I'm still here...

Holy Hanna! I haven't posted on my poor little bloggy in for-evah!

Ok, this is gonna be kinda long - BUT it's our summer in a photo-nutshell.

June 2, 2009 - My oldest {Nathaniel} turned 11

June 24 - 28th we went to Ben's family reunion in Utah.

June 26, 2009 went to Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House
The temple was BEAUTIFUL!!!
June 27, 2009 HUGE Family Reunion at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo, UT
Ben's Family with all his siblings (minus 1) plus his parents & nieces/nephews

June 27, 2009 my beautiful daughter, Felicia, had her 10th birthday!
July 4, 2009 we celebrated Independence Day with a few fireworks of our own (in our backyard)!

July 23, 2009 these dorks guys left for Comic-Con in San Diego, CA

July 26, 2009 They came home.
Ben got all of us tons of FUN free swag!

Are these not the CUTEST little Batmen & Catwomen?

I told Ben he really shouldn't bother coming home unless he found some New Moon swag.

No I wasn't that mean, but he DID hook me up!

Awesome trading cards, plus see that Carlisle Ring? Everyone was waiting in line for raffles to win one of those. Someone thought his costume was COOL so he gave one to Ben! Woohooo! Way to go hubby!

He also scored these posters for me!

The big posters look just like the smaller ones, but the back looks faded & backwards almost like you're looking thru the poster! Pretty awesome!!! Thanks again babe!

Ok, so we wanted to wear the COOL masks too!

Do we look HOT or what? LOL

These two actually played together a LOT this summer!

August 5, 2009 This little guy got a haircut!

This is the BEFORE.

Are you diggin' on his sweet locks?

Well, don't get too used to them, cuz now they're gone!

There's my adorable Anson!

August 6, 2009 My munchkins got some new Webkinz

Thanks MOM for finding these amazing deals @ Costco!

August 7, 2009 I had foot surgery. OUCH!

And got to wear this cute shoe for the last 3 weeks.

Well, it's better than the one I wore 3 years ago when I had my bunionectomy.

I can finally squeeze into a sandal, so at least my shoes match now.

August 9, 2009 the Boys being silly after church

The Girls striking a pose after changing out of church dresses.

Yep, they planned on their matching outfits! heee heee

August 10, 2009 Ben left for Oregon (for work)

And my sister, Christy, had her birthday!

August 12, 2009 FIRST day of school

Nathaniel - 5th grade, Ashley - 2nd grade, Anson - Kindergarten, Felicia - 5th grade
Yep, my sweet fun baby is in all day school now! I have totally mixed emotions about that. I'm happy for him because he loves it & was so excited to start school. On the other hand, I miss my little buddy hanging out with me all day!

After 1st day of school treats!

Sonic Slushees

While Felicia was playing on the computer after school.....

I found Ashley like this...

She curled up on a jacket on the floor & passed out. LOL

I found Nathaniel sawin' some zzzzz's on the couch

Anson was watching tv, but quickly gave in to his heavy eyelids. haha

They had a wonderful 1st day of school, but apparently it totally wore them out!

August 16, 2009 10pm - Nathaniel got stung by a Bark Scorpion!

OUCH!!! Poor guy! He thought he needed to go to the ER or he would DIE! He knows those suckers are very poisonous! I talked to Ben on the phone {yep he was still out of town}, looked it up online and also called Poison Control. All I had to do was wash the area with soap & water, dry it off, apply a cool compress, and give him some Tylenol. As long as he didn't have an allergic reaction (like hives or trouble breathing), then he would be OK. Poison Control did warn me that this type of scoprion releases neurotoxins and within 6hrs he would probably have some numbness and/or tingling anywhere on his body. It could take 24hrs up to 2weeks for it to go away. He had some tingling the next day and came home from school early, but was fine later that evening. Thank goodness!!!!

That night ALL the kids slept in my bed with me.

I had our pest control company back at our house and respraying for scoprions inside & out!

August 18, 2009 Ahhh yes, that's water under our Hot Water Heater.

Well, it was 15 years old, so time for a new one!
Another thing to take care of while Ben was out of town.

Luckily, my Dad's friend came over right away to replace it!

August 22, 2009 we Celebrated Anson's 5th birthday!

{even tho his actual bday is August 23rd}

Ben came home for the weekend to celebrate Anson's bday!

But then he had to leave again early Monday morning :(

August 28-29th Nathaniel had his FIRST Boy Scout Campout! He was ecstatic! He loved that all the boys got to help plan the menu - he LOVES food! He came home covered in dirt, but had a BLAST!!!

See - my foot is healing quite nicely!

I took this pic this morning. I know my feet are covered in scars. But the newest one is on my left foot in the middle. My foot still hurts a lot periodically and I can't walk very fast.

