Water Storage

I’ve already said it’s hot. 

Water keeps us cool when it’s hot.

So Darrin and I decided to “play” in the water last night and fill up our 150 gallon water supply.

We filled up 20 of these 5 gallon Mylar bags…

put them in their boxes…

taped them up, and threw them down in the crawl space of our house.

We also filled up 10 of these blue 5 gallon jugs.

And yes, we did consider sleeping on the filled Mylar bags to help us stay cool. 

I’ve always wanted a water bed.

    

But man, 150 gallons?  We feel pretty good about ourselves!

H-O-T spells hot

This week it’s going to be hot.

 

And this is how we feel about it.

We don’t handle the heat here very well.

Luckily we have 2 of these to help keep us cool.

(like how I had to cover up the buttons to keep Luke from pushing them?  as if it wasn’t already an eyesore.)

Yep, we’re looking on the bright side around here. 

And who wants to cook when it’s hot?

Anyone have any tips or recipes you use when it’s hot outside?

The Drawer

Ever had one of those days where you’re busy, but have nothing to show for it? 

You’ve sat down maybe a total of 30 minutes and the house is still a mess and dinner is not made.

I feel like that today.

I did organize this drawer.  It was a disaster.  It looks so good now.

So when I start to feel like a failure that nothing clean has been accomplished today, I open the drawer and feel better.

I’ve opened it like 22 times.

Vacation

Sunday, July 12th at 1am we drove into town from being in Utah for almost 2 weeks.

We had such a fun trip and did many fun things.

But no fun could compare to the excitement I felt as we pulled in the driveway knowing my super comfy king-sized bed was waiting for me.

It was heaven.

Now it's Monday.
Darrin went back to work.
My kids are suffering from post-vacation depression.
I have lots to do: laundry, menu, shopping, unpacking, etc...

Once the kids are over the depression, a routine will settle in. Things will be back to normal.

Life will be good with the events of a great vacation in our not so distant memory.

In the next couple of days I'm going to back post our vacation...it will be boring to the average reader.
Feel free to skip it...I just need to journal it for my memories sake.

This morning we took Andrew to the doctor.  He had been complaining that his mouth hurt along with the fever, so we finally looked in his mouth and it looked terribly red and polka dotted.  Pauline, my sis in law, who is a strep throat expert, said it looked like strep.  The doctor also thought it looked like strep although the quick strep test came back negative.  We started him on antibiotics.  (After we got back we got the throat culture back, and found out he did NOT have strep…He must have had a nasty virus.) 

This afternoon the kids went swimming in the backyard.  It was hot outside, so it was the perfect activity!

Around 4 we left to go visit the Living Planet Aquarium with my siblings.  We had lots of fun seeing all the fish and sea animals.

Our favorite was probably the string rays you could touch.  I personally didn’t touch them, but I heard they were slimy!

After that we got some pizza and headed to a park near by.  The kids played, and we had a great time visiting.

And mom this one is for you…

Tomorrow we are heading home.  We have had such a great trip!  We are thankful for the people who took time to see us, and we’re sorry to the people we didn’t have time to see.  Hopefully next time!

Farewell Utah!

Today is Darrin’s mom’s birthday.  We celebrated by getting Nigh Time Doughnuts for breakfast (which are Darrin’s favorite...go figure).  In the afternoon everyone (except Luke and I) went to see the new Ice Age movie. 

Andrew ended up having a fever all day and felt terrible.

Aunt Kristin came out to Tooele to baby-sit the kids while we took Darrin’s mom out to dinner.  We went to the Texas Roadhouse...I’d never been there before.  The rolls are awesome!  Luke cried the whole time we were gone until he went to sleep.  And Andrew still is fighting a fever.

Today we went swimming at the Tooele City pool.  Luke actually really enjoyed swimming this time.  The pool was inside and the water was pretty warm.  I guess that’s what Luke likes!  Josh and Andrew had a great time swimming as well.  All the pool exposure as been good for the kids considering they will soon be starting four weeks of swimming lessons. 

After we got back, Aunt Natalie came out to Tooele to visit.  And Darrin, his brothers, some nephews and dad played 18 holes of golf. 

Over all it was a pretty relaxing day!…so relaxing, we didn’t even take any pictures!

Today we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.  We went with Darrin’s parents and some of his siblings and their families.  I was so excited to take our kids inside and answer any questions they had about the temple.  It was a special experience that I hope our kids always remember.  After the temple we all went to Chuck-a-Rama for lunch!    

After lunch we drove a little ways to see my Grandma.  We didn’t stay long, but hopefully we brightened her day.  The kids were very well behaved and enjoyed the visit. 

Today we went to Lagoon.  Josh and Andrew were sooo excited to go, and they both loved riding rides.  Josh grew tall enough over the last year to be able to ride a new group of rides.  His favorite: The Bat.  I rode it, and it made me sick.  Andrew’s favorite was the Red Dragon.

Luke was mostly content to watch everything around him.  We decided not to take him to the pool because of our experience at the pool earlier in the week.  It was a good decision…even though it would have been nice to cool off. 

I was curious how Luke would do with no nap….he couldn’t quite handle it and fell asleep for about 15 minutes in the late afternoon. 

Overall we had a great time and the boys are already planning to go back next summer!

   

Today we went to church, and then drove to Sandy to visit some friends Darrin grew up with. 

They always have a great time reminiscing about their childhood together.  And I admit it’s pretty fun to hear about.

Luke came down with a fever, but after some meds he was good to go.

We made it back just in time to play games with the fam.

Last night at the last minute I decided to run/walk the Tooele 5K that is right before the 4th of July parade.  I pushed Luke in the stroller, and he was pretty happy the whole time.  I was surprised how much fun it was to do a 5K.  I think it helped that it was along a parade route though.  Who knows maybe I’ll do it again next year…

Parades are noisy...just ask Andrew.

After the parade we all gathered at the church pavilion for a picnic and a friendly game of soccer.

Luke played a little soccer as well. 

Later we drove to Grantsville to watch the fireworks.  Ben and Michelle drove out to watch them with us. 

Josh sat with his girl cousins.  He adores his girl cousins.

And, of course, Andrew thought the fireworks were too loud. 

What a silly boy!

Luke loved the fireworks and was not bothered at all by the noise.  He watched them for awhile then got bored and played with other things.

Today we meet up with Ben, Michelle, and Little Ben. 

We went to Carl’s Jr. and then went swimming at Deseret Peak.

Josh and Andrew loved going down this slide!  They probably went down it 20 times each.  Good thing both Uncle Ben and Uncle Jared were there to help man the kids. Poor Luke did not have fun.  He cried the whole time.

The water was cold, and he got sunscreen in his eyes. 

Later, after it got dark we had the Hancock firework show. 

Andrew preferred to watch from in here.  He hates loud noises.

We made it to Utah today!  We left yesterday around 11am yesterday and got here about 3:30pm today.

We stayed in our favorite hotel last night.

The kids got to swim and ate a fabulous breakfast before getting on the road again.

Funny thing:  In Oregon we are not allowed to pump our own gas.  A “gas man” does it for us.  When we crossed over to Idaho and Darrin got out to pump the gas, Andrew chuckled and said, “Daddy is being the gas man!”

The kids thought is was hilarious!