Halloween Costumes 2009

Here's what we're planning to do for the 2 little ones, minus their hair and makeup being done.

Natalie is going to be a witch. We couldn't find a costume that she liked in a size that would work so we got her a fancy leotard that resembled the costume she wanted, and the witch hat matches it. Then we got her the striped stockings because they made the costume pop. Her face will be painted green, and she gets to wear makeup. She'll have her hair in two low ponytails tied with matching ribbons. Drew is going to be a vampire. He'll have a white face with "blood" around his mouth. And he isn't smiling for the pictures because he told me "vampires don't smile, Mom." Well, don't I feel silly? Natalie and Drew in their costumes, while Trevor peeks from behind.

Halloween Decor 2009

The top picture is how my front door looked with the cheapo witch, Halloween sign, the spider web, pumpkin garland and pumpkins. There are orange Halloween lights around the door that don't show up in the picture. The front door after I made a new Halloween wreath. Everything else is the same.
These are the terra cotta pots I spray painted with black glossy paint. Since this picture was taken I added Halloween garland around the outside, and moved the raven to the top. After Halloween I'll remove the garland and the raven and use it for Thanksgiving.

Here is my new pumpkin table runner before I laid it out on the table. It seemed to take forever to cut everything out, but now it's done, and I'm glad!

Here's the table runner with my sticks that I spray painted black, my black roses and a couple of spooky votive holders. The felt candy corn pillows I made are in a jar by the front door. I put my new BOO letters in front of the jar. I think it turned out cute. (If you want to know how to do those projects just check my craft blog. There's a link on the sidebar.)

I also have several votive holders and wood Halloween figures around the family and living rooms. Apparently I didn't take pictures of those, but you can look at last year's pictures if you really want to see them!

Cabin Fever

During fall break we went up to the cabin for a few days for a little R & R. Kent hasn't been with us for the last couple of trips so it was fun to have him join us.

This is Kent's idea of R & R... rest and relaxation...

This is the boys' idea of R & R... wRestling and Recreation...

I brought several books thinking that I could get a ton of reading done. Instead I cleaned, cooked and went on nature walks. I also worked with Drew and Natalie on their fall break homework. Justin, Trevor and I watched shows on the Discovery Health channel. They really liked the Real Stories from the E.R. Kent and I even got to spend time together and talk without many interruptions since our cell phones didn't get reception at the cabin.

Natalie on our nature walk. She loves going on walks with me, and loves looking at plants.

Here I am wearing my beautiful Broncos hoodie.

Natalie, me and Drew got a lot of time together. Drew thought it was hilarious to close his eyes and smile for all the pictures.

Another tradition we kept was feeling the animals the peanuts. We were visited by 6-8 blue jays at a time, and several squirrels that would let us know when they were ready for more food. Drew took may of the pictures of the animals this time.

Kent took the kids fishing, and they didn't even get a nibble. I think the bears came to the lake and wiped out the supply so they could hibernate. The kids had fun fishing, though and want to go again.I got scared half to death at one point. Kent took the kids to DQ to get ice cream so I was alone. I was sitting on a chair right next to the sliding glass door and noticed something move out of the corner of my eye. I had my backpack right there so I thought it tipped over. I stood it back up, turned back to my book and almost immediately I saw something and heard some scratching. That's when I noticed the gleaming green eyes that belonged to a fat raccoon. Whew! I was worried about foraging bears, wolves or coyotes. I can deal with a raccoon! The next night that raccoon came back with her 3 babies. The kids thought that was awesome. Our last night at the cabin was movie and Smores night. We lit the fire, melted our marshmallows and had a fun time watching the kids see who could get the best browned marshmallow. Then we watched Snow White. I loved that movie when I was younger, and was happy to share that with my own children.

