LayFamily.me

June 7th
Just got 5 new shirts at KOHLS Not super sale but SUPER CUTE now I have more than 3 shirts I will enjoy wearing.  My friend Jenni and i like to have late girls nights at kohls and get out non kid mommy free shopping done.  Love that!

June 8th
Nathan left for Connecticut  again 5 day this time. He’s being missed.

June 9th Overwhelemed
Looking for ANYONE that wants a slice of my world. I’m giving away pieces.  I have wayyy too much going on right now. and without hubby, I’m passing out jobs  

Off to the Cairo, Then a Kids Movie Theater Day, Then skipped the Zoo, then  skipped 3 btqs to pick up checks! wooo…..

June 10th Zach’s Dentist Visit

They put him to sleep in my arms and I cried.  (maybe it was the over $2,000 dentist bill looming that pulled me apart)  Anyways he was soo cute right before he fell asleep he was moving his head in circles saying, “I’m dizzy. I’m Dizzy.”  The receptionists and hygenists were all smiling and pointing at the cute  little spinny guy.

JUNE 14th Dino Park and haircut
I took all 4 kids to Dinosaur Park in Ogden.  We met Aaron and Alice with Ethan and Landon.  Our day Started with Alice sadly forgot her camera so I took over 100 pictures that day. =)  I was happy to do it.  As we were walking to the entrance Aurora walked ahead of us and her foot fell into a grid drain gutter her shoe fell into it and she was sad and stuck,  I raed to help her up and out her shoe was reachable and there was no water or garbage in the drain!  Thank heavens!  We got Aurora brushed off and she delcares, “I was Just Joking You!”  like she had done it on purpose and was just kidding with us that she fell in and it was a trick she had planned on   silly little 3 year old!  We spent the day playing chasing her and taking pics with dino bones and replicas and playing on the playground.

CHOPPED MY HAIR OFF  I was at about 19 inches maybe more. Now it’s just past my shoulders instead of getting stuck in my armpits =0) Plus is has layering to it.  and i can scrunch it to curly easily and it looks cute!

June 16th Movie Wednesday
We got passes this summer every Wednesday the kids and I go to a movie with jenni and her kids it ended up costing 50 cents a show and some of them they hadn’t seen so it seemed worth it!  I’m not sure which one they saw since I am writing this on the 4th of July with local neighbor firewoks blasting offf around me since it is Sunday and fireworks are going off on the 3rd and 5th this year.  I missed this day becuase I wen to set up a Boutiqe I had for 5 days  straight by our local Walmart.

June 19th
Set Up freinds at a “Saturday Boutique” in the morning and got to play with the family the rest of the day.  went to the church in the evening with jenni Golightly to  a movie in the park with. The church friends, kids, Jenni and kids, munching a snow cones & popcorn. Brother Bear was the movie of the night.

June 20th Fathers Day
This year for Fathers Day Nathan got some paper ties from the kids from Primary.  we got  him lense cleaners for his glasses I know whoo hoo! but it’s what he asked for.  We had a Huge Family BBQ at our place for the guys since they had one for the Moms on Mothers Day.    We spoiled him with 3 Willowtree Statues 1 with him and a kid, 2 kids and a single, now there is a dad and 4 kids made in stature that represent dad and his kids   we also got him Galaxy Bars  malteasers and Neurophen Plus Shipped directly from ENGLAND!  =) what a treat!!

June 21st My Oldest turns 11 today!
Happy 11th Birthday hailey  You are growing into a beautiful Young Woman 1 more year of Primary, You are old enough to babysit your siblings at 10 but at 11 we are a little more trusting in your ability to do that.

You got a Cell Phone so we could call you when you or you can call us when you are babysitting.  Daddy Splurged and got you the best new T-Moblie MyTouch phone really very cool internet, applications with awesome games, full taxting keypad, genious button, you talk it listens, and you under stand yours better than I understand mine and theya re the same phone, i must be getting OLD!

We took you out to Family Fun Center with Anthony, Madeline, Melissa and Katlyn K., we played Pin the tail on the cat, had strawberry shortcake and played in the FX effects room with lighting fog machines and music!  then you got your first silly bandz silicone shaped bracelets and your friends each got a pack to start trading with you.  what fun!!

June 22nd Devanie’s Birthday
Do I HAVE to parent on a day like today? Aurora is making me pull my hair out today. It doesn’t seem fair.  I mean, it’s my birthday, and if I had a job I would be taking time off. What about this parenting job? tee hee!!

