A Tough Day

This past week I had a pretty hard day. Probably the hardest since my mom past away.
Wednesday, the 23rd was the 2 month anniversary of her death and my Grandmothers birthday. I miss them both so much. They had such an influence in my life. Both of them were so strong in their own way. My grandmother had the will and courage of the pioneers in her, a thirst for knowledge and a stubborn streak that was unbelievable. The world would probably not call my mom strong, and in many ways, they would be right. But this woman, who raised three children on her own, as a single parent, went through so much, in childhood and adulthood, and She survived. She lived through the pain of her life and gave to us, love and a desire to be better people. She was a good woman, she was a good Grandma, and she was my Mom. I miss her.
I miss them both.

Perks of the Job

Today the kids got to take a tour of a real fire station and get into a real fire truck! They had a blast. Steve works for the city of Mesa and part of his job is maintaining the city buildings in his area, that includes two fire stations. So today He got special permission and we were able to have a personal tour. Pretty cool stuff!

Don't upset a pregnant lady in 108 degrees weather

So today we were at the post office and it was crowded and we were waiting in the small hot little place for what felt like forever. I was corralling my kids and bribing them with Icees "if only" When Jimmy, who can try my patience to say the least, Gives me a big squeeze and says, "I wanna give KatieJo and big hug!" (AWwwww) So I squeeze him back and tell him its from her until she comes out, he then reminds me that it will only be 3 more months, and he can't wait! Well the innocent lady standing in front of us, ( who only heard the conversation, but didn't actually see him hug me) then turns around with a beautiful smile, looks me up and down and says, "Oh! I thought you were the one who was pregnant." No I'm just the fat one with swollen feet, clothes that don't fit anymore and a nasty craving for ice cream and pickles! (Okay, I didn't really say it, But it was in my head!) I weakly said I was, she looked me up and down again and said "oh, how nice." not quite sure she believed me, but after another 10 awkward minutes in the indoor oven, the kids got their Icees, and I went home and had a big bowl of slow churned no sugar added chocolate cherry chunk and I toasted the lady from the post office with a clausen pickle on the side! UGH.

Movie Nite...Lets call it FHE!!

We went to go see Wall-E before we left on our trip. The Kids have been waiting desperately for it to come out. "Wall-E is in two Weeks mom!" till finally we were down to "It's today!!!!" Between you and I, I liked Kung Fu Panda more. Shhhhh.

So many things to do, So many people to see.

Fourth of July week was crazy for us. Our Nephew Timmy was getting baptized in Reno, I have been struggling with contractions and being sick, and Steve was incharge of the Ward early morning pancake breakfast that morning! But we got it all done and we survived our adventures yet again.

We started our trip at the ward building decorating and cooking, as soon as closing prayer was said we jumped into the already packed up van and set out to Reno. 15 and half hours later, with 1.5 hours spent stuck in the slowest moving traffic at the hoover dam! The Temp at the Dam was 128* (I took a picture because I didn't think anyone would believe us!) At 1am we finally made it! Thank goodness the baptism wasn't until the evening the next day. It was great to see everyone, and Mike and Jen's New home in Reno, is super cute. Monday we left for Ripon to spend some time with Mom and Dad and the famous Auntie Lisa, On the way there, we stopped off at Sutters Fort. It was pretty fun but super hot. They were dealing with a heat wave, (lucky us) so it wasn't much cooler then here. Thank goodness Lisa whipped out the Pool. saved the day once again, Thanks Auntie Weesa! We had our annual crab fest that night.YMMMMMM

(Sorry fingers too juicy for pictures) Oh! I almost forgot to explain the snail pictures. Lisa's house has a problem with snails and my kids love snails, so one day along time ago, Lisa invented a snail hunt, the kids find and collect all the snails they can and then we sned them to the 'snail farm'. The yard is better off and my sensitive kids feel great that they sent snails to the farm. Now between you and I the 'farm' is actually a zippee bag and a big shoe . . . (don't need a picture of that) but Mums the word okay? Their happy and busy for a good hour so its all worth it!

Then off to Pacifica to spend some time with Aunt Susie, Uncle John, and Courtney. Brittney was at her first year of girls camp. Luckeeeee!

It was actually incredible weather there as well, and so we spent 2 days at the beach and tide pools. The kids were in Heaven! Got some Pork Buns for me, I shared! (they don't have them here!) and then we ate dinner at our Fav Japenese place in the city on our way out of town, with Susie and the Gang. I wish I had taken more pics, we had so much fun everywhere! We headed back to Ripon and had one more day of cool down and then we headed home. It was wonderful to see everyone that we miss so much but its great to be home! We start school on Aug 4th so we have a lot to do soon!