My Clothesline

I figured that since I made such a big deal about this - my Mother's Day gift this year that I have been begging for over 2 years, that it needed it's turn to show off!

Monday has become my unoffical laundry day - 4 large loads normally do it, with an occasional extra load during the week.


Not long ago, a good friend of mine asked me "Why?" Why the clothesline. She said that she just could not picture herself taking the time to hang all of her clothes out to dry, when it is SO much easier and convenient to just throw them in the dryer and in 1/2 an hour they are done. Good question.

First off, in Wellsville, I HAD to hang my clothes to dry. The dryer hook-up in our old little house was in the same place as the fridge plug in. So it was either a fridge or a dryer - not a hard choice! But I admit, in the beginning I REALLY grumbled! But that was in the beginning, in October, when it was way too cold outside and so I hung our clothes on a line that Rick rigged up in the attic. It took a while for them to dry! But once spring and summer came, I LOVED hanging them outside - I was so excited to hang them on the line that first time! For me, it was a calming and relaxing time. And I grew used to hanging my clothes and enjoyed it.

Second, it is better for the environment, and I believe, for the clothes. Now don't get me wrong here - I am by far a tree hugger!! But this year I have been making small changes to do things that are better for all of us. And now that I have my clothesline, that I missed so much, I am doing my very small part.

But on the other hand, it is so freaking HOT today!! I did a load of wash on Saturday, so only 3 large loads today. One is hanging, dry and ready to fold and put away, one is in the washer waiting to be hung and the 3rd, our nice unmentionables is ready to be put in the washer once it has been vacated. And so, since it is so very HOT today, those are going to be put in the dryer!

I'm In Love

Ok, so I know there have been a ton of pictures here lately, but I really just can't resist a few more! I am just so in love with this little girl of mine - my sweet little baby doll! And she loves having her picture taken! Tabitha has definitely hit her "terrible twos" - she is becoming so mischievious! Yesterday I put a child proof door knob thing on my bedroom door to keep her out - she is constantly getting into my make-up and whatever else she shouldn't be! She has put my mascara on her cheeks, put nail polish on as lip stick, dumped out a bottle of foundation, gotten into the fridge and left a mess of broken eggs all over the floor and herself, is always eating something she shouldn't be (Gabriella's Polly Pocket shoes are her favorite, with William's marbels being a close second!) and so many other little troubles! But just look at this sweet little face - how can you not love it?!

She loves her sunglasses and loves the tramp!

Rick had just dug this hole to plant a tree - when his back was
turned, these 2 wanted to "help" and fill it back up!

She loves cuddling!

This is my new favorite picture of her - she just looked
so pretty in her new pink outfit a couple days ago!

Um, Something is Missing

After the 2 little ones I was babysitting today left, I took the kids to run a few errands.

And this is what we came home to.


Yes, that is my bay window - or what's left of it anyways - in my dining room.

What I still don't understand is why Rick decided to do it tonite - a nite when he knew I would be gone to a camp meeting and when he'd only have a few hours to work on it. But, he promised me that there would be a door there TONIGHT!

Here is the view from the back.

There Goes #4

The Tooth Fairy has been at our house - again! Actually, twice more!

Gabriella lost her 3rd tooth the day after she lost the 2nd.

And tooth #4 came out on Sunday - Father's Day.

Here's a crazy face to prove it!

Fun at Grandma's

It had been 7 months since we had been to Idaho! I can hardly believe it! Thanksgiving was the last time we were there, but we haven't had a real reason to go - no weddings or babies or missionaries or anything like that and we've just been busy at home. So I was extra glad that I was feeling better and we were able to get the quick little trip in! (Sorry there are so many pictures!! I am trying to be very selective, but I took so many!)

The kids were so excited to get to go to Grandma's! (She doesn't come visit us enuf either! HINT HINT!!! She is coming soon though!)

Our first stop was at Uncle Joe Joe's house (my brother Joe!). Johnna (his wife!) was helping Mom with a wedding so we hung out with Joe & Zoey for awhile!

Tabitha LOVES her cousin! We have a picture of Zoey
on our fridge and Tabitha gets so excited looking at it!
But it was much better in person!

We interrupted Joe's Mario Kart when we got there so after he ]
finished that we went bowling - on the Wii.
Gabriella was the first one to get a strike!! Way to Go!

The kids all LOVE to jump - Jessie said that William looked like a bunny!
He said he was a kangaroo.

Gabriella was so excited when Jayden got there!
She ran to him and he picked her up and bounced her up & down!
A year without seeing him was much too long for her!
Glad we got to see you Jayden!


