An Oasis in the desert...

This weekend we went on a camping trip to a place outside of town (well, a ways out of town) in the middle of the desert. Here is the view from the parking lot. It's a true oasis in the Nevada desert with a natural warm spring that has been made into two swimming pools. It used to be owned by Howard Hughes but now belongs to my church who has improved the springs into pools. There is camping and swimming and it's surrounded by palm trees. Beautiful. We had a great time and came back a little burned. All our girls love the water. LOVE.

Ashley was swimming really well and doing all sorts of stunts. There are two 'cliffs' that you can jump from and she was braver then me. There was also a water slide (click the link for a video) and all the girls went down that over and over (well, except Cori). Megan is almost swimming. She's so close. There was an area that was shallow enough for Megan to walk in and she kept practicing swimming (she's in the back in the blue suit) under the rope. Annika LOVES the water and has no fear. She went down the slide about 20 times in a row by herself. The problem is that she doesn't realize that she doesn't know how to swim. She'd take off her floaties and not be able to figure out why she'd sink. Even Cori was having a blast in the water. She liked climbing up and down the steps in and out of the water.

We've not gone camping as a family in at least two years. Last summer was just so busy and stressful with Cori being a newborn and selling our house and moving that we never went anywhere. The girls really enjoyed the camping too. We were worried that it was going to be a really hot night- but the weather was perfect. They actually all slept quite well considering how many marshmellows and how much chocolate they ate.

It was nice to just spend the time together hanging out. My mom and sister Jessica came up on Friday night and swam with us. Jessica had to catch her plane back to Boston at midnight though so they didn't spend the night.

Heavy Breathing...

So Steve called from work this morning- which is odd. Usually if he calls it's in the afternoon on his way home from work. So I figured either something was wrong or something fabulous happened. Apparently one of our children was calling him from the home phone repeatedly, breathing heavily and then hanging up, and then repeating, several times. I found Cori downstairs pushing redial and then talk and then talk and then redial. I found this hysterical (especially since she's one).

On another note- I broke my toe today. My second to smallest toe on my left foot. I stubbed it, heard a crack and now it hurts like the dickens and is about 2 1/2 times bigger then it should be, and purple. Fun. Sad part? I've done this before but a different toe. Seriously took more then a month to be normal again. The good news? Now I've got an excuse as to why I'm not running in the mornings anymore (besides that I was tired, or it got hot, or my running bra was in the laundry...) Okay, maybe I didn't NEED another excuse..

It's been a busy week!

Last week-

Monday- my mom moved in. They (my mom, sisters and they're backyard neighbor who took an entire day out of his life to drive the truck, unpack and fly back home to Utah) drove down, unpacked the truck and started setting up the house.

Tuesday- had Megan's last day of preschool-co-op party at the park. Did potluck lunch and a short, sweet ceremony. Came home and crashed with the kids- dreamed of a mouth so swollen that I couldn't function. Woke up with extreme mouth pain. Bad enough I was taking prescription pain meds from the birth of my last child. Fed my family (includind mom and sisters) dinner. Crashed after dinner from pain and drugs- didn't sleep much.

Wednesday- took advantage of all the aunts in town and went to a new dentist in the early am. I had my first ever root canal. I've heard horror stories about the pain. I have very sensitive teeth. VERY. I usually feel fillings and have to have multiple shots of novicane (which are excruciating). This guy was good. I felt nothing- not even the shot. Also- had this cool plastic tarpy thing that went around my tooth so that nothing went down my throat. Seriously painless, and for a dental procedure as pleasant as it could be. He's a keeper. (I'm still gagging at the expense though).

Had Ashley's 'first grade promotion' ceremony at school. She got an award for A/B honor roll and for citizenship. There was only one boy and one girl that got a citizenship award. I knew it would be Ashley before the teacher announced it. She's just a really, really good kid. A teacher's dream.

Fed my (entire) family dinner again. I like to feed people. My mom's house isn't put together yet. It works out nicely. My sister's stayed late and we chatted. I really enjoy having a bunch of sisters. I'm enjoying it more and more the older we get.

Thursday- Last day of school!! YAY! I'm excited for summer vacation. I know that by next week I'll be ready for school to start again but for right now I'm ready to sleep in a little and not have to be at certain places at certain times and to have unrestricted hang out time with my NBF (new best friend) and her kids (who my kids love and play well with).

I am trying to come up with some way to make us go do things though. Otherwise we'll all stay home in our pj's all day every day watching tv and playing on the computer. I'm coming up with chore charts (totally copying Char) and some sort of tv earning program (thinking rooms have to be clean and you have to complete so many work book pages or read so much?? It's still a work in progress) so that the tv isn't constantly on at our house.

I teach the 7/8 year old's at church but after last week won't be doing that anymore. So we had a party at my house yesterday and played water balloon games, ate pizza, had a water balloon fight and made root beer floats, banana splits or sundaes (depending on the kid).

Then last night we had a 'boo hoo we'll miss you' Relief Society (women's organization) meeting last night since they split our ward (congregation) last week. I took my Mom and sister and afterwards we went shopping at the ghetto walmart. One that I don't go to by myself. While we were there a fight broke out between an employee and a customer. Classy. Doesn't get more ghetto then that folks.

Today was the first official day of summer vacation! YAY!! So we went to the library and signed up for summer reading club. I took my mom and sister jessica with us so that it was feasible and we met Emily and her kids there. It is a tiny library- but small enough that I don't worry about losing kids! Also- the highlight of our library experience is the 'just my size' bathroom in the children's section- Megan and annika LOVED it. LOVED. We made it to the library and home again with no one peeing their pants. Outing considered successful.

We were going to go to the dinasaur park and play in the sprinklers- but the playground was closed for resurfacing. Bummer. Instead we came back to my house and let the girls (mine and Emily's) run through the sprinklers while we sat in the air conditioned house and chatted. Perfect. Really I could do that every day this summer.

That was last week, this week hasn't been that exciting. Hanging out, cleaning, swimming, hanging out some more... really not sure what's happened to my blogging- all this trying to be a good mom is time consuming!

Today is the big day!

My Mom is moving to my town!! She's going to be a 7 minute walk (with no kids) or a 45 minute walk (with kids) from my house!! It's about a 3 minute drive (depending on traffic). Not only that- but she's bringing my 14 year old sister! You know what that means?? A babysitter I know and trust beyond compare- that's what that means!! Am I selfish? Oh yeah. Am I giddy beyond belief?? YES!! My mom is awesome. AWESOME. And I GET TO LIVE BY HER! She has 9 children. NINE. (You read that right). Lucky me gets to live by her (since none of us live in the same state.) Seriously you would have thought last night was Christmas Eve. My kids are beyond excited as well. She's the kind of Grandma every kid wants. She plays, she lets them do messy crafts, she reads stories, she does sleepovers, she bakes ect. She's the kind of Grandma that her mom was when I was little. With that as a model she can't go wrong. Have I said Giddy yet? G.I.D.D.Y. YAY!

Cori is ONE!

I can't believe that Cori is one. Here is a video of her from tonight.

Cutest two minutes ever!

She is seriously so cute. I can't get over it most days. We had a party for her on Memorial Day and had a bunch of friends over to eat and play. Cori's best friend Sarah was there.


She got a new hat and bib from Grandma and Grandpa-

We also had cake of course-

Since Cori's favorite food is Mexican rice we had a fiesta. She also loves to play peek-a-boo and sticks pretty close to me most days for her own safety. She's not walking yet but can climb up (and down) the stairs without falling. She's recently started giving kisses which consists of coming at you with her mouth open and tounge out. Cute- but messy. She likes to nap and is a great sleeper (which I appreciate). She's also very mellow and easy going- which is good considering how high strung her sisters are. Happy Birthday Cori!!

I know I need to blog

I have pictures and stories and fun. All coming soon. I promise.

If you don't like cake pictures...

This isn't the week for you. I'm doing cakes all week. Today is the bridal shower. This is the cake I made...

I like the general idea, but I'm still working on the final concept... for another cake another day. But considering I started at 1:19 am and finished at 2:25 am I'm pretty happy.

This is my favorite picture from yesterday's cake photo shoots.