This is the second year our friends in the neighborhood have held a pepper eating contest/party. Anyone brave enough eats a Bhut Jolokia (Ghost) pepper. The hottest pepper in the world. I don't know why anyone would do that...but a bunch of them did. Last year Nate puked in the compost pile after he was done. This year his goal is NOT to puke. If you see him in the next little while, ask him how it worked out...
So I've been working on something for the past couple weeks...It shouldn't have taken as much time as it did, but I've got only so much time in the day and 4 kids. :) I made 2 more yarn wreaths for the front door for FALL! I love them. They're my favorite that I've made.
The only thing I wish I'd done is make the flowers on the opposite side. 2 doors messes up my mojo. I never quite know what to do. (I know...first world problem)
I tried to get the flowers to match as much as I could, but with any handmade project they're not perfect. I DO love them though! I love those colors!
Another thing I've been thinking about. I hate paying for School Pictures. I hate paying 20$ per child for pictures that make me cringe, so I'm just going to do them myself this year. I think this one might be Caroline's.
I adore this child. Look at that scrunchy nose smile! Now to pin down Lucas and Madi for a quick picture by the Asters.
It's just so perplexing. Is it a volcano? Yes. It must be a volcano. But what about those birds...is the one that looks like a seagull but circled actually an owl? Or is the bird below it an owl. Is that the satelite falling to the earth? And what about the other UFO. And what spot are those x's marking? And really Lucas, copyrighted 6 times?
Perhaps the most perplexing is why was it hanging in my fridge when I opened it? I feel like it must be a secret message....but what?
I guess I fired myself from blogging...for almost a year. But now I'm back. And I'm better than ever. Just you wait. There will be a fancy new header and everything...
Last night we got home late (our fault...we took them to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square and also for a birthday dinner party for Stacey) which means the kids got to bed late, which means we had a sleepy start this morning. Caroline went to bed in her clothes and when she woke up she thought she was ready to go for the day. I was busy with Hugh and didn't notice until it was nearly time to leave for school. "Go change your clothes, Caroline. You wore them yesterday." Nate says "Kids it's time to go!!" just seconds after she went down stairs. Next thing I know she's putting her coat on and she's only changed her pants. "Caroline! What are you doing still wearing that shirt?! I asked you to change! Go do it NOW!" (those exclimation marks are not showing that I was happy or excited. Quite the opposite.) She cries and runs downstairs to change. When she comes up, she says "Mom, I'm sorry. I didn't want to make everyone late." That's when I realized Nate had told them all it was time to leave less than a minute after I sent her down to change. Poor Caroline. I made her cry when she she was being obiedient to her Father. Lesson learned. I hope for good...but I have a way of needing to learn things over and over.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir new Christmas CD is out. It makes me wistful and a little sad, because I was supposed ot be there last year. But through a series of comedic errors, we....
well you can see if you'd like.
(btw. It's been a year since I started this post. I can't remember why I named it this, but hoping it comes back to me...)
::WARNING::
This is a long post...and I'm biased so you may not find it interesting unless you know me...or my family. Consider yourself warned.
Jessica asked me on Tuesday if I wanted to go to Salt Lake City with the other Siblings and see Natalie Cole sing in a concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. YES (!) was the immediate answer and then after making sure Nate was ok with me ditching him for a night with Mr Tonsil-less, I was free to become almost giddy with anticipation.
Thursday, the big night, comes before I know it and after reminding Nate several times to please be home before 5:15 so I can begin picking up my sibs, I'm on my way. I get to Mom and Dad's to get Matthew and Jessica and guess what. Jessica is not ready, and Matthew is not even THERE. So. There's nothing I can do about it...right? Right. So I settle in to wait. Matt finally gets home at 5:30 and begins to get ready...but where are his pants?? He can't find his PANTS! So...I settle in to wait some more. Jessica's grumpy. I'm grumpy. Matthew is grumpy. (btw...Mike is grumpy too...we know because we talked to him on the phone) Adam is soon to be grumpy because we're late. And if there's one thing Adam can't stand....
Finally at 6-ish, we are out the door and on the way to Lehi to pick up Mike. We get there and we're told Mike is...indisposed. So we wait. Matt goes in to get a drink of Milk. Chats with Kasia. Comes back out and we're still waiting. Finally Mike comes out but meanwhile he's decided he's no longer grumpy. (one of these things is not like the others...sing it) We get on the freeway in Lehi and Mike says "OH no. I forgot the tickets". Really? REALLY?? So we get off the freeway at the next exit and turn around, go back, get the tickets, head back north, and get on the freeway to pick up Adam in Draper. We finally make it to Adam's house and guess what?? He's GRUMPY!! (shocking...i know.) Adam says he's so hungry and was promised we were getting dinner first so he didn't eat and we needed to either stop at Little Caesars and get a pizza to share or go through the burger king drive through. We opt for pizza. I run in, grab one hot and ready, and realize Adam and Jessica are in with me. As we head out the door with that hot and ready in our hands, Adam says "Is this all you got? We're going to have to hit burger king too." I'm thinking...there's not an army in here...and it's to hold us over till we get to go to crown burger anyway...but I don't want anyone more grumpy than they already are so in we pile to the mini-van and hit the burger king next door. Adam orders 2 tacos (wait...tacos? Aren't we at burger king??), 1 double cheese burger, and 1 whopper jr. And I may have added a soda for me in there too...and one for Jessica.
We learned a lesson that night. A car full of hungry Johnson's is a car full of grumpy Johnson's. After we ate, we were all of us happy again. :)
NOW (deep breath) we're really off. It's 7. Adam says we'll be just fine. Smooth sailing up to SLC to make it there in time for the 8 o'clock show. Wait a minute...what's up ahead?? TRAFFIC!! 20mph from 106th South to 90th. Awesome. What's that causing the hold up?? A police car. With it's lights on. Not doing anything. On the left side of the free way. Sweet.
