DH's storm shots

raining at the Crab Trap
kids catching the rain drops.
We spent a lot of time wet today, just not the kind of wet we expected :)

what do you do when it rains all day?

go to the armament museum
go shopping

go to the movies...

we saw Kung Fu Panda, cute. We went out to eat and looked at missiles and had a good day. Tonight we walked on the beach in the dark.

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to come out :)

Day 2

Today we picked up Dani and Greg at the airport! I am so excited that they will be spending the week with us.
We got home and the weather was lovely so we ate lunch and got everyone sunscreened up and headed down to the beach. We were there 10 minutesish and all of a sudden a huge black cloud came whooshing in and the wind kicked up, umbrella's went flying and the thunder rumbled. Everyone went running for shelter, or I should say all the normal people did. Greg, DH and Em and J stayed. See the black cloud, dark sea and only four people in the ocean. Can you guess who they are?

It rained and stormed for a good half hour, they swam. The rest of us went home. When it cleared up Dani and H headed back and they got to spend a little more time on the beach.

After dinner we made banana's foster for dessert. It was yummy. The crepes didn't turn out as good as normal but I think once we covered it with ice cream and bananas and caramel and chocolate and cool whip you couldn't tell :)

We made it!

We drove all day and hit some traffic but made it last night. Tom and Diana were kind enough to let us crash at their house for the night. The kids were excited to arrive and couldn't wait to hit the beach.
First thing this morning we headed out into the sun. The weather was perfect. When we got to the beach there were purple and orange flags up, meaning dangerous marine life and medium waves. It turned out to be jellies. We braved the water anyway and got a few little stings but nothing too bad and everyone thought it was worth it (for the record I did not get stung). Emma caught one and we put it in a bucket to watch it swim around.

Lu built sandcastles and played in the waves. She loved it.
Brother learned to body surf!

After the beach morning we went and met H and Nana and Abba. We missed her while she was gone, and I think she missed us but she had a pretty good time with her grandparents and was spoiled rotten :)

We got to our beach house, which is beautiful! and then Nana and I headed out to Wal mart for supplies, which was crazy busy.

Abba and DH took the littles swimming and Em and J went to the beach where they saw a shark in the water and instead of choosing to get out they followed it!

After dinner we played Killer Bunnies with Diana and Jess and Em. Emma won!

Day one was a success. Jellies, sharks and bunnies all in one day :)

(also some Wii time)

you know you're from TX when

you consider a 12 hour drive a short day's trip! We're off!

Tagged

I've Been Tagged
by my real life friend Robin:)

Whats his name? That's a secret, but for here I call him DH

How long have you been together? 10 years 5 months

How long did you date? We dated for a couple months then got engaged. We were engaged for 4 months. We still date every week.

How old is he? 38

Who eats more? Umm, I think him but he burns it up way better than me. Maybe me, I am kind of fluffy...I don't know.

Who said I love you first? I don't remember, probably him.

Who is taller? Him, by a foot.

Who sings better? Him

Who is smarter? I would have to say him. He's real smart. I am "smarter" in some things but mostly it's him.

Who does he laundry? Me

Who pays the bills? He does. I always did before we got together but he has a lot of complicated things he likes to do. And that's fine.

Who sleeps on the right side? Me

Who mows the lawn? He does. I don't really like yard work and he loves it. I think he'd like more help, especially with this huge old yard we have but mostly he does it himself.

Who cooks dinner? Me. From time to time he will man the grill. After I buy the meat, prepare the meat and hand him a plate :)

Who drives? Mostly him, although I like to.

Who is more stubborn? Sadly we are both kind of stubborn, in different ways. If I had to pick a winner I'd say him.

Who kissed who first? Him, that one I remember :)

Who proposed? Him.We were at his baptism and it was over. We were standing around visiting with friends and family when he said "I need to talk to you" and took me down the hall way. I was thinking "oh no! it's been 5 minutes and he's already having second thoughts...what should I say??" Then he got down on one knee and pulled out a box with a ring and proposed. I was shocked but said yes and here we are.

