Troy + Nicole + Tim + Spencer = 1 Fun Family

Timmy's "Free Magics"

2008-11-20T09:08:00.004-07:00

Yesterday we were sitting at the kitchen table after cutting open the pumpkins we never carved for halloween, to harvest the seeds and bake them. While rinsing the seeds in the sink, Timmy came up to me holding a blue highlighter with his thumb and pointer finger and said, "I have Free (3) magics!"

I wasn't sure what this sentence meant. Yes, it was properly structured, subject, object, verb, all that grammar stuff; it just didn't make sense.

I began guessing: "Is that highlighter your magic wand?" ( we recently watched Cinderella for the first time, and she pulls the wand out of thin air with her thumb and pointer...)

"Not really."

Hmmm. "Is that marker ( I am completely baffled) um, [pause] magic?"
After hearing "magic" and "marker" in the same fragmented question, it clicks in my brain: Magic Marker!

Finally feeling intelligent again, I ask, "Do you have three magic markers?"

"Yup." He proceeds to pull 2 other markers from the plastic storage container holding my sweaters. (I just picked them up and traded them for all my short sleeves.)

Mystery solved.

What you all have been anxiously awaiting...

2008-11-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Pictures!!
Sorry I have been so internet-absent.
Aug 27- My Kitchen. Without a wall.
We don't have grass anymore, but Great Grandma and Grandpa do! Playing in the sprinklers. Aug 25
They also let Timmy pick a "Potato" and eat it sttraight off the plant!
Taken Aug 16, 08 Above, you'll never guess what we gave Shannie for her wedding: No, not diapers, Tupperware! Below, Timmy created this masterpiece as his wedding gift.
Does your kitchen sink look anything like mine? Aug 28

The boys both want to be like dad: Piano players. Here is a pajama duet. Notice the air compressor hose, extention cord, screwdriver, and other construction tools in my living room?
The next set of pics. were all taken on Aug 31. It had rained the previous night. The boys found some puddles... Brad, Melissa, Amy, Tiff, Em & Patrick all came to help move broken-out concrete off the main level floor. As everyone was working in the very cold weather,
Look what happened: inches of hail!!
We quickly took temporary refuge in the house, cold and wet. The puddle grew...We sent everyone home, and followed soon. Tiff and Patrick made us breakfast. Yum!
later that week, we got a U-cart and poured a few footings. Amy and I are cleaning out the cart. The footings were to go under the walls that would cover my kitchen holes:

West wall going up,East side wall. These are the walls that filled in the holes at the beginning of this blog post. The golden hammer award goes to these helpers: left to right: Brad, Alan, Steve, Troy, Parker, Amy, and Rob (behind the wall). THANKS!They aren't the only helpers: Nicole, Sierra, and Emily caim and Spencer company.
We aren't slave drivers, when our helpers come over, we have fun, too.
A little time lapse: Sept 6. WOW! Look at all the walls. This was taken after church one Sunday.
This picture is taken from the southwest corner of the "Great Room" The sheeted wall in the photo is the one the guys were standing a few pics earlier.
This the the area where the Master Bath, bed, closets, and the office/nursery will be.
The room on the left is the dining room. It is taken from the kitchen.
Spencer in his church clothes.
We also celebrated both Troy's and Timmy's birthdays. Troy insisted on no fuss. So, there aren't even pictures of him on his day. But we did make a fuss over Timmy. Here he is opening a few presents
The men in our ward (congregation) organized a service project and planned a volunteer work day where we were able to install most of the floor joists for the upstairs in a single day.
Many thanks to John for spearheading and organizing it, as well as coming to work, also thanks to Howard, Marty, Paul, Stan, and many others. More golden Hammers.
Oh, yeah, I helped. I held one end of the joist in one hand while climbing a ladder with a hammer in the other hand and nails in my pocket. (I need my own tool belt.) Then I hammered the joists into the hangers. It was actually fun. I was sore the next day.
For their size, BCI jfloor joists are surprisingly strong and lightweight.
Taking a short break on Timmy's birthday.
Tim asked me to "pack him a lunchbox" on his birthday, so we did. He found an empty corn dog box, and we filled it with Granola bars, Beef jerky, apples, peanuts, Chex Mix, and Fruit roll-ups. Not our usual lunch, but it was his birthday. This was taken from the second story looking down.
Here is another friend, Brian, who came to help. We are now framing the upstairs walls. The subfloor was finished a few days after we installed the joists.
These are a little out of order. Here are the boys eating that lunch I "packed" for them.
Tim opening presents at our house

We had a special Sunday Dinner to celebrate Timmy's birthday. Here he is opening a gift from Great-Grandma.Here is his face shen he realizes his gift is a 42 piece tool set! Here are some jealous cousins watching as "Uncle Troy" opens the box. Luckily there were enough to go around and Timmy was in a sharing mood.

His favorite gift was a razor scooter. He rides it everywhere. Mom even let him ride it inside the grocery store. (Troy did not approve of riding the scooter in the grocery store, I found out later. Oops!)

He also received a singing birthday card from another set of Great Grandparents. This is a perfect card for a kid who can't read yet. Every time he would open the card, the song, "The eensy weensy spider" played. He opened and shut that card for nearly 30 minutes on the day it arrived in the mail. He never stopped smiling. Spencer and he would dance and even sing along. A few days later, when Tim finally let it out of his sight, Spencer would open it and dance and smile and sing. It was adorable. Nice card choice, Grams!
Back to the house. The boys want so much to help, but it is difficult for us to find helpful tasks for a 1 or 3 year old to perform. So, the boys spend a lot of time stacking and re-stacking scraps of wood.
Sometimes I am surprised at the sizes of some of the wood these boys can carry. They're tough!
Here comes the roof!!
Before the Trusses arrived
Here are 3 generations watching the Power company disconnect and drop the overhead power lines so the crane could come in to set the trusses on the house.
Here's the power guy in his "bucket" taking down the lines.
This is a rare occasion caught on camera: Troy with a moment of spare time. He loves to play his guitar, the broken thumb makes it a bit more difficult. But that is another story...
Here is the back section of the house with the trusses set and the sheeting on. (You can click on all these small pictures to get a close up view.)
Here is the main section of the house before the trusses were put on.
The crew we hired (yes, finally something we didn't do ourselves) put the trusses on up-side down to start, then flipped them over to get them on the top of the walls. It was really cool to watch . Inside the back section, looking up at the new ceiling
To put it all in perspective- that is Spencer standing next to the piles of trusses!
Even as I publish this post, I am still not up-to-date with the house, the entire thing is now sheeted, and has the plastic felt paper stuff nailed on, and the Christmas lights put up. I feel like I am playing a never-ending game of catch -up.

We have our priorities in order.

Blackmail pictures of the boys

2008-11-02T14:03:00.003-07:00

A very funny sequence of photos: When the house gets quiet, every mom knows there is trouble brewing... after a few moments of silence I found the boys in the bathroom with my "Girl stuff." They will probably grow up to hate these pictures...
Spencer applying lipstick
The boys after putting on the lipstick. Very nice!

Do I have any lipstick on my teeth?
No, this is not in preparation for Halloween, this is our everyday wear.
Makeup isn't the only thing I keep in my makeup bag. I also have a disposable razor for when we travel. I was absolutely shocked to see that Spencer knew what a razor was for. He never showers with us. Interesting...
Don't we all feel like smiling when we know we look good? Lookin' good Spencer!

Spencer's first haircut- October 12

2008-11-02T13:39:00.003-07:00

Here is a before shot. (It is actually a "during" shot) Troy held him while I did the cutting. He cried, so I just trimmed over his ears, the rest was not too shaggy.
The after shot is a little fuzzy, but I was surprised how much older he looks with a little trim.

A Very Late Family Camping Vacation

2008-09-14T16:15:00.000-06:00

We arrived at our East Fork camp on Wednesday, July 16. Yes, this post is long overdue. I only got out my camera on Sunday, when we went into town for church, so I missed taking shots of most of Ali's family, Timmy's closest cousins.
After church, we went to the park in Tropic and had a picnic lunch. The boys, after changing out of their church clothes, had a fun time playing.
Spencer at the park
Spencer Flying. Even though he rocked with all of his 2 pounds, he never made the spring budge. ha ha.
Our boys love to swing. When we visit Great Grandma and Grandpa, the make a beeline for the swing set and it takes much effort to get them to come inside and say hello.
Timmy, Skyler, Hunter and Eliza playing on the twirly thing. These are the cousins closest to Tim's age. Luckily, no one threw up.
the whole time Tim swings, he chants, "Underdoggie, Underdoggie!" the chants are loudest immediately after we run under him.
Me and Spencer, posing. Notice the camping hair: I wouldn't be seen in my regular congregation with such a hairstyle. Yikes!
this picture reminded me of the verizon ads that show "How many bars" Well, in this tiny town there were less than 3 bars, but in camp we had zero! I was so happy. Troy gets business calls on every vacation we go on. Except this one! He does ride out to a spot where he can get some reception to check his messages. He usually doesn't call back, unless it's an emergency.
It took a little convincing to get all 3 of them to sit at the top of the slide long enough to snap a picture.
3/4 of our family's favorite place to be. Guess who the minority 1/4 is?

On the way to church we drove through some grazing areas. There were cows galore. Spencer was fascinated, and learned to "moo." It sounds more like "Booooo." But it is still cute. We didn't have to look out the window to know when there was another cow, we just a heard a chorus of Moos and Boos.
Every hill had this many cows. the Moo and Boo song didn't stop until they fell asleep
Most of the cows were "nursing" if that's what you call it. I don't think I had ever seen a baby drinking its mother's milk before this trip. It was a learning session for all of us. Just ask Hunter what he learned about fighting cows...
Timmy thinks this picture is hilarious. Every time he sees it he says, "That cow is sticking out his tongue at me."
The calves were very unpredictable and skitterish. The would start out in front of the car (Or rhino, or motorcycle) without any notice. It was scary.

Spencer liked helping to "fix" the bikes any chance he found. However, I had to check and make sure no screwdrivers were between the spokes before I started riding.
The rebar was easy to find- we brought it from home.
This was the "Fort" it was a huge pine tree with low branches that hid the kids from our sight, but had a fun play area tucked away underneath. They lined the entrance and walkway with large stones, and tried to keep the girls out, but with parental persuasion, the girls were allowed.
This is what it looked like from the inside of the fort. Tim and Pepper liked digging in the dirt.
This was home sweet home while we were camping.
This was the campsite. It was much more beautiful than my birthday camping trip.
Luckily, all my spokes survived the trip.
Sometimes, I wonder if we spend more time fixing motorcycles than riding motorcycles...
Timmy and Troy all decked out in helmets and pads and ready to ride.
Off they go (on Mom's bike!)
I never cease to be impressed with pioneer women who lived in a constant state of "Camp." I may be smiling, but I am filthy. It takes a few days being home before the dirt disappears from the cracks in my dried hands and under my nails.
This tricycle has seen more miles than most 2 year-olds' bikes see in a lifetime.
We went for a walk with just the 4 of us. The boys took turns on the bike.
Timmy and I are racing. Pepper was the winner. She ran circles around us, and probably walked 3 times the distance.
The skies were beautiful. They seemed so clear and blue. I wish I could capture that in a bottle and store it to be opened mid January, when the weather here is so gray and bleak and depressing. It lifts the spirit.
Spencer's feet don't even reach the ground or the pedals. This is how big Timmy was when we bought the trike.
Now there is no passenger on the tricycle.
Timmy's tongue.
Me pretending I'm not dirty.
Spencer wanted to pick up every rock on the dirt road. It was a long, slow, very enjoyable walk.
Tim loves to "stop and take a break" under every tree we pass. He does the same thing when we go on walks through the neighborhood.
This was a pretty standard view from the back of the Rhino. The rocking motion put them to sleep every time. The bumps made their heads loll to the same side, too so they were always drooping the same direction.
Thank you for sharing your new toy with us, Grandpa! We all loved it!
You can see Troy in the front seat. He always drove. It makes me nervous.
This was a rainy day. Even the cloudy days were beautiful.
Sometimes words can't describe...
Troy standing at the top of the world. You can't see how high he is, but it is a long way down
Can you find the deer?
This is Tim's cousin, Avry. They are all sucking on their camelbak water packs.
Here are all the bikes leaving camp. There were a total of 19 bikes in camp this trip.
We had 6 families there. Mine was not one of them this year. I was sad that they decided not to join us. They were busy planning a wedding and doing other camps, conferences, and vacations.
Bradley, Skyler and Aaron loading up.
Me and my lover posing in front of an "East Fork" sign.
I then sat on the sign and Timmy wanted to stand in.
We didn't dare disturb the sleeping baby. Can you see how dirty his face is. That is what happens when water drips from the Camelbak hose, and dust from the Rhino mixes with that water.

