Shauna6pack

I woke up early this morning and couldn't fall back asleep... Too much on my mind regarding Girl's Camp, I think. That would explain how I missed Dilbert's birthday, I guess.

Actually, it is because I don't have a calendar in my kitchen anymore. The stainless fridge isn't magnetic so where do I put my calendar now! So, without seeing a calendar, I thought Sunday was the 28th, not Saturday. It wasn't until about 2 pm that N set me straight. Dilbert thought it was pretty funny but I felt horrible. I'm glad he was okay with it and not mad because I deserved it. I took him to the DI--something he had been wanting to do for a long time--but then
ruined it with a marathon 2 hour trip to Walmart, walking the entire store a half a dozen times. No man should have to do that on his birthday.

We got him a fire bowl for his birthday. He seemed to enjoy it. We invited some kids from the neighborhood over to roast marshmallows and make s'mores which was fun. I don't think he knows how much the kids in the neighborhood "dig" him. He's got the dry sense of humor that appeals to one family, in particular. He's a pretty good tease, too. When M got her haircut
to donate to Locks of Love, Dilbert told the neighbors he was growing his out to donate, too. Most of the kids looked at him like, "good for you!" but Breanne said, "How's that working out for you?" Just cracked me up since Dilbert is sporting a pretty close buzz cut lately!

Dilbert is pretty bummed to be back in CA yesterday and today but he should be home tonight. I hope so. This travel is getting hard on him. It isn't easy to re-adjust to our crazy, loud, hectic home after being alone in a hotel. And I think the magnitude of the work yet to be done in the kitchen and the rest of the house gets to him, too. It gets to me! I finally ordered the kitchen tile and the heating system for the floor. I guess we are one tiny step closer to completion... one very
tiny but expensive step... I did find stools at Target. I like them very much but wanted the ones with nail-head decorations. I couldn't justify spending double the price for stools. They are 24" high so it makes it much easier to sit on them.

Last night N and I played Rummikub until 11 pm. She is a smartie with a sweet disposition. I am lucky to be her mom.

Today
we are off to Park City to the outlet mall there to begin school shopping. Did I mention I DREAD school shopping with 5 girls?

I took Dilbert to Tile for Less to check out the Warm Tile for the kitchen. It ended up taking forever as we realized it was going to take some working out to use this product and maintain the levelness of the kitchen floor. I told Dilbert to work it through in his head and it would be perfect. He has a way of stewing through problems and coming up with solutions that are brilliant. Just give him some time and he will solve the problems. He's my hero in so many ways; this is just one of them.

As we were leaving the tile store, I got a call from the store where we are buying our tile with an estimate on cost. It was over $3000! I was speechless. I think they have vastly mis-measured. We estimated 200 sq. ft. and he measured 350. Someone is off...

Yesterday was also our fieldtrip to Bear Lake to check out the facilities for Girl's Camp. I took my wonderful assistant camp director and the YW's secretary. At the last minute Dilbert was able to come with us. Thank goodness because it rained like the dickens (whatever THAT is).

The drive up there was pretty good, taking the route through Logan Canyon, until we were just about over the pass into Bear Lake. It started to pour so hard we had to slow down to a crawl. We started around the lake, looking for the lodge but couldn't find it. Yes, we did go up there without directions or a map, but it isn't that big of a place, right? And did I mention very spotty cell phone coverage? Yeah...

We ended up finding the Minnetonka Cave but didn't go the whole way to the cave because we were running out of time. But I know where to go, at least. We continued around the North end of the Lake to Bloomington where we found the turn-off to Lake Bloomington. We went about 5 miles along a gravel road until we found a good place to drop the girls off to do their hike. It is absolutely beautiful up there. I mean breathtakingly beautiful. The hike will end at Lake Bloomington, a glacier fed lake with rope swings and shear cliffs to jump off of. I am a bit concerned to take a bunch of girls up there, but they will behave and not drown, right?! We have plenty of Priesthood going along and life vests but there is still that worry.

After that, still in the pouring rain, we went back to find the lodge. We drove back and forth for some time until we finally got enough cell coverage to call home to Scout who provided us with an address. Sure enough, there it was, exactly where we had been looking, just on the other side of the highway. Sheesh! Bear Lake Lodge is a very nice place with plenty of room to hang out, play games, play ping pong and pool and foosball (note to Mom, this would be a great reunion place). It will be very fun. We were told we couldn't go in and see it but as we drove up, the people who were just arriving were there and they said we could go in and look around so we were able to scout it out. Hurrah!

We hurried back to Fish Haven and got our obligatory raspberry shakes (of course that was me. Everyone else was having chocolate or peanut butter... It seems crazy to me why people do that... It is like going to a Mexican restaurant and ordering a hamburger.) Mine was absolutely delicious. We decided with the foul weather that we would try the Evanston WY route back home. Thank goodness we did because the rain only got worse. We hydroplaned all the way down Weber Canyon. We were so grateful for Dilbert's driving. It was plenty stressful for him but I know we would have been in dire straights without his driving skills. He got us home just in time to grab some dinner and get BNL Fan_1 and Scout off to movie night at YW's. I was grateful for those two last night. They managed to have a yummy dinner of brisket and baked potatoes on the table for us as we walked in the door. All the little ones were happy and healthy after a day of neglect so hat's off to them!

Finally, as we were getting ready for bed, I noticed the Packet8 delivery on the kitchen counter. Yeah! Our phone has been out for over a week which was a mixed blessing. We couldn't get any incoming calls and had sporadic outgoing calls due to the bankruptcy of Sunrocket, our VOIP phone company. On the good side, we have had a very quiet week with few interruptions and no calls for us to do any "favors". On the downside, we missed a few invitations for fun. Anyway, Dilbert installed it in 5 minutes and with that came e-mail confirmation that they had already ported our old number and we were back in phone business. Hurrah because it was getting hard to save cell minutes for all our phoning.

M has been growing her hair out forever so she could donate it to Locks of Love. Finally I had enough of the scraggly mess so I took her to get it cut off. She doesn't like the short hair but she is soooo cute with her A-line cut! She looks just like a pixie. And it was for such a great cause!

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With Dilbert gone to Edwards, it is hard to get motivated to do anything around here. I am sick of subfloor and the chaos construction brings and it seems everything is half-done. Not that I blame him; he can't help that he has to be gone and there is only so much a guy can do. Added to that is my lack of sleep (thanks to my edginess when Dilbert is gone and Harry Potter!). The result is short tempered and non-productive.

I still need to track down affordable counter stools, order tile and backsplash rock and floor preparation supplies and the lighting. I feel pressure to get it done quickly because people keep asking to come see the finished product but it isn't done so I don't want to show it off yet.

I am also in the middle of Girl's Camp preparation. I am having a hard time focusing on what needs to be done/planned. I am not a frou-frou person so the little pillow gifts every night seem like a waste of money and effort.

The good news (to everyone, I am sure!) is that I am having an electrolysis treatment this afternoon. That should make me feel better...