My date with Drew

Lately Drew gets very upset whenever Kent hugs or kisses me. He gets even more upset when we go on a date. He wants to tag along, but we don't let him go because we feel that it's important that we go out together alone. Last week when Kent and I were getting ready to go on our date, Drew asked again if he could go with us. When I said no he asked if he could go on a date with me. I asked him what he thought a date was and when we would go on it. He told me a date was when a boy and a girl went places together, and he would give me a penny and a quarter so that he could pay for the date. Seriously, I think he is one of the cutest, funniest kids I know. He's asked me every day this week about going on our date, and on Wednesday gave me the penny and quarter and said now we could go.
This morning I got all fixed up so we could go after he was done with preschool. I picked him up, and on the way home I asked him if he wanted Dad to come with us since he was working from home today. He turned and looked at me, and with a very serious expression said, "Mom, you know about boys and girls. We already talked about it. It's one boy and one girl. Not two boys and one girl. Right?" He waited for me to agree with him, and then continued, "I'm one boy and you're one girl so that's it. Not Dad too."
When we got home he decided that he was going to ask Dad to come to part of it, but NOT all of it. He was very emphatic about that. Kent replied that he couldn't come because he had to work, so off we went. He wanted to go to Red Robin, but because we had to be back in time to pick the kids up from school, we didn't have enough time to go there and then see our movie. We ended up going to Chick Fil A, and then went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3-D. He wanted to sit on the top row, but it was already full so we sat in the one below it. We have never gone to a movie alone before, and we always sit in the lower levels because I hate going up and down the stairs every time someone needs to tinkle. So when he chose that seat I was surprised... He loved the movie, and kept laughing and holding my hand.
When the movie was over I asked him if he was going to tell the kids where we went today. He said, "No. But I'm going to tell them I kissed you on the lips!" Then he started giggling. He always tries to kiss my lips, and gets mad when I won't let him. When he manages to sneak one in, he is pretty happy with himself.
Tonight he says that we're going to go on another date tomorrow, and Dad can stay home and watch the kids. Then he laughs... such a funny kid!

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever had a case of the giggles at the most inopportune time and place, and the harder you try not to laugh/giggle the worse it is? That happened to me this afternoon. Drew was assigned to talk in Primary about "How listening to the prophets helps strengthen my family." So he and I talked about it and decided what he would his talk would be about. We practiced before church and he was great.
Kent has to teach the first hour so I was in there to help him.
Before I go any further I should mention that Drew has started talking in this really high voice (almost a falsetto) and doing these crazy moves recently. He usually does it because he's nervous. But he's recently started talking in the high voice to get us to laugh.
So we're up there with the first 2 sentences behind us. As he's saying the third sentence he notices that the kids are fidgeting- a lot. He scans the room, gets this smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. I read the next sentence and whisper it in his ear. Then he starts doing his high pitched voice with hand movements. I don't know what it was, but right then I started giggling. I tried to get out the words again, but all I could do was laugh. The more I tried not to laugh the worse it was. I had to turn away from the kids because I was laughing so hard at this point that I had tears. I vaguely noticed a woman walk in and sit in the back during this time, but I didn't recognize her so I didn't think much of it. Finally, Mindy Sanders (our wonderful Primary President) asks if she can help him finish the talk. Knowing Drew he'd just get down so I dug deep and (*barely*) managed to squeak out the last 2 sentences. I knew there was NO WAY I was going to be able to get any of the other things said because I was on the verge of another round of the giggles.
I got out of there as fast as I could because I was going to start giggling again. The woman who walked in while we were up there was a member of the new stake primary presidency. Didn't I set a stellar example for her? I do think, however, that my giggling helped the kids get their giggles and wiggles out. That's what I'm choosing to believe anyway.
Such a bad example... (But I'm still laughing!)

Lots to talk about

I have so much to talk about! September is already half over and we've already had a birthday, a talent show, had a tween become a teen and so much more. Unfortunately, my laptop motherboard died last Friday while I was working on the program for the talent show so I haven't been able to do much since then. I'm working on getting it replaced so I can post pictures and updates. Until then this will have to do! I have some great pictures of Justin's 13th birthday, fun pictures from the talent show and just crazy stuff going on around here. I'll try to work on it after pack meeting tonight, but this computer is S-L-O-W so no guarantees! Hopefully I'll be back to posting regularly soon! See you soon!

How much?

How much did I spend, and how much did I save? Whoever gets the closest answer for both will get a dozen of my homemade, baked from scratch cookies. (None of this packaged stuff that I got for when I'm in a pinch.) The rule is that you have to post a comment with your answer on the blog NOT via email!

