Rewind back a few weeks...

How could I be so careless? How could I have missed so many fun pictures to post? I must be losing my blogger's edge. Anyway, so these are to show my family back in hot and dry Utah that I do care...

Cheez'n it up with Auntie Jenny...

Luvs from Uncle Richard...

Fireworks at Auntie Jenny's - kiddie style that is...
Yes, we were doing this in the middle of the street.
Frank was our traffic controller

Christian thought the lights and sounds of
Daddy's fireworks were oh, so cool!

JD and his best bud/cousin, Tyler.
This was literally taken right before JD
ran inside and upchucked all over Auntie
Jenny's front entryway. Nice. Joel had to clean
it up cuz mama couldn't bring herself to clean
up what she felt like doing herself!

Camryn and her best bud/cousin Erin

Yes, this is my family...

Sophie, Camryn and Ella watching "Enchanted"
in Sydney's room...

I had to post this because Joel's Gammy hates
to have her picture taken. HOWEVER, when
Heather's around, I can't resist.
I think she looks fabulous!

Spending a day jet-skiing at Willard Bay...
Loved the water, hated the bugs!
Christian, what a ladies' man!

Riding with dad...

Auntie Andrea let Camryn take this puppy
up to 35 mph! Geez, are you trying
to give me a heart attack?
That's too fast for this grandma driver!

Goodbye hugs from Grandma.
"Thanks for taking care of me while my mama
was sick all day!"

These little dudes spent practically every
day together. Can't wait to live
close again!

2 Princesses

All in all the trip was memorable and productive. Did I read correctly that Auntie Jenny, Sydney and Grandma are driving out to see us?? Yeah! Yes, that question was posted for you Jenny and Grandpa...

Adios

Oh what do we do in the summertime??

So today is finally a pleasant, beautiful day here in muggy Michigan! It's so fabulous outside that I'm forcing my kids to stay outside all day - not that this is a difficult thing to do. One of the nice things about living here (for my kids anyway) is the constant interaction with other kids. I'm sure it'll be quite a shock when we move next year - for them, not me!

What's the deal with these kiddie pools?

Anyway, yesterday was a typical crazy day here in my jive-town family housing. One of the funniest things about this place is the frenzy that comes with a simple thing like an inflatable swimming pool! When someone busts their pool out (nothing special - just a Walmart special), the kids come a running. It's like they have a sixth sense about it. The little swimmers appear with their towels and such and make themselves at home. I'm one of the lucky ones (that's one way to view it) that has a pool. In fact, I have 2 pools - it's like we're freak'n celebrities. Just to emphasize the lust after these cheapo pools, my pool was stolen last year. 3 kids (according to my neighbors that witnessed it) came walking up to my pool, picked it up and simply walked away! My poor neighbors were literally moving in that day and thought the pool belonged to the kids since they acted so brazenly about it. I rode my bike around looking for my precious purple pool, but to avail. I had to break down and buy another one.

So yesterday we had a hot day on our hands so I busted out the pools and sure enough the masses came. So one of Camryn's friends arrived midday and while I was inside, she jumped out of the pool and landed wrong. It was a typical fall, but she must have landed just so because she ended up breaking her wrist! I didn't even know about it until my neighbors (who witnessed the whole thing) told me about it. The sad thing is that her family is in the middle of packing up to move across the country - terrible timing! When it rains, it pours I guess.

What's the deal with these mutant mosquitos?

We have these blood thirsty, man-eating, mutant mosquitos around these parts. Seriously. It's so sad because I feel like we can't even enjoy the summer evenings here without these pests attacking us! I didn't realize how bad it was until I noticed every single kid at church had huge welts all over their faces, arms and legs. In our family, Christian has gotten the worst of it. He got a bunch on his face and it has been swollen for a couple of days now - and seems to be spreading. You can't get the impact of it by looking at this picture, but he looks like a Klingon from Star Trek - you know the pronounced forehead and swollen nose bridge. Poor kid. I'm worried about it, but Joel (in typical doctor fashion) tells me not to worry. I'm such a freak, I've already decided he has some strange spider venom pulsing through his veins that'll kill him in a week if I don't intercede. Don't judge me - if you're a mom, you know exactly what I'm talking about!


Here's a little video of Christian and Katelyn biking down the hill in front of our apartment. They think it's fabulous!

