A Day In The Park

The kids and I took a bit of a nostalgia trip today. We drove back to our old neighborhood and went to our old park with our friends. We were a little early for park day so we drove past Miss Margene's (where the girls took dance and preschool) and we went by Zac's old Taekwondo studio and then we drove all around the old hood. The kids BEGGED me to try our garage door opener on our old house. I have it programed into my car and I haven't reprogrammed it for the new house, so I am sure it would work. But I was mean and said no. I mean, that's the kind of thing you should do at night when it is dark with your headlights off. Not in broad daylight. Anyhoo, we had so much fun. All the kids were so excited to see each other. It was fun to watch them play together. These are kids that have known each other their whole entire lives. And up until 2 years ago, we spent almost every day of the summer together at this park. It was a fun day!

An American Birthday

Since the 4th of July was on a Sunday this year, all of the festivities were on Saturday the 3rd. We went to the parade in the town where my mom lives. We love going to that parade. There is always a little bit of sadness when we go though. When my dad moved from Big City Texas to Small Town Utah five years ago, he was so excited. He loved his small town. And he loved his small town parade. I can't go to the parade without thinking about him and his enthusiasm. After the parade we went to my mom's house for a yummy lunch. That night we went to see fireworks.

Monday Morning Musings - Postcard

Having a blast!

Wish you were here!

4 Wheelin' And Dealin'

We didn't make any big plans for the 4th of July weekend because we thought Steve would have to work on Monday the 5th. But at the last minute he worked it out so he could be off that day. We decided it had been far too long since we had gone riding. So we loaded up the ATV's and headed out for a fun day.

A Psychotic Bedtime Medley

Normally, I can fall asleep in 2 seconds flat. But when I am really tired, for some reason, my mind starts racing and even though I am exhausted, I can't fall asleep. Well, last night was one of those nights. I collapsed into bed and then it started. It started with a little

Jai guru deva

om

And then one thing led to another and my mind started its racing thing. It was going 1,000 miles a minute. This is how it went:

Jai guru deva, ommm...nothings gonna change my world-

Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and
me-

Joy and pain, like sunshine and rain-


Blame it on the rain, yeah-e-yah, blame it on the stars-


Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high-


You raise me UUUUUP, so I can stand on mountains(I can't stand this song btw)-

Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born-


Born to be wiiiiild, born to be wiiiiiild. Get your motor runnin', head out on the highway-


Get your kicks on route sixty-six, well you go to St. Louis, Joplin Missouri, Oklahoma city-


OOOOOOOOOk-lahoma!

But then that was the only part of that song that I knew and I couldn't think of another song with Oklahoma in it.



But then it didn't take me long to come up with this:

He was born in Oklahoma, his wife's name was Betty Lou Thelma Liz, he's not responsible for what he's doin', his mother made him what he is. And it's up against the wall redneck mother, mother who has raised a son so well. He's 34 and drinkin' in a honky tonk, just kickin' hippies booties and raisin' hell-


Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned-


Woman. Woe-man. Wooooooooah man. She was a thief, you gotta believe, she stole my heart and my cat. Betty. Judy. Josie and those hot Pussycats. Girls of cartoons, won't leave me in ruins, I want to be Betty's Barney-


YABADABADOOOOOO! Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they're a modern stone age family, from the town of Bedrock, they're a page right out of history-

And then I thought about history and that made me think of Martin Luther King and then I thought, "I have a dream"-


To dream the impossible dream-


Dream a little dream of me-

And then I thought, "Dream". That is what I should be doing right now. And by that time my little brain was all tuckered out and I was finally able to fall asleep.

Flashback Friday - Birthday Boy

This post is dedicated to my brother, Sam, who turned 23 years old today. He had the misfortune of growing up in a house with 4 crazy older sisters. He returned home a year and a half ago from serving a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Mexico City. He is taking a break from Idaho this summer and is living with my sister Farrah in Dallas. My kids are sad he is not spending the summer in Utah. They LOVE Uncle Sam!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

Monday Morning Musings - Where Did All The Monday's Go?

Wow! I blinked my eyes and an entire week has come and gone. I can't believe how fast time is flying this summer. The kids and I are staying super busy and having fun. Steve is staying super busy at work and catching a moment of fun here and there when he can. I can't believe that summer is 1/2 over! Really, it needs to slow down a little.

So today Addy comes up to me with a tape measure and said, "Let's see how big mommy is". I am not sure how I feel about that. Kinda funny, kinda not.

So Steve has been taking turns with the kids taking each of them to see a movie with him. Last week was Emily's turn. He took her to see "The Last Song" with Miley Cyrus. I don't think it was the kind of movie she thought it was going to be. She came home all upset and said, "That movie was rated PG, but it should have been rated PG-13! It had way too much swearing and way too much kissing!" Oh Em, I love you!

