My big day

Yesterday I turned 35. This is really sad. I seriously don't feel 35. (I just did a quick calculation on the calculator to make sure I really am now 35, it's true, I am.)

Anyway, I had a fun day shopping with my mom and sister, out to lunch at Sconecutter (yum) and then dinner with some friends and family at the Bonsai Tempanyaki Steak House. The fried rice is the best!

Earlier in the month I got some new diamond bands for my wedding ring as an early present and then Steve and Zack got me a cute shirt and some DVD's. My mom and I are going to go clothes shopping when I have slimmed down some. Overall it was a great day and I am thankful for the great life I have. Here's to another year!

(Left to Right) Ally, Mike, my mom, Zack, Me and our friend Larry

Next to Larry is L (one of his kids), his wife Shannon, D (his other kid) and Zack.

What we accomplished/learned this summer

In an earlier post I listed our summer goals/plans. Zack accomplished all of his and then some. I accomplished all but three. Oh well, there's always next summer, right? I didn't list any for Steve but his were to remodel the bathroom and finish our backyard deck and go to Lake Powell. He is close to being done with both his projects and because we didn't get a baby, he was able to go to Lake Powell too. I will post pictures in a later post, when his projects are done.

Zack also acquired a very valuable life skill this summer.

Laundry!

Yes, he now does his own laundry. One morning I walked into his room to see how he was coming along, putting his clean laundry away. I caught him throw a huge pile of clean PJ's into the dirty hamper.

Something snapped inside me.

That was the day he was introduced to Mr. Washer and Mrs. Dryer. They are now fast friends.




I too learned something about laundry this summer. It is this:

If you put 2 tampons in your pants pocket and don't use them, then you throw said pants into the washer, when the wash cycle is done, you have a fuzzy mess. Then, if you ignore said mess and put it into the dryer, when that cycle is done, you have a strange, somewhat permanent stench cooked into your clothes. The smell reminds me of fish. It makes me gag.

I also learned that you must clean out the remaining tampon particulate from the seams of the pocket where they were left, because simply washing those same clothes over and over (at least 5 times), yields the same fishy smell. Then you must soak the clothes in an odor remover (the kind you use to get rid of dog-pee smell in your carpet) and then you must wash them again, without ANY tampon particulate (because you used a lint roller to remove any trace of it). Then you must wash them again.

Then I learned that buying new scrubs for work is OK, because it is better than smelling like fish all night. I hope you never have to learn this lesson like I did.


What did Steve learn this summer? When the guy at the tire store tells your wife that the car needs new tires before you drive 1000 miles to California...you should listen.

I'm not ready!

Everyone keeps saying how ready they are for school to start. Not me! I am dreading summer being over. I LOVE summer!

I think I am also freaking out a little because Zack is going to be at school full time now. Not that I can't keep myself entertained but... it's just a new and different phase in our lives and I hate that he is growing up so fast.

Two more weeks to fit in all the fun stuff I can, all while trying to work and remodel the bathroom. Ugh!

We just got back from a totally fabulous trip to Lake Powell. Our friends have a houseboat and a ski boat and they are very generous to invite us down with them and their family. I didn't get very many pictures but here are a few we took.

Zack can't get enough of tubing and he always wanted a CRAZY ride! He is a total daredevil.


He also really loved the slide on the houseboat.


I can't believe I am posting this picture!


The kids loved fishing off the boat and actually caught some fish. Not my Zack though, he has my fishing handicap.


Most of the people who were on the trip. (Yes all the other moms were totally hot. I'm going on a diet.)


Steve tubing. They just kept crashing! I like a nice easy ride.

No time to blog

I have had alot on my mind lately and no time to blog. Here is what I have been doing so far this summer...

Trying to organize all the junk in my house (it's still not done)

Planning a garage sale (it MIGHT happen)

Remodeling our main bathroom (it's completely gutted)

Recovering from our failed adoption (he was due July 19th)

Working 24 hours a week

Church stuff

Picking zucchini (it's the only thing that has been successful so far in the garden)

Cooking zucchini, every night

Researching international adoption agencies

Eating snowcones at my brothers snow shack

Reminding myself how great my life is and all that I have to be thankful for

Zack Says...

