Another reason why my kids are the coolest...

So the weekend before this last one, Jeff, the kids, and I went to Seven Peaks. It was fun--I didn't get any pictures because we were there the ENTIRE Saturday. And I didn't want anyone to steal my camera, or more likely, me lose it or immerse it in some of the surrounding water.
We all had fun, and for once, I was totally on top of the sunscreen situation, so we didn't get too burned, either. After a while I did get a "too much sun" headache. Does anyone else get those? It's like the sun is my enemy....it just hates me.
Anyway, as we were there, they played "Radio Disney" the ENTIRE time. So the kids and I heard songs by those annoying rich kids that you see on the tween magazines...you know, the ones that eventually end up like Brittany Spears or Lindsay Lohan. Those kids that will soon be checking into rehab, or convincing some money-hungry loser to marry them, or come out of the closet only to be ridiculed and disappear. The next generation of sad-sacks...like, Miley Cyrus, and The Jonas Brothers, and the cast of High School Musical. Anyway, I don't really know, I haven't really paid any attention to them, but if they go by the status quo, in the next five years you'll most likely be seeing those type of previously mentioned headlines. The fact of the matter is, I'm kind of a snob. I really have a hard time believing in those Disney kids as being actually talented. I've seen a couple of their shows, and it's kind of pathetic that they're getting the air time they are. So, as we were out in the Sun, wading in between all the women with fake boobs and guys that had juuuust got done at the gym and hurried over to "swim" with the ladies with fake boobs, I got my first taste of what Radio Disney actually is. And, as far as I'm concerned, that's annoying. But, I did kind of start to feel bad. As I looked around all these little kids and bigger kids...like, high school, were singing along to EVERY song they played. I wondered if maybe I was keeping my kids from something that everyone else seems to enjoy. Kids, I mean.
(A little side note: Is Seven Peaks not a kid place? Cause seriously....there were a lot of saline implanted and ripped 20 somethings doing the mating dance there...all day long. It was kind of interesting to me. I guess I just didn't think of a water park as a place to "hookup". Maybe for teens that have been dropped off by a mom and are to be picked up at closing, yeah. That makes sense. But adults that can drive? I would have never guessed. Could that be Utah's substitute for a beach? Uh, still no excuse).
Anyway, back to my topic. As I drive Riley and Cole to school in the mornings, we listen to X96's Radio From Hell. It's a bit raunchy, and sure, if I were a better mother, I wouldn't let my children's sensitive ears be burdened by the off-color remarks of Kerry, Bill and Gina in the morning. Sadly, I'm not better. But, as I walked with Syd in the wading pool and listened to some sort of Miley Cyrus fan win a new wardrobe and chance to actually meet her on the Hannah Montana set, I thought that maybe I should allow my kids more kid stuff. Maybe, though I didn't how, it was something that all kids just seem to like....like foodstuffs that are the color blue.
The following Monday I was up early with the kids, and we were on our way to school. The radio popped on as I turned the engine, and X96 was on, as usual. I backed out of the garage, and we were on our way, while the kids were listening to our regular program. I decided I would just change the station to Radio Disney. Even though I knew that if it were to be a hit , that meant that my X96 days were over. But, I'm a giver, as you all know...so I decided to take the plunge. Radio Disney came on filling the Buick with the sounds of Miley Cyrus, I was told...singing something about "He's got somethin' special", over and over again. Riley and Cole started whispering in the back of the car, and giggling. So I assumed that they were enjoying it. And then their laughter got louder. And louder. And louder again. And that, along with the annoying aspect of Miley's voice was too much for me, so I turned the radio down and asked them if they recognized that song. Riley goes, "uh...no. Why would we? Do you know who that is?" I said that the DJ told us it was Miley Cyrus...the girl that plays Hannah Montana. Riley goes, "MOM! You know I HATE Hannah Montana!" And Cole said, "Mom, that music is.....just....terrible". And they both started laughing at me for being so incredibly uncool.
Suddenly I just loved my kids that much more. I switched the station to our regular station and the potty-break was going, so the song playing was 21 guns, by Green Day. Riley goes, "It's my favorite song! I'm so glad we didn't miss it". And then she and Cole proceeded to sing along to it. They always surprise me with how well they know the words.
Anyway, that's my story for today. I wish you all a nice week. I'm overly excited for Kory and Amy to post about their weekend, so I didn't want to over-stimulate all of you, right away, or take away from their big adventure. ;)
Peace out, Dudes.

