The Vaccum Solution!

For some time now I have been without a functioning vaccum. With all the birthdays and Christmas, I just haven't had time to figure out how to fix it. I have been using the hand attachments as our main means of vaccuming! The belt aparently broke and I can't find the right size, and of course the people at the store don't know anything, so I guess I will need to take it to a vaccum fixing store. Anyway, we went to Costco to look at the Dyson vaccum that someone said they like and I just didn't want to pay that much what with the holidays and all just behind us. Then, the solution appeared. I have always wondered if those Robot vaccumes work and it definately intrigued Todd. We decided to buy it at Costco so we could take it back if it didn't work. We brought it right home and put the little guy to work. It is so cute(like a little pet) and it is amazing how much stuff it picks up! I love that it can clean the upstairs for me during preschool, and the downstairs while I am sleeping peacefully at night! It surely isn't the best vaccum for carpet, although it does pretty good, but I think it is worth it just for all the wood and rugs that we have around here. Anyway, if any of you were thinking about getting one someday, come borrow ours first and have a test drive. Also, if there is an upright vaccum that you love please comment below! (I have terrible luck with these things. The ones I have had are Orek, Hoover, and Dirt Devil so don't say any of those!!! unless I just got the wrong type of that brand...)

They came to see Baby Jesus!

My little girls have always loved to play with the Natavity sets at Christmas. We finally got the Fisher Price one last year from Mom and they have loved it. K.C. was so cute while they were here last Christmas. He sat right down at the tiny table and played with Allyson for ever. He sure knows how to win the kids over in a short period of time! (which is good because he does have to compete with Jonny's airplane rides and such!!!) Anyway, this year Melody noticed that the kids had set up all the people and animals so that they were facing toward the stable. This makes perfect sense! Of course they would want to look at the baby Jesus. I have noticed lately that other nativities in the house are turned around to see Jesus. One day Allyson set up the nativity like this....

They are waiting in line to see baby Jesus! I thought that was pretty cute, and something only a child would think of. I set up a nativity so we can see the front of all the figures, but Allyson is thinking about how it really would have been.

The Missing Piece

I went downstairs the other day to find Todd and Allyson putting together a puzzle. It was cute to see a big daddy on the floor playing with his daughter, but that was not the best part. As I got closer, Allyson started telling me about how there was a piece missing so daddy made a new one! Who does that? He said that as he was making it, Allyson said "Daddy, you are a good artist, I am a scribble artist." She saved the homemade piece for last and called it the "masterpiece." I would have never even thought to MAKE a new piece. I generally just say, oh bummer a piece is missing. What a nice daddy!

Another Holiday First

Sad, but true! I don't remember ever making a gingerbread house with my kids. Shocking! For just 8 big ones at Costco, we were able to put this little kit together. I'm definately no Martha Stewart, or Emily for that matter, but it turned out to be a big FHE activity success with the kids and apparently also some of the neighbors kids too. They asked me where I got such a sweet kit and their moms ran staight out to get them one! By the way, I am so behind on the blogs because of the kids b-days and Christmas projects. It certainly isn't a reflection of how much I love you all! I will have to catch up on my reading and writing ASAP!!!

Kid-isims

Allyson is at a funny stage of like. Here is a cute story Todd told me today. He was in his office and I had gone to pick Jill up from dance. Ally came in and hugged him and said she really wanted her mommy(she misses me a lot these days even if I leave just for a minute). She asked if he would read her a book and he said "Sure, hop up on my lap and I'll read it to you." Then she brought him another one, of course, and he read that one too. She asked if he would read another one and he said "Well, I am kind of busy right now, so...." She laid down on the floor with her book and after a little bit she said "Daddy, what's busy?" He told her that he was working on the computer for his job so it would be hard to do that and read a book at the same time. She said, "So, busy means you can't read me a story?" Well, he ended up reading that story too! There will be no "Cats in the cradle and the Silver spoon" around here!!

Jordan was looking for his blanket and Ally said "Oh, does he want his BIU one?" (BYU)

Jillian is a very observant child. In school they learn about making connections from the things they read to things in their world. She has aparently really taken the connection thing to heart. In preschool we made some indian headbands and Allyson's was lying on the floor. Jillian said "Mom, I have a connection with that. We made headbands in school and ....." I love how she actually uses the word connection!

One day I was really giving it to Jill, maybe a little over the top because she said "Mom, you are going all harsh on me!"

We were cleaning up Jill and Ally's dissaster of a room and I said something about it being out of control. Jill responded "Things are getting off handy around here" I love how she tries to use our saying and messes them up!

A Puzzling New Tradition

Several people have told me that they love to put a puzzle out to work on during the holidays. I thought it would be fun to start this year since Allyson doesn't destroy everything in sight anymore! I bought a box with several different scenes representing all the seasons. I started us off with a 300 piece fall one to see how the kids would like it. We got it out last night and low and behold, they finished it last night! Luckily the box had a few more fall ones we can do. This time we are moving up to one with 500 pieces. Maybe by Christmas we will be up to 1000! So, if you visit us during these next holiday months, please feel free to work on the puzzle while we conversate or just anytime at your leisure. Hurray, a holiday tradition that isn't about food!

Halloween...

Here is a slide show of the big fun. Sorry we didn't visit any Grandparents, but after 2 preschool parties, a party for Katy's class, around 180 trick-or-treaters, and taking the kids out, we were exhausted. These pictures will have to do! Jordan is not represented because he had no costume. He helped scare people at the big spook alley down the street! Allyson told me that Jordan and his friends were trying to scare her. She said "I wish it was a nice alley so they don't have to scare me!" A small explanation of the costume choices--Jillian decided to be a mexican this year! I thought we should at least say Senorita or something a little more PC, but none the less. Thanks to Lili, all of Katy's dreams of being Hermine came true. And, of course Allyson decided on the ratty princess dress-up! At least we didn't have to buy or make anything this year which was the best! Oh, on a funny note, I decided to give out packets of hot chocolate instead of candy this year. I thought it was a great idea and Mom and Melody did too! Dad said if that's what they were doing, he wasn't going to answer the door! Well, he was right! The kids dug past the brown packets of hot chocolate to the nasty Now and Laters I threw in the bottom ( left over from Katy's class party). The parents thought it was great, but the kids just want regular old candy. Now I know!!!!!!! Don't lets get creative with the goods, just bring on the candy!!

Hap Hap Everybody!

Anyone who has been to the Farley Family Christmas will surely understand the title of this blog. If not, contact me and I will sing a little something that will explain! Anywho, my birthday started out bright and early with breakfast in bed from the kids. Apparently they can cook scrambled eggs with cheese and waffles--who knew? (It worried me a tich that we have a gas stove with flames of fire and such) They were so cute to put a little catsup on the side and apple jelly on the waffles--they know me pretty well! They also included a banana, partially peeled for easy access, and a large glass of milk! That was a lot of food! Todd also got breakfast in bed just because he was there! I forgot to take a picture since I didn't have my full faculties yet, so I borrowed one from the internet!

I told Todd that Hawaii was going to count for my b-day but he wouldn't hear of it! He wanted to take me to dinner even though I already made myself a birthday dinner of Sweet and Sour chicken which we ended up saving for the next day. Melody had just told me about this chicken thing from Carabbas that she and Emily had that was the best thing ever, so at about 8:00 we headed to Orem. On the way, we passed Krispie Kreme and I decided we should definately stop for some pumpkin cake doughnuts in lou of a cake. We called the kids and told them not to fall asleep and we would have treats when we got back. Who eats doughnuts and ice cream at 10:00? I guess it sounds like this day was all about the food! Oh well, I had to drown my sorrows as I am approaching the mid 30's. Remember that T.V. show "Thirty Something" ? That is Me!! Funny and wierd that I am that person. I still feel like I'm 20 something.......Anyway, thanks to all who called or stopped by to wish me a happy day and remind me of my oldness!

AROHA!

My first experience in Hawaii was when my parents took Matt and me as teenagers. The Polynesian Cultral Center was one of my favorite things we did. While we were there, a very enthusiastic man of asian descent stood up on his canoe, waved to everyone and said "AROHA!" Thus explaining the title above! Anywho, Todd and I took Katy and Jordan to Ohau during fall break to party and visit Skippy, Heather and kids. How fun to play with cousins in Hawaii! Skippy (Todd's bro.) is doing an externship at BYU Hawaii, so how could we pass up the chance to visit while they were there. We also gave the kids their b-day presents early--cameras! This was the best idea ever! I hardly had to take any of the pictures and it actually looks like I was on this vacation! Lest I ramble on and bore everyone to death, I will just provide an outline of the big funs that we had each day!


Thursday:
*Checked in at Turtle Bay (North Shore of Ohau)

*Plate Lunch (first things first) for dinner with Skippy, Heather and kids/Tour of their living quarters

Friday:

*Got right to the beach at the hotel. It is a bay that is so fun for swimming/walked around the resort

*Lunch at Hale'iwa Joes

*Ted's Bakery for the Pineapple Macadamia cheesecake (see the slideshow--especially Emily!)

*Found Magnum P.I.'s estate "Eagles Nest". Todd looked it up on the internet and had to dodge waves around some rocks to get to the title pool Magnum swam in below the estate. Sadly the house is torn down and a new something is being built.

*Liae Point-hole in a rock!

*Dinner with Skippy and Heather at the yummy Thai place. Jordan and Austin babysat the kiddios

Saturday:

*Jordan and Mom ran sprints on the beach and saw turtles

*Todd and Katy joined us for a morning swim in the bay

*Breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe (Like on 50 First Dates) with the cousins--delish

*Swap meet......Heather and I walked around in circles looking for the car. It all looks the same!

*Pounders Beach--picnic and big waves. The boys and the kids had fun on the boggie board. I am afraid, but I did have fun playing in the big waves. This was one of the favorite things! Funny how the beach is always the kids fav. and it is free!

*Back to the hotel for swimming/hot tub

Sunday:

*Pearl Harbor (seems like a quietish sunday activity) with the cousins

*Sunset beach for our sandwiches

*Back to the hotel for naps on the beach--heavenly

*Temple-visitors center and a very interesting "musical" fireside (the term musical used very loosley. We don't know who these people were. I think they were tourist that decided to grace the locals with their presence. They should stick to vacationing!)

*Dinner at Skippy and Heather's--Thanks Heather!

Monday:

*Todd went golfing at the Turtle Bay Palmer course

*Beach-snorkeling/pool at the hotel. Jordan loved the snorkeling, but Katy is more like her mom. We don't want to know who or what is playing in the water with us!

*Polynesian Cultral Center--Heather and the kids came to the villages with us and then we went to the Luau and Horizons night show. (We had to say goodbye there and everyone got a little teary. It was terrible to say goodbye, but we had a blast hanging out in paradise with you.)

Tuesday: (plane leaves at 9:40 p.m.)

We decided to fit in some of Mom's list of sights, and hit some favorite spots again!

*Breakfast at Hukilau....again

*Pounder's Beach.....again

*Bonzai Pipeline Beach--this one had the really big waves, almost too big for my liking!

*Waikiki Mall--looking for the Hilo Hatties and for Le Hing!!!!! Lunch at the food court--plate lunch of course for Mom and Dad...the kids wanted pizza!

*Drove to Diamond Head but it was closed

*Pali Lookout-Some say it is the most beautiful view in the world, me being one of them!

*Walked on Waikiki Beach in the dark then turned in the car and headed to the airport for our all night flight.

Wednesday morning:
*Arrived home at 7:30 a.m. and got the kids to school. Of course it was picture day for the girls so I had to figure out something in that department.

*Picked up Allyson from Melody's. She didn't want to leave. She said "There was a lot of baby holding" while I was gone. The girls are still talking about their "2 nights at each persons house."

Thanks so much to Matt, Cortnie, Jack, Nana, Papa, Melody, Jonny, and Julia for taking the girls while we were gone. They had just as much fun playing with you guys as we did with the cousins!

Anyway, we miss you Peck fam! Thanks for the awesomely fun time in Hawaii! Love you guys!

