The Awesome 4th of July

We got up early and drove to Mt. Pleasant for their parade this morning. My MIL treated us to my sweetie's favorite breakfast, Groovy. We got a pretty good look at the fire damage. There were long stretches where the fire had burned right up to the road but never crossed it. I can see why my MIL was so afraid. The ground was just black!

A couple of days ago, my sweetie suggested I see if I could get the banner County Health made for the helmet safety stuff. So I made arrangements to get it. I've told you before that we always walk in the kids' parade, and this time we decided to take the helmet message with us.

Prima Donna and Drama Queen carried the banner and Princess pulled the wagon with Baby Doll and Curly. Crafty wasn't with us since she went to Girl Scout Camp on Monday. Scout, Sport, and the Dog Walker all rode their bikes and Teach and I threw Tootsie rolls even though Baby Doll was shoving them in her mouth as quickly as she could.

Baby Doll loved the Otter pops

After we walked the parade route, we joined my sweetie and the rest of the extended family for the big parade. The kids collected tons of candy and Otter pops and a couple of Frisbees. Then we went back to my MIL's house for lunch.

We had to hurry back since Teach had to be to work at 5:30. But Prima Donna and Princess had another commitment.

They had been asked to sing at the Stadium of Fire! I'll tell you all about that tomorrow.

It was SOOO hot! And I forgot my sunglasses.

Curly's got the parade wave down. See ya tomorrow.

Fathers' Day Gifts

Did you see that anonymous comment on yesterday's post? The one that thanked me for the Kindle Fire? Any guesses on who wrote that?

If you guessed my sweetie, you are right! I know, it's not quite Fathers' Day, but he is headed out on a business trip and a new toy might just make the whole thing a little easier. I actually bought the Kindle Fire back in May and stashed it under my side of the bed. I don't usually spend that much, but I had a bunch of credits at Staples, so I only had to plunk down $70 and I even got a $15 gift card with it!

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I was so excited about my purchase (if you remember, I'm a terrible secret keeper) I had to tell someone. So I picked Teach. Next to me, she is the second worst secret keeper in the family. It was less than 24 hours before she asked my sweetie if he would like to have a Kindle Fire. And then when his answer was pretty negative, she naturally passed that information on to me.

I was crushed!

I thought about taking it back to the store, but I had gotten such a good deal on it and I didn't know how they would deal with the credits, so I wrapped it in a grocery bag and stashed it under the bed. And it sat there for the last 5 weeks. This morning I pulled it out and wrapped it up. Then after dinner when he was worrying about what he might do for hours alone in a motel room, I presented it to him.

The kids immediately pounced on it, so I couldn't tell if he liked it or not. I gave him a regular Kindle reader for Christmas a few years ago and even though he had casually mentioned he might like one and I thought I had a winner, he never used it. Oh, he might take it to church on Sundays, but the scriptures were about the only thing on it. A paper copy would have been much cheaper!


I manage to score about every five years or so between birthdays, Christmas, and Fathers' Day.  He is always gracious and thankful, but if the gift lays on his desk, or worse yet, still in the gift bag for several weeks or even months, I know I missed the mark.

I seem to have the same problem with my dad. I don't know, maybe it's just me...

How about you? Are you the perfect gift-giver?

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

I know, I know, Cinco de Mayo was almost two weeks ago, but I've had so many things to tell you I haven't had a chance to share my fun pics with you (and Teach is getting mad at me because I asked her to take a bunch and then I never used them).

No, I'm not Hispanic, but my SIL is, effectively making my grandsons Hispanic too. Not that it matters, we started celebrating Cinco de Mayo long before Gamer was part of our family. It began as (what else?) a scout project and ballooned from there.

We always cook Mexican food (this year it was sweet pork like Cafe Rio) and we love to bash around a pinata for a while. Gamer is in charge of the pinata. We get it much cheaper if we send him to the Mexican store. This year he brought back some fun and different Mexican candy (usually the sweetness is overpowered by the peppers, but not this time). We got caramels, suckers, marzipan, and some kind of gooey stuff that Crafty absolutely loved.

The pinata got off to a rocky start. It was shaped like a bucket and extremely heavy even though it was only half full. We let the kids whack at it in age order starting with Baby Doll. She was pretty upset about swinging at those princesses...

Then Curly made a valiant effort...and so on, up the line. The Dog Walker didn't try very hard because he said he really didn't want to break it. All the kids started chanting for the Gym Rat. They just knew with his awesome rippling biceps that he would be able to crack it open!

And he did...

He also smashed the dickens out of the candy!

Half the suckers were in powder form, the other half had lost their sticks completely. Tootsie Rolls had been knocked right out of their wrappers! I don't think the kids will hope for the Gym Rat to pick up the bat again any time soon.

My Mother's Day

Wasn't that sweet of Teach to write a post for me for Mother's Day?

