August Birthday Party

Last Sunday we celebrate 4 birthdays in our family, my sweetie, Little Warrior, Drama Queen, and Curly. My sweetie and Curly started the party by dressing up exactly the same right down to their shoes!

Drama Queen made her famous Lasagna and we ate outside since my fridge is and has been broken for over a week now. The repair guy has been here 3 times now and he promises us that Tuesday will be the time. I sure hope he is right!

I'll just leave you with some cute pics now. I love the one with The Beast on the trampoline and Little Warrior just dying to get up there.

And then there is the one with Tadpole and Skittles on the swing...

Which one do you like the best?

Happy birthday, everyone!!

Boating with Bob

I know home teaching is no longer a thing in our church, but our neighbor, Bob, has been our home teacher and now ministering brother for the last 25 years. The kids love him and he is constantly looking for ways to make them happy.

Yesterday, he took a bunch of us boating on Utah Lake. Last year was the first time I had been out boating with them even though he has taken them out about once a year for the last decade, starting with Dog Walker and his desire to earn all of the Merit Badges. Last year our trip was sort of a disaster when the rope was caught around the motor and Bob nearly froze to death trying to get it off so we could make our way back to the docks. This time we were much more careful and Bob had a new tube that could accommodate up to 3 riders, so that gave us much more time on the water.

Utah Lake is not a very clean lake and we had to get out in the middle of it; away from the algae. Once we were there, Bob let some of the kids out to swim while he inflated the tube. When we finally got it in the water, Curly, Baby Doll, and Scout could hardly wait to get on. Bob, Dog Walker, Sport, Twizlet and I all stayed on the boat and watched them completely enjoy this ride! It might have been better than any of the rides we experienced in Disneyland a couple of weeks ago...

When they were finished, there was some discussion of Dog Walker taking Twizlet next until I spoke up and offered to take her. I had never been on a tube before.

Twizlet and I had a great time!

All too soon it was time to clean up and head back to the docks.

Thanks, Bob, for your long and incredible dedication to our family! We love you!

Reflect on Reflections - Film Video 2011 by Prima Donna

After we watched this video, Baby Doll and Curly were complaining that they didn't remember ever seeing the Princess and The Frog, so we decided that it was really something we should do.

After the movie was over, Baby Doll said to me, "That Reflections video Prima Donna made makes a lot more sense!"

Girl Scout Awards Picnic 2019

On Friday night we had our Girl Scout Awards Picnic and honestly, I have been stressing about this one since I seem to have so many other things going on. Thank goodness Drama Queen offered to help. She put herself in charge of the decorations, the Bridging Ceremony, and the gifts for our outgoing seniors.

That put me in charge of awards and food. We decided to do the pulled pork sandwiches again since they are very popular and easy to make. Scout also made Brownies for us and I bought chips. Each family brought a salad to share and that made our food run pretty smoothly.

After everyone was finished eating, we brought up each girl for her awards. I had my older girls all help with the announcing and they though it would be fun to do a receiving line, so that was different. Only problem is that it left us without a photographer. In fact, I took a few pics at the beginning and then I promptly forgot about them.

Drama Queen's Bridging Ceremony was so cute! She made big circles out of paper and taped them to the side walk. They were beautiful colors and they each had a word of a famous saying on them. The girls loved hopping across so they could be with the entire troop waiting on the other side.

Lastly, we did our friendship circle. It was hard knowing we were losing 3 of our oldest girls and 3 of our younger girls who had already moved over the summer. I've struggled with the change, but I finally have my new troop together and ready to go so we will be starting up again in October. The entire troop is younger and I'm excited about that.

Getting Ready to Sell

I can't remember if I told you that Beauty and The Beast are getting ready to sell their home in Herriman. They are trying to find something smaller and closer to work so they can spend less time commuting and more time with their boys. Anyway, we have spent a fair amount of time helping them get things all spiffed up and ready for the housing market.

My favorite job was working inside and watching babies while the guys all worked on the yard. So after feeding and changing Little Squire, he looked so cute that first I snapped his pic.

Then I decided I wanted to be in the picture as well, so I did my best attempt at a selfie.

After a couple of tries, Franco saw us lying on the floor and I'm sure you can guess what happened next...

Enough excitement for one day, Franco?

Tonight we have both dogs here with us since they are planning to show the house multiple times over the weekend. I'm starting to think it is much easier watching the baby!

First Day of School 2019

My numbers for kids starting school are dwindling...

