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.