I'm Homesick

I'm homesick for my husband. I miss him tons. However, coming to Utah made me homesick for all things Utah too. I need to be rich, with one house in Texas for the Winter and one house in Utah for the Summer. That way all the holes in my heart would be filled in.

K?

Good.

So, stay tuned for upcoming posts of our continuing fun adventures in the great land of Zion...where there are actually things to do and see. Yay!

Father's Day

What do you get for the best husband/Father for father's day? Particularly when they had their birthday 5 days before...and the things on their list don't fit into the budget...and you're on vacation 1000 miles from home....

A sling shot with steel balls to shoot...Yep, I did and he felt just a little bit younger because of it. Plus I won points because his parents never let him have this great of a slingshot - or the steel shot to go with it. I also won points because maybe he can single-handedly cut down on the population of squirrels and doves eating people's crops in Midland...

Happy Father's Day Shane, I love you more than you'll ever know.

Proof is is the Pictures

Here's video documentation showing that our kids will NOT turn 17 months old without being able to walk. Seriously, all you doubters out there....

Do note that there is a separate clip of just Cael walking, but I found this one of Landry much more interesting considering Cael just sort of zips in and out of the frames...yes, he is that fast now. Considering he didn't want to walk a week ago and Landry had no desire two days ago...they are finally moving fast. My running shoes are firmly affixed to my feet. It doesn't help, they still move quickly in opposite directions.

My man!

Happy Birthday Shane!




My husband never ceases to amaze me with his ability to do anything he puts his mind to. He changes diapers, bathes kids, washes dishes, and cleans without complaint. (sometimes there are complaints about the smelliness of the diaper, but I let that go because it's a valid complaint)

He's done plumbing, electrical, framing, tiling, roofing, drywall, gardening, landscaping, painting, floor laying and refinishing and countless other things on the houses that we've owned. And he used those skills to help other people too.

He goes to work every day without complaint and works hard so that I can stay home and raise the kids. He honors his priesthood and leads our family in the way we should go.

I love him even more now than I did when I married him, which seems impossible, but it's true. I love you babe, Forever and Always....MORE!

Sappy blog posting....out.

Savannah-ism for the day #2

Apparently I have no interesting conversations with Savannah, just Shane. He reminded me of this little gem from this morning...you want honesty? Ask a 3-year old.

Daddy: "How do you know that Savannah?"

Savannah: "'Cause I'm a gurl and gurls know everything."

Daddy: "Really, wow. I wish I was a gurl and could know everything."

Savannah: "Well you can't, you're not a gurl and you don't have any hair"

Savannah-ism for the day

Discussing her upcoming birthday and who she'd like to invite to her party...

Daddy, "who do you want to invite?"
Savannah, "well, the girl from next door, and Brooklyn, and Ally, and hmmm..."
Daddy, "do you want to invite any boys?"
Savannah, "no, no boys"
Daddy, "not even Keegan?"
Savannah, "well, he is a children of God, so I guess he could come"

Even though she acts like a teenager, we're not yet to the "Boys are So COOOOOOOL!" stage. Yet.

You Know Who You Are

Dear Ms. Grocery Shopper,

If I am able to haul a grocery cart full of children and groceries to my car, unload said kids and the food into the steamy, hot vehicle and still manage to take my cart back to the designated cart parking... you should be able to manage not parking your cart from directly in front of my door after enduring what I can only imagine was a grueling 10 minute shopping trip, unencumbered by other human lives, for your pre-packaged dinner and shampoo.

Dear Animal Shelter People,

Though you two healthy twenty-something year old men may live in an age with feminism running rampant, and though I look completely competent handling a double stroller with two babies, a three year old and a puppy on a leash, it wouldn't kill you to at least offer to open the door for me, giving me the chance to say, "no, thanks, I've got it completely under control." I love opening doors with my feet while wheeling 50 pounds of baby in an awkward stroller, with a puppy tangling herself between my feet and calling for the three year old to get out of the parking lot. Really, I do.

