Spring Break 2012

My kids had spring break from April 2-6.  A whole week off!  I was so excited and so were they.  We had lots of fun activities planned and I even took Tues-Thurs. off.  I tried to get the whole week, but Monday and Friday were already full.  So I settled for 3 days.  It was still so much fun.  On Monday we just hung out.  It is my busiest work day so the kids enjoyed playing outside with all of their friends.  On Tuesday, we went to Get Air and Big Scoops Creamery.  I forgot my camera all week, so I don't have pictures...oh I was so mad at myself.  On Wednesday we went to the Clinton park and went ice blocking and played at the park with some friends of ours.  Then we went to Artic Circle for shakes and ice cream cones.  Then it sparked an idea.  On Wednesdays Blake has a Dave Ramsey class he is taking so I took the kids to Burger King that night for dinner.  It was heaven...they played and I read my book. 

On Thursday, the kids wanted to stay home and play with friends.  I was SO fine with that so I cleaned.  Every year before Easter I do a neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  I use up all of my candy left over from Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines Day.  The kids love it and it really helps me too!  This year, Kaymin and her friend, Lexi stuffed and hid the eggs.  It was so much fun.  I just sat back and watched.

That night was Blake's family's Easter party.

 On Friday, we hung out with my mom and sister.  We went to the DI and then to Lagorri's for lunch.  I haven't been there for years.  It tasted oh...so good!  Then we came home and decorated Easter eggs.  The fun part is that we colored our very own brown chicken eggs.  The colors turned out so cool looking.  I let each kids color one dozen eggs.  That night it was my nephew's b-day party at Fat Cats. 

On Saturday, it was the first soccer game of the season.  But we had to miss it because my niece, Olivia was baptized.  Afterwards we went out to eat at TGI Fridays. 

Then it was onto my side of the family Easter party.  I even brough the "candy ball" game also made with leftover candy.  It looks like the only pics I took then were of the game and the kid's feeding Grandpa's horse.  So far our kids were so spoiled, the Easter Bunny doesn't even need to come.

A Busy Two Weeks

We have gotten a lot done around here the past two weeks.  I went and got 2 truck loads of compost and one of bark.  Our yard looks great and Blake tilled our garden to get ready for planting.  The compost I got was from Weber County Compost Facility.  My friend, whose husband is the Director of Agriculture for the state of Utah, said he swears by this stuff.  So I am taking a chance.  It is beautiful stuff, however, it contains bio-waste (human poop) as well as bark.  This stuff isn't nearly as strong smelling (meaning chemical smell...not the other), than the stuff that was all bio-waste I put on two years ago.  Last Saturday I planted peas, lettuce, and spinach.  Blake stared a new sprinkling system for our garden and finished it yesterday.  It looks SO good.  It should work so much better for our garden.  Our garden used to get watered when we watered our lawn.  Even though I only water every 1-2 days, it was too much water for tomatoes and corn.  This should work a lot better and I am so excited to see the outcome.
Another thing that has happened is our dog, Skipper, keeps getting out.  Several times a day he would get out of his kennel.  Now normally he roams all fall-winter, when my garden is no longer growing, but this year he has been caged up.  I let him out for a few days, only to find him in our chicken coop letting the chickens out.  I got really tired of getting a dog and 5 chickens in their cages several times a day.  I couldn't figure out how my dog was getting out.  I finally figured it out.  He has peed so many times on the bottom bar in one spot that it has totally rusted through.  He was lifting up the bar with his nose and crawling under it.  So for days, I wired the kennel together thinking that would help, but he kept getting out and then would get the chickens out.  I thought I finally figured it out, but I was wrong when I came home on Friday to find him out as well as my garbage all over my backyard.  However, he didn't get the chickens out.  So I finally took chicken wire and wired the inside of his kennel and bought more parts and he hasn't been out since yesterday.  So far it has been 24 hours and he hasn't figured a way to get out.  That is a record for the last two weeks.
Another thing we did while Blake was off, was replace our garage door that leads outside.  The trim was completely rotted on the bottom from the elements.  In fact you could put your hand through to our garage. We never use that door, because our truck it parked there and blocks it.  So Blake and my dad put in a new door.  However, there was still holes on each side.  Blake had to go back to work so the holes sat.  All I could think about was mice getting into my garage.  I could easily put my hand through so nothing would be stopping those nasty things from getting in there.  Oh how I HATE mice!  For Christmas my parents gave us a nail gun.  That is what I wanted.  So I got out the handy dandy nail gun and took a trip to Lowe's to buy supplies.  I was so proud of myself.  I but a 2x4 to fill in the gaps and then put a piece of 2x2 on the outside to cover it there and put the trim back on the door in the inside.  I did a pretty good job if I say so myself. 

