California Trip

I realize that it's been a WAY long time since posting, but it's been an extremely busy summer. And when it hasn't been busy, I've just been lazy! At the end of June the kids and I flew to Utah to visit my family. We got in at 10pm that night and left to drive to Oceanside, California the next morning at 7am for a family reunion. The kids did really great considering they had been traveling so much. I was really proud of them on that leg of the journey.


1st Day in San Diego:

We checked out the San Diego Temple. . .


. . . went to old town San Diego. . .

. . .and drove around Lakeside and El Cajon (our old stomping grounds). This is the house where Kerri (I think), me, Dayne and Jonathon were born.

The next 2 days at the hotel we hung out at the family reunion. Here are some of the things we did -

-swam in the pool
-hung out in the hot tub
-went to the beach in Oceanside
-watched Uncle Dayne catch (and pretend to eat) a crab
-caught up with family
-enjoyed ourselves as much as possible (which was a little hard because our sliding glass door was 15 feet from the marina. . . and no fence!)

On the way home we stopped to eat lunch next to the St. George Temple. It's a beautiful temple, but it was insanely hot in St. George. Thank goodness it was a dry heat! =)

Signs of Summer

We've been having a great summer. It's been incredibly hot and humid here which makes for some fun water activities. The kids just finished up their swim lessons and recently we've been playing on our homemade water slide. We have a great hill in our backyard that makes it really fast.






Along with summer also comes fruit. . . and lots of it. My friend recently returned from her parent's home in Northern Alabama. Her parents have some awesome peach connections so she brought me millions of peaches (well- just a lot, but we've been singing that song a lot lately). They are so amazing I don't think I'll ever be able to buy them at the store anymore. We couldn't eat all of them this week so we cut a bunch of them up and froze them for smoothies. You can see how enthused Ben has been with this project.

Homemade Laundry Soap

About a month ago I decided that I was going to try out cloth diapers for the next child. I ended up buying a few diapers to use while I was potty training Dayne to see if I wanted to invest more into it. I figured that it would cost us quite a bit less for diapers if I only had to buy them once and be done with it. I figure that the initial investment will be about $300, but then I won't have to buy anymore after that (I calculated that if the baby were potty trained by 2 1/2 years old then we would have spent approximately $1,000 for diapers).



After I had put the diapers through a few loads of laundry Ben did some calculations of his own. He figured that the cost is actually about the same because water is so expensive here (he calculated how much it cost per diaper/per load - for those of you who know Ben, that is soooo typical). Anyway, he also thought that it wasn't that much different for the environment. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I decided to make my own laundry soap that was environmentally friendly and incredibly cost effective. I was really surprised with how easy it was and Ben was really happy that I'm going to be saving TONS of money (we go through a lot of laundry detergent). Oh and by the way, it actually works.

Next week I'm going to tackle making my own household cleaning products. . .

Here are the kids helping me to
make the laundry detergent.
They were calling it"magic potion."

Family Photos

A friend of mine came over with her super cool camera and shot some photos of our family. It was pretty informal and I thought it was pretty funny that the only thing we really had that "matched" was Auburn University apparel. Ya, we're dorks!

Montgomery Zoo & the Civil Rights Museum

Last weekend we went over to Montgomery to check out the zoo. It was cloudy and humid, but at least it didn't rain on us. In fact, it started raining a few minutes after we left - what a blessing! We also went down to see the Civil Right Museum after the zoo because it was within 5 minutes of the zoo. It was a really fun and enlightening excursion with the kids and I'm glad that we got to go.

Our kids were fascinated by the turtles - especially Dayne.

This was inside the bird sanctuary. Unfortunately I had a hard
time getting the birds in the picture.

We took the kids on the train that went around the zoo. Fortunately we took the train after we had walked around the whole zoo and seen everything. You really couldn't see the animals from the train. However, the kids didn't care - they just wanted to ride the train!

After the zoo we went to downtown Montgomery and went through the Civil Rights Museum. This monument was designed by the same woman who designed the Vietnam Memorial. I wish we would have had more time because there are a lot of Civil Rights Historical sites in downtown Montgomery. If you get a chance to visit us make sure that we take you there.

The Best Mother's Day

This last Mother's Day was by far my favorite. Ben really went all out and I really appreciated it. He had just finished his last assignment for the semester (from hell) the Thursday before so it was a wonderful Mother's Day simply because he was home.

On the night before we went out on a date. Ben had to go somewhere right before we were going to go out so he had me drop the kids off at our friend's house. When I got back, he was home and there was a huge bouquet of my favorite lilies on the dining room table - they were so beautiful! We decided to go out to eat, but we forgot that it was graduation so everything was a really long wait. We ended up going to Outback because it was the only place without an hour or more wait (it was away from the busy part of town, so not as many people there).

