Is it swimsuit season already???

Oh, how I love summertime. It is, by far, my favorite season. In fact, I love it so much that I named one of my kids after it! The days are long, the nights are warm, the sun shines on my face and I eat more strawberries and corn-on-the-cob than should be allowed. This winter has been long, to say the least, and I am soooo ready for the summer. Except for, that is, one thing... swimsuits! Now, I have a drawer FULL of swimsuits - some dating back to the early nineties (remember those one piece suits that were shiny and had a leg-cut that nearly came to your waist - you know you all had one of those!) And over the years I have bought way too many not-so-flattering suits just because they were on sale or because I thought I had the body for them (emphasis on the word 'thought' - this body has had 4 babies and should never be allowed in a bikini again). So, with Mexico and summertime right around the corner, it is definitely time for a couple new swimsuits, so that is exactly what I set out to do yesterday.

I had some time to myself while the kids were at school (and thanks to Kandis for taking Macy) so I started at the mall. I tried on a Lands End suit that I was thinking of ordering. Hmmm... cute, but a little "mom-ish". Yes, I realize that I AM indeed a mom, but that doesn't mean I have to have a bathing suit like one (does it?) My horror increased when, while trying on the suit, I noticed a few more spider veins and cellulite pockets on the backs of my thighs that I swear were not there last season. Sob, sob! Not a good way to start off this already hideous process. Then I went to a few of my favorite stores - Aeropostale, American Eagle, Gap, Ross - and all that was to be found were tiny little string bikinis. Uh, no thanks! And to top it off, I bumped into an old co-worker at the Gap who asked if I just had a baby! Um, excuse me??? Isn't that question right up there with, "So, when are you due?" As in, NEVER ask that question unless you have personally confirmed with her doctor that she is expecting. That's it, I am never venturing out in sweats again - even if they are JUICY! And it's confirmed... I'm getting a full body suit this year so no one has to see my spider veins, cellulite or stomach that obviously looks like it just delivered a baby. Shopping trip OVER!!!

After I came home and cried for about two hours (or was it three, I lost count), I vowed to never eat again and got online to check out some sites for swimsuits that a couple of friends recommended. Layers.com, modbeclothing.com and downeastbasics.com all had some cute and modest swimwear. I might have to try one of these. And if anyone has any other great places for cute, non-momish, vein-hiding and stomach flattening suits, please let me know.

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Okay, enough about me, here are a few other things that have been going on in our family over the last week (along with some pictures to go with them):

* Parker's baseball team suffered a tough loss in the first round of their tournament losing 12-11 to the last place team who had not won a single game all year. I suppose you can't help but be happy for the other team though. That line of reasoning, for some reason, didn't make Parker feel any better.

* Summer had an end-of-season pizza/swim party with her soccer team. I was really proud of how much she learned and improved over the season. Her coach really wanted her to continue on with the team, but she decided that she wants to play softball in the fall and soccer again next spring.

* Aubrey had a mini piano recital and played 4 songs and did a great job. She loves playing the piano and will continue on next year. She was also laying in bed with me this morning and decided, on her own, that she should pour some cold water on her daddy, who was in the shower. About 30 seconds later I hear this man-scream and couldn't help but laugh. That's my girl!!!

* Macy, well, she is just plain funny. She is always smiling and when we took her swimming the other day she kept saying, "We don't pee in the pool cuz that's just nasty!" So true!

* Steve and I sat by our gym pool the other day and just basked in the sun and read (the kids were at school and Macy was in the kid-care). It was pure heaven! Until I got home and realized that I had sunburned the crap out of my chest. I am usually the sunscreen nazi so I was extra mad at myself. On the bright side, I will probably get to peel it in a couple of days. Anyone who says that isn't just good plain fun is well, weird, in my opinion.

* Steve and Parker took a weekend biking trip to Moab with Chad and his twin boys, Jackson and Connor. They saw all kinds of cool arches (shown below, Delicate Arch, which is sheer cliff on the other side - yikes!). They had some great male-bonding time.

That's it for now. Will post again soon (oh, who am I kidding)...

