Boulder Trail Adventure

Had a grand hike with the family a week or so ago. All except for-

Luke falling in the river and then...

we decided to take a short cut...

which caused us to become lost...

shortcut was really a LONGcut which took us up a very steep & muddy hill side...

covered in undergrowth and bushes and fallen trees...

which tripped me...

which caused bleeding and cursing...

which also caused Maddie to laugh at me..

which resulted in me getting slightly hysterical...

and almost peeing my pants...

And during this drama, Sadie is sitting on the hill above me shouting,

"Mom! Hewp! A spido is toming towords me! Hewp! Hewp, Mom!! A spido!!"

(translation, "mom, help. a spider is coming towards me. help. help, mom. a spider!")

Luke shaking his groove thing

Stolen Recipe from Amy: CHILE CHEESE FRITO SALAD

Chile Cheese Frito Salad:

3 (14 oz.) cans of corn, drained

1/4 of a red pepper, diced

1/4 green pepper, diced

1/4 red onion, diced

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 (9 1/4 oz) bag of chili cheese fritos

Combine corn, peppers,onion, cheese, and mayo in a bowl.

Place in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Just before serving mix in the fritos. I save about a handful to sprinkle on the top. I also added a little tried parsley for the picture.Enjoy and eat it all because it’s not good as leftover. The fritos get too soggy.

***Sorry Amy. I copied and pasted your recipe. It just looked so good and I wanted to be able to access it FOREVER! XOXOXO***

Addendum: Just tried it.. LOVED IT! I put cilantro instead of parsley, salt/pepper and a little bit of garlic powder in the mayo.. Soo yummy! Had it with BBQ chicken and fruit. Thanks AMY

YMAD carwash and Trek

Days like today make me realize that being a mom is NO JOKE! Being a mom to 4 children- 2 teenagers and 2 preschoolers is not only NO JOKE, it is SERIOUS BUSINESS that is only for the very skilled and crazy people.  We had a car wash and bake sale to fundraise for Maddie's YMAD trip.  It was 8 hours of bliss. My poor preschoolers were there from 8:30 until 5:00.  I don't know how we managed, but we did.  

Chilling out watching the girls work at the fundraiser!

She is a pro..

Such a cute girl.

She is in the Ms. Sandy court.

She is a real life Princess so of course, 

Sadie had to have a picture with her.

He is such a trouble-maker.

All day long.. nothing but cuteness ad trouble.

I love him, the little devil!

The girls taking a break.

At 3:00, Tanner was to arrive home from trek.  We were so ready to have him home.

Waiting.. waiting ...

The bus was 45 minutes late!

Agony for both Luke and I!

Sadie stayed at the carwash with Maddie.

Poor Daddy-he had to work.

It is always sad when he has to work on these important days.

Especially such a beautiful day!

Very touching to see all of those white hankies waving in a 

big "welcome home" tribute to our "trekkies"

SO HAPPY TO SEE THOSE BUSES!

Luke said to me..

"Mom, I almost cried when I saw Tanner!"

We all missed him so much.

He had an amazing trek experience.

The first thing he said to me is 

"I miss my trek family already!"

I am SO grateful for the experiences that my 

kids get through inspired church programs.

Luke at 5:38 p.m.

Aloe Vera, anyone?

Obviously, we have virgin white skin that is not used to the sun.

I do own sunscreen, but my children (Tanner and Maddie)

refuse to wear it.  What can a mother do?

This is TRUE love

Let me tell you a love story.

It is true-ALL of it.

And it involves me.

I wish it didn't.

I took the best bath yesterday. It was perfectly temperatured.. It had bubbles. And for about 10 minutes, I was able to soak in peace. Then.. my devil children found me and insisted upon getting in with me. Because I was feeling so happy and content I allowed them to get in and start splashing me and shaving each other.. It was magical. After about 5 minutes, Sadie decided she was plenty clean and so she removed herself from the tub. She grabbed a towel and dried herself off-I know, so independant- and got herself dressed. I was the next to be done and so I got myself out and proceeded to dry my massive body. Because I am not wasteful or indulgent, I used the same towel that Sadie had just used. Half way through the monumental task of drying myself, I noticed my body was covered with hair... not MY hair... someone ELSE's hair!

Could it be?

Yes, it could. I was covered in my husband's hair trimmings...

Once or twice a year, my lover gets anxiety which is produced by his body hair. He starts shaving and doesn't stop until he is as smooth and soft as a newborn chick. This task always involves him standing on one of the bath towels as he shaves himself. He is not satisfied until it looks like he is standing on road kill (that manly man has ALOT of hair I tell you!).

Well, on this fine morning, he had left his magnificent man clippings for me and Sadie to slather on our gleaming bodies. He had scrunched the towel up and Sadie, in her innocence, had used his hair towel and me, in my ignorance, had followed her lead. Poor Sadie! I yelled at her to come get back in the tub because her daddy was a moron. She didn't understand what that had to do with anything and so she refused. I, on the other hand, jumped back in the bath and tried to dispose of his nastiness. Then, of course, there is the matter of cleaning the tub after such an incident. How is that fair that he gets anxiety because he has some weird hair phobia and because of that, I end up with anxiety and his hair covering me??

