Knee Hockey Tournament

Our neighborhood  friends are always coming up with fun ways to entertain themselves during the summer. This year, everyone participated in the first Knee Hockey Tournament. There were matching shirts, organized practices, tickets, concessions, and a lot of friendly competition.

I had never really heard of knee hockey, but I guess it's a real thing. Thankfully all the athletes have young, strong knees..

Caleb was still sporting his Pirate Camp facial hair, and decided to hang out with a player's sister.

It was like the Civil War, brothers against sisters.

These two finally got smart and put on some knee pads.

I am not sure who won first place overall, but it was a lot of fun, and I hope the Zotti's lawn recovers.

I'm Not Kidding... This is Pathetic

We tried to make a delicious birthday cake for Christian's birthday. This is how it turned out.

It was actually really delicious, it just looked really bad.

I think Christian may have been ashamed to take his picture with it, so Caleb volunteered.

 

Happy Birthday, Christian? Luckily we'll get another chance next year to make up for this disaster.

My Favorite Valentine

Happy New Year

 

Welcome 2015! It's going to be a great year!

A Few Fall Funnies

Cali's hair is really something else! The combination of some braids and her t-shirt pulled up around her ears, created this masterpiece.

After a long afternoon of swimming, we stopped by the rec center playland and Caleb created this house. He was so proud!

Cali also likes to invite her friends over for makeovers, this was a pretty scary one!

Rarely a Good Idea

It is rarely a good idea to cut your own bangs, but sometimes I can't take my own advice. Sometimes, I think, "just a few more snips", and then I end up looking like this. 

Really??

 

There is no reason that someone running in the morning should HAVE to wear this many clothes on June 17. However, here is proof, that running in June is just as bad as running in February around here.

My Buddy!

The week after the kids got out of school, we took a little trip to Castle Dale, where I found Brandt's most prized childhood possession, My Buddy. The theme song from the commercials can still get stuck in my head, even after all these years. My mom was going through some boxes of stuff, and we found him, Brandt's answer to having four sisters. A doll for boys! I took these pictures to send them to Brandt (who wasn't there at the time), to prove that his buddy was alive and well, and in good hands.

A Lion on the Loose

 

Every summer our neighbor has her dog groomed to resemble an African lion, every summer my kids love it!

Carter & Mommy Date

I took this handsome little fella' along with me to SLC to get my hair cut and colored. On the way there we listened to the top 20 count down on the radio. Carter was so funny, he waited with great anticipation to hear which song would be number one on the countdown.

While I was getting my hair done, he hung out with Grandpa Carl and Parker in Bountiful. After I was done we headed to Park City for a little shopping where he picked out this fancy hat. I was surprised, as Carter is strictly a baseball cap kind of kid.

I don't think he's actually worn the hat except for that one day, but the other day I heard him tell Caleb that he couldn't wear it. When Caleb started crying and asked why Carter wouldn't let him wear it, Carter said, "because it's special to me, it's from the day that me and mom went to Salt Lake, and I want to have it as a reminder when she passes away." So, there's that.

A Lot of Emotions for One Day

Happiness: Waking up to the beautiful sun shine.

Exhastion: Going against my better judgement and trying to run outdoors after 5am.

Elation: Randomly meeting Pete Rose, getting his autograph, shaking his hand, and upon standing being called, "A G.D. Linebakcer". He meant Christian, not me.

Joy: Meeting up with my childhood best friend and his amazing wife for dinner before the Matchbox 20 concert.
 

Frustration: Trying to get a decent picture with Christian
 

Accomplishment: Finally getting kind of a decent picture with Christian.
 

Anticipation: Waiting for Rob and boys after the Goo Goo Dolls.
 

Nostalgic: Listening to so many great songs from the '90's.
 

 \
Tired: We don't see 1am very often, but this is what it looks like in Vegas.

Happy Birthday, to Me!

Birthday's don't usually get me rilded up. Getting older, is just one of those things that happens when you keep living. That, I can deal with.

What I cannot deal with is small ninja children climbing their dresser on my birthday eve. We were just about to leave the house for the morning, when I heard a loud crash. I probably don't move as fast as a regular mother, since loud crashes are kind of like an everyday sound. This one however, was truly unique.

There was screaming, the physical containment of the "F" word, and the launching of kids into my bedroom where I could lock the door. After staring for a few minutes, I picked up the stuff, tipped the dresser over, and went to work. Oh, and I resassured the kids that I wasn't going to hurt them or send them to the military academy.

