28

Okay, I'm officially 28 years old. Last Thursday was the big day and guess what I did all day....shopped. No, not your run of the mill birthday shopping spree. Apparently, I have graduated to adulthood. I spent 7 hours on my birthday shopping for our family Lake Powell trip. Yes, I went to Costco, Wal-Mart, Albertson's and then back to Costco AGAIN. But the good news is that I got to go to Lake Powell the next morning. Oh yea, and I chopped off all my hair the day before. Maybe I'm suffering a mid-life crisis....

I have a good story. Thursday night (after all the shopping) we had a bunch of friends over for cake (complete with Madagascar figures) and ice cream. There is the cutest newlywed couple that bought the house across the street from us and I decided to invite them over too. Ryan (the guy) was out of town, so just Brittany came over. It was really fun and all our neighbors got to meet the new girl. She's positively GORGEOUS and young (21 to be exact) and only married for two weeks. She just came to Utah two weeks ago from Knoxville, TN. Anyway, we had a good time, kissed our friends good-bye and went back to packing for our trip.

It started to storm around 10:00. And those of you in Utah know it was a MAJOR storm. At 11:00 we heard frantic pounding on the door and sure enough it was Brittany, soaked to the bone, holding her cell phone in one hand and a taser gun in the other. She said that someone had broken a window in her basement and she was sure there was someone in her house.

Eric broke out the old Louisville Slugger, I grabbed an umbrella and we all set off across the street in the pouring rain. I set one foot in the street and I was up to my ankles in mud! My flip-flops stuck like glue and I fell all the way down. I lost my shoes and continued barefoot across the street covered in mud.

When we got inside Eric went and routinely checked all the closets and bedrooms (looking slightly ridiculous carrying a baseball bat) and I headed straight for the basement. I was sure an intruder would not be out in a storm like this and I just wanted to get home to a shower. I opened the basement door to find....water. One of her window wells had filled up with water and the pressure had broken the window. It was like 'A River Runs Through It' right there in the basement.

We called and woke up every able-bodied man on the street to come clean up and do damage control. So I went home and took a shower and changed my muddy clothes and decided to head back over to see if I could help out. Smarty-pants that I am, I again wore flip-flops and AGAIN fell in the muddy street only to cover myself in mud for a second time. What are the odds? (Pretty good if you're me.)

Anyway, it was a crazy night with the storm and getting packed for the trip. But all in all I think the new neighbor was very impressed with all the guys on the street taking care of her so well. And I'm sure that she's equally impressed with my street-crossing skills.

water

Question - is it bad when I could take a shower in my kitchen with the water leaking from the ceiling? I don't even know what that means when water leaks through the ceiling onto the kitchen floor. I do know that it's right under the kids bathtub that they were just in.... I don't know what to do. This can't be me life. I'm sure their mother will be back any minute.

Roto Rooter

Yup. Again. This time it was a dinosaur. And Cliff (Roto Rooter's guy) told me that there might be something further down the line. So I have to watch it for 10 days and call if there are anymore problems. Then they'll come and take the toilet completely off and run a video line to see what other treasures are in there. Great. And he thinks I should replace all the toilets in the house (with all my spare change) because the builder cut corners with cheap ones. (Imagine that. A builder cutting costs?)

Cliff brought the dino down stairs and showed the boys and I asked who had flushed him. Luke, a little too quickly, says, "It was Abbie! She's in big trouble. I'm a big boy!" Uh, yea...I'm sure it was Abbie. Then the idea came to me to just blame it on the kid's friends and then I can get others to start footing the bill! I'll be collecting $135 from Paige later this week.... Genius Luke!

Plane Driver

Cameron: "I want to be a plane driver when I grow up."
Me: "Why do you want to do that?"
Cameron: "So I can take Daddy on all his trips."

Girlfriends

Ten years after high school and we’re all still friends! Kelly brought a picture of all of us on graduation day in our caps and gowns. I’m wishing I had that picture to show a 1997 and a 2007 picture. But this one will have to do. Left to right: Brittany Johnson, Allison Palmer, Julie Rowe, Me, Kelly Kunz, Colleen DeRose and Cynthia Washenko. It's strange to think that between us, we have 14 kids. We got together for dinner and then Cyn, Colleen, Kelly and I went and saw Ocean's 13. Holy eye candy! Even though the plot seems to remain the same for all those Ocean's movies, I never get sick of watching them! Matt Damion is my FAVORITE. But I prefer him as Jason Borne - and I am in luck! There's a new Borne movie coming out next week. Happy day!

We had the best time! There’s never a shortage of things to talk about (or laugh about) with these girls. I love them all to death!!