And more jumping!


My sisters!
Not all of them, of course!
Johnna, Me, Jessie, & Michelle


Thanks for the visits everybody - Wish we could have stayed longer!

Grandad's 80th Birthday Party

Around bedtime Friday, I was feeling pretty good, so we packed up for Idaho, hoping that I would be well in the morning. I woke up feeling great Saturday morning - no more yuckiness or stabbing pains in my tummy. So we loaded the kids, bags of dry cereal and cups of milk to go, and we were on our way to Idaho to Grandad's 80th birthday party!
The party was in "the hills" as they call it, at Grandad's cabin. We had a ton of fun - especially the kids!

Here's Gabriella with Aunt Leesa going for a ride!


Gabriella, William, & cousin Brooke climbing the mountain!
They were such good little hikers!


And since Gabriella's face was cut off,
here she is picking the beautiful "flowers."


More 4-wheeling! These 2 little ones love it!
William later said that we needed to get one for each of us!
Um, not anytime soon Bugger boy!


The Birthday Boy!
Happy Birthday Grandad! Glad we made it!

And no, William was not in pain or screaming in any way
- just trying to smile around a mouthful of fruit snacks!

Crappy Crappy Crappy!

That's been my day today - literally! And it has ruined so many plans!
Back up to last nite - I was at Youth Conference with our ward - watching them build a floatable boat out of milk jugs, pitching tents for camping in the canyon, learning the art of roasting Starburst for the first time (interesting, I know), playing Steal the Flag, and being kept awake by loud shrieks and singing until after 1 AM!! It was a great time - ok, maybe not so great at 1 AM when I desperately wanted/needed to sleep! But a great, fun time overall.
I had planned to stay until just after lunch today, then drive myself home (it ends tomorrow), then Rick & I would pick the kids up from their slumber party at Nana & Papa's (I doubt much slumbering happened there either!), drive to Idaho Falls and stay at Grandma's (whom we haven't seen since Thanksgiving! Terrible, I know!) and then help celebrate Rick's Grandad's 80th birthday tomorrow, and then drive back home Sunday afternoon. It was a great plan for a fun, busy weekend.
But instead, I woke up this morning at 6 (I always wake up early when I am camping). I had planned to go for a morning run (a very recent hobby of mine), but as soon as I got myself out of bed, the tummy pains that I had previously thot were hunger pains, got so much worse. So I sat by the fire pit (no men up yet to get that going and I'm not much of a Girl Scout) for a bit, went to the bathroom, wishing I could throw up and then feel better, but I didn't - then back to sitting by the fire pit, followed by another trip to the bathroom and then yes, finally, puking my guts out - or so it felt. I had expected to feel better after that, but oh no. An hour later I was back in the bathroom - this time for a different reason (I won't go into any more detail here - I'm sure from the title of this post - "Crappy Crappy Crappy" - you get the picture!) And so my morning went. Sitting around the fire (yes, a Boy Scout got up!), going to the bathroom, back to bed and shivering, to the bathroom, back to the fire, bathroom, fire, bathroom, fire, watching everyone else eat french toast and bacon (my favorite!), bathroom, fire, and on and on.
I decided it was time to call it quits. I dreaded driving home - alone & thru the canyon (no rest areas or gas stations with bathrooms!) but I was miserable and wanted nothing more than to crawl into my nice, warm bed at home and take a nice, long, hot shower.
So I packed up and headed out a few hours earlier than planned, praying the whole way that I would not have to stop until I was home. It worked! I made it the 65 minute drive home and then as soon as I walked in the door it hit me! I RAN to the bathroom, barely making it in time! Then crawled into bed to catch up on some of that missed sleep - only to be interrupted by the phone 4 times!! Yes, 4 times in 2 hours! My phone barely rings 4 times in 1 week!! But word got out that I was sick and caring people wanted to check on me. I did get a couple little naps in between - it's no fun being a light sleeper!
So I got a little rest, got my shower, got accused of being pregnant twice (NO! I am NOT!), and got to enjoy a quiet, empty home while doing that. BUT I did NOT get to go to Idaho, I do not get to see my mommy or celebrate Grandad's birthday with him, or enjoy those 4 hours, each way, in the car with 3 sweet little angelic children (sarcasm here!) Speaking of which, they just got home!!
Oh - and I am feeling somewhat better now, too! Somewhat - it's been a couple of hours since I've had to go to rush to the bathroom! But I still get these sharp, sudden pains in my stomach that feel like someone is stabbing me with a knife and twisting, twisting, twisting . . . Oh well, I'll take that over rushing to the potty any day!