We would stop periodically to stretch our legs and visit. Especially the kids need a break.
One tradition they like to uphold is to ride into "Hatch." It is a timy town 10 miles from camp. We stop at the small church there and eat lunch and play at the small playground.
I found these 3 longhorns while we were coming home from Hatch.
This was also the ride where we found the weird lava rocks. They all climbed it. I didn't.
This was a potty stop that became a fairly long break.
Grandma always has a snack in her pack to share. How fresh the snack is, that is to be determined....
Grandpa is flexing his big biceps.
Ali found a frog at the lake. She was hoping if she kissed him, he would become her prince charming, but he remained a frog.
Cheese!
Spencer did not want to touch, or kiss a frog.
Grandma ALWAYS has to touch the water, even if it is freezing. Emily and Ashton joined her. So did the biting horse flies. I stayed in the Rhino and read "The Host" by Stephanie Meyers. I loved it, and couldn't put it down. I finished it in less than 24 hours. I did the same thing when New Moon came out last month. I loved it, too!
Timmy is already practicing riding with a passenger. Avry is nice to let them sit on his Honda 50.
You can't see the book in my lap, but it is there. Along with a plastic bag to protect it from the dirt and possible rain.
Avry found a snake. Tim did not like the snake one bit. He wouldn't even get close enough to Avry when he was holding it to fit them in the wide angle lens shot. Oh, well, he must have inherited Pa's love of snakes. Ha ha.
Me and my boys. This is a lookout Troy and I rode to on his CRF 450 it was brand new and when I was pregnant with Timmy. We drove very carefully, as usual.
This was Tropic Resoirvoir. We never went fishing or boating or swimming, but we thought about it every time we drove past.
I don't know why, but I really like this picture of the boys sitting on the door step of the trailer.
They were always playing in the dog's food and water. Tim would get so distressed any time a speck of dirt or leaf or bug got in Pepper's water, so he was constantly dumping and refilling it.
In their matching shirts. They were getting a little small, but I didn't want to buy new clothes to go camping.
I got a shower this morning, so I felt great! I actually smelled like soap instead of dirt or sweat or a thousand other camping odors.
Time to buckle up the boys.
After the ride, we cooled off in the shade with an otter pop. Yes, we are apoiled we all have a fridge, freezer, toilet, sink, shower, stove, microwave, heater, generator, when we camp. But I still feel like I'm roughing it.
They look timy, but these deer were fairly close by.
We rode in to Ruby's Inn one day for lunch. Here is Pa taking a break on the grass under the tree with Timmy. I mailed my family a postcard from here.
The backdrop of these next few pictures is Bryce Canyon National Park.
This might be strange to post all the "out takes" but if any of you have kids, you will appreciate that we have just as difficult a time getting our kids to be still, look at the camera, and smile.
Let's count: 2
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven. Which do vote for?
And me by myself. Not as clean as the post-shower shot earlier this morning.
Timmy climbing the Fort Tree.
Higher
and even Higher
Now climbing down. Kind of cool silouette.
Spencer didn't spend much time in the fort with the big kids.
Going on another walk while Troy goes for a ride without all the passengers. He likes to ride fast.
Every boys' dream: sticks galore. For a boy a stick is not just a stick. It is a weapon, a sword, a skateboard, a ski pole, a tool, a fishing pole, a telescope, an arrow, a walking stick, a javelin, and many other useful things.
Emily came on this walk with us. It's hard to see in this picture, but she had a pretty nasty cut on her shin.
We stayed over a patriotic holiday, and flew our American flag every day in camp. Timmy learned about how many stars, stripes, and how to fold a flag from Grandma Melissa.
Emily thought Timmy would like to play catch. He didn't. But Spencer did.
He wouldn't throw it to her, though, he had to place the ball into the glove. Go figure.
It was still fun.
This is Troy's family's claim to fame. This is the Tropic Resoirvoir Trailhead map and Info Board. If you zoom in on the middle right side, there is a photo tht looks like this:
The caption says: Motorcyclists enjoying the Paunsaugnt trail in Blubber Creek. His dad is in the Front, and Troy is on the far right with a white t-shirt. Their helmets disguise their true identity, but Troy can recognize a rider and his/her bike at a glance. This is definately our group.
Timmy in yet another tree.
Amy is the spotter, and gave him a small boost.
Grandma playing in yet another body of water, and coeerced Timmy in after her.
Grandma strikes a pose,
And Timmy copies it.
This is the limekiln canyon ride. in a flash flood. I have NEVER seen such mud as this. It was so slick and sticky and flung everywhere off the tires of the bikes and Rhino.
It dumped rain on us for a short time after lunch at the creek. We are all wearing our rain gear.
The mud just caked everything. Look how thick it is just on the bottom of my boots.
Grandpa modeling a very nice blue rain poncho, and feeling much better not that his hood is no longer on his head with a helmet over it. He was getting a little hot and clausterphobic.
I like how clean everything is after it rains. The smell of the woods after rain is wonderful. We saw a beautiful rainbow on this trip that made me remember the promise God made to never flood the entire earth again. After the rain in our house last weekend, we saw another rainbow, and I realized God has a sense of humor. Because it sure seemed like a flood to me.
We sure love our Spencer Baby.
He loves to ride in the back of that Tonka dump Truck.
This is when my man is Happiest: in the dirt, on his bike, with his family.

Although it may seem like I complain about the camping trips, Honestly, what more could a wife and mother ask for? My family is together, happy and having fun. We have none of the worries and stressses of life back home. We left our business, our construction, our housework, and we just play all day. We can do whatever we want whenever we want to. Life is good at the East Fork.

The sound of rain pitter-pattering ...

2008-09-02T21:52:00.000-06:00

INSIDE MY HOUSE!!!

Today it is rainiing and I have no wall in my bedroom, bathroom or kitchen. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what that means: Water. In my house. All over my floors. Soaking my carpet. Splashing my toilet. Flooding my house.

We came home from Sunday dinner with Troy's family. This is what we came home to:As it continued to rain, it only got worse. We put the kids to bed. Their room, the laundry room, pantry and the living room were the only dry rooms. With them asleep, the real adventure began. Troy began using the big push broom to "sweep" the water out of the house. When it began pooling outside the door rather than draining like it used to before we dug up our yard and changed the "water flow paths." Troy took a shovel and created a trench to have the water drain to the back of the yard, while I got out she shop vac and bagan sucking up the huge puddles. We had to move a lot of furnature: my curio cabinet, our bookcase, and most everything out of our room.

After many hours of sweeping, shoveling and sucking water, we decided to call it a night and took a hot shower, and went to bed, anticipating sleeping only a few hours before awaking and repeating the process again.Luckily, we slept until early Monday (Labor Day) morning. We were planning on doing all the cleanup, inside and out, ourselves. But, in answer to many prayers, Troy's family called and announced that they would arrive within the hour to help with whatever we needed. Here is the disaster cleanup crew:

It's hard to tell who's who, but there's Brad the Dad, Emily, Tiffy, Troy (working behind Tiff) Amy, and Patrick, Tiffy's officially serious boyfriend. They all win the Golden Hammer of the Week Award, even though they didn't really build anything.
I was inside feeding the boys breakfast and keeping them out of the mud. Here's a view of Troy and Amy clearing off broken up cinder block, lumber, and concrete from the area we need to build the wall.
This is Troy sweeping rainwater out of the kitchen while the fascinated boys watch. Notice Timmy wearing his galoshes. He is prepared! Future Boy Scout in the making.

Funny hairdos

2008-09-01T12:40:00.005-06:00

I found this crazy picture on Troy's family's computer. It was taken Feb. 2003! We both had a lot of hair then. For a current picture see the right hand sidebar family picture. We were still newlyweds, less than one year of marriage under our belts. Look at those cool glasses!

The Vampires Attack

2008-08-27T15:36:00.000-06:00

Last Friday, I made my bi-monthly visit to the blood suckers at the American Red Cross Blood services. (On a side note: I just finished the last book in the Twilight vampire series, Breaking Dawn. It was magnificent!) I donated my 12th pint of blood!
Here's the number to call to make your own appointment to donate.
I had a record time; it took me just slightly over 6 minutes to fill my bag. To my credit I drank nearly 3 liters of water the day before, so my blood was very viscous.
I brought the boys with me and they played in he enclosed area in the background. I turned on the movie "Babe" but it didn't hold their attention any more then it held mine.
I am not sure who has heard my life-saving blood experience with blood, platelets, to be exact, but I thought it might be a good time to share the story.
Once upon a time, when I was 9 mos pregnant with Timmy, I developed preeclampsia. Because I was full-term, they induced my labor, but after 12 hours of labor, I was not progressing, and my platelet count was dropping. (Platelets clot your blood.) The doctor was worried that if I labored too much longer I wouldn't have any success, so he scheduled an emergency C-section.
Talk about shock. In a state of total disbelief I asked Troy and his dad, Brad, to administer a blessing before the operation. The delivery went well, Timmy was born and very healthy, and I was exhausted. However, my platelet levels continued to drop, so I received a transfusion. A normal range for platelets is about 250,000. My count was about 40,000. We didn't realize until later how terrified we should have been, but, it was life-threatening. The technical name is HEELPS syndrome.
Well, I am leaving out all gory and boring details, but, the story had a very happy ending. We got our Timmy boy out of the deal!! Now we are working on the "all living happily ever after."
The Happy Miracle Boy!
His brother arrived much more traditionally, with less scare. (Notice I chose "less scare" not "no scare") They both love going to the "blood store" and all the employees and volunteers are so patient and kind. When Spencer was only 6 weeks old I donated for the first time since becoming pregnant with Timmy. The nice ladies there took great care of him while I was in the screening and donating process. They both love the pretzels, oreos and juice they get after I finish.

If you have never donate, I would strongly encourage you to. I don't know whose blood saved my life, but I will never forget the selflessness and will continue to make my donation every 8 weeks.

