I pretty much spent the whole day in bed.  I got the kids ready for Lani's birthday party, and it wore me out.  On the bright side, I finished another book called The Improper Life of Bezillia Grove.  I really liked that one too...and as much as I would love to loan them out, I bought them on the Kindle app on my phone...the one downside to buy-it-now books... 

All day I didn't feel so well, but tonight, Addy curled up next to me a fell asleep with her head on my chest and a box of nerds in her hand, and be still my heart....it made my whole day....love that girl...

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tonight I played 'this little piggie' on her 'toe-toes'...her laugh is my most favorite...

A day feels so long when you have a super crap cold...

But, being the super mom that I am, I still met my mom and sisters at the park...the kids hung around us more than they played I think...

Being all laid up with a head cold as I was, I managed to read a new book called Looking For Salvation at The Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore.  And I really liked it.  It is set in the South, I think I have yet to read a book based in the South I didn't adore...on to her next book, The Improper Life of Bezillia Grove...I love the titles of her books

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Picture this...a sick mother lugs her camera to take pictures at the park and realizes her camera battery is dead...I'm too tired to find another one...plus it's an opportunity to use your imagination...just picture the mom really pretty and loving all over her well behaved children...

I feel like garbage.  It's either a head cold or allergies...either way, it sucks...and the benadryl I took makes me feel weird...

I wish I had a recording of me forcing Colton to eat a big spoonful of peanut butter for back talking continuously...it would have been filled with him gagging, and me yelling and threatening to spank him if he didn't open up and take another bite...even though I have no proof to show, I am humiliated to say the least, that Stacia and her husband listened to the whole thing from the living room...

Does anyone else think the guest judge on SYTYCD looks like a Middle Aged Ken Doll?

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we went to Howard Amon Park today...

the water went up a little higher than she expected...

Today after swim lessons, I took addy over to swing...the boys were swinging too, and Colton was talking to Spencer about how tall he's going to be. The other day at his check-up the Dr told him he'd probably be around 6 ft tall...anyway, he was wanting to know if he would be that tall by the end of the summer, and I told him no, she meant when he was an adult, that's how tall he might be...I think it was Spencer that said, 'that's like when you get hair on your legs and feet, and arm pits'...and Colton said, 'yeah, and on your nipples'...then I said, 'hairy nipples huh?', they laughed, and then he tried to tell me I had hairy nipples. So lovely was this conversation. I informed them only boys have hairy nipples...then I heard Spencer say something about hair down there, at which point I made them wrap up that conversation and move on....but not without them saying something about how its true...curious little creepers...next time I hope I'm too far away to hear...

So apparently $15 swim lessons equals 15 minutes of lesson and 15 minutes of games.  So annoying.

I went to visit my grandma today, and I am so glad I did.  She even requested a strawberry rhubarb pie for her birthday, and it isn't even until October...makes a girl feel good....and the bonus was my dad stopped by there for lunch, and took Colton and Spencer home with him.  But I have to admit, I came home and immediately threw away the cookies she gave me from her freezer that I know for a fact had to have been in there for over 3 years....I think she said 3 different times, "I'm sure they'll be fine...you can feed 'em to the kids..."

Danielle and Dennis came over and got the crib.  Tear.  I can't believe Addy is sleeping in a big girl bed, and I will most likely never need a crib again...I'm dying to go out and get the girls matching bedding...

Listening to Danielle and Dennis tell us some swimming lesson stories had me laughing my arse off...loved it...

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This is the picture I meant to put on my blog yesterday...Lisa took this picture of Colton with her water proof camera at Denice's...she has a bunch of other great ones too...

 

ps-I hated Lady  Gaga on SYTYCD...she bugs...

Right now, I'm talking to Kent, and I want to choke him.  Like for real....

So, here is the run down on this weekend....for the sake of keeping my goal...

*Saturday-I felt like crap.  All day.  The only thing that saved my kids, was having Amy's kids here all day so my yelling and complaining was dispersed amongst 6 kids instead of 3...

