We recently were able to go out west to visit family. The trip out there was a nightmare. We left Philly late after sitting on the plane for two hours. Finally got in the air and was still hoping to make our connection in Denver, we arrived about 20 minutes after our plane took off. It was already pushing 10pm and no more flights were leaving that night. Blaine got in line to get us scheduled for the next available flight by the time he was done it was LATE. We finally found a hotel that wasn't filled to capacity and laid our weary heads. The time was after 2am but coming from Philly it was after 4am. We were beat and our experience on Frontier airlines was not pleasant. We finally made it to Boise the next evening and our two day stay in Boise was reduced to 18 hours. When we arrived there luckily our luggage made it, but after 19 days we still are waiting for our three car seats to arrive.

While in Utah, I vaguely remember a wedding, Oh yes, I remember it was my brothers wedding. I was graced with his presence for all of about 45 min. and my kids barely got to see their uncle and new aunt for maybe 5 min. I have no evidence of this blessed event.

We then spent the next few days with Blaine's side of the family. I have great evidence of that.

Here is Casey and Jackson palling around.

I love this picture of the boys and two of their cousins

Here are most of the grand kids, we were still missing a few.

What is wrong with this picture, Sister hosts family gathering, Brothers torment Sister.

Actually it was very funny watching Blaine and his brothers bounce their sister.

Here is Blaine and I, his brother Barry and his wife Dani, next is his sister Janet and her husband Mark, and last but not least we have Bruce (this is where the name Jackson Bruce comes from) and his wife Sue.

Jackson Bruce

Very cute picture of Amy, Bruce and Sue's daughter

The family

Here is a cute pic of my niece and I.

Here is a pic of the girls, Blaine's sister Janet and the sisters-in-law.

While we were in Utah we were also able to see some wonderful friends. We always look forward to seeing our friends and family every year. I can hardly wait for next time.

Tagged

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged. Yes I have many reasons. None of which I care to post on the Internet. As far as the tag goes...I was actually tagged about six months ago, but it was a verbal tag and I decided it didn't count. Then my niece tagged me about 2 1/2 months ago. That is almost how long it has been since my last post. So Nat this ones for you. I'm not a very interesting person so coming up with 6 interesting facts about myself is kind of hard for me. Here we go in no particular order.




Fact ONE: I love the theater-you know Broadway and off Broadway. These are the shows I have seen... in order of preference.


Wicked-with original cast
Wicked-with Blaine, this would be first but I really enjoyed Kristen Chenowith's performance
Wicked-with sister
Wicked-with friends

Phantom of the Opera-this was my first show ever on Broadway. It was a jaw-dropping experience for both of us. I have seen it three times.

Lion King

Mamma Mia

Hairspray

Tarzan

Billy Joel's Movin' out

Rockettes Christmas show

Beauty and and Beast

Les Mes

Chicago (don't recommend)

Contact (don't recommend) Loved the dancing but lots of cursing.



I am adding Mary Poppins to the list tomorrow. I hear this is a great one.
There might be more but this is what I can remember.




Fact TWO: Airy noise makes my skin crawl, I would rather hear fingernails on the chalkboard than hear the sound of the hairdryer, static, the nebulizer, or the fan in the car turned up higher than 2.



Fact THREE: If my calculations are correct, I have managed to bare five children, all boys, only spent a total of 17 hours and 40 minutes in labor, pushed about 8 1/2 pushes, for a grand total of 46 lbs and 13 oz. Here is the break down...





Casey 8lbs. 7oz.--7 labor hours- one push
Austin 9lbs. 5oz--2labor hours- one push
Zach 9lbs. 5oz--7labor hours-two pushes
Dylan 10lbs. 2oz--20 min labor--two pushes
Jackson 9lbs. 10oz. 1hour 20 min labor 2 1/2 pushes



Boy does Blaine ever have it easy!!!



Fact FOUR: Even though lots of people know about this one, I still have to put it in because it is unique. I was born with a wink jaw. If you haven't seen it, I am sure you will be looking for it at the next ward BBQ. Wink Jaw is my crazy eye. I have a nerve or muscle or something that links my jaw to my eye. The bottom line is that my eyelid goes up and down as my jaw opens and closes. Jaw open, eye wide open---Jaw closed, eye normal. This is a repetitious action as I chew my food or gum or just tease the kids around me. Maybe, just maybe I will record a demo...we'll see.



Fact FIVE: About twice a year I miss the country lifestyle that I was raised with. Growing up we had all the farm animals, usually raised for food. We had milking cows, one that liked to pin me up against the wall before a good milking. She didn't like me and I really didn't like her. One of our cows picked me up with her horn and threw me a good ten feet. I was real little, maybe like eight or something. That scared me. I have experienced a chicken harvest, it's a little bloody. The phrase running around like a chicken with it's head cut off is a literal phrase. Don't wish to do that again any time soon. My sisters and I would have to squish ((please say this next part in your best country accent now I would say squash), but back in the day of farmin' we were squishin' them buggers)), the potato bugs that were making home on the rows and rows of potato plants that Dad planted. The saddest time was when Dad took the pigs to be castrated. I didn't watch, but listening was bad enough. I was hiding on the floor of the pickup covering my ears trying not to hear the wretched sound of the little piggies squeal. There were always mega chores, chores and more chores. This is why I only miss that lifestyle twice a year. I have a cushy life compared to them country folk.



