Gone, but not forgotten

So, as I have mentioned before, Mason has a thing for flushing 'unflushables' down the toilet, so this story was inevitable. The kids' bathroom toilet has been broken for a couple of days. The plunger wasn't doing the trick, and Matt knew that he needed to remove the toilet and find out what was lodged inside, but as you can imagine it wasn't at the TOP of his priority list, ewww! Well, he will probably learn a lesson in procrastination from this one, since the toilet was free from raw sewage in the beginning. Last night some friends came by and we all sat outside and talked while the kiddos played. As it was getting dark Mason went in to go potty. I forgot about the broken toilet - and so did he. Matt and I cleaned up the toys, then headed inside, only to hear Kinley yelling "Mooooommmmm, you have to come see this!" I instantly remembered the broken toilet. Ooooops. I ran in to find poop water at least an inch deep covering the bathroom floor, the rug soaked, and the carpet getting wet at the edge of the bathroom. Gross! I grabbed the nearest non-favorite towels and started mopping up the edge to avoid soaking the carpet. McKinley informed me that since the toilet started to fill up with water when they flushed it, she just kept flushing it to make it go down... but it didn't... another oooops. We put the kids to bed, then started our dirty job. Which resulted in this:

Matt was not amused at my attempt to photograph the event for future generations. :) After lots of cursing and fishing with a bent hanger, Matt was able to get the object loose. As soon as I heard the clanking in the ceramic I knew what it was. I had noticed that the little resin frog statue that said "Toadally Loveable" that used to be on a bathroom shelf was missing a couple of days ago. It was broken in half, so I didn't really care about it, but I had forgotten to look for it. Matt was able to pull it out (seriously gross!) - here is what was left of it. Apparently the smaller end that had been broken made it through with the original flushing a few days ago, but this piece was a little too big :). So here is the funny part, I went into the kids' room (they were still awake) and asked if anyone had flushed my froggy statue down the toilet. Both kids said they hadn't. Then I went and got it (it had been washed off) and showed them, asking again who had flushed it. McKinley immediately said she had not, but Mason didn't say a word, he just stared at it with an incredulous look on his face. Finally he asked in amazement "Mom! How did you get that back?!?" GUILTY! But, it was so funny that I just laughed about it. Needless to say, we had a talk about only flushing human waste, not home decor, while Matt re-assembled the toilet. I spent the next hour or so sanitizing the entire bathroom, and all was as it should be. The kids are now totally amazed every time they flush that toilet, they say "Mom! Look, it works!" :)

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

So I am a little late on all of these posts, but I had to get them in chronologically :) 7/13/2009

We were grateful for the opportunity to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, our kids really enjoyed seeing inside of the temple.Of course, they especially enjoyed the cookies afterwards! :)

Youth Conference 2009

Matt and I were in charge of our ward's youth conference this year - it was a BLAST! We have such a fun group of youth, and of course the leaders are awesome!

Matt on the zip lineTeamwork challenge - it's harder than it looks! The whole group after the ropes course

After going to bed around 2 am, we got up at 4 am to go on a hike to watch the sunrise - it was so pretty up there, I love that camp!

Thanks to everyone who helped and participated, it was great! 8/10-11/2009

Please keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times...

