Summer in the city...

Today was the hottest April day Salt Lake City has ever had...at 88 degrees. Oh what a beautiful weekend it was. I love warm weather...I don't love hot weather but I love warm weather. I sat out on our grass with a blanket and a book and oh it was the best feeling. There is something about the smell in the air on a warm evening that reminds me so much of my teenage years. It makes me want to do something mischievous. The smell tonight was hamburgers grilling somewhere in the distance...grass...dust...and a faint smell of cigarettes (our neighbor around the corner must smoke). I am not someone that likes the smell of cigarettes but they do smell delicious to me if it is faint and far away. Oh it also has to be hot outside. It reminds me of the Grant County Fair. I love the Fair. I don't know if any of that makes sense. But the smell and feel of the air tonight reminded me of yester years. Of nights spent driving past the bowling alley...or through the church and school parking lots...seeing what people were up too. And of course ending the night either at Safeway hoping to run into someone or at Sherie's for some cheese fries and a shake. I instead watched my children play inside my husbands truck...having so much fun, while a read a book. It was a pretty perfect evening and I didn't even have to get all dolled up and change my outfit five times like I used to have to do on a night like tonight. It is almost 1:30 in the morning right now (I just finished the book I started today) so I realize a lot of this won't make sense. It was just such a nice weekend.

Escape artist

So yesterday R.O.B. hit a milestone...a sad milestone. He can now get out of his pack n' play...yes my baby sleeps in a porta crib. I have moved like 7 times since we've had kids though, and I can't imagine moving a real crib that many times. Plus I think pack n' plays are way cozier. My kids always wake up with mesh marks on their whole face. We also travel a lot so they are always in THEIR own bed no matter where we are. So anyways back to yesterday....He just came down from his nap so happy and proud. I was in shock. We were still staying at Cali's house, from the flood (I will write about that next). I went up to his bedroom and there was a stack of blankets next to his bed so I figured he was able to get out because he could just land on the blankets. When it was time for him to go to bed for night time...I moved all of the blankets so he wouldn't get out. 15 minutes later he was downstairs again running around. I put him in a couple more times and he just kept getting out. The last time I didn't hear him fall out (he just goes out head over the side and lands with a loud thud). But I heard him crying in there so loud. I felt like I should go in...and sure enough he was stuck up sidedown in between the wall and the side of the pack and play. That crazy kid. I don't know what to do now. I have never rocked him to bed since he was probably 3 months old. Because of that he won't let me. Infact I never see him asleep unless he falls asleep in the car which is a rare occasion. He hasn't even EVER slept in our bed or accidently fallen asleep somewhere. Cortney got the water working last night so we all came back over here and Rob stayed in his crib here. So maybe he will only try to get out at Cali's. He doesn't know how to open his door either (Cali has those lever door knobs where we just have the good old fashioned knobs). So wish me luck. I am not ready to have 2 boys in real beds. Ahhhh. It just makes me so scared because he isn't safe in there anymore. Before I could be like...."he can't get out...he is safe". Now he can just get out and do whatever he wants.

Now back to our house being flooded...We are back in our house which means I have tons of work to do. I hate having to organize things. Well actually I think I would like it if I didn't have kids around putting their tummies on my piles and trying to lay on them to knock them over (does that make sense). I have done so much laundry since I have been back. We will most likely be refinishing our basement (yeah me!). So that is exciting except it also means alot of work. I am glad to be back. It was fun to be at my sister's but our kids spent a week together at grandma's and 4 days with the flood...they were getting sick of eachother. Robbie bit his cousing Carolina 3 times in ten minutes yesterday morning. He bit her a total of 6 times we were there. Breaking the skin (through shirts) 3 times. Aye...I don't know what to do with him. He is also covered in scratches from her...don't get me wrong though she was definatley was defending her self. I'd do the same thing if someone were biting me. So it is fun for me to live there but it is too much for the kids...constant playing all the time. I finally had to see if Rob was okay this morning at 11:00 because he hadn't woken up yet. He was just so tired from so much playing. If anyone has any ideas about what to do with biters I am all ears. He goes to nursery in two weeks. So...it could be a real nightmare.

