Update...long

So, I figure I should probably do a little update on the family. And I'll add a few pics in there as well. Most recently I just returned from Young Women's camp. It began on Monday Memorial Day for the older girls. I took 2 of them to camp that morning and set my tent up that I'd be sleeping in. Then I took the remainder of the girls up on Tuesday and stayed until Friday. They do girls camp a little differently out here than what I was used to. They go as a stake and then camp as levels. At first I was not thrilled about this but then I changed my tune when it was explained to me that this is one of the few times girls get to be with so many girls that are their same age and members of the church. So, that meant that I would not be camping with my ward. Rather they call a person to be a "level specialist" then there are at least 3 other camp directors working with them. I was assigned to be with the 2nd years. I absolutely loved these women I worked with and the girls we had. I had a fabulous time. I was utterly exhausted but it was so worth it. I so want to be there next year. In fact all of us leaders in 2nd level want to work together again cause we had so much fun.

So that left Danny at home with the kids for the week. I think he managed just fine. I didn't leave him any food in the house so he had to do some grocery shopping with all 4 kids in tow. He had his truck in the shop the weekend before I left but they did not have it done when I left. He gave the kids the choice of calling a cab to take them to the repair shop or using that cab money to get McDonald's if they would walk up the street to the shop. They chose McDonald's. We clocked it before we left and it was a 2.1 mile walk-up hill. It seriously is up hill the whole time. But they walked it to get the truck just so they could go to McDonald's. He took them to Worlds of Fun one day. Stayed up late watching movies. Hot tub every night. Who knows what else they did. Danny did say that he never once unloaded the dishwasher-the kids did that. He made them pick up their rooms, clean the family room upstairs and downstairs each night. And yet they maintain that mommy makes them work more. And to that I say they are full of crap. They don't do squat compared to what their father had them do. They survived though. I'd have to say that Colton was by far the one that missed me the most. He was so happy to have me back.

Audrey fell asleep in the shower. She was so tired. Sundays really throw things off for her because church is during nap time.

Audrey and mommy all dressed up for church. I thought it'd be kind of funny to dress alike. We both just ironically had this stuff in our closets. I know a few people laughed at us in church. I think it was more noticeable since I was helping sub in nursery.

This is what we did for the boys' last day of school. I saw the banner idea from pinterest so I adapted it to fit our needs. I wanted them to feel proud that they'd just finished another year of school And get excited for their summer vacation. They got out of school on Friday, May 24, 2012. I know that the kids on the bus were watching the boys run through the banner. In fact I think the bus driver didn't move forward until they had run through the sign. They both ran at the same time but unfortunately I didn't get that shot because I had to help Colton hold the sign. The white sheets are 2 stick figures of the boys that Colton drew for them. Then they had to run through the sprinkler, Drop some marbles down the marble run (pool noodle) and finally be rewarded with a otter pop. I know they loved this special surprise. Then we took them to Worlds of Fun for a few hours. It was a good start to summer vacation for them. Nate was especially very good about thanking us all day long for the stuff we did for them. Josh was quick to copy his brother's gracious attitude.

Our special banner. Colton and Audrey helped color.

Josh was super excited about the sprinkler. He wanted his swimsuit on first but I had to reassure him that it was ok to go through in those clothes.

Nate is getting ready to drop a marble down our marble run. Another awesome idea from pinterest.

This is a catfish that Danny is holding. His brothers were kind of mean to Colton that morning before they went to school. So, Danny got home early and took him fishing all by himself. He had so much fun. They brought the fish home so that they could get a picture of it and rub it in their brothers face that he went fishing. After I got the shot, they took it back to the lake and let it go. They went to the lake down the street from Penguin Park.

I had to add in a picture of my car cake I made Colton. He had to touch it for the picture for some unknown reason. It was going to be red. I bought strawberry frosting thinking that would help be a good starting point in getting to red. Well, I just could not get it to a true red. I began frosting it and it was just too close to pink than red. I couldn't do that to my boy. So, off to the store we ran for more frosting. And that's when I went with orange to cover up the pink. Yellow would have been better but it wouldn't have covered the pink. He loved the car just not the orange color.

