Bump It

First things first. There was a tie on the style challenge poll, so I'm making an executive decision and am going to do the shoe challenge. I have a ton of flip flops, so I think it best to do this challenge now while it's still flip flop weather. Plus I think it'll be better to do the 3 different looks challenge when it's more fallish weather. There's a lot more options with layering and such. So who's gonna do the shoe challenge with me? This is an easy one. Just wear a different pair of shoes a day until you run out. No repeating shoes! And maybe when we're all done we can get together and swap shoes with the ones we don't really like or want anymore. Let me know if you're in this one with me. And now on with business.
I'm not really sure this is something I should be confessing to everyone, but oh well, here it goes.......... I bought a Bumpits. You know those things you see on infomercials that you put in your hair to give it a little bump. I am such a sucker for infomercials and I totally bought into this one. I'm not really a big hair kind of gal, but every once in a while there's a hairdo that calls for some volume, so I thought this would be fun to give a try. I found some on E-bay for only 5 bucks and free shipping, so I thought there's not much to lose. Well, surprise, surprise I really really like these things. For once I'm happy with my infomercial purchase! In the pictures below you'll see me using the regular sized Bumpits. I tried the "Hollywood" Bumpit, and it was a bit much for me. But the regular ones are so much fun. I have really thick hair, so when I try to give it some volume it falls flat within the hour. This has totally eliminated that. Ya'll should give them a try. And for those of you that laughed at me for even thinking about buying one, look who's laughing now! (I have no idea if I even used that saying in the right context, but you know what I mean.)

School Days

It's finally here. School has officially started. I loved spending time with my kids this summer, but I gotta say, I was more than ready for them to go back to school. Maybe there can be a bit of structure in our house now.

Isaac started 2nd grade, and he's started to think that he's the big man on campus. I guess he kind of is. The new K-2 Center is open so he is now the oldest one in the school. After asking him what he liked about the first day of school, the only thing he could remember was how much fun the new playground is. (Just looking at that playground makes me want to puke. There are way too many spinny things). I asked him what the worst thing about his day was and he said he had to wait in line too long to play on the new toys and the mac 'n' cheese they had for lunch. I guess that sounds about right. I remember loving the second grade. My teacher was Mr. Rowell (who is still there). I remember he listened to Paul Harvey on the radio during recess and lunch. I also remember how he had to intervene on some drama that went on at a late night slumber party my friends and I had. We were prank calling Cody Phillips all night long and he wasn't liking it at all. The next Monday at school, Cody told Mr. Rowell, so Mr. Rowell took all the girls that were at the party out in the hall and talked to us about not prank calling. I think that it was in the second grade that my interest in boys was finally peaked. Oh dear, I have a son in the second grade now. Here's my class picture. Which one am I?

The starting of Kindergarten is torturous for a kid (and for mom). How can you bring a kid to school, show them how much fun it's going to be, and then tell them they can't come back for a whole other week. Luke has been dying to go to school. I think the thing he can't wait for the most is to walk home with Isaac and his cousins to Grandpa's house after school. Luke doesn't know a single kid in his class, so it'll be interesting to see how he does with that. He's so use to having Isaac as a crutch when it comes to making friends, so I wonder if it'll come easy to him or not. Now lets see....what do I remember about kindergarten? My teacher was Mrs. Byram (the one and only kindergarten teacher at the time). I started out in the afternoon, but then switched over to morning because my mom got a new job working at McKay Dee doing the graveyard shift, so she needed the mornings to sleep. My bff Shaury totally bailed on me at recess one time to go play kissing tag (there was no way I was playing that) and left me by myself. It was then that I mastered the art of skipping rope. I got my name written on the board for the one and only time my whole school years. We had free time, I was playing on an indoor teeter totter a little too loud, so I unfortunately got my name written on the board. TORTUROUS!!! I had a "boy" friend named Davey Scadden. My brothers still tease me to this day about having a crush on him. Honestly I don't think I had a crush on him. He was my friend that was a boy. He lived in the duplexes by the school, so every once in a while we'd play together. I do remember he was really cute though. Once again, where am I?

