It's A Party In The USA - Day One Do Over

Yesterday I did a post of our first day with all my family visiting. I posted pictures I had taken with my camera. I had just bought that camera the day before everyone came. My old camera was having major malfunction issues and I wanted to have an operating camera when everyone was here. I did not make a good choice in cameras and am planning on taking that camera back, so my pictures from last week are not so hot. I downloaded the pictures my sister Farrah took with her camera on to a zip drive (? is that what they are called?). Steve had it with him at work yesterday when I did my post so I did not have access to those pictures. I got the drive from him this morning and looked at the pictures. They are about a thousand times better than my pictures (probably because her camera costs a thousand times more than mine) and because she is a thousand times the photographer than yours truly. So I just had to post some of her pictures from the first day. Here they are. If you missed the post yesterday and are just dying for the background info, click here.

It's A Party In The USA - Day One

Saturday, July 2, 2011

My whole family was here visiting last week. We had a blast being together. It is the first time we have all been together in a long time. A few weeks ago my sister Kristy and her 3 kids flew in from Moscow Russia, where they have been living the past 2 years. They are moving back to the states and are spending some time with us in Utah before moving to Virginia. They were at our house for only a few days before Kristy flew out to VA for a week to look for a house and her in laws came to pick up her kids to stay with them for a week. They all came back on July 3rd. That same day my Granny Snow flew in from Tacoma. On July 2nd my sister Farrah and her husband Bart and their 2 boys, along with my brother Sam and his wife Teresa, arrived from Dallas to spend the week.

They got in late Saturday afternoon (all of them were sporting their Dallas Mavs Championship shirts). We met them at my mothers house where we had dinner and then we all went for a little hike up the canyon.

Addy and Matthew. These cousins are only a month apart in age.
Addy, Matt, Zac and Gabe playing in the water
My sister Farrah

My brother Sam, his dog Bean-O and Addy

My sister Lauren and Steve

Emily crossing the creek

Sam and Teresa

Steve, Bart and Farrah

The kids (and the adults) had so much fun playing in the water

Just pulling into our driveway. It was a fight every time we went somewhere to see who was going to ride with Sam and Teresa in their Jeep.

One of our neighbors put on an AMAZING firework show. It lasted for over an hour and it was better than any city firework display I have seen. We all got out chairs and sat in our driveway to watch. While we were waiting for the show to start, the kids caught a bunch of these cute little frogs.

My mom, Lauren and Farrah waiting for the fireworks to start

Sam entertaining us with his hula hoop skills. There were some of us who even entered into hula hooping contests that night. Teresa, you know who won! Girl! I'll take you down any day!

Never A Dull Moment - Cat Tales

As previously stated, I live in the strangest place on earth and I love it! There really never is a dull moment out here. Did you ever watch Lost? Sometimes I think my little part of the neighborhood is like the Island. You know how they were always seeing strange unexplained things? I see strange unexplained things every day. And I really thought we were living on our own little Island when we first moved in and Lost was still going strong on TV every week, except for the 6 month breaks between seasons when you forgot everything that was happening. Back then they were flashing through time and getting nosebleeds. When we first moved in our house, we were all getting nosebleeds and I swore it was from the big strange humming tower behind our house. Anyways, I just thought I would tell you that if your cat is missing its tail, it's in my backyard:

And it's not every day that you find a tail in your back yard and then look up to see a stage coach and a plastic buffalo driving by:

Summer Ketchup

Here is this weeks Summer Fun Chart. I didn't even make one for last week. Zac was at Scout Camp all week and Steve was there with him for 2 days. Emily and I were pretty much invalids all week long. Emily because of the huge hole in her foot. Me because I am stupid. The Saturday before last I bruised the ball of my left foot. The next day I decided it would be a good idea to wear heels that put all of my weight on the balls of my feet. By the time we got home from church my foot hurt so bad and I could not walk the rest of the week without a limp. Yesterday is the first day it wasn't killing me and I am now limp free. You would think that without being able to walk, I would have some extra time on my hands and I could get a post or two done. Well, think again. So here is a little summer catch up.

On 6/15 we took Zac to the orthodontist. His orthodontist is near our old house and so we went to the park by our old house and had lunch. Here is a picture of the kids playing in the willow tree at the park. They could not leave the park without paying it a visit. They played in this tree every summer day for I don't even know how many years.

