Happy Anniversary To Us!

Today is our anniversary and we got to spend 24 whole hours together without too many interruptions (technically Don was still working so he had to answer a few phone calls). We left for St. George yesterday about 1:30pm. The plan was to go straight to the temple but the morning got away from us and so we decided that we would go first thing this morning right from the hotel. So we went to the fabulous new Del Taco in Mesquite on the way to St. George-this has been a long time in coming and so for those of us who are cuisine challenged Del Taco is HUGE! Then we went to St. George. We checked in at the hotel-The Hilton Garden Inn down by Cracker Barrel and then waited until a little before 5 to leave so that I could get a haircut. The place that I get massages is a whole salon too and luckily "Scott" was able to fit me in. Yes he is the epitome of hairdresser. He is definitely not a barber! It is so weird that every time a man does my hair he does a better job and knows more about it then most women hairdressers. I guess that men have something to prove in such a feminine business. Anyway he was definitely way high on the gay-dar but he was nice anyway. Don drove around and did some business on the phone while he waited for me. After my haircut we went to Kohl's because Don forgot his tie and I was in the mood to shop but I am so disgusted with the styles these days that I did not buy anything for me. Don got a tie and 2 new shirts for spring business/casual wear. On the way out of Kohl's we had an interesting adventure. We had just exited the doors when we saw an older Ford Explorer slam to a stop in the middle of the parking lot and a kid jumped out and ran up to this guy and girl who were walking toward the doors to go into Kohl's. The kid from the car just started trying to beat the crap out of the guy with his girlfriend and then the guy with his girlfriend socked the kid from the car right in the face and knocked him to the ground. Then another guy from the car jumped out and tried to take down the kid with his girlfriend to defend his buddy that got up off the ground and basically crawled back to his car and all the while all of them spewing profanity like you would not believe. The girlfriend picked up a rock to go after the guy that was trying to beat up her boyfriend but it did not go much farther than that. Don had his phone in his hand and was dialing 911 but then the 2 idiots from the car got back in and drove away. Such intelligent JAM's (jack*** morons)-I was a little worried that someone would have a gun but thank goodness that was not the case. Don was waiting for the 2 guys to go after the one guy together and then he would have intervened but it never happened. So after the WWF match we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner-one word-YUMMY! Of course way too much food but that is point of eating out right?! Then we drove around for a few more minutes while we waited for the movie we wanted to go to to start. Do you know that St. George totally shuts down at 8:00pm? Tai Pan was closed, Costco was closed, Seagull was closed and Sportsmen's Warehouse was closed. I know that Walmart was open and Target was too but Target is on the other end of the town and who wants to fight the chaos in Walmart? We went to Fool's Gold. It was a good show and not a total chic flic. Warning-there is one part close to the beginning where 2 girls flash the main character but other than that it was ok-mild swearing and innuendos. After the show we went back to the hotel and flipped channels until 1:00am. We got up around 9 and made it to the 10:40 temple session. It was totally crowded. The women had to sit on the men's side because there were so many. The St. George Temple is always so much more crowded than the Las Vegas Temple. It is kind of sad really that you almost have to wait in line for St. George but that in Vegas they sometimes don't have enough people for the session and they have to call in workers to help. After the temple we went to Pebbles to get some stuff for Connor's science project. I spent an hour cutting out kite die cuts and letters but it only cost $4.67. Don talked on the phone while I punched out kites. We went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch-their croutons are the greatest ever- then to Costco for a few items-a sign of the apocalypse-we were down to our last pound of hamburger! Out last stop was the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for the ever delicious chocolate, caramel, pecan covered apple.
It was a nice time for us to be together. Thank you to Dottie for letting Connor, Caleb and Cayden sleep over even though Connor was up hacking his brains out all night long. Cody got the privilege of staying home by himself for the first time. Hopefully he did not blow it! Thank you Don for all of these wonderful years togethe. I love you!! Thanks for a nice outing away from home-I almost did not feel guilty for leaving the kids.

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

So That's What We Did!

As part of the Family Fun Work Outside Day yesterday we planted our garden. It is very small-maybe 5 x 10 but nevertheless we did it. Don is the sprinkler man and hooked up little bubbler sprayers for the plants. We planted zucchini, squash, carrots, spinach, watermelon, cantaloupe, basil, mint and cilantro. Not a lot of each one but maybe enough to get a little bit of each. Now we'll see if anything grows. The Prophet said to plant a garden but not that anything had to grow in it. :)

The Family that Works Together....

