Cabin Fun

This past weekend we had a "family reunion". My brother lives in Arkansas so we only get to see these guys once a year. Audrey's parents let us use their cabin for the weekend and we had a wonderful time. It was a little chilly and rained from time to time, but we still had so much fun!

We rode the 4-wheelers.

Samuel was able to "catch" a fish. He was so excited, especially after our failed attempt the past weekend. We usually just release the fish, but Samuel was really interested in eating the fish. (He's a very picky eater so this was a little miracle). Chuck cooked the fish and Samuel did try one little bite.

Fishing in grandpa's boat.

Audrey spotted this tree house from the road and it quickly became one of the kids favorite spots. Samuel loved going to the "magical tree house".

The kids also loved to ride the 4-wheelers to the swing set.

Brady and Audrey's girls love to play pretend. It was so funny because Kayla was the princess, Savannah was the dutchess and Bella was the castle robber. That's right, the only princess Bella really knows is princess Leia, Star Wars is very popular at our house, so instead of being a princess she was the robber. Later Kayla said Bella could be the princess's sister.

At night after the kids went to bed we played the Wii. Trina and I couldn't figure out why we were so bad at all the Wii fit games until we realized when the game was calibrated for the big boys it didn't work so well when we tried to play. At least we finally figured out the problem instead of thinking we were just total losers! The boys stayed up so late playing every night.

At of course we ate and ate and ate some more. Too many goodies were on hand!

Fishing & Swimming

We've been enjoying the beautiful summer weather the past few weekends. The nice thing about having kids that wake up around 6:00 a.m. is that we are ready and out of the house to begin our adventures very early. In fact we usually show up at places on Saturday mornings and no one else is around. We love this! We get in and out before it gets too hot and busy.

Samuel has been wanting to go to this fishing pond for so long. He was very excited about trying to catch a fish.

This was Isaac trying out the lure on himself - don't worry it doesn't have a hook on it!

Isaac was just making me laugh because he tries so hard to copy what the other kids are doing.

Bella with daddy's pole. It's just a little big for her!

So we didn't have much luck on this trip. Samuel was having a fit because he didn't catch a fish. He did get one strike and Chuck tried to help him get it in, but it got away. Uncle Brady would have been giving the lecture on setting the hook! I got this lecture from him countless times growing up!!

This weekend we took the kids to the lake. Isaac's been getting a little better with the water. He really enjoyed playing in the water and the mud.

This is what happens when your husband is a Civil Engineer with an emphasis in Water Systems - he brings a big shovel and bucket to the lake to build a sand castle and canal to float a toy boat to the lake. This is the boys getting started on the big project.

More digging.

Even Isaac got in on the digging action.

Now everyone, but me, was digging. I was content to sit in my chair and take pictures. I sure wish I had brought a book and my nice camera - this project took quite awhile!

Building the canal to the lake.

Filling up the castle with water and watching the boat make it's way to the water.

Success!

They floated the boat several times to the lake then slowly destroyed the creation. Chuck was teaching Samuel all about erosion, deposition and sedimentation. Chuck just loves the science of water and apparently so does Samuel!

Joy School Graduation

Last night Samuel had his Joy School graduation. I have absolutely loved doing Joy School this year! The kids were so much fun to teach. I have come to realize that I really love teaching kids. Every so often I think maybe I'll get a teaching certificate. Quite a different track from my engineering degree!

The thing that I loved about Joy School were the fun lessons, songs and activities. Instead of letters, numbers etc. the kids learn about the joy of so many things. I think one of my favorite units was on the joy of creativity and imagination. It's amazing how much fun kids can have using their imaginations - we landed on the moon, flew through space and many more fun things.

One of the last units was on the family and teaching each child that they are special, important and unique. Saren conducted an interview with each of the kids and gave it to us last night with their books. Chuck and I were laughing reading Samuel's answers.

