Backing This Bus Up...the rest of September

I don't know where the pictures of September went...they aren't on my phone...but here is what we were up to...

• This is a gross way to start, but Abby had warts, and she was ANGRY about it. We went into the podiatrist for our second treatment (now, our podiatrist is a GREAT guy, he even offered Abby his son for her to marry at one point) and she flat out asked me on our way it, "Mom, if he has to scrape my foot, can I kick him in the face?"
• We had our primary program, and all that entails for me. It was a little extra crazy since my secretary (who I cannot function without) was a ticking time bomb at 9+ months pregnant the day of the program and my pianist was on bed rest. But honestly? Best program in my 4 years as primary president. And primary idol was SO fun this year! I looked ridiculous and embarrassed myself by singing a solo into an inflatable microphone, but I had a great time doing it!
• We went to a really swanky fundraiser for Opportunity Village. Most fundraisers I attend are hard work. This one, I looked great and they fed me. I could get used to upper echelon fundraising!
• Abigail started ballet in addition to hip hop. She's taking it all really seriously and I am very proud of her.
• Did I post about her first day of school? Probably not :) It went really well and she's loving Ms. Moen. Her quote from the first week, "I looked around mom, and I have no competition this year." She's a confident one, that Abigail!

Backing this bus up...Garage Sale

Boy Howdy, do I have a lot to cover! Today is my birthday and as a special treat to myself, I am taking this morning (even though there are dishes in the sink) and catching up on my blogging in between responding to sweet birthday texts and emails.

We've had such a great September/October, it can't NOT be recorded for Posterity's Sake! September mainly orbited around one huge event- a charity garage sale that my friend Brityn and my sister-in-law Kari helped me run and plan. We wanted to help raise some money for our friend Aspen who is battling breast and brain cancer. We thought we would do a little neighborhood garage sale, but when we saw the level of support we got from our friends and family, we knew it was turning in to a much bigger event. It ended up being a massive event held in a corporate parking lot with games, snow cones, balloon animals. It was great fun and we raised over $6,000.

We had SO many kind, loving, generous people helping us. While it was a lot of hard work, it was an absolute joy to be a part of. I love seeing people at their best, it makes me a much better person than I would otherwise be.

A surprise huge success was the bake sale, treats, and games we had accompany the event. We had some serious saleswomen working that table and the treats donated were all beautiful. We looked like a high end bakery.

The amount of people willing to get up at 7am on a Saturday and volunteer their time was just incredible. 

Our good friends the Holts loaned us Tim's amazing balloon animals/juggling skills. I am sure they are regretting the day they ever met me since I seem to think every function I run is made better by balloon animals....but, isn't it? I mean look at that hat! You know you want to wear it!

I am so happy at this stage of my life. I have such incredible friends and I am so blessed to be able to work alongside them so well. Who would have thought, given my torrid history of irresponsible (yet fun-loving) shenanigans I would turn out so well! And be worthy of such awesome and illustrious associations! Above is my friend Brityn, who coincidentally, just knocked on my door and sang me a birthday song and gave me flowers.

I was super grateful to my work, Capstone Capital, for sponsoring this event and letting me work on it while there. They paid for all the printing costs, security, and even bought me a sub sandwich!

While it was a ton of fun and super rewarding, it was a LOT of work. This shot was taken at 5:00am...(Max and I had been there since 4:30)

Here is the event in full swing! A HUGE thank you to all my friends who donated, attended and volunteered. It's such a good feeling to be able to help someone you care about and I really appreciate all the time and energy given by others to accomplish it!

While the late night mom meetings in our pajamas are over for now, knowing Brityn, Kari and I there will be more projects in the future and I whole heartedly look forward to them!

Pigs must be flying

The impossible has been done! The Leavitts have camped. Hell is freezing over, the fat lady is singing, pigs are flying...because we actually had a great time. Our good friends, the Smiths, convinced us that a weekend at Big Bear Lake California would be a good time. We agreed and immediately started looking at cabin sites and cost. We didn't realize they had TENTS in mind. When we pulled up to the camp site, I had that feeling like you're about to be wheeled into surgery all while my buddy Brityn was literally squealing and clapping with glee.

Our trip down was great fun. We talked, laughed, popped open cans of pringles and watched Pete's Dragon in their super overflowing, packed-to-the-rafters with pillows Sequoia.


