"Um....I think we have a problem..."

So, my parents, sisters, and eighteen year old brother went to Lake Powell last weekend. They left Sunday with two other families in the ward. Jason had to work and there was no way I was going to take two little ones to stay on a houseboat for two weeks by myself, so we "volunteered" to stay home and watch the yard, house, and dog.

Their plan was to spend the week anchored on some beach out in some canyon, then return to the Wahweep marina to drop off one family who needed to be home as well as Brennan (my brother) because he needed to get back to work. They've called a couple of time when they were in the main channel to check up and see how things were going and let us know this plan.

Then today when we got home from church I had a message from my mom asking me to call as soon as we got home. I couldn't think of anything she might need, and thus called back curious. When she didn't answer I called my dad's phone. Here's that conversation in a nutshell:

Dad: Well, we got in to the marina and I sent Brennan up to meet me with the car.
(My dad's speed boat has been in and out of the shop a lot lately. Apparently it had died during the week and they were going to just leave it on the trailer until he could get it into the shop...or buy a new boat...)
D: Anyway, he came running back to the houseboat really fast with this weird look on his face and he says to me, "Ummm, Dad? I think we have a problem." So I told him to just give it to me straight. He says, "The car blew up."
Me: WHAT?!?!?! (in that really annoying high pitched voice everyone gets when they're shocked)
D: The car blew up. It exploded.
M: WHAT?!?!?!?! (in the voice again)
D: Yeah. It's totally gone.
M: Are you serious? (and a third time)
D: Yeah. Don't worry. No one was in it and no one got hurt.
M: WHAT?!?!?!?! Are you serious? What happened?
D: A nearby camper caught fire and apparently blew up four cars, including ours.

So you get the idea. We finished by talking about what they were going to do and what the plan was now. They have to leave the speed boat at Wahweep because (obviously) the trailer was torched with the car. And they'll either pile into the other cars (if everyone and everything fits) or rent something and then deal with insurance when they get home.

Last year on the way to Powell my parents started a hillside on fire. Seriously. In the midst of all the other fires that were going on last summer, the axle on their boat trailer broke, sparked, and burned an entire mountainside. Now this. I can't help but just laugh!

Anyway, my dad e-mailed me a photo of the used-to-be-2007-Denali-turned-charred-shell:

Hopefully the second half of their trip goes more smoothly than the first half!!! =)

Will you be my girlfriend? Circle YES or NO

Do you ever feel down for no good reason? Like you just don't want to be a mom today? Or this week? That's how I'm feeling right now.

Now don't get me wrong! I LOVE my kids and wouldn't trade motherhood for anything!! But it's been one of those weeks where the laundry didn't get done, the dishwasher is full and there are dishes piled next to the sink, just about every toy, book, and video is out on the floor, the beds aren't made, I still haven't showered for the day, and I have no motivation to get off my tush and do any of it. And those are just the usual chores that I've fallen behind on. There is plenty extra to be done, and soon. But between lack of sleep and being busy and stressed and stressed and busy I just can't find the energy to do much of anything but just get by.

Disclaimer: Although I have been a ROTTEN house wife this week, I must say that my kids have still been bathed, fed, changed, dressed in clean clothing and pajamas every day and night, etc!! I promise I'm not THAT far-gone. I have not yet succumbed them to my pathetic and slovenly state.

My brain is stuck in that wishful place, just daydreaming. Just wishing that for one day or one weekend I could be Jason's girlfriend again. Not his children's mother or his wife. His girlfriend. I want to be that silly girl who spent two full hours primping, anxious for him to show up just so we could do nothing and be completely happy about it. I want to go back for just a little while to a place where we have no real responsibility. When we could seriously do nothing but talk and laugh and be nervous around each other and I would wonder whether or not he was going to hold my hand or put his arm around me and we just couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces.

I hope this doesn't sound as if I'm ungrateful for or unhappy with my life, my marriage, or my children. Because that is NOT the case. Not in the slightest. But at least someone else out there has to know what I mean. Don't you just wish you could take a break from your own life every now and then? Please say you have felt the same way and make me feel less guilty for everything I just said!!

P.S. I posted this and walked away from the computer to pick up Jack who had pooped liquid (for the third time) through his diaper and onto my arm. Life has thus reinforced my feelings.

Good times!!

Last weekend was the annual Cox Family Reunion in Richfield. The Cox's are my mom's side of the family. Ever since I can remember we've done a three day camp out. Everyone arrives Thursday, we split into teams and play ridiculous games on Friday, Friday night we have a bon fire and awards ceremony where the winning team receives all bragging rights, then Saturday we break camp and start looking forward to the next year. Well, the last few years we have shortened the reunion. Some of the older cousins have a hard time taking the time off of work and since Grandpa passed away two years ago, Grandma no longer has him to pull the trailer to the camp site. So we now meet in Richfield to have a barbecue Friday night and then play games at a local park and visit all day Saturday. SO MUCH FUN!!

I L.O.V.E. hanging out with the aunts and uncles and cousins and first cousins once removed and second cousins and Grandma!! It's so fun! We laugh, we act like we're twelve, there's great food and even better conversation. And I love watching my kids make the same kinds of memories that I did growing up.

