it took me 9 years...

to learn that Cortney is really really good at juggling. He couldn't believe that I didn't know that...how would I know that? He could be a clown or something.

a million cousins...

I am sorry but here are more pictures from the party. I had to post these cute pictures of these cute kids.

Rob took his Indiana Jones hat so seriously. He tunelessly sang the theme song all day and kept asking me where is flip (whip) was. He doesn't even know who Indiana Jones is...he does know that the "guys" think he is cool and that is good enough for him.
I love his shirt...rude in a sweet (and by sweet I mean...a really cute kid with huge eyes and bouncy soft RED cheeks) way, kinda like Rob. Man that kid has so much attitude I don't know what to do with him sometimes.
Tyson...so old, and wise. He is going to be a great man someday.
He is almost always trying so hard to make sure everyone gets along so he can have fun...I love that about him.

GG...There isn't enough I can say about this LITTLE girl. She is the funnest to photograph that is for sure. She is 20 months old...and she is turning into one of the big kids. She trys to do everything they do. Tonight I babysat her and she screeched like a howler monkey. She has the loudest voice ever. She will someday command men with her eyes (and maybe just maybe her flexibility...hahaha).
Please also note her farmer's tan on her arms. Cali really tries to protect this little one's skin...and she is most of the time dressed in jeans and sleeves. I of course talked Cali into buying this skimpy little number.


Abby...Oh what a cute and lovely baby. Kae Lynn's kids just have a look about them...it is hard to explain but they always look happy.


Carolina...never have I seen a child that is more like me, and yet she looks just like my brother in law. She is strong willed and talkative. Opinionated and strong and yet she doesn't like conflict. Sometimes it is hard to remember that she is as young as she is because she knows so much. I look at her and know what she will go through in her life. I know that people might think she is intimidating because she will say what is on her mind. And that sometimes people will take things the wrong way. That some people might confuse her confidence as arrogance. But I also know she will always follow strongly what she believes. And that she will turn out awesome...hahaaa.

Brooklyn...so grown up. She is so awesome. I can't wait to have kids her age. It was awesome to see her carrying around her little sister.

Eliza...she is so happy all the time. She is seriously like a little fairy child. And always says things that amaze me. Her imagination is unparalleled in all of the grandchildren. There also never seems to be conflict whenever she is playing with someone.

Zac...look at those freckles. They are awesome. This guy has really turned into a little man. He gives me hope that my boys someday will grow up and be fine.


(Please ignore me and my fedora in this picture)
Jackie...Loves Indiana more than anyone. He seriously is humming the theme song for at least 10 hours out of each day. And man he has the highest voice you have ever heard. It is amazing just how much he is singing it. This little boy has a gift with words. He can say the most wonderful things you have ever heard...He really is going to be a ladies man when he is older. I mostly think he will be a heart breaker. Seriously, they will have to watch out.

Next up is a funny sequence Cortney caught on camera. First Grace was crying for Cali to pick her up.

Then she looks at Cortney like...can't you see I am in distress here??

And then Cali picks her up and it is as if nothing has happened.

Oh , but please not the huge tear still on her cheek. I am telling you this girl is LOUD when she wants to be.

One last cute one of KaeLynn and Abby. They really look a lot alike. I just loved how abby was out of focus.

indiana

So today we had our Indiana Jones inspired party.

First the cake...

Cortney didn't get a very good picture of the cake...no offense. But you really can't tell just how cool it was. I especially love the boulder rolling down.

As I wrote yesterday I looked all over town for fedoras...well I found these for 50 cents. And let me tell you they were a hit. Most of the kids loved them. Rob took it so seriously and has been wearing his for the last 8 hours. Here we are starting our treasure hunt. Oh...and I also wanted to say that it isn't a coincidence that me and my boys are wearing camo...it is Indy inspired.


Brooklyn found the second clue.


Then they had to swing over the "jungle" and head on to the next place.
Zac really can swing.


Oli (all of their hats would fly off while swinging)

Rob. Please note how serious Jack looks. He is obsessed with Indiana Jones. He was doing like rolls in the grass and stuff during the treasure hunt.


The next clue led us down the street to the secret passage way...and then back home. The hint said they had to make it back without being rolled over by the boulder...Cali and Cortney were waiting in the backyard with all of the balls I could find and they were throwing them at the kids dodge ball style. It was so funny because really was trying to hit them and kept missing. Finally she hit little Eliza in the back of the head and she turned around looking like "why would you hit me??". I loved it. They ended up finding a treasure chest full of candy rocks and gummy snakes.

All Oliver wanted to do was open his presents.

A car launcher from Grandma Aha...this is the gift he chose to open first. He loved it.


A Indiana Lego set from Cali and KaeLynn. Man he was in heaven.
I just noticed that all three boys have their hats on backwards, weird.


