Wordless Wednesday

Just Like A Nightmare-- Only Real!

Caution-- this post is not for the weak-hearted. You may want to turn back now-- while you still have the chance.

Last night, at about 1 o'clock in the morning, I was sitting on the pot (or-- for my more refined readers-- using the commode) in a mostly asleep stupor, when I noticed something dark on the shower curtain about 2 inches away from my face (literally). I hadn't turned the light on, so I tried harder to focus in the dark on what it could be. Was it the lady bug we had seen in the bathroom earlier? No, it was too big. Could it be a creepy spider? No... too big for that too.  Some mystery goober?   I finished my biz, and flipped the light on. EEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!! It was a spider, a huge, gross, hairy (did I mention huge) spider. Please imagine creepiest spider image you have ever seen now (here are a few to help).

I had to act fast. My first instinct was to go for the hair-spray & freeze the spider long enough to go find a shoe. C'mon now! I never said my plan was full-proof-- I was practically asleep a mere 3 seconds earlier! It didn't take long to remember that I don't even own a can of hairspray. I had to go to Plan B. I would shake him off the shower curtain, and he would fall into the tub, where he would die a watery death. I grabbed the curtain and shook. The devil spider jumped off the curtain out of the tub, and ran to a towel that had been knocked on the floor during the battle. He was FAST! It looked as though I was going to have to resort to Plan C. I had never in all my married life employed Plan C. I wasn't happy about this, but I was out of options. I turned and ran down the hall like the scared little girl I am. I jumped on my bed, woke up my sound asleep husband, and begged Ryan to go in the bathroom and kill the disgusting monster! My knight in shining armor used the tried and true shoe-smashing method, turned around and went back to bed-- (for all I know, he may have been asleep the whole time).  I, however, spent the rest of the night wondering how the spider got into the house, worrying that he brought along friends, and feeling imagined spiders crawling across my face. It was a l-o-n-g night.

First Day of School 2011

It isn't a big secret that I despise the first day of school. While growing up, I'm pretty sure I cried  E.V.E.R.Y. year on the first day of school.  In general, I'm a fan of school.  Learning is a good thing. I did well in school.  It isn't even really the rest of the school year I had qualms about-- just the first day (or week).  I thought I would outgrow this hate-hate relationship once I graduated. Unfortunately, not a lot has changed.  I still cry on the first day, only now I have to "fake" excited and happy in front of my kids-- and cry later. Truth be told,  I think my dislike for the first day of school has grown even more now that I am a Mother.  I love having my children home. I love knowing what they are doing. I love knowing who they are spending time with. I love doing things together. I love watching them experience new things.  When they are gone I miss them tremendously! 

Now, don't get me wrong-- I am so grateful that they have the opportunity to go to school, and learn. In all honesty, I suppose "The first day of school" is really just an innocent bystander-- that, to me, has come to represent the inevitable passing of time (AKA my babies growing up). Seriously? How did they grow up so fast?

Three of the four school-aged children started at new schools this year-- one of them being half-day Kindergarten. As a result, I am beginning to realize this is going to be a year full of A LOT of schedule coordinating and taxi driving-- but, then again, that is what they pay me the big bucks for!

Here are the little scholars all ready to conquer the world!

Don't they look so excited and happy? I am so glad they have adventuring spirits and didn't inherit the start-of-school-blues from their Mother.

Our CrAzY Last Week of Summer!

This was one crazy week. A week before school started, we got a call from some contractors that we had been waiting for months to hear from. They were coming to put insulation in our home, and wrap all our ducts. It sounds like a simple job... but apparently it isn't. They were on the house, under the house, in and out of every room in our house. It is weird to have the "comfort" of being in the privacy of your own home gone. It was nice to be able to have it done, but it was hard to feel "stuck at home" for the last week of our Summer-long par-tay!

In case this wasn't nutty enough, we also had  another contractor  (and all his workers) replacing our roof at the same time. It wasn't planned this way. Ryan and I had been praying for a couple months that we would know who to have do our roof. We were having a hard time deciding... and then our roofer was practically delivered to our front door (or at least to our next door neighbors roof). It always amazes me how mindful Heavenly Father is of every little detail in our lives. I really liked working with Jeff Gold (he was more than fair with us), and am so pleased with our new roof!
BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER: (Drum roll please...)