So this year, Jason and I didn't make the barbecue, but got down to Richfield in time for the games on Saturday, which is where all the fun is anyway. My mom and her siblings each take turns. One year one family does games and another does the location and food. Then they rotate (there are eight kids in her family). This year it was Aunt Jo's turn. We were divided into four teams and given a colored fabric strip to tie on our arms, waists, heads, or where ever to identify ourselves.

They started out with a game for the younger kids. There was a kiddie pool full of saw dust. Three kids from each of the four teams lined up and each had one minute to dig out as much candy as they could. Payson wasn't too sure she wanted to get dirty but found a few pieces of candy. By the time we got to Benjamin (the last one on our team to dig) we had six pieces in our bucket. We were getting smoked by the other teams! Then Benjamin jumped in and by the end we were the winners with a whopping 86 pieces of candy!! GO BENJAMIN!!

Later in the afternoon we found Sophia and Payson carrying the bucket of candy around (now mostly wrappers) and telling everyone, "We're going to have a picnic!"

(that's Benjamin to the left of Payson)

The next game was Crab Ball. For the adults. Seriously. How long has it been since you've played crab ball? I had forgotten the muscles it takes to walk on your hands that way! But the game was hysterical!! Old men crab walking as quickly as they could to kick this giant blue blow up ball past the other teams goal. The grunting and groaning was hilarious! My family is a little competitive. Some players even resorted to sitting on top of other teams members to prevent them from assisting their team! (Thanks, Zach).

(Jason with some of the kids from the orange team making sure he understands all the rules)

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

Maren was on my team. Go team purple! We won. Maren was so aggressive! It was adorable! Isn't she so cute?!

The next game was creating rockets from a table of random materials. The highest launching rocket was the winner. Aunt Jo had distributed all the family engineers evenly on the teams, and we basically let Lon build our rockets. I helped decorate. =)

(me from my best angle...behind)

They had also set up a cute little craft table for all the little kids. Daddy helped Payson make a necklace. I love this picture of them. So sweet!

Madie

Dad with his AWESOME yellow team bandana

Brennan being Brennan
Cute, cute Grandma
At first glance, Brennan looks like he's being all sweet and hugging Madie. When you look closely, he's actually choking her with her own arms. What a good older brother!!
Payson playing with the boys, Benjamin and Johnny


Payson and the girls (Sophia and Emma Leigh) playing with their "pet lion"Flattering picture, I know. But I never post anything of myself, so here I am!!
I could eat him!!

Payson with her purple head band!! Yay team!! We didn't win the rocket launching, but we won overall!! And it really was all because of Benjamin and his crazy candy finding skills!

So that was our family reunion! Can't wait for next year!

Oh! How I love them!!

First off, how awesome is this picture? Yes, I do have the world's coolest kids. I just thought their faces were hilarious. I don't even remember taking this picture. I just found it on my camera yesterday and had to share.

Anyway, on to other things! We got back from the Cox Family Reunion late last night and all crashed! We were completely worn out from all the fun. And the kids got some serious coughs and runny noses. So I stayed home with them while Jason represented us at church today. =)

When he got home we had lunch and put Jack down for his nap. Then the three of us (Jason, Payson, and myself) plopped down on the couch for some relaxation. Payson pulled a few toys over behind the couch and started doing Mommy's hair. She's such a girl that way. Takes after her mommy, I guess.

Anyway, her "hair thingies" (aka miscellaneous toys found in the basket Grandma keeps in the family room) started to pull my curls so I suggested she work on Daddy's "hair". That satisfied her.

After a few minutes I went to see what she was doing and found this:

My little sisters have a doll that came with a little, fake, plastic flat iron looking thing that you run through the doll's hair to create stripes of color. Purple, pink, and blue. Payson had taken the color-stripe-making-mechanism out and had been rubbing it all over Daddy's head while he relaxed in front of some baseball.

I may have helped fill in a few of the holes after I stopped laughing at his head. =) In conclusion:

OUR DADDY IS PRETTIER THAN YOUR DADDY!!

Oh dear...

Have you ever wanted to post something on your blog but you couldn't because you knew someone would see it that you didn't want to know about it? I'm feeling that way right now. Oh gee. And it's SO funny!! You'd all laugh hysterically! But I can't post it because, well, you get my point.

I just need to post something!

No pictures, no fun stories, no exciting happenings in our lives. I just need to get rid of the last post. How boring am I?

So, I guess I could post about the Fourth. But I forgot my camera, so there are no photos. We had an afternoon family swim party and then a barbecue at my Aunt Teri and Uncle Dick's. They live in Provo in the foothills so we had an AMAZING view of the Stadium of Fire fireworks show from their back deck without the heat and discomfort of actually going. And without having to pay for tickets. I'm cheap. What can I say?

So that was fun. I love getting together with family and I hadn't seen the Lethbridge side in quite a while.

Then this weekend we have a Cox family reunion, Mom's side. I wish we still did our annual three day camp out, but hanging in Richfield for the weekend is fun too. I'll make sure to take my camera to that one, so stay tuned!!

Anyway, Jack's up from his nap so I'm off to change what is I'm sure a nasty diaper. =)