Too much

There is always too much to post about but I am so lazy/busy (ha) to post more than twice a month.
First- full time status isn't so bad (it is only the 8th) but I did do a new trip for me I flew out to Toronto and stayed the night. We had 14 hours on the ground and had the intention of going to Niagara Falls and the car rentals ended up being to pricey for one day and so it didn't work out. We didn't really even leave the hotel because it was by the airport and nothing else.

Chopped 8 inches off of my hair, give me a hallelujah!! my hair was annoying the crazy out of me and it is nice to feel a little more free.

Boat broke down, booo. We finally found out what was wrong and it isn't too bad but bad enough it will stay off the water for a while, parts are ordered.

We actually broke down at Flaming Gorge on the water and it was scary there for a while to be stuck on the lake with no one around to help. We made it back to our campground but had to be towed to the marina to get the boat out of the water and come home.

School starts in less than 2 weeks, sad and glad at the same time. This has been the hardest summer I have ever had while being a mother. It has been hot and smokey and I think they has made the kids grouchy and in turn makes the mom grouchy.

We missed our trip to Canada.......sigh. We really wanted to go and even up to the last minute checking car rentals and options of not spending 1000+ to get there.

We have our first knee boarder of the family. Before our boat broke in Flaming Gorge we were bribing the kids who ever was the bravest and would try knee boarding first would get a special prize. Well surprising Cooper was the one who we coaxed into trying it. Ben got in the water and stabilized him and we started out very slow so Ben could just be dragged behind as well and he stayed up. He got brave enough that he even would move from side to side. He even had a pretty cool wipe out when some waves came from another boat and made him catch air and crash.

Poor Cooper he has been complaining that his teeth her and we found the reason, since this picture has been taken he has lost the tooth under the tooth coming in but has the same thing happening on the other side. He is kind of self conscious about it, he asks if he looks like a freak.....It puzzles me how teeth are so unpredictable why don't they just come down in normal where they are supposed to go?

I almost have all the school shopping done just a few more pants for Cooper and a pair of shoes for Bauer and a pair of shoes for Alivia. Kessler even starts some school this year. Monday-Wednesday and Friday so a little bit more freedom if you can call it that.

We took the kids to the new West Valley Target for the very important guest night, which is usually the team members family. So I decided to dress the boys up as Target employees and go show our support. Well they were a hit. People were cracking up as they walked past and were taking pictures of them. Ben's boss and his boss's boss were very impressed. The picture really don't even do it justice. It was fun.

Happenings

 Alivia was able to perform at a Bee's game with other members of her choir group. It was a fun excursion for a Saturday night. We decided to take the kids on the light rail system here in Utah and started out really close to my Mom's house in West Jordan. We made it there safe and sound and got our tickets, took our seats, watched Livi perform and then had to sit through 9 innings of Baseball, the first few were quite boring so we decided to go get some snacks, buying snacks for 7 kids and 3 adults is pricey so we all pitched in some cash and went and bought some ball park snacks, nachos, licorice, kettle corn and cotton candy. (luckily they gave out water cups. Well that sugar overload made the next 5 innings a little bit more exciting and the game ended with a great fireworks show.

9$ Bee's Ticket, 5$ Nachos, Licking the Nachos bowl clean-Priceless.

Where our night hit a snaf-oo was on the way home the trax system had a pretty significant delay because of an accident farther up the line and set us back about 1 hour and 20 minutes. It is hard letting little kids sit on a train platform for that long. However we really didn't have any choice to go anywhere because we were not really sure when the train would come.

We finally got on the train and made it another 30 minutes to our West Jordan stop. AND THEN Cooper forgets his Nintendo DS on the train. Cooper falls to his knees crying and so upset that he left his DS. So we decided to wait and see if the train would come back and I would jump on and look for it. 10,20,30, 40 minutes pass no train. So I decide to drive a little further up the line and see if I can see and of course as soon as I come around this corner I see the train. So I flip the car around drive like a crazy person down this 35mph road. Stop at a red light, look both ways, go through (I know, my justification is the light in the other direction just turned yellow) So I drive and the rail road lights start flashing I step on it under the arms and drive into the parking lot, jump out of the suburban just as the train is pulling up I go running up to the train and the conductor? holds the DS out his window and says "are you looking for this". I was so happy and relieved I couldn't believe it.

What a crazy night.

Other happenings

Haven't heard about our appraisals?

Ben went to his first training session to be a DTL (District Manager) He got so sick, throw up sick, he said said he had to run out the room with throw up in his hands....gross!!

I went to San Diego for a few days, to hang with my cute pregnant friend that never had her baby but is being induced today.

We had to drain and refill the pool. 

We had to buy new tires for the suburban, Ben got a flat on the side of the freeway on his way to taking the kids to Seven Peaks. The tire was not fixable and all the other tires wouldn't have passed safety due in September. So a huge chunk of change, mostly all of our money we would have used to go to Canada this week. Temporarily off the schedule unless we find a really cheap car rental.

