Swear Words

My children have a huge aversion to swear words.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm happy they are very uncomfortable with them.  But sometimes it can make things awkward.  Let me explain. 

Every night before bedtime, we gather the children on our bed and read the scriptures together.  It's a nice bonding time for us.  Every time a swear word like hell comes up, they substitute the word heck.  It's kind of funny.  We've tried to explain that when you are talking about the place, you are not really swearing, but they are still uncomfortable and continue to substitute other words for it.

Well, tonight we were reading about the ten commandments and it was my turn to read.  I came to verse about coveting your neighbors things, including his ass (meaning donkey).  My kids all spoke over me and substituted the word "butt" for the word ass.  Scott and I started to laugh as we explained that you wouldn't covet your neighbor's butt.  Of course, that got the kids giggling and imagining people saying "wow, my neighbor has a great butt!   Sure wish I had that butt!"  It took awhile to calm those giggles down!  I'm still laughing just thinking about it!

Remodeling Project!

I have so much to blog about. like our whole summer, but I'm trying to gather all the pictures together. It's amazing how scattered they can be when digital. Anyway, I thought I'd let you see what we've been doing to our house. It's a big project that will take forever to do! I'm hoping to get it done by next year when Porter is baptized.


So we have this little vestibule area when entering from our garage. I unfortunatly don't have a before picture. It was painted yellow, though. Now it's not!

I just love the wood panneling look.  We kept it kind of simple in here, but are going to add some more details as we bring it out into the living spaces.  I'm very excited to see the end results!  But we have a long way to go!

Happy Birthday, Regan!!

It feels like I just keep doing birthday posts!  Today is Regan's 14th birthday! It seems like not too long ago she looked like this:

 She still does that goofy smile.

Regan still cracks me up.  She's so sarcastic and I have no idea where she got that!  Must be from her dad.  She's such a good soul and never wavers in her quest to do what right.  I'm so proud of her and so happy she is my first born. 

Love you, Regan.  Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Zoey!

My baby is 5!!!

And yes, I'm wondering where all the time has gone.  At least, I get one more year before she goes into Kindergarten. 

Zoey rules her siblings.  She can get them to do anything for her.  She starts to cry and they do everything they can to get her to smile.  She knows how to work the system!  She's so smart and love to play with her family.  She loves dance and pre-school!  And she has the weirdest fear of fire truck/ police car sirens.  It's a serious fear.  She freaks when she hears sirens.  And we have the fortune of living across the street from a fire station.  Makes life fun.

Zoey has the greatest laugh!  You can't help but laugh with her!  It's the best sound in the world!

We love you, Zoey!  Happy Birthday!

Photorefractive Keratectomy or PRK

I have so much to blog about, but that will have to wait for a while.  If I stay too long on the computer, it starts to make my eyes go buggy.  In fact, their bugging me now!

On Friday, July 8th, I had PRK surgery.  It's a type of laser vision correction surgery.  Kind of the old school LASIK.  See, my eyes weren't compatible with the newer stuff and I had to go with the old version, if I wanted vision correction surgery at all.  I'm not sure I really understood what the difference was going to be.  I should have treated it like the major surgery it was, but I chose to treat it like LASIK, sure I would be back to church by Sunday.  Not so.  By Monday night I thought I would go crazy!

Let me explain the difference between the surgeries.  And if you are a little squeemish, I suggest you skip to the next paragragh.  In LASIK, they cut a flap in the top layer of your eye and reshape your eye with the laser so that your eye will interpret what you see correctly.   When the reshaping is done they fold that flap back over and it adhears to your eye.  With PRK, they completly remove the top layer of your eye and then reshape it.  Then you have to regrown the top layer.  Takes a bit more time to do that.

With LASIK you are pretty much seeing the next day.  With PRK, it could take up to six months before everything is really crisp and my eyes are fluxuating pretty good.  Somedays I see well, other's not so much.  The first weekend was terrible!  Everything was blurry, I couldn't read or get on the computer and the tv was really fuzzy.  By Monday night, I was so bored!  And I had so much to do and couldn't see to get it done!  I so wasn't prepared. 

