i'd rather see her

I have a million posts I want to do, but no time.

"No time. There's never any time. I don't have time to study, I'll never get into Stanford. . ."

Who knows it? Anybody?

Anyway, I'm already sick of that camp post, so until I have more time here's a cute little pic of my Ellie girl, digging in the rocks.

back to camp

Just got back from Girls Camp last week. Here are a few pictures from my bad camera and some thoughts:

• The theme for our stake was PBS Kids Shows. PBS for Pray, Book of Mormon, and Smile- the challenge for the young women of the church this year. It was such a fun theme. Each ward picked a different kids show as their theme.

• We were Curious George. This was my first time sleeping in a cabin. Pretty cozy. And luckily the girls were so dead at the end of each day that they actually slept at night. I was pleasantly surprised.
• It was fun to go back to where I had spent a week every summer when I was younger.

• There were several phrases that our girls were really into. "Epic failure," "I hate my life," and "I know, right?" were among the most frequently used. I love teenage girls!
• I don't have cute camping hair. I need a flat iron and a round brush or I'm not okay. It was a hard week.
• People get very emotional very easily at camp. It's just all those female hormones in such close proximity.
• I tried banana boats for the first time ever and they sure were yummy. If you haven't had them let me tell you: You peel one side of the banana, scoop a little bit out, and then fill it with chocolate chips, marshmallows and reese's. Close the banana back up and then wrap it tightly with tin foil. Stick it on the hot coals and wait a few minutes. Then grab a spoon. I can't wait to try it again!
• I learned how to play big booty. I totally love it.
• I had major allergy issues in my left eye. My dumb left eye. It watered constantly for two days and my skin was swollen and red and raw. I was dying. It was one of those things that isn't really a big serious deal, but it was just so very annoying and painful at times. And I just kind of like to complain about it. I do.
• I love beehives! Ours were so cute. I loved watching them do all the camp things for the first time. So cute.
• All the songs they sing are new. The only one I recognized was the Noah one. They are much more annoying when you didn't learn them yourself at camp. But guess what? I've been stuck on them ever since I got home. "Now Tarzan has a tan. . ." Ahhhhh.
• On the second day we got up at 3:30am to go on a sunrise hike. That day was the longest day ever. But the sunrise was so beautiful.
• Another beautiful thing that I made sure to look at every night was the sky. So many stars. So many. The night sky was breathtaking.
  

• We went on a snipe hunt. This was so funny. Most of the girls had never been on one before and I almost peed my pants a little because I was laughing so hard. Our camp director outdid herself on this one and should get an Oscar. She even skinned the "snipe" that she caught and cooked it up in a frying pan. It looked and smelled a lot like a twinkie with salsa on it. Hehe.
  

• We cleaned the Biffy. Well, the girls did. I helped supervise.
  
  
  

• It was actually really fun to spend a week with these cute girls. . .although I'm really glad it's over. I loved going back to Shalom- it's so beautiful up there and it was so great seeing the girls have those fun camp experiences that I had when I was their age.
  

• The group of leaders. It was really fun getting to know these ladies better.
  
• I am having a lot of mixed feelings about leaving these girls. I am so ready to move to Oregon and start living our new life. It seems like we've been waiting forever. But I also feel like I didn't get to finish what I started here in this ward. It will be hard to leave.

better late than never

Our 4th:

Parade in the morning.

We sit in the bleachers.

Perfect temperature.

McKay wants to be a police officer.

Ellery is still wiggly.

Cracker Barrell for brunch.

I guess we can call it a tradition now.

Blueberry pancakes.

Browsing the general store.

Rockin' on the front porch.

BBQ at Grandma's

Jumpin' over a rainbow.

Swinging in the hammocks.

Yummy food.

Being together.

And of course, fireworks. This year in PG.

I don't love fireworks.

Brian says I'm not American.

Gotta do it for the kids.

They loved it.

me and him

We turned twenty eight.

For Brian's birthday I didn't take any photos- my gift to him.

I had some guilt that I didn't get him any other gifts, well, besides allowing him to get his bike a few months ago. So. . .

We went shopping! It's the only time Brian buys clothes. It's becoming a tradition. Funny because Brian doesn't like to shop.

Then a yummy dinner at Olive Garden at 4:30pm. We felt like seniors citizens, and were surrounded by them.

To end the day we had cheesecake, Brian's absolute favorite, made by his Mom.

Then it was my day. And I took lots of pictures, naturally.

My birthday request- garage sale-ing. But I like Brian too much to have dragged him along. My sisters joined me, and we loved it.

I came home to a wonderful breakfast of french toast and homemade Magelby's-style syrup. I was spoiled. Spoiled enough that Brian also accompanied me throw pillow shopping, and he didn't even complain.

