Too Tired to Think of What to Call This Lame Post

Today I took the girls to the zoo and a museum. They liked it. I liked it. Except for the walking in the hot sun part. And the part where I had a headache and felt like I was going to pass out and was accused of being "unfair" and "ridiculous" because I did not feel like walking to the back of the zoo to see if they had cotton candy in that part of the zoo. They were out of it at the north entrance, and the three food places closest to there. And then I was done. I did not want cotton candy, and I would not kill myself for it. I know. I'm mean. Where are my priorities, anyway?

So, we have another day of play tomorrow and I asked the girls what we should do. Science Museum, Farm Fun, Art Museum, or something else?

"What, why can't we do something fun?!" Cinderella said.

"Um, they're all fun." I won't tell you which one's eyes about rolled out of her head.

"We have to walk too much for all of those," whined Sleeping Beauty, "Can't we go shopping instead? I hate walking around."

"Sweetie, you walk a lot when we shop. That's walking. You'd rather walk around shopping for clothes we won't buy than walk around looking at cool animals?"

"Well, yeah," she said, "Duh."

Duh. Of course. Why would we want to go somewhere that is unique to St. Louis, when we could go to Old Navy that looks just like the one we have at home? I told you, something is wrong with my priorities today. I wonder if we could find a mall that has cotton candy? Two happy girls out of three would be pretty good. Fantastic, actually.

The Pain Doctor

I spent yesterday morning driving an hour to meet with a new doctor. A "pain specialist". My friend's husband asked, "Does he relieve pain, or cause it?" I'm still undecided about that one. He was nice. He listened to my headache tale. He suggested a few things.

He set up an appointment for me to see a new neurologist. This is okay, since mine moved to India. Yes, India. The country. It's not like I can call and ask for advice or refills on medication anymore, so I do need a new neurologist. This new guy (who also has a name that I can neither spell nor pronounce, so let's hope he doesn't decide to move back to his country of origin after he meets me) is a headache specialist. Which is good. I guess. I mean, why wouldn't it be?

Pain doctor wants to get an MRI of my neck. And since the one of my head was so fun, I'm super excited to do one of my neck. Especially since I get to pay for it. Yeeehaaaw! (Although, now I've finally met my super high deductible, so now I'll only have to pay, say, 300 dollars, instead of 1500. Phew.)

After I get more crazy radiation exposure the MRI, pain doctor plans to use said images to inject something into the nerves in my neck. You would think I would have asked exactly what he plans to shoot into my body. But I didn't. I didn't, and don't, really care. I trust him. If he thinks it will work, I am happy to try it. Heaven knows I've tried other crazy things. And, by the time he is actually ready to do the procedure, I will have information in the mail and will probably have to sign my life away (again), so I will know more. I hope it turns my skin green and gives me warts. It would be so fun to look really great on Halloween. I love Halloween.Also, pain doc has prescribed physical therapy on the neck and shoulders three times a week for a month. This one I might like. The first time I had physical therapy on my back, when I was in high school, I had a smokin' hot physical therapist intern. He made me so nervous, I thought I would die. I've been dreaming about going to physical therapy ever since.

Can't wait.

image via

A Delightful Weekend

We were privileged to be spoiled at my Aunt and Uncle's house for a couple of days. We had a great time visiting with them and my cousins, and my cousins' cute kids. We had marvelous food, and while I know it's not exactly what my aunt had in mind, it was delicious nonetheless. And, just so you know, my cousin, Josh, makes the best scrambled eggs I've ever had. And, my cousin, Jennifer, makes a killer tart. Mmmmm... I wish I had one this minute. And, I think I already mentioned the heavenly brownies Denise made for Shaylie to serve at her mini piano recital, which was held at their house. Really, really yummy food.

