Painting - August 30, 2014

Saturday - August 30, 2014

We finally headed to Logan today so Alissa could spend her $30.00 gift card at Michael's.  The trip did not go as planned.  We all were a little bit fussy and that really didn't help things.  Roger and Parker went to Best Buy to look around while the girls and I did our craft shopping at Michael's.  We had a lot of fun looking around.  Alissa found a lot of fun things that she wanted.  Things went bad when it was time to pay.  The lines were long and (like always) we ended up choosing the slowest line.  I think this girl must have just started working there because she really had no idea what she was doing.  By the time we finally got up to the cash register, I had realized that we forgot to bring our coupon.  That was going to save us a lot of money so Alissa could buy more.  Alissa decided to just pay anyway.  When they rang up her stuff, the paints came to a lot more than they had been marked.  We were super frustrated and it had already taken the girl so long to ring it up, so we put some of the paint back.  Alissa was super sad and frustrated.  As we headed home, we were talking about it and we decided to go back to the store and return everything except for one thing she really wanted and we knew wouldn't be a different price with the coupon.  The plan was to return it and come back next week when we aren't all fussy and we have our coupon so Alissa can get a better deal, get more, and feel better about her shopping trip.  

Brinley and Parker got a fun little painting project and some play dough.  They had a lot of fun painting.

 This is Alissa's one thing she bought.  She really loves these big paint by number pictures.

First Day of School - August 26, 2014

Tuesday - August 26th

I forgot to take a picture of Alissa before she left to school, but I did not forget to take one of my Brinley.  So.... Here she is!  She is too cute!  Brinley is going into 3rd grade this year.

 Here is Parker!  He is so excited to start homeschool.  He jumped out of bed and said, "I'm ready!  This is what I'm wearing today."  He is excited that he could wear his pajamas if he wanted to.  He made a few jokes about it this morning.  He's too funny.

 I've been super busy and very overwhelmed with everything going on.  I haven't had enough time to prepare a good homeschooling plan and routine, so, I looked on Pinterest for something fun for us to do.  We found some science experiments.  We ended up spending our whole first day of homeschooling working on science experiments.  Parker couldn't stop.  With each experiment he thought of more and more ways to mix it up and see what happened if we did this or that.  He loves science experimenting.  I'm glad he had fun.

We spent a lot of time working on a cloud in a jar, because Parker kept thinking of different things we could add to the water or try.  We learned about an object in motion staying in motion.  We also did an experiment with an egg where we stacked some things then the egg on to of a cup of water.  When we hit the things out from under the egg, the egg fell straight down into the water and didn't break.  Then we blew up balloons using baking soda and vinegar, and another one using yeast, sugar, and water.  Then we learned about flooding.  We watched some videos then experimented with the hose to see how when the ground is dry it takes the water longer to soak in.

 Here's Alissa after school.  She had a really good day.  She has a friend in every one of her classes this year.  So, she is really excited about that.

 Our cute goofy children.

Box Elder County Fair - August 23, 2014

Saturday - August 23, 2014

We had planned to go to the fair and ride the rides on the night of the parade, but a storm hit right after the parade and made it too dangerous to go.  So the kids have been waiting and asking every day when we will go.  I was hoping that we could all go together today, but Roger had to work overtime.  It was kind of a busy day.  We needed to do a little back to school shopping and fun stuff like that.  We worked hard to finish everything that we needed to do, then we went to the fair.  The sad thing is that we didn't get to go until 3:00 ish and we had to be home at 5:00 so Roger could go to work.  So, we didn't have a ton of time.  Alissa called and invited Erin to come with us.  Erin and Alissa pooled their money together so they could get a lot of ride tickets.  They were very nice and shared with Parker and Brinley, so they got to go on a couple rides also.

It rained today so there was lots of mud.  It made it very difficult for me to walk.  I kept slipping.  I was so sure I was going to end up on the ground all covered in mud.  Luckily, I made it with out falling.  Here we are on our way into the fair.

 We went and got our tickets as soon as we got there.  Alissa really wanted to go on Fire Ball.  She loves this ride!  Nobody else was brave enough to go on it with her, so she went by herself.

 Parker and Brinley went on the Merry-go-Round for their first ride.

