Swim Team

Myles went to the Legacy Center (our city rec. center) after school today and happened upon the summer swim team try-outs. So of course he just had to try out, and of course he made the team. So that is our next adventure, Swim Team! He has done plenty of leisure swimming and some lap swimming in his triathlons, but this will surely be a new type of training for him. So I am sure I will be posting pictures of a speedo clad Myles in the near future :)

So did anyone else see the President's helicopter? Marine One (I believe that is what the helicopter is called) flew right over my office on its way up to Park City yesterday afternoon. So that was kind of cool to see.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." -- 2 Timothy 1:7

B-Day Dinner Blues

Brad wanted to try a new restaurant for his b-day dinner, so we went to Thia Village in AF. Neither of us was familiar with what kind of food Thia exactly was. Well we quickly learned that it was NOT our kind of food. The smell alone is enough to give you an upset stomach!! It was pretty raunchy! We had tons of food left over and they looked at us like we were crazy when we so adamantly said NO to a doggy bag. So after that we headed over to Carl's Jr. for large Captain Crunch shake to help fill us up. :)

"The easiest job in the world has to be coroner. Surgery on dead people. What's the worst thing that could happen? If everything went wrong, maybe you'd get a pulse "-- Dennis Miller

Happy Happy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET HUSBAND!!
Brad is turning 28 tomorrow, sheesh he is young! Love you tons sweety!

It Aint Easy Being Green

Yep, just like Kermit the Frog I am going green! Well at least making progress in the right direction to be a little more earth friendly. I have joined the elite club of "Car-poolers". A friend from work and I are going to carpool twice a week. I have to be honest though, I am doing this more to save on gas money and to be able to use the carpool lane than to be green.

Myles got to dissect his first Frog today (ew, sorry didn't mean to bring that up right after talking about good old Kermit). I was just asking him about it and he made a comment that made me ask "they were dead right?" (A gal a work said when she dissected her frog back in the day they had to kill the frog , that is why I asked.) So Myles launches into this hilarious story; Mr. Hayes just let the frogs loose and you had to catch your own frog, the frogs were going all over the class and they even lost a few students. Myles was sure that if his fellow students perished in the pursuit of their frog that they definitely failed this assignment. Believe me I am doing little justice to his rantings about this, he had me rolling!!

I saw this cartoon today and it totally reminded me of siblings :)

And here is our quote for the day that will encourage all of us to have another helping of dessert :)
"Fat people are harder to kidnap" -- T-Shirt

Dog Vs. Nature

It is fight night at the Jolley/Schumacher household! (Hum out loud the theme to Rocky) In one corner weighing much less then she should we have EVIE-LA-ROO and in the other corner we have MOTHER NATURE!!!! (ROAR ... the crow goes wild)

Vs.

Well I would like to report that Mother Nature held her own, but in truth she was no match for the Evie Monster. It was a TKO in the first round, so very sad.

OK, you are probably wondering what prompted this bizarre posting. Think back about a week ago, I told you about the beautiful Clematis vine we planted (the picture is of a different flower, but you gt the idea), with high hopes that it would survive better then it's predecessor the Jasmine. Well Evie apparently wasn't pleased with our floral addition. This morning we found our dear Clematis completely dug up and dismembered in the back yard. Sheesh! Brad thinks our only other option in our fight to have some sort of garden in the back yard will have to be cactus'. So there you have it, Evie-La-Roo is the all time garden-eating Heavy Weight Champion of the subdivision!!

Today we took the dogs out running in Eagle Mountain. It is so nice when we can just let them run non-stop with out worry of them bothering anyone or getting hurt. Running full throttle like a wild banshee is about the only thing that will wear Evie out. It was a beautiful spring day. So hear is a shot looking West from Eagle Mountain.

This morning we went to Costco for a few groceries. Brad has been looking forward to having Coconut Cream Pie from there on his b-day for weeks now. Well he noticed that all of a sudden they didn't have any CC Pies, so he asked the bakery and low and behold they have stopped making them. (Imagine Brad turning into the Incredible Hulk!) He walks over to where I am standing in produce, grabs a pear and squeezes it as hard as he can, then proceeds to throw the pear to the ground with such force that "splat" there are pear remnants all over!! I was in such shock I just stood their staring in amazement at my husband throwing a temper tantrum. He eventually calmed down, but I will forever remember my "hulk" demolishing a helpless little pear in mighty rage over a PIE!!!

This afternoon I was beading, making a couple of bracelets for Gracie's up-coming B-Day (good thing she cant read yet or this would kind of ruin the surprise). So I have strung the bracelets and have them ready for when I have a measurement of Grace's wrist before putting the toggles on. Brad decided to "try on" one of the bracelets ... yep you guessed it, he manages to break the temporary end off of the wire and beads go flying all over the kitchen floor. I just put my head down and half cried/laughed as he is crawling around on all fours searching for beads and apologizing profusely. He is even talking to the dogs "come on Evie help me find Mommy's beads, no no don't eat them!" Well it was such a funny scene that I couldn't be mad at him. And I must give him credit he did find all but one bead (probably that stray that Evie found).

So there you have it, the day in the life of our crazy little household!! Have a safe memorial day!!

"You cant roller skate in a buffalo heard, but you can be happy if you've a mind too." -- Tom T Hall

Congrats Andrew

Brad, Andrew and Myles at Juan Diego

Kelly John and Andrew Jolley

This morning we were able to go see Brad's little brother, Andrew, graduate from High School. Andrew graduated from Juan Diego Catholic High School. It was a very nice commencement ceremony, though I think if it lasted one minute longer Myles was going to implode from having to hold still for so long. Both Andrew and his girl friend Kelly are enrolled to start college next year at Westminster in Salt Lake. Andrew is one of the most mature 18 year olds I have ever met. I have no doubt that he will go very far in life. So congrats Andrew and Kelly on this major milestone in your lives!!

This afternoon and evening we did our normal weekend tasks of grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry. Right now as I blog, Myles and Brad are playing a new game on the Wii. Brad promised Myles if he kept his grades up this semester he would buy him a new video game. So seeing as there is one week of school left and Myles has straight A's they thought it was pretty safe to go ahead and make the purchase. Myles chose "Blazing Angels" a WWII Fighter Pilot game.

"Always drink upstream from the herd. "-- Will Rogers

IF

Brad has a great little book entitled "IF". It is a conversation book and gives hundreds of questions that you could ask to get conversations going. So here are a few IF's that I will answer for you this evening

IF you could have any type of fresh cut flowers delivered to your home every week, what one type would you pick? Definitely Daisy's! They are my all time favorite flower. Yellow of course :)

IF you could serve in one capacity in the military, what would you want to do? A Spy! One of my all time favorite TV shows was Alias. So I would be an undercover covert-ops agent, and kick butt! Heather could be my partner and we could be like Sydney and Nadia :) But I get to be Sydney!

IF you had to be someones body part, what would you be and on whose body? I would be Angelina Jolie's lips, hell those lips are world famous!

IF you could posses one supernatural ability, what would it be? Now this one is a hard one. My top three would be seeing the future, flying/transporting, or to be able to heal like Wolverine. But if I have to narrow it down to just one, I would go with being able to transport to different locations instantly. Think of all the time you would save! You could be twice as productive without travel time.

So there you have it, a couple of IF's for you. Feel free to leave comments with your own answers to these IF's.

"Wag More, Bark Less" -- bumper sticker

Indiana Jones was great!! I highly recommend it. I told my accounting clerks that if they got all the billing done by lunch time on the the 22nd this month then I would take them to see Indy. So they busted their butts and got done in the nick of time. So we headed off to the Gateway for a long "business lunch function". The movie lived up to my expectations and was a true Indy film that fits right in line with the first three, even though the great time between the making of the films. I think we are going to go see it as a family on Monday. Myles is excited at the prospect of Shia Labouf becoming the "new" Dr. Jones. Myles totally approves of that casting call.

Well Brad and Myles have full fledged head colds now. Poor Myles wanted to stay home from school but went anyway because he knew if he stayed home I wouldn't let him play in his baseball game tonight. So he suffered through the day and came home with a fairly high fever just to find out that the game had been canceled due to rain (man was he ticked!).

Work for me seems to be settling down a touch, finally! I am still getting all the offices put together for the newbies and Brad still has painting to do, but we are getting closer. I am so lucky that anytime I need handy work done at the office Brad is more then happy to jump in and take care of it for me. He is my "Mr. Fix-It" with benefits! :)

My Mom goes in for surgery tomorrow to have her Gallbladder removed. What the hell is a Gallbladder anyway!?!?! It boggles me why we have spare parts like the Gallbladder or Appendix that we can totally live without. Wouldn't it be cool if we could re-grow missing vital parts like a starfish or a crab do? (Our crab just regrew a leg, the big show off!) And isn't is amazing that you can have an internal organ removed surgically as an "out-patient procedure"? So good luck tomorrow Momma, I would say "break a leg" but I don't think you posses our crabs crazy limb growing power! :)

"I readily confess that I would find no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a world without repentance. I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes. the agony would be more than I could bear." -- Boyd K. Packer

Bbrrrrr

It is amazing that we were in the 90's yesterday and today it is freakin' freezing! I can handle the rain just fine, but I am done being cold. Both Myles and Brad are getting colds and I am pretty certain it is because of the radical changes in temperature we keep having.

Monday evening I went to my first Mass. Brad's little bro, Andrew, is graduating this week. So the mass was part of the graduation ceremonies. It was neat to go to with Brad's family.

So does everyone have their Indiana Jones tickets?!?! I am way excited to go see the new movie. Harrison Ford just seems to get better with age. Everyone knows I think he is a hottie, after all Myles' middle name is Harrison after him. I hope the new movie lives up to my expectations, I love the first three!

Well this week has been non-stop crazy, so please excuse the extremely boring post. I am heading to bed and hopefully will have something more entertaining for you tomorrow.

" I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me." -- Noel Coward

Just Another Manic Monday

As Monday's go today wasn't too shabby. Brad watched Grace and Jane for a little while this morning while Heather went to get her hair done. When Heather got home and asked how things had gone he summed up the morning by stating "It was just like reffing WWF!" Brad actually had a great time, he loves the chance to play with the girls. He even helped Gracie call and leave me a cute voice mail message.

This evening we played such an intense game of Scrabble that it gave Myles a bloody nose!! We believe in full contact Scrabble in this house, that's just how we roll. I guess Myles was just thinking of his next word a little too hard and wham-o burst a blood vessel. But he pulled through (playing with tissue shoved up his nose) and even finished in second place.

HAPPY B-DAY HEATHER-WEATHER-BEE!!!! My little sis is the big 25!

" Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others.... By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves." Gordon B. Hinkley

Never Long Enogh

The weekend is NEVER long enough. It seems like just when you get started on your weekend To Do list all of a sudden it is Sunday night already. But we did have a productive weekend, now I just wish I had a day to waste away bumming around the house. Oh well, next weekend is a 3 day weekend, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel :)
Saturday the kids and I got up and got our chores first thing in the morning while Brad caught a couple (noisy) hours of sleep. Then we headed up to Ogden to help Jen with the construction of her new Photo Studio. We sanded drywall until our little arms could sand no more. Saturday evening we tried the new local BBQ restaurant, Charlie Boys. It was way yummy! Definitely stop by and help them get off to a good start.
After church today we spent sometime out in the garden. I planted a Clematis vine where our Jasmine was last year. We are hoping the Clematis proves more hearty and comes back again next year. Then we headed to Office Max to buy stuff for my work. I have 3 new people starting this week so I had quite a bit to purchase. By the time we got the chairs, chair mats, keyboards, etc etc... the poor children were squished in the back seat like we were in a clown car!
Brad is excited about a new business venture he is going to take a stab at. He is going to start a window washing business for him to do on the side. I mentioned to him that the guy we had cleaning our windows at the office had gone AWOL and I really needed to find someone to replace him. Well the light went on for Brad and next thing I know I am agreeing to let him clean the office windows. Man, I hope he is good, firing him could be really uncomfortable!! No, seriously though, he did our house windows today and they look awesome (and he isn't even paying me to say that).
I was just asking Brad to help remind me of all the things we did this weekend so that I could blog it. I guess I was getting a bit too detailed because he just said "I peed about an hour ago, don't forget to add that!" It was in jest of course. He is my blogs biggest fan (well him and Mom of course) :)

