The Food Train

Ben had to work and go to school on my birthday so he sent me some really pretty birthday flowers. They are so colorful. They make me jolly just looking at them.

My awesome neighbors brought me flowers in the morning with Ben & Jerry's ice cream (how did they know I like Ben & Jerry's...I must have it written on my face or something). Erin said they were from Will, Ryan's friend. She said Will was so excited to come over for my birthday. It was really sweet! We made "birthday cookies" and ate all the dough. It was delicious. Then my mom came out later and took me and the boys to dinner.

This is Ethan at Red Robin. He got bored so he was making a food train on the back of the bench. It was hilarious!

I had a great birthday. Thanks for all your phone calls or text messages or online messages. I have the best friends and family ever!

27 on the 27th

First, Happy Birthday to myself. Ryan came running in my room this morning saying "Happy Birthday Mom, let go make birthday cookies". (my boys can't have cake, so we're making cookies instead). Ben has school until 11 pm tonight, so I'll be hanging out with my boys. And Ryan's friend, Will (age 4) said he'd come over for my birthday. Anyway, here are some pictures from our Memorial Day. My sister and brother in law bought me a ticket for No Doubt...but I chose to hang out with the family instead. We went to the Eccles Dinosaur Museum in Ogden first. Above our my boys on the "Mystery Trail".

Me and the kiddos.

So cute. A dinosaur Ethan's size.

This picture is my favorite. They are so cute. Ethan's a girl and Ryan's a cowboy, or a hick?

Then we went to the Hill Air Force Museum in Roy. Me personally would much rather look at planes then dinosaurs. We had a lot of fun.

Can you believe how huge this plane is?

Ryan attempting to cover his ears as the plane "flies" over him.

Ryan wanted a picture here because it looked like "Sarge".

And here because it looked like "Red".

This picture if for my Dad. This is called Rifling. When the groves are at an angle so the ammo comes out spinning.

After that we went to Ben's parents for a BBQ. Ben's dad made the best chicken! This is Ethan on the way home. He was pooped at the end of the day. He feel asleep about 2 seconds after I took the picture.

My neighbor just came by and brought me flowers and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. So sweet!! I'll post a picture later.

The Inside

I'm warning you now. There are a million + 1 photos here. If you get bored, it's your choice to keep looking. The house will never look this clean again so I figured I better capture the moment while the kids were in bed. Above is the Kitchen/Dining. Below is our office right when you walk in the door.

Below is our Bonus/Family/Toy room.

Bonus again. Notice Ben's lovely diet Mountain Dew can and he is hiding behind the couch so he doesn't have to be in the picture. If you're wondering, he is watching the top 100 80's songs on VH1. His favorite.

So below is our Master Bedroom. This is the one room I didn't clean. We still have hand me down furniture so I don't pride myself in having it look fabulous. And who likes to make their bed? Don't judge.

I've added hallways to the post here. I figure they don't get enough credit. We walk through them everyday...but do people ever take pictures of them? So here is the hallway to the Master bedroom.

To Ryan's room and the guest/kid bathroom. The boys were sleeping so I didn't get pictures of their rooms.

To Ethan's room, and a linen closet.

I'm sure you can figure this out yourself.

The Entry from the living room.

The Kitchen (I know...it was the fridge that gave it away huh?)

Dining + Back Door

Hallway

Living/Great Room. Do you like the pictures on the wall? My friend Erin put them together for me on the floor. I think she did a pretty good job. It was sure a bugger trying to get them on the wall though.

Again, sorry if you were bored to tears. A few people have been asking me to post pictures of the inside of our home. If you were not one of them, go throw up now and come back for my next post. Happy Memorial Day tomorrow. We have a busy day (that I will blog about later).

Shout Out

This is a shout out to my awesome sister-in-law Liz. I feel bad and forgot to mention that you stayed home in North Carolina when all the family got together. I love you, and I didn't mean to not mention your name. (No, she did not complain about this...because she's awesome...but I just feel bad). So here is a post for Liz.

Remember Roller Skating with 12 year olds? And snowball? Man we should have made a 12 year old's dream come true. :-)

Your super awesome white puff coat.
Love you Liz. I'm glad you check my blog every day. It makes me feel super special.

The Inhaler

Ryan with Ethan trying to use his asthma inhaler himself. He hates having help (but I still have to). At least he's not scared of it anymore.

My Muddy River

This is what happens when when I leave my son playing outside too long. He and his friend decided it would be so funny to turn on the back water and get muddy. He is a boy after all. My neighbor came over to my back door and said, bring your camera...but you will be mad.