The kids and dads all enjoyed playing in the backyard and were thrilled to be allowed to pick as many fresh peas from the garden that they wanted. They loved it! Don't you think Snow White looks like she's been caught with her hand in the cookie jar? I tell you, she loved those peas so much, she may have chosen them over most cookies. It really made me wish that we had planted a garden this year. It makes gardening a little hard when you leave and go traipsing across the west for a month in the summer. Maybe next year we'll grow some peas. Anyway, back to our fun days of visiting...

The Saturday morning we stayed there, Uncle Dave (who gets credit for each and every picture in this post, by the way) had the important job of driving the fire truck in the West Bountiful parade. He invited our girls to ride in the truck with his grandchildren and help throw candy to the parade-goers. Of course, they eagerly accepted and had a marvelous time! I'm guessing their full bellies of Salt Water Taffy enhanced the experience that much more.Thanks, Denise and Dave, for your fabulous hospitality and some great memories!

Irrational Rationing

Am I the only irrational parent that insists my children use their school boxes from last year because they look brand new and nothing is wrong with them? Surely I can't be the only irrational and unfair mother out there. According to my children, no one has to have the same school box, calculator and pencil sharpener two years in a row. Let alone a backpack. It's just not fair. I say there is no requirement to have a calculator and a pencil sharpener and they should feel lucky that I have gone above and beyond. Of course, I know nothing, so it matters little what I say.

Perhaps I should let dad take over the organizing children for school and let them see how far they get with him? If he had any say, they'd still have Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake backpacks. Wonder how that would go over in Middle School?

Heber Valley Camp

While in Utah, we were able to go to my mom's family reunion at Heber Valley Camp. It's a lovely camp, and we had a lot of fun. We were able to visit with family, play, hike, paddle boat, zip-line, do team building activities, feast on great food, and pretend to sleep. That last one was quite an adventure, let me tell you. Just imagine five adults on squeaky air mattresses, three school girls with restless legs, one pre-schooler who falls out of bed, one toddler who talks and mumbles and snores in his sleep, and one tiny baby who has a gassy tummy and decides she doesn't feel like eating all sharing the same cabin. Needless to say, no one did much sleeping. Except Sleeping Beauty, who, apparently, is named well, as she slept the entire night and woke up wondering why everyone else wasn't jumping out of bed to run around at the first sign of daylight. Despite the endless night of no sleep, it was a grand time!

The girls had a great time running around with their second cousins on the hiking trails. We saw a lot of deer, minding their own business, right next to us.
(Again, a lot of these pictures (all the best ones) were taken by my talented Uncle Dave.)
King and Cinderella flew back home Saturday morning so that Cinderella could go to Girls Camp, so they missed out on a lot of the activities. They didn't miss the fire with the S'mores and Starbursts (Have you ever had a Starburst roasted over the fire? If not, you should definitely try it. Yum!) or the baby shower for baby L and mommy Christine, so Cinderella was happy.Saturday morning, we headed to the lake for some paddle boating and canoeing. We were able to enjoy a nice paddle around the lake, until, for no reason whatsoever, the paddle boat quit working, and we were stuck. Luckily, Nate, Christine, Emily, and kids were nearby and paddled us in. Then Snow White and Sleeping Beauty set out on their own in a new paddle boat. (This picture was taken by, then swiped from, my cousin Jeremy. You can see more of his pictures (which are way more professional than mine)on his blog here.)

And, that hat. I must say something about Snow White's hat. It was given to her by my Aunt Renee. Renee had brought it from my Grandma's house to give to one of my cousins. It didn't fit my cousin, and once Renee learned that Snow White adores hats, it was Snow White's to own. And, she totally owned it. I don't think she took it off for at least a week. She loves it. After a delicious mock Cafe Rio lunch, and a refreshing (that was actually a sarcastic adjective) power nap on the cement floor carpeted with paper thin carpet and using my wallet as a pillow, it was time to head to the challenge course. We split into groups, did some fun group activities and anyone who wanted to got to go on the zipline. Snow White was excited for this opportunity, and loved it.
(These next two pictures were taken by my Uncle Mike, whose talent can be seen here.)
I also went on the zipline. It was fun, but, do you see how cute Snow White's tushy looks in the picture above? Let's just keep that image in your head instead of thinking about what any behind bigger than hers would look like shoved into the little straps. You're welcome.