Traffic clears, we fly up the freeway. We're going to make it. I get off on the 6th south exit and head toward the conference center. "No. Don't turn there. Go up a couple blocks" as I was going to turn on West Temple. The back seat driver? Adam. "Yeah! Turn there!" another one? Yep. Jessica. I opt for Adam's advice, because he's eldest, after all. So I left onto State Street. Wait. What's that up ahead? Traffic. Crazy traffic. We sit though 3 lights trying to turn left onto South Temple and finally I'm ready to turn left, but then a police man pulls a uturn in front of me and pulls over a car taking 2 lanes in the direction I was turning. And then the light turns red. And I'm sitting there in the middle of the intersection with no where to go. Thank you, officer. At least no one honked at me.
Finally the traffic stop was taken care of and I got to turn and off we headed to West Temple. We finally got there and managed to squeak in a right turn. But there's more traffic because of all of the construction. After slowly crawling along 1 block in 20 min, Adam, Jessica, and I decide to walk/run the rest of the way to the Conference Center and leave Mike driving and Matt navigating and we'd meet up in the center. We were nearly to abravenell Hall at that point. Well...remember how I had a soda. I really needed a rest room. Being 4 months pregnant didn't help. Well Adam and Jessica decide we need to run. And did I mention I was 4 months pregnant and needed to find a rest room? We run across the South Temple intersection and I'm dying. DYING. There were some traffic cops helping the flow of traffic and as we were passing by one of them whacked a car with his light and yelled "WHY DID YOU RUN OVER MY CONE??!?" at the driver in the car. The cones were tiny and not very well lit. I'm not surprised one got ran over. If there's something else Adam can't stand (other than tardiness) it's social injustice. So Adam begins yelling at the cop to calm down. Meanwhile, I yell that I'm going to run into the Family History Library and use the little girls room and Jessica yells she's going to run ahead. Adam's waiting for me (luckily not in hand cuffs) when I exit the building and he grabs my hand and takes off running.
We finally get there. The Conference Center with our little tickets in hand. AHHHHHH! We wait patiently in line. Jessica's texted us she's already inside waiting for us, but not seated. We move up in line and suddenly we're next. And then we're told they're full. No one else ticketed or not will be allowed entrance. Jessica runs up and explains there are already people inside waiting for us. They allow us in to "see if we can find them" but as the concert was beginning, they weren't answering texts or anything else. Sigh. We were too late.
We walk across the street to wait for Mike and Matt at Temple Square. We went to the North Visitors Center and I sit down to catch my breath. We're laughing at all the craziness of the night and suddenly the fire alarm went off. Really? REALLY??? Yep. The flashing lights and sirens. There's no way I'm moving. I'm feeling nauseous (a recurring theme for me when I'm pregnant) and exhausted. And what are the chances the Christus caught fire? I guess the Sister Missionaries figured that was the case because they found us and very cheerfully said "I'm sorry, you'll have to exit the building". Adam commented it was the first time he'd been told to leave by the sunshine brigade. We wait by the entrance of Temple Square for Mike to drive up and get us. To pass the time, we were making up theories for the fire alarm...I think that's where the thieving santa on fire came in...and finally we spot the van...or did we hear the Weezer blasting out the windows before we saw it...
The night wasn't a total loss though. We got to go to Crown Burger. Mmmmm.
There are no other people that I would have had a better time having a horrible night with. It was really so much fun. The only thing that would have made it better is if Kati was able to come...or if we got to actually see the concert. I love my siblings more than words can convey. And I'm so excited I get them forever!
Lucas was in his first play today. He was a chef along with his class and another first grade class. It was totally adorable. He's been having some trouble in the practices and has had to sit out 3 times. The second time it happened I asked him what was going on. He told me that he knew it all already and it was boring to practice so much.
me: You can't possibly know the whole thing.
Lucas: I do mom. I promise.
me: Show me.
Lucas proceeds to recite the entire play, everyone's parts, and songs included. Amazing. Just imagine if some day he's like that with the Scriptures. I can only hope.
All the kids seem better today. Just Nate is sick. I hope it passes quickly because it's just not the same in our house with a sick Daddy. :(
Some other amazing news....drumroll.... Adam's getting married!! He's asked the lovely Stacey Gibby to marry him and she's agreed. We just adore her and are so excited to have her in the family.
But I do not like the bugs it brings with it. All the kids have had fevers, puking, sore throats, and colds this week. So much fun. Poor little Lucas has had it the worst...and to make it almost unbearable, he's been grounded from playing nintendo. In fact, we had a conversation about the Nintendo today.
Lucas: Mom. I have a problem.
Me: What's that?
Lucas: Well. I was playing Nintendo yesterday and I finished the fire level and I was working in jabujabu's belly (he was playing Zelda) and then I thought I heard you coming down the stairs and I turned it off. It was just Dad though so I could have kept playing it. But now I have to do it over again because I didn't save it.
The day after Hugh was born, Nate got sick. Nate never gets sick. I personally think it was to get out of the tumultuous "First Night Home From The Hospital" night. ;) (Please tell me I'm not the only one who has babies who refuse to sleep AT ALL on their first night home from the hospital)
He slept downstairs in the spare room so he wouldn't infect Hugh or I and in the morning he found this survey on the night stand. I know it's late but I have to post it for posterity.
I just may have married the most adorable man on the plannet. (Doesn't every man dream of being called "adorable"?) Those kids are pretty cute too. ;)
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