This picture is of Abigail (7) with sweet camping hair and her friend Madeline (4) emerging from the packed car. When we pulled into the little town of Big Bear, we stopped at Thelma's for lunch. We are out on the back patio with wild flowers. Max had a chicken fried steak that was about the size and dimensions of his forearm and deeply regretted it later.

After, we drove to our camp site, passing a ridiculously grouchy lady working for the forest service. At camp, I was so confused and lost about camping. But the Smiths literally took care of everything. Brandon and I coined the phrase, "Concierge Camping" and also regularly called it "Glamping." They made every meal and every activity so painless with all their preplanning and effort. We had just enough of a taste of camping (i.e. rolling out a sleeping bag, setting up a tent).

 



After camp was set up, we hiked down to see the lake. Big Bear Lake is dirty and stinky, but we still had a great time. We then went to the Discovery Center and pet lots of taxidermied animals and learned a bit about Big Bear. When we came back to camp, the kids played in the water pump, we went on another hike, and Max got started making us our camp feast of pork roast, Caesar salad and rolls with homemade jam. We ate ourselves sick and then, of course, had smores.

We then put our kids to bed and stayed up late talking and watching the stars. It was so fun to plan our futures, laugh, and tell stories about the kids. We got a little too ruckus at one point and the grumpy lady had to come yell at us in her little golf cart to keep it down. When we eventually poured ourselves into our sleeping bags, Brandon and I had the most hilarious night's sleep I think we've ever had. It involved mummy bags, cots, and a late night pee run. I seriously laughed till I cried and not just because it was 3am.

The next morning the Smiths fed us omelets, fruit and bacon. We packed up camp and then headed for a super fun family hike. The hike was just right- mountainous enough to really feel like a hike but short enough we didn't have to carry the kids the whole time. We then packed back up in the car and headed down the mountain. The roads are really curvy and poor Madeline threw up in a popcorn bag and I about joined her!

On our way home, we talked and laughed some more...ate more pringles, watched The Sound of Music, and Brandon finally, after 13 years, got me to stop at the Barstow Station McDonald's that he always went to in his youth on the way to Disney. It will probably take me another 13 years to be convinced to go back.

When we got home, we showered, relaxed and got ready for the next day- which was the first day of second grade for this little cutie!

 

She has Mrs. Moen this year and we're off to a great start. She is such a wonderful kid- so kind and helpful and just good down to her core. I couldn't be more proud. On Monday we unveiled the 2013-14 Leavitt Family Theme and for posterity's sake, I shall record it here:

 

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your ^awork shall be rewarded.

 

It's from Chronicles and it's a good one for us. We're really busy but we want to focus on the blessings of work in our lives and how much more we are able to have and do because we work hard. It's going to be a great year!

Arizona bound

Last night I rolled back into town after a quick trip to Phoenix, feeling the pseudo-hangover that comes with too much fun and the sore throat the comes with too much laughing. A dear friend of mine, Aspen, moved down to Phoenix almost a year ago. While it is always hard to let a friend move away, it was extra hard with Aspen. Primarily because she's THAT incredible and so fun, but also because she's been battling breast cancer and having a really hard time. While she has an incredible husband, two beautiful children, a lovely home and more friends than I could ever possibly keep track of, we still wanted to go down and spend some time with our friend.

The "we" in that last sentence wasn't my little family (although Brandon adores her and her husband Pete and was super sad to be left at home). The we in that sentence are Brityn (my dear friend), Kari (my sister-in-law), and Miss Sunshine (she was the former nanny for their family and she is CRAZY awesome). Brityn called Aspen to set up our trip and told her that it would only be Brityn visiting. The rest of us were a complete surprise.

We left Friday afternoon after lunch and hit the road in Brandon's Acura. We had a great ride down, laughing and listening to 90's jams that only people in their late 20's/early 30's can really appreciate- snacking on red vines, plums and trail mix. Even with this party on wheels going on, we still had time to make a plan of how we wanted to surprise her. We decided to park a little distance from their house and have Brityn, who they were expecting, to go and knock on the door. We waited 5 minutes and then sent me to the door. What a treat! She was so completely shocked and started crying at this point. 5 minutes later, the door knocks again and it's Kari! Because Kari, Brityn and I are all friends she totally didn't expect her final guest who knocked on the door 5 minutes later- Miss Sunshine! (her real name is Debbie, but I think we called her that maybe 2xs). There were lots of tears and hugs.

