No Pity necessary

So I ran into an acquaintance from Logan the other day and we had the typical small chat conversation....

"So, how are you? Where do you live? Are you working? And then the one that stops them dead in their tracks every time. Actually it's not the question but the response....

"So how many kids do you have?" And when I respond happily with "three girls" their face goes kind of numb. Not sure whether to smile, frown or gasp. Well most of them anyway. This one just put it all out there. "Oh, I am SO sorry." Pity oozed from her.

Now seriously folks. Really. No pity necessary. I LOVE having girls. I have friends for life , a plethora of shopping partners and I get to buy boat loads of pink girly things. Now, in a few years when I have three teenage girls THEN you can pity me. But now, it's really not necessary.

Back to school

Hard to believe that just THREE short weeks ago we celebrated Hallee's graduation from Kindergarten...and said goodbye to Mrs. Titus.....

And now, here we are saying HELLO to 1st Grade. Yep. We are back in school.
Three weeks ago we woke up casually, ate breakfast, did the bathtub thing, completed our chores, worked on homework (some simple sight words and etc.) and then had lunch before we said goodbye to Hallee for a few short hours.
Now it's up early, hair done, a healthy breakfast, check the lunch menu to see if we will be packing a lunch, fill up the water bottle and decide on a "sneak-a-snack" (1st graders don't eat lunch until 1pm so they have you send a healthy snack and water bottle each day to help them get through the morning). Then I send my six year old off to school for SEVEN hours!!!! This now means that her teacher and peers at school will spend more time with my daughter than we will. Then it's home from school, work on the homework aka preparing for the weekly spelling tests she will now be taking, read our 15 minutes a day, have dinner, shower and then to bed.

I am quite certain that 1st grade has been a bigger adjustment for ME than for her. In fact, she is thrilled about it. I, on the other hand am just starting to realize how much I took her for granted. She was a huge help around the house, Hope's best friend, and Caymbree's second mom.

Yep Caymbree. I think we are all feeling a little like this right now.
Good luck Hallee. We love you tons and miss you like crazy while you are at school. We hope you make great friends, learn tons and become a leader amongst your peers.

Thank you, master blogger dude

Ingenious I tell ya. That's what it is. The master blogger dude has come up with a new page element that will not only show you when someone posted last but organize them accordingly. Thus eliminating the wasted minutes (or hours) checking each blog for updates. How great is that. "He" (the master blogger dude) must have sensed the jealous husbands all across the world who seem to feel neglected by the hours of blog reading being done by their spouses. Troy will be amongst the first to say THANK YOU!

And on a side note, if your blog is password protected you will notice that it does not work. It's okay. I understand completely.

A child's Prayer

Hope's prayer last night went as follows;

Dear Hevenly Fader,

Tank you for dis day.
Help me to not go to time-out, because I REALLY don't like time-out.
So I need to lisen to my mommy and daddy so that I don't have to go to time-out.
In da name of Jesus Christ
Amen.

We're getting older. We have a boat load of kids between us. A few of us even have some gray hair (okay just me but that's a whole other story). But Monday night we proved we were still young at heart by staying up until 4:30 in the morning, walking to Maverick at 1:30am, eating massive amounts of junk food without worrying about which body part it was going to permanently attach to and laughing so hard our cheeks hurt (and as far as I know we still all managed a little bladder control).

Thank you for a wonderful, fun-filled getaway. Till next time.....

Oh, what do you do in the summertime....

The month of July could be summed up in one word for us.... REUNIONS!!!! We started off the month with my family reunion and soon thereafter did back to back reunion-type occasions with Troy's side of the family.

Troy's sister and family came to visit from Tennessee and we have had a fabulous time with them. It has been almost four years since we saw them last so there was a lot of catching up to do. Cynda (Troy's mom) and Brad flew in from Arizona for a few days so we could have a fun family barbecue in our backyard and a dinner at the Mayan.

Troys sister Tara, Troy, his grandpa Bert and mom Cynda.

Then we gathered up our stuff and headed to Bear Lake for a few days to spend some time with Troy's dad's side of the family. It was fun to see his aunt and uncle and cousins from California who that we haven't seen for quite a few years. Tara put together an amazing tribute to her grandfather who built a cabin at Bear Lake as a gathering place for generations to come.

