Talented One | It's a Vivas Thing!

Aug 22 2010

So Much!

There is just so much I could share from the past few days, I don't know where to start! I think I'll break it down into phases! You see, I just spent three fabulous days on a retreat with some of our youth and the youth leaders…amazing! It was so full of planning, resting, laughing, and hanging. Hmmm…what shall I tell you about first?

I know…I'll start with nature!

Something you may have gathered from the pictures I occasionally post is that the Talented One is not only an amazing pianist…he also has a love for…er…wild animals. And on this retreat, he found someone else to share this passion with. It's probably not a coincidence that this person also shares the same name as my son. Ha Ha!

It started out simple enough. My goofy friend and I were sitting on a swing, enjoying our peaceful moment, when I happened to glance over and see the two boys lifting up a massive rock together. I said to her, "They must be after a lizard."

I was wrong. Because a few moments later, they came over to show us this:

A few hours later, we were relaxing in the cool waters of Sedona, when my friend came up to me to inform me that the boys were pretty dangerous. HUH?

It seems they'd been exploring again, and came across a cute little baby snake. The Talented One knew it looked different, but didn't realize at the time what it actually was. Apparently they came back to the group with this cute little baby snake crawling between their fingers and such. That is, until one of our fearless leaders (because by this time, most of our leaders were fearFUL) explained to the boys that they needed to get rid of it and get rid of it now. Turns out, it wasn't a cute little harmless baby snake. It was a baby rattlesnake. (BTW…the fearless leader's son was my son's twin adventurer!)

We thought they'd manage to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day. We even managed to make it to the dark with no more wildlife incidents. For the most part. There was the moment they showed up to share another creature with us.

Before we got a good look at it, one of the leaders asked if they'd caught a scorpian….nope. It was just a little crawdad, thankfully!

It seemed their adventures were coming to a wind down…but apparently, they had enough energy for one more adventure. They came in asking for a flashlight. Ok.

And then, they came back in hysterics. Apparently there was a certain smell in the air, so they decided to investigate. See, personally, I would have gone the opposite direction, but not these two adventurers. They went after the smell…and shined their light upon…you may have an idea where I am going with this one. They stayed long enough just to snap a picture and then RAN as fast as they could!

I'm glad they were smart enough to know what a raised tale on a skunk means, because we didn't have any tomato juice!

Thankfully, we were headed home the next morning because I am not sure what kind of trouble these two would have gotten themselves into next!

Jul 11 2010

My Kids

There is just nothing better than having children. Really. And a day spent with them is especially fun! We started off with the Smart One getting his long hair cut. What a shock! He looks older, and we can see his beautiful eyes again! He was at camp all week, so it was really nice to have him back and listen to him as he talked about his week; what he liked, what moved him, etc.

I spent this evening with B-boo at her dance pool party. We took along a couple of her friends and the Drama Queen. I got a kick out of watching them tumble in the grass. It brought back memories of when they used to compete together in gymnastics.

After, we went home and the Drama Queen put on a concert of us. My dearest friend was there to share it with me. It brought tears when she sang, "The Climb." When she was finished and her voice could sing no more, the Talented One lowered the lights and graced us with his music. I cannot tell you how much his music moves me. When he plays, a peace just comes over you. It is beautiful. Sitting there in silence while he played is about the best way to end a day. Even more, watching his younger brother sitting there beside him, just listening, while he plays, and his sister on the other side, again, sitting and listening.

I love how supportive my kids are of each other and their talents. We are so blessed with wonderful children!

Tomorrow I leave for camp and my blog will be shut down for a week. I love spending a week at camp with my favorite teens, but I also miss my family while I am gone.

I'll see them in a week though, for a much needed vacation with my older brother, all of my kids, and my parents.

It doesn't get much better than that, either!

Jul 04 2010

Charlie’s Angels

I was going over my pictures from the Fourth of July. I noticed a recurring theme.

2007

2008

2010

And then, there are the open mouth pictures. What's up with that?

I wonder if the next generation will turn into the crazy teens, too!

I hope everyone else had a great 4th, too!

I love food, friends, family, and fireworks!

It just doesn't get any better!

Jun 28 2010

Life

Life has certainly been busy this past week! However, a blog is in order because I promised the Twin, so here goes!

For those of you who don't know, the Twin is the Talented One's best friend. They bowl together every Saturday morning.They've been friends for years. The Twin is like one of my own and has even been mistaken for mine. His mom is a very special friend to me. 🙂

Anyway, Saturday he came home with us after bowling to help the Talented One babysit, only hubby's meeting fell through, so it didn't happen. And the Talented One crashed fell asleep on him. That left him with two choices: watch Nacho Libre with the Smart One and hubby, or go with B-boo and I to her dance car wash fundraiser. He went with us…and spent three hours as the only guy washing cars/trucks for a girls dance team! That's just the kind of friend that he is.

And a funny one at that. Some of those trucks were big…and being short not very tall, we had to be smarter than the vehicle. We laughed as we told him to climb up on the tires and he looked at us as if we were crazy. And we applauded when he finally made it up. 🙂 And washed those windshields.

And after all was said and done, we headed back to his house, to find his poor mom standing outside with a sick little girl and a ton of wet towels. I asked her, "Are those all from vomit?"

Nope. They were from trying to dry the house out after a pipe burst and flooded it.

More water for the Twin? Perhaps.

And on Sunday morning at church, he came up to me laughing. Someone had asked him if he was the Talented One. Nope.

"Oh, well, are you a Vivas?"

Yah, we think so!

For other blogs on the Twin, see below:

Happy Birthday, Twin!

Twins!

Teens are fun, too!

Willing to do anything!

Jun 21 2010

Teens are Fun, too!

Ah…a normal Monday where we get up early and head to VBS. Ok, not really a normal Monday, but not a bad day if I do say so myself!

I ended up in the kitchen serving food to the leaders as they came in for break. It was a nice twist for me. Several years ago, I taught VBS, then moved to a Director position, then took a break for a year, then taught a mom's class, took another year off…and this year, the kitchen.

And I liked it. Because not only did I get thank you's all day long, I got to meet every leader involved with Vacation Bible School this year! I've been at the church for 19 years now. It is no longer the small church where everyone knew each other. I met so many new people today!

After, I headed home with a van full of kids for lunch. Got rid of them for a couple of hours (they know I love them) and took care of my nephew. Finally, a friend came over to cut our hair while we chatted and made dinner.

And the Drama Queen lost a tooth; after much drama, of course!

And the dogs had to be bathed, because they got into the grill and are full of grease. White poodles; black grease. Yuck!

And THEN….we headed over to Sally's for some new stuff for the new hairstyles; and the cashier comments about my four teens..and then I tell her I have three more kids at home. Priceless look on her face!

And FINALLY, we headed over to take the Twin home. As we are driving down the freeway, B-boo notices the top to the jeep is not clamped on, so she is trying to hold it down until we can pull over. Try driving a a jeep as a short person with another person leaning over you trying to keep the top down! We finally pull over into a CVS and set the Twins to work on it. Nope.

B-boo finally tells them to unhook the back and then hook the front, and then hook the back. It works. So we grab some drinks and candy and take the Twin home.

Yup, that's what Mondays are all about for us.Now you know why I look forward to them so much.