I Have A Confession To Make...

So, something I've ended up loving about our quirky old house.. is that the kitchen is in the front of the house. There is a big open window over the sink (which being that I STILL have no dishwasher, comes in handy for watching the exciting front lawn and exhilerating street events while I do dishes MOST of my life.) I usually leave the blinds open in that window, all day-- and into the evening, til bedtime. That is.. unless.. I happen to be cooking something tasty.. or baking something even tastier. Almost nightly.. standing there in that front window, I often find myself shoving my face.. with, oh, maybe a bite of the kids fresh hot mac n' cheese (that I would never indulge in a whole carb-filled bowl of, but will easily down 8 forkfuls of in no time flat, straight from the pan) or a couple spoonfuls of taco meat.. just to test it. But it's the finger full of cake batter I catch myself skimming from the emptied bowl, draping to my mouth, often leaving an unflattering drip on my chin.. that usually causes me to realize the blinds are indeed still open, and the outer darkness, and inner track lighting, make the vision of my gluttony like a perfectly framed piece of revolting art for all those passing by. It's at any of these moments, (but especially the baked goods batter moment) that I grapple in a mad, chocolate-covered finger panic, for the blind cord-- and quickly slap them closed.. shutting out the world from the upsetting image, that is me.
So if ya drive by anytime before midnight, and see the blinds closed.. you can pretty much bet that at some point that evening I have been licking a knife covered in icing.. or seeing how big a piece of cake I can manuever into my mouth in one bite.
Yeah. It's true. Nightly.
And I just thought it would feel good to get it out there.

All "Cooped" Up.. Got DIRT?.. And, What the HAIL??

So.. my boyfriend's been on vacation all week.. which became a trendy "Stay-Cation" so many recessioners are inventing these days. We're big on gettin' on out of town when we can.. and had plans for Yellowstone-- before we remembered:
1. There were still 4 chickens living in our bathroom, that something needed to be done about. (A coop, to be specific.)
2. We needed about 2 dump trucks full-o-mulch to fill in miles and miles (I know.. I'm an exaggerator by nature..) of landscape and retaining walls.. and
3. It was basically gonna be raining all week in the whole world.. AND Jasen's sister planned a last minute trip with her family all the way from St. Louie-Lou..
WOO-HOO! So why go anywhere?
So here ya have the photo tour of our happenin' week..
First off.. the completed coop. My husband is a handy one if I do say so myself.

He turned the back half of our shed (that was THE creepiest little nook of the world you ever did see..) into this perfectly cheery and chicken filled coop-o-fun.

And there's nothin' better than a coop.. than a coop-a-COUSINS. We had so much fun with Jasens family..

and as you can see..
the kids have taken to the farm-life we have forced upon them, with little resistance.

(And look! There's even real-life "nesting boxes"!
Makes ya wanna cozy right in, no?)

Sophie likes just "cuddling" the poultry.. and saying things like,
"There-there now.." to her little chicken baby dolls.










Oh.. and then came..
THE DIRT.

I mean.. come on.. doesn't this LOOK like vacation??
(Kay.. the kids would argue otherwise.. but it DOES look mighty nice..)

And lastly.. just wanted to share another piece of our JUNE vacation.. with those who may not live close by.
Just a little hailstorm.. outta NOWHERE.

Yes that, my friends.. is just a little bit of summer in Logan.


Oh! And Jasen turned 37-- which I promise we really did celebrate.. I just failed to document it in photo form.
It was a perfect Jasen day.. starting out with a romantic little morning trip to Borders.. just the two of us.. followed by a 2-hour-mission to find THE perfect sunglasses. After trying on at lEAST 60 pairs (all at our teeny tiny Cache Valley Mall.. which, without kids being SO bored and SO wanting to go home.. was a good time..) he found THE pair.. some classy little black Oakley's with whatever the important kinda shmancy lens is called. We ended the night at the much-recommended Maddox restaurant in Brigham City.. that I can't believe it's taken us 2 years to try out. Totally worth the drive (through may I mention the GORGEOUS Sardine Canyon this time of year?? Can you say Lush-alicious?? Highly recommend a drive through there soon. Breathtakingly beautiful. Kinda stuff ya see on posters and in travel books. I repeat.. ridiculously, gorgeous.) and the raspberry butter and rolls at Maddox's? I'm tellin' ya..
perhaps man CAN live on bread alone. VERY tasty.
And there ya have it. Happy-happy Staycation to us.

