Lessons Learned

We had a couple families over on Saturday evening for an omelette party and I learned two things...
1. I don't really like omelettes
2. If you have an entire party centered around a certain type of food, you should probably know how to make it before the guests are at your house.

Happy Anniversary to us!

A couple weeks ago, on Dec. 13, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful day including a morning trip to the temple, a couples massage at Sanctuary Day Spa and a delicious dinner at Tuscany. We had originally planned to go on a little get away somewhere close but, as it got closer, we didn't feel like the timing was right to leave the kids with a babysitter overnight. Despite the change of plans, it was the perfect day and it was great to have some time to ourselves. We were actually married on Friday the 13th. While some think this day is unlucky, we've found that is has brought the best of luck to us. The last five years have been better than we could have hoped for and we can't wait to see what the next five bring! I posted some pictures below that were taken during our engagement since we don't have any weding pics on our computer.

Hallelujah!!

We finally finished delivering the last of our neighbor and friend gifts last night! It's such a relief to be done. We are also done with the shopping for the kids with the exception of one gift that Santa's Elves had a problem with and will be delivering a week late. (The store was out of them and I ordered it online too late). :) Most of our Christmas cards have been sent as well. We hope to sit back, relax and enjoy our family the next couple of days without all the crazy hustle and bustle. Hooray! I've already made a goal for next year to have our cards and neighbor gifts done and delivered the first week of December. We'll see what happens. :) Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread House Competition, McGhie Style

Here we are at the McGhie's Second Annual Graham Cracker Gingerbread House Making Competition. This year, due to multiple scheduling conflicts with previous participants, some of the faces have changed, but the spirit of the competition remains the same... to kill and crush your opponents by making an all around superior creation. There is only one rule - everything on the thing must be edible. Oh... and there is a one hour time limit (which we sorta abandoned).
This year we were looking for revenge (since last year it was painfully obvious that we were beat out by more skilled, more creative and all around better graham contractors).

So, with the stakes high, and creative juices flowing, we set to work on our graham creations.

Disclaimer #1: Both of the other involved parties were first-timers, so cut them some slack.

Disclaimer #2: We have nothing against people living in trailers. In fact, some of our dearest friends from Provo lived in a trailer home. But as you'll see, this is no Provo trailer.... this is a good old fashion, southern redneck establishment, or at least that's what we were going for.

So, here are the results (and you can click on any of the images for bigger, more detailed versions):

Submission #1 by Sheldon and Nicole Martin - Frosty the Snowman's Mountain Retreat

Submission #2 by Rock and Whitney Permann - The Town Hall (aka the mall)

Submission #3 by Us- The Redneck Christmas Cottage

Anyways, the gauntlet has been thrown out and Sheldon has assured us they will be holding family graham cracker house building practice sessions once a month in preparation for next Christmas' competition. We say, bring it on.

So, I've included a few close up shots of our creation for anyone who is interested in taking a gander. And just to add to the spirit of the creation, all the forthcoming descriptions will be in the language you'd expect from one describing this:

This hyar is th' Driveway View. This hyar shot cappures th' essence of our li'l cottage, in a trimenjus pitcher kinda thin'.

Fum this hyar shot, yo' sh'd be able t'pick out a few of our favo'ite features:

#1 - th' profile of th' mounted deer haid
#2 - th' Jedtmas lights haphazardly strung (year roun' by th' way)
#3 - th' lawnchairs laid out in front of th' campfire
#4 - sum beer bottles strewn about th' front yard
#5 - a few frogs loiterin' about th' propuhty

Next we haf our Campfire View. This hyar sh'd give yo' a bit mo'e of a closeup t'pick outta few of th' afo'e menshuned features thet come stan'ard wif this hyar li'l baby.

This hyar is whut we refer t'as th' Crown View. Our creashun is ado'ned wif a stuffed an' mounted deer haid. "Whuffo' ain't it inside," yo' ax? Wal, it obviously'dn't fit too fine, an' shucks, eff'n it were inside th' neighbo's'dn't be able t'see it.

... OK enough of that redneck talk...

