The ONLY day as great as Christmas!!!!!

Parker, Alexia and Kylee

Yep, you guessed it! The first day of school! Oh, how I love this day!!!! haha..... The kids started school on Monday, although, since they got out early (12:00) I think that Tuesday really counts as the first day. They had so much fun! The city's best 1st grade teacher was Parker's last year (It is widely known...not just my own crazy idea) and Kylee got her this year! I was so thrilled! I have never heard of Parker's teacher for this year, so I am keeping my fingers crossed...I am sure that she is great. The pick up for the kids is crazy...you have to go through a long line (the 2nd day I got there right on time and had to wait 30 minutes in line....I now go early) single file to pick up the kids...they unlock the gate and let the kids out when you pull up. It is an interesting thing, but at least my kids are getting picked up by the right people! Yesterday they didn't have the regular parking people there, so the principle and the school secretary had to do it! That was hysterical! They had no idea what they were doing! I bet they appreciate the other women so much more now! They looked like chickens running around with their head cut off!! lol

I thought that I would have a little bit more time to do things, but with the twins still at home, that doesn't seems to be happening! I also enrolled Parker and Kylee in gymnastics and Kearney and Ireland in dance. Parker and Kylee each go on Tuesday and Thursday, but it would be too easy if they were at the same time.....so, we get home from school, do homework, take Kylee to her class. She gets out an hour later and then 30 minutes AFTER that Parker goes. We come home, I start dinner, James gets home and I go and get Parker....Those two days are very busy days! It is totally worth it. They both LOVE their classes. It definitely uses up a little bit of their energy! The twins don't start dance until the Monday after Labor Day, but they are so looking forward to it.

So, I have been home for almost 2 weeks and you would think that I have settled in...Nope! I realized something when I came back. I didn't realize how sad I was until we came back. I was really happy in Salt Lake, but when we drove into the Imperial Valley there was this sad feeling that settled over me. The thing that I noticed is that it was not a new feeling. I recognized it because it was how I used to feel up until July when we drove back up to Salt Lake. I had just gotten so used to it that it seemed normal. It also helped me to realize that I DO NOT want to buy a house here because it makes it to final. I am afraid that we will be stuck here, so it is still renting for us! Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be with James, but I just wish that it was not here! This time coming seems harder than when we moved here. I am hoping that it will get better, or maybe I will just get used to it again and not recognize it as much after a while! I think that another reason it is harder is that I know that I will not be going back up to S.L. until next summer.......Oh! I forgot, if you were planning on coming down for Parker's baptism in March, we are moving it to July when we are in Salt Lake. That way everyone will be able to make it. But, you are still welcome to come down and visit! The beach is not far and we can shoot over there!

Well, I guess I have done enough of my sob post! I will try to be more upbeat next time around! Who knows, maybe we will have gone to the beach by then! (it is the one thing that keeps me sane here!)

The worlds longest post...or at least my longest post

It has been forever since I got on to post anything and I have a million things to post, so look out! The last few weeks have been so busy and have just flown by! I haven't had a moment to write anything! First of all I am back in El Centro....sigh..... I had to go back and read my post about growing so I could remind myself about some of the positives. It has been really hard for me to come back. I really miss my family (and the cool weather) sooooo much! I loved being there with them and I am counting the days, actually that is too many to count, until I go back.

James got in to Salt Lake on August 9th and we had so many fun things that we did. On the morning before he got in Jayci, my mom and I took most of the kids (we missed having Abby and Jaxon) to the Gateway Discovery Museum. It was so fun to watch the kids play and to be able to visit with each other. We saw some lady with the weirdest hairstyle ever! Don't worry, Jayci took some pictures which I will add to this post! (she was very discrete about it!) We left there and I went to pick up James from the airport. I took my kids and little Chris with me and it was so funny to watch them. My kids went running up to James to hug him and Chris started to run....then walked...then ran to him. It was so cute to watch.

Chris delivering the mail




The girls playing in the 'house'.

Two of the best women in my life!

Kylee the mail carrier

This poor kids kept trying to take Kearney's ball away. She let him know several times that that was NOT happening!

Parker, Logan and Chris making lunch.

The girls LOVED the kitchen!

Katie and Kylee on the front porch swing.

Okay, here is the lady with the hair. I hope none of you know her!

