4th of July

Last years fourth of July was a tad rocky and I thought that this year would be completely different, but it turned out to be the same story. Let me explain.......

Sam is sensitive. Let me rephrase that (Kevin hates it when I say that) Sam gets scared and sad very easily......obviously he got those traits from Kevin......Ok ok yes, he obviously got them from me. It's all my fault! When he was a baby he would start to cry if I laughed too loud and if you have ever heard my "real" laugh then you can imagine how often he cried :) He has gotten a lot better, but last year was a nightmare as far as fireworks go. We thought that he would LOVE them this year but we didn't even get the chance to find out. We went to the parade on Evergreen that morning and the first thing to come down the street was the police men on their motorcycles going "WEEEOOOOHHHHWEEEEEOOOOHWWWEEEEEOOOOHHHH" all the way down. Needless to say, Sam was terrified. He didn't enjoy much after that and was pretty paranoid the whole rest of the day. Any noise would set him off. When the big jets started flying that night we knew we better get him home and asleep in bed before all the big fireworks went off. Luckily we made it and he actually slept through the night.

I'm starting to realize that Sam is learning a lot from example and I may not be the best example all of the time. That same night while we were eating dinner a bee kept following me and I was freaking out trying to get it away from me (stupid bee!!!) but it wouldn't leave me alone! Yes I admit that I am scared of bees. Now every time we are outside and Sam see's a bee he flips out and totally loses it. From the way I've reacted, in his mind he probably thinks a bee will kill him! I promised myself before Sam was born that I wouldn't let my kids have the same irrational fears like I did growing up and I must say that I'm not doing a very good job. If one day Sam starts crying in the bath tub because he is scared that a crocodile is going to come through the drain then I will definitely know that I have failed him.

Here are the few pics I took on the fourth :)

                             There's Rowan, Ash, and Cedar with Marsh and Papa Steve

                                                           Sam with Grandpa Tom

                                                               Yay for the parade!

 At one point Kevin was sitting all alone enjoying the parade by himself......totally made me laugh!

                                                             Sam and momma!

 All the cool kids standing in the shade....... I love this pic because it describes everyone's personalities so well.....Wendy and Nancy so casual and cool enjoying life, my dad grooming a tree, Johnny arguing with somebody about something, and little Steve stroking his dark locks making sure he looks good ;)

Make em laugh

I've had a few experiences as of late that have been on my mind and keep making me giggle randomly so I thought if I wrote them down then maybe I'll be able to stop burst out laughing.......lets give it a go shall we???

One morning I woke up early and took a shower. I went downstairs to blow dry my hair (didn't want to wake up my boys) and I didn't realize that my blow dryer was clicked on full blast. I was holding it in a way that it was pointed directly at my face.....I'm sure you can see where this is going......I plugged it in the outlet and VRRRRUUUUMMMM! Totally scared me half to death! It all happened so fast that I didn't really even know what was happening. I simultaneously did some sort of ninja roll to get away while I threw the blow dryer at the wall. I gathered my senses and was finally able to go and turn it off. Luckily Sam and Kevin slept right through it all and I finally calmed down enough to dry my hair :)


I got pulled over for the first time in my life the other day. I saw the cop car flashing behind me and pulled over thinking he was going for someone in front of me. I sat and waited for him to pass but then noticed he was sitting right behind me. Crap. I had no clue what I had done. Apparently I had "rolled through a stop sign." It was all very embarrassing. He had to help me find my registration because I had no clue what it looked like, meanwhile I am babbling on about who knows what... making jokes here and there (I think at the time I was trying to flirt with him in hopes of getting out of a ticket) and then I had to sit and listen to him explain to me what a complete stop consists of and practice counting to five with him so I can remember how long to wait next time I am at a stop sign.......blah blah blah.......Basically now I have to call and schedule a time to go to court and plead guilty and pay the fine and all will be wiped clean. So crazy. I seriously must have looked like a complete idiot.....my car was filled to the brim with bins full of junk because during that time someone was looking at our place (he probably thought I was living in my car or something). I had Sam back there who was throwing goldfish crackers everywhere, making more of a mess, and laughing the whole time. Oh yes and of course then there was me, the dysfunctional young looking teenage mother whose life clearly must be completely and utterly out of control......wow I must be really bad at flirting.........would you have given a ticket to someone like me??? I know I wouldn't have!

