The One Where I Save My Nephew From Quicksand.

Have you ever seen the Mythbusters where they test Pirate tricks?  The one in particular where they talked about how Pirates would bury people up to their necks on the waterline so they would drown come high tide?

Did you see it?

I saw it.  And I happened to remember it because I just knew at some point that was going to be pertinent information in my life.

Okay, not really.  I have no idea why I remembered that episode.  Probably because it had to do with pirates, and since my high school mascot was a pirate I find myself loyal to all things pirate.

"Cyprus pride.  You are deep in Pirate territory."

The Mythbusters built a large box contraption filled with sand and buried Grant into the sand up to his chin.  They found that he was able to dig himself out again.  But they found when they added water to the sand, to simulate being on the water's edge, the situation changed.  When Grant made movements to wiggle out of the sand, the space he made in the sand around him would immediately fill with wet sand, unlike the dry sand which stayed where it was.  The Mythbusters realized that the Pirates were pretty clever to bury their victims at the water's edge.  Wet sand meant it wasn't possible to dig yourself out. (Check it out on the Mythbusters site here.)

Seeing this Mythbusters episode solidified my place as favorite Aunt for a lifetime.

At least for one nephew anyway.

Why I Love Pizza Buffets

Sometimes all you need is your family and a pizza buffet.

I love that my sister Kristin came with my adorable nephew Wyatt, because I don't get to see them nearly enough.

I love that my Brent-Dad showed up in his leathers, even though he hadn't ridden his bike.

I love that Papa Mike knows he's always welcome.  I love this picture.

I love that Grandma Julie just needed a Circus fix and made it all happen.

I love that Kristin was already wearing a Halloween shirt.

Because Halloween is the best.

I love that Jessica and Brenna matched in their high pony tails and cutesy sweats.

I also love that Tayler caught me in the background doing "your eyes are on crooked" with Brynn.  My Grandma Martin used to do that to me all the time.  I've been thinking a lot about that wonderful lady this weekend for some reason.

I love that even with our incredibly long table, everyone is grouped together by the end.

I love that Sam-I-am gives me an excuse to actually call someone "Sam-I-am" on a regular basis.

I love pizza buffets.

We go to Rock Creek Pizza.

You should too.

Oh, and take your family.

the weekend was busy... and a diy menu chalkboard

Do your kids ever do this?

The Circus makes up menus and names of a restaurant when they're making themselves breakfast or lunch.  They do this all the time.  I came home on Friday and found this lying on the counter.
One or two of them will write out the menu, have their siblings order, and then they proceed to prepare and serve the food.
They crack me up.

This weekend I got my hair done.

Before

After

 It's called the melt.  We faded my hair into lighter tips.
I'm in love.
I think next time I'll go with a slightly lighter color so it's a little more obvious.
I love how soft my hair is after I go to the salon.  Maybe next payday I'll have to go buy the products they use so my hair will always feel ultra soft.


This weekend we pulled the Navi up onto the grass for a car wash and the girls were a major help in getting it done inside and out.
Cali provided me with some entertainment:

Saturday I was crazy busy.
I got the grocery shopping done which included stops at three stores. 
I cleaned the car inside and out.
I took the steam cleaner to Tayler's mattress.
I steam cleaned the dinning room carpet.
I got my laundry done.
I made homemade pizza.
I babysat my niece and nephew.
And I made a chalkboard in the kitchen.

I'm so in love with this chalkboard.

Thanks to Tayler for taking pictures.

I had to make sure I hung plastic everywhere on the cabinets and I hung it from the ceiling in front of the pendulum light so the mist wouldn't put a chalkboard film on other surfaces.  I also covered the pink counter top, although seriously, I think a chalkboard counter would be an improvement over the pink counter.

Jayme was mesmerized.

 That stuff really misted while I sprayed and there was a fine film everywhere.
I thought I had covered up plenty, but I was wrong. 
We were immediately wiping counters and cleaning out the sink with soft scrub.

When we were "finishing" our kitchen (here) for our refinance, The Man put a frame around this cabinet end.  It used to connect with more cabinets which hung over the bar, but we took them down to open up the room and to make the room feel bigger and lighter.  So The Man put a frame around the end piece to make it look more finished.

The Man also had some left over chalkboard paint in the garage from when he made Sean's closet doors a chalkboard before I met him.

We happened to have the plastic and painting tape from our remodel adventures.

All I had to do was buy chalk at fifty cents a box.  I bought a box of colored and a box of white.

This project cost me a whopping dollar.

Beth would be so proud.

Next I want The Man to put a frame around a partial wall that we have in the kitchen so I can make that into a chalkboard.  It would be great to keep the shopping list, kid's friend's phone numbers, and school project due dates on it.
He's not quite sold, but I don't think he's against it either, so I'll keep up with asking him about it :).

While I'm working on getting him to agree to the wall chalkboard, I'm going to get busy with making our towel tree in the bathroom (here).

I really need to get that done so the kids will stop leaving wet towels on the floor.

Yeah right.

Grandpa Brent, Grandma Julie, and Aunt Kristin came over for ice cream and brownies on Saturday night.

We decided to surprise them with some candles and a robust round of Happy Birthday to celebrate both Grandpa and Grandma's recent birthdays.

We sure had a lot of kids at our house.
And that makes me giggle because really, all but three of them live with us.

Sunday was lazy.
We watched Mirror Mirror finally, loved it.
Except Snow White had some serious eyebrows going on.
It was distracting.

I hope your weekend was as perfect as mine was.
The chore to-do lists got completely finished, we have good food in our house, we had fun projects, and we were surrounded by people we love the best.

What more can you ask for?

independence day

Our Independence Day was surrounded by family.
We joined Grandpa Dick and Grandma KC at IHOP for breakfast.  Can you say, "red velvet pancakes?"

The girls were super helpful in prepping our desserts for Grandpa Brent and Grandma Julie's BBQ.

I survived baby and toddlerhood. 
I love childhood. 
I don't want another baby, but I'd be okay with pausing time with were The Circus is right now.

Didn't they do a good job?

The Man was working on a welding project in the driveway, but I was ready for some holiday fun, so I called up my "twin" brother and his brood (the whole three of them ha ha) and they drove down to my neck of the woods for some relief from the heat swimming.

Christian

Casidee

Sheri who screamed all the way down from the high dive

Nick's awesome back flip

Christian

Brynn vs. the high dive.  She isn't at all like her mom...

Casidee vs. the high dive

The conga line while swimming.  A must.

After getting water logged and sun burned we headed home to shower.  Christian decided to tag along with our crew.

If you feed the boy ham, he'll walk your dogs.
Twice.

We spent our evening with the family at Grandpa Brent and Grandma Julie's house.
Where I got to snuggle on baby Wyatt.
He can come visit any time.
I still don't want one, but I can be okay with spending time with that little boy, no problem.

When I started talking about how I'd left my smoke bombs at home, my dad decided to show me up by handing me a real smoke grenade.

How can you not want to pull the plug on something like that?

Sam says, "that looks pretty good," as he adds a little more.

We ended our night sitting on a hillside near our house, perched above the entire Salt Lake Valley.
The city lights of the valley were spread out before us and we could see all the aerials being done at homes throughout the valley. 
When 10:00 rolled around, we were able to see the amazing fireworks displays of five parks.

How grateful I am to live in a country that allows me my freedoms.
I can make my own choices, and live my own life.
And although I have a handful of different countries that I'd like to live in for a spell, there's not another country I'd rather call home than this one.
God Bless America.