Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it was my birthday this weekend. This is when I get to start claiming 29 for the rest of my life, right? No, I'm 31 okay?!? I had a great birthday. We celebrated on Sat, because there's a lot more to do on a Sat. then a Sun. Grandma took the girls for a few hours. Tim made a picnic lunch and then we watched a movie. We then headed to my favorite place (Tim's least favorite) Gardner Village. He tolerated my window shopping and my exclamations of "how cute!" over and over again. He bought me some fudge, and even let me browse in the Village Christmas Shop, where it is Christmas even in 90' weather. Next we dined at Archibald's. Archibald Garnder is my great-great grandfather. I am a descendant of his 11th wife and his 48th child. Yes, that was his last. So, it is kind of fun for me to eat there, plus it's just cute. We picked up the girls on the way home, put them in bed and had a game night with a few friends. It was a perfect day for me!

Sunday was filled with meetings. Then Tim grilled some steaks, we had cake and ice cream, and I opened presents. My favorite gift? This memory foam mattress pad. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Thanks for a great birthday Tim!! You're a wonderful husband.

The Chalet and Shingles

My aunt and uncle rented a Chalet in Midway last week and invited us to stay there with them and other extended family. We brought our sleeping bags and slept on the floor, but the girls loved it (though none of us got much sleep). Apparently there are fireflies in Midway area. I didn't know there were any in Utah, but Midway has them. My uncle gets very excited about such things, so he cut some willow tree branches and showed us all how to make nets. In the Despain family, you can't just buy nets, no no, you must make your own nets to catch the fireflies. Here is Tim making a net for Ali, and I made one for Lydia.

Here is Lydia's net we made together. They thought they were great and brought them home. We use them to catch butterflies now. We all thought the fireflies were beautiful. We caught several and put them in a jar to observe them. Then we let them go.

This is a great climbing tree the kids discovered. This branch was bigger than I could fit my arms around. My uncle also took us around the area showing us a variety of edible plants. We tried cattail, wild horseradish, wild mustard, cheese mallows, thistle (an artichoke relative), and stinging nettle. That's right, stinging nettle is edible, you just have to immerse it in boiging water first. Hey, now I don't need food storage!

We also saw some animals. The kids loved the giant earthworms we found, there were also woodpeckers, marmets, butterflies, fish, polywogs, and a dead deer (ohhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhh). Ali's favorite though were the snakes we found. She picked it up and folded it in half, made it into a wad and squeezed. Yes, the snake lived, but I was surprised it didn't bite her. Even Lydia was brave enough to hold the snake. It was a great little family vacation, especially since we had to cancel our trip to Yellowstone last week. Curse those gas prices. Thank you Russ and Ruth for inviting us! We had a great time!

Oh, the last part of the title doesn't refer to the shingles on the Chalet roof. Lydia got Shingles on her leg last week. I didn't know kids got shingles, just adults. Again, I was wrong. Luckily in children it is just a little annoying (she said her leg hurt for a couple of days) and it isn't very contagious. Her have to touch the blisters directly to catch chicken pox from her. So the Dr. said to give her Tylonal and sent us on our way.

Our June Bug is 4!

Lydia's birthday and party were on Saturday. She chose a Hello Kitty party. We decorated bows to put on our kitty "ears". Here you can see Lydia's. Then we played pin the bow on the kitty.

My friend Jessica made this beautiful Hello Kitty cake. Lydia loved it!

Lydia got plenty of presents. She has had days of opening packages. Is it just me or do pieces to toys get smaller as my daughter gets older? She has enjoyed each of her gifts. She also got a new bike from mom and dad.

Make a wish! The cake didn't just look cute, it tasted great too!

Lydia has gotten a party every year. Now she expects it. Ali hasn't gotten one yet and I want to change this party expectation of Lydia's.
What do you do party wise for your kids and how can I change from her every year expectation?

Strawberry Days

This past week was Strawberry Days here in beautiful Pleasant Grove! It is such a fun week and what summer is all about. On Tuesday night we went to a concert in the park. There was a bluegrass band playing and the kids had a blast dancing while we adults watched and ate scrumptious strawberries and cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

On Wednesday night we went to the carnival. We rode on space ships, horses, dragons, and cars. We also enjoyed some yummy lemonade.

