When bad days go bad-er and then end up being good

Page Credits: made with Memory Mixer with elements from Banner Women Little Tike Tyrone Bonus

The words on the page say: Tonight we watched the last American Idol for the 2007 season. I haven’t even been following it but I guess the kids have been. This year there was a really talented 17 year old boy from UT and he made it to the final 2. His name is David Archuleta. The kids were so cute and so hyper watching this and cheering for him. They called in and voted for him last night. For dinner I made green chili enchiladas and when I was getting them dished onto the plates Samantha said “Hey mom we are having David Enchiladas for dinner!” She figured I had planned it all along. HAHAHA She is funny. In the end he didn’t win but it was very fun to watch him do so well with his great talent.

Have you ever had one of those stupid days where you just knew everything was going to be bad you had already planned on it and then it just all went worse? This was one of those days. It started before the day even started or ended or whatever you call it. Yesterday we had the dog neutered and so he is supposed to stay close and not get wet for 10 days. But he needed to go out and do his thing so I told Jesse to take him our and the stupid thing ran straight over to my dad. Mind you this is at 1 in the morning when I was working and couldn't got get him and Jesse was just plain mad and then of course it was my fault since I had suggested taking him out because I didn't want to clean up dog crap off the floor. Yea I know I am evil for sure! So when I finally got of work at 4 am I jumped in the car and had to go get the stupid thing and bring him home. UGH! So I didn't even get to bed until 5:30 and I knew that I was not going to get much sleep because some Wed. we have meetings at work.

So since Will and Gary fell asleep so early the night before they were up and wild and crazy by 7:30 am. Lucky Me! So being as that I am running on 2 hrs of sleep I am a bear. So the meeting I was supposed to go to was at 1 but I wanted to go at 10 and get it over with. And I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep but what then the day got worse. Within 10 minutes of Jesse leaving all the fire alarms so off. I look around no fire no smoke. Figure the batteries are dead and reset them. All is quiet for a minute. When I was trying to get ready I went into the kitchen an notice that there is water by the back door. The nice weather was blowing the rain in under the back door. The kids have already messed up the weather stripping. Yes we are all so shocked NOT!

So then I go to the laundry room to get a towel and notice water on the floor back there. My 1st thought is that the kids did it or that the stupid dog peed there (since he is now grounded for his 5 am antics to the house unless he is on his leash) But as I was cleaning it up water dripped on my head. Yes water dripping on my head in my house that is only 2 months old! ARG!!!!!!! I look up and it is coming from the little hole in the smoke detector. Ding ding ding. AH HA no wonder the detectors were going off. So then I call Jesse and the contractor and lucky work told me I could call into the training instead of driving into SLC which takes me all day. So then the stupid smoke detector does off again. This time I know why and I reset them knowing someone is coming to fix it all. or maybe not?

So I go in and try to get logged into the conference call and they are having phone problems. Of course and at this point I am just plain tired and don't want to deal. So they tell me to try again at 1. Ok fine... So what do you think the boys did in 10 mins while I was trying to get logged in and on mute. Everything. Mess mess mess and more mess. Including spray bottles of water and kitchen tongs and dry spaghetti noodles. grrrrrrr kids. So then they get into trouble and I try to start cleaning up and Will is a snotty little pill and starts crying and wanting to be held and Garyn is picking on him making him cry and chasing him and blah blah blah. So we finally get settled and I think hey maybe I can take a little nap before I have to call in again. SO I get Will all settled on my lap and of course the dang smoke alarm goes off again. This time it will not reset. And duh it is freaking out because it is wet and I am such a chicken I wasn't about to go in and pull it down because I don't want to get electrocuted. So I sit and listen to it and now I am intense and the kids are intense and then Garyn come up and says "wanna know what I think of this day?" and I say "That its' a bad one?" and he says "no it is the worst day ever" so then we sang the best day ever song only made it the worst day ever song and we at least go a good laugh out of it. We made lunch and then I went in to get logged on to the call. With the detector going off every few minutes by now. LOVELY!! I swear I was about to start having seizures.

Thank goodness for mute. I was able to shut the door get logged in and on mute in under 5 min. This time the boys were nice enough to not get into to much trouble and then I walked around with the phone listening. 1/2 way through Jesse came home. He isn't a chicken and had that thing ripped off the ceiling and the batteries out before I could say boo. UGH what a day. But then I was able to get off the call have a 2 1/2 hr nap WOO HOO and the rest of the night wasn't too bad. We ate "David" Enchiladas and watched American Idol. It was nice to have a mellow sit in the house and watch tv night after a crazy pull your hair out day. Thank goodness Jesse came to the rescue and I forgot to mention he brought home a harness for the dog so that I can take him out to pee with out him going over to my dads to see his doggy pals. :) That is the icing on the cake. Oh and another positive thing I found a candy bar that I had stashed away now that is one way to make a bad day that was a bad-er day a better one right?

This was the longest post from hell but I do feel better now.

A month in pictures

This past month just seemed to fly by in a flurry. I don't want to miss documenting all the fun and since pictures is the only way I know how here is A month in pictures! (also because in my current state of sleepy I can only remember the things I took pictures of.