Another tag

2008-08-25T11:14:00.000-06:00

5 things on my to-do list
1.Clean my bathroom
2.Clean my kitchen
3.Clean my bedroom
4.Clean my boy's room
5.Clean the living room

5 snacks I enjoy
1. Mint Oreos
1a. Sour Patch kids
2. Cold Stone Ice Cream
2a. Fruit fresh off the tree, vine, bush, etc.
3. TCBY's frozen yougurt strawberry and white chocolate swirl. They don't have TCBY's in Utah
3a. Doritos Nacho Cheesier chips
4. Original Chex mix
4a. Betty Crocker Funfetti frosting refrigerated by the spoonful
5. Crackers (especially Ritz and Triscuit) and Colby Jack cheese
5a. Mother's Pink and White frosted animal cookies
(I couldn't pick just 5)

5 things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire
1. Hire subcontractors to speed up the construction of our house
2. Buy Troy a 450 race bike in every brand: Honda, Yamaha, KTM, Suzuki, Kawasaki, a new 650 to replace the one in AZ, a Harley, and a mechanic to come on every camping trip, so Troy can spend every minute riding, and a diesel semi truck to haul them all and our camping trailer.
3. Attend pilot's school, get a license and buy a small airplane to fly to AZ whenever we wanted
4. Hire a maid to clean my house every day.
5. Go on a cruise with all of my family and all of Troy's family (minus all the babies)

5 places I have lived
1. Phoenix, AZ
2. Peoria, AZ
3. Provo, UT
4. Salt Lake City, UT
5. Holladay, UT

5 Jobs I have had
1. Cold Ctone Creamery (gained 10 pounds at that job)
2. Substitute Teacher (decided not to become a school teacher at that job)
3. Cake decorator (ironically, I don't like to eat cake)
4. Retirement home caregiver (makes baby diapers seem like cake)
5. Tupperware Lady (now, and love that I can do it as much or as little as I want, and I get a great discount!)

5 things people don't know about me
1. I love to wear lingerie. It makes me feel sexy, which can be a challenge for a stay-at-home mom.
2. I have been diabetic since I was 5 years old. I tool insulin shots until I was 17, and have worn an insulin pump ever since.
3. I enjoy doing family history research, but don't get to do it as often as I'd like
4. I will walk up to perfect strangers and inform them that my sister in-law or friend thinks they are attractive. I have done this for many different people, and 4 that I know of led to a relationship. At the time, they were mortified and embarrassed. They all got over it.
5. I have a passion for games of any kind: board, card, mind, solitaire, numbers, ANY! I will play any game I have the chance to.

5 bad habits
1. I sometime cheat when I play games. (Only sometimes)
2. I like to sleep in as late as possible.
3. I mumble, especially if I am tired or have a blood sugar
4. I am a slow driver
5. I procrastinate, then get stressed out at the last minute.

5 people to tag
1. Tasha
2. Gretchen
3. Rachel
4. Alisa
5. Shalaun

More Demolition?

2008-08-24T13:34:00.006-06:00

Well, this is the progress we have made on the framing. We have 4 additional walls built that we haven't stood yet because we have to do some demolition first. Yes, I thought we were past that, too. But, I seem to have forgotten that the back wall of my existing home, the one I am living in , sleeping in, cooking in and half-heartedly cleaning, needs to be removed and replaced. So, rather than building this week, we have been installing bracing posts in preparation for the walls to come crashing down around me. (And I don't mean that figuratively.)Before Troy could install the posts in the kitchen, (Yes, they will be permanent fixtures until we move into the new house.) I had to empty the cabinets and drawers. He is being really nice and postponing the installation of the post that will be located behind the kitchen sink until it is absolutely necessary. My friend Tonya gave/loaned me a truckful of plastic storage crates, (you can see some on the counters) to temporarily store my cleaners, medicines, dishes, pots & pans, utensils, spices, Tupperware, cookbooks, baking ingredients, essentially EVERYTHING I normally keep in my kitchen. This is the main cause for the disarray.
To make our house more energy-efficient, we blew insulation into the space between the roof and the ceiling about 4 years ago. When he broke holes in the ceiling to support the roof with the beams, the insulation started falling out. The black garbage bags are for collecting it, and putting it back up in the small cavity around the post. They add such a nice touch to the decor, don't they?
Here is our bedroom. That door used to lead to our walk-in-closet, which has since been torn out. Yes, that is our bed. A saws-all and a shop vac are also present. Notice the nice plastic storage container. That one contains everything that used to fit under my bathroom cabinets before we shrunk the bathroom by 25 square feet.
Here is our first post. Notice the insulation-filled garbage bag? Like I said earlier: Permanent Fixture. *Sigh*
Here is the bedroom on Saturday morning. All 3 posts are installed and the warm, cheery sunshine in shining in through the hole in the wall! Troy spend most of Saturday on the roof, pounding out concrete, and in the bedroom battling with the walls. You can see some of the smaller holes. They grew.
As you can see, he won the battle, but it took a lot of effort. He broke the "Virtually Indestructible" handle of his 16 pound sledgehammer. He enjoyed a brief break while I went to Home Depot to return it. I was pleased that they exchanged it, no questions asked. It is only 5 years old. But, the label said it was indestructible. If you look closely into the gaping hole, you can see the bed we slept in Saturday night. It was so romantic to lie in bed and look up at the stars through the hole in the wall! We are not sure how many of the neighbors can see in. Hmmm...
We all climbed up on the roof yesterday, and although it was nerve-racking for me to have the boys up there, they had a blast. Timmy climbed up the chimney and looked down, and asked me if Santa lived down there. He doesn't.
This is what the back of the house looks like when you are standing in the new part. Every inch of white you see, and some that you can't see, needs to be torn out. We think this will be a fairly lengthy phase. See the two windows? When we build the wall to replace the cinder block one, those windows will not be re-installed. I am so sad about that. I love to look out the window while standing at the sink and admire our accomplishments. The boys love to climb onto the counter, sit next to the microwave and watch Daddy work. It is nice when Troy and I are out working on the house after Spencer is asleep and Timmy is watching a movie to peek in the window to check on him. I will really miss those windows. This was the first thing I saw when I awoke this morning. Did I mention that there are live electrical wires behind those posts that are now exposed?
No, I'm not stressed out. But thanks for asking.

My Sister's Wedding

2008-08-21T21:39:00.021-06:00

The newly married Bride and GroomThe night before: Setting up for the Reception
Troy goes to great lengths to help set up the lights
Uncle Dan and Tyler finish hanging their strand
Can you see the family resemblance? Dad and his brother, Uncle Dan
Mom and the fake candles that are really flickering lights
Brandon and Spencer, second cousins. Spencer looks a little too small for the doll carriage
Timmy in a sea of chairs
Hanging the chinese lanterns to look like polka dots
Aunt Lisa and Tara arranging the floral centerpieces
Mom struggling with a huge cart of chairs
Me and Spencer arranging the chairs around the tables

At the Temple

Spencer fell asleep in the car on the way to the temple. Timmy insisted on pushing him in the stroller to the entrance. It took a long 10 minutes to travel the short distance from parking lot to front door.
Aunt Lori, Mom's sister, greets the boys
The bride and groom arrive at the temple. My mom is carrying her dress, but doesn't it look like she's wearing it?
Grandpa Kirby Joe gives great hugs
Me and my Daddy
Uncle Dan's family: Troy (my cousin, not my hubby), Uncle Dan, Tiffany, Aunt Lisa, Tara, Tyler, and little Brandon in front
Aunt Wendy, Mom's 'lil sis
Troy and Spencer trying not to melt in the heat as we wait for the Bride and Groom to emerge from the temple
Kirby attempts to comfort Spencer, who just wants his Mommy
The future missionaries: Garrett, my bro, and Ryley, my cousin
Timmy is tired of waiting, literally
Some of Brian's kids, Kristoffer, who recently got a mission call to Texas, Mandy, Melissa, Gavin's back, and Rand's profile
Shannon on cloud 9 as she exits the temple
All Shannon's new in-laws
The combined families outside the temple
Just our half
Shannon is wearing Dad's sunglasses; Jake still managed to identify her in spite of the disguise
Shannon and the best man...
... my boy Timmy!
Shannon's childhood friend, Wendy
Some of her high school and college friends: Erica, Nikki, & LoraLynn
Moving in for the smooch
Now I know we're not in Kansas anymore: Yes, there are cacti at the temple!
Ahhh, how sweet
The New Kids on the Bench: Kristoffer, Melissa, Mandy
Cousin Tina and her sweet smile
Grandma and Grandpa: she said, "In his suspenders?!"
Timmy always manages to find a tree to climb
Mother and Son: my dad and my grandma
Jake can make some of the funniest faces
Grandma brought this sit-on walker, and Garrett giving her a lift back to the car: what a gentleman

At the Wedding Luncheon
Ryley playing with Rachel and Rand
Lori and her big bro., Brian
Shannon's dress, just hangin' aroung
Jake found somewhere to stash the veil

At the Reception
Jake's parents, Jake and Shannie, and our parents
All dressed up: Timmy's matching tie didn't last the first 5 minutes, oh, well.
Me and my parents
Grandma and Grandpa, minus the suspenders
With Grandma Darcell
The beautiful bridesmaids
Garrett and Gramps
Look at the face on the bride: you'd think she thought I was going to drop her. I didn't.
We didn't drop Superman, either
Putting our best side forward
My sexy man
Guess whose feet are whose...
Me and my baby sis, all growed up and married...
So Skinny!
Playing "Stomp the Bouquet"
the Daddy-Daughter dance
Their first dance...
Some friends from the ward I grew up in: Staci, Wendy, Amy?, and Michelle. I am so embarrassed that I can't remember everyone's name.
Spencer with his Grandma and Grandpa
Timmy and his Great Aunt Lori
There they go!

After the Reception
J.D, my best friend from 7th to 12th grade, and still my pal, with his girlfriend, Beth
My favorite Primary teachers: Bill and MaryEllen
Garrett taking down the "polka dot" lanterns
Troy on the ladder again
The cleanup crew
Spencer couldn't keep his eyes open a minute longer and I was ready to take off the dress.

We had a wonderful trip, and wish Jake and Shannon the best as they start their eternal journey together.

Nicole and the Amazing Technicolor Wilderness

2008-08-06T14:21:00.015-06:00

WARNING: This blog post has an auto-start music player. Adjust your volume accordingly.

We spent the last 2 weeks of July in Southern Utah near Bryce Canyon National Park and Red Canyon. The scenery was gorgeous and as we were riding our motorcycles and the Rhino, we observed some of the beauty that makes me more fully understand the meaning of "God's Green Earth." Although a photo cannot fully capture the awe of the wildlife and nature we saw, I have tried to re-create a portion of it for you. As we rode, I was amazed at all the color there. The words from Joseph's Coat, from the musical Joseph and the Amazing technicolor Dream Coat kept repeating over and over in my head, so I included the lyrics and the audio clip.

I tried to find a flower, bug, tree, or scene of every color listed in the song, let's see how I did:
We got a lot of rain one day

no, it's not out of focus, you are looking for the red and black ants

I wish I knew the names of some of these flowers
We found this little creek on the rainy day. We stopped for lunch and Grandma Melissa (the water magnet) found it and went wading with Timmy.

These wildflowers looked like weeds to me, but after almost 2 weeks, they started to grow on me. (No pun intended.)
We celebrated the 24th of July, a.k.a. Pioneer Day (a Utah holiday) while we were there. We flew this flag at our campsite almost every day.

