Where's my brain?

My kids were looking through one of my old blog books I had printed, showing me funny stories.  I never write funny stories anymore.  Now, my little ones are bigger so they don't do so many funny things but there are still plenty.  The problem is, when I sit down to write, I can think of a single one.  I pull up blogger and think "i'm blogging dad gum it!"  Then I sit staring at the screen wondering if anything at all has happened in my life.  Total blank.  I need to take notes through out the day or something.  Here's what I can remember:

Friday we went out with Robin and Melanie and ran into a few different people while out. Nice, but not notable.  Saturday we went with John and Tracie to this theater in Scottsdale that serves food during the movie.  She got discount tickets or we would have never gone.  It was really expensive and the seats were just computer chairs.  Not the best to watch a movie in.  Not to mention a 3 hour movie, Batman: Dark Knight.  It was better than I expected, I'll give it that.  But I wouldn't recommend it.  Then we went to eat.  It rained the whole time we were out.

That morning we went to meet the kids teachers.  They all seemed to be really nice and everyone had someone in their class that they were friends with.  The school is pretty small but I think it's going to be good.  I'm hoping. *fingers crossed*

Sunday was a really good day. I even got to hold a baby during church. He smelled so good I wanted to eat him.  The whole Smith family came for dinner.  It rained for over two hours!  Totally flooded our street.  Dont' even care, loved every minute of it.  Here's a conversation with Katy while out on the porch swing watching the rain:

Katy: When I'm a mom I'm going to have 3 girls and 2 boys
Me: What will there names be?
Katy:   Emily, Lilly, Elizabeth and the the boys are Jacob and ....ummmm..   and.... ummmmmm..Bowser!

She's adorable.  Glade worked in the yard this weekend to get my planters in and trenched the yard for electricity to put in the cute park lights we bought 6 years ago.  I'm so excited to get them put in!!  Oh yah, Clint came to help Glade cut Rhett's cast off.  It's been just about 5 weeks and he starts cross country this week so we decided to just take it off.  It's gonna cost me another $100 to go have it done by the Dr. so we decided to improvise.  Clint has a groovy little tool.  Rhett was a little nervous, but we got it off and now he's without braces and a cast!  Very eventful weekend.

This week is first day of school for elementary and auditions for the fall plays.  I have pics, but not uploaded yet.  Another thing I need to get going on.  Not forgetting my two vacations this summer.  But my point for all of this is that I'm going to try to remember to start blogging the little things.  My kids love that.

Use Sunscreen

I guess we weren't diligent enough with our sunscreen while at the beach.  Some I'll take blame for and some I won't. Ü  It wasn't till morning that we realized our mistake.  Poor Dalin actually was the worst and went to bed feeling like he was burning up with a fever and couldn't roll over.  I gave him some Tylenol and a little Benadryl to help him sleep.  When I saw Stephen the next day, I wondered where he'd snuck off to to get plastic surgery.  His face was totally puffy and super tight.  He totally had these big duck lips and squinty little eyes.  Very sad.  Most of these pics were taken the following day when we got home so the swelling had gone down a little.

 Whitley's back

Dalin

Stephen's whole chin, upper lip and nose were a mass of blisters

 Rhett wore a shirt so he was mostly good, but his face and especially his lips were bad

 Chelsey's back

This is a nice shot of the after affects. Both Rhett and Dalin peeled terribly on their faces.  Rhett looked like he had a pink mask on.  Dalin just looked like he had a skin disease.  Rhett got his braces off the next day and we haven't even been able to get a decent picture because his lips are so cracked and tight.  I had a picture of Dalin's face but he desired that I not post it.

My calves were a little pick and my  nose and forehead burned, but not badly.  I guess we'll do better next time.

