Happy Birthday Emma

Sunday we had a July birthday party for my mom, aunt Mary, Marie, Nick, and mostly Emma. (Nathan and Starley's daughter.) She had the big number 1. She was so cute I had to put a few pics up.
Payton got to blow out the cake for her. He really enjoyed that.
This is the cleanest 1st Birthday picture I have ever seen. My kids are generally cover from their hair to their toes.

Weekend pictures

The other 2 videos looked to be too dark so I just added a few other pictures. Sorry babe. I love the look on Halle's face. She actually does this face quite a bit.
"I did it ALL BY MYSELF!"
Just can't leave Boo alone.
For all you city friends who still don't have a license, my 1yr old can drive!! There are some perks to being country. She even knew to put in in reverse. If I'm being honest though, she can't go far. But we still have a while to learn yet. Gotta be John Deere Green!
This is kind of random but I thought it was funny. The other day he was acting up and I made him take a nap. He refused and refused and eventually just fell alseep in a corner. He slept here for over 2 hours and didn't move!

Look at me dad!

My hubby wanted me to put some videos up from our weekend since he wasn't able to be with us. He may find them more interesting than you but too bad, it's our blog. :)

Since the kids would rather ride bikes on the concrete, we didn't put up the big pool. (We can swim next door for that.) They love the kiddie pool because they can jump in and out of it as much as they want. We wanted to make it more fun so we put it under the swing set slide. It took a while for Halle to decide if she liked it but Payton had a blast.

I feel a little bad for them because I have to refill it every other day and the water is freezing but they don't care. They just shiver and smile.

4th of July

We had a pretty good 4th of July celebration here in small town, Utah. We mostly spent the day home and outside playing in the water.
We went to the races for a little while. For those of you who don't know, this is where everyone gathers for fun, games and races at the local church. It's more of a big deal for Pioneer day but it was still enjoyable. Halle missed the 1 yr olds so she ran with the 2 yr olds and still did great. She loved it and probably could have won.


Guess we'll see what happens on the 24th. Either way she was so cute.
Payton for some reason didn't want to run. He cheered everyone else on though. He said he'd do it 'next time'.
He has met some new cousins and is really enjoying it. He and Cordon, who he keeps calling Cody, had a fun time swimming. They finally understood that they could get warm by laying on the concrete.




My cousin and his family came over for a BBQ. We had a good time. Lots of crazyness with 3 boys and Halle running around but it was all worth it. We even let the kids stay up late to do fireworks.
This was Halle and Paytons first time to see fireworks and it was fun to see their faces and how excited they got. Payton covered his ears a few times but happily they didn't get scared.



I love the looks on their faces. They would clap after every one. They kept saying good job to us. We were obviously doing a fabulous job lighting them.
The kids did snaps afterwards and even Halle managed to throw a few. It was a great night.

It's weird not having Andy here but apparently he and our friend Mike had a very exciting day.
We'll see if he writes about it or not.
Anyhoo, hope ya'll had a great Independence Day.

