What a turnout!

Merril and I were both pleasantly surprised how many people showed up to the dessert celebration last night! However, we apologize if it was a little loud! That many friends, family and kids yelling over each other produces quite the din. I haven't blogged for about a week because I wanted to keep the dessert party post front and center until after the party. Thanks for coming everyone and one day we'll have the basement done so people can disperse for conversation better.

I've been lazy about posting things from a Campbell reunion at the cabin so here they are! The picture of the grandkids. I feel like a moron because we took a ton of pictures of the grandkids and then realized that Jack wasn't in it. Woops! We found him and took a couple more. Silly!

Here's one of all of us!

Grandma's reading a story. Everyone is listening intently.

Here's grandma's birthday cake. Juliet's birthday was in a couple of days so she got to sit on Grandma's lap during the song. Can you believe the 4th of July is on Friday! Happy Independence Day!

Did you save room for dessert?

Okay, I've weaned Juliet and it's time to have a party. A party dedicated to creamy and chocolate confections. I sent out invitation via email but I want to make sure and get the word out!

The Campbells Dessert and Chocolate Celebration!

Date: Monday, June 30th 2008

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Place: Merril & Jamie Campbell's house

R.S.V.P: Call Jamie or send me an email so I can get an idea for how many people are coming.

There will be desserts galore but fresh fruit and vegetable trays for those looking for a healthier alternative.

Cheesecake, brownies, home-made ice cream and warm chocolate volcano cakes are just a few of the ideas I've had. If you have any suggestions or would like to bring your own special dessert, just let me know.

It's going to be yummy! P.S. I didn't actually make these desserts in the picture but wanted to get your mouth watering.

Awesome and sleepy...

We took off on Wednesday night and hopped on the red eye for New York City. Merril caught a couple hours of sleep but I only snuck in 1 hour. Juliet slept most of the time and she was happy while she was awake so that was good! We were totally wasted the first day but Juliet napped in the stroller a couple times. We hit the Statue of Liberty

Then we went back to the hotel and slept and had a shower.

Then we caught a red eye bus to Boston, MA. I apologized to the whole bus because Juliet had a teensy screaming fit for about 10 minutes. Oh well, it was only because the bus driver slammed on his brakes and woke her up. We slept in and met up with my best bud, Emily and her daughter, Tessa. We caught a Boston Red Sox game and saw the historical sites around Boston. We caught the train to Salem, MA to stay at Emily's house. Juliet and Em's daughter, Tessa.

She has the sweetest little smile.

Since pictures of all three of them are getting harder to come by, she asked if I'd take a couple while I was there. Here's my fav I think.

Here's the kids playing together.

Then we took the red eye flight home and got to bed around 4:00 a.m. So we had lots of fun but are a little sleepy today! It'll take me a couple days to recover from the hectic pace. We had so much fun and thanks to Emily for letting us crash at your place and thanks to Grandma Campbell and Buffy for watching Maxine and Jack!! It's crazy to think that when I went out to visit last Spring, Tess was still in the NICU but now she's a normal, healthy baby girl, almost a toddler. I really thought she'd be small from being a premie but she's way taller than Juliet and right on track developmentally and that makes me very happy!!

Cake baby...

Maxine wanted to help decorate Juliet's birthday cake so I bought some different colored frosting and let her go to town. She made a little picture of Juliet in a dress and a cloud. I did the writing and we called it good! It made cake decorating a breeze but nothing worthy of Amy. I love to decorate cakes but Maxine loves to help and so we compromise. It might not be stunning but it's fun.
Here's Juliet wearing the birthday hat that Maxine made her. I thought it was sweet of Maxine but Juliet was less enthused.

And finally, cake time. She wasn't hesitant at all and dug right in. She kept trying to grab the details of the stick figure, like its shoes or face.
It was yummy and a big thanks to Maxine because she was my big helper!! Thanks Maxine!

Other than that, we're leaving this evening and catching the red eye to New York! I'm mostly packed, except for a few things for Merril and hope we don't forget too much. And I hope Juliet just sleeps on the plane!!! Please, please, please, please.

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!!