if you're happy & you know it

Today Tika was hired to babysit her cousin Reid in Spanish Fork. I took her down there cause I figured that I could just hang out with Melinda while she organized the garage. Or at least try to help...Well it turns out I was more in the way than anything...I think! (sorry melinda!) Anyway - Reid is so cute - When Rod would sing the song, "when you're happy & you know it" and he got to the "clap your hands" part, Reid claps his little hands. So dang cute. Anyway, these 3 pics are from us @ their house this afternoon. Tika stayed for a couple hours longer and Carsun & I headed up the canyon so I could get to work. We had to make a quick pit stop and while getting back into the van Carsun goes, "what the..." As I looked back at her she was gagging at her shoe. What do you know---she stepped on someones wad of minty gum and wiped it on the mat of the van to get it off of the bottom of her shoe. Now, you must understand that I, myself am a "gagger". There are things that just make me gag. For instance: snot, teeth being brushed, the smell of ramen noodles cooking, Justin making a "throwing up " noise...these are a few things that make me gag. And gum is another one of those things that makes me GAG! The smell, the sound, bubbles being blown with it. Ugh - I can't handle gum!
So immediately I roll down the windows and gag myself to the nearest car wash to spry the gag-making-material off of the mat. (I have to back track so you understand why I have these next 2 pictures on here...last night Carsun was helping mow the lawn and I said, "Let me go get my camera so I can take a picture of you." She glares at me and says, "Why-so you can put me on the blog? That's all you ever do - blog blog blog." So I chose to not take her picture since she is humiliated that I put her "plumber" pic's on the blog. Okay - now you're caught up...) Carsy asked if she could help spray off the mats, I handed her the sprayer gun and she looks at me and says, "Do you have your camera? Cause this would be a REALLY good one for the blog!"
and by the way - she threw away her shoes!

Pathfinders are out of this world!

Friday was the last day of school!! (wahoo!) And for Tika & Carsun (& me) it was the last day at JR Smith Elementary. Tika is movin' on up to the middle school and Carsun will be going to Heber Valley Elementary. Me? That's a whole different post! Anyway - these are a few pictues of the girls on their last day of school! The school was filled with a fun energy...I'm glad I was able to be a part of it! What an amazing year! Both girls got straight "E"s (same as an "A") and Tika got Honors! :)

This is one of the bulletin boards in my class room. ( I left it up! It was the first bulletin board I did when I started @ JR Smith 2 years ago and I'd have cried way too hard if I took it down!)

Tika ~ ~ ~ Teacher: Brynley Phillips & class (they love doing "crazy pictures")

Carsy ~ ~ ~ Teacher: Marie Patterson & class (they chose the "backdrop")

panic attack

I fear I am going to have a panic attack! My dear, sweet child Tika got a phone call tonight. She was asked to BABYSIT! Holy Hell! My baby!! I am completely stressed out! Okay, I know that she is only 5 minutes away and it is her Auntie Sarah & Uncle Eric's kids, but I guess it is still weird! She is growing up WAY to fast. I know I need to let her.. I know, you can say it! So I called to check on her and she's like, "hello?" All cute & grown up sounding! Anyway I just had to share my stresses! She'll be an AWESOME babysitter!

Brace~less

Tika Mahrie had something done today that we thought would never happen! She is officially free of metal brackets & wires on her teeth! (well, at least until her permanent teeth grow in!) When asked how she feels about having her braces off, she comments,"It feels so cool. It feels like...Freedom!" Tika was then asked, what it felt like when they were first off of her teeth. She responds, "SLIMY!" Congrats Tika...and by the way, if you happen to throw your new watermelon retainer in the Subway trash can like your old one...YOU will be the one digging through it!

An extra day

Above is a slide show of some one-on-one time I got to have with Reid this morning after the girls were at school. We rolled the blue ball back & forth and then he discovered Genevieve's wugga! We had a great time in the cool morning air!

Charlie got to stay an extra night!! Yesterday there was a high speed chase through Parley's Canyon that caused Melinda & Rod to have to wait in traffic and then be diverted back down the canyon. I decided that since they had been in the car forever that I would just take Reid home to make Melinda & Rod's life a bit easier. Well that's what I get for thinking! As Tika, Carsun, Charlie & I ate dinner, normally I would be saying, "k- guys hurry up - we've got to get baby home". Well something kept telling me to slow down & relax.

