Sheri Lawrence... my life...

my favorite sub-trades...

So these are my favorite sub-trades.  The framers built the deck wrong, and it was easier to move the post than change the deck, so... I called in my best sub-trades.  Yep, that's right - Eric, Blake, and my Dad.  We (well, they) had to move the sonotubes, so after getting them dug-out we had to extend the footings, and put in new tubes. 

My Dad has come over to do so many 'small' things on the house, move this plug over 6", add this plug, block this and that, blah, blah.  He's really sweet about it.  I'm fussy, good thing he is too.  He just laughs when a '10 minute' job turns into a 2 hour job.  He told me if he had to block one more thing he was going to block my framer, lol.

He had to drill into the existing footing, add rebar, build new boxes, then put in new tubes.  This is 4 ft below ground level, and water kept seeping in, so it was rather muddy.

Building this house had been A LOT of work.  I think it's one of those things you have to do, to really appreciate.  It's been fun, and challenging too.  I've lost sleep trying to figure out how to fix this post, or make this build-out work, or whatever.  It's kind of annoying waking up so early and not being able to go back to sleep because I can't shut my brain off.  I've learned a lot.  Right now we're moving right along.  Basement rough-ins, and the finish carpenters are in the upstairs.  I think the outside should be done in about 6 weeks or so.  It's coming.

A crazy, busy and formal month...

So it's been crazy for the last month.  2 trips to UT, Madison's grad, building the house (and trying to get this one ready to sell), kids out of  school, and on...

But I do have some pics.

Madison graduated, it was official last week.  She took her last diploma exam, and I can not believe that she's old enough to be done with high school.  It's not that she doesn't seem old enough, I just don't want to think that she's done, because that means she's moving on.  Have I said before that I'm sad that she's moving away?  Maybe once or twice ;)

Her with Eric and I.  She's 3 inches taller than me, it's nice.
Right before the banquet, she's beautiful :)
With a few friends.
And a few more friends.  She said the night was really fun.

Here's a few pics from our first trip to Utah.  Eric's sister, Tracy, got married.  It was the first time we left the kids home alone.  It also happened to be Madison's grad weekend, so she was there only a bit, and Blake had to hold the fort down.  He did great, but was glad to have me home.  I think it made him appreciate me a little :)
Tracy, and our new BIL, Dymond. They seemed very happy together.
A very sweet picture of Tracy and Grandpa Smith.  Grandpa Smith's 98 years old, and still holding up, amazing!

Then a few weeks after Tracy's wedding, Madison and I headed right back down, to go to my niece, Jordan's wedding.  We left right after Madison's last final exam, just the 2 of us.  It was fun!  While we were there, we checked out stuff at BYU.  She's excited!  We looked at her apartment, went up to the Dep't of Fine Arts (she wants to get a major in photography or graphic design) and asked tons of questions, got her STUDENT ID, man, that is weird.  We opened a bank account, checked out the gyms, and went shopping.  It was a full weekend.

Friday night we went to the wedding dinner, and then the next day wedding and reception.  It was all beautiful!  And it was great to be there with Madison, and no other kids.  I probably shouldn't say that, but it's true... it was fun to have time with just her, and no one else to worry about. 

So this is Jordan & Greg, they're beautiful, huh?

I especially love this one, I stole it from Jordan's facebook.  Couldn't resist.  Jord, you're gorgeous!

The final Cruise post - finally...

April 24-27, 2009

When we first arrived in Jamaica, we weren't exactly sure what to do.  There were people everywhere trying to convince us to go with them.  Eric wasn't too sure about it, but eventually we decided to hire a guide to take us around for the day.  We bartered back and forth on the price, and the kids thought it was so weird, since they have never seen bartering before.  They got such a kick out of it.
Our tour guide... his name was Eric.  It was so fun having a guide take us all around.  I lost track of how many times he said, 'Yeah, mon.'  after about the 100th time.  Loads of fun.
The first place we went to were 'Dunn's River Falls'.  We ALL climbed up, even Heidi (well Eric carried her).  She was kind of scared, so half way through, her and I decided to wait for the rest at the waiting point.  The older kids didn't wait at all for the younger ones.  Everyone really liked it, well, except for Heidi.
I like this picture, cause Blake's holding Amber's hand. I think it's sweet.
There were a lot of 'attractions' on the walk to the falls.  The kids enjoyed the culture change, it was so foreign to them.
They loved the music too.
Our guide took us up to what he called the 'countryside'.  We thought it was more like the slums.  Pretty run down, and definitely different than what the kids have seen before.
I was surprised how much the kids liked to see the 'countryside'.  We drove by a school, and that seemed to fascinate them.
And then lots of little shops.  I ended up buying some necklaces from a boy selling them through a fence.  I felt bad for the boy.  He seemed pleased to sell a necklace.
At the end of the day, we went high enough to see the harbor, it was beautiful.  The vegetation and animals were so fascinating.  It was really a wonderful day, and such a great way to end the 'ports'.