My brother-in-law Tyler is doing much better. I am so sad this flood thing happened I feel like we should be focusing everything on him and visiting and such. He is out of the hospital and they are saying that it was most likely a stroke he suffered from. They only problem with that news is we don't know why a 26 year old would have a stroke. And they still don't know what the masses are in his brain. We get more test results in 2 weeks I think. It really shows you what can happen through the power of prayer. We have been so blessed.

Typical Monday

Monday morning I was sleeping so sound. So cozy. Cortney came in at 6:00 a.m. and told me "the basement's flooded". Just like that. I said "oh...okay, is Robbie okay??" I just pictured his crib floating away. I got dressed and sure enough there was a couple of inches of water in our basement. Talk about stress. I hate stuff like this. I just want to be a kid forever. I don't ever want to have to deal with adult stuff like this. Cali came over and brought a shop vac (man, shop vacs rule) and we started the process of cleaning things up. It was stressful and I kept thinking..."this is the worst", immediately after my mind thought that it would reply back "no this isn't the worst...your brother is in the hospital, this doesn't matter". Yes, my mind has conversations with itself all the time. It really is true too...a basement flooding doesn't matter. It is inconvenient, and stressful but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't the "worst". I had a huge cardboard box filled with every picture we have and thankfully it was on top of another box, so my pictures were left unharmed. I am not really sure what happens next. We can't turn our water on for now so we spent the night at Cali's. A plumber comes today and hopefully it will be a quick fix. When I called my dad he said..."ash, call your insurance company they will take care of this" I hadn't even thought of that. Thank goodness for dads.

Home sweet home

So yesterday we left Moses Lake at 9:30 am. We usually leave really early when we drive but we just decided the night before to leave on Friday and didn't have enough time to pack up. We thought oh it won't be too bad. WRONG! Man we pulled into Orem at 1:00 in the morning. It was a looooong day. On the way to Washington I think we had a good 40 minutes where all of the kids slept at the same time. They are always good on the way to Washington too. But the way back they are sad, tired from a week of playing and tired of driving. It was pretty crazy. Robbie finally fell asleep at the point of the mountain (15 minutes from home) at 12:30 in the morning. It was actually a pretty fun drive it is just way too many hours. We laughed a lot. And the kids were actually good. They just got so tired after 10 pm. I will write more when I get the pictures loaded.

So finally some pictures...here we are in Burley Idaho at Kaelynn's sister's house. We had been in the car 10 hours already! Here are all the kids and moms that went on our trip. Notice again our matching outfits (my mom went and got KaeLynn and Sammy the same track outfit after our last trip).
What's a group shot without a crazy pose? I can't believe that everyone actually did a crazy face!
Just a picture of us on the road.

Tyler update....We don't know what is wrong with Tyler. He got in at the LDS hospital here and after two days with a million specialist they don't know what is wrong with him. They don't think the things in his brain are tumors. I think that is good news but it is really hard to know since they just don't know what is wrong with him. Maybe it was all of our fasting and prayer and putting him on a million temples prayer lists. I just wish we knew what was going on.

Update...

So Samantha is home from the hospital now. She isn't feeling too good but better than yesterday. She is going to be just fine and has a sister in law there helping her hold those little babies. We found out that my brother Tyler has a brain tumor. I am really having a hard time trying to come to terms with that. My husband drove up to Rexburg yesterday to be with his family. He needed to lay his eyes on Tyler...and to be with his mom. He will also be helping the other brothers keep up Tyler's lawn mowing company. For me one of the hardest things is not knowing what is going to happen, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. That is for sure. If we could just know what to expect I think it would be easier. He will be having surgery to remove it sometime within the next 7 days. They are trying to get him in down in Salt Lake instead of Idaho falls. I will post more as I know more.

