Oh my, What happened to July??

I can say without a doubt that this is probably one of the best summers I have ever had. My children are starting to act a little more human-like than beast-like so we have been able to do lots of fun things. I can hardly believe July is already almost over and that we will have to start winding down our summer and preparing for the school year. We have packed so much fun in the last two months that I feel like I need a nap daily while the kids nap! I will admit that we are fun seekers and always on the go and we like it that way!

These are all pictures from our last trip to the cabin...
Ella was earning bonus points for favorite child because she LOVED the fish that Ryan cooked for them. Jack on the other had was trying so hard to eat it to please his dad. He would take a bite and immediately have to go spit it out. He earns points in my book because I think fish is nasty too!
Grandma Rosie with the kiddo's.

Jack putting his fellow munchkins in a headlock. This is always the pose I get when I say "give them a hug!"

Ella's idea of a good time fishing is rooting around in Ryan's backpack for a snack. This day she found some and immediately had the boys begging for some of her loot!

Okie and Jack... I'm not sure what kind of plan they were coming up with but I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been a good one!

Ryan with his prized fish... to give him credit I think this was the smallest one they caught that day and yes he put it back!

One of my favorite things about Ryan is that he truely LOVES to do things with his kids. He always wants them right there and involved with what he is doing. I know most times this make it tons more work for him but the kids absolutely love doing things with him. I want them to remember how much their dad loved doing things with them even when they were way too little to appreciate it. He always takes Okie under his wing too and includes him in what he is doing even though it's just one more little pest to have to keep track of. :)

Now I just hope August doesn't fly by quite as fast as the rest of the summer has!

Splash Park

The other day we NEEDED to get out of the house so we called Grandma Nette and asked if she wanted to join us at the splash park. We packed some snacks and our swim soups and we were on our way! The kids are funny because they always get shy when we go there because there are so many other people but they eventually warmed up and enjoyed themselves for a few minutes. Their most favorite part though was probably the ice cream that they got at Grandmas after! And of course, I didn't take very many pictures and didn't get any of Jacker Man but the little Missy was happy to pose between taking bites of her snack!

Chick-Fil-A

Thursday night my friend Dawn texted me and asked if we wanted to dress like cows to get a free meal on Friday. I kind of chuckled because I have always made fun of people who would do that just for a free meal. But after some convincing I decided to do it and I am so glad I did. The kids had soooo much fun and I had to bribe Jack to take off his cow costume when we were done. He loved it! Several of the neighbors joined in and brought their kids so it was super fun and we can't wait to do it again next year!

Happy Fourth of July

We had so much fun this year celebrating the Fourth and Jack LOVED the fireworks. We spent more money on Fireworks than we ever have and he is still begging for more. Of course I shouldn't be surprised because this kid loves anything that involves fire. Ella was scared of them for the first couple of days that we set them off (yes, I said days) but by the time the actual holiday came around she was not afraid anymore and actually enjoyed them! It was so cute whenever they would hear some going off in the neighborhood Ryan would hose them down with mosquito spray, load them in the bike trailer and they would be off in search of the free fireworks display. It works out well that Ryan loves fireworks just as much as Jack so they both were happy to spend their evenings looking for fireworks! We spent the holiday first at Seven Peaks swimming with the kids and Aunt Jenny and then finished it off at Grandpa and Grandma Frisby's BBQ'ing. Despite the rain we had delicious food and then set off tons more fireworks and we kept our heads tilted to the sky looking at all the neighbors huge ones they were setting off. It was a great holiday filled with family, food and fun!

SUMMERTIME - Our FAVORITE time of year...

I don't know why I even bothered buying any summer clothes... It seems like all we ever wear are our swimsuits! We have had a fantastic time already this summer and it's not even half over yet. The kids have enjoyed playing with their cousins and soaking up the sun. After the reunion this year we talked Ryan into leaving the kids and I at Grandma Rosie's for the week and we all had such a good time. I absolutely love that my mom doesn't have to work in the summer so we get to spend so much time in Idaho and playing with family. We went to lunch at Storybook park several times, played in the backyard pool, took pictures of the kids, went to Durfee hot springs, the cabin and ate WAY too many ice cream bars in the backyard. I am loving this sunshine and we are doing all we can to soak it up!

I'm not exactly sure how she got this hairdo but it is a good one! We tried to give her a popsicle this day and she stomped her foot and said " I want Ice Cream" so of course... she gets what she wants!

She borrowed Lyssies swimsuit this day and she had a tad bit of trouble keeping it pulled up in the back!

Summertime also means big sodas from Maverick. I would trade an ice cream anyday for an icy cold Diet Pepsi. Ella is a fan too!

Jack just loves to squirt anybody and everybody. He will squirt you and then let out his devilish naughty little laugh! Ainslee started giving him "swirlies" in the pool when he would squirt her and he thought it was hilarious!

This is the day we decided to potty train Ella. After pooping on my mom's nicest landscaping rock and peeing through 4 swimsuits we decided she probably wasn't ready. I'm happy to report though that the last couple of days she has done great!

They are at such a fun (naughty) stage right now and I am trying to enjoy each moment with them because they are getting too big!

