Maggie's Shiners

Yesterday, I came back into my bedroom after changing laundry loads. I just about died. I thought it was strange that Maggie could have hurt herself so badly without making a noise. Upon closer examination I discovered that she had actually gotten into my long-lasting lipstick and put it around her eyes. It won't wash off!! It is still there. I found Maggie sitting on the stairs yesterday looking at herself in a mirror. She couldn't stop laughing. We both spent quite a bit of time laughing yesterday. When we went to Josh's soccer game last night, everyone wanted to know how Maggie got her shiners. All I could do was laugh. I hope it comes off soon!

Family Pictures

The Mayan With Grandma & Grandpa

A Weekend Full of Family Fun!!

We had a very eventful weekend!! My parents were in town for a McCullough family reunion as well as my uncle Paul's wedding. Annie thought it sounded like fun, so she and her family decided to make the trip from Texas to join in on the fun. As if that wasn't enough fun, My mom decided that since we were all going to be in town at the same time(something that hasn't happened in over 4 years) she was going to have family pictures taken. So on Saturday morning we all made the trip to the Classic Fun Center in Sandy for a very exciting family reunion. We had fun in the bounce zone and roller skating. My kids weren't really happy that I wouldn't let them go on the water slides too. I didn't have time to go home and shower and make everyone look pretty again before pictures, so I know Katie, Annie and I really are the meanest moms in the whole wide world. They'll get over it eventually. After all of the fun we had in the morning, Grandma & Grandpa thought it would be really fun to take all of their grandkids to the Mayan for lunch. Our family has grown quite a bit from when we were a party of 6. We are now a party of 21. That was quite the adventure! After the fun lunch, we had just enough time to run to B.J.'s house so that all 21 of us could get ready for pictures. For as many of us as there were, it went pretty well. I hope they turn out okay. We should get to see them sometime this weekend. I can't wait! Until then, you can look at the few that were taken with my camera when I wasn't busy wrangling children. Thanks Mom and Dad for all of the wild adventures last weekend!

School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love summer. I love having the kids home. By the last week of summer, I am more than ready for them to go back to school. This last week has been torture. It's almost as if they have cabin fever, only they aren't in a cabin and they aren't sick. All of a sudden they have nothing to do, they want to fight, their toys aren't fun anymore, their friends can't play when they want to... You get the picture. It's around this time that I realize that it is time to go back to school. They need a change of scenery, a rigid schedual, time away from their mother. And I need a break! Needless to say, I was rather releived when the school bus came this morning. Apparently I wasn't the only one. There were several other mothers at the bus stop this morning who were ready to party as the bus pulled away. I honestly don't know where some mothers get the motivation to home school. I don't think I could do it. I like my freedom too much. Maybe I'm just selfish. Probably. Oh well. I will be a much better, well relaxed mother when the kids get home in another 45 minutes! When I was younger, I would hated the idea of summer ending and school starting. I never would have immagined throwing a party because school was starting!

Finally!

So, as you all probably know, I am a slacker! But, I finally have the rest of the pictures from our trip to Michigan on the blog! Yeah!! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed our stay at Grandma's house. The kids keep asking when they can go back. Some, okay most of the pictures are very blurry. That is because Josh, my photographer in training, hasn't figured out how to take a picture without touching the lens. I didn't realize how messy the lens had become. Hopefully you can kind of make out what the pictures are supposed to be of!

Nauvoo

My purse finally came today, so now I can start posting all my pictures. This may take a while. I have to weed through the 300 pictures and decide which ones I really don't need to share. I think I will start with the first leg of our journey. We met my mom and sister Katie in Nauvoo on July 15th. It was quite the adventure with 7 kids, but we did it! Everyone seemed to have fun, just not all at the same time. But, all in all they did pretty good. We spent one night in Nauvoo and then drove on to Grandma's house in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Still Waiting!

Well, I have been waiting for my purse to show up for a week now. Hopefully it will be here today. If not, I guess I will have to start calling people to see if I can track it down somewhere. Hopefully someone will know what happened to it! I would love to put pictures of our trip on here. I have a really great one of Mike throwing a fit in the sand. I think when I post it I will have to post a very similar one taken 8 years ago in San Diego. You would think that some things would sink in... Oh well. Maybe someday common sense will kick in. Sometimes I wonder.

Summer Vacation- National Lampoon Style

So I just came home from a wild adventure to my parent's house in Michigan and was really excited to upload a bunch of pictures to share with all our friend's and family, but I can't. Being the genius that I am, I left my purse in a bathroom stall at Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska. I almost made it to Laramie, Wyoming before I discivered what I had done. Luckily, I hope, I think someone honest found it and turned it into the customer service desk, and after a crazy turn of events, they are sending it to me UPS. Hopefully, if my camera is still in there, I have some really cool pictures of our awesome cross country adventure to share with all of you! We started this grand adventure at 6:00 am on July 14th. I took off with all four kids to meet my mom and sister Katie in Nauvoo. Walking around Nauvoo, or anywhere for that matter with 7 children under the age of 11 is quite the adventure! After that we drove to Kalamazoo, Michigan to visit with Grandma & Grandpa. The kids loved their pool! I had some really cool pictures of the kids swimming, but you can't see them. They should be in my purse, in a box, somewhere between here and Sidney. It was in Sidney that Josh made an amazing discovery. He discovered the joys that maps and brochures can bring to your life! He told me at one stop that he hit the Mother Load when he came out of a rest stop with both arms completely full of paper. He has already planned our next several trips with activities and places of interest that he discovered while reading his literature. He has also appointed himself our official navigator, and when he is navigating, he cannot have anything else going on. I am really tired, and think I will go to sleep now and finish writing about our vacation when I am a little more rested and can write things that will make more sense!