Do you ever wonder how you would react in the face of danger? Well I always have and the other morning I got a glimpse of it....... Kevin and I said our goodbyes as he headed off to work and I went about my way and started to fold our bed. A couple minutes went by and I guess that Kevin forgot something so he came back inside. I didn't hear him come in or come up the stairs. I started walking towards my bedroom door when suddenly he opened it........so what did I do? How did I react? I plunged down in some awkward fetal position on the floor and didn't move. No attack stance or sudden grab for the nearest lamp to throw or hand thrust to the nose....nothing! I think me and Kevin learned a lot from this experience. Kevin may or may not have ordered me a taser online for me to use for my protection. Still wont do a lot of good from the fetal position on the ground ;)


I volunteered to play a musical number at a rehab facility in our area for a relief society lesson. I figured Sam would be fine since there would be other sisters there to help me out when I was playing. Pretty much the entire trip was a disaster. For the record I did my best trying to keep him quiet, happy, and maintained.We got there and Sam decided that all he wanted to do was pound on the piano. I got him away from that and encouraged him to play chess. All was fine until he started throwing all the chess pieces all over the room during the prayer and opening hymn. I heard some little lady there ask if there was percussion being played during the song. Ha! Then he decided that wasn't fun anymore so he began to throw the pool table balls everywhere. Those poor old ladies were ducking left and right trying to avoid his surprisingly good arm while I was scrambling to catch the balls and stop him from throwing them. Then I get up to play and he loses it. Completely breaks down and starts screaming hysterically. Cute sister Dudley tried everything to help calm him down....at one point he was sitting on the piano bench with me but he was grabbing and clawing at me so she took him out and probably went as far as you could go but we could still hear his loud screams. I finished playing (didn't miss a single note I might add) and she brings him in and he stops crying the second I take him in my arms. I made eye contact with the relief society President and her face basically said, "LEAVE NOW PLEASE!!!" So we did just that :) Not sure if I'll get asked to help again anytime soon......


So there you have it. Pretty funny stuff I must say so myself ;) I hope my weird little life brings a little laughter into yours. Speaking of laughter, here is a funny video I took of Sam yesterday. Both me and Sam laugh pretty hard every time we watch it......hope you do too :)

 

For kicks and giggles.....

For some reason I absolutely love these two videos......they aren't anything special, we were just hanging out, but they really make me laugh :) Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!! (Yes I am laughing at Sam because he totally trips and falls....I am not a horrible mother....it's funny because he can't see! Bahahaha!!!)

                   

                                               

No Makeup!

So only a few people on this earth have seen me completely without makeup. I think I look SO weird without it......and just to clarify.....when I say makeup I mean mascara. I couldn't survive without mascara. I look like I'm ten (opposed to what I look like regularly...which is 18) and so if you've ever wondered why I always wear makeup, there you go :) Kevin is so sweet and says he likes me best when I am all "natural" so I think he truly loves me unconditionally because no one in there right mind would EVER think that! 

My good friend Stephanie is graduating from cosmetology school this summer and needed to tint someone's eyelashes for her final. Of course I jumped to the chance to get this done. It sounded awesome and it was free! Last year I got to be "her face" and got a facial done for another final she had and it was wonderful! I am such a good friend to help her out so much ;) The process wasn't even scary at all! Basically I kept my eyes closed and she put some goop on my eyes and I sat for like ten minutes while she coated it on and then she rinsed it all off. No stinging, no irritation, no temporary blindness (my imagination gets away from me sometimes....ok all the time) absolutely nothing! It was so easy!

So here are the results......I should have taken a picture of me before I got it done to show you the difference, but I forgot. I definitely still need mascara to make my lashes longer and fuller, but it is fun to have the option of not wearing it at all :)

 Cool huh?!? It's just fun to say that I have absolutely no makeup on in these pictures! Woohoo! Well this wasn't America's next top model or Swamp people......but still a fun little adventure :)

Eternal Glory........

