Cleaning the Kitchen

What is your least favorite cleaning job to do in your house? Hands down cleaning my kitchen (especially doing the dishes) is by far the bane of my cleaning existence. I would rather scrub my toilet inside and out with my bare hands rather than take on the job of....dun dun DUN...Washing My Dishes! Like laundry dishes are a never ending job. I could get every single dish in my entire house clean, dry, and put away and somehow 5 minutes later there will be a lone spoon or cup in the sink taunting me waiting to be washed. Do they hide themselves in the shadows of my kitchen finally emerging the moment they see me walk out with a triumphant "I'm done" look on my face? I like to think so.

So I came up with what I thought of as a brilliant solution to this dilemma.....

...Get your child to do your dirty work for you!!

It worked for a little while and John had a BLAST helping mommy in the kitchen. I usually have a gate up to keep him out of the kitchen so on the rare instances I actually let him in he gets pretty excited. He was a pretty good little dish washer for me until he tried to drink the water and scrub his head with the scrubby brush. His clothes were soaked by the end and my floor looked like a small pond. I thought it was a great way to kill many birds with one stone....clean dishes, clean floor, clean clothes, and a clean and happy child!!! he he he ;)

I am all for giving my children chores. I'm excited for the day he will actually make things cleaner by helping mommy rather than creating more messes to be cleaned up......Wait, is there such a day?

37 wks

I'm finally 37wks and still feeling great. My body is getting ready to have this baby and it's becoming quite an adventure. At my appointment yesterday the doctor told me that I am like a "mushy marshmallow" and completely ready to have him. The only thing stopping me is my little boy decided he wants to be a diver and put his hands above his head. (His head is down but...) This is preventing him from dropping down and therefore I can't dilate and start going until he decides to move his hands! I'm not too worried nor am I terribly anxious to get this kid out of me yet so I'm just biding my time waiting to see what happens. It could be tomorrow, next week, 2 weeks or even longer until he finally decides to come. Last night I went to my friend Jo's house and she has one of those inversion tables that I tried. Her theory was if I was "upside-down" the baby would have enough room to move his hands out of the way. Her husband was a little freaked out that my water might break all over their carpet when I came back right side-up! It didn't by the way!! I don't know if it worked to get his hands completely out of the way but he was sure moving a lot when I did it.

Anyway, I'm huge, hot, but still feeling great. I'm "nesting" right now so my house is progressively getting cleaner and more organized everyday. Even though it takes me twice sometimes 3 times as long to get anything done I'm certain that slowly but surely I'll get it all done....right?

4th of July

We had a pretty good 4th of July this year. Yes I was a little sad by the fact I couldn't do the traditional wake up early to go to the balloons, ward pancake breakfast, BBQ with the fam, cake and ice cream for Misty and Dub's birthday, long afternoon nap, then fire works in front of the Marriot Center. HOWEVER we still managed to make the day great.

After church we went home threw a pot roast, potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot, took a nice long nap, watched a movie, ate our delicious dinner, then headed over to the pier in Santa Barbara to meet up with some friends and watch the fireworks. Parking was horrible but we ended up finding something not too far away from state street which was really nice for the fact that we didn't have to walk "too" far to get to the pier but horrible afterward because we had to sit in the car for nearly an hour waiting for the traffic to go down before we were able to go home. It was REALLY fun to watch the fireworks from the pier. They lit up the water and palm trees and made everything look really cool.

It was a great day!

Folklore Camp 2010

We're home and exhausted! But I had a few minutes to get some pictures up so you all could see how much fun we had this past week. Enjoy!

Urg...

Wow things are getting harder and harder to do with every day. Even the simplest of things that use to take me 5 minutes to complete now take me hours. There are so many things I wish I could do but I have no energy to do anything right now. I was so spoiled in my first pregnancy because I just stayed home all day watching movies and waiting for Daniel to come home. I slept when I wanted to I ate when and what I wanted to and I felt pretty good. This time I have this cute little smiling face getting into trouble every 5 seconds and making so many messes by the time I clean one up I turn around to find at least 3 new major messes he so graciously created while I had my back turned. My last pregnancy I never really had the "I'm so ready to have this baby" feeling. I'm DEFINITELY feeling it right now!!
Don't get me wrong I love my little boys (both in and out) but boy oh boy am I tired! The other day Daniel, John, and I spent 6 hours at the hospital trying to figure out why I almost passed out a couple of times over the weekend. It was pretty ridiculous being there for 6 hours sitting in the hallway of the ER because they had too many people to even give me a room. Then they misdiagnosed me with a bladder infection (which I don't have) and told me they didn't know what was wrong with me and sent me on my way. Total waste of time!!
I was feeling pretty low the next day and sat on the couch trying to relax as my son tore apart the house and drove me crazy. We went grocery shopping and when we came home John managed to pull a gallon of juice off of the counter onto the floor where it split down the side and started spraying everywhere. I lost it and just started bawling my eyes out. I ended up going to bed at 8pm and didn't wake up until the next morning at 7am when I woke up screaming because of a charlie horse in my leg. It hurt so bad I was literally screaming and woke Daniel and John up. All day my leg has been sore but at least it didn't happen again. I know I should be complaining about my life because I really do have an amazing life and an amazing family I just sometimes start feeling a little too overwhelmed with things. Daniel was so sweet after the juice spilled and I went to bed crying my eyes out. He stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to clean up the mess so when I woke up and came through the damage created by John the night before was undetectable and the kitchen sparkled. He is the best husband in the world and I am so lucky that he puts up with all of my crazy pregnancy hormones and still treats me like a queen.

Well, that's all for tonight. Selamat Tidur!

Birthday Fun

After a morning of cramming and an afternoon consisting of a 3 hour final Daniel was ready to do something fun to celebrate the day of his birth. We went to Goleta Beach and had a BBQ as part of the Young Men/Young Women activity. Daniel is the 2nd counselor in the YM's. We went a little bit early so we could enjoy some time together before the actual BBQ started. John had a blast chasing the birds and trying everything to get to the water. The weather was gorgeous and it was nice and sunny. We had a lot of fun together.

Cute story: The Young Men's president arrived early to get the coals ready and he had his 2 kids with him (Warren and Maddie) while his wife ran a few errands. Warren was playing with John for a little while then he ran up to Daniel and said:
W: Why is Sister Tuutau here?
D: Why not?
Me: Can I come to the BBQ as well Warren?
W: No it's for the Young Men and Young Women
Me: Oh am I not young enough?
W: Um, *incredulous look on his face* You're in Primary!!

Happy Birthday Daniel

Happy Birthday to my one true love!

Don't worry sweetie...after your 3 hour final the fun will begin!!