my little rant

I have found driving around town there is a new club for drivers. It is most aggravating. I am bothered by speeders and I am not a road rager really but this could put me over the edge. This new club is called the 5 mile and hour club. To be a member of this club you must drive 5 miles and hour BELOW the posted speed limit on impassable streets. The lower the speed limit, the more affective member of the club you are. I have found many members of this club while driving around my neighborhood and I do lots of driving. I get upset over the people driving well over 25 down my road but there is nothing worse than getting stuck behind someone driving 19 to get to my house. I don't think my car idles that slow. That means if I drive about a mile and half behind someone driving that slow it will take me at least 4.5 minutes but that doesn't include the stoplight which adds another 3 or 4 minutes. I have been stuck behind people driving 30 in a 35. They are everywhere. I have never seen anything like it. Because the club is growing and I encounter at least one member everyday. They are of everyage and male and female. So take caution. And make sure you account for the extra time needed while travelling if you get stuck behind one of these club members

If you hadn't heard--

If you haven't read Devanie's blog yet, we switched gears and went to Utah to see Devanie instead and we spent the motel money on tickets to Lagoon. We can get them at Costco here for $30. That is a $7 dollar savings per person. I have hard time switching gears quickly but I went to Costco for the tickets instead of leaving for Wyoming and Amber took a much needed nap and Kelsea stayed up till 12 working on an English project.

Lagoon was great fun for us all. The older girls and Lee Joe were more daring than last time and went on the roller coasters they didn't go on last time. There weren't as many people there as last time so even though we got there at 1pm we still did lots. I made the mistake on going on the tilt a whirl with Hannah and Kylee. I get sick swinging back and forth twice on a swing. So I think it should be renamed the tilt a hurl. But I didn't do that-just felt like it a long time. Met Devanie and all the girls. We all took turns holding the baby and made sure Devanie got some ride time too. One of Kelsea's friends from school was there and she thought Devanie's girls were her sisters. Kelsea went on the rocket 3 times, 2 times with Devanie, everyone else was a wimp(me included) Hannah even rode a roller coaster and loved it

We went to all the Salt Lake things on Sunday. Kelsea was holding Aurora and got a funny look from a lady. I think she thought the baby was hers since they both have red hair. But we had a nice time and I got some pictures of the girls with the Salt Lake temple in the backround.

Before we went to the zoo on Monday something had to happen to make the trip memorable. Kelsea was running down the stairs with Lee Joe. She was trying to beat him to the bottom and jumped--and caught the last step all wrong--and hurt her ankle really bad. Now we have been through this before so we iced it and went to the zoo anyway. Rented a wheelchair and wheeled Kelsea all over the zoo. It was packed so the wheelchair was more difficult than a stroller to get anywhere. But thank goodness it was the zoo and not Lagoon so she could still participate. We really enjoyed the zoo. Hannah had to see armadillos and Giraffes and she saw them both. We liked everything. The zoo there was much much better than here.

In all, with the switch in plans which suited us all just fine in the end, We had a great time, great food, Great company and enjoyed every exhausting minute of it all.

Today we took Kelsea took the doctor. Our family was quite the topic of conversation with the nurses and the X-ray tech. She asked me "Which Lay is it today and what did she do?" I wasn't going to take Kelsea at first because I had my fill. Lee Joe was off. I figured I better take her because Lee Joe wouldn't remember anything. I suffered through all the attention for my accident prone brood and the verdict was she did the best job out of all the girls and there is no question that her ankle is fractured. The tech showed me and I could see it too. She is in a fancy black velcro boot up to her knee. She thinks she is going to decorate it with colored duct tape. The worst part though was there was a volleyball camp she was going to be at this week and she can't put weight on it at all this week. And she is suppose to do Summer school PE once school gets out. 3 hours of PE a day through June. I don't think that is going to work. I have some things to figure out. More Pics are coming!!

We are going away-I think

We are going to Jackson Hole Wy tomorrow and will meet Devanie there. We may try and get my sister to go. Kim and Gwen, there kids and Jared and Michelle and crew will all be nearby and we will find them too.

