learn to drive a stick~ check

a few white knuckled rides later and she's doing much better. Not good enough to go on the freeway yet, but good enough around town and to work and church.
She's catching on quickly and should be safe to drive to school in a few weeks!

a little disney~reminiscing

hey, it's my blog, I can post Disney photos every month if I want to:

Here we are in Mexico where the three big girls and I got chosen from the crowd to join in the celebration and traditional dance of the region. Must have been our graceful dancing sway that lured them in:) Here we are shakin it to La Cucaracha!







O'Canada. Such fun.













Some fah-bu-lahs statues! Disney is wonderful about paying attention to the smallest detail. I think we could have stayed a month and still not seen it all and the magic would not have worn off. Maybe when DH retires from his job keeping the free world free we can work at DW and be part of the magic. MIL thinks she would be a good fairy godmother, and I agree! Maybe we'll all work there :)

we love the water

the kidlets are fishies! I love to take them to the pool and watch them swim, it's like a little tribe? pack? school? of otters. They swim and twist and dive so gracefully.

Today we had better luck with school. H did science and handwriting and reading and is happily cooperative. E did phonics (not so happily) and science (a little better). Then we went to the pool and I floated on the raft and pretended we were a nice family and the kids swam and played.

We will probably go in after dinner too.

just read

photo is a link

I just finished a fun book, a fictional account of a real event. The Camel Bookmobile. I didn't know but apparently the U.S. has sponsored a travelling library to nomadic tribes in Kenya. The books go by camel.

The book was fun. The actual idea is awesome. I love books :)

count your blessings....

I love this picture. It's the kind of mom I'd want my children to have...if they didn't have me. Their real mom is not so serene, not so "lovely gown and up swept hair in a neat room saying prayers at nightish".

Maybe they wouldn't trade? I don't know, anyway, lucky for me no one is really like that...right?

We are in the middle of what feels like the longest summer. I don't know why. I love summer, and I always dread the kids going back to school. But this year summer is dragging on. We've been gone a lot which has been fun and tiring. The kids are up late a lot. They've been watching too much TV, and fighting, and the pool hasn't been as inviting due to all the rain.

We've been playing 'summer school', not every day, but regularly, and it's not going well. All the kids want all my help every minute. Brother, who is normally most cooperative has been not a bit so when it comes to 'school work'. Hhhmmm, hhhmmm, hhhm.

I feel very conflicted over our schooling choices. I have some fabulous friends who home school and do such a good job. I can really see great things in their schools and with their kids. I also have great friends who send their kids to public school and lots of those kids are great as well. I am not usually a person who has a hard time making a decision, but this one is t.o.u.g.h. I guess technically we have decided, we have bought curriculum and signed up H for enrichment classes and are working on getting a co op together and part of me is really excited and looking forward to it and hoping it will be awesome for the kids and our family. And part of me is just filled with dread and uncertainty. I just don't know if I can do a good job when my list, you know the one, the mental list all mom's have of things they want to/need to/have to/should do is long and often not crossed off. And kindergarten is so fun, and H does so well at school and wouldn't it be lovely to send them off on the bus in the morning. Do I sound like a crazy head swirling every which way lunatic woman? Yep, I thought so.

And we're moving, which will be fun but it's so long from now that it seems unreal yet it's looming there. Never far from our thoughts. I hope our home sells, and I'll miss my friends so much, and our pool.

And I wish my parents house would sell. I know they feel trapped and I will feel awful if we leave and they are here.

And the big girls are growing up so fast, that I miss them already. I miss D, she's busy and happy and I am so thrilled. I miss her here with me. I wish she lived on my street and could come for dinner every week and I could baby sit my grand kids (who are non existent at the moment). J is gone this week and S is working and driving and I can see that they will soon be on their own...which kind of stinks.

and, SHHH, this is a secret...I'm fluffy, okay I'm fat. But I'm really bad at dieting and exercising.

