Holy Freakin' Thunder!!

Last night I was awakened by a huge thunderstorm that sat above my house (it felt like it) for at least 30 minutes. The huge, thunderous booms woke up Eric, Lindsey, Kaylen, and me. Lindsey and Kaylen ended up in my bedroom on the floor. Kaylen started in bed with me, but then I convinced her to lay on the floor with Lindsey. She never said a word, she just laid there with her eyes wide-opened. (I wonder what was she was thinking.)

I can't even describe how incredibly loud the thunder was. To me, it sounded like bombs were going off. I actually looked out the window for some smoke or some kind of mushroom cloud, as a result of a bomb.

Then the lightening started. It was incredibly bright. I could count to about 1 or 2, at times 5, between the lightening and the thunder. We were right in the middle of the storm. To calm my nerves, Eric mentioned that lightening always strikes the tallest thing. Boy, it's good we have a 2-story house! I wasn't scared, I was just afraid of our house being struck by lightening and catching on fire.

The boys slept right through it. I thought Logan would be the most scared. He was afraid of rain on his window on Sunday night. I called my parents in the morning, who live 1/2 a mile away, and they really didn't notice it during the night. A boy from the neighborhood stopped by our house this morning to talk about the storm. He said his windows got broken during the storm.

It was totally scary last night, but now, looking back, it seemed kind of exciting. Maybe I'm just sleep-deprived.

Family Get Together

This past weekend we got together with my side of the family at my sister's house. We went swimming, ate shaved ice and tacos, and celebrated August birthdays. It was fun to get together. My sister, Shelly, and I even did a trick. We did sychronized jumping into the pool (that is quite unusual for me - I don't jump into pools)!

Kaylen and Lindsey

Lindsey jumping in

Spencer belly-flopping

Spencer, Rhett,and Brody preparing to jump

Maisen and Lindsey eating shaved ice

Brody and Logan

Logan opening a present

In-Law Surprise

As I was sitting at the table, finishing lunch, Eric called. He told me that his dad had just called and said they're (Eric's dad and his wife) coming to visit today. They were driving from Utah. After I realized he was serious, I laughed at the craziness of that. Then I got mad. I called my sister to complain. The first thing she did after I told her, was laugh. I called my dad next. He also laughed! Where was the sympathy? I totally needed sympathy with dealing with the fact that the entire house had to be clean in 5 hours. Apparently I wasn't going to get it. Don't get me wrong, I love having company - when I designed our house, I made sure we had a guest room for those who come to visit -I just needed a week to stress over it and to make a mile-long "to do" list.

I realized I didn't have time to be stressed, all I could do was get working. Thankfully, yesterday the kids did their chores really good because they wanted to go to Target with Eric. Really, the biggest job for me was mopping the floor. So I got to work. I put on my headphones, cranked up my ipod, opened a can of (diet caffeine free) Pepsi, got to work, and thinking of how I could write this post. It's good that no one was at home, otherwise I wouldn't have had so much fun cleaning, looking ridiculous as I cleaned. The two hours before the kids got home, I worked like a crazy woman. Now that the kids are home, the hard part begins.The biggest job to be done is picking up the toys that have been scattered throughout the house (a lot happens two hours before bed and an hour before school). It's not too bad, but I'm sure I'll become a huge nag.

In two hours, they'll be here and we'll go out to eat. It will end up great in the long run -
-I got a good 2-hour workout
-the house will be clean
-I won't have to fix dinner
-we'll get to visit with my in-laws.

Happy Birthday Logan!

We celebrated Logan's birthday this weekend. The night before, Lindsey,Spencer,and friend decorate the house and made presents for Logan. I loved to see them caring about Logan and wanting him to have a nice day.

For breakfast, Logan chose breakfast sandwiches.The birthday person always gets to eat off a special birthday plate I painted.

We finished breakfast just in time for Logan's party. This was his first birthday party. I wanted him have a party, but I wanted to keep it simple (usually I plan too much and spend too much). We had 5 boys come over, which ended up to be a good amount. Eric led the boys in a couple of games, one a balloon relay, the other a game of tag with the person who's it being blindfolded.

I was going for a Cars theme (despite the Spiderman invitations we used - that's all the little walmart had). So for craft, the boys painted little wooden cars. I found some paint markers which worked great. They also decorated notebooks with Cars stickers. I made 4 batches of salt dough that they played with. Half the boys weren't interested and played with the toys in the basement.

We had cake and ice cream. Logan opened presents, which was lots of fun for him. The boys then did a treasure hunt. It was hard for the older kids to be quiet and let the boys figure out the clues on their own. It was fun to watch the boys think and figure things out, running from place to place.


A little while after the party, a friend came over and brought Logan a present. She then took the older 3 kids to her house to swim.

Logan came home to my parents waiting for him with a present.

