Top Commentors

Ok I was looking at Tip junkie which is a website on my favorites. This is where I found Widget. It tells you who is your top commenter on your blog. I know it is not a contest but it was really fun to see. It is on my blog if you look to your right. So don't think of it as a competition, but Rachel you are in the lead. Ü

PS - I am not going to keep it up on my blog all the time. I would hate to put pressure on any of you. Ü

donating

For the past several years Jessika has been growing her hair out so she can donate it.

There have been a few times where she almost gave up and cut it before it was long enough. She stuck to it and today she finally got it cut and has enough to donate. She is very excited and loves her new style! I like it to. She looks like a teenager now.

Thanks Julia for taking time to do my girls hair. I really appreciate it. Samantha got her hair done too, alot lighter. I will take pictures of hers after she styles it tomorrow. She went swimming so I don't think she wants a picture taken right now even though I think she always looks cute even right out of the pool.

OK I too am Cinderella, what are you?

Thanks Laurie for showing me the test. Ü



You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

The crazy days of summer

I thought when summer break started for my kids things were supposed to slow down alot. Unfortunately not today. It was a non-stop kinda day from the first thing this morning until now when I am getting ready for bed. I had a busy day. I ran to Jessika's new middle school 3 times trying to get her registered. Since when is a phone bill not considered a utility bill. They wouldn't accept it and Thayne took all our bills to Canada with him so he could do them in his free time, so I didn't have a current utility bill. I finally got one online and the school accepted it, but really with the price of gas did they really have to keep sending me home when I had a phone bill. geeeesh! And Wyatt actually broke down in tears because he was sooooo bored. I made a ton of suggestions with no luck. I told him smart kids don't get bored because they are smart enough to think of something. No luck with that either. Then I told him to read a book and that put him over the edge and he went and cried in his room. I am hoping he was just tired and it is not a sign of what this summer is going to be for us. He is not usually a crying type of kid so I hope it was a one time deal. Ok you can see how this day kinda went so I won't go on and on about it but I am hoping that the crazy days of summer slow down so I can just enjoy laying by the pool. Ahhh, that sounds so great.

water fun

What a great day

at the lake!

ok not really!

This is life in my front yard every other week. This is what my kids do when we irrigate. It is just like having a lake in our front yard but instead of slimy green slippery rocks to step on we have nice soft grass to cushion your feet as you run through the water. The water is perfect for this time of year because it is luke warm.

My kids are always finding fun things to do in the water. They use the skin board or boogie boards to slide around on. Or they tie a rope to the boards and pull each other. On this day they used one of Thayne's 8' horse troughs which just kinda floated on top of the water. Three of them would jump inside while one would spin it around like a merry go round (the kind at the park). They really got going fast.

I love watching them play together when they are all getting along without any fighting. They really have alot of fun when they start getting creative ideas and trying them out together. These are definitely things they never would have been able to try if we still lived in California. Sometimes I do feel guilty that they miss out on the beach.

Can't hurt to try

Can you remember how you felt when you had your first child? You dote on them and think they are the most wonderful baby in the whole world. You look into those sweet little eyes and think there is not anything they won't be able to do. You just know they will crawl, walk, talk sooner than all the other babies their age.

This is I felt about TJ when he first came into our lives.

He was full of surprises. He climbed out of his crib and then slid down the stairs into our room when he was 6 months old. NO LIE! He walked right before he turned 9 months old. He successfully crossed Cochran St (4 lanes) at 18 months old, and then crossed LA Ave (4 lanes again) at 2 yrs old. Oh did I mention not with an adult. Yes we thought we were watching him, but seriously he was just one of those kids who could get out of anything. He picked up skateboarding at 5 years old and was not afraid to try any trick. He also loved jumping his bike at 5 or 6. Well things haven't changed in the last 10 years. He still likes skateboarding but his true love right now is bikes. He spends all his free time building jumps for his bike. He tells us his future goal is to own a bike store. Ü (that's me trying to be excited about this ambitious dream). Yes he is only 15 years old and dreams do change. I know he will do great at whatever he decides to do. When it is something he enjoys he puts his whole heart into it. Boy do I wish he enjoyed school. Well Thayne wanted to introduce him to something else that he thought would interest TJ's outgoing personality. So today Thayne took TJ to get his first flying lesson.

TJ was nervous but excited to give it a try. Thayne thought that if he liked it then we would sign him up for flying school and Thayne had him getting his license before he graduated HS. Great plan. Right?

They let him fly the plane all by himself. Sounds crazy to me but they let him. Thayne sat in the back taking pictures. I'm so glad he was able to get these shots for me. They did some fun maneuvers which one made both TJ and Thayne nauseous.

This was a great test for TJ to see if he liked it and I was a little sad to hear that he is not very interested in pursuing it. He thought it was a fun one time experience but does not think it is something he would like to do. Oh well. At least he tried. Now what can we think of next? Maybe if we let him jump out of the plane he would have liked it more.

the sunny side

I had originally decided earlier today that I was not going to blog. I was grumpy and had a rough morning with alot of stress. I realized I couldn't blog about the stress part of it because I couldn't find the words to describe how I felt. This turned out to be a wonderful thing for me because I started looking at all the good things that happened today and my evening is turning out to be fantastic.


