It Was An Off Road Kinda Day

We had a busy crazy summer. It left us no time to ride 4 wheelers. We decided we better get out and get some ridin' in before it was too late. So we headed for the hills this morning. My brother Sam was in town so he went with us. We had a fun time. We are all EXHAUSTED now! I'm kinda mad because my camera battery died before we got to the really beautiful part of the ride and the really BIG puddles. I am so thankful that we live in such a BEAUTIFUL place!

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Last weekend I managed to find my way back to Texas after almost 6 years of being away. That is by far the longest stretch I have ever done away from my native land. My heart has been yearning to return for quite some time. I was planning on going this summer, but then things came up and I decided I wouldn't be able to make it after all. But then my Grandma up and decided to turn 80 and have a surprise party, my sister Kristy decided to come all the way from Moscow and she and my mom and sister Lauren were all going to Dallas, and my sister Farrah still lives there and, well, by golly, I just couldn't be left out! So we boarded a plane and made our way to the Big D. We got there August 19th and left early the morning of the 22nd, so it was a very quick trip. But we managed to pack it full of fun.

I'm tellin' you, we were 5 ladies who needed a break. We decided that we were going to be selfish all weekend long. We were going to do what we wanted when we wanted. And I made a deal with myself beforehand that I was gonna eat as much good Texas food as I wanted, guilt free! And I'm telling you right now. I did not disappoint. Neither did Texas. The above picture was taken not long after we got off the plane when we made a bee line for some good old Tex-Mex. Other menu items for the weekend include: Bart's fajitas and breakfast tacos, Jack-in-the-Box tacos, shaved ice, Maggiano's, brisket, and enough Blue Bell ice cream to...well, let's just say...I was eatin' Blue Bell before after and during each meal.

We went to Northpark one night to see "Eat, Pray, Love" and eat at Maggiano's. Here were are at NP in the TX store:

Bart, our personal chef making Breakfast Burritos:

Bart and Farrah working on stamps:

Helping Farrah get our her stamp orders:

Kristy, Diana and Coren

My grandma and her twin brother at their surprise 80th Birthday party

Me and my grandma

Kristy and mom

Allyson Kristy and Lauren

Thursday Morning Musings - Bust A Move

I have had a little vacay from the computer. It was kinda nice. I was outta town and when I got back, I managed to steer clear for several days. I was a-feared that once I got back on, that would just be it. I would be back on. But alas, my head is just way too full of stuff and it's time to clear it out.

First, this song is driving me crazy today. I was working outside this morning and it came on the radio and it has been playing in my head ever since. I was going to post the video but then I remembered my kids read my blog and they lead pretty sheltered lives, so here is a clip of Zac Efron dancing to the song:





I guess I should be thankful that this song is no longer stuck in my head, because it has been for over a week now:



Oh great. There it is again. Now I have no choice but to put my hands up and nod my head like yeah, move my hips like yeah. Say what? I just watched the video. Hey, guess I could have posted the Young MC video after all.



I should not be allowed to use teeth whitening toothpaste. Really. I never buy it, but Steve was out of town and he used some whitening toothpaste and asked me to buy some. So I did. And now I have little bleached out flecks on one of my favorite shirts. Why can't I brush my teeth without flecking?



My sister Kristy is here visiting from Russia. It has been fun having her here, but just last night she brought two evils into my home. And when I say evil I say it, E-viel. Like the fru-iets of the de-viel. Which reminds me, Kristy is supposed to watch that movie with me while she is here. But that's not the point. The point is this. Last night she made dessert crepes. And she taught me how to make them. Evil #1. And to make it even better, guess what she put in the said dessert crepes? Umm hmm. Evil #2. Nutella. I walked into my kitchen last night and saw it sitting there on the counter and stopped dead in my tracks. How dare she bring that hazelnutty cocoa heaven into my house! Nutella and I sadly parted ways a few years ago and unfortunately now we have become reacquainted. It didn't take long. Kinda like when you see an old friend and the two of you just pick up where you left off. Yep. Me and Nutella, we're like this now. *crosses fingers*

"And a Jay-Z song was o-on, and a Jay-Z song was on...."

Days Of '47 Weekend

July 24th is a State Holiday in these here parts. It is the day that the Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Steve managed to wrangle a few hours in between working all day and working all night so we could have a little family fun. We built a fire in our side yard and roasted hot dogs and then had 'smores. Once the sun went down we put on our own little fireworks display. It was a fun night!

I love this picture because you can see the moon coming up.

Steve was in the middle of working 100+ hour weeks. He worked all day and had to leave and work all night. He was in work mode and it was very hard for him to sit still. He sat still long enough to eat a hot dog and then the next thing I know he was up working on the yard. I had to force him to sit down.

The next day my Aunt Cynthia and her family came to have dinner with us. Cynthia and her husband, Asa were in town visiting my cousin Alisha and her family. It was good to see them again.

Lauren, Kay, Allyson, Alisha, Cynthia

Zac was making Alisha's daughter Emma crack up.

Addy had band aids all over her. My mom asked her what happened to her head and she took the band aid off to show her. It looks pretty serious right? Yeah, there was nothing there.

All 3 of my girls went crazy over Alisha's baby, Ellie. Hope you had fun girls. That's the last baby you are going to see for a while! (Knock on wood)

Monday Morning Musings - Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Post

My kids are always changing the ring tone on my phone. Last week they changed it to some really low bass gangsta music. I was unaware of the change and I was in line at the store and my phone started ringing. The guy checkin' me out (Not me, me. I mean, have you seen me lately? Checking out my purchases.) you should have seen the look on his face. I said, yeah, my kids changed my ring tone. He said, Oh, I was wondering what that noise was...

I have officially given up with arguing with Addy about breakfast foods. It is just not worth it and she is so darn stubborn. She doesn't want any normal breakfast food. Not even anything semi normal. Like she always wants a sandwich. So I try to talk her into a PB&J sandwich, 'cause that is kinda breakfasty. No. She wants ham and cheese. And pickles. And cheese balls. This morning I was cooking eggs and toast and I looked over and she was eating dill pickle relish. Straight outta the jar. BLAH!

Little kids don't make good liars. Addy took something she wasn't supposed to take the other day. I suspected her so I asked her about it. She said no, she didn't take it. Then she quickly said, "Don't go in my room!" So of course I went into her room. She ran ahead of me and slammed her dresser drawer shut and stood in front of it with her arms spread out and said, "OK, you can come in my room, but don't look in here!" How can I possibly get mad at something so dang cute!

I had a luggage carrier atop 'o me van for a year and a half. When I wanted it off, no one would take it off. But then, just the other day, I look outside and Steve is taking it off. Now I can never find my van when it is in a parking lot. I got out of the habit of remembering where I parked because I could always spot it so easily. Last week I was walking around like a ding-a-ling in the parking lot hitting the lock button on my key ring over and over again. I was at Walmart. Do you know how big that parking lot is? Gimme my luggage carried back!

This morning, Addy came into my room about 2 minutes before my alarm went off. I really wanted to lay in bed for a little longer. So I tried to talk her into going and waking up Zac for band. She didn't want to. She was all snuggled in too. So I brought out her imaginary friends. I said, "Addy, Team Umizoomi is going to wake Zac up and they want you to go with them, will you go?" She said, "Nope." So I leaned over the side of my bead and said, "Sorry Team Umizoomi. Addy doesn't want to go with you. Oh, don't cry. I'm sure she will get up and play with you later. You go ahead and wake Zac up." So she sat up and jumped off the bed. Then she walked back over to me and asked, "Mom, where is Team Umizoomi?" And I said, "They are right over there, and I pointed." So she leaned over with her hands on her knees like she does when she talks to them and said, "It's OK Umizoomi. I will go with you to wake up Zac!" Is it bad to encourage her imaginary friends?

Rocks And Weeds Growin' Up Like A Tree

So with our last house, we had what we thought was way too small of a backyard. When we were looking for a place to build, we knew we wanted a big yard. But we are finding out now that we really didn't have any idea what that would mean, a big yard. Silly, silly us. Well, we have us a big ole honkin' yard now. And we are fully aware of what that means. We now have a sprinkler system and a combination of grass and somewhat manageable weeds in 1/2 of the yard (which if you read my Monday Morning Musings this week you know takes 3 hours of non-stop mowing and a couple tanks of gas to keep it in check) and we are trying to finish the sprinklers and plant grass on the other half. We were working on a section this morning. Steve and Zac were installing the sprinkler heads and the girls and I were on rock removal. I can't even begin to tell you how many rocks we have displaced since this whole thing began. We are always and forever picking up rocks. ALWAYS. and. FOREVER.

Well, there were two girls who were very unhappy about having to work in the rock business this morning. So whenever anyone is unhappy I just do what comes naturally, which is sing. Only somehow my singing doesn't help ease the unhappiness. It only adds to it. I was makin' up all kinds of good lyrics to songs we knew. And for some reason when I make up words...oh, if you think my kids are annoyed by my singin' a plain old regular song...well, stand back when I start to improvise. They REALLY hate that. I was trying to find a song they would sing with me so I started singing the popcorn song. They wouldn't sing along, so I made up my own lyrics:

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Rocks and weeds growin' up like a tree
Spring has brought me such a nice surprise
Weeds were growin' right before my eyes
I can take a shovel full and make a pile
Of rocks and weeds that would go for a mile
It was unfortunately so, and it seemed to be
Rocks and weeds growin' up like a tree.

I thought I did a mighty find job pullin' those lyrics right outta my head like that, but...sigh...my kids just have no appreciation for the endless talent I posess. They put down their shovels every time I started singing my song. They wouldn't pick them up again until I stopped.

Oh well, the next section of sprinklers is in. We only have a few more piles of rocks to eliminate from that section before we can put in the grass seed. One of these day...one of these days...

Flasback/Flashforward Friday

On Wednesday I had a dinner at my house with some old and dear friends. These are friends I had when I first moved to Utah after I graduated from high school in 1992. We used to be inseparable. We had a little group of us and we did everything together, every day. John lives across the country now and he was here in Utah visiting so a few of us got together. Not everyone was able to make it and we missed y'all, but we had fun. It has been over 14+ years since the last time we saw each other.

Christina, Allyson, Jon, Greg

Allyson and Jon circa 1992
Allyson and Christina

Greg, Tina, Allyson, Christina

Monster Baby Strikes Again

How can someone so downright cute, be so downright naughty? I ask myself that question every day. Last weekend, Addy got in my van and turned on all the lights and I didn't know it. It totally drained the battery. We have been trying to charge it but it is so dead it won't even take a charge. So I have been driving my dad's truck this week. My plan was to buy a new battery for my van today while I was out running errands. Well, I went out this morning to take Zac and a neighbor to summer band and my dad's truck wouldn't start. It appears that someone (ADDY!) turned the headlights on yesterday and left them on. So I set the keys to both my van and dad's truck down and am calling trying to work out rides to and from band. Then next thing I know Addy is bringing me the keys to my van, but not the truck. Yeah. We couldn't find those. She picked them up and did something with them. So I am freaking out trying to find the keys. We finally find them out in the middle of the street. Then I am moving the battery charger from my van over to the truck and when I am done I get Addy to bring her inside and she has been playing in paint that she found in the garage. She had paint all over her hands and arms and face and clothes. Today has started out so fun, can't wait to find out what the rest of the day brings!

A Whale Of A Time

So we are at the water park today and we are in the little kiddie play area and Aubrey lies down under this spout of water that is pouring out of a tower. She starts going on and on about how good it feels on her back and it feels like she is getting a massage. I am standing there with my back that has been bothering me for the past few days thinking, DANG! That does look good! I was half tempted to get down there and try it out myself. But then I started thinking about how much I would resemble a beached whale and decided I didn't want to scare all the kiddies away. But Aubrey kept doing it. And I so longed to join her. I thought maybe if I could convince all the other moms that it would feel like a massage, and if I could get a few of them to do it with me, it wouldn't be so bad. But then I looked around me at the extreme fashion show we had going on at the water park. What, with all the moms in full makeup, hair and hair accessories that can't get wet, sunglasses, earrings, and high heels and decided they were probably a little to good to get their massages in the kiddie pool. So now here I sit, slumped over the computer, my back still aching, thinking: beached whale or not, I am gettin' down there with Aubrey next time!

My Life. Right Now.

I am sitting at the table trying to eat my lunch. Aubrey is wailing and gnashing her teeth on the couch because she wants to eat. But I gave everyone a job they had to do while I was making lunch and she won't do hers because it is harder than the jobs I gave everyone else. It would take her all of 60 seconds to do it and I offered to help. But no. She is too hungry so she would rather cry on the couch for 30 minutes. Zac keeps sticking his burrito in his mouth and making a loud humming sound, then he takes the burrito out and says is a computer generated type voice, "Unable to process data analysis. Object unknown." He has done that about 10 times now. Emily, I don't even know what she is doing or saying, but she is being her usual loud self. My sister Lauren keeps trying in vain to get Addy to stop yelling. What she is yelling about, I have no idea. When I wasn't looking, she walked over to the counter and took two huge handfuls of shredded cheese out of the bag and then walked the long way around the kitchen back to her seat. So now there is shredded cheese in a trail from the counter, around the island, to the table. I have people coming to my house for dinner tonight that I haven't seen in 14+ years. My house is in no way fit for company right now. I have a load of laundry in the washing machine that is probably going to have to be rewashed because I never put it in the dryer yesterday. I haven't showered yet. There is chicken poop all over my back patio. And I have at least an hours worth of paperwork Steve needs me to do ASAP. And I have two movies that are overdue at the library. So...how's your day goin'?