AAAAHHHH!

AAAAHHHHHH! Ok, I think I feel a little better now. This morning is one of those hard moments trying to balance life, working at home, family, and everything else. You know, being a mom is tough! Being a mom that works from home is a big challenge. Sometimes I think some of the girls at work are jealous that I'm not there, but they don't realize what a challenge it is. Ok. better now.

Camping with Friends

One of our other summer adventures was planning a camping trip with friends. We reserved a group campsite on the July 24th weekend. Sadly, a lot of people had plans that weekend so we missed out on some of our friends coming. We had other friends that could only come for dinner and smores that night. We had a pretty good group that included the Clowards, Parras, McArthurs, Austins, Skardas, Daniels, Bonds, and Kolstes. I think I've got everyone. We went up the canyon near our house. It was a longer hike from the parking lot to the camp site, but the boys and our neighbors were an awesome help getting things set up. Meredith and I got our fire started without the help of any of the men, and I was pretty proud of that. The boys were in heave since they had both friends and sticks to play with. We got to sit around a fire, have a ton of smores, and have an overall great time. At least I hope everyone else did.
One of the funny moments of the night was between my own little fire cracker, Addi, and Matthew, who is also two. They have had their moments in the past where they butt heads. At one point, they were having an argument between the two of them. Apparently Matthew hit Addi, or maybe they were both hitting each other. Matthew's mom, Ashley, was right there and was talking to Matthew, telling him that we don't hit and that hitting is not nice. About 15-20 seconds had gone by while Ashley was telling Matthew to be nice when Addi very nonchalontley, kicks Matthew! It was defintely on purpose and very deliberate. It was hilarious and I had a really hard time composing myself and trying to be the good mom to now tell my child that hitting and kicking is not acceptable. Stephanie McArthur thought it was hilarious and said it would be so funny if they ended up getting married when they get older.
Addi and Matthew had another butting heads moment on Saturday morning. I had taken pictures of the Parra's in front of their tent and Addi was near me when I took the pictures. After taking the pictures, I went over to my tent to finish cleaning up when I heard Addi and Matthew yelling at each other. Ashely said that Matthew kept telling Addi "Say Cheese" and Addi would say "No", it went back and forth where they started yelling "SAY CHEESE!", "NO!", at each other. And all I do is sit back and laugh.
One of Nate's favorite things about camping is melting forks, and asked for any used forks that he could melt the prongs of. We were also proud that we may have made David Parra a pyro now. He ended up building the fire and playing with the fire for a while. It was quite the accomplishment. We also saw a "barn raising" for a new restroom, which fulfilled one of Ashely's bucket lists since she's always wanted to attend a barn raising.
My kids had an absolute blast and want to go camping with friends again. Zach is the one who is mentioned it to me over and over. I think this may have to be a new tradition for us and I'm hoping to arrange another camping trip with friends next year. Hopefully closer to the parking lot!
The boys were in heaven. They had friends and sticks to play with!:


Jeff was at work for the beginning, but Merf and I built a fire all on our own, without the men around:

Friends, campfire, and smores. Really, who needs more than that?:



The kids had an awesome time playing Ghost in the Graveyard for most of the evening:




Addi didn't get to play Ghost in the Graveyard, but she had a blast playing with Missy, Fuzzy, and Kennadie. She got Fuzzy to spend a lot of time with her and even take her on a walk. She adores Fuzzy, who has now been deemed "La La" by Addi. Sadly, I didn't get any good pictures of them together. This is the best I've got:


Addi and Daddy:

Really, how awesome is Merf?? Totally. I'm so glad she joined us on our night:

Sadly,half of the group could only stay for dinner and missed out on the fun the next morning. The kids tried to play Ghost in the Graveyard in the morning, but it wasn't quite as much fun. They did have fun running around, hiking, and playing in the hammock.