Then the moment came when he got his biggest present. A bike from grandma Connie and Mom and Dad.
This was his reaction "what??? I wanted a two wheeler."


Still looking pretty disappointed.

Once he realized that this bike was a two wheeler with training wheels he changed his mind. This is his first bike so he will have a little learning to do. He has been riding it all day though and is convinced that he is ready to take the training wheels off. He loves the way it looks and that it is Tony Hawk...means everything to him. Annoying...I know but that is just the way the world works.

It was a great party. Ten Earl grandkids were there and my neighbor Kempton. It was a lot of kids but I think it turned out pretty great.

5 Years...they have been great everyone of them. Oliver will always be special to me because he is the baby that turned me into a mother. There really is nothing like your first. Happy birthday baby.

I will post more pictures tomorrow of all of the cute kids that were at the party. But for tonight that is enough.

tv

Sometimes I want to punch direct tv in the face...especially when I don't get a signal and the bachelorette is supposed to be on. 

handy man

Today I ran all over town trying to get ready for Oliver's Birthday tomorrow.  We were going to go to the Dinosaur museum but for Cali's family and  mine to get in is like 100 bucks.  That seemed like a real waste of money so I decided we would just have a party instead.  The crazy and stressful part of that for me is how many cousin's Oliver has here. I would love for him to have a party with like 4 other boys here.  But with cousins and Rob that is nine more kids.  Yikes that seems like a lot of people for a little boy's birthday.  

Cortney and I stopped by Toy's R Us during Cortney's lunch break (only 1 hour after I woke up for the day....poor boy) and we picked Oliver out a bike.  Cortney I swear was cringing the whole time because he swore our kids would never have dept. store bikes (after like a million years working at a bike shop).   He settled on a tony hawk one (as everyone knows he is a skateboarder so it is kind of random that he has a bike line) that was a little nicer than the base spiderman one.  

Cortney got hit today by his first golf ball ever.  Someone hit off the tees with a driver and hit cortney super far away in the ankle!   It is swollen all huge...poor guy.  I am so surprised it took him this long to get hit.  It is a real danger of the job.  

Anyways I stopped at a party store after Toys R us because Oliver is having a Indiana Jones party and I was looking for fedora's.  (stay tuned for pictures tomorrow)  And when I went to leave my car wouldn't start.  Cortney showed up a couple of minutes later with a tool box and had me back on the road lickity split (I would never ever say that in real life so it is funny for me to put it on here).   He had to tighten up the battery terminals or something like that.  It made me so thankful for him...I am always amazed when he knows how to fix things.  

Well that is all for right now...I have a pyramid cake to make and a treasure hunt to plan.  Hopefully I will post some pictures of the party tomorrow. 

Grandma Aha....Your package for Oli came today in the mail.  You are awesome...he can't wait to open it, he keeps saying it is the first thing he is going to open.  Hahaa. I love you. 

Mom...the bike is mostly from you.  Oliver doesn't think he is getting it so that should be fun.  We will call you guys tomorrow afternoon.  

9 years

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary.  Wow.  It has flown by so fast, and yet feels like forever.   When I think of who we were when we got married,  and how old we were, I can't believe it.  I think of all the hard work we have put in over the years, and also all of the great times we have had.  When I see young twenty somethings going to school and going around and having fun, worrying about things 2o somethings should worry about...it really makes me think about all of the hard hard work at being an adult,  I had put in at their age.   Of course I wouldn't have it any other way.  I remember thinking though "how am I old enough to be married???  I am just a kid". Hahaa.  

Cortney is gone left this morning on a fishing trip with his friends from work.  I miss him.  It is crazy how much a part of my everything he is.  How dependent we are of each other.  He is my best friend for sure, my family.  Oh man it takes me a long time to fall asleep when he isn't here. I am so grateful for these past nine years.  And I can't wait for him to get back.  

rut

Man...I feel like I have nothing to say.

Cali and I took the kids swimming a couple of days ago. It was actually pretty fun.

First though...we got right up in the morning, got the kids dressed in swim suits. Got their double swim diapers on (a new utah rule...disposable and a cloth swim diaper are required at all pools). Got them all in the car and buckled which is quite a thing with 6 kids. We got to Lehi, made it across the parking lot...only to find out they didn't open until 1:00 p.m. Try to explain that to 6 kids. Cali and I frantically called around to other pools, they also opened later, due to swim lessons. Ahhhhhh. Well we got them home without too many tantrums and headed back a couple of hours later. At the pool they made us get out and stand around the pool for 15 minutes every HOUR AND A HALF. It is another new rule...it is supposed to encourage potty breaks. We had a really bad outbreak of sick kids in utah last year (crypto something or other) from kids pooping in the pool and people drinking the water. Awesome.

