We were at Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris's house the other day with all the cousins. Not everyone is looking at me, but, no one is crying!

This week while Trav's home we are visiting different places close to home for our family vacation. On Monday we went to Hogle Zoo. We haven't been since Caleb was Brooke's size. There are a lot of things that are different at the zoo since we were there last. And, they are adding a huge section onto the zoo. We will have to visit again next summer to see the new addition to the zoo.

We got to see the baby elephant:

The dinosaurs that they use to have in a special section you had to pay extra to see are now spread throughout the zoo. They also have some fossils and fun things about dinosaurs in one of the bldgs. This is a giant fossilized footprint:

This is how everyone should do the zoo:

After we left the zoo we went down to The Gateway. We had dinner at the food court before heading over to the Planetarium. Travis hasn't been there since we went on our honeymoon. They are in a different bldg now than they were then. The kids haven't ever been to the planetarium before. I've been a few times on school field trips. The kids loved this contraption:

My boys on the moon:

The kids on Mars:

We watched the Led Zepplin laser show while we were there. I wouldn't recommend going to the laser show. They didn't use the lasers much. The laser show Trav & I saw when we visited on our honeymoon was much better than the one we saw this time. The IMAX shows are awesome. I've seen those when I've been with the school. Brooke loved the laser show because of all the lights and sound. The boys got bored pretty quick. Trav was disappointed because of the lack of lasers. Sam was kind of indifferent. I thought it was ok.

Tuesday we stayed home because the kids had summer camp & Nash had an appointment. Tuesday night Travis & Nash went into Logan to rent movies from Hastings. Sam & Brooke & Caleb & I went down to my mom's house. Brooke put her feet in the pool for the first time:

On Wednesday we went down to Ogden to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. This park is amazing! I would definitely recommend taking your kids here. Don't skimp out on seeing what's inside the bldg. In fact, go in there first! It's better than outside in my opinion. There are lots of huge dinosaur fossil skeletons. Here's the wooly mammoth:

If you pay a little extra you can let your kids excavate for polished rocks, cut a geode open or pan for gold. Sam & Nash chose to excavate for rocks (Caleb helped) and Caleb opened up a geode. His geode is awesome. I need to get a picture of it. They were all thrilled with their rocks though.

Some of the fossils:

Outside there are tons of dinosaurs placed throughout the park (8 acres). They don't move or anything, but they look quite life like:

They had quite a few of this cutouts for photo opportunities:

This dinosaur fossil is left in the rock because it's got gold in the rock as well. Not sure if it's fools gold or actual gold - I didn't get a chance to read the whole placard:

The Flinstones!

This one of Caleb cracks me up:

World's Most Dangerous Creature:

Brooke did the dinosaur park the same way she did the zoo:

There's this sandbox that has fossils in it that the kids can excavate. This little boy came up and started talking to Sam. She told me when we left that he told her he liked her. She was like, "He doesn't even know me!"

After leaving the dinosaur park, we went to Sandy to The Living Planet Aquarium. It was better than I thought it would be:

We stayed home today so Travis could study for his finals. We'll be home tomorrow because Travis has to take a test & we are celebrating Caleb's birthday tomorrow night. I've got to get that Diego cake made!

45 Lessons

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .


"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is
he most requested column I've ever written.


My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents
will. Stay in touch.


5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is
all about.


14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry ; God never
blinks.


16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to
you and no one else.


20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an
answer.


21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save
it for a special occasion. Today is special.


22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this
matter?'


27. Always choose life: YOURS

28. Forgive everyone everything. .but if you can't , put them away so they can
no longer hurt you.


29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or
didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab
ours back.


41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Friends are the family you choose.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Lots of pictures!

My lilies are doing fairly well this summer. I'm surprised because I didn't think they were looking too hot just a week or two ago.

My pathetic attempt at a garden this year:

These would be the poor pumpkin & watermelon plants that Caleb gave a haircut to the other day.

I think I mentioned that I had let my flowerbed out back get pretty bad. Here are the before pictures:

Notice the one that hits the roof? How it got that big with such a lack of love, attention & water is beyond me!

Yesterday after my visit to the chiropractor & massage, I came home & got this flowerbed weeded. The kids were at daycare is how I managed to get it done. You should see the sunburn on the back of my neck! Here are the after pictures:

I had a custom order for a carseat canopy at the booth on the 4th of July. Here's how it turned out.

Caleb's actual birthday was fairly lame. I was keeping it low key because we're having a party when his dad gets home. Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris came out to our house. Grandpa helped put outlet covers on, lights up and carpet in the boys' room. Caleb got to open his present from Grandma & Grandpa. He was pretty excited to get a new Mater car & book. If you shake Mater and set him down, he takes off.

I love the look he's giving Nash.

Since I didn't make his cake yet (It's Diego & I'm only making it once) Grandpa HELD a candle in his fingers & lit it. We sang Happy Birthday & then Caleb blew the candle out while Grandpa held it! Crazy Grandpa!

Caleb did get to play with the hose on his birthday. The boy loves water - just in a different way than the other two. He doesn't want to get in my mom's pool or swim in the lake without someone holding on to him - even when he has his life jacket on.

Sam has decided she wants to grow her bangs out. They are sooo long! They are almost to the end of her nose! I told her if she's going to grow them out she has to let me pull them out of her eyes so we can see her pretty face. I've been french braiding them into her hair & then putting her hair in a pony tail. She seems content with it....for now.

Baby sister was happy the other day & I managed to get some pictures of her smiling. I noticed when she was smiling today that she has 2 dimples (one on each side) just like her sister.

I was baking something the other day and Caleb was helping. Glad I had my stuff out of this bowl before the little helper got a hold of it!

I forgot to mention...

I forgot to mention in my post last night that before I started painting shelves I was picking up hoses. I decided I'd mow the lawn after painting. I noticed a pair of scissors on the back patio that the kids had taken outside. I didn't pick them up for 2 reasons. 1-I wasn't ready to go back in the house and 2-I figured it'd be fine to leave them there b/c the kids were at the neighbor's house playing.

After painting the shelves and realizing I needed more spray paint to finish, I started to round up kids to make the trip to Walmart. Where do I find Caleb? On the back patio. With the scissors. Siting amongst a pile of pumpkin and watermelon plant leaves that he had trimmed off. Sigh. Stupid things weren't going to produce much anyway, right?

On a happier note: I got a massage while I was at the chiropractor's office today. I learned that if you get a massage from the massage therapist on the same day you see the chiropractor, it's considered therapy and your insurance will cover it. Yep. Things are looking up. Especially when you consider that the kids are at daycare playing so I can recover from yesterday!

And Cassidy-I think you're right about where Caleb learned that word from. Mom and I said the same thing this morning!

The day from hell...

Today was like a Monday from hell! Where do I begin??

I had to have Caleb at the pediatrician for his well check at 10:20 am. I started waking the kids up at 9:30 am. Thirty minutes should be plenty of time, right? Yeah, I should know better. We didn't leave our house until 10:10 am. It takes 20 min. to get to the dr.'s office. I called to let them know we would be about 10 min. late.

I finally make it to the dr.'s office & am informed that Dr. Clarke had an emergency this morning & is running about 20 min. late. Guess who doesn't feel bad about being late? I thought Caleb needed at least 1 shot. Turns out he didn't! That was the highlight of my day. I asked Dr. Clarke to check Brooke's ears because she's been crying for days, pooping nearly daily (uncommon for her), throwing up lots more than usual, and running a low grade fever. Her right ear is infected. Joy...sigh. It begins. She's only 2 months old! I shouldn't have told Dr. Blotter (our favorite ENT) that we'd be in when she was 6 months old. Foot in the mouth. Dr. Clarke gave me a prescription for amoxicillan for her. The other kids and I are all allergic to penicillan. None of them can take amoxicillan and the boys can't do omnicef. Thus, when we buy prescriptions, we don't do cheap ones. What happens? They break out in hives from head to to, just like their mother (and I heard medicine allergies aren't genetic!). What's odd is that it's usually not until the second or third time the kids took penicillan that they had a reaction. I'm guessing she'll do ok this time, but I bet the next time she gets the hives. Yes, I said next time because I don't live in denial, I know it's coming.

