Home from Vacation.

Kali and I decided last minute to go to Utah almost 2 weeks ago. I got a job on Monday and we left Tuesday. We visited Spencer's brother Mel and his family for a few days and Spencer's other brother Mitch for a few more days, unfortunately Spence didn't get to come. We had a good drive there, thanks to the Wakeups. I had to tell Kali not to ask "Are we almost there yet?, How much longer till we get there?", I told her that if she asked one more time, she'd have to stay in the car for 10 minutes when we got there. That seemed to work.
We had fun hanging out with family, we shopped, ate and hung out. I ate at Costa Vida 3 times, had a dipped cone at Macey's ($.79) almost everyday and had great dinners at Chass', she's an amazing cook. We ate a Zucchini cake with chocolate cream cheese icing and zucchini brownies, so good ( I can't make it at home cause I'll eat it all). We also got to see some of our friends. We visited my friend Sara, she just had a baby, he's so cute, I got to hold him lots. We went to Provo to have dinner with our friends, the Bushmans. They used to live in Edmonton near us, they have a daughter, Scout, who is Kali's age, they played together as babies, Emily is a great cook too. We went to a great park in River Heights and played with our friends Jane, Emma and Claire the day before we left.
Kali loves playing with her cousins, especially Bree, for the first few days, I really didn't ever see her. She loves kids, but doesn't really get the teasing and fighting that sometimes comes along with it. I'm teaching her how to put kids in a head-lock, today she pinched someone for the first time after he pulled her hair. She's just too nice to fight back and she doesn't have enough experience. She starts kindergarten on Thursday, I think that will help, she's at a "7 Habits for Highly Effective People" School.
I was going to tell about my drive home. I left Hyrum, UT Thursday morning to come home hoping to be home by the time Spence got home from work. Kali got to Hell's Half Acre in Idaho, peed and did the hike then went to Idaho Falls to gas up. I couldn't find my wallet so we prayed and I remembered that I left my wallet in Logan at Macey's the grocery store the previous night. I called my sister-in-law, Chass and had her pick up my wallet and meet me as far as I could get on my 16th of a tank of gas. I actually had $2.79 in U.S. cash that I used for gas and went 65 m/hr till my gas light had been on for a while and stopped in Malad, ID. We waited for a while till Chass came, gased up and left at 1pm. So I got home at midnight, and was so sick cause I forgot to eat dinner. I slept really good and was so happy to see Spencer, he wrote me a song, it's so good.
Well, I start work tomorrow again, it sure was great to have the summer off. It's easy to get used to this teaching thing.

Kali and I are watching "The Mailbox". It's an old, short LDS video probably made by BYU or something. It's foreshadowing. I think I'd love to live in a senior home someday. I can wait though.

I've had a busy week, I got ambitious on Tuesday and cut out this 40 year old Lilac bush. It's huge, I used a long-handled lopper to take off the branches and a saw to cut back some of the stumps. When Spence got home he got our chainsaw started and we had fun. The next day we put the branches in the truck and took them to the dump, I cut and scraped my arms and legs all over. The next task is to dig out the roots, I wish I could just burn them. The bush suckers like crazy maybe I should "Round-up" the whole thing.

Monday morning Spence and I played "All or Nothing" on the radio, it's a trivia game. Here were the questions: 1. What is the most written about animal in the old and new testament? 2. What type of milk is Authentic Italian Mozzarella made of? 3. What do doctors, in the US, take more than 200,000 pounds out of Americans each year? The I got number 1 and 3 correct, then I googled number 2 and told Spence to call in. He won, he got $75 for Iris (eyeglass store) and $30 in Edo Gift certificates. We love Edo, and Spence used the Iris money to buy a lifetime supply of eyeglass cleaner.

We've had cats pooping in my flower beds and I finally rented a cat trap. My friend Erin gave me some cat food to use as bait and since Friday I've caught 3 cats. I took them to the SPCA. Driving by the SPCA I saw the landscape depot, I decided to buy some rock to decorate a couple beds in front of our house. I shoveled about a yard of rock and still have a bit more to do. I've been a bit sporadic lately and want to get lots done before the end of the summer.

Yesterday I did a Super Sprint Triathlon, it was so cold. It rained all day until right before my race and then it started again when I was finished. Spence was such a good help, he is awesome.

Kali starts school in over 2 weeks, I can't believe it.

The summer's almost gone.

I sure love the summer, I like the heat and being able to go to the lake nearby. We have a manmade city lake about 5 km from our house and it's FREE. Kali and I have gone quite a few times this summer by ourselves and with friends. She likes to play at the park, in the water or building sand castles. We also have fun in our backyard too. We bought a trampoline and a swing set, Kali has learned to pump herself and she is so proud, and do a bum drop.

We have been busy working on our house too, the list of projects is getting smaller. I have taken it upon myself to put up our kitchen cabinets, they are heavy suckers. I love taking down the old ones, I get to smash stuff, and it's fun. I love working on the house when I have the time.

We went camping in July for a week to Shoal Lake, Manitoba. We went with my family and extended family, I got a glimpse of what my life would be like without the gospel. All I can say is: I'd rather be dead. Although, I was really happy that my sister came, she's great. We have lots of fun hanging out and spending time together, I sure love her. Kali had fun with her cousin Evan, they played so well, and they are surprisingly very alike, must be in the genes. There were definitely angels around Kali that week, she came away from the week without learning any bad words.... which is a miracle knowing some of my Aunts and Uncles. ... Again so happy to have the gospel. The camping could have been better if we had better weather, it rained a couple days, and we had 2 really windy days (60 km). We had the shelter of our 1975 Bonair tent trailer, and it has a furnace so we kept warm at least. We played some crib, visited and went to a parade, Kali got an ice cream bucket full of candy, we threw most of it out. I think I'm about camped out for the year now.

