trials...

today my poor little boy is getting a lesson on why we are here in this life.

Oliver: (in a whiny sad voice) "mom, why isn't Jesus making me better?? All day I have been asking Him to, and I don't feel any better."

I told him that when we were here to get a body and to be tested...then I said being tested means we have to go through hard things sometimes...but they make us stronger.

Oliver: "oh darn it"

darn it indeed Oliver.

out of nowhere.

my kids are sick. Oliver yesterday before summer camp said his stomach hurt...but he had a dentist appointment later in the day and I thought he was just trying to get out of it. When it was time to go he really was feeling hot...and he hadn't eaten his lunch. He was so amazing at the dentist....he is such a brave kid. But then by the time we got home...you could just see it in his face. Sick. Then all night he woke up pretty delusional. One time laughing and screaming...and wouldn't respond to me at all. Rob too seemed feverish this morning...and grumpy. Oliver is so sweet when he is sick...but Rob just gets so grumpy. So today we are locked in...trying not to get anyone else sick. Man...I wish I had a book to read.


Yesterday rob was in a carseat like this...

the kind with the bar that comes down infront of them. And when I went to get him out I flipped the bar up and forgot that he had a cupcake in his hand.
There he was with it squished in his face and the bar squishing it more and more. Ohhh it was the classic cream pie in your face. Sooo funny. Although he didn't think so.

tomato

Rob picked 5 baby tomatoes off of my tomato plants last week. When I asked him if he picked them he said "no, I got them at the store."

Darn...I hate when they start lying.


I also wanted to say that at Youth Conference one of the boys from the stake had a faux hawk and spent the day hanging out without his shirt on...all of my young women were swooning over him...I couldn't help but think "him"?? How can they fall for such an act? That was never my type...at all. I also got to see a lot of bad flirting. Not bad as in naughty...just bad. Pushing each other...screaming...dunking under water...sheesh. Ohhh and let me not forget back rubs. Awkward.

uh huh

I posted some highschool pictures...scroll down and enjoy.

Sunday night dinner...haircuts..and the rest of the weekend.

Tonight Cortney's friend from work Ethan and his wife Natalie invited us over for dinner. We really had a great time. It was interesting because I had met her once (at costco) and I think I have met Ethan before but, I have read both of their blogs...so I felt like I totally knew them. Not only that but I knew their kids names and what the inside of their house looked like. It was pretty surreal. The whole blogging thing is pretty weird. But because I "knew" them so well already...I felt really comfortable the whole time.

Whenever Cortney and I go out with other couples, I think it is pretty nerve wracking because...I don't know...I guess we are always hoping they liked us. Hahaa. Like back in the day when I would go on a date and it would go good, but I would still always wonder if the boy(s) were going to call me back. Does that make sense??

Anyways...we had fun. Our kids played together really well I thought. Rob didn't hit anyone the whole night (although he did break a glass and really roughly tried to rip their little girl's shoes off). The food was so good...grilled corn on the cob, hamburgers (stuffed with cheese nonetheless), salad and delicious homemade frozen yogurt with strawberries.

Here are some pictures.

Their daughter Addy. She really is so beautiful.


She became my little friend tonight...she would tell me to hold her, or she would say "Ash watch me". She is so cute...and man I couldn't resist her.


Natalie

My boys loved the toys in the back yard.

One of their cool chickens. They were the calmest chickens I have ever seen.


Little kade...didn't want to let Cortney take any pictures of him. This was the closest he got to him with out him turning away. Such a cute little boy, he looks just like his mom.


Ethan was trying to do a photo shoot with Cortney...I thought I would make it black and white so he could see what it would be like to really be a model.


a weird picture of Cortney taken in the mirror...but I couldn't leave him out.

On Saturday I had Youth Conference in the morning. I GOT to go swimming with all of the youth. Yay. It was a long but fun afternoon. We are losing a lot of Laurel's this year (graduation) and I really missed them.

When I got home I rested for a while, while Cortney cut the kids hair. Oh, I am so happy that he did this. They were looking really wild there for a while.

Then in the evening we headed over to Cali's for a couple of games. Shane was there along with Celeste. We BBQ'd and then played Scene it and Outburst. Both were hilarious because they were old versions of the games. The Outburst version was from 1988 and it was quite hard to get all of the questions about celebrities. It was fun. Of course I don't have any pictures of the adults but here are some of my kids new hair...and Carolina.

Man he looks so much better with a shaved head. Looks like he needs his head tanned a little.
Pretty Carolina.

Cc...and Rob. A deadly combination. They either get along great of fight worse then cats and dogs. Someday they are going to be quite the dynamic duo.

where my girls at?

