if you've got it- flaunt it

brig found another useful way to make the most of his special features! that boy rocks.

his basketball tryouts began last night. they last two stinkin weeks! torture. preston's wrestling season officially began last night also. he informed me that i would HATE his coach. (i hate all high school sports, and usually the coaches as well.) but i deal with it, even though i'm not sure if that is the right thing to do or not.

"it all comes of not having front doors big enough"

we extracted the honey yesterday. it took approximately 10 hours- due to massive complications with the extractor we rented. we ended up with 25 lbs. of honey. we were told we had about 40 lbs. in our hive. we realize we must have wasted a lot. (in not knowing exactly what we were doing) however- we were the only ones who harvested any at all. cheryl and gerald's hive is almost completely dead, and our friends trent and lisa's aren't doing much better. it was insanely messy!!! we had honey every where!

i think we'll be much better at it next year. and hopefully we'll get more honey.

Halloween 2009

from halloween night- a skunk, dracula, and firefighter. (quince was supposed to be frankenstein, but he wimped out and wouldn't let me paint his face green.)

from the night of our party, after it was over and we were looking a little spent.

notice the awesome fear factor sign in the back. james and abby were awesome and did so much for the party!!! amy came and helped get all of the food together the day of. i absolutely couldn't have pulled this off on my own.

i wish i had better pictures of the table. i had so many compliments at church about how great the whole place looked. one couple (their opinion mattered to me) told me that it was the best party they had been to in a long, long time.

and although these pics don't do justice to brig's fantastic make-up or preston's sparkly chest, this was the *twilight* of the evening for me. i loved their costumes. mostly because we actually pulled it off. brig wore crutches and his knee was wrapped. spencer's hair was darkened black, although you can't tell, and preston had the pants, converse, and sparkly skin from the movie.

it was the best halloween we've had in years. i'm already planning what will and i want to be next year. :) and for the record- will tried to eat a worm. (chewed it and all) and i tried to get down a dog biscuit. it was far more diguisting than i had anticipated. but hey- james almost puked with a jar of baby food. so we're all pathetic.

***thanks everyone: for all of your decorating, painting, planning, shopping, baking, cape-sewing, ideas, and for coming to our party! you guys are awesome.

Goonies Never Say Die

The trip to Astoria was really great! I've found myself wanting to go back several times- it was peaceful yet fun, and my only responsibility was me. I finished my book, started two others, and watched lots of Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell movies. (And Goonies, of course.) We hiked near lighthouses, shopped antique stores, visited museums- it was completely worth the drive. :)

Will and I had a good drive up there, stayed in a super nice hotel in Portland, had dinner at Claim Jumper (which we don't have in Utah) and then he flew home Sunday. It worked out really well. But now we're home and reality has hit me again, only worse. Our home is completely torn apart and it looks like a war zone here, but give us about two weeks and hopefully it will all be over. And we'll have a lovely, yellow home. :)

fractured coccyx?

my life has slowed down, finally. yay! i've been hanging out at home, trying to read, and taking it easy. we leave for portland on saturday and will flies back home sunday. i'll be driving home with a friend thursday. i hope this girls trip offers just what i'm hoping for. lots of down time. no schedule to keep and nobody else to take care of but ME! i've bought about 8 books to read while i'm gone. (wishful thinking.)

we're getting ready to paint our house. the main color is going to go from the taupe it is, to a butter yellow color. i'm nervous we're going to strongly regret it. we are almost to a point where we're ordering the carpet. i'm so excited to get rid of this gross garbage we've had for 6 long years- but i really hate spending the money. all of a sudden i have about 5 home improvement projects i'd like to do- but the others will have to wait. maybe not the oven- that one is really more of a need than a want. :)

before i go- i'll share one more funny story- this one about myself. two days ago quincey and linc were home playing while i was doing laundry. they were sliding down the stairs in a small, nylon sleeping bag. quince kept trying to get linc to go down, but linc was afraid. quince wanted me to slide down with linc but i explained it wouldn't work. so we decided i would just show linc that it was easy and no big deal. so i got in the bag, and instead of laying down in it like quincey was, i thought i'd be smart and sit up with my legs and rear in it and just slide down like a slide. about two stairs down i realized this was a very bad idea, but i couldn't stop myself because i was flying and my legs were in the bag. it was probably the most painful two seconds of my life. when i hit the bottom and stopped, i was in so much pain i couldn't even speak. it took about 10 minutes for me to get up and walk back up the stairs. i seriously thought i had injured myself to the point where a doctor was going to need to be involved and i couldn't think of what i'd say to them. (i was sliding down my stairs in a sleeping bag???)

