Cousins rule!

My sister, S and her husband, J and their kids came to visit us for a couple of days this past week. It was so much fun! They got here on Christmas night. M was so excited for them to come that she took a book and went and sat on the driveway and waited for them to get here. We only got two days with them. We tried to show them things that you can only do here. We had a total blast!

Of course we had to take them swimming. I know that there are other places in the country that are warm too this time of year, but they aren't from one of those places. So M and K thought that they would really like swimming outside in December. We never get tired of these people! From left to right there's: K, X, T, J, M and K.

We took them alligator hunting. We had to ride in two separate cars because our shoe box of a car doesn't hold very much more than dirt on the floor really. Anyway, as we drove down to this magic road that always has alligators on it, we missed a bunch. S says that on the main road as we were driving, they saw a ton of them just laying on the side. J had come in our car and she and I were talking about all kinds of things and not watching for alligators. So, I guess we could have turned around before we got to this magic road that's an hour away from our house, but then we would have missed Skunk Ape. And, who wants that? Anyway, I know that I'll for sure get parent of the year award for this picture, but it was so awesome that I couldn't pass it up. Both M and K were more than a little worried about standing with their backs to an alligator, but I had them do it any way. M kept looking over her shoulder. I told her not to panic. If the alligator started coming towards them, I wouldn't make them take the picture. Their uncle J told them not to worry, if it came to attack he would jump on it's back and wrestle it. I think he was kind of hoping that he would get the chance, but thankfully the alligator didn't even move.

Here we are at Skunk Ape. This is a place that I am truly going to miss when it's time for us to move on. It's a petting zoo of sorts. I can't say that this wonderful gem is legal or not, and the food for the animals might be provided by drug money, but it makes for a great place to go visit! Where else can you hold a baby alligator, baby turtles, snakes, an assortment of birds and ride on the back of a tortoise? I would venture to say not many places offer that kind of experience! It truly is awesome and we love it! T said that Skunk Ape was his favorite thing to do while they were here, and he doesn't even like snakes! Especially the one that is 19 feet long and weighs 250 pounds. You can't hold that one, but you can touch it!

Since we only had two days we went and went and went. We stayed up late to play games and let the kiddos watch movies. Of course there was no sleeping in to compensate for the late nights. But if you ask me, it was totally worth it. The only thing that wasn't great was when we went to the beach, I locked the keys in the trunk. Yes that is the fifth or sixth time that I've done that since we moved here. You would think that we would hide a key some where. But after each time I think I won't do that again. Darn is all I have to say about that. We loved having them here and I cried when they left. I tried so hard to be brave, but as they pulled out of the driveway, I couldn't help it. I cried and my heart broke a little. We hope that they had as much fun as we did! We love you guys and hope we can live closer to you soon!

Three day weekend!

