it's the freakin' weekend.

Unlike some of my friends, I just have one child that goes to school. It doesn't make as big of a difference when she is gone, because my 2 hardest kids are still home.

I had big plans of cleaning, taking long naps, eating at home, yada, yada, yada. You know what is coming next!? My house isn't any cleaner, I still am eating out, and my kids haven't gotten good naps...and neither have I. Eh, maybe next week is what I am tellin' myself.

One day I was super productive, running all of my errands before Savannah had to be picked up. One day we went to a birthday party at Jungle Jim's with all the neighborhood boys Devin's age. One day we had to go to Scheel's to buy something, and I decided to take all the kids for a good time. We have spent every night doing homework, and way too much time sitting in carpool. {People forgot how to pick up kids during the Summer, boggles my mind!}

This week really did run smooth. Savannah is loving school, and is waking up easily. Devin and Sabrina have taken turns waking up in the morning, so I don't have to deal with all 3 before 8. We have juggled everything nicely, and while I want to say I wish every week could/would run this nicely...I know that would jinx myself.

I am ready for a long weekend, and hopefully we don't forget come next Tuesday how to do this school thing. :)

1st day of 3rd grade.

I will admit I cry easily. I really try not to, but I am the one holding back tears at back to school night, dropping Van off the first day of school, and her performing in an assembly about does me in. There is just something about watching your child blossom, make goals, enjoy new things, and change from a child to a young lady. It really is special. 

At the Open House meeting her new teacher

I don't get nervous to send Savannah off to school. She is social, a teacher's pet, and excels in this type of environment. I don't have to fight her to do homework, it is the first thing she wants to do when she gets home. When I go to Parent/Teacher Conference they always tell me the same things..."Savannah is a perfectionist, a social butterfly, sensitive." I got lucky with this kid, I really did.

We didn't know much about her teacher this year, but after today she declared her to be the nicest teacher ever! She came home with that spark she only gets from going to school, and it made me happy.

Something about 3rd grade for me is different. Maybe because that is when I really started to remember my school experiences. I hope she makes really good memories, finds awesome new friends, and I think she is most excited about learning cursive. 

As always I am excited to see what the new year brings. It is fun to see how far she has come, and I am so proud of this girl of ours.

Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade

good things must come to an end.

I think we are finally ready to get back to our school routine, and leave behind our Summer of 2013. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't ready for this yet. I remember spending a lot of time at the end of May thinking about how I wanted our Summer to go, and I even wrote about it. Being the girl with awesome intentions, and poor follow through...I am impressed with everything we accomplished this Summer.

I asked Savannah what we haven't done that she was hoping to still do. When I got the answer of "We did everything!"...it did make me happy! I put my best effort in, and it didn't go unnoticed. We played hard, we created the best of memories, and it was fun.

Savannah's favorite list of things she did...

Girl Scout camp
Seven Peaks
Non-Lemonade Stand
Bridal Veil Falls
Geocaching
Park City weekend
Cupcake Wars play date
Hokulia Shave Ice
and my personal favorite thing she said being with my family!

I would ask my other kids what they liked the most, but they would probably tell you the bubbles we just did 2 seconds ago. 
  
Even if Savannah won't admit it, she is ready to go to school. We have had mostly good days this Summer, but I know she likes getting away from us. Something about an annoying little brother, and a Mom that makes you clean...school sounds better some days.

I am already trying to come up with a bunch of new and different things to do for next year. I am hopeful it will be way more fun, because Sabrina and Devin will be a little older to enjoy it too!

Waving goodbye wildly...thanks for being good to us Summer of 2013.

Tracy Aviary Play Group.

We decided to do one last Summer play group that Savannah could go to. I plan to continue these play groups, but they will mostly be for Devin. Occasionally I want to plan something on a Friday afternoon so Savannah can feel apart of the fun. We will see how the school year goes first. After school is always hectic for us, and I will probably really limit what we do with others.

