First Day of School

Mark, excited, mostly about his lunch.....

                                                          Lauren looking chic, of course.

                                                            Shelby, cool as a cuccumber

Isaac, first day of Junior High!

Katie....well what can I say, last years preschool teacher said she was a DIVA.  Not much has changed.

Western Idaho Fair

Oh yeah, it was time for the fair!  Some traditions MUST carry on.  Here are Scott and Isaac, riding in Scott's car to the fair, they were too cool to ride with the rest of us.  I am honored to be allowed in there orbit.

                                                               Corn dogs of course!

                                                Now this is the REAL lover of the corn dogs.

Got to ride a few rides.

                                                                    Yep, Kaite too.

This was all Mark was interested in riding the giant slide.

Well that was of course until he found a train.

                                           Animals of all sorts, and this one even let Isaac feed him. 

                                                                That is one ripe tomato!

                                                              I love a good Idaho spud!

This was Katie on the way home, now she was the one too cool for the rest of us.

Out takes

Here are some silly out takes from Shelby's birthday party. Scott and Lauren decided to play a game where the fed each other from behind. Here is Lauren getting a heaping scoop of ice cream.

Of course you have to wipe your face.

Don't forget the cupcake.

Then it was Scott's turn......

Oh, yeah and Shelby took the flower petals off her cupcakes and decorated her face.

I have such silly children.

HUGE, SHOUT OUT!

If you L.O.V.E. my new blog design as much as me, thank my sister, Arianne!  She is seriously one talented girl.  She originally designed the Brady Bunch looking photo last winter and sent it to me as a surprise.  Then when I started putting together this new blog, I asked for some help with the background.  I wanted something retro.  Well not only did she design the cool retro background she threw in the TV for good measure, without my even asking! 

When I first saw the design, I about died.  It is seriously one of the cutest designs I have ever seen, and she captured perfectly how I wanted my blog to look, even though I could not specifically articulate how I wanted it to look.  (I just knew when the look was right I would know, you know kind of like dress shopping for a special occasion.  You don't specifically know what you want but when you find it, you know.)

I am pleased as punch with the new design, but more pleased with the super cool, talented and wonderful sister I have who did this for me!  She is BEST!

Frosting is fun!

Ok, now for the pre-party fun.... Katie with the frosting beater.

Then when I was done frosting the cupcakes, Darrin took the frosting bag and put frosting on everyone's hands to lick off.

Oh, yeah they liked that! He had I had a nice discussion about how you squeeze the bag, I am a "roller" and he is a "twister." Humm....can we co-exist?

And if you are the birthday girl you get your face decorated with frosting. I do believe the only thing sillier than my children is my husband!

Shelby's Birthday

Within a week of arrival in Idaho, Shelby had a birthday, so of course we had to celebrate "Tiffany" style! Shelby requested cupcakes, and knowing that her favorite colors are blue and green I made these adorable cupcakes.

I used colored Tootsie Rolls to make the flowers.

No birthday is complete without presents.

And then there is the birthday dinner. Mizithra spaghetti, and salad.

New backpack for school.

But her favorite was an elephant Pillow Pet, which let me tell you, Divine intervention made that possible. I ordered the Pillow Pet while still in Utah but had it sent to my Idaho address, because I knew I would be moving before it arrived. When the company sent me the shipping information I realized I put in the wrong address, I was two numbers off. I tried calling the company but could only get voice mail, and no one would return my telephone call.

I had a secret hope that the mail carrier would realize that someone had purchased the house and was just too stupid to know their correct address. ( i.e. me) That hope was dashed when Katie's preschool teacher sent the back to school information to the new house at the correct address, only to have it returned to her as "house vacant." I has resigned myself to the fact the gift would be returned to the company and I would have to have it resent to the correct address.

The day of Shelby's birthday I went to check the mail around 4:30 p.m.in the afternoon, and what was waiting in my mail box, the Pillow Pet. I think I might have been happier than Shelby when she opened the gift.