Here's what I got: 5 boxes of Life cereal, 4 boxes of Cheerios, 2 boxes of Fruity Cheerios, 4 brownie mixes, 2 sugar cookie mixes, 8 lbs. of hamburger, 8 boxes of fruit snacks, 6 boxes of Quaker Instant Oatmeal, 1 box of Fiber One bars, 2 bags of marshmallows, 1 cantaloupe, 2 pounds of red seedless grapes, 2 cans of Pillsbury Grands biscuits, 1 can of Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls and 1 can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls

Hey Sandy, I broke my butt! (with update)

I was watching yet another repeat episode of Spongebob Squarepants last Monday. It was the one where he breaks his butt. My kids LOVE this episode. They think it's hilarious, and record it every time it's on. (I delete all episodes of SB just because I think it's stupid, but that's another story.) So last week as I was watching this I remember thinking, 'How can a sponge break his butt? He's only soft and fluffy so that would be impossible. Dumb!' Well, my posting Tuesday night about being grateful for my extra padding was posted right after I got home from pack meeting, where I landed flat on my butt. Hard. Very hard. It made my head and neck hurt immediately, and I thought my butt and lower back were saved because of the extra padding. Turns out I don't have enough to help with that. I woke up in the middle of the night with intense pain in my tailbone, hip and lumbar spine region. I brushed it off until this Monday because I figured anyone who fell hard enough to bounce on a hard basketball court would be hurting. I would feel pretty dumb if I went into the doctor with a bruise. When I finally decided that it was not getting better and the pain was terrible enough I decided to make an appointment. Because of my previous back surgery I was able to get in the same day. (Thank heavens for small miracles. I knew that surgery history would come in handy sometime!)
I went for x-rays and found out that I broke my tailbone... also known as my butt. I've turned it into a Spongebob joke so my kids will laugh instead of worry about me, but it does hurt quite a bit. And they are all being very helpful by doing their jobs, some of my jobs and bringing me ice packs whenever I need it. Drew has offered several times to give me a massage, but I politely decline because I think it would be just slightly inappropriate to have my 4 1/2 year old son massage my butt. But (no pun intended) it's still nice that he offers.

I'm still waiting to hear from my doctor to see if anything else is broken because I might need to make an appointment with my neurosurgeon. As nice as he is, if I had to go back to him for surgery, I would almost certainly need titanium hardware to be installed. My friend Taya has hardware in her back, and she assures me it's quite terrible. So if I can avoid that I'll be thrilled. The hold up on hearing from my primary doctor is the radiologist at the hospital I went to for x-rays. He or she is taking their dear sweet time looking at it and giving a report. Grr... I might give them a call later today and ask them to fax the report directly to me.

On a happy note, though, I was picking the kids up from school on Tuesday. Trevor was being himself... Oh, I mean, stubborn, that day, and I had to pull over to the side of the road to pick him up because he wouldn't get in the car. When I pulled over I opened my window and turned my head to yell at him. (My doctor said I had managed to sprain my neck (what?!) with the fall.) Well, when I turned my head to yell at him my neck made this HUGE popping/cracking sound, and I had to turn to the other side to do the same thing. I can finally move my neck! Yay!

My mother-in-law, Julie, broke her tailbone several years ago while walking down an icy sidewalk in Idaho. She broke it when she was a junior in high school, and had to have it removed a couple of years later. Sitting was really hard for her so she made a foam cushion with a hole cut out in the center. Then she made fitted covers to go over them. She made one for me, and 2 cute fitted covers too! My butt is in heaven, except when it's not. That's what pain medication and ice packs are for, though.

This is the cover I currently have on the pad. It has black, brown, yellow, white, purple and turquoise in the material so it can match a variety of outfits. Remember, this is going with me everywhere for the next few weeks- church, the movies, the UFC fight this weekend...

This is the second cover. It's black, purple, pink, turquoise and white. This is the one Natalie will steal, which is why it's not on the cushion right now. I need it more than she does.

If or when I hear from my doctor I'll post an update on what she wants me to do. Until then I'm out.

***UPDATE: I got a call from my doctor's office. The radiologist didn't see anything "significantly distorted" so I'm good to go. It'll just take a few weeks of sitting on my cute pillow for my tush to feel better. I'm glad I can stop worrying about another surgery. They are just no fun to recover from, KWIM?

Grateful

Tonight I am grateful for my extra padding. I long for the grace of my youth. 'Nuff said...

My great finds at the grocery store!