I've got 3 weeks till Kali starts Kindergarten, she got a letter from her teacher, she is so pumped. I'm excited for her, she's going to love it. I'm a little nervous for her to go everyday all day, I hope I've prepared her enough for some of the things she'll have to deal with. My little baby is growing up so fast. I hope we can have some fun in the next few weeks.

June, June Horray it's June!!

I am a lot more than excited that June is here and almost over. I need a break from the preschool, and I have so much I want to do this summer. We are going camping in Shoal Lake, Manitoba for a week... I'm trying to be positive about it. I have to strip, sand, stain, seal and install some cupboards in our kitchen too (Spencer's kind Aunt and Uncle gave us their old ones). I hope they look awesome when when we're done. I hope it only takes a week or so, I have a great friend in my ward who offered help me. I'm also excited to hang out with my friends who I rarely get to see because I work too much. Summer, summer here I come!!

We took Kali to Drumheller this weekend instead of having a party and presents. We left Friday afternoon and heard "Are we there yet" about 50 times. We camped, visited with some friends who live in Drumheller, visited 2 museums, fished, played at the spraypark, climbed the world's tallest Dinosaur, ate the worst Pizza ever, and illegally climbed the Hoodoos (we found out after the crime). Kali told us that it was her best birthday ever, but I think she might be a bit of a charmer, she also only has five other to compare it to.
We had a hard time keeping her hands off things, she is very curious, we definitely should have had her on a leash the whole weekend. My suggestion to anyone with busy kids is to stay away from the gift shops, and the Tyrell Museum. Go to the spraypark - it's free, Fossil World - you can touch everything, the Worlds largest Dinosaur - it should tucker them out climbing all the stairs, it did a number on me too. I'm so glad we got to go to Drumheller, I hope Kali can have some new interests other than wanting to be a teenager.

Camping weekend

We took our tent trailer out last weekend. We went to Spencer's parents farm with some friends, it was fun. Friday night there were 3 families with us. We ate lots of junk, my favorite part was the taco in a bag. The kids did pretty good, except that Kali stayed up til 11 pm, they played, fought, ate, and explored. I like camping in a trailer, it's like a little home. My favorite part is organizing and buying special stuff only for the trailer.

We slept well, were warm enough and had great food... mainly Sunday. After church we were invited to lunch at the Woodruffs where we had TURKEY and the Torries, where we had ROAST BEEF. The food was amazing. This was the best camping trip ever!!! Those families are soooo GOOD to us.

Camping is a lot of work, I don't like packing up and putting everything away when we get home. Mind you, Spencer packs excessively. For example, if we have a tent trailer we don't need 3 tents, air mattresses, foamies, pads, and every blanket in the house. We have a trip planned for a week in July in Shoal Lake Manitoba, I hope we can simplify.

It's the Merry Merry month of May.

Mother's day was perfect. Spencer and our friend Denver made lunch for Adrienne and I, plus 4 kids. We had a great visit, we missed them, they were vacationing in Mesquite for a month. The kids played really well, and we had fun. Spence and Kali bought me a new phone for my bedroom, 4 packages of Icebreakers sour mints, and a bunch of pink daisies (my favorite). Kali made me a butterfly at preschool along with one of those "I know Mom the best" questionaires, here's some of the funny things she wrote.

How old is your Mom? she used to be 7 but now she's 8.
What is her favorite food? Chips and Salsa and Guacamole.
What do you have to do to be a Mom? Work
What is your Mom's favorite thing to do? Go to the mall and see the dragon blow out fire.
Where would she like to go for a holiday? To the movie Camp Rock, where we're going camping

She cracks me up, it's funny the way her brain works. Honestly, I hate the movie Camp Rock, but we are going camping this weekend, and now that we have a trailer, it might be more like a holiday.

I went to the Hannah Montana movie last weekend, and I loved it. It feels like Miley and I are best friends now.

I can't remember if I wrote last about Kali running in the Rattler Run, she did the 3 km down the College/Kin coulee hill and back up. She's a good running partner, she actually ran the whole way. She got a little bored so I let her use my ipod, that really helped. I'm excited to run with her in the future, I'll be chasing her a lot more.

I've been going to the Y with some friends at work. I find that 5:30 am is a good time to go, I get home at 6:30 ish and go back to bed for an hour. I really need to get a program made for me though, but I feel proud that my legs are still strong, I did sets of 300 lbs on the leg press for my quads and calves.

Kali and I built some boxes to do a square foot garden, I hammered my thumb pretty hard, I handled it really well. Later Spencer asked her what I did when I hit my thumb, she said I said "Ouch". Our garden plot is actually pretty big right now but, this year we want to try something different so we are going to add some ease and organization to our attempt at gardening. Last year was pretty successful, I hope we can diversify with some herbs this year.

Well, only 33 more school days till summer, I can't wait for the break.

p.s. We were coming home from Wal-mart today and Spence said he was so hungry he could eat a horse. Kali said "That's gross Dad, it's not even made of chicken!"

Kali's first peer pressure experience

Kali has a little friend at school named Trevor, they had a play date this past week. Trevor's older sister and her friend told Trevor to kiss Kali, and he chased her around their yard. She got away, luckily.

This is her first experience like this... that I know of. What I really love is that she told me in the car right away, that means so much to me. I hope we can always have a good relationship where she trusts me. She told me a while a go that when she is a teenager she is going to be really nice to me. I'm going to hold her to that.

I hope we can teach our children that family and trust are very important, and also that it's okay not to do what other people tell us to do. I want to raise a child with a backbone who knows what is right and wrong. How scary that this September she is going to be in all day everyday kindergarten without me.