Happy Labor-less day!

I love a free day! No school. No work. It was wonderful. I needed it so bad just to catch up on my life! This afternoon we all gathered at my parents house for Eric's famous homemade pizza. He had a new creation to wow us with ...Bacon Chicken Ranch pizza....Holy Cow! Delish! I ate entirely too much...I know...so not like me! I don't know what came over me because usually my self control is limitless! I think we all indulged a bit too much. Bommy bought the new Little Mermaid movie for the girls to watch. Avery especially was SO excited! She LOVES the Little Mermaid. Pretzels anyone??In gatherings such as this one...it's all about the games. We love to play games. I bought a new one that we tried out called Urban Myth. We also played some Speed Scrabble and Rummykub. Good times. Good times. Drey is the only one of the kids that likes to play games with the grown ups. He's good, too! He can school us all at Speed Scrabble. Of course, he tends to use words like "poop" and "barf" and "butt". What can I say? I'm doing the best I can as his mother!
Thanks Mom for letting us come over and trash your house! I just realized that I left without helping to clean up....whoops-a-daisy! I hope we get invited back.

FIRST game of the season!!

Gage has been so excited for today. He is playing in two leagues this fall..the regular league he has always been in and also a competitive travel league. Today was his first game at the Field of Dreams. Last night he came in our room and woke us up because he wanted to take some Tylenol PM. He was so excited he couldn't sleep! Of course I said "absolutely not"! When he woke up this morning he said he didn't sleep all night and to top it off I could tell he was sick. He was congested and coughing. He kept telling me he was fine and he didn't feel sick at all. I'm not stupid, however, and I know a sick kid when I see one. Finally he said "Mom, do I still get to play if I'm sick?" I told him that he could if he wanted to so he admitted that he was indeed not feeling good. I made him rest all morning and then gave him some medicine right before we left for the games (he had back to back games today). Right after I gave it to him I realized that I had done a not-so-smart thing in giving him medicine that would make him REALLY drowsy an hour before he had to pitch in the opening game! Crap! He pitched well at first but then you could tell something was wrong. He was moving really slow and I KNEW he was probably feeling pretty loopy out there. I feel so bad! I was only trying to help! Joey was appalled at me. Sorry! Geez! The coach pulled him out and let him rest a couple innings which was good. The Field of Dreams (is that what it's called?) is really nice. They have indoor seating with air conditioning (wonderful) and a snack bar (awful.. because it's a rip off...so expensive...plus they have Diet Pepsi instead of Diet Coke!) and an arcade to keep the kids busy. It's way different than sitting out in the heat on the burning hot bleachers like we're used to! My mom and dad and Tia came to support Gage. They all got a good laugh out of my misjudgement with the cold medicine. Ha Ha. I get it. I'm retarded.

Does anyone have some PROZAC that I could borrow?

No. I'm not joking. I feel a full blown panic attack coming on! Today I went down to the school to purchase my textbooks for the Nursing program. There was a really nice man in the bookstore that helped me find all my books. As he was loading book after book onto the cart I asked him "So are these all the books I need for the WHOLE Nursing Program?" He just gave me a smile and a look of pity and explained that these were the books for Block 1 and that there were other books for Blocks 2,3 and 4. I could feel myself starting to sweat and my hands started to shake. I played it cool like...no big deal. I can read all these humongous books and comprehend all the concepts in four months. No sweat. He had to walk me out to the car with the cart because they were SO heavy. How am I supposed to get them all to class? I'm going to have to load them into a rolling suitcase to get from the car to the classroom! I'm losing it today. I don't know what the heck I am doing! Why am I putting myself through this?! It seemed like a good idea at the time...years ago when I decided to become a nurse! Now I'm feeling completely overwhelmed and STRESSED! I have total guilt...I just spent $800 on BOOKS! For the FIRST semester! Not to mention all the other money that has gone into this dream of mine....let's see...there was this semesters tuition...$950...I had to get CPR certified...$25...I had to get fingerprinted...$80..I had to have a complete physical and immunizations and drug tested...about $500...I had to buy a Nurse Pack (gloves, syringes, ect.)...$80...I had to by the uniform (which included these ugly white clog shoes!)...$250...I had to take an exam to just APPLY to the program...$25...and then there all all the pre-requisite classes and books that I have had to pay for over the years...I don't even know how much was spent but it was thousands! Especially since they kept changing the pre-req requirements. And I still have to pay for the next three semesters too! GUILT! Especially because Gage needs braces and we could be saving for missions and college educations and adding on to our house (which is SO needed). I wonder if I am doing the right thing here. Or am I being completely selfish. My kids are still little and I'm going to be taking my focus off them and turning it onto getting through with school. Avery has been begging me for months to put her in dance classes but I've been putting her off...I'm not going to have time!!! What kind of mother is that for ya!? When I was driving home from the bookstore I had to call Joey who calmed me down and reminded me to look at the big picture. Thank goodness he has faith in me and thinks I'm "the smartest person he knows." Cause I glanced through some of the books and am feeling pretty stupid right about now. He fully supports this or else there is no way I could do it. Plus I've got great family and friends willing to help out and babysit and run kids around to different activities and whatnot. Sheesh. I don't know why I'm whining.. But I feel better for venting!

