Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Our trip to Seattle....Mastercard Style

Miles in the Minivan.......522

Being forced to pay for vale parking all week.....$135

Cooler full of food we can't use because there's no kitchen in the condo....$110

Having a condo right downtown in Seattle....priceless



City blocks we walked.....9

Three peaches...$6.50

Eight doughnut holes....$3.50

Being at Pike's Place Market.......Priceless





Metro to the Seattle Center........$8.00

Five City Passes........$223

Bag of Carmel Corn....$4.oo

Riding to the top of the Space Needle.............Priceless






Riding the bus to the zoo.......$6.25

Five City Passes.........$223

Cheeseburger lunch in the rain.......$30

Seeing two giant Grizzly Bears up close......Priceless





Blocks to the Aquarium.....9

Five City Passes....$223

Seeing two sea otters fight and then make up.......Priceless


Three tickets to the Mariners Game.......$48

Starving and freezing.......free

Seeing the game with crazy Uncle Trav..........Priceless



Blocks down to the pier.......9

Five city passes.....$223

Souveneirs from the gift shop.....$12

Touring the bay on a boat........Priceless



Miles in the Minivan.....110

Lunch at the gas station.......$12

Having a condo (with a kitchen) in Leavenworth......Priceless




Total days gone.........8

Total miles driven.....1107

Total dollars spent......$ouch!

Family vacations.........Priceless


Monday, June 15, 2009

Don't you just love weddings?!

As most of you know, we were in Utah this weekend for Brian's wedding.
.
Brian is Justin's brother...and the last of the six kids to get married.  So, as you can imagine, it was quite the To-Do!  Abi seems to be a fabulous fit for this "cracked pot" (you had to be there to get it, but trust me...) and we're so glad to have her in the family.  
   
  
Camdon said these three days were the best days of his life.  I wish he could've been in the temple.  Sealings are always wonderful, but this one was the best I'd ever been to!  There were a few kinks (like the best man getting stranded in the Seattle airport and us getting lost on our way to the temple.  We had to call from a Chevron parking lot & have his sister come get us and show us the way).  But, all in all, I'd declare it the best wedding weekend of them all.  




These four brothers are pretty close.  It is so touching to see how much love they have for each other.  In fact, Jamon cried as he watched his uncles express their feelings.  I had to smile the night we got home as I heard Camdon go into their bathroom to say goodnight to Jamon (he was brushing his teeth, so don't worry).  I hope the closeness and bonding will be there for my own boys.   

On the way home we stopped in Twin to see the new temple and check out the falls.  



It was fun to see our family members that we don't get to see very often.  Thank goodness for blogs to keep us all connected!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Date night with three boys

The boys need new white shirts for the wedding next week so I did something last night I rarely do.  I took all three boys  to the mall. This is generally only  a twice- a -year trip so they were so excited.  First stop...Blue and Orange Store..(of course).  Therein can be found all things Bronco and Jamon could hardly contain himself.  Carter was equally pumped up but for very different reasons; probably the two strawberry lemonades and all the ice cream at dinner had more to do with his enthusiasm than anything else.  Anyway as we entered the store the friendly salesman did exactly what he should've done: 

"Are you looking for anything special today?"
 
"No" I said.  "We're just looking thanks."  

"Okay, well if you need anything just let me know."

I didn't even have time to respond before Carter turned  to the salesman and said:

"No sir, if YOU need anything, you just let ME know!"  Whack.  I told Carter to pipe down and thought to myself that the trip to the mall might not have been the very best way to spend my Friday night.  

I needed white shoes for the wedding so the next stop was Maurices.  I never buy clothes there, but every pair of shoes that I've ever loved has come from there.  I knew I could count on them.  I was right.  Check these out....


Anyway, Camdon and Jamon chose to wait outside the store.  They weren't going to be caught dead in a "girl" store.  "Fine" I said.  "Be good".  Carter was so excited to come with me because he had been carrying around a stupid piece of twine and he was so sure he was going to be able to convince the saleswoman to let him trade the twine for a necklace.  She, of course, said no.  He asked her why not and she said no trades were allowed without the managers permission.  

"Go get her.  I can talk her into it." Whack.  I told Carter no trades were allowed.  I explained that things cost money and that nothing in this store was free.  

We left and went to JC Penny to find the white shirts.  Jamon was again in heaven because of the three, he's definitely the most fashion savvy and really cares about his appearance.  He was having fun flipping through polo's and tee shirts and imagining how great he could look in everything.  Carter was obsessed with finding something free in this store as well and was bringing something to me every ten seconds.  "How much is this?"  "Too much, put it back."

At this point Camdon had had enough:

"UUGGHH!  I can't believe girls do this for fun.   We're just standing here in the same place staring at all these shirts!"

We finally settled (sadly, we didn't get a single white dress shirt) on something for each of the boys and we headed towards the cashier.  The meltdown had begun and by the time we got there Carter was in tears...

"Isn't there anything in here for free??!!!"

"This is practically free", the cashier said as she grabbed something out of a clearance bin.  It was a basket full of crap that was 97% off the lowest marked ticket.  "It's $.38"

"Really?"  I asked.  "This is only 38 cents?"  

"Yep."

"We'll take it."

"Look Carter!  This is free!" (he didn't need to know any different)

"Yay!" Look what we got...




There were also some ties marked down to $1.97.  We got two.  


A quick stop at the Disney Store and we were outta there.  On the way home the conversation turned to swear words.  This seems to happen a lot.  During the conversation Jamon asked me how the middle finger came to be/mean the "F" word.  I said I didn't know and he said he thought it was retarded.  "Yeah, me too", I said.  

It was at this point that Camdon joined in the conversation.  It was pouring rain and we were on the freeway...it was loud in the van and hard to hear.  "Wait, I thought your middle name
 was Lyn?!" 

Bah ha ha ha ha!  I busted out laughing.  Camdon thought Jamon had asked how my middle name came to be the "F" word.  To be fair he's been sick and very doped up on cold medicine....still a funny mistake to make.  After I quit laughing so hard he said:

"Well, here comes a blog post.....CRAP!"

I couldn't agree more Camdon.  That is too funny to resist.  


Group Therapy

"I don't want him next to me.  He smells like tuna fish."--Jack McDermott, Dream Team

 It's possible I need professional help.  I'm not sure it's normal to get so bothered over such small things......

1.  I got a bill in the mail from the elementary school cafeteria.  For 50 cents!  What?  You'll spend 44 cents on a stamp plus the cost of the envelope and someones time to address and mail it just to collect $.50...I don't follow the logic.  

2.  I had to make small talk at the pool with a neighbor, who I know for a fact, (by her own admission) hasn't paid the HOA dues.  She shouldn't even be using the pool because she refuses to pay the fee the rest of us paid....Isn't using something you didn't pay for stealing?  

3.  I leave my work shoes out in the garage because they smell bad and I don't want to drag squished shrimp into the house.  But, lately the ants have started feasting off the bottom of my shoes at night.  So, last night I decided to teach them a lesson and I threw my shoes out into the driveway.  It rained last night.  GRRRR!

4. I hate it when my poor parenting skills come back to haunt me.  I called Carter down to the kitchen.  I called him again because he wasn't coming as quickly as I would've liked.  That's when he said to me: "What part of 'I'm coming' do you not understand?"  Gee.  I wonder where he got that from.  

5.  Finding Otter Pop wrappers in the dryer.  Your pockets are not trash cans people!

Anyone else super high strung?