 So, the wonderful, amazing, overly generous program that B is in allows each student to request off two three day weekends over the year and a half that they are in the clinical part. I know, their generosity is overwhelming! Anyway, B was able to have this last weekend off! We didn't tell the offspring that he didn't have to work. We wanted to surprise them. We wanted to use our SeaWorld passes one more time before they expire at the end of the month. So, on Thursday after he got done at the hospital and had studied a little for the upcoming test, we left. I had had all day to pack all our stuff and load it into the car. Now, you might be wondering how I packed bags, snacks and the car with a four year old at home. Thankfully he is more than a little clueless. He never asked what I was doing. When we went to the store to get snacks for the car ride, he didn't ask what they were for or if he could have any. As I carried out his pillow and bear to the car he didn't ask why. So it was no problem packing with him around. Anyway, B had told me that he didn't want to tell them where we were going in case it didn't work out for some reason. I thought he meant that he would tell them after he got home on Thursday and had studied enough. I was wrong. He just told them to go get in the car. M was trying to guess where we were going. Once we get home from getting her from school, we are usually home for the rest of the day. So to leave again made her very curious. She kept asking if we were going to a restaurant. B basically ignored her. We were almost half way through our three hour car ride before he finally told the small ones where we were going. When he told them that we were going to SeaWorld they both freaked out. K did start to panic when he realized we were staying in a hotel. He leaned as far forward as his seat belt would let him and said,"But, what about my swim suit?! I don't have my swim suit!" Remember how I said he's pretty clueless? When I told him that I had packed his stuff he said,"You did? Did you put it in a bag?" I said yes and he asked,"My Spider man suitcase?" I said yes and then he asked where it was at. I told him it was in the trunk. "Did you put clothes in my Spider man suitcase too?" I assured him I had put in everything he would need to which he said,"Oh! I didn't even know that you packed my Spider man suitcase!" I didn't even hide when I packed it, bless his sweet little heart! One of the requirement's for us to stay at a hotel is that it has to have a heated swimming pool. The hotel we stayed at kept their pool open until 11. As soon as we got there, both kids wanted to go swimming. I freeze swimming during normal daylight hours. So swimming at night in an outdoor pool is not something I participate in. But, B is a rock star and took them swimming. The water was warm enough that there was steam coming off of it. They loved it until they had to get out and walk back to our room. Then they thought it was too cold. As we left to go back to our room, we saw a tiny kiddie pool next to the gate. K walked by it and said,"Mommy, that pool is for kitty's. If you want your kitty to go swimming, that's the pool it uses." He makes me laugh a lot!

We spent all day on Friday and half day Saturday at SeaWorld.We had a total blast! We didn't know that there was an underground viewing area to see the whales. We were really excited to find it. It was awesome!

We learned that this whale's name is Kayla. For awhile they just stood by the glass and looked at her and the two other whales that were in the pool. Then the SeaWorld guy said that the whales will sometimes interact with you. He said that if a whale comes to the glass, wave, jump, spin in a circle or whatever you want. He said that the whale might wave back. He said if nothing else, the whale will be entertained as it watches you wave, jump or spin.

Kayla was swimming towards them. M started to wave and jump. When she got to where they were standing, she stopped swimming. K yelled,"She's looking at me! I can see her eyes!" M loved that she could see her eyes too. She also loved that as she jumped up and down, Kayla just watched her. I think these pictures are awesome!

We also found the underwater viewing area for the dolphins. We've gone to SeaWorld six times this year and never knew these viewing area's were here. I'm so glad that we finally paid attention and were able to look at the whales and the dolphins closer. One time a dolphin swam up to M. M started to nod her head up and down and the dolphin did it back! M loved it! We have all loved having the SeaWorld passes. Having them has made it so nice to go to the temple. B and I are able to switch off taking them to SeaWorld while the other one is in the temple. The passes truly have been so great to have!

Oh how I love thee!

So the other week I was feeling a little blue because I had finished the last five of my mini cadburry eggs from Easter. Now you might be thinking that I have the best self control in the world to still have five of these little pieces of heaven still in the bag from Easter. That's not the case at all. Around Easter I decided that I wanted to save the last few for a really special occasion. Like if I were to get all green lights on the way home from the store(there's only one light between our house and the store), or if I ran three laps instead of only two or something of that nature. Well, I never got the light green and running three laps was hot so I didn't do that. I was never able to justify eating these wonderful rewards and I forgot they were there. Just the other week I pulled out the candy to get rid of the rest of the Easter candy before we went trick or treating. What to my surprise should appear but the mini cadburry egg bag with five eggs in the bottom! I'm not lying when I say I almost cried from the joy I felt inside. I did try to pace myself as I ate them. I tried to stretch it out over at least a full day. That didn't happen, they were gone within two or three minutes. That was a sad moment around our house. Wipe your eyes dear friends. I know that having no more mini cadburry eggs is a faith testing trial, but there is a happy ending to this story. A week after Halloween I went to Target to get next year's Halloween costumes. Target, that's another thing I totally love. Just walking in that store feels me with happiness. Anyway, we found that the costumes were 90% off. So we got the kiddos costumes for next year for two or three dollars a piece. Isn't that great news?! But that's not even the best part. The best part is that as we walked to the front of the store, the lovely Target employees were getting out the Christmas stuff. Call it a feeling, call it a prompting, call it whatever you want, but for some reason, I walked through the Christmas things. As I rounded the corner of an aisle, there on the bottom shelf was a pile of mini cadburry eggs! The Christmas ones had come! I almost ran to the Target employee and with tears running down my cheeks, kissed and hugged them! I did manage to muster up enough self control to make it all the way to the car before the bag was opened. The car ride home was a happy one that day! If I could buy cases and cases of these candies I would. I would buy a deep freeze and fill the entire freezer with them. These could be my entire food storage! (Ok, clearly I need some professional help. I'm looking into it!) 

