A Picture (or 2) A Day.

I took care of Monday on Monday. Or was it Tuesday. Hmm. So I thought I'd throw in my bathroom pictures to start with...

Isn't it pretty? I love my bathroom. Especially when it's clean.
Tuesday...Daniel's version of "Hey you, I'll show you something pretty. That pretty girl over there. He pretty girl, check out my skills...Bolt Bolt Firepower!" We haven't seen the movie yet, but this is now the most quoted movie quote in our house.
Wednesday...This is my favorite treat. Just as I took the picture, a little hand tried to take it!

Thursday...Sam tried to teach Ruthie how to ride without training wheels.

Friday...This day needs a few pictures. We began the day with a special last day of school breakfast...French toast, sausages and O.J. Yum! Do you see my trophy from the tractor race? No! I'm not that self centered. Ruthie has claimed it as her own and takes it everywhere.

Sam got several certificates for accomplishing so much in first grade.

Isaac gave his third grade teacher a kiss on the cheek because he is the bravest. His teacher cried as she said goodbye to all her kids. I cried because I will miss her amazing teaching and guiding my son to be an awesome third grader. This was a great school year.

Saturday...Demolition Derby. Yay! We always have fun when cars crash and smash!

Sunday... I found this in my camera after church. Mom and dad got to sleep in and the kids got up and played for a while before we had to start getting ready for church.

I am wiped out today. There is just something about Sunday that makes my body ache and my brain hurt.

Smooth Feet.

What girl doesn't love smooth feet? Let me rephrase that... What husband doesn't love his wife's smooth feet so he can rub them and massage them and help his wife feel so warm and fuzzy inside? Well? (Are you reading this, honey?)

I have seen TV ads for a thingy called a Ped Egg. It looked like it would just be painful. Plus you had to order it from TV. Who knows what you'd get?! Then I saw the same thing-renamed, of course-on TV for sale at the store. So I thought, "Hmm. Maybe I'll check it out when I'm at the store next time." I forgot.

Fast forward to today. Ruthie and I went grocery shopping and while waiting in the slowest line in the whole place, Ruthie found one. She looked at it and said, "Look mom, it's like the one on TV that gets all the yucky stuff off your feet. Do you want it?" Do I have yucky stuff on my feet? Never mind. So I said, "Put it in the basket."
I used it. It's awesome. It says on the back that Diabetics shouldn't use it. I'm a rebel. All the yucky stuff (dry skin) was in there when I was done. I would have taken a picture to show you. I think it's sufficient to say it looks just like the stuff in the commercials. My heels are already smoother. I had to check my receipt after buying to see how much I paid for it. $10.00. It might just be worth it if I can get my smooth, beautiful feet rubbed tonight! Hey Daniel! Wink Wink!

It's Here...

It's May 29. It's Friday. It's a short day. It's the last day of school. I have been dreading/looking forward to this day since the end of last August. I knew it would come. It's finally here.

So where does this leave me? I don't have to do homework anymore. No more making kids read for 20 minutes every day. No more making boys get dressed before I count to 50 so we won't be late. No more homework. No more enforcing early morning teeth brushing. (They will still have to brush, just not till 10 or so) No more "Hurry and eat or your eggs will get cold/cereal will get mushy!" No more homework. No more rushing to get back from running errands so I can be at the school for kid pick up on time. No more watching over projects that the teachers think the kids will do on their own. (Hah!) No more homework. No more lot of things.

I now have 3 kids to entertain every day for 3 months. I now will have a messy house all day every day for 3 months. I now will have muddy floors from kids who have been playing in the water and then play in the dirt and then come right in the house. I now will have to buy popsicles every week to keep up with the popsicle fetish. I now will have to try to persuade my kids that reading is still fun and they really should do it. I now will have temperatures in the 90's on up to contend with. Heat makes me cranky. Really cranky. At least we won't have any homework. I am now looking forward to August 24.

I am going to fill my summer with lots of diet pepper to keep any sense of sanity. I have 4 hours and 15 minutes left to enjoy. I better get to it!

The Windy Wedding.

The 4 sisters-Laurie, me, Katie, Emilie-waiting outside the Draper Temple for the Bride and Groom. Yes. It's mighty windy. So much that we almost blew away.

