Last few weeks

These pictures posted totally in the wrong place but here are the only ones I have (reason explained below)

The guys who stood in for the blessing
the river

We have been super busy the last few weeks. My brother in law, his 2 boys, one of his friends from college and my dad all came over for a fundraiser for the volunteer firefighters in the area. We go every year and my brother in-law has always wanted to come and it worked out so they could this year. We then went to the figure 8 races in Driggs. (like a demolition derby and a race combined on a figure 8 track.) We then were went to Rexburg for my newest niece's blessing.

We were able to just hang out for a couple days just doing nothing. Wednesday (19th) we got all packed up so we could leave for New Mexico the next day. Brian had to come home so he could work Thursday. We made it safely to New Mexico to see my sister and her family and my brother and his family. My sister bought a new house in June so we enjoyed seeing her new house and just hanging out. My niece was baptized Saturday another of my brothers who lives about 3 hours away came up for that. Sunday my nephew was ordained a deacon so we all stayed around for that. It was fun having so many of the grand kids together (14 out of 20). We were able to all spend time swimming, eating, and just hanging out.

Monday we got to babysit while my sister-in-law went to her first day back to school for the semester. Her baby is almost 5 months old and id definitely not a social kid. He only likes his mom dad and siblings(he's even picky about which sibling though). Well somehow he decided I was ok and would only fuss if I had his as opposed to the blood curdling screams when anyone else had him :) Tuesday morning we headed home and I was not feeling well so I slept most of the trip and let my dad drive. Brian met us at my parent's house to bring us home but I still didn't feel well so we stayed at my mom's that night. Brian's mom just got home from Virginia so we went to her house Wednesday on our way home. The boys played while Brian and I went to Walmart and Barnes and Noble. We came home and crashed. (Ok did laundry and dishes)

Thursday we were able to meet some friends at the park and had a lot of fun. (minus the friend who got a puncture wound in his foot while walking in the creek) Friday we received a text from a friend inviting us to the "beach." (the rock/sand bar next to the river) I have never been so thought it would be fun. I loaded the boys and after three tries and maybe a mile and a half of walking around, we finally found them. They have a boy Tyler's age and a girl Connor's age. Connor was quite scared to get dirty (totally out of the ordinary for him) but then another friend came to talk and since it was a guy Connor followed him around like a puppy for the next 2 hours. I did take some pictures at the river :)

(Brian accidentally took the diaper bag home with him instead of leaving it with the kids when he left, not a big deal except my camera was in it so no pictures from my trip to NM, sorry)

We're just trying to have as much fun as we can before Tyler starts daily preschool the 8th. He is SUPER excited to go. He tells anyone who will listen that while daddy is at army and mom is working he gets to go to preschool and the fact it is affordable, taught by and awesome teacher, and right across the street from my sisters house make it even better.

WET WET WET

Today we went boating with the national guard. Brian's co-worker from the sheriff's office is in a different unit than Brian and today they were having family day to show their families a little of what they do. He invited us months ago so we were excited to go. We had rain all day and it never got above 50 degrees but they still totally loved every bit of it. Because Brian's friend is the boat captain the we got a private ride and the boys each got to drive. Tyler did really good. Connor drove in circles and after Brian's friend figured out that's what he was doing started getting the engines going to make sure it was a lot more tipsy than it would have been without his help. Tyler and Connor get good and wet and really cold even with their 2 sweatshirts on so we wrapped up in blankets and hungout in the tents on the shores until lunch. We came home cold and soaked but it was pretty fun. I did bring the camera but since it was raining so much I didn't want to risk ruining the new camera.

Brian had his wisdom teeth pulled and is doing well. He was sedated and hadn't slept in almost 30 hours so bringing him home was rather entertaining. I had to spend about five minutes convincing him that it would be more comfortable in the house than laying on the armrest of the truck(which he as no recollection of). He has no memory of coming home either which he found slightly disturbing, I just found it humerus. He is doing fine now and enjoying a little brother bonding at the movies.

Summer

So now that I can finally post pictures I realize I've gotten out of the habit of taking them so these are from my phone at the teton County Fair. Tyler and Connor on the train ride, Tyler LOVED it
Typical Tyler shot

This was right before they went whipping around the corner

so they were bracing for the turn.

We have been busy trying to enjoy the summer as much as possible before we have to start work and school and daddy leaves for boot camp. We went to the Idaho Falls Zoo a couple weeks ago and the boys loved it. We fed the ducks on the Green Belt and Connor loved throwing the bread right at the ducks and watching them get mad. We went to the county fair and it was both the boys first time on rides and they absolutely loved it. They also got to go to the figure 8 races with all the boys in Brian's family. Tyler got a free t-shirt and wears it whenever I let him. The boys loved it and Brian's sheriff's department friend ended up in the top 3 places so that was pretty cool.

This past weekend Brian had to do a fair booth in star valley at the Lincoln county fair (for the National Guard) and so we went down Saturday to visit him. We stayed for the Demolition Derby because one of our good friends (also from the sheriff's office) was in it. The boys LOVED it. I even enjoyed it since I knew someone in it, and he won.

We are now preparing for many dental trips, Brian is getting his wisdom teeth removed on Friday the 7th and I have to get a crown on the 10th so trying to hang around home and keep it pretty low key. Hopefully Brian will heal fast and we will get to do something fun on his days off but you never know with wisdom teeth.

I will try to actually take more pictures to post, hopefully I remember to...

Best Purchase EVER!!!

So last fall when I was in New Mexico helping after my sister had her baby I was at Target getting some prescriptions filled and was burning time while they were doing that. I had my 11 year old nephew and Connor with me. As were walking around the store I saw some Cars rain boots. I needed them of course because all boys who live in the country NEED rain boots, aka Poop boots. Well they've loved them and used them a lot and will use them for a while to come because they are still like 2 sizes too big. This is not what makes them the best though.