We almost had a big glitch in the plan. My starter decided it didn't want to start yesterday so Lee Joe spent all day today trying to get it all lined out so we could go. He fixed it. That and the headlights and the transmission flushed. And the air filter changed and he took it to get an oil change. The car should feel loved now.

I worked at the school. Thank goodness it was the breeziest day yet. The crosswalk was fine in the morning and the there were no fax machines dialing 911 or upset people to deal with. I just had my zipper malfunction on my jeans and had to go home for lunch and change my clothes.

Amber is so excited for Pirates 3 to be out. I downloaded the soundtrack that was released on Tuesday. She loves it. So does Kelsea and I. They are going to do Pirates-pieces from all 3 movies- for marching band next year so that has her hyped up too. She got her year book already and most of what's in it from friends is "Congrats on drum major" Their year book is huge. Like a Coffee table book. There are over 600 Sophmores!!

Got to go to bed.

Shopping fun

Lee Joe is starting to get the side work money in and there are no birthdays or holidays this month to worry about and I got a good paycheck in for April at the school so we all got clothes this weekend. I always get the girls a new swimsuit for the season and the 3 little girls got towels this time too. Kylee needed shorts that fit her and didn't look like they were falling off her so she got 4 pairs. Kelsea and Amber needed new one piece swim suits but they are impossible to find in something that they like so we didn't get suits for them. They needed shorts or capris. Kelsea got 3 shorts and 3 shirts. She bought 2 shirts herself. Amber came home with one capri and a cute eyelet skirt and 2 shirts. I got 5 things to cover my fanny-now that was hard work to find, and a swim suit and 4 inexpensive t-shirts. What fun!

mmm- dinner

So last night I made enchiladas. Nobody could remember the last time we had them. Too labor intensive for busy nights. Lee Joe even found a way to stick around to have dinner before he did his side job. They were GOOOOD!

Somehow in 3 days 2 pants and 2 shirts of mine were ruined. A mulitcolored pen went through the wash and got on my capris and a shirt I needed to get rid of, that was all that had ink on it, and another shirt came out of the same load with several new holes. But it was quite a wash day. One load of laundry came out with a bunch of wadded up pretend money. Dollar after dollar came out of the wash one by one. Too bad it wasn't the real thing. I like getting paid for doing laundry. And when Lee Joe's work clothes went through the wash there was a lot little bitty pieces of paper on all his clothes. I found two small clumps with a staple. After analyzing it I came to the conclusion that one of Lee Joe's checkbooks went through the wash. Then I found a giant wad of paper on the side of the washer. So much for duplicate checks. There is a "check your pockets" rule in the house after several lip glosses have gone through and oiled up several loads of laundry. I think I will be washing my clothes separate from here on out.

SHE DID IT!!!!

Amber just called me to tell me she made Drum Major!!!! There were 4 other sophmores that tried out. She was so upset after she led the band yesterday because the band didn't follow her. But she had gone first. She thought it went badly. She was really down when she came home. So now she is happy!! She wanted it badly and Amber usually doesn't want much.

What to call it-I don't know

I don't how to title this. But yesterday was Hannah's day. We haven't done preschool with Hannah for a long long time. So we went to the library. I got there in time to go to the music and movement thing they have there. It has been awhile since we did that too and she was not so sure. We stayed for two songs and she looked like it was painful so we went and looked for books and then came back for the last 2 songs and the parachute and she liked that. I decided spur of the moment to take her to the zoo. It has been since early fall that we went and I told her she could get something at the gift shop and she remembered something she really wanted. I wasn't sure she would find what she wanted and we walked in and she found it instantly. She has an incredible memory. The word she uses lately is she knows the stages a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly and when she says chrysalis she blows me away.

Autumn could be a little Autistic. I have to an expert about it and it sounds a lot like she is a little. But one of the things she does is fixates on things and consumes herself with her interests and deviates very little. It started with Care Bears and lasted years and I was excited when she showed interest in anything else. So now she is fascinated by the the solar system. Her class is going to the planetarium today and she is so excited. She has the planets memorized better than Kelsea and is thinking and talking about space endlessly. We call her little thing she does Autumnism. Even her teacher has noticed some of her little quirks. By the way, she is still in a splint and sling now.

