Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to all who have served, continue to serve, and will yet serve our great Nation!

Happy Birthday Bodin! We love you very much!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCKINNA!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Happy birthday McKinna, We can't believe you're seven years old!!! You're still our little Hawaiian girl!

Fathers and Sons

Fathers and sons has come and gone. For Fathers and Sons all the boys get together and go to one wards campout which is usually our ward. Sherman and Darren left Thursday to go set up camp and rough it for 2 days instead of one, they are real men! Later that night I call Sherm up and ask how it's going. To my surprise Sherman say's it sucks, there are millions of gnats and misquitos, and that they were leaving. Needless to say I was very disappointed the camping spot sucked so bad because I had taken time off work for this and Bodin had been waiting for this camping trip for a while. While these thoughts were going through my head Sherman further states the camping trip was not over and he and Darren were going to stake a claim in the Pinal mountains were we had it last year. This got me more excited as that was the place we went last year and it was a great camping spot.

Bodin and I started our trek Friday morning and arrived at the camp ground at around 1100 am where we met up with Sherm, Darren, my dad, and the kids. As soon as we hit the dirt trail up the mountain I let Bodin bring his booster seat to the front seat to help me navigate, this was the thrill of his life. "You mean I can sit in the front with you?" He had the biggest smile on his face. As we arrived at the camp sight I was surprised to see they were able to get the exact spot we had last year. After we got settled in I decided to take a couple of snap shots. The kids kept yelling "BOOM, BOOM, FIRE POWER" (from the new night at the museum commercials) and striking the pose! There were still a lot of flies but Shem said it wasn't even close to what they had at the other location.

I took all the kids out for a couple of hikes in the forest and it was fun watching them explore and make their own conclusions of how a tree fell or what animals were in the woods. It reminded me of the times my dad took us on Fathers and Sons and other scout campouts.

That night we got the Dutch ovens out and cooked up some sliced potatoes, hamburger meat, and spiced up elk sausage. The food was great and the peach cobbler my dad cooked up was an awesome finish to the meal. I forgot how exciting it is for kids to start a fire and "play" in it with long sticks. You couldn't stop them from throwing more wood on the fire. I wonder what it is about fire that attracts man to it? What ever it is it is strong as we were all mesmerized by it. Sherman busted out the smores to finish the kids off before bed. The night wasn’t cold but it made me remember just how much I hate to sleep on the ground, man was I sore. In the middle of the night Bodin wakes me up and asked when the sun was going to come up. I look at my watch and saw it was 1:30 am!!! Bodin, it won't be up for a while so go back to sleep and don’t wake me up again! What I didn’t know was “a while” was only four more hours! Why is camping the only time kids want to be up at 5:30 in the morning?? The morning went smooth. We ate, tore down camp, and left early so we had most of the day with the rest of our families.

All in all it was a great outing with screaming kids, battle wounds, and good food.

McKinna's First Grade Program

McKinna had her first grade program yesterday. It was a celebration for the month of may. They opened with Mr. Sun, followed by a Maypole dance. They then sang a spring song with sign language. They followed this with a tribute for Memorial Day. They sang Peace on Earth. They then sang My Mom with a poem they memorized for their mothers. We topped it off with a Hannah Montana song about being anything you want to be. The kids worked really hard on this and the performance showed. They did an awesome job! I am very proud of her hard work. They looked adorable too. We had poodle skirts made for each color of the rainbow. The boys wore matching scarves around their necks. Too Cute!

Mother's Day 2009

I knew that I would be alone today as Ben has to work on Sundays. That day starts off great. The kids sleep in and I walk downstairs to find chocolates and cards on the table. I then remember that I planned on getting up early to start the roast in the crockpot. I sure hope it gets done in time. Bodin and McKinna come down a little later and give me their cards. I open McKinna's and it sings "Like a bird I sing". This is her favorite song and soooo perfect coming from her. Bodin gives me his. (After he bought it he told me it was a Batman card. He then kept asking if I really want a Superhero card). I open it and it is Snoopy singing to me. It says that he is singing the Mom-Bo. A perfect card from him and he thought he was hilarious making me think it was Batman. Onto eating the chocolates for breakfast. I guess I should get McKade out of bed. Nasty, he has peed all over his bed. To the tub we go and then to start laundry and bleaching his mattress.