Blake is Off

Blake was suppose to be off this week of work.  He is using a week of his vacation which shocks me to death since he usually just loses it at the end of the year.  However, he has worked at least a half of a day every day.  It has been such a bummer.  We have been able to get quite a few things done, although I would have liked to get A LOT done.  Oh well, maybe another time.  One thing that we really wanted to get done was a new watering system for our garden.  Right now our garden is hooked up to our sprinkler system so we are changing that so we can water once a week or whenever we need to.  We also dug up our dead pear tree and went and got another one to plant.  We have planted it yet since we needed to put down the fungicide for a week to 10 days.  So we will get that planted next Saturday.  Tomorrow, the kids are out of school so we are going to do something fun.  That is, when Blake gets home from work at noon on his day off.  Oh well, I am just grateful he has a job and that he has been able to be home as much as he has.

Time to Say Good-bye

My grandma made this blanket for me when I was about 12 or so to put on my bunk bed.  My sister had one like it but different colors.  I have kept that blanket and used it during the winter on one of the kid's beds since we had Kaymin.  However, the time has come to throw it out.  It has holes in it and it is so thin and thread bare.  I had to take a picture so I remembered what it looked like.

Warm Weather

It has really been warming up lately and I have spring fever...BAD!  I got home from Bountiful Baskets on Saturday and when I pulled in the cul-de-sac, my kids coming running over to ask if we can go to the park.  So I went in grabbed some crackers and drinks and headed to the park.  It was a beautiful day and everyone else must have thought so too.  It was busy, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Basketball

Deilen finished up his 2nd year of basketball on February 25th.  He is really good when he wants to play.  We joke about how we can tell within the first 5 minutes if Deilen is going to really play or if he is going to be too busy eating his shirt, rolling on the ground, or putting his hands in his pockets.  He really is a great player and we love to watch him play.  So far basketball is his favorite sport.  He really loves playing,

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day I always cook a fancy dinner.  This year I made prime rib.  It was delicious.  I had never had prime rib before.  Blake and I went to the Timbermine for our anniversary and I decided to get it there (I love steak and ALWAYS get steak).  It was so yummy that I brought it home for the kids to try.  It was decided then, I would make prime rib.  I should have priced it before I made such a promise.  I went to Sam's Club where I bought a chub (I believe that is what they called it) of it for $7.50/pound versus $9.50/pound if I bought one prepackaged.  The bigger one was 16 pounds so it would give us at least 3 meals worth.  But the cost....a whooping $120.  I bit the bullet and bought it.  The wonderful butchers there told me where to find a "to die for" recipe.  The prime rib had to dry age.  That is where 10 days before you eat you wrap paper towels around it to soak up all of the juice and put it in the fridge for 10 days while continuing to change the paper towels.  Once you bake it, all of the juices coming flowing back.  Well, I am here to say that it really does happen.  It was so yummy.  My parents even came since they heard what I was fixing.  We had sparkling cider, dove chocolates, and cake pops.  It was a very yummy Valentine's day.

Get Air

Yesterday we took the kids out to eat at Denny's and then went to Get Air.  We had so much fun.  We haven't been there before and I bought 6 tickets on Groupon for all of us to jump.  When we arrived we noticed that we were the ONLY adults jumping.  Blake didn't want to do it, but I didn't care.  I was excited and it was a lot of fun.  But boy, oh boy did I work up a sweat.  I had to jump with my legs together and took a potty break so I didn't wet my pants.  Our kids had so much fun and I am so glad we could go and do something as a family.  I sure love them!