Mom: You're such a good boy Zack!
Zack: Oh no! I'm better than just that!
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Zack saying his prayers: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this grateful day.
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The other day I noticed that Zack had scribbled pen all over the white banister. I calmly told him that he would have to wash it off and gave him the miraculous Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. He was seriously not happy that he was being made to do this tedious chore. (The pen was ALL over our really long banister.) He whined and cried. Then he said in a really disgusted voice: "This isn't MAGIC, it's just a stupid SPONGE!"
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Zack was playing with my brothers dog Tucker tonight at my mom's house. He came inside and I asked him why he wasn't playing with him anymore and he said: "Because Tucker's a shrewd dog!" (I think he thought that meant extra RUDE!)
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Steve: Zack, for the 10th time, come and do your job!
Zack: (Very calmly) Dad, I would but I'm addicted to the TV.
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The other day we were having a really loud thunder storm. Simpson is SUPER scared of thunder and we found him hiding in Zack's closet. We couldn't stop laughing until Zack touched him and noticed he was trembling so hard! Then we felt kinda sad for him. Zack gave him lots of love to make him feel better.

Another California Adventure

We took our annual California trip in June and had a great time. We didn't plan anything too big or busy, just a lot of beach days and a day at Lego Land. I was also able to spend a few hours at my favorite shopping venue: the Orange County Market. I could spend all day there but Steve and Zack vetoed that idea. Some friends of ours happened to be vacationing there at the same time so they joined us at Lego Land and then spent a day at the beach with us. It was fun for us to hang out with them and Zack enjoyed having some kids around.

Also of note, we drove the whole way to California on 2 bald tires but were blessed not to get a flat until we were slowly driving down the coast highway! 2 hours and 2 brand new tires later we were on our way to the beach! The tire store gave us free passes to a water park which was crowded but fun.

Steve's brother, Uncle Shaun was in Brazil the whole time so we had his great house all to ourselves but we missed seeing him. His bird Skylar was NOT happy to have us there and whenever she was let out of her cage she started stalking us in preparation to kill us all. She especially hates me!

Lastly, we have to remember next time we take Zack on extended vacation: he must take a laxative every day! This happens every year and this year it culminated in a very traumatic enema. Enough said.

I forgot the camera so we only have some bad disposable camera pics and our friends sent us some nice pictures that they took.





He can't get enough of the ocean!


Or the sand!


Steve's a good sport!


Muscle man!


We ate with our friends at Ruby's on the pier. Hamburgers, fries, vanilla coke and malts. Does it get any better than vacation diets?


This was our first time at Lego Land. It was geared toward really little kids so I think this is the last year that Zack would really enjoy it, he is getting into the scary rides now. But he still really enjoyed it because he is crazy about Lego's.


This was the craziest ride in the park.


Steve's ride was 2 levels crazier than ours!




Our family won 1st place in the race to put out the fire!





This driving coarse was hilarious! The kids had no clue about staying on the right side of the road and yielding to others, etc.

Bluff

Have you ever been to Bluff Utah? Have you ever heard of Bluff Utah? Well, my parents wanted their kids to go to Bluff Utah with them really bad. So we said we would, if they would camp with us. My sister and bro-in-law even bought them a tent. I found a campsite/RV park called the Cadillac Ranch and booked us a spot for Memorial Day weekend. It sounded nice. It had bathrooms. With showers. It claimed a pond with fishing and paddle boats.

It was awesome. If I ever go to Bluff Utah again, I am staying at the Cadillac Ranch. It was so quiet. No trashy trailers here! The bathrooms were heaven. I was clean every night! The pond on the other hand....not so great. It was really low, not enough water for paddle boats or fish. Just enough for noisy frogs and mosquitoes. But, they did have a small farm which Zack couldn't get enough of. They had horses, Emu's, pygmy goats, and donkeys. Zack loved when the goats and baby donkey would try to eat his clothes.

