This is one of the paintings that will be in Ryan's one man show in August up in Jackson Hole. He painted this in 3 weeks! And this is the shape of the painting. This is a Costco painting because all those other little drawings and paintings are his. Your buying his paintings in bulk.
was blogging about our financial struggles a way of being humble because I've had two calls today for jobs that I applied for.
remember back in May when I blogged about feeling out of place and I was feeling depressed? Well after I put that in writing for the whole world to read, I felt much better and I look back on how I was feeling and wonder how I was at that point. So I'm a little superstitious that if I blog about my problems, they get better and "go away". Hence my current trial is finances and I'm in need of someone that can relate. I mean really relate like you've actually owned your own business and haven't had any income for over a month and no hope for any income any time soon. Sometimes I question my faith, maybe I'm not being faithful enough but I find it hard to go on living with the mentality that "Heavenly Father will provide a way and there is no doubt in my mind. Not having the money to pay my mortgage tomorrow doesn't concern me because I know we'll get a check in the mail." Am I lacking faith if I go find a job? I know a mother belongs at home but maybe circumstances don't allow for that right now. I'm alway hopeful of upcoming events for Ryan and am very optimistic of what will come of it. Not a whole lot so far. But he did recently get a fortune in his fortune cookie that read "keep up the good work. You soon will be rewarded financially." Don't add "in bed" to that one because I'd like to think that we aren't that desperate. And that's all I"m going to say about that because I feel like I sound whiney and like I'm constantly coming up with excuses when I talk about our lack of income.....but if your dating an artist......
but thank goodness for family, it's always nice to know you have family that cares. Our pantry is full.
On a different note, right into our week in review.
the kids finished a week of swim lessons. They loved it and had such a great teacher. I really like her because she was strict and made them do things right. If I'm paying the money for her to teach my kids, I want her to teach my kids.
We got chickens last week! All I had to pay for was the feed. I got a dog house for free that is the hen house and the fence for the chicken run was also free. And a boy that likes my sister built it all for free. Not to mention our three little ladies were also FREE! The Americana is the grey one and she is the only one old enough to lay eggs. She belongs to Cloe and her name is "Ella". The Rhode Island Red is Abbey's and her name is "belina" from "return to Oz", she would prefer to be in the coop and doesn't like to be held. The Barred Rock is the black and white one and that is Brody's named "cheetah". I will pet them but I don't hold them, they freak me out a little but I love them. I talk to them while I water my garden and if they didn't poop so randomly I would sit them on my lap and sing to them. Tears will be shed if one should die.
a garden and fresh eggs from the backyard, doing what we can to be self reliant ;)
the city fair on the cheap and most crowded night.
I always take pictures of her because everything she does is cute. She's just watching Brody play baseball with her water bottle.
my friend has a great and CHEAP idea for an "anti-boredom device" but I call it a chore chart. Right now mine are basic and they work, if I have the time, I'll get around to making it but I thought it was clever and wanted to share it with you.
http://therewasabrightflashoflight.blogspot.com/2010/06/newest-anti-boredom-device-for-summer.html
of course I only blog about the good days, there were quite of few of those other days last week.
In the morning was our city's annual 5k. They make it a family event with a raffle at the end of awesome prizes so I decided to enter the kids this year. But since I'm training, I needed to actually go for a run to get my miles in so my mom and sister, thankfully took the kids and ran/walked with them. Abbey was very proud to win first place in the "Brown kids" category. I was a little disappointed in my time but my legs were tired from my longer runs earlier in the week.
Thankfully they wanted to come home and rest after the race.
Later they had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheeses. They had so much fun, all four of them and they were spoiled by their friends parents with tokens. The tokens seemed to flow like the salmon of Capistrano. The best was when Charlotte would walk up the skeet ball alley to throw the balls in. You can't go wrong the Chuckie and it's even better when it's free.
We made it home just in time for our neighbors BBQ, perfect weather, good food and enjoyable company made for a great evening. The kids had fun playing on the slip and slide and Charlotte wore the cutest suit. 
Florence will always have a place in my heart, I loved living there and if you give me the chance, I'll tell ya all about it. And sound like a snob in the process. Today on my picture a day blog I posted a picture of Florence because I was reminded of living there from a smell I came across. There isn't really a reason for this post besides that I was looking back on our Italy days on our blog and I was feeling nostalgic. It feels like home there (I feel perfectly at home here in UT, Italy just feels like one of our homes) and that it should be so easy to go back and visit and see friends but in reality, it is so far and expensive and the probability of going back soon is slim to none. So in the mean time, I will revisit through our photos. But I won't force you to by posting a bunch of throw back photos, but if you want, take a look at 2007 and 2008 of our archives. It was a difficult life but it was also such a great life there.
okay I lied, I couldn't resist a few photos
and I know this isn't the end of my nostalgic posts. They'll show up every once in a while.
