There's No Place Like Home

Especially when you have a sick child. We spent last Wednesday through Saturday in Salt Lake for part business and part pleasure. We had planned on going to my bro-in-law's 40th B-day party, but Tanner came down with the chills on Thursday, and then had it coming out both ends by Saturday. He was just miserable, so I stayed with the kids while Anth went to the party. We did get to meet up with my best friend in Provo, and it was great catching up with her, as always. I also got my hair cut, again, and it is now the shortest I have ever had it. We also spent a night and day at Jeff and Vicki's and the kids had a great time playing with the cousins and I just relaxed. On Friday, Anthony dropped us off at temple square to kill some time while he made some business contacts. My little guys walked all over temple square and loved all the water features and flowers. On Sunday, we ventured south and stopped in Beaver for Sunday dinner and to see both sides of family. The White's have a huge pile of dirt in their back yard and the kids climbed it and played in it and rolled down it. Tanner decided he didn't want dirt in his diaper, so he stripped down to his birthday suit and rolled around in the dirt. I think Tanner is feeling better, although he still has some lagging diarrhea. It is definitely nice to be back home again, and everyone sleeps better in their own beds!

I am really enjoying my garden so far, however, my plants are getting big and it makes me nervous. Regardless of watering plenty, many of my plants are drying out. We are trying to decide if we need to add clay to the soil, or to shade it part of the day. I think the heat that comes off the cement is not helping any. So, we may not harvest much this year, but that's okay, because it is a good learning experience. It is a good thing seeds are dirt cheap. Here are a couple links for square foot gardening:

www.squarefootgardening.com and also http://frugaldad.com/2008/03/03/how-to-build-a-square-foot-garden/

Farewells

Goodbye Skinny Jeans

We were such a great pair there for awhile. It's like you were made just for me. We were a perfect fit.

But lately I've been growing in a different direction and I'm just not comfortable in our relationship anymore.

Someone else has come into my life, and now I need more room to breathe.

Don't feel bad. It's not you, it's me.

I won't forget the good times we had.

I really hope to see you again some day, but I can't make any promises.

Camping Trip

Here are some pictures from our camping trip over Easter weekend. I wish it would have been a little warmer, but overall we had nice weather. It was great to get to be with all the family. The kids had a great time. All the rocks and dirt--it was like a wonderland to them.

The family in front of Newspaper Rock.

The cousins

ExploringTyson within minutes of pulling up to the campsite

Tanner just chillin'
We did an Easter egg hunt for the kids and they thought it was really fun. After we got home, we left Tanner's Binky in the car on accident, and he didn't say anything about it, so we decided to take it away and he hasn't shed a tear over it. I was so worried about finally doing this because I have heard horror stories, but I guess it was out of sight, out of mind for Tanner. What a blessing for us!