For Men Only

Many of y'all women blogger folk (who see this page at 2am for some reason) want to visit NY for the shows, the buildings, the zoos, the statue of liberty, the subway, the celebrities, lights, whatever. For a lot of us men, NY is not on our bucket list, or on any one of our lists. Maybe on a list of places never to go---unless we need a good doctor or something.... Why? Lots of people, lot of hustle, lots of noise, cramped spaces, left wing tree huggers, vegetarians, 63 different languages, living costs, heavy traffic, no country stations, etc...
I work in inner city Queens at a Primary Care hispanic serving clinic, and at the end of the day all I want is open spaces and some good music for this dad gum traffic......so I thought...I found heaven the other day--and like is usual for me, not where most guys would think.
We live just a block from Long Island Sound, 18 miles from Manhatten. Guess what? I finally booked that Striped Bass to die for trip. Long Island holds all the records for Striped Bass and fish commonly hit 40 lbs and up, making it like fishing for small children. I had been trying to find a decent time to go for a year, but school was always in the way. I finally quit making excuses.
I got to the marina at 5:30pm, Joby showed me how the boat worked, and we proceeded out amongst the floating sailboats (hundreds of them) to catch some bunker for bait. Joby tosses a twelve foot net with precision using the new hi-tech soanr at 10 foot depths. We ended up with about 10 bunker about 10-12 inches long. When your bait pushes almost a foot long, your imagination begins to wander, kind of scarry...We headed over to some rocks across from the harbour at hempstead point, I missed a huge one on a top water that had me sweating with palpitations and shortness of breath.
We then headed over to Sand's Point about 200 ft offshore where we anchored. Joby pulled out the bait, hooked it behind the back dorsal fin, and let it swim off with the 60 pound line. It is spooky because your bait fights hard enough for satisfaction, and as the bait surfaces about 50 yards out it starts splashing, and that's when it all begins. When the first fish took drag out like it wasn't set, my eyes were dilating, palms sweating, I started to whoop and hollar. I set the hook as hard as I could, and he set me right back, just taking drag. I reeled him in a foot or two, he took more drag, then me, then him. After 10 minutes and about 200 calories later, the sun having set, the fish surfaced near the end of the boat, and after fishing my whole life in TX for these monsters, I finally saw one close up. Joby did the netting, and there he was. He mumbled, "A good one. About average, but not bad for your first."
Normally us men when we take fishing pictures, we try to hold the fish out to make it look bigger. Uh, not needed for these, plus you get tired just holdin' the cotton pickin' things. We used about 4 inch cut pieces of bait and caught another 18 pounder and a smaller 14 pounder. They call 14 pounders small. Twenty eight inches is the keeper size. We kept the first one and the filets ended up being 5 lbs and 18 inches long, good for several night's gourmet eating.
It was now dark, around 9:30pm and the lights of the capital of the world lighting up the horizon background, the brooklyn bridge beaming off in the distance. I was glad I was as far from it as I was, but that it was still out there somewhere. It was a great trip and it is amazing how just holding one of those big stripers changes everything for some reason. So for you fishermen who have no good reason to visit NY, this is definitely one you need to put on your bucket list. Leave your wife in manhatten and come fish the capitol of the world!

Hi Boo

This is our dog Boo. She is such a good dog. She loves being around people. We've really missed her while out in NY. She is soooo happy to have us home. Well, most of the time. She is really good around kids but is getting tired of Halle climbing all over her. When we first got here last week, Halle was scared of her but after a few days, we are now telling her to leave Boo alone.
Payton and Boo are best buds. Paytons thing right now is, 'All by myself'. He goes every morning and lets Boo out. He makes sure she goes in the field for 'potty' and is really good at saying, "Shut up Boo" when she barks.
Halle is in the process of learning not to hit. Boo is now to the point where she sees her coming and gets ready to leave. She gives her a chance but Halle tries to stomp her paws after a few minutes. Boo then comes over to me with that look on her face of, save me. It's pretty funny. Halle wakes us everymorning saying, "Boo? Boo?" She runs to the window to see her. "Hi Boo, Hi Boo."

Dang Deer

Yesterday Payton was playing with his school bus truck. Driving it around in all the usual fashion; over the couch and window seal. He then stopped and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
I asked him what happened. He then said, "A dang deer hit my bus!"
I of course gave my condolenses and he said, "I better take it to the shop, I gotta have my bus."

Sweet child of mine

Well, I'm still alive after day 2 of running. We've been doing so much yard work that I missed day 3. Oh well... The kids are having fun and being such good helpers. I told my hubby I'd put up some pictures so he can keep in touch. Halle is in a kissing phase, she just doesn't always have the best aim. If they could just always be this sweet.

I couldn't find my hat so I put a rag on my head. She thought it was cool wanted one also. I didn't think she'd keep it on but she loves it!

Still workin on the poop thing with brother but Halle thinks the potty is sooooo cool. She's so multi-talented. She can brush at the same time. She says, "Pee,Peep" and sit's on the potty.

My cousin came to mow the lawn today. Payton hung out with him and thought it was fun. He kept asking to go "pretend to mow the lawn." Sure! He was pushing it all over the lawn. He got tired and I felt bad but he wouldn't quit. Luckily he took a break and said he'd do the rest tomorrow.

