Laying Sod, Riding Bikes, Shopping, Rodeo & Fireworks!!

Yes, our Saturday was crazy...but so fun! We went out first thing in the morning to my parents house to help lay some sod that they had to replace after laying their sprinkler lines. Of course, my mom, bless her heart, had fixed everyone breakfast for coming to help:) So the guys headed out after eating to get to work & my kids went right to work riding their bikes up & down my parents long driveway. Madelyn wanted to help, so every now & then one of the guys would have her help roll out the sod. Bryce would pretend he couldn't get in unrolled, so that made Maddie feel very helpful:) Colin & Ranie had done some spring cleaning at their house & were getting rid of some things. They brought us a combo game table (ping-pong, ice hockey, foosball, etc.) which the kids are LOVING!!! Thanks again!! We then went grocery shopping, which I don't do anymore on my own with the kids. I know my limits. Poor Lily was freaking out all day because we kept coming & going. She has such bad anxiety when we leave. It breaks my heart when we're gone all day. I have to tell myself that I'm not leaving by child behind, I'm leaving a dog. She is such a part of our family now & I never expected to care about her the way I do. Anyway, then we went to a rodeo & fireworks with Colin, Ranie & Bryce. Unfortunately, Kianna had to work, so we missed seeing her. But, it was way fun. It was great to spend the time with them. For the few of you who don't know, in case you were wondering, Colin & Bryce are my brothers & Ranie & Kianna are their wives! Colin, myself & Bryce are the 3 youngest in my family. We were all really close growing up & I don't get to spend as much time with them as I'd like. And my kids have always worshipped the four of them, so they thoroughly enjoyed it, too! Part way through the rodeo, Colin went & stood at the top of the bleachers for a while & both my boys followed him up there & stayed there by him until he came back down. It was the only time they stayed in one place the entire night:) Needless to say, the kids slept great that night. We'd worn them out real good.

Austin & Uncle Bryce at the rodeo. Two of my favorite guys:)


Madelyn & Trey with Colin & Ranie also at the rodeo. Four more of my favorite people:)


Just a few fireworks for you all to look at...in case you wanted to.

Tag

How to play...post these rules on your blog: List 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Goals, 3 Current Obsessions & 3 Random Surprising Facts About Yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 Joys
*The sound of my kids belly laughs.
*James is currently going to try to grow his hair out (we'll see if he can stand the hair for long enough).
*I have just recently discovered a way to get time to myself each day.

3 Fears
*The Dark
*Death (basically something happening to James & I before the kids are grown).
*Something happening to one of my kids.

3 Goals
*Go to Ireland & England to visit James' Grandpa & Uncle.
*Building our dream home with tons of property for horses.
*Eliminating a few of my weaknesses that could certainly be done without.

3 Current Obsessions
*"Twilight" series (the websites, youtube clips, everything).
*Clean, uncluttered house (always an obsession).
*Finding new music to download.

3 Random Surprising Facts About Myself
*I've lived in the state known for "the best snow on earth" my entire life, grew up in a family of skiers, but I myself have never been skiing. I am the only one out of 11 people in my family who hasn't been on skis. (yeah I know, you think one of my six brothers would have taken me at some point, right...wrong)
*My family is also a family of water skiers & I do water ski (it's been a while, but...) & I love to swim. However, oddly enough, I am terrified of water. I know it doesn't make sense.
*I play the piano, sing & am the choir director in my ward, but if you ask me to tell you what any musical term means, I couldn't tell you more than two or three. I know I was taught them at some point, but I never bothered to remember what they meant. People ask all the time how I know what I'm doing if I don't know the terms. I never tell them that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing:) I pretty much guess my way through things.

5 People I Tag
*Kerryne
*Sherrie
*Liz
*Lyndee
*Kim

Things To Keep Kids Busy!

We got the kids some little wood trains & things from the store the other day & let them paint them. It was fun to just watch each of them concentrate on painting. Madelyn definitely had an idea of how she wanted hers done, Austin was very focused on getting every part covered, Trey just mixed the paints all up & went for it:) I think it is fun to watch their little hands (& minds) at work.




It has finally been warm enough the past few days to get the pool out & my kids were so excited. They love being outside. And being outside with water is even better:) We have a sprinkler (I guess that's what it is) that is a long hose with all these little hoses attached that spray water in all different directions. Trey wouldn't go anywhere near it last year (or the slip n' slide). It will be fun to see if his "no fear" way of life now days gives him the courage to try them this year.

I started to go inside & Trey yelled at me, so I turned around & he sat down at said "cheeeeese". I think someone wanted his picture taken:) Madelyn is in the background using a crayon box to get a dead bug out...gotta love it!


Hopefully the nice weather stays. My inside activities for the kids have been used up. Let's keep our fingers crossed:)

My Own Little Corner!