Family Pictures at the Beach

I decided to try family pictures at the beach this year.  I'm so happy I did!  It was a bit stressful trying to get everyone ready at a campground and then keeping them ready, but it was worth it.  I had the idea for turquoise while browsing one day and found the boys solid shirts for $2.99.  It worked out that almost everyone else already had a shirt close to that color, so we just went with it.  I think I only had to buy 2 other shirts after that.  This spot is just below the campground on the beach.  My good friend Valerie took pictures with her camera, which is way better than mine, those I'll print and frame.  These were actually taken by her 11 year old daughter so I could have some on my camera.  Not too bad for totally unprofessional!  Glade even made the comment that by doing this we probably paid for our whole vacation!!  It's a good day when even Glade approves of family pictures. Ü

I'm a stalker

Probably my weirdest post ever.  It started out way back in August of '10.  If you wanted the full story, go HERE.  Anyway, in short, we met this boy (who will remain nameless since I totally stole these pics) who I thought Chelsey should marry.  Well, obviously that didn't happen! His name came up the other night totally randomly so Whitley and I FB stalked him.  Sort of.  Since I met him, he has gone on a mission and moved away to Utah so it's not surprising he didn't look exactly like I remembered.  BUT, it was the big tattoo on his back that really threw me.  Not to mention he was engaged.  I texted my friend who happened to be family to him and asked her what was up.  It was then that I was informed I had his name wrong.  I was off by one letter!  Whew!! What is so weird is that this "wrong" boy works at the same place the "right" boy worked when we met him.  So naturally it all made sense when we found him on FB.  How seriously coincidental is that?  Their names are only 1 letter different.  So we looked up the "right" boy and saw that he was just as sweet and cute as I remembered.  AND, had a very cute and sweet girlfriend.  Sorry Whitley.  

This is where it gets really weird.  After we went to the Temple the other night, we went out for treats.  We always go to the same place, which is where these boys work/worked.  He was there!  (the "wrong" boy)  It was so creepy how I knew he had this tattoo on his back and what his fiance looked like.  You know I'm one who likes to give people a story so it was very tempting to go up to him and tell him I liked the tattoo on his back.  Creepy, huh??  I didn't do it.  But it's a huge eye opener about how much people can learn about you just by accidentally searching your name.  Creepy.  

 right boy

wrong boy 

Another week

Another week of summer flying by.  This is just a picture of Rhett playing legos in the Dr's office before he got his cast redone.  He got blue this time.  

 On Wednesday, we took our scouts to the bakery for a tour.  Because it's summer, we had a fairly small group so we all fit in our van.  Glade is a great tour guide and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have cared if he wasn't considering the room full of donuts.  Whitley escorted us on this trip so she could take the car to get emissions tested. (It's right by the bakery)  She followed me on the freeway and cried the whole time.  I thought we were doing really well since the freeway was really empty and I stayed at 70 for most of the time.  Apparently anything over 50 is too much for her.  She recovered.. until I asked her to go get a game for me from a lady I bought if from online.  We got the address in her GPS phone and she went on her way.  I guess her phone auto corrected the address when she put it in so it took her in the wrong direction.  Well, her phone eventually died while looking..  She had left the paper at Glade's office so she had to drive all the way back to get it.  Then she realized she was out of gas.  Finally on her way, she retrieved my game in a two hour errand that should have been 20 min.  Poor thing.

That night, another storm came through so I tucked the kids in to bed and went out on the porch with Glade.  Not 5 min later Bo came out saying "I can't go to sleep.."  Then he screamed.  We all knew right away, it's a different kind of scream.  The scream that says "I just stepped on a scorpion!"  Actually that's exactly what he said.  I ran by him to go turn the light on, sure enough.. a big ol' scorpion.  We took him inside and washed him and gave him some Tylenol.  I took him in bed with me so I could watch him and make sure he didn't have a reaction.  He laid there with ice on it for about 30 min.  I took it off and asked how he was feeling.  "fine".  Said it didn't hurt any more and wasn't tingly. This is his second time he has been stung and both times he has had virtually no reaction.  Lucky kid.

Thursday was supposed to be the day Chelsey came over and we worked on some financial stuff to get her set up for school.  As soon as she got here, she puked.  Nice.  We were going to go out for her birthday lunch, but she wasn't feeling up to it.  So she slept in my bed with little fevered Katy (from her shots) while I went and ran errands.

