bad memory

I meant to take pictures last night after everyone got home and I forgot. Autumn was a pixie. Kylee was a vampire bride of some sort. Kelsea was Meg from Hercules. Amber wore her shoe on her head. Yesterday was event filled. I was still finishing up Hannah's costume. Lee Joe didn't get to Hannah's pumplin so I started carving that even though I shouldn't have-my shoulder.I had to make Pigeon Poop. It was a big hit at the kids party. I was in charge of the party in Autumn's class. We had table of horrible sounding goodies. We also had teachers eyeballs (jello jigglers with grapes) Witches fingers (carrots) apples with slime (caramel) and Troll Boogers (pretzel sticks with Cheez Whiz with green food coloring) And with that was Swamp water punch to drink (lemonade, lime sherbet and soda with gummy worms) Maybe the kids had to be a little older to really appreciate it. It was so funny how the kids were about everything. I they were afraid of the weird foods and once we convinced them it was things they liked then they were all over it. They were scared of the punch and were surprised when it was really good. Too funny. Hannah wasn't sure how to deal with the attention she got being Santa. She had a pillow case filled with her toys. One of the 6th grade girls told her she wanted a pony for Christmas and Hannah was concerned she would have to give her the pony in her bag. This morning she said she really liked being Santa. Lee Joe took the kids trick or treating and I stayed home and cleaned and gave treats out to about 7 sets of trick or treaters. The kids came home with about 3 full sized candy bars and a toothbrush with candy attached and loads of other stuff. So four people asked me for this recipe yesterday-this thing won't let me tab or make a new paragraph still so it will all run together. Pigeon Poop- 5 cups of Peanut Butter Crunch Cereal, 3 Cups of rice Krispies, 2 Cups pretzels (my family does not like the pretzels) 2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows, 2 pounds white chocolate (I used 3 bags of white Chocolate chips). Melt Chocolate in a double Boiler. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add Melted Chocolate to bowl and mix. spread on waxed paper and let cool. Once cool break into chunks and serve. I imagine a regular chocolate version of this would be quite tasty-Hmm.

Santa Hannah

My neighbors Pumpkin Snowman

Happy Halloween

Imagine a picture of a snowman made out of pumpkins and a 4 year old girl dressed as Santa. Blogger won't post pictures today. I have to go to the school, I am in charge of the party. I will be wearing reindeer ears and be Hannah's reindeer. That is as dressed as I will get.

Great fun

Amber won a costume contest at the SND last night. She is gum on the bottom of a shoe. And she won those two packages of M&M's . Thanks Ellen show. We can't take the credit for that funny.

looky

Amber is the bottom edge. Look at all the bare feet.
Amber is in the gray shirt almost center.

Maryanne asked-

Since Maryanne asked what I did- I might have hurt it origionally early this summer arm wrestling. And then I hurt the guys left shoulder. It hurt for a while mildly before I hurt it really well.I was cleaning the garage when I hurt it the most. My shoulder was doing much better and then I played volleyball and now it hurts again so it wasn't healthy yet. I know Omega 3s help the joints too and they are cheaper than glucosamine. I looked into glucosamine with Amber's knees. I am out the vitamin habit again so I haven't been taking them so I guess I should stop whining. -New paragraph-We went to the football game last night. Capital played Eagle (Wade is a senior at Eagle this year) Capital lost by 3points-it was a good game though. The band marched barefoot or in socks and they wore regular clothes. I could actually find Amber! And their feet were frozen. It was like 50 or 40 degrees. Crazy kids. -new paragraph-Kelsea and I went to Heidi's bridal shower today and I visited with Mandy and her cute baby. We were asked to bring items for her firsts. I had first emergency. She got some cute things from everyone. She is moving to North Carolina after the wedding. In order to buy dog food today-since we are out completely, Lee Joe has to come along for his healthy arms. I am so independent this is really frustrating. Lee Joe and I are getting new callings on Sunday, we will be together. I have mixed feelings because I love my music calling but I am ready for a change. Right now Lee Joe is Ward missionary. And he is really good at that calling. So that is something to keep in tune for.

Bad news

I finally went and made an Appt with my Dr for next week and then decided to try a Chiropractor. I saw him yesterday. I have 3 things going on. Tendonitis, bursitis and a possible rotator cuff tear. That last one could require surgery. I am not suppose to lift anything with it for at least a week, not even my purse or a gallon of milk. It could make it worse. I looked at that symptoms for the rotator cuff tear and I have all the symptoms. That stinks.

Last night

OK, I am really silly at times about getting enough rest. Tuesday night I stayed up till 2 painting the window and bookshelf so I can hang blinds in the office. It's not done yet. But last night at 9 I went out with some friends to play Volleyball. They got kicked out of the raquetball court so there hasn't been Walleyball in a while but that is our preferred sport. My friend's birthday is on halloween so someone brought a car full of balloons and put them in her car, She thought it was so funny and then we all went out to IHOP to replace all the calories we just burned. So I didn't get to bed until 1. Today I had to do oreintation to be a sub at the school (At least get paid for the 2days I just worked) and I was very overdue for a haircut so I got one finally. So no rest for the senseless weary. Now Amber is signed up for drivers ed. My shoulder hurts more again so now it is time for some medical intervention. Darn it all for getting old. I realize I need to work a lot harder on being more optimistic and less pessimistic. The left side of my body feels great!! Heidi is getting married on Nov 4. That means family is coming this way. I know that Grandma and Jared and Michelle and kids are staying with us so far. I will be bust cleaning next week. And Amber is marching in the parade on that day too. We have a little conflict going on. It will be a very busy day.

Amber-

I don't know which one Amber is

Where's Waldo,I mean Kelsea

Tatoos anyone?

I went to Port of Subs while the little girls were at dance last night and this guy was talking to the guys there about the tattoo he was about to spend $350 for. He had several already. I was dying to ask the guy what he was going to do when he got old and the tattoos started to wrinkle and sag. I have just wondered that when I see people with tattoos all over and wonder when they are elderly are they going to be able to tell what they even have. That fairy is going to start looking like a witch and that butterfly is going to look like roadkill (those are more womanly tattoos). I don't know, I was debating whether I had enough nerve to ask this guy. I almost did-but didn't but I would still really like to know if anyone has even thought that far ahead.

bummer

Blogger doesn't want to post pictures for me again today. This is a strange morning. Last night the cat lost a little of our warm fuzzy feelings for her. It was about 11:45 the dog was barking,we were almost asleep but Lee joe went up to see what it was. It was a bird that could still fly. We chased it around and finally caught it. It's leg was hurt. We left it in the box. Went to bed and the dog started to bark again. The cat was grounded to the house though after that. I think after one all the crazy pets mellowed out. This morning I was trying to figure out where to take the bird. Lee Joe had said it was really noisy earlier but once I checked it just as I was getting ready to leave-it had died. We had a crazy weekend( when is it ever quiet) Kelsea had her concert Friday. Amber had her band practice and parents decorated the band room. We saw the kids come in. They were thrilled. On Sat Amber took the PSAT. I took my 4 other girls to POJOS for Kailyn's friend party. It is fun like Chuck E Cheese but bigger and more fun with a Carousel and bumper cars. Then I took 3 kids to the band banquet at a local restaurant. Later I picked up 5 kids and took them to the high school. It was funny-our friends son,the ones in Hawaii, after the band teacher said for all the kids to go home and hug their parents for getting them to and from band practices, he said he was going to go home and hug the phone. We went to the band competition. It was fantastic. And it was sad. Our kids played and marched their best show yet and didn't place at all. It was stinking COLD up in the stadium!! We brought blankets and heavy coats and we were still frozen. The band that won was very very good. So imagine pictures of concerts, band formations and more volleyball that I will have to show later. This week I need to make a santa outfit for Hannah and plan a class party for Autumn's class. And Kylee is the busy one for a change. But there will be less running. I hope. We will see.

Hannah's art project

Hannah's diarama. It's a sailboat with clouds around it. She's very interesting. On the way to dance there was great debate if Mary's little lambs had fleece as white as snow or fleas as white as snow.

It worked!

Speaking of ER

Monday night was eventful. But not as much for my family as our neighbors 2 doors down. They are the ones that gave me the fantastic fruit basket. I pulled into the driveway close to 7 and saw the dad crawling in the grass and I thought he was playing with one of the boys. The kids saw their dog running down the street. Kelsea caught him and then came home and told me that one of their boys might have broken his arm or dislocated his shoulder. Their daughter was already here and she stayed here. They took him in, he completely broke his arm just below the shoulder ball joint. He stayed the night in the hospital and Drissa stayed with us. He was going to have surgery and then the surgeon changed his mind and sent him home with out a cast. They won't cast it till Thursday and then after 5 days they will decide if he needs surgery. Isn't that awful? He is in 2nd grade and an active boy. I worked at the school again on Tues and was impressed that I single handedly got 4 girls ready for school, Lee Joe did help some, I can't take all the credit, and we were out the door at 7:45 am after a night of very little sleep at all. The big drama at recess was somebody's pet zebra finch found it's way on to the playground. It couldn't fly very far. A group of kids found it and thought is a baby or hurt. We tried to catch it with no luck. It figured out how to fly right out of our reach on the top of the portable. Girls went in for recess real worried about the bird and a bunch of little boys had screaming drama at the tetherball pole. I came home completely exhausted I couldn't move from about 6 until 7:30 and needless to say I slept really well last night. Today Hannah went to the eye doctor. We have not been able to eye patch 2 hours everyday-can you see why? She went a little backwards on her progress.So they put a film over the lense on her glasses on the good eye she has to have on all the time. And I am ready to rest now that I have taken care of the trip to the bread store and Costco. At least until 3 when I pick up kids and go to a volleyball game after school.