Running Day 1

Last night I went up the the good ol small town track. I must say, it's much nicer than what we had when I was in school. Always happens that way doesn't it?
So I haven't been able to run since probably the end of November. I've had some kidney problems and had to quit for some time. (Incidently I passed a kidney stone two days ago. No wonder child birth was such a breeze.) Anyway, my cousin really wants me to run with her for the 24th and since I'm such a good friend, I decided ok. Probably should run a little bit beforehand though. I have exactly 29 days until the 'race.' Can people get in shape that fast?
I get to the track and decided my goal was to run an easy 2 miles. No pressure, no timing, just a first time in a long time run. Mile 1 felt good. Had to re-assure myself the track is still 400 meters, not 700. Couldn't help but glance at my watch. Hey, it didn't take me 30 minutes like I thought, good job! I stretch and go for number 2. My legs feel good and on the second to last lap my lungs start to hurt a little bit but who cares, I keep running. I finish in 11 minutes which is crap, but ok since I'm not keeping time, right? It's late so I decided to walk a mile and go home. Why am I so tired? Holy Hannah I'm as tired as a cotton picker! I just realized we are at almost 6000 ft! I live at like, who knows, 4 ft? I don't know, but I didn't die and that's always good.
I used to never understand why people didn't like running. 'Used to,' as in I had a baby and had to stop and then start over again. Ya finally start feeling better and have yet another baby and then start over again.... Yeah, running stinks!! Until you get in shape and then I love it! Seems to take longer these days but the smell of the summer track reminds me of the good ol days and keeps me going. Hard to believe I used to run in college. Luckily I saw a picture to prove it to myself.
So I'm excited for day 2. If I don't write back; I'm too tired and come pick me up at the track.

Banana Bites

I've been trying to find a way to get my son to eat banana's. He used to love them and now will not touch them at all. I've hidden them in smoothies and waffles but I wanted to find another yummy way to get him the eat them so I thought, why not turn it into a treat.
Basically I cut up a banana and then froze it. I didn't get to the rest until the next day so I'm not exactly sure how quickly you could freeze it. My guess is that it wouldn't take long at all.




So, I took out the frozen pieces and had to break them apart with a knife. Then I got one dish and melted peanut butter in it. No, it's not all natural PB. I tried that and it doesn't melt and hold well. So use the good ol yummy fatter stuff. It hardens quickly so have everything cut and ready before you dip. I say dip because that's what I originally did to hide the fact that they were banana's but it would actually be better to just drizzle it with melted PB. Unless your kid is like mine and then it's best to hide the fact.
Place them back in the freezer for a few minutes and melt some chocolate. The banana's thaw out quickly. Drizzle melted chocolate on top and jab with some toothpicks. Halle and I loved them. Payton didn't say anything exciting but he ate a few. yahoo! So yeah, it's not as healthy as an apple but my kid ate a banana and it's something new. Maybe some of you have a better way.

10 Good Reasons

So being such the fabulous mom I am, (ha ha) I was reading Parenting magazine and came across a cute article. Thought I'd share. This is so New York.

10 Reasons to be glad you're not a celebrity mom:
1. Minimal pressure to squeeze postpartum body into spangled leotard to appear on Dancing with the stars.
2. Can salvage errant chicken-nugget scraps off kids' plates without being reprimanded by nanny, husband, agent, or publicist.
3. Time saved in pondering the significance of naming your offspring after an animal, vegetable, mineral, automobile, or superhero.
4. Never having to explain why mommy is kissing that man on TV, but really loves only daddy.
5. Little need to come up with a creative excuse for declining moms' weekend at the hottest colonic irrigation spa.
6. Blowout and full makeup before PTA meetings or errands are strictly optional.
7. Diaper bag not filled with pesky pre-playdate confidentiality agreements, leaving room for thermos of vital caffeinated liquids.
8. Money saved not needing to outfit child daily in a brand-new Burberry jumper (or to secure matching, mom size ensemble).
9. No desperate hunt for birthday party favors that can wow even Suri and Shiloh.
10. Can forsake Jimmy Choos and Manolos for the comfort of clogs, Crocs, and flip-flops.

On a side note: We were watching some dumb reality show a while ago with married couples. This one girl asked her husband if her pants made her butt look fat. He said, "No, your butt makes your butt look fat." Hilarious!! Since then our motto has been, if ya don't want to know, don't ask.
So, yeah, it takes a lot of strength to wear high heels and mini's to chase your kids through the park and the mall. You go, you moms who can do it. I can barely get through church. I'm all for wanting to look nice but dang I'm glad I have a good man who always tells me I'm hot even on days of no make-up, ponytails, and when my butt looks big.

Never a dull moment

Why do I have this picture link on my page?(You must click on the box to view) Well, with all the bug fiasco going on we decided to head to Utah early for our visit with Nana H. The kids were being not so sweet so I figured I'd let my mom watch them for a few days. She claims to miss them so much. :)

So we flew out to Utah and arrived here at exactly 4:30 A.M. My mom came with us so our flight was really nice. She took one kid and I the other and it was the best flight we've had so far. Only a few tears were shed over who got to sit with Grandma.

We always meet fun and interesting people on flights. On this particular flight the guy next to Payton and I happened to be a TV host and actor. I've seen him on the E News! Course I had to admit to him I haven't watched in a while. He was very nice and even helped me with my kids. He held Halle so she could look out the window and see all the lights of Vegas. She wanted to pull his hair really bad but luckily fought the urge.

We chit chatted about life and when I told him my husband spoke spanish he immediatly asked if he had gone on a mission. I told him yes and surprisingly he said he had several friends who had gone on missions to South America. He was asleep when they brought the food and drinks around so when he woke up Payton offered some of his. He was hungry and very greatful. I had told him how earlier in the day, two different strangers had helped us out. The first time we got and italian ice and they only took cash. I always forget to carry cash and Payton had already started eating so the lady behind us offered to buy us all an ice treat. Then later we only had dollars and needed coins for parking and a lady on the street gave us some coins. He said, "sweet, maybe I'll just give some stranger $100 tonight." I wonder if he did? Pay if forward my friends. .

So like I said, the flight went very well. I was so happy until we got our luggage and found that they had lost a part to my carseat. It took almost 3 hours to get it figured out and file a claim and what not. It wasn't an expensive piece so I settled and they gave me a voucher to fly. Can't complain about that. We finally left the airport around 1 AM. We were all tired and I got pulled over 15 minutes from my house. 5 miles over the limit! Luckily it was late and he felt bad for us and let us go. 5 minutes later a deer hit our car. And yes, the dang thing hit me!

Did I mention how much I love to travel? I have to say, the last few months, I have definately not been bored. Life is awesome!!

So we awoke to the hot DRY air and the kids are so happy. The more I think about it, I can't wait to see what will happen this week! Never a dull moment. Til then, happy blogging.

BUGS!!

So....Supposedly our apartment was sprayed last Monday for bugs. Our landlord claimed I scared the first exterminator by asking him questions. Such as: what do you do to get rid of them? what do I need to do?
I believe that's all I asked. But, he claimed I asked what chemicals he used because I have children. I didn't even think to ask that but even if I had. Uh, hello I have a right to know. I scared him by asking questions? ok.....I thought exterminators weren't afraid of anything. So some other guy supposedly came.
I say supposedly because I have 'seen' exactly 16 bugs since then. 8 of which were alive and running around chasing us. Well, not really but it feels like it. I have also seen several small different colored bugs,(dead), but of the smaller stage which I had not seen before. Well they are brown. The same color as our carpet! So there could be a million I don't see. YUCK!!
We will be having a check up next week. We will most certainly be going through the wash everything routine, again. So I have just bought bins and put all our stuff inside them. I know we're in NY and supposed to be SO fashionable, but our same clothes every other day will just have to do. He also said to vaccume a lot. Now, I like having a clean house but this is exhausting. Moving furniture and stuff everyday! I dare anyone on my block to say they have a cleaner house than me right now. Well, except for all the bugs of course. :)

'Accidents Happen, And That's Ok'

This is the title of a song that is currently stuck in my head. My son has been half potty trained for some time but continues to not do all his business in the potty. He recently decided that a video my mom got a long time ago is really cool. If you haven't seen it, you should cause it's pretty funny. 'Elmo can us the potty'
My husband happened to see it the other day and couldn't stop laughing. Here are a few of our fav. lyrics.
"Doctors and lawyers do it, even in their own special way. They do it every day. Even Kings and Queens do it."
Giant rolls of toilet paper, thorough instructions on how to wash hands, and did you know there are at least 12 different ways to say you need to use the potty. Who knew! It is all very exciting I must say.
This morning Payton wanted to watch it, again. Mostly because he had an accident. I woke up to the sound of a rapidly filling sink of water. The sweet boy was washing his hands like a good kid. He turned around and was covered in poop down to his feet. Don't know exactly how it happened. Looked like we had a malfunction on the right cheek side. Maybe I should sue those Huggies people! Just kidding.
"I went poop mom"
"Yes dear"
"I washed my hands so I get a treat"
"Very good"
At least our bug filled apartment has brown carpet anyway so who the heck cares!

Sweet Ride

This weekend we decided to be brave and set out on yet another small road trip. This actually proved to be a big success. We couldn't have had a better time. We drove out to Montauk which is the very end of Long Island. We can see the sound from our apt. but the lighthouse at Montauk is the first lighthouse on the island and they have a small museum. For those of you movie buffs , it's also were the boat docked the slaves from the story of "AMISTAD". Mileage wise it's not far at all but because half the drive there is a two lane road, it took about 2 hrs. Perfect length for the kids to get a nap.

This weekend we decided to be brave and set out on yet another small road trip. This actually proved to be a big success. We couldn't have had a better time. We drove out to Montauk which is the very end of Long Island. We can see the sound from our apt. but the lighthouse at Montauk is the first lighthouse on the island and they have a small museum. For those of you movie buffs , it's also were the boat docked the slaves from the story of "AMISTAD". Mileage wise it's not far at all but because half the drive there is a two lane road, it took about 2 hrs. Perfect length for the kids to get a nap.
The scenery is beautiful, and since we drive right through the Hamptons, it's also a nice look for those of you who love cars. I can't remember how many Bentley's, Mazzerati's and Lamborgini's I saw. We were next to an older Lamborgini, in our fabulous Chevy Cavelier, and Andy thought he'd be funny and rev his engine. Well, the guy stayed next to us and then peeled out going 60 mph. We all smiled and he took off.
The kids really enjoyed this mini trip, mainly because they got to just run around outside. Payton even climbed the lighthouse steps all by himself. 129 to be exact..well, I think. I lost track after a while. I believe that's what they told us anyway.
Andy of course was intrigued because this happens to be one of the best places in the world to catch stripper. They actually had a shark tournament going on so the sea was full of boats. And of course there was an airplane pulling a sign around saying, 'stop killing the sharks'.
There is so much to see around us that I'm starting to get in panic mode. Not literally, but there is a lot to see and little time left to see it. I can't believe we've been here a year already. We only have 1 year left. And then we're off to some other adventure. But for now, at least we can find enough to blog about.

Are we done yet?

Payton at the water circle in Boston. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place. sorry.

USS Constitution

Trinity Church

This was Halle's mad face after a day of treking around.

Don't let the smiles fool you.

