Summer Monday

Good morning. Happy Monday. Today started off with violin for Sophi. I actually like having the lesson on Monday, it helps to get the week started of on a productive foot. Owen was awake and came with me. He played with their train the whole time.

Peter came too.

Other than that it was a low key day. Iveth took some of my kids to the library, so I'm going to count that as our outing, ha.

Abi, Sophi and Natalie went. They made catapults or something.

And when I took Sophi to violin, I dropped off Wes to do yardwork for Corey's parents. After he was finished doing chores for them, I was aware that his cousin and friends had wanted to surprise him and take him out for a snowcone or something for his birthday (tomorrow). So he was gone all day. We went to a park over there in Holladay after picking him up. The little kids loved that.

They love going to this park in Holladay.

It is by the field where we usually watch fireworks on the 4th of July.

Eventhough we go to the fireworks here almost every year, I have never walked over to the park before. I'm usually just chilling in a folding chair heavy with child.

So this was my first time seeing it up close, and it is a really cool park! I can see why the kids really like it and often ask to go there. Daniel climbing up the ladder to the slides -

Daniel was so cute, he invited me to go up with him - "It's really fun!"

We'll come back again now that I know how cool it is. So we headed out once it was dark, Wes had a long day, it was a good day. More party-ing tomorrow with another birthday!

48 Hours

Some of our neighbors threw us a little "see ya in 4 months" party last night. Corey wanted to take one last crack at a Brazilian bbq before we head out. 

They really pulled out all the stops, with fireworks to boot! Just kidding, the fireworks were there, but were part of Brighton's "customer appreciation" day gig. Still, we pretended they went over the top with their party preparations. Lots of good food and visiting among the adults. The kids watched movies, had a pillow fight, and enjoyed playing games on their new "Tornado" Foosball table.

Corey and a neighbor Jim like to talk smack about each others' foos skills, and Corey's complained last time when he got schooled more than he liked by Jim. Corey blamed it on the tabled, it just wasn't up to par, and he can't play with faces on the players, it's too distracting...

This time with the Tornado, Corey didn't beat Jim every game, but he was satisfied (Jim teased that Corey needed every advantage he could get). So that was fun.

We spent the night and now are back home with two days to go. I was ready to have the kids be my personal slaves all day long, but had a change of heart. This is their last day to play with friends, so we've had an easy day, just enjoying time with friends and feeling very grateful for our life here. Melodie said good bye to her guinea pigs.

(I still think they are the perfect pet for families of "my kids want a pet but I don't" types like us.) My mom is taking care of them for us while we're gone. Cute pinny pigs (that's what the kids called them when they were little.

Took another load to donate at the thrift store, including a box of "vintage" clown toys like these, some toys from my youth.

Before I could get rid of them guilt free, I felt I needed to document their existence. I googled to try to find them before I took my own pictures. Happily there are a few lots of them on ebay, so I don't have to get out mine from the donation box. I've had a box of these clowns kicking around for probably 2 years - my mom gave them to me when she was clearing out junk. My kids don't play with them though, so although they are part of my childhood memories, I'm letting them go. These are Mego "Clown Around" toys, made in Hong Kong, and I really think they are quite ugly. I don't know why my mother bought them. One of the lady figures (possibly an opera singer?) is showing her plumber's crack

I did break this one out of the donation box... This is the one that made my own children wonder what life was like for me as a child, with toys like these?! "What's up with these toys? Why would Grandma buy you such an inappropriate toy as this?!?!" When my mom gave me the old toys and my kids looks through the box, they were quite intrigued. I think my mom got them because I liked and collected unicorns. Maybe I was the one who saw the little clown unicorns on display at the store and begged my mother to get them. But yes, interesting toys. And we're going to go say goodbye to them now. Adios, clown around clowns.

So the kids played, I did this and that and just kept cleaning, and I've made great progress on the laundry room dump area. If I get that cleared off and organized, it will be a great accomplishment that I have not been able to do during our 4 years here. Yes, I'll be at peace and be able to board the plane with a clear conscience if I pull that off. Time to go clean more.

Happy Fourth!

Happy Birthday, America! We started off our annual independence day activities with the 6th annual Fun Run. One new thing this year - Corey and his little musicians were asked to play the national anthem before the run. It might have caused Joseph to start the race a little winded. Plus he said it made his mouth super dry.  

Still, Joseph's competitive juices were ready to go! Here he and Ethan were right as the horn blew!

Here's a link of some pictures a neighbor took - like this one on Joseph on the home stretch:

Our young hero came in third, right after two big time marathon runners who took first and second. Joseph turned the corner toward the finish line and was blown away to see a time of 8:21 on the race clock. What?!?! That would be a whole minute and a half faster than the record time that was broken last year... he was confused. The phenomenon was explained to him when they said the clock started 2 minutes late. Joseph was pleased to figure out his official time, a personal best of 10:49. 