After we ate, I got everything all loaded up and as we sat in the driveway my car registered that I only had 1/8 tank of gas. I was trying to figure out how that would work when Saturday night I had 1/2 tank. I called Melinda & told her we were on our way, but we had to stop to get gas. As I got to the stop sign @ the end of our street the gas gauge moved to 1/2 full. WEIRD! So Instead of getting gas I just headed down the canyon. I felt completely relaxed & unrushed. I realized a couple times I was going under the speed limit, but there was no one behind me, so no big deal.

As I got to the Wallsburg turn off I looked at the clock and realized it was after 7:15 and almost stopped to call Melinda and tell her I'd bring him down in the morning, but instead of turning, I kept going. The girls & I were chatting and laughing at the funny sounds that baby was making and all of the sudden, there was 2 lanes of completely stopped traffic. No movement - so, we waited there for a few minutes and when there was a break in the traffic headed up , I decided we'd turn around. I called the Merkley's and explained what was going on and how I had felt prior to leaving, they understood me not wanting to sit in traffic for who knows how long, and said that Charlie could stay another night. As I lay in bed I saw on the news that there was a fatal accident in Provo Canyon.

All I can say is that there is a reason that we took our time and did'nt rush to get down the canyon. Who knows if we would have been part of that horrific accident? Someone was watching out for us.

(...thank you...)

S'more FUN

Last summer we bought a portable fire pit for our back yard. We have loved having it. Last weekend, Justin, the girls & I decided to hop on our bikes and ride to Day's Market to get stuff for S'mores. When we got back our neighbor's the Titcomb's and the Naylor's were all outside so we invited them all over for some marshmallow roastin' fun!

It was a late night... but way worth it! mmmmmm....s'more's ~ one of my ultimate favorites!

What - A - Weekend!

What a weekend is right! On many "drill weekends" we are lucky to have the Merkley family join us here in Heber. While Melinda & Rod have all day drill; Justin, the girls and I get to PLAY with Reid!

Well this weekend was a tad-bit different than drill weekends in the past. First of all Justin was in Phoenix. Second of all, I had a friend in PC who had eye surgery and her husband had a golf tournament in SLC on Saturday. She had asked me to help her out. And there is no third of all.

Well you see, Rox (my friend), wants her kids to DO - DO - DO. So coming to our house and playing in our super-fun back yard really wasn't an option. We went and picked the girls up (cody, right & tracy, left) right about 10:30. Once on the road I asked them what they wanted to do. Honestly I was thinking that they would want to swim or go to the zoo... you know - something kid-like. No - their mom thought it would be fun for them to go to the Salt Lake City Library and ride the glass elevator. Yes that is what I said...go ahead and read that sentence again!

The above picture is one of the 324 pictures I took of them on the glass elevator. (I'm kidding I really only took 71) We rode the elevator up and down and to the 4th floor and then up to the 5th and then down to the lobby and then up to the 3rd and then down to the children's level (which I must say is pretty dang cool) and then back up to the 5th and then we walked around on the roof top garden and then back onto the glass elevator we went! Down to the 1st then to the lobby then to the 2nd up to the 5th - the girls ran down to the 4th and met me back @ the elevator and we wnt down to the 2nd up to the 3rd and so on and so on for about an hour and a half! I am NOT exaggerating!

The SLC Library is actually a really amazing building if you've never been there. There's a florist, a coffe shop, a book store (that sells new & used library books!), an art studio and an ice cream shop. The architecture is amazing...pretty funky! Here are a few shots of the kids in & around...

roof top gardens

reid wants to read

we love books

a room in the children's level called "crystal cave" ~ all white

another room in the children's level..."the attic" ~ all woodsy

more glass elevator pic's...imagine that!

krazy kids making krazy faces beind a krazy sculpture at the end of our adventure!