-I loved watching TJ give a talk in sacrament. He did a great job and didn't even look nervous.

-I love how every Sunday morning my kids ask if they can sit by me in church.

-I love the women I work with in primary that help me out so much and show me the positive side of everything.

-I love the kids in primary, even though some days they are crazy they always make me smile.

-I love having my afternoon nap, I really needed it today.

-I loved having alone time with Thayne.

-I love the beautiful weather that we have it is great Sunday weather.

-I loved spending time with my girls tonight painting their nails with cute flowers and I did it without messing mine up.

-I loved listening to Samantha practice the piano. How many people can listen to their kids practice a Christmas song in May for their recital in December. Ü

-I love that as I am typing this, Jessika came it to tell me she put our soft blankets in the dryer to warm them up. She's the best. I hope when I die someone warms a blanket and puts it on me before they close the casket. Really I do.

--I am excited tonight because TJ is starting something new in the morning that Thayne and I hope will start a new passion in his life. I will tell you more about it tomorrow. We are very excited.

*****************************************

TodayI had the kids in primary mark their primary B of M with a scripture that has just stayed with me all day today. It is a reminder to me of how I need to work harder everyday with my family to always stay close to one another.

And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.

(Mosiah 18:21)

Sleeping in at last...

or not! Yesterday was supposed to be the day I was going to sleep in. Thayne was home so he was driving 6am carpool and my younger 2 are out of school for summer. I told Thayne I was sleeping in. It all sounded good until Thayne realized that since it had been raining a ton that he was not going to be outside working. He woke me up and announced that he was going to be a grumpy butt all day but he had not decided which indoor project he was going to do. So I thought:

First:
why are you waking me up to tell me this, I am sleeping in.

Second:
if you are doing indoor projects let me give you a list
-patch holes in the walls
-change baseboards in the house
-clean carpets

Thayne was not thinking of a project on the other side of the house that would be quite so I could go back to sleeping in. Are you feeling sorry for me yet? This is what Thayne was thinking about.

That is our measly little shower that the previous owner thought would be a great addition to the master bath. 2 years ago it broke and Thayne refused to fix it. He had plans to make it bigger. So it has sat like this for 2 years waiting for the perfect time to do demolition. The perfect time being when I was supposed to be sleeping in and the shower is only about 8 feet from my head.

Now in the process of demolition, I lost a phone line, electricity to my room and water was cut off. Water was cut off while I was finishing making peach jam. Even with all the problems he did make great progress.

The shower is coming along so well that I should be able to shower in it in about 4 weeks. Ü Ok not because he is slow but he is going to Canada for 2 weeks and we have a part being special ordered. After 2 years without a shower I really can't complain about another 4 weeks right? So maybe it's not the indoor project I had in mind for grumpy butt, but I am sure I will be thrilled when it is all done.

The good hurt

I've got it. That good hurt you get from working out. That pain that is so painful you can barely walk. That pain that you dread sitting on the toilet because you have to bend your legs. That pain that you wish all surfaces were level because any kind of incline stretches your muscles to much. That pain that you don't know how you can bend your leg to climb up on the bed at night. That is what I have right now.

Yesterday I decided not to go to the gym but I got out some of Thaynes old weights and did squats and lunges in my room. I just wish that I could see instant results. You know when you feel the pain you see the change. That is how it should be right? I think so. Unfortunately that is not the case and I know there will be many more days like today ahead of me. If there is any one out there that knows of ways to help me out with avoiding the pain part of it, please let me know. I am open to all suggestions.

The last day for 2

Today was the last day for my 2 youngest kids. It was even a half day. Really why did I even bother taking them. What could they possibly do for 4 hrs on the last day of school, but they wanted to go. Isn't the last day of school supposed to be nice and sunny telling you that you are officially on summer break? You walk out of school feeling the sun beat down on your face and you think to yourself school is finally done. You are giddy as you say goodbye to all your friends and say call me during the summer even though you know you probably won't. It wasn't even 2 days ago I heard Jessika say she is not putting pants on again until winter. This is not the day my kids had today. It is a windy, rainy gloomy day. We even had some hail. Definitely not the weather for the last day of school. I went to pick the kids up from school and Wyatt jumped in the car just like it was another day, except I almost didn't recognize him with his new hair cut. Jessika slowly stepped into the car with tears in her eyes and mascara running down her face all sad a miserable. What the heck happened at school that made her cry, I could not even imagine. She begins to tell me she was sad because she will never see some of her friends again. HUH? Oh my, I started looking around the car to see if my parent manual was close by telling me what to do when this happens. After we talked about it for a little bit she seemed to do alittle bit better and she is now on the path to recovery. I am really not sure how she will handle graduating HS if this is how she is for leaving the 6th grade. Now we have 1 more week until Samantha finished 8th grade and heads onto HS and TJ will be a JR next year.

