Can't Sleep

Because it's 1:00 (am), because I watched "Evening" tonight, and I am still a little bit teary (it's been over for an hour at least), because Maggie is spending the night at a friend's, because I have so much angst about school starting soon (too soon), because the thought of going to bed and hoping I fall asleep gives me anxiety, because I'm sure CAY is checking this thing all the time hoping for a new post, I thought I would put up a few pics...sound fun?

Yesterday, while Maggie was at a friend's and Ashlee was busy doing this,

and this with the neighbors,

Paige was keeping busy...making a few calls Getting a drink of water...taking care of business.


We went to the pool today and froze our tushies off and wished that they hadn't closed the pool with much more shallow water to play in, but had fun anyway because there was a treat at the end and kids don't seem to notice being so cold that their lips turn blue. I want to go to the shore one more time before it is too cold, but I can't bear (especially tonight...more tears as I type) the thought of going without him...
He knows how to play all the fun games and keep everyone happy and plus he carries all the heavy stuff and helps put up the beach tent. I can't play "pretend the town is getting flooded" with Maggie for nearly an hour and yell at the fake town people to dig like crazy because the wall has been "breached" and we should all "dig, dig, dig" Oh, man I miss him! I am in a funk - one whole month of fun, busy vacation, and then coming home in time to say good bye to CAY has not been good to me. Good night - sleep well.

Webkinz

Somebody was a little bit busy with the markers - the box was moved to a lower shelf on the bookshelf...She only colored on herself, no walls, or carpet or furniture. Isn't she cute?
Also, beds for the girls webkinz...six of them in all, all of them carefully made, and some even hotly disputed. They stayed up for 3 days, I made the girls take them down tonight, it was driving me crazy! (Because every single one of the beds had corresponding displaced items. Our house is too small for that kind of clutter!

Olympics et. al

Because I can't seem to do anything after 8:00 pm than put kids to bed and watch the Olympics for hours, I thought I would post the top 10 things for me about them....(not all good)


#10 - Time difference - except for those rare moments we see live, I can look up the results online and know what to expect. This works better for me. When Michael Phelps and team swam in the relay for his 8th gold medal, I had to leave the room.


#9 - New words/bad English "A 'Phelpsian' attempt" - I'm pretty sure whoever said it had just made it up. "Not allot of analization..." (Analysis??) The other night when they were talking about the Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, they must have used the word cocky 5 bazillion times.


#8 - Awful commentators/interviewers, not all of them, but many "This is a disaster of epic proportions.." etc.. etc...


#7 - Kinesio (sp?) tape - I wonder if that stuff works...


#6 - Michael Phelps, I know it's what a lot of people say, but it was captivating.


#5 - Incredibly skimpy "uniforms." Women's beach volleyball is almost embarrassing, those bikinis are so small. - Maggie asked the other night "If I go to the Olympics, what would I wear?" Amen, sister.


#4 - Underage Chinese gymnasts. If some of those girls are 16, then I am at my ideal body weight.


#3 - Laying around watching TV for hours at night and not feeling guilty, because it's the Olympics.


#2 - The women's marathon - I got a little teary at the end for no good reason.


#1 - Watching athletes win who maybe didn't expect to win - those are the best moments.

In other goings on:

Maggie just finished listening to the last of the Harry Potter series. She has loved them so much. At first I made her follow along in the books, but for the last 4, she has just listened. Notice she has two CD players in her room - this is so she can have the next disc ready when the one she is listening to ends. She was a little sad to be finished with the series - just like her mom. We want more!

I successfully tamed our tomatoes out front. They grew like crazy while we were gone. Unfortunately so did the Morning glory, choking everything in it's path. It looked like a jungle out there.

And Ashlee had her first soccer practice tonight! She had a great time and is looking forward to a fun season. (See the poor baby banging on the door to get out?) I don't know why I didn't take this picture so she wasn't looking directly into the evening sun...

Moms

So, this morning, as I was waking up, getting dressed, making my bed etc... and the girls were playing in the other room (Ashlee got Paige out of bed today, nobody had come to see me yet) I could hear the neighbors through the walls... (we live in base housing, and the walls are thin). They were not having a very happy morning at their house...lots of "5 ****** more minutes, I'm tired of being woken up with one ***** kid on my head and the other on my leg, they don't do that to you...5 ****** more minutes." It was ugly, at least what I could hear, the kids crying, the husband's muffled responses. Did I mention that we are still adjusting to the 2 hour time switch and this was at 8:30 - not exactly the wee early hours.