Whenever I hear of school graduations that are not High school, college or 6th grade (leaving elementary school is kind of a big deal) I always think of Mr. Incredible and his opinion about having to go to his sons 4th grade graduation. "It's not a graduation. He is moving from the 4th grade to the 5th grade.... It's psychotic! They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity." I think all of these little graduations are silly. But at the same time, I thought it was also adorable and sad to realize that she is now a Kindergartner!
singing her little heart out. She had much more confidence this year compared to her last years performance.
I can honestly say that I love to do triathlons. Well not just any triathlon considering I have only done sprint distance races. Today a competed in my 5th triathlon. It actually ended up being a biathlon or is it duathalon, because of inclement weather. I'm pretty sure it would be called a duathalon....run, bike, run. It was the AF Woman of Steel and it is only for woman, i love that part, such sisterhood. I signed up for it in December and then in February we booked our cruise. So for 2 months, my workouts were focused on getting swimsuit ready for the cruise, then we went on the cruise in April and came home and my focus was more on losing the cruise weight. So I was then left with 4 weeks to train for the triathlon. I did what I could but I didn't feel like it was enough, I knew I should've been training harder and I just wasn't that into doing a triathlon. Actually a little regretful that I had signed up. It wasn't until this week that I started to accept it more and became more nervous and mentally preparing. I don't own a road bike, just a one speed vintage cruiser that I got for free that is way too small except for rides around the neighborhood. So I borrow my step dads mountain bike when I go for rides but for a triathlon I insist on renting a good road bike. It makes SUCH a difference to have a road bike and not a mountain bike! I picked my bike up on Friday and then picked up my race packet. They give out pretty good swag, the best goodie bags I've received are from the AFWofS. This little braclet came with our number "I AM A WOMAN OF STEEL" 
I drove the course as a refresher and thought that I wasn't ready for the bike course, I only trained on flat streets and this had a few hills.
Saturday morning I woke up to rain, good steady no break in the clouds rain. I just got ready like normal and headed to the race. It was cold. They announced they were canceling the swim portion (not sure why rain would interfere with a swim) and we would run a mile rather than swim the 300 meters. I was bummed because I can swim 300 meter about 4 minutes faster than I can run a mile. So that would just add more time. I felt good during the race and really enjoyed myself. It is a USA triathlon event so no headphones are allowed so it was just the road and my thoughts. It makes me happy to compete and push myself, I do surprise myself with what I am capable of doing. The race included a 1 mile run, 12.75 mile bike and a 5k run. I was a little dissapointed in the 5k. I knew I could run it at a good speed but after riding my bike hard for 50 minutes, I couldn't get my legs going for the run like I wanted to.
My final time was 1:27:51 and if your interested in my times they are here by the way, I am not yet 30 but because I will be on 12/31, I had to be in the 30-34 age group. I would have scored much better in my age group if I were with the 29 year old. like it really matters. my pace time on my run bugs me, I know I could've kept my miles under 9 minutes. I beat my last years time by 6:15 and that race was swim bike run. But I feel great today. I'm not sore or tired which I'm also impressed by. It feels good to know I'm fit and can do stuff like this when I don't feel ready. I feel very blessed that I have a healthy and strong body, I'm grateful that I have strong legs that allow me to run and bike and I know I'm blessed to be able to compete in races like this. Our bodies are amazing.
my set up. the orange backpack and bike with the white towel are mine.
more post race goodies. at the end of the race they had typical fruit, water, juice, cookeis but because it was a woman's race, they had Diet coke available as well. That would be the last thing I would want to drink at the end of a race. or pretty much anytime, not much of a soda girl. But we also got chocolates, a necklace and our shirt. These fancy fabric shirts are the new thing for races now. Luckily it fit this year because I ordered the same size last year and it was a belly shirt. click on the picture to see the necklace charm better.
cheeese. Me at the end of the race, gathering my belongings. I was there solo this year so I had to be my own photographer.
Everyone has a designated spot to hang their bike and keep their bag. The spots are marked by a pink piece of paper taped to the pole that indicates your name, age, city, etc and also a question "why do you tri?" You answer the question when you register for the race. My answer was "because I'm addicted" and I can honestly say, "I am addicted".