Devin had it in his head that we were going to see Dinosaur's, and pouted/whined in the stroller for the majority of our trip. Sabrina decided that she couldn't see well enough from the stroller, and wanted to be held. Savannah complained about everything. So, as you can see, my kids were fun to be around. {Read that with heavy sarcasm!} After this play group I will be surprised if we can get anyone to come again. :)

I always remember going to the bird shows at Tracy Aviary as a kid, and so we all went to one while we were there. It was much shorter than I remember, but Savannah and Devin really loved it. I do want to take them back when they are in a good mood, and maybe we can have a better overall experience.

some of our group! I think I figured out we had 27 total, which was crazy fun!

Thank you to all of our friends that came. I really do enjoy meeting up with everyone, even if my kids don't always cooperate.

Seven Peaks + Grove Market & Deli

We wanted to hit up Seven Peaks one last time before Summer is officially over. Honestly, I am a little over Seven Peaks, but my kids aren't. Shocker.

I didn't tell the kids that we were going until we woke up Monday morning. Which was initially a fabulous idea, until we couldn't find Savannah's swimsuit...and I almost scratched the whole plan. Good thing Paul helped find that darn swimsuit, and we were on our way. I was only slightly frazzled.

The water park was pretty dead, and we got to do a few things that the kids always avoid because it is too busy. We only stayed a little over an hour, but the kids were still happy with that. I didn't feel bad, because this was our second time in a week. It has been fun having the Pass of All Passes this Summer, and I have enjoyed watching our kids start to really love the water.

I made a list of different/fun places I wanted to take the kids for lunch while we were on our adventures for the week. Our lunch spot for this day was Grove Market and Deli. I use to go here all of the time, but haven't ever taken my kids. 

It is kind of an odd little place for lunch, and Savannah was skeptical at how good it was going to be. Of course, she loved it...mostly because it is the biggest sandwich she has ever eaten! It was an added bonus that I bought their brownies, because they were delicious! Who knew!

Bina slept through lunch, swimming always wears her out.

It ended up being a really good day, even though it didn't start off the best with the missing swimsuit...

Look at Devin's face, you can clearly tell this is a good sandwich. Right?

fizzy explosion bags

So, a few weeks ago I had planned a fun science experiment with the kids, but Devin ruined it. I am sure I wrote about it, but it doesn't really matter now. I didn't have enough stuff to start the experiment over, and I just got around to doing it again this past weekend.

This is one of those things I have pinned on my "fun for the kids" board. I haven't done everything on that board, but I have made a large dent in it. If it isn't something I love, I delete the pin. So that board is almost fail proof. Anyway, the fizzy explosion bags are originally found here.

She gave the exact amounts of everything, and it worked great. So definitely follow her directions. My favorite idea that she had, and I would have never thought of is...

You wrap the baking soda in paper towels!! Then when you drop it in the liquid you actually have time to zip the bag, and drop it on the ground. Like a little homemade capsule. Genius.

We loved this, and the kids were sad that I only made 5 capsules. We could have done this for hours. Easy enough for Devin, and still fun for Savannah too! My type of activity.

Oh hi.

After our disaster, we were ready for our weekend to have fun. Except the weekend wasn't ready to give us a break. After our water heater was "fixed", we noticed we still had water everywhere. We made a few calls to the person who handled the install, and he made his way back to our basement to actually take care of the problem properly. 

Between errands we had to do to get ready for Savannah to go to Girl Scout camp, and dealing with water again...it wasn't much fun. I did take the kids to Hobby Lobby so that we could buy some fun stuff for a new craft project.

Paul ended up working on Saturday night, and ended up getting a flat tire. Does someone want our good luck? I will give it to you, except I don't really want to...that would be rude.

Sunday we changed the tire, and decided Paul could take it to get it fixed first thing Monday. When we went to start the car on Monday morning, it wouldn't start. I mean, you would think I was joking, but I am not. I really did laugh when Paul called me outside, because at this point it is becoming pretty comical.

Anyways, we got Savannah off to Girl Scout camp on Monday, and after the car fiasco I think we all just wanted to rest and relax. Our house was surprisingly quiet, long naps were taken, and not much excitement during the days Savannah was away. We did manage to go out on the town every night to live it up a bit without Savannah. We needed to have something to brag about when she got back. LOL.