We went the weekend before last to see Toy Story 3 with the whole family. I was getting a little emotional as we were getting ready to go. The first Toy Story came out when Zac was just a wee li'l babe. He used to watch that movie over and over. And he had all the toys from the movie. And when he was 3 or 4 he had a Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Birthday Party. I can't believe he is all growed up now! And I LOVED TS3 just as much as 1&2. And a little tiny tear or two may have escaped me eye at the ending of the movie. Maybe. You know what would be really cute? If a few days after watching the movie, I caught my almost 13 year old son up after everyone else was asleep, watching Toy Story 1....Funny how a cartoon can stir such emotion.

Zac and I were driving in the car the other day and I might have become a little confused with my directions. Zac had to put me back on the right path. He said, "You're sense of direction is WAY off. I'm glad I didn't get my sense of direction from you!" I am too Z. I am too.

Addy was watching Max and Ruby and she said, "Max doesn't tell the truth just like Emily".

Emily was watching a commercial and a Kidz Bop commercial was on. She got so mad and said, "MOM! Did you hear that?!? They totally messed up Hey Soul Sister!" Finally! She gets it!

Emily had her external speakers on her ipod and she was listening to some song by some girl. I asked her who it was singing and she said, "Justin Bieber". I was like, "Oh, well, he sounds just like a girl."

Flasback Friday - What A Drag

So Steve found some boxes of old pictures. I was looking through them to upload pictures of his family to post on Facebook. I came across the above picture. My first thought was, "Ugh. Who are those chicks and why does he have a picture of them and why am I oddly attracted to the one on the left?" Then I realized. Those were no chicks. Thank goodness, 'cause that would have been really sad if they were. Yep, that one on the left is my husband. It seems that one of his friends was getting married and was having a wedding shower. He and his friend didn't think it fair that they weren't invited just because of their gender. So they decided to crash the party. For the sake of all those involved, I will refrain from posting the picture of them in the bikini's they have on under these getups.

Get Out And Vote Utah!

It's voting day in Utah! So the kids and I had a little lesson on the voting process today. We talked about a lot of things. We talked about how important it is to be able to vote and choose the people who represent you in our government. We discussed the difference between a Republic and a Democracy and I made sure they understood that contrary to popular belief, we live in a Republic. We talked about the constitution and how important it is to make sure that we elect representatives now that will work hard to restore the constitution. We talked about how important it is to understand the constitution and why our Founding Fathers gave us the constitution and why they said that its only keeper is the people. We also talked about some other things that I firmly believe with all my heart and mind. We read some inspired words. And then we loaded up into the mini van and took a field trip to the polls where they were able to watch and see how to vote.

If you live in Utah and you haven't already done so, get out and vote! Preferably for Mike Lee!

Monday Morning Musings - Inspired By Sprinklers

I am lovin' today. I really am. I am just thinking about all that is good in life and am thankful for all that the Lord has blessed me with. I love being a mom and I love the blessed opportunity I have to stay at home with my kids everyday. I am so thankful for my husband who works so hard to make that possible. I love you babe!

I had a wonderful lesson in giving and kindness on Saturday. We are trying to get our sprinklers put in so we can get our grass to grow so we don't get fined by our HOA. The majority of the work on the sprinklers was done by someone we hired last year. We have decided that we are going to finish the sprinklers ourselves and there is this one place in the line where there is a leak. And Steve has tried to fix it several times, but it is in a tricky place and it keeps breaking again. Well Steve was trying to fix it again on Saturday and he was getting very frustrated. So I say to him, "Why don't you go and ask those people working on the sprinklers by the school if they will come and fix it for you and you can pay them 50 bucks to do it and get it over with."

Well, that was worth it to him, but apparently it isn't very manly to ask for help. However, if your wife asks for help that is a completely different story. I got in my car and drove down the street and stopped on the side of the road and asked the guy if he could come down and look at our leak and try to fix it. He came by and said he would be back later that afternoon and would fix it. He came back and in less than 15 minutes it was fixed! And he started to leave and I asked him how much we owed him and he was refusing to let me pay him. I was like, "No, we are paying you. We aren't just expecting you to come and fix our sprinklers for free just because some crazy lady stopped on the side of the road and asked for your help." He wouldn't let me write him a check so I gave him the only cash I had which was $19, which I had to force him to take.

After he left I was thinking, what a nice person. I mean really. To drive over to some strangers house to fix their sprinklers and to do it expecting nothing in return. When he left he said, "If you have any more problems, just stop by again." I am so thankful to him for being so kind and generous. And it has inspired me to pass it on. So this week I will be keeping my eyes open for a stranger that I can help in some way. So thank you sprinkler man for the inspiration!

Emily and I are so super-d-duper excited that our favorite summer show is on! Design Star! We are also excited for all the new episodes of Color Splash with our most fav-o-rite designer and the first ever winner of Design Star, Mr. David Bromstad. However, we are not sure how we are feeling about his move to Miami and his new crew. We loved his old crew and we are sad they aren't on any more. But we still LOVE David!

I am so sick and tired of my playroom always being a disaster. I am about ready to return to the days of the pioneers when kids were lucky if they had one toy. Really. I am so close to getting rid of every toy in the play room and letting the kids pick one toy they can keep.

Happy Monday Everybody!