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." -- William Shakespeare

"Abs"olutely Hilarious

Brad has wanted an Ab Lounger work-out device as long as I have known him. So that is what he picked for his birthday present (a little early I know, but it was on sale). So we took turns looking like goobers, trying to use it this evening. I was trying to be creative and try different approaches with it, you know just mixing things up a bit. Well I kinda got stuck! Brad just sat there rolling his eyes at me and said that watching me was like watching the "I Love Lucy" show. We got a good laugh out of that, and then I had to explain to him that I was truly stuck and needed a hand dismounting this wild contraption. So finally I get to the floor and am safe. But man I was breaking a sweat, so maybe my idea wasn't all that bad. But after surviving the Ab Lounger I think I am ready for the Mechanical Bull, Yeehaw!


"I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble." -- John Wayne

Big Boned Gal

"She was a big boned gal from Southern Alberta" -- K.D. Lang
That is the song that has been playing over and over in my head today. I went to my yearly doctors appointment this morning and was firmly told that I have to lose weight!! Now I totally understand how Daddy felt when his doc called him "portly". But the truth is I know I need to lose some weight, but it puts it in a whole different realm of reality when your Doctor says it. Apparently I have high blood pressure. I felt like telling the doc; try dealing with Myles and Evie on a daily basis and see if your blood pressure is so great. But I bit my tongue and listened to her suggestions. After all, I go to this doctor because she is no nonsense and tells it how it is (but it usually isn't so brutal!) So I guess it is time to get my butt back into gear and lose some poundage!

Myles had his first "paying" lawn job tonight. He has cut a few lawns in the neighborhood to help people out, but he has been wanting to try and get a paying gig. So we are proud of him for bringing home the bacon!! I just hope he doesn't realize anytime soon that what we pay him is pennies compared to the going rate :)

Isn't our weather absolutely gorgeous!! Today the air was the clearest I can remember seeing it. You could see the mountains with such detail. I am stoked that it is going to be in the 80's this weekend. I love it when we can get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Plus all my plants are loving the sunshine. I love seeing things growing and blossoming. Brad and I really want to put in raised beds for an edible garden. We are hoping we have the fundage for it next spring. So for now we will just enjoy our flowers and lawn (don't you just love the smell of freshly mowed grass?!?).

"Take it all in
It's as big as it seems
Count all your blessings
Remember your dreams"
-- Jimmy Buffet

Funky Final Requests

Brad and I talk about our funerals far more then is healthy, I am sure!! But we were addicted to the HBO show "Six Feet Under". So I guess watching so many seasons of a show based on a family who runs a funeral home can have that effect on a person.
So Brad and I have started our own little lists of our "Funky Final Request" (I know, we really need to get out more!) Brad has requested a HUGE funeral and a fancy casket. I on the other hand want no formal funeral, just throw me in a plywood box and be done with it. I have made Brad promise that if I go first he is to go on a long vacation (preferably to the Bahamas). I want to be buried with a spoon "in" my hand. I am quite sure that heaven will have ice cream at every turn, and I wouldn't want to show up unprepared! I also want to be buried with cute/comfortable shoes on. I recently read that they generally don't bury people with shoes on unless specifically requested. Well I certainly don't want to show up at the pearly gates for my grand family reunion and not have on fashionable foot wear.
Brad recently learned that many years ago bells were installed at ground level above the casket with a string for the bell running inside of the casket. (He thinks this would be great.) This is done just in case you were accidentally buried alive. Then you could pull your handy-dandy bell string and voila, they hear the bell and dig you back up. Can I just say if my loving family happened to bury me alive, they wouldn't want to dig me up because I would beat the living daylights out of them!!
Myles has told me that he wants gold coins placed on his eyes for the "Boat Man". He loves Greek history/mythology, so that is where he picked this one up. But I think that is a simple enough request (hope his wife thinks so too :))
So there you have it! Do any of you have similar quirky requests?

"Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." -- Mark Twain

Armed and Dangerous

I know what you are all thinking "Who the hell gave that child a gun?!?!?" But not to worry, Myles was closely supervised :)

Myles went on a Civil War themed camp out, near Camp Floyd, with his scout troop this past weekend. He absolutely loved it, especially the shooting. He came rattling off all kinds of historical info. He brought shells home from the guns that he fired , and I was amazed that he remember what they were all called.

Let's give a big shout out to Troy Casper and the other leaders for giving these boys a chance to experience these types of things. Myles has awesome scout leaders!! He is so lucky to have such a great group to go on these activities with.





" There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors." -- Jim Morrison

Dogs

I just started a new book this evening titled "Dog Years"by Mark Doty. So far it is a bit sad, but all about dogs, so I still love it. Here is a quick excerpt that I really liked



"Being human is most likley a much lonelier endeavor than being a dog. Of course, many dogs spend a great deal of their time in solitude, waiting for someone to come home, for the world to begin again - but they live in a state of connectedness, it seems, that we have lost, if indeed we ever possessed it. Is that why we turn to them, they who are always ready to receive, to join in wholeheartedly, as we so often cannot? To be human is to be a watcher; sometimes even at our moments of great joy or great grief there is a part of us conscious of our being, observing that being. I do not think dogs have such a part; they are all right here, involved in whatever it is, and therefore they are a sort of cure for our great, abiding loneliness. A temporary cure, but a real one."

Super Saturday

Janie had her birthday party today. Heather and Joe hosted a great low key party. We had yummy food, watched Jane (and Grace) open gifts, and just chilled. The men folk went out to shoot a few hoops. Grace and I walked Reagan for a bit. It was a prefect first year old's party!!

I took this picture while Grace was sitting on my lap reading books. I tried to get her to look at the camera, but what can I say, the girl LOVES books.

Lucy got her spring hair cut today. She looks so utterly naked!! I think it is a hoot how white/blond her base coat is, keep in mind that Lucy and Evie are usually the same exact color!

Brad and I went to a great dinner at Flemings this evening. It was great food, but our favorites were the appetizer and the desserts (Wicked BBQ Spicy Shrimp and a Molten Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream, though i did have to ask for extra ice cream:) ) We decided against a movie and just meandered thru the Gateway shops. I dressed for a nice dinner and not for walking. So eventually I bought some new flip flops and ditched the high heels that I had been wearing. All that cobblestone at the gateway is NOT high heel friendly! We perused the shelves at Barnes & Noble and bought an arm full of great books. I am making the kids do more book reports this summer, so I bought a few great summer reads for the kids (The Cay for Shakierra and The Outsiders & The Giver for Myles). I love bookstores, I can spend hours walking thru and reading book summaries. I even treated myself to a new bookmark!!

Well I better go get Brad to bed. He worked last night and has yet to go to bed. He is on his 32nd hour of being awake. The poor guy, I would have fallen dead from exhaustion by now.

Happy Mother's day to all you Mothers out there!!!

"This one makes a net,

This one stands and wishes.

Would you like to bet

Which one gets the fishes?" -- Chinese rhyme

Potpourri

No real subject tonight, just a potpourri of "whatz happenin".

A guy at work left the above comic on my desk this week. It is a quick summation of what I do for a living. Ain't business grand :) Does anyone read the comics anymore?!?! I check the Marmaduke comic online nearly everyday. I love that big dog. But I digress, does anyone read a physical paper anymore? I read all my news online. But then again I was raised in a home where newspaper wasn't allowed inside because it was too dirty, so I kind of inherited a great distaste for news-print. (Yes, I know, yet one more thing to work through with my therapist, JK)

We just watched a really good movie, Pride. It is a true story about the first black swim team in Philly. It was a great family movie (for those with older children). We are probably going to go see Iron Man tomorrow night. Myles and my Mom went to see it last week and they both raved about it. Let us know if you have seen any good movies lately that we need to check out.

It is just the dogs and I tonight. Myles is off to a Civil War themed camp out with his scout troop and Brad has left for work. I usually don't sleep real well when I am home alone, but I am pretty pooped, so I am hoping not to have that problem tonight.