We tried a new restaurant, went to the batting cages, played at a couple of arcades, went shopping, let Devin stay up late, and overall enjoyed ourselves. Savannah had fun too, and is already talking about Girl Scout camp next year. 

thank you Jerilee for this cute photo of our girl.

I always learn a lot when I take the time to spend one-on-one time with our kids. Having Savannah gone for a few days was a good experience for all of us. Savannah helps me out a lot with little jobs around the house, and I missed having an extra set of hands. I also realized how much Devin loves and needs to be more independent with his imagination. He played for hours without a sound, and had so much fun. This usually doesn't happen when Savannah is around, she plays the bossy older Sister well.

naps with a snuggly 3 year old in the middle

I think I got my second wind to finish off the rest of Summer. We still have almost 2 weeks left, and I can't see it go to waste. I am planning one more big play group that Savannah will be included in. It will be at Tracy Aviary on the 20th. We will be there at 10:00 AM, and will play until the babies get cranky. Shoot me an email if you need more details or have questions...sellpartyof at gmail.

so I remember

{I feel like a post is not complete without pictures. These are some of my favorite images that my friend Kim Orlandini of Kim Orlandini Photography took!}

Cathy told me I should stand up in Sacrament meeting and bear my testimony about my humbling experience yesterday. When I gave her a big fat swear word in return, I decided I would write it down here. Much easier for me, and not so embarrassing for Paul.

I feel like I should preface this with, I am not perfect. I get a little uncomfortable talking about religion, and making people feel like I am better because of one reason or another. I have a lot to work on. I also don't care what religion you belong to or don't belong to. Okay!? Now I can start.

I always have struggled to fit in at church, where in most other situations I am just fine. I have a deep feeling of inadequacy when surrounded by people who know a lot about my religion and scriptures, and I do not.

After Devin got to that stage of not being content to just sit, but also not being able to go to nursery I struggled to want to go to church. Knowing it was going to be 3 hours of torture, and I knew I wouldn't get anything spiritual out of chasing my kid around. Well, here I am again at that stage with Sabrina. Struggling. Wondering why I go to church, and when will it not feel like such an awful chore.

Do you ever feel like it doesn't matter how much good you do, or how many "right" choices you make...you still end up with lots of challenges?  Maybe it is just us, we must have a lot to learn. We have lots of hard things come our way, making us have to rely on each other a lot. When most people could or would call their parents/siblings for help, we don't have those kind of options. Not wanting to bother our friends, we make do with the 5 of us a lot.

Yesterday while Paul was working, our basement flooded from our water heater. I had no idea how to shut off the water, and quickly asked anyone on Facebook if they knew. My friends are smart, and I got it handled. Brandie was a gem, and brought over an extra shop vac so Paul and I could get to work sucking up water. She offered to stay and help, but I figured with both of Paul and I with shop vac's it would go quick.

Little did I know, Paul had to go back to work pretty quickly after the repair man came...and we didn't make much progress with the water. Without Paul I don't handle stress very well. I walked away from the basement, and decided the water would still be waiting for me whenever I could get up the energy.

I was frustrated that our bad luck never seems to end, and just when we make headway...we have another bill. I was having the best kind of pitty party. I was in bed, ignoring my kids, and bawling...Paul would not have let this happen if he were home. Not my finer moments, I told my kids I wanted to run away.

I started to say a prayer, wondering if these things ever get answered. I didn't feel like my Heavenly Father was listening, or cared. I remember saying "I am alone, I need help, and you never send it when I need it!" Not 10 minutes later I got a text from Cathy..."I am on my way. Are you home?"

I brushed my stinky self off, apologized to my kids, gave them big hugs, and went on my way. I decided to start boiling water so Sabrina could have a bath in the sink, and we could wait for Cathy to help me carry up the buckets of water. While I stood in my kitchen, I heard a knock on the door. Thinking it was Cathy, Devin ran to answer the door...and he yelled "It's Jerwiwee, Mommy!" Savannah and I both tried to correct him, but sure enough when I went to the door, Hali {Jerilee's daughter} was standing with a soda and a bag of candy for us. 

