A Glimpse into my Life.

So, this is going to be a mishmash of everything! It'll be LONG so get a drink, something to eat, and saddle up for the ride!

We just got done having Bumpa visit for the week. He got in around midnight on Monday night, and we had to get up a bit before 4 am for him to leave on time to go home Saturday morning.
We have all been crazy busy and running around like mad. Bump would pass out on the couch and fall asleep until bedtime some days! This is what I found one day:


Ya think he was tired? Falling asleep checking email on his crackberry!


And while we were working in our back yard, look what we found!


This is the third toad we've found this summer! He's a huge, fat toad! Check out that determination to hold the toad!


Success! And immediately afterwards, the toad jumped out of Rynie's hands!


And since Bumpa was in town, we had to celebrate Rynie's birthday with him. It was just Mom, Dad, Pink Princess, Jake and Bumpa. Shannon had to work so she only got some cake afterwards. Well, maybe she did, I don't know if Jake ate it or brought it to her. Rynie got a red helmet and a shiny red bike! What a guy!!! Rynie helped me make his birthday cake, frost it, and shared the little leftover pieces with Pink Princess! He is a huge fan of frosting!








Didn't he do an awesome job on his cake?



Pink Princess is trying to get 4 teeth all at once, she definitely doesn't do anything by halves. I had four days last week when she basically shrieked all day each day. The last couple of days have been much better though. She is making up for lost sleep and food with a vengeance.


That is a slip of mine. It was the only thing that made her happy for a few days. She drug it everywhere, slept with it, and you were in trouble if you took it.

I finally finished Pink Princess's dress that I've been working on forever. Honey helped a lot with the finishing (and she was EVIL and made me do the button holes so I'd learn how) so we got the dress done in time for Jeremy and Amanda's wedding.





I also made Rynie a pair of wool pants, and he had to wear them to the wedding since Pink Princess was going to wear a new dress.


Jeremy and Amanda's wedding was very sweet! It's always fun to gain a new member of the family, and I think Jeremy picked well. :D





Awww, Rynie lucked out and got a hug from the new Mrs. G!



Hubby and I went on a date to Boondock's with Jake and Shannon. It was super hot and lots of fun! We played mini golf, Jake and I reminisced about how we used to be good at baseball/softball, played lazertag, and had some good strawberry shakes.


Speaking of Jake and Shannon, since he let the cat out of the bag so to speak, I can now say something: Jake and Shannon are Engaged!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!! They are getting married on October 15 at the Mount Timpanogos Temple!




Well, there are about 25 days until we leave for England and Scotland, my wardrobe for Bath is still incomplete. I have my stays fitted again since I had to redo them since I lost more weight. Hubby is taking the next week off work since he has some vacation time to use up so I am going to try and get them done in the next week. I will post pictures when I have my wardrobe done.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but these are the major points and I'll post more, hopefully sooner than this post came about.

Evening All!

Yesterday while we were out running errands, we decided to get a swimming pool. Since I haven't killed the grass yet, this could be a good thing. :D Well, Rynie couldn't wait to fill it up and as soon as Hubby came home, we filled it up, got out the swimsuit (and swim diaper for Pink Princess) and went to town! Here are my kidlets doing the swimming pool thing:

Filling up the swimming pool. You have to be a "Big Boy" to fill up the pool!

Every pool guy needs a pool girl to be a part of the fun. She just isn't sure she wants to yet.....

Hey! It's a big tubby!!!! I think I like this!

Utter and pure bliss! I get control of the hose, to play in the water, and make big splashes!!!!

Water, water, and more water! The sun is shining, and Rynie doesn't know what to do with himself!!!

Spraying himself in the face! Every boy has to do that at least once!

Pink Princess gets to join in on the fun! She loves splashing!

Thunder BOOM! This is jumping and splatting!!!

We got the float tube for Pink Princess since it was a little deeper than she liked. Well, she walks in the pool since she has the floater! I don't think she realizes it. She'll also jump up and splash down in the tube!

