Hughes Family: June 17, 2013 – July 2, 2013

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Cam

Some of these captions are going to be really short. I’m hoping I can get Fran to swing back through and fill them out a bit. It’s harder to write about events that I wasn’t present for. Also, it would be nice to have her share some feelings from things like her birthday. She’s pretty busy (mostly doing the stuff here on the blog) but I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Fran’s birthday started out with some Flowers. Later we took a trip to Rodizio Grill. I’m pretty sure I asked the kids about a million times to clean the house for Mom’s birthday but they were much too busy being… well, kids. Claire did make some very sweet cards for her mom though.

For her birthday Fran wanted a fridge / freezer combo with no ice maker. That’s not an easy thing to find, but she pulled it off (she picks practical “house stuff” so later she can announce “it didn’t count” and get something else). For the birthday finale we ate cheesecake and watched Oz: The Great and Powerful. She later locked herself in her room and wept for her lost youth.

A few days later it was Gabe’s birthday. He scored some sweet binoculars and a basketball hoop & ball. He was quite ecstatic to be six.

He had a wet & wild birthday party with some friends. Water fights ahoy! I spent most of the day putting together his basketball hoop (there was some swearing). At least Gabe spent some time shooting hoops- that made me feel like my day wasn’t totally wasted.

Here’s some evidence of my sensitive side. I did Chloe’s nails with a nice yellow top coat and then added some accents. She was quite interested while I did the first hand, but it degenerated into uncontrollable squirming after that. The results were quickly transferred to various pieces of furniture.
And here is my obligatory picture of the large moon. It really was quite stunning; it looked like a pearl resting on a black sea.

And then it was time for another birthday! This time around it was Rachel’s youth that was on the line. The Sabins treated their friends to wild rumpus at the Provo Beach Resort. We played on the ropes course, dodged lasers, danced badly and had a grand time.

Afterward Rachel and Jason took everyone to Malawi’s Pizza! Delicious. After dinner we went back to the Provo Beach Resort and played some croquet. There were some verbal skirmishes and trash talk but in the end it was Lee who walked away the victor. Look at those happy couples. What dark secrets do they hide… Thanks Sabins!

Work recently got another warehouse (for storage and a new manufacturing division of our company). I have commandeered a section of this warehouse in honor of the fallen “Cam’s Corner” of yesteryear. I put in a couch to show people I was serious. Then I parked Fran’s trailer in there to show people I was really serious. No need for a storage unit now.

Shortly thereafter Fran and the kids went camping at Cherry Hill with the Wilsons.

They spent a day at Lagoon too. I got a text letting me know it was hot. This was helpful because I had stayed home and was was nice and cool at work.

We decided to try out the Lehi Rodeo. I’m sure it takes a lot of skill to rope a calf, ride a bucking horse and be a perverted clown, but ultimately we decided we’re probably not rodeo people. Still, it was fun to try something new (I think I wrote that last sentence because I waned to believe it…).

The kids picked cherries from our tree. I think these are tart cherries, so they’ll end up in a pie. Kids picking fruit is cute to me.
And I leave you with this wonderful picture of the hardware that came with Gabe’s basketball hoop. It says “Hardware is actual size.” I was really happy about that.

Hughes Family: June 4, 2013 – June 16, 2013

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Cam

I’m sure every parent thinks their kids are the cutest / best / smartest / hyperbole-whatever . But I just want to say for the record that I love my kids and I think they are awesome. Chole is adorable and always wants to be dressed up in her sister’s clothes. Gabe is a little socialite – fearless and always out and about. I think it’s cool that Gabe and Mike are finally old enough to play video games (this is Turtles on the SNES, but we’ve been Rockband-ing quite a bit). Sometimes Mike is a big help. He loved playing with the blower while we worked in the yard. And Claire is an incredible reader and a great big sister. I’m just amazed every day that we made these beautiful little people. I’m so proud to be their Dad!

Fran is a great mom and she makes sure the kid’s brains don’t stagnate over the summer. All our kids like the library, even Chloe.

Fran and I went and checkout out the Outlets in Lehi a couple of weeks ago. She went back a few days ago with the kids to do some eating (Johhny Rocket’s – good burgers & fries) and shopping (The Leather store hooked her up with a sweet new purse). If you haven’t been to the Outlets yet go check themt out.

Fran got her trailer de-winterized and went on the first trip of the “camping season” with the Browns and Bensons. The hiked, played, ate and commiserated (I would assume).

