Da Zoo

We told Madison that it was "Her Day" after graduation and she could decide what we did. She decided that she wanted to go bowling. So we went to the zoo. On the way to the zoo, we told her that she could choose where we ate lunch. She chose Training Table. We went to Wendy's. We are terrible parents.

We decided on the zoo because it was a Thursday afternoon and most of the state is still in school and it wasn't that hot. Good choice! It was so much better than the last time we went to the zoo. Not very busy, and not too hot!

We actually got to see the Bird Show for the first time and I think we all loved it! At the end they have trained the birds to take your money and put it in the donation box. Of course we had to donate a dollar, and I was totally surprised that it was Lindsay who wanted to do it.

Macie went right up to the gorilla picture and put her arms out - it's almost like she's seen this picture a million times or something. The funny thing is that she would not let any of her sisters stand by her or have a turn.

And the Lion drinking fountain...ummm...germs. I really hope it's been sanitized at least once since I used it in the early 80's. Jeramy tried to get a drink out of it and quickly said, "Um...I'll just wait."

All of the girls wanted to ride in the stroller. Wow! That's about 90 pounds to push up the hill behind the giraffes. I didn't make it and finally had to ask my buff husband to take over. He laughed and said, "This is nothing!" 5 minutes later, he asked for help from his strong and beautiful wife.

The picture of Macie and the snake still freaks me out a little. She loved it. My little Slytherin girl. YUCK.

We ended our trip with the train ride that seems to get shorter every time I go and then the toys in Discovery Land. We really had a great time, and I'm glad I can put a big "Check" next to that activity for the summer.

Graduation Day

Today was the big day for Madison. She officially graduated from Kindergarten. We are both so sad that school is done for the year. I really can't believe how fast it went and how much she's learned. When I was in kindergarten, school was all about playing with toys and nap time. School is NOT like that anymore! She amazes me daily with what she learns.
Maddie with Grandma and Grandpa Steele. I just love that where ever my Dad goes, he always can find someone he knows. I thought that as we were walking in and sure enough, he ran into an old teacher (that some of you might know as well - Mr. Hadlock from Hillcrest).

This is Maddie and her teacher. We were so lucky to have Mrs. Belnap. She was a great teacher! I think we were really spoiled this year - I hope she gets a good teacher next year, too!

My incredibly reverent child who always has her arms folded and looks like an angel. I just love Kingsley next to her that looks so excited about this graduation thing.

I really can't believe how old she is! It seems like just yesterday she was born. Like my mom said today, "You won't believe how fast time will fly and she'll be graduating from high school!" (She also said, "You think this makes you feel old, wait until your son passes the sacrament." (?) Uhh... yeah, that might be hard to see since we are missing one major factor here! Love ya, Mom!)

We had a great day, I'll blog more tomorrow about our day. I really should go back to bed, it is 4 a.m. - I just had a headache and was waiting for the Tylenol to kick in! :)

The best things in life are FREE *

*Nothing in life is really free, is it?

The past few weeks we've had a few FREE moments that I wanted to share.

We have about a million movie tickets that we need to use, so I got a babysitter and we went to go see Wolverine. We got to the Cinemark theater and it was sold out for the night. BUMMER. I called the babysitter and she said it was fine if we went to a later showing of something else. We decided to go to the Star Trek movie BUT, they wouldn't take my passes. I was mad and told Jer I wasn't going to pay when I had all these free passes. We decided to go home. On the way home I finally broke down and said we'd just to pay at Thanksgiving Point Theater and see Wolverine. So...Our free date ended up costing $16 for the tickets, $10 for the dinner we went and ate (that we weren't planning on)while we were waiting for our movie, $5 for the popcorn that I had to have (at least I smuggled my drink from dinner in my purse. Jer kept giggling about the ice sloshing around in there), and $15 for the babysitter. Not such a great deal, eh?

We also had FREE dinner coupons for KFC. So we went - excited to have a free dinner. We got there and they had a sign up that said they were no longer able to accept the free meal coupons. I really didn't want KFC, so I said we weren't going there. I came up with this brilliant plan...
"Let's go to ihop, kids eat free there on Tuesdays" (and behold! it was Tuesday).
Kids eat free* (with the purchase of a drink). AND, there prices were a lot higher than the last time we ate there. $25 later, we left and grumbled all the way home about how awful and overpriced the food was.

