Category: Uncategorized (Page 95 of 118)

Why must we ruin a great vacation by coming home? Not that home is bad, but the drive was oh-so-long (did it in one day), and now I’ve got a whole bunch of bags to haul in, a whole bunch of laundry to do, email to read, phone messages to return, blogs to read, blogs to post (such a trial, I know!), groceries to buy, and a house to clean up. But, that’s what real life (not vacation) consists of, right?

We had a wonderful time, and enjoyed Disneyland! The Grand Californian is indeed Grand, and even though I felt kind of like an imposter staying there ($350 a night to start?! –eek!) or some kind of white Utah trash, we loved the hotel and had a fun time.

I’ll leave you with a few photos, with more to come!

Here’s the whole lot of us, and here we are again with Winnie the Pooh.

and here are the kids–they were “tired” after a long day of riding rides. ha!

Upon checking into the Comfort Inn here in Anaheim, she asked if I’d like to upgrade to a kid-suite for an extra $20 a night. UH-HUH! I’ve just spent about a million hours in the car with the yahoos driving from St. Geoge to Anaheim today, with at least an extra hour for some kind of unexplained traffic jam. I think a kid suite sounds like a Fantastic Idea! So, now I’m sitting on MY queen bed, and Ryan is sitting on HIS queen bed, and all the kids are in their own little room with bunkbeds watching their own TV. Cool! The kids may not all sleep in there, but for the moment, it’s nice and quiet.

Yesterday we drove to St. George after the kids got home from school, and arrived at the hotel about 8:00, with enough time to swim in the outdoor pool for a bit, then we had the kids shower, eat some sandwiches, and get ready for bed. We tried to put three kids in a bed, but they kept kicking, pushing and complaining, so Cole ended up spending the night on the floor — he didn’t mind so much.

We plan to get up early and hit the parks tomorrow, so if I’m not too exhausted I’ll blog it then.

-earplugs (all those kids breathing keep me awake!)
-pillow and blanket for the small boy (so hopefully he’ll go to sleep in the strange hotel rooms)
-sunscreen! (“It’s gonna be hot in my big silver pot..” Can you name the Disney reference?)
-autograph books for the kids to meet and greet the Disney characters
-the unofficial guide to Disneyland (see if we can hit all the attractions like the book says)
-good walking shoes
-back-up good walking shoes
-bandaids for blisters and skinned knees
-a headband for those bad hair days
-possibly a hat for those even badder hair days
-cough syrup (why are all my children coughing this morning? AAAGG!
-tylenol (for the headaches)
-movies for the car
-benadryl (for those coughs and runny noses–and sleeping)
-massive amounts of snacks
-the CAMERA
-the phone
-the cooler full of drinks, water bottles, etc.
-the credit card and large amounts of cash (for our cough-cough “free trip!”)

anything else? I hope not, but let me know if I’ve forgotten some vital something.

I’ve packed 6 people’s bags so far, and I’ll probably pack the 7th, too. Then we need to make sure everything fits in the car, which shouldn’t be a problem since we are taking the large gas guzzler of a vehicle.

So, if there are no blogs from Disneyland (who are we kidding? Ryan will of course be taking his laptop, and I’ll probably post about 100 pictures), wish us luck and fun, and have yourselves a great weekend!

p.s. 0h, and Bells on Temple Square (minus me) will be on Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday in case you want to see a small blurb of bells.

(1) Mother’s Day
by Natalie Erickson

M others are great.
Only one mother.
Today is Mother’s Day.
Her hair is beautiful.
Everyone loves her.
Really cool.
She makes me dinner.
Does the laundry.
And we love…
You!

Sweet, isn’t it?

(2) Yesterday we spent almost 3 hours in the dentist’s office. That’s the last time I schedule everyone’s appointments all on the same afternoon.

(3) Grey’s Anatomy (not Accademy, like our local newscaster said on Sunday) is over. Now I’m sad that it’s over for the whole season. I guess I’ll have to go out and get a life. But for today I’ll probably be thinking about it all day. What will Merideth do? Choose cute Finn, or keep ruining her life by loving Derrick? And is Izzie really leaving the program forever? Will Burke get use of his hand back? And what about George and that very masculine Callie? Are they a permanent thing? Oh the questions……

(And Ryan will be quick to point out to you that we’ve had three barbeques in three days!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day. You are wonderful mothers and deserve a great day to celebrate your motherhood.