Everyone said they had a good time, and from the pictures is appears this may have been the case (I was tired and skipped this one… and I confess… I plan to skip more too). In case one of the other attending families reads this and thinks “Hey, they don’t have pictures of us!” – that’s right. That’s what your [out of date] blogs are for. But I do want to thank Tyson for helping Fran with her trailer and Tom for helping the kids fish. You guys rock.

And then it was Father’s Day. It’s like Mother’s Day but much less important. Still, my family decided to celebrate it. I had a manly plate of eggs, steak and broccoli. Then my family showered me with gifts (a new leather jacket, a pair of sweet Maui Jim sunglasses and a new key fob for the Tacoma). Love you guys!

Hughes Family: May 18, 2013 – June 3, 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Cam

Man, the last couple of weeks have been brutal. We’ve been so busy doing stuff that I had a major meltdown. Maybe I’ll do a post about it – could be cathartic (and blogs shouldn’t all be “look how great my life is” stuff). Where to start… ha, what to leave out?

As I mentioned last time, Fran’s parents flew in from Reunion. We don’t get to see them too much and so we had a ton of dinners and activities. I’m not a very social guy. You could pop me in a sensory deprivation chamber and I’d be happy as a clam for quite a long time. Needless to say these get-togethers took their toll (yeah, and I admit I even skipped a few). Really, I need to learn French.

Part of the festivities involved the wedding of my niece, Natacha. In early May she and her fiancee, Spencer, tied the proverbial knot. They had a lovely wedding at the Salt Lake temple.

During part of the wedding day I lugged the kids around downtown Salt Lake. Everyone was enamored by the idea of going to the conference center roof. We took a tour and after nearly an hour (probably seemed like a few days to kids) we finally made it to the top. It’s a really cool tour if you haven’t been through and the top-scape is remarkable.

That evening we hit up Natacha’s reception, which was beautiful.

Over the next few days Fran’s parents came to see my work (they’ve never actually been there before). They were clearly in awe of my Transfomers collection and Disney wall art. A few hikes and picnics later it was time to say goodbye to the in-laws. Au revoir!

The Sego Lily Dance Festival. At the conclusion of the school year it appears it’s a tradition to force the children to dance. I would have to say that Gabe got the short end of the stick here.

Gabe graduated from kindergarten! I don’t know if ceremonies like this – where they make the kids dance and sing – are typical, but I hope not (yeah, I am a giant party pooper- get over it).

Fran and I went to try out a new restaurant in Lehi called Melty Way (mostly because I am considering opening a franchise of a similar eatery and I wanted to checkout the competition). I have to say it’s not bad. I don’t think it’s Zupa’s quality, but it was a (to use Graham Elliot’s favorite word) yummy.

The neighborhood summer bash was last Friday. Giant jump castles, mounds of food, face painting, live music and a massive outdoor theater showing of Wreck-It Ralph were all too much for my shattered nerves, but my family took full advantage of the party hungry hosts down the street. Next year I’m going. Really. Maybe.

As if we didn’t do enough partying the kids demanded a trip to the pool (is it warm enough for that)? At some point I’d just like the world to stop spinning for a bit so I can hop off, but now that the kids are out of school it will only go faster and faster. Don’t worry, I’m going to get some therapy. Really. Maybe.

Hughes Family: April 29, 2013 – May 17, 2013

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Cam

Time is a tricky little devil Houdini. It got away from me again… Maybe one of these days I’ll have time to keep up with everything going on.

Iron Man 3 came out so the Hughes family hit the theaters. It was a pretty late show but all the kids made it though. IM3 didn’t disappoint- quite a blast.

Fran hosted her niece Natasha’s bridal shower at our hose. I was in the office putting together list basket (on the right) of party favors and it sounded like everyone was having a great time. Congrats Tasha!

Mother’s Day was on the 12th this year. The kids all made cute cards for Fran (I bought a cute card). Despite my protests Fran decided she wanted a new sewing machine. She’s such a good mom that we decided to oblige her.

Look at those kids! So full of mom-love. In the afternoon we went to see some more moms (my mom & grandma). We ate together, visited and played at the local park. Thanks to all the wonderful moms in our lives- we love you!

We decided to start a family puzzle. It took us a few days of work but we got it all together! Claire & Mike were really helpful and put some pretty big chunks together. Remember: Build the puzzle edges out first. Then sort the remaining pieces by color. When you cry don’t get the pieces wet or they won’t fit correctly. Here’s our finished puzzle.