Okay, here is the back side. It is hard to tell, but the middle of the 'spikes' looked like a bowl. It was all hollowed out.

We love Life Flight!

James finally makes it home!

The next day we got together with James' family. We went to Lindsey Gardens and spent the day and evening up there. It was so much fun! We had almost everyone there (we missed Wes and Mindi and kids and Katherine). We sat around and talked. James set up his zipline (the kids love that). When James first set up the zipline Parker tried it out first. He ran it and then smacked right into the end tree. He ended up hurting his knee and other various body parts. They ended up having to move the zipline. The kids played on the playground and then there were some guys that had some skateboarding type thing (a little longer than a regular skateboard) with big wheels on the sides. They let us borrow some of them and James, Tyler, Mark (Tyler's friend) and Parker and Chris road down the hills on them. It was so fun to watch Parker and Chris try them. Anyone that knows my son knows that he is willing (and chomping at the bit) to try anything that I would consider to be an extreme sport! They did pretty well! Yes, some falling off and cuts, but they had fun. We had pizza and a great visit. It was so nice to spend time with everyone! We felt bad that we wont be seeing Zach again for a while. He is off to a school for 8 months and then to Korea a year! Poor Shara and Zach!

Parker icing his knee from his encounter with the tree!

The arm portion of the fight!

Kaleb thought that Remi was getting a little too close, so he gave her a little push!

I just love Merry go Rounds!

Marren and the twins....I just LOVE this picture!

Parker coming down the hill

Another hurt!

I don't think he is having any fun! lol

Look at how small Kaleb is next to this monster!

Zach and Shara

Mom and SOME of her kids....missing 3 more of them!

Some of the Erbs...(and 1 Denton!)

The Higbee family shrimp boil came next! I LOVE this day! Tons of crab, shrimp, sausage, corn, carrots, potatoes, garlic, and artichokes all boiled in spicy hot water! SOOOOO good! It is dumped out on a table and everyone just goes to town! (no plates for this meal!) We also have gumbo (so good) and french bread. This year for dessert we had snowies. My mom went and bought her own snowie maker, and it was terrific! Love, love, love this day! For some reason I can't find those pictures....someday hopefully they will make it to my facebook account!

The next day most of the Erbs came over to my mom and dad's house for a bar-b-que and swimming....yep! Most of the women and men (and all of the kids) got in the pool. It was so great! We had some left over shrimp boil food to start out with. James and I had some salmon that was delicious...(thanks Katie!!!) We had enough that my parents, my mother-in-law, and James and Parker the next night, all had some. It was my mother-in-law's first time in a hot tub....yep! can you believe it?! She loved it! After a bit Stevie, Sarah and Shara went in the my parents to watch the Olympics. It was a great night.

Now, the finale of the summer. The Warner family reunion. I love this time! I love my family so much and to be able to spend 4 days straight with all or most of them is so wonderful! We have gone up to East Canyon for I don't know how long (this is our last year up there...sob). It was such wonderful weather! Some people went boating (on Saturday), we had another shrimp boil (tons of crab! Thanks mom and dad), we did dutch oven cooking, riding the zipline, riding on the motorcycle (that was my grandma!), playing in the river, swimming in the pool, playing speed scrabble, exercising ( I know, can you believe it?!), eating and chatting. Jayci came up with the best idea for roasting....Starburst! You roast them over the fire until they start to drip, blow on them and then enjoy the deliciousness that melts in your mouth! It is the best thing in the world! My dog, Chancho, tried for 3 hours to snap at my cousin's dog, Coal... Poor Coal! He never gave up, he just kept going back for more and eventually he wore Chancho down. After that they were best buds! :) Ireland ended up touching a dutch oven and burned her fingers. She ended up sitting in the river for quite a while to help with that. It was so wonderful, and I hated to leave. It was so sad....I have actually had a hard time adjusting to not being with them. Okay, here goes my sappiness. I am so grateful to my family! My parents were so wonderful to put up with me and my kids (and my dog) for almost 7 weeks without any complaining (hardly any about the dog!). They have been such a great example my whole life on how you should live and how to be Christlike and I am so grateful for that. I am grateful to have the gospel in my life. I am also so grateful for my sister that was born in my family ( I love you Jayci!) and the two who married in to our craziness! (I love you too Karen and Katie!) I also love and miss my brothers born and married (Chris, Josh and Dann!). If anyone reading this has any family or friends that are even close to being as wonderful as my family your are very blessed! Okay, I found my pictures, but I am sooooo tired of doing this that if you want to see them I am going to post them on face book!

