Our 4th of July

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We decided that since Thomas had the 4th off we would go camping! Our family loves to go to South Fork because there is a river that is deep enough to go tubing, but shallow enough for my kids to stand up and its not deep. We love it there, and try to go as much as we can in the summer. Here are the kids at the camping spot.We were all packed up and ready to go! We get in the van and take off. Just a short stop to get ice, drop off some movies, drop off some library books, get some gas, lighter fluid and paper. *side note, that was not "short". We then can not find anywhere that has Ice. Yeah. No. Ice. Ok, finally find it. Run around for about 45 minutes. It then clicks that I forgot to pack the firewood. We go home to grab it. Then were off again (hour later!)

We get to the campsite and set up. We blow up the tubes and went down the river. There is a spot at the river that is super shallow and we played there just about all day.

(Isn't she beautiful!?)

So, Kaden is holding a snake there. I had gone to the bathroom and on the way there, I saw this snake. The whole time I was chasing it down, I was thinking...WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING?? WHY AM I TRYING TO CATCH A SNAKE!?!? So, I grab it. (AHHH) I bring it back to camp, where I was awarded MOTHER OF THE YEAR by Kaden. Thomas comes over, looks at it and says, Um, That looks like a baby rattle snake. HELLO!?!? We debated over it the whole weekend. When we got home, we googled baby rattle snakes. I am happy to report, IT WAS A GARDNER SNAKE! But, you won't see me trying to win mother of the year again anytime soon! (Don't need to until next year anyway, right?)

We take our dogs with us when we go camping. Not because we are attached dog lovers (I actually don't like other peoples dogs, I bathe them once a week and bleach their kennels so we don't smell like we have dogs...ect) We really take them because we go a lot and it would be annoying to our family and friends to keep asking them to watch them. Anyway, they do really good and love to go, so it works.

So, no fireworks, no parades, no family BBQ, but we had a blast!!

Fun Day at Lagoon!

We went for a fun day at Lagoon! Since my mom was watching my niece and nephew, she decided to tag along. Thomas was working on the basement, so he didn't come. (Yes, you read that right, I went without Thomas...I know I was amazed!) It was a little hard to take such an age range. Hailey was tall enough (and brave enough) to ride all the big rides, Kaden was tall enough, and brave enough for a FEW of the bigger rides, and Kinley, well, she isn't even remotely tall. Hailey was a good sport (for the most part) riding the smaller rides. Mom would take the smaller kids while I took Broxton and Hailey on a few big rides. We are for sure going to have to bounce back with Thomas in tow. I am not a lover of the rides, and Hailey wants someone to go with her on Wicked. Yeah. Thomas will just have to come!

Brooklyn, Hailey and Kinley
Broxton and Kaden.

July Birthday's!

So, its July 16th. It goes without saying that I am behind this month! Happy Birthday Tyson! (left) July 27th. (yes, this one is out of order, I am just too lazy to delete all my pictures to try to put them in order. I don't know if there is another way to do it.)

Tyson is my nephew and right now he is on a mission in Chilie. He has been gone 1 year. We are proud of him!
Happy Birthday Matthew!! Matthew is my nephew. He just turned 1 July 5th. We missed his party for camping. I can't believe how fast the time has gone!! Happy Birthday Matthew!

Happy Birthday Jason! July 16th. Jason is my little brother. He has the cutest little boy. They are building their first house right now, working 12 hour days. Rough stuff. Hope you took a break for a great birthday!

Happy Birthday Breanna! July 24th. Breanna is my niece. She is going to be 12 and in young women's (AHHH) She is so fun and happy! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Chrystie! July 26th. Chrystie is my sister-in-law. Chrystie is beautiful. I remember when Preston brought her home to meet us, I thought she was YEARS older then me because she was so well put together, smart and gorgeous. yeah. she is only 6 months older then me. All my sister-in-laws are so cute! Happy Birthday Chrystie!

Happy Birthday Clint! July 30th. Clint is my brother-in-law. When I found out he was marrying my sister, I was mad. Yeah. Mad. He was taking my friend away! BUT, he makes Dawnell happy and takes care of her and their family, (plus, he is a cool brother-in-law) so I guess my sacrifice was worth it. Happy Birthday Clint!

A Traumatic day at our house.

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. Hailey has a pet Lizard, Lizzie. Kaden has a pet Lizard, Spike. They are both bearded dragons. We have had Lizzie since March. Lizzie was smaller than Spike. She would lie on his back all the time. They would sleep together, eat together…ok, not like they had a whole lot of choice, they were cage mates.
Well, Hailey was playing in her room with K. They didn’t want to play with Kinley, so they sent her to Kaden’s room to play. She tells Hailey that Spike is eating Lizzie. (Kinley says this a lot, she thinks it’s funny to get all the kids running into make sure everything is fine.) She wasn’t kidding this time! Hailey came running into the kitchen to tell me that SPIKE IS EATING LIZZIE. To which I walk into Kaden’s room. OH MY GOSH, SPIKE IS REALLY EATING LIZZIE!!!!!!! He had her head and one of her legs in his mouth when I got in there. I pick Spike up, I shake him, I try to get his mouth to open, pull Lizzie’s tail, and push on Spike’s stomach. I tried to get him to take lettuce instead…although, thinking back, that one wasn’t too bright. I had K take Hailey and Kinley outside.