the sad part is i haven't been able to move around really great, it hurts like heck to stand up or sit down, and i've got to spend 12 hours in the car on saturday!! i'm going to have to get one of those donut pillows. as will told the boys- "mom's injured her coccyx." and man- did i ever!!

funny story

today i spent the afternoon and evening making cookies. lots and lots of them. sad part is, i'm probably only half way! in between baking and washing dishes, i started reading the lost symbol- dan brown's new novel that came out yesterday. i have been anxiously awaiting this book, because of my fascination of freemasons and that kind of stuff. i'm only on page 75. so far it's just like his others. interesting. anyway- i wanted to share a funny story.

the other day spencer called home from school in the morning and explained he had forgotten his p.e. bag (with his clothes he wears) and asked if brigham could bring them when he comes to school. (spence goes earlier than the other boys because of early morning seminary.) so brig ran downstairs and grabbed some clothes and brought the bag to school for spence. during p.e. spencer comes walking out of the locker room in an extremely tight shirt and pants that fit almost like spandex and capris. everyone, including the p.e. coach were completely cracking up- and spence was about ready to kill brigham. brig didn't do it on purpose, but apparently he had a really good time with it. the p.e. coach told spence if she could she would've paid him to wear those clothes the whole day. he tried them on for me today to show me what he looked like. he wouldn't let me take a picture. it would've been priceless. only spence could walk away from an experience like that unharmed. :) most kids wouldn't even have left the locker room looking like that.

i'm guessing he won't be forgetting his gym clothes any time soon.

This is coming up. I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. Abby- are you going to be out of town for sure? We'll be delivering the invites tonight and tomorrow. I was going to mail them, but procrastinated....again.

It's been a crazy busy week. I'm so glad it's the weekend- and I've got NOTHING on the agenda for today. So I'll be cleaning and baking. And making pesto. Yet again. But this time I'm using spinach and walnuts as well as the regular. I'm not sure which one is better.

peaches and pesto

one of the benefits of gardening is reaping the harvest, right? is that a benefit? some days i'm not sure. :) i've been up to my neck in vegetables, fruit, eggs.... over the past few weeks. then, if you don't do something with them, you feel guilt. so i've spent a LOT of time lately freezing peaches, canning salsa, (not fun) and today i made pesto from the massive basil plants we've got. let's just say it takes a whole lot of work and basil leaves to make one small jar of pesto. it almost makes me think i'm better off buying that large jar from costco for all of $6. don't get me wrong- i love the self sufficiency- it's just a lot of work. and today i went out to deal with the chickens and noticed that our nectarine tree is ready to be picked. they may just have to sit and wait until i'm ready to do all of that again. :)

last week i spent a whole day at my mom's learning how to use a pressure cooker to can beef, chicken, and pork. it looks absolutely awful, but i hear it taste totally fine. so that will be a bigger project in october, once it's a little cooler and running the pressure cooker all day long won't be so bad.

this week we've been eating out of our food storage exclusively- upon request from our bishopric. we've also gone without power one day, and get to go without water tomorrow. we'll see how it goes. it's opened our eyes pretty good about how badly we'd be hurting if there was a real emergency. i'm anxious for this experience to be over- and i desperately want to go to the store! but probably not as much as the boys want me to.

viewer beware!

after 8 years or so of anticipation- we finally held the sharp family wrestling match. it only took approximately 12 minutes and it was over. and the winner was..... the boys! we figure between spencer's girth, preston's skills, and brigham's strategy of holding down will's legs- they had him pinned in much less time than we ever would've guessed. (aside from will's extremely poor apparel choice!) nonetheless- they beat him. and he's demanding a re-match because he thinks he had brig pinned in the very beginning.