Babysitting Woes

Okay, can I say that getting a babysitter sometimes stinks?! In El Centro, unfortunately I have not really had to worry about getting a babysitter(sigh), but here in Salt Lake I need one more frequently. Fortunately I have two wonderful girls that I love to call on (Tori and Tara Escandon). Unfortunately they are hard to get! Yesterday I got to go to book club. This is a great book club. Lots of women that I love to chat with. For the last year on the 1st Tuesday of each month I have mourned not being there...okay, maybe not mourned, but thought about them and wished that I was there! So, I couldn't get the girls I wanted to babysit, so I got another girl that lives in the ward. I was not at book club for more than 30 minutes when I received a phone call. Now, those of you with kids know that is NEVER good! The babysitter told me that my son was not minding her. I asked to talk to him proceeded to tell him that I did NOT want to receive another phone call telling me that he wasn't minding. He was to go in and obey the girl! about 15 minutes later...Yep! another phone call! So, instead of finding out what he wasn't minding about (stupid me) I went home to talk to him. I chatted with him and his dad called to talk to him. We made some consequences for the disobedience, he was sent to bed and I went back to book club. It was good! 4 1/2 hours with no more phone calls! Yeah!

Okay, flash forward to me walking her home. This is our conversation...for the sake of anonymity I will call the girl Jane.

Temaire: "Jane, what did Parker do that he was not minding?"
Jane: "He was teasing his sisters and taking their crayons away."
Temaire: "Is that all?!"
Jane: "Well, he locked himself in the back room and wouldn't let his sisters in." (by the way, I told her that they could go in the back room)
Temaire:..............(that is me being silent)

So, I knew that I had over-reacted...what 7 year old doesn't tease his sisters? Oh, and usually Kylee (6 yrs old) has taken part in this and a lot of the time deserves what she gets! :) When I questions Kylee in the morning she said that the only time 'Jane' was kind to Parker was when he was in bed. Come to find out that no matter what Parker did he got in trouble and no matter what Kylee did, she didn't! Poor Parker! I felt bad that I hadn't done more questioning! So, the bad consequences were taken away and he is free again!

The moral of my tale is to 1. make sure that you get a babysitter that is a little laid back and understanding of kids ages and 2. question babysitters if they call! Don't just jump to the conclusion that your child is trying to embarrass you!

Growing......

I guess I am growing. Who would have thought?! When we decided to move to El Centro I never thought that I would like anything about that place. My family and friends told me that when the time came to move back to Salt Lake I would miss people and things about it. What was my response? "NO WAY!!!!!". Well, I am having to eat my words after only 1 year! Who would have thought it? Yesterday in Relief Society we sang a song that I sang with three other women back in El Centro...I got kind of sad and missed them! WOW! I have also talked several times with a good friend from there, Yvette, and I miss her! (along with a few other people....my husband included)

So, you may be wondering how I have grown......I have come to realize that El Centro is not as bad as I once thought. (I said that the El in El Centro was missing an H and an L) I have made some good friends, and for a few months out of the year it has nice weather...not to mention being close to San Diego! It has been a hard thing for me to accept that El Centro has good points, but I am slowly coming around.....but not enough to want to live there forever! I will be back to Salt Lake, but while I am there I am going to continue to try to find the positives!!!!!

Too many things!!!

Man! I have been so far behind on my blog! I have been super busy and have not been able to post all of the fun things that I have been doing...so I will be doing a shortened version! Happy for all of you that might be willing to suffer through the reading! Also, my darling sister tagged me (8 random things about me) so I will be doing that as well....under protest, I might add! :)

