Life!

Life as we know it right now is, well to be honest, down right CRAZY!  I don't have a new baby, we're not moving, no one is sick (today at least), I'm not babysitting as many kiddos as I sometimes do, Jeff's work has been going great, I've been running a lot lately, the kids are happy, we're all very blessed, and yet one change has thrown us off just a bit!

Last year my 29 year old cousin Marianne went to live with my sister Kristina for the first half of the year.  Marianne lived with my family during Elementary School when her Mother passed away.  She lost her Father and all of her grandparents over the years as well.  Not an easy life!  Kristina busted her buns last year and got Marianne approved for different funding for being mildly mentally retarded.  She lived with my sister Karin for a few weeks and then she was able to live in a place that gave support to people with disabilities for about 6 months.  Well, the money ran out.  Kristina took Marianne back in in February.  In March we held a meeting with different therapists/behaviorists etc. here in my home.  At that time I told Kristina that I would be willing to have Marianne come live with us until we could get her into a place that was just right for her.  Well, Kristina finally took me up on my offer and Marianne moved in with us last Friday.

Marianne is a lot of fun, laughs a lot, sings at the top of her lungs, boogies like the best of the Blunck's, but having her here is simply making me feel like I work at a laundromat!  I have to wash her blankets and pajamas every morning (if you know what I mean), and our basement just doesn't smell the same anymore even with all of the sanitizing we're doing.  I love her!  I don't want any of you to think that I'm being mean to mention this, but her accidents are making it so my life is consumed with laundry!  I used to do all my laundry on Monday's and fold them while I watched a show, but not anymore!  I will be doing laundry (ours and hers) every single day!  Now that I've typed that, I can see that really it's not THAT big of a deal.  Marianne didn't ask for her life to be like this.  I can do this!  I will do this, but props to my sister for doing it for soooo long!  I'm sure she's laughing because I am saying this after only having her for a week!  There is so much more to Marianne's story that I would love to share in person with anyone who cares, but for now, just know that I'm using this change as my excuse THIS TIME for taking so long to blog!  Heck, I'm using this change in life as an excuse for A LOT of things!  I can say NO to watching people's kids and not feel bad one bit!  I'm bad, I know!

And now for the catch up and the pictures!  We had a wonderful weekend with all FIVE of my sisters on the 7th and 8th!  They all came up for my cousin Dana's wedding!  It was a lovely wedding and so much fun to see my sisters, Grandma Bell, cousins, Aunties, and Uncles!  All of my St. George sisters drove home late Saturday night loaded up with all of Karin's IKEA finds, and Diane flew home early Sunday morning all to be with their families for Mother's Day!  I enjoyed a nice breakfast on Mother's Day, a big LONG nap, and Jeff and the kids gave me some lovely plants for our front yard that we're working on since the big mess a few months ago with the water main!

On the 22nd our little family did our first 1 Mile fun run together!  It was the Fill the Ark 5k and fun run!  It was a little cold, but we had a great time!  I was super proud of the boys and Jeff!  Alison was a trooper and looked so cute with her number!

That night we went to the big Chuck E Cheese's for Kyle's 5th birthday!  He had a friend that went last month and so he figured he had to go, too!  Check that one off our list!  It wasn't that bad, but not something we will do frequently!  When we got home, we surprised Kyle with a new family trampoline!  They were all so excited!  On Sunday, his real birthday, we had Jeff's family over for dinner and cake and ice cream!  My sweet Kyle requested hot dogs for his birthday dinner, and using my CRAZY LIFE excuse, I had no issues with having hot dogs for Sunday dinner!  I did give the adults Smoked Kielbasa, and it was a great EASY meal!  Oh yeah, while we were driving to Chuck E Cheese's I asked Kyle what kind of cake he wanted.  I know I should've been a little more prepared, but I've got excuses!  So he wanted a Batman cake which threw me because we don't really own anything Batman, but I printed some pics off the internet, taped them to toothpicks, stuck them in and called it good!  Sometimes I overdue it, and sometimes I DON'T!  I love this FIVE year old so much!  I can't believe he's already five, but I'm really excited for him to start Kindergarten!  He has such a sweet, fun personality and we but heads A LOT!  I think it's because he is A LOT like me!  Love you Kyle!  Dad, Chad, and Alison sure love you, too!

This week we finished off our little "preschool" that I've been doing with Kyle and our friend Austin!  I wish I had done a better job, but at least I tried some of the days!  We made it and we had some fun along the way!  Kyle is starting to help us read the scriptures at night.  He doesn't like to slow down and sound out words, but he sure is ready to read!  I love this stage!  It will be a fun Summer Break getting ready for Kindergarten!

Thanks, once again, for catching up with the Hughes'!  Keeping in touch with all of you helps me get through some of the CRAZY parts of LIFE!

P.S. Shannon, if you happen to read this again, Kristina did send up a BIG bag of adult diapers, but they just aren't cutting it!  Ugh!  Marianne and I talked about possible solutions today, but I'm just going to try to stay positive!  There are worse things in the world than laundry!  At least I'm not doing it by hand!

Over the last two weeks...

It's been a busy couple of weeks!  I wish I were better about blogging as things happened because I have no energy for details when I just want to catch up!   But, I'll give it a shot!  (I'm so long winded, it really shouldn't be a problem!)  We just got back from a quick weekend to sunny, I mean WINDY St. George for my nephew Troy's baptism!  It was windy for the get together afterward, but we still had a blast!  We were so happy to be able to be with Troy on his big day!  Chad is getting so excited to be baptized in a year and a half!  Yes, he talks about it all the the time since a lot of his cousins have been getting baptized!  We're so thankful for all the good examples!   

 Chad had a blast in St. George because Jeff was finally able to take him golfing!  OK they ended up going and buying him his own clubs from Play-It-Again Sports and just hitting a bunch of balls at the driving range, but it made him so happy!  They've talked about going golfing for a long time!  I think they might be hitting the driving range a few more times before they actually do a round!  He might need to start lifting some weights to be strong enough for his big-boy clubs!  

Chad and Kyle both got to go on a fun hike with Jeff and their Uncle Casey, cousin Eva, and Casey's friend Jason.  Kelly and I went and watched the Ironman with the little girls and had our own fun!  I can't even begin to imagine doing anything on top of running a marathon!  There's no way I could run a marathon AFTER swimming OR biking any distance!  Those people are AWESOME and INSPIRING to watch!  Makes the marathon seem like a walk in the park, but some things aren't for everyone!  We actually went on a family run tonight for Family Home Evening!  Just one mile and Chad acted like he was going to die!  We're "training" for the Fill the Ark 1 mile race on the 22nd, and Chad really wants the shirt so he'll keep at it!  I wish I could've done the hike with these guys!  I love those red rocks!  Next time!

So here's where I get to start playing catch up!  :)  Last Monday we went out to dinner with our BBQ group from last Summer!  Jimmy (on the left) works at Donovan's Steak & Chop House and invited all of us to come experience the place!  WOW!  So good!  The company wasn't bad either!  ;)  We were so loud and laughed so hard!  It was great!  (Apparently I didn't get the memo to wear a pinkish colored blouse!  I even dreamed about it the night before...but at least I showed up on time with something on and not just leggings!!!)

My sweet Alison turned TWO on the 21st, but Jeff and I were both terribly sick that day along with Kyle!  The boys kept asking when we would have her party, but I could not get myself up to make the cupcakes but we finally wheeled her new wagon in and gave her her gifts!  I had decorated the night before when I was feeling fine, so at least it looked like a party on her birthday!  We do what we can!  The highlight of the day was Skyping with Grandma and Poohpa in the morning!  Alison didn't want much to do with the computer, so I enjoyed a good chat with my parents!   My poor writing skills will not do justice to how much I just love Alison!  I melt when she grabs my cheeks and quietly says "I love you Mom!"  She is so smart!  She loves reading books especially the short version of Go, Dog. Go!  She has most of it memorized!  She sings Twinkle, Twinkle and ABC's.  She counts to Firteen (13) thanks to her big brothers!  She loves treats thanks to ME!  We love this little curly-haired-two-year-old!  It was 5 O'CLOCK in these pictures and we were all in our pajamas except for Chad!   Alison zonked on Jeff's lap during scripture reading!  It was so precious!  She was sick with the stomach flu on Friday & Saturday, then Chad on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday, then Kyle, Jeff, & I on Wednesday & Thursday!  We all felt like zonking for the entire week!  

On Friday we were all feeling fine, so we FINALLY had Alison's PINKALICIOUS party with Clay and Trish and the kids!  They were good sports to come up and enjoy dinner and pink treats with us!  If you haven't read the Pinkalicous books, you should the next time you're over!  Alison loves them and says pinkalicious in the cutest voice ever!   She is pinkalicious!!!

The day before Alison's birthday is our wedding anniversary!  We were feeling fine with no signs of anyone being sick, so we headed to TGI Friday's where Jeff and I had our first date a little over 10 years ago!  It wasn't a big fancy trip or anything, but I was with the people I love the most!  :)   

And one last catch up...I forgot to post this the last time I blogged!  The Elementary School that Chad goes to is AWESOME!  They have an amazing Arts program.  A few weeks ago they held a huge fundraising event.  They had silent auctions for everything from donated items from local businesses to art made by the classes.  They also raffled off HUGE baskets put together by the different classes that had the most amazing things in them.  There was a BYU/Utah basket with tons of sports paraphernalia, an art supply basket with an assortment of supplies and a $50 gift card to Michael's, a camping basket with TONS of stuff, a movie night basket, and so many other totally cool baskets.  I let the boys put their own tickets into the baskets that they wanted while I stuck a few in the one's I thought were cool!  Well, I guess having EIGHT tickets in the Bakugan basket was a good thing!???  Seriously?  An entire basket filled with BAKUGAN things!!!  It came with a Wii game that they love and an instructional DVD on how to play with the Bakugan toys!  I actually learned a little about what these silly balls are all about!  I said "a little!"  Look how happy they were!!!