ANTS!

The night I got back from my time out I crashed hard with Kyle around 10pm and when I got up in the morning my kitchen looked like the above pictures.  Ants had invaded my pantry and Don had emptied some of the shelves to spray them.  He emptied the shelves onto the counter by the sink.  Poor guy was up until 1am because he had to dump out boxes of crackers and cookies and rinse off the jugs of oil and syrup.  How did we find the ants you may wonder?  Funny story-Caleb went to the Stake dance and Don went to get him around 11.  I was asleep with Kyle and Cayden was still up and was hungry.  He called Don and asked him if could have some Cheezits and Don said yes and to count them out into a cup.  When Don got home the box was on the counter.  He reached into it to grab a handful of crackers and put them in his mouth.  As he chewed and went to close the box he saw ants on the counter, then he looked in the box and saw ants in the box and then saw ants in his hand.  He immediately hollered at Cayden to look in his cup and yes, there were ants in his cup of crackers that he was obliviously munching.  Cayden was a little concerned that there were ants in his stomach and said that he was going to puke.  But Don assured him that they were dead now.  Man oh man is it a good thing I didn't see any of the excitement because I may have really puked after I got done screaming.  Don cleaned up the best he could and sprayed down the pantry and then shoved plastic grocery sacks along the bottom of the door so the little suckers couldn't escape.  When I woke up Sunday morning I walked in to the kitchen and said  "what the hell happened to my kitchen?"  Don was still asleep but he heard me and hurried out to explain.  I told him thank you for not waking me up-since I had been going on less than 3 hours of sleep-and I told him I would have told him to go away or had a meltdown if he had woken me up in the night to tell me about the ant infestation.  So Sunday morning, even though my plan was to be this great and wonderful mother and make my kids a warm and nutritiously delicious breakfast, they got cereal and egos and we went to church.  Don thought that I would have wanted to clean it up but I told him it could wait.  The ants were all dead and would stay dead.  After church I was too tired to mess with it even then and took a nap.  The mess stayed on the counter and the pantry stayed a mess until about 7pm when I finally decided that it couldn't wait any longer.  Don was concerned that the ants had infiltrated the other pantries and cabinets but after a good looking over we decided that the little buggers had had their fun with Cheezits and vegetable oil.  The good news was that it happened Saturday night because Don had to leave Monday.  The bad news was that they invaded under my sink and on the side of my dishwasher, all in my toaster, on the run in front of the sink and were headed to my cereal cabinet on Tuesday morning.  I got up with the boys at 5:30 and Caleb saw the ants and we promptly hosed them with ant spray.  I had to let it sit for a while and spray in between the dishwasher and the cabinet and then I would spray again if I saw any survivors so the kitchen was a mess again for most of the morning but I got it cleaned up.  The cabinet under the sink is nice and clean now.  The rugs got a good washing and I went to Walmart the next day and bought a new toaster so all is well.  So far they haven't come back.  I dare them!

Mom Needs A Time Out

On September 21-22, I got a time out! I was able to go to Las Vegas with one of my best friends and we to Time Out for Women. Amy Marshall came down from Panguitch that afternoon and we headed in to Vegas. We met some of our other friends at Outback for dinner and then went to the evening event. That night we stayed at the Embassy Suites because the morning event started at 9am and we didn't want to have to drive back and forth from Logandale. We stayed up until 3am talking and laughing and eating room service. It was lovely! We ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed out. It was a lovely experience. There were great speakers and great music and the spirit was there so very stongly. It is so amazing to be around that many faithful women who all believe the same things and are trying to do what is right. After the event we went to Cafe Rio and USwirl before we headed home. Amy stayed the night since we didn't get back to Logandale until almost 7 and she had a 3 hour drive and we were functioning on 3 hours of sleep. I wish I could go to these all over the country. There are different speakers and presenters at each one but I would go and see the same people over and over. I take copious notes and this time it was nice because I had my Iphone and was able to look up scripture references or conference talks that were referred to if I couldn't write fast enough. I think my favorite speaker was Emily Freeman. When I went to Time Out 3 years ago she was there and she was fantastic! She was just as fantastic this time. There was a sister from Sierra Leone who endured many many trials and horrible things when she was a child. Her name is Mariama Kallon. Her whole talk was gratitude and it was amazing! She was so grateful for such simple things that I take for granted every day like spoons and shoes! John Hilton spoke on 542 questions in the Book of Mormon and Brad Wilcox on some of the names of Christ. There were other presenters but those were my favorite!

