A sleep over in the basement.

On Friday night, Darin wasn't feeling so well and went up to lay down early. I was playing with the kids in the basement-in between cleaning up for the weekend-and realized I hadn't heard from him. I went up the the bedroom and found out he wasn't doing well. I decided to let the kids have a sleep over in the basement. The were thrilled!!! We got all their stuff ready and set the beds up:)

Spencer and Landon taking turns going down under the couch-they were calling it their "lair." Thank you Word Girl.
Spencer checking out the awesome bed mommy made for him!!


Landon getting all ready.
And my beautiful little girl. She actually posed for this picture-"let's do a photo shoot, mommy!"
All the kiddos ready to watch a movie.

Jordan cracks me up. Every time we have a sleep over, she moves into the basement. In addition to the sleep over requirements of sleeping bag, pillow, "blankkie" "dollie" and pillow pet, we also need the snuggie, American girl doll, bag of ponys and pet shops, additional stuffed animals and a huge princess pillow. Now we're ready to go to bed, phew.

the additional "needed" items:
She did remember her Book of Mormon, though:)

After the kids watched the movie a while, I had to make sure they were sleeping. Landon fell asleep during the movie, Jordan right after, but Spencer needed to be settled down. I went back down to check them before I went up to bed.

There's nothing more peaceful and beautiful than sleeping children. I really love looking at my kiddos when they're asleep. For a couple reason: they are so darn cute, and they are QUIET!!

Jordan has been sleeping with this doll, lovingly referred to as "dollie" since she was 1 year old-almost 7 years. Poor thing has seen better days, but she can't sleep without her!
Spencer is just like me-I always have my hands just like this at my face when I sleep. So sweet.
Ahhhh, this is the one I most enjoy to see sleeping-I think you all understand why:) He just looks so sweet and peaceful. Boy does he need the rest after all the craziness he does all day.

This kid cracks me up!

Landon is such a funny boy! He usually does something every day that cracks me up. This week he has been home with me more since he does not have school anymore. Here are a couple of the things hat have made me laugh.

Boxes are the best toys ever. Why buy toys when a good box can entertain for ages. Here's Lanodn watching a show in the box that once held the prizes for the brownie cookie sales.

Just hanging out:)

Yes, I'm cute. I already know that.



Pick me, pick me!!

Can I just eat my pretzels and watch my show in peace, please?

Notice the Christmas pajamas-Lanny loves these pajamas. He gets cold in the air conditioning and loves to wear them. He actually wore them today when we went to Weight Watchers and the mall. Got a few looks, but who cares.

Speaking of pajamas-this whole week Landon has had a thing for wearing his pajamas all day.

Really, I would like to do the same thing.

It may be from his new accomplishment in life: He now is PULL UP FREE at bedtime!! It is a new milestone in our family. We no longer are purchasing any disposable potty items!! Nearly 8 consecutive years of diapers or pullups.....whew.

Anyhooooo, he may be more comfortable keeping them on now that he is already in his underwear when he wakes up. So I have been letting him. Most of them are ok-the ones today were probably a bit iffy...holes in the back of the shirt and the bottom area.....ah well.

So here he is one day this week when we were about to leave the house. I turn around and this is what he was wearing.

The goggles and boots really make the outfit.
He makes me laugh.
When we finally made it out the door, he decided to leave the boots home, but the goggles went-"to keep the sun out of my eyes."

Ah Landon, lucky for you I forget all the grief you give me when you provide such opportunities to laugh. Sure love you my little buddy!!

A request granted

Landon wanted "letter" pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. Well, here you go little fella!!


Not so bad for "free hand" pancake batter pouring!!


Yummy!
Spencer got some, too; although the "j" gave mommy a bit of a problem...

Our Special Harbour-a new spray park

We have a new spray park in the neighborhood! It is at the Lee Rec Center-so very convenient for us-I work there and Landon goes to school there. We are always there!

And the best part.....drum roll please....it is FREE!!!!!!

Anyhow it was built by a foundation that gives money for things to be built for the handicapped. So it is zero depth and kids in wheel chairs can go all around it-there were some kids there in wheelchairs on Monday when we went.

And boy, this spray park is serious!!! It is not like some of the little neighborhood ones where you can sit and watch the kids play. You have to wear a bathing suit and be right there with them-it's a bit slippery in spots. It has big spray features and dumps a bunch of water on you-I was surprised a couple times.

We grabbed Sarah and Kaalie on the way and met a friend from our ward-my friend Tran and her little girl Isabelle. Jordan and Sarah were thrilled to have matching bathing suits.

Landon playing. He had already been there with his preschool class.
This part was a favorite of everyone.
Spencer spraying water-all the kids loved this. And it was even better if they hit an adult. The kids were ruthless!

Jordan and Sarah in the boat.
Jordan when we got there-so excited.


Spencer loved these sprayers. Poor kid fell and hit his head, but after sitting with daddy a while, he was able to play. He was just laughing and having a blast.

Landon has a playdate!

I had a ray of sunshine amid the stress and yucky feelings I have been feeling this week.

It came in the form of two cute little kiddos-Landon and his little friend Erin from preschool. She came over to play today and they ended up outside-all wet.