After all these other things, Logan opened presents from Eric and me. It seemed like the whole day was filled with present opening.



Logan chose to eat at Souper Salad for dinner - it must have been the unlimited ice cream (I'm not sure why else he would choose there).



It was fun to focus on Logan the whole day. With him being stuck in the middle of the kids, I often worry that he feels like he doesn't get enough attention. I loved that we were able to celebrate him on his special day. We are blessed to have Logan in our family.

Can You Feel the Burn?

I am pretty excited. I started taking my pilates class again. I took a break over summer because of scheduling reasons, but now that school's going again, it works out great. I made it to class a few minutes late, but better late than never.

After three months of not taking the class, I felt it. It was a challenge. My legs shook and my abs are sore. I could totally feel the burn. It's great, though! The class is two times a week, so I'm excited to be exercising again. I will be working out at home the other days.

At the beginning of the year, I started exercising. I would walk/run at home and around the neighborhood. When we went to Hawaii, I even continued exercising. Yearbooks and summer threw me for a loop, and I became a slacker. Enough excuses - I'm exercising again. I can totally tell a difference in how I feel and I'm looking forward to it.

School's In

School started on Monday. I love the beginning of new school years. It's so exciting for the kids to be "one year older." I love the night before the first day of school - packing backpacks, laying out clothes, planning lunches, and father's blessings.

Spencer didn't actually go to school until Thursday because he has still been feeling sick.

I had posted back in June that my Kaylen girl would be going to school on a bus, but the more I thought about it, the more I was not ready for that. After all, she's my baby and I'm not ready to send her away yet. I called the school district and told them I'm not ready for her to go. I didn't get any arguments from them. She has a later birthday, so she has 3 years before she starts kindergarten. Her speech is no where as severe as the boys' speech was. So between my selfishness, time, and her speech, Kaylen is doing preschool at home (at least that's what I'm hoping to do) and I now have a new best friend. She was a little bummed about it, but it was cured by playing a game with her. I can tell she has missed the kids throughout the week. It's fun to see her excitement in playing with Logan after school.

It also gives me a chance to re-commit to being a better mom. Some of my goals this school year include reading daily with the kids, packing nutritious lunches, spending time with the older kids and helping them with their homework (if I can remember how to). During the day, Kaylen and I will do activities together. I want to be the one who teaches her to write, count, and learn her letters. (All my other kids were taught in preschool.) Kaylen and I will go to storytime at the library and go to the Family Fun Van (kind of like a big, learning playgroup done by United Way). I've also got Kaylen signed up to do a dance class with a cousin.

It's going to be a great year!

Grandpa Time

Spencer got an Erector Building Set for his birthday. When Grandpa saw him open it, he said, "I had one of those as a kid." I made a mental note of that.

A few days later...

I found a small helicopter set on clearance and bought it for Logan. I wanted to do something fun on the last day of summer, so I sat down with Logan to build it. Two hours later, I finished. Logan lasted about 15 minutes, then his 5-year-old attention span kicked in and he found something else to do.

So when Spencer brought out his birthday gift when Grandpa was at our house, it was perfect! Spencer's project was bigger than Logan's and I didn't even want to attempt it. My dad is a very patient guy, so bless his heart, he started the project. It took a couple of hours, but he hung in there and finished the dang project. What an awesome grandpa!

Note to self: Do not buy any more Erector building sets.

Potty Training

While we were cramming 3 states, 2 countries into 3 days, we made a few "pit stops." At each toilet that we would stop at, Kaylen had to go potty too. She really surprised me and went every time. When we went shopping in Ohio, we bought Kaylen some new panties. She didn't want Dora or even princesses, she wanted Elmo underwear. So that's what we bought (plus some princess ones I picked out). They are the cutest, littlest panties.

We started potty training when we came back from Ohio. She did great peeing, but had a little bit of trouble with pooping. She had a couple of accidents (#2). It's now a week and two days later and I consider her potty trained. She will go in and sit on the toilet when she needs to. She stays dry through the night.

This was one thing I was dreading because I didn't want to have to clean up any accidents (I hate stuff like that). I also didn't want to be nag. Kaylen was obviously ready and she has done great! YAY!

Spencer's Birthday

Spencer, 2 days old

Spencer turned nine the day we left Ohio. So, the celebrations started on Friday, the day before we left. We went to the movies in the morning and saw Wall-e. (Spencer still hasn't opened his Wall-e Wii game, since he saw the movie - it was a flop.) We spent the afternoon and evening at the Dublin Irish Festival. The kids made all kinds of green Irish crafts. After the festival, we went out to a Mexican restaurant where they sang to Spencer while he donned a sombrerro and munched on fried ice cream.

We didn't know that one of the kids would alert the restauant staff of Spencer's birthday, so we had an ice cream cake from the best ice cream store in Ohio - Graeter's, that we ate at G & G's house.