Holy mother scratcher was I in a pickle. Do I call and yell at him? Do I curse him aloud and rant and rave and rent my coat! No! I didn't! Because, I tell you.. I love him and he has been working so hard that I had to give him a pass. It is a one-time only deal though. If it EVER happens again... Well, let's just say, I have two words for what will happen..

LORENA BOBBIT! Shaved or unshaved, it will be LORENA BOBBIT!

Finally

Finally, we get to don the swimsuits and proceed with

 "sprinkler under the trampoline".

It was my favorite as a kid and I think it is a favorite of these 2 rugrats.

YMAD video

Please take a moment to watch this promotion for YMAD's ONE DAY EVENT to be held in Salt Lake City on July 16th. It is the groups biggest fundraising event of the year. If any of you can come support Maddie and YMAD on that day, we would really appreciate it!

Mill B "hike"

Now that is a walking stick!  Three-pronged effect...

Sadie is wearing not a princess dress, but a pen.  She is a professional 

business woman today.  I just love it.

Tanner is gone to Neola.  Has been gone way too long.  Will be back on Tuesday, just in time to go to trek on Wednesday.  So Sad!! 

Maddie was at Grandma Jeanne's having a good talk with Grandpa and Grandma about LIFE.  I am so glad to have such wonderful people in my kids lives!  Everyone needs a pep talk by their grands every once in awhile.  

We (Todd, me and the baby rugrats)  had such a wonderful little hike (a stroll on a paved walkway) up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The water was so impressively scary.  I made my kids stay AWAY, far FAR AWAY! 

It was a gorgeous afternoon with my beautiful babies.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Maddie and Tanner there.. 

LOVE EM ALL

Oh so tired

My new house is lovely.  I love it. Everything, except the backyard.  It is a gigantic mess, a third of an acre of disaster.  When we saw it we wanted to cry because we knew how much work it was going to be to get it looking half-way decent.  

Lucky for me, I have a handyman and he has finally regained his health.  From early in the morning until evening, he has been slaving, trying to fix our yard.  He has poured cement, pulled up curbing, dug up sprinkler line, leveled, measured, put in gravel & bark, relocated large boulders and flagstone rock, replanted several plants and trees, fertilized and mowed and edged and trimmed... well, you get the picture.  He is BACK! He is a crazy man when he has a project and I basically just have to move out of his way.  These pictures do not do the mess justice.  This is not even the before before pictures. These are the after before pictures so despite the mess, you must understand this is 10 billion times better than the yard when we moved in.  I can't even tell you the disgusting things we found while cleaning up--I felt as if I needed a haz-mat suit.  

Todd is half way thru this little flower bed which is outside the master bedroom and bath.  I can't wait until he is done with it.  I love quakies- I also have been informed they are junk trees, but I don't care and this one is right outside the bathroom window and I love to look out in the morning and see the leaves dancing in the ever-blowin wind..

This is a shot of our lovely lawn after the cement was poured. 

Love it.

It is also a shot of my sweet 5 year old who is playing without a shirt with his sled on a summer day.  Hmm.. weird... Notice also the sweat band around the top of his head. So full of style.

Holy hannah! See that tree to the left of the picture.. the big one.. Um, yeah, we transplanted that from another spot in the yard.  It had to be moved to make way for the gigantic cement pad my husband had to install for a basketball court.  So far, the tree is living. I can't believe it.  The root ball on it was about 8-9 feet across.  We had to have a fork lift to move it.

Todd installing the poles for his net which will keep basketballs from entering neighbor's backyard.

This is my wonderful father-in-law cutting down what we like to call 

"the monstrosity".

It was a huge outdoor fireplace with a trellis thingy.  

Only half finished.

We decided he half-finished it because he realized what a stupid thing he had done.  

We are cutting it down to bar height and going to install a solid surface countertop and in between the 2 countertops will be a fire pit.  I think it will be awesome when it is done.  

We now have a view of the rest of our stunning yard.

And the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Will you look at the corner of that flower bed by the tramp?

You could seriously hid a couple of dead bodies back there. 

America's Next Top Model looking fierce.

He is holding his subway bag that he got with his kid's meal yesterday.

He has decided that it will be his scripture bag.

So we will be attending church with this plastic subway bag and his scriptures safely perched inside.  As he removes them, everyone will get to smell that deli meat smell that so eloquently says, "Subway.. Eat Fresh".

Summer Fashion by Sophie

Follow these rules and you too can look like Sophie and live a life of high fashion and sophistication.

1. Don't wear pants. It gives your private parts a nice breeze to keep you fresh. And also, if you need to, you can lay on the grass and get a quick tickle.

2. If you are going to wear a hat make sure it is a pink houndstooth fedora. And don't smile. It makes you look mysterious and fancy and European.

3. If people think you look cute, they may laugh and point at you. They may even take pictures of you and blog about you. Don't get offended. Just take it in stride. Or if you don't stride, take it like me (while sitting down).

4. Summer diets are a thing of the past. Embrace your shape. Even if you are shaped like a large boulder or a bowling ball with legs.

5. Don't shave. Hair is beautiful. Even hair around nipples. Just ask my 9 nipples (YES, 9 nipples). Shaving is over-rated. You humans with your "bald eagles" and "brazilians"! What is your issue? You are sick!

6. Summer is for naps, snacks, laying in the dirt (with no pants or shirt), and getting petted.

OK- don't do that last thing, unless you are married. That is just for Sophie (hussy).