Who has more friends? It's probably a tie. He is really social and loves to be with people. I have so many kids and a friendly husband and responsibilities at church and with school and ....that I end up with friends. He's probably more social than I am though. I don't mind being quietly alone.

Who is more sensitive? Him

Who has more sibling? Me. I have 4 sisters and 2 bothers. He's an only.

Who wears the pants? He does.

I tag Maggie, (I'd like to hear more about her life, not just the books she reads :) ), Chel and Angela.

our six year old

the dog

The Party

E had a great party. We had six guys over (for being 6 years old). They spent the first hour swimming. We had four lifeguards, which was good. Poor Mitchell couldn't swim, he has swimmers ear, but he splashed around on the steps and had on okay time.
After swimming we went inside and had dinner. We made wiener dogs, that turned out cute. They had chips and grapes and capri suns.
Then we opened gifts. Bub loved it all, he's an easy to please little guy, which is so nice. Nikko made him a cute shirt with a number 6 on it :) and he got webkinz, and star wars legos and a cool panda weapon and heely's. It was a pretty great birthday.

He hugged each person thank you as he opened. Here he is with his twin "C".
They decorated goodie bags and then headed out to the porch to do the pinata.

After they grabbed their loot we had cake and sherbet.

And concluded with a water gun/ water bomb fight outside.

R2D2 Cake

Never worked with fondant before. It was a little tricky & a work out to roll but I think he turned out okay. I only allocated 37 minutes to decorate him (used an hour...could have used more) and now that I know what it's like I would have done it yesterday and given myself several hours. I think E will like it though and I am looking forward to trying something else.

book reviews

Just finished my last southern author challenge book. Both my summer challenges are done. I enjoyed both sets of reading. I am actually finishing another non fiction, John Adams, that I am loving.
The Sugar Queen was good. It took me a lot longer to read and to get into than Garden Spells, although I liked it the whole time. Without giving anything away: it's the story of a young woman who has a very controlling mother. She wakes up one day to find a woman in her closet. A woman she knows but not really well. Della Lee, in the closet, won't leave and inserts herself into Josey's life. Frankly Josey can use the help. With Della Lee's guidance Josey is able to stand up for herself, find love, and a life separate from her mother. They have a friend named Chloe who has books magically appear in her life. The three women's lives are intertwined in ways that they didn't even know and it's a fun story of how they find peace, resolve problems and in some cases find love.
There was also a surprise twist at the end that I did NOT see coming until about 5 pages before. Until that point I didn't even have an inkling...which was fun.

Brother and I read this out loud together. It was so fun. He loved it and we cracked up together at the funny parts and worried about little Toothless, Hiccup's dragon. It was a great book. We even made up viking names for our "imaginary" dragons. His was Dragonfyre, mine, for his dragon, was Princess Fairy Knickers. Insults were a huge part of the book and the teasing was in fun.

Now we are starting FableHaven and we have high hopes for another good adventure!

Happy Birthday Brother!!

(starting the day with some breakfast in
bed :) )

Now We Are Six

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

When I was Three

I was hardly me.

When I was Four,

I was not much more.

When I was Five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six,

I'm as clever as clever,

So I think I'll be six

now for ever and ever.

A.A.Milne

this and that and some knights in tights

Tonight we are going to see Spamalot. DH is very excited. He and his dad, and the rest of the males in the U.S. LOVE this silliness. I think it will be fun. We're going with Rob and Tori and will have a nice evening. To tell the truth it's been so crazy busy lately that I haven't given it much thought but now that we are here at the moment I am glad to be going.

E went with his friend Blaine to Blaine's sister's birthday party at the Incredible Pizza Co. today. They had a fabulous time, riding bumper boats, playing golf and games and eating pizza.

H is safely in Ohio. She almost missed her flight yesterday but thankfully made it and has been enjoying some one on one time with Nana and Abba. She lost a tooth yesterday and the tooth fairy showed up (on the first night! ~she's quick in Ohio) and left her $5~ cha ching. I think they are going to a baseball game tonight. They've been swimming and shopping and had dinner with cousin Michael and Great Grandpa Tom.