Girls Rule

While it must be said that we ADORE all of our cousins, we were especially excited to meet little L. She is the first girl born on my family's side since Sleeping Beauty and Snow White made their appearance ten years ago. Now, while each one of our boy cousins have been super cute (and still are) we were really excited to have another girl to hang out with. It's especially great that sweet L was born to my baby brother who, at the ripe age of fourteen swore that he would never, ever have a girl. (He lived with us for almost a whole summer when our girls were six and four and moving and sick and not sleeping and just a little bit (a whole lot) whiny. You could hardly blame him.) But, alas, Nate is completely smitten with his new baby girl. And, he should be. She's a sweet little ball of nummy-smelling love. We couldn't get enough of her. Little L, her cousin Cinderella, her mommy, Christine, and her Great-Grandma Roberts:

These last two pictures were taken by my talented Uncle Dave whose photos can be seen here.

Oh Yum

I really wish I would have realized the zucchini was bad before I made it into a (disgusting) soup for my family. Sleeping Beauty really wishes I would have figured it out, as she loves zucchini soup and dug right in. Ugh. Nothing like a fermented meal to make you really never want to eat again.

Well, not never again. We ate our biscuits (which were undercooked and under seasoned--yes, stellar performance in the kitchen tonight, my friends) and apples as we poured our soup down the drain. We are now enjoying a healthy after-dinner serving of raw cookie dough and fried refrigerator biscuits. Tasty.

This is the reason I should just go to bed when I have a bad headache instead of pretend I feel fine and cook dinner anyway. Reason #239. I'm a slow learner, apparently.

(Home.)

Today was church. It was nice to be back and worship with familiar friends and families. It was also nice to see new people have moved in and joined our congregation. Yay!

We were about two minutes late for church. (Again.) It does not matter what time we head for the car, it seems like we are always a minute or two late. This time, I have to say, it was pretty much my fault. I wanted to sleep too much, and didn't leave enough time for myself to get ready and get the girls moving because they wanted to sleep too much, too. I suppose that's what we get for never enforcing a bedtime on vacation and sleeping in until what is almost noon at home. Coming off of vacation is just hard.

There are some good things, though, about coming home from vacation. It's nice to get clothes out of a closet, instead of a suitcase. It's nice to have my skin feel some humidity in the air. (Ask me again how much I like that once this cool front moves out, though--I may not love it so much when I feel like I live in a sauna.) It's nice to have a routine and more space to ourselves. It's nice to be able to yell at my kids again have the girls see each other again. They wouldn't admit it, but ten days was a long time to not be together, and they are glad to be back together. They keep fighting forgetting they are glad, but they are.

And, now, what to do with the rest of our summer vacation? Well, the girls have friends they need to have come play. We have a birdhouse to build, apparently. (I just found out this was on the agenda.) We have books to read and prizes to earn from the library's Summer Reading Program. We head to St. Louis for a couple of days for King to work and us to play. (Any suggestions for St. Louis?) We have school supplies to buy and sleeping habits to break. (I'm thinking that the teachers would prefer students who were at school at 7:45 a.m. rather than 1:00 p.m. Bummer.) We have a few summer recipes the girls want to try out. We have some service projects and some home improvement projects (Why do these seem so never-ending?) to complete. We have games to play and fun to have. It will be great.

And, I've found that after reading this post over before publishing, I need to calm down with the parentheses. (((Obviously.)))

Locks of Love

Sleeping Beauty first heard about Locks of Love (a non-profit organization where you can donate hair to be used for wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer or other illness) sometime last Spring. She didn't have quite the length she needed to donate then, but she was determined that she was going to donate her hair as soon as she could.

