Hot Diggity Dog

I have forever, for all my 33 years of life, HATED

h o t d o g s

YUCK! I am very sensitive to smells and from the time I was a little kid the smell of hot dogs cooking made me want to puke. We rarely eat them at our house for that reason. I have tried several times throughout my life to eat one. Like the time I was at youth conference and we spent all day doing a service project. I was starving and all they had for dinner that night was hot dogs. I couldn't even get one bite down I was gagging so bad. Or there was the time Steve and I took the kids camping and they had hot dogs for dinner and I had a PB&J sandwich. That was the first time a hot dog even looked slightly appealing to me. I took one bite and it quickly lost it's appeal. So when Steve came home in the middle of the day today to cook hot dogs on the grill for him and the kids for lunch, I figured I would make a sandwich or eat some soup. But for some very odd reason I decided I wanted a hot dog. I kept trying to suppress the urge because I knew I wouldn't make it past one bite. But I couldn't. I just wanted it. And I ate it. The whole thing. This is a big deal for me. This is the

VERY FIRST

hot dog I have ever eaten. EVER. It was alright. No gagging.

WEIRD.

Monday Morning Musings

What's going through my mind this morning?

When they make socks, why do they put the seam at the toes on the inside so it rubs against your feet? Wouldn't it be better to do it so the seam faces out and the smooth part is against your foot?

I still can't believe I made it through my first Harry Potter movie without falling asleep. It kind of made me want to read the books.

Oh yeah. That's why I don't play video games with Zac. He doesn't even give me a chance to figure out how to move before he shoots me down and laughs his evil laugh.

The most fun food to eat ever is Pull-'N-Peel Twizzlers. You can braid them, knot one strand over and over, just bite into one big chunk, smush one strand up into a ball, eat one strand like a worm, roll a line of three strands up, the possibilities are endless. I probably ate too many this weekend.

I wonder how long Emily is going to be scared. We let her watch the Michael Jackson Thriller video last night and she wouldn't go to sleep and she woke up and came into our bedroom twice. Right now she is sitting beside me because she can't be alone. Aubrey on the other hand wasn't fazed by it.

So that's what Michael Jackson used to look like.

Now that the Tour de France is over I won't be falling asleep every night with tales of the peloton and blood doping playing in the background.

Thrilling I know.

What's going through your mind?

Little Late Over Ladies

Aubrey & Maddy and Rylee & Emily making pizza

Aubrey & Maddy and Rylee & Emily eating pizza
Last night I let the girls have a late over. If you don't know what a late over is, it is a sleep over minus the sleeping over. They made pizza for dinner and played dress up and watched movies. They had so much fun.

It's A Family Thang

Steve and Aubrey

Allyson and Emily

Zac

On Thursday we got a babysitter for Addison (thanks D) and took the other kids up the canyon to ride ATV's. We took a little picnic lunch with us. It was so much fun. I have never seen Zac ride his ATV, except up and down our street, and I was very impressed. He was so cute shifting gears and everything. He knew exactly what he was doing. We had a great time.

To see all the pictures click here to view our summer album.

Flashback Friday - Little Zac

I just sent my little Zac off to Cub Scout Day Camp. I don't think I can call him little any more though. He is getting to be so grown up. He will be 10 years old in a month. My baby is no longer a baby. It is hard to believe 10 years have gone by already. In 2 years he will be a Deacon and will be passing the sacrament. In 9 years.....here come the tears.....in 9 years, that is less than the amount of years he has been alive, I will be sending him off again. Not for the day but for 2 years. My sweet little boy. He has only been gone for 30 minutes but I miss him already. I love you Zac. You are the bestest boy in the whole world.

Wizard Boy And The Deathly Hallows

A very special thanks goes out to Aunt Lauren and Grandma who stood in line until after 2:oo am on Friday night to get the new Harry Potter book for Zac. He has been deeply involved since he got it.

Some Husbands Bring Their Wives Flowers

Not mine. This is the surprise Steve came home from work with on Friday. My very own ATV so I can go riding with him. We got a babysitter on Saturday and the 2 of us went up the canyon on our ATV's. After I got over the initial freak out helmet induced claustrophobia it was a ton of fun. We drove up pretty high and found a quiet spot with a nice view and all we could hear was the wind blowing and the birds chirping. It was nice. Thanks honey!

Monday Morning Musings

As this new week begins I have all sorts of thoughts going through my mind. Here are a few of them:

♦ I think I will take the kids swimming today. I really hate the first woman who ever shaved her legs.....

♦ I am so glad I took Emily out and bought her earrings on Saturday. Now I have something I can take away as a punishment that she really cares about.....

♦ Yep, my clean house didn't last long at all.....