J had a big day yesterday. She finally got a cell phone. She's been wishing and waiting and wanting and begging for literally years. Our policy has been when you turn sixteen you need one but she convincingly persuaded us to get one a few months early. I am glad, I like being able to get a hold of the kids when I want to.

We made homemade bananas foster last night for FHE treat. They were Yumm-O!

I am tired. FYI

Swimming: day one

Swimming day one. We have seen this before. Once they figure out how to put their head down and kick it's only a matter of time before they are official fish!

cake

Random wedding pics.

for S, some more photos of Andrea and Diogo

2am ~what are you doing?

we are making frosting, blogging, laughing.....I only have 47 hours here and I don't want to waste a minute.

one more

because apparently we are not sleeping tonight.

family dinner

Sisters
My cute girl, I'm happy to spend the weekend with her:)

Happy Anniversary

43 years today. Congratulations!!!
One day, starting tomorrow...hopefully 43 more and then more and more for eternity!!!

I'm off. Wish me safe skies! I am excited to see my sisters and brother, I wish Alec would be there too :( and DH. It'll be a nice weekend.

H is spending the day at NRH2O with her friend Olivia. I hope they have a great, safe day.

E and G are going to play at Nikkos for a few hours, thanks!

Hope DH survives with the kiddos for the weekend, I washed all the laundry and folded it and put it away, and stocked the fridge with easy to cook stapes like fish sticks and yogurt.

On the way home I have only half an hour to make my connection and I am crossing my fingers that I will make it because a) who wants to be stuck in the Denver airport over night. and b) H has an early morning flight to Ohio on Monday and I don't know how we would do that. Maybe I can switch to an earlier flight?

Off to make some pancakes and kiss the babies good-bye then to Utah.

and thank you Robin for the ride to the airport! You are awesome :)

how many does it take to change a lightbulb?

In our family it takes 6 people to change a light bulb.
In our stairway we have a light. It is above the door kind of high up and impossible to reach without a ladder. It's been burned out for a while, mostly because we weren't sure how to get up there and change it.
Two nights ago DH began to recruit kids to stand on his shoulders and try and reach it.
Brother went first, too short.
H went next, too scared.
S was third, couldn't balance.
Lu volunteered but of course she is too little.
At that point we were out of kids so we abandoned the effort.

Last night we tried again. J was home.
We had to convince her but eventually she hopped up on DH's shoulders. He stood on the third step from the bottom and leaned forward, she balanced on his shoulders, held the wall to stable herself and reached into the light fixture. It took four tries and S and H standing above her on the steps to catch and me and brother on the bottom to cheer and break her fall should she need it, and then, viola, we had light!!!

the blessing of friends

We are so very lucky to have good friends. They brighten our days and make our burdens lighter.
The past few days we've had several chances to get together and "play" with friends.
Last Friday morning we went to swim with several other families. After E and H were invited to go play with Karlee and Mason. They had a blast and DH and I were able to run errands with just one kid in tow :)
Saturday our whole family went to play Killer Bunnies at Heather and Brian's. The kids LOVE our tournament nights and playing with their friends.
Monday night the Blacks and the Ballards came over to swim and eat Caroline's yumm-o chocolate cake and ice cream! We discussed Venturing stuff for next year, sat outside and watched the kids swim and every one had fun.
Last night I had 19 women over to make file folder games. Everyone chatted and laughed and colored. At 10pm when the last of our friends headed out the door we gathered around the table and talked about how fun it is to have friends over. The kids ran around and we have movies going in two rooms, toys everywhere and Popsicles on the porch. Are they coming back next week E asked?
Today we went to visit my sweet friend Donna. She had chilled glass ready to give the kids a drink and sent them home with "jam to eat with scones." Which we are now making. This afternoon H will meet with her activity day friends and make pillow cases, and E will have a boy over to play while the girls are gone.