Carnies

On Saturday we had no plans at all I was bored stiff. So Eric got this wonderful idea to go to the American Fork carnival. If you’re ever in the mood for some serious people watching, go to a Utah county carnival. It’s hard to say what’s more fun to watch, the carnies or the trolls who crawl out from under their bridges to attend the carnival. I don’t know where these citizens are living. I swear people in the grocery stores and banks don’t dress/look/act like these carnival attendees. I just can’t understand the logic of a person who won’t spend money on practical things like undies, but is more than willing to fork over $40 to try to win a stuffed animal by popping a balloon with a squirt gun.

The rides at carnivals are very questionable to me. It’s unnerving that the carnival arrives in the middle of the night and some Sasquatch assists the bearded lady to slap together these rides that we then pay to hand over our little children to ride around in these death traps. This ‘undies-buying’ mommy is more than nervous about the whole thing. But the kids did get to ride on 4 mom-approved rides and they had a really good time. And I got to eat cotton candy!

Running Crazy!

Okay, for a week now I’ve been avoiding talking about something, but here it is. I have signed up to run a marathon on December 9th. Now that everyone knows, there’s no going back. Jenna, Kayley and I have all committed to run it. (They are my awesome neighbor friends.) The fun part is that the marathon is in Honolulu! Aloha! Somehow that is more incentive to train if we get to go to Hawaii during the throes of Utah winter. I have run a few races but never a marathon – so this is very exciting for me. Alright, now that it’s out there – you all have to cheer me on.

Report cards

Yesterday was Cameron and Mason's last day of school and they got little report cards and everything. Mason's report card talked about how well he had done listening, following directions and "he's learning how to share Cameron with other friends." I am not joking, that's what it said! Is that a riot or what?

*******

I was just blow drying Cam's hair and we had this little conversation.

Cam: "What would happen if I dropped the blower dry on the floor?"

Me: "It would break."

Cam: "Then we could see all the stuff that Jesus made it with?"

It's amazing the things that she thinks about. She literally thinks that Jesus made everything. She sometimes asks why Jesus doesn't "put a road right here" or "when Jesus made the mall, he forgot the Disney store?". I love the faith of children.

Okay, Heather, in response to your comment...oh, I have no response! It is kind of funny that it was a boy who wanted me to sew! And he dumped me for a younger, slutty cheerleader. Go figure.

Well, the quilts are done! I was feeling so industrious today that I made three! One for Baby Buster and the others for Cameron's dolls. The doll quilts were super fast and easy. The cherry one remains my favorite. I originally used this fabric for Paige's baby, Ellie's quilt. But I had extra, so I made one for a dolly. Am I good or what??

Look who's sewing now!!!

When I was in high school, a boyfriend talked me into taking Occupational Sewing with him. I couldn't sew a stitch to save my life, but stupidly, I signed up. And of course, about 2 weeks into the year-long class he broke up with me. Forget the honors English and AP Psychology classes - they were a breeze compared to sewing! But I did learn a few tricks after messing up practically every single thing I made. Now I make baby blankets for all my friends and every time I sit down to (my very own) sewing machine I think "Look at me Andy! I'm sewing with out any help and with 3 monkeys hanging on me!!" Look who got the last laugh!

So I'm sewing a baby quilt for my sister, Lacey's, third baby. He's not due till November - but I'm already excited!! Other people's babies are so much more exciting than mine. Ali has already figured out that his name is either Buster (with some convincing from her auntie) or Peter Pan. Both are very good choices - good luck with that decision Lace!

Anyway, I'm just really excited about the cute quilt. I'll post a picture when it's all done.

Today I'm watching my neighbor's girls, Aleah and Landi. They are so dang funny! Landi just said to me, "Your boys sure make me nervous. They really mess up your whole house." I couldn't have said it better myself!

Fantastic!

Okay - I am a glutton for celebrity magazines. Nothing (really nothing) can make my day like a good US Weekly or People. So you can imagine how excited I was when I was at Paige's house today and she had recorded 'Victoria Beckham: Coming to America'!!! So we got the kids all settled in front of some crappy video game and we got all settled (cokes in hand) on Paige's bed to watch a 'mommy show'.

Can I tell you how much I love Victoria? I thought she was very stuffy till watching this show. She's a riot! Everything is "fantastic" to her and she ALWAYS wears high heels. Which, in my dream world, so do I. So you'll all have to check it out when you're in a mood for celeb-reality.

I just read some scathing reviews of Victoria's show. Apparently America wasn't as keen on Vic as I was. But to all those harsh critics I have to say 'what did you expect? It wasn't meant to be a meaningful documentary!'