I’m sure ever parent thinks they’re kids are the cutest. But have your kids every put socks on their ceiling fan? Maybe this is more bizarre than cute, but I got a kick out of it. And watching toddlers do grown up things is adorable. Here is Chloe helping me clean one one of my cars (she did a great job).

Also of note is this picture of five cubic yards of dirt. If you only need a few bags full, don’t buy this much to get “free delivery” because it may very well end up spread across your driveway (a not cute characteristic of our kids).
Fran’s parents came to visit and we took them to Ruth’s Chris. A delicious meal with delightful people – them, not me, of course.

Hughes Family: April 21st, 2013 – April 28, 2013

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Cam

This past week was the Pinewood Derby for our local Scouts! Win or lose making a car to race is a ton of fun and a good opportunity to spend some time together.

Mike decided he wanted the car to look like a Lamborghini Aventador. We cut out the shape with a band saw and then sanded it down.

Mike hand sanded the car body, we sealed it and then added weights in the rear of the car.

Mike painted the car orange and then we added details by hand with acrylic paints.

We polished the axles and wheels and added graphite everywhere we could think of. Here’s the finished car- it turned out to be more like a graphite-covered monsterghini (sort of reptilian) but it was still pretty slick.

We checked out the competition and it was pretty fierce. The Derby officiator was awesome. He had made his own track and had electronic timers accurate to 1/100 of a second. No arguments about who finished where! Each car ran three times (down the three derby tracks) and the time was averaged. Winner was the fastest overall time. We came in thirteen out of sixteen.

I have to admit that my heart dropped a bit as Mike’s car fell behind the two it was racing. Every Dad wants to see their boy win, but it wasn’t in the cards for us. We did the best we could. We were careful to follow all the rules, Mike did a lot of the work himself and we learned a lot about areodynamics, friction and physics. As we were inspecting the car after the race we discovered that one of the axle grooves in the pine had broken and the wheel was’t aligned correctly causing it to rub on the track. We’ll have to be more vigilant next time!

Second Run for Mike:

For his effort Mike won “Sportiest Car”:

Here are the final standings and the times to beat at the next Derby.

The other day the kids decided to mix some blue chalk with pain and become smurfs. I think I’d like to be a Smurf – they seemed to be having a great time. I gave Chloe her first piano lesson (mostly she hit my hand and said “No!”).
And then my computer decided to break. As soon as I hit the power button the fan would come on full blast and the laptop would shut off. I surmised the computer thought it was overheating and decided to take it apart. I gave it a good cleaning and it seems to work fine now. I love taking things apart, just for the record. But, for the same record, I don’t like it when things break.

We had a marathon game of UNO the other night. This is the first time I can recall Gabe playing with his own hand of cards. He needed a little help but did pretty well! We’re just waiting on one more now- although she certainly tries to play.

Hughes Family: April 1st, 2013 – April 20th, 2013

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Cam

Quite a gap there! Not too much going on right now- not that I have to make excuses or anything. Sometimes it’s nice when things click along slowly. Ahhhh! I feel like we aren’t doing enough stuff. I need blog fodder!

Fran and the kids went on a hike up to Donut Falls (well, to the trail head anyway). The scenery was gorgeous and the kids had fun but they weren’t dressed for the conditions and sustained numerous snow scrapes from falling info holes (and probably from being kids).

We took the kids to Hogle Zoo. I hadn’t been there in a few years so I was excited to go back. Unfortunately they have about a third of the park ripped out for a new exhibit coming next year (I wish my ticket had cost a third less). No train, no playground and some of the animals were in weird spots. They did add a few new things though like a sleeping polar bear and lots of detours. We also made the mistake of going during spring break – crowded!

There was a lot to do and plenty to see. Despite a lot of whining (not all of it was from me) we had a [mostly] good time. Here are a few of the animals we encountered (the brown bears were playing in the water and were quite cute).

The same day we went to the Zoo we decided to see a movie. We rounded up the kids and went to see GI Joe: Retaliation in 3D. I thought it was a fun action flick, but half our crew fell asleep.

The weather is finally warming up a bit! Mike pruned some of our Aspen trees (for money, of course- although he was really excited about the clippers). And now the kids can finally use the new swing set without getting muddy (I finally took a look at it- pretty cool). Best of all five kids can cram around an iPhone to watch Netflix.