Farewell to "I'm bored"

JD has finally gotten over the "I'm so bored, what can I do?" stage that comes in the summer with school-aged children. It's been fun to see my creative lego engineer make an appearance again. He spends a large chunk of his day creating his own version of Indiana Jones and Mars Mission sets. Joel and I feel sorry for him because he so desperately needs his own room right now, but I just can't make miracles happen. We have this strange room situation going on (I'll go take a picture when Christian wakes up from his nap - so you can feel sorry for JD): JD and Camryn share a room at night, but JD's actual room is being used by Christian. Therefore, JD doesn't have a permanent spot to just hang out. He has to clean up his lego ships each day prior to Christian's nap. He's learned to just climb up his loft bed and store his creations up there.

I've moved the kids around so many times - it's ridiculous. I keep looking for the perfect fit, but nothing seems to work. Christian and JD didn't do so well in the same room (Christian was too young). Camryn and JD were in JD's room at one point, but then Camryn needed her own space too. Ahhh, we need to move so badly! Breathe....one more year. I think we're to the point of putting Christian in a twin bed in Camryn's room and letting JD have his own space back. We'll see. I'm not real motivated to do much these days.

Here is Camryn's room that JD gets to sleep in at night. Isn't it tidy and spacious?

Here is JD's room (notice all of the legos?) that Christian gets to sleep in at night.

Mom, can I eat something?

Oh my holiness. I swear this phrase sends me through the roof! So my lovely angel daughter Camryn asks me this question A MILLION TIMES A DAY! Seriously. It starts about an hour after breakfast and continues until bedtime. She'll go outside to play with friends and after a few minutes she'll come inside and ask if she can eat something. She usually has a couple of friends in tow. I can tell when she has promised them glorious snacks when their faces drop after I foil her plan. In fact, I just went inside to grab something and she perked right up and said, "Mom, can I have some bubblegum?" I usually try to escape really fast after I deny her - to avoid a showdown. And right before that incident, I was rocking Christian to sleep and she stomped up the stairs whisper-shouting (you know, where a kid thinks they're whispering, but they're shouting in reality) "Mom, mom, mom, mom , can I have a Gatorade?" I usually just bite my tongue and pray for strength. I do indeed feed this child, she just thinks she needs to eat all day. Oh sweet mercy, save me.

My summer is filled with taking care of 3 1/2 kids and trying to get through as many projects as I have energy for. Here are a couple of pics of my garden. I finally got around to taking some pics in the daylight. I found a bunch of pics of our trip to Utah so I'll post those next time.

My kids asked for a dog one year. I bought them this one. I don't think that's what they had in mind. He's my garden guardian.

Until next time, enjoy your summer. It goes by so quickly - too quickly!

Playing Catch Up...

Well, I haven't exactly kept my goal of posting every week. But, I have a really good excuse: I want to die! I'm so miserable! If I'm not nauseated, I'm constipated or ornery or all of the above! I love being pregnant! Anyway, enough of that...now on to the good stuff.

Hmmm, where to begin.

Well, the trip across the country is over and reality has sunk in. I'm finally glad to be back home in lovely Michigan. I just got done unpacking - finally after 3 days of looking at it & wishing it would magically disappear. I just started a mother load of laundry too - yep, reality has sunk in. It's nice to be home though.

The ride back home only took 2 1/2 days (instead of nearly 5 going to UT!). Wyoming made me crazy (as usual), Nebraska was definitely greener, but the 65 mph speed limit made me crazy! By the time Iowa and Illinois came, I was ready to jump out the window - a girl can only take so much corn! It was really satisfying to cross into beautiful Michigan. I'm going to miss the tree-lined freeways and fireflies when we move next year. I've really grown accustomed to the lush great lakes area. Sigh. Oh well, we've only got like 11 months and a handful of days left, but who's counting eh?

There were 2 things that I was excited to see when I got home: seeing Mike and Tanya's little baby Mason AND checking out my freak'n awesome garden (pictures below)!

First, and much more importantly, was little baby Mason. Tanya wasn't supposed to have this little guy while I was gone, but he couldn't wait. He was born 8 weeks early! I couldn't wait to hold him. Tanya and I went to see him the other day and here are a couple of pics I took for Camryn - she cried because she couldn't come to the hospital to see baby Mason. Tanya and I laughed at the first picture because it looks like I'm trying to nurse Mason - hey, I'm his auntie Heather right?? I totally got all vaclemped while holding him - I love precious newborns! I held him for 1 1/2 hours and loved every minute of it. I wanted to stay longer so I could skip out on church, but I turned him over to mom. I actually got excited to have my own baby soon too - nice bonus!