I had signed Brooklyn up for a cupcake class since she never gets to do anything too special.  These are what she came home with. Pretty cute!

That night was our ward temple night.  We went with several other couples and did sealings.  One of those couples were Chelsey and Spencer.  I hadn't been in the temple with them since she got married.  I loved being there with them.Ü  After, we went to Nielson's to get a yummy treat!  I'll have to do a separate post on my stalker tendencies.

Friday was Friday the 13th.  I'm not superstitious at all, but that day kinda sucked.  Not really, just part I guess.  The morning actually went really well.  Stephen and Nick had registration at the high school.  We got there just a smidge early and were in and out in no time.  Nick had to work so we picked his schedule up for him.  I needed to run some errands so we headed out to do that.  We passed by the little kids new school so I decided I would stop in and turn in their updated shot records. Now I would finally be done registering them.  Or so I thought.  Apparently signing them up online isn't really much of anything.  I had to fill out big packets for all of them.  Oy!  I put Stephen to work and within 30 min or so, we had them all filled out.  I seriously hate all of that!  Hopefully we are all squared away and there's nothing left to do but show up on the first day.

We headed to Wal Mart to get some last minute camping things (BEACH!!) and to try to knock off some of the things on their school list.  First, it's hard for me to have a list.  Their last school required virtually nothing. This list is BIG.  They give you the option of just giving the teacher $25 instead but I thought I could probably get it for cheaper.  Wrong.  I think I spent just over $27 for Katy , kindergarten mind you, and I bought the cheap stuff instead of the expensive stuff she requested.  The pencils she wanted were $4 a pack compared to $1.12 for the regular kind. Seriously!!!  Anyway, I was able to get Bo's list for about $18.  I was insanely grouchy when we left the store.  Education should be free.  And I'm happy to pay for the necessities, but this was over the top to me.  I'm having some serious doubts about switching schools.  I'm just in  a sticky place since my kids "prayed" themselves there.  It better be a freaking good year!

We hurried home to get everyone ready for "Cow Appreciation Day".  Free food at Chick Fil A if you dress like a cow.  They had done a good job of getting dressed and I was too grouchy to participate so Stephen and I went as the cow herders and paid for our meals.

Very ready for some quiet time by the time we got home.  But first I had to get the trailer reloaded so we could put it down before it rained again.  Oh yah, it rained off and on the whole day.♥  By evening, I was very ready for a date night.  I called Glade to see if he was up for a chick flick.  I just wanted some popcorn, diet coke and cuddle time.  He was as grouchy as I was earlier and said he wasn't going to be able to make it home for a date night.  I texted a few other people to go to the movie with me, but no luck.  So... I invited the kids!  They all had different movies they wanted to see so we went to a theater that could accommodate us all.  Shortly before we left, Mom called back and said she could go. She and I went to see People Like Us, Stephen and Katy saw Brave and Dalin and Bo finally got to see the Avengers. Right when our movie started, Glade called to say he was home.  Woops.  So he stayed home and fixed the shower (we had a little mishap with the seat).  It was good for all of us to get out of the house.

Still no relaxing day at home with nothing going on.  This next week will be no different.  Two days to get ready for our Cali trip and make sure the boys are ready for school since they start in a week.  Oh yah, Rhett get's his braces off in a week as well.  I'm SO excited for that one.  Maybe Sunday will be a day of rest. Ü

Go Go Go... and finish!

One week till we leave for the beach!  I get more and more excited each day.  However, I haven't had a whole lot of time to think about it.  Yesterday started with our Summer Movie outing.  I was lucky enough to have to leave early to take Rhett for an apt for his arm.  Puss in Boots was dumb.  Anyway, I left Chelsey in charge to take the rest to her house when it was over.  Rhett got a new layer put on his filthy cast and we come back in 4 weeks to get it off.  I can't even imagine what it will look like by then.

After, we made a trip to Deseret Book, since we were already in town, to get me a new book to read at the beach.  I love that store, but I do not love the total on my receipts when I go there. But I could browse for hours.  Rhett got himself a new CTR ring while there as well.

