Lazy days of summer

I think summer is officially over. With every morning, Spencer informs me of how many days are left until BYU kicks off against Oklahoma (sometimes he even figures out the hours too!). Thus summer must be over. We have had such a great summer, I almost hate for it to end. Here are some of our favorite memories of summer 2009:
We had our best Fourth of July ever as we remembered our family soldier and all of the wonderful aspects of our country.

We went swimming A LOT this summer! Jackson is a little fish- Brady not so much, but we still forced him anyway.

Lagoon day with the Wangsgards. Enough said- we love Lagoon.

Zoo trip. The zoo never gets old to us.

Pre-school field trips. We went to the fire station, Macey's grocery store, the dentist office, Temple Square, the zoo, and we're going to the aquarium this week. So fun!!!

The Oquirrh Mountain temple Open House. This was a great experience for the boys and me.

Discovering Jump On It- Jackson's new favorite place on Earth!

Camping and heading into the canyons. I love where we live and that we are so close to the mountains. Our only camping trips were Fathers and Sons and in Grandpa's backyard- we'll have to do better next year.

Finishing our basement. Here's my moment of insanity where I let me boys help me paint.

Swimming in Grandma's backyard.

This is kind of how I'm feeling after this summer too. But here's to a great fall season!!!

What a bummer!

Spencer and I were very blessed to receive some furniture for our wedding. One item was this beautiful, huge, incredibly heavy formal glass dining table. It made it up from Las Vegas, through FOUR moves here in Utah, then downstairs, upstairs and back downstairs in this house, and finally to our storage room after our basement finishing. We have never really had room for it and never known what to do with it- it's not exactly kid friendly, but we have always been so careful with it. We tried to sell it on KSL, but it sat for a while. Finally, this weekend someone told us they wanted to buy it from us- for a good price too! We were SO excited to get rid of it. Spencer about killed himself getting it up the stairs from our basement by himself. I got home just in time to help him move it outside. As we went down the LAST step on our porch to get it into Spencer's truck it knicked the edge of the step and CRACK! A 12 inch section of the corner flew off! What are the chances?!? We have had that big, heavy glass for SIX YEARS and just as we are finally able to get rid of it- crash!

Oh well, so to get my mind off of this, here are some fun pictures of our night out to Liberty Land

Big boys don't cry

After we put our kids to bed on Sunday night, Spencer and I decided to watch the Testaments movie that someone gave us a long time ago and was still in the wrapper. I love that movie- it's hard not to feel the Spirit when watching it. By the end, I was bawling like I always do. I just can't get through the part when the Savior says his name without choking up... it always gets me. So I look over at Spencer and of course he is stone-faced. Not a single tear- is that possible? He said- "oh, he needed to be able to see again- that's nice"

Spencer can honestly claim that he has NEVER emotionally cried in his life- not while bearing a testimony, not on his mission, not when we got married, not when we had our babies- nothing! He has only cried ONCE in his whole life- when he was younger and nearly severed his arm off- there's a nasty scar to prove it. So I asked him if he thought he would cry if one of his family members died- to which he said "No, except for one". Then I asked him if he would cry if one of our kids died- to which he said "No" because he would know they are happy and we can see them again. I did not ask him if he would cry if I died because I was likely to be very mad if he said No.

I think I may be married to the Terminator...

** This is about as close to husband-bashing as I can possibly get. I love you Spencer, just the way you are- I cry enough for the both us anyway! :)

Rise and Shout!

I have always maintained that one of the main reasons Spencer married me was because I not only tolerate football, but enjoy it- as evident by my excitement to spend my Saturday morning watching football practice. Yesterday we had the chance to attend the BYU football scrimmage with family (that's Jackson's cousin Caden in the pictures above) and watch from the President's box. It made us all the more anxious for football to start. The team looked awesome. While I don't exactly have BCS hopes this year (come on people- Oklahoma?!?) I think it will be an exciting season. It's those tough games that will make the team better in the long run- though I sure wish we could open our season at home to Utah State... The President's box is pretty cool by the way- if only I had a spare $100,000 to give to BYU football, we could get regular seats up there...

I just do NOT heart Costco

At the risk of pitchforks being raised up against me, I am going to say this. Can someone please explain to me the draw of Costco? I have a membership as a necessary evil of my calling, but really, I probably wouldn't have one normally. Here are my reasons:

- I have yet to find an item that is significantly less expensive than Smith's or Wal-mart. People rave about the price of diapers, but the cost per unit is the same- not to mention there are only two choices and Brady is allergic to Huggies. The milk and eggs are a few cents more expensive. Even if there are things that might be cheaper, it is by so little that I would NEVER make back the $50 in membership fees every year.

- The bulk packaging just doesn't work for our family. I mean, who really needs 5 lbs of tortilla chips? We could probably eat it, but that doesn't mean we should! I love watermelon as much as the next person, but when it is the size of Brady, I know our little family will not eat it all.

