Summer Slack'n

I know, it's been like a year since I last posted a blog...so here it goes. As soon as school got out, my sister Stacy and I thought we'd take on a little summer project, and take some of our hand-made hair accessories to sell at a little craft booth at the Centerville 4th of July celebration. Well, our "little" project has kind of snowballed - thanks to the men in our lives (our husbands, and my brother Brad). They have all been so excited about the idea of starting our own business, that we now have a legitimate business with an company name, The Pretty Petal, a website, http://www.theprettypetal.com/ (thanks, Brad), an e-mail account, www.theprettypetal@hotmail.com, a business phone, 801-742-5365, and more!! It's actually been a lot of fun, but VERY time consuming. Our booth was tons of fun. Here's a picture...

The booth was a blast, but the highlight was definately my parallel parking job! I did it on the first try in the Expedition - all by myself. I was so proud, I took this picture...

The summer has been pretty fun. Even though the 4th of July was hectic, we still managed to squeeze in some good old fashion family time...

Yes, his shirt says, "FRANK THE TANK"!

On July 14th Carly turned 3. She had her "princess party" with her girl cousins Sadie, Emma, Sage, Hannah, and baby Rachel. We decorated the side patio with drapes made out of plastic table cloths - Carly called it her "kingdom"

We had pedicures...

We put on our prettiest princess dresses...

We made Princess Magic Wands...

We stuffed our faces only as princesses do!!

Happy Birthday Carly!!

Another highlight this summer was our pineview reunion with my roommates from college. We ALL made it there, and it was a blast to see everyone. We went from 6 bachelorettes...

to six wives, and mothers to a total of 15 and a half kids! Pine View Rocks :)

Kung Fu Graduate!

He's outta there! Chase has finally graduated from Pre-School! He went out with flying colors as he was awarded the official "Barnum and Baily Award for Excellence in Entertainment". When the teacher asked one of the mom's if she wanted her son's preschool book to be individualized for each kid, she said no, becuase she wanted to read the crazy things Chase says. He is truly a crack-up!
This is what he "read" at his graduation before receiving his "diploma":

"My name is Chase Wancastow. I am 5 yeaws owd. My favowite food is Macowoni and Cheese and cheese. My favowite pwace to go is Jason's (his cousin). My favowite animaw is a buffawo 'cuz they go weally fast at peopow, and stab. My favowite thing to do is pway the swedding game on the computow. My favowite thing about pweschool is snack. If I had one wish, I would wish for all the Yu-Gi-Yo in the wold. What I wike about me is my Mickey Mouse sungwasses. When I gwow up I want to be a cake man who sells cake to mysewf, and cupcakes to mysewf."

I know your wondering if my r, and l keys are working correctly - I can assure you they are. They just don't work for Chase!! Happy Gwaduation Chase!

THE RIVALRY...

And so it begins; or should I say continue? Logan and Chase have begun baseball, and naturally Logan's team is the RED SOX, and Chase's is the YANKEES. Rivals in baseball, and even bigger rivals at home!! No, but really, we are having a lot of fun with baseball this year.

Chase is in T-Ball. This is his first experience, and he really likes it. We just have to work on bending his arms. He's so cute to watch - his arms are straight to his side, and he just does a little shuffle. As we cheer him on, we are yelling, "Chase, faster, faster, bend your arms!" When he gets to base, he is beaming with pride, and sends us a thumbs up :) Super cute!!

Logan has surprised us this year at machine pitch baseball. Last year there were more girls than boys on the team, and he would just daydream in outfield just loving his new tight pants!! We had to keep reminding him to keep his hands off - if you know what I mean... Anyway, this year is a different story. He is really into it, and has improved significantly. Frank even enjoys going to his games now.

And of course, the ladies (Carly, and Grandma) love the game too!

"The Happiest Place on Earth"

Last week, we finally took the kids to Disneyland. Our trip started with a stop at the beach since none of them have ever seen the ocean. Here are their reactions...

LOGAN: "Look! I found a sea shell!"

CARLY: "I'm kinda cold, but it's totally worth it to look this cute in a swimsuit!"

CHASE: "I wanna go home!"

I have to admit it was a bit cold for my taste. We were only there long enough to snap these photo's then we were off the the place where "dreams come true"!

I can't tell you how many times we had to remind them that they were at the "happiest place on earth". They had a good time, but still managed to complain that they didn't get to swim at the hotel enough. On our way to California, we stayed the night in St. George with my friend Steph. Then, we drove to the beach, then checked into the hotel. The next few days were spent at Disneyland where Carly met the princesses, Logan participated in Jedi training, and Chase ate cotton candy. We also ran into my brother's family a few times - it was fun to see them!

Thanks to the swich passes, Frank and I were able to ride on a bunch of rides too. Most of our money was spent on bribes to get Logan to go on the scarier rides with us. He didn't want to, but he'll do anything for money. We also had to pay them to smile in the picture of them below at the Dodgers game. That's where we went our last night in California. After a week "vacation" in California, I am ready for a REAL vacation!!

SAY CHEESE!

I just downloaded pictures from Logan's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, and I'm somewhat confused. I looked at the first one, and thought to myself "ok, that's not the best. He must have been blinking or something, I'll check out the next one". So I click on the next one, and it's the same thing - and the next, and the next, and the next. It's like that Friends episode when Chandler's face is normal until the camera snaps a picture - all of the sudden this awful, awkward, painful expression washes over his face. Will he grow out of it, or is this idiosyncrasy (I learned that word in 4th grade) going to stay with him the rest of his life - as it has with Frank?? I just might need see what photoshop can actually do. Who knew saying cheese would be so difficult? Here are some more pictures for your enjoyment - or amusement?

