Playgroup party

Halloween was a many part series this year. These pictures are from the first party-the resident playgroup party at daddy's work. We went all out for this one for Ender especially-makeup, black hairspray, fake teeth and all. Sadly, the teeth were too big and set off his gag reflex and he threw up in the parking lot of the hospital right as we got there. I had to clean him up, change him and try to clean the car up in the parking lot-it was awesome (read sarcasm). Nonetheless, it worked out and we made it to the party. Here are a few pictures:

At home with the dreadful teeth.
FYI-Armour dressed as his Papou (my dad). So he is wearing a red (in honor of the Utes) polo and dockers. We grew his hair out, parted it on the side, sprayed it gray, borrowed an old pair of my dad's glasses and voila! Instant Papou...(Isn't my dad adorable? I should note that Armour made me call him dad every time he was in costume last week...)

Enjoying some popcorn.

Watch out little pumpkin-that vampire might get ya!

Daddy stopped by for a few minutes!!!!!!! We love that guy!!!!!!!!!!

3

Burn

Armour loves to "help" me cook. I give him little safe jobs and keep him away from hot things and knives-or at least I try. About a week before Halloween, I was cooking some pasta for dinner. I was alone in the kitchen. I took the pasta pot off the burner and over to the sink to dump said pasta into strainer, and in that 20 seconds, Armour came in behind me and grabbed the burner. It was really sad. His hand is burned in a ring pattern. The pictures do not do it justice. It is healing, and he is doing well. Here are the pics:

The burn shortly after it happened.

"Mommy it huts!"

Pain! (Note the cute baby girl in the background too!)

After it was cooled down, looked at, wrapped and ready to go-he crashed on the new futon-cute little sweetie-poor guy!!
The next day he wanted to take the bandage off all day so I finally let him wear daddy's long sleeved shirt and tied his wrapped hand into it...At first he thought it was funny and interesting:
Then it made him mad...

Bicycle blues...

Ignore the laundry in the background and the cute baby in the playpen, and just focus on the exercise bike in this picture, then be tormented and frustrated along with me as I tell the tale of my bicycle blues...

So, it is cold now. And it is dark early now. Wes exercises every night by roller blading or jogging around the lake. He cannot anymore as it is dark and cold. I cannot get out much (or at all) to exercise as we have 4 kids. There is no way we can afford a monthly gym membership, so in the long run we decided it was better for us to buy an exercise bike from Sears. We did not want crap though so we didn't just buy the cheapest. We actually looked at the sale bikes, found what we thought would be a good deal and last us as we strive to be thinner. So, we bought it, brought it home, Wes put it together (not a small project), and we rode it. We rode it for 2 blissful day!

Then the clicking started, the click, click, clicking...followed by the skipping...and by the 3rd day we had it, it did not work at all. We called Sears-they said we should call Nordic Track first, then they would help us if Nordic Track didn't. (We had some trouble with Sears anyway as it was not in the original packaging.) So, it was a Friday evening when it stopped working. Sadly, the call center, which is in Logan BTW (which is why I blame Mel for all bike related problems) is only open M-F. So, we wait...

Monday comes around and I call them only to be told I need to remove the bolt (we had already tried that) and remove the pedal and see which part needs to be replaced. I tell her the bolt will not budge and am told to keep trying. I do-all day, spending literally hours.

The next morning, I call back and talk to Tuesday guy. "Listen Tuesday guy," I say "I tried the bolt thing all day and again today and even had my ripped husband try it last night. The thing will not budge." He asks me to try again. I do. Nothing still. He says "OK, let me put you on hold and see what I am authorized to do." Tuesday guy puts me on hold and I make one last desperate attempt...it budges...I get it off-Miracle achieved!!!

Tuesday guy comes back to the phone I exclaim, "I did it-the bolt is off! I have conquered the bike!" He says, "Great-now you need to pull the pedal off. It might take some time, so call back when you get it off and I can talk you through the rest." My ballooned spirits deflate as I hang up. I spend all night trying to get pedal off-doesn't work (but on a positive note, I am in fact getting some exercise out of my bike as I am spending hours of upper body strength training...)

Wednesday morning as call center opens I call..."Hello Wednesday girl. I am a dissatisfied customer and I need help." I proceed to explain my problem. Wednesday girl says "Huh, Monday and Tuesday people told you to take that off? Funny, you cannot take the pedal off without a special tool."

WHAT?!

I freak. I insist they get someone out here to fix my bike, I yell about the time lost in my quest for a perfect body (or at least a more perfect body), I complain about my worthless guarantee and their lack of customer service. I pull out all my best stuff. She asks to put me on hold to "see what she can do." Click. Line goes dead-yes folks-she hung up on me!