Yesterday, she decided she'd had it with her long hair. It was time to cut the ten inches off, no matter how short her hair was when she was done. She donated in honor of Grandpa, who had thyroid cancer, and our friend, Brother Ellis, who is fighting brain cancer. She felt great doing it, and I think she looks mighty cute, too. We're proud of you Sleeping Beauty!

Before and During:
After:

A Weekend with Grandma B

Grandma B had a family reunion in Kaysville, so we met her and Sean and Rebecca there. The park was lovely, and the weather was nice--it was a good time. After the reunion, we headed back to my Uncle Dave and Aunt Denise's house to have Cinderella's Mini Piano Recital. Denise made the most scrumptious brownies to celebrate, and Cinderella did an excellent job showing off her piano skills. (No pictures--oops!)

We then headed to a home in West Valley that Grandma B found for us to rent. It was a great house (after we finally got the housekeepers to come get it ready for us) and the girls thought it was so fun to share a bunkbed room with Grandma B. This next picture cracks me up because King is trying to open a can of olives--with a wine corker. The can opener didn't work, and we were desperate, and not completely successful. The wine corker worked better than the butcher knife, though. The hot tub was nice,and the house was close to lots of things, like a church we could walk to on Sunday, a bowling alley,and the Oquirrh (pronounced oak-er) Mountain Temple.I'm sure we'll always remember the rousing game of charades we played. Did you know that The Secret of the Magic Gourd is a Disney movie? Neither did I. Tell me, just how would you act that out for others to guess? Yeah, crazy, huh? It was pretty funny! (And, you're welcome Cinderella and Mom B for not putting your embarrassing pictures on here.)(I look just like Brother Bear, don't I?)

And, on that flattering note, I think I'll wrap it up for today. The girls are STARVING to death and I guess they are incapable of finding food themselves. I must make lunch.

Hanging Out at Grandma's

Since this is my blog, and I can do what I want, I will post things we did on vacation randomly, instead of chronologically. If this offends you, maybe you shouldn't be here. Really, just go....

Okay, now that we're down to just the readers of the blog that care about every detail of our vacation, we can get on with it. What? You don't care? Fine. You can go, too....

So, as I was saying, we have lots of pictures and lots of stories, and it makes more sense in my head to categorize them and post them randomly. So, we'll begin with hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa D's. We were there about a week before we headed to northern Utah, and then SW, SB, and I were there for nine more days after we had all of our northern Utah fun. We did a lot of swimming in the pool, which we could only do with Grandma or Grandpa present, and only on the "children welcome" hours, which are during lunch, and during dinner. Whatever. We didn't need to eat anyway. We were full of Creamies and Sun Chips.Speaking of Creamies, we had a lot of them! Yumm-o. We had fun sharing them with E and S, our cute cousins that also live in St. George. We pretty much loved everything about being around E and S. S is two and so funny. He's got a contagious laugh and tickled the girls to death with the cute things he did and said. E is almost four and the girls loved reading books with him. They enjoyed giving him hard words to sound out. He's a good little reader, that cute, smart boy.Here's a shot of the cute little guys we watched roaming around G & G's back yard: Actually, that isn't a very cute one, but that's the one Snow White took a picture of. And, here are the flowers she took a picture of:I promised her I'd post those.

I already told you about the girls going to see Footloose with Grandma and Grandpa, and here's a shot of them as they headed off for their date. My dad sort of looks like he wasn't excited, but he was. He would say, "What did you want me to do, a back flip?" He's so funny.
And then, the pictures from the do-over that Snow White had because she got sick the first time:

Other things we did while there were: eat at Cafe Rio (my choice) and Olive Garden(the girls' choice), (on a side note: I think my girls look so much like my sister, Em, in this picture, don't you?)

mini-golf, golf, shop, play games (only one of which sent little S to the Insta-care with a Nurse's Elbow. It's a long story, but he was fine), play horsey, go to the park, go to the splash pad, and just hang out. It was loads of fun.

And, I think that's enough remembering for today. Makes me tired just thinking about all that fun!