Time Out

Bryan called me about 4:00pm this afternoon and asked the familiar question, "What are you doing?" Usually my response is,"Oh nothing." Which is never really the truth, but I figure I would spare him the details usually. Today though, I was in a time out.

This week has been a challenge in some ways. Bryan's car has been sitting at a dealership, awaiting some much needed air conditioning repairs. So everyday he takes our van to work with him, in Roseville. The kids and I have tried to make the best of it. One day we walked to the park and played in the water there, we have invited friends over to play, I even threw some exercise in one morning and ran to the Tower Market to rent a movie out of the red box (I love the red box, so convenient). Kind of funny, last night I finally took the van out to go and do some errands that I have been wanting to do. Emery, Kelci and I drove to Target and after about 5 minutes of being there, Bry called to tell me I left my wallet at home. I just started to laugh, how lame...

Today was tough and this afternoon Brody decided to go into what I like to call his #10 tantrum. But of course while he is yelling at me and anybody else that crosses his path, Landry started to cry and needs me more than anybody else at that moment. Sometimes in these situations I'm not sure what to do with Brody, one time I put him outside to chill out, but the wasps are everywhere and it was a little too warm for that. I know that sounds mean, but it really helps us both calm down and be able to talk afterwards. That wasn't an option today, so I took him by the hand and picked up Landry and carried them into my room and flopped all three of us onto my bed. Brody continued to yell, I don't even remember why he is yelling anymore. Landry has become interested in my clock on the nightstand. I actually closed my eyes for a moment and was pretty sure, even with all the noise around me that I could fall asleep. Brody is still grunting, he has rolled himself onto the floor now, and before I know Landry is grunting back at him. Great I thought to myself, he is only 15 months old and now learning how to talk back, thanks to his brother.

Well my time out didn't last long, Bryan needed me to fax something to his restaurant (that was the real reason for the phone call) and my friend was on her way over to have me trim her daughters hair. The tantrums were over for now and I was able to carry on. However I was so happy to hear that tomorrow I will have my van, so plans have already been made to get out of this house and have some fun...can't wait!!

It's Gone

Well we did it.....and I love it!

More Swimming

Well it's that time of year, weather is warming up and we are getting busier with swimming. There are a lot of swimmers that join the swim team during the summer and so there are several swim meets throughout the summer. Last Sat. was our teams turn to hold a swim meet here in Yuba City. It's a lot of work and takes a lot of volunteers, but it is a nice meet to be at, especially because it is local.

The night before the meet we went to the park and listened to the Golden West United States Air Force Band play, while this was happening Bryan was helping set up tents, tables, chairs, etc for the swim meet. The band was amazing of course. I loved being outside listening to them. It let my mind wander back to my days in Wind Ensemble, playing my oboe, taking lessons from Candice, who was also a member of this band at the time. I was a little worried at first when we picked out a spot in the grass to sit. We were surrounded by a lot of older people, no kids anywhere. I thought, great we are going to be so annoying to them, I'm sure. But actually it was quite the opposite, they were amused watching the kids react to the music. Part of the time, the kids ran over to the park and played, so I actually really did get to relax and listen to everything....

At one point the ladies sitting close by, started to clap along with the march being played, and Landry was entranced watching them. He couldn't take his eyes away, and his mouth was just stuck open the whole time.


The next day, the girls got up early and headed to the pool to warm up for a busy day of swimming. Kelci was the first one to swim and she swam one lap (25yds) of breast stroke. She did great, I loved how she kept looking at the other swimmers to see where they were. I'm so proud of her, sometimes I still can't believe she actually gets up on a block and dives into a pool with a lot of people looking at her. We are talking about a child who was glued to my leg for many years, never wanted to be the center of attention, totally shy, and use to HATE water!!!


And than it was Rose's turn to swim. She swam her heart out during 100yd breast stroke (4laps), but unfortunately was DQ'd for a one hand touch on a wall. She was a little disappointed, but ready to conquer the next race. Unfortunately, her mother was busy taking care of 3 other restless, busy children, and doing who knows what, Emery missed her race by just seconds. She was so upset and so was I. So as you can see she wasn't having the meet of her life, but she had a great attitude and after missing her race, she made sure she was ready for the next. She went and sat right behind the block and waited her turn. Both the girls were thrilled that Grandpa made a trip up to cheer them on. It was nice to see him and visit for a little bit.

Father/Daughter Night

One of my favorite things the girls get to be apart of, is a group of girls at church called Activity Day Girls. Emery and Kelci both look forward to there meetings every month. This is one of there most favorite nights, father/daughter night. I offered to help one of the leaders out, so I was able to stay and take pictures.