Jana was nice enough to host the whole family at her house for an ice cream party. I always prefer ice cream over cake, unless it's the Costco chocolate cake- I like that one.

After that, the Lehi Roundup!

Mack loved it, and has consequently been a bucking bull nearly everyday since.

This one was pretty good, but got really wiggly about half way through. It's hard to keep an almost-two-year-old in bleachers for hours at a time.

It was fun to spend a night with my family- even though our seniors and a few others didn't want to rodeo with us.



And that's it! Another year older. Another pair of birthdays together.

And Brian is getting wrinkles. I'm not, because, you know, I'm younger.

thoughts on a sunday

• I really like blogging. I am dedicated to keeping up with it because I want to be able to remember each little detail of life right now. I don't scrapbook, I don't journal. This is it. And it really works for me.


• Today I realized that my face is fat. And some other places too. And then I ate an ice cream sundae. And then I told Brian I'm going to exercise tomorrow. And then he laughed. And then I jumped on him and told him to hug me because I had just discovered that I got fat. And then he made a sound like I was too heavy. And then I laughed. But- I'm kind of really upset by this discovery.


• Ellery wore a little dress that Lindy brought back from Jerusalem. She looked really cute and really like she was in a nightgown or getting baptised. McKay wore an outfit that earned him the nickname Lumberjack. I was in a Hawaiian muu-muu type dress. Brian was about to put on his suit and then saw the three of us and decided to go more casual to match his multi-cultural clad family.


• We had a really great holiday weekend but we are tired. And the kids were in bed by 6:45 because of all the late nights this week.


• We showed our house three times this week. We are getting more used to keeping it clean all the time. McKay gets tired of me saying it's a cleaning day. And also, for some reason selling our house is making me a little obsessed with keeping our car clean. If only I had some time to myself to get in there with a toothpick and some lysol. Soon.


• We got a big little blow-up pool. All the moms around here have been talking about doing it all summer. And we finally did. And it is a huge success. It finally feels like summer.


• Ever since we went to the rodeo Ellery's favorite sentence is "horsies are awesome." It's just about the cutest thing I've ever heard and she tells most everyone.


• Ellery is into saying "I love it" for lots of things. My favorite conversation of the week:

Ellery: "Fireworks?"

Brian: "I love 'em."

Ellery: "No! Fireworks?"

Brian: "I love 'em."

Ellery "No! Fireworks?"

Brian: "I like 'em?"

Ellery: Yes "I like 'em!"

happy sunday!

how sweet

For about a week or so every time Brian left for work McKay would say, "Dad! Are you going to bring me some sweet roles when you come home?!"

We have no idea where this came from. We have no idea why he calls them sweet roles.

We have no idea why he associated Brian working with sweet roles.

but . . .

. . . yesterday Dad delivered.

And his boy was thrilled.

snip, snip

My baby is growing up.

Her scraggly ends have been bugging me for months. Brian was very against the haircut, but I just sat her down while Diego was on one morning and there was nothing he could do about it. I think it's darling, but it does make her look a lot older.

That's not the only thing that was cut. No more souci. I still wasn't ready to do it, but then I noticed that her teeth were starting to move from sucking and I knew it had to go.

My poor girl said, "Souci, broken?" every time she went to bed, but she didn't cry about it. She'd just hold it and chew on it and after the first two days she didn't even care if the broken souci was in there with her. It went much better than we ever imagined.

But.

Guess who's really done with naps now? Like, really. For good.

I am speechless about the fact that my 20 month old baby doesn't nap.

Please feel sad for me.

At least I like her a lot.

