I'M BACK!!!!

Well we have had an extremely eventful summer, to say the least, and just last week I realized that it's August already and summer is nearly over. I've been a very neglectful blogger (you'll understand why) and need to catch you all up on our last couple of months.
June - beginning of June we decide to move out of our condo and in with Ric's parents to make selling easier. We had an understanding with an acquaintance of Ric's that he was ready to have his daughter move out of a house he owned and he wanted us in there. A few days later a friend calls with someone she wanted to have look at our place. With the condo not "show ready", but clean [mostly], a few days after that he looked at it and wanted it. Sell our place, check! Whew, that was easy!
June 27-30 - I spend with the young women up at Girls Camp. Waaay fun, but came home exhausted and had only a few days to pack everything up and get out of our condo.
July 4 - Ric's 31st birthday.
July 5 - Move out of the condo and into Ric's parents' house. They graciously scoot over and rearrange and give us 2 bedrooms. Number of people in the house goes from 4 to 9.
July 7 - Ric's sister, her husband, and 4 children arrive from CO to spend the next 3 weeks with the family. Also at Mom and Dad's. Number of people in the house goes from 9 to 15. Though, her husband had to leave after a few days to go back and work :(.
July 8 - We take family pictures because this is the first time in 7 years that we've all been in the same place long enough to get one. (Done by a friend in our old ward, will post some another time - fabulous job!) Just before leaving, Ric manages to catch the guy we're planning to rent from on the phone and finds out the guy isn't ready to kick his daughter out and has no timeframe on that for us. Ric and the guy decide we need to move on and get things settled because Stratton needs to get registered for kindergarten. I throw a minor fit with only a few tears (we have pictures in just minutes, after all). This guy was going to give us an amazing deal on renting a 4 bedroom home with a fenced back yard and all - it was going to cost the same as our condo. We sold our condo based on what he'd been telling Ric for the last 6 months!
The next 2 weeks were blissfully spent playing with cousins and having a grand old time: late nights playing games around the kitchen table, long hot afternoons with the kids playing in the sprinklers and jumping on the trampoline, a trip up to Ogden to the Treehouse Museum (awesome!), gourmet meals made for 20 or more Rogers' at a time, dollar theater, McDonald's, morning walks, virgin margaritas on the back porch swing, and just generally savoring each other's company. We LOVE it when Candace and the kids come! :)
We left the ongoing party to spend the 24th of July down at my grandparents' cabin in southern Utah, near Bryce canyon, with my family. The cabin is a nearly pristine paradise (except for the occasional cowpie) on 100 acres, nestled in a canyon with forest service property on 3 sides, and a rancher down the road at the mouth of the canyon. We enjoy the seclusion and the chance to just spend time in nature and with family. My kids were in heaven: dirt and rocks as far as the eye can see, and an abundance of horny toads to catch this year (actually a horned lizard, but we've been catching them every year since I was a little kid going there and have always been a highlight to little ones).
We almost didn't make it out on Tuesday because of the rain not being conducive to a van full, driving down dirt roads. But we made it home uneventfully, in time for me to wash a couple of loads of laundry, make a quick run to Walmart to restock my driving snacks, and catch a few hours sleep before the kids, my mother-in-law and I caravaned out to CO with Candace to stay for the rest of the week. We got to stay in their beautiful new house, play at their cool neighborhood park, help with the weeding, and spend more time with cousins! I was introduced to "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Marriage Ref" and Magnum bars (gourmet Belgian chocolate covered ice cream...did I ever really live before partaking?!).
Mom and I drove back with the kids late Saturday night, arriving in SLC about 3:30 am. The next morning we got up and went up to church and a baby blessing and family party for my side in Bountiful.
The next day my sister, Karina, and her husband, Devin, and baby, Becca, arrived in SLC. The trip for Karina and Becca was already planned, but altered to include Devin because his father had unexpectedly passed away in a car accident while I was in CO. Oh Devin! How my heart goes out to him and his sweet family! Devin's dad's funeral was the following Thursday and although we were grateful to be able to have Devin home here with Karina and Becca that week, to say the circumstances were tragic just doesn't seem to do it justice.
But Devin and his family are amazing! They came over to my parents' for dinner and games one night and we loved being able to spend time with their fun family. They all did a beautiful job at the funeral and our thoughts and prayers are ever with them right now.
Karina and Becca stayed another week after Devin and the rest of his family had to leave (most to TX). We spent all last week with them - sleepovers up at my parents' house, luncheon with aunts and cousins, watching "Pride and Prejudice" (the short version) while doing self-pedicures, morning walks, nighttime partying... can you tell we just never get enough family time!? And we had to give little Becca all the loves and kisses that we possibly could to last her until we get to see her at Christmas - but by then she'll be nearly a year old!
Karina and Becca left to head back to TX on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we had a farewell with the accompanying partying for one of our favorites, Brock. He really did a great job on his talk and we're so excited for him to go on a mission for the church. He joined the church about a year and a half ago and it has been so neat to watch his testimony of Jesus Christ grow and see how much he has changed and matured. We've watched him prepare to go on a mission and know that his excitement over the things he's learned will help him be able to share the gospel. Yay Brock!
And now we've got to hurry and go change into swimsuits because we're off again! Headed out with Ric's family to take Dad's boat to the lake for some water fun!
Sorry for the overly long post, but now you're up to date on the crazy Rogers family life! Love to you all!! :)

