A Pumpkin in June

Our garden really did much better this year and we actually got a pumpkin. Yes it is a little early but what do we know about when to plant stuff? I picked it because it happened to have a squashbug universoty growing underneath it and I had to annilate them all so that they would not take over my garden. We have gotten lots of zuchinni and squash and the sunflowers are huge. We got a handful of carrots but the cucumber and the broccoli did not do well. We think the the zuchinni boom is over and so we will wait just a bit longer and see if we get anything else but then rip out everything and plant corn and melons and pumpkins again.

California

We left for our family vacation last Sunday June 7. We drove down to San Diego for 4 days and then to Anaheim for 3. Here are the highlights.

~The Sunday drive seemed to take forever and we did not even stop to shop in Barstow.

~The kids wanted to swim at the hotel pool and then Connor's Jazz shirt got stolen.

~The Jazz shirt was found the next day by a maintenance guy at the bottom of the hotel elevator shaft ripped up-not by the elevator mind you but by some jerky kid.

~The kids made friends with kids from Australia and Phoenix.

~Monday we went to Seaworld. We have not done that since before Cayden was born. It was pretty fun. The kids really liked seeing all the sea animals. The boys and Don went on a couple of the rides that we had never been on. I declined as they were all get wet rides and I had no desire to get wet.

~Connor wanted to sit in the splash zone at the dolphin show and the Shamu show. We on the other hand did not want to get wet so he sat down low and we sat up high.

~We got back to the hotel and the kids went swimming again. They played with their new found friends from the outback again.

~We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Calrsbad. They have a breakfast buffet and a small dinner every week night that is free! The kids would go down and get their food while we got ready for the day and after we got back from our daily aventures they could eat for free.

~We went to Oceanside beach for the day after sleeping in. The beach sand was warm, the water was cold and the kids had a great time. Connor and Caleb rented boogie boards and rubbed their bellies raw. Cody and I walked up the road and found a lovely frozen yogurt store and a visor and sunglasses for him. Caleb lost his sunglasses in the surf.

~Wednesday we slept in again and drove down to the San Diego temple. They do not have a visitor's center other than a missionary couple sitting outside on a bench. They had pictures to show and took pictures of us.

~We went to Bennigan's for lunch and then back to the hotel because it was too cloudy and too cold to go to the beach. They have a much better and much cheaper Monte Cristo than Disneyland.

~The kids went swimming again at the pool with Cody.

~Cody and I went to the Carlsbad shopping outlets but I only bought a watch because mine would not stay on and I was afraid of losing it. He and I went to TGI Friday's while the kids and Don ate Meatloaf at the hotel.

~Thursday we packed up and told the kids that we were going home. We did not go home but drove to Anaheim waiting to see if the kids would notice. Caleb did note that we were heading north and wondered about that but it was not until we got off the freeway where the signs said Disneyland that Connor noticed and said "Why don't we just go to Disneyland?" So we did.

~Don and I actually had it already planned and we just surprised the kids when we got there.

~We checked into our usual Hilton hotel and then rode the shuttle to Disneyland. The weather was cloudy and not too hot but it was super crowded. We certainly like the lack of crowds in February but we had to deal with the rain then instead.

~We left Don's pillow on the bed at the hotel in Carlsbad but they found it said that they would ship it to us. It's not so much the pillow as the pillowcase that Mawmaw embroidered for us so hopefully it will arrive soon.

~We went to Disneylandthe rest of the day on Thursday, and all day Friday-the Electrical Parade started Friday night so we had to see that because that is my favorite and the main reason why I wanted to go. Connor got up and danced at the Celebrate parade in Disneyland and then the lady in the pink from the picture came up to us and said that when he makes his first movie that she wants his autograph . She also asked if she could take him home with her.

~I woke up sicker than sick on Saturday so Don took the kids to Dland by himself while I slept in the hotel with Cayden's huge Pooh Bear balloon hovering over me and scaring me to death every time I turned over and saw it.

~Cayden loved the parades and Pooh Bear, the ride not the character.

~Caleb decided that he actually likes Star Tours.

~Connor decidedly does not like Pirates of the Caribbean but he did go on the big roller coaster at California Adventure.

~Cody still likes Fantasmic and Indiana Jones.

~Don loves the corndogs and all the fast scary roller coasters.
~I like Peter Pan and Soarin the most.

~Cayden left his hat on the shuttle and we have not recovered it.