Aren't they beautiful?!

One more thing I need to write about is Grooveshark. It's a wonderful website that lets you listen to any song in the whole wide world for free. The whole song, not just a few seconds. We here around these parts love to put in all kinds of songs and sing and dance our little hearts out. The song we listened to tonight was none other than, "I would do anything for love" by Meat Loaf. B and I sang it out at the top of our lungs as we were taken back to sixth grade. We think that's when the song came out. I just remember sitting in Sara and Coutney's underground house playing the song so loud as we sang and sang. Oh the memories! Grooveshark and mini cadburry eggs, I don't think tonight can get any better!

It's a dog!

Now, I know that there are dog lovers all over the world doing things for their dogs that I can't EVER see myself doing if it were my dog. For example, when people put clothes on their dog I just have to bite my tongue and keep walking. The other day when I was looking at pictures on a news website of Utah's snow storm, there was a picture of dogs in coats. To me it is so annoying that a dog is wearing a coat. Heavenly Father sent them to earth with coats. They get more hair in the winter months just for the purpose of staying warm. I get that people love their dogs like their children. I know that there are strong human animal bonds. It wasn't until moving here that I realized just how deep these bonds can go. They do a canned food drive here just like they do all over the country. It lasts two weeks and we feel all warm and fuzzy when we remember to send food to school with our children to help those in need. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the week following the canned food drive was in fact another canned food drive. Again?! Don't worry, it's not for humans, it's for animals in the area. Well that's a new one! To add to my surprise I learned that the animal food drive is in fact longer than the human one. There is something seriously wrong with that! When we moved here, I had heard that the old folks here LOVE their dogs. I think that is a gross understatement. Here, dogs are not required to walk, oh no! They get to ride in strollers. The first time I saw it I was running and thought I must be hot and seeing things because why would a dog be in a stroller. But no, it was real and you see more dogs in strollers than humans. Not only do they ride in the strollers, but if there is a human child walking by, the old folk will stop, bend down to the dog and in a voice like they were talking to a human rather than a dog they say,"Oh it's a baby! Isn't the baby so cute?! Yes it is!"

This is what it looks like to see a dog in a stroller. Yesterday as K and I went to get M from school, there was a couple getting a stroller out of their car. We parked by them and all I could do was shake my head as I saw them put their dog in the stroller. To add to my head shaking, the lady walked around the car and took a small child out of the car. The small child walked while the dog rode in the stroller. Then small child didn't want to walk, so mom carried small child while the dog rode in the stroller. It was all I could do not to walk over to them and say,"It''s a dog! The dog can walk. Save mom's back and put the child in the stroller!" There are some things I will never understand. Dog's in clothes, costumes, coats or stroller. Or why oh why the bad guy was re-elected. I know that has nothing to do with dogs, but if 21 states have petitioned to secede from the nation because he won, why did he win? I'm not a political person or a bumper sticker person, but if I were the latter, I would buy the bumper sticker I saw the other month that said, That Obama Biden sticker on the back of your car may as well say stupid. Amen is all I have to say to that!