Reunion 2011

Of course I didn't get very many pictures.... actually these are the only ones I took. We were in charge of the reunion this year so things were a little crazy and I didn't even think of grabbing the camera. We had so much fun with the "wheeler" and the kids LOVED riding it all around. Whenever Ella would start to get cranky we would take her for a ride and she would be out in a matter of minutes. By the time we headed home we were all FILTHY, sunburned, tired and a tad bit cranky but we love spending time with our family and love getting to see everyone each year. It is always a lot of preparation and even more work but good memories are always made and it is always tons of fun. This year we stayed 3 nights and both the kids did great and slept like champs even though it was a tad bit freezing cold. They both love doing anything outside so we can't wait until next year!

Why me???

The other morning when I was updating my blog I bribed the children for some quiet time with some treats, milk and a show. I wasn't ten minutes into doing my blog when Ella comes out of the bedroom yelling... MY NOSE, MY NOSE... You guessed it... she thought it would be a good idea to shove one of her cookie treats up her nose. I tried and tried to retrieve it but it was nice and up there. After trying for a few minutes I decided to give up and see if it would come out on its own. Later that afternoon I noticed something soggy hanging out of her nose and it had finally come out on its own. Why me?? And why do my children think shoving food up their noses sounds like a good idea???

Luckily I had my camera sitting right here when she came to tell me and yes the items in the bag are what went up the nose!

Growing TOO fast....

I am far too aware at how fast my little muffins are growing up.... Jacker Man is my little bundle of ALL BOY and he loves playing tricks on people, making people laugh and plain old being a tease. Somewhere deep though he does have a sweet heart and can often be found rubbing my feet or my arms and asking me if I feel okay. It always makes me so happy when he finds his sweet side and shows it to me. The rest of the time he is the little terror as usual but we have grown to love his spunky attitude. He keeps us on our toes at all times! His recent loves are Angry Birds (which he is actually really good at), FIREWORKS, going to the cabin and doing art, (AKA making a mess!)

He comes up with the funniest things and I have to write this one down so I won't forget. We had been at Grandma Rosies for a couple of days and Jack and Grandma were out planting the garden. Jack is a curious boy and talks a LOT.... so grandma Rosie when he would talk had started just saying mmmmhmmmm, hmmm, mmmhmmmm and apparently he noticed. Finally he asked her Grandma? and she said HMMMM and he said "Why when I ask you a question to you just say MMMHMMM or HMMMM? Grandma Nette always says to me "YES, ANGEL!"

Apparently, Grandma Rosie wasn't giving him quite as much of her attention as he desired and he wanted to know why! This made us both laugh!

My little baby girl can often be seen cruising up and down the sidewalk on her bike a hundred miles an hour looking for her "friends." Since when did she get big enough to ride a bike and to have "friends?" Her attitude is growing just as quickly as she is and she can often be heard telling me "NO WAY" when I ask her to do something! I did recently realize where she has gotten this choice phrase from though and it is from her beloved cartoons! She loves to watch TV and after our camping trip she was definitely feeling deprived and was begging to watch a cartoon! My favorite thing about them growing up is hearing them talk to each other and carry on "adult" conversations while strapped in their carseats in the car. They can get quite heated in their conversations but most of the time they will talk to sweet to each other and it's fun to hear what their little minds are thinking about!

I want to try to remember how fun and sweet they are at each stage and try to forget about the little turkeys they can be most of the time! Most days they push all of my buttons and make me lose my cool more than once but I still love the little rascals. Motherhood is SOOO much harder than I thought but it is also very rewarding. Hopefully one day they will look back and only remember the fun good times that we have!

Happy Father's Day

I think my kids may have been lucky enough to snag one of the best Dads in the world...

They LOVE him...

And he sure loves them!

Seriously, I could go on and on about how good of a Father Ryan is to his kids. He LOVES them and treats them so well. Jack and his Dad are like two peas in a pod and love doing anything and everything together. They can often be seen loading up the bike trailer to go fishing at the pond, to play golf in the park or to just take a cruise around the neighborhood. Little Missy is usually just a step or two behind them and Ryan always tries to include her too! They are so lucky to have such a fun, PATIENT, loving Dad and I will forever be thankful to Ryan for being such a good example and provider for our family. WE LOVE YOU DAD!

StayCation 2011

For weeks I had been wanting to just go do something fun with the kids and since it was Father's Day weekend and my Birthday I decided we would not worry about the cost and just go do it! So one day while online I noticed a special that Expedia was having and saw an awesome hotel in Downtown Salt Lake for a great deal so I decided to do it! It was settled... we were going on a StayCation! We didn't tell the kids because I didn't want to hear about when we were going a million times before the actual day so it was going to be a surprise! Well at about 5 am on the day we were going Jack surprised us by waking us up to Diarhea and "Pluking." I was soooo bummed because it was a non-refundable room and I had been so excited to go. We decided to give him a couple of hours and see how he felt. At around noon he was feeling fine and hadn't pluked in a several hours so we decided to just go and play it by ear. Luckily...... although we spent a lot of time in some bathrooms and used several bottles of hand sanitizer we had a great time and our staycation was a success! (And just as I suspected it was something he had eaten because nobody else got sick and it only lasted a few hours that day!)

Poor little guy was literally the king of the throne this day.


We went to the Discovery Museum, played in the fountains, shopped, went to dinner, swam and just enjoyed being together!

Unfortunately my camera died just as we arrived at the fountains but Jack really LOVED running through them and I didn't mind having to go to Gymboree to buy them some dry clothes! It was a win win for both of us!
We had a fantastic time and Ryan and I both decided we are going to do it more often. It wasn't very expensive and we made so many great memories with the kids and they had SO MUCH FUN. We are so lucky to be able to do so many fun things together and enjoy spending time as a family!