On 6/16 the girls and I went on a hike. Zac wasn't with us because he went to see the new Pirates movie with a friend. The girls and I were a bit overdressed for the occasion, we found out. Before we left for our hike, we were at home with all our windows open and a cool breeze was blowing through our house. It was pretty cool in our house so we were all wearing jeans. And two of the girls were wearing long sleeve shirts. I tried to get them to change those before we left but they refused. Well, by the time we got up on the side of this mountain, we were all very, very hot. And by the sounds that were coming out of my girls mouths, you would have thought they were on a death march. It was one big complain fest. So I found a shaded spot and we sat down and we had us a little chat.

I told them to remember how long it takes us to drive from Missouri to Utah. I told them that the pioneers, they walked from Missouri to Utah. I also told them that the pioneers hardly had any food so they walked all day long and were starving the whole day. I told them that if they think they are hot, the pioneer girls had to wear dresses with sleeves that came down to their wrists and skirts that came down to their ankles. And a lot of them didn't have clothes to change into so they had to wear the same stinky dress all day everyday and by the time they got to Salt Lake their dresses were all worn out and they probably would have loved to have the clothes my girls were wearing. We also had some complaining about shoes hurting feet so I told them that some of the pioneers didn't have shoes and the ones who did didn't have very good ones and they were probably full of holes. I also showed them the nice clear road carved into the side of the mountain that we were able to walk on. I showed them all the growth on the part of the mountain without the road and told them when the pioneers had to go over a mountain, the just had to go tromping through all that stuff with their shoeless feet and their big old dresses getting tangled on everything. I also told them that the pioneers had to make that long walk because if they had stayed where they were, they would have been killed. And I told them that even with all those hardships the pioneers hardly ever complained. I told my girls that they were lucky because they were walking up the side of that mountain for fun but with all the complaining they were doing, they were making it anything but fun. After our little chat, they walked the rest of the way up the mountain and then back down complaint free!

On 6/19 Steve's Aunt Callie and her family were in town from Colorado. We had them over to our house for dinner along with his Uncle Harold and Aunt Connie who live here in Salt Lake. It was fun visiting with them and getting to know them. The last time we saw them was at Steve's grandmothers funeral and that was right after Steve and I were married.While they were here, everyone was entertained by watching Addy trying to catch an escaped chicken. After a while, she looked up and saw everyone watching here so she really started putting on a show.
On 6/21 we went to the library for the most hilarious reptile show. Usually when I take the kids to things like this at the library, I sit and read a book. But this guy was crackin' me up, so I watched and enjoyed the whole show.

Addy holding Goldilocks after the show

Em and Goldie

Aubrey and Goldie

On 6/22 we took my mom lunch at her work and ate and visited with her

On 6/24 Steve took Emily and Aubrey and their friend Ellie to the Blaze game.

That same night my mom and Addy and I went to the airport to pick up my sister Kristy and her kids. They have been living in Russia for 2 years and they are moving back to the states. They will be with us until August and we are so excited to be able to spend time with them. They were only here for a few days and then on Monday Kristy flew out to Virginia to look for a house and her kids went to visit their other grandparents. They will all be back this weekend though. Along with my sister Farrah and her family from Dallas, my brother Sam and his wife Teresa and my Granny Snow. Next week will be a SUPER FUN TIME around here. Here is a picture of Kristy and the kids at the airport after more than 24 hours of travel. Kristy, you are the bravest person I know! I can't imagine making that journey by myself with 3 kids.

The kids all sitting together in a rare moment of calmness. Zac had just made it back from Scout Camp and he was a little sunburned.

6/25. Last time Kristy and her kids were here, we roasted hot dogs over the fire in our back yard. Tia wanted to do that again so we did. It was fun, although a little warm for a fire. But that didn't stop the kids.

We also had s'mores, because what is a fire without s'mores? Somehow a chicken got a marshmallow and we had quite the entertainment watching them all fight over it.

On 6/28 I was outside and I noticed a dead bird in our backyard. I called Steve and told him about it so he could take care of it after he got home. I have killed, skinned, and cleaned a chicken with my bare hands, but somehow the thought of scooping this bird up with a shovel and disposing of it was more than I could handle. Later that day I was in the kitchen and heard a knock on the window and this is what I saw when I looked out. I guess she wasn't bothered by the thought of going anywhere near the dead bird.

That same night we headed back to the old hood. My friend Julie was in town and we had a backyard BBQ with our friends from our old neighborhood. It was fun getting together and seeing everyone again.

