Broken Boat Can't Ruin Our Fun!

We just got back from this year's trip with Brett's family to Lake Powell. What a great week we had (even though our boat broke AGAIN!) We just can't seem to get our boat working. I'm starting to think the darn thing is cursed after having a terrible time with repairs last year and now this year not working. Brett even took it for a trial spin a few weekends ago at Utah Lake and Lake Powell and all seemed to be in working order (he forgets that he is married to me and that if something is going to go wrong it will).

Despite the boat not working we still managed to have a great time as others had boats for skiing and tubing.



Brett's dad always seems to come with an idea every year for the kids. This year's idea was to make a giant slip and slide out of plastic sheeting. It didn't work but it was a great idea. On the day we packed up they had to fold up the plastic sheet and it was really windy. We realized that the plastic was making a better kite than slip and slide and it took Brett off his feet and knocked him to the ground.



Brett also celebrated a birthday at Powell and I made him wear a Burger King crown (a Twilight one) he would kill me if I posted it though so you're out of luck on that picture.

The kids enjoyed swimming, launching water balloons at wave runners, eating pancake breakfasts, hiking to high places, exploring places they called Pirate Island, Scorpion Island and Coco Moco Cave (all names they made up).







It is a lot of work taking a trip to Powell but well worth the good times we have. Hopefully we will be able to figure out what is wrong with the boat so we can use it soon. My fingers are crossed.

I love Summer

Summer is finally here and I can't believe the weather is finally cooperating... the rain a thing of the past.

Each morning we have a regular routine of getting dressed, having breakfast, cleaning our rooms, reading for 20 minutes and doing some kind of schoolwork activity whether math or writing related (Sheriff has piano practice every 3rd day) and the two older boys do something from their cubscout books. Once all this is complete then they can go off and play.

I have been trying though to have some kind of summer activity planned almost everyday whether it is going to the library and choosing books (we signed up for the summer reading program to get a free book at the end of the summer if you complete the program - even adults get a free book!),

taking tennis lessons,

or going to the county fair,



bowling with our free passes from school,

or playing at our local park that has a splash pad.

We still have lots of fun things planned because it is going to be a long summer!

Time to Play

My boys have bemoaned the loss of friends and the big backyard since moving to our new home. They love the fact that they don't have to share rooms with each other any more but they miss their friends and basketball court (so do I).

We have wanted to get a decent playset in our backyard for them as the old metal one was basically in pieces... no surprise when you have 4 boys who break everything (the latest target is the airconditioner... it has a moving fan and kids love to throw sticks into it...the airconditioner is still working though thank goodness). My mother-in-law waited until her boys were grown before getting nice things but they still ended up busting her stuff as grown men so I guess I shouldn't invest in anything really expensive as far as decorations go- EVER.

Wannabe was baptized on Saturday and Brett was ambitious enough to get the playset in before the big event. He even scheduled knee surgery in as well to increase the challenge. He theorized it would only take one night to prep the yard for the playset - that's if you don't have knee surgery and a million yards of bark to move.

Thank goodness for the help of family...


Despite the stress of the playset - and discovering I'm allergic to the bark (what are the chances???) It was barely finished in time for all the kids to play on. And believe me... the kids are playing on it!!! Not just our kids... but other kids are showing up on my doorstep everyday to play.




I wonder if I could charge an admission fee....

I'm Finally Done or Done In

It is official... my family history book is finished and off to the printers. But I'm afraid it is a little too late. My parents are no longer responding to my emails or my phone calls. My bridges are burned apparently. All of the assignments I gave and questions I asked has done them in and they are screening their emails and my phone calls. - sigh-

I had to use Brett's knee surgery to get a response only I didn't tell them it was knee surgery I just emailed and said "Brett's surgery went well". THAT got a response! I know, I know, the devil on my shoulder made me do it.... but my multiple phone messages to call me just weren't working.

Perhaps my nephew is right ... blood is thicker than water but pancake syrup is thicker than blood ergo pancakes are more important than family. They sure taste better! (this is what you get when I stay up too late reading)

At least April still takes my phone calls and my emails. What a trooper! I hope she still does AFTER reading the book. My fingers are crossed! In fact I hope I still HAVE a family after they all read the book. Frankly it is 316 pages so the chances that they even read the whole thing or any of it are slim to none so I'm probably pretty safe. Aren't I? Maybe.

