Some Shout Outs

This weekend I headed to Portland to visit with some of my family by myself! I play so many roles in my life everyday, and I needed a weekend to just be a daughter and a sister. Here are some thoughts from my weekend.

Huge shout out to Jeremy for giving me this opportunity. I know the boys had a great time hanging with their Dad. Sometimes I can be a real downer with all my rules and regulations(you know, don't kill each other today, don't throw that glass across the room), so I think they all enjoyed the break. And, I just don't ask too many questions about what occurred. I do know the house was clean and the kids were happy when I came back, so thank you Jeremy!

It was so great to see my parents and have conversations with them without the interruption of my kids. I was able to have meaningful conversations with both of them and really enjoyed that. Also, I was amazed to see all that they are dealing with right now, especially the way they take care of my Grandma. I was able to have a nice moment with her which has been pretty rare over the past few years.

The highlight of my weekend was being able to hear my brother Steven play a piano solo in church on Sunday. He is an absolutely amazing musician, and it was such a treat. I am totally blown away by his talent!

It was so fun to be with Stacey at her ward activity. I was so impressed to watch her befriend everybody that was there. I know she is an amazing Relief Society President, and I really got to see her in action. Also, to watch every single guy stop what they were doing to watch her jump into the pool from the top of the rocks. Hilarious.

I had a blast staying with Karen in her home. It was such a cute, peaceful, fun, happy place. Thanks for putting me up!

No Pretty Picture Here

Here is my new motto: I am 30 with 3 kids and I have NO IDEA what I am doing!!! Life is hard sometimes, really hard. I cannot be a warrior every day, you got that Oprah and Jenny?

The MOST lovely evening

On Tuesday night at about 6:30 p.m. (on a school night!!) we decided to head on over to the local river and swimming area. It is about 2-5 minutes from our house depending on if you hit the light or not. There are not enough words to describe how nice it was, how I could sit on the sandy beach and watch my boys swim and kayak. My favorite moment of the evening was when Jeremy had Sam and Spencer on the kayak with him and the boys realized they could tip the kayak. What boy can resist dumping dear old Dad into the river? They all went overboard and one by one as each head popped up all three came up laughing. It was so adorable, the laughter, the moment. I just wanted to bottle it up.

Take that, Toothpaste!

I had a moment last week, one of those glorious moments where for one second you know you have discovered some great truth. Here is my moment I would like to share.

Whitening toothpaste and whitening gum do not work. I just know it is a scam. I have been using both of these daily for at least 3 years, and there really is no difference. And it just hit me, these are not working, why are you buying them? I will not be taken advantage of anymore. That's it. The end.

And then... we ran out of toothpaste so when I was at Target I went to get some. And there it was, a whole aisle full of whitening toothpaste in every brand and flavor. And I knew I shouldn't get it, but then I thought, what if by some miracle it is preventing my teeth from getting more yellow even if it is not making them whiter? I got confused.

I had to be strong. And then I saw it, the toothpaste that always makes me so happy. The toothpaste I would beg my Mom to buy when I was a kid, but apparently it was more expensive. Aquafresh. I love it. I bought the regular, old Aquafresh which now appears to be the cheapest paste around. But, I did get Jeremy the expensive whitening stuff. If he hasn't had his moment yet, I didn't want to deprive him.

Boy Updates

Here is what has been going on with the boys at our house.

Spencer has been going to his new school now for two weeks and doing amazing! Parent night was last night and I am so impressed with this new school and how they are helping Spencer. He is soaring academically and socially. We have a very happy kid coming home each day and that has been wonderful! Jeremy and I are so grateful for prayer and all the support we have gotten with this big decision to try private school.

All three boys each have their own room now. This seems to be going very well, but makes the night time check-in routine a little bit longer. Sam really needed his own space. Being the middle child I wanted to give him a place that was just his. We also decided to say good-bye to the official toy room in our house. The boys just didn't really seem to use it that much anymore. The backyard is our new toy room/basement in this house. And with the change it now seems like our whole house is a toy room. But this goes along with my theory of having toys spread throughout the house. It seems to be working well so far.

And lastly, here is what the oldest boy in our house has been doing. In case anyone was wondering what he did with his birthday money, now you know.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

I love you more each year. If only I could have been there for the Liederhosen days!

Quote of the Moment

If you think you are at the end of your rope, then tie a knot and hold on tight.

Can't resist

Why do I fall for the same trick every year? When I see the Halloween candy out and on sale I just have to grab some. Why? I know that it will not last until Halloween. The whole idea that I am buying this to beat the candy rush is ridiculous. There is always too much candy in the stores at Halloween. And lets face it, we all know this first batch of candy is the leftover stuff from last year. I mean think about it. Target has 5 aisles of candy the day after Halloween, and then it mysteriously disappears to make room for the Christmas stuff. I know what is going on here, but still... its fun size!!

And they're off!

Another year of school. Spencer heads off to 2nd grade and Sam is going to another year of preschool. It was absolute torture for their Mom to take a picture. You can see the pained expressions. Sam picked his outfit himself, I applauded him for his Fall color selection.

Camping

We promised the boys one more camping trip before school started. We just barely made it. This was Matthew's first time camping, and he was in heaven. Thanks to our friends the Carlsons who brought us to this lovely place. We had a blast with you! Happy Labor Day!