.... and finish.

This space sure has been fun but it is time to move on from here.  Don't worry all you late night seekers of 'utah-nudists' you will still find this, nothing is going away but me.  I would invite those of you seeking home school life, gymnastics, & simple family living to join us over at dust fairies and darwin and those of you after something a little more silly sometimes nutty or down right crazy to come along on a new journey with me at housewife....wait, when was I drunk enough to marry a house? 

Thanks for visiting! mlb

trouble on a pink princess bike

Let's pretend my life is normal, even quaint.  Picture it: fresh baked cookies on the cooling rack, a child neatly pressed heading off to an afternoon Birthday party with a gift and the cake, the adults off for a little browsing at the library, a cup of coffee, and a slow Sunday drive...all of that is true, well okay Beach wasn't neatly pressed but she was wearing clean-ish clothing.  

Anyway we came home after a nice hour out, like I said at the library & on a drive.  We pull in & there is that pink princess bike.  Which as Beach's parent's is a really strange thing to find in our driveway.  It was a mystery for about 17 seconds.  That is about how long it took me to walk through the front door and find this little girl inside my house. 

I found out her name is Nina and she likes chocolate chip cookies and her dad said she could come to Beach's and he said she could play with Beach's gold glitter even after I said we shouldn't.  So we let her stay and eat cookies since she seemed very comfortable at our house.  And there is a good reason she felt so at ease, when her brother showed up he explained she had been missing for an hour!  I had to chase her around the yard to catch her to make her go home with her brother.  She really wanted to stay here.  It was a little awkward considering I really have no true idea who she is but since she was going to be 'so grounded' I gave her one more cookie, put her on her bike, and waved good-bye.

Really?!?!?! 

And yesterday we were watching Holes when the Police knocked on the door to tell us there was situation with one of the neighbors (Crazy Jim) & gun shots (which were really fire works) and we needed to get to a secure location on the south side of our house until the gun issue was handled.  I would like to point out the Police were the only ones with actual guns and had one of them not been so good looking I would have been very scared watching the Cops, weapons drawn, sneaking around the place.  I might have not face booked the incident and unloaded the dishwasher... Wait, where was I going with this? Oh-yeah, nothing in our 5 years here on the little farm in the hood has ever made me think twice about locking our doors until I came home to find a home owner's worse nightmare, an unattended three year old girl standing in my kitchen petting my dogs.

       

growing green

Outside

Inside

a night of unidentified free range children

I learned a couple of things about myself and the limits of the human body last night. 

First, I now know if I needed to I could host my own funeral.  A strange thing to say but late yesterday afternoon when the 'cold' I have moved from a few fever blisters on my lip to the roof of my mouth, my throat, and into my eyes >gross< I know sorry about that, I didn't cancel the bbq dinner planned on the farm.  Had any other 2 woman been on the night's agenda Tara, my best friend from 1st grade on and one of my favorite newest friend Mrs. K I would surely have canceled the bbq.  These 2 super woman however don't really need me to host a party at my house either one of them could handle it.  So having both coming I figured let's play....

 Chicken any one?

The grill master.

Mrs. K's rice.

Tara's salad.

What I didn't count on was all the extra free range children who showed up.   

We had all of our kids that's 2 for me, 2 for Tara, & 2 for Mrs. K.  Then there are the twins, their aunt (one of Beach's besties), the other aunt (another bestie), a cousin of someones, the kid in the helmet and his little sister.  Okay, so kid in the helmet turned out to Beach's friend-that-is-a-boy Jordan from down the block.  Smart kid, he left the helmet on the whole night; any boy who plays with Beach should wear a helmet. Then Step son had his friend, and then biggest Brother showed up wiht his friends....

These bad photos are proof of how sick I am.

We also had Ned, the city dog.

Free range feet :)

And since we already had the wake I'm going go rest in peace now....

the birthday Boy's wild night & a quiet blue morning

When the night begins with this (above) & that (below)...

you know to hold on tight!

Act 1 of The Boy's birthday was beer, bowling, & burgers.

The birthday Boy & Colby.

Good thing we have a coach with us.

The birthday Boy & I.

bowling splits

The Boy's boys.

 Act 2 was hot tubing at the ski-in mansion way, way back in the mountains.

& perhaps some other things.

 

There was cake...

and rumors of sleep...

5 am the next morning I took the dogs on a frosty mountain stroll.

Then I wandered the mansion looking for early signs of life & a pot of coffee.

Pre-breakfast, breakfast of champions :) Hi Fire Dad, sorry about that.

Here was the real breakfast! by me.

The boys needed these :)

Good-bye wild wild west.

May this year bring you all your heart's truest desires.

Happy Birthday Josh.

We love you.