California Dreamin'

We just got back from our California vacation and I'm realizing that reality is highly overrated. After more than a week of not having to cook (except make peanut butter sandwiches), not having to clean, no homework supervision, no runnng errands, and a basic disregard for schedules, it's been a little hard to get back into the swing of things. The weather in California was record breaking hot and way humid, but other than flat hair and sweating out of places that really shouldn't be sweating, it was great. The beach was my favorite part and I'm already trying to plan a time to get back to it. We also went to Legoland, California Aventure, and we met up with our friends Sam, Angie, and Dakota for a little while at Disneyland.

Summer Fun

Well it has been a super busy and fun summer. My kids are on year round school, so they were only out for 6 weeks. We tried to fit in as many fun things as we could. We fed ducks at the park and had a couple of picnics. We went to the cabin a couple of times with most of the fam for some hard work and good food. Kaylee got to be in a 4th of July parade with her cheerleading team and we had a yummy BBQ at the Bowman house and a sleepover with the Simmons family all in one weekend. We went to Cowabunga Cove water park with our friends Lisa, Quinn and Jesse. Next was the first day of day of school with Gavin starting 5th grade and Kaylee starting 2nd. On August 3rd, Pam gave us a new little niece/cousin baby Kinsley. Today, we celebrated my grandpa's 90th birthday party.
Even though the kids are back in school, I'm still hoping to fit in some more fun and hopefully be able to enjoy some more good weather before the leaves start falling and we have to start thinking of Christm... Oh man I can't even go there yet.

One Year Pics

We went to Target yesterday and had Daxton's one year pics taken. I really tried to stay within a budget, and I sorta did good. They just take such cute pictures that it's hard not to buy everything. Stinking cute kids are so expensive!

Busiest month ever...

May has always been a busy time of year. There's Mothers Day, spring cleaning, flower planting, and the end of the school year. We have added three birthdays to all of that and it makes for a very fun and expensive time for us. The Bowman family birthday party was last Saturday. We had a SPY theme complete with Top Secret goodie bags and disguises and a bomb destroying race. On Thursday Kaylee had her final dance recital at the Perry Egyptian Theater in Ogden. She got a little nervous during her dance, but she shook what her mama gave her in style. Friday was Kaylee's birthday and we went to see Shrek and ate dinner at 5 Guys in Bountiful. Saturday we took all 3 kids to Build a Bear for their bday presents and then headed to Pam's house for Jason's party. On Sunday we had a birthday party with the Simmons family. The weather wasn't cooperating very well so we weren't able to shove the kids outside for very long. This coming Saturday is Daxton's first birthday, and I'm sure cake will be involved. Thankfully he is too young to expect us to do anything else for him that day, cuz I am pooped!

Easter Eggs

On Friday a group of my friends and their kids met up to dye Easter eggs at Lucy's house. We had originally planned to do eggs at a park, but it was too freaking cold. The get together was a success, except for Kaylee knocking all of Lisa's eggs on the floor. Oh, and except for Gavin throwing up twice on the way home. And Daxton crapped himself so bad that it squirted up and out of his diaper onto his clothes. Yeah, good times. The first picture is of me and my man Elvis. Cheryl had a cardboard cut out that will be used in a school auction, and I couldn't resist taking a pictures with him.

Remember Me...

Last night I went out to see a midnight showing of Remember Me with some friends and fellow Twilight Moms. If you haven't heard of it, it stars (and is produced by) the one and only Robert Pattison. That is reason enough to see it, but if you still aren't convinced, it really is a great movie. I really don't want to say anything else about it because it will ruin it. Don't read the reviews because they always give things away. JUST WATCH IT. I didn't get to bed until 3:30 and woke up around 6:30 to get everyone ready for school, so I'm feeling extremely grateful for caffeine today. Oh well, you can sleep when you're dead right?

On a beach somewhere far away...

Today I am using my blog as an outlet for my complaints. No cheery "look at what the kids are doing now", or "look what fun things we did over the weekend". Trust me, you wouldn't want to see pictures of how their time has been occupied over the last couple weeks.
Ben and I came down with the worst stomach flu EVER right after the baby came down with it. Nothing is worse than switching between which end of your body needs the toilet while your baby is crying because he just threw up and/or crapped all over the place. Poor little guy had to go to the doctor a couple of times and to the hospital for blood work. Thankfully he is finally doing better.
We now have to replace our washer and dryer because of all the laundry we've done from all the bodily functions that didn't make it into a diaper or the bathroom. Our dryer started screaming in protest of having to be used so much, and the washer gave up on the spin cycle almost completely.
Gavin spent all of Friday night crying, screaming, and moaning because his eye and head hurt. Being the sensitive creature that I am, I kept telling him to cry quieter, or to moan into a pillow to muffle the sound. Sadly that didn't work and Ben took him to the doctor early Saturday morning. The doc didn't have an answer or solution for us so he sent us home with some anti-nausea medication as a consolation prize. On Monday we found out he has strep throat. Awesome. After 2 days of antibiotics, he's still not better, so his story is to be continued.
Yesterday I was really looking forward to being able to work. I have missed so many hours because of being sick myself and various other doctor appointments and I really don't want to get canned. I was also looking forward to a quiet house with no distractions. Gavin was home, but I figured he would be low maintenanace. At 11:00 I got a call from the school. Never a good sign. Kaylee wanted me to come pick her up because she had a tummy ache. I asked her if she could just try taking a dump, but apparently that attempt had already been made with no success. I took her to school late today because she's starting to feel better, but we'll see. I turned the ringer off my phone just in case.
I can tell that all these days of being cooped up, cleaning up gross stuff, wiping snotty noses, doing laundry, lysol-ing the entire house, paying countless copays and perscription costs, listening to moans and groans, and feeling totally helpless have really started to affect me. Yesterday, I found myself engrossed in a bag of chips that I don't really like. I found the wrappers to some emergency chocolate I had stashed in my underwear drawer, and I don't really remember eating it. Last nigt, I busted myself eating Life cereal and popcorn at 11:00 pm.
I'm hoping that whatever bugs or germs have attached themselves to my family will leave soon. My sanity and waistband can't stand it much longer. In the meantime, I will spend what little free time I have daydreaming about being on a beach somewhere far away...

Birthday Weekend

Jaskson...sigh


The whole band


Lisa, me, and Jackson


The look on Jackson's face after I threw a pair of pink panties on the stage! Then he picked them up and put them in his pocket!


Me and the girls at Bucca

I celebrated my birthday this weekend in the best way. On Friday night we went to dinner at Buca De Peppo in Salt Lake. They had the best italian food! They also had a few nude paintings of men and women decorating the place, which is a little off putting when you're trying to eat, but whatever. Then we headed over to this little dive of a place for a 100 Monkeys concert. One of the members is the guy who plays Jasper in the Twilight movies. The band was sooo good! I haven't listened to anything but them for a week now and I have most of their songs memorized. The guys were so down to earth and were nice enough to have their pictures taken with us and do autographs after the show. We entered an auction to win a camera that they had used during their day in Utah, and we won! What a night!!