Never EVER take "no" for an answer...

One of the things I learned at some point in my adult life is that if somebody tells you "no," there's somebody above them who will tell you "yes," if you persevere enough...So, I've made a practice of doing that when I feel so inclined. You all remember the broken basketball hoop? Well, the driver denied breaking it. So, Rick called the supervisor who said he'd look into it. When he didn't respond quickly enough, I set an appointment to meet me at our house to see the damage. He said that from the way it was bent (the steel pole was completely bent at a 90 degree angle), something had to have hit it from about 8 feet in the air. But, he also said since there was no evidence on the trash can of being scraped or anything and the driver denied it, there wasn't much he could say about it...except that it's agains code to have a basketball hoop on your sidewalk. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. So, I filed a claim with the city. And, they offered us a settlement! They're paying us $116 for a replacement hoop. Meanwhile, thanks to matty, I found a hoop on freecycle and we already have one. Nonetheless, it feels like a victory to me. Then, my nursing application. I noticed there was one class that I didn't have an exact match for...Sociology 1A. Since I graduated in Social work with a minor in psychology, I figured something had to qualify. So, I went and stood in line for 2 1/2 HOURS at the counseling office, only for some jerk of a counselor to tell me he wouldn't look at my transcripts and he couldn't help me if I didn't have an exact match. That brought out the "Screw you" part of my personality, so I contacted the Dean directly. I made an appointment, brought in all my transcripts, pleaded my case and won! Which means, I will officially be sitting on the wait list instead of taking a stupid sociology class! Little victories make me very happy...So, if there's an irritation in your life, remember, someone above the peon will tell you yes. There are reasonable people out there...you just have to look for them.

My favorite word...

Do you have a favorite word? Something you like to say that makes you feel really good? You know, a word that when it comes out of your mouth just really expresses how you feel? I do. It's HELL. It is a great word. It describes so many different situations and is appropriate at so many different times. Maybe it's because it's the word I lovingly used to describe the State of Utah when I no longer had to live there. (Sorry my lovely Utah friends...) Maybe it's because it's found in the scriptures. Maybe it's because my Mormon friends look at me kind of surprised when I feel like saying it. I don't know. What I do know is, I like the word. When I hear it on the radio or in a song or something, I feel down right giddy...I know. I have problems. But, at least now you know...I love to say the word HELL. In fact, even as I typed that, a smile came to my face...I rarely ever say it, but I sure do like the word.

Lookie what we have here...

They caught the freak shows that broke into our house and Rick actually gets to come face to face with one of the guys...as a witness, not as an attorney, of course. Good thing they subpoena'd him, not me. I have a few choice words for him...which brings me to my next post. See above.

Hungry Hungry Hippo

On Friday morning at work, I was in the kitchen around noon heating up some lunch. A girl walked in (who I think is a new secretary) and said....(wait for it).....

"Wow. You must eat all day."

Yes. She really did say that. Granted, I had eaten a burrito around 9:30 and then a nectarine around 10:45. So what! I was hungry. I replied, "Yep." Then there was awkward silence, so I said, "I'm nursing a baby, so I think I'm allowed to eat as often as I'm hungry." I thought maybe she would laugh.

She didn't. More awkward.

So, nursing mothers (or soon-to-be) - here is to eating so much that people call us pigs.

Happy birthday Jake!!!

Here is Jake, last week with our cute little niece Allegra. Jake is such a good big brother. He really takes his role as a big brother seriously. Every day last year, he went to Carter's classroom door to get him and make sure he got on the bus. Second graders are allowed to walk alone to their buses, but Jake wanted to make sure he got there okay. They even played together during recess and lunch. Jake always takes good care of Malia too. He's the only one of the kids Malia will let carry him around. This has been a great year for Jake. He started a new school, which was terrifying for him. Thankfully, he's been blessed with great friends who included him from day one. He got baptized last September. He also started cub scouts. For several years before his birthday, he kept saying he didn't want to go to scouts, but we encouraged him to at least go once and see what it was like and he's loved it since. He is responsible and smart. He got straight A's for the first time at the end of this year. We are so proud of him. And let's not forget his natural talent for any sport. He is so fun to watch on a team because he gets so into it! I can't wait til he plays for his school next year!

