Juliet turns one, triathlon and the splash park...

I have a million things to do because I'm leaving for New York tomorrow and it's Juliet's birthday today so I've been washing clothes and baking cakes and I haven't even purchased a gift for her yet but wanted to hurry and post a couple things before I left. (Can you sense the urgency in my run-on sentence?)

First of all, Merril ran the Utah Summer Games triathlon with his brother Jared. They are the 2 very white men in front. Jared more so than Merril.

And they're off! It was by sheer luck that I actually snapped the two of them as they started. I actually had to zoom way in on my computer so I could read the numbers on the swim caps to see if it was them. Otherwise, I'd never be able to tell. See how Jared's behind? That was pretty much the theme for the rest of the race.

Transition from the swim to the bike portion.

Biking back.The big finish!

Merril finished in 1 hour and 34 minutes, shaving 15 minutes off his previous triathlon time, and Jared finished in 1 hour and 53 minutes! They both did great for even being tough enough to compete! Good job boys!

Yesterday we went to the splash park in the middle of town and had lots of fun but it was mega hot! But the water was cool!

Juliet had lots of fun in the fountain!

Jacky liked the water stairs.

Well, we all had fun!

Oh, no needs to feel left out that you weren't invited to Juliet's 1st birthday because I'm only inviting Grandmas. (I've got too much to do today and throw a party too.) I'm going to have the chocolate and dessert party after I get back from New York and thought you could all wish her happy birthday then! I'm thinking the 25th of June! So I'll apologize with creme brulee and chcolate fondue. What? You've forgiven me already?

M+J

I seriously didn't deface any rock to get my new header but stumbled upon this carving the other day at the lake! I couldn't believe it and it took a couple weeks to get back to the place with my camera! To say the least, I'm very pleased!! I have lots to post but will have to wait until the kids go to bed.

Stage one: Complete

Stage one of my backyard project is completed. I went to Ace and purchased a new valve and reconnected it to the pvc pipe fittings. I had to splice some new cable because my old sprinkler cable from the front yard was cut short for some reason. I connected the new sprinkler wires to the valve and tested it, only half believing that it would work on the first try. But it totally worked! So now the sprinkling system will only water the garden for 40 minutes, not 2 days like me. I know it looks like a mess but until I get a backyard, this is the device that will water for me! (Shout out to Camille for her beautiful garden! She has skyrocketing junipers on the west side of the garden to provide shade in the afternoon and yowsa that garden looks fantastic!)

This other picture is of Juliet and her cousin Logan. Juliet is older by about 5 months but he's already pulling up on things and crawling. Wahoo!

And lastly, I discovered the other day that Juliet can play the recorder. (6th grade band appreciation flashbacks...) They come out every few months and then the kids forget about them and I don't hear them for a while. Last week, I heard the toot toot of Juliet playing. While she plays, she waves her fingers like she's fingering the holes on the instrument. So I took some video and thought I'd post it because it makes me laugh. Just try to ignore the sound of Maxine whining in the background. :)

Total bonehead...

Scene: Sunday afternoon, I was getting ready for a family dinner with all my family and was freshening the dining area and opening blinds when I looked into my backyard. I saw water everywhere! I had totally forgot that I had left the water on in my garden and it had flooded. It was on all day Saturday, Saturday night and half the day on Sunday! I run downstairs, turn off the hose and look in my neighbor's yard. Yep, totally flooded too. The worst is that a ton of sand washed from my yard into the neighbor's finished yard. There's mud all over his rocks. So I'm embarrassed and MAD! I was mad at Merril because he was going to replace the irrigation valve for the garden so it would water on its own but hadn't gotten around to it. I was mad at the kids because they were simply standing there. I was mad that our yard slopes to one side so all the water runs to one corner and then into the neighbor's yard but most of all, I was just mad at myself. I had forgotten, I had left the water on and it was my fault. So I formulated a plan of action while I angrily scrubbed the kitchen: First of all, I need to go to the hardware store to buy a valve and replace it myself or just hand it to Merril and have him slap it on. It's not hard, I've just put it off. Second, I was going to get a load of dirt for the corner of my yard that slopes and build it up. That way if my yard floods again or we get a really big rain storm, at least the water will stay up on my lot. And third, I'll go buy new rocks for the neighbor's yard and fix the mud-soaked corner of their yard. And I apologized. What a bonehead.

