42

Today is Darren's 42nd birthday. Hard to believe. I just have to say that I feel like one lucky girl to be married to him. He really is too good for me. Here are some great things about him:

-He's a great dad

-Darren is kind to everyone

-I will never (well, rarely) get lost with him around because he always knows his way even if he's only been there once

-He never uses foul language and rarely loses his temper

-Always says he's sorry even if it's me who has done wrong

-Great knowledge of the scriptures

-Great knowledge of useful and useless trivia

-Fantastic dentist

-Incredible athlete

-So loving, giving, creative, smart

-Super duper handsome

-He can fix most everything and anything

-Lots and lots of other amazing traits

Love, love, love this guy!

Happy Birthday Darren! Can't wait for the next 42 years!

Fun Fairy Friday and other stuff

Gillian had a friend over last Friday. Her friend, Natalie, brought her secret fairy handbook which contained many fun activities. They worked hard on their fairy garden. The first picture is before the final creation.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any cuter they had strung up paper lanterns, made clay seats and all sorts of fun things for fairies. I love the creativity. It sits outside our front window on the ledge and has been rained upon causing the marker sign to run. I don't have the heart to take it down.

Gillian also found a recipe for fancy fairy juice in the handbook.

In other news, we got new carpets. Wow, that was a big deal. We really needed them. It was interesting getting all the furniture into one room and then shifting it around. It's been about 3 weeks and I'm still putting stuff back.

Somehow I got everyone's stuff from their rooms into my

room while the rest of the upstairs was carpeted.

Drew turned 11! Such a beautiful young lady. And she's been complaining that she can't see very well. So after a trip to the eye doctor we were told that she just needed a slight prescription, not much. She was very excited to get glasses. That lasted for about a day after she got them and decided that she sees better without them. Good thing I spent time and money on that! She looks cute in them though.

Drew was served breakfast in bed for her big day.

And finally.... My real midlife crisis has arrived. Gavin shaved for the first time today. Sniff sniff. I got him an electric razor (he doesn't need zits AND nicks) and after his shower he came out with a smooth face. No more peach fuzz. I just don't know what to think about it all.

First dance

Gavin is now 14 years old (has been since April). He can now officially go to church dances. This is how it went as I tried to get a before picture of him going to his first dance...

He quickly shut the door on me as I tried to get a picture of him coming out of the bathroom.

Then, Darren tried to help out by tackling him

And then Spencer comes in to try to help stabilize him.

It didn't work.

I got the update from his friends that he was very social and danced with girls. Oh my!

Banks Lake 2010

So much to catch up on. First of all we had a fantastic time at Banks Lake. We were there for 9 days. It was tempting to just forget about school, work, house, and never come home. We brought the dogs and they had a great time. There were 6 families and dozens of kids. I was the only one to get injured of course. This time not nearly as severe as last year. Just a black eye and bruised shoulder. This year we had the Buzz Bomb tube. Holy cow, that tube is fast. Rebecca was egging Darren on saying "is that all you got?'", which made Darren drive faster causing us to flip hard around a corner. We hit the water sooooo hard. But still, very fun.

Darren set up a movie theater with a sheet and a projector so that we could have movie night.

We had two movie nights.

Dog Blog

George got a mohawk. Don't know why. I just asked the groomer if she ever did them and she said "all the time." So I was bored and in a weird mood and said go for it. Now he looks like Mr. T. Or like a conehead. It's awesome. Gavin hates it. He says it's hard to take George seriously. Really? Since when can anyone take George seriously? It's not like he's going to be in any dog shows ever. Just a nice fun summer cut. I think he feels tougher. I should pierce his nose.

Pedro

I've been to Home Depot a lot this week. Our neighbor painted his house, so before he had that done he chopped down the trees and bushes along his house. He never sees that side of his yard and is not much into yard work in the first place. So I asked him if he had plans for the 5 stumps and weeds. He laughed and said that he might place some garden trolls on each stump and let nature take it's course with the rest. I told him that I would take over if he didn't mind. I have to admit that every time I drove up to Home Depot I was tempted to take a Mexican or two home to toil in my yard. But then that would be less fun for me to have in my yard. Plus, there's something satisfying in doing a job all by myself. Okay, I will admit that Bryan stopped by to borrow my hedge clippers and helped me remove a couple of stumps, but other than that I did it all. Okay, not exactly. When he stopped by again a couple of days later to check progress on his way to work he helped me dig a couple of holes. But otherwise, I am my own Pedro. I actually like yard work. My friend calls herself Consuela when she does all the housework without any help. I prefer Pedro. Don't know why, just do. Maybe it has something to do with a strange dream I once had where I went in for a facial and I came out with a whole new head. I had a Mexican man's head on my body and the head was extra large. At least he had really nice white straight teeth, but still it was disturbing. In my dream people didn't seem to think it was a big deal that I had a new head. At least I still had my own voice and body. It was just strange looking in the mirror.....

Anyway, I spent the week fixing my neighbor's yard and I think it looks pretty good.

Before the planting but after stump removal

After hours and hours and about 30 bags of bark (and new plants of course!)

summer, summer, summer

The past 3 weeks has been a whirlwind of travel, play, fun, and family. We started off visiting my good friend Angie in American Fork Utah. When we first arrived to Utah the kids were so surprised at how bright the sun was. Gavin wanted to camp out in Angie's basement the whole time we were there. He's not a fan of sunshine. He was happy when we went to Cabela's and on a hike. I enjoyed busting my butt at Angie's Crossfit gym. Never knew that I could be sore in that many places at once!

Next we went to Park City for our Crockett reunion. We started off with the Sheldon's barfing the first day, then mom the next day, followed by Gavin and then Lisa. Sweet. What is a family gathering without passing around one giant puke germ?

Mostly the kids were just happy swimming at the Marriott pool, which was just fine with me.

Gillian, Mary, Drew

Mary, Gillian, Georgia, Nora

Alice with her impression of Jack Nicholson in the "Shining"

From Utah we drove to McCall, Idaho for Darren's family reunion. We camped at the lake and had a great time with his cousins. Darren brought the boat and all of the cousins had fun tubing. Gavin was happy to see Connor, Mitchell, and Simon (the triplets). Finally, cousins his age!