I didn't manage to get a pic of Sport for you. Now that he can drive to school, he comes and goes on his own without any prompting, which is nice, and you did see pics of his Eagle Project a few days ago. He is in the 11th grade this year and since he did all of those summer college classes, he is already in the swing of things and has quickly immersed himself in the homework.

Scout is an 8th grader this year and it is pretty obvious that she was not all that excited about the first day of school. Her best friend moved away during the summer and she was a bit nervous about having to start making new ones, but it all worked out and she came home with a good first day.

Curly is in the 6th grade and he is excited to try all of the things he has watched his brothers and sisters do. One thing he won't be doing is the 6th grade dance. It sounds like the school district has decided that particular activity just won't work here. Not sure what that means, but Curly is pretty disappointed.

Baby Doll is now in the 3rd grade and although she was nervous, her first day turned out great! She is really liking her new teacher and even though she lost 2 of her best friends to other schools, she is quickly making new ones. I think we are all in for a great year!

Happy Birthday, Little Warrior!

Our Cute Little Warrior turned 2 on Saturday and since he was here Friday night, we just let him open all of his presents. He had a cute little party on Saturday with his cousins and some of his younger aunts and uncle. I stayed here at the house to watch Little Squire while they enjoyed a bounce house/trampoline place. Scout promised to blog about it for us later in the week.

Little Warrior's parents have been downsizing since they are planning to put their house on the market later this week. They are so tired of the long commute to work every day and never getting to see their boys.

After Little Warrior was finished unwrapping his gifts, with a little prompting from his mom, he gave each of us a big hug. I just wish we would have had spontaneous cake and ice cream and the birthday would have been perfect.

Look at Crafty!

Crafty has been busy working, buying clothes, and learning Tagolog as she prepares for his mission to the Philippines. Then last week at church she started talking about cutting her hair before her mission and together we decided that it would be wonderful if she could donate it somewhere.

After a little research, she decided that Children With Hair Loss would be her choice. I wanted her to have someone cut her hair who really cared about her, not just about the donation, so Aunt Julie was my first thought. She has her own little salon in her home and when I gave her a call, she was happy to help us out.

We arranged to go on Saturday night after Crafty got home from work. She was nervous; after all, she didn't remember ever having a major haircut and her hair was past her waist. As a ballerina, having a nice thick bun was important to her, but now as she prepared herself for a tropical climate, she didn't want the weight of it on her back or the hassle of taking care of it.

Aunt Julie put Crafty right at ease and though I was expecting tears, I never saw her shed one. When they were finished, I couldn't imagine her being more beautiful. She truly has the light of Christ about her already. I'm sure that will only burn more brightly as we get closer and closer to the time she leaves us and starts on her new adventure.

And sweet Aunt Julie wouldn't take a dime for her services, commenting only that it was her gift of support for Crafty's mission. We are so blessed to have such good people around us.

Curly Finally Turned 11

One of Curly's favorite games to play with strangers is "How old do you think I am?" They invariably will guess 12 or sometime even 13. That was way more excited when he was only 10. On Monday, he turned 11 and he immediately began working on his first merit badge, Swimming.

On Monday night we only had a little family party since we have a big one once a month now. He was excited to light his own candles and open all of his awesome gifts.

It was a good day.

Becoming an Eagle Scout

We did something awesome today! Sport finished up his Eagle Scout project paperwork and we delivered the quilts to Primary Children's Medical Center. Just for good measure, we took the extra quilt that my Girl Scout troop made too so instead of donating 8 quilts like his project required, we donated 9.

It was a long process. Sport was working so hard with his summer school college classes that I had to do all of the bindings which isn't a big deal, just one more thing to worry about.

It never bothered me to walk around with someone in a scout uniform since that was such a common occurrence with the Dog Walker, but Sport felt a little self-conscious about it. After we dropped off the quilts, he had to turn in his paperwork at the County Offices so he can be a Flag Football referee. Rather than change, he left his shirt and sash on. He was quite surprised when we were barely in the door and some ladies hailed him down and were so impressed with the number of badges on his sash.

After we returned to the car, he pulled it off and tossed it in the back seat. He told me he was too hot, but I think maybe he just doesn't really like being the center of attention nearly as much as the Dog Walker did.

All that said, the main project part is done and other than one more merit badge he needs to finish and a little more paperwork including the application, I will have one more Eagle Scout in my little nest.

Now if I could just get Crafty to finish her Gold Award...