I got the rest of my cement poured. It is so nice to have a sidewalk and patio to off set my dirt yard. But things are coming along nicely even if a little slow and I planted flowers in pots out front to bring in some green. Also a big adjustment is that my shifts got changed at work and I am now working 10:30 pm to 4:30 am and though this means less sleep it also means more time at night to get things in the yard done. Before Jesse would get home most days around 6 and I had to be in my office and logged in by 8 so we had time to do dinner and that was about it.

I am looking forward to having more time at night after the kids go to bed. Tonight we actually got to have a kid free few moments to talk and got to watch a movie together. I work from home which is really nice but since I work on the phone I hibernate into my office were it is distraction and noise free. Some of the girls I work with can work in their family rooms but I am too much of a worrier for that. So instead I choose to work in the middle of the night. But once school gets out Jaden will be able to watch the kids in the mornings and let me sleep in. That will be good and it will also be a great way for him to earn some money (he keeps asking for a money earning job around here) And since I will only be a few rooms away I will not have to stress about the trouble they will get into... well to much... oh crap YIKES!!! Today my dad was a doll and took the kids across the street to his house to play and I got to sleep for 4 straight hrs. It was bliss!!! What I am going to do when school starts again and we have to bet up and on the bus and etc.? I have no idea but for now I will just be thankful that I can work at home with only a few little inconveniences. Because truly this is a sweet gig and I am very blessed to have my job.

Another fun event of the past month was going to Grandpa J's house for a Birthday dinner. The kids love getting together and spending time with the cousins. Look how sweet grandpa is indulging Will with a ride in the gator since all the big kids kicked him out of the other one. If you look close you can see them all crammed in together getting jealous that Will gets his own personal ride. Grandpa is so cute with the kids. He is the type of guy that acts like a tough guy but once you see him with the grand kids you just know he is really a little kitten. Know what I mean?

The 3 famous 11 yr olds. Jaden is in a group with 3 cousins his same age on this side of the family and on my side also. It was really fun that year to be pregnant at the same time as my sister and 3 sister in-laws. And as you can see the kids have loved growing up together. Here they are thinking the rule the roost as the drivers of the buggy excursion. Yea, now you are understanding just how it was that Will got kicked out huh?

Here are all my boys looking SHAGGY! We have a tendency to let the hair get a little out of control before making it in for hair cuts. Lucky for us we have a very patient hair dresser and friend that understands out crazy ways and can come to the rescue with her magic Nikki Scissor Hands.

And Nikki, today the only thing you are going to get blamed for is for making Will look this darn cute!

This was my attempt at catching his after shot in her salon.

The kids aren't letting the lack of grass stop them from having fun in the yard. They have set busy to work making mud rivers and waterfalls. I think they just like building dams and saying "dam" because the think the are getting away with something. They love to build a reservoir then make paths for the water and then destroy the dam and let all the water enter the channels to see how far it will get or how far it can push things. I love that the weather is good enough for lots of outdoor play but I hate the muddy clothes every day!




And with all the outside play and working on getting the garden ready comes some tuckered out kiddos.... and dogs. :)

One quick snap of the pre-garden preparation. You saw the finished results already. Yes this was pre-millions of tomato plants.

And for Activity Days with the little girls from church, we made these fun treat plates for the moms. Yummy and also something that the moms could just eat and not have to find a place for. It was a clutter free gift.


The side effect however was a not so clean kitchen. This is the result of 9 girls and pans of melted chocolate. I won't even start on the amount of chocolate scraping I had to do.

The boys playing with Grandpa's puppies. And more dying animals stories. The long made short 2 of the puppies got sick started throwing up and ended up dying. What is up? And we also lost yet another calf. UGH! What is up? Is this more of Mother Freaking Nature hating me? I guess my kids are learning to be tuff. Right? grrrrrrr!!

And here is Samantha trying to look excited about the 7 mini frogs in the bucket. They have been catching frogs. Lucky they put the back into the wild and don't get to attached since they would just die too. Seeing as that seems to be the theme around here.

And this would be poor Will sporting a nice sized fat lip that Garyn decided to give him. Garyn is a good kid and he is so cute with Will, but lately they seem to be playing way to rough with each other. I have had to hide any long hard object (aka club) and also any ribbon rope or cord (aka whip). Ever since Garyn saw bits and pieces of Indiana Jones that dad was watching he now wants to whip everything and everyone in site. Yea, NOT funny! and NOT cute! This is him trying to look all innocent after giving Will the fat lip. Grrrrrrr. Don't even get me started on the day he found the pet chain in Samantha's room. You know the ones that are supposed to hang from the ceiling so that you can hand your stuffed animals? Well guess what? They also make a very painful whip. OOOH KIDS!!

And another very expensive trip to the dentist. Jaden had to get a crown because he has a tooth that is broken off and Samantha had 2 cavities filled. Thank goodness Garyn had a clean bill of tooth health. (for now)

She seems to be enjoying the laughing gas to much doesn't she? HA HA HA HA HA HA!