And last we have the Rear View. Now, let me just tell you, while this was totally unintentional (Steff was working on the wreath and campfire on one side, while I was mounting the deer head), it made for some of the biggest laughs of the evening. Once all was said and done, it was brought to our attention that with the strategic position of the deer head and the red, circular wreath, it almost made the back of the trailer look like we were impersonating not only the head of the deer, but also the rear end. Funny, but we can't take credit for that. We were simply adding a little more Christmas cheer to the cottage.

Until next year...

Another adventure with my kids

I stopped at the grocery store on my home from the gym this morning. I didn't bring my wallet and only brought 2 $10 bills inserted in a piece of paper in one of the zipper pockets in my bag. I wanted to go to the store then so I could come home and put C down for a nap and clean the house without having to go back out again. I was getting some stuff for a party we are having tonight and chatting on the phone with Matt trying to figure out what we needed. While I was distracted with the phone conversation, C got in my bag and in the zipper pocket and pulled out the paper the money was in. He must have thrown it on the floor along the way somewhere. After I got off the phone, I noticed he was playing with the paper the money had been in. Of course I searched and searched but the money was long gone. So, I have a bunch of groceries in my cart and no money. Out of guilt, I tried to walk around and put them all back in the right places and, of course, the store is packed with people. The whole time Winston had been whining about wanting an ice cream cone from the deli. I kept telling him no and finally got to the end of my rope and turned to him and said (in a very stern almost yelling voice) "Winston! We are not getting an ice cream cone. We don't have any money! Please stop!" Just then, I heard someone say "Hi Steff." It was the YW Pres I had served with in our old ward. I was pretty embarrassed and tried to act all happy to see her. I'm sure she heard me telling W that we didn't have any money. So, we are almost finished putting our stuff back and Winston starts yelling "We don't have any money. We can't buy any food!" Keep in mind I am in my grubby workout clothes with my hair in a messy ponytail and hardly any make-up. The kids are in some random sweat outfits I threw on them in my rush to get to the gym on time and they are covered in the frosting from the free cookie from the bakery. We were looking real nice...real nice, Clark. By this time I was on the phone with Matt and he was getting big laughs out of the whole situation. He said any minute someone was going to come up and offer me money to help buy my kids some food for Christmas. I forgave him for laughing when he offered to run to the store during his lunch hour to get the stuff we needed so I wouldn't have to venture back to the store with the kids today. Matt told me I needed to blog about it. So...there you go. :) I hope Charlie enjoyed his $20 ride in the race car cart at Macey's. Merry Christmas to him.

Our Thanks and Love to You

Dear Friends & Family,

Rather than the traditional letter of comings, goings, events and even non-events, we thought we’d change pace a bit. This year we simply want to share our love and our thanks and our wishes to each of you for your friendship, love and kindness. All this has truly made a significant difference in our lives in ’07.

For us, the year 2007 has brought pinnacles of fun and happiness, while also stretching and pulling our family beyond what we thought possible. Through it all, we’ve been backed by an all-star supporting cast of family and friends… namely – all of you. For the fun, help, support and prayers, we want to thank each of you in a much more personal and sincere way than a letter, but alas, for now, this will need to suffice.

If you’re interested in some of the happenings of this little McGhie family, feel free to browse this blog, which we’ve used to keep track of a lot of our events over the last while. You’ll find entries detailing our first cruise, a week spent skiing in Canada, our first garden, Charlie’s comings and goings, numerous camping and boating outings, swimming at the neighbors, backyard s’mores parties, Winston starting pre-school, birthdays, and a few other ‘whatevers’ thrown into the mix.

We wish all of you the happiest of holidays and again express our love and thanks for all that has been done in our behalf, from simply babysitting (which we understand really isn’t so simple with our kids) to the fasts and prayers.

With Love,

Matt, Steff, Winston & Charlie

Fun with a Snowman

Saturday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. A good eight inches of snow covered everything as far as the eye could see. It was a vast sea of undisturbed fluffiness. So, being the appreciators we are, we bundled up the kids and headed out for some snowman fun.

Now, as some of you are aware, I have a great respect for Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) and his imagination. His snowmen rank high on my list of favorites. So, with all this snow and not much else to do, Steff and I decided to take our own shot at making a 'Calvin Snowman' of our own... This particular creation comes from his 'Snowman House of Horror."

