THEY CAN BE TAUGHT!

When we're helping we're happy...  or "that's right, he can be taught!" (my fave line from Aladdin)  AJ wanted to help wash dishes and then Levi wanted to help too... I taught AJ and then he taught Levi and we all did it together, and they even did a great job AND without arguing!    I was so pleased I paid each of them a quarter, now I feel like I'm running a sweatshop or something.  These are my future missionaries/husbands in training, you know, raise them up in the way they should go...

SWEET GIRL

Before we left Idaho and sold the boys horses R promised them he would replace them as soon as possible.  Since we've been back Jake has been on the computer almost daily looking for his new horse.  Moving is expensive and so the poor guy kept getting put off for my first paycheck.  I got paid last Thursday and Wednesday night he had sent me 3 new horses to go see.  We saw them and this sweet girl won Caleb's heart.   None of the other's worked out but have no fear, Jake is still looking, daily!
  So... this sweet girl was found wandering in the desert.  She wandered onto someone's property skin and bones and a dead look in her eyes.  They called the BLM and long story short after the long process of trying to find her owners she was sold to them and then to someone else and now to Caleb.  She has great ground manners and other than still being too skinny, but much better, she seems healthy.  Caleb saddled her,  rode her and when we bought her, caught her and loaded her into the trailer without any problems.  She fit right into our herd and now she and Tiger are always together except that she eats alone.  So welcome to the family Isabel.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY STUD

I have the greatest husband on earth or as he likes to say EEARTH (if you've ever seen Lilo and Stitch you know how to say that right) but back to the point.  He isn't perfect, thank goodness or he wouldn't put up with me, but I love him like no other.  He makes time for the kids.  He makes time for us.  He is never satisfied with mediocre.

He seeks to continually improve himself and those around him. He is a hard worker, an honest man, he has a great sense of humor.  He is so handsome I just love to look at him.  He loves to give service to anyone who may need it and frequently volunteers me to help him, which I am grateful for.  He honors his priesthood and magnifies his calling.  He is so stinking funny, I love his sense of humor.

I mean how can you not love this guy?  I am so grateful he chose me and is such a great father for our sons!  I love you R

SUMMER PART III (I KNOW YOU'RE THINKING HOW MANY PARTS COULD THERE BE?)

 Probably my favorite vacation is camping.  I love San Diego and all but camping is soooo much more relaxing for me.  I know there is dirt but since it's unavoidable I don't have to worry about the boys getting dirty or messing up the house with it.  They can't break anything, really.  We generally camp far enough away from others that they boys can be boys without bothering anyone else.  I don't have to clean really... it's just so much nicer than being in a hotel somewhere and worrying about the boys calling someone on the phone or breaking the tv or an arm jumping from bed to bed, their fave hotel past-time, or bothering the guests below, above or next to us.  You get the idea I'm sure.  We planned to go camping on Memorial weekend but since there is a well deserved fire restriction we had to postpone to the next weekend.    Anyway up to Payson we went.  Our good friends came up for dinner and to hang but couldn't stay, still fun and glad they came and brought the BIGGEST marshmellows ever known to man for s'mores.  Karla and Greg came with the coolest little trailer ever!  If you ever want to laugh out loud, ask Karla for the picture of Greg with the giant marshmellow oozing out of his mouth, classic!

R has decided to try his hand at fly fishing so this trip was his virgin effort.  He only lost 2 flies and caught 0 fish but in his defense we had to leave to come home for church right when the fish were starting to bite.This was also AJ's first ever fishing expedition and as you can see, he was ready!  So excited to go!

On Saturday Grandpa Dan and Mary came up for the day and to go fishing with us, thank goodness because even though we just wanted them to come and spend some time with us, Grandpa Dan was awesome with helping the boys, all of them, with their fishing poles.

Caleb has decided to try fly fishing also.  He and Jake and R took a class at Cabelas the week before we went to start learning the basics.

Jake and Caleb wisely decided to each get a different pole and share so that they could do both traditional and fly fishing.  Such smart boys!

Levi fished also but somehow the only pic I got of him was his bum trying to peak out while he was raiding the tackle box, at least I think that's what he was doing.  It's always hard to come home but at the same time, it's nice to sleep in a bed again and take a hot shower.  I'm so thankful for the time our family and friends took to come and share our weekend with us.  We are super excited to go again in a month or so, after our schedules calm down so if you're game...  we love to have friends go with us!

SUMMER FUN PART II

We have the most awesomest friends.  That is one of the few things, well pretty much the only thing, I miss about ID is the awesome people there.  Still we also have AWESOME friends here and after the splashpad we had some friends over the next day for bbq and cards.  It also happened to be a great friends b-day so we celebrated that too.  They brought some yummy cupcakes with patriotic frosting, being that it was Memorial day weekend after all, and as you can see all the kids enjoyed them to the fullest. 

We had a variety of red white and blue faces afterward.  Such a great time.  I count myself blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life!

SUMMER FUN (FROM THE BEGINNING, SORT OF)

One of the great things about the summer here is having all my kids home to do fun stuff with.  Another great thing is having good friends who are equally fun and adventurous so we get to go on lots of outings.  R is fond of saying that I am glutton for punishment because I choose to take all the kids out on outings rather than spend the summer in the house.  What he is only starting to understand is that 4 boys in the house, bored all summer are infinitely more difficult to handle than 4 boys out in public entertained.  So that being said when my good friend Darice suggested a playdate at the splashpad with not just ours but lots of our other friends we were of course going!  The weather was awesome and I'm certain that I speak for all of us when I say a good time was had by all.Caleb spent most of his time shooting people, his fave target was  of course me.

There is even a playground close by so they could pick their fave place to play or just go to warm up for a few minutes.

AJ and Levi loved the "rainbow tunnel" and I have to admit, it was my fave way to cool off during the day also.

There's J with his signature indignant glare, that is really not serious at all but usually precedes a punch for teasing him.  What a great day despite the sunburn I got for not wearing enough sunscreen on my shoulders and AJ's goofy one on his shoulders where I also didn't get enough sunscreen.