Outside view

 Ugh, this is what your car looks like when it is broken into. Little did we know this was just the beginning of a string of money dings to our bank account. Right now we are in the saying of: "when it rains, it pours!" A few weeks ago, the 2 kids did not want to go to the gym but I wanted to work out. So, I convinced them to let me walk around the trail and we would go to penguin park. I parked down by the lake so that we could walk the majority of the trail, hit the park and play then finish the walk by going back to the car. And that's exactly what we did. I loaded up the stroller while they were  by the front of the car looking at the water. I walk up to them and notice an open window and freak out cause I had my purse down on the passenger floor and didn't realize I left it down. Immediately I was made aware that it wasn't down but rather broken. And of course my purse was long gone. I was freaking out. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. There were so many people out there fishing and walking the trail. It was a very busy morning full of people. There were 2 women in front of the suburban so I asked if they had seen or heard anything. Of course they said no. I called the police. Filed a report. Called Danny and he began canceling everything. They did manage to charge $48 at a gas station but that was all on the credit cards. They crappier thing was that we had just begun that month doing a cash envelop of money for our groceries. So, we had close to $200 dollars left in there and they got off with that. We never have that much money on us and the first month we try to be a lot better we get punched in the gut. It's just been a hassle trying to get everything changed or canceled and what not. We did have our world's of fun tickets in there. And to replace those, they wanted to charge us $75 total (15 each). But I emailed them and asked for some leniency and consideration. They agreed as long as I took a copy of the police report and for that it cost us $11. Which I thought was high. I had also just purchased a weight watcher calculator and they got away with that. My purse was a nice expensive one that Danny bought me for Christmas and I really liked it. It just really stinks that we worked hard for that money and they come and take it from you and cause destruction because of their selfishness and wickedness. It's made me realize how much I had kept in my wallet and how many rewards cards I had in there and have to get replaced whenever I go to that store. Needless to say that it's been a nuisance and frustration.

inside view

Lots and lots of hours have been spent in the sandbox. They have really enjoyed it this summer. I have begun my love/hate relationship with the sand.

Well, that's what we've been up to lately. Danny and Nate will be going to cub scout day camp next week. I'm looking forward to going to Nauvoo with my family and then spending some time up there. I am trying to potty train Audrey. She loves underwear, but occasionally forgets to pee in a toilet and not where ever she happens to be at the moments. I have not been enjoying cleaning that up so I may wait a little longer on her. We are going to try and get our money's worth out of our season passes. We just went to Oceans of Fun and I loved that. We will be going there frequently during these hot summer days. Now that camp is over with for me, I plan on enjoying my summer with the kids and doing some fun things with them.

Happy 4th Birthday Colton

My little bear is 4 today! I love this little guy so much! I have really enjoyed having him around with me. I'm going to miss him when he starts preschool next year. I'm not sure what I'll do with out him. He's such a big motivator to get things clean. Audrey likes to sing "The wheels on the bus," so after we've sang the usual lyrics we add our own. We have something for each of our family that we say. Colton's goes like this: Colton on the bus says we need clean this up, we need clean this up, we need clean this up. He has a really awesome cleaning gene in him (at least for now). He is always helping me clean up and make dinner. In fact one afternoon I had just laid Audrey down to nap and came out and asked him what he wanted to do with mommy. His reply: "Let's clean up." No joke. I asked about playing play dough, puzzles, going outside and he wanted nothing of that but to clean. So, we preceded to clean up the family room. Colton is a huge tease. He loves to play tricks on all of us.And most of the time he cracks himself up so that makes us laugh. And speaking of laugh he has the loudest laugh of our family. He is so dramatic in his laugh. He loves to hang out with his brothers. He can wrestle them down to the ground. He loves his sister but most of the day he is busy tormenting her. I call them frenemies because they love to bug each other ALL DAY LONG. Colton is also very good at sports. Somehow he has a natural ability to throw a ball really good and far. He was playing soccer with his brothers and was dribbling the ball and keeping it away from Nate. He can throw a football through holes in a tarp and make like most of them. Colton is such a silly little boy. We love having him in our family!

