What Heaven Sees in You...

Allow me, if you will, to return to Girl's Camp for ONE LAST post.

For those of you I asked for pictures from of your girls in their white dresses,

I thought I'd post the video that I made for Girl's Camp with them.

I ended up not needing as many of the dresses pictures as I once thought, but THANK YOU for sending them, nonetheless. It turned out really cool, I think.

Click HERE and you should be able to watch it.

I would have posted it sooner, but at the risk of anyone seeing it

before they were supposed to, I couldn't.

Well, they all got back today, so I guess we're safe.

It's called, appropriately enough,

"What Heaven Sees in You."

Words and Music by: Doug Walker and Sherry Marks Walker

Pictures: Various Collections

FYI, it starts out black for the first 17 or so seconds before the pictures come on.

And, turn up the sound. For some reason it's really soft.

ENJOY!

Let the TREKKIN' fun begin

Now that our Girl's Camp responsibilities are over, we're moving on to the next one:

TREK 2007

Doug spent several hours in the garage last night cutting wood for handcarts.

I should have been working on organizing the contents for the

leather-bound journals, but I was folding the laundry remains from the Girl's Camp Weekend.

Thankfully, we have three more weeks.

Here's hoping we can coordinate the building of another 10 handcarts

and assembling of 250 journals.

The idea of hiring someone to do the laundry is sounding better and better.

I saida BOOM chicka BOOM...

I saida BOOM chicka ROCKA chicka ROCKA chicka BOOM

Uh huh... Oh yeah... it's that time again!

for

Girl's Camp!

I didn't get to dress up like Batgirl

OR

a Sweedish Synchronized Swimmer this year.

BUT...

Doug and I DID get to take 23 girls on a

4.5 mile (uphill both ways-ish) overnight hike

that by some miracle I finished without

suffering from cardiac arrest, broken bones, or heat stroke.

I didn't pack my camera, since the FIFTY pounds I already had in my pack seemed just about ENOUGH, but I did find the above picture which overlooks the town of Pine, AZ. Which, if memory serves, is about what it looked like from what I thought was the top (more than once) and was wrong.

Highlights include:

Wondering - after the first 2 minutes of hiking WHERE THE HECK the filter was between my brain and mouth when it comes to ever saying NO!

Dripping Springs - where a drip-drop of water fell from a natural 'spring' about every 13.4 seconds.

Sleeping on the Ground (on a hill, in the dirt under the stars) with

supernova- sized ants, and body-building beetles.

Playing Queen's "We are the Champions" on my iPod and portable speakers when we finally reached the campsite.

Getting to know 23 of the most super-cool YW in Prescott, AZ in ways I never would have imagined possible.

When we got to camp and met up with the rest of the girls, they asked Doug and me to participate in two skits. I WISH I had pictures of my husband from either. He has NO ROOM to give me any more grief about my acting like a ninny in front of members of the Stake Presidency. He upstaged me (if I do say so myself) in both skits.

Until next year, Camp LoMia, we'll be working on some new material.

A Worth-While-Trial

QUESTION:

Any of the rest of you (like me) ever have a hard time keeping up with varied attempts at sticker charts, allowance incentives, bribery, blackmail, physical force to do chores, and the like?

Well, if so: The following information may be of interest to you.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend told me about this website (http://www.myrewardboard.com/) where kids between the recommended ages of 5 and 12 log in and check off chores and responsibilities. It's great, as it tracks your individual progress each day and gives you points, etc. for getting it right.

Parents have all KINDS of authority, allowing you to edit the tasks, as well as monitor when they're allowed to print the reward certificates and everything.

We haven't been doing it that long, but let me tell you I can't believe what a difference it has made. Like everything else we've done, it might only work for the first month or less, but I'm hopeful that it won't be like everything else.

We're still using the 15 day free trial, and I think the one time fee to buy it is only $20, so if this keeps up, we'll be making the investment.

I just thought I'd pass on the good news, like I'm so grateful Megan via Lisa passed on to me.

Happy Parenting!

Where's my Trapper Keeper when I need it?

Yeah, I really miss that squishy, vinyl-ish 'melts when it gets too hot' cover that I liked to poke with a fine-tipped pen. I can still hear that distinct velcro growl RIGHT NOW, as I think about starting up a good 2nd Period English class with Mr. Hairgrove.

So, the reason why I thought of Trapper Keepers (and this is a stretch, but just go with me, for a sec...) was because I was looking for a good word that rhymed with Scrapper, and that's all that came to me. Then, to be quite honest, when I shortened it to scrap, I just only could think of one word that starts with C and ends with P. Simply because I'm SO BAD at scrapbooking. Seriously, other words that come to mind are: Pathetic, Lame, Despicable, and Loser. No time, No Patience, No Desire..... I do, however, admire those of you who can pull it off with such grace and finesse.