Yikers they are growing to fast, but I love it.

snip snip

Don't go into shock but yes we did it, we finally cut Wyatt's beautiful hair off. TJ wanted to get his hair cut and he told Wyatt he had to go to. Wyatt did not want to go at first but then decided as we were pulling out that he would get his cut too. It has been almost a year of growing out but this will be a nice change for summer.

Before

After

The Bonus

Wyatt's church teacher Bro. Secrist made a deal/bet with him. Bro Secrist told Wyatt to cut his hair. Wyatt told him to cut off his goatee. So he told Wyatt if he got his hair cut than he would cut off his goatee. This is not even the real reason Wyatt cut his hair but guess what. Looks like Kenny will need to get his razor out. Bro Secrist has alot of fun with the boys in his class and I can't wait to see his face when he sees Wyatt on Sunday, maybe I should bring a camera.

Double dipping Ü

What do you do when you make a smoothie for breakfast and realize you don't have any straws to drink it with?

You go and find your Cranberry Slush cup that you bought during happy hour at Sonic yesterday and you get the straw rinse it out and use it.

This may seem yukky to some people but I call it being resourceful.

lunch



This morning I went to the gym and felt so good when I got home. I thought about making a healthy smoothie but seeing that lunch was in a few hours I decided to wait. By the time lunch came along I was hungry and I opened the fridge and I had half of a Costco cheesecake sitting in my fridge.

1st mistake- telling myself I couldn't have any, because then all I wanted was the cheesecake.

2nd mistake- telling myself it would be healthier if I put berries on top. This makes complete sense to me.

3rd mistake- Thinking if I put it on a bigger plate the piece would look smaller and I wouldn't feel guilty. I should have put it on a cookie sheet and then I would have felt much better.

4th mistake- I ate the thing and it tasted so good. Now I just feel like the gym was a total wash.

So that was my lunch today. I know Thayne is reading this from San Diego thinking "hey she never buys black berries when I am home." He likes black berries and these were really good ones. I still have more cheesecake in my fridge and I would love to share. Anyone that lives close and is reading this come get a piece. First come first serve.

Really come get a piece .

New schools


Yep that's right, all my kids are starting new schools next year.


We are moving Wyatt to a new elementary school next year. The school he has been going to is going down hill fast, so we decided to come back to the school district we are supposed to be in and we are hoping it works our better for us.

Our fun loving Jessika is taking her big step into middle school. I am so happy that it is just down the street. She is getting very excited. She wants to play the violin again and will now be able to since this school has orchestra. I will be buying ear plugs for Thayne and I.


Sam is starting High School next year and her and TJ wanted to switch to a different HS. I put TJ on the waiting list to get in last year but we never heard back so he stayed at his HS this year. I went back last week and put their names on the waiting list again but I had a connection (not giving out any names) I didn't know about before who helped my kids get into this other HS. We got the call on Friday that they were accepted. They are very excited and they will now be with friends that they want to go to school with.


I am feeling really good about these changes. It is alittle stressful getting their transcripts and papers all in order but I really think these changes will be good for each one of my kids.

3 hr block

It seems the time has come that our stake is now returning to the 3 hour block of church. Since we moved to Queen Creek 6 years ago we have had only 2 1/2 hours of church. I have completely enjoyed everything about it. I am sure there are some who feel there just isn't enough time to get a complete lesson taught in this amount of time. I kinda feel after 9 years of being in primary that 2 1/2 hours works great for me. It is a blessing that our area has been able to build many beautiful church buildings in the last few years that now allows us to be within a mile of a church and now have enough church buildings that we can now return to the normal 3 hour schedule. Our area has seen alot of changes and it has opened my eyes to the power that Satan has in our lives and the power that faith and prayers can help us overcome these problems. I am pretty sure I will have no problem adjusting to 3 hours of church, but I am not overly excited about it.

Finally

Well I finally have a new kitchen sink. This turned out to be a long project. Thayne was expecting a few hours tops and because of bad plumbing parts from the previous homeowners things snowballed into about 4 trips to Ace Hardware and about 3 to Lowe's before all parts worked correctly. It ended up taking about 7 hours with all the running around and about 7 hours of having a grumpy butt in our home because it took to long. Thayne does not like indoor projects especially on Saturdays. He has now turned into prince charming again now that he is out mowing the lawn.





I think he was also quite discouraged when he started under the sink and realized he could fix the whole thing by tightening a few nuts. But since we already had this nice sink and faucet in the garage and knowing it would look much better than the yukky one we have been living with, really the old one wobbled. Also knowing how much I was looking forward to a new sink he proceeded to change the sink and it turned into a crazy mess. Did I feel bad. Honestly NO. Even though he was a grumpy butt it was nice having him in the house on a Saturday. I love seeing my indoor projects getting his attention. Now onto my kitchen paint color. I picked up a few more color sample to look at and I am setting myself a deadline to have a color picked by Wednesday. Anyone who lives close is free to stop on by and let me know what they think. I always second guess myself so I can always use opinions. Maybe I should post a picture of my kitchen and see what you all think I should do. Hmmm I just might do that.

Nothing fancy but I am so happy to call it mine.