Scott helped out a lot on the weekend, but had to return to work on Monday.   By Tuesday, the kids had places they had to be and my vision wasn't great.  Not terrible, but not great.  And yes, I did drive.  I had to!  Luckily they were all close by, so no accidents.  Luckily. 

My eyes are still fluxuating, but not really badly.  My left eye seems to be good, but the right eye is still pretty bad.  It feels a lot like I'm running around with only one contact in.  I'm not really feeling the advantage of the surgery, yet.  I'm still fussing with my eyes so much that it feels just like with contacts. 

Yes, this is all normal.  They warned me all about this before the surgery. I just didn't hear them very clearly.  And I know that by Christmas I'll be really happy I can see without contacts or glasses.  I'm just really ready to be able to read without having to rest my eyes every minute, because the words are blurring!

It may take another week or so before I can blog about all the fun stuff we've been doing this summer, but I will!  Keep checking back!

Just My Luck

So, this is how things work in this household.  Whenever, there is new technology purchased, Scott gets the lastest and greatest and I get his hand me downs.  It's just how it works. 

So, yesterday, my lovely son thought he could play a game on my iPhone and pee at the same time.  Yes,  I said pee.  And you can imagine how that worked out.  He's not as talented as he thought.  So, now my phone isn't functional.  I guess the good thing about it all is I get a new phone.  And maybe an iPhone 4!  Woo Hoo!!!  I get the new technology before my husband!  I will have the better phone!!!  Yes!!!

Well....not so much.  Seems my phone isn't eligable for an upgrade.  So I pay a small fortune for a new phone or I wait until August to upgrade.  I can't even get my same phone without paying more for it now, than I did origionally!!  Are you kidding me?!  But the "good" news is that Scott's number is eligable for a upgrade.  Seriously?!  So, now, the cheapest way to fix this is by Scott getting the new iPhone 4 and I get his current phone.  Figures.

Happy Birthday, Porter!!

My only son turned 7 today.  I can't believe how fast they grow.  It seems like not too long ago he looked like this:

And yes, he really did sleep like that.  It was the funniest thing!

Porter is hilarious!  Just two days ago he said to me, "Mom, I can't wait until tomorrow, then I can say I can't wait until tomorrow!"  He was talking about his birthday.  And I love how he calls instructions, "constructions"!  He's a total momma's boy and I love it!  He loves to snuggle with me and I'll be so sad when he doesn't want to anymore!

Porter loves his lego's.  He could sit and build things all day long.  He's been playing baseball this year and has been having so much fun.  But I think he loves the social aspect of it more than the game.  Surprise, surprise.  I can't figure out why my kids are so social.  Hum. He's been quoting movies a lot, too.  We just introduced the kids to Monty Python's The Holy Grail the other night and that's all he's quoting now!  So, Uncle Ken and Uncle Jordan, you'll have another inductee to your group at Lake Powell this year!

Happy Birthday, Bud!!

PAC 12, BABY!!!

A couple of weeks ago, the University of Utah held it's annual Spring Football game.  It's a chance to see the team as they play each other and get excited about the coming year.  It's was especially exciting this year, because of this:

 They put the new logo on the field.  It was pretty cool and you could feel the excitement of the fans who were there.

The kids got a little bored with the game and I can't really blame them.  Let's just say the offense needs some work, but the defense looked great!

 After the game, they let people down on the field.  The kids thought that was so awesome!  They ran around and for some reason, kept petting the field. 

My kids are weird.

Once Upon A Time....

There was a little princess named Zoey.  Zoey got a bad infestation of sugar bugs.  And we all know what sugar bugs do.  They put holes in your teeth!  So, Zoey called for the tooth doctor to fix her tooth.  The tooth doctor had all the magical tools to get those ugly sugar bugs out of her teeth.  But the tooth doctor had one more magical thing.....a Twinky Star!  Twinky Star's come in all sort of colors and they fill the holes that sugar bugs leave.  Well, you know that all princess' love the color pink....so Zoey chose a pink Twinky Star to fill the hole in her tooth.