This was another proud mommy moment brought to you by Hersey. Jaden's track meet was this past week. He did not want to run. He tried everything to get out of it including not telling me it was the same day as the dentist appointment. Jaden bless is little heart has a hard time a school sometimes. He is a bully magnet. This year has been much better than years past but some days he still gets more than his fair share for crap. And I guess some of the kids have been teasing him about not being a super fast runner. I am sure that Samantha doing so well at her meet didn't help him in that area. But after much coaxing I was finally able to convince him that he needed to run his race to prove to himself that he could do anything he wanted and that he wasn't going to let the bullies get the better of him. To be honest the final and last straw I used was that if he didn't go down and get lined up they would probably read his name in the speakers. That was enough of a motivation for him to go get in line. He was in heat 37 so he was waiting for a long time. I really thought he might bail out but he didn't he actually ran. I was so proud of him. And to tell the truth he didn't do half bad. I couldn't tell from where I was standing if he had taken 2nd or 3rd in his heat. He says it was 3rd. That isn't the point though. The point was he tried he actually just tried. He put all the voices in his head to rest by doing his best and to tell the truth again I was more proud of him for taking 3rd in his one heat than I was when Samantha took 3rd in the whole city, because he really really overcame such an obstacle. It was probably one of the hardest things for him. He is a very timid personality and he lets things really get to him, he never stands up for himself because he doesn't want the teachers to get mad at him so he just takes it from these bullies all the time. And I mean even physically! Last week one kid slapped him and last year they kept "white washing" him, which I guess means shoving you in the snow and putting snow down your shirt. But this was his own little way of standing up to them. You know I am just really proud of him and really lucky to have a kid that is such a good kid. He just always wants to do the right thing and he says "being mean back isn't right" God bless his heart he is an absolute angel! A little lazy but such a dang good person! with a heart of GOLD!



For mothers day we had 3 different family events. 1st we took Grandma S (hubbies mom) out to dinner. I didn't grab m camera on the way out the door so I didn't even get a picture. And grandma was such a doll she gave me the cutest watering can! I love it and it is next to my plants on the fire place. For looks only. The kids better keep their hands off. The next event was on Mothers Day Sunday we went with my family for Grandma N's picnic. We went to a park behind the temple and it was very nice. The food was easy and yummy (sandwiches) and the kids had a blast on the big hill ice blocking. The funniest part was when Will dumped out his drink and was trying to ice block on the little ice cubes. LOL He just wants to be big. like the others. It was darling but the picture I got didn't even really show it. He is hilarious. Also just to top of the day my mom gave each of us a necklace and earring's to match. It was very sweet of her.

And then this Sunday we had a belated Mothers Day Dinner at Grandmas J's (hubbies step mom) She did a fabulous dinner as always. And she didn't even let us help. She made it fairly easy on herself by buying catering but I still felt guilty that she did the whole dinner and it was her mothers day dinner. Anyway here is a great shot of the kids on the gator again. Yup the love that thing. Gives poor grandma a heart attack too but they love it. And she also gave each of us mom's 2 scrapbook kits including the albums and all the papers, embellishments, and etc to match. AWESOME! now to put it to some use. The only crafting I have done lately was to make the card boxes for the mothers day cards. Very last minute and one didn't even get decorated because I thought of it too late. Here is how cute they turned out. I am loving that little cricut machine. I also used it this week to help Jaden's class with their state reports. AWESOME and lots of fun! Still need to go to the school and get my machine back.

And so there we go a month all at once. But now I can sleep in peace tonight er uh I mean today, knowing that my goal to keep a record is actually happening. And after all this is for my peace of mind anyway. And all in all not a bad month. Crazy, busy as always but filled with fun moments together, and that is what matters.

Mother Freaking Nature Hates Me! Friday Funny? or Freaky Friday?

Mother Nature, well she really hates us this year..... PROOF? you want Proof? ok here is your stinking proof: LOL LOL

This my beautiful mothers day gift from last year:It is now this, not so beautiful heap of metal in the front yard this year: GRRRRR!!!!!!!

After FLYING from the porch to the front yard (yard-ish area) in the nice gust of wind last week. Yeah ain't she swell? Really, Mother Nature, what did I ever do to you??

(and just for fun let's blame Nikki.. LOL LOL I am sure you did something that made mother nature mad at you so that she would blow things all over my yard. tee hee hee p.s. Nikki thinks I use my blog to blame her for thing. She is funny and very sweet.)

And how funny is this: Just to keep things fair and balanced, she also sent up a big wind gust (micro-burst) the next night and hurled Jesse's fathers day BBQ from last year across the back yard and tore off the gasket or valve and hose for the propane and it emptied the tank. Lucky for him the BBQ is still going to work we only need to get a new hose and valve. Unlike my poor swing that is totally toast!!! I am so sad about it too and just looking at these pictures of it when it wasn't dead make me want to cry all over again. Boo Hoo Me! :( And also to make matters worse a few nights later she sent a nice hefty frost (yes in dang MAY!) to freeze my garden and kill Jesse's beloved tomato plants. I am telling you the weather is very strange this year, and I am SICK of it. So today we got to re-plant the garden. And it better not freeze again! So how is that for your laugh of the week?

