At least the kids are excited...

Kim & Brad have been saving their money to by a hamster. Today they convinced me to take them to the pet store so they could figure out how much money they needed to save. $59.99 plus tax. Sounded good they have about $26 so it would be a while before they could afford it.

Luckily for them a lady walked in who was giving away a guinea pig complete with cage and food. Suddenly a guinea pig sounded like a great pet to the kids. They were begging me to let them have it and I gave in.

So we are now the proud owners of a guinea pig named J.T. I don't know how long we'll keep him. Oh and just so you know if you ask Kylie we are the proud owners of a chinchilla named Kylie. She's wanted a chinchilla forever and so she keeps calling it a chinchilla and she wants to name it Kylie. I told the other kids it really truly didn't matter if she called it a chinchilla and named it Kylie so not to worry about it.

I've spent the last hour reading up on guinea pig care. Since we didn't do a very good job of caring for a breaded dragon "Spike" we'll try to do a little better with "J.T." Thankfully Annie & Zac Frame have already volunteered to have the guinea pig if we don't want him anymore. He may end up on their door sooner than later!

Ever Heard of a Vacuum?

5 teenage boys & popcorn = someone needs to vacuum. And that someone is not me!

This is what I found when I went into Brett's room tonight. At least they tried to keep it under control, notice the wax paper they used to put their popcorn on. At least the room is mostly clean other than the popcorn. Not bad for having unsupervised kids downstairs all afternoon.

Maintain It Monday

Back to life, back to reality. Trying to get back on a schedule and attempting to deep clean my house in the process. Too many things have been let go this summer. Very little good cleaning has taken place and the layer of dust makes that quite obvious. Today I'm in the kitchen wiping and straightening the cupboards, dejunking the countertops, scrubbing the floor, etc. etc. etc.
My kids may drive me crazy before long. No media & no friends on Monday means they have to come up with their own fun. They are not going to be happy when school starts and I don't allow them Media on Tuesday or Thursdays either. At least they can play with friends on those days.

Menu Plan Monday

Attempting to get back on a schedule and into a routine. Only 2.5 weeks until school starts up again. Bryce's bus comes at 7:15 and that is going to seem really early since we've been going to bed so late and getting up late!

Monday
B- Eggs and Sausage
L- Grilled Cheese
D- BBQ Hamburgers

Tuesday
B- Pancakes
L- Mac & Cheese
D- Spaghetti

Wednesday
B- Oats or Cereal - Brett leaves for campout
L- PB&J Sandwich - Kathy dentist at 11:30
D- Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Thursday
B- Waffles
L- Turkey Sanwiches
D- Tacos

Friday
B- French Toast
L- Baked Potatoes
D- Pizza or Meatballs

Saturday
B- Omelets
L- Quesadillas
D- Taco Soup - Sevy reception at 7:00

Sunday
B- Fast Sunday
L- Haystacks
D- Sour Cream Enchilladas

Goodbye Arielle!

Kim's good friend Arielle moved to North Carolina today. We are sure going to miss her and her family. On Tuesday for Activity Days we had a going away swim party for her. It was a lot of fun. There is a great group of girls that are Kim's age in our ward. I love being their Activity Days leader!

Kim had fun the last couple of days playing with Arielle while her family packed up the truck. Kim's already thinking of things she can send Arielle when she arrives at her new home later this week.

Savor It Sunday

What a nice afternoon. A yummy lunch of French Toast with strawberries and whipped cream, a Sunday afternoon nap followed by time to read the Conference Ensign. While I was sleeping the kids put together a "circus" performance for us to watch. Now off to check our roast that's cooking for dinner and play a few board games with the kids. I love relaxing Sunday afternoons!

Sleeping in

Kylie was the first one awake today at 9:00 am. So nice to sleep in especially since we were up before 6:00 yesterday. I finally woke Bryce up at 10:20 to come up for scriptures and prayers.
We really need to get back on a better schedule since school starts in 2.5 weeks.

I didn't vote...

At the beginning of summer we took a vote on whether to go to Disneyland or to get a boat. I abstained from voting but I would have picked Disneyland. Just about everyone else voted for a boat. Brian has wanted a boat forever and now that the boat is working I love it. We had so much fun tonight out at Sand Hollow. We made a good choice.

Jordan & Alex went with us tonight and it was really fun to watch the 2 of them along with Brett come up with crazy things to do on the tube.

It's not easy to fall off our tube let alone flip it but they managed to do both more than once.

Kylie is such a trooper. She loves boating and never complains.

After boating it was time for cliff jumping. It took Bradley forever to finally jump off this higher cliff but he did it.

We had planned to camp out there tonight but by the time we got off the water it was getting dark. We were voting on whether to camp or come home when Kylie started fussing that her tummy was hurting. "Primate" camping on the beach with a tummy ache? No thank you!! We're home! Kylie's fine and sound asleep. We seemed to be jinxed when it comes to camping, something always comes up.

Instead we ran by Harmons to buy a few fireworks. It was perfect timing because while we were in the parking lot the city fireworks show started and we had a pefect view of it.