I've pushed it to the back of my mind long enough, I can't avoid it it's bound to happen. The kids get out of school next Thursday! It is a bit of an adjustment for me to have all four kids, all day long but I've learned with planning and preperation, it all works out. Baseball/Softball, swimming and our city's "days" will take up a good portion of June and we all love to go hiking and swimming. But I want to keep their minds working and so I have been trying to figure out the best way to do our "sumer school". I found a great idea on this blog that I am attempting. I like the idea of having a themed week and the kids writing in their journal about things pertaining to the theme. I want Abbey to be more prepared for Kindergarten than Brody was (he was our trial run since we lived in Italy for Cloe's kindergarten year) and it would be cool if Brody read a chapter book by himself this summer. This is the website 30 days suggests to use for help with the different themes and this is where I'll pull ours from as well. Minus all the crafty fluff that she made for each kid, that will be damaged in no time when Brody throws a fit about having to do some math. So time to make the calendar and wish me luck, summer school isn't one of my strengths! Next task, the chore chart! why do I torture myself????
I'm open to suggestions, most of my ideas come from others so tell me what works for you.
I hesitate to blog because of my picture a day blog. Would it be a bit of an overload? And then I have deep thinking, well deep thinking for me, type posts but never feel that I have the time to sit down and think and write my thoughts. Things have felt out of place lately. No, that isn't the best way to describe it, I guess I feel somewhat confused. I enjoy where we live, I enjoy my ward and the city is nice but it doesn't feel right anymore. I don't know where to go or what needs to change. I know I can pray for answers and direction but it's almost like I don't know where to start. My kids don't have real friends around here and I don't feel like I have a good friend, like the BFF type, you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I have friends and I enjoy the company of my friends and my kids also have friends that they play with daily, but will we really look back when we move? But then I wonder, "maybe it's me, maybe I'm the problem." I always feel like such a whine baby when I post my thoughts, or a heartless B-I-T........
I am not looking forward to school getting out. How about you? I'm looking forward to summer weather but not the constant entertaining. Have any good FREE ideas planned, I could use some. I need to plan some things out and it's time to make a more detailed chore chart. I keep reminding myself that I made it through last summer, I can do it this year. Props to home schooling moms. I love my kids more than anything but once you've tasted that sweet nectar of an afternoon "mom time", it's hard to go back to no personal space.
Some pictures of my kids doing their thang.
Abbey was totally rocking out to a song and singing with her eyes closed, I was laughing and had to secretly snap a picture while I was driving.
I bought a share from a co-op today for the first time. So cool. This was what I got for $18, we had the corn for dinner tonight, very tasty and Charlotte and I have about finished off the tangerines.
Charlotte hurt her leg at the park, going down the slide with Cloe. She wouldn't stand on it so we let her sleep on it but it was till hurting her in the morning, so after we picked up our produce I took her to the instacare. X-rays didn't show anything, so if it still hurts her Monday, I'll take her to our Dr.
She saw this cute little girl in the mirror and they rambled and spoke gibberish back and forth. Whenever I tell Charlotte that I love her gibberish the kids ask me if it's a real language and if there is a country where people really speak gibberish.
a highlight in our home, right now. Ryan made a deal with Cloe and Brody that if they stopped sucking their thumb, we could get a Wii. Abbey wasn't involved in the deal because I don't think she's ready to stop, I find greater success when i wait for my kids to be ready with certain things like potty training. Of course we talk to her about it and encourage her not to do it but she's not ready yet.
Anyways, the kids beg to play all the time which gives me some room to barter with them. They step out of line, all I have to say is "you wanna lose 10 minutes of your Wii time?" and it works every time. I also find greater success in bribing my kids. Say what you will, you can't deny that it works. It's human nature to work harder if there is a desired reward at the end. 
Abbey's preschool Mother's Day Program
and this was Charlotte when I got out of the shower. Clothes pulled out of the dirty clothes, Cloe's shirt pulled on like pants and relaxing.
I always try to use my front area which is "common area" maintained by the HOA but there is open space and the gardeners don't care, less weeding for them. I had some leftover pea seeds so I stuck them by the steps to possibly climb the railing? It wouldn't be devastating if they didn't produce veggies, I just wanted to give it a try and the more peas the better for me.
my cold weather crops are starting to grow. The green teepees are "water walls" and I have my tomato's in those.
My more productive box thus far. Spinach in the bottom corner and beans and peas along the edge. They weren't sprouting yet so I went out and bought some plants and now they are sprouting, we will have beans and peas coming out of our ears.
Some of my seeds. I realized I was doing my plants a favor by keeping them in the window. Not only do they get sun to grow but also the breeze and cooler temps that come in through the screen prepare them for the harsher conditions outside.
