Nothing new...except IKEA

You know when you get something stuck in your throat so you keep swallowing to try to get it to go down? Apparently the same theroy doesn't work for toilets. I know you're all sick to death of potty talk from me, but seriously, I don't know how much longer I can take all the toilet clogs! I have no idea what they flushed down my master bathroom toilet, but I did find a soggy crayon box in the main floor bath. I asked Luke what had happened and he said, "it was too big." Go figure.
So I went with my fun neighborhood friends to the grand opening of Ikea this morning. We had such a good time! We were there, standing in line and we were among the first 2500 customers. So we got a free compass keychain (Oooo Ahhh) and a gift card that could be worth up to $250! Of course mine was a buy one hot dog, get one free, but I'm still stoked. I found a couch and a bookcase that I want. The total purchase will be about $1000. But I don't have $1000. So I'm trying out Craig's List to sell a few things to get some cash. So if you want a couch or a bombay chest - lemme know.
Really, this blog is just riveting. I could ramble on all night, but I won't -
- peace out.

I would like to take a minute to thank the movie Finding Nemo for teaching my little darlings that "all drains lead to the ocean." This morning my boys decided to send each and every one of their Nemo toys back to the ocean via the toilet. I really need to get the plumber on speed dial.
While we're on the adventures of my kids, yesterday was exciting too. I filled up the wading pool for the kids so that I could get some yard work done. I was up on the hill in our backyard when I heard Cameron say, "Luke! Adam! Look, I'm iceskating!" She had dumped an entire bottle of Waterbabies sunblock on the patio and was sliding all over the place. So later, after Cameron was at Gabe's house, the boys and I did a little iceskating of our own with dish soap. It really didn't get off all the sunblock, so if anyone knows a different way, please let me know!
Oh yea, the boys also figured out that if they put dry grass, flowers, green grass etc. on top of the air conditioner it flies up and away when the fan turns on. (If that doesn't make sense, just go try it out on your own in your backyard, you'll see what I mean.)
Never a dull moment at our house.

My friend Kari Mason

I got some really sad news today. My friend, Kari Mason, died on Monday. It feels strange that she's been gone all week and I just found out today. She is the most amazing person. I met her through church when I lived in Draper. I just can't stop crying about it. It seems so unfair that she should die so young with three kids. Kari's experience with breast cancer has made me feel so grateful for my health. She's the kind of person that I never heard complain or say negative things about anyone.
I seem to spend a lot of time complaining about my kids, my body, and things I want but don't have. And yet there are times I want to pinch myself because I have everything I've ever wanted. I'm going to try harder to embrace those moments when I realize all the good in my life. I want to be the kind of person that Kari is. A positive influence. Appreciative of my friends and family. Love my kids a little more. Be happy to be in the moment.
Sorry for the soul searching. I guess that's normal when someone dies. If you have a minute, check out the website for Kari and if you have extra money that you want to give to her charity.
www.karimasonfund.org

Disinfectant

I have never been a germaphobe. I'm not one of those people who asks you to wash your hands before you get within 10 feet of my 6 month old baby. But this potty training thing has got me going through disinfectant wipes like toilet paper. For some reason I thought, mistakenly, that if the boys could poop on the toilet there would be less poop for me to clean. Instead, it seems to have given them the freedom to manhandle their bodily excretions and then run about the house touching walls, doors, toys, etc.. I have been nauseated for the last four days with the smell of poop mixed with cleaner. My house smells like a hospital. Great.

Oh happy day

I am beaming right now! Luke and Adam are potty training today. After the bath this morning, Adam just said he wanted to go potty on the toilet and wear his Nemo shorts. So he and Luke have been wearing big boy unders all day and we haven't had an accident yet. Knock on wood... So we went to Target and cleaned them out of Shrek, Diego, Spiderman and Nemo underpants. I can't even begin to imagine a world free of diapers.
Here's the scary part. At Target, while shopping for big boy shorts, I found myself on the baby isle looking at tiny little blankets, onsies and tiny little shoes. My babies are growing up! What am I going to do to satiate this baby craving?? I need to go see Lyndsey's babies again. You should see the beautiful Amy Coe receiving blankets. They are just so soft and cuddly. And girly. There is just something so sweet about a baby girl.
Alright - I'm done for now.

Clams birthday!