I call back, this time in a fury! I talk to Wednesday girl 2 and she very apologetically and patiently helps me arrange to get a tech out to fix my bike. Finally, someone is doing something. She tells me the part will be mailed to me after which I have to call the person to come fix it. The part will ship out in 7-10 business days, then I will have to wait for it in the mail, call the tech when it comes and get his next appointment which could be up to 2 weeks out. I freak again about the fact this process could take up to a month to fix-my warranty on a bike that essentially never worked is going to be out before they fix it (ok, not really) and that I am just sitting here with an isore in my living room. I yell and scream and she tells me she will put it as an expedited order, and arranges for my warranty not to begin until the bike is actually fixed and working.

I hang up still pissed and a bit annoyed, but wait for the part. 2 days later it comes in the mail (yea-things are turning up). I call the tech and he can come on Monday (yeah even better!)

So, Monday (2 days ago) he comes I give him the part, he looks at the bike...wrong part. And the process begins again...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Will I never lose this baby weight?!

Ah Life...life, family, & ham..Oh my!!

So, this will be about as random as they come...

First, I just wanted to note that I loved General Conference-it is so much better fighting 4 kids in my pajamas and in my own house! Also, there were a few great talks that I actually got to hear (between the fights to get 4 kids under 6-yrs-old to watch 8 hours of church). More on that later!

Second, I have been so struck lately at how fast time flies! I look at Kindle and how much she has grown and developed in her short 5 months and I am amazed and a bit saddened. She could be my last baby, and as that is a possibility, I have been really trying to notice and enjoy each and every phase and development. I have done this with the other children, but I am just so struck this time by the thought that this might be the last of my babies. It is a sad thought...but I do love watching all my kids learn and grow. It is amazing how fast it goes...I know everyone says that, but I feel it now...I really feel it...Life is passing by, and I am making sure I do not miss it!!

Third, On a much lighter tone, I have always thought of ham as the poor mans turkey. I could never understand why anyone would choose ham over turkey for a sandwich-it frankly seemed silly to even have ham sandwiches on a menu when turkey was available. Now, that said, Ender loves ham and always chooses it over turkey. Crazy! But because he loves it (and his siblings, but mostly Ender), I buy both ham and turkey when I buy deli meat. So, the other day, the turkey I love was way too expensive and there was a similar one on sale. There was also some ham on sale. So I bought a pound of each sale meat. When I got home and tried the turkey, I liked it as usual, but it somehow was not hitting the spot if your know what I mean. So I tried a piece of the ham...OH MY GOSH!!! This ham is the reason people eat sandwiches-it was SOOOO good...I have had to readjust my whole view of ham...nice to know I am still able to reassess in my old age...maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks?

Fourth, I owe you all a big catch-up blog about my kids-Solace is star of the week at school this week, Ender is becoming the world's pickiest eater and toughest student, Armour can spell his name (and there is video to prove it), and Kindle is just growing so fast now!! She can almost sit up alone, and we are pretty sure she now has a 3-word vocabulary that includes "hi," "mom," and "dad."

Oh-I better add a fifth and note that in the past 2 weeks in my stupider moments, have managed to catch rice on fire-filling my house with smoke and sending our family on an extended walk to let the house air out (after the fire was out of course). I have also run out my garage door barefoot in pursuit of an escaping child only to step on a rusty old nail. I will spare you the details at this juncture, but it made it so I had to go get a horrible, painful Tetanus shot. At some point I will blog and explain there 2 glowing moments of stupidity, for now the teaser will have to be enough.

If you made it to the end of this-kudos! Oh, and if you talk to Wes you might mention what you read cause there is no way he's reading this whole thing!

Now that we have covered that...

I have sufficiently posted my blogs and pics about the Utah portion of this move, so now I guess I will share tales of the move.

So, we left early (not as early as we wanted to) on Sunday June 22 to drive to Omaha. Our plan was to stop in Kearney, Nebraska (about 2 1/2 hours from Omaha) for the night, then to go on to Omaha on Monday in time for our house walk through at 3 pm. Sunday was a long day between potty breaks, food breaks, nursing breaks, and crazy truck problem breaks! Let me explain that, but with a bit of background first...

When we moved from Omaha to Spokane, we took our time (like almost a week I think) to do it. On night one, we stopped near Mt Rushmore for the night, specifically so we could see Mt Rushmore the next day. We had been running late (as usual) and arrived at our hotel quite late. I had to check in, and all 3 kids were asleep, and it was pouring rain. Wes was driving the van, and went to drive around the block to try to find a place to park it while I dragged all 3 sleeping kids through the rain into the hotel to check in. As I was checking in, Wes called me on my cell phone to tell me he was stuck. He had ended up driving onto a dead end, and those that have ever driven a moving van with a car trailer hooked onto it, you already know, you cannot back up with it on the van. So, I had to get the kids back in the car, drive to Wes, and we had to proceed with the 2 person job of getting the car off the trailer, un-hitching the trailer, and backing out the very stuck van (and somehow do this in the Dark, dark midnight time of day and in Pouring rain)...have I mentioned it was pouring rain?! Anyway, we did it, it was a massive hassle, but we did it and it was nuts!