I had 10 of my 12 kids around me today. After church in our own ward and then a second Sacrament meeting for my nephew's farewell, my sweetie made dinner while I took a little nap with Baby Doll. When I got up it was definitely a fiesta! We had chicken chimis and chips with queso. We also devoured a huge watermelon and raspberry lemonade with crushed ice like a smoothie. It was all delicious. Teach even made some of her famous guacamole.

When we were finished gorging ourselves, the presented me with gifts...a gift card to Olive Garden, and one for Smiths, candy bars and jewelry, a bag of watermelon-themed goodies, flowered pens and a notebook, beautiful cards and expressions of love. I have some awesome kids! Drama Queen is on a road trip with her friends (she has promised to tell you all about it when she gets home...she is in Santa Fe tonight), and she sent me a little bonsai tree from Flowers.com.  Bossy spent the day with her family, but we shared a phone call and most of the day yesterday and late Friday night. My sweetie spoiled me as always with a small TV to put back by my sewing machine and a new office chair because the Dog Walker broke mine although he swears it wasn't him...

After dinner, we all sat around and played a rousing game of Apples to Apples. Teach and I tied for first place, but I think the kids were just letting me win because it was Mother's Day. They don't realize that I've already won! Just having them here, living, laughing, and loving...that's the best gift I could ever have.

I hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day too.

Love,
Sandy

Family Portrait before Baby Doll was born...Christmas 2008.

One More Day

Visiting the Zoo

 

On Sunday night we were sitting around, playing cards and enjoying each others' company. The Gym Rat spent Easter with us and we never get to see enough of him. I started lamenting that our Spring Break was almost over. We only had Monday left when all the kids would be home and that's when my sweetie confessed that he had taken one more day off and we would all be together. So many great reasons to love this guy!

We kicked around a few ideas, including a visit to my MIL's house, but since she was busy, we finally decided to go to the zoo. Since we had a family pass, that was a cheap, fun activity for us. Some of the school districts had different days off for spring break, so we were assuming that it wouldn't be too crowded...boy were we wrong!

We had to park across the street in the overflow parking. It took us a few minutes in the ticket line and then again at the gate. People were everywhere. While I was in the ticket line, the older girls helped all the little ones with sunscreen. That was mostly a good thing except that Princess and Baby Doll both got some in their eyes. I hustled the two of them off to the restroom and we rinsed their eyes several times. It didn't help much.

We visited with the monkeys, the elephants and the rhinos. The tiger was outside sunning himself and so were the giraffes. All except for one. Did you know that a giraffe can be trained just like a dog? We happened to enter the building at just the right time to see a full-sized giraffe going through training exercises with a whistle and treats. It could step up on a board with either foot, back up and turn around. I'm not sure about rolling over and playing dead...we didn't stay that long...

The weather was perfect for animal watching and we enjoyed our day at the zoo. Then it was back to school and our regular crazy life. I'm so glad that every once in a while we can take a break and remember how much we love just spending time together. Here's to counting down the days until Memorial Day!

We weigh a TON!

Our Mini Vacation part 2

After we got out of the pool, we headed upstairs. About an hour later we all met in our room jammied and ready for bed. The kids polished off the last of the pizza and we read our scriptures and had family prayer together. It had been a long day and even though the bed was hard as a rock and totally uncomfortable, I curled up with Baby Doll and fell asleep before 11:00.

We got up early Saturday and had breakfast, cleaned the rooms, and checked out before 10:00. I didn't know how long it would take to get to Manila through the mountainous roads, so we wanted to allow plenty of time. The Tupperware party wasn't until 1:00, but I couldn't chance being late. It was a good thing we left early, because we rolled into town just before noon.

It took us about 5 minutes to see pretty much everything. We headed back to what was obviously the center of town and bought gas so we could use the restrooms, then we drove to the park. It was right next to the elementary school and across the street from the high school. It was also about half a block from the Tupperware party location.

It was a little chilly, but we tugged on jackets, and unloaded our picnic lunch. While we were eating, we noticed a group congregating  near the elementary. There were only about 12 people, but it was making my sweetie a little nervous. Then Bossy noticed the neat rows of round white laundry baskets...I guess even in Manila you can order a Bountiful Basket!

We relaxed after that and the kids enjoyed the playground. I changed my clothes in the van and then my sweetie dropped me off at the party site. My cute host was as nice in person as she was on the phone and her party was awesome! It didn't cover my expenses, but it made a pretty good dent in them. She even gave me a Scentsy warmer and a scent to go with it (that's what she sells...) as a gift for coming all that way!

The party ended about 3:00 and we hit the road shortly afterward. Rather than go back the way we came, we headed into Wyoming. The drive was quicker and we got to see different scenery. We only stopped once at a Maverik for ice cream sandwiches and gas.

We got home just before 7:00 and in time to wave to the Drama Queen as she took off for work. She and Teach treated me to a clean house and 16 dozen boiled eggs ready for dye. They even cooked supper! We spent the rest of the evening coloring eggs and getting ready for Easter.Sunday.