I just booked a ticket to go to Moses Lake (sans kids and husband) for my high school reunion. I will be there the starting the 13th of August for 5 fun filled days. I am so excited. It is going to be triple fun because since my parents don't live there any more I will be staying with Laura and it will be just like old times...I cannot cannot wait.

Ohhh...not that I wouldn't love to see my parents but when they are home I can't stand to leave their sides...so this way I can focus on seeing my friends. Yahooo.

I am getting some sweet HS photo's ready to scan. Stay tuned.

Sorry Amber...I know you didn't want me to post these, but I love these.

Graduation night...and yes I am making a crying face.

Me, Amber, Adri, Lanita, Laura, Bridget, and Jenny

Our senior trip...Amber, Ashley, and Laura Mazatlan.

The night before graduation a whole bunch of us mormon girls got together and went to Hope Floats at the theater and we went to Sherie's before that.

Amber, Lanita, me Sherie's

Heather, Ivan, Derek, Katie (?), Laura, Craig, Ben, Amber, Charlie, Me

Homecoming 1997

I also found this hilarious picture of the three of us...my two best friends and I. I love them so much...is that weird? I can't wait to hang out with them. Honestly they are my sister's...I would do anything for them. (sorry your eyes are closed lei)

yc

Tomorrow morning bright and early I am heading to Youth Conference. And ughhhhh am I dreading it. Don't get me wrong...I am glad to go. But, man I think the number one reason (and a big one at that) youth conference was so fun to me as a youngster was because I got to flirt with boys. And now that I am so obviously past that point in my life I can just see my self...walking around in knee shorts with tennis shoes (hahahaaa...if only I owned some but still I want you to get a good idea of what I am imagining) super white legs...and all by myself. Sounds wonderful right? We are going up to Salt Lake to the This Is The Place Heritage Park. Pioneer style. It is going to be so hot too. Anyways, enough complaining because now I am really getting worried. It should be at least interesting. I am sure I will have plenty to do and of course I love all of the young women in my ward. But I just hate not knowing what to expect. And...I have to be at the stake center at 7:30. Which for me is like the middle of the night. But worst of all is POOR Cali has to watch my kids. Seriously Rob and Carolina are a whirlwind of trouble. She definitely has a harder day in store for her tomorrow that I do.

Speaking of Youth Conference. One year (I was 14) we went out of town for it and we stayed with Host families. I was together in a house with like 8 of my best girlfriends (girls I know you remember this) ANyways we were sleeping in their basement and the whole wall was big sliding glass windows. We were all talking in the dark before we went to bed when all of the sudden we saw some men (boys) creeping around the back yard....to make matters worse they came over and were looking in the windows. We all FREAKED out and jumped onto each other in one big dog pile. All of us were trying to claw our way to the bottom...which of course as everyone knows is the safest place to be. We said a prayer and still were so freaked out we could die. And we decided we had to wake up our host family. Remember we were only 14. So Bridget H. and I army crawled our way across the floor into the daughter's bedroom. We turned on the light, I know weird, and then Bridget started crying (remember we were 14 and I was probably the most scared I had been in my life). I told the girls what happened and it turned out it was their boyfriends toilet papering the back yard. Ahhh so embarassing...but at the same time it is a great memory. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little less scary for me.

enrichment

Tonight was a mother daughter Enrichment activity.  I went, because I am on the planning committee but had neither mother nor daughter.  It boggles my mind that I have actually lived somewhere long enough to know people in my ward.  Not only that but know them well enough to sit around and girl talk.  There are a lot of ladies in my ward that I really love (not like that we're just friends).  In the past I have been a little anxious about enrichment...I would walk in and I wouldn't really know anyone and I would just try to pick someone to sit by...anyone.  Once I was late and there were no seats left except there was a whole empty table so...yep I sat there by myself.  Sob story.   But now it feels so good to be settled. I really was enriched tonight...and lucky for me that I didn't have a daughter (not that I don't want one with all of me) because everyone that had little girls there...man that looked like a lot of work.  I on the other hand...crocheted and talked and talked.  What a great night. 

2 annoying things

So I have two things about me that are really and I mean really annoying. Not that I don't have a million things about me that are annoying...but these two are standing out to me right now.

I have always always lost my jewelry. My mom would always be hesitant if I ever wanted to borrow jewelry from her when I was younger. I don't have 1 pair of earrings. I somehow have never lost my wedding ring, which is like a miracle unto itself. But at Christmas I really splurged and spent 30 dollars on two beautiful silver rings. My mom and I went to every silver shop in all of Mazatlan trying to pick out those rings. And sure enough I can't find them...anywhere. I wore them for a couple of weeks. Put them on the shelf in the medicine cabinet and I haven't seen them since. Annoying.