I found this picture of Rob tonight. Cortney somehow didn't take any pictures of him when he had to be in the baby tanning bed. He is such a cute boy. My mom in law had sent me these years ago and I forgot all about them.

In this one he looks just how he looks now. His cheeks are seriously out of control. They bounce so much. When we were in mexico random strangers would have to reach down and touch his cheeks to see if they were for real.
i love them.

Oremfest

I love a fair. Any fair really. They make me happy I don't know why.

Every year for the past five years Cali and I get all hyped up for Oremfest (think...springfest or really any funny little town fair). But when it finally rolls around we pack up all of our million kids and they don't want to walk or there are just too many kids or they get lost (jack and Oli a couple of years ago). This year we were trying not to get our hopes up too high, but it turns out that we finally have kids that are fun ages to go. AND NO ONE GOT LOST. Friday we packed up and went sans husbands. We walked around and really enjoyed ourselves because there was hardly anyone there. We bought some ride tickets and Cortney joined us....luckily because he took the kids on some of the rides. Cali and I get way to motion sick for any of that kind of stuff. It was a great evening. Then we let the kids pick a treat (cotton candy and Italian ice) and we headed home. It was the perfect Oremfest experience and the best one we've had in the past 5 years. (of course we didn't have a camera...sheesh)

Saturday morning Oliver had a t-ball game. He got bored if he wasn't the one getting the ball each play. But I can't really blame him because it is really slow and all of the kids really are pretty confused.

Then after a nap and hanging out we headed back to Oremfest for dinner (smoked turkey legs y'all...yuuummm) and the parade. We had a couple of tickets left over so we did that too. Then we joined the Emigs and Justin and Angelique for the parade (Cali and I had put out blankets 30 hours before!...he we are serious about this). It took forever to start it seemed but we had a great time.

The kids stood down by the road so they could get candy. It was nice because they are older now and it was just adults and grace on the blanket. Rob would be by the boys but would run back to me anytime there was a gunshot (war re-enacters) or a clown or anyone with a scary mask on. Any time they got a flyer from someone in the parade they would be SOO excited and run and tell us something like "look I can take karate".

beautiful grace drinking her bottle. She has a bonk on her head from walking into a door.
And no she doesn't have a sunburn, she is just hot.

we all did a lot of screaming, yelling and waving...the kids did a lot of the rock on sign...trying to be cool.

CC seeing something awesome. Probably one of the beauty queens, she kept saying they were cinderella.


My absolute favorite float. It was awesome to see these "older" people dressed up as royalty. I screamed so loud for them. And Cortney ran faster than I have seen him run in a long time to get down there to get a picture. So cute.


Here Rob is getting picked up by a fireman clown. I have never EVER seen him so scared in his life. His face just went slack when he saw who was picking him up. He thought it was Ronald McDonald.


Oliver and his DIRTY face telling me he isn't getting a lot of candy and that Jack and Tyson are getting more than him. Must be hard. But by the look of his sticky dirty face I am sure he got plenty. By the way I get this look from him all the time.

Here are some pictures from the rides.

Oliver and Rob on the motorcycles. It amazes me how old these rides are.
They really are having fun I promise.

Me waiting for them to get out of the Indiana Jones fun house (it is still just the same old creepy fun house from back in my day but now it has indiana jones painted on it) My kids thought it was awesome. Notice my sandwiches and water. I only wanted to pay for cort's and my dinner. Yes, I am that cheep.

Rob coming down.

This was so funny because Cortney had to go in with Rob...because he was too scared. There is nothing like seeing a grown man, and your own boyfriend at that, slide down a huge pink slide with a scary cover over the top. I love it.

All in all a great weekend. And I can't wait for next year. AND I am going to be in Moses Lake DURING the Grant County Fair and I can't can't wait.

I have a grown kid

Oliver has his first loose tooth.  Wow.  I can't believe how grown up he has become in the last couple of months.  This year holds a lot in store for this little guy.  I can't wait to see who he becomes. 

two other things

Rob is in a bed now and not in a crib. He and Oli have been sharing a room and he has taken over the top bunk. The past 3 nights in a row the boys have both silently come in and slept on our floor. This happens sometime after I am well asleep. I don't know what they are doing or why. When I ask Oli he says it is all Rob...somehow I doubt that.

Today I was talking to Oliver about Mom's and how important our job is. He was wondering why girls were the ones that had babies and why girls were the ones that stayed home with them. I asked him if daddy knew how to cook anything and he said "just cereal" he thought it was so funny that dad didn't know how to cook. He said "all grown ups know how to cook...not just mom's...cause grandpa doug always cooks". I told him that was true grandpa doug can cook but that doesn't change the fact that dad knows how to pour cereal and that is about it....oh he can heat up hot pockets too. Then he and I looked at pictures of him when he was little, man I miss that little man.

