Catching up

Tuesday, June 17th - 2008

Yesterday I played, today I worked.  To be more specific, I ironed.  Back in April, Brian went to Switzerland.  After he came home I noticed our closet had a funky smell in it.  It smelled like fuel.  He brought back the smell of airline fuel with him.  So, we took his suits to be dry cleaned and I washed everything he brought with him.  We ended up throwing out the suitcase he used because it had gotten a huge rip in it during the trip.  Still, the closet smelled.  I tried all kinds of  sprays (oust, febreeze, whatever) to get the smell out.  It did not work.  Here it was 2 months later and our entire closet still smells.  So, I took everything out of the closet, and washed it.  It took forever!   I am now in the process of putting everything back.  The bad thing about washing everything at the same time is that there is a TON of ironing to do.  I ironed for hours today and I hardly made a dent.  

At least the closet doesn't smell anymore.

Pirates Dice

Monday, June 16th - 2008

A few months ago, I sent Brian on a late night run to Walmart for some groceries.  This is typical at our house.  I neglect the grocery shopping until we are down to almost nothing, then late Saturday night I send Brian to the store to get some groceries to get us through Sunday.  This time, he came home with more than groceries.  He had some bags filled with toys and games.  He said tons of stuff was on clearance and he couldn't pass it up.  Now, I definitely have the "cheap" gene.  I love a good deal.  But, I also have the mom gene that thinks: "we already have waaaay too many toys and games, what are you doing buying more?"  

Anyway, this is one of the games he brought home.  It went straight into the game closet and has been there ever since.  For some reason, Joseph pulled it out today and wanted to play.  So, I read the rules and we played.  We played a lot.  First it was best of 3, then best of 5, then best of 7.  After a while we lost count.  It was fun to just stay home and hang out with Joe and play.   We don't do that enough.  I love my kid, and I love spending time with him.  He is a lot of fun.  Today was a great day. 

Father's Day

Sunday, June 15th - 2008

Here is Brian on father's day.  We needed a day to recover from our trip.  This is how Brian recovered - all day.  He said it was the best Father's Day ever.  For dinner, I made Brian meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Here is the onion I cut up and used in the meatloaf.  If any of you know me at all, you will know that I HATE onions.  Maybe hate isn't a strong enough word - I loathe them, I despise them, I detest them... you get the idea.  So, the fact that I actually went to the store and bought one, and then proceeded to chop it up into little pieces, says volumes on how much I must love Brian to do this for him.  I will now probably smell like onions for a week, but at least I made Brian happy for a day.   It must be hard for him, someone who loves onions, to be married to me, someone who hates them.  I never use them when I cook.  He is onion deprived.  

Heading Home

Saturday, June 14th - 2008

So, unfortunately we had to leave Cali today.  We were pretty bummed about it.  However, we had to make one last stop before we left town.  The Strawberry Farm (ok, so they have more than strawberries, but that's what we go for) on Associated road in Fullerton, California.   Jared and Tricia gave us the heads up on this place when they lived in Fullerton.  Now it is a must for whenever we are in the area.  We were a little worried that it was too late in the season for strawberries, but we were not dissappointed.   These berries are the BEST!  

Happy Birthday to Brian and Dallin today!

Disneyland

Friday, June 13th - 2008

What kind of trip to California would it be if we didn't make a stop at Disneyland?  Actually I am not a fan of Disneyland in the summertime.  It is too hot, and there are too many people.  I can do hot, or I can do crowds.  I can't deal with both at the same time.  However, since we have year round passes, and we were so close by, and both Brian and Joe really, really, really wanted to go, I agreed to it.  It actually wasn't too hot.  It was crowded, but I've been there when it's worse.  If you go in March or October during school breaks, be prepared to deal with wall to wall bodies.   It is tradition in our family, that if you do Disneyland, you do Space mountain first.  It was an hour wait, but that was the longest wait of the day.  Because it was so crowded, did all of the favorites first, in case we ran out of time.  I was surprised that Pirates and Thunder Mountain were only 15 minute waits.  I was more surprised that California Screamin' was only about 15 minutes.  Screamin' is both Brian and Joe's favorite ride.  I think they rode it 3 or 4 times.  I can only do it once and then I start to feel nauseous.  Ever since I've had vertigo, I get motion sickness very easily.   During the hottest part of the day, we took a break and went to the Downtown Disney movie theater to watch "KungFu Panda."  

