The almost unveiling

We have been working. Hard. For months. Well, 3 years to be exact, but working really, REALLY hard for the past 4-5 months. We are finishing our basement. It has been exhausting, stressful and honestly more then I could handle at times. I'm not a good multitasker. So, when I would help Thomas downstairs...upstairs would vomit and leave me a huge mess. Laundry? I did wash it and dry it and pile it. Sometimes it made it to the fold and put away stage, but not often. Our yard, well, it has never been this ulgy. Not much time to weed, fertilize, spray or mow even. :( My garden? Yeah, it was neglected as well. I just pray that I will get a harvest and be able to can the things I need. When the things around me feel like they are in chaos, all I do is pace. Doesn't make sense, I know. I get it from mom (thanks mom!) Whenever I feel like there is too much to do, I shut down...deer in headlights and just sorta freeze.
Moral to all the ramblings? WE ARE ALMOST DONE!!
Hailey and Kaden moved down to their new rooms this week. My workout room has the treadmill in there. The love seat (our couch wouldn't fit) is down there, TV's ect. We do have loose ends, a lot of them. The bathroom isn't done (there is only tile on the floor and a tub). The kid's closets aren't done, and the storage room isn't even close. BUT, it has made a huge difference to get them in their own rooms. I am still trying to find my kitchen...but that will happen soon. I see a dim, vague light down there at the end of the tunnel!
So, pretty soon, I will get some before and some after pictures to post (I need to find the before shots). I'm just excited to be finishing up in the next few weeks!

Jizy Girls Weekend!

My sister, Colette, called me up last week and asked me if I wanted to join her, Chantel and Amber for a "girls weekend." So, Hailey and I went with them on their girls trip aka: drop Chantel off to BYU-I. So, Chantel comes and picks up Hailey and I and we laugh loud and long that Thomas is stuck with the rest of the kids while we are headed for a weekend of fun!!




We get to Colette's house, Chantel is all packed up in her car and we are ready to go. Just need to grab her fish. We go in the bathroom, I catch the fish and put it in a peanut butter jar. She pours out the nasty fish water, as I was about to tell her the story of how I was cleaning out my fish bowl, it busted and I had to get stitches...hers broke! Sure enough, she is cut...pretty bad. We butterfly band-aid it, and head off. (I still vote it should have had 3 stitches!)



We get in the car and drive. It didn't take long (I guess blabing to Colette the entire time makes it go by fast!)




We took a few minutes worth of a break. Behind Chantel, Amber and Hailey is the Idaho Falls Temple. It was so beautiful!



We goofed around in the water for awhile before we decided that we should go shopping. We found a mall and found some good deals, so it was fun!












We went out to dinner at Texas Road House. I think that is what it was called.




We then went back to the hotel and went swimming. Hailey was loving all the attention I was able to give her. She was a little fish!

We came home and fell asleep. The next day we played a fun game that I was no good at.



Everyone was creaming me. You have to come up with a word every hand. I came up with an awesome word that was worth a lot of points. JIZY. Yup. What? You want to challenge my word? Oh. No dictionary? That is too bad. I will use it in sentences for you. "that's so Jizy" "We are having a Jizy time" ect. I think by the end of the trip Colette had to tell me that jizy wasn't flying.



We finally take Chantel to her dorm. She is going to have one roommate until fall. We moved all of her stuff in, took her grocery shopping and out to lunch and we were ready to head home. I have to say, I was a little jealous that she gets to go away to college. I stayed at home and went to Weber state university. It looked like it is a lot of fun to be up there with all the raging hormones LOL.
Amber decided to stay with Chantel since her only roommate is gone for a week and a half. It was a fun trip and Thomas only called me about 30 times and txt me about 20. Ahhhhh good times. Next time, FORGET THE CELL PHONE!!

5k Fun Run/Walk

My friend Sharla gave me this today. Eric is in her ward, and they are trying to earn money for him and his family. I don't know him, but I am a sucker for sad stories happening to young families (she said he is 30).

Anyway, I thought I would put the application on my blog...maybe someone was looking for a reason to run a 5K. It looks like you can mail it in, or my friend said she would sign you up if anyone is interested leave a comment and I will pass it along.

