Do you play?

So, Josh got me a guitar for my birthday this year which I am really excited about. So excited in fact that I went straight down to the music store to get a book about basic chords and then I went home and snapped one of the strings while I was trying to tune it.

In my defense, Josh didn't tell me that he had tightened all the strings because he thought they were too loose. I was way too embarrassed to go back the next day and ask the same girl for new strings though, so I sat in the car like a little kid while Josh went in for me....so very noble of him.

The first couple of days I was OK with memorizing chords and icing my very sore fingers, but then I got impatient as I always do and went digging through my music to find some actual songs. I want to play and sing.

As a side note, here is a little known fact about me. I Love to sing and seriously wish that I could be Taylor Swift, minus the being a teenager part because who wants to do that again!? Unfortunately not only do I not sing nearly well enough to make a profession out of it, but I'm also a little bit shy when it comes to singing in front of people. I guess I just have to stick to daydreaming in my living room.

Back to the whole point of this ramble... I ended up finding two songs that only have a few simple chords repeated over and over. Concrete Angle by Martina McBride, and Breathe by Faith Hill. I love both of those songs and although Josh has assured me that he isn't sick of hearing them I would like to add a few more to my repertoire.

So, I'm wondering if any of you that play could give me a few suggestions on good beginner songs. My fingers are finally starting to get calloused so now I can practice for more than an hour every other night.

Change is good

I realize that I'm a few days late in posting my first day of school pictures, but aside from the fact that two of my three kids are gone most of the day, I'm still really busy. How exactly does that happen? Where is all the time I was planning to use to clean my bathroom, scrapbook, exercise, read, and play with my baby? Well, wherever it went, one thing is for sure, I've discovered pretty quickly that I'm going to have to downgrade my list....I'm thinking the toilets will be the first to go.

How cute are these two kids!!

Well, it's no secret that I have been looking forward to this day for a very long time, but it turns out that I was not as prepared for it as I thought I would be. I thought for sure I would have a harder time with James going to school than Samm, especially since she went to preschool all last year, but James is one exhausting boy so I was really glad to send him out the door. On the other hand, sending Samm off that first morning was really emotional for me, more so than I would have ever imagined. My little girl is growing up!!!

OK, and just maybe sending her off on the bus with this shady looking character had something to do with how stressed I was that morning.

What happened to the cranky old lady or that fat old man bus drivers?

Well, she made it home so I guess he's OK. Actually she isn't riding the bus in the morning anymore since I have to drive James to preschool, and the afternoon driver is different so you don't have to worry about her at all.

Overall both kids are loving school and Samm even started soccer this week so look forward to some pictures of her first game. She looks so cute with all her gear on. Wow, I guess I really have morphed into . soccer Mom, That's kind of scary, but fun too in a my kids are growing up and becoming fun little people kind of way.

Are you ready for this

OK people, get ready because this is marathon blogging....basically I'm combining about five posts into one, so if your not in the mood for lots of pictures than just move on to a different blog. I won't be offended!

So to pick up where I last left off, here are a few more pictures from my trip to Oregon...

Samm found this enormous blackberry in my parents garden.

We took the kids to a splash park for some outdoor fun.

While we were there my Mom gave us girls some jewelry that had belonged to my Grandmother. These earrings were in the bag and I thought they would make great dress up jewelry. Auntie Jenn glammed her up with the sunglasses and hair piece. Samm liked the curly hair so much that she asked if she could wear it on the airplane. It wasn't until we went through security and Samm set off the alarm twice that I realized how much metal was in it.

The highlight and whole reason for the trip was to welcome home my sister Krista from her mission in Argentina. She had no idea that we were all coming, so it was a fun surprise.

And then there was the fun three plane rides with three kids to get home. At least none of those got cancelled. That happened on the way there.

This pretty much sums up how I felt by the end of the day!

Then, waiting for us at home in our garden was this very large cucumber. It needed to get picked probably a week or two earlier to still be good, but since this is my first attempt at growing any food, I was still pretty excited.

The kids are loving the vegetable garden too.

And finally...DOOTDOODLE DOO (that would be me tooting my own horn Keith!) I just finished a little project that I have been working on since before I left town.

What started out as this...

After many many frustrating hours and a few ripped out seams...

Turned into curtains for our dining room!!!

I don't sew very often, mostly because I get so dang frustrated with the machine, so I'm pretty proud of myself for actually making these curtains all by myself. (Thanks Joni for letting me borrow your sewing machine and curtain panel so I could have something to follow)

So there you have it! I had a really great time in Oregon with my family. Traci and Anne it was great to see you guys too. But it is nice to be back home and now I'm running around crazy trying to get Samm ready for school.

For Dad

Hey Dad, well we sure are missing you at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but we're having a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.

Macy Showing off her new trick next to cousin Ava.


James The Bull

Helping Mom blow out the candles on her Birthday cheescake.

A relaxing morning walk...

That turned into a case of "I too dizzy."