SOCCER!!

I finally remembered to sign the girls up for soccer! They ask me about it every year, after the season has already started--thank you Mother of the year! We have had a nice long break from soccer since we made Jordan narrow his extracurriculars to merely 3 sports per year! That's when I put it out of my mind forever. I actually thought maybe the girls wouldn't be so interested in the sports side of things, but Katy loved softball in the summer and who knew she could run like the dickens!! Man, when she kicks it in she can get down the field in a hurry! Katy made quite a few goals for her team, and by the end they had even learned how to pass to each other. After Jillian's first game, I asked her if she liked it. In her ever so dramatic way she answered "I don't like it....I LOVE it!" I loved how she came over to the sideline in the middle of the game to give me a kiss, and her thumbs down if the other team scored. She was always interacting with me during the game which is a fun change from the more intense games of the older kids. It reminded me of the end of One Fine Day, when the kid was playing soccer and he was just excited to kick the ball! That was Jillian, just happy to be there and have fun. The highlight for her was having Melody, Jonny, Lili, Jeff, Matt, Cortnie and Jack come to her last game. Thanks guys--what awesome aunt and uncles! So, good exercise and fun times had by all. Football is still in session, but what a relief to only have 1 game a week this month instead of 3. Katy's and Jordan's games were on the same night so things were pretty hectic during Sept. What do people do? Only let one kid be in a sport at a time? I don't think that would fly around here, but I certainly don't want to be one of those parents running around with thier head cut off! I finally got prepared last week and carefully planned out our meals so we didn't have to eat tacos at 9:00 for dinner. Maybe when they talked about overscheduling our kids in conference last time it was for the parents benefit. How can we do the important stuff when the trivial things are taking over? Hopefully things will calm down now, but surely something else is right around the corner--never a dull moment round these parts!!!!!

Please continue to ignore the black spot on every picture. Apparently I have dust on my sensor and will be paying 35.00 to have it cleaned!

Did you say kittIES?

It all started at the annual cousins picnic at Frisby's house. I excused Todd from attendance because I needed the swingset put into the ground(preschool was starting the next day). After the yummy food and the Karoke, out come the darling tiny kittens! That is when the begging began as it always does when someone has kittens. At first I said "Not on your life!" etc. Then Stacia chimes in about how cats are the best, and they will be all litterbox trained and whatever and all the sudden I was agreeing to let the kids have one! They wouldn't be ready to leave for a few weeks, which gave me some time to convince Todd--YIKES! He is generally opposed since the previous attempts to have a kitten haven't worked out. Tunces (very hyper, jumped up on everyone) was run off by a cat with no tail who tried to become our pet. Our next attempt was Max(whined constantly at the back door trying to come in). His mom from across the street kept coming over to take him home. Both times we only ended up having the kittens for a few weeks. Also, Todd hasn't been happy with how the kids have taken care of the kittens, and he always ends up taking over. But, the kids cried that they are pet deprived, and this time will be differnt, we will do everything to take care of it.... I caved! Well, it was finally time to get the kitty, so I called Aunt C. to see if she was home. Somehow, I still don't know quite how it happened, I got talked into taking 2. One calico and the one that looks like Hitler! The kids coudn't contain their excitement and the kitties do play so cute together. When Todd (still not thrilled about the kitty thing) got home from work I said "come see the kitties." He started walking toward the garage and then realized what I said. "Did you say kittIES, as in you brought more than one?" But as soon as he saw how low maintenance and good natured they are he was OK with it.

So far it has been GREAT! I think Maisy and Courgar are doing so well because they have each other. I haven't heard them once whine at the door (which takes away the guilt of making them "outside cats") and they are so good with the kids. It's true they are litterbox trained and already used to not coming in the house. The kids are also keeping up their end of the bargain cleaning out the litterbox, keeping their food and water full, and playing with them. Jordan has even introduced them to the alleged garden area in the backyard where we saw all the mice scurry around when we tilled the dirt! He said they already have the scent! I guess we have a year to worry about the two cats reproducing (I think we got one of each). Someone will have to get fixed! Anyway, thanks to the Frisbys our kids finally have a pet--at least for now....

The Bluetooths!

I guess people are getting sick of seeing the back to school pictures on my blog (I have recieved an editorial comment!!! It was actually funny if you want to look) Well, I'm sick of it too--boring! I've been meaning to post about Katy and Jillian's new imaginative craze. One day Jillian came in the room talking to herself like..."What...oh ya....I know...mmmhumm" etc. I thought she was trying to talk to me, but then she pointed to some thing hanging on her ear. I think it is a keychain of sorts with a charm hanging off of it. She was talking on her bluetooth of course. Then I looked outside to see katy sitting on the jungle gym talking to herself with something similar hanging off her ear! I thought that was pretty funny since Lili and Papa are the only ones they have ever seen with such a thing! They love to take them to Nana's and it was a crisis when Katy left hers there! Jillian is very stalwart about hanging hers on a tack next to the lightswitch in her room. Maybe she won't be the kind of Mom who can never find her phone, like me! Anyway, that's the closest they will get to a bluetooth for a long time!e!

Now We're all Back to School

Today was the first day of preschool! If you can believe it, it is my 7th year and Melody's 4th. Allyson has also had about 7 years worth of preschool already, but this is the first year she is actually enrolled in the T, Th morning class, and it was Julia's first day too! Melody and I rearranged the room, so we'll have to see if we like it. We have 15 darling kids in the morning class(T, Th) and 13 darlings in the afternoon class (T,W, Th). They were so cute and relatively good for the first day. They were already making us laugh and it seems like we will have really fun classes this year. Julia was also very cooperative! Hopefully the kids don't maul her to death, and drive Melody nuts! Anyway, here is a slideshow of all of our first day back!



Allyson has been so excited for preschool to start and to have all her friends coming. I asked her how her first day was and she said it was fun! She liked the toys and putting stuff in her cubby! Funny, she isn't totally sick of it all! This is totally unrelated, but yesterday Ally asked Nana if they could look at the things in her "Julia box" (jewlery box). Funny!