We had to stay for the fireworks show.  I sat in front of the castle and saved seats while Brian and Joe went for more rides.  The fireworks show was my favorite part of the day.  It was awesome, well worth the wait.  

Newport Beach

Thursday, June 12th - 2008

We spent most of the day (nearly 7 hours) at the beach.  Joe and Alex went crab hunting in the rocks again.  Max and Evan played in the sand.  Ian dug a giant hole in the sand for the boys to play in.  Then Ian, Joe and Ben spent a lot of time in the ocean on the boogie boards.  Thanks Ian for hanging out with Joe.  He had such a fun time.  Max and Brian hung out today.  Max told Brian about every spongebob episode he could remember.  I was impressed that he could relate an entire episode, "That's No Lady (one of our favorites), he didn't miss a detail. 

 I was in beach heaven.  I'm never happier than when my toes are in the sand.  It was awesome to have my mom and Sheri there too, they are fun to hang out with.  Today was also Ian's birthday.  Happy Birthday Ian!

Cali

Wednesday, June 11th - 2008

I know he doesn't look like it here, but Joe was super excited to be leaving for California today.  He has so been looking forward to it.  Joe, Brian and I drove over with my mom.  Joe had a sweet set up with the dvd player.  He watched movies all the way over.   We left around 10:00 and made it to the hotel around 4:30.    That meant there was plenty of time to check in and still make it to the beach before sunset.  Joe and Alex scaled the rocks looking for crabs, while Max, Evan and Ben just got super dirty playing in the sand.  Max was trying to make himself look like sandman.  He did a pretty good job.  Evan was hillarious.  He was so happy to be free and running around.  I took a ton of pictures at the beach, but only posted my favorite one of Joe here.  I'll post some more trip pictures on the family blog within the next couple of days.  I have some super cute ones of Sheri's kids too.   We made it back to the hotel in time to catch most of "So You Think You Can Dance."  We were too dirty and tired to go eat, so we ordered room service.  It was awesome.  Did I mention how much I LOVE the beach!

Breakdancing the night away

Tuesday, June 10th - 2008

Today was pretty hectic and crazy.  There was lots of cleaning and packing in order to get ready for our trip the next day.   I hate coming home to a messy house, so I was determined to get it clean before we left (and I almost did too).  

Around 7:00 we headed over to Jared and Tricia's house to watch their kids.  They were leaving for Aruba.  Lucky! (said like Napolean Dynamite).   Brian drove them to the airport while Joe and I stayed at the house with the kids.  We played Disney Scene It while we waited for pizza to arrive.  Joe and James were on one team, and Anna and I were on the other.  Emmy just ran around being as cute as can be.  We each won one game.  By the way, we waited over 2 hours for the pizza.  It was ridiculous.  When it finally came, they had gotten the order wrong.  If you live in Gilbert, AVOID Papa John's.  They are inept.  

Finally, all the kids were fed, teeth brushed, pj's on (except for James), and it was time for bed.  But, before they could get into bed, Anna and James had to show me their sweet breakdancing moves that they've been learning in breakdancing class.  James did this awesome headstand where he twists his body around to get down.  It was way cool, but sadly, I didn't catch a picture of it. 

Anna was not to be outdone.  She had to show me her awesome headstand too.  After the kids were in bed, Brian came back over and stayed with them so I could go home and clean some more.  Isn't he a sweetie.  

Return of a friend

Monday, June 9th - 2008

Yesterday at church, much to our surprise, we ran into an old friend of Joe's.  He actually used to live 2 houses down from us. He and Joe were good friends.  They did homework together, played together, went to scouts together.  So, when he moved a couple of years ago, we were quite sad.  Well, apparently, he is moving back.  While he won't be our neighbor, or even be in our ward, he will be much closer by, and hopefully will be able to hang out often.  He and Joe picked up right where they left off.  It was like old times.  So, we invited him to come over on Monday and swim.  The boys had a great time together.   I really like this kid.  I'm glad he's back.  

Breakfast in Bed

Sunday, June 8th - 2008

So, Brian slept in today.  This morning Joe and I had blueberry muffins and bananas for breakfast.  When Brian finally decided to get up, Joseph said he would bring him breakfast in bed.  I thought that was sweet, but what was even sweeter was the way he arranged it.  

After church, Joe and I went over to my mom's house.  Since my computer had died, I needed to borrow hers.  Addy and Ro were there.  We had ice cream together - Yum!  I love these happy kids.  Joe does too.  He has asked, on more than one occasion, if Darrel and Trina would be mad if we just kept them.   I have a lot of cute pictures of Jo and Ro together.  Maybe I'll have to post them sometime.  