The other thing is actually a pretty new development. In February Cortney gave me my ipod. The FIRST day I had it my kids were listening to my skull candy ear buds, and they ripped them right in half. Then Cortney begrudgingly got me a new pair...a nicer pair. That pair lasted pretty long...until last Saturday when they fell out of my purse in the Craigo's parking lot. Oliver saw them, picked them up, and then hid them in a bush. He said he tried to tell me but I told him something like "sssshhhhhh" or "not right now" or "be quiet". Then when we were done eating he tried to get them out of the bush but they weren't there. Ahhhh. So I am on to my third pair. A less nice version of the old pair. Last night I was cleaning and listening to my ipod...somehow the headphones got hooked on to something and I moved to quickly and one of the sides ripped off again. I was so sad and I didn't want to tell Cortney because I knew he would be like, "you are just no good with headphones." But when I told him he kinda laughed and then he later brought me in a new pair and told me this was the last pair he was getting me. Oh please....let me not ruin them.

My grandma, aunt and uncle and cousin are here again, just for the night...yea.

And by the way I have this egg casserole waiting in the fridge to be cooked in the morning. And yes, it does have 1 1/2 sticks of butter and a whole package of cream cheese in it...oh and chives from my own little garden. I can't wait.

courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com

Kangaroo Zoo

Oliver is going to summer camp this month. I haven't posted about it because I don't have any pictures of it since...I am not there. However...I thought I should write about it since well...it is the first time he has ever really been out of the home for more than 2 hours, and because it is awesome. He is doing it through the cities park and rec program. What a great program too. It is 4 hours a day, 4 days a week for three weeks and it is like 2 dollars an hour. They play outside almost the whole time too, so they come home exhausted. He is doing it with his cousins Tyson, Jack, and Zac. Everyday they have a different theme and play games and do crafts that revolve around the theme. Today they went swimming and it seems like they had an awesome time, although Oliver keeps saying "it was so fun but Jack drowned." Jack was following Tyson around and got in too deep. Tyson said the lifeguard had to blow the whistle and jump in. Scary...but I know they are watching them closely. The best part of the camp though is Cali and I can run our errands with 3 kids instead of 6. Man what a difference that makes. Although the three we have are CRAZY. It is still nice just because we aren't causing quite the spectacle we usually are.

Then this afternoon we took our kids to the Kangaroo Zoo. It is a huge warehouse with a million awesome inflatable slides and castles and obstacle courses. Man this place was pretty awesome. Despite having to pay 8 bucks per kid (too pricey...if you ask me...but on the other hand our kids played like crazy and they had comfy couches for us to sit on). At first Rob was clutching on to me and saying "too scary" he wouldn't even try the baby stuff. But then somehow he went down a slide and changed his mind. They have slides in there that are two stories high and he would climb all the way to the top and jump off. I was seriously in shock and couldn't take my eyes off of him just because it was so amazing and so out of character for him.

I talked Cortney into stopping by with the camera and he was reluctant. He thought we were literally going to a kangaroo zoo. He didn't think a zoo with just kangaroo's would be fun. Hahaaa. He is so funny. He came though and here are some pictures. Joey also joined us and seriously the kids have never had such a fun time somewhere.

also...since Rob was so facinating to Cortney and I most of the pictures are of him...and grace too just because she is so darn cute. But seriously out of the 300 pictures Cort took I would say 150 are of Rob, 100 are Grace and then the last 50 are of cali, Joey, me, and the other kids.

Ty
I tried to get at least one picture of every kid.


Goo girl...I had to put this picture in because she always does a total bird lip when she drinks from straws. An over exaggerated bird lip too. So cute.

Joey and his baby.


This is an action shot Cortney captured of Robbie hitting Carolina. Poor girl she is just sitting there her hair flying and everything. Rob is really getting his whole body into the beating he is giving her. We tend to have some problems with them fighting. We tell ourselves everyday...this too shall pass. Oliver and Jack used to fight...a lot. Now they never do...maybe once a week (which is saying a lot because it used to be once every ten minutes.)
Anyways I thought Rob might want to see this someday when he really wants to date Carolina's friends.


Carolina was our most cautious kid tonight. She loved this slide and that was about it. She wasn't sold at all on the idea of the inflatables. Maybe next time.

Grace spent a lot of the afternoon walking around with this bucket on her head. She is so funny.

Tell me...is it just me or is this just the most luscious profile you have ever seen? Holy smokes I love to kiss those juicy lips.

Jack...the birthday boy today.

Oliver and Tyson sliding down and having a blast. Honestly the kids were running like crazy the whole time. That is the main reason I don't have any pictures of them...they couldn't be found...and we couldn't keep up with their running.


Can you believe this picture? Adorable. Especially for the crazy florescent lighting that they had in there...and the place was jam packed and you would never know.


Rob getting serious AIR.
This boy is a daredevil.

The take off...
the launch.
I couldn't believe how high he would jump on these things.