And the sugar bugs were vanquished from Princess Zoey's mouth!!  

At least for now.

St. George Competition!

I've been such a slacker!!  OK, not so much a slacker as busy.  My life is really busy right now.  So, I've neglected our annual St. George trip for dance. 

I guess I was putting it off, because this year was a little flat.  My parents couldn't come this year and Hali and Porter were getting over being sick and Scott was coming down with the same thing and it poured rain.  But I do have some cute pictures for you!

This is Hali's cute team!  This is for their Jazz dance to the song "Forget You" from Glee.  Love this dance!  Hali is in pink, third from the left.

 Close up in all her heavily made-up glory!

 Sunday morning I woke up to these two beauties cuddling in their sleep.  Heart melter!

The team took a first in their lyrical and a fourth in their Jazz.  They took a first in both just last weekend so they are getting better!

Sunday we had to wake up early and rush home to Salt Lake, because that was the day they put me into my new calling.  It was a fun, but quick weekend.  And cold.  I really wanted it to be warmer.  Bummer.  I guess there is always next year!!

Well...It's Official...

I am now the Primary President of the Highland 1st Ward.  Crazy.

I've known for about a month now and it seems a lot longer.  I'm the kind of person that learns by doing, so it's really frustrating when I can't do something.  It's stressful to me.  As soon as it get going, the stress will totally go away, but for now it's still a little there.

For those of you who read this and are confused, let me explain.  The Primary is what we call the children's group at church.  So, I'm in charge of all the classes, the singing, the cub scout program and more.  It's a lot of work, but I love being in Primary.  I have found more joy serving there than anywhere else.  There is nothing funnier to me than a conversation with a child.  The things that they say are priceless!  So, I'm really excited to be with them every Sunday.

I've got some amazing women to work with and I'm excited to get to know them better!  It's going to be a big job, but I know that these women will be the key to managing it all. 

I feel really good today.  The Bishop gave me a blessing yesterday and I could literally feel the responsibility fall on my shoulders, but it didn't feel like a burden.  Kind of hard to explain.  I felt like I was given the gift of being able to handle it all.  That the Lord was giving me what I needed to handle this job, in addition to all that I already do. It feels pretty good.  And I'll do my best to live up to His expectations. 

Wish me luck!

When It Rains, It Pours!!

That's the theme of my life right now.  Well, actually, the theme of our household.  It's been a little stressful lately.  Scott's been so busy at work.  The have a major deadline this week and not enough people to do the work.  So, he's been working really long hours.  Poor guy.

Then there is all the stuff I'm dealing with.  Mostly with my kids.  I love being a mom, but there are times when it's really hard.  When your stomach is tied in knots and you don't sleep a whole lot.  This would be one of those times.

Porter has been struggling in school this year.  And it's been tough.  But I think we are in the process of figuring out why.  I took him to our doctor recently and he suspects, as do I, that Porter might be ADD.  Porter is a smart kid, but he can't focus for very long at all.  For example, Porter is really good at math, but if I sit him down at the table to do his math homework, I can't walk away.  He won't do it.  If I sit with him and say, "ok, Porter do number one", he'll do it.  I have to make him do each and every problem.  And reading is really a struggle because his mind just wonders in the middle of a sentence.  And he can't sit still.  It's frustrating.  So, now, we are trying to get ahold of a specialist, who will for sure be able to diagnose him and then we can go from there.  In the meantime, I get to go meet with Porter's teacher and the school principal to talk about Porter's "progress".  Yay.  I can't tell you how excited about that. 

Then, yesterday, both Porter and Hali were complaining about not feeling good.  So I kept them home from school and made an appointment with the doctor in the afternoon.  I thought maybe it would be a waste of time, because they certainly weren't acting like they were sick.  But it ends up that Hali has an ear infection and Porter has strep.  Lovely.