Friday Funny? or Freaky Friday? LOL

Crafty Goodness and Girl Fun

OOH LA LA!: OK so I am like what almost a month late? But I really wanted to post these pictures because we had so much fun back in April at Scrapbook USA in SLC. We have this little group that gets together every time the expo runs and we keep adding people each time too and that makes it even funner. :) We are loving this tradition. This time we stayed at my house and I loved, loved, loved being the host, since I finally have some room to do it. I know you totally missed sleeping on the love seat huh Amy? I kicked the kids out of their rooms and they slept in the bonus room for a few nights so they were loving it too, thinking it was an extension of spring break. (we got home from spring break Thursday night and the girls started arriving Thursday night too so it was pretty much an extension of spring break) And then we took over the bedrooms and house. It was great. Poor Jesse.

This was such a great way to beak in the new house and I loved taking some time off work to just hang with the girls. Here are the pictures so that I have proof that I actually did get some crafting time. WOO HOO!!!

My total favorite purchase this year was these card kits from Creating Keepsakes. LOVE THEM! I bought a lot of them since I planned on using them as gifts. I am not creative but I love to create and this is a super cool way for me to go. Any time it is pre-thought out is good for me. And each kit makes 75 cards so I was uber impressed. Wishing I could get more actually.

Here are some of the other cards I made that weekend and the bags that I put the cards in for the teachers. These cards were from kits by My Minds Eye. Super Cute Huh? Then the night before mothers day I thought of an even cuter card holder so my mothers day gifts were mondo cutsie. I will try to find the picture and add it too the bottom.

After the expo and after we had shopped till we dropped we stopped of to eat. I took Samantha with me to the expo and she had a blast I found her a great kit that had a 12x12 book and all the matching papers and sticker and etc. for $15 she was in heaven but she got sooo tired and said she couldn't shop any more (after like 3 hrs) and since Nikki was leaving early she was nice enough to take her home. It is along drive that was very nice of her. Here are the ones that when to eat. Subrina, and her Niece, Trissy, Amy w/Trissy's little girl, Marylnn with her tiny baby, And Heidi.
Here is Marylnn and her tiny baby she wasn't even 6 weeks old but ML brought her and came and had fun anyway. We all loved taking turns holding her, and I think mommy had a fun time, and that she really needed the mommy break too. There is no therapy quite like girls nights especially sleep overs, right? Especially for a mom that just had her 3rd baby. It is exhausting.
And here we are just hanging out, scrapping, crafting, playing and eating. I actually had room for 5 fold up tables I was shocked. It was nice we could all fit together in one room area. It was smoochy but nice.
I don't know what possessed us but we were nice and let the kids hang with us this weekend too. Well on Saturday night for a bit anyway. Here are some of my kids and Nikki's kids. Yeah they are bored can you tell? NOT! They loved it. I have to admit having the extra kids around was actually easier because all of my kids had someone to play with. Well, except for Will, but her just loves the chaos. Very true too he never is hard when I have him in a big group. It is when we are trying to deal with him at home in the quiet that he turns into a monster. Strange o kid.
Garyn and Kenzie. They had a blast running around and playing. Now don't they make a cute couple? Yeah, I am thinking Subrina and I should arrange a marriage.... LOL I am sure the will love to hear that in 20 yrs. But he already knows I am nuts.

As you can see it was a pretty successful weekend. Lots of fun and lots of crafting. My kids made tons of scrapbook pages and Samantha's looked better than mine. Another of her many talents. She just can do anything. No fair. Jaden thinks she hogged up all the family talent but he has talents they are just not the kind you can see or win awards for. But they are still very important and useful. I felt the same way growing up I was smooshed in between 2 brothers that were 4.0 students, with lots of abilities. But they (and they will disagree here but it my blog so hahahaha) they were smart nerds and I was social (lucky to graduate too busy dating) so I just pretended I didn't know them even though I was impressed will all that they could and still can do. They stole the talent jeans in our family. Mean of them huh? But really, they did leave me the grand copy-cat, crafty jean and the party planning jean so isn't that all the talent I need? ;)

Before I was a mom...

This is the email Amy sent me and that they read in church today. I loved it and it pretty well sums it up for me. Enjoy and again Hope you had a Happy Mothers Day!

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom...
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom...
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
or Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night, before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom...
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried myself.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom...
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom...
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom...
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

And I certainly didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

And the 4 reasons that I love being a mom:

It just doesn't get any better than this!

A tear free Mothers Day woo hoo! (Kind of a rant but here for my own personal enjoyment)

I am happy to report that this was a tear free mothers day and that is a good thing. I remember my 1st mothers day. I was so excited to be a mom and loved the idea of getting to celebrate it. Little did I know that mothers day is no more than a day filled with lots of extra work for the mom and that the dads often just forget about it and leave it all up to the moms but then get mad when the moms think that is not fair. Grrrrr... For some reason it seems that every year I end up in tears on mothers day. I think I just have to high of expectations. I mean really wanting to have a nice calm day and not have to scream my face off to get them to get ready for church or wanting my husband to not ignore me 80 times when I ask for help getting them ready for church or etc. And not wanting to be criticized all day for the crappy mom I am and wanting at least some thought of token of acknowledgment for being a mom even it that is just a card and a candy bar. And wanting to not have to go to church on mothers day with rats nests in my hair or wet hair, or wanting to actually for once have 5 mins to get ready and be able to put on some makeup to hide Godzilla before we leave, are all apparently too much to ask for. Even if for just one day. So for sure the answer is that I have simply been setting my expectations way too high.

