Catching Up

I've decided that I have a lot of things in the past (pictures, stories, etc.) that I would like to get onto my blog for the sake of journaling purposes. You'll notice from now on recent events interspersed with things that have happened awhile ago...so bear with me, while I attempt to catch up. This will especially be fun (hopefully) for my family in Oregon who are pretty much missing all of the day to day events as well as the growing up of my children. Although, I'm pretty sure that Jen is the only one of my family members in Oregon that actually checks my blog (Thank you Jenny). So just in case any of my family members decides to start blogging or starts care about what we're up to in Utah they can see exactly what we are up to.

Better than Tiger Woods

Adam and Jonah were watching pro golf a couple of weeks ago. It kept showing Tiger Woods. Jonah asked, "Is that guy good?". Adam responds, "Yeah, that's Tiger Woods, he's the best in the world". Jonah says, "Is he better than me?". Adam says,"Yeah". Jonah says, "is he better than you?". Adam says, "Yeah". Then Jonah watches for another 5 minutes while mimicking Tiger, and practicing copying his swing. Then Jonah says, "Dad, one day I'll be better than him."

Silence of the Lambs

Chase getting charged by the lambs at Clint & Lyndsee's house. Adam was outside with the boys when all of a sudden he heard Chase crying. He went over and saw the lambs with Chase he didn't know what the problem was until he noticed that every time he left the lambs would charge at Chase and head butt him in the stomach. One of the pictures here is Chase just before he gets knocked down by the little lamb. He looks happy, until the lamb knocks him right on his bum! I think the lambs got tired of Chase trying to direct them by holding onto their backside attempting to get them to go where he wanted. I don't think Chase understands that they are not like his big toy trucks that he pushes around outside.

Jonah Quotes...

"Mom, do you know that I can speak pigeon?" (then he starts to make a pigeon noise that is actually quite good).

Jonah- "Mom, can you put the milk away for me?", me- "sure", Jonah- "I'm kinda like a king", me- "how are you like a king?", Jonah- "Cuz you always do stuff for me that I want".

"Mom look there is our pigeon friend!" (then he proceeds to speak pigeon).

"I'm going to look ridiculous!!". "I'm going to look ridiculous at the gym with my swim stuff on, the kids are going point and laugh at me!, I will look ridiculous!!." (This is what he said when we put him in his swimsuit and rash guard to take him to the daycare. We were going to workout first and then take the kids swimming).

Driving in the car...

I don't know what it is about driving in the car, but it invokes the most interesting and funny conversations with my children. Actually, I should say child. Chase still can't really talk so he just listens to Jonah and I. Occasionally he will chime in with some of his jibber jabber. So, we're on our way to Target to get a little swimming pool for the back yard when Jonah asks, "Mom, how do babies get out of your tummy?" "Do they break through your skin?". I start to explain to him about Male & Female anatomy in a way that hopefully a five year old will understand. I talk to him about the V's and the P's (yes, I use the proper name of the anatomy as disturbing as that may seem). So after explaining to him how the baby comes out; He has a look of sheer terror and disgust and replies, "AHWWW, that would hurt!!!" and I say, "as a matter of fact it does...tremendously". Then he thinks about it for a bit and says, "how does a baby fit through that hole?". He just keeps saying, "that would hurt so bad!". Then he asks, "Do they put you asleep when you have a baby?, cuz then that wouldn't hurt if they did." "They should put you to sleep." I tell him no they don't put you to sleep although that doesn't seem like a bad idea. Then he says, "I'm so glad I'm a boy." He says, "Dads lucky too". "Are you sad that you didn't get to be the Dad?". Do you wish that you were a boy?". "Jesus is even smart that he is a boy." "I am so glad that he made me a boy".

Did I mention the homing pigeon?

While mentioning the unusual events/new tenants of our property. I forgot to mention the homing pigeon that showed up a few days before the bees. I actually didn't notice him/her until the day of the bee incident. But Adam says that the pigeon showed up a few days before. This pigeon must have got lost, but likes it here (I mean who wouldn't...we've got everything...bees, black widows, and now homing pigeons). My goal is to become friends with this little pigeon and see if I can get it to send messages to some of my various friends that are dispersed throughout Utah and the rest of the country. Never mind the Internet, e-mail, and blogging, I am going back to old school (if homing pigeons ever were "old school") forms of communication. Who knows maybe a horse will show up and I can start the pony express again. I mean the mail man is no faster than a pony anyways. Then, I at least won't have to pay the price of a stamp. I'm always looking at ways I can save money.
And just to go along with the creepy old movies theme that all of our "new arrivals" have, there is an old movie called "The Birds" (I'm pretty sure that's the name) by Alfred Hitchcock (I think). Anyways it is about birds that attack and kill people! Hopefully our little friend Homey (is what I will call him) will remain friendly and we won't have to turn to drastic measures. We gave the bees a fair shot before we brought out the pesticide. I can't say I gave the black widow much of a chance before Adam doused her with spider poison. I'll give Homey a shot. But first sign of attack from him/her, if he starts to show any signs of aggression towards my children, we'll have to take the appropriate measures.
While I was out taking pictures of Homey, there was a plane flying above our house with a sign on it. You can't see it well in the picture, but the sign says, "Bees". Word must've got out. What next?!!

