Flu, flu go away, don't come again another day!

Poor Mikey....it got him this weekend! He had to make an emergency stop on the off-ramp of the freeway yesterday to barf! Ugh! All three kids had it a week ago (on the same day, thank goodness), but Mike's is lasting longer!

The kids and I met Scott & Kellie and fam on Thursday at Copper Hills High School to watch Brock play football! When we got there we realized that none of us knew his jersey number! After a few unproductive phone calls and Kellie and I telepathically telling the boys to take off their helmets, we saw Brock!

He played great! What a tough kid! We missed his great moment of the game, however, because we were late. (The game started at 4pm, but all the kids get out of school at 3:30p and it wasn't possible to be there on time.) He picked off a pass and ran it back for 20 yards!

It was fun to watch him and it made me 'football hungry' again! Every year about this time I start 'craving' football! More specifically, Utah football! We were wanting season tickets again this year, but it didn't work out. Let's hope for another fun year!

Since my camera is still D.O.A., I'll have to just update without photos! We had a ward activity last night. Yep, Mike had to miss it! He did contribute, though. Even though he was deathly ill, he ran to the store to get root beer EXTRACT. I had been to 5 stores and all I could find was root beer CONCENTRATE....not the same thing. :) I ran out of time, and so he ran to find some. The root beer was a hit!

We had a picnic at Angel Street Park. The Primary did some games. Our awesome high councilman brought his snow cone machine and cotton candy machine again. He and his wife are really cool! We had our 3rd annual Men Only Dessert Contest. Good food, lots of people and lots of chatting/mingling....perfect evening!

I missed having Mikey there. The whole committee was really good pulling this thing off, though. We have been blessed with great people to work with! I was so spent and tired today, though. I could tell because I just cried through Relief Society. The women were in there because of the visiting teaching conference. If I had been in Young Womens, I'm sure I wouldn't have melted down! There was something about the message and also being able to relax and only think about what the Bishop and Monica Jergensen were speaking about that set me off. I love Rachel Orison because she was sitting by me and wrapped her arm around me and didn't ask questions.

I came home and after taking care of lunch, got in a good nap! Now I'm good to go! If we can just get Mikey feeling better....

"I'm so glad school is back in!"

The title is a direct quote from Sydney! She is so excited to be back at school. We must have had a boring summer! She would have me print off math pages and she learned how to tell time this summer. Her mind is soaking up everything she can right now! Good thing for her, she now has a full-time teacher to fulfill that need to learn!

Sydney this year (above)
Sydney last year

Sydney has been an early riser anyway, but even more so that school is in. She usually wakes me up! She gets dressed, makes her bed, feeds Max and sometimes does her dish job. She always does her hair and she looks beautiful!

Amanda this year (above)Amanda last year!

Amanda isn't so glad that school is back in. But, she has been up all week on time and be able to make the bus. We have bus drama this year as the kids on Shadow Breeze are now on a different bus than the street her friends live on. After a few adjustments to that, I'm sure we'll all be fine.

Amanda likes her teacher so far, although she doesn't like it when the teacher gets mad at other students. I told her it's not you so why are you upset...Amanda took a summer enrichment class and so I'm sure she doesn't feel like summer was long enough!

Brandon starts school in a couple of weeks. He's excited to wear his spiderman backpack!

I miss having the girls home. I have bittersweet thoughts when school starts. I hate that the kids are growing up! And when school is in, the time flies faster! But, I am grateful for the routine and schedule of school. Things were getting out of hand: bedtime, cleaning, meal times....but it is fun to be spontaneous and not have so much responsibility!

Mike gave the kids their Father's Blessings on Sunday. He did a great job and it's always reassuring knowing that he has blessed them in the school year. We are so proud of our children and the people they are becoming. We know we don't say it enough to our kids, but WE LOVE YOU!

Oh my

Dearest Max,

IT'S A GOOD THING YOU'RE CUTE!

One of our darling children left MY camera on the patio table accidently. When I asked where it was, a shear look of terror crossed this child's face as she/he ran to the backyard to find my camera that was used as a chew toy.

He ate the memory card, tore the battery out, broke the door off....total loss.....

It's kind of how our luck is going right now. Add a new camera to the list of things that have been broken and need replacing......maybe it's karma....I would hope we would have had some good karma??? :)

I am using Amanda's camera for now and as soon as I learn how to download, I'll post the pictures from the girl's first day of school!!!!!

Taking the Bees boating!

Cute Bees! Baylee, Rebekah, Olivia, Aubreyan

Swarm of bees in the water!

Jen's boat!