So the other reason why I was excited to come home was to see my garden. Now you'll only appreciate these pics if you've lived in these jive town apartments. We drove up from our long journey to see my lush "happy place" was alive and doing beautifully - thanks to my neighbor with a green thumb. I've gotten so much satisfaction out of my little "project" these last couple of years. I've had a great time cultivating this tiny plot of dirt into a mini oasis - an oasis for me anyway. I can't wait to move into a house with a yard so that I can start experimenting with a yummy edible garden.

So imagine this full of weeds and you've got a typical garden in our neighborhood

This was my garden last year - an improvement from the above. But...

I like this even better! I'm sad though cuz I took this at night and you just can't appreciate it unless you come in person - yes that's an invitation! Look at my hanging basket in the background - it's huge!

I'm sad we missed two family reunions because we had to head home, but we'll be close to family for the next round. I have to include the picture of my bro at my family reunion. Frank, if you're reading this, you have to know that Joel showed our neighbor this picture and he said, "Wow, Heather's brother is really big!" I laughed so hard when I saw this picture. Jenny (my sister) described the game to us, but I'm glad I wasn't there to play cuz if Frank looks that huge, I'm sure I would have made people cringe!



Hmmm...what else to catch up on???

Happy 70th Dad!

Ummm, that's all my little brain can handle.

I love all of you.

Happenings around these parts...

So Grandpa and Joel braved the movie theater today with 7 kiddos! And lucky me gets to have a break. Sweet! Anyway, we've been having a fun and busy time here. I can't believe I haven't taken a million pictures by this point. I think I'm just feeling sorry for myself.

I'm so nauseated that I don't even like to swallow my own saliva. So gross I know. I want to throw up all of my misery, but NOTHING WILL COME! I keep thinking if I could just get rid of this feeling for like 5 minutes, it'll make my day. But no. I dry heaved twice this week and it made me so happy afterwards - I felt normal! I brought a bunch of clothes that I thought I'd be able to wear with my expanding waistline. Um, yup they're too restrictive already. Maybe I'm having twins...I say that every time I get pregnant! So I've resorted to wearing Joel's scrubs everyday and not showering. Ahhh, it finally feels like I'm pregnant. I am so freak'n hot!

Anyway, enough whining - trust me you'll hear more later. Now for the fun things we've been up to:

JD and Camryn and Christian are in heaven playing with Tyler and Erin and Sophie - like every day. JD and Cam ask each morning if their cousins can come over and play. JD and Ty have been playing Grandma's video games all day - it's making me crazy! The rest of the kids like to play dress-ups, jump on the "jump-o-line" (trampoline in Camryn language), and swim in the little play pool. Oh and eats lots and lots of popcasicles (Christian's version of popsicles).



These pics were taken at the BBQ at Matt and Brit's house. Josh and Melodie's fam was there too. So fun! Little "Dellarooni" warmed up to Uncle Joel pretty fast. Her funny faces entertained us all weekend in Cedar City.

We had a fun weekend in Cedar City in the middle of the "wilderness" with Joel's brother Matt and his family. Brit's family has this adorable little cabin in the mountains. I've always refused to camp until my kids are older, so they didn't know what to do when we got there. I took them on a walk and showed them how to collect and throw rocks - like true "wildernessers" do. In fact that was my answer for every question my kiddlins asked:
"Mom why am I wearing dirty underwear again?"

"Because that's what you do in the wilderness."

"I don't want to eat this hot dog - it fell in the dirt."

"It's totally fine, this is how you eat in the wilderness."

"Mom, I don't want to drink this water straight from the river - it's not even clean."

I didn't even have to say that's what you do in the wilderness to JD. He happily sipped away once he believed me that the water from the river was much MUCH cleaner than the water in Michigan.

Brit's Grandparents drove up the canyon and cooked us pancakes and sausage one morning - how cute - they're like 90 too! Our evenings were spent sharing hilarious stories around the campfire - yes, we gossiped about you (just kidding). I think we got spiritual too at one point. Joel must've been searching for the barking spiders by that point - right Matt & Brit? Anyway, I know that Brit took some pics, so will you email them to me s'il vous plait? I left my camera in my purse. In Gammy's zippy car. In Sandy. Ugh I hate it when I do that!

I haven't even gotten to the most interesting stuff of all: Joel's job searching trips. I'll have to wait until the next post for that one. My mom is waiting patiently for me to finish this "blog stuff" so that we can go shopping. So sayonara until next time.