Goings on

Well...There's not too much. Jeff and I did attempt our first solo camping trip with the kids a couple of weeks ago. Solo meaning there were no other adults to help besides ourselves. It went surprising well. It was nice to get out of town for a couple of days and be in some mountain air.

I also attended the breaking Dawn release party at the local Barns & Noble. It was crazy-fun. I am normally a small-group kinda gal, but the energy in this kind of group is so much fun. I can't stay away. The only down side was that I wouldn't get the book for another week. Thanks to Cami for keeping me sane during that time. (See the bracelet)

Heidi, Shanna, and Me:Edward and Bella:Edward and me:A small taste of the crowds:
The Bracelet:

The basement is coming a long nicely. The playroom/storage room is nearly finished with only a window sill, closet doors, and a few decorations to go. We're still working on the bath/laundry/craft room. It is definitely getting more bearable. In fact, I can see most of my family room carpet now!

We've also been busy celebrating birthdays. Both my parents had their birthdays within the last month. My kids love the extra reason to not only play with Grandma and Grandpa but to have cake. This pic is from my dad's b-day celebration. I love the red contrast. It made me feel artistic despite the spontaneity of it all.

McKay

This kid seriously cracks me up. Here's a few of the latest things to come out his mouth:

Mom: Where did you get that handsome face from, McKay?

McKay: From Mexico.

And tonight during his prayers....

Please bless us to not crash when we're driving backwards.

Ya gotta love little kids!

Memory Tag

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

TBA

The Twilight T contest winner will be announced soon. Lots of fun entries. Now I just have to narrow it down to 1....

Sophie's Strawberry

My brother just posted this photo on facebook:

We went to a cousins wedding over a year ago and they had a fabulous little buffet. We were enjoying a "light" dinner and dessert with my parents, Greg and some extended family, including a mischievous and devious family friend, Hayden. He gave my sweet 9 month old baby a chocolate covered strawberry. Sophie of course loved it and I am not sure Hayden had ever been entertained like that before. She wouldn't let us take it away. (Honestly, I wouldn't let someone take it away from me either.) She was covered in chocolate and ate the entire huge chocolate covered strawberry!

It's funny that my little brother should post this. Just last Friday we were at another cousins wedding reception. Hayden and I and Jeff all had a great laugh about that little incident. Hayden did threaten...I mean...offer...to go dip a strawberry for in the chocolate fountain. Fortunately, for me and her cute dress, all the strawberries had been eaten.

Good day ahead

Do you ever just wake up knowing it's going to be a great day? I felt that way and so far it's been good. The kids got up and got ready quickly. Lyndsi practiced her violin before school. My house still needs to be picked up/cleaned, but not in that overwhelming, frustrating way. We walked outside to put Sophie in the stroller and it was actually a little cool out there. Not that I'm wishing for winter or anything, but the heat is getting a to be a little tiring. (August was the worst month for me when I lived in St. George. I swear it refused to cool off even a little the way it should. :)) What's been going well for you today?

Breaking Dawn

Ok. I've finished. If anyone is dying to talk about it, send me an email or call. :)

New Habits

While I'm still waiting for my book to come, I thought I'd tell you a little more about my FlyLady habits. These little guys are making some big changes in my home.


For those who don't know-FlyLady is a group of women dedicated to home cleaning/organization and at the same time, by helping women establish routines, simplifying households everywhere. They have morning routines (make bed, shower, eat, hair, face, etc), bedtime routines (pick out clothes for the next day, brush, floss, etc.), mini-missions (15 min. declutter sessions and small jobs that can be done in just a few minutes), and more. My favorite thing right now is the monthly habits.


Each month there is a new habit to work on. Last month it was swish and swipe-meaning to swish and swipe the bathroom. Wipe down counters, mirror, toilet and scrub toilet with brush. My bathroom is sparkly now all the time. I do the kids' bathroom when I'm in helping someone bathe or shower and the downstairs one while I'm doing laundry.


Speaking of laundry-August's daily habit is a load of laundry a day. This is something where a little bit goes a long way. You wash, dry, fold and put away and your done with laundry for the day! Before you know it, you have to go search out things to launder because believe it or not you are all caught up. My laundry room is so clean now. Even with on-going construction around it. Thank you FlyLady and friends!



Side note-I finally bought some laundry sorting organizers. I love them. They keep my laundry room neat and tidy and my baskets free for hauling clothes upstairs to put away. I love going down to do laundry instead of dreading it now and am even more excited because soon it'll be a finished laundry room! Here are my sorters, except mine are blue and white (from Target) :

Dramatic Rampage

ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!

I cannot stand the wait!! Christmas was never this bad as a kid. I pre-ordered Breaking Dawn from Amazon and it's not scheduled to arrive until August 7th!!! What was I thinking? Apparently I wasn't. I could've bought the book already-twice! I was at the release party (more to come) and then at Walmart the very next day. I even had the book in my cart! I had to hold it. I wanted so badly to crack the spine and devour each page, but I couldn't justify owning 2 copies of it. I couldn't start reading it while I was at the store because than I would never have made it home until it was done. I've had a few friends tell me they haven't had time to "get to it" yet. My life is going on hold when it comes. (Fortunately, I have a great husband when it comes to my Cullen-based obsession.) My good friend Cami even suggested when we go to the park we could read our books. (A sign that she is my very good friend. :) ) I may be blogging more than normal. My house may be dirtier than normal. I'm not functioning anymore. It's all because I can't focus on any one thing for very long right now. ARGHHHH!!!

Ok-dramatic rampage is over.

Date Night!

Last Sunday my friend Jen came up to me and announced her husband had the next few days off of work and we should go out. (We've been wanting to but you know how summer goes...) So we decided to take off to the Mayan on a Monday night! It was great. I didn't realize how human I felt going out on a school night with other grown-ups for pure fun. We had great seats for the cliff diving and despite the rumors I'd heard about the food not being so great, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Afterwards, (with some previous planning) we took our hubbies to the Jordan River and treated them to candle light dessert and drinks. The only thing that went wrong was ending up with 7 batteries and nothing to put them. So, our great plan of having some good background music was flattened. We had fun anyway. :) It's nice to do something a little romantic once.

Not sure where Jeff is looking, but I still like the picture. :)

These are friends, Mike and Jen:

1st day of 1st Grade

She has the backpack.

She has the clothes.

She is ready to start another year of learning. Lyndsi had been a little nervous moving onto 1st grade-probably more the fear of the unkown than anything else. One thing she was excited about was school lunch, and she convinced her dad to buy her hot lunch instead of bringing one from home. (Wahoo!)

How does she like it a week later? She LOVES it! Everyday she has told me that she loves 1ast grade way more than Kindergarten. Her favorite part-recess and lunch. Spoken like a true kid.

Mom's feelings? I love having her at school all day. That sounds a little harsh, but she loves it and will do well. She's happier there and it's nice for me to have some time with just 2 kids. Bonus: We have no more trouble getting her to go to sleep.

24th Fun

Jeff spent a good part of the day mudding and sanding our basement while the kids and I did stuff around the house. Later, though, I took Lyndsi out school shopping. She is growing up and had a lot of fun trying on things and picking out some new things for school. The best deals (and only place we bought stuff) were found at Mervyns. For dinner, we all congregated at my moms for a big family BBQ and some swimming for the kids. It was so nice to just relax and visit. Hot topics were Mexico, where the majority of the fam just returned from vacation, and the Twilight series and all the speculation. The little kids had a blast in the swimming pool and slip 'n slide. After all that we moved the party to my aunts for fireworks which the kids begged to go see. (We were going to just go home. We were tired.) We gave into their wishes and did they stop playing with cousins long enough to watch the fireworks? Not a chance. Oh well. Maybe next year. :)

Other 24th fun include:

Participating in the Days of 47' Children's Parade

Meeting Darth Vader and Storm Troopers at the family festival after the parade

And seeing the floats for free, inside, in the air-conditioning. Wahoo! Oh-and getting faces painted.