That night, we ate dinner together and headed off for a little Super Target run (since I forgot jammies, and that's an awkward thing not to have when you're staying at someone else's house). While Kari and Miss Sunshine distracted her, Brityn and I made a mad dash grocery run. It was so Super Market Sweep! I loved the thrill of trying to check out before I was caught. We spent the night cackling and went to bed after almost peeing ourselves watching YouTube videos. Well, everyone except Kari and I that is. We shared a room and were up till 3am. I had a great time! I feel like we walked into this sister-in-laws and friends and are walking out sisters.

We got up at 6:30 the next morning and got to work! I won't be able to do it justice and I won't be able to make it sound not cheesy, but it was like a symphony. We all went because we are friends of Aspen's, but what we didn't know is that we are an absolute dream team when it comes to putting a house in order. Kari snapped on the rubber gloves and cleaned 4,000 sq ft. to sparkling. Brityn and I cleaned out the fridge, organized the pantry, and made an absolutely ridiculous amount of food for their freezer, pantry and fridge- all healthy and full of vitamins. We ate homemade warm roasted coconut granola, carrot cranberry bran muffins, chicken noodle soup with homemade wheat noodles, roasted butternut squash soup, turkey sausage/roasted veggie lasagna, honey whole wheat French toast, and more. Their fridge is brimming with lots of fresh fruits and veggies cut up, washed, ready to use. Miss Sunshine washed kids, played with them, fixed their appliances, folded clothes and helped Kari with the house. Nobody needed to be told what to do, we were all experts in our areas and we had an incredible time. We then, of course, all had naps.

That evening, we went out just us girls and got mani/pedis and had dinner. After dinner, Kari dyed Aspen's hair a darker color so it would look fuller. Radiation and chemo have thinned it out a bit and she looks fabulous as a dark temptress! While they were playing beauty shop, I made another run (sneaky style) to Target for diapers, dishwasher soap, Ziploc bags, etc. It made me feel like Santa Clause. It was super fun.

We went to bed around midnight after another round of laughing and talking. Well, everyone but Kari and I...we clocked in around 2 am this time :) Next morning, up at 6:30 again. I made everyone breakfast and prepared their dinner for that night (since we had to leave after church) and rocked the juicer with Pete. We had a tasty time together and then headed off to church. Aspen goes to the church of Christian Science. I really liked it. It was good to be there with her and Peter and pray together for our dear friend. We had a seriously tear filled goodbye in the parking lot and left for home. No one could speak for a long time...probably because we just left our hearts behind in a hot parking lot in Arizona. Things livened up a bit when we got out a romance book on CD. We ate Carl's Jr. and book clubbed it all the way home, pausing the CD to dissect the characters and their relationships. We had some AWFUL 90 minute traffic jam that had us inching. Minus the guy we saw peeing and the girl we saw getting digging in her trunk with no pants or underwear on (Brandon's theory is that she pooped), it was nice because it gave us longer with our book.

It was one of the most beautiful weekends of my life and I learned so much. Thanks to Brandon for providing for me so well that I can go help our friends like this and for all the husbands who stayed home and wrangled the kiddos.

 

On a final note, this is Brityn getting her first pedicure ever. She has feet like mine- like we are wearing shoes made of sandpaper at all times. The sweet lady got finished scraping her callouses off and said, "Well, you just lost 2-3 pounds down here." I looked down at the pile and it was like it had snowed. I laughed mercilessly and took a picture...but she got me back. There's a super embarrassing Jamie Leavitt pedicure photo floating out there.

 

"Peace out suckers!"- Banyan Marthaler, age 4

the rest of july

 I left a few important details out of July that I would be very sad to leave out, especially Abigail's birthday. She turned the big 7 on the 20th and since that is a very important time in a young girl's life, I have to document it.

By the time July was over, I felt like we had celebrated all month long (which is true, we did). I had a quite substantial sampling of ice cream cakes, of which I decided Baskin Robbins is my favorite.
She's gotten so big so fast- it was just yesterday she was in rose ruffled footie jammies and here she is rockin' shades and a studded sleeveless denim jacket- lookin' like the rock star she's quickly turning out to be.

While we did party hardy, her official birthday party was rock star themed this year. It was a fun little party with her adorable friends. The lady at Dairy Queen went WAY the extra mile by putting on guitar on her cake and writing out, "You Rock, Abigail!"I think the highlight of the party was when we were eating pizza and cake watching hilarious You Tube videos- particularly the Taylor Swift goat videos.

Bubbles and Booty Shaking our way through summer

We've been breaking it down all summer long here at the Leavitt house and it's time we catch up with our shenanigans. Our house has been so regularly turned into a bubble blowing discotheque that it's been hard to focus on recording it for posterity.

But even more exciting than the rump shaking grooves rattling the window panes was our trip home to see my family and our little Canadian detour we took. In no particular order, I present our Canadian adventure!

It's always so relaxing to go home to Washington. The summer weather there is a drastic improvement over Las Vegas, the food tastes better, and my family always dotes on us. It's our favorite get away of the year! We ate our faces off, went to movies, and had a great time. They hosted a beach themed birthday party for Abby. She loved it and covered everyone (including herself) in pirate themed temporary tattoos. I loved that my sister made time to go on walks with me while I was there. She has a new found commitment to a healthy lifestyle that is pretty inspiring. On one of these walks, she left me to go home and use the facilities, and I was out running in the blazing heat, with no water and winding my way through roosters and goats, waiting for her to come back. Needless to say, it tested my sisterly good will...

So our trip to our friendly neighbors to the north started out a little rough for me. I don't know where my common sense went, but I tried a sample of room temperature smoked salmon dip at a little place called Country Mercantile. Within 6 hours, I deeply regretted that decision and had some pretty serious and debilitating food poisoning. We were supposed to leave for Seattle and Canada the next morning, but I wasn't safe to be around unless I was ten feet from a commode. My family waited until I was dehydrated, listless and malnourished enough to ensure I wouldn't be ruining the upholstery in their van. Then, they rolled me out, stuck me in the front seat and off we went! I can't really remember the first 24 hours of our trip, but once I came out of the pink edged, smoked salmon fog I had a great time!

I love Victoria Canada! It is a delightful place. We actually arrived on Canada Day and were able to see the fireworks from the harbor. I was hugged by intoxicated Canadians and Abby and I had beer sprayed on us. Somehow, that just added to the charm. Brandon and I tried poutine (which is gravy and cheese curds on fries). I thought I would hate it, but it was delicious. We also had the best ice cream and macaroni and cheese I may have ever had. AND their delis sell San Pellegrino. Brandon spent his nights on google figuring out how to license to practice in British Columbia.

We of course had to go butchart gardens. I thought it would be rows and rows of flowers, but it was much more enchanting than that (not that the flowers weren't lovely). Abby and her cousin Tiffanie rode this carousel which was right by a cute little outdoor concert venue. I loved it. 

They also created this beautiful fountain in a natural lake. I've seen the Bellagio fountains dozens of times now, and I can honestly say that while the butchart fountain isn't choreographed to dance to the greatest hits, it is a far superior fountain.

Beside Butchart gardens is a lovely little butterfly garden. Inside were turtles, parrots, and lots and lots of butterflies. It was the best butterfly garden yet. They clearly marked where the caterpillars were so you could see them too. I could have spent all day there. We had watched an IMAX movie at the museum earlier in the day about butterflies (well, most of us did, Tiffanie and Phil went to sleep the second they turned the lights off), and the movie really helped make the butterfly garden experience that much cooler. We are official butterfly experts.

The natural beauty and splendor of Donna Tracy and Abigail Leavitt. We sure do love our family!

Speaking of my sister, this is a picture of her accepting at a banquet that was held that I was lucky enough to be in town for. She is receiving an award for more than 20 years of dedicated service to the special needs population of the Tri-Cities. I'm so proud of her! It was so fun to hear all of the clients they serve yelling her name. However, I believe I out screamed them all. 

Back to Victoria and the butterfly garden. This is a picture of my good pal Eddie. He is the friendliest of parrots. We spent about 45 minutes right next to each other, making noises and getting snuggly. He might be my spirit animal. 

This is such a funny and unflattering picture of my little family- it had to be included!

In the rose gardens at Butchart they have plaques with the names of the roses, where they were created and the year. For some reason it cracked me up that I'm in Canada, looking at a Las Vegas Rose that was created in Germany.

The Royal British Columbia museum is the bee's knees. They had an AWESOME "Race to the Arctic" exhibit where you traveled along with the exploration teams from Norway and England as they raced to be the first to the south pole. (Spoiler alert: Norway wins and England ends up as popsicles) Don't let the above picture confuse you, the explorers were not chased by Mammoths in Antarctica. This from another exhibit in the museum which was also awesome

A might redwood tree growing on the grounds of the British Columbia parliament. I am pretty sure I remember that both Donna and I literally hugged this tree, cementing what we already knew about ourselves- we are certified tree huggers.  