Freaky Friday

So I totally forgot to write this when I got on the computer this morning. I have no idea how this slipped my mind. Oh yes I do, it has been one of those weeks that my brain can't remember which day it is. The funniest and weirdest thing happened in TJ's room last night and since he can't make any sense of it, it is freaking him out.

When I go in his room to wake him up for school I do what I do every single day. I open his door, turn on his light, and turn off his fan and in my tired mom voice I say " TJ open your eyes so I can see them it is time to get up for school". This is exactly what I did today except I opened his door turned on his light and stopped dead in my tracks. Do you hear what I am saying, I saw something not normal. Instead of telling him to wake up I said "what the heck happened to your bed?" To which he said "I have no idea".

His queen size bed had been moved about
3 ft so it was sitting in front of his bathroom
door and his mattress was halfway off his bed.

So I asked him if this is how his bed was when he went to bed and he said No. So I said maybe you did it in your sleep. He says he has a hard enough time moving the bed when he is awake he can't imagine doing it in his sleep.

How crazy it that!

I grew up in a haunted house and I have no desire to live in one now. So if anything else like this happens I am moving out of here. Scorpions and ghost, I don't think so.

the bike

Can't you remember when you got your first job and you had all these things going through your mind of what you were going to buy with your paycheck. Mine was usually clothes. I wish I would have put more into a savings account but I can't go back so I will think back to all the clothes I bought and remember the happiness I got from them.

TJ has been working hard at a bike shop since last Thanksgiving. He has really enjoyed it and has learned alot. I keep telling him he will be the bike fixer on his mission and he just gives me a weird look like I am crazy. At the beginning of the year he saved up enough to buy a mountain bike that he wanted really bad. Then he saved up for this beauty. A bike that he can use for jumping and tricks. Luckily for him he gets a big discount. He ordered it 6 weeks ago and has been antsy ever since waiting for it to come it. Yesterday he got the call that it had arrived. He could not wait to get to the shop so he could put it together. When I got home from my taxi driving getting the other kids from school, TJ was practicing his piano (I knew something was up). He had his room clean and was waiting to hear what his chore was so he could get it done and get to the bike shop. I really could have milked alot more chores out of him if I wanted but I didn't. I am glad that when he puts his mind to something he wants that he is willing to save for it and buy it. He turns 16 in September so I bet a car will be on his list very soon.

One down


The last couple of days I have walked into Thayne's office and I could smell this yukky smell. I thought maybe he ate something in there and threw it in the trash and it was starting to smell. So I looked and I couldn't see anything that would smell. So today I walked in the office and the smell was getting worse. I looked at TJ and said "the last time I smelled that smell one of the tortoises were dead and rotting. Thayne has the tortoises in his office in a aquarium since they are only the size of my fist. I was not going to touch them to see if they were alive so I told TJ to. The one we thought was dead was actually alive. After some poking we found the one and pronounced it dead. TJ scooped it up on a piece of card stock and we took it to the trash. I tried humoring TJ with a small funeral by the trash can but he interrupted my speech with "mom get it over with already this thing stinks so bad I am going to barf". What a sensitive kid. We are down to 2 of these cute things. They are actually the animals I don't mind having because they are pretty easy to care for.

( this is not the dead one)




Now I don't want to sound insensitive, but I know I am going to when I tell you that I can't wait until Carlyle our miserable turkey says goodbye. Thayne names the turkeys after our grandpa's. So this one is Carlyle. All the chickens peck him. He follows me around like a dog. I think he hears me close the garage door because by the time I get to the car he is waiting for me by my car door. When I am outside the darn thing follows me everywhere. And when he walks he sounds like he is saying "sh**". Over and over I hear him and that is exactly what it sounds like to me.

So he is a grumpy old picked on turkey that curses.

Everybody should have one.

connect the dots

I was reading my sisters blog this morning and then clicked onto her brother-in-laws blog and was reading how he went blog surfing. How fun is that. So I went to my brothers blog in Utah and clicked onto one of his links that I did not know. Then I just jumped around from one blog to another just seeing if I would run into someone I knew. I went to blogs in Nebraska, California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Texas. I was just bouncing all over the place. I was on a blog of someone I did not know and in their links there was the last name Lambson. I looked at the first name and said, nope not the Lambson I know. You see my sister has a neighbor with the last name Lambson. The 3 of us went shopping a few weeks back and had alot of fun. Anyways I knew it wasn't her but maybe it was a relative. What are the chances really? So I clicked onto the Lambson's I didn't know and Holy Moly they had the longest link list. So I skimmed threw it and guess what? There she was Tricia Lambson. No Way. I knew clicking on Tricia's would link me back to my sisters blog and back to mine.

I must have went through about 20 blogs of people I did not know to do this. I started with my blog and went through my brothers blog and ended up back at my sisters blog and back to mine without clicking on any family links except me first clicking on my brothers blog. I am thinking that is pretty cool. If you have 15 minutes to kill you should try it and see if you find someone you know. You just might make a complete circle like I did.

Decisions

I am not sure how most people make decisions. I know alot of people who think things completely through to make sure the outcome is what works for them. I know some people make decisions based on how it will effect other people. Others make decisions for selfish reasons. Everyone has there own way of making decisions. I seem to make alot of my decisions based on my gut feeling. Probably not the way most people do it, but so far it has always worked out for me. When I start to lean one way or another and it is not a good decision I always get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I immediately change the coarse of my decision. Then when I make a decision and I feel at peace I know it is the right decision.