So it took the kids driving James crazy to get my computer moved upstairs. Madelyn has always liked being on the computer, but now that Austin does also, one of the two of them is almost always on it. I have to pry them off to even get on it myself. Which doesn't make it easy for James to get any work done since my computer was in his office. So as of yesterday, I have my own little corner office with a view:) Of course, it is the corner of my bedroom, but I'll take it. It is nice to have it upstairs where I can be on it & still keep an eye (or ear) on the kids. The basement is their "toyland", they can do pretty much anything down there. But if I was down on the computer, than they tended to gravitate upstairs & get into all sorts of things that they knew they shouldn't. "Mom's downstairs, oblivious to what we are doing, so..." is what happened every time. So now, I can do what I need to on the computer (with my music going, without keeping James from concentrating on his work) & keep my kids from destroying my house. ("Knock on wood"...what you all just missed is me having to take a little break to keep Trey from dumping an entire bucket that he had filled with water on my floor & then lock the bathroom door so he couldn't do it again.) I don't know how many of you feel like I do about not having anything of my own. I don't have much around the house that is just mine. It may sound crazy, but I like having this little corner that is just mine. I know, go ahead & laugh:) 7:30 rolled around this morning (which is usually later than I'm normally awake, but since it was almost 1:00 when I got to bed last night, it felt early) & Madelyn was at the foot of my bed asking me if she could play on the computer. I just laughed & told her to turn the sound off. To make a long story not so long, my computer is upstairs & I love it!!

Oh, The Joy!!!

Madelyn got her processor (hearing aid) today & I have never seen her so happy. She's walking around here sporting a perma-grin:) She loves the fact that she can also hear her own voice better. She struggled a little bit with pronouncing certain words because she literally couldn't hear some of the sounds & then couldn't hear whether she was saying them or not. We have already noticed that we don't have to talk as loud & she is not turning the volume up on everything to hear it better. It is a little funny, though, to watch her jump whenever Lily barks or one of her brothers scream:) She just laughs about it & says, "Wow that was loud". I don't think that we could pull her down from cloud nine right now. Even the doctor who hooked it up & showed us all the ins & outs couldn't help but smile through the whole thing. Her joy is so contagious. She came home & of course called both of her grandma's to tell them the news & can hardly contain the excitement of showing her friends from school. It is definitely a good feeling to have reached the end & to see the pure happiness that she feels. I am really looking forward to watching her in the next few weeks as she is put in different circumstances & see how she does when a room gets loud. If this works the way they say it does, she will have no problem picking out a voice that is calling her name (which she really struggled with before). It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to give your child something as important as perfect hearing when she has gone her whole life without it. Once again, seeing the world through a child's eyes...it's amazing!

This is what her face has looked like since about 8:00 this morning!!


You can get an idea of how big the processor is. Her left ear is slightly smaller that her right, so I guess you can figure that the processor is just a bit smaller than a child's ear.


From this picture you can see how far is sticks out from her head.

Utah Lake State Park

Saturday, we took the kids out to Utah Lake. They love to throw rocks & whatever else they can find into the water (they themselves don't generally get in). They started out just playing in the sand & before we knew it they were sitting down in the water. Now my kids don't like water too much (at least water that gets deeper), so it completely surprised me when they were walking in clear up to their necks. Madelyn spent most of her time looking for rocks, sticks, & whatever she could find at the bottom of the lake. Austin was having a blast seeing how far he could throw the rocks. Trey carried his shovel around & dug up whatever he could...in & out of the water. At one point he tried to throw the water out of his shovel by lifting it straight up in the air. He was completely shocked when the water came back down on top of his head. Where did he think it was going to go??? He also found out very quickly that movements are slowed down in water:) He tried to hop a few times & when his legs didn't move as fast under the water as his body did outside of the water, he face-planted it into the water. When he got up he was obviously very confused as to what had just happened. What I love about that kid is his "no fear" attitude. He just gets right back out there & does the same crazy things again. My kids have been aching to get outside & it was nice to have a day without rain on & off so that we could take them out. It made me laugh when after about 30 minutes, James looked at me, very confused, and asked me where my book was:) I told him that I was capable of putting it down long enough to spend some time with my family. Every time I pick it up he asks me, "Going to spend some time with your boyfriend?" & my answer is always short, sweet & to the point..."yup". My sister told me I would cry pretty good through New Moon, but sheesh. After a while I was complaining to James & wondering why she (meaning Stephenie Meyer) hadn't brought Edward back yet. I was tired of crying for Bella. He says to me "What, isn't your book as fun to read without Edward in it?" & again my reply was short, sweet & to the point..."nope". He (along with most the husbands in our neighborhood) is having a pretty good laugh about these books. They all shake their heads & roll their eyes every time they see any of us talking, whether we are talking about the book or not:) Anyway, enough already, right? If any one is up for some days at the lake with us, let me know, it would be fun!!