Happy Halloween!

 K decided at the last minute that he wanted to be Mater instead of the police man. Here they are, all ready to go.

 As we left our house this snake was outside our door. We all thought it was quite fitting that it was at our house on Halloween.

 Before we ventured out to go trick or treating, our clubhouse did a little party for the kiddos. It was awesome! There were little mugs that the kids got to color. K liked to color for about 2 minutes. Then someone walked in dressed as Cat in the Hat and all he could do was stare at them.

 M loved the coloring. There were games with prizes, but she just wanted to color.

 Here are their mugs. Obviously, K didn't really color that one. M was taking so much time on hers that I had time to color one too. So I colored K's.

 Once we started getting candy, he had to stop every few feet and ask if he could have a treat. I'm mean and only let him have one. If we let him have a treat every time he asked, we would have had to roll him home. I'm so glad we had brought the stroller. There had been a cool breeze all week and so I was worried that after the sun went down it would be cold. I didn't want to carry the jackets, so we took the stroller to hold everything. Pretty soon, there were a few kids that didn't want to hold their bags any more. So they put them in the stroller too. I can't wait to get to Heaven and meet whoever invented the stroller and drown them in hugs and kisses!

Aren't they so cute?! This isn't the whole group but the bigger group picture didn't turn out that great. We love having so many kids in the ward to go with. The kids had a blast and we came home with enough candy to last until at least Easter.

Ward Trunk-or-Treat and pumpkins

 Last Friday was our ward trunk-or-treat. B was so excited to do the donut thing. He really wanted M and K to do it with him. But they absolutely refused. So, he called for backup. B fought a good fight, but in the end C won it. Or maybe it was B in black. I can't be certain. One of them used their hands at the end and was unofficially disqualified. All in all it was a good match up.

 Making a spiderweb is the one thing that M said she would do. She didn't want to play any of the games or get her face painted. The only way she would do it is if I helped her hold the bottle of glue. At least she did something and she actually talked to the girl when she was asked what color glitter she wanted on her web!

 Thankfully he said he needed me to help him too. I can only imagine where the glue would have gone if he had done it by himself. I wish he had kept his little policeman hat on. It was so cute! But he said that it was really itchy. That would have been awesome if I had thought to take pictures of them getting ready to go out to do the trunk-or-treat. But, I just thought of it. So, you'll have to use your imagination!

 We don't carve pumpkins at our house. It smells disgusting and the feeling of the guts on the inside is even more disgusting. We color them instead. No one knows what K colored. It changes every time you ask him, but he loved coloring and breaking the stem off the top of everyone's pumpkin.

 When M concentrates, she sticks her tongue out. I think it's so cute! She drew a flower and put glitter on it. Then she drew a yellow sun which to her great surprise and disappointment, didn't show up on her pumpkin. Then she wrote a love note on the top around the stem. Before we started B told M and K that they either needed to put on jammies or a shirt they didn't care about because the markers could ruin their clothes. M stood there for a minute and then she said,"I know what to wear. Mommy can I wear one of your shirt's?!"

 In my head I had a picture of a black widow that would look so awesome on a pumpkin. The problem is that very rarely do the things in my mind translate to whatever I am doing. I drew the body of the spider way too big. So when you look at my pumpkin, you can't see the legs of the spider. Instead you see a big grayish orangeish dot with a pink hour glass because there was no red. So you stand there scratching your head trying to figure out what it could be. Oh well, there's always next year.

 Then there's the artist of the family. Last year he drew a skier and an alligator. This year he drew Iron man and a boat. What do his pictures look like you ask? Iron man and a boat. Someday I hope to be able to have my pumpkin turn out like his.

