The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

1. We had a great trip. First stop, Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park (kids are troopers!). We hiked out little hearts out (Bubby rode his little heart out) and enjoyed the gorgeous mountains and perfect weather. I did learn however, that I may or may not have recently developed an allergy to pine trees. Ack! Oh well. The scenery and spectacular lakes were so worth it. Oh, and elk the size of woolly mammoths.

Next stop WY to visit E's side of the family where we (and our ridiculous dog!) received such hospitality, ate delicious food, had fun at a parade and rodeo, and learned how cool a leopard gecko named 'Sticky Toes' is. Our manners need work though as I think we may have left behind a nasty stomach virus as thanks.

Last stop, UT, where we put E on an airplane to return home for work, while the kids and I stayed to play with family and friends in the heat (after the stomach bug worked it's way through pretty much everyone but me). We played and played and ate and ate. The kids have decided they completely adore my brothers. And they are ridiculously funny guys. Case in point - 4th of July evening, my youngest brother C came out of the bathroom gussied up like this:

Since you can't read his shirt, I will tell you it says "We don't get mad, we get even". In case you're wondering, with a couple days growth you can pull off a pretty good 'hick' mustache. I was laughing so hard I think I may have busted something. I had no idea appropriate attire was required for the fireworks! Yes ladies. He is single.

2. I returned to home-sweet-home to find E had worked his hiney off removing stomach-turning wallpaper not just from the guest bath, but also from our master bath!! No longer will I imagine myself Scarlet O'Hara in my dark green papered bath with fringey velvet curtains that would surely make a gorgeous frock for wooing the dashing Rhet.

3. My house went from Blech! to Shady Willow. I'm pretty sure I didn't see any willows in our yard the last time I checked, shady or otherwise, but hey, we also weren't running an assylum for the insane the last time I checked either. I'm sure we'll all be perkier looking at the new color.

The Bad:

Stomach flu. Again. This time I have not escaped it. And may I say that stomach flu while hubby is about 950 miles away, leaves me with 3 kids to keep a bleary eye on alone and a lot of questions to field about why mommy totes a big Tupperware bowl everywhere.

The Ugly:

The inside of my house. The floors still bear the marks of our apparently bulimic cat who is extra bulimic when we're out of town. And the kitchen has only just escaped becoming a peanut butter crime scene when I drunkenly tossed a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter at my 3 and 5 year olds, wished them luck with lunch, and then returned to my catatonic state on the sofa clutching my bowl.

So hey, what can I say, Yay! for the good outweighing the bad and the ugly!