Lately we have been having problems with two mice, one that eats the poison but will not die or go into the traps. Another that runs across the traps and does laps around our living room but won't even eat the poison or die. Well last night we rearranged the traps to make sure it would get caught. Well it worked for one mouse, sort of. The mouse is caught but not dead. The other mouse ate yet another poison packet but wasn't dead. It was laying in the middle of our entry way floor. Well Connor decided to pick up a shoe and try to squish it. Not so successful. It ran under a shelf and hid for a couple hours. Well I was going out to put some shoes on the shelf in the entry way and talking on the phone to my mom when I Tyler came out. I showed him the mouse so he put his poop boots on and started preparing to step on the mouse. Well of course he chickened out but Connor thought it was a cool idea and put his poop boots on to join the fun. Well after about five minutes Tyler informed me that the mouse was not moving anymore. So Tyler wanted to get rid of it. I gave him a box, and using his awesome poop boots, kicked the mouse into the box. Then the boys triumphantly carried the box out to the dumpster.

So here is the ode to the poop boots of wonder. They make even the biggest chickens able to do amazing things. They've helped the boys learn to ride bikes, run fast and now slay mice. Totally worth the $15 a pair I paid just 9 months ago. . .

Busy, WET Summer

I would like to first apologize for still no pictures, our computer died and is getting fixed and the computer tower we borrowed will not read any of its USB ports so I can not download any pictures from my phone or camera, SORRY.

It seems we have been going non stop since summer started. We have been in Idaho nearly every week all summer long and I'm not seeing that ending very soon. My sister is 3 weeks away from delivering number 6 and so we have been busy helping out her 7 and 4 year old daughters with dance. They have to change costumes quickly and a 9 month pregnant belly makes it pretty hard to do and do quickly so we have spent a lot of time at dance this summer.

My sister and her 7 year old daughter had birthdays last week so we were over helping with the party and getting ready for my mom's family reunion. This was really the kicker since we were preparing for anywhere up to 250 people to come to the reunion. (That's just my mom's siblings and their kids and grandkids.) We ended up with like 60 most days and 100+ one day but it was really hectic and fun. My sister was able to come up from new Mexico and we were more than excited to see her since it's been a year for most of us. (I did fly down when she had her baby premature the beginning of November but most hadn't seen her since last summer.) It was fun to have the cousins together again and remember why we watch certain kids or groups of them much more closely than others. Tyler was surrounded by girls but loved telling on everyone for anything. Connor and Sam (my sister from New Mexico's son) are the same age but Connor is a little aggressive and loud for Sam and so there were many fights. The last day they really got to play Connor swung a little medal and hit Sam in the face. I asked Connor what he did. He said with a huge smile on his face, "I hit Sammy." Well after Connor had served his well earned time out, he was headed upstairs to play, well Sam was waiting at the top of the stairs and pushed Connor down the stairs. He only went down a couple stairs so was just really scared. My sister asked Sam if he pushed Connor, to which Sam replied, with a HUGE grin on his face, "Yes I DID." Well I guess after a week one retaliation was WELL deserved.

My sisters and my parents came to my house for an overnight stay this week. My mom loves the library and shopping at our Kmart because it has a bigger selection than the one in the Burg. She really wanted to show these two things to my sisters and Tyler wanted to show them the Candy store of course. Well after we showed those things, the kids were too tired to go anywhere else so we came to my house and napped and had dinner. We then went back to town to check them into their hotel and take all the kids swimming. When we got there we discovered it was an outdoor pool and in the shade now that the sun was setting. I did not swim but ran everyone to the potty and kept a count every couple of minutes to be sure none of the 7 kids went missing.

Now we are all enjoying a little break where nothing is going on and our house is getting cleaner. . . Well all of us but Brian who has to work 11 of next 12 nights because he traded shifts to be able to attend my mom's family reunion.

It's Official

Brian is officially in the National Guard as of about 6 hours ago. We are now a military family. Well I have always been in one (My dad was in the Air Force for 21 years) but it is new to the other members of my family. Brian has been wanting to join for our entire marriage but it's taken me longer to get on board. He will be starting his once a month drills in July and going to boot camp in October. Yeah for more time as a single mom!!!

I have been crazy busy getting my sister's baby shower ready for tomorrow. I think it'll be fun and hopefully it will run smoothly. Her other children are practically giddy about it. They are so ready for their new little sister to get here, too bad it's not for another 7 weeks.

Tyler is currently at a father and sons camp out with my dad, brother-in-law, and nephew. He has never actual camped before and was SO excited to go. He was really hoping to go with his dad but that didn't work out with the signing up for the national guard and all.

Next week Brian will be gone all week at a training to become a trainer at the jail. Yeah for even more time as a single mom. But luckily playgroup will distract us for a few hours and getting Connor his 2 year shots ( two and a half months late) and maybe a trip to Lagoon and the Train Museum in Utah but we're not sure on that part quite yet. If we do anything fun we'll put some pictures on here, but for now, there aren't any new cute ones to share, just lots of info.

Our new friend

We just got home from Brian's big family dinner at his uncle's house tonight and were getting the boys ready for bed. Tyler walked in to the kitchen and came back out really fast. He said "mom there is something in the kitchen I don't like." I go in thinking it was a spider or a mouse but no no no, it was not at all what I expected. I look at my empty flip flop and see a new pet. . .

Our new friend Lizard the Salamander. He was well loved by Connor especially. When we put him in the sink he was so excited he could barely talk. He was bouncing up and down and kept yelling to tell us everything it was doing. We realeased it over near our woodshed and the boys were sad to see it go, but were excited for it to go home.