I decided i was going to have a chuck E Cheese birthday.  We found great coupons on the Apple juice packages, we had extra tokens and cups from the last trip and durring the weekdays they DOUBLE your tokens so if you coupon is worth 100 tokens they double it to 200!  So all the kids and Nathan spent the day with me at chuck E Cheeses.  Jenni and her kids came too!  We spent maybe $30 and it included 4 drinks a pizza, and 400 tokens that lasted about 2-3 hours!  =)  good dirty fun!

FOR DINNER I always want Olive Garden.  For my birthday Dessert/Cake I wanted their Torte’ di Chocolate, it’s a chocolate thick cake, with creamy chocolate inside with white chocolate cream saucce and fresh strawberries, thankfully I got one!  Sounds like they took it off the menu!

Nathan got my and myTouch Cell phone with a Genius button and I REALLY LIKE IT!  Texting is way easier on it than my old blackberry!

June 23rd  Gearing Up for Lay family Reunion
Heading to Lake Tahoe in the morning. Everyone near Reno Carson, please rethink getting over to Joanna Crows on Sunday for a party!  Dayton, Virginia City, Carson City,  Lake Lahotan, Lake Tahoe & Family Pictures by the dozen.

Sister MaryAnne wasn’t going to be able to make it to the family reunion. . .2 days before the event my wonderful husband Nathan used his sky miles for a ticket from Georgia to Salt Lake so she could drive out with us. (Birthday present for me ) at Round Table Pizza meeting room We Surprizingly Showed MaryAnne off!! …It was an Excellent Reunion, Molly and I teared up :.) All 7 Siblings and Mom & Dad were there!!!

I guess there is something to blog about finally. I will just start with, I don't think I have ever really won anything really great before. Nothing all that significant really. Maybe a candle holder once, I don't know. But Amber became a "fan" of the Boise factory outlets and she told me about a little contest thingy where if you comment on a status you might win a gift certificate to Sunglass hut. Amber, another Kim and I all commented and we all 3 won $100 gift certificate! I have spent less than $15 on most of my pairs of sunglasses. I wear sunglasses whenever I go outside so I really use them. I have never cared about brand of glasses. Just so I don't look like a total dork. I would never consider spending even $50 on sunglasses. But it was fun to go and shop for brand name sunglasses just because you could. In the end I found a pair of Ray Bans that I REALLY liked and they were $99. Most everything else was around 119 or 150. I got them and then they were 6 dollars over my gift card. I can handle that. So now I feel super silly wanting to find some silly excuse to wear them. Amber got herself a pair of really cute Vogue sunglasses and hers happened to be on sale so she go back and spend $15 more. I like them and can't wait to enter another contest. Amber also won a pedicure. We will have to pay attention and there will be more fun for us.

We went to Nevada to catch up with Lee Joe's long lost relatives. We spent time at Lake Lahontan on the first full day we were there and then we managed to get to Tahoe and spent some time there and had pictures at Molly's new house that was just a wonderful house that she has worked so hard for. I got to catch up a little with a high school friend I had not seen in 20 years. That was great. My 20 year high school reunion will be in August so I might be able to catch up with more people then.

I left late that night. It is about 7 hours of driving to get home. I had the other licensed teens with me. Amber drove some and then I did. FYI-the rabbits are breeding like... rabbits out there. I had seen 3 going to Nevada-hit one bunny :( I had a close encounter with an antelope. On the way back there were 7 we didn't hit any. Getting back to this really cool experience, I like to listen to my ipod while traveling and when everyone is asleep I put on my big headphones as I drive. We love movie soundtracks. We have all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks on my ipod. We just got the soundtrack to "How to train your dragon" (I LOVED that movie by the way) So anywho.. I was listening to that as I drove in the rolling mountains around Jordan Valley. They roll up and down and around. Nothing way to curvy or any real treacherous drops on the side. But the road isn't that smooth so it kind of feels bouncy at times. But when you are listening to music that goes to the part in the movie where the boy is flying with his dragon, it's pretty cool. What was absolutely breathtaking was rolling down and up and around and coming around a corner and you are listening to the flying music and then all of a sudden you see the valley covered in lights and the sun is starting to glow over the top of the distant mountain range on the other side of the valley. With the music and how beautiful it was, it did take my breath away. It was real life with a soundtrack. You couldn't even take a picture or recapture the moment. Everyone was asleep so it was only my moment. But it was so cool.

The rest of my life-Recovering from not working by getting next to nothing done. Took kids to the dentist two days in a row. Used the kids free roaring springs tickets so I took the 3 youngest. Starting our public pool visits. Favorite part of summer! Kelsea has a job at Justice. We have another teenage girl in the house! 6 girls. Kylee is babysitting a lot. Kids are finding ways to earn money and it's actually difficult to plan things with all the girls because someone is always coming or going.

