Weekend at the Cabin

We had a good time at the cabin. The kids always love to hang with the cousins. We like to stay around 2 days, any longer than that and everyone starts to get on each others nerves and the kids start to fight. So... in our 2 days together we had a lot to fit in.

First up.... rides on the new tire swing that looks like a horse. Gotta love a good horsie ride

Then of course it's off to the 4-wheelers. The kids L O V E to ride (usually that's about all they want to do) We were a little short handed on adults so we had more than the "legal" limit of kids on each 4 wheeler! Shhhh.... Don't tell.

Of course the little one didn't want to be left behind. Luckily, she's cute and all she needs to do is say please, and she's in. Grandpa was putty in her capable hands!

Then all the kids went fishing. The lake is EXTREMELY low and everything is muddy. Dylan being the kind of kid he is..... wasn't listening and fell in the mud. He was pretty mad!

While I was trying to clean him off in the lake I got myself pretty stuck too. My flip flops were completely lost and needed to be fished out. So we finally got Dylan out fishing on the boat too but that left one muddy mommy and a 2 year old. I am sure that all of you see where this is going. If you can't beat em' join em'.... right?

We made this slide out of the mud and slid straight into the lake. I know most of you are thinking how GROSS! I however (being a totally rat child at heart) loved it! So did my baby. She talked about this all the way home and throughout the night.

My nephew loved it too! Being a 4 year old boy. He was ready from the "get go." His mom however was a little less thrilled with all of the fun in the mud. She apparently is not quite the gutter rat that I am!

Too much fun sometimes takes it's toll. My baby crashed for about 12 hours.

NICE!

Busy Days

Schools back in session and it's been so nice! This being said, is anyone else infinitely more busy these days? You'd think that with 1 child being gone for 2 1/2 hours 3 days a week and the other one in all day school I would have oodles (is that really a word?) of time to get things done. I don't! I find myself literally running from place to place these days! Maybe it's because I try to do so much more because my time without 2 kids is new and feels limited to me, but really I find myself at the end of the day wondering. How did it get this late? Where did the day go? I have not been posting much lately for this very reason. I'm going to try to get it together people. REALLY.... I am. Most likely it won't happen and I will continue blissfully on my path of mediocre blogging. At least I'm honest right?

P.S. Wish me luck I'm off for a weekend at my dad's cabin full of all sisters and their spouses and all the grandkids. This is not a BIG cabin mind you and there is the usual fear that we won't get along in such confined spaces (but then again I would have some great stories for ya! ) so wish me luck. I'll have tons to blog about if I can just find the time I'll be set.

Layton Surf and Swim = Good Times

It was my little nephew's birthday so we all met up at Layton Surf and Swim for a party. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was still as much fun as I remembered it. My kids didn't quite know what to think about the wave pool when we threw them in the first time... wave splashing in their faces, kids screaming, I can't really blame them. It didn't take long and they were all happy again.

Of course the best way to make Avery happy is always with food!

After the pizza we headed out to the wave pool again. By now they were old pros. They totally had the hang of it.

Dylan fell and split his lip open. He spent the entire rest of the time playing with ice cubes. Are my kids the only ones that are fascinated with ice cubes? The good news is, birthday's around here are CHEAP ; )

Avery found a bag of Cheetos and she was happy for the rest of the night too. I'm discovering it doesn't take much to make the kiddos happy these days!

Good times..... Good times! I am so NOT ready for summer to be over!

Just for fun

This little link is fun to do. It made me wonder if I see myself the same or differently than other people do. Interesting.....I thought it was pretty accurate. How about you?

Http://DNA.imagini.net/friends

You have to pick a different picture on each page that pops up. Then it tells you about your personality at the end. Try it out.

Apparently I am a

dreamer
Escape Artists ???
Junkie monkey
with a fun personality.

Who knew : )

School Time Already?

It seems like summer started yesterday, so it's hard to imagine that today was the first day of school. It's crazy how fast time seems to fly these days. I have a first grader! My baby is potty trained, and D is turning into a little man right in front of my eyes. Sometimes this makes me so sad to think how quick it all goes by. I sit and wonder if I did a good enough job? Did I teach them the right things, did we spend enough time playing? Could they ever possibly know or understand how much I'm gonna miss them? Even when it's only for 6 hours while they are at school. It's crazy how everyone just "feels"it when one of the family isn't home. Avery was on edge all day because both Dylan and Haley were gone to school.

This being said, last year was much harder to send her off on her first day. I was just totally excited for Haley to experience her first day of "real" all day school. She was so excited too that she could barely contain it!

We headed off for the bus stop with the whole neighborhood crew. She was excited that she got to ride the bus with her best friends this year.



She almost got on the bus without even looking back but much to my relief she turned around and gave her mom a wave. (good girl!)

Once we got Haley on the bus and safely away (with no tears this time from mom) it was Big D's turn! He was heading off to preschool today for the first time too. (last year we did a neighborhood one but nothing too structured) He was not nearly as excited as Haley was but he did have a good time. The building is still standing so that's a good sign that it went pretty well.




