I hate grout

Okay everyone, I have a cleaning question. My grout is horrible. It only takes 2 or 3 showers before my grout gets moldy. I try to keep it clean but it is out of control. It is gross and I can't get rid of it. I have tried comet, Ajax, 409, Lysol cleaner, Mr. Clean, baking soda, vinegar, Windex, and a bet a dozen others I can't think of. NOTHING WORKS!!! So what do you use for mold? Also what do you use to get those annoying hard water stains. The worst thing is the girls bathroom looks spotless. Ours is totally gross. Any and all suggestions are appreciated and encouraged!

I won't post my bathroom pictures just yet, I will hope for a good fix and then I can do a before and after photo. But since posts need photos here is a random something for you!

(Seriously I love these comics! )

Turning 500

Well we are all getting old and time is passing by so fast. This is officially my 500th post. It is crazy to think I have written and documented so much of my life here. But I am really glad I have. I am not a good journal writer. I just don't have the heart to sit down and put into words my life. But here in the world of blogging I can. I can express to my close friends and family the day to day routines in our home along with the many accomplishments and challenges we face. And I do it because it gives me a place to vent. Somedays it is just a place to talk to adults. You know after a long week of talking to kids you feel as though no one ever hears you or cares what you say. But on a blog it is different. If anyone is reading it obviously they care what you have to say. If you don't why are you here right?! Anyways I thought it would be appropriate to share a sweet story for my big 500!

WHY NAUVOO

Growing up in the Independence stake in Jackson County we heard countless stories about the rich church history here. And trust me I think I could almost recite the whole Liberty Jail presentation. And I loved learning about the pioneers. But most important to me as a kid was going to Nauvoo. It was fun, it was different, and it had something special. After my little sister was sealed to our family in the Chicago temple I really understood that I too wanted to be sealed in the temple when I got married. The next summer we took a trip to Nauvoo. When we sat on the temple grounds my parents told us about the trial it was to build the temple. And they shared their testimony of those saints faith in the work. It was the first time I really remember feeling what I understood was the temple in a real tangible way. I told my mom that I wanted to be married in the Nauvoo temple. It was years before I understood that there wasn't a temple there anymore to be married in. I just assumed that there would be. Years dragged on and I soon understood that I would have to find a new place to be married. Years past and I grew up.

Before I left for college and moved on to the next stage in life (the crazy college, possible marriageable stage) the church made this wonderful announcement. 

“I feel impressed to announce that among all of the temples we are constructing, we plan to rebuild the Nauvoo Temple…The new building will stand as a memorial to those who built the first structure there on the banks of the Mississippi." President Hinckley G.C. 1999

This announcement ment so much to me. I felt like it was a dream come true. I just hoped that when it was finished I would be able to be married there just as I always wished. My family was privileged to be able to work at the open house. My parents were tour guides and I worked with my two younger siblings at the doors of the temple. It was the last time I spent together with them serving the Lord. It was the last time that I was there at a holy temple with my sweet little brother and sister. It meant so much. I didn't know that over the next year as I prepared myself to enter into that temple to make sacred covenants with the Lord that they would not be following my path.

When I think of the Nauvoo temple I think of an amazing spirit. I think of families. I think of faith. I was there as a kid dreaming to one day enter that amazing temple that no longer stood. I was there when it opened with my family serving along side me. I was there to make my own sacred covenants with the Lord. I was there to marry the most important person in my life. And this summer I was there with the wonderful family we have built. It meant so much to share the beauty and spirit of the temple with my daughters. I totally was filled with the spirit as I watched the temple light up under the stars at the pageant. And I am so glad i got to see Layla's eyes light up as she shared that moment and spirit with us. (Isa was a sleep) So here is to my wonderful, beautiful, sacred Nauvoo temple! 

I have a fish

Just incase you didn't know it is not a real fish but rather a child who is turning into one. my kids have always loved the pool but have had no desire to learn to swim. I am also cheap and refused to pay for swim lessons when I used to teach them. So after many patient trips to the pool, Layla last week desired to attempt swimming without a life vest. Three days were spent on the steps and then ta-da she can swim. and I mean out in the deep end, goggles on, and face in water swimming. I couldn't be more proud of her. she is a fish. Isa still is on the steps but doesn't need a life vest. we will continue to be patient because we know she is almost there. So here are my children in all their fishy glory!

