Enjoying some ZZZZs

Last night was the annual ward camp out up at Grayback Gulch. We had a lots of fun spending time with great people and enjoying great food! We had a Hawaiian themed dinner which included teriyaki chicken, pork, macaroni salad and pineapple. The boys played with all of their friends over on the dirt hills and were absolutely covered in dirt from head to toe. I didn't take very many pictures but here are a few:

I opted to skip out on the actual "camping" part of the camp out. Landon just doesn't do well unless he is in his own crib in his own room. Nate and the boys stayed up overnight and had a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening to myself and ESPECIALLY enjoyed sleeping in until 9:30. Landon sleeps in for such a long time when his brothers aren't there bugging him at 7:30. It was absolute heaven.

In the morning Landon and I headed to the mall for a couple of hours. It is so easy and relaxing going shopping with one child. It's so nice to be able to actually SHOP. I remember being all stressed out when I would go anywhere with Dallin when he was a baby. What was I thinking? One kid is a breeze!!!

Anyway....you may recall a post I wrote back in April. I was at the mall and I came across a couple who were totally and utterly asleep in the middle of the mall. Here is the picture in case you don't remember what I'm referring to:

Well....today as I was shopping...lo and behold, I came across another mall snoozer. This guy was out cold....he was even snoring a little. Apparently I was unaware that the mall is the place to take your morning nap. I didn't want to seem too obvious taking a picture of this guy so I pretended to take one of Landon eating a cookie. The guy is in the background:
Next time I go to the mall I will be sure to bring my blanket and pillow! haha!

Dal's award

This morning we had to wake up EARLY to get over to Dallin's school. I'm not a huge fan of getting up early but today was an exception. Dallin received an academic award for the month of August! He was presented with a certificate and a little pin. We're so proud of him!

(He's our oldest child...I'm entitled to a little bragging...right??)

High School Tag

This one's for you Kristina!

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yep.....there were a few. We'll just leave it at that.

2. What kind of car did you drive? My sweet BEAST. The Silver 1979 Mercedes 300D! I have a whole college paper written about that car. We had some good and bad times together. I'll have to see if I can find it and post it one of these days!

3. Were you a party animal? I loved parties where I didn't feel like a fish out of water. As long as there was no alcohol I was good. If there was..I'd usually just leave.

4. Were you considered a flirt? Probably.

5. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I played the flute in orchestra...I decided that band wasn't really for me.

6. Were you a nerd? I tried not to be!

7. Were you on any varsity teams? Cheer

8. Did you get suspended/expelled? Nope....never.

9. Can you still sing the fight song? O you KNOW it! I cheered all throughout high school and had to sing the fight song OVER and OVER again. I actually helped write some of the flute music for the Timberline fight song.

10. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Heller, Senora Wimer, Mr. Slaughter

11. Where did you sit during lunch? We always left to go out for lunch so we didn't really sit anywhere. We would ALWAYS to go Brueggers Bagels when I went to Boise High. We'd go to Subway or Albertsons when we went to Timberline.

12. What was your school's full name? Boise High School and Timberline High School (Our senior class was split when they built the new high school.)

13. School mascot? BHS-Braves THS-Timberwolves

14. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I wouldn't mind going back for a week or so......life is just SO much better now.

15. What do you remember most about graduation? Our all night party at Idaho Ice World. We ice skated, had our caricatures drawn, and had those huge SUMO wrestler things. I was "hypnotized" by some strange man....even though I was totally just faking it. Everyone was winning all of these cool prizes throughout the night. People were getting snow boards and passes to the ski resorts and I won and MUG. I was ticked.

16. Where did you go senior skip day? I don't remember...I do recall sleeping out under the stars on the field on the night before the last day of school.

17. Were you in any clubs? National Honor Society, Key Club

18. Have you gained some weight since then? Well....since I weighed next to nothing in High School and I have had 3 children in a 6 year period that would be a YES.

19. Who was your prom date? Junior year it was Chris Klomp. Senior year was Mark O.

20.Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I think so. I'm excited becuase its going to be a BHS and THS reunion together. It's crazy to think its been 10 years next summer. I'll go as long as Jami, Kali and Tiff are all there with me!

There you go! I am tagging Jami B., Marie F., Jayna, and Jen D.

Look Mommy! I'm a big boy too!

Parker has been begging for weeks now to take his training wheels off. We were a little hesitant though due to the fact that we just took Dallin's off at the beginning of the summer. (Parks just seems too little to me!)