*Sunday-Went to church, and took the kids to my mom's to collect their presents for doing their special jobs...came home and let Colton watch Harry Potter 7.1...I made him hide his face once, and he asked about a million questions.  The best part was when he jumped and I asked him if he was scared, and he said, "no, it's just like, when that snake popped up, I was like woa...but I wasn't like, scared"  Now, I have to take him to see HP 7.2...I think I'm the only one in the fam that's letting one of my kids watch it...they say it's all about death and darkness...I say, death is a part of life anyway right?  And in the end, good prevails over evil...so, there you go...it's all about the moral aspect...

And now Monday...Seriously, it was a great day.  We all went to swimming lessons, and by all I mean Jason and Kent were even there.  Then we picked up some lunch and Amy and her fam, and Lisa and her kids met over at Denice's to swim.  We tried getting Michelle to join us too, but she was headed out of town.  After an afternoon of swimming we came home and then we all met over at Howard Amon Park.  My parents came too and the kids brought their bikes, and we stopped at Rosie's for an ice cream cone.  They have a sour sherbet that is freakin good...and still it gets better...so there is this zip line at the park for the kids, and I decided I'm gonna try it.  I get on the seat and start backing up so Lisa can give me a good push...and I hear this deep voice right in my ear..I had no idea Kent was behind me and had his hands on the chains.  It was seriously like the grim reaper just whispered in my ear...it just caught me so off guard...and I have to say, I didn't trust him like I trusted Lisa to not catapult me across the line...it was an eerie start, but it ended with a good ride down the zip line and back...still not the best part....the very best part of the whole day times ten...was watching Jason push Amy...seeing her speed down the line, then jerk so hard at the end she practically became air born...and then...she fell off...it was hilarious!  It all happened so fast, it took me a second to register it all, and then I couldn't stop laughing...We finished up the day with a trip to Walmart, where something as simple as letting the kids pick out their own box of cereal made the trip a little more fun...or just fun period, cause everyone knows going to Walmart sucks...

Now today...yeah, not a lot happened today....swim lessons, I got my hair done...good bye grays...and then we hung out at my moms while Kent went golfing....oh, and Danielle came by with her giant 6 month belly.  I swear she has an extra one in there.  Good thing she's so cute with her perfectly round belly....And I have to say, I have been thinking a lot about my new little niece who will be here in a about a week or so...except from the sounds of it, she's not so little...I can't wait to hold her, and I know Aubrey is pretty excited too...

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every day my stress level goes up considerably when I think about sending her to kindergarten...

Dear Neglected Blog,

I promise I will be back tomorrow...hope we're still bestees...


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I'll even tell you a a story about why these amazing, earth moving, disgusting art pieces are so near and dear to my heart...

So Kent and I went to see Harry Potter 7-Part 2 of The Deathly Hallows..talk about a mouthful...I have to say, I really liked it.  Except for the parts when I was totally distracted by the sounds of plastic rustling, sneezing, clapping, people chewing their popcorn...seriously, it was like a soundboard in stereo of the most annoying noises!  Josh, I kept thinking about you, every time I heard a new, and even more annoying sound.  I swear to you, you probably would have broken out in hives had you been there...I will look forward to watching it in the privacy of my own home.  Now to decided if Colton should be allowed to watch it...I'm thinking yes...we'll see...

By the time the movie was over and I had consumed Nestle Crunch ice cream dibs, popcorn with butter, and diet coke, I deemed myself The Diet Saboteur...every time I start to make a little headway...I self destruct...and my calves are killing me from Bob's jumping jacks to jogging to jumping jacks to jogging...kill me now...

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when Colt came home and saw all their names on the fence, he grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote my name and Kent's right underneath...it totally made my day...then he started going on and on about how we could write everyone's name on it that comes over and a bunch of other ideas....sweet right?  This same kid, when asked if he would like a present for his work at my moms or money, didn't want to pick until he knew how much money...then asked me every 5 minutes if my mom text back how much...

