Fill In The Blanks

As I go through pictures on my cell phone...once again, not on my camera, I wanted to fill in the blanks of some good..and not so good times had by all.

Back in March I won tickets to Our Best Bites cooking demo at Orson Gygi. I seriously LOVE this website. To say some friends and I are obsessive fans, might be an understatement (please see any previous posts about Roswell and its roll in my life). Any who, due to the fact that I am their self-proclaimed fan club President (they know about this & go along with it-probably out of both humor and fear) they let me take 2 friends. Jenny, Carlee & I had such a blast watching them cook,

No flash = terrible picture. Wait! Does that mean I actually BROUGHT my camera?!
Go me!

eating their yummy food - hello peanut butter cheesecake tarts?!


and finally getting to meet them in person.

I look like the hunchback in this picture. Probably because I am bending down so I don't look like a giant next to my 'shorter' counterparts ;) Sorry guys. lol.

The weekend of General Conference my mom, Chelsie and I took the kids to ride the tracks during the priesthood session. 3 adults with 7 kids is always a good time; especially when Anna freaked out about not wanting to be there and just wanting to stay home to play instead. She was very nervous about the whole thing, but as soon as the train started going she exclaimed she never wanted to get off! This is her being nervous:


The kids thought seeing all the ghetto neighborhoods we passed through were so awesome. They would shout out every time they saw a tramp or swings. Wow.

Baby Animal Days this year was crazy. First we went up the night before to celebrate my brother-in-laws birthday and his family was nice enough to let us sleep over that night so we didn't have even more driving to do. But. Ummm. 4 kids in 1 room = no sleep for the kids OR me (please note that I did not say parents). They finally fell asleep at midnight..after they took all the clothes in the room, threw them in the crib with Peyton & had a good laugh.


Not me. Not. Me. I think I got up with each of them at least once during the night as well. How does that Duggar family do it?

It was snowing and SUPER muddy at Baby Animal Days so they moved the animals inside and canceled a bunch of their activities. The kids didn't know they were missing anything though so they had a great time.


Of course Evan was loving on all the animals a little too hard.


And Anna wanted to love them from afar. How different my two kids are.



The baby bears were so dang cute.



My kids begged me to buy some African Dwarf frogs to take home. I caved. So now we have 2 - Anna & Evan named them Fog and Bug. Love it. Oh and I ate a cricket while I was there. Tasted like a sunflower seed. Who knew?

Over Spring Break my kids & I joined my parents and my sister's family for a trip to Arizona to visit my brother, his wife Kailee and the Fryer fam. It was SO warm there - almost too warm (95 degrees) towards the end. We drove. Bleh. We left on Wednesday at 3AM hoping the kids would do a lot of this



which probably only happened for the space of time it took to that that picture. Okay. Not that bad, but still... Luckily I over prepared with books from the library, activity pads, toys and treats - all wrapped as presents that they could unwrap as we reached certain cities...if they had been good... and it worked pretty well.

13 hours later our first stop was Joe's Farm, Grill. It had been 2 years and I missed that place. This is my sister's monstrous burger.


Evan got to sport his new Summer clothes.

The first night Evan was SO over tired he woke up screaming and couldn't settle down. He was crying so hard he was dry heaving. I felt so bad for the guy. So the next day when they decided to go to the zoo I knew Evan wouldn't get a nap again and I couldn't do it. My sister & parents were kind enough to take Anna so she wouldn't miss out while I hung back with Evan so he could take a nap.


Look closer. The tongue is HUGE.


She even got to ride a camel with her cousin Maddie. How cool is that?!


The next day we went to a Diamondbacks game.


Anna channeled her inner engineer/geek and stared at this for a good 15 minutes. Ross would be so proud.


Our tickets came with a free hot dog and drink. This is something Anna was very excited about. Me? Not so much. Look at that friggin huge dog.


Don't get me wrong, I will occasionally eat a hot dog, but you know these aren't the good ones. Oh well. I ate it anyway. I had to take pictures to send to Ross so he would believe me :)



This was Evan before he fell off the bleachers and landed on his head.

That happened while I was taking Anna to the bathroom. Luckily the kid is a champ and was fine after a few minutes of crying..and asking for a nap. He already had a bruise on his head from running into the kitchen table earlier that week. People are going to think we beat the kid. He didn't get a nap, but the fireworks took his mind off the pain. He LOVED them.


The next day we drove out of the city and hiked up Superstition mountain. Evan fell within 5 minutes and got a nasty bruise/scrape on his leg (SERIOUSLY?!) so I did the whole hike with him on my shoulders. My shoulders hurt just thinking about hiking with a 30lb kid on them. Anna was forced to walk by herself and whined the whole time about being sweaty. lol.



There were some pretty wildflowers, but not much. No offense to Arizona, but the hikes here are much more beautiful.

After the hike back down we went over to this ghost town. We got there in time to see them put on a little act and have a shoot out. It was entertaining for me to watch. Who grows up and does this kind of stuff for their job? Awesome.