There are many good things in our life though, (and I am not depressed, mom, a person can note things that are not ideal without being depressed. ) For example:

• Tonight for FHE we had snow cones for a treat~ yum
• Lucy is learning to talk
• Brother is learning to read
• We spend many happy hours reading and laughing together
• Millie is the best dog, she doesn't chew our furniture or walls any more; and she finds snakes and scares passersby and guards us while we sleep
• S's new car is awesome (and I am sure she'll learn to drive it...some day :) )
• DH bought me a surprise present and it arrived today!
• I probably don't need surgery.
• I only have to teach my Sunday school class once a week and am not their seminary teacher.
• We have a fun ward activity coming up.
• And H has a very fun birthday party planned.
• And she's excited to be baptized.
• And Papa and Grandma will be back to go to her baptism.
• And Eclipse is coming out next week!!
• and I can still taste chocolate (sorry Joy)
• the food network
• And I made the bed this morning...and I think it's still made :)
• And I love the smell of bath & body works soap and we have some.
• And I have great friends.
• And the gospel.
• And a Savior who loves me even when I forget all the good and dwell on the bad.
• J bought me the most yummy smelling pineapple lotion before she left that I've been using.
• I love, love, love, the central library. Thank goodness we finally paid the fee to join.
• Our new water pitcher is great and having cool water is awesome.
• I'm reading a book I like.
• our front flower beds are looking better.
• all distance calling.
• imaginary friends
• new recipes
• cute little jammmied up kiddos snuggled in our beds with us.
• and many many more, too many to count :)

date night

DH and I go on a date almost every week. It's a priority for us. Okay truthfully more for him than for me; but for me too. (I think 2-3 times a month would be perfect, he thinks twice a week would be perfect, once a week is what we usually do and really that's a good thing. It's a good way to keep in touch with each other and remember that we are a couple not just parents.)

S had plans and J is in CA so we branched out and got a different baby-sitter. We got Nicole, who did awesome and I was very happy with how it went. We are spoiled with two girls who can baby sit right here who the littles love. I would call Nicole again without thinking twice and the kids liked her as well, which is good. Options are always good.

Anyway we went out for Chinese then to see No Reservations. I liked it. It was a sad romantic comedy with a sweet ending and no nudity. A fun date movie.

new to you never sparkled this much!

S and her "new" car!!!

Now she just needs to learn how to drive a stick and she's good to go!

Whoo HOoo!!

S and her "wild woman" friend at 6 Flags!!!!

what's in a name?

I'm blogstipated. I don't know why, really blogging has been so much fun and easy for me to do and now all of a sudden block. We still swim and read and eat and walk around saying witty things to each other yet some how the reporting has lost it's ...something.. for me. Grandma B was a big motivator for me to keep writing. She read all the time and loved it. She often sent me e-mails or snail mails telling of her delight in our antics and the closeness she felt to us as a result. So it was easy, I knew she'd be checking and I wrote to her.

Despite this slump I'm not really ready to quit so lets see....

It's been an odd summer. We've been gone on trips, both planned and unplanned.
S has her first job and now a second. She is cleaning offices for Durham at night. This one is temporary. I'm glad to see her interest in making money and sticking her toe into the grown up world of employment. When D was a junior she got a job at Washington Mutual with their HS intern program. It was a great program and she stuck with it for two years. I am really grateful that she and now S have been able to get such awesome first jobs, where they can not only earn money but also learn real life skills (not that dipping fries in hot oil isn't but these are both a little nicer)
I've spent a lot of energy thinking and planning for our schooling in the fall. It will be a really different year for us as H comes back home to learn and E, who is old enough for K, will instead learn at home as well. We'll have the two big girls in public HS and the littles home. I am excited. We have some great curriculum and plans. And nervous. We have busy bright and not always agreeable children.
I've also been working on getting my ankle back in order. It still hurts. Today I went for an MRI, which wasn't bad. The last ones I got were 15 years ago and they slid you in a tube and shut both ends and you had to lay perfectly still for a long time while it was noisy and shaky around you. Not fun. I am not claustrophobic but even still had to sing primary songs to myself to endure the hour (and if you've heard me sing you would know that that was bad enough!)
This one was open and loud and shaky but not scary and I had headphones with music and may have even drifted off to sleep at one point.