Fact SIX: I have drafty windows. You must be wondering why this is interesting. The reason they are drafty is because my walls and windows are bulging with testosterone. Right now I am typing and in the other room I have a 13 year old, and 10 year old and a 7 year old hootin' and hollerin' about something that just happened one the Yankee game. 40 minutes ago they were bragging about how the Yankee announcers are the best announcers and that all the others are just boring. last night I came home from my friends home and Casey, Austin and Blaine had all the MLB hats that Blaine has collected over the years, laid out perfectly on the dinning table in order of division and then ranking in each division. The plan is to put 30 nail holes in one of my walls and place the hats one them according to their current rank.


Now as one team takes the lead of their given division the caps will be readjusted. My initial reaction was NO WAY!!!


As I looked at their faces and could see that they could not understand my reaction I agreed to a wall that I only have to look at if I am making popcorn. I don't think it is natural for my seven year old to know the thousands of facts that he knows, the other two know even more. I am sitting here blogging and I look to my left and see this very cute picture of Casey and Austin and can't help but realize that I may have something to do with this obsession to sports.

So for now I will put up with my drafty windows and look forward to every Girls Night Out.

Now I am suppose to tag someone else but I am not going to. Most of my blogging friends have already done this. If I was going to tag somebody it would be Sue but she hasn't started blogging yet, not sure why, I know I would enjoy it.

Bored Stiff

Dylan is so bored!! I was looking at the pictures on my memory stick and found many many pictures taken by Mr.D. Since he has completed preschool he is in constant need of special attention. This is like total over the top attention. I can't even walk into the next room without Dylan insisting on knowing the intent of my whereabouts. This first picture is just to show the humor that consumes Dylan. Got to love 'em.

Dylan's "personal" Photo Gallery

"The Body"

Eye

Foot

Arm

Buttocks

Stomach

Here is Dylan helping me with Jackson during breakfast. I love his feet in the picture.

"From the Den"

Looking Out

Looking In

Looking Up

Looking Down

A few self portraits are a must.

This is an attempt to copy another picture randomly placed on my camera. Dylan saw Amy's picture and decided to copy. Looks like I need to keep my camera on a shorter leash.

Yard Before's and After's

Nearly two years ago we started construction on our home. We had a walk-out basement entrance put in and then finished our fabulous basement. Due to the construction our back yard was trashed. This time last year, you may recall, I had an eight week old baby and wasn't really physically ready to work in the yard. Our yard was completely the worst looking yard in the neighborhood. This spring I decided to take action. You may recall an earlier picture I posted of the kids playing in the yard. I hate to ask, but did you happen to notice how bad the yard looked? Here is the picture again to remind you all of the very patchy grass.

Before

After

(Look closely in the bottom left corner of the mulch and you will see where Dylan helped me plant some grass seed. I didn't realize until it was too late where exactly he was placing it) I like to look at HIS grass, it makes me smile)

(Below) This area is where the walkout basement was put in. A huge hole was dug out here for the walkout. Lots of big rocks and lots and lots of smaller rocks were all that remain here after the construction. Dylan has been a huge helper to me this spring. In this area he collected and removed 9 buckets of rocks. Removal was necessary for the proper planting of our new vegetation. We (I) planted a pretty Japanese Maple (in the rain). Then we planted some box elder and something else that flowers. Next, we throw down a little mulch (a lot of mulch if you ask Blaine and Randy) and wah-lah. In this comparison you can also see that the grass is starting to fill in a bit.

Before

After

On this side of the deck we didn't have a lot of rocks but we had a lot of weeds. The weeds are a bit hard to see but believe U-ME they're in there.

Before

After

Here is our garden. When I say "our" garden, I pretty much mean Dylan and I. He shows the most interest in the garden and we actually went to the store and together picked out the seeds that we would soon sow. I have a bit of a hard time eating the food I have grown after seeing all the dirt or maybe some bugs on it. I will try not to let that "bug" me too much this time around. Together, Dylan and I planted corn, pumpkins, cantaloupe, zucchini, and two varieties of tomatoes. One is grape tomatoes, those are my favorite.

Before

After

Memorial Weekend

Ever year we try to take at least one camp outing. Blaine doesn't really enjoy camping but he is always good to go along. I just told Blaine that we will actually be going twice this year. He is a good sport. We went to Patapsco State Park in Maryland. The weather was perfect for camping. Cool at night but not too cold, and perfect temperatures in the day. The older boys worked on some scouting things such as fire preparation and proper pocket knife use. We went with our friends the L'Heureux's, it helps that he is the scout master. We even brought our flags to show respect to our nation and to those who serve.

While camping Jackson decided to finally try his walking legs. I say finally but I do admit that the baseball season has been really nice with Jackson not walking. He will usually just sit on my lap at the games. Here is some video with "J" sporting his walker.

First Jackson needed a little encouragement from his brothers. Now that is some support group!

Here is Jackson showing a little attitude. He is learning to hold his own.

Here is Jackson with just a little bit of success without the walker.

One of the best thing we brought on the trip was this little red ball. Between this ball and a soft baseball the kids were entertained for hours. We call this next piece...

"The Gallery of the Little Red Ball"

And of course Jackson's own little ball.

Sunday Morning we woke up to a surprise in Casey's shoe. If you know me very well at all you must know that this image puts a chill through my bones like a late December night. If you know Casey very well you know that this disgusts him almost as much as me. Needless to say he will never wear these shoes again! Luckily these are his old shoes and due to be discarded anyways.

We always take the nebulizer!!!

Here is Jackson's first taste of watermelon. He really likes it.

We went for a hike on Sunday. The weather was beautiful, the trail was 95% shaded by trees and Casey was in a good mood. That one is sometimes hit or miss. Along the trail was these thrones made for kings so we insisted in the dads taking time to relish the moment. Actually I think they welcomed the rest.

On the trail.

This picture I just had to throw in because I love the little look on his face sooo much.

I hope your Memorial weekend was as memorable as ours!