So, we were fully aware of the no backing up thing...fast forward to this move...

We were at our 2nd gas stop, which happened to coincide with a potty/lunch/nursing time (making this an already long stop). So, I was driving the van with the 4 kids in it, and Wes was in the moving truck. I drove up and got gas, then drove into a parking spot to take everyone to the potty. At that point I had lost Wes. I walked into the convenience store (I am sparing them by not mentioning their name as they are a favorite place to us overall, but they were ridiculous and rude and useless at this particular stop...) and took the kids all potty and to change diapers. Armour was a nightmare the whole time, and when we walked out, Wes was in this incredibly long line in the store and he told me that he had not even gotten gas as he had to wait in that line to get his credit card pre activated before it would let him pump. I asked if Armour could go with him as he was driving me nuts (he said yes and took A), and the other 3 and I found some sandwiches and stuff for lunch and entered the long line (by that point Wes was no longer in the store.)

So, we wait in the long line, get crappy rude service, and return to the car with lunch in tow to nurse Kindle. I get Sol & End in their seats eating their lunches and start nursing Kindle. Then Wes called...He said he was stuck in the diesel gas area and he needed some help.

Damn...

So, I stop nursing the very hungry little girl, seat belt all kids I had with me (A was still with Wes), and away we go. It takes me a while to find Wes cause I drove all around the commercial truck area before I found him by where I had been parked in the non-commercial truck diesel area. He explains that he waited in that long line only to find out that at this particular place, the truck pumps are only available for commercial truck use, so he has to go to the public diesel truck pumps. So, he goes over to the 2 pumps and finds that there are 2 campers parked in the way-yes parked in the way!! The people had just pumped up and gone in to eat or something, and after more that 10 minutes waiting, someone finally came out and moved a camper-unfortunately it wasn't the one Wes was waiting behind, so he cranked the steering wheel over and goes into the now, finally empty pump. He pumps his gas, gets in the truck to leave, and realizes that he cannot get the trailer around the pump area and he will have to back up to get out!

Double Damn...

So, we take the car off, take the trailer off, he backs up just enough to be able to get around, and we re hook everything up, and finally get ready to go. By that time, Ender had to pee again, and Kindle was REALLY starving, so we still had to take care of those needs before we could go...

That was the craziest part of our drive (thank goodness). We made it to Kearney that night late, then drove on to Omaha the next morning. More on Omaha & our house in the next post!

In Utah: Ouch!

We went to pick Spence up on his last day of school and we stopped to play on the playground for about 5 minutes before A put his tooth right through his lower lip. Here are a few pics of the aftermath (as in after the bleeding had FINALLY stopped).

Jazz

Seriously-what the heck-did the Jazz forget they had a game to show up for tonight or what?! Dang!!!

OK-so they showed up for the last few minutes-will they pull this out?! 3 points...

Stupid Computer!

So, When we got home from Salt Lake, I uploaded all my pictures, made sure they all worked, erased them from the camera, then my computer had some weird issue that I spent all day the other day working on, and basically, I lost more than half of my Utah pictures, including Armour's first haircut and most of the wedding pictures. I am pretty pissed! But, I will try to piece together some pics that will still show off the difference in the haircut and see if I have a few wedding ones I can still use...

BYU/Utah game

Damn. That is all.

Damn Red Sox!

That is all.

What Happened to the Armour Hot Dog?

As many of you know, I was bound and determined to get Armour one of the above pictured hot dog costumes for Halloween as it would have been hilarious for him to be an Armour hot dog. Sadly, I learned in extensive research that they do not actually make those hot dog costumes in toddler sizes. They make infant ones without leg holes and then size 8 in children to adult, but none of the sizes in between. Thus, no Armour hot dog.

Oh the sad sorry thing we call "van"

Those avid readers of this blog will remember that a few weeks ago, while in Cali, Wes did a good job of junking out my van. Well, I didn't want to plaster his van whoops all over this blog and not even mention my own, more recent whoops...So, here it is. For those that have not been to our place, this is where I have to park my van everyday:

Now, I was not fond of this spot, as I am notoriously a horrible parker. I swore that I would never park the van there the whole year we lived here! But, within the first month or so, I practiced and practiced getting into our spot without hitting any of the obstacles around (other cars, poles, garages...). It is a ridiculously small parking lot. But I finally got good at it. Too good in fact. I was better at parking there then Wes was after a while. That's where the big problems came in. I got comfortable, nay cocky about my excellent parking, and because of my cockiness and my hurry to park the other day, this is what the side of my van looks like now:Good thing it's a very sturdy pole, huh?!You should have seen poor Armour when I hit it. He was sitting in the seat right by the door (no worries-there isn't even any denting-just scratches and paint transfer, so he was unscathed). But he was a bit surprised at the knock and the loud noise! The other two were like, "Oh, mommy! I knew you should have let dad do that." Isn't it the worst when your kids think you can't do something well, and you prove them right over and over?! CRAZY!!!