Totally Random

This is going to be the most random post ever. You were forewarned so here it goes! I absolutely LOVE the 4th of July! It is my FAVORITE holiday (next to Christmas). It just doesn't get much better than being with family and friends, celebrating the freedoms we enjoy, eating good food and watching fireworks. So...here is the CUTE treat I made this year. They were SOOOO easy to make. They are rice crispy treats with AIRHEAD candies cut up on top to make the colors. Cute huh? Next...I CHOPPED my hair off today! I'm not sure why I was so gutsy this time around. I guess I am just getting tired of drying my long hair everyday...especially in the summer. Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Yikes! It has NEVER been this short before!

Next....my parents got their NEW Malibu Wakeboard boat today. Its absolutely GORGEOUS! (The picture doesn't do it justice)Since it feels like we won't EVER be able to afford a boat of our own it is such a blessing that we can bum along with my parents! We can't wait to get up to the lake the weekend and try this baby out!

Lastly....I just love my little guy. He is so stinkin cute I can hardly even stand it. I can't believe he's already 14 months. 4 months to go until nursery....WOO HOO!
Thats all. Happy 4th of July!

Our quick trip to Redfish Lake

Dallin, Parker, Grandma and I just got back from our quick trip up to Red fish Lake. I've never been there before. What a BEAUTIFUL place. Aren't the Sawtooth Mountains in the background so majestic?

Here is a picture of the cabin we stayed in. It was so cute and cozy.

We spent a lot of time hanging out down at the beach. We tried and tried to catch some minnows but they were WAY too quick! We rode on paddle boats, played in the raft and went swimming. We were missing the water temperature down at Lake Powell! It was COLD!

On Monday we headed over to a Ghost Town called Custer. It is about 30 minutes north of Stanley, Idaho off an old dirt road. It was an old mining town that closed down in the early 1900s. What a cool place. We saw the old miner's homes, toured old schoolhouse and tried a nice cold sarsaparilla from the old saloon.

We packed a lot in for only being gone a couple of days! My Grandma is so amazing. I am so grateful to have her not only as a Grandma but as one of my very best friends. She is always up for some adventure and I don't know very many Grandmas who have HALF the energy she does. She is independent, wise, and the most charitable person that I know. I'm so glad we were able to spend this time together! (Even though we did miss you Daddy and Landon!)

I decided that I wasn't going to entertain my kids with the DVD player on this vacation which ended up being not as bad as I thought it would. We played lots of "I spy" games and "ABC" games during the car rides. In the evenings before be we would play "grocery store." The boys thought it was the GREATEST game ever.
Can't wait to go again one day!

Parker "hairless" Starnes

He's done it again! This is the 3rd time he has cut his own hair. I try to be good about hiding scissors in a safe place...really I am! This time he found a pair in Dallin's kindergarden registration bag. Honestly...those scissors can hardly even cut a piece of paper! Parker seemed to have no problem getting it all the way to the scalp though!

Lifelong friends

Make new friends

But keep the old

One is silver

And the other is gold

This is an actual song that we used to sing in my Brownie Girl Scout troop about 19 years ago. The funny thing about it is....2 of those girls are still my really good friends and we still hang out to this day.

Kali, Jami and I went to elementary school together, played sports together, sang together, cheered in high school together, went to dances together and now our kids play together! It is amazing to me that no matter how long we go without seeing eachother...even if its even a couple of years, things just pick right up and it seems like not a day has passed!

Today we were able to get together at the water park while Kali was in town. We had lots of fun letting the kids run wild!

I'm grateful for these girls...they always make me feel like I am still 16 and they can make my stomach hurt from laughing so hard!

I tried to find some pictures of us from when we were little but all of the really OLD pictures are still at my parent's house. I did however find a couple from the high school days.

Its so crazy to me that now we have 7.5 kids between the 3 of us! (Kali is expecting another little boy) So far the tally is BOYS:6 GIRLS:1. Who would have ever thought that the three of us "girly girls" would have so many boys! haha!

Summertime....when the livin' is easy!

Summer is here in full force and we've been having lots of fun! Here are some pictures of our recent activities:

Of course we are spending MANY an afternoon over at the waterpark:

We floated the Boise River with our really good friends (and MOST of our kids!). You can't live in Boise and not float the river at least once during the summer!

