Let's Play Catch up!

Whew! It has been a crazy two weeks...

Here is what we have been up to-

Meg and I left our boys and took a girls trip to St. George the week before BEFORE Father's Day... but that was just swimming and sisters and drinking diet coke and laughing... not much to tell.

It all started with Father's Day.

Meg gave Caylor a bar-b-que apron that she bought at her reading store at school... he liked it better than the poinsettia tie she gave him for an early Christmas present.

You gotta love the "thrift" type of store that is a reward for reading minutes... Caylor LOVES all his apparel that Meg earns!

Caylor and I dug up some tubular 80's wear for Steve's 40th birthday party...

Caylor was not a fan of dressing up!

He said that if he would have wanted Thespian friends he would have made them with the Shakespearean Festival people while attending SUU.

We got him some white pants and a pink shirt... add a little scruff and the aviators and he passed as Sonny Crocket or George Michaels or a preppy- WHATEVER!

The real side show was the birthday boy himself...
Steve pulled out all the stops and really made Vegas sit up and take notice.
( That, my friends, is hard to do... WEIRDOS= VEGAS)

p.s those are RED SHINY SPANDEX in all their glory and Kamari made a great skanky hairband groupie!
For a ton more pics and to see the entire bitchin' bunch check out Mindi's blog here...

She has the awesome camera and a man who will hold her heavy camera laden purse

So... She was the official photographer!

After partying in Vegas like it was 1999... we all headed back to the land of milk and honey...

St. George for a week of fun in the sun.

We had family parties... this is Caylor and our niece... Brecken.
Mitch and Collin... just chillin' in the 108 degree weather...
( oh yeah.. this is Caylor's youngest brother.. we can't say little anymore- he is a whopping 6'6"+)
Nice headbands... everyone had to wear them to celebrate the 4th!
It was fun to be with Caylor's family.
All of his siblings were there and all the grandkids, except one that is vacationing in Australia...

We stayed at my sister's house while she was in California and tended her dog...
Meg was in heaven...
A dog -
A swimming pool-
and little cousins to play with!
She was such a great tender!
This is my littlest nephew, Briggs... so dang cute!

Oh... oops...this pic was out of order... oh well... I forgot to mention that Jackson's team took 3rd place this year. Pretty amazing considering they played like the Bad News Bears for most of the season.

We also got a brand new boy...

Mitch was my tall dark and handsome son-

now he is a blondie!

He had his aunt Mindy apply a little bleach to the hair...

We warned him that if he is in the pool too much the chlorine will turn his golden locks mossy green and he will have to have a ketchup wrap treatment.

YUCK!
He was very good at rinsing his hair after swimming. I wondered if he was going to make me buy him a swim cap.

While we were in St. George we took all the kids to Little Chefz.

So much fun.

Caylor's brother and his wife, Gen, own it and it is the cutest thing in the whole world.

It is a cooking school, preschool, baby sitter, etc., etc.

Last time we were down the kids all got to go and make their very own pizza.

This time they got to make cupcakes for the fourth of July.

They made the batter from scratch, rolled out fondant frosting, and added embellishments to make their cupcakes SPECTACULAR!

This is Meg and Aunt Gen... Little Chefz is such a fun place to be.

Meggie & Shay the Frosting Divas!

Meg said she was probably ready to go on Cake Boss now...

I love her confidence!

Jace can be the muffin man... or the cupcake kid. He said he wants to go back EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Kally was the QUEEN of the SPARKLES! She used every single sparkle and embellishment.

She is my kind of girl... More is MORE!

The kids had so much fun...

I would have put Mitch and Jackson's picture here, but they were way to busy going to movies.

One day they sat through two movies back-to-back.

So funny!

But what do we expect it was 108+ degrees outside...

I was sad to leave the fun and games of being with family all week...

but the party continues...literally!

Next week Viv and the sisters are coming up to help me throw a baby shower for one of our family's dearest friends.

She is having a baby boy... the colors are lime and brown... I think the theme is... Oh, BOY!

I was chatting with the expectant mother yesterday and she was having stress when I told her I haven't really thought about the shower yet.

The invites are out...

I am pondering on it.

VIV.. the QUEEN of all parties is on her way up...what else do we need to do? Inspiration will come...

Why worry- it will be FABULOUS!

That is what has been happening in my world... a little chaotic, a little crazy... for me- that's the norm!

I have missed blogging... I think I will try to do better!

Aloha!

For the past week this has been the view from my balcony...

I am home now...sob, sob!

Good-bye... Aloha and hello reality!

I am trying to organize my photos and my sleep deprived, red-eye flight brain.

I will post more about my fabulous week in Maui...soon!

More to come... I have missed you!

The Party is Over... Back to the Real World!

Well.. All good things must come to an end! Although it has seemed like an endless one... today is officially the last day of summer! ( seeing that it is Friday, a school day and they are still on summer vacation- my kids are having a hard time with this concept- they think the last day of summer vacation is Sunday, but they wouldn't be in school anyways) I don't want to get all crazy negative on how dang excited I am for school to start, because once the homework and all that comes with it begins... I'll be ready for summer slackin' once a gain. It sounds like I am never happy! Here is a list of things I have loved about this summer...

* Loved sleeping in! Mitch slept in until 1:30 p.m. ( that's our record)

* Loved eating bar-b-que and fresh veggies at 8:30 at night!

* Loved eating breakfast with my kids many times a morning.

* Loved the "White bathing suit" Meggie got while swimming for days in Gram's pool.

* Loved going to movies in the afternoon.

* Loved the kids sleeping in a tent on our deck ( because they're afraid of cougars)

* Loved all the baseball games!

* Loved all the fun company we had...45+ people stayed here since Memorial Day

* Loved not worrying about combing hair or matching clothes. Everyday was casual Friday

* Loved pulling weeds all together ( should have loved it a few more times)

* Loved the late night movies and popcorn.

* Loved the summer Popsicle diet.

* Loved that flip- flips were the shoe of choice... not so many socks to fold!

* Loved going to Lagoon with any visitors that came to visit!

* Loved going to St. George and seeing cousins!

* Loved that Meg turned into "MerMeg" when she got to Gram's pool.

* Loved making glitter cups ALL summer long.

* Loved reading with my kids most days.

* Loved going back-to-school shopping. ( The boys HATED it)

* Loved not having any structure... no big plans, no hassle, no worries!

* Loved no bed times.

* Love that the party is over and school starts on Monday!

School is out for the Summer...

No more homework, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks...YEAH! The kids countdown is over...SCHOOL IS OUT! I can remember the last day of school being the BEST! In grade school the teachers would use slave labor and make us clean their rooms...then in middle school we would think we were so cool going over to Dixie Frozen Yogurt for the end of school celebration. High school was the ultimate...signing yearbooks and checkin out and scheming the summer "scam"! AHHHH... those were the days. Even as a teacher I loved the last day of school...FREEDOM! Now days... I am having a plethora of emotion...glad that there will be no more homework or projects, the kids won't have to be rushed in the morning, and no big schedule. On the other hand there will be no schedule and routine and approx. 80 days of bliss. BLISS? YIKES! I am off to the pharmacy to get a party pack of those "mother's little helpers" that this state is so famous for...