So...we slept in our car last night....

Last night was our Ward Campout (Friday). Much of the hot dogs and smores were had (YUMMMM...I love hot dogs and smores!!!). The boys played, we chatted, played some games, then we went to bed. Nice and dry.

So....come 3:15, it started to rain. Jess and I put up the rain guard. APPARENTLY the makers of our tent thought that the tarp actually guarding us from the rain was more of a suggestion...cause...it wasn't so much water proof. We waited, the rain got heavier, we were trying to think if we should ride it out or pack up. Kade kept a great attitude the whole time with soft comments like, "don't you just love the sound the rain makes?"

So...we made the decision that we'd just pack up and sleep the rest of the night in our beds....I walked back and forth with the boys and our stuff and an umbrella. Jess flatened the air mattress' (I like to camp on beds...). We shoved as much stuff as we could into the back seat with the boys because we weren't going to roll up the tent, just cram it into the trunk. We got all packed up and pretty fast too. The boys were in good moods, excellent helpers...we drove to the exit of the camp......and the gate is shut for the night...right...we forgot about that.

Okay--so look for someone to help. We drove and found the rangers residence.

Cari---"so, you going to go wake him up to let us out?" Jess---"I don't want to, will you?" ......... Neither of us wanted to so.........

We found a nice parking spot and slept the rest of the night in our car. Now when I say slept...what I really mean is this: the car was packed and our seats couldn't so much recline. The boys couldn't so much move either. Not to mention that we were worried the leak in our car (we just have awesome stuff...that's all) wouldn't get Kade soaked during the rest of the night. It was so humid that it was like breathing underwater, but we couldn't unroll the windows cause we'd get all wet. Luke wasn't so much sleepy anymore and was all about playing games and asking questions to which Jess, in his exhausted excitement would make comments about shutting his mouth or be beaten to death...stuff like that.

I think overall we had a really nice time!

The Circus!

So, we had the circus come to town. I don't ever remember going to a circus growing up. Jess did, but he doesn't remember if he liked it or not...He's pretty sure it was fascinating though. ANYWAY, it came to town so we took the kids!

Kade's favorite part was this guy that...I'm not sure how to describe it but this guy was in a giant silver pendulum type thing that when really high in the air and then in circles and he just ran to keep from dying....ANYWAY, it was pretty amazing. Plus, he loved the motorcycle riders that rode in this tiny sphere.

Luke liked the tight rope walkers, and the guy getting shot out of the canon...he was so nervous for the noise...and says he didn't like it now...but he did. I think I have it on the video.

Jess liked the Ring Master most of all.

And I can't really choose between the Funnel Cake or the Cotton Candy. I do love Funnel Cake!!

The boys got to go for a camel ride too. It was a fun night!

Alright...so for real, we found the fastest turtle in our front yard the other day. And it was sorta creepy looking. I mean with long claws and beedy eye's...yikes. But fun to find a turtle!

Lazy Summer Days

The other night I had one of those, "ooooh, I love this life" feelings. It was so small too. The boys were playing outside and I came to bring them in for bed. Kade was busy catching grasshoppers--his new FAVORITE pass time. He catches like 10 a day, just stalking them in the back yard and pouncing. It's super cute.

Then, earlier that day me and Luke had been cleaning out their craft cupboard that had turned into the craft insanity place of stuff...and I was throwing away a bag of beans. He would have not part of that and insisted that we save some to plant a magic bean stalk in the back yard. So we planted it, and counted on the rain to water it. He was tired of waiting for the rain, so he found our watering pitcher and was painstakingly getting cups of water from the kitchen, dumping them out into the pitcher and watering his magic beans. I love being a mom.

I don't even remember the movie that we watched this night, but what I remember is how much the boys LOVE movie nights with popcorn and pillows and moving the couches around. I like them.

This flower just makes me smile. One day Kade just made it for me out of paper and a weed stick he found in the back yard. He got out a vase and put it in the kitchen for me. Sweet! Then he didn't want dad to feel bad so he made him a poster to hang on our door with a soccer ball, foot ball and a baseball on it. Kade is the one that always wants to make sure no one feels sad. If look sits by Jess during scriptures or stories or anything, even though I'm not totally awesome dad, Kade always picks me to sit by or vice-versa. He's nice that one.

Laundry Day!!! I was in the shower and the boys made good use of the laundry baskets littering the kitchen. They even added their own personal touches to make it an official train. Complete with cotton-ball wheels.

Here's some photo's from our bike ride at the creek. It was a huge success. Lately Luke has been pretty nervous on his bike...I don't know why,but he goes soooooooo slow....and no way is he going down a "slidy-slide" without me holding on. But when Kade went with us, he was CRUISING! Go Lukester!

Luke has been LOVING to swim lately. And he's gotten so so good at it. I'm super excited to put the boys in lessons soon...or later...I don't even know when they are...but sometime..that's when I'm excited.