I am so tired!

I told the secretary at the school that I would fill in for her when her son and his wife had their baby. I got a call at 6:45 this morning. I was at the school today. I didn't go to bed early enough for that. We had an unruly parent trying to transfer records somewhere else. It was tense. But I will be there again tomorrow. I just need to find a sitter for Hannah again. That was rough this morning. Hannah came with me for part of the morning. All my friends that have kids her age are in kindergarten or pre-school. And my friends that are going to Hawaii-They are still going. They were in LA for the big quake- when was that? No worries for them. Good luck to them. I think there was point to all this but I am so tired I can't remember what it was. I have to get Kylee still and take the other 2 little girls to dance. Lee joe will be picking up Amber again from band practice in the dump truck. Everyone said bye to her last time he did that. It was funny for her. I think that we don't know how to have decent dinner anymore except for Sunday. Who knows what we are having tonight but the kids are sick of mac and cheese.

slightly humorous

I am not this mean but we have some friends that were suppose to leave on Friday for Hawaii for their 20th anniversary. I know that she wants to go really bad. and since she planned the trip her mother-in-law went on a mission (their babysitter) and the big band competition is this weekend and her husband REALLY wants to go. And then I looked on the internet and saw there was a really big earthquake there today. Now she either is wanting to go too badly, they aren't suppose to go yet, or her husband has been praying to go to the band competition over this trip(He is a Bishop in his ward, his prayers have weight?). It doesn't look like travel there is very disrupted so they will probably be fine. I am helping them get their oldest son to all the activities on Sat. The PSAT is in the morning. A lunch at noon at a locale buffet restaurant and competition the rest of the day.

As I wait for Amber to come home....

We didn't go to the ER this time with Autumn. I suppose a bad dr's office visit is the result. She is doing much better. We went to the homecoming football game last night. The 4 girls and I did. We stayed until after half time. It was freezing and after 10:30. The band marched fantastic. When the band ran off the field Amber's clarinet fell apart. Thank goodness it was fine. The football game was 21 to 0 when I left. (final score 34 to 7) The drum major won Homecoming queen. Amber said it was the 5th year in a row a band member won homecoming queen. Today we went to Caldwell to watch them compete. They took 2nd and brought home a nice trophy. The band that won first was REALLY good. Kelsea's team won their game on Friday. they were close games though. Hannah has been very funny. Out of the blue she told us she wanted to make a diarama. So for about 3 days she has worked on it. It has a sail boat and clouds that hang from strings. In the backround she drew a house and hills. The only thing I helped her with was tape the strings of the top of the sailboat to the Diarama and she did all the rest herself. I have taken pictures and if blogger improves I will post a picture. She still wants to be Santa. But she says she doesn't want to wear a beard. I will have to make her a costume. Next week is Kelsea's LAST volleyball game (sigh of relief) and Amber's LAST band competition (a bigger sigh of relief). As much fun as it is, less of it is enjoyable as well.

autumn update

I was trying to post pictures for 3 days now, no luck. I can't seem to start a new paragraph either. Autumn went to our usual doctors office yesterday for a follow-up on her arm. There is no obvious fracture. They think it is a bone bruise. She is out of the splint and and sling. It still hurts her but she is kind of hyper sensitive to discomfort. Everyone has been trying out her splint and sling. Kylee had to almost tackle Dylan this morning. He tried to go to the playground with her sling. I drove 5 kids to school this morning. Maybe my next van should be yellow. Tonight we have a volleyball game for Kelsea and Amber is marching and playing pep band at the homecoming game tonight and has another competition tomorrow. Her band teacher got furious on weds, threw a fit and left the band in the parking lot during class(where they practice) . Then yesterday he felt bad or something and gave all the kids individualized thank you cards for working hard. Band teachers can be very tempermantal. I had one in 7th grade that threw his baton at the wall and it was very close to where I was sitting. Hopefully it won't get too cold at the game tonight. It starts at 8:30. Amber has a friend whose mom is helping me carpool Amber to Capital. She saw our giant pile of leaves in the yard and wanted some for her mulch pile because they don't have any trees in their yard. So we bagged up 5 big leaf bags full and I think we can still fill two or three more. Kitty's kill count is 9. Lee Joe has 2 kills. I think we are on the verge of a crisis. I have never seen anything like it. I am going nuts with my messy house, chauffer duties(as a result, messy car), daily calls from the school nurse, daily visits to the school during the school day, and the death and carnage of mice around my house. Enough said, I need to shower an take Hannah to the library and visit the car wash, then I might have some time to clean a little before the run around begins. How's that for rambling.

Autumn

So I guess Autumn's health and wellness streak lasted too long. She is in a sling now with a splint on her arm. She fell off the monkey bars and landed on her hand, but her elbow is what is hurting and swollen. The stinker never cried, or told the nurse or her teacher. She came home and said it hurt. Lee Joe looked and it, so did I and we weren't sure. She went to school yesterday and then the nurse called me and said it was bothering her. I wanted her to stay at school, she has missed way too much already. She got home and I felt I should take her to the doctor. I had to take her to a different clinic than I usually go to. The doctor was very nice but I kind of doubt her experience. She said she wasn't sure if her elbow was broke but she was going to send the x-rays to a radiologist. I would hear back from her in 2 days. Then she was putting on the splint and she didn't seem like she had done that very often. So she went and got the sling, she put it on backwards! I left there feeling like I should have gone to the ER or insisted my doctors office see her no matter what. I drove by the school on the way home and saw a bunch of cars. It was the night of the ice cream social. So at 7pm, no dinner in any of us yet, we went and had free ice cream at the school and all of Autumn's friends and classmates surounded her and asked her 100 times what happened. It is her right arm and she is having trouble writing. We will see what kind of day she has at school today.

Our weekend

I missed Amber all weekend but knew she would have fun with her band geek friends-that's what they call themselves. We had a weekend where Kelsea and Kylee were busy in the evening or day and I was home with just Autumn and Hannah. Kylee got to swim and go to Chuck E Cheese. Kelsea went bowling and to a Bosnian food store. She also watched a movie ata birthday party at a friends house. Amber's band tied for 12th to get into the finals. They were not the band selected to go though. I think that was the closest they got to finals in the past 4 years. Amber said some of the other bands were really really good. She called me at 1:45am to pick her up. UGH! When I got back I couldn't sleep. So Sunday was rough. I have been fighting a cold all weekend, and my shoulder is still a problem. Anemic as well. I made it to the last hour of church, led the music and came home and slept. A Lot. But I have to tell you, Airborne works well. Lee Joe took it a few times, he gave me his cold, and it didn't last long. I took it a few times and I don't feel that bad today. 2 1/2 days of cold symptoms. That's not bad. I think I need to see the doctor for the shoulder. It making some popping and clicking when it moves and it hurts still. Lee Joe earned major brownie points this weekend. He made a potato and ham soup but something happened and it scorched. The bottom of the pan he used was too thin I think. Ususally he does a really good job with the soups he makes. At least he made it early enough in the day that I was able to make spaghetti and we still ate before 7. But we were all looking forward to his potato soup. My mom is looking at moving again. The guy she is renting from is selling her place so she wants to find a new place even though she really likes where she is. My mom and sister looked at a few places yesterday. But she is disappointed today and hasn't made it to work today because she doesn't feel well. Looks like we will be moving her again. So in 9 years she will have moved 7 times here in Idaho.

It's Fall in our front yard

This tree turns colors before any other tree here. The wind picked up today and it is almost done dropping leaves and boy has it dumped this year. Here is Kylee Autumn and Hannah having their annual "rake and play, rake and play." The back yard is not safe for this kind of play.

Kylee's birthday parties

Here is our family and luau birthday parties for Kylee

Amber

Amber's hairdo picture with braces. I still need to get her after braces picture

Kelsea

Kelsea before and after braces and hairdo picture. She took the botoom one of herself.

Marching band

Aren't they cute? they look like a bunch of tin soldiers. Amber is off to Pasco Washigton today. I am full of mixed feelings-a little PMS going on-worriying about all the bad things that could happen. I am sure it will all be fine. I have an over active imagination. I can't imagine what it will be like when she leaves home. I have DSL-helps pictures load like they should.

fruit basket

Here is the fruit basket I got for my birthday. Chocolate covered apples, pineapple flowers, cantalope and honeydew and straberries and grapes on skewers. I have a little more experimentation to get this picture thing figured out. I really hurt my shoulder last night with the garage. I get another year older and I get my second aggravated joint. My ankle was last year's ailment, and still bothers me and my shoulder had been hurting some for weeks and now it screams. That is what I get for getting old. I had a good day at the mall today spending some birthday money and the gift card I got from Bath and Body works. I came home with 2 pairs of pants and great lotion and smell good stuff for the house. Hannah got shoes. The kids are home tomorrow and I will have Dylan and Kailyn for half the day. Maybe I can get them to work. I may go to the doctor if my shoulder still hurts this bad. I think Kylee is out to have agreat year. She was selected to be a peer mediator at school.