First the girls did Daddy's hair, there wasn't too much to work with because Bry had just got a haircut right before dinner. But they did there best, and I think he looks ready for the 4th of July!


Than of course it was time for Daddy to do the girls hair. I have to say he was pretty good with Emery's hair. He even attempted a braid! Poor Kelci...she got the gel treatment plus a little hair teasing. Remember when teasing was the in-do....thank goodness that's gone.


Following the hair-dos, they did a fun relay and roasted marshmallows to make smores. It was a lot of fun, despite the wind blowing campfire smoke all around, the girls had a great time, and will probably never let Daddy touch there hair again.

Happy Birthday to Me and Ang....

The tradition in our family (Thanks to Grandpa Collins) is to buy donuts on a birthday. This is a treat in our family, because it is the only time we go get donuts...lucky for the kids they count on at least 7 times a year for a yummy breakfast!

Cambree is always trying to figure out how old I am....not quite sweetie.

Kelci has had her eye on this outfit ever since I bought one for one of Emery's friends for a birthday present. So some how, Kelci talked me into buying her one too. She told me she really wanted to wear it on my birthday...how did I fall for that one?? She does look cute in it though.

Some of us, still don't get that excited for donuts in the morning....who's kid is this anyways? The night before my birthday, I was shopping at Walmart with the kids for a few things and at the last minute Emery threw a package of twizzlers in the cart and said, hey mommy these are for you for your birthday, from me. I thought it was funny and told her not to worry, I don't need them right now. Well Bryan went out to do some birthday shopping later that evening and bought an even bigger package to give to me from the kids....they thought that was great (and so did I).

I had a nice birthday though, complete with a little gathering with friends at the park. I think the kids were a little confused about it being my birthday and not a kids birthday. But they had a great time and it was nice to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather, I love being outside.

Here are just a few of the other things I love to do:

Save money...all of these items cost me $5.00 the other day. Also, just last night I bought 3 Mega packs of diapers, 2 body washes, 1 deodorant, and 1 shampoo for $5.00....and no it doesn't take much of my time. A lot of people say they don't have time to worry about coupons, but honestly there are a lot of great websites out there that do all the leg work for you. I think it takes more time for me to write a post like this, than to actually look at my coupons.

I also love to work outside with the garden or my flowers. My garden doesn't look big, but I have 7 tomatoes plants, 2 cherry tomatoes, 5 peppers, 3 zucchini, and 1 cucumber plant, all in that one little box. Can't wait to try out canning again this year.


I also love to take pictures and love looking at pictures....wish I could devote more time to that.

Three Rivers

This past weekend we made a trip to Three Rivers, Ca. to attend a family reunion on Bryan's side of the family. It has been awhile since we have traveled this way, so we thought it would be fun to stay the night at his Uncle John's house in Exeter as-well. He lives on a farm that he inherited about 10 years ago. He has done a great job preserving the rich history that exist in this farm. One of the barns was built in 1895! There are so many neat things laying around, tractors, parts, boats, buggies, and all sorts of antiques.

We arrived at John's house after a 4 1/2 hour ride, needless to say that the kids couldn't wait to get out. Thank goodness John's farm didn't disappoint. There was a golf cart to zip around in, a barn to explore, and cousins to play with.



Craig taught Emery and Kelci how to drive the golf cart, they loved it. I think Emery only ran into the back of Bry's tractor once and Kelci just like to make sharp turns...otherwise they did great.

Even Landry made a friend pretty quickly.



We had a great time hanging out that night watching old VH1 videos and getting a good laugh out of what we use to think was so cool. Thankfully the kids went to be pretty easily and slept all night long.

While I was packing Saturday morning I thought wouldn't it be fun to try and get some photos of the kids on the farm? Chrystina would be there to help gather everyone together and help get them to all look in the right direction at least. So I threw a bunch of white shirts into the suitcase, just in case. Here are a few that we were able to pull-off. It was pretty bright outside, so lighting was a little challenging. Oh and yes, I am still bleaching some of these shirts Ahhhhh....only the me would bring white shirts to a farm.





Sunday, Bryan's parents, Garrett, Olivia, Barb and Kate all joined the rest of us at John's and than we all traveled up to Three Rivers for the reunion. Most of the people there were related to Karen's Aunt Bobbie. Aunt Bobbie had 5 kids, and 4 of them were there on Sunday. All of there kids were there so it was nice to see so many of them grown up. They are a musical family, so they had a band set up and played a few tunes for everyone to enjoy. It was nice to mingle and catch up with people.



The river was rushing pretty quick, so we hadn't planned to play in it, but I wish we would have. Towards the end of our day, Chrystina discovered a nice calm spot to play in. The weather was pretty warm. Brody and Tyler kept busy doing what Brody does best, hunt rollie pollies of course.