Last days of summer 2007

We're down to only a few more days of summer break and it's been raining all week. I'm tempted to go see Evan Almighty just to learn how to build an ark! I should be grateful for the rain because we're not tempted to go to the pool instead of getting all our appointments in before school. Yesterday was the second of 5 dentist appointments for Brigham. I had thought he was old enough to start brushing his teeth himself, but apparently I was wrong! It's amazing the damage that can be done in 6 months. He needs a few mini-root canals and several other fillings so the dentist is breaking them up and doing one quadrant at a time. He did tell me yesterday that Brigham was the best child patient he has ever had...I guess he wasn't blessed with good teeth, but does have a great personality.

Ben, on the other hand, has never had a cavity, but the personality trait is questionable! I say that because he has the tendency to "freak out" about things a lot. Recently it's about noises at night. He comes into our bedroom 5 or 6 times after we tuck him into bed telling us he heard something which is followed by an attempt to reproduce the sound so we can assure him it's the dishwasher, or a neighbor's car, or the monster hiding in his closet! Before he goes to bed he has to check every window and door in the house to make sure they are locked and then he looks under the beds and in the closets...yes, actually moving the clothes around like someone could be hiding in between 2 shirts! We're not sure where this fear comes from. Maybe we shouldn't have let him watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (just kidding, of course)!

I'm not sure why I'm babbling about this stuff when I have a wonderful vacation to report on....

I will admit, the thought of driving from Columbus to Denver left me feeling a little nauseous, but I can honestly say it was fun. Barr came home a little early from work on August 1st, and by 4:00 we were on the road. At 4:20 Brittany had to use the bathroom, and then again at 5:00, I kid you not, but after that it was smooth sailing. We stopped around 9:00 and had the kids brush their teeth and get ready for "bed" and then they slept the next 10 hours while Barr and I traded off driving. It worked out well since Barr possesses the gene where the second you close your eyes you are asleep. Every once in a while he would wake up and ask if I was alright and then his head would fall back to the side and he was out! This was the only time I have been thankful for my insomnia. Barr bought himself an energy drink and me a Coke. The energy drink worked great for him, but I about gagged after 1 sip of the Coke. It burned going down and tasted like medicine...the only caffeine I'm used to is in the form of a Reese's Cup! Barry Manalow and an old 80's-mix CD got me through Missouri and a lot of Kansas just fine! We were at Grandma's by lunch time.

It was so fun having everyone from Barr's family there; even his grandparents made the drive from Provo for a few days. We enjoyed the pool, Fat City, a few movies, Elich's amusement park, shopping, and of course playing their new Wii. Brittany still brags about beating everyone, even tough Uncle Rob, at boxing. I was amazed at the amount of sweat and sore muscles these games could produce! It was nice that they threw a little pre-birthday party for Brooke complete with a Blue's Clues cake decorated by Emily. And Brittany loved sleeping over at Jeff and Tiffany's with Mckenzie. She still can't go to sleep without first calling Aunt Tiffany to say goodnight. I'm sorry Tiffany!

Even though we were on vacation, Barr was still able to do a little training for his upcoming race. One morning he invited me to go on a bike ride with him. Try to picture me, not having ridden a bike in 20 years following Barr who does 20-mile rides for fun. I only crashed once and it was on a sharp curve at the bottom of a little hill trying to get onto a bridge. Yeah, I'll never do that again! I don't know how Barr makes it look so easy. I'm fine to just stick with running where I know I'm not going to run over a little old lady on the sidewalk!

The week went by too fast, and before we knew it we were back in the car. We broke the drive up between 2 days which in my opinion was so much harder since the kids are awake almost the entire time. We couldn't have asked for better travelers though. Brooke didn't make a noise the entire time unless she was laughing at something one of the kids was doing. And the older ones actually got along really well.

We drove straight to Coney Island where we met up for the end of my family's reunion. The kids disappeared with cousins and Barr and I got to visit with my siblings. I think we were celebrating 8 birthdays that weekend so it was one big party! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) our families are getting too big for all of us to stay at my parent's home so they put our family up at a hotel for 2 nights. It turned out to be a good thing since Brooke got sick Saturday with a really high fever and woke up early Sunday morning throwing up. Thanks to a lot of Tylenol, she made it through a very nice family meeting that morning with like 38 of us followed by a delicious lunch (I don't know how my mom pulls things like that off effortlessly) and then our nephews ordination to the priesthood.

We couldn't pull Ben away from his cousin, Austin, after just 2 days, so we did another exchange and we took Adam in exchange for Ben. Having him here to play with Brigham made the transition of coming home easier. A few days later, my sister and her family drove up and we did a temple session, returned kids to the right families and had to say goodbye to a wonderful 2 week vacation!

Some exciting news is that Brooke learned how to stand up on her own last week. It's funny how for a year now we have been trying to get her to do it, but in the last several weeks I really haven't been working on it with her and then one day she decides she wants to do it and up she goes. She always comes up clapping with a big smile on her face. She's also understanding a few simple directions now like, "go get ....." which is wonderful since she starts preschool in 2 weeks.

Love,
Becky and the rest of the crew

Click on this link if you want to check out some pictures we had taken at Target a few weeks ago. You will need the customer name and access code:

Customer Name: Rebecca Hill
Access Code: LTTT0866107265TAR

In front of the house the McAllisters owned in Littleton, CO










Celebrating Brooke's 3rd birthday early...nice job on the cake Emily! :)










Grandpa and Grandma Hill with grandkids (Brigham, Brooke Gracie, Hayden, Jaxson, Brittany, Isac, Ben, and Logan)











Fun with the chocolate fountain! Yum!!











Bathing Beauties!! The water was too cold for Brooke at Elich Gardens











Towards the end of a fun day at Elich Gardens in Denver











Austin turns twelve and is conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained a deacon. John, Barr, Gramdad Mains, Grant, Austin, Rick, Ken, and Colby participated in the ordination.











On their way to the brothers-from-another-mother golf invitational where Barr retained the golden putter award!