Cookout at the Power Plant Park

My sweetie was worried that it had been a while since he had visited his mom with our vacation and all, so on Sunday after church, we threw a few things in the van and headed for Sanpete County. My sweetie has been taking care of her yard as much as he can long distance. He just wanted to move the water around some, so we all got to visit with Grandma while he was outside.

 

 When it was time to go, we piled back into the van and headed for the Power Plant Park in Mt. Pleasant. Sunday was the day for our Big FHE, but when we left for Sanpete, the only person I thought might show up besides the 8 people living in my house was the Dog Walker. But by the time we were at Point of the Mountain, Bossy had called to say that their family was also planning to join us.

When we got to the Power Plant Park, we found a table with a large grill and my sweetie got to work on the hot dogs. It was a simple meal; hot dogs, chips, and s'mores. The Dog Walker also brought a couple of pies for us to share. He has become quite the pie maker.

The kids went off exploring while we were getting ready for dinner and by the time they got back it was almost time for s'mores! But everyone got full and other than the flies, we had a pleasant evening under the trees.

We even managed to get home fairly early so Crafty and Bossy could get to work on time Monday morning.

Vacation 2019 - Driving Home

We left California on Friday morning about 9:00. My sweetie wanted to get out of town before we had to worry too much about traffic. At that point, I just wanted to get home! There is always so much to do after a vacation and as you can see, it is Monday night late and I am just getting around to telling you about Saturday and that is because my desk has been piled high, my laundry is ridiculous, I have a whole tree full of ripe apricots, it was Drama Queen's birthday on Saturday and now today was Curly's. The fun never ends!

Apparently, I didn't take any pictures on Friday, so I hope Princess doesn't mind that I'm using some of hers from the trip.

Our drive home was mostly uneventful. We stopped at various places for gas, one notable one was Eddie's World. It was supposed to have all different types of candy and my sweetie is always looking for that one piece of licorice he remembers as a child that he can never find.

Anyway, instead of letting the kids each pick a bag of candy, we let them buy one last treat... a stuffed animal. Even Sport got on board when he found a small stuffed stingray that would definitely remind him of  the trip.

Aren't my little grandsons cute?!

We drove down the Vegas strip looking at the hotels and watching for the amazing fountain. It was light outside, but there were still things I didn't really want my kids to see, so after we passed, the dancing water at the Bellagio, we left. We stopped again for dinner at a Denney's in Beaver. Then we only had one more stop for gas in Nephi.

We were way more excited than Pollywog to finally find our beds!

Our vehicle was the last one of the three to get home and when I looked at my watch it was 1:26 AM. We just locked up the car and left everything until morning. Curly had to be at the park for weigh-ins at 6:45 AM... but we made it!

Vacation 2019 - Last Day of Disneyland

We have had so much fun on this vacation! We wanted to start the week with Disneyland and end the week (and the vacation) with it as well. I know I'm a bit behind, so I will remind you that this was on Thursday, so we hit those amusement parks on 4 straight days! My feet hurt so bad...nearly 20,000 steps each day was way more than I am used to.

Dog Walker and Puppy Lover loved the Mascots!

We had planned to get up early for our "Magical Morning," but Princess's family and Crafty were the only ones who managed to get there the hour before the park officially opened. We needed a little more sleep... but by the time we got back to Disneyland, we felt like pros and we knew just where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do, and that made it easy.

Baby Doll and I wanted to do the Alice in Wonderland and the Peter Pan rides.

Curly was so excited for Autopia and the Finding Nemo rides.

My sweetie wanted to do the Casey Jr. ride (he just thought it would be so funny to see the 2 youngest kids in a cage...) and the Pirate Ship.

Casey Jr. served great food!

The older kids were all about Space Mountain. Even my sweetie loves this ride, but after I got on it for the very first time a decade ago, I knew it would be the last. I already suffer from motion sickness and that one was the worst. He also wanted to do the Railroad (I can't remember it's exact name.)

All of us wanted to try the Indiana Jones ride although I have to say that it is just like the movie, crazy all the time.

The Frog wanted everyone to try the Dole Pineapple Whip and the Tiki Room. Everyone loved the ice cream and they even claimed to love the silly mechanical birds.

 

Our last real stop was Toon Town. The kids loved the silliness of it all. Tadpole wanted to play the piano just like his dad. My favorite part was when he reached up to turn the molded pages and when they wouldn't turn the first time, he kept on trying.

My van felt sort of like this pretty much all week!

One last stop at Small World and Buzz Lightyear and we headed back to the hotel. My sweetie promised an early start time, but I could sure use some sleep!