A goodbye to summer

As a last hoorah, we had one more camping trip up to Bear Lake for a family reunion with my moms brother and sisters.  It was a blast!  We always have fun at Bear Lake (unless it's pouring the whole time, the baby doesn't have any more dry and warm clothes, and we have to go buy some in a town an hour away, but that's another story from about two years ago... we also ended up buying some new underwear because while we were getting clothes for baby Sammy, Ada peed her pants at the store... nice).

We got there Tues night, at least a day and a half before anyone else... had another day with just my family, then another two with my cousins and their families.  I loved it!  Anyone who knows me... Bear Lake, for me, is heaven on earth... Bear Lake with the cousins and family that I've spent 31 years (my parents started taking me at 3 weeks old) of memories with at Bear Lake is amazing!  I loved catching up with cousins, missed the ones that are too far away to come, and enjoyed watching my kids make memories of their own.

Being a child nerd

Playing at the lake, Ada and Jer were making drip castles. Jer made a really tall one and Ada was still working on her castle when I went over to see how they were doing. Ada declared very firmly that daddy's was a chocolate factory and when I asked what hers was, she said, "It's Tiras Minith." It took me a second, "You mean Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings?" "Ya."

A mommy's story

Since everything that happens within my days falls in the scope of being a mom, I sometimes feel like I'm living in one of my little kids story books.

If Sammy drinks too much before he gets in bed he'll wake up wet.
If he wakes up wet we have to change his sheets, he'll also need a bath.
Playing in the water reminds him that he was watching a show about pirates.
Watching a show about pirates makes him want to play on my phone.
Reminding mommy about her phone reminds her to shower before her dr appt.
Going to the Dr's office reminds the kids that they can ask the receptionist for puzzles.
Seperating puzzle pieces reminds mom why we only have 5 puzzles.
Puzzles remind Sam that he has to use the potty.
To get there quicker, we go next door to the store instead of home.
Being at the store reminds mommy that she's out of vitamins.
Walking to the vitamin isle, the kids decide they want sushi and pears for lunch (sushi, really?)
Evelyn falls asleep before we get home to eat lunch.
Eating lunch reminds mommy that she didn't put new sheets on Sammy's bed
Sammy's bed reminds mommy that it's time to put the kids down for a nap and she sends them to go potty.
Getting sheets from the dryer, mommy notices that the washing machine has dumped it's water all over the floor.
Dumping the water on the floor makes mommy have to rewash half the clean laundry that was sitting unfolded in a pile.
Cleaning the floor, mommy remembers that the kids are still in the bathroom.
Going in the bathroom, mommy realizes that she should have cleaned it days ago.
Putting the toddlers to bed wakes up a hungry baby and we start lunch all over again.

Jer's a nice guy

That really is an understatement.  He's much more than a nice guy, but I think I have a fear of being too cheesy... unless I'm with Jer... he laughs at all my cheesy jokes.  I was sick Sunday and Monday, I could have dealt with kids all by myself but Jer being the nice guy that he is said, "I have too many sick days, I'll use one."  And he did.  After showering and having a nice little nap, I walked down to find this sight...

 What a nice daddy... sharing his music with his girls... it was so cute, Evelyn kept dancing to it.



You know I love my family right?

Awesome trampoline

So Mom and Dad... since you gave us your kiddie trampoline, we've made good use of it.  All of them have.

Making Bread

Now Jer makes amazing bread.  It is... I promise, it's to die for.  But he's started making it with our kiddos... yeah, it's pretty dang cute.  After they put everything in to mix, Ada and Sammy kept hugging the mixer because it felt so funny. 

funny kids

So, we were talking about something that we were going to do tomorrow... Sammy chimes in, "ToMario?"

We were talking to our neighbor about them selling their house... I mentioned that my sister was looking and Ada pipes up from the back seat, "And she says Why I outta!" (my sister often says this in a monster voice)

We were serenaded last night by what Jer calls a 'mixed chorus'.  We had Sammy singing the Angry bird theme song, Evelyn singing whatever as loud as she can and Ada sing her flag song that she 'wrote' herself.  ("Wave Flag for me! Wave Flag for me! So I can see you when I walk by. Wave Flag for me!")  We couldn't help but laugh. 

Judgemental

You know... being both fat and Mormon I get judged by the outside world a lot.  They probably wouldn't judge me the same if they knew me as they do on paper... but I do think it's kind of ironic.  2 examples:  MSN ran an article on how we, as members of the LDS church, pay tithing.  It was very inaccurate and you could tell it was coming out just in time for Mitt Romney's campaign.  The judgemental part was reading the comments at the bottom of the page.  WOW... that's about all there is to say.  There were maybe 5 people that had actually met one, 3 that were Mormon, and 1 that used to be.  Let's just say that there were not very many kind words.  Most of them saying that we were tax evaders, extortionists, idiots for giving money for the good of others, and very selfish with the churches money.  I was really surprised.  I'm not familiar with that group of Mormons... The second example was I've had a UTI... yuck... the last couple of days.  I went in to get an antibiotic and of course they have to take all your stats... weight, height, oxygen levels, and blood pressure.  I got the exact same reaction that I get every time someone takes my blood pressure.  Because I'm heavy, they expect a high blood pressure.  When they get 60/108 they look at me funny and almost every time... "Is your blood pressure usually like this?"   I think in my head, "Yes... and that's bad?"  (anything under 80/120 is normal)...

Moral of the story, know the person before you make the judgement.

Does she know her dad or what...

So, Ada didn't know that Jer and I were planning on taking our Christmas money and going to replace our dead laptop, but when I asked her and Sam what they wanted to get for daddy for his birthday this year Ada just lit up and said, "I know!  We could get daddy a new, new, new computer with new games on it to play!" 

Haha... does she know her dad or what.

Zoo

We try to go to the zoo once a year... I don't think we made it last year, but we've gone the previous years... even taken neices and nephews before we had kids.  Luckily we always have family willing to go too.  This year we got to go with my parents, Nella, McKay's family and some of John and Diane's kids.  It was fun!  I didn't know that there was a baby elephant this year or that the zoo had purchased a polar bear and otters since we last went... or that they had gotten rid of their penguins.  Hmm... things that you don't know til you get there.  Evelyn kept patting and hugging the glass and she positively squealed when she saw the elephants.  We did have one scare.  As we walked around we stopped to make sure that everyone had been drinking water out in the hot sun and after making sure the other 6 kids were there... we couldn't find Anya.  She had kept walking when we'd stopped.  She told me that she wanted to see the tigers after we found her.  The really neat thing is that while Jer went one way, I went the other, (the other kids stayed with my parents) and when I got to where the path splits I felt that I needed to take a certain one... I did, and at the top of the hill she was there looking at the tigers.  (A lady was trying to help her see them... I don't know how she didn't notice that she didn't have a parent/adult with her.)  I feel so blessed to have the Holy Ghost in my life to help at times like this. 

Hoola hoop contest

Caught in an eagle's nest.

This polar bear was giving quite a show... it swam back and forth forever giving kids kisses and fives on the glass.

Baby Arwen

My sweet little new niece... just about a week old... making me baby hungry!