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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Saturday, August 22, 2009

A gift for Mom


















Remember the chest Cody made at school?
(blog entry "Cody bragging" from June 09)

Well, he finished it and upon all my "hinting".....gave it to his Mother.

I can't wait to fill it up with treasures and memories.

Thank you Coder, I really love it.

(Doug added the picture of me. He really took a liking to this picture and had a copy made and picked out the frame, which I LOVE (he knows me well!) and Callie then put it on the chest.)

Funny exchange....

Ethan: "You always forget things"

Mommy: "Yeah, well that's what you get for coming along so late in the game"



Thursday, August 20, 2009

Happy Family















Our wonderful Aunti's; Michele and Jennifer. We just LOVE to go and let them serve us dinner on a Sunday evening! It's nice that ALL the kids love going over there, something about those cool athletic ladies that the big boys like!

We are SO glad you are our family ladies!

Bubble boy















My little angel, that's what he looks like to me here surrounded by bubbles. Now, if I can keep this image in my head when he is screaming in the Wendy's.......

It looks gross, but it's REALLY good....













...That was the language Callie used to tell her best friend about the zucchini bread we baked!

"it looks gross, but it's REALLY good"!!

Can you believe it!?
















If you can believe it, someone came into MY YARD and STOLE ONE OF MY LADYBUG'S!
(What's worse? I probably haven't really noticed for at least a week!)

I got the cutest magazine last year from my Mother in law with these cute little garden ladybugs, which are bowling balls. I called the DI by my home and got three of them, knew exactly where I wanted to put them (of course strategically thought out) and now I have only TWO!

Funny story. Yesterday we drove past a house just to the South/East of us and I happened to notice a ladybug in a flower garden, I said to Doug "wow, someone else has ladybugs in their garden"........when I realized tonight that I was missing one, I said to Doug "OMG, I saw that ladybug in that yard yesterday" and off we go, kids in tow to get my dog-on ladybug back! We pull up to the yard and I get out and go up the driveway only to realize it was not mine..... so much for "operation retrieve ladybug"!

The kids were so funny all the way there, "when we find THAT GUY, we're gonna KICK HIS BUTT"......only a "bad guy" would do such a terribly RUDE thing!


Happy Birthday Grand-dad!



















Happy Birthday. Thanks for coming over. We love you!





Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Rockport



















We had such a good time at Rockport the 24th weekend with my Sister and her family. We spent all day on the boat Friday, took out a big cooler with food and drinks and treats and spent 5 hours swimming, skiing, wakeboarding and riding the water weenie. We got Ethan to ride with us and unfortunately we all fell off, scared him to death, and he would have nothing to do with the water rides after that!

Callie put her head under the water, which was a big deal for her, and she jumped in the water with her brother and cousins, which was also a big deal!

Spencer and Austin had a great time in the tube and both water skied like pro's! Ethan rode in the tube also and he had a good time with his cousin Jakie.

It was great fun to sit and enjoy the weather, which was perfect; peek-a-boo sun and not too hot. We ate and laughed and talked, it was just a perfect day with people we love, thank you to Brandi and Josh for inviting us, we're planning to totally leech on to them for their houseboat trip to Powell next year!!!

Rockport cont'd



















It was impossible to get everyone in the same place on the boat, it's a big boat but we're a BIGGER family!


Everyone enjoyed the water weenie and it was Doug's first time in 20 years on a waterski, and he did pretty darn good, I dare say GREAT.

Our only injury was Austie's spill that resulted in this little bloody nose; a small price to pay for being a STUD on the wakeboard!

Dolly helped cook dinner that night, we had beef and broccoli with corn on the cob.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The dog graduated....now what?















I have to admit, I was expecting that we would be done with these classes and she would be magically transformed into Latte the SUPER-DUPER OBEDIENT DOG. Not so, BUT she is better than she was. She knows sit(does she stay sat; NO) she is MUCH better about barking and carrying on when people come over AND she is great at walking on the leash now, I am so surprised at how far she's come with that. I guess we keep working with her and in another year, with a little luck, she'll be a "dream". Having a dog is hard work, and takes some well planned routines that should be planned out a bit better than we did it, but we're (still) learning............

Chocolate chip orange zucchini bread


















After reading my good friend Kathy's post about making zucchini bread, I decided I'd do the same. I have zucchini with no real plan, and I have kids who would love to help, plus they get the chance to wear the cute little aprons Grandmommy made them!!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Scoot'n (and danc'n) in the rain!!



















