Craft Day

Wednesday I had a day with the kids. I had been so busy on Monday and Tuesday trying to get ready for our Young Women's Standards Night. I was worn out! I slept in until 10:30am on Wednesday! Then I got out the craft sacks and gathered up the kids- including Nathan. We painted aprons and then did fingerpainting. After that I made a picnic lunch, spread out the blanket in the backyard and we enjoyed our lunch. I read stories to the kids while they ate. Logan kept saying "This is the best day ever. Thanks Mom! I love you!" I even got a thank you out of Nathan. Just the simple act of a picnic in the backyard entertained the kids. They all got along and it made me feel good. I need to do it more often. :-)

After we had lunch the kids played in the pool. To warm up the boys layed on the cement in the driveway. I went out and Claire was laying on her towel in a winter coat to warm up. It was so funny.

Watch out Vogue! Here I come! :-)

Nathan's Babysitting Services

Nathan wanted me to put a post on here letting everyone know that he babysits. He is out of school for the summer and getting low on activities. :-) He is a good babysitter. He loves kids and has always done a good job for me when he watches Logan and Claire. So day or night- give him a call if you need a sitter!

Here's the link to his babysitting blog: http://helpyougetaway.blogspot.com/

A Hot Day at Grandma Sue's House

Logan's New Haircut

Logan started out the day getting a new haircut. He wanted a "fohawk." He got a LOT of hair cut off- goodbye curls!

Claire is imitating Logan's hair. :-)

Waterfight!

Last Thursday, Grandma Sue (Spence's mom) had the cousins over to play at her house. She brought home water toys so the boys spent the entire day outside getting wet. They love to play "army." Claire joined in for awhile and the teams ended up being 4 against 2. (The smallest two.) Berkan and Andrew ended up using the hose as their weapon. Logan said that was fair since they only had two on their team. Logan's team would hold their weapons and sneak around the side of the house like in combat. Then they would plan out their attack. John Collin went running out there and was being squirt by the hose. He was getting drenched. He was the "captain" of his team. He hollered out to his teammates "Just go! Just leave me behind!" I was laughing so hard.

Getting prepared for battle.

Andrew and Berkan take a time out to warm up in the sun.

Claire takes a pizza break.

Claire's Comments

Grandma Sue took Claire, along with her two cousins, to Walmart to get matching Hannah Montana outfits. Her cousins Brynn and MaKayDee are about 9 years old. They came home and modeled their outfits for us. They love to fix each other's hair and put on mascara and lip gloss. Girlie girls! Anyway, the next morning I was in the shower and Claire came in the bathroom. She saw my bra laying on the floor and picks it up and says:

"Mom, you know that store where we got our Hanna Montana outfits?"

"Yes."

"They had THE cutest little bras there!"

"What!?" She's only 4! How does she even know what a bra is??

Then she proceeded to try and put my bra on and held it up to her chest (since it was obviously too big for her- but not that big....) and said "These are my boo boos!"

Hannah Montana "Wanna-be's"

A few days later Claire and I walked into Bath and Body Works to get a birthday gift for her friend. She says (very dramatically and with her hands in the air) "It smells sooooo delicious in here!"

Oh, they grow up so fast.


Baby Quail

The kids found two baby quail in front of grandma's house. I'm sure the birds will be scarred for life after an encounter with so many wild kids.

Uncle Sean held the baby while Claire and John Collin got a close up look.

Claire watched over this baby quail in the grass.

It sure was a fun day Grandma! Thanks!

The Sugar Bowl

Last time I went up to Evanston, I took the kids to visit my grandma Davis. Lately I had been remembering when I was little and would spend the night there with my brother. The bedroom was right off the kitchen and grandma and grandpa would be up at I swear 4:00a.m. We would get out of bed and come into the kitchen and the table would be set with our cereal bowls, small glass full of orange juice, box of cereal (usually Cheerios) and sugar in a little sugar bowl. Grandma and Grandpa would be playing their morning game of cards- rummy I think. I remembered the sugar bowl for some reason. So I asked grandma if she still had this little purple/bluish dish with silver around it. She didn't know what I was talking about but assumed whatever it was would still be in the cupboards. I went to looking and discovered it and was so excited. I asked her if I could keep it and she asked why. So I told her of my memories of it.

