The Reason I Blog

"You will have significant experiences. I hope you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experiences." -- Gordon B. Hinckley

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Back to English Class

It's their.  Not there.

Sometimes they're.  Still not there.

Too isn't the same as to.

It's than.  Not then.

You're.  Not your.

It's not illegal to use apostrophes.

Or spell check.

That little red line underneath your word?  

That means you spelled it wrong.

Notice how I didn't say spelt?  Because that is not a word.

Capitalization isn't wrong either.

'Cuz' isn't a word either.

It's really not that hard to spell out b-e-c-a-u-s-e.

Thank you.  That is all.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Tooth Doctor

 Sadie went to the dentist (or as she calls it "da toof doctor") for the first time last week and she did so great!  

The dental assistants couldn't believe how cooperative she was.
She even helped the dentist count while he was examining all her teeth.  It made it pretty hard for him to keep her mouth open, but he loved it  :)

 getting her teeth brushed


flossing
(she was worried about falling off the chair, can you tell?)


 
getting x-rays
she only gagged twice--totally awesome for how weak her gag reflex is  :)


And the best news of all...  NO CAVITIES! 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Let Freedom Ring!

Wow.  What a weekend.

We may have over-done it a little this year but boy was Sadie having the time of her life!  After the balloons on Saturday morning, we went to Gillespie's for the annual delicious Fourth of July breakfast and then headed home for naps.  Unfortunately neither of my kids were interested in taking a nap, so after two failed attempts I gave up.

We went to Nyman's that afternoon to play with cousins and Grandpa got out the Slip-n-Slide! She had such a great time with Abbey and Grandpa.




We roasted hot dogs for dinner in Grandpa's fire pit, and although it was a fun idea, it was almost 100* outside, so sitting by a fire pit was... as my sister-in-law called it "what hell must feel like."  The food was sure tasty though!!

We skipped Stadium of Fire this year because just the thought of sitting in hours of traffic waiting to get home after the fireworks about made me pull my hair out. We stayed at my parent's and did some with them instead.  We got home much earlier than we would have from the Stadium of Fire, but I probably just should have taken my girls home to bed.  It had already been a long day...

 the whole gang watching fireworks

Sadie loved the fireworks, but could barely keep her eyes open and was falling asleep on the drive home.  (And if you know Sadie, you know how incredible that is--she DOES NOT sleep in the car)

Sunday afternoon we met up with Spencer's family for pictures!  The last ones we have were done just a few months after Spencer and I were married so it had been over 5 years!  We haven't gotten the professional ones back yet, but here's a sample.   (Thanks Laura!)




 Grandpa and Grandma with the grand-kids.  All 23 of them!


 The adults trying to get all the kids to smile.  Love it!


Monday we did the unthinkable and woke up early AGAIN for the Provo parade.  Spencer is in charge of an intersection at the parade, so he saved us a good spot and let me drive right up and unload the chairs and blankets.  We met up with the McCune's and Larsen's and we had a good time, but the kids were done about half way through and I was done with the heat!  Boy was it hot!

Sadie was glued to Kerri's side for most of the parade


 Trying desperately to get Afton to sleep during the parade.  
She was SO tired and was screaming her little head off cause she hated all the noise.  Poor thing.

 watching one of the many floats.


 Cute girls.  Kate and Khyler

Next year we're sticking with the Lindon parade that literally drives by my parent's house.  Plus, they throw candy at that one.  :)

Spencer had to work that morning but was off around lunch so we got to spend the rest of the day with him!  (Even though his favorite part of the day was his nap on the trampoline).  Sadie had a wonderful time playing in the blow up pool at my parent's house.  She could have stayed in there all day.


We did more fireworks that night since Spence got to be with us and we even got some new legal aerials that were awesome!


waiting for the next firework.  so excited!


What a weekend!  Happy 4th everyone!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Ba-yoons!

We knew it was a risky idea, waking up our girls SO early to go to the Freedom Festival Balloons yesterday, but we loved it!

Spencer was supposed to be on shift, but was able to get permission from his sergeant to miss briefing and the first hour of work to come to the balloons and breakfast!  We were also lucky that Spencer got us fantastic parking!  We parked behind the Police barricade right by the park!  If you've ever tried to park for those balloons you know what I mean.  We usually have to get there pretty early, park several blocks away and then walk to the park.


showing Sadie what the balloon looked like all packaged up


Spencer's uncle and cousin fly the Bank of American Fork balloons for the festival, so we get to be right up close and personal and it makes it so much fun!

helping hold the balloon open while it was inflating



The balloon almost inflated.
My mom was talked into going for the first time ever and she loved it! 


Sadie wasn't so sure about the loud & hot fire bursts to get the balloon up.  




The Darth Vador balloon was here this year so we stopped and got a picture with him.
Sadie wasn't so sure about him either...






showing Grandma her favorite

Sadie had so much fun watching the balloons inflate that she actually started crying when they lifted off.  She did not want them to leave!  What a fun tradition! 

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Bee's Knees ...but not really

We came home after work Wednesday evening to a little surprise.  Our bedroom was swarming with BEES!  I went upstairs to change out of my scrubs and there were about a dozen bees flying around my bedroom, walking on the walls and sitting on the window sill.  I called for Spencer (of course) and he immediately came upstairs and killed all of them; like any good husband would.

He went next door to our HOA president's house to once again report to problem (we noticed a bunch of them on the house a couple weeks ago, but they hadn't done anything about it yet).   He came back home after just a couple minutes and there were tons more in our room!  (Commence small freak out.)

We canceled our plans for the night, closed our bedroom door (since that's the only place they were getting in so far) and I packed up the girls and headed to my parent's house to hang out while the HOA president called every Exterminator in the county to see if anyone could come over right away.  She even got a hold of some Bee Keepers in the area and they headed right over!

Spencer, meanwhile, went to the store and got more spray Bee Killer and some spray foam insulation so he could patch the hole they were coming in through; as soon as we figured out where that was, of course.  When he got home from the store and went back to our room, he said there were close to 100 bees on the window!  They all seemed to flock to the window, trying to get out again.  Ugh, it was super creepy. 

Not our actual window, but almost exactly what ours looked like.  Yikes!

He and his dad killed all the new bees in our room and then started searching every nook and cranny in there trying to find the hole.  After a few minutes they figured it out; we have a high built in shelf in our room and the hole was a corner in the shelf.  Spencer said it looked like the people that built the house just got lazy and left a little hole about an inch wide in the very corner of the shelf/wall.


Spencer was able to fill in the little hole with the foam insulation and that stopped the bees from getting inside, but we could still hear them in the wall...  *shiver*

Meanwhile, the Bee-Keepers were doing all they could outside to collect the little buggers.  They wanted to take the hive home and keep the queen.  (Who knew there really are legit Bee Keepers around here?!)  They were decked out in official Bee Keeper clothes, tearing off the siding and trying to smoke them out.




The Bee Keepers couldn't ever find the queen, so they left a Bee Box near the hive and they left for the night hoping they would get lucky and the whole swarm would get into the Bee Box and they could take them home.  We were hoping too!




The next morning we realized how much the Bee Keepers really helped!  They got SO MANY bees to get in that box.  I didn't dare to get a picture of the inside, bit here's a few still trying to get in.

The exterminators come every 24 hours for a few days and keep spraying to make sure they're all gone and just after the Bee Keepers work, there were WAY less out there.


So now there are NO more bees in the house, none to be heard in the walls, a whole hive at a new home with the Bee Keeper and hundreds dead outside--just the way we want it.  :)

** Click on the Bee Keeper pictures to get the full effect! **