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Crafting myself sane

 So I have tried to stay sane this summer and crafting has been helping. Here are a few of my latest creations!

Girl burp clothes for a baby shower!

Boy burp clothes

Girls baby beanie with flower!

Boys beanie with brim!

I have made several new bows and headbands or sorts but i don't have photos. My new project will be refashioning clothes. I am scared to try but we will see. Hopefully it will turn out good. Anyways hope you have enjoyed the summer it is almost ever!

Newborns

There is something about snuggling with a newborn that makes your heart melt and womb ache.   This is what I am doing today. I am not cleaning, cooking, or making my house look better. I am snuggling and loving it.

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Nauvoo Part 2

After we hit the bakery, pioneer past-times, tin shop, and family living center we headed to the hotel.

Now the girls totally packed their own stuff and we made them carry it in as well. We are trying to instill that whole pack light thing. We girls are not good at that. But they only packed three outfits for one extra day so I thought they did well. As soon as Brian and I unloaded the car and came into the room to settle we found the following.....

The buddies moved in!

Apparently they picked sides and set up shop for the night!

Don't you just love it. I mean seriously it made the whole drive worth it! Kids are so unpredictable! 

Next was dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel, which by the way was not worth it when the kids don't eat. Once we headed to the fair before the pageant we found they had hot dogs and hamburgers. Next time we are totally spending the buck on the hot dog. But the girls we so cute when we made it to the fair. 

Isa in her new birthday dress. We are very into Hello Kitty thanks to Aunt Mia!

We found some good seats and sent Brian off to get out blanket. While we waited the girls took a million photos. I will post these in a later post that will be all through the girls eyes. I can't wait to load them and see the vacation through a 5 and 4 year old. 

First Stop Puppet show! 

Just a note Isa was upset that a sweet girl from the pageant dared to talk to her and offer a free puppet to her. Luckily we snapped this shot before the death stare set in.

Layla However has no objections to getting free stuff!

The cute little show made the girls miss grandma's house and her amazing puppet stage!

Next we were off to learn a little scottish dancing!

We played a few games, probably not correctly but still with smiles!

And then we settled down for the pageant. It very thing we hoped. Entertaining for the girls and spiritual for us. We loved it and I totally sobbed when the temple lit up. I must remember to tell you the story of why we got married in Nauvoo in the next post. I don't think I have it written down anywhere in my journals and really have to have it documented somewhere.

Anyways that is the end of day one. 

There was a little swimming between adventures, lots of snacks, and about 6 movies and 3 Hannah Montana episodes, so all in all a great day!

Nauvoo vacation

It is pathetic to admit but Brian and I have not been back to Nauvoo since we were married their almost 7 years ago. We always want to but we are never in town long enough nor have the money. But we decided that since Brian had a week of school off and the weather was suppose to be good we would take of for a day or two with the girls. We had great plans on getting out and on the road by 6 but in reality we got out at 9 to avoid the traffic and pick up LaMar's donuts. And for those non midwesterners out there you are MISSING OUT, cause noting beats LaMar's donuts, and I mean NOTHING!!!!

Now for the photo travel log! 

Our first stop of course.... The Bakery! 

Seriously the gingerbread men are as good as I remember from when I was the girls age. SO DELICIOUS! And they have the recipe online now so we are going to make them this christmas for sure. And probably do a test run when it cools down!

Headed to site number 2 the Pioneer past times! 

Don't you love my little sheep-riders! 

The glasses really make it the best don't ya think?

Moving on to pony riding!

"Oh wait their are reigns gotta take another!"

After a five minute attempt to climb up it was so worth it for the photo!

Into the house we go. I love the cabin because it reminds me of the cabins they had at the independence pageants when we grew up. Oh I miss the pageant it was fun! 

The girls that it was great that they had chalk back then and they could still color. Incase you haven't heard it is all the rage in our house. We have thousands of pictures stored in folders for their scrapbooks later! 

Layla's drawing!