Wicked

I was able to take Caleb and Cayden to see Wicked at the Smith Center on September 15. We bought the tickets many months ago and we were so excited to go. They both loved it! We went to lunch at Five Guys on the way in. I love love love Broadway musicals. I know that there are powerful messages in music and that music can speak to our souls sometimes more than words can. The talents of these people amaze me and I know that those are gifts from God. That Elphaba had some serious pipes on her and when she sang and belted out those songs I was literally mesmerized and frozen in awe! There were some members of the company who were familiar so that was fun to see them live and in person. The Wizard was the guy from Heavyweights and Reva Shane from Guiding Light was in it as well. What a great time we had!

Kyle's Cake and Presents

We had a monkey themed party for Kyle's first birthday. We invited everyone over for a delicious dinner of Cafe Rio style beef tacos and salads, rice and beans, and salsa. Kyle opened his ginormous pile of presents and then we had cake and ice cream.  I had a lady here from the valley make his this darling monkey cake.  She also made him a little cupcake to eat on his own.  He was not a very happy birthday boy and we did not get many smiles from him most of the evening.  He didn't have a good nap at all that day and so he was super tired.  Plus he is in the baby stage where he is a little shy around people.  I was pretty sad that these pictures don't show his happy smiley face but after the party when everyone had left and he was in tub he finally perked up.  He got lots of new toys and clothes for the fall.  Calley and Cody came down on Sunday for the party and also hoping Cody's mission call would come.  Aunt Dena, Taylor and Lara, Grandma and Grandpa and our family were at the party.  Thanks for coming everyone and for those of you who couldn't come, thank you for sending so many wonderful presents.  He is one blessed little boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

Look at this awesome cake!  The monkey and the bananas are made of fondant and the vine is made of tootsie rolls.

His nummy cupcake.

Messy hair!

His darling Eye Spy blanket from my friend Michelle.

We got him this car that he can sit in and be driven around.  The boys love to push him around the house.

Not a happy birthday boy.

Kyle and mommy and his super darling cake.

First Day of School

And so it begins again. School started on Monday, August 27 and we were up bright and early at 5:15am. The boys started early morning seminary and it starts at 6:10. Connor did not take seminary last year and this year he does not have any open classes available so he is going early.  Caleb takes early morning because all Freshman have to take it in the morning.  Connor has 3 SPED classes for extra help and he is the student tutor for the contained SPED class.  He loves that class and the teacher actually asked for him to be in there.  He gets to help the other kids in there but he also is getting social skills and life skills training like they are.  He and Caleb are in the same Biology class.  Caleb has Guitar, Foods, Theater and Spanish plus his regular core classes.  Cayden didn't have to get up as early as the boys but he was up and at it at 6:45. .  Kyle, who could have slept all morning got up at 5:30 and put a kink in my plans for the whole morning. The boys were pretty excited. Don gave them blessings the night before like he does every year and that is always nice. I walked Cayden to the bus stop so he could ride the bus and know which number his was and where it is parked at the school. Then I went up to the school to meet him there and help him find his class line. Cayden is in 4th grade and in Mrs. Shumway's class.  Kyle stayed home with Don. The last few years Don has been able to be home the first week of school. The years that he has had to travel have been very very hard on everyone so he has just made sure that he is in town to help. I made the kids cookies like I do every year the first day of school.  This time it was applesauce chocolate chip.  We were all pretty darn tired that first night but the kids had a good day and came home excited to talk about their day.  I have been doing this school thing for now for 13 years now!  It is crazy!  This year with the early morning seminary is super hard and we have to make sure everyone is in bed around 9.  Cayden actually started a morning tutoring class on Mondays and Wednesdays that begins at 6:45am and it is  in Overton so those days he has to get up at 6am just as the boys are leaving.  The other days he get up around 7:30 so he can do his homework before school because by the end of the day he is just done and we are both too tired to do homework.  Caleb and Cayden started taking piano lessons in August and they have lessons on Tuesdays.  I try to have Cayden do his piano practicing in the mornings too so that it is not such a battle in the afternoon.  It is nice to have a schedule again and getting up in the morning helps me get more done during the day but boy is it exhausting.