The decision I had to make

Yesterday I had a really hard time with my normal decision making routine. Tuesday night when returning home from my fun evening with my girls I received the calls and email telling me my grandfather had died. I was not sure how I felt about it, but in reading my siblings blogs I have felt much better about things. My problem was whether or not to fly to Utah to attend the funeral. My gut instinct was not helping me out this time. I was not getting any magical signals that I was waiting for. Then my most handsome best friend called me and I asked him what he thought I should do and he said that I needed to make my decision for myself without worrying about what anyone else was doing or what anyone else wanted me to do. He would support any decision I made. Hmmm that would mean I would have to be a selfish decision maker. So I wouldn't drag it out I gave myself a 2 hour time frame to have this decision made. Yes, I took the whole 2 hours and knowing that my decision would effect my sister since she would probably go with me if I went and if I didn't go and she did she would be going alone. I set all that aside and made the decision for myself not to go. Knowing that this decision would please many in my family and upset others I knew it was the right choice for me. I called Thayne and my sister and my cousin and my brother and told them I would not be going. I am thankful that they all understood. I feel so much better and I love that the stress of it is all over.

I now feel at peace

After I told Thayne my decision, I asked him what he would have done. I am not going to say what he said but I knew once he said it I felt much better about everything. I don't think I like all this grown up decision making. It was so much more fun when my hardest decision was what pair of shoes to buy or what movie to go see. This grown up stuff stinks. Thayne always says he loved it when he was younger, hanging out with his friends having $20 in his pocket and not a care in the world. Now the good times are hanging out with with my husband and my kids and them all having $20 bucks in their pockets then I don't have a care in the world. Now another chapter of my life is complete and I am moving on to the next. I am thankful for these growing experiences that make me realize what is important in my life.

Twisted Tuesday

the 80's are the best. I just miss the big hair and florescent clothes. The big earrings and the bright purple lipstick. I just loved it. I was "like" so excited when my girls told me they were having "twisted Tuesday" for a young women's activity. My girls were to dress just like I did at their age and I was to dress like them.

We were "like" laughing so hard while I was doing their hair in the bathroom getting ready for this activity. I heard comments like

"you went to school like this"

"how long did it take you to do this to your hair everyday?"

"I am going to have to wash my hair like 5 times to get all this hairspray out".

My favorite was when Wyatt walked in and looked at Samantha and said:

"you cannot go out with your hair like that people will laugh".

Laugh? Laugh at what? I used to go out looking like that all the time. So Rude! Ü

Then looking at Samantha's face when I pulled out my little yellow stretch tank top dress that I still own from way back when. She was "like" no way I am wearing that thing. But she did and it looked fantastic.

The girls had some fun games for the mom's and daughters to do together. We all looked "like" totally stupid but that was what made it so much fun. I left the activity loving that I got to step back in time through my girls and I left feeling alittle younger having pigtails in my hair.

my hair

so I decided to cut my hair to my shoulders. I will post pictures as soon as my kids get home to take the picture. Taking pictures of yourself is never a good thing. So I am feeling alittle lighter today and glad that I cut it. A fresh look for summer is exactly what I needed today. Ü

22 hours


I have only 22 hours to decide if I am going to cut my hair shorter or keep it long. I am a hair stylist jumper. I like to try new hair stylist all the time. I am going to a guy named Alex that Rachels friend Trisha recommended. I am just struggling with what to do. Part of me want to cut it short for summer so it is easy and fun. Then there is this part of me that wants to keep it long so I can pull it up when I am out by the pool. I had a good hair day yesterday so I thought I will keep it long but then there are days I am ready to cut it off myself. I have definitely decided to make it alittle blonder. So this is what will be on my mind until 10am tomorrow, and I am sure I will not be able to decide for sure until 9:59am. Isn't that how these things always work?

Happy Mother's Day

When Thayne asked me at the beginning of the week what I wanted for Mother's Day, I just kinda rolled my eyes and said nothing because it is not a birthday. I don't believe Mother's Day is a day to go out and buy huge honkin presents. I think showing kind gestures and small tokens of appreciation are great. So when Thayne laughed and asked me again I said "all I want is peace and quiet". To which Thayne said "do we have to give you both". Sometimes he just thinks he is to funny.

My mother's day was great with alot of peace and quiet. It started on Friday when Thayne and the boys left for Father/sons. Not 2 minutes after they left 2 dozen roses showed up at my door from Thayne. Not necessary but you gotta love it when you don't expect it. Now one of my kids and I am not going to say who (tj) broke my Kitchen Aid mixer a month ago and knowing I needed a new one, the kids and Thayne bought me a new one for mother's day. I can now go back to making cookies the easy way. Real mom's don't slave over that stuff anymore, at least this one doesn't. I also talked to my mom on the phone today which was nice because it has been awhile. We also made a quick stop off at Thaynes parents and had some of the yummiest homemade caramel popcorn which is always a treat. We then dropped Thayne off at the airport, he is headed back to San Jose until tomorrow when he gets in his truck and drives back home. On the drive home from the airport TJ was talking to me about all his plans for the near future and they are actually starting to sound promising. I love that most of it included him paying for everything himself. As we walked in the door he says, "wow mom I can't believe I am growing up". What a fun thing to hear at the end of my Mother's Day.