Well, I know you have all been just DYING to know how I did in that contest.......but first let me explain for those that don't know what I'm talking about what this contest was.

My sister is really popular in the blogging world (just like she is here in the real world) and she told me about her author friend's competition. Basically all you had to do was recreate a YA book cover. So one Sunday afternoon I came up with this.......

Pretty impressive right?!? Ha! My mom told me she thinks I have too much time on my hands and that it's time for another baby. Maybe she is right....I mean I did actually sit down and cut out paper birds and tape them to the ceiling.........Hehe! I thought that the skin deep pic was way more likely to go far, but people really like delirium. I was one of the top eight finalists and then this morning the winner was announced..........

And the award goes to...............................DELIRIUM!!!!!!!!

I won! Eternal Glory is mine!!!!! (and a signed copy of Wendy Higgins novel Sweet Evil) I'm so happy! Thank you for voting for me and for making this dream (a dream I wasn't aware of) come true!!! On to my next adventure! Maybe I'll try out for American Idol......or America's Next Top Model.....or Master Chef?!? ...........hmmmm.........ya I'm pretty sure that this contest was a fluke thing so I should probably just go eat breakfast and call it good ;)

 

The good, the bad, and the ugly.....

The Good......

~We all went to the dentist a couple of days ago and we have no cavities! (granted the dentist did tell me that there are no spots on my teeth left for cavities to form because they have already had fillings done but hey.....still no cavities :)

~I'm in Activity Days at my ward and we had our big summer day camp and it was a huge success! It was so much fun. I love these girls ;)

~We have had a ton of showings on our place. Hopefully we will get a repeat person soon....keep your fingers crossed for us!

~Our pool is open and we are having a blast swimming whenever we want to. It really officially feels like summer now.

~The dvd Love Never Dies (the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera) finally came in the mail.....I've been waiting months to get it! I absolutely love the music. It's fun to get obsessed with a new musical.

~I went to the Temple with my dear friend Laura and had such a wonderful time. It had been so long since I had last gone and I really felt the spirit so strongly. I'm so grateful for all the blessings the Temple brings. I signed me and Kevin up to do sealings and I'm so excited! I've never done them before so I can't wait ;)


The Bad......

 ~Though we have had lots of showings we still haven't gotten an offer. It is so exhausting keeping our place spotless everyday and holding  on to the hope that we will get one soon. I know that we are so blessed but I think we checked out mentally too fast and now we are just SO ready to move on and get out of this "limbo"world we are stuck in. It's really hard. If you know anyone that's looking please send them our way :)

~You know in life when you feel like you are in some sort of "funk"and you can't seem to shake it? Well I feel like I've been in one of those for the last few days and no matter how hard I try I can't seem to get rid of it. I have no reason to be unhappy but for some stupid reason I just kind of am. Maybe it's all this sunshine we've been getting.......I need a dark stormy day to cheer me up :)

~My sweet tooth is back.......I am in a bad state right now where all I want is sugar and treats and crap! I'm sorry to say that I have totally succumbed to my cravings and am paying dearly for it. The happiness you get is so short lived and then you are left with a stomach ache, headache, and a mouth full of cavities......oh wait......nope! Hahaha! Still, I think that the stomach ache and headache are enough. I won't even begin to talk about the guilt that comes along with it....bleh.

~Have you ever had a day that is just horrible and one thing after another goes terribly wrong? Well Sam had that day yesterday. It was so sad! It was melt down after melt down so we took him to the store to get a treat to try to cheer him up. He picked out a bag of chips and was so excited and so happy he started running around and then BAM! He ran right smack into the shelf that holds the plastic bags and landed straight on his back. Everyone saw it and felt awful so they gave him a balloon and I gave him some of his chips. He started to calm down in the car but Kevin wanted to take his car thru the car wash......bad idea. Sam literally FLIPPED OUT! He totally lost it. He was screaming bloody murder he was so terrified! We rushed him home after that and put him on our bed with his chips and balloon and turned on Megamind. Once again he started to calm down and then of course.....POP!!!! His balloon got caught in our ceiling fan and exploded. Totally pushed him over the edge....past the point of no return. It was so sad. We just had to put him to bed screaming. Poor little guy!!!


