"Shut up and gimme the sweet fish!"

So we had just gotten back in to the car after a stop at the creepiest picnic area ever. Let's just say their were weird foreign substances on the picnic benches and tables. Gross. Since it was clearly the most disgusting park ever we decided that we would rather be stuck in the car so we took off again for what would be the next 3 hours. Before we even got back in the car Frankie started screaming since she knew that she would probably be there for a while and we quickly learned that she does not like to travel. She screamed for about 15 minutes. Finally she started to quiet down, thank God!!! Then Bella chimes in. She had already had her fair share of junk even though we had a lot of healthy goodies in our cooler, so her personality was on fire! Whatever keeps them tame for a few hours in the car, I guess. Anyway, she decided that she needed the "sweet fish." That's what she calls swedish fish. I think they are sick, but she loves them. At first I said no, but she just kept on asking. She was saying it in this really annoying voice too that only made me laugh my butt off! Normally I would lay down the law, tell her no, and that would be the end. But when I start to get tired, I get really goofy and I cannot stop laughing. This only made things worse and she fed off my laughter. Poor Greg, you will hear him pleading for just a few minutes of quiet. I still laugh when I watch this, and I am sure some will relate to total chaos with their kids while on road trips.    

  

My favorite part was when she says "I thought you guys were real parents, I might be adopted."  What?? 

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I didn't want her to know that I was recording this since she wouldn't be herself if I did.  In the end I looked back at her with the camera and she made this goofy smile face that you can't see really well, but I remember it and it was awesome.  Typical Bella.  Always making us laugh.

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And in case you are wondering, she did get her sweet fish.

Our dog daisy. She reminded me of that dog from the movie "UP". 

Who's next?

Check at the bottom to see if I picked you. 

8 Things I am looking forward to...

1-This Friday when school is out

2-The lazy days of summer and all the outdoor activities that it brings

3-Finding myself again. Sounds weird but I have put "me" time on hold for too long now. I'm feelin' some pedi's, scrapbooking, dinner's with friends, and finishing all the creative projects that I have been procrastinating about. I am so excited!

4-Our trip to Seattle in August 

5-My trip to Indiana to take my friend's family photo. I met Allison in CA and I haven't seen her in 5 years since the Army sent us separate ways. 

6-My new exercise routine. I think I am done with babies and I want to look how I did in highschool!

7-With that comes my new bikini!!! 

8-Making more time for my hubba bubba! Our kids have ALWAYS come first and since they are getting a bit older now it is easier to send them off with Grandma or get Hunter to watch them so we can go out.

8 Things I did yesterday...

1-Took pictures, of course!

2-Picked up the girls at Grandma's. They slept over the night before while Greg and went and had dinner and did karaoke at Mark and Andrea's! I have never done karaoke since I am so shy but OMG it was sooooo fun!

3-Scrubbed the kitchen, eeeww! 

4-Played around with textures in Photoshop. 

5-Updated my new address book

6-Took Frankie to Grandma's to go swimming in her new baby pool

7-Went and saw UP with Greg, Bella, and Sophie. By far the best Disney/Pixar yet. I was teary eyed through the whole thing (that could be due to my wicked PMS right now). Go out today and see it. It was perfect!

8-Came home, put Frankie to bed, and went to bed at 8:00. I have been wanting to climb in bed early for a long time!

8 things I wish I could do...

1-Have enough money to update all my camera equipment.

2-Take my girls to Disneyland before they are too "cool" for that place.

3-Have a maid.

4-Have enough money to feed every hungry child in the world.  Forever.

5-Call me crazy, but I would LOVE to be a surrogate for someone (I just want to be the oven, I could never give my own baby away). That is the only reason I am dealing with my PMS and not getting a complete hysterectomy. I don't think there is a greater gift than the gift of a new life.

6-Go on a romantic trip with just me and the person I fell in love with. 

7-Buy a new home and finally feel settled.

8-Be a better mother. My kids deserve it. Sometimes I feel like all I am doing is yelling? Do you ever have those days?

8 shows I watch....

