Breakfast at Tiffany's

Two nights ago I slept horribly. I tossed and turned all night long. I hate that. So last night I decided that I would get myself good and tired before going to bed. So at 10:30, instead of going to bed, I put in Breakfast at Tiffany's, with the idea that I would clean while it was on. But as soon as that music started I was hooked. Again.

So I stayed up much too late watching all the special features, crying when she throws Cat out of the cab in the rain, and of course deliriously happy when it all ends well.

I love Audrey Hepburn in this movie. Her big, innocent eyes that look so sad sometimes. And George Peppard, who seems so protective and kind.

I love watching their attachment to each other grow. And I love seeing them each learn and change.

And in the end, I love a sappy story that reminds us that we do belong to each other. And that love isn't a cage, but something that sets us free and makes us better than what we were before. And I love that great kiss at the end.

By the way, I got to bed at 3 am, and I slept great.

Miracles DO happen!!

So, I thought I would shock everyone and actually put something on here! Especially now that Megan won't have internet for a few days, hehehe. This will just be a lot of pictures, one tenth of what I've taken, of what we have been up to. All in backwards order, of course, because it just wouldn't be a Melinda blog post if it was all the way I wanted it! So, enjoy!
P.S. I promise that after Alex starts school again I willpost more often. Right now we (mostly me) are just in survival mode!


These are the only pictures I took this weekend while we were at Jackson Hole. Why, you ask? Because even those these kids look cute, I remembered that Jackson Hole is not designed for children. Particularly if you are by yourself with three of them, and one of them is Alex. I quote from myself this weekend, "No, Alex!! You cannot get on the wolf statue! It is $85,000!!!" (And I wasn't kidding. It really was.) It was a hard weekend. But I got these cute pictures out of it!! And, we didn't break anything. :)

They look so innocent.

I won tickets on the radio to the Folk Dance Festival! We had lots of fun, but it didn't seem like there were nearly as many people as there used to be.

At the splash park in Rexburg. I didn't get any pictures of Alex because he wouldn't hold still long enough! It took Tristan about an hour to get in the water this much.




The kids all rode the carousel, which they loove. I kept losing Lainey and finding her back over there, hanging on the bars and watching. Here she is sitting next to a total stranger on the bench, happy to have someone watching with her.

A picture of the kitties before we took them to the Humane Society to get adopted. They are back now visiting for about a week, because there were two kitties brought in who turned out to have distemper. So they asked if we would take them back home until the vet gave the all clear. They are such amazing sweet and cuddly kitties, I think they might already have homes. They run around and play with anything and then curl up on you and sleep. It is fun having them again, but they poop and eat a lot. Don't like that so much. Tristan still thinks Elephant is "his" cat. Elephant lets him carry him around like a baby. If we didn't already have a kitty, we would have a hard time deciding which one to keep!

Alex getting his face painted like Spider-man at the Roaring Youth Jam. He was soooo excited!! I forgot to take an "after" picture, but it was pretty cool. All they use is tempura paints, so I think I should get some and Alex can "earn" getting his face painted. He went to sleep with it on, that's how much he liked it.

At the Reed's Dairy Family Day. We had lots of fun and saw cows. The kids were very happy.

They had free horse rides. All the kids loovved that. It made me wish I had Sprat, thinking about how good he was with the kids and how much they would love him. Trying not to think about it.........

We got 25 cent ice cream cones. It was worth going just for that! Alex decided he didn't want his, and so he gave it to a very willing Tristan. We also went on a wagon ride all around the farm and they had tours of the plant and a petting zoo. It was fun!

A picture of three of Shaylene's 5 kids. They stayed for the week and it was lots of fun and really tiring!!

Alex's 7th birhtday. Not great pictures, but proof that we had it!

Deciding to rip the carpet up at 9 pm on Saturday night! Only after we saw how pretty the wood underneath was did we decide to do it. Phillip helped us and I still didn't go to bed until 3 am. Totally worth it though. We love carpet, but it was sooo old and stinky and I couldn't stand it anymore!!!

Just a funny picture of Tristan.

At Dawnetta Hot Springs. The kids had so much fun! I tried to zoom in on this picture, but it wouldn't save it. But do you see how Tristan came out of the tunnel with his hands behind his back? He's so silly!

I took this picture just for Mommy. Tristan thought it was really fun to float face down in the water so he could look around, I guess. But it looks kind of shocking.

I tried to zoom this one in, too, so you could see the huuge smile on Alex's face!

These are pictures at Girl's Camp! We had sooo much fun and I loved being up there again. All of the girls were so great and I think we all had a really memorable time. This picture is of the water fight that Bishop Baird started. He got all the girls soaked. But Sister Nielson got him back the next day while we were eating square ice cream cones, when she threw a whole glass of ice cold water in his face! Go Sister Nielson!!!