My kids are growing up and I can only hope
that I have taught them well, or at least well
enough that they will survive on their own.

the one day

Today is the one day of the week I really get to sleep in and for some strange reason I opened my eyes and I was wide awake at 6:30. I even went to bed late last night . I did sleep the whole night through without waking up so maybe that is why, I actually got a good night sleep. I woke up and decided I was going to the gym. I never knew the cycling class was a big hit on Saturdays, that class was jammed packed. So glad I wasn't going in there. I went in and did a different machine than normal which was a fun change and then went and did the rowing machine. I feel all energized for the day. I am going to Costco before the guys get back from camping so I can stay in the rest of the day and relax. Hopefully Rachel will stop by to help me pick out a good paint color for my kitchen. I will post a before and after when I actually paint. I did something really wrong when I painted a few years ago and I feel like I live in a peach. Don't even ask you will see when I post pictures. I really wish Thayne would let me paint my cabinets because they are not the best color either and let me not even talk about the gold handles that are on them from the people who lived here before us. I know is sounds like my kitchen is horrible, it really isn't. It just needs some minor adjustments.

Happy Saturday!

Po Da

Can I just tell you how much I love this time of year. I am not talking about all the end of the school year gunk that crowds my schedule. Seriously who sits and thinks up all this stuff to crowd into one month. So no, I am not talking about that stuff. I am talking about Father/Sons outing. I just love it. I love seeing Thayne and the boys getting ready with all their fishing and camping gear. Of course they take the 5th wheel trailer so they are not really roughing it, which this year is a good thing because Thayne left his sleeping bag on our bed. I bet he will be glad the bed in the trailer is made. Ü The boys miss the day of school and they head up early so they can get extra fishing time in. I sure hope Thayne takes some pictures. It is just great seeing them packing up and excited to have some fun.

but really I need to be honest about my excitement.


When the boys are gone, the girls play.

The girls and I have a yearly salon date when the boys are at Father/Sons. This is what really excites me the most about this yearly manly outing the church sponsors. I just could not support it more. So after school the girls and I went to the nail salon. First let me say that I wasn't totally thrilled with the paint jobs we got, but really it was the fun we had that counted, right? So the best part is and I know you all know what I am talking about when I say their is definitely a language barrier in the salons. I am usually pretty good about figuring out what they are asking me. (By the way the language they speak is Vietnamese.) So they ask you stuff like "you pick cula (color)" and I have that one figured out now. There is also "you want flowa" which is your want flower. So many of these I got. However today the cute lady Jessika had doing her nails says to her,"you want flowa oh po da" I was just staring at Jessika wondering if she knew what she said and I just couldn't figure it out. Jessika kinda gave her a weird look and the lady says it again and then Jessika quietly said something to her and it seems like they worked it out. However it was driving me crazy trying to figure out PO DA. I just kept repeating it in my mind wondering what the heck it meant. So after a few minutes Samantha had a guy doing her nails and he asks her if "she want flowa". She nicely says sure. So I looked over at Jess and asked her if she was getting a flower, and right when I asked her the lady doing her nails looks at me and says on no she wants PO DA. So I just nicely smiled at the lady and looked over at Samantha and said "do you have any idea what the heck she just said?" Samantha says "ya she said she is getting Polk a dots".

POLK A DOTS!

How in the heck did my girls figure that out. They are genius.
I really don't think I could have ever gotten that one on my own.

After getting our nails done we headed to Outback Stakehouse for dinner. We got there at 5pm and beat the dinner rush. In Arizona the dinner rush means an hour or more wait for a table. We had no wait and we had a fun yummy dinner. We had ribs and steak and Samantha will tell you the yummiest mashed potatoes ever. After dinner we managed to drift into a few stores and shop for alittle bit which is always fun. I have to say that my girls either love each other or hate each other. When they love each other they are the funniest kids to be around. We were laughing the whole time. I wish I could explain Jessika's sense of humor but really there are no words to describe this child. She doesn't miss a beat and the things just come out of her mouth at just the right time can be hilarious. Sometimes she could be censored but she is just the funniest thing and Samantha's little chipmunk laugh laughing at her the whole time just completes the moment.

As we pulled in the driveway my girls said,

"Mom thanks for taking us out, the whole night was a BLAST!"

We are home safely with full bellies and cute flowa's and PO DA's on our toes. Yep I love Father & Sons.

