Brady turns the BIG 40!

I can't believe my husband is 40! That just seems sooo old to me! :) Remember when you were 16 and 30 was old?? Where had the time gone??? Since I threw a big surprise party for him last year, I didn't quite know what to do for him this year. He was going to be out of town on his birthday, so the day before, Mitch and I decorated the yard for him. We waited until he feel asleep on Sunday night, and then out we snuck. It was all Jana's idea, she is so creative, shocking I know! I'll let you look at the pictures, it was pretty funny and yes he kept it up all day! He wouldn't have known it was me, except Mitch and I left the hammer in the yard!!! Needless to say he had a great birthday. I told him if he looks this good at 40, I can't wait to see what he looks like at 50!

Katelyn turns 7!

I can't believe my little girl is seven! Sunday was her birthday and all she wanted was a special dance with her dad! I shouldn't say all, of course she wanted other things, but one special request was a dance that she made up with her dad. She had a little girl party on Mon. and that was when they were to do their dance. As all her little friends got there, she had them all sit down to watch their dance. It was priceless! She has such a cute crush on her daddy. He had to lift her in the air and turn her around and all sorts of stuff. The last of the dance, he dipped her and kissed and all the little girls giggled. We had a flower party and everything was all flowers. We had a great time and the little girls were really cute. I try to be crafty at times and made the little flower pots that were on pioneer woman. They turned out really cute.

Twin Falls Temple

Last weekend we went to Twin Falls to go through the new temple. Our kids were so excited to go to the temple and see all the rooms there. It is so beautiful!! On our way down we explained and talked to them about the temple and what we do there. When we were in the Celestial room, they have you go in and stand there in silence so you can feel the Spirit there. As I put my arms around all of my children I was over come by the Spirit. It testified to me family is what it is all about. How grateful I am that to be sealed to my best friend and have our children sealed to us forever. There were three other ladies with us that were not LDS. They too felt the spirit as we were in the Celestial room. I looked at one of them and she was crying. I wonder how many people will be converted because of these great tours.

After the Temple, we went to see Shoshone Falls. It is about 3 miles from the Temple and we had never seen them. They were very impressive. We had a great time, one weekend I will never forget.

My first "Sprint"

Last Sat. I competed in a sprint triathlon in Emmett Idaho. I was really nervous because for those of you who know me well know that I DO NOT swim. I have been swimming for about 2 months now to train. Swimming is so hard for me, when I am done my heart is pounding and I feel like I can hardly breath. There was four of us who trained together for this fun event! :) I also haven't gotten on a bike for about 10 years, so that was a totally new experience for me too. I got sore in places that I didn't think could ever get sore!! My good friend let me borrow his road bike because I just had a crappy mountain bike. That made a huge difference in my speed. So, we get there early Sat. morning and I can hardly stand it. I had to go to the bathroom 2 times. TMI, I know. So we finally get in the water and wait for the canon to go off. When it went off, I started to swim and was getting kicked, hit every other second. I tried not to panic, but ended up doing the side stroke the whole time. Not thinking I was using my left leg the whole time....The key is to use your legs as little as possible, so you can have energy on the bike! I get on my bike and take off feeling good. That is until about mile 6, then my left leg starts to cramp up. I was soo ticked, I had to peddle a few times and rest, peddle and rest. So finally after what seemed to be forever I made it to the run part. I dumped my bike and took off running. Your legs feel so weird at first, but then they finally felt normal. My goal was to come in under 1 1/2 hours. My time was 1 hour 29 mins. I was soo happy! I thought it would have been a lot longer. On my next one, I can't believe I just said that, I will definitely train a lot more on the bike. It was really fun when it was all said and done. If anyone wants to do the Spud Man in Burly Idaho next Aug. let me know. I think I have Brady talked into it! Julie came and made that cute sign for me and was there to cheer me on! Thanks Jewels!

Anderson Ranch

I know, I know it has been a long time since I updated. I will try to be better! ;) Anywho, we went this last weekend to Anderson Ranch to camp and boat. We went with Jodi and David Jenson and their kids. David and Jodi rented an R.V. so we would have a place to go to the bathroom, ect. Now you have to understand, neither of us are campers, not even close. In fact, I consider camping Holiday Inn. So, it was quite the experience for us.

We left Thurs around noon. It is a two hour drive if nothing goes wrong! We had walky-talkies so we could keep in touch. We are about 30 mins. into the drive and we get a 911 may day. Now, all the kids are in the R.V. with Jodi and David. Mitch rode with Brady and I and we were having a great, quiet time. They had blown a tire and as it ripped off, it his the muffler so the muffler was hanging. Great! Luckily they could still drive on it, so we drove to Mt. Home and stopped at the wal-mart there to get it fixed. Thank heavens they weren't busy and got us right in. We ate lunch and by the time we were done with lunch, the R.V. was ready. So off again we go. Only to make a few wrong turns and have to turn a huge R.V. and boat around! Now that is fun! We finally got to our camping spot around 4:00. It is soo much fun to put up camp in the heat! We finally got it all set up and it was time to start dinner! Ya know, camping was soo much fun when you were the kid, but now that I'm the mom, I have to do everything! Jodi and I cooked taco salad the first night. It was mighty tasty if I do say so meself! Then the boys took the boat out for a ride at dusk, the lake was beautiful. As they were returning, the mosquito's came out in FULL force! Oh my word, I don't remember mosquito's like that! WOW, I think Jaden has 29 bites. WE went through 6 cans of mosquito repellent in 2 days. Will I ever stop itching???

We also celebrated Nate's 5 birthday and had a spiderman pinda and chocolate cupcakes. The kids got enough candy to last them a year. Crew thought he had died and gone to heaven. Too bad for him the squirels came and ate all his candy in the night! ;) He has 6 cavities, but that is another story.

The next day we boated all day and had a great time. We were the only ones on lake and it was so smooth, I have never skied on water like that before. pure glass. We even got Jodi out on the tube!!! Miracles do happen!! The kids had a great time, we had a great time. All the hard work was worth it. The kids even found a salamander with a blue tail. They named him Anderson. go figure.

Thanks Jensons for renting the R.V. and for the memories of smores, star gazing, playing charades, tubing, laughing, kicking Jodi's bootie in uno, ect.... It was one weekend to remember!

Boating season is finally here!

We are soo glad it is finally warm enough to go boating. The first 2 weeks of June were way too cold to even attempt it. We went out on Sat. our kids were soo excited as was Brady. I am still to big of a whimp to get into the water, it is still pretty cold. Mitch and Jaden jumped in first and then Katelyn had to prove that she was just as brave. I laughed soo hard at her face. When she hit the water she couldn't even scream, let alone catch her breath. That is why I will not get in until it warms up a little more. They loved it though, the water was pretty choppy, so they mostly tubed. Even Crew got out on the tube. Brady's new thing is surfing. He loves it. He is getting really good and almost able to let go of the rope and just surf behind the boat. I will try this sometime, it looks really fun and easy.

Been A "Little" busy!

Ok, I know it's been a while since I posted, but my life has been filled with baseball, preschool graduation, baseball, birthdays, sickness, did I say baseball??? I finally have a few moments to myself to post something. I don't know how you all are soo good at posting all the time. Anywho, life has been very busy here. Katelyn was in baseball for the first time and did soo well. She was the only girl on the team. She was awesome! She was a lot better than most of the boys! She loved it! Mitch is still playing, it is the playoffs, so I'll let you know how he does.

We had Crews preschool graduation and a Mothers day tea and luncheon. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast. At his graduation, they showed a video of pictures through out the year. Yes I cried! He has changed so much in a year. He wants to be just like his big brothers. We have a problem with him spraying Mitchells body spray on himself. He says he needs to smell good for the ladies. I wonder were he got that idea?? When he sprays it, he sprays so much of it you want to gag, I don't know how he doesn't get sick smelling it. He is so funny with the things he says. He loves the Hulk, power rangers, superman......ect. His favorite thing to do is wrestle with Mitch and Jaden. On Sundays, that is all they do! It can drive a mother crazy!

We have also been fighting the flu here. Mitch stated with it and ended up with an ear infection. Then Kate got it and still has an ear infection. Then I got it and it has taken me two weeks to recover. I had the body aches for 5 days and now am coughing up a lung every night. I am finally starting to feel better, just in time for Brady to get it! It is a nasty bug and like to hang around. The weather here has been cold! It feels like March, not June!!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer. I am sooo glad school is out! No more getting up early, homework, ect... The boys had a big end of school party on Wedns. I had 13 boys running around, eating me out of house and home, door bell ditching, playing night games, ect. until 11:00. I was pretty wiped out, but the boys had a great time. I am excited to stay up late and sleep in all summer. Our city does Movies every Friday night in the park for free. It is really fun to take your lawn chairs, blankets, popcorn, candy and sit and watch a movie in the dark. I love summer! It always goes by way too fast. I will try you be better at posting more often, have a great weekend!