10-year reunion...

I just got an e-mail that my 10-year reunion is coming up. I don't think anyone I know from high school reads my blog, but if there is someone and you haven't heard about it, here's a link the reunion blog. http://pvhs1998.blogspot.com/ That way, I feel I've done my part to contact anyone who gives a rip. And other than that, I've been lazy and haven't taken pictures for the past few days so here's some from a couple weeks ago. I told Maxine to give me a crazy look and she did this:

So then she wanted to take a picture of me with the crazy, wild-eyed look which produced this:

Have a great weekend!!

We're going to get a visit from the tooth fairy!!

I don't have any pictures but Maxine lost her first tooth tonight! I couldn't think of a good picture to take. It's basically bloody gums or bloody tooth by the bathroom sink. Yeah, we're sticking with the no-picture policy for this one. Maxine was so excited that she went out and told all the neighbors. *sigh* I'm not old enough to have a kid losing her teeth. C'est la vie. It is pretty fun though! A friend (Amy) said, "Just think, in a few years they'll be getting baptized." I was like, "Whoa!" We'll take teeth falling out.

Joys of a basement...

Juliet's having a nap and Jack and Maxine decided to play in the basement. I seriously don't know what they do down there because there's just plaster powder all over the floors and empty space. They seem to like it though.

I went to Costco today and saw an old friend from high school, Alison Heaton now...what's her married name...I think it's Shuck. Something like that, anyhoo, she has 5 kids! A set of twin boys and 2 girls and another boy. I was like, "Holy crap, are all these yours???" She and her husband got married after high school so they've been married for about 10 years. So I left Costco feeling rather sane because I didn't have 2 extra kids to look after!

Other than that, we took the boat to the lake on Tuesday and it was so nice! The water's even warming up. (I only know because I rode the jetski and totally ate it twice.) Here's some of the highlights.

Jacky was cold after we washed the sand off him so he wanted to lay on the warm boat seats.

Juliet was playing with a cup of mud.

Then she wanted me to hold her. (Yah right babe.)

Maxine is practicing her posing for pictures I guess. I asked her to smile and she pulled a whole stance out of her pocket.

Merril's playing on the jetski. Stunt guys can get them to stand straight up and spin in the water. We keep practicing but end up with this.

Jacky decided to drive the boat after he warmed up.

Juliet totally took off for the water until the water hit her hands. Then she whined a bit and leaned back like she wasn't quite sure she wanted to dive right in.

And lastly, Merril wanted to practice his swimming for an upcoming triathlon but left his goggles at home. He instead borrowed Maxine's 'crab' goggles.

Now I'm just thinking, "Man, where was I in these pictures?" My little sister asked for a picture of my whole family and I had to search back to the pictures I snapped to send out with Christmas cards. So there isn't a single picture of my whole family since December 2007. I'm making a note to set the timer on my camera more often.

Also, every time I post, the formatting gets messed up and blogger tries to squash everthing up together. Any tips?

Rock the boat baby...

The boat has been getting a little work done on it. Here is the boat right after we got it back from Auto Trim Design. The boat used to have a maroon strip running along the side and they covered it up with a huge vinyl sticker. Now the strip is cherry red (like the truck and the Tahoe.) Merril decided it also needed the windows tinted. (That might be a little over the top but whatever.) Please don't look at the trailer!! It looks soooo awful and next weekend's project is new cherry-red paint for the trailer and the trailer boards being replaced.

So here's Merril working on the stereo wires. I'm sure he knows what he's doing in there. He has 8 speakers and 2 sub-woofers. Um yeah, that might be a little excessive seeing as it's only a 20-foot boat. That's a speaker per 2 feet of boat. But again, whatever. He said I don't even have to listen to the stereo when I'm in it. I'm sure it will sound terrific!