So I mentioned before that after our wonderful time in Texas, we decided to go see a few of the local sites. We couldn't stay in our bug infested apartment anyway so we decided to pack the car and head out. Well, little did we know just what we had in store for us.
You've seen those movies where everything that could possible go wrong does. And you think, this is so dumb. That could never happen. Well, I am here to tell you that as outrageous as it may seem, those things do happen and our week was the prime example.
Were do I begin. Oh yes, so after packing up all our stuff and dreading the housework we decided to head to Boston to see some the historic sites. We got out of church at noon so we fed the kids a quick lunch and figured they could nap in the car. As we started packing we noticed that someone had hit the back side of our car. Of course they didn't leave a note. It didn't seem to big a deal though until we had put our stuff in the trunk and found that it wouldn't latch and close. No matter how many times we re-arranged things, it would not shut. It had been moved just enough to knock it off alignment. The sun was finally shining today and the kids were starting to sweat in the car. So Andy grabbed a shoe lace and being the great boy scout he is, fixed a beauty of a knot and we decided to go. The whole incident took longer than we thought so we decided to stay with our good friend half way in Connecticut.
That was really nice and the kids were excited to see 'uncle Mike'. He and Andy spent most of the night trying to fix the car but it just wouldn't budge. Incidently we ended up putting another small dent in the car.
The kids were much to excited to go to bed and finally around 11pm they quit jumping on each other and went to sleep.
We arose to a beautiful day. We stopped at Walmart to get a few things including some bungy cords. Well, they didn't work to well. Maybe I should have bought more shoe laces? It still worked so we tied it back up and took off.
It didn't take too long to reach Boston. We weren't exactly sure on where to go and our GPS kept doing all these crazy things that it was completely pointless. Luckily, Mike had been there before and gave us some good directions.
We opted for the Freedom Trail ride on the trolleys. Figured the kids would find that fun.
The kids immediately poop upon arrival but it's ok. It's out of the way, right?
One of our first stops in the USS Constitution. Unfortunately, It's closed on Mondays because the men do their laundry that day. We were able to get a picture though. The kids ended up running through the museum and of course needing to poop again so we changed and got back on the trolley.
Halle quickly got tired of the trolley, even though she was free and didn't have to have a car seat. The driver would swerve and break while singing lullabies to her. It was cute but she eventually got back to screaming. We just kept taking turns holding her down. The tour was almost over when a speeding car came and hit our trolley. We heard the screeching for several seconds before it hit so at least we had some sort of warning. Thankfully, no one was hurt but the car was totaled. We waited while another trolley came to pick us up and then we finished the tour while Halle cried, of course.
Few, we made it! I think I managed to see a few things. We found a fun water fountain in the courtyard and let the kids play. They loved being able to just run and get soaked.
We changed clothes and by the time we reached the end of the parking lot the kids were asleep so we took off and decided to eat when they woke up.
We stopped in a little town called Lebenon, NH. It took a while to find a place to eat. While getting the kids out of the car we noticed that we had forgot to put a diaper on Payton (I knew he would fall asleep) and he had had an accident all over the carseat and was soaking wet. We change clothes yet again. Our food took forever and so we decided to just get stay there for the night. Well there were signs for hotels everywhere but we couldn't find them. There was one off the road but they were full and all the others listed couldn't NOT be found. No, we really aren't that dumb. So we drove a few miles to the next town and found several nice places. We were all so happy when we walked in to the room. After all our apt. mess we wanted to just live here in this hotel but I'm sure the commute just wouldn't work. We had a good nights rest and were able to do laundry since we'd gone through several outfits the day before.
We took off again. We headed to Burlington to catch the ferry to NY. We had 15 minutes so Andy stayed in the car while I went into the ferry dock to get some drinks and food. I hear a horn a few minutes later and I look outside and the ferry was taking off! WHAT! They were early and I was just a few feet away inside and had no indication or warning they were leaving. I ran out and said, "hey, my kids are on there without me!" I could see Andy talking to them and they came back and got me. We are dang lucky for that.
It was an hour crossing and the scenery started out beautiful. We had just got done looking at the gift shop when they announced that there was a tornado watch. It started raining and getting really windy. The annoying hippy guy next to us kept giving vivid descriptions of what would happen to us if a tornado actually did come. Luckily 20 minutes later the sun came out and all was clear again.
We reached land and it was a short ride to the Adirondacks to where we were looking forward to some excellent fishing. The kids played at the park while Andy got his license and everything settled. We grabbed some dinner where Halle again continued to scream. What is up with this girl? Payton was very excited to go fishing with dad and we took a quick look at the river which was only 50 yards away. We took a few pictures and went back to get the poles. We literally walked in the door and within 2 minutes in started pouring rain. The news said there was another tornado watch. Luckily there was no tornado and we had our DVD player so the kids watched Enchanted in the dark.
The kids and I woke up sick the next morning so we had to pack up and head home. Pour Andy didn't even get to fish at all. I felt so bad. The kids weren't exactly sure where we were going since we have been at a different place every night. We of course returned home to a house of dead bugs and an oozing, warm fridge.
Luckily, we are all sick together now and can just relax in front of the tv. Who needs a vacation anyway.

Bug off!

