Big Buddy

Tomorrow this little guy will celebrate his first birthday.

This is what he's been up to this past month:

No, I'm Not Kidding

Let's review my day, shall we?

6:45 am - Macie comes in to tell us that she can't find the little digital clock she keeps on her bed. (She is supposed to wait until after 7 to come out of her room.)

7:20 - I go into Ty's room and am shocked by how hot it is. Hm, that's not normal.

7:30 - 11:00 - Josh leaves for the day. We eat breakfast, get dressed, Ty takes his morning nap, cleaning people arrive, thermostat continues to rise upstairs, and my sister calls and wants us to come over and play. I am also speculating that our AC is not functioning upstairs. I text Josh, he says he will look at it when he gets home. By the way, the high for today was over 100 degrees.

11:00 - 11:30 - I give Macie her vitamin and a cup of grape juice, we get in the car and drive to my sister's house. Macie starts to cough a little and tells me that the juice isn't "getting it." Getting what? Is a piece of her chewable vitamin stuck? I give her some of my water. As we get close to my sister's house she tells me her stomach hurts. That is NEVER a good sign. 30 seconds later she throws up in the car, multiple times.

11:30 - 1:00 - HELL. Awful. I arrive at my sister's house to discover another mess. Mel dropped a gallon  of milk in the garage while she was unloading groceries, and it broke open. I unload Ty, who is overdue for a bottle, and then move on to Macie. If you don't like nasty details, STOP READING NOW. Macie and her booster seat were covered in grape juice vomit. She was wearing a super cute white outfit. Not anymore! I strip her down, put her in the bath, and the following hour is pretty much a blur. It consisted of cleaning and disinfecting the car, washing the carseat and Macie's clothes, bathing Macie, feeding the kids, and cleaning milk out of the garage. I also learned that one of my car windows won't roll down. Sweet, when did that happen?

1:30 - 3:45 - I finally get something to eat because I feel like I'm going to pass out. Ty needs his afternoon nap, but Macie's carseat isn't dry yet. My sister sets up the pack 'n play and he takes a nap. We finally get things cleaned up and squared away so we can head home.

4:00 - 7:30 - I get home and check the themostat upstairs. 85 degrees. I now conclude that the AC is most definitely not working. I call the service people and they head over. Josh comes home. The repairman tells us things about lots of parts, labor, and a good chunk of money. And nothing can be done until Monday or Tuesday. He also blew dust from the attic all over Macie's bedroom while he was "trying" to vacuum it up off the floor. Completely unacceptable.

Josh calls another service company to come over while I feed the kids. The person who takes the call actually knows Josh and sends someone right over. While we wait, Ty's crib is disassembled (this is one of those times having a pack 'n play would have come in handy) and set up in the toy room downstairs so he can sleep with some cool air. Macie's room is thoroughly vacuumed out and bedding is put in the washer. The second repairman is very nice, efficient, and has a completely different solution to our problem. We end up with functioning AC upstairs and no bill.

Finally, my thrilling day is winding down. The kids are sleeping and the house is cooling off. I am able to sit down with a glass of water, and I now feel how exhausted I am. My back hurts so bad from all of the tension and stress today. I am so happy that today is over. So very happy. I really hope tomorrow is better.

*I have to admit, my kids were so well behaved today. Macie was completely fine the second after she threw up and had a great time with her cousin Sadie. Ty was an angel and played so well at my Mel's house. Way to come through guys.

**Thank you Danica for sending your good luck our way. However, I do think my story is funnier than yours.

____________________________________________

Despite the fact that I had a busy day, I kept thinking about the signifigance of today. Eight years ago today I was a college student, glued to the television set trying to make sense of the terrorists attacks. It was awful. So many people lost loved ones that day, and the rest of us felt the impact in other ways. I am glad we have time to remember. I will never forget.

Back To The Grind

We were spoiled with Josh over the past four weeks while he had vacation time. I felt like I was on vacation too, yet, lets face it, in reality there is no vacation from being a mom. Yesterday was my first day back on my own again and we missed Josh all day.  Here's some of the things that we did over the last month:

• Our yard received a face-lift, both front and back. 
• The cars had every crumb and smudge removed (although it didn't take long for those types of things to return). 
• We went to the cannery, just the two of us, and had a fun time laughing at each other in hairnets. 
• We did another inventory of our 72 hr. kits to keep things rotated and accounted for.  
• We spent time at Lake Mead.
• Visited San Diego and Genoa (& Tahoe!)
• Sent Josh's brothers off to Brazil and BYU. 

I think since we were busy it seemed to go by fast. I love having Josh home all the time! Now I have a list a mile long of things I need to do that I put off during the break. One of them includes to revamp my blog (hence the current way it looks). I'm working on deciphering html and adjusting images. It is taking a lot of time when I don't seem to have much to begin with. I also updated my google reader today and HELLO, where have I been? It has been well over a year (maybe 2?) since I did it last and I was missing like half of my blog list. So a big hello to everyone that I hadn't seen in a long time! I rely on reader because it's much quicker than going from blog to blog. I also added a followers link to my page, so feel free to add yourself. 

Now that I feel summer is officially over since Josh's break is done, I need to do a major recap post. One of these days, I promise...

Did You Really Just Say That???

Macie is 3 1/2 years old going on 10. She hangs out with the older girls in the neighborhood and completely thinks she is right on their level. Bless those girls' little hearts, they put up with her and are very nice. Macie has been a little sad lately because the neighbors have gone back to school and she isn't old enough to go yet. After the first day one of the neighbor girls had a couple friends over to swim and they let Macie tag along, floaties and all. Well, apparently one of the dads was watching the girls in the pool. He is a little older looking and his hair is greying. His daughter was talking to him and called him "Dad" of course. My smarty pants 3 year old said, "Hey, that's not your dad. He's your grandpa." I don't even know what to say about that except I am SO embarrassed. I'm glad I wasn't there because I don't know what I would have said. One of the other girls told me about it. I know she wasn't trying to be funny or mean, she was just speaking her mind. Oh my Macie. Please don't do that again.