Here are some random pictures of Colton over the years but I thought they tended to showcase his personality.

Our family right after Colton joined the world. We were so thrilled to welcome him to our family. We also loved having the bragging rights to having the biggest baby of our families thus far! 9lb 10oz

He is the baby brother but look at those cheeks. I think he only was 2 months old in this shot. He started big and kept getting bigger.

Look at these thighs! I loved this chunky little man! And also being the 3rd child, he had to learn to sleep anywhere and still can. He loves to sleep downstairs by himself. I don't know why he even has a bed upstairs because the kids sleeps on the couch at least 5 nights a week.

Although the kid has cleaning tendencies that I occasionally worry about. He does know how to get dirty. He's caked in wet sand! We had a big rain storm and the boys had a blast playing in the dirt.

I came across this photo and thought how ironic that around 1 he is out helping me wash the car. He truly is a great cleaner. If I actually want the table cleaned and washed all off I ask him. He sprays it down with simple green first then washes it with a wash cloth. And every inch of that table is clean. I had one of his brother's do it and let's just say that it was not all clean.

I liked this shot of him because I usually get some kind of funky smiley face from him when I ask him to smile.

If I do make some cookies, that kid will help. But he will constantly be sneaking bites of cookie dough in his mouth. He thought he was being sneaky and getting a bite without being caught. And he really is very quiet about it all. He'll take a bite, chew it and casually come back to the family room saying something like, "I not eating anything."

Now this is a face I get rather frequently. Seriously, I see this all the time from him. It's part of his leave me alone, don't talk to me faces.

Again, him and his brother out in the sandbox getting dirty. Again, showing he can get dirty. They are both shirtless, in fact these 2 would actually run around in underwear all day, everyday if they could.

Proof again, that he likes to clean. He washed the screen door. Just the other day, I was doing laundry and he came and asked if he could clean the boys' bathroom. So, I got him the Clorox wipes and let him clean the sink. He spent a good 30 minutes just wiping that sink down from top to bottom. Then he help me clean their toilet. We had started with a mostly full container of wipes but he went through all of them. Like I said, he's very detailed and meticulous.

Colton and his cousin Sofie. He loves to play with his cousins. He likes to play with friends. He loves having people come to our house. Everyday I hear, "is someone coming over here today or are we going somewhere today?"

Here he is mowing the lawn with his dad. He was out there following him all night long. I called him in for dinner and he wouldn't come because they weren't done mowing. I think he truly thought he was mowing the grass. And he never did come in until Danny was done.

I figure a true clean freak would not be able to hold a caterpillar and enjoy them self. Colton is the first boy to actually pick one up and not freak out. Because of him doing it, his brothers finally held a caterpillar for the first time. He also was the first one to pick up the little minnows when we go fishing. He started trying to grab one in the bucket so then all the boys followed his example.

This is my newest tradition for birthdays. I put crepe paper up and they have to burst through their door on their birthday morning.

And this is what I had watching me while I did the taping. He was so obviously tired. But he insisted on being up and watching me do it to his door. And then to top it off, the next morning he crawled under the paper and wouldn't run through it. He just wanted to pull it down. The little stinker wouldn't do it, he just pulled it down.

Anyways, that my Colton boy! We love him. He brings such a fun spirit to our home. He is a big time momma's boy! Happy Birthday my big blue eyed baby boy! We love you!

Fishing at Smithville Lake

This is our catch when we went fishing a month ago at Smithville Lake. I forgot to post these pictures. A co-worker of Danny's took us up and showed up how to catch some Carp. It was such a different fishing experience than I was accustomed to. He helped Nate cast his pole out and immediately he had a fish on his line. It was crazy. He told us that it was spawning time since then we've heard we haven't made it to the spawning season. I don't know who's right but it was pretty fun. Other loosing 4 brand new fishing poles because we left when it was dark. The poles were leaning on the side of the truck and we forgot about that and headed off. Well, there was only one other family left up there so we can put 2 and 2 together and get the answer to what happened to them. It's unfortunate too because Danny and his friend Justin were back up there fishing the next morning at 6am and they were no where in sight-they were the first ones there too.That was a bummer.

