Years in the making!

After 11 years of working on her degree since leaving BYU in 1973, my mom did it...She graduated. Not only did she graduate, she did it in style. You can't tell, but in the picture above she is in the second row 9th from the left.
I can't tell you how disappointed we were when the Dean asked all the families to refrain from clapping until the very end. Lisa had gone to a party store and picked up a bunch of noise makers...Yep, you name it we had it, cow bells, a fog horn, a giant clapper and pompons. During the ceremony though, there were a couple of families that didn't obey the rules and clapped. Looking back I wished we hadn't followed the rules because she deserved all the whoop and holler we had. After they called all the names, they let the audience clap, but by then you couldn't tell who the noise was for.

You can't really hear the fog horn in all the applause, but towards the end of the clip, you can hear this high pitched squeal. During the applause, the tip of the horn blew off, and the horn went from a fog horn sound to this high pitched squeal. You can really hear it in the second clip though.

Just so Mom would hear all the noise makers, when we met up in the hall we did it again for her. (Yes, she is in tears...but she wasn't the only one, what can I say, it was a big deal!)

Mom and grandma
We got her balloons and flowers just to show her how proud we were of her and that at any age, you deserve recognition.
Dad even wore a suit for the occassion, way to go Dad!

A fun picnic on a hot day

Today Jenna and Grace decided that for lunch they would play in the sprinklers and have a Peanut Butter Sandwich. I thought it was a good idea...

Oh, to be young again!

Sometimes Mommy has to go potty...

For most of the morning Jayden has been following me around the house while I did my morning chores. And he's been pretty mellow too. I got my bed made, some laundry changed, and folded. I made Jayden's bed, and had me pick up some of the toys he played with this morning. But then I needed to go potty, you know, sometimes that just happens, not that often mind you, but then I came out to this mess!
Yes, that in cereal all over the floor and table, I am not sure if I got the complete scope of the mess, but it is EVERYWHERE. I mean come on I was only in the bathroom less than two minutes. I really was fast. Only here is the irony of the situation, the mess wasn't made by Jayden. It was Jenna and Spencer. Yes, that's right two kids who should know better. We have this rule in our house with Lucky Charms. The rule is you have to eat it all, the marshmallows and the crunchy ones (that's what we call the cereal pieces that you see all over the floor) if you want any more cereal out of that box. If you leave the crunchy ones and just eat the marshmallows, then you do not get to partake of anymore cereal from that box. Aparently, Spencer had only a few left (of the crunchy ones) and he put them in Jenna's bowl. Jenna does not like milk in her cereal and the pieces had milk on them. Which made her made and she threw them at Spencer. Having had milk on them, they stuck to Spencer which made him mad, and a food fight was underway. This was the result. So, in the one and one-half minutes that I was in the bathroom, this is what happened. Oh, and just for the record, Jayden had made a mess of his own...
Yep, that's two boxes of tissues.

A lot to say...

It has been a while since I have had time to sit and blog, but here are a few of the last ideas of posts I had...
One morning I went into the girl's room and saw Jenna's bed, made and empty. Only I thought she hadn't woken up yet. However, upon further inspection, this is what we found...
She had fallen asleep at some point under her bed. And I guess at night she had never actually gotten in her bed.
Spencer doesn't look all that sad to have the earings and crown on what do you think?

Itsy Bitsy Spider...Jayden style

Jayden's new favorite song is "Itsy, Bitsy, Spider." It used to be "Row, Row, Boat!" (Jayden's version of "Row, Row, Row your boat.") If we are singing it with him he will do all of the actions. I wanted to get it on video, but the first attempt went like this...

Second attempt was this:

Third time we tried it without the kids singing and it didn't go so well, but you get the gist, he likes the "WASHED!" part.

Random Thoughts

In the spirit of "I don't have anything else to post" I thought I would put down some of my random thoughts for these past few days...

My house smells like Tide...

Two days ago, Jayden got into the tide detergent in the laundry room. He was scooping it up and pouring it on the floor. Melissa was nice enough to volunteer to vacuum it all up for me. However yesturday when I went to vacuum the house, it smelled like Tide. I think that the heat from the vacuum just warmed the soap up and emitted odors. Good thing it is a smell I like. There are some detergents that I can not stand.