As Cathy and I sucked up water, we started talking about how many times I have said to someone "Let me know if I can help." and people have said it to me. Knowing I really need help, but don't know if they are being serious or not. I think most people have a hard time asking for help, including myself. She is a wise woman, and quoted this talk...

"If you come upon a person who is drowning, would you ask if they need help—or would it be better to just jump in and save them from the deepening waters? The offer, while well meaning and often given, “Let me know if I can help” is really no help at all." Elder Ronald A. Rasband

I was indeed humbled by this experience, and that simple prayer for help was answered. My Heavenly Father did hear me, and sent me help when I probably didn't deserve it. I am a changed person today, because of those few women who came to rescue me when I was drowning yesterday. I hope the next time someone is struggling, I will be the first one to jump in to save them.

I feel like I need to end this with a big ol' AMEN. 

things might start lookin' up, or not

What started off looking like a pretty good week, hasn't gone nearly as smoothly.

Devin got the flu, and I spent all night cleaning up throw up. Then Sabrina caught it, and 15 minutes before Savannah and I were suppose to go to the Planes premier...I got thrown up on. I was really grumpy about it, and canceled our plans.

The next day had to be better, right? Uh no. I woke up to a sick kitty. I didn't have the energy to clean it up, and so I just threw everything away that he got to. 

We have been working on a refinance for our house. It has been weeks of trying to prove that Sell Vending exists, and that my husband actually makes money from it. I mean, I hope he makes money from it since I don't work, but whatever. So, after lots of phones calls, paper work, faxing, blah, blah, blah...they said "We can't Google Sell Vending and find it, so it doesn't exist!" So, they turned us down, which means we didn't save $300+ a month like we were hoping for. So, hey Everhome Mortgage...maybe you can Google Sell Vending now, and find this post! Ha, ha, ha. I am not happy, but life goes on. Small business owners sometimes get the shaft! That is all.

Which brings us to yesterday. Paul has been so busy working at the business Everhome Mortgage doesn't think exists, and hasn't had time to mow the lawn. Being the go-getter wife, I decided to help out. Big mistake, huge! They stuff is hard, and I was a mess in the heat. I came in, and thought I might just drop dead. I took a shower, and thought I was going to be able to relax for the rest of the day. Wrong again.

Nohin' like new car smell, and 119 miles on our Accord as we drive off the lot!

Paul called to tell me to go and test drive a car that he had been working with Wayne at Larry H. Miller Honda Murray to buy. {PS We love our Wayne.} I decided it would be an in and out thing, I was tired...but I thought I could handle it.

Love the camera in the back, so easy to reverse!!

Little did I know I was going to be buying the car with 3 kids, no husband, and I was getting the flu. After the test drive, I spent the majority of my time on the floor in their bathroom wanting to be saved. I have never said so many prayers to just throw up, and help me get through this.

large amounts of Coke, popcorn, and treats were consumed by my 3 kids to make this easier for us all.

Mad props to my kids for being as good as they possibly could have been for spending 4 or so hours in a dealership with a sick Mom. Mad props to Wayne for putting up with me, and being so understanding and quick. Mad props to Paul for buying me a hunky new car I love. 

Paul finally was able to make it from Provo to rescue me at the dealership, help get car seats switched, and feed the kids a real dinner. I have never been so excited to see him, and I am extremely thankful for him.

I am feeling much better this morning, but am just waiting for Savannah and Paul to catch this nasty bug. We hit up Kneaders in our new car for breakfast, except I had soup.  

As I was typing this post, Savannah came to inform me that our basement was flooding. So, just when I thought things were going to get better, they aren't. New water heater should be installed tomorrow. Cold showers for all, and for all a good day...or not.

a recap post out of laziness

Besides our play group on Tuesday, we had a couple of fun highlights this past week.