Back to School, Back to Reality

I have been dreading this day all summer. I love having no homework, a break from preschool, swimming, camping and just general freedom from a set schedule. Yes, it's true, the kids are driving me nuts with their fighting and messing up the house. But, the biggest reason I didn't want summer to end was that I had to send my precious boy to the arpit of the earth....Jr. High. I can't believe he is that old. I don't feel old enough to have a kid in Jr. High. I still feel like I'm 20, just starting out my family. Of course, he lost his schedule (boys! I had mine highlighed and placed securely in the front of my trapper keeper!), so I had to go with him on the first day to make sure he got another one and knew where to go etc. As I walked with him toward the locker hall I said "I guess you probably don't want me to go down there with you." he said "If you need to Mom, you can come." I guess he doesn't hate me quite yet. I left with my eyes filling up with tears. I almost couldn't leave him there. I'm worried about so many things--8 classes to keep track of, bad influences, girls, drugs, teachers teaching wierd things, etc. Todd gave him a really nice blessing which actually helped calm me down a little too. Anyway, I went straight to my running which really helped. I had my music and I tried to concentrate on my breathing as to not burst into hystarical crying. It's just that the world is so scary these days and I can't be with my kids every second anymore to protect them. Hopefully they make good choices and talk to us about things that go on in school. Also, people have told me to volunteer at the school so I feel like I know what is going on. Nonetheless, Jordan is loving it so far and he is already getting better organized.

I am also a little concerned about Katy's teacher. He is kind of weird and just got moved up from P.E. specialist to 4th grade a week before school started. He called her "Katy bug" in P.E. and it made her embarassed, so I told her to let me know if anything happens to make her feel uncomfortable and I will switch her to another class. So far she is liking school, but I will be keeping a very close eye!

I guess I'm sounding a little "dooms day" about Jordan and Katy. Jillian, on the other hand, is loving 1st grade. She loves her teacher and was excited to be the first "Star Student" and pick a prize out of the box. Lunch is, of course, her favorite part of the day. It's been weird to have her gone all day, but Allyson and I are having a blast with each other. Sept. 4th preschool starts and Allyson will finally get to go to school too. She can't wait to have all her friends over at once! So the new year is underway and it's back to gride kidios! And back to the grind for Me too!

Tracy Aviary

As it turns our, I have never been to the Tracy Aviary in SLC. My friend Heather called to see if I wanted to do something fun with the kids since summer was almost over, so we headed up. We went to the Liberty Park(I think that is the one) that is right next to it and ate lunch. The kids loved to water fountains and the Saratoga like rides. When we finally went to see the birds Heather and I were pretty much wiped out and dying from the heat. The girls followed around a peacock and liked feeding the ducks. It seemed like we couldn't get enough water to cool us down, so we stopped at the 7-11 on the way home for Slurpees. That seemed to do the trick! I'm sad that summer is coming to an end, but I do love the cool fall weather!

July Funtivities!

Ok, I realize that the last blog was a tich wordy, so this one will be more-or-less a listing, with a few explanations and slideshows! Here we go...

4th of July
July started out with a bang (as it always does)with a 4th of July Logan trip. We were so excited that Matt and Cortnie were here that we followed them to Logan to party! Grandma's achillies tendon was bugging her, and Cortnie had jet lag, so Mom and I (escorted by Dad) ran the Lewiston 5K! Those ones are the best because you can actually win in your age group! Mom took 1st and I took 2nd. When we got back we went to play tennis (see Matt's blog for some cute pics.) and then had a b-que on Grandpa's deck (Todd was in charge of the delicious hamburgers)with Clark and Brenda. Then we watched the USU fireworks from Grandpa front lawn. Next was black and white night on Grandpas big screen. Todd and Jordan had stuff to do back at the ranch, so they left after the B-que and the rest of us stuck around. For the next few days, Grandma was so nice to take us to all the Logan hot spots! We went to the cheese factory, Prestwich Farms factory, Caspers icecream, the fancy fun pool(Jack and Jill jumped right off the high dive-no fear!), and Costa Vita for dinner. On the way out of town we went to Ratatouille and Artic Circle. We had a great time, and I even found time to finish Ender's Game!

M,C,& J
The big fun with Matt and Cortnie continued through most of July. It was so fun to party with them. They were good sports to put up with all of us! Some of our fun times included sleep overs with Jack, the Lehi Pool, Harry Potter, Ping Pong, B-ques and dinners, movies, Jillian's play, shopping, house hunting (in case they move back) and just chatting!

Swim Team
Katy decided to join the swim team this year! To try out you have to be able to swim 3 strokes across the pool. So, in a few trips to the pool, she learned how to breathe on freestyle, do the backstroke without weaving all over the lane, and how to do the breast stroke. She made the team and was very dedicated to her morning workouts. Her time ended up being at 9:00 and I just ran on the track while she swam, and sometimes I did a few laps after she was done. She really improved over June and July and had a great time. The meets were long and annoying, especailly County. They have bronze, silver and gold meets that you go to according to you times. At the last minute they changed Katy to the silver meet in P.G. I was bored to tears so Melody and Jonny came to rescue me! She one all of her heats(she must have been in the slow ones!!!) and placed 13th in backstroke and 19th in breast stroke. Who knows how many participants there were...Anyway, at a couple of the meets she was signed up for the I.M. where you have to swim a 25 of each stroke. I thought she would never make it without stopping or dying! The first time she got DQ for only a one had touch on breast, but the second time she passed! It brought back good memories of my own summer swim team adventures! (nevermind the black dot on all the pictures...)

Jillian's Play
I signed Jillian up for a theater workshop thing. The play they did was about bugs going to a picnic. They gave them a CD with the lines and songs on it and told them to listen to it at home. She took this very seriouly, as usual, and had her parts and most of the others memorized within a few days. Before practice one day I said "oh shoot, we better practice your parts" She told me she already did that morning and she had them memorized. Very self motivated. The hard part was getting her to say the parts with enthusiasm! The first performance...not so much! The second time was like night and day. It was so nice of Matt etc. as well as Lili and Mom and Dad to come to her play. She loved being the center of attention! This was one of her parts "That's right, I'm a Dragonfly. I may look rather odd. I've just gone through a metamorphesis, for I am and arthropod!"


