a real post about real life

I have been reading a lot of my older blog posts from when I first started blogging.  Dang I was entertaining!!  Oh come on, you know I was.  I did notice that I have gotten more impersonal and less funny over time.  I would like to remedy that.  Not that when we write blogs we should be really personal, but I think I gave more of a sense of who I am in my older posts.
Today is my birthday.  It is the wee hours of the morning and I am staying up too late.  I can't believe that I am turning 28 in a couple of hours.  I think I am going to look in the mirror and watch myself age.  I can't believe I am 28 with 5 kids!  My mom didn't even do that.  I think she had like 3 at my age.
This summer I have been spending so much time with my kids.  Just about every morning I load the 3 youngest into the double stroller(I promise this totally works safely, I will post a picture later) and the older two ride their bikes and we walk/ride to the park a little over a mile from our home.  It is a great path that goes along the Spanish Fork river.  It smells really bad, but it reminds me of my dearly missed Colorado with all the trees everywhere.  I let them play for a while and eat snacks, then we make the trek back home in time for lunch.  I have some wicked tan lines that I will have to take pictures of to show you all.  I will look so awesome in a swimsuit!  Did I mention that I walk wearing capris(only for this walking situation, this is not the type of attire I go out shopping in, except once) and running shoes?  Well, I do.  So my knees are white and my feet are white but my calves and shins are totally tan.  Cute right?
The first week we went I made sure we went everyday.  The forecast was supposed to be pretty good.  One day we went and there was only supposed to be a 20% chance of precipitation, which means pretty much no rain.  WRONG!!  Apparently that is secret weatherman lingo for massive thunderstorm and hail with your poor children in summer clothes shivering away.  Yeah, it totally started raining hard core on our way home!  Duncan was the first one to start whining and crying.  He's the oldest, isn't he supposed to be all tough and strong for the other kids?  Liam acted like it was a fun adventure(which was totally where I was trying to go with it).  I told the kids we have to go as fast as we could and that we couldn't shelter ourselves under the trees with the lighting.  Then it started hailing.  SERIOUSLY.  I wish I was joking, but I'm not.  I knew the hail was coming, being a Colorado girl and all(summer rain always came with hail) so I told the kids to get off of their bikes ASAP and get under a tree with me.  We huddled together and I had the boys stick their heads under the shades of the stroller and I hovered over them.  I was totally pelted with awesome hail stones, but it was for a good cause.  At that point Duncan was still crying and whining, Rozzy was whining and crying(being in the front of the stroller with me running in the rain is not fun), Liam no longer thought this was an adventure and was now crying and shivering and Aly was soaked and screaming his little baby head off.
I suggested we all stop and say a prayer together and ask that the rain will stop and that we would be able to get home quickly and safely.  Within about 3 minutes the rain completely stopped and the clouds started moving away revealing the glorious sun!  The kids were so happy and said that Heavenly Father and Jesus helped us.  Which they TOTALLY did!!  I think kids prayers work better than adult ones because they have such strong faith and belief.  We were so happy and thankful for the sun as we approached the last leg of our journey home.
I was concerned about my friend who left the park early and went home a different way because she was pregnant, had a dog with her, a broken bike, a double stroller with only one shade and two young kids.  I just kept thinking about her on my way home.  We were getting closer to home when I hear an SUV on the path behind us and then honking.  My kids shout, "It's Howie!"  Howie is the son of my friend who was at the park with us.  Kristen(Howie's mom) had called her husband to pick them up and then came to find us and give us a ride home!!  It was so sweet of her.  We were completely soaked and shivering so she was a welcomed sight.  Duncan said, "She is the BEST neighbor EVER!!"  I agree!  It was totally awesome of her.  I hope you all read this far and I hope you like my story!!

I am a jerk

So I spent so much time getting my shop set up and trying to get the word out there that I totally forgot to give my TOTALLY AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER ASHLEY WEBB credit for all her hard work. She took all of the photos of my jewelry. She did a fabulous job and made my jewelry look better than I thought possible. She is the best neighbor ever and if any of you live in the area, you should totally have her do photos for you! I bet she would even do a destination wedding if everything was paid for!! Haha!! Thank you Ashley!! You are AMAZING!!

RosalineOlivia

It's time...
I just wanted to share with all of you that I have opened up my very own etsy shop! If you noticed by the title of this blog, RosalineOlivia is the name of my shop. I make jewelry of all kinds and it's pretty decently priced, I think. Come and stop by!!

Please send your prayers and donations

There is a family in our neighborhood whose little boy was playing on his train table, slipped on a car and fell out of the second story window onto the driveway. He was life flighted to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. He is currently in a drug-induced coma while they wait for the swelling in his brain to go down. He is a little boy who is Liam's age. I can't even imagine what this family must be going through. My heart goes out to them at this trying time in their lives. I know that many of you have children and must imagine the pain you would feel in this situation. Please take a look at this blog and leave any messages of encouragement and if possible, please donate to help the family with medical bills that they will surely be getting.

All About Me(Duncan)

My oldest is officially done with the 1st grade!! Is this for real? Well, he got to bring home all of the stuff he has made throughout the year. Duncan made an "All About Me" book for school. I just thought I would share(the last line is the best!!):

My Name is Duncan.

My birthday is June 29th. I am 6 years old.

I have blue eyes. I have red hair.

I have 7 people in my family.

My favorite subject is Science. My least favorite subject is Spelling(this is odd because he is stellar at spelling).

My school is Riverview Elementary. My teacher's name is Mrs. White.

My favorite color is yellow red green blue(apparently schooling has changed and they are now all one color).

My favorite thing to do is ride my bike because it is fun.

My favorite food is donuts because they are yummy(I don't even remember the last time we had some). My least favorite food is onions(He has no idea how often he eats onions without knowing it).

My favorite TV show is Spongebob Squarepants because it is funny. My favorite movie is Tangled because it is funny.

My favorite sport is fishing because it is fun.

My favorite place is Carl's Jr. because it is fun(we have been there once, haha).

My special things are my toys.

When I grow up I want to be famous. My favorite thing about me is being wild.

I AM SPECIAL BECAUSE I AM A GINGER.(Priceless right?!!! Hahahahahaha!!)

-I love my special ginger who is growing up so dang fast!!

An Easter Miracle!!! This is an actual blog post!

I figured it's about time to blog again since it's been like 5 months and all. I will back track and update for my own benefit when I feel like it, haha. You are free to read once those show up. I am trying not to allow myself to get Spring fever, since in Utah, Spring never ACTUALLY arrives. We pretty much go from winter to summer and then back again. However, I couldn't resist the urge to trick you all into thinking it's actually Spring. I took pictures of my lovely children. It was like a high of 45 or something, haha. My poor children.

Gwendolyn doesn't seem to be that good at "Make Believe." I tried to get her to just pretend it felt like Spring and well, her face says it all.

I just couldn't get enough pictures of this girl:













Here are some various combos of children:

Not the best picture of us, but I thought I would throw it in there just to show that we still exist. I should really relax my shoulders in pictures!! Ugh! Anywho, anyone want to do a better job of taking pictures of our fam? I am totally open to it!!