Quotable Quotes

I love books but I also watch a lot of movies. And a LOT of kids movies. Sometimes the movies just say it better. Or maybe they just say it more creatively. Sometimes the movies have the words that I don't have to get my point across. Like for example:

"The whole plot....thing" Said when you have to be vague because you don't actually know

"My dog is dead!" (while sticking your finger in your eye). I don't know why we say that but we say it a lot

"I don't have to explain my art to you Warren!*" Because sometimes you shouldn't have to explain yourself.

"Who knows where thoughts come from, they just appear" Always very, very handy in almost any situation.

"Well Sinead O Rebellion" Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior" We mostly say that upon one of doing something not very deviant but out of the norm

"It's possible, pig" Possibly the most used one in our family. Basically appropriate whenever a "yes" would do

"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" Why does anyone quote this-but we all do.

"He's trying to be smart and that's lame!" Always, always funny to me. Never appropriate in conversation yet I seem to use it all the time.

"Steve!" Whenever our kids are being repetitive (you'd have to have seen the movie)

"You see this contact lens-this contact lens represents you and my eye represents my eye. I've got my EYE on YOU!" Only Tom uses this one on the kids.

"You hurt your what?" If someone uses a big word

"Oh he's just a little bit shy and he hates you for killin' his flowers" Said to denote our children's irrational emotion

"Then why are you bringing him up, you lemon?!" Our version of "what's that have to do with the price of tea in china"

*Oh dude, are you crying? No! I"m happy he's gone, I don't have to watch him every second of the day anymore*" A popular exchange between Tom and I if we get teary eyed over a kid or something churchy.

"Hiss! You're never around when I need you!" Used quite frequently when someone isn't there to cater to my whims.

"Great! Now I have guilt!" If we were wrong about something.

"Somebody DO something!" Pretty self-explanatory

*This denotes an incorrect quote-we approximate some of them because we didn't get them right the first time.

What quotes do YOU use? Do you share any favorites with me? I know I have lots of friends who loves quotes/movies so share them with me!

Daddy Daughter Dance

My ward did the cutest thing-they had a daddy/daughter dance. It was the week we got back and Tommy had just had his tonsillectomy so it was perfect to have the other kids out of the house.

Samantha was sooooo excited. Of course Eliza couldn't really anticipate the event but Tom said she smiled through the whole thing. She knew it was fun and something special. I had this funny feeling like "I really like the idea of a daddy/daughter event but I want to go and watch!" That would defeat the purpose I guess and Tom was good and took pictures. Tommy and I went to hang out at my friend Brooke's house and eat cookies. I think that was the only thing Tommy ate that day.

Tom and his two beautiful dates.

Are you impressed with how I did Eliza's hair? I was :)

Tom said there were daughters from a couple months old to even a young adult aged daughter. It sounded like a ton of fun. Of course Eliza's favorite part was the food. But she loved dancing too!

Tom said Samantha was a hard-core dancer all night. One cute story: Her friend Hailey beckoned her over to come play and Samantha said "Oh no, I want to dance with my dad" Tom's friend Alex gave him a fist bump over that!

And then she got over it :)

Tommy's Tonsillitis

Those of you recently acquainted with Tommy know about his cute but very guttural way of speaking. It was like his mouth was full of marbles. Much more alarming was the way he would stop breathing for a second or two while he was sleeping. My sister-in-law Maria noticed in Hawaii that the way he spoke was much like the way her daughter used to speak and they had removed her tonsils. So at his 3 year check-up I asked the pediatrician and she said that they were big and referred me to an ENT. He took one look at them and said "They're huge!!" and scheduled a surgery date to remove his tonsils and his adenoids.

The previous post mentioned that he had gotten the stomach flu, so he spent the first part of the week vomiting and the second half of the week recovering from surgery. Not the best week of the poor little guy's life. But he went in, they gave him 3 stuffed animals and a blown up doctor glove to keep him happy. Doesn't he look happy? :)

So it was an incredibly short procedure. I sat in the waiting room for maybe 15 minutes and they came to get me. That part was horrible. They said little ones have a hard time coming out of the anesthesia and he definitely did. He screamed for 30 minutes straight while the nurse who didn't seem to know what to do with kids despite having worked with them before (I presume) tried to force him to eat a popsicle. Also, he acquired animal like strength which he was putting to use to viciously rip out his iv. I have never seen him so strong or so crazy. It was the hardest part of the day. I was very happy when we were able to leave. He was too, he calmed down considerably when no one was trying to force him to eat popsicles.