Gets Really Grumpy Together.

Yesterday we spent the whole day working outside in the back yard. We had 16 tons of rock delivered a week or so ago and we had to move it all over the backyard. I am sick of the dirt back there where the pool was supposed to go. But who are we kidding-there will never be a pool so we had to cover up that dirt. The boys shoveled and scooped and raked their hearts out with of course a little fussing and fighting on the side. We made a fire pit in the middle of the yard that we used last night for FHE. Don has wanted a firepit for ever and so we finally did and it was really quite easy. We should have done it a long time ago. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire and sang a rousing rendition of Kum By Ya and We are a Happy Family.

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Connor has a science project due next week and we started working on it on Friday-ok so maybe procrastination runs in the family a little. His project is to fly a bunch of kites to see which one flies the best. I bought the kites last week in St. George and we got them out on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Interestingly enough the cheapest, lightest one flew the best. The kids had a good time flying them-even Cody got into it. Notice the picture of Cayden parked in the middle of the road with his camp chair watching the show.

Cayden's Easter Party at School

Friday was the last day of school before Spring Break and Cayden's class had an Easter party in the afternoon. I made Easter Basket cupcakes (funfetti again) with green frosting, green colored coconut, jelly beans, marshmallow rabbits and sour punch straws for handles, to take up there for his class and then I helped by being the Easter Bunny and hiding all the eggs outside in the playground that the teachers had put together. The kids had a good time finding eggs and they enjoyed all the treats. The cupcakes were a big hit to look at but I saw that most kids either ate only the jelly beans and then threw the rest away or else they threw the whole thing away with out eating it at all. I think that the coconut put the off. I though about using green sprinkles for grass but the coconut look so much more authentic. Oh well they were cute to look at.

Cody takes 2nd

Who does this remind you of?

Cody had a debate tournament in Mesquite this past weekend and he took 2nd place in Expos so he got a nifty trophy.

I've been sick-that's my excuse

My life is so extremely exciting yet I have had numerous requests to update the blog -well you asked for it. Disclaimer-do not read any further unless you are totally bored and really really care what is going on in Logandale, NV. This will be a long post and is mostly for my own benefit as a journal of sorts.