Dear "Grandma Driver" (I, of course, use this term loosely as it could also include incompetent drivers on cell phones),

Though I know the scenery of West Texas is lovely, and you may love to get a detailed look of every passing bush, car and driver, some of use perpetually run late. Therefore, some of us like to go the speed limit and like to not worry about whether or not you are going to swerve into our lane at the last minute or prevent us from getting to appointments before our youngest children turn 40.

Dear Fellow Home Improvement Store Shoppers,

Though I do not revel in the idea of being with the loudest/smelliest people in the store, it's not me, it's my children. It's not their fault there are no sound/smell barriers in a completely concrete shopping arena thereby having nothing to soak up the sounds of ear-piercing screams or the nose-hair burning odor of a nasty diaper. Your dirty looks and scowls do me no good. In fact if you scowl at me more than once, on several different aisles and fail to offer any help, while watching me push a double stroller full of said screaming children and a cart full of home improvement supplies, in my head I'm taking the offending diaper and throwing it at you, though all you see is a smile...

Dear Second Fellow Home Improvement Store Shopper,

You are apparently a very smart person. Not only have you made it to a home improvement store with your buddies on a Saturday morning before 10 a.m., but you also managed to deduce to said buddies and me, while watching me push above mentioned stroller full of loud/smelly children and cart full of supplies, that if I had one more child I'd have FOUR...No kidding, you are really good at math - and quite lucky I might add, since the only thing that came out of my mouth was, "I do have four, thanks." Lucky you.

Dear Fellow Citizen of this Planet called Earth,

Because this point has obviously not been heard enough yet...If there are two babies, approximately the same age, with me, and one is dressed in a blue and orange basketball outfit and the other in a pink flowery outfit, and you ask if they are twins...and I answer Yes...THEY ARE NOT IDENTICAL, it's impossible, if you need to - look it up.

Yesterday

We've resorted to crossing off days on a calendar to show Savannah when we're leaving for Utah.  Life must stink for her here in Texas, because going to Utah is all that she talks about.  I thought about making a little paper chain for a visual reminder for her, then I remembered I have 6 helpful hands under 4 that would love to make the departure date a little sooner. 

I even wrote on the calendar the fun/important dates that we will get to experience before going to Happy Valley.  You know, Shane's birthday, Grandma Snow's birthday, Lyndon's birthday, church, work at home day (Saturday), and play group. 

Yesterday as we were preparing to leave for play group, the ONLY thing on Savannah's calendar for that day, Landry threw up.  Lovely, I know.  If you have a weak stomach just stop reading now. Seriously.   I came downstairs after sweeping the floors upstairs to Savannah saying, "Mommy, Landry spit up...and it's all over!" 

Savannah showed no compassion for her little sister, whose breakfast obviously hadn't agreed with her; she was worried about missing play group because IT WAS ON HER CALENDAR!  I think our plan may have backfired.  A little.

I couldn't just leave the mess all over, considering Landry has great aim and hit the majority of the toys around her, and about 6 squares of the play mat too...if she's not an overachiever I don't know who is!  Thankfully washing the toys was on the to-do list this week, it just wasn't scheduled at the same time as play group.

Turns out Grandma Snow came home about an hour after play group started and was willing to take the forlorn Savannah and the restless Cael to the park, giving Landry and Mommy a brief respite.  Yay, scheduling conflict resolved!

By the way, Landry's fine, everyone else is fine, and everything in the front room as been washed, disinfected, sterilized and is currently ready to be put back together.  Days ahead of schedule even.

52 alphabet foam play mat squares= $40

100's of plastic child toys= $100's

1 bout of throw up that ended without anyone else getting sick= PRICELESS!!

My New Hobby

The garden is coming along just smashingly, if I might say so myself.  We already have sprouts of corn, squash and cantaloupe.  The other plants are doing well and I even used some of the cilantro in Friday's dinner...mmmm! 

However, gardening is not my new hobby, though I'm finding it fun to dabble in.  My new hobby is....

De-junking! 

Don't let Shane know, please.  I'd like to keep it our little secret.  Thanks!

I decided that since we have agreed that we're done replenishing the earth with mess-making, food-eating, smell-infusing, noise-inflating small ones, we should probably start getting rid of some of their stuff.  I didn't realize we had such a nice, big family room until I returned the two wonderful borrowed exersaucers (thank you so much Christina).  With the bumbos, bouncers, infant car seats, strollers, swings, bottles, clothes, and blankets packed up I've realized I have a fairly large house and we may need to downsize...(except for the toys, how do they keep multiplying?)

I started an account on Craigslist and listed a few things...walah!  People pay money for things I don't want anymore...maybe I could get people to take the dust and dirt too?

The de-junking spirit has spread into other areas of my life too, not just baby stuff.  Now all of the sudden the front closet isn't precariously packed with odds and ends never to be looked at again...it's got rhyme and reason!

And the most shocking thing...?!?!?  Shane made a little slip of the tongue on Saturday and said that if I could make a place in the garage we could put the fridge out there!  Yep, nothing like two months of nagging, complaining and a little de-junking to get him in the mood to keep the precious refrigerator!  He told me I could sell anything I wanted out there too, as long as I stayed away from his tools...Oh, the possibilities!

So, like I said...it's a secret.  Shhhh.  If Shane finds out he might rescind his offer to keep the fridge....just saying!

Wow, it's Tuesday? Already?

Big week last week, lots of chores done.  This week?  Much of the same.

We spent Memorial Day gardening, so I guess we were remembering past sacrifices of back breaking tilling, raking, weeding, all for the benefit of harvesting delicious food.  Yum.  I'll be happy if anything comes of our hard work since I've never done a garden in Texas, but the people at the nursery were nothing if they weren't reassuring - telling me that we were doing just fine.  Yay.  I'll be honest, I'm as excited as Savannah about the prospect of picking delicious homegrown fruits and veggies.  Whatever doesn't work this year will be researched and re-tried next year.

Today was Lincoln's field day. We celebrated with the other parents of 2nd and 3rd graders by reveling in the cooler weather. They participated in the 50 yard dash, 100 yard dash, water balloon toss, sack race, tire push and tug-of-war. As you can see, Lincoln got ribbons...for something...he can't remember what.


Today was also the babies 16 months well child check. This means, if you're an avid reader - you know, we're anticipating sick kids in about a week. Just saying, because maybe if I say it it won't happen, right?

Landry is now considered an average 16 month old, which as the doctor said, "It's not huge for a 16 month old, Cael's just small". Meaning of course, she's a lot bigger than Cael. Landry now measures 31" and 24.6 pounds. Cael is 31.25" and 22.3 pounds. Trust me, it feels like more than two pounds.  They are both capable of walking, though now that they've discovered they can, they won't.  It's alright with me though, because even not walking they've managed to get nice big bruises all over their foreheads.  Cael received his most recent one last night taking a headfirst dive into tub.  No, there wasn't enough water in the tub to drown an ant yet, and yes, he does love baths enough to try diving in.  

Two more items of business...

School is out in three days... then I will be the mother of a FOURTH GRADER.  This makes me anxious.  I am not old enough to have a fourth grader, FYI.  The end of school also means he'll be going to Utah for a bit.  This makes me even more anxious.  So, if you talk to me over the next three weeks and I'm going a little crazy with a more than normal tick in my eye, just pat my shoulder and tell me it's going to be OK, my sanity will return to Texas soon, I'll appreciate it, promise.

Also, there is a poll on my cooking blog.  A few of you suggested some pretty good names and they are now open for voting.  We (Karen and I) would appreciate a few votes, we're kind of indecisive.  We also need a little vote of confidence that people actually read our blogs, (you know who you are, you three wonderfully supportive people...thanks!)  Vote now, vote often...