Fun at Silver Diner

We love Silver Diner-especially on Family Night!! So today we had house showings at 4:00 and 5:00, so by the time we got home, we decided to head to Silver Diner. I always love it when it works out that way. The kitchen is so nice and clean, so it was nice to not have to mess it up. Plus I think I have an ear infection-my ear really hurts. I wasn't to thrilled to cook, so it was good news to me.

Family night is great. We got our table, ordered our food, then the kids went to get in line for face paint. They were in line the whole time we waited for our food, even past the time it arrived. Darin and I ate in peace, then the kids finally came to eat. They were hungry so they ate quickly and quietly! The only glitch was Spencer losing a toy he had just got, but then finding it. We sat next to a really cute lady with her 2 yr. old. Overall, a nice evening.

It was disco night-so they were playing music and dancing. The kids of course got their face painted. Here are tonight's results:


Batgirl
Ahoy Matey!


and finally...grrrrr......

The pirate and his posse!

Andrew Family Photo Shoot

Each year at Darin's Family reunion we have a photo shoot-which most of the men involved barely tolerate:)

Here are the best results:

Our family. A complete bomb. Landon would not cooperate in the least. Well, if I knew photo shop, I could move around a couple heads and have a decent picture.



Then we tried nana and papa with the grandkids. Once again, Landon was in rare form. The bottom pic is Darin with some of his cousins and his so very cute Grandma Andrew.



Here's great grandma Andrew with all her great grandkids who were there. I spend the first few frames fighting to get Landon to cooperate, then finally gave up and put him on the swing set. At least he's in the picture.

And the whole family.
It may be hard for us to get everyone together, but it is worth it to have the pic in the long run!

Bear Lake

We had a wonderful time in Bear Lake with Darin's family earlier this month. We stayed in a big huge house. We actually had 2 houses-a "kid" house and a "grown up" house for all the grandmas and grandpas who needed their beauty sleep:)

Our trip was a bit rocky getting there. We left Darcie's but didn't give Spencer the dramamine in enough time. So....here we go again.We were in Sardine Canyon when Spencer started to make the horrible noises, and I knew it was coming. He threw up, and then we heard Jordan's scream....."my backpack." Yes, it hit the back of her backpack. We pulled over to clean up, then a state trooper pulled up to ask if we needed help. When I explained, he said he figured that since he has a son who gets car sick. He was so nice. Don't think a state trooper in Virginia would have been that nice....

So we arrived to this house:And here's the view from the deck of the house:




It was so fun to see everyone again. The kids immediately started playing and we found our rooms. The girls found a room with 2 sets of double bunk beds, so they claimed it for the 9 little girls who were there! The were so excited.

After everyone arrived we had dinner, then played some "minute to win it" type games. It was mostly for the kids and the loved it. It was pretty fun to watch. I especially loved the oreo on the forehead one.



It took us forever to get the girls to calm down and go to bed, which was lovely since we were given the room next to the girls. There were a couple hold outs until after midnight, but their dad finally came down and took the light bulbs out. (Which the next day the girls in turn stole the light bulbs from Spencer and Landon's room!! Smart girls:)

On Monday, we went to North Beach State Park, which is actually in Idaho. We had a fabulous day; well, with the one exception of Uncle Rick's truck breaking down!

We played in the sand, water, rode the sea doos, ate, and played some more. We stayed way longer than we Aunt Coleen had planned, but we were all having so much fun!!

There were so many pics of the day, I had a hard time narrowing them down.

Darin took Landon on a sea doo. He loved it, but didn't want to go very fast. Spencer liked going faster, and Jordan-who took all day to convince to try it-wanted to go slow, too.

I could have gone over and over-so fun!!

Spencer would lay in t0 warm up.



Landon and Alyssa. Landon loved that paddle-I had taken him to the bathroom, and he found it in the water walking back to our area on the beach. All the kids loved it. I loved this series of pics-but Landon, shouldn't you have been pulling Alyssa?




The kids had a blast and played for hours! I think at one point, Jordan was rolling around in the sand....


Jordan loved that she had so many girl cousins to play with! Here she is with Rosie.

The boys had a blast digging. Casey was digging holes for them to go into. At one point he came up to talk to us watching and said Spencer made him laugh. Spencer was digging, then told Casey he couldn't dig very well. Casey asked him why, to which he replied "I'm not an American Badger." We all laughed, especially since I had told them all about his obsession with the PBS show Wild Kratts.



We finally decided to head back and have a late dinner. All the food we had the whole week was so good!! Needless to say, getting the kids to bed was so much easier than the night before. Then some of us stayed up and chatted for a while-it was so fun to catch up!

Cousin Fun!!

When we got to Utah, we were able to stay the first night with Darin's sister Darcie and her cute family. We haven't seen them since the last family reunion in Oregon, so the kids were really excited. Darcie had told me that Aiden was worried that the kids wouldn't play with him.....