Ok so I have not posted for a while and my excuse is that I have been sick as well as almost the whole house for the last 2 weeks. The last time I wrote I had spent the week taking care of sick kids and that continued into the next week which was last week when-
Monday-Connor came home sick after puking at school and Cody was still at home because he had been taking a big dose of steroids for his bronchitis and that made it virtually impossible for him to sleep so I let him stay home again so he could rest.
Tuesday-hmm I can't remember I think that everyone went to school. Oh and I went to the Enrichment Birthday Dinner. (note-I need a complaint box that is only for me and those that wish to hear me complain)
Wednesday-Cody still could not hear out of one of his ears so we went back to the doctor. This is a long saga-He went back to school on Tuesday but I pulled him out at 9:45 so that we could go to Mesquite to the doctor again. She looked in his ears and said that they were both still red but not nearly what they had been the previous Friday. His eardrum had not ruptured though which is what we thought the problem was because he could not hear. Because they had not ruptured she sent us next door to an ENT who just happened to be available-yeah right-after sitting in his office for an hour watching him wander around the back area we got called back-ok yes that was a blessing that we could even get into seen him because he was supposed to be in surgery but right when our doc called he happened to be there and said for us to come over. So I will quit complaining even though the story continues. After seeing that ENT he decided that Cody needed to have a hearing test just because he could not find any particular reason that he could not hear and he was worried about nerve damage which would have been really bad. The bad news was that the audiologist is only at that office on Tuesday and it was Wednesday. So off we went to St. George to have a hearing test. I was already planning on going to St. George because I had to run a few errands for a friend but I did not plan on spending my day at doctor's offices. Anyway after another hour long wait and a hearing test it was discovered that Cody was not deaf -no permanent damage and no nerve damage-the hearing loss was just from congestion and it should come back with in 3 weeks to 3 months. That was good news except that Cody has to deal with "people talking to him through the wall" until it gets better. The upside of the day was that we went to Pizza Factory and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a pecan, chocolate, caramel covered apple. We made it home just in time to get to Cayden's T-Ball practice. Don and I are the coaches for his team the idea being that maybe we can get him to play more because we are there. We will see how that actually plays out.
Thursday-I started to feel bad but spent the entire morning getting ready for Cub scouts. My theory is that I don't want to waste my time or the boys time when they come to scouts so I try to make sure that we have plenty to do to the point of over planning most times but I don't want them running around my house. Anyway I spend most of the day on Thursdays getting ready for scouts at 4:00. I had to fuss at the scouts that day because they were all being really rude and obnoxious and I finally said to them that I did not have to do this and I did not spend all day getting ready so that they could be rude. I told them that we could have fun if they behaved and acted politely or that they could go home. It was up to them. They chose to shape up thank goodness. I had them collect recyclable items the previous week and we did a few really cames with those things-they really collected a lot and of course the recycle truck came the day before and only comes every other week so I have a garage full of recyclable materials until they come again. Yes I could just throw it all out with the trash but that would be a little hypocritical since I told the boys that we needed to save the planet. After the relays they made a jumping spider out of an orange juice carton and had dirt pie with worms (chocolate pudding with crushed up oreos and gummy worms) I love it when 5:00 comes on Thursdays!
Friday-I was feeling worse but my neck and shoulder were bothering me too so I went to St. George to get the crap beat out of me with a massage. She was brutal but she got the seriously huge knot out of my shoulder. I wanted to go to the temple to do initiatory but when I got there they were filled for almost an hour before I could even get in. That never happens in Vegas. They are always needing people for initiatory and you can do 20 names in an hour which is almost half the time it takes for a session. I was off on the session schedule and I already had my massage scheduled and they could not do it another time so I skipped out on the temple. Is that bad? I have gone every week for the last 4 weeks and Don and I have been 2 times since the beginning of February. I'm not trying to give excuses because I know that we need to go to the temple but I have been more in the last 8 weeks than I did all of last year I think. Anyway I came home with out a knot in my shoulder but had a cough and cold so I took a bath and went to bed. Saturday and Sunday I stayed in bed all day coughing and sneezing to the point that Don washed the bedding Sunday afternoon because I could not stand it anymore. He is such a good man. He also did most of the laundry and took care of the kids. He left for Idaho Monday morning. Connor and Caleb stayed the night at Don's mom's house and Cody got himself out the door Monday so I stayed in bed until 10:30 with Cayden who I did not have the energy to get up with and get him to school which was fine with him. Then I got up and cleaned up the house some and went back to bed at 2:00 when Cody got home. Connor had scouts and so I had to get up and get him there and back and I made dinner early while I was already up. It does not get dark here now until after 6:30 so the boys want to be outside as long as they can. That was fine as I did not have the energy to do much with them anyway. After they did come in and shower we had a quick FHE and scripture reading (note to self-insert complaint box here too) and Cody made funfetti cupcakes for a treat-ok so I am sick of them now so I only ate part of one and threw the rest away. The kids went to bed and so did I -but I did not sleep good at all mostly because Don is not here and I had to finish a book that I was reading that was slightly suspenseful with bad guys and of course that does not help a person sleep to be thinking of bad guys creeping in to the house. Anyway-funny hallucination or something-At about 3:00 I woke up to the sound of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack coming from the tv and when I turned over to see what it was, there were 40-50 dancers on a stage -on the tv of course- dancing to a highly choreographed number of the Pirates sound track. It was very weird and I thought that I was dreaming but then at the end a huge red banner was pulled across the stage and over all the dancers and the tv said that if I wanted to see the whole performance to tune in on something something something. Really odd at 3:00 in the morning.
Today I got up and got the kids to school and started this blog at 9:00 but then I had to go back to bed. The phone rang all morning and I did not sleep much so finally I got up at 11:00 and cleaned the floors because the bug man was coming at 2:00. I actually showered and got dressed for the first time in 3 days but in the middle of it my hairdryer blew up so I had to borrow a neighbors to finish my hair. After I was dressed I went to Overton to get a hairdryer and some more library books and some videos for my friend whose husband had surgery yesterday. If you are still reading this huge lengthy saga then you must be bored. This is as far as the day has gone. I started this at 9:00 but it is now almost 3 and I am just finishing it. Obviously I lead a glamorous life and I know that you are all jealous of me! Thanks for reading if you got this far! :)