Big huge toad sunbathing when we got there.

Colton and Audrey lounging with their Sonics. We love Sonic!

Everyone waiting for a fish to bite.

My Mr Josh. We were actually fishing on the day of his birthday celebration. We are crazy but he loved it!

2012 Family Pics

I had my friend Michelle from My Fancy Photo take our pictures just recently. I think they turned out really well. She did a great job and got what I was looking for. Now the hard part will be picking one of the family that I want to turn into a canvas photo. If you want to give me your opinion on what would look awesome, please-I'm begging you-give me your vote. So, in no particular order her are some of the favorites. There are so many more cute ones that are sepia, black and white or different poses, these is just a sampling. Let me know what ya think!

Josh's is 6!

Where in the world has the time gone. I can't believe this little guy is 6! It's crazy! We left California and the Marine Corps when this guy was just a few months old and now he's finishing his kindergarten year. He has some major spunk. He looks quiet and timid but he is rather loud and sometimes obnoxious. We should have realized this when at 2 months old he cried the ENTIRE time we traveled from California to Utah. And again the ENTIRE trip from Syracuse to Bear Lake. This kid did not like the car seat, the stroller, anything that strapped him down and limited his movement. He's always been a mover. He began rolling over at 2-3 weeks old. I know this sounds crazy but it's true, I have video to back it up. I know he started crawling around 4 months and walking when he was 8-9months old. This kid has been determined to move around. He might be little but he's got determination on his side.

 I love seeing the growth Josh has made this year in school. He started school a little bit behind, not knowing all his alphabet or his numbers. But he has caught up and knows his alphabet, can count to over 100+, is now reading words, constantly trying to sound out words and spell them. I had the kids write down words they knew while listening to conference. I late found Josh's paper and was so impressed with the words he was trying to write. They weren't all spelled write but you could tell what he was trying to spell. His acedmics have come tenfold. I chatted with his teacher today and she had nothing but praises for him. She wanted to let me know that she has really enjoyed seeing his mind just open up and the growth she's seen in him has been amazing. I, too, have been amazed at his advancements this year. And honestely, I give her alot of credit, she's a great teacher. I have come to realize with him that he doesn't like to let on to how much he does know or how smart he is. He kind of plays us and lets us think he's not as smart as he is. He is smart boy.

 He is such a cute litle boy. I love his true dimply smile-it melts my heart everytime. He is a spittin image of his father. Heaven help us, cause he really has his personality and temperment too.

 I hope he had a great birthday. We had to split it into a 2 day party. Because we had swim lessons on the day of his birthday and we didn't feel like we'd be able to do everything that day. So, on Monday we checked the kids out of school early and went fishing. I think he really enjoyed himself. Then we came home and let him open up his presents. After dinner, we got in the hot tub. Then it was time for cake and ice cream. So, all these pictures we actually taken on the day before his actual birthday. 

The day of his birthday, I took him a Happy Meal and ate lunch with him. I bought him some licorice ropes for his school bday treat. Later that night we had his birthday dinner. He had requested chicken legs and mac n cheese which really translated to KFC. And he loved it! And then we headed off to swim lessons and of course I couldn't deny him some dessert on his bday so we had some ice cream. This kid is a great kid. We wouldn't be the same without him. We love him so much especially his little Audrey. That girl adores her Joshy. She follows him everywhere, hangs on him, clings to him in the hot tub-never letting go of him, pulls him by the hand and takes him everywhere she wants him to be. He is quite the lady's man. He really does treat her really well and is very patient with her. I think the girls are going to be after our Josh when he's older. Anyways, for now he's our little Josh! And this is our Joshy on his birthday! 

My big 6 year old Josh fishing his heart away.

Josh with his fake smile and Lego cake.

This is my attempt at a Lego cake. It turned out ok. It was such a paint to frost and work with. Definitely recommend using fondant.

Josh was super thrilled with his new camera.

He was super-duper excited about his gumball machine. This is seriously all he wanted

This expression says it all. He had drooled over this beyblade for months.

Again he was happy to receive darts for his nerf gun.

A very pleased boy with his very own lantern