Isa's drawing! 

Laying on the lawn enjoying a little brass band! 

Time to make the bears crawl up the rope!

I was proud they both got them all the way up!

P.S. I have decided I am way to lazy to edit photos so you get the real deal for posts these days. ONE DAY I will sit and edit for hours but for now you get stuff as I see it! 

P.P.S this is the end of segment one since I have crying tired children to attend to!

New color

In case you missed it in an earlier post, I colored my hair a couple weeks ago. I was so happy with the result. It came out just as I hoped and reminded me that I SHOULD NOT do anything but NATURAL. It looks good at first but really keeping up color on naturally black hair is a pain and not worth the damage. 

So do you agree...? 

Behind on blogging

Okay so I have felt lately that I have absolutely nothing important to say, hence the lack of blog posts. But thanks to an impromptu vacation to Nauvoo, and preparing layla for school I have SO MUCH to say. Plus I finally got around to watching Julie and Julia and that just inspired me to write again. So many posts to come with hopefully a few good pictures (if I get around to editing them, if not then they will at least remind you what we look like!)

Counting down the days till layla starts school and Brian starts a new round of classes today!

Kansas City.com must read article.

Olathe toddler faces tough battle with family, friends by her side - KansasCity.com

I think I mentioned a while ago that one of my old sunbeams from my parents ward has a sister battling cancer. They wrote up a little story about them you should really check out. We keep up on their journey through their CMH blog. We are excited to head out to the pancake fundraiser in Kate's honor on saturday. We can't help much but we know that every little bit helps! Plus the girls make sure that everyday we include Kate in our prayers.

Preparing for school

Since Layla begins kindergarten in a month we are working on school work at home. She has really learned so much over this past year it really amazes me. Her vocabulary has greatly expanded and her ability to comprehend complex sentences. She is growing up for sure.

Okay Layla

Layla has been doing the most interesting things lately. Some have made me break down in happy tears, others tears of "where did I go wrong", while the rest warrant the post heading... "okay Layla". Either way she is growing and changing before my eyes.

The thing with Isa has worn on us but it if finally getting better.Anyways a couple weeks ago we fasted for help and answers. Things were tough and I was starting to feel it. I was sitting in church tiring to just make it through the three hours when Layla handed me this picture.

As you can guess I started to bawl. All my hard work at staying tough and not letting others know how hard life was began to crumble down.

Next thing Layla has begun is staring at Brian and I kiss. Not that we make out in front of our kids or anything but we do kiss. (If you are one of those non pea families sorry. I totally believe and letting kids see loving healthy yet tasteful affection so they have a good idea of what real love should be, but then again I love an excuse to kiss my hubby, he is hot!)

Okay back to the story. Layla watches we are sure no one is around or is paying attention. Then when we notice her she smiles, giggles, and says "watching watching watching." I have no idea when or where this started but it is getting crazy. She knows I kiss him goodbye so when he leaves she follows us to catch us kiss farewell. I have learned to kiss him prior to her knowing that he is leaving to avoid e awkward moment. And yes I am aware that was a record for the word kiss in a paragraph.

Now Layla the other day explained something great to me that I want to share. Did you know that girls will one day grow up. And when they grow up they aren't girls anymore. They become women. Yep that is right. And boys you guessed it, they become men. And she told me this with such authority. When I asked her when she learned this she just simply stated, "dad!" So thanks Brian for taking care of that chat for me!

And yesterday when I was shopping with the girls and Nana Layla cracked me up. She would say.... "okay what is the deal with this thing" or "this really has an issue" and my personal favorite was "this isn't on sale enough yet we will just have to watch it until it goes down!" And anyone who knows my mother knows she got ALL OF THESE quotes from her. It was like shopping with a mini Nana. I mean every other minute I . heard "this is cute, this is a good deal, we will have to watch this one".... and many more. I got a good laugh though and it was fun to get Layla all ready for school.

Next shopping trip is for shoes.... this will be a good one!