Here's me putting the upholstery back in. Seriously, there's no other way to reach those nuts. My other arm is in the hole reaching back up towards the top of that grey side panel. They're a beast! The boat manufacturer must employ a group of skinny, 10-year old boys to reach spaces like that because my arm barely fit and there was no way Merril was able to get his arm up there. Merril's was making me laugh so my face is all red. :)

And VOILA!!! Merril stayed up late on Saturday and finished the stereo and put most of the upholstery back in. A guy named Therol Judd (I think) did the upholstery and did a really nice job!

Here's just another picture of the seats. There's some wires still hanging out but we're close to being finished with the interior!

Here's Juliet just doing what she does best, looking sweet. She loves to stand in the bow and look around.

Soooo dirty...

Juliet knocked over a bottle of bubbles and watched it roll down the driveway. She wanted to chase it and army crawled down the driveway and in the process, got very dirty. This is her at the bottom of the driveway, triumphant!

Now she's just playing with the bubble blower.

I bought a sad-looking hibiscus at Lowes the other day. It didn't have any tags on it so I didn't know what color it was until it finally bloomed. We have yellow!

Here's Jacky, the kazoo boy. He wanted to ride his bike and play the kazoo while we were playing outside.

Here's one of Juliet in the stroller. She was confined so she wouldn't get so dirty.

And here she is in the middle of a teddy graham mess. She'd gotten really quiet and content and I was just thanking my lucky stars from the other room. Then I walked out and realized she'd found her own snack (left out by the Jackster) and proceeded to eat as many as she could before I discovered her.

Also, we worked on the boat a lot this past weekend and got so much done! I'm late so I'll post boat pictures later!!

A whole week!

I'm usually better about blogging but the kids and Merril were sick and I got an infection from nursing Juliet and felt like I had the flu for a day. (Except for Maxine which has miraculously been immune from virtually every cold Jack has brought home from Nursery.) So here's some pictures that I meant to do earlier but didn't get around to doing.

This is Maxine during the graduation program. They sang songs and said the pledge of allegiance.


This next one is of Merril feeding the kids with chopsticks. Merril likes to take leftover sticky rice, warm it up and crack a raw egg on it. He adds a little soy sauce, stirs it up and eats it for breakfast. (Sorry if we made any stomachs turn out there in the audience. Sorry Grandma Campbell) The kids all thought it was especially yummy and took turns eating his rice. (I like my eggs with a little more flame under 'em but to each his own.)






And lastly, with Jacky being sick, I'd find him asleep around the house. Here's one on the couch. Poor kid. He's feeling better but still coughing. That should resolve itself soon.

Oh, one more thing! To those living in town, I just registered Maxine for some summer craft classes at the new community center through the college's continuing education. They're every Monday in June and July at 10:30 a.m. and last for an hour. They're $1.50 per class for ages K-6th grade. (Maxine loves to make crafts and it's something to do during the summer.) Just thought I'd let you know. Have a great week!

Alvin and the chipmunks...

In a throw back to Beka and her nesting birds, we were looking outside and saw some chipmunks. I saw one about a week ago and figured it was a fluke but today the kids and I watched 3 separate chipmunks play in the back yard. They've made their home in a rocky slope that separates my yard from my neighbors. The rocks have lots of good places for them to hide and make their home. As long as they don't eat my garden, I think we'll get along fine. Do chipmunks eat carrots?















I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I was shooting through a window and had exhausted my optical and digital zoom. They spook easily so I didn't dare go outside.














This one's standing on his hind legs. I think they're cute.















Also, I took some pictures of my garden. It's looking pretty good considering all the wind we've had. I was going to build some sort of wind protection this year but got lazy.














I thinned my carrots but it looks like I need to do it again.














Here's my peas! They're so cute but I always get them in too late. Hopefully I can get a few pods before they totally roast.














I'm usually not so picture heavy. Lastly, Maxine's swim party for preschool was today. There was pizza and water fun. Somehow those things always go together.



















Here's Juliet waiting for some pizza. I picked the cheese off for her. Alvin, Simon, Theodore! Doo, doo...doo, doo, doo, doo!

Call at 4:00 a.m...

