the flooring has landed!!! WHOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

ok - it's been here a while but we had to finish up getting the kids rooms finished and help them get settled into their own rooms before we started laying it. And considering that DarRell also works a full time job, there isn't much time to put it down before the kids need to be in bed, usually only about a hour or two after dinner and all. So it's taking us a bit longer than we'd hope.


We ended up NOT getting the bamboo as planned, but ended up putting in wood. This is called Heritage Oak. We made a ABSOLUTE killing off it. It ended up being much cheaper to put this in than carpet so i figured that i'd better give a little if i wanted to stay on everyone's good side. And, i do like it, so i can't complain much.


We were wanting to get it done most of the way last night but, it turns out that our sink and the cabinents were finished, so we went to go pick them up so that we'd have them when we wanted them. Tonight is out of the question since we have all night long soccer games again. Good thing it's a long weekend. It'll definately be done by the weekend! WHEW!!!

This is my view looking down the stairs to the basement. It looks really nice. I can't wait to get it finished and get moved in. That will be a bit longer than we hope, i'm sure. But we can see the end in sight.

and it begans...

soccer season started yesterday. I forgot how much i love soccer. So did the kids!



Rianne has a little tiny team, The Racoons. Six little kids make up her poor little team. 3 little boys and 3 little girls. Poor kids don't get a break throughout the whole game. She was exhausted by game end. Good thing all her games are early in the evening.

Here she is with her cute little team and coach. Most of them have never played. Only two of the team has ever played. Rianne is one of them.

I can't belelive how much she's gotten better just from last year.

My little missy made her first goal this year too! I think it was as much of a shock to her as it was for the team. It was a "in the right place at the right time" situation but she was flying high all night long!
The 'Coons totally kicked butt! Even though they don't keep score for the litte ones... they totally clobbered them!

... and my goober boy eating grass while watching the game. I just can't keep anything out of that kids mouth.

Daylon played the late game. Nothing like spending the WHOLE evening at the ball fields! (which for the next month will be a reality. All of Rianne's games are early and all of Daylon's games are late and SO not worth driving home and back)

Daylon forgot how much he loved soccer. I'm excited that he's excited to play again. I can see a big improvement from last year.

Here he is with his team. He's got a great coach this year (last year he had a great one too). I think they will go far this year.

Daylon actually got out there and showed us what he's got. Which is so much more than last year. He payed a lot of attention to what was going on. I'm quite proud of the guy.

They totally rocked their game. They won this game. Final score was 4 to 2 with Fire beating Dinamo!!! And as Daylon says it: Fire vs Dianomight. Fire beats dianomight... dianomight blows up! (he totally thought their name was the dinomights)

Sunday funny

i know this is probably going around a bit but this is just the funniest thing ever. He's got a whole bunch of gymnastic routines but this one is the best by far. Check it out!

for the last 54 days...

My life has been a blur. So much has been going on... non-stop... literally.

Here's a quick run through of my life in the last few months, and ultimately the reason why I've been MIA.

Brandy and her cutest little family came to stay for a while:

From there we all headed up to Fish Lake for a mini-vacation of sorts. We were there for 6 days (i use "we" very loosely, because DarRell had to work and i had to work. But the family as a whole, were up there for 6 days):
In the middle of our Fish Lake vacation was the 4th of July:


fireworks on the 4th in Joseph:


and Daylon's birthday on the 14th... which we celebrated on the 13th. My parents came back down just to celebrate with Daylon (after spending the 6 days up at Fish Lake only 4 days earlier):

July 15th (14th) i lost a very good friend of mine (bi-polar/depression really sucks the big one). I spent the weekend in Tooele spending time with my friends, mourning over the loss of Steve. The only good thing that came out of this horrible tragity, is that i met up with the rest of my GREAT friends that i haven't seen in ages :

Mike, Kristin and Brayden came down to visit before Kristin had her little bambino. We celebrated the 24th with them (which, around here, actually spans out over 3 days of celebration).