My neighbor friend took her son, Ryan's friend Will, inside and bathed him. What did I do with my son? I got the hose and sprayed him off. Yeah, I'm that kind of mom.

I was not about to have him walking through the house like that.

Here is their wonderful art work on the back of our house. You know, it wasn't so much that I was mad he played in the mud...he is a boy. It was that I already told him to turn off the water and he kept on playing. Am I the only mother with a child that doesn't listen.

Last night was a bad night with Ethan. I didn't get to sleep until 2 am. And even then, Ethan was in our bed kicking us all night. So I got up with the kids at 6:45 and fed them breakfast. Then I went back to bed with Ethan for a while. I woke up to Ryan's friend Will ringing the doorbell at 9 am. He said Ryan was over at his house waking him up by hitting him on the head with a pillow. Erin, Will's mom, came over and said, "it was so cute, Ryan was over at our house in my room at 7:30 this morning barefoot and in his pj's asking if Will could play". I said, "Yeah, I'm sure you were thinking it was cute the neighbor boy woke all of you up". So today is the first day Ryan is grounded. Is 4 (almost 5) years old too young to ground? Either way...he's grounded, and I'm going to try to stay sane today.

The Room Where We do Our Business

This is not the business room, this is the "holy crap I can park my SUV in the garage with EXTRA room" room. My last house I had maybe 2 inches to spare before the garage door hit my car. In this garage...look at all that space. I can actually close the garage without checking to see if my car is in far enough. And I can unload groceries with the garage door shut...awesome for winter time. And for smuggling my drugs...oops, did I just say that. Ha ha! I'm totally just teasing.

Here is a picture of the kids bathroom. It's pretty dark. I forgot that if the sunshine from the window is shining in, the flash won't go off. Nice photography I know.

Our Master "business room". With 2 sinks! I always told Ben he was messier than I was, and now I have proof.

Shower/Tub/Closet

More sinks...because I know you wanted to see them.

I need to hang pictures up and stuff then I will post pictures of the rest of the house.

Boy (or girl) We Love Taco Bell

I'm catching up on pictures. This was a month or so ago. My brother Jud came from North Carolina and stayed with my parents for a week. They drove to San Diego to pick Kit up from Marine Boot Camp. Summer and I were unable to attend, so here is us hanging out with them when they got back. Our family is big on Taco Bell. Don't ask me why. Maybe because when we lived in Tehachapi, California Taco Bell was the first fast food restaurant that came to town and we walked there often...or maybe it's just their Burrito Supreme No Onions Extra Sour Cream and Pepsi that that get me. :-) Brant was working, so it was Lynzie, Kit, Summer, Jud, Ryan, Ethan and I that went. Although I think I actually got KFC...Crazy I know. I'm a sucker for their little snackers.

Summer, Me, Lynzie...and Ethan trying to get my attention. Kids just don't seem to want to sit around and chat.

Here is Brant with his nephews at the mall. We love the Angles. We were all helping Kit pick out a ring for Lynzie...yeah, I have the best taste! :-)

My two cute, messy boys at Chuck-A-Rama. Golden Corral is better, but the boys won this time...next time the girls win and we're going to Golden Corral.

We started making this an tradition when everyone is in town. Except my dad couldn't make it. Here is my cute little family.

Here is my cute extended family.

It was fun to have all my brothers around for a while. We are all a little crazy when we get together.

Burping in a Bikini Bachlorette Style

For all of you Bachlorette fans out there. You'll appreciate this post. I really like Jillian. First her last name is Harris and who wouldn't love that last name? Second, she seems real. I like that. She'd really be real if she could burp in front of the guys ey? That would be awesome. Burping in a bikini. Sweet. Anyway, here were some of my favorites from last night. If they turn out to be dusch bags, I'm sorry.
First, I liked David. The guy with the first impression rose. Now usually in bachelor history the first impression person doesn't last to the end. But I thought it was cute he choked up, even if it was fake.

Second, Jake. Who wouldn't love a commercial airline pilot? Well, I guess marrying the guy would suck with the hours they have. But he was cute anyway.

Third, I like Kiptyn. I'm not sure why. The conversation just seemed to flow with them. He seems like a nice guy.

Really, I just hope something works out this time. I really haven't liked that almost all of these people break up. It's not surprising, but I'd like to think they could have a fairy tale ending. Did any of you watch the scenes for the next episodes? Do some of these guys really have girlfriends? Don't you think they should screen them better? Or was that the plan, to break Jillian's heart and add drama?


P.S. Ben, if you're reading this in class...don't gag. I know you hate this show. :-)