Don't Jump!!!

Jared decided to jump from the balcony at the beach house. Da dum...da dum...da dum (suspenseful music)...

It did not end well.

Hey Jared...jumping off a balcony can be quite fun, but that sudden stop will get you every time!

My kids are so creative!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ahhh...all is right in my world again. My kiddos are back in school and my house is now returning to a quiet and peaceful retreat for mom (well for a few hours anyway). The first week of school has gone well. We only lost one child, missed one breakfast (and lunch, because someone in the family was being very slow) and only waited in car line for 1 hour the first day of school. I think that's a pretty impressive way to start off the year!

Here's the first day of school picture. I had to get them in stages.

Carson was very excited to ride the bus and see all of his friends at school. He had a very great day and enjoyed every minute.

Emily and Carson on the first day of school. Emily had a great day and likes her teachers. One of her teachers is her friends mom. That was very exciting for her.

The big kids Chris, Jared, and Kinsey. They all had a great first day also. They like their teachers and seem to be excited (as excited as a kid can get) about school this year. This is Kinsey's first year of high school and seminary. She loves dance, art, and french class. Jared is trying out for the football team ( I have already worried about him breaking his neck and being in a wheel chair for the rest of his life). This is Chris' last year of high school (I can't believe I am old enough to have a senior). He is hoping to get his driver's license and eagle project done. Right now he is enjoying marching band season and Friday night football.

Shhh...can I tell you a secret? It is awfully quiet around here and I do enjoy it, but sometimes I miss not having them around. I fill my time with things to do around the house. My goal is to have the house put together, organized and decorated by the end of 2009. I want to start the new decade with a clean slate. What do you think...is it possible?

Awwwww....you missed me!

Well, Jeannie missed me anyway. It feels so good to be missed. I didn't think anyone ever missed me. Thanks Jeannie. Yes...I have been feeling sorry for myself lately. Poor me, I have no friends.

Okay...enough of the sappy stuff. Where have I been? I have been at home making a giant mess while decorating my house and driving myself crazy. It all started when my friend Paula came into town. We were supposed to have a quiet weekend away from home...a girl's weekend away. Then we got this half-baked idea to go out shopping for stuff to decorate my home. It was lots of fun, we spent way too much money, and then I sort of lost my mind. She got bad news from home and had to leave a day early which gave us less time to actually put the stuff in the house. I am such a good friend! Instead of being there for her in her hour of need, all I could think of was wait, you can't leave, you have to decorate my home! We got lots done but didn't get finished. That left me to finish...{cue scary music!}

I have been working on it for a week. Has it been only a week? It feels like forever. I have been looking for the perfect ottoman. I found the perfect one at Restoration Hardware for only $1100. Ack! Needless to say, as patient as he has been all through this, Gary said heck no! He's so unreasonable! Sheesh! So, I have been searching the internet and stores all hours of the day and night. I found one at a furniture consignment shop and thought it would work. So I brought it home, moved it into the house and thought it was a little too tall. I got the brillant idea to take the legs off and it was perfect! I was so happy. Then Gary came home and he was less than excited about it. The room had clutter in it from the mess I had made and he couldn't see it. So then I sent a picture to my friend and she thought it was so so. She wasn't crazy about the color, thought it was too beige.

Later that night, as I sat in my chair unresponsive to outside stimulus, Gary could see I was about to crack. He took matters into his own hands and called a decorator and asked if she could come over stat because his wife was slowly losing her mind. I love my husband...he could see I was slowly headed to lala land and so he called a decorator. What a man! She came over today. I love what she did. She even gave me compliments on the things that I had bought...on...my...own! I have enough stuff to decorate five homes but have never used and she used a lot of it. What a relief!

Anyway... here are the pictures. I wish I had before pictures but I forgot to do that. What do you think?

My family room with the main focus being the fireplace instead of the TV. Carson thinks the main focus should be the TV though. That is his permanent spot.

Another view of the family room. Look, Carson is still in the same spot!

My wonderful fireplace. Don't you just love it?



This is the living room. I still have a few things to do in here, but it is such an improvement over what it was!

So, now I want people over so I am having a open house/come tell me what you think luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 16th at 11:00 am. Please say you'll come (and that you'll bring some luncheon item to share). I know that is tacky, but if I try to do all the food by myself I'll crack. Let me know if you can come. It will be fun...there might even be chocolate!

I Tried Jumping Into Life...

I suggested that everyone should jump into life and enjoy it. I tried to follow my own advice when we were at the beach, but I've decided I am just plain old dull and boring. I tell myself every year that this will be the year that I spend every day frolicking on the beach (okay, I never frolic) but I will atleast go to the beach...in my bathing suit...and actually go into the water (shudder). I never do it and I am then mad at myself until the next year when I look out towards the beach, stick my foot out the door to see how hot it is (usually blazing), and decide that the best place to be is in the house with A/C, eating all the junk food. I then decide that maybe tomorrow I will put on a bathing suit. Probably not though because...well, it just ain't pretty. Then the cycle starts over and I am mad at myself for yet another year!

I did manage to go out of the house one day for our annual family picture. We took a very nice picture except I had to kneel down in the sand and water because Carson was freaking out (I know there he is looking like an angel). We took pictures with all of us wearing the Lori Udy's (my sister) 5K run/walk t-shirt.

