My Favorites on Friday

Carter put these fairy wings on Emery the other morning. She didn't know what to think of them. She couldn't figure out why she could see them but couldn't get a hold of them. She eventually just gave up and went on playing. I finally took pity on her and took them off. It's a sad life being the youngest child and what you have to put up with.

Relief from the heat

It's been really hot. Like 110+ degrees hot. My kids have been a little stir crazy- making me really crazy. A couple weeks ago I couldn't stand it anymore. I told them no more TV, computer, and video games.  I ordered them to go put on their swimsuits, slathered them with sunscreen ( carefully this time to avoid burns and striped sun tans), turned on the hose, gave them buckets, cups, and let them go at it. This led to 4 1/2 hours of entertainment.

We have since had many more water fights. I keep thinking they are going to get sick of it, but everytime they are outside for hours. It's been a little piece of heaven.

During the first go round, I let Emery join them in her walker thinking she wouldn't want to crawl around on the cement, but that doesn't bother her at all. She was soaked and loved it. I have since given up trying to contain her and let her just be free.

It's been tempting to follow them outside and throw water on myself. Or just follow Hailey and lay down on the patio and roll around in the puddles. Anything to keep cool.

My Favorites on Friday

These pictures are not neccesarily favorites, but there is a story behind them. I was sick last week with tonsilitis and a ear infection. I have been taking amoxicillin since. For whatever reason, Hailey is fascinated by the pills. Watching me take them, wanting to look at them, asking to hold them. It has made me a little nervous. Hailey cannot have amoxicillin. We found this out the hard way.

( don't worry she really isn't flipping anyone off- but maybe she felt like it)

Last time she had it she ended up looking like this. She wasn't allergic but actually had some kind of auto immune reaction so if she has the medicine again it could be even worse.

The next few days she looked even worse. She was so swollen her fingers looked like sausages.

I have been double checking the child proof cap everytime I take them. Who knew that a pink and blue pill would be so fascinating?

The rest of our vacation

Another one of the highlights from our trip was the Children's Discovery Museum. We hit it on one of the cooler days. My older kids have been to the museum here, but Hailey hadn't been and I don't think she was disappointed.  They had a great time in the room with the blue screen. They loved watching themselves on TV or making themselves disappear. Making floating heads appear on screen was loads of fun.

One of the favorite spots was the little grocery store. We saved that for last because we knew it would be a big hit. Even my older boys loved it. Carter, we discovered, was meant to restock shelves. He had that store so organized and neat when we left. I am going to have put those amazing skills to better use at home.

On our last day in Idaho, we went out the Lucky Peak. It is that same kind of thing as Eagle Island but with a little nicer beach and picnic areas, but we didn't realize, since it was so early in the summer and the water came straight from the bottom of a reservoir, it was freezing cold. My kids were a little upset by that. There was some whining and complaining, but they eventually waded in a little and passed the time playing in the sand.

We had such a good time and my kids are already planning their return trip. My sister and her family were so good to let us stay and fed us so well. My kids think I should be fixing breakfast everyday now. And wonder why we aren't roasting marshmallows in our backyard in the 115 degree weather. I have really missed the cooler weather and especially the nice evenings outside.

We headed back to my parent's house for the rest of the trip and were able to spend Father's day with my dad. After a good BBQ dinner we had creamies for dessert. Emery was not going to be left out on that. My dad offered her a taste and she just took it over.

We have definitely come back to reality and are wishing we could take another vacation.
  Maybe we will just have to eat some more creamies to make ourselves feel better.

I had to throw one last picture on- Kayden got totally sunburned at Lucky Peak, but Hailey ended up with stripes. Maybe I should no longer be trusted with sunscreen.

My Favorites On Friday

Happy Weekend!!!

Let's rewind back to our vacation

About four years ago my sister moved to Idaho, since then my brother has also moved there, and I had not been able to go and visit them. I decided I was going to do it this summer no matter what came up. Corey had to travel and be in and out of town, so unfortunately he wasn't able to go with me, but  I packed up the kids and met up with my sister in Utah, at my parents, and we caravaned back to her house. It was a lot of driving, but my kids were really good and I loved being able to visit my family. We didn't do anything spectacular, but sometimes it's just the change of scenery and the cooler weather that makes all the difference. It was really hard to come back the scorching heat and the reality of normal life, but we sure enjoyed our time away.

To break up the driving, I stopped and stayed with my parents for a couple of days on the way there and on the way home. My kids never complain about stopping to see Grandma and Grandpa. They especially love to play in their backyard, even Emery loved just sitting outside on a blanket watching the kids run around.

This is just one of my favorite pictures from the vacation. My neice and Hailey stretching their legs on one of our pitstops on the drive to Idaho.

Because we went so early in the summer, the weather was still a little unpredictable. We knew there would be some cooler days, so the days that were warm and sunny, we made sure to get out and enjoy it. The first day in Idaho, we went to Eagle Island State Park. My kids loved it. I mean really loved it- like after being there for many hours they still didn't want to leave kind of love. The weather was perfect and they were in their absolute heaven.

We also tried to take advantage of the neighborhood pool. Although we didn't use it enough and are really wishing we had a neighborhood pool of our own.

Another one of the highlights from our trip was eating at this little place

It's a famous local place. (If anyone watches the Travel Channel, Man vs food visited and it's famous for it). We loved it. They even had little comment cards to fill out. Carter wrote a whole thing about it being the best place he had ever eaten and wished he could have it shipped to him. Well a couple days ago he actually got a letter from them telling him how much they enjoyed his comments and gave him the info to have their pizza shipped to him. Although I don't think I will be paying for that anytime soon, he will have to just wait until the next visit.

(Stay tuned for more. Remember I did take a lot of pictures, so I don't want to overwhelm anyone. I figured I better break it up a little.)

My favorites on Friday

Just because I know other mothers can appreciate these...

I know I am not the only one who deals with this at 5:00 when you step into the kitchen to cook dinner.

It's also always nice when you get your kids to help out around the house, but sometimes it's just not always the kind of help you really wanted

Happy 4th ( and 5th) of July

We decided to celebrate the 4th with Corey's family. We left after church on Sunday and made it just in time for dinner and some fireworks. Everyone was excited for the fireworks except Emery, who was not such a fan at all and just wanted to go to bed.

The next day we didn't do a lot that morning. Part of the reason we went to celebrate with Corey's family, was that we thought there was a parade. Our memory is getting really bad because we realized that it's only on the 24th of July there. OOPS!! The kids didn't care too much though because they really just enjoy spending time with their cousins. We made it up to them by taking a walk to the snowcone shack. I, of course, forced them to take pictures along the way.

The best part about a snowcone is seeing what color it makes your tongue.

We ended the day with a cookout at Uncle Ross's family ranch. The boys ran around like crazy. They hiked, shot their BB guns, chased lizards, played frisbee and were completely covered in dirt. The girls played hard too and everybody was worn out.

Everybody had such a good time and it was great to visit with family. Poor Hailey was so tired, she woke up for just a minute to get into the house and barely made it to the stairs before she was out again.

Now I guess we have to go back for the 24th to catch the parade and our celebration will be complete!