The next day, on my actual birthday, I found that Cali had composed this note for me via a translating app she downloaded on her iPod. I don't speak much Spanish, therefore, I too had to download the app to figure out what she was saying.

 

Adventures in Spray Tanning

In an attempt to look glowing and golden in my black dress for my brother's wedding, I decided it was time to venture into the world of spray tanning.

Wait, back up... In my 20's I spent my fair share of time in tanning beds. In fact, I even talked Christian into participating in the warm goodness that is tanning. However, as I've gotten older {and wiser} I've tried to steer clear of the potential melanoma causing rays.

The last few years spray tanning has come a long way. No longer the streaking orange mess that it once was, rather, a fairly cheap, temporary, and safe way to look tan without the cancer side effects. I know several girls who own their own spray tanner and air brush themselves to perfection on a regular basis. So I thought...why not?

With the wedding festivities commencing on Friday, I figured that Wednesday would be a good day for a spray. I stripped down to my underwear and sports bra and had a total stranger {but a very nice one at that} airbrush me to a golden tan. She gave me some advice; (1) you will feel sticky, (2) you should not shower for 6-10 hours, (3) when you do shower a lot of the tan will wash off, but a lot will stay, (4) don't do dishes or let water run down your hands onto your arms, (5) if you have any dark spots, try a salt scrub or lemon juice to remove the dark color.

I felt pretty confident that I would be looking hot by morning. Shortly after my tanning session Christian and I loaded up the car and kids and drove to Price. Christian had to work in Utah, and we had to be there for the wedding, so we all went together a day early. She was right... I was sticky. A four hour car ride gave my tan a good long time to sink in.

When I woke up in the morning I was shocked to see how truly dark I really was. I remembered advice #3 and figured that most of it would wash off. I went running, so did my tan. By the time I got back my clothes were orange and my neck was striped like a zebra. Time to get in the shower. Yep, a lot of it washed off. I was relived, and excited, and hot! Then I looked at my hands...

For whatever reason the water seemed to have no effect on the darkness of my hands. Then I remembered advice # 5 about the salt scrub and the lemon juice. Ok, I thought, I will have to work on my hands a little. No big deal. Right. Then I turned them over and realized, my palms were the same color.

Let me tell you somethings that do not work on Pocahontas-style-spray-tan-hands. (1) salt scrub, (2) lemon juice, (3) swimming in a chlorinated pool for hours. Now let me tell you something that does work. Bleach. Straight up Clorox {with a little water}. At the suggestion of my sister Dory I participated in 15 minute intensive bleach soak. Guess what, it worked... It was just shy of peeling off my flesh, but it worked.

One more shower... a lot of lotion.... and my hands were back to almost-normal. Will I be spray tanned again? I don't know. But if I do, I'll wear gloves!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from three wild Leprechauns.

One very excited-about-wearing-many-shades-of-green leprechaun, one green pancake eating leprechaun, and one who refuses to hold still long enough to be photographed.

No one's getting pinched around here today!

Double Rainbow

Nicole and I stopped by the largest-ever-in-the-history-of-retail-shopping-two-level Forever 21 in Las Vegas. There were a lot of very cute things, but there were also a lot of very, well, un-cute things. Thankfully she decided against this rainbow sweater {or as her husband described it "hippy kindergarten teacher"}. If you have to ask yourself, "Is this cute or ugly...or is it so ugly it's cute?" step away from the potential purchase!

It's so bright, so vivid...It's so intense...Double rainbow all the way across the sky...Ahhhhh what does it mean? It's starting to look like a triple rainbow.

If this isn't funny to you, you are not one of the 22+million people who do get this joke. You may need to click here or here.

Pretend It's Warm...

Today, amid our daily running around, we made it to Green River to register our car {it was only due in December}. We can't go to Green River without going to Arctic Circle, and we can't go to Arctic Circle without eating it at the park. So, even though the thermostat said 35 degrees, we stuck to our guns. Carter shivered a little when it was time to eat his shake, but Caleb thought eating outside was a dream come true.

The hot corn dogs steamed outside in the cold air, Carter thought his was smoking...which reminded him that he's NOT supposed to pretend to smoke. It was pretty chilly, even my cell phone camera captured Caleb's cold pink cheeks. All in all, it was a pretty fun adventure...it will be more fun in the warm summer sun, but at this point we just take one non-windy day at a time!

Also, I should note that I do feed my children things other than girl scout cookies, shakes, and corn dogs. However, it seems that those healthy normal foods are less fun to eat, and therefore less fun to photograph. At any rate, I assure you that these children are not on the fast track to obesity.