Since we didn't get to take the girls boating after Girl's Camp as planned (it rained), Mike suggested we take the Beehives boating one day. Thursday was finally the day! We were lucky to have Jen Lucas volunteer her boat and also Marcia for coming to help us. Our other advisor, Sarah, had a biking accident and wasn't able to come. Brittney Smith and my family rounded out the crowd!
Emma & Aubreyan
Casey & Kirsten Amanda, Camberra, Morgan

We went to Pineview. We had to wait about a half hour in traffic for an accident. That always makes you mad. We hurried to get going so we would have a long time on the lake with the girls, only to get delayed by an accident! Oh well....we were still on the lake for about 4 hours. Kayla, Brittney, Jen, Marcia

Little Syd Syd....she wasn't feeling well....

Morgan being daring. We traded boats and these 3 girls ended up lucky! No competition for the tube. They probably rode for 45 minutes! Morgan, Emma & KaylaThe other tube...I think Amanda is in this one....too blurry. Amanda had a blast hanging with the Beehives. She is about a year away from going to YW! We can't believe it!A big storm cloud came along and scared everyone off the lake except us! We stayed until dark! The girls had a blast and wanted to go next week! Then, when we told them we couldn't, they asked for next month....we had to tell them maybe next year! It was a great time with cute, cute girls! Thanks to Mikey, Jen & Marcia for helping us out!!!

Mikey's birthday!

Monday was Mikey's big 39th birthday! We are finally the same age again (for a few months)!We invited our neighbors to come boating with us to celebrate. We headed to Echo...our favorite lake right now, but it was a little too windy for anything but the tube. No one cared, though and we had a great time! Here's Josh Harwood and the girls on the tube. This was Josh's first time on the tube (I think), and he did great! He just wanted a short ride, though. We also got Spencer out on the tube. He did great! But, he was only up for a short ride, too. So, Amanda and Emily and I rode the tube for awhile. Mike gave us a great ride....no breaks...we were screaming! Then, Scott drove for awhile. I think we are lucky no one was hurt! :)

Here is Emily and Cooper! This was Coop's first boat ride! He did amazing! When he started getting a little antsy, we just let him drive (the boat was stopped), but he really liked that!

Here's Spencer...here is about the time Sydney and Amanda got ahold of the camera....

I made a little cheesecake for his birthday....and we lit the candles and sang to him right there on the lake! Thank goodness the Harwood's sing happy birthday like we do.....

Next up on the tube were Scott & Mike! I drove and gave them a 'pretty good ride' to quote Mike! We did a lot of donuts....

Show - off! :)

Ha-ha!

We had a great time celebrating Mike's birthday at the lake! Thanks to the Harwoods for coming with us and making it tons of fun!

Famous Butler-ites...minus me!

Bryan, Bart & Gayle, Heather, Jodi Clark Ludlow, me & Mikey

We went to Heather Hopkin Moss's house last night for a little Butler 20th ward/class of 1988 reunion. It ended up being just the same group of us that went to dinner a few months ago, along with Heather's parents, Bart & Gayle. Bart was Mike & Bryan's Priest Quorum Advisor and did a great job! Everyone kept bringing up fun stories from when they were Priests and we couldn't stop laughing!

Mike grew up in a ward similiar to our current ward. There were a ton of kids and they were a close group. I get excited for our kids to grow up in the same situation. My ward was smaller on the kid end, and we were divided by 13th East....my fam being in the smaller neighborhood. Although I loved my ward growing up, I do envy Mike's great adventures and memories.

We worked on the high school 20th reunion committee with Heather and Jodi last year and it has been fun to reconnect with them. We hope to make this get together at least a yearly thing, if not more, so that we can keep those friendships alive. They are all wonderful people and we really enjoy hanging out with them!

Hobo Hut

From my friend, Natalie's blog:

Last Thursday a big wind/rainstorm blew through our neighborhood. There are a cluster of big old willow trees across the street from us in the common area. One of the big wind gusts broke a huge branch right in half, leaving a tangle of leaves and branches. Who knew what fun this would bring for our neighborhood kiddos! They all gathered and worked like bees in a hive to build a fort. Girls, boys, dogs, you name it, they were there working on their creation. It provided hours and hours of entertainment all day, everyday. Our friend dubbed it the "hobo hut." It was quite fun and elaborate-with flags, a place with berries, and at one point a handmade quilt (I think that got put away when the mother realized what it was being used for-aah!). I know the kids were sad to see it go when the landscape crew came on Tuesday and cleaned it up. I was sorta sad too! Drake and I enjoyed watching the kids play. (Her Drake is almost a year old).