BUT - I did once upon a time discover Two Peas in a Bucket, and I'm sure you die-hards already know about them, but if you don't....BEWARE.... because their stuff is, uh.... adorable.

I stumbled upon their "free downloads" option, and started using them to make some digital 'for fun' scrapbook pages. You can download the paper, images, fonts, etc... and use Photoshop or other programs to make pages like this: (in about 3 minutes time)

I'll probably never get to making an entire book out of it, but it is a great distraction for when I should be doing something more important, and don't want to be.

What's great is, if you've got more than one kid, you can use the same page, same EVERYTHING, and just switch the picture! 2 pages in the time it takes to make 1. What a deal.

Case in point:

So, scrap on ladies....scrap on. I will go on admiring your work, as usual.

And....if you run out of places to put it,

don't discount the functionality of one, The Trapper Keeper

for handy, "blast from the past"-type storage.

Bret's Blogging Debut...

Yesterday, I gave in and decided to let Bret start a blog. Tate has been less than diligent in posting to his, so I didn't want to go and tell everyone about Bret's and have him never post to his either. Tate will eventually, I'm sure.

At any rate, the result is 100% B.R.E.T. I offer him no assistance whatsoever, so it's going to be pretty funny to see what he comes up with. I figure it's good practice for language arts, if nothing else. I taught him how to log on all by himself, so I didn't even know he had done the 2nd post. I should probably require some sensoring of the posts before he goes and spills some crazy family secret or something.

Here's the link - -
Big Bad Bret : http://bigbadbret.blogspot.com/

This should be interesting!

El Post de los Padres

Today's Special:

3 Father Spotlights.

(Since it's Father's Day and all.)

1st
The Father of my Children

Douglas J. Burch

2nd

Doug's Father (My wonderful father-in-law)

Larry David Burch

3rd

My very own one-of-a-kind Father

Steven J. Lehnhof

To all you fathers - and those who will one day be fathers,

We Love You!

If you haven't heard of the story of Richard and Ricky Hoyt, you should read it. Theirs is an exceptional story of a Father's Love.

Genius!

I don't know how many duplicate readers my sister Mary and I have, so if you're seeing this again, my sincere apologies, but for the rest of you, this is a GREAT idea, and it will save you oodles (as my mom would say) of time.

Check out this post about Google Reader. You can check your blogs just like email to see who's updated without having to load each one. AND - you can put any kind of website on it!

You're welcome, in advance.

Oh, and thank you Mary, and Nancy and whoever showed Nancy, and whoever showed the person that showed Nancy, and so on....

Late Dusk and After Dark take a trip to PHX

Yeah, I know. I'm pathetic. But since I didn't sleep so well last night (thanks Kyle, for the constant view of my clock) I thought up some other names for the rest of my family. (see post 06/14/07 if you're lost)

If I'm going to be Late Dusk, then Doug should be After Dark and the kids can be called

Almost Lunchtime, Close to Bedtime, Nearly Noon, Just After Breakfast, and of course, Late Night.

We're on a mission today for some couple sanity. This week has been (self-inflicted) crazy for Late Dusk, and so I'm looking forward to the afternoon and evening free of taxi driving.

We're heading "down to the valley" as us Prescottonians like to call it. Why? You ask, are we driving on purpose into what feels like a virtual oven? (It's supposed to be around 110 degrees there this afternoon) Well, I guess you learn to make heat-related sacrifices when it comes to getting an 8-hour date all scheduled up.

First Stop: The Mesa Temple

2nd Stop:

The coveted, the one and only, the "thank you for coming to Phoenix",

our own Gilbert, AZ edition of:

Third Stop:

To use that gift certificate we gave Doug (early) for Father's Day, where we could (quite possibly) spend close to three hours walking around looking at heaven knows what. I haven't been yet, but I guess I'm in for SOME kind of wonderful.

Final Stop:

For the drive home, we'll both be ready for a quick stop at

This is Late Dusk, signing out.

Hope you have a great day, no matter what time it is.

Child Abuse has many "names"

Yesterday, Doug took a message for me, from some lady at the local Diagnostic Lab. (Probably because I was supposed to take Kyle in about 4 months ago to have his lead level tested, and I still haven't.)

At any rate, the message was from one of the highly-qualified receptionists there,

by the name of:

(yes, you're reading it right)

Early Dawn

I SO (but won't) want to call her back this morning using the following dialogue:

"Hi, Early Dawn? Glad I caughtcha.

This is Late Dusk, returning your call."

Who names their child a descriptive, yet still entirely undetermined time of the day?

Tate the Great! He'll soon be EIGHT! He just can't WAIT!

If I had to say one of my kids was the most like me, it would HAVE to be Tate.

Everyday (it seems) I figure something else out about him that scares me to death, cause it's the spitting image of something I would /have done/said. Poor kid.

