Campout on the Tramp

My husband knows how to start a fire!

Alina concentrating hard on her 5th marshmallow

The kids have been begging for all of us to sleep on the tramp, so we did it Friday night. We roasted marshmallows in Cam's new fire pit, and had rootbeer, doritos, and hotdogs. We loaded the tramp with all of our pillows and blankets and looked at the stars for awhile. We could even see the Milky Way, it was beautiful.

About 2am we had a nice little surprise, the sprinklers came on. Cam frantically ran to turn them off and we were all a little soaked. Alina never even woke up from it, Austin woke up a couple of minutes after they were off and asked us if it had rained. Greta just pulled the blanket up over her head and went back to sleep.

I only made it until 4am and couldn't take being squished anymore and went into my own bed, the girls slept until 9am out on the tramp, Austin of course was up at the crack of dawn.

It was a great night and I love my kids for wanting to do family things like this, it helps us appreciate each other more and think up other great traditions to do together.

Next adventure: Movie night in our homemade tent, with games and junk food galore.

Taboo Shivery Robinson

"ring, ring......."

Holly: Hello

Bella: Hello Sister Robinson I have a question for you and you don't have to say yes, but I really, really, really want you to okay.

Holly: Okay, what's your question?

Bella: They have free kittens at Wal-Mart, can I pleeeeeease get you one?

That's how we got Taboo Shivery Robinson. The kids could hardly wait for him to get here. We went online and went through 2000 names for cats. The kids thought Fuzzbutt was the funniest name and decided to tell Dad that's what they picked, he didn't fall for it. Alina really wanted to name him Cheeto, could it possibly be because that is her favorite treat?!?! Greta wanted to name him Shivery because he was shaking so much when we first got him. Austin wanted to name him Suki. Then Bella came back over and said she thought we should name him Taboo, the kids loved it and we figured since Bella picked out our kitty we would name him that. We call him Tabs for short. His middle name is Shivery so Greta wouldn't have a meltdown.

He's a great cat, loves the kids and follows them everywhere, he never wants to be alone. Greta is already worried about Tinkerbell not liking Taboo when we all die and go to Heaven. She's decided that if Tinkerbell is mean to Tabs then he'll have to go in the backyard. Austin doesn't think there are backyards in Heaven, Greta isn't happy about that, I'm sure she'll figure it out.

Looky, Looky Alina is Naked!

We had the water slide set up at Becki Lillie's home and I went to help her put it up. Austin, Greta, and Alina didn't want to come with me, it was too hot for them. So I went by myself and I hear from Brooklyn Lillie, "looky, looky Alina is naked!" She decided to put on her swimming suit, except she was missing half of it, and it was for an 18 month old.

She came out with it inside out, no swim diaper,and the skirt held up to cover her top.

Then it slowly started to come down.....

Then she decided she wouldn't be able to swim if she had to hold up her skirt.

The picture not shown is that she decided she didn't need a swimming suit at all and went down the slide naked. Oh Alina Mae.

Night Games

Bella Lilly and Courtney Dodge are 12 years old and all of the younger kids in the neighborhood love them. They came up with the idea of night games and all the kids of course wanted to play. Our backyard was where the action was so Austin made a little snack area for the festivities, it conisisted of lucky charms, chocolate chips and the candy jar. I asked Greta if she wanted any dinner before things started and she told me she was full on chocolate chips.

Austin, Logan, and Carter had to change to dark clothing so they could hide better and the other kids followed.

They all stayed up until 10:00pm jumping on the tramp and doing all sorts of crazy games that made all the kids scream. They had so much fun. Summer has begun.

Weekend Getaway

Friday night Cam and I got to take the kids to their grandparents and we headed up to Idaho for a scrapbooking retreat. Cameron was quickly kicked out to go and hang with the boys. We had a great time together just hanging out, eating, and being kid free. Crystal brought Paige and we were all happy to hold her. It was a great weekend.
I didn't scrapbook, instead I worked on our Super Saturday projects for September. Here's what I got finished....

Chairs

Here are the before and after pictures of my chairs. I absolutely love them, thanks Shelley. She even posted them on her slipcover blog. Go check out her awesome work at http://customslipcoversbyshelley.blogspot.com/

Before

After

Projects

Buying a home often times means PROJECTS. We have a really nice home, but to make it my own I've wanted to do some things to it. First thing we did was paint bedrooms. Then my kitchen and then I decided I really wanted my cabinets painted. It took forever and I still have some touchup. My island will eventually have black beadboard around it. We just had to get yard projects done first. My next big project is these chairs. I got them off KSL for $20.00 a piece and Shelley Anderson is going to teach me how to make slipcovers for them. We are going fabric shopping today, I can't wait!

Our Garden

We have a humongous garden again and this year we actually filled it with produce! We spent 2 days tilling it and planting. We are excited to can lots of tomato products this year. Our stake is really into having gardens and canning and since I'm the Enrichment planner we will be having canning parties.

Last week of Kindergarten May 30, 2008

Austin is no longer in Kindergarten. He gets to eat lunch at school next year and I can't believe it. HIs last week of school was party central. They had a water day, a carnival, movie day, and field day. I got to help out on water day and the kids had a great time on their slip-n-slide, pools, sprinklers and water guns. Austin made a lot of friends and is excited to be challenged a bit more in 1st grade.

Baseball 2008

Austin and almost all of his friends in our neighborhood were on the same baseball team this year. The 8 of them would go to the park and practice religiously. Austin had never played before and picked up the sport very quickly. He can hit the ball way out in left field and he runs faster than anybody on his team. He just had his last game on Saturday and his grandma and grandpa Egan came to see him play. We start soccer next month, Greta even wants to play.

Midway Utah May 1-4, 2008

We went on a little getaway, just because. It was so nice. We went to Midway Utah and stayed in a very nice condo. The kids were so excited they drove me crazy all week long.

Jen and Greg and their kids Halle and Jack came with us. The kids had so much fun swimming together, that's all they wanted to do. Austin was a swimming machine and did cannonball after cannonball. Greta took a long time to warm up to the idea of water on her face. She can't even handle having water on her face when she takes a bath or shower. By the end we couldn't get her out of the pool. Alina loved the hot tub. We'd make her come in the pool with us and she'd last 1 minute and say, "want to go in hot water?"

Friday we went up to the Olympic Park in Park City. It had a really cool museum that even the kids enjoyed. Cam and I are going to go on a bobsled run and zipline ride this simmer without the children.:)

We also went to a park with beautiful views. We fed ducks and enjoyed the cool weather. It was a great vacation.

Bug Program April 23, 2008

Austin had a kindergarten program where all the kids dressed up as bugs and sang bug songs. It was very cute and they loved singing "I'm squishing up a baby bumble bee," one of our favorite songs at home. He did a great job and couldn't wait for us to come and see it. Cam had to go to Vegas for work, but Halle and Jack came to see him sing and it was great!

Austin

Austin is in his element with all these boys around here. Everyday is an adventure. We enjoy watching him build friendships with everyone in our neighborhood and including his sisters in the fun.

Greta Noelle

Greta has 7 boyfriends and her dad isn't too happy about it. I keep telling him she's only 4 and it's totally harmless. He doesn't believe me though. She's already planned to get married to Spencer Gee on his trampoline. Two of those boyfriends on her list are her brother Austin and her dad. I think it'll be alright Cam.

Awina Mae

"My name is Awina Mae!" This is what Alina says whenever you call her anything but Alina or Alina Mae. We can't even call her cutie, princess, sweetie or anything else. So beware if you don't call her Awina Mae.....she'll let you know how she feels about it.