Prolonging the Magic.

Hello all my devoted readers. First off, I'd like to say, school has been officially "in" for almost a week. And I still stand firm in the belief that school sucks. I had the same opinion when I was in school. And life comes full circle, it seems.
The kids are enjoying their classes and teachers thus far. The first day was actually really hard for me. I got up early with Riley and Cole while Jeff and Syd slept. They picked out their first day clothes like the week before, and were ready to go an hour earlier than they needed to be there. As I've done for the previous years, I made them pose for pictures before they left for their first day. And for some reason, they weren't excited about it as I was.I told them to hold up the correct amount of fingers for the year they'd be in school. However, Cole thought that first grade was more worthy of a "thumbs up", rather than a forefinger. After Riley not so nicely told Cole that he didn't pose correctly for the first picture, he changed his pose for the above shot. From there we took one more shot so we could document their super-cool backpacks, and we were off.When we walked into the building, I was afraid we'd be late because Springville has so much construction going on that there weren't any open roads next to the school. (Last year the construction company said they'd for sure have everything around the school working and open....but, whatever. I'm not overly surprised).
Anyway, we were a little early. We decided that since Cole and Riley's rooms are as far apart as they could possibly get in their school, Riley and I would drop Cole off, and then she'd go pick him up at the end of the day to show him where to meet me or Jeff. Cole fortunately got Riley's first grade teacher, Mrs. Golding. I honestly love her--she's peppy and kind and very unafraid of me. (Unlike his last teacher...whom didn't like me from the start. I'm also very happy to say that we didn't start this year off with ANY of the fiascoes that were encountered last year).
So I took Cole to Mrs. Golding's room, expecting to take pictures and maybe get a little misty...but instead he saw his name on one of the desks, said, "Bye Mom", and then sat down without looking at me again.I was really tempted to go and make him hug me and give him a kiss in front of everyone there. But then I realized that perhaps he was just going to be my sweetie-pie, handsomest boy in the world at home, and just Cole, at school. So I told him I loved him and to have a great day, and goodbye. And he whispered "See ya, Mom". And then we left. Sadly.
Riley tried to cheer me up as we walked across the building to her classroom. "He's probably just nervous, Mom". I appreciated her concern and tried to get over the fact that my baby boy is growing up--taking solace in the fact that my sweet baby girl is still there for me.
"Mom, no one else has their parents here". That was her first comment to me outside of her classroom between telling friends she'd pass in the hallway, "Hi". I refused to think about that and told her to go stand next to her door and point to the m&m that had her name on it.
She sorta rolled her eyes and told me that she's "kind of too old" to be doing this, and she wanted to go into her room. I told her that she was hurting my feelings and that she needed to at least pretend that she was having fun with me here for the pictures. Because she's Riley, she felt really bad that she had hurt my feelings, and smiled regardless of being embarrassed that I was there. I'm a lucky mom. I have great kids, I really do. It's just sad that soon I'm going to have to deal with my little ones being not so little...and not as kind, and not as sweet...cause that just happens. And I realized I'm just not ready. At all. Maybe I'll luck out and they'll be sweeter than most, but they are my kids, and if what goes around comes around, I'm not looking forward to what's coming around. Luckily, however, they're Jeff's children, too. So that might mean that all hope isn't lost.
On a lighter note, I've been enjoying my time with Syd each day. She just keeps getting more and more fun. She's a dancing machine and now officially has 7 teeth. They've come through, they just need to come down. This discovery makes our last couple of weeks a lot less scary, as she'd been really clingy and crabby.
Jeff was going through some of our old stuff the other day, and found a costume that Muffy bought for Riley when she was born. Because Syd is so big, we had to basically stuff her in it, but she looked SO cute, and it reminded me of when Riley was a baby. Yet another reason to be sad about my babies constantly growing up. So I'm just going to enjoy them...I guess that's all I can do. Just be happy that each day they're here with me, and they're making me smile and wish I could take notes on all the funny things they say and do in a day. (Look familiar, Muff?)
Hope you all are doing well, and enjoying life. It's for sure sometimes we have to just stop going so quickly, slow down, and be grateful for what we have. When I actually do this, I always find that that's when I'm happiest.