Ok, for you bug lovers out there, you may want to stop reading right now. I don't want to get some letter saying bugs have feelings too. And yes, living in NY, there are crazy people who would do that. I don't care how many Disney movies they make, I will never like bugs! Especially when they are living in my house!
We moved into a new apt. trying to save a little money in this crazy expensive place and of course what do we get as a welcome, bugs. No yummy chocolate chip cookies, bugs! And not just any little bug like we first thought, oh no. These are disgusting bugs that eat your clothes and feed off of dead skin and leave larva all over your house.
We noticed a few little black bugs in the window seals but figured they were just there since the apartment had sat empty for so long. But when we finally got all our boxes unpacked we started seeing more all over the carpet. I cleaned the entire place and the next day there were a few more. Now it's not like some scene from and Indiana Jones movie but one too many to live with me.
So we called the landlord and he said he'd look into it. He first suggested that we had brought them since they weren't here before but we know for dang sure we had never seen them before and we'd had a thorough check out from our other place.
We found out they were carpet beetles. Yuck!
Long story short, we've had several "not so nice phone calls" to get this taken care of. We came home from a 2 week vacation to find that it had still not been taken care of. So our friends were kind enough to let us stay while we continued to try and gets things done.
Our landlord said someone would finally come on Monday and so we came to bag up all our clothes, linens, etc. There were bugs everywhere, it was so depressing and disgusting! We bagged a total of 27 bags. Everything in the entire house had to be washed and/or dry cleaned.
So we packed our stuff and took off for another mini-vacation.
When we returned from our "lovely vacation" (I'll write about it after this), we came home to see that 'someone' had unplugged our fridge and there was a pile of blood and I'm not sure exactly what else all over the floor and covering the fridge. Everything was bad and had to be thrown out. We were so mad. Not only are we spending a fortune to pay for all of our belongings to be cleaned but now we also have to replace several hundred dollars worth of food and meat. Our luck is not so great lately but hopefully it will get better.
I started the chore of thoroughly cleaning and vacuuming everything all over again. Not sure exactly how long it will take. We had no indication that anything was even done but they said they came and did "something" to get rid of them. But if I see one more bug I am going to go crazy! Yep, no Disney bugs around here either! At least for a while.

Gone Fishin

It ain't a vacation if ya can't go fishin!
My man will have to give more info later. These were dang good eaten though.

They have a diner by the name of the "Smoking Gun". When the steaks are hot the gun starts smoking literally. This is why our city friends think we're crazy red necks! Well we don't give a dag gum freak!

Texas Pics

Ain't she just so dang cute!!!
Payton and one of his new bff's A.H. Just chatting in the lake.
A photo after a loving brother pushed her down the stairs. Luckily it healed quickly. She's one tough cookie.
Payton's other bff E. H. They were glued to the hips. This game of apples to apples actually grew to a big crowd. It was so much fun. Mainly because E. H. kept picking me to win, not matter what card I put in. I love that girl!
So much fun. He even got brave enough to jump off the pier. Mostly because Andy pushed him the first time.

Texas Fun Pics

Such a diva! Yet still so cute

Where mama goes, Halle follows

Poor kids just can't get a break.
This picture is probably the only time we're in sync.

Yep, that's my man. Hey, my kids clapped!

Texas Fun

Well, I finally have time to put up a few pics from our fun trip to Texas and the Lake Livingston Lodge (aka. mom and dads). I do have a few pictures of my own but all the good ones are from my brother-in-law GH who was kind enough to give me a bunch of great photos. Thanks!
Lake Livingston Lodge

Halle got her first ice-cream pop. Yummy!

Payton lived in the lake. He had a blast with all the cousins.
Andy was in charge of pulling the kids behind the boat. He made sure they got tipped too!
They had so much fun that they kept playing on the banana even afterwards.

In Loving Memory

I am sad to say that my aunt Cheryl, 64, passed peacefully on June 3, 2008 at Calvary Hospital in New York City surrounded by her family after a long fight with breast cancer.

Cheryl enjoyed her family and friends. She loved reading and had a great love of the arts, especially the opera, theater and music. Most of all, she loved spending as much time as possible with her grandchildren and had a special place in her heart for babies. She had that special look, now passed on from her children to her grandchildren, to let them know what's what.

As a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she served in many callings including long service as Relief Society President and Primary teacher.

I have a lot of wonderful memories of my aunt. I mean no disrespect blogging about her, I only want to share how special I think she was.

