Utah, the first leg.

When you've slept in a hotel and its 95 degrees out, a day of swimming and bbqing is just the right rememdy.:)



We all liked teasing Coco especially Emmy.



We like to drive around Draper and see the differences there since we've moved. The Temple looked so beautiful and we like the sunset too!


Emmy and I went up the step to BYU Campus. The Y is beautiful and those steps used to be Way easier to climb lol


We went by BYU and I wanted to show Emmy where her dad and I got engaged. It was the same place as my parents. However, in a Microburst that past through Provo a few years back, that tree was uprooted and now there is an empty space. I noticed a cute tall sunflower in its place and a beautiful blue spruce nearby, which is my favorite tree. And since my parents have been married forty one years and Brian and I sixteen years this month, I think we weren't affected by the lack of tree there.:)

Joseph relaxing at Nanni's.

We went and visited Nanni on our rest from traveling day in Utah. It was nice to visit and see her at her place. Celia liked the crown Nanni got from a church thing for her birthday.

The beginning of our vacation went well, we made it to Utah with movies and DSI and lots of snacks. We stopped by Downtown Salt Lake to see all of the neat sites like Temple square, Trolley Square and the cute outdoor mall there that I forget its name. It's nice to just pass by even and say hey theres the Lion House or that the Joseph Smith memorial building. Its makes me remember the times when we've gone there. Happy memories of watching the testament and Legacy or eating at the rooftop with Brian. He kept saying you know if it was just us two, I would take ya to Rodizio Grill or the top of the JSM building for dinner. I think I may have to hold him to that when the kids are grown and gone.:)

Extended School Year End

Joseph, Emmy, & I went to Spencer's last day of summer school party. They were so nice to us. The kids got hats and leis and Spence even took home a goodie bag. I was happy to see Spence's new teacher for the upcoming year and talk with her. It was very apparent that Spence likes us talking about him playing and watching guitar hero. He went from sitting around to all smiles. His new teacher Melissa is going to have a home visit before school starts and I'm hoping for a great year for Spence. He will miss his aides and I think they will miss him more, there was a lot of saying good byes and teary eyes.


Spence and his summer teacher Barb. He did great with her and Spencer verbalized a lot for her this summer.:)
This is Cecelia, one of Spencer's aids at school. She truly loves him. I am grateful to her and her caring way towards him. I like her name too hehe and she called Spencer doodle bug before she even knew we called him that.:)
I don't have a flower in my hair, its just the wall decoration hehe. I love that you can see Spencer's teacher taking the picture in the background too along with Spence's siblings.

Getting Celia's Hair Done

I told Celia we were going to go get her a new hairstyle. And that it would be at the hospital. She really did fairly well. She liked the bracelet they gave her and we read the book with pictures they had there about the 24 hour Ambulatory EEG process . We talked with others that were waiting there and I think they were pretty interested in the book too. I read it three times to Celia hehe. After we went back Celia was set up with a DVD player(showing Dora the Explorer) and I brought her girl blanket. Which is a holly hobby blanket my mom made for Emelie's baby shower with material she had had since I was a little girl, thus we call it the girl blanket. Brian got Celia the cutest Dora backback to carry the computer they have the nodes hooked up to. She loves it.

So the EEG nodes take about an hour and a half to put on and its stinky and uncomfortable and all that, but she was a trooper and we are excited to get it off tomorrow morning and get any great information they can gather about our sweet Celia Bear. She picked Hello Kitty hair ties as her prize and liked pushing all the buttons to use the elevator in the hospital. She isn't in pain and begged to go to school after and had fun with her friends. It really looks worse then it is.:)

Celia loved all her nice treats from Rah Rah.
Spencer liked his glow in the dark star stick from Rah Rah too~
Celia was such a mommy taking care of Dora. She sang to her and pretended to feed her and carried her wrapped up in a receiving blanket for a while.:) Celia finger painted, played hide and go seek, colored in a giant size coloring book, played with playdoh and had a dance party with her tutors and I in the afternoon. She had a great day after all.

Doin' What I Like

Here is me with my favorite cookie and wearing a necklace I made 16 years ago when Brian and I were engaged. I used a bead kit at the cabin and made a bunch of jewerly. Celia found this rummaging thru things like she does and gave it to me to put on.