FRANK IS HOT TOO!!

Stacy gave me crap about writing a blog about another man on my 10-year anniversary. So, I thought I would blog about the real man in my life. I never realized how little pictures we have together until I was writing this blog. I went through all my pictures, and I have 3 in 2002, 1 in 2003, and 3 in 2007. I did get a few from when it all began - those were the good ole days!

Frank is and always has been a bit of a romantic - yes, I said romantic! Here are some of the little things that make me love him so much...

1. Anyone who knows me at all, knows that to win my affection, all they need to do is feed me. Frank learned this early on, so when we were dating in college, he would surprise me with fresh avacados (priceless on a college budget), and cookies and cream chocolate bars on my pillow.

2. I cry like a baby when I'm cold, so ever since we started sharing a bed, he warms it up with a heating pad well before bed time. Even when I am gone for the night, and he is already in bed when I get, I am welcomed with a warm bed. It always makes me smile.

3. Frank has always been awesome about making me midnight snacks (more like 10 - we're an old married couple now!). I will tell him what I'm craving, and he's there with it - lickity split!

4. Sometimes Frank felt obligated to do more that feed me, so he would buy me flowers - a lot! The cute thing was that he would always pick different cards from the florist like - "it's a boy!" "congratulations on your retirement" "happy 40th birthday" "sorry for your loss", etc.

5. I am almost always sleeping when Frank leaves for work. Each morning, he doesn't wake me, but kisses my forehead before he goes. I feel like a little princess - and I love it.

Frank takes such good care of me, and I'm lucky to have him! I am so happy for the 10 years we have had together, and I am looking forward to spend the rest of my years with him. Happy anniversary!

TIM FAGEN IS HOT!!

Yes, we went to the Colbie Callait concert, but my affection lies with Tim Fagen. He was the opening act for Colbie. He was way into his music, and was so funny(kinda dry). When I got home, I looked up his website, and listened to his tunes. I tried to download one to put on my website, but I couldn't figure it out. So, if you want to hear it, go to http://www.timfagan.com/. The song I like is called Soldiers.

Enought about Tim. Me and Stacy had a lot of fun in St. George. We stayed with one of my best friends, Steph. It was great to see her - it's been almost a year since I was there last. We did a lot of shopping. You would think that going someplace new, would make us shop at different places, but, no. Our shopping destinations were, Target, T.J. Maxx, Dollar Tree, and Wal Mart. Yes, it was the best trip ever!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

Well, he's 7!! It seems like he's 7 and a half though, because he's been talking about turning 7 for the past 6 months. I'm sure I'm not the only one who goes through that. His birthday was actually yesterday. Frank's been out of town, so tonight we GET to go to Chuck E Cheese (Yay!) The one thing Logan asked for was the Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack. He thinks he sounds EXACTLY like them. Ever since he got the CD yesterday, he has been planted in front of the CD player memorizing every word. For your pleasure, I have added his favorite Chipmunks song to my music player (ENJOY!)

Above is a picture of Logan with his (Star of the Week) poster for first grade. He was a little bugged that I didn't do the poster in silver and gold like he asked. He loves to be original. When he asks my opinion for a sentence or something for his homework, I give him a suggestion, and he does the exact opposite. He truly thinks he's smarter than me - he might be! Logan is a creature of habit. Last year for his birthday, I decorated his room while he was sleeping, so this year, he was sure to remind me the night before. So now, I guess we have a tradition. With Logan everything turns into tradition. He's always been self-sufficient, and very helpful around the house. He gets Carly up in the morning, and even makes her oatmeal! He has been such a blessing to us. He was such a mad little baby - he just couldn't wait to be big!! Here are some pictures of Logan during his 7 year journey...

WHAT TO BLOG: CONCLUSION!!

Alright, so it's been a while. I thought I would just blog about my prior bullet points. So, here's the update...

Carly isn't puking anymore, but can't quit bossing me around. She'll say, "mommy, I want you get my sheep bankee". Since I am in bed, I close my eye's praying she'll just go away. So, she says, "mommy open you eyes!". Then, Frank hears her demands, and kindly offers, "Carly, come here, I'll get your blankee", and she responds, "no! I want mommy get it! Mommy, open you eyes". Yes, she has my number for sure!!

The paint thing has blown over. My carpet is just a little fuzzy now. Thanks to the bissel (now ruined), I was able to get up almost all of the gallon of paint. Here are a couple before & afters...

So, the next bullet was "MISSION: GETTING KIDS OFF SUGAR". That lasted about a day. I'm sure they could do it if I could. But...I can't. So there ya go.

Next was the nightstands, and I GOT THEM!! They are pictured below. Although, my favorite is the white pedestal table (my side), and you can't see it in the picture. I have this need to get the exact same angle for the "afters". I'm hoping you can guess which one is "after". I have also added stainlees steel handles to Frank's side - now onto accessories!!!

Tax Refund? What tax refund? I don't think it ever even made it to the bank!

So, Logan's captions were funny - and his teacher said he is the only one in the class that includes a diologue box on every piece of artwork. He has now learned about the hyphen, so at the end of EVERY LINE, there is a hyphen. Here is a picture, and below is the translation (he has terrible penmanship)...

"I feel loved when...someone buys me so-mething I get c-andy I get a vale-ntine someone d-oes something n-ice for me By Logan"

And now the zoo. A few people were interested in the "dead alligator", so here it is...