The Highlighter That Took the Cake

I've mentioned before the mind-boggling nature of my taking part in PTA and school affairs now that my son is in kindergarten. Elementary school is so fresh in my mind that it is hard to believe that I am the parent/gaurdian of my own elementary school goer. I was insufficiently warned at what all encompasses the world of parenthood in the midst of education. Case in point:

Not too long ago (two weeks maybe?) the PTA put on the school carnival. It was a well-planned event with all sorts of games and activities for the kids to enjoy. Being the proactive and PTA parents that we are, Kyle and I each took a turn manning the pirate toss booth. I strategically planned for me to work from 5 to 6, so Kyle could man it from 6-7. Why?

The silent auction, of course! I love silent auctions. Real auctions are more fun (well, if you count the annual ward service auction for the Youth to raise money to go to camp as a real auction), but still, any sort of auction is fun. The last time I took part in an auction, I bought homemade oreos to be delivered on any day of my choice (I chose my birthday in case you were wondering) and also 8 man hours labor for yard work. That was a beautiful day. So, as you can imagine, I had been looking forward to it all week. I was excited to see what donated items there would be to bid on.

Once I was free from the bonds of the pirate toss, I made my way to the auction site. I was not disappointed. Fat Cats passes, baskets full of holiday decorations, gift certificates for eyelash extensions (yes, you read that right. apparently there is a procedure out there that can temporarily elongate your eyelashes aside from the fakeys you can buy at Sally Beauty Supply) and much more. One gift basket caught my eye. It was a huge basket fullof NuSkin Product (apparently $600 worth) and also special season tickets to see the Utah Jazz (worth somewhere in the $600 range as well from what I recall). The basket had me at hello if you know what I mean.

As of 7:15 only one person had bid on this $1200 prize. The auction closed at 7:30. I was horrified that such a generous gift would only bring in a disappointing fraction of the cost of the gift, so I raised the bid and walked around to see what else I could spend Kyle's hard earned money on. I found some gymnastics lessons for Savannah and a cute purse and then went back to the table. Apparently the bidder had been watching me and up-bid me. So I put my bid down, and checked on my gymnastics lessons. A couple minutes later I came back and noticed I had been outbid again by the same person, so I bid again.

"Ah! Why did you do that?" A woman snapped at me. I looked up and saw a woman with an attempt at a sarcastic face, but it seemed creepily and genuinely irritated at my bid. I looked at her hands and noticed she was holding a fat magic marker. The person who had been crossing out my bids and upbidding me had done so in a fat magic marker. I was beginning to get the picture. I just smiled and said, "It's a pretty cool prize, huh?"

She didn't say anything and studied the bid sheet for a while and wrote hers in. there was about a minute left so as soon as she bid, I up bid her again. She was somehow shocked. I didn't understand. Couldn't she tell I liked the prize? She grabbed the bid sheet, and studied it for a while again. There was about 30 seconds left and she wrote hers down. But she didn't put down the paper.

"Um, could you put the paper down so I can bid again please?" I asked.

"No. Besides I've got the highlighter."

Say what? I was confused, and in a state of shock at the same time. Here was a great prize that I had the intention of bidding on and a fully-grown adult woman was withholding the bid sheet from me. And what was all that power-speak about referring to the highlighter? I was confused. Then I looked around me and things began to fall into place.

Each item up for auction now had some sort of "supervisor" next to it holding a highlighter. As soon as time was announced to be up, the supervisor could hurry and highlight the winner of the prize on the bid sheet so other stragglers couldn't sneak a bid on and claim they were the highest bidder. So the woman "supervising" the Jazz/NuSkin basket also happened to be my competitor. How's that for conflict of interest?

Now, I'm not one for confrontations or anything. But I was bugged. I was willing to pay a legitimate sum of money for that prize, yet this woman who obviously wanted the prize for a bargain, actually withheld the bid sheet from me and then tried to bully me out of bidding more by telling me she had the highlighter. As if she had all the power in the world or something. But here's the tricky thing about where I live: My little neighborhood community has become my world. We all live near each other, we all shop near each other, and we all go to church together. It was not out of the realm of possibility the woman was in my ward. I mean, she looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. All I knew though was that making a stink over something would not be an easy thing to walk away from later. I was the new girl. All the PTA moms had their little groupies and I was an outsider. Nobody had my back. Nobody knew who I was. So who would I be to call someone out on behavior as ridiuclous as the behavior I had just witnessed? All that aside, I knew I couldn't just walk away (I could hear Kyle in my head saying, "you let her get away with that?!")