A good time was had by all, despite the rain. It only rained when it was convenient. One night we had dutch oven enchiladas at midnight and dutch oven cobbler at 1 am. (I always overestimate my dutch oven cooking abilities!) But they were delish-ous!

We went to some really neat spots in southern Utah and Colorado that I had never been before. I highly recommend this trip to anyone who likes to explore.

Our peaceful campsite.


We got Zack to do some dishes!


About one hour from Bluff is the 4 corners monument.


We waited in line to take each others photos. I had to bribe Zack with money to smile in this one because everyone standing in line was staring.


Our second day, we drove to Cortez Colorado, about 2 hours from Bluff and went to Mesa Verde National Park. It is chock full of Indian ruins. The best I have EVER seen. They were amazing and most of them were on such high and steep cliffs that they were not accessible. The park has made it so you can see about 7 of them close up and many of them from view points on the road. This is the first one we saw after a 15 minute hike down hill. (Note Zack and his bear sling shot that he bought with his vacation money.)


One of the ruins you can see from the road.


After our first hike, we went to see this performance. The singing and dancing was neat and unusual but about the 4th song, Zack asked why they kept singing the same song over and over!


Some of the ruins you can only see on guided tours. We only had time for one and this is us hiking down the cliff to see it.


Our tour guide was this weird Barbara Streisand looking lady. She was really boring and at one point she yelled at Zack to just sit down and hold still. We weren't very happy with her as you can tell from my sisters face!


We loved the needles overlook so much we had to take my family to see it on the way home.


Here is everyone who went (except Steve). My mom, Zack, me, my dad, sister Ally, bro-in-law Mike and brother Jeff. We were sad that my other two brothers and their wives couldn't come!

Busy Boy

Before school got out the kindergarten had a rodeo. The kids made horses out of socks and yard sticks and then they took turns "riding" the horses around barrels for all the parents. They came up one by one and performed. I kept waiting for Zack's group to have their turn and suddenly it was over. All the kids had gone up. All except mine. I was so sad. He is just so shy and scared of being laughed at that he didn't think he could do it, so he just sat there. Well, he looked cute anyway.


Kindergarten graduation day


Zack is really into webkins. He buys them whenever he saves enough money. Then he takes their pictures. These ones are named: Bob, RoRo and Boue.


Zack's cute friends. They just got done making their hair "crazy" and then went out on the tramp.


Zack did baseball this spring. He really enjoyed it and we are going to do it again this fall. I think this is one area that he doesn't take after me. He is really good at sports.


He did get a little bored in the outfield and kept throwing his mitt in the air and catching it.


Waiting for some action.

Camping Fun

Our little family went camping just outside of Moab at the beginning of May. We spent some time exploring the Needles district of Canyonlands. Steve loves the desert, luckily for Deidra it wasn't too hot! Here are some pictures I just got around to downloading off our camera. More to come! (I've been a total slacker the last month and a half.)


Our cozy campsite at the Windwhistle campground. Zack's favorite thing to do is go to bed in the tent. He never even wanted to stay up and sit by the fire for more than 10 minutes. And he likes his marshmallows raw.


There was a really neat overlook a few miles from our campsite. You could see for miles and miles and it was deliriously high. Even though there was a fence all around, I kept having visions of Zack falling through a gap or something. It made me really nervous but all he wanted to do was run around and throw rocks off the edge.


The "Needles"


Zack wanted to catch a lizard so bad. He and Steve cornered this one and then Steve talked him into letting it bite his finger. Poor lizard! Zack couldn't stop giggling.


We found some Indian art panels. This is called Newspaper Rock.


Steve and Zack climbing a cliff. Boys have to climb everything!


This was our favorite hike. It took us through an old cowboy camp, a cave that the Indians used, and then up some ladders to the cliffs the Indians lived on.


Same cave with some rock art.


Zack and Steve climbed to this arch which is just south of Moab.