Friday Foto

Several years ago at Thanksgiving, we were at Joe's grandparent's house for the day. His Pappy is an overalls man. I don't think that I have ever seen him in anything else other than on Sunday's. It just so happened that Gabriel and he were wearing overalls and a flannel shirt that day. They looked pretty cute together so we had to take a picture. His grandparents are wonderful "salt of the earth" people. They live so far back in the country, that you would never find their house. They were born and raised there. There is a barn at the back of their property that the kids play in all day long. The creek runs thru the field and the boys spend hours there fishing and rummaging. It is the perfect place for kids to play. Sadly, his grandma passed away this month. She was the sweetest lady that there ever was. We loved to visit with pappy and grandma.

A Streak of Bad Luck

2 days ago a car that started acting funny.
1 day ago keys locked in the truck being used to replace the car that is acting funny.
Today a ticket for speeding in the truck being used to replace the car that is acting funny.
It does only come in groups of three's right?
Right??

An Epiphany....of sorts

The kids have been back at school for 2 weeks now. I think that we have finally gotten back into the swing of things. It is definately hard being disiplined again. It is way funner staying up late, getting up late, going to the park, and playing outside, than getting up at 5:15 a.m., making sure that school lunches are made the night before, going to pick up kids from seminary, taking kids to school, etc.., all before 7:30, the hour we used to crawl out of bed.
The 2nd day of school, we ran errands and got back home around 11:30. We ate lunch, and I put Matthew down for a nap. I told Abigail and Jacob that it was resting time and layed them down to watch a movie. I was in the kitchen cleaning when I realized that it was way too quiet. I peaked around the corner and they were both fast asleep. I honestly stood there in shock for about 2 minutes. I didn't know what to do with myself. Gosh, I could read a book, take a nap myself, go lay on the hammock outside, the possibilites were endless. So after some deep contemplation, I did what any mother would do. I cleaned. I cleaned my room, the bathroom, did 3 loads of laundry, the kitchen, cleaned out the van, straightened up the living room, and cleaned the health hazard that is other wise known as the boy's bathroom. I put on my ipod, that I have NEVER listened to during the day, because I would miss hearing all the other noises that I would need to hear, I just cleaned to my hearts content. Now cleaning is not my past time of choice, but there comes a time when the EPA might come and declare your home unsuitable for human living so it has to be done. I was just amazed and astounded at how much I actually got done in 2 1/2 hours.
Which leads to my epiphany. I have always considered myself to be a productive person. I admire that trait in others. I don't really like to sit around and do nothing. I am happiest when I have put in a good long day and I am worn out at the end of it. But lately, my housekeeping skills have been seriously lacking. I just thought that I was being lazy. I came to the conclusion that maybe I am productive, I just have 7 (8 really ; ) ) people following me around daily, needing breakfast, lunch, supper, clean clothes, ironed clothes, favorite blankets that are MIA, tippy cups refilled, diapers changed, potty breaks, fights broken up, homework checked, chauffered to seminary, school, band practice, wrestling practice, work, orthodontist appointments, boo boo's bandaged, fights broken up, snuggle time, and play time. Cleaning time doesn't get much time. When something does get cleaned it usually gets uncleaned as soon as you are on to a different room. It was amazing to realize that when there is no one following you from room to room asking if they could have something to eat or would you please read me a story you actually get quite a lot done. Please do not read into this that I am sorry that I had children, so many of them, or that I wish that they would all take 7 hour naps each day! I love being a wife and mother. I would not change anything even if I could. It was just a nice little aha moment that I had. I know that one day, there will be no cereal on the floor, pledge sprayed into the DVD player, 2 loads of laundry a day, fingerprints on the windows that I just washed, pee on the toilet that I just washed, bicycles in my way as I drive up the driveway, toothpaste on my jeans because I leaned over too far on the sink where somebody dribbled brushing their teeth, and moldy sandwiches brought home in lunch boxes that sat in somebodies locker over the weekend. And I will probably cry. And then Joe and I will probably lock the doors and party!!

Friday Foto

I am totally stealing this idea from my friend Becca. I think that it is so much fun to look back at pictures taken throughout the years, that I thought I would start this Friday tradition.