Hallee Moment

Yesterday Hallee and I were getting ready when she flexed her muscles, looked in the mirror, and said, "Whoa, I have some big muscles."

Wondering whether or not I should burst her bubble or play along I smiled and just as I started to speak she interrupted....

"Ah, Man. That's just my shoulder isn't it? "

Hope Moments

A while back we were driving in the car when Hope asked
Hope: "Mom, are we made of meat?"
Me: "No."
H: "Yes we are."
Me: Hmmmmm. Where am I going to go with this one?
"Well, meat implies that something would eat us. We don't really need to worry about that so I don't think we are meat." At this point I am wondering what in the world sparked this conversation.
H: "Well, how come the lady at the zoo said we were meat then?"
Ahhhh....now it's starting to all make sense.

Apparently my answer was not sufficient because a few nights later the conversation came up again. This time she took it up with her dad.

Hope: "Dad, are we made of meat?"
Troy, remembering the conversation I had told him about with Hope decided to take a different approach.
Troy: "No Hope. Heavenly Father created us from the dust and dirt of the earth.
Hope just starred at him dazed and confused. So Troy continued....
T: Heavenly Father took all of the elements of the earth and created man and woman.

At this point we thought Hope was content with the answer because she didn't say anything else for a minute. Then out of no where she said...

"So dad, are we really made out of elephants???? "

Troy didn't catch on until he started to repeat himself. "Hope, God took all the elements".... And then it hit both of us. And we couldn't stop laughing....l

Cabin Fun

I think we look forward to this week almost more than Christmas itself. It's a tradition that's been around since before I was even born. It's hard to explain. To some it even sounds crazy. But a week up at our cabin in Logan Canyon with all of my cousins is truly one of those things I hope we never stop doing.

This year was a little unique and has been lovingly labeled as the year of the "FIERCE" FLU EPIDEMIC. Camp was invaded by a yucky and super contagious flu bug that took out 3/4th of the population throughout the week. It seemed like every day someone else would bite the dust. Even my poor grandparents got it. Everyone recovered and we didn't let it affect the our fun.

People often ask what we do in the canyon for a week and the answer is quite simple. NOTHING. Now, how many vacations can you say that. We sit around, do a whole lot of gabbing, play games and we scrapbook. The guys fish, go four wheeling, and always manage to get in a golf game here and there. Oh, ya....WE EAT. And I'm pretty sure we never stop. And then we watch our kids recreate the memories that we (as cousins) had growing up. Things like putting on little performances, collecting snails, going for hikes, playing on the swings, and etc. The only thing that was missing this year is hearing my Grandma Smith sing "Oh, what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day..." at the top of her lungs each and every morning.

I'm so grateful to have a time and place that we can go create such wonderful memories with my family each and every year. I cherish the fact that I still have a great relationship with my cousins and we still can get together as friends. I think I took this for granted until I got older and realized how rare it is to stay this close and do as many things together as we still do. I'm grateful for my grandparents who have established such fun traditions and opportunities that allow us to still get together. SO, Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Caymbree's birthday up at our cabin and what 1st year birthday would be complete without your very own cake. Caymbree didn't hesitate to dig right into her cute little
puppy cake and loved every bite.




She had plenty of helpers eating it!

Happy Birthday Caymbree!

Enjoy the show

While I have been busy getting caught up on my blog, Hope has been in the background keeping herself entertained. I couldn't resist grabbing the camera so YOU too could enjoy the show.

(Pause my music on my playlist first)

AGENDA

Hallee's new word of the week is AGENDA. I've heard it countless times, in a variety of ways. Here's just a few....
"So what's the agenda today Mom?"
"Wow, we had a big agenda today didn't we?"
" Why don't we have anything on our agenda?"
and my personal favorite...
"Mom! Why do we always have to be on YOUR agenda?"


Gotta love it. But she is right about one thing. We have had lots on our agenda lately despite the fact that she is STILL in school (year round- gotta love it).


The girls had their summer dance concert a few weeks ago and they did absolutely FABULOUS! Troy and I were beaming with pride!