Perfect description from Natalie of this great hut that our kids built. It kept them busy all day and really used their imaginations. It brought kids out from all over the neighborhood! I am mourning the loss of the hobo hut....even though Scott, our next door neighbor, called it White Trash....all the Mom's share the same feeling about that glorious hut! Wish it could have stayed 2 more weeks until school started! Maybe we can pray for more wind.....

Night terrors or night giggles?

You have heard of night terrors, right? Where a child wakes up and screams or cries and they aren't really awake....and you can't wake them up?

Well, when Brando is really, really tired, he gets a form of night terrors. First, he wakes up and cries, but you can hug him and get him to lay back down. As soon as he settles, he gets the giggles! He giggles for like 10 minutes and then goes back to sleep. What a funny way his body has to relieve the stress....

He did this again tonight. Our kids, like many kids in the summer, haven't been to bed before 11pm most nights...all summer. I used to be such a stickler with bedtimes. Mikey is in Denver for a couple of days, so I decided I would keep the kids in the house after dinner and put them to bed earlier.

Well, they went out again after dinner, but only for about a half hour and then I made them come back in. Brandon was so mad and fussed and cried and didn't want to go to bed. He was like this all day long actually. I've been waiting for bedtime since about 9am.

I stood firm and got he and Sydney into bed just before 8:30pm. He was asleep in minutes. Sydney, not so much, but I didn't expect her to go right to sleep. Amanda got home from her dance class and was in bed by 9:30p. Success!

Brandon woke up and had one of his 'episodes' just a few minutes ago. So strange! I just hope that he sleeps through the night and I don't end up with one of the kids in the bed with me tonight!

Summer is almost over and it's gone by soooo fast this year! I'm torn between wanting more summer freedom and having the kids home with me....and getting ourselves into a routine with a good bedtime schedule! Unfortunately or Fortunately, I don't have a choice. Summer is almost gone......

Brandon funnies....

(I didn't have a #9 yet, so I put 38 + 1 on this cake-I know-I'm a nerd)

We had our little family dinner to celebrate Mike's birthday on Saturday. We did it Saturday because Mrs. Backer's isn't open on Mondays (Mike's bday was on a Monday this year) and there is NO WAY a Backer's cake would last until Monday when we bought it on a Saturday!

Anyway, we sang to Mike and afterward Brandon said, 'Where are his presents?' I told him that we are his presents (meaning his family).

Brandon didn't like this and insisted Daddy needed presents.

So, Mike asked Brandon if he could have some of Brandon's Star Wars toys for his

birthday presents.

Brandon didn't miss a beat and said, 'No, Dad...we are your presents!'

Happy Birthday Mikey!!!

Our dear Mikey turns 39 today!

Do you think I can make 39 statements about the love my life? Let's see...

1. He never lets me forget that I'm older than he is (it's an insignificant amount-not even a full year!) 2. He is a hard worker-both at his job and anything he does around the house

3. He likes to be going, going, going-we don't relax on vacation....we go see stuff and do things

4. He loves the Utes

5. He loves his Caddy-even though all his Caddy peers are old guys

6. He loves us!

7. He has a big heart. When he sees someone in need, he acts.

8. He is a tease
9. He loves his parents and his brothers and he loves my parents and brothers (and all the sis-in-laws & their offspring, too!)

10. He is very loyal

11. He is a great cook. When he has time to indulge us, everything turns out perfect and yummy

12. He fulfills his church responsibilites and honors his priesthood

13. He's amazing at math!

14. He's fearless....always ready to try something new

15. He's always reading books

16. He's very book smart (see #15), but is very street smart, too

17. He's great with directions....we don't ever get lost (he's a human GPS)

18. He has a deep love for our country

19. He has a testimony of the gospel

20. He loves dogs

21. He's awesome at sports: biking, running, water skiing, snow skiing ... anything he puts his mind to, he does

22. He's a great gardener

23. He loves to take us boating

24. He's very patient

25. He doesn't swear ever....really

26. He is an amazing Dad

27. He's a great friend

28. He likes tradition and making memories for our children

29. He's very, very handsome!

30. He supports me in whatever I want to do

31. He has a great sense of humor

32. He writes me the greatest love notes

33. He is really good at present giving. He really thinks it through to make sure the recipent will like the gift

34. He knows Steve is gay (just because I know Steven is going to write something mean in the comments!)

35. He's understanding of me 36. He is a night owl

37. He still enjoys a good nap

38. He doesn't give himself enough credit

39. He loves me and he is my best friend!

Happy Birthday, babe! I love you, forever!