Glitch

Now I have to figure out how to get one picture to blog and not the album of over 600 pictures. There's always something but I will get there. I cleaned the back half of our garage tonight-more organized. Now there is a path wider than Lee Joe that we can walk in. There is a really long way to go yet. Lee Joe worked on cleaning out the crawl space and got out the construction debris still in there. It was the most convenient place to put stuff out of the way. This week is much better than the last few. We will see how Thursday goes with everybody home. I am still hooked on Rollercoaster Tycoon. We have the 3rd one on the new computer now. Kelsea bought it last summer with babysitting money and none of our computers could handle it. She spent a lot of money on it and the expansion pack and then they didn't work. She was excited to finally get play it-if only mom would butt out of her game. Even with that I still got a lot done today,Wow!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Well I am not that full of myself but I am currently updating my blog with my birthday present!! Now I am going to get some DSL and we will be screaming!! My mom and my sister got me a scanner/printer-copier that will print pictures too. I have downloaded all my my pictures to my computer so now I can put more pictures on. Hooray!! My neighbor friends were so sweet. They sent my this fruit basket that unlike anything I have ever seen before. I have tried to put the picture on but my connection is really slow and it didn't work. So I will post that later.

Our little P.O.W Mort died overnight. It probably wasn't very healthy to start with. It has hardly grownand was real sick and got sick real fast. Lee Joe thought it had some sort of tumor. Kelsea cried after she said she didn't care if it died and it hadn't died yet. None of the girls know yet. I figured they should leave for school happy. A houseful girls sure can run on high emotions.

It was nice this weekend having church off so we could relax all weekend. Made a nice weekend. We all watched conference and Kelsea was in rare form with super hyperactivity going on. She was maybe more excited over the computer than I was.

The kids only have 3 days of school this week. I think last week was the first 5 day week they have had since school started. Amber is going to Pasco Washington on Friday for a marching band competition. It will be only the 2nd time they will have run it for an audience.

I asked Hannah what she wanted to be for halloween and without hesitation she told me she wanted to be Santa. I think she will be quite unique. She makes me laugh.

It's been awhile

Boy it has been awhile since I have updated and there hasn't been a dull moment.

Autumn did stay home the rest of the week and went to the doctor on Thursday. He gave her penicillin and by Saturday she felt better. She went to school Monday and today Thursday I had to pick her up again. That's our fault for not fighting with her more on the penicillin. Autumn is getting an award tomorrow. I find it funny because she hasn't made it a full week since school started it seems. It was so sweet. One of her friends was worried about her and her mom called us Sat to see how Autumn was doing.

Kelsea's team is still undefeated-go Kelsea!! She is doing real well in all her classes!!

Kylee tried out for Honor Choir and made it-I think I mentioned that, She started the school choir this week.

Amber got her braces off on Friday! Woo HOO! I need to take an after braces picture. Then we had to go back to meridian on Friday to get her retainers. On the Thursday game Capital won by one point. Amber's band has a little ways to go to make their marching piece better considering it was the first time on the football field it wasn't too bad.

Kylee had a Hawaiian luau party on Sat. We made hula skirts from streamers. Gave the girls leis. We played music from Lilo and Stitch 2. We made up a funny hula dance and the girls all got to decorate their own cupcakes. That has been the biggest hit at our parties I have found. We have put sprinkles galore and once we had a variety of candy. The kids will almost always eat the cupcakes too. Kylee had a nice party. On Tuesday we had our family version and she got to go to build- a -bear and made a monkey. I have 3 kids in double digits!

I may get a computer. Here's to hoping and crossed fingers. We are looking at an HP computer with the AMD processor. If we get that then it will be possible to get DSL and updating won't be such a pain in the rear.

I have been exercising so my rear already hurts.

Lee Joe is working like a crazy man still and his back still hurts.

Cat is up to 7 kills and one unconfirmed. She took it back outside. The discovery of #7 will not be disclosed due to graphic nature and is been dubbed Top Secret. She is probably finding them in our garden.

MaryAnne and Thomas will be getting their pictures soon that I promised them. I cleaned half my desk and found them and they are so far as being in envelopes I just need to find their addresses and I actually know about the area to find them. I think paper in my office has learned how to reproduce.

Grandpa Lay?

Blurry camera phone picture but Kelsea said this monley reminded her of Grandpa Lay. What do you think?

the week and my dilemma

Tuesday was exhausting. I believe I am still ill with something. I still can't tell if it is stress induced or what is floating around right now. But I sent Kylee and Autumn to school. I gave Autumn her anti nausea medicine before she left. I went to the school 3 times that day. One to bring her backpack to school( she must have an illness indeuced vision problem since it was sitting on the floor in her room in plain sight and couldn't find it). She looked kind of funny so an hour later I brought her medicine. She took it at lunch. In the meantime I had a list full of errands since it was pay day. I was loading the car at Costco and I got the call she was feeling bad. She has missed school the rest of this week. I took her to the doctor again today. We are treating her for strep now. And if she is not well next week we go back again. I took Kylee to her first audition for Honor Choir. She made it. If you can believe this though I have secret to share. We think Autumn is tone deaf. We secretly hope she doesn't want to go that route because we don't want to see heart get broken. As it is she is one of the loudest singers in Sr primary and it's cute right now. But shhhh, it should not be repeated.

Tuesday night was Amber's open house. She had band practice and had to hang out with me since Lee Joe decided to work after work late in the day and I couldn't get her home. Here is my dilemma. I see a huge difference in the city high school and my small school education gives me no clue how to keep up with or how to handle what Amber is going through and how best to help her. I am overwhelmed by what I see and just feel kind of lost in how navigate our way and have her prepared to go to college. She is very smart but is slammed with homework for it. She has always loved basketball and has decided in order to keep up with her classes she won't pursue it this year. Band is making things challenging as it is and it isn't everyday. She came home from the open house exhausted and in tears because she still had homework. I was upset at the end of the day with Lee Joe because all I needed from him was to bring her home at 6 so she could eat and do her homework. And the worst part is I have years and years of this ahead of me yet to go!! At least she is the best one to go through as the guinea pig. Anyways we will all be going to the game tonight and the band will be officially marching their piece on the field for the first time.

Kelsea's JV team is undefeated so far and none of the other volleyball teams(8th V and 9th JV&V) are doing that well. I couldn't make her game on Mon.

Lee Joe has done something to his back. I think he has some stress going on too. It went out real bad this afternoon. He is visiting a chiropractor as we speak. Maybe he needs to take days off where he does less. I was joking about how when we travel with Lee Joe it is exhausting. He crams so much in day and he says "if we don't eat we should be able to do it all" and then it takes 2 or 3 days for the rest of us to get over a trip with him. I wonder where he got that from? He is going to the game tonight so there is some down time for him.

On the sky diving pictures on the airforce web site. Use my e-mail address(aol.com) and my birthday 9-30-1971 in order to see it. SO now you know the truth. I am just glad I don't look my age and I am glad I don't get mistaken for being a teenager anymore

What We did this weekend

You want to know what I got done this weekend? A big fat ZERO! Well you got to throw one weekend down the toilet every now and then.

Lee Joe left with Amber, Kylee and Hannah on Friday afternoon. I was home with 2. Friday night I got us dinner at Taco Bell and then Kelsea told me I could play her rollercoaster Tycoon game. All I have to say is, I am easily addicted to that game. Melissa and David had the same problem with Zoo Tycoon months ago and now they are hooked on another Tycoon game. So this weekend I worked on 3 parks, got some extra sleep, Went to Lee Joe's company picnic with Autumn, and had a unwelcome visitor for over an hour sat night. In spite of all the quiet time, I still am coming down with something. Lee Joe got home a 4am Sunday. I woke up at 5 having had a nightmare that Lee Joe had been in wreck and Hannah was in the hospital needing surgery on her foot, and nobody knew where Kylee was. I was glad when I woke up that Lee Joe was home. Kylee woke up sick and Autumn is still having a hard time. Lee Joe went to church with Hannah(one hour late), I went later with Amber(1 1/2 hours late), Then LeeJoe went home picked up Kelsea dropped her off for the last hour and he stayed home with the 2 sick ones. Silliest Sunday comings and going we have ever had.

This morning Kylee and Autumn still aren't well and neither am I so we are all hanging out here at home and already I have done more that I did all weekend.

And on the air show weekend, they had a good time. Thanks Uncle Thomas for the hospitality. THey went to breakfast with him at Denny's. Kylee came home with a bunch of stuff and Hannah had some stuff too. They were given free tickets at the door. And Kylee and Hannah came home with some free t-shirts.The KIA made it there and back great. I guess Kylee and Hannah sky dived. CHeck it out at airforce.com/photos. use these IDs to see it-A3FWE 3AKG6----ADTGK DX37Y

Whats up

What's cool-Our weather-high of 70 today. Our air is MUCH cleaner. Zyrtec and Flonase are like gold when it comes to allergy medicine. I can BREATHE!!