Ok, sorry to end this LONG post with a pic of my foot (I know feet are gross) but at least my toenails look cute, right? LOL

Oh I had Parent Information Evening (PIE night) last night with Anson & Ashley's teachers. Their teachers seem nice & fun. Plus the kids love them! Looks like the year is off to a good start!

Today is picture day for the kids. We were late, but NOT because I was busy fixing their hair (I got that done on time) but Anson was stuck on the potty - crying in pain. Poor guy. He finally did his business and we were on our way! Felicia was the only one on time because I had to take her to school early for a student council meeting.

Tomorrow is PIE night for Nathaniel & Felicia's classes. I'll be busy trying to touch base with both teachers since usually Ben & I divide & conquer. But he is still out of town. In fact, he's on his way to Seattle today for PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) with his friend Trey. They will be helping EA promote the sequel to Army of Two xbox game {they will be dressed in total Army of Two gear}!

Ok, I'm out!

What the heck is F-11?

I'll tell you...and NO it's not the shortcut key on your keyboard.

It means that my 3 year old Whirlpool frontloader washing machine is malfunctioning! Apparently there are 3 control boards and my MAIN control board was on the fritz! Yep, very expensive to repair. My washer was going out - well I kept getting a weird beep and "F-11" would flash on the panel during the cycles. My washer would stop and I'd have to try to cancel the cycle and restart it or try to finish where it left off. After a couple days it just got worse. So, we had to stop doing laundry and finally called for repair/service. The guy showed up last week, Tuesday, around 6:15pm (of course my schedule time was somewhere between 8-5). Well, he took a look at it, tested a few things, and then let me know about the problem. Ok, so how do we fix it??? Well, he needed to come back Saturday with the part to fix it. WHAT?!!! He made a call to his boss and changed the time (turns out he's my neighbor - like across the street, and didn't want me to be upset with him) to Thursday evening. Ok, again what does EVENING mean to you? He had training all that day and stopped by on his way home - around 5:45pm. He installed the part in less than half an hour. Whew! But then I had to pay him. Yikes! It was a LOT!! But still less than buying a new one.

I'm glad it's finally fixed, but this is what I was doing ALL DAY Wednesday! How? I was taking loads to my wonderfully generous MOM's house and using her washer, then bringing the load home to dry. Luckily she lives so close, but it was very tiring doing that all day. {we had a mountain of dirty clothes, not to mention towels and girls sheets - Ashley wet the bed 2 days in a row! ugh!} Thank you Mom for letting me use your washer!!!

So, now you know...F-11...NOT GOOD! For those of you who have frontloaders, hope yours are working great! And if you're thinking of getting one - you might want to consider the extended warranty. We never get those! Maybe next time! Although, I have one friend who's had hers for over 6 years and never had one single problem. You just never know, huh?!!

Fruit Flies - Update

Here is my cup with the funnel to catch the nasty fruit flies

As you can see, it WORKED!!!

I only had 2 fruit flies this morning in the kitchen.

I also killed 3 fruit flies & 1 mosquito in my bathroom last night.

Super GROSS, huh?!!

I started to count them (in the picture) and saw maybe 75 in the glass.
YUCK!!!

But I'm glad they're not flying around my kitchen anymore!

So there you have it, my cider vinegar/cup/funnel trap worked!!!

Fruit Flies, UGH!!

Ok, Ben & the kids picked several bags full of oranges from our trees on the side of the house last week or so. Well, with all of that fruit sitting in the kitchen, we have developed a fruit fly problem! YUCK!!! I canNOT stand all those little tiny reddish-brown things flying around my kitchen. Some have even made their way into my bathroom! I have been trying to smash & kill them on my bathroom mirror before I go to bed each night. Dang those suckers are FAST!

Also - no such luck w/ the fly swatter. So, I decided to search it online.

Here's one solution that I found on this site:

Make a funnel trap:

Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel). Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.

Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.

Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.

Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)

Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid.

Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.

Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.

I did this before I started dinner and it's actually working!!! I placed the glass next to the kitchen sink, since they seem to settle around there. The kids are fascinated watching the little buggers get caught in the glass & drowning. I also read that you can add a drop of liquid dish soap & stir it in the cider vinegar to make sure when the flies try to land on the liquid that they fall in & they can't swim. YAY!!! I'm hoping by morning that most of those gross flies will be trapped/drowned in there. I'm actually surprised how many are already sitting on the bottom of the glass.

FYI - other tips also mentioned covering all the fruit or putting it in the fridge where the flies can't reach it. Apparently they can lay eggs in the skins of the fruit, then you have more flies! Plus make sure there are no dirty dishes or food in your sink/disposer, your trash can is covered & empty it each day (if you don't already do that).