pictures almost forgotten about

I'm working on a project/present for my parents' anniversary. They celebrated in December, but I had a one-month old baby at the time and didn't have the gusto.. so they will get their gift 4 months late. (and they will love me just the same.)

Along with the project, I've been organizing the thousands of pictures on my computer. I am AMAZED at the amount of pictures/stories that have yet to be blogged about. How is this possible? I thought I was keeping up pretty well. Obviously, only the most important made the cut. Anyway, I have over a hundred pictures in a folder that are worthy of our end of the year blog book, but were almost forgotten about. Because I don't have a camera, now is probably a great time to post them. This is round one-- all of the pictures are random, in no particular order. I wish I had the time to tell the stories behind the pictures-- but at least I will have them documented.

The kids making their own bread on a field trip to Great Harvest..

At our favorite park in Blue Diamon. Dad came with us on a Tuesday afternoon!


We often see burros in this part of town, but not usually this many together. We LOVE where we live.. My cheapo camera didn't capture the beauty in the background.


I can't tell you how many times Simon fell asleep in the pink bumbo.


Aaron and Elijah-- one of Aaron's fave mission companions. They came to stay at our house the weekend of Simon's blessing. We LOVE the Garmons and had a great visit! Can't wait to visit them in San Fransisco!

Their offspring.. like fathers like sons.

Don't like this picture of me.. at all. But I love the beautiful girl sitting next to me. Melita doesn't know it, but I believe our late night conversations (3 am) were the beginning of my crawl out of postpartum depression. This picture was taken my lowest point.. mid January. Not everyone knows what it's like to have four kids and be married to an attorney. Melita does, and her words helped me so much. She is such a dear friend and I am SO glad her husband served with mine 12 years ago in Spain. When they left, my house was spotless and my life was on the mend.


Love this picture of my boys. It's so them. Ben is usually taking charge while I push the stroller. This was at the new City Center downtown. Fun Saturday afternoon with the Vickers.



Iron Man on his 4th birthday. He took off his mask only to blow out the candles :) Luke asked him what he wished for and without hesitation he proudly announced, "I want another baby brother!" Everyone laughed except for me.


We blessed Simon on Zack's birthday. It was special. These are just a few pictures to remember that day:


My aunts made it down for the special day!



Daddy has always been able to get Simon to laugh.


One windy afternoon, I headed to Blue Diamond library and park with three extra kids and one extra dog. Pepsi only wanted to sit on top of Simon-- and Simon loved it. Still have to upload the video... and this experience has taught me that I need to adopt a puppy for an afternoon more often.


Sebastian walking around the duck pond. Oh boy, he's a cutie!

Ben and Luke were so cute helping him walk everywhere.


Coloring Easter Eggs



This explains Zack's personality perfectly.


Ben a bit tired on a road trip.


These make me laugh. Zack is a good big brother when he wants to be.

I wonder where Zack gets his silly personality.

This is at the duck pond-- the day we were scolded by the Duck Whisperer.

The picture shows how emotionally damaged everyone was after the experience.

Simon watching everyone pull weeds in our front "yard".
He's just saying "Hi, y'all!"

the stinky pajamas

Just in case you forgot how cute my baby is:

these pictures were downloaded the same day I danced with Simon after breakfast.. that's the same day he threw up all over me and the same day I washed my cell phone with the dirty laundry. Little did I know, a couple of weeks later I would lose my camera and not have a way to capture my handsome son in his cozy pajamas. So glad I took them when I did.

He's getting too tall for these pj's and won't be able to wear them much longer. Which is a good thing, actually. As cozy as they are, they totally stink. Something about the fleece that makes Simon smell weird. I have to wash them immediately after he wakes up because I can smell the stench from across the house... like a dishrag that's been sitting in the sink for too long. It's the same kind of weird odor put off by pampers diapers. But I love them after they come out of the dryer. Simon cuddles right up and smells sweet for about an hour before something funky happens. I can't explain it, but I think Simon knows they make him reek too.

Sunday survival

Simon, who woke up at 5 AM this morning, didn't want to sleep a wink in church today. He has become quite the attention-aholic. He's discovered that his loud squeals get all kinds of looks during quiet adult meetings. He and I spent a lot of time walking the halls. During the third hour (when I was SURE he would finally fall asleep) he smelled ripe. I took him into a small bathroom stall-- with a single toilet and sink-- to change his diaper. We went into the bathroom with the pacifier in his mouth. After I changed him, I couldn't find it anywhere... and I NEEDED that thing to pacify him to sleep. I looked all over and under, while scratching my head. After a minute or two, I saw something unusual in the toilet. Great. I fished it out with my hand and had to boil it at home. Luckily, he kept quiet during the rest of the meeting with a few animal crackers. That kid is happy as long as something is in his mouth. I believe he gets that from his mother.