This picture was taken in 2005 when Parker was on the track team in middle school. It was our very first experience with track, and let me tell you, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It was about 50 degrees that night. We thought, "Ok, we will go and watch the kids run and then go home." WRONG! This track meet lasted 3 hours. I had 2 babies in a stroller, no snacks packed, (because we were only going to be there for 30 minutes, I thought), no money for any snacks or supper, not enough warm clothes for the cool night. I was not a happy camper. I mumbled and grumbled about how ridiculous this whole event was for the duration of the time that we waited for Parker to run. Finally the time came! All the kids lined up at the starting line and waited for the signal. When Parker lined up beside Goliath, I thought, "There is no way that kid is in middle school!" He even had a mustache! We were cheering our hearts out for Parker. And you know what? He came in 2nd to last. We were ecstatic! We just knew for sure that he was going to get smeared into the track.

I love this picture because to me it shows the heart of a champion. He was not intimidated a bit by the beast running beside him.

Our 1st Official Get Off the Couch and Run Event

I have never been a very athletic person. Ok, ok, I couldn't make a basket, hit a ball, or run around the track if my life depended upon it. I have been so inspired by some awesome friends within the past year though. They started out running 5K's and then went on to bigger and better things. I envied them. Never in a million years could I go about running a distance longer than from the house to the car. They both moved and I kept up with their running adventures. They motivated me without even knowing it. I decided one day that I was going to get up off the couch and try to lose those last #'s of baby weight. Unfortunately when I had Matthew he was not a 50# baby. When I started, I would run down the driveway. Our driveway is 1/2 mile long, downhill. I couldn't even make it halfway, before I thought I was dying. Eventually, I could go farther, and farther, until one day I ran all the way to the main road and back. 4 1/2 miles! I felt like I had completed the Boston Marathon. I whooped and hollered all the way up the hill. Eventually Joe decided that he would get up off the couch and run with me. I had been running for 6 weeks and he was already faster than me!

I signed us up for a 5K, 10K, and a half marathon. Saturday was our 5K. Before June 15th, I had NEVER run even 1/2 mile. I went in with a goal to come in under 30 minutes. I would be satisfied with 29:59. We took Joseph along to be a photographer, but I forgot the camera! He took this picture of us once we got home.

The official results:
Lisa: chip time: 29:56

gun time: 31:11

pace: 9:40

9th in age group out of 39

359 out of 624 runners

Joe: chip time: 30:43

gun time: 31:59

pace: 9:55

26th in age group out of 41

397 out of 624 runners

I DID IT!! I think that I am officially hooked. It was so much fun! I know that I will never be a speed racer, but I am happy that I set a goal and was able to obtain it. We have become healthier eaters, and better exercisers. Even the kids have entered races and are begging us to do a Labor Day race together. I never thought at the age of 36 that I would be running in a "real" race. Those people always looked so intimidating, so sure of what they were doing. Little did I know that "I Can Do Hard Things, Too"!

My Dirty Little Secret

I do 2 loads of laundry a day. I am usually pretty good at keeping up with it. I have finally, after 16 years developed a system that works great for me. The only problem I have is socks. They seem to multiply like rabbits around here. I don't fold socks. They get thrown into a basket, that gets hauled around from room to room. When somebody needs a pair, they go to the basket, fling socks around and try to find a match. Right now it is sitting in my room next to the door. Occasionally we will have a "sock folding party". I will buy a big bag of M&M's or skittles and however many pairs of socks a person folds, that is how many pieces of candy they will get. I am embarrassed to say that everybody usually ends up with about 75-100. How can one family own that many socks?! Today as I was getting ready in the bathroom, I heard Matthew coming. I figured it would be any minute and I would have to run him out of the bathroom. A few minutes later I realized he had gotten preoccupied with something and I poked my head around the corner to see what it was. He was happily flinging socks onto the floor, rooting around in there for some treasure. He thought it was so funny.

Mount Sockmore.

The Difference is Amazing

Yesterday Abigail was having a very hard day. Her brothers were the "rudest, meanest boys ever". I have never really had a whole lot of sympathy for her because well, I never had any sisters, just a whole bunch of stinky brothers and I lived and survived. Yesterday I felt bad for her though. She just sobbed and sobbed as she laid on my bed telling me she had no sisters, therefore no best friends. I tried to tell her that one day she would have sisters, she would just have to wait quite a while. That is one of the great advantages of having so many brothers and marrying into a family of boys, you eventually get 8 sisters! I don't think that the pep talk helped that much though.