Date Night

Blake surprised me on Friday by only working a half of a day.  So we decided at the last minute to go out.  We called it our "celebration" night only we did it cheaply.  Kaymin (I don't know how I ever managed before when she couldn't watch our kids) baby sat while Blake and I went and saw Man on a Ledge and went out to eat at Bella's (I have a two for one coupon).  It was so much fun just being with Blake.  I really need it too!  I had a rough morning with Gerrit.

UGH Banks!

Just when I thought things were all settled up with our mortgage...there was a hiccup.  Isn't that the way it always goes?  I got in our account on the 3rd and found that our mortgage payments had been reversed.  Apparently when I called and spoke to the gal on the phone she should have ran the payments through as a "payoff" but instead the money sat their in limbo while another mortgage payment came out of our account therefore making our "payoff" money more than what was left.  The system didn't know what to do with the money.  So I called again, this time I got a very smart person who helped me and paid off the right way.  She had to reverse the other mortgage payment that came out and found our money in limbo to use for the payoff.  So really our payoff date is February 3rd.  The only thing I care about...is that it is really paid for.  HOORAY!

FREEDOM!

FREEDOM!  Apparently that is what people can call up and say on the Dave Ramsey radio show when they are out of debt...except for their house.  Now I haven't even listened to his show, but Blake talks about it all of the time.  Today marks one of the best days of our life.  Today, Blake and I paid off our house.  We are now 100% debt free.  I tried to talk Blake into calling in, but he won't.  Bummer!  I just can't believe it.  I wanted to shout from my rooftop...although that was a dumb idea...so instead I texted our family and danced around singing and acting giddy.  I knew this day would eventually come...but I am still in shock.  Blake I begin building our home I believe we dug the whole around November 1, 1996.  We moved in March 25, 1997.  After we had lived in it for two years, we decided to switch to a 15 year mortgage.  Our interest rate at the time (it was good back then) was 8 1/2 percent.  We switched to a 15 year at 6 1/2 percent and it reduced us paying almost $200,000 in interest.  About a year or so later we refinanced to 5 1/4 percent and another 15 years and that is where we stayed.  We paid half of our mortgage payment every two weeks, which ended up paying 1 full extra principal payment a year.  Eventually when I started working and we put all of our extra money on the house.  It was amazing to see how quickly it went down.  Our next move is to save up money to pay cash for some property.  I need to get away from all of these neighbor kids.  I just can't believe we own our home.  I am not sure when it will hit me.  Maybe when I see that money in our account still when it should have been taken out for the house.  Now we promised our kids a BIG vacation.  I thought I had them talked into Hawaii, but I think I got out voted and we most likley go to Disneyworld or on a Disney cruise.  Either way, it should be a ton of fun.

Classic Skating

On Tuesday our school had a Classic Skating night.  We have never been able to go due to illnesses, surgery and just plain life.  However, this Tuesday was perfect for us.  They allow scooters so I took all of the kids scooters, with the exception of Kaymin's, and we headed off.  Blake met us there and I was happy since I ended up with 5 kids.  Richard, what I refer to as my 3rd son, asked if he could come with us.  He is our neighbor and Kaymin's age.  He is a good kid and I knew I wouldn't have to "babysit" him.  The kids all had friends that were there and they had a ball.  Kameni decided she wanted to try skating.  So I went and rented her some skates.  She fell a million times, but she got right back up and kept at it.  She would fall so hard that she would cry and it still didn't stop her.  I am so proud of her.  She is SO wonderful.  After an hour, she almost had it down.  She rarely fell and was doing so good.  Now all she can do is beg for skates.  I love her attitude.  Blake says she reminds him of me.  I do see a lot of myself in her.  Especially her feisty, little attitude.  Oh, how I love that girl.  Kaymin is becoming a good skater.  She got rollerblades for her birthday a while back and she practiced and practiced.  She skated the whole time with her friends.  Deilen rode his scooter and played laser tag.  He never even cared if he tried skating.  Gerrit would ride his scooter and then he would play on the Pirates Cove.  He just had fun feeling like he was a big kid.