Birthdays, Messes, and Hot Husbands!

Hi again. Wow... has it really been two weeks since my last post? What a slacker I am! About that time I made a goal to be more clean and organized around the house. You know, stuff like keeping up on laundry and dishes, cooking every night (complete with printed out weekly menus), deep cleaning baseboards and windows, etc, etc. And my conclusion... what a total waste! I'm thinking I need to re-adjust my priorities - blogging first and THEN clean house. Ah, much better! Cleaning is so over-rated. After you have spent hours upon hours cleaning, guess what??? The kids mess it up again. And usually while you are upstairs cleaning, they are downstairs making more messes and vice-versa! I give up. So, here's to the messy (and happier) me! It's good to be back!

Happy Birthday Daisy Girl!

Yesterday we had my sister and her family over for a memorial day BBQ (too bad the weather didn't cooperate) and celebrated Daisy's 3rd birthday. What a cutie she is! She just has this mellow, yet independent personality. She is feisty and sweet all at the same time - and I just love her! And I'm glad that she is close by so that we can see her (and Wayne) more often. Fun, fun!


Who 'Da Man?
This weekend we spent whatever time we could (when it wasn't raining) doing yardwork. Ugh! I am not like my mother-in-law who likes to work in the garden. But, I vowed to put in a few days of hard work, so that I can enjoy it all summer long. Anyway, we have this little stream that runs through our backyard, but the pump broke early last summer and it hasn't run since. After contacting the guy who put it in, he informed us that a new pump would be $1275 and installation an additional $400. What the crap? I can think of a lot of things I would rather spend nearly $1700 on, none of which involved running water! Long story short, my ingenious husband starting looking on ebay and found our exact pump for a mere $310 and decided he thought he could do it himself. I was all for it...you go boy! After submerging himself into a 10'x5' underground tank (with some sexy waders on) and 8 hours and a lot of stink later (it was really smelly down there) - VOILA!... a beautiful running stream. That's when he asked me, "Who 'da man?" I was REALLY proud of him and yes, he is my man!!! Maybe I'll give him a hug next week when he doesn't stink anymore or when I'm not so sore from all the bending over from the weeding :) We went to Rumbi Grill to celebrate all the money we saved (by the way, they have really good fish tacos). Love you baby... you're awesome and pretty hot, too!!

More projects
Does anyone have those city clean up days? You know, the ones where you can put anything out on your curb and the city will come and pick it all up? Anyway, our neighborhood has been littered with garbage and treasures of all kinds for the last couple of weeks. The other night, while Steve and I were taking a late night walk with the dog, we came across some discarded white kitchen cabinets.

Him: "No way, don't even think about it."
Me: "Oh honey, c'mon, look at these! They would be perfect for my craft room."
Him: Observing the goods...
Me: "Hurry, let's go get the car and load these up - before anyone sees us."
Him: Rolling his eyes in defeat, "Okay."

Now, technically, it is illegal to take this stuff - it belongs to the city. But that didn't stop us. We walked home, got in the car, turned off the headlights and went to work. Now these things were HEAVY and we even had to take two trips. But I'll be darned if I am going to let something like the law (or my pride) stand in the way of me and my craft room. Now, in addition to all the yard work, we have yet another project. Hmmm... the list is growing!

More messes
Okay, gotta run. Mexico is only 4 weeks away and this body needs some serious tuning-up! And speaking of cleaning, does anyone know how to get ball point pen out of stained leather? My Macy just decided to practice her letters on the arm of my leather sectional. See, it's just like I said, kids mess stuff up!!! Ah, good times. At least I got my blogging in :) I'll leave you with some random pictures from the last two weeks.

Missing In Action

Yes, I know, I have been MIA. So sorry. I know how frustrating it can be to see the same post over and over. No good excuses, no funny backstory... I've just been, well, busy. That's about it. As it does, life went on while I was away from my blog. I was just sure you would want to hear about it, so here goes. You can determine whether they are good things or bad things...

My sister moved up here - yay! (Definitely good)

Grandma came for a visit. Okay, really she came to help with the move, but we enjoyed hanging out with her anyway.