And the other night, our good friends went out to dinner because they had a FREE gift certificate. BUT on the way, he got a speeding ticket. Not so free now, is it??

On the other hand, with my coupon shopping, I do get some items for FREE. This past week it was BBQ sauce, crackers, Mayo, and dressing. BUT, would I have gone to the store at all if I hadn't had those coupons? What about the other $20 I spent while I was there? Dang it.
I guess nothing is really free.

I would love to hear your awesome FREE stories if you have some...

Camping

Friday night we went camping with my parents. It was TONS of fun. I love to be out in the great outdoors - but have a flushing toilet, microwave and Dish for TV nearby. Jeramy always tells me that I really don't know how to CAMP, I suppose he's right.

The kids were soo excited to be out there. None of them were too sure about the 4-wheeler. Macie flat out refused to get on it the first day. I took Lindsay out and every 5 seconds I heard, "Mom, are we lost? Mom, do we have enough gas? Mom, did you bring your phone in case we need Grandpa? Do we need Grandpa? Mom, was that a bug? Mom are you going too fast?"

As mentioned before, my Dad has a satellite dish and so they were able to watch the playoff game. Pretty silly if you ask me.

Grandpa made us an excellent boyscout dinner for dinner - even if the carrots never cooked. And an interesting dutch over cake - that never cooked either. It was fun to use the dutch ovens for a change instead of the microwave. :) And it was worth it to watch my Dad practically throw the phone down when he saw me trying to arrange the coals that were still on fire - sorry if your conversation got cut short, Cindy.

Maddie could hardly wait for marshmallow time, and they all loved it. I was surprised how well they all went to bed and they all slept through the night - except for Lindsay falling out of bed once. All she kept saying was, "Mom, my chocolate covered raisins!" In the morning it all made sense. She had spilled them in her sleeping bag and they were melted all over everything. I was glad it was that and not what I had originally thought it was!

We finally got Macie on the 4-wheeler by telling her it was a pony. That was all it took. She was kicking and screaming and then I said, "Macie, it's just like a pony." She said, "oh." and sat right down and never complained on our ride. Grandpa took us to this pile of rocks. Grandma had come prepared with baggies for the kids. Each of them filled a bag full of rocks. It was seriously the highlight of the trip for them, especially my rock collector Maddie. But I now have 3 bags of rocks here at the house, any ideas what to do with them?

We finished up our trip by chasing lizards. Never caught any, but Jeramy gave it a good effort. Then the MEN got to go for a ride while we relaxed and watched Horton Hears a Who. (once again - we really rough it).

Thanks to Mom and Dad for taking us out and making some great memories for my girls! We had a great time and can't wait to go out again!

Video clips for the week.

This one is for Grandpa Gary. I think we've found him a new riding buddy. She even loves horses so she can go watch horses with him! Our neighbors got this cute little 4-wheeler and my kids spent the day on it.

And this is Lindsay at gymnastics yesterday. She loves it! We are so glad that Amannda decided to teach it in her basement!

And finally, Madison at her Exhibition Meet at Legacy. We've all really enjoyed gymnastics for the past few months. Now on to swimming...

Our first project

Madison had her first (and definitely not the last) BIG project at school. We had to research an animal and then write a report about it and make a diorama. Wow. I love homework for parents - really, I do. We had a lot of fun doing this. She chose to learn about goats. Grandma and Grandpa Wakley just happen to have 2 of them, so it made this a lot easier. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for all the knowledge you imparted on us about goats!

The actual construction of our box was pretty funny. My sister called when we were working on it and she said, "So, what kind of mom are you? Is Maddie actually doing this project or are you?" Sigh. I was doing it all. Thanks for the wake up call, Cindy - literally! I let Maddie take over and just tell me what to do and it made it a lot more fun for her.

We got to go to school on Friday and listen to all the other kids talk about their animals - it was so fun to see how excited they all were.

Madison is still packing around her box, so stop by our yard if you want to learn some fun facts about goats!

The Car Whisperer

Eons ago, my parents had 6 kids and 2 cars. One of which was a Chevette. I'm not sure when the Chevette joined the family, but I know it was around for a long, long time - maybe even before me. I found this stock photo after Googling "Chevette." I looked through 35 pages worth of pictures and this was the closest I could find. Ours was blue.

This Chevette was notorious for just not starting. I can think of many times being out with Robin and the Chevette would choose not to start. Sometimes in places where we shouldn't have been ...and we would have to call Dad. Dad would come. Car would start.

One such time before I was allowed to "hang with the sisters" they took the Chevette up Big Cottownwood Canyon to play in the water. When they were done Chevette would not start. Remember, this was eons ago and the closest thing to a cell phone would be a can with a string attached. They had to WALK down the canyon to the 7-11 and call home. Dad came. Car started.

When we got married, Jeramy had a SWEET


Plymouth Sundance - the reason he claims I married him. One fateful year, it didn't pass inspection. We were told it would be about 300$ to fix it. We told my Dad and he said, "let me have a look." He looked. He took a MATCH, broke it, stuck it up in the wires, and the car was fixed. That matchstick fixed that problem until we traded it in for my Civic!

I'm sure there are many many more stories about my father, the Car Whisper, but I want to end with just one. He claims that nowadays cars are harder to fix for him. Too much computer stuff, harder to understand, etc. Last week my check engine light came on. I was so mad when I called and found out it was going to cost $100 just to run the diagnostic test on it! I had checked the gas cap and waited the 3 days like my manual suggested. I was on day 4. I was complaining about it to my Dad while we were driving in my van up to McDonalds. He didn't have too many suggestions for me other than 'don't take it to the dealership'. When we came out of McDonalds, the check engine light was off! He fixed it! I know he did!

So here's to my amazing Dad who can fix anything! I know he would prefer to be known as the Horse Whisperer, but we're all sure glad he's the Car Whisperer!

Happy Mother's Day

"Thank you, Mother, for teaching me kindness, patience, honesty, integrity and most of all, LOVE."

I found this quote this week and I've thought a lot about it. I know my Mom did teach me all of these things, and because of that, I am the mother that I am today. Sure, I have my bad days and do the wrong things sometimes, but overall, I think I'm a good Mom. And that is because of the values that were instilled in me as a child. I love that my mom still teaches me by her example, and lets me know that I'm doing all right. I just want my Mom to know that she's doing all right, too! We love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Lindsay's love affair with vegetables

Lindsay makes me a better mom.

She LOVES vegetables. Broccoli is #1, but every other vegetable gets a big squeal of delight too. Last night for dinner I made a Coscto Pizza and a salad. Lindsay came into the kitchen saw the pizza, saw the salad and yelled, "YEAH! SALAD!" She then had to run outside and tell all of her friends that she was having salad for dinner.
We no longer get her a kids meal at McDonald's, just a side salad and fries. I'm sure I look like the meanest mom in the world while the rest of us eat our fatty, greasy burgers and my child just gets a salad!
Last week I took her grocery shopping with me. When we walked through the produce department, she was amazed. I could see her little eyes taking it all in.
"Mom, what's that??"
"Eggplant, it's gross."
"Can we try it?"
"No."

"Can we please get a sponge bob thing?" (pineapple)
I weigh it. YIKES! "No, it costs way too much. I'll get one at Sunflower Market next week."
"Please don't forget!"

"Mom, I want celery!"
"Why?"
"Celery is good and you never buy it for me!"
How can I say no to that? "NO LINDSAY, I will not spend 1.29 on you to have VEGETABLES. Go pick some candy!" I bought her celery and she ate the entire thing by herself.

I definitely have learned to love vegetables more because of her. I would have never bought the HUGE Coscto bag of broccoli - but now I know we can eat it all before it goes bad. Oh, and don't even THINK about putting cheese on it. Lindsay will not eat it if it has cheese on it. The rest of us pour it on.

And now I point out another fun fact.
Maddie WILL NOT eat anything green. Nothing. Not even green jelly beans. She won't eat her spaghetti sauce if it has any green specs in it.

Me

There are not many pictures of me as a child. I was quite pleased when my dad put this picture on his blog yesterday and I have decided it is me!! (I've even debated it with my siblings). And yes, that is my older brother pushing me down a steep hill on a big wheel, with no helmet, no brakes, and I am smiling. Good times. Thanks for finding a long lost picture of me, Dad! And Russ, thanks for being so careful with me as a child. You're the best! I hope to return the favor someday with your grandkids. (I think Danielle and Jayden might be a little too old to go along with this one).