Side view...

As we were wrapping up, our neighbor came over to see what we were up to. I'm pretty sure he thought we were totally demented. He did manage to chuckle uncomfortably and say something to the effect of the neighbor kids not being able to sleep at night. I'm also pretty sure the words demented and twisted were used in his dialogue as well.

Anyways, we had a pretty good time, some heated 'debate' and got really cold toes. Ah, what a season....

By the way, here is the original idea we used.... so you know its not just our demented (or twisted) sense of humor:

CHARLIE

How can one little person be so fun and so sweet and make me so happy and then make me want to tear my hair out other times? This kid keeps our life interesting. So, here's the latest and greatest with Charlie.

We took him to an allergist a couple weeks ago. I was so worried we would find out he was allergic to dairy products. The appt. was pretty much a nightmare. I ended up having to lay on top of him to pin him down so the allergist could poke his hand over and over and over. This went on for about and hour while Charlie fought tooth and nail the ENTIRE time. The lady was worried I was getting hurt because C kept kicking me in the face and body. He was drencehd in sweat and his hair was matted to his head. I felt so bad but managed to hold it together until I got out to the car. The results? Charlie is allergic to wheat, all dairy, eggs, soy, goat's milk/cheese, corn, certain sugars, certain dyes, preservatives and tomatoes. Not sure if I left anything out but you get the point. I still don't even know what to say about this. We are gradually trying to figure out how to change his diet and hope that it will help his seizures. He's such a sweet boy, it seems so unfair for him.

Winston and Charlie have been playing together a bit more lately. They still fight a lot but it's so rewarding to see them enjoy each other and laugh together. It makes it all worth it.

Charlie is as "busy" as ever. He is into EVERYTHING. He never stops. This picture is from yesterday when he knocked over the kid gate (meant to keep him out of the pantry) and got into the powdered eggs. His latest thing is to open the oven door and either reapetedly slam it shut or climb up on it and get up on the counter. This gives him access to all the things we put up there to keep out of his reach. You wouldn't believe how fast he is. Look away for 2 seconds and you can bet he's going to be making a mess of something. He also loves to get in the fridge and pull the eggs or condiments out onto the floor or open the dishwasher and pull out dishes and run as fast as he can with whatever he managed to snatch. For some reason, he usually goes for the knives. I chase after him and take them away and he laughs and laughs. He loves it. I put him in time out and he usually laughs while he's sitting there. Any advice from any of you is very welcome. :) We have to lock all the bathroom doors because he gets in the toilets or the tub and turns on the water. He's one crazy kid. He definitely keeps our lives exciting. He really is a fun kid and he makes us laugh more than anything. We're so happy to have him even if he makes us drop into bed exhausted every night. :) I think it may be paybacks for all the trouble Matt gave his parents growing up. He he.

Just call me Grandma

Yes, it's official...I'm 30 years old! I had a great birthday. On Saturday morning, some of my girlfriends took me out for my favorite breakfast at Magelbys. Yum! It was so fun. I feel so blessed to have such great friends here. That night, we went out with my parents and Matt's parents to my favorite restaraunt...Teppanyakis. Another yum! We had a really nice time with the parentals. Matt and I are so happy they get along so well. They are such wonderful and amazing people. We feel so lucky to have them.

Sunday, the Bishop let Matt out of his morning meetings so he could help me get the kids ready for church. It might seem kind of silly but it was soooo nice. He also had short meetings after church and was able to get home pretty early! He made me a yummy lasagna dinner and let me take a nap while he and Winston made me a cute birthday cake. There were many nice phone calls and emails from family and friends. Thanks everyone for making it so special.

I almost forgot about the present Matt gave me. Even though I knew about it, I'm still totally excited. We are going to San Francisco next June so we can swim in Sharkfest. Sharkfest is a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatrez back to the shore. My 5 brothers and sisters are also doing this swim in June. I think it will be tough but it will be really awesome to accomplish something like that. My family has nicknamed Matt "sharkbait." He's not a big swimmer but he's working hard and I know he's going to do great! :) I'm really proud of him for trying! It was the perfect gift and I can't wait to go!!