Where is El Paso?

Saturday, June 7th- 2008

Today we ran errands all morning.  We were trying to get ready for our trip.  We dragged Joe to at least 4 different stores.  It was a long, HOT, (why do I live here?) process.  Someone please remind me to NEVER go to Costco on a Saturday again.   Joe was actually very good.  No complaining!  One of our stops was Tilly's, one of his favorite stores, where he got to pick out a new shirt.  Maybe that's why he was so good.  

So, after all of the running around, we decided to go for a late lunch.  We decided on El Paso Barbeque, a place that we all like. When we got there, guess what?  It's closed - permanently!  We were sorely disappointed.  I'm hoping the one near Brian's work is still open.  I'll be really sad if it's not.  Since we were in the mood for BBQ, we went to Texas Roadhouse instead.  It was right there in the same parking lot (and probably the reason El Paso went out of business, sigh).   I have to say, that the Strawberry Lemonade almost made up for the fact that El Paso was closed.  It was Yummy!

Are you kidding me?

Friday, June 6th - 2008

Seriously?  Is this what it's come to?  This was the first day (that I noticed) that gas hit the $4.00 mark (It has obviously already gone higher).  Is anyone else upset about this?   Why aren't we drilling for oil in the U.S. so we are not dependent on foreign countries who drive up the price of oil because they can?  (I'm sorry about the little rant there, but it had to be said).

I'm back!

Ok, so It's been a couple of weeks since my computer died.  That put me way behind.  Instead of trying to catch up all at once and posting 18 days worth of pictures right away, I'm going to post 3 or 4 each day until I catch up again.  I don't want to overwhelm you all.  

Thursday, June 5th - 2008

I took Joe, Alex and Michael to swim at Desert Oasis pool.  They wanted to go to Desert Oasis because Jared Ammon is a lifeguard there.  We got there around 10:30.  It didn't really get too crowded until about 12:30, but the boys didn't care.  They wanted to stay.  It was actually not too hot.  None of this 110 degree stuff.  I was very comfortable in the shade, reading my book.   We finally left around 1:30 because they decided they were hungry for lunch.  This is the only picture I got because it clearly states when you enter, that no photography is allowed without permission from the pool manager.  I did however, break the rules to get this quick shot when the boys were drying off.  I was very sly about it and I did not get caught.  I'm sad that no pictures were allowed.  I wanted to get a shot of Jared Ammon sitting in his lifeguard chair.

Gus

Wednesday, June 4th - 2008

I must be either be crazy or the best mom ever. So Monday night, Xander spent the night. Tuesday night it was Michael. Michael is an interesting kid. He makes the best comments and is hilarious, without even trying (to see exactly what I mean, check out Gonzo's blog. Paul recently did a post about Michael called: Dance with cats, chasing bunnies, never dance with pigs). He actually reminds me a lot of Joe. They get along really well together. Here they are Wednesday morning practicing their guitars. They had just finished watching "Drake and Josh" so they could get some tips on how to pick up girls (I'm not kidding, Michael is girl obsessed). Apparently girls love guys who play guitars, so they decided they needed to practice. They had a fun day together.

Xan Man

Tuesday, June 3rd - 2008

Xander spent the night Monday night. He and Joe had a fun time. This is Tuesday morning, hanging out in Joe's room. Xander is a cool kid. He's smart, funny, competitive, and an all around great kid. Usually when I take Xander's picture is is making some goofy face. I actually caught him in a rare, natural pose.

Making Friends

Monday, June 2nd - 2008

So, most of the kids (my neices and nephews) like me. I'd say we are friends. Then there is Evan. I've been working on him. I'll smile and talk to him. Sometimes he ignores me, but most of the time he talks back. Every once in a while if I'm in the toy room with him, he'll let me play with him. The problem is, he's waaaaay too attached to his mom. He only has eyes for her. Today at Grandma's, Evan decided to help Grandma by putting her groceries away.



Instead of bringing them to his mom or Grandma, he unloaded the bags, and brought the contents to me. And, he talked to me the whole time. Of course, I couldn't understand everything he said, but I felt like it was a pretty good conversation. So does this mean we are friends now?

This is the pile of groceries he left in my lap. Doesn't that Cranberry Vanilla cereal look yummy!

Also today, I hung out with Addy and Rowan this morning. Addy and I watched the Land Before Time. Rowan and I had a pillow fight and played tickle monster. He is such a happy kid.