One of our traditions is to let the birthday child choose what we have for breakfast. Spencer wanted a breakfast sandwich. I forgot and didn't buy the ingredients, so I went to two restaurants to find a place that was still serving breakfast. Thank you Tim Horton's.

Spencer spent his birthday on a plane, flying home. Now that the airlines have started charging for drinks, we let Spencer have his own pop since it was his birthday (how silly!). We got home and Grandpa and Grandma had another cake waiting for Spencer. It was fun being able celebrate his birthday over 2 days. Once he gets back to school (he hasn't gone to school & has missed the first 3 days of school because he's sick) and makes friends (and finds out who has moved) we'll do a birthday party for him.

More Ohio Pictures

Eric's grandparents live on a golf course, so their "yard" is beautiful.This is one of the flower gardens between their house and the golf course. I love trees and flowers, so I loved being outdoors while we were in Ohio.

Logan loved playing outdoors and running around.

We went to the Dublin Irish Festival which is the 2nd largest Irish Festival in the world. My favorite part of the festival was the Irish dancing. It reminded me of visiting Dublin, Ireland and the show we saw there.

I took this picture when Kaylen was sick. She woke up and Eric got her breakfast (to get ready to go to the zoo). I came downstairs and found Kaylen sound asleep. When she woke up later, I realized she was sick.

Logan loved riding around G & G's house. (Love the scenery!)

Eric's family lives (mostly) in Ohio, so when we visit, we often get together. We had a pizza party and game night.

Olentangy Indian Caverns

We went to some Indian Caverns near Eric's grandparents' house. We took two of the cousins with - Ryann and Alex.

The kids were able to pan for gold and other cool rocks. (Alex and Spencer)

We went down lots of stairs to get into the cavern. It was a wonderful 55 degrees inside. The floor was a bit muddy, but that just added to the fun.

There was a Frontierland where the kids played in the old western buildings. Lindsey and Ryann were jailed due to too much talking and giggling. : )

There were animals wandering around that were fun to watch and pet . Logan fed Logan the goat.

Niagara Falls

After visiting Palmyra, we drove to Niagara Falls. We actually went to Canada, so we had to pass a border inspection (thorough questioning about mace and guns back home - why?) and present our passports and the kids' birth certificates.

The Falls were amazing.There were two sets of falls - the American Falls, and the Horseshoe Falls. We walked around a little, and then did a couple of activities. We did "Journey Beneath the Falls" where we rode an elevator down, through a mountain. We then walked through different tunnels where we ended at portals where we could view the backside of the Falls. There was so much water, that I couldn't see through it. We got splashed a little bit. We went down another tunnel where we could walk out to an area just to the side of the Falls and viewed the Falls from there. We got pretty wet there (ponchos were provided).
We did another attraction there, Niagara's Fury where we watched a movie with special effects (not that exciting).

We ate an "authentic" Canadian dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The following day (after driving through the fog to our junky motel and spending the night there, not waking up to our alarms) we rode on Maid of the Mist, a boat where blue-ponchoed passengers float up river for a closer look of the Falls. It was pretty awesome.


We walked along some of the most dangerous rapids on the "White Water Rapid Walk."

We then went to the Butterfly Conservatory where we observed beautifully-colored butterflies. Spencer was the Butterfly Whisperer. He was able to get a few butterflies to crawl into his hands.




The bus was Logan's favorite part of the trip.


We headed back to Eric's grandparents' house after our many, fun adventures arriving at 2:00 am.

Palmyra

Palmyra Temple

Lindsey, Logan, and Spencer in front of Joseph Smith's log cabin

Frame Home started by Alvin, finished by Smith Family

Hearth where gold plates were hid from mob

We started out our day by driving a few minutes to Palmyra. Spencer, Eric's mom, and I walked around the temple, taking pictures. We then went to the church's visitor center. At both of the church sites we visited (Kirtland and Palmyra), we were lead around by missionaries. In Palmyra, as the sister spoke of the first vision (with the Sacred Grove behind her) I felt the Spirit strongly and am grateful for the opportunity to have my testimony strengthened. We walked through Joseph Smith's cabin and a frame home that was started by Alvin Smith and later finished by the Smith family. In the frame home, we saw the fireplace hearth where the gold plates were hidden from the mob. (I love church history coming to life!)

We then went into the Sacred Grove. I loved being in there. While we were heading for the exit, it started to rain. We were somewhat protected from the rain by the trees, but for some reason we decided we needed to leave the Sacred Grove. So, we made a mad dash for the restroom. There was only one restroom for the girls, so we all crammed in there (6 of us - Eric and Spencer properly went to the boys' room). Oddly enough, that will be one memory I have of the Sacred Grove.

We also went to Hill Cumorah. The view from the top of the hill was awesome - I love the green! Eric, of course, convinced Spencer to roll down the hill. He attempted to roll down, but didn't seem to know how to.