What a difference a day makes!!

I guess its not so bad being 30!!!! I spoke too soon. My sweet hubby made this such a fun birthday-which I REALLY needed. On my birthday, Bill said that we needed to go pick up his brother at the airport (he had supposedly been in Vegas-his wife is a good little liar too!!!!) The kids were having a contest to see who could see Scott first, and then I look over and there is my Mom. I was so excited to see her. I really missed her and sometimes you just want your mommy. They then said we were going to lunch and then head back to the airport to pick up my sister Stacy and her little boy Josh. What a complete surprise. They were coming for the weekend for fun and SHOPPING. I cant even tell you what a great gift that was in itself. I really miss home and my family and this was just what I needed to make it to Thanksgiving. We hung out and went to dinner (Thanks Scott and Annie for watching our crazy bunch!!!) Then the next day, we went shopping ALL DAY and ate lunch at my all time favorite place-Costa Vida. When we got home, my cute little kids (and Bill) had put up streamers and they had hats and noise makers and, my favorite part, a super, yummy ice cream cake from Coldstone.

The kids yelled SURPRISE!!! and blew the noise makers...

Someone DID NOT like the noise!!!

This thing was gone so fast. YUMMY

And this is the cause of it all...Its super cute and I love, love it, but it was not what I wanted for my birthday. I have spent the entire week trying to catch up on laundry and it has been easy because I can do like 2 1/2 loads in one. So cool

My sister left early, early Sunday morning, but my mom stayed until Monday. On Sunday night my mom and I were making dinner when I heard Bill yell "Caleb, what did you do?"

THIS...

=

THIS

AND THIS...

AND THIS...
Caleb went CRAZY with the PERMANENT marker in all of 5 minutes. What do you do??? I cant yell or get mad because there was nothing I could do about it. I was more worried about the wood. It does not come off. I knew he felt bad because he burried his face in the couch for like 15 minutes. My kids have never really done anything like this, I thought I was lucky and I thought he was the only one...

Apparently not. My 6 year old thought she would practice her name on the WOOD wall. AWESOME!!!


When we woke up Monday morning to take my Mom to the airport, this is what we woke up to.
Snow, snow and more snow. It didnt stick, but it lasted about 3 hours and was sooooo cold. Glad I went shopping for some jackets. I thought I should get some gloves and hats for the kids for school because it was like 29 degrees when I took the kids to school. It has warmed up this week, but its supposed to happen again on Saturday. I HATE WINTER WEATHER!!!! I miss my flip flops. Guess its time to go home to visit!!!!
I decided that since I had to go into Salt Lake that I would use the day to finish some winter shopping. Gloves, hats, thermals, sweats and slippers. For a family of 7 who havent needed anything like this and had none to pass down to the smaller kids, let me tell you, its not cheap. Thrift stores, here I come!!!!
Poor kids, 5 hours later, we had found all the clothes we needed, ate lunch, found a washer drove, drove and drove some more to get home and these kids had had it. They were so good though because they got some cool Cars slippers. Gotta love Target.
So that was my SUPER, DUPER FUN BIRTHDAY WEEKEND in a nutshell. Thanks Mom and Stacy for coming and THANKS Bill for watching all 6 kids so we could shop all day. I love Ya.

PS...... DONT FORGET TO WATCH THE OFFICE TONIGHT!!!!
BEST SHOW EVER

When it rains...it POURS

Can I please just crawl into a hole right now. Whoever said things only happen in 3's had no idea what the junk they were talking about. Days like today seem to happen all to often. Im not going to bore with all the crazy details, but let me just say that adding 2 bored kids to the mix doesnt help the mood. Today was supposed to be my big cleaning day and I was all prepard for it-my house was all prepared for it-it was yelling at me-CLEAN ME, CLEAN ME. Yesterday as I started my mountain of laundry (still catching up from my week long absence) I went to go change the load and what do you know, the washer had stopped in mid rinse cycle. With a washer full of water and wet jeans, we figured the motor had burned out. GREAT...are you kidding me with this-it couldnt of happened at a WORSE time(Im $ure you all know what im talking about,without going into detail) The washer and dryer are like ancient, so its time for a new one. I really wanted to do my homework on this and find one that will suit our big family better and lessen my laundry time. I thought I would take some time and research. Well a half hour has turned into 2 1/2 and thanks to my cranky baby who didnt want to sleep or be put down, I didnt get anything done this morning. I thought once she goes down for her nap, I will research, then CLEAN until its time to get the kids from school. I should have cleaned before getting on the computer. I am totally back at square one. After reading endless customer reviews and consumer reports, I am convinced that all washers stink!!! So with my cleaning time wasted and the house an even BIGGER mess I called my sister to vent.(thanks Stacy, I know you love it)I had just hung up when I hear the sound of water-kinda like rain. I thought Caleb had left the sink running because he had just washed his hands. I go into the bathroom and realize it wasnt that, I walk into my room to discover that it is raining from the ceiling. I rush upstairs to find the sink clogged with Noahs change that Tyson and Caleb dumped into the sink and the water running and spilling out all over the place. I dont mean a stream, I mean a huge waterfall. They told me they were giving their cars a bath. So, I just used all that was left of my clean towels to soak up the mess and now I have even more laundry, no clean towels and NO WASHER. This on top of everything else that is happening is causing me to have a nervous breakdown. I think im getting pretty good at these. Now the baby is awake, its time to pick up the kids from school, do homework, start dinner, clean up dinner, I have enrichment night tonite and I was totally looking foward to that but now im not going because we have to go find a stupid washer, then its bath and bed time. I usually consider myself an optomist when days like this happen, and I say "Tomorrow will be a better day" but not this time. Its the worst thing of all. IM GOING TO BE 30. AHHHHHHH!!! Does anyone know of a good hole???

The Gay Pages

This is not a joke.

OUTDOOR FUN

We decided to have one last camping trip before it gets too cold. We went to this little spot about 45 minutes from our house, in the Uintah Mountains. Its so weird, but the spots are just right off the side of the road, but it is so pretty and the kids love it. Our campsite was right by this little stream and the kids loved hopping rocks and getting wet, even though it was in the 50's during the day and 20's at night. We had a warm fire that Noah helped make from all that he learned on man vs wild and survivorman. My kids were meant for the outdoors. They get soooo dirty, but its so worth it to not have any TVs or distractions. Unfortunatly, our car battery died and we had to flag someone down to get a jump. About 10 cars later, we found some really nice ladies who were heading up to the falls and they bailed us out. After a fun hike up the falls, we headed home, dirty and tired. All in all, it was a great time. We cant wait for next summer!!!

We love to tell semi-scary stories around the campfire

Someone was grumpy and didnt want to participate

This was Averys first time camping, so she thought she would try some dirt and twigs.

I think she likes it...

Yep, she likes it!!!

What the.....

Ok, what in the junk are they putting on TV these days and why oh why do my kids like this??? Has anyone seen this? I about died. Bill and I saw a clip of this show on the Soup and I thought it was a joke. We had the TV on one morning and this came on-Tyson and Caleb loved it. Bill made a comment on how dumb it was and then, of course, Tyson said he didnt like it either. The next day it came on again and Tyson said he hated that show, but he just wanted to see what they were doing. Im not quite sure they should watch it, I think it promotes wierdness. What do you think??

YUMMY!!

Dont you just love when they start eating food???

Can I just say...

How much fun I had this past week!!!! I really missed AZ and I was so happy to go back to visit with family and friends. One thing I didnt miss was the HEAT!!! Oh my gosh, just being gone for a couple of months and being spoiled in this perfect weather, makes you forget. When I came home and woke up the next morning to take the kids to school it was 37 degrees. That is so weird to me because it is only September. I really miss all the comforts of home. It took me moving away from it to realize that I really did like my little comfort zone. I missed hangin out with my Mom and going to lunch and watchin my Dad work, work, work, he is a busy little bee. Avery loved all the quality time she got to spend with Grandma and Grandad. I think she is a little spoiled now. We had a BBQ for Labor Day, the whole fam came and I was able to see my new little nephw Finn for the first time-he is such a cutie, and my 3 other nephews Jake, Tyler and Jonas . We played a fun game of mexican train and a heated game (as always) of phase ten and ate my Dads famous ymmy BBQ.

I missed hangin out with the Lomu girls-its always fun to get together and talk and play games. I also was able to meet the newest member of the Lomu family-Harry Potter Lomu. The cutest little cocka-poo(sp) puppy ever. I missed my cute little neice and nephew Sophie and Drew and it was good to see them.

LUNCH WITH THE GIRLS

I have the coolest group of friends and I have known most of them my whole life. We grew up in the same neighborhood/ward and we have carried our friendship through all these years. I know that I can count on them for anything and I really miss all the fun lunches, so... I had to have an early birthday lunch while I was visiting. I just couldnt pass it up. (We missed you Brookie!!)

BOOK CLUB HOTTIES

I was also fortunate enough to be able to join the funnest book club ever a little over a year ago. Let me tell you that these girls are the funniest and most crazy girls around. I cant even tell you how much I looked foward to this night every month. It really does something for your sanity to stay up till 2 or 3 talking, eating, laughing and listening to some of the funniest stories I think I have ever heard.(we do occasionally talk about the books =) ) I miss these girls so much. We have really formed friendships that I hope will last forever. My goal is to make it to book club about every 3 months. I dont think I could go much longer. Even though I had stuff to do in AZ, my real reason of going this week was so that I could go to book club. I love you girls!! (sorry I missed you Eda and Heidi-maybe next time!!)

If all that happened while I was away was a black eye-then it was a good week!!

I really have to give props to my super cool hubby-he is the best. He worked from home the whole week, got the kids up and ready for school, did Lanis hair every morning (or attempted to anyway) cleaned and took on all the household duties. I dont know many men who could do that and still have a smile on his face at the end. He is such a good Dad. He took them camping, hiking (2 times) bowling and lots of other various activites. The kids loved the change from crazy mom to fun Dad. It was good for him to see what I do and it was fun for me to see what he does (go to lunch, hang with friends, do what I need to do when I need to and not have to worry about a babysitter or nap time or schedules, you know, husband stuff!!) I had so much fun hanging out with my Mom and Dad and Bills family and just being able to relax and clear my head. I really missed my kids and Im so happy to be home,as hectic as it may be.