We are at One-Sheet Status

Jed and I judge weather patterns based on the bedding status. For example-

Fall=Comforter and sheet, maybe an extra throw

Winter=Due to my "conservation," Comforter, sheet, flannel sheet and quilt ahhhh, cozy, snugly

Spring=Same as fall, minus the throw
Summer=about the same until we go to ONE SHEET STATUS which you cannot go beyond, there's nothing left. We are doomed, because it is only going to be hotter next week.

So here are a few things I've been doing out of necessity or desperation I can't decide.

1)Playing Christmas music and closing the curtains, pretending it is December. The only problem with this is it led me to thinking about Christmas and then I started (of course) dreaming about Christmas and you know that is never safe. I dreamed Santa Claus died, it was very upsetting, when I woke Jed up to tell him, he gently reminded me "It's ok, he's not real Joshlyn." oh yeah

2)Going to the car wash, something about being in a tunnel of water makes me feel cool and refreshed. I think it is the cleaning element combined with water, darkness, a/c in the car etc.

3)Water aerobics-so lame I know but how else do you work out in the heat without waking up early, which in NOT an option.

4)Making snow-cones in my suhhhweeet retro snow cone machine that was worth every 29.99 forked over to Target. Jack REALLY likes snow cones.

5)Escaping to the Mountains-even though ya'll know how that turned out

6)LAKE LAKE LAKE-we have to enjoy it while it lasts, insert bitter sigh

The Boys The Girls

Jed making rainbows on the slalom, one day I'll get a picture of me wakeboarding, I really can you know.

What ballerina's wear to the lake

The Last One

I've been informed I'm aging and due to this natural occurring process I celebrated my last birthday for the next 6 years or more. From here on out I will be 29.

For the weekend we went to Cedar Mountain to try to escape the heat, like everyone else in Nevada, and had a great misadventure. The weekend could really broken into three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. Last night (my actual b-day) as we were going to sleep Jed leaned over to me and said "Happy Birthday-today sucked."

Let me explain...

The GOOD

We left Saturday morning, stopped at Panguitch Lake and rode a 10 mile trail. It was very picturesque and we happened upon a beautiful meadow of wildflowers. I don't think I've ever seen the hills so green in July, it truly was gorgeous.

The meadow AND where I plan on taking up my summer residence to escape the heat. Jed always told me he wanted to live in a shack and have ten kids. I'll take the shack.

OR better yet...

An ice cave. One of the trails we rode led to an ice cave where you could actually see your breath and throw chunks of ice at your brother's head while "ice skating.." The cave is bigger than the shack so it may be the better choice.

That little Jack LOVES to ride, as you can tell by the supreme joy radiating from his face. He will happily go boneless, leaning back on Jed and ride for miles and miles and miles, without whining, fussing, moving or anything else he does in the car, like hucking his sippy cup at my head.
The other picture is all of us on a hike to see an invisible waterfall. The park service went to great lengths to create a look-out spot for a spout of water coming out of a hill a million miles away, so we took the opportunity to pose for a family pic. You've witnessed the good, now...

THE BAD

Trailer tire blow-out before St. George, in the right lane, with mucho traffic. Jed looks at me and the first thing he says is "Time Me!" And that right there is one of the many reasons I love this man. Optimism in the face of adversity and a great sense of humor to go with it! If you haven't seen "Christmas Story" you might not find this as humorous. By the way, it only took him 20 minutes. I was impressed, he was a little disappointed. It would have taken me that long just to read the manual on how to operate the contraption.

Now on to...

THE UGLY

So, as we were discussing how lucky we were that we didn't have a blow-out coming down Cedar Mtn. or in the gorge POP. You guessed it, another tire blew, you see we were only half-way through the gorge. In case you are uninformed about the gorge, it is a 20 mile death tunnel of curves and guard rails. However, the one place it widens and is open territory was where we were at when KABOOM. Nonetheless, everything went down-hill from there. No more spare tire, no cell phones (did I mention they both died and both of us forgot chargers)115 degrees.

How we feel at this point. Especially when the kids and I have to leave Jed in the gorge, with the trailer of 4-wheelers, (all we need at this point is someone to steal them) drive to Mesquite to replace the tire, and then drive back to Jed, sitting in the heat on the side of the freeway.

We left at 2 and got home at 7. A three hour journey extended to 5 hours. The kids were done. Jed was done. And I was DONE. My birthday long winters nap sacrificed.

I won't tell you the rest of the incidents because PDub is on vaycay and I don't want this to leak to him (he is the owner of the equipment) but sufficient to say Jed wasn't kidding when he said

"Happy Birthday-Today sucked."

I know I don't like that word either but what do you do when there is no other way to put it?

The Pink Siamese

Here are our little kitties. I've wanted to have kittens every since we moved into our house and Jara was almost 2. I figured cute, fuzzy babies were much safer than the killing machine named Icky my mom boards. Two years later I have finally weakened Jed into accepting that our children NEED pets and cats are easier to care for than dogs. So, may I introduce...