CAUTION: MEN WORKING

Our latest project (isn't there always something going on?) - Building a deck! I am SO excited for this! A back deck and a back door to go with it!! Rick got started digging the holes for the posts on Thursday night.

William thot it was pretty fun to climb inside of them!
So Gabriella and the neighbor kids had to join in the fun!
POP! Goes the Weasel!

Friday nite Rick's dad came and helped him get the posts set. And on Saturday they worked hard ALL day long - only stopping for the dance recital and dinner - and then they were right back at it! They made some good progress! The foundation part is basically done.

What a job! Way to go Guys!

Our Little Dancer

Gabriella's Spring Dance Recital was Saturday night. She has had so much fun in dance class this last year - great teachers and lots of little dancing friends. I loved her little outfit for the dance - the music her class danced to was "Cruella De'Ville."

Here she is, striking a pose, before the recital.

(No, the boots were NOT part of her outfit -

just what she wore there! Pretty cute though!)

Here she is with her good friend Reese (in ballet shoes now!)
What little cuties they are! (and they posed themselves!)

Afterwards we out to dinner with Nana & Papa (Rick's parents). Rick said we should let Gabriella choose where to eat, but I thot we should give her a couple of options (I did NOT want to go to McDonald's, which is where she has been begging to go for quite some time!) So it was between IHOP & Winger's. She chose Winger's. We have only been there once before, but the kids loved it! I think their 2 favorites things there are the never ending bowls of popcorn and the package of Curious George fruit snacks that comes with the kids meals. And tonite we even had dessert - a big slice of yummy cheesecake and a great big piece of Asphalt Pie - SO YUMMY - the kids were fighting over it. I thot it was hilarious watching them eat these huge spoonfuls of whipped cream!


And my little crazy Tabitha - she was being such a nut by the time dessert came! I don't think she really ate anything except popcorn! She probably downed 2 bowlfuls herself! She got very vocal and began making little Indian noises - what a nut!

And one last picture of my dancer - I think Rick got a great shot!
Pucker Up!

Worms!

William often naps on my bed (when he does nap). And since the weather has been so gorgeous the last couple weeks, he has been spending most of the day outside, digging and searching for bugs and worms. Normally, I am very good about checking to make sure he doesn't bring any little "friends" into the house. But one day last week, I spaced it. This is what I found a few hours AFTER his nap - on MY bed!


So it's not the best picture - the flash and the white of the sheet didn't like each other. But, yes, I found a worm right in the middle of my bed - on freshly washed sheets, too! The poor little worm was practically dead - after being laid on and squished for a 2 hour nap and then left there drying out for 3 hours until I found it. We took it outside, put it underneath a little tree, in a nice, wet spot, poured a little water on it and hoped that it would survive. The next morning it was gone. So hopefully it made its way back to it's little wormy home.

Goodbye, Tycee

For the last 9 or so months, we (I) have been babysitting Tycee. Her fun mom, Nichole, was teaching 3rd grade at a nearby elementary. And now school is done and she will not be teaching again in the fall. The kids loved having Tycee here and are going to miss her a lot!
In fact, the first thing Tabitha said when she woke up this morning was "Mom, is Tycee here?"
Here's just a few fun pictures of them playing.

Tabitha & Tycee were such good buddies! They loved giving hugs & kisses. And William was always so nice to her - if she was upset about something and crying, he would make funny faces at her until she would laugh.


And Gabriella loved helping take care of her. She gave herself the job of getting Tycee dressed after her morning nap -she even started changing diapers!


Tycee LOVES the water! We got the pool out one of her last days here and these 2 had so much fun playing in the tiny bit of water that I put in it! They would start chasing each other around the yard and then come and plop back down in the pool laughing.

A Visit From Uncle Jason

Last Monday, Memorial Day, Uncle Jason came for a visit. He had driven down from Rexburg with some friends for the weekend and had some time to spare so he spent a good part of the day hanging out with us. The kids loved having him here. He had lots of fun constructing a maser marble tower - check it out!

Even though Tabitha's little eyes are scrunched shut, I thot this was the best picture of the ones I took - they were all just cute - especially Uncle Jason! Thanks for visiting - PLEASE come again!

The Tooth Fairy Strikes AGAIN!

Gabriella has lost her 3rd tooth!! And it came the day after tooth #2 - that makes for 3 teeth in less than 2 weeks! And this time, it was Mommy's turn to pull it out! It looks like that is all for now - no more wiggly, jiggly, loose teeth in that head!