I was so excited when I saw my total at Albertson's today. I got 6 large boxes of Cheerios, 7 boxes of Fiber One bars, 6 boxes of fruit snacks, 4 boxes of popcorn, 3 water bottles, green and red grapes, cucumbers, green peppers, 6 ears of corn and a bag of ice for $44.06. I saved $76.67. Plus I got an extra 60 Box Tops for Education. Yay! That was a great deal, but on Saturday I went to Fry's and got tons of produce, meat, cereal and some baking items for $33.06. I saved over $55! I love sales with coupons! My pantry is totally full, and I saved a ton of money!

Sunday (with update)

Today is going to be a busy day. I stayed up way later than I wanted to last night so I could finish rearranging the kitchen cabinets. I decided to move 3 sections around. I would have been done relatively quickly, but Justin wanted to talk instead of reloading the dishwasher and washing dishes. That's okay. I treasure the time that we get to spend with each other.
I have already been to a scouting meeting (I'm the Wolf Den Leader), and Justin has a Deacon's Quorum presidency meeting in just a little while. I'll drop him off there on my way to a meeting at the church with the bishopric. I'll let you know when I get home what comes about from this meeting... After I'm done there we have church. I'm not subbing for anyone so I can attend class. When we come home we'll have steak for dinner. (I love finding great deals, and steaks was my big find yesterday. Hopefully they turn out well.)
After church I'll post a picture and recipe from last night on my craft blog. My kids said it looked disgusting but tasted good. Well... except Natalie and Drew. They wouldn't even try it because "(they) could tell it was so gross because it looks so gross." Nice... Nothing quite so good for my self esteem as having the kids give me their honest opinions! LOL
UPDATE: I am now the Activities Committee Chairwoman. Yay! We have a busy few months. The Talent Show is next month, a Trunk or Treat in October, helping with the Canning Committee's Preparedness Fair in November and finally the Christmas program in December. Crazy! I think we'll take a little break after that!

Drew's first day of preschool

My little Drew looking so cute before his first day of "preschool for big kids".

Drew didn't even turn around to tell me good-bye. I'm glad that he's so excited about school. I wouldn't mind if he was going to miss me a bit, though!

Drew started preschool today. In preparation for it he got a haircut last night. He looks so handsome. Fortunately he was very excited to go. He got right out of the car and ran up to the door. He had a great time with Miss Judi and the kids in his class. He can't wait to go back.

After school I was talking to some of the other moms. Drew quickly grew tired of listening to us and kept saying, "Okay, Mom, let's go. Stop talking now, Mom. Let's go." (Only it sounded more like "Wet's doe." It's kind of funny when he has a stuffy nose...) Then he and I went to lunch with our long-lost friends, Jenn and Mason DeTemple. We see them in passing at church, but with summer being so crazy for both of our families, we haven't hung out since May. After lunch Mason came over here to play for a while, and then Drew went to their house to play. He's still there. I'd probably better go get him since it's dinnertime. I hope he'll come...

August- Week 2

The 3 older kids started their first day of school this week on Monday! Yay! So much fun. They were excited to see their friends, meet new friends, see who was in their classes and (most importantly) finally be able to wear their new school clothes! Natalie was also excited to go all day long and be able to eat lunch at the school... and take her new tin Hannah Montana lunch box. Kent got them up and made sure they ate breakfast. I had packed all their backpacks full of extras Sunday night.
Trevor rides his bike so he is always the first to leave. For those who know him you'll know that this is a rare thing. This is the boy who does everything he can to delay working or anything that he doesn't want to do... and usually the last one in the car when we leave. Natalie is still too young for me to trust her riding a bike, so I'm driving her to school. And last May, Justin's bike was stolen from the bike locker area (with the lock attached). It hasn't been recovered so he's getting a ride with us. It's nice to have him in the car to talk to every morning and afternoon.

Justin, my 7th grader (yikes!), sporting his new shorter 'do. His hair is getting curly so he's really hating life (read- his hair) right now. I'm just happy it's short!
Natalie, my 1st grader, looking prim and pretty. Her shirt says, "If it's drama you want, HERE I AM!"

Trevor, my 5th grader, looking so cool, calm and collected.

This week also marked the first class for Justin. Last week, you'll remember, Trevor started his hip hop class. He loved it. He even had the routine and several new moves down. He practiced every single day. With Kristen Seare's help (and the fact that she's considered somewhat of an expert on girls since she has 4 of them), I was able to convince Justin to sign up for hip hop. I know I could appreciate a guy who could dance so he said he would do it. Well, he went with Trevor on Monday, and 2 of his friends were in the class too, so they had a lot of fun talking. When Justin came home he had a huge grin on his face. He had a blast, and feels a bit better about this undertaking.