So, I looked her in the eye and calmly said, "I don't think that was very cool of you to do that. Kind of unfair don't you think?" A little flustered I called her on her childish behavior, the woman coughed up a nervous laugh and said,

"Oh you were just staged to make me pay more money for this prize, weren't you?"

"No, actually I was willing to pay a good sum of money for it." I responded matter-of-factly. (Though admittedly, I really wanted to sass back at her).

The woman continued to remain flustered and said, "Oh, well my husband's going to kill me for spending so much money on this."

Annoyed, I just shook my head slightly and walked away.

A little unsettling, right?

Of course when I told Kyle about it he was ready to call someone in charge and complain. I explained to him the unwritten rule of PTA women having each other's backs. "They're friends, honey. All they'll do is apologize for it and hang up the phone. Nothing will change except that I will be blacklisted from any other PTA affair. I'll be "Michelle, the girl who got offended and threw a fit when she didn't win the Jazz tickets."

Thankfully Kyle calmed down, and when a member of the PTA called me that night to report I had won the gymnastics lessons (score!) he refrained from tattling.

But it still bugged me, you know?

So, about a week later I was going through all of Cade's papers (side not here: I was not prepared for the mountains of papers school sends home with just one child each week. It is so much!) and came across the school's monthly newsletter.

And then it dawned on me.

Highlighter woman was also pictured on the front page next to "PTA President's Message..."

The woman was the PTA president.

And to ice that already sour-tasting cake, I happened to park right next to her when picking up Cade at school the next day.

AWK.WARD.

On a completely unrelated note, today we experienced our first fallish day. It required a jacket! I was kind of in a funk and felt a little off-kilter. Something about wearing jeans and a jacket just put me in a funk. And then I got excited when I remembered the sweat suit I invested in last winter and have been happy since I put it on.

I'm excited to see the leaves changing and am ready to start drinking. Hot Chocolate, that is.

I was going through some old pictures and came across these adorable shots of Cade 4 years ago in our yard in Provo in the middle of fall. What sweet memories...

Midnight Musings

Today.... (or technically yesterday because it is after midnight now)

...I signed up to run the Provo Halloween Half marathon. Another gradual downhill 13-miler. My kind of race. Anyone have ideas for a running friendly costume? Let's face it, the only way I'll get a prize at the race is for the costume. Not my lackadaisical running.

Cade shocked me. He spent the entire morning coloring. Coloring! I used to beg him to color. His color and drawing sessions have been so few and far between over the years I even saved a stick picture he drew of himself at a restaurant with his friend Delaney back in March because it was the first stick-figure picture I'd ever seen him draw.

My sister served me a delicious piece of Butterfinger cake. That's the 212th reason why living close to family rocks.

Yesterday...(technically the day before yesterday)

I went running with some friends at the crack of dawn. I've been desperately wanting to turn into a morning person (stop laughing, Mom) and these girls give me a great reason to change.

Oreos were on sale at Smith's and my sister dropped by 2 packages on her way home (even though my house wasn't exactly on the way). That was the 211th reason why living close to family rocks.

This past weekend in St. George...

...I got to see a brand new baby, a brand new bride, meet family in real life that I've only stalked in the blogosphere, and reconnect with a best friend. Why, oh why didn't I take any pictures?!

Some sweet girls let Savannah think that she caught the bouquet at my cousin's beautiful reception. For the other single girls' sake I sure hope Savvy is not next in line to marry. That's for my sake, too.

I saw my great Uncle in the temple for the sealing. I couldn't stop staring. He reminds me so much of my Grandpa. I felt like he was there.

At the wedding brunch Cade took his half-finished cup of lemonade and walked over to the punch bowl. No, he did not pour himself more lemonade. He dumped what was left in his back in the bowl. I was mortified. His reasoning, "Mom, I was all done." Perhaps I should lay off on the not wasting food lectures....

Last week...

...We went to the fair. Cade got to go fishing, Savvy got to ride her pony, I got my cotton candy and we all got to end the night on the ferris wheel. I love the fall.

Kyle bought Cade a motorcycle. Nope, he doesn't know how to ride a two-wheeler. Go figure.

We went house hunting.

Gettin' My Move On Part IV: The Wedding, The Secret Stash, The Phone Call...

Remember that story I was writing about how we got to where we are? Well, I figure I better continue plucking away at it or else we'll have moved into another one by the time I finish it. Taking an unintentional hiatus from the world is good though. I wasn't really meaning to neglect this side of the universe....it just kept happening. Somewhere between single motherhood, unpacking Kyle's clothes....and a little West Wing my presence in the blogosphere disappeared for a while. And then Kyle showed up with a truckload of stuff, and I stayed away longer. Sadly, I'm still not done unpacking and I've come to the realization it will happen only when it is time to move again.