So That's What Grown-Ups Do..

Tonight we went on a "double date" with our friends from Nibley. Whenever we get together, we usually meet up with all our kids at one of our houses.. cook dinner and dessert together-- and have great but often interrupted conversation.. interspersed with a diaper or two, and always one minor, but emotional, child injury.
So tonight we decided to go out all by ourselves.
I put on my 'fancy' pants, and actually "did" my hair.
We chose a restaurant that WE grown-ups felt like.. and got seated immediately on a Friday night , cause there were only 4 of us-- (instead of the 12 we would of been with the kids.)
I didn't have to tell one person to NOT crawl under the table, cause it's bad manners, and really gross.
We talked, and laughed about stuff 8 year olds wouldn't get.
We didn't have to take anyone to the bathroom, or wipe up any spilled drinks.
I only had to cut my own food.
It was lovely.

Chick Magnet..

Roscoe has slowly come around to not shaking uncontrollably when the chicks approach him.
If he's secretly thinking "Mmmmm.. bet they taste like, chicken.."
he's doing a good job of hiding it.

Ya Know You're Tired When...

Kay.. remember how we went to Disney?? Did I mention how fun it was? And oh yeah.. how EXHAUSTING it was? Uh-huh. It was. It started at 4 am on a Monday-- and ended at midnight.. on a Monday-- and in between was 8 days of straight go-go-do-do. It was fabulous.. and a good exhausting, but exhausting the same. And I'd like to prove that exhaustion, with a little tid-bit of our 8-hour journey back to Utah, that I found really hilarious. (I know.. it's so over and done a month ago.. but I've been meaning to share ever since.) So we're hanging at our 4 hour layover (yeah, I said FOUR) in Dallas, and finally get on our last plane home. Jasen had run into a little shop to get us some magazines (cause I get SO much down time on a plane with four kids and their perfectly timed demands.. but ya gotta dream) and upon settling in, I asked what magazine Jasen had gotten for me. Seemingly quite pleased with himself he answered, "I got you TWO." Now I found that interesting, being that I'm pretty much strictly a PEOPLE fan, and was curious to know what other choice he thought I might enjoy. He then proudly presented me with not one, but TWO, People magazines. Some extra special edition he'd guessed it was, when he had seen the two familiar People titles, and lovingly snatched them both up for me.
It wasn't until I pointed out that the special edition.. was um..

in Spanish.. that he even kinda noticed something was off.
Yeah. He was just tired.

Well Now THAT'S Cute...

So I came home the other night from a hot night out with my husband of 14.. yeah, count em', FOURTEEN years. (Okay.. so we were home by 6:30, cause it was a school night-- so maybe it wasn't THAT hot.. but still fun.. and at least marked our 14 year anniversary with something other than doing dishes! PAR-TAY.)
So AS I was saying.. we return home to our kids, and are told that Sam has taken Sophie over to the school playground. I walk over to the park to see how they're doing-- and let em' know it's time to come home..
"Kay Mom.." Sam says. "I just have to get the backpack."
"Backpack?" I asked.
"Yeah. I packed it in case Sophie wet her pants."
I was so proud. My little "I-forgot-my-folder-at-school" boy.. did not forget his potty-training sisters needs.
I came home, unzipped the backpack.. and found this.

Not only were there wet wipes, a clean pair of undies, and fresh pair of pants (that matched the shirt she was presently wearing. Luck? Or is he really THAT good?)
but he had even remembered to bring a plastic bag, to put the wet pants in.. along with an ice cold water bottle for each of them.
Who knew my Sammy was such a cute little Dad?
It made me smile really hard.

So... I Guess This Is NOT, My Forte.

Some of you may have noticed Janas blog, where per my request-- she posted her latest Maceys receipt. I believe she spent around $80.00, for 3 weeks of food.
Amazing, right?
So here's mine.

Amazing.. right?
Now granted.. I took out $20.00 cash, and needed a few batteries.
But for the other $250.00 bucks, I'm pretty sure I came home with maybe 3 full meals.. and some fruit snacks. (Oh. And Red Hot Blue Chips. Always grab a bag of those-- on sale or not-- and usually have half the bag gone by check-out.)
I have either gotta get my "budget-face" back on.. or should get a REALLY good job.