I was telling

When I was growing up, I attended the Poppleton School of Success on a daily bases. I am sure my brothers and sisters could each blog all day about this. One of the things my dad would say to us when we were telling him we were going somewhere or we were going to do something was "Are you asking me or are you telling me?" I have found myself using this saying quite often with my kids. I will catch myself in the middle of the sentence and realize that even though I know I am about to sound just like my dad if I say it, it really is fitting for the moment. So I have used this a few times. Well maybe more than a few times because yesterday I realized my kids are now quoting me quoting my dad. The kids were all jumping into the car after their piano practice and Wyatt said to Jessika, "Move over!" So I responded to Wyatt saying "hey, I think that was not a very nice way to ask her." to which Wyatt responded, "I was not asking her I was telling her."

I didn't respond, and I didn't want to tell him but in my head

I was thinking "OH good one".

and it came to pass

this is not something I like to put out there because really it is something I can't go back and change and I know I have failed as a parent. I was never great at sitting and reading my kids books when they were younger. I would read to them here and there but it was never a nightly ritual. I feel it is now my fault that only one of my kids have taken a liking to reading. TJ will read if he finds a book he is interested in. Samantha would rather wait for the movie to come out than sit through reading the book. Jessika has her nose in a book all the way to school and every night before she goes to bed. Wyatt whines at the mention that he has to read for homework. Wyatt's teacher gives him an AR (accelerated reader) goal and I am always proud if he reaches half of the goal. He loves math, and hates reading and writing. He is an outdoor kind of kid who hates any kind of work that takes place in the house. He will do anything I ask him to do as long as it is outside. Anyways, on Monday morning Wyatt asks me if he could buy a book from the book fair. Now to me this sounds like a waste of money because it will sit and never get read. I know this from past experiences. He then tells me he would use his own money. Sounding better already. So I go on questioning him about what book it is and how much he is going to spend. He tells me he wants to get "Diary of a wimpy kid". Hmm I believe that is the totally funny book that Rachel blogged about. I was thinking it sounded ok. So I told him he could buy the book. I am hear to tell you that miracles do happen because I was walking through the house and this is what I saw. I couldn't believe my eyes. Wyatt was reading on his own without whining. Now every hour I get an update on what page he is now on. I sure hope they have more of these books because I am going out to buy them all. I want to keep a good thing going. By the way, I sat down to read alittle bit of the book and I was laughing so hard. This book is a crack up. I love that he is growing up and learning to like to read. It just makes me realize all the things that I would go back a do different if they were babies again.

Oprah is good for something

You know those days when you wake up and something just doesn't feel right. I felt groggy and not sure if I felt sick or just super tired. The thought of food made me nauseous. I went about my day taking kids to school ,skipping the gym today and stayed home to finish a few laser projects. Thayne had made dental appt for all my kids at the same time so I spent a good hour or more driving to 3 different school, all 5 miles apart picking them up. We got to the dentist at 1:00 just on time. I swear I just couldn't stay awake. I kept dozing off on the sofa in the waiting room. I even did the jump in your sleep thing a few times, and Samantha kept asking me if I was cold. After getting the bad report on my kids teeth we headed home and I went straight in to nap. Oh and I was starting to get body aches. OH NO! I did not want to get sick. I woke up after an hour nap to take Wyatt to his Bear den meeting. After dropping him off I got this uncontrollable thirst. Needing gas I went to the gas station and went in and grabbed a Gatorade. I hate to admit it but I think I actually chugged half of it without stopping. So that is how I felt for most of the night. I went to bed by 9pm. But then I woke up at 2:30 wide awake and not tired at all. I turned on the tv, nothing interesting to watch. So I remembered I had tivo'd Oprah. I am a pick and choose Oprah watcher. Which really means I can only find about 1 show every 2 weeks that I will watch. Anyways I turned on Oprah and she had Barbara Walters on. grrrrr. Not what I really wanted to watch. However, after watching the 2 of them talk for about 10 minutes I started getting tired and dozed back to sleep. I woke up this morning feeling much better. Which is good because Wednesday are my busy days with the kids after school. I will probably skip the gym again this morning but if I can I will try and go tonight. Boy I am so glad I didn't get sick.

what joy

there are many days when I go to bed at night and I scratch my head and think where did I go wrong. How did I screw my kids up that much? But then there are many days that I go to bed smiling because my kids have cracked me up with the funny things they did all day. Why I am going to bed smiling tonight:


**Samantha's hilarious scream when she saw a scorpion go into her backpack


**watching Jessika rearrange her shoes on her scooter so she could ride it barefoot.


**Wyatt telling me I was smarter than the guy at Home Depot


**TJ talking to a telemarketer on the phone and lying to him just to keep him on the phone longer. (yes I'm married, yes I am at least 25 yrs old, etc)


**Samantha's laugh again when she was listening to TJ on the phone lying to the telemarketer. (she sounds like a chipmunk when she laughs)


**Jessika showing me every shade of brown from her paint samples she collected at Lowe's to have me decide what color she should paint her room.


**TJ trying to convince me that he did his piano practice at school before seminary started, so that should count.


**TJ carrying Samantha on his shoulders running through the house with her screaming "put me down I'm gonna die"

*****************

I am now going to bed with a smile, goodnight.