Now if I can just figure out what I'm going to do with all this extra time and no kids I'll be set. Don't worry I'm sure I can think of something. :)

Tomboy all the way

I was looking through my email trying to clear out all the junk, I came across this old funny email that I had. You might have seen it already but it makes me laugh every time so I thought I would share.

This one makes me laugh because I SOOoooo wish that I could could ride this slide. For all of you that are doubting this statement, really, I LOVE this kind of stuff. My sisters and I grew up daring each other to jump from the roof to the trampoline etc. etc. In college there was thing... at these guys house in my ward. (vague huh!) It was called the human sling shot. It was essentially just some HUGE bungee cords strung between two telephone polls with a repelling harness attached to it. 4 or 5 guys would pull this cord down to the ground long enough for some dumb fool, such as myself to climb on and strap in. Then they would pull you back as far as the cord would stretch and let you go. I know, I am pretty lucky I'm not dead. Last I heard I was still the only girl that had done something.... I can't remember now, but I think it was something like ridding it backwards, up side down, and in the dark. Okay, not really but you get the picture. So this awesome slide in this video totally brings back nostalgia for me. If there are any of you out there smart enough to figure out all the angles and geometry of all this. I will be your ginny pig and ride it. Any takers.

Has it been a week yet?

You know your in for it when you take your poor little crying child in to the Dr. office and he says "ohhhh.... I don't envy you. A little one with a throat that swollen is going to be really cranky. " Gee thanks, you mean you'd rather stay here with all the sick kids that come into your office, or give kids shots, than trade me places. That gives me a lot of hope.

Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. That's what she has. Poor baby! I looked in her throat and it's so swollen. She's even turning down the always coveted, yet never quite attained beverage of choice. COKE! You know if she's turning that down she's really sick. There's really nothing that even can be done for it. Just some Motrin to take the edge off and try to take down the swelling.

To top this all off Daddy's still gone until tomorrow. Avery's still potty training (she won't let me NOT do it! She is totally determined to get this, even if she is sick as a dog!) and the other two kids feel like I've ignored them this whole week. Not to mention that my house looks like a tornado ripped through it, and my kids have eaten cold cereal for most meals this week. Yah... I don't think I'll be nominated for mother of the year after this week.

Seriously people. I don't know how single mom's do it. I just might loose my mind. Good thing this weeks almost over!

What was I thinking?

My little independent 2 year old has been driving me crazy the past few days. She is bound and determined to get potty trained! I actually want no part of any of this.... but what say would I have I'm only her mother, and the one doing most of the work. She's been so persistent that I finally caved and we went and got all the necessary items last night so we could start fresh today. We've had way more accidents than successes today but it's our first day and she really is doing pretty well. I just keep telling myself how incrediably nice it will be to have no more kids in diapers. So wish me luck. I'm off to wash my floors again and do some more laundry.

I know.... you all wish you could trade me places. Ugggg

Busy... Busy Weekend

So we had a birthday party/ family reunion this weekend in honor of this guy! It was his 90th birthday so we all got together to celebrate. He looks great for 90 wouldn't you say!

The kids loved it. There was face painting, and good food and games. What's not to love?

Did I mention there was a pinata? Who doesn't love that?

The little ones like playing at the park? Check out that face. With one look she told me "back off mom! I can do it myself!"

Even with all of this going on I manage to read the new Breaking Dawn book this weekend. I know for a fact that a bunch of you are reading it as well. Do you like it? Are you done? Did you like it? I've heard that people either loved it or hated it... I loved it.

Today my hubby left for a week at scout camp. Uggggg! I am trying to be really supportive. He is really excited and is great with the boys. But who really loves to be left at home with three stir crazy kids for a whole week? The summer is usually the hardest. Those scouts sure doe a lot of stuff in the summer. I've decided that all of the wives of the leaders need to get together for a widows of scouting program. Too bad I was WAY to excited to read my book to wait until he was gone. That would have helped pass the time. I probably would not have gotten anything read... being the only parent around and all.

Oh yeah! Thanks to everyone that commented on my last post! Nice to hear from a bunch of you all at the same time. You know how to make a girl feel loved! :)

Any Blog Stalkers out there?

Okay so today I was checking out my site and noticing again at the lack of comments I seem to get. (ahem) Then I happened to notice my little map on the side of my blog that shows all the people that have visited my blog. I have hits from all over the world, and some spots have repeats.

So who are you people? I would love to get a comment ! Let me know how you came to find this extra ordinary little ol' blog about us? I have my usual people that comment (probably only because they have been appropriately threatened!) but I would love more. I need to expand my sites that I "check out" I promise I will comment on yours too. Who doesn't love to meet new friends. So how about it. I know for a fact that I have several friends and sisters (a-hem!) that tell me they read my blog but never leave a comment.

Come on! Don't be shy.... say hello. It's not hard. It'll only take you a second. Do it for me your new friend! Does this sound lame and border line pathetic? Almost like I'm begging huh... well oh well I have no shame when it comes to getting something I want! :)

Talk to you soon.

Karen