Friday Flashbacks - Treasured Toys Edition

Nixon and Easton are holding a yard sale tomorrow to earn the last of the money they need for Jamboree. Neighbors and friends and relatives have been so generous in giving them stuff to sell, we just need to cross our fingers that the weatherman is wrong about the rain coming!

We're at an age with our kids where we really don't buy toys or stuff much anymore. Gifts are usually equipment for sports or lessons or some kind of ticket to something fun they want to go do. Toy wise, we're down to 7 or so bins of toys in the garage - pretty much the stuff we don't use a lot now, but we don't plan on getting rid of. We did have a long talk about the giant bin of Star Wars Legos last night though. The boys don't play with them anymore. Even though we have the boxes and instructions for all the sets in the bin and the sets are mostly assembled, fitting all of that into one bin did require us to break some of the sets down and let's just say it would take some sorting out to get all back to where it belongs.

We looked on line to see what some of their Star Wars Lego's are worth. This is the first one we looked up. Are you kidding me? Needless to say, a spirited discussion of their new found riches ensued. Nixon thinks they will be worth "a fortune" when they are older. Easton thinks we should be heading straight to Ebay right now, but frankly, the sorting the sets out and pricing is more than my brain wants to deal with today.

This really made me think about the Star Wars toys of my youth. My siblings and I are sick that our awesome figures (remember the Jawa with the cloth robe?) and ships (I loved the Land Speeder) went the way of the garage sale sometime in our lives. It's probably good they did - otherwise we would all be fighting over them now! I did find a picture of my brothers with some of said toys though:

Jeremy and Tim Markin - 1981- ish

The toys left in our garage to be saved for grandchildren are a box of American Girl dolls and stuff, a Brio train set, almost every Chevron car made, the infamous Star Wars Legos, and a box of Toy Story toys. Buzz and Woody were our constant companions in one form or another for YEARS. After seeing those movies, how could anyone possible ever get rid of a Buzz or Woody?

Easton and Buzz - Christmas 1999

Easton, Nixon, Sara and Woody - October 2000

Do you have toys that you are glad your mom saved or sad they are gone?

100

Were you scared this post was going to be some kind of 100 list? You should know I don't have THAT kind of time! This is, however, my 100th post! Hmm...I started this blog in February 2007 - there have obviously been long periods of silence from my typing fingers! My blogging goals remain the same though - keep a record of our family, stay in touch with friends and family, and a newish goal that I will be working more on in the future - record what is important to me.

It's possible 100 things have happened I could talk about since my last post. Here's a quick run down:

-Triathlon done! It was COLD and rainy, so they canceled the swim and added an extra run instead. So we did run-bike-run. I hate swimming, but I hate running too, so whatever. It was super fun and even more fun to do it with friends and Sara. If I did it again though, I would DEFINITELY use a road bike instead of a mountain bike!

-May/First Week of June was busy! Besides the tri, we had so many nights of School Plays (Easton was in TWO!), Band Festivals, Band Concerts, Orchestra Concerts, Jazz Band Concerts, National Honor Society Recognitions, Field Trips, End of the Year Parties, Scouts, Baseball. If BUSY really stands for Being Under Satan's Yoke, than May might be his favorite month.

-I have to include pictures of the yummy treats the boys made for the ward auction. Easton found a video on You Tube showing how to make tuxedo strawberries and Nixon found a cute cupcake book. They both made their treats all on their own and I thought they turned out great!

-School's Out! Mother Nature was kind enough to flip the switch from winter to summer the last week of school and now we are outside as much as possible - we don't want to waste a second!

-Garden's In! I made my own upside down tomato hangers out of buckets. I'll post pictures sometime, but I hope they work!

-Only a little over a month until Nixon and Easton leave for the National Boy Scout Jamboree. They have been working since last summer to raise money for this trip and are working REALLY hard right now earning the last bit of money they need. This week alone, they have hauled siding to a dumpster, babysat, pulled weeds, and are working on a garage sale for this Saturday. I'm so grateful to all the people who have been generous in hiring/donating/supporting them. I'm super proud of them and hope that they have a great trip and feel good about all the work they did to be able to go.

Friday Flashbacks - 7th Grade Edition

School's Out for Summer! There are three days of the year I LOVE - Christmas, 4th of July and the last day of school! The Last Day of School may be the best - all the fun and smiles, none of the shopping or preparing! We celebrated by hanging in Salt Lake with some good friends, a temple trip and a friends' giant bonfire (about 100 kids showed up) to burn schoolwork. So fun!

I can't believe my baby will be a 7th Grader next year. In honor, photos of our family around the 7th grade.

Nixon and Easton after a Jazz Band Concert - May 2010Sara at Big Bear - Summer 2003

Jennifer getting ready for to backpack near Lake Arrowhead - Summer 1983

Geoffrey with his Dad - between 1986 and 1988