Today was a Great Day!

Ever have one of those days, where things just go well??? Today was one of those days for me! I got up this morning and spent a bunch of time decluttering problem spots in my house - my desk (which is supposed to be for scrapbooking, but is so piled with stuff I can't use it for that anymore), the counter by the phone (huge dump zone for the whole family), and the area by the front door (another dump zone for the whole family). It felt good to get rid of stuff and put things away... I hate surface clutter, but I have so much of it! Then I got to take a friend to lunch for her birthday (Happy Birthday again, Jenn) at YC's Mongollian Grill. I ate myself sick, but it was sooo worth it! I spent a little bit of time on finishing touches for the boys' room and made dinner, which I barely touched because I was still stuffed from lunch! Then we all played a fun board game (called Whoonu?) and everyone had fun and there were no fights (miracle!). Then put younger kids to bed, and Megan and Taylor stayed up with us to watch Heroes (we're catching up from earlier in the week). Okay, all 4 of us were completely grossed out when Claire cut off her toe!

Also, just want to take a minute and thank Jenn (since it is her birthday, after all) for being such a good friend to me! I'm so grateful our paths have crossed down here in the desert where we both struggle to feel at home (especially in the fall and it's still so darn HOT)! Jenn, you truly are a kindred spirit!

The Many Faces of Intersession!!!

I've had an epiphany this week - we're just never satisfied with what we have. For weeks, I've been looking forward to intersession (fall break that lasts a grand total of 18 days) just because we could relax and get some projects done around the house. So, here we are 12 days in and I'm wondering why I like break so much.... Here's a list of the things I love and hate about school vacation:

• I LOVE not making lunches for kids each morning!
• I HATE hearing "I'm bored" at 10:00 a.m.
• I LOVE being able to get up slowly and not rush around getting kids out the door.
• I HATE how many extra dishes I have to wash each day with 5 bodies home all day.
• I LOVE the freedom to stay in my pj's until noon.
• I HATE it when the kids stay in their pj's all day (especially when they don't brush their teeth all day either!)
• I LOVE having a babysitter at home all day, so I can run errands ALONE!
• I HATE the phone calls every five minutes from Ian, "mom, can I have an otter pop?"
• I LOVE having extra kids to help with more chores than they normally have time for.
• I HATE the fact that while the kids are home, my house is a perpetual pig sty... cleaning does nothing... it's a disaster again in 5 minutes flat!
• I LOVE not having homework to deal with!
• I HATE having to plan something fun everyday to keep my kids away from the TV/XBOX.
• I LOVE going on vacation in the off-peak season.
• I HATE how exhausted I am when we get back from something that was supposed to be a vacation, but wasn't relaxing at all!

And so it goes.... only six more days before we are back to school... whew... maybe then, I can actually have a clean house for at least an hour!!!

My Favorite Calendar!!!

I was so excited when I was perusing the dollar bins at Michaels today to find this calendar!!! I love this style and it's very unique and can be difficult to find in stores! I've been using this style of calendar for years and it's just the best format ever for people with more than 2 kids!!!

If you doulbe click on the picture below, you can see how the format works - when you first use one like this, the format can be hard to get used to, but it doesn't take long to fall in love with it! It's so great to have room to write everyone's activities in a separate block for each day! I use one column for each of the kids and then the last one for the parents!

So, if you are interested, head to Michael's... they are just $1!!! There are lots of other calendars there too, all for only a dollar! What a great deal today!

Young Men's Havasupai Trip

Well, we finally did it! After three grueling days of hiking (52.1 miles in total according to my GPS), braving the elements (which weren't actually that bad), and combating the wildlife (mainly fox, raccoon, and jumping field mice which all seemed to be hungry), everyone made it home in one piece. Although everyone had at least a blister, scrape, and/or some sort of muscle ache. Any hardship, however, was far outweighed by the spectacular views, fortified friendships, and opportunity to teach the boys the value of sticking with a goal and relying on prayer (A sincere prayer was actually needed on the way home, because I almost ran out of gas! Who could blame me at $3.19/gallon?). All in all, the trip was action packed and very rewarding. Below are a couple of the 375 photos and videos that I snapped along the way:


Day 1.5 (Wednesday; October 3, 2007 (Day 1 was actually the drive up (~280 miles) and setting up camp in the parking lot) )

• Hiked 11.5 miles to base camp along Havasu Creek (somehow I did not come away with a picture of our base camp?)