So as I write this I keep thinking...maybe this is too personal to write on my blog. Maybe it isn't meant for other people to read. This is however, my journal. I have always been someone that has kept a diary. For my 12th birthday my friends Amber and Laura gave me a pink diary and since then I have always written about what is going on in my life and the feelings associated with them. I wrote every single day while I was in college. Since I have had children I have written happenings on a monthly calander. Now this is my Journal. Every year I am going to have it printed through blurb.com. So if this is going to be my journal...it has to be just that. My journal the good and the bad. Today, I woke up to find out that my little sister Sam was in the hospital. Her and her husband went with their two twin newborns at 1:00 am because she was having really intense back pain. It turns out that she needs to have her gallbladder removed. I guess sometimes after you have a baby you can have gallbladder problems. I don't really know what is going on with that even though we have called her a bunch of times today. I do know that she is in surgery as I type and that Kyle is missing two finals today so he can babysit two, two week old twin babies. I was really worried for her today and she was in my thoughts. I want to take care of my little sister and if I were in Utah I would be down there taking care of her. Then, today around 1 or 2 (everything since then has been a blur) Cortney called me. He told me that he had some bad news for me and it seemed like he was playing around with me and was acting too afraid to tell me. I of course thought he was going to tell me that he bought yet ANOTHER project car to work on. I kept telling him to tell me what he did. Then he told me that my brother in law Tyler was really sick and that he was really worried for him. I have been so sad today. So flooded with emotions and memories. Tyler is my BROTHER. I love him. He is one year younger than me. I have been in the Boice family for eight years now. I really feel like they are my blood...my people. Whenever someone is sick...it is so hard to know what to do. How can you let someone know exactly what they mean to you when words don't exactly describe it. I wish we could all be together right now. I feel so sad for my Cortney...all alone in Orem. No one to be with him right now. I wish I were there. Even now I don't know what to type. I don't know what to think or say or do. I love Tyler...I love his wife nicole. I am so blessed by knowing both of them. When I was engaged to Cortney, Cortney left to Moab for a month for a class. I was in Rexburg all alone. No friends. Tyler would call me up and ask me if I wanted to do something or if I wanted to hang out. That is just the kind of person he is. He takes care of people. He didn't barely know me but he knew I needed someone so there he was. Here is a picture from my wedding...(eight years ago we all look much older) L-R Tyler, Cortney, Me, Samantha, and Cali. I hope that both Samantha and Tyler will be okay. Both of their names are in the temple today. I love them.

On the road AGAIN...

So I must be crazy because tomorrow, at 4:00 a.m. I am going to Moses Lake, again. It is spring break here so my sister Cali and Sister in law Kaelynn and I are driving to ML. There will be 9 grankids there. I am crazy. I am not looking forward to the drive but I think it will be better than last time. Cali and I are becoming pro's. We know what works and what doesn't. We know which towns have McDonalds with play places and which ones are best for both little and big kids. We know which rest areas have family bathrooms and which ones are clean. So it should be better than last time. I hope it is. I will post when I get there.

Growing up...

Rob is starting to say sooo many words. Oliver spoke from 10 months on, new words every day. Rob up untill a couple of weeks ago could say ball, mom, bite, uhoh. That was about it. He refused to call Cortney dada. Everytime he saw him he would say "mama!". About two weeks ago he started saying dada, after that he is saying new words everyday. The best is on Sunday I gave him something I don't know what it was a poptart or something but he said "thank you" I couldn't believe it. I haven't even been working on him saying thank you. With oliver I would always say..."say thank you". I never do that with Rob, he just learned it on his own. Then today I told him that a kitty says "meow" and he said it plain as day, then we went over duck and he could say "quack quack" so good. He of course already knew what a dog says from being at his Grandma Berta's who has tons of dogs (well she has two put she has seven kids, and each one has at least one dog :) ). I was so proud of my little baby. When Cortney got home probably 3 hours later I said, "tell daddy what a cat says" and he answered "meow". SO CUTE. He has also been getting into the toilet. AHHHHH. I clean our toilet probably every other day or so (I only have one bathroom so hey it isn't too hard to keep clean). Anyways the toilet is always relatively clean but I also have a three year old and so, sometimes every once in a while it is NOT at all a clean place for him to be playing around in. So today I heard him in there so I went running and sure enough he had put a bunch of toilet paper in...a brush, and a CD. I told him a stern "NO" and looked him straight in the eyes. When he gets sad his bottom lip sticks out and quivers for ever...he is on the brink of crying, corners of his lips keep going further and further down. It is hard to explain but he does it when ever he gets his feelings hurt. He was trying so hard not to cry and wouldn't look at me. I gave him a hug and he just held me which he never does...he hates hugging unless he is in trouble and his feelings are hurt. Hahaa it is so cute...I love him hugging me too and needing me. So I told him he was a good boy but that he can't get in the toilet. He of course got into Cali's a couple of hours later. Man...I try to keep the door closed but Oliver always has to go potty and never shuts the door when he is done. I don't know what to do. I guess in the meantime I will get lots of love from Rob when he gets in trouble and gets sad.