MoJo JoJo

Sunday, June 1st - 2008

Joseph kept making silly faces at me in church today. I didn't have my camera with me at the time, so I made him do it again after church so I could take his picture. It wasn't quite the same, but here he is making a face.

Joe is getting excited about our upcoming trip to California. He can't wait. He decided to make a chain (you know, like the ones kids make at Christmas to count down the days). When he was done, he hung it on his door.

WooHoo!

Saturday, May 31st - 2008

On Saturday, approximately 6:30 p.m. I cleaned the last bit of grout off of the last brick. I then laid down the cleaning rag and shouted WooHoo! And then I proceeded to giggle with glee. I am finished. I have spent the last year and a half of my life refinishing this fireplace (First removing white paint, and then re-grouting). Ok, so I didn't work through Christmas, the Summer, or School Holidays. I also had about a month last October where I was on crutches. And then in November, I fell off the ladder and it hit me in the nose. That kept me out of commission for a few days. (On a side note, I still can't breathe right anymore. I think I probably broke it. Maybe I'll have to get a nose job, like Brian did.) That's why it took me so long. I can pretty much say with absolute certainty that I will never grout anything ever again. There has been some talk at our house about putting down tile in the bathrooms. Guess what. I will not be grouting it.


I tried to get a picture of the entire fireplace, but it was hard. The picture above I took because it shows the pit, but then I cut off some of the side shelves. This picture I tried to get a straight on view, but the couch is blocking some of it. Maybe I should have moved it before I snapped the photo. Anyway, I am done.

I wish I had taken a before photo of the whole thing painted white. I'm sorry mom, but it was hideous. I know you went through that white phase, but this is sooo much better.

A tip for anyone who needs to remove paint. We tried every paint thinner, yucky smelling stuff out there, and nothing would get the paint off of the bricks. Then my mom found some magic in a bottle. It's called Krud Kutter, and I think it's acutally wallpaper remover, but it worked good on the bricks. Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of scrubbing with wire brushes, and using razorblades to remove paint, but at least it worked.

On a separate note, Joe and Dallin cleaned my mom's basement and toy room so good today. Both rooms were pretty messy. I was proud because it was totally voluntary and neither of them helped make the messes. They even dusted the book shelves and vaccumed downstairs. Now, if I could just get Joe to do that at home. Joe also mowed Grandma's lawn today. He was my worker bee.

Ben & Max

Friday, May 30th - 2008


Today Max and Ben came over to play. Max's favorite thing to do when he comes over, is to play with the Castle Grayskull. Then he get's all of Joe's action figures and places them all over the castle. He kindly shared the castle with Ben. We also watched Spongebob and ate popcorn. We had a lot of fun.

Joe's party

Thursday, May 29th - 2008

First of all, what was I thinking? I agreed to let Joseph have an end of the school year party with his friends (I actually think I may have suggested it). He wanted to do it on the actual last day of school, which happened to be Adam's graduation day and party, so we decided to do it the day after instead. Grandma's house just happens to be party central. If it wasn't so fun, we wouldn't always be there.

Anyway, Joe got to invite 6 friends from school, plus 3 of his cousins. One friend couldn't come, so we were a party of 9. I thought it was going to be crazy, but it wasn't too bad actually. The boys were all very well behaved. One boy in particular was very polite. I thought it was cute when he commented that he liked my mom's house, it had a nice decor to it.

There was swimming, video games, pizza, playing zombies in the basement (a game that the kids made up and play on a regular basis. It involves turning out all the lights and trying to find each other in the dark). Brian and Paul (thanks for letting us borrow your projector) set up a movie outside in the front yard. The boys had popcorn and m&m's and watched the movie. Their parents came around 10:00. They were all tired, but we only lost one to sleep. Xander curled up in a blanket and fell asleep on the grass.

Graduation Day

Wednesday, May 28th - 2008

Today was hectic. I helped Stacy with Adam's quilt all morning. After I picked up Joe, we came to Grandma's to babysit Joshua so everyone could go to graduation. I was totally planning on going, but I volunteered to watch Joshua instead. I didn't think he would sit through a 2 hour long graduation. While at Grandma's, we helped set up for the graduation party. Joshua loved the balloons. At 7:00 there was a graduation open house for Adam. A ton of people came. Grandma showed up a little late. She had a good excuse though. She was picking up Adam's graduation present. A car! Whatever! I pretty much hung out with the kids all night in the toy room. I read stories with Addy and Max, and played trains with Joshua and Rowan. I love the kiddo's.