Conversations

Macy -"Kelsey do you like me?"
Kelsey - "Ummm. Maybe."
Macy - "Kelsey do you like me?"
Kelsey - "Ummm. Ummmmm. I don't sink (translation: think) so."

Thunderstorm

Last night we had the most amazing thunderstorm. I have never seen a storm like this. It thundered and lightening went off for over an hour. The amazing part was that it flashed at least once every second for most of the storm. The thunder grumbled continuously. I have never heard thunder like that. The video above is just a small sampling of the storm last night. I was trying to find out how many lightening strikes there were and saw that Sky Harbor Airport had to shut down for an hour during the storm.

Then the rain came. I thought we might get washed away. Macy was worried that the pool would overflow. I told her it wouldn't happen. Well this morning we have an extra 1.5 inches in the pool. Maybe she was right to be worried. I wish Brian didn't have to take our camera to work otherwise I would take a picture of the park across the street. We now have a very large pool instead of a playground. There is water covering the grass and several inches of water are underneath the entire play structure. Maybe once I get dressed and head outside I will use our old camera to take a picture.

Of course there is always one brilliant soul in every storm. Brian and I were outside watching when we see somebody walking across the park with an umbrella. Were they asking to be struck down? I know I was tempted to go out and enjoy the refreshing rain, but I am also smart enough to realize when there is a lot of electricity flying around. I am sure the person is okay, but who knows what smart things they will decide to do today.

The best part about this storm: cooler weather for the next couple of days. We are talking below 100 degrees. Still upper 90s, but colder nonetheless.

I am Amazed and Touched

Yesterday I was reading my friend Ashley's when I noticed an icon on the side that said "Donate to NieNie". So I became curious and did some researching. She is a mother of 4 from Mesa, AZ who along with her husband was badly hurt in a plane crash in mid-August. I was touched by the story as I quickly gleaned some information.

What amazed me the most also stemmed from Ashley's blog, but from today's post. She wrote about the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from total strangers in the blogging world. I used some of Ashley's links and I too was awestruck by all the people who loved to read NieNie's blog and so are doing all they can to help out this family. It is so wonderful to hear about the goodness that exists in the world.

I am not much of a writer, so I will let you do your own research and maybe some of you caught it on the news. Her sister CJane is doing what she can to update the blogging world. (From what I hear she is also a popular blogger just like her sister.) I just wanted to let everyone know that there are many, many silent auctions going on this weekend to raise money for the family's recovery fund. Designer Mom has tried to compile a list of auctions. Check it out if you want to be amazed be the shear love of people or to buy something.

One of the biggest things the family has said that would help is to pray for NieNie and her husband and their family. Most of us know how powerful that can be. I know that it can make a difference when everyone's faith is united. My prayers are with the family.

First Day of School

Okay now that Macy's second week of school is over with I guess it is time to write about it. Above is a picture of her second day of school (a theme is going here). Anyways, I meant to take a picture before she left the first day, but forgot. When I went to pick her up I was going to remember the camera. It wasn't until the second day after school that I finally remembered the camera. I hope my kids can forgive me for lack of pictures.

So she is really liking school because she always wants to go back. She doesn't really like to tell us much about it. I feel like I am asking a teenager how their day went. "Good." "What did you learn?" "I don't know." Maybe one day she will be more willing to share.

This is what I got out of her the first day.

Me - "So how was school?"
Macy - "Good."
Me - "What did you
learn?"
Macy - "I don't know. Dad is going to have to help because he is
smart at
it."
Me- "What is Dad smart at?"
Macy - "You know. School. I
am not very good at it so he is going to have
to help me."

At dinner I tried to find out more.

Me - "What did you do at school today?"
Macy - "The same things dad does at work."
Me - "What does dad do at work?"
Macy - "You know."
Me - "I don't know, but maybe if you tell me then I will know what you did
at school."
Macy - "He does the same thing I do at school."

I quick update

Time really flies and I have to admit I get a lot more done when I avoid the computer. I still take a peek at my email and friend's blogs daily, I just haven't spent my usual time on the computer. It seems like it takes me forever to come up with something to say and even longer to type it the way that I want. The crazy thing is that when I go throughout my daily routine or when I am in the shower I think of perfect things to say and funny ways to say them. The only bad thing about avoiding the computer is that I lose out on a lot of journaling.

