is it true?

we have had several calls questioning the validity of my last post. it is true. dan really does have swine flu. he really did catch it in seattle last weekend. he really is wearing dust masks. and yes, we did eat pigs in a blanket.
and we are doing good all things considered. thanks for your concern. we feel loved! :)

when dan is feeling blue about having the swine flu i simply have to remind him that at least he doesn't/can't take the garbage out wearing my pink camouflage capris. hehehe....(this pic was taken a few weeks back when dan remembered that it was his turn for garbage duty at 11:30 pm and he wore my pants.....and i caught him in the act.)

oink *cough* oink.

tonight we are having pigs in a blanket.

here is my pig in a blanket.
















i know....i have a sick sense of humor.

dan caught the swine flu in seattle.

(and i realize these aren't surgical masks....that was a bit of non-thinking on my part when i went about purchasing my swine flu/pandemic supplies for my food storage. now all my fellow blog friends know what a dork i am. whatev.

i wish, i wish not.

it goes without saying that it has been a long time since i have posted. let me simply say that nova has started walking and i have been chasing. i have been canning like a mad woman, and actually enjoying it. we have been cramming in all summer activities such as swimming, going on a million walks, throwing a back to school party, attending a temple dedication, attending a fireside with Elder Ballard, plotting to refinish our dining room table, going to my mother in laws for a few days and canning again like a mad woman--(72 bags of freezer corn, 18 pints of beans, and 18 pints of carrots......whoa....) and in the process have upgraded our computer and i can't figure out how to upload pics or vid...crazy month.

in a totally unrelated bit, sometimes i wish i was nova. and sometimes i don't.

on saturday when we were once again chillin (literally) in our sweet inflatable pool. she was playing in the pool and i was feeding her some honeydew. (that's a type of melon, for those of you who may not know the deliciousness of honeydew.) and i thought to myself, 'self, why aren't you the one in the pool being fed a melon?' ya, i wish i was nova.

later we went on a walk, and she was chill-laxin in the stroller with a sippy full of kool-aid, and crackers, while i was sweating up a storm walking up the monster hill. (i may or may not have snagged a sip from the sippy....but that's irrelevant...) ya, i wish i was nova.

also on saturday i watched nova run into the wall twice, fall 5 times and hit her head on the table within 10 minutes....ya, i am glad that i'm not nova.

she plays with the same toys and reads the same books everyday...ya, i'm glad i'm not nova.

i make nova eat green beans---almost daily.....i am VERY glad i am NOT nova.

she gets put to bed at 7:45pm...i really wish i was nova.

so i guess this dichotomy will never be put to rest.

you have a giant hole in your life.

let me let you in on a little secret. i recently discovered that a part of my life has been missing, and being the sharing person that i am....i will share my secret with you so you will not have a giant hole in your own life, as i did merely weeks prior to this blog.

eclairs. over. the. fire.

WHAT? you say?

i repeat: eclairs. over. the. fire.

OH BABY! heaven in your mouth and down your chin, and possibly on your shirt.
seriously. so. delish.

here are the instructions:

HOW TO FILL THE GIANT HOLE IN YOUR LIFE/COOKING AN ECLAIR OVER THE FIRE

STEP 1:
go to home depot and buy a wooden dowel that is approx an inch in diameter.....if you ask them if they have them, they will ask you "what for?", and you will tell them that it is a mere piece of lumbar that will complete your life.....ok, seriously though, the lady asked me what i wanted it for, and i told her it was to cook a biscuit over the fire and she looked at me like i was CA-RAZY....whatev...i get that look all the time from family and friends ALL the time....didn't faze me. anyway....purchase a dowel. its about 3 bucks....you might want to get more if there are more people partaking of the goodness.

STEP 2:
go to your local market and purchase chocolate frosting, vanilla pudding (i got the fun snack packs) and those crazy shot gun biscuits....i don't know what they are really called.....the biscuits in the roll that you open and it sounds like a shot gun and it makes you want to scream everytime you open them......ya, you want those.

STEP 3:
build a fire. cook some hot dogs and let it die down to smoldering coals.....














STEP 4:
rather than explain in words, here is a video that shows you how.

STEP 5:
cook slowly over a fire--BE PATIENT....didn't your mom ever tell you good things come to those who wait? it is true in this instance....yes, she was right, cook until the biscuit comes off easily from dowel














STEP 6:
fill hole with approx 1/2 snack pack pudding. this is symbolic of the hole that has been present in your life without ever partaking of an eclair. then frost the top or side or a portion of the filled eclair.

STEP 7:
eat. now you can die happy....














dan....you have a piece of heaven on your chin....


also, we did sparklers last night with nova. she loved them....and apparently so did dan from the look on his face right here.

skittle a rink a dink a dink....

i won't even bother playing catch up. we have been reunion-izing, girls camping, celebrating birthdays and trying to recover from the weeks of being gone. here are some pics and video of the last month of enjoying the summer. (the pics are in no particular order.....whatever though right?)

this picture is dan braiding my hair before girls camp.....what a man huh?















here is nova before our hike at the hope family reunion.














here is nova during the hike.....














and here is nova right before we got home....she was WIPED!















here is nova on her birthday before church....we were going to take some more pics after church, but we raced off to a reunion...so this is what we've got. happy birthday novs!














here are pics form our second trip to the zoo this summer. we went with elisa and also met up with our old neighbors the bennions.



















here is nova and i after the 5k....she is sporting my groovy glasses















to preface the 5K---i convinced 2 girls in our ward in the young women to run a local 5K with me the end of june. we decided that we would have matching sunglasses and socks to intimidate the competition......even though you can't see our socks in the picture....oh, well














the day of the race was a local celebration for founders day. they have fireworks at night and here is the picture of the fam before we went outside. by the time they started nova was WAY to tired to be interested.
















this picture takes us back to half-mas day. the glasses were part of the ornaments on the half-mas pine tree in our back yard.














here is nova with crazy hair on half-mas day...what a ham!














here is nova eating her cake and blowing out her candles....low protein cupcakes.....weren't necessarily her fav.















here is nova blowing out her candle. we have practiced the last few weeks and i think she did a really good job....what you don't see on the video is that we did the whole candle thing again in another cupcake......and she burnt herself.....

merry half-mas to all, and to all a good night!

merry half-mas everyone! what is half-mas you ask, AKA as june-mas. it is the celebration of 6 months until the actual holiday of christmas. indeed, 6 months from today is christmas day! K-razy. and so, we celebrate. yesterday for half-mas/june-mas eve, we had a water party of sorts. i had a huge roll of plastic that we tried to make a slip'n slide out of.....didn't work so well, but when we spread it all out, it worked awesome, and since we have a slopped yard, we flew....seriously. the only think i would change for the next time we do this, is....check the bottom of the tarp for thistles, my thigh is PRETTY scratched from the thistle friend we had hanging out at the bottom. ouch....

anyway, tammie and her kids and her mom and nieces stopped on their way back from the pageant as we were trying to figure it all out. it was fun to see them too. i'm pretty sure our neighbors think that dan and i need to grow up.....they can keep on thinkin that if they want, cause we aren't gonna.

here are some videos. of our june-mas eve bash. before our lil family bbq. it also shows nova's stellar crawling skills.

dear jon and kate

dear jon and kate,

i just wanted to say thank you.

thank you for ruining my day.

thank you for proving to america why reality tv bites.

thank you for giving up and showing everyone who may be in a similar situation, that when the going gets tough, separate, and divorce.

thank you for showing your kids that a marriage isn't worth fighting for.

thank you kate for getting caught up in what is NOT important, and thank you jon, for showing me what loyalty is, and that what is most important in life is making yourself happy.

thank you for disappointing your kids, for disappointing me and the 9.8 million viewers who used to really care about your life and enjoyed peaking in on you from time to time. you once made me laugh and now i'm depressed because you think you can't do it anymore.

COME ON! marriage is work, and so are kids! you two, of all people should know! why are you giving up! (not that i expected anything less, with the 'big announcement', ) but i was merely hoping you would prove everyone wrong and say YES, we are going to work it out. YES, we will learn to forgive. YES, we want to do what is best for our family. and YES, we are a team.

thank you for joining the reality morons like jason mesnick, who disappointed me by brutally dumping melissa and running off with molly. and mike who somehow let helen win the biggest loser, and the many others that have conned me in through the reality tube of despair. seriously.
thank you again for nothing. you are no longer on a reality tv show, even though some people may say that you are. what you have done is not reality. in my opinion, marriage is a reality that you stick to and make it work to make it the best thing in your life. way to go and screw it all up.

sincerely,
not your fan anymore,
suzanne

dear plus 8,

i'm sorry. be strong, and wear blinders the rest of your life in the grocery store line so you can't read the tabloids about your parents, or yourselves on how the decision your parents made affected you psychologically.

sympathetically,
suzanne