Summer is upon us

Let's see. How about a summer update? My kids are done with school tomorrow. I know I should be excited, but wow... it makes for long days. I'm looking forward to this summer though... we aren't moving this year, so that makes it better than the last two summers. :) Uh, what else. We are going to Oregon for the 4th, and that makes me HAPPY!! I am sad that I am missing Rose Festival, because there just isn't a more beautiful time in Oregon. The air smells like roses, the waterfront smells like elephant ears (if you don't know what these are, PLEASE find out, they are delectable.) and usually it's nice weather. Although sometimes it's crummy weather and it makes the waterfront smell like an elephant cage instead of ear... but mostly it's nice weather... (hehehe)

Let's see. My sister is having her baby, and we'll be there for the blessing... that is SO exciting. And last but not least WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!! NICE! Not until August, but since this IS about summer... I thought I could mention it. I can't wait. It's all about the Expedition Everest for me...

Animal Kingdom has a new ride, and I can't wait! Check it out on youtube...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kRhrg5rx2-8

My niece Kasey (who's living with me for the summer! Check the earlier birthday post for how I feel about this... I AM SO STOKED!) is going with us to be our nanny/hang out buddy... so this trip should really be awesome... .

Anyway, have a good weekend... we are off to a graduation celebration, (CONGRATS NATALIE!!!) so, watch another of my favorite youtube videos on your way out... it's a classic...

Jennie's SERIOUS pop culture addiction

Ok. I don't usually post only a "Pop-Culture" only post, but there has been a bit too much going on to ignore it. First off...

All is right with the world. David Cook has won, as WELL HE SHOULD. Let's be real for one minute. David Archuleta was amazing, but he forgot the words, his voice was stellar, but COME ON. David C is the MASTER!!! WHAT UP!!????!?!?!?!

I was screaming like a little girl when he won. It was a very exciting moment. :)

The next day I realized that Idol's baby sister was on... So you think you can dance. This is like American Idol for your eyes. It's HILARIOUS, and amazing. Case in Point. Watch this guy. I promise it's worth it. It freaked me OUT, but I was so riveted to it, that I couldn't look away! He must be a non-human. WATCH Mia Michael's face, she is astounded. I am quite sure that is what my face looked like too. Have I built it up enough? Watch and see.

SO SO SO cool, right??? :) Have a good weekend!!!

PS - Yes, I am thinking of starting a 12 step program for anyone else out there who has a "problem".

Happy Birthday Karin!!

Before I get too far into this post, I have to apologize to everyone back home in PDX that I didn't get to see. It was a short trip, and I never even made it to Hwy 26, much less all the way to Bethany. I did get to spend alot of time with Karin, and being that it was for her b-day that I was there, I guess it worked the way it needed to! Still it was hard to be that close and not say hi...

ANYWAY. It was an awesome trip with the weather in Lincoln City better than I have ever seen it! Karin had a birthday on Sunday, and I really wanted to surprise her, and it worked! We made a little story up about Courtney taking Karin to a movie, and guess who was there to surprise her in the theater? :) We watched the movie and in the morning headed to the beach. It was 85-90 degrees, with a GORGEOUS breeze. Honestly, it was the prettiest day there ever. That night we went to my favorite restaurant, Kyllos on the water. (Remember it Kristi,Whit & Kenon?) We had dinner, dessert and then headed back the hotel to hang out and chat. Perfect! We headed back to town the next day and had dinner with My parents, got Courtney off to Prom, and was back on my way home shortly after. It was a short trip, but was so nice. Next time, I wanna see the old neighborhood and buddies! Hope everyone has a great memorial day!

These pics are taken with my cell phone, so they aren't the greatest quality, but I guess they'll do... :)

Real Salt Lake Game

Last night we went to the Real Salt Lake game with friends of David's for work. I was a bit stressed about it if I'm being honest... First off, they don't have kids, and thought it would be "so fun" to bring all three of ours. Second off, me not knowing ANYTHING about professional soccer didn't know it was outside. In the Ute's stadium to be exact. I know, I am RETARDED. Third 2 1/2 hours of hanging out with people I don't know while trying to wrangle Jack and NOT look like a maniac while doing it. BUT! I loved it! Who knew? I thought that the NBA was the only professional sport for me, but this was AWESOME! It would have been better if we were playing Beckham's LA GALAXY, but I'm not going to complain. David's friend's wife, Brooke works for Real, so she hooked us up with tickets on the practically sidelines AND, hooked me up at half-time!!

RSL to hold 'Mother's Day Dash'
One hundred moms to race for gifts during halftime

Yep! I got to go on the field and run (100 yards! That is FAR!!!) to the end of the field to grab a random envelope. NICE! Mine had a $50 Target card in it. I was stoked! We forgot our camera, so you will have to imagine, but David said he got a little video of it on his phone. I will let you know if worked... :) I just have to say, these Moms were HILARIOUS. Remember, 100 of us were guaranteed an envelope, and all 100 envelopes were sealed, so getting there first made no difference, but some of these women were SPRINTING. I took it as a nice jog, so I didn't trip! The lady in front of me... less lucky. She looked like she was sliding into home base! HAHAHAH....
Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there. And thanks again Tom and Brooke!