Jake invited three friends to go bowling with him. Rick took them to Fresno State to bowl and when they got back, I surprised him with this cool cake!

Then, I gave each of the kids a ball of pizza dough and let them roll it out and put whatever toppings they wanted on it. It was funny to see some of them piling the toppings on and others just put a little here and there. I love this picture becasue it shows the personalities of my girls...Malia is sitting on the table in between Jake and Jacob. She adores Jacob C. She kept talking to him all the way through lunch and he humored her and acted interested. He's such a nice kid. And then there's Bella who also likes to be the center of attention. She was right there in the thick of everything the whole time.

The theme of Jake's gifts this year was Sports (surprise, surprise). Rick got Jake some golf clubs and a golf bag and all the accessories (tees, wiffle golf balls, real golf balls, a towel, etc.) He also got a tennis racket and tennis balls and Papa hooked him up with a tackle box. He is set for when the weather cools off enough to set foot outside again.

Rick and I went out for the evening and left our kids with a great babysitter. We left the remnants of the cake and some cupcakes on the counter. When we got back, the frosting had been eaten off all the cupcakes. I'm not even mad. You see, I know that it's genetic and THEY CAN'T HELP IT. Try as they might, frosting calls their names and they must eat it. Forget about the cake part...useless calories.

It was a great birthday. We're glad Jake is part of our family!

Visit to Valencia

Of course, most of our time was spent around the pool. We invited friends over to hang out with us and spent the day watching the kids swim in the pool while we sat in the shade and chatted. Courtney was the hit of the party. All the little girls wanted their towels around hers. She was literally the center of attention.

One day, Nana took us to El Capitan theater in Holywood to see Wall-E. Although Wall-E was an extremely mediocre movie (in my opinion), I loved the atmosphere and so did the kids. They started with a fun stage show featuring all kinds of Disney Characters. Malia's favorite was Jasmine and Ariel (of course). I loved Mr. Incredible and Sully and Mike from Monsters, Inc. Carter's favorite part was the picture I posted. It was a guy who played all kinds of Disney tunes ALL FROM MEMORY!!!! Carter was extremely concerned about the guy moving out of the way so he could see the movie. He was stoked when the organ actually went beneath the floor with the guy playing on it. You should have seen his eyes. They were like saucers!!!!

This is the cast of Disney characters that came out for the finale. It was so fun! Outside the theater, there were so many other characters...Spiderman, Captain jack Sparrow, Marilyn Monroe, Barney, Tigger, you name it, they were there. What a great place to spend the afternoon.
The rest of our visit was consumed by more swimming, lots of food, visiting etc. etc. While we were there, Courtney cut Bella and malia's hair and then Courtney taught me how to weave my own. I did it and it looks good! It was a great visit. The kids missed Rick, but they sure enjoyed staying up late and eating all the junk that I won't let them have. Good news...we'll be heading back down that way not this week but next to do southern California tourist style. Should be fun!

Bella's fabulous new hair

Check out Bella's fabulous new haircut! Courtney is down here with us in Valencia. Bella wanted her haircut so Courtney obliged. Doesn't it look fabulous. More pictures to come...

Does this dress make me look fat?

Well, here you have it. In an especially bold display of bravado (and because Kate and Lisa did it first so I felt empowered to follow suit), here I am in all of my 9 months pregnant glory. I hope this enhances your enjoyment of the summer season.


People tell me I'll look back with great fondness on these pictures that show my robust belly. I sure hope so. In the meantime, I'm just counting down the days until random people will stop asking me when I'm due and if I'm sure it's not twins. I can't wait to meet her...and to be able to see my feet again. Wish me luck on both counts!

Are you sick of these posts yet?

There are very few things that make me this happy. I love to look out the window at what was once our dirt backyard and see stuff growing. This is our watermelon. It started from two little tiny plants. I don't even have to do anything. It just grows. It has taken over the back of our yard and I'm so excited to eat some actual produce.

I am so excited about this plant too...it was two tiny little cantaloupe plants and it has taken over the corner and the back of our yard too. There are tons of flowers on it so I'm hoping to see little cantaloupes any day now.

