Cousin BBQ

We spent the afternoon Saturday at one of my cousin's for a BBQ. Most of my cousins are married to polynesians so all of their kids are dark (especially compared to my kids). We don't get together as often as we should but we see them at least a couple times a year. Well, as we are standing there visiting Noah walks up and asks me "Mom, why are all your cousins Mexican?" I have not laughed so hard in such a long time! I explained to him that they were polynesian and that they were married to my cousins. Then Mike told him that his cousins were Mexican and he looked very confused. We had to remind him that Uncle Mike is Mexican and so all his girls are too. Next time I will have to remember to get some pictures of all the kids together so you can see how "mixed" we are.

Amazing...

At the skateboarding event there was a guy there who was a skater and surfer before he was in some kind of accident and is now in a wheelchair. He was amazing! He has a specially designed (by himself) wheelchair and he dropped in in the big bowl. He was very inspirational and I am hoping to find out more about his story.

Skateboarding

Most of you know Mike has been skateboarding since he was 10. It is his one true love (besides me of course) and something he not only enjoys, but something he excels at. When we were dating I use to go and watch him for hours. A lot of people thought I was crazy; they would ask me if it was boring to always go with him and just sit there while he skated, but I loved it! I loved watching him do something he enjoyed and was so good at (and he usually had his shirt off, which was a bonus, Mike is all muscle and has a great 6 pack). Anyway, as time has gone on and our lives have changed so has his skateboarding. The last few months he has only been a handful of times and the last few years I have not really been able to go and just watch like I use to. So Friday night they had a big event at the South Jordan Skatepark with locals and some pros (who were in town for the Dew Tour). I found a babysitter (no easy task this particular time) and was so excited to go just watch him do his thing. There were a ton of people there and Mike was pretty amped up. He took a few runs and then when they started the "competition" he kind of stayed back. I kept bugging him to go, I was so excited to see him skate! He said it was just too crazy and crowded so he waited until most people had gone and took some runs then. He had a great time just watching the pros! I realized that not only does he need to go skate more often, but I need to go with him more often as well.

Cub Scouts

Cole & Noah have been going to cub scouts since they turned 8 back in March. They are not real into trying new things and didn't really want to go. But after the first time they loved it! They have the best den leaders and some of the older boys welcomed them right in (thanks ben). Thursday night was pack meeting and they had earned some of their awards. The whole theme for the night was TRAINS. They played relay games that had to do with trains, they got train whistles for prizes, and they had a little model train that "brought" them their awards. It was really fun!

Family, Fall, Fun

3 of our favorite things: Family, Fall, & Fun! It seems like quite awhile since we have had a whole day of "freedom" (nothing that absolutely had to be done or no where we absolutely had to be) so we decided to enjoy some time together out in the beautiful fall weather. We love hiking and fall in Utah is the best time of year to hike. We thought we would try somewhere new and headed north and up Morgan canyon. We ended up near Snowbasin and found a trail to Green Pond. It was amazing! It was just about 1 mile each way, not too hard for the kids, and the leaves were starting to change. The kids had a great time finding colorful leaves and trying to catch crickets/grasshoppers. It was sooooooooo much fun to just be together as a family and enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Hmmmmmmm.....

Most of the time I just post pictures and talk about things going in our life. I don't usually post my "true" thoughts and feelings although I have some friends who do and I love it. I like getting an insight into who they really are. They seem to be exceptional writers, I mean, I can truely understand what they are trying to say and how they feel. I am intimidated by them because I have such a hard time expressing myself in words (written or otherwise). I also hate that I am such an emotional person. I cry when I am sad, angry, happy, excited, lonley, afraid, or whatever. So I tend to keep my emotions and feeling to myself. Today I am going to forget the intimidation and fear and attempt to put some of my true thoughts and feelings into words.
Have you ever felt like your life is going along smoothly, you feel like you are doing the things you are suppose to be doing, you are doing you best to keep your life all in order, and then life throws you a curveball and it all seems to change in an instant? That is how I am feeling right now. I really thought I had my life all figured out and was doing what I was suppose to for me and my family right now, but now........ Well, I need to make some changes and I have the hardest time making decisions. I just wish someone would tell me what I should do and I'd do it. I am stressed about making the wrong decisions and then making the actual changes is a struggle and I just feel very overwhelmed with life. I know that each step of this journey is the journey but when you are in the thick of a major "step" it is hard to keep that in mind. AHHHHH, Life..........

Weekly Injuries...

It seems we have had our share of angels watching over us this week, some may say it was just luck, but I know it's more than that.

First, on Tuesday night it was real windy and stormy and some of Mike's glass block got blown over and broken on the driveway. He was outside cleaning it all up when I heard him yell, OOWWWW! He came in with blood dripping down his arm. Luckily he was able to walk in by himself (he doesn' care much for blood). I thought in needed stitches but he said NoWay! (he doesn't care much for needles either). I called out friend, Dr. Ben and he said he could come over and stitch it up but if Mike really didn't want stitches he said I could just steri strip it & it should be fine, it was.

Yesterday we were all outside, the kids were riding their bikes, I was studying, and we were just enjoying the wonderful weather. I was on the front porch and heard a crash from the side of the house and then Jenna started screaming. Mike was in the driveway and looked toward the screams and started running. Poor Jenna was laying under this granite coutertop (the picture is what it looked like after). For those of you who are not aware granite is heavy, very heavy!!! Luckily it was only a countertop and not a full slab. She was crying pretty hard and said her leg and her toe hurt. I took her inside and was worried her leg might be broken. We got her laying down and put some ice on it, gave her some motrin for the pain and to keep the swelling down and turned on The Little Mermaid and waited. A little while later she was up and running again so I knew it wasn't broken. She has a nice big bruise just above her knee and a few scrapes on her toe and arm, but overall she is fine. Thank goodness.

Tonight Rylee went with Mike's parents to their Bishop's house for root beer floats. When they got back Ry walked in holding a bag of ice on her head. I guess she made a few bee's very upset because she had gotten stung, at least 2 times. Once on her forehead just above her eye and then on her ear, she thinks more than once. They had put baking soda on and given her the ice (thanks to moms who know what to do and do it for your kids when you aren't there to do it) and I gave her some benadryl. It was a little swollen, but I think the pain was worse. She went to bed not a happy girl.

So, all in all everyone is ok (except for the granite countertop which Mike was going to install the same day it broke). I am very grateful that 3 potentially really bad incidents turned out all right.

My Baby Started School

Yesterday was Jenna's first day of preschool. I cannot believe that my baby is so big! I am so excited because she is so excited and also because she has somewhere fun to be for some of the time I am at school. I didn't think it was too big of a deal until I was walking back to my car by myself after taking her in...I didn't cry but only because I was able to choke back the tears. She is so ready to go and I love her teacher (she is going to the same preschool Rylee went to) and she has 6 other kids from our ward she already knows there too. I am just glad it is only preschool, we will still have some of our "mommy/Jenna" time during the week while the other kids are at school. I don't know what I will do when it is time for her to start 1st grade......

Jenna Singing Hannah Montana

The other day I was in the kitchen and could hear Jenna in the other room, she was singing and it was so cute I had to do a quick video clip. She was singing Nobody's Perfect by Hannah Montana. Isn't she so cute?