Oliver was kinda sad when he saw this picture because he really misses that coat and those shoes. That boy gets so attached to clothes the whole growing out of them is devastating for him.

Then I saw this picture of Rob...man babies are hard. It kinda made me get all hot and feel a little panicked. It has been so long, it will be a real wakeup call to have a baby again. In comparison to my two boys who can fend for themselves a lot of the time. And by the way No, I am not pregnant...just in case (nena).

wrap up...

So I haven't posted since I have been back. I think it is hard to get back into the swing of things after something as life changing as the passing away of someone you love. But...I am breaking my silence. As many know my Aunt passed away unexpectedly last week. It was a big shock for our family. Samantha, Justin, the twins, my two boys and I (sheesh that is a lot of people) all packed up in Sam's van last Wednesday and headed to Moses Lake. 12 hours. The kids were AWESOME. My boys had headphones on...the big ones that cup over your whole ear and they just watched TV the whole way. Even when they weren't watching shows they were so good. The twins were also just perfect. I on the other hand was soooo close to throwing up for a couple of hours (I don't know what that was all about!) but after it was over we had a blast.

Highlights of the drive home:

I gave Robbie a SPICY WASABI SOY almond...then his face got all red and he said in a super LOUD growl "THAT'S TOO SPICY" It was so funny. His voice seriously sounded like a man's. It was awesome.

My bro and sis and I played would you rather for seriously the whole trip. It was so dang funny. We thought up some pretty horrible things.


Once we got home (11:00 p.m.) my parents were there...they came from Peru. It was surreal seeing them. What? How strange. It was AWESOME though (and a little heart breaking...it was hard to say goodbye again).

Thursday morning we hit Wal-mart a must when you are visiting Moses Lake. Seriously there is nothing like Moses Lake Walmart to make you feel like the MOST BEAUTIFUL person in the world. There are a lot of interesting people walking around in there.

Then it was to my grandma's house. Some ladies from the Spanish branch brought all of the family some awesome mexican food. It was so good to see all of my uncles and aunts, even in the sad circumstance. I headed over to my aunt Tami's house (her house is across the driveway). A lot of my cousin's were over there. I don't even know where to start...I love my cousin's...like a lot. Something I really thought about a lot on this trip is that we weren't raised like your average cousins. We were raised as brother's and sister's. They are my FAMILY. I KNOW THEM. It hurts to be apart and hardly ever see them now. Anyways back on track...we were all talking and laughing. It was great.

Later that evening was the viewing. Another loud get together. I don't know ANY family that is louder than the Earl family. Man by this point in the weekend I had TOTALLY lost my voice. Too much talking.

Friday morning came the funeral. It was the best funeral I have been to...no offense to the other funerals I have been to. My Uncle Tom spoke and then all of Tami's kids, and then my Dad. I cried and cried and laughed and laughed. So appropriate for my aunt. Perfect. The rest of they day was filled with luncheon, family, cookies, family, Rob getting a fever, food, and then in the evening a little dancing. Tom put on some Supremes (Tami's favorite) and we got down. It was the first dance I have been to where people were crying and grinding and bootie shaking. It was awesome.

I also got to see my cousin Mitch. He lives in New York and it has been FOREVER since I have seen him. Mitch was seriously like my best guy friend my senior year of high school. It was really good to talk to him...and it made me really miss him.

It was the MOST exhausting couple of days I have had FOREVER. It made me feel loved. It made me think a lot about Heaven, and this life and test that we are trying to pass. It made me feel so grateful to be surrounded by people that love every part of me...and will always no matter what. I felt grateful for the gosple, and that I know what happens after death.

this is a picture I stole from Nena's blog...this is my family. They really are the best...no offense to all you other families out there.

We also had book club this week...awesome and amazing. Plus Samantha was here for it so that made it even better.

Summer time is here but it has been pretty cold (cortney had to wear long johns under his pants yesterday!). Cali and I were really worried about finding things to do but it has been crazy so far.

Here is a lot of what we have going on...our boys are getting so old. They are crazy. Luckily we make them play outside most of the time. (the are indiana obsessed right now)

I had to post this funny picture I TOOK...of course it is out of focus. But Cortney was helping out at practice. He was drinking a milkshake and talking on the phone the whole time...it was funny. Not to mention his tinsy spiderman hat.

i'm back

I am so glad to be back home to Cortney. And he is so glad to have me back home that he brought me home a dozen bagels from einstein's, which in case you didn't know is like bringing me home 5 dozen roses. How sweet. I will write more about my whirlwind week away tomorrow.

sad.

I am heading home tomorrow for my aunt Tami's funeral. As you can imagine everyone is devastated. I don't really know what to say. But I will be back on Monday.