After an unfortunate training wheel casualty, we didn't really have a choice and it took Parker all of about 10 minutes to figure it all out! When he is determined to do something....he does NOT let what anyone says affect him. (Hmmm....I wonder where he gets it.)

He did fall a few times and he did run into a car and it set the ALARM off...but he kept on going until his whole head was drenched in sweat. He was almost as sweaty as daddy who had to run behind him all the way around the block!

Nasty Boys

After spending the morning cleaning the toilets and floors of our bathrooms I have come to the conclusion that:

1) There is pee on top of the toilet.

2) There is pee on the sides of the toilet.
3) There is pee on the wall.

4) There is pee in front of the toilet.

Does any pee actually make it INTO the toilet?

I wish I could afford a maid.

GROSS!!!!

Happy 30th my eternal buddy!

In honor of my husbands 30th birthday today I am compiling a list of 30 things you may or may not know about him! Happy Birthday old man! I love you!

1. Nate absolutely HAS to sleep with his feet uncovered.

2. He hates scary movies. (I love watching him jump though when he gets scared.....cracks me up!)

3. His favorite food is In N Out.

4. His favorite sport in the world USED to be golf...now it takes a close second to road biking.

5. He loves to dance...he can really bust a move.

6. He was either going to be an attorney or a dentist. I'm glad he opted for the shorter route.

7. He would rather die then go on a tube behind the boat.....he thinks its a waste of gas when you could be wakeboarding or surfing.

8. His favorite candy is the good old tootsie roll.

9. He hates cats.

10. He absolutely loves working with the youth.

11. He does a pretty good Chew Bacca impression.

12. He is an amazing writer.

13. He has jumped into the pond at BYU with his roommates wearing a speedo in the middle of winter.

14. His all time favorite place in the world is Lake Owahee. (Shhhh...its a secret lake)

15. He LOVES the Lakers almost as much as he loves me.

16. He had 2 girlfriends in kindergarten. (They were twins)

17. He had a collection of hood ornaments in the high school days....lucky he never got caught.

18. He cares a lot about how he dresses.

19. He loves the movie Zoolander.....and I hate that movie.

20. He LOVES Diet Pepsi.

21. He actually enjoys going shopping....as long as I am there with him.

22. He loves Boise more then I do.

23. He served his mission in Argentina....and he has no desire to go back and visit. He likes to remember it the way it was when he was there.

24. While in high school, he was on a date with a girl at the beach and a seagull pooped right in his mouth! haha....I love that story.

25. He used to be one of those scary guys who wore the black jackets with all the patches and the safety pins all over. I still have a really hard time envisioning him wearing that. Creeps me out.

26. He had his mission call while he was in high school.

27. He was in a musical. (Grease)

28. He can fall asleep in a matter of moments. (Runs in the family)

29. He was the teacher in the Sunbeam class while we lived in Spokane. That calling terrified him.

30. He is LOVED!!! Happy Birthday honey!

Blessings

"There are two types of boys, dirty & not yet."

I love these boys so much....even though I have to bathe them almost EVERY day!
I was overwhelmed with gratitude as I bathed my kids this morning. I know that Heavenly Father really does watch over us and guide us in our lives. There have been SO many times where hiccups have come along and it is hard to know how things will work out. They do though and it has been demonstrated to me again over the course of the last week. I am grateful for this and just wanted to say it out loud today.

Playing and partying!

It is so hard to believe that it is Saturday already. We have had the most exhausting yet fun week! Its been exhausting because we have been busy playing with Ashley and the kids (our cousins) all week long AND while we were doing that we were busy planning Nate's SURPRISE 30th BIRTHDAY! (Being super sneaky is really TIRING!) Whenever we get together we play REALLY hard..its no wonder we are all so tired..especailly since we stayed up WAY too late every night chatting or watching the Olympics! O well....

Here are some pictures from the week:

We went to Roaring Springs, Discovery Center, MK Nature Center, Ivywild pool with friends, had lunch at a couple of different parks, and went up to Sandy Point Beach (the B-day location!)

I've been planning Nate's surprise birthday for a few weeks now and so having Ashley and the kids here really helped a lot! His actual birthday isn't until next week so I wanted to throw him off a little by having his party early. He thought we were going to have a little party NEXT weekend. Ashley and I even made some fake invitations for the pretend party! He was SO clueless! On Friday night I told Nate that I was going to take him out on a special date. Ashley said she would watch the boys for us. We didn't need to be up at Sandy Point until 6:30 so I had to waste some time until we could get up there. Nate was really hungry so I started off by taking him to Golden Spoon (YUM) for a quick treat to hold him off for awhile. After that we walked over to Deseret Book and I bought him a new set of scriptures. He has been wanting the bigger "old man" scriptures for quite awhile and so I thought it was a good birthday gift for him. After Deseret, I blindfolded him and started to drive in circles so he would get REALLY disoriented.