My lipstick doesn't match my shirt...

In trying to branch out from the usual colors I buy, I got a lavender colored shirt. This morning I got all ready and before heading out the door looked at myself in the mirror and thought, "Hey, my lipstick doesn't match my shirt." I didn't have any other alternative, so I wore it anyway (the lipstick that is). It is kind of like those times when I have changed my hair color and thought, "Hey, my shirt doesn't match my hair." I know, whatever...

My kids get some of their worst characteristics from me...

This is probably the saddest thought. One of my kids (who will remain nameless - but some will probably guess who) is always using this phrase, "No seriously...." That I can't stand. She does it all the time. Then yesturday I was going to call someone on the phone and since I am a social reject, I was "practicing" my phone conversation before I called. And in that "practicing" I used the phrase that I hate my child using and realized that she probably got it from me. They also probably get yelling at each other from me and being messy eaters from me and the girls not cleaning their room from me and well you get the picture. However, one thing they do not get from me is having potty accidents. We have seen a rising number of those lately and I don't think I did that much. I remember one time when I was little I pottied my pants at a friends house because I couldn't get my pants unbuttoned, but not much more than that. However, the pregnant accidents are another story. I don't think anyone is responsible for those.

Simplify and Inovate...

I was talking to Michelle on the phone yesturday about some people taking their callings way to far. Doing way too much. So much so that people after them don't want the calling because they could never measure up to the person before. Or doing so much that "wastefulness" is created. She said that during one of the last training sessions for church someone and I don't know who it was mentioned that magnifying your calling might mean (for these kinds of people) simplify and inovate. Not do more. I would agree with the fact that some people could do more - like show up for activities if you are in charge of. However, in our area I think more people need to take on the motto that "less is more".

Jayden stinks...

The last two days, Jayden has woken up early from his nap because he had a messy diaper. So, he woke up about forty minutes ago with a stinky. And right now he is standing here telling me he has a poo poo. D_ _ n !

Nature calls...

What is up with that?

Today I am just a little miffed. I am wondering why so many people feel like crap (sorry for the word mom - for you, substitute something else like messy)... I don't know why, but it seems that there is definately (I am sure I spelled that wrong) something in the water. I have just noticed that there are a lot of AMAZING women out there who are feeling pretty down on themselves. And why? What is it? Is it just us feeling bad about ourselves, or are there really some legitimate (again spelling?) reasons out there?

Maybe it goes back to one of my brother-in-law's postulates that deep down all women hate each other. You know, maybe we make up some of the bad vibes we get from others. However, and this may be the sceptic in me, maybe some of those vibes are actually out there. Perhaps people really don't like us. Yet then again, maybe they do, maybe they are shy and don't get to know us. Or maybe people think that we are the stuck up ones. That we are unapproachable, that we think that they aren't good enough.

I just see that there are some pretty amazing people around who are getting passed up on a whole lot of great opportunities just because they aren't hip and with it. I am not sure that this is making a whole lot of sence (again, is that the right spelling for the usage?) but I am trying to be somewhat vague to spare others feelings. However, let me tell you this, I know that I need to be a better person as far as letting others know I appreciate them.

So, for the record, I think you are amazing and there is a lot of great things that you all do.

"Mom, I'm bored..."

It is the 24th of July, which is somewhat of a holiday today and we are bored. The kids have been sick, so we can't make any plans. So, we are sitting around do nothing.

"Mom, I'm bored..."

"Mom, I'm bored..."
"Mom, I'm bored..."
"Mom, I'm bored..."

Did I say...

"Mom,

I'm

Bored..."?

Just kidding...(about the picking the nose part,

we really are bored!)

Words you dread to hear...

Steve's voice from the kitchen:





"Andrea! Come quick! And bring the camera!"

Low and behold, there was Jayden up on the counter eating a box of Hot Tamales. Hot Tamales! What person in there right mind would even try one of those things once they smelled the box?

I guess Jayden would. He loves treats! His face was stained for the rest of the day. I couldn't get it clean. By the next day it was pretty good though.

My attempt at video!

Spencer has been saving his money for quite awhile. He decided he wanted two Transformers: an autobot and a decepticon. That way, he can playfight with them.