Book Club

So tonight was my monthly book club with my sister Cali and Celeste Merrell Parks and Tiffany Merrell Davis (Tiffany and Celeste are sisters they have been my friends since birth...their family is MY FAMILY I love them, all five of the sisters...I heart them). We met at Macaroni Grill. Oh my gosh it was so fun. Cali and I were excited all day to go and have a girls night out which we NEVER EVER do. We had such a great time. Two minutes into the book club they made me laugh with a mouthful of Mango lemonade....I have never had such a pain in my nose or throat ever. I was choking so bad...I was just trying so hard to not let it come out of my nose or mouth. It was horrible. I had to go to the bathroom because I was dry heaving it was so bad. The whole night we were throwing our heads back and laughing as hard and as loud as we could. It is so great to be with people that know the very core of you. They know everything about me. I don't have to wonder if they like me...or if I said anything dumb. I don't have to analyze anything with them. We really need to do the girls night more often. I came home totally refreshed, and it was so nice to not have had to put the kids down. When I was in High school every day of my life I laughed so hard I would cry. I would laugh so hard that my stomach muscles would ache and I would beg whoever it was to stop making me laugh. I think...at least for me you don't laugh as much when you are an adult (I mean...my kids are funny but not pee your pants funny). It felt good to laugh REALLY HARD again. I almost threw my neck out from laughing. Hahaa. We finished the night off with dessert. It is my turn to pick a book for next month. We loved the book this time so much that it is really going to be hard to compete with this one. I am lucky to have so many good friends in my life...not just these ladies of course but all of my good friends. Yeah for me. Hahaha.

Easter

Easter Sunday. Yesterday it was so nice out. The whole day it was so sunny. And today we wake up to RAIN. Yuck. We still had a great day though. Yesterday we went as a family to Nathan Knowles baptism. We used to live in their basement, we are like family. My boys love him. It was so great to get to see him baptized. I was so proud of him. Afterwards was a luncheon and it was sooo YUMMY. I love food so much. If I wrote the things that made me the most happy everyday on my blog would just be lists and lists of what I ate. I will spare you the boring details but the food was sooo good. Afterwards we went with Cali & Joey to a Easter Carnival at the Orem Owlz stadium. It was really crowded and funny that we were there but the kids got to search for eggs (there weren't actually hidden just laying on the ground). There were hundreds of kids there just running and grabbing eggs. It was a funny thing to do. But we were down at UVSC already and we saw a whole bunch of people getting in a line so we did too. The kids thought it was awesome though and I guess that is what counts. After the kids were asleep I went to FOUR stores looking for easter eggs. First Walmart not an egg or chocolate candy to be found. I couldn't believe it. Plus everyone that was there was in such a panic that it was a mad house. Then to Walgreens, then to Macey's, Jackpot....I found some random bean shaped eggs, and a sparce assortment of candy. No mini eggs but definately better than nothing. Every year this happens to me. The night before easter I think...well I guess I better pick something up for the kids. It sucks....not again though (yeah I say that every year too). Then on to kmart, I wanted to grab a star wars (of course) action figure for Oliver. After I got home we got a surprise visit from my bro-in-law Griffin and some of his friends. It was so fun to have them here. So good of him to stop by too. We love him (of course). It was good because I got to fill all of those boys up with Easter candy.
This morning Oliver came running in wondering if the Easter bunny had come. I was trying to sleep in a little so I told him that I would show him his Easter basket in a little while, as soon as Robbie woke up. He wasn't having that though and he started searching for his stuff. He found it, which was fine. He said, "I'm SOOOO lucky!!!" When he opened an egg with some smarties in it. Rob loved Easter...He couldn't believe he had all of that candy to eat. Oh of course let me explain the pink girl Pajamas...well...a lot of the time my kids go to bed at Cali's house and sometimes I don't have pajamas. So he has to wear Carolina's. So here he is pretty as a peach in girly clothes. Poor kid. I should never take pictures of him in Carolina's stuff but I couldn't help it Easter Morning. It does make me want a daughter so bad. And man my kids look good in pink.
He seriously put like 8 candies in his mouth he just kept putting more and more and wouldn't chew or swallow. I knew it was going to turn into a mess...
He finally got so much candy in there that it gagged him. I tried to edit the gross parts out of the picture but the candy started coming out, and he was so sad.
Here are our STAR WARS eggs. Cute huh?? I couldn't pass these up. Oliver thought they were awesome.
After Church all my family that lives here got together and we had sourdough pancakes. My brother makes them and they are so dang good. Here all all of the cousins L-R: Eliza, Brooklyn, Robbie, Jack, Carolina, Oliver, Zac, Tyson.
Easter egg hunting, Rob thought it was so great, he just wanted to open them up right then and eat the candy.


