hand hoof and mouth

i mean, hand, foot and mouth disease.

yeah, it's a disease. ever heard of it. i have. my older two got it several years ago when chilly was just a baby. it was easter when harry came down with this amazingly high fever. it continued for weeks i tell ya. insane misery.

fussy came down with this really weird diaper rash a couple of days ago. i didn't know exactly what it was, only that he wasn't happy. then i noticed a huge mouth sore on his tongue. then i noticed he wasn't sleeping at all. then i noticed that he had these little pimples on his feet and hands. then i was sleep deprived and it took a long time before i put it all together.

he never fevered though. so that was nice. although it might have been nice to know that he was sick before i towed him everywhere. okay, before i took him out to walmart. but it is walmart and you kind of expect childhood illnesses there, right?

could they come up with a dumber name for an illness though? i mean, you know what it is from it's name, not like chicken pox, or measles or something. but at least that was inventive. instead we got the butt version of foot and mouth. yuck. wish me luck that it wont get any worse and that i can start to at least get more than 20 minutes of sleep at a time. i'm not complaining, mostly because composing a coherent sentence it taking all my concentration.

i miss my parents

i've spent the last few days wandering around my house. every couple of hours or so, i pick up my phone and start to dial. i put the phone back down realizing that, in fact, my mom and dad are out of town. i feel sort of like a loser at this point.

i didn't realize how much i talk to my mom. how much i need her. i don't talk to her everyday. but i had several moments this week that i wanted to ask her a question. like what the rash was on fussy's bum. how to make something in a dutch oven. what her recipe for such and such was.

i wonder if my parents miss me like i miss them. probably not. they probably are enjoying their vacation away from all my stupid phone calls!

then that stupid quote about mother and sons comes to my mind. and then i get all sad again.
"a daughter is a daughter for life, a son is a son until he takes a wife".

some things i've learned

people love free stuff:
i mean, i do too, but i thought maybe i was the only one. i recently listed some free stuff on craigslist. and to see the people call and come out was crazy. it was interesting that someone 1 hour away wanted us to hold onto something for him. yeah, we'll call ya!

chocolate cake
pioneer woman cooks had a texas sheet cake. i decided to make my own hand me down recipe. i really love chocolate cake. all the time. and when my kids ask if they can have some, i really don't want to share.

old movies:
harry is so enchanted with "old" movies. okay, so the movies that i used to watch when i was a kid. back to the future is his current favorite. and you know what, they really don't make movies like that anymore.

pioneer day

in honor of our pioneer heritage....our new tradition:

our home made fire pit

the older boys decided to dress up pioneer style and make toys out of day lily leaves

cooking our dinner. big d and i have no real experience cookin' dutch oven style. as you can probably tell.

roasting turkey dogs, because pioneers ate lots of turkey dogs

notice our feast...a little overdone?

after the gourmet dinner, we went for a trek. to our local maverick for icee's and ice cream sandies. then we trekked back home to roast mallows and light fireworks....

roasting mallows

notice how i'm pretty much obsessed with the chocolate? yeah, you got a problem with that?

chilly throwing magic dust on the fire. our magic dust was sawdust from big d cutting up our wood.

do they both have their tongues out? i think so. yum, roasted mallows and s'mores

notice the baby asleep on my lap?

enjoying our cooked sugar

is it just me, or does this look a little satanic? red eyes, a pitchfork? i dunno.....

mmmmmm, finger lickin' good

what we've learned this summer?

the air museum where some random volunteer proceeded to follow us around and tell us old wwII stories. did you know, the white cliffs of dover are pretty cool? and we learned that mom knows next to nothing about airplanes. only maybe that certain ones are referred to as jets.

chilly, getting chilled. he now knows that air conditioning is heaven sent.

harry, protecting our country, learning that he can barely fit into a model
chilly, being cheesy, learning how to disassemble "guns"
strapped in and ready to fly , maybe in a year or two (or 3 feet)

onward and upward, even when you don't want to, it's nice to smile for mom

cheesin it with the space guy in a helicopter, who apparently did something great at some time

looking presidential in lady bird's air force one, i guess first ladies get smaller planes? how does that make any sense? oh and chilly learned that mom will get a picture for future use when they do become president

and the zoo. where not all wild animals are kept in cages. we learned about not wearing slippery shoes, we learned not to trust the zoo food to be open, and we learned that it gets dang hot in utah in july. thank goodness they had those little misty things.

fussy. before he fell and scraped his face up

being good is not an option

yeah but do you bite?