it was fun, disturbing, and a little unpleasant. but i'm glad it's over, and the boys have hardly gloated at all. :)

today was preston's first day of high school. i can hardly wait to hear how it went and what he thought of it. i spent most of my day cleaning a friend's house. she has breast cancer and went in for surgery today. about 6 of us went in and deep cleaned their home. they are the salt of the earth- wonderful people- but not the cleanest. it was seriously exhausting labor. it made me feel like i should appreciate how clean my boys are compared to others.

it looked so much better when we left. will is taking the scouts over there tonight to mow their lawns and pull weeds. one of our friend's is over there right now cleaning their carpets. (his business) i keep thinking how great it will be for them to come home to all of that. then i thought- why do we wait until someone has cancer for us to all step in and help out? like we should be doing this kind of stuff all the time.

my family

the boys had a really good time on trek! they got pounded with rain and hail, but they still said it was amazing and they both absolutely loved it. we surprised them by having their room redecorated when they got home. it wasn't finished, but we got some new furniture, curtains, accessories- and painted the room and their dresser. tons of work! but it looks so much better. i'll post photos sometime.

these are a couple of shots of our trip to phoenix. and yes, we're proud to call them family. :)

School has started and Quince is officially a kindergartner! I took far too many pictures of him that day. You would have thought he was our first.

And Preston and Spencer left on Trek yesterday. I have to agree with them, they looked a little lame. But they didn't have a choice. I'm sure it's hot and they're probably exhausted, but I hope they are having a very memorable time.

where did summer go?

we're finally back, and we have no plans to travel any time soon. the kids start school next week. it seems summer has flown by and i seriously can't believe it's over. july went by faster than i could blink. we had the 4th, then scout camp, then the trip to canada, then arizona- then august hit. crazy!!

we had such a good time on our trip to canada though! will and i both enjoyed it even more than expected. not the canada part- that was beautiful and everything- but not the best. we liked it, but we liked washington and oregon more. driving the coast was amazing! breath taking amazing!! i highly suggest it to anyone who can handle that much time in the car. there are several cities on the coast of oregon that i plan to go back to.

the trip to az was great. it was quick, but very fun. and hot. the first day there i was thinking it wasn't so bad, but by the last day i was dying and complaining more than anyone wanted to listen to. duane and misty were wonderful hosts. they went all out for brig's birthday and gave him quite a birthday dinner. it was photo-worthy food, for sure.

i'm excited to be home. for structure and schedules and fall- which can't be that far away. the end of summer until halloween is my favorite time of the year. (as i've probably mentioned a million times.) the boys start school next week, preston and spencer have trek, and then the next week preston and i are going to education week. which i love.

oh yeah- and will is seriously already looking into getting scuba certified for his trip he has planned to the Cayman Islands. :)

along the coast in oregon next to sea lion cave. (the largest cave of sea lions in the world.)

crater lake. amazing. over-whelming. kind of scared the crap out of me.

the butchart gardens. completely worth the trip to victoria.

snoqualmie falls, in washington. i have a trip planned there as well.

a sign as you drive into la push. one of my favorite places of the whole trip. la push is a beautiful little hidden reservation at the tip of the washington coast. i didn't want to leave it.

Quick Update

So yes, today is our big 15 year anniversary. Will's up in the mountains with a bunch of men, and I'm stuck at home with Spence. :) Will is so great. He left me flowers and balloons this morning and had Cheryl bring me Cheesecake Factory tonight when she came to get the kids. He's gone above and beyond this year.

As usual, I'm overly stressed out because it's the week of scout camp. Oh how I love the Saturday when they all come home safely. Spence couldn't go this year because he sprained his foot Sat. night. It's kind of nice to have him here to keep me company.

Life has been a challenge lately. So much .... stuff going on. I'm anxiously awaiting results from the cardiologist about my heart monitor. They called me a week early and said I could turn it in because 'they had enough recordings for diagnostic'- whatever that means. So now I guess I just continue to wait for that 'diagnosis' to come in. Whatever we find will likely explain the 3 years of dizziness. I suppose it will be good to have answers, at least.

Will and I are scheduled to leave a week from today for our trip. I feel like I desperately need a vacation from life. From feeling the way I do, thinking about it, worrying.... all of the stuff that I shouldn't do anyway. It will be nice. We both really need it.

The boys are all doing well. Linc is officially potty trained. It took about a week until he had it down. It makes me so sad that he's growing up. It's happening way too fast.

We had so much fun with Duane and Misty in town. They left yesterday and I have to say- I much prefer them here, as do the kids. We are going to visit them in Phx. at the end of the month.

That's about all here. Oh yes- Congrats Jamie and Abby! I hear it's official. (med school) Where exactly is it?

Help!

so really quick- i'm in need of a creative, clever idea for will's anniversary gift- coming up in just a few weeks. he's been doing this over-the-top sweet thing for me for the past 12 weeks. the '15 weeks of our anniversary' i think he called it. every wednesday for the past 12 weeks he's given me a gift to celebrate our anniversary, and we only have 3 left. so i've got to come up with something cute, meaningful, and inventive- since there is absolutely no way to top what he's done. any suggestions? please?

Life

Summer is in full swing here at our house. And it's been cold and rainy so far- with the forecast calling for more of it for the next 10 days. My boys are none too pleased with it.

Brig has been at basketball camp since Monday. We've talked a couple of times- he is having a really good time. Apparently the food is amazing. I miss him much more than I expected.

Preston and Spencer have been bonding. They go running in the mornings together. And after they're done- Preston heads out again so he can get in some 'real' running. I'm proud of Spence for trying. (he's never loved running.)

Lincoln came down with a fever on Quincey's birthday. We're not sure what he has, but yesterday at Quince's kindergarten check-up with the doctor, we found out Quince has strep throat. Even though he seemed to be feeling fine. So that's probably what Linc has. As long as he has meds, he's his normal self.

We're getting rid of cable- mostly because of Clayton and Quincey- but we feel like it's time for it to be gone. Those two would lay in front of the television all day long if we let them. So Clayton's going to have to come up with a different plan for his summer. :)

Will's busy working and wasting time with real estate- and I'm busy doing....whatever it is I do.

Pathetic update- but it is what it is.

our first dozen

we finally got a dozen eggs! four today, and hopefully more than that on a regular basis. we have twelve chickens; 10 hens, 1 young hen, and 1 young rooster with a very pitiful crow. but he tries. our salad table is ready for the first harvest. the spinach didn't grow well at all- not sure why.

gramps... and others

we officially have our chickens. they are back there, causing grief to the neighbors dogs as i type. there are 12 of them. 10 'moms' who are either laying or getting ready to lay any day. and 2 little ones, one of whom we think is a rooster. the only one with a name so far is one of the buffs who looks like she's got a little beard, so the boys named her 'gramps'. we just brought all of them over last night- so the excitement is still heavy. :)

the garden is almost complete. i have a few more things to plant- but i'm almost finished.

and to update a few other areas of our life:

spencer had surgery a week ago today and it went really well. his nose is what it is, crooked or not, we attempted to fix it.

i gave up on the acupuncture- mostly because i wasn't seeing immediate benefits and i wasn't certain the guy knew what he was doing. maybe i'll try again another time.

school only has 8 days left- and we're counting down!

baseball only has two 1/2 weeks left- and i'm counting down!

quince graduated from preschool last week.

brig goes to basketball camp at byu the week after school gets out.

spencer turns 14 on saturday, which is also the day of the oquirrh mt. temple celebration. he keeps joking that there will be 20,000 people at his bday party.

preston is probably the WORST driver i've ever seen.... ever!

linc has proven that one can survive off of otter pops alone.

...that's about it. or at least it has to be cuz i'm out of time. i'll post some photos soon- hopefully.

i only read a handful of blogs. family- and about three others that i've been reading forever. lately i've felt that my life is horribly dull and boring. i'm not getting ready to move to an exotic country- i am not, and probably never will be, able to run more than the length of my yard- and i don't throw together over-the-top cute tea parties for the daughters i don't have. (and so on) thank goodness for you guys- at least i get to read about your exciting lives.

over here at the boring capital of the world, we're just doing our regular thing:

i'm gardening. some things are growing well, some things are on the brink of death.

spence sees the ENT tomorrow to assess the damage to his nose and determine if surgery is happening soon. (oh yeah, wendy- i've no clue what his favorite treat is- he just loves food!!)

we go and milk our goats every evening, and preston is happily drinking the milk, which blows my mind. he's the only one who drinks it, and he swears it's the best milk he's ever had. i'm still afraid to drink it. (it's hand-milked)

preston passed his test and got his permit monday, on his first try. (big deal, i guess.) so if you're driving in herriman, look out!

will is busier than crud. his job is extremely demanding and he has very little time to do all of the many yard projects. he does try to work on our chicken coop every night. he's done a really good job on it- but it's been slow. he's very close to finishing it. yay!

and last but not least- lost season finale is tonight. i'm excited and sad- very sad. i don't want it to end. what will i look forward to now?

think marcia brady..."oh my nose!"

really quick: i'm off to grab quince from preschool, but i wanted to mention our exciting weekend. saturday morning spencer was out in the yard helping will aerate (don't know how to spell that) the yard. he was attempting to push the large machine over to the neighbor's house and as he was pushing (as hard as he could) he bent over a bit and the lever came up and smacked him in the face. a few minutes later he was in the car with will, on their way to the ER. about two hours and many blood-soaked rags later, spencer left with a broken nose (broken in two places) and five stitches. we have to follow up with an ENT to see if they can re-set the nose or what the plan of action will be to fix it in the future- if it's fixable. poor kid. it was a REALLY lousy saturday.

for the sake of crap :)

although life has felt dull lately, at the urging of one of my three blog readers, i shall update.

i attended women's conference last week. i can't say it was as amazing as last year, but it was still very, very good. i think i chose some not-so-great classes, which i'm rather talented at doing. sister beck gave a fantastic talk friday morning, and elder perry was also extremely good that afternoon. i'm glad i went. meanwhile, back on the farm, will was 'taking care' of things here. he had such great intentions to get so much done whilst being the housewife, but received a call friday that his boss was terminated (or quit, we're still unsure) and that changed everything. his stress levels sky-rocketed. today, instead of his boss coming to visit and spend a few days with him, it is a vp of the company, andrea. i was relieved to hear from will this afternoon letting me know she is 'totally cool' and he thinks he might like her better than his boss. (very good thing.)

saturday i tried acupuncture. i've been putting it off for over a year. the idea of needles sticking out of me wasn't pleasant, and i had no desire to try it. will has been urging me to do it for quite some time- and after a couple of really dizzy weeks lately, i set up an appointment. it was a wildly strange experience, one i can't even really describe, least of all through a blog, so i'll just say i wasn't sure i was going to go back. (after he first began to remove the needles, i had a dizziness episode unlike anything i've ever experienced, almost puking on the guy's carpet, that lasted about 15 minutes.) i've spent a lot of time considering if i'd give it another chance. apparently i decided i would, because i go visit the 'doctor' again tonight.

i planted all of my bean starts, because they were growing so outrageously large that they absolutely HAD to be moved. so yesterday they went in the ground. their survival isn't likely. they were laying on their sides, against the soil, so pathetic looking. will and tied them up to some jute, hoping that will convince them they're supposed to live and grow. i don't think it's going to work. we just let them get too big. why can't gardening be easy?

everyone knows i go to bed late. i always have, and it seems i've always been trying to change it. last night i went to bed with quince, trying to get him to fall asleep. well, it worked, but i fell asleep too, around 9:00. i totally had stuff to do, so it screwed things up for me pretty bad, but the worst part was that i woke up around 3:30 in the morning- and i was WIDE awake. not a fun thing. :)

that's about all here. oh yeah- preston has been studying to get his permit for the past week solid. can you believe he'll be driving, legally? i think the driving age is FAR too young. sad to say, i still get nervous when preston and his friends take off on their bikes to go places- this is going to be sooooo hard for me.

