Really...I'm still here...barely...

The last two weeks have been sheer chaos for me. Here's the lowdown...

Celebrated Nathans 11th birthday
Celebrated 15th wedding anniversary
Had a date
Decided to paint the girls room (finally) that sucked up 3 days of my life, but looks fab!
Still going to swimming lessons EVERYDAY!
Preschool graduation, and swim party after
Kindergarten registration (that after I stood in line for an ETERNITY was told I didn't have to, they already had my daughter assigned because I got kids in school already) thanks for the heads up SCHOOL!
Huge 5th grade report due for Nathan that we literally had to do TWICE (or was it three times). He spent hours on my laptop doing his report than something went HORRIBLY wrong and when we went to finish it up and print...the file WAS GONE!!! Corruption all over the place. Had to redo his report than still couldn't print it and sent it all over the place, no one could pull it up. Ended up having to buy a new printer at the last hour and the three of us spent the night putting it all together. That took up 5 good afternoons and evenings of our lives.
Too many appointments and transferring of kids and cars between Doug and I
Oh ya, Arrow of Light award for Nathan
Father and Son Camping Trip

I'm sure there is more but that's all my brain can remember at the moment, but to top it all off our little darling is getting baptized tomorrow!

I've got gobs of pictures to edit and post someday.

I No Swim More!

Those were Jack's words after his first lesson. He cried the ENTIRE time. It was sad to watch him cry, yet do everything she told him too. Though after, when he was still crying, I asked him if he had fun. His answer, through tears, "Yup".

But after only 2 days...he changed his tune. Now he's saying "I go swimming lessons?"

And this is our happy little camper now. He had fallen asleep in the car on the way to his 3rd lesson and when I woke him up I asked him if he was ready to go to swimming lessons, he said half asleep "Yup, I sure am". Now he is asking everyday to go. He loves it and I am amazed at what he is learning.

His little flippers and goggles crack me up.

Dougs (kinda) Excellent Adventures

Soooo....I let my husband out of my sight to go mountain biking in St. George for the day. This is only a portion of how he came back to me. Geeeeez...can't take him anywhere! Despite the 3 falls and 3 wounds/roadrash on his legs (oh and did I mention the cactus bush he plunged into his shoulder?) he had a great time and can't wait to do it again! As he lay there on the bed with his legs all bandaged and his shoulder tweezered I just had to laugh. Nice, I know, but seriously. Can he cut me some slack with the woundage! (BTW...he was laughing about it too.)

Apparently not, cause.....yesterday...he decided to attempt the removal of his thumb. Ya. Using some fancy slicer machine, it slipped and instead of the veggies getting sliced, his thumb got sliced. BAD. Here's how the last 24 hours have gone down:

*Nearly 5 hours at the ER, to get his thumb stitched back together.

*By the time he gets to bed that night he is in such unbearable pain that he doesn't sleep all night.

*Next day (today) goes to Quick Care in hopes of receiving some pain meds...after telling the nurse what he needed (AND PAYING THEM) he finally sees a dr. a few hours later only to be told "we don't dispense pain meds". ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?????????????

*So then, yes, painfully, he heads back to the ER for the afternoon. He does, THANKFULLY, return with the goods. They are helping a little.

Do YOU think my hubby is a happy man???? The whole thing has been so terrible that I did not have the heart to have him pose for a picture for my blogging purposes. But, pretty sure I've painted a good picture for ya!

Here's to hoping he has a good night.

Birthday Girl

The birthday girl had a great day (and weekend)!

We started off her day with cinnamon rolls for breakfast and let her open a present. She got just what she wanted. How exactly does one get the wrapping paper off, but not the ribbon. She's got some skillz! Now if she could just get the top off!

Here she is modeling her new, big feet.

That night after dance we had dinner and cake.Her choice for dinner: crepes

I spent an hour at the stove making these bad boys, 23 of them to be exact!

Here's the recipe, if your interested, they are DELISH!

1 3/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 T sugar

1/2 t. salt

2 c. milk

3 eggs

2 T butter, melted

1/2 t. vanilla

Mix dry ingred., stir in remaining, beating with hand mixer till smooth. Pour scant 1/4 c. of batter into heated, non-stick skillet (6-8") immediately rotating until thin film covers entire bottom. Cook till lightly brown then turn and cook other side. (i spray Pam occasionally on the pan).

Butter, cover in sugar or jam or syrup and roll. The syrup will just fall out, so...maybe cut like a pancake!

Kristens favorite is granulated sugar and butter.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Hope all you beautiful mothers out there had a great day.

I got a great surprise and was able to spend it with my mother. I love her! She's so much fun and spontaneous. She called me up Saturday morning and says "watcha doing?" you know the usual Saturday stuff. She asks if we are planning to swim, probably. Her answer "can we come swim too?" So yup, they drove up from Cali and spent the weekend with us. It was fantastic. They even babysat so Doug and I could have a date.

Realized when I looked at these that we shoulda grabbed Nathan, after all the others ran into our picture. Which, du, they are the reason I am a mother! But obviously, I have not been thinking clearly lately.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

My baby girl is 8 today!

Can't believe it's been that long since this sweet little thing graced us with her presence.

Growing up in a family of 5 brothers, I felt so blessed and lucky to have a girl.

She has been a complete joy to our family. Out of all my kids she stayed a baby the longest. All the others always wanted to be big. She had no interest in growing up. She loves to snuggle and be taken care of and has said she wants to live with me forever!

She is a sweetheart thru and thru.

7 THINGS ABOUT THIS SWEETY

1} She loves to be SURROUNDED by her things. Her bed is always covered in pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, you name it; and she sleeps amongst all that! She is the BIGGEST pack rat ever! She still has her valentine box and cards from kindergarten, along with lots of little pieces of papers and things, whether they are broken or not. (all this actually drives me crazy! but it is her)

2} She is very sensitive. Her eyes fill with tears at the slightest little thing, though she tries super hard to hold them back. Her feelings get hurt easily. (Which her siblings tend to prey on :)

3} She LOVES Hershey bars....and Ramen Noodles

4} She is SUPER crafty. Loves to scrapbook, take pictures, make lots of little treasures (that she can't ever bear to part with)

5} She's a very smart girl. Gets straight A's and LOVES to play school, all the time, much to her sisters dismay.

6} She is a social little butterfly, loves her friends to death. Wants to be involved in everything.

7} She tends to be good at everything she tries. Loves to Dance, sing, read, craft, and is now a world class burper. Thanks to some training from her little friend Blake :)

Elvis is in the HOUSE!

The kids school had a fund raiser concert...with Elvis!

Kristen BEGGED to go. I didn't commit to going till 30 minutes before it started.

Please, are you kidding me, I kept asking her!

So Nathan and Daddy went off to soccer practice, and me got to go see Elvis.

Here he is in a ALL his glory. He actually did a good job. Was a good singer and really got involved with the audience. The kids loved it. Some of the grown ups loved it (a little too much). Pandemonium broke out every time he walked through the audience to throw out scarves!

Here they are dancing in the aisles! This is a horrible picture, I was way too close but I love the look on Samantha's face.

Kristen, being the one who begged to go was very shy the entire time. Wouldn't get too excited and didn't want her picture taken with him. Though she did get his autograph.

These two, totally wanted their picture with him.

Jack called him Santa the whole night!

That chest, it's creepin' me out.

VIVA LAS VEGAS BABY!!!