Our Honeymoon in Hawaii

Okay, not really a honeymoon. I mean, after all, we have been married 17 years!! But it was a grownup getaway, so that is great! The trip got off to a rocky start when Jeff pulled a muscle in his upper thigh. He could barely move. Here it was, two days before a trip that we had planned six months in advance and he was literally crawling around the house! I called his oncologist (because he has the most complete medical records and had seen him most recently - and my theory was they would help us because they should know he isn't a drug seeker). They offered him a "numbing ointment"! Seriously!! Well I have street cred, so I was able to hunt up some GOOD stuff to get him slightly more comfortable (mostly I drugged him so he couldn't fight when I forced him onto the plane - no sports injury will ruin my first trip to Hawaii). I also rented a wheelchair and bought some crutches. Resourceful, yes I am!! I must say, having someone in a wheelchair in your travelling party is the ONLY way to go!! I am going to buy that wheelchair and use it on every vacation. Kim and Warren went with us because we love spending time with them! (We do, but the free accommodations with Warren's parents may have played some role in that. - Cheap, yes we are!!) Warren's mom was especially amazing, preparing most of our meals, therefore saving us on lodging and dining! We enjoyed the usual sights. The Dole Pineapple Plant, The Polynesian Cultural Center, The Laie Temple (Kim and I even got to do a session). We also made plenty of trips to Matsumotos Shave Ice. They serve Shave Ice with ice cream on the bottom. They also serve it with beans. They look like black beans, but they are a Japanese bean. Jeff got brave and tried that, not so great!! Because Warren is a great tour guide and driver we also got to see some places that the average tourist might not. Like "The Birthplace of the Gods". Which is just a grove of trees with some large flat rocks in the ground. If I was birthing a god, I would have demanded softer accommodations! I was a very good and organized tourist so I emptied my camera card and plugged my battery in to charge so that I could take plenty of pictures. It wasn't until I got to Hawaii that I realized that I had left that battery plugged in at home. So please enjoy these pictures I took with my cell phone (and the ones I stole from Kim's facebook!) (This computer I am working on won't let me add pictures, so please go to my facebook to enjoy them!)

The Giving of Thanks

So there is only one important thing to say about Thanksgiving. I miss my Grandma Bev!! But I did the best I could and I think she may have been helping a little from where she is! My kids now love these noodles and ask me to make them all the time!

We have much to be thankful for this year. That my little family is all still here and and relatively healthy tops my list! Nothing like a major health care crisis to give you perspective!

Count your many blessing - you will be surprised at all you have - I know I continuously am!

School Memories

I just had to post this, because school success post are few and far between. This is Jake getting Knighted in his Dragon Slayer ceremony. They achieve Dragon Slayer status when they can pass off all their times tables 0-12 in the specified time frame. Jake beat the record in our family. Only one of his sisters even got to Dragon Slayer, and that was in the late spring for her! Yay for boys being great at math!!

And we do a lot of homework - sometimes I want to fall asleep at the table too!

Off Track Field Trips

I thought I would pretend to be a good mommy and take my kids who go off track on a little field trip to see downtown Salt Lake City. We toured the Conference Center, and even got to see the gardens and fountains on the roof this time. We also toured Temple Square and The Beehive House. The Friend magazine did a special each month on places downtown so we used that as our tour guide. We stopped at the Church History Museum, but they were preparing the new children's exhibit, so we didn't stay.

This picture is from the top of the Conference Center.

Girls Trip 2010

This year for the girls trip we planned a cruise. Because it was so little planning I opened it up to invite anyone who was interested. We had 16 people!! It was great. (I didn't even TAKE my camera - what the heck is going on with me?) I don't really have much to say except to tell you that I am super fun and you are all missing out if you don't vacation with me. I am thinking all inclusive resort for 2011. Who is in?? The Whole Group

The family I grew up in (except for Aunt Dorinda- I don't know why she isn't in this picture)

The family I married in to - I have no idea where I am. Probably dinner!

My grandma was so awesome on this trip. When the waiters would do their cute dances at dinner, she would get up and dance with them. I hope I can get her to come EVERY year!!

September??