That night as we were going home Ben said, "Oh, by the way, you don't have to worry about dinner tomorrow night. We're eating with the Hirts (friends of ours) and Sam (Hirt) and I have it all worked out." Can I just tell you that those words are some of the most beautiful words a husband can say to his wife?


So on Mother's Day at about 3 o'clock, Ben took the kids over to the Hirts and Kim (Hirt) came over to hang out with me at our house. At 5 o'clock the guys called us to tell us to come over because dinner was ready. When we showed up the kids were already in the process of eating and almost done. The guys had set the table really nice and had made us Parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, croissants and punch. The punch was pretty ingenious - it was cranberry juice with 7up and they had raspberries and blueberries in it. It was really good! Anyway, the kids played while we ate so we didn't even have to get up and get the kids food or entertain them - we just got to eat (what a concept!). Oh ya, and the guys had the kids draw pictures to "decorate" the walls around the table. Our husbands thought of everything. It was a Mother's Day to remember. The only problem that I have now is - what am I going to do for Father's Day? I don't know how I'll come close to that!

Our awesome husbands!!!!

The older kids eating when we walked in.

Lexi got her ears pierced!

Lexi got her ears pierced last Tuesday. She's been going back and forth on the ear piercing thing for the last year. She's really wanted to have it done, but she was afraid it would hurt too much. Anyway, last Tuesday she came home from school and said that she wanted to get her ears pierced - so after dinner we went to the mall. When we got there we found out that they only had 1 piercing gun so they had to do each ear one at a time (instead of the easier way of piercing the 2 ears at once). She was sitting in my lap as they were piercing her ears and after the first ear was pierced Lexi put her head into my shoulder and said, "I'm brave enough. I'm brave enough. I'm brave enough." It was so cute. She let them do the 2nd ear with no problem. She has been so excited to have pierced ears and she can't wait until June 16th because that's when she can put in another set of earrings!

Ward Campout

This last weekend we went on our first family campout. We've been meaning to go camping for a while (like 7 or 8 years), but we never seemed to make it when we were in Oregon. Our church congregation was having a campout so we decided to make our family camping debut. It was so much fun - and so easy! We showed up about 5pm, set up our tent (took longer than we thought it would), and went and had dinner that was provided. Later that night we endured a fun (and cheesy) variety show then had s'mores which was the highlight to the kids. The next morning we got up earlier than I thought possible and hung out until the breakfast was ready. This is definitely the way to camp. We only had to bring our bedding, pajamas, and tent. We didn't have to bring any food (except for snack food) and the campground was only 3.5 miles from our house. It was the best!!!

Ben being confounded by the set of instructions that came with the tent.
Seriously, it was like reading Latin. Thankfully we were finally able to
put up the tent (after enduring much ridicule from our fellow campers!).

Well, here's a picture of my belly. It doesn't look so bad - until you
realize that I'm only 3 months along (barely 3 months).

Here we were enjoying the free dinner. It was so awesome! We were eating something called "Hirt Dogs." A family in our church congregation has a secret sauce for these and they taste so good. One day they are going to be famous. Remember you heard about it here first!

Lexi and her friends hanging out inside our HUGE tent.

Sam patiently waiting for the s'mores - his favorite part!

This was so weird. Normally Dayne is up at the crack of dawn. Apparently camping takes it out of him because he slept in about an hour longer than the rest of us - and it was really bright in the morning.

This video is so awesome. Lexi and her friends were practicing for the variety show. They are singing "Old MacDonald" and the girl that is pretending to play the Ukulele does an awesome job - she even is pretending to change keys.

Rocket Run

Lexi's school had a fundraiser recently. They had to get pledges from people for how many laps they ran around the basketball court. The classes have been practicing for weeks in P.E.. The minimum laps to run were 20 laps - Lexi ran 38. She was on a roll. She ran all of the laps which goes to show you she's her father's daughter (I do not like running).


Lexi running her laps.

Sam and Dayne on the sidelines (wondering when it was time to go home).

Lexi's class after the run.

Sam's Pictures

I'm sensing a theme for Sam and getting his picture taken. The first picture is his school pictures that he just got back and the 2nd picture is one I've posted before. It cracks me up that he looks so proper. I'm raising an English dandy in Alabama! =)

Ben's post-bacc review

Ben is winding down his last semester of the post-baccalauraete program (2nd bachelors) and he's been accepted into the Graduate program in Industrial Design. To say that he's been busy would be a serious understatement. Two weeks ago he pulled 5 all nighters (only 1 or 2 hours of sleep a night and 1 or 2 hours in the day) . . . in a row. Last week he pulled a few as well and I'm sure that he'll have a few more this week. The good news is that after this week he's done for the semester! Yay! I get my husband back! Here are a few of the projects that he's been working on over the past few months.

This was the culprit for most of those all nighters. He had to design a wet/dry vac and make a full scale model of his design. He probably could have done it in less time, but he's a perfectionist so he took a lot of time with the details. I think it looks awesome!!

This was a small project for one of his other classes. He had to make a cool floss container.

These are some of the projects that he's done over the past year that he
was putting together for his post-bacc review last week.

Container Gardening

Ever since we moved here I've wanted to have a garden. Goodness knows I've got enough room in our backyard, but I've been hesitant. Part of the reason was I didn't want to get docked on our deposit if I tore up the yard and the other reason was that we have clay soil and I would have to get the soil tested and amended before I could start the garden in the first place. I finally came up with a solution - Container Gardening. I took a class through the local extension office and they suggested using 5 gallon buckets. The great thing about it is that I got most of the buckets for free. I had to call up a bunch of restaurants, but it was worth it. I only was able to plant 6 buckets because I can't pick up the other buckets until tomorrow - and I ran out of soil. The kids helped me to clean out the buckets and Ben mixed my potting soil for me (40lb bag of potting soil, 40 lb bag of cow manure and a bag of compost - just in case you wanted to know). It was a great Saturday project - glad we got that taken care of!

Lexi and Sam decided that the buckets needed worms, so they dug them up and put
them in the containers (I didn't even have to ask them - they're naturals!)

Here we are filling up the buckets with soil. The bottom third of the buckets
have packing peanuts - so I could conserve soil and so the buckets
wouldn't get so heavy. The kids were such good helpers!

Our finished product. Looks like I've got a "Christmas" container garden.
In this picture I've got 2 Roma tomato plants, a Poblano pepper plant
(really excited about that one) and a few bell peppers in various colors.

Just when I thought things were getting easy. . .

It looks like in the beginning of November we will be welcoming another Puffer into the family. I'm only about 11 weeks, but I totally look like I'm 4 or 5 months. Some things in life are just not fair. Oh well!

I've been way more nauseous this time around. Actually it's really weird because I'm either sick to my stomach or starving to death. Being so hungry is the strangest part because I am actually starving in the process of eating! Is that normal? Also, I've been totally having cravings which is something I've never had before. It would be okay if it were something that I knew my body needed, but I doubt that it needs Chinese food. For real, I've been craving that so bad - so far I've been able to resist. I really have empathy for those of you who have specific cravings during pregnancy. I used to think it was a pregnant womans' excuse to eat whatever they wanted and a way to enslave their husbands into going out and getting food when they didn't feel like it. Now I know I'm wrong! Anyway, I've been feeling better lately and we're pretty excited. The kids are super excited and can't wait to find out if it 's a boy or a girl.

Free Lunch

My friend from church, Jana, won a lunch from a local radio station. They asked people to send in an email with a reason why they deserved a free lunch. Jana wrote in that she was a stay at home Mom and all of her friends were too - she needed a break away from the kids. Lucky for her (and her friends), they chose her so she got to invite 5 of her friends to go with her. She said she thought that they chose her because the DJ had been talking on the radio the day before about how he had recently babysat and he had been exhausted by the end of the day. Also, my awesome friend Kim, came over and watched my kids (and some of the other Moms kids) so that I could go to the lunch. It was a much needed break. It really made my week!!!

Gluten-Free

Sam seems to have a sensitivity to gluten so we are going to try and take him off of it for a while. As a result, our family has been attempting to go gluten-free. I say attempting because we live in the South and it's really hard to find some of the ingredients that I need. Plus, it takes more time so I haven't exactly jumped in with both feet. I've been trying to gradually add more and more gluten free recipes to my recipe collection and it's finally starting to add up and not be so intimidating. This week I made a few different things that turned out to be easy enough and really good. I will say that my favorite was the chocolate cake. It was amazing!!

This was my first try at making gluten free bread. I found out that baking it in a crockpot helped it to rise because of the steam. I worked out great and Sam liked the bread. Actually, all of the kids liked the bread!

These rolls were awesome and what was so great about them was that they only took about 20-30 minutes to make. That's like miracle food when it comes to gluten free. Oh, and Ben ate, like, 3 or 4 of them (another miracle)! They were really good with Strawberry jam on them.

And for the grand finale . . . Chocolate Cake!! This was so good and super rich so you could only eat one piece. That was helpful because I might have tried to eat the whole thing!