Today...

Aubrey was sent to a time out on the stairs for punching Colton in "the guts" and proceeded to yell "Your'e the worst parent ever!" and then said some stuff about how she's never gonna do what I ask her to do....

When I mentioned to Colton that he was going to need to water my mom's plants and feed the cat, his response was "Why do I have to?"  So I said, "fine don't, and grandma can bring something back for me and I'll do it" all of a sudden he was singing a different tune...

 This afternoon when we were cleaning up the toys, a very fruitless chore indeed, Colton threw a squinkie and it landed by Addison's head, she called him a "meemee"  I believe the interpretation of that is 'meanie', either way, I was ecstatic that she said a new word! 

As for me...my crappy attitude came in a plethora  of complaints about working out, dieting, and swim lessons at 10:45.  Sometimes when I stop to reflect on my day, I am so sicked out by my crappy attitude...guess my 3 little apples didn't fall far from the tree...in my defense, Kent isn't all bright and shiny either...

Yesterday in the car, Aubrey said "mom, we're Mustang People, huh?"  to which Colton replied, "Aubrey you don't even know how to build one"....shoots her down every time...

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So this is kind of a garbage picture, but this is my dining room set up to inspire summer learning...so far I still haven't done anything academic with my kids...I'll probably wait until the week before school starts and then have an anxiety attack worrying that Ms. Maxwell will tell me Aubrey isn't ready for kindergarten yet...the awesome, huge map is at Costco for $7.49

Tonight I came home from running some errands, and I noticed Alicia's stolen van was back in her driveway.  I came home and mentioned it to Kent, and he said 'ya, Colton found it'...At first, I was thinking, what the crap, then I wondered if he was joking...mostly I was just confused...then they told me Denice took the kids to the park and Colton said, "hey that looks like Bills van".  So Denice took a picture and posted in on facebook I guess, and a few hours later the van was back in the driveway.  I haven't had a chance to talk to Alicia and find out the condition of the car, but I just want to put it out there, that we will accept finders rewards in the form of anything delicious...just kidding...if you could just find our dvds for us now, I'll call it even...

Pictures....

Our Family Crest...

I had me some fun in picnik editing these photos...

She was pretty stoked to go out and help her dad...she's handing him a u bolt, but you can't really see it...

they are going to be giddy little school girls when they take their first ride...

@Shayla- I have been meaning to email you, and answer all of your questions and tell you how much we need to get together, but I just keep not doing it...I hope the thought counts...

Today I was grateful for my expensive Stain Master carpet, for when I spilled Diet Cherry Limeade all over it, I simply put towel on it, soaked it up, and you would never know the difference...
 
Alicia's van was stolen last night, and our Sequoia was rifled through.  Everything was out of the glove box and a ton of our dvd's were stolen.  Super creepy.  And maddening.  Kent thought he heard something last night and walked outside, but didn't see anything...I'm just glad I brought my purse in...

Swim lessons are going pretty well, I just wish I would have had more faith in Aubs and signed her up too, there's always next session....it's so weird watching Colton swim in a pool I swam in as a kid...

We went to see Winnie the Pooh with Amy and her kids today.  It was just the right length for Addy and Carson, and I have to admit, I laughed out loud more than once...

I'm gonna be complete crap in the morning if I don't go to bed...realistically, I'll be complete crap anyway...

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I actually took some pics of the kids in Kent's car today, but if I have to sit and wait for my dinosaur of a computer to even open the file, I'm gonna kill myself....tomorrow I'll post them...

The girls and I spent a little time in the backyard this afternoon....

A poor mans pool....

She thought is was the coolest thing to color on her car and then wash it off and start over...

they had a ton of chalk at the bottom of the bucket...

and wow, did she freak out when Aubs would take the hose...

coloring on the fence...

Weekend Recap....

Friday-I cleaned until I could clean no more.  For about a whole hour my entire house, minus the laundry room, was clean.  It was so great while it lasted...

