Fantastic Baptism!

Roger and I dropped everything 2 weeks ago when we found 2 of our fantastic nephews have been taking the missionary discussions and chose to be baptised. With the incredible help of my little brother Aaron and friends we were able to leave the kids for a 48hr adventure to Houston Tx. We had a great time visiting with my mom and her husband Matthew, my dad who flew in also, my sister Michelle and her fun family, my sister Cheryl and her fabulous family in which the 2 said boys belong, and my step sister Molly and her darling fam. It was a whirlwind with almost more time traveling than actually being there.
There's Roger on the piano.
The seats were all full by the time we started. A lot of the boys from their new church class came to support them.



According to my brother he had fun with my kids but I almost doubt that. He got my kids so dizzy on a tire swing Simeon threw up in the car and Rory is still nauseous. He also had to deal with potty training Simeon pooping in his underwear as he was falling asleep. Where is the mercy?

Joshy's Obsession

Dear sweet Joshy has a new obsession. He loves anything that has to do with dental hygiene. I thought it was fairly normal that the kids steal toothbrushes out of the bag and thus have 5 toothbrushes each. Toothbrushes are colorful and host favorite TV stars (you know, Sponge bob). Flossing with dinosaur flossers did not sound that crazy either. But his new thing about toothpaste has me confused and laughing.
I have had to put toothpaste high in my closet to avoid having 10 open on the counter at a time. My telling him that we have to finish a tube before opening another was excruciating. Tubes last FOREVER! He has snubbed advanced clean toothpaste for extreme clean toothpaste because it apparently cleans your mouth that much better. Before the toothpaste was high I caught him in the bathroom with the door shut brushing his teeth. When I came in I asked if he opened a new toothpaste. With a frothy mouth he shook his head a little. I went under the sink, opened the box, opened the tube and could not tell that he had opened it but I gave him the motherly all knowing look and he caved. He is not even my lying kid he was just that determined! "MOM, I really wanted to try it! It makes my mouth so clean!!"
The day we got back from camping and had not unpacked the toothpaste I came home from an errand and he jumped into my seat in the van. Him jumping up and down on my lap: "Mom, there was no toothpaste and I could not reach the toothpaste so I pulled a table into your closet and got a new toothpaste. It was such an amazing toothpaste." Me: "You realize you are telling me about something you were not supposed to do?" Him:"Yes but it was sooooo exciting" Exciting. What ever cleans your teeth.

Swim Team Awards

Joshy had his swim team awards recently. He received the normal trophy but then received a coach's award trophy. He did fantastic this season and although he was not fast he was very diligent. He worked hard at practices and when they corrected him he tried really hard to fix the problem. I am so glad he was acknowledged for his efforts.

Swimming at the "big diving board"pool. My kids have been dying to come here all summer. This was their first time jumping off and I was surprised to not hear at least a little scream. What a thrill!

Camping

We had a blast camping with friends a week ago at Leo Carillo camp grounds. There are spots near the beach but ours was the furthest which ended up making a great spot. The 50 of us had a fairly secluded area which let the kids have more freedom and it meant when our kids woke up at 5am, the rest of the camp ground could still sleep. We stayed for 2 nights and could have stayed longer.

As soon as we got there the kids found some mountain to climb. It was pretty steep and led to a road.

The last day I found the kids to take a picture and this is what they were doing. Joshy was breaking down his tent
Simeon was kissing our friend's cute dog
and Rory. I expected her to be with her girlfriends where she was most of the time but oh no. "I am a boyish girl" was with the boys
and lastly most of the kids had a frog or two as Roger hiked with the kids to a frog pond

Good times

Found!

No, nothing exciting like my camera but I did find Rory's birthday pictures already downloaded on my computer. So here is to my beautiful, loud, adventursome, spunky, "I'm kind of a boyish girl", social, expressive, freckly, "I don't have enough jewlery!", smart, not shy, been five for alomost a year already girl. She made a cake with Roger and opened a present from Grandma Haws(the dress) and us.

We went to Build a bear and she picked out a Princess Kitty. Then we went to the Beach. At the beach she was done playing early because she was anxious to get back to the car to play with Princess Kitty. I told her to go tell Papa it was time to leave because he was boogie boarding. She didn't but decided to play in the sand behind me. I heard her and then 30 secs later I noticed I had not heard her and I turned around and she was gone. We looked for her fully expecting her to be playing in a hole or behind a rock. After 5-10 min we had strangers looking for her. Roger, carrying Simeon, went one way and I, holding Joshy's hand, went the other. Roger found her coming back from the car. She thought she cold get in!! The car was down the beach, up a winding ramp and down the street. I thought I lost my girl on her birthday! We left for home promptly.

That night she fortunately slept with her Kitty in the box against her back. She threw up in the middle of the night making "a lake" but Kitty was saved.

We love you Rory!!!

Obsession

I wanted everyone out there to hear my confessions. Not only do I love Blake Lewis, I LOVE these books by Stephanie Meyer





Rivals with Harry Potter?? Check this site out http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695199836,00.html
and here is a review of the book:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Schillinger7-t.html?em&ex=1187064000&en=c25385e417c99155&ei=5087%0A

It all started for me over a year ago when a friend chose a book for book club and said if you want to read another book my husband's cousin wrote this good book. I read it, LOVED IT (ask any of my Irvine girlfriends, they won't hesitate to tell you how loony I am in general though but then again, neither would you) and have told everyone about it. Mind you, I get a little embarrassed as it is a young adult book and I am clearly an adult. Nor would I suggest a male to read it. This fantastic Mormon author wrote a really good story really well and I get to meet her in 2 weeks. La la la la.

Since I am writing about obsessions, I never felt like I gave adequate closer to my last one. Goodbye Gilmore Girls. I will never forget. . .

Blake Lewis

Listen up. I am not adding these videos for your sake but for mine. I thought Blake Lewis was fabulous on American Idol and I am sick of having to find which songs I like on You Tube so I am adding them to my blog. The second set is the studio version so it sounds better but you don't get him in action which is half the fun. If you want to listen, go right ahead. (Sorry, I think I am still harboring angst about loosing my camera and need to vent on you!)