Chasing balls around! Two kids, two balls, what fun!

House training Spitfire has been an adventure to say the least. She has, as previously mentioned messed in my bed, on the bathroom rugs, and Pink Princess's swing. To add to that wonderful total, she has also decided Pink Princess's car seat is a wonderful place to do her business, the folded sheets, my great grandma's rug work wonderfully too! Needless to say, this cat has caused me to do mountains more laundry and carpet cleaning. Since there are a few things I am OCD about, and cleaning up after animals is one thing, I have been scrubbing carpets like crazy.

Spitfire has a vendetta against Pink Princess's toys. She'll kinda play with Rynie's toys, but she really assaults Pink Princess's toys. The little lamb that Pink Princess got for Easter has a hole in it's back and Spitfire was de-stuffing the lamb. It's hiding on the mantle so it doesn't get completely de-stuffed and I can sew it back together again.



Then we get to Pink Princess. For some reason she has started wetting on my bathroom rug. Sounds like I let her run around without a diaper right? Not so. I get her tubby water for baths and then get her ready. In the time it takes me to re-check the tub water, she's wet on my rug. Then, yesterday I got her out of the bath, started to drain the water, and got her ready for the day. When I went back to shower, I found a 'surprise' she'd left hidden under the bubbles in the tub! Eww! We'd just cleaned the bathtub yesterday morning too! Pink Princess is also contributing to the mountain of laundry. I guess she can't be outdone by Spitfire!


Now hold on to your socks! Hubby and I went on an actual date without the kidlets! Honey and Bumpa Shyra watched the kids. We went and played mini golf and went to dinner. On the 12th or so hole, I walked under a tree and a bird pooped all over me! All over my face and shirt! I got my face cleaned up in the car when we were done, and Hubby sprung for getting me a new shirt so I didn't have to eat dinner covered in bird poop. I now have a dark olive green 3/4 sleeve t-shirt. The date was really nice. I honestly can't remember the last time we did a 'date' since we do a lot of stuff together, but it's usually working outside or we take the kids since we like to do stuff as a little group. We have been laughing since Tuesday about how I just have that kind of luck. Most people read about crazy stuff like getting splatted by a bird, I'm usually the one who that kind of stuff happens to.

Rynie has been quite the helper guy as he would say. He has been helping with dishes, laundry, and watching Pink Princess. It usually involves trying to help her walk,then they both splat down and start laughing. I think I'm going to be in trouble when he finally gets her to walk. They will be off and running. We have been going for walks lately and Rynie has been walking the entire way. Most of the time, it's just a mile or so, but on Wednesday, we walked about two miles and he did the entire circut! Rynie tells me it makes his legs grow big so he'll be a big boy like Uncle Jakie.

Today is going to be a good day if for no other reason than Hubby has the day off from work. We are making pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast and Jake is coming to partake. Then Hubby is going to watch the kids and give me a few hours of good sewing time. If I don't get my sewing time in, I'm not going to have all the stuff I'm wanting to take to London with me in September. I have 4 of the eyelets done on my short stays and I'm hoping to finish them and get started on my Regency dresses soon.

Please do not kill over in shock, I am posting more pictures from Scotland since life sidetracked us pretty good and I never finished. The William Wallace Monument stands at the summit of Abbey Craig, a hilltop near Stirling. Since it is at the top of Abbey Craig, and it's Scotland in general, it was really windy. Then when you climb to the top of the Monument, and are in the open area at the top, you are almost blown over! They built the Monument near where the battle for Stirling Bridge was fought.

Here is what they believe is William Wallace's sword. They figure based on how huge this sword is, he had to have been at least 6'6" or taller. They are pretty sure it's Wallace's sword because when they write about Wallace, they talk about him towering head and shoulders over others.

Sorry Jake, at 6'3" you are just a little too short to properly wield this sword!