So this year I decided to:
#1 plan ahead. Yes a concept foreign to me I know. But I did find the perfect mothers day gifts back when I was at Scrapbook USA in April and I got to start working on them then. (also have the dad's days all figured out) But, did that mean that I was not still working on them at 3 am this moring. Nope I still was but at least by a little after 3 I was done. Better than in the car on the way to the dinner.

#2 SIMPLIFY: Instead of doing 3 dinners in one day we spread it out. I know I am a genius. LOL wasn't even my that did it but is is a great way to go anyway. So on Friday night we took husbands mother out to eat and it was fabulous and great to get to honor her and to give her a night out and the kids always love a nice meal out. Of course Will destroyed the restaurant and I wanted to die of embarrassment but what ever we can't expect too much and he is 2 after all.

And then today we woke up I made my chicken salad sandwich filler and then rushed off to church so the kids could sing to me. ;) Did I make it there with hair done and makeup on? Heck No of course not. But Jesse was AWESOME! He didn't forget that he has to help with Mother's Day this year and he even got me a present. (let me pick out rocking chairs while I was at Walmart yesterday getting my food assignment stuff) and he let me sleep in until 9 and also was very helpful in the kitchen so that I didn't have to take a 1/2 baked salad to the party. Church was fine one speaker read a little story that I had already read in an email earlier this week and I loved it. I saved it and think I will post it here too. It was good. Then after church we went to only one picnic for my mom and it was a nice and relaxed type of dinner. Sandwiches and Chips and salads and lots of chasing the kids but they loved it and it was nice to honor yet another great women. And we are going to his step moms next week for that family mothers day dinner. So it was a nice way to simplify things. Makes it much better when you can enjoy each event as a separate event and not just as a crazy stepping stone in one long day.

#3 I decided thanks to Cecily that I would embrace OMF day. She posted in a great comment on crazymama's blog saying that she celebrates OMF day she said: ...love or hate mothers day? Love it but its not really Mother's Day is it? We've renamed it Oldest Matriarch in the Family (or OMF for short)Day at our house since I just spend the whole time visiting my Mom, MIL and Grandmothers. .....

And you know, that is the thing that I LOVE about mothers day is the idea of celebrating moms! So I decided to not let all the little stuff of the busy day bother me and instead to put my hole heart into loving that I get to celebrate mothers day for the great mothers in my life. And it was great and when I am older I fully expect my kiddo's to pack up their kids and to come and visit me for mothers day. These OMF's in our lives have really earned a day just for them. They have lived through this stage that I am in with multiple little children pecking them like ducks, sadly they have passed the stage of the delightful hand made crooked mothers day gifts and little scribble cards, and past the teen years that I can only imagine and dread and yet they have already survived them, they have lived past the frantic calls in the middle of the night from us as new parents not sure what to do about a sick or non sleeping child and the joy of watchign grandchildren play. They have survived it all the good and the bad and then some and have passed with flying colors. So I would say they have certainly earned the right to a special day dedicated all to them!!!! So I hope you all also had a very happy Oldest Matriarch of the Family Day or Mothers Day or whatever you want to call it. :) I sure did!

Burnt, Melted, and Really wish I could sleep, but the Garden is in

Wow what a day! I am even more red now than I was Tuesday at the track meet. You would have thought I had learned my lesson but nope I am slower than that. My skin is so red. We spent the whole day getting the garden planted. Jesse went a little garden crazy this year. I can't believe how big of a garden he made. sheeesh! He planted 72 tomato plants. I have no idea what we need 72 tomato plants for but ok, what ever. I am on for the ride so here we go. We do bottle each year. I do stewed tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. last year we didn't do a garden because we thought we would be building the house last summer and didn't end up getting the permits until Oct. so I am thinking the one year lack of garden is the bug that has gotten into him this year and made him garden crazy.

We also planted about 70 other plants like, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, a variety of squash, and melons. I am looking forward to the fresh salsa that he makes every year. YUMMY!!! And even though I am burnt to a crisp and I am so stinking tired and have to still work until 2 am, I am glad we have the garden in. It has been lots of fun getting it ready. (now only to start on getting a yard in) The kids helped but mostly spent the day catching frogs and making swamp palaces in the yard for the frogs to play in. Yeah I am sure the poor little frogs love that. Rest assured that all the frogs were returned (escaped) to the wild before end of day. And at least the kids were entertained. Since playing in the mud is all they can do in the yard until we get some energy to actually get it ready for grass.

Oh how I am dreading all that work. It is going to be a huge huge job!! Long story short the reason it has taken so long for us to get our permits to build our house is because we have had water problems on our ground. The final solution to fix the problem was to haul in about 250 loads of rock and dirt. So that our house sits about 4 ft above ground level. So now we have to turn all the fill into a yard by sloping it and etc. And since we are doing that with the little tractor that we borrowed from my FIL we are not going very fast at it. Plus, then we still have to pay for even more dirt to be brought in for top soil. Yeah this is going to be a long summer full of sunburns. I am only beginning. I better invest in some better sunscreen for my almost albino skin. But it will be worth ever single second of it and I know we will even enjoy the process because that is how we are.