~We went to Ihop on the way out of Anaheim-one away from the park so that we could pay half as much for breakfast for the same thing.

~We got home around 5 and I was sick the rest of the night and all day Monday and Tuesday. Don left for Dallas today I of course have to be better.

Karate Kids

The boys had their Karate testing on June 2. They were supposed to test on May 14 but that was the day that I took a trip to the ER so they were unable to attend. Their teacher had another night of testing because they weren't the only ones that could not be there. They both worked really hard this past 6 months since their last testing. They both earned their purple belts and they were both really proud of themselves.

Thankful and Threrapueutic Thursday

Yes, today is Friday so this is a little late but oh well you get it anyway. I went to the temple yesterday morning and that is always free therapy! It never ceases to amaze me how few people are in the Las Vegas temple. I was surprised when I got to the parking lot to see that it was quite full but the 11am session had only 9 women and 5 men. After the temple I went to my new favorite place on the planet USwirl. It is self serve frozen yogurt that is fantastic! They have like 10 flavors and you can get as much or as little as you want because they charge you by the ounce. Then you can put on your own toppings AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! I love it!! I was trying to figure out a way to get back to Vegas today so I could get more. My whole big cup with strawberry and banana yogurt with 3 BIG scoops of Fruity Pebbles was less than $5. I would rather eat that than regular food and it is fat free-well maybe not the Fruity Pebbles but still much less fattening than ice cream. After the temple I made a huge Costco run and got home to realize that lots of the stuff that I bought we already have plenty of but if the end comes I will have enough freezer bags to cryogenically preserve my family and probably yours too-granted it would have to be in gallon size pieces but nevertheless! When I got home I went to check on my garden and found another form of therapy. It's not what you think-I do not enjoy gardening per se or playing in the dirt at all but there are some very unpleasant critters in my zucchini whose ancestors ruined my garden last year so I unleashed my vengeance in the form of a very long pair of tweezers and the hose. The nasty little things are cousins of the stink bug and are called squash bugs-I will even show you pictures!



They are terrible horrible little beasties who just won't die! I borrowed the tweezers of death from my brother-in-law Chris who said as far as the adults are concerned you have to pick them off and kill them yourself. I did not think that I had such a violent vengeful side to myself but I must admit that while usually have to get Don or Cody to kill the bugs/spiders in my house I got those suckers myself and squished their smelly guts out of them with the tweezers and dropped their little carcasses on the ground and stepped on them. Very therapeutic! A little violent perhaps-call it aggression therapy. I did get the creeps while annihilating as many as I could find and I was worried about their little friends who may have somehow heard about the massacre and decided to exact their vengeance on me whilst in my bed asleep so maybe I am not ready to be labeled completely psychotic and without remorse-ok who am I kidding those creepy crawlies had it coming! And now the rest of the story-
I went out to take the kids to karate and when we got in the car and I started to back out, it felt a little weird. When I got to the street the passenger side front seemed suspiciously low. I had Connor get out and check the tire and it was flat. Not just a little low but flatter than flat. I pulled the car back up onto the driveway and we got in the Suburban and were on our merry way. I was so thankful that the tire did not give me any trouble on the way home from Vegas. I got home at 4:00 and we left at 5:30 so in the hour and half I was home it went flat-not out on the road thank goodness. My manly son Cody changed the tire and put on the spare after I got back after consulting the owner's manual. I told him that we could just wait until Don got home but he insisted on changing it himself. He did a great job and luckily we were home and not out on the freeway because it was 100 degrees and the lugnuts were super tight-I probably would have not been able to do it myself and would have risked a highway serial killer coming to my aid on the open road. Hope you can all find your own thankfulness and therapy. If you need help come kill squash bugs at my house-it really helps!

It's Time for May to be Over!