At about 8:30 I get a phone call from my friend Natalie. She is at the hospital in labor and wants to know if I can watch her kids. Her son got heat exhasution while they went out boating yesterday. (HMMM, I can't figure out why she is in labor a month early). Okay, send them over. About an hour later I walk downstairs to find puke all over my floor. I have the talk with her son that we puke in the toilet. He also has a temp of 101.5. This is not heat exhaustion, he has the flu. He is sentenced to the couch and is not allowed to leave except to puke in the toilet. I have been bleaching my entire house all day and watching a sick kid. If you are thinking about having children this is a typical Mothers' Day. I am praying that my kids don't get sick and I can have my house ready for company tonight. Her son will then be sentenced to a bedroom laying on his blanket. He needs a nap anyway:). Just a head's up Sonia, I am going to your cabin next year on Mother's Day. Invited or not! Hee Hee.

I do love my children though and am so thankful that I have them to celebrate Mother's Day with. They are my life!!

"The Old Dog"

Bodin had kindergarden registration last week. He was so excited as I had talked it up with him for weeks. He was not going to get scared. So the time came and they take all the kids back and read them a story and the parents stay out and get some information about the upcoming year. The kids were gone about 40 minutes and all was well. Bodin came back and was so proud of himself. He did not cry or anything (this is a huge step for him). On the way home I asked him what he did and he told me, "some kids wrote their names on a piece of paper, but not me. I drew a picture of an old dog." OH NO! I do have to face these people at work tomorrow. An old dog? Why? He was so proud of himself, so I was also proud (mortified) as any mother would be.

Okay, I know my child is not ready for kinder next year. I have always planned on him doing it twice with the first year as more of a preschool year. I have never wanted him to be one of the youngest in the class. I had told the teachers that he is not ready to start school, but why couldn't he have drawn a picture of me. I at least look like a stick person. I go to work the next day and ask around until I get ahold of his picture. You can't even tell what it is. I love it and copied it and I am proud that it did not have any marks of behavior issues. There were the hitters etc. there. At least mine just had an "old dog".

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath!

McKade started taking baths in the tub not too long ago. We think he likes it more than Bodin or McKinna ever did. McKinna would scream bloody murder if water even came close to her eyes “IT’S IN MY EYES, IT’S IN MY EYES” then a big long scream would follow. Bodin was a little better but would still freak out some. So far McKade loves it and doesn’t mind the occasional slip under water. Like all kids, he loves to see how big a splash he can make with his little spaztastic mits!!

Bowl-a-rama!!

Shani and I were bowling on the Wii and Shani thought she was one bad mama-jama cuz she beat me. So after the game on the Wii we decided it would be fun to take the whole famdamly bowling and see who was going to beat the snot out of who! I happened to talk with Cort Chase just as I was getting home from work and we made a plan to meet at a McDonalds at an undisclosed location to eat and then to the bowl-a-rama.

We ate our steak and lobster dinner provided by Mickie D’s and then arrived at the bowling lanes. The tension between Shani and I was so thick you could cut it with the spork we got from McDonalds. We walked through the door and you could instantly smell the excitement in the air. Pins were flying, people were sweating, and kids were screaming…. It was great! I told the guy behind the counter we needed the bumpers up for the kids so they had a chance of knocking some pins down. We grabbed our coveted bowling shoes and hit lane 28, my lucky number! I punched in everybody’s name on the overhead screen and had no idea how long a bowling game with four kids could last.

The competition between Cort, Nancy, Shani, and I was fierce as ball after ball kept knocking down strikes….. OK I lie, if it weren’t for the damn bumpers I would have had a worse score than the kids. Shani came in a close second to Cort as they were jockeying for first the whole game. I thought I could get the heaviest ball and whirl it down as fast as I could and get a strike every time! WRONG!!!!!! I finally learned to slow the ball down and did a little better. The kids wussed out about half way through the game and I got to “practice” on Bodin's and McKinna's turns.

At the end of the day I didn’t have steak and lobster and Shani kicked the tar out of me in real bowling as well!! It was a good time and look forward toward the rematch, anyone want to go?