We also had (amidst all the chaos) a back-to-school luau. It was a lot of fun. In fact, I must have been having too much fun because I didn't get any pictures of  the tropical bonanza. We had fun decorations on the walls and table.  We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner, with margaritas to drink (the word of wisdom friendly version of course!), and coconut buns for dessert. We wore leis, and even got to see Ryan in his lava lava. We listened to Hawaiian music, and used words like "aloha" and "mahalo". It was a fun end to summer. Here are some pictures of before and after:

Friday Family Fun-Night: Obstacle Course

In our family, each Friday night is "Family Fun Night".  We have had this tradition for at least the last 5 years.  It isn't always easy to plan. In fact, it often times requires quite a bit of effort on my part. However, it is always worth it. We all look forward to Friday night. I love that it is scheduled time we spend together. I love that no matter what we do, we end up laughing and having a good time. I am hoping it is a tradition that will always be a part of our family. 

In the past, we have done all sorts of activities. We love watching movies with popcorn and treats. I usually try to have the treats go with the "theme" of the movie. We have made cookies to deliver to neighbors. We do a lot of holiday activities for Family Fun Night-- like pumpkin carving, or decorating the Christmas tree.  This past Friday, Ryan and I decided to set up an obstacle course for the kids. It was very low key (as you will see), and only took about 5 minutes to set up.  It turned out to be a big hit!

The obstacle course went as follows:

1- Choose a balloon, and put a diaper on it. Then, Carry your balloon baby throughout the course without popping it.

2- "Tight-rope" on the hose.

3- Throw the tennis ball into the barrel.

4- Use the lacrosse stick to push a ball down the hill.

5- Crawl under the table and put on the red fuzzy hat.

6- Weave in and out of the trees and run around the pole.

7- Put your balloon baby in the stroller and push it to the finish line.

8- Grab an M&M, quickly chew and swallow, then stick out your tongue to stop the timer.

Even Creed had a good time.

We all had fun, and each of the kids ran the course 2 or 3 times.  They were happy to see they got faster with each try. I was happy that, with so little effort, so much joy could be produced!

Wordless Wednesday

Hey! Look At Us Being All Outdoorsy!

Yesterday, we took the children hiking at Cress Creek. It was a beautiful day. I really love hiking. I like that it is something we can all enjoy as a family. I love that, no matter how hard it is, we can all go at our own pace. I enjoy the gorgeous scenes that we are surrounded by when we hike. It feels good to get a little exercise and be out in such a pretty place. Cress Creek is a fairly easy hike, but does have a few steep inclines.  We saw a lot of butterflies, and mosquitoes, a few birds, and one lizard. We had a little whining mixed in with a lot of smiles.

 After we took this picture, Kyle said, "now lets do a 'feelings' picture that shows how we really feel...

That morning, before we left for the hike, Karen was worried that everyone had a hat but her. She ran in the house and came out wearing her favorite hat. This is a hat that my brother, Brian and his wife, Carol, gave her for Christmas a few years ago. It is the best hat. It has been used for "hat day" at school, for tea parties, for dancing, and now-- for hiking.  Every time we passed other hikers on the trail, the first thing they said was, "Hey, nice hat!"

 There were a lot of neat things to see, and fun places to explore. When we were done, and headed back to the car, all of the kids said they had a great time. Karen's only complaint was that she had hoped to see a rattlesnake on the hike...  that is one disappointment that I can definitely live with!

On our way home we stopped at the Archer Cemetery.

And, because we were feeling so healthy after our hike, we stopped at Eastern Idaho's most famous hamburger joint-- Big Jud's. We shared a GIANT hamburger, and a bucket of delicious fries. We looked for my Sister, Julie's picture on the "wall of fame"-- but didn't see it. I guess she will just have to go there and eat the one pound burger again!

It was a day well spent!