Random Song from You Tube

My aunt and uncle sang this a loooong time ago and I've never heard it since then, but found it tonight, while looking online for girls camp songs and thought I'd post it for my sister. Debbie Reynolds is super cute and I love her in "Singing in the Rain" so I was delighted to see her in this one.

I apologize - I know I haven't posted in forever and here I finally do with a really weird one... one of these days I'll do a real catch up post!

Journal Entry

Another Creighton funny: the rule is that you have to ask to be excused from the table after you're done with your meal, and then when you are excused you take your plate to the sink. This was Ric's idea and it happens about 50% of the time. I've really been trying to remember to enforce it though. And I do really push getting the boys to clear their plates, but Creighton has been rather obstinate lately. He tells me it takes to long. I usually respond with, "Fine, then you can go be in the corner and see how long that takes." He then will choose to take the plate over.

Ric handled it a little differently on Saturday though. When Creighton gave Ric his usual response of it taking too long, Ric then reminded him that that's what we do. Creighton whined again about it taking too long. "But Dad, it takes five minutes!" (He thinks five minutes is an eternity.) Ric loudly said, "Creighton, NOW!" Not cowed, but knowing Dad meant business, Creighton grumpily grabbed his plate and walked to the sink.

Ric and I didn't notice his quiet, "One...two...three...four..." until he reached the sink and, raising his voice, triumphantly said, "FIVE!" as he slid the plate in. "See Dad, it take me five minutes!" he whined again. I tried to hide a smile and it was all I could do to keep from laughing. I'm afraid that child is going to give us major grief by the time he's a teenager and it won't be nearly as humorous then!

Spring Boutique!

My Mom and I had so much fun with the fall boutique, we're doing the spring one too this year. Come and see all the creative stuff that people make. You may even find something you just can't live without! :)

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine Deal

Does anyone like Better Homes and Gardens magazine? Well if so, you can get a year's subscription for $5. Here's the website www.tanga.com/products/better-homes-gardens-magazine-subcription--26 and you enter the coupon code SAVING at checkout. I got this from the moneysavingmom.com website (http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/03/taste-of-home-better-homes-and-gardens-and-family-fun-magazines-for-3-99-per-year.html) and there are a couple of other ones if you're interested. Yay for a good deal! :)

(sorry about the copy and paste you'll have to do to get there - couldn't get my hyperlink to work at the moment)

BYU Basketball and the Honor Code

My Dad sent out an email to all of us kids today, expressing his disappointment over last night's loss for BYU. But he was also talking about how much he liked the positive things people have had to say about BYU's honor code and the positive publicity the Church is getting over it all. This was my response... I felt it was blog-worthy as it's something i feel really strongly about and may be a small insight into "mormondom" and why we do what we do:

good thoughts, dad - hooray for church standards and the honor code! same with being missionaries - people didn't understand the standards we held ourselves to but respected them nonetheless (although they may have thought we were crazy). i italicize that because many misunderstood both the honor code and the missionary rules as being something we were forced into living, but not only do you make the choice to follow the rules and honor code back when you decide to go to a church school or to go on a mission, i really feel that there is a power that comes when you are truly holding yourself to the rules/honor code.