There is more stress going on, but I can't talk about that yet.  I'm really ready for this week to be over.  Don't be too worried about me, though.  I've passed that stressed point and am now at the laughing point.  Every time something else goes wrong, I laugh.  Like the letter I got yesterday that said we are .01 points off of getting a $200 rebate for the energy efficient washer/dryer we bought last month. Nice. 


I'm feeling like Satan is really working hard on me, right now. He so wants me to be discouraged.  And I know that when I'm down, it brings my family down.  I don't deal with stress well.  But I'm determined not to give it any more time.  I won't let it get me down.  I won't let it affect my home and my family.  Well, not anymore than it already has. :)  I've always been big on a person determines how they will react to any given situation.  And I chose to be upset and angry, but now I'm changing my mind and my attitude!  I'm a woman, I'm allowed to do that!  I will smile and mean it!

Thanks for letting me vent!

Vanity

My kids have never been shy or modest.  Maybe I praise them too much.  I don't know.  Today, when I picked up Zoey from pre-school she had this:

I couldn't believe what a great job she did writing her name so clearly!  And I told her.

Her response:

"I know.  Everybody thinks I'm amazing."

Once Upon A Time....

Let me tell you a little story about a little girl who loved Cinderella. She loved everything about it and as she grew, she loved to find all sorts of books and movies that had a Cinderella theme.  When she was a teenager, she and her sister discovered the magic of the movie.....

The Slipper and the Rose.  

They watched it over and over, singing the songs and sighing over the beautiful costumes.

I so love this movie...

and it hasn't been in print in YEARS!  So it's really hard to find.  I got an advertisment email just before Christmas from a site that sells old movies.  I was thrilled to find this movie listed.  I immediately bought the movie and then texted my sister so that she could get it, too.  She was so excited that she paid the extra shipping to get it there fast.  I was so disappointed when I got the email that said they didn't have anymore and I wouldn't get a copy.  So sad!!  Then I found out that my sister got a copy!  What?!  That so sucks!  Just the other day, I got another email from the same site and I thought I'd just look again, just to make sure.  And there it was.  Oh, man!!  So, I paid for the faster shipping and it came in the mail today.  Scott was totally laughing at me and said that I'd watch it and not think it was as good as I remembered.....WRONG!!  Even Regan and Hali watched it and sighed over the beautiful costumes.  They would have sung along with me, but they don't know the songs yet.  Give it time.

Last Day at Walt Disney World

When I booked our trip, I wanted every possible second there.  So we stayed a day longer than my parents.  And I realized, that the extra day wasn't really necessary.  We were tired and I was ready to go home.  But we did get to make sure that every ride we didn't get on the first time, was hit this time.

We started our day with another character breakfast.  We went to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort.  Incredible hotel!

 After breakfast, we headed back to Epcot.  We rode Test Track again and then since we didn't do it the first time: Mission Earth. 

 There are two versions of Mission Earth.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this ride.  I had heard it was pretty intense.  And I tend to get claustrophobic, so I was a little unsure.  So, I took Regan, Hali and Porter on the mild version of the ride to see what it was like.  The kids LOVED it!  And I thought, "Piece of cake!"  So, Scott and I went on the more intense version.  Holy Crap!  Big jump from mild to intense.  If I could have raised my hand to stop the ride, I think I would have.  I can't even describe what it was like.  But I don't think I'd go on it again!