And TaDa here is the garden with all the tiny little starter plants in it. Now just to hope the weather will hold up since this has been a strange year for weather. (Please don't freeze and kill all my plants I will cry)

Samantha New Track Star, Missing in Action.....

One of those weeks: a ride on the emotional roller coaster of life... Mostly centered on Samantha

First off I have to say that I am not the only one enjoying my birthday present of the Cricut Machine. Samantha made this cute sign for the door to her room. I love that I actually got her to show some of that cute personality of hers on camera. (she is shy)

Now for the scary story of the day. I had a very busy day with lots to get done. Finishing up my mothers days gifts. And I was sitting here making them around 10 am when I get a phone call from the school. My 1st thought was that Jaden better not be calling to tell me to come get him because my car is still in the shop and I just knew it wasn't Samantha because her class was on a field trip today. It was the school secretary saying that she was calling to see how Samantha is doing. I am like "?????Huh???? what are you talking about?"

So she said "Well isn't she sick? Isn't the why she isn't as school?"

UM so my heart does a leap. I reply in a somewhat panicked voice by now "She better be at school I put her on the bus this morning."

Yeah at this point you can imagine I am starting to think the worst.

So she says "Well, she probably just got marked absent. I will run to her class room and check on her."

Only problem NO ONE is in the class room because they are gone on a field trip. So she assured me she would find out. I told her she better call the bus depot and get the drive on the intercom ASAP and make sure my kid is there. So I hang up start pacing and thinking what the hell happened to my kid? I kept telling myself she is there, she is fine, if anything happened after she got on the bus someone would have seen and would have ran for help, wouldn't they?

So then ah ha I remember the teacher is one of her friends grandma's so I call the mom to get the grandma/ teachers cell phone and guess what she isn't there she is on the field trip too. So then ah ha number 2 call Nikki she may be there she goes on field trips.

So I call her cell phone and she answers.

Me: all calm "are you working or are you on the field trip?"

her: "I am on the field trip"

Me: "Is Samantha there?"

Her: "Ya, why do you need to talk to her?"

Me: wah, wah, wah, boo hoo, hysterically crying "no I am just glad she is with you and alive and safe"

Nikki again: "take a breath! What is going on?"

So I tell her. At that point the school calls back. They had called another teacher on her cell phone at the same time.

See this is how I am. I totally held it together thinking OK I am sure she is there but I want to confirm it. So I take care of that, figuring out how I am going to make sure she made it to the field trip. I didn't really get too worked up until Nikki confirmed that she was fine at which point I lost it, totally bawling hysterically. Once I get the yes she is fine then I cry because I was so glad that she was ok. Just to realize that she is ok and how fast things can happen. Man being a mom sucks. Kids can be such a worry and you just want to lock them up where you can keep them safe, but you know that they have to have a life and that you have to let them go and be on their own sometimes, but it is so hard and so scary. So needless to say this was on hell of a scary day and I don't mind saying that I had the shit scared out of me. You bet ya, I was so damn happy to see my baby girl walk in that door after school today.

And in other news.... she kicked some butt at the Hershey Track Meet on Tuesday:

Running shoes $20

Sun Screen $5

Home lunch $4

Finding out you can kick major A$$ and that you have a real talent: PRICELESS!!

This was Samantha's 1st year to do the track meet. She has been so nervous about it and has been saying things like: I will look so dumb when I run, so and so said this, what if my foot hurts, what if I don't want to run, etc. you know just being her total normal stressed out self. She get all worked up over everything. She totally stressed until she makes herself sick. Now we knew she could run pretty fast and that if she would actually get past the nerves and past her being so self conscious that she would do pretty good in her races and that she would find out for herself that she can do anything she tries. We didn't really know that she was going to kick some major butt and find out that she loves to win and has a little competitive streak to her.

So when I get there her teacher tells me that Samantha is really nervous and that she says she isn't going to run. The teacher will not make them run if they don't want to. But I was determined to get this girl on the track. I love her to pieces but she really stays in her little bubble way too much. She has a very hard time getting out and trying new things or meeting new people. She is SHY very SHY and she is very hard on herself and totally a nervous person. I knew I had to make her at least try this. So I sat in the stands and talked to her for a long time about how she needed to just pretend that she is the only one on that track and that really no one would be watching just her. And she pointed out just how fast it is over and that you aren't on there in front of everyone for very long and then you get to sit with your friends again. So she decides that she is going to give it a try and lines up for the 1st race. 50 meter I think.

WOO HOO GO Samantha GO! She crossed that finish line and didn't have anyone even close to her. (probably figured the faster she ran the less people could see of her. LOL) But oh boy once she caught a taste or victory she was thrilled. She came off after that 1st race and was like "WOW that was fun! I like winning!" uh oh not only have we found a new talent but we have unleashed little miss competition. She finished her other events 1st place too. Then moved into the semi-finals where she finished those races all 1st place too. And then they did her relay and then finals. She did great! She was so exhausted by the end. She came up and told me that she had ran 11 races. (I don't think it was quite that many) But even exhausted when she ran the finals she was amazing. She came in 3rd place in one and I believe 4th place in the other. She has been so proud of her self and keeps telling us. "I am the 3rd fastest 3rd grader in the city" Cute huh!?