One question was My favorite place is... Samuel said, "Sand Hollow, I like to go there a lot to swim and I like McDonalds. They let me get toys there. I like Disneyland. It's a happy place where people like to go. I like In and Out Burger too." (So from this answer can you tell that I take the kids to McDonalds and In and Out Burger way too often!)

And how funny is this. We show up at Saren's for the graduation and all the boys are wearing different colors of the exact same shirt!

We Must Be Crazy Parents

We finally got Samuel a bed and this is the crazy thing we did. We bought a bed with a slide. It was one of those things when you're in the store and think WOW I would have loved that as a kid, let's get it. Then it gets delivered to your home and you think what have we done!

Because this is the kids at 9:00 p.m. last night - does it look like they are at all tired - NO!

They all love it. So far no major accidents. Isaac did climb halway up the slide then decided he didn't want to go up or down. I heard him crying and Samuel ran to tell me he was stuck. And sure enough he was holding on for dear life.

And this is the other crazy thing we did. Chuck bought cheap laminate for the playhouse because the kids didn't like the feel of the floor. They were having a great time sliding down the slide with the hose running, but it made a huge muddy mess on the floor. Now I'm afraid I have another area to clean!

Samuel and Stockton eating lunch in the playhouse.

First Harvest

Okay so the title is a little deceiving - we didn't actually have what I would call a harvest, but we did pick two tiny cherry tomatoes from our little garden. In all the years Chuck and I have been married we have NEVER had a garden. I've just never been interested in growing anything. But now we have the space and thought we would give it a try. I was sure we would have killed everything off by now, but there are a few things growing in that red dirt. I hope we get a few more tomatoes before the heat kills everything off.

And a small miracle. Samuel actually was excited about trying the tomatoe. He is a very picky eater so it really surprised us when he wanted to take a bite. He's been very interested in watching everything grow so I'm sure that helped.

But then look at that face. We asked him if he liked it and he said yes, but then didn't want to try another bite. Hopefully we can get him to try another tomatoe if another actually grows.

Memorial Day Hike

Trina had a birthday party for Kambree on Saturday so my parents were in town over the Memorial Day weekend. We all went for a hike on Monday morning.

Chuck has always carried our little ones in the baby bjorn when we have done hikes because by the time they were big enough to actually use this type of pack the other two just wanted to walk. So this is Trina and Wes's pack, but Kambree refused to be carried that way and was crying. Chuck switched Wes and was loving packing Isaac this way. Poor Isaac also stared crying when we put him in the pack, but I knew the secret to keep Isaac happy in almost any situation - food! So Trina and I kept stuffing Kambree and Isaac with chips on the way and they were happy.

This was just making me laugh, for some reason neither Kambree or Isaac could keep themselves straight. They both were tipping over.

And Bella wanted Grandpa to pack her because he was holding the chips in the backpack. She kept leaning over his shoulder and grabbing a few to eat along the way.

Samuel is not our climber. You can't really see from the picture, but he was a little afraid to climb along this ledge.

Bella is the climber and she refused to go around the easy way with the rest of us so Grandpa had to take Samuel up and then go back down to get Bella and bring her up.

This is as far as we got on the hike. There were so many people enjoying the beautiful weather and the beautiful hike. We'll probably go back another weekend when it isn't so busy so we can go further up the canyon.

What A Difference A Year Makes!

I had to take a couple of minutes and write about my day because nothing crazy happened! I took all 3 kids with me to ran errands and they were so good. We went to Staples, Desert Book, Wal-Mart, the library and then to McDonalds and there were no melt downs, no one pulled items off the shelves, no one tried to run away. At McDonalds the kids even got their shoes when I told them it was time to go. I could not believe it!! And I thought what a difference a year makes!

After Isaac was born, life was pretty crazy around here with 3 little ones in 3 years. Everytime I left the house something "exciting" happened, but things have definately gotten easier over the past year. It was one of those days when I just smiled all day and thought I love my life! I love being a mother! Of course it doesn't make for an exciting blog entry, but it does make for a great day.