So the last day was another 'Sea Day'.  By now we were certainly in the groove of the ship, and every day just seemed to get more fun.  So much fun family time together.  They are certainly memories I will cherish forever.  Getting off the ship was kind of a downer, knowing we had to go back to reality and work.  Every once in a while it's fun to live in a fantasy world, which is what the week was like.  We left the day after we got off the ship.  We were supposed to be on the 6:30 a.m. flight, but missed it, and ended up spending about 7 hours in the DFW airport.  It was almost long enough to rent a car, and if we didn't have so much stuff with us we might have.

We came up totally exhausted, but with some really wonderful memories.  It was so fun, I'd go back again in a heartbeat. 

Grand Cayman

April 23, 2009

Our next stop was Grand Cayman.  We decided to see 'Stingray City', which was definitely a highlight for all of us.  Everyone loved it, except for Justin, who didn't want anything to do with them.  He just looked from a distance. 
We each had a turn holding the stringray.
After swimming with the rays, they took us snorkeling.  There wasn't too many fish, but it was still fun.
The guide let Heidi (and the other little kids), each take a turn driving the boat.
They took us by some homes on the ocean, but what really caught my eye were the iguanas, out in the wild.  It was so weird, I've never seen anything like it.
One more stop, then back to reality. 

I'm still trying to catch up, lol.  Tomorrow, Eric and I are heading down to Utah, to go to Tracy's wedding (Eric's sister).  It's a quick trip, we'll only be there 2 days.  It's the first time we're leaving the kids home alone.  Madison has her graduation this weekend too.  We're going right after the ceremony.  I've been crazy busy lately.  I just passed (rough-in) inspections with the house, so insulation and boarding will start soon.  It's been a fun experience, and I've had to use my brain.  I'll talk about it more later.  It's coming along though. 

I better go to bed, it's 1 a.m., and we have Madison's grad ceremony and then the drive to Utah.

Sea Day

April 22
We played a lot of 'Janitor' (card game) together, and I LOVED it.  One of my favorite things I heard the kids say during the trip was when Seth said, 'This is so fun, we never do this at home.'  And that is exactly what I wanted, some really fun and simple family bonding time.
This ice cream really deserves a post, in and of itself.  Seth ate around 60!  Self-serve, 24 hours a day.  Every time I turned around, one of the kids were eating more ice cream.
This is the assigned restaurant table that we sat at every night.  We were lucky to sit right next to the window. 
The kids ordered SO... much fruit.  Either like this or in a fruit bowl.  Heidi would always eat the watermelon first.
Every night the waitresses and waiters would do a dance for us, and often we would get up and dance with them.  It was great.  Heidi loved it.  The maitre d' would get on and say, 'It's.... show.... time.'  And then we'd do some kind of dance.  In the downstairs part of the restaurant, they would dance on the stands that held the trays.  One of the older kids would grab Heidi and dance with her.  It was one of my favorite times of the day.

We lost Heidi (on Wednesday) two times.  She learned how to open the door.  And could she ever take off fast.

After dinner, Madison would usually go to the show.  The boys came to the magic show.  I really enjoyed the entertainment.  So much dancing and singing.  The magic show included dance too, and was very entertaining. 

Then we'd all crash.  So tired, and needed our sleep to go again the next day.

Cozumel, Mexico

April 21, 2009

The first port we stopped at was Cozumel.  We decided to rent a jeep and a dune buggy.  The kids LOVED it, and I think they were surprised, especially by us renting the dune buggy.  Eric said it was like driving a tractor, lol.
At one point, we got separated by the Mexican military, and the boys freaked!  They had oozies (??) and big guns (sorry, I have no idea what the guns are named) - the boys were loving it, though I think it scared them a little.  Look closely, you can see Eric racing ahead in the orange dune buggy, while I'm lagging behind.