So that there was our Easter weekend. One funny thing...I fell down the stairs from the top step to the bottom and I landed flat on my face. OUCH. My whole right side is one HUGE black bruise. Oliver just sat there at the top of the stairs. He didn't say anything just went right back to watching T.V. I guess I can't count on him to save me. He said he didn't know I needed help. He is so funny. He kept saying... " I did care" , after he heard me say "Oliver didn't even care, he just kept watching TV". I love my boys. Oh...Rob bit me TWICE during church. Once on my finger and once on my collar bone. He hates any sort of confinement and I don't want him just out walking the halls. I guess that is what I get.

Good Day

So today was...a...good day. Cali's kids have been sick with strep this last week. Which means I haven't seen her for a while. Actually it has been since last Friday since I have done anything with her and her kids. I am used to spending a lot of time with her. I never go to the store alone. Any errands we have to do we do together. So it was a long week. I have to stay healthy right now too because we are going back to Moses Lake on April 14th and I don't want to be sick for that. I especially don't want to have sick kids while I am there, too. So today YEAHHH they were all better and they came over and hung out all day. We went to costco while the older kids were in school. And then we just hung out. PLUS it was so warm today that the kids were able to play in my back yard all afternoon. YAHOO. I was so glad they were feeling better. After such a great day my wonderful in-laws came for a couple of hours to visit. It was so great to see them. Both of my kids just love them so much. Not only that but we went to my favorite restaurant kneaders and we all got yummy sandwiches and we ordered 6 desserts (they are small so it wasn't TOO much ). SIGH...I wish every day could be like today. After my in laws left we watched survivor, the Office, and 30 rock with Cali and Joey and Shane. SOOO Funny tonight. What a great day. Good for me.

Star Wars

My husband and I are less into Star Wars than I think almost any other adult we know. We have never waited in line to see a new episode. Cortney never really even watched the first episodes when he was little. So how did it get to be what our lives revolve around? My kids are obsessed with everything Star Wars. All I hear all day is Qui-gon this Mace Windu that...Mom does Boba Fett and General Grievous blah blah blah. I never even know what he is talking about. I HAVE to get all of the movies so I can get caught up. I don't think 10 minutes go by in our house with out some mention of Star Wars. We are decorating Star Wars easter eggs that come with a little Darth Vader hat for the eggs. It is crazy having only sons. I don't know what I am doing here. My sister's kids are of course equally obsessed and when her daughter who is almost 2 sees any of the disney princesses she says "princess leia" they have even gotten to her. In the meantime I am trying to sew 3 jedi robes and looking at light sabers online. Sheesh.
Rob and Oliver love to battle. Of course Oliver is just mostly blocking and hitting slow. While Rob on the other hand is hitting as hard as he can and as fast as he can. He is crazy around Oliver...always trying to get him. (I hope he will grow out of that)

I love robs little foot coming up here...I don't know why...it shouldn't warm my heart so much to see my one year old fighting with a light saber. Sigh....I never let Oliver have a sword untill know....Oh well...I had good intentions.
Rob loves his saber...of course he always wants Oliver's...I am getting to the point where I have to buy TWO of the EXACT same toy. They always want Rob to be Darth Maul when they play Star Wars...Poor kid. Don't you worry though he can take care of himself.
He goes everywhere with this light saber. We were at Costco and I heard two different little boys say "mom....his mom let him bring HIS light saber". Of course father like son...he has to have the purple light saber (that is the color Mace Windu has mom). Cortney's favorite color has been purple for probably the last 20 years.
So I know this looks bad...but Oliver is actually really good not hurting Rob...he is just holding the saber at his neck.