Dear Mr. Unknown Caller...

It's 5:18 a.m. Did you know that? I realize that you are a computer but it's 5:18 AM!! My answer is no. No matter what you are trying to tell me. My answer is no. No, I don't have any gently-used items for ARC. Nor for Cerebral Palsy. No I do not want to donate to the Policeman's ball. You really don't want me taking that survey. No I don't want to hear about the candidate I am supposed to vote for. Nor do I want to hear why I shouldn't vote for your opponent. I am glad that nothing is wrong with my credit card but no, I do not want to push one to find out about whatever you are trying to sell me. I have no desire to find out about my car warranty expiration and how I can extend it. Even if it was 5:18 p.m., my answer would still be no!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!!

Kaylee is growing up before our eyes! I keep thinking in terms of time left. 1 year until junior high. 1 year until young womens. 4 years til driving. 5 years til dating. Time flies. Happy Birthday Kaylee! Hope you have a great one.

Kaylee worked as a checker at Ameritowne.
1st day of school!

And we thought Chase was the goofball...

So today was the primary program. It was Kaci's first. She was very animated on the front row singing her little heart out. Then it was her turn to speak.

Teacher : Why do you think we have families?

(Without missing a beat...)

Kaci: BECAUSE...

Okay so the line was supposed to be because Heavenly Father loves me. She nailed the because part but did it with the voice inclination and quickness that everyone laughed. Her teacher then helped her with the rest.

All the kids did great and it was fun to actually watch a primary program. It's been years since I haven't had to be in it! :)

Random Thoughts

1. It's cold. Okay that's not that random but we went from 70 to 30 very quickly and I am cold.

2. Apparently, I look old. I was at the mall with my friend and I was holding her baby. A lady came up to me and asked me how old he was. I said that he wasn't mine but that he was 3 months old. "Oh, I knew you were a grandma. How many grandchildren do you have?" Uh. What? I just had the "Gardner Gray" removed so there is no gray lady. And seriously, a grandma in my 30s and a 3 year old at my side watching Snow White in the Disney store. (I must of given her quite the look because she slinked off and was probably dying of embarrassment.)

3. Do the elementary kids ever have school? Seriously! I think we have had 2 weeks of full school weeks. The rest we have had random days off. And why can't the junior high take those same days off instead of having the next Friday off. The kids whine about waking up every morning but the day they don't have school they are up at 7 and running around. Seriously, GO BACK TO BED!! They also whine about going to bed at (GASP!) 9:00 when there is no school the next day. I try to tell them that Jackson still has school tomorrow and dad has to work so we need to go to bed so mom and dad can have some quiet time before bed. Although, we laughed last night because all night Chase complained that he "only got to stay up until 9 when we don't even have school." (His bedtime is 730 reading until lights out at 8.) At 9:00, I yelled downstairs to have him come up for bed. He didn't answer so I went to find him. He was in bed, fast asleep. So much for staying up late.

4. I think it is funny how stores try to fool you and make you think you are getting a good deal. Disney had there princess costumes out and they were 50 bucks instead of 40 bucks this year. The shoes were 20 instead of 15. 1 week after they are out they are marked down to $40 and shoes are 25% off. Everyone is thinking great they are on sale but really they are the same starting price as last year. Now they are down to $30 with shoes 40% off. A better deal if you need a princess dress but Disney is still making tonz of money. Luckily I have most of the princess dresses because they go down to 10 bucks after halloween and I have been lucky enough to get some. Now if I can only convince Kaci to be one of those princesses. (I had her convinced to be Snow White until her friend said that she was going to be Jasmine. So now Kaci wants to be Jasmine. We will see who wins!)

5. The Rockies are in the playoffs again and now everyone is on the bandwagon again. Last year all they did was complain because we weren't very good but now everyone is a fan. That means it is harder to get tickets, everyone is talking Rockies and my boys don't want to go to bed so they can watch baseball every night. Jason was able to score some tickets for tomorrow nights game. Temp. 32 degrees if they are lucky and probably snowing. Have fun boys but I will enjoy it on my soft couch wrapped up in a blanket reading a book.