In other news...
* Jordan played in the State baseball tournament
* Ran with Mom, G-ma, Brenda and friend Mandi in the Hyde Park 5K (Logan) Katy and her friend Spohie did the mile race and WALKED across the finish line together!
* Pioneer Day b-que and sparklers at Mom's
* Football camp/try-outs--Jordan made the A Team!
* Todd played in Monticello golf tourn. and stayed in Moab-1 under 1st day and
played well enough the next 2 days to earn back his entrance fee!
* Took Katy and Jillian to 7-peaks

I guess this one was pretty much the same as last time, but now I am caught up to August and I can do normal sized blogs!

June Fun-tivities!

This is going to be a longer blog, so you may need to read it in small chunks--however there are exciting slideshows to keep your interest! I am basically going to outline the highlights of our summer, so here is June! This list of fun times is actually going to start with Memorial Day, but close enough!

Memorial Day
We went camping with our friends the Normans for Memorial day. We tried to go to Palisade State Park near Manti, but it was all full, so we found a campground called Temple Hill Resort (term used loosely) and reserved a spot there. We weren’t sure what to expect, and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. We had a hard time getting there since our trailer is having problems with the slide out. Todd worked all day on it and we finally got out of town. The kids ended up hitting it off with the Norman kids and got along great. They only ever see them once a year or so, but they got right to exploring and playing games. We went on hikes to find petroglyphs, milked the campground cow, took pics at the temple grounds, some went golfing, swam at the questionable pool, played games, and rode 4-wheelers. We rented the 4 wheelers right from the campground and hopped right on the trails! The Norman kids loved Todd’s “Juciest hamburgers they ever had!” and of course we had peach cobbler in the dutch oven.

Little Red Riding Hood
I started out the summer with a 68 mile bike ride in Logan. My friend Heather and I(see triathalon pics in March) decided to do this ride for cancer. I signed up for the 38 mile version, but at the turn off decided to continue on as to not be bored riding by myself. Amazingly, I made it! And in better time than expected--I averaged about 16 MPH. Let's remind ourselves that my longest ride until this point was 18 miles. It was actually fun and as an added bonus, I burned 3100 calories!!!!!! The food was also awesome! They had stops every 15 miles or so with every fruit you could want all cut up nice, little sandwiches, power bars, drink refills, Ibuprophen, pottys, everything you could think of. It is a women's only race, so at all the stops were the men being everso helpful and encouraging. They had the best lunch-Subways, chips, fruit, cookies, etc. And at the end....Creamies, chips and salsa, you name it! They also had a breakfast that morning and a dinner party the night before when we picked up our stuff. I know it sounds like I am all about the food, but man what 5K could compete with that! Anyway, Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to let us stay at their house even though they weren't there and I had the best shower of my life after 4 1/2 hours on a bike! We are hoping to make it an anual event and we are trying to get big group to ride together with matching shirts and all the fun stuff, so anyone who wants in invited!

Our Baby Julia
Of course the highlight of our summer has been baby Julia! No other baby will do for Allyson--"Mommy, that baby is not cute as our Julia!" "I don't like that baby!" Jordan and Katy are always fighting over who gets to hold her (and well, so am I). One day I said Allyson couldn't hold her because she was fussy and she said "I want to hold the fussy Julia!" The funny thing is that Jillian isn't as obsessed as the others. It must be the age! We loved playing with Emily when she was here to see the baby. Even though she got sick that one day, we still had fun times. Anyway, Jonny and Melody are so patient and cute to share her with us all--We love her tiny self!

IKEA

Yes, the excitng times are here. IKEA has graced us with her presence here in Utah. I did not sleep out to be one of the first ones in, In fact I waited several days if you can believe it! I decided to get the cubbies that all of my sisters have and put them in the laundry/mud room. They are the BEST! Each kid has a cubby for their laundry, there are cubbies for swimming stuff (in the winter I will put the hats and gloves in those), mismatched socks, tools, bracelet bead stuff, sports stuff, etc. On the top I got green containers from Walmart for cleaning supplies, handwashings/towels to wash, and DI stuff. After getting several opinions from various family and friends, I decided that mixing different kids of baskets was just fine and the most functional way to do it. For instance, bottom row has the sports junk and tools, so they needed a more sturdy basket. Anyway, here is a picture of the pride and joy! The best part of it all was that I installed it myself and never had to bug Todd once to build or assemble it!

Strawberry Days 5K
This year I ran the race wtih Mom, Grandma, Jonny, my friend Cori, and Melody and Dad walked with weeks old Julia! Jonny said he just didn't want me to beat him. On what planet could I ever beat him? I did however run it in 25:50 which I think is my PR and was 9th in my age group! It was really fun, but the shirst were the ugliest they have ever been-even worse than the yougart cup ones.(See Jonny, Melody, and Dad)

Strawberry

Our next adventure was camping at Strawberry Reservoir with the Ruffners (the people Todd is building the Park City house for). The trailer was even worse this trip and we took it in to the shop when we got home. Of course our warrenty expired in May, so we are trying to decide whether to trade it in, or fix it, or what. Anywho, The kids had a great time fishing on the rented pontoon boat. They caught 29 fish, but none of them were rainbow trout. They were all cut-throught and we couldn't keep those. None-the-less, when do you catch that many? Todd and Jordan shot their guns a little and the girls went on a ride in the Ruffner's ranger jeep. The kids also loved playing with the walkie-talkies, Disney Scene It. I, myself, was sneaking any minute I could to read Ender's Game! Todd made the famous dutch oven ribs and peach cobbler and they were loved by all.