Okay, I don't have one picture on Facebook or my phone for September. Therefore, it didn't exist. You're welcome! Oh, and the END of chemo! YAY!

Bear Lake

Even in the midst of everything going on this year, we did make our annual trek to Bear Lake. I could have sworn I took a camera, but I can't find those pictures so again you will be treated to just those I posted on Facebook.

I hope you don't get the feeling I have a favorite kid or anything.

(Jeff in all his bald glory - may we never see that again! Even though he was bald for months, I never got used to it.)

Gage's 6th Birthday

I would enter some witty commentary here about Gage's Birthday (which I am sure we celebrated) if I even remembered celebrating it - which I don't! So I will just post these pictures for now and call it good!

After playing in the stream in St. George.

(What can I say, he pouts a LOT!!)

School Starts

July is when year round school starts!! (One of the only benefits I can still find in year round school now that I have a kid in middle school, and therefore on a traditional schedule.) I hate blogs without pictures, but I think my camera was lost all summer. So I took some really crappy pictures with my phone and posted them on facebook. I saved those pictures back to my computer - so I lovingly bring you this picture for your viewing pleasure. Courtney didn't start school until a month later, so she gets no pictures!

The Post in Which I Judge

In retrospect, I am not sure that I can really come up with monthly posts. They kind of blurred together. All I can think of about July is lots of trips to Cowabunga Bay. If I downloaded the pictures from my phone, you would see that for me, this means taking secret pictures of people who violate my rule about age and weight limits for wearing bikinis and texting them to my sister so I can make fun of them. Truth be told, I don't think bikinis are ever appropriate but if you insist on wearing them, I know with 110% certainty that people of my general size should NOT be wearing them!! (And as a fatty patty, I am qualified to make that statement!)

Washington D.C.

June marked the start of Chemo (BLEH) But the fun part of June was taking the girls to Washington D.C. on an "educational trip". Bruce and Sally joined us, which turned out really great. Except for the fact that Bruce was a poor sport and wouldn't let the girls take a turn in their room (because they were so rude about how much Jeff and I snore!) We actually had a really great time and had some fabulous tips that allowed us to see some things that I wouldn't have even tried to see. I love the excitement of the Subway. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of wondering if you will be mugged, shanked or killed at any moment! And the press of filthy humanity is like nothing you will ever see "out west". That was especially fun because we were in the germ free mode of chemo. I think we went through 8 bottles of hand sanitizer that week! Bruce paid for a cab every time he got a chance. And although they have postings all over the windows of the cabs, they cab drivers treated that law as "merely a suggestion" and were happy to fit 6 of us in seats for 4. One morning Courtney and I left the hotel early to get tickets to be able to go up inside of the Washington Monument. We got there an hour before they started passing them out, but the line was already a block long. Luckily I was prepared for lines and waiting and had gone to Cabela's before our trip and purchased some little stool chairs with shoulder straps, so we had our own chairs readily available. While we were waiting in that line the person standing in front of us (who was from Europe - Courtney was a little grossed out by the lack of shaving) asked us if we had done the tour of the US Mint to see how money is printed. I didn't know how to get tickets, so that wasn't on our list. She told us that it had the same type of line as we were in, but it moved much faster and had far fewer people. It was only about a block and a half away. So I left my 12 year old on the scary streets of our nation's capitol with a stranger's promise to keep an eye on her, and I hustled myself down to that line! I scored us tickets and was back in line with Courtney before she had moved the equivalent of two car lengths. I was grateful that she had a cell phone so I could text her continuously to make sure she hadn't been kidnapped. We also did one of those hop on hop off tours that worked out really well for what we wanted to see. There was only one time that we had to wait really long and we thought that maybe we had been duped (like my girls trip had been in NY a couple of years before.) Jeff's hair started falling out pretty severely on the trip, but we didn't really take anything to shave it off so he just wore his hat as much as possible and I tried to always shower before him because seeing the bathroom after he toweled off was pretty disturbing. Not as disturbing as when he let the girls pull his hair out, but pretty disturbing! We were fortunate to be able to get together with Jeff's cousin Ryan who works in New York. He joined us for dinner one night. I guess we were kind of okay company because he arranged to borrow a van from a ward friend the next day and took us to see some really great things that we would never have even known about without him. One thing we tried to see was the NRA museum, but "sadly" it was closed by the time we got there. The boys were disappointed but it was okay because we had a really MEATY dinner and they were able to reinforce their man cards in that manner! I am sure there are some really great pictures to go along with this post, but - true to form - we left our camera in that borrowed van and I haven't made arrangements to get it back. Maybe we should invite Ryan out for a vacation here (because I'm not sure I need to go to D.C. anymore.) I do, however, have lots of little videos from my flip camera, but it would take me forever to watch them all and find some good ones and then learn how to post them. So just take my word for it, it was a FUN trip! (BTW I am dating this to count for June, because the trip started in June - even though it ended in July!!)