The Children's Parade on the 23rd:



The parade: Daylon and I walked it with the firetruck. DarRell and Sam drove the firetruck:


Rianne danced her way through the parade for the mini drill:


We had several birthdays in the mix while they were down:
Tucker's on the 23rd (and mine too but we didn't celebrate mine):


Cole's on the 24th after the parade and park:


fireworks on the 24th which i didn't get any pictures of but i did get pictures of us playing with the sparklers:

Right after Mike left, Mickey, Taylor, Jared and Quintin came to stay for a while:

Right after they left, Amanda and her clan came to stay for a spell.

During which, we've been finishing our basement... by ourselves:
the family room:

Daylon's room:

Rianne's room:

Yes, it's been a VERY busy summer. We've been so busy with family visiting and holidays and working on the basement that we haven't even had time to breath.

But i'm back now. School is in session leaving my schedule open for the next 9 months or so.

First day of school

They've been waiting for this day for weeks now. Oddly enough, they couldn't wait to get back to school.

Rianne is beyond excited to start 1st grade. She already met her teacher last Friday and is excited to get started. She is already above average in reading and is reading at a 2nd grade level (holy cow! can that be possible???).


Daylon is excited to be in 5th grade, if only because he will have his first male teacher. Well, that and he gets to see all his school friends again. I'm hoping this year won't be a huge struggle for him again.


I've got mixed feelings on the school front. It'll be nice not having to get after them to do the simplest of chores. No more "i'm bored" and "he/she's being mean" and the screaming and yellling and running through the house. Things will stay in place for longer than 2 minutes at a time. I just might be able to get used to this again. But i will miss having them around. They are great intertainment most times. But now it will be easier to get back to a schedule. And no big distractions when it comes to Sam and his schedule. He can have the one-on-one time he demands to have at all times.


This is Sam when he woke up this morning. There was nobody here. DarRell had left for work and the kids had gone to school. He was so incredibly sad. Totally broke my heart as he cried and called out for Daylon (ayon) and Rianne (iyon).


Turns out school was a total hit! Rianne came home still happy that she's a FIRST GRADER!!!

Daylon is glad to be back to school. But being the worry-wort he is, he ended up with a belly-ache all morning long. I'm guessing the nerves got the best of him. He toughed it out though, what a trooper.

10 things a mom did today tag

Ten things a mom did today that nobody will notice....

The day is young still, but so far:
1. bathed Sam. It won't be one hour before the kid looks like he hadn't had a bath in a week
2. put away the million cereal boxes the kids left out. Obviously I've given them too many choices in cereal.
3. dropped everything i was doing and visited with Dick. I'm sure it will only be one of the many many times he'll stop by today to visit (although i got a great trade off! I have about 20-30 minutes of me time before Grandpa brings Sam back from their "walk").
4. looked over our budget AGAIN.
5. scoured the house looking for the "hidden" binkies so naptime won't be meltdown time (what i did during my "me" time in line 3).
6. changed AND took out to the trash (out on the street no less) a million (or so it seems) diapers (which happens to be one of Daylons chores. I guess i'll give him a little slack since he's at school right now LOL).
7. mentally planned dinners for the rest of the week. Note to self: we are out of chicken
8. picked up and put away the dozens of shoes laying around the house. No wonder we can't find any shoes around here, none of them are where they belong.
9. turned off all the lights behind the kids. I'm guessing our house is too dark and every light needs to be on?
10. pulled out my camera and took pictures of the kids on their first day of school... and continued to click away all morning long. I haven't had my camera out for nearly a month. I don't think i'm doing anyone any favors here. I miss having new pictures on my computer.

Like i said, the day is still young. It's not even 11:00am right now so the big stuff is still to come.

Yup, it's a pretty thankless job (thanks for reminding me of that Brandy). If i were to show this list to anyone else, they'd call me a whiner. But, then again, i'm not whining. I'm (trying to?) enjoying my SAHM status even though i'd LOVE to get out of the house and feel like i'm doing something productive throughout the day. But these are the things that keep this household moving along. I really need to remember that. They are things that nobody would particularly notice, but if i didn't keep doing it, we'd all fall apart at the seams sooner or later.

ok - so........ i'm tagging: Jayme, Shallon and Jessica (my side of the family has already been tagged)