Summer fun: Liberty Park

Don't get the wrong idea with my next few posts.

I suck as a mom.

Really suck.

I'm boring. I yell a lot. I have no patience. I'm in this weird, crazy, emotional, depressed, grouchy funk lately.

So I depend on my friends who are fabulous moms to help me out. When my amazing friend Libbey asked me if I wanted to go to Liberty Park to explore Tracy Aviary and the water features, I said YES! Even Pearl knows I rely on friends like Libbey to make up for all the crappy mom moments in our house... she LOVES "Livvey" (and Jacob and "his baby"). 

I wasn't too sure how much the kids would like the Aviary but they seemed to have a good time. We saw some pelicans, found a momma duck with her babies, fed another duck some rocks, pretended to be birds ourselves, and walked and walked and walked until we found the flamingos. Pearl wanted nothing else but to find the flamingos and was certain her interpretation of the Aviary's map was going to get us there. Left to her alone, we'd have walked to Timbucktoo and back before finding them. 

Then we had a picnic under the trees, right next to the awesome water features. They are a replica of all the rivers that flow from the mountains to the Great Salt Lake. Even the moms and dads like to play in the water.

Uh, what in the world is up with the model pose? Seriously. Where did she learn that!? Certainly not from her mother. 

 

I now know why I'm not a good mom. It's too tiring!

Is Dad trying to be like This Old House?

I am very grateful for my home. 

I love having a HUGE backyard. Mostly because I don't have to mow it.

But our yard looks like crap. And not from lack of effort on Jeff's part. I want to get that clear. Jeff mows each Thursday, rain, snow, sleet, or Hades heat. 

It just feels like we have no clear vision of how to turn our massive yard into one of those magazine escapes like we want. I have no clue how to keep any plants alive, let alone what kind of plants to even get! Although, my flower pots are still looking awesome even with the record heat and month of no rain. And there's only so much of Jeff to go around between work and husband and father duties. Plus, the lack of a sprinkler system on a 1/3 acre takes up a lot of energy. 

Last night we sat outside enjoying summer and chatting about what we should do with the yard. Oh sure, we can list out big ideas like having a "child-only zone" with a swing set, playhouse, sandbox, and trampoline or the "man zone" to house the "man toys" like the 4 wheelers or the "party zone" with a covered patio and this patio furniture set. But then we look around and think we don't have the know-how, funds, or vision to actually make it happen.

For the past year, we've debated over and over about whether we should a) stay, b) add on to our house and do some of the other "wish list" items we have, or c) build a new house. We love our neighbors. We love the area where we live. We love having an actual yard. We hate not having any kids in the neighborhood. We get annoyed with a historic home that has a few quirks that we don't know how to fix or have the money to just pay someone to do it for us. We hate having small living spaces now that our kids are getting bigger.

Well, we are still here. And last night as Jeff and I were rattling off our ideas and "zones" we want to create, I said I want to enjoy our home/yard as long as we are here. I don't want to just keep putting things off because we think we might someday move or add-on. Because let's face it, we've been here eight years and I really don't see us going anywhere anytime soon. As I started to have a mini-pity party over the things we don't know how to do or can't figure out what we really want, I decided to walk around the yard and see the beauty of what we do have right now.

Pretty awesome, right?

Oh, and today we did make some progress on one of our yard projects. We went to the "man store" aka Lowe's to check out options for sheds. Pearl asked me in this super annoyed-I-don't-want-to-be-here voice, "Is Dad trying to be like This Old House?" 

The "man zone" has been leveled and gravel-filled in preparation for this bad boy. Now we've just got to convince someone to come and help us build it. We need know-how and tools. Please. Anyone.

If I only knew how to use Photoshop

If I only knew how to use Photoshop, we might have an actual picture to document our family's first 4 wheeler ride on an actual trail.

Sort of trail. Well, there was a trail involved. Just not for very long. Mostly driving up mega houses and dreaming of the day my family somehow strikes it rich or wins the lottery and can replace the ghetto trailer on our Bear Lake property with an actual structure worthy of a toilet.

Anyway.

If I knew how to use Photoshop, I could probably mash up at least one or two of these pictures and turn it into something grand. Or at least something that has all of our faces visible.

Take Pearl's smile here...

 And Cole's face from here... 

And the background from this one... 

And put them on here...

And we'd have the perfect picture to document our ride. 

Word of the day

For those of you who watch Sesame Street, you'll know that Murray (one of the monsters on the show and quite honestly, way better than Elmo) has a "word of the day." 

In our house, that word has been "seriously." Courtesy of Pearl. 

As in "Seriously?" Or "Seriously!" Or "S.E.R.I.O.U.S.L.Y." Or my personal favorite, "Seriously?!" like you really are the dumbest parents on the planet.

Seriously.

Pearl's word of the day became the word of our weekend at Bear Lake. Especially after some d*!@ raccoon figured out how to unzip our insulated cooler, reach his paws in, and eat every single Rice Krispies treat, fruit snack, and Fruit-by-the-foot we had. At 4:30 a.m. in the morning!!! Leaving behind an entire bag of Hot Tamales strewn all over the cement because apparently treat stealing critters don't like hot candies AND a frazzled, broom-carrying, crazy, sleep-deprived, and grouchy 31-year-old woman to chase him off.

Seriously!

Or seriously? when a "Mormon flock of geese" as we dubbed them tried to take over our beach all weekend. When we got to the property, there was about 20 of them squatting on our lawn. We later discovered our lawn and beach had become their personal toilet. S.E.R.I.O.U.S.L.Y.!

My brother Jesse took it upon himself to try and chase them away every time they wandered back over. I'm not kidding, but at one point there must have been at least 25 babies and 15 adults stalking him back and forth. Then they sent in the pelicans as reinforcements. It was hilarious... like they were planning a full-out war attack on us. As soon as Jesse would chase off one family of geese, another would swim over from the other side and stare him down. I'm doubtful Jesse's efforts will help in the geese finding another spot for their poop fest.

Seriously?!

You are the goodest Mom ever

It might be a once-in-a-lifetime happening.

A miracle of sorts.

Even Jeff told me to document it because it would probably never happen again.

Pearl told me, "You are the goodest Mom ever," at dinner tonight.

Wow. Serious wow here people.

Pearl and I have a tumultuous relationship, with me taking the brunt of her sassiness. At times I think that kid hates me already. I struggle with knowing how to get her to treat me with respect and heck, even fake that she likes me.

Her reason for declaring me the "goodest Mom ever"? Not this (if you can't tell from the picture, I let me children destroy the living room so I can do the laundry in peace).

But this. A plate of spaghetti and some warm breadsticks to go with it.

(This is not a picture of my spaghetti. I was in such shock and near tears after Pearl's compliment that I didn't dare ruin the moment by grabbing my camera or phone to document the occasion. Plus, if I'd have put cheese on Pearl's spaghetti she would have screamed and this post would have never happened. But those are my breadsticks.)