Welcome to America Victoria! (and your hot husband too....)

Alison

I totally forgot to mention one of my favorite blogs in the Rockin' Girl Blogger thing. You all need to check out my cousin, Alison's blog. She is in a totally different place in life, so it's fun to live vicariously through her. Right now she's traveling all over Europe, staying in youth hostels and she's got posts all about where she's been and what she's seen.

http://choosesomethinglikeastar.blogspot.com/

Bye-bye Moon Sand

Well, we broke out the Moon Sand for a second go-round today. This time I thought I was so smart to put it on cookie sheets and make the kids do it outside. Once again, the joke is on me! You should have seen the mess! After about a half an hour we decided to call it quits for good. All four packages were emptied and there was Moon Sand as far as the eye could see in my yard. I got out the vacuum and started vacuuming the grass. Who knows what that stuff is made of and if it will kill the remaining live grass in the backyard. I realize that it sounds more than a little crazy to vacuum grass....but that's me for you.

So when the Moon Sand was gone, the boys just moved on to real sand. I have at least 5 buckets-full of sand in my condenser unit. And I have the nerve to wonder why it's always breaking down on me.

Thanks again for the fun times Kayley!

Loightning the queen

Mom: Luke! Let's go to Target and spend your birthday money!

Luke: I want Loightning the queen.

Did I raise my kids in the Bronx? 'Loightning'? Yes, he means Lightning McQueen. It's hysterical that Luke talks like a seasoned New Yorker and Cameron talks like she's from the deep south. She says "hotAel" instead of just hotel. I can't do it justice in writing, but I promise it's a riot to listen to them.

My neighbor, Kayley, stopped by tonight to bring a birthday present for the boys. She gave them Moon Sand. I've seen the ads on tv for it and thought it looked fun. But now I'm wondering...does she hate me? The kids have been in bed now for 2 hours and I'm still scraping moon sand out of the grooves in the wood floor and the leaf creases in the table. I'm going to give her daughter some Silly Putty and red lipstick for her 3rd birthday!

Rockin' Girl Blogger

Okay, so Heather just tagged me a "Rockin' Girl Blogger". Honestly, I have no idea what that means. All I know is she tagged me and now I'm having TONS of hits on my page and I'm feeling a little intimidated. For those of you who know Heather and don't know me - I am her polar opposite! Don't come here for recipies, scrapbooking cuteness, expert photography or anything clever! I basically have a crazy life and I'm trying hard to just keep laughing before I start to cry! And you'll notice that I'm not nearly as technical as others - my blog is VERY basic.


Apparently I'm now supposed to tag my favorite "Rockin' Girl Bloggers". So here it goes!


http://andthisisus.blogspot.com/ - This is my sister Lacey. She lives with her cute family out in Delaware. Her kids ALWAYS look adorable! She is 'practically perfect in every way'. She's an inspiration to motherhood and being a good wife.


http://sunnyderose.blogspot.com/ - This is my good friend from high school Colleen. She lives in Irvine, CA with her cute husband and even cuter son, Ashton. I love to read her blog because it takes me to southern California! Her pictures are seriously amazing. She's such a fun person to be around.


http://hayleebean.typepad.com/haylee_bean/ - This is Haylee. I just met her recently, but I LOVE reading her blog. She's a professional photographer and I think she has such a good eye. Check it out!


Anyway, those are some blogs that I read. So Lacey, Colleen and Haylee - you're tagged! So you try to figure out what this Rockin' Girl Blogger thing is about!


And thanks Heather for putting me on the map with this whole blogging world!

Pretty cute

Isn't this picture a classic?? They had been out playing in the creek in front of my mom's house and Adam had gotten wet, so he just took off his clothes. Lyndsey caught this picture sneaking up on them. Pretty cute, huh?

Happy Birthday Boys

I can hardly believe that Luke and Adam are three years old!! Where has the time gone? (probably down the toilet just like everything else) In some ways it seems like they should be about 7 years old, but then I can't even believe these stinky, troublemakers are the same babies I brought home from the hospital three years ago.

They were so tiny and sweet! (And SO MUCH WORK) These are a couple of my favorite pictures of them as babies. They have always been such good buddies.

Yesterday was their actual birthday. Eric is totally into birthdays so we had the whole house decorated in Lighting McQeen (Luke's fav) and SpongeBob Square Pants (Adam's fav). They opened presents before they even had breakfast. They got a Home Depot tool bench, baseball stuff, pool toys and Transformers. Then all the kids went with Eric to the book store to pick out a new book and then to Chick Fillet for lunch.