When the phone rings at 4 a.m., that's never a good sign. Merril's Dad got up for work this morning (truck driver) and went to the truck yard to get his truck and drive off except it wasn't there. Someone had stolen his truck over the weekend. I was thinking to myself, "Who steals a whole truck??" It might not be as common as general car theft but I'm sure it still happens, I just never thought about it before. His truck is an older Kenworth, navy blue with a rather classic/clean design, squared off with 6" straight pipes. Mark loves his truck. I could hear the sadness over the phone as he said, "It's gone. It's just not here." Mark called the police to file and report and Merril left to go be with his Dad. Ah, but to top it all off, the truck only has liability insurance on it. Merril and his Dad have been making phone calls to all their buddies to keep the eyes open and faxing flyers to fueling stations. What a bummer.

On a lighter note, Maxine was eating an apple yesterday and said that her bottom teeth hurt. I reached in and sure enough, she has a loose bottom tooth. Yikes! That made me feel old. I thought I'd have at least until Kindergarten before I had to worry about that. So I'll probably be taking a lot of pictures of her before it falls out because her toothy grin is going to be not so toothy. So in memoriam, here's a picture of Maxine at 18 months when her teeth were a little newer. I forgot how much hair she had. Doesn't Merril look like a kid?

It's just like riding a bike, it's easy...

Maxine has never been what I'd term "athletic". What she doesn't have in athletic ability, she makes up for in stubbornness. Most of her friends have been riding bikes without their training wheels for a while now and she was always too afraid to take them off. Anna, who's staying with us for the week, wanted to get her bike and ride it yesterday. So we got her bike and she was riding it around and Maxine said she REALLY wanted to take her training wheels off. So I put Juliet and Jack down for a nap and we took off one training wheel. She rode around like that for about 15 minutes and then we took the other one off. She was pretty shaky and crying, so I asked if she wanted to take a rest but she wouldn't give up. She started the adventure in flip flops and a skirt but the outfit evolved into pants, tennis shoes and gloves. So I ran behind her for an hour, trying to help her get the feel for it. Then, Juliet woke up so I had to go inside. Maxine insisted that she wanted to stay out and practice. She practised starting off a million times and went a little farther each time. She fell a couple times but she started to get really good! We came outside and helped her practise some more and then I went inside to start dinner. She kept at it and by the end of the day, she looked like this:

She still needs to learn to brake a little. I can't believe how fast she improved! She went from scared and sobbing on her bike to singing and confident in one afternoon!

In this picture, she told me that she loves to ride her bike more than anything else! The wind was blowing so her hair is in her face a bit. The wind actually helped because it'd push her and help her get started.

When Merril got home, we all played outside until dark.

He got new biking shoes so he was trying them out. Maxine kept yelling at him because she was afraid he'd "crush her bike to little pieces." Looks like a clown bike with Merril riding. Looking at the pictures now, we might have to invest in a bigger bike because that one looks so small. So yeah, I'm very proud of her and her stubborn streak. :)

P.S. Merril told me while reading my blog that I'd misspelled 'practised'. I went to edit my blog and ran spellchecker and it didn't catch it. So I looked it up online and found that 'practised' and 'practiced' are both considered correct spellings. Kind of like 'grey' and 'gray' are both correct. Who knew?

P.P.S. Funny thing. Maxine's friend, Jocelyn, learned to ride her bike without training wheels the exact same day. Her Mom blogged an almost identical post. Click here http://amyhummel.typepad.com to see it.

Poor Anna...

We're watching a friend's daughter for the week and so far it's been just fine. Today she didn't eat very much breakfast and mid-morning she said her tummy didn't feel very good. So we had a little snack and decided to go to the McDonald's PlayPlace because the wind was blowing. So we ordered food and the kids are playing, except for Anna. Then she says, "I think I'm going to throw up." So we run to the bathroom and nothing. So we hang out for another little bit and she says the same thing. We run to the bathroom and still nothing. So we pack it up and head home with me a little wary and watching the rear-view mirror every couple seconds. We get in the door and no more than 2 minutes later, she heads to the toilet and...well...you know. I feel so bad for her because it sucks to be sick and her Mom's not going to be back until late Friday. I just hope she starts to feel better soon. She and the kids are watching cartoons in the living room, the best perk of being sick.