Paul's little brother, who we call Jackie, came home from his LDS mission. He didn't fly in until way past bedtime, which made for A LOT of "Is it time to go to the airport yet!?" questions. It took a great amount of patience to make it through that day. Devin isn't old enough to remember Jackie, but he sure was excited to see him...which was adorable. We left Bina home with Paul to sleep, because I don't appreciate that kind of torture. The kids decorated posters, and we bought party blowers to keep the kids entertained. Both kids crashed hard when we got home, and we sure are happy to have him back!

I was invited to be on a focus group for the Family Share website. The kids were even invited to come and play in their awesome break room. Savannah thought it was legit to be in the KSL Broadcast house, and the kids asked if they could go back the next day to play. It was lovely to have adult conversations, and have fun people to watch my kids.

Since Grandma Sell is here visiting we decided to take her on an adventure with us. We tried out the Springville Civic Center splash pad, which quickly took a top spot in our favorites! Too bad I was snapping all these fabulous pictures, and realized I didn't have my SD card in my camera. Sob. Nothing makes me more sad. When I ran to get my cell phone, and snap all the pictures again...the kids wouldn't play along anymore. The Springville Civic Center had shade, a long stream, a great splash pad area, and a play ground close by. All things that the kids think are wonderful.

Our adventure didn't stop there, we headed to Joe Bandito's in Springville for lunch. I had read a bunch of reviews online, and decided we needed to give a try...after all what is an adventure if we don't go to a new place to eat!? A few people had said to stay away from the chicken, and the chip and salsa were fabulous. It really was delicious, get the El Bandito lunch special. Don't get your hopes up for fast service, because that was lacking...

I don't have much planned for the last couple of weeks of Summer. It feels kind of good to just be hanging out at home, taking naps, and playing outside. I don't feel guilty either, because I have kept up this fun biznass for more than 2 months. Holla.

3rd grade, I think we are ready for ya.

Tiny Prints Back to School GIVEAWAY

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.

I have never been a planner, but like I have said before...this Summer has changed me. Maybe we are being more social, or maybe I am becoming more forgetful, but we have definitely needed the structure our calendar brings. Do you know what I am dreading the most about school starting {besides waking up suuuuper early again}? That I am some how going to mess up this smooth sailin' schedule I have going on. It has just worked so well since the end of May.

I am getting ready to implement a few things this school year to help me. We all know I need all the help I can get, right?

Savannah doesn't go to our neighborhood school. Even though we love it, I do have one on going dilemma. Making friends for after school play is a little difficult. Savannah thinks that bringing home a tiny slip of paper with a phone number that isn't legible is as good as a planned date. This year we will be putting the Tiny Prints mommy/play date/contact cards in to action. Great idea, huh? This may be the thing I am looking forward to the most.

This Summer has been a busy one, and I have loved it. We have gone from one play date to the next! I am actually sad to see it end. Unfortunately my other biggest change I will making is play dates with Savannah will only be once a week.

I would love to know what you do during the school year that helps you stay organized.

Of course Tiny Prints wants to help you kick of your new school year by doing a giveaway!!

You will receive...
5 sets of 24 gift tag stickers 
1 – 5x8 lined notebook
100 – mommy/play date/contact cards 

Tiny prints wants to hear what your favorite Back to School product is on their site, and comment to let us know.

Readers can also win additional prizes with the Back to School Pin It to Win It Pinterest sweepstakes, taking place from now until August 28, 2013.   

Good luck!
 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our Seven Peaks play group.

some of our play group

On Tuesday we had our Seven Peaks play group planned. I think this was our most successful turn out. Also, giving myself a big ol' pat on the back for actually getting pictures of said event. 

photo cred @therhouse on Instagram

I think I say this every time, but it is always more enjoyable to have other women to chat with while the kids play! I think I plan these play groups more for me. Selfish, I know! My kids do love having so many friends to play with too. Being with just Mom can be so lame sometimes.

Thank you to everyone that came to have a good time with us. We loved every minute of it. We hope that we can continue these play groups even after the school year starts. Maybe just for the younger crowd? I will have to give it some thought.

photo cred @therhouse on Instagram

Anyone interested in doing one last shindig before school starts at Tracy Aviary? Maybe the 20th so we can use our Pass of All Passes. Let me know, email me if you have any questions or ideas...sellpartyof at gmail.