Lagoon

Yesterday we went to Lagoon with our friends the Rohrbachs. We had such a fun time!!! I used to go there when I was a kid and it was so fun to see my kids on the same rides I used to go on with my brothers, sister, cousin and friends. We waited in a lot of lines and it was really hot, but it was so fun! Jenny went on a newer roller coaster with Lance, Arin and I and she loved it. It was called the Bat--it's the green and purple one at the top. We're not in that picture. We went on the train and the log flume along with a ton of kiddie rides. Daniel didn't really love the log flume. He was quite happy until the drop at the end and then he said, "bumpy" in a shaky voice. Here are some pictures and I'll try to post some video too.

If I had a million dollars

We were listening to that song the other days (by the way my kids think it's hilarious that there's a group of male singers called Bare Naked Ladies) and Alex asked me what I would buy if I had a million dollars. So here's my partial list:
Pay off our school loans, get another car and upgrade our van, buy a house (get a dog), go on a KICKIN vacation to Europe, and maybe Disney World, buy some new towels, dishes, sheets, clothes--you know the stuff you haven't purchased since your wedding and then I'd invest the rest. Ah, dreaming.
So, what would the rest of you do with a million dollars?
p.s. Lance would buy a motorcycle in there and Alex would buy a lot of candy. Oh, and I think I'd get a maid/cook/housekeeper for a few months just to take a break!

Grocery Shopping

I hate deciding what to eat and what to buy at the store and what to cook for my family for dinner. I know there has to be an easier way, but I haven't found it. My mom even sent me a 6 month menu but I haven't used it and so now I sit here trying to decide what to cook next week when nothing sounds good, it seems like we just ate everything we normally eat twice and I just don't have the desire to try and find something new that will be a new hit. Maybe we'll eat cereal for the week. I bet the kids would love that and since we don't eat many vegetables anyway, they wouldn't miss out on too much color. :) Gotta go shop--or try to.

Two truths and a lie

Janelle, this one's for you.
So here's the game, I'm going to write down two truths and a lie and you all comment and guess which is the lie and we'll see if I can fool you. I've never been good at this game, so here goes:

1. When I was in Paris after my mission I went dancing at a French nightclub with some guys I met.
2. When I was 16 my math teacher crashed into the car I was in and blamed it on us--and the cops believed him.
3. Lance and I first met at the Missionary Training Center where we became friends.

I'll post the answer in a few days. :)

Twilight Series

My reading is insane!! I got Breaking Dawn at 10:00am yesterday and started reading while I let the kids watch some T.V. Then we went to the pool and they swam while I read (I did watch Daniel a bit to keep him alive). We came home, ate and I put Daniel down for a nap--the sweetheart slept 2 1/2 hours! I read while Jen & Alex watched a movie, then it was straight to McDonalds for dinner and the playland--almost two more hours of reading time!! Then home for showers, snack (does fast food ever fill anyone up?) and bed and I read. 750 pages in one day and I finished around 12:30am. The best parts are that 1. the insanity is over for awhile & 2. my kids had the BEST day of their lives!! They didn't even know that I was totally neglecting them. They NEVER get to watch that much t.v.!!
So, the book was FABULOUS!! I was so amazed at the twists and turns in the plot. The other 3 where good but this was the best. I think she must have had all 4 pretty much written before the first was published. They just fit together so well. I won't give anything away because I hate that. I will say that if you've got 40-60 hours depending on how fast you read, this is a great series. And although I wouldn't recommend it for young teens, and maybe not older teens--it's pretty intense at times. If you've got a teen reading it I would say that YOU need to read it too so you can talk about what's going on in the books with them.
Enough for now.