Getting Sister Nielson wet. He might regret that later. At the top of Table Rock. I love that hike, and they needed another female leader on it, so I was happy to volunteer!!

Brother Scholes and Bishop Baird pulling Rexanne around in the wagon after she hurt her ankle on her hike. I wonder how much a ride costs if you aren't hurt?

Tristan sitting on the huuuggge pile of dirt (it is bigger in real life) at the side of our house, that is waiting to be wheelbarrowed over to the side yard so we can have a garden next year. (Can we say "run-on sentence"?) It is a big job that I keep hoping will magically get done if I ignore it long enough. That hasn't worked so far.

Well, that's all for now. Hope I didn't bore you too much. Oh, and I might as well tell all my thousands of readers out there (yea, right) who don't already know, we're expecting again! I'm about 14 weeks now, the baby is due February 25th. We're very excited. I'm not sure if I am more excited about that, or about Alex starting school again in two weeks. Hmm... I'll get back to you on that one. So now I, too, can start working on my basketball figure, as Maria so aptly put it. But so far, it is looking more like a whale. I really have to go now, because Alex is getting up from his nap. (Yes, he is taking them again. I tried to have him not take them, he is getting crazy. I figured, I don't know if he needs them or not, but until school starts again, I need them! So, "release the secret weapon!" Or in other words, wake Alex up from his nap.) I'm not even going to proof-read this right now. Gotta go! Bye!

Long time, no write

Whew! I have truly been trying to get this done, but the forces that be conspire against me. Then this morning I tried to write and Tristan came running in to tell me that Alex had followed Daddy to work on his bike, which meant down 1st Street. About 25 minutes later, with help from Sister Baird and a lot of prayers, we found Alex at Grandma and Grandpa's house on 3rd St.! Which means that he crossed 1st St. and Holmes on his own. I don't want to think about it. Needless to say, the bike is in time-out now.


So, my computer won't let me move my pictures around, and it is driving me crazzzyyy! It won't let me drag or click and paste. All I can do is move a picture to the bottom of the screen. It won't even let me move my text. So I am just going to put the pictures on here and they will all probably be random and out of order and OH WELL!!! I don't care anymore. I am "simplifying" my life by not caring. :) I have also simpified my life by deciding not to do yardwork anymore. When does simplifying become lowering your standards? I am also considering simplifying by not wearing makeup or exercising anymore. What do you think? Thus far, I am well on my way towards full impementation of my new program. Anyway, here goes. Here are about 5 million pictures. Yeah!

How Lainey greeted me after her "nap"

Playing at the park, which we have been doing a lot of lately.

Okay, so Haley and I tried to take some dance pictures, but we only had like 40 minutes and didn't know where to go or what to do. I feel really self-conscious about putting these on here, especially since I'm not really doing anything cool or dancy. But, I did appreciate Haley's time and we got a few cute ones. It would be fun to do some in a studio with my poofy red costume. But, since that may never happen, here are a couple out of the like 100 we took.

This is a cool place to get pictures, but none of them turned out very well.

A cool mirror I got at a garge sale for $5. I want to put it in Lainey's room with dainty little plates around the sides. Too bad I didn't clean the fingerprints off before I took the picture.

Tristan riding his bike, which got run over this morning by Danny. I think I might be able to save with a new wheel.

Alex on his new, big bike that he rode to Grandpa's house with. The new, big bike that is now in time-out.

Alaina and Tristan with their new obsession. "MY BABY KITTY!!" is Alaina's favorite phrase.

Elephant, hiding under the blanket.

Francine, who was very happy and purring in this spot, even though she doesn't look like it.

These are kind of backwards. But this is Alaina asleep on my lap- DURING THE FIREWORKS!!! She was verry tired.

Different people at the fireworks. We had ham and cheese and tuna sandwiches and caramel corn and grapes and drinks. Yummmm.....
Danny at the barbeque. I forgot to take any more pictures, which is too bad, because we had a lot of really good food and lots of people. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, watermelon, coleslaw, potato salad, green salad, fruit salad, asiago bread, oreos, cookies, chips, and I know I am not remembering everything, but it was really good. More "obsession"pictures

This is how Lainey sits sometimes when we eat dinner. Sometimes she rests her head on the arch of her foot. Silly girl.

Other than all this, we have been playing, reading, cleaning (not enough) and busy with callings and work and things. We love summer, but it is really busy. Tomorrow I am going to Girl's Camp at Darby and I am really excited! But I am sad to be gone for so long. We will be back Friday afternoon, which isn't too long. But I think that is the longest I have been gone from Danny since we had kids. I hope they all survive!!

Well, that's all for now. Wish me good luck at camp at hopefully I will come back with lots of pictures and good stories!!