Please don't report me

to the Blog Police for neglect.

It hasn't even been two weeks, but it feels like a long time to me.
Now I know there are some who don't post for weeks, even months, at a time. But, me? I usually feel like posting all the time. What happened? Not really sure. Just in a slump, a funk, if you will. Remember that pity party I invited you all to? Well, it came and it went. I was the only attendee, which made it kinda boring. So I abandoned the idea altogether.
Now---I'm back, baby!

And what have I been up to, you ask? I'll tell ya...Not a whole heckuvalot.

We did take a lovely little road trip and spent the weekend with some friends in their cabin (I use the term cabin loosely-it was a pretty nice joint).

Yup, that's the whole Farmgirl crew. We fill the entire van-not a seat to spare. That's how I knew we needed to be done having kids....What? What's that you say?? They make vehicles that seat more than seven? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with those and I don't believe you any way.

We went out to a lovely dinner at a local Mexican restaurant in Beaver. It was muy bueno! But, Farmgirl, isn't really hard to take five kids out to a sit down dinner, you ask? No problemo!! Mike just opens sugar packets and pours them on Grant's plate. Easy Peasy!

Grant and his buddy, Drew, had a great time hanging out together.
And, yes, that might be an ACDC shirt my son is wearing. What does a little white trash clothing hurt every now and again? If he starts to grow a mullet, please, I beg of you--have an intervention.

Eating- Check.
Riding four wheelers- Check.
Eating- Check.
Playing pool- Check.
Eating- Check.
Watching movies- Check.
Eating- Check.
Chillaxin'- Check.
Break from life- CHECK and double check.

Annnd....just so you are all in the know....we are really planning (and I'm pretty sure we are actually going to pull it off) a small get away for me and my dear ole Mikey. Sets my heart to fluttering just thinking about it! :D I'll keep ya posted.

One more thing.
I think we are all just about ready for school to be out around here. It gets harder every night to get these kiddos in bed. The end is right around the corner and I think we can all feel it in our bones. Summer is a double edged sword for me, but I'm ready for the change of pace. I'm always happy to have them get out and even happier to have them go back. ;o)

Okay, this is the last thing.
I promise.
See what happens when I don't blog? It all just gets bottled up inside and then I have a million things to say. Any who, remember way back in 2005 when Mike and I did this?

Well, after a very long hiatus I am running again. -Training for my part of the Wasatch Back. -On a team with one of my sisters and a couple of my brothers. I am super excited. Now I just have to get my mileage up so I will be ready to rumble! I had forgotten how much I really do love to run. Now it's really back to early to bed early to rise for me. How does eight sound? That might be what time I climbed into bed to read last night....or it might not. I'm just saying, a girl needs her beauty sleep, right? Hey, you don't get looks like this partying it up night after night.

All right.
That's all I've got.
You may now leave a comment and rejoin your lives already in progress.

With a life like this, who needs a vacation?

Here's the story:

Yesterday was not a great day. I probably shouldn't have sat down at the computer and started rambling away. But, I did. And since I did I think you all deserve to get the full scoop.

BTW thanks for letting me ramble on like that, gee blogs are nice. :)

I've been fighting a headache for a few days now, it wears me down. Wears down my patience mostly. Mike and Adam went backpacking with the scouts so I was flying solo last night. Not generally a problem for me.
I fixed a lovely breakfast-dinner, German pancakes--always a crowd pleaser. We continued on with the bed time routine. I got Grant to bed and decided to let the girls stay up a little late and watch T.V. --remember that headache? Well, by now it's to the point I'm getting nauseous. I decided to start sending the girls to bed. It was three down and one to go when we hit a bump in the road. One of my children, who will remain nameless, saw some people outside playing and decided this would be a good time to complain about all the brutal unfairness of her life.
Note to children: DO NOT pick a fight with mother when she is
a) alone
and
b) going to hurl because her head is about to explode.
After discussing with her a few of the realities of her life, the fact that this was NOT a good time to give me grief and until she is tucked in her little bedy by I am still on duty; and I was ready to clock out for the day-we both went to bed. I took a Tylenol pm and sacked out.
My internal alarm usually goes off at about 6:00 am. (you can take the farmgirl away from the farm, but some things never change) With my drug induced slumber it didn't go off until about 7:00 this morning.
I woke up suprised I hadn't heard the kids up--they are early risers too. I was even more suprised when {unnamed child} brought me breakfast in bed just before 7:30. WoW!! What a nice suprise! :D So thoughtful!! :D So sweet!! :D
I ate my meal and enjoyed the solitude for a while longer. I could hear her out there unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up, all the things that just make me so happy. :)
I was so tickled--patting myself on the back. Clearly I must be doing something right! Obviously, it must be my excellent mothering skills that have encouraged such wonderful behavior!!

Here's the question:

Does the fact that she literally locked her sisters and brother away while she did all these nice things out weigh the good deeds?
I discovered when I emerged from my room that it was so quiet because she had sent them all to the boys room to play and did not leave the key for them to get out. After further investigation I found out that when the prisoners asked for a bathroom break they were told to 'hold it, find a diaper or figure something out'. After they were restored their freedom one of them asked {unnamed child} "Why didn't you let me out?" {unnamed child} replied,
"Give me a break!! I have been busy being Mom all morning! Do you have any idea how exhausting that is?!?"

