This Is It

07.25.11  monday i took max grocery shopping with me... brought my own bags again... i got to go out with the ladies to dinner... at pf changs for sandy's birthday... verna joined us tonight... went through the mcd's drive-thru to get darric a shake and me a diet coke (in a styrofoam cup)... when i took my first sip, i was totally expecting sweet tea (because that's what usually comes in styrofoam cups)... grossed me out for a second... changed the radio station to sunny 106.5 and cher was singing if i could turn back time... i cranked it up and sang along (til somebody pulled up next to me, then i just tapped my fingers)

07.26.11  tuesday it rained for 2 whole minutes this morning... i wanted more... took all nine kids to chuck e cheese... plans were to have a meeting... haha. we couldn't really hear each other or think in there... but the kids had fun... we ended up bringing jacob home with us and madi went with grace... we stopped at costco for more prints... i'm really excited about these ones... and really excited about the frames we got from orange blossom... max had his first jiu jitsu class tonight... he refused to go inside... i tried to talk to him nicely... but he didn't want anything to do with it... so we went to starbucks and i got a drink without him... i don't think he cared, because he was fast asleep... when he woke up, he couldn't have tv or electronics... which left me entertaining him... darric didn't get home from work til 10:00...

 

07.27.11  wednesday i played around with some chevron striped vinyl and hung my new frame... we went to the green valley ranch pool for the first time... kenzie and jacob stayed home to watch piper and kobe... the other six kids had a great time digging in the sand and swimming... max went a little too far out one time... but got himself over to the edge... we ordered lunch... the kids were buried in the sand... brought some of that sand home with us... max had boxing... but once again, he refused to do it... and once again, darric worked later than usual...  

(my phone pic's not that great, but that hottie drummer boy, is our ryan)

07.28.11  thursday we hung out at home... awburn went to the hospital with contractions... max eventually decided he wanted to go to boxing... he said he was nervous before... he was in such a good mood... class was canceled... the teacher's dogs got loose (or something like that)... i went and met up with the marquez crew to see ryan and his band, rivalries, play at the house of blues... i was so nervous about getting there, but SO glad that i went... and SO proud of how awesome my cousin ryan was on those drums... couldn't find my car afterward... after beeping my horn and walking around for five minutes, decided to look on the floor below... and there it was... never been so happy to see my car... in bed that evening, i was telling max that aunt jennifer was going to be a grandma soon... he asks me "is she going to look old?"... around 10:00, we received a few texts letting us all know that ms paisley eve was born at 9:32 pm weighing 8lbs 15 oz... good work awburn (and josh)... :)

 

07.29.11  friday received the text from jodie that robi grimshaw had passed away last night... such sad, sad news... my heart breaks for his wife and little girls...  jodie brought her kids over and we went to the hospital to see paisley... she was so cute, even before her first bath... glad they were both doing well... we fed the kids... i opened my new dry erase/magnet board... then i took my kids to michaels so they could each get some clay... max bought a lap desk thing too, he's still got some birthday money... 

07.30.11  saturday hung around the house... darric had to run a couple calls... i decided to start editing photos from 2006 so that i can put them in a blurb book... 

07.31.11  sunday hung around the house again... darric had to work most of the day... i worked on more photos... grandma + grandpa swung by for a little while... when darric got home, him and max went and picked up 5 guys for dinner... that was a nice surprise...

phone photos

01. slurpees on 07.11

02. getting used to the new dog

03. making cookies using grandma dee's recipe. this is the second time in a row they didn't turn out super yummy. maybe it's the pan.

04. our new hot water heater!

05. playing each other on the ds's.

06. happy hour at sonic. diet coke (extra ice) for me... root beer for kenzie... orange slush w/vanilla for madi... and max always tries something new.

07.18.11  monday... kenzie ortho appt... she's supposed to be getting her bottom brackets on at the next visit... went to claim jumper to celebrate jen and calie's birthdays... 