3 boys with bad lighting and a fairly lame "show" equals good photo ops

yeah, that's right, that's a possum, and they are the only rodents in north america with a pouch. sounds like he's got a bad habit?

most of our learning takes place at home:

giving mom chiropractic care. 3 boys 60ish, 50 ish and 20 ish pounds= good back breaking fun?

it's the little things in life...

finding a quarter on the road during my daily run

licking the carmel off the pan

knowing what to make for dinner

getting someone else to make dinner

getting that booger from out of my baby's nose

the crusty cheese that spilled onto the pan while making a quesadilla

all the lego's have been picked up

watching an artsy movie with big d

3 more weeks of summer

talking to my mom on the phone

fresh fruit

rain

snuggles from my kids

staying up late talking to big d

add yours...

what came first? the chicken or

the freaking huge egg?

the four eggs on the right are all regular sized chicken eggs. like the ones that you would buy in a store. that is the usual size of egg that our chickens lay.

big d found this egg yesterday while checking for eggs from our chickens. this is by far the biggest egg we've seen yet. i think i feel bad for the chicken who laid it.

from left to right....regular chicken egg...big chicken egg....freaking huge chicken egg from a chicken who can't sit now.

my amazed children

i think it is probably at least, a triple yoker
mmm....scrambled egg anyone?

regular chicken egg....freaking huge chicken egg from a gimpy chicken

i think this is a nice shot of my nose. and the freaking huge chicken egg.

on running....again...

i signed up for the wasatch back 2008 in october of 2007. only...what...8 months before the race? i worked really hard. i ran almost every day. it was always in my mind, at the back or the front..."i'm going to rock the wb!"

week after week, month after month, i upped my miles, figured out fuel, found hydration. my month of may, training wise, consisted of over 200 miles. i ran them all. it was pretty amazing that i was able to do that. i payed for it. my hip started bugging me, and i was dead bored, tired, worn out from running.

then came the race.

then came after the race. i felt so relieved that a major stress was gone. but i was still worn out, and my hip was hurting. i tried downplaying my hip telling people that i just need a week off. but i wasn't so sure myself. it was bad.

i did take the week after the race off. i ran one week after, and although my hip killed me the entire time, i told myself it was getting better. then we had a family reunion and i totally NEEDED my running time. i needed to get out and pound out my frustrations. every time i did, i came home feeling depressed. i was concerned that my hip/leg/knee issue was never going to get better. and i was taking a lot of ibuprofen.

then fussy got sick. and i was really tired. and the air was bad. and i wanted to stay in bed all day. and the kids were out of school. and i didn't get a run in. for a whole week. i felt bad because i really wanted too, i was too tired though. and i was sick of running. and i wasn't training for anything, was i?

after taking a whole week off, i found my groove again. big d and i are back again at running early in the morning. it feels great. my hip isn't bugging me. at. all. my legs are sore, but i haven't run seriously for over 3 weeks...

and the best part? i payed my money for wasatch back 2009. it feels so good to have a goal again. only this time, not only am i going to rock the wb, i'm going to do it faster and stronger. i know what i need to do now. i know what it is all about. i'm going to be so ready for it. in about 11 months.

it came to me, that is why everyone thinks runners are nuts. they kill themselves time after time, doing these amazing races. working on speed and hills and all that. in all honesty, they are just trying to stay motivated.

okay, the post you've been waiting for

well, probably not.

in all reality, it's what we've been up too. why i've been gone from my trusty best friend computer. i wish i had more pictures to explain more things, but this is just going to have to do.

ready...set....go...

harry's 2nd grade school program. he's down front and center. he actually had a speaking part, which he did very well. he's come a long way from preschool baby, where he sat with his back to the audience the entire time.

did i mention that our video camera died that night? well, it did. what is it with us and electronics? i was super bummed because the next day was of course, the wasatch back for me. and i didn't get any of it on film.

this is three of 2nd grade classes. can you find harry? he' pretty tall!

this is fussy and me on the conservation carousel at the zoo. he did not like it. he screamed. he cried. and it was almost a minute long. ah poor kid. the things we do to our children.

just messing around before the family came to town. yeah, we have chickens...got a problem with that? that's right.

"hey big d, can you take my picture real quick?" i know, actual pictures of me on my blog...what has the world come too?

and farmer jed....

harry's baptism. doesn't he look handsome? and, i swear he's grown several inches already this summer. maybe not, but he just seems so big to me.

okay, i don't know who took this picture of fussy at the baptism. oh, probably me. oh well, he was so cute playing on grandma's lap, eating her jewelry.
here's my whitey tighty men. all ready to dunk the kid. well, i think they are both pretty cute. and skinny. for more of the story, check out big d's bloggy
what we've been doing at home since....yeah, that's right, playing game cube.
it's kept chilly quiet when fussy's been asleep. especially this last week when fussy was super duper sick.

and this is my lil' cub scout. i don't know a thing about what is going on in these pictures, i wasn't there ...

i'm thinking he's making fire here. it's a great picture though, huh?

i don't approve of this picture. shooting of guns???!!! ah well, i guess i should be voting republican? or, maybe he's the next chuck heston?

just a nice picture....

so there you have it. i am missing a whole sloade of pictures from the family reunion. ah well, i think you get the idea. we really have been busy. i am hoping for some down time for the kids as well as for me. fussy seems to be feeling better, and it would be great to just spend some lazy days at home, right?