I was in last place this year. Dead last. I was pushing a stroller with Owen and Natalie, and I probably could have finished it with them, but I also had Lily and Sophi walking beside me. And they were just slowing me down big time. I tried to get Lily to skip the detour into the neighborhood but she insisted we follow the other fun runners. After that loop, we were alone with no one showing the right direction of the course, and so I lied to her and told her the race continued with a right turn instead of a left, thus sparing me an hour walk with my crew as I cut off over half of the 3K distance by taking a major short cut. We headed back north toward the finish line. Lily saw the runners up there and assumed that was where we were supposed to go, phew! "There they go, let's hurry!" Glad she didn't notice that everyone was coming up from a different street than the one we were walking on. She saw Hyrum run by the corner. Then Wesley. As we approached, Abi came up behind us out of breath and with great confusion asked "HOW did you get ahead of me?!?! I've been running the whole time!!" I told her I cheated. But I'm pregnant and am pushing a stroller, so I can do whatever the heck I want. Here is how Owen crossed the finish line, it was a total breeze. 

"Yeah, I'm so good I can do the fun run in my sleep!"

So then we had breakfast, sponsored by Jiffy Lube. They did a raffle drawing and guess who won a year of free oil changes again? Woot woot, thank you Joseph for being our ears for the raffle!

I was sitting over on the grass in the shade, but just happened to walk over to get a drink of water. Luckily I heard the raffle going on, got our ticket, saw Joseph there, gave it to him, told him "912313" and he came over a few minutes later and presented me with an envelope. What? We won again?! We won the oil changes last year, wow! What are the odds?! Pretty fun. So, then we hung around and waited for the parade to start. 

Mel kept the kids all entertained by painting fireworks, bald eagles, and flags on their cheeks.

The parade started at 10, I stayed for a half hour and then headed home with Owen and Natalie. Natalie had had her share of taffy, and Owen was done, so I broke a sweat getting home and rewarded myself with a two hour nap. We had a little bbq with family after and then Corey took the kids to Holladay for the night time fireworks that night. It was a good day, we enjoy our fourth of July traditions. 

Natalie is 6!

Today was another busy day - a repeat of yesterday - Mel and Abi are at Young Women camp, Corey had volunteered to be the male on guard at the camp, so he was up there over night. Hyrum had driver's ed at 7 this morning. I left here at 6:30 with him - Driver's Ed is out at Taylorsville High School from 7-10. Corey was headed back just in time to be able to pick Hyrum up, so that was nice and saved me a trip. Ethan left at 8:30 for his ACT class, which went from 9-4, then he went straight to work 5-close. Lily had a day camp today from 12-9, Wes had Little Big Band at 4. Corey took him cause was going to sub in Crescent for Ethan at 2. Corey practiced the sax a bit to warm up his chops after he got home with Hyrum. Then after driving down he found out it was sectionals today so he didn't need to be there, and the sectionals were cancelled anyway, so that was kinda too bad he lost that time for no reason. It was nice of him to be willing to sub last minute for Ethan though. I've been home with HSNODP. And today is a fun day cause it's Natalie's happy birthday! If you zoom in on her in this picture below, I think she looks pretty funny.

So Natalie is 6! Corey has been up in Park City this week with some of the kids, including Natalie, but she wanted to be home for her birthday, so they came home yesterday around noon and we've been hanging here. I set an alarm this morning to go get her a birthday present. I did already have one gift on hand, but I ran out to get ice cream and donuts for her "cake" - when I had it all ready, we went to wake her up and sing.

Natalie! It's your birthday! Do you want donuts?!? Hurry before Owen and Daniel eat them all...

I only got 8 donuts. Ethan had his before he headed out for his ACT class, and Owen and Daniel had already eaten the frosting off of theirs and were ready to go for another. That's when I said basically told everyone to get up or lose their donut to the toddlers. Make a wish!

I bought her toys when I got the donuts. I've never bought toys from the grocery store, but it was a pretty good experience! Most of the things I wanted were on sale, yay. I got her a few Toy Story 4 toys, a Super Hero girl, and coloring books and crayons.

The other gift was a little school house Calico Critter knock off brand from Target. I originally bought it thinking it would be for Lily, but then I decided to save it. Good call, Natalie loves it.

So then all the grandparents came by with presents and then Natalie played all day. The last birthday tradition, new this year, was to see Iveth and her family. Abi had dropped off a blanket to them that we had in our car after the 4th of July fireworks. Then we were texting and when Iveth knew we were home, she and her kids came by. I had cake, they brought ice cream. And with that last birthday visit out of the way, Natalie was willing and Corey and the kids were going to head back up to Park City. We were able to talk Iveth into going, so Corey took her two boys up and Maria stayed with me and Daniel for a little bit. I kept them busy playing with the water in the back yard so they wouldn't notice everyone was heading out without them. Then Iveth ran to run a few errands and pack, then pick up Diego at work to let him know they were going to Park City, fun surprise haha. So I'm here with Ethan, Daniel and Peter. Ethan has his ACT class tomorrow, and I'm going to stick around until Abi and Mel get back from their girls' camp tomorrow around noon. Then we'll probably head up to Park City to join in the fun. Should be tolerable with another mom up there helping keep eyes on the toddlers.