it was WICKED fun

president monson

president uchtdorf

the boys with elder perry.

after 10 months of waiting, we saw wicked last night. it was really, really good. worth the wait, and the horribly expensive tickets.

as we were packed in the lobby like sardines, waiting for them to open the doors to the theatre, a tall, white haired man walked by and my dad says "that's l. tom perry." sure enough, it was. we worked our way over to where he was waiting and asked for a photo with the boys. (they must get so tired of that.) after we got into the theatre and to our seats, we found out that president monson and uchtdorf were both sitting on row 1, directly above us on the balcony. we had a straight shot of uchtdorf, but a speaker was kind of in the way to see monson. we had to go to the end of our row to see him. will sent the boys up there to try and shake their hands, but security wouldn't let them anywhere near them. it was pretty cool though. we picked the right night to go to the theatre. :)

(my photos were really blurry, too far away for the flash to work.)

urban farming

well, will got stung 3 times AND the queen died! on saturday, we had about 75 thousand bees in our garage. crazy! the first hive (ours) went fine. but up at cheryl's, the other three hives got a little vicious. they had some problems and the queen ended up getting mashed. so will replaced her yesterday. the bees have required quite a bit more time than we were expecting.

last night we had friends over for fhe. we had a bbq and then started to build our chicken coop. i was in the kitchen trying to get dinner ready to go, and outside in the back i heard a lot of commotion. they had brought over our goats (the co-op goats) to milk them here, so will and the boys could see how it's done. it was complete chaos. the photos don't do it justice. :)



building the coop.

that's preston doing the milking...

it took four grown men to hold her down.

up at cheryl's.

will's fine bee suit.

more photos

this picture is from clayton's and my dad's birthday party. i love it!

they insisted on meeting mickey! 45 minutes later....

at judd's store in st. george. this is where will's famous rat bastard rootbeer is from.

the tabernacle in st. george. will and i really like this place. totoally interesting! right above us on the wall is a huge 'all-seeing' masonic eye. i wish the guy had gotten that in the photo. it's crazy looking.

here comes the sun

we thought we'd be coming home from ca to sunny weather in utah, but we were wrong. however, the sun has finally decided to show it's face, and it looks like it might be here for awhile. yee haw!! at last, time to plant the garden! will built me my salad table on monday. i'm really excited about it. (i'll post photos) he has built and painted all of the bee boxes. the bees arrive tomorrow. i'm anxious to see how all of that turns out. i can't quite picture will standing there, with a bee suit on, and bees covering his arms and stuff. let's just hope he doesn't get stung, and that the queen doesn't die.

we had a good time in california. i'm already planning our next trip. breaking up the routine is completely necessary for me. for our next excursion i want to go to a cabin somewhere without any electricity or amenities and let the boys be 'humbled' a bit. who knows if that will work or not, but it's worth a try.

i recently finished reading glen beck's book, the real america, which i liked alright. my next book is one will just gave me, spiritually anchored in unsettled times, by bruce c. hafen. i really hope it's as amazing as i'm expecting it to be. i'm also reading a really great book called made from scratch. i checked it out at the library because i didn't want to buy it before i knew it was any good. it's really cute, and matches up with how i feel on so many different levels. anyway-

here are random photos of the past month or two:

disneyland!

preston got very sick on the teacups.

coronado beach and seaport village.

Tom Kah Gai

so tonight i tried making my own tom kah gai. it turned out surprisingly well. not as good as our trusty thai restaurant- but i wasn't expecting it to be. i learned what i'd do differently to get it to taste more like we're used to. i also attempted vietnamese spring rolls. pretty much not good. i learned we don't like basil in our spring rolls, or cucumbers. and that peanut sauce you dip them in? mine was alright, but nothing like we wanted. practice makes perfect! :)

Today has to be a productive day- because yesterday was not! At all. My list of accomplishments for yesterday was pitifully small. I spent most of the day lounging around and reading magazines. I did find some fun looking recipes though, which justifies my laziness. :)

The boys are home this week and next for spring break! But honestly, could this be any more miserable weather for SPRING? I feel badly for the boys. They want to be outside playing basketball all day, but instead they are stuck in the house, bored to death. Preston spent the day yesterday trying to learn 'Bella's Lullaby' on the piano. I'm not sure why he wants to play that song- there must be a girl that would be impressed by it- but he seems pretty committed. Spence went with a friend to do baptisms at the Timpanogos temple. Brig and Clayton sat around the house and drove each other, and me, crazy!! We're heading down to So. California next week, so at least that gets them out of here and into better weather for half of their break.