This is tropic Resoirvoir. We camped less than 5 miles from here

This is the reservoir on a cloudy day. We got stuck in a downpour this day.
Do you see the 3 antelope?
Ignore those crazy people and try to see the gorgeous view in the background.
There were cows ALL OVER. This here is #145. She had a calf with her, who was a little camera shy.
The clouds were magnificent. They were even more enjoyable when they didn't dump rain on us. The colors of the rocks varied so much, even within a 20 mile radius.
This is one photo that doesn't do justice to the weird lava rock type mountain pictured here. It was black and came out of nowhere. This was possibly the most bizarre thing I saw on this vacation.

This is East Fork Creek. (Our vacation is named after this body of water.)
The elevation at camp was about 7,850 ft. This view was breathtaking.
I'll try to post a few more pictures with us in them. I was just amazed by the scenery and wanted to share it with you.

Lyrics | Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Joseph’s Coat lyrics

Tim's First Tear-free Haircut

2008-08-03T14:47:00.010-06:00

From the time we gave Tim his first haircut as a baby, and during every haircut since then, he has screamed bloody murder. He has needed a haircut for almost a month now, and I have been dreading it and putting it off. But it was too shaggy for me to stand any longer, (no pun intended) so on Friday, we went in for a haircut.A friend with 3 young children recommended Cookie Cutters as a wonderful discovery for her kids, who also used to be screamers. So, we went there. The cut was $13.95 (plus a tip), and because of the great experience we had, I think it was well worth it and will likely go again.

We went to their website and looked at the pictures and watched the video to "prep" Timmy for what was coming. I was still worried he would scream the whole time.

But, they let him choose his seat. There was a bicycle, an airplane, a pink girly car, and a red race car. You can see what he chose. He also picked a movie to watch; Curious George won. They also had video games for older kids. The cut took about 20 mins. because I made her touch up a few places. Twice. We also got a balloon, cookie cutter, and sucker for both boys after Tim was finished.

Another thing I loved about this place was that in the waiting area there was a slide, which they both liked, but while Timmy was getting his trim, Spencer was completely entertained.

Timmy was so proud of himself for not crying that it was the first thing he told Daddy when he walked in from work.

Here are the before, during and after shots:
Shaggy Timmy in the waiting area, playing a video gameSpencer trying out the kiddie chairs in the waiting area
In the fancy airplane seat, wearing a superman cape
Partway through the cut. You can see his George movie, and his troubled face in the mirror.
The "After" cut. No smile, but no screams or tears, either.
No hair over the collar, anymore, either. Hooray!

The First "Real" Wall

2008-08-03T14:28:00.006-06:00

I vacationed most of the month of July, so I was scarcely home. When I left for the first trip, this is what the house looked like:
When I returned home, Troy and his helpers had completed it to this point:
After returning from our family camping trip last Monday, we knew we needed to get to work, so after a full week of working, this is what our house looks like today:
We are very pleased with the progress. It it finally looking like we have accomplished something. All our other work (which was no easier than the walls we put up this weekend) was underground, so it somehow didn't have the same "Wow" factor.

Remember when...

2008-07-27T19:37:00.002-06:00

This is because I was feeling nostalgic. I saw it on a few friends' blogs and thought I would try it.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you have of me or my family. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

This is fun so, play the game with us!

Even Big Girls Like to Play Dress Up

2008-07-13T01:28:00.000-06:00

From the moment I arrived, my mom wanted to show me the bridesmaid dress I will be wearing to Shannie’s wedding in just over 1 month. I oohed and aahed over it, but that was not enough. She wanted to see how it fit, since they purchased it without me there. So I happily put it on to model. It fit like a glove!

I think deep down, the little girl in all of us still wants a reason to play dress up. I was happy to find a reason. The camera’s auto focus was still off, so only a few of the photos turned out. Here they are!

Flying High for the 4th of July

2008-07-11T23:55:00.000-06:00

We celebrated the first part of Independence Day at home, preparing to travel. Then Timmy, Spencer and I flew down to Hot Country to celebrate the rest of the week with my family. Timmy was anxiously anticipating flying on the plane in his own seat. Going through security was a bit of a hassle because of my insulin pump; I always have to go through the pat down, magic wand routine. Because I was carrying Spencer when I walked through te metal detector, He also had to go through the same routine. Ridiculous. We passed the test, and all continued on toward the gate. I brought my double stroller so I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping Timmy within arm’s reach while carrying Spencer. It was a life saver. (Thank you Karen- we have racked up lots of miles on that stroller.)
We made a quick potty stop in a family bathroom. Those are awesome, especially if you are toting a stroller and 2 babies. It is hard to fit all that into a handicapped stall of a regular restroom. (Yes, I was daring enough to let my 2 year-old travel in his big boy Buzz Lightyear underwear.) Eventually, we arrived at the gate, and we could see 5 airplanes out the windows. Timmy thought they were awesome.
He wanted to know which one was his. I think in his mind, each passenger got a plane of their own. Ours was Bluish-Purple with a Red belly. Here is Timmy plane-gazing out the window. Once Timmy climbed out of the stroller, Spencer voiced his protest at being left and was soon happily bouncing with Timmy on a chair by the window, pointing at all the new sights. We unwittingly drove off the little old lady who was initially seated next to the lady in the picture. The lady in the picture was friendly and we chatted for a few minutes while we waited for our flight to board. When I snapped this picture, she said to me, “So, I am hoping you are taking photographs for a senior citizen’s fashion magazine.” I assured her that I was the head photographer and she would have her face on the cover, and that a check would be arriving in the mail shortly thereafter. I think she could tell I was joking…
Timmy was still sooo excited, and as our flight began to board, we walked down the jet way, unloaded the boys from the stroller and as we were just about to step over the threshold and onto the plane, Timmy had a sudden change of heart, threw himself down on the floor and began to wail, “ I want to go home to Daddy right Now!” I was slightly embarrassed, and tried to lift him one-handedly while holding Spencer, to no avail. Thank heaven for angels in disguise. A kind woman offered to carry Timmy onto the airplane for me. I gave her Spencer instead since he’s lighter and more cooperative. She whisked him aboard, and I carried Timmy on. The moment we crossed the threshold, it was as if a light switch had been flipped again, and he was completely back to his excited, normal self. He really wanted to say hi to the “airplane driver” but I thought, I don’t need the air marshall to have any reason to flag me, so I made up a silly excuse of why we couldn’t see him.
Timmy’s greatest joy came when he discovered he got to use the big buckle and didn’t have to sit in a booster or carseat. He was stoked. While we waited to taxi and liftoff, Timmy started to have another bout of uncertainty when he heard the loud roar of the jet engines . He said, “I think I will run home now.” I distracted him by explaining how the plane would drive on its wheels down a bumpy road and would go so fast that we would go up into the air like a bird. Then the wheels would go up inside the plane’s belly. We passed the control tower and I explained that was where the pilot would get a red or green light when it was his turn to taxi. He liked the red light/ green light explanation. However, when we started to pick up speed, he got a little scared and wanted Daddy again. I instructed him to look out the window and I said, “when we fly up, up, up over our house, Daddy will be outside hammering on our house. He will see our airplane in the sky and he will wave, and say, ‘good-bye, Timmy!’ and he will look for oyu to wave and say, ‘good-bye, Daddy!’ can you wave to Daddy?” He happily obliged and about 3 times throughout the flight he waved out the window and said “Good-bye!” So cute.
He loved eating peanuts. I knew the drinks could potentially lead to disaster, so I planned ahead and brought my Impressions Tumblers and straws. They have an amazing dripless lid so that the hole for the straw doesn’t leak, even if you turn the cup upside down and shake it. Wow! They are amazing. That way the boys could have an in flight drink and snack. I think my camera was switched to manual focus, so the only shot that turned out, the boys weren’t smiling. Oh, well.

I was really worried that one or both boys would act up or cry during the flight, especially since Spencer was recovering from an ear infection. Both boys were great! Timmy and I made a visit to the on board lavatory, and he liked it because it was, in his words, “Just my size.” Spencer stayed in the cabin with Danielle, who sat on out row. It was a little cramped with both of us in the tiny washroom. (I remember thinking “you would have to be fairly nimble to join the Mile High club in an airplane lavatory.”)

The flight lasted 1 ½ hours. I shopped for some new, novel toys to hold the boy’s attention and the time passed quickly. We only lost one ball in the course of the day. Not bad.The landing was pretty uneventful. When homes came into view, Timmy waved out the window and said, “Good-bye, Daddy” one last time. I miraculously managed to collect a large suitcase, a carry-on sized suitcase, two carseats, two boys, the double stroller and the baby bag all by myself and make it out to the pick up spot. (I usually have a purse, too, but consolidated for this trip.) I impressed myself. Let’s pray that the flight home will be as uneventful.

Is my Family Weird?

2008-07-11T00:24:00.009-06:00

Troy claims that my family is a little weird. My opinion is that we are normal and his family is the weird bunch. There is friendly banter between us when we discuss who is the weird one. The topic usually arises when someone in one of our respective family members does something bizarre. We cite the bizarro behavior as evidence to back our claim. I think most married people realize at some point that the norms we grow up with are not necesarrily the same as what other families do.

But, my opinion may be a little biased. Look at the following pictures and decide for yourself. Let me know whose side you would take in this argument

Me (with a rubber band behind my ears)

Garrett doing the same
Smiling. You should put a rubber band on your face, look in the mirror and see if you can keep from laughing. It's almost impossible.

We took these pictures while Garrett, Kirby and I were playing one of our favorite games, Settlers of Catan, and it was well past midnight. We were getting a little punchy and the game was dragging a little. But, I won!

Playing games is another thing that my family loves and Troy can't stand. Since I arrived on the 4th, we have played Settlers od Catan 2x, Guillotine 3x, Chutes and Ladders (with Timmy- start 'em young) over and over, and Sorry 1x, and Chess. Guaranteed, when my parents get back from their cruise, Mom and I will play Sequence, and Daddy and I will play Cutthroat (a version of backgammon.) I will win them all, of course. Timmy and Spencer dressed to the nines. They are really in disguise. Does the name Steve Urkel ring a bell?
Mom and Shannon. Like mother, like daughter

Dad holding newborn Spencer a year ago at out annual camping trip. They are both a little dirty and a little cross-eyed

Shannon. I'm not sure the glassses are helping... but she got her dad's crossed eyes.

(If you have met my family members, you may realize that we don't necesarrily look like this all the time.) Now, if you decide to comment, be nice... we have feelings, too.

SpongeBob flip flops

2008-07-03T08:04:00.000-06:00

The heat of summer has made Timmy reconsider his plan to go barefoot all year. While at the grocery store I cruised down the seasonal aisle, and there were some adorable flip flops for cheap. I asked Timmy if he wanted some, and he did. I almost continued my shopping when Spencer began fussing. He wanted something to play with. So, I grabbed a pair his size and finished my shopping. (You almost need two of everything just to prevent a "sharing" quarrel from erupting over every novelty.) When we arrived home, I put the shoes on the boys and just started laughing. They extend a good inch beyond the tips of their toes, so I was convinced neither of them would be able to walk without tripping. It is Hilarious to see Spencer especially toddling around with flip flops on. Luckily his pair has heel straps to keep them on.
Timmy's feet (and my dirty kitchen floor)
Tim just after lunch wearing his shoes, and a dirty face, too
Spencer's feet (yes, he has a farmer's tan- until today, he only wore tennis shoes and socks). He's a slower eater and is still in his high chair
Their first attempts at walking in the new shoes. Not only do their shoes match, but they are wearing matching shirts, too. That is one thing I like about having them spaced so close together is that I can buy their clothes in the same department and they often match! (I still think girl clothes are cuter. I wonder if Troy would mind if I got them matching dresses... Yes! he would.)
I love baby feet!

Blog Bugs

2008-07-01T13:15:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to gripe a little... These are a few things that "Bug" me wen it comes to blogging.

Automatic Music Players When I read blogs "live" instead of via Google Reader, I don't like when someone's playlist starts blaring. I have had it wake up babies, and sometimes, I am listening to my own music. Other times, it "tattles" on me when I say I'm just going to check my e-mail really fast, and then end up blogging. So, I made my playlist the kind that has to have the "play" button pushed in order to play.

Word Verification on Comment moderated or private blogs It just seems like a double whammy. If you use comment moderation, you don't have to post any comments you don't like. If your blog is private, the only people commenting are those who you've invited. So, why all the security?

Light colored text on light colored or similar colored backgrounds also, very busy patterned backgrounds with text directly over the pattern. These blogs are simply too hard to read.

My Sad Dad

2008-07-01T12:10:00.005-06:00

This photo was taken at Christmas when we went to visit. I didn't get a picture of him this trip. Last Wednesday, my dad came into town for business. While using a borrowed pocket knife to cut a zip tie, his hand slipped and severed 2 tendons on his index finger of his left hand. He had planned on staying through the weekend to help Troy & me with the house, but it turned out, he spend the next 3 days in and out of the Emergency Room, surgery, and recovery. He wasn't able to help at all, and was soo sad about it. I felt bad, too. He was pretty uncomfortable all weekend, and was feeling more like a burden than a help. We were still happy to see him, but wish it had been under more favorable circumstances. Poor Daddy!

Before and After: Basement with Walls

2008-06-29T13:03:00.007-06:00

Before
And AfterAnd After

Framing the Basement

2008-06-29T13:00:00.004-06:00

We've been busy the past week as we started framing Last Saturday. Here's what we have accomplished that time. (I wish I had taken an "Our First Wall" photo, but the memory card was full, and I didn't have time to download all the pics to the computer, so alas, it is never to be had.)
Tom came over and spent all day Saturday helping Troy. They were able to get a lot done.
Troy's parents and Emily his youngest sister came over around 4 pm and stayed until 9:00. They, and Tom were able to lift, mark and install almost half the floor joists.
It makes me nervous to watch Troy walking on the tops of the walls that are 3 1/2 " wide with a 9 foot drop to the basement floor.
As usual, we also had our two "little helpers" along
Here they are climbing on the lumber in their socks. Once they get dirt into their shoes, its hopeless trying to convince them to keep their shoes on.
Melissa and Emily were lots of help. The joists are to be placed on 12" centers in some places, and 18" centers in other places. They marked on the top of each wall where the joists should sit. It's not as easy as it sounds!
Tom making sure the joist is sitting right on the mark.
Em and Mom measuring and marking while both standing on the Little Giant Ladder
Using the speed square to draw the lines
We moved the Little Tikes slide down into the basement so the boys could play while we work and we would be able to keep them semi-contained
The novelty wears off fairly quickly, though.
Troy was especially glad to have them all there when it was time to move the joists that were 42 feet long!!!
Aunt Emily taking a break with the boys
A fun picture looking through the framing at Melissa and Tom
This is what we accomplished at the end of the day. Thank you for all your hard work everyone!

Not enough time to blog

2008-06-27T15:30:00.004-06:00

I'd really like to have time to post some new pics of what our house looks like now, but Ihave been spending every free second out building it, that I don't have mugh time to upload the pics. Check back soon.

But, we are now in the "Framing Phase" we have 5 walls up and the joists (what the upstairs floor will sit on) are being delivered this afternoon.

The golden hammer of the week award (I just invented that, or thought I had, until I googled it) goes to a lot of people who have lent a hand. I will only use first names to protect their privacy. The winners are Alan M., Parker B., Paul W., Brett F., Tom H. and my Dad. THANK YOU! Some jobs, no matter how skilled the individual, cannot be done alone.

On another blogging note, I like cooking blogs, but don't have time to maintain one of my own, so a friend in my ward lets me be an author on her blog. Here's a link to the blog. "I Love to Cook" Hope you like it. It fulfils my desire, without the pressure to constantly update.

Reconnected Sewer

2008-06-19T11:10:00.002-06:00

I know some of you have been worrying about our sewer situation. Well, all fears aside. We are back in business!! No more treks outside in the rain in the middle of the night anymore. HOORAY!

In a People House

2008-06-15T13:10:00.000-06:00

Have you ever read this Dr. Seuss book? It is about a bird and a mouse that explore in a "People house." I would recommend it to any with little kids. When we dug our basement, we unintentionally evicted some birds from their homes. In their efforts at relocation, one young robin red breast decided to move in with us. I was confused at first when Timmy nonchalantly mentioned that there was a bird on the microwave. I glanced over and there was a real live, twittering, flapping bird.
I was a little worried about its health because it was battering itself attempting to fly through the glass window to get back outside. I opened the doors, thinking it would fly out the same way it came in. But, with us in the house, it was too fearful and wouldn't cross the kitchen or living room to get to the doors. Here is the bird on the corner of the fridge Sitting on our sam's club sized hand sanitizerOn top of the fridge again.

The boys thought it was awesome to have a bird in the house, especially since I don't let any animals in: no bugs, no dogs, no pets, no nothing! (We do have one pet crab, but it stays in its tank, especially after what happened to his superhero brother when he ventured out of the aquarium.) I am just not an animal person, so this noisy, active wild animal was great excitement and entertainment. Spencer even learned how to say "bird" when all this was going on.
Finally, I ventured over to the window it was beating itself against, and opened the window, and removed the screen. I placed the screen so the bird had only one place to fly to: toward the open window, and in a minute or two, the bird was happily back outside. It was easier than getting raccoons out of the chimney. What a relief!

Basement Photo Update

2008-06-14T15:33:00.000-06:00

Big excavator loading all the cement into the dump truck
The huge construction equipment makes my little house look soooo tiny
This is Chad the driver of the big digger with Tim and Spencer.
There was a little down time while we waited for the dump trucks to return from their dumps.
The boys thought it was awesome to sit up in the cab with the driver.
We mentioned in another post that we hit water when we were digging. Here's the water; you can see it running into the home toward the top of the picture.
We had to fill the hole with gravel, then sand, then compact it down with the digger so we could have a 6 ft. crawlspace there instead of the 9 ft. basement ceiling we had planned.
Timmy loves to be right in the middle of it all
This isn't even the deep hole, but he looks like he's sure small.
Now filling the trucks with dirt
Digging for the footings in the front yard
The cousins came to watch the digger, too.
What is it about tractors that captivate the male species so well?
All the spectators
How romantic- me, my man, and a yard full of dirt. *sigh*
Wearing our fancy clothes
Down in the hole after it was dug, before the footings
See the little pipe sticking out the side of the hole? Guess what it is. MY SEWER LINE!! It has been 2 weeks, 3 days with no sewer. But who's counting...
The pumper truck to pump the cement into the footing forms
the forms
I was amazed at how tall those trucks rise
The cement trucks- there were 2 for the first set of footings, and 8 for the foundation walls.
Another great action shot taken by me- the cement plopping into the forms.
There was a crew of 4 doing the footings: one man to control the pumper truck, another one moving the hose the cement came from, one guy pushing the gravel down, and another floating, or smoothing the top. It was very cool to watch. I video recorded some of it, but need assistance from my tech support team (Troy) to upload them.
Putting up the foundation froms in the crawlspace
The rat maze
Up on top of the 9 ft. forms
Timmy in the Cat they used to backfill the backyard portion of the foundation
Spencer in the driver's seat of the Cat
The was the coolest thing. In order to get the Cat into the backyard, the big digger lifted it up and over the foundation walls, and set it down on the other side. It was amazing to watch. I was slightly worried about the weakest link in the chain, but, it held up just fine.
Up, up, and away
Just like a mommy picking up her baby- effortless!

Timmy was getting a little squeaky, so he greased his nose
Here's the front of our house- digger, dump truck, port-a-potty, all the makings of a proper construction zone
Loading up to leave- This huge one doesn't even use a ramp to get up onto the trailer
the future stairway for the outdoor basement entrance
The whole hole. This is the view from my roof.

This is why we can't flush the toilet, or use the sink, or the dishwasher, or the shower, or the washing machine. It would empty into our big hole and that would be more mess than any of us want to deal with.

Gone fishing in a Laundry Basket

2008-06-13T17:49:00.014-06:00

We may not have a boat, but we can cave just as much fun in the kitchen. Timmy's imagination is really blossoming and Spencer is always game to go along for the ride.
The air pump is the fishing pole.
It is in a constant state of motion, so you won't ever see a clear picture of it.
They thought is was funny that I was standing in the water in my socks. Spencer laughs whenever Timmy does, even though he has no idea what is so funny.

After they finished fishing, they dragged the "Boat" onto the "sand" (carpet) and climbed up to the table to eat their fish. Yum!

Happy First Birthday, Spencer!

2008-06-01T15:56:00.010-06:00

I can hardly believe our baby is turning 1! We had a carefree day. He woke up at Grandma and Pa's house early (so I am told) and lounged in their bed until they were ready to get up. Then Grandma and Emily went to clean the church, and Pa watched the boys. I guess Timmy didn't want to share his toys with Spencer, so he found some scissors in the drawer, located Spencer's beautifully wrapped gifts. Grandma had tied a Tonka Truck on top with the ribbons. Tim began cutting ribbons until that truck came off. He gave it to Spencer so he wouldn't have to share his toy anymore. The funniest part about it was that Pa was unaware that any of it had happened until Grandma came home and asked him about the mess. It still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Here is the front and back of the invitations I made for Spencer's Party next weekend. I can't believe I had time to make them. They were fun. Timmy helped put the white glue and the dirt in the dump truck. If you know where the "job site" is, consider yourself invited. I was protecting our identity.
When we arrived at the house, the kids were in the sand box with Emily. Will all the dirt at our house, I am surprised that they still love the sand at Grandma's house. After digging in the sand and swinging on the swings, we went inside the house and ate breakfast, then Spencer opened his present (which has been loosened by his brother). It was about 6 darling summer shorts/shirt sets and one that they said was for camping this summer- it has long sleeves and pants.

"Push me higher! Underdoggie!"
You can see the truck Tim cut off the package on the counter
He really liked ripping off the paper!
He already wants to be on the move, like his brother. Whe is such a little boy!
Spencer in disguise, well, removing the disguise.
Then we went for a walk around their neighborhood. Timmy found some old roller skates in the basement and wanted to try them out. Troy also wanted to look at a house that was being built by one of Brad's friends. It was nice to see how they were framing so Troy could have a visual. (it's been almost 15 years since he last helped frame a house.)

Timmy was hilarious on the roller skates. He was very wobbly at first, but in a short while had figured out how to maneuver himself. By the time we had been at the construction site a few minutes, he was climbing up a fairly steep hill alone because he wanted to sit in the little tractor at the top of the hill. He made it to the top!