This past week, we had zucchini cakes made from zucchini from our garden. I was thinking the kids would hate them, but they actually loved them. Carter even had a couple helpings. Later in the week, we also had a pasta salad with tomatoes, zucchini, and basil, all from our garden. There is nothing as tasty as fresh pasta salad.

In other news, we are signing off for a few days while we go on our little vacation to Valencia. I am taking the kids and going to hang out with mom and our Valencia friends this week. We have been home in Fresno for two weeks now and I think that is plenty. The natives are getting restless. So, we'll go to Valencia this week and then two weeks after that, we will be going to Monterey for a few days. School will start shortly after that and I will only have one child at home! I can't believe that I will have three school aged children. CRAZY! So, have a good week...we'll post about our adventures later.

Random thoughts...

Is it bad that I've really appreciated the last couple days at my house? Here's why. After morning outings, the kids invited friends over. The kids and their friends spent the rest of the day entertaining each other. And I spent both afternoons reading a good book. (Today is book club and I had a book to finish up). Really, is there anything more fabulous than 7 kids upstairs playing the wii or something in their rooms and a quiet downstairs in air conditioned comofort reading a good book. Beautiful. Summer time is a great time to read books....

DISLCAIMER!!! It is very RARE that I get time to read books, but when the kids have friends over and the house is clean, I think I'm entitled to a good book.

Also a random thought...BLANKIE IS MISSING!!! I'm sure it will turn up, but we had it when we went to go swimming today and it didn't come home with us. Poor Malia is in various stages of complete devastation.

And, let's hear it for me. Why? Because after three years of pre-requisites I finally got my nursing application in the mail today so I can sit on the waiting list until my hair turns gray...or until my name comes up on the random lottery list...whichever comes first.

Malia's prayers

Tonight, they went like this...

Heavenly Father, thank you that I've been good. Amen.

I glared at her without saying anything and she said, "Oh, sorry, sorry mom. Heavenly Father, thank you that I've been good, thank you that Nana and Papa and Mackenzie and Kristin and Mackenzie and Kristin could come over. Amen. She looks up at me and then adds, "And bless the food."

Wow. We've got some work to do.

Happy Birthday Momster!

I don't know about you guys but whenever I ask mom for advice, she frequently tells me to "take a hot bath, drink some hot chocolate/ herbal tea, and pray about whatever it is." Well, if that's how she rolls, we can tell it's working for her because we all keep coming back for advice, right?

Anyway, since we already did sappy things we love about mom, for her birthday this year, I thought we could all reminisce about 1. our favorite mom "catch phrases" - preferably lines you've heard mom say so many times that you've now caught yourself saying them, 2. favorite pieces of advice mom has given you, or 3. just down right endearing mom personality traits we've all caught ourselves unconsciously doing.

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

Basher Quote

Scene: I put the kids to bed an hour ago. Ash comes to the top of the stairs for the 16th time.

Ash: Dad, I am afraid I am going to die in my bed.

Me: What?

Ash and Camille: We are afraid we are going to die in bed.

Me: Why?

Ash: Becasue I drownded at the pool today.

Me: Both of you go to bed.

Dirty Birdie...

I just thought you guys might like a look at what the kids look like most of the time while we were camping. She's a beauty, isn't she? Oh, and the swimsuit she's wearing, it's her "magic swimsuit." How is it magic? I have no idea. She is very insistant that whe wants to wear her "magic swimsuit."

Good Ol Fashioned Fourth

So we had a lovely time here in Texas on the Fourth. We had a killer barbeque at our house, Adam made some great burgers, Dale brought gourmet hot dogs, and thanks to Dee's recipe the potato salad we made was a big hit, too! After we ate we headed over to the ball fields for McKinney's Red White and Boom celebration. It was fun. There were so many people there, they had a live concert with Josh Gracin, a kids zone with lots of free (and some not) stuff to do, and many other things. We set up a camp of several blankets spread on the ground and spread out to enjoy the festivities. Steph and Dale (despite the danger to their eardrums) went right up to the stage to enjoy the music. It was so dang loud the kids were all covering their ears way back at the end of the fields where we were. Justin took all the kids on in a game of keep away with the soccer ball. I took some kids over to check out the kid zone and do a couple inflatable slides, and Tammy goodnaturdely practiced her mom skills on Nate.