Here she is with making her birthday wish. It was a great day for Shelby! Now she knows what its like to have a birthday "Tiffany" style! (Look how she glows, I LOVE IT!)

Moving on up.

Now the plan to haul all my stuff to Idaho went something like this.....pack up stuff in Provo house, close on Idaho house, move stuff to Idaho house. The only glitch.....I have a LOT of stuff. I swear I did a HUGE purge before I moved, but when you have 8000 square feet the stuff expands to fill the space available.

I began packing in April with the help of Arianne. We got a lot done that weekend and then I would just work room by room, time permitting. I made my living room the staging area. Over the course of four months it began to fill with boxes. My original plan was to take a 16 foot truck up on August 5, 2011 the date I closed on my Idaho house, and then take a 24 foot truck up on August 12, 2011. I was going to drive the 16 foot truck, and Jeff agreed to drive the 24 foot truck with the kids and I following in our car.

Now I wanted to fill the 16 foot truck with my boxes and the 24 foot truck with my furniture. My thinking was that I could spend two days unpacking boxes before returning to Utah, and then it would be easier to move furniture in because I would not be tripping over boxes.

About a week before the box move my living room was completely filled floor to ceiling with boxes. I measured the room and quickly determined that I was going to exceed the capacity of the 16 foot truck. So I started making alternative plans about what I could purge or even leave in storage in Utah temporarily.

The night before I picked up the 16 foot truck I was thinking about my drive to Idaho. I was going alone, and would be driving this 16 foot truck, and my only experience being driving something big was Linda's Suburban. I was a bit intimidated. I was thinking about how I would need to drive slow and allow additional time for breaking due to the size and height of the truck.

The next day upon arrival at the truck rental place I looked at the 16 foot and knew it would be quickly filled with my stuff. I made an comment to the truck rental place about the size of the 16 foot and they offered to upgrade me to the 24 foot at no additional charge.

Now you have to understand the 24 foot truck was not just 8 additional feet, it was also more height. In a nut shell it held 3 times the capacity of the 16 foot truck. IT WAS A LARGE TRUCK, as in 26,000 gross vehicle weight.

In a moment of complete delusion I agreed to the upgrade. They gave me a 3 minute lecture on mechanics of the truck how to fill the gas tank, and handed me the keys and sent me off.

Here is the truck. I navigated from the rental place back to my house to get a feel for the truck while empty. I did all right but I am sure my blood pressure was off the chart.

Yep we filled it up with all my stuff. Even got caught in a rain storm. So fitting for the whole experience.

Katie supervised.

Lauren was in awe.

After it was filled I said goodbye to the kids, told them I would see them in two days, and drove off, trying NOT to think about the size of the vehicle I was driving. I knew the hardest part of the drive would be the first 2 hours as I navigated through SLC evening rush hour traffic. It was nerve wracking, and it was nice to hit Brigham City, where the traffic died down.

I planned my route so I would never have to back the thing up. I had to fill up with gas twice, and each time as I got out of the truck and stared in disbelief that I was driving this thing. It took 7 1/2 hours to get from Provo to Boise, because it would not go any faster than 58 miles per hour, and quite frankly I was fine with that. It gave me time to think, reflect and feel. One of the things I felt keenly was the presence of my father. I was not alone on this trip. He was there. He was sitting along side of me. He was doing in spirit what he would have done in life had he still be alive and physically able to function. He moved me more than once from Provo to Idaho during my college years, and he did not miss this move either. He let me know I could do this, and I did.

I was happy and relieved to drive it up to my new house, and thankful for the company.

Sweden Threw up on Us

New chapter, new name. How do we describe our blended family? Darrin and I have blonde hair, and we both have blue eyes. All SIX of our children have blonde hair and blue eyes. Yes, we look like Sweden threw up on us. So why not a blog entitled swededthrewuponus.blogspot.com, after all we do look like Sweden threw up on us. New name decided.