Friday Night- Super fun.  It was Josh's birthday and we had a gathering of the cousins to eat, play Rock Band, laugh, talk, eat, play games...It was tons of fun, and I hate that we don't do it more often...  It was all fun and games for me until Addy woke up at midnight.  I went upstairs to lay with her, and totally missed everybody leaving, and I still had to go pick up Colton from my parents.  Kent put the girls to bed, but when I got back from my parents house, Kent and Aubs were asleep and Addy was wide awake watching a movie.  And when I woke up at 3am, she was still awake....I almost forgot, Aubs and Lydia were running around playing together, and Aubrey came up to me and said, "mom, Lydia doesn't believe me that after you turn 5, on your next birthday you're 8"...I wanted to pat her on the head and say 'good thing you're pretty...'

Saturday-Graycie and Tyson had a joint birthday party at Coach Brett's Gym.  Amy and I stayed true to our new, shiny, active lifestyles, and ran and jumped, and zip lined our way through that party like nobodies business...it was super fun, and a lot sweaty.   Later that night after a trip to Walmart I headed over to Amy's and we tried out my new Biggest Loser Power Walk with Bob dvd.  It's pretty fun, and definitely  easier than the Zumba video I have been tripping my way through...

Sunday- I spent the morning making cupcakes for Carson's birthday party and getting ready for church.  I talked to the primary kids today about being sealed in the temple as a family, and I was so nervous.  I wish someone I really know would have been there, to tell me if I sounded like a blubbering idiot.  If nothing else, I had an awesome picture thanks to my Aunt Patty and Danielle...After church Addy and I had a little 1 on 1, and then headed over to the party.  The best part by far was ice blocking over at the soccer fields.  It was a blast.  And only one person got hurt.  And yes, it was Colton.  Easton accidentally hit him in the mouth with a plastic baseball bat, and cut his lip open a bit...he decided to head home with his dad....

Now, on to Monday.  10:45 swim lessons he we come...that sounds so early I want to gag on my low calorie cookies right now...and it isn't even that early...

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A swearing super-hero in the making...

Tomorrow I will recap yesterday and today.  They have been filled with fun, but if I stay up and write about them now, I will be one big bag of mean-grumpy garbage...and nobody wants that...this is just my lame attempt at not missing 2 days in a row...but in my defense, I was thwarted by my children last night...Addy woke up at midnight, and I had to go pick Colton up from my parents, and didn't get home until after 1am....

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Happy Birthday Nine-ahs

Today I felt like Cinderella.  I clean and cleaned, and then got ready to go out with Kent to celebrate our anniversary.  We didn't have a chance to do anything on Tuesday, so I am dedicating this post to 8 years together.

Tonight we tried out TC Prime Steakhouse.  It was so freakin delicious.  We both had Ribeye steaks with red potato mashed potatoes.  The actual restaurant was weird, it felt more like a Steak Studio Apartment, than a house, but the meat was cooked perfectly.  I shoved every last bit of it in my mouth (that's what she said), I seriously felt like John Candy in The Great Outdoors.  We tried to kill some time in between dinner and dessert, and it was the most pathetic thing ever.  We just kind of wandered aimlessly through a few stores.  I feel like I am constantly saying "if we didn't have the kids with us", but then when we finally didn't we couldn't find anything to do.  Anyway, we went to Sweet Treats, the old Maggie Moos, per Stacia's recommendation, and shared a dish of green apple frozen yogurt with caramel on top.  It was super good, and I agree with Stacia, much creamier than FroYo...We finished up with a trip to Walmart to buy milk and toilet paper...most romantic anniversary ever...


I thought I would make a little time line of our years together...

2003-  We were hitched.  No wedding, so no pictures.  Not to mention, we didn't have a digital camera back then.  We lived in a duplex in Richland, and I'll never forget, Kent had been gone somewhere, and I tried to wash our comforter, and it made the washing machine flood and start smoking.  When he came home I told him what happened and we loaded up our soaking wet, huge blanket, it was Nautica, and found a laundry-mat.  About half way through Kent had to bring me home because I was nauseous  from being pregnant.  I don't think he got back home until after 11pm...