1-So You Think You Can Dance! A few years ago I could have listed a lot more than 8. Really the only time I watch TV now is when SYTYCD is on. You can imagine my excitement when I learned that there is going to be a fall season now too!!!!!!

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8 People Tagged.......

1-Lex

2-Becky

3-Hillary

4-Amber

5-Anna Hinckley

6-Anna Bingham

7-Bri

8-Brittani

the little things

These are pictures of some of my favorite things in Linda's amazing home. She has traveled the globe for many years now and has brought back treasures from everywhere she has been. Whether it's the charms that hang on her wrist, or the different elephant statues (big and small) in my favorite bedroom, or the many bags that she has collected from various countries, no matter where you look, every nook and cranny of her home is packed with memories. One of my other favorite things about her home are all the little places where you can just sit and read, relax and think, or just admire the beautiful land that surrounds their home. Their are cozy quilts, flower vases, books, so many things that make these areas so comfortable. I could just sit there and do nothing for hours. 

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and outside in no different. All over their land there are little sitting areas that they have put together. They have mowed trails for exploring, and they even have a teepee (or used to I should say, before a moose got to it) toward the back of their land. If you can't tell I love this place!

and these windchimes are heaven! On the Sunday that we were there a storm was rolling through and those wind chime were just singing! It was perfect!

Belt ceremony

Sophie has been in Karate for about 4 months now. You know how when you put your kids into some extra-curricular activity you can tell within a couple weeks whether or not they will excel or not? That is how it was with Sophie. We knew within the first week that this was going to be her thing. Everyone there always comments on how amazing she is. She gets it, and she loves it! She is still the only girl in her class and she is still giving those boys a run for their money! Let me back track a bit...

First of all let me just start by saying that Pinnacle Martial Arts was ranked #2 in the WORLD according to the National Blackbelt League! How cool is that? Anyway....they do what is called a "belt test" every 3 or so months. For each belt color students are required to know certain skills. If you know the skills, you pass off that belt. You can jump as many belts as you want as long as you know the skills. And I believe that every student is a white belt when they first start Karate. Sophie started back in January of this year but she missed the February belt test since she was so sick with mono. She has had a few months to practice and just a couple weeks ago she started doing one private lesson a week with Sensei Shelly. So she has been getting great practice for the belt test. Testing was last Thursday and OH MY GOSH!!!! Sophie went from her white belt to a GREEN BELT!!! That is 5 belts in 4 months. It takes some people their age over a year to do that!!! ALSO, Sensei Shelly announced to everyone present that there has only been ONE other person to jump from a white belt to a green belt like Sophie. She is also around the same age as her. So, yeah, I am a little bit proud if you can't tell. Starting next week her Sensei has recommended that Sophie be moved up to the next age group. I think this will make her excel even more. So we are very proud of her. She has worked so hard and I catch her practicing all the time. 

This is a video from the belt ceremony today. Be sure to turn down my music at the bottom and crank up the volume so you can hear her Sensei speak. I cannot find the video from her actual test but I have a ton of pictures of course. 

as a show of respect students are required to remove their original oobi while facing away from their sensei.

not sure how this got started but sensei ties their old oobi around her ankles and then puts it on their heads giving them bunny ears. the kids sure get a kick out of it.

then she ties their new oobi on for them

HOORAY SOPHIE!!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!

Big Sky country

I always wondered how/why the sky looks bigger in Montana, but it truly does. Up until a few years ago I never even noticed it. Now everytime we pass the Montana border I notice it right away. It's like it transforms right before your eyes. And the color! I have never seen such blue skies! I decided to try taking some landscape portraits. I don't have very much experience in this part of photography, but I figure I need to broaden my horizons. Most of these pictures were shot through the window as we drove from place to place but I am very happy with the quality of all of them, especially since our windows on the van were covered with poop and dead bugs!

this is a church outside of boulder where my other granny lives. i think it is beautiful!

a cattle drive. i loved this!

some sort of a mine between boulder and dillon

whitehall, MT

the beautiful sawtooth mountains. these can be seen perfectly from linda's cabin.

a storm rolling through. beautiful.

one for my dad.

