Outside and Loving It!

Hooray for sunny weather!We have broken out the summer toys, have the patio furniture ready, and have spent many mornings and afternoons playing in the yard. The boys have helped me weed and garden and they love the flowers. And of course they love the trampoline! Pryson still just pushes the bikes around without even thinking about riding (that kid loves to push things) and Korver is making some tricky moves on the trampoline... he is quite the daredevil. Fun fun.

Another Easter Sunday

The boys and I were in Washington Easter Sunday, so Chris was the only one to take part in the Curtis Easter celebrations here in Utah. So Grandma Keri and Grandpa Marty still wanted to give the boys their Easter surprises and I wanted the boys to show them their cute Easter outfits, so we had a sort-of second Easter Sunday. The big gift that the boys received was a super nice left handers mitt. We were pretty excited about that. The boys had such a great time playing ball in the yard and just loving the attention their grandparents give them. The night ended with a beautiful sunset. What a great evening.

Eyes

My boys all have quite the beautiful eyes. Chris and I both have pretty vividly blue eyes (the recessive gene), so we have known that all of our children will have blue eyes. Korver's blue though is extremely unique. His are almost grey and then almost green at times. They have a muted but totally cool look. You find yourself looking closer at his eyes because you are not sure what color they are, but they are so intriguing and kind and good looking. Pryson's eye color is without a doubt blue. His are such bright blue you can see from far away. They are so happy and bright and good looking. Trayden also has some very vividly blue eyes and we will see what direction they will head for him as he gets older. But wow, such cute kids!

The picture of Pryson in the towel was from when we were looking at his eczema on his arms and legs and the picture of Korver at the table is when he sprayed the whipped cream and it splattered all over his face. Try to ignore the wide open mouth and dry snot in the other pictures :)

Some other things I wanted to mention: We saw a worm while digging in our garden the other day and Korver picked it up and showed it to me and said, "Isn't he adorable?"

Korver also always tells me about how daddy is the best at everything. Seriously everything. But the other day it made me smile because he said "I think dad is the fastest in the world.... (pause) Except Grandpa Guh. Grandpa Guh can beat dad places." Ha. Chris has also explained to him that mommy is good at things too, so it cracks me up because Korver now tells me "your really good too at [insert whatever], but daddy is so good, he is just a little better. Daddy is the best!" I love that he admires and loves his dad so much!  

Sterno Rides

With the beautiful weather, we have to break Sterno out of his slumber every once in awhile. Sterno is our amazing motorcycle. We even make a special mention of him every Monday night when we are welcoming everyone to family home evening. Korver was excited to cruise around with daddy and I think he is so cute riding on the back. Pryson, however, has turned into quite the pansy lately and many things scare him that didn't used to. Sterno is one, water is another, and any kind of ride no matter how slow is another (even the quarter rides at the mall). Funny for such a tough kid when it comes to defending himself or wiping out on the pavement. Oh well. Pryson and I had fun waving at the other two as they zoomed by.

What a CUTE boy!

Trayden is such a happy and adorable little boy. I can't get enough of those smiles! I also am in love with those PJs. A beehive and her mom from my ward gave those to me as a gift when Trayden was born and I have been super excited to put them on him. It is finally getting hot enough at night to have him wear those wonderful PJs and I love it every time I look at him in those. A cute boy in cute PJs... can't get much better than that :)

A new family moved into our neighborhood. They have a boy that is a year or two older than Korver, but I was surprised at how well they played together. It was so fun. The new boy was riding by on his scooter and we were all out in the front yard. Korver yelled "hi" to him multiple times as he passed by. I tried to help the conversation along by asking his name. Korver asked if he wanted to play. It was so cute. Korver said to him, "lets go inside and get a game or a puzzle and we can play!" He was SO excited. I loved it. I suggested they just play outside because I didn't know the family yet and I didn't want him disappearing from his mom's sight. So they raced their scooters together for a little bit. Then Korver invited him to jump on our trampoline. I told him to ask his mom, so he went home and asked and then came back over. Korver, Pryson, and the new boy all had a grand time on the trampoline and I was loving listening to them from the kitchen window. He taught Korver how to play "dead man, dead man come alive, before I count to five..." It was classic. I remembered that from my youth. They had a blast. Then it was lunch time. I found his mom's number (the relief society already emailed it out) and called to ask her if it was okay if he stayed for lunch. She said okay and he was very good company. He was very nice and everyone seemed to get along great. He lives right by us so I am excited for this friendship. We'll have to have him over again.

Ladies Getaway

Some ladies in my ward decided to put together another getaway for moms for one night at a cabin in Heber. Unfortunately it was right after spring break, so there wasn't a very big turnout. It was so relaxing though and a lot of fun! There were so few moms, that the woman whose cabin it was, told her beehive daughter and friend that they could join us. That was great too because they were great with Trayden and they are both in my beehive class at church, so it was awesome getting to know them a little better as well. I drove up with my friend Missy and we had a lot of great conversations while I downed a ton of dried mangos. When we got there we ate good food, watched two movies (The Help and Letters to Juliet) and just talked and relaxed. It really was so nice. I had my own room and Trayden went to sleep really well. The mountains were gorgeous and the view from their cabin is just pure nature- aspen trees and snow. I loved it. It was actually right by Kenny's family's cabin and I was super thrilled that I recognized the area. I saw right where we went snowmobiling with Kenny. I worked on typing some things for the blog, but mostly just chatted and relaxed. And Trayden did his first giggles up there. One of the beehives, Sarah, was being silly to Trayden and he was giggling! It is so precious and so amazing when a baby laughs! I was in love with it. The whole experience was a good break.

Neighbor Friends

I love that the kids in the neighborhood like to play with my boys.It entertains the boys, they LOVE the attention, and enjoy watching them all interact. Two girls that live nearby (9 years old) came over and were having a great time playing with Korver and Pryson. I gave them all popsicles and they were chatting and laughing and eating at our little picnic table in the backyard. It is just so fun to have neighbor friends for my boys (even if there is quite the age difference)!

Bouncer

I am so thankful for bouncers and other things that hold and entertain little babies. It makes life so much easier. Trayden is cute in the bouncer and is so fascinated by the word being upright. The problem is that whenever Trayden is in any of those things, Korver and Pryson quickly find him and fight over him and play roughly with the toys he has and such. Trayden does pretty well with them though. In the bouncer Korver and Pryson particularly have a hard time not swinging Trayden really high or spinning him in fast circles or bouncing him up and down really hard. Luckily nothing bad has happened and Trayden seems to enjoy it for the most part, but I always do have to keep an eye on things. They are cute though. When I remind Pryson to be soft he repeats "softly" and just lightly bounces it until he gets bored and wants to do something more exciting again. Ha. Cute kids.

Farm Week at Preschool

I had to teach Korver's preschool the week I returned from my Washington trip with the topic of farms and farm animals. I spent A LOT of time thinking about what I was going to do and planning things before I left. I did some preparation and then finished up the last few things when I got back. It is funny how much a little tiny bit of teaching preschool can cause me to stress. Ha. Especially because I actually enjoy that kind of thing... and I graduated in elementary education. I spent so much blasted time on those lessons (mostly going over ideas and trying to make them flow and fit together). For some reason (I will blame partly having my own kids keeping my occupied and for the age group being so young and with such small attention spans) I get all flustered when I have to teach and am excited for it to be over. But it did turn out really fun and it went well. Thursday better than Tuesday. I made this cow out of poster board and taped him up on some chairs with an udder hanging underneath (a latex glove filled with a mixture of milk and water) and then I poked small holes in the udder and had the kids "milk the cow." I thought it would be a huge hit. They liked it for the most part but were bigger fans of some of the other activities. They really seemed to "dig" the tractor activity. I gave them all mini tractors and they plowed and dug their own farm land in a box of dirt each kid had. We also made butter from cream by shaking it a lot. That is what the kids are doing in that one picture. We are in my garage because sadly it happened to be a rain storm that morning (I was planning on going outside) and a lot of the activities were pretty messy. We sang all sorts of farm songs while we were shaking the cream and we danced around. Then, near the end, I was running out of farm songs, so I said "shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your butter, shake your butter." I probably shouldn't have. Ha. Because one kid started yelling "shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your pe***!" I was so shocked I almost fell over. I was like, "no, no, lets not say that!" and I was all flustered. But luckily the kids didn't seem to register what he said... probably because they don't know the real terminology for those body parts. Apparently that child did. Ha. We also did some worksheets, read some great books, put together some really fun farm puzzles, did some singing and dancing activities, watched some short farm videos, and some crafts. The kids did have a few times of restlessness so we'd quickly move on to the next activity and I had one child who didn't want to do anything. I took pictures of all the kids milking the cow and gave it to them the next time on a card that said, "You are simply Moo-velous!" This one child who wouldn't participate refused to do the picture with the cow. I tried to encourage her to just put on the hat, then to just stand by the cow and smile. I finally just took a picture of her glaring at the camera in front of the cow. It was actually pretty cute and funny. Thursday we did a lot of similar things, but this time we painted pigs with chocolate pudding for mud, learned about the life cycle of a chicken and I let them all crack open some eggs into a bowl (this was by far their favorite activity), played farm bingo, played some math games with Easter eggs, did a lot of games with animal sounds, and made peanut butter bird feeders out of toilet paper rolls. They seemed to have a better time this day and were very active in all the activities. I did have another awkward experience though. Ha. I was telling the kids about how chickens come from eggs, but I explained that the eggs we eat are not actually baby chickens (I didn't want anyone freaking out about that) because they are not fertilized. I was just moving on when one of the kids said "fertilized means sex." Again I was stunned. Are these kids 3 and 4?! I quickly moved on. How the heck did he put those two things together... I highly doubt his parents used that word in connection to the other. Oh who knows? It just caught me off guard. But what fun would preschool be without those moments? :) I am happy it is over, but loved doing it. Next year I am paying for Korver to go to preschool. It just gets to be a lot with my three boys at home. But I will probably teach again someday. For now I am sad that Korver won't be extremely excited to have preschool at our house, but mostly relieved.

