Guilty Pleasure

As you know, I have not been blogging lately. And I have to confess it has felt fantastic. I don't know when I crossed over from feeling guilty all the time about not blogging to just enjoying the break, but I did. I haven't felt that constant nagging feeling at all. I am really quite impressed with my ability to let it go. Truthfully, I think I can attribute my lack of guilt to three things: 1. I have actually joined a network marketing company and spend my time on that. Maybe you lose all sense of right and wrong when you crossover to becoming a network marketer; 2. I am pregnant. I am just too tired to think about it. Whenever I get both kids to take a nap, I nap, too. The nap takes away all my blogging time; and 3. My main audience is my in-laws and we have seen them in August, September, and October. They don't need updates because they have been there for many of the events. Thus, the break from blogging and the not so guilty pleasure that has come of it. But, in the unlikely event people still check/read this blog, let's hope I have turned a corner for we actually have had things worth reporting and remembering. The following is a list of examples: I have joined a network marketing company and am really happy about it; I am pregnant with our third child and due June 2nd; and Ootsie came to visit in August, Papa Ou'sie came to visit in September, and we went to Disneyland with all the Canadians in October! In addition, The Prince is now in preschool. He loves every minute and can't wait to leave me to go to school. He had his very first program, which I was unable to record. I am so sad about it. The stupid camcorder said the DVD we bought was incompatible. Captain F was very disappointed. Good thing the Christmas program is just around the corner. Also, we had a great Halloween season. (Halloween has now crossed over to being a season because there are so many parties and events celebrating it). One of the highlights was the very successful neighborhood party we hosted with the Easts, who live next door. I think there were at least 60 people crammed in our little house to watch a magic show. It was a huge hit. And finally, I will just mention my personal triumph in successfully getting the swine flu vaccine for me and the kids. Now I just need to chase down the second dose and get the seasonal flu vaccine. Oh boy.

Silver Lake

We had a great time going to Silver Lake at Brighton in the beginning of August. Tomo and Jujuice's nanny was out of town, so I was watching them. I had been wanting to go to the lake all summer. It is so pretty and it is nice to get out of the heat of the valley. Although, on this particular day, the valley was a beautiful 85 degrees--unheard of in August. Even still, it was great to take a picnic and walk around. We also drafted Gogo and Hunt to come with us. The ducks and squirrels and other critters relentlessly tried to get our picnic food. The Prince did not like the land critters. They made him a little nervous. I can understand because there were at least 10 scurrying about at all times. V loved the ducks. She mostly liked finding rocks along the trail. It was a slow walk around the lake, but everyone still had fun.















The Prince loves to sing this song with Jujuice. V is starting to learn it, too. She tries to do the actions. She is very good at the "hooray" at the end.

Family Vacation--More Weber Fun

For my family vacation this year we went to the cabin. It was great. Most of the family was there from a Tuesday through Saturday, almost unheard of for our family. We usually get up together for a quick over night, possibly two nights, but rarely more. I think everyone had a great time. It was fun to be there long enough that we did activities we usually don't have time for. We went fishing, river rafting, horse-back-riding, hiking, and more.

All the kids got along great. It was fun to see Jujuice, Taroline, the Prince, and Gar-Bear form a little group. It was particularly great because when the Prince would tackle Gar-Bear, I didn't have to worry at all. Gar is the last of a family with 5 boys and only 1 girl, and that girl is a very athletic tomboy. He can handle himself. Plus, he got kicked out of nursery for wrestling earlier this summer. It was so great not to feel any guilt. Gar-Bear would get tackled. The Prince would get tackled. Then they'd run and chase for another round.

Little V spent a lot of time with the nanny that came up, too. They would sit on the front porch and throw rocks for hours. I was so grateful it wasn't me sitting out there. V could not have had a more delightful time, and I was happy to let her.

We also took the family Christmas card picture. Luckily I have a professional photoshopper (it is actually called a digital artist) in the family that can spruce up the picture for us. But here are some shots that don't need it:










































But the best part of the vacation was the Talent Show. That's right. We do a talent show. And I know other families force their kids to go through this same humiliation because it was a major scene in Dan in Real Life. When I watched that scene the first thing I thought was, "See other families do this, too." And to those of you who are thinking, "That was a movie." I respond with, "Art mimics life." Unfortunately, I didn't get much of the talent show on video because I was chasing my kids around, but here is the highlight of my footage:

Weber

Over the Fourth of July we went to my cabin in Weber. The kids love it there. We had so much fun with the mix of my cousins and their kids and my siblings and their kids that were up at the cabin that week. The Prince and V love to ride the horses, especially V. The second we pull up to the cabin she wants to go straight to the horses and doesn't want to leave. She isn't afraid at all. She feeds the horses and she pats the horse during the ride. She loves to ride with me, and never falls asleep, which most kids do at her age. It is so hard to stay awake. The rhythm of the horse walking, the peacefulness of the mountains, and the heat of the sun are a perfect combination for sleep. The Prince almost always falls asleep, or at least totally relaxes. He likes to ride his own horse, while I ride my own horse and lead his around. My biggest problem is keeping him awake so he doesn't fall off. Usually the first rule of horse-back-riding is "You're the boss" but for The Prince it is "Stay awake."

