Tanner Loses 1st Tooth

On Saturday Tanner lost his first tooth. We were at the dentist last month and they were a bit concerned because his adult teeth were ready to come in but the roots for his baby teeth were very long. So hopefully he will lose the rest with no problems, so that we don't have to get them pulled. Here's hoping. Also, he lost his tooth on a Saturday, which at our house is the day when the kids get to do their own hair, so check out his cool do.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So yesterday was my big catering job for 300 people. I spent all of Thursday and Friday prepping for that. on the menu: Sausage Stuffed Mushroom, Pesto and Pinenut Stuffed Mushrooms, Phyllo Shells with a Shrimp Salad, Phyllo Shells with Spinach Artichoke Dip, Rolls with Cran Raspberry Butter and Garlic Herb Butter, Garden Vegetable Basket with a Roasted Red Pepper Dip, Spinach Salad, Fresh Fruit, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Brownie Mousse Tartlets and Lemon Berry Tartlets.

The reception started at 7pm so we left here at 3:15 for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Ogden. As we were passing SLC on the freeway going 70 miles per hour, the tire on our trailer blew. So we pulled of the freeway and quickly found a BigOTire. Lucky for us they had the tire we needed and our rim was still in good shape. However, this detour set us back 1 hour. As we got back on the freeway, we immediatly got stuck in traffic. Very very bad traffic. We said we would arrive at 5:30, but we quickly realized that would not be happening. I made my way to the back of the van, found some gloves and started putting together the vegetable basket and spinach salad. Thanks to my friends who were helping who sat there holding anything they could. We did not make it to the reception till 6:45 (did I mention it started at 7:00). Talk about a crazy 25 minutes, but we managed to get all the food on the table by the time the first guest went through the line. Every one was real happy with the food and other then the stress of arriving late everything went well. We stayed busy the whole time, because we were late we were not as organized as I would have liked, but overall it was a stressful success.

Usually when I have a catering job, I forget my camera and never get pictures. This time I remembered my camera, but there was no time for pictures. O-well. You'll have to take my word that everything looked lovely.

First Day of 1st Grade

I just sent Tanner on the bus for his first day of school. No I am not one of those mom's that cry. I am actually excited that he will be gone for a full day of school. Is that bad? It will be good for me to spend quality time with Isaac and Noah. I will miss Tanner because he has become a good little helper, but he is excited. He really likes school, so hopefully that will continue.

Pennsylvania Pictures

To PA and Back

We just returned home from a fun filled week in Pennsylvania. I was a bit stressed about the plane ride, but on the way out the kids were perfect. On Monday morning we headed out to the Jersey Shore (Atlantic City). My mom, my 2 sisters and 2 sister-in-laws all came. We stayed for 2 days, and it was lots of fun (except for a few moments of drama). The kids absolutley loved the ocean, and boy was I glad that I packed their life jackets (not that there were any problems, it just saved me some stress). Noah did not love the water but he was very content playing in the sand.
On Wednesday my sister Andrea and I (and all 7 of our kids) hit the outlet mall to do some shopping. That was a pretty uneventful day.
On Thursday morning we headed up to my sister Alisons to do some swimming and hanging out. We spent a good part of the day there. Today was my mom's birthday so when we got back we lined all the kids up to sing happy birthday to Mimi. It was so cute to see all the little ones singing, Mimi liked it so much she cried. That night we paid a babysitter to watch all 12 kids (yes, she was brave and she was rewarded for her efforts). We headed out to dinner at Carabas to celebrate the birthday. The food was yummy and it was fun hanging with just the adults.
Friday, we took it easy in the morning. We took all the kids to McD's for lunch and then we headed out to the Star Wars movie (my kids were not big Star Wars fans, but now thanks to their cousins they love it). It was I think, the worst movie ever. Me, my sis and bro all fell asleep during it. I had to keep elbowing Jeff because he was snoring. The kids had a great time, and that was important. After the movie I headed over to the InstaCare because I had a wretched sore throat and I wanted to make sure it wasn't strep. It wasn't, yeah. After that we went right to the bowling alley for cousin Riley's 6th Birthday Party. My kids had a blast, they bowled, played video games, won prizes and ate pizza and cake.
Saturday we headed into the city to a place called Smithfield Playhouse. It was a big house with lots of fun things for the kids to play with and outside was a big playground. The big hit was the slide. They could have stayed there forever. After that it was off to Zwalans for some yummy ice cream. That night the kids thought it would be fun to camp out in the back yard. So we set up the tent, started a fire, made smores, the kids played with glow sticks and then off to bed.
Sunday we went to church, went back to my parents and then loaded up the car to head home. I wish I could say that the flight home was as pleasant as the way out, but I can't. While on the trip Noah picked up a new habit of screeching and he decided to do that for most of the flight. People were giving me dirty looks and I was trying to do all I could to keep him quiet. I thought for sure he would sleep for the last 2 hours, but no only the last 10 minutes. It was a very long 4+ hours, but it is done and we are home.
Now I am still trying to get over my cold, Noah is sick, Tanner starts school tommorrow and I have a huge catering job on Friday. So wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

I'm a Slacker, time for Catch Up

Well it has been a few weeks since I last posted, so now it is time for the update on what has been going on.
My friend Sarah (we were friends growing up in Pennsylvania) came to Utah for a visit. I met up with her and some of her sisters for a few hours. It was fun to see them, so thanks for finding time to see us.

We bought the kids a trampoline. I know this probably something I will regret later on, but for now they are having a blast on it. And if they are happy, I'm happy.

I tried to grow a small veggie garden this year. I planted some tomatos but then I could not find any of those cage thingers anywhere (trust me I looked and looked again). So this is what my "garden" looks like, not pretty and it has gotten worse. I tried that's all I can say.

We went to St. George last weekend and the kids had a great time playing in the pool. Tanner decided to try snorkling. He got pretty good at it by the end of the weekend he was swimming without his life jacket. The other boys just had fun playing in the water.

Kevin's parents just got a new (used) boat, so we took it to Gunlock Resevior for a little fun. I got to learn how to drive the boat and Kevin and the boys had a little fun on the tube. The boys loved it and Isaac even got brave enough to try it on his own.

I came home from St. George and immediatly started reading Breaking Dawn. I wanted to read it slowly because it is the last book in the series, but... I finished it Wednesday and I really enjoyed it. I don't want to get into any specifics because not everyone has finished it, but I think everything turned out well. Now I have no books to read and TV doesn't start up till the end of September, so if anyone has any book recommendations, please let me know.

So You think You Can Dance ended last night and I was happy with the winner. He was one of my favorites from the beginning, so Yeah. Now that it is over, there is absolutley nothing left to watch on TV, which is hard for me because I do love my TV.

Tonight we are having a ward Dutch Oven dinner and unfortunatly the weather is crappy and we may need to move it indoors. I am holding out till 4:00 to make the decision. It is really something that should be done outdoors.

Sunday, me and the 3 boys leave for Pennsylvania (yes, I know I absolutly crazy flying by myself with all of them, but...). We have some fun things planned and I am going to get to see all of my siblings and the kids will see all of their cousins, so as long as I can make it through the plane ride, it should be fun.