I am going to be a full time flight attendant in about 8 days and we will see how this goes. I got all my regular shifts but bid two-two days ( I haven't flown those kind of trips in years.) pretty cool overnights though, one in Toronto and one in Vegas. They both get in really early so I am hoping to go to Niagara Falls and Vegas we stay at a really nice hotel off the strip so maybe just go and hang at the pool.

I am realizing I need to blog more so my posts are so long and boring.

Hellooo Summer!

Glad June is over with and we are onto July, June was quite busy and as I look through my calendar on my phone I don't see as many blue dots (blue dots= somewhere to be). Mother nature has turned up the heat and man is has been hot. The kids have been swimming almost everyday and keeping themselves busy with friends and playing outside.

Still busy with summer chores, I will say they are getting pretty good at accomplishing household tasks, dishes, sweeping, mopping, Bauer's favorite is actually the bathroom and does a pretty good job.

We had a great 4th, we always doing a combination celebration for Independence day and my Dad and Kyles birthday. The pics below are from our get together.

Carson (my seester's youngest boy)

Addilyn getting so big!

Enjoying some birthday cake.

Some "highlights" (said with some sarcasm) for July so far.

Appraisal done and done (they did two this time).

SkyWest suspended part time for all flight attendants, I am required to go back full time for the month of August.

Cooper is loosing teeth right and left 3 in one week. 

Our air conditioner broke for a day and it was horrible!

CrossFit is killing me, when I got back from the workout today I couldn't lift my arms. (and this is supposed to be good for me?)

I found the most delicious cherries at a produce stand.

I need to cut my hair, the question is how much do I cut off?

Ben weighs the most he has ever weighed in his life? (which I think is still 10-15lbs underweight:)

I need to paint my upstairs again.

I cleaned my fridge today, probably a few week too late.

I need my kids to have a bed "time" again this crazy schedule is messing with me.

Somebody call 911

So when it rains it pours, I think I have always hated that saying but lately it has been true.

Not sure if my family reads this post (my Mom, Sisters, Brother and I definitely know that my Dad doesn't).

Not sure why the earth seems to fall out beneath you all in one big motion, maybe it because I have been reading the Hunger Games and that story bouncing around in my head seems to make things worse. I need to stick with love stories I suppose.

I don't want to get into much detail other than, I love my little family, I love talking to Ben about crazy things going on and he doesn't think that I am crazy, he just sends me down a path of trying to do the right thing and tries to help me understand why people act the way they do.

I hope people know that I may not be perfect and want to do what's right in every situation I can. I will still make mistakes and sometimes will do the right thing. I will always cheer for the underdog and can't help laughing sometimes when it's not appropriate. (nerves)

I want to send a shout out to people who still love me even though I can have a sharp tongue and will accept me for the way that I am.

My family (not my kids or Ben, but my side) has had some hard times the last couple days and has sent me into a whirl wind of deep thoughts and sent me some strong messages of learning from others mistakes.

I woke up 2 days ago about 3am feeling as if I had been hit by a truck. As the day progressed my sickness got worse, it has been a really long time since I laid in bed ALL DAY LONG. Luckily Ben was off and shut my door and kept the kids busy. I got caught up on some of my shows that I normally don't have time for and took a hot bath every few hours (5 total) it seemed to be the only thing that took my body aches away. I missed out on a GNO day date, that we had planned for a while, I was so disappointed. Today day 3 of being sick I feel better enough that I finally ate something and have been out of bed and walked all the way into the kitchen. Maybe I am just a wimp, but man this has been brutal. By the way if you are wondering how to loose 5 lbs in 3 days, get strep throat.

On a Target side note, they want to appraise our house again, and for some reason it completely stresses me out. I know my house is a "cookie cutter" house, it is not custom (like I wish it could be) and that is has depreciated in value. Thank you Mr. Economy. I guess I don't like the appraisers coming to my house to tell me things I already know. But I will jump through the hoops they need me to like de-cluttering, cleaning, curb appeal and whatever else I can done in the short time frame.
They are appraising it for a possible relocation package they did this when they thought Ben might be going to Canada. We haven't heard anything about Ben being relocated other than there is a lot of STL movement up North towards Riverdale through the Centerville area. Which is more than 50 miles so they do an appraisal for a possible relocation. But I am not holding my breath.

Mermaid potion?

I came home from work the other day and I sat down to check my email and I pull up the screen and the screen is on You tube with the title " Mermaid Potion". I read a little bit and watch some of the video there are a few girls talking about how to make a potion to become a mermaid, and then I notice on the left of the computer table is a little cup with some cloudy water and a sea shell in it. I didn't think any thing of it at the time. 

Later on Alivia told me how she tried to make a mermaid potion and that it tasted really bad and it didn't work.....;) (salt water was the main solution)

Cooper has started Karate and I love having him in it . The instructors are amazing and I really love the lessons they teach and the topics they cover. Cooper loves it and has been doing so great in it.

