I must force myself to be productive today and get laundry done, floors done, bathrooms done and whatever else needs to be done...no pool until it's all done.

I can do this...
I can do this...
I will do this...

These summer days continue to pass faster than I ever hope. We've enjoyed the hot AZ weather by swimming everyday this week. I'm thankful for friends who invite us to swim or who say yes when we invite ourselves. I'm also thankful for super fun and super inexpensive city pools...my boys think they are better than any water park. Works for me. I'm also thankful to a spouse who made the comment the other day that since he's not able to take off tons of time from work for long vacations he doesn't have a problem taking off a few hours during the day every few weeks and is more than happy to join us on our public pool outings. The boys get very excited when he comes along because they know they now will have a diving board/water slide/wrestling buddy while swimming. Which leaves me to hang out with Crate at the beach entry. His favorite spot as well as mine.

After babysitting 40 hrs per week this past school year being home with just my boys during the summer makes me so grateful. Grateful on many different levels. Grateful I'm not tied down to any one's schedule but my own, grateful to only have my own children to care for and more than anything grateful to spouse for doing whatever it takes to provide for the family. He never has asked me or expected me to work just so we can have nicer "things" I know being a SAHM is not available or desirable for every woman but it is my ideal and I have my Heavenly Father to thank each day for allowing me the opportunity to be home.

I told spouse it's a lot easier on me to send him off on Wednesday nights than it is for me to host mutual. Did I mention I'm really enjoying Wednesday evenings? The YW were and are great but I also enjoy not having to worry about things that come with the calling. :)

I promised Pops I'd have the business books all caught up by the time he gets home tonight. I've really slacked on my duties lately. Better get off to work.

If only summer could be for nine months and school for three months.

Happy Birthday...

to the best spouse in the world! We've celebrated so far by having German pancakes for breakfast along with bacon and fruit. Pops is working for a few hours (hopefully just a few)and I'm making these ...i hope they turn out as good as they look. Boys are playing all together and the kitchen is a mess! Time to get cleaning and hopefully have a great celebration for a great guy!

Mothers Day

I found this piece of paper as I went through the stack of papers on the counter. Buster had made this for me at school this year for mothers day. It had a few questions on it and he got to write down his answers, it goes like this:

My mom helps our family by?
~She makes us food

The thing my mom likes to do for fun is?
~She likes to go walking

When my mom daydreams she thinks about?
~My mom doesn't daydream.

If Mom could have one wish come true, she would wish for?
~A vacation

She spends most of her time doing?
~Working and cleaning

It cracked me up. He knows I'm always talking about vacations, he knows I love a good family vacation. As far as daydreaming goes, I told him I daydream about being on vacation and not working or cleaning. :) I do like to go walking but I could think of a few other things I like to do for fun too.

Paying bills today...not my favorite thing to do but I decided to sit down at the computer and set everything up so I could pay 90% of them online. I've been old school and have been writing checks but I think those days are behind me.

The boys chore for today was to clean the playroom and their bedroom, completely by themselves. I think they would have rather been beaten but it's finally done and looks great.

I don't like paying bills but I'm more than grateful to have money in the account to pay them.

Buster started golf school for the next two weeks. I heart city programs that are available, close and totally affordable. I think Pops might be more excited Buster's doing golf school than he is...Pops is looking forward to having a golf partner anytime he wants one.

This week is Buster's birthday, Pops' birthday and fathers day...all three events occur on Saturday and Sunday. Not to mention our anniversary that took place earlier in the month makes for a busy June. I asked Pops what he wants for his birthday/fathers day...his answer as always...nothing. Grrrr, it's hard to shop for him. Buster doesn't want a friend party this year instead he wants to do something "fun" as a family. He's still trying to figure out what that fun thing might be. I know he has lots of idea's running through his head. I have to say I was actually looking forward to throwing him a party with his friends but he's insistent to not do one this year.

It's getting hot and I can tell I'm getting hotter has my belly grows...it's a lot harder to cool off these days.

I also heart the schools free food program (Pop's calls it the "soup kitchen") It's been almost two weeks since I've bought a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. Not to mention my kitchen has stayed a lot cleaner the past few weeks. I chalk it up as another blessing.

I'm now a den mother for the cub scouts...this should be interesting. Like I said earlier I know nothing about the program but what better way to learn than to be a leader in it. I'm excited and Buster is excited too that I get to work with him. I can't say I'm totally excited for the 8 year old boy humor that seems to enter them at this age...but I'm sure we'll have a great time together, even if it is laughing at some of their bodily functions and smells.

Back to bills.