Road Trip!

Justin, Mindy, Tia and myself had to go to Idaho this week to paint a door. Most of my peeps already know that my sisters and I do faux finishing on custom made iron doors. Justin sells them. We paint them. We've been doing this over two years. We've had to go to far away lands like Heber and Showlow, Arizona to paint doors but never as far away as Idaho. I personally have never been to Idaho so it was an adventure. Road trips can be fun but especially long road trips can be torture. Nevertheless, I learned a lot of things on this trip...

I learned....

1. Swedish Fish claim to be "A Fat Free Food". This doesn't mean that you can consume an enormous portion of them and then proceed to sit and do NOTHING for hours and hours and not actually get fat. (My painting jeans were fitting a little snug when we finally arrived in Idaho.)

2. Mindy doesn't feel comfortable on a journey unless she has an Atlas within easy reach in which she can track our progress.

3. When starving, Justin can survive on sugar packets.

4. Idaho sells live bait from vending machines! That's just weird to me. Is that weird to anyone else?

5. When Mindy says she's going to share a large order of french fries with you what she really means is she will eat one or two and let you eat the rest because she doesn't like french fries. You think you know someone!

6. According to Mindy, I'm a good traveling partner. We spent many, many hours together in the back seat of the truck. She enjoyed the fact that I keep my space organized and litter free. You're welcome.

7. I'm too retarded to make waffles. The homeowners (of the door) put us up in a hotel that had the BEST waffles for breakfast. You had to make them yourself which seems easy enough until I made the biggest mess of it. Oops... they were SO GOOD!

8. Costa Vida is delicious. Unless you find a feather in your salad. Then it sucks. After painting until 9:00 p.m. one night we decided to eat at Costa Vida. It was tasting like a dream until poor Tia discovered a feather in her salad. I tried to keep eating my salad and ignore her find but it was hard because she kept poking at it and examining it. Pretty soon we all lost our appetite. I'm sure it's okay. Birds are pretty clean, right?

9. Mindy has to sit on the RIGHT side of the truck. I was happy to oblige. She started off on the left side but couldn't bear it.

10.I love the smell of tape! Oh wait. I already know that about myself. Mainly I enjoy Scotch tape but painters tape smells great too. Weird. I know. Sometimes I get caught sniffing tape. Whatever....we all have our issues.

BEFORE PIX:

AFTER PIX: (The faux finish doesn't show up too well in the picture. We did a bronze patina which turned out lovely.)

It was an exhausting four days but I finally got to see Idaho! We wanted to go river rafting while we were there but it wasn't meant to be....maybe next time!

Back to SCHOOL!

Well, the summer draws to a close. We had a good one. The kids were all ready to go back to school and I was ready to get back into a routine. Avery has been waiting and waiting to get to wear some of her new school clothes and today she finally got to bust them out. She looked so CUTE and grown up! She started first grade today. Even though she's so tall she looks like she should be starting third grade. She wasn't held back! She's only SIX!I really wanted Drey to wear one of his "nicer" shirts to school on the first day but he insisted that he wear the Spongebob shirt. I decided to pick my battles with him. This one didn't seem as important so I let him wear the darn shirt. I DID make him change out of the shorts with a big bleach stain on the front. I have to draw the line somewhere. Come to find out...ALL the shorts we bought Drey for school are mysteriously too big. He tried them all on weeks ago when they were purchased, he said they fit, we took off the tags and washed them and put them away for school. Now he says they are too big. Hmmmmm. It's a mystery. I have a sneaking suspicion that he went in and PRETENDED to try them on but didn't really. Now he has basically no shorts (that don't have stains on them) to start the school year off with. This is irritating to me...I'll just leave it at that.Gage started Junior High school today. My BABY! I don't like this one bit!!! He was SO nervous. He kept asking me over and over if he matched. I told him he did and then he would go change. I guess he didn't believe me. He looked so cute! I wish he was a little less handsome...STAY AWAY girls!! He wanted me to go with him and help him find his classes. He couldn't go to Meet the Teachers night at the school because he was camping . He was nervous that he would get lost. I asked him FIVE times if he was sure that he wanted me to come with him early to the school. I didn't want to embarrass him after all. He insisted that he wanted me to come. So we went down to the school about 20 minutes before class was supposed to start. We weren't there 30 seconds and he said "I'm good, Mom. I'll find it." I was like " You don't want me to help you find the classrooms?" He quickly told me that he could do it and he would see me later. I think he didn't want to be seen with me!!! Of course, there were no other parents walking around so I don't blame him. I was nervous for him all day. Hoping he found his classes, hoping he had friends in some of them, hoping he didn't have to sit alone at lunch... oh man I remember Junior High. I wouldn't want to repeat that experience for a million dollars. Okay, maybe I would consider it for a million dollars. But not for less than that. It's a horrible awkward time. I think he'll be alright though.Delly wasn't too happy to have the kids abandon her today. All morning she would say "Where Sissy go?" I would tell her Sissy was at school. Then she would make a "pouty face" and stick her bottom lip out. A little while later she would say "Where Dreybee go? I would say he's gone to school too and she would do the thing with her lip. It was cracking me up! Poor kid lost all her playmates. Just boring old Mom now.

