101 Degrees

Toys R Us only had one slip n' slide left. Spider Man. I got it for $10 and it has entertained the kids for 2 days straight. They filled up the little blow up pool with water instead of air in the chambers. Then put the end of the slip and slide into the pool and VOILA! Hours of fun. (I should have taken the pictures from another angle in order to get their expressions, but I was taking the pictures from the upstairs bedroom.)

Random Pictures from Sunriver

Little Guy a little uncertain about getting in the water

Reed relaxing in the Pool



JJ and Ally playing their own version of checkers with the Pirates of the Caribbean

Dad enjoying the shade

Madeline, Haylee, and Montana hanging out drinking pop and watching a movie

4th of July Fingernails

The girl cousins wanted me to paint their fingernails for the 4th of July. They each got a different design using red, white, and blue. They LOVED it. Too bad it all came off in the pool!

A House of Order: The Dawning of a New Day

OK, so I'm not the world's greatest housekeeper. I admit it. But adding a 2 year old to my already not-so-organized household has been a real challenge. So I've started yet another chart to help with the chaos. It's sort of a take off of "Sidetracked Home Executives", a book written about 25 years ago which gives examples of all the household chores and how often they should be done.

We all have daily, weekly, and monthly chores. Of course, I have the most BY FAR. But it gives the kids a visual for how much a Mom really does every day. And if they want to go somewhere fun during the summer, they will get to go a lot faster if they help Mom out with all her chores.

Today was the maiden voyage of my chart. Things went fairly smoothly. Even Reed (Mr. "I'm NOT going to clean my bathroom....that's gross!") got his room AND bathroom cleaned. Although somehow he managed to get JJ to mop his bathroom floor for him?!?

Montana, of all people, was the first one done with her "dailys" and was on to her "weeklys" and also asking to help Mom with her chores. What a difference.

Not sure how long it will continue to be new and exciting, but I'll take what I can get out of it.

Why We Love Our Dad

Katelyn, age 6:

I love my dad because he lets me read to him. I love him because he tucks me into bed at night. I love my dad because he takes me fishing. He took me and Jessi to see "Farmer Astronaut" and he took us to Carl's Junior to get dinner and he let us stay up past our bedtime because the movie was really, really long. It was the longest movie I've ever seen. I love my dad because he lets me draw him pictures. And he likes it when I write him stories.

Jessica, age 8:

I love my dad because he is always so nice and kind. I love my dad because he likes taking me fishing. He always likes to do fun stuff with me like taking me to the movie theater. My dad is special because he always likes us to be healthy and eat healthy foods. My dad is really good at cooking stuff on the barbeque, like chicken and hamburgers and hot dogs and steak. My favorite is hamburgers. My dad always tries to be funny and weird. My dad's favorite T.V. show is BYU-TV.

Jacob, age 13

I love my dad because he likes spending time with me. We have fun together. We like to hang out and watch movies. He can always beat me in one-on-one basketball, but only by one basket. He's cool. He's rad. He is MY DAD.

Basketball Jones,The Historian,The Graduate,and Little Guy

Little Guy

Montana marching in to Graduate from Kindergarten

Trying not to smile because this is serious business

JJ sharing her family history book at the Mother/Daughter Luncheon

Jacob insisted on shooting a few hoops on the way home

Last Minute Camping

Hank woke up Friday morning and said, "Hey do you want to take the kids to the Hot Springs?" Sounded like fun, so I checked into it and found out that they have a lodge there with rooms to rent and they also have cabins. They were all sold out for that night, but they had a few campsites left. CAMPSITES??? Me, sleep on the floor of a tent? Princess and the Pea hasn't done that for many years. For some reason, I felt up to the adventure. So we (me, actually) spent the day getting packed up and preparing foil dinners and baking cookies. My grandmother taught me you can never go camping without homebaked cookies. Hank came home from work about 4:30 pm and we were on the road by 5:30 pm.


This is the footbridge that goes across the River. Our campsite was on the other side, so we had to pack all of our stuff into these big huge carts and walk it all over the river and through the woods.

Hank got the tents up and the fire started. I took the kids to the Hot Springs pool. (Hmmm. That doesn't sound very fair, does it?) I think Hank was secretly glad to have all of us out of his hair for a little while.

Cute little campers excited about sleeping in the tent

Too cool for school

Pancakes and fruit for breakfast

Posing for one last picture before going home

Korean Fan Dance

JJ was chosen to participate in the Korean Fan Dance as part of the culture day at school. She practiced every Wednesday after school for about 2 months. She really enjoyed it and loved wearing the Korean dress and makeup.

Memorial Day at the Beach

It was a sunny, windy, fun-filled day (hour) at the Beach. We didn't stay too long, since Reed wasn't with us. He was back at the cabin, bemoaning the fact that we actually left him as oppposed to waiting for him to shower. SHOWER? Before going to the beach? What is the point? But being the headstrong teenager that he is, he wouldn't come with us until he had a chance to shower. And we weren't waiting. You know when you have a spur of the moment idea and you just want to GO?

So we went. We flew a big colorful kite, played in the sand, climbed on driftwood, and walked out to the water. Christian wasn't too impressed with the ocean, but he LOVED running the sand between his fingers.

Angel Boy

I took Little Guy for a visit at DHS with his Mom and Grandma today, like every Wednesday. It seems to get harder for me each time. I get more possessive. They think he's their baby (he IS their baby!) but he sure seems like mine. He lives with me. I'm his primary caregiver. I'm the one who feeds him, bathes him, plays with him, teaches him, LOVES him 24/7. He's been with us only about 6 weeks now, but it seems like 6 months.

He came back after an hour with them and smelled like his Grandma. It's a nice smell, but it's not HIS smell. It's not MY smell. I want to wash it off.