Our Memorial Day Outing

Rinar did not work on Monday, in honor of Memorial Day, so we had a fun little outing with the kids. First we went to the Mirage to pick up tickets to the Cirque de Soleil show, called Beatles "Love". The boys posed for this cute picture at the entrance of the theater.

Then we headed over to the Bellagio to see the conservatory and the water show in front of the hotel. It was very colorful and fun to see what was on display. They had a little bird house with some colorful birds to look at. I can't remember the names of the birds, but they were very beautiful.

Eli was just soaking it all in.


This was a bear family made of twigs and flowers and moss. It was a good excuse to pose for the camera again.

After our outing, we stopped to get a treat at 7-ll. Slurpees...what else, right?

I did this one time before and didn't really get to enjoy mine because of my chubby-cheeked little one year-old boy. So I decided to get him his very own glass. He can now drink from a straw. Therefore, it worked out well for him. However, it was a bit tricky getting him to the car. He was not happy when the cup was extracted from his hand. He would plunk himself down on the sidewalk and start to cry fretfully. It was actually quite hilarious.

Gut Check...18 weeks

This is probably about half way for me.

Progress

Yesterday Rinar and I watched our lovely, bright red Chevy Tahoe drive away without us. It has been a good car, very reliable, and I got a little bit sentimental as I saw it turn the corner of our neighborhood for the last time.



But the big wad of cash in Rinar's pocket helped the tears to dry fast.

Memorial Day Remembered

In honor of Memorial Day, I want to remember my grandfather, Eugene Carpenter. He was one of the millions of Americans that put his life on the line for the sake of freedom. Grandpa Carpenter fought in World War II, in the European theater. He went everywhere: Africa, Italy, Normandy, and all through Europe. He was a part of the D-Day invasion...Utah beach, 5th wave. Grandpa didn't get to see Paris, France because he quickly bypassed it on the way to the Battle of the Bulge. It was a long, rough battle in the freezing cold. He persevered and survived.

Grandpa was a liberator. His unit discovered a concentration camp in Buchenwald, Germany. He never talked about it, except one time to my father. What could that have possibly been like to find that horror and atrocity, being a young man from a small town in Michigan?


Oh, how grateful I am for his service to our country. And for all of the men and women who have come before him and after him. We live in a country that is the bastion of freedom. We don't conquer people, we liberate them! This is what my grandfather did.

God Bless America.

Goodbye Primary

It was the big day for me because I was released as the Primary president today. It has been a very rewarding experience and I am grateful that I could have the opportunity to serve in this way. The children were adorable and since I was in Primary for over 2 years I was able to watch them really grow and blossom.



But I am grateful that I was released. I have been starting to feel this pregnancy a lot sooner than my other two. It is a burden I literally carry around with me. So, I am glad I won't have to worry about the goings-on in Primary anymore, except where it concerns my two rambunctious little boys.

Now, I hope to go to Relief Society occasionally, in between all of the hall monitoring I will be doing with Eli.

You know that he gets to go to nursery August 16th, but who is counting, right?

Eli is 15 Months-Old

In the last few weeks, Eli has discovered the joy of shoes. He likes to put shoes on his feet and walk around. Actually, he only puts one shoe on his foot and then prances around the house. He finds it very entertaining. But the concept of a shoe is really sinking in.

Yesterday, I told him that we were going bye-bye and then I told him to go get his shoe. He looked at me for a few seconds and then turned around and left the room. About a minute later, he returned with one of his flip-flops. He was holding it up high so that I could see. It was really quite a precious moment.

And here is what happens when you take a lollipop away from him...



Tonight Rinar put him to bed and made this little video of the moment. Waving has become a big thing for him recently. He is becoming quite adept at the wave. I just want to squeeze him to death sometimes, my little punkin' pie!

See You Later, Alligator

We won't say good-bye Melanie, Jared, Halle, Caleb and Ava... we'll just say, "See you later, Alligator".

I Surrender!

There comes a point in every mother's life when you just SURRENDER.

Today is that day....

I surrender my house to two little boys about 7 years-old.

I surrender the floor to all shoes, toys, cups, paper, marbles, and underwear...sticky substances, crumbs, and lots of Cheerios.

I surrender my couch to missing pillows.

I surrender my carpet to every blanket that dwells in my house.