Baseball/Softball

We had a lot of fun this year watching Jordan play baseball, and this year Katy decided to play softball. Many of their games overlapped and were at different places, so it was a little hard to juggle. They have such supportive grandparents, Aunts and Uncle. Even Emily spent some of her precious hours of vacation time at the kids games. Jordan ended up being one of the 2 main pitchers and short stop when he wasn't pitching. He doesnt' normally pitch, so I was a nervous wreck. It is so hard to watch your kid be discouraged when they are having an off day. Everyone is counting on them to pitch well--so much pressure. As we got farther into the season, he got much more comfortable and ended up doing really well. In fact, our team didn't make it to the state tourn., but another team picked Jordan up to pitch with their team in the tourn. The kids are only allowed a certain number of pitched per week, so the teams can pick up extra pitchers so they won't run out. Usually the pick-up guys just pitch, but when they used up his pitches, they put him on third base. Even though it wasn't his actual team, they were very nice to him and he a great time! Now about Katy. This was her first year and she did awesome! She usually got at least one base hit in every game . She was a good sport when her team lost every game except for one. I think all she cared about was hitting the ball!

The Rest....
In our spare time we had even more fun! Todd and Jordan went to Jordan's survival boy scout camp. Todd was in charge of the GPS course and loved every minute. Katy went to Girl Scout Day camp and joined the swim team for the first time(I will blog more about that in the July funtivities!). Jillian went to play practice every tues and thus. morning and lost her first tooth! Did you know that the tooth fairy can sometimes come while you are at church? We also had weekly sleepovers/tennis with Nana, went to piano lessons, the summer movies at the cinemark theater, got a pass to the Lehi Pool, and played non-stop with the neighbor kids. I'm just wondering who made up the name "Summer Vacation!" No, really summer is so fun and I love being with the kids(when they aren't fighting) and it is a nice break from preschool. So.....if this blog didn't bore you to tears, watch for July funtivities coming soon!

ENDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know this will be hard to believe, but I have actually read not one, but 2 books in the last few weeks! Also, it might blow your mind to know that they were sci fi! Todd has been bugging me to read Ender's Game since we got Jordan the set for Christmas. I also found out that most everyone in the fam except me Melody. I knew Matt was also huge fan also, but I thought.....why would I be interested in a space and fighting type of book. I read Ender's game in a few days over the 4th of July and loved it! (full of eternal truths and just a great story) I couldn't wait to get home from Grandma's so I could get Ender's Shadow and read about Bean's side of the story. Todd put it on my ipod and opened a whole new world to me! Who knew you could read and get something done at the same time (plus if I am tired I can lay and rest my eyes while I listen!) It only took a few days to get through Ender's Shadow which I liked just as much if not better! I cleaned out my closet, did laundry, did the dishes and ran while I listened. (I wondered if I would like running with it, and I DID!) I would recommend these books to anyone! I think next I will listen to Speaker for the Dead(next in the series) and actually read the vampire book Elise has been begging me to read. Since we have been doing some camping, and hope to do some more, I should be able to get through several books this summer. Cami gave me a great list of books to read, but if anyone else has favorites to suggest please let me know! Also, Yay for Melody. She listened to Ender's Game on CD and loved it too!

A Gift From the Heart

THIS little wonder to the left was my Mother's Day present from Todd. It is somewhat annoying that he always thinks of the perfect gift, and I can never think of anything for him. Part of the reason, I think, is that in order to buy a piece of technology, one needs to KNOW about the technology. Thus I can never buy him anything he would actually want! Anyway, this is a GPS/heart rate monitor extroidiarie! I absolutely love it and don't know how I ever exercised without it! Like our Dad, I love to time myself, track my progress, etc. It makes a little map of where I ran, average mph/heart rate, tells me how many calories I burned, and countless other interesting things! I love knowing how far I have gone without driving around my route in the car afterward. You can also plug it into the computer and it graphs your route and all kinds of other stuff that Todd loves! You can set it up to alert you every so often if you want to do interval training, or if your heart rate goes to high etc. To work the heart rate monitor, you have to wear a strap around your chest and the info registers on the watch. I am actually trying to figure out if I am working my heart too hard or where I should be. It seems like I am too high, but I am still investigating that part. Anyway, you can switch it to biking mode and I does all the stuff for that too! I acutally read the manual so that I could work many of the features, but I'm sure the coolest parts are wasted on me. Luckily Todd has decided to start riding his bike and trying to get in shape, so he can use the watch and be excited about the cool features! Also, let's pay attention to the fact that I learned how to get a picture off of the internet and onto my blog! That is the big time--and also thanks to my techno savy husband! Without him, I would still have a DOS menu on my computer and a big floppy drive! It takes me a while to come around to the new things. I am currently annoyed that he put Windows Vista on my computer to make it "so much better!" Everything looks different and I feel like I am re-learning how to get pics off my camera, find Word, and well all of it! He wants me to open up more than one thing in windows at once! Like I said, a lot of the cool stuff is wasted on me, but I am coming around. I am glad I have a smart husband to answer my every question. Anyway, if anyone is in the market for a cool running watch, check out this one!

The Dance Recital...

The day was finally here for the big dance recital! The girls have been so excited about their dances, the costumes, make-up, the stage etc. I took the girls back stage, got them all situated, took pictures and then sat down in the audience to enjoy the show with Todd, Allyson, Jonny and Melody. As the recital progressed, I started to get more and more disturbed by the costumes and more alarmingly the way the girls were dancing. Luckily for us, Katy was a pirate in her dance and Jillian was Belle. Their dances were cute and not immodest. I couldn't believe that the parents of the older girls (even the 12 & 11 year olds) were on board with what was going on. There was way too much shaking of everything and in general making the kids act older than they are. After the dress rehersal Katy told me that some of the girls had immodest outfits on. I told her that dancers have to wear leotards etc. so it is ok. Woops- I was wrong! In one of the dances, the older girls were wearing saloon looking costumes without the floofy skirts. Are you kidding me? It looked like they were wearing neglegees!!!! Not to mention they were dancing around like ladies of the evening. The straw that broke the camels back was the three year olds coming out in swimsuits with a towel velcroed around their chest. They looked cute, but half way through, they ripped open the towels and shook their hips and such. I'm not exaggerating--ask Melody! I had the girls registered for the summer session, but called and took them out. All 6 girls from the neighborhood decided to quit after the recital! If this is how the dance world is, I think we may be going the sports route wtih our girls! If I do ever put the girls in dance again, I am going to the recital first and doing a lot more talking with the ladies in charge before hand. This place was recommended to me by people I know, but aparently I need to do the investigating myself! The good new (sorry about my rant) is that the girls were darling, they had a great time, and both of them are going to use their costumes for Halloween! We also have video presentations available for anyone who is interested. Katy and Jillian will gladly watch it with anyone anytime!

