What a day!

We were some busy campers today! We did a ton of yard work, went to the grocery store and Costco. Scott had gotten up at 6 to get a door from his brother who lives an hour away. So this evening we decided to treat ourselves to a picnic in our backyard! After dinner we had ice cream cones.

Then the kids were playing on the swings. Maggie has been swinging on her tummy lately. Well she has been getting more and more brave on how high she gets on her tummy. Tonight she found a new game!

It was HILARIOUS! She would get back on and do it again and again. Busy day - but very rewarding!

It is also my little brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Jared!!!! I love you!!!!!

Independence is Scary

Do I really need to say anything more??????

You should be able to click on the picture to get a better look at the combination!!!!

Outside...

My kids absolutely LOVE being outside! I love it too!

It's also gettin' in the garden time! I love that there are so many beautiful plants and flowers out. Now - I am NOT an annual plant planter. I am all about the perennial. Plant it once and have it come back for years! We have been in our home now for 3 1/2 years. We have been working on this perennial thing. Let me show you some of the beautiful flowers in our Outside!!!








Aren't they just gorgeous??!!! Love them!!!

Now some things that AREN'T gorgeous! I have a dream of getting a greenhouse, growing all my own plants from seed and maybe even bringing in some income by doing this! The problem... I suck at it! I grew tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini this year. Weeeeeeeeelllll.... Let's take a look.

Here is a tomato...



Here is another tomato...



Which one do you think that I grew??? Aaaaaaand... which one came from Joe's Greenhouse???

Now... Here are 2 pepper plants...


Yes... the one on the left IS in fact a pepper plant.

I think I need to get a job next year in a greenhouse!!! But I still love being outside!!

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day everyone!! We had a really great day! We had friends over this evening for really great Garlic Marinated Steaks, this totally cool looking cake, garlic bread, watermelon, chips, pumpkin roll, broccoli salad! It was really fun! Our kitchen/eating area really isn't big enough to entertain in - but it was still fun! Unfortunately it rained most of the day.

Earlier in the day I taped off most of Maggie's stripes and then ran out of tape. Lowe's was closed today so I decided to paint what I had taped... Here is what it looks like so far! I am SO very excited for her room!!!

We are changing what we are doing in Dallin's room now too. But I will get into that when we get there...

Today while I was cutting up the watermelon, Syd decided to finish off my rinds...

What a doll!

Dallin gets a little excited when friends are over to eat, so before bed he had bread and watermelon for a snack. He has been obsessed with sunglasses today. Scott said, Do we have a mini-Bono here? So I had to take a photo...

And this is a picture of my very first cell phone when I got to Utah. I got made fun of pretty bad about it tonight...

Anyway - we had a really fun day with friends, food and paint!!!

Pica Disorder

Many of you know that our daughter eats an interesting array of things. Mostly, dirt, mud, rocks, chalk, sand... I have a friend who has a son who has this Pica Disorder. So I started looking into it... It's very interesting..

Many young children put nonfood items in their mouths at one time or another. They're naturally curious about their environment, and they may, for instance, eat some dirt out of the sandbox. Kids with pica, however, go beyond this innocent exploration of their surroundings.

As many as 25% to 30% of kids (and 20% of those seen in mental health clinics) have an eating disorder called pica, which is characterized by persistent and compulsive cravings (lasting 1 month or longer) to eat nonfood items.

About Pica

The word pica comes from the Latin word for magpie, a bird known for its large and indiscriminate appetite.

Pica is most common in people with developmental disabilities, including autism and mental retardation, and in children between the ages of 2 and 3. Although kids younger than 18 to 24 months can try to eat nonfood items, it isn't necessarily considered abnormal at that age.Pica is also a behavior that may surface in children who've had a brain injury affecting their development. It can also be a problem for some pregnant women, as well as people with epilepsy. People with pica frequently crave and consume nonfood items such as:

dirt, clay, paint chips, plaster, chalk, cornstarch, laundry starch, baking soda, coffee grounds, cigarette ashes, cigarette butts, ice, glue, hair, buttons, paper, sand, toothpaste, soap

I think that this might be what Maggie's issues are. I will talk to her pediatrician at her 2 year appointment... I just think it's also interesting that the name of the disorder is named after the bird Magpie. We have Magpies here - they are awful. But it is also one of Maggie's many nicknames... Just an interesting little point. So hopefully we will have some answers to why our little Magpie eats so many odd things...

Pools and Butt Cheeks

We have been having incredibly hot weather here. Yesterday after Karate we went to a few stores to shop around for a little pool. I am still a little leery of taking my kids to a public pool after last years sickness that went through too many people because of bacteria in public pools. So we bought a little one with a slide and basketball hoop. After quiet time we got in swimsuits and had Sam and Grace come over for some play time. It was loads of fun!

I just want to know when it turned not cute for MY butt cheek to be hanging out anymore!!!

I think ice cream time was the biggest hit...

Maggie and Grace were more interested in toys and lemonade than in the pool. But that's ok.



We are hopefully going to have a really great summer!

Painting Maggie's Room

Since I just can't leave well enough alone, I have started some new projects. I am taking on painting Maggie and Dallin's rooms. Today Lynnette had a free day to help me, Scott took the day off to watch the kids and get ready for his insane 100 mile bike ride tomorrow and so we painted....

Here is what we started with...

Here is what it looked like after the 1st coat. I hate how it looks after the 1st coat.

Here is the semi-final product.

We are putting Lemon Twist on top. Sassy Lilac on the bottom. And in a week I am going to paint skinny Grapolicious stripes on the bottom with Sassy Lilac being the fat stripes!!! And then a white chair rail covering the middle. I will let you know how it looks and if I was talented enough to get the stripes straight.

Bridal Shop - STEVE MAY NOT ENTER!!!!!

So my baby sister is getting married. Yesterday after the fire house field trip we went and picked her and Chelsey up to get Lynnette's dress fitted. HOLY COW! My sister is so beautiful. STEVE IS NOT ALLOWED TO LOOK AT THIS POST!!!!!!

NO - my sister is not just holding her bum because she likes it!! This is the bustle they decided on for the dress. It is called a victorian bustle.

What a beautiful bride she is going to make!!!!!

Visit to the Fire House

We took the Joy School kids to the Fire House for their last class. It was SO much fun!! We started out in the kitchen/tv room. They had lots of comfy looking easy chairs. The firemen were so very nice to the kids! They put up with all of their insane little questions. Dallin of course had his laced with Star Wars, Jedis and Light Sabers!!! They explained that it is called a fire house because they live their for 48 hours at a time. They have their own bedrooms and everything.

We had the kids have buddies. Dallin and Rylan held hands almost the whole time. It was so cute!

And Connor got to be the lucky one to hold on to Lexi's hand! Remember she is our lone girl and her attention is very much coveted by most of the boys in the class!!

Here they are talking about what to do if there is a fire in your house. They asked if their families have escape plans in case of a fire. All of us moms got a little squeamish. "Uh - not really!!" They told them that they need to not hide but get down. They practiced getting down.

Then we went out to look at the ambulance.

After that they met a fireman wearing what he would be wearing coming into their house to find them. I thought this was REALLY good - because the kids were a little afraid at first. But they explained that the kids want to run to someone who looks like this. Not hide from them.

This is the fireman showing the kids that he has a key to their house.

I don't think they understood.

It really was such a fun field trip. Hopefully they learned something from it too!