3 Finally!

We are avid wakeboarders who have usually logged dozen trips to the lake by now, but due to all the rain we just made it out for the first time.  It was a great day and felt so good to be out in the water and sun.  Bring on summer!

   

   

 

Our girls loved being on the boat and were so well behaved.  It is so much nicer than the past 4 years when we’ve always had a tiny baby or crawling toddler.  Allie loved hanging with her older cousins and Kylie was all bout holding the flag and eating…that kid sure does have a sweet tooth!

 

Here I am on the wakeboard and Nate on the surf board.

I AM going to get the 180 across the entire wake trick this year.  I AM! 

Nate’s sprained ankle still isn’t healed enough to wakeboard – he tried.

0 a Family Celebration

Last weekend we celebrated Nate’s parent’s 50th wedding anniversary.  Saturday included a temple sealing session for the adults, a lovely catered lunch at the Copper Mill, family photos at Mack park, and an open house for all friends and family in the evening.  I am so excited to get the pictures back, as they will be our family’s first!  We are so lame.  We only have a handful of snapshots with all 4 of us in them and even worse, we are usually dress in swim suits or Halloween costumes.  I’m so excited to have something to hang on our wall!  I’ll post them as soon as we get the CD!

 

1 Terrible Two’s

 

 

Kylie has definitely hit the terrible-two’s.

Here she is clinging to my leg as I attempt to go to a work meeting.  She seems to cry about just about anything.  Even if I give her the very thing she has just asked for.  The fits are really getting old.  About the only thing Nate and I have found that sometimes helps is to tell her to “go to your room to cry”.  Its crazy because most of the time she will wonder to her room (bawling the whole way) and shut the door behind herself.  Usually with in a few minutes she emerges all smiles and is back to old happy self.  So Weird!

0 Pumpkin Patch update

All the rain we’ve gotten has been great for the pumpkin patch.  Too bad the weeds have been drinking it up too. 

0 Growing Garden Update

Just look at my garden grow! 

It is amazing to watch. 

I spent about 6 hours tending to it last weekend though.

  

Above: corn & tomatoes

Below: Squash-types & tubers 

 

I researched online and decided to try out Ferrandino’s  pruning techniques.  I took me from 9am till 1pm to trim and tie up all 40 tomato plants.  I was so tired I didn’t take a picture till I went out later that evening to finish watering.  I sure hope that I get a good yield!  Right now I have about a half dozen small fruits, but I knocked a few of them off trying to prune.  Drat!

0 Thought of the day

Church News on May 23, 2009

President Hinckley said he enjoyed the words of Jenkins Lloyd Jones written in a June 12, 1973, Deseret News column (Click HERE for the entire article):

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed.

Most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.

Life is like an old-time rail journey---delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.

2 Happy Day?

Things to cheer about:

1. My ModBe swimsuits came in the mail today! I was totally surprised since they were shipped '7-10 day mail' yesterday!
2. I purchased 8 'Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince' movie tickets for opening night, 3 weeks from today!
3. My niece Maddie will now be helping me out by playing with my girls a few mornings a week so I can get my work done in the day instead of the wee hours of the night.
4. I cleaned behind and under my fridge and stove. I've been wanting to do it for a long time now.
   

All that happiness was almost canceled out by moving Kylie out of her crib today. Nap time included much screaming and repeatedly putting her back in bed, but not much sleep (wee hours of the morning here I come). I'm having second thoughts about the transition, but now that I've started I can't go back. Plus, it has to happen soon anyway. The reason for doing it now: in July we will be camping and tripping around. I don't want to have to haul a playpen everywhere we go. Oh, in other negativeness - I killed the car 3 times on the way to get said tickets.

0 Acustical Tears

I love this station I created on Pandora. Click HERE to listen yourself.

If you didn't know: Pandora is a free music service that helps you listen to and discover new music.

0 Too smart

Last night when I took the babysitter home I found out how the girls' dinner went down. I had left the kids some frozen dinners (I never buy such things, but these were a hot coupon buy for $0.20 each so I splurged). I made the mistake of getting one chicken nugget and the other corn dog. Well, Allie polished of her chosen nuggets and then eyed down Kylie's corn dog. Turns out 'Kylie is allergic to hot dogs,' at least that's what Allie convinced Kenzie. Don't worry though, Allie might have gotten both main courses, but I'm sure that Kylie thought she was getting the better end of the stick when she got to eat both chocolate puddings. What characters.

P.S. - don't get used to all these posts. I'm sure the sun will have to come out sometime and then I'll be off my butt instead of just sitting here, letting my rear end grow.

0 ***buzz**buzz**buzz**buzz**

I interrupt this irregularly scheduled blog to bring you this nerd moment.

Click HERE for:

Harry Potter Exclusive - A Retrospective

This 9-minute trailer takes audiences back through the first 5 Harry Potter films, reviewing key plot points and ultimately building up to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

click HERE for:

Harry Potter Exclusive - Extended Trailer

This clip features Harry's plunge into the pensieve in order to explore Dumbledore's first memories of the young Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort.