On a more chipper note, a special thanks to Al the Comcast cable man who hooked me up to the world wide web and to Kyle for setting up my "blogging machine" as he affectionately referred to it. I happily announce that after 5 months, the desktop is on a desk. Hallelujiah.

And so I continue...

The Wedding

My selection of rental homes was finally narrowed down to 3. In my mind I had decided the plain house with the good school within our price range was the best one, but it was still up for Kyle's stamp of approval. A few hours after taking a look at Option C with my sister, I picked up Kyle and the kids from the airport. The next morning we attended the lovely wedding of his brother Randy and now new sister-in-law, Kristen. The weather was perfect and the ceremony was beautiful. It's always exciting adding to the family tree, and adding Kristen to the branch was no exception. Kristen is the happiest girl I have ever met. We got to spend a weekend with her just before moving back to Chicago and it was apparent she complimented Randy perfectly. She smiled incessantly and laughed often. That still is the case now. You just can't help but be happy around Kristen. I even have proof. Look, even a good portion of the little girls (none of whom had taken a nap, eaten lunch, or been taken down the princess isle at Target at this point) are wearing smiles.

Five out of eight aint bad.

The happy couple

Nothing is cuter than seeing little boys in white shirts and ties...

After the ceremony and delicious luncheon, Kyle and I had exactly enough time to drive down to House C and be back in time for the reception.

Bad idea.

Why take a perfectly blissful, family-oriented day and mess it up with house hunting? Because I was anxious and Kyle was flying back to Chicago soon. Time was running out.

After we walked through and got back in the car I could tell by the look on Kyle's face he wasn't thrilled. I can't blame him, because I wasn't either, but still. I met his criteria, right? That should amount to something. Finally I broke the silence and asked, "So, what do you think."

"I'm willing to pay more for a better place."

What? Just like that. After seeing one place Kyle had already decided he was willing to hand more of his money over to have a "nicer" place. That was supposed to be my line. The guy isn't supposed to care about the fixtures and paint job and kitchen....right? I spent so many months finding places within the notorious X and all of the sudden he was willing to change the value of X just like that? So not fair.

That car ride up to the reception was far from pleasant. Tension was thick, exhaustion was apparent, and frustration was a given. Which brings me to another, more obvious epiphany: I would have made a rotten pioneer. I can elaborate on that later. Much, later.

The Secret Stash

That evening after the reception I pulled out a secret stash of papers: Print-outs of rental homes I wanted to live in but didn't think I could, simply because of price. Since that was no longer the case, I picked my favorite one and made an appointment for the next afternoon.

The next morning we took the kids and met up with Kyle's family at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. This was my first open house and I was thrilled to get to take Cade and Savvy with us. It was also a wonderful way to realign our priorities, and remember what life was about.

The name "Oquirrh" is a Ute Indian word translated as "The Shining Mountains" or "Glowing". You can tell by our squinted faces it was definitely glowing out there.

Savvy hamming it up in front of some flowers

Cade loves to do his own thing for pictures. After Kyle counted to three on this particular shot Cade shouted "Yay for temples!" Savvy wasn't quite feeling it though.

This is another original Cade pose. Apparently he thinks Jesus deserves a big thumbs up.

Grandma and Grandpa Berry with the chilluns

After the open house we continued to take advantage of my sister and brother-in-law's kindness and hospitality (We were living in their basement for the time being if you may recall) and dropped Cade and Savvy off there to play.

We pulled onto a quiet street in Lindon up to a nice rambler on a grassy, 1/2 acre lot. I walked in and fell in love. It had so much SPACE! I ran out of things to do with all the bedrooms. There was an adorable play room under the stairs in the basement, and other fun extras. I saw myself happily working away in my office downstairs while the kids played, and Kyle yacked away in his office. I saw myself cooking in the kitchen and even began picturing myself planting a garden in the back yard. Back up the dream bus a minute. I've NEVER gardened, NEVER had the desire to garden (other than the guilt-induced desire that comes around every time I read about how Ishould plant a garden) but in this house, I found myself happily planting a garden. It was nice to be able to see myself being superbly domestic. And gardening, no less.

Another plus about the home was the location. The home was situated in the area wanted to buy. How nice to be able to rent where you want to buy! That was the plan, but I never thought the plan would come to fruition.