PS. Grandma Keri was so wonderful and came over both days to help keep track of Pryson and Trayden. What a lifesaver! 

Get That Spider!

Disclaimer: Do not read if you are sensitive to the killing of insects. I am for rollie pollies and lady bugs, but don't feel a bit of guilt for bees and spiders and other mean ones (like mosquitoes, etc.). Now on with the story... I was hanging up some clothes in Trayden's closet when I noticed a big spider crawling on the door. Not my favorite thing! I HATE spiders. Anyway, it crawled on the back side of the closet door, so in order to see it or kill it, you had to stick your head inside the dark closet. Not my idea of a good time. I wasn't about to do that. I remembered that Korver said he was brave and wasn't "scared of bees or spiders like mommy," so I called on him for help. I told him he needed to go inside the closet with the fly swatter and get the spider. He was a little nervous, especially because it was dark in the closet. So I called on Pryson for help. Pryson held the flashlight in the closet and Korver had the fly swatter, all snug as a bug with that nasty spider. Korver finally swiped it and it went sailing somewhere. The boys quickly came out of the closet and we shined the flashlight along the floor looking for it. We found the spider running on the floor and it went under one of the boxes in there. I pulled out the remaining items on the closet floor and then prepped the boys for attack and quickly moved the box it was under. The boys swatted and then they stepped on it. Finally we felt like it was dead. I still hate picking them up (even in a Kleenex) so I had Korver do it. He got some toilet paper and picked up the spider and both boys excitedly watched as the dead spider was tossed into the toilet. They thought it was pretty cool to flush him down. And I was relieved to have the spider gone so I could get back to hanging up clothes without fear of a spider running up my arm. 

I feel pretty lucky to have boys sometimes, so they can do the dirty work for me, and enjoy it!

A beautiful homemade mantle!

While I was gone, Chris was working a lot at work (once he was at work until 3:45am in the morning!), but he was also doing projects around the house. One of them was a surprise for me. And I certainly noticed it the second I walked in. The first picture is what our fireplace mantle originally looked like. Chris built the box under the TV to put the electronic stuff in. And then the other pictures are when he has built a new mantle and re-did the box thing. He built a door on it with glass, because we were getting a slight draft from the attic, and it looks more professional. I love it! I think it changes the entire appearance of the room and makes everything look better. I was and am extremely impressed with my hubby's custom homemade from scratch work. He is quite amazing! And I am very lucky to have such a productive man around the house. He is awesome. And I love that he surprised me with this. So nice! Oh, and I should mention that he wrote me a nice love note too. I used to get those more often when we were dating and first married and it is such a treat when I get them now. Chris is such a great guy!

