Monday, June 23, 2008

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Well, we finally left the house. My niece Lauren came to visit. It is a quick visit, simply because she didn't get out of school until 6/16 and our kids start on 7/8. Next year when Jessica starts Jr High and is on a traditional schedule, we hope she can come and stay a little longer! Anyway, we haven't had a lot of time to pack in all the activities we want to do, hence...our lightning fast summer o' fun.
After we picked Lauren up in Sacramento, we thought, Heck, why just go home when we can drive an extra 3 hours (round trip) and load up on the best jelly beans known to man? So off we went to Fairfield, CA for a quick tour of the factory that dumps you right into the gift shop. Many jellybeans/giant gummy rats/flavored lip gloss later, we headed back to good ol' Turlock.


The rule of the tour is "If you have a head, you must wear a hat." Doesn't he wear it well?

Thursday we went to Monterey, our favorite place in CA so far, to see the new Splash Zone at the aquarium. We were lucky enough to see the cute penguins being fed. Lots of fun things to see and do, we are glad to be members of the Aquarium so we can buzz in and out without feeling like we have to see EVERYTHING to get our money's worth.

After the Aquarium we were off to the beach. It was a little tricky changing everyone in the car into their swimsuits, I'm sure someone in the parking lot may have seen a little more skin than they bargained for, but hey, what are you going to do? We had a GREAT time. The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, we were priviledged to see dolphins jumping a little way out...Amazing(!!!)... AND as Ben pointed out, I took 7 children to the Aquarium AND the Beach,all by myself, and came home with all 7 of them, without even a sunburn, I might add!

We heard about an exhibit at the Fresno Zoo where you can pet docile sharks and rays. As you can imagine, that was appealing to us, so our activity for Saturday when Ben was home was to go pet some sharks. We looked up the zoo online to make sure everything was a go/get directions etc., filled the gas tank in the Suburban and the truck (we are maxed out seatbelt wise with our own family, when we have guests, we have to take two cars) loaded up on water bottles and ice, and drove an hour and a half down to Fresno. We pulled into the Zoo parking lot at 12:59 pm and as we were about to pay for parking, the attendant informed us that the zoo was closing from 1-7pm for a "special event". DANG IT!!! I am going to go ahead and go out on a limb and assume that Saturday is probably their busiest day of the week, why the heck are you going to close the zoo, and if you are, WHY NOT POST IT ON THE WEBSITE SO THAT PEOPLE WHO MIGHT WANT TO DRIVE ALL THE WAY DON'T WASTE THIER TIME AND GAS!!! That being said, we thought we would get some lunch and decide on a Plan B. We punch Restaurants into the GPS and decide that a little Carls Jr might do the trick and followed the directions given. We were led into what we thought was the Ghetto, but it turns out from all of our driving, that pretty much ALL of Fresno is the Ghetto. My goodness, I was A LOT out of my element. The Carls JR was WAYYYYY too scary, so we decided on Denny's instead. We found out that there was a Metropolitan Museum downtown, so we checked it out, by checking out, I mean driving by and LEAVING. Basically, our big shark petting plans were a bust, but to keep things positive, we did get to see a sweet, pimped out caravan...

and were able to bring home a souvenier from our trip to exotic Fresno...a rocket sippy cup, filled with a beverage of our choice.

Other newsworthy items...
1. After approximately 6 reschedulings, I was finally able to enjoy my Mother's Day afternoon at the spa. It was fabulous.
2. We were having spider issues, common around here, so we called pest control. They came out and did their thing, and later that night, our house was crawling with earwigs and...I saw a mouse!!! YUCK!!! So I called pest control again to come get the little critters and bought some traps. A few nights of watching that stupid mouse come a sample the peanut butter with no positive results for me, I adjusted the traps and I caught it. I was a brave girl, and through the shrieks of my girls and to the delight of my boy, I even picked up the trap/dead mouse and disposed of it. Sometimes I really hate having to be independent.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! We were so happy to serve our wonderful Daddy breakfast in bed this morning, but are unable to post any pictures due to threats of camera confiscation. I am lucky to be married to such a wonderful man! What a wonderful husband and father he is! He loves us all so much, and we love him! Here is our Father's Day tribute to our Dads and all the other fathers out there! Enjoy, and watch out for the dog poop!

Lazy Days of Summer

I was noticing that I haven't posted in a while. I haven't had a lot of time, but more than that, I haven't had anything interesting going on. I think I hit a real low with the clean toilet. So, I took some pictures of the kids this week because they are my life.

Reese had an especially busy week. In addition to a haircut and wart removal, he lost his two front teeth. He spent all last week wiggling his two front teeth so they would be ready for Dad to pull them. Well, they were. They were so loose that they would move in and out as he breathed, but I am a wuss when it comes to teeth pulling, so there they stayed until Monday night FHE. We had a lesson on motorcycle/4-wheeler safety in preparation for our trip, and our activity was watching Reese have his teeth pulled. It was very entertaining. He is so cute with the teeth missing, and now can't say his s's. Oh, wait. He can't anyway!!!