Here they come! Adam and Annie. Aren't they cute?! That would be my mom and dad on either side of the frame.
Kiss the bride!
Adam, my dad and Alex. The original siblings. We're sorry Aaron couldn't be there for pictures. We love you, we miss you Aaron, come back soon!

The reception. No more wind.

Does this chair make my butt look big?

Ruthie enjoying soft serve ice cream with sprinkles.

Isaac enjoying the ring pop and ice cream. Each of the tables had flowers in the middle and ring pops in small pink bags down the center. So cute.

Sam and cousin Ellie on the guy on a horse statue.

And Sam being Sam.

Congratulations, Adam and Annie!

We are so happy to have another sister!

Camping On Memorial Day.

This one captures the theme of our overnight stay. Wet! We got caught in a large raindrop turned hail storm right after grandma finished out the Mommy Tractor Race.

There is a huge rope in the middle of the inside room of the shed. (There's also now a toilet and shower) (not in the middle of the inside room. It's its own room) This kids love to swing on it.
Isaac loved having the zip line all to himself while waiting for cousins to come back from town.
There he goes!

All the way to the bottom. If I had swung down and then run up every time as many times as he did, I'd be about 20 pounds lighter!

The swings...

"Sam! Just stand still so I can get one picture!" He's wearing some extra ranch boots because his shoes (and Isaac's) were soaked from jumping in the spring to catch a frog.

C'mon let's crawl, (gotta crawl, gotta crawl) to the ugly bug ball, (to the ball, to the ball). And a happy time we'll have there(...da dun dun...)One and all, at the ugly bug ball.

Ruthie loved the crafts...pinwheels, necklaces, slime, painting, etc.

That's Isaac sitting on the chair watching cousins shoot clay pigeons. He collected 4 unshot pigeon shells when they were done.

Ruthie by the tent.

Ahhh...The moment you've all been waiting for. The Mommy Tractor Race. There is a dirt track that the kids can ride bikes and motorbikes and 4 wheelers on. The men put together a challenge for all the women. We couldn't put on our seat belt until the timer started.

Come on!! Get that seat belt on!

Where's the key?

And she's off.

The first hill to go over. (there are 2)

The first turn with a bucket that you couldn't run over. Grandma ran over one of them. But no one faulted her for it!

Hello! Here we had to put the back thingy down and drag a big piece of wood from one set of markers to another. Then we had to push it back to the first set of markers. I did it without a hitch!

And I'm off again! Don't I just look natural on a tractor? Wait! Don't answer that.

And over the last hill before the finish!

The last obstacle was to lower the thingy on the front and push a large piece of wood passed the finish line. That was where we all got into trouble. We moved lots of dirt with this one. You see Uncle Mark there watching his watch? I came in with a time of 2:55. The fastest time. Can you believe it?!

And here's the trophy. Yep. It's a gymnastics trophy. But I earned it!

We had lots and lots of fun. We wish we could have been there the whole time.

A Picture A Day.

Here's the start of my catching up on the weekend. I don't have pictures for some days. If you have any extra marbles laying around, pass them over to me. I've lost mine long ago.

Monday...No actual Monday picture. This was from the wedding on Friday. The white steeple looked so cool in front of the green hills.

Tuesday...What?! No Tuesday picture? Here's another from Friday. The Angel Moroni atop the Draper Temple.

Wednesday...Now I'm just guessing this is actually from Wednesday. Ruthie went to bed and then put lip gloss on before she fell asleep. She's such a girl.

Thursday...Daniel just being silly. I mean GQ. Although he looks like he's smelling cauliflower.
Friday...You get 2 for 1. First we went to Isaac's reader's theater. He did a great job as Narrator #2.

Friday again...Later that day we were at the temple for Adam and Annie's wedding. This is us. Do you see the windiness?? It was sucking my will to live. And it didn't do us any favors for pictures!

Saturday...Daniel's car is back. It was an easily fixed problem that got fixed easily. And look at how clean his engine is now!!

Sunday...After church we headed up to the family ranch to join the family reunion already in progress. No one was there when we got there so Ruthie got the swings all to herself. The fam was in town visiting graves. It was wet and rainy all night and on Monday.

Monday...Dad and Sam and Ruthie riding grandpa's 4wheeler. This is after Mom won first place in the Mommy Tractor Race.

I'll get some more pictures up soon to fill in some good times. Including the Tractor Race.