Journey back to Utah

What an experience! I only drove by myself and the boys for a 3 hour drive (ended up being A LOT longer than that because of so much stopping) and decided I will never do that again with my kids at young ages and especially not at the end of an already long drive. Yikes! It was bad. Ha. Anyway, it was wonderful having Brianna with me. She is my amazing cousin that is going to BYU-Idaho right now and she so kindly offered to drive with me for most of the journey to Utah (I dropped her off in Burley, Idaho where she got her car and drove the rest of the way to Rexburg). She was SO good with the boys! She was extremely helpful, pretty much doing everything for the boys while I was driving and when we were stopped and she drove when I needed to breastfeed. I seriously considered hiring her as a permanent nanny (she was that good), but I'm sure my boys confirmed to her about her decision to stop being a nanny (she did it for another family before). Ha.  We made it to McDonalds in the morning without too many problems (again they had a cold outside playground... sad). Korver peed his pants and I had to dig around the suitcase in the back to figure out what we could put on him. Pryson had some melt-downs and Trayden was fussy in the carseat. They did all sleep for a little while though and it was super nice to catch up and chat with Brianna. Our next stop for lunch was desperately needed. Trayden was screaming and the older boys were totally antsy. I thought it would be a good idea to go through a drive-thru and eat lunch at a park so the boys could run around and play. BAD idea! I saw a playground off the road on our way in (it was at a school) and decided we'd go there. We went to the Wendy's drive-thru and thought the kids would be happy with some frosties. Unfortunately they didn't fit in the holder they gave us and they kept falling over and frosty got on Brianna's pillow and the car. We found the park but couldn't see how to get in. Then we saw a gate. So we parked on the main road (a ways back from the gate because it was on a busy road and needed a wider spot to park the car. So we got out and grabbed the kids and the food (the frosties kept falling and our hands were full and the car was a mess). We hauled ourselves, the kids and everything along the gravel to the fence where we learned that it was locked with a padlock. Sad day. I was frustrated and there was no way I was getting back in the car with the grumpy kids and messy food. The ground was gravel and on a main road and we couldn't see any way into the park or school and if we walked all the way around it would be a quite a hike on unknown streets. Anyway, I made the executive decision that we were going to eat lunch in the side yard of a house down a little farther. Yes, we ate lunch in some random person's yard. They had some trees that slightly shielded us from being seen by the road, so we sat down. Next horrible part, we didn't bring any blanket and didn't have anything to lay Trayden on, so we got out the diaper changing pad and laid him on that. He was grumpy so that didn't last long. And to make matters way worse, it was really windy and cold. We were freezing. It made the frosties a lot less appetizing. And the wind was blowing the bags and napkins and straws everywhere. Ugg. It was an uncomfortable and hurried lunch. Korver also had to go to the bathroom and it donned on me that if you go to a park to eat, sometimes you don't have a bathroom. In this case, we most certainly didn't. So yes, I had Korver pee in the random person's yard on the tree next to the road. I was praying they wouldn't look out their window. Thankfully no one called the police on us :) Giving Pryson a frosty outside of a high chair was also a big mistake. It was everywhere! He was sticky and messy and all I had were some wipes. Finally we got out of there cold, messy, and without any playing time. We stopped at Wallgreens to throw away our trash and for Brianna and I to use the bathrooms. My boys (and me too) probably looked like hard core street trash, messy and worn. Oh well. I was even happy to be in the car again after that experience. We somehow survived another few hours of crying and almost running out of gas in the middle of nowhere, and we finally made it to my mom's cousin's house in Burley, where Brianna left her car. She jumped out and took off. I was breastfeeding Trayden before I took off again and I let the boys run around in Roger's yard (my mom's cousin I haven't seen in FOREVER). They headed right over to the trampoline but it was super windy and pretty cold because of that. We looked like ragamuffins, but Roger came out from his house (I quickly adjusted my shirt and pulled Trayden away just in time), and he was amazingly nice! He was seriously one of the nicest people I have ever met. I know I've met him before, but it has been so long! He was so great with Korver and Pryson and when I was finished feeding Trayden in the car, he invited me in to my mom's Uncle Lynn and Aunt Lorraine's house (next door). He held Trayden and played with him and his kids played with my older boys. And Uncle Lynn and Aunt Lorraine were so nice and everyone treated me so well. I almost didn't want to leave (and they invited me to sleep over in one of their gust rooms), but I really wanted to get back home and knew it was only around 3 hours away... if I only knew what was in store. Ha. I got to see one of my mom's cousins kids that was my same age and he had two kids and that was fun. Then with their kind help, I packed the kids up in the car and headed out. But seriously I want to take up their offer and stay there overnight on another trip up to Washington later. They were so great! I just wish I was more presentable and not so scatter-brained and awkward (I couldn't remember anything about them to make conversation... until I left of course).  Now the last hours in the car were pretty much pure yells and cries and screams. I tried feeding Trayden again and again but apparently he just didn't want to be in the carseat and nothing was going to make him happy. And no, he most certainly wasn't going to sleep. Instead he did the really sad little baby cry over and over and over and over and over. And of course the older boys didn't like that and were done being in their carseats too so they were yelling in frustration and crying. I tried to put on a movie and Korver freaked out. In tears he was screaming at me for "no more TV!" I was so mad. I needed them to blasted watch another movie for my sanity. But he wouldn't have it. He would just scream when I tried to turn it on, and he is the only one that really watches it anyway, so that was a failure. We stopped at multiple places where I let the kids play on the playground and bought a quick snack. We had dinner at another McDonalds with an indoor playground. I changed poopy diapers and fed Trayden and hoped for the best, but every single time we got back in the car the kids would be screaming again. It was horrible. At one point, just north of Salt Lake, I hit dead stopped traffic because of construction. I almost wigged out. I was so ready to get out of that car with the screaming kids. I called Chris and thankfully the traffic didn't last long and I was back up to speed again. Trayden finally wore himself out from screaming on Timpanogas Highway (less than 10 minutes to my house) and fell asleep. Pryson continued to scream and cry though. Chris was out waiting for me when we arrived. What a blessed reunion. I was so happy to be out of that car. We left at 4am and we arrived at 10pm at night. I even lost an hour in there- so it was a 17 hour road trip. Whoa. And I can't believe I will do that road trip again this summer... but thankfully Chris will be with me this next time. And being with my family is worth it. I just have to keep reminding myself that...