First there were bees, and now black widows.

So I was out weeding, minding my own business. I am in bee territory, there is death all around me, the remains of bees passed on strewn about where I am weeding. All of the sudden I look up a bit and in the corner of the house there is this big, ugly black widow!!! She has made this web that has collected an assortment of either already dead, or otherwise unassuming bees. This vicious little vixen had plotted a new home where she can enjoy preying on these bees. Which at this point is probably quite helpful since we can't seem to get rid of them ourselves. But she totally creeps me out, and if it wasn't for the fact that I hate spiders! I just might let her stay. But the fact of the matter is that spiders completely creep me out! I don't know if any of you remember that movie that came out years ago (don't remember the name)but in the preview it shows a girl/women sleeping with her mouth open and then it shows a spider repelling from the ceiling into her mouth!! I have never recovered from that! that combined with arachnophobia has instilled a great fear and loathing of spiders. If I see a spider I have to kill it. I don't know what it is with these freaky movies of my childhood resurfacing to give me nightmares. I don't know if someone is just playing a mean trick on me and dropping off creepy creatures at my house to force me into counseling. Whatever the case may be something strange is afoot here in South Jordan, Utah. My house is going to turn into some weird tourist attraction for creepy things. People will be saying, "let's go see the old Edmunds insect/creature habitat, I also hear the place is haunted too!!". I am just waiting now for the snakes. I think the word is out in the animal kingdom of where to take residence these days. We must be the new popular neighborhood.

Bee update

So the bee situation...well, it's still a situation. We are spraying like crazy and they are dying, (their dead body's are everywhere!)but they are multiplying faster than we can kill them. I don't know if they are inviting every bee friend in the region but they keep coming. Adam is funny. I made a comment to him about the creepy bee corpses on the roof of our bay window and how we needed to clean it up. He told me he left them there hoping to scare the other bees. Apparently dead bee corpses do nothing to the other bees. I never thought of bees as heartless creatures...but here is proof. They are unphased by the corpses of their dead friends. It all comes back to the made for TV movie. Whoever wrote that show may have been onto something, maybe bees aren't as innocent as we think...just something to think about.

Letter from the Editor

I can now start blogging again. It has been a few days since I've touched my blog. I got a little discouraged because I was trying to keep up on a blog (which I realize is more for me than anyone else anyways) but I didn't feel like anyone was reading it so what was the point of wasting my time? You know unless people leave comments you have no idea any body has been there (I too recognize that I suck at leaving comments, so I promise I will start to leave trace's of me being on your blog so you know I've been there and appreciate all of your blogging). Anyway the point of all of this is my dear friend Eden was telling me she reads it and checks it almost daily because she knows I update it and she thinks I'm funny! I always joke saying that Utah has sucked the funny right out of me...but apparently it hasn't...someone still gets me. Now that I know I have a reader, I will be working on new material. Thank you Eden McCrery from Phoenix, AZ (my biggest fan and quite possibly only fan...as well as only reader). The Edmunds blog will continue on because of you!

Ps. Eden, funny chicken story. Maybe I will copy some of my material from yours ;)haha


Todays Quote:

“Pray often because our Heavenly Father, who knows who you best of all, knows your talents and strengths as well as your weaknesses. He has placed you here on the earth at this time to develop and refine these characteristics. I promise you He will help you. He is aware of you needs, and by and by those promised blessings of companionship will come to you.”

Pres. James E. Faust

Barbeque at our house w/ Ty, Celeste, & Noah

This was the barbeque we had on the Sunday before Memorial Day.

What we've been up to....

Yesterday we had our good friends over the Jory's. The boy's found a Halloween mask and had a blast entertaining themselves with it for awhile, until Andrea and I noticed that the blood from the mask was leaking!

Today we went swimming with cousins and a had a great time at the LifeTime Fitness swimming pool. We practically had the entire pool to ourselves which was really fun.

Jonah Quotes...

"I never want to hurt you"
(He said this to me when I was putting him to bed. Talk about melting my heart!)

"Girls always get to be the boss". Me replying, "How come?"
"Because they want to be". "It's not fair, they always get to be the boss. Your the boss Mom".

"My teeth look kind of green, but I brush my teeth really good".

Quote for the day:

"A friend is more concerned about helping people than getting credit. A friend cares. A friend loves. A friend listens. And a friend reaches out."

President Thomas S. Monson
Ensign, May 2001, 50

The Bee Charmer

Here is the man who tried to save us from our bee crisis. We are still not free of our buzzing friends but hopefully by Tues. they will be gone. If not I'm sorry to say that extermination is the only option.
Jonah was thrilled because the bee keeper brought honey (which is one of Jonah's very favorite things)and let Jonah fill up a jar of it and keep it. I would say all things considered this incident was quite eventful and rewarding!

Attack of the bees!!!