We went on a group date the other night with Jason and Jen and Emily and Tom. We have WAY too much fun when we all get together! We went miniature golfing over at a black light course. It was a great time.

Most of us are EMBRACING summer around here but Parker still can't quite let go of the winter boots!

The day we COULD have been debt free

So...this morning we were all rocking out to the radio while we were doing our Saturday morning chores. Then the DJ guy comes on and says, "Come on over to the Hubble Homes neighborhood! We are giving away a FREE house(valued at $200,000), a new Ford Avenger (valued at $25,000) and $25,000 cash."
I'm thinking to myself..."Whoa...that's the neighborhood right next to ours!"
I told Nate to get dressed and go over there to see whats going on. He decides that I am crazy and that I need to be the one to go over and check it out.
I hopped in the car and went to see what the deal was. There were cars EVERYWHERE! I go up to the radio desk and ask where/how to enter this contest. They tell me that you have had to be"pre-registered" in order to win the house/car/cash combo. Apparently the people who just show up have to be "selected" to be pre-drawn. I pretty much figured I was wasting my time but I filled out the little paper ballot and went on with my day.
I ended up running some errands when Nate calls me on my cell phone. He's like, "THEY CHOSE YOU!!! GET OVER THERE NOW!!!" I was totally freaking out. Honestly...I can't even imagine how AWESOME it would be to win all of those prizes. Nate totally needs a new car and I am just picturing how SWEET it would be to get this house and sell it to pay off all of our student loans.
I was in the "last chance" group and there were only about 40 of us who had a shot at the prizes. In order to win them all you had to roll 6 dice and spell the word, "HUBBLE." The first person to spell HUBBLE automatically wins all the prizes and the game is over. My heart was pounding to say the least......these 6 little dice could honestly change our lives. I opted to roll the dice from the cup instead of from my hands since I always KILL Nate at Yahtzee. There were cameras and people everywhere. You only get 1 single roll so I shook the dice in my cup and let 'em roll.........





AND...........







I only got a H and a B. It was still fun though and it was fun to dream big for a day....especially since I wasn't technically gambling because I didn't have to pay anything to enter the contest. No one ended up winning. I guess the odds are about 1 in 47,000 but man..that would have been REALLY cool.

My job

This morning I asked the boys if they knew what mom and dad did (as in jobs). They both knew right away what Nate was."Dad is a turney!" they both answered with excitement.
Then I asked them...."Well...what does mom do?" They thought about it for a minute and this is what they had to say:
Dallin:"You help baby Landon and you stay home and make us clean our rooms."
Parker: "You take us to Planet Kid and you help me wipe my bum."
I'm pretty sure there are a few other things I do around here but I thought it was a pretty funny job description anyway.

The Last Resort rides again!

My family has been going to Lake Powell as long as I can remember. Its hard to believe that we still go down and stay on the SAME houseboat that I stayed on when I was 4 and my sister was 3!!! I'd say the Last Resort looks pretty good for being as old as it is!

We had a great trip this year. We had all the immediate family (except for the Yamo), plus Clay and Brittany (my brother and sis in law) and Grandma EE of course! Of course...there is no going down to LP without a few hiccups.

Here were a few of the "tense" moments:

1. The temperature the first night we were there got down to about 48 degrees. Not so great when you have an $8.00 sleeping bag.

2. One engine on the houseboat was dead. We hobbled around with one engine the first couple of days but eventually had it fixed.

3. The Malibu died in the middle of the lake. We hit a hard wave and it caused one of the amps to fall off of its mount which in turn killed the boat. (Luckily dad is the handiest guy EVER so he had it up and fixed in a couple of hours!)

4. The last night we were there we experienced wind gusts of 50 mph. Dallin asked Nate if we were going to be okay...then he proceeded to say a prayer so we would all be safe. (so sweet)

The positives always outweigh the negatives though! Thats why we keep coming down year after year!

Highlights of this year would include:

1. Experiencing Lake Powell through Parker's eyes. This was his first year coming down and he pretty much thought the houseboat was the coolest thing ever and he absolutely LOVED playing in the sand and going "fishing" all day long.