Tuesday, Reese had a special visitor. He had invited his primary teacher, Sister Forbes-McGee, over for a visit the previous week. She didn't realize how serious he was until the next Sunday when he invited her again. So we scheduled a little visit for Tuesday morning. Reese was quite the gentleman. He opened her door for her and served her cookies and "Limenade". It was very cute to see him interact so properly with her. I think she got a kick out of it too.
Sorry about the shadows over all the faces in the next pictures. I am no photographer, but you can get the gist of what we are all doing.

We had a few really hot days, and I am surprising myself to say this, but I think I am getting used to this heat! We had picnics in the backyard and played in 100+ degrees without dying.

Anna led the girls in a Yoga session on the patio.


Maya relaxing.
Bella relaxing.
Reese was the trooper on the slip and slide, even after an unfortunate run in with the clothesline. He now has a nice gash between his eyes, but don't worry, he washed off the blood on the slip and slide.
Jessica has been such a helper these days! I am sure she is just bored stiff. Lauren is coming to visit next week and we are all VERY excited, especially Jessica.

Jeffrey spends his days snuggling in the shade with his Mama, and being one of the six cutest babies ever. He went to the Dr. last week and is 15 lb. 10 oz. He also shot up from the 25th percentile in height to the 80th!!! That explains his love of eating!

Oh yes! The big news is that "something handy happened" Thursday morning. Reese got gills! He really is part shark!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The Rundown

Today was a good day. Ben was home after a long week away, the kids were generally happy and well mannered in church, we had a delicious dinner...Grilled Tri-tip, roasted potatoes, tomatoes with s&p, and watermelon. Yummy!!!
The highlight of my day was when Reese bore his sweet testimony about a time when his prayer was answered. He was a little teary as he told his story. He came back down to his chair and said, "That felt so good, I just had to cry. Sometimes when people feel good inside they just cry." I sometimes forget how sensitive and good he is. He is such a special little guy. Then in Primary when the Primary Pres said something about Family Night he announced to the whole Primary that we don't have family night. Someone told him that Family Night is the same thing as Family Home Evening. We really do have FHE. Sometimes, however, it is merely a lecture or a lesson as we are eating our dinner. Probably not ideal, but we do attempt!

I bought some sun dresses for Maya and Bella at Costco a few weeks ago and have had them hanging in my closet since then, waiting for myself to buy t-shirts to go under them for modesty's sake. Bella and Maya asked if they could wear them the other day and since we weren't going anywhere and I was behind on the laundry, I let them wear them. They were so excited and told everyone that I let them be immodest that day. It was very exciting for them. Anna was irked because she didn't have a sundress to wear immodestly along with them. Poor thing.

In other news, I have decided, just for kicks, to make a Where in the World Is Ben? tracker on the side. It will be simple, but maybe I will figure out something more exciting later on.

Tagged x2

I've got a few minutes, I thought I would catch up on a couple tags.

One Word Tag
Answer the following with only one word.
1. Where is your cell phone? ....................Purse
2. Your significant other?......................TALL
3. Your hair?....................................haystack
4. Your mother? .................................good
5. Your father?..................................industrious
6. Your favorite thing?..........................family
7. Your dream last night?........................New Zealand
8. Your favorite drink...........................juice
9. Your dream/goal?..............................Peace
10. The room you're in?.........................playroom
11. Your children?.....................................Lots
12. Your fear?...................................loss
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years...........home
14. Where were you last night?...................toysrus
15. What you're not?.............................quiet
16. Muffins......................................nothanks
17. One of your wish list items?.................nap
18. Where you grew up?........................... Kennewick
19. What you read last........................lesson
20. What are you wearing?........................skirt/shirt
21. Your TV?.....................................old
22. Your pets?...................................Madge
23. Your computer? ..............................new
24. Your life?...................................blessed
25. Your mood?...................................content
26. Missing someone?.............................sisters
27. Your car?....................................fullofcarseats
28. Something you're not wearing?................shoes
29. Favorite Store?..............................Costco
30. Your summer?.................................short
31. Like someone?................................Ben
32. Your favorite color?.........................depends
33. Last time you laughed........................today
34. Last time you cried?.........................sacrament

Seven Random Things
1. I love to watch the same movies over and over again. There are enough variables in my life, I don't need to worry if Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett will eventually fall in love. When Ben is gone, movies often keep me company.

2. Since I was young, I have always been ashamed of Cinderella's lack of tact. Those mice risked their lives to makeover her mother's dress. When the Fairy Godmother waves her wand and makes her a new dress, Cinderella says that it is the most beautiful dress she has ever seen, (or something like that) RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE MICE!

3. All my kids have a double letter combo in their name (Maya is different-the a's are separated). We didn't plan this, but realized it in time to plan Jeff's name to follow the pattern. Also not planned, all the girls end with a...if Jeff was a girl, he would have been Brenna.

4. When I would load the dishwasher when I was younger, I would put one piece of silverware in one space at a time so that all the spaces had an equal number of silverware in them. That way it was fair, and none of the spaces had to feel jipped.

5. I don't really have time to watch primetime TV, so I usually get hooked on a show a few years after it has been cancelled. Some of my favorites... Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, and a "new" discovery, The Bernie Mac show.

6. I haven't had any caffiene in 13 years.

7. I don't ask for much. Fine living, for me includes not much more than liquid fabric softener and actual Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

I almost forgot to tag someone else... I tag Laurel, Jennie T., and Alicia.