All done! When we  put K's pumpkin on his lap he said,"hurry and take the picture! My pumpkin is hurting my legs!" His pumpkin is the biggest and the heaviest, so I'm glad he smiled for the picture. I hope coloring our pumpkins will be something they like to do for a long time.

Cute kids

Ya know when you feel like life is just normal and you have nothing to report? That's how our life has been lately. We do the same things every day. Daddy has school, M has school, K and I just hang out. The kiddos are excited for Halloween. Clearly, since M is wearing her witch hat while eating breakfast. Let's see, what else has been happening? They did go to the dentist the other day. Neither of them have cavities! That's good news. Truly, our lives are the same day in and day out. Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to know what's going to happen every day. We are all excited for the Holidays and the cooler weather that comes with them. The only bummer is that B has to do a 24 hour call shift on Thanksgiving. So, he'll have to stay at the hospital all day. Other than that, we're livin' the dream!

Where's K?

Last night when I went to check on the offspring before I went to bed I almost had a heart attack. When I first walked in I thought that K was under his blanket because there was a human sized bump. I went to pull the blanket back so that he could have enough air. But, to my great astonishment, he wasn't there. It was just stuffed animals. I looked up in M's bed since he loves to sleep with her. But, he wasn't there either. Before bed he had asked if he could sleep in the closet, so I checked there. But he wasn't there either. I started to think that the stuffed animals had been placed under the covers intentionally so that he could make a run for it. I stood there in the middle of their room totally baffled, until I thought to look under the bed.

                                                                      Crazy kid!

Budding athlete's

In between sessions of conference yesterday our children were going totally nuts. They needed to get out some pent-up energy. The problem is we live in a horrible, awful, hot, humid climate. So the thought of taking them outside was enough to make one start sweating. B had this great idea to play catch. But since it was way too humid outside, he said they could play catch inside. That would have been a great idea if they were using a softer ball. Nope, they were using a baseball. As the ball kept hitting things that had great potential to shatter, he decided that maybe they should suck it up and go outside. He didn't want to play on the grass because it was wet, so they played on the patio instead. They all had a great time. Both M and K loved it when B taught them how to lift up one leg when they throw the ball. I am happy to report that no toes got smashed by the ball, there was no broken glass and they got out enough energy that they sat still through the opening song and prayer of the second session!

Woes of road debris

As K and I were driving home from taking M to school, I saw something in the road up ahead. I then saw that there were two of these somethings in the road. I couldn't tell what they were until they were right in front of us. There lying in the road were two really big chunks of asphalt. I was able to miss the first one, but not the second one. As soon as we hit it I could feel the tire go flat.

 Thankfully we were right next to a shopping center and we were able to pull in there and call B to see if he was back from running yet so that he could come rescue us. Just the other day K asked about tires on cars and how you take them off. I told him how and that daddy can take tires off, but so can I. He didn't believe me that I could do it too. I thought that I would be able to prove to him today that I can in fact change a tire. But, because I am inherently lazy I decided to just let B do it. I'm so glad that I did!

 We both thought that changing the tire would be fast and easy. Clearly, the things were on tighter than we thought. He tried for quite awhile. K kept telling us that we could go to the car place that was right across the parking lot and get their big tools to get the tire off. I told him they can't bring their big tools to us and we couldn't drive on the flat tire to get to the tools. He didn't get it, so we did something that he would understand. We said a prayer asking for help. You would think that we would have done that first rather than waiting until the car fell off the jack once and B's hands were so red and sore that he could hardly hold the key thing. At least we finally prayed right?! Anyway, as soon as we finished the prayer he got one of the bolt things loose. Then I remembered that there was a blanket in the trunk that maybe he could hold onto to protect his hands a little.

 Once all the bolt things were loose, K wanted to help unscrew them so the tire could come off. I totally love this picture!