Buster is off at cub scout day camp. I can't believe he'll be eight in just a few days. I'll have a cub scout...and three more to follow in his footsteps. I don't know the first thing about the cub scout program or the boy scout program but ask me in 14 years and I'll know it like the back of my hand, I'm sure. I feel like our family isn't complete without him. Boss is lost as to what he should be doing with his time since he doesn't have an older brother to tell him what the next activity will be. I feel lost cause there's no arguing, one less mouth to feed and the house just feels empty. I know he's having a great time but I have to say I miss him like crazy. I'm once again full of gratitude I get to be home with the boys all day. Sometimes it makes for crazy days but I know I would miss them immensely. I feel blessed to be with them each day.

I finally got my hair done again. It had been way too long...like eight months. I feel like a new woman. Again it's the simple things in life that bring the most joy.

It's been weird having no mutual...no phone calls, no emails really nothing to worry about this week. Not bad.

Ahhh...another blessed week has flown by.

Last Wednesday we headed up to Greer,AZ for a little family get-a-way. Thanks to Groupon.com we were able to enjoy luxury for a not so pretty penny. Defiantly a place I would visit again. Hopefully soon I'll download the pictures off the camera and get them on here...my goal is to do it before Halloween.

Saturday brought a couple exciting events...no pictures though...forgot the camera. We woke up early and dressed in our best Sunday dress and headed over to the Phoenix Temple grounbreaking for the new Phoenix Temple. But of course we dropped Crate off with Marmie (smart thinking, that would not have been the right venue for a 19 month old.) The older boys did pretty well sitting reverently and when all was said and done the children that were there got to go up with the General Authority and get their own shovel and turn over the dirt like the adults. They were pretty excited for that and Pops did get some cute pictures on his phone. I hope they remember this event. They were two of the few kids that got to attend and a Temple groundbreaking isn't something that happens everyday.

After that event we dropped off the two oldest with Crate and Marmie and headed out to celebrate our 12th anniversary. Holy smokes...twelve years...and we're still happy, who would've thought? We headed to lunch first at the very romantic Fuddruckers then we were off to find Pops the perfect summer shoe. He needed something that was casual enough to wear in the summer yet dressy enough to wear when meeting with clients dressed in his business summer clothes. He's a man buying one pair of shoes...how hard could this be? Well 4.5 hours later he finally finds what he hopes will work out. And I thought I spent a lot of time looking for the right shoe? I told him now I know how he feels when we has to be with me while I'm shopping...if you're not shopping for yourself it's no fun accompying someone else. I think he now officially holds the family record for longest time shopping for one pair of shoes. And he'll probably hold that record for the rest of his life. Before the day was done we did make a stop at Costco and low and behold guess who was there! Some chair massage company selling their amazing chairs. We each took a seat and proceeded to receive the most amazing body rub from this mechanical massage chair. We enjoyed it for a solid 25 minutes. The amazing salesman really thought he had us sold on his three-thousand dollar product. (If I had it to blow, I really would've bought one...it was AMAZING!) But atlas we were there only to be cheapskakes and enjoy the free massage on our anniversary. Poor guy, he's probably still waiting by the phone for our call to give our credit card number. I felt bad, he was a really nice guy. I hope he can make a lot of sales. Anyhow no trip to Costco is complete with out dropping triple digits, right? To top off our most romantic date Pops got me a mop. But let me tell you folks...this ain't just any mop it's the Shark Professional Steam Mop. And it was the cheapest price I had seen from anywhere else. He said he didn't feel right buying me a mop for our anniversary. I told him to heck with romance and hip, hip horray for something practical that I could really use. Not to mention I reminded him how much he hates walking in the kitchen having his feet stick to the floor...this might just be the magic tool that will prevent that from ever happening again. No guarantees though. We headed back to Marmie's house picked up the trio and called it a day. More than anything it was nice having a whole day together just hanging out. I could handle that happening more than once a year. :) I told him when we hit 20 years it's gotta be a nice romantic trip or something. A mop won't cut it...start saving, :)

So I busted out the mop for the first time tonight. I wanted it's maiden voyage to be memorable so the boys and I spent almost the entire day getting this place ship shape for it. All bathrooms are once again cleaned, all sheets washed and put back on beds, kitchen is spotless, no piles of laundry sitting around, freezer is cleaned out, pantry is cleaned out all tile is swept, dusting is complete, certain walls are washed down, garbages are empty, and the mop came out to do the last and final chore...clean the floors. She didn't do to bad for her first time. Floors look good, no chemicals were used in the process and the piece of cucumber that somehow got caked to the tile for the last six weeks is finally removed thanks to her steaming efforts. All in all I would give her a 4.5 out of 5. My only problem with her is the fact that it takes even longer to mop now since she has to be moved slowly across the tile. I timed myself and to do the entire throughout the house it took one hour and 37 minutes. It was painfully long but next time I'll do it when the boys are asleep and I am listening to something good in my ears. I'm excited for my "new toy" as Pops calls it. That reminds me of something..."you know you're a mother when...a new mop brings so much joy and excitement." Holy cow I'm getting old. I'm excited to wake up to a house not full of toys and dishes...I better get to bed!