Reunion

On Tuesday I went to dinner with Sheri Stromness, Lindsey Moffat and Trista Bytheway. We had a GREAT time!! It's probably been 14 years since all of us were together and it was really fun to catch up. We've come a long way since freshman/sophmore years. We're all married with 2-4 kids apiece. We all have different degrees and our husbands have different jobs but we're all moms and we still have a lot in common. It was fun to look at photos from freshman year and wonder what happened to all of our old Gates/Kimball hall friends. So much time had passed but it didn't seem like anything really had changed. Here are some photos from the evening--it was windy and there was no one around to take the pictures but us. Sorry about the mustache photo, Trista, but it was too funny not to post!!

More baptism photos

Here's one of my little family at the baptism and a few others.

And even more!

Aren't we cute?

More Swimming

I found more swimming photos and here they are.

Jarrad & Jordan's baptisms

Last Wednesday the 23rd my nephew Jarrad and his cousin Jordan were baptized! It was a great experience to participate in their baptisms. Alex said, "I want to get baptized but I have to wait 3 years!". Only one more for Jenny though!! Here are some photos.

Swimming

Here are more photos. The last one is of my Dad with all but 2 of his grandkids. Emmalyn & Marley are missing. The kids are Alex, Jenny, Daniel, Spencer, Weston, Sammie and Jarrad.

Swimming

My parents have a great kid friendly pool at their apartment complex and we went up twice last week to spend some time in the sun! I think that if I lived there I'd be at the pool every day!! Here are some photos of the fun!

4th of July

So I know that I'm a little late with the 4th of July celebration photos, but I wanted to post some anyway. Our friends the Jensens were in town for a family reunion and they came and stayed with us for 2 nights. We had a great time seeing them and catching up. We went to the parade, took them hiking up the Alpine loop, ate lots of yummy food and watched the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire from our house. Here are some photos of the fun!

John Mayer

So Lance & I went to the John Mayer concert Monday. It was awesome!! He is SUCH an amazing guitarist! Wow, we were so impressed! And I must say that if I weren't an old married lady my room would be covered with his photos!! He Definitely gets hotter in person. Yeah, I know I shouldn't be swooning over such a sexy voice but Lance has a man crush on him so it's okay if I have an old married lady crush on him too. :)
p.s. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the munchkins!!

New Towels

We share a washer/dryer with our neighbors downstairs who have only been married for a year and I've noticed how much nicer and fluffier their towels are than ours. So I started dreaming about new towels, remembering the early days of marriage when I had a fluffy towel to dry off with after bathing. Well my dreaming turned into desiring and last week Lance & I bought two new towels--the kids still get the crappy ones, they don't know the difference. I washed and dried them and then used one--they are maroon--and it was super fluffy and super soft. But then I noticed that I was covered with little red dots of towel fluff. Sigh. So now I will wash them a few more times and wait for them to be a little less new so they don't leave me looking like I have a rash. Alas and alack, new towels aren't everything I had dreamed of.
Shiree

Kittens

We found a home for the kittens!!! We were very excited Monday to send Patches and Skip to a new home with a nice couple (no kids) to be loved and spoiled!! Although we miss them a lot we are very glad they will be safe and taken care of properly. And happy.
Whooo-hooo
Shiree & Jenny

swimsuit continued

Thanks for all the swimsuit advice. I did a lot of looking online and decided that Kohl's had the most variety in the skirtini style of suit--which is what I like best. So Lance & I went there for date night and I found one!! I was glad to have Lance there because he had me check things like bending over to get something out of a bag or put a towl around Daniel to make sure I didn't gap. He was very helpful and I got some new shirts as well. It was very fun and productive and I was interested to see how the ones that I had liked online actually fit in the store. Here's a photo of the one I got--on someone else of course. :)
Shiree

We went for a walk around the Temple today. Here are some pics. Click on them for a high quality version.

Kittens

Anyone want a sibling pair of kittens? This brother (black & White) and sister were born somewhere in our back yard and abandoned by their mother. I (Lance) took them in for a bit to domesticate them (one parent is completely wild, the other domestic but roams the neighborhood). They are now litter trained, eat normal wet and dry food, and are getting braver by the day. They are very close to each other and should be adopted out together. I'd love to keep them, but one spoiled cat is enough for now. Please let us know if you or anyone you know is interested, because being spring, there are over 1,000 ads on KSL for kittens, and we need to get them a good, inside, loving home.