"Clamz burthduee but you hav to wer hats." Cameron's favorite pastime is writing. She loves pens, pencils and any kind of paper. The other day she was messing around with paper from my address book and had written that cryptic little message. It's become our family motto. We go to great lengths to get each other's attention just to say, "clams birthday, but you have to wear hats." We know how goofy we are.
We just got back from a little family vacation to Bryce Canyon. Just our little clan and Grandpa Bob and Glennie and Nebo. We had a really good time, although we are wondering how young the entry age is for the boys ranch down there. We nearly dropped off Luke and Adam. It's hard to tell if they are especially naughty, or that there's just double trouble because there's two of them. They definitely don't make for a relaxing vacation. But Cameron was a trooper. She even learned to swim all by herself with the help of a life jacket.
We tried to go hiking a couple of times, but the ledges were very scary for the boys and we had more than a couple meltdowns. So our outdoor time was limited to throwing pine cones and walking the dog.

This morning we did a fun hike called Mossy Cave. We never did see a cave, but there was a really fun river and waterfall. It was probably the highlight of the trip. Southern Utah is so much fun! I'm looking forward to the kids getting a little older and more able to enjoy it.
Happy Mother's Day!!! My cute husband always has a way of making me happy. Eric got me breakfast, made dinner and dessert, and had the kids make a video message and pictures! What a fun day!! (and I haven't even had to change one single diaper all day!!)
Sometimes I am sure that Mother's Day was just a day to make women feel guilty about their shortcomings. Heaven knows that I have many. I often feel guilty about my shortcomings as a daughter also. You know, "what more should I be doing? Is my mom happy about the daughter she raised?" I feel fairly certain that men don't get so introspective on Father's Day - what's with us women? Today I decided that I'm just going to enjoy the extra help from Eric and loads of loves from the kids - no guilt! There's always tomorrow for that.

And on the seventh day He rested....

And on the seventh day He rested. I have to laugh. Sundays are anything but restful at our house. Luke was a one-man wrecking crew yesterday. He pulled curtains off the wall, broke the fireplace in two places and ran our car out of batteries twice!! I'm not much of a scriptorian, but I'm guessing man wasn't created and mucking things up on the day of rest.
Good news though - Luke and Adam started sleeping in the same bedroom again last night. We've had them separated because they were getting out of bed all night, but they did okay. I decided that as long as they don't get out of bed, they can chat all night long if they want. The down side is that they're both up around 6 am., then cranky all day. But the joke is on them because tonight they were sent to bed at 6:30...Ha ha!
I had to teach a lesson in Young Womens yesterday about journal keeping. How times have changed that I was talking about a blog for personal history!! Another of the leaders said that her family doesn't do a blog because they're worried about identity theft - I say if anyone wants to be me, come on over! I'm sure they'd give it back after one day. (I do know what she means, but I still found it funny.)
To clear up some confusion - the first blog entry is totally giberish. I was able to change the name of my blog, but I wasn't able to delete that entry. Oh well.
TTFN

Blowing chunks

Gross things seem to come all at once. This morning I was loading up the car to take Cameron and Gabe to school. We had Gabe, Cam, Adam, Andrew, Riley and Luke all loading in the car. The next thing I know Luke is screaming and Gabe runs in the house to tell me that Cameron has thrown up in the car. Then there's Luke covered in vomit. Apparently Cam was trying to get out of the car as Luke was trying to get in and she barfed all over his head, shirt and pants. So I was trying to get the other kids out of the car without covering them in throw up when Adam decided to taste a chunk. I am not making this up. He actually put a chunk of curdled puppy milk that Cameron had thrown up in his mouth!!! The good news is that he didn't like it.
So I've spent the morning scrubbing the car down. How exciting is my day? And as I'm writing this, my stomach is churning... TTFN.

Those crazy boys...

On Tuesday I came downstairs to make breakfast and called for the boys to come up from the basement. They came up the stairs chattering away to each other about giving "lubs and kisses". I asked what they were talking about and they informed me that they were giving lubs and kisses to the mouse. MOUSE??? They told me to come see so I went to investigate. Sure enough there was a mouse. A dead mouse to be exact. The boys had been giving lubs and kisses to a dead mouse!!! I think this could be the most grossed out I've ever been. Well, other than the week that Cam ate her own poop and then tried to eat a rattle snake rattle. That was pretty gross too.
Well, I'm off to return the bedding that Eric doesn't like. Dang him.