What's hot- The BSU football team. The BSU football team walking across the side lines of the Capital Football game and the crowd cheering like you wouldn't believe as they walked by(they were hot and looked hot too)That's hot. The BSU blue turf that Amber and the Marching band marched and played on. Kelsea played very well in their first Volleyball game. She served the first 6 points of the first game. And in the 3rd game she was instrumental in scoring the final point of the game. By the way, they won all 3 games.

What's not- the band teacher was not impressed with how they played. Amber's presentation didn't work like we hoped. Problems with their version of powerpoint and no music.
My neighbor was in the hospital with West Nile Virus. He is over 80 and it tends to be fatal for the elderly. But he is back home. Autumn has some symptoms of West Nile but for her it is not so bad. Unless she gets worse we aren't having blood work done. She has missed some school already.
Zrytec and Flonase are priced like gold when you don't have insurance.
My computer, dial-up, my delete key(I must use it too much) and trying to get blogger to come up sometimes.

What's funny-Amber has been playing piano for seminary with another girl. They played a Christmas song one day and had everyone sing Sister's in Zion one day and the next they had to play a priesthood song. There was more funny I just can't remember it right now.

Up and coming-Lee Joe is going to take a whirl wind trip to Reno for the Reno Air races. He will be taking 3 girls. He is taking the KIA. I am staying home with 2 and hoping to get my office painted(window and bookshelf) and put together the rest of the way. Oh yeah, master the mess.
Kylee is about to turn 10 this month. I need to get on the ball and plan her birthday. She wants a Hawaiian luau theme. I will be celebrating the _ anniversary of my 29th birthday. The blank is for me to know and every one else to never mind,I am 29 I tell you!

The tally on the cat's war with mice. She is up to 5 kills now, one prisoner. I wish I knew where she was finding them since she can come and go when she pleases.

Maybe I will try to post some pictures again.

Blurry Camera phone pictures

I can see the sky!

A little of the smoke blew out last night. It looked cloudy and foggy all day yesterday but there wasn't acloud in the sky. Again at 5 I had a major allergy attack in my eyes. Today I still can't breathe. But I read in the paper how even athletes right now are going to the doctor thinking they are developing asthma and it is just the awful air. I want to go downtown to Art in the Park but I want to be able to breathe too so I haven't decided whether I will go today or tomorrow-tomorrow's air should be better.

I guess they are still going to have the football game tonight. Amber's marching band practice was only allowed to be outside for an hour last night. But they will be performing tonight. Another thing I want to do but wonder if it's worth it for me. Amber didn't get to present her project yet.

Kelsea's coach worked with her after practice yesterday on setting and spiking. He has made her a setter. So at least there has been a little pay off for her phone call and she has decided to play the season out.

Kylee had her first dance class. I was thinking about making her go on the same night as Autumn and Hannah to make things easier but I think that individual time is helpful for Kylee.

Yay! The weekend is almost here and it will be as quiet as we want to make it. Hooray!!

Hannah told me the other day that she didn't want to have anymore birthdays because she didn't want to grow out of her clothes because she likes them so much. She is a funny kid. I wouldn't mind if she stayed 4 forever.

Horrible Air

I have never seen Boise like this for so long. There are so many forest fires that in the valley here all the smole has accumulated. We are in a red air alert. The whole Boise school district cancelled all out door sports yesterday. Valley View brought all the kids in at recess and I didn't see any kids on the playground this morning. I have had the worst allergies ever the last few weeks. I had an attack last night that was awful I wasn't really outside. My eye looked pretty gross. The prescription eye drops didn't help much. I took Benadryl and it knocks me for a loop. Amber Kelsea and Hannah are also having problems. I can't mow the lawn until this clears out. Last week I had a major attack after I mowed and couldn't breathe either. The sun was very red this morning. They could cancel Amber's marching band practice today and we will see what they do about the football game scheduled on Fri.

We spent hours last night trying to figure out how to get Amber's powerpoint presentation off my computer and saved on something she could take to school. We tried saving it on the usb memory stick. My computer wouldn't recognize it. We tried e-mailing it to my sister. It was to big and I guess my winzip only unzips files. We had to break the presentation down into 3 parts to email it to my sister,that took an hour for it to send the e-mail, and then at her house we had to put it back together. Then we had a problem because her powerpoint is different version than mine and Amber had to rework every slide again. She has become a powerpoint expert after this project. She was determined to have music on her slide show so we spent another hour trying to figure out how to get the music to play through the whole show-between the three of us we have had very little experience on Powerpoint. I figured it out! And she had U2's Beautiful Day that played through pictures of Amber and our family and things that told about herself. It was very well done. I told her she had better get an A on that project for the sake of us all. I am frustrated with the English class though already. It isn't even the end of the second week of school and this is the second project due and for some reason she also needs to bring in a jar of playdoh soon. SOmething was clarified to me last night. Next year she will be taking college english AND getting college and high school credit for the class. wow. Hopefully she won't develop an ulcer by the end of the year. Her back is in serious spasm from stress already and last night she said she wished it was summer already. poor kid.
I was trying to tell Lee Joe how much time was wasted last night because my computer is so ancient. His solutions(which makes me crazy because he still has no clue) is to ask his boss for his cast off computer and to buy a CD-RW burner for Amber's computer. The 2nd solution might help but she doesn't have the programs on her computer yet to make that sensible either. We JUST NEED A NEW COMPUTER LEE JOE!

Kelsea had a set back this week too. She was on the Varsity 1 team last year. There were 4 teams based on skill level last year. And she played very well in the games. This year there were 45 girls trying out for Volleyballand they only have a varsity team with 12 girls and the rest will divide into to JV teams. Kelsea didn't make varsity. She is devastated. The varsity coach is a 19 year old girl and they put a girl on varsity that wasn't even there on fri. that had quit. and then they bumped another girl up that lounged around yesterday not participating. Kelsea got the courage up and called the JV coach last night and asked him what it would take for her to get on varsity. I am very proud of her speaking up for herself. He said there might be another spot opening up and she is part of group up for consideration. She plays so well and I think the varsity coach sounds really clueless. I am not being partial to Kelsea, If I thought she wasn't that good I wouldn't be so bothered. She was practicing in tryouts with a friend who can't play well and that is probably what made Kelsea look not so good. Enough of that one. I just hate seeing Kelsea so depressed but am I trying to get her to work for what she wants and I am trying to let her fight that battle for herself. It's hard!

Last night we had piano, Amber's project, Kelsea had volleyball, YW, Autumn's open house and more of Amber's project at Melissa's house until after 10.
Tonight I have to take Amber out to Meridian to a dentist appointment, she has a band practice (maybe), and Kylee has her first dance class.
We will see how long my full tank of gas lasts.

I don't know if things will ever be easier to get a handle on.

We had a nice weekend but we stayed busy and made it a Labor filled weekend. On Friday Hannah saw a puppet show at the library and then I came home and emptied out the game/medicine closet so Lee Joe could insulate the attic on our 2nd floor. Devanie, do you remember there were things trying to escape because it was so full? Anyways, it was long over due and I thought I had cleaned it out not long ago but judging by the expiration dates on some of the medicines in there it was much longer than I thought. Sat started with an attempt at insulating but the early start was not as early as Lee Joe had hoped and it was already hot. So he fixed the sprayer on the kitchen sink and then I dicovered everything under the sink was awful wet. As I started pulling stuff out and throwing it away we discovered the pipe under the sink was no longer attached to the sink and you could see water going from the drain into the pipe. THe wood is in bad shape and Lee Joe spent several hours buying tools for the house and then dicovering the pipe had been damaged, more time finding the pipe's replacement. Good thing he was home for the weekend. I was so glad he was home for 3 whole days. Sunday was normal. But we had the missionaries over for dinner. New curiosity about the missionaries from my 2 oldest. Oh dear. And then Lee Joe found out over the weekend that the guy who was suppose to have fixed his shot gun had moved so I was telling him he is not prepared for scaring off the boys anymore.

Monday we started out with insulation again. Lee Joe Amber and Kelsea and I all clothed ourselves and got busy. Then It got too hot again but most of the insulation we had was up in the attic. Lee Joe took all the girls down the Boise river with the raft we still had in the back of the van. I was the transport. we made dinner and he took the girls to see Cars at the dollar theatre since he hadn't seen it yet. Everyone was seriously exhausted by the end of the day. It is hard to keep up with Lee Joe sometimes.

So anyways this week I have this fantastically clean closet that looks like it lost half it's contents. I was so thrilled by how clean it was and Lee Joe just thinks I am weird. And the cabinet under the sink is clean and under the stove is clean too. Woo Hoo! I have cleaned the family room on Sat. It is Weds and it is still CLEAN!! Wow. I have long way to go still. The days this week aren't busy like last week but from 4pm on is just nuts everyday.

Right now, the dated nature of my computer is about to interfere with Amber's homework abilities. We are trying to figure how to get a powerpoint presentation saved on a Cd-RW disc. Melissa is going to try and get it off my computer with a USB port thing. I have tried e-mailing it to her. It didn't work. Hopefully we will get it off because Amber has worked hard on it and it is well done and she doesn't have a backup plan. Her English class is senior level work and next year she will doing college level work.

The run around is about to begin and I have yet to figure out what's for dinner.

