Andrew Michael Slade and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Morning

This morning, Andrew's mom didn't wake him up until 8:00 a.m., which meant that she kept telling him to hurry with everything he had to do. Andrew doesn't like to hurry.
Then, everyone spent so much time watching his baby brother, Alex get his "pee out" into the potty chair that there wasn't time to make Andrew's waffles the way he likes them - soft on all edges. His mom picked off the crispy edges, but it wasn't enough. He just couldn't bring himself to eat them. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning.
So, when the clock struck 8:35, Andrew's mom hurried everyone into the car to take him to school. Feeling sorry for him not eating any breakfast, she quickly poured him a bowl of Cocoa Roos - the ONLY cereal Andrew can stand to eat. She told him to be careful eating in the car. He tried to be as careful as he could, but what was he supposed to do when she came to a stop sign and all the cereal sloshed forward? Before he knew it, chocolate milk and soggy chocolate balls were running down his leg, into his sandal, and all over the floor of the car. "Andrew!" his mom said with a sigh. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning.
Finally, after cleaning off his leg and foot, his mom grabbed him a packaged cup of apples and cream to eat on the way. By now he was late to school. He'd never been late to school before. His mom wrote him a note, but he didn't know who he was supposed to give it to once he got inside. Also, his backpack was carrying two small pumpkins, and he couldn't seem to get it on right. All he (and his mother) could do was hope that the Fairy Tale Friday activity that he looks forward to does not require any dancing with girls, like it did last week! For Andrew, it had been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning. Mom says, some mornings are like that - even in Utah!

Conference Weekend at Island Park

Our family had a wonderful conference weekend! Our friends the Lucherinis invited us to come with them, and the Stotts, another family in our ward, to their family's cabin in Island Park, ID. The atmosphere was comfy and woodsy; the company was friendly and fun; and the talks we heard were spirit-filled and motivational! Oh, and the food was delicious! (Kim made meal assignments so no one family had too much work to do!)

Megan Stott, with her baby girl, Chris Lucherini, Me (I actually got to take notes on most talks, since the kids were so entertained with each other!), Elliott Lucherini, and Mike.

To keep the kids listening, we labelled snacks with "key words" for which they should listen in order to eat the snack. We tried to mix healthy snacks and candy, but we made the mistake of putting "Jesus Christ" on the giant nerd jelly beans - it was totally delicious, but I think it made for a bit too much sugar in the kids! They were wild, and poor Quinn even threw up the next morning.

Of course, there were also other activities during conference:

Wrestling, Some TiddlieWinks,

and, of course, some Napping! (How sweet, Tyler & Megan!)
Before, between, and after each sessions there were plenty of bonding moments too! Between the first two sessions, we went to Big Springs to feed the large trout there. Here, Quinn Lucherini shares his snacks with Alex:

Elliott Lucherini and Ethan never seem to have enough time together! Even after this whole fun weekend, they were both upset when they only had a couple of hours together on Monday. Kim and I imagine they will be best friends throughout their lives! I truly hope so!

At the cabin, there was a totally awesome game room above the garage! I got to play some Air Hockey with Andrew, and show off a few flip tricks on the Trampoline - yes, a full size trampoline INSIDE the game room! I wanted to play some Ping-Pong, but I let my attention turn to visiting or reading my book instead. Oh well. In this picture, Kim was helping Andrew and Elliott with a round of Foosball.

Our only owie was when Alex tumbled down a dark stairwell, trying to chase the big kids who were playing Hide and Seek. He looked like Quasi-Modo for about three days, and his eye stayed purple for a week!

While the men were off to the nearby chapel to watch the Priesthood Session, Kim and I took the boys to the clubhouse pool (somewhat reluctantly - we weren't sure we were up to taking 5 kids full of sugar, but it went well).
Andrew was brave enough to try out the larger pool all by himself!

Elliott and Quinn were quite good at jumping into the pool!
Toward the end of our time there, Ethan got brave enough to jump in too! Alex tried a few times too!

Alex and Quinn may someday be as good of friends as Elliott and Ethan are.

All in all, we had a fantastic time! Good memories to last a lifetime!

Oh, yeah, and it snowed a little on Sunday! I love the changing seasons! This truly is the most wonderful time of the year! (But if you ask me in the Summertime, I may say the same about that season too!)