You know that feeling, the one you get when you are at the very tippy top of a new roller coaster looking down, just before you plunge down into crazy loop-de-loops at insane speeds? The excited anticipation mixed with a little adrenaline and fear, after all, you have never tried this one so you have NO idea how bad it will be - or if you will survive. That was me going into this summer. I usually LOVE summer, but this one was a crazy one. We knew it going into it, and tried to enjoy the calm before the storm, but WOW is all I can say. Here it is in a nutshell, and I will promise photos that may never come, please try not to hold it against me! Please note that I am not necessarily complaining, most of these activities we enjoyed, but it was one thing right after the next, so it was CHAOTIC! That's all I'm saying. :) ...itty bitty ball at the rec. center (coaching every day and leaving my house with 2 kids by 8:15 am...my kids don't wake up until 9 usually...fun...my sister's wedding in CA....car broke down...Matt's mom had surgery to remove cancer tumors...my neice's wedding in Utah...Matt's dad diagnosed with Melanoma...plan youth conference...found out Matt's dad's tumors were in his brain...found out we were pregnant...Orlando trip...Matt's dad started radiation and chemo...4th of July party...car shopping...tired and prego...Matt called as 1st counselor in Bishopric...3 days later youth conference...kids passed around to family and friends while we were gone - thanks to all who helped!...get home Saturday night...Matt sustained and set apart with all the family there Sunday...temple open house Monday...get kids ready for church by myself...drive the kids to church by myself...sit in church by myself (and wrestle the kids of course) while Matt sits peacefully on the stands :)...Bear Lake week...still tired and prego...itty bitty ball at rec. center again - coaching every day and leaving by 8:15 am...with 2 kids...car hunting(still)...rock climbing in Provo Canyon...desperately car hunting...rock climbing in American Fork Canyon...bought new car (finally!)...Matt's mom started chemo...good news about Matt's dad - radiation is working...Mason's 3rd Birthday...bishopric night at Girl's Camp (wives included - SO much fun!)...called to cub scouts...know nothing about cub scouts...learning about pack meetings and den meetings...and 9-year-old boys :)...while still serving in nursery (just released!)...dr.'s appointments...and Matt's b-day and our anniversary coming up in the next couple of weeks...along with more chaos... >>> ... >>> ... well, you get the idea. Finally *(HUGE sigh of relief)* - I thought I would NEVER say this (because as I said I USUALLY love summer) - fall is almost here and we should be back into SOME sort of a semi-normal routine...well, as normal as we can expect to get with all of the chaos that has nothing to do with summer...but at least (yes, I always say this) life should calm down a little in the next few weeks, although I know this roller coaster ride that we are on is never REALLY over, we are just climbing another hill waiting for the crazy thrill ride down to start again!

Matt and Me plus 3...

Yes, all of the rumors are true, we are expecting baby #3, we are officially going to be outnumbered by kids! :) Mason announced to his nursery class last week that his mommy was going to have a baby any minute, so I figured I had better make it official (and clarify that it will not be any minute)! Oh yeah, and I should mention that you should be careful the deals you make when you are newlyweds. I promised Matt that if we could find out what we were having while I was prego with McKinley then once we had a boy and a girl we wouldn't find out anymore. Well, here we are. SO, baby #3 and the rules are all out the window. We will not be finding out what we are having, so you have until Feb. 28th to vote :), and although I have always been very private about my deliveries, the whole family is welcome to be there for this one. Let's just throw caution to the wind, here we go on another adventure!

It's Independance Day!

As usual, we had a blast at the annual family 4th of July BBQ & Swim party! We love hanging out with our family, and it was fun to have the Bowen's join us this year - they are pretty much family, too :)

McKinley & her 'boyfriend' :) BenMcKinley thought she was pretty cool sliding down Aunt Lisa's water slide all by herself - with a life jacket, of course :)Mason lounging with his buddy Carson - ah the rough life being a 2-year-oldMy attempt at a festive cake :) According to Janette you cannot put fruit on cake, so I had to improvise and use candy to satisfy the pregnant woman ;)Getting ready to watch the fireworksMason wasn't too sure about the sparklers, he's my cautious childMcKinley was ALL over it, she loved them, go figure :) Happy 4th! Thanks to Amanda for the cool sparkler-trail shot (yeah, it's pretty awesome to have a photographer in the family)!

DISNEY WORLD!

And finally, the post you have all been waiting for :), our trip to Orlando! This one is mostly photos, enjoy!

Anxiously awaiting our flight - we had to be at the airport early, can you tell? :)McKinley with her 'boyfriend' Ben :)The Family - Disney's Animal KingdomMason and Daddy checking out the flamingos on the Animal Safari

Such a little princess! She loves to dress up when we go to Disneyland, so we had to do it at Disney World too!It's a Bug's life - don't we make some good lookin' bugs?Epcott - Coca Cola's Cave Cool - refreshing weird drinks from all over the world, the kids LOVED it!Our viking childrenGoofing off :)

McKinley at the poolChicken fight!The familySilly kiddos!

It wouldn't be vacation without the Cheesecake Factory!The kiddos on the tram to The Magic KingdomThe castleMason on the carouselMeeting CinderellaMcKinley dancing with MinnieMickey and Minnie and the kiddos

At the end of a long day at the Magic Kingdom she is still all smiles!Watching the Lights, Motors, Action! show at Hollywood StudiosMcKinley and her Tinkerbell Barbie

Such a photo poser!Mason's 'kissey face' :)The cool pirate ship pool at our resort - the kids LOVED it!6-26-2009 - 7-3-2009