Free time? what free time?

So I have sent the kids off to school and every day this week I have had morning appointments. I have managed to wash and put away laundry and cleaned Hannah's room on Mon, Tues something weird happened and I didn't do anything around the house but make dinner, Yesterday I cleaned the living room and vacuumed the living room, both stair cases and halls and Hannah's room and I made real lasagna for the first time in 3 or 4 years. The weather has cooled off considerably and I am freezing today but my plan is the yard today.

Kelsea went to the doctor today. They froze a wart that started from an infection in her finger and gave her a tetanus shot because she is past due for that. We followed up on her meds. She is doing fantastic and is going well. She cried with the shot though and then she bled like you wouldn't believe. I brought her back to school and she wanted a note so she wouldn't have to play in Orchestra. She is having volleyball tryouts this week and hopefully she will manage through that. Last night I had a parent meeting sprung on me. I hate that. They planned it at the last minute.Weds are the worst day of the week for them to do that. I went to the meeting and the lasagna sat on the stove for a half an hour. But it was the perfect temp to eat by the time we got back. I had to make sure there were a few pieces left for Lee Joe for when he got home. The girls would have ate the whole thing if I let them. It was yummy!

I was impressed with Amber! She took some initiative and had two of her classes flip flopped. She went to the counselor on her own at the end of the first day in High school. It took until Weds for it to become active but she is really happy about the change. One of the funny things is almost every class now is with our Doctor's oldest son. I don't think this is a problem for either Amber or Matt. I think they like each other in their silly sophmoric way. Matt is one of the only boys at the church dances that will ask Amber to dance. Wink wink. I was Matt and Amber's "preschool teacher" when they were both almost 5.

No complaints from Kylee or Autumn. THey are in their happy elementary world. They were sad when I said I wouldn't be working at the school and a few of the other kids were sad too. It was sweet. But I will be back to volunteer in the weeks to come.

Tonight 4 of the girls have something going on at 6pm in 3 different directions. Somehow we will figure it out and we will see if Lee Joe will be around. Typically he is not so it is all me.

I went to Port of Subs for Lunch today with Hannah. Have I mentioned that it is my favorite place to eat?

I got my haircut on Tuesday. Everyone that notices says "you got your hair cut" and then that's it, so I am assuming it may not be as flattering as my last haircut that nobody said a word about. Oh well, I like it.

We have added another creature to our zoo. We found a healthy live baby mouse and at a loss as to how to deal with it, mind you we are a house full of creature loving girls, we turned it into a pet. It's name is Mort and last night he discovered it's wheel and is getting use to people. We believe our cat has taken care of other members of it's family so it could be an orphan(two dead adult mice and one injured baby in the past month). Little orphan Mort. Add him to the mix. Hamsters Cheeseball(formerly known as Polka the 2nd) and Dot the 2nd. And our prize champion mouser cat Socks and the best example of big and little-Buddy(part Great Dane) and Spot (part poodle and japanese chin- a jap-a-noodle or Chin-a-poo) our dogs.

There is life at the Lay zoo.
I should get something done.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Good- School started today, I am staying home with Hannah this year and sort of Home schooling preschool with her.
Bad-School started today-the beginning of afterschool run around, I can't afford to put Hannah in preschool because I am staying home with her this year.
The ugly-I have been fighting a stye for 3 days now and my shoulder went out last night when I was sleeping, I feel like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Call me Quasi for short.

Anyways, we went to the fair Friday night. We saw the Peking acrobats-they were fantastic and we saw some performing baboons, no really they were performing baboons with the red shiny butts. The kids thought they were great fun too. We resisted the rides because of our Lagoon trip we told the girls we wouldn't do rides. Hannah had the hardest time. We saw animals and smelled animals galore. It was fun and on our way out to the car we saw a baby raccon in a tree. Not technically a part of the fair.

Saturday Kylee and Autumn got their long awaited computers from Computers for Kids. They got a refurbished pentium 3 computer with moniter and keyboard and mouse for $45. They didn't get to play on them when we got home because we had to run to the pool for the last day of swimming for the summer. We got home, finished setting up computers and the little girls were in game heaven. Lee Joe and I went on a mini date to port of subs and ate it at the park.

Sunday we had an Area Authority visit primary. So we had the Stake presidency, Stake primary presidency Bishop and his presidency all visiting primary and I had to lead music. Oh my. It was fine and the kids were all good as gold.

Today, the first day of school will be my last day of work at the school. I will be there a whole 2 hours since it is early release saying hi and see you around to all the kids.

There you have it with my swollen eye, stiff back and the highs and lows of our existence in Idaho. The good the bad and the ugly.(I think my vitamins and exercise and absence of children is helping my sense of humor)

today

If you want to find out if your kid has ADHD try this-give them a medication that is suppose to make them drowsy-they will get very excitable. If you want to calm them down, Give them something with Caffiene. Dylan had Dimetapp before he came over yesterday. That is why he was SOO hyper. I forgot the about the caffiene if I would have remembered I would have happily given him a soda. He is calmer today.
We had fun at the pool yesterday. THe pool we went to was really big. THere was hardly anyone there. My 4 oldest and Dylan had great fun on the diving boards. Dylan Amber and Kelsea all did flips off the boards. Kylee and Autumn had some great Attempts. Kailyn had a scare earlier this summer off the diving boards requiring a life gaurd rescue so she had no interest. She played with Hannah and they all had great fun on the huge water slide at that park. The pool was so big and empty I was able to swim some laps.

Amber has quite the schedule this year. Accelerated English, accelerated Math and accelerated Chemisty, Spanish 2, band and seminary. Kelsea got into a program to help her in accelerated classes this year so she will have accelerated English and Math and a tutoring class to help her manage those classes. She has the same math teacher this year. SHe has Health and orchestra and history with the better history teacher.
Kylee, I think has a good teacher. At her school the 4th grade teachers there are excellent. I think she has a couple of close friends in her class. Autumn has the same teacher Kylee had last year. I loved her. 1 of Autumn's 2 best buddies are in her class. The other one is in Gate. I am hoping that this year is good year. I think it will be challenging for the 2 oldest. I hope Kelsea can cope. 8th grade was very challenging for Amber.

I really need to clean house and pay bills today and I am having a HUGE procrastination problem today. I have a stove that has been pulled out and it needs lots of attention. It has been sitting in the middle of my kitchen since last night. I guess I should get busy since it is noon now and I haven't done a thing.

Leavitt Reunion Pictures

Kylee, Jaden, Hannah, Lee Joe, Loren,Autumn, Tyler paddling to the boat.

Amber and Verl on the Wave runner. This one had a pretty view.

Randa and Gwen. Brenda in the back round.

Pictures

I have to tried to download pictures 3 times now and it won't work. Hopefully Devanie can help me out. She is so helpful that way. I am ready to try and get DSL hooked it up. I can look into that once school starts. Yesterday we found a dead mouse-Socks trophy I suppose- in the living room. THeir was a dead bird when we got home from the Utah trip. Later I helped the neighbor across the street save a fledling dove. It probably won't make it though. It has a broken wing. A cat got it. Mine doesn't cross the street.
I had Dylan and Kailyn over since Melissa started school and Kelsea dressed him in Nylons and a skirt and makeup. He thought it was funny. We went to dinner with Grandma and did more school shopping. Today Amber and Kelsea got their hair cut. I am toting 7 kids around today and Dylan is in rare form-or should I say typical hyperactive boy form. we went to the park and the car wash as the girls hair was done. He was dressed in a dress and nylons today. I will take them to the pool to give the boy a place to exert himself. I am sure I will be ready for school to start by the end of the week. I am actually ready today. What I really want is a nap. Dylan is ready to GO NOW.

Leavitt reunion

We made it to the Leavitt reunion this weekend up in Donelly. We stayed in Lee Joe's bosses cabin(double wide 70's trailer with added snow roof). Up there at Darren and Carrie's cabin we met up with our hosts and Wade, Verl Brenda and Rachel and Loren, Jared Michelle and their 4 kids, Kim and Gwen and Creshaun and her 2 boys,Andy and Grandma. We visited around the camp fire then took Jared and Family to our cabin. THe next morning we had breakfast and took two giant tractor inner tubes and other beach stuff to the lake with 11 kids to the beach. My oldest 2, Rachel, Wade and many of the adults and GRANDMA rafted the Payette river. Kim was the only one who fell overboard on the last rapid. Kelsea and Darren were having a water fight but Darren had the unfair advantage hiding behind Grandma. Mandy and Jason and their baby Lilly showed up and Grandma Lay(Randa) made it at about 3. WHen Carrie came back we were able to ride the Wave runners they borrowed from some friends and all us women took turns giving kids rides. I guess Grandma Leavitt rode one the day before. She was quite daring this weekend. Randa decided to give one a whirl herself. All the guys got back and took a few rides on the wave runners before they relized they were out of gas. Amber and Kelsea each got one ride before they had to trailer the wave runners. We stayed on the beach from 11 to 7:30. We had dinner, We became a mosquito banquet before we hunted down the bug spray. Andy and Wade had discussions about growing mustaches and telling jokes about opera singers on the tiolet. We packed up to go home. The girls got to make smores with Reeses peanut butter cups and the verdict was very very yummy. We left there at 11:30 and made it home at 1:30am.

