BEST. DATE. NIGHT. EVER!!!

What a morning.

It is nice and cool outside after a night-time rain, Trevor is playing quietly (until I typed that line and now he is yelling at me - sheesh!), the big kids are either still sleeping (it's 8 am) or playing on their iPads (since they don't get them during the week, I let them play on them Saturday morning), Kurt is at an appointment, we don't have to be to a soccer field until 9:30 . . .

Ahhh, I am just enjoying the morning and I thought, hey, I should blog! So here I am.

I have so much to catch up on but I thought I would start with the funnest date night that we have had in a long time. 

Last night we went out to dinner with 5 other couples. We had a nice, grown up, adult dinner and then we went and let our wild sides out with a little laser tag! OH MY GOSH - SO MUCH FUN!

First we had a little (ok, a lot) of trouble understanding the different games/plans/packages and couldn't figure out what we were doing. The teenagers that worked there thought we were crazy, I am sure, but once we got past paying for the games, we were ready to go!

Now they "randomly" make the teams but we found it "odd" that the couples were all split up. Not a single husband was on the same team as their wife. Hmmm . . . how "random" is that?

Anyways, the red team was: me, Amanda, Marty, Doug, Debbie and Jenna.

The blue team was: Kurt, Erik, Lorraine, Rebecca, Debbie's husband (yikes, I can't remember his name  - so sorry!) and Jared.

Now you might notice that the teams were not evenly male and female. (Oh ya, there were 2 teenage boys that were playing in our game too, poor kids.) The red team had 4 girls, 3 boys and the blue team had 2 girls, 5 boys. One would naturally think that the team that was mostly boys might cream the team that was mostly girls but oh no, the girls threw down! The red team totally dominated it! GIRL POWER! Also, it might have had something to do with the fact that Marty loves to hunt, knew the secret to scoring lots of points and had played there before but those are just minor details, right? GO GIRLS! =-)

We played 2 sessions. This is where we got all confused about the games and playing so let me explain so you don't look like goobers like us trying to figure it out. Each session is made up of 4 quarters (I don't remember how long each quarter is) and there is a little break for a "half time." In the first session, the red team completely dominated and creamed the blue team and won all 4 quarters and therefore the session.

Now being the old fogeys that we are that don't get out of our houses much, we didn't know we had paid for 2 sessions so we came out of the first session hot, tired, exhausted, sweaty and totally exhilarated and were told that we got to do it all over again! Woo Hoo!

Unfortunately, 2 couples (plus the teenage boys) had to go so it left just 4 couples to play and since the spouses had all been separated, it left the teams 4 and 4 with 2 girls and 2 boys on each team. Let the battle begin!

Once again, the red team beat the blue team for the first 2 quarters and we were thinking it would be a shut-out but something happened at "half time" and the blue team came back out fighting. Erik (blue team) found a great spot that he could protect his sensors so the red team couldn't shoot him and he could hit our "base." Blue team kicked butt for the last 2 quarters - way to go blue team! So we called the last session a tie.

Holy cow - can I just say how much fun it was. It was a BLAST! I think what made it extra fun was that we were the only ones in there so we knew everybody. That makes it extra fun!

Here is {part of} our laser tag posse:

 Erik, Amanda, Me, Kurt, Lorraine, Marty, Rebecca and Doug

One more time - SO MUCH FUN! I think we may all be addicted - already planning our next battle! You should come join us!

A Little Weekend Home Improvement Project

When we moved into our house, the fireplace just had one 12" x 12" tile on each side all the way around. A few years after we moved in, we built a mantel and tv cabinet along that wall. The wood work covered some of the tiles but left most exposed. I have always thought it looked a little funny because you could see some but not all of the tiles. Whatever, we lived with it.

A couple of months ago, Kurt brought home a stone sample that he had been showing to a client for an outdoor BBQ. We both really liked it and thought we should put it around the fireplace but that was as far as we got. The sample then sat in the office on the floor for months collecting dust and dog hair.

When T broke the fireplace glass awhile ago we thought "hey, we should put that stone on now that it is all taken apart." But it didn't happen then either.

Then about 2 weeks ago Kurt was down in Sac near the stone place and called me and said "are you serious about that stone?"

"Yep," I replied.

So he picked it up on his way home. That weekend we FINALLY got to working on it!

Here are the before pics:

And here are the afters:

We are very happy with the way that it turned out. 

Yeah for a completed project!

(Because you know - sometimes these projects can drag on and on).

Hey, Remember Us?

Holy Moly, life has been crazy. 

I am not sure what else to say.

Life has just been absolutely crazy.

I feel like I just bounce from one thing to the next without even having a chance to look up or catch my breath. Whew!

My grandma passed away Aug. 7th. It was hard to say goodbye but she is in a much better place now. She was 93 years old and was sick with cancer and was ready to go.

School started. Wow. Kind of a shock to our system this year. We are all having a hard time adjusting to the homework and the schedule but it is gradually getting better. 

It didn't help that we got a bad flu bug the first week of school. I had it the worst. I am not going to lie, it was horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. It got all 6 of us but the boys, BY FAR, had it the best. They didn't throw up at all (well, T did have one tiny incident, but that was all). Me and the girls were sick a lot. Did I mention it was horrible?

Soccer started. Kayla and Evan both signed up again this year so we had practice on Monday (Kayla), Tuesday (Evan), Wednesday (Kayla) and Friday (Evan). Then some friends of ours called and they were short a few players on their team and asked if Hailey wanted to join. She said yes and guess when their practices were - Monday's and Thursdays. So now we have practice every. single. night. of. the. week. How dinner and homework are suppose to get done, I have no idea.

So, soccer, school and the flu all hit us at the same time. No wonder we are going nuts. Crazy. Just crazy.

Anyways, here's what's been going on around here the last month or so. And these are totally out of order but I didn't have the time, or the energy, to put them in the right order. Sorry.

Mid July - Trevor got a marker out of the cabinet and marked on the cupboard door. I asked him to go get a wipe and clean it up. He promptly obeyed . . . by licking it clean - but notice, he does have the wipe!

Good times with big sissies!

End of July - This wasn't so fun. Somehow that little boy threw a glass stone thing at the fireplace hard enough with his LEFT hand to break the glass. We lived for several weeks with the glass missing but it is all fixed now thanks to my handy hubby.

Beginning of August - One of the activities Kurt did with the young men from our ward was to build cardboard boats. They had so much fun that he decided to build them with our kids too.

Kurt found all these HUGE boxes and brought them home and they lived in our family room for a few weeks until he actually had time to build the boats. They were castles, forts, houses, schools and hours and hours of entertainment for the kids. They just weren't the best decorating items we have ever had.

And of course, I don't have the finished product pictures because those are on Kurt's phone. Maybe one day I will get those and get them on here. We took them to the lake and the kids set sail. The kids had a BLAST and the boats actually worked. It was a lot of fun!

Late July - Trevor discovered the joy of playing dress up.

Now we frequently have a lion or spider man running around here. (Luckily all the girls princess dress ups were passed down long ago or he may have suffered the same fate as Evan. . .)

Last week - T got a hair cut. Oh how it hurts me to cut off the curls! But his hair was getting to be clown crazy all the time so it was time for a trim.

He is adorable now too but I miss the curls.

August 13 - I have been a bad, bad mommy in regards to birthday parties. Just don't get them organized and pulled off lately. Kayla wanted to have a get together for her friends before school started and so we decided to have a pool party at Papa's house. Hailey invited a few friends and Kayla invited a few friends and a party broke out!

I let the girls pick their decorations. They did a good job!

Hailey and her friends.

Kayla and her friends.

August 8 - 11 We went to San Diego for a White family reunion. Long drive. Long, long, long drive. It took us 13 hours to get down there thanks to hitting LA at 3:30ish in the afternoon. Driving all day + hitting traffic at the end of the trip = long trip. But we made it and had a great time.

Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo. Beautiful! These . . . uh, gorillas? or monkey things (ya, not coming up with the right word so on we go) were right at the glass. It was pretty cool to see them so close.

Ah! Orangutans! That's what they were! I knew it would come to me!

This bear was really active. That was fun to see!

He was walking all around and sniffing the air and pacing back and forth.

He even got up on this tree limb that stuck up in the air and that was really cool. To bad I wasn't fast enough with the camera!

The kiddo's riding a lion. Hailey is still at that age where she bounces back and forth between being one of the kids and being too mature for things. Apparently she isn't too mature for jumping on the back of a lion with all the kids!

And here is Margo. She got to ride this super cool scooter around and Hailey and Evan just would not stay off of it. Margo was such a trooper! Margo's family had just moved into their new house the previous week, she had surgery on her foot and here she was hosting a family reunion and cruising all over the zoo. 

Trevor learned to trust his floaties while in San Diego. Since he broke his arm this summer, he hasn't had much water time and despite the fact that he is a total dare devil, pools are the one place he is scared and he does not want to leave the step. Kayla and him ended up being the only ones in the pool one afternoon and she got him to trust her to leave the step and eventually for her to let go of him. 

Now? He is a total maniac in the pool and swims all over. Guess he conquered that fear.

July 24 - Ah, yes. So when T broke his arm and I took him to his primary, the dr. said 4-6 weeks with a cast. When I took him to get the cast, that dr. said 3 weeks. I questioned the difference in durations and the cast dr. said "ok, we'll do 4 weeks." Urgh! I was just asking and if 3 would do it, lets do 3 but he scheduled the removal date for 4 weeks out.

Well at 3 weeks exactly I thought he was getting a sore under the cast and wanted the dr. to look at it. I took him in and since he was at the 3 week mark they x-rayed him and deemed him healed enough to take the cast off! YES! I was so happy. Casts are no fun and it was really cramping our summer plans so I was beyond thrilled to get that stinkin' (literally) cast off.

He did so good and laid so still!

Man as soon as that cast was off his arm went straight and he just laid there with his arm straight in the air for a long time. It was so funny. It was like he was shocked that it could straighten. It had to have felt sooooooo good!

And boy was he one happy boy when he got home. The dr. said it usually takes a few days for them to adjust back to being able to use their arm again. Nope, not T. He was right back on his bike.

And we even let him do the dishes that night. Finally he got to play in water again.

Life is good!

So that is a little snippet of what's been going on around here. Next Saturday (the 7th) soccer games start. 3 kids with 3 different soccer games at 3 different locations but usually all at about the exact same time. Uh, funny how that works. Looks like our Saturday's are going to be just as crazy as the rest of the week. I guess we better get ready to HANG ON!

Fun with Cousins

We had the wonderful pleasure of having Kurt's cousin, Roger, and his family come stay with us. We were so excited when they called and asked if they could come visit us - we couldn't wait for the time to come for them to get here.

They arrived Wednesday, July 3rd, the day after I spent running Trevor around getting x-rays and getting his cast on. Since I unexpectedly spent that day running around, I wasn't as ready as I wanted to be when they got here but some things just can't be helped. Luckily it wasn't a big deal.

They arrived at the end of a major heat wave we were having here. The day they arrived it was 110. They live in Washington state where, I think, they said their high is normal around 80. Welcome to California! Hot, sweaty California! 

Thursday

We went to a church breakfast at a park. The kids got to decorate their scooters or bikes for a kid parade. Unfortunately, humidity was added to the heat that morning. It was quite uncomfortable, bearable but uncomfortable. They asked if our weather was always like that. No, definitely not. 

Little T folding his arms for prayer.

Such a sweet boy!

This is Charlotte. She is Roger and Veronique's youngest at 4. Isn't she a cutie?

Getting ready for the parade.

After the breakfast we went home and collapsed in the air conditioned house and relaxed for a little bit. Then the Mickelsen's invited us over to go swimming and we couldn't resist. Then it seems like we did something after that but I can't remember so . . . on to Friday!

Friday

We had planned on going on the boat but with Trevor's cast I thought that was out but Kurt came up with the idea to get a babysitter to stay with T. Luckily we were able to find one last minute so off to the lake we went.

Roger and Charlotte

We went up the north fork to the 5 mile an hour zone and let the kids play and swim. The water was wonderful! The heat wave had warmed the lake up to a perfect temp. I even got in the water - that is saying something!

This is Jacob.

After we had lunch and enjoyed the water, we got to playing . . .

First we started off with some slow tubing with Evan and Eliza.

Then Roger and Jacob got in the tube and fun really began:

After they were done tubing, Jacob wanted to try knee boarding. He had never tried it before and he got up on his second try. He did a GREAT job! He was like a pro!

Then Veronique water skied. She also did a GREAT job and looked like a pro!

Jacob got to drive heading back in.

Saturday

After spending Thursday and Friday in the sun, we were all wiped out. We couldn't decide what to do on Saturday so we made a list and voted. And then the parents kind of over ruled the results because we didn't have the energy to go to a local water park (i.e. be in the heat and sun all day) or go on a hike (i.e. be in the heat and sun all day). So we decided to go pick blackberries near our house.

There is a creek and we walked down the creek (in the shade and cool water) and picked blackberries.

The kids ended up swimming. They just couldn't resist.

The only way to keep T and his cast out of the water.

Miss Cutie Charlotte

All going for the same clump of blackberries.

Roger and Veronique.

The adults went out on a double date that night while Kayla babysat. We got to have real adult conversations. Amazing!

Sunday

We went to church and then after dinner we decided to take dessert to the Sacramento Temple. It was beautiful. I think it was Sunday (or maybe it was Saturday) that the weather returned to normal. Cool mornings, hot during the day and then wonderful cool evenings. Ahhh! Back to normal.

And T definitely wanted in the water.

Eliza and Hailey

Evan in a tree.

All the kids in the tree.

What cuties. Eliza, Charlotte and T.

Our whole group.

These are random photos from the week:

Evan and Charlotte were little buddies:

Their very own fort!

T tried to convince us he didn't have a broken arm and could do everything he wanted to do (and that the big kids were doing) like riding bikes and scooters.

The boys' fort.

Notice the disco ball? Yes, the baby shape sorter is their disco ball. Take one baby shape sorter, put a flash light inside, hang from your fort and spin it really fast and you have yourself a disco ball!

The girls' fort

Comfy and cozy.

One tired little boy.

Oh, look at that face! So precious!

What a fun week. We really, REALLY wish we were closer to our cousins.  It would be so fun to see them more often. Thank you Roger and Veronique for coming down to visit us. We had a great time and miss you guys!