I know I am being a bragger mom, but I have to just tell you what I am bragging about.. I am so proud of her for not making up any excuses, for not getting so scared that she either quit or puked or fainted, for not letting other people get into her head and convince her that she couldn't do it so why try. I am so proud of her for getting out there for trusting in herself and for trying. For not just trying but for really going for it, for giving it her all and for really really being brave. This was one of the best experiences and self confidence builders that she could ever have and she really needed it. Way to go girl!! You are a rock star! Looks like there is one crack in the shell and we may get her to come out of it after all.

Grrrrr...... A fast Vent

I hate this day and I haven’t been able to get ONE thing done so what the hell ever. Being a mom is like drowing in an inch of water. It takes a while but eventually it will kill you!

It is amazing what one little boy can do with a bowl or dehydrated refried beans. UGH! only one of the 17 thousand messes he made today.

Sunday Crazy Sunday

Lots to post and so little time. I seem to be in a whirl wind again. (oh wait, that is how I always am. You know that walking tornado thing) I promise to post my crafty scrapbooking fun soon. But today I have to post about our funny dinner yesterday.

Since my parents live across the street and we go to church together we decided to BBQ some meat and I was just throwing together some potatoes and veggies and sides. Not anything big you know, just throwing together some food. So then my mom calls because when she got home from church my brother and his little boy were at her house so she wanted to know if he could come too. So of course, I am like yes bring him over. and then the funny part was that when Jaden went to help dad with the BBQ'r he comes in and says "mom I didn't know Anya and her family were coming" and I was like Uhmmm..... what? neither did I. so I looked out the window and what did I see? 5 more people coming to eat with me.




So we thawed out some chicken and threw some more tatoes into the microwave and ended up having a really fun Sunday afternoon BBQ. The more the merrier I say. It was fun and then not long after eating Here come my nieces Kaila with 3 of her sisters. So they just joined in all the fun. A little Sunday craziness but it sure turned out great. It is a good thing that on Saturday I had decided to brave the rapids and take Will and go grocery shopping even though I thought I was going to die before we finally got him out of the store. but at least I had restocked. LOL


HE IS HORRIBLE TO SHOP WITH!!!!!! grrrrrrrr... He throws stuff out of the cart, throws fits, throws himself from the cart, and basically grabs crap off the shelves and throws it down the isle. And he gets into sooo much trouble and then he cries and then I want to cry and then people make me mad, that are all judgy and grrrr that try to tell me "advice" which is just another way of saying "Hey total stranger you are a bad mom and your kid it totally out of control and spoiled" and to that I want to say "DUH! Ya think?"


And this is all beside the point, of our spontaneous fun from Sunday and I know you are wondering why I am so cool and why my family wants to come and play at my house and so to that I have to admit sadly it isn't me but rather that who can resist the charms of these cute puppies that are grandpa's house??? Yeah you are starting to see what I mean now. Yeah the puppies and also rides on the 4 wheeler with grandpa are the drawing attractions. I just happened to be the one holding grandma and grandpa hostage at the time. Oh yeah and I am sure that Jesse making a fire in the fire pit and making s'mores wasn't at all alluring. (no pictures of that since I was locked up in the office working by then) It was a super crazy and super fun day!!!


Pictures to prove it.......

Ya you know they are so cute! Want one?

This is the one I want. The kids want the brown one. But this one is such a doll and she is so sweet. I would have to call her pepper with all those mini spots.

See the brown ones are cute but just not my favorite!

All the kids posing on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa getting ready to go see the pups. Mommy dog trying to get on with them. LOL she loves to ride with grandpa.

Today we baby sat my nephew Scott. He is such a doll and though 2 2yr olds can make quite a mess he is a joy and is so much easier than my Will. And he kept Will entertained. Here they are playing guns with some kind of sticks. Fun Fun

And tonight for FHE we went over and helped grandma and grandpa in there yard getting ready to put in the garden. A great service project for the kids and also a great opportunity for them to learn from and work with their grandparents. Jesse took the kids and they tilled his moms garden so they got a chance to do it for both. I am glad we live close enough for the kids so get so much grandparent time. And that we can help our parents out sometimes. It is nice to help when we can. All in all not a bad weekend I would say pretty great actually!

Spring Break was so much FUN!

SPRING BREAK!

I am back now from all of our fun FUN fun over spring break. I actually got back last week but we were busy at work and home and so I haven't had any time to get online and post. Here is a picture blog (my favorite kind) of the fun, fun time we had in Mesquite NV with the whole famdamily. I love these family trips, and of course so do the kiddos.
So here is the fabulous run down. I know you will be so jealous. LOL

Ok so lets start with about 5 hrs of driving to get to our hotel in Mesquite. We have been going to Mesquite all together as a family for spring break for years. We use to stay in these certain condos but they are now gone, so now we just stay at wherever has the best deal. The kids did pretty great in the car. We stopped and switched with cousins a few times.

Samantha who is only 9 being a brat and hiding under her pillow to show us just how mad and teenager-ish she can be. Ummm yeah can't even remember what she was mad about. Too bad for her she missed out on about 30 minutes of the drive. hahahaha Whatever Deary.....