I was really hoping to find spectacular snorkeling in Cozumel, and asked 3 different locals, but just wasn't able to find it.  That was pretty much my only big disappointment for the trip.  I guess that gives me another reason to take the kids on another trip.  We did find a really fun beach though, and drove around the country side and saw a few Mayan ruins.  The kids had fun.  So did Eric and I.  I was having fun just watching the kids.
Blake and Seth playing in the ocean.  The salt water was a surprise for all of them.  Check out the color of the water though.  Oh man, it was so clear.
The girls hanging out on the beach in lounging chairs.  I have no idea what Amber's doing.  One of Madison's favorite things about the whole trip was just laying out in the sun, both on the ocean and on the boat.  When I was her age I LOVED that too.
Heidi discovering what sand is.  She doesn't really like to get dirty, so it took her awhile before she'd play in it.
Bryce playing on the beach.  He was NOT afraid to get dirty.  Not one bit.  I've dreamed of taking the kids to play on the ocean for a long time.  It was fun to be able to do my dream.
The beach we were at had this water tramp and rock wall thing.  The boys played on it for quite a while.  Boys always wrestle.  What is it about boys and wrestling?

Amber doesn't have a lot of fear.  She will do pretty much anything, a little dare-devil in her own right.  For being as girlie as she is, it's strange.  She didn't question holding the iguana, and held a parrot too.  (I didn't get a pic of the parrot though.)

I asked the kids what surprised them the most.  Seth said "the idiot who stole Justin's camera case without his camera in it."

Eric stopped to get a drink with the kids, while I waited in the jeep.  Justin left his camera case in the dune buggy, and I was parked right behind him.  I was looking down, but Madison saw some guy driving a moped go up to the dune buggy and take something (Justin's case).  He did it SO fast.  There were mopeds everywhere.  Everything was all so new to the kids, even seeing the mopeds seemed to fascinate them.

 

This was another new site to th kids, they had never seen street markets before.

Me trying to keep up to Eric.  I lost him once.  We brought walkie-talkies though, which came in handy.  These streets were a blast.

And finally us going back to the ship.  I was trying to get a pictures of us with the ship in the background.  Everyone has got pretty co-operative at 'letting' me take pics, but by this time we were tired and hungry.  All in all, a great day.

Our Vacation... part 2

April 19th & 20th
We got up, packed, and got ready so we could board the ship.  Everyone was really excited to finally get on the boat.  We counted down this trip for 80+ days, afterall :)  Right before we boarded the ship, Seth lost his camera, which I was really bummed about.  He is a picture-taking-maniac.  That was the worst thing we lost on our trip, well, except for Heidi, but we found her again.  Here's a picture just as the ship's leaving the Port.  Beautiful weather, a beautiful day!

Anyways, after boarding the ship, everyone explored whatever they were most interested in.  We checked out the kids clubs, which Justin, Bryce and Amber all really enjoyed.  Blake and Seth didn't have much interest in them, which didn't surprise me.  The food was so good!!  The restaurant food was fabulous, and I was able to eat as much sushi as I wanted (my favorite).  The kids ate so much fruit.  I knew they liked fruit, but not that much.  Heidi ate more fruit during the week than I thought possible for a baby.  Monday was a 'Sea Day', so we hung out, relaxed, played mini-golf, swam and ate and ate.  The younger kids did the 'club' stuff.

Here's an except from Justin's journal:

April 20, 2009

Let me get one thing strait, I'm not gonna write in this journal that much so don't expect to learn about my life or anything.  First, we took a plane to Dallas. Then Miami.  We all got presents from Mom.  I got a camera for my Lego videos.  We had 1 day to shop in Miami so I stocked up on Lego.  I got 6 sets all together.  Bryce got 2 sets.  He got the Spider Droid and the Clone Walker Battle Pack!  Then we went on the cruise ship.  It wasn't that 'Big' though.  I went to a teen club, "Circle C".  I made a few friends.  It was fun cause all the kids were my age.  Today we're gonna do dodgeball and a Ping Pong Tournament!  The food is great on the cruise ship, and the air is a lot better. I gotta go to the bathroom so I'm out.  Peace.