All in all a great 24th of July.

Happy Pioneer Day!

This morning started early with Brian, Brett & Bryce putting out flags in the neighborhood and me cooking dutch oven potatoes for the 24th of July celebration. Brian and I then walked/jogged the 5K run that started at 7 am. Brian could have run the whole way but he hung back and stayed with me. I think the last time I ran 3 miles was in high school cross country!
We went home quick to change and then took the kids back up to our Stake's 24th of July celebration. Breakfast and games.

Kylie heading off with Megan and Cooper to get her face painted. When my older kids were 3 there was no way I would let them out of my site. I've gotten so laid back and Kylie is so independent that she spent the majority of the morning on her own.

This was the result. She wanted a tiger face just like Cooper.

My name is Bradley. For less than $1 a day you can sponsor me. Honestly I do feed this boy. He was so fat as a baby he was nearly as wide as he was tall. I'm not sure how he ended up so skinny.

Bryce and his friends, I hardly saw them all morning.

The Pioneer day Parade.

Really cheesy and short but perfect for little kids who love to march in Parades and for parents who find it too hot to sit and watch a long parade.

There's Kylie, wave at her.

Kylie thought it was so fun to march in a parade. Only in St. George would a pioneer day parade consist of children in swimsuits.

After the parade a fire truck sprayed everyone with water to cool them off.

Brian went out to get a little wet and ended up nearly soaked.

Kim with Kylee & McKenna.

Thoughtful Thursday

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle the goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Preschool for Kylie

I couldn't find a preschool for Kylie, they were all too expensive or too far away so I was going to do one myself. Not so anymore. I had put Kylie on a waiting list for preschool through the school district and they called to let me know they had a spot for her. It's close & it's cheap. I've never been a big fan of or believer in preschool. I've not put any of my kids in preschool but times change and life is just different now. Kylie is our last child and all the other kids are now in school. Kylie was so bored last year when Bradley started 1st grade and was gone all day. I can't imagine it getting any better this year. The other kids are gone for 6 hours everyday and there is only me, the TV or the computer most of the time to entertain her. I figure preschool 2 days a week is better than allowing her to watch movies or play on the computer.
Plus in all honestly I'm being a little selfish - 4 hours all to myself. I can attend the temple, go out to lunch with Brian, exercise uninterrupted, run errands, shop and do a whole bunch of other stuff I've not been able to do alone for the last 14.5 years.

Griffith Park Observatory

Inside the planetarium. Grandpa kept Kylie while the rest of us went to the show.

Not the clearest of skies. The Hollywood sign is in the background but you can barely see it.

Grandpa took us to the Observatory. It was a lot of fun.

Brett would have stayed for hours longer if we would have let him. The next day he wanted to go back again. Next trip we'll have to take him back since it is free.

Kylie & the Foucault Pendulum

As we were about to leave Griffith Park we were looking at the Foucault Pendulum. The edge was too high for Kylie to see over so she tried to climb or jump up to see into the pendulum. She was holding her pink bunny and dropped the pink bunny into the pendulum. It takes the pendulum about 10 minutes to knock over a peg but Kylie's bunny managed to knock over a half dozen pegs in a matter of seconds. We stood there a little shocked not knowing what to do!One of the workers saw what had happened and grabbed something to retrieve it. Obviously she wasn't the first person to drop something down because they were prepared.

Kylie was upset and crying so they gave her a sticker.

She wanted to go home to St. George right then but after a few minutes she was ready to go back to grandpa's house.

Cinnamon Sugar

When making cinnamon sugar to go on top of applesauce make sure you are using sugar and not salt. They may look alike but they sure don't taste the same! Ask Brett he'll tell you how disgusting my mistake tastes!

Swimming!

One of our favorite places to swim is at Lee & Chloe Ross's home. They have a beautiful pool and an awesome waterslide. We got to go over twice to swim while we were visiting.

Kylie has her life vest on in this picture but after a while she took it off and she was able to swim without it. Hooray! All my kids can now swim. It will be a while before Kylie is good enough to not be watched every second but she's on her way.

This waterslide is the best!

Chloe brought us out chips, candy and drink. What a treat for the kids!

Isn't this a beautiful waterslide. Even I went down it. It's so much fun!

Dockweiler State Beach

We spent yesterday afternoon out at Dockweiler State Beach.
Kylie heading out to boogie board.

Bradley getting ready to swim.

Bradley telling us all about a wave he rode.

Brett coming in from boogie boarding.

Kim loved being buried by the warm sand.

Go Bryce!

The kids had never gone boogie boarding before. They had fun learning how to catch a wave in.

Bryce boogie boarding.

This is the best life vest ever invented! Seriously if you have little kids get one of these life vests. I bought it at Wal-mart for about $15 and it works better than any life jacket.

It was a little cold and windy. But it sure beat the heat we left behind at grandpa's house. Overall it was a great day at the beach.

Grandpa took off work early to take us all to the beach. Thanks grandpa!

Bradley buried in the sand.