A Whole Lotta Nothin'



Since it has been over a month since I have posted anything on the blog I thought I'd better put something up, even if it's a whole lotta nothin'.

 

Brody had his first pinewood derby and his car won first place!! Lucky Boy!

 

 

 

 

He was SO excited to build and race his car, we have a pretty small pack so the race was pretty low key. (We are missing a few boys who couldn't make it that night.)

 

Miss Joslyn is the little mother of the nursery, she is twice as old as most of the kids in there (she misses the sunbeam deadline by 4 days) so she always comes home and tells me "mom that baby was putting a toy in his mouth. ewww." But she LOVES nursery AND her nursery leaders so I am happy leaving her there.

 

She is also my little shadow don't even think that I am exaggerating when I say this but, whatever I am doing, she is doing it too.  Brothers are boring and that's all there is to it.

 

Baseball season has started, well games won't start until the 29th but they are practicing like crazy!

 

Last week I helped at the school a lot, it was teacher appreciation week and lets just say our teachers got spoiled!! Our PTO President is a good friend and she does everything 110%, I love the girls on the PTO, so helping out is actually quite fun.

 

So this week I am trying to catch up on laundry...trying is the key word.  It's climbing the walls people!

 

The Sawtooth Realy is in 23 days WHOA!!! I am running the downhill leg this year, I am a little bit nervous about it, OK a lot.  I've been working on it but running has always been hard for me sometimes I wonder why I do this... Oh, it's because I love those girls! (GO HOH!)

 

You know my spring cleaning list? It's done. :) I even got my carpets cleaned in the WHOLE house, that was the highlight of my year so far. (not really but I was pretty excited to have it done!) Nate has put up the backsplashes in the bathrooms and laundry room now and I love the way it looks.  We have also been plugging away at other little projects around the house, I'm glad I have a hubby that likes to be busy!

 

The boys got to go to Moab with their dad again this year and they had so much fun! Miss J and I stayed home and had just as much fun! Did you know they make fingernail polish that washes off with water?  Well they do, I found that out after I meticulously painted Joslyn's fingernails and toenails. :)

 

Books.... Hmm I've read a book called Small Change: The Secret Life of Penny Burford By: J. Belinda Yandell It was a very quick read and a great little story!

The Guardian By: Gerald N. Lund  It is his newest book, good, and big (he always writes BIG books)

 

Only 7 days of school left! Wowee! That's good because it is getting hard to get these kids in bed by bedtime these days. Speaking of bedtime it's 10 min past, better sign off! :)

 

♥ to you who still reads this silly blog of mine!

Easter and then some

 

It is tradition, every year on the Saturday before Easter we go up to Albion to the Easter Egg Hunt.  We love it because it is pretty low key, not a ton of other people and they stuff their eggs with good stuff, like Snickers, Twix, and Milky Way candy bars oh... and MONEY!! Each of my kids got between $1.50 and $2.00!! Hence the grocery bag, we're not fooling around with tiny Eater baskets here. ;)

 

The kids are divided up  into age groups 0-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-11, The only age group that parents can help is 0-2, so Joslyn had to do it on her own this year...WAAAA! Oh, and wait one minute where's the 12 yr olds? That means that this is Braiden's last year to hunt (legally) WAAAAAAA! I think he can do it one more year...if he wants to. I have one too old for the Easter Egg Hunt...man I am getting old!

 

Here we are checking out our loot, when the lady announced that the only bunny that was found was the 0-2 age group, so Hudson ran back out there to his section and guess what?!?! He found the bunny!!!

 

Here he is picking out his basket!!

 

 

The winners!

 

After all that excitement we went to Grandma's house to color Easter eggs:

 

 

And play with the stuff from Hudson's prize basket. It was such a fun day and the weather was so so so nice! We all ended up with rosy cheeks by the end of the day.

Easter Sunday after church we went to my mom's for dinner, Here's the kids in their Sunday best:

 Ready for the egg hunt:

Scott LOVES doing this every year!

 

Much to my dismay, this one wasn't very enthusiastic about it, guess I am going to have to add better incentives to the eggs, because "as long as you live under my roof you WILL hunt for Easter eggs..." (just kidding) When I was growing up we would hide and re-hide and re-hide those eggs, good times.

What a Cutie!!! She is showing off her Princess gardening tools and gloves!

Hudson has been begging for Nate to take off his training wheels and now....HE CAN RIDE!!!!
It only took him about 10 minutes figure it out!! WOW!! He has been riding that little balance bike for two years so he really had the hang of it he just had to learn how to pedal and balance! His brothers were both in 1st grade before they rode a two-wheeler and Hudson is only in preschool, I am impressed!!