Also my little Cooper has started some medication for ADD it was SUPER depressing and I almost started bawling in the pediatricians office when he said just looking at the paper work that we had worked on (to help diagnose him) just looking at the paperwork he said he would treat this child for ADD. I even have a hard time saying that he has it, I think I am in denial for many reasons other than I don't want something to be "wrong" with him..... I know, I know I have had all the talks of how he will do better etc....... but still I was hoping it was just immaturity or just his personality? My main concern is that it would change him, my sweet, happy, energetic, imaginative little boy will be different on meds.  He was and is sadly, he is a little more calm? (don't get me wrong) but he acts tired. It concern me that the medication might be for more of the Hyper active part? we'll see this is the trial period we are working through to get the dosing right so he doesn't have to do this during school. I didn't even tell him what the medication was for until we were at the pediatricians office and the pediatrician told him for me. He still doesn't get it, the test will be in school to see if he can get his grades up and not feel so overwhelmed all of the time.

Summer has been FABULOUS, our recent trip was to Flaming Gorge over by Vernal Utah, the lake straddles Utah and Wyoming. We packed up our entire house (almost, really feels like it anyway) and headed of the a lake neither one of us was familiar with. We stayed at a camp ground that was boat in only and to say the least it was AWESOME (once we found it) . The camp host was so nice and friendly and lived on a house boat there, he road his 4 wheeler around camp all day and helped pack some of our stuff the the top of the campsite which was pretty steep on the lake side.

 

When we got there we set up our stuff and it was dusk and so we just fished off the dock that was assigned to our camp site. In the first 30 minutes they had caught 4 fish. We caught 2 at Deer Creek in 4 days. It was so fun at one point Bauer said "Mom I want to fish, but I wan't to play too" he stayed and fished. They had a great time and loved the nights around the campfire. We taught them how to play charades it was so comical Kessler did the same action for a fish, monkey, mail man, the kids cracked up laughing because you never ever could guess what his word was.

 Love these series of photos, he caught his first fish and wasn't sure about holding it for the picture. He slowly overcame the slimy texture and thought it was awesome.

 Getting warm after she tried the thunder tube and the knee board, she had a major meltdown because knee boards take some balance and she wigged out and tipped over in the water (60 degrees...freezing). Also Bauer was just sitting off the tube by the dock and it tipped over and he was so stunned by the water temperature he couldn't get any words out only groaned short little grunts and then when he caught his breath started crying.

 Cooper was the same as Kessler didn't like the feeling of the fish but after a while liked the photo and smiled when I told him too:)

 The fish of the day went to Alivia she caught the fish of the weekend about 18 inches and was pretty stoked that she beat out her brothers. Overall is was a great weekend other than some trailer troubles we had today, we were going to drop off the trailer at my moms (where we are storing it) but had to keep it here to fix the trailer this week hopefully easy fix, it should be but who knows?

This week on the calendar....
-Scout day camp for Cooper
-Volleyball camp (Mon, Tues, Wed) for Alivia
-Crossfitt for Andrea (first few days my legs are not sore, that will all change tomorrow)
- Medication follow up for Cooper
-and just plain ol fun with all the fun neighbor friends!!

June already?

I think I posted once in May, now that is sad.
We have been busy with all kinds of fun things.
The kids are out of school and hip, hip hooray for no more schedules. Well kind of, we still have scouts, piano, Alivia has 2 volleyball camps she will be going to, Cooper is doing community ed karate, Bauer is signed up for a pottery class. I am doing a new work out routine CrossFit and it has been kicking my butt!

We went boating this last weekend and are learning more and more. We took the family up to Deer Creek and reserved a camping spot it was fun and HOT. The kids when on the thunder tube and had a blast the water is still only 60 degrees and Ben was in heaven being able to fish all day if he wants to which he did on Friday from 7am to 10 pm with a one hour break to come and refill his cooler and get some snacks.
Ben is off to Denver this week for a meeting? He then comes back and has to do a few overnight shifts for inventory.
We are planning another camping trip over Father's day and are still deciding where to go. We are thinking Yuba (I grew up on that lake) or Flaming Gorge which I am not as familiar.
I am working quite a bit in June, I want to surplus my bank account for school clothes and preschool fees.
All is well though, I still do my "stand ups" and they treat me well for the most part some days I come home and I am a zombie the rest of the day.

We got the pool set up and it is finally warming up, it is only going to be 97 degrees today? yowza!

Happy Birthday Bauer!

 Happy Birthday to the B-boy! our sweet little guy that loves kindergarten. His birthday was on the 8th and so  I am a little late. He did have a pretty cool birthday in Florida though. Bauer is the easy going one of the group, he loves to play outside, watch movies, play dress up, super heroes, swim, play with his friends, Gentry, Dallin and Avery. He has a little friend in his class that is a girl he really likes to talk about her name is Ruby and she lives in our ward. He loves to eat fruit, bananas, apples, oranges, he loves vanilla yogurt, peanut butter and honey sandwiches. He loves to have popcorn and chocolate milk on Sunday's. He loves Hulk and Iron Man. He is our early riser and the one who always falls asleep in the car. He has the sweetest cry, it still rips my heart out when he cries! He plays really well with Kessler and is currently so excited to go to school next week and have school lunch.