Family Pics!

We had some family photo's taken by our AWESOME friends the Johnsons! You can see more of them on their websight here. THANKS GUYS!!! You're the coolest!

Birthdays, Bowling, and Kindergarten!

Kade's first day of Kindergarten was Monday. He's been excited about riding a bus for years now, that I'm pretty sure that the actual school was the second best thing. I know he's old enough and I know he's just freaken awesome, but it was so incredibly hard to send him off on the bus on the first day...I mean, it would be so easy for him to get lost right? Well, all was well, and I only cried a bit. About when the bus was right here....Luke said, "I miss Kade" on the walk home--ooooh...And the only reason I cried was because of how freaken cute and excited he was when the bus got there. He climbed right on up, he was sooooooo happy. (this is the child that will occasionally still cry at the child care at the gym because he thinks I might not come back) He could barely see out the window and just waved so excitedly. It was really a beautiful thing. Luke insisted on wearing his back pack to the bus stop too. Luke and I had a great day swimming, and when Kade got home at the end of the day I sorta attacked him. (next it's pretty long...but it's for posterity right...plus, I'm sure my mom and Jess' will want to read it...so...whatever!)

So...here's what he had to say about his first day:
"the first thing I remember is we had lunch...I have to go to the bathroom (as he sprints to the toilet)....I chose where to sit on the bus. The bus ride was pretty good.(wait for it)..it was so fun. It felt comfy.....and we didn't even have to wear seat belts! It didn't even take a long time to get on the bus because of seat belt problems. We picked up like 15 or 18 more kids. I didn't know anyone who sat by me. When we got to the school we went in and went to see the principal, pretty much everyone in the school was there, and we had like a thousand people. The principal counted them and found out there were a thousand there in the school. She said this was the best school in the United States, blah blah blah (ha ha--for real, he said "blah blah blah"). She said we needed healthy snacks..(thinking)...mom...can i go get my unhealthy snack and eat it (I'd sent a cup cake from my birthday with his lunch, he ran to get it.)...No way are you going to bring a pop tart or...an air head or something like that---those aren't healthy. We came back and learned every one's name. they'd whisper the names in their ears like telephone. I didn't really remember every one's names. the kids in my class are pretty good.I remember Ashley, and Chloe...I saw my friends in the hall...like Kavin, and I saw Kavin's sister Carli, and Jayden, I was in the lunch room when i saw him so I mouthed hello. Then we went to lunch. It was a long line to stand in, it was quiet cause no one could talk. At the end of the music, you could talk, you just had to whisper. I loved the lunch you packed me, mostly the (he stopped here because his mouth was completely full of cupcake....) goldfish--no not the goldfish, the grapes. I went through the hall back to our classroom, we had recess---they had a sand box--that's why I had so much sand in my shoes (he had probably 1/4 cup that i dumped out of his shoes when he got home.) I dug 4 inches into the sand. I played with Ashley at recess--the 4 inches took me the whole time of recess. Alexander pushed Jaylyn at recess because he forgot the first rule--not to fight...the whole class just circled around and watched. (awesome...) After recess we went through the hall into our classroom and had nap time. I liked the pad I was sleeping on, I didn't sleep though, At the beginning I whispered to Ashley that this school was kind of weird. I don't know why, i just thought it was weird. Since i didn't fall asleep, I just watched everyone. When we woke up, I went home. A teacher told me where my bus was, I got on. I sat next to some kid with a spider-man back-pack--he was a first grader, and a big guy. First we went to Grove Landing to drop off kids, then we came here. I told the bus driver that this was my house.the best part of the day was: all of the parts were so good that I don't know....every day gets a little funner...one of the teachers is a bit weird...cause she's a little bit too old to be teaching. She told me stuff that I already know. Oh, and we have a pretend school pet. A stuffed animal dog....I think that's pretty weird (he says with eyebrows that said "lame"). you can bring him home I guess. It was a weird and fun day. I'm happy and happy to go back tomorrow.the end of my terrific story....."

I think he's going to be just fine!

In other news, I turned 27 on Saturday--woo woo. This is what I was welcomed with...(also, my camera takes really lame pictures...it looked and tasted much better then this looks....)

It really was a great day! The first time I woke up I heard Luke coming from his bed to our room singing Happy Birthday...then Jess jumped out of bed saying, 'not yet not yet'...then I heard both little boys voices starting to sing and Jess say, 'not yet'.. then Jess and the boys came into the room singing. Jess had made breakfast; biscuits, sausage, eggs, toast, pineapple and grapes and orange juice. Oh, and a cupcake with a candle in it. It was super sweet. We all ate and Jess let me go back to bed....I LOVE RELAXING BACK IN BED AFTER BREAKFAST. It's one of those extremely rare things I get to do and I love it. So the day started great....