Something I discovered this morning, that he had evidently written last night was the following poem.

(If you're unaware, you should beware; I love to rhyme, like, all the time.)

I ate a nut

inside my hut

it gave me a cut

for some resen it hurt my gut.

Of all of the words I'd use to describe

the poem, I'd say Tate sure is a scribe.

The poem was cute, I loved it a lot

so thought I would post it and see what you thought.

Have a nice day, be sure to have fun. Before you know it, the day will be done.

on Breakfast and Babies...

Last week, NieNie eloquently reminded me that I should really be trying to eat better. So, today for breakfast... instead of Diet Coke and half of an Eggo waffle, here's what I fed myself, husband and children:

Whole Wheat English Muffins with Raspberry jam, Fruit Medley (honeydew, watermelon, strawberries and bananas) along with some Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. Granted, the people at "Simply Orange" squeezed it, but for what it costs, it might as well be squeezed with a golden juicer.

AND - It's an invasion of the Saturday's Warriors. In addition to the FOUR babies born to Jayne last week and the sextuplets born at another Phoenix hospital last night, TWO friends from church both had baby boys yesterday at the same hospital, ending up in the same shared recovery room (due to the other rooms being filled up with other mothers to the rest of the warriors).

WHEW! It's a good thing I had SUCH a good breakfast, or my brain really wouldn't be able to process all of it.

Four at ONCE...

Thanks AMY, for the news...and since I was so glad to have it, I'm going to share it on my blog too. A friend (mostly of my older brother, but I was friends with her sister) from high school, Jayne West gave birth to quadruplets in Mesa last Wednesday!

They have super cute names too, Weston, Addison, Brynlee and Cambria. Two girls, and two boys, how perfect. I didn't even know they lived in Mesa. How exciting for them. You can donate to their food and diaper budget at any Bank of America. I've decided that since I'm only diapering ONE kid nowadays, I should probably go contribute! I can't even BEGIN to imagine what kind of adventure they're beginning. What an incredible opportunity...

Congratulations to Jeremiah and Jayne. We'll be thinking, praying, and sending cash and valium regularly.

See the whole article in the East Valley Tribune here.

Obvious Over-scheduling

Last night, as I gave the EIGHT children in my care a popsicle to force something into their mouths and keep them a smidgen quieter, Tate decided he needed some "me time." He grabbed his scriptures (awwww, my lil' overachiever) and laid down on the lounge chair on our deck and began reading. After about 30 minutes, the rest of us were downstairs and I noticed I hadn't seen Tate. This is what I soon found on the deck in the dark.

I may be guilty of overscheduling my children. Today at the grocery store, as I trudged through with my lil' entourage, the cashier (who I seem to have become friends with) asked Tate what he was up to today. His response:

"Well, we just got done with Tennis Camp, and now we're eating lunch and then we're going to a play at Franklin School, and then we're going to Bowling Camp, and after that I think we have swimming lessons."

He forgot to mention that Doug and I have a camp meeting after the swimming, so they'll be hanging out in the nursery until that's over. THEN we'll go home and THEN he'll be free to crash on the deck again.

I guess now we know how that sort of thing can happen. At least they can't say they don't have anything to do.

Ahhhhhhhh I LOVE Summer!

pomp, circumstance, and marketing...

Two weeks late (you'll notice my prompt attention to posting the significant events in my childrens' lives) I'm getting to posting about Whitney's long-time-coming Preschool Graduation. She had the privilege of going there for THREE years instead of the usual two, so she was pretty expert at the curriculum. We're just SO PROUD of her and pleased that she did INDEED make it through the rigors of preschool.

What?!?! Yeah. I think it's probably mostly a marketing scheme, but, of course we go along with it, if for nothing else than because it's utterly adorable.

Needless to say, she didn't get any outrageous graduation gifts. If she can't make it through "I Love you, A bushel and a Peck...." she's in for some rough times ahead. The day after graduation, she had her Kindergarten screening and sailed through, so I guess all that tuition was worth it.


She's looking forward with great anticipation to her first day of Kindergarten. She even wore a uniform to her screening appointment.

Congrats Whitney! Here's to another 17 years of increasingly more difficult homework.



Highlights over the year(s):

3 Daddy's Nights

3 Mommy's Teas

3 Trike-a-Thons

Lots of otter-pops (for when she 'got hurt')

Learning the "I was sitting on a fence post" song

Learning to call God "awesome."

I guess that's what you get at a Christian preschool.

"Mom, isn't God awesome? We have an awesome God."

And... my favorite. "Mom, did you know...God is right here (pounding with fist on her own chest) right here, God's in our heart."

Really though, I digress, because I couldn't be happier with the school. Obviously, I suppose because otherwise, I wouldn't trust them with my Whitney for three years, Tate for two, and wouldn't have already signed up Abby to start next year. Thanks Mrs. Harcey and staff. We love you all.