Now why our spare tire is orange is a mystery to us. But at least B was able to get the old one off with a little heavenly help and get the spare on. We had so many tender mercies this morning with our tire incident. First, when it happened I was on the road we live off of and right next to a place I could pull in to. K would have hated it if we were on a busy road because I wouldn't have let him get out to help. He loves all things cars. So he was in heaven helping. Next, today is the first day in seven weeks that B didn't have to be at the hospital in the morning. So he was home and could come save us. Seeing how hard it was for him to take the tire off made me realize that although I do have brute strength, I may have had a hard time getting the tire off. I don't know if most people even noticed, but this morning was cloudy. So as B was fighting with the bolt things, the sun wasn't beating down on him. We were able to drive across the parking lot and get new tires and since it was just after opening time, we didn't have to wait all day. Yay for answered prayers, tender mercies and the boys in my life!

Perks of free health care

No co-pays, easy to make an appointment and the nurse really will return your calls the same day. All of that sounds pretty amazing if you ask me. Free health care isn't as bad as I thought it would be! When B told me that he wanted to be a nurse I knew that his skills would come in handy. I am so glad that I'm not the only one that takes advantage of the free care he offers. My darling friend M needed to have her stitches taken out. Going back to the Dr. seemed like such a pain. Her husband is out of town thanks to this wonderful school that both of these skilled nurses attend, that rejoices in sending husbands and father's away for weeks at a time. Anyway, since her husband wasn't available to remove the stitches, B said he would do it. Before he started I asked M if she needed a hand to hold. I think I was more nervous than she was. She said she was fine. She did great! No tears or anything! I was so proud of her. I couldn't stay in the same room for too long, seeing the way the stitches pulled her skin made me more than a little queasy. Removing stitches today, putting people under in their homes so they can stay there for surgery tomorrow! The way I see it, the sky's the limit here!

She never has

It was B's birthday a little while ago. Of course he got all things BYU. Except for the wonderful loaves of Grandma Sycamore bread that he got from B&S. Anyway, among the BYU things that he got were a pair of helmet salt and pepper shakers. Instead of coming in a box with packing peanuts, they came wrapped in those air bag things. I know, a little vague with what those are, but I don't know what else to call them. We all cheered wildly for the salt and pepper shakers. Ok, not really. B did and we all ooooed and awed over them. But we loved the air bag things!

 The activity of choice was to jump on the bags and pop them. K loved it and did it over and over. M liked it too, she just doesn't like the loud sound that comes once the bag is popped. She has never liked loud sounds. So every time she was going to pop one, she had to plug her ears first.

Clearly, having K pop the bag was not only loud, but terrifying to watch too! Oh this picture makes me laugh so much! Poor thing, hopefully she'll make a full recovery!

A tale of two chairs

Let's go back in time shall we? When I was a young little lass there were two chairs that were the coveted seats at the kitchen table. There was the yellow chair. It had rips on the side of the seat and down the top of the seat, right where you sat. Then there was the bar stool. We're not talking a bar stool of wood. Oh no! We're talking genuine brown vinyl on both the seat and the back rest. Well, actually there was only vinyl on the back of the back rest because the front of the back rest had been ripped out making a very nice pocket for storing things. You may be asking yourself why these two seats could possibly be where one wanted to sit. I have three words for you, Beef Pancake roll-ups. Yes they are as disgusting as they sound. Now, if one was lucky enough to get the yellow seat, which always seemed to be someone else's good fortune, you knew that thanks to those beautiful rips, you could shove your unwanted food into the chair! Getting the bar stool was always too lofty of a goal, because that chair was reserved for whichever kid happened to be second to youngest at the time. Simply because it put them up higher at the table. The yellow chair was one's saving grace. It also put you up higher to the table because of all the food that had been shoved in to it over the years. The shoving of food wasn't only limited to beef pancake roll-ups. There was also enough room in the chair to put liver, fried zucchini, beets, fish(which came to your plate with it's head and skin still fully intact) or any other food that one could not palate. You may be asking yourself what this has to do with anything, well, let me tell you. Let's fast forward to today.

K man enters the picture. When he was a baby he ate everything! I was feeling so excited about it because M wouldn't eat anything. I was feeling pretty confident that he would be easy to please when it came to the food area of life. Well, his willingness to eat anything changed about a year ago. He use to just sit there until B or I got so tired of telling him to eat, that we would just take the food away and he would go hungry until the next meal. He has since changed his ways. His favorite place in the house to sit is on a bar stool at the counter right next to the wall. We didn't care if he sat there as long as it wasn't dinner time(we insist that he sit at the table with the rest of us for dinner) and as long as he would eat. About two weeks ago I figured out why he likes sitting there so much. On the wall where he likes to sit is a phone jack. Since we don't have a land line, it's just a little hole in the wall. Sweet, innocent, just sitting here because I like it, K, had figured out that if he puts food in his mouth and bites it into little pieces, he can shove his unwanted food in the phone jack. Part of me wanted to hug him and tell him that I have done the same kind of thing! I was feeling so proud! The other part of me wanted to remind him that there are kids all over the place that don't have enough to eat and that our food is a huge blessing. Not to mention, he shoves things like apple chunks and bread crusts into it. It's not like he has to eat something disgusting like beef pancake roll-ups or liver. Yes, he's cute and yes we love him, but sometimes when I look in the mirror I think, no wonder I have more white hair than brown, K is a food shover!

So, it's been awhile

Our computer has been on the fritz for the last month. I tried to be this amazing wife and figure out the problem while B was gone for three weeks. But that didn't happen. The Comcast guy came to look at it and said the the computer probably needed to be replaced. It is you know, "old". When I say old I mean a whole 6 1/2 years old. Since buying a new computer isn't going to happen, I just thought that I would use B's laptop. That however, clearly is not happening. By the time he gets home and I actually get to see him, I don't want to get on the computer. Anyway, the computer randomly started to work the other day. So, I'll use it while I can! M started first grade the beginning of the month and loves it. Everyday when I ask her how school was she says,"awesome!" Which is a good thing because before it started she kept saying that she didn't like school and didn't want to go any more. My guess is she just doesn't like the idea of waking up at 6:15 every morning. Me either! It truly is awful. K has memorized the book, Ten little ladybugs. Not that it's hard to do. Anyway, since he has it memorized he in convinced that he can read. That's just jim dandy except when I want him to work on his letters and he tells me that he doesn't need to learn them since he already knows how to read. He's trouble that's for sure! B is still busy busy busy. When I talked to my mom the other day she told me that June will be here before I know it. June brings graduation. I told her that I don't believe her. It feels like time has stopped and that we truly are living in slow motion. I should have put on some pictures. Sorry! Next time, as long as our computer still works!

K man's turn

 Last night was K's turn to stay up with me to have a late night. I love not telling our kids that we're going to do something fun. That way they don't ask all day when said event is going to happen. Not to mention if it doesn't work out, they don't feel bad because they didn't know about it in the first place. Anyway, it was M's turn to go to bed first last night. Bedtime is 15 minutes apart at our house. If they go to bed at the same time, they stay up and play. Anyway, M went to bed first. After she was asleep K asked if he was going to bed. I asked him if he wanted to stay up and watch Thomas the Train with me. I wish I had had a camera. His face was awesome! He was so so exited! To say that his Thomas the Train movie is a little odd would be generous. The movie has several ten minute movies on it. He only lasted through three before he started to fall asleep. I knew he was tired, but when he asked if he could take his patch off, I knew he was basically sleeping while sitting up. He didn't have a patch on. He hadn't had his patch on for about five hours. Even though our night was over by 9:20 it was fun while it lasted! I love this kid and I loved spending time with him. Since we're already talking about him, let me share one more picture.

When he came out the other night wearing this I thought,"pick your battles." So I didn't say anything, he wore it to bed and thankfully hasn't worn it again. I must admit that this picture makes me smile. Not really the picture, the kid in the picture. He makes me so happy and I'm so thankful that he's ours!

Girls night

Last night after I had put the kiddos to bed I was doing my nightly stuff. It takes me about an hour or so to get it done. I went in to check on them after I was done and found this one still awake. I was going to be all alone and I really don't like that, so it was probably an answer to prayer that she was awake and said she couldn't sleep. I told her to get out of bed and come out with me. We had a spur of the moment girls night! I can honestly say it's the best one I've ever been to. I have a serious addiction to the silly show, Say Yes to the Dress. It really is a dumb show. Why I LOVE to see the wedding dresses people get will forever be beyond me. But I just love it! Thankfully I knew that M would too! We watched three episodes of it. We ate chips and salsa, candy and cereal. We talked about the different styles of dresses and agreed that the one that was $6,400 was not pretty at all. We liked the front of it, just not the human sized roses that were on the back of it. Truly, the roses were awful! At one point, while being glued to the TV, she said,"This is the best night of my whole life!"  To be able to hear and see that she was loving it made it one of the best nights of my life. I love this sweet little thing and I'm so glad that she'll be mine forever!

Happy 3rd of July! (and 4th too!)

 We started the celebration of our freedom with our ward party/BBQ. There was a little relay race for the kiddos to do whilst we were waiting for the fireworks to start. M had fun and ran fast but...

 K LOVED it! He ran so fast that I couldn't get a better picture. At least you can tell that he is loving it!

 Then there was a three legged race. Our lovely offspring have never done this, so it was pretty awesome to watch them and laugh with/at them. I am a bit surprised that M didn't just pick him up and carry him. That's what she does at home. One of my favorite things about the fourth of July celebration is being able to eat hot dogs. I love hot dogs! When I eat them on the fourth of July I don't feel any guilt, tis the season for hot dogs and chips, two of my favorite things!

 We ended the ward party watching the city's fireworks. I was worried that the buildings would be in the way, but our church building has the perfect few.

 Not to mention that we were able to avoid all the traffic that is usually associated with fireworks. If you use your imagination doesn't it kind of look like a palm tree and grass?! That's exactly what I thought!

 The morning of the fourth brought hot weather and a daddy that didn't have to be to school/ free labor work until three that afternoon. So we took advantage and went swimming. How can you not laugh when you look at this picture?! K finally discovered goggles and has said more than once that,"every weekday when we go swimming, I am going to wear these goggles. That way I can see the alligators that I swim with under the water. The alligators are nice to me under the water all through these days." I'm not real sure where the phrase"all through theses days" came from, but he says it a lot.


We took B to the hospital for school because he didn't think that there would be any scheduled cases since it was the fourth of July. Of course that doesn't matter, there was one case that he had to stay and do. So, we dropped him off and then came back two hours later to get him. He was on call all night, but he decided that he was going to be really brave and risk going to the fireworks and the pier.

I think that this picture is so awesome! I love that we even got big waves for the picture!

 I am so glad that he was willing to come to the pier with us even though he was on call. We said a prayer to know if it would be ok to go. In the prayer we said that if we found a close parking spot that we were going to take that as the answer that it would be ok for B to come with us. We found a spot a block away from the pier! So we parked and went to beach! 

 There was a group pretty close to us that shot a few fireworks right before the big ones started. They were so awesome! They were big and loud and got us in the mood for even bigger and louder ones!

 Now, we love fireworks! When we lived in Utah we would go to the BYU stadium and watch the fireworks there. I honestly didn't think that BYU could be out done. Oh how wrong I was!

Seeing fireworks being shot off the pier, out over the ocean was infinitely better that BYU's fireworks. I am so glad that we braved the crowds and that we went. I don't know if we'll get the chance to see them this way again. This was the perfect way to end the fourth of July. The only thing that maybe would have made it a bit better would have been to have a hot dog or two!