After the whole family picture we took our little family picture. It only took 7 tries to get two good (good for us) pictures:

Then we decided to do the jumping pictures. Let me just say that Lori made it look so easy, but jumping is not an easy thing to do and...well, just take a look:

Boys Jumping...Take 1

Boys Jumping...Take 2

Boys Jumping...Take 3

Boys Jumping...Take 4

and we have a winner!!!

Girls Jumping...Take 1

and we have a winner!!!

Dad, Mom, and Carson Jumping: Take 1

Dad, Mom and Carson Jumping: Take 2

Dad, Mom, and Carson Jumping: Take 3

This was when we decided we are just too old for this stuff. Do you see me trying to lift my body off the steps? It's hard work...so hard that the only way Gary could do it was sticking out his tongue. The first jump we didn't get Carson far enough up and he scratched his foot on the steps. The second jump I am really trying to jump high and Gary missed the "jump" part of ready, set, jump by a split second. The third jump we jumped so fast we were a blur (ha!) Then Chris and Emily stepped in to help their old mom and dad out. Chris was so busy trying to help Carson that he forgot to jump, but look at the pure joy on Carson's face. He knows how to jump into life and enjoy.

The moral of the story? Enjoy life, but do it the way you enjoy doing it, not the way someone else enjoys it.

The End

Heaven....I'm In Heaven

Jared's best friend from Florida came into town yesterday. I have not heard one scream since then. What do you get when the kids are playing nicely, do not hit or scream at each other, or cry? One very happy mom. I even got to sleep in. Ahhhhh...life is good (atleast for now).

Jump Into Life And Enjoy It

We are going to Florida on Friday. This is our trip that we take every year...one of our favorite family traditions. We spend a week on the beautiful beaches of Florida (I love the white sand). We eat lots of junk, laugh a lot, get together with extended family, play games, make lots of noise, relax, and eat more junk.

I am having a hard time with the trip this year. This will be the first time that we will go to the beach without my sister. Her husband and children will be there, but she won't. We have always laughed a lot because she was so entertaining. She told stories that no one would believe, unless you knew her. She loved to sit on the porch or walk with my dad in the early morning when everyone else was sleeping. Last year she was too tired to walk so she was sitting on the beach and saw some dolphins swim by. She was trying to get my dad's attention so he could see them too and wishing she could see them closer. Then one of the dolphins turned around, swam up close to her, jumped out of the water and then swam away. She got her wish. She was so happy.

My sister and her husband had a tradition of their own. They would get a picture of themselves jumping off the boardwalk. They have one of just the two of them, then the three of them, then the four of them. She had the pictures hung on her wall when I went to Florida for her funeral. Such a simple tradition, but what a beautiful memory for her children.

I think if she were here she would tell me to jump into life and enjoy it. I'm going to try harder. Maybe we will even take a jumping picture this year. So...from my sister to you...don't be afraid to jump into life and enjoy it.

Pioneer Children Didn't Sing THAT Song

Emily has been asking me every single minute of the day for a few weeks for a nightgown like the one I made for Kinsey for her Pioneer Trek. I have been dreading so excited to make her one so the other day I finally did. She has been wearing the thing day and night (with the Laura Ingalls bonnet) for a few days now and can't wait for the Pioneer Day celebration at our church.

I have been trying to enjoy the summer with my children. It is very difficult though when they don't listen to me. For example, I ordered a cheap Book of Mormon for everyone so they would have them for scripture reading. Laura Ingalls aka Emily quickly claimed one and started reading it. Laura Ingalls was starting to get on my nerves because she had been asked several times to go change and then do her kitchen chore. I told Laura Ingalls in my best mad mom voice that if she didn't GO CHANGE NOW AND THEN DO HER KITCHEN CHORE that Laura Ingalls would have to go away for a really long time because she was causing too much trouble. Laura Ingalls then said "but Mom, I'm reading the Book of Mormon right now. It's a REALLY GOOD BOOK!!" I then told her to put the book away and go change. I know, I know bad mom example #1,000,000,001. All she wanted to do was read the Book of Mormon, sheesh!

Later on in the day, I heard someone pounding on the floor with music playing. I quickly figured out that dance dance revolution was being played by Carson and Laura Ingalls. Laura Ingalls was singing along to the music. She learned one line of the song and sang it over and over again. I hate it when she does that because then I get the song stuck in my head. She is upstairs singing over and over in her very loud, very best impersonation of whoever sang this song "I NEED SOME HOT LOVE BABY TONIGHT!" I should have gone upstairs and turned that song off and told her in no uncertain terms that the song is very inappropriate! Instead, I laid in my bed wondering where I had gone wrong! I know, I know, bad mom example #1,000,000,002.

So, pioneer day is today. I hope you are ready to celebrate. You should dress up like Laura Ingalls (or her dad if you are a boy). We are going to go to the celebration at the church. We are going to learn about how the pioneers distracted themselves as they walked and walked. Do you think they sang "I need some hot love baby tonight"?

For those of you who are thinking "boy, she really knows her church history", I did not know it was Pioneer Day today. That is until Gary got up this morning and asked me if I would like to make him some oatmeal in honor of pioneer day today. I said no. He is part of the handcart group that got caught in the storm and he has to go hungry. I guess I should go be a nice wife and make him some oatmeal. Sigh!