Here are some of my Facebook pictures.

Chad and Kim Tie the Knot

(Is it bad to say finally?) ;)

I know we have joked about hiring me to be your wedding photographer before, but come on, this is a great picture!! Right?!?!

No?? Well it is the only one I got of the Bride and Groom! (And who made you the expert on picture taking anyway?)

Lucky for them, they had a REAL photographer. So I took it upon myself to do the candid and family shots. And I actually did pretty well. I am not going to upload the 150 or so pictures I took, so here is a selection that includes some of everyone, I think!

Kim and Warren - and their family A.J. and Marcus

Becca and Felipe

The three HOTTIES! (Yes, I am the queen of Hotness!) It was about this time that I started to realize that maybe, just maybe, I was little too blond - and possibly, the sunglasses didn't need to always be on my head. (Although they were pretty much always present during this phase of my life because I found that you look less tragic if you put on sunglasses while you cry!)

The girl cousins. (Yes Adele, I know I should crop, but did you want this blog updated or not!)

A.J. - I like this picture because - well, you know me! 'Nuff said!

Gage and Lili - In a contest to see who can break a bone first!

Jake - he is pretty much always in trouble.

Maybe because he is a U of U fan.

Jeff was the "Grill Master" (so was Beau, notice him sitting in the background!)

I had to do this picture of Jeff because we didn't do a couple one or a family one because he is so grumpy about pictures that I don't even ask anymore. Then he gets grumpy because we don't have enough family pictures. Bi-polar much? (I can say that because I am pretty sure he doesn't know I have a blog - I am not even sure he knows what a blog is.)

Alex (almost 3 years) holding Marcus (not quite one)

I love this picture for two reasons:

1) I can't get enough of Alex, he kills me

2) Again, you know me, and I am sick (who is going in on the therapy fund? Kim?)

That is my grandma in the background - and the only picture I got of her. I am such a loser!

Xander

He was so cute blowing his bubbles. I am not sure he ever actually made a bubble, but he tried and tried!

My only picture of Gavin. Hey Beau and Alicia - maybe you could spend a little more time with the family? Just sayin'!

Sarah really wanted to be part of the first dance!

(Now that is a cute picture! I am not a complete failure! - Hire me!!)

And again, the reason for the post. Here is the cute family! Congrats to Chad and Kim!!

Jake's Birthday

I can't believe I failed to blog this - such an example of the awesomeness (that's a word right!) of my motherhood!

We did a "Science Experiment Party" but I didn't get a ton of pictures because with 16 boys it was soon chaos!

We opened the party with "Build the Biggest Best Sculpture" with marshmallows and toothpicks.

Then we got ready for our "messy" experiments. I wanted to get lab coats, but I couldn't find them. When you only plan a week in advance you can't order supplies off the internet. But don't you fret, I am AWESOME and came up with an excellent plan B.

I bought rain ponchos - in two packs - at the dollar store - yes, I'm that good! Then I used cd labels and printed the radioactive symbol on them. We completed the outfit with gloves and goggles (also 2 packs at the dollar store!)

Our messy experiments were Rockets - made from alka seltzer and water a film canister. Who knew you could get alka seltzer from the dollar store?

Then we did lava lamps with oil and water in water bottles (yes - I pounded 16 bottles of water in one day - you didn't really expect me to dump out perfectly good store bought water did you?) To make it bubble, you just use a little more of that alka seltzer.