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Here they are at the tender age of 6 weeks old. I don't think I have ever brought home kitties this young. They were teeny tiny and slept all day. Jara would push them around in her dolly stroller and they'd snooze away wrapped up in a blanket. I have pictures of it but you can't even see the kitty because all he wanted to do was burrow to the bottom of the blanket and sleep. Each cat's personality is true to his distinctive name. They are opposites in every way. Dr. Jekyll you will notice in most of the pictures because he is more cooperative and thus easier for a 3 year old to manage. Dr. Jekyll is white=good, Mr. Hyde is black=the dark one (his name was smoke monster for awhile for all you LOST fans.) They are both a Siamese mix but the distinct coloring is only obvious in Dr. Jekyll, his bright blue eyes are beautiful if not a little googly.

Here are a few of my favorite "CAT" moments:

1) Every morning Jara calls to them "Breakfast, everyone up, hurry, hurry." Can you tell she loves the Cinderella movie?

2)Jara "dyed" Dr. Jekyll's fur with a marker, that is why this post has been dubbed the pink Siamese. I couldn't figure out why the cat was pink until I saw the tell all sign of discarded crayola magic moments marker. Magic moments indeed!

3)Jack calls them mowww's. He likes to pick them up by the tail and the neck. Thankfully they don't seem to mind too much and have survived. You won't see Jack and the kitties in very many pictures because they know to steer clear of the giant boy. Jack, even though he likes to inflict pain on the mowww's, is very concerned when they inflict pain on each other. Mr. Hyde, true to his nature, likes to beat the crap out of his fellow feline, with precise cat kicks to the face and tail biting. This behavior greatly disturbs Jack who will cry and say "no mowww" and try to save (I use this term loosely)Dr. Jekyll.

4)As soon as the sun comes up so do the cats, they go into loco mode. One morning about 5:30 Jed nudges me and mutters "throw those damn raccoons out." (They sleep in the laundry room.)They do have to be put out or else the whole house wakes up. Mr. Hyde enjoys practicing his pogo moves on the washing machine.

5)Dr. Jekyll likes to purr when he eats and he gets going so loud he is vibrating his whole body and almost levitating.

6)Mr. Hyde ended up in the dryer today. I think he had some assistance. I hear MEOW MEOW normally I ignore meowing because Dr. J is a whiner but when it continued unceasing I decided to have a look and realized the noise was evident but the cat was not. After a quick look to the side and behind the dryer I realized where he was. He was so traumatized after I pulled him out he allowed petting and even produced a minor purr. That's gratitude coming from Mr. Hyde.

Jara with her pal Dr. Jekyll. One day she came in with him in a bag around her neck. A convenient cat carrier.

I love the look on Jara's face in this picture. AND I love the look on Mr. Hyde's face in the other picture. You can see his true spaz personality reflecting back at you. Did I mention Jack tries to take the kitties for rides on the trike? Not so fun for the cat but he knows life will be easier if he cooperates.

An innocent baby Mr. Hyde happily snoozing away. If only he would have stayed this way.

Best Family Picture EVER

Yeah, I don't know why I'm okay with exploiting myself like this but truly this is the best family picture ever.

Here are a list of possible captions:
The family that packs heat together, stays together.
NRA-the picture of American families
Redneck reunion
The LAW
When I don't comb my hair it makes me angry and I feel the need to shoot things, inanimate things that is.
NV the battle born state for a reason
I could go on and on but they are going to continue to become more and more lame.

Happy Independence Day

Can you tell it was Jack's first time to watch fireworks? Jara's an old pro, I still clap and Jed's eyes had starry flames reflecting in them.

Breakfast

We like our pancakes with a little bit of powdered sugar on our face...

Mmmmm

Jack's comfy/monkey eating position. Aids in digestion.

Wheeler Family Fun in Marysvale

All of the PK Wheeler clan headed to the Paiute Trail last weekend. We rode 4-wheelers (no pun intended) and explored in the state of "elevated life." (Utah is now posting this on license plates, I guess "greatest snow on earth wasn't good enough.)
Here are some highlights of the trip...

Miner's Park-here they had plenty of old mining artifacts to entertain even the youngest of children.
Jack-in-a-Mining-Cart


Family photo-since we were riding 4-wheelers in sub zero temperatures, hail and rain we needed extra, extra layers. Did I mention it was uphill both ways? haha

Where we stayed-great place I highly recommend it to ya'll. The actual name of the establishment is "Moore's Old Pine Inn." They have 7 cabins decorated in "miner" theme with all the amenities. It's very quaint. If only real miners would have had it this nice.

Where is Waldo, I mean Jack? Here are almost all of the boy cousins but three.

Here we are, notice the pretty, yellow flowers Jed picked for my hair.

The only two girls out of a pack of 11. They have to stick together, and they did! They played so cute together.

Hiking to the waterfalls. Jack is numb in this picture and shorty hereafter had a royal meltdown. Did I mention it was COLD?

My pioneer children. Here is a "green" car for you. No gasoline or batteries involved!

All the girls. (almost I'm not sure where Tessa was)

It was a great trip and I would definitely like to do it again, even in the rain!