There's something you don't see everyday: a tractor driver wearing roller skates!

Three generations of boys

A weekend of "Firsts"

2008-05-31T19:16:00.005-06:00

We celebrated a few landmark occasions this weekend. The 1st first was Spencer's 1st birthday. This is a big enough deal that it deserves its own post. The 2nd first was that Troy and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.I don't know why these are so small, maybe because they're scanned. That's ok, you won't see any of our blemishes and we will look like we have perfect skin. We took the liberty of doing 2 more firsts to celebrate: we went to our first movie since Timmy was born. We saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We tried and tried, but honestly cannot remember the last movie we saw in in theaters. We remember seeing the Lord of the Rings: Return of the Kings on Christmas day, 2003. The other first: we spent our first overnight without the kids. The had a slumber party at Grandma and Pa's house while we spend the night at Super 8. I wanted to stay at the Ramada because I haven't stayed there overnight since they purchased it in 2005. I figured it was about time. Besides, they have a pool and hot tub and it is a lot bigger and fancier. But, because of our sewer situation, we decided to keep a room at Super 8 so we can come to shower at our convenience; it is the closest to our house. After the movie we went to Sonic and got milk shakes, and then checked in for the night. I was so relieved to finally have a shower. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it had been 3 days since my last shower. Happy Anniversary to us!

Digging the basement today

2008-05-28T14:20:00.008-06:00

Which first- the good or bad news?

Well, the good news is that 1 the excavators came out this morning to dig the basement.
2 We also had out dumpster hauled away this morning. It was loaded to the brim.

And 3 we got a port-a-potty. It is literally inches from my front door. (I am rolling my eyes at the hilarity of it all.) My life and house are chaotically crazy. The bad news is that after digging a very short time, they hit water. I don't mean broke a pipe; I mean hit the water table. I guess in our area is is very close to the surface- only about 6 feet down. We needed to dig 9 feet deep for the footings and foundation walls. So, at this point, we are waiting to see how to proceed. We have a few options we're considering at this point. Any suggestions? Any sympathetic comments would be appreciated.

One more thing. A huge THANKS to Troy's parents and 2 youngest sisters who came over last night and helped finish the prep work. They stayed really late- until the whole house was staked off and ready to dig. another Thank You to Parker, who also helped tear out the roof. Last night, and Monday he helped us finish demolishing the shed.

Back Porch: Before and After

2008-05-28T13:09:00.000-06:00

Here is a before and after shot of our back porch. I hope I don't have to label which is which!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

2008-05-27T17:01:00.000-06:00

In addition to breaking out all the concrete this weekend, we tore out some shrubs and a planter box from the front porch. I am not sure what type of plant it was. Some sort of evergreen whose scent reminded me of pine trees when I walked by.
We tore them out by wrapping a chain around the base of the trunks and pulling them with the Cat. They came out roots and all, like puling weeds.
Troy was as happy as a kid on Christmas. He just loves driving Mechanical things. So do the boys- just like their dad.
I don't know why I am posting this ridiculous picture, but this is a shot Troy took from the drivers seat of the Cat while I was chaining up the trunks. You can see the scoop in the top of the picture.
I always liked those shrubs, but wasn't as sad to see them gone as the fruit trees. In fact, I think I like the house better than when the planter box was there.
Here's what the front of the house looks like today. See the small patch of green grass? My whole lawn looked like that yesterday morning. It is amazing how much havoc a tractor can wreck on a lawn in only a few hours. Oh, well, I guess Troy won't have to worry about mowing the lawn this summer. Lucky guy.

Men and Tractors

2008-05-27T16:17:00.000-06:00

What is is about tractors and machines that men and boys just can't help but love? My uncle Dan let us borrow his big Cat on Saturday, so we could finish the concrete project. Here are some pictures of all the fun.
Mom and the boys hanging out in the cab.
Troy's first shot at breaking out the cement. There was even rebar in the sidewalk. Amazing. Whoever built this house wanted it to last. (It didn't.) Notice that there is still grass on the lawn. By the end of the day, you'd never guess there had been grass that morning. Troy and the boys. He had to stop every so often to let Timmy ride with him. But, Timmy only lasted a short time before he needed a break and wanted to climb out again.Thanks again, Uncle Dan! We not only had fun, but got a lot done, too.
Not only is the cement gone, so is the grass!A close-up shot of me and my little boys. You should have seen how excited they were.The Cat did a good job of ripping out more than concrete.
Brett, our brother in-law wanted in on the fun, too.

Smashing up the back porch

2008-05-27T13:53:00.002-06:00

The biggest project we undertook was to demolish our back porch ourselves. The bids we got from contractors ranged from $2,000 to almost $5,000 to do the work shown below. We decided to save the money and do it ourselves. (I'll admit, Troy did a huge majority of the work.) After this job, Troy said he was sure glad he didn't work building railroad tracks. He was sore and exhausted at the end of every day. To give a rough estimate, he broke out over 30,000 pounds of concrete on this job. Troy, you are awesome. I love you!Troy started breaking out the concrete after work one Monday. It took us nearly 2 weeks to get it completely taken out. It was a huge job.Troy thought it might save time to rent a jackhammer, but it wasn't any faster, so he returned it and went back to the sledgehammerSee! I really do help. Here I am shoveling tar paper off the concrete roof.A tired, proud Troy surveys his accomplishment. All that is left is the rebar skeleton. We recycled all the steel and made a whopping $22.50. Woo hooOur friend Parker offered to help bash out some cement, and we took him up on it. Warning to other friends: Don't offer to help unless you mean it. Ha ha :)Troy climbing up the rebar to attach the chain to the posts so he can knock them overUsing the Cat to pull down the cement pillars. Troy said they came down like toothpicks. Those tractors are strong!Troy used the Cat Tractor to pull up the porch, too. Now all we have is a lot of dirt. The windows of the house really aren't boarded up -- that was just to protect the glass from all the debris.

A rainy, muddy, wonderful Memorial day

2008-05-26T17:05:00.007-06:00

Although it looks like we played all day, we really spent most of Memorial Day tearing down the rest of the shed. This was just the highlight of the day. It is nice to spend 4 days home with Daddy. We had a very productive weekend. Check back to see pictures of everything we accomplished.

Peek-A-Boo
Timmy loves to be outside, so we got on his rain gear: Umbrella, hood, and galoshes and he stood on the roof and watched Troy. (Don't worry- the roof was on the ground.)
He is such a Daddy's Boy!
After lunch, he abandoned the rain gear, and decided to play in the mud puddles barefoot. He was enthralled. He spent nearly an hour splashing and playing.
His pants were wet with muddy water above the knees when he finally came in the house.
Aren't life simple pleasures a joy to watch kids discover?
The texture of oozing, gooey mud is one even pictures can't adwquately describe.
I love this picture because I actually captured the "splash" as he jumped in. Click on the picture if you want to marvel at my Amazing photography skills.
I thought this was so cute I wanted to get it on video, so I took a video of both boys in the mud. We'll see if I am able to upload it. Videos are so difficult for me to figure out. *sigh*
The bath water after this episode was about the same color as the mud puddle in the pictures; even with the pre-bath hose down.

Taking a Break

2008-05-25T15:42:00.003-06:00

After working hard in the hot sun, we decided we had earned a slurpee break, so we sat in the shade a took a breather.

Mom sharing her BIG one with Timmy
Dad and Tim relaxing on the lawn
Spencer was actually asleep during our "break" but I wanted a picture of him anyway
This is just a silly picture of me with bright red lips from the Slurpee. Julie said there weren't enough pictures of me. She's right, I'm always the one snapping the pictures!

Timber!

2008-05-25T15:14:00.007-06:00

Last weekend, we cut down our trees. It was a sad, sad, day for me. I lost 2 mature, fruit-bearing apple trees, a delicious peach, and a year-old apple tree I received as a graduation present last year. Troy wasn't as sad, though. He just loves "playing" with his chainsaw. We filled up 3 big truckloads and dumped them at the city cleanup site. There was a free dump day. Lucky us! Here are some of the pictures.
Spencer wanting to push the dolly like his big brother
Timmy taking the firewood to the trucks

Loading up the truck
Two loads of tree branches getting unloaded. We also dumped the piles of firewood you saw earlier on this post
One of the apple trees we cut down
Troy getting his chainsaw going after it sat all fall and winter. Not an easy task!

"Approved" A word we've been waiting to hear for a long time

2008-05-23T17:01:00.004-06:00

Finally!
We heard from "the City" today and our building plans are approved! We can now officially begin building. (Until now we have only been doing prep work to get the house and yard ready to dig the footings and foundation. The contractors will be here Wed. or Thurs. to dig the basement.

We are so excited!! They will pour the footings the next day, and the foundation the following day. This time next week, we will have a huge hole in our backyard. Any of you are welcome to drop in for a guided tour. Emphasis on guided. We want to avoid the liability of curious onlookers, but we would love to show you around and show our plans. They have changed quite a bit since the original plans we posted.

So, now it is official. Hooray!

I will pay $8 to the first 3 people who...

2008-05-19T15:53:00.008-06:00

...book an online Tupperware party. Offer ends June 5, 2008. Payment will be made via PayPal. It is free and secure to set up a PayPal account.
Here is the official announcement: I finally earned enough of my "own" money to purchase the deluxe starter kit and sign up to be a Tupperware consultant. They encourage you to get started right away, so I thought I would sweeten the deal for any of you who like a sweet deal.

Here's the deal: $8.oo cash from me for booking party. (Paid immediately after you open the party) Plus, 10% of sales total in the the form of an e-Gift Certificate to be used toward your Tupperware wish list. Party sales must meet $200 total. This is a great way to earn free Tupperware. It literally takes only 5 minutes to book the party, and then the catalog is emailed to your friends, and they have 2 weeks to look it over and shop from the convenience of their own home. It doesn't matter where they live. It is all done online. In my opinion, this is the way to go!

To book a Party, click the link to My Tupperware Page, click on "Party" just above the picture of the brunette. There is all the information you could want about hosting a party. If you like what you see, click on "Tupperware Online Party" then click"Open Online Party" and fill in the brief form. I will be notified immediately, and you can expect your money in the next few days.

Back when I sold Tupperware 7 years ago, they didn't have online parties. I had to go to their house, do my song and dance sales performance and the guests felt an obligation and a pressure to attend and purchase. Ugh! I hated the parties, but I love the product.

The other service I offer as a consultant is Warranty Replacement. Tupperware has a lifetime warranty against cracks, peeling and breakage. If you have any that has these problems, or you have simply lost a lid, I can help you replace the piece. Warranty replacement is free, so let me be your Tupperware gal.

Shannon is the first winner: she began her party 5-22-08. Congratulations!

Draining our water storage- the fun way

2008-05-18T15:21:00.007-06:00

I filled our entire blue recycle can with emptied pop and juice bottles from the shed. We even jumped on them, like a trash compactor, and still couldn't fit them all in the can. I emptied most of them on Wednesday, but Troy's sister, Ali, came over with her 3 kids and they helped dump out the remaining bottles. They got wet, but had so much fun. Ali wanted to climb up on the roof and hammer with Troy, so I watched the 5 kids. After a while, they got bored of the backyard, so we went for a walk. Spencer and Hannah rode in the stroller while Timmy, Hunter and Eliza walked, or rather, ran ahead of me.

