We've got hives!

Poor little Matty has had hives! I never had hives growing up but my sister Jessica did! I knew that usually it is an allegic reaction to something and I remember my mom putting calamine lotion on her to ease the itching pain. These pictures are from after soccer practice. His hives had cleared up the day before so I sent him to soccer, and he came home looking like this. This all happened the first week of school (yes, I know I'm a slacker) so he missed the third day of school, and I took him to the doctor. Turns out he had an ear infection in each ear, the hives were probably caused by his cold he had, and they go away in about five days. Sure enough two days later they were gone and we've not had anymore since. But good lord it looked like I was hitting him or something!
When he woke up the next morning the hives were gone but his his face was so swolen almost beyond recognition!

I had to move his underware up as to spare everyone from the crack view :)

Ready Set... Back to school!

The day has finally arrived when all my children are members of the public school crew! I have been asked many times if I would be sad to my my baby go off to school, and every time the answer is heck no! I will be jumping for joy :) Maybe it is because I am always the one that is home since Derek is gone all the time, so any extra free time I can get is so nice. I do get a little sentimental when I think of all them them now old enough to be in school, and how soon they will be out of school and moving out and stuff, but for now I will enjoy my quiet time. My dream of being a stay at home mom when all the kids are in school finally came true (kinda)!

Zackery in his new school duds! What a cute 4th grader!

Matty with his two first grade teachers...Mrs. Downer on the left, and Mrs. Swinn on the right.

Zack with his fourth grade teacher. He's out in the portables this year :(

Kaia in her kindergarten line ready to go in!


This is all their lunches packed the night before. Kaia didn't want to feel left out so she packed one for when she got home from school.

The boys backpacks loaded with all their school supplies

First day of school clothes.

Sweet, sassy Kaia ready to learn!

Matty was so excited to have a lunch box and spend all day at school. We'll see how long that lasts:)

Men...???!!!

BOXING...REALLY???


Derek getting his gloves tapped on.


My crazy hubby ready to go.

Seriously look at the size of the other dude!

So over the 4th of July Derek took the kids and went to Monticello for a week. Monticello is is south eastern Utah. His parents, his brother (and family), and two sisters live their. Anyway, he called me on the third of July and said, "I'm going to enter a boxing tournament." My first thought is DORK! Like who does that on purpose especially when youre not going to get like a million dollars even if you lose, but whatever. So I get a phone call from my friend who happened to be in the Monticello and Blanding area with her husband and family telling me she just watched Derek boxing. Now, my sister also was down their so she could see my kids and she was sitting right in front of my friend during the fight. They had never met previously, so both are taking pictures and video of Derek's match. I wanted to post this back in July but there have been issues with the videos. Making a longer than necessary story short... here are some video clips and some still photos of Derek getting his behind handed to him on a plate!

P.S. The guy he fought was 70lbs. heavier than Derek so it wasn't exactly fair, and although Derek got knocked down several times he always jumped right back up and finished the fight. I guess in some twisted way I am proud of that, although boxing is definetly not something I encourage him to do...the man just loves to fight!

The final result!

Friday August 8th at 5pm I went to the salon to get my hair chopped off. I knew I wanted to go short, even though I always think I want long hair. The problem is when I try to grow my hair out I end up looking like a lioness! Anyway, if you looked at my last blog, I chose the third hair style on the top row. Lord knows I don't have a face like hers, but I thought I could still pull it off. I love the cut, and the way it feels. My friend Bree told me I look younger with shorter hair. If that is the case I'll need to keep it short forever :)
Front side before
Back side before
right after in the salon-super curly! You know how they can get your hair to curl or lay strighter than you can ever do at your house :)
Today. I like the looser curl look.
and the back!

A new hair cut...

Okay, so I've got an itch to cut my hair. I have looked online for short curly hairstyles. Some of these are really short (I'm toying with the idea) and some are longer, but still short:) Anyway, I'm asking for opinions and thoughts on cutting my hair. Tell me what you think. You can click on any picture and it will be enlarged. So try and picture my face with any of these hair cuts or any other ideas you may have. I'm open to suggestions! Be honest! Don't try and get me to get a stupid hair cut just so you can laugh at me :) J/K