I am trying not to think too much about it. Trying to keep my thoughts distanced from it, but Amber is trying out for drum major. She wants it so bad. She leads the band today and had her interview yesterday. The band teacher did say that he has asked the kids in band what they think about her and he said that the kids respect her. That could be good. There is a really good senior trumpet player that keeps telling her she is the future drum major. About 3 of Amber's good friends are trying for the spot too. They are such good friends that it shouldn't be too bad if one of them gets it. She should know by Friday.

Kelsea got a 2 on her solo. What was strange is she got a half a point marked off for her locking her knees. The lady that played piano for her had judged earlier and thought that it was not right for her to get marked off for THAT.

I mowed the lawn last night and had the worst allergy attack I have had this spring. I had to stop and find all my allergy stuff in between my nonstop sneezing. Amber finished the lawn for me and as I moved the trampoline it tool a bite out of my most comfortable $2 pair of athletic pants. Then I sneezed so much I got a headache after everything calmed down. I was hoping sleep would get rid of it but it escalated and I got little sleep. I finally took some medicine at 7 and Lee Joe got the kids ready and arranged for our friends to do today for carpool so I didn't have to drive. Miserable. Usually the stuff I am taking is wonderful but I can still feel it but it isn't as bad. Not much is getting done today. But at least I am upright. I need to go find a stick to beat the laundry down in the laundry/bathroom. It is crawling all over the place in there.

Mother's day weekend

I barely survived Saturday. I fulfilled the obligation of mother to the far reaches of my sanity. I had too many places to be in too small of time frame and no husband to rescue his wife in distress. But somehow I managed to see Kelsea do her solo(she did a great job!) and made Amber wait with 3 extra to bring along and got Amber to her hair appointment 15 minutes late. But had called ahead so all was well. My neighbor was laughing at all my comings and goings from 1 until 4:45. I would have laughed too if I had been the observer. And when I got back I retreated to my room exhausted. Lee Joe was going to take us out to dinner but by then I didn't want to go anywhere else so he brought us Port of Subs. I was happy as could be with that.

Sunday the kids gave me my gifts. I got a tennis racket. I asked for that, washable silicone cupcake hoders, crocs, a necklace and some kitchen storage containers and heart Kylee made at school out of clay and a scented decorated pouch for my closet from Autumn. Then we had a baskin robbins ice cream cake later. And my mom likes to have reasons to get me stuff sometimes and I got a fountain from her. So I had a nice day.

Kelsea's boyfriend broke-up with her last night. She was kind of sad but she was ready for it herself so it wasn't that bad. The boy that likes Amber "rescued" her Saturday because Amber left her purse at the church after the dance and he brought it to the house at 11:30 that night.
Must fetch more kids again.

2 days later..

So he started on Weds and worked through Thurs. Nothing happened today and it will be sometime next week before he comes back. It may take a bit for him to get it done but I can work on the walls and Lee Joe may be able to get me the flooring material I want that I will install myself. I need to figure out what to do with the cabinets while I wait for the new doors for them.

I bought a stool for the bar but it is too tall and uncomfortable and Hannah is scared to sit on it and then get off so I will have to find something else. 4 of us tried it out and no one liked it.

Lee Joe is out at a father and sons outing while I hold down the fort with the girls. He is doing a service project with the bobcat. I took the girls to Fred Meyer so they could Mother's Day shop for me. I told Lee Joe that the only mom's that have to do that are single parents. I was teasing! I told him I really like the counter and the kitchen renovations. So he is OK. But I can't let him get off that easy. The girls still like to do something.

Day 2

Day one was destruction. All tile on the wall was removed. Some tile on the floor. A cabinet added. Some particle board set down and sink put back in. Day 2 saw the rest of the counter top in place. Laminate was glued on surface of all regular height counter space and the breakfast bar was built but no laminate yet. The kitchen is more efficient, more counter space and with the raised part I hope for clutter control. I love the color we picked for the counter and Lee Joe and I even agreed on it. I told him this winds up being the perfect mother's day gift. I have wanted a new counter since we moved in our house 8 years ago. I may get new cabinet doors out of it too-WOOHOO! But that is later.