Some of the empty bottles. Ironically, Troy and I don't drink soda pop. Most of the bottles came from Ali and Brett. He's a Dr Pepper lover.
Timmy watering the peach tree that we will have to chop down this week. I'm so sad to lose the peach tree and 3 apple trees!
Spencer with his bottle.
Hunter climbing one of the apple trees we cut down on Saturday
Hunter dumping a bottle. Notice the sidewalk behind him is soaked?
Spencer and Hannah. From this angle she actually looks bigger than him.

The big kids climbed up on a pile of gravel to take a break
Almost 9:00PM. I hope the walk wore out these kids as much as it wore me out! Whew!

Backyard Birdwatching

2008-05-18T14:00:00.007-06:00

Can you find the male Quail?

Click on the picture for a larger size.

Every spring, a family of Quail make their nest in our backyard. When the babies finally hatch, they are so adorable following their dad in a straight line, with Mom bringing up the rear. They can sure run fast!

Eating in Color ... and in Foil

2008-05-18T13:11:00.012-06:00

Don't think that this meal is a representative sample of our everyday menu. It isn't. I like recipes that come recommended from others, but I know I am more likely to make them if I can see how it is done, or what the finished product looks like. So, here is a step by step picture recipe. We made 9 dinners with this recipe. They were huge and easily could have served 12.

Colorful Veggies in Foil
Ingredients:
1 zucchini squash, chopped into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 yellow squash, chopped into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb. mushrooms, quartered
1 pkg. cherry or grape tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2/3 c. Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
Parmesan Cheese

Step 1 Wash and cut all veggies. Toss with dressing to coat. Attach 2 pieces of foil together by folding edges 3 times. (like if you were sewing a hem) Dump all veggies onto foil.
Step 2 Fold sides up over the ends of the veggies.
Close top by bringing last 2 sides together and "hemming" the last 2 pieces together. This is how it looks when it is done. Cook in the same manner as the foil dinners (below) except cook only 6 minutes per side. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese and serve.
Foil Dinners
Ingredients:

5 lbs. potatoes, chopped
8 lbs. marinaded chopped meat (this shows chicken)
2 lbs. carrots chopped
1 onion, chopped
3-4 stalks celery, chopped (I forgot to put this on my grocery list, so we used celery salt instead: Oops!)
salt & pepper to taste
garlic powder, abt. 1/2 tsp. per foil pouch

I marinade my meat in Kraft Zesty Italian dressing

Step 1 Lay out 2 sheets of foil per dinner. (Don't be stingy or your dinners might not fit!)
Step 2 Spray foil with Pam, and place a pile of potatoes. I chop all my veggies ahead and keep covered with water, then just before I use them, I drain them with my Tupperware Impressions Colander. Step 3 Add carrots (and celery if you remember to buy it)
Step 4 add onions, garlic and seasonings to taste. These are my well-used Tupperware Salt & Pepper Shakers. I don't usually use celery salt. Potatoes are bland, so be generous with the seasonings.
Step 5 add the meat. I cut my meat frozen (its easier) and then throw it in my Tupperware Season Serve container with the dressing, and as it thaws, it absorbs the marinade. Marinade meat at least 4 hours, for best flavor
Step 6 Just like the veggies, fold up the dinners into pouches. Wrap one sheet of foil at a time.
Step 7 I use a cookie sheet to transport my dinners out to the fire. This is what they look like all wrapped up.
Step 8 the coals or briquettes should be grayish. This means they are hot enough to cook the food. Troy came home early to get my fire going. (Our friends arrived at 6pm) We used really dry firewood and it took about 30-40 mins. to get this hot.
Step 9 Place foil dinners directly on hot coals. Cook about 10-15 minutes
Step 10 Use metal tongs to turn dinners. Be very careful not to pierce or tear foil. Rotate the positioning of dinners, as there may be "hot spots" in the firepit. After another 10 minutes, check for doneness and enjoy. We topped ours with BBQ sauce. Sorry- I was so anxious to eat, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.
Last Step Sit back and enjoy the food, the fire, and the friends. We made S'mores for dessert. I ate 7!! Yummy!

Taking a "Dump" for Family Home Evening

2008-05-12T21:52:00.010-06:00

The "Before" picture of the lawnThe Big delivery truck and the Big delivery man
The cool truck- too bad the boys were both asleep- they missed it!
Timmy taking wood to the dumpster
Grandma, Timmy and Spencer loading the dumpster
Emily, Grandma, Timmy and Spencer inside the dumpster
Troy on the roof swinging his big sledgehammer. Also, notice the "After" shot of the lawn. Nice work, everyone, and Thank You!!!
Where the rebar is, the Concrete was. It was 8 inches thick, too
The boys both in the single stroller

We had an exciting day today. Around 4:00PM, Waste Managment arrived with a huge dumpster and deposited it on our driveway. I think the delivery guy was a little surprised when I asked him to pose for a picture, and maybe a little flattered. We made a lot of progress on filling that monstrosity, too. Troy's mom, Melissa, and baby sister, Emily came over and helped us load all the demolition debris into it for our Family Home Evening. Timmy and Spencer helped, and did, too. (Even though I found a second to snap a few pictures.)

Our good friends and neighbors, Alan and Anna, let us store our big jetted tub in their garage. (They don't park in it)

After Melissa and Emily left, Troy thought it would be fun to climb up on the roof and start smashing it with a sledgehammer. I don't think I will ever fully understand men. But, I took some pictures of our smashed up roof with my triumphant husband standing atop it.

The boys were all "jammied" up and ready for bed, so I put them both in the stroller (not the double) and puched them out to check on Daddy.

Let the Construction Begin

2008-05-12T14:21:00.000-06:00

The "Before" pictures:
Another "Before" picture of the bathroom- notice how you could walk from the bath to the closet, to the bedroom. Alas, 'tis a thing of the past.
The "After" picture of the bathroom. Hmmm...

Out comes the cabinet and sink
Spencer helping to solder the new tub plumbing. (They actually used pex, a flexible plastic pipe- it's blue for cold and red for hot, so there was very little soldering to do.)
Looking into the bathroom from the backyard
Looking into the backyard from the bathroom. Hi Pa! Goodbye to my gorgeous green tile surround.
Timmy is always happy to help swing a hammer
Pa, Troy and Timmy surveying the damage. That was a live wire dangling from the ceiling until they switched off the power.
Spencer wondering why the bathtub is out on the lawn. Can anyone answer that for me?The walls start closing in... One last glimpse into the sun
Help! the walls really have closed in; there isn't even a window any more.
Troy and Pa putting up the new plastic surround onto the new "tiny" tub.
The boys discover the new tub and mini sink the next morning. It's not so bad after all
The next weekend
The walk-in closet goes the way of the bathroom. Here comes the sheet rock, watch out Brad!
A view of the back yard from the bedroom doorway.
Out comes the carpet...
This is the door Timmy escaped out after the nail polish incident. (details to follow)

The title might be a little misleading. We are still waiting on our building permit, but we began demolishing the additions we made when we first moved in. In order to dig our basement adjacent to our existing house, we had to take out the walk-in closet and the part of the bathroom with the jetted tub. It was a sad, sad day.

On the up side, however, my dad came up for the weekend, and we had a wonderful time with him. He and Troy spent all last weekend, Friday and Saturday, taking down the bathroom walls, the glass block window, un-installing the jacuzzi tub, sink, counters, and cabinets. Then, they installed a new, standard size tub (Timmy calls it a "tiny tub"), a miniature sink and essentially non-existent cabinet.

Then they re-framed the wall, minus the window and put up a temporary shower surround. The boys, especially Timmy, have a very hard time adjusting to change. (Troy said it's not their fault; it's in their blood.) On Sunday morning when I started filling the new "tiny tub" with water, Timmy started bawling and crying, and yelled, "I don't want this little tub!" Once he was in the water with Spencer, he promptly forgot and enjoyed himself.

As usual, Daddy had lots of helpers. In addition to Pa, Timmy and Spencer were always trying to get their hands into it.

This weekend, Troy's brother, Brad, surprised us and showed up with Skyler, one of his boys, to help rip out the walk-in closet.

Timmy and Skyler loved watching the sheet rock begin to crack, break, and ultimately come crashing down. They were so proud of their rough 'n' tough Daddies. They also loved standing in the closet with the walls off, but the carpet and interior doors still there. We had to make room in our tiny master bedroom for all the hanging clothes, shoes and dresser that were in the closet, as well as some junk we stored there for lack of a better place.

Thank you so much for all your help Brad and Pa! We couldn't have gotten it done as timely as if Troy and I were doing it ourselves. You're the greatest.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, after the demolition, we went out to the shed and started packing up our boxes and moved them into Troy's parent's basement for temporary storage until our basement is dug and the foundation and flat work finished. So I guess you could say we're moving!

One of our 3 wedding songs

2008-05-08T17:46:00.004-06:00

This was emailed to us a while back from a family friend who has known Troy most of Troy's life. (Troy even dated his daughter.) Our families go camping together every summer. Greg is famous for writing clever lyrics to popular songs. Because the camping trips revolve around dirt biking, most of the songs are also about motorcycles.

Troy's Dad, Greg (who wrote the song) and Alan, (who also camps with us) sang this song at our wedding reception in Utah, accompanied by guitars.

Looking back, I realize that almost everything in this song is true, even if some of it is stretched a little to make it funny. It seems like now that we have kids, I spend more time in camp than on my motor riding by his side.

Troy and Nicole Wedding Pie by Greg Shields
Sung to the tune of 'American Pie" by Don McLean

(first verse)
Not too long ago, This was
When it had just begun to snow,
There was a boy you got know.

In wintertime he stole your heart
The two of you were not apart
And wedding plans began to start

But in romance with all its glory
You sometimes get just half the story,

Should have taken that invitation,
To go on his vacation.

We hope you have a great romance,
Cause if you do then there’s a chance,
You’ll look good in Fox racing pants.

Because Troy loves to ride…

Chorus:
Ride, ride, we gotta go ride!
I hope you get a motor
And you ride by his side.

If you don’t want to
you can always stay home

and think of things to do all alone…
think of things to do all alone.

(second verse)
Troy was raised out in the dirt,
With a toilet and a fridge that didn’t work.

And he thought that it was all so grand,

A great time on a Friday night
was to do air-cleaners on the bike,
Make sure all the chains were tight.

He always looked in real trouble
Cause he’d go through, not around the puddles,

The bike was always calling,
And Troy was always falling.

Now I hope that you can hold on tight
When Troy rides at the speed of light,
The bike drowns out those screams of fright

Because Troy loves to ride…

Chorus:
Ride, ride, we gotta go ride!
I hope you get a motor
And you ride by his side.

If you don’t want to
you can always stay home

and think of things to do all alone…
think of things to do all alone.

(third verse)
When you make your travel plans
You must not think of distant lands,
With all those great rides close at hand.

Can you fill your vacation needs,
By always camping in the weeds?
Because you’ll never see the beach

A restaurant by the ocean or a mountain top,
In his mind won’t beat the pit-stop.

They cook burgers your way
with the patties as an ashtray.

You'll get stuck out in the tent
With tubes ans bike parts that are bent
but you won't have to pay the rent

Because Troy loves to ride.

Chorus:
Ride, ride, we gotta go ride!
I hope you get a motor
And you ride by his side.

If you don’t want to
you can always stay home

and think of things to do all alone…
think of things to do all alone.