I had a great Mother's Day - complete with roses, breakfast made by the kids (AND served on the "You Are Special" plate) and a yummy lunch out to Olive Garden with my own mom. Only had to do the dishes once.

Steve and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. Love ya baby!

Steve and I celebrated our 14th anniversary freezing at Parker's baseball game. Romantic isn't it? Still love ya baby!

I accompanied Aubrey and her class on a field trip to the zoo. Aubrey kept wanting me to take pictures of the animal's butts. Hmmm, should I be worried?!?

Summer's ortho appointment confirmed that she will need spacers, braces and retainers. Let me just sign over my right foot as payment!

I won an ebay auction for some cute 7FAM jeans only to find out they are actually MEN'S jeans. Duh!

Got to enjoy a lunch out at Paradise Bakery with my mom, sister and two aunts - Aunt Diane and Aunt Wilma. What a couple of hot older ladies!!! (I was talking about the aunts, but you can draw your own conclusion).

The weather got cold, then warm, then cold again. Currently it's 75 degrees and I LOVE IT!

Steve planned a family vacation to Cancun. Can't wait. Sorry, Macy isn't invited :(

Got to talk to my brother who is on a mission in Mexico. Only got to talk for about 4 minutes, but it was great to hear his voice!

Okay, I won't bore you with more day to day details of my life. Just wanted to give you an idea of why I haven't posted for a whole 2 weeks. I'll be better... I promise. Gotta run now, baseball is calling!

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!

Friday - So Much Fun!
As promised, I am reporting on Aubrey's "SPA-rty". Omigosh... so much fun! I must admit that I really outdid myself this time and I highly recommend this party for any girlie girl. The idea came about because Aubrey originally wanted a "Sweet and Sassy" party - a cute little party store where they do your hair, make-up and nails. But those parties also cost about $25 per girl - not including the food or party favors! So me, being the do-it-yourselfer that I am, thought I could do a WAY better job for much less money. And with the money I saved, I could do a cute craft project as well and hand out some sweet party bags. So, here's what we did:

When the girls got there they were first treated to facials with a homemade natural mask. I found this recipe online:

1/2 mashed banana
1 small yogurt, vanilla flavor
1/4 cup oats
1 T. honey

The girls LOVED this. Then they took turns at different stations where they got their hair done, nails and toes painted and make-up done. And FYI: I had lots of helpers. Our favorite babysitter and BYU co-ed Holli came to help along with Summer and two of her friends. I couldn't have done it without their help (plus, Holli is amazing at doing hair).


After the pampering, the girls made cute little flip flops to show off their freshly painted toes. I went to Old Navy and got a ton of black flip flops and then went to JoAnn's and bought a bunch of different hot pink and black patterned fabrics (hot pink and black were our party colors) and tore them into strips. Then the girls just tied the strips onto the flip flop using double knots. They turned out really cute and crazy and it was fun to see the girls' personalities come through in their choices (Aubrey's flip flops are pictured here). This was a perfect project for little hands.

Then it was time for some food. I pre-made a bunch of finger sandwiches (PB&J and ham and cheese) and served them with cut strawberries and some chips. Then we sang happy birthday, had cookies and ice cream (I'm saving a cake for Sunday when the family comes over to celebrate), and opened presents.


I'm trying not to make this post too long, so I won't go on and on. But, in conclusion, we had a fabulous party and Aubrey had a great time... and so did I. Who needs Sweet and Sassy anyway?

Saturday - Ears Peirced
Yup. You read right. Aubrey's birthday gift from mom and dad was to let her get her ears pierced. Now, you might think that 6 is way too young to get pierced ears, but if you know Aubrey then you know that she has been ready for this since the day she was born. She never once hesitate, got nervous or cried. And she LOVES her new earrings. Just look at that smile... and that was right after she got them pierced!

Sunday - Family Celebration
The party continued on Sunday when we had Marmie and Poppy, Aunt Karen and baby Paige, Grandma Judy, Aunt Kandis and cousins Wayne and Daisy over for an authentic carne asada dinner and cake & ice cream. I think we went through 6 2-liters of Diet Coke! But what a blessing it is to celebrate the special moments in your child's life with family! We're so glad they are close by.