Oops, I almost forgot S went to spend the night with her friend Cheryl on Monday and J and Emma sleep over. Last night J went to Sofia's.

Friends make life sweeter!

all the time in the world

One of the most lovely things about summer, and being a stay at home mom, is having the luxury of time. We have all the time in the world to be.
This morning we got up around 7 (can I hear a whoot whoot for sleeping in!) and slowly got going on the day. I made waffles. Lu wanted i tream on hers. After a moments thought I decided it's no worse than syrup, come on how nutritious is that? and ice cream is a dairy product so I dished a little scoop of orange sherbet on top of hers and she was thrilled. Then we did chores, got some rooms cleaned up and some laundry done. We hunted down library books and after lunch headed down town where we enjoyed walking over to the library from the parking garage and where brother so kindly held open the door to Quiznos for two ladies who then proceeded to make the biggest fuss over what a good man he was and how sweet and thoughtful.
Once at the library we went to the kids section and found books, made puzzles, sat quietly and not so quietly. We had time for the kids to put on several puppet shows. Time enough for them to tire of it. I could have sat there forever watching the dragons and the dinosaurs beat each other up (bub's play) or the horse and the girl sing a song (Lu's). When we had finally had our fill, and watched the fish in the tank and got several drinks and stopped by the kid size potty (it's the small stuff that's the most fun right?!) we checked out and walked out of the library into the blazing TX afternoon only to behold a most amazing sight. A crane working right across the street was lowering down to pick something up. Right before our very eyes. I know, you wish you were there. We had to stop, and sit, and watch the crane come down and hook up to a pile of brinks. It then raised the brinks up 15 stories and moved them onto a platform where a very cool construction worked was waiting. We had time to watch the whole thing. In the heat, and the sun. When that amazing feat was over we walked back to the garage. Decided who got to push the buttons on the outside and on the inside of the elevator. Rode up. Found our car, buckled up and headed straight to McD for ice cream cones.

It was a great outing and I would not trade that time for anything.

April 05

random picture of H and Lu (per Lu's request)

Happy Father's Day

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad and I. Here's the fun thing of having your own blog, you can put whatever you want on it :) In honor of father's day I thought I'd just list 5 qualities that I admire about the father's in my life. First my dad, Papa.

1. He's spiritual and Christlike
2. He is well learned and likes to study all kinds of things.
3. He is always working and serving others.
4. He is patient.
5. He is fun to talk to and has a ready and easy laugh.

Next my father in law, Abba. Again a random picture I just happen to like. This was at Christmas time and we were having dinner at Grandpa and Grandma B's.

1. He is smart and hardworking.
2. He is fun to be with and up to trying anything whether it's spending the day tubing in snow, sweating in an amusement park, or any other outing his grandchildren come up with.
3. He is patient.
4. He wise in matters of finance and can fix computers from a million miles away :)
5. He is tolerant and loving.
   

Thirdly, DH, or daddy.

1. He works hard.
2. He loves to spend time with the kids.
3. He is smart.
4. He is compassionate.
5. He always tries to do what is right.

Happy Father's Day! I love you and am grateful to have you in my life and the lives of my children.

They're Back!!!!

Two Friday nights (the 6th) ago we dropped J at Emma's house. They left on Saturday morning with their crew to go to a Colorado High Adventure Scout Camp. This afternoon they came back smelling bad, smiling big and thrilled with their experience.
After a much needed shower she shared with us stories of freezing nights, being thrown into the drink on their first day rafting, climbing, bouldering, repelling, sitting around the camp fire eating smores, raising the flag in the morning, singing songs at night, hiking, keeping food put up to avoid bears, flirting with the boys (they were the only girl crew there), sleeping in a museum on the trip home, glacier water showers, and FUN FUN FUN! She showed off her bumps and cuts and bruises and informed us she might want to major in outdoor recreation in college :)

I missed her and am glad she's back. She wishes she was still there. I guess that's the sign of a really good trip :)