1 vehicle, 2 adults, 3 kids

For a while it was all cool. We scheduled our plans around having the van or driving daddy to and from work. We felt sort of efficient and a little more likely to get up and get dressed in the morning (all of us). But now that it's hot and the middle of summer vacation, it sort of stinks. And an inexpensive quick fix to the 91 Volvo sitting in our driveway is on the top of my prayer list.

What's on the top of yours?

Got tons on my mind lately. Our family has been coping with illness, automobile-money-pits, life-changing decision making, balding tires that sent us off-road and the summer blues just to name a few. I sure hope things take a turn for the better in the next couple of weeks! We could use some positive changes around here!

12 of 12 July!

Another less-eventful day in the Gove home

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1. Goodmorning Amanda! 2-3. Samantha is potty-training (nearly there! She only wears a diaper at night). Though this has led to lots of running around in just her underwear declaring that she is "Potteee-Twained" whilst doing a hula hoop like dance with her hand on her hips. It's priceless... and a little disturbing, hee-hee! 4. Hayden, ever the nudist... he sees no reason to wear clothes unless we are "going somewhere". sigh. 5. Making homemade blueberry waffles 6. Just about to eat them! 7-8. Making 2 kinds of fries... daddy likes the thin ones 9. Hayden redecorating the backyard 10. It's a jungle out there! 11-12. Hayden showing daddy all his hard work on the "treehouse".

Summertime

I don't have the problem most moms have with their kids when school lets out for the summer. I have yet to hear, "Mom, I'm BORED!" from any of them. However, they keep pretty busy destroying the house, and silence is a rare occurrence.

I decided between the hours of Disney garbage, swimming in the pool and fart noise contests (yes, all three of them participate...sigh), I should try to throw in at least one educational activity per week of summer vacation. Since we have like ZERO dinero for fun stuff, let alone a family vacation I thought this would ease my oldest daughters' fear of having "the worst summer E.V.E.R.!!!!".

So far we have gone to the Science Center (we have still have a month left of membership), Grown Marigolds in a pot (still in progress of course), visited PetSmart to check out the rats, guinea pigs, snakes, frogs, fish, snails, grasshoppers, birds, cats and dogs. My kids especially love watching the dogs being groomed and saying "awww! she's so cuuuute!" to every cat in every cage. Yesterday I took them to IKEA. Not gonna try and stretch that into an educational experience. The best thing about IKEA this time was that Samantha was tall enough and potty-trained (enough for an hour) so she and Hayden were able to go to the play center they have there and Amanda and I were able to shop together without having to chase down any Gove's Gone Rogue. 
It was nice to get in there and get what I needed to get without having to yell at anyone not to jump on the beds or play 'catch me if you can' among the glassware.  

Today the kids are hounding me to take them to Menchies for yogurt. I'm making them work for it though. Clean rooms and bathroom or NO FRO-YO! So there! 

I have a feeling the van will be staying in the driveway all day.

Summer Reading

So I've been reading a lot this spring/summer in an effort to spend less time in front of the tv. So far I have read Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli, Or Give Me Death, by Ann Rinaldi, An Ocean Apart; a World Away, by Lensey Namioka, and The Yearling, by Marjorie Rawlings. I realize most of these are Young Adult books but I'm okay with that. I still consider myself to be young-ish.

I'm also at the beginning of re-reading the Book of Mormon and hope to have it finished by the end of the summer. I've got a stack of books next to my bed that I hope to get through as well. Funny thing is, I found some of these books in a box that I got at the Scholastic Book warehouse down the street and had forgotten about... and one of the books is about organizing your home - which is what I was in the middle of doing to our bedroom - organizing. But you see what that led me to: blogging. Sigh... I'm so flighty lately. One day our bedroom will be clean and the books will be read and everything will be blogged - then what will I do?

12 of the 10th... say wha?

I went to Girls Camp on the 10th and for those of you who know anything about Girl Camp you KNOW that I barely slept, and had a heck of a lot more fun and photo opportunities on the 10th than I did on the 12th. The 12th was definitely my "day of rest" and my camera was far, far away from my thoughts. So this month, I am cheating for the sake of content. :)


I present to you my 12 on the 10th!



1-3. On my way to camp I couldn't help but stop and take a few pictures. The view, the sounds, even the smells out on the ranch were like a great big hug from God. 4. My first time shooting a gun. 5. I love 1st year girls! 6. Tiki torch + Wind = Burned Torch, 7-8. Pre-Testimony Meeting 9. The famous Holy Griddle 10-11. Testimony Meeting with our girls! 12. Happy camp leader!

Watch out... here they come...

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted anything. My 12 of 12 never got posted because quite frankly it was a pretty boring day. I took pictures, but they all look the same. So I sort of lost the incentive to grid them and post them. I'm sure I'll get around to it some day. But in the meantime, here are some pictures I took tonight with the kiddos. Michael was at Scouts and the kids were begging to go to a particular park that has awesome climbing trees. It's a particularly awesome place to take photos so I brought my camera along just for fun.















Holy Thug-face, Hayden!

12 of 12 - May

This day could be summed up in three words: Playdoh, Legos, and Tree-trimming.

It was a very laid back day for Sammy-Sue and Hayden, while Amanda is not in any of these pictures because she was at school. At one point in the day I decided to take the chainsaw to our tree out front because it's branches have been dragging across the top of the minivan and driving me nuts. I later got in trouble with the hubby for leaving the clippings in the driveway.

My Birthday

This weekend I celebrated my birthday and Mothers Day by having a what I'll affectionately refer to as a BC Day with my Hubby.

The day started off with us going out to breakfast -just the two of us- and then spending the rest of the day doing a few things we've longed to do alone, like walking up to lakes and enjoying the scenery without worrying about who might decide to take a dip in said lake. We went geocaching and I took photographs along the way. While we drove around in search of caches, we stopped when and where we felt like stopping and heard zero complaining from back seat drivers. It was glorious. It was fantastic! And it will be the first of many more "Me Time" 101 field trips.

Though I have to admit there are a few places I'd like to go back to for some more investigating on my own, I really can't wait to take the kids out to some of the cool photo ops learning about nature opportunities I found.
*BC = before children

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

Last night I felt frustrated and stupid while my attention was being torn between two things. I chose to abandon both because I could feel the tears coming and I didn’t understand why I was getting so emotional. I cried on my bed and felt defeated but needed to pull myself together. I went to the mirror and wiped my tears and looked up and saw your eyes instead of mine. Bright clear blue… and I knew you were there with me.

I miss you mom. I wish I could visit your grave or do something in your memory for Mothers Day. I can’t be at your grave but I hope you know and understand that my heart is full and with you today as I write these words for you.

Today I will give each of my kids an extra hug from you.

Today I will tell Amanda the story about the time you let me play hooky from school and took me to the mall instead, just because you wanted to spend time with me. I’ll tell her about how you always stood up for me, even though it was sometimes embarrassing.

Today I will show all the kids pictures of you and we’ll sing some of your favorite Primary songs.

Today I’ll hope you are looking down at us smiling and laughing and falling in love with Samantha’s big personality, Hayden’s silly sense of humor and Amanda’s growing gracefulness.

Today I’ll try not to cry so much and instead be grateful to have my sweet children who remind me of you in different ways everyday.

I love you, Mom. Happy Mothers Day!