Meanwhile...Ashley was able to get ALL 6 of our kids in her car and headed up to the beach to meet us there. My parents brought up all the food that we had prepared and set up the tables. Friends and family decked out in their Hawaiian attire and were waiting for us to arrive. The whole way up he kept trying to guess where were were going. He thought we were going to McCall.....Eagle......maybe Garden Valley. He was WAY off! I walked him over and took his blindfold off......SURPRISE Nate!!

We played a funny true of false game about Nate and had a hula competition. It was nice to just hang out with friends and let the kids play together. It all came together just perfectly and it was exactly what I was hoping for!

It has been a GREAT week! Now its time for me to take a nap...............

How many 5 year olds I could take on a flight

I am horrified that this link even exists (found it on someone else's blog) and even more horrified that I was curious enough to take the quiz and TRULY horrified that it tells me I could fight off 16 five year olds if I had to.
You know you want to do it too.......
16

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My Man

I often write about my precious kiddos, whom I love dearly...but I was sitting here thinking about what an amazing husband I have! He is so gifted, sweet, talented, an amazing father, and a great friend! I truly am so blessed.....
I am SO PROUD of him for many reasons but today I am proud of his determination and drive. Tomorrow he is riding in his first CENTURY (111 mile ride)! It is called the ULCER ride and it goes all the way around Utah Lake. 4 months ago he fell head over heels in LOVE with road biking. He is following in his father's footsteps! He takes it very seriously and has been training religiously for this particular event. I am so glad that he has found something that he is so passionate about. He has lost 30 pounds since he started biking and he feels better then he has felt in years. He is an inspiration to me and I just wanted him to know how much I LOVE HIM!!!!
Go DADDY Go!!!!!

A few Parker-isms

Parker has said some very funny things lately so its time to write them down before I forget them!

- We are leaving the water park and there is a woman right outside of the gates enjoying her cigarette. I am just bracing myself waiting for either Dallin or Parker to say something about how smoking is bad or gross or SOMETHING. Parker chimes in, "That smoke smells GOOD mom!" I am SO in trouble when this kid gets older!

-Parker walks up to my sister (who is 8 months pregnant) and says, "Nanny...I think you ate WAY too much!"

-Monday night we went boating and as I was climbing into the boat after surfing Parker goes, "Nice job mom! You are a hot mama."

-Lately Parker has been prefacing many a story with..."One time...when I was a little boy......."

-Today as we were out running errands I stopped to get a drink for myself. (We were at Wendy's) Parker wanted some ice cream but I told him we would just get some when we got home. His response....."If I don't get some ice cream I think my eyes will start to hurt and then I won't be able to see anymore." Where does he get this stuff?????

Marcy's weekend visit!

There is something special about a friend who can ALWAYS make you feel better about yourself just by being around them. I met Marcy back in the BYU dorms 8 YEARS ago...gosh that seems like FOREVER ago. As soon as I met her I knew that we would become great friends. She has to be one of the most POSITIVE people I know and I am so grateful for her example to me.

Here are a few pictures of us from years gone by:

Here we are learning how to long board in Hawaii. Here we are in San Francisco...Marcy's hometown.

So last Wednesday Marce called to see if I was doing anything this weekend because she wanted to come up and check out Boise. (She also wanted to see what life was like we 3 crazy boys!) She has been here one other time but it was only for one evening (our wedding reception) so she didn't REALLY get to see Boise. Needless to say I was THRILLED that she came up to see us!

We floated the river, went shopping (what we do BEST!), had a picnic at Municipal park, walked through the MK nature center, drove over to Swan Falls, went to the Discovery Center, and drove all around the city.

Marcy also gets a HUGE shout out for helping me teach my lesson on Sunday. It was the first time I had to teach ALL of the Young Women and I was pretty nervous! She teaches 2nd grade and is so calm and cool in front of a crowd!

Come visit us again soon Marce! You picked the perfect weekend to come up! Hopefully my boys didn't wear you out TOO much! As we pulled into the driveway after dropping her off at the airport Parker said, "Mom....I'm going to miss that Marcy. She was the BEST!"