By the way, this is her dance picture that I scanned in. Isn't she gorgeous? We're working on manners so she can be beautiful and well mannered. Here's to hoping.

Summer Vacation

A family vacation was long overdue, so we packed up and headed to San Diego. Macie had been asking to go to the beach for a long time and we figured she would enjoy Sea World as well. We were right, the kids loved it. We had an extra fun time because the Baldwins came along.


Packed to the max and ready to go. Thank goodness for portable DVD players.


Macie meets sea lion.


Ty is not a fan of sea lions. Actually, this was probably the only time he cried because the barking startled him. Ty loved the animals and was very into seeing everything.


Hello Shamu. I didn't get a picture of them, but the Palmers met us at Sea World too. They live in San Diego now so it was great to see them for a bit.


Macie touched her first starfish in the tide pool.


The boys spent a lot of time doing this: Devin and Josh chatting, Ty and Alex watching/sleeping in the strollers.


The massive walrus was the grossest thing we saw all day. He came right up to the glass and proceeded to chew his lunch in our face. Maybe we were in his face. Anyway, it kept going in and out, in and out.


Leaving Sea World with Ty's lone souvenir.


We spent a day at the beach in La Jolla.


Mom and her buddy.


I love this picture. It's one of the rare moments Macie and Tigi were sitting down.


The girls spent most of the day running in and out of the water. Luckily the weather was quite nice and not as cold as I expected.


Ty doing what he does best: being a boy. He loved sitting around and playing with the sand toys. I'm sad to say this was my deprived child's first time playing in the dirt. Ever. Did I mention I hate sand?

I'm pretty sure we were the cutest family on the beach. Okay, okay, the Baldwins cut a close second.


Our girly girls.


The little buddies.


I really liked Macie having a friend with her the whole trip. These two are so cute together, when they don't fight of course. We had so much fun that we may have to drag the Baldwins along on all our vacations.


Ty was hoping he could drive home.


I had to pry his chubby little hands off of the steering wheel so we could go home.


We played hard.

Called To Serve

Yesterday we went to the airport to say goodbye to Josh's brother, Brent. He is serving a mission in Brazil for the next two years. We are very proud of his decision to dedicate two years of service to the Lord and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. We have no doubt that he will be a great missionary. We'll miss you!

The Fourth

Pre-parade attire. The Summerlin parade was actually really good this year and not as hot as I remember it being in the past. Josh stayed home with Ty while he napped. Sadly, no pictures of the parade itself.


We had some friends over for food, swimming and fireworks. Morgan and I were roommates freshman year at BYU. We both have two kids the same ages and genders, so it's always fun to get together. Me and Ty, Morgan and Alex.


The Baldwin and Waldrons. Ty was long gone in bed and Alex is asleep in his daddy's arms.


Tigi and Macie had a great time watching Josh set off the fireworks. Macie kept saying, "Daddy, will you build more snates?" She liked the watch the quiet, uneventful snakes grow on the pavement.


I love this shot. This is right when Josh lit the first sparkler and went to hand it to the girls. They did actually play with them, although Macie was a little timid about it. She seemed to remember burning her toe the year before.

We had a great time celebrating with great company. I always love the feelings of patriotism and gratitute for the freedoms we enjoy on the this day. We are able to celebrate because of those who fought and still fight for our freedom. Thanks to my dad, brother, and husband for being numbered among those who do.

All Alone

Josh went to the lake today and won't be home until tomorrow. He gets to enjoy a house boat, water sports, cliff jumping, and BBQs. Humph. At least I got to kiss and snuggle my kids goodnight and will wake up to their smiling faces around 7 am. I love my little buggies, but MAN do I wish I was at the lake too!

I Wanna Be A Beach Bum

Macie constantly talks about going to the beach, and Josh finally has a day off this week so we can head out there. I am not a big California beach fan, I prefer Cancun thank you very much, so I don't really know where the best place would be to go for a day. What beach would you pick? Please leave a comment and let me know because we want to leave Thursday night. And as for my California friends, I expect some input!

My Rock-A-Hula Girl

Macie had her first dance recital last weekend. She looked gorgeous and did a wonderful job. But really, do you think a 3 year-old in a hula costume could not be the cutest thing you've ever seen? I tried to contain my excitement the whole day because I didn't want to make her nervous, but when we were in the audience before the recital started I couldn't hold back any longer. Josh's brother, Brent, was the lucky one sitting next to me while I bounced around my seat and couldn't stop talking. The whole show was very entertaining (Bunker Dance does a fantastic job), and we finally got to see our little hula girl come out for one of the final numbers. Videotaping was not permitted, so I only have still shots until the video is sent out.  

On stage right before the music started. Macie is the second from the right. 

Curtain call, right after they took their bow.

One of her many poses. I love the did-you-take-the-picture-yet expression.

This is half of her class. Macie is second from the left.

We failed to bring a change of clothes, so she wore her outfit to dinner.

 
And to the ice cream shop.

Some of Macie's biggest fans: Kip, Jarrett, Mel, Sadie, Mom, Dad, Brent (Sondie took the picture, and Lisa and Paris had to hurry home.) Thanks for coming and supporting Macie.

Honestly, this was one of my proudest moments as a Mom. I got to see my little girl work hard at something without our help, and show off her accomplishment. I can't describe how great it was to see her smiling face on stage and know she was having a great time. I'm not ready for her to be this grown up yet...it's too fast.