Father's Day & etc.

Here is Kaia posing as the figurehead of the Costco cart, protecting us from the swells of humanity therein. Much like this figurehead from 'Juan Sebastian de Elcano - Spain:
I wish I knew a comedian. I would call him/her and say I have some new material for them. Imagine me pushing the above cart through Costco at the height of sample time. They had some amazing cheese from a traveling cheese show there. While I was slowly chewing a delicious morsel of Parmesan cheese, I look over to see Kaia spiting her sample out into her palm, then looking around for a place to put it. Luckily I intercepted and found a nearby trash. Then we stopped for potato salad. This is the funny part. There was a huge cart traffic jam right in front of the cold room because all these cart drivers had picked up a potato salad sample and were trying to use both hands to eat and elbows to steer. I cracked a joke about it, but the lady next to me acted like she didn't hear me (I realize with my voice it is possible that she really didn't hear me). I should have raised my hand (I learned yesterday that my Aunt Amanda and her boys tell Uncle Steve to raise his hand when he is saying something funny, otherwise they don't know if they are supposed to laugh or not..ha ha ha).
The girls have their very own fishing poles and they are so excited. Here they are before heading down to the ditch to go crawdad fishing.
It is hard to get a good shot of T, he moves so quickly these days.
The fishers: Kaia, Sierra, Jack, Joe, and Adam's back there getting all the hooks ready.
Here is Adam opening his gifts. This very well could be the first gift I've ever bought for Adam that he isn't going to return to get what he really wants (or the first time I haven't just said, "You know exactly what you want just go buy it yourself"). It was a diving watch from Costco and some key holders the girls made themselves. Oh, and since I believe Adam will one day read this blog when it is in book format I want to add that I think he is an absolutely wonderful father who is doing a fantastic job keeping three kids and a wife unbelievably happy. I think he would agree that it was a great Father's Day (we got our first offer on our house and we accepted it!!! Closing should happen Aug 1st. Yipppieee)


This is our new favorite park! It is ginormous. I biked the kids here, then to free lunch, then to Sunflower Market. The cart got quite a bit heavier with a load of groceries in it, but some how I made it back home. Then all three kids went quickly down for a nap and I've had lots of peaceful afternoon bloggin' time. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Tag You Are It

My next birthday I will be?.....30
A place I want to visit?...Lake Bled, Slovenia
A favorite thing?....Travel
Favorite place?....There is a bed & breakfast on Whidbey Island that is in my top 10 favorites
Favorite Food?....Anything enjoyable to eat & healthful
Favorite color?....Green
Past pet?.....Tracker, a black lab I gave away
Nickname I have?....Mind, Schmoo, Whimper (I was a wimpy kid)
My college major? Humanities, extremely useful in my current position
First job?....I lasted about two weeks at the Monarch Dry Cleaners
My goal for next year?....Um, in 2009 I'd like to stop making mistakes

I tag anyone who wants add this to their blog.

Pictures w/ no text, I'm sleepy

Friday Already?

Phew! This week has just flown by.
Today I had to make quick changes to our morning plans (Liesl I sure hope Amri is feeling better and you get some rest today!) because Joy School was canceled. I decided set up this contraption:

All four of us rode (uphill!) to the middle school for free lunch day (we are taking advantage of the free government lunches they offer to kids during the summer). It only took 30 minutes to get there. We had an hour to spare so we played on the play ground of a nearby elementary school. I forgot my camera or I would have taken a picture. Kaia dubbed it the biggest playground in the whole wide world. It really is huge. There is a sign explaining that gambling money funded this play place. Their loss, our gain I suppose. The camera wasn't the only thing I forgot. Diapers and wipes also didn't make it on the trip with us and of course Tristan pooped. I made a few calls to friends nearby but they didn't answer. So I called a third friend who lived slightly far away and she was home and open to me crashing in and borrowing a much needed diaper and some wipes (and $2.50 so that I could buy a government lunch for myself because by this time I was starving (they don't let moms eat off the kid's plates, if the kid doesn't eat it, it must be thrown away. Kids eat free, moms pay $2.50. Crazy, wasteful government rules)).

Here is our Joy School on Tuesday. 6 kids, lots of snacks, a little bit of art, total happiness.
Silly faces. My silly face picture didn't really turn out. Or I would have posted it, I promise.
Pop found these dandelions while mowing his lawn on Wednesday. He said in all his days he has never seen a dandelion as big as the one on the left.
Gram painted the girls' finger and toe nails. I wish I would have gotten a picture of me trying to paint my toenails while avoiding Tristan's attempts at ruining said toenail polish.
Sierra made this crown on her own. It wasn't big enough to fit around her whole head, so she just taped it to her forehead. Very resourceful.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

This is Sierra's self-portrait. Often I'll go through my camera and find lots and lots of pictures that she has taken unbeknowns to me. Like these two pictures of Adam and I's shirts.

FHE

Enforced Silliness. I have on my list of mothering goals to be more silly. I'm not sure why this is so difficult for me, but it is. So I'm enforcing silly time every day.

What says Summer like the sprinkler under the trampoline?

I didn't enforce this one. In fact I was quite surprised to come outside and see the kids huddled around Max, trying to make him wear an Easter hat.

Snack time. Apples and peanut butter on bamboo skewers.

Now this is definitely not something I planned. We went to Albertsons last night because they were having some great sales. Three boxes of Post cereal for $5 plus a free gallon of milk. We had two separate carts so that we could really take advantage of the deal. Adam snuck off with his cart and loaded up with Marshmallows because they were buy 10 for $10. Can you guess what we had for FHE treats? Marshmallows roasted over the gas stove.

Weekend Fun

I've fallen behind on my bloggin' so I'm going to revert to scrapbook mode. I'll just add little comments to each picture until I stumble across some extra time for more lengthy and profound posts.

My sister, Janelle, got these two puppies. We've been over to visit twice and the girls must ask on an hourly basis if we can go back to see the puppies.

"Put sticker on forehead. Smile."


This is what Kaia looks like when you wake her up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.


Denver 2nd Ward Primary activity. We took a tour of the outside of the temple. It was perfectly delightful.


Temple flowers always amaze me. It is the Lord's garden.

Here is our tour guide, I've forgotten his name. He pointed out so many wonderful details about the Temple. I wish I had time to record them all.

Sierra and the Columbines.
Molly, Lourdes, Melissa, Sierra, Mia, Brother Snumphries, and Rayes.

Doesn't it look like our Savior is embracing these children in the arms of His love? Saying, "Because of the covenant ye shall be called the children of Christ, Mosiah 5: 7. If ye will lay hold upon every good thing, ye certainly will be a child of Christ, Moro. 7: 19. Fear not, little children, for you are mine, D&C 50: 40-41".