Later that morning my one of sister in laws came over and we ended up swapping kids for the day. Abigail went home with her to girl utopia and I kept her 2 boys. My sis in law said that she had SO much fun. Even though her girls are quite a bit older they play with Abigail so well. They swam, played all day, watched a movie, snuggled and in general there were no stinky boys to pester them. At my house it was a different story all together.......

I am used to boys. I grew up with boys and I have a few of my own. Testoserone runs quite thick here at our house. There is something different about having 6 boys as opposed to having 8 boys in your house for the day. It seems like the ante is upped quite a bit. The need to outdo each other is severe. I looked out the window at one point (well I looked out because I wanted to know what the crashing sound was) and I found this..

There is just something wrong with this picture. They are in 4 layers of clothes, scarfs, gloves, hats, oh and the very important spiderman mask. One might ask what they are doing. Did we have a cold snap? No the thermometer outside said 97 degrees in the shade! They were killing wasps. In order to perform this crazy feat one must be covered in as many clothes as possible to deflect the wasps stingers. Hands and faces must also be covered and then you take a stick, tennis racket, or any other such device and whack away. I hollered out to them to STOP hitting my gutters and were they a bunch of idiots? The reply was, "but don't you want us to kill the wasps before they sting you mom?" Funny thing is when they are sent out to mow or weed eat, it is just WAY TO HOT to be out there mom. We might get heat stroke or something. I came back inside to make supper to find the microwave door taped shut. Wha??

I took them over to the park to play their new found passion, frisbee golf. They don't play it like the other teams though. Oh, they try to make it into the goal like everybody else, but when they get to the pond, they all jump in to try and find abandoned frisbees. They came out of the woods soaking wet and hollering like banshees. Did we come prepared to go swimming? Of course not. They all stripped down to their underwear in the car and sat on their shirts. Let me tell you, the smell was nasueating.

When we hit the driveway, they all fall out of the van and have to race each other to the house. In their underwear. Later one of my nephews comes into the kitchen and asks one his cousins to smell his armpits to see if he needs deodorant. The consensus was a resounding yes, and after deodorant was applied he handed it back. Um, thats ok, you can take that one home with you.
There were many contests held throughout the day. The need to out burp, out run, out shoot, out ride, out eat, out poot, out pee yes really, out drink, out yell, and out play each other is vitally important in the world of a boy.

At the end of the day the dishwasher was filled with 29 cups, the washer held 2 loads of laundry from the wasp killing spree, (because you know if it is 97 degrees outside and you are wearing 4 layers of clothes, they are going to be very rank), we had gone thru 4 gallons of koolaid, eaten a 3# box of spaghetti noodles accompianed by 2 jars of sauce supplemented with a couple of jars of tomato sauce, eaten a salad with 2 heads of lettuce, numerous tomatoes and cukes from the garden and a loaf of bread.
Abigail came home with a smile on her face, her hair just as nice as it was when she left, and a strawberry smoothie in her hand lovingly prepared for her by her big cousin. I sent back home 2 sweet boys who smelled like arm pits and dirt. I missed my girl. She adds a little sparkle and femininty to our house that I never realized before. I won't take it for granted any more.

A Day at the Park

Today we found a new spot to play. I know that it has been around for a little while, but we just happened upon it today. We took a picnic lunch and played games under the big gazebo. Man was it hot though!

These pictures are out of order. I don't know how to move them. This happened on the way home. Parker stuck his swimming trunks over his head. Um, the leg of his swimming trunks. Yeah, pretty tight fit. Why? Because that is what Parker does. We were laughing SO hard. It took him a good 5 minutes to get them back off his head.

The pretty waterfalls that the boys were dying to play in.

Jacob chasing the ducks. Run for your life ducks!

I am going to be SO sad when the boys start school next week. I really like having them at home during the summer. I love the freedom, the sponteneity, and the laziness of summer. I love to be able to play outside all day and stay up late watching old movies and tv shows. Sadly that will all end next week. Real life awaits us. 5:00 will see us bright and early getting ready for seminary and school. I will have to send my helpers away. I can't believe I have a junior, sophomore, a 7th grader, and a 1st grader! Just a few more years and I will have a kindergartener along with a missionary and college student! Ah, where does the time go?