Grandpa passed away from liver cancer about 10 years ago. I have fond memories of him. He retired from Union Pacific Railroad. He used to drive the steam engines. Every Sunday we would have dinner at grandma and grandpa's house until the family grew too much and we had to start coming in shifts. :-) In the summer grandpa would have big bbq's and we would have so much fun playing games in the backyard with all of the cousins.

When I was a teenager and early 20's I worked at my aunt's motel doing laundry and cleaning rooms. Grandpa did laundry there also- mostly to give him something to do. He is the one that taught me how to do it and how to fold the sheets. When I needed a day off grandpa would work for me, but still put his time down for me so that I would get paid for it. Sometimes when I would go visit him and grandma when I was a single mom I would get ready to leave and grandpa would slip me a "twenty" in my hand as I left.

Grandma retired from Wyoming State Hospital. She used to be a secretary for a doctor up there. She spends her time crocheting blankets, dolls, hats, scarfs, dishrags, etc. She used to enter temple extractions (?) into the computer. Her and grandpa served in the Ogden Temple for many years as temple workers. Grandma is very proud of her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and even some great great grandchildren. I think the total is 87 now.

I miss grandpa Davis very much and love grandma dearly.

Most Embarrassing Moments

I was trying to think of something to post and this is what I came up with: My most embarrassing moments. I have two of them- and they both involve peeing. Here goes...

The first one occurred when I was in third grade. I was in an after school "clown club." (I know it's hard to picture me as a clown...) We were rehearsing some skits for an upcoming performance. We were on the stage practicing. I was backstage with another girl that was in my skit. I had to pee so bad but couldn't go because my skit was up next. We walked out on the stage and were going through the skit. I suddenly could not hold my bladder anymore so let it go. I started peeing! Luckily I was wearing a dress that my mom had made and had on the thick, white knee high socks. After our skit was over, I simply exited the stage like nothing had happened. My socks were wet with pee, so I just pushed them down. The next group of kids walked out to practice their skit and one kid goes "Hey! What is this puddle out here?" The teacher had him go get a bunch of paper towels to wipe it up. I know- totally cruel of me. Luckily none of the kids had noticing me peeing on the stage.

The second embarrassing moment happened about two years ago. Spence and I were in Ogden in an office building meeting with someone. I had enjoyed a big diet pepsi on the drive there, so had to pee when we got there. The restrooms were down a hall. They weren't used too much because most of the offices in the building had restrooms in their own office. I told Spence I would just meet him in the office where we were going. The women's door was locked- someone was in there. I just couldn't wait. So, I decided I would just use the men's room. They were the bathrooms that could only "service" one person at a time. So I'm sitting on the toilet (which is across from the door) peeing and all of a sudden the door opens and a man is coming in. He sees me and of course is surprised and says "Oh! I'm sorry!" I about died! I swear I locked that door! Then I was afraid to go out because I didn't want to have to face him. Well, he must've been embarrassed also because he didn't wait around to see me when I came out.

So now that I've shared my embarrassing moments- time to share yours!

Surfing

So I've been doing a lot of blog hopping lately- poking my nose around in other people's business. Does anyone else do this and get depressed? It makes me feel like a failure parent (or lazy parent) because I don't do daily summer activities with my children, I'm not crafty, I can't come up with any cutsie ideas, etc. How do some people come up with some of the things they make and market?? I was on Etsy and searching through things in Utah. My hell- there is even someone called "auntflow" who makes pretty sanitary napkins! Who thinks of that and who the heck buys them?? Ugh! Where is my million dollar idea?

Reflections of Christ

I received an email today from my sister-in-law with this link included in it. I thought it would be a great Sunday post! It's a video of photographs from members of the Mesa, AZ Easter pageant. It is simply beautiful and amazing. The music and photographs were definitely inspired. It is interesting to watch the different videos and see how the photos were done. Check it out!

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

Here's the link to the main website....

http://www.reflectionsofchrist.org/index.html

Retiring of a Grand Ole' Flag

Tuesday the cub scouts came over from all three dens (along with a few neighborhood kids) to retire a flag from Tracy Rose's elementary school. It had been flown for 20 years and was weathered and dirty. It was so fun for the boys (and the adults) to see the proper way to burn a flag and learn about it. The Pledge of Allegiance is said first. Then the blue square of stars is cut out and folded.





One by one the stripes are cut out and each person receives one.





The white ones are burned first, then the red, and finally the stars. Everyone is to remain silent until the star section is completely burned.