Thus began the worst week of his life. He had a prescription for the hard stuff (at least for kids), Tylenol with codeine and I thought he'd probably not need it after 3 or so days. I was wrong, he needed it every four hours exactly for at least a week. We used the whole bottle. He was beyond miserable. At one point, because I was so terrified of dehydration, I was shooting little syringe-fuls of apple juice down his throat because he refused to eat or drink.

But now he is over it and always says "I feel so much better, I got my tonsils out." Though he did freak out when I told him we were going to the doctor's for a post-op evaluation.

He sleeps better, breathes better and his voice is much, much clearer.

One last funny story: It's in my side-bar but the night before his surgery he looks up at me and says "After my surgery, will I be a race-car?" Poor Tommy, all that pain and he's still not a race car.

This video will likely be of no interest to anyone. Tom's sister Margaret said we HAD to record his cute little voice before it changed so we did. The video quality is terrible (Tom's phone) but if you have nothing else to do for exactly one minute, it's kind of cute.

First Day of School

So this is the late blog post I should really be ashamed about. What kind of mother doesn't post about her oldest child's first day of school? Because if I don't post it, did it really happen?

Samantha, after years of anticipation... finally started Kindergarten. She was so ready and excited. But oh boy was it hard getting there.

I mentioned that we drove home the day before. Well, Samantha got the stomach flu the minute we got to Utah but it was pretty mild. Then in a truly cruel twist of fate she got it the day we drove back as well! I ask you, how is that fair?!? So that made for a miserable ride home. But she was feeling okay (and those of you who condemn me for sending her to school the next day-ask yourself-how many truly first days of school do you get? That's right, only one!)

But...the next morning Tommy woke up covered in you-know-what and the other you-know-what so it was crazy trying to get him all bathed and clean while getting Samantha ready and still feeling tired from our trip.

AND THEN google maps gave us the wrong directions to the school (Samantha is going to a school she's not zoned for, so that's why I didn't know where it was). So I'm calling the school frantically asking where they are and when they tell me I go merrily on my way. To the wrong school. It was a mess. Even though she was late for her first day of school, she still had fun and was ready to go back :).

And do you want to know if I cried? Well, the day before I bawled my eyes out when Tom gave her a blessing. And then with the morning chaos I thought I'd be way too cranky for tears. But no...when I saw the other mothers crying it was all I could do to not lose it until I got to the car. But I did wait so that Samantha was unimpeded in her kindergarten joy.

My Family Tree is Full of Nuts

This is the last Utah blog post I swear!

By the time the last leg of our journey rolled around (my family reunion on my mom's side) I guess I was pictured out because I didn't take very many at all. I must have been having too much fun! The reunion included:

Swimming

Hiking

Eating

Catching up with all my cousins who I really enjoy

Crafts

Karaoke

A Talent show

Get to know you games

A Jump House

General Fun

My sisters (minus poor Olivia, as if the child wasn't left out of enough sister pictures)

The Martha and Dan (my parents) segment of the reunion

I may or may not have gotten in a whip cream fight with my sister. But Tom definitely started it and no matter what anyone else says I was obviously the winner. I hate this picture but how could I not share photographic evidence.

The talent show: This is my kids singing (badly) rubber ducky. We had to leave right after, a day early, because Samantha was starting school on Monday, so we need to travel all the next day. It was so fun to see people I hadn't seen in years.

...But keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold

One of my favorite things during our trip to Utah was the chance to catch up with some old friends. One of my favorite people is my old roommate Carol. We roomed together in Fugal hall her freshman year (my sophomore when I was an RA). That was a fabulous year, so many good times! Here is us so long ago. Carol is in on the bottom left.

We are ever so much older and wiser now. She got married two years ago to a very nice, very fun guy named Mike and they have a beautiful baby girl, Ellie. I went to visit them and it was so much fun to catch up.

Me with Ellie. She liked me lots, really! I even got her to sleep.

8 years later and still friends.

Later we drove out to Eagle Mountain to see our friends Blaine and Heather-they moved away from VA at the exact same time we did. We were super close with them in Virginia. We did tons together, but somehow that didn't translate into pictures though because I had a hard time finding them amongst my photos. Heather is the one second from the far right (sorry Blaine.)