All in all it was an awesome weekend, full of family, fun, and fossils...and a little bit of Tupperware...

Happy Easter!

 I have been out of town for a couple of days and my awesome daughters have taken up the slack and put up a couple of fun posts for you. Teach told you all about her favorite reads and the Drama Queen wrote some hilarious predictions for all of us ten years down the line.

I wrote about so many Easter memories last year that my brain couldn't seem to extract any more. Hop back to last year and read this one about when I was a kid, or about our awesome Bunny Rolls recipe. (Teach made some tonight and we put fresh-squeezed orange juice in the frosting. So yummy!) Or maybe you want to read about when my older kids were little. Or you can watch my favorite Easter video.

We had our annual family Easter Egg Hunt on Wednesday, so I will leave you with some pics to brighten your Easter morn. Stop back tomorrow for a rundown of our weekend getaway to Dinosaurland. It was awesome!

The Anticipation!

Gather round!

Ping Pong

Did I tell you we got a ping pong table for Christmas? My sweetie loves game tables and over the years we have had quite a few of them including air hockey, pool, and skeeball. Most of these have eventually gone the way of the big dumpster after the kids have played them to death. (Actually it's not that simple. First they have to get broken, but not badly enough that my sweetie will let me throw them directly into the trash. Then they sit in the garage for several years waiting to be fixed first...)

But I digress.

A goofy pic of me and Gamer. Nothing to do with ping pong.

We set up our new ping pong table downstairs in the family room. Thankfully, this one folds up so we don't have to dedicate that much space to it all the time. We had our very first tournament on Christmas Day and the kids were shocked that I am actually pretty good at ping pong.

What they didn't know was that I had played hundreds of games of it as a child. My parents didn't have the funds or the space for a real ping pong table, but we had an awesome kitchen table! It was oval shaped and the chairs were attached to it. They did not have legs that sat on the floor. (I looked and looked through Google Images to find a picture of the table that is still in my dad's house, but apparently it was a Utah thing and they just don't exist anymore.) We had a little detachable net and a couple of paddles and we spent hours playing ping pong in our kitchen.

It was a little trickier than our official ping pong table. It wasn't quite as wide and of course we didn't have lines on it (although we did put them on a few times with masking tape, but Mom didn't like it). The biggest difference was the rounded corners. Balls that would have been perfectly legal on our real table just ended up on the floor in the kitchen.

Point being, I learned to play a really tight game right down the middle. The kids were all annoyed that I won the tournament, but I reminded them that I was playing with a huge disadvantage...We didn't have the chairs that couldn't be removed (like our old kitchen table) to trip over.

Pi Day

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Do you know that today is a holiday? It sure is...it's Pi Day! That's because "pi" is numerically 3.14 and that is the same as March 14. Now you all know that I don't love math, but I do love a good reason to eat a nice piece of pie. There's only one problem.

Do you remember the Drama Queen's guest post last week? She mentioned that we are trying something crazy around here. On President's Day, I offered the kids $10 each if they could go without sugared treats for 5 weeks. Most of them grumbled and said it wasn't worth it, but they jumped on the bandwagon anyway. Currently on the challenge are my sweetie and me (we had to set a good example!), Drama Queen, Teach, Dog Walker, Princess, Prima Donna, and Sport. (Crafty has been on and off...today she is on.)

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The first few days were the hardest. We were all a bit surprised how often we are offered yummy treats and we just eat them without thinking. Our idea was to raise awareness so the kids could make better choices, and this was a good time for us because there were no holidays or birthdays or so we thought. We totally forgot about pi day!

This tradition began about five or six years ago. Usually Teach brings us a couple of cream pies from the Village Inn and we split up and have at it. Not this year. The sweet and yummy will have to wait.

Yesterday when the kids were lamenting their loss, Drama Queen offered to make a different kind of pie. This year we will be celebrating with homemade pizza! Happy Pi Day!

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Ground Hog Day

Yesterday was Ground Hog Day. We have had such beautiful weather here in Utah, I was just sure that winter must be over. Then I opened the door and I was greeted with this scene.

And I heard on the news that the Groundhog saw his shadow so I guess we get six more weeks of winter.

I had really intended to give you another Food for Thought today. Princess made some delicious Snickerdoodles for us and the Dog Walker swears he took pictures, but no one can find them. Dang. I guess that means we'll have to make more cookies...I hate it when that happens.

After Grandpa read stories to Curly and Baby Doll, he went to the store with the Drama Queen to grab some milk and he couldn't resist the pleading of Curly and they brought home Tootsie Rolls and donut holes. That prompted some amazing creativity from Crafty. Besides the obvious, she also used Kix cereal and little pieces of banana and cookie decorations. I told her she is going to have to teach us all how to make such cute edibles. At least we won't be bored (or hungry) during our six more weeks of winter. 

***The Dog Walker figured Baby Doll needed some different teeth if she planned to eat Crafty's people...