Since my sisters kids had a dance competition in St. George UT, she and my parents left a few days earlier than us so we met them by the St. George LDS Temple and stopped in the visitors center for a bit. This was a fun addition to the trip. Then after more cousin regrouping and car hopping we were off on our way again.

(Note: I am LDS not FLDS for any people that may be confused or curious. The FLDS people that are one the news are not of the same religion as I am. Thanks for letting me clear that up)

A picture of the raggamuffins eating. While we were there we did much eating. and eating, and eating. We totally go there for the great prime rib that is CHEAP. Yeah we stayed 4 nights 5 days, and I had prime rib 4 times. YUMMY and the delicious Ham Steak and eggs, more YUMMY goodness! So I had to take a picture of us at a restaurant since that is where we were a lot.

Notice the creamer tower that Garyn and Will are making? Yes we do get creative when it comes to eating out. WILL IS A PILL!!! We had to take turns on several occasions with taking him out side. He is just plain no fun to take anywhere. I finally ran by a Wal-Mart and got fruit snacks and other entertainment for meal time. It at least slows the inevitable someone has to leave the restaurant with him bull crap that happens. And yet he looks so innocent huh? Don't let it fool you he is not, but he is cute and sincere and very lovey dovey.

Hanging out outside while Daddy pays the check in the restaurant. We like to take the kids outside and get them out of the smelly, smoky, casinos. Garyn walking on the edge of the fountain/wishing well. Grandpa gave him some change to throw in. Before throwing it he held it high above his head and said aloud (in his very loud voice) "I wish for all the things I ever want in life, and that our family can always choose the right." Now how stinking cute is that? He is just so squishy, funny, cute, and smiley all the time. He is totally squeezable.

Oh an notice the movies listed behind him. One of the casinos has a dollar movie so we went and saw Penelope, LOVED IT!!

And when we weren't eating we were here at the pool. The kids love the water slide. Will loved the hot tub. Don't blame him either the pool was dang cold. It was nice and relaxing... well ok for some it was but not for those with small can't swim babies it was totally exhausting! And Jesse conveniently didn't bring a suit and refused to swim so I got to chase all 4 in the pool alone. Nice huh? grrrrrrrr! But he totally took over watching the kids when we got home and my friends came to scrapbook for 4 days so he is forgiven on the swimming thing. LOL And nope sorry NO fat cow in a swim suit pictures of me to break the computer.

Grandpa (aka my daddy) and Will. We got adjoining rooms and Will just loved to run over to see grandpa all the time. He is like Grandpa's little shadow. And he is usually not such a little shit for Grandpa as he is for the rest of us. It is great he is nice to someone. LOL I have to admit he is actually doing much better now that we are moved and away from the mold. (knock on wood) But, we haven't had a real good bout of diarrhea for a few weeks. I just wish Grandpa could get feeling better too. 2 back surgeries in 1 year and diabetes too. He has been under the weather, but comes on the trip anyway to spend time with the family. Bless his heart. And you know what, the kids will always have these memories of there time with Grandma and Grandpa on trips. They are very lucky.

Some of the crew out side just hanging after the movies. Some people saw different movies so we had to wait for them all to get out. All together on the trip we had my Mom and Dad, My little brother and his wife, my Sister and her hubby and 5 kids, my older brother and his wife and 3 kids, and my other older brother and his wife and they also have 3 kids, plus Jesse and I and our 4 kids. So yeah I wasn't kidding about it being the whole famdamily was I? LOL and we were missing my other younger brother and his wife and 1 kid. And I have one brother that passed away 15 yrs ago so if anyone is keeping track my parents had 7 children. WOW huh! Yeah I know and I have no idea how they did it. I don't even have the patience and energy for 4 of them.

And as I have said before and will say a million times more my mother is AMAZING. And even now we are all gone and married and she is still planning family vacations, picinics, and events. And she is great about finding the best deals so that we can all afford to go. She rocks! And she knows that the family that plays together stays together.

And we also did the go-carts. Jaden having a blast! He loves that he is now big enough to drive one on his own. He could have spent a million dollars on those things. But hey at 11 driving is so cool. This week he went to help feed cows with some people in our ward and they let him drive the truck along as they threw out the hay from the back. So now he totally thinks he Mario Andriette. (no clue how to spell it) He is growing way to fast!

And because I know you are dying to see. This is me and Samantha in our go-cart and what are we doing you may ask? We are totally kicking Jesse's butt that is what we are doing. And yes sometimes Samantha does smile even though her family is sooo uncool. LOL

And last the best of all the game. This is me getting totally bored in the car and thinking I really need to do a self portrait for my blog even if I am a fat cow. So here is me and the totally cute pink cow that Jesse bought me from the gift shop... Whispering... I believe with his um slot machine winnings. LOL We had game credits from the hotel so we used them and won like $60 bucks. Not much for gambling but getting free money was fun. My one brother came out with like $250 off his free game credits. He had the lucky touch this go around.

It was a great trip and was a much needed break. The whole family had a lot of fun and then the same night we got back I had my girl friends starting to arrive for our totally super cool fun girls scrapbook weekend. Ahhhh the bliss. That will be tomorrows post. ;) .....