Silverwood

The kids each earned a free ticket to Silverwood for reading in school this year, so we made a quick trip up today to RIDE SOME RIDES!

Here's the kids picking out their favorite rides on the map.

Hailey's favorite. Timber Terrors.

The kids loved all of the rides involving water, and after this one we were completely soaked.

We had fun shooting "cannon balls" at Alaina and Ky in their tanks.

Alaina started the day with Aftershock as her favorite ride but then switched to Tremors.

I think Tremors ended up being the family favorite.

Kase said he loves the one with the camera that takes your picture when you go through the tunnel (Tremors). He loves seeing what everyone looks like after. It's funny to watch the kids try to compose themselves and pose for the picture a certain way when really inside they are TOTALLY freaking out :)

Ky offered the kids some of his quarters to use to spray him while he was on the bumper boats. They said, "GLADLY!"

Fun with Cousins!

This week we enjoyed a quick visit from my cousin Genise and her 3 adorable children. We packed a lot of activities into a few short days. Family BBQ/Swim party at Carol and Dennis' house. Taco Sunday/Game Night at my Mom and Dad’s house. All of the cousins in town got together with our kiddo’s for a little playdate in my backyard and had fun in the pool, playhouse, trampoline, and slip n slide. We had a “girl’s night out” which included a little night swim, games, homemade milkshakes, and a few prank calls :) Then took all of the little rascals to one of the free summer movies, at the mall, and then swimming back at aunt Carol's the next morning. Fun couple of days! Thanks Guys!

Slip "n" Slide on Steriods

As if a 9 foot tall, blow-up, Slip N Slide isn't fun enough... let's try adding a trampoline to the mix.

Oh... Aren't babysitters great!

WARNING: When you hire a nephew for the babysitter, common sense goes out the window. Case in point: you may come home to stories about your children being duct taped to a lawn chair and doused with the freezing cold hose and then bounced on a trampoline while tied up from head to toe.

I guess you get what you pay for... and apparently, we're not paying Kayleb enough.

Thanks Lay-lub.

Ants and Air Freshner

I don't know about you, but this summer... WE HAVE ANTS!

Whenever the kids see a massive pile of ants devouring a piece of food outside, they freak out and come running into the house to ask for some ant spray, which I have to reply," Sorry guys, we don't have any ant spray.

After the 20th time of the kids wanting to take care of our little ant problem and asking me for "Ant Spray" I naively explained to our kids that when ants invade the home or driveway to attack the popcorn, popsicle sticks, or other dropped crumbs of food, we could simply spray them with anything to kill them. I told them water, Lysol, or any other poisonous aerosols, like air freshener, windex or even hairspray would do the trick. I didn't realize that this would start an all summer long obsession with spotting ants and making it their mission to DESTROY them at all costs.

It took a while for Dan to realize why it was constantly smelling like orange air freshener when he came home from work. Let me rephrase...not just smell like it.......but choke you out with it kind of smell. But once he discovered that the kids had burned through a couple of canisters of their favorite "ANT KILLER" called Pure Citrus Air Freshener, it all clicked.

Well, the fun part of the story starts when Dan wakes up one morning and moseys out to the kitchen to make breakfast for the kids. Upon opening the fridge and getting a huge whiff of the ever so familiar spray, our oldest Alaina blurts out.

"Hey Dad, don't worry about anything, we fixed the ant problem for good. Hailey sprayed all the food in the fridge with the ANT KILLER (orange spray) since the ants only look for food. This way no matter where the food drops in the house, they will stay away."

That's right folks.........Hailey, our little creative genius, sprayed the eggs, the vegetables, the butter, the condiments, the EVERYTHING in that fridge to insure that we had no more ant problems.

Kudos to the kid that thinks outside the box.

Are we supposed to get mad at them for being so proactive and thinking so creatively? We just laughed, and then taught them the downside to their decision. :) Guess we should have clarified the Ant Killing rules a little better when we introduced the concept to them in the first place.

Costco, here we come :)

Surf and Slide Water Park

Trimming up the Roses Blog

So the time has come to get serious about shedding some of these un wanted pounds I’ve been lugging around for years. AND HERE’S MY REASONS WHY…

- It’s summer, and while everyone else was getting ready for swimsuit season and worrying about how they would look in their swimsuits, I was just hoping I would look okay in my swimsuit COVER UP.

- Someone, at least once a week, runs up to me excitedly asking, “When are you due.” Ugh.

- The most sweaty and tiring work out I’ve had all summer was sitting in 107 degrees, while watching my kids swim. Don’t laugh. I sweat like crazy after that work out. I was exhausted.

-Totally sick of being the fattest girl in the room.

- Don’t want to have to look at weight restriction signs before riding on a roller coaster, water slide or helicopter. (Sad story there, but I won’t go into it, trying not to make this post too depressing)

-It’s about time I weigh LESS than my husband again.

- My dad wants his XXL Bubba Gump T-shirt back that I “borrowed” from him last year.

-It makes me feel rotten that my kids can’t even defend themselves when a bully tells a “your momma’s so fat” joke. They’ll just have to take that one to the chin and walk away from that battle. :(

-Applebee’s, Apollo, Dairy Queen, and the Taco Truck employees all know me by my first name, along with my order. (Sad but true)

- I get compliments on my smile all the time. (I’m pretty sure it’s because it’s the only body part I have, that never gets fat.)

-Tired of ruining cute pictures of my kids, by being IN them.

-Sweatshirts get really HOT in the summer.

-I can often be found wearing MATERNITY clothes even though my youngest child is 2 and 1/2 years old.

-I would like to be able to ride an elevator WITH ALL 5 of my children, instead of having to leave 1 in the lobby to catch the next elevator up.

And the list could go on and on.

(Okay, Okay so the last one was totally a joke but it’s how I’ve been feeling lately.)

Recently we’ve had a few family friends pass away. They were only in there 50’s, which is my dad’s age, and to me, that seems way to young to die. Because of these events weight loss and getting healthy, and living longer, has been on several of my family members minds. My Dad, my sister Kristy, and my sister Megan and I have all decided we wanted to loose some weight together.

To get this started, stay motivated, be able to keep in touch, share ideas, give encouragement, and post pictures throughout this weightloss process I decided to make a blog for the four of us.

Here’s the blog header I came up with for our new family weightloss blog.

(For those of you who don’t know… my maiden name is Rose) Cute huh. A big thanks to Jenne for coming over and helping me out with the picture and giving me a little lesson in photography. Thanks Girlie.

I put songs like Eye of the Tiger “The Rocky Theme Song” and Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini on our play list along with a few of everyone's favorites.

We posted our before/fat pics and weightloss goals down the side of the blog along with a goal picture. Here’s what I came up with for my goal pictures.

There will be NO posting of my now/fat pictures, you would be scarred for life after taking a peek at those beauties.

Sorry, to those of you who wanted to rush over and check out the blog, but it’s private just for the four of us with “top secret” info (in other words..Half naked before pics and weights).

Maybe if I get to my goal weight and have after pictures to share I will consider revealing my before pics for the comparison. But I am not quite there yet. : )

We decided that instead of the four of us competing against each other we wanted to work together to get this weight off. There will be no “ONE SINGLE” or “FIRST PLACE” winner, for losing the most weight or hitting our goal the fastest. We want all 4 of us to be winners. So once all four of us hit our weightloss goals our BIG incentive is a trip to Hawaii together. Heck Yeah! The goal I’m trying to hit by the end of this year is a 45 lb. weightloss. I’ll still have another 20 to loose after that but 45 is my goal and a great start for this contest. Hawaii here we come!!!!

Birthday Re-do :)

My 32nd birthday was on Wednesday but with a day full of  swim lessons, summer school, primary parties, dentist appointments, mutual, and a husband at work, their wasn’t a whole lot of celebrating going on at our house.  Well, I should at least acknowledge that they made breakfast for me and a couple of the kids threw together a quick homemade card. That was a cool start to the day, but truthfully…….that is where the pampering stopped. The hustle and bustle began and kept going all through that ENRITRE Wednesday.

Thursday came and my big day was officially over :(

I know, I know….I can here you saying “Grow up, your a “Big Kid” now, shake it off.”  BUT, it is still a  little bit depressing even for a big kid.

Oh well, I thought. I pretty much assumed that was that. Thursday came and went then Friday… But then on Saturday morning Dan and the kids told me I could sleep in. When I got up everyone was gone. I called Dan to see where they were and he said just running a few errands. He told me to take a shower and enjoy my time getting ready, free from interruptions and kids. (Gift #1)

The kids got home just as I was finishing up. All acting very suspicious. Something was up :) Hailey and Kase were trying to keep me back in my bedroom while the other family members were hauling stuff in from the car. It was pretty cute listening to all of the made up reasons why we should just  hang out in my  bedroom a little while longer.

Finally I was released as their prisoner and all of the kids went running to the kitchen. I followed behind and was shocked when the whole family  jumped out from their hiding places and yelled, “SUPRISE”. They had a whole party set up for me with cake, ice-cream, balloons, cards, and gifts. The kids love being sneaky and doing that kind of stuff so it made it really fun.

Each kid gave me an envelope with a card and gift certificate for a special date they wanted to take me on for my birthday. Hailey and Alaina wanted to take me for pedicures. In there card was a certificate to pay for the 3 of us to go, All I had to do was drive us there. So we got right in the car and headed out for an hour of pampering together.

My mom and my sister, Leslie,  took me to lunch for my birthday and my mom bought me this new pair of tennis shoes I’ve been wanting.

Next the boys gave me tickets to a matinee showing of Ice Age and took me as their date to that. Cute flick. Along with the tickets to this movie, they included some candy, and a bunch of movie gift certificates for me to go again in the future.

Probably the best part of the day was that while I was going on all of these mini dates throughout the day, Dan was home cleaning the house from top to bottom.

That’s right. TOP TO BOTTOM. It nearly sparkled when I came home. I can’t tell you how much that gift alone meant to me. Can I hear and AMEN from all my married with children friends out there. :)

He also planned a date night for us and when I got home from the movies with the boys he had a babysitter there at our house ready for us to leave. It was one date to the next ALL DAY. It was awesome! He also had a “love note” ready and waiting for me. Can anyone say Ohhhhhh. So SWEET! Yes, he is a mushy romantic and I love it. Thanks Dan.

Dan and I went to dinner with Greg and Brittany and then over to uncle Scott’s house for a little volleyball with friends, which I love. It was an all around awesome day!

My family knows me so well. I had an awesome day off from my normal day to day duties, and loved going on dates and loved all of the time I was able to spend with family members individually. Thanks for the great day!

Happy Birthday, To Me!

Take me out to the ball game…

My dad invited all of the Rose family to a Dust Devils game tonight.

It started with free food… all you can eat hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, chips and drinks. Dan totally took advantage of the “all you can eat” part of dinner tonight by downing 3 hot dogs, 2 burgers, 2 plates of salad, 8 drinks, and a bag of chips. Oh yeah, and a snow cone and doughnuts came soon after for dessert . The kids had a good time watching the game but the funnest part for them was hanging out with all of their cousins.

They got a kick out of these guys below. They came running out on the field and threw down some wicked break dance moves. They could flip over, spin on their heads, and twist around on one arm. The kids all had a pretty good laugh.

Here’s Kayleb and Whitney “romantically” feeding each other a snow cone :)

Kayleb and Whitney with Hudson “The Chaperone” Ostler.

The kids got in a little batting practice of their own.

Can’t forget the snow cones and home made mini doughnuts.

We ended our night with the boys stripping down to participate in the Cotton Eye Joe song. Anyone who doesn’t know the significance here needs to take their kids to a hockey or baseball game to see what kind of celebration starts up when that tune starts thumping. :) It’s pretty funny, and our kids never want to be left out. Alaina, Hailey and I opted out of this ritual tonight. Maybe next time. We’ll see :)

Now I know what your thinking… that must be the end to our awesome day. It’s 10:30 at night, time to get the kids home and in bed, wind down, and call it a day.

Well that’s exactly what we started to do. We went home, got the kids in P.J’s, read scripture and said prayers, and then right as the kids were racing off to bed. (And I do mean RACING) I thought to myself man… it’s only 11:00pm, the night is still young what a better way to spend the rest of our Friday night then…………. To make a trip to the EMERGENCY ROOM.

A trip to the Emergency Room

We were heading to bed after a long and fun evening when out of the blue we heard the crashing of little bodies thumping against the hallway walls and the shriek of someone who was now in pain after the fall.

I spun around to witness blood gushing from Ky’s head like a fountain.

Come to find out, Ky had fallen at full speed running down the hall into the corner of the wall connecting his eyebrow and forehead with the metal corner padded only by a 1/8 inch coating of texture and paint.

Any guesses who one that fight?

It was deep and wide. It was obvious that a band aid wasn’t going to fix this problem. This cut had stitches written all over it.

We cleaned off the wound and put some gauze on it, then zipped over to the emergency room to get it sewn up.

Ky was in quickly and the doc’s were quick to get him taken care of. When the Doctor came in and explained how the lidocaine was going to burn when he put the needle in his skin, Ky gritted his teeth and prepared for what was coming. After a few tears, our brave little boy surfaced the victor. He was numb, and still living.

The doc (and a few uncles and grandpas) tell him that he is now officially in the “man club” as a result of going through that right of passage.

The stitches didn’t hurt thanks to the lidocaine. But due to the 5 day healing period Ky had to forfeit this weeks swim lessons so as not to get the stitches wet. Too Bad Ky!! Maybe next time you’ll walk to bed and avoid all the ciaos. :)

Ky’s big cut. OUCH!

Ky taking his mind off his situation with a little DS.

Phoning home with an update.

Ky’s “MAN CLUB” picture.

This is what Ky looked like coming home from getting stitches. Can anyone say Frankenstein?

Because it didn’t look all clean and pretty I wondered if these were the ER doctor’s first set of stitches or if it was really suppose to look like this.

By the next day Ky was looking and feeling much better. I’m pretty sure he’ll get to keep that sweet manly scar but I’ll still be lathering him up with vitamin E for the next month or so :)

Updated Pic: He’s looking pretty good now,  a week after taking the stitches out.