Last night we had a little party with all the neighbors. We had cake and ice cream and then we got out the slip-n-slide that they got from Ali and Parker (Lacey's kids). It was a total hit!

What a fun day! Thanks for all the fun birthday wishes! Look at how funny this picture is of all the parents sitting on the sidewalk watching the slide. It really was fun!

Mystery solved

Mystery solved. Apparently I shouldn't brag about my handyman work just yet. I came home this afternoon to a sweltering house AGAIN! So I checked everything AGAIN. Found that the breaker switch outside had been flipped off. So, being the sneaky mom that I am, I sent the boys out to play and when they were least expecting it.... I ran out and caught them in the act of turning on and off the breaker! Oooo they are in big trouble! So I padlocked the breaker box. I am now taking bets on how long it will take before they learn to pick the lock. Any takers??

I am woman

I am woman. Hear me roar! Just call me Ms. Fixit. I fixed a very doomed toilet on Tuesday. (I'm beginning to wonder if we just have questionable plumbing.) And last night out air conditioning went out. It was 85 degrees on the main floor and I'm sure it was about 95 upstairs. Needless to say it was a MISERABLE night! So this morning I called about 12 repair places and I couldn't get anyone to come sooner than Monday.

So I decided to fix it myself. I took apart the furnace, cleaned out the fan and put it all back together. The pipes weren't frozen but there wasn't any cold air coming out. Brad, our super-nice neighbor, called and walked me through a checklist of things that could be wrong. Anyway, after flipping breakers and checking vents, the cold air is, once again, pumping back through our house.

At times like this, I used to curse Eric for being gone. There was one incident with the lawn mower when I had a complete temper tantrum in front of my terrified in-laws. I have since moved on to just figure it out. I now think of myself as incredibly capable. I think it's the example of my own mom that has shown me that men are no more mechanically inclined than women. She can figure out just about anything. Including a 27 station sprinkling system. Mine has 6 and I'm still figuring it out. But there are few things in life that can give me the satisfaction of knowing that I am able to take care of myself, my kids and my house. Don't get me wrong, I still have to call my dad for help with bigger things, but I do try to learn when he comes to help.

I am so proud of myself that I can't wait for Eric to call so that I can brag about my fix-it fun!

7-11

Happy birthday to Eric!! Not my Eric, but my little brother Eric. He's 18 years old today! Scary, I feel so old. I hope he went to as many 7-11 store as he could for free slurpees - we used to do that with him. It was so fun. We got 12 stores a few years ago. Wow!

What a day today has been. We had swimming lessons this morning, then Cameron had summer camp, then we decided to go to the Discovery Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. We went with a bunch of neighbors and about a zillion and 5 kids.

We wadded at Noah's arc, crawled through the bear caves and explored the lighthouse. And the moms sat and chatted. What a good day!

New look

So I added new pictures to the blog. What do you think? I love how the pictures turned out. Unfortunately, the kids were not too happy the morning that we did the shoot. But I still like the pictures. I'm really bummed that Eric couldn't be there because we still don't have a complete family photo. Oh well.

Cameron started summer camp yesterday. She and Mason go to preschool for few hours a day for two weeks. I'm loving it! Yesterday she and Mason came home talking about a 'mean girl' in their class.

Mason: "She's 7 years old and she can't talk!"

Cameron: "She threw sand on me and pinched Mason!"

Paige: "What do you mean she can't talk??"

Cameron: "Well, she can talk Spanish."

Mason: "Yea, mean Spanish!"

Driveway of Flames pt. 2

All of us in our neighborhood look for any excuse to have a block party. The whole month of July turns into a full blown fireworks festival. We got together again last night so that Raul could demonstrate, yet again, his inner pyromaniac. It was a total blast! And I even got a couple of pictures. This picture of Luke was my favorite. The sunset was so beautiful! It seemed to capture the essence of the whole night, melted ice cream and all. We even had one singed hair accident. The night wouldn't be complete without that! We are so lucky to have such fun friends.

Thanks again everyone for the good food and the fun!

Independence Day

We had such a good time yesterday! Eric got up really early (5:30) and took the kids to see the hot air balloons take off in Provo. (And I got to sleep in!) They loved it! All day they were telling everyone about the 'air hot balloons' that looked like a pig and a strawberry.


Then we went to Greg and Michelle's house (Eric's brother). We had loads of yummy food, including a very patriotic jello salad and even did a water slide! They have the perfect yard with a hill off to one side. They put down a tarp on the hill and it's an instant water slide. It was a riot watching all the kids and dads sliding down the tarp. They put dish soap all over it to make it more slippery. That's what the pictures are of. The first one is Sadie (a cousin) and Cameron. The one to the left is Adam and Luke trying hard to finish their ice cream before it melted. (It did melt all over the place.) And the last one is of the kids jumping up and down (that's why Cam is a little fuzzy).