We picked up the kids at Chelsey's and on the way out to the van I asked who had our popcorn tshirt.  I should have known, they left it under the seat at the movies.  Grrrr, that's an expensive mistake.  I tried to not be angry, doesn't really help anything.  We drove to the movies to check but no one had turned it in.  Why, may I ask, are there more dishonest people than honest ones.  When you lose something, it's more probable that you won't get it back than having someone turn it in to be reclaimed.   It's very frustrating.  Also, it makes me wish my kids could see all the things that have to go through my mind everyday.  I wouldn't have left without it, but you have to think about it.  That's what I do all day, think about things to make sure every little thing is as it should be.  It's really quite exhausting!  So now we are without a popcorn shirt.

We were all grateful to get home since it was 112 outside.  Katy and I laid down for a snooze from our busy day.  About 4:30 I decided I better figure out what I was taking to Bunko. Of course, I had half of all the ingredients for several of the dishes I wanted to make. So I settled on something I have only made once before in my whole life and wouldn't you know it... someone else made the same thing!  Just my luck.  Bunko was fun and I was glad for the night with no "thinking".

I returned home to Whitley and a bunch of her friends here playing in the rain.  YES, it rained!  Only momentarily, but it did.  Then Glade pulled out a surprise for me.  We wanted this game we played the other night but it turns out it was only available online.  Apparently Target sells it in their store.  (When I checked their online store it said "not available in store")  But yeah!, now we have it.  So I sat with Whit and her friends for just a bit and taught them to play.  Her friends are dorks.

I went to bed and to finish something I started 6 months ago.  At the beginning of the year, I challenged my kids to finish the Book of Mormon by the time we went to the beach.  Well, today I finished.  It's a weird feeling to not put your book mark back in.  But I was proud of myself for sticking to it.  I really feel like I got so much more from it this time around.  It's been a really good experience.  I'm anxious to see who else actually finishes.  I know Dalin is really close and Whitley already did, but the rest are frantically trying to "catch up".  Good stuff. ♥

Going Camping

Since Oliver! ended, we have mostly just done summer things.  Like hang out at the house playing Wii for hours, went to the pool once, summer movies... yep, pretty much sat around the house.  It was actually kinda nice.

We had pack meeting at my house this month.  We shot off water rockets.  Glade was so great to make me one since the one I had planned on borrowing wasn't available.  Now we own our very own launcher.  A dust storm blew in right when we were getting started, but mostly held off till right when we were ending.  It was a fun time and I'm so grateful for my husband who was willing to build it!

We also had enrichment night, which was nice to just get out of the house and chill with other women having no responsibility.  Friday we had a BBQ at the Johnson's while the kids swam and Saturday we had games night at the William's.  It was a full weekend!  Sunday was fast Sunday, which also means testimony day at church.  Katy loves to go to the microphone to bear her testimony.  We have a rule that you can't say the standard "kid testimony".  I reminded her of that before she went up, so she got up and said:

Hi, my  name is Katy Smith.  I like to bear my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I guess she took me literally.  I felt really impressed to get up and show her what it means to bear a testimony.  It was a slow day at the pulpit so I had no reason to back out on my prompting.  It was a little awkward and kinda weird, but I talked right to her and bore a very simple "child's" testimony about the things I knew.  It was kind of embarrassing, but I felt I needed to.  Anyway, hopefully she felt the Spirit of it.

The last two days have been spent preparing for our 4th of July campout.  NOW it feels like summer!  I can't wait to get out of this heat and go do nothing for 4 days.  I'm having a little anxiety about driving up there after my last year's trauma.  I feel like I will be fine, but what if I'm not.  What if it freaks me out and all those emotions I've gotten over come flooding back?  It doesn't feel very good.  I'm praying for peace and that I can get past it.  Not a lot of people are going this year, which is OK by me as well.  I could use a break from being the "cruise director" for just a little bit.  Not only am I excited to go camping, but it also puts me one week closer to the BEACH!  That, I'm really excited for!