♦ I keep laughing at what Zac said yesterday. He asked who the youngest girl in my family was. I said it was Lauren. He said, "Really? I thought it was Kristy. She is the smallest". Actually Kristy is the TALLEST of us all, she just happens to be SKINNY. Thanks for the morale boost Zac. He knows I am the oldest, what is he saying???.....

♦ My kids have the same silent belly roll laugh as me when they laugh really hard.....

♦ I wonder if my sinus infection is ever going to go away.....

♦ Why the heck did I buy that Symphony chocolate bar at the store last week. It is not like I am going to eat it. I just want to torture myself and listen to it screaming my name all day everyday.....

♦ Is milk really considered a staple? 'Cause I really don't want to go to the store today.....

What thoughts do you have rolling around in your head today????

Ahhh...Behold The Beauty

We ended our 2 week trip with the Hobbs family by spending one night in Jackson WY and then 3 nights in a cabin in Montana not far from Yellowstone. It was so BEAUTIFUL there. Not to mention that it was probably 20 degrees cooler there than it was in Moab or St. George. The first few pictures were taken when we were in Jackson. Steve and his brother-in-law Steve drove up the day before us because my Steve had a job to finish there. Heather and the kids and I met them there the next night. These pictures were taken where Steve was working. If you look really hard in the background in the pictures where the kids are on the rock you can see Harry's house down there. You know, Harry. Ford. Indiana Jones. Han Solo. One of the houses in the "neighborhood" (more like side of the mountain) was not much larger than my house now and they were only asking 17 million for it. We are thinking about getting it for a summer home. You will have to come visit.



Anyway. We loved Yellowstone. We have been there a dozen or so times before. The last time we went was with Sam before he left for his mission so it reminded me of being there with him. We saw a lot of wild animals, unfortunately (?) we didn't get to see a bear like our guests from Missouri wanted to. But we came close. There was one not far off the road but the park rangers were not letting people stop or even slow down to see. RUDE!



The kids had so much fun at the cabin. Aubrey is my little bug girl and she took her little bug house and the kids helped her catch all kinds of bugs and a ton of butterflies and lady bugs to put in it. In fact, some of them are still alive today. There was also a little creek that ran through the canyon we were in and the kids spent hours catching little minnows and other various water creatures.



If you are looking at the slide show saying- DANG! What does she have 500 pictures on here or what??? Just be thankful. When I downloaded them there was almost 200 but I cut it down to 97 and then went back through several times and cut it down to 59.

It was a very fun trip and I am so glad we were able to go. We had so much fun with Steve and Heather and their family. Thank for coming to visit us and letting us be a part of your family vacation. We miss you!

To view the entire album click here.

Flashback Friday - Life Long Friends

Bart, Kay, Sue, Nick, Jim, Earl, Cheryl

Kristy, Allyson, Farrah, Jessica, Lauren, Katie, Jim

Zac, Sam, Zoe

The reason I chose this photo for my flashback this week is for 2 reasons. It has to do with topics that have come up this week. This is a picture of my family, the Snows and our friends the Hastings. We have been friends with their family for about 100 years or so. Well at least for as long as I can remember. We have pictures that go way back to the time when Farrah and I and Nick and Jim were just wee little ones.

The Hastings youngest daughter Jessica is good friends with my sister Lauren (they are both in the center of the couch in striped shirts). She is on her way back home from college and on her way she stopped to spend the day yesterday and today at my parents house with Lauren. Also my sister Farrah posted a picture of her cute son Gabe with his new haircut given to him by his grandfather and it reminded me of the time Zac got his very first haircut by his grandfather which just happens to have occurred the night this picture was taken.

Vacation At Home

Are you sick of vacation pictures yet??? Too bad. This is MY blog. So we are to the point where we came to our house in Salt Lake and spent several days showing the Hobbs family the sights around town. We spent an entire day downtown at Temple Square, The Beehive House, The Conference Center, and The Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Another day we drove up the Provo Canyon to Provo River Falls and had fun playing in the water. You will see that my dear, sweet and ever so loving husband tried to pull me into the water. We went to Thanksgiving Point to the Dinosaur Museum and spent a day at This Is The Place State Park. We had a ton 'o fun with our vacation at home.

To view the entire album click here.

Some People Pay Big Bucks For Lips Like These

There is nothing worse than looking at your tiny damaged baby and knowing that you are the one who did this to her. The night that we were in St. George we walked across the street from our hotel to eat at Cafe Rio (pork salad, yummy yummy) (if you are familiar with the Wiggles you will know how to sing that last line).

After eating our delicious meal (pork salad, yummy yummy) we walked next door to a frozen custard shop. We are standing in line to order and they have 3 choices. Vanilla, chocolate and razzleberry. Well vanilla is too boring, I am not a huge fan of chocolate ice cream so I ask them what razzleberry is. The girl tells me it is a mixture of strawberry and raspberry. Mmmmm. That sounds good, give me one of those in a cone. Well, they have no high chairs in the joint so I am eating my frozen custard while I am holding Addison. She is crying and clawing her way to my ice cream trying to get some.

