Sunday, June 23, 2013

No doubt we are having summer fun.  The weather has been beautiful…not too hot and not too cold.  We got a slip and slide and the kids were so excited to try it.  The temperature was in the low sixties but that did not stop them.  They played until the lawn was saturated.  Once they were done with the slip and slide it was off to the sandbox.  Tim built a really neat 6’ x 6’ sandbox.  While it was being built, McCabe was complaining that it was too small; however, 5 kids were happily playing in it the other day.  I need to mention that McCabe was one of those kids.  So needless to say, if I don’t have water on my floors then I have sand.  I have to clean my floors 2 to 3 times a day.

The summer also brings hungry kids.  It seems like my kids are eating more.  Thank goodness fruits are in season.  Every time they ask for food I lead them to the crisper.  There is always an apple or an orange waiting.

I had an amazing experience yesterday.  We went shopping at Costco and while at the bread section I was overcome with excitement and became speechless.  I tried to get Tim’s attention while rounding up the kids.  Immediately I got the kids and walked them over to brother and sister Uchtdorf.  I stopped elder Uchtdorf and said, “I know you are shopping, but it is not everyday this happens.”  Then I introduced my children to an apostle of God and his lovely wife.  They were both so kind.  They asked what names were of our children and then told us we have a beautiful family.  I got to shake each of their hands and the kids gave them a high five.  Of course neither Tim nor myself had our phones so we could not take a picture.  So all we have is the memory.  It was still very exciting and emotional.  Kinda weird….my eyes almost started tearing because I knew the significance of meeting Elder Uchtdorf.  I could not help but think about God and how much I love Him and He loves me.  It was a great shopping trip.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

What a great day. I love Father’s day. We had a great breakfast consisting for egg sandwiches, sausages, hashbrowns, and a smoothie. Then we sang some Father’s day songs to Tim and gave him presents. They were simple presents consisting of homemade peanutbutter stuff, paper ties with family pictures, and then a video recording the kids. On the video, I asked them a variety of questions like, who are your friends? What is your favorite color? How old are you? What do you like about your dad? The answers to the last question was priceless. They unanimously agreed that they like that he builds. In fact, yesterday, Tim spent hours building a sandbox for the kids (it turned out awesome). The kids also said that they like him because he is their dad….what more can be said about that? Tim provides for them, he helps me (his wife), he loves his children, he takes them to fun places like swimming or camping. He is a good man.


At church today, I was in the back of the primary room as the kids were singing. After singing a song about fathers and getting gray hair, McCabe raises his hand and says, “that does not make any sense. My dad is getting white hair not gray.” The adults in the room laughed. I thought that was a precious comment. Just wait until that six-year-old boy becomes a dad. He will understand one day.

Sunday, June 8, 2013

Ready or not, here is summer.  School is out and now it is time to deal with kids all day.  I am planning on a routine that consists of chores and learning during the morning and then the kids can play during the afternoon.  I have the best intentions so we will see how long this lasts.  The kids just want to go camping and swimming and visit their cousins in California.

We do not have any big plans this summer.   The biggest thing we did was have an out of school party.  We had snow cones and popcorn, played games, and watched an outdoor movie.  It was a lot of fun.  There were 17 kids along with some parents.  I want to do it again because it was so awesome.

The change of weather has brought allergies to our house.  Tim and I have a mild case.  Poor Jacinda, she has terrible allergies.  She has to take medicine twice a day along with eye drops.  If she does not take her eye drops her corneas swell with fluid.  It makes me so sad and my eyes start to itch.

Teagan is walking full time now with occasional falls.  Just the other day he fell into the corner of the island and got a nice cut on his forehead.  It was deep but not very wide.  I cleaned the blood and then super glued the cut.  I put a band-aid on his head.  The first two days were great.  Then he discovered the band-aid and now pulls it off.  He is so cute.  He is a big walking tummy.  His gut sticks out further than anything.  It is the first thing that enters when he walks into a room.  Teagan is saying “hi” and waving to everyone.  I love it.  He brings a big smile to my face.

McCabe’s latest adventure was finding a snake in the rock wall.  He and Tim caught it.  They put it in a big trash can, however, an hour later the snake was gone.  As I went to get my sun glasses out of the car, I saw the snake on the ground.  I screamed and the boys tried to catch it again.  It ended up slithering on the belly of our car.  I don’t know where it is now.  Hopefully it fell down while we were driving.

 McCabe has the tendency to say funny things.  While on our way to the rec. center, he kept singing “teenage mutant ninja turtles.”  When he got to the part about a turtle in a half shell, he would replace the word “turtle” with someone’s name and then just start laughing.  Then he would say, “that cracked me.”