I almost forgot the best Layla/Isa story. The girls wanted to go shopping with Nana and Papa to get a little gift for Isa's birthday and cause life has been tough lately and they are troopers. Anyways like always the girls took my hand and Nana's hand to walk into the mall. Once we got past the front door they left us and both HAD to hold Papa's hand. He asked them if one of them wanted to walk with us. They simply said "nope!" He walked along side the stores with them for several minutes while attempting to listen to both who spoke a mile a minute and at the exact same time before he asked them again if one wanted to walk with us. They said again, "nope!" This time he had a follow up question of "but why girls!" And with perfect sincerity Layla replied, "because Papa, you've got all the money!" I know I about peed my pants laughing. They know all to well the truth about life, money, and batting their eyes to my dad. But I can't blame them, they really are miniature little Marilees! I got just about everything I wanted and they do get all they want because they hug and kiss him and he just can't resist!

So that is my Layla update! Hope you laughed and enjoyed a little peek into my life!

My little girl is all grown up part 2

Well we officially pulled off a pinkalicious birthday party for our little Isa. It was tons of work and idea planning but it turned out wonderful. Here are some highlights!

Here is the pinkalicious food table. We had everything pink but a "green" taco salad for her get back to her normal color food (and something yummy for adults)!

Party Favors! They were gift bags our favorite chex mix covered in pink colored white chocolate!

I am really proud of this one, the water bottles!

The girls party table! 

We had the girls color pinkalicious pages and cupcake papers while waiting for other party guests to arrive.

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!!! 

I am totally bias but isn't she gorgeous, I mean really she totally uses it to work us over on a daily basis!

The guests!

All girls but one brother who attended but refused to sit at the pink table!

The games!

Opening gifts!

One happy birthday girl and all her glory!

Lack of blogging lately

Anyone else have one of those months where it seems the end comes so fast that you don't even remember where you have been or what you have done? Well that has been this past month for me. But today is a somewhat lazy day where I am home trying to figure out where to start on the house cleaning. Of course the bathroom right? Well that is what I thought. And then I saw that brand new bottle of Logics Color staring at me calling me to update my look. And now I am sitting at the computer waiting for it to process. And I in the process of coloring my hair without much needed gloves made a bigger mess out of my bathroom then I previously had. When you don't feel pretty and want to change everything about the way you look but without the risks of major surgery realize the road to a new you is a long hard oreo-less highway coloring your hair seems a good beginning. As i sit here my stomach is churring from the half a grapefruit I ate for breakfast. I think the worst breakfast in the world is a grapefruit. I makes eating seem like a chore not a pleasure. But that is how I start my days now. With the acid is brings up I definitely don't eat much for a while. And I guess giving my body the water it needs from now to lunch is a good idea. Plus the salad or grilled chicken I eat for lunch seems like a four course meal compared that tart pink breakfast "treat"!

And I know I am rambling. But I am home with little kids who talk in several different "character voices" all day long so where else do I go to ramble! But like for us is crazy right now. Brian started school. He loves it so far. They are almost done with the first course which will be nice. The classes so quick only a couple weeks at most. This fall he will have about six classes all just one day a week. They cover all topics and areas and will keep him busy with reading for sure. Just this weekend he must polish off about 5 books on death and dying before his class finishes. Plus add in the papers and projects. But it is a good busy for the both of us. I am so proud of him and he is proud of himself. We definitely have to work as a team these days to get through all we have to do. And trust me I know it is only going to get more hectic. But we still find at least 2 or 3 hours a day to spend together. So trust me I am not complaining. I am SO GLAD the girls go to bed early and we work our butt off during the day so nighttime we can relax together.

Layla will be starting kindergarten in just a month. It is crazy to think she will be in school. We have been working on getting her all outfitted for school. Yesterday we had our first jean shopping day. It was fun. She is so stinking beautiful it amazes me. She just loves shopping and had a blast trying on all the pants till we found just the right pair. I mean it has to be long enough to last a couple months, but not be to long. Then they have to be a good color to match all her clothes. Then of course it has to snap not button because it is hard for her to see her button and she is too short to see in the mirror. Plus she won't have me to help her but only other classmates. And then the big one.... they must stay on and up NOT showing her bum. I mean no matter the age plumber crack just isn't cool. So i think that is about it for now.... my hair is done so i am off. I will post more today!

see ya'll!