For most of my childhood she and her family lived outside of the country. She would bring the kids (oh what a long flight it must have been!) and come visit for a few weeks every summer. Everyone was excited when they came to visit. It meant pure fun for the next 3 weeks! Staying up late, cousins galore, pronto pups,PB Cap'n Crunch cereal, ice-cream slushes and lots of ruby red squirt. I have to admit that one time I asked my mom if we could move so people would do fun stuff and get excited when we came. Never happened though. :)

Some of my favorite memories are:

The infamous "Singing in the Rain' dance. You were sure to look like an idiot by the time you finished but it was fun. And we cannot forget Bubble Gum Art. She thought no camping trip or hike was fit unless you had several packages of Bubble Gum. She taught me to always take a book camping. She'd get after me because I wouldn't have one and wanted to borrow hers all the time. Well, I don't forget now. :)

The tradition of a trip to Veyo Pool. Back in the day, it was cool. We'd get all the gang together and pile up in vans and of course, aunt Jodie's suburban. She would teach us how to dive and play all sorts of games. She'd like to catch us with her legs while we swam around doing underwater obstacle courses.

I remember this one time we went to Baskin Robbins for ice-cream. Her daughters could speak French so they told us what they wanted and then went up to the person and tried to order in French. Well they had no idea what they were saying and so I went up and pretended to interpret. The sales girl was awe struck and greatful. We thought we were so cool. It was pretty funny.

Aunt Cheryl loved to play games, especially Domino's. She took it pretty seriously too. At the ranch we'd get so many playing she'd say, "come on, gotta go faster!" We also had a great adventure together when our 4-wheeler wouldn't get into gear and we went off the cliff. I remember her saying, "oh good, maybe that tree will stop me from going all the way down." I always felt bad about that. We had some good bruises to show afterwards.

She was kind enough to always let me tag along on whatever excursion they were heading. She and her family made even moving sprinklers and feeding cows fun. She was a great example about how we should deal with life. She was very positive and I never heard her complain about being sick. When she lost her hair she even joked about buying a blonde wig to see if it would make her more fun.

I hope that whatever I face in life, I can have her same attitude and face it head on. I can't say enough how great of a person she was. I'm so glad we got to visit her while here in NY, I only wish it could have been more. We will greatly miss her. I am so thankful for family and the wonderful blessing of memories.

Thought

My friend has this thought on her fridge. I thought it was funny. It's a picture of a waterfall over a stony brook. It says, "Cellulite is not a pretty word, but it's worth 11 points in scrabble."
Ain't that the truth.

Tagged

Ok, so I've been tagged. I always thought of tagged as a running away game. This doesn't seem too scary to me. So since I've been tagged I need to share the following: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about myself and then tag 5 more fabulous people. Ok, in no particular order and in answers other than obvious things such as my family is wonderful, church, etc.

3 Joys (just 3 ???)
1. a clean house
2. a fun day with no kid tears, and my kids going right to bed
3. my Grandpa

3 Fears
1. my kids getting kidnapped
2. the smoke alarm not working
3. cancer

3 current obsessions/collections
1. blogging
2. taking pictures
3. recipies

3 random/surprising facts about me
1. I can fly fish pretty dang good, just not compared to my hubby
2. I'm a closet wannabe violinist
3. Allergic to hay, horses and dogs, yet I've own/owned two of each animal

So I tag (if you want), Karen, Ashley, Melanie, Heidi, and Wendy

Home, kindof

Well, our fun vacation in Texas as come to an end, somewhat. Andy needed to get to the dentist and they couldn't see him until Thursday so he and Payton changed their tickets to stay a few more days and play. Halle and I came home on our original scheduled flight. I must say it's much easier to fly with one child. She only cried a little and that's because I forced her to take a much needed nap.
So we arrived home to our bug filled house and are still waiting for the exterminator to come and nuke all them nasty bugs. Luckily our good friends are letting me camp at their place since they are out of town. We owe then BIG TIME!! Thanks Mel and Dave!!
Halle and I are just chillin having 'girl time' and it's so fun. Every kid needs one on one time and it's been hard for us to do that a lot, for her anyway.
Payton and Andy are have a blast playing with cousins and fishing. We were sad to go but it's good for them to spend time together like that. Andy relayed a funny incident to me this morning. Payton is potty trained except for poop. Who knows why??? He has to have a diaper or he can't go and just holds it so we just do it. The story goes like this:
"Dad I have poopies"
"Did you have an accident? Bud, you don't have a diaper on"
"yeah I do dad"
" You do? Well who put on your diaper?"
" I did dad"
Sure enough. He had put a diaper on himself so he could poop! There's something wrong yet humorous about this. Oh well, eventually he'll get there. Till then, there's never a dull moment.