I was in the kitchen getting some stuff ready for dinner and Erin came running up to ask to put the leotard on that was in her backpack. I said ok, then realized that they wanted to play outside with the water table. I dropped what I was doing and got Landon in his bathing suit.

They had a blast! When it started off, Erin didn't want to get wet, but in the end both kids were soaked and smiling:)

Just hanging out.

I LOVE this smile:):) How can this face not cheer you up? This afternoon got me excited for summer!!

Brownie Camp

Last weekend I took my brownie troop to camp for the day. We have been planning it for a while and the girls were so excited. It was a girl scout camp site in Stafford. I have been there for a training I had been to back in April, so I was familiar.

After tons of prep, including practicing making fire with food, we met at the church in the morning and were welcomed with pouring rain. Yay. It rained the whole way down to the camp and for about an hour when we got there, but then it was great weather for the duration of the day.

When we found the campsite, the girls were so excited. They ran into the cabins and started claiming the cots. Then during the day they kept seeing writing in the cabins and thought they were haunted. At one point the put a stick in the door to see if it would be there when we got back to the camp site. It was funny.

Here we are when we started our day.


The first thing we did was the flag raising, then games. The girls had fun, but it is tricky to get 12 to keep quiet for long!

They played a game called "ride that pony" where you run around and dance with people singing a song about riding a pony. It was funny. The girls got a kick out of it when I did it.

After the games, we went on a hike down to the river. One of the dads who came taught the girls about what food they can throw in the woods, and also about how trees grow-the rings and all. There was a huge tree that had fallen across the path so we looked at the rings.

Jordan and her friend Addis when we were on our hike.

All the girls by the water. They are so loving to each other. I love how girls can hug on command! And half the time, they just hug each other because they love being around each other!
I don't want to forget the two dad who came and helped out. They made a fire and were so helpful!

In the afternoon, the girls went to 3 rotations. They learned about knots and knife safety, trail marking and letterboxing. They really enjoyed all the classes and had a ton of fun!

Jordan making a comment during the knots part.


Here is Jordan making her stamp for her letterbox. They went to find the hidden letter boxes and really loved it.
The dads did a fire for hte girls.
The most hysterical part of the day was the preparation for the skit. We went through about 4 different themes before they actually settled on one Story. It was a dance, then a story about fire safety. They were ecstatic to perform.

They all got out their bandanas and made costumes with them.

Jordan in her "costume" for our skit. We have quite few performers in our troop. They LOVED practicing and performing the skit. First they did a dance, then a skit. So incredibly adorable.


Here's Jordan with her best friend Karly. She is such a cutie!!


Well, the day ended the same way it started-rain. Pouring down rain. It started during the campfire. By the time we got up to the car, it was a massive downpour. The girls were all whining that they wanted to go home. We had to wait for another mom to come so we decided to drive to the end of the road to camp and wait at the main entrance.

Holy long, dark, windey, scarry road!! I could barely see where I was going times, and I had Lizzie crying in the back that she wanted her daddy. Megan finally got there so we headed for home. It was a white knuckle drive home. I did lots of praying! We made it safe and when we got back tot he church, the girls were hyper. I finally got home after the parents came, and I was wound up, too. I cleaned up the cooler, dirty dishes, etc and was finally ready for bed.

Darin let me sleep until almost 9:00 Sunday morning so that was so nice!!

Getting There

Finally. We are almost there. After weeks of work, we just have a few finishing touches to do. The paint is almost done-just some touch ups on the floorboards where the new carpet was put in, couple bathroom touch ups and the outside windows and front door.

I have had help from sisters in the ward. They are wonderful. I have the BEST visiting teacher EVER. Sherri Glad. She's been over to help 3 times in the last 2 days. She is really one of the most giving people I know. Then her boys came and did my yard. It will now be so much easier to make it look nice.

I just have to get the clutter put away and do a deep clean of the house. But now thanks to the help of the awesome sisters, and one coming today, it is so much easier. It is looking much better. Something that made a huge difference is the new carpet. It really made a HUGE difference. Just looks so nice. It makes me hope that we get a house with new carpet:) Although vacuuming is quite a thing-I have to empty the cup every 5 minutes.

So the Realtor came over last night. He only pointed out a couple thing, which we planned to do, just haven't yet; and a couple things we hadn't noticed. So that was good. He was impressed with the work we have done, and was very supportive. He asked if I was "surviving." Seem to know what it was like to have small children around when you're trying to sell. I asked about the toys being ok and he said that we had to have a balance since we still over, and that we couldn't take everything away. It was funny because he said "your kids can't just stand in a corner and do nothing." That made me feel better.

We signed the contract with him to sell the house for us. He is just waiting for us to say come and take pictures and the next day it will be listed. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is really happening. We gave my cell phone number for the realtors to call to come see it. I guess I better figure out how to use my voice mail and get rid of the messages that are flooding it. And I'll have to keep my phone charged now, too!!

Right before Kelly left-our Realtor-he said that maybe we would like to put up a "coming soon" sign, and warned us about the first time we would see a "for sale " sign up. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I really do love this townhouse and have wonderful memories here. Darin and I started our lives together here and brought our 3 beautiful babies home to this house. I will miss it. Especially when we look back at all the pictures I've taken here.