Camping trip with Grandpa

Gage absolutely LOVES to go camping but unfortunately Joey is not a big fan. Ever since Gage came back from Scout camp (back in June) he has been begging to go camping. I guess he figured he would have a better shot at going if he hit up his Grandpa to take him. He was right! The kid is no dummy! He asked my dad on a Sunday and the very next Friday he took off work and took both our boys up to Riggs lake for a campout. Joey was going to suck it up and go with them (he says) but unfortunately (ya right) he had some meetings that he had to go to (uh-huh). My brother Brandon and his son Noah came along as well to join in the rain..I mean fun. Thank goodness they did because my brother took 197 pictures! Yeah! It was hard to choose which ones to post!Avery and Delly have been using Gage's tent as a "rocket ship" so somehow it got a big rip in it. Sorry Gage. My bad. We had to go buy a new tent and Gage was worried that he would have trouble setting it up. Looks like they did it okay. I heard that it rained ALOT but it looks like they had some dry spells.

I LOVE the picture of Gage above. It makes me wonder what is going on in that mind of his. He looks so introspective. I wish I could crawl into his head and look around a bit.

Who is that kid in the yellow sweatshirt that is being difficult and not posing for the picture? Cause I know that NO kid of mine would behave in such a fashion!
Thanks Dad A MILLION times! The boys had the greatest time...even Drey. Sorry if he gave you a run for your money....it's good for you. It builds character. BK- thanks for the AWESOME pictures! Love it!

Family Date Night

Tonight was Friday night and this night is usually reserved for Joey and I to go on a date. However, we just went out two days ago for our anniversary so we decided to have a family date night instead. The kids were SO happy to get to go and do something out of the house! We decided to head over to Golfland where we proceeded to eat some surprisingly tasty pizza, played video games and a round of goofy golfing. Of course, the boys are so competitive that we can't just play for fun...there has to be a prize! After much debate, it was agreed that the winner of the 18 holes would NOT have to participate in the weekly Saturday chores in the morning. The winner could watch TV or play videogames while the rest of us do all the cleaning. This was a MAJOR prize for our kids...who think that Saturday morning chores are a horrible form of torture. I'm a big fan of Saturday mornings...but that's just me. We proceeded to start the game and right off the bat Drey was out of the running for the prize. He was so frustrated with himself so he announced that he was just playing for "fun". He wasn't really "trying" to win. That's why he wasn't doing well. He wasn't "trying." It was pretty funny! By the end it was a close call between Joey and Gage. Gage wanted it SO bad but Joey came through for me and won the game! YES! I have all my slaves...I mean workers in the morning! It would be especially hard to lose Gage who does jobs that the other kids are too young to do. It was a fun night and the kids are all worn out. They went right to bed when we got home with no stalling or complaints. That was worth it right there!

Happy 15th Anniversary!

On July 9th, 1993 two dorky kids went into the temple in Mesa, Arizona and were sealed for time and all eternity. I was 18 and Joey was 23. First of all, who gets married at 18 years old!!?? I started dating him when I was 17! My girls better never try to pull a stunt like that! But I had to do what I had to do to be able to snag Joey for myself. My mom told me "Don't date a return missionary unless you're ready to get married." I was like "Oh brother, Mom. It's just a date. There's no way I'm getting married." A year later I was putting on my wedding dress! Turns out Mom wasn't as clueless as I thought! I can hardly believe that it's been 15 years since that day! I remember it like it was yesterday. Literally. Some things you just don't forget. I remember crying so hard during the ceremony...uncontrollably...I couldn't stop. I was so mad because I had spent so much time on getting my makeup just perfect! And then I had to go take pictures right after! It was just so overwhelming. It still is if I really think hard about it. Eternity is a long time after all. We had a great day today...just hanging out..just the two of us. Today is also my parents 37th wedding anniversary! Yes, we got married on the same day as them..just 22 years later. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Fourth of July BBQ /Swim Party/ Birthday Party

For the Fourth of July we did something different this year. For the past few years we have gotten together with my side of the family so this year we celebrated with Joey's family. We had a BBQ at Granny and Pops house and had fun swimming and eating and eating and then we decided to eat. It was also Lexi's B-day so the kids got to hit on a pinata and LOADED up on candy. Thanks Nick and Coartney! My kids have been on a sugar high ever since! I finally had to hide the candy so they didn't go into a sugar coma. I think a fun time was had by all...even though the heat was unbearable! I must be getting heat sensitivity in my old age because I never remember whining so much about the heat as I have this year!

Delly thought it was pretty funny to swim with Papa Joe! That was a first for her!Thanks Cindy for bringing the poppers and other fun noise makers! We saw those in Sam's Club and Drey begged for them but I'm a mean Mom and wouldn't buy them. He was so happy that he got to explode things after all!