This is my Grandma Mary. We visited her in her nursing home and I love the way it brightens her day to just have all the kids around. Heck, even the people who don't know us look happy to see us. It is so special! I decided to post these for my dad before going to bed. I hope you like them dad!  

Refreshed.

This is the only word that I can think of to describe how I feel right now. This is a picture of the so called "cabin" that we were lucky enough to stay in this weekend. More like a mansion, really. Linda, you are amazing. Your house is amazing. Your FOOD is amazing. And just so you know...that pasta salad that I took with me....yeah, it is almost gone!!! Friends, I have the most to die for pasta salad that you will ever eat in your life. Better than the one you already have for sure. And I think I have Jenny to thank for this? 

Linda and I share a passion for photography and on Sunday while the guys went golfing we shared tips and tricks with each other. It was so fun! I have a ridiculous amount of pictures to post from this weekend and since it is already late I think I will get an early start tomorrow so that I can get some sleep and be ready for the upcoming week back at work.

Bella's wrist drama

Here is Bella's poor little wrist. So this is how it all went down.....We live about 1 1/2 miles from the school, well that is my guess at least. Bella loves to walk home after school with her girlfriends. She met up with her friend Chelsea but they both wanted to catch up with Chelsea's sister. So they started running and were going down a slight hill when Bella tripped on her backpack and landed on her arm. This happened half way home. Bella said that a nice woman who always walks her dog tried to help, she offered to let Bella use her cell phone so she could call us, and she even offered to make the call. Bella's stranger danger signals went up and even though she had a broken arm she wasn't about to give this woman her phone number. So she walked all the way home in pain and crying. Her cute friends carried all her stuff for her and walked her to our door and you should have seen the concern on their faces. I think they knew that Bella didn't just get a few scrapes and bruises. The lady with her dog also walked with them and made sure she made it ok. When she got home I saw her walking up to the door and I could tell something was wrong. Greg saw that I was alarmed and he ran out there too. We took one look at her arm and just said "Ok, lets go to the ER."

At the ER the doctor did the same. Took one look at it and could tell it was broken. They gave her a needle in her arm for the various drugs that they were going to give her, and to my surprise she didn't even move when they put it in. Then they gave her 2mg of morphine which kind of surprised me at first, but it totally helped her relax and I think that made all the difference on how the rest of the visit went. After x-rays we learned that she had a "very significant" fracture on her wrist which did extend to her growth plate. That means that there is a 3-5 percent chance that her arm may not grow properly. Not a big chance but it is still present. The doctor also determined that he needed to do a reduction which to my understanding is a fancy term for having to manually force the bones back into alignment for proper growth. This makes me cringe. The doctor reccommended sedating her for this and I totally agreed. So, they popped her sedative into her arm, she talked like she was tossed for a few minutes, told us all we were spinning, told us that she likes to talk in her sleep, and then almost instantly her chin dropped and she was out. They asked us to leave since the reduction process can be pretty intense. 5-7 minutes later it was all over and he was putting the cast stuff on when we went in. Since she was still asleep Greg and I asked the nurses to clean out her cuts really good with alcohol or whatever they use. The nurse happily did this but it started to wake Bella up and she said "Stop licking me Daisy." This made us all laugh. The whole waking up process was hilarious too. She said the funniest things, and when she was really awake it was like she was on crack. She just wouldn't stop talking. They sent us home with a liquid narcotic since the reduction can cause pain afterwards. We gave her that a couple times throughout the night, but after seeing her this morning I think she will not need anymore. She will be seen in a week to make sure the wrist is still in alignment, and at that time she can pick out a color for her cast. In about 3-4 weeks if the doctor thinks everything looks ok he said he will put a waterproof cast on HOORAY!!! In total she will have to be in some kind of a cast for 6-8 weeks. So that's it! She is doing well now. She has a personal nurse named Sophie who takes care of her every need. As I type Sophie is putting socks on Bella's feet since Bella said her feet are cold. She makes sure Bella has a blanket and her favorite bear. I love it! Thanks for all the phone calls and concerns.