Thank you - now go about the next 25 days waiting till the midnight release.

4 My blog’s new look

I bet you've noticed that my blog has a new look.  I followed some instructions I found on a blog through Google to make it have three columns.  I like how that turned out.  Also, I've been using a new program to make posts: Windows Live Writer.  Click HERE to read more about it and download it for free.  You do have to sign up for a live account, but it didn’t take long at all. 

Windows Live Writer lets you do all kinds of fancy things to your photos (see below for a taste) and it gives you more control over photo alignment (something that drives me crazy about blogger).  When you add a photo to your post you can do basic edits, like crop, straighten, add boarder, sepia, black-n-white, ect.  I hear that you can also create your posts offline and then have them posted when you get back online.  As you can tell from my proliferation of posts, it is fun and easy.  I highly suggest it!  (oh, all credit for finding this jewel go to my friend Julie!)

2 a batch of berries

I guess the strawberry plants are recovering because this is what i picked this afternoon.  Kylie didn’t mind that they weren’t washed yet.  She is a big fan!

  

 

1 Personality snapshots

Here are a pair of pics I took at the ward pool party last night.  {Yes, the rain held off for a few hours and it was actually almost warm enough to enjoy.}  I just thought it was interesting to see the girls’ personalities come out in each of their photos.  Yep, that’s my girls!

 

Here is another pair of pictures I took this afternoon in the backyard.  Although Allie may be a wild woman outside and in the water, she is a great helper and likes to chat up a storm.  Kylie looks innocent enough here, but that’s only when she’s not throwing a screaming tantrum.  It is so interesting to experience the difference in these two little women.

0 How my farm garden grows

Weeding and ‘hilling’ the potatoes

- corn - - tomatoes -

- squash & other vine stuff - - potatoes/onions/carrots/cucombers

- potatoes - - watermelon -

0 Recuperating home garden

After the pounding hail and relentless 2 1/2 weeks of rain, I had to replant my cherry tomato and pepper plants. The promising first crop of strawberries had to be thrown in the trash since all the fruit was bruised and battered. It does look like it is coming around. I just hope that the sun will help heal the damage enough to get a decent yield.

0 Can anyone explain…

…why the kids need ALL the toys spread out to play?

I just don’t get it.

 

- Before  - & -  After -  

0 Allie thinks she is a teenager

Ever since Allie learned that there is a shortcut to her favorite babysitters house, she has been dying to walk to her house  The rain didn’t detour Allie last weekend when she begged to get Kenzie for ‘date night’.  I tried to spy on her to make sure she found her way across the cul-de-sac and through Booklyn’s yard, but Allie kept turning around and shooing me back.  I think it offended her that I was keeping tabs on her.  Sometimes it is hard to let me baby grow up.  Here she is returning with Kenz in tow.  The entire Beutler family dote on our girls and this time Twila lent her this pink umbrella and let her pick a few things from their piano rewards (2 suckers and a lip gloss).  Needless to say, the girls this the Beutlers are pretty neat too!

0 I’m so excited

If you aren’t familiar with ModBe, click HERE right now! The have the BEST swim suits. Since we go to the lake wakeboarding multiples times most weeks all summer long (when its not raining), I’m very hard on suits. Plus I have the added problem of an extra large chest and a post-baby body. Well, not only do these suits FIT but they also last a LONG time – well worth the $$$. My 2 from last year are still in great condition, but of course I wanted a new one. Today was my lucky day since ModBe is selling them on their webpage for $25/top for 24 hours leading up to their new denim release. I totally jumped on the chance to get them at almost half price. Here’s what will be in my mail box in 7-10 days:

Zebra Lace-up (last year’s model that I have it in green/brown) and Pink Knot Top (new this season)

My sister Abby ordered the pink tapestry ruffle front and my neighbor Hanne ordered the green tapestry halter

We ordered all 4 swim tops together so that we could split shipping. Today the swim tops on a wicked sale, but the bottoms are not. In fact a pair of bottoms cost slightly more that the top today, so we only ordered the tops. We all have bottoms from other ModBe suits (very interchangeable), but if you don’t, you could buy cheap bottoms in a solid color just about anywhere. It is the top that is critical; cover, support, and look oh-so-cute. These suits are so worth it. I paid nearly $100 a set (top, bottom, & skirt) for each of my first 2 and I never regretted it. If you know me, I have terrible buyer’s remorse so this is saying something. Now if that rain will just STOP, preferably before the ward pool party tonight.

UPDATE: I hate to tell you this sale ended tonight at 10pm. I hope you were able to take advantage. Not as exciting, but I did hear that the yoga pants are on sale for the next 24 hours. They look comfy, but I'd want to try them on for $18 since you can't exchange/return them. I guess its something different each day leading up to their denim release on July 2. Click HERE to see what the hot deal today it.