I surrender my kitchen to dirty cups, bowls, spoons, bags, garbage, books, pretzels.

I just surrender.

I throw up the white flag.

Three Cheers for Dessert

I have been hearing for weeks how good it is to eat at Serendipity, the latest restaurant offering in Las Vegas. It just opened at Caesar's Palace a few weeks ago. It is a big ordeal in New York City and so I thought I would check it out with my best food friend, Melanie. When we aren't eating food, we are certainly talking about food. Plus, this is her last week in Nevada before the big move to Utah, so it was even more imperative that we get over there quick.



We went for dessert and got the famous Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate, and a "modest" slice of carrot cake. The Frrrrrozen Hot Chocolate definitely lived up to its billing, especially if you love chocolate as much as we do. Then they brought out the carrot cake...

...and my jaw just about hit the table. To say it was huge would be an understatement. The piece could easily feed four to six people. It was insane. We had to cut it into two pieces to get it to fit in a to-go box.

It was a lot of fun.

Today, Melanie came and fixed dinner for us at our house, seeing as how her house is now devoid of all pots and pans. She threw them all out for the move. I guess when she moves into her new place, she will be treating herself to a new, grown-up set of cookware.

We ate sloppy joe's and then after dinner, we made all of the kids ice cream cones with the caveat that they all eat them outside. It cuts down on the cleaning bill. This is all of the kids, including Lindsay's brood. She had a hot date tonight with her husband, so I am the daycare center. Zach is the mysterious masked figure hovering above everyone else.

Three cheers for ice cream, cake, and Frrrrrozen Hot Chocolate!

Hip, hip, hooray.

Craig's List Rocks!

Today was eventful. I put my Tahoe up for sale, and my pool table, and I got rid of my old oven. I just love me some Craig's List.

A guy came today to look at the Tahoe. He made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we were going to close the deal, until I went to look for the title in the nice folder I had made a long time ago for the car. The folder was labeled "Chevy Tahoe". It was in the automobile section. It has been there for 6 years...until today. POOF! Gone! {argh} I don't even have a clue where it could possibly be at all. And it is not like I have dozens of places in my house where I keep stacks of paper. It is pretty much one room, and I swear it isn't there. So the bottom line is the car is still in my freaking driveway!!!! I am going to have to request a duplicate title and wait and hope the guy doesn't buy a car in the mean time. I will pray for quick government processing (yeah right), or magical reappearing acts of the manila folder variety.



Then, I had sold our pool table on craig's list so that I can convert the room into my new family/school room. I am excited. They came and took it away today. Hip, hip, hooray.

Then my handyman came to install the new, free oven I got. He will be doing a little bit of remodeling on my kitchen to get it to fit just right. Therefore, the old, broken oven had to go. He put it on the curb and I put it in the free section of craig's list. It was like a race to see who could get here first. I just listed our address and no phone number. I got a few emails asking if it was still here. It lasted for less than two hours and then two different cars came to get it within 10 minutes. I feel bad for car number two. They just were not fast enough!




Now I have two light fixtures that were over the pool table. They hang too low. My tall family will definitely bump their heads on the darn things. Oh what to do?


I know....craig's list. We shall see if I have any bites on the fixtures. I hope so. If not, I will just have Rinar take them down anyways. I will sell them eventually. There is really no hurry on those things.

Now is the time to rearrange all of the rooms upstairs. I get to paint and redecorate. It is going to be so much fun...for Rinar! I just say..."Honey, can you..." and just fill in the blank.

An Ode to Me! Hey, I'm the Mom Around Here

An Ode to Me for Mother's Day

Oh, how do you like having a mother like me?
A mother so kind and so fair
Who tells you you can't have another candy
And if you cry, hey, I really don't care!


Oh, how do you like this mother of yours
Who reproves, reprimands, and yells
Makes you clean your room and mop the floors,
Do school work and quiet time as well.
Who doesn't coddle you e'en though
You may cry with the tiniest scratch
Tells you you're naughty Joe
From the latest scheme you've tried to hatch.


Sing praise to this angel mom
On my special happy mother's day.
Remember my poise and aplomb,
When I tell you no,
Because "I said so!"
It's just easier for you to obey!