It is interesting to go through family photos and stories though. Take this one for example...


I don't know what's worse... my hair, my glasses, or my shirt. Other than the year I was 5 and cute in my pretty pink dress, I think I've been going through an awkward hair, clothing, glasses stage my whole life. Perhaps one day I'll feel comfortable in my own skin - by then I will be old, gray and wrinkly. I have the old and wrinkly part started, I just need to get going on the gray. :)

Down but not Out

My body may be 40 but my mind just can't seem to accept it. Brett kept hounding me for months about what to do for my 40th and I kept saying nothing because I thought if I denied it, it wouldn't happened. A few days before, however, I realized that it was going to come whether I accepted it or not. So I decided that if I was going to turn 40 anyways I might as well invite some of my friends over. They might as well be family because just like my family they teased me about turning 40. They even gave me gifts to show that I am officially old ... medication

and reading glasses.

Thanks for a great time guys!

I may be down but at least I'm not out like the poor coyote below...

Brett and boys went on a father/son camp out and came across a headless coyote strung up as a no trespass warning (creepy by the way). It was also a warning to them that the camp out was cursed. They tried to set up the tent and the wind took Sheriff off of his feet. They tried again and the wind tore the tent apart and bent the poles. Brett decided it was the devil's campground, threw the broken tent in the back of the truck and headed off to find a hotel for the night. no kidding. They stayed in a hotel (they were 2 hours away from home) ate a great continental breakfast, played a round of bowling and then came home. They had more fun than the others who stayed at the camp (especially the coyote).

ah memories.

It Pays to Whine

Now you may think by the title of this post that I am about to blog about kids... you would be wrong. I'm about to blog about my own whining. Recently I was whining/complaining AGAIN about the track system and how much I really don't like it. A whining miracle happened on my 40th birthday. (Good things apparently CAN happen when you turn 40). The school board met and decided to switch certain schools to traditional and my boys' school is one of them. (cue hallelujah chorus)

Someone on the school board must have read my blog!!! (yeah right)

Finally our neighborhood will be going to school at the same time. No more having to say to my kids "I'm sorry we can't invite your friend over right now because they are on a different track." No more cooped up kids fighting with each other on week three of off-track. No more cramming all our summer vacations into 3 short weeks of summer. We can have a REAL summer. At least until they go back to tracks again. With my luck they will go back to tracks next year so I had better enjoy it while I have it!

I sure hope I like having traditional school. :)

Even the Heavens Weep

The day has finally arrived despite my prayers to the contrary and my railing against time.... I turned 40 today. I am not the only one expressing sorrow over this much dreaded event. When I opened the door to my six-year old's room to have him get ready for school - he told me he had peed the bed. I assumed he was expressing his dismay over my 40th birthday. When I went to help him find socks in my five-year-old's bedroom and there were none in the drawer - I looked behind the dresser and found underwear that Smiley had peed in. I assumed he was also expressing his feelings over my 40th birthday. I didn't DARE go down to Sheriff and Wanabe's rooms for fear of what I might find in their rooms. Can you blame me?

Instead the heavens opened and poured out rain to show me that they too know how I feel about leaving my 30's and entering the dreaded 40's. My older sister Sheri told me that she LOVES being in her 40's because she feels like in her 40's she feels freer to tell people what she REALLY thinks. Don't let that idea fool you. Sheri has ALWAYS told people what she thought - turning 40 had nothing to do with it.

I wondered if I would look and/or feel different when I woke up this morning.

This was me taken just last week:


This is me today at 40:


They say you need to do your makeup differently when you enter each new decade so I might need to go to a department store and get some tips on covering up all the wrinkles I'm getting.

I MUST be getting old if I'm actually thinking of getting make-up tips! I never worried about it before! It must be a sign of senility. I'm comforted by the fact though that one of my boys when he learned of his aunt Sheri's age said "wow! She's REALLY old!" I may be old but my sister is REALLY old. Sorry April... that must make you REALLY REALLY old.