The party wouldn't have been complete without doing the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment. I did this one, and they just watched. (Okay - so not diet Coke - but you know, dollar store diet soda!)

Jake asked me to make the same Ice Cream cake I had made about a year ago for something else. So I did.

But I totally broke my spring form pan in the process. Crap!

Happy Birthday to Jake!

I Hope You Dance

Last night we went to my cousin, Jacob's (and his new beautiful wife, Summer's) wedding reception. We got there just as the dancing was starting.

My Jake busted a move - if there was ever a move to be busted! Me really does get his rhythm from me :S - and he LOVES to dance, he actually always has.

All the kids favorite dance was when they spread out a roll of bubble wrap and danced on that! Huge hit - you should all try it!

Aunt Kim was dancing the bubble wrap dance with them so when Jake came and asked me to dance I said "no way" - thinking he was just trying to get more people out there. I didn't realize that everyone had partnered up for some couples dances, but undaunted, he just kept asking and luckily Grandma Lois realized that he was looking for an actual "partner" and she said YES! (Good Job Grandma!) They dances many songs together (so cute!!)

Family Picture Photo Shoot

So we went to Wheeler Farm with Tiffy and her family to do a photo shoot of our families. I took over 100 pictures so I really need to sort and crop but I will leave you with my favorite one. (Okay - probably the only one you will see of me - for real, when did I start looking like I was in my 60's?)

Oh Let's Go Fly A Kite

Gage got a kite from Kim last Sunday and decided that today the weather was just perfect to go fly it. He put it together himself and even got it flying by himself. I almost did the crazy stalker pictures through the window again, but at the last minute decided to go outside and help him. (I am sure my neighbors are still in therapy from me running around outside in my muumuu (or is it spelled moomoo ;P) bathrobe. - But in fairness, it wasn't even noon yet!)

Family Time= Priceless??

I tried to sign the kids up for off track bowling, but due to a series of crazy happenings and miscommunication between the rec center and the bowling alley, I decided it wouldn't be worth the money, and that I would do some other things with the kids for off track - including just GOING bowling.

Well, our off track turned in to lots of time at doctor's offices and hospitals and the bowling trip kept getting pushed off (as well as all the other fun ideas I had in mind). So since Jeff went back to work on Wednesday and didn't need my (super fabulous) nursing anymore, I decided we should have a make-up bowling trip on short day Friday.

We didn't get going right after school, as I had planned, but closer to 5. I figured that would be okay though, because I had decided to drive clear to the bowling alley that had Pizza Factory Pizza. Kim, A.J. and Marcus came with us.

When we went to pay for our game, they informed us that the bowling alley had been rented for the night so we only had an hour. We figured that was fine for one game, so I paid for the 7 of us - at a rate of $54.oo. So we went to get started and Kim went to order pizza. The guy at the Pizza counter said that it was less expensive to get the package with bowling. So we went back to ask and the lady said that because we had split up to play on 2 lane (so we could get done before THEIR rental) we couldn't do that deal. She ended up paying $40 for the pizza. Just FYI - the deal was 6 people bowl, pizza, salad, drinks and bread sticks for ... wait for it ... $54.99. YIKES, what ever happened to customer service. It was almost enough to ask for a refund and leave!! (But we drove over 40 minutes to get there, and it was the make-up game for our earlier misadventure.)

(The agony of defeat!)

(The fake thrill of victory - just posing for the camera)

(The actual thrill of victory!)

(Just Dance!)

Yes, I actually posted a picture of my rear end - why? Because it was the "good" picture. I always thought FAT made you look younger - why then do I look like I am 65?? (FYI I totally won the game too!!)

(Mr. A.J)

(Marcus - who is never alone when my kids are around!)

We didn't feel like an hour of bowling was really worth the time and the effort we had put in to the evening, so we started batting around what other "family fun" we could have for FREE!! Kim remembered Wheeler Farm was nearby so we decided to go there.

All the kids

The kids had about 1000 times more fun here than bowling!!! My total cost at Wheeler Farm = fifty cents for a loaf of day old bread! (Why do I even try to do big things - this is what they love anyway - I guess family fun is priceless, and cheap!