Now any other mother who has birthed 4 children would probably go, hmmmm...lets see....babies can't eat eggs, honey, peanut products and what else.....oh yeah,

STRAWBERRIES

But since I have had 4 children my brain doesn't work that quick. It had been a whole 5 minutes since I had heard that there were strawberries in my ice cream so it was like I hadn't even heard it at all. And all I wanted to do was to get the baby to stop crying and trying to rip my skin off. So I let her eat the ice cream right off my cone thinking that it would be too cold for her lips and she wouldn't want anymore. WRONG. If I thought she was clawing her way to it before she tasted it, I was mistaken. That baby girl and I downed that ice cream like it was going out of style.

We finished and we all left to walk across the street to our hotel. Steve was carrying Addison and as we were about to cross the street he said "honey, she just threw up". I looked at her and about FREAKED OUT. Her lips were about 10 times too big and her face was all red and puffy.

Steve and I jumped in the car with her to take her to the Emergency Room and Steve's sister took the other kids to the hotel room. We did find out that St. George has a really nice ER and a very friendly staff. They took care of our baby for us. They wouldn't let us leave the ER until the swelling had gone down because they wanted to monitor her oxygen level to make sure her throat didn't swell up and cause her to stop breathing. We were in the ER for about 3 or 4 hours. This picture was taken after we were there for a while, so if you can imagine she was swollen even worse than this.

Come A Runnin'

No one breathe!

(i'm talking to the people in my house)

The rest of you who live within a reasonable distance from my house - get over here NOW!!!!

My house is the cleanest it has EVER been.

I just had book club here and my dear sweet sister Lauren spent the day helping me clean to get ready for it. Right now everything is clean. That NEVER happens.

EVER

By the time I get the dishes done and then get the kitchen floor clean someone has made a mess in the living room and by the time I get that cleaned up someone has spilled something sticky on the kitchen floor I just clean and after I clean that up someone has made a mess in the bathroom and then, well it just keeps going around and around like that. I banished the kids to the basement today and so right now, at this very moment, it's all clean. And it is such a waste if no one gets to see it. And it won't last very long. So what are you waiting for??? Get off the computer and get over here.

A Narrow Escape

We left Moab on the 3rd of July and headed for the opposite side of the state. We arrived in St. George in the late afternoon. We got out of our cars at the hotel and about melted right then and there. If we thought it was hot in Moab we were in for a pleasant surprise. It was even HOTTER in St. George. I told Steve I wanted to just get back in the car and drive the rest of the night for home it was so stinking hot.



We were planning on spending 2 nights in St. George. We decided real fast that 1 night was plenty. The main reason we went there was to go to Zion's National Park and hike The Narrows. It is the most funnest thing ever and if you ever want to come and visit us we will be happy to take you (I'm itchin' to go because I had to miss out on this one-details to follow) only you can't come in the hottest heat of the summer because I refuse to go south in July ever again.



Anyway we decided we would get up really early the next morning and head out for The Narrows (it is a river bed you hike in that is surrounded by big cliffs) so we could get done early and head home and hopefully make it to Salt Lake in time for the fireworks, it being the fourth of July and all. And we hoped that it would be early enough that it wouldn't be too hot for Addison.



Well FUN things were in the works for us that night, but they deserve a post all their own. So to make a long story short (I will share it later) I ended up staying in the hotel room once again with Aubrey and Addison and everyone else got up early and left for Zion's. They got back late afternoon and we hit the road bound for home.



It was the neatest thing driving home and getting into the Salt Lake valley at that time of night on Independence Day. We rounded point of the mountain and I counted 31, yes 31 different firework displays. They were really far off, some of them way far away, but it was still cool to see. We pulled into our driveway just as the fireworks by us were going off. We have an excellent view from our deck so everyone headed for that to watch the fireworks. Then we dined on pancakes, eggs and bacon and fell into bed exhausted again.

Click here to view the complete album.

Adventures In Arches

As previously stated, Steve's sister Heather and her husband Steve and their kids, Sierra, Tyler and Austin came to visit us from Missouri. We met them in Moab on the first of July. We spent 2 nights there. It was HOTTER THAN HECK! I believe it was about 112-115 degrees. Yes-sir-ree. And there really isn't any shade. Anywhere in Moab.