Kyle and I walked out of the home feeling happy and excited about life all of the sudden. We kept replaying in our heads what we liked most about the home. Wanting to be sure, we checked out a few other homes from my secret stash, but ultimately, we fell to the first one. Happy that we both came to an agreement on a place we loved, we took advantage of the free time we had together and went to a movie and out to dinner since the kids were now at Grandma's happily making gingerbread men. Life was good.

We decided to take the kids to their new ward that Sunday to get acquainted with everyone. When I walked in though, I was quite confused. No one was sitting on the first 7 rows. I checked to see if maybe it was because they were reserved for a baby blessing or something. Nope. So we picked a row and sat. It seemed like a rather small ward and sure enough, we discovered it was a small ward. very small ward. It being fast and testimony Sunday (first Sunday of the month members of the congregation voluntarily get up to share their feelings about the gospel at the pulpit) we got a nice taste of the members. Our meetings afterwards were nice. I enjoyed myself in Relief Society, Cade seemed to like Primary, Savvy was thrilled with the nursery, but unfortunately Kyle was a little disappointed he was one of just 6 elders in Elder's Quorum. And we found out there wasn't a single elementary-aged child living on the street we were moving to. But I didn't let that get me down. It would only be temporary. And hey, there may not be kids to play with, but there were several babysitters just a stone's throw away. That is priceless.

The next morning the kids and I dropped Kyle off at the airport to bid him farewell for another few weeks. I wasn't in despair though. We had found our home. Straight from the airport I took the kids in to get their immunization shots. Nothing like welcoming ourselves back to Utah like a good prick on every limb. They were champs and oddly appeased at the gift of a tiny plastic ring from the nurse when their suffering was over. Bless their hearts.

The Phone Call

I was getting antsy that I hadn't received any paperwork from our new landlord. I needed it in order to register Cade for school and it was registration day. (See how on top of things I am? Cade gets his immunizations the DAY he is to register.) I sent the landlord a little friendly reminder to speed things along. A few hours later, right around the witching hour when the kids were hungry and the Tylenol for their immunization aches and pains was wearing off, the Landlord called to explain that he may have changed his mind about renting out the home. MAY HAVE?? Some unexpected "things" came up over the weekend. He asked me to give him another day to decide before he totally walked away from us. I said "sure I'll hang on another 24 hours", but as soon as we got off the phone, I let out a defeated, exasperated shriek (remember this post?) and I began pulling up homes for rent on KSL.

Again.

Savvy's fun...

While Cade is away at school, there is no short of fun for Savvy. Once naptime is over, that is.

Getting her fingernails painted at the local beauty college was definitely a highlight.

Traipsing around the neighborhood in her tu-tu is always fun. Today she discovered something...

Look mom!

Getting a closer look...

"Ew yuck, a bug!"

Taking another look...

Off to the swings!

Lucky 13

Today marked Cade's 13th day of kindergarten.

Kindergarten.

Kindergarten!

I have since attended my first Back to school night and PTA meeting. I found myself wandering the halls wondering how did I get here? Perhaps for most parents of school-aged children it's a smooth and natural transition, but for me, a woman who mentally considers herself at the ripe age of 17, I just find it difficult to believe I have already arrived at the stage of carpools, fundraisers and the notorious school picture day.

When did this little man:

Turn into this big boy?

I've reflected much over the last five years and have a few thoughts for Cade to read sometime down the road.....

Cade, you have always been my buddy. An unexpected surprise less than a year after your Dad and I were married, it feels like I haven't known anything else besides having you at my side. I used to joke that Heavenly Father had to send me a calm and mellow child or else I would have never finished school. It is true. You were a great baby who demanded little of my time and sat contentedly on those hardwood floors of our tiny rental student home while I clacked away at the computer working on homework. You came with me to class on many occassions, and even happily (though you had no choice in the matter) accompanied me on a door to door survey project for my senior capstone class. You were truly a sweet little companion. You have blessed my life with great purpose and profound meaning.

True, there are those days when I wonder what my life would have been like had you not come so soon. I've shed a tear or two in a selfish state of pity, longing to have had the White House experience. I've oozed with jealousy over old friends' victorious and successful job jaunts in Washington . But when the egocentric tears are dried and I come in to your room to steal a kiss from my sweet sleeping boy, I cannot deny the absolute truth that my life was changed for the better when you came into it. Your smile makes up a million times over for any successes from my missed career, and your hugs deplete any value of a paycheck I could have earned.