Zack gave his first talk in Primary today. I wrote it during Sacrament meeting. He insisted on talking about Ammon-- the guy who chops off the arms of all bad guys. I have tried to explain to him that if/when he goes on a mission, it probably won't be that exciting. Zack doesn't like when I shoot down his dreams of chopping off arms and told me that he didn't want my help giving the talk. I shed a tear as he explained why big brother Ben would be a better person to help him. Ben took the job very seriously and had to elbow Zack several times during the talk. Zack got a bit of stage fright and kept both thumbs in his mouth while at the podium. Never in my life have I seen Zack so reserved. There may be some hope for the kid after all.

I came home from church completely exhausted. This 8 AM business is cramping my style. While eating pancakes for our second breakfast, Ben announced that Sundays are no longer his favorite day because Dad's not around anymore. I told him to join the club. Zack stood up very cheerfully and announced, "EVERY day is MY favorite day! Because EVERY day we can have the Holy Ghost!" I smiled and felt grateful for kids who say the right things just when I need to hear them.

I am also grateful for babies who sleep for 6 hours straight after a long day at church. I needed a nap and a bit of quiet time before taking on the second half of the day. It's now 7 PM and the kids and I are headed outside for a long walk. The air is breezy and the sun is going down. I never thought the day would come when I feel relieved that the weekend is over. Never say never, whatever you do.

date night gone bad..

it's been a while since Aaron and I have been out on a "real" date. last night we decided to go spur of the moment. We dropped off our oldest three at a friends' house and took the wee-babe with us to run a few errands and get a bite to eat. Our errands were quick. My husband tried to make them longer by talking to everyone in his sight-- the direct TV salesman who had the same name as his, the Walmart greeter, the receipt-highlighter checker at Sam's club.. Every time he stopped to chat, he stood uncomfortably close to them. I had a really hard time not laughing, especially when they'd inch away and Aaron would move in closer. When it was time to say goodbye he would tell each person to "take it easy". I was very surprised (and grateful) he didn't slap their butts. Both of us were singing the above titled Eagles's song before the night was over.

We had dinner at a little joint on the way home called 3 Tomatoes and a Mozzarella. Anyone been? Without going into details, we hated it. It's wasn't terribly busy, but we waited an hour for food. The ONLY time our waitress talked to us was while taking our order. We did not hear from her afterward and got no drink refills. Our food was not tasty or warm when brought to us. We had to ask someone else to bring us the check after drumming our fingernails on the table for 20 min. Sure, it was great to be at a restaurant with a handsome guy, but both of us left frustrated. After Aaron signed the bill, I grabbed it from him and wrote a note stating that our service & food was far from satisfactory. I handed it to the manager on the way out.

During our long wait for food, I pulled out the camera from the diaper bag and showed Aaron all the pictures of Simon's sticker face and Zack's wedgy-bum. (If he read my blog, I wouldn't have to tell him what's going on at the homefront...) After we picked up the kids, I realized that the camera was NOT in the diaper bag-- the only place it should have been. We called the restaurant and they claim they didn't have it. I'm pretty sure our waitress pocketed it after getting a bad review.. Hopefully it turns up somewhere. Lucky for me, if it doesn't show up, all the pictures that we had on the camera are downloaded onto my computer. Except for one that Aaron took of Simon and me at the restaurant. If I ever get it back, I will show you how gorgeous I looked.

After we put the kids to sleep, we cuddled up and watched one of Jane Austin's classics... Mansfield Park. I liked it (didn't LOVE it) but I loved that Aaron watched it with me. I also love cuddling when it doesn't have to lead to anything else. I am not saying whether it did or didn't lead to anything else, I'm saying I love it when it doesn't have to.

I also love when you can go on a date with a guy, laugh together, sing together, hate your waitress together and then come home to the same house and sleep in the same bed. So even though our date night wasn't ideal, it was perfect.

ps. Until I find my camera or buy a new one, the only pictures you're gonna get are ones like these: This is the movie cover for Mansfield Park. If you don't have anything better to do next weekend, check it out from the library and cuddle up. Fannie, the heroine, is very pretty-- but she has a large manly jaw. Edmund (on the far right) is way more handsomer in the movie.


pps. Danalin, the guy on the left reminds me of Tyler with long permy hair. Please don't take it as an insult. He had striking blue eyes and was cute (but he would be much cuter with a haircut.)

ppps. please pray that my camera will be found soon.

patriotic baby

This is what happens when the kind checker at Trader Joe's
gives your kids more flag stickers than they know what to do with...