Yes, I'm looking real nice Clark. Real nice.I decided, since it was my birthday, I could spend the whole day (after church) in my favorite PJ pants and sweatshirt. Go Enumclaw! :)

Wish List

Just in case Matt wonders if he should get me more for my birthday than a trip to San Fransisco and registration for Sharkfest...here's a good idea. Just trying to help. He he

First Annual River Trail Ward Turkey Bowl

The weather was so incredibly beautiful yesterday. It was perfect for our ward Turkey Bowl. There was a great turnout and it seemed like everyone had a fun time. After the game, all the players and their fams enjoyed breakfast together in the nearby pavilion. All in all, it was a nice way to enjoy the awesome weather on a Saturday morning. Above are a few pictures of my sweet baby "bringing it" during the game.
*Pictures courtesy of our ward photographer, Jack Petersen. I borrowed them from the RIVER TRAIL WARD PHOTO BLOG.

Happy Birthday Winston!

Yes, I'm still trying to catch up on our blog. Winston actually turned 4 on September 12. He woke up to a Spiderman bike at the bottom of the stairs followed by German Pancakes...the breakfast of his choosing. We went to the Mayan Adventure for dinner that night. He thought all the animals and the cliff divers were pretty cool. It was pretty fun but the food, as we had been previously warned, was pretty horrible. I guess you go there for the atmosphere. Later that week, we had a birthday party for him at Airtime Gymnastics. I think the kids had a great time. They had a "coach" that took them around and did trampoline tricks, obstacle courses and some other fun gymnastic activites. At the end, we took all the kids (13...yikes!) into the party room and had cupcakes, opened presents and gave out the treat bags. It was pretty crazy at the end but I think it turned out pretty darn good. Happy Birthday Win!

Halloween 2007

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a great Halloween. My parents came over and we had some yummilicious Chili, Scones and Homemade Apple Pie. Matt and I took the kids around the block trick or treating while my parents manned the door. Winston was pretty into the all the festivities but Charlie was sooooo mad about having to wear the hook part of his Captain Hook costume, all he did was cry until I took it off (hence the pictures). After that he was pretty happy. Earlier in the month, we went to the Big Red Barn with our friends, the Tingeys. It was lots of fun AND we got to pick out our perfect pumpkins for the carving contest. We had our ward trunk or treat earlier that week where Matt donned his Sumo costume. He was hot stuff. :) We also had a great time participating in the Trick or Treat on Main Street here in Spanish Fork. It was great except that I wore my boots with a tall heels and could barely walk by the end. All in all, it was a great month. Hope you all had a great Halloween too! Until next year...

2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest '07

I doubt many of you remember last year's contest, but no worries. Rest assured, it took place. And now, bless all our good fortunes, it's come around again. Last week we had the McGhie's 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest. Year one featured hanging bats, haunted houses, spiders, men in mirrors and the never-forgotten Curious George pumpkin.

Year two everyone decided to take it to the next level. In our earlier post of the Big Red Barn, Steff alluded to the fact that it was a fun night out with some good friends at a pumpkin patch. Mostly true. Mostly it was a trip to find the perfect pumpkin for the 2nd Annual... and it worked. So, let's not fool ourselves folks. We found el pumpkinos supremo. And it was game on for the competition... and the McGhie's were bringin' it.

Everyone got right into it, some having a bit more fun than others. We carved, dug, gutted and even hacked. I'm talking serious blood sweat and tears.... figuratively of course. In the end, everyone came out with pumpkins to be proud of. From left to right, we had an alien being (Brian) sucked up by his UFO, Napolean Dynamite (Matt), the headless horseman (Liz), two-face phantom of the opera clown man thing (sorry Kyle), a bat (Melissa), and creature reacher (Steff).

At the end of the competition, we couldn't really determine a winner, as is mostly the case. We all had a good time and came out with some pretty awesome pumpkins to show off for the neighbors.

Next year, we're going to get serious... again. You all just wait. You'll see...

Here are close-ups of our pumpkins in case anyone cares (as I look down dejectedly and kick a pebble with my shoe)...

Steff's Creature Reacher

Matt's Napolean Dynamite

mm

Guns 'N Tuff Stuff

So, I guess the last time I wrote Pluto was still a planet and being called 'The Biggest Loser' was not a good thing. My how things change.