Pics explanation. And other stuff.

A couple weeks ago, Jeff's work had their "team" picnic. It was fun...I met the people Jeff spends his two days away from us with, and ate really great BBQ and ice cream cake. So, all in all, a huge success, I thought. Anyway, the one game they had was a picture scavenger hunt, and our little family was also our team. So, most of the pics are us trying to get the things mentioned on the scavenger hunt list. The first two photos, however, are snapshots by Cole. His self-portrait, and him catching our little family's reaction to us NOT winning the grand prize. Which I think was Tootsie Rolls, or something. (And judging by the picture, I obviously didn't need said Tootsie Rolls, because the shock of not winning encouraged me to let loose of my gut in outrage). But we were still pissed. I mean, look at our pictures! One of the prerequisites was to put a personal spin on things, and as far as I'm concerned, we DID.


The two pictures of Riley and Cole in our living room were the result of them taking my camera. There are quite a few I'd love to post, just for the humor value alone...but I promised I wouldn't. Let me just say that those costumes were just the beginning.

We are at the end of summer. Literally. Tomorrow I will help Riley and Cole lay their clothes out for their first day of school on Wednesday. I thought that last year at this time I was just overly emotional because I was pregnant...and Cole, my baby at the time, was leaving me to learn stuff. But this year is pretty much the same. Syd will be with me the whole day, but she'll miss her sister and brother...and so will I. The fact that I get my kids all to myself all summer long is one of my most favorite things...like holiday vacations and mini-breaks from school. I miss them so much when they have to go back. Even though our summers are very low key and lazy, we have so much fun...and with Jeff being home so often this summer, it was like a very long weekend. Awesome. Even when the kids were sick life was pretty good...because we had no where we HAD to be. So I'm just kind of sad that we all now have to go back to worrying about schedules and homework and fitting in with peers and all that stuff. It's too soon.


This last weekend was really nice--for me, anyway. My sister Muff took pictures for our cousin's wedding and she was wicked busy...but I enjoyed visiting with my mom and I got to see my sister, Lora. Whom I haven't seen in almost two years. (And Lora, this is the only pic I got of just you. And I miss you already!) And Leah, she does look like my mom, huh? You can definitely tell they're related, for sure. Lora, Muff and I did get to go out as sisters last Friday. I really enjoyed it--sometimes I forget that I had a life before the one I have now...when I wasn't a wife or a mom, but just a sister and daughter. I'm not complaining...but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to remember.

I had to post a picture of this, too--I apologize for my mother's extreme red eye--I tried to get it out, but my program wasn't working. Anyway, Muff, my sister, is able to do these "picture bags". I'm a little biased, I know. But any picture can be put on them...and my momma has FABULOUS taste, obviously. ;) They also have removable panels, so you can have a lot of different pictures for different moods, outfits, etc. The other panel she got was of Syd....and it was just as adorable.

Okay, I'm done with this post. I have too much to do, as I still have stuff that needs to be accomplished tonight. But I will post another story soon...about today, and how sad I am that my babies are back in school.
Sorry for the randomness. I'm trying to get accustomed to all of our new schedules. The end.