After leaving the pediatrician's office, I stopped at Shopko to drop off the prescription. While they were filling it, I ran to Wendy's drive through and grabbed lunch and fed Brooke. Then I went back to Shopko to pick up the prescription. I decided to make a quick trip to Sugar & Spice in Hyde Park to see if they had shelves that would work in the kids' rooms. That was a bust of a trip. Didn't buy anything there (and I freaking love that store).

After leaving Sugar & Spice I decided to stop at Hobby Lobby to see if maybe they had some shelves that would work. When we walked into the store Nash saw a mechanical pencil in another empty cart & asked if he could have it. I said, "No." and tossed it back into the empty cart. We made our way through the store, and, $90 later were headed out. I found 3 shelves (at only $16 each which I get to finish myself), a piggy bank for Brooke, a cute saying for the boys' room, modpodge, wood glue, and three unfinished crafts the kids picked out. As I'm paying for my stuff, I notice Samantha telling Nash to take something out of his shirt or she's telling mom. What is it? The stupid mechanical pencil again! Grrr... I said, "I told you NO!" and put it on the other side of the counter. He stalks off and Samantha stays with me. She walks out of the store slightly ahead of me and I notice she's talking to Nash again and he's fiddling with his shirt. I come out of the store (extremely perturbed) and get after him. I say, "Nash! That's stealing! You march your butt back into the store and put that back where you found it!" What does he pull out of his shirt? One of those metal rods they hang merchandise on. Oy! This child!! It's about now that the migraine starts to set in (and it's only 1:30 pm!)

Nash got quite the earful (as did the other kids) once we were all in the truck and headed back home. They got to hear (it was NOT a discussion) about how we PAY for things we want. How would he like it if someone came to his house and took his things without permission. Etc., etc., etc. The migraine is now growing. I told Nash when we get home he can go sit on his bed until I say so and he will not be getting his unfinished craft (a treasure box) until I say so!

Meanwhile, I have no idea where Caleb has picked up the word B**ch. He was using it the other night (yes, in context. He was saying, "You little B**** come here.") and he got in trouble for it. Earlier in the day Caleb had used the word again and I got after him. Just before their lecture on paying for things, he used it again. So, Caleb was informed (not so kindly) that he too would get to sit on his bed when we got home since he wanted to have a potty mouth. Migraine still growing.

We get home and the boys go into their room. They are told that I don't want to hear talking, playing, anything. I close the door and finish bringing things in. Meanwhile Caleb decides he's going to jump (yes, jump) off his bed drawers onto his bed. I'm sure Nash was encouraging it because I could hear his voice but not make out what he was saying. The boys were repeatedly busted for being naughty while they were suppose to be having punishment. Punishment didn't work too well I suppose. Migraine still growing and I'm now ready to pound head against wall.

Boys are finally allowed to come out. I decide to have the kids pick up all the toys in their room and start hauling them downstairs so we can figure out what's going to go into their new room. Sam has some friends show up and the toy hauling is stopped. Big surprise. With 6 kids in my house, the migraine isn't getting any smaller.

I decide to paint one of the shelves for the girls' room. Got it almost done. Had to let it dry before flipping it around to do the top. Yesterday I started refinishing a dresser for the boys' room. I bought red spray paint to paint it. I only bought 3 cans. Which was fine...for the dresser. Brooke was being, well, not screaming so I decided to try and paint the boys shelves. I ran out of spray paint. Figures. I no longer have 6 kids running around my house so I tell the kids we're going to Walmart to get more spray paint. Can't remember if it was the north or south Walmart I bought the spray paint at. Great. You'd think they'd carry the same things, right? Text the girl that's stopping by to pick up a custom order carseat canopy I finished at 1:30 am. Make it about 4 blocks from my house and get a text that she's in Hyrum. Turn around. Stop back at my house and decide maybe Ridley's (grocery store not far from home) has the same paint. Trade carseat canopy for check and go to Ridley's. No luck. Head to Walmart.