Last week we had our "cousins" (what do you call my cousins kids?) down for a a sleepover. We went to the splash park, played in the back yard, saw Kung Fo Panda, and did a little shopping. We had a lot of fun and watching Hallee and Olivia play together warms my heart. They are such sweet little friends and are alike in every way. Olivia had only been gone less than an hour when Hallee's eyes filled with tears because "she already missed livi."

Thanks for coming down guys! We had sooooooooo much fun!

Saturday night we met up with my family to see the production of 1856 at the Capital Theatre. The show was pretty weak but it is always fun to see my family and we got a good laugh out of it anyway.

Sunday was the big BBQ. Troy's work has a tradition of doing a going away party when someone leaves or gets promoted and Troy felt like it was our turn to host it this time. So on Sunday we hosted 36 guests in our backyard. It actually was a lot of fun but a LOT of work to get it all ready. We even played a little trampoline dodge ball for Troy's co-workers.

And there ya have it. So what's on YOUR agenda for the week?

HELP NEEDED

Alright I know the blog world has come to a screeching halt with summer here but I need some help. Even from those of you who never leave a comment, I'm asking (politely) for your input. In July we have a few vacations which means I might actually have time to read a book or two again. Problem is, I don't want to waste my time on a mediocre book. I just finished The Host and despite some negative reviews I absolutely loved it and was quite intrigued with the story line. But now I need some recommendations. Any ideas?? Come on, I know your out there - just tell me your top favorites of all time. And I will even thank you in advance.

Oh NO!

Oh YES. It's happening. Caymbree has developed quite a talent for making messes. Things like dumping a bag of crackers on her head, writing all over her face with marker, emptying out an entire box of tissues, and dumping out over 1,000 beads all over the floor. Oh ya, and the last three all happened before 10 o'clock this morning. Lovely.

Looks Who's Walking!

Okay, try not to get a neck cramp while watching our cute little Caymbree cruise on her own. I forgot that I can't rotate the image when I take video on my regular camera but you'll still get the idea.

She started walking about a week ago but it seemed as if she didn't want anyone to notice. Every time we would acknowledge it she would sit on her bum as fast as she could. Finally last Thursday she took off and hasn't stopped since. I have to say I'm happy we are on to this next milestone. I'm not big on the whole crawling thing. They always seem filthy, it's hard on the clothes and walking just seems a lot easier.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day Troy! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

And Happy Fathers Day to my DAD! Thanks for setting the bar so high and being the example of an amazing father! Thanks to Tom for teaching Troy everything he knows. Love ya tons!

Mother of the year

If THIS doesn't get me the "Mother of the Year" award than I don't know what will. Yesterday we attempted for the SECOND time to go get a sneak peak of the High School Musical 3 filming. The first attempt occurred thanks to an inside tip of where "Gabriellas" house was. After loading up the kids and driving 30 minutes and waiting around for an hour we found out that the only cast member that would be there was "Gabriella" and all taping would be done inside the house. This came AFTER the news from another family that the day before all the cast members had been there playing catch on the front yard (literally 15 feet away from us) and Zac Efron (aka Troy) even came across and shook all the little girls hands. BIG LET DOWN!!!!!

We made friends with one of the security guards who felt bad that our girls wouldn't get to see anything. So, he gave us the inside scoop. HSM would be filming in front of East High School on June 11th and we could come watch then. He was so nice and even gave me his cell number so we could call and verify what time they would be there.

SECOND ATTEMPT. The big day arrives and it looks like a huge storm is about to break any minute. With our luck we would load all the kids up, drive the 30 minutes and they would cancel the whole thing anyway. After an hour of decision making we decided to head up and of course once we got there they had moved inside. LOVELY!

Once again we made friends with the security guards (Who knew they were so nice?) They told us not to leave and they would keep us posted. As luck would have it - they ended up coming back outside to film. When "Troy, Gabriella, Chad, and Taylor" walked out of the school and waved to our girls we knew our mission had been accomplished. It was freezing cold and once they started filming it was hard to see a whole lot but it was a fun memory anyway.

Ya get what you pay for

I mean what did I expect??? I guess when the babysitter comes dressed like this.....

I should not be surprised that the end result would look like this....

I guess it's a small price to pay for a few minutes of quiet so I could get some work done. Thanks for babysitting Hope!

Ahhhhhhh......