6. I miss old school volleyball. My friend and I put a team together and joined the city league and we are having a blast but the rules have changed a lot since high school. I don't like rally scoring. It seems like if you get behind it is REALLY hard to catch up. But, we are having a blast and for a bunch of "old ladies" we aren't doing too bad. Fridays though I am a little sore although it is getting better.

So there are my random thoughts for the day. Hope you enjoyed them!!

3 DAYS of AWESOMENESS!!

Cowboys Stadium tour $10

Texas Ranger Stadium tour $10
Football tickets $80
Chase's pop $5
BYU beating Oklahoma!! PRICELESS!!!!
Great game Cougs!! Now onto Tulane!!

FOOTBALL!!

It is time for flag football again. Chase LOVES it!! He is one of the oldest kids (and in the smaller category as well.) But what he lacks in height and weight, he makes up for in speed and execution. He is a good little player. The first game of the season was his night to shine. He played quarterback and led the team onto victory. (Well, since they don't keep score he claimed victory but who's counting!)

DOWN!! SET!! HIKE!!
He knows that he has broken the tackle and is heading in for one of his three touchdowns that night.
His coach loved the qb sneak so Chase ran that a lot!
The kids tried to catch him but he broke away!!
He was pretty thrilled when he made his touchdowns. He even does dances in the endzone. He is our funny man and is so much fun to watch on the field!!

HOW TO...

convince my 20 month old cousin Max to give me his Slurpee!

by Kaci

1st -- the look, the longing in my eyes... let Max know that I really want his slurpee!

2nd -- "Please!!" That usually works right?
3rd -- "YES!! I did it!"
4th -- Uh oh! I don't think Max is too happy that he gave me his slurpee. I better go convince my dad to buy me one!!

AND THE WINNER IS...

Tami. Sorry Trenna, you both missed two but she correctly guessed the baseball field on 15 and she added what we were doing in Park City so I gave it to her. I added captions to all of the pictures. Tami's treat is in the mail!! (If you really want a prize Trenna, raid Tami's mailbox before she gets to it. Her mail sometimes sits out there for two or three days!)

5 DAYS

That's how long I lasted. Pitiful, isn't it. We got new bedroom furniture on Friday and Jason didn't want to put our 100 pound monster tv on the dresser.

(We had decided to get a new tv for a Christmas present to each other but when I made that agreement I thought that we would have the old tv until then.)

SO we preceded without a tv in the bedroom and boy did I struggle. I like to go to bed around 9:30 and just watch the news and whatever else I can find until I am ready to go to sleep. I also like to have it on in the morning while I am getting ready.

Monday night, the Rockies game went into extra innings and I couldn't stay up any longer so I went upstairs to bed. Jason came up 15 minutes later and turned the radio on so he could listen to the end of the game. WHAT? Seriously? Stay downstairs and watch it and let me go to sleep. (Followed by if you buy me a tv you could watch it in bed instead of listening to it.)

So, I gave him an ultimatum. If there is not a tv in our room by Friday, I am going to go and get one myself and it may not be the tv you want. Well, the threat must of worked because he went and got one last night. How nice it was to watch the news in bed, followed by the Food Network, then Friends. Then, this morning as I was getting ready, Matt, Al and Anne were filling me in on the weather and happenings of the day.

I realize that I am not pioneer material. But we don't have fiddlers around the fire at night or the stars in the sky to keep me entertained. I just want to go and relax in my bed and watch tv before I fall asleep. So, Merry Christmas and thanks Jas for my early Christmas present.

Oh the places we've been!

CAN YOU NAME THEM??

20 pictures from our summer. Can you figure out where we are? I will send a prize to the person that gets the most places right.