I'm sure you're saying, " why a tiolet? " well because this is no ordinary tiolet! I had to pee so bad at the library in between elevator rides, I see this potty that says "girls". Tika went in, and came out & said,"that's little." Well c'mon now people, I'm thinking elementary school "little". I was nearly sitting on the floor to use the potty. It is worth the trip to the SLC library to use the itty- bitty toilet! It didn't even come 1/2 way up my shin! FUN!

Then the girls all wanted to go outside in the blistering 90 degree heat. Well conveniently, they had the block between the library and the city center building blocked off for the 'Living Traditions Festival', so we headed straight over. Cool you say , but remember I am BY MYSELF with 5 kids! It was actually a pretty interesting thing. There was all different kinds of booths and dances, music and food. There was sudanese clay bulls, turkish needlepoint, tongan woodcarving, an old fashioned blacksmith, highland dancing (might I mention my girls took highland dancing lessons last year for the Utah Pipe Band - it was pretty cute to see them try to follow along with the one we watched!) and a ton more!

Making sudanese clay bulls

Watching the Highland Fling

Being entertained by an old fashioned blacksmith

Charlie "enjoying" culture! :)

Auntie & Charlie

And I think one of the most enjoyable part of the day... for all of us...

OUR $3.00 SNO~CONES!! yum :) (Reid LOVED them!)

and SO WORTH the price!

So overall, even though I was completely POOPED, I think we all had a pretty great day. After all of our big-city fun, we went to trailside park in Park City. Reid fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there so I sat with him in the car so he could rest and the girls wore themselves out!

I'm almost certain we all slept like babies on Saturday night!

Crusan + MAY 15th = 7 years!

Okay - all of you know that I have a pretty good memory. Like, what I was wearing the first time I met Justin, my phone # from Price, names....anyway, I remember things. So I am congratulating myself on something.
7 years and 7 months ago, when Justin and I were smokers, he got up one morning (October 24th to be exact) and said, "I'm quitting today, are you?" I said "probably not". And he went to work. I went about my day, went to the gas station, got a 44 ounce Dr. Pepper with extra ice and a pack of Marlboro Lights. (My usual...every day) When Justin got home from work I was out on the back porch smoking. He came out and said, "did you quit?" I remember looking at him with a burning cigarette in my hand like, "DUH!" and said, "No." He took my "smokes" off of the counter, got our scissors and CUT the ENTIRE pack in half. Okay, I guess I quit. (I kept thinking, I just opened that!)
So 7 months went by and my brother was in a horrible bullett bike wreck. He was mangled and it scared me & stressed me out. (I was very close to my brother then) I ended up having to pick up one of my parents' cars so they could just drive one car home from the hospital. On my way home I broke down and bought a pack of GPC's.
I'll never forget the feeling of disappointment in myself. With shaky hands I sat on the front lawn and smoked one. Ugh, did it hurt! I was MAD at myself. I don't even think I smoked 1/2 of that cigarette. I decided right then I had to start over. So Justin and I celebrate our "Non- Smoker" Anniversaries on seperate days.
I just wanted to announce that I am a 7 year NON - SMOKER as of May 15th!
(**I was going to put a picture of Justin's "non-smoker" cake I made him last year, but I can't find it...it was 7 twinkies that I frosted to look like cigarettes and in frosting I wrote "7 years & counting..." so I guess y'all can use your imaginations!**)

Penguin Palooza!

Today Tika Mahrie Isabel had to do a presentation in her 5th grade class. The assignment was, "What do you wish you would have learned about in 5th grade?" The kids could choose ANY subject they were interested in and teach the class in whatever way they wanted to! Sounds pretty fun to me! Well many of you know that Tika has been on a penguin-kick the last little while. She is fascinated with the feathered creatures, so - this is what she did...First of all she was decked out in all of her penguin attaire, (courtesy of Grandma's embriodery)

She took "Chilly~Willy" her stuffed penguin, created a word search and prepared a power point to present to her class. She asked her class, "Do you know what penguins eat?" Several of them answered, "fish" She said, "You're right, and I have brought some fish for you all to try." She opened her cooler and...

SWEDISH FISH!!!!! I'm sure her class was appreciative that it was'nt SUSHI!

I wish I could have made it to Tika's presentation, but of course it was right during the end of Carsun's program. I'm positive she did a great job! Smart kid!