I am stuck on Band-Aid brand, cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!

After our little walk to drop Jorden off at school I went walking with Natalie--great walk, the weather is at it's prime, there is still warm sunshine, flowers, leaves in trees and somewhat green grass :) But the cool mornings rock!

We stopped in the driveway and were about to part ways when Cameron started crying I thought maybe he had pinched his finger, but when I asked him what was wrong, he said a bee 'buzzed' him...Poor little Cam is the first of my kids to get a bee sting, I was a little worried he might be allergic to them (he is allergic to mosquito bites) but alas no anaphylactic reactions or calling 911, he did ask for a 'band-aiding' those seem to make everything better...

...But, this reminds me the other night, Jorden got a paper cut and wanted medicine (aka Neosporin) and a band-aid, I normally don't put band-aids on unless there is blood, but I caved and reasoned that those dern paper cuts are so sensitive that a band-aid might help protect it. He got the supplies and we slapped a small square plain brown band-aid on. Almost immediately after Cam told me he needed a 'band-aiding', I said no, he wasn't bleeding (see how I set myself up for this one?) Well the little tyke proceeded to hit his finger with the alphabet fridge magnets and coming up to me saying see, "I hurt my finger I need a 'band-aiding'". We held out and distracted him with something else so the self-mutilation would stop.

1st Grade, here I come!

Jorden is now in FIRST GRADE. That kid was so excited he put his pillow and a blanket on the floor with his alarm clock just so he would be sure to wake up. I got home at about 4 am and found the little guy back up in his bed with the 'set-up' still on the floor. He wanted to leave as soon as he woke up. I love this stage where they are excited to learn and go to school, I know it won't last long, at least I can surmise it won't stay this way, I hope he will always have a love of learning though.... *sigh*

It is weird having Jorden gone all day, I now have the same kid ratio I did when Jorden was 3 and Cam was a baby, I feel I can give Cameron the attention he craves--he now has his own mommy-time.

So now we just have to get used to a schedule again and having somewhere to be at certain times, it is a good thing, I need structure in my life. :)

Girl Stuff

Monday I went down to Provo with the boys. After dropping the two older kiddos off at a baby-sitter in my mom's ward, I went with my sisters, sister-in-law, mom and Ali to Ottavio's and then bowling at Fat Cat's...a fabulous girl's night out. The Creamy Tomato Basil soup at Ottavio's is the absolute best. Bowling was fun--for a family night in Utah Valley it was surprisingly sparse of crowds. I won with a 110!

We slept over at my mom's and on Tuesday morning we took advantage of $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point --note-to-self, it is REALLY busy on $2 Tuesday, good thing we have been there before and so it was a quick visit with only one instance of losing the children. We grabbed lunch in the cafe at the museum (very yummy sandwiches) and then we headed home.

I hosted the MiaMaids at my house for mutual and did finger painting in the backyard, the purpose of the activity, none really, although I could have contested that: 1) art can release tension, 2) painting will expose creativity and inspire ideas, 3) it is a good baby-sitting activity, 4) you can make wrapping paper from your creation....etc. So, ummm, yeah we did have a purposeful activity. I think some of the girls were freaking out that the paint wouldn't come off their hands--it did tend to leave a hint of color (mine looked an awful dusky, dead-blue color).

And today not to top off the other activities of our week, but I decided it was definitely time to start getting used to waking up early in preparation for school next week. I set Jorden's alarm clock last night and then I got up early, fed the baby and went down to wait for Jorden, to see if he would wake up with the alarm......well this is how he looked 14 minutes AFTER his alarm should have gone off--I am still not sure if it went off or if he hit snooze in his sleep. All in all a good run, but we would have been late if it were for real. Those boys...how they keep me young, or old, or whatever :)

Our week

August 11: zoo day, the boys and I went to Hires Big H and then to Hogle Zoo. The weather on Monday was awesome, dare I say fabulous? I actually opened the door to get the paper and was amazed at how cool it felt so we planned an impromptu Salt Lake trip (and this after I worked all night) We didn't leave until noon and had a little snafu when I pulled out the Phil & Teds stroller only to find a blown out tire--good thing there is a Bingham Cylcery close by...once we actually got to the zoo we had a blast. Cam loved the 'aminals' and train and Jorden loved the misters and the playground.

August 12: anniversary, Scott and I somehow conned Debbie and her friend Ali to come up and watch the boys overnight (nothing like poor college students that are thrilled with an itunes gift card, gas money and lots of food in an air-conditioned house). We went to The Melting Pot and got the "Big Night Out"....oh my, that was so delicious, I don't know what my favorite course is--okay who am I kidding the chocolate is amazing! We then headed to the Castle Creek Inn, a bed & breakfast in Sandy, we stayed there on our honeymoon. It was delightful to get away, thanks Deb & Ali for making it possible!!!

August 14: Snow College Friends mini-reunion my dear friend Emily is in town from New York for a wedding and we took advantage of her proximity to have a get-together, we had a lot of fun chatting and watching our kids play together. Good thing Scott came home that morning before they arrived to 'wake me up' (I mean I was awake and ready...) he was awesome to help me spiff things up a little and get some muffins and fruit prepared.

Later that day I went with my friend Natalie and her girls to Discovery Gateway for the afternoon. The kids had a lot of fun and would have stayed forever except the voice came over the speaker and told us to leave (I was feeding Garrett at the time and Jorden didn't know where I was and started crying dragging Cameron around looking for me). We had McDonald's for dinner and headed home, the best part was Cameron fell asleep on the way home and was out for the night--those are the best, when they stay asleep after you plop them on their beds.

August 16: I got home this morning at 3:30 to find a huge branch broken off our our huge Walnut tree laying on some sort of wire connected to the house, fortunately it didn't sever anything and we still had power and the phone worked, I called the on-call power guys that promptly came and helped cut out the branch--it was super windy last night. I felt bad waking up Scott, his worst nightmare came true as I woke him from a sound sleep to say part of the tree fell.

Also, Garrett rolled over from his back to his tummy!!! yeah just a day shy of 5 months

9 years and counting...

Today is our 9th anniversary...we got married the 'day after the tornado' that went through downtown Salt Lake City. I love Scott so much and am grateful that I am his wife for eternity. My life is more richly blessed because of him and all that he is and does for me and our boys!

Nine years equals 4,717,440 minutes and appreciating every single one, even the hard ones.

Ironing is done by Scott, putting the new trash bag in the garbage can--rachel's task.

Never thinking we would graduate from the U, or buy a house, or get a 'real job, but did!

Enjoying our three boys, also laughing, crying, smiling, joking, living...