Yesterday we had friends over all day. It was great. H had two sisters Belle and Livie who were awesome and fun and they got along great all day. E had Ben (their brother) and they played happily as well.

Today we went to the library. The kids behaved and we had a lovely time.

Last night I took J to the airport where she very happily and excitedly boarded a plane all by herself for a fun trip to CA with her very good, dear and sweet and oh so fun friend Emma and her family. She's been looking forward to it for a long time. She will also spend 3 days with Grandma Joyce and is thrilled about that too.

quiz in the afternoon

You Are Toast

Old fashioned and a bit of a homebody, you totally go for comfort food. You're the type who loves to cook for friends, and they love you for it. You truly know what tastes good, and you can often pick out the best dish at a restaurant. You don't fall for food trends. You stick with what's been food for a long time!

What Kind of Breakfast Are You?

we've had a good day. E and H were invited to play at friends today. They were so excited. J, G and I went to the mall and J found everything she wanted on sale! whoo hoo. Now we're home and "thinking about dinner" which translates to spending a few mintues on line :)

in a nut shell (working backwards)

Today S is a 6 Flags. Hopefully she'll have so much fun. The rest of us are going to the mall because J needs a pair of pants. Tomorrow she leaves for CA to play with her friend Emma and see her grandma Joyce and we have to get her ready.

Last night I finished Harry Potter 7. I liked it a lot, except the end felt a little bit like an afterthought to me. There was something about it that I didn't love. But I won't spoil it for anyone so that's all I'll say. Mostly I loved it. It may be the best one yet!

Last night our friend Justin came over for dinner/FHE. His family is on vacation. We had a fun time. The kids were W.I.L.D. I partially blame him, he brings it out in people :) After the lesson, given by H, we played Killer Bunnies. Everyone laughed and thought it was so fun. E and H asked to play again the morning. DH didn't have as much fun since he didn't do so well. Good thing he won our first game ever or we probably wouldn't have bought it :)

I had an xray and a visit with the orthopedic surgeon yesterday. My ankle, that I broke last year, is still hurting: enough that I can't wear heels or step on it first when going down steps. He looked at the xray and said he thought that it might be because the ligaments were pulled and not healing. It's still swollen and he could feel the fluid in there. There is a chance I will not need surgery but we'll know more after my MRI later this week.

It's been raining, every day but not all day, which is okay.

Sunday night the girls went to the Petty's. Robin started a new tradition. Every week they will go over and read the Book of Mormon out loud together for an hour and then have treats. They are hoping to finish by the end of the year.

My friend Julia arrived from So Carolina and is now in our ward! Whoo Hoo! I'm excited.

it's finally here!

Friday we had our friends over to swim. They had been on vacation for a long time and we missed them. We were in the pool only a short time and it started to rain, hard. E and M stayed in and swam anyway. The rest of us took cover on the porch. When the rain passed we swam again, until the next rain. It's been the craziest summer: rain wise.

Friday night was the release of Harry Potter 7. Actually 12:01 Saturday morning. H and DH and I went downtown for the festivities. It was very fun. We went to both the library and to the bookstore. The library did a fabulous job. They had tons of fun stuff set up. One part of the library was Diagon Ally where they had booths set up to make wands, golden snitches, owls, satchels, dress up and have your picture taken, play games, have a caricature drawn, etc. They had Slytherin house there, with a snake show, and they had one of the older HP movies playing in one room. On the other side they had Hogwarts with a magician and games. H had a great time. At the bookstore we walked around and they had games and stuff. We got a treat downstairs. At midnight we did a countdown and very excitedly got our books! I couldn't' believe it, while we were waiting in line we could watch others getting their books and several people walked away from the line, flipped to the end and started reading while they were walking out! What kind of craziness is that?!