I did something to my leg today but I didn't feel any pain. I was bleeding and didn't know it. One of the guys pointed it out. I was really bleeding and could not feel a thing! It took me a few minutes to recall how I hurt it. I took the trash out and piece of tile sliced it about an 1 to 2 inch gash. But it didn't hurt after I cut it. It still doesn't hurt. I guess I will see how it feels in the shower but it is kind of open. I wondered if I needed stitches at first. It will be fine I am sure. Just weird!

Today was the first day in a long long time I could come and not have something to do until close to 7.

Lee Joe is leaving for an overnighter tomorrow for a service project on a father and sons outing. Too bad we don't have any boys he can take but all the girls have stuff on Saturday. So I get to run around alone again all day

Destruction

My kitchen is under construction. I am SOOO excited. I am getting a new countertop right now and will get new doors later. I am demo-ing the tile on the wall myself. I found out this morning that our friend could start on it tomorrow. Of course I have 2 doctors appointments I have to go to while telling what I want in my kitchen. I will get pictures. I remembered to get before pictures this time. I'm getting a counter! I'm getting a counter! Can you see me dance?

Kelsea and the camera

Kelsea had the camera this weekend. It was a beautiful and day and she took some really nice pics. The irises in the front are in bloom and so are the lilacs in back. She would have taken more pictures but the rechargable batteries all died and won't charge anymore. Such a bummer.

Friday was kind of strange. I went to the doctor on Friday. He was able to tell me how Amber was doing at her tournament after calling his son. How strange can that be. If she was done we were going to have his wife bring her home. She was playing when I left there so we hurried out to Eagle. A bit of a drive, And she finished just before we got there and lost. We saw Wade and visited with him. He broke his collar bone. But he is about to graduate and he is getting ready to go on his mission. I got to bring Amber home. But we decided to check out the new Kohls on the way home. I got some clothes and Hannah got a swim suit. Amber and Kelsea babysat that night so now they have money. We had Port of Subs for dinner! (Tennis is over!)

We had a nice weekend. Bummer for me is that I got ANOTHER one of those awful headaches. I had the doctor give me a prescription for my headaches but had not picked it up yet. I decided to go get it and my pharmacy did not have it but they called another one that did so I had to drive all the way over there and get it. I took it right away and was easing up on the way home. I kicked it! Woo Hoo!! Miracle stuff. Even with that we got so much done around here. Lee Joe worked all day.

He is about ready for a week off. He may take it the week of memorial weekend.

Can I pull my hair out yet?

I think I found something at the school that is worse than the day I was weathered on at the cross walk. I subbed for the ERR with the special needs kids today. There were two boys I suppose to help. In the morning I had one and he gets whiny. Then in the afternoon the other boy was there. Usually he is great and just fine. After afternoon recess he fell apart and he hit, scratched and kicked, threw himself on the ground and carried on. I had my fill of that. I wouldn't want that job fulltime. I don't know that I want to do that again for awhile. He even had to be removed from the bus because he was having such a day. Thank goodness for MY doctor's appointment-Nope, too busy to sub, sorry. (not really sorry)

Autumn's arm is in a splint again. We went to the doctor yesterday and they did 6 x-rays, didn't see anything obvious but want her back in a week for more x-rays. I really didn't want to do that again but what can you do?

Amber has her last matches today. Today is district and she is in 3rd place on the team for girls singles. That means she gets to go to a different school than everyone else to play. They have boys singles there too and the 3rd place boy was suppose to go there too. This one boy was going to go and Amber's admiring boy gave up his spot as the number 2 (since he was a fill in for the 2) to the boy that was the 3 since he was the better player and that way he make sure Amber had someone to go with. He is so funny. Amber is OK with it all. SHe was smiling as he making sure all the changes took place. So she said her record is 12 wins and 2 losses. She played before I got there yesterday and I was going to take pictures.

We went to a dance at the elementary school. It was actually very well done with the music. Amber went with me and the 3 youngest girls. They had a good time. I was exhausted and we had apples bananas and cookies and cake for dinner. I had toast and was too tired to fix anything else even though I was hungry.