9:00 church is not real condusive to Mother’s day celebrations such as breakfast in bed. In fact, as I woke one of the girls up and told her to go and shower, she said, “You are supposed to be in bed!”. Well, I couldn’t really lounge in bed when I had 5 kids to help get ready for church, and shower and look presentable myself.

We did all get ready in time, although Natalie’s hair was almost dripping wet. Wet ponytail for you, girl. Ryan had to speak in sacrament meeting, so he was up early writing his talk (plan ahead? I don’t think so.), and I had to grab a few things for my lesson, but we got there in time.

The kids were relatively good during church, even with no dad sitting with us to keep them in line. They drew some great Mother’s day cards and pictures, too. Ryan’s talk went well, and several people told me how well he did on his talk. He said it wasn’t his best work, but I think he’s just pleased that it’s over. I taught in Relief Society, and that lesson went just fine, too.

After church, the kids presented me with a plethora of school/primary or achievement day made gifts. All very cute, and all very sweet. Jenna gave me a strawberry plant in a decorated pot that said “I love you Berry much!” John gave me an oh so cute new purse (that his clever mommy bought on clearance at–where else? Kohl’s–for a whopping $2.50 marked down several times from the original $45) that I’ve just been so excited to use. I can’t wait to transfer purse stuff and use it!

Later Ryan’s parents and sister and her husband came over for a yummy dinner of grilled steak, watermellon, salad and devilled eggs. For dessert we had rhubarb pie and ice cream. Delicious!! I wish you could have come on over and eaten with us.

As a surprise, Ryan got me a food saver for Mother’s day. The real surprise is, he didn’t know he was getting me a food saver, either. Julene and Italo recieved two for their wedding, and Ryan had told them he would buy one from them, so they wouldn’t have to return it. They brought it over tonight, so….Surprise! A Great Mother’s day gift!

The weather was beautiful, the kids were sweet, Ryan let me have a nice hour and a half nap this afternoon, and we had a nice evening. What a wonderful day!

Is “Soccer Mom” a positive term, a negative term, or just a discription?

Note to self: Do not ever buy Waffle Crisp cereal again. Or for that matter, any syrup flavored cereal should also be banned. I don’t mind the smell of actual waffles, or actual syrup, but the cereal waffle/syrup smell? Purely nauseating. And the kids end up smelling like it ALL DAy. Ick.

Hooray! I remembered!

I had to go to the library today and return things, as well as get some new books for the kids. I knew my library card was expiring and that I’d have to pay another $70 to renew it for the year. I considered switching libraries, since American Fork is actually closer than Lehi, and a bigger library; but that would mean I’d have to find and return all the books I currently have out, and I wasn’t quite up to that today, so I just paid it.

The good news is, I actually remembered to go to the city office and turn in my receipt so that I could be reembursed BEFORE months and months had gone by and I lost the little tiny reciept. I went today. The same day! Wow! And they paid me in cash. So, with the $50 they pay me to reemburse me for the library cost, I feel like $20 a year isn’t that bad. I definitely use the Library $20 worth. Too bad I can’t go and get a card for the AF library and get reembursed for that one, too. Then I could use both libraries. But I’m guessing they wouldn’t reemburse me again.

And the other good news is: I managed to find a swimsuit. Black skirted things with a major built in bra pink top two piece “skirtini” or whatever the heck you call it. I did have John with me, but I distracted him with an entire single serve package of goldfish, and quickly tried things on cowered over in the corner. It will have to do. I mean, how good can I expect to look in a bathing suit when I don’t exercise and I like food. But at least it’s not the totally stretched out and sagging suit that I’ve worn on two cruises and have had for at least 3 years, now. I won’t even joke about putting in a picture here. (Well, maybe just a picture of the suit layed out on the ground without me in it–no, no-just kidding!) And although it started out expensive, it was on sale AND I used my extra 15% coupon at Kohl’s (I will try not to go on and on about how much I love that store, since I can hear you saying, “I know, I know, we’ve heard you say it about a thousand times how much you love Kohl’s”), so it didn’t break the bank too badly. Plus, I got the cutest jacket that I’ll give to my mother-in-law for Mother’s day if I can manage to part with it, and it ended up costing $4. Oh, and a way cute new purse for me! Maybe I’ll let my kids wrap it up and give it to me for Mother’s day. If I can wait that long to use it.

Oh, and in a totally unrelated train of thought, here’s my small boy at his first Father’s and Son’s campout:

And here’s my big boy at the same campout. He’s the small figure that you can barely make out on top of the large pile of snow: