"June Is Bustin' Out All Over." -Carousel

June has gone by so fast that I haven't had any time to blog, but since the month is almost over, I thought I'd better give you something . . .
So without further ado, here is our month in pictures (with a few snippets).

The beginning of June was quite a whirlwind after getting Dash and all. I didn't take to the new dog as easily as I thought I would, and spent the first few weeks trying to keep anxiety attacks at bay (that's a topic for another time though), but finally, I felt somewhat normal enough to load us up on some summer fun! Which is how it's been ever since. . .well maybe it's not ALL been fun! You'll see.

On the 10th of June we were invited by our friends and neighbors, the Biesingers, to go down to Thanksgiving Point for the Scottish Festival and Tattoo. It was a lot of fun to walk around the different booths, eat the yummy food and hear the bagpipers play. A few bands came out and played and we all danced, then we got to see the different Clans walk through and place a torch on a stand. It was a bonnie wee good time! Hee hee.

After our Scottish weekend, Natalie and I spent FHE at Bountiful Park for a little concert with Cori Connors (she is a great guitarist, and she teaches in Farmington), Michael McLean (yes THAT Michael McLean) and John Batdorf. It was a nice night of music and fun. Brandon was sick so he stayed home with Sam :(
The concert in the park was the first of many fun things Natalie did for her Birthday Week.

On Tuesday June 14th, it was her 9th Birthday and she spent the whole day with Brandon's Mom and had a sleep over. They went to Build-A-Bear and saw the Judy Moody movie. Then on Wednesday, my mom picked her up and took her shopping, where she got spoiled with Harry Potter Lego sets (I thought that was just for boys?). Then my family all went to the Olive Garden for her Birthday Dinner.

On Thursday night (16th) Natalie had a "late over" Birthday Party with her friends. It was a Campout Party, except the weather decided (like it always does) to be crappy so we had a Camp-IN. It was a lot of fun though, the girls ate pizza, made friendship bracelets, opened presents, and I made S'mores in the oven. Natalie's isn't the biggest fan of cake so I made her a s'more, drilled a hole in the top graham cracker, and put a candle in it and the girls sang Happy Birthday to her. Then they watched Scooby-Doo Camp Scare! Ooooooh!

Saturday the 18th I drove up to Logan with my friend Katie (and our Farmington Librarian Jelaire) for a Book Signing and Meet & Greet with one of our favorite authors. Her name is Marcia Lynn McClure, and she writes the cutest romance novels. Not Romance novels like heaving breasts and the like, but cute happy, make you giddy romance novels that are not smutty. The book signing was at the American West Heritage Park and the people working there were too cute all dressed up in their pioneer garb. They even acted out scenes from one of Marcia's books.

We attended a VIP dinner where Marcia went around to the tables to meet her fans and then we got our books signed and got to chat with her a little more. Her husband was there and her sons and soon to be daughter-in-law. They were all super cute and fun, and seemed to really enjoy being around all of us crazy ladies! Me, Katie and Jelaire had a great time taking goofy pictures and laughing at an "outlaw" guy named Lucky who kept flirting with Katie. It was such a blast to have a girls night that really felt girly!

So. . . since 2009 I have been praying that we never see the people at the Primary Children's Medical Center Emergency Department again. I know, not likely with a VERY active boy.

Well, on Monday the 20th I went to pick up the kids from Brandon's Mom's house and Sam was playing on the tool box in the back of Jann's boyfriend's truck, well my mommy intuition KNEW that that was not a good idea but did I listen? No. And all it took was 2 seconds for Sam to lose his footing and fall. It was a horrible thing to witness and I've been kicking myself ever since and wishing I could go back in time and listen to my gut instinct. I took him up to Primary's and after waiting and CT scans, and more waiting and brain scans, they found that he had a skull fracture above his eye brow and a smaller one below his eye. He had to stay the night in the hospital for observation and most likely will be going back for a sedated eye exam just to make sure there isn't anything lurking within his eye that may cause future complications. But even with all of that. . . he hasn't slowed down in the least. He is still just as active as he was before, except now he isn't allowed to do anything but walk for 6 weeks, which is going to make for a very LOOOOOONNNNGGG summer. If anyone has any amazing indoor activities to keep a confined 3 year old occupied, please send them my way!

On Thursday the 23rd. My great neighbors and friends Ashli and Katie knew I was having a rough time after Sam's fall, especially having to keep him tethered to the house, so they invited me over to Ashli's to do "Glitter Toes." It was so much fun, and not to mention WAY cheaper than going to a Salon to get them done. The kids watched a movie while we moms chatted and beautified our little tootsies. I really needed some time to just let go for a bit and this was perfect. I even got to show them off that night at book group. Woot Woot! Mine are the lime green ones!

On Friday night the 24th Brandon and I, Ashli and her hubby Pete, Katie and her hubby Aaron, and our other great friends and neighbors Kristie and Sean all went to the Temple to do a Sealing Session. The Sealer was Stephen E. Dalton who is the husband of Sister Elaine S. Dalton who is the General Young Women's President. SO COOL! Anyway, it was such a great Sealing Session and I was so glad for the opportunity we had to get to the Temple. It was much needed for both Brandon and I. We even saw Bran's Uncle Ron and Aunt Cindy there too.

After the Temple we all ate at a little Thai Restaurant in Salt Lake called Sawadee. I've only had Thai food once before, so it was fun to do something new, and nice to be with great friends. I didn't get any pictures, but I had to write about it because it was such a fun spiritual night!

I'm thinking, with only a week left in June, not too much more is going to happen, and if it does, I hope it's good happenings! This month has been crazy and a bit of a roller coaster, and I'm sure with Sam's "restrictions" things are going to be pretty calm for a while.

Then again . . .

Introducing. . .

Dashall Dean Harden

Born: April 2, 2011

Adopted: May 30, 2011

Here is the newest member of our family. DASH
We spent most of our day today driving to Green River WY to pick him up. I KNOW!!!
He is (much to my dismay) a puppy of only 8 weeks old.
We have been talking about getting a second dog for quite sometime but it's always been the same conversation.
Brandon: "I want a puppy."
Michelle: "We're not getting a puppy."
This has been the conversation for about 2 years now, and finally last night I was . . . swayed (if you want to call it that).
We talked about getting a second dog before Tiara gets too old (she just tuned 10), in hopes that she'd be able to teach the new dog how a "Harden Canine" is supposed to act!
Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us, and it's going to be a little tricky for a while with work schedules and everything, but we are excited for our new little adventure, and as you can see . . . he is just so stinkin' cute.
Natalie actually suggested the name Dash, and we all thought it was really cute. I'm so glad it was pretty easy to decide, or else we'd still be going over the many names that Sam was suggesting-which included Hot Shot, Buzz, Woody and anything he could see out of the car window, like Mountain.
The breeders had called him Dean because they said he would stare at a James Dean picture that hung on their wall (of course you all know I LOVED that).
The name Dashall came out by accident. That's what I've been calling him when he's getting into mischief, which as you can probably imagine, has been most of the day!

I'm nervous and shaking my head at myself, but also glad that we finally did it! I think Dash is going to make a great addition to our family and in time I'll be glad that I was . . . swayed into getting him.

Mother's Day Eve

I didn't get to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom this year, since she is in Europe. But I did get to celebrate it with some of the funniest moms I know.

Natalie, Mandy, Sydney, Michelle, Lonny, Linda, Kathy

Every year, the Poplar Grove Ward that I grew up in, puts on a Mothers and Daughters Banquet. It has been going on for more than 50 years, and is always a fun-filled evening of catching up, "oh-my-goodnessing" and giggling.
This year my kidred spirit and bosom friend Mandy drove down from Logan with her daughter Sydney and picked Natalie and I up for the banquet. Mandy and I had fun laughing and reminiscing while Sydney and Natalie hit it off like they've known each other forever! At the banquet we sat with Mandy's Mom Linda and sisters Kathy and Lonny and had WAY to much fun! I've known these ladies my whole life, and they are like my second family. I'm glad I got to spend Mother's Day Eve with them.

Better late than never, right?

Here are some pictures from our Easter. We had a pretty fun day. Church, Oma and Papa's, Grammy's, then Grandma & Grandpa Hardens. Lots of fun but WAY too much candy!

Update!

Okay, so when I said Sam is fine (below), I meant, it's not Kawasaki's fine. The doctor thought his sickness may have been pneumonia, but it turns out, that its strep. Yikes! Everyone whom we were around last week, I'm very sorry!

Just what the DR. ordered!

This week has been a little nutty . . . to say the least.

Sam had a fever for 3 days and as most of you know, fevers at our house are NOT GOOD. They turn me into a crazed, anxious person. But I have some incredible neighbors who know EXACTLY what I need.

On Wednesday my neighbor and friend Nikki brought me a 32 oz Dr. Pepper from the Farmington Top Stop (woot, woot) and this morning my next door neighbor Ashli dropped off the cutest thing.

A 2 liter prescription of Dr. Pepper-how cute is that!

I really don't need my friends to feed my bad habits, but nonetheless it was nice to know that my bi-polarity hasn't scared people away! I really have awesome friends who will listen to my worries and complaints and never say, what they are probably thinking, which is that I'm overreacting. I know I was overreacting this week. Sam is fine, whatever the sickness was just needed to run it's course.

Ever since Sam got Kawasaki's, I've had to deal with the re-occuring emotions that spring up every time he is sick. Some times it's really hard, like this week. Other times it's not so bad. Maybe it's Heavenly Father's way of saying, "Hey, it's been a while since I've REALLY heard from you." I don't know, but certainly it makes me stronger by the end . . . and perhaps a little hyper too!

I'm dying here! Oh wait no. . .my camera is!

Once again, another camera is dead! I suspect a heart attack. I don't know for sure what happened, but one day about 3 weeks ago I was up in the light and sound booth doing some stuff for "Millie" and I heard the camera make a beep that I've never heard before. After that it didn't work. Sheesh, I seem to have bad luck with cameras. First my SLR and now my little point and shoot. I'm a camera serial killer.

So since I haven't been able to take a single picture for 3 weeks (Ahhhh) I thought I'd post a picture that I took about a month ago.

I bought a bag of gum balls for a project, but I didn't need all of them so I decided to put them into apothecary jars. Don't you think it's adorable? I love all the fun colors, and the best part is . . . it was so easy.

We've had them out for a month and my kids have finally stopped asking for gum balls.