Then little Miss Natalie came home from dance last week to say that she went to her jazz class and her teacher switched her to another class. The other class was for the other girls in the other group so when she told me this I wasn't sure what was going on. When I went in to drop the boys off on Monday I talked to Miss Mandi, and she said she switched Natalie to the other group, and that she was also now in ballet. Natalie would now be thrilled, right? Of course not. She went to ballet today, though, and now she's excited about it. There were a lot of friends in class with her so that made her happy.

Drew Dog starts school on Thursday. He has a meet and greet class in the morning. Kent will get to take him this time as I have an appointment. I sure hope that Drew is excited to go. He's had quite the adjustment not having Natalie come home at lunchtime. He has been especially clingy and whiny this week. Some of it's probably due to the fact that he had the flu on Saturday, but most of it is because my poor boy doesn't know what to do with himself now that all his playmates are at school. He'll go 3 days a week, back to Miss Judy. He's totally excited about that. I'll post pictures of his first day on Thursday.

Kent's been totally busy with work. He's about to start more training so life will be even crazier next week. At least he's staying busy with his job. Hopefully that continues...

As for me, I've been working on completely redoing my office- again. My back was especially back all last week, and I was out of pain meds. It took 4 days to get me an appointment with my doctor, but it was well worth it. The pain has been more or less under control since Friday. I've been able to do some Pilates and yoga, so that's also helped. My office is almost ready for pictures. I just need to organize a few more things. Then I have a whole lengthy to-do list that I can tackle. I'll probably take some before and after pictures so I can see that, for at least for one minute, these areas were clean and organized.

August already?

This summer has gone by so fast! Natalie and I had our trip to the east coast, and then the entire family went to Utah. We were gone enough that Natalie wasn't able to take dance this summer. She said she was happy about it, but when we went to the studio she wanted to sign up for tap, jazz, hip hop and ballet. Of those classes she wanted to take we were only able to sign her up for tap and jazz. The hip hop class she wanted was full, and the other one didn't have anyone in it that she knew... same for ballet. So we signed her up for musical theater with some of her friends.
And here's my real coup d'etat. I got the two older boys signed up for boy's hip hop. I'm so excited! They will learn how to dance and not just do the round-and-round or side-to-side dance that I experienced going to dances when I was in junior high and high school. Trevor went to the first class and already has the moves down. Justin needed some convincing so he missed the first class. He's signed up now, though! LOL! He has 2 friends in it too so they should all have fun.
Now, what have we been up to lately?
Justin went to a paintball game for a friend's birthday party. He had so much fun. Besides that he's been hanging out with his friends, swimming and some reading. This is my major challenge with him. I've struggled since he was in first grade to find books that he enjoys reading, and haven't met with much success. We're finally finding some books that he seems to enjoy. This week he has also started staying up late with me while I've been working in my office. He's just wanted to talk. It's been nice. I'm really grateful that he wants to talk to me and have good conversations about topics that I don't know that I would've been comfortable talking to my parents about. I wanted to make sure that my kids felt that they could talk to me about anything. I try to reserve judgement and let them come to me when they need to talk. So far it's been working pretty well. A lot of Justin's friends talk to me too so I'm glad for that. I hope that he always feels safe talking to me, and I hope that I can always help him out.
Trevor has been coming out of his shell a bit. He's been playing with various friends, swimming and playing X-Box, of course. He's even been helping Justin and his friends. We frequently get calls from Justin's friends (or Justin calling from a friend's house) asking Trevor to help them defeat different levels of various games. Apparently he's some sort of prodigy when it comes to playing games. So he's been doing that. He's also done some reading. While we were up in Utah we stopped at a Border's bookstore. Everyone chose out a book to read. I can't remember the title of the book Trevor chose, but it's been one that he really has enjoyed.
Natalie has been playing with a lot of her little friends. Girls are so different from boys. She and her friends are either whispering and giggling or talking and laughing loudly. They love to do arts and crafts, color, do nails and play dress up. Her friends that took dance with her also put on little acts for us. She's still mommy's little girl, although when she wants something she'll go cuddle up to Daddy. She wants to do girls' nights out every week. She really would prefer every day.
Drew has been clingy to me for most of the summer. It started when I came back from my trip with Natalie and has more or less continued the entire time. I have managed to get him to have some play dates with some of his friends. He also looks forwards to visits from his Grandma Julie. They have a real close relationship. He always says that I'm his favorite person in the whole wide world, and when I ask him who he loves next he says Grandma Julie every time. Not his dad, brothers or sisters unless they've bribed him. But then he immediately changes it back to her. (Natalie wants me to say that I'm her favorite, and her second is Justin.) He's about to sign up for his class with Coach again. He took this class a year and a half ago right after I had back surgery. With Natalie in preschool and the boys in school he wanted to take a class too. He was just barely 3, and I found a class at the dance studio by my gym, and they combine tumbling, basketball, football, soccer and baseball. He LOVED it. He's been wanting to take it again ever since. So he's going to take that with his friend Kendrick. He can hardly wait!
Well I need to try to get to bed. I am trying to sleep at a normal time since school starts next week. My back pain has been terrible again so I haven't been able to get to sleep until almost dawn this week. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to see if she can help me out with that. I'd really like to be awake for my children's first days of school. Hopefully it works!