Lagoon

One of our other summer activities this year was to go to Lagoon. We, of course, got in for free since that's the only time we go to Lagoon. I don't think Jeff and I have ever paid full price to go to Lagoon. Honestly, I can only think of one time we didn't get in for free since we've usually be for work parties where they paid for it. Thankfully, my work did a party at Lagoon this year and the kids had an absolute blast. Jeff had more fun at Lagoon then in years past as well. I, unfortunately, was pretty sick but still went and managed through. I was so incredibly exhausted that I think I had pneumonia, but I'm not sure. Even so, it was a lot of fun and the kids absolutely loved it. Nate was ready to go on any roller coaster that Jeff would go on and pointed out a few that he wanted to do. Zach went on any roller coaster he could as well and was horribly upset if he was too small to go with Jeff and Nate. Addi missed out on some of the coasters, but she had a lot of fun on the other rides. She was a little too short to go on the new coaster, Bombora, but the attendant let us sneak in. She wasn't too sure about it during the ride, but as the ride was finishing, she was dancing to the music. I was very proud of her!
We've been planning a trip to Disneyland for about a year now and, after spending the day at Lagoon, Jeff got really excited for our trip. I think the boys are at a perfect age and with all the fun Jeff had before, I think our trip will be a blast!
By the way, Zach did a face plant into the asphalt while riding his bike a few days before Lagoon and got his face all scraped up. As a result, it looks like he has a bloody nose in most of the pictures, but it's his scab from his face plant. It was pretty bad. One of the attendants saw Zach and asked "What happened to you???".
Here's a couple of pictures from our day at Lagoon:










As part of the work party, we were invited to attend a raffle and dessert party at 7:00 p.m. that night. My kids, and husband, were in heaven as they were able to eat as many ice cream treats as they could handle. I think my kids had more ice cream at one time then they were ever allowed to. We also one a stuffed animal which was a huge woolly mammoth that we got to take home as well. The kids were so excited about that and Nathan gave him a piggy back ride to the car. Overall, it was a great day!

Highland Splash Pad

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going through my photo file alphabetically to get caught up so I don't miss anything. I did skip Easter though so I I may have to go back to "E". One of our other summer adventures was going to the Highland Splash Pad to play in the water there. We went just a couple of times, but the kids had a ball. There are two parts to ti, one section for the bigger kids where the water shoots up from the ground, and a second section which is a stream that the littler kids can enjoy. One of the times we went, we met some friends and the kids got to play with them while enjoying the water. We went at a very busy time, but the kids still had a blast and loved to enjoy the water. This really was our "summer of water" where we spent a ton of time playing in the water in many different forms. I'm hoping that next summer will be as much fun.

The I Love You Game

Nate and I have recently stared a game that we play almost every day. I'm not sure how it started, but it's sweet. I tell Nathan that I love him, and he tells me that he loves me more. I tell him I love him more, and then he tells me that he loves me times a hundred, or something similar. It keeps going until one of us says that I love you more than infinity and beyond, and up from there. It's a sweet, simple game but he really enjoys it. It's now spread to both Zach and Addi. Zach likes to play the same game and tries to get into it took. Addi is very simple. I tell Addi "I love you" and she says, "No, I love you" and it goes back and forth. This is just one of those sweet, simple things that just make my heart melt. My kids drive me crazy sometimes, but I can't ever imagine life without them!

Laundry

I've been trying to potty train Addison lately, but last night she had an accident and had wet clothes. Jeff told her to take her dirty clothes downstairs to the laundry room. She did, but she was down there for a while and I was wondering what she was doing. She came up after a while and I didn't think much of it. About 40 minutes later, I was in the basement and heard a noise. I looked around and found the washer was going, with about eight minutes left on the cycle. I was very confused since I had been doing laundry earlier in the day, but not recently and I thought I had put those clothes in the dryer. I opened the washer and found that Addi had put her purple pants and purple underwear in the washer with the batch of whites that I had been doing earlier. I'm assuming the whites were already in the washer, though I thought I had put them in the dryer. There was also an eraser that had been in Nathan's pants that I had taken out and had on the ground in front of the washer that made it inside the washer as well. Thankfully, the whites survived and didn't turn purple. Addi has watched me and "helped" do laundry many times in the past and apparently knows which buttons to push. Now I just need to teach her how to put the clothes in the dryer and fold them as well!

"The Wedding Letters"

I'm far from caught up, but I'll share a more recent experience this morning. One of my awesome and amazing friends was invited to a book release for a new book entitled, "The Wedding Letters", by Jason Wright. I've read a handful of his previous books, including "The Wednesday Letters" recently and I've really enjoyed his books. "The Wednesday Letters" made me laugh, cry, and I had a hard time putting it down which made me stay up late one night to finish it. I was excited to hear about the release of his sequel to it, "The Wedding Letters".
I've been incredibly busy so I've only been able to read a couple of chapters to date, but I've been very excited to read it. It's just finding time to do it!
The book release was put together as a wedding reception, and they had actors to portray the two main characters. Jason Wright, the author, did a presentation and discussed the tradition of giving letters to a newly wedded couple as a gift. It sounds like an amazing tradition and one that would be cherished for the rest of their lives. I'm excited to finish the book and hoping to begin this tradition for family members. I'm hoping to do the same thing for when Nate turns 8 and gets baptized. I'm sure it will become a cherished tradition for major events.