Anyways, for work we got to go to a place called the Big Shot Ranch a week or so ago. It was a range for shooting guns. For the first while we went from station to station shooting different arrangements of skeet (clay pigeons).

After we finished shooting, we had a great lunch of tri-tip steak and pork loin roast. This is when the afternoon went from awesome to incredible. Following lunch, we went back out to the range and that's when they pulled out the heavy artillery.... literally.

The first gun we got to shoot was a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

This gun was huge. This gun has a 1.5 mile effective range. When the gun went off, you could feel the shock of it all around. It was like a cannon.

The interesting thing about the whole shooting of this monster was that even though I was one of the smaller, weaker guys, I really just made that gun look good. It was almost uncanny. :)

When we finished shooting the .50 cal sniper rifle, we had one last treat to play with. The last gun.... well, I'll just let the video speak for itself.

Man, that was fun stuff. I highly recommend this.

mm

First day of preschool

Winston had his first day of preschool on September 4. He goes to the "Smart Stuff" preschool in Salem. We both love it!


This was their first field trip up Payson Canyon to go leaf collecting and learn about nature. There are eight kids in his class but on field trip days, Ms. Tonya combines the morning and afternoon classes. She has some fun matching blue shirts for the kids to wear so she can keep track of them when they go on outings. I had the opportunity to go along on this one and help out. It was really fun. The kids are so cute.



They even have their own little blue school bus. It's so funny. Winston was in heaven when he found out he got to ride on the bus.

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!

Okay, so his birthday was in September but I am finally posting about it now. All six kids and spouses and some grandkids made it to surprise my Dad for his 70th birthday. We met in the lobby of their SLC mission apt. and went up together and knocked on the door. He was pretty surprised. My Mom had arranged for them to have the day off at the Family History Library where they are serving their mission. The security guards even said they would escort him out if he tried to come in. :) We headed up to a house in Snow Basin we had rented for a couple days. It was really fun to just hang out and play games and relax. True to the Butler tradition, we had enough food for about 500 people. It was good, though, and added to the fun.

We also carried on the tradition of cup wars. My Mom makes us write our names on our cups so we can reuse them and not have to wash 12,000 cups when we get together. Long ago, someone decided to poke tiny pinholes in someone else's cup so that when they went to get a drink, little streams of water would run out. This resulted in the previous person's cup getting knifed. Now every time we get together, we all closely inspect our cup before drinking because you can pretty much count on one of the siblings to have done something to it. I have to say that I was proud of my husband this trip. He came up with an idea that hadn't been done before. He took some guacamole and dripped some around in one of the cups and wrote a note on the cup that said something about being sorry about sneezing in their cup. My family was impressed.

While we were there, my niece was trying to get some ideas for fundraisers for her Senior Class to earn money for Prom. Some of us came up with some great ideas but then Becca made the mistake of leaving her list out on the counter. When we were leaving and she went to get it, there were a few more ideas penciled in for her. I believe "Rob a bank" and "Sell your soul" were a couple of them? Nice one fam.

It really was a fun weekend. I hope my Dad had a great birthday. He's the best and he deserves it. Happy Birthday Dad!

We've been tagged

Okay, we were tagged about a hundred years ago by my dear friend Angie. She does amazing photography. You should check out her blog here. Anywho, we are supposed to write 8 interesting things about us. So, here goes...

1. Matt is the youngest of eight kids.
2. I am the youngest of 6 kids. (yeah, 2 youngest children...goofing off is the norm at our house)
3. When we got married, we hoped to have a large family. Now we just hope to survive Charlie. :)
4. Charlie has recently mastered the somersault and is now a somersaulting fool.
5. Winston started preschool this year and has already been on three fieldtrips. He loves it!
6. We love having parties at our house including (but not limited to) aebleskiver parties, pumpkin carving parties, crepe parties, gingerbread house making parties, pizza making parties, smores parties...well, you get the picture. We love parties. Any excuse is a good excuse to have one.
7.Matt has won the last three sales competitions at his work scoring us a family pass for dinner and bowling at Fat Cats, 4 Tickets to Frightmares at Lagoon and an overnight stay for two at Snowbird. (They stopped having the competitions)
8. Matt and I recently registered to swim in Sharkfest in San Francisco next June. It was a little pricey and it's supposed to be for my birthday so more about that later.

