4th of July Fun

As usual, the 4thof July consisted of too much food and too much fun. A bit more laid back this year than previous years.

Those of us that were in town for the holiday spent the day swimming at a friend's house.(until Joy and Rebecca build their houses, and of course the promised pool-a-palooza, my brother Spencer and I are the only ones with pools. And ours are too small to accommodate the fam)



(Wendell throwing Mitchell around)

The dads usually take turns throwing the kids up in the air so they can do some tricks. My dad used to do this to us when we were little. Good times. Not to mention a good work out...

(Breazy, Danica,Rachael, Hanna. Cute little Zan in the background))

The older girls doing what they do best. I am not sure what that is, exactly...


(Abigail chillin' with Kindyl on the noodles)

We continued our laid back theme when we went to watch fireworks. We didn't feel like waiting forever in traffic, so we went and watched them in the greenbelt by Jannalee and Dan's house.

(cheesy Brenley waiting for the fireworks to start...)

(The Queen watching with her dad)


(clusters of kids watching fireworks)

Another low key holiday for us. Are you seeing a trend here? Christmas, Easter, The Fourth. All done with a minimum of effort on my part. (I can't say the same for the Dunyons. Who had to set up, clean up, and do all the grillin'. Thanks guys!)

I am sure next year when Little Queenie is a little older things will all go back to normal. Or maybe with 5 kids we have found a new normal....

Getting All Political and Such

Well it's not like me to get all political and such ( except perhaps at the occasional family dinner. And sometimes late at night while discussing the state of the union with the husband. O.K- and some controversial e mails;)

But I found this Milton Friedman clip from a link from Tammy

and thought it was lovely. I have been so concerned for a long time about the socialist turn our country seems to be taking. I had a pretty vivid nightmare about it the other night.

But I won't get on my soap box. At least until I can educate myself on the finer points of the cap and trade agreement and Obama's health plan. And a few other things....

Weaning and Diet Pepsi. A Sad Tale...

It's true, I did it. I managed to wean The Queen.




It was kind of sad, but had to be done. I found that I had GAINED 12 pounds since I had the baby. That's right ladies. The scale moved the wrong way. I came home from the hospital after having Abigail. And then gained weight while nursing.

Not. Cool. I started having weight related health issues. And I needed to start some medication that I couldn't take while nursing. So I decided to wean her at the ripe old age of 8 months.

I thought I would have to wait for my sister to come home to keep Abigail for three days and just force her to eat. But I am glad to say it wasn't necessary.

I just woke up one morning and realized she hadn't nursed in a while and still seemed to be in a good mood. That is when I decided to just starve her out a little and try some breastmilk in a bottle. She took two ounces. That was the beginning.

I pumped for a while and slowly weaned her onto formula. She was pretty stubborn for weeks refusing to take more than 2 or 3 ounces at a time. Just enough to not starve. She has just now started to take four or more ounces at a time. This tiny little thing has a big attitude. I am a little frightened for the future;)

Unfortunately when I quit nursing, my hormones changed. my ICand endometriosis, which had been in remission for four years, came back with a vengeance. These conditions are hormone related. I had kept them at bay while I was pregnant and nursing Brenley, then pregnant and nursing Abigail.

This means a lot of pain. And a major life style change. I get to cut out many foods I love that are bad for me(chocolate, processed foods, spicy foods) and foods I love that are good for me(citrus, tomatoes, bananas etc.), and last but not least, Diet Pepsi:(


That's right, my soda. That I rely on. To get rid of my headaches. And my boredom. and my sleepiness.

(sigh) Farewell, my friend. You will be missed.....


(and yes. I have seriously considered pumping and dumping for the rest of my life. And just live with being fat. Don't tempt me...)

The good news is I am down twelve pounds since I stopped nursing. This is probably a combination of not nursing and being too afraid to eat anything;) Now I weigh what I weighed the day I got back from the hospital with Abigail. Woo hoo:(

Happy Father's Day!

Wanna Party?

I referred to this family before in this post. I went to High School with Josh, and he has such a cute little family. I hope everything works out for him, and I am willing to pitch in to make it happen!

He is having a fundraiser at Big Surf this Saturday. So come party with your family, or just on a date with your husband! Reasonable price, great cause, the whole shabang.

Go! Have fun!

P.S- I would love to have a button for Josh on my side bar where I have a few others. But I am technically retarded and don't know how to make one. So if anyone wants to make one for me, I would love it! I don't know how difficult it would be.