We hope you are having lot's of fun at the hospital, and we cant wait to get back home and see you.

Memory Game

I don't usually like to do this kind of stuff... Don't bother tagging me or sending me one of those paste your email address here and send it along kind of things cause I probably won't do it.

I saw this one a friends sight though and thought it looked like fun.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember--it can be funny, weird, awkward, random, etc.!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Fun with the "Actions"

This Saturday we went to the lake with our friends the Ashtons (Samm thinks their last name is Action) It was a really hot day...perfect for being out on the lake.

Samm and James were both finally brave enough to go out on the tube, but Samm preferred to be swimming in the water.

Darren was nice enough to not complain when James kept asking to help drive. Actually, he didn't really ask, he just said "I want to sit here with you."

This is James showing us his back flip!

Macy did pretty good the whole time, as long as she could chew on someones finger.

Last time we went to the lake, Josh tried to wake board, but wasn't ever able to get up. Apparently when your that big, you swallow half the lake while the boat tries to pull you out of the water, and it is really hard to hang on to the rope. This time, he made a few technique adjustments and got up after only a few tries.

Then, after the boys were done, they convinced Lindsay and I to give it a try. Normally I shy away from this type of stuff. Prior to Saturday, I had only given one attempt to water sports, but since the kids both did something they were afraid of I thought I better do it also. Getting up out of the water was no problem, but staying up was a little bit difficult for me. After four or five attempts though I got it figured out and it was really fun.

Even though I'm pretty sure no one wants to see a boring video of me being pulled behind a boat, Josh insisted that I post it. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

And since Josh couldn't get shown up by Keith and Chris...

Twinkle toes

I shot this little video clip of Macy mostly for me, but thought I would share it with anyone who is interested. She has the funniest little habbit of twirling her feet constantly and I wanted to record her doing it before she decides to stop.

Did you see the fly?

Ok, So I didn't realize the fly wasn't very visible on the computer screen. Sorry. I was thinking that it looked so white trash having a fly buzz around her head, but I shouldn't have even mentioned it. If you look really hard though, you can see it at the end buzzing around the left side of her head.

Photo Shoot

A couple days ago while I was watching my niece and two nephews I was messing around with my camera trying to figure some stuff out, and all of the kids suddenly swarmed around me wanting their pictures taken. So, we had a little photo shoot while they requested what color they wanted to be. It was pretty funny.

James is always up for doing crazy faces.

Gabe doing a scary face.

Samm and Lexie looking cute.

James and Lexie being silly on the bed.

Samm's intense model face.

Logan was too cool for a crazy face, but still wanted his picture taken.

Macy kept staring at Lexie and wouldn't look at me until she left the room.

Have you ever seen a face quite like that?!!!!

Paging Dr. Rollins

So, I thought Josh was having the time of his life while we were in Mexico and he was golfing away with his Dad and brothers, but I was wrong.

Yesterday he got to do some sort of hip surgery (I can't remember the technical name) from start to finish all by himself. The Doctor of course was standing right next to him supervising, but Josh did all of the work.

As he was telling me all about it and trying to shovel in some lunch at the same time, he just kept saying "That was awesome!" He loves to use power tools at home, so being able to drill into someones body was just about the coolest thing ever.

Not very many students get that opportunity, so I am very excited for him. I'm just hoping he doesn't get really bored during the rest of his rotations.

Mexico, Macy, and More

Since I know you have all been dying to no where I have been and what I have been doing these last couple of weeks, Here is a quick up date for you...

From June 18th to the 25th we were in Mexico with all of Josh's family. Actually I should be more specific, because it was the adults only. Yes, it was heavenly! Unfortunately I really didn't take very many pictures so I'm still waiting to get copies from everyone else. Here are a few though.

This is me standing in front of the main temple at Chichen-Itza. You can't walk up the steps anymore, but when we were there 3 years ago Josh and I got to and it was amazing

This is Josh's idea of a dream vacation

This is what I did most of the time, except replace the iguana with a book. Heaven!

Since we've been back I really haven't had much going on, it's just been really hard to get back into the swing of things, and blogging was not on the top of my list.

Macy has had a really big week though full of firsts. She got her first tooth, got her first hair cut, had her first taste of rice cereal which she loved, and finally rolled over for the first time. Instead of being excited though, I'm a little bit sad. She is already growing up too fast and I wish she could stay frozen as a baby forever. OK, maybe not forever, but a year or two might be nice.

In other news, Josh started his rotations this month and is loving it. Even though he has to be away from us for a couple of days at a time and is on his feet for 12 hours straight, he is finally out of the classroom and into the hospital. I have a little bit of a weak stomach though, so when he starts describing all the "cool" stuff that he is doing I have to remind him that I just want an overview, not details.

And of course I can't forget to wish all of you a Happy fourth! Our kids had a great time watching fireworks this year, but Samm still had to cover her ears.

Princess Fat Face and Grandma.

Samm and James watching the fireworks with their cousins. I promise Samm does have shorts on under her skirt.