Days gone by...

I just want to say that August flew by in a blink of the eye. I feel like it didn't actually happen...life is crazy like that.

We are trying to catch up on everyday things. I have a yard to attend to, a trailer to deep clean and winterize, a batch of tomatoes to turn into sauce, and I really want to get the scrapbooking done that I have pictures in piles for downstairs. At least I got the 9 loads of laundry done from our trip.

I offered to help Heidi with her kitchen and living room when she paints it. I don't know why but I have been craving that. It is nice to have a project to "entertain" me with someone to talk to and kids for River to play with, and something 'creative", and not in my house...haha! Plus, it's service (her birthday was last weeks so this is my gift to her). She is really excited about it, having a motivator now.

I went to playgroup yesterday and kind of broke down and vented to Diana and Heidi. River had thrown a very large and hard toy at Diana's youngest girl's face. Go River. So, I started crying...I am so tired of her acting up! I can't control her with a baby in my arms. I did decide afterward that I need to work on my tactic with her. I need to be more loving throughout the day and then find ways to discipline her without "beating" her. I feel like such a failure when I hit her back after she hits me or Molly...that can't possibly work. Ah, but the motivation to really start doing better is wavering...someday, somehow, I will do it. Time out may start to be important. I think I will make a time out rug and sit and watch her and make sure that if she gets up I put her back...over, and over, and over again until she stays. Diana said that it worked with her oldest. We shall see what I can find at Zion's market.

I AM SOOOO STOKED FOR ZION'S MARKET!! I cannot wait! It is better than Christmas for me! Of course, this is where my Christmas shopping starts...I get crafts and things to make my gifts and it just works out fabulously! I have a shorter list this time...but it will still be fun to see what all I can find. Maybe some things to finish our bathroom downstairs with...who knows! Only one week!

Ah, back to screaming babies...while whitening my teeth...yes.

Home Alone...well, sort of ;-)

Well, we have come to the end of the 3 weeks of visitors. We loved having my Mom out for a week and my sister, Ginny, here for 2 1/2 weeks. Some of the highlights included:

-Going to Ravali's restaurant with my Mom, sister, and my girls...good eats!
-Getting a 2 hour long pedicure with just my Mom. :-) It was super fun and my toes are a fabulous blue-green color! We got to talk and relax without the distraction of kids. Our ladies were fun to get to know. :-)
-We went to the Hogle Zoo with the girls and my Mom and Sister. River loved all the animals! She especially loved the giraffe baby, elephant, and the monkeys. She has been talking about them ever since. :-)
-Going to the mall with my girls and my sister...though River got ornery I was able to get a super cute purple shirt from Aeropastale and a fabulous bright green button down shirt from American Eagle. We ate soft pretzels and Orange Julius too...mmm.
-Camping in the Uintas from Thursday night-Sunday morning this Labor day weekend with Ginny. It was really fun. We went on a walk around the lake and took some great pictures. We went fishing a few times. I almost caught 3 fish...but lost them all. :-/ Deric caught 2 fish and someone gave us one, so we were able to have enough for all of us to have one. Mark and Joan were there with us too. They were sick, so we didn't do a ton with them. We had dutch oven one night that they cooked and another we cooked. We played "Dollar, dollar, dollar" with them with pennies. We watched movies, read, wrote in our journals, and just relaxed. It was nice, but it was also nice to get home. :-) On the way home we blew a tire on our trailer and were on the side of the freeway for an hour while the cop, Deric, and Ryan worked on getting the spare on and the other one unwrapped from around the other tire. It was scary with the trucks and cars rocking the trailer as the passed at 80 miles per hour. We were very happy to get going again!
-Gena and Cal's baby shower we had Ginny watch the girls and went and enjoyed some treats and company.
-Ginny watched the girls a bunch and let me run around...Mom was great this way too! Thank you both so much!! It made it so much easier with not having Deric around for that week!

I'll miss everyone, but I am happy to be able to start my schedule with the girls. :-)