Happy Father's Day

I just wanted to do a quick post to say Thanks to my Dad for being a great father!! He's always been there for me and I appreciate it! And I love you, Dad.
Also thanks to Lance for being a great husband and father. I am so glad he's mine!
Happy Father's Day!!

Swimsuits--you men might not want to read this one.

The time has come and I need a new swimsuit. The thought of shopping for one almost makes me cry, but the embarrassment of wearing an ugly, non-flattering swimsuit is starting to outweigh the horror of shopping. So help me ladies, where do you shop for a suit? Since having my babies, I've lost all possibilities of cleavage, without a proper push-up bra, so I need something with some support (Not that I want to expose the cleavage, I just don't want to look like I'm in the itty-bitty-titty club. That was bad enough at 12. I'm 32 now!) Also, modest is important because my 5 & 7 year old kids are very aware of what everyone is wearing at 7-peaks and I want to be a good example. Plus, who really wants to see my belly anyway? Well, enough of the intimate details. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!
Shiree

dentists

Today I took all three kids to the dentist. I love my dentist!! His office is so family friendly and fun. There's a train table, game cube, puzzles, and movies with headphones for when they're working on your mouth. The kids get a toothbrush and a prize at the end--actually a token where they can choose their prize by putting it in a gumball type machine and turning the knob. What fun! None of the kids have any cavities!!! But Jenny doesn't have any room in her mouth for her permanent teeth which are starting to come in. We either leave them to come in crooked or he can pull some of her baby teeth so the new ones have room. That's a short term fix because there just won't be any room. It's braces for sure--Daniel too because he hasn't got any room in his mouth. It's a bit distressing and I'm not exactly sure why. I didn't have to have braces but Lance had a lot of teeth pain/issues and I'm anxious for my kids. And I'm not sure if it's better to pull Jenny's baby teeth now or just let them fall out on their own. I didn't think I'd have to deal with braces/teeth issues for a few more years and it's a little shocking. Forget about saving for college, we need to start saving for braces! Blah! Thank goodness Lance will be done with school and working again in a year!

Question for you parents

How old does a child have to be before it's safe to leave them in the car while you run into a store? Shiree

Guns

So I found out Friday that I'm afraid of guns. Lance and I went shooting so that I can learn to use our gun in case of an emergency and I was so anxious I couldn't even shoot it. I'm a pretty easy going person but I've never shot a gun before and it was loud! I could feel every shot throughout my body and I didn't like that one bit. I did hold it and load it and aim it so I feel like if there was an emergency I could use it. I think the adrenaline/fear would help me over the anxiety. I feel a little wimpy especially because my younger sister shot it no problem. Where did you get your gun savvy, Tracy?
Shiree

Jenny's b-day

Today Jenny turns 7!!! She's thrilled and has loved every present and every bit of attention! She also finished 1st grade and is thrilled for summer break. We had a party for her yesterday and she had 5 little friends over to play. They had a great time. Today we're having a family dinner to celebrate her b-day and my mom's b-day. It's really nice to live near family again. We've seen more family since moving here than we saw the whole time we lived in NC! It's so fun!!
Shiree

Alex

So Alex says to me this morning, "Mom, has it been six weeks yet?".
I say, "Six weeks from when?"
He says, getting a little frustrated, "Has it been six weeks yet?"
So I go on to explain to him that I can't answer the question unless he tells me when the six weeks began. (this takes a long time of him looking at me like I'm nuts and still asking, "has it been six weeks yet")
So I walk away to get ready and he finally says, "six weeks from the start of the earth."
I say, "yes, at least six weeks."
And that was that.
I guess I should have know. Kids are so great!
Shiree