• A stop at Havasu Village to visit with Elder and Sister Smith at the meeting house for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

• Hiked ~1 miles (round trip) from base camp to Havasu Falls

• Hike 2 miles (round trip) to Navajo Falls. The boys (and leaders) especially got crazy here and several jumped off the waterfall into the shivering water below (you be the judge on how high it was)

Taylor jumping off Navajo Falls


Day 2 (Thursday; October 4, 2007)

• Hike 22.5 miles (roundtrip) from Havasu Falls Base Camp to Grand Canyon CO River Crossing. Mooney Falls stop was amazing (~300 foot waterfall; no one was jumping)

Day 3 (Friday; October 5, 2007)

• Hiked 15.3 miles from our Base Camp at Havasu Creek to the parking lot at Hualapai Hilltop parking lot

Along the way, we

• Assisted the boys on 3 seperate service projects (pulling weeds, yard trash pick-up, and giant tumbleweed removal)
• Ate lunch at the church with Elder and Sister Smith
• Drove back ~280 miles to Chandler, AZ (made it to the nearest gas station outside Seligman with 4 miles to spare on the tank)

In A Galaxay Far, Far Away.....

Ian and Brayden's New Room:

Pre-Painting Chaos....

Partially Complete....

The Finished Room!

It's finally DONE! Okay, well, I still need to make curtains and pillows for the bed, but the worst of it is DONE! Whew... Ian has nagged me since April to paint his room. He feels slighted because I did Taylor's last fall and Megan's this spring, so his room was the only bedroom to still be "boring white". I guess my -still- boring white room doesn't count! This week did work out well, because with Taylor gone I could move the two boys into his room for sleeping. I could also work late hours into the night painting and make sandwiches for dinner and nobody cared!

I guess this is the time to finally make a confession - I spent most of the time working in this room watching season 3 of The Office - it's time to admit I'm a recent convert and a big addict! I've watched 18 of 22 episodes while I worked... notice the small tv in the pictures? I kept rotating it around on the dresser so I could see it from my workspot. Pathetic, I know, but hey, I don't think I could have finished this job without such hilarious entertainment!

Exhausted After a Long Day's Work

Typed this Tuesday night just before midnight and then accidentally closed the window - I thought my efforts were lost, but this morning I figured out how to retrieve a drafted post, so here it is:

After a nasty headcold that left me sick and tired for 3 full weeks, I'm finally feeling normal again! I spent most of my day cleaning up my kitchen, changing the bedding in the guinea pig cage, and working on the boy's room. I have pictures to post of the partly painted room, but can't find the cable to download pictures since I'm using my old digital camera this week.

Last night we went to a dinner at the church for Megan's Activity Days group. It was the "Spook-a-Lot Cafe". We got to pick our food from a menu of ghoolish halloweenish items. By the end of the meal, you got everything to finish, but we ended up with spaghetti sauce but no pasta, and Brayden had ice cream with no spoon (or any other utensil). It was a fun evening and there was so much food, we waddled out!

After the dinner, we headed to the Drive-In Movie in Scottsdale. We saw The Game Plan. It was a cute movie, but Ian ended up crying through the last 20 minutes because he missed his dad. Brayden spent most of the time running circles around the car and climbing all over the seats, etc. in the car. Three times, he changed the radio station, which was a nightmare since you need the radio cranked up really loud to hear the movie! I was never so glad to get them all in the car, get home and put them all to bed!

Fall Break is Here

So thrilled to be able to sleep in this morning and hang out in our pj's for a few hours! We then spent the rest of the afternoon grocery shopping and getting last minute supplies for the scouts trip to Havasu'pai in the Grand Canyon. They are leaving Tuesday afternoon and will be back late Friday night. The hike is 11-12 miles each way and this is the first real backpacking trip for many of the boys (and probably some of the leaders as well!) This picture is what it's supposed to look like - we'll see if Eric's photos come back as spectacular as this one!

While Taylor and Eric are away, the rest of us have planned some fun activities: a movie at the local drive-in, a trip to the zoo, and of course a visit to Hamilton Pool! Somewhere in there I'm hoping to paint Ian's bedroom and catch up on some sewing projects. What actually gets done will probably be only a fraction of what I'd like to accomplish! Such is life!