So here is a run down since my last post:

• Sweating like a pig at 12:30 PM swim lessons.
• Macy learning more ways to torment her sister. Macy found a plastic ant. Kelsey is afraid of this plastic ant and won't touch it. So while I am ignoring my children so I can read Breaking Dawn Macy starts to make a hissing sound and creeps closer to Kelsey. Obviously this makes Kelsey scream and soon the chase begins. Kelsey comes running to me and the screaming is causing me to go deaf and lose my focus. I tell Macy to stop, but 5 seconds later I hear hissing and screaming and see an ant inching closer. I can't get Kelsey to stop screaming so I threaten to throw the ant away and Macy finally got the clue.
• Macy had her first day of school (I will have to blog about this later because I know grandparents want to hear all about it). Kelsey gets to play with friends on Wednesdays during preschool so I got to experience a little taste of freedom. The payment for this freedom is that I take the 3 friends every third Wednesday.
• I cleaned my carpets using a friends commercial extractor. I cleaned doors, fans, and lights; made a concentrated effort to fold laundry promptly, keep the house picked up, and keep the toys in the play room; and I de-junked closets. I talked Brian into hanging garage ceiling racks this Saturday so I can further organize.
• I canned chicken for the first time on Thursday for my food storage. The only problem with a special project like this is that all my efforts to keep a clean house went down the drain and I tend to get a little more frustrated with my children and all their needs. Who needs lunch anyways?
• The newest thing is that my kids need to have friends over every second of the day. If no one is here they ask every 5 minutes for a friend to come over. So Monday Madison and Elodie came to play in the afternoon and today Kyle came over and swam with us. I figure the rest of the week is filled with school and swim lessons.
• Oh and I shouldn't forget that Wednesday was a pool party for the YW. I want a pool that is deep, has rock slide, a diving board and a rope swing. Just a few requests. Oh ya, I wouldn't mind an outdoor kitchen with a really nice patio set either.
• Kelsey has had a few problems with making it to the toilet lately. It seems she would rather play a few more minutes and then have an accident. So after going through 5 pairs of shorts each day I implemented a gummy bear jar. Every time she goes to the bathroom and has no accidents on the way she get a gummy bear. The problem is Macy doesn't go as often so she is upset and wants more and Kelsey is on the toilet all the time. I think she had 10 bears today. The good thing, she has worn the same underpants all day long.
• And Kelsey has a boy in her tummy. Today at Walmart while buying pull-ups (for at night) she found a baby boy outfit that she wanted it. The reason she gave me was because she had a baby boy in her tummy and lifted up her shirt.

Oh the things they say...

I want to remember some of the funny things my kids say, but I always forget to write them down. Since this is kind of like my journal I am going to share them here.

Macy:

"If you give me my dollar, I'll give you fifty cents back."
(She forgot her money when we went to the store so I purchased something for her and when we got home I made her give me a dollar for the item. Obviously she wanted it back.)

"I want to take your scripture powers to my class today." I found her a Book of Mormon to have. Later that night she was looking for her Book of Mormon. "Oh here's my scripture powers."

Kelsey:

Brian was pointing out the girls eye color. He tells Kelsey she has blue eyes. "No. I have raisin eyes." (Brian and I have hazel eyes and this has been discussed so she wanted "raisin" eyes like us.)

Our summer trip: Warning this is long and I did no proof-reading

I have now been back a week so I guess it is time to grab the keyboard again. We had a great time up in Utah, but it is good to be back in our own home. If only we could move our home close to our families then life would be perfect.

We stayed extremely busy while we were visiting, so if I didn't get a chance to stop by an say hi I am sorry. We will have to catch up another time.

One of the first things we did was take the kids to the movie theater for their first time. It took Macy a long time to become a movie watcher so Brian and I hadn't tried this venture yet. We went and saw Wall-E. I thought the movie was cute and funny. I was laughing out loud in some parts. The kids had a great time too and made it through the whole thing thanks to the bread sticks and Italian cream sodas Calee had brought from work. After the movie we swung by the Days of 47 float preview. That was fun and neat and so much better than watching the parade in the heat. Of course this year might not have been too bad.

The next day was the zoo for my dad's company party. I think the kids had more fun at the zoo because grandma, aunts and uncle were there.

My family loves water so our first water activity was Cherry Hill. For many years my mom's family has gone to Cherry Hill for a kind of reunion. The timing of our visit didn't allow us to be up there for the reunion (the fam is headed up there this weekend actually) so we did our own day trip. The kids had a great time. Kelsey's favorite might have been the pool or the lazy river but she also enjoyed the blue water slides and Pirates Cove. Macy loved the whole thing. She had a blast on all the water slides and loved the fact that she could touch the ground in the lazy river. Below is a picture of Macy going down the tube slide. Kelsey saw Macy do this and thought she was brave enough. She made it through the first waterfall but after the first plunge she decided it was not her thing and we had to get off the ride. Maybe next year.

Next up on our agenda was J.T.'s enormous slip and slide on Pioneer day. This was Macy's favorite. In fact we did the big slip and slide twice this trip and went to a friend's house and used their little slip and slide. After getting cleaned up from the slip and slide we did some celebrating with fireworks lit by pyromaniac Jeff (with some added help from another pyromaniac Jake).

The next day we hit the Children's Museum at the Gateway. The poor kids were losing a battle with sleep so it wasn't their best day, but I still think they had a good time. And of course we had to find some more water so we played in the fountain.

No trip to Utah would be complete without trip boating on Poppy's boat. Macy has become a tubing junkie. She could stay on them forever. My dad doesn't take her extremely slow nor does he keep the boat straight so these are not the tamest rides, but she enjoys it. Kelsey on the other hand is still not so sure about them. She saw her sister do it so of course out she went. She didn't last very long and when she go back in the boat people kept asking her if she liked it. Her reply was, "No. It's stupid."

After a week at my parents the girls and I moved over to Brian's parents. I feel like it makes it easier to see his family and besides I like them too. One afternoon we went to a nearby splash park with the girls and their cousins. Macy had a great time with Kennedy while Kelsey spent half the time sleeping. The girls also got to have a sleepover twice with their cousin Jensen.

Well Brian too eventually made it up to Utah to join us. He had missed everything up to this point, but he made sure he got his fill in. Just the two of us took a ride up in to the mountains to remind us of what green is. We went on an extremely short hike to a waterfall that neither one of knew even existed (don't laugh if you know of it but it was called Hidden Falls or Secret Falls up Big Cottonwood). Then we drove up to Silver Lake and walked around viewing the beauty up there. For dinner we had to try Alan's (Brian's dad) favorite place to eat, Zupas. I have to agree it is good. I really like the Caribbean Salad.

The next day Brian went horseback riding with his grandpa and brother. The allergy shots and medication have worked and he had no problems so of course horses have been added to his list of wants. That night we had a luau at my parents house for Brian and my cousin Garrett. This was the other time we pulled out the slip and slide. For the luau we made pina coladas and had pork for dinner. Thanks to everyone who wished him Happy Birthday. He said you really made his day.

The next day we got together with Brian's family for a BBQ. Of course more water was involved. Brian's brother has one of those big blow-up water slides and the kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins.

No trip would be complete without a little Rock Band/Guitar Hero for the kids. I also tried Wii fit and got a total of 11 min worth of exercise using it. I was a yoga master and a body builder (I can't remember the exact titles). Ticket to Ride was played many times. I won a few, but I still can't beat Brian. We also made the annual trip to the Park City Outlets and this year it treated Brian well.

The other thing to note about the trip was Kelsey and Macy's love for my family's puppies. Macy hated these dogs in St. George in May and she hated them for the first part of the trip. She spent the first week up on the couch and/or screaming when the dogs came around. I wish I had been a better photographer so I could remember the silliness of the scene. But after some time she came to love those dogs. Soon she was carrying them all over the place, putting them in boxes, placing them in the entertainment center, and making them dance. Kelsey has always loved the dogs and has tormented them from day 1. I am sure Bella and Sophie were not sad to see the girls go.

Our trip ended the same way it began. My mom drove back with me and we did the drive in one day. The kids were really great in the car, but to make it go faster next time I think I am going to skip the meals and let them eat skittles and candy for dinner. My mom stayed for a day and half and the girls made sure she went swimming with them both days.