Who does this

There are certain callings in the church that when you are so blessed to get these callings you don't realize what comes with it. For instance. When I was called to Primary President I figured I would get a binder full of info and a key to the closet. I never expected the box. You know the box that I would keep to just pass on to the next primary president. In it was 3 new boxes of plastic page protectors (those I would use), about 10 yrs of previous primary sacrament programs, alot of leadership manuals and a bunch of other things that I never looked at. I had this box sitting in the garage minding it's own business. Not hurting anyone or anything. Just sitting there doing what it was supposed to. Until this weekend when I was on my YW outing. You know this last weekend when my leaky kitchen sink was supposed to be getting fixed. More important things happened instead. The garage took priority and Thayne decided to clean it. So on Sunday when I did the never before and went looking for my primary box to get a plastic page protector and couldn't find it. This happening as Thayne was walking out the door to leave for California I asked him where my primary box was. The look of fear came across his face. I could see him saying a silent prayer that it was still in the pile to go to the trash so he could happily salvage it and handed it to me. Nope, it was gone. He threw away my primary box! Who does this? I have never looked at his scout pile and said "this has got to go to the trash". Ok so I have thought that but I knew I could never really do it. Not until now I couldn't do it. So it is Monday morning and I am still stewing over this brave act of non judgement Thayne accomplished this weekend.

By the way, kitchen sink still leaking.
New sink and faucet sitting in the garage.

the road less traveled

This weekend I was lucky enough to go on a YW overnighter. I am not in YW but I am going to camp this year so I got to tag along. My two girls were going and I knew it would be a fun time with them. All in all things went very smoothly. The girls all got along really well. The food was great and I liked the women I went up with. I was just so proud of my girls. They are so well behaved. They always help out without being asked. It is so fun to sit back and watch them interact with the other girls. Samantha decided to sleep under the stars on the porch with some of the girls. It was in the 30's, so most of the girls got cold but they stuck it out. Samantha had her dad's trusty scout sleeping bag so she slept the whole night and was not cold at all. We had 20 girls go up to the cabin and those who didn't want to sleep outside slept on the floor of the cabin. They were everywhere, even taking floor space in the kitchen. They were like a bunch of sardines sleeping on the floor. The whole event was a good time. But then there was ....

the ride home!

The cabin we went to was about 3 hours from my house. On the way home I decided to follow a lady in our ward who is familiar with the area thinking she would be faster than the bishop who was towing a trailer. We made fabulous time to our first stop. We got to Payson in one hour which meant we only had about an hour and a half left. I was so glad thinking we were going to be home so fast. As we continued driving I noticed Laura (the lady ahead of me) took a different turn than what I thought we should take. She pulled over and said that the way she was going was a little crazy but it would cut about 20 minutes off our time. Whooo hooooo! Sounds great to me, we were already making great time and now cutting off another 20 minutes was right up my ally. As we progressed the road turned out to be a road around a lake. The scenery was beautiful and the roads were getting scary. The girls were screaming and laughing and having alot of fun. After 45 minutes of this I realized that there was no way possible we were going to be home faster. Then after an hour and realized if this route was 20 minutes faster I should be home in 10 minutes and I could tell it was going to take at least another half an hour to get out of the canyon and then another 25 minutes after that to get home. The canyon was horrible and dirty and windy and I kept telling my girls that they were never to allow me to follow Laura ever again. So to cut this story short at our first stop we were about 20 minutes ahead of the bishop. The bishop beat us home by an hour, did you hear me an hour! I was not a happy camper! I was very thankful for the girls who kept me entertained by their singing and story telling. I don't think parents have any idea the things you learn about their family by just riding in the car for a few hours with their kids. When we got home Thayne asked the girls what their favorite part of the trip was and guess what they said?

The ride home!
I could not believe it. I know this is one of those trip that still fresh in my mind makes me nuts, but it is one that I will always look back on and never forget. We made memories this weekend and even though my butt is sore from a long ride I was glad I made memories with some great girls.

I'm back

and in one piece. I had alot of fun but am to tired tonight to write. The drive home was crazy. I will write about it tomorrow. Maybe by then I will have my mind back.

I'm off

I am leaving today for a YW overnighter. I know you are wondering why I am involved when I am in primary. Well somehow I got sucked into camp. I was asked to be a chaperon and now I have somehow ended up with about 3 assignments. How did that all happen? Not sure. I am excited to go because Sam and Jess are going so this will be fun for me to be with them. I guess am disappointed because we do not have alot of YW leaders helping out. I don't want to go into it to much because it frustrates me. I am going to focus on having fun with the girls because that really is the only reason I do this stuff, it definitely is not for the adults. I am very happy that the leaders that are going are awesome and I am excited to work with them. So I am off and I hope to have some fun pictures when I get back.

Soap update

I just thought I would give a quick update as to whether I liked the new soap I bought. As I said before all soap is the same and so yes this soap works great on my dishes. The issue was whether I would like the air freshener or not. The answer is I am still not sure. Strong smells give me headaches and I am very fussy about what smells I like. I do like that under my sink smells better, but not sure I like the lemon tangerine scent. So my advise to you is to cheat, yes I said cheat. Go to the store and pull back the little sticker that locks the smell in the container and take a big whiff. Make sure it is a smell you can live with before you buy it. Don't forget if your not going to buy it to press the sticker back into place so it looks just right.