Memories

My sister-in-law Tiffany did this fun thing on her blog, so here it is now on mine ;)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Our 4th of July

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We decided that since Thomas had the 4th off we would go camping! Our family loves to go to South Fork because there is a river that is deep enough to go tubing, but shallow enough for my kids to stand up and its not deep. We love it there, and try to go as much as we can in the summer. Here are the kids at the camping spot.We were all packed up and ready to go! We get in the van and take off. Just a short stop to get ice, drop off some movies, drop off some library books, get some gas, lighter fluid and paper. *side note, that was not "short". We then can not find anywhere that has Ice. Yeah. No. Ice. Ok, finally find it. Run around for about 45 minutes. It then clicks that I forgot to pack the firewood. We go home to grab it. Then were off again (hour later!)

We get to the campsite and set up. We blow up the tubes and went down the river. There is a spot at the river that is super shallow and we played there just about all day.

(Isn't she beautiful!?)

So, Kaden is holding a snake there. I had gone to the bathroom and on the way there, I saw this snake. The whole time I was chasing it down, I was thinking...WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING?? WHY AM I TRYING TO CATCH A SNAKE!?!? So, I grab it. (AHHH) I bring it back to camp, where I was awarded MOTHER OF THE YEAR by Kaden. Thomas comes over, looks at it and says, Um, That looks like a baby rattle snake. HELLO!?!? We debated over it the whole weekend. When we got home, we googled baby rattle snakes. I am happy to report, IT WAS A GARDNER SNAKE! But, you won't see me trying to win mother of the year again anytime soon! (Don't need to until next year anyway, right?)

We take our dogs with us when we go camping. Not because we are attached dog lovers (I actually don't like other peoples dogs, I bathe them once a week and bleach their kennels so we don't smell like we have dogs...ect) We really take them because we go a lot and it would be annoying to our family and friends to keep asking them to watch them. Anyway, they do really good and love to go, so it works.

So, no fireworks, no parades, no family BBQ, but we had a blast!!

Fun Day at Lagoon!

We went for a fun day at Lagoon! Since my mom was watching my niece and nephew, she decided to tag along. Thomas was working on the basement, so he didn't come. (Yes, you read that right, I went without Thomas...I know I was amazed!) It was a little hard to take such an age range. Hailey was tall enough (and brave enough) to ride all the big rides, Kaden was tall enough, and brave enough for a FEW of the bigger rides, and Kinley, well, she isn't even remotely tall. Hailey was a good sport (for the most part) riding the smaller rides. Mom would take the smaller kids while I took Broxton and Hailey on a few big rides. We are for sure going to have to bounce back with Thomas in tow. I am not a lover of the rides, and Hailey wants someone to go with her on Wicked. Yeah. Thomas will just have to come!

Brooklyn, Hailey and Kinley
Broxton and Kaden.

July Birthday's!

So, its July 16th. It goes without saying that I am behind this month! Happy Birthday Tyson! (left) July 27th. (yes, this one is out of order, I am just too lazy to delete all my pictures to try to put them in order. I don't know if there is another way to do it.)

Tyson is my nephew and right now he is on a mission in Chilie. He has been gone 1 year. We are proud of him!
Happy Birthday Matthew!! Matthew is my nephew. He just turned 1 July 5th. We missed his party for camping. I can't believe how fast the time has gone!! Happy Birthday Matthew!

Happy Birthday Jason! July 16th. Jason is my little brother. He has the cutest little boy. They are building their first house right now, working 12 hour days. Rough stuff. Hope you took a break for a great birthday!

Happy Birthday Breanna! July 24th. Breanna is my niece. She is going to be 12 and in young women's (AHHH) She is so fun and happy! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Chrystie! July 26th. Chrystie is my sister-in-law. Chrystie is beautiful. I remember when Preston brought her home to meet us, I thought she was YEARS older then me because she was so well put together, smart and gorgeous. yeah. she is only 6 months older then me. All my sister-in-laws are so cute! Happy Birthday Chrystie!

Happy Birthday Clint! July 30th. Clint is my brother-in-law. When I found out he was marrying my sister, I was mad. Yeah. Mad. He was taking my friend away! BUT, he makes Dawnell happy and takes care of her and their family, (plus, he is a cool brother-in-law) so I guess my sacrifice was worth it. Happy Birthday Clint!