july

Woo Hoo! I’m almost all caught up!

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July started with these 3 getting to go to the Gilbert Temple to do Baptisms.

It’s pretty neat to see your children go off together to the Temple.

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It did take awhile to get a good picture of the 3 of them that I could actually post…

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It’s summer in AZ…

The dust. Most evenings we get dust. On a lucky evening we may get a few drops of rain with the dust. On a rare night we get lightening and torrential rain.

We could use less dust and more rain.

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We had the most laid-back 4th of July evah…and it was delightful.

We had all sorts of plans, but we just ended up hanging out together. We played a few games. There may have been coloring with crayons involved. Burgers were grilled.

But after dark we got crazy…

Sparklers!

Yep…we are seriously out of control crazy.

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As soon as the 4th of July weekend was over our summer break kind of ends. Drumline camp started bright and early for these guys.

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We also had our air conditioner go out twice this summer.

It was only the unit that cools the downstairs. At least our bedrooms stayed nice and cool.

The kitchen and living areas on the other hand were kind of unbearable.

It may have resulted in not cooking…and consuming ice cream for dinner.

It’s nutritious…right?

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And BOOM…just like that you are all up-to-date on the Chaos.

insta wrap-up

It’s funny that I post a wrap-up of the pictures I post on Instagram, because honestly most of the pictures on my blog are from my phone. Who carries a camera around when everyone has their phone handy?

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Summer in the desert usually means amazing thunder and dust storms. The storms have been pretty disappointing this year. We have been dealing with hellacious heat and humidity without the relief of evening storms. Last Friday we had what looked liked a pretty good storm building…

But it left us pretty much rain-free. Blech…

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The clouds do make for an amazing sunrises.

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We usually take 2 cars to church since the Boyz go early to set up chairs. It was fun to have us all together on the way home from church last week.

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For Christmas last year I got the awesome charm bracelet from Lisa Leonard. Every month a new charm comes in the mail to add to my bracelet. I was so sad when I put my bracelet on this week and realized I’ve lost my February charm. Sadness.

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As a stay-at-home I spend a lot of time alone in my suburban…

Stuck at this stupid red light…

And driving this road eleventy-billion times a week.

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I wear flip flops almost every day…except for the days I wear really cute shoes.

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O.P.I. you have outdone yourself with the new San Francisco line.

I am head over heels in love with Peace&Love&OPI.

It’s an awesome grey based duochrome that shifts from blue to purple.

Love it!

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I make a ridiculous number of stops to the library every week.

And I don’t mind it at all because it means my kidlets are reading…a lot.

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Einstein posted this on his Instagram account:

Not only did he hug me…he actually posted that he did.

Love him.

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instagram overload

I really have the best intentions to keep up with InstaFridays…and then life just happens. So I’m going to just do a huge Instagram picture dump.

Enjoy…I hope.

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This boy makes me laugh everyday and helps me remember how awesome this job of being a Mom really is.

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I’m trying to appreciate our Walmart’s effort of having a section of Gluten-Free food.

But maybe placing it on the BREAD aisle isn’t the best idea and then to place it behind a pole just adds to the wonderful Walmart experience.

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I truly love LaLa’s hair.

When I am stressed and feeling like I don’t have control of anything I make her wash her hair so I can blow it dry.

At least I can control her hair.

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This happens…

On a regular basis.

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My drinking problem is a little out of control.

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Now I remember why I had all these kidlets.

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Rubio’s…how I love thee.

And salmon tacos made the love even stronger.

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This is finally happening almost daily.

My body is happy.

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I took the babies to see The Croods.

eh…it was alright.

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I love everything in this drawer of mine…

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Yum!

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Fathers and Sons happened.

And no ER visits. That’s a win.

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I had a horrible “flu” for a few days. Like lose 7 lbs in 5 days sickness.

It felt good to put make-up on and feel pretty again.

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While making Teacher Appreciation gifts I may have consumed too many of these.

And gained back every bit of the weight I lost being sick.

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Mother’s Day is very emotional for me and I will be forever grateful for these amazing children that I have been blessed with.

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The best part was stealing a kiss from Einstein.

No 13 yr old boy wants to be kissed by his Mom…especially in a picture.

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My favorite gift from Mother’s Day may have been the card that LaLa made:

I’m so glad I’m not poo!

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School is almost out. Four days left.

I hope we survive these last four days.

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It was time for the kidlets to go to the dentist. I always take them all in at the same time. We kind of overrun the dentist office.

Four kids had great check-ups and made it in the Cavity-Free Club. Ham and I will be making another visit to the dentist soon.

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LaLa was Star Student in our town.

They invite all the Star Students to a town council meeting to give them the award and they get have their picture taken with the Mayor.

Pretty exciting stuff for our little town.

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Roo was the first of my kidlets to make a solar system for school.

What are the chances she’s the last?!?

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I started this book a few days ago.

By started I mean I put my book mark in.

I’ve kind of lost my reading mojo.

I miss it.

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It’s almost warm enough for me to get in the pool.

It’s been warm enough for everyone else, but I kind of need it bathwater warm.

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Eight years ago I looked like this:

The next day LaLa made her triumphant entry into the world.

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Speaking of the Birthday Girl.

I sure love this girlie.

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The birthday cupcakes didn’t last long.

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Find me on Instagram @embracethechaos

There are actually pictures that I post there that never even make it to the blog…

insta friday 3.29.13

Wow…two weeks in a row of Insta-Fridays.

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Our Church starts at 8am. It’s kind of early, but not too early for fishnets.

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Our two-week Spring Break ended and it made me sad to turn the alarms back on.

Yes, I have alarms set to remind me to pick my kidlets up from school. Doesn’t everybody?

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The weather is almost perfect this time of year. The trees are green and flowers are blooming.

It will be even better when the pool is warm enough for swimming.

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This little guy has been hanging out at the airport by our house. The kidlets and I did a little off-roading to get a better look at him.

It makes me smile every time I see it.

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The Man-Child had his Concert Band performance this week.

Concert Band is Marching Band without the cool uniforms and marching.

They really sound good and they look like they have fun performing together.

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The Man-Child played the Canon, otherwise known as the marching bass drum, during “1812 Overture”. He has tried all year long to break the head on that drum (with the permission of the band director). I really thought he would finally do it during this concert as hard as he was trying. He didn’t.

Drum 1 – Man-child 0

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On Thursday morning I saw the Minion Blimp was flying. When I picked Hammie up from school he and I went on a blimp chase. For as slow as a Blimp flies it isn’t easy to get a picture of the front.

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Are you on Instagram?

You should be…

@embracethechaos