The MOTHER of ALL Week Synopsis 4/28-5/3

Monday April 28- I started the day early at 1:30am as I was finishing my second book of the vampire twilight series. I am averaging about a book a week when I can get my hands on them! (I am mixed-allot of killing, and some swearing...but I still have to keep on reading!)

Dan had taken off of work today to get the yard work and garden really going! While he was at seminary I got Colton to school and Sterling ready for his al- day field trip to the zoo:check off-sunscreen, hat, lunch, fanny pack snacks, water bottle in ice (with an early morning grocery run) AND his laminated emergency info. (we have on his 72 hour kit) attached on a lanyard (just in case he got lost..you never know). Whew! I was tired before the day began. I hear it was quite the HOT and BUSY experience for the mom's who went!(Sterling and one of his best friends Emma riding on the BIG school bus to the zoo)
(Sterling is sitting on the bench far right-listening to a demo at the Prescott zoo...ooh snakes!)

We went straight to work at home. Dan went and borrowed a friends truck, and got a borrowed rototiller...only to bring it home and have it leak gas all over the driveway. Our sweet friend (Derrick Fringer) tried to remedy the problem as it was his FIL's rototiller-but, he could not find parts for it anywhere (ace hardware or home depot). We had plenty of other things to do to keep us busy at home.

Dacie may have her mom's genes, LOVE'ing to be outside working in dirt!
We replaced my FAVORITE broken rose bush (orange/yellow blossoms) with a light purple (the only other really cool color there).
The finished product of Dan's digging-our front landscaping!

The Irises, waiting to be transplanted from my friend Sherry Ullery's yard
The rocks that we collected from the river around the tree, and our planted bulbs!
The car load of friends helping us collect rocks at the river.
I went down to the river and collected as many red river rocks as I could find to line our trees at their bases. I could not fit the wheelbarrow in the car, so I carried them in my shirt and ruined my favorite workout shirt! After all that sweat I did not have enough..so Dan took the whole neighborhood ( 2 of Colton's friends), later on that day (with the wheelbarrow) and collected the rest of the rocks to finish up the last two trees.

I also went and priced and compared at a local nursery and Walmart, for our plants to finish up the landscaping in our yard...and ended up getting them all at Home Depot. I wished we had a truck that day-- as the lowered seats, dirt, and plants all over the back of the van was quite the fiasco by myself with Dacie.

Dan pretty much dug holes for the next two days, it seemed like, to get all the plants into place. He also hooked up a drip line to the plants, relocated the mulch out of our garden plot, and GOT TAN (at least that is what they told him at work on Wednesday).

I also planted about 50 or so bulbs of irises to line our white picket fence in front!
My phones for work were pretty busy! We worked until it got dark that evening, had pizza-calling it a family home DAY instead of evening! Showers were fought over!

Tuesday April 29- It was a mom's taxi cab day. While Dan still dug, I went and took Dacie to her 15-month check up!

Dacie weighed 22lbs. (she lost 2 pounds from her 12 month...the cleansing diet is working!-ha ha)

Here is Dacie w/ Dr. Wendy her pediatrician...and playing with the waiting room toys, not knowing that 2 shots lay ahead!

Colton went on a field trip w/ his class to a bank (they are learning about money) and he got to hold 1,000 dollars...(check out the photo above ). I pulled him out of school early and headed down to Phoenix to get a spacer put where he lost his tooth.
Our home away from home! Dr. Doxey's office
Dr. Doxey, Colton on laughing gas, and Grandma Sorensen, the dental assistant--working on Colton's tooth

Ryland and I went and got slushies at sonic and went shopping at Kohl's, while we waited for Colton. We rushed back home (1.5 hours) in enough time to make Colton and Sterling's t-ball game that evening...and bring the snacks. I stayed behind with the babies so I could feed them dinner, bathe them and go say good-bye to our new friends the Jolly's-- whose clinical had ended, and they were packing up to head back to Idaho that night--I miss the SERIOUS work outs!

Dan had his last church basketball game of the season that night as well!

Ryland hugging his friend Conner Jolly- 2months apart-good bye as he gets ready to go back to Idaho


Wednesday April 30- I tried to re-cover the inside of the house since we have been focusing on the outside. No luck--answered phones again for work! I also put away Colton, Sterling and Dacie's winter clothes and pulled out the summer ones. It is a JOB--and now I have to do some serious shopping for summer shoes, and husky shorts (Dan won't like that!)