At the age of 3, whenever school starts, my kids have always been jealous and have wanted to go to school too. Maya has been no exception. I did Spiderman School for Isaac, Thomas School for Luke, and now I'll do Cinderella School for Maya. We've been in debates as to what to call it. At first it was Princess School. But then Maya started to insist on calling it Spongebob School. Now there's no way my little girl is going to Spongebob School! We finally came into agreeance on Cinderella School. On her first day we colored a Cinderella picture, practiced our alphabet, and attempted to learn the letter A. I never went to a specialty mom school at the age of 3, so I don't have any pictures. I do remember at that age being my mom's little sidekick. I remember doing a lot of visiting teaching, and I remember eating lunch at the diner that is now the City Office Building. Anyone else remember that? I have such a good feeling thinking about those two things.

Well, it's been good having the kids in school once again. Happy School Days everyone!

Eight is Great!

Isaac turned 8 last week on the 15th. We had a family getaway planned with the Poll family to Cherry Hills on his b-day, so it worked out great to just celebrate with them. The second we got to Cherry Hills Isaac took off with his cousins and I only saw glimpses of him the rest of the day. He had a blast there! He's finally conquered his fear of the water so that made it a lot of fun for him. And there isn't anything he loves more than spending time with his cousins, so I think Cherry Hills was a hit for him. That night we camped out on their campgrounds. As you may have remembered I mentioned that I couldn't wait to camp there because I've always wanted to since I was a kid. Well, to say the least, camping at Cherry Hills is very overrated. I definitely could have done without. I guess it didn't help with the fact that a huge rain storm came through around 3 in the morning. Any time it would thunder Rocky would wake up and cry. So basically I didn't really sleep that night. We finally called it quits as soon as the sun came up. Our family bailed and went home so I could get at least a little shut eye. The second we walked through the door Isaac insisted on opening his presents. You can see his puffy eyes from being up so early in the picture of him on his new bike. Later that night we went to my dad's house, had dinner and just hung out.

Isaac is such a fun kid. He is so full of life. He gets so excited over everything and can hardly wait when something fun is coming up. He loves to be in the middle of things and be involved with what's going on. He's a passionate person about the things he likes. If he likes something, he REALLY likes it. He's passionate about Harry Potter, basketball, running, High School Musical, Michael Jackson, cousins, reading, Pokemon, the Wii, snacks, money, and Lagoon. It's fun that he's like that. It makes all of our lives exciting as well.

The Sunday after his birthday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's for his birthday dinner. While there Isaac picked a ton of peaches from their tree. I can't wait to finally have time to make something out of them. I already made peach chicken (yummy), and I have grand plans of making cinnamon peach jam and peach cobbler.

Yesterday Isaac was baptized! We had plans of baptizing him at the end of September, but the stake decided to add another baptism day in August so the kids with August birthdays could attend the temple dedication that's today. So in a matter of two weeks I changed gears and got ready for his baptism. Everything turned out wonderfully. I can't believe (and I know all mom's say this, but I really can't) that I have a son that's old enough to be baptized. It was such a special experience. Isaac was so excited and so ready. It seems like the spirit is so strong during baptisms and confirmations. But to have it be my own son...the spirit was overwhelming. I'm amazed I felt the spirit so strong to because I had two restless babies I was trying to deal with. But I just finally let go of it, said oh well, let them do as they wanted during the confirmation and zoned into what was really happening at the moment. I'm glad I did, because it really was a neat experience for me.

Later that night we let Isaac invite Cooper to come with our family to the Visitor's Center at Temple Square. I was so emotional while we were there. I'm telling you, I was really feeling the Spirit that day. It was such a cool thing to have witnessed Isaac's baptism and then go to the Visitor's Center and learn about our Savior and God's plan for us. We went to that little movie presentation on the family and I had the hardest time choking back the tears. After having someone I love die, I guess anytime the topic of family's being together forever comes up I get emotional. But that was such a good thing for our family to go do. There were so many opportunities for us to teach our kids about the gospel. Plus they were in an environment that encouraged learning and so they were eager to listen and learn. Overall, it was a wonderful day!