Saturday we cleaned, signed brother up for soccer, went back to the library to get another copy of the book (two for the house wasn't enough), swam, DH I went on a date.

funny boy

this kid is so funny.

A few days ago he wanted to have waffles for breakfast. We usually get our waffles out of those golden boxes in the freezer that you pop in the toaster. Well we were out. Two weeks ago before we went to Ohio I had gone shopping. Then we left in the middle of the week and had a lot of food left. When we got back I decided it would be fun to see if we could get through the week with what we already had. Which we did except for buying milk and last night DH had to work late and "when the cats away..." so we decided to do fast food and drove through Taco Bell, which is so cheap, cheaper than cooking. Come on 79 cent burritos? You can't beat that, although technically that's not what we ordered, and I know the nutritional content is some what suspect and I am pretty sure my arteries are hardening as we speak so we try and avoid that most of the time.


Anyway, back to a couple mornings ago. I told him we were out but we could make some.

Blank look.

I asked him to look under the microwave for a metal square that you plug in and went back to my browsing.

Triumphantly he brought it out! Is this it? Yep. So we mixed up the batter and made the waffles, which he declared outstanding and better than the box and then told me the good news that we would never run out again and could make them everyday.



Fast forward to waffles day three. He's still happily making waffles every morning.

This morning when we came out to the kitchen we found fruit flies. Yuck! He said (in a very happy voice), looks like we have lots of hunting to do today!!

The little sou chef is also pretty cute. Moments before she came to assist she was bouncing around the kitchen with her baby on her shoulder saying "shhh shhh shhh" She's such a little mamma.

sharing the pool

Since we've been home the weather has been perfect, just like it should be in the summer. Hot. We've had some clouds in the sky but they haven't let loose with any rain and we've been able to enjoy the pool every day. Each afternoon we've invited different friends over to swim.
Tuesday the kids were thrilled because they each had a couple special friends over. It seems like a popular age span for siblings and we have many friends with a match for more than one kid! H was able to swim with Amanda and K. Brother had his friend C and also Elijah, Zecheriah and Ryan over. The boys had an awesome time jumping in together and making big splashes!
Wednesday E really wanted to invite his friend Jason and his family and H had Sara and her family. It was fun. E "showed" Jason how to swim and that positive peer pressure really worked because he took off his vest and was able to stick his head in, kick and get from spot to spot!
Today the neighbor girls came over. They live sort of around the corner from us. Amy goes to school with J and Megan with H and Rachel is right in the middle. They are nice girls and the kids had a great time.

the colony is growing...

this morning we were unloading the car and out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of red in our overgrown flower bed. I looked more closely and discovered that a new gnome had moved in. I was so surprised and asked S, where it had come from. She came home a few days before us and I thought she might know something about the new arrival. She said she saw him too but didn't know. So crazy! We are pleased and surprised...so mystery bestower of garden gnomes, we thank you.

Today is sunny and bright. We had some friends over to swim and the water was warm. We got our car cleaned out and vacuumed, now we just need to work on the house.

for the record, DH always does a beautiful job on our flower beds. Every year he plants and tills and cultivates and they look very nice. On our small lot they were most lovely. Now that we have "land" it's still lovely, although more overwhelming and difficult to keep on top of. This is the first time when the beds have just gotten away from him. We have big weed patches and tall grass. I'm sure it's temporary, we've just had an unusual summer with all the rain, travel and general busyness.

College MeMe

My friend Joy tagged me for a 8 random things meme: college edition.



Ok so here are the rules!1) Each player must post these rules first.2) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.3) Tagged people post their eight things and these rules.4) End your post by ‘tagging’ eight new people to play.5) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog for these instructions.



1. I went to college full time my first semester freshman year, then it took me another 7ishs years to graduate with an A.S.

2. I wanted to be a nurse and I ended up a teacher.

3. I finished my B.A. in Social Science (code for couldn't pick a major :) ) at Chapman University.

4. The hardest classes I ever took were BYU independent study courses, and Anatomy.

5. I never walked through any graduation ceremonies. I kept thinking when I get my MA (which I am just shy of) maybe, or a PhD.