Grandma and Grandpa Guh's house

Wow! A picture can say a thousand words, but a thousand pictures can tell you about a trip to Sammamish? Sadly, it can't even do that, I am adding more words down here. That is definitely a large amount of pictures, but they do show many of the good times we had in Washington. And there would be more if I hadn't forgotten my camera when I went to my sister, Amber's house overnight. Dang! Anyway, let me just start out by saying- SAMMAMISH (and surrounding areas) are gorgeous and heavenly! I don't know how I got so lucky, but the weather was absolutely perfect while I was there. It was in the beginning of April and usually that is still a time for overcast and rain there, but no. It was sunny and delightful and green and I fell in love with the area all over again. Man, that place is sure heavenly when the sun is out! We spent most of our trip outdoors. The kids played outside a lot and were loving it! Mostly on the swing set and pushing things up and down the sloped driveway. My dad did also take Korver and then Tabor on a motorbike ride. They looked so cute... especially because Korver was holding on the back and he was so small. I don't know if my dad should have been riding a motorbike with his hand in a splint though... :) And Korver decided to wear my fath's sunglasses later and looked so cute. And there were lots of ice cream and Popsicles eaten that week.

Trayden had many firsts there too. He went in an exersaucer for the first time and was happy to be upright and looking around. He did really well. He also sat in a bumbo for the first time and was so adorable. We'd stick him in there at dinner time and he would just sit on the table and watch everyone. So cute! Although he'd tip his head back when he would smile really big and it looked a little uncomfortable. Luckily he has a pretty strong neck. And he also sat in the counter highchair thing and did really well, although he was slumped over quite a bit in that one. He loved not laying down all the time so that was good and there wasn't as many hands to hold him as there usually is at my parents house because there were three babies needing attention... plus the other little rascals :)

We also had some excitement when a bird flew into the open back door of the house. It was just a little Golden Kinglet. It couldn't get out and was in the highest windows of the vaulted great room. My dad didn't know what to do, so he grabbed an extension painters pole and tried to guide it. It was so high up and he couldn't really see, so he ended up kind of smashing the poor thing. We were all sad. He fluttered over to the upstairs open hallway (that looks over the great room) and just landed. He was very still and Chad picked him up very carefully and carried him outside. He set the bird on the outside railing. It just stood there for awhile (probably recovering from the hit) and we tried to give it some food and water. Ha. Then he eventually flew away. It was crazy watching that bird so close up. You could literally get an inch a way and it wouldn't even flinch. He was a beautiful bird too and the kids were excited about it.