Yes.
Yes, definitely my excellent mothering skills hard at work there.
Ohhh, my darling little {unnamed child} you are so sweet and so, so crazy!
How can I not adore you!?!
I don't know how to break it to her that part of being Mom generally involves taking care of these little people....we refer to them as children...actually mothering them....not locking them away.

*Disclaimer:
No children were harmed in the making of this story.
They were no worse for the wear and had made a lovely fort out of the bunk beds in the meantime. :)

Requesting permission to go AWOL.

Since a vacation from my life/chit'lins isn't in the cards at the moment I've decided maybe I should just adopt the Bob Wiley method and take a vacation from my problems.

Couple of thoughts:
*Do you think if I put on a 'Don't bother me, I'm on vacation' shirt any one will actually NOT bother me?
*I'm thinking it would be a lot easier to implement my new method at a lake house located some where in New Hampshire. Maybe Lake Winnapisockee?
*I could soak in the tub saying, "Calgon-take me away" and see if it does any thing for me.
*I could also try, "Beam me up, Scottie" ---I'm willing to vacation just about any where.
*Possibly I should try, "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful."
*Maybe I'll just baby-step it to sanity.

My friends, after nearly fifteen years of marriage and over thirteen and half years of child rearing this little woman is desperately seeking a break! Preferably one that includes my hubby and lasts longer than 18 hours. Just in case you were wondering, that's about the extent of time we have been away from the punks. Pathetic, right?? Okay, that's a lie--we did leave for a few days when Adam was one....He's 13 and a half now, people!! Still pathetic.
The problem? I can't seem to convince myself of two things: A)It's okay to splurge a little and B)Leaving my brood with someone won't drive them to drink (the kid-sitter, not the kids. although i don't want my wee ones nippin' at the bottle either. just thought i should clear that up). I just don't want to be responsible for that. I have enough on my plate. An alcoholic on my conscience is more than I can do. Trust me, being a Mormon mother of 5 I'm already dealing with enough guilt.

In the meantime, I feel good. I feel great. I feel wonderful. I feel good. I feel great. I feel wonderful. I feel good.....

To my little sister....

Happy Birthday!
From one natural beauty to another.
:)
indeed, we are the facial queens

*p.s. if you don't update your blog soon i'm going to be forced to disown you.

B-day shout out to Natalie too!!

How convenient that my brother married someone who shares a birthday with one of the originals. :D
Way to go David!

And just one final note to all my avid followers: Please don't hate us because we are beautiful.

11 Easters ago...

We were busy welcoming her into the world.

(yes, that is ultra skinny, young Mike holding his very first baby girl)

And, yes--she has pretty much always been a beautiful girl.

Ohhh, my Audrey.

She is fantastic!
An adult trapped in a child's body in so many ways.


If any one wants to be thoroughly entertained and amazed--
--spend some time with this girl...

Because she is one in a million!!
You won't be able to help falling in love with her. :)

If I were a true-blue-blooded blogger...

I would have taken before and after pictures of this project.

Unfortunately, for you, I am not.

You are just going to have to believe me when I say that the transformation was nothing short of astonishing.

--Am I right, Robyn? Or am I right?--
Let's just say that I removed 3+ garbage bags full of 'treasures', there was a very ugly, ill-fitting brown head board, the furniture arrangement was completely wrong, the bedding was worn-not to mention twin sized-and since the last paint job, well...the walls had pretty much been functioning as a pin board and, hey- who really needs paper to draw on when there is a whole room full of perfectly good walls?

My mom and I gave Audrey's room a COMPLETE make over while she was at school.
It was SOOO much fun!!
{Thanks, MoM!!}
We had a great time....

And Audrey loved it so much she did her own photo-documenting.

Oooo-Sorry Andrea :(

Some one came along and bumped you from my alphabetical #1 spot.
Guess who that is?? I'll give you a hint: Her name starts with an A.
Okay, okay, I'll just tell you---my little sister Amanda. Yeah!!!
Now some of you already know and love her (....Robyn, Sarah, Angie, maybe a few others) and the rest of you, well...here she is! Isn't this just like a coming out party? (not in a gay way, more like a girl turning sixteen years old way) So let's all give her a real big blog friendly welcome! Don't be afraid to comment on her blog (like say...if you felt you needed to tell her how awesome her sister is) because Amanda is super friendly and loves every body--especially all my cool peeps! Cuz, hello? Who wouldn't----you all rock!! And heaven knows it's all your comments that keep me bloggin' plus the fact that I feel the need to document just how crazy my kids are-which in turn makes my life a little on the crazy side and I just think you all should know about it. :)

Your welcome.

Pudding Poster Boy

Grant's Pudding Snacks testimonial.



I don't think I have ever seen any one so happy to have pudding.
Or so cute eating it. I love my little Grant D-licious.