6. I wanted to go to BYU, but didn't. I wanted D to go, but she didn't....I still have 5 kids left, maybe one of them will go :)

7. I never had the typical "college experience" since I lived at home and went to community college and then was a mom and going to school at night and/or part time but I LOVED college. I loved my classes, and studying and writing papers.

8. I wanted to major in eveything and take every class, it was so fun, still do.

I tag my sisters and whoever else wants to do it!

Cincinnati Zoo

We went to the zoo today. It's been a crazy week with trying to get everything settled and everyone needed a break.
The zoo was so fun.

The manatee habitat was awesome! They were so interesting and the kids were fascinated.
We went to the bird show which was really good. The birds were beautiful and the show was funny!

Besides the zoo we have been doing funeral stuff.

We've also swam in the pool, gone out to eat and last night Nana watched the littles and the rest of us went to see "Harry Potter". I liked it a lot.

After the service

Grandma B's service was very nice. We had a lot of family here and the minister did a good job. She had chosen her songs and verses and everything she wanted before and we were able to follow that.

Nana's house was very full with cousins and kids and uncles and aunts. Family, family, everywhere. Besides the fact that we were all here to pay our respects it was fun to see everyone and to spend time together.

Picture from the Pioneer Activity

Saturday morning the kids went to a Primary Quarterly Activity. They had a pioneer theme and did a really nice job. The kids all had tons of fun. They got to make butter and play pioneer era games. They got to hear stories of pioneers and color pictures. They had snacks and they got to dress up and have an old fashioned picture taken. Saturday was a busy day and we almost didn't make the time to go...I'm glad it didn't get squeezed off the agenda for the day.

Today is another busy day. We have lots to do to get ready. It's about 2 o'clock though and I feel like we're making good progress. Hopefully the drive tomorrow will go as well.

crash, splash and birthday bash

This morning the kids spent some time outside in the flower bed trying to catch a butterfly. This is a new favorite activity of theirs. I don't know why.

Then we went shopping. I got dresses for the girls because they both have grown a lot and their nice dresses were getting too short and we wanted something nice to wear to the funeral.

We came home to boxes on the porch! Fun surprise!
Then Lucy took a nap and our friends came over to swim. She woke up part way through and joined us. The kids love jumping off the diving rock. Baylee was in a grouchy mood so I got to man the deep end and get swamped with water. They were so cute jumping off and being silly. J spent the day with Emma.

After dinner DH took the kids swimming again. This picture is of Lucy waiting for him to be ready, she's got her cute swim diaper on and we were lucky she kept the couch dry because they don't hold pee.

I got new shoes. My ankle has been a lot worse lately. I have resigned myself that I will have to have the bone chips removed. I guess I'll do that as soon as we get back.

Oh, almost forgot, we got rear ended today. We were driving to our big shopping extravaganza and stopped at a light that just turned red. The car behind me didn't stop and ended up driving under our bumper. Her car was crumpled. Ours, we had to brush the paint she left on the bumper off. One plus to the suburban. We had some minor bumps but I think all will be well. S and I both had headaches from being pushed forward and then back into the head rests, my back was also kind of sore. I have an appointment with the chiropractor tomorrow before our trip. H hurt her foot smashing it into the seat in front of her. Over all we are lucky, the car is fine, and our scrapes will be find soon.


J went to RB's (Emma's dad) birthday. She was happy to be invited and wanted to bring him a gift, I told her dad's like candy so she took airheads.

She came home with homemade chocolate cake to share with us. Which was so delicious.

Tomorrow we have our venturing kick off meeting. I am refreshments girl so I need to take care of that. I also need to send off my good-mail pkgs that are sitting ready to go. We need to clean the car, buy trip food, finish laundry and pack. Hopefully we'll get an early start on Wednesday. Oh, I also need to find a baby sitter for Millie and take my key and Nikko's to Joy.

DH is feeling like he's getting sick so hopefully he'll be well, and everyone will be fine, and things will go smoothly.