While I Walmart I find the 17 picture frames I need to finish the girls' names my sister in law and I started on months ago. Find red spray paint but not the same red spray paint as before. Cross my fingers it's a close match. Leave Walmart. Migraine continues to grow.

Get home and spray paint the shelves. Color looks good in the light so let's hope it matches in the morning light. Kids are driving me NUTS! Send 2 of them to get in the shower and Caleb to his room. Why? He drives his bike into my house (again) and refuses to take it outside. It gets quiet. I hope he's asleep (he hasn't napped all day). I should know better. The other 2 are out of the shower so I go check on Caleb. Disaster struck in the bedroom. Great. Head is throbbing. Take Caleb & go get in the shower. Put Brooke in her bouncy chair in the bathroom with us while the other 2 clean up the disaster. Get out of the shower and dressed only to discover Brooke has pooped all over. Into the bathtub goes Brooke (it's 9:15 pm). Kids are still cleaning up the disaster in their room. Caleb is sent in to "help". Get Brooke out of the tub and dressed. She's still sad. Give second dose of prescription and Tylenol. She falls asleep. Get kids a sandwich for dinner (yep, I'm that good).

While the older 2 kids eat, Caleb climbs in my bed and FINALLY falls asleep. Big kids are watching cartoons despite being told to go to bed. My brain hurts, I feel like I'm going to throw up, and I'm blogging. What the...

Tomorrow has to be better, right?

An interesting weekend

Saturday morning my father in law called at 9 am to ask if they could take Nash to Manti with them. I said sure because I knew they were taking my nephew & Nash could use some fun away time. He just got home tonight around 11 pm and it sounds like he had lots of fun. My nephew, Kash, is a year younger than Nash & those two have so much fun together whenever they get to play. Sounds like this weekend was no different as they were inseparable! Nash is pretty proud of the bird nest he found and brought home too. I told him we could put it on the shelf in his new room. You should have seen the boy's eyes light up!

Another reason I'm glad I let him go is that now Samantha has a bit more appreciation of how he feels when she's gone playing with her friends all the time. I think she finally understands why he gets so upset when she says that he can't play with her and her friends. She sure got sick of just playing with Caleb -- he doesn't let her boss him around like Nash does! He'll just walk off if he doesn't like what she's doing or saying! If I had a nickle for every time Samantha whined at me that she was bored this weekend, I'd probably have close to $10!

Yesterday afternoon I was able to go downstairs and work on cleaning all the stuff up out of the boys' room. Travis & I finished painting it while he was home this last time but the mess got left for me to deal with. Caleb was ever so helpful in cleaning up (fortunately he never did get that screw up to the wall and use the pliers as a hammer...yes, he tried but I was too quick for him). After we cleaned up the mess in their room, we had to clean up all the toys that were strewn all over the basement so we can carry the carpet into their room without tripping on something and breaking our necks! My father in law said he'd come out on Monday and help me get the carpet in, the outlet covers on & the bunk bed set up. Now if I can convince someone to come finish the lights & help install the bars in the closet, I can move the boys down! After that I'll have to get someone to take down the top bunk in the room upstairs so I can paint the blue walls pink & then have someone turn the toddler bed back into a crib. Sounds easy enough in theory! We'll see how it turns out!

I also manged to get some weeding done yesterday. My flowerbeds have managed to slip away from me this year thanks to Brooke's fussiness. The flowerbed against the back of my house where my hollyhocks are is the worst! Seriously, if you saw it, you'd die! And considering how much neglect it's had this year, I'm astonished that one of my hollyhock plants actually reaches the roof of the house! If I can get it weeded, I'll have to take a picture! Maybe I should take a picture before so you can see that I'm not exaggerating about how bad it is!

Brooke started acting like the screamer again about Friday. It's lasted through today even. She's running a bit of a fever. I can't decide if she's got a touch of the flu or if she's teething or perhaps something else entirely. I say teething because you can see her two front bottom teeth (since not long after she was born actually) and Caleb started teething at 2 months old too. I know there's a flu bug going around and she has pooped 3 times this week already (normally she's a once a week kind a girl). She had shots on July 6th so I'm pretty sure it isn't related to that. Who knows, perhaps it's because she just misses her daddy.