Muffins For Moms

Today was Harris's little Mother's Day program. Most have you have been to one of these, and honestly, I was kinda bummed about it. You see, today was ALSO David Archuletta's "home visit" and he was going to be singing live at the mall about 30 miles from my house. A.R.G.H. It really would have been fun to watch, and just see the whole American Idol thing from the other side. BUT. I knew Harris was so excited. And so I went. I am so glad I did. Every once in a while, I think you need a reminder of how much your children love you. This was a good one. To hear their sweet little voices, and watch my little boy with the most earnest face, singing to me. I mean literally. He watched me the whole time. It was so cute. I took a coule pictures, but unfortunatly, they look like the children were bussed in from the underworld. Check out what I mean...

I mean, HONESTLY!!! WHY are all their eyes so red?? These pics are after I used the red-eye reduction! DANGIT! Anyway, David Archuletta will always be around. My little boy will only be 8 and singing about how much he loves me once. Best concert of my life. :)

Pinewood Derby

Wow. Just.... WOW. I don't even know how to start. As stated in a previous Blog entry, I am new at the whole Scouting thing. I vaguely remember going to one of my brother's pinewood derbies as a kid. When David was asked to run it, he asked for my help. Knowing I would be there anyway to watch Harris compete, of course I will! So I signed in all the cars/kids and kept the scoring. You would think that the kids being TOTALLY hyped up about watching their own car creations hurl down the track would have been the worst part. Nope. The parents that were involved were AMAZINGLY difficult. I am really trying to use my "nice words" here. When I say difficult, I mean, first... I don't think 75% of those boys had ever even seen their cars before. The boys are supposed to make their own cars, from the whittling down of the wood, to the paint, etc. Some of these cars looked as if they could have been on "Pimp My Ride". We had people FULL on cheating, from using NON-regulated car parts, to adding extra weight to the car, and more. AND, while keeping score, I had people (mostly Dads, but a few Mom's as well) insinuating that I wasn't keeping score correctly. Like I would cheat. Look, my son took 2nd to last, if I was gonna cheat, I WOULD MAKE HIM WIN, PEOPLE!!!

Anyway, this was insanity at it's best. I honestly have never seen anything like it. I hope I don't again. Poor Harris was devastated about the fact that the car that won had less than standard parts. He didn't think it was fair. And, it wasn't... but Harris learned a good lesson, that it's about spending time with his Dad making the car, spending time with friends racing them, and being fair. I told him I thought he was definitely the winner.

Bring on August!!

I will start this post off as, yes. I know I am a spaz, but I can't help it! I'm SO excited for this book to come out!! Ok, not QUITE as excited as I was for Harry Potter's final book, but come on, we watched that boy grow up! Anyway, August can't come fast enough, but in the meantime...


I'm honestly on the fence about this one... I'm not much of a sci-fi fan. BUT. I like her, so maybe with the below coupon it's worth it... :)

(right click on the coupon, save it and then print it! It's like printing money!) :)

OUCH!!!

I know, I haven't been around lately. It's been a slow week or so at our house. Which is actually really nice. I mean, I could have blogged about Brooke's complete blank out on American Idol last week, or her subsequent vote-off last night. I could have blogged about LOST and how AMAZING it is and asked for your opinions on WHAT IN THE WORLD is going on, or finishing the Other Boylen girl book. That was almost blog worthy in itself. If you haven't read it, you should. It's awesome. BUT, since basically all I have been doing is watching the above mentioned shows or reading the above mentioned book, I decided to refrain. Until today's trip to the "Urgent Care" clinic.

Jack was yet again rooting through the juice cup drawer, hoping I'd change the other 15-20 answers and decide to give him a 3rd juice cup for the day (this is at about 12:30), when I tell him to get out of the drawer. Now being in the completely out of control 3 year old fit throw phase, he SLAMMED the juice cup drawer closed. I'm not sure how he did this, but I hear a SLAM and a SCREAAAAAMMMM. I've never heard such a sound. He was totally inconsolable. I look at his toe and the nail is instantly purple. I mean, INSTANTLY.

I snuggle him, kiss it better, everything that is on my Mom-arsenal. But, nothing was working. I gave him tylenol, wrapped him in a blankie, and watched Cars. Nothing. I finally gave up and decided the toe must be broken, and took him to the Urgent Care. By the time we get there, he's happily playing with his toys, and so excited to play with the busy beads toy in the waiting room. WHAT? This kid was screaming like I was cooking him over a fire, and then totally fine. I looked like the biggest weirdo, like I'd take him for a paper cut or something. It was weird. Anyway, good to report, "probably not broken, just watch it, and we'll see." Oh good. Glad I spent an hour and who knows how much $ to hear that. Whew. I can sleep soundly now.

Anyway, as you can see, he has recovered, and I'm pretty sure it's not broken. Whew... now YOU can sleep soundly too! :) Hope you have a good weekend!