One day a year is not enough...

Once a year we officially recognize our moms by sending them a card or a gift or calling them on the phone. This doesn't seem quite adequate to me. Our moms are there EVERY day, maybe not in person, but they're there. They are always there to talk to when you need someone, and most importantly they are inside of us and a part of us because they taught us to be who we are. I don't know how often I will say something and think to myself, "I just sounded exactly like my mother". And most of the time we probably don't even realize it, but most of what we say and do was learned from our mothers. My mom taught me to be strong and independent...and how to cook most of my favorite dishes :) Thanks for everything mom! I love you, everyday.



There are a couple of other "moms" that I want to thank as well. Tim's mom is amazing, and literally the best mother-in-law I could ask for. We have always had a great relationship and I always look forward to spending time with her. She's fun to be with and easy to talk to. Thanks Ann for everything you do for our family, I love you!



I would like to take personal credit for the next one. Janis is now my step-mom, but I've known her for a long time as "the nicest lady I know". Long story short, I felt like she would be perfect for my dad, and the timing worked out just right to where they were both available at the same time. A short time later they were married, wow I am good! ;) Janis is an amazing lady and I am so glad to have her as a mom. Thanks for everything Janis, I love you!




Happy Mother's Day today and everyday!

First Camping Trip of the Year

So we had our first camping trip of the summer this last weekend, and yes it may have been a little premature given the weather lately, but we recently got a camp trailer and there was no putting it off any longer. It was a short trip, just overnight, but it was a good test run for the rest of the summer. We had a great time and learned several valuable lessons that we will definitely use in our future outings...


Here we are on our way, these were taken before we realized we didn't know where we were going!





Lesson #1 - You should probably check to see if the campsite you are planning on going to requires reservations. We had pre-scouted our destination on Thursday and figured that because it was early in the season we would definitely get a spot. WRONG! We loaded up the camper and headed out only to be turned away at the entrance because we didn't have a reservation. Oops! So then we weren't sure where to go and the kids were no way going to let us go home. We finally remembered a campground about 10 miles or so from where we were and headed there. Good news - there was an open spot, bad news - there were no hookups for the camper and we had not brought the generator (Lesson #2). It was better than nothing, so we stayed.

Here is the view from our campsite - not great, but okay.



Lesson #3 - How NOT to take a marshmallow off of the roasting stick - grab the end of the stick that has been in the fire and pull the marshmallow off! This was not one of my finer moments, but it was the first trip of the summer and I guess I was a little rusty on my camping skills. :)




This is me trying to be a trooper and not spend the whole time in the trailer where it was WARM.



Here we are eating our dinner in our camper because the wind was blowing so bad that our plates would have blown away. It was really nice having somewhere to get out of the wind.



And lastly, there wasn't much for the kids to do and we got there kind of late so they took turns playing with the shovel. Lesson #4 - Letting your kids play with a shovel may not be as harmless as it seems. This first picture shows Paityn shoveling very close to the fire with a shovel that she had little to no control of...good job mom!



And this last picture pretty much explains itself. Just kidding, it looks a lot different than the actual situation. Jace was behind the camper shoveling by himself and he was taking the dirt and throwing it over his head backwards. I just happend to take the picture while Paityn was walking toward him so it looks like he is going to hit her with it. Still, probably not the safest activity. Next time we will have more for the kids to do.



With as many things as went wrong, we still had a great time and are all really looking forward to making it a regular family activity!

Chillin With Liam

So "Sunny" California has been pretty rainy and cool so far, but that's okay because I have been doing a lot of baby holding for the past two days and it doesn't matter what the weather is doing to enjoy that. Little Liam and I have been doing some major bonding, and I even got to babysit for a couple of hours today while Mandi was at the dentist. Her dentist is about 30 minutes from her house and she didn't want to get too far away for a long period of time, so we went with her. However, we did venture to a nearby shopping plaza where we hit up Old Navy and Kohls. I can't believe how good Liam is, he slept in the stroller the entire time (about 2 hours) and never made a peep. I told Mandi I was going to take my kids out shopping with he and I next time so I could tell them that that is how you're supposed to behave in a store, ha ha ha. We had a great day and now we're going to get to work on some of the craft projects we have planned for the baby's room. More pictures to come!

Leaving On A Jet Plane...

Here's a picture of me...tomorrow. Can't you see the sun reflecting off my teeth through the window (because my smile is so big)? I am officially checked in for my flight to Ontario, CA, I leave at 8:50 in the morning. That means that in just over 24 hours I will be squeezing my squishy little nephew Liam and spending 5 days with my best friend, I can't wait! Not to mention that it is actually warm there too! I even spoiled myself a little and went shopping yesterday for the special occasion. Maybe I can spend a little time on her nice new patio and get some sun on these mayonaise legs. Sunny California here I come!

Birthday Party and Easter

We had a very busy weekend. We left Friday at about 3:00 and headed to Pocatello, where my mom met us and took the kids so Tim and I could go to Idaho Falls to my Aunt Carisa's birthday party. We left the party at 10:00 and got to Inkom at about 11:00. We had to get up at 5:00 the next morning so we could get to my mom's house before she had to leave for work at 6:30. We then had to get the kids, get back to Inkom, set up for the party and get to Pocatello to pick up the cake and icecream. Phew! The party started at 3:00, we opened presents and had cake and icecream. Then at about 5:30 we started to barbeque hamburgers and had dinner followed by egg coloring and assembling the new Dora Big Wheel. The next morning was Easter so we were up bright and early to find out what the Bunny had brought. Then we had a nice Easter breakfast and headed outside to hunt eggs. Needless to say, I was exhausted and even took a little nap on the ride home (which I NEVER do). Thanks Dad and Janis for hosting everything so that everyone wasn't trying to make it to Mountain Home in a snow storm, and thanks Mom for watching the kids so we could go to the party!

Paityn picked out her cake because she LOVES flipflops. I told the lady when I picked it up that it would have been more appropriate to put snow boots on it!







This last picture is of the Ariel costume that she got on her actual birthday. She kept jumping off the footstool saying, "Pretend you heard a big splash!".