Oh, and it's Wednesday, so we got to hear from Joseph. He called earlier than usual, he was able to see some of the birthday fun. He is training again. I showed him Peter and he Peter didn't have his shirt on and Joseph said "That is a white baby... I haven't seen a white baby for such a long time!"

I thought that was funny. But things are good in Guate and things are good here at home, so we're all good. We'll prob have a little extension of the birthday fun up in Park City tomorrow cause they left the ice cream here before having a chance to eat it! Happy birthday Natalie!

Butterflies!

We've been watching our chrysalis attentively the past few days and were so excited that two of our butterflies came out today - amazing! As they got darker and blacker and we could see their wings, I was wondering if/how those little wings would turn into big monarch wings...


Maybe these were miniature butterflies?


Nope, they got big and beautiful. We loved watching them hang and fan their wings.


We all got to play with one of the monarchs for about 15 minutes - it flew onto the grass and then onto a bush and we'd go get it on our fingers before it finally flew away too high for us to retrieve again.


The other one didn't try to fly until it was sure it could get away from all us onlookers and up all the way over the fence, and since I told the kids to not touch it until it left the branch first, we didn't get to play with that one at all, but the kids did see it flutter away happy and free :)

It was a lot of fun. We're excited for #3 to emerge tomorrow and then our baby caterpillar on Thursday.

And my daily discipline report for today (recorded in this food journal):


woke up at 7:30 - went to bed at midnight = 7.5 hours sleep
7:30 - cottage cheese, yogurt, great grains (270)
8:00 - exercise challenge - 400 lunges, plank and reverse plank 3x each for 1 min each
11:00 - chocolate shake and celery (300)
12:00 - wheat thins, cream cheese, tomato (330)
2:00 - ham, tortialla, cheese, lettuce and tomato (270)
5:00 - few chicken nuggets as I made dinner (guessing 150)
6:00 - Vanilla Protein Pancake (300)
Total calories - 1620 and I don't have the munchies or anything, so that's good! Almost 10:00 - heading up to bed soon, hopefully will get the kids in bed and myself too before 11.

And just to be accountable, yesterday I must report that I did end the evening slightly stressed and thus in my weakened condition had two balls of the frozen cookie dough since we were outside lighting fireworks and the box freezer was right there taunting me... Time to own up to my actions and look up how many calories are in those babies. Didn't say on the box, (probably not a good sign if the company is afraid to tell you!) And I couldn't find the nutritional value of Otis' oatmeal chocolate chip online either, but from the types of frozen dough that I found and their calories, I'm guessing each of those balls of dough is 170 calories!!!! Yikes. I've been nibbling on those quite a bit and didn't think they were that naughty. But even with the two balls of cookie dough adding 340 at the end, yesterday was still okay overall at 1800 calories (lucky for me I woke up so late I guess)

And lastly for your entertainment, here's Brian Regan talking about butterflies. I wouldn't have had any questions about butterflies before this summer, but now I might, but we've already looked up a lot of the answers. The funniest part of that clip starts at 1:30. "Don't even get me started!..."

Fourth Hangover

The kids came home after the fireworks yesterday and just crashed. This morning they were all in the same spot. Hyrum and Abi dead on the couches, Wes on the floor...

Daniel woke up during the night and I brought him downstairs, he looked like he was recovering too...

All these dead bodies in every room... Lily under the pink Zebra blanket, Natalie under the blue one?

No, Natalie was already awake, she had such a good nap the night before that she had already recovered. The rest of us slept in. It was kind of a work day, tomorrow we're going to Scofield for our annual boating day with neighborhood friends. I took Ethan to his lesson with Ray and I went to Costco with Owen while we waited to stock up on our food contribution. The peaches right now are just perfect! They are so sweet and tart, they make me feel like singing. I'm bring peaches to Scofield, I bought 5 trays - a few for Scofield, a few for Sunday when we get together with my family (my little brother is in town from Texas.) At Scofield Corey will probably bbq cause he's a social drinker meat eater. Car loaded with food, 100+ degrees outside, we went back to pick up Eth. I let him drive to the lesson and let him drive home too. He almost rear ended a car on our way. He was hungry and thinking about McDonald's fries and didn't notice the car in front of him. Luckily I screamed loud and he slammed on the brakes, anti lock brakes kicked in and we didn't hit them. Also, thankfully, the car behind us was far enough back or alert enough that they didn't rear end us, although they did look at us when they passed us on the freeway. It took a good 15 min for Eth's car to stop racing. He forgot about the fries for a little bit. Sorry, people, he's a student driver.

After we got home, we unloaded the perishable food and then we went to the park. The kids wanted to go earlier, but it has been so hot. Nicer once the sun starts setting. The sprinklers were on, which gave us a nice mist to cool us down, but Daniel didn't like it, and Owen thought the sound of the sprinkler hitting the chain link fence was super scary...

Owen! Run and hide from the big scary noise!

Daniel liked the slide. The both liked the teeter totter.

 My legs got tired after just a few jumps. Hooray, Abi came to help me out

Pretty fun.

We played at the big park while Lily and Sophi showed Natalie where the little park is that she'll be going to with her kindergarten class. I'm gonna miss my Natalie when she starts school. Just two little boys at home, what will I do with my time? Lol.