Is May over yet? May is always such a busy month and it feels like it drags on forever even though we are constantly running. Here is a quick rundown mostly for my benefit.
-The boys had their MayDay dance on May 1 but we did not go because a piece of Caleb's braces broke and we had to take an emergency trip to St. George to get them fixed. We decided to have Family Fun Night and went to see X Men-which by the way I did not get to see the end of because I promised Cayden that if he did not like it then I would take him out and sure enough 20 minutes before it was over he wanted to leave. He had a much better time looking at all the TV's and furniture at Ashley Furniture next door to the movies while we waited for Don and Caleb to come out. Cody was on his Choir trip in Vegas and Connor went to McGill with Grandma and Grandpa. After the movies we went to Fiesta Family Fun center and played mini golf and the boys did the bumper boats and the mini cars. Next time we do Family Fun Night we need to make it FREE Family Fun night because all of that was a fortune. I did not have my camera either so sorry no pics.
-Cody had his final spring concert for Encore. They did the songs from Mamma Mia and did a really good job. They even choreographed the songs so they were dancing and singing up a storm. I was really proud of Cody because he was partnered with a girl in a wheelchair and he did a great job moving around with her and making sure that she could be included even though the snotty girls that choreographed the songs did nothing to help the girl be a part of it. I really wanted to slap those snotty girls and they would have deserved it too but I didn't. Cody has a really tender heart and he felt bad and he knew that his friend felt bad but he did his best to make a crappy situation good. Needless to say he won't be doing Encore next year because there has just been too much drama with teacher and the kids in the class and he would rather take theatre anyway.

-Caleb did his science fair project on how quickly different things burn. He really enjoyed playing with fire.


-I made 4 batches of Strawberry freezer jam.
-I went to the emergency room on May 14 with horrible pain in my chest and after 2 shots of Morphine, a chest Xray, an EKG and a CAT scan they sent me home saying it was Pluerisy-yeah we need to come up with a better name than that. My sweet mother-in-law drove me to the hospital, sat with me and then drove me home after I barfed in the Del Taco drive through (not many people can say that now can they!) She stayed with me and the kids until Don got home late from Kansas City.
-Connor went to see his diabetes doctor on Friday May 15. His AIC is still high. For the life of us we can't get that kids to understand the neccesity of taking care of himself. AAARRRGGGHHH!
-I drove to Provo on May 16 for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I got up at 5:30 and left by 6:30. I was an hour late to the shower but I still made it. I was supposed to leave on Friday but I was not sure how I would feel and if that horrible pain would come back so decided to leave Saturday morning. Friday night when I was packing Cayden asked if he could go with me but I got up so early that I did not want to wake him up. When I called the house Saturday night to talk to the kids Cayden said " mom you forgot to take me to Grandma Penny's." and now he keeps asking when just me and him are going to go to Grandma Penny's by ourselves. I told him maybe when Aunt Anne has the baby we can go. While I was in Provo I hung out with my brother, his very pregnant wife and my sister Calley. Me, Anne, Chris and Calley and my mom went to see Star Trek on SAturday night-LOVED IT!! Then we went to Angels and Demons-did not love that one-We ate at Chic Fil A of course and then Sunday after church we had a Star Trek marathon just to help us figure out everything from the new movie. I got to play with my cutie patootie niece Abby and I held Owen as much as I could. Monday I had a lovely massage that was myMother's Day present-yes I did remember Mother's Day but I greatly dislike Mother's Day and spend most of it wallowing in self pity so I will not burden you with the details other than to say that I got flowers early in the week and roses on Saturday and Cayden make me a bouquet of paper flowers at school. I did get breakfast in bed and a tasty dinner but my children did not have a labotomy and acted like their normal fighting, arguing, mess-making selves.

Umm sorry I did burden you with the details but back to the Provo trip. After my massage I went back to my mom's and took a nap and then we went to dinner at Brick Oven-what a tasty place! Tuesday I went to the temple with my mom and Suzanna while Calley watched Owen and Abby. During the temple session I noticed that my arm was starting to be very tender and painful so when I got my long sleeved dress off I noticed a large swollen knot on my arm-yes that would be a blood clot diagnosed by my brother when we went to his house after the temple and then confirmed by Dr. Peterson. Now this was not the kind of clot that would swim up my veins to my heart and kill me-bummer-but the doctor thinks it was from the lovely IV that I had in the hospital the week earlier. It has gone away now for the most part soIi guess I will live. I drove home from Provo on Wednesday which was Don's birthday. We surprised him by meeting him and the Priests group at the Rec Center in Mesquite with pizza and cupcakes. My nieces Laura and Taylor made the cupcakes for him so that it would be a surprise. I did lose my cute earring up there somewhere and I am quite bummed about that. We had bundt cake after we got back from Mesquite and no my kids did not have a labotomy that day either. Don got a watch, some shoes, a couple golf shirts, 2 books and a boom box for his satellite radio that incidentally just came yesterday.