Brian was sweet to realize I needed a time out last night. I went to Trader Joe's and got some yummy treats. I found these super yummy frozen fruit bars that had raspberry on top, lemon in the middle, and strawberry on the bottom. It was a great treat seeing as it has been 99 degrees and it was still quite warm in the evening. I also got Espumias(as my mom calls them) which are vanilla meringues. Celia loved them she said ooh onions:) They do look like onions, but taste much better in my opinion.:) I also got mini oatmeal raisin cookies. They are so tiny, but yummy and they remind me of hot chocolate at my folks house. Those mini cookies, amaretto and whipped cream make the hot chocolate extra cozy over there.

I passed by Green Acres , the nursery I want to check out for the plants and trees I'm on the hunt for, but it was closed. The next outlet to u turn was the entrance to The Fountains. Its a beautiful shopping area here in Roseville. The shops are fancy and not exactly kid friendly, so I thought this might be a chance for me to walk around and see things. I first went into this beautiful interior design store.I couldnt't believe they had their doors wide open with the air conditioner running full blast, but anyway. Beautiful tapestries, floral arrangements and warm colors lined the walls. The had a hydrangea arrangement 75% off , but it was regularly $285.00 lol. They had linens and china and gorgeous antiqued furniture. I might of even called it my kind of place except the prices were awful and the people who worked there were nothing like me hehe.

I visited the center of The Fountains area, there was a great live band playing Right Here Right Now, by Jesus Jones which I used to like and listen to long ago. They played all sorts of great songs, covers of many artists. They sounded great. The lead singer was a skinnier version of the star of the TV Show Scrubs, but with even longer hair and the rest of the band looked around forty with goat T facial hair. It was funny to me. Then I went to Chico's(a clothes store that my mom likes) and browsed around. I noticed I still shop fast and browse quickly, I'm used to doing that because its a great skill to have when you're shopping with children or have them waiting for you at home.

I went into Posh Pumpkins a cute children's store next. Celia would love all the pink and the book and many different dresses and cute shoes. I liked the wood lettering I have in the boys room. Spencer's name is missing a few letters and I found out I can replace them there when I get around to it:) I had gotten the letters in Utah when we lived there so it was exciting to see the same letters there. As I was walking by the rest of the stores I saw a friend, Luba who works with Spencer and Celia. I loved talking to her and meeting her little sister. Luba is always very complimentary and although it makes me shy, its nice too.~ She commented on how she loves the fountains too and it seems like a little Italy with the people, shops, and live music. Most of the people were eating gelatos or mini ice creams, which seems Italian to me as well.:) I like the thought of Italy and want to go there someday! Overall, it was a nice relaxing time. After which I could go back home a little more calm and composed and ready to endure the chaos of child rearing.~

Growth in my Garden

New gardenia plant.:)
I'm on the hunt for the perfect purple hydrangea bush and a dwarf cheery tree. I've loved planting in my yard this year. I've planted the Geranium, Lavender and Kangaroo Paw that I had pictures of from when my folks came in June. I've planted a Gardenia plant that has bloomed few times, I love the white flower and sweet smell. I remember being young and the many plums and apricots we ate from out backyard trees. They were delicious fruit and they smelled and tasted wonderful I have fond memories of cleaning up the fruit in the backyard after the growing season was finished. We'd grab lids of trash cans to use as shields then call the friends from the culdesac over and we'd throw the fruit at each other. At the end of the day, we'd pick up the fruit, put it in buckets,and water down the grass with hoses with having a water fight too. I like having an apricot tree and a nectarine tree in my backyard. The smell of the fruit reminds me of those younger days.

I also planted the little tree Brian's work gave to us when Poppi passed away. Even trees and plants can remind us of our heritage and those who have gone before us. We had the tree in a pot in our house these few years and now finally after receiving a lot of water and being in the ground, it is starting to grow. I've been enjoying weeding even and replanting my garden since I had lots of interference from Celia and Kirby.