30 Day Hair Challenge

So, I've been tempted to cut my hair. Now before ya'll comment and say I should do it, just know that I don't want to and I'm not going to. The only reason I even played with the idea is because I'm so sick of my hair. We all get in those ruts, right? So to prevent me from cutting, I gave my self a challenge. I had to do a different hairstyle every day for 30 days. Now there were a few naysayers, but I'm proud to say that I did it! Actually there were quite a few hairstyles that I never got around to doing. Below you will see 32 different hairstyles. The reason there's 32 and not 30 is because along with hair challenge I decided to have a different shirt for each hair-do. I had 32 shirts, so therefore I decided to extend the challenge a few days. I highly recommend trying this. It was so much fun! And I no longer have the desire to cut my hair. And the challenge spiced things up a bit in my daily routine. It was actually so much fun I'm trying to think of my next style challenge. Anyone on board with me?

10 Year Anniversary

So we all know about how Matt and I went on our trip to Kauai to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. But our official anniversary was actually July 30th. So my dear hubby planned a surprise getaway for this also. He sent me an e-mail and told me to pack my bags for the night and have the kids bags packed ready for a sleepover at Grandma's. I was gitty at the get-go. First off, we checked in at the Salt Lake Hilton, then we went to dinner at the Melting Pot. I'd never been there before so this was quite the experience. I was loving the appetizers (thinking about that cheese is making my mouth water), and I loved the dessert (okay my mouth is really watering now thinking about that chocolate), but when it came to the main course, I wasn't too sure about it. The broth we chose was gross, and I didn't really like the fact that you had to cook your own dinner. After dinner we walked around Gateway, then went to a movie. We saw The Proposal...very funny! There were a few way too long uncomfortable scenes, but other than that, I really enjoyed it. The next day Matt and I went to the Salt Lake Temple. I haven't done any temple work there since we'd gotten married. So that was really nice to go back there. The temple was really busy that day, so we ended up doing initiatories. And poor Matt had to wait a good hour extra waiting for me. There was major drama in the womens section. First a temple worker had to get rushed out in a stretcher, then another temple worker had to take a break because she thought she was going to pass out from the heat. So after all that they were short on workers and it took extra long to get everyone through. After the temple Matt and I went to the Church History Center and messed around on the computer. We typed in his Great, Great, Great.... Grandpa's name Philemon Merrill (it's a name that's been passed down for who knows how many generations) and we found a funny coincidence. One of Philemon Merrill's sons, Philemon Merrill, Jr., lived in Grouse Creek. My Grandma Covieo's side of the family is from there. Now my family all knows how small Grouse Creek is and how much of a coincidence that actually is. But for those of you that don't know about Grouse Creek, the population is about 200 people tops. So for Matt and I to have any conncection there is quite incredible. It seems like there are so many scenarios and situations where Matt and I are connected somehow. I guess we really are meant to be together. But our little getaway was so nice! Matt is always so thoughtful when it comes to gift giving. He's always so sincere, and you can tell that he was thinking about you when he got it. I'm so so grateful to have met and married him. We're definitely opposites in many many ways, but as the good old Miss Paula Abdul once said, "you know-it ain't fiction, just a natural fact, we come together cuz opposites attract."

Luke's 6th Birthday

Luke turned 6 on the 25th of July. To celebrate he had his cousin/b.f.f. Brooks sleep over the night before. On the day of his birthday we woke up, opened gifts (he got blendy pens, pokemon cards, diving fish, and roller skates), then headed off to Classic Waterslides. After that we ate lunch at McDonald's, rented some movies, went home ate cake and ice cream, then vegged out watching movies and eating popcorn.

Luke has got to be the coolest kid I know. He's so layed back and easy going. If things don't go his way or if I tell him no about something, he's 100% okay with it. After dealing with an (almost) 8 year old that has a much harder time dealing with the word no, and a 2 year old that, well, wants what she wants when she wants it, Luke is a breath of fresh air. I usually only have to ask once for him to do something (that is if he hasn't already volunteered to do it). He's also such a happy boy. He's always the one giggling and coming up with some crazy facial expressions. And I love that he still loves to cuddle with me. Any chance he can get when I'm not attached to one of the babies, he sneaks his way into my arms. I love Luke and am so so grateful to be his mom!

