2 days, 1000 pictures, a LONG walk.

Down the lane. (you know the one.)

I decided to take advantage of a very good sale on prints at (my favorite for picture storage) KodakGallery (10 cents each, and they'll ship them to your local CVS pharmacy), and have been uploading, downloading, clicking, laughing, and wondering when I decided to start wearing makeup at SIX years of pictures over the past two days.

I think I've spent close to $100, but have finally done what I always

said I'd "get to one day"and had them all printed.

Now I don't have to worry about grabbing the stack of CD's if the house catches on fire, I just have to worry about where I'm now going to store 1000 pictures.

(by the way, I should mention...Bret and Tate wouldn't be caught within 50 feet of those sweaters now. It's funny how they've emotionally rebelled against and have never really gotten over me dressing them alike as toddlers.)

I've included a few of the random shots that I found amusing and will let you guess at who you think they are of.

(What a FUN Friday activity for you.)

That's me, by the way, with my "2001-2004
bouffant-inspired" hair.

(SO four years ago.)

or, should I say, so FORTY years ago?

why didn't anyone stop me?

(sigh......)

This one ranks near the top of my list of "what on EARTH?"s

As does this one, seeing as how Doug looks like he's just celebrated
his 15th birthday; when in reality, he's holding his fourth child.
Memory lane can be a scary, scary place.
BEWARE.

Sum-Sum-Summertime of singin'

So, summer started officially for us yesterday, and if it's any indication of what the rest of the summer will be like, my kids will be ready for a broadway production before it's over.

I finally tracked down a DVD copy of my favorite movie growing up, "Newsies" and also caved and bought a copy of "High School Musical" while I was at it.

They stayed up until almost 11:00watching both of them over and over, singing and dancing along like a bunch of drunken thespians.
We enjoyed spying on them, and luckily refrained from snickering out loud.

This, along with the incessant "Kidsongs" sing-along sessions, we're a real musical smorgasboard around here. I'm now on an ebay quest for "Annie" "Fiddler" and others.

Happy SUMMER!

Stage MIGHT

Bret and I were to perform a little piano duet yesterday in Sacrament meeting, so we began practicing on Thursday-ish and upon hearing us play, Whitney came in and sang along to her favorite, "I Love to See the Temple." When she discovered we were going to play it during Sacrament meeting, she piped in that she wanted to sing too. I hesitated, thinking she'd be too nervous. How EVER wrong was that line of thinking.

She was supposed to sing on the second time through of us playing, right? So we started to play, and why wasn't I surprised when after only a few bars, she started singing (non-quietly) into the microphone, no doubt drowining out the piano? Bret and I just looked at each other and laughed, as we continued playing. I figured maybe she'd sing the first time through, and on the second verse, she'd stop. Well, no. She sang it AGAIN on the second time through, causing Bret and I to get quite a kick out of the "whitney show" that was taking place.

I guess maybe she had a hidden agenda all along. When given acces to that microphone, she was going to use it. To her credit, she actually has quite good tone, and sang the whole thing on key. I don't know if I would have stood in front of a congregation the size of ours and sang two verses of a song by myself when I was five. Maybe she'll be an American Idol one day.

3 weeks late, Bret gets some coverage

Bret's been 9 now for almost 3 weeks and so I thought it was time to post his birthday pics. Here they are, in no particular order:

We opted for KidzArt instead of Peter Piper this year, and I must say it was a SPLENDID alternative.

They each got to make a T-shirt that they drew a racecar on. An instructor guided them through it and they all turned out really cool-lookin'.

Then, we played "Walk Like an Egyptian"-style musical chairs and left all the mess there. What a deal.

Of course, we supplied the birthday boy with his 9 spankin's, everyone joined in. (which resulted in him getting more than 9, but a little extra doesn't hurt.)

He shared the day with me, since it was my REAL birthday and his (4 days early) party.

I still can't believe he's 9. That's suspiciously close to two-digit TEN if you ask me.

Playin' in the Dirt...

I must have blogged Doug into action in regards to the backyard!

Yesterday, he showed up with his tractor friend,

and his friend's tractor.

YAY!

These can serve as the official "BEFORE" pics of the West side

of the backyard Monstrosity.

It will serve as the future home of the swingset and trampoline.

We're officially making Memorial Day Weekend a working holiday.

I'll continue to post as we make progress.

we want our kidsongs....

Ok, am I the ONLY one who remembers these videos? I am SO lame. I recall watching these videos on TV a very many Saturday morning, wishing and wishing I could somehow finagle a way to get on the show and be part of the production team and/or cast. Yeah, it never happened, but at least NOW, my kids can watch them and aspire for the same. It's the SAME stuff (I do believe) as when I used to watch them, since they're kind of old school, but my kids can't really tell the difference so much.

EVEN Kyle loves to sit and learn about trucks, animals, how to dance, and calypso instruments while singing along. You, of course, know who loves them the best in our family - Whitney. She'd sing to them all day if she could.

The BEST part is they're only $1 at Wal-mart in those bins with the cheap DVDs. They have various editions, and it's the cheapest entertainment in town. It's a sure-fire favorite whenever we head off in the car to go, say....ANYWHERE.

If you're looking for some hip hoppin' bee boppin' good music for the impending summer, head to Walmart today for a great deal on exactly that. I guess you can order them from their website too. www.kidsongs.com

Happy Trails to Memory-Lane!!!

why we'll never get our landscaping done...

because SATURDAY, the special day, is the only one with the option to work on the yard, and it's ALWAYS booked up, like 3 months prior.

This weekend, Friday/Saturday was our ward campout.

Great fun

nice weather

a shallow stream

a real-life rock wall

running water

toilets (or an excuse for one),

and wonderful company.

Everything a ward campout should be.

We got home in time to put our FIVE children down for naps (yes, all of them slept for about 2 hours upon returning home) and rearranged our downstairs furniture to accomodate the additional matching couch I bought on the way home for $25 from the lady having a yard sale across the street.

THEN with well-rested children, we headed off to Whitney's spring dance recital.

It was, of course, adorable.

Whit's excited for next year when her hair is long enough

to stay in a real dancer's bun.

We finished off the night with a nice dose of insanity when we took 6 adults and 12 children to Red Robin to celebrate the girls' outstanding performance.

We ended up also being the most "out-standing" group in the restaurant.

(if you can imagine that.)

Next Saturday is an offical holiday weekend. Maybe that means we'll be able to get something done! I'll keep you posted, but don't hold your breath!

Carnival Crazies...

So, last night was the 'end of the year'-type carnival at our boys' school. They did it last year with great results and so offered it up again this year. Included in the festivities were about 7 of those inflatable jumping and/or sliding-type rides. You know the ones.

Last year, the weather was hot and dry. Yesterday, however, we had some freakish rain showers and wind. I didn't think much of it, since it mae it a little cooler and actually much nicer than last year. However, when I saw the whirlwind/dustdevil thing coming and trash spinning around in the air, mixed with dust and more trash, I began to be concerned. Thankfully, I had my smallest kids right by me, who immediately began SCREAMING. I held on to them as my stroller and chairs went blowing away.

Then - we all watched as one of the inflatables started lifting off the ground, broke away from the tether stakes and tipped over, blowing over the fence and rolling away. What was the most terrifying was watching the children inside of it, rolling around, and then falling out. (yeah, I don't know when I've been more freaked out.) All the parents and children began screaming and running over there. Doug jumped the fence with 20 or so other men and ran to retrieve it hoping there weren't any other kids in it after it finally deflated. Thankfully, only three children were inside and they seemed to be okay, (conscious and talking) although they still required 3 amulances and a couple of fire engines. This sufficiently traumetized all of the HUNDREDS of children there, all ages. I don't think my kids will ever go near one of those things again.

Upon talking with the kids when we got home, since they cancelled the rest of the evening, we discovered that Tate and Bret were BOTH in line to get onto that very ride, and Tate was in fact the next one to get on, just before it started to lift off the ground. I'm so glad they weren't hurt, and that Tate listened to his 'feeling' that said not to get on. I think my heart has finally started beating at the proper speed again, now after it's not so close to my memory and I've had a chance to sleep it off (with however little success).

BE CAREFUL with those things in the wind or any other inclement weather. I looked online to see what articles I could find where similar accidents had happened and found SO MANY. One of the websites www.rideaccidents.com/inflatables.html sited several accidents related to wind and/or the slides collapsing for whatever reason. We JUST bought a blow-up water slide that I'm wondering if I'll be using again.

Anyway, I don't want to be the voice of pessimism today, just wanted to pass on the word of caution. I admit I was somewhat ignorant to all of the dangers previously. They're fun and the kids really love them, but can be dangerous when the weather is so unpredictable.

on...visualizing

So, Carla wanted to know what her new house would look like with varying colors of rock and/or exterior paint. Thanks to my new-found Photoshop skills, and a need for an exciting made-up final project, the following was the result.

I had great fun creating your new house Carla. (well, sort of.) Now, putting aside the fact that you're ditching your new old ward for this new abode, I do hope you enjoy it. Just don't hold it to me if it doesn't look exactly like this when it's done for real. The computer adds 10 pounds, remember? (or in this case...it could be other proportional discrepencies.)

Before Picture:

Artist's (tee hee hee - - "my") rendering:

I guess we'll see what kind of grade I get,

and then we'll determine if I'm an official "artist" now.

If you're building a house and having trouble doing a little visualizing of your own, you know where to reach me. :-)

K, I just have to say, my dad would be so proud. I still remember the wood model he made of our "finished" house before he remodeled it (while we were still living in it). I wonder if he ever thought technology (the way he taught it in High School Drafting Classes) would come to this...

why didn't mr. clean think of this?

I discovered a new and interesting (?!?!?) way to clean a bathroom this morning. I've never done it quite like this before.

• Begin to fill the sink with hot water and some Mr. Clean or your favorite scented cleaner.
• Make sure you put a big cloth in with it, and then walk away for about 7 minutes.
• When you come back, the entire countertop will be covered with sudsy water in addition to the entire floor and all the rugs.
• Thank you, mr. big fat cloth, for plugging up the hole that prevents such an occurance.
• Drain the sink and then begin applying thick bath towels on both countertop and floor.
• In a matter of 10 minutes and approximately 14-15 towels later, your counter, sink AND your floor are all EXCEPTIONALLY clean.

I hope (and don't) that it works for you too. I'm not in any hurry to be doing it this way again. I'm going to be washing towels until 3 am. To say nothing of the fact that it didn't eliminate cleaning the toilet at all.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's the first of my perpetual 29th birthdays.

I've vowed to make the most of my last "twenty-something" year.

Congrats to Doug for not forgetting about it this year. I really appreciate that.

WHAT a day. A Preschool Mommy's Brunch, then out to lunch with friends, a birthday party for (the other May Burch B-day) Bret, a short nap, and a fun night out to dinner and shopping with Doug. Whew! my aging body is done for today.

I thought I'd post these two pictures, just to show the comical/drastic contrast.

The first, the month before we got married, without a care in the world.

The second one, you already saw, from our recent cruise, 10 years and six months later.

ahhhhh, and to think there was a day when

we didn't have to suck in our middle sections for such a picture.

BYU Homecoming (October, 1996)

Cruisin' in the Caribbean (April, 2007)

I think we're aging gracefully though, don't you?

I suppose I'll post another one in another 10 years or so.

Two BOYS, different JOYS...

If this doesn't adequately illustrate JUST how different Bret and Tate are in their thinking, I don't know what EVER would.

Setting: Kerri, Bret and Tate picking weeds in the front yard. Having told them they would receive $0.05 for every weed they picked, they were eager to get started, and did so.

Light Bulb Moment for a Mother who no longer wonders if children come preset with their own set of priorities:

While strolling along and still picking...

Bret says, "Mom, when exactly will we get paid for the weeds? I'm counting by fives as I throw them in the bucket."

Tate then pipes up in his squeaky-ish voice, "Yeah, cause Bret I'm going to add this money to the money I've already saved up to buy you a birthday present."

I, of course, had no response or reaction whatsoever except to offer an extended stare at the one who asked the FIRST question, thinking, of course, he'd make some gesture of "awwwww thanks little brother" to the patron saint.

In contrast, however, the said elder boy went on counting dilligently by fives without really even noticing anyone else had uttered a word.

I suppose Heavenly Father gave them to each other for a reason. (Or, so that Tate could provide financially for Bret his whole life.)

Garsh, I love those boys...

and speaking of such people, here's my littlest one:

While I'd like to think he's much too innocent still at this age, if he's anything like his oldest brother, he's no doubt pondering which angle he'll work on Tate to get his corner of the weed picking cash stash.