Our 14th Wedding Anniversary

This week Kent and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. We went to BJ's Brewery for dinner. The night before that we went to the Aerosmith concert. It was at Cricket Pavilion, so since it was about 116 that day, it was pretty hot. (Snapped this picture before we started melting... After that my hair was pulled into 2 pigtails. It totally killed my rocker chick ensemble.) We were 12 rows back from the stage so we were able to see everything really well.
While we were waiting for ZZ Top to take the stage this rocker dude sat in the seat next to Kent. And the guy proceeded to talk and talk and talk. I was dying. When they took the stage he kept yelling, cheering, singing along, etc. It was so obvious that Kent was not wanting to have an ongoing conversation with this guy. During the intermission the guy went to the railing on the side because the air was actually a bit cooler there. Kent went over there too because he all needed to cool off before Aerosmith took the stage. Before I joined him I noticed that Kent was talking to rocker dude. And he was the one initiating the conversation. So I snapped this picture. LOL
If you want to see more pictures it's on my Facebook page.

Baptism

Tonight my dad's wife, Ann, and her daughter, Erica, were baptized as members of the church. We didn't know they were taking the discussions so it was even more exciting for us to be invited to and attend their baptisms. They had really great speakers who spoke about baptism and confirmation. They had great messages, and the Spirit was very strong. It was really neat to be a part of it. They are getting confirmed in sacrament meeting tomorrow, but we won't be able to attend that. I am subbing on the organ for our sac. mtg., accompanying on the piano for a vocal solo, playing the piano in RS, and Trevor is giving a talk in primary. Since their church time conflicts with ours we can't make it work. :-(
I want to congratulate them on their decision to be baptized, and welcome them as members of the church. What an exciting time!

You know when you're really behind...

... and it feels like you're never going to get caught up? That's me. Right now. It's kind of stressing me out. I'm subbing on the organ in church for the next 2 weeks. I haven't done it for a while, but that's okay. I'm still the RS pianist so I'll be doing that on Sunday too. I also have to make sure the sign-ups for the ward talent show are being passed around, and need to drum up interest. I found out today that our Activities Committee Chairwoman is moving to UT in 3 weeks! (Yikes! I'm happy for her, but I'm going to miss you and your great ideas!) We have our huge talent show in 6 or 7 weeks and so much to do! It isn't necessarily hard work, but it is a lot of work. We can do it!

The kids start school again in 3 weeks. The summer has gone by so fast! We're still waiting to find out who their teachers are and what supplies they need. (Now that I personally know some of their teachers I really want to help contribute to the classroom when I can. I had no idea that they had to spend so much of their personal money on their classrooms.) I don't want to go school shopping right now. Really, if we have to go outside at all, even just to walk to and from the car, none of us are really motivated to do anything. We're having the hottest July on record so far, and when the temperatures are over 110* for days on end, it's just not fun to be outside- even to swim. It's midnight, and the temperature is right around 100*. Sigh. My kids keep fighting, and it started when the temps got and stayed so hot.