So, Jayci asked me if I wanted to come and sit out over night to save a spot for the Bountiful parade with her and her two sisters-in-law. Now, I used to sit out for those types of things when I was MUCH younger, but its not really what I do now. I said yes (because I wanted to spend time with my sister), but was dreading being up all night. Okay, I had so much fun! Those three women are so great! I already knew that Jayci was, but I just fell in love with Jana and Becky! It was so fun! It totally rained all over us....more like poured! We were drenched! When I was taking pictures Jana had to cover her shirt (not a white t-shirt contest!) because it was so wet! We played speed scrabble (so fun) for hours...we started around 2:00 a.m.....so you kind of have to wonder about our words! haha. Jayci and Jana had to leave early 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. so Becky and I had to guard our spots (we were savig for 30 people). 10 minutes before it was legal to put our seats out (don't worry, the police had been by and said that we were fine and could save them) 2 separate people (1 man, 1 woman) came and tried to take our spots! HELLO!!!! Both Becky and I were adamant that they were not going to take them! FYI: If you want a good spot for a parade, get there the night before....don't come in 10 minutes before and complain that you get poor seats! :) Ladies, I had so much fun with you!

Me and Jayci hiding out during the rain storm!

Jana, Jayci and Becky....playing speed scrabble!!!

We went up to East Canyon on the 24th of July. It was so great up there! I love the canyons so much! I really miss them in California! It was so good to spend that time with family (Becky, we loved having you come up with us!). We missed mom and dad (working at home) and Josh and Katie (on vacation in Minnestoa!), but it was a blast! Cool weather and cool people! haha

Grandpa, trying to train Chacho!

Dann, hanging out and having more fun than this picture shows!

Playing Phase 10!

Jayci had a boutique on her front lawn. That was fun...shopping and visiting all at home! I, again, met such nice women....loved Trish! I also spent WAY TOO MUCH money! Poor James! If he ever finds out how much he will have a heart attack! Babe, if you read this...don't ask.....

We then took all of the kids to Build a Bear for a birthday party....(again, I spent too much money). First of all, let me say that 8 kids (missing Logan :( ) and 5 adults is a very wild group in a store that is filled with bear clothes, shoes, toys, and wigs! (yes, wigs!) I am not sure how long we were in the store (an hour and a half or so), but I am sure that they were sighing with relief when we left! haha......another FYI: it is much better to do it with and equal amount of adults as children.....which we didn't have!

Getting ready to go in to build a bear...we just don't have Chris and Katie yet!

Four sisters!

All of these things and others that we have done have been so lovely. I love being in Salt Lake with my family. I am going to miss them so much when I have to go back home! Although, I do have something to look forward to....we are going to buy a house! (yes, I have given in...due to falling house prices!) And not only a house, but one with a pool! My kids are thrilled! Although, I think Kylee is more thrilled with her own room than a pool!

Okay, here is my random 8 things about me.....

1. I LOVE shoes! I can't have enough of them...any color will do (so long as it looks cute!). There is something about shoes with me. If I like the shoes, they make me feel smarter, prettier, sexier, thinner....anything good, it increases! :) It doesn't make any difference if you are having a bad hair day, so long as you have on cute shoes! So, my advice to any sadness or worry is to go out and buy shoes!

2. I am shy...now, people who know me may be saying "Temaire, you are NOT shy"...but really, deep down inside, I am shy! I have to make myself get out there and talk to people that I don't know or am not really close to. I would rather just sit back and watch.....

3. I am a terrible back seat driver (or side seat!). I used to drive like a mad woman, but when I was pregnant with Parker I almost got in a wreck...and that started the downward spiral. Then last year on my way up to Salt Lake I almost got into a HORRIBLE wreck that I know would have killed my poor kidlets. Poor James! He now just lets me drive everywhere! haha

4. The throat/chest thing that my mom and great grandma has/had I have as well....but it is not just meat...thanks so much family genes!

5. I wish that I could go in to the hospital for a week! (only reason that I want to be pregnant again). I love just laying there doing nothing while everyone waits on you! lol!!!! I also love not having to worry about fight and screaming kids for a while! The smell of the hospital makes me want to get pregnant....I know...weird!

6. I used to buy new cars like people buy milk! In one year I owned 4 cars! (and none at the same time!)

7. I am terrified of the dentist!!! The smell and sounds (and pain) scare me so much! We go in to Mexico to have our teeth done now (cheaper and just as good), and they are constantly trying to tell me relax, that it wont hurt....yeah right!

8. I used to love scary movies....I loved being afraid...I still watch them, but I hate feeling afraid now! Kind of makes you wonder why I still watch them....