But he and Jordan hit it off right away!!! They were inseparable. !! So cute. They played really well.


(The pics are out of order, but Blogger is not letting me cut and paste them-maybe because I did some collages in Picnik?)

Anyhow, here are Jordan and Aiden doing some art work.
Spencer and Aiden playing outside. The have the best back yard-my kids were in heaven.
Uncle Duane has an ipad and our family was so lucky to be introduced. Here are all the kids playing. At one point, Spencer was on the ipad, and Caleb was on the ipod playing the same game. He showed Spence a game called "office jerk." Not sure how I feel about that title....

Jordan and Aiden did lots of artwork and did an "artshow" where they showed all the work they did. It was really funny. The took turns introducing each other and talking about what they did. It was so cute.

Here are Darcie and Aiden after the "show."
Aunt Darcie has one of those huge jetted tubs, so I threw all 3 of my kiddos in there and they were in heaven!! I would love to have one of these in our next house:)

Here are Jordan and Aiden during the art show.
And again playing in the back yard. These two just got along so well. It was so fun to watch. I sure wish we could see them more often.

Poor neglected blog.

So I have been neglecting my blog. Well, I have done some posts that I have not published since they are me venting about the house situation.

I figured in order to start somewhere, I'll recap this week. It is pretty much dedicated to my dear friend Ryann. She and her cute kiddos got back from England last week, and since we got to Utah on Saturday and won't see her before she heads down to Virginia Beach, we have been able to see her and the kids every day. We've loved it.

On Monday we met up at Chuck E. Cheese with the old playgroup families-minus Lea and Chanda's families. It was us, Jill, Ryann, Rachael and Sharon. It was fun to see the kiddos get acquainted again and renew their friendships. The kids all had a great time and it was fun to catch up with Ryann and hang out with all the moms again. When we left I went and paid Landon's tuition for September!! Wow-only a month until school starts again. I had to about throw up at how much we are paying for his preschool, though. I guess since we didn't pay for preschool for 4 years, it isn't that bad!! The kids and I played at the playground then headed for home.

On Tuesday, Spencer got to go swim with his best friend, so he was thrilled-he had a great time. He and Gabey play so well together so Janna and I let them get together as much as we can. Ryann called to come visit so she and her kids stayed for a while. Jordan got along great with the girls and Spencer played so well with Tim. Landon is actually closest in age, but I think he overwhelms kids since he gets a bit crazy. He's funny that way-in a big group, he's crazy, but one on one, he'll play so well with his friends. After Ryann left, Spencer and Jordan got to play at Gabey's house while Landon and I went to the grocery store.

We had a fun day yesterday, as well. We met Jill and Ryann at the movies for the dollar show. It's funny when the kids seem like they haven't seen each other in ages-giving hugs, etc. So cute. Anyhow, we divided up and I lucked out and only had 2 kiddos with me in the movie Nannie McPhee 2-Landon and Emilie. Cute movie. Just like old times, we at at Noodles and Company. I ended up sitting at the window with the boys so they could watch the "mighty machines" working in the parking lot across the street. Then I took them out to play in the courtyard. We did a kid switch so Jordan got to go with Ryann to Jill's house and I took all the boys home with me. We had fun, then poor Timmy said his ear hurt. I felt bad for the little guy and turns out he has an ear infection.

Last night I met up at Jill's house with Ryann and we just sat around and at yummy cookies and talked forever-just like old times. It was great. I really do have some wonderful friends! We missed Rachael and Sharon, though.

Today we had another group outing!! But first I spent the day trying to get my kids to do creative things. I banned the Wii for the day. Spencer kept asking, but I never gave in. And they only watched about an hour and a half of TV!! When forced, they can do creative things and use their imaginations. We played legos for a long time, did puzzles, workbooks, and Jordan, of course, directed the kids in some imaginary play as well.

We made it until time to go to Pirate's Cove. We were meeting the gang again. Combining all our certifikids and library coupons, we only had one person who had to pay out our whole group. We had 5 moms and 11 kiddos. And it was family night, so we got a hot dog dinner. We had a blast. The kids were in a bunch of different directions, but every played and had lots of fun. I think we may have to go to family night more often next year!!

On the way home, the kids and I had a great conversation. Lots of stuff about life, dying, resurrection, etc. They all said some cute and amazing things, but the best was when Landon said "I want to be little forever." Mommy wants you all to stay little forever, Lanny! I love it when we have great conversations in the car that we are all involved in. Their little brains really are amazing!!

So I did take some pics today, but I'm too pooped to get the camera and cord. My waterproof camera has a funky sized memory card that doesn't fit in my laptop, so it necessitates plugging it in. I'm ready to go to bed, but since I was recently reminded how "bad" I have gotten at my blog, I just wanted to post something tonight.

So to Ryann-I'm so glad we have been able to hang out this week!! It's been awesome seeing you and the kids again. I'll miss seeing you for your birthday. Good luck getting settled in your new home!