"I saw the movie, 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and I was surprised because I didn't see any tigers or dragons. And then I realised why: they're crouching and hidden." -- Steve Martin

Happy B-Day Janie

My little Janie-La-Roo is turning One on Friday!! I can't believe she is already a year old. She is the sweetest little doll. It seems like just last week I was taking Grace to the hospital to meet her new sister. Grace was so cute and kept trying to feed Jane some crackers. Grace just couldn't understand why her new little sister didn't want to share her snack. Nowadays Janie graciously takes what snacks Grace will share with her :)

Well better news on the baseball front, they won tonight's game. But because it finished so late the snack booth was already closed for the night, so they will have to wait for their Snow Cones. Their coach buys them each a Snow Cone if they win. Isn't that a hoot!! (you will have to be familiar w/ Brian Reagan to understand the humor)

"Life is either a daring adventure , or nothing." -- Helen Keller

Don't Worry Be Happy

That is what I need to remind myself!! I love this picture of Brad from our Honeymoon, I thought it was totally fitting for this subject. Whenever I am at my wits end and want thump people over the head just for having to deal with them, I have to remind myself of how good I have it.
Sometimes I am still kind of amazed that I have made it this far. I mean how could "I" have a great family, an adorable hubby, the cutest son on God's green earth, a sweet daughter, a beautiful home, a great job I actually like, my health (despite my lazy life style), two dogs who love me unconditionally (sometimes a bit too enthusiastically), the Gospel, to be living in a free country, the list could go on and on. In my head I am still trying to grow up and figure out the "real world". But miraculously I have muddled thru this far of "growing up" and no one has caught on that I have no clue what I am doing!!! Does that feeling ever go away?
Thank you to all of you that make our life as blessed and rich as it is!

"Loves never easy, changes like the weather. Some days it's raining some are sunny and blue. There's never perfect but there's faithful and true." -- Alan Jackson

Good Sportsmanship

We just walked in the door from a very long, boring, and cold baseball game. Myles barely got to play and his team lost severely. So of course I go into my motherly spiel about it is only a game. I remind him he is playing baseball to be active, have fun, and to learn to work as a team. But Myles wants nothing to do with that stuff, he just wants to WIN. The child has played sports nearly sense he could walk, but still losing makes him furious. I just don't get it, because I am the complete opposite of competitive. So if anyone has any pointers on cultivating good sportsmanship in this child feel free to share. I am fresh out of ideas!!

Also, one of the founders of Baskin Robbins past away yesterday. I cried for hours!!!! What a loss! Now losing a game I can handle, but losing one of the men who created my house of worship, how will I go on!?!?!?! I know, I will go have some ice cream and that will make me feel better :)

Sleep tight! I am going to go nestle down for the night before I turn into a pumpkin.

" Everyone can be discontented if he ignores his blessings and looks only at his burdens." -- Thomas S. Monson

Mothers

I think I have gone and bought the oddest Mothers Day gift ever. I wanted to do something breast cancer/charity related for Brad's Mother, since she is not here to share Mothers Day with us. So I ordered some T-Shirts that say "Feel Your Boobies". OK, now pick your jaws up off the desk and let me explain. All the proceeds go to promote self breast exams. I saw the link in a magazine and loved the catchy phrase. So there you have it, the world record for the oddest Mothers Day gift!! If you would like to visit their site go to http://www.feelyourboobies.com/

"Everyone should have kids. They are the greatest joy in the world. But they are also terrorists. You'll realize this as soon as they are born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you." -- Ray Romano

Sunny Sunday!!

It was gorgeous weather today so we had a family outing to the local skate park. The kids took their scooters and roller blades.

Brad and I played Frisbee, pretty poorly I might add.

And the dogs ran their little hearts out, even Evie was pooped!

So now we are back home and playing with setting up this blog. So feel free to leave comments on things you like or hate about the blog thus far.

I am going to try and post a little quote at the end of each post. I thought this one was pretty darn funny!

"Every fight is a food fight when you’re a cannibal." -- Demetri Martin

Testing Testing 1,2,3

Brad and I are attempting this BLOG thang!!