Splash Park Fun? Or Fungus?

Last week on the way home from the store I decided to make an impromptu stop at a splash park. Because it was impromptu, we didn't have our swimsuits so I took the kids shirts off and let them run around in their shorts. Quickly their shorts were so wet that they were falling off of them so I just took them off. And yes, my children were the ones running around in their diapers that had absorbed so much water that they weighed a ton, ghetto fantastic, I know! However the "white trashness" (yes, that's a word) doesn't stop there. After pretending for a while like he was enjoying the surprise water shooting up from the ground and splashing him in the face, Jack discovered a large puddle off to the side, with standing water that had probably been there a couple of days and was so dirty that mosquito eggs were probably growing in it. He began playing and splashing around in the filth and disease infested water and Sadie quickly followed. I decided it was finally time to go home when Sadie ate a soggy ritz cracker floating in the puddle and started slurping up the murky water. Doesn't anyone feed this kid? Who's watching these kids anyway?

Wedding Bliss

This past weekend we headed over to the tri-cities to attend Bryan's brother Jordan's wedding. And of course, I brought my camera with a dead battery in it and no charger. So sad, no pics! However the wedding was great. I loved being in the temple and feeling the spirit there, and I loved what the sealer had to say. All the wisdom and advice that he shared made me want to be a better wife. Thank heavens for repentance! But Jordan and Kailee looked beautiful and so happy! We were glad we were able to be there and share their day with them.

I want to be a missionary now and forever!

Bryan received a new calling today. He is now our ward mission leader. He has got his work cut out for him in our struggling 600+ member ward with only about 100 people attending (if that!) But he has already been hard at work and I know he will do a great job. Everyone pray for him!

Yard Work!

We spent most of the day yesterday working in our front yard. When we moved in our whole yard was way too over grown. So for the past year Bryan (with the help of my Dad) has had to put quite a bit of work in. However I think we are finally to a place where we feel pretty complete about it, that is of course until it all grows back. While most of our you who might be reading this have not seen our house, trust me, it looks the best it ever has. We put the concrete edging in a couple of weeks ago, then on Saturday, we laid no-weed fabric and new bark, and planted some new bushes and annuals. We spent a good most of the day, but our efforts were well worth it to us.
And Bryan being the great Dad that he is, indulged his children's love for digging in the dirt by making them their own little sand box. They love it and I love it too because it usually keeps them away from my tomatoes. I use the word "usually" loosely.

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to my parents house Saturday night through Sunday. Our excuse was that my dad had made Bryan some orthodox and they had come in so we needed to pick them up. Well after being there for only 24hrs. I decided that that was not long enough so the kids and I stayed an extra couple of days (Bryan of course had to get back to work.) We didn't really do anything too exciting but it is just fun to be their and give the kids some grandpa and grandma time. They played outside, ate go-gurts, and stayed up too late a couple of nights. But definitely a trip worth taking. We really appreciate being pretty close to both of our families and enjoy the luxury of getting to visit them pretty much when ever we want.

This is a nice one of Sadie after enjoying a yummy smoothie made by grandma!

Heaven on earth!

My father-in-law recently made a comment about someone not posting any spiritual things on their blog. He said he wasn't talking about our blog but I thought I'd post something of the spiritual nature for him anyway. That's right, this is my celestial cake! I found the recipe threw a friends blog (thanks Melissa) and knew that this would bring me true joy! So I decided to make it for our young women's fund raiser, a dinner and auction. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but their were quite a few people battling over it. These two families actually decided that they would share it so that they didn't have to compete against each other. It ended up selling for $25, which isn't a ton, but for our poor little ward, it is great.

Miss. Independent

Sadie is a girl who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. She's got a temper that can flare up faster than a wildfire in August and she has a loud, high pitched, shrill of a scream and she's not afraid to use it. On the other hand she can be super sweet and lovable. She's a great cuddler, and she gives out plenty of hugs and kisses. Plus she knows how to make me laugh. Maybe what I'm trying to say is that she can be a little bipolar sometimes. However lately she is trying to do everything on her own.
She likes to feed herself,

she is finally walking on her own,

and she even does her own laundry.

Oh wait, that last part is in my dreams. Because lately she is all about the dirt. She loves to dig in it, sit in it, and has even been known to eat it from time to time. But she loves it and I have oxiclean, so I let her do it.
She continues to grow way to fast and her hair is growing to. We were even able to put it all up in pigtails which I was pretty excited about.

Jack is all about play these days. He is able to maneuver around the playgrounds better this year. He scales 4ft climbing walls, climbs up metal rings and the cargo net. He seems to gain more and more confidence with every obstacle he conquers. And I like it because I don't have to follow him around the playground offering assistance whenever he gets into a precarious situation. Now I just follow Sadie around.

We try to get outside as much as possible and we are so grateful that summer has decided to come. We kind of had a cold spring this year, so now we are soaking up the rays. Jack loves to play in the sprinklers, spray the hose around the yard, or just dig in the dirt (wonder where Sadie got it from.)

Jack did get to experience a "becoming a man" tradition this year by going on his first father-son campout. That's right, I dutifully went to the store and bought all the food on Bryan's list from hotdogs, to trail mix, to chips and pop. Then I faithfully packed up all the camping gear and clothes that they would need. Bryan came home from work and we loaded up the car and sent them on their way to camp Zarahemla (about an hour west of us.) I then fed Sadie her dinner and got her ready for bed, all the while anticipating my nice quiet evening alone to do whatever I wanted. About an hour and a half after they left, I received a phone call from Bryan letting me know that they had arrived at Ensign Ranch (another church owned campsite about 1 1/2 hours northwest of Yakima.) They had gone to the wrong campgrounds! So I pulled out our atlas and checked mapquest, with the help of my sister-in-law Genesha, (our computer was kind of going through a funk) to see if there was a short cut that they could take to get to the right place without having to come back to Yakima. By the time we figured out that there was no other route, and that driving to the right place would put them arriving at about 9 o'clock at night, Bry decided that it was not worth it. So they stopped at Dairy Queen to eat dinner and let Jack play on the toys and headed home. They got home at about 9 at night, and everybodies spirits were a little shattered. The boys because they didn't get to go camping and me because my quiet night to myself was ruined. So of course Jack had taken a nap that day which means he is up until at least 10 o'clock was out digging in the dirt at 10 o'clock at night. We pretty much let him do what ever he wanted since his night was ruined. The sad part is that he probably won't ever want to go again because he thinks going on a father-son campout means driving around in dad's truck for 3 hours.

Anyway I think I have some pretty great kids. They keep us smiling and fill our lives with true joy.