I also have to mention that cute picture of Laine and Amy. To put the picture to scale, Laine is only one year old (not even 18 months yet) and is pushing a stroller with Amy in it. That stroller is actually super tiny. She is in a doll stroller! She is so petite! And she fits perfectly.

For FHE  Amber had this homemade magnet fishing game (Emily made it for her) and the kids really liked it. I'm thinking about possibly making one for my family.

Although I have no pictures, my dad did have surgery on his hand while we were there. He was ripping out the carpet in the old house and switched the blade on the x-acto knife and pulled with the same force without thinking and the fresh blade quickly cut through the carpet and a tendon on the back of my fath's hand. So that was a downer. And he doesn't do well being crippled in any way... but he still figures out how to do everything anyway. Anyway, we were laughing so hard because he was put out for his surgery and my mom came to get him (the doctors thought he was ready to go) and my dad was totally out of it. My mom took hysterical pictures and videos of my dad smiling and not having a clue. He couldn't really stand up or anything but my mom tried to pretend he was fine because she was ready to leave after waiting there for so long. Finally my dad came to and he didn't remember anything that anyone said or did even though he seemed "awake." The doctor even showed him all the surgery pictures already and he had zero recollection... so he asked to see them again. Ha. My dad did not like being so out of control of your own body like that. But it was hysterical hearing them talk about it when they got back.

Autumn colored and trimmed my hair, and that was nice. And of course we did a lot of talking.

At Amber's house we also had a blast. She has an adorable little table with benches that the kids sat on to eat and color. They danced in the living room, played like crazy upstairs, attempted to go to a park (a huge storm blew in when they got there, so they returned, but the storm didn't last too long), got muddy in the backyard, and Pepper, Korver, and Pryson all had a sleepover in the same room. Pepper and Korver slept next to each other on the floor. Amber had Tabor sleep in her room and I got to sleep on Pepper's bed with Trayden in Kitt's crib (Kitt was still sleeping in a pack 'n play in Amber's room). I had it pretty dang good. This was the first time I saw Amber's house and I loved it! It is super nice and has a great open layout and great closets and nice bathrooms. It was just a fun place. We also went to the Reptile Museum near her house while we were there. It was crazy! There were HUGE snacks and alligators and turtles and lizards. The place was a little run down and you were never sure if the animals could just push up their lids and escape or knock down the flimsy cage wall. I found one of the African hissing cockroaches on the ground. One of the rattle snakes coiled up, was rattling and head was up in position to strike when Korver was standing in front of its cage. It freaked me out. And the alligator had some pretty massive teeth and was just sitting there behind a tiny plastic wall watching us. Almost all of the snakes were moving around and I made the mistake of reading about them and how many people they kill a year. The chameleons were pretty cute though and there was a two-headed turtle. Overall, the place was really cool and I'm glad we went. Although I did say a prayer of gratitude that nothing killed us while we were inside. Fun fun. We also went shopping at a Good Will (thrift store) by Amber's house and I found some good buys that I was excited about. I actually bought some men's designer jeans. I didn't know they were men's until later when I noticed on the tag. They don't look like men's really but I can tell now that I know because the fit is a little different around the waist and such. But I really like them. It is always fun to go shopping anyway.

We also brought all eight kids to grandpa and grandma Newton's house and it was quite chaotic. Korver really wanted to swim in the pool but sadly it wasn't ready for the swimming season yet. The kids did fight over and enjoy the swings though and pretty much trample the yard and destroy the house. Laine tipped over a potted plant in the house (lots of dirt), Pepper fell over in a chair inside to reveal tons of pebbles hidden in her pockets that were now all over their floor, the asparagus plants got stepped on, the daffodils were picked, the raspberry plants were hit, leaves and dirt were thrown into the pool, etc., etc. Grandma Newton was so kind and made us all a delightful meal of fried chicken and it is a good thing we ate on their deck because food was all over the place. Pryson held his plate vertically and everything went on the ground. I asked him to pick it up and he did put everything back on his plate to lift it up vertically again. There were lots of poopy diapers and screaming kids, but it was nice visiting with my grandparents again and I am grateful they let us come over, even if we did bring quite the rowdy crew. My grandma let me pick out some earrings again and I was thrilled. I love earrings! Delight!