Speaking of awesome, while we were there I saw that the General Store sold chocolate dipped frozen bananas. Completely random, no? But I had to get one as a shout out to the Bluth family banana stand.

The next day was relaxed. We went to church, hung out and I made dinner for 9 adults 7 kids - always a good time - and we got everything packed up to leave at 3 AM the next morning.

On a side note, apparently my body is not used to the heat, increased sodium I am sure I consumed from eating out every day (and probably the hot dog alone) and sitting in a car so much. As a result I could no longer remove my wedding ring or put tennis shoes on.


What the what?! My ankles are worse here than when I am 9 months pregnant!

I miss the warmth and the kids being able to run around outside for more than one hour before a storm comes rolling in. It was so nice to get to see Justin, Kailee & the Fryer fam. My kids miss my brothers 2 dogs and birds A LOT - good thing we have Fog & Bug, eh? But it was SO nice to see my husband, have body resemble itself again and sleep in our own beds. And apparently my kids needed it too because I put them to bed at 8PM Monday night and they didn't wake up until 10:30 the next morning!

My Kids Crack Me Up

The outfit Anna chose for Chick fil A's family night (the theme was Princess & Pirates)cracked me up. We went for a Mommy/Daughter date. She was off the wall excited. Other kids were reclusive and she pranced around saying everything was 'magical'. Really kid?! It's Chick Fil A. Okay. I don't blame her. Cause it's Chick Fil A. You know it is bad when you go back over a month later and the employees remember her. Hmmm....


Speaking of Chick Fil A, found out my son digs their lemonade.


He does NOT like it when I take it away.


Evan is mischievous. While I was upstairs getting Anna ready for school, he scaled the pantry to get Daddy's cereal, got a bowl from the counter and helped himself. Maybe instead of mischievous, I should say self-reliant?


Nah. Mischievous. While I was at my parents house last week he was beyond upset that I interrupted his play time, outside, WITH cousins, to take a nap. How dare I? Well he showed me by learning how to climb out of the pack and play and refusing to take a nap.


His new found hiding spot. The thing is, before I took this picture, he crouched his little head down so that you really could not see him.


I wish I were little again and things, like boxes, could make me so happy and entertain me for an hour.


Or making a box car for a drive in for Anna's Primary activity. She was dead set on the colors she wanted for the car, wheels, and the whole lay out. I told her we could buy purple paint, but that is where I draw the line. I was not about to go out and spend money on things to decorate a box. I'm such a nice mom, huh?


Hey, she was still happy with the outcome.


We went to the Book Of Mormon exhibit at the church's museum. Evan had the most fun with the food. Maybe that explains why he is 30lbs. Look at his cheesy smile. It kills me every time.


You know what else kills me? Kids who are unattended at these places. This kid hogged BOTH fishing lines and wouldn't share. Mind you, he is like 10. After about 10 minutes of Anna waiting patiently (well, as patiently as a 4 year old waits) I was like, 'Hey kid, I think your turn is up. Other kids (besides just Anna) want a turn too'. He was willing to give up a little space and 1 of the poles. His mom finally comes by, says 'How ya doin?' He says' Good' and she walks away. Lame sauce.


But I do recommend the exhibit. The kids had a blast.

Oh and remember that time when I was waiting in line at the pharmacy and I gave my kid a sour war head and took pictures of his reaction? I do. It was great. Too bad the pharmacist thought I was crazy. Here's your meds lady. TAKE THEM. And get out of here.


My kids also kept the employees at my physical therapists entertained with the pictures they would draw for them and the things they would say. This is the view I get to look at all too often.


This is my bruised IT band. Could I be any more tan?!



I kept working through it. I was allowed 4 miles. I ran with discomfort, but no pain. Yay! So they said I could 8 miles on Saturday (this was several Saturdays ago). I did. And then couldn't walk. At all. For a day. Since then I can't run a half a mile without extreme pain. So the marathon is no more. Don't worry, I just drowned my sorrows with the yummiest homemade banana cream pie.



Today I didn't go to the gym in the morning before the kids got up, like I usually do, so I told Anna she could watch Cyberchase while I did a video and Evan napped. Anna kept asking when I was going to exercise and I told her I didn't know. That I needed some motivation. To which we have the following conversation:

Anna: 'Huh? What's motivation?'
Me: 'Sometimes I just don't have the energy to make myself exercise'
Anna: 'Well then, maybe you should hold your breath and puff out your cheeks. Like this'

Me: 'Why should I do that?'
Anna: 'So you don't let your air out'
Me: 'Okay. Why don't I want to let my air out?'
Anna: 'Cause if you don't let your air out, then you you won't be using any energy'
Me: 'Seriously?!' I am laughing now.
Anna: 'Just go run on the treadmill mom!'
Me: 'Anna, I haven't ran in days and days cause my knee hurts when I run. Remember?'
Anna: In a very obvious/duh voice, 'Then just walk'