The second day we were there everyone got up early to go hike to Delicate Arch. If anyone is familiar with Utah license plates that is the arch on the licence plate which my neighbor happened to design. It is a pretty long hike there and back. I have posted a picture of it before when I was pregnant with Zac and hiked to it. Steve and I decided that it was probably too hot and too long of a hike for Addison so I decided to stay at the hotel with her and Aubrey. We slept in really late while everyone got up and left at dawn. By the time we got up and dressed and ate breakfast at Denny's, everyone else was on their way back. Just as Aubrey and I were leaving Denny's she threw up. What would a vacation be without a little vomit? Thankfully that was the one and only time it happened. It turns out that they left early enough before it was too hot that It probably would have been fine for us all to go. Oh well.

We went to a little park and had lunch and let the kids play. Then went back to Arches and drove around and then had dinner, swam at the hotel and fell into bed exhausted.

To view the entire album click here.

My Life Right Now

It is 9:46 in the morning. I woke up at 6:30 this morning to feed Addison with the intent to jump right in the shower when done so I could get a good start to the day. I was watching my recording of Last Comic Standing while I was feeding her. Steve woke up and was watching it with me so I couldn't just turn it off when I was finished feeding her. I had to finish it out of a courtesy to the person I woke up by watching it in the first place. So Addie and I snuggled in bed with Steve and finished it. I went to wake the kids up but ended up snuggling in bed with Aubrey for a while. It must be a snuggling day. Steve got up and acted like he had a purpose so he is gone to work now. I am still in my PJ's along with the rest of my kids, except Zac who is wearing green camo pants and a blue and red striped shirt that absolutely does not look good together. I have broken up about 5 fights so far this morning all of which have something to do with my sweet little princess Emily. Zac is going around the house chanting "BIG RED BATTLESHIP" which is making Aubrey scream every 5 seconds. We are supposed to meet our friends at the park at 10:00. I don't think we will make it. My kids helped me unload the van from our trip yesterday and they deposited everything right on the inside of the front door. We have needed stuff out of the suitcases so they are all open and the contents hanging out or spread all over the floor. If someone comes to the door they are going to think we have serious issues. I have book club at my house tomorrow. That really stresses me out because my house right at this moment is very far from being fit for company. I just started reading the book yesterday. I have to come up with something to serve. I think Addison wants to eat again. I have a sinus infection and I just want to blow my nose and get back in bed. It is now one minute before 10:00 and I just keep wondering what happened to all my good intentions that I had at 6:30 this morning.

Never Fear, I Am Here

I am so glad to see that no one missed me until we were 11 days in to my 16 day leave of absence. And I must say I am so very sorry. I didn't realize that that lovely picture was my last post and that you would have to look at it everyday for 2 weeks. Nice. Now every time you think of me you will probably picture me on my wedding day, all dressed in white, sitting on the toilet.


Anyway, I am back. We have had a very busy and exciting 2 weeks. Steve's sister Heather and her husband, who also goes by the name Steve, and their children Sierra, Tyler and Austin came to visit us from Missouri. We met them in Moab and took them to see Arches National Park. Then we traveled to the opposite side of the state to St. George to see Zion's National Park. Then up to our house to see the sights around here. Then we went to Jackson and then on to Yellowstone to stay in a cabin there for 3 nights. It was a very fun trip. We ended our trip with a visit to Kaysville UT to eat dinner with my parents on our way home. We got in around 10:00 last night.


I have a ton of pictures and stories to share. However we are having computer difficulties. I can't get on the Internet on my computer for some reason and that is where all the pictures are. I am on Steve's computer at the moment. So don't worry, I have plenty of entertainment coming your way. But for now I will leave you with a few things I have learned over the last 2 weeks:


♦ It is pointless to clean out your car before you spend 2 weeks traveling in it with 4 kids.

♦ Bottled water can be addictive.

♦ When they say don't feed babies strawberries, they say that for a reason.

♦ If you are going to pig for 2 weeks, it doesn't matter what capris you put on, you are going to look fat in all of them.

♦ Driving down the interstate in the middle of who-knows-where with no other adults in the car, shoveling honey nut chex mix into your mouth and inhaling to belt out "Roxanne" can be potentially hazardous.

♦ If you are going to be driving through Teton National Park and its ever winding roads with the beautiful lush scenery and only a few hours of sleep behind you and no radio reception you should have something other than a "Mo Tab" CD in you car. For as much as it goes with the view, it does nothing to help keep you awake and alert.

♦ If you are going to take your expensive Temper Pedic pillow, without which you cannot sleep, to a hotel don't take it in a white pillow case. You might leave it behind. (Thank you to my dear husband who has been letting me use his since that grievous mistake was made)

♦If you tell your kids they need to keep their bedroom window closed at night so bears can't get them, they are going to be scared to go to bed EVERY night because they think that bears are going to get them.

♦ Driving back into cell phone coverage after 2 days without and getting a text message from your dad that says "Call 911" can be a little unsettling.

♦ The person who first thought of installing DVD players with headphones in vehicles is nothing short of a genius.