Books: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly  If you know me I am ALWAYS reading a book I love reading, unfortunately there hasn't been too much good lately I've been striking out major! I read The Garden Plot By: Kristen McKendry, the story itself wasn't all that bad it was just the author that annoyed the crap out of me, I am so naughty, anyway she quoted a hymn every other page. UGH! If I want to read the hymns I will get out the hymn book, sorry!
Then bad got worse, I will just tell you that I am not a book quitter, I hardly ever quit reading a book especially one that I just paid $9.99 for in the Kindle Store. :/ grrr! Beautiful Ruins By: Jess Walter, it was the Costco book pick and I had read another good review on it so I decided to try it out, well the "s" word turned into the "f" word and it was a little filthy. If that wasn't enough it was SO random, I can handle a book that jumps from one time and place to another time and place but in between those times and places were these random chapters that left you wondering what it had to do with anything. So I quit about 1/4 of the way through :/   Take it from me, save your money, and time.  skip this one!!


I have been elbow deep in spring cleaning, here's part of the list:

 

I am just taking it day by day, if I don't have a ton of time that day I choose a smaller job if I have a lot of time I try to tackle the bigger jobs. I will just say, I hate cleaning blinds, it is by far my most dreaded household chore.  It is when blind cleaning time comes that I think of hiring a cleaning lady. :)

Bathroom light fixtures are today's job :) Nate is plugging away at his list too, look:

 

 

 

 

SO LONG 90% dead pine trees...

 

 

Hello 100% alive trees! SO much better!

 

We also have plans to build a garden shed for the mowers and all the lawn tools etc. I am so excited!!!

 

Sorry that was a LONG post! Thanks for sticking with me!

Well school is out, we officially have a 2nd grader and a 5th grader now, eyeyiyi! It is so nice to have a break from school, it was starting to get old. :/ We started our summer off with a bang, we picked up the kids from school on the last day and left to go camping.  We met up with some friends on the mountain and set up camp, unfortunately an uninvited guest decided to show up and ruin the party. RAIN. So when the going got tough, we got going. (really we had a temple cleaning assignment and then went to church.) Went back up after church and brought the good weather back with us because it was decent the rest of the time.

Brody and his buddy, Phoenix.

The kids rode their bikes up and down this hill the whole time we were there, when it wasn't raining anyway.

Hudson got this balance bike for Christmas it has been the best thing ever.  He is becoming quite the dare devil on it.  To him it is his motorcycle..notice the goggles. You can often find him riding around the neighborhood wearing a motorcycle helmet, goggles, gloves and boots.  It seems to give everyone a good chuckle.

What was amazing only 2 kids went flying over their handlebars, luckily no broken bones, just bumps and bruises.

I got out the pool on monday it was in the 90's

They had their fun and then the wind picked up and we packed everything inside, and then the wind picked up some more, and then some more. That evening the temp dropped 40 degrees in about an hour and we were battening down the hatches as a cold front rolled in. The next day was rainy and in the 50's, this morning my grass was frosty.  Heaven forbid we have warm temps for more than one day, we'd all melt around here.

Baseball season is here.  Baseball season is busy, busy, busy but good, good, good.  Braiden plays pitching machine on monday, wednesday. Brody plays boys t-ball and Hudson plays co-ed t-ball on tuesday, thursday. Nate and I usually have to divide and conquer the tues thurs games. It's fun and something to keep us busy.

Pitching machine is fun to watch because these little guys make some pretty good plays. Braiden is turning out to be a pretty good ball player, his skills have improved immensely!

Don't have pics of Brody and Hudson playing yet, But there is nothing cuter and more entertaining than to watch the little tikes play t-ball. One of their favorite parts of the baseball season is coming to the ball park with pockets full of change so they can frequent the snack bar!

Lets see, now lets talk books.  Just finished Crossed By: Ally Condie (Matched trilogy) it was Terrible with a capital T, I don't even want to bother with the 3rd book now.  Hate to say it. Had to make everything right in the world though, Edenbrooke by: Julianne Donaldson was fabulous, had a hard time putting it down.  19th Century England romance, it dosen't get any better.

Wish me luck, the Sawtooth Relay is on Saturday. Our start time is a much more respectable 5:45 a.m. (remember last year?) so I will be running my first leg at about 8:00 a.m. I am so so so not ready this year, but I have every intention of beating my last years times, we shall see ( I am running the same legs.) GOOOO Housewives of Heyburn!

Signing off for now, I have a ton to do before we leave in 24 hours, like making a pot of carb heavy potato soup!

Caller ID

I love to read.  I usually read at night just before bed, a few pages...maybe a chapter before I fall asleep. Very rarely do I come upon a book that I cannot put down at ALL!

Suspense, action, hints of romance.  I love love loved it, and I'm not just saying that because she's my cousin!  I have a copy if you'd like to borrow, you'll have to wait in line though. I also have her first book Wrong Number if you want to read that one, let me know...you won't be dissapointed I promise!

Lately

Here's what has been going on lately:

* I had got to do the bulletin board in the primary room.

This one for the year:

And this one to change (only slightly) every month:

I was SO stressed about it, I don't know why- I'm just wierd like that :) I guess I felt major pressure to make it cute.  It's not perfect but I am happy with it overall.

* Hudson started going to preschool the beginning of Jan, he is warming up to it slowly.  He wants me to stay there the entire time but I sneak out when he gets busy. ;)  His favorite part is doing his homework, he loves to pull his out when Braiden and Brody are working on theirs.

*Braiden and Brody have been busy with basketball they love it. I enjoy their games, only 30 min long and basketball is a quick moving sport. :) Wed night Braiden made the game saving shot in the last 30 sec it was AWESOME!! I was screaming and almost bawling.

* Joslyn loves to clomp around the house wearing her Belle dress-up shoes, pushing her shopping cart with her baby in tow. I love love love it --SO cute! It is always very interesting to look through her shopping cart to see what random items she has gathered up. My favorite thing she does though is when she feeds her dolly a (play) bottle and says, "gink yo milk" awww! Good little mama.

She is ready to be potty trained!  She goes 1 & 2 , I just need to get out, buy the panties and make it official.  This is insane to me, she JUST turned TWO.

* I just finished up The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.  Ever read a book of hers? Always a mystery, she keeps you guessing until the end.  Her books usually span a time period of  80-90-100 years and she jumps from one time period to another throughout the book, but in the end  it all comes together in a nice little package. The Distant Hours was a very entertaining read but I think I liked The Forgotten Garden just a bit better.

* Nate got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas, I am loving it! My favorite thing is to play Words with Friends. Do you play?
I am stuck in my old ways though I still like reading on my old Kindle but I love the Fire for everything else! :)

* I want to join pinterest so badly. I'm just annoyed that you have to have a facebook or twitter account to join, I don't want to join facebook, is this so dumb of me??

* I guess I am doing that crazy relay race again this year. Only 126 days until the race.  Now that may seem like a long time... but when I have to think about getting back to running 6 miles that, my friends is not nearly long enough! I found this awesome quote yesterday:

"You're off to great places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting,

So...get on your way!"

Dr. Seuss

Scottsdale, Moab, and WSWS

So I ended up going to Scottsdale and had a fabulous time!! All of the kids were fine and no one else got sick, hallelujah!  We literally hit the ground running in Scottsdale, we started off going to a fun little cafe in downtown for breakfast and hit the mall.  My favorite was going to the Bare Minerals store and getting a makeover, I've always wanted to try their makeup and I finally got the chance.  I. am. in. love!! I feel like I am glowing everyday. That night we got to go to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, I have never been to a pro-game...it was alot of fun! I spent the next day laying by the pool, reading my book, (more on that later) going for a run, pampering myself, watching a little of the royal wedding coverage :) and getting sunburned. It was great! The next day was more shopping, let me tell you I was completely shopped out by the time we were done. I came home very rejuvenated and SO ready to see my kids!


We were home long enough to wash clothes and pack bags again so we could head down to Moab as a family for some bike riding. The boys love Moab and I'm sure they will be talking about this trip for many months to come.

This is what Joslyn thought of that bumpy ride.

The best part about riding along these trails is if you get to splash through some water along the way. :)

We couldn't leave Moab without a drive through Arches National Park:

A little bit of shade.

Delicate Arch

WSWS

what she wore sunday

She has a little bit of curl to her hair that I love...so cute! Most days  I don't do anything with it so it eventually goes frizzy but Sundays are special.  I have started taking her in to nursery while I run around taking roll and making talk assignments and she is doing great.  I even tried to peek through the window to see how she was doing and she busted me and didn't care. :)

 It seems like this baby girl is saying a new word every day, here are a few:

mom

dada

ba-den (braiden)

bo-dy (brody)

hudsee (hudson) 

boys (she will stand at the top of the stairs and yell down..."boys!")

cookie

hot

done

ba-ba

i-de (ivy) (she will bang on the window and yell i-de) She is ok with the dog through the window but that is about all.)

bebe

no

ball (in nursery the other day the nursery leader said Joslyn come and get a baby so she walks over to the toy cupboard and says "ball!" because that is the first thing she spotted. You can tell she has brothers.)

shoe

pretty

hi

bye

uh-oh

owie

brush

ding-dong (i was reading a book to Brody the other day and every page said ding-dong pretty soon she started saying it too.)

brrr! (when she gets out of the shower)

poo-poo (and pats her bum)

doggie (anything with 4 legs is a doggie)

cheese (when ever I pull out the camera it's "cheese!")

num-num

***

I am always scouring blogs, the internet and my friends searching for a good book, here are a few I've read lately.



On my Kindle:

The Red Tent  by: Anita Diamant  hands down THE best book I've ever read- love love loved it!

The Forgotten Garden by: Kate Morton this was also a very good read.

My sister in law suggested this book- These Is My Words by: Nancy E. Turner  it was fabulous and heart wrenching at the same time...come to find out there are two more books in this series-yay!- Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden.  Right now I have read 45% (according to my kindle) of The Star Garden and I'm loving it, there's an adventure around every corner.  Just a few ideas in case anyone is looking for good book.