My winning glasses-sporting my strep throat juice mix!



Thursday May 1- Happy May Day! I spent a large portion of the day on the phone 'fixing' a miscommunication about teams with the church co-ed softball. Not my favorite day. HOWEVER, Pokeeno made up for it that evening. I feel true love from my friends even when we don't agree. I always feel like a good person when I am around them! I won a set of cool glasses. It was a nice win since we were down to 2 adult glasses in our cupboard.

Sterling trying his hand at picture taking...not working, I took over check out below

Friday May 2- Dan cancelled seminary, so I could go to a volunteer breakfast that morning at the elementary school, Colton's school put it on as a thank you to the volunteers. I got this fun little hat! I got myself a good man too--

Then it was off to get Colton to school ON TIME, and the little kiddos dressed-and to the Hoggards to swap babysitting, so Sterling and I could bring snacks for 24 kids (another morning grocery run) for STERLING'S Special Day at preschool!

I was over the play-doh station that day..Sterling and I writing his name!

Snack time at preschool-good ol' raisins and low fat cheez-it's


Whew! I was ready for the day to be over by 12:oopm-- Spent some time on the phones AGAIN about softball drama and cried a few tears. Answered phones and went to bed early!

Our million dollar garden plot

Saturday May 3- We have the WORST luck with rototillers. We rented a rototiller and borrowed another truck to pick it up that day. We brought it home and it would not start! For the LOVE.... Dan looked up online and called to get some help, and it still wouldn't work... so we called our 3RD FRIEND with a truck (sense a theme,we need a truck)-and returned the broken rototiller from earlier in the week to our friends, and the other non-working one to the rental place. Mind you, two years ago we went through two rototillers with the same rental place! Soon as we pulled up, the mechanic started it (ummm, good thing Dan is NOT a blue collar worker!) The mechanic thought it might have been flooded for us. We could take it the rest of the day and chain it to the wall for no extra charge. So we called our friends and asked to borrow their truck for a few more hours...what we really meant was THE WHOLE DAY! By the time we rototilled the dirt, and went and got compost to mix in it as well-our garden is going to produce $40 tomatoes..so now we have to build a fence to keep the scavengers from our expensive garden. We looked into purchasing our own rototiller and choked--yeah right!

I woke up that morning with a sore throat..but we had a yard to finish and a timed rental on a rototiller...so NO time to be sick. It got worse and worse-I felt like I was ON FIRE inside and out, wincing as I swallowed. Finally amidst dropping off and picking up trucks and rototillers, I got into urgent care, had 101 fever and I have strep throat!!(what my friends have been getting who are around me) So we had to go to the pharmacy, get dinner and grocery shop too that evening. I collapsed in the early evening--only to wake up drenched with a broken fever. I also got to watch the first episode of THE OFFICE with Dan, later that evening before I collapsed into snoring sleep again. I guess it kind of made up for me missing the Collin Ray concert that was going on at our town fair that night, that I had planned on attending--bummer!

Since we borrowed our friends truck all day they gave us lais to celebrate! ha ha-they always have fun toys to borrow and play with. They spoil my kiddos!

The YCL leader Superheroes..can you guess what our theme is at camp this year?and the girls wondering what the whack is going on!

Sunday May 3- I did not wake up feeling MUCH better. I helped get the whole family to church and they were ON TIME and stayed in sacrament the WHOLE time-maybe I am the problem?!!! Dan made taking four kids to church seem easy. I slept some more, read my scriptures and slept in the afternoon after helping feed and lay down the kids.

I was having an inner battle as I realized I had a camp meeting I NEEDED to attend that night. With a careful balance of antibiotics and Ibuprofen I was feeling ALLOT better. I had also been on antibiotics for 24 hrs, so I was no longer contagious. I made it to my meeting and we were able to introduce camps theme and meet our YCL gals! I think they are reconsidering attending camp with these crazies!

I went to bed that night laying next to my best friend--who took good care of me and our children while I was sick, thank heavens for weekends!

The Fearsome Foursome!

(Incredi-Mom (Becky Allred); Flash Gordon (Janae Gordon); Mighty Mouth (Patti Kinkade); and Triple A (All Around Acheiver Alicia)-at top)