Ok, so imagine this, 60,000 honey bee's. I don't know if you can really, truly picture what that looks like, but try. Now imagine those 60,000 honey bees swarmed out front of my house in front of the office window starting a new hive in the eave of our home. Seriously it's quite creepy. I have never seen anything like it! And had I not been in a state of shock and sheer panic I just might have thought to take a picture. I didn't know what to do. Do you call 911? no what are they going to do? Do you call an exterminator? no because bee's are actually in shortage right now. Honestly, you don't ever think you are going to need to know what to do with thousands of bee's...until of course they show up at your door step, quite literally!! So, thank heaven's for google. I got on the internet and did some research. First on "bees", then on "how to get rid of bees". Just in case anyone is wondering, you first call up a local bee keeper before you think to exterminate. Then if for some reason that doesn't work, you can get them exterminated I guess. I actually had the thought maybe we should keep them for our food storage. In case
there was ever an emergency a bee farm might be good to have on hand so we can generate our own honey(Corinne of all people would understand my hysteria w/food storage lately). Yes, I have had thoughts like, let's grow a garden, buy some cattle, maybe get some chickens, just in case. Never mind the fact I'm not really very domesticated inside the home (at least with cooking). What am I doing trying to start any type of a farm?! and for those of you who know who I'm married to you certainly know he is not exactly farmer material. Maybe if we were farming computer's, cell phones, high tech electronics, Plasma or Blue Ray TVs, NBA teams, or college football teams. Then he would know exactly what to do with that! But unfortunately those things don't need to be farmed, nor are they really necessities of life (at least not my life). I realize that before I start any type of a farm though, I should probably learn to cook (well). Then maybe I can look into bee keeping. In case you do ever come across a situation like this (which hopefully is highly unlikely) there is a register of bee keepers from all over the country on the internet. Surprisingly there were several in our city. I will have you know also they are actually very excited to come get them too. In fact one person had said, "don't call anybody else!". Needless to say today has been quite exciting, and it has brought back horrible memories of a made for TV movie I saw when I was young about bees coming and taking over, killing people and such. Apparently that show had more of an impact then I thought. Perhaps counseling is in the works. But first things first. First cooking classes, then bee keeping, then counseling.

Quote for the day:
Find happiness in ordinary things, and keep your sense of humor."
President Boyd K. Packer

So, my friend Corinne talked me into running a half marathon in August. I've always wanted to run a half, and a full marathon sometime in my life. I guess you could say it's part of my bucket list. I may as well do it now, check it off and move on. Also, I figured running a half would help me determine a little bit better if I wanted to keep the full one on my bucket list!
Today I ran 5 miles and it didn't kill me...so that's good news. I just need to keep going because 5 to 13.1 is quite a jump.

Today's Quote: "The problem is that too many of us try to consume happiness rather than generate it". (I don't remember who said it)

Quote's for the day:

The many hours I have spent listening to the tribulations of men and women have persuaded me that both happiness and unhappiness are much of our own making.

-Pres.Faust Our Search for Happiness

'Few sculpt their lives. Most accept what comes their way and then gripe about it. You have the power to create what you need. Commitment, action and positive thoughts will take you a long way'

-Susan Jeffers

I love these quotes! They remind me that I am in control. Whether I act or react is all my choice. We have so much more power than we give ourselves credit for. When we combine that power with a relationship with our Heavenly Father we can be unstoppable!!
So many times we stand on the sidelines waiting to play when we just need to jump in and show ourselves and the world what we've got. What we're made of. Anyways, I was just thinking about that today.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson

Jonah Quotes...

"You are really funny Mom, you could be a clown". "You could work at the circus".
(We were in the kitchen and I was doing crazy things to make him laugh).

"I'm allergen to fire". Kara say's, "you are?" Jonah replies,"Yeah...everybody's allergen to fire". "Cuz your body can't take it".

"Goodbye sweet quarters"..."here you go Mom two dollars and fifty cents".
(He was paying me back for a toy he bought and didn't have his money with him. He paid me in 6 quarters).

"I have crumbs in my eyes"(sleep)..."They are called eye crumbs".
Me asking -Who told you that?
"I just knew"..."I knew that they were called eye crumbs".

"Mom did you know ducks eat things under the water?...that is why they are called ducks...they duck in the water"

Quote for the day:

I love reading and collecting quotes. I have a folder on my computer where I keep them all, I also have great sayings all over my house. This is one I just found that I love and put on my fridge and bathroom mirror.

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

Another rainy day ...

Well...it's raining. But I am not going to let it get me down. I have had a great day so far. I got up early (5:00) to work out and it's so great that it's 9:00 and I'm ready for the day. I am getting so much more done now that I'm going to the gym earlier.
I'm excited because Jonah's last day of school is Friday and then we'll have the whole summer to have fun together. Jonah will start Kindergarten this year! That just seems crazy, he's my little best friend that I delivered what seems like yesterday. Wow, how I get older faster these day's. But it sure is fun.
You know this blog is a great outlet for rambling. Maybe now some of my friends will actually get less rambling from me in our conversations (don't really count on it, but maybe).