Tender Moment

I walked the kids to school yesterday. Zach wanted me to stop at the entrance to the school and have Nate walk him the rest of the way. I sat and watched them for just a minute. Zach ran up to Nate, who saw him and put his arm around him. They walked together with Nate's arm around Zach for a little bit. It totally melted my heart. Such a sweet moment!

Super Grandma!!!

One of our other summer activities was to visit Super Grandma a few times. Super Grandma is Jeff's grandmother, but she has been renamed Super Grandma instead of Great Grandma because, well, she's super! She is really the only grandmother I have ever had because all of my grandparents died by the time I was two. She is a sweetheart and I love her to death. The kids absolutely love to go and see her, and we need to see her more often. She was living in her house up until last year, when she moved to an assisted living center. She is 97 years old and just amazing! The kids don't have as much room to run and play, but they love to see her and their new favorite activity is to play games with her. They like to play Chinese checkers and her magnetic tic tac toe game. She's so sweet to play with them over and over and over. Here are some of our photos from one of our trips this summer:

Fourth of July

One of our summer traditions is to do fireworks at the city's Fourth of July celebrations. We usually hang out at the grade school's field and watch the fireworks with family. It's been a fun tradition and we usually go a little early to save a spot and play. The kids loved it and it's close enough that we can put them to bed right after. I even made my kids take a nap before fireworks so we didn't have to deal with some of the drama. The kids loved it and got to play with their cousin and aunts and uncles. This year, the big thing was to play with Bre and Jordan. I don't know why, but apparently the funnest toy to play with was an used Subway cup that they would place in the cup holder of a camping chair. They would hit the bottom of the collapsible folding up, and shoot the cup into the air and the boys would try to catch it. They had a ball and played for a long time. The other favorite was a ball they were able to make with glow sticks. They had a blast and played with that until it broke. It was a fun night and the kids really enjoyed it.

For Addi's birthday, my friend found the following shirt which she thought fit Addi well and was perfect for the Fourth of July:

Family Photos

We recently did family photos, due in part to an awesome deal. As part of the deal, I was able to get a CD of the photos and wanted to share photos of my cute family. They weren't quite as amazing as I would have liked, but I'm still very happy with them:

"The Summer of Water"

We've owned part of a boat for the last couple of years, but this year we sold the old boat and bought a new boat which was a very nice upgrade. We really didn't spend that much on it since we found a really good deal. We spent many a days on the boat, but not as many as Jeff would have liked. His schedule has changed for the better now, so hopefully we can spend a lot more time next year. This was an awesome summer where I learned how to water ski, kneeboard, wakeboard, and get much better at driving a boat. Jeff did the slalom, and got a ton of air on the kneeboard and wakeboard. The boys got to love the water and both have, kind of, learned how to kneeboard. we'll work on that one next year. By the end of the year, both of them were jumping off the back of the boat and loving it.
One of the most impressive things was in August. The boys had been trying to get their dad to do a back flip off the boat forever and he just didn't want to do it. He would do a front flip, dives, and all sorts of things but wouldn't do a back flip. One day they were really bugging him about it and he told Nate he would do a back flip after Nathan did. The next thing we know, Nate went to the back of the boat and said, "Hey Dad, watch this" and proceeded to do a back flip. We were all amazed and Jeff realized that he now had to do a back flip since Nate had done it. Nate did it again at least once or twice, and then Jeff had to do it so Nate didn't totally show him up. That kid just amazes me. When we were in Lake Powell at the end of the summer, Zach even did a front flip off the back of the boat.
Overall, it was a fantastic summer and we're pretty sad that the boat has to be winterized and put away. We may have to buy wetsuits so we can start the summer off early next year....

Addi and Mommy hanging out:



Jeff driving:



Zach and Grandpa tubing:



What a place to take a nap!:



Nate and Daren tubing:



Nate and Zach:



Addi "driving":