It has been such a privilege to be your mother. You are thoughtful, cautious and deep. I adore your enamoration with Joseph Smith, the prophet. You are a sweet big brother and it tickles me how you haven't stopped talking about all the other siblings you plan on having. It's been well over a year and you haven't given up on having a big brother. So cute!

I hope your first day was memorable. You were excited about the decorations in the kitchen. And what can be better than toys from the Dollar Tree? (Who says you have to know?)

When Savannah and I dropped you off on your first dayof school, I wish I had remembered to wear my sunglasses. I couldn't help the moisture in my eyes, but I surprised myself and kept my emotions at bay. Watching you walk into the school was so surreal to me, I felt like I was dreaming. Having you gone in the afternoons makes me want to cherish the time I do have with you. Thank you so much for being such a sweet son. I hope to never disappoint you or let you down. You are my little rock.

Loves,

Mom

cade on his first day of school making one of his signature silly faces.

2009 Woodbury Man-Trip

Last week we had annual man-trip. We did a 46-mile trip back into the Sawtooth National Forest. The fishing and the weather was great! We caught just over 300 trout and the temperature dropped below freezing just once.

(pictures can be seen here)

Day 1
Destination: Yellowbelly to Toxaway Lake

Distance: 7 miles

Elevation Gain: 1500'

The hike didn't seem so tough since it was the first day and everyone seemed to have something to prove to everyone else. Later on in the week, if you are tired it isn't that big of a deal to stop and take a break, but for some reason the first day of hiking is the day to show all the others how much endurance you have. It was basically a gradual uphill climb the entire way. Fishing was good the first day, I think we caught around 60 fish the first day.

The first night was fairly cold. Ethans thermometer read just below 30 degrees if I remember right. All water bottles froze and our sleeping bags, backpacks, equipment, etc was covered in frost. The first night was the only night I was cold.

My food was terrible the first day. Dinner was something like chicken rice without the milk, butter, and everything else the package suggested I use. Like usual, everyone ate the heaviest food in their pack. The only exception was David Sherwood. He made hashbrowns from a raw potato and even carried in a dozen duck eggs from his farm. (on a side note, David had no problem hiking and pretty much ran circles around us the 3 days he was there.

Day 2

Destination: Toxaway to Unnamed Lake #1

Distance: 4.5 miles

Elevation Change: 2500'

Day two was the shortest hike of the five day trip. We started early in the morning and arrived and the lake in plenty of time to fish all the way around it. We caught around 40 fish in this lake. Randy caught two 19"-20" cutthroat trout. I think everyone slept much better this night.

Day 3

Destination: Lake #2 to Ardeth Lake to unnamed lake #3

Distance: 7.5 miles

Elevation Change: 2600'

This lake was one of our favorites. The fish were huge and plentiful. It was obvious that most people don't go this far off the trail. Combined, we caught over 100 fish this day. Three members of our group decided they had experienced enough of what the wild outdoors had to offer and went home early.

We all woke up in the middle of the night to a wolf howling. I looked over at Robert and he pulled his .38 out of his sleeping bag with a smile. I wasn't as happy as he was. Wolves scare the living daylights out of me. We only heard it howl one more time and it sounded quite a distance away. Aside from the wolves, I was in love with the campsite location and hope to return again next year.

Day 4

Destination: unnamed lake #3 to lakes #4, #5 back to Ardeth Lake

Distance: 13 miles

Elevation Change: 2500'

This day may have been the highlight of the trip. As we were looking at the map we noticed a couple of lakes that didn't have a trail into. Being optimistic fishermen we wanted to try fishing those lakes. We decided to hike in using a map and compass, fish the lakes, then get back to Ardeth Lake.

When we arrived at the lakes we were amazed at how many fish were surfacing. In fact, the fish at these two lakes didn't act as though many people made it in there to fish. We caught numerous trout and even some grayling. The lakes were both smaller than the others but quite deep. It was blazing hot and we decided to go for a swim. The water was refreshing to say the least. I don't remember the exact number, but I think we caught around 125 fish this day.

Day 5

Destination: Ardeth Lake to Yellowbelly Trailhead

Distance: 14 miles

Elevation Change: 5100'

This was uphill for only 1800' and then downhill the rest of the way. We weren't planning on going home this day, but the fishing was lousy when we returned to unnamed lake #2. It had been great the second day, but there was a huge hatch of some kind of fly and the fish were gorging themselves and had no interest in hitting our lures and flies.

We decided to leave around 1pm and made it back to the vehicles by 6pm. I made it back to the house around 2:30am. When I saw myself in the mirror I knew I should have brought a hat. I have been peeling the skin off my face ever since.