Spring Break in St. George!

I am so behind on my blogging, but I still want to tell about the fun times! For Spring Break we went to St. George. Some friends asked Todd to play in a golf tournament and we wanted to go camping somewhere anyway, so we deciede to take the trailer and go there. That same week, I talked to Lori Cluff (my friend since grade school who moved to St. George recently) to tell her we were coming and she asked if Todd sold all his lots or what was going on with that. Anyway, she said Carter's boss might be interested in buying them, so Todd gave him a call. They had their golf meeting and it seemed like they could work together. Todd told him we were going to St. George and he offered to let us stay at his condo/house at Coral Canyon. I felt dumb at first, but we took him up on his offer. It was so nice and much bigger than our trailer. They had fun trails to bike or run on, a nice pool and clubhouse and it was on the golf course where Todd was plaing the tournament!

Anyway, the kids loved it! We got to visit Lori and actually all the Bowen's(they were all there too), and the Ruffners (the guy Todd is building the Park City house for) were also there, and the Revells who were playing in the golf thing all had kids for the girls to play with. Mom and Dad also came down for 2 of the days, so we were never lacking for something to do. We swam at our pool the first day while Todd played a practice round. Ruffner called later to ask about the house and we realized they were also in St. George at their new condo (which just happened to be where the Revells were staying). He said to come see it so we went and ended up having a bargeque with them. His wife is really nice and loves all of the dumb funny movies we all love, and our girls were instant friends with thiers! The next day we swam at their pool with the Ruffner kids (above)and then went to the golf dinner at Tony Romas. When we got back to the house Mom and Dad were there and heading out to Aunt Fae's in Virgin.

The next morning Todd went to the last day of the tourn. and the kids and I headed to Virgin to visit Aunt Fae and go to the town pancake breakfast. This was a big step for me--I don't drive anywhere weird usually. Dad gave me good directions and a map so we made it with no trouble. We loved seeing Aunt Fae's artistic and unique house! She is such a wonderful host and so loving to everyone. At the breakfast the kids did a t-shirt coloring contest and found a friendly dog that they fell in love with! Then we headed with Nana and Papa to Zions. We rode the Bus thing and decided to get out at the last stop and walk on the trail that goes down to the river. Papa taught the kids how to skip rocks, and now Allyson is always picking up "skipping rocks" where ever we go! She doesn't quite grasp the idea that they needed to be flat and such! The kids loved the friendly squirrles and Jordan had fun taking pictures.

It is getting harder to entertain everyone on these fun family trips as the kids get older. Jordan wanted to go to the nike outlet and the go-cart place, and I was running out of steam. Luckily, Todd was done when we got back from Zions, so we met him at the condo place(after stopping at the outlet) and went to Fiesta Fun! We miniture golfed, did bumperboats and the go-carts....as if we hadn't had enough fun already! After that, we went back to the Revell's condo for a barbeque and the Jazz game! That was a very fun and slightly exhausting day!!!

Our trip ended the next morning as I cleaned our guest house, washed the sheets and we headed home in the rainstorm. It is so nice to be able to drive a few hours in the cooler months and find warm weather. It makes me want to have a condo or something there someday. It may help with Todd's seasonal depression to be able to golf year round! Plus it is on the way to California and such...Grandmother and Grandaddy had the right idea!!!

I forgot to mention that before we even got out the front door to start the Big Fun, Allyson decided to give herself a haricut! Luckily Star next door has a salon in her basement and helped us out with an emergency fix. She cut the chunk out of the front side, so if you strategically place a bow or ponytail, it looks ok. Anywho, above is what the new haircut looks like, when she isn't looking like an orphan child!

Food Follies and Fun

Since Emily and Melody take pictures of their food adventures, I thought I would share some of ours! First Jillian has discovered the Nick Jr. website. After playing some sort of game dealing with muffins, she asked me if she could push the button that says "print here for a muffin recipe". I said sure and she printed out and colored 3 different ones. We decided to make the chocolate muffins because I had all the ingredients (they actually just look like cupcakes, but taste much better!) Success! She was so excited to deliver some to Todd in his office and share them with the kids.

Next, was a Mother/Daughter achievement day activity that involved cake decorating. I thought a pink and green and brown one would be cute, so I mistakenly made the Martha Stewart cake which is delish, but not so pleasing to the eye. I forgot that I always have a hard time making the layers not lopsided. This time was particularly bad...pieces stared falling off. Katy said it was fine. She thought we could put some green frosting and make it look like a hill or something. She wanted to put a chocolate chip in the middle so it would look like we dug a hole to plant a seed! I thought I would spare her the public humiliation of having the worst looking cake and went to the store for a cake mix and some frosting in a squeeze can with fun tips. On the way to the activity we picked some blossoms off our bushes and trees and this was the result. She had a great time and was proud of what she created! Can you believe I didn't even have to go to chefery school and I can bake like this? Too bad Emily didn't come a few weeks earlier.....we may have gotten a better award than "Best Smelling Cake!"

Happy Easters to All!

Here are some pictures for those of you(I guess this pretty much includes everyone) who never see us at church-they do clean up nicely don't they! I hope you all had a nice Easter/Cami's B-day! If you haven't watched Nacho Libre yet, do so immediately and look for the priest's comment about Easters. I can't say Easter without the S anymore! I hope it is not sacrilidge!

I Survived-And Loved It!!!

