I no longer cringe when I walk into my garage.

When it was cool I spent 15-20 hours and actually got my garage in good shape. I also got rid of lots of stuff...which is hard for me to do for some reason.
My mom even came and helped me one of the days for several hours! Thanks mom!

Anna cracks me up...I figured out that she was ready for a nap when we found her laying on the rug in the garage!!! She slept there for about an hour then got back to work!

Pathetic.

This is called THE MEGA SWEEP.
Documentation of the real but not so pretty stuff in my life.
Happens after very long weekends (and on a smaller scale mostly every day.)
Because I'm too lazy to pick it all up off of the floor.
May sit there for days.
Yucky, dreaded, nasty.
Thank heavens for the large dust mop.(and all hard floors.)
Can I blame it ALL on my kids???
Housekeeping is NOT my forte.
Am I the only one!!??!?!

SELF RELIANCE!

SELF FEEDING....Anna loves playing in the car while I clean the garage...she found a lovely meal for herself!

Poor Little Poster child! If only someone had left the box open?!?!

Anna woke up way too early on Saturday morning for mommy.
Anna and I were lucky I hadn't cleaned up all the way from a party the night before...
I got more sleep, she got to feast on chips dipped in cool whip!
Not a healthy breakfast!

SELF CLEANING...

.
Not quite.! She doesn't actually change the diaper.
I'm still trying to figure out how to teach her that one!!

SELF SEDATION.....

I have no clue where she found this gem! What was the magic? Sugar or Red Dye #40??

SELF ENTERTAINMENT:

She can spend a whole hour just reading books. I don't even do that!


READY TO STEP OUT INTO THE WORLD???
Not quite!

I'm glad she's still my little girl!

And yes....they are sleeping!

Note to self:

or else.....

Never leave child unatended on a desk (or attended while the mommy is blogging!)
This make-over done by Anna was hard to miss, once I finally got off of the computer and took a good look in the mirror and saw what she had accomplished while she sat in front of me on the desk as I stared at the computer!

I have not spent a serious amount of time on the computer in blogland since May 15th. It's now 17 days later, it's 95 degrees outside and I've been aching to get on the computer and visit you all and actually share something. While I was on "leave" I got lots done and really admited to myself that I need to be moderate in my love of blogs and blogging. The plan is to only blog when the kiddos are not around! If I stick to my plan, I won't end up feeling guilty, and my face and office will be alot better off!
Just to not forget my pact, this morning I wrote a little note to myself...
It did work, for today at least!

Excuses...

The reason for my drastic drop in blog attendance and participation....

Last Monday, May 19th this was the forecast:
Monday: 110° F 79° F Clear
Tuesday: 106° F 76° F 41° Clear
Wednesday: 88° F 63° F Partly Cloudy
Thursday: 79° F 61° F Chance of T-Storms 20% Chance Precip
Friday: 81° F 63° F Chance of T-Storms 20% Chance Precip

The weather has been even better in real life and is still wonderful. There has only been light rain and lovely cloud coverage and Below 80 since Wed. Right now it is 67, and I love it!

Yeah, it's boring to talk about the weather, but I can't help but enjoy how beautiful it is....mainly because last week it was so hot!

We've been working on our porch/yard and hope to have pictures soon....before it's 110 again!

Happy Memorial Day!

One for the quote book...

I thought I'd share this...when I should be facilitating the toy bomb clean-up!

A conversation between Justin and I:

Justin: "Mom, there's a baby in your tummy."

Me: "What kind of baby am I having?"

Justin: "You have to make it a boy."

Me: "How do you know?"

Justin: "I had a spirit and Father Heaven told me he is a boy. "

Justin, after a pause....: "His name should be Ongja."

He told me on another occasion something similar...Something to the effect that he saw Heavenly Father in a cloud and he told him he's having a brother. Sweet, kind of interesting, out of the usual, possibly prophetic?!

I wonder how much kids really do know. We'll find out in a few months...but I can tell you one thing, the baby's name will NOT be Ongja!

Zion a.k.a. Paradise

We had a wonderful camping trip this past weekend! We go camping in Zion every year because we love it there...and it's close to home! Usually Patrick and his brother Damon hike the narrows but we went too early this year and the water level was still too high. I enjoyed the 80 degree weather more than the usual 95 degrees we have during the summer, so I didn't mind! We had fun on several other hikes and had a great time!