By the way, I appreciate the comments left on my blogs. I haven't been that good at responding, but happy summer! And the dog is still with us. He has his good days and bad days. We will see how he handles the 4th. He doesn't handle the fireworks well at all but I think his hearing is going because he hasn't reacted to the fireworks much today as he has in the past.

Some people are animal lovers. And some just aren't. I was raised with animals and can't imagine them not being a part of my life. One animal doesn't ever seem to be enough for us. We have always tried to keep animals as long as we can. We have had to loose a few cats though that had some issues. But my mom has a dog that came from my grandparents dogs. They gave Melissa the dog and mom inherited the dog down the road. She had a poodle and then her dogs gave us Spot. Her dog has been around a long time. She had to put him down here recently. Man he lived a very long doggy life. I think he had to be about 15 or 16 maybe. He was a pretty and good little dog. Our Spot is getting up there. She is 11 now but still quite frisky. But our other dog Buddy who is possibly Great Dane and lab or golden retriever is probably about 12 or 13. That is very old for the size dog that he is. We have had him 11 years. He is quite elderly now. I have had a few times where I stop and watch his breathing to see if he is still with us. We are watching him decline rapidly now. He has been struggling with his back hips off and on for years. Not a terrible struggle, just work for him. His hips have never been super strong. But now he has had some days with great weakness in his legs and he has had a few potty issues which he never has. So this could be his last summer with us. He has lost weight and his back legs don't look good. That is pretty sad for me even though I have never been a big (I mean by large) dog lover. He is a very good dog we rescued from the pound in Nampa. He has had a long and happy life with us. He has played with puppies and put up with kittens he would have rather have nowhere near him, but he was kind. Kids could crawl all over him and he would just lay there and let them. He barely chased after tennis balls but he chased the neighbors cat until the fence was bent in and could care less about the cat anymore. If you have seen Morley( Marley?) and Me. Well that movie got me because the end of movie is where we are. And coping with the kids when he goes will be the hardest part of all. But that's a part of life's lessons isn't it? Then you realize then how much of a gift that pet was in your life. The kids still mourn the cat that had to be put to sleep years ago. So Buddy is still here right now and hopefully he will die peacefully here. I don't know. He is about 70 -100 pounds. Maybe I won't think about those details quite yet. We will remind the kids to appreciate every time they let him out and in from now on. Because it might not be for much longer.

I have been wanting to blog for a long time. Claire had her birthday two weeks ago. When she got back from her dad's we had done most of the construction on a bunk and loft bed we designed for her and the girls. We did not allow her to go upstairs or to her room until her friends arrived for the slumber party. That was the Thursday they got out of school for the summer. I have not posted pictures of the bed because it is still unfinished. Hopefully I will be able to get pretty it up just right while the kids are with their dad a little later this summer.

The first morning we finally had all the kids here, I woke the kids up a little before 6AM to go to the temple for baptisms and realized there was something horribly wrong with the A/C in the middle of an unseasonal heat spike of triple digit temps. Because it was the weekend, nobody was able to do more than tell us what was wrong with it. We decided it would be better to buy a new unit than try to replace that one. To keep ourselves "cool" we spent 4 hours at the pool in the heat of the day. We spent the next two air-conditionerless days in utter misery as we tried to cope with the added heat of our burning flesh. Andrew did not put on sunscreen and has a severe second degree burn on his shoulders. A week later, the rest of us are just starting to shed that top layer of damaged skin.

We sought relief in a hotel on Monday night after the girls headed off to girl's camp and their air-conditioned cabins. We were able to get everything replaced by Tuesday afternoon and live like civilized people--or Texas girls at girl's camp.

Speaking of which, in case you hadn't gathered it, all 3 of my older girls were at camp this year. I think it was a good experience for them, but Claire did not seem that talkative about details.

Mike left around 11pm for a supersonic drive to Arizona to drop off the car Marissa just bought from a person here in Dallas. He will fly back Sunday. I will sleep in my bed now

I got to take the babies on a preschool field trip with a few neighbors to the movie theater we got to go upstairs and see where they play the reels of movie film, get popcorn behind the counter, watch 4 short films, eat popcorn and drink sprite, they gave them posters, a piece of film, rulers, pencil etc goody kit. It was a fun day.

After failed attempt last year using the back corner of our house bad soild and wierd weeds we made an over $2,000 Raised Garden bed in the back yard!  I’m excited to be using it.  I know we will not get the 30 # of Strawberries like we did last year with the transplant we only got 50 of maybe 150 bushes we had.   we also got 1 piece of broccoli. and the tomatoes were green I think we got 2 before it started getting too cold,and the ones we tried to save to turn red on their own, rotted before they could.