After Epcot, we went over to Hollywood Studios.  And got bored, real fast.  Hali wanted to go on the Great Movie Ride again.  ugh.  Just as we were about to get on the ride, Zoey starts doing the potty dance. So, she and I get out of line and tell the rest we'll meet them at the exit.  I guess at the end of the ride, Porter realized he had to go to the bathroom, too.  But he didn't say anything.  Then as the ride is coming to the end, he can't hold it any longer and pees on the seat.  Again, not saying anything.  Scott doesn't notice wet pants until they are almost to us....outside the ride!  OMG!  I really hope that some unsuspecting person didn't sit in my sons pee.  Gross.  Makes you rethink all the times you've sat in water on a ride, doesn't it?  And let me tell you, finding pants for a six year old boy at Hollywood Studios is impossible!  They had underwear, but NO pants!!! I finaly got a pair of extra small mens boxer shorts.  The saleslady had to take a safetly pin that was holding on a tag, off of a shirt, so I could pin the shorts together.  Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I really do love my children.

We took the time to see our first parade of the trip.

 Scott and I went on the Rockin' Roller Coaster.  It was fun, but really threw you around and gave me a headache.

 We saw the Indiana Jone's Stunt Spectacular.  My kids are still taking about this one.  It was pretty cool.

 We had dinner that night at the 50's Prime Time Cafe.  It's like an old 50's sitcom house and the waitress was like our mother.  It was pretty cute and the food was really yummy!

The next day we flew home.  Again, my kids did really well on the plane. Even the drunk ladies across the isle thought so! I think they just may be natural travelers!  Now, I'm ready to go back!

Animal Kingdom

We started off our day at the Animal Kingdom park by having breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe. Their breakfast was pretty good and gave us the energy for a fun day!

The first ride we went on was the Kilamanjari Safari.  I was pretty impressed with how close we got to the animals!

The day was beautiful and the park had lots and lots of trees.  It was really beautiful!

 The best ride of the whole day, though, was Expedition Everest.  I'm so sad they don't have this ride at Disneyland.  You start by getting on a train going to the top of Everest.  Just as you get near the top, you see the track in front of you has been torn up.  Then the ride goes backwards!  Awesome!  Then it stops again and you see this little shadow, cartoon thing about a Yeti tearing up the tracks and then the ride goes forwards.  This one has to be tied with Test Track for the best ride.  Loved it!

Of course, my kids are pretty wussy (although we did get Hali and even Regan on Everest), because this was their favorite ride in the park.  Seriously?!

We saw the Nemo show and I was completly charmed by it.  I don't think the Porter or Zoey blinked through the whole thing!

I think that my favorite part of the whole trip, though, was the Hoop-De-Doo Revue.  Since the park closed at 5, I didn't want us to have to hang out at the hotel for the rest of the evening.  So I set up a reservation for a dinner show that night.  It was incredible!  Maybe the corny humor just fits my family, but we laughed until we had tears during the show.  The food was pretty good, too!

 In fact, the show was so good that we didn't remember to take pictures.  Crap.

This was the last night for my parents.  They left a day before we did.  I think we kind of wore them out!

We are so happy they came!!  Thanks, Mom and Dad!  It wouldn't have been the same without you! 

Islands of Adventure

Day 5:

We kind of took this day off.  Sort of.  Scott and my parents took advantage of the many golf courses available on Disney property.  The kids and I had a lazy morning.  We needed that!  My legs and feet were still so sore from all the walking we had done.

In the afternoon, we rented a car and drove to the Orlando Temple to check it out.  It's beautiful!

 Check out how blue the sky is behind that gorgeous white building!!

The rest of the afternoon, the kids swam in the pool.  Half of the reason we picked the hotel was because of the pool.  And we don't have any pictures of it.  Figures.

Day 6:

We knew that we would have to take a day to go to the Islands of Adventure park at Universal Orlando, because of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!  It was awesome!!  And very crowded.

 Pretty much everyone at the entire park was packed into a very small Hogsmead.

But it was pretty darn cool.  We tried the butterbear, which was fabulous, and the pumpkin juice, which wasn't.  In fact, it was terrible!  My mouth is puckering just thinking about the pumpkin juice.  Yuck.

Hali found Hermione's dress from the 4th movie. It floated!

 This is Hagrid's Hut. It was in the line for a small roller coaster.  We waited in line for 45 minutes.  The ride was 32 seconds. 