 We ran into out friends, Damien and Conner, while we were waiting in line for this ride.  Parker and Brinley were so happy about this.  It was fun to be able to go on the ride with friends.

The time went super fast.  We had to hurry home as fast as we could.  Before we headed home, we stopped to pick up Erin's brother, Ben, so he could come hang out for a while.  He didn't want to go to the fair, but he wanted to hang out when we were done.  We got home just in time for Roger to gather his things and head out the door.  The kids spent the rest of the evening playing video games.  They all had a really fun day and were super tired by the time it was all over.

Box Elder County Fair Parade - August 20, 2014

Wednesday - August 20, 2014

Today was a busy day.  I don't love busy days.  Luckily for me a storm came and ruined our plans to go to the fair tonight.  The kids weren't happy, but I was very relieved.  I slept in until 9:00 this morning (That was nice!)  But, as soon as I woke up, I was busy.  I had to run to the store to buy some milk so I could enjoy my breakfast.  I also needed a few groceries for dinner.  So, I quickly did my shopping, came home, ate breakfast, then got right to work on dinner.  I needed to get it in the slow cooker so it would be done in time for Roger to take it to work.  As soon as I got the slow cooker going, I had to make some lunch for the kids.  We had the missionaries come and visit today.  So, we had to get everything done before they came.  The missionaries were here for an hour.  After they left, Roger ate some lunch and I packed his food for him to take to work.  I had a headache, so I had to take an extra trip to the store to get some medicine. The kids found some change so they wanted to come to the store with me to buy some candy.  I told them they didn't need it because they would get so much candy tonight at the fair, but they didn't care.  Brinley bought a really funny candy.  It was two suckers, in the shape of toilet plungers, with a toilet full of a flavored powder to dip the suckers in.  I had to take a picture of it because I thought it was so funny.

 The kids were all very nice and posed with their candy for me.  Alissa bought a candy necklace and a soda.

 Parker bought some gum.

 And here is Brinley with her toilet candy.  She liked the suckers but really didn't like the powder in the little toilet.

After we helped pack Roger's lunch, we all said good-bye to him then the kids and I headed to the parade.  People set their chairs out to save their spots like a week in advance, so we needed to get there early enough to find a spot to sit.  We got pretty lucky and found a good area close to where we parked.  The kids love the parade because they always get so much candy.

I took a picture of the kids when we first got there.  I don't remember Parker being angry, but look at the angry face he is making in the bigger picture.  I think it is funny.  I asked him about it when I uploaded the pictures, but he can't remember why he was making that face.

 The kids don't sit a lot during the parade because they are too busy picking up all the candy that they throw at us.  They love it!  My favorite is when Malt-o-Meal comes by.  They always give out little personal bowls of cereal.  I love it!

 This clown train comes by every year.  I don't know why I felt the need to take pictures of it, but I did.

 The parade is always sooo long!  Toward the middle of the parade, the kids start asking, "When is it over?"  They start to get really tired and almost a little bored.  Even though they are still getting candy, it seems like it loses it's excitement after a while.  When it finally ended and I asked the kids to pose with all their candy.  They all held up their candy, but their faces just show how tired they were at this point.

So, our plan after the parade was to go home, get Alissa's money, eat a snack, then head to the fair to go on some rides and walk around and see everything.  Shortly after we walked in the door, Roger called to let me know that the lightening radar thing at his work was showing that there was lots of lightening striking all around, so he didn't think we should go to the fair.  We looked outside and were quite surprised by how fast the weather was changing.  The kids were really bummed about not going to the fair.  Alissa had planned on us stopping at Maverick for a slushy on the way to the fair and she was pretty disappointed that that wasn't going to happen either.  So, to ease their frustration, I decided to take the kids to get a slushy then we would hurry back home before the storm got too bad.  As we were getting in the truck, the wind picked up really quickly.  It was blowing really strong.  We pulled out onto the road, then had to wait as a swimming pool went flying across the road in front of us.  Brinley got scared that a tornado was coming so she started to cry.  We all tried to calm her down.  I told her to look on the bright side and pointed out, "How often do you get to see a swimming pool flying down the road?"  We managed to cheer her up and get her to enjoy the fun and exciting things that storms bring.  We got our slushies and made it home safely, then Brinley made us all say a prayer that we would be safe from the storm.  We all had a nice and relaxing evening after that.