They have a beautiful house and an even more beautiful baby boy, Will. He was brand new and I got to hold him the whole time we were there. We also had the chance to hear their wonderful and miraculous adoption story. It was wonderful.

Samantha was taking the photo so it wasn't great quality. But we are all together again. Each with a new baby (but mine was almost 2) since the last time we saw each other.

It really makes me miss old times, but I'm glad that we are still friends!

Oh what do you do in the Summertime....when all the world is green

One of my favorite parts of leaving Arizona and taking off for huge amounts of time in the summer is that it is cool and other places are much more green! I love Utah summers because of the mild nights and general weather. We enjoyed our time there immensely. Here are a few pictures of things we did in between the two tail ends of family reunions.

My family was up there before my mom's family reunion so I got to see them even though I was in the wrong state for it. Here we are at Bridal Veil falls in Provo Canyon. We had fun splashing in the water.

My mom took us to this fun place called Pirate Island in Orem. It's like a slightly more upscale Chuck E. Cheeses.

Look at my mean sister abusing me with that pirate sword.

Argh and ahoy mateys.

Maria (Tom's sister) and her family were up there as well. I got to meet sweet, darling little Juliet who was just 1 month old. They had her blessing day while we were there.

Generally my kids just had the time of their lives with their cousins.

Other things not pictured were lots of eating, lots of shopping, sewing (even me!), Parade of Homes and oh yeah-getting the stomach flu first things upon arriving (I blame the church nursery) and passing it around to absolutely everyone we came in contact with. I'm sure they were really pleased with us!

Sure grown out of her baby ways....happy birthday to you!

Eliza is two! I can't get enough of this girl, really. She is the typical laid-back, easy-going third child. She is so fun! It was hard having her so close to Tommy but now I really love how close in age they are and how much fun they have together.

Her birthday was extremely low-key. In fact, we didn't even celebrate on her birthday because I had church responsibilities and Tom ended up having to work until really late that evening. She didn't care or notice. She got cake and presents the next day and loved it. She has been bringing me candles every day and asking me to sing her happy birthday. So cute!

And now a tribute in pictures to my little Eliza Delee:

The Whole Fam Damily

Back in the middle of July we left for a super long 3 week vacation to Utah. Actually, the first part of trip was in Albion ID for Tom's family reunion. It was seriously an awesome reunion. I loved the location, the weather, the fun things the committee planned. The kids had a fabulous time. I felt like it was perfect. There are so many pictures that I will tell as I go:

Because it was further away than usual not as many young marrieds came. There were only 8 great-grandchildren there for most of the week, three of which were my children. The older cousins were SO NICE to them and played and interacted with them a ton. I loved it-and so did they!

These bikes were part of the package of the place we were staying. They were a huge hit-tricky to get the hang of for a minute or two and then so much fun. Called banana bikes I guess?

Eliza's blankie obsession didn't stop just because we were in another state.

Grandpa playing catch with his grandkids that attended.

This picture is precious to me. Since living in AZ Tom's grandmother has really done so much and connected so well with my kids. I'm grateful we live close to her.

While we were there Daniel (closest AZ cousin to us) got his mission call. He was called to serve in Uruguay. We were excited for him! Daniel is the one in the middle.

There was also an inflatable slide that the kids loved (with water and without).

I'm trying to kiss attack Eliza. Look at her face :)

We went to a nearby lake way, WAY up in the mountains. We puttered around in a motorboat and even more fun-threw rocks into the river!!

Part of the family olympics the next day. Cool action shot right?

And the shirts!

We went to a nearby place (the only attraction in Albion, ID) called City of Rocks. It's a lot like what the name implies. Samantha was nervous but Tommy had the time of his life climbing up on all the high rocks.

An example-but there were things like this for miles and miles. We just climbed on a few.

I got a huge kick out of this-Tommy was obsessed with these fake binoculars. I don't even think they are turned the right way but it's the thought that counts.

Cousins!!

Look at Eliza trying to kick the ball-I love that girl!!

There was a family talent show and our specific family had Emma and Samantha represent us. They did Miley Cyrus Hoedown throw down. Everyone joined in, super cute.

I know that not everyone feels this way but I love family reunions-they are one of my favorite summer activities!