presidency.  He really enjoyed the men he served with, and what they were doing. And then, the Stake Sunday School Pres got called to be a Bishop...  So, the night I had my annual Ugly Sweater Bunco at my house, Rusty told me we had to be done by 9 because we had a meeting with the Stake President.  Dun dun dun... You guessed it, Rusty got called to be the new Stake Sunday School President.  I am so incredibly proud that he lives his life in a way that he can serve in callings like this.  This was an especially interesting calling coming into 2013 with the major curriculum changes for the youth in the church.  It has been fun learning about the new way of teaching, and watching Rusty go to different wards to support the Sunday School Presidents on the ward level.  Proud of you President Beck.

Good thing he got a fancy new suit for the wedding. As part of the Stake Council he attends every ward in the Stake's temple night, Ward conference and ward council fireside.  He has a lot of meetings, and it has made Sunday's pretty hectic, but we have loved the blessings we have received from his new calling. Although, I still think I am to young to be married to a Stake anything president.