At first I was full of judgement, but then I realized I have come close to sounding like that myself...when I have been tired, worn out, or just plain mad that I couldn't get something done when and how I would like without being interrupted. And, had it not been for the gospel, and a mother who set an excellent example for me, I would probably sound just like that, maybe even worse. I remember confessing my temper to Christopher before we were married...I loved him and wanted to be his wife, but I felt like I had to give him fair warning. I sometimes wonder if my kids would have chosen me if given the opportunity. I am much better than when I was younger...but every once in a while that anger bubbles dangerously close to the surface. Today, I strengthened my resolve once again to be a good example in ALL areas to these three precious girls
After all, nobody deserves to have a complete whack job for a mother, right? There is enough uncertainty in being young without wondering when the next time a parent is going to blow their gasket. I remember reading in a parenting book about anger"When a child, is out of control, the child is out of control; when a parent is out of control, the whole family is out of control." AMEN

The following picture was taken by Ashlee... we have four tiny bunnies growing up in our yard. The momma must be coming during the night, because we have only seen her two times but the babies are thriving. They haven't ventured out of their nest yet, and the girls (Ashlee mostly) check on them 5-10 times a day. The bunnies are in a shallow hole, buried under grass, and the girls lift it up to look in.
I wonder if momma bunnies ever completely lose it with their little babies?

Happy Anniversary

Eleven years ago today, Christopher and I got married.

Some stats from our 11 years together:

3 Children

5 Moves

5 Jobs (between the 2 of us)

2 Countries

3 States

6 cars

1 motorcycle

6 dates (I'm kidding, I'm sure we've been on close to 10)

Many, many, many smiles and laughs. (He thinks he's funny and so do I)

Happy anniversary to my husband who is about 9 time zones away! We love you and miss you.

I'm going to try to post a picture here every day so that you (CY) can keep up with us. Tonight I give you:

Concentration (yes, she is sitting on the dishwasher door)

And: Forts in the living room. There was lots of discussion about how many rooms the fort should have, whose fort was bigger. I think their friend even mentioned a hot tub in hers....

Summer Vacation

I'm not winning any prizes for photographer of the year, blogger of the year, or even mother of the year. But here is how our summer has been so far:

No pictures of pre-vacation days except a few of the tadpole release the night before we left. I'm not sure how he survived long enough to be released - we looked some things up online the night before we released him and realized that we had been doing several things that we were not supposed to do. Maggie had a friend all lined up to take him while we were gone and then in 2 short days, his tail got really small, his front legs were strong and he jumped out onto our wall - it was time to release him.

Here the girls are pre-release - the lid was only on for the drive to the pond.
There he goes - he headed for the water almost immediately, we hope he survived. On the 15th, the girls and I flew here(below)..., well not here exactly, but to this state. We were in the SLC area for 4 days, Christopher joined us and we headed south for a Reeves reunion. Sadly, I only have maybe 10 pictures of the whole week we spent there. We hiked in Zion's two days, spent a day in Bryce, went to Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival and swam in the pool, played games, had a birthday party for Heather, wore matching t-shirts (courtesy of Moi). I'm really banking on brothers and sisters and my dad to come through with more pictures for me.
Isn't it beautiful?
The four girl cousins.
After the reunion ended (very abruptly - a story for another day, I'm still too embarassed by how it all ended, but my family handled it very gracefully) We drove to Colorado for a week.

While there we went to Breckenridge for 2 nights/3 days. I did manage to take a few more pictures that week, but still not enough. Above: Paige and her daddy on a hike. Below, Maggie, Ashlee, and cousin William in the middle of the small lake we hiked up to. There was a sandbar out to the middle - the water was freezing!

Here are the girls with their cousins playing dress-up in the visitors center on the day we left. Sadly, I have no pictures of them playing in the river, the marshmallow roast or the picnic with all of Christopher's sisters (who live in Colorado) once we were back in the Denver area. I really missed some opportunities.

Then it was back to Utah...where Christopher flew home to a smelly, smelly trash can and we stayed 6 more days. Those last days were spent at Lagoon, going to the pool, going to a wedding reception in Logan, a Funeral in Provo, eating out, visiting family, and playing in my grandmother's backyard -heaven on earth. She still keeps it perfectly maintained.

Above is my baby girl at Lagoon - I have never seen these jugs anywhere but UT - and they weren't just at Lagoon. I spotted them several times in peoples cars. Anyway, we got 2 to share between about 17 people (free refills) Paige really liked it. I didn't try to stop her too often, after all the only ride she got to go on was the train. Don't worry, she hasn't had any soda since.

Anyway, that's been our summer so far. We got home 2 days ago, and spent yesterday at the Jersey shore...no good waves yesterday and lots of jelly fish. (Ashlee loves to collect them) I don't have any pictures of that either. Christopher left this morning for two months....we are all sad today. We'll spend today and tomorrow un packing and settling in and then we will be on the look out for stuff to keep us busy.