Planting Already

On Saturday I planted our pepper plants for this year.  I usually put them in the basement under a shop light, but we have decided to try something else this year.  Our one bathroom window (the one in the hall that is used the most) gets the sun all day.  We only have two windows that are on that side of the house.  Both windows happen to be in the bathroom.  We never use the tub in our hall bathroom so we decided to put our shelves that we use our our outdoor greenhouse in our tub (so it is high enough to see the sun from the window) and put our plants on it.  That way we won't be paying for electricity and it will be a lot warmer.  We are thinking that is our problem in why our plants don't do very well.  Our basement in unfinished, therefore there aren't any heating ducts.  So we will try this for this year and see what happens. 

Sledding

Today it was beautiful.  It was mid 40's so I surprised the kids and took them sledding after school.  Today was early day so it was perfect.  I let them each bring a friend and we loaded up and off we went.  It was perfect for me because I sat in the parking lot and finished my book I was reading.  I really need to take them more.

 Even Gerrit didn't want any help and since the hills weren't really big, he could do it all by himself.

Deilen Can Sleep ANYWHERE

I've been trying really hard at night to read to the kids.  Most of the time it doesn't happen because life is busy.  I sit in the hall between both rooms while the kids are in bed and right now we are reading "Candy Shoppe Wars".  It is quite a good book and the kids love it.  Even Gerrit is good as gold as I read it...well most of the time.  I usually read everyone, but Kaymin to sleep.  This is how Deilen ended up after falling asleep while I read.  I can't imagine that being comfortable, but obviously he didn't mind.

New Beginnings

Last night I went with Kaymin (and the rest of the kids since Blake couldn't get out of work) to New Beginnings.  I can't believe she is going to be in Young Women's this year.  She was so nervous, but I think she is ready for it and she has so many friends that will be going on before her. Where has the time gone?  My baby is in Sunbeams and my oldest will be in Young Women's and out of Primary.  Blake and I will never have another one in Nursery.  Now that is a crazy thought.  Gerrit thinks he is big now that he goes to Primary.  We keep telling him that he will be really big if he will go potty on the toilet.  So far that hasn't worked. 

Last Weekend

Last weekend was one of those weekends that rarely happens.  We only had Deilen's basketball game and I had my Bountiful Baskets on Saturday morning, but that was it.  I got so much done around the house and all of the kids got along.  I found them like this playing the Wii together.  They are so cute and I love them so much.  Gerrit has to be like Deilen now in everything he does.  If Deilen isn't wearing a shirt, then Gerrit takes his off.  He won't eat or drink anything until he knows what Deilen is doing.  It really is cute and I've had to have the talk with Deilen about being a good example to his little brother. 

Then Kameni decided to dress up Gerrit to look like her twin.  He didn't care that he looked like a girl.  He was just so happy to have someone play with him.  He will even play Barbies or Polly Pockets just to play.

Basketball

Deilen started basketball up again, except this time Blake is not his coach.  This is the first sport he has played that Blake or I haven't been his coach.  I think it has been so good for him.  He is the tallest on his team and is doing really well.  He seems to be able to dribble a lot better than last year and even seems to score some baskets at the games.  Now we just need to teach him to put his height to good use and block.  But I guess one thing at a time.  He sure is a great little player!

Swimming

During the End of Quarter break from school, I took the kids swimming at the Layton Surf and Swim with my sister.  It was so much fun.  It felt so good to do something that reminded me of summer and warm weather.  The kids had a ball and they were so good for me.  I was scared, because last time they were not.  Gerrit this time even got in the water and was trying to swim.  Thanks to his cousin Violet and the many times he got in our pool this past summer.  I think he will eventually love the water like the rest of us.