2. Just spending quality time with my family and my husband who is always SO busy. It is so nice to just be AWAY from all cell phones, computers, TVs etc.

3. Hanging out with Clay and Brittany. It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them since we hardly ever get to see them.

4. Playing the "1st annual Red Rock challenge." Nate and I made up this ridiculous game where teams of 2 have to go head to head in all of these funny competitions. We had a rock skipping, oreo eating, cannon balling, gum sculpting, bubble blowing contest...just to name a few. Heres a pic of Clay and EE right after the starring contest.

5. Dallin riding on the tube! (Of course...Grandma had to pay him $1.00 to bribe him to do it) He did have fun though!

6. Our traditional "Hawaiian night." We all dress up and decorate the houseboat. We listen to a little Luau music and eat Teryaki chicken and rice for dinner. This year we even had Nate provide a little entertainement!

7. Of course...nothing beats the warm and flat water!

We had such a fabulous time! We Looking forward to next year. Lets hope the old houseboat doesn't sink by then! haha! O yeah...and a HUGE thanks goes to my AMAZING sister in law for watching Landon for us. Thanks Ash!

Lake Powell

Well...we are back from our action packed Lake Powell vacation!! It is always a TON of work but it is SO worth it! Even though we are back from Powell..we aren't actually home quite yet. The boys and I are still playing down in UT for a couple of days. I'll have pictures and stories when I get home in a few days!

We're expecting!

Well......sort of! We have some cute little birds who have decided to make a nest in our hanging flowers. I checked the nest a few days ago and there were 3 little eggs but today I looked and there were 5!

I should probably forewarn that mother bird....she'll proabably have all boys since that seems to be the trend in the Starnes home!

Cabela's

There are a few places in the world where I feel totally and completely OUT of my element. For example....if you were to ask me to walk on into the "Hot Topic" store in the mall or ask me to go out to "Hooter's" for lunch...I would probably feel just a bit uncomfortable.

Another store where I feel this way would have to be Cabela's. It is a hard thing to admit coming from the girl who was raised in good old Idaho. Why do I feel this way? Well lets see:

Reason #1:I have never even HELD a gun

Reason #2: I tried fishing once and my pole was dragged into the lake on my very first cast

Reason #3: Camping for me can only consist of one maybe two nights tops and I have to have an airbed, a fan going, and the car HAS to be parked right outside of the tent in case I get too cold

Reason #4: I accidentally killed my brother's hamster (his name was MC Hamster) when I was little and after that traumatizing experience I vowed never to harm another animal as long as I lived

Even though I feel this way about Cabela's I decided to take the boys over there to see the fish and the animals. They absolutely LOVED it! And guess what?? I did find something that I was very interested in...the homemade fudge in the back of the store! YUMM!

Weekend Warriors!!

Wow...what a weekend! We started off Saturday morning with Nate going for a long bike ride. (He's really getting into road biking as of late) He has already lost about 16 pounds in the last month because of if. (O yeah...and he said it was okay if I posted that!) I'm so proud of him!

After he got home we packed up the family and headed over to Veteran's Park for the annual Great Strides CF Walk. (Cystic Fibrosis) What a FUN family experience. A friend who serves in Young Women's with me has 2 boys who suffer from CF. What a trial they have been dealt. The boys take over 25 pills a day and have to get hooked up to this machine every day for an hour and a half that shakes their chests to loosen up the mucus that accumulates. We met up with many friends in our ward who were there volunteering and supporting the walk. We had so much fun! There were games for the kids, music provided by all of these elderly people from the local retirement home (absolutely HILARIOUS), a raffle and more. We walked for 2 miles along the greenbelt with kids in tow...it was such a great time!

This last picture is of the old person band. The oldest member was 97 years old! I think I will book them for Nate's 30th birthday coming up this August....haha. Just kidding hon!

After the walk we raced home and cleaned up the house to get ready for my mom's birthday! We met over at Louie's for dinner and then came over to our house for games and cake and ice cream. Nat and Robby and Grandma came too and we had fun playing the name game (good game idea Kristina...thank you!). So...Happy Birthday again Mom! I am so lucky to have you in my life! I couldn't raise these 3 boys without you!

We were all pretty tired by the end of the day and had a hard time getting up Sunday morning. Church comes all too early at 8:30AM!