Brooke slept long enough yesterday that I was able to get all my non maternity clothes out & get them hung up in the closet and my maternity clothes out. I was just going to send all my maternity clothes to my sister to list on thredup.com and then I remembered my sister's friend is expecting. So, I just sent them all over to her. I'm glad they are going to someone that I know that can use them. Even though I've said I'm done having kids & Trav's been "fixed" I guess it hadn't sunk it yet because it was a little bit sad to take all my maternity clothes out and give them away. Every other time I've taken them out, I've taken them out knowing there's a good chance I'd see them again in a few short years. It's sad because it's the end of a certain time period in my life that I guess I wasn't ready to say good bye too.

Yesterday morning after Nash left I took the other 3 kids and went to town to do some school shopping. I just went to Kmart thinking we'd be able to find a few things and put them on layaway. Yeah, $225 later.... Sam's done except for shoes and maybe 1 or 2 more pairs of pants. With the shirts she picked out and what I have at home to finish making for her, she should be set until the cold weather arrives and she needs long sleeves again. Caleb found a Diego backpack he just had to have and was quite upset when we got home and he realized it wasn't with us! I know they don't really use backpacks in preschool, but I got it anyway. We also found him some new shoes and 2 pairs of pants. Depending on how much I have stashed away from when Nash wore a 3T Caleb should be done too. Now I just need to take Nash to get a few things. Since we had such good luck at Kmart for the others I think I'll just go back there & put another stash on layaway (I love layaway & wish the other stores wouldn't have gotten rid of it).

Today I went down to my mom's house for about 6 hours. I just went down to pick up some eggs and ended up staying. My dad and then my mom held Brooke and finally managed to get her to sleep. Once she was sleeping soundly she was laid on my mom's bed. I didn't want to wake her up by moving her, so we stayed and she slept for 3 hours straight. I was glad because I knew she needed it. During that reprieve from screaming, Caleb & Sam helped my mom make lemon bars and then Caleb helped my mom make brownies & a cake while I played the card game golf with Sam and my dad. My mom's parents stopped by for a short visit & got quite a kick out of seeing that I let Caleb swim naked at my mom's house.

Tomorrow Caleb turns 3! Holy cow! Where did that time go? I know I say that with every birthday one of my kids has, but seriously, time NEVER went this fast when I was a kid! Did I enter a time warp or something? This next week is going to be a full one (again) and then Travis will be home on July 24th. We've decided that for our family vacation this year we're going to just go to SLC and do something different each day that the kids haven't necessarily done before. Should be fun!

Relay for Life 2011

This year my team raised close to $1,000. Much more than my initial estimates would have guessed. We were out at Forrester Acres in Smithfield this year. The track was .69 mile. We bought Sam some lap beads & had about 18 by the time we left (around 12 miles). Nash got to stay at the site with me this year. This was his first year getting to stay. I also had Brookelyn with me the whole time. Travis stayed for much more than I anticipated he would. He kept Caleb with him since Caleb had his tonsils & adenoids out the day before.

What the final lap looked like.

Caregiver garden:

Closing ceremony:

Balloon release (you should have heard the earful I got from a lady who felt that releasing balloons isn't an effective way to send our thoughts to heaven. Rather it's a littering event & should be given a $200 fine....)

Our team shirts (orange for Cindy & kidney cancer)

Getting balloons to release:

B slept quite a bit (much better than screaming, right?)

B had a pink onsie because they didn't have orange ones (boo).

I ask my husband to take 1 picture! I wanted a picture of grandma & Cindy when they walked by & this is what I get. Thanks dear...

Survivor lap:

Caleb watching Sam & Jade dance (after the 20 min. rain delay)

1 day I will get Amber on my team! She was diagnosed at 27 yrs old & just reached her 5 yr survivor mark! Way to go!!

How cute is this baby?