Reflections

During the summer all Kaymin did was make up dances and teach them to the neighbor girls.  My bare grass out front is proof of the HOURS they put in to their dances.  I have no idea if grass will ever grow there again.  However, it paid off.  For the school Reflection contest one of the categories was Dance Choreography.  Even though the theme was Diversity and none of her dances had anything to do with Diversity she wanted to enter anyway.  Our neighbor and her best friend, Lexi, was her dance partner and they each took one of the dances to enter.  I filmed them in our church one night because they were dancing outside and my house was not big enough to film them dancing in.  It turned out wonderful!  Since Kaymin was entering in Reflections, Deilen and Kameni wanted to as well.  Deilen entered in the Visual Arts (drew a picture of an orange person and a brown person holding hands) and Kameni did 3-D art and made clay art.  Kaymin thought this looked fun and entered in 3-D art too.  It turned out to be a good thing too, since all participants ended up getting a free pass to Kangaroo Zoo.  My kids love that place.   All of my kids won at school and received a trophy and a certificate and went on to the next level. 

At the next award ceremony we were unable to go and everyone told us how dumb and boring it was.  All my kids would get was a paper certificate and maybe a ribbon.  I guess that is what they did hand out to the kids that weren't going on to the next level, but those that won...like Kaymin got an even bigger trophy.  Her friend, Lexi, went and brought this home for her.  I have no idea how Deilen and Kameni did since theirs was at a different time.  Oh well, I hear they will be given to our school so we will eventually get them.  I haven't taken a picture with the other kids and their trophies, but I did with Kaymin.  I am SO proud of my kids! 

Deilen Turns 7

Deilen is so great!  I asked what he wanted to do for his birthday and all he wanted was to invite two friends over to play the Wii after school.  He is SO wonderful!  What an easy birthday. 

He invited his friends Kyle and Colby and they played and even helped him eat some of his cake.  He wanted a Beyblade cake and this is about all that I could think of what to do for his cake that wouldn't involve a big mess.  He loved it.  After Blake got home, we took him to McDonald's.  Kyle came with us and so did my mom.  I wasn't smart enough to remember my camera.  We stayed there for a long time and let the kids play while we visited.  It was a really, relaxing birthday. 

We gave him this Razor Riptide 360 and my parents gave him a HUGE Nerf gun and Blake's parents gave him a remote control truck.  He was definitely spoiled and had a great birthday.

WAY Behind

Okay, so I am terrible at blogging anymore.  Where did my time go and my excitement for blogging?  I have no idea.  All I see is me falling further and further behind.  It started when my computer crashed.  So I decided...I will never get caught up...I will save that for my blog book.  For now...I am going to begin with a clean slate and begin at the beginning of 2012 and hopefully keep this one up-to-date.

Pretty Flowers

One Sunday at the end of August the girls were begging me to cut some of our flowers and put them in a vase in our house.  I have no idea why I haven't thought about this before, but I LOVE the flowers.  The girls did a great job arranging them and the made the whole house smell great.  They loved doing it and I need to remember that for next year and let me cut more flowers.  There is nothing like beautiful, fresh flowers.

Putting Up the Pool

It is always a bitter sad when we put up the pool.  I am grateful to not have to clean and care for it anymore, but the kids love it and I would do anything for them.  When we empty out the pool, the neighbor kids all love to come and help.  I only can let so many because you need room to throw the water out.  If not, then we end up with a lot of kids getting hit with a cup in the head.   Kameni got lucky this year and Deilen and Kaymin were gone when I decided to take the pool down.  So all of Kameni's cute little neighbor friends got to come and help.   I really would love a bigger pool and someday we will have one.  For now, I am so glad that Gerrit was brave enough to swim.  Next year I hope he does even better. 

First Day of School

 I can't believe how fast the summer seemed to go by.  Now I will have 3 kids in school full days.  That is hard to imagine. 

Deilen seems WAY grown up for his age, but Kameni has no desire to grow up and wants to stay little FOREVER!  So to have them at school all day is so crazy.  The kids are so excited and they got wonderful teachers (the ones I wanted and I didn't even request.)  Deilen and Kameni got the same teacher again (now I did request for them to be in the same class). 

Kaymin got in a class with her friends, which I think will make this year a lot easier for her.  The kids were really excited to go, but Gerrit and I were not.  I could never home school my kids, but I sure hate doing homework and doing all of the hustle and bustle that school brings.  Also, I realized how bad Gerrit misses the kids.  He really has a hard time with just me all day.