The William Wallace Monument was incredible for stairs. Seriously, if you want GREAT legs, just go to Scotland and visit the different monuments. You will really feel the burn after a while. First you had to go up this flight of stairs, then you got to the infamous spiral staircase. It just keeps going and going and going. Then you get to the second floor. Then you realize there are two more floors to go. There are only 246 steps in this place!



(Those red thingies are how you listen to your audio tour. Personally, I think they should have given everyone torches to light the way. Much cooler and better ambiance!)

Check out the pitch on the spiral staircase! And notice the darkened line that twists like the staircase? That's the handrail! It's on the skinny side of the step. Don't lean too far forward!

This is a statue of William Wallace on the outside of the monument. It's just on the side, nothing else by it.
If you look closely, you can see the keystone piece. The Scots were so afraid that whomever was going to put that piece in place would die, they exempted all the married men (so they wouldn't make anyone a widow) and had the single men draw lots to see who would put it in place. The keystone is the little ball you can see underneath the stone arch and just above the rail at the bottom of the picture.

The view from the very top! This is the River Forth. Somewhere down there is where they fought the Battle for Stirling Bridge, but Floolie and I can't remember where it was at. Bumpa is napping or we'd ask him.

Notice the moss on the walls of this picture. Even up this high, the air is moist enough to grow stuff!
Those little white things in this picture are sheep! They look like grains of rice, or as Jake says, maggoty little things!
And this is a tree growing there that I thought was just perfect for climbing. No I didn't, but I was sorely tempted! The whole 246 stairs up then 246 stairs down just about does you in. Then you have to walk from the top of Abbey Craig to the car park if you *just* missed the bus going down. ;)

Saturday that stupid darn cat peed in MY bed!!!!! I was laying in bed with Pink Princess and the devil cat jumped onto my bed. I didn't think anything of it until Hubby came in and just about flipped a gasket. The Devil Cat™ had peed all over my bed! She has peed on my bathroom rugs and I think if she does it again she's in more trouble than her nose getting rubbed in it!

Since things are slowing down I have a few moments to actually make a post. We are all adapting to a kitten. Pink Princess can't figure out why Spitfire runs away when she tries to maul the cat. Spitfire can't figure out why Pink Princess wants to eat her. It's great fun. Rynie is a huge helper, even if I don't quite *need* him to be. Most of the time it comes in handy though. Yesterday, he woke up from his nap before the rest of us and came into my room. He was so excited. Rynie found where Spitfire had not used her litter box! Eww! For the last couple of days, Floolie and I thought we could smell something after the litter box had been cleaned out, but we couldn't find it anywhere. Well, Pink Princess's swing was sitting in the hallway, and Spitfire thought that was a great litter box! And since Spitfire got Rynie's beanbag, we had to wash that also. I hate unstuffing the beanbag to wash it. There are so many little fluffy things, and they get static charged and stick to everything. Oh well, such is life when you have pets and small children.



Aubrey wanted more purple in her hair, so I found a bright purple to weave into her hair. Since she already had the blond and some red in, we did a little more of a reddish brown and the purple. She now has about five colors going in her hair! We also decided to put some purple in Floolie's hair. Since Floolie's hair is so dark anyway, it just gives her hair a purple cast when she is out in the sunlight. And yes, that is a metallic red table cloth in the background. Rynie saw that and had to have it. It was on clearance so I didn't mind, but wow, it's bright. He saw it in the drawer the other day so we are having to use it. What a guy. :D



The kidlets are so fun. We have been working in the yard while Hubby is at school and work. Jake came over yesterday and broke up some of the bigger weed patches in the front. He probably saved me a month's worth of work since I have to do the yard when other stuff is done and work around all the rain we've had lately.

Pink Princess has been exploring the house like crazy. She is into everything and trying to walk and stand up on her own. The standing up on her own has a better success rate than the walking though. She is one tough cookie. She falls down then picks herself up and keeps trying. Here she is trying to take the tablecloth off the table. Rynie is 'supervising' to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. And yes, Rynie did get his summer buzz cut.