4th of July in Oregon

I have been a bad blogger! I am going to work on getting caught up this week. Mostly I have not been blogging because we have been gone so much doing fun summer trips and activities. Thank you to friends and family who have provided us with such fun opportunities! Our trip to Oregon was wonderful, and I definitely could have stayed longer. I didn't even get to do any shopping, one of my favorite things in Portland. Next trip.... I don't have that many great pictures from this trip, but here are a few. We went to fun little amusement park in Salem, a day at the beach, the indoor water park, and fun 4th of July activites. Our sparklers were really duddy this year. Bad batch, and kind of dangerous!

This is Sam's classic look for the past few months. Every time I pull out the camera he goes into this weird toothy thing. I hope this phase passes!

Matthew just did his own thing for the little ward parade we went to. He ditched his scooter and decided to be a lone walker.

Spencer and Sam were very into the parade and kept going until the end!

My Mom with Matthew and Haylee.

I think this Ferris Wheel was not exciting enough for Spencer. This was when it was moving! He loved the roller coaster and went on it about 20 times. Unfortunately, no pictures.

I am Woman

I took this bucket full of cherries that we picked and made a cherry pie for Jeremy on Father's Day.

I know, it is not pretty, but it was delicious! This is definitely going to be a new family tradition. I can't believe how easy it is to make cherry pie. I have never made a fruit pie before, is that crazy? I stick to banana cream and pumpkin. But I ventured out, and I loved it. What orchard can we hit next? Peach, apple, apricot? Bring it on!

Sam turns 6!

We went for the bounce house again..

only bigger.

The batman masks were a hit!

Jeremy's amazing cake... bravo!

The practical gift from Mom, a swim towel.

I love the gift opening audience. You can practically read their thoughts. This stinks watching him open his presents. Why is it not my turn? Can we go back outside and play?

After the party Sam and Spencer played in the bounce house late into the night. They tried to have a sleepover, but instead they tried lots of tricks on the slide and climbing wall.

Two brothers hanging out together!

What a party! Sam did a great job planning all the details. Happy Birthday!

Weekend Update

We went to the Idaho Falls Zoo this weekend, and I thought it was an adorable, cute little zoo. Sam was the only one brave enough to go into the petting zoo, which is amazing considering his fear of animals.

Look at this baby camel! This just sums up the whole zoo for me, so cute and calm and relaxing.

Spencer liked this fake tiger better than the real one.

You can see the real tiger was a little disappointing. He was really lazy and covered in mud.

We got to hang out with the newlyweds, Sally and Colt. Here they are riding off into the sunset on their moped. Hmmmm, where are you helmets?

Trees

We finally put two trees in the backyard. I had no idea how happy trees could make me. I would have done it a lot sooner! I was scared to get rid of our big beautiful rectangle backyard. I was afraid trees would pose a problem for our big soccer games that could happen, or the Olympic size pool we could put in. Ok, our backyard is not that big, but really after the disaster of a yard we had at our Utah house I just wanted a nice, flat grass backyard. These trees just make me feel so happy when I look out my windows. Sam loves trees, and can't wait until he can start climbing them. He was very sad the first day when he found out it was not an apple tree. Apparently that has been his dream for years! I love looking at them out my kitchen window, I love looking down on them out the upstairs windows. Hooray for trees, hopefully more to come some day!

Check out my Scout

I loved Bear before you did

I'm sorry, but it's true. You see I have this thing about reading books about climbing Mt. Everest. I love them, can't get enough of them. So years ago I happened upon this book about this kid Bear Grylls who climbed Everest when he was 23. Fabulous, loved the book. Minus the rough language, it is one of my favorites. I have read it several times. Then a couple of years ago I discover he has a show on TV, Man vs. Wild. It is this crazy show about surviving in ridiculous places nobody will ever go, but there is the guy that I fell in love with through this Everest book. And, he is adorable. Right? Am I right? And now all these people are in love with him, and I just want to say, I loved him first, before he was famous. And that means something, right? Now they are selling his book at Costco with a new picture, and i just want to say I prefer the old one. And yes, my love affair waned a little when he showed us how to survive by drinking his own pee, but really, that could come in handy, right? And he lives on a converted barge with his two boys on the Thames river, and his wife is obviously a saint. So, you can all love him too, but remember who was there first. Got that?

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Who's Day is it?

I have been kind of feeling weird about Mother's Day. There are just too many people that need to be celebrated. I think this is supposed to be my day, but what about my Mom? What about my sisters who are moms? What about Jeremy's Mom? What about all of my friends, grandparents, aunts, etc.? I have been wondering just who this day is supposed to be special for if we are all supposed to be taking care of each other. Yesterday I overheard this conversation, and then I knew the whole thing is completely out of control.

Sam was talking to his friend across the street, a girl that is his same age. I heard him say, Hey Annabel, Happy Mother's Day! To which she politely and excitedly responded, Thank you very much. Then he said, I am going to go make you card, and ran inside.

Spencer's Baptism

What a wonderful day!! Spencer did so well, and I was really impressed with him. It was interesting to sit back and watch my son's special day. I should have been taking more pictures, but instead I just soaked everything up. Spencer said he was going to be brave today, and he really was! Big crowds can be hard for Spencer, and he he worked really hard to respond to everyone that wanted to talk to him. We are so grateful for everyone that came to participate. Thanks for your support and all of your help!

Matthew's Buzz Birthday

Big day for Matthew

Going Green... Going Crazy!

Well, that is how I feel about it. Now that the Earth Day celebration is over we can get into it. I think this whole green movement is completely nuts. Wow, I am really going to get it for this one. Let's start with the grocery bag thing. What kind of hoax is that? They are charging us for reusable grocery bags that are going to save them money? Do you know how many of those bags I would have to buy in order to take home all of my groceries each week? I love plastic grocery bags. I recycle them over and over again. I could name 100 things I love to do with plastic grocery bags. They are fabulous, and I won't give in....yet. Why do they make hybrid cars so ugly? Why are "green" light bulbs so fluorescent? I think they use fluorescent lights in prisons and torture facilities. Ummm, maybe talking about torture isn't "green" enough these days. Don't even get me started on the last two states I have lived in charging me to recycle so I can save them money on their landfills. Then they have the nerve not to empty my recycling box that I am paying for because I didn't sort my milk cartons properly. Ugh! Now, lets move on to green cleaning supplies. I don't want to buy them. They are more expensive. Everybody is doing it. Ugh. I can't help it. I bought some. This stinks. Well not literally, it smells fine. But, it doesn't work half as well as my green apple Palmolive. I miss my Joy. You know what I mean? So, after a going through this giant bottle for a couple of years I will go back to my other dish washing soap.

I just bought these last week. I couldn't help myself!! The pink one is a grapefruit spray from Target. Yummy. It doesn't say anywhere on the bottle antibacterial. So, I am nervous. And the other one is a green bleach spray. I am a sucker for bleach products. I have boys, remember? Hopefully I will have better luck, and look I can save 50 cents on my next green purchase!