July Wrap Up

I know there is still a week left in July but this month has already been full enough to count as two months for me. And this upcoming week is full of work and that's no fun so I thought this would be a good time to recap the last three + weeks of the events I didn't already post.

July started out with my dad and I heading up to girls camp for a week. There where over 140 young women ages 12-18 and it was an eventful week. We took off Monday night after the fourth of July weekend and made it up to camp in time for dessert. Everything seemed calm and peaceful so we settled into our assignments and got ready for the week. My dad was a floater that week, being given any assignments they needed a guy to do. He helped build a playhouse with other men and the young women which was donated last week to the Sacramento Children's receiving home. That was a neat project. Then he controlled the zip line one afternoon at the "pond" (they call it a pond, I think it's just a really big mud puddle - yuck) and was given the nickname Captain Zipper. He also went repelling with the oldest group of girls on Wed. Even though it was super hot that day I think he had a great time. I was over the 3rd year girls, which was about 35+ girls ages 13 and 14. Even though it was the largest group in numbers, the girls all where very helpfully and enthusiastic which was so nice for me as their leader. I didn't expect the week to be a problem being pregnant, but the altitude did effect me a bit, plus the heat was intense, and there was no where to go to get out of the mugginess. That made it for a long week, but overall, it was a good time for all. July is also a big birthday month in my family. We seem to like to do things in bunches. May is of course mother's day, but then it's also my Mom's b.day, Tanner's b.day and my b.day all within a week of each other. Then we do it again in July. Danica's b.day is the 6th, my Dad's is the 10th and Ty's is the 13th. We finally helped Eric out who was all alone in Nov. Now he'll have the baby to share his month with him and my Grandma and Thanksgiving take up the end of that month. So anyway, because of camp we split the b.day's up into two Sundays. We had a small family party for Dee the Sunday before we left. She turned the big 2-0 and she's so stinkin' cute! Then we did the camp thing and when we got home we celebrated my dad's the following Sunday and we included Ty in with that one too. My grandma had just gotten into town for the week that Sunday afternoon as well to join the festivities. It was a nice family event.
While the two older people didn't do a huge party of any kind, the littler one of the three wanted a big shindig. Ty turned 4 this year and I was all for throwing him a big party. The poor kid has had to cancel his party for two years in a row due to extreme heatwaves the week of his party. And while he was only 2 and 3 those years and he didn't really get what was going on, this year, he was getting a party, period and he was so excited for it. As many of you here in the Sacramento area remember though, his party followed the week of 113+ days and the fires where so bad you couldn't see the end of the street because of the smoke. This was the week I was at camp and couldn't believe we might have to cancel again! Gratefully the breeze kicked up Thur. night and by Sat. it was much much better. We had a big carnival themed party and the kids had a great time. They had a tattoo station and a treasure pit and a balloon face decorating station as well as the trampoline and other fun games in our backyard. My favorite part of the party was the giant popcorn boxes we had outside the front of the house. It was my big project I did before the party and it was my pride and joy. I'm a dork, I know, but I don't care. Ty had such a great time I was glad he finally got his party and thanks to all his friends who came.So that's a wrap-up of the "events" for the month. The rest of the month was filled with visits by Great Grandma, work and various summer time activities. Overall, it was a crazy, super fun month!

Remember how great you are.

Minutes after my last post, my bug went away. I figured the exhaustion would kick in sometime, just not that soon. My Grandma sent this to me shortly after and I really liked it. Just one of those silly forwards, but a nice reminder too. My favorite part is running on diet coke and left-overs.

By the time the Lord made woman,

He was into his sixth day of working overtime.

An angel appeared and said,

"Why are you spending so much time on this one?"

And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on her?

She has to be completely washable, but not plastic,

have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable

and able to run on diet coke and leftovers,

have a lap that can hold four children at one time,

have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart

-and she will do everything

with only two hands."

The angel was astounded at the requirements.

"Only two hands!? No way!

And that's just on the standard model?

That's too much work for one day.

Wait until tomorrow to finish."

"But I won't," the Lord protested.

"I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart.

She already heals herself when she is sick

AND can work 18 hour days."

The angel moved closer and touched the woman.

"But you have made her so soft, Lord."

"She is soft," the Lord agreed,

"but I have also made her tough.

You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."

"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel.

The Lord replied,

"Not only will she be able to think,

she will be able to reason and negotiate."

The angel then noticed something,

and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek.

"Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model.

I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one."

"That's not a leak,"

the Lord corrected,

"that's a tear!"

"What's the tear for?" the angel asked.

The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy,

her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love,

her loneliness, her grief and her pride."

The angel was impressed.

"You are a genius, Lord.

You thought of everything!

Woman is truly amazing."

And she is!

Women have strengths that amaze men.

They bear hardships and they carry burdens,

but they hold happiness,

love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.

They sing when they want to cry.

They cry when they are happy

and laugh when they are nervous.

They fight for what they believe in.

They stand up to injustice.

They don't take "no" for an answer

when they believe there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.

They love unconditionally.

They cry when their children excel

and cheer when their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about

a birth or a wedding.

Their hearts break when a friend dies.

They grieve at the loss of a family member,

yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.

They know that a hug and a kiss

can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you

to show how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.

They bring joy, hope and love.

They have compassion and ideals.

They give moral support to their family and friends.

Women have vital things to say and everything to give .