Don't you just love kids writing?  I'll add more of the kids writing soon.

Plan B worked

Remember back in this post when she was so disappointed, well... not so much anymore.  When she didn't get accepted into Provo, we were pretty sure it was the ACT (entrance exam) keeping her out.  So she decided to take it again, then re-apply for Winter Semester.  She took it again in April and improved her score by 4 marks, which is about 15%.  She was really excited about her score.  And I was happy she improved so much, because she studied really hard for it.  So the other day she checked her email and there's a letter there from BYU.  They told her to go check her status.  She does, and it said she was accepted for Winter 2010!!  Yeah, she was so excited.  They said they received new information, and changed her status.  We thought she'd have to go through the whole application process over again.  This is so... much better.  Not having to worry about it now.

So looking back, this has been good for her.  She had to buckle down and get serious.  She learned how to study and discipline herself so much better than before.  Even she told me it was good for her, and that she couldn't just 'blow off' grade 12.  I think she's more prepared now.  But mostly she's really excited.

Our Vacation... part 1

April 17th and 18th.
I have wanted to go on a family vacation for a LONG time.  Just me, Eric, & the kids.  In the past we've always gone to see parents, or gone with parents, which has always been fun.  But, I wanted it to just be us.  So I looked and looked and finally decided on a Caribbean cruise.  The logistics of taking 9 people are kinda crazy.  The car (we had to rent 2, so we could all fit in), all the luggage, the plane tickets (what a pain trying to get us all on the same flight with air miles), the hotel, passports, the shuttles etc. 

Anyways, the time finally came, and we were all SO... excited to go.  The kids have never been to the ocean, and we all really didn't know what to expect.  The planes were delayed, and we ended up getting to Miami 15 hours later at 5 a.m.!  We were so tired when we finally arrived.  On the planes the kids were still excited.  I think other people who see us all together think we're nuts, all these kids all over the place.  I wouldn't change it though, and I do admit we're slightly on the nutty side, lol.  I fully expected this vacation not to be relaxing for Eric and I, trying to keep track of everything including the kids.  That can prove to be hard (more on this later).

 

By the time we arrived the excitement turned to pure exhaustion.  We all needed some sleep, and just wanted a bed.  So we found our hotel room, and crashed until noon.  The excitement returned and every one of us wanted to go shopping.  So Eric found a great mall, and we shopped until we literally dropped.  And considering how tired we all were, the kids behaved really well.  Maybe the fact that I threatened them that if there was a lot of arguing that I will never take them on another trip.  I think they believed me.  Really though, the whole trip everyone got along so well. 

The kids all had certain items on their agendas, that you can only buy in the States.  Justin wanted lego, Seth wanted gum (the kind you can't get in Canada).  Eric couldn't understand why in the world we were buying 'Lego', you can get that in Canada.  But Justin made a list up, and decided exactly what he wanted.  He was so excited about the huge selection.  Seth bought 60 packs of gum.  When I was a kid, I loved to shop in the States. 

I've tried to get the kids to write about the trip.  They have done quite a bit of writing, but I'm giving them until the end of the week to finish it up.  I gave them 20 questions to answer to help get some info out of them.  They're complaining about it.  What a mean mom, huh?  Making them write in their journal.  They'll thank me later for being so mean.

Blake's Poem.

Remember that poem that Blake wrote as a school assignment, way back in Nov of last year.  Well, I suggested to him to enter it in a contest, so he did and won the branch level for the Calgary Legion Veterans.  Then he finished 2nd for the next level (area) and then 1st for the next level (regional).

Woah!  Really, no one in our family has EVER won anything for writing.  It's everyone's worst class in school (the boy's are more of math/science kids). 

So we couldn't stop laughing.  I know we shouldn't have all laughed, but even Blake was laughing, and and didn't believe me at first.  He was excited, because he won $85.  I was excited because it's something he can check off on his college application.

He had to read it at the last veteran's meeting.  It was refreshing to see some Canadian patriotism.

On a completely different note, we just came back from a REALLY fun family vacation.  I am going to try (try being the key word here) to get the kids to write about it, and then post one day at a time.  I better go wrangle or bribe the kids or something, cause it won't be easy to get them to write...