~The Ugly

 ~My feet. Ok let me explain. My feet are so incredibly ugly and I hate it. It's embarrassing! They were always ugly when I was doing ballet 24/7 and for some reason I didn't care, but now they should be beautiful right? WRONG. They are cracked, bleeding, and black and no matter what I do I can't seem to fix any of it. Help! It is so painful to just walk! Every night I put on ugly socks and pump them full of lotion to try to help and every morning I stand up to no prevail! Arrrrgggggh! Curse my hideous feet!!! (I almost took a picture to prove how bad they really are, but I just couldn't expose the world to such awfulness.........)

~Yesterday I got a nose bleed (I would say a bloody nose, but I don't want to offend any of my British readers out there) It was disgusting! I don't think I've had one since I was in Elementary school so naturally I couldn't remember how you get them to stop. I wish I had a video of me trying all the different techniques. I went from stuffing my nose with toilet paper to laying flat on my back to blowing my nose to pinching my nose tightly and leaning forward, all the while blood is oozing out everywhere.........I think at one point I sneezed.......I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much prettier then that ;)

~And lastly, I was at Savers the other day and ran into this old friend of mine........................

I honestly don't think the world could come up with an uglier toy then this.....do you??? Ya I didn't think so.

 

 

 

MAY!

 May was certainly a busy and exciting month......It all started on the first of May when I went to the Library with my sister in law Kris. We got there at the crack of dawn to stand in line and wait to see if we could get a special pass that would get us into to Discovery Gateway, Red Butte Gardens, The Natural History Museum, and The Leonardo for FREE!!! It was intense.......mom's were everywhere! We were totally surrounded. Strollers and car seats were all around us pushing us closer and tighter towards the door......it seemed like hours, maybe days had gone by and then suddenly the bells rang out.....the Library was opening! We ran in like a herd of wild donkeys. Only five passes were available. Kris got the first one and I barely got the second due to Sam's exploding gogurt..... but we were victorious! We left with our heads and tickets held high and quickly got into our car and locked the door. We didn't know if some angry mom was following us......waiting till our back was turned and then SMASH! Plastic bat thru the windshield!!!........................Ok ok, so maybe I've been exaggerating a bit ;) 
Basically we got there an hour before the Library opened and nobody showed till around quarter to and even then there were probably only ten moms behind us. No pushing, no herd of wild donkeys, no bells ringing out.....though the gogurt explosion did happen......The important thing is that we got our passes!


So I had till the end of May to go to all these places for free. It was so much fun! The only one I wasn't able to go to was The Leonardo, but its ok.....Sam wouldn't have had much fun there ;) We also managed to squeeze in the Aquarium and City Creek. Here are some pics of our adventures!

                                                Sam loved this slide at City Creek

                                                           Sam with his buddy Alex

                                                              Playing in an egg

                                                We LOVED Discovery Gateway!!!

                                                 Silly Ash and Sam playing together

 

       Playing drums.......couldn't get a shot that wasn't blurry......his chops are too fast!!!

                                    Here's Sam playing in the water at Red Butte Gardens

                                                     Trying to touch the waterfall

                               Hanging out on a lizards head and showing off his belly button :)

                                Can you find the butterfly in this pic? Sam loves butterfly's!

Natural History Museum......incredible! Look at the size of that crocodile! My worst nightmare times a billion!!!

 This might put it in perspective........look how big it is compared to Jen and Eli............Eeeeeeek!

 

Drawing dinosaurs with Eli

 

                                              Love this pic....my cute little scientist!

                                              Checking out the otters at the Aquarium

                                               Memorial Day at Spanish Fork!!!

                                                           We love this tradition!

                                                           Owen's birthday party!

This was taken right after the pinata broke and all the kids rushed to get as much candy as they could. Sam picked up one piece of taffy and was so excited about it he didn't care about getting any more candy in his bag. Cute boy :)

                               Sam trying his first piece of taffy.....he only took one bite..... ;) 





So there you have it! It was a fun month filled with family and friends. Now on to summer I suppose.......I've never really been a big fan of summer so here's to high hopes that this one won't be too hot and that the winds of change will blow towards us soon :)