07.20.11  wednesday... kenzie pulled a tooth out... while the rest of us went to jennifer's for a meeting... max tried his first boxing class at epic training center... he had so much fun... they played dodge ball at the end of class... he ended up being the last one out (by catching the big exercise ball again) and didn't have to do any push-ups 

07.21.11  thursday... took madi and max (kenzie chose to stay home with the dog) and we went to costco (for prints) then the mall for some birthday gifts... then met grandma, jodie, beckam and piper at joe's crab shack... we had lunch and then went to wildfire lanes and bowled a game... ate candy from the quarter machines... played an arcade game... came home... max had another boxing class tonight... it was a different teacher... there were only 3 kids in the class... max did really good again... they had a competition doing the squats against the wall and he was the last one down both times and didn't have to run a lap... the teacher even participated the second time and let max win against him... they were taught different combinations one at a time... there was a lot to remember... on the way home, max said he liked the other teacher better because this one tortured them. haha... mackenzie made a red velvet cake today... except, she didn't have red food coloring, so it was orange and darric and i both thought it tasted like carrot cake, because it looked like carrot cake... she didn't have powdered sugar, so she tried to make her own... the icing was very gritty...

07.22.11  friday... had big plans of getting donuts and a sonic drink... went to open the garage door and i hear this loud noise and something metal drop to the ground and that's it, the door doesn't open (no matter how many times i push that stupid button) i try to open it from the outside, by hand, and it gets stuck halfway up... so instead of letting that ruin my plans, i took darric's truck... at noon, the daytons came and picked up max... he had been asking what time it was since 8:00 this morning... they had a super fun day planned out... the adventuredome... movies to see captain america... dairy queen... swimming... the girls and i went to michaels... almost ran into the back of a car that was backing out... would have totally been my fault... luckily kenzie yelled at me... we went to costco next (for prints)... ran into joann's (didn't have what i wanted)... ran into our wal-mart for a few things... grabbed lunch and came home to let kobe out of his kennel... the girls and i watched just go with it (jennifer aniston + adam sandler)... it was ok...

07.23.11  saturday... the girls and i were off early to grace's birthday party... no. 8... cereal was served and crafts were made... we picked up wendys for lunch on our way home... shortly after, max arrived home too... our hot water heater was replaced today... YAY!!... we watched dodge ball as a family that evening... 

07.24.11  sunday... everyone went over to grandma + grandpa carter's house at 1pm today for lunch and to visit... for dinner, i ordered 2 chicken pad thai (pa-tie) #5's... the lady said chicken "pa tay" so i thought i was pronouncing it wrong... turns out, it's not the same... so i had to call back and re-order a chicken "pa-tie"... i didn't see "pa-tay" anywhere on their menu... i only ordered one because i was so ticked and i had to pay for it... jerks... we watched funniest home videos and played a few games of jenga...

this weekend...

• i think all of the texas ranger bushes got the memo that friday was blooming day. there were purple flowers covering every one of them.

• kenzie went on her first babysitting job. (for jodie) i sent madi with her just in case. max wasn't too happy about that, so we took him to red robin for dinner and then nielsen's frozen custard for dessert. 

• kobe had his first dr appointment. darric, mackenzie and madi took him. dr said he was a healthy dog.

• max and i went to target so he could spend some more birthday money. he got an alarm clock and some star wars legos. the cashier lady insisted that he pay himself and count all the money out. she told him to put his receipt in his sock drawer in case he needed to return something. she really made him feel special. he left the store with a big smile on his face. 

• jan and the boys came over to meet kobe. 

• mixter got a MUCH needed haircut. and a gatorade.

• madi and i cleaned out my closet. throwing away tons of old magazines, finding some old starbucks cards and transferring the change from them all onto one card, old birthday cards were tossed (only ones with special messages in them were kept). 

• darric and i cleaned the bedroom. nightstands were cleared out, desk was cleaned off, trash bags were filled.

the NEXT button

i'm a BIG fan of google reader (a little addicted maybe). but i missed seeing people's actual blogs and if i wanted to leave a comment, i'd have to click over to the blog. awhile ago, i found out how to add the NEXT button to my bookmarks bar. it was instant love. it sits right up there with the amazing PIN IT button that i love almost as much. thought i'd share...

STEP ONE:

STEP TWO:

STEP THREE:

then, instead of going to your google reader, just hit the NEXT button and it takes you to the most recently updated blog on your list. and if you're like me, you'll breath a sigh of relief when you see this message... 

as much as i love looking through blogs, it is a good feeling to know that i've made it to the end. and that no blog has gone unread. (for a few minutes, at least)

today he turned six

SIX!!! sounds so much older than five.
he's been counting down the days for a few months now.
after celebrating in bryce canyon and at jodie's house, he's still asking when his party is.

today grandma carter called and wished him a happy birthday
aunt jan and the boys called and sang him happy birthday.
aunt jesse, bennett and gabi brought him by a gift
(and a gift for kobe too - they both loved what they got.)
he got a card in the mail and a call from the daytons that afternoon. 

we went to the water park with jodie + jen (and awburn for a bit)
we made him a tattoo that quickly washed away in the water.
he had a hot dog and a couple bites of pickle for lunch
and we stopped for an ice-cream at sonic.  

   

 
(yes that is a pickle on his head and those are airheads sticking out of their mouths - piper was trying to copy them by sticking her tongue out) 

his birthday dinner request started with jack-in-the-box, but when i asked him what he would get from there (since we hardly go there) he changed his mind. after thinking about it for most of the day, he decided red robin. but when his dad got home and i asked him again, he said donuts. he wanted donuts for dinner. i talked him into donuts for dessert and he picked mcdonalds for dinner. he went with me to get it all.

after dinner, him and madi went with their dad to target so he could buy something with his birthday money. he came home with super mario bros for his ds and a controller for the wii. the kind he needed to play the donkey kong game we downloaded. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

*this year's gifts: $50 in cash, $30 target giftcard, plastic bat, gummy bears, points to download games on the wii, captain america mask and disc shooting shield, yo-yo, nintendo dsi, case, 3 different ds games, water balloons and a frisbee (madi picked out the frisbee). 

the tuesday after we went camping, jodie invited us all over for a surprise party for max. (since they didn't get to celebrate with us in bryce canyon) jen, her kids and grandma + grandpa were there too. we had cafe rio and ice-cream cake. he opened presents and we gave everyone their goodie bags with flashlights and glow sticks.

phone photos

and some photos from off my phone...

new addition

darric had the monday after we went camping off. we went to get slurpees (because it was 7-11). we all got mediums. then we were off to rescue our newest family member at the dewey animal shelter. we waited a half an hour to go back and see the dogs. it was between two. max or blue. max passed the cat test and blue didn't. (i wouldn't have let blue come home with us anyways) we filled out the paperwork and carried our new 6 month old puppy to the car. the kids were beyond excited.

on our way home, we changed max's name to hank and then kobe. we figured things would get too complicated if we had two max's in the house and our max wasn't too fond of hank, so kobe it will be. 

we dropped him off at home with kenzie and madi and the rest of us went to petco to do some shopping. we didn't have anything, so our cart was pretty full. 

we think he was on his best behavior today so we wouldn't take him back to the shelter. he's a bit lazy (we think that's a side effect from having parvo) and he is a pretty sloppy drinker. but i think he's going to work out great.

duke was under kenzie's bed all day. coming out a couple times to see what the furry, black, four-legged thing was. only to be chased right back to where he came from.

Bryce Camping [Day Three]

we got up, packed up the room (placing max's muddy clothes in their own little plastic bag). then headed over to the campsite and start loading stuff into the truck. took the tent down and ended up throwing it in the dumpster - unused - because neither darric nor i wanted to try and roll the muddy thing up, especially with all of the air in it that refused to come out. that insta-tent that darric originally wanted was sounding like the best idea ever. (maybe for our next camping trip) the kids jumped into the backseat and replaced their muddy shoes with hosed off flip flops. and when darric finished bungee cord-ing the tarp down, we left. taking the other route off the mountain.

we got to cedar city and darric was hoping for taco time, but it was closed, so we ate at dairy queen. and then headed home. the majority of our drive was dry, until we hit vegas and then the rain came pouring down. jen and jodie happened to get home just before we did. 

the rain took a break until we arrived home and wanted to get the stuff out of the truck. as soon as it stopped, darric was out there unloading. and as soon as he got done, it started back up. then came the fun part, unpacking and laundry. (and pizza was ordered)