-We harvested 11 huge zuchinni from our garden and 5 yellow squash. We borrowed Dena's Cuisinart and shredded 3 zuchinni to freeze in less than 5 minutes. We also had very lovely uniform slices of zuchinni to fry. I traded my neighbor 2 zuchinni for a dozen eggs. I am almost ready to get my own chicken coop like they have -ALMOST ready.


-Don and I went to Vegas to see Terminator-not as good as Star Trek but good.
-For Memorial Day we took the kids to Mesquite and went to Pizza Hut and to see Night at the Museum. Cayden had lots of Dr. Pepper and did not go to sleep until 12:30. Consequently no one went to sleep because Cayden was bouncing off the walls. Caleb and Cayden did not make it to school until noon.


-Caleb was awarded his Arrow of Light last night at pack meeting. Our Cubmaster does a great job and works way too hard on these things but the kids love it. Two other boys earned their Arrows as well. Bo Redd and Trent Barlow. I was the narrator for the story and our Bishop played Akela and painted their faces like Indians and they got a really cool arrow. Caleb will be 11 on June 21 and will no longer be a cub scout-I unfortunately will still be the scout leader and will be until I die.
-Don is in Phoenix all week.
-The last day of school is next Thursday.
-This has been our lives this month notwithstanding the ordinary, mundane, running around back and forth to school, mutual, karate, and all the other things we do. If you noticed on my Goodreads site I have been unable to finish a book this month. Go figure! Here's to June being less crazy! Yeah right!

I Think

I think that Jr. Mints and White Cheddar Cheezits should be non-fat non-caloric.
I think that toilet paper should not cost $10 for "a double roll" pack of 12 and that's at Walmart.
I think that Deseret Book should send out a notice when they decide to close stores in Las Vegas. (They have closed 2 now without notifying me. Could they do that after Mother's Day?)
I think Cub Scouts should be banned and illegal.
I think that there should be a rule that mother's of boys do not have to be the scout leader EVER!
I think that mothers of young children should not have to be in the nursery.
I think that if your child has a cough when their happens to be a current pandemic of Swine Flu you should not send them to school.
I think that white girls should not talk about "my girls".
I think that skinny people should not be on exercise videos.
I think that peach Crystal Light is better than water.
I think that I would be a mean drunk.
I think that some people ought to drive their kids places and actually pick them up too.
I think "the morning" should be at 10:00am.
I think that Wednesday ought to be at the end of the week.
I think that boys hair shouldn't grow so fast.
I think that bad stuff should only happen to mean people.
I think stupid people ought to have to wear a sign.
I think that when someone asks you how you are you should be able to tell them" not so great but hey thanks for asking and by the way do you have some lemon juice you could squirt in my eye?"
I think dirt should be banned.
I think that there shouldn't be lines at wedding receptions and viewings at funerals.
I think nice people should get stars on their foreheads.
I think pedicures should last for longer than 2 weeks.
I think that everyone should look in the mirror before they leave the house.
I think I am tired and have a headache.
I think I am done telling you what I think.

The Best Chicken Recipe In The World

Have any thoughts for dinner and feeling like celebrating Seis De Mayo? I found this recipe yesterday at noon and thought it would be a good Cinco De Mayo dinner. It is the pork recipe for Cafe Rio but as I am not a fan of pork-nothing to do with Swine Flu either-I used chicken breasts. I sort of combined 2 recipes-the pork from Cafe Rio and the chicken from Bajio. We ate it on the uncooked tortilla shells-that we cooked-the kids loved it! It was quite tasty and definitely in the keep section of the recipe box. So for your dining pleasure here it is. (Keep in mind that I pulled the chicken out of the freezer at exactly 12:00 and defrosted it in the microwave so this can be done even if your chicken is frozen solid!)

4-5 boneless chicken breasts (this fed my family for one night with a little leftover for salad today. I would probably add 2 more pieces of chicken just to have more leftovers because it was so yummy!)
1 cup Salsa any kind
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 ts Chili Powder
1 can Sprite
Salt and Pepper

Put chicken in crockpot and season with salt and pepper. Put in salsa, brown sugar and sprinkle chili powder. Dump in Sprite. Cook on high for 4-5 hours turning chicken occasionally. Remove chicken and shred. Return to crockpot and let cook for another 30-45 minutes. Serve on salad or with tortilla shells. I bet you could freeze leftovers of this too!
If you want to spice it up add a can of green chiles or more chili powder. Hole! (that would be O-lay but I don't know how to do that little thing over the e) Happy Seis de Mayo!