Now it's the start of a new week full of baseball games, soccer practices, music lessons, presidency meetings, and helping where I can with Kandis and John's move. Today I am watching Wayne and Daisy and may venture to my favorite store, Costco, for one of those gross hot dogs that you all know I love. But, stay tuned because I'm sure there will be more Ellis craziness around the corner... there always is!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY!!!

Okay, I have a million things to do other than blogging, but while I was getting my "fix" this morning I thought I'd give a quick shout out to my sweet little Aubrey who is turning 6 today. Aubrey is such a joy in my life and I feel so blessed to have her in our family. She loves to be by my side, whether I'm doing my make-up, shopping, cooking or working on a project. And she is also always ready and willing to give hugs or snuggle - she is my lovey girl. I'm sure glad I stuck out the "tough baby stage" because now, ironically, she is the easiest of them all. Anyway, we are having a 'SPA-rty' in a couple of hours, complete with facials, makeovers, mani/pedi's, hair, etc. Basically it's going to be 2 hours of pampering and indulging a bunch of 6-year olds (wait, isn't that everyday?)

Anyway, I have finger sandwiches to make, glitter hair spray to buy and gift bags to assemble, so gotta run. I'll post some pictures of the "divas" later tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned...

911

To add to my bad mood day, here's a conversation from later that afternoon:

Steve calling me on my cell from New Mexico, "Hi. Where are you?"

Me: "I just dropped Summer off at soccer. I'm on my way home."

Steve: "Did you know there is a police officer in front of our house right now?"

Me: "No. How do you know?"

Steve: "The neighbors called me. Apparently he sat in his car for a while, then went up to the door with his hand on his gun."

Me: "Did you pay that last speeding ticket you got?" (I had to ask because he's gotten like 5 in the last two years)

Steve: "Very funny."

Me: "I'll check into it and call you back."

Come to find out, a 911 hang-up call was placed from our house earlier that afternoon. Hmmm, wonder who that could have been? Surely it couldn't have been while I was blogging instead of paying attention to my children! Not only that, but a sweet neighbor lady and her little twins came to deliver some cookies right at that exact moment. What they must think!!! When they ask I will just tell them, "It's my husband. He gets lots of tickets." :)

FYI: After much thought and consideration I have decided to go with purse #2 - thanks for your input! You guys rock!!!

BAD MOOD!

I'm in a bad mood today! Why, I am not quite sure. (Do I need a reason?) It's just one of those days. It didn't help that:

* I wanted to go to Nia this morning (a really fun and crazy workout class), but missed it to help Aubrey catch up on piano since we missed the last two weeks.
* Macy decided to cry so hard when I combed her hair that she made herself pass out.
* We were late to piano for no good reason at all. And I realized when we got there that I forgot to put on mascara.
* I forgot the girls' lunches (Wednesday's are one of those crazy days where I only have 10 minutes between piano lessons and getting Aubrey to school).
* Zac peed and pooped in the house before 10am.
* The cute American Eagle shirt I just bought and was going to wear today has a stain on it. Now I get to go return it and try to convince the teenager behind the register that it wasn't ME who put it there. Ya, she's never heard that one before.
* My closet is STILL a mess.
* The weather here SUCKS!!!
* Despite my efforts to create and label boxes with healthy after-school snacks, my children continue to beg for chips, candy, soda and other sugary treats. Don't they know those are all just for me?
* The rest of my afternoon and evening consists of getting kids to scouts, then soccer practice, waiting for the plumber to come and fix a leak, and then it's young women's for me. Oooh, sounds fun doesn't it?

Do I need to go on? I wish I could just crawl into bed with some of my new American Idol Mint Karaoke ice cream (yummy!) and watch my DVR'd Office and Dancing With The Stars? I guess the fact that I can't do what I want to do, but have to do stuff that I don't want to do is what's making me in a bad mood in the first place (huh?). Anyway, here's to a better tomorrow... for all of us!

Oh, and if you haven't yet voted for a purse from yesterday's post, please do :)