Just got back from my "Day at the Spa" that my fabulous, amazing, spectacular husband gave me for Mothers Day. Life is good.

We've Arrived!

No more SHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! No more avoiding phone calls and doorbells during certain hours. No more of being intently ignored. HAL-LE-LU-IA!!!!!!! Can you hear the angels singing?

Fate brought me home just in time to hear my "T.V. is such a waste of time" hubby on a very suspicious phone call that sounded a lot like he was changing our television service. Hmmmm...interesting. Very interesting. This is the man that at one point wanted to get rid of our televisions all together. So I sneak in the room and start my eavesdropping. What? 99 channels? Couldn't be. We have so enjoyed our 12 channels up to this point so what possibly could he be thinking? Disney Channel? Oh NO - we will never hear or see our six year old daughter again. And as the salesperson wrapped up the summary of services I just happened to notice the ONE thing I have been asking for missing. DVR. Looks like I made it home just in time to demand (politely) that we add that final option. I WIN! I WIN!

As he hung up the phone and saw my stare of unbelief he started to explain. It all came down to money (big surprise there). Apparently it was cheaper to switch to comcast with all the available options on their big promo than to keep our current 12 channels. He of course, rolled his eyes at my polite demand of DVR.

Now fast forward three days and take a walk with me to the DVR. Hmm..... Let's click on "OUR RECORDINGS". Pirates of the Caribbean; The Curse of the Black Pearl. Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man's Curse. Pirates of the Caribbean; (can't remember the third title). Geeeee, I'm pretty sure I did not record those. Now Troy sits with a big grin on his face when he "pauses" his show to deal with the kids or answer my question. Only one problem. He has now declared that there is no need to EVER rent another video again. OH BROTHER.

Just another manic monday

Actually, today is the first day I can breath easy compared to the wild weekend we had. Hope started us out on the right note with probably her best HOPE MOMENT to date....


After walking in her room and discovering that Caymbree had pulled all the magnets off her magnet board she sighed in disgust, " Aggghhhhh.... I just cleaned this! SON OF A NUTCRACKER!" I could not stop laughing and when I finally composed myself enough to ask her where she had learned that from she said, "mom, you know. Elf says it when he gets hit in the face with a snowball." Too much. Too, too much.


Thursday night we saw lots of ticks on the clock go by as Hope spent most of the night coughing, coming in to talk to us, and at 3am declaring that she was done sleeping and ready to play.

Friday I got paid a $95.00 to watch the movie "Over the Hedge" SEVEN times. Yes, SEVEN. You're all ready to sign up for this job now aren't ya? Well, there is a catch. The job requires that you see more cleavage than you thought possible, hear the "F" word used as a noun AND a verb, confiscate notes that would make a stripper blush and hear "ewwwww" when you answer the question "how old are you?." Ah, the wondeful world of a substitute teacher.

Friday afternoon consisted of a fashion show practice for Hope and Hallee, straight home to get Hope in her dance costume, hair and make-up ready and off to her dance pictures where we stood in line for an hour, hoping and praying that nothing sets my extremely tired three year old off thus resulting in a waterwork of tears and destroying the make-up masterpiece I have just created. Also, just as crucial, preventing the $18.00 pair of tights from getting a snag or run. NOT an easy task!


Left there to go pick up a free dinner from Chipolte. Not overly impressed by the way. Stopped by the grocery store to get treats and drinks for Hope's soccer game on Saturday and finally walked in the door at 8:30pm exhausted and ready for bed.


SATURDAY morning. All the girls up and ready and off to Hope's soccer game at 9am. This time Hope did actually kick the ball a few times but still managed to pick the dandelions off the field. Rush home straight from there to get the girls "really" ready for the fashion show....

One of the young women asked my activity day girls to be part of a "MODESTY FASHION SHOW." She was so cute and asked Hope and Hallee and Trinity and Grace if they wanted to be part of it as well. Of course they did and thought they were SO grown up to get to do it. It was very cute!

We left the fashion show a little early to rush home and get Hallee in her costume, hair and make-up for her dance pictures. Then off to the studio for her glam shots :)


By 2pm we (meaning me and the girls - dad, MIA at work) got back home, I declared "quiet time" for all and crashed on the couch. (Did I mention we have all been sick this week?) By 3:30 quiet time was long over and I managed to plant a few more flowers with the help of Caymbree....



