- I hate the cereal boxes- you can never get the second bag back in the box after you open it!

- I know a lot of people like the frozen foods. I think their selection is great, but unless you have a freezer the size of a house, you can only get 1-2 items. So if I get corn dogs (gross example) that's all we can eat for the next few weeks because the box is so big!

- You walk out of there spending $50 or so but only end up with like 6 things. That's a good chunk of my grocery budget, and I don't have a single meal to show for it.

- There aren't many generic options for items. If I want to buy ketchup I am totally fine with the Great Value brand to save myself some change- except for Macaroni and Cheese- you can't skimp on that!

- I like feeling like I am getting a good deal so I shop sale items and stock up. There are no sales at Costco. Similarly, they do not accept coupons.

- I hate having to explain to Jackson why we can't buy the $900 monstrous waterslide on display right by the food items.

- They only accept American Express credit cards. Apparently Visa is NOT everywhere you want to be.

- They don't open until 11:00- the day is half over at the Wangsgard house. I have to go shopping when my kids are in a somewhat good mood- usually early in the morning.

- I just can't justify dragging my kids to another store, buckling and unbuckling their car seats, to only get 2-3 items. I'd rather go get it done in one place.

I don't mean to put down everyone's FAVORITE place, but I would really love to hear someone justify their $50 membership. Please don't hate me. I hope we can still be friends.

Health care

Spencer and I have always considered it our patriotic duty to stay informed of what's going on in the political arena. We always vote, send letters to our congressmen, follow the news, and constantly debate the issues with each other, despite being on the same side (it's about as close to arguing as we get). Needless to say, we have been following Pres. Obama's push for health care reform. As someone who is apparently considered wealthy enough by insurance companies and the government to pay for everyone else's health care, we are very interested in this topic. I won't go into our thoughts on the topic because we have A LOT to say. But one thing that I did come across yesterday totally made me laugh. Spencer and I are huge believers in personal responsibility when it comes to health care. However I guess that is not politically correct. Lawmakers cite reports that the majority of Americans don't agree with us. According to one poll, only 37% of Americans feel those that are overweight should be charged more for insurance, despite way more than half of health care costs being attributed to unhealthy weight... well DUH!!!! The other 63% are the ones that are overweight!!!! What a stupid poll. But it did make me laugh. I mean absolutely NO OFFENSE by this post. I know this is something people truly struggle with or may be genetically prone to, so I don't mean to make light of the situation. That being said, I do also believe that part (and only part) of health care reform needs to be to tell people to put down the donuts!

Mommy vs. the world

The other day I had an experience that has changed my thinking. In the morning I spoke with an old friend who told me she has made it to the finals of a national TV show. It was so fun to hear about her glamourous life and her many travels around the world. Later on that day I had a chat with someone else who has decided to go back to school to study nursing (my college major), which got me thinking about my exciting memories becoming a nurse and the difference I felt I was making at that time. And then I looked at myself. I hadn't gotten ready for the day (I won't say just how late it was, but it doesn't bode well for me), my house was such a mess, and there I was sitting on the floor holding a banana begging Brady to eat it and it hit me- is this really what has become of me? What am I doing on the floor in my p.j.'s holding this nasty banana? Am I really making a difference? Is this really what I worked so hard for?

These thoughts persisted for a while until I got the mail and received this month's Ensign. For some reason I thought I should thumb through it and wouldn't you know- there was a story about a mom who had the chance to go back to work and loved it, only to find that she began to resent her responsibilities at home. In the end, she recognized her attitude and took steps to find joy in motherhood again. Great story.

Would I really trade my life? Not in a million years. When I hear Jackson offer to be my helper because Daddy can't sit with us at church anymore, or when Brady does a little dance to make me giggle, I know I wouldn't change a thing. I fully recognize that my life is not for everyone. Some people don't get to stay home with their kids, some don't want to and that is totally fine because that is who they are. But for me- I realized this day that I truly do love it, even if I really suck at it sometimes!

A reason to SMILE

Last week Jackson had his first dentist appointment ever. He was so brave, and I was so proud of him. Luckily it appears he has my teeth instead of Spencer's, as the dentist declared him to be perfectly healthy. Then it was my turn. I haven't been to the dentist in longer than I care to admit. It's just never been high on my priority list, we don't have dental insurance, and I've always had healthy teeth. So I was a bit surprised when the dentist told me that I had 4 cavities that needed to be filled as soon as possible (at $165 EACH!) Yeah, we weren't expecting that kind of bill- especially when I've only had 1 cavity in my entire life! But they were very insistent I should take care of them right then. Spencer had the impression that we should ask for my x-rays and get a second opinion somewhere else. So we went to another dentist and he told me that I had maybe one cavity that would cost me $68 to take care of. The rest were either bad x-rays or blatant attempts to get paid. This was definitely a "windows of heaven" moment. Hooray for that but not for the one cavity- no fun.