We filled our days with puzzles (Fran and I started a 1000 piece puzzle. We got the edges put together, and that might be good enough for me- I am deathly afraid of 1000 piece puzzles), games, movies and meals. I like to think we have wild crazy fun, but puzzles and Jenga don’t seem to give off that vibe.

Next week: The Pine Wood Derby! I hear expectations are high for my car (I mean Mike’s car) since I like real cars. I’m not entirely sure what the correlation is, but we’ll do our best. I just hope the cheating is kept to a minimum.

Hughes Family: March 16th, 2013 – March 31st, 2013

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Cam

St. Patrick’s Day is always fun around here. The kids dress up in all kind of different green outfits (I think they referred to themselves as the “Leprechaun Gang”).

Fran and the kids made Shamrock cookies and I made the kids a pop-up card (Claire makes really cute pop up cards all the time so I thought it would be fun to make one for them).

Jim, Cindy, Fran and I hit Ruth’s Chris for some birthday steak. It was, as usual, delicious! Ruth’s Chris is the only place that can ever seem to cook a steak just right. I like mine rare and I cut pieces off and let them sizzle a bit on the 500 degree plates. Anyone else like their steak rare?

I turned 35 this March. There’s nothing particularly memorable about turning 35, but it was a nice birthday. Fran made me pecan pie and we watched Condorman. The kids (Claire & Gabe) gave me Kit Kats.

Blade HQ’s new store had its grand opening on March 29th, 2013 (and it was also our ten year anniversary). My Mom, Fran and my kids came by, spun the BHQ prize wheel, ate some food and hung out for a little bit. It was a fun (and exhausting) day.

As is tradition we colored eggs for Easter (I make some striped eggs for Chloe since she was already asleep… and because she has very spastic motor coordination… and because I wanted to).

On Sunday afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.

This was the first Easter where Chloe sort of understood that she was supposed to find eggs and put them in her basket.

We finished off our day with a trip to Olympic Park. We played a bit of freeze tag and took a walk along the Jordan River trail. Lest anyone question the activity’s Sunday appropriateness know this: as we walked along the trail we were visited by the Easter Bunny himself.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Hughes Family: February 25, 2013 – March 15th, 2013

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Cam

The weather outside looks amazing. Winter was really getting to me so I’m stoked that spring is here and the temperature has reached a tolerable level. I might actually go outside soon!

Fran dropped off the kids for more skiing lessons and did some snowshoeing with Chloe. For some reason or another Gabe doesnt’t seem to have any interest in skiing yet. Guess he gets to learn with me next year.

The yearly Blue & Gold banquet was a smashing success. The night included good food, an entertaining magician and Mike got his something-or other belt loop (yeah, I just wrote that). For me the Blue & Gold means the pine wood derby is coming up soon. We’re looking forward to that.

A few weeks ago I went to get something out of our storage unit but it was frozen shut! When the roads were plowed all the snow was pushed against the doors and, as it melted and refroze, it sealed them shut. I could see my handle through the ice… taunting me. After many salting trips I was finally able to lift the door, but…

…all the melted snow had gone into the storage unit. There was a sheet of ice about 6 feet back into the unit and water past that. Most of the items in storage were off the floor, but a couple pieces of furniture sustained a bit of water damage. I’m going to find somewhere better to keep my stuff this year. Maybe I should just throw it all out.

Family games with the family are getting more fun. We played Clue last week with Mike and Claire. Both did really well, but Mike gave Fran and I a run for our money (he actually won a game, but part of that had to do with Fran blurting something out by accident- ahem). Next up: Twister.

Mike has been doing a lot of coin collecting lately. I mentioned it to my friend, Justin, and he dropped by to show Mike his collection. Justin even sold him a few coins (for a great deal, of course). Mike’s paramount criteria is age- the older the better. If you have any old coins let Mike know!

Our home office remodel is finally done. I still take all my pictures with my iPhone so these aren’t great (I probably couldn’t take great pictures with a nice camera either) but you get the general idea. Fran let me decorate it sort of like a man cave with greys, blacks – cooler colors and devoid of charm- that sort of thing. Ha, look at me- pretending to be sophisticated!

White shutters, two desks, built in cabinets, love seat, electric piano, a couple of ottomans, a ceiling fan, one rug and and a solid week’s worth of blood, sweat and tears. I don’t know how/why it took so long to get everything done but I’m really happy with how the office turned out. A big thanks to everyone who helped (Fran, Stacy & Classy Closets).

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