Gardening

We met Nate and Saxon down at Thanksgiving Point yesterday, and walked through the gardens there. I got pics of my kids in the mazes, and all the kids in the wading pool around the Noah's Ark sculpture. The gardens are beautiful, and I'm really glad there was so much shade :) One bad sunburn per summer is about all I can handle...

Sunburns and swimming lessons

So can anybody tell me why, when I put sunscreen on, I get sunburned? And not just a little bit, but bright pink don't-touch-my-legs-or-I'll-scream burned. Hmmph. Good thing Jared tans well, and that he passed that skin down to our kids. Got pics of M and H at swim lessons this week. Since H's hair is wet, you can't see that he's bleached blond from all the sun he's had this week :) And Morgen's at the diving pool- it really is that blue :)

Tools are a fine, fine thing

IF you have a husband who knows how to use them :).

You may already know that my dh cooks well. That's important to know for this story! Jared had just finished baking some of his very tasty and completely made-up-by himself cheesy biscuits. He left them in the oven [turned off now] to keep them warm while he finished cooking chicken for our Sunday dinner. Morgen, who was in the kitchen bugging her dad [I mean helping LOL], was warned several times to stay away from the stove. As in, "Don't touch that!!" So, the first thing she does when Jared's distracted? Yep. She touched the stove. Actually, she pulled the lever on our SELF-CLEANING OVEN that turned on the self-cleaning mode, and broke it, so the oven was locked shut, with the biscuits still inside. Jared had to unscrew the front of the oven [did YOU know that the front of your oven can come off? I sure didn't...], and pull and wrench some metal thingies, but he finally saved the biscuits. :)And, he put the stove back together and fixed the lever [which we never use, but it was a nice thought]. Pretty impressive, eh? Yeah, I married Superman. ;)

Moving on

We took a big bag of stuffed animals and blankets to the Boys' and Girls' Club of Utah today. I kept the kids out of school long enough for them to come with me [this is the last week, and I'm sure they missed some very important movie...]. I didn't think it would be a big deal to hand off that bag. The blanket was a gift from the Medical Examiner's office, and had no sentimental value at all. Neither did the stuffed animals- we received them from many sources, and I let the kids pick out a few to keep, but we had no need for that many, and didn't feel right just throwing them away. Anyway, I handed the bag over to a lady at the B&G club office, and got all choked up. Then, of course, Morgen wanted to know why I was so sad, and I couldn't answer without crying, so I kept quiet. She repeated the question [standard behavior for her] until she finally got an answer- I got frustrated enough w/her repeating that question that my tears dried up :). So, I guess it's a good thing I brought my kids with me LOL.

And, in other news, I have a nephew: Owen! He was 7 pounds 9 oz [brother Luke was 7' 10" and sister Val was 7' 8"- or maybe it was the other way around]. And he looks adorable. Way to go, Emily!!!