As you can see my garden is growing. And that black stuff I put down (twice) is really doing a GREAT job of keeping the weeds out. I really have a strong dislike of yard work and gardening and being outside when it is hot. So I think I am just going to pretend like I didn't plant a garden this year and if any fruit actually springs forth from this tangle of weeds, it will just be a happy bonus.

The $70+ Pokie That Was More Than A Pokie And My 800th Post

First of all:

HAPPY 800TH POST TO ME!

To you?

TO ME!

To you?

TO ME! TO ME! TO ME!

TOOOOOO! MEEEEEEE!

OK, now that we have that outta the way, on with the post.

See this child:

She is in big deep doo doo trouble. She has this problem with refusing to wear shoes when she goes outside. And that my friend is a real problem where we live. We have pokies everywhere. When I was growing up we called them stickers. My girls call them pokies. Call them what you may, we have an over abundance of them here. I have pulled about 8 bajillion pokies out of feet since we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. About a month ago Emily got about 20 pokies in her feet, all at one time. I got most of them out. But there was this one that I just could not find. I figured it would work its way out eventually. Well, it didn't. And it got so swollen up about a week ago, it was huge! We kept soaking it and I kept thinking it was finally about to burst forth from her foot, but it never did. I finally called my dear nurse neighbor to look at it and tell me if she thought it was something I could lance and take care of myself, or if I need to take her to a doctor. My neighbor was so nice. She came and looked at it and then tried to help us lance it, but when she cut it open instead of anything bursting forth, there was no liquid in there like we thought there would be. So I finally gave in yesterday morning and took her in to see the doctor.

I was really ticked off with our doctors office. We made the appointment at 9am for a 9:45 appointment. We had all just woken up so we quickly ate and then showered. I had all 3 girls with me because the boys are at scout camp. I could not possibly take my children out in public without bathing first. So by the time we got in the office, it was 9:50 exactly. We were 5 minutes late, which I did not consider to be a problem being that I have never been taken back anywhere close to 5 minutes past my appointment. We got inside and the receptionist was on the phone. We waited for about 5 minutes and then she had to check the lady in that was waiting in front of us. By the time she got to us the clock on wall said 9:56. She told me she would have to check with the doctor to see if she could still see us today since we were so late for our appointment. I told her we were only 5 minutes late when we got there and it wasn't my fault she was just now checking us in. She still had to check with the doctor. **** (that's me being highly irritated remembering it). The doctor graciously said she could still work us in. I paid my $35 copay (we have crappy insurance) We were at the doctors office for a total of one hour. We saw the doctor for a total of 90 seconds. I kid you not. She came in, asked what was wrong, glanced at her foot and said we would have to go see a podiatrist. Great. I figured it would take forever to get in with a podiatrist and we are about to have a bunch of company and we are going to be going and doing and Emily needs to be all healed before then. And I would have to pay another $35 copay and a podiatrist visit would probably go towards my huge deductible and so I would have to end up paying that full bill, whatever it came out to be. And with our fantastic insurance coverage each person can only go to the doctor 6 times a year so why not waste 2 visits because a kid can't put on a pair of shoes before she goes outside???

As soon as we took our second round of suckers from the reception desk (I was gonna get my money's worth outta that visit) and walked out to the car I called the number for the podiatrist. I had to leave a message. We got on the highway and started making our way to my mom's office to eat lunch with her. We were almost there when the podiatrists office called me back and said if I could come right now, they could get us in. Woo hoo! I flipped that car right on around and took her in. We went right back and didn't even have to wait for the doctor.

He glanced at her foot and said, "That is no sticker". Turns out it really was a sticker/pokie that got infected with the W. virus (Emily says I cannot under any circumstance put on my blog what it really was on her foot). And so that was a huge W. on the bottom of her foot. Funny because her brother told her that's what it was. Guess boy genius was right. The doctor removed it and now she has a huge hole in the bottom of her foot.

It is now a federal offense for any person to walk outside of my house without shoes on. It carries a swift and heavy punishment. Already Emily has broken that law. She broke it about an hour after we got home yesterday. And tonight we had to go somewhere and she actually had the audacity to ask me if she had to wear shoes. I'm about to superglue a pair of flip flops to her feet. You see this huge weed below? We are surrounded on all sides with these. Its as tall as me. They grow in our grass and we mow them down and believe me, they are not pleasant to step on. Not to mention the millions of goat head pokies we have that make our bike tires go flat every other day. PUT ON YOUR SHOES EMILY! PUT THEM ON!