The best part of our site was the abundance of caterpillars. We found one at ever turn; on the tents, in our clothes, climbing our leg, falling from the trees, in our tents or squished under our shoes. We even found several packed with our stuff when we arrived home! It was bug heaven for the boys. Every time Justin or his cousin Bradley would find another they would announce their acquisition with excitement like it was the 1st they had laid eyes on. We also got to observe them going into their cocoons and Justin even used the word metamorphosis that his grandma Austin had taught him. Sadly, those not so gentle 4 year olds were also a form of caterpillar population control...They learned that caterpillars are not good swimmers and cannot withstand the pressures of even small hands. Poor little bugs!

We had a perfect site right along the river with lots of shade, great views and lots of caterpillars of course!














The highlight of the trip was at the top of the Emerald Pools Hike. It was more beautiful than I remember! There were wonderful views, a beautiful amber pool, streams, tons of mud, cool shade, tasty lunch, and some very happy wet kids! We hung out by the pool for over an hour but if I had my choice, it would have been longer!











Happy kids and a happy mommy! I found so much joy as I watched my kids, especially Justin enjoying the wonderful outdoors. So much learning and discovery! I love the picture of him playing in the stream. I would LOVE to add that feature in my backyard when we landscape... Well, I can at least fantasize, can't I?? In reality, I'm thankful to be able to visit such beautiful place that only God could create.

Click here for lots more Zion ... If you are up to it!

Lots 'o' love!

Mother's Day.
After my shower I found my walls adorned with these!
Those boys sure do know how to make a mommy feel special!
Patrick said, "I know the ones I wrote don't come from the right perspective..."
I just laughed at the thought of not wanting to see words of appreciation etched on my heart(s)!

Hooray for piggies!

I have always felt pity for any girls I would have and the state of their hair, especially since I barely get around to brushing my own sometimes! A few weeks ago after some introspection and looking at many, many pictures of Anna with ratty hair, I admitted to myself that my little girl looks more like a little rat! I decided it was finally time to start putting up her shaggy hair! I started the habit with my comb, rubber bands, spray bottle, Baby Einstein for distraction and bows (if I'm lucky. )I now look at her more adoringly and am not as easily annoyed when she proceeds to tear apart my house the way toddlers do so well. It was an enjoyable moment to watch her as she played and pretended to eat with a spoon and a little dish for over an hour! She has such a cute personality... luckily her hair looked cute to match it. I admire all you mommies who take such good care of your kiddies!

I stumbled across a CUTE blog all about hair! Something to look forward to when Anna has more of it! http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/

Accomplishment

It is pathetically gratifying for me to see the fruits of labor! 1o organized, labeled boxes are a beautiful sight to me. I've been needing to go through and organize kids clothes for over a year and finally got to it...but probably wouldn't have tackled the dreaded task if my mother in law and sister in law Becca hadn't graciously joined me! It's much more fun to have help doing the dreaded things in life. Organizing the garage is my next dreaded task...but I doubt anyone wants to do that...including me!

Ivy and Anna had fun too! The cabinet was a great hit.

Fire house field trip!

Melissa, in my ward organized a field trip to the local fire house! Tons of mommies and thier kids from the ward came.
Justin was bouncing off the walls. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. The picture of him below is a perfect representation of how he felt. It was also fun to see them leave in the firetruck because they got a call!
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Click for more pictures of the field trip:

2008-05-04 May 2008

Time for a change!

When my backyard doesn't look like this:

My kids and their knees won't always look like this!

After a year and a half there is finally hope for our backyard! We built the retaining wall, just poured the concrete and are in the process of putting up the porch. Then for the grass and foliage! I have visions already!
Anyone have experience installing a sprinkler system or
have good instructional video???

Anna's room: Occupied

Anna has officially been relocated from our bed and crib located in our room! The transition was a big success, just in time for the new baby. If she wanders into our room in the middle of the night, usually looking for a drink, we just take her back and that's it! I even put a drink and a snack for when she wakes up in the morning...just so I can get a little more sleep!









What a cutie!

The well positioned pillow.