Jess had a full day of homework to do so he left and me and the boys went bowling.

The boys were so funny to watch. Kade was concerned and calculated...I took a million pictures just like this one...he'd throw the ball and just...be deeply concerned.....Luke just danced the whole time.

Other then the time he fell while holding his ball and split his chin and bit his cheek--that was sad-but he was super tough and got some gum from the nice bowling alley ladies.
Then Jess called and told me our babysitter was already at our house.....and I got a speeding ticket......LAME!!! (seriously, ON MY BIRTHDAY...what's the deal with legit consequences?)

Jess and I went out to dinner that night at the Chop House--YUMMY! We shared a meal again--which for real--is my favorite--because then we have plenty of room for DESSERT. It was great and one of those just really great dates--I love that man!!! He makes me smile.
That night Jess had more homework to do, so I hung out with some friends--eating more ice cream...(This weekend I gained 2 lbs...just saying...it was a good weekend!)

FUN DAY

So, Jess has been so busy with work and school that he decided to take today off, and just do what the boys wanted to do. It was so much fun!!! We started the day off with Jess taking the boys to Monkey Joes, while I went to the gym (thanks baby).

For lunch we went to Dairy Queen which I was so happy about. (I'm sorta taken a week off my 50 days...for my birthday...and it's AWESOME.) The boys loved picking out any treat they wanted!

I got so sick....I think I ate the most--I mean seriously, I had this brownie ice cream earthquake thingy, Kade had chocolate covered strawberries (my favorite) Jess had a thin mint blizzard, and Luke had a chocolate covered cone--YUM! Seriously, I can taste them again right now. I don't know why we don't go there every day...well, I do...but yay--I can't wait to go back.

Okay--seriously, Jess' sister Melodie and BIL Justin picked out these shirts and bought them for us and WE LOVE THEM. They're from Arrested Development--ha ha---Hero Squad. LOVE THEM--thanks guys!

Then off to Putt Putt--Kade even got a hole in one! Good job buddy! I love the way they start out solid...then just sort of scoot the ball through the course to the hole. They're fun...I like them a lot.

We got home all excited to watch Avatar--but it didn't come in the mail (we love watching that cartoon! it's awesome), so instead we watched cartoons, and them made a volcano. Kade's been wanting to make a volcano FOREVER..but I just haven't done it. But today--we tried it out. We put it all together...and it just sort of...went, but then stopped. So I had this greatest idea to put the lid on, shake it, and then with my super quick reflexes, take it off and watch it explode.

Leason learned: my reflexes are not fast enough for explosives...I'm glad I learned it on a volcano and not inlisting in the FBI... I got covered in fantastic vinager...the boys liked it at least!

Kade earned his Orange Striped belt last week. He's so great at karate--pays great attention and is very good at learning new things. Good job champ!

Last week while Jess was at Youth Conference, the boys and I went to the Air Force Picnic. It was at the lake and the boys and I had an absolute blast with great food, friends and fun. They had the coolest water slide thing this year too. They just jumped from that to the lake over and over.
We are puppy sitting for our friends for the next couple of weeks. He's a mastiff, and so chill. The boys have loved it. He's a puppy...and huge. It's hilarious though cause he just doesn't care. We'll call him....nothing...he just sleeps and sleeps...eats...and sleeps.

Painting our house!

So we're done with phase one of our painting...woo woo! I didn't realize it took so long but I love the results. Jess did lots of the painting while the kids and I were in DC. (he's a nice guy that one!) And last weekend we did our living room. Who knew 14 foot ceilings would come back to bite us? Ha! Thanks to some friends, we were able to borrow a giant ladder and it wasn't a problem. ANYWAY..lots of people have asked to see the results so...here we go!

We initially thought we wanted orange for our focus wall in the front room....it's nice and lively right? Well, it was a bit too much--imagine a pumpkin patch....or home depot. So Jess with his heart full of love for a wife who changed her mind AFTER he'd done it...did it again. AND I LOVE the new color. It's called "powdered brick". It makes me smile. Now we just need to get some curtains and stuff on the wall and we're set! (anyone who has any sort of sense of what would look nice is WELCOME to help with that!)

AND HOORAY!!! I've always wanted a yellow kitchen and this yellow color was perfect! (It's called "bagel" but for real, that's a lame name...it's just "pretty yellow" to me)

Also, those are sunflowers on the table that we grew ourselves. We don't have anything pretty on the outside of our house (due to laziness and lack of funds) but Luke and I through some sunflower seeds from our bird feeder into a corner to see if they'd grow. They're taller then the boys so that's cool. We've had 4 vase-fuls of pretty sunflowers so far. Awesome and without much effort! I'm totally doing that again!

Next is the boys room...it's blue. They love it. They said they wanted an outerspace room....I'm not crafty at all, and am not sure how to go about this....so...if anyone has any ideas...we'd love to hear them!