2004- we had Colton, and we bought our first house....we bought our first digital camera

2005-  we looked a lot younger, and we were already expecting baby #2...and Kent convinced me to take cake decorating classes so I could make our kids their birthday cakes..

2006- Kent went to March Madness in Utah without me, we(Kent) built our first fence, and we had our sweet Aubrey...and we bought our 2nd house....

2007- in no particular order...we dressed the kids up in our favorite costumes to date for Halloween, went on vacation with Kent's family, we took Colton to his first day of preschool, and we made our first haunted candy house....

2008- got our first, and so far last dog...the kids still talk about Vader...but, to say having a dog put a strain on our marriage, might be an under statement... Addy was on the way, and we bought our Sequoia...

2009- Addy completed our family...Kent went to Silver Mountain without me...we bought my Canon, and I'm pretty sure it's the year my dining room looked like a marijuana hot spot, except it was just Kent's obsession with peppers...and I took Kent out on a friends boat for his birthday as a surprise, it ended up costing us $500+dinner

2010- this one is gonna be hard, I wasn't pregnant or birthing any children, we didn't move or make any major purchases...but even more important, we were sealed in the Temple...Kent coached Colton's t-ball team, and we went up to Bluewood together to take Colton snowboarding...

I apparently only took my camera once, and I remember the battery died right away...

2011-still working on it....so far so good...

So, yet another full day...

7:00a.m.-3 mile walk

8:30am-nap

11:30am-dentist appt to make sure all of Colton's tooth was out...he only needed x-rays, and even that didn't go so well...I vow to never take him again.  Ever.  Kent can take him for the rest of his life.

1:00pm-lunch at Rosy's Diner with my mom, Casey, Colt, and Addy

3:00pm-Activity Day at Denice's.  We took the girls swimming and had Danielle come and teach them some survival and safety skills...Stacia and I want to hire her...she had those girls listening way longer than we ever have...

4:30pm-got to Amy's house

5:00pm-finally made it home after leaving at 11:00, with my girls and Amy's 2 youngest in tow...

6ish-9ish pm- turned my dining room into the perfect place to keep some summer education plans in full swing.  I tried to take some picture, but the lighting was horrible, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow.  I am loving it...and I only spent $5 on a table cloth, that Amy picked up for me while she was out...

10-11ish pm-re-cleaned and put the kids to bed

and done...

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I love this picture because it reminds me of the 4 bar commercials for whatever that cell phone company was...

I am exhausted.  Here is today's High-Light Reel...

*Kent and I have officially been married for 8 years

*Amy and I took the kids swimming at Denice's

*we had lunch at my mom's

*shortly after lunch Colton jumped off a plastic teeter-totter because he saw a spider, and since Trenton was on the other end, the teeter-totter flew up in the air, hit Colton in the mouth, and knocked his tooth out...


*Amy came over and we walked the kids to the gas station, picking Josh up along the way...on our walk we saw a double rainbow, a man with one shoe fixing his license plate, and some crazy kids yelling at each other and saying the f word over and over...and when we got back to Josh's house, I saw a neighbor boy of about 10 years old wearing shorts that would fit Aubrey.  It was disgust.  The funny thing about the walk was, Josh just came because the girls were in bed.  But by the time we were headed back to my house, Sarah came out, then Lydia came out, then Grace came out...so we got to see them all anyway...

*Stacia came over and her dog Lucy most likely ate some of the ant bait that the crazy ant guy sprinkled all over my house...once we were sure she wouldn't start foaming at the mouth, we had a super nice time chatting it up and laughing, and talking about why I still don't have a garbage can...

It was a pretty full day....

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A lot changes in 8 years....good thing one of those things was that long hair...I love my husband, and I love my kids, no amount of time will change that...

Josh, get ready for this on Friday...