Little Tiff's wedding

See how much fun they're having? Meanwhile I'm getting grass stains on my butt. So, my husband and kiddies are boating right now. But, I'm here with my sisters. While Muff makes magic happen. Wedding pictures magic, that is. I'm technically supposed to be helping like Lora is--but I just wanted to blog, instead. I still have other pics to explain from my last post, I know...however in this I'm a bit clueless--and playing with my phone just seems a lot more doable.

Random photos from the last few weeks. I'll explain more, later.

Hypothetically Speaking.

Caution: At this point in time I'm not only under extreme stress, but irrationally PMSal, and of the belief that "it always takes one, to know one". So, just a little warning.
There are a few free passes in the English language where you're entitled to be completely honest....regardless of the backlash. And one of them, as far as I'm concerned, is the phrase, "hypothetically speaking".

(Before I get to that, though, I'd like to tell my old friend Sarah Baker that I really enjoyed meeting her adorable son and husband last Sunday. Despite our many nests of wasps in the backyard and the fact that they attacked her child, I had a lot of fun reminiscing of old times, and catching up on new ones. You look great Sarah! Thanks for stopping by, and you're welcome to do so anytime you're in the area. And I hope that Timmy isn't physically and emotionally scarred forever).

Okay, back to my semi-pessimistic rant. You see, this has been weighing on me, lately. I've been dealing with my own extremes of stress, as we all do, and yet, life goes on. I'm still expected to juggle my everyday stuff and have obligations that continue, regardless of where I am "emotionally". Again, like we ALL do. And these are some vague examples of what kinds of trials I've been coming across. For my personal journal. (As you can tell, this will be a long, drawn out post. You may want to skip it. This is the final warning).

Getting to my point. When starting a question with the words, "Hypothetically speaking", basically you're alleviating yourself of any responsibility for anything you're about to say. Does that make sense? You're essentially saying, "Say this happens". And in reality, it HAS happened, and usually it's happened to you or someone you're close to, but you can pretend that you're the third party that's just happened to overhear everything, and is casually concerned about all possible outcomes.

For instance. Hypothetically speaking, what if you know someone that is as ignorant as you are politically, however, that person makes accusations and overly dramatic statements that they insist are absolute truth? Would you think that person is a hypothetical "dumb ass"? I would.



And hypothetically speaking, what if someone tells you that essentially, you're an idiot? Because you're doing something that they do ALL the time, but would never admit to--not in a million years. Would you consider that person a hypocrite? Cause I would.

Say you know an adult that is beyond childish. One that you can barely stand to be around because of their incapacity to be rational. Hypothetically speaking, is there anyway to tell them nicely that being around them just gives you a ginormous headache? Hypothetically speaking, of course, I'd really like to know.


And if you know someone that requests and commands by using guilt, hypothetically speaking, is it safe to assume that they should be avoided at all costs? And deemed untrustworthy, because they will just try to play on your emotions to get you to do what they think you should? Without giving any concern as to something like....it being your life and maybe you should be able to make your own decisions and happiness?


So...yeah. If I were saying these things to someone's face, it could be considered rude, or disrespectful, or me just trying to cause trouble and hurt feelings. But all these instances are hypothetical, you see. So I can't really be held responsible for how someone will take all the questions I just hypothetically asked. Or can I? You can be the judge. Have a good week, suckas. And you should really try to avoid instances/people that just bring you down and make you miserable. If, hypothetically speaking, you know anyone like that.

Anne Rice--You Suck.

Okay, you see this picture? You see Spike's face? This is the reaction to Anne Rice saying that her vote for Sexiest Vampire (kindof) Alive is Bill, from True Blood.
WHAT?! Apparently she hasn't even READ the books, by Charlaine Harris, so this opinion is based on her watching the show, only. SHE WAS SUPPOSED to be a leader of the vampire empire! Is this the result of her becoming "Christianized" all of a sudden? Or has she, to put it nicely, just let herself go? Needless to say, I'm pretty convinced she's now senile.