Host: Big Surf Waterpark/Philip Farber
Type: Causes - Fundraiser
Network: Global
Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 10:30pm
Location: Big Surf Waterpark Tempe, AZ
Street: 1500 N. McClintock Dr.
City/Town: Tempe, AZ
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Phone: 4808241601
Email: pfarber@avstechgroup.com

DescriptionFriends and family,

Please forward this to as many people as you can!!!!


My friend Josh Wills has had Cystic Fibrosis since he was 6 months old. Now he is in desperate need of a Lung Transplant. We have partnered with Big Surf Waterpark and will be throwing a benefit fund raiser for Josh’s Long Transplant cost. It will be a Private night party (but anyone can come!) from 6:30PM to 10:30PM, June 27th. Big Surf is not normally open at night so this will be a special event! All the water attractions will be open for both adults and kids. We will also be selling BBQ meals in the park. Almost all of the sales from the entire night will be going directly to Josh. Big Surf is just about covering the entire cost of the event themselves (So please support Big Surf by going there this summer for their donation of their time, staff, and park for Josh!) The cost is $15 online or $20 at the door the night of the event. Meals will include a hamburger or hotdog, chips and a drink for $7.00. We will have free rafts for the wavepool for everyone, the Kiddy area will be open for younger swimmers, Volleyball and of course all the slides for everyone. This event is not limited to just friends and family of josh we are inviting everyone to raise as much money as we can for Josh and his family! If you cannot make it but wish to donate please go to www.joshandjenwills.com to find out how.

Please contact me if you have any questions or interested in corporate donations or sponsors.

So please come out and enjoy the waterpark and have a great time at night without all the heat during the day to support Josh!!!!!!!

You can find out more about Josh’s journey at www.joshandjenwills.com

Event Details:
What: Benefit for Josh Will’s Lung Transplant.
When: Saturday, June 27th from 6:30PM-10:30PM
Where: Big Surf Waterpark in Tempe
Tickets: https://tickets.golfland.com/ (Type in joshwills)

More Beach House

Friday morning Wendell took the kids to the pick your own strawberry fields with the Garns, Dunyons, and Johnsons. I stayed home to nurse Abigail without interruption and put her down for a good nap. And did the laundry and read my book. Heavenly.
(do you have the Beatles song stuck in your head now? I know I do;)

We had more strawberries than anybody could ever eat. Rebecca cut them up for strawberry short cake. Yumm...




When they got back we took advantage of the beach and laid out. Or I did. It was pretty chilly and overcast but I was determined to get rid of my Knott's Berry Farmer's tan. You have already seen how well that turned out;)


We left the kids home and went out to dinner Friday night and Saturday night. And even went to the Johnson's beach house to play some games. Boy, we Proffitts can get competitive! Who knew. O.K, I did.


More beach on Saturday but it was too cold to get rid of the lovely stripes I had on my arms. And I was so careful with the sunblock this time! Oh well...

Kids of course don't even notice the cold. They are somehow programmed not to care about cold and heat. I don't know how they do that. Cold sandy and wet? Who cares! We're at the beach!My mom was in her chair with her sweats on and a blanket, and the kids are running around in their bathing suits. The big kids were in the ocean all day, surfing, body surfing, and boogie boarding.

We left on Sunday but stayed for Sunday dinner first. Which was actually Sunday lunch. I wish we could have all of our Sunday dinners at the beach house.


The view from my spot at the dinner table. Eating dinner while watching the ocean. My two favorite things!;)

The big kids eating dinner. How lucky are they?

Some of the littles at dinner.

And a wedding on the beach we could see from our balcony. Lovely.

After dinner? Manis and pedis before heading home. At this point Wendell was starting to antsy to get on the road. And I was delaying. I didn't want to leave the beach. I needed at least two more days!
(my favorite 12 year old look)

I am contemplating taking a cue from my sisters and getting my very own beach house for the month next year right next to theirs. My MIL even said she would pitch in if she could stay with me part of the time. Hmmm...

Roseola

On our way to the Beach House we stopped in Gila Bend for some dinner. When I got Abigail out of her carseat, she had a brand new major rash all over her face. Poor thing! I thought it must have been too hot in there for her, and she had a heat rash.

Nope.

Roseola. All over her little body. If you click on her picture, you can kind of see it on her face. I had taken her to the doctor on Monday because she had a high fever and I wanted to make sure it wasn't another ear infection. I wanted to get antibiotics before we left for CA on Wednesday. Not an ear infection. Don't know what it is.

Until two days later when she breaks out in a fun rash all over her body.

Luckily it didn't seem to bug her, and her fever was gone. The worst was already over.




I think she is still cute though;)