Roger is still working the graveyard shift so he didn't get to enjoy this craziness with us.  When there is any lightening with in 5 miles of his work, they have to shut down.  So Roger got to spend quite a bit of time relaxing in the break room, watching TV on his phone and eating pretzels.

Jamie's Baptism - August 16 - 17, 2014

Saturday - August 16, 2014

Alissa' friend Jamie got baptized today!  I'm not sure when she started having the missionary discussions, but Alissa went to her house and was there for a few of the missionary visits.  Jamie said that her experiences at girl's camp were the things that made her want to be baptized.  Luckily, Alissa remembered what day the baptism was.  I had to send Alissa to her house about 2 hours before it started to find out for sure what time and where it was at.  Luckily, we did, because Jamie had Alissa on the program as the person saying the closing prayer.  Alissa wasn't too surprised by that.  She kind of figured that she would be asked to do something.  

I was nervous for Alissa to say the closing prayer.  Not because I didn't think she could do it, but because that is a fear I have.  I get super nervous when I have to say the prayer in front of large groups.  I would rather give a talk in sacrament meeting than say the prayer in sacrament meeting.  I don't know why I get so panicky.  I just don't handle it well.  I was telling Alissa about my crazy fear on the way to the baptism.  She said, "Mom.  You need to work on that."  I said, "I know... just not yet.  I'll deal with it another time.  I've got other struggles I'm dealing with now."  I tried to think of what other struggles I was dealing with and nothing came to my mind.  Then, Alissa said, "I think Heavenly Father wants you to work on it now."  That was the end of our conversation.  The baptism was nice.  Jamie looked super happy.  Alissa did well with the prayer.  We stayed after to enjoy some refreshments that the Young Women Leaders provided.  Alissa got her picture taken with Jamie, some of the young women in our ward, and the missionaries.  Then we headed home.  Shortly after we got home, I sat down on the couch next to Roger to relax.  He got a text message on his phone and said, "Uh oh."  I asked "What?"  and he told me that the text message was from someone in the ward asking if we would give the opening and closing prayer in sacrament meeting.  I told him to say no, but Alissa piped in and told him how I needed to.  Roger replied yes before I could stop him.  Then we told Roger the story of how Alissa said that she thought Heavenly Father wanted me to work on this problem now.  I just thought it was crazy how that all worked out.

Sunday - August 17, 2014

So, I survived saying the prayer in sacrament meeting.  I said the opening prayer so I could get it over with.  I said a short and very simple prayer.  I'm just really glad that I did it and it is over with.  The funny thing is that before I got asked to say the prayer, I spent the whole week worrying about choir practice on Sunday.  This was our first choir practice with me as the pianist.  I am super nervous about this calling.  I practiced hard all week and was super nervous about how it was going to go.  Then I got asked to say the prayer and I felt like I had a much bigger worry to focus on.  I was so nervous about the prayer that I hardly thought about the choir practice.  I think that was kind of nice.  After doing well with the prayer, I felt a little more confident and I did a pretty good job at the choir practice.  I didn't mess up at all on the song that she had told me we'd be working on and I only messed up a little on the unexpected song that she added to our practice.  so, I felt pretty good about this.  I think I will do okay being the choir pianist as long as I keep practicing.  So, that's good.

Playing at the Splash Pad - August 15, 2014

Friday - August 15, 2014

We got to meet Brinley's friend Bethany at the splash pad today.  It's been too long since they've seen each other.  They were a little shy right at first, but that didn't last long.  Bethany was Brinley's best friend when she went to McKinley Elementary.  There weren't very many people at the splash pad.  The girls had a lot of fun playing together.  Parker spent his time playing in the sand with the cars he brought with him.  Bethany's younger brother ruined Parker's track a few times.  Parker really didn't like that.  but besides that, he had a lot of fun.  It's funny how different the splash pad is this year compared to last year.  Last year it was new and exciting and super busy all the time.  This year it is rarely busy.  Every time we've gone this year, we practically have the place to ourselves.

 Bethany's mom was babysitting the other little girl that you see in these pictures.

Alissa's Colored Hair - August 14, 2014

Thursday - August 14, 2014

Alissa tried out her hair coloring chalk that she got for her birthday.  She chose to color her hair purple.  I think it looks more pink than purple.  But she likes it.  She was excited that it actually worked.

Alissa's 12th Birthday!!

Wednesday - August 13, 2014
I can't believe Alissa is 12 years old already!  Time is just going too fast.  All my little ones will be grown up in no time.  I can't handle that.  I love them being my little ones.  I can't imagine what it will be like when they are older.  I'm just going to live it up and enjoy every moment I have with them.
Missy, Brittany, Teresa, and Tyler spent the night, so they could be here for Alissa's birthday and we could go out and do more adventuring again today.  Normally, I decorate the living room and the kitchen for the kids' birthdays, but we were exhausted when we got home last night and it was too tricky to try and decorate around everybody sleeping in the living room.  I ended up just waking up early and quickly decorating the kitchen.  Since it would have been hard to travel with our cake and Alissa wants to have time to decorate her own cake, we decided to have donuts today, instead of cake.  We'll have cake another time (when Alissa has time to decorate it).  So, after Alissa woke up, Roger took her, her cousins, and Aunt Teresa to go get some yummy donuts for breakfast.  Roger made sure to buy a dozen doughnut holes.  We put a candle in each one and sang "Happy Birthday" to Alissa.  Then she blew out the candles.  This birthday was definitely different than she was used to, but it was still lots of fun.  We enjoyed our doughnuts, we let her open her gifts, then we packed up our stuff and headed to Lava Hot Springs to spend the day relaxing at the pool.  Alissa's gifts were very different from what she is used to also.  I normally try to get her a nice gift then a bunch of dinky, but fun gifts to fill in the gaps and make it look like she got a ton of presents.  This year, we just got her two gifts.  We spent more than we normally do on her birthday, but it looked like less, since the gifts she got were small sizes.  We got her her own set of scriptures with her name on the cover.  She's been wanting that for a long time.  So she was really excited about that.  The other gift we got her was a $30.00 gift card to Micheal's craft store.  She is super excited to go and use it.  I also got her some hair chalk that will color your hair for a little while and wash out really easily.  She was very happy with the gifts that she got.

I tried to take a picture of Alissa, Parker, and Brinley.  I could see each of their faces before I snapped the picture.  But as I pressed my finger down on the button to snap their picture, each one of them moved, jus perfectly enough for something to cover up each of their faces.  I just thought that was really funny and crazy how perfectly their timing was and how that worked out.

I asked Missy to video tape Alissa as we sang to her and while she blew out the candles.  She pointed the camera and hit the record button, but she couldn't figure out why she couldn't see anything.  We all had a good laugh when we looked over and saw the lens cap still on.  Silly Missy!

Here we are at Lava Hot Springs!

It was fun to stay over in the deep end and watch the people jumping off of the high dives.  There were two girls, standing on the highest platform, that were too afraid to go.  They kept walking to the edge, then backing away.  We watched them for a really long time before they finally got brave enough to jump.  

While we were watching, Missy informed us that this is where the you tube video of a girl falling from the platform took place.  I had never seen the video, but Teresa had seen it a lot.  When we all got out to eat lunch, I did a search for the video.  That is so scary!  Then I found the video in slow motion.

Anyway... so we all got out of the pool to eat some lunch.  I was going to take a picture of all of us when somebody walked by  and offered to take a picture with me in it also.  I was excited, because I don't usually get to be in the picture.  Here we all are!

Alissa wanted me to take a picture of her while she was standing on this floaty toy.  She kept trying to do it.  every time she successfully got on, I missed it.  So, she wanted me to keep snapping pictures until she finally did it.  I don't think I ever got the picture she was wanting me to take.

Tyler decided to go off the platforms.  So, I took pictures, of course.  This is him going off the first platform.

Alissa was really determined that she could stand on the floaty for a picture.  So, I just kept snapping away.

Tyler jumped off of the second platform.  This is the platform that the girl fell from.  He hesitated as he got to the edge, but still went for it.  It's hard to see the detail in the picture, but you can tell he was scared.  He refused to try the highest platform.  I can't blame him.  I won't even jump off of the lowest diving board.

 Here's more pictures of Alissa trying to do that trick still.

We had a lot of fun playing today.  Eventually, we got too tired.  Two days of being out in the sun swimming, was starting to take a toll on us all.  We left to head home around 4:00 pm.  We were exhausted!