My children seem to grow like these plants, without even seeing it, the cute chubby faces thin out. The shorter little mini me turns into the beautiful five foot five eighth grader. I can't believe how fast Celia's toddler hood passed. One more full year of preschool and she will be off to Kindergarten. I love to create, plant new seeds, and admire the beauty of new beginnings. I am coming to grips with the fact that my babies are growing up and that babies don't keep. I am grateful for the wonderful family I have and feel like it would be nice now to support others with their infants( basically hold others' babies) and be of service for my baby fix. There is great joy to be had in attending to and watching God's creations grow. Each of my children have a lifetime of learning ahead of them, I hope my nurturing of these sweet children will produce great fruits of family togetherness, faith, and great memories filled with love. I am excited to see how my flower and vegetable garden grow this summer and I'm sure my children will grow and bloom as well.:)

FireBending~

The kids are really into Avatar, the last Air Bender series. Celia always says she is the Fire Bender and she turned out to be pretty interested in lighting off fireworks in our front yard tonight. She said as she was going to bed; "I like the fire, I can't believe it!"
We all had a lot of fun. First we used popits then the other ones you pull that Emmy had left over from some other time(I wonder when?). Also a firework that made the annoying loud high squeal, sparklers shaped like guns that proved dangerous, a black widow, which was a lot of little stars and the Grand Finale. Pretty fun. We smell a little like smoke now, but the kids cleaned up the street nicely and we were done just in time for the sprinklers to come on.


Joseph thought the Grand Finale was pretty cool.:)
I love our flag.

Better late then never.:) It was a great Monday night family home evening acvtivity.~

Holidays and Commercialism

Christmas in July? I know its not Christmas, but it felt like it yesterday morning when I walked out my front door to get the mail and the neighbors had a blow up snow globe with a snowman on their driveway. They were selling it. Our other neighbor's on the court were having a garage sale. You'd think it was a huge party, there were so many cars parked on our street, people were even walking from down the street. I thought about what they might have written on their garage sale sign to warrant so many costumers, but as I checked out the situation, the signs just said "Garage Sale" and the address. You wouldn't think there is a recession around here by the looks of all the shopping opportunities.

There is a buzz of shopping around here. I check my email and there are many advertisers for the holiday weekend. Its independence day, come buy a couch! It all seems silly to me. I heard an ad on the radio talking about the necessities for the fourth, a BBQ, certain foods, matching t-shirts, and don't forget flip flops! Okay, I admit I took advantage of a great sale on buy one get one free flips flops. I found some that matched my bathing suit I have loved for a while now. I was also affected by the ad for watermelon. I mean who doesn't have watermelon for the fourth right?? Finding out it was overpriced this weekend made me realize, I'm fine to have watermelon any other time of the summer too. Commercialism is really a pet peeve for me. Independence day is a wonderful time to remember our heritage, the sacrifice of others. Its a time to be happy, to have family and friends around, great music and show appreciation. Just like anything, moderation is best. Celebrating without stress, without feeling things have to be a certain way, and with certain people sounds ideal to me. Without sounding too much like I am ranting and raving, I'd like to say Happy Fourth of July and may we keep the spirit of Independence!

Fun On Friday

We ate out breakfast and lunch and Joseph and Emmy are out watching Avatar, The last Airbender with dad. Fun stuff!

Shots of us alone~



Feels like summer already. None of our kiddos have school on Friday so we went the the park near the temple and played castle. Celia was singing and counting and sword fighting. She ran around while I tried to snap pictures of everyone. It is very peaceful and cool there up on the hill with all the beautiful grass and trees. Spencer loved the drinking fountain and teasing me.

Photo Editing~

The girls Emmy, Rah Rah & Celia Jean
I wasn't sure how to edit my photos since I upgraded to Windows 7 on my PC. Here are a few recent pictures I cropped and fiddled with, figuring out Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Challenge Accepted~

It has been really hot here the last few days. The kids were really happy to get out and play with water




Dual guns~
Celia modeling her 1 dollar bathing suit hehe.

Makenna, our neighbor from across the street came over yesterday and challenged our family to a water fight. We found a few water guns at the dollar store. I even found Celia a bathing suit there too! :) The kids had a lot of fun and it was a great time for me to snap pictures, after Spencer's tutor came that is. I tried to take some before she came and Spencer kept running away from me. I'm glad our neighbors are such great friends.