This week was a tough one. But ended up on a great note. Monday I did the normal running around. I took the Honda in to get fixed. $1600 later it works great. I have been to the plumbing store 3 times to get the right drain for our tub and top to our toilet. One of the kids broke it several years ago and just chipped the edge of it off, and I have never replaced it. I still don't have one that fits. Tuesday I went on a bike ride with Bridget and Mahina, which was great until I decided that my tire needed to be pumped up more and broke off the piece that keeps the air in the tube. I changed it fairly quickly. I'm pretty proud of that. When I got back I went to a luncheon at Juliana's which was great fun. I stayed after and made Juliana and Sarah S. help me figure out treasure hunt clues for the Young Womens activity that night. It went off really well. Thanks gals! We had YW Board meeting afterward. We were out until 11 or so. Jeff has been working crazy long hours so I tried to stay up and wait for him but just ran out of gas. Samantha had a rash on her face for a couple of days and Wed I took her into the doctor. It healed up in 2 days. Wed night after taking Thunder for a walk I found out my neighbor had died. It was not good at all. This kind of took up my day the next couple of days and has really made me think a lot. I still went Thursday morning to site counsel at Mountain View. (We are looking for other parents to be on the board with me, so if you have a child going there, you should apply to be on the counsel. It is a great way to have an influence on the school and to be informed. ) I met up with Mahina for an abs class and lifted weights and swam a bit too. Saturday I missed half of Carissa's soccer game because the soccer league hadn't changed the schedule from the previous year. Her coach coached last year and his name was on there and everything. The amazing thing is that I even ended up at the right field and even close to the time of her game. I think we were at the coast when they handed out schedules. I felt SO dumb. The day ended with Cason's football game. They pulled out of a clincher. It was 18 to 12 and the other team was on the 3rd yard line with about 2 minutes left. Wow what an exciting game. Cason played a lot. He had a couple of great plays too. We took him to dinner to celebrate. It is great to have Jeff back in our lives again, even if it is only on the weekend. It was great to talk to so many family members this week too. I even found out my dad has started a blog!!! Cool huh? I had lots to think about this week and am glad I have so many people willing to listen to me. I have awesome friends and caring family!!!

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Rockaway Beach

I was given a weekend at a friends beach house. I took Jeff for a couple of night and then the two girls for a couple more. It was so relaxing. I think the only thing I did was eat, sleep, watch TV and take pictures. It was our 18th anniversary and it was great to know we still love being together. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. I took some of my friend's family one of the nights. They are so cute!

Cason's Room NOT PINK

Here is Cason's room

I have spent the last couple of weeks painting several rooms. Carissa and Samantha switched rooms with Cason LAST YEAR and have finally painted their rooms. Cason was such a trooper putting up with a pink room for that long. He wasn't picky at all about how it was going to be painted. He left it up to me and had resigned himself to being polite to me when it was done. He was so surprised that he loved it. It was great to know all of my hard work was appreciated. The girls spent days deciding how to do their room. I thought we might have to call in a negotiator. Samantha wanted pink, Carissa blue. Samantha wanted stripes, Carissa wanted blocks with patterns in them. This was the compromise... I think it turned out great and the girls think their room looks like a magazine, (except for the bunk bed). They want a different bunk bed that isn't so dark of a wood. I keep reminding them we are in the "money saving mode". We just spent a bunch on the living room carpet. All in good time. They should have them in time for their kids to use. I still have to put up Cason's closet shelving and paint the girls closet too but, again all in good time.

This week...

So I haven't added a lot lately. We went on a family reunion, a family vacation and, I was also in charge of part of the trek for the youth in our stake. But now it's all over I can finish catching up on the blog

This week I was in my grungies all week and painted. The week before the trek I repainted our living room, a this week finished the kids room swap. Cason has put up with pink for about a year now. It looks wonderful now and our home feels put back together. We still have some detail work left like baseboards and doors hung, but overall it is no longer embarrassing to open the door. I'll post some pictures of the living room and kids rooms. They turned out so great. The kids are all really happy. I am too.

Cason is now back into football full force with pads, and found out he is on the Green 5-6 team, not with Stevie or even Dillon Smith, his good buddies. Oh well. He is 1st team Corner back on D and receiver on offense. He really loves it. He also went on his first official Boy Scout campout. He had a great time and came back with a lot of itchy bug bites.

Samantha has been raking in the dough with babysitting this summer. She has a job with a lady in our ward that uses her about 4 days a week. She had a couple of birthday parties this week including one where they watched High School Musical 2. They stayed up until 6:30AM. She has also been going to extra basketball practices and is 2 hours away from getting her YW madallion. That should be done this week. YAY!!!

The big news this week is that Blake got his Eagle project approved. I am very excited to see progress. He is now working out the details of money, dates, and committees. I hope he finishes it in Sept. I am very proud of him.

Carissa went to goalie camp last week and a soccer jamboree on Sat. She loves it, and loves excelling. She beat a boy in the goalie tournament at the camp. People chanted her name and everything. She was very cute and tried not to act too proud.

Jeff went on a motorcycle trip with his dad into Washington on Wed and came back Sat. He had a great time and saw some beautiful places. I am glad he is back. Last night we found an empty torn up wrapper of mice poison on our bed. We spent the night at the animal hospital with Thunder. She is now confined to her kennal for 4 weeks. She can't get a bruise or cut because her blood with not clot. It will be like trying to keep a 3 year old in bed that feels fine.

I can see school sneaking up on my calendar and I see life slipping away again. I have accomplished some of my goals this summer and others have been put on the shelf for another year, or life. My best moment this week would have to be the smile on the girls faces when they woke up Friday morning and walked into the room. They just beamed. I sure love making them happy.

For the 4th of July we went to the Saint Paul Rodeo. I was in a funk all day. The rodeo cheered me up a bit. We had a great time watching the bull and bronco riding. They had a huge jumbo tron this year which made it even more exciting because you could watch the riders while they were preparing in the chutes. What crazy men. You would have to pay me a whole lot more than $10,000 to get on one of those bulls. The clown again made the whole show. They always have a girl come in and pretend to be the "wild child" that is going to jump a truck and trailer on a motorcycle and he always ends up acting like he doesn't know what he is doing and ends up making the jump. Pretty exciting stuff. Not as exciting as the X games though. Blake and I were watching the highlights from that and WOW what incredible jumps they were making, upside down hands free layouts and then land them. Totally amazing stuff. I feel like I am riding the edge when I ride down a hill on my bike going 35, and I am actually on solid ground.

So here is Cason. He is such a ham. He didn't want to take pictures. I'm so glad I've started this tradition. We all love the ice cream but the pictures I treasure.