Kade's main mode of transportation lately has been rolling around the ground....I don't really know how else to say it...he just rolls from room to room some days....ha! he's silly.
Here's a shot of our orange wall before we painted over it. We painted the other 3 walls and the hall tan (or "Arabian sands") and now are just deciding on our bedroom. I know Jess is WAY done with painting..but I can't wait to do the rest of the house! Woo Woo!

Summer Hair Cuts!

The boys just got their summer haircuts--i.e. buzz cut! (not too different from every other hair cut we give them...) Jess decided to teach the boys how to buzz each others heads. They loved it, but not as much as the spray down they got before they came in the house. (Jess just hosed them down...they were running all over the place--nude as nude can be---just laughing.) We'll probably make it a tradition...great entertainment!

Jess sent them in the house with Mohawks...telling me they were done. Not a big fan of those--faux hawks yes..but I was relieved when they went back for more. I love Luke's focus in this pic.

Incidentally---I LOVE OUR BUZZER. We got one with a little vacuum that just sucks the hair right on in so it doesn't fall on the ground. For trims we do them in the house--heck we could have done this in the house too but would have missed out on all the fun!

So...I know other people have entire blogs dedicated to the things they make and are crafty with....I am not crafty at all! But I was proud of these aprons I made for one of my friends getting married. That's all....I just liked them. (seriously, they're reversible...cool right?)

Trip to D.C.

Last week the boys and I drove up to Virginia to visit my sister Nikki. It was sooooooo fun!!! The drive was fantastic, the boys were great, and we did so much fun stuff!! (not to mention that this year the kids all remembered that since they're related, they should love each other! They played so well together!)

Each day we woke up casually, left for a museum downtown, or a park, or something freaken great, ate lunch, and came home to relax and play and eat Nikki's great food!

Dad was even working in Baltimore that week and we got to steal some time with him before we left. It was such a great trip and my boys haven't stopped talking about it. I can't wait till next year! Thanks Nik!

A#1--I don't know how to work my camera so all the inside museum pics are pretty bad...but B#2--how awesome are dinosaur bones? WAY! The kids liked this part a lot. One of the days we went and saw a part of the museum that had a whole bunch of human bones as well....when we were almost done, Luke said, "Mom, can we leave, this place is kinda creepy!" and it so was. I was surprised it took him that long to say it.

Hooray for museums and free entertainment!!!

Here are the kids on the train--my boys loved it!

Nikki and her friends often go to the Opera, and one of the nights I was there was an Opera night....so...I got to go to! I love the theatre!!! I love getting all dressed up and the music and ambiance... It was a neat experience. I did realize that I appreciate listening to English mostly--on account of--I understand it. They did have subtitles we could read (I'm pretty sure it was in Italian?) but one sentence would be written, and then they would sing for five...I missed a lot of the story I'm sure...which--if anyone is familiar with Turandot...the story is a little rough--our group came up with an alternate ending in which the main character dies and we were all much happier with that! THAT BEING SAID. I loved every minute of it and I'm so glad I got to go! Thanks Nik!

Nikki has a great neighborhood with so many little kids! In the evenings they all come out and ride their bikes. At first Kade started without his training wheels on....turns out it's hard work to teach your kid to ride a bike. Basically all I did for 10 minutes (that's all he wanted turns out) was run, holding on to the back of his bike, balancing him as he pedaled as fast as he could. I didn't dare let go...we'll try again another day. ANYWAY, after riding, the kids always found this great climbing tree before going in.

And on the right is their tinker toy musical performance....it was pretty amazing!

In the American History Museum, the basement is dedicated to kids. There is a big area about inventions and science. The kids got to do some experimenting with a group. They learned all about carbon dioxide (who knew that dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide???) and each got their own flasks and glasses and everything. In the end the guy had them all wash in the funnest way. He added soap to the flask of water, and dropped in some dry ice. It bubbled out, but when you smashed the bubbles in your hand--they turn immediately to smoke--coolest thing ever. Kade loved it!
Lucas is finding out what he and fire have in common (they both need oxygen...)

In the Smithsonian there is an insect portion....The kids LOVED IT! We got to see a tarantula eat a cricket, visit the insect petting zoo--giant caterpillar seen below. It was all very interesting but I realized that the next time we go there with Jess--this will be his section with the boys. I really do get so grossed out by bugs. Yuck!

In the gems and rocks part of the Natural History Museum, Kade found a rock (quartz I want to say, on the left middle) that looked exactly like an Oreo...and wanted me to take a picture. It was pretty awesome!

And here are the Brysons and the Winns at Great Falls State Park. This place is gorgeous!!! The kids ran and played and climbed and got so insanely muddy...it was a great great great vacation and I had so much fun with Nikki and her family! Thanks guys! See you next year!