Not wanting the rain to get in the way, the kids taped an umbrella to the scooter (on their own, seriously). On Friday when we got those rain bursts he decided to go outside, sadly we tried to discourage him for a minute, but he won out and we followed to watch this little wonder have a downright BLAT outside in the rain.....

Just in case you forget what pure JOY and downright creativity look like, look closely......

Silver Lake








We took off to Silver Lake a few weeks ago, a little too late in the evening since it was getting dusk about half way through the walk and the mosquitos came out!

It's a really nice walk, not too long and you can take a fishing pole and a packed lunch and it's a great way to get out of the heat in the city. The funniest part (of course I didn't have the camera rolling) is when Ethan decided to get up on the railing along the walkway and part of the landscape is wetland, so just as Doug said "you're going to fall................SPLASH! Ethan FELL IN; OMG! he was so startled, and he had bit his lip and of course was now muddy, wet and (minimally) hurt. TIME TO GO. I had to carry the wet/muddy sack of potatoes now crying all the rest of the way (luckily not more than 5 min). We couldn't help ourselves, we laughed all the way to the car.......

Friday, August 14, 2009

Eat at Joe's Cafe




Joe is the Daddy of Callie's very best friend Raja, And he has opened a cafe in Orem, It is across the street from the mall, just kiddie corner from the Macy's, that is the NW corner. It is right on State Street and Joe cook's everything himself.

Joes is the NICEST, HAPPIEST, MOST OUTGOING, POSITIVE person I think I have EVER MET. SERIOUSLY. Please go see Joe, and since I'm not afraid of him, tell him I said YOU CAN HAVE A DISCOUNT!!!!

Our family went and had breakfast a couple weeks ago, we then went over to the mall and the two girl's walked through the mall handing out business card's and saying "eat at Joe's Cafe" it was way cute, we had Raja's little sister Cameron, who is only 2 and Ethan, and they all got into it, going into shops and handing someone a card. It was funny to watch and Joe said he has gotten some customer's who say they knew about him from their efforts. I was sure to include discounts to all those people too!!

Please. Go EAT AT JOE'S.

Callie's first day of 2nd grade





















Our pretty little Doll started 2nd grade at the end of July. This is our first year with A track, so she only had a little over a month of "summer" but it has turned out fine. Her teacher is Mrs. Rushton, who Cody had as a 2nd grader, so it was nice to have her be so enthusiastic about another one of "my children" :)

Callie is one smart girl, and pretty too; as you can clearly see. She is doing great in 2nd grade, her only complaint is that now that 20 min reading assignment is a DAILY requirement and counts toward her grade :(

We are having fun watching this pretty girl grow and change.

Callie got a sewing machine for her birthday from Grandmommy, and they made her dress she has on, (or really Grandmommy did most, but she helped)


Sunday, August 2, 2009

Hello Dolly!
















When Callie was little, maybe about a year, I would come into her room and sing "Hello Dolly, I said HELLO DOLLY, it's good to see you again. You're lookin' swell DOLLY".........you get the point. I am so very fond of musicals, and it was pretty natural to sing this to her.

I was SO excited to see "Hello Dolly" in the Hale Center Theater line up for this year, and I knew that would be her birthday present from us. We went Friday to the 4pm show and it was FABULOUS! Callie thoroughly enjoyed herself.

After the play the ensemble was in the foyer greeting and shaking hands, and I took callie up to Dolly and Mr.Vandergelder and said "this is MY dolly's first musical" to which she said "what is her name?" I said "Callie" she then say's "you call her DOLLY?... I LOVE IT!"

This has been a GREAT year for me and musical's at Hale. I saw "Into the woods" TWICE. Once with my Mother and then with my big boy's, and now "Dolly" with dolly. I promised Ethan (who was too young to go this year) that we would absolutely go for his birthday.

Like how I found a way to "share" in the presents!!!???

Stupid.

It has taken me over an hour to do ONE POST! Five pictures. This is why I've not blogged lately, and I don't know what the problem is.

PLUS, the format has somehow changed and pictures are so far away from the written word!!



GRRRRR..........................

I miss blogging, but this is driving me MAD!!!!

Dolly's birthday/Family












































































Callie's family party was fun. We had both the friend and family party that day, I had also gone on her school field trip so it had been a long day.

Callie's best friend Raja was there for both parties and as you can see, they were so very excited about several of her presents, I can tell you that I have about 7-8 that have Raja and Callie with the most excited of expressions on their faces. Adorable girlies.

I look forward every year to watching her open presents and this year was by far her most "girlie".

My Dolly is 7. It's hard to believe. I am almost 40, even harder to believe.......