Thomas works from home, but since we are in the middle of trying to finish the basement, he was at one of his multiple hardware store runs….this happened in the middle of him being gone.

I call him. I am screaming and crying and just plain freaking out. He had to have me slow down say it a few times before he understood me. His advice? Go shut the door, if he has her head it’s already crushed and she is dead. Oh. And stop freaking out. Yeah. I’m traumatized. I liked the stupid lizards. My kid was freaking out. And, to be honest…it was freaky looking. Yeah, thanks Thomas.

So, I call my sister. She always has good advice. Took a bit for her to understand what I was saying, but by the time this happened, Spike was slurping Lizzie’s tail down like a spaghetti noodle. It took awhile for me and Hailey to settle down.

I thought I would try to use this as a learning time. So, I told Hailey to write about it in her journal, that it would help her remember Lizzie and help her feel sad and get through it. She let me read the entry…it is so sweet. She is so tenderhearted, and like she totally writes like this. HA HA HA, I love it!
We told her she can pick a new one once she is settled down in her new room downstairs. So, in a couple of weeks, when the basement is done, we will have to have a post on LIZZIE the second.

Happy Birthday Kaden!!

On June 24, 2002, at 5:17 pm, I was handed the most handsome baby I have ever seen. Kaden weighed 7 pounds 15 oz and was 21 in long. He was (and still is) the cutest boy I have EVER seen! (yeah, Im sure some of you may disagree, but hey, its my blog!)

My sweet Kaden is now 6! He is so smart, sweet, kind, crafty, good at video games, loves animals, and is a wonderful brother, son & friend!This is Kaden at 5 days old with Hailey.
8 days old!
A few months old (pre-digital camera era is the pits, there are no dates! :( )
6 Months old. Kaden was SOOOO chunky. When he laughed, his chin rolls and side rolls would just shake...it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!

1st Birthday. Kaden had ringlets on the back of his head. Thomas hated them, I LOVED them. I kept them for his 1 year old picture, then 2 days later cut them off :'( The day after I cut them off, Target called and said all their film from that day was ruined, and we had to come in and do re-takes. I CRIED and CRIED on the phone. The poor lady probably thought he had died or something!! I'm still mad, for the record!

2nd birthday.

3rd Birthday! Check out the fancy dinosaur cake I made ;)

3rd Birthday, hanging out with Kinley.

4th Birthday. Check out that super cool snake cake I made...yeah, I'm that cool ;)

Kaden 5th Birthday!

Kaden now. He has grown up so much. I am so proud of him. He is a good boy. I love you to pieces Kaden...have a great 6th birthday!!

Are you kidding me?!?!?

Picture this if you will. I'm at Hailey's (8 yrs old) machine pitch baseball game. It's hot. Back quite a bit there was some shade from some tree's. Not an ideal place to sit if you want to watch the game, but ideal if you don't want to get hot watching the game. So, Kinley and I pop a squat in the shade. We couldn't really see that well, but that is what ya get if you sat in the shade.

All the sudden people from the shade are yelling at this older man (some kids grandpa) to get "DOWN IN FRONT!" I'm thinking, OK, that is kind of rude. He was standing there before most of us even sat down. Again, "DOWN IN FRONT!" rinse and repeat 5 or so times. Finally the man figured out they were screaming at him and turned around and said, "You could have asked me nicely." To which another older (another kids grandpa) yells we did about 6 times!! So grandpa-dude 1 walks off. Grandpa-dude 2 is looking quite pleased with himself for moving the man who thought he was a window. Then grandpa-dude 1 taps grandpa-dude 2 on the shoulder and asked if he wanted to take it to the parking lot.(?!?!) They get chest to chest (close enough to kiss...or I guess in their case, hit the other in the face...) they start yelling at each other. I am right behind them. I yell, "excuse me, my kid is watching you...this is a KIDS baseball game and you guys are acting 5!" Oh crap! Did I just talk? They looked at me, and grandpa-dude 1 walked off. Then I mutter..."geesh, no wonder kids don't have respect for anyone, look at who they look up to." Oh crap! I usually think those things....but I am quite sure I said it in my out-loud voice because grandpa-dude 2 looked at me.

But you know what? I don't care! They were BOTH completely out of line. For once, I SAID what I thought...not wished I had said something. My hands only shook for 15 minutes!

My Daddy is my favorite pal...

Happy Fathers Day Thomas!Thomas is a wonderful husband and father. He is fun, caring, funny, kind. Thomas would do anything for our family. He works hard for us, but always has time to play.
Just today, Hailey was sad that no one could play, so in between working (which is a lot lately!) he jumped the fence and helped her find 5 butterflies! He hates to see any of us sad if there is anything he can do about it!

He loves to teach the kids new things. They loved following dad for hours looking for tide pools. Thomas is a very patient man. He is the best dad ever! I am thankful that I have you to help raise the kids!