1. Red Fish Lake with the Gardners

2. Gateway

3. This one should be easy!! Temple Square with our friends from Albequerque, the Clarks.

4. Jason, Nate and Ryan trying the bobsled at The Olympic Park in Park City.
5. A nice COMPETITIVE game of kickball in Dave's backyard.
6. Shoshone Falls
7. Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house
8. Hot tub at the cabin we stayed at in Park City
9. Jackson on the Alpine slide at Olympic Park. He is growling because he was behind Kaylee who was VERY SLOW.
10. Uncle Dave's tramp. The kids loved it when he jumped them.
11. Esplin Cabin in Cedar City. Doughboys and Smores. YUM!!
12. The Fourth of July parade in Hailey Idaho.
13. Olympic Park
14. Gateway
15. Bees game 24th of July
16. Harry Potter midnight movie. (Aren't I a cool aunt?)
17. Hello -- everyone should get this one!! Cafe Rio with a couple of my roommates from college -- Tiffani and Julie
18. Jackson and Faith at Red Fish Lake. Jackson isn't quite sure where to put his hand. She is a girl you know.
19. Zip Line at Olympic Park
20. Riding the ATV at the Esplin cabin
Did you get them? Either leave a comment with your answers or you can email me!! Good luck figuring out our summer vacation spots!

More fun pictures!

Summer's over ...

I guess I better update my blog. Summer activities will be coming your way. Hope everyone had a fun summer like we did. All I can say is it is no fun to wake up early again.

Another conversation with Chase

CHASE: "Mom, Halloween is on a Saturday this year right."

MOM: "Yes."

CHASE: "Then Sunday is November 1st right?"

MOM: "Yes."

CHASE: "I turn eight on November 7th and that means I don't have to fast until December, right?"

Smart boy! Always thinking ahead and already dreading fast Sunday! What are we going to do with this child.

It's official!

I am a mother of a teenager. I don't know when it happened but it did. My baby turned 13 today. Crazy but true! Have a great day!  

WHAT??

So, I am checking my email today and I had one from Jackson's school. Not thinking much about it, I opened it.  

HOMEWORK!!!

That is what it was. A homework assignment for Jackson to do over the summer.  COME ON!!! School just ended. The last thing I need is a homework assignment that you know very well will be forgotten about until the day before school starts and then it will be a frantic rush to get it done. Plus, we all know that home science projects turn into mom (well, in our family dad because mom doesn't get it) homework. 

Can't I just have my summer? Nothing to worry about. Sleeping late (except when Jackson sets his alarm for 6 am so he can get his chores done before 7 so he has the whole day to play. I made sure the alarm was off last night!) Watching baseball. Swimming. Playing in the park. I do not want to be worrying about a science project! 

Granted, Kaylee and Chase got summer homework too but it was collecting as many box tops as they could. I do that anyway so that's easy. The hard part is dividing them up so that they are even.

So, I guess I will break the news to Jackson and let him know about his homework. I will try my best to convince him that if we get it done now we don't have to worry about it the rest of the summer. Then, hopefully remember one week before school starts that it still needs to be done. Then spend the rest of the week trying frantically to finish it so he can start the year off on the right foot. 

Bring it on!

Covered in shaving cream, Chase and Hunter were having a great time getting whoever they could.

The annual end of the school year shaving cream fight was in full swing. There were double the participants and about triple the shaving cream. Everyone was covered head to toe! The kids had a blast. Kaci even got involved and had a blast, until it got in her eye or someone got her. 

If you just glance at this picture. you'll miss Chase standing in front of Jackson. Everyone was COVERED!!

Kaci was trying to get her dad but don't get her back.
She loved emptying the can on to the ground.
Jason took a shot!
Jackson was pretending to be Birdman from the Nuggets. Of course, the Nuggets forgot to show up that night and got sent home packing. 
Kaci and Maddie were trying to stay away from the fight and played on the street corner. Maddie broke her arm so the objective was to keep shaving cream off of the cast. For the most part, it worked.
Here are Kaylee and Savannah.
After their fight, the kids rinsed off and we had hotdogs and ice cream on the back yard. We sure had a fun night!