Week Twenty-Nine

On Monday, we spent the day getting ready for Brooklen and Hurley's birthday party.  In the evening, Rob gave a very nice family home evening about baptism.  We have been so busy that we hadn't sat down and discussed Brooklen's baptism for a while.  I think that the older kids really learned a lot that evening.

On Tuesday, we spent the morning getting ready for the party.  I decided a few months ago that I wanted to rent an inflatable water slide.  I had looked for one and the prices were too high.  I was super disappointed.  Then, I found a random contact at a baseball game that told me about a local church that rented one out for much less than everyone else.  I called them up and they said it would only be $200.  I knew that was still a lot of money, but I really, really love throwing awesome parties for my kids and their friends and I knew that if we did both kid's birthday parties together, it would maybe make sense.  Rob came home at 11:30am.  He borrowed Jill's car to go pick up the slide.  They told us that we could also use the inflatable bungee run too.  It took us a few hours to set up the inflatables and then Rob went back to work for a couple of hours.  At 5:00pm, 19 kids showed up to the party.  We had both inflatables set up, as well as a large tarp for a slip n' slide.  It was complete chaos trying to manage helping kids, talking to parents when they came, and manning the activities, but the kids HAD. A. BLAST!  At about 6:00pm, we put hot dogs on the grill.  Once again, Rob and I had fewer hands than we needed, but we made it work.  We served hot dogs, chips, and watermelon.  Then, we opened presents and had cupcakes.  All of the parents were so generous.  Our kids got so many amazing gifts!  We closed off the night with a giant water balloon fight.  Rob and our kids had blown up 300 water balloons.  After the fight, the kids all went back to sliding and  bungeeing until their parents came.  We handed out sunglass cookies and beach balls as favors.  It was the best party ever!  I just loved seeing how happy it made my kids and their friends.  After all of the kids left, Rob and I took some turns sliding down the water slide.  It was so fun; I was sad to pack it up and send it off.  Honestly, I was so sad to see the night end.    Jill and Todd was super nice to help us dry off and put away the inflatables.  It took a couple of hours, but it would have taken us much longer to do it without them.  We are so grateful for their friendship.  Rob and Todd dropped the trailer off at about 10:00pm and I put the kids to bed.

On Wednesday, Hurley had gymnastics and we ran some errands while she was in the cheer room. In the evening, Rob took Zaya's training wheels off of her bike.  She learned very quickly how to ride her bike and she spent the rest of the evening practicing and showing off.  Rob had a softball game at 8:45pm.

On Thursday, we spent some time at home.  At night, Brooklen had his first sandlot baseball game. He got to play catcher for the first time in the game.  I think he was really excited to try something new.

On Friday, I took the kids swimming at the Herlin's house.   They are an older couple in our ward that opens up their pool to anyone in the ward to use.  I have been so grateful for their generosity and I always tell Rob that I hope we can "pay it forward" someday.

On Saturday, we went to Dow Gardens to check on our garden.  We spent some time wandering through the children's garden, playing in the sand, and making bubbles. You can tell by the pictures which of the kids wanted their picture taken that day!  Afterwards, we went to Beard's Lakeview Farm to pick blueberries.   They had mostly tart berries ripe, so we didn't pick very many.  When we got home, Rob worked in the yard with Brooklen and Kaiton and I took the girls to Meijer.

Today, was a nice Sunday.  Brooklen had his baptism interview after church.  He was pretty nervous about it, but I think he did great.  This evening, we had a new family, the Bills Family, over for dessert.  Thomas Bills has been playing softball with Rob and it was nice to get to know them.  

Lastly, I had to record a cute story about Zaya.  Earlier in the week, we were talking about freckles. Brooklen and Hurley were discussing how many they each had.  A couple of days ago, I asked Zaya to wash up her face after dinner.  She went in to the bathroom and when she came out she said in such an excited voice, "MOM!  I got a freckle!"  She had a small round scab on her forehead that she thought was a freckle.  She was so excited to be like her siblings that I could break it to her that it was just a scab!

Week Twenty Eight

Week Twenty-Seven

On Monday, we woke up and went downtown for a while to explore downtown Steamboat Springs. Afterwards, we came back to the house, we decided to play a game of "beanboozled."  We would have a group of people line up in front of the room and we would distribute the same color beans to them. For example, we handed out black jelly beans and some people got licorice flavored ones, while others got beans that tasted like skunk spray.   It was soooo fun!  I have to say that skunk spray and rotten egg were the worst tasting, IMO.  The kids totally got into the game and everyone but my dad and Rob decided to participate.

On Tuesday, we went to a hot springs.  It was really beautiful and it was kept natural and not built into a pool like some of them are.  It was my first time swimming in a hot springs and I was completely amazed by how warm the water can get.  There were a couple of places were you could feel the water right as it was coming out and it was extremely hot.  It was really fun because there was one pool that was ice cold.  It was really cool to get yourself acclimated to the cold water and then swim over to the warm water.

On Wednesday, we went to a family fun center.  It was really small, but the kids loved that they had mini golf, a bounce house, panning for rocks, and these crazy fun water balls.  Several of us, including my three kids, took turns walking on water in these clear balls.  It was so much harder than it looked and it was hilarious to watch others try it.  I got super claustrophobic after a while in the ball, and I started asking the later to get me out.  Poor Hunter had been in his ball longer and he was running out of air himself, but I kind of started panicking :( and I had to get out! It started raining after a while, so we finished up and went home for more swimming at the house.

On Thursday, we visited Fish Creek Falls.  We climbed in and played a bit in the water.  We also saw the movie, "Inside Out."  It was so cute and I think that everyone, adults and kids alike, enjoyed it.

We spent lots of time that week swimming, playing beanbag toss and horseshoes, riding bikes, taking walks, playing baseball, football, and basketball, etc.  I really love these vacation weeks with my family.  This time, we all had our own rooms and bathrooms.  The kids all shared a room with lots of bunk beds in it.  My mom always finds great places for us to stay.

The kids especially loved that my dad did treasure hunts every day again.  He likes to do these when we go on vacation as a family.  Every morning, they would find a clue somewhere.  They would follow a series of clues to find a treasure box with a prize or treat in it.  So fun!

On Friday, we headed out early to drive back to Arizona.  I was a long day of driving, but we stopped for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We also stopped