who doesn't love a slip 'n slide!?
(i had to post this ... before someone else did!)
i went to yoga tonight and when i came home ... ammon was riding without training wheels!!
he's such a big boy now ... sure wish he'd decide he was big enough to use the potty!!
i used to think it was just 'old' men [maybe it's walmart - no, walmart brings out the crazies for sure, but this phenomenon happens all over] ... i'm convinced that it's just men. maybe it's that they don't have any fashion sense, or maybe it's that they don't look at themselves before they leave home, or maybe it's a disconnect somewhere in their brains ... something makes them do this:
our friday field trip yesterday was the first part of reconnaissance for our upcoming scavenger hunt as part of the leo ford family reunion! nicki and i took our 7 kids under age 8 'to market, to market to buy a fat NOTHING!' well, maybe some carmel corn and a hot chocolate ... and an apple, some grapes, a nectarine and ... that'll be it thanks!
it started out being a little cold:
the seafair clowns were out handing out their stickers and what are friends for ... if not to take pictures of you on the automatic self-cleaning toilet??
i have been married for going on 9 years now ... i have taken several trips away - leaving my handsome, capable, wonderful husband alone with 2, 3 or 4 kids - but until last tuesday i had never been left alone. mind you, i am alone all day everyday ... but never overnight.
andy's new calling at church is teacher's quorum advisor - he works with the 14 and 15 year old boys. he likes working with the youth - except the part about teaching every 2nd sunday! one of the perks of working with the youth is Youth Conference! he was invited to join them and be a driver/chaperone this year. they spent tuesday, wednesday and came home thursday at fort flagler.
i have to admit that i was not looking forward to being alone for 2 whole days - but we did really well! no one died, we had fun, and we think that we could totally do it again - no problem. i surprised even myself. it's no secret that i'm not a good single parent, i need a partner as a buffer/assistant/support/team - i have HUGE respect for single parents!! life ran fairly smoothly and normal, except the boys missed his bedtime singing ... i don't know the football, basketball, and motorcycle songs. {bet you didn't know that andy is a bedtime singer/songwriter - but he won't sing in front of me ... his songs are 'super secret'!} i sang "i'm so glad when daddy comes home" - it just seemed appropriate! the boys weren't the only ones that missed him at bedtime ... i stayed up too late both nights until i would go straight to sleep when i hit the pillow and not have to lay there and listen to every sound the house made. the girls missed him too, see ...
always have fun up at grandma and papa's lot! last saturday it was especially exciting!
keep watching the pictures ... the other one did come out!
what do you do when you've invited your friends to come play at your awesome water park and then when you get there ...
there's no water to play in??
you get ammon to check it out!
he and 'sonny' (the park worker man) cleaned out the drain, reset the computer, fiddled around in the worker-man's shed (ammon didn't go in - just watched from the door) and voila!
we're sure glad that there are toys, swings and a merry-go-round to play on!
and even glad-er that we got to splash and be sprayed a little too!!
and i almost forgot that we went back after naps - just to get outta the house ...
this time nobody wanted to get wet ... just me and easton
but the drinking fountain wasn't working and so ...
afterward we went over and played at the park and ate lunch ... and homemade by the birthday-girl birthday brownies (Happy Birthday to you, Natalie!!)
then we came home, had naps and quiet time and then because it was still so warm and the kids (and the mom) needed to get out of the house - or someone might've had to die - we went to another park ... this one with water, sand and toys! it was great! and we all lived to see another day! isn't summer the BEST!?! (i think we're making up for not having spring - cross your fingers that the sun sticks around!!)
we had a wonderful get-away to leavenworth for a couple of nights!
we ate yummy food at Visconti's
we even tried something new, they had our italian standby - pollo alla parmigiana (chicken parmesan) but andy tried pollo alle limone (lemon chicken)
and loved it!
and i tried the mushrooms ... see there's a mushroom cut in half and then a quarter is missing ... that's the part i ate ... and notice the rest is still there ... yeah - i still don't like mushrooms.
we also had movie treats, cold stone ice cream, mcdonalds and a milk chocolate almond bear at the rocky mountain chocolate factory ... a whole lotta not-so-great-for-us food! mmmm!
we slept in until 10am and didn't have to do anything we didn't want to! it was fantastic!!
this was made possible by our wonderful family and friends that took care of our little ones! thank you Deanna, Marie and Vanee Ashby - you'll never know what a blessing you are in our lives!
we started out at the ward breakfast where we brought our own chocolate chips for our signature/custom pancakes - that's right folks, my kids have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast - you should try it, they're gooood!!
kayak point was fantastic again!! traditions are so great ... i love to look back and see how we've grown and stayed the same! the weather did not look like it was going to cooperate for the 4th this year (which, frankly, would not have surprised me - the track record around these parts is not optimistic ... but we went anyway and got ourselves a little sun, a little food, a little sand and a LOT of fun! 
digging in the sand - remember last year when abi got all those cuts on her finger tips ... she only needed to be reminded once or twice to dig with shovels! 
the wind was not very cooperative - our kite would only get a few feet higher than daddy and then nose dive! but we tried!! 
we took a family picture - several actually ... and this is the best!
and i practiced taking self-portraits ... whaduyathink?? i think i need more practice and maybe a few more lessons ... but someday i'll be as good at it as nicki and alicia and monica and stephanie ...
after kayak point we went home for showers and fireworks!! (nicki might have some pictures to share ... if she does, i'll post them here!) the wright's came to watch, play, and blow stuff up with us and then we had a slumber party!! the kids went to bed at about 10:30 and the moms and dads had icecream and pie, chatted and thought we might watch a movie ... but zonked out before it was over! breakfast was french toast and then then our friends took their tired brood home and we still had a saturday! it was GREAT! i love when holidays fall on friday!!
i am grateful to the men and women that stand guard and fight for our freedom. we truly are a blessed land and nation to have the rights, liberty and privileges that we do. God Bless America: the land of the free because of the brave!
