Ok, so I'm a slacker

A lot has happened since my last post, so I'll try to catch up on everything now. Zoe's birthday was probably the highlight around here. She's getting old enough now that she has an opinion about her party, who she wants to invite, etc. We did a fish theme, had a fish pond for a goodie bag, made a few little crafty fish things, and played red-rover. I hope the kids had as much fun as I did - cuz I thought it was a blast! I was pretty proud of my fish cake too, it took me forever to create, and didn't look professional or anything (AT ALL), but it mostly looked like a fish, so - mission accomplished!
Its funny, when she turned three it didn't seem like a big deal to me, she was still a toddler and not much had changed. This fourth birthday thing made me a little melancholy though. She just seems so old! For her birthday gift from us she got her first two-wheeler (with training wheels, of course) she's so cute on it. Brian takes her over to the elementary school by our house to practice, and she has fallen off a few times, but she's really pretty good about it. One time she fell off, she jumped right up and said, "Well, I guess I just have to try it again!" so cute!

We also rode in the stock parade with my family, on the covered wagon. Grandpa let Zoe "drive" for a little bit, and she got a kick out of that. Liam just loves to see the horses, so he was in heaven, and they gave us free rodeo tickets for participating! It was fun, I didn't know I liked the rodeo, last time I went I think I was twelve or so, and I was bored out of my mind! But this time it was fun! And the people-watching was almost as interesting as the rodeo, it was definitely a very diverse crowd... need I say more? LOL

NINE YEARS!!

Today is our wedding anniversary! So weird, I remember being little, hearing Mom and my aunts talking, and they would say things like "...well, that was about ten years ago..." and I remember thinking to myself - how the heck can you remember TEN YEARS ago? Proof I guess, that I'm getting old, because ten years ago suddenly seems like yesterday!
It was about ten years ago that we went on our first date (to see Armageddon - lol). And a day or two later had our first kiss (Brian was chicken - but that didn't last long!). Then six months later got engaged, seven months after that got married, and BAM!!! Nine years and (almost) 3 kids later, here we are! Weird...

OK, minor problem! And other fun stuff!

So I finally got the report from the OB who "read" my ultrasound, and he wrote that the gender of the baby appeared to him to be FEMALE! Odd, since the picture I have pretty clearly shows boy parts - but I guess there could be a piece of cord in the way or something. So, it looks like we are getting a surprise! We hadn't talked much about girl names before now, so I thought it would be fun to have another poll and give everyone a vote, now that we've narrowed it down to a few options. On the Boy name, by the way, I think we are pretty certain we will use Finn. It ended up being one of the more popular names in our little poll (which surprised me), and Zoe has liked it best since the first time she heard it. She even calls the baby "baby Finn" - which could be a problem if it comes out without boy-parts!! LOL. I'm still thinking its a boy, and that OB is off his rocker - just based on the fact that my pregnancy this time has been much more like my pregnancy with Liam than how it was with Zoe, but who knows? So, vote on a girl name if you want, and at least we wont be totally unprepared! 
Also, we went last week up to this big ranch for the Montague Family Reunion, which ended up being surprisingly relaxing and laid back! It was a lot of fun, we paddled around in the little canoe, played horseshoes, rode 4-wheelers (well,  :( everyone else did) ate, and ate and visited and laughed. Fun times. It was good to see the cousins I haven't seen in a million years. I'm so ticked at myself though, on the way home it occurred to me, that I never once pulled out my camera! I guess I was too busy having fun to remember that I would want to remember this when I'm old!! I'm going to see if  one of the Whartons can donate some pictures to my cause, but until then, you'll just have to visualize it in your head!

Fathers Day

We got Brian a new pair of wrap gloves for his punching bag, which he liked, but mostly he just wanted to sleep in. So around noon he woke up and hung out with us, then we went to take pictures of all of us to give to my dad. Zoe decided she wasn't having her picture taken and had to be bribed with flowers picked from the museum grounds (ssh sh! don't tell!). Finally we got a couple cute pictures though, so the whole fiasco was worth it!

FUN-O-RAMA!!

Springville City's community summer festival thing is this week -Art City Days- and they had this activity in the park for kids 3 to 12, so we left Liam with Aunt Amanda and Zoe and I went and played. It was cute, all kinds of jumping balloons, a magic show, train ride, temporary tattoos and hair painting ect... She just LOVED the magic show, giggled and squealed through the whole thing! I was glad we got there right at the start because it only took about a half hour for the lines to get way long. Speaking of lines, she needed the practice taking turns anyway - she sorta thinks if she can push people out of her way, then its her turn. She was getting better by the end though, and with that many other little kids, she wasn't the only one having issues, so it was a good exercise in social skills for her. I hope they always do this thing, it was definitely more age-appropriate than the carnival. She still wants to do the carnival on Saturday, but we'll most likely just go on a ride or two there - the carnival is no place for kids, with the nasty crazy people and their drug dealers showing up. I've decided that I love, love, LOVE the smell of cotton candy though! I get sick of eating it pretty quick, but I need a cotton candy machine at my house just to get that warm sugary scent.

Busy, busy Saturday

So we finally got the leak situation figured out today. You want to know what it was? Whoever it was that installed the plumbing and sheet rock in that bathroom was a complete and total MORON!! They actually screwed a sheet rock screw into the copper pipe that runs between the toilet and the tub, and into the kitchen - and then LEFT IT THERE! Totally blows my mind! So, after who knows how many years of leaking into the wall every time someone turned on the kitchen sink, it finally started to drip down into the basement. Needless to say, there is all sorts of mold and nasty water ruined sheet rock behind the toilet, but at least the leak is fixed. I wont go into my rant about the uselessness of the whole idea of a home warranty - just take it from me that you don't need one! :)
We did fun things today too though, cleaned out the van, put up at "dog-proof fence" around the garden, and took the kids to the movies. We saw Kung Foo Panda - it was actually really cute. I think this was Liams first trip to the theatre, but Zoe has a love affair with seeing movies "at the feeter", thanks to grandma and grandpa Curtis - she is obsessed! Its so cute though, she sat and giggled out loud the whole time. Liam was bored once they turned off the lights, but his bottle kept him still for a minute, and then Brian was able to rock him to sleep in the aisle. It was a fun little outing, after such a long and stressful week!

Oh, the frustration!

I know, I was going to post those pictures two days ago - but I got distracted - to say the least. We called a plumber because we have a tiny drip coming down from the bathroom onto the washer. We have a home warranty, so they sent a plumber of their choice out - and the guy ended up being totally incompetent. He ripped up the toilet, then basically said,  "oops, that wasn't it." then he did a bunch of other "tests" (which consisted of him running water from various faucets while his little sidekick sat downstairs and watched the water drip) -to try to find out where the leak was coming from. This was weird, because I'm certain I told him I thought it might be coming from under the tub. The side of our tub looks like it comes off too, but he never bothered to take it off and look underneath. So, after about three hours, he reset the toilet, said he couldn't find the leak and he would have to do "more extensive diagnostic testing" which apparently includes drilling holes in my walls. (which is also weird, since most of the pipes are totally exposed in the ceiling of the basement - but whatever). Then he wrote up a bill for the the warranty company (and myself - because of the deductible) to pay for a diagnostic fee, which ironically, was exactly the $185.00 he quoted me for fixing the wax seal on the toilet -if that was the source of the leak (which it wasn't). So, it's still leaking, and I have told them I cant pay a diagnostic fee for something that hasn't even been diagnosed! (I know, I'm so unreasonable!!) Anyway, long story, but I have come the the conclusion that I HATE plumbers.