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,

IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

I've caught a bug

Watch out everyone... I don't know what I've got but it's taking over. Yesterday morning I couldn't stop cooking and I made super yummy blueberry buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. After that I wanted to make a bunch of desserts for that evening. I only got around to making cream puffs, but they were still delicious. Last week several miscellaneous projects took place for no reason at all other than to get them done. I've been a pro at getting my laundry done, not just done, but put neatly away. (If you know me well, you know that in it's self is amazing). Then this morning, I planned on taking it really easy due to major major lack of sleep and what do I do? I pile into cleaning my hall closet. In my house the hall closet is the -scary closet that you probably don't want to open unless you have to- kind of a place. I should of taken a picture of the before, but lets be honest here, like I would actually document the chaos. But I did take the after photo. I would like to give myself a pat on the back for being a great housewife today. Good job Nicky D!

Gas Mask

Last week at our church youth activity the boys played the girls in a war with air-soft guns. Eric was out of town so I had to bring the boys with me. I set them up with a movie in the corner so they wouldn't be in the middle of the action, but as soon as it started, Tanner had to come out and see what was going on. One of the boys gave Tanner this mask and he wore it all night while he watched the game. He did say he was a monster and growled at me a couple of times. I sent the picture to Eric that night and let him guess what I was doing with his kids while he was out of town.

We love the zoo

When GG (Great-Grandma) comes to visit we love doing fun things. And one of the most fun things for my kids at least is going to the zoo. So last Wednesday we headed off to the Folsom Zoo for a morning of fun. The boys love that Zoo. It's not too big, but it has all the fun animals they love, lions and tigers and bears, oh my! We went early in the morning so all we could see the animals before it got too hot.

I've never been to the zoo that early, but I'll never go later in the day again if I can help it. All the animals were up an moving... it was so fun. Last time Tanner went with my mom some of the animals had already settled in for the morning naps. Any time after that when he'd talk about the animals (which happened a lot) and he mentioned the fox or the kitties, he always included, 'yeah, they're sleeping'. This time the fox and the kitties weren't sleeping and he was so happy. He didn't totally understand why he couldn't pet everything he saw, but he got to pet the deer. Actually the deer came right up to the fence. Ty and Tanner feed her leaves and they were as happy as clams to sit and pet the deer. In fact Tanner didn't care if he saw other animals or not. We did tear him away when I saw a sign that said the deers might has ticks on them and shortly after another mom at the zoo said she knows a girl got poison oak from the deer's fur after touching them a couple of weeks before. Great, I thought. So far, so good, but they really should tell the deer to stay away from the fence if they are going to be yucky, right? :)

To finish the trip we had to take a ride on the train. The little trip around the figure eight was a great way to wrap up the day. On the way out we said goodbye to the 20 chickens who just walk around the zoo and went home to look at all the pictures we had taken that day. The boys spent more time looking at the pictures than they did at the zoo, but that what makes it fun right?

4th of July wrap-up

This post got started back last week after the weekend of the 4th but I never posted it before I was out of town for the week, so here it is, a week late:)

Our Fourth of July this year was so perfect! The most amazing part was the weather. I've never had a fourth be so perfect in terms of weather. There was a nice breeze, it didn't get too hot. It was everything a pregnant lady could ask for.
We started out the morning at a neighborhood park with our Ward and had a yummy breakfast that we ate too much of, it was just so good. I still am one to believe though it would be so good even if it was just store bought donuts and bagels, as long as I didn't have to make it:) Then the kids from church all had their bikes decorated and did a parade for all the adults. Even Tanner went along while Eric helped him get up the big hill. Tyler went down the big hill and almost ruined the morning as we saw him zooming past with his feet up in the air and we watched him fly down the hill and barely stop soundly at the bottom after much wobbling back and forth on the bike. It would of been the biggest crash! Then we came home and did a little yard work, but mainly just enjoyed the day. After naps we went to our friends house to swim, BBQ and celebrate their daughter's 3rd b.day. All the kids played really well together. Erin made this amazing princess cake for Emma and we finished off the party with fireworks in the street in front of their house. Eric and I got a little worried about how Tanner would react to the fireworks because last year he cried. But this year, he laughed during the whole thing. At one point he did turn to us and say he was scared, but when we asked if we was scared, he smiled and said, "no, their nice!" as he extended his hand in a petting type motion. He normally uses that phrase when we talk about petting a kitty softly or something, and he applied it to the fireworks. It was cute. As we left our friends house the fireworks at the Placer Fairgrounds had just started so we pulled over in front of the fairgrounds on a little piece of grass and sat out and enjoyed the show there too. The kids loved it!
We got home tired and happy, what a nice way to spend the fourth!

Oh my darlin'

Today was great. It's been a week, and it's only Wednesday. One of these days I'll go back through my other blog entries and see how many start with, 'it's been a week', or something like that. They seem to be frequent. Nothing major has happened, there is just a lot going on that all needs my attention NOW! So today, I took the first half of the day off. My friend Wendy planned this great get away for me and a couple other gals and we packed up the kids and headed to Lake Clementine. It's just outside of Forrest Hill and it's so nice. The only downside to the morning was the smoke from the fires, but down at the water, it wasn't too bad. The lake, or river, or whatever you want to call it was refreshing, not too cold, just too cold for me, and it's super shallow for most of the area we stayed in. There were 7 kids there playing so nicely with each other. I think Tanner was the only one who cried, and it was almost always due to falling. He's not a huge fan of getting wet, but he always wants to be in the water, explain that to me? But all in all it was so nice to relax and spend a day away, even if it was just 20 min. away.
Now we are back in the real world, guess it's time to get to work. Dang.