i guess you could take it a step further and say the same for the church standards that apply to all members of the church. because you choose to live the law of chastity and the word of wisdom and pay tithing and follow the prophet, etc, you never see it as a burden (which is a blessing in and of itself), and therefore can receive greater blessings. goes back to that quote from elder maxwell about the difference between being honorable and valiant...

and that's my 2 cents worth - because you know i've always got at least 2 cents to say about everything!

ser

Stratton's Primary Talk

Another behind post. He did this about a month ago. This is his re-enactment at Keely's bday party for Grandpas and Grandma. Cute kid! He did a good job. His notes were mostly pictures. :)

Happy Birthday, Keelian!

Keelian Belle turned one on February 28th. We celebrated her birthday with our adopted family the day before (chocolate cake with pink frosting!) and then on her birthday we had our families over for 'cakes and shakes. Keely loved the cake, cupcake, and shake! She's never had that much sugar - turns out it makes her pretty loopy, well that and that we kept her up late to celebrate. So fun! We love our little Keelian! Thank you to all of our extended and adopted family members who were able to celebrate with us! :)

Too Funny To Not Post

My sister just posted this gem on her blog and I stole it so that you can also enjoy the ridiculousness that pervades at Stratton family gatherings! (As this pushed my morning sickness over the edge, I never did get to see the end results of this competition. I was outside throwing up.)

Keely Baby

Just because I love my Keely, here are a couple more videos of just her:

And this one's my favorite!

Keely's Army Crawl

Keelian's pretty speedy at the army crawl, but lately she has also been known to get up on her hands and knees to crawl occasionally (finally!). I think she's just so fast at it that she's not had the desire to get on her hands and knees. In this one her desire is to get to her cousin, Boston. She loves Boston and she loves to give him loves... he is not so fond of it (see following picture). He can walk and so he had run away from her and she's following after. This is just a short sampling of the army crawl skills:

Boston, we'll see if this is what you still think of girls when you turn 16! ;)

Snowy Days!

These were some videos I took earlier this month of the kids:

Lego Man

Stratton has discovered how much fun Legos are! He had some before and has enjoyed them... but always within the limits of what the instructions dictate ("No Mom, I can't use a red one, the picture says it has to be a blue piece!" - very frustrating). For his birthday and Christmas he got a few more Lego sets and has spent a lot of time with them since. And thanks to some serious playtime with Uncle Jacob, he has learned to think outside the box (or the directions).

These are pictures of his "Star Wars aircraft" that he labored over all morning today. He then insisted on taking these pictures himself (including the self-portrait) so that his cousins could see. So here they are!

Freezer Food Fridays...

... has moved!

In order to appease my husband and children and also satisfy my desire to still post some favorite freezer meals, I have created an entirely new blog devoted to freezer meals. Go check it out! http://freezerfoodfridays.blogspot.com/

Creighton's New 'Do!

The boys got haircuts Saturday night. After, I put all 3 kids in the tub and walked into the other room (yes, totally unsafe, I know). I was gone maybe a minute and a half, tops, and came back to find this:

Big trouble!!! Cratey had gotten out of the tub, climbed back up on the chair (naked and dripping water all over the hair mess), grabbed the little neck trimmer, and added to my haircut. It was not fixable.

So I shaved him bald. He cried the whole time. I wanted to cry too. His hair has never been this short! This is him checking it out after I had finished:

I made sure to really make him feel badly about cutting his own hair and now having to be bald. I had visions of him cutting Keely's hair if I didn't make him feel appropriately remorseful. (I even instructed Ric that when he got home he was not to laugh or tell Cratey how cool he looked.) Evidently Creighton doesn't yet understand that hair grows, because after I put him back into the bathtub I said, "It's okay, your hair will grow back after a while and you'll look normal again." Immediately he brightened up and said, "Really, Mom? Oh sank you!!" This is his relief: