Sunday, July 19, 2009

Family Reunion

Our annual family reunion was held July 18-21. We camped around grandma Rose's house, had a potluck dinner at the bowery, went swimming in Malad, ladies night out, and boating at Deep Creek. We also celebrated Dalton's 7th birthday there. He was so anxious to open his presents, that I let him open them on Sunday and we had a cake for him at the potluck dinner since that is when most people are at the reunion. It was a cute little sponge bob cake that he picked out. Here are some photos of the reunion:


Mikaela and Ben


Froggy


Mom and gram going for a ride!

Me
Summer
D-rock
Britt and Bree
Dalton sat here on the dock for 45 minutes waiting for another boat ride!
That is one patient kid.
Grandma throwing gang signs!
Dalton waiting for a boat ride...

Mikaela and me about to go tubing

Cody and Mikaela




The lane where Grandma and Grandpa met!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Fourth of July!!!

The 4th of July was spent running the family fun run again.  Mikaela just came along and took photos for us.  I encouraged Paige to run the 10k and she encouraged Marcus to also run it.  Paige had been training for Ragnar but Marcus hadn't run in like a month.  But, they both did awesome! I ran the fun run with Dalton and Hudson raced the fun run to win.  He ended up getting 7th place overall and 1st place for his age group! Yay Hudson! He was pretty excited. After the race, we went to the chuckwagon breakfast.  Last year dad and Derrek joined us and I was hoping they would join us again but, I found out after we headed home, that dad, Derrek, Summer, Spew and Laura all met up to eat chuckwagon breakfast and we just missed em! Dang!
The day ended at Sugarhouse park for fireworks with the group.  We had Nick and Suzanne, Spew and Laura, Summer and Jake, Derrek and Melissa, Mabel, Rex and Bella, and Alicia.  It was a lot of fun and a great show.  We thought it would be fun to head up there in case it was actually their last year doing fireworks (cuz that was the rumor). Here are some photos from the day:


Hudson finishing the race!

Dalton at the finish!

Me and my baby!

Me, Marcus and Paige


Summer and Jake

Spew and Laura

Laura and Me

The group

Hudson, Red-neck Nick, Mikaela

Bella, Suzanne, and Dalton

Mikaela's cake - so cute!

Rex, Bella, Mabel and Nick



Mikaela's cool hair

Happy 4th of July!!!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Happy Birthday Derrek!!!

Happy Birthday Derrek!

Derrek found this ad on KSL that he thought was pretty funny. He and Summer were joking about it on facebook. Melissa, one of Derrek's friends, hired the ninja to entertain us for Derrek's birthday. Such an awesome idea! The ninja came and started to show us some of his mad skillz. Mikaela caught it on video. Check it out! You can also check out more pics on Hell is cold.




We had a super fun party/BBQ at Derrek's house. The whole ninja experience made it hilarious. After he fell, Derrek offered him a burger. He got it all ready and then realized he couldn't eat the burger without taking off his mask. So, he just made a plate and kept collecting food. He took a bunch of pictures with people. He was actually really weird. At one point, he asked who would like to kiss a ninja and Summer said she would. The rest of the night, he tried everything to get her to kiss him again and again and even said she could take off his mask. Derrek finally told him it was a good effort and sorta hinted that he could leave. As soon as I get the pictures, I will post some for you. It was one of the funnest parties I have been to in a long time. After he fell, we all laughed so hard. Dad was laughing hysterically. He even said it was the funniest thing he had seen in 67 freakin' years! Good times! Happy Birthday D-rock! Love ya.

Click here for last year's post.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

See...it's already getting better...

For a looksie at what I did last Saturday go here. My kids were on vacation and I had 3 days alone. I wanted to take a little trip somewhere to get away but one friend got really sick and the other two had to work and...well...I have no other friends. I had a sleep over with Paige and Suzanne on Thursday to Friday and then Suzanne and I went with Nick, Macey, Laney, Rex, Mabel and baby Bella to Cheesecake Factory to say good bye to Laney who is moving to Vegas. After that, Suzanne and Nick had planned to go to Jackson for a river rafting trip. Nick wanted me to go and I was super tempted, but just felt like it wasn't the vacay I really wanted. I really wanted to lounge by a pool and read and just relax and try not to think too much. I didn't feel like camping and sleeping in a tent. I'm usually a good camper just not that day. So, I passed on the invite. They took off and ran to Walmart where they encountered the Swat standoff that took place in the apartments right behind Walmart. The one where an older man was shooting and so they shot him. Maybe that shoulda been their first clue. Then, they ended up having a crazy trip on the river Saturday. More on that later. Saturday during the day I spent a few hours with 11 little kiddos swimming at the pool to celebrate Loren's birthday. Cham needed some extra lifeguards and also a photographer. Later that night, I ended up going with Derrek, Spew and Laura to Taylorsville Dayzz to hear pseudo Neil Diamond and watch some spectacular fireworks! It wasn't the weekend I had hoped for, but it worked just as well.

I'm up and at it...I think!

Warning:

I'm gonna be a downer for a minute...

I've been MIA for a little bit. Not sure why. I think it's a combination of things. A little Influenza A or maybe piggy flu with the boys. (A fourth grader at the school came down with Swine flu). Or maybe busy with the end of school stuff. I don't know.

I've been sad too.

Life is overwhelming at times. Everything seems to happen at once. I keep hearing of people I know getting sick and having real troubles. It makes me sad. It seems like it's been a very long time since something wonderful has happened. I wonder when that will happen again? I wonder if it will ever happen again?

Today, for the first time, EVER...I believe...I actually admitted out loud that being a single mom is hard! I have always handled it and felt like it was really the least of my problems. I didn't feel like a good mom most of the time, but I felt like I did the single mom thing as well as I could. But...not today. The 11 year old car broke down AGAIN (with something that I had already paid to have fixed) so I ran it to the shop and after repairs and some money I drove off only to discover that my blinkers don't work at all! I now have a wiring problem in my steering column. I know it's not a big deal, but it's hard. You can really only do the hand signals for so long. KnowwhatImean?

So, ya...I cried.

It's hard to find a job in this economy. It's hard to find the right job that isn't going to totally take away from my kids. It's hard to balance everything. It's hard when money isn't there. It's hard to hear harsh words thrown at you constantly. It's hard to buy a house on your own. It's hard to stay strong. It's hard to have faith. It's hard to be positive. Oh...and it's hard to live in a hot house. (You know I couldn't go a summer without complaining about this one!)

No one understands how hard it is to be a single mom till they actually do it. It basically sucks.

Now, granted I'm not sick or dying. I haven't suffered anything hugely traumatic. I have a bright future ahead of me. Sometimes I forget that or sometimes I choose not to look at it that way. That's why I like to read Nie Nie. It brings me back to where I need to be.

So...for now I hope I'm done being a downer.

I'm ready to play this 4th of July weekend!!!

Rock on!!!