The scouts behaved so well and were very respectful. I was proud of the citienship they portrayed. After the ceremony we grilled hot dogs and then they made smores.

Made Me Laugh

I received this in an email and thought I'd share the laugh....

Happy Birthday Logan! (A day late)

Today Logan is 6 years old! Hard to believe he made it! ha ha ha- just kidding. Logan is just like his dad in his ability to fix things. He loves tools and his grandfather (grandpa John) always buys him real ones. He's going to have a pretty nice set before he's out of the house. Logan loves to help fix things whenever he can. He is a hardworker- except when it comes to housework. Well, I shouldn't say that because he has always loved to vacuum. (Another inherited trait from dad.)

Logan has loved tools since birth it seems.

Logan's latest thing he's into is army stuff. He plays "army" all day long. I took him to the toy store to look for some ideas of what he wanted for his birthday. Everything was army stuff. He also likes Star Wars and Ben 10. For his birthday dinner we had pizza benders from Italian Village (family favorite). I picked up a cake last minute at Walmart. I was glad they had something half way decent already made.

Make a wish Logan!

Ready for Combat!

Logan's last day of kindergarten was on Tuesday. They had field day. I volunteered to help with it. It was fun and the kids had a blast. They had inflatable slides, snowcones, tug of war, duck duck goose, bottle toss and kickball.

Logan's party is this Saturday so I'll post more after that is over. I'm hoping for lots of sunshine!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday. I won't tell you how old he is cuz he'd kill me. :-) I only have 45 minutes to get this posted before it's officially not his birthday anymore. I'm running a little late! I purchased some new headphones and a portable docking thing for his Ipod. I was relieved that he actually loved it. Yeah! We BBQ'd some steaks with corn on the cob for dinner and had strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I was digging through old pictures in the garage to see what I could find of Spence. Here's what I came up with:

Aahhh....love those knee high socks. :-)

And this one I was wondering if he was auditioning for a part as a sunglass model or something. I'll have to ask him about this one.

I found quite a few more, but they all had different girls in them with him. I didn't want him looking at those in fear of bringing up any old feelings he might have had for them- I am the jealous type you know. LOL

What can I tell you about my husband of 6 1/2 years? He is the kindest, sweetest man I know. (Other than my father...) He brought me flowers the first time we met. Nathan instantly fell in love with him. I was so embarrassed because he climbed right up on Spence's lap when we first met. I thought Spence must think Nathan and I were so needy!

Spence can fix ANYTHING. It amazes me how he knows how to do everything. It just comes natural. His mom and dad always tell me how he would take things apart as a kid and put them back together. He was always cleaning things too and taking care of younger siblings. (He still continues to clean everything.)

Spence is definitely a "people" person. He talks to EVERYONE. I sometimes shake my head when he's on the phone with some of his clients because he will talk for hours with them and knows their whole life story. He is very outgoing and loves to meet new people. (Opposite of me.) He keeps us all laughing with some of the comments that he says. We call them "spencerisms" because they don't make sense- except to him. There are so many of them that I could do an entire post on them. Hey-maybe I'll do a daily "spencerism" post. :-)

Spence loves baseball. He was pitcher through high school and also played at Dixie State. (I've heard from his brothers that he had quite the arm and they wouldn't like to catch for him.) His class from high school was all very close and most of them still stay in touch. Here's a picture of us going to his 20 year class reunion from Murray High. (I'm starting to age him...)

(I was pregnant with Claire at the time.)

Spence is a huge fan of 80's music. That is totally his era. His FAVORITE band is Depeche Mode. I don't know how many times he has seen them in concert. He has dragged me to two of them. He has every album they have ever made. I put together all of the music for our wedding video. Well, Spence met with the videographer and had him sneak in a Depeche Mode song. Totally ruined the entire thing. It goes from Enya to Depeche. Ridiculous.

Spence is a loving father and very proud to be one. He is a softie at heart- and I know he'll kill me for saying this- but I think he really enjoys watching chic flicks. He always cries in them. He even cried in the ending of Ice Age! But, there's nothing wrong with a man who can show his emotions dear.

Proud daddy moment with Logan.

Proud daddy moment with Princess Claire.

This is starting to sound like an obituary so I'd better quit. ha ha ha. I love you Spence and know that you are such a blessing in my life. You came into my life at the time when I needed someone the most. Thank you for being my partner and friend. Happy Birthday!