This week was also Kent's birthday. I have been to 4 stores to find his gift, but have been unable to find it. It's not something I can really get online either, so I'll have to venture out into the heat again at some point. I did make him a good birthday dinner with Justin's help on the grill. One of our family traditions is to find out what the birthday person's current favorite dish is and make it. This year Kent wanted rib eye, asparagus, salad (not from a bag- yuck!), and baked potatoes. I upped it a little and made twice baked potatoes. Natalie LOVED them. She is in the phase where she hates everything except 1 or 2 items,... She ate almost one half of a large baking potato. She even liked the pizzas I'd made the day before. (Amazing because she hates homemade pizzas. Apparently they're gross.) I just have to record for posterity that she actually liked 2 homemade meals on consecutive days.

Natalie went to 2 birthday parties on Thursday. The first was a polka dot party. Everything they did used circles... bubbles, dot-to-dots, etc. After that we swam at Grandma Julie's house. We left there, stopped at Grandma Susan's house, and then got her ready to go to another friend's diva birthday party. They got picked up in a white stretch limo! I've never even been in a limo. They had dinner and saw the Ice Age movie. Natalie came home with a HUGE gift bag full of stuff. She had a blast.

Justin and Trevor both had a friend over Monday night so they (minus Trevor) could have an air soft war early the next morning. I just don't get it. They had to wear long sleeve jackets, protective gear, hats, etc. I think I'd die of heat stroke within minutes if I dressed like that right now. They also have been trying to stay up late so they can play X-Box Live with their friends. I don't get that either...must be a boy thing...

I've made the kids read every day, and Natalie and Drew have workbooks that I make them work on every day. Drew's not too keen on them right now. I did promise him $5 if he finished so that's helping. He LOVES the Dollar Spot at Target. He bought a little yellow broom and dustpan there a month or two ago. He lost it, and for 3 weeks that's all we heard about. We went to several other Targets here and in UT, but they were all gone. (Remember that stubborn streak I wrote about recently? Big time in play with that thing.) Justin found it last weekend, and Drew carries it with him everywhere, cleans with it (yay!), and even sleeps with it. I need to get him to teach the other kids to be obsessed with cleaning. (I'll have to post a picture because it's HILarious! Seriously.

Alright. I'm so hot that I can't think straight. You know it's hot when the AC and ceiling fans don't offer enough cool air. I suppose I could crank the AC, but I think Kent would lose it when the power bill came. There was even a story today about AC's. I thought it was pretty funny.

I know, I know...

I know I need to update. I'm about a month behind where I want to be in my blogging. Lots of stuff has happened, and it's been so busy that I haven't had time to post. Today is Kent's birthday so I hope after I finish with dinner preparations for tonight I might actually have time to post. (I wouldn't hold my breath, though!)

Books?

As you can tell from the sidebar I love reading. I have a list of some of the books I've been reading recently. I'm constantly looking for new books to read. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

On the road again

We're on the road again. I still haven't finished posting about my trip with Natalie to CT, Kent hasn't posted about the Noorda-Clark family trip to Zion's Ponderosa and now we're on the road again. We came up to Utah again so we could visit with my family and some good friends. It was a good time because Amy and her family are here too. Since they now live in CT, and it's not really cost-effective for me to fly the entire family out there, we're meeting up here with everyone. We got here last night, and we spent most of the day here at my grandparent's house. Then we went to Liberty Park where we walked around, rode the Ferris wheel and swing ride, got snow-cones, stopped at Sizzler (I totally missed Sizzler, but after eating there today I'm not sure I can say that anymore), then to Wal-Mart because Kent forgot to pack Drew's toothbrush and toothpaste... and I realized that I left ALL of my hair care products at home... That boy is really easy to please in almost every way, but when it comes to his toothbrush and toothpaste (and very few other things) he is adamant that he use the right ones.
We are going to the duck park in Layton tomorrow with my sister and her kids, the MacKay girls (we grew up with them from the time I was 3) and their kids. The guys are going golfing (blah) while we go to the park. Then we get to go to the open house for a new temple. Later in the week we get to meet my cousin and his kids to go to Hogle Zoo. My mom, youngest sister Katie and her dd Melia are coming up later in the week. We'll get together with them and my uncle's family when they get here. It should be a fun time.
Well, I keep losing my train of thought. The kids keep popping in here and goofing off so I guess I should go be Mommy for them before they go to bed. Have a great one!