Rambling

I just finished cleaning my room and since my kids are being fairly quiet and occupied with "Wonderpets" I decided to sit down and ramble for a bit. It is becoming increasingly difficult to type since more keys keep getting pulled off my keyboard-the total being 10 keys gone, after I re-attached 4 this morning. I am patiently waiting with anticipation for the day when we can purchase a Mac. Ever since we stumbled into the Apple store to access the Internet while our flight to Hawaii was delayed, Anthony and I have been won over by the Mac. Sooner or later I will break down and buy one--or Anthony will. He refuses to type on our computer with the missing keys. I just keep putting up with it, and the fact that we are too cheap to pay for the Internet so we just pick up someones wireless signal and hope that our information doesn't get hacked because the network is not secure. We are big risk takers.
You'll be happy to know that our car passed another yearly state inspection, broken window and all---another thing we are too cheap to fix. Why pay someone 350 bucks when a piece of plastic costs 3.50 and works just as well? We just disregard the fact that it looks totally white trash and are grateful that the car works for us. Plus, it just seems so much roomier in the back seat with the door panel off.
Last week we went camping with my whole family near Canyonland's National Park. It was a lot of fun, although I could have dealt with some warmer weather. Anyway, just today I finally unpacked my bag from the trip. I have yet to unpack my kids' bags. It is like that every time. Anthony comes right home and unpacks his stuff first thing. Not me. I'll let my suitcase sit there for days, until it finally becomes a tripping hazard. I guess that is just the nature of my being. Please note that all the dirty clothes were washed the day we got home, so only clean clothes are left in the bags. One strange thing we found out about Tyson is that he refused to poop in the wild. He just wasn't comfortable doing that, so he held it from Wednesday night until Saturday morning. He danced around and held it in and finally told us it was time to go home so he could go poop on the toilet. We finally persuaded him to use the outhouse just down the road. I'll post pictures of the trip soon.
Right now we are fighting the battle of bed wetting with Tyson. Today the thought hit me--are you ever really 100% potty trained? I mean, seriously, I know adults that still wet their pants every now and then when they laugh uncontrollably or sneeze or cough too hard. Or, like Anthony once, after working a graveyard slept too heavily and didn't wake up to go in the toilet. And then there are those toilet dreams where you dream that you are sitting on the toilet but are still sleeping in your bed. I just don't think it is a sure thing, although we have eliminated a lot of the problem by not letting him have a bath before bedtime. Therefore, half of the tub water does not end up in his bed. Another help has been pull ups. Tyson says diapers are for babies and reluctantly wears pull ups and many mornings wakes up dry.
When we got back from our trip, most everything in my little garden had sprouted. I am pleasantly surprised and hope that I can keep everything alive. I may have to put out some poison and kill off the neighborhood vermin that frequents my porch.
Despite what many believe, I am still a firm believer that Global Warming is a load of crap. We have had a colder winter and spring than we have in the last two years. If global warming is real, wouldn't that mean that every year our temperatures would be higher than the year before? I don't buy it. I think it is a conspiracy theory. Don't get me wrong...I am all for recycling and reusing and being conservative with our resources. We have to take care of what God has given us. But the global warming movement seems like total propaganda to me.
Well, I appreciate you (my two blog followers) for letting me be candid today. I apologize for the longevity and possible boring read that this was. I'll get pictures up of the kids soon, because really that is what matters most.

Great Weekend

So it decided to warm up again in St. George over the weekend and it was perfect conference weather. Between the sessions on Sunday, I decided to try and get a family picture outside of our house. The boys looked cute but, nonetheless, would not cooperate so we didn't get a really good shot. Here are a few:(note: we are in no way professional photographers, nor do we have professional cameras, so these are just plain, unedited photos.)A few weeks ago I tried to take these shots of Tyson. He had one eye closed in most of them.

Tanner is taking the initiative to sit on the toilet. We are not starting to potty-train yet, but maybe this will be a head start.

Tanner is just being a character here.

Tyson went fishing with Anthony a couple weeks ago. Anthony bought him his own fishing pool and Tyson had a blast. He is really good at casting, too. He has a heavy rubber disk on the end instead of a hook, but he pretends it is a fish.

Busy as a bee

So the weather has been increasingly nice down here and I have been staying pretty busy. I have taken the kids swimming quite a few times already. I finally got Tanner some floaties and he can float around in the big pool now and he loves it. We had a barbecue with some old high school friends that we haven't really seen in years. Not to mention all the barbecues and get-togethers with the family members who find their way down here this time of year for one reason or another, we love seeing family anytime. I should be about burgered out by now, but the red meat is good for the anemia I recently found out I have. I am also on the enrichment committee and was involved in our annual b-day party. Now, here is a picture of my latest project (one of many that I want to do). My square foot garden! I am very limited on space but am going to attempt to grow some of my own vegetables. My wonderful husband built the box for me and I put the dirt mixture together. Now I just have to plant. I am going to try seeds this year, so everyone cross your fingers for me.

Knee Surgery: take two

Doesn't this feel like dejavu? (how do you even spell that?) It was almost exactly a year ago we were in this same situation. This time around things are going a lot better. This surgery was a little different than last time, and the recovery will not be as hard. I was just glad Anth finally took a couple days off work and got to stay home and be with us, even though it drove him nuts just having to lay around. (notice each kid had to get in a picture after I took Anth's. They are such cheese balls)