Okay, so I couldn't come up with anything that great but it was the best I could do at the moment. I guess I am supposed to tag other people. So, I tag Julie, Lisa, Katie, Adrianne and Laura in memory of the old BYU 93rd Ward. :) If you've already done one of these, don't feel obligated to do it again if you don't want to. Have fun!

Giant Magnet Board!

We (and by we I mean Matt) finally finished the giant magnet board for our kitchen wall. Now I just have to get pictures and stuff to fill it up. The left section is for the calendar, announcements, invitations and other scheduling things. The middle section is for pictures of family and friends. The right section is for the W and C's artwork and projects. It's exciting to have it done. Next, we will be putting beadboard on the wall under the magnet board. Slowly, our house is starting to look decorated! :)

Time to play catch up...

Yes, the McGhies are still alive and kicking. Things have just been so busy. It seems like we have things going on every single weeknight and most weekends. It's Saturday morning right now and Matt slept horrible last night. So, I tried to get the kids downstairs quietly and turned on our bathroom fan to drown out any possible noise so he could sleep in a little longer. He never gets to sleep in so hopefully this will help him feel a bit more rested. Anyhow, I have a little time to do some blogging now. So here are some things that have been going on with the McGhies since we got sick a while back...

We have it too...

Yep, we got the dreaded pool parasite that has been going around. I think the official name is Cryptosporidium. I have to tell you, if you are thinking about going swimming in a public pool in Utah...DON'T! Charlie has had it coming out of both ends for the last two weeks. Most it has gone on me, the carpet and in his crib. It's been a real treat to clean up. We've decided we are getting our carpets thoroughly cleaned after we get through this. I've been fortunate enough to not get it yet but Matt and Charlie have it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I won't join them. Anyway, just posting why I haven't been around much lately and I probably won't for a little longer. In the meantime, my advice to you is to stay as far away from the public pool as possible. Ang, I saw you tagged me and it will be my next post when I can find a few non-cleaning up pooh and puke moments. :) Ha ha

BEST WEEKEND EVER

We had such a great weekend. It was the most fun I have had in quite a while. Friday, we just relaxed and biked around delivering bags of vegetables from our garden to some of our neighbors. Saturday, we got cleaning and yardwork done and then picked up a babysitter at 5:15pm. The we were off! We went to the Waterfall Ampitheater at Thanksgiving Point to see our favorite comedian...Brian Regan. He's so funny and his jokes are CLEAN! It was a fantastic night filled with beautiful scenery, great friends and HUGE laughs. How can you not have a great night when you've been laughing for two hours straight? My parents, a lot of Matt's Fam and a lot of our friends were able to come as well. If you have not heard of Brian Regan, I would HIGHLY reccomend checking him out. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera but there is a picture of him above and here is a link to a clip of him on youtube. Enjoy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WUU9CqrtFiU

Oh, but this is not where the greatness ends! The following day, Sunday, went so well at church. Charlie was okay during Sacrament. I only had to take him out a couple times and he let me hold him and walk around. No screaming or fits to get down and run around! So, I was feeling pretty good. THEN, I took him to Nursery and told the leader I was going to try leaving him. I've tried before with no luck but I thought I'd give it another shot. Well, he stayed the whole time...no problem! I got to go to Relief Society the whole time and just sit there peacefully listening to the lesson without a care in the world. The first time in 6 months!! When I got home from church, I felt so rested and happy. THEN, Matt got home from his meetings little earlier than normal! We got to spend a lot of the day together and we even snuck in a nap. It was the perfect end to the perfect weekend. I still feel a little giddy when I think about it. Good times, good memories! Yeah!

YUBA LAKE

I'm going to try and catch up on some of the things we have been doing lately. We've been a bit busy lately and have not had a lot of time for blogging.

We went camping and boating at Yuba Lake with the Shirts Fam and the Hodges Fam last week. It was pretty fun...a little windy which made all our meals sand flavored, but fun none the less.

We hate our tent. The poles are so hard to get in and out. Matt was still able to flash a smile while setting it up. We officially decided to get a new tent before our next camping trip.