Friday morning we went to Huck Finn Days. The pictures are from that event. We did a doughnut walk, got our faces painted, did a bean bag toss, slide down a giant slide, and walked in the fish pond. The pond is just a small bowl in the field that they flood with water and then fill with fish so the kids can go fishing.

On Saturday morning we went to the parade. We got a great spot in the shade and just enjoyed ourselves. Ali loved the motorcycles (the police ones), the horses, they candy, and the dancers. She even followed the dancers on down the street before I knew what she was doing. A nice man with a look on his face like, "what kind of mother lets their daughter wander down the street" brought her back to me. We had a wonderful week and best of all it was all free! Well, except the carnival rides. I love summer and I love this town!

Lydia's Father's Day Gift

Tim likes to take naps on Sundays, but he rarely gets to. Since it was Father's Day I figured he deserved a good nap. After I put Ali in bed, Lydia started to watch "High School Musical" so I figured I could fit in a short nap too. As Tim and I were snoozing, Lydia found some scissors. She came upstairs to get our opinion when she was done. Tim looked at her grogily.
Tim: Did you cut your hair?
Lydia: Yes, do you like it?
Tim: Umm, who told you to cut your hair?
Lydia: The mouses did. (The mouses are her imaginary friends. There are 3 of them and they do everything with her)
Tim: Boy are you in trouble.


Here is a side view of the damage. I think it looks like a really bad 80's haircut. As she looked in the mirror Lydia lamented, "The mouses don't like my haircut." Tim is calling her his son. I don't think it's that short, but I hope the hair stylist can work a miracle.


At least she cleaned up after herself and put all her hair in the garbage can. She is pretty sad that we have to go and get it cut today. Ah well, maybe every little girl needs to learn this lesson at some point.

What a Wonderful World!

Friday night for date night we decided to take a hike as a family. There is a trail head about a mile from our house and about 3/4 of a mile up there is a beautiful waterfall. We packed a picnic dinner and headed up.

Even though it was a short hike, there were many fun things to see along the way. There was a little pond called "Tarzan's bathtub." The girls loved throwing rocks into any water they saw. This is a bridge that crossed the stream, and of course the girls had to throw more rocks.

We also found a little cave. Lydia was afraid of snakes, but Ali went right in to explore (after I checked for snakes).

We reached the waterfall and had our picnic. It was beautiful and we enjoyed our food with a our view. The girls threw more rocks into the stream. I think the sound of the water affected Ali because in the course of our 1 hour hike she had to "go pahee" 5 times!

We crossed the stream and got a picture of our family by the waterfall. I know, we look kind of small. On the way back Ali went potty a few more times and the girls threw a lot more rocks.

We had so much fun on our hike. We had no idea there were so many great things to see so close to our house. The girls were great sports and kept going even when they tripped over the rocks frequently. We are so blessed that God made so many wonderful things simply for us to enjoy.

Toilet Troubles

Last Monday, we were giving our darling daughters a bath, when I noticed more water on the floor than usual. I thought one of said darling daughters had peed on the floor. As I began to clean it up, I looked up. It was coming from the ceiling directly above the basement toilet, but directly below the upstairs toilet. Tim touched it and it came raining down. The piped had become corroded and was leaking. I wanted to call a plumber because I wanted nothing to do with the stinky mess, but Tim said he could fix it. We remodled both the bathrooms in our previous house, so I thought maybe he could fix it. He was up until 1:00 am, but he did fix it. Tuesday night he reset our toilet upstairs (the pic is before the toilet was put back in), and Wednesday night he sheetrocked over the hole in the downstairs ceiling.

This is the new clean pipe Tim installed. Trust me, you didn't want to see the old one. It took me a couple of days to allow Tim to touch me, or anything in the house for that matter. Ewwwwwwwwwwww.

Tim did a fabulous job fixing this problem. Look, he's even smiling. The hole in the ceiling is now even covered. We just need to retexture and paint it now. That may happen within the next year...maybe not. I'm grateful to have a husband willing to learn messy things like this and I'm very glad we didn't have to call a plumber. Good job Honey!