(Because it is either obey, or get in big trouble...and I mean big trouble. I mean it this time! There will be a lot of consequences and you don't want consequences. They are no fun...and neither are punishments. But you are going to get both if you do that again. Ooooh, just wait till your Dad gets home.)***


***I couldn't fit that into the last stanza, but you get my drift.

So, to all you mother's out there...Happy Mother's Day.

Kudos to Hubby

I awoke this morning to a wonderful surprise. Rinar cleaned all the dishes and the floor, with the smashed down green beans and sticky cereal and everything. Then there was this message left on the counter, all spelled out in Junior Mints and chewing gum: Happy Mother's Day Early. He even bought me some flowers.


Go ahead and say it...

AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Do you think he read my blog from yesterday?

Have You Ever Had One of Those Days?

Have you ever had one of those days when you feel like blah?

You realize you are the most boring person in the world.

The house will never stay clean and sometimes you just throw in the towel? (oh, the smashed down green beans and cereal and water on the floor aren't really hurting anything, right?)

The baby gets violent when you kindly try to change his highly fragrant, stinky diaper.

The kids react to your voice and kind requests like you are static on a broken television set. So then you become shrill, frantic, screaming static instead.

You fear you are invisible to the world.

You fear people expect too much from you.

You start to see unsightly wrinkles on your once youthful face.

You finally forced yourself to make the bed after three days of the husband being gone.

You try to sleep in as long as possible so as to make the day shorter.

You try to put the kids to bed as early as possible so that it will make the day shorter.

Your brain shuts down when three kids are tugging on you and demanding your attention; ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!

You realize you forgot to put on deodorant.

Your kids ask you for the umpteenth time if they can please, please, please, please, please buy a toy.

Your kid asks you for the umpteenth time if he can please, please, please, please, please play with the toy in the hallway at the store where you just bought it or at the park where you are going, or at home, before you even get home, even though you told him he has to put the dishes away first.

You come home from a church meeting after picking up the kids at the babysitter's house because your husband's flight is an hour late, only to see your husband, who has been out of town the entire week in his basketball clothes ready to leave to play basketball for the night.

You hide from husband and the kids so that he has to put them all to bed.

You rack your brain trying to think of any possible place where you might have hidden some delicious cookies, or ice cream, or candy. Anything made of sugar!!!!

You can't remember when you last took a shower.

Have you ever had one of those days?

Sloppy Cinco de Mayo

It is fun to have dinner guests over. It is even better when we can eat outside. Here is a picture of Melanie and her kids when they came over for dinner.


And in honor of Cinco de Mayo yesterday, we ate sloppy joes. Eli loved them and we can totally understand why that delicious little sandwich was given the name that it has, huh?



And here is Eli with the phone, I mean the remote control. Did I tell you that everything is a phone?

Weekend Update

We had a fun weekend. On Friday, I was forced to clean my house so that we could have a little party. There is nothing like public humiliation to get the house clean, you know what I am saying? A year ago, Rinar went on a rafting trip with about 14 other guys in the area, including his brother Lyf. They rafted down the Kern River in California. It was quite the trip and those guys still talk about it. Hence, they had to have a party to debut the movie that David W. made of their experience. Since we have the largest television, by far, we hosted the party. I barbecued steak and chicken and made some salad and everyone else brought over some goodies to share. It was a lot of fun and the movie was really awesome to watch.


Then yesterday we went and watched Rinar's cousin Kamuela play in a Hawaiian festival at the California Hotel. He lives in Hawaii and is a professional musician. He is an amazing guitar player. You have to see it to believe it. I remember watching Kamuela play when he was a sophmore in high school and it was astounding. He has only gotten better. So, it was a real treat to watch him as a professional, killin' the guitar. We were so proud of him.



After church today, Melanie brought her brood over and we had dinner together. We ate outside and it was lots of fun to just hang out. We have to try to hang out as much as possible before she moves. Carpe diem, you know? After dinner, Rinar went and got Kamuela and his wife Roxy, so that they can use our car for tonight and tomorrow. They hung out with us for a little while and after much arm twisting (yeah right!), we had Kamuela play a few songs for us. The kids loved it and I loved the fact that he tuned my guitar up. It was hopelessly out-of-tune and very dusty. Can you tell I play quite a bit? haha!

This is Melanie with our groovy friend Brooke.

It was a fun weekend.

And on another note, Eli now has two molars: his bottom right and top left.