So this time, Tomatoes are in Topsy Turveys, we already have 2 tomatoes even after a few freezes took parts of the plants.  We have radishes, carrots, broccoli, zuchini, lettuce, peas – one laready made a pod and 1 pea, corn, green onions, cilantro, 50 strawberry plants, 1 watermelon plant, califlauer, and maybe one other thing.  Ther is still room to plant more and I think I planted TOO much cilantro.  I may have to pull out some plants and share them with the neighbors.  I think we will need MORE peas, lettuce and we will pick the carrots small and replant some in a few weeks.

This year we

Had to get a couple of these.  but she did get happy and run around for a while.

Aurora is allergic to the mixture of bugspray and sunscreen.  Maybe it ws just the aerosol bugspray for sensitive skin or the SPF 30 of thekind we normally to SPF 50 of but i put them on together nad the Entire day she had bubbly welts all over her hands arms feet  and face.  She said it was itch and hurt.  Good thing I was going into the ENT for Sierras Tonsil removal check up that day so we could talk to the alergist quickly to to find out it was “Contact Dermatitis” some kids have allergies in their noses, eyes, etc she happens to have allergies with her skin. so now we need to test everything er put on her.

 

Every Year our school 3rd graders have an “Economic Fair”  They spend the entire year working hard behaving well, doing special things for the teacher etc earing “nickles” they are green paper nickles they hold onto and by the end of they year they have between 80 and 250 nickles to SPEND on items at the fair.  items may include, popcorn, slushees, pop, candy, magnets, friendship bracelets, pencils, school supplies, etc. 

Each kids gets to price their own items at 5c to whatever 1 nickle to maybe 25 nickles each. In the past we have made Play Dough and let the kids use a cookie cutter to pick their scent, color and make a shape.

This year earlier in the year a boy in class sold Sierra a pensil with lanyard string taped in a row, then hot glued to the top twisted tightly but flat and then  taped at the tip that has 12 strips of string but the tip tape doesn’t stick to the pensil, just the string.  they are called “TWISTY PENSILS”  when  the tip is twisted and moved up or down the pensil the lanyard string makes all kinds of cool “spyrograph” geometrical shapes.  They really are very cool.  So we spent many evenings making 25 of these ‘Twisty Pensils” and she sold them for 50c each 10 nickles each.

I also gave her about 45 Cookie Lee incentive rings that I just wanted to be rid of. She sold those for 12 nickles each. 

I brought the kids in to help Sierra, mainly she wanted us to comein and help her SPEND her nickles, she was getting them so fast and didn’t have enough time to get what she wanted.  We left the place with 2 10 packs of capri suns 6 cans of soda, some really nice magnents, lots of candy, a slushie, some really high HP(hit Point) Pokemon Carrds – Her favorite!, some glue sticks, friendship bracelets, bouncy balls, parachute men,  and she sold all but 2 of her rings and left with maybe 6 pensils, She made $$$$.  It was pretty neat!.  fun to be a part of and help her spend all her green paper nickles in a hurry before the bell rang. we actually started just throwing handfuls at the kids desks for 1 item   it was FUN! Zach was thrilled with his treats, we are still drinking the drinks a week later, and it’s something Sierra will probably remember forever.

I didn’t have any boutiques today and Zach wanted to play with his cousin Ethan last week so we made a date to play Saturday.  so today we played.  We met at chuck E cheese for lunch at 12:30 We had 200 tokens for 10 people, we ended up getting 200 more because we had a good coupon and all of it lasted 4 HOURS! and I still have some in my purse for a day when the kids are pulling my hair out at home since Hailey and Sierra are out of school til August 11th. 

So instead of getting Theme park passed I told nathan we would do all kinds of other things like The Zoo, Parks, Chuck e Cheese, Bikes and scooters at parks, Day Camp, Irish dance camp, Fun Center, Maybe even hiking.  I mean, after all we have great mountains around us, and we did just go to Disneyland, taking it easy with the money will come in handy for our trip to Nevada for Family reunion and our trip to Las Vegas in Aug for cookie lee Fashion Week new catalog unveiling   Plus we still need to find someone to wat 2-4 kids for a week while we take our Cruise to the bahamas!  Any takers?  We can split them up!

After Chuck E Cheeses we all came to our house for Movies, swiming pool out back, slide, chatting etc.  We are planning a trip to the Zoo this week.  Nathan is out of town Tues-Fri it’s gonna be a crazy week, appointments, etc.