We are seriously tired today. Throwing 7 of us into the shower and attempting to make it to church by 9am. We all made it before 9:30. We are also pet sitting for 2 families this weekend. There was BYC for the girls, a general priesthood meeting for Lee Joe, A meeting with the Bishop for me, a seminary meeting for Amber and Lee Joe and I and I think it was the busiest Sunday ever. Somehow we all squeezed in a nap.

I was paid very high compliments from the Bishop and his counselor on 2 separate occasions today on our girls.

Girls Camp Recap

I wanted to share the goofiness of my girls. TO start with, before the girls left for camp a few weeks ago the YW president asked my girls to come to her house and record a CD for the girls in our ward to sing to during their skit. The song was Haikilau with lyrics about girls campy-lau. I went to pick up Amber and Kelsea and went into their basement and in it was a real recording studio and 2 sets of drums and a bunch of electric guitars. WOW. THey made us two copies for each of my girls and one for YW president for girls camp. So they cut their first CD. On our way out the YW president showed us pictures of her husband with long hair in an 80's band and then a picture of him with Eddie Van Halen. Of girls know nothing of that stuff and it was good laugh for them. I asked Lee Joe if her husband was active in church and he said yes. I don't get to know many people in primary.

So they went to camp, they did their skit in front of the stake. The YW president thought Kelsea might have had turrets or tics or something because everytime she looked at Kelsea she was reacting to shooing mosquitoes away. Kelsea is just really goofy like that. Before the skit they had a hula hoop contest. Amber and Kelsea won and I think Kelsea beat Amber. So they were to hula hoop in the skit. Amber and Kelsea hung out together most of camp. In the end when they gave awards Kelsea got the spaas award. Amber got the "she makes it look easy" award for her hula hooping skills. When the Jr leaders sang their song to the rest of the girls one of the lines was "we wish we could hula like the Lay's" I was pretty mortified when the girls told me how they started the testimony meeting. I guess Kelsea let one rip and couldn't stop laughing for a while. I suppose they leave quite the impression wherever they go together. I hope Kylee and Autumn are as much fun like that when they get that age. But nobody can beat Kelsea in this family for goofiness and giving us the best laughs. She is the only person that can get Amber to laugh out loud.

Lagoon a rama

We set a goal to leave at 6am Sat. We left at 6:30. Not bad for a family of 7 that got up 5:45. It is a4 1/2 drive. We got to Lagoon at 11:30. We started out in the water park but for us it wasn't the greatest feature since we have Roaring Springs here and I couldn't keep up with Hannah in the little kids pool. After that Lee Joe took the 4 oldest and I went with Hannah on the rides. All four girls road roller coasters and everything else and had a blast. I took Hannah on all the little kid rides and we road the train about 3 or 4 times. We cleaned out all our drinks in the cooler and had to go to the car to refill it. It was pretty hot but not the worst. Lee Joe and all the girls roa rattlesnake rapids as it was getting dark and they got pretty wet. but they didn't have to wait in line very long. Just before 11 Lee Joe and Amber and Kelsea rode the old wooden rollercoaster about 4 more times and Kylee had one more shot at it before it closed. We debated on coming home afterwards Sat night. Lee Joe decided we should stay. I didn't bring my camera because I thought were making it a day. We had a hard time finding a motel. We finally found one in Ogden right across from the temple there but it was one of the dirtiest motels-aside from the sheets and towels. We couldn't be that choosey at 1:30 am.

We left by 10 and the plan was to find Lee Joe's grandparents' grave. I wanted to hit a store before we left Ogden. Lee Joe wanted to wait until we got to the part of town where his grandparents were. After we past numerous Wal-marts and Smiths and everything else next to the freeway-we were out of drinks completely and he wanted flowers-. We could not find a store after we exited the freeway. Almost 2 hours later, instructions to a wal-mart we never found, we found a store like Win-co, but no flowers and minimal selection. Everyone in the store but us and some of the checkers were hispanic. We got back on our road to the cemetary . Guess what we found? a Smiths and an Albertsons! I had been wondering if people in that part of town even ate anything but fast food. So we found flowers finally. We found the cemetary no problem. Finding the grave took about 45 minutes even in the very tiny cemetary because we couldn't remember where to look. We found it. The headstone was very nice. If I had brought my camera knowing we were going to do that I would have taken pictures. Now I remember I have a picture phone. Sorry.

We made it to Temple square at the time I hoped we would be headed home. We toured the conference center. Lee Joe has not seen it in person before. The girls and walked around the outside when we drove to Connecticut 3 years ago. We toured the inside. It is beautiful and is amazing at the size of the place and how pretty it is. It is full of art and the roof is landscaped with trees and other plantings and all sorts of water features. We heard the organ. Amber was impressed(our organ player) as were the rest of us.

We walked temple square. It is full of sister missionaries from all over the world there to answer questions or translate in any language. My girls were impressed and enjoyed the visit there. We only made into one visitor center. I told Lee Joe we should save the other for our next visit because we were all exhausted by then anyways.

The ride home was full of strife from a bunch of exhausted kids. Hannah told us all day how she wanted to go back to Lagoon. This morning everyone slept until 9:30 except for Amber who had band camp at 8am. No rest for the weary-Kelsea went to Roaring Springs with a friend who had an extra ticket, Kylee went to the pool with a friend. I took the 2 youngest to Wal-mart. Lee Joe is side working tonight. Hannah is still telling me how much she wants to go back to Lagoon. I think we are going to take it easy tonight.

short and sweet, I hope

Have to be quick, We are leaving to go to Lagoon in the morning bright and early and we aren't packed yet.
Weds I played Volleyball again for the first time in over a year I think. I brought Amber. It was fun. THen I went to IHOP afterwards with the friends at 10:30pm. I was out till midnight. I was coming down my street and there were a bunch of cop cars that lloked like they were in front of my house. THere were 4 parked behind a red car that was parked in front of my house. It scared me at first because Lee Joe was also out late and the car was red-his car is red. Anyways I was able to pull into my driveway and in my yard the police officer was rewarding a drug sniffing dog in my yard. I walked in the house and Amber and Kelsea had been watching the whole thing. In the end they arrested one of the women and the other drove off in the car.
Kelsea got her braces off THursday!! I will post pictures of her pretty teeth later. Amber has another month. Kelsea only had hers on since October. She doesn't like the temporary retainer.

So spontaneously we are journeying to Utah because we have no other time to do it before school starts. I already bought the tickets to Lagoon at Costco so there is no turning back now. Lee Joe is getting the oil changed in the van before we leave. The other day I looked at the oil change reminder to see how close we were to needing one and at that moment the spedometer matched the mileage on the reminder-Creepy

I won something off a candy wrapper the other day! Do you think I should send in the wrapper to the nestle people? It will cost me .39 cents to claim my 48 cent prize. Hmm, why bother.

Amber and Tennis

Amber played really really well only having just started playing tennis this year.

punchline: Now we know why---->

We had fun

Here is catch up from last week. Mon I took the my 3 youngest to Wal-mart and then dinner at Port of subs and Mcdonalds. Port of subs is my FAVORITE right now. The headache did ease up but I felt like a sloth the rest of the day.
Tuesday it was so nice. I trimmed 5 bushes in the front and mowed and called it good. Devanie and I took the girls to the pool even though it was little cool. THey all had a blast and then we went to Carls Jr for dinner. SOme of the fun stuff there wasn't working so it wasn't as much fun.

Weds was perfectly pleasant as well. We took the girls to free lunch in the park just a little ways down the road from us and one of the libraries did story time. The girls all got pencils and a twisty dog or cat. THen they played on the equipment. At 2 we got in the car and went to the other park where the pool is down the road from us and had snowcones and then swam. We managed to get Sierra confident enough to hold her breathe and try swimming for rings underwater after she watched my girls. Hailey is so funny how all right she is doing her own thing. We came home and took it easy the girls had fun in the sandbox some more.
THen Devanie left Thursday morning. I did something with the little girls before everyone came home and we came back the oldest girls were home filthy and exhausted. Last year they were so cranky I was ready to send them back. This time wasn't so bad.

Lee Joe barely recovered from camp and went out with the elders that night and then Friday he took the 3 youngest camping and I took the two oldest clothes shopping. We also went to krispy kreme before we came home and in the morning we hit the mall. THe best deals of the weekend were a pair of Mudd jeans for Amber for $7 and pj basketball pants for $6. We found a pair of Adidas tennis shoes for Kelsea for $25. My purse handle broke while we were out so I got new purse too. Kelsea had a pair of pants, jeans and a white shirt. SHe bought a shirt and a cami. Amber didn't get as much because she is getting in between sizes right now. She bought herself a shirt. We will need to hunt for her some more. Kylee got two outfits even though she wasn't there. I found capri pants for her at old navy for $3.99. Autumn got a pair of pants.

Lee Joe came home exhausted. He napped some Saturday when I was making dinner. On Sunday he out napped me. He slept for more than 3 hours.

Other than that it has been real quiet. We have had free lunch in the park for 4 days now. Saves me from having to do it. I will have Kailyn for 2 days while Melissa is in Texas bringing Dylan home. It is 100 degrees again today. Kailyn can't swim because she has stitches on her ear. But the kids are having a good time.