St. George, way back in June

The weekend of June 26-28 we went to St. George for Captain F's grandfather's 90th Birthday celebration. It turned out to be a great trip particularly because Captain F took Friday off and we drove down earlier than we expected. We were going to try and drive down after work on Friday. This was much better. The other thing that turned out fantastically was that the condo's master bedroom had a huge walk-in closet. Ootsie and Papa Ou-sey gave up the master bedroom so we could put Little V in her crib in the closet. She has to have her own room to sleep. If she is in the same room and we move at all, her head pops up and she starts talking to us. It is a mess. The closet worked like a dream. We all slept well. What a blessing!

We had so much fun swimming with Ootsie, Papa Ou-sey, and The Boy. Papa Ou-sey would hold the Prince aloft on his hands over and over. The Prince was amazingly balanced. Here are some pictures. I want to post more pictures, but I have to wait for a week when Ootsie comes back to Utah for a visit. Cicada, Murray, and Gulliver were all there, too, but we never did swim with them. Swimming time interferred with Gulliver's nap times.






















































We also had a great time with Captain F's cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. The 90th Birthday party turned out great. To top it all off, we even met up with some former Timmins residents and good friends of the Canadians. They now reside in St. George. There are 10 kids and we saw them all, and their families, but one. Pretty impressive. Captain F had a great time reconnecting. Then we drove home.

The kids did very well on the drive down and the drive home. Although, on the drive home they started to crack the last 45 minutes. One of the best parts was when the sun was in the Prince's eyes and he started to cry, "The sun's getting me. The sun's getting me." Little V was so funny when the kids were watching "Shrek." She insisted we watch the part with the dancing dolls (that look like the "It's a Small World" ride) as Shrek and Donkey enter the city. We were almost home and the kids were on their last limb. We watched it over and over--anything to passive those two.

OK. So. I am not trying to be a product promotion blog. (I don't know what kind of blog this is . . . mostly a boring one). And I know I just posted about the Madsen bike, but I really think they are wonderful. But here is another product that I absolutely love. You probably already know about it (I am a johnny-come-lately most of the time) but just in case you don't I wanted to tell you all about this great product. It is Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Countertop Spray in Basil sent. Aunt Brat gave this to me for my birthday and she said it would make me want to clean it was so wonderful. She was right! It makes my kitchen smell fantastic. Your whole house gets a lift. It cleans, degreases, removes odors. Your basic all-purpose cleaner. Captain F is a big fan. He loves to walk in the house and smell this when he comes home. He wants me to use it to clean everywhere. I love having a fresh smelling house, but I really don't like candles. No, it isn't even that I don't like candles, but they seem like such a hassle and not as pure a scent as I like. This is perfect. Also, and this is not the major selling point for me but I do think it is nice, it is earth friendly. Certainly a plus. Go out and buy it. You will love it and I think it is only around $4. Totally worth it.

Happy Birthday the Prince

It is the Prince's birthday today! Hooray. He is three years-old. We already had a party for him last night with the Canadians. We have a neighborhood party with some families tonight where we will also have cake and ice cream and sing to him. The party really isn't for the Prince, but he will never know. Then there is the neighborhood carnival party tomorrow. Finally, on Sunday we will get together with my family for dinner and more cake. I don't think the Prince will miss a kids party one bit.

The Prince had a great party last night. We went to my parent's house and went swimming and BBQed. Aunt Brat gave the Prince water guns. He loved them. He spent the entire time trying to get El Senor's girl with the squirt guns. She was a great sport about it. The Prince would hold onto either Captain F or me and direct us to follow El Senor's girl around. It was so funny. How did he know to pick on the new cute girl? Then we ate dinner and had cupcakes for dessert. The Prince loves to have people sing "Happy Birthday." Finally, and he had been very patient, he opened gifts. He sat in a big red chair and got to open his gifts. He loved everything he got, which was mostly Iron Man or Star Wars related. It was the perfect night. And, I am happy to report that he was a very nice boy all night. He gave lots of kisses and said lots of thank yous. After the party he said, "Daddy. Dank-you. Dank-you ah my par-y. Dat fun par-y. Dat fun." He stayed up until 11pm he was so excited. Plus he woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to play with his new guys, which I didn't allow. Then he woke up at 6:30-ish for the day.

More birthday pictures and reports to come, seeing as how this is an all weekend affair.

A Little More Disneyland

The funny thing about our trip to Disneyland is the story behind it. We weren't planning on going on any vacations this summer except to my cabin. Then in fall, we were going to try and go to Disneyland once we saw how the year was shaping up. But around May 1st Captain F started to joke he wanted to go to Disneyland with the kids. More and more he started "joking" about just going. I could tell the joke had started to take root. And by May 7th he started checking into prices and soon thereafter booked the vacation. I started to tease him that he didn't even make it to June before he cracked under the no-major-vacation-this-summer plan. But I can understand. Upon thinking about it, I decided that in the fall you don't really need a vacation, although we plan to still take it, but you need a vacation in the Spring just to shake of that last little bit of winter blues. All in all it turned out to be a well timed vacation. We were even there on my birthday and got a $69 gift card to spend on merchandise. That was great. We are thinking we should time our October visit for Captain F's birthday.

Oh. And I did find another picture of all of us together.






























Little V can't get enough of looking at all the Disneyland pictures and video. In the middle of the night when she wakes up, which has been often lately because she is teething something fierce, she points to go into the computer room and look at the pictures. It quiets the crying and brings squeals of delight instantly.