 We also waited in line for a little show they did at Olivander's Wand shop.

 In the shop, the wand maker picks one person to find their wand.  He picked Porter.  Porter tried several different wands that clearly were not for him.  One made the drawers bang around.  Then he found his wand.

 Of course, we then had to buy him the wand.  And the girls were not going to be left out, so they got wands, too.  At 30 bucks a pop!!  Sheesh. 

But the best was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.  I'm not even sure how to describe it!  But you are supposed to be riding on a broom and it sure feels like you are!

They had this cute little Dr. Seuss area.  We pretty much walked on all those rides.

 And an area of comic book heroes.  Porter and Zoey got to meet Wolverine.

 Scott was the only one to go on The Hulk.  It was this gigantic roller coaster with lots of corkscrews and loops.

It was really cool to see the Harry Potter area of the park.  We are really big Harry Potter fans here in this house and it was really cool to see and experience what it would be like to actually be part of that world!

Hollywood Studios

I know, I know.  It's been just a few days since I blogged and there is still so much of the trip to blog about!  I got a little busy! Our furnace had problems, my niece had a baby, my washing machine got clogged, my house was a mess, dishes don't wash themselves (dang!), we had dance,cub scouts, homework and basically, life just got in the way. 

So, anyway, Hollywood Studios.  I have to say I liked it.  As soon as we cleared the gate, Hali found this sign and made a be-line for it!  Can you guess why?  I'll give you a hint: it's not Boston, Tokyo, Milwaukee, Orlando, or Rome.

 On the main street they had a little show going on.  It was a director and an actress, filming a scene for a silent movie.  It was hilarious!  Disney sure knows how to put on shows, no matter how small.

 You have to strike a pose when you're in Hollywood!

 We took the backlot tour and at the end you walk through a little museum of sorts.  They had costumes from movies.  Porter especially loved the costumes from Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean.

 The most popular ride at the park was Toy Story Mania.  We've been on the ride at California Adventure, but it's such a great ride, that we were willing to wait in the really long line to do it again!

 I didn't think we'd spend a lot of time getting pictures with Characters and we didn't really.  We just happened to be at the right place at the right time for the Little Einstein's.

 Scott took the two older girls to a class about learning to draw Disney characters and I took the younger two, to see a few characters that were in the same building.  Yes, he smells like strawberries!

 So before our trip, I found an iPhone app that was all about the little secret things you can find at the parks.  We had looked for one in Epcot.  It was a bowl in the China pavillion that would fill the bowl with water if you held onto it's handles.  They were remodeling and had removed it.  Dang.  Then in the Magic Kingdom, we looked for a bench outside of a restaurant with a statue of Goofy, that when you sit down, he might laugh.  Again, remodeling took it away.  Crap!  We did find this one in Hollywood studios.

 It was supposed to squirt water.  It didn't.  Stupid app.

We got the dinning plan for free, so we ate really well.  I wanted to pick restaurants that were an "experience".  This night we dined at the Sci-Fi Drive In.  We arrived soaked! It had started to really rain about 30 minutes before our reservation and the park was pretty cleared out.  But the restaurant was completly covered so it wasn't a big deal.  You sit in these old car/tables and watch old sci-fi B movies on the screen.  It was really cool!

We actually got Hali to go on the Tower of Terror.  When asked what she thought of the ride she said, " I really liked it, except for the part that you go down."  :)

There was also this really strange ride called the Great Movie Ride.  You get on this big boat thing that's not on water and you have this guide who takes you through these scenes of great classic movies.  At one point, you are in this gangster movie and an "actor" (used very loosely here) comes out and shoots your guide and takes over himself.  He was terrible!!  The gangster dude, I mean.  Bad, bad actor.  He "dies" at a later point in the ride and I almost clapped.  It was so weird. And of course, my kids loved it!

Overall, I liked the park.  There were a couple of good stunt shows, that Scott took too many pictures of, but they were entertaining.  It was a good day!