Will and I have watched a few movies this week. Nothing good. We sat through Quantum of Solace last night- it didn't impress either of us. Sunday night we watched The Duchess- we both agreed it was very depressing and a little disturbing. Our next movie is Australia. But I never heard great things about that one either. Anyone see anything lately that was really good?

not at all what i was going to blog about

Tonight was supposed to be a crappy night. It started with a crappy day, which really started with a crappy LAST night. Our hour long Monday night meeting turned into a 3 hour meeting. We got home late and found crying toddlers, older kids with unfinished homework, and a really messy house. We went to bed late, but sleep never really happened because both Quince and Linc are struggling with really bad coughs- which are ALWAYS worse at night. (why is that?) This morning I called and got them appointments to see the Dr.- which took over two hours. Then I dragged sick kids around to do errands because I had things I HAD to get (for Preston's science project, which has to be turned in at BYU tomorrow) so they had to come with me. And everyone knows that taking sick, sleeping kids and pulling them in and out of car seats for a few hours = F. U. N.

I picked the kids up from school, got the mail, and found another exciting letter from our insurance denying the claim for Brig's awesome 'teeth' incident from last year. So I started the ritual phone calls, which I do every month, and got the same answers after waiting on hold for over an hour. (no joke.) They'll take care of it and they're really sorry for all of the trouble.... and they'll tell me the same thing when I call in next month. By now I'm in a really awesome mood.

Then Will informs me that Brig has tickets to the Jazz game tonight and he'll be taking him- which means they won't get home until late and I'll get to try to get the meds down the two little boys by myself, assist Spence with a paper that's due tomorrow, and all of the greatness that comes with nighttime at our home. I was seriously about to have my own little meltdown. I left for the store to get the prescriptions filled and while we were gone they all decided that instead of going to the game, they'd stay home and watch it on TV- make shakes- and hang out together. Can I tell you how much better that sounded to me?

So tonight wasn't so bad at all. It was still H-E-doublehockeysticks getting Linc to take his medicine, but he did it. And it gets better: tomorrow I have a PTO meeting in the morning that I decided I'm going to skip out of, and my R.S. meeting got cancelled. So no plans for tomorrow. Woo Hoo!!

Clayton had a birthday! He turned 9 on Saturday. His party was yesterday, and my dad's birthday was today. We had everyone over here for dinner and games. I'm glad this weekend is behind us. It was a lot of work. It all turned out well though. It seems we've had so much going on lately- and it rarely eases up. We have less and less 'free' unstructured time. Especially on the weekends, when we should have the most. BUT...

This week will and I get to take a little break from it all and head down to St. George (which doesn't excite me at all) for a few days. I am so excited to sit in a bed and breakfast and just have NOTHING to do. I'll be alone, because Will has to go to the bar show (for attorneys) and kind of hang there for a good portion of the day, but I'm totally cool with it. We'll have the mornings and evenings together- and the car ride there and back. So it's all good. I'm going to lay around and do nothing. Read, plan out some stuff we have coming up, just relax!! No babysitting for my neighbor, (who's been in calf. for almost a month) no breaking up fights between Linc and Quince, no kids in my bed..........I'm so excited! Even if it is only St. George.