Back in the house for tub time, pj's and to bed early for the kids only to discover that the hour nap Hope had kept her up until 10pm. I, meanwhile spent the night preparing for my Sunday school lesson.

The End. Glad it's over.

A trip to Neola

I know what your asking. Where in the world is NEOLA? About a year ago my sister moved to a little place called Neola. It's about 40 minutes away from Vernal, 15 minutes from Roosevelt, at the base of the Uintah mountains and pretty safe to say...in the middle of nowhere.

We all cried (me, my mom and Adree) when the news hit of her moving back to Jonny's home town but I'm happy to report that she LOVES it there. It cracks me up to go visit and see her transformation into a true blue country girl. Instead of shopping and going out to eat she is branding cattle, starting controlled brush fires, fishing for fun, and taking care of her 10 acres of land. Those of you who know Adree will realize just how crazy this is. This is the girl who always wanted to live in a big city, work in a glamorous salon, and could shop with the best of them.

This last weekend most of my family invaded Neola for a little weekend getaway. (Troy, Rob and Rachel all had to work). Adree was the "hostess with the mostess" and fed us lots of yummy food and treats. We were entertained with all the animals around including cows, horses, dogs, and a family of foxes. The kids were in heaven and I'm pretty sure Jonny and Adree will get the award for the "favorite aunt and uncle" to visit. Sorry everybody, but it's pretty hard to compete with that.

This is the view from her front door step. She has to go down a 1/2 mile dirt road to get to her mailbox or to take the garbage out to the road.

This is the view from the back deck. She has amazing views and it definitely is peaceful. That is, until I realize how far I am away from the closest mall or Target and then I feel like I might hyperventilate :).

Thanks for a fun time Binghams!

A little four-wheeling, an attempt at fishing, playing in the lake and on the rocks, a hot dog roast, and fun memories with the fam = GOOD TIMES FOR ALL!

Oh RATS!

No we didn't make to the Energy Solutions Center last night. The rain and a sick baby kept us away. Instead we did the pajama and popcorn thing right from the comfort of our own home. Hallee was so cute to watch in the final moments. She kept burying her head under the covers but then the suspense would be too much and she would have to come out. Hope just kept asking, "did Archie-letta win mom?" And then finally the big announcement..... DAVID COOK WINS! Hallee ran around the room screaming and when all was said and done her eyes started to fill with tears.

I really liked both of them but had to go for the home town guy. I loved his voice! I didn't realize how disappointed I would be until it really happened. Oh, well. He has quite a future ahead of him and I know many family members that will be buying his albums. I'm kind of sad that my American Idol Tuesday nights are over for now but hey look at the bright side... SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE is just around the corner!

IT'S TIME! WHO YOU GONNA VOTE FOR???

I'm still trying to decide if I am brave enough to take all three of my kids by myself to the Delta Center tomorrow night for the big DAVID bash party. I'll let you know.

Straight from the Gut

I am quite certain that there is nothing quite as cute as the sound of a baby laughing. You know, The kind that comes right from the gut. Hallee and Hope seem to have the knack. They can get Caymbree laughing in a way that no one else can. The other day I was upstairs when I heard quite the commotion down stairs. Here is what I heard....

*** PAUSE MY MUSIC ON THE PLAYLIST FIRST *****

This one is more of the same but Hope chimes in with a major concern that all women face. Two words....BLADDER and LAUGHTER. You get it.

I think I'll leave these posts here mainly for me. It's pretty hard to stay in a bad mood when you hear laughter like this.

Hope's first soccer game

I know it seems kind of late for Hope's first soccer game but when we signed her up for soccer we didn't realize we would be gone the first three Saturday's of the season. Hope didn't realize there was more to soccer than just walking across the street to the park and kicking the ball around with Coach Neil and a few of her friends.

We thought Hope would be our aggressive player but I couldn't help remembering Hallee's soccer days when I saw Hope picking dandelions out on the field. For her first attempt things went relatively well with the exception of one melt down after a fall to the ground.

Thanks for coming Grandma Smith and great grandma Larsen! We had a fun day with you!