Other than that, I had one of those 'duh' moments. Juliet was pretty fussy over the weekend and I just figured she still wanted to be held all the time from being sick the previous week. So on Monday, she yawned and I saw an extra tooth. Woops! She's exceptionally happy today because her tooth is cut and done now. Had I noticed earlier, I could've at least thrown a little Tylenol her way. Sorry baby.

In happy news, we're starting up work on the basement again! I'm calling painters to get bids this week. (I might still paint myself, depending on how expensive it is.) Then it's finish carpentry, lights & switches, and then carpet/tile. Merril thinks we might have it done in a month! (I'm a little pessimistic (realistic) so I'm thinking 1-3 months.) Yeah! It'd be nice to get Juliet out of the closet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Can you imagine coming across the plains with a wagon full of kids and being pregnant or having an infant? No, I have much to be thankful for.

What did you get for Mother's Day??

For the first 4 years of our marriage, I never received anything for Mother's Day, simply because Merril stated, "You're not my mother." I was a little bummed but got over it quickly because I couldn't disagree with his logic. A few years ago, Merril asked, "Why don't I get anything for Father's Day??"

I replied, "Well, you didn't get me anything for Mother's Day, so I returned the favor."

"Hmm." he says.

I add, "Mother's Day comes first every year so when you're ready for a Father's Day present, I'll be waiting." *grin*

Since then, I've always received some type of gift for Mother's Day and rather appreciate it. Never jewelry because I think jewelry is just a cope out when a real gift can't be thought of and jewelry commercials are so condescending. (But that's just me.) So I awoke this morning to a new shower caddy (because mine was super old and peeling) and (you'll never guess) a motorcycle stand! Basically they securely hold the motorcycle so it can be cleaned or worked on. I just think it makes the bike look sexy with the back up like that. Rrrrrrrrrrr.

Sweet Jacky...

Today Jacky toddled into my room and I said, "Good morning Jacky."

Jack with an injured look on his face said, "I don't like it when you call me Jacky. My friend Jon calls me Jack Jack and that makes me happy."

Me, "Okay, I won't call you Jacky anymore."

Jack, "That's very nice of you."

So the influence of the bros is already upon my 2 1/2 year-old son. He won't even let his Mommy call him Jacky anymore. Oh well, I knew it was coming sooner or later. Jacky never was a very masculine nickname anyway.


Merril snapped this picture the other day when Juliet wasn't feeling well and had a fever. I laid down with her in an attempt to get her to take a nap but I fell asleep first. She was playing with my hair as I fell asleep and that's why my hair is pulled over my face. She was so beat down from throwing up and was hardly eating but she's back to her usual self now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Oh I almost forgot!! I've been eating a little dairy for the past week and a half with no noticable reaction from Juliet! I've just been having skim milk on my cereal to help but I usually sneak in a little cheese and a few bites of ice cream too! I've had some chocolate too! Wahoo! I got sassy and had a huge peanut butter sandwich and she totally broke out in a huge rash all over her torso. So I'll hold off on the peanut butter and relish in my single scoop of ice cream. It's soooooooooo good. Yeah!

Green with envy...

Ever since Amy and Beka have started smoking the edges of their pictures, I've wanted to do that so bad! My program, PhotoImpression, does lots of stuff but not that. But I downloaded a program and voila! I've just messed with a couple photos so far and I don't think I'll do it to every picture I mess with but I think it's fun! I love this picture of Juliet. Looking at it again, I would've done an oval instead of square. And lightened the opacity. Maybe next time.

She looks so old to me. I'm just waiting for her to say, "Can I have the car keys?"

My Dad turns 60 on Saturday. Seriously, I never thought he'd make it. But I'm excited that he's still alive and able to celebrate his 60th birthday. I can't believe it's Wednesday tomorrow. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Monday with margaritas, fajitas, home-made guacamole, and chips and salsa. I like to celebrate little holidays. Anticipation is one of my favorite emotions and it goes with holidays so well. There's always something to look forward to. It was so nice outside tonight that we porched it while the kids played with the neighbors. Nice. Well, I'll stop rambling and head off to the dishes. Cheerio.