I'm currently reading a book called Seeking Persephone, By Sarah M. Eden. Anyone heard of her? Formerly Sarah Miller. She wrote this book and several others, I guess. I have to honestly say- it isn't bad. Both Delana and my dad read it, and they both said it was pretty good. I'm not that far into it yet, but I'm impressed. Apparently she belongs to the group Midnight Writers, which Stephenie Meyer belonged to before she got big. I'll let you know what I think when I'm finished with it.

devil child

Remember how I said life has been more challenging since Lincoln 'gave up' the binky? Total understatement. The child is beyond miserable. Will and I are seriously at the end of our rope with him. I hit my limit in the middle of the night last night when he woke me up by pinching my face as hard as he could while crying out, "Quincey Wade Sharp! Give me back my spider man ball!!" He then started crying as I peeled his hands off my face, and continued to cry until Will finally got him to sleep in the family room. He's just mean. Intentionally. I'll ask him why he isn't being nice and kind and he'll tell me it's because he changed his mind- that he decided he doesn't want to be nice. The more I try to discipline him about it (time out, taking things away from him, offering rewards for being nice) the nastier he gets. This is a first for us. We have NO clue how to 'help' the situation.

Random

Wow! It's been a very long week. I'm happy tomorrow is Friday!! This is what we've been up to:

* Monday Spencer got hit in the face with a hockey stick during PE. I had to go pick him up and take him to the doctor. We had x-rays done Tuesday just to make sure nothing was fractured. He's supposed to be fine and should heal with no problems. He's looking better now- but it was pretty bad there for a few days. (We had to see the orthodontist to see if the teeth were moved out of place at all, and it brought back painful memories with Brig. Thank goodness we didn't have to do that again.)

* My dizziness has been through-the-roof bad lately. I'm doing my very best to stay busy and not focus on it. Interesting thing though- my friend who lives across the street, Natalie, has the developed the EXACT same symptoms I've had for 2 1/2 years. Is it something in the water, soil, air??? Is that even possible?

* Lincoln is getting along without the binky. Life has definitely become more challenging for us though. He no longer naps, and that has been painful!

* Preston has completed his Eagle project and is getting ready to submit his report. I'll be happy for him when it's finally finished.

* Last night I made bread- it turned out different than normal, but that shouldn't surprise me. Every time I make bread, because it's 100% wheat, the moisture in the gluten changes every time- producing slightly differently textured bread. I wish white bread was good for you. It's so much easier!! Also, last night I watched Lost. Could I be more confused, or hurt??? I still love Ben. No matter what. I think.

* Tonight I'm going to a class on powdered milk- and how to make cheese and yogurt from it. Not that I plan to do that often or anything, it's for emergency knowledge only. :)

* Oh, and I ordered myself the tortilla maker that I've been watching on ebay for over three weeks. I'm so excited and just hope that it actually is new, like it's supposed to be. It's the coolest thing ever- I can't wait for it to arrive.

* I've had like...no sleep for the past three nights. I'm dragging- bad. Somebody please give me the will-power to make myself go to bed early. Why is this such a challenge for us?


Anyway- that's about it here. Or at least all my mind is coming up with as I type as fast as I can so I can go put laundry in and see what new messes the boys have made before I leave to pick up kids from school. Spence has detention today- which means I get to go back down to the school again shortly after I get home. Love it!

More Valentines

*disclaimer* I only make cards and stuff because I enjoy it. I don't feel pressured at all. I love old things and any chance I get to create something- I take. If I was a quilter, which I wish I was, all of my quilts would look old. When I look at other blogs and see what people are making- I get inspired- not overwhelmed or guilty. Clayton took store-bought dinosaur valentines to his classmates, and Quincey took superheroes. No guilt and no pressure. I only say this because I don't want you to feel bad (Abby). :) I like doing this kind of thing. I take neighbor and friend gifts out several times during the year- but most of my neighbors and friends don't. (we don't have an exchange thing going on.) I do it because I like it.

These were my favorites. I put them on these:

Then we wrapped them up and delivered them to friends like this:

This is the Valentine I made for Will. These next pictures show how you open it. You can put a letter inside it so you don't have to write on the card. (or as Clayton pointed out, you could put money in it!)


Anyway- I have a 'backup' idea for Easter to give out, but if anyone sees anything really cute- send it my way. Quincey is sick- not bad- but enough to miss school. He had a rough night, which means Will and I had a rough night as well. So today will be a 'home' day, just like yesterday was. (I really need to get out of my house.)