Then we went to a barbecue at Grandma Mickey's house. She was celebrating her 61st wedding anniversary, her first one alone. When I was a kid we used to always have our family reunions over the 4th of July and we'd all celebrate their anniversary together. In a month Grandma will move to a brand spanking new condo. It was bittersweet for everyone. Good memories and moving on. Eric and I played 2 man baseball with the kid's plastic gear. We were very entertaining, I'm sure.


Then we got together with all the neighbors for fireworks. We have the best view of the Thanksgiving Point fireworks from the Parra's backyard. And all the boys put on a very good Driveway of Flames show in the street. I love how they pretend it's for the kids....especially Raul.


July 4th continues to be my favorite holiday! To me, there's nothing better than the hot weather, good food, lots of friends and family and fireworks! What could be better? We are so lucky to be Americans! July is the best month of the year. Independence Day, Bastille Day, Luke's birthday, Adam's birthday and of course MY BIRTHDAY!

PICTURES ARE READY!!

Okay everyone, we have a couple of pictures proofed!! Go to http://hayleebean.typepad.com/haylee_bean/
Haylee - I am so excited about the pictures!!! Again, I'm sorry they were so cranky that day (or any day). You will all have to check out my kiddies!

We originally were going to have pictures done of the kids for Father's Day presents, but we didn't get around to it on time. And Haylee, the photographer, happens to be Jordan's sister. (Ereka's husband) So she's been busy with family things. Anyway - all fathers - we'll have some pictures to you soon!

Escape Artist

I'm just waiting for the call that I won Mother of the Year. Today was a red letter day for my mothering skills at Lifetime Fitness. We were at the pool at the gym (like always) and I first got reprimanded by a 16 year old lifeguard for letting the boys eat a granola bar too close to the pool. About 10 minutes later the same lifeguard got after me again for taking pictures! Who knew that you couldn't have a camera at the gym? It's some sort of privacy issue for the other members. Maybe we have celebrities that don't want me to sell to the paparazzi. And really, why does a teenager, wearing a too small red swim suit, intimidate me!? So just to spite the teeny-bopper, I'm posting pictures of the pool!! How very scandalous of me!

But the real excitement came when I was busy catching Mason and Cameron on the slide. Jenna came over with Luke wrapped up in a towel in tears. A child care center worker had found him out in front of the gym! He had gone out of the pool area, to the indoor pool, through the locker room and out the lobby doors! What a good mom am I? CPS will probably be at my door any minute.

Let's pretend

Cameron has had the boys playing an ongoing pretend game called Sunny. Sunny is Luke's name and Adam is Spot. Cam just informed me that they were going upstairs to play Sunny.
Cameron: "Mom, we're going upstairs to play Sunny."
Me: "Okay, but tell me, is Sunny a dog?"
Cameron: "No, he's a baby."
Me: "Is Spot a dog?"
Cameron (laughing hysterically): "No, silly! Spot is a whale!"
How dumb am I? Of course Spot would be a whale.

Monday

After about an hour and a half of exhausting surgery, I am now operating with a full keyboard! Well, the 'function', 'ALT' and 'window' keys are still waiting to be placed because I'm not sure where they go. But who uses those keys anyway? It was much trickier than I thought it would be. The space bar is still VERY STICKY!
And Enter too.

We had our first swimming lessons this morning. Everyone was so excited!! I even took my camera to get a few pictures of all the kids together. We have a whole bunch of our little friends in our classes. But of course, my camera never even made it out of the car. I am so bad at taking pictures! I think we have lessons again on Wednesday (though I'm not sure because of the holiday) so I'll really try to TAKE the camera this time. I think that's the first step to getting pictures.

Luke really surprised me at swimming. He actually let the teacher float him around! I'm sure he was much more buoyant after eating a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for breakfast - yes, he actually did. (about 1/4 of one) Adam was much more into splashing Abbie than anything else. Cameron did great, I'm sure. She was at the other end of the pool, so I didn't really get to see much from her. Plus, I get to sit with a Coke and my friends during the lesson, so that's pretty great too!

I don't remember if I even mentioned the fact that my buddy, Mike from Roto-Rooter, came last Monday. But he's coming again today!! Too bad he smells like cigarettes and BO... I wish he was cute. That would somehow make flushed bath toys more fun.

Well, I just got a very exciting package in the mail....my SEPHORA stuff came today! $200 worth of makeup! There are few things in this world that make me as excited as new makeup! I'm off to play now...