I am raising the world's best kid. When we checked out of our Seattle hotel, Abigail made her bed and left this note for the cleaning ladies. It says " Thank you got all your hard work. Kid, Abigail"



I am putting this picture on the blog to remind myself not to be such a whack-a-doodle. I laid out all of my outfits to pack, making sure to make as many combinations as possible out of as few articles as possible (since Allegiant makes you pay for pretty much every pound of luggage you bring on). I then put sticky notes for which day of the week I would wear it on and then photographed it including accessories. WHAT has HAPPENED to me? this is disgraceful and I need to stop being this person. It didn't go wrong until the sticky notes and the camera were brought out and then it had gone much, much too far.

Brandon's packing wasn't as successful....but Abby is rocking those pants!

I love totem poles. They look like home to me. If I was to get a tattoo, it would be of a totem pole. (Don't worry mom, I have no totem pole tattoos............[yet]........)

Yak Attack! We went to this EPIC drive through zoo in Sequim, Washington on our way to catch the AWESOME ferry. You get to feed wheat bread to animals who literally chase your car, put their heads in your car, and who put theirs heads in your face. I was pretty much kissing llama lips. Donna also found her spirit animal, the Tibetan Yak. He's kind, gentle....and has lots of boogers.

 

Speaking of ferry, we had quite the adventure getting out of Port Angeles. It was a nail bitter seeing if we would actually make it on since we were number 16 in the standby line, and the crew kept us on pins and needles with their noncommittal responses about our chances. It was absolutely the most suspenseful thing to me. Fortunately, we made it on and had a ROCKING ride. That ferry was really going from side to side. Brandon got a little green, but it was delightful! 

Oh Canada! How we love thee.



Hotel Snobs

 I am happy to report that Brandon made it back from his business trip in one piece, and relatively non-traumatized from his business trip to St. Louis. His roommate, while a lush who snores, was not creepy.

That is just the tip of the good times iceberg we've had over the last couple of weeks. Last Friday was our good friend Tom's 7th birthday. His dad grilled us some delicious burgers while the kids played in the park and the splash pad. (Tom is wearing the gift we gave him...that is not his normal face in case you were wondering.) After the party, Brandon and I packed up and went for a staycation (that's a vacation, but you're staying in Las Vegas) at the Hard Rock hotel. We didn't plan on going, it was actually our brother Chad's birthday gift to himself. But since Chad was in the emergency room, waiting for an emergency appendectomy, we were going in his place. The Hard Rock....is not my favorite place. And those people there are not my people. To make a long, Mormon-cussing induced story short...we were back in our beds by 2am and Chad got his money back the next day. Snobbery or standards? That's been the ongoing debate we've had since.

I love that summer means there are lots and lots of kids at my house. This picture has one of my favorite kids in it, Madeline Smith.

 Abby and her came up with some serious choreography to Ke$ha's Blow and entertained their parents during a Sunday dinner. Sunday appropriate music? No, but sometimes we have to make exceptions for true art.

Abby has started her summer dance classes and loves every minute of it. I'm super glad that she's found, and I quote, "The dream of my life" in dancing.

I also love that summer means lots of time with cousins...like my sweet nephew Parker.

 

Other notables for the week:

• We have a missionary serving here, Elder Shaw, who is from my home town in Washington. Last week his sister died and he went home for the weekend to go to the funeral. He visited us after he came back and it was a really special visit. It made me think about my weird sister Judy who hasn't spoken to anyone in my family for ten years and who won't even accept my friend request on facebook. No, I don't know why....but what I do know is that I stalk her. And on her facebook account, she finally accepted a friend request from someone she knew before she moved to Alabama and cut all ties with her family and friends. Between Elder Shaw and the glimmer of hope that she is open to at least an obscure friend on facebook from the past, I've been considering trying to get in touch with her again.
• We had a lovely barbecue with our friends the Thompsons and the Houstons. Ali makes the best potato salad in the whole world.
• I've started teaching Abby piano lessons...the first week was a big success. The second week was full of sass and eye rolling. I'm a little concerned.
• Abby started voice lessons with a legitimate teacher, our friend Brityn, and their lessons are a lot more successful than mine.
• I made homemade gelato and it was successful!
• Father's Day was super fun. Brandon is a wonderful father and it's always fun to celebrate him.
• The primary presidency took the activity day girls bowling. I really like those kids. I hope mine turns out just like them..