I was so tired and I think emotionally worn out from this awful busy week. Lee Joe tells me he has nothing on his schedule for tonight which should get me excited but I am more frustrated because there isn't anything on the schedule and I could have used his help every other day this week. But he says he is taking care of dinner and I am going to do what I can today and take it from there. There will be no more tennis after today and track should be over Tuesday. All I will have for a few weeks is dance and church activities. I am ready for a mommy vacation.

Kylee is in the red group

Music week concert----------Track yesterday

Easter -------------------------Amber's buddies

The Matts. The one standing is the one in like with Amber
Ghiradelli square San Fran

It has been a week?

I think it has been almost a week since I blogged. I barely survived Thursday night. I ran from 2:30 until 8:30 that night. EEK!

Friday we got a call from Grandma Lay and she was in town. So we went to dinner at the trough at Golden Corral. We have liked that place for the food (very good steaks and rolls are yummy) but I don't know how much we can go anymore by the amount of very overweight people and the lining up for food that about got to us all that night. But that is almost the only way the kids get to eat out anymore is when grandma comes. Grandma Leavitt was in too much of a hurry again to even bother to come say hi to us. Then we went to the music week concert that Kylee was in. The Elementary Honor Choir was better than it has been in years but some of the other groups were OK. The Elementary Honor Orchestra played a piece they did in Feb. The other pieces were alright. The High School choir is usually enjoyable but they ended like they didn't know what they were singing and the finale was the same song some of the groups played and sang in Feb too. Maybe I was just in a mood but Amber said the same thing. That was the first time in 7 years she wasn't in a group that performed. Grandma stayed the night and left before anyone saw her in the morning.

Saturday Amber went on her first date! They went to the house of the boy they double dated with for a bar b q. She told me something so funny I laughed for days. The boy that they double dated with is a senior. He is LDS and he is football player. He is tall and has broad shoulders like a football player. Kind of intimidating. He is the student body president too. So they are in his family's nice new big double cab pick-up truck to drive them to the school so they could watch the play. Amber says he turns on the radio and Enya is playing and he says-"I just LOVE Enya!" and he starts singing. Talk about a kid that is comfortable in his own skin. I saw him riding a scooter across the street yesterday. That was kind of funny too because he is so big. He has to be over 6 feet tall. So the date was fine. The boy that likes Amber so much has been so sincere and has been such a gentleman still. One of the boys Amber knows calls her either Amber Rich or Mrs. Rich. That is the part that makes it hard for Amber. But in seminary yesterday they both sit in the front row by each other and the topic was marriage. Amber was SO uncomfortable. She said she just looked straight ahead the whole time.

I have been having headaches since Saturday, not fun. I have one today too.

I spent almost 3 hours outside yesterday. It was kind of hot. I guess that is better though than windy and rainy and 40 degrees. It was the regional track meet and Kelsea's relay teams are all going to city. Or at least 2 for sure. One of the relays they started in third and the next girl got them in second, Kelsea kept them in second, and the last girl totally lost the race for them. She came in 5th. That girl tried to blame someone else for the loss! Kelsea ran another race they came in 2nd and the last relay was something else. It was a medley and Kelsea ran the last leg which is a 400. The girl that ran 3rd kept them in second and was catching up to first when she pulled a muscle or got a cramp she limped up to Kelsea for the handoff. She had such a lead from the 3rd place girl that Kelsea kept them in 2nd and they beat their time from last week by 2 seconds.

We had Dinner at 8:30 last night.

Amber is in the top 3 girls singles on the JV team. That means she has to go to another school from everyone else to go to district. This other boy and her are the only ones going to a different school on Friday. She now has 11 wins and 2 losses.

I am so excited because all this stuff is over this week for Amber and next week for Kelsea and I will get to relax a little. And Honor Choir was over as of last night. We will have dance until June 2. Lee Joe is working endless hours right now so I don't see him much still. It will be that way for awhile I think.

I have to take Autumn to the doctor again. She fell off the monkey bars on Monday. Apparantly the tacos were so greasy at school that she lost her grip and now landed on her left arm so we get to see if it is broke. No more monkey bars for her. She fell last week too and landed on her face that day.

I am enjoying Hannah in my last weeks of having a preschooler at home. I really enjoy her. She went to the eye doctor yesterday. Not much change and we still have to leave this film thing on her glasses so she can't see so well out her good eye. I want to be done with that really.