Road Trip

Jillian, Ryan, Grace and I went to Manti!

Jillian said "I thought they only made statues of real people...oh wait. Yeah. Never mind." Hee.
Super fun road trip with some of my favorite people. We got home at 1:00AM...but old pioneer houses were seen, the pageant (although pretty cheesy) was good, Grace didn't get carsick. Good times.

My Dad

It's funny that I don't feel AT ALL the same need, compulsion, desire, to remember this day the same way I do the day mom died....but still. On this first anniversary, I of course am thinking about my dad today. I loved him. He was hard working and he loved his family. There isn't really sadness today...just happy remembering.

Substitute Mommy

When the older kids were little, and I was a stay-at-home-mom, we always spent summers DOING stuff....working, playing, popsicles, water-fun, field trips, etc.
I have felt so blessed, this first summer that I'm working, that Jillian is home with us to step in as substitute-mommy for the small one.
Yesterday Jill took Grace and her friends on a super-fun filled field trip to the Lehi Round Up Days festivities downtown! They did all sorts of free stuff...face painting, museum, hoola-hooping for prizes....then came home and set up the slip-and-slide and spent the afternoon playing at our house.
I got home, sat with them for a bit outside, then I took the girls all up to play at Brynlie and Carsyn's house. Went straight from there to take my brother's kids to see him in Salt Lake (I'm trying to figure out how to post about those experiences...) and when I got home about 9pm discovered that Jill had even CLEANED and TIDIED up the house after we all left. You all know the huge cluttery messes that happen when everyone is home for summer vacation...
Thank you Jillian! I love you and appreciate you more than you know!

Red, Blue, and Purple

For the first time ever, the older 3 kids all have jobs at the same time! Yay! Jill is at Target, Ty at WalMart, and Ryan at the Megaplex.
Jill gets about 28 hrs a week, Ty is scheduled for more than 40, and Ryan gets roughly 25. Transportation has been a bit of a challenge, but has worked out so far. Everyone's schedules are different every week, but we've also managed to have Grace taken care of between the 5 of us.

The job perks are also fantastic: Ry gets free movies, Ty gets quite the discount, Jill...well, Target is not so perk-y. But we're very grateful for jobs, the means to pay for college, meeting new friends, and being productive. It's shaping up to be a fantastic summer!

Random Summer Boredom Already...and a Nightmare

I grabbed my camera to upload the latest pictures. This is what I found.


There were also a few pictures of the TV...my walls...the dog...clearly SOMEONE hijacked my camera and had a few spare minutes on her hands to goof around :)
This is the picture I was actually meaning to upload and post. When I got up this morning, I walked by Grace's room, and as I always do, I peeked in to watch her sleep for a second. I love her so much. Every morning I look at her little face and say a tiny prayer of thanks.
Anyway. SHE WAS MISSING. I must say, my heart skipped a beat. I knew she wasn't in our bed. I crept downstairs to check if she'd gone down for a sleepover with Jill.
Nope.
I ran back upstairs and decided to check the boys room. I didn't really think she'd be in there. But there she was squished in with Ryan. And Snickers.
I called them after I got to work...it turns out she had a nightmare about 4am and went in to have Ryan save her. He scootched over, listened to her tell the entire dream, then she snuggled in and fell asleep seconds later. I don't know whether to be offended that she didn't come to get me, or happy that she has such love and trust in him to take care of her!?

Latest Quotes...

Ryan: "The back of my leg is tight...do we have any bananas?""

Tyler: "My hair is SO crispy!"

Ryan: "Rachel Ray says skin-colored tights are out this season."

Kara: " I'm so hot right now I want to kill someone."

Jill to Grace: "I wish I had your chocolate-brown eyes!'

Grace: "You have CHOCOLATE MORONI'S!?!?!?"

Jill: "You can't do that...(whatever THAT was)
Grace: " In Graceland I can." (In a so-there kind of voice :)

What else we've been doing...

Tyler and Kenzie went to Prom...
Grace's High School Musical Pose at the cabin...
Andrew and Ryan getting ready to try the zip-line...check out Jill's blog for better pics of that!
Grace kept bugging me (and Ry and Jill...) to lay in the hammock with her...I went out and within SECONDS she was ASLEEP!!?? I, of course, could not sleep. I spent the whole time worrying that we were getting sunburned.