Van is back Hooray!

The van is back!! $3200 later. ouch. With the van came a housefull of visitors. 11 girls, 1 baby boy was the kid head count. We went to the pool on Sat. The kids played themselves to exhaustion. It's always funny to take that many girls to church. Sunday the 100 degree temps broke and it is beautiful outside. It's in the 80's. We had a bunch of great laughs Sunday night between Grandma, Lee Joe, Devanie and I . I did real well with migraine prevention on Sunday. My head started to hurt about 10:30. I thought it would go away by morning but no it was worse than ever. It feels like my head wants to explode. It's a major sinus thing so I slept all morning, until 1:30. It has only eased up so I don't feel like I am going to throw up. I didn't get to say goodbye to Amber and Kelsea as they left for girls camp this morning, Lee Joe left with them-he told me goodbye-and I didn't get to say goodbye to Grandma and Molly's girls before they left. But Devanie will be back with her 3 later today. So we will be down to 6 kids between the 2 of us. We might all be able to fit around my table just fine now. I really wanted to do some yard work while the weather outside is perfect. Hopefully I can kick this thing sometime today. Yay! The van is back!

Now we are--

We have been back and trying to lay low. It has been over 100 degrees everyday since we got home. It seems the borrowed Lay car shifts worse the hotter it is so we don't go far. We have been to the pool several times. Bought school supplies on Friday. We ate lunch at Carl's Jr and they had the coolest play place, all the girls loved it. I have read 3 books since school got out.

On Sunday we drove to Eagle for Wade's Eagle Scout ceremony. He turned 18!! Oh my. We saw Dawn and her baby. She is CUTE! and we saw Heidi too. THey asked Amber to play piano. They wanted to sing God bless America and they didn't have music. Amber spent about 10 minutes figuring it out and they asked me to lead the music. We got through it. The closing song had music so that one went better. I guess it was a good thing we showed up.
Sat and today I helped my neighbor primer her house. They have been prepping it for some time now. I figured I better help them paint or they would be painting until Christmas. It took me two hours to roller the main front wall of their house. They were like "WOW, your fast" I went over today and rollered most of the back wall of their house in an hour and a half but it got too hot. It was a good way to loose a bunch of water weight. UGH. I was very smelly though.
I must go out and get some stuff for dinner. Maybe we will go to the pool tonight. Lee Joe is still side working and working out in this heat. He says it doesn't bother him. I suppose he is use to it.

I forgot-

One very important thing I forgot--THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
To all the very helpful people involved in the rescue of us and our poor van.

Love to you all!!

We made it home!!

First of all I changed my comment settings so Thomas can comment now.

After the wonderful, crazy exhausting time we had visiting, it turned into the most expensive and then miserable trip on the way home. About 16 miles outside Lovelock the transmission had a heart attack and gave up. We limped along to the turn around and then back to Lovelock somewhere between 5 to 20 miles an hour. One person stopped to help and was able to find us the number to a tow truck in Lovelock-which was ridiculously expensive so we choose limp along mode. Grandma and Grandpa Lay caught up to us before we made it to Lovelock. How sad for us but we reminded the girls that we were probably traveling along at the Pioneers pace. Like it was consoling. But we still had air conditioning so we weren't miserable. I got a good night sleep with the girls-they got the good night sleep, I got a restless night because it is typical for me away from home. We were looking forward to swimming with Devanie in Carson but once Lee Joe realized it would be a few days to get the van fixed he decided we would turn around for home once we dropped the van off. I have been so sad to leave a vehicle behind. I really really like my van.

So miserable, hot, sticky, crowded and grumpy we were off at the same time as the day before. We passed the dreaded break down spot with no mishap and got home at 11:00pm our time. At one point I told all the girls in the back to sit on their hands and be quiet. Kelsea got home grounded from TV and Nintendo and was told to weed the garden as one of her punishments.

Needless to say home was never a more welcome sight. And our dogs were in near hysteria when we walked in the door. But I enjoyed the visit, the girls had a great time with all their cousins and aunts and uncles-and soon to be uncle.

Autumn's hair

Locks of Love

CRAZY!!

I will start with today and somehow move backwards. Amber Had her last day of Summer school PE. Hooray!! We went to the mall.Some friends of ours that moved out towards Payette a few months ago stayed the night last night with four of thier little kids because their oldest son(makes 5 for them) fell on the 4th of July and fractured his skull. He was life flighted to Boise and spent a night in and a day in ICU. He was still in the hospital today but in a regular room and expected to be released.

On the 4th, we had a birds nest in the lowest branch in our tree with 4 babies in it. Most of the babies were old enough to adventure around the tree. We were trying to see if there were any babies left and one shot out of the nest and on the ground. we spent several hours trying to catch it and we put it back up in the tree after dodging the parents diving at us. The paretns actually chased it out in the road. We put it back. THe little thing clung to a branch above the nest when a nasty nasty thunderstorm blew in. We watched it cling to the branch, it sure hung in there. I guess the parents lost track of it though because they never came back to feed it. THe next day I found in the bush and we spent some time again trying to catch it. We did and put in the tree again. But didn't realize the parents weren't caring for it anymore. My neighbor later brought the baby back again. It crossed the street into her yard. After I put it back in the tree and it fell out right away I knew it wasn't going to be all right. So I took to the bird center for animals in distress. We went to see the center yesterday. I thought the girls would think it was neat how they cared for all the baby birds. THe girls were scared mostly and Kelsea said they smelled bad. They were scared of the chickens. I thought it was neat. SO the baby will be all right. I am such a mushy animal lover.

So I spent the 5th then visiting my friends in the hospital and rescuing birds. THe 4th I tried to throw a 3 guy bar b q birthday party. Matt wasn't coming. We did a 2 guy party. Lee Joe was side working until 6:30-an hour and a half late. I was chasing a baby bird while we waited for him and I got food ready and then the storm rolled in. 5:45 raining like it does in Texas with lightning. Can't bar b q. My sister and her kids and david's kids and his nephew and my mom are all there. The storm eases up but it still raining. I put the bar b qs in the gazebo, Lee Joe is finally home, then he picks Kelsea up and on his way home a belt slips off the van when he gets home. We finally eat, sing happy birthday and presents are opened,it stops raining and weather clears up,van gets fixed, buy fireworks-9pm now. Light some off and then everyone but me(not good with fireworks) goes to watch the show at the baseball field down the road. Game runs really late, fireworks are after the game, everyone gets home after 11 and I was home to get the call about my friends son while I am home.

Lee Joe for his birthday got a genuine swiss army knife, small version swiss army knife and some accesories. My mom and my sister gave him a gift card and money to replace the fishing pole he bought for himself at Christmas that he used once in June and it broke.
June-22-26--
My mom had surgeryon her stomach. She is recovering well. Lee Joe and I had our 16 anniversary, went to the anniversary inn. Hannah had some teeth work done in the hospital. She is prouder of her silver tooth than she should be. Kelsea went on a raft trip with the police department. We saw Cars with Grandma and grandpa Lay. 4 of the girls got to ride in hot air balloon at the Balloon rally. I had an anxiety attack that lasted several days. And I need to see a Chiropractor.

try again

Autumn's mini-makeoverbefore her major haircut. More like a major hairdo.

Stupid computer

I spent over an hour yesterday updating my blog. I got pictures to down load and everything. Great update and then the blogger site stopped responding so it is all gone now. I don't have an hour to do it today and I had problems just getting to this screen. Amber and Kelsea MAY get their baraces off today. So, life is busy, surgeries went well, Lee Joe had a birthday. I will get to it all over again later.

I need to get the picture out of the camera but we got Autumn's haircut. She was at the 10 inch mark so we were able to have it cut for locks of love. Her friend had her hair cut before school got out and I thought it would be a good reason to get it cut. Autumn's Hair is real cute. I think this morning was the first morning I really thought about her hair and missed it. I think all the curl is gone now. But it is so much easier to take care of right now.

We are working on Week #2 with the kids home. We will see if I survive-just kidding. It is still a little cool and breezy for swimming. Kylee and Autumn started a cheerleading camp today. After this week it is just summer school PE for Amber until July 7, girls camp and band camp for Amber in August.

For Father's day, Lee Joe got a pair of basketball shoes, an Easy button from Staples, Kelsea made him a Duct tape wallet and Kylee got him a little trophy.

I am still working on my office. I need to paint the window sill and bookshelf. I am getting through the closet and making more room.

Company is coming this weekend, more cleaning to do! Guess who?

Hurray for summer!!

I am so happy school is out!! We have gone swimming 2 or 3 times already. We bought our swim pass. I hope when the weather stabilizes that I can work on loosing weight by going to the lap swim. I have a back spasm from getting in the pool yesterday. It was cold and I suppose it tensed me up more than I already was and my shoulder is screaming. But my mouth is finally better!

So my downstairs office has trim and I moved the computer down into my new office. Another hurray!! And I have my dining room back! Hurray some more!! So now I need to work on moving the oodles of boxes and containers out of the garage and find a new home for all our crap. I think some of it will have to go away. The room is a real nice place to be now and my mess is only visible to me.