I did it--and I survived! Saturday was my first attempt at a triathalon sprint. This is a picture of my friend Heather Walker and me just before the swim. (She is a seasoned triathlete and marathon runner). It all started last summer when I decided to get a road bike. I needed to do some cross training to mix up my workouts. I also started swimming laps. For Christmas, Todd gave me a trainer for my bike so I could ride inside during the winter. So, when my nutritionist friend mentioned that the Icebreaker Sprint was coming up I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. I trained harder, got the outfit (very important to look the part!!) and did a strict pre-race diet. The diet is designed to clean you out and then build up your proteins and carbs. Before I got there, I felt really intimidated and I found out that I couldn't use my Ipod on the run! With the run being last, I was afraid that would be problematic, so I convinced Mom to come and do the run part with me. But when I got there, there were people of all ages, sizes, and skill levels. I was number 202 which meant I had to wait a while for my turn to swim. They start with number 1 and another person starts every 10 seconds. Apparently either people don't actually know their swim time when the register, or they lie about it because I kept getting stuck in clogs and couldn't get past people. I couldn't go my hardest in the swim, so I didn't even feel winded when I got out. Next it was off the the 12 something mile bike! The hardest part of the bike was the hill at the first of the 6 mile loop. We had to do that hill twice on the bike and then run up it at the start of the 5K-yikes. It was great to have Mom with me on the run because my legs felt pretty noodley when I got off the bike. It was hard to tell if I was running too slow because everything feels slow compared to the bike. I told Mom just not to let me walk. I wanted to run the whole thing, and surprisingly, I never felt like I wanted to walk. It actually all went faster than I expected and I felt great afterward! Todd was so proud of me! All day he kept saying how proud he was and he told everyone we saw (which was a little embarrassing). He took all of these lovely pictures of me in all my glory and was at the race the whole time. It really helped to have my cheering section there to keep me going. I did feel like I accomplished something that I have been working hard for and it was a good feeling! Heather and I got our free massages afterward, and we also got a free one before the race. The guy said I need to stretch more-oops, I guess I will get working on that! So, my time at the end was 1:22 which was better than I expected. I was 7th in my age group! It is really cool how they time everything and break it all broken down. I did the swim in a disappointing 7:11, the bike in 40 minutes(better than anticipated) and the 5K in 28 something. The rest of the time was in the transitions. Anyway, it was so fun and I will surely do another one-maybe with Mom or Chad and Laura next time!

I am a Happy Mommy!

Sometimes as a mother my kids amaze me. Sometimes I'm amazed that a child of mine would do such a naughty thing, or such a cute thing etc. But, this weekend I was just happy to be Jordan's mom! To make a long story short, several of Jordan's friends have little "girlfriends". Let's bear in mind that they are in 6th grade for crying out loud. Anyway, one of the girls in our ward decided to ask Jordan to "Go" with her. Since when did girls do the asking? Her friend called our house and when she asked Jordan if he would go with Shelby, he said NO! The friend was annoying and kept calling and being silly. Finally, Jordan called the girls back and asked to actually talk to Shelby. He explained that he thinks they are too young to be "going" together and that was the reason he said no. I was so glad that he didn't feel pressured by his friends and stood up for what he believes in. It turns out that Shelby was feeling pressured by her fiends and was glad that he said no. I couldn't believe that he took care of the whole thing by himself. Shelby's Mom said that Shelby was so embarrassed because the other friend was being so annoying, but Jordan was such a little man about it that it made her feel better. He is really growing up! I hope he continues to be a nice boy and make such mature and sensible decisions as he enters the "armpit of the earth" next year in school. Also, as a side note, we measured him today and he is only one inch shorter than me now! Yikes!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My dear blogger friends, I know I have neglected you all! Part of the reason is that I haven't been able to bug Todd about helping me put the video of Jonny and Katy dancing on here and that was going to be my next exciting blog. Also, I have been helping Todd with his bookwork whenever I can. Alas, he is a little stressed right now so I don't want to burden him with my computer issues! Anyway, today was the "Green Party" in preschool. Sad that both Mom and Lili are out of town so I get all the left over green treats that the kids brought (chococlate mint rice crispies, dirty popcorn, grapes etc.) Of course the kids were a little extra excited today, but all went well. It's hard to believe that there are only 2 1/2 months left of school-crazy!
The big news this month is that I am going to attempt a tri-athalon sprint! It is on March 24th in American Fork. It is a 300 swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run. I have been either running and biking, or running and swimming about 4 times a week. Lately I have tried to do my biking first and then run so I can get used to that weird feeling in my legs. I usually like to get the running over with first in my workout since it is the hardest for me. I am also trying to make Mom do it with me, so everyone work on her! She swims, bikes and runs every time she works out, so she should do great! Plus, she will probably win a ribbon or something because what person in her age group is in such good shape!
In other news, Jordan's basketball team lost their first game in the tournament, so we are done for the season-is was a sad sad game! Now Jordan has a break from sports until baseball starts in May. Katy just started indoor soccer which is her first experience with city sports! She is also going to try out softball this summer. So far only Jordan has played any sports, so we'll see how this goes having other kids games to watch--it should be fun. The other day I was announcing that we were going to Katy's game and everyone was taken a back! Katy said "I like that-Katy's game instead of always Jordan's game!" I guess the girls don't get quite as much attention for their extracurriculars since they only have 1 or 2 dance recitals or whatever a year. It will be fun to pay a little extra attention to the middle child!
Anyway, happy St. Patty's day on Saturday! I hope you all have delicious green dinners!

My baby is 3--How could this happen?

I decided to take Allyson and her little friends (and their moms) to Chuckie Cheese on her birthday. Grandmother's surprise party was that night, so we went for lunch, also that is when all the rides are free! She ran around hopping on all the rides, but kept coming back for more pizza in between. By nighttime she had a pretty bad stomach ache--I think she ate about 4 pieces of pizza and a cupcake! I told the friends not to make a big deal about presents since Dollar store items are still exciting to her. I told my friend Mandi to get her Capri Suns and she would be the hit of the party. (She asked Santa for that and screamed with delight when he actually brought it!) I was right! She kissed and hugged those Capri Suns! She was even shaking at one point as she tried to open the next present--it was just too much excitement. Later that night we went to Grandmother's party and then to Nana's to have cake and open presents. She screamed and hugged each present and immediately put on the dress-up and started playing with her Dora scooter. She was so funny and cute all day--I think it was a success!