I don't know if we should actually admit this but we tied Charlie to a tree. We were so nervous being so close to water, and he's such a fast little guy, so we tied him up. We only did it for about a half hour while we got everything set up. You can see in the picture, he's not too pleased about it. On the bright side, he did amazing sleeping in the tent. He didn't cry the entire night...even through the strong winds that were trying to blow our tent over. We were surprised and thankful.

Winston really enjoyed riding on the tube with me. Then he got a ride with Dad and they went a little crazy going in and out of the wake. He ended up in tears and in my lap the rest of that boat ride.

Picture of the lake. We had no idea this lake was only 45 minutes from our house. Who knew?

Matt, Scott and Dan hanging out at our campsite.

Free Charlie to a good home

Does that seem mean? Sorry if it does. Today has just been one of those days where I wonder if this kid is for real. We started out the morning getting ready for church. It all went fairly smooth since I was actually responsible enough (for once) to lay out everyone's church clothes and iron everything the night before. (Matt has early morning meetings and I usually only see him up close for a few minutes at church each week.) We got to church...again, all going fairly well. Halfway through Sacrament meeting, C has some pretty gnarly seizures and ends up throwing up (an occasional side effect of the bad ones). I'm still optimistic about our day as I clean it all up with wet wipes. Towards the end of the meeting, C gets a stinky diaper. I drag both kids to the bathroom, get it changed and go to wash my hands, leaving C strapped on the changing tables. (I love whoever thought of including a buckle on those things.) While I'm washing, I glance at C just as puke-mania begins. Let's just say lots of puke, soaked clothes, my signal that it's time to bail and go home. By this time, Sacrament Meeting is over so I go in and find Matt while everyone is looking at my puke drenched son in my arms. I send W to Sunbeams and head home. You would think my troubles would be over. Not when you've got a kid like C-man. Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost sympathy for sick kids. I like to rock mine and help them any way I can when they are feeling crummy. I don't want to anyone to think I'm a monster mom after reading this. The thing is, C is just puking and running around happy as a clam. He doesn't seem sick at all. In fact, I feel like his energy has increased ten fold and he's into EVERYTHING today! Since we came home from church, here are a few of the things he has accomplished...

Emptying a bag of Saltine Crackers all over the kitchen floor

Poking in the lid of his sippy cup and pouring the entire contents on the carpet...oh, just did this again with W's sippy cup

Finding a bottle of bath soap I just bought and pouring the whole bottle on the kitchen floor

Puking on, not one, but both our couches. LOTS of it.

Opening and crumbling a chocolate bar all over the floor that he found in the cooler from our camping trip yesterday

Squirting A&D Ointment all over himself and the carpet

Playing with the stick of hair wax...again, all over his body, hair and our carpet and couch

Unrolling a roll of paper towels while I was trying to clean up the puke on the couch

Grabbing the pile of paper towels I had just used to clean up the puke and running away laughing while all the contents (puke) fell all over the floor for me to clean up again

Dumping out my big hospital mug full of water onto my bedroom nightstand and carpet

Repeatedly turning the dishwasher off while I'm trying to run it

Repeatedly unplugging the vacuum while I am trying to clean up his messes with it

Pulling half the stuff off one of the pantry shelves and throwing it on the floor

Dumping the container of grapes from Costco all over the kitchen floor

Getting in the fridge and pulling a number of condiments out of the door...I caught him before he could pour them out

There you go. I'd like to say this is unusual behavior for C. However, this is a fairly typical day, minus the puking. Luckily, he has a cute little smile and gives some mighty big hugs. I was just telling Matt the other day that God must have made kids cute to save their lives. I've got a few more stories on the C subject but they will have to wait for another day. Matt just got home from his church meetings...yes, it's almost 5pm and he started at 7am this morning. I'm going to spend time with another adult for a few minutes. TBC...

The McGhies strike again

We went to the Fiesta Days parade with some friends from our neighborhood. After the parade, they headed off to the carnival (we'd already been) and we headed home. Unfortunately for them, we spotted their Suburban on our way out.

At least we left a note. Later, we found out they really thought it was broken when they first saw it from down the street. We have been told they will be seeking revenge. We say "bring it!"