My job at the school is done for now. I enjoyed the kids. Here is a hug your kid and be thankful moment. There were a few 1st grade boys that I was worried about. One in particular was a little red headed boy. We would have to keep track of his absences and tardies in the office. THe week before school got out he was found by an 18 year old girl walking himself to school. She walked him up to the school 2 days, one time it was 10am and the other time it was after 9am. He had gotten himself up and ready for school on his own. He hadn't eaten and his hands were filthy and he was wearing the same clothes both days. We made sure he got breakfast before he went to his class. When we asked him about his mom he said she was lazy and was still asleep. When he was asked who else was up before he left for school he said his sister was. When we asked how old his sister was, he held up 3 fingers. On thursday I over heard the teacher and the counselor talking about him and the teacher was telling him his work wasn't that of a first grader and he needed to try harder. I had thought about it and it upset me that these adults can figure out his home life is inadequate so his school work is suffering and he wasn't getting the credit that he was getting himself to school on his own. On Friday he was absent. THe counselor called his house and got the mom to bring him to school. She thought he wasn't there because he had gotten in trouble the day before. He made it to school and during lunch I walked by his lunch tray and something I realized was an inappropriate item to see at school. He had 22 bullets on his lunch tray. I had to turn them in to the principal. I asked him if he had any others in his pockets. With his dirty little hands he showed me he didn't. THe principal called in the resource officer and they talked with the little boy. He had no idea what he had done was that big of a deal. The counselor thought he had brought them on purpose so he could be sent back home. I think she is clueless she really upset me with her lack of concern. On Monday and Tuesday the last week of school he wasn't at school but we got a call on Tuesday from a social worker. We found out he was put in foster care over the weekend. On the last day of school the social worker brought him to school to spend some time with his class. He was cleaner than we had ever seen him. His little hands weren't black anymore but shiny pink. He had on new clothes. He told me he was in foster care, his sister wasn't with him but he had a new big brother. I was so worried about him if school got out and he was still there having to fend for himself all summer. I just wonder about the little sister though and hope she is OK. It bothered me so much because I wasn't that seriously neglected but I grew up not to far from a similiar situation. I walked myself to school in the first grade and stayed home alone in Denver. My heart aches for that little boy. Maybe now he can stay a little boy for a little while longer.

Brighter note--Kylee Brought home straight A's Autumn's report card was good-no A and B's on her report card yet. Amber and Kelsea got theirs today. Amber had 2 B and all A's but one B look like it really should have been an A and Kelsea had 2 A's and the rest B's.

Amber started summer school PE today. 3 hours of PE everyday until July 7. Kelsea is doing a 4 day camp for basketball this week Next week Kylee and Autumn will do a cheerleading camp for 4 days.

THere was more I was going to say but I forgot the rest and it is long enough now so Everyone,have a great summer!!

Well, the usual?

My life is so busy right now it has been making me sick. I spent a 2nd weekend-a 3 day weekend really sick again with mouth sores. It was so bad I couldn't talk and could hardly eat anything I couldn't go to a graduation we were suppose to go to this weekend or go to church. But Monday was nice. We got some yard cleaned up and set up the gazebo I got for mothers day on the rock patio. We bar b Q some steaks. They were so good I suffered through the pain of eating them because I was so starving for something chewier than yogurt. We have since eaten dinner in the Gazebo the last 3 days.

Last week Amber severely sprained her ankle, playing basketball again during lunch. We had to take her to the Dr again. She had her 7th x-ray of the year. 5 have been in the last 3 weeks. Two dentist x-rays, MRI, 2 on her feet. She is wearing a splint on her ankle.

Amber had an awards ceremony last night. I think she was up getting awards more than almost all the 9th graders. She got an Jr Honors society pin, MVP for JV Volleyball-award and medal, Presidential academic award, Honor roll, 3 sport award, And the Band Directors award. Her name will be on a plaque in the band room. She was hoping for that award and they gave her a plaque to hang on her wall.

Kelsea is doing well in Volleyball. She plays well. Her team has won every game she has played except for one game and Kelsea missed that game. Their last game is tomorrow. It is a very short season.

I don't mind my job except for the crosswalk, mainly because people always run the light and I would be so sick if one of those kids got hit while I was doing the crosswalk. ANd when I go to sleep at night and close my eyes I see little kids running all over the playground like a bunch of little crazy ants. But I can't do this job full time next year. I might look at part-time.

busy week

I tried to blog earlier this week but my computer was acting retarded. So here we are a long time later.

Here's the Lay family brief-
Amber, in her tournament won her first two games and lost her third. SHe would have placed had she won that round. It was close but the girl that beat her took first place. Not bad for a first year tennis player. Devanie can you post that picture for me?
Kelsea started Volleyball. She made Varsity 1. They won their first game and lost the second. Kelsea didn't make that game. Next game Mon.
Kylee Autumn and Hannah had their dance recital last night. Cute as can be. Hannah had the audience laughing with her over zealous pointing at herself with her squinty smile in the part of rainbow connection where they are to point at themselves. She is a ham! Kylee and Autumn did a really good job. Kailyn was in it too and she was fun to watch so it became a fanily event. One less activity to do! Woo Hoo!

The job has not been bad. My only complaint was this last week the temp decided to be over 20 degrees above normal. We were in the mid 90's all week. We went from 70 to 90 just like that. I spend about 3 to 3 1/2 hours outside so I have been coming home wiped out and miserable. But I have a great farmers tan going on and have lost a little weight. This week will be in the 70's again thank goodness. I have had some interesting little things thrown in . I subbed for a little bit in one classroom. I do the crosswalk before and after school, I don't like that very much. I will have to do a class with some of the more difficult kids called character academy this week. I had a couple of girls recognize me in the store. I guess I have celebrity status now in the elementary crowd. They proceeded to entertain me while I tried to bag my groceries.

Lee Joe has about exhausted himself this week. He couldn't stay up this morning to get ready for church. He has been working some long hard hours and of course it was hot to boot. So I have been running the show alone while working. Needless to say not much got done this week. It is a good 4 weeks to decide if I want to keep it up for real.

We had a nasty storm blow in Friday night and it downed trees and knocked power out. Our power stayed on our neighbors across the street didn't have power. We had a lot of dead branches in our yard. No damage for us.

The update on the baby birds. We had one left alive in the nest and it died this last week. The girls were sad but they realize it was nature taking it's course so it wasn't traumatic, like it would have been if the cat ate it.

So much for a brief. I am never at a loss for words.

GOLLY vacation is over!!

I have been so busy. Monday was laundry recovery and chase around. Tuesday I had an Appt at noon and then 4 of the girls had dentist appts. Two had cavities, two without. One needs a referrral to an orthodontist-Autumn. Hannah's fillings will be in the hospital because she has 7 and they will put her out and do it all at once. Otherwise it would have been 4 appts.

Today was fuller than I anticipated. We had a dead baby bird in the house this morning. Lee Joe took care of it before the other girls got up. We have a robin that built a nest on top of our electric meter. THe cat just can't go away and the eggs hatched this week. SO we have been concerned about the future outcome. The baby bird in the house this morning was too old to have been in our monitered nest.
Amber had an early morning Drs appt. She is going to have lump removed from her arm on June 1, she had another X-ray on her foot. No stress fracture. And she had an MRI this afternoon. She has tremors that are getting worse. Her braces are going to mess up the results of the MRI. We won't know the results from that until a few days which will be next week if we are lucky.

Amber has one more tennis match. The city tournament is tomorrow. She got a shirt that advertises she is a 3 sport girl-the whole reason she played tennis.
Kelsea is on Varsity 1 volleyball team. She is a happy camper.

I start my new job tomorrow. I am excited and nervous the main office gal will be gone so it is going to be interesting. Hannah is going to the neighbors tomorrow.

Lee Joe is back to his over filled schedule. I haven't seen him much since I have been back.

I tell you high school si going to be more expensive than jr high. I thought we were in the public school system. Amber will attend a class this summer. $110 to take one semester of PE so she can take seminary during the day. She will have to do the next semester next summer, Another $110. Marching Band camp, required attendance in Aug before school starts is $ 140. Drivers ED required for a drivers license here $ 160. We haven't signed her up for that yet. UGH, no wonder I need a job.

I'm back

I thought when I was in Clovis New Mexico that I should write a book about "How I survived my trip with my mother" We actually enjoyed each other quite a bit with all the joking that went on. My mom couldn't get us to either of my Aunts' houses without some sort of detour and they were not hard to find.

The funeral was a small graveside service. It was the first time all my aunts and uncles had been together since I was in kindergarten. There were a couple of cousins I hadn't seen since I was 7 or 8. What was really neat was my cousins children were my uncles back yard finding frogs and horny toads and that is what I remember doing with my cousins when I was there all those years ago.

We had a really pleasant time. There was a lot of nostalgia. We ate at Furrs cafeteria, Grandma use to take us there and we had to have the mac and cheese. The car trip was like when we were little going to New Mexico, just the 3 of us. I was trying to find indian dolls for my girls but they were not as easy to find as they had been when I was little. But I found some.

Lee Joe handled mr mom week well. He had a couple of curve balls thrown in. There were 2 unexpected school events. Hannah got an ear infection, he had to take her to the doctor. And there was a birthday party. He gave me a very sweet card when I got home.