(fourth verse)

We don't mean to scare you away
But it's too late, we're sad to say
Just stick with us and you'll be okay

Even if Troy loves to ride.

Chorus:
Ride, ride, we gotta go ride!
I hope you get a motor
And you ride by his side.

If you don’t want to
you can always stay home

and think of things to do all alone…
think of things to do all alone.

City kids meet farm animals

2008-04-28T23:20:00.010-06:00

Inspired by Suzanne, I spontaneously decided this morning that we should go see the baby animals at wheeler farm. I called my good friend and neighbor, Anna, and invited her and Jessie to come with us. They cheerfully obliged. Because it has free admission, we don't feel like we have to see and do everything like we do when we visit the zoo and pay $10 admission. So, we stayed about 1 1/2 hours and that was just right. Here are some of the fun pictures:Pigs hiding out in the shade. It got up to 80 degrees today!
Tim loved watching the geese- when there was a fence between them.
There were baby animals all over. These goslings still have their yellow down. Cute!
Timmy the climber was up to the second story as the girls watched from below.

An action shot of Timmy talking. The mother cow is giving her calf a bath in the background
Notice the shiner Spencer got in church yesterday? The whole congregation can vouch that we aren't abusing the poor child. Ouch! It looked even worse yesterday.The ducklings stuck close to their momma. My boys, on the other hand, didn't.
The 2 white and gray birds are our state bird, seagulls. They liked stealing the duck's food. They seemed a little out of place at the farm. I envision them at the beach.
Wilbur
Timmy throwing bread to the ducks and geese. Notice how nice he looks with his new haircut. I cut it Saturday morning before I delivered the wedding cake. If you look close, it still has a few shaggy spots, but he was screaming and attempting to escape for the entire ordeal. Any touch-ups will have to take place when he's asleep.
This is as close as Spencer got to lifting his stroller off the ground!
This is Timmy, Jessie, our neighbor girl we love, and Spencer. When there are animals around, you can forget getting them to look at the camera.
Here is my good friend Anna with Jessie. We work in nursery together on Sundays. (Nursery is the children's class for ages 18 mos to 3 years.) Timmy wanted to drive this blue tractor.
My hair is barely long enough to fit in a ponytail again. I decided to grow it out again and donate it when it is long enough. I got really hot in long pants and a sweater.

If any of you want to go to the farm with us, just let us know. We love it!

Wedding bells will be ringing for...

2008-04-28T22:22:00.006-06:00

Shannon!!

She called me at 10:30 Saturday night to tell me the news. It didn't come as a complete surprise because when we were visiting them for General Conference, Jacob asked my dad if he could marry her, and Daddy said "Yes!" So, I was just waiting for him to pop the question. She described the ring, and it sounds beautiful. He proposed in a very romantic way. I don't want to steal all her thunder, so check out her blog. Shannie's blog link Hopefully she will post all the juicy details soon. I only have one picture of them together, so here it is again.

Early morning party at my house- Why wasn't I invited?

2008-04-28T15:15:00.007-06:00

Attendees: Stan, Dave, Spencer, Troy, and Brad holding a water bottle Timmy with his football. At least Troy put sandals on over his pajamas
The police cars were all over.
Jessie and her Mommy, Anna
A splendid view of the port-a-potties
Sierra

The Salt Lake Marathon happens every year, and every year, it is like a surprise party. We live right on the route, and we live at mile 14, so there is always a big to-do in our front yard that morning. A lot of our neighbors came over to watch from our driveway. We have front row seats.
We are always awakened in the morning by loud music, cheering and cries of "Water! Water" and "Gatorade! Gatorade!" The runners get thirsty and want to know what is in the cups that the volunteers thrust at them as they pass.

The first year we lived in our house, we were remodeling the bathroom, and the back wall was torn out. It was enclosed by a semi-transparent plastic. Well, the marathon committee didn't plan on enough port-a potties, and two lady runners, came up to Troy and asked if they could use our bathroom. (He was sitting in a lawn chair in the driveway.) He said as long as they didn't value their privacy, they were welcome to use it. They both used it.

That same year, the volunteers came over and told Troy that they ran out of toilet paper, and asked if they could borrow some. He lent it to them. They didn't return it (thank goodness). So, you can call us active supporters of the SL Marathon.

I'm told (I am still snuggled up in bed when this happens) the bikers come zooming past around 5ish. About an hour later the crazy fast men runners start to show up. This may be un-PC but Troy tells me they are almost all black guys. (I am still snoozing) Next comes the fast white guys and the super fast women. By the time I roll out of bed, around 7am, and look out the window, there are the quick runners, both men and women. After my shower, the joggers come past.

By the time I'm dressed and outside, the slowest stragglers are passing. (Don't get me wrong, they are ALL going faster than I would be; I am just comparing them to those completing the marathon. The last person, I felt sorry for her, but proud of her for finishing, was followed slowly by a police car, then by the slow-moving procession of vehicles that anxiously awaited the road opening.

By about 11 am, the road is open again, the band has packed up, the volunteers are gone, and the port-a-potties have been hauled off. All evidence of the marathon has disappeared. Too bad house parties don't clean themselves up the same way. I'd have a party every weekend if that was the case.

April snow showers, bring maybe flowers

2008-04-28T14:42:00.005-06:00

These pictures were all taken on April 24! I was shocked to see the snow, and I was glad that the cold didn't hurt the flowers that were already blooming in my yard. Here are a few of our flowers:It started as rain...

...then turned into snow! I couldn't believe it!
Spencer being shy (and sitting on the wet grass)
Timmy wearing his galoshes
Spencer hiding behind a daffodil
Cherry blossoms (Yes, the showers blew over quickly, followed by this beautiful blue sky)
My favorite bright pink tulip with orange accents
Peach blossoms
Pale pink and white tulips
Last, but not least, and definitely easiest to grow, Dandelions

Later in the Spring, we will also have apple blossoms on 4 trees, strawberry blossoms, purple and lavender irises, mint, grapes, chamomile, and a few perinneals I don't know the names of.

Bags for the Mommies, Guns for the Daddies

2008-04-28T13:47:00.003-06:00

So, I just ran across this website that sells mostly gun stuff, like Galco holsters, under armour, ammo belts and stuff like that. Well, as I was browsing, I found these bags. They look huge, but, that is exactly what I use, since I am always toting diapers, wipes, spare outfit for Spencer, change of underwear and pants for potty-training Timmy, and assorted entertainment devices like crayons, books, matchbook cars, and candy for bribing. I also have my personal stuff like wallet, keys, diabetes stuff, and lipstick. So, these would be great for lugging around all my junk. If your hubbies are into guns, they have lots of stuff that would make a good Father's day gift. Plus, I noticed a free shipping deal they have going on now, so if that's your kind of thing, check out their site.

My Best Friend's Wedding

2008-04-26T18:14:00.006-06:00

I know it's been a while since I posted because my best friend, Tonya got married today.

Congratulations!!

I made her wedding cake, which turned out beautifully. That is why I haven't been blogging this past week, I have spent any time the boys have been asleep doing cake stuff. I am amazed at how many hours I spent. I am not going to disclose the number, but it was more than 2 dozen.
I had fun getting my fingers back into it. After the news I received last night, I am now going to be making another cake this summer, probably in August. (curious? I'll tell you who later.)

I was a little disappointed with the pictures of the cake, because the shiny silver platter made the light reflect onto the icing, giving it a wavy look, instead of the smooth finish that it really had.

I was even more disappointed when I realized that I forgot to bring my camera to the temple, so I don't have any pictures of the bride, or any of the festivities. :-( Maybe I can get them from someone else. I hope.

The ceremony was sweet and simple, and the luncheon was delicious. The caterer was an idiot. Sorry to sound harsh, but there was a complete lack of common sense. The florist left the bridal bouquet in the serving area in a vase. It was very obviously a bouquet. Well, he disassembled the entire arrangement and scattered them on his banquet table, along with parsley and sliced oranges. (ugly) There is a reason a bride hires a florist to do the flowers and a caterer to do the food. So, Tonya's sister ended up reassembling the bouquet for the pictures, but, it wasn't a beautiful as the original. I guess every wedding has a few mini-crises, and generally speaking, they get resolved.

Now, any of you who are planning on getting married had better start kissing up to me now if you want me to make your cake, because it is a lot of work, and I only do it for friends and family, which means that after the friends and family discount, I don't really make anything. Even if you aren't getting married, you can kiss up, though.

Lucky Ladybug

2008-04-20T15:09:00.004-06:00

We found this ladybug at the park. Now we hope we'll have some luck. Doesn't my skin look dry? Hopefully, it's just because of the closeup shot.

Park Pals

2008-04-20T14:54:00.005-06:00

We walked to the park with our pals, Sheri, Aiden, and Eli last week. The weather was warmish and windy; a storm blew in that night. It was all fun and games until Timmy got hurt. After he recovered, it was back to the fun and games. He walked in front of a boy on the swings, and got kicked in the head. Earlier that same morning, he fell on the couch he was climbing onto the tile. So, in the photo, if you look closely, you can see the swing scrape, and the couch goose egg, just to the right of it. Ouch. Poor kid!

After a few tears, we played on the slides, climbed on the caterpillar, ate our picnic lunch, played on the swings, and walked back home. Timmy liked the motorcycle, although it never seemed to go fast enough. Spencer enjoyed the bark more than his lunch. At times, Tim preferred to stand guard at the tube slide, and protect it from other kids, than to slide down it himself. It seems like no matter how long you play at the park, for a kid, it is never quite long enough. We still had to pry them off the swings and drag them from the playground.

Both boys fell asleep on the ride home from Sheri's house. (The real reason Moms go to the park.)

A peek into our business trip vacation

2008-04-10T11:19:00.011-06:00

Troy had a business trip in the same city Grandma and Pa live, so he invited us all to accompany him. We happily obliged. Here are some of our fun adventures down where the weather was perfect. I didn't get pictures of everyone or everything, but this is what you get to see to document our last week's worth of adventures.

Notice Pa's goatee slowly shrinking over the course of the week. By the time we came home, Grandma had her way and Pa was clean shaven again.
Spencer and Pa wrestling- Spencer wins!
Timmy helping himself to the M&Ms
What is missing in this picture?
Spencer and Uncle Garrett
Hanging out with Grandma and Pa upstairs
Sleepy snuggle bugs

General Conference at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house

As sisters in Zion: Aunt Wendy and Grandma Jill
In between sessions: "Flying with Pa" (Look at Timmy's shadow)
Great Gramps grilling the burgers
Look at those 2 bald guys working on the dirt bikes
They planned on riding Thursday and Friday, all day long, but the first day, the repairs took longer than anticipated, and the second day, they locked the keys inside the truck and had to wait for us to bring them a spare.
Pa is always changing the story. Timmy's troubled face in this picture is because Pa is trying to convince him that the cat's name is "Lunch" and that he tastes good barbecued. The plot is a
Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked home from Conference
Playing together
Playing with kitchen utensils with Uncle Kirby
Shannie and Jake (the twitterpated lovebirds) enjoying Conference together
... a little while later...
Garrett is now in High School. My baby brother, all grown up. Where does the time go?
Timmy can put on his own pants. Hmmm...

Preschool

Grandma teaches preschool. She let Tim go to class with her. He isn't so sure about all the "big" kids."I Pledge of allegiance..."
Doesn't he look tiny standing next to the giant 4 & 5 year-olds?
Lining up to go home