July (and a little bit of August) Happenings

Man I hate it when I get behind on blogging. I've started trying to convert my blog over into a book and that has occupied all my computer time. But now since I've been doing that I feel like I need to document every little event and thought. So here it goes....

We went camping at Willow Flats in Idaho with the Reeds. This was a really fun, yet not so fun thing. It was fun to get out with friends doing the whole camping thing. You know...fishing, smores, campfires, tents, hiking, late night chats, scary stories about the Master King Buffalo, etc, etc. The not so fun part? Camping with a two year old and a baby! Maya wants to do what she wants when she wants. So there were a few temper tantrums and a few times that we just let her do her nonsense. Plus, it's never fun having a toddler around a campfire. Rocky wasn't that bad. It's just tough accommodating nap times and a baby that can only do the army crawl. Other than that, we had a blast. We even had a few momentous things happen. For one thing, Luke lost his front tooth! That thing had been dangling for a really long time, so I was more than happy to have it come out. For another thing, Maya FINALLY got rid of her binky!!! (Not of her own free will of course). Matt was pretending to throw her in the river and she had her binky in her mouth. As she screamed it came flying out and floated away down the river. Of course I had a back up binks but we took this opportunity to see if she'd go without it. She was actually fine with it. We just told her that the fish had her binks now. Every once in a while she'd go to the river and yell, "Pish, give Maya binks back!" The real test was later that night. She's attached to that thing to go to bed. But she was definitely ok. To this day she mentions EVERY day the fish has Maya's binks, but then she'll immediately say, "Oh, that's okay. Pish can have Maya's binks." So there you have it. This camping trip was a success in my eyes just because of that.

Maya came downstairs with this stylish hair-do and an armful of hair accessories, lip gloss, and hair brushes. I love my girly girl!

We went to the Weber State Fireworks with a bunch of friends in the neighborhood. I'm so mad though because my camera was on some funky setting and a lot of the pictures didn't come out good. I had some really good pictures of when it rained and every one ran for cover under their blankets. Oh well, here's a few that did turn out okay.

Me & Jaclyn

Hallie and Rocky

The kids decided to tackle all the dads and put ice down their shirts.

Maya found a surrogate family in the Reeds this night. Here she is with her new sister Riley.

Isaac and Sophie got into a really deep discussion about movies and video games.

Travis had his surgery on Monday (it went really well!!!-if you need more details check out Mandy's blog) so I didn't want to really sign up for much during So. Weber Days just in case the outcome were bad. But of course my kids couldn't go without the Kid K. They love this. Isaac has won a medal every year since he's been doing it, with this year being the same. He won 3rd place in his age group. Luke on the other hand hasn't won a medal at all. But I tell you, that kid has the best attitude about things. Of course that would be cool if he did, but he was so excited about the soda that he won from the raffle you'd have thought he won the race. (a soda, by the way, that he didn't technically win. It started pouring during the middle of the medal ceremony so they had to stop giving out prizes. It was mass chaos, so Matt just walked up to the prize table grabbed a soda and told Luke that's what he won).

Most of this month was consumed by swimming lessons. I was determined to get my kids to swim this year. Both of them are little scaredy cats when it comes to water. First we took swimming lessons at Surf 'n Swim and they still were at the same level as they've always been. Then we signed up for lessons at the Ogden Athletic Club. I loved it there. Both Isaac and Luke's teachers had tough love, which is exactly what they needed. I am proud to say that Luke has finally advanced a level (he's been on level 1 for years now), and Isaac now dares to jump into the deep end of the pool.

This was the scene of most of Isaac's swim lessons. His teacher coaxing him to do various things out of his comfort zone.

Look at him now! I never thought I'd see the day that he jumped off of a diving board.

We went to the splash park in So. Ogden. My kids loved it. It was such the perfect place for a mother of 4 to go and not worry about her kids. You've got the water park, the baby park, and the big kid park all within seeing/hearing distance of the nice covered picnic tables where I sat.

I still have to blog about Luke's birthday and me and Matt's 10th Anniversary, but I feel they are deserving of their own posts, so stay tuned.