One time Pryson went missing. My friend Brandi came over to visit me (at nine months pregnant with her 2nd). It was so awesome to visit with her!!! She is so fun! But I sometimes get distracted at my parents house when my friends come over and I don't keep track of my boys as well as I should. No one had seen Pryson in awhile so I went outside and around the house calling his name. I wish I could remember what exactly he said, but I heard his voice as I was walking in the kitchen and he said something really funny. I didn't know where the voice was coming from and opened the pantry to check and sure enough, he shut the door to the pantry, was sitting on the ground just eating Cheez-its to his hearts content. Ha. Silly boy.

My sisters and I also went and got a pedicure together and it was delightful. My feet feel rough and sore a lot lately and I truly enjoy the leg and foot massage. I decided to get my toes painted purple this time (Autumn convinced me) and I actually really liked it. I accidentally left my shoes (I didn't have flip flops and wore the store's free ones out) and that was embarrassing, but its all good. And we sat next to a girl in there that was getting ready for her wedding the next day and she was so hyper and flustered and excited that I was giddy for her. How exciting. We also grabbed Jamba Juices on the way back and that was splendid as well. Yum.

The girls I used to babysit a ton also came over to see me and the boys. I am also friends with their mom (Janet) and it was great to see all of them. We had to take a picture with Ciara and Trayden because they share a birthday. Fun fun.

My parents were also working on fixing their old house the whole time we were there. It has been a non-stop project for them and the whole situation is a long and ugly story. Basically the guy who rented there totally screwed them over, claimed bankruptcy, lived in the house without paying rent for 5 months or so, and completely trashed and destroyed the place. He left my parents with a lot of legal bills (just to get him evicted), a TON of renovations to do (some they don't even know how to fix- like the dog pee and poop smell throughout the house and garage), and very little money. My parents are now trying to sell it again so they are trying to fix it up as fast as possible. Anyway, my parents did clean out the hot tub and re-heated it while we were there and took all the grandkids to go swimming. It was fun although we had to carry the kids across the wood floor in the lodge because they still hadn't been extensively cleaned and had had dog feces all over them. Yuck. Pryson is a little bit of a pansy when it comes to water and he wasn't too excited about going in (neither was Laine), but Korver loved it. And so did Trayden. Trayden looked adorable in the swim diaper that was way too big for him. What a cute little guy! 

We also had the pleasure of seeing Claire Salmon during our trip. She was in town and getting ready for her wedding. One morning we played volleyball with her and some others from my mom's ward and then we got together later that night with some other people to play some more. It was awesome! I was thinking that I need to start playing volleyball again because it is so much fun and a work out. Only now that I am a mom of three in less than four years and have literally lost all muscle and gained quite a bit of weight, I feel sore after playing when I haven't for so long... but it is a good sore feeling! It felt great to move and play in a sport again. I wasn't very good and my timing was off, but I loved it anyway. I am going to try to get some people to play co-ed sometime so I can play with Chris again. That is my favorite. Anyway, we also were able to stop by at Claire's bridal shower on the way to bringing Autumn to the airport and it is so weird that everyone is growing up. But totally awesome too!

We were also able to go to Gramy's house and that is always a rush of good memories. I love that place! Not to mention that Gramy made a splendid lunch (chicken salad sandwiches) and a crazy delightful dessert. Strawberry chocolate cheescake. Mmmm... so good! The boys had a grand time exploring the backyard and going on an adventure with me while Gramy held Trayden. The boys wanted to look for animals and Gramy informed us that there were a lot of bear sightings recently, so I hoping to avoid that specific type of animal, and thankfully we did. We explored up by the barn, by the sheds, all the way around the house, by the creek, and the driveway. It was fun. I brought my video camera along and got some of the adventure on camera. And of course they had to throw rocks in the creek, so that was fun. They also played inside with some of Gramy's toys around the coffee table and it just reminded me of us when we were growing up. It was great talking to Gramy and we were sad to go. But we certainly honked the "P" on our way out... can't let go of family tradition :)

 
The picture with the Korver, Pryson, and Grandpa with fly swatters was one of my favorite times over there. There was a fly in the mud room, so they closed the doors, grabbed the swatters and all three of them were swinging like crazy trying to get it. So funny. They were successful.

The last picture is of my parents and Korver and Pryson on our last night with them (we would be leaving at 4am the next morning). We sure miss them already. They were so good to us and gave the boys a lot of attention and everyone had a good time. We stayed very comfortably and ate lots of good food and life was just grand in Sammamish WA. We were sad to go, but excited to come with daddy later this summer. (I'm especially excited about the coming with daddy part... I missed him).