We brought lots of sodas in our ghetto cooler (Justin's old backpack with a zip-lock baggie full of ice) and the kids had fun sharing. Little Brittany would hardly let Brooke take a sip! She would barely get it tipped up high enough for the soda to touch her lips and Britt would grab for it. I think she thought it would be gone before she could have another turn. But the three little girls (Ash, Brooke, and Brittany) passed the can sweetly around to each other to share. (Not very sanitary but very cute.)

The kids had a small huddle to try and figure out how to beat Uncle Justin.

Nate clung to me, as usual.

And after our messing around for a while, the fireworks were a big hit--excepting only the loud noise! Considering the noise and late hour, all the kids were great. They were only sad when it was time to go home. We decided to go back next year!

We're Baaaaaack...

What a beautiful lake! We had a great time. The weather was absolutely picture perfect. The days were in the 80's and the nights were cold. It was so awesome to be pefectly comfortable during the day. This is probably the first 4th of July I can remember not being absolutely sweltering hot!!!!

I think the count was something like 35 kids and 15 adults. There were a ton of people...and the kids were mostly very young. However, there was no fighting or arguing or kids saying "I'm bored," or "Can I play the Wii?" Grandpa Doug has a boat which he used to pull a skiier or one of those tubes. I loved riding the tube. The first couple times I went, the driver was nice and I just loved the ride...the last couple of times I went, the driver was trying to throw us off, and he was encouraged by the other people in the boat. We ended up jumping off mid flight so we didn't get thrown off! My arms are still sore from holding on for dear life...There were also kayaks and canoes as well as a huge water trampoline to keep the kids occupied.

One of the highlights was definitely when Nana and Papa arrived with fishing polls. The kid were so excited. Jake was the most dedicated fisherman and it paid off when he caught two fish on Saturday morning before we left. The only think the kids loved even better was gutting the fish and eating them...

And this is the view we got all week...Malia with her buns hanging out of her swimsuit and Preston with his crack hanging out. I dont' know what it is...but Malia's buns were ALWAYS hanging out. It didn't matter which of her five swimsuits she was wearing. Cute view though.
And the highlight of my trip...riding on the sheriff boat. Turns out, the last run of the week, which I happened to be on, we had a few too many people on board the boat. The Sheriff's boat stopped us and gave us a "warning" (thankfully not a ticket). He insisted we remove a few of us from the boat so we could be in compliance with safety rules. They were very nice. So, me, Malia, Bella, and another girl had to ride on the Sheriff's boat back to shore. When we arrived, the police guys let us take pictures with them and even gave all the kids their own whistles that had the sheriff logo on them. Sweet!
All in all, it was a fabulous trips. there were activities every morning for the kids to do, like a craft or something. All meals were provided for us. We were each in charge of two meals and then we could relax and enjoy the rest of the time. Every evening we had a campfire and an activity which included a sing-a-long, karaoke, trick or treating (stinky feeting), a scavenger hunt, and even a 4th of July program. Then, when the kids went to bed, the adults got to hang out and enjoy the time w/o the kiddies. It was a great week. I am glad that mom and dad were able to join us. The kids enjoyed being able to spend time with them. I am so grateful to have good friends and to be included in activities like this...it's something my kids will be talking about all year!

I need email addresses!

Hey guys! I set me and Dale's blog to private after discovering that if you google our name, it pulls up postings even just on the first page, so it just makes me nervous that anyone could come on there and see what we're up to every day... plus, with all the shady characters in my past, I really don't want to be tracked down! lol Anyway, I don't have your email addresses, so if you could email me that way I can add you as a reader so that you can access it. I personally wouldn't mind having all our blogs on private at this point, but I'll leave that up to you. Anyway, hope to see you guys on our blog, but first send me an email so I can add you all.

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July!

Steph

Let's hear it for the Coach!

Hey guys! I had to rat Courtney out because she's too humble to do it herself. So, as many of you know, the Coach got herself a scholarship last year. However, she had to maintain basically an impossible GPA in order to renew the scholarship for her senior year. Well, she got notification last week that she actually did make the cut and her scholarship will be renewed for next year.

Seriously, could the Coach be any cooler? I'm going to say no.