thoughts on a sunday

• My camera is back! It took way too much time and way too much money to fix, but at least I feel whole again. And, absence does make the heart grow fonder- I like it more than I remembered.
• We were driving home from dinner when we heard that Michael had died. I looked over at Brian and said, "OH MY GOSH! Michael Jackson died on your birthday! What does this mean?!" Brian said to me, "I feel like lots of historical things happen on my birthday." I'm still laughing. . .because, what historical things?
• Tonight I talked on the phone with Buffy for three hours and I loved every minute of it. I really miss that girl. Really, really. I love good friends that you can talk to on the phone for three hours.
• I think that this rainy June has been mother nature's way of preparing us for Oregon. I don't even know how I feel about it. I think maybe I don't like rain, but I can't quite be sure. I don't like when the bottoms of my pants get wet, I know that. I guess I'll find out soon enough how I really feel about it.
• All the sudden Ellery is saying "mine!" about everything. This is something that totally drives me crazy. I know that it's a normal phase that every kid goes through, and I think it even has some sort of psychological developmental purpose, but I just hate it. And it happened over night. Brian and I are trying, in vain I'm sure, to correct it, but that girl is stubborn. And she doesn't care at all when we try to discipline her/tell her no.
• Are you watching The Next Food Network Star? Brian and I kind of love the shows on Food Network Nighttime, and that one's our very favorite.
• McKay gave another talk in primary. How come he's giving so many? Does he volunteer every time they ask? I think he must. Anyway, he totally rocked it this time! Before it was his turn he was sitting in the front mouthing/waving to Brian in the back "I can do it myself. I don't need help!" When they told him it was his turn he got up and started to talk into the microphone, but Brian stopped him just before something great was going to come out, I just know it.
• This time the talk was audible. Clear even. But some kids got the giggles when his first line was delivered a little too close to the mic, so it was really loud and muffled. They laughed through the whole talk. McKay was so focused that he didn't notice, but I was standing in the back about to flick some heads, I tell ya.
• Still, no one wants to buy our house. Actually, no one wants to even look at our house. We lowered the price. I am keeping my house spotlessly clean for nothing.
• Nonnie is here for good! McKay is so happy about this, he loves her so much. And Elle is warming up quite nicely to her as well. I really love when Nonnie's here.
• Lisa discovered coconut M&M's. They are a limited edition flavor. Try them. We all like them. I'm giving them as visiting teaching treats this month since I haven't done much visiting. Treats are always better than a message- I always say.

Happy Sunday

for them

My kids are so lucky. They have a really great daddy.

There really isn't anything I would change about Brian as a father.

Well. . .actually. . . there is one thing. He can be a tad bit over-protective.

But if that's my only complaint about him in the parenting department, you can see how he must be pretty great. He is such an involved, adoring, hands-on dad.

And today we want to say Happy Father's Day Daddy!

And, of course, we can't forget the other two dads in our lives.

I can't be too mushy when it comes to these guys. But it's safe to say . . .

that I really love my dad.

and

I really love Brian's dad too.

rain or shine

I feel bad for Brian.
Summerfest has come and gone.
Our last one for awhile.
It rained off and on all day
but
The rain was kind
and always let up just when we needed.

At the carnival

Biggest rainstorm of the day had just let up
Grass was a muddy mess
Shoes were gross, pants were rolled
Big slide was the favorite
Until the "obstacle course"
Elle stayed happy with a sucker
from a friendly police officer

The parade is the best part

McKay was serious about collecting candy
Almost died when Captain Hook asked him to join his crew
Ellery got a handful of rings
that she's been wearing everyday
Bri got a tie
like always
We all enjoyed sitting with family
On the same yellow and red blankets as always
And
rain poured again as we were walking home

Notice

that this girl held on to her treasures

for a good two hours

never opening her fist

She could have gone on forever

and was completely content

just clutching them tight.

it must be summer. . .

because my boy's head looks like this:

Looks like Daddy won again.

I miss his hair.

thoughts on a sunday

• When is life going to settle down? I'm still waiting. I'm getting sad about this because summer is going to fly by, and then we're off. I want to savor these last few months here, but that might not be possible due to our calendar that just keeps filling up.

• The other day I asked McKay to clean up his room. I was trying to tidy up the rest of the house so we could head out. He was whining and whining about it and finally I told him to just do his best and I would help him when I was finished. More whining. More pep talks on doing his best. In a frustrated tone he said to me, "But mom, I don't have any best in my body!" I assured him that he did and he comes back with, "But mom, my best is way down low." He eventually raised it.

• Do you want to buy our condo? Because you can if you want.

• Ellery is very into testing her limits. Today she hit me on the head with a car and I sternly told her no. We then had a staring contest to see who was in charge. She finally gave up and I won. But she spent the next three minutes raising her arm up and down, car clenched in her hand right in front of my head, starring me in the eyes. I really tried not to laugh. I can't let her get me!

• On a different Ellery note, Brian and I are quite disturbed. Whenever this girl sees a bug she gets all excited. She gets all excited, and then she says, "Step on it!" and promptly stomps the life out of the little guy. Every time she sees a bug! What little girl's first reaction to a tickle bug is to kill it?

• Our yard sale was a huge success. We raised over $1700 for camp- exceeding our goal by $700! I was so happy that all our hard work paid off and proud of our girls. And, we got away with only a light rain shower instead of the dramatic downpour that happened an hour after we cleaned up.
  
  
• At the yard sale a really old couple, who had a van packed from floor to ceiling with loose items, combed our tables looking for more stuff to add to their collection and they bartered like nobody's business. They would go add their items to their van then come back for more. We finally had to refuse their offer for a box full of random books and knick knacks so that they would leave. Brian thinks they were hoarders, others thought they'd re-sell the junk. Either way I was disgusted yet fascinated.

• I am feeling sad about Jon and Kate, and their eight. That's all.