The latest events

It's been a fun summer so far. I've got some massive projects that it's time to tackle, so I've been spending lots of time staring off into space and visualizing myself doing them. Thinking about them. Planning stages, that's what I'll call it. I've been keeping really busy the last week or so playing Coffee Buzz on the internet. It's been really time consuming, but it's really paying off. I'm getting pretty good. If I ever need a second job, I could be a slamming barista.

On a related note, I saw a book at the D.I. called something like The Joy of Laziness or The Myth of Laziness. I don't know... either way I thought it looked interesting, but I was too lazy to pick it up and see how much it was he he he. Books at the D.I. are too expensive. They should be like a quarter.

So here are the latest events.

We went down to Wendover for a quick trip to see a concert and play around. I got some pics, but they're lame, so bleep bloop. Deleted.

Third (Fourth?) Annual Chamberlain Pineview Extravaganza:


That water looks a crazy nasty color in the pic. It didn't look like that irl... did it?




Sean came back in after giving Lexi a ride, and she was fast asleep. He said she loved it and wanted to go faster, but then fell asleep before it was over. She used to fall asleep on the boat last year, and she slept through most assemblies at school, as well as through trick-or-treating, both at home and with the daycare. She's my little napper.

Pioneer Day parade in Bountiful:






Josh, Sean, and Grandpa D. fishing:





Josh's first day of kindergarten. When any of us asked him how it went, he said, "We had recess. That's all I know." Fair enough.

Need a laugh?

This is how I feel about Twinkies, nachos from a gas station, and McDonald's apple pies. Yet, every so often I just have to eat them. I stay away from Hot Pockets, though.

Sean's Theme Song

I told Sean this is his song.

Pictures

I went to pull pics off Sean's phone and there was all kinds of stuff on there.

Lexi's firt official haircut. She cried the *whole time. Her hair didn't really even hardly get cut, because she woulnd't hold still.



At the park.






I don't know what this picture is of. Maybe it's Sean's proof that I'm always yelling at him.


Lagoon





Pineview



We went camping at Perception yesterday. This is one of our favorite camping spots. We usually try to go a couple of times every summer.






Yay for summer! This has been an excellent one, so far.

Picture Day

Oh goody! Today was picture day! (If you don't want to see 600 pictures of my kids, you might want to skip this one.) It actually has become 16 times less stressful to get portraits done. I implemented these simple changes:

* No pictures of me. No exceptions.
* The outfits don't have to coordinate.
* I don't really care if they don't come out perfect, because we aren't perfect. No stressing about hair, having cutesy accessories, etc. Our pictures pretty much look the way we look every day, and I'm cool with that.

Here's what Lexi thought about picture day:


This cracked me up:


A few others:

Update

Courtney and Brittney took Josh to ride FrontRunner out to the Gateway for splashing in the fountain and dinner. Lexi is taking a nap. I'm supposed to be making a grocery list, so I'm hiding out on the computer instead. I need to do an update. I really just want to say:

We did a bunch of stuff, of varying degrees of fun-ness. The end.

But, I have such a horrible memory that I won't remember anything if I don't write it down. I look back on old blog posts and go, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" And then I feel sad that I don't blog more so that I would record more of the things I'm going to forget. So I'm going to try to get the basics here.

We went to Lagoon on the rainiest day of this very rainy summer. It alternated between light drizzle and raining cats and dogs all day long. We were all drenched. My mil rocks! She stayed there with us the whole time, even though I'm sure it wasn't fun. We finally gave up and went home at about 6:00 when it was just pouring and we were cold. The upside was that when it's cold like that, Sean likes to bake. So I laid on the couch and he baked me treats.


Courtney looking pretty dry in the morning

Sean's dad came over for dinner on Father's Day and we had a nice relaxing evening.

Curtis and Lauralee came for a visit. We went swimming, went to the drive-in, and had a BBQ. It was great fun seeing them and their kids!

We spent the 4th of July weekend at the cabin and watched fireworks with Sean's family.





We took the kids fishing at Echo and caught bug bites and moss. And Brittney caught a headache.

Courtney turned 17. She went to lunch with a friend, worked, opened presents and ate pie.






I'm so glad to have Courtney as my oldest child. She is easy-going. She goes with the flow. She's motivated. She knows what she wants to do and then does it. She works hard. She's helpful and loves her siblings. She makes me laugh. What a great kid.

We bought a 3 person tube and we took it up to Pineview to try it out this week. All four kids had a blast on it, so that was a good choice. I may post some pics once I pull them off Sean's phone.

We put our pool up, and that's been fun. We don't have public pools really close to our house, and it gets expensive to go there several times a week, or even once a week, with 5 people. So it's nice to just have it in the back yard. Plus I don't have to pack everything up, and we all know I'm all about the lazy.

My mom came out for lunch the other day, and it was so great to just sit and talk. We need to do that weekly. I don't see my family enough these days. I gotta work on that.

Well, I think that'll about do it.

The Obligatory Sappy "I Love My Kids" Post

I had this big freak out last week about how fast my kids are growing up. I've mostly recovered, but I have my moments. It was good, because it helped me remember to enjoy each day more. But I've really dreaded the ending of this school year because it meant that Courtney would be a senior and Josh would be starting kindergarten. I've never been a mom that got really upset over kids reaching milestones or that wanted them to stay little forever. I mean, I love little babies and toddlers, but I enjoy the other stages too, so it was OK. I used to be visiting teacher to a mom who told me she cried every day when she dropped her daughter off for kindergarten. I've known moms who deliberately didn't potty train their kids or wean them or whatever because they didn't want to let go of the baby stages. That has never been me. Until now. I'm really feeling it. The silly little Lexi things I don't want to forget:

Her nap mat at school was next to the crib where they kept "emergency" supplies in the drawer underneath-- books, graham crackers, things like that in case they got locked down or evacuated or something. It didn't take her too long to discover that little drawer, and when I'd go to pick her up I'd always find books piled all around her little mat. Her teacher thought it was so funny the first time she found her reading the secret stash of books.

The way she says her name and calls herself Lexi Yuyu (Lexi Lulu) or sometimes it's Wuwu. Then it's Mommy Wuwu and Daddy Wuwu.

The way she reads her books and repeats everything everyone says in such a cute voice.

The way she pouts when she's mad. She puckers her lips all up and scrunches her eyebrows together.

The way she yells, "Stop it, Josh!" or "Ooch!!" (scooch her chair in) or "I do it!!!" in a screech that could peel the paint of my walls. That's the big one lately. She wants to get into the car and buckle her own car seat, serve herself food, put the lid on her own sippy, pull on her own clothes--if I can get her to wear clothes. I asked her the other day if she'd wear this super cute dress and she said, "No! Never!"



Josh learned to ride his bike without training wheels this week. He is still so sweet, always wanting hugs and wanting to snuggle. I hope that can last for quite a while longer. He was arranging some toys very carefully a certain way the other night, and we kept trying to herd him towards bed, and he kept saying, "Just a minute." Finally Sean asked him what he was doing and she said he was setting a trap. For bad guys. He's been out pounding on pieces of wood with his little tools and then sticking them in his back tire and pretending it's the exhaust pipe on a motorcycle. He's always talking about what he's going to do when he goes hunting with his dad. He's a bundle of crazy, way too loud and wild, but also just so sweet.

Courtney and Brittney are fun to hang out with. Courtney is always so cheerful and up for anything. And Brittney is so funny. I really love hanging out with them, going shopping, watching movies, talking. I'm so grateful for these girls. They keep me sane. Mommy ramble over.