We had a great time and I would definitely recommend this place to people. My kids liked it more than the other places that are similar around here.

Then tonight Justin and Angelique came by and we watched a movie. It was fun.

ummmm

I just want to say...
My Uncle and Aunt Keith and Vickie, their son David (I love that boy), and my Grandma came and stayed with me last night. It was a full house but I loved having guests. I don't know why but I just really like it (I think it has happened all of three times now). I love them and I was so glad they came.

They took us to the Happy Sumo and it was so good. Now I can't get that rising sun roll out of my brain. All night that is what I thought about...and probably once an hour today. I love food too much.

4th of July

I know my mom has been waiting for me to post again...sheesh...can't a girl take a week vacation?

I had a great time in Rexburg.  Rexburg is special to me.  It feels like home.  It is filled with places and people that I love.  And...it is the city (okay...town rather) I fell in love in.  I love it there.  I love the weather, the small town-ness of it, the farms, the open space.  My boys love love it there. It was really nice to be around grandma and grandpa.  Bob washed my car (and took the boys with him) the first day I was there.  And what can be better than a week without having to cook.  I love that about visiting my my mother in law.  It was also great to see all of my sibling in laws and all of my nieces and nephews.  It always makes me sad to live away from there.  

Get ready now for picture overload.  

ahhh....for some reason blogger won't publish the 22 pictures that I have to go with this post.  I will try again in the morning.  I have way more to blog about.

It still won't let me load my last two pictures. Annoying. 

I only have pictures from the fourth of July.  Mostly because I, well....don't have a camera.  So I am at the mercy of Cortney.  He does however take great shots so...I won't complain. 

We started off the morning at the Rexburg parade.  My father in law and Grandma Alice headed down to main street at the crack of dawn to set up some...17...lawn chairs.  Yes we have a big family....and yes, we all had a seat.  It was awesome.  I was prepared for crowds and crowds but man I love how that just doesn't exist in Rexburg.  

Berta doing what she loves.

There was this awesome guy that is "6th level" black belt...he was passing out flyers for his classes.  Tyler talked him into breaking a board for the camera.  He was freaking awesome. Just another thing to love about Rexburg.

Alice...so smart brought an umbrella (love her).  It was HOT.  Here we have Robbie loving on her (about as much as he ever does).

Nicole and I.  Thank you Nicole so much for keeping me company this week.  This girl is awesome.  I knew from the time I met her that she would eventually be Tyler's wife...and boy am I glad.  Please notice my outfit...man I was freezing when I left the house (those Rexburg nights and mornings are cold...another thing to love) so I wore pants...I couldn't have chosen a hotter (by ways of the sun...not my hottness) outfit.  I about died.  Thank goodness for those met life fans.

The kids waiting for candy.  I couldn't believe how much candy they got.  Oliver said at one point "I am tired of getting candy".  It was seriously like halloween.

Just a great picture of the parade.  I loved it.

We then made our way home and had some YUMMY food.  So good.  Bob set up a huge huge slip and slide and then we all headed out for some good old fashioned fun. 

Rob would do this cute smile every time. His mouth is adorable to me.

Oliver

Yes...this is me.  I know, who posts pictures of themselves in a swimsuit??  I seriously can't believe I went on the slide at all...this is purely proof that I did.  Someday when I am old and arthritic (more than I am now) I will love this picture...as I am sure my kids will.  Cortney got a whole bunch of other really unflattering pictures....this is the best of the bunch.  Man, I make some weird faces.

Cameron kept taking Robbie down the slide.  I love how tight he is holding on.  Rob looks like he could be Cam's son. 

Griffin was out of control.  Seriously he slid so fast.  

We covered the slide with tons of soap...for going faster of course.  Grif would just go so fast. 

Another of me....losing a race to my nephew Carter.  Man...I was SOOOOO SORE the next day.  Every inch of my body was in pain.

All of the cousin's would help Rob go down the slide.  They would come up behind him and help push him...so cute.  Ohh and dottie is there to help too. 

Poor kelton.  OUCH.

Man isn't this a beautiful picture of my mom in law?

Then all of the boys chased boy Tyler trying to get him wet.  They never caught him but he tripped and fell super hard (lost his shoes and pants in the process too).  Poor Ty. 

Just a super cute picture of Rob.

And an even cuter one of him.  Smiling pictures of him are so rare it is unbelievable.  This is taken through the tramp springs.

All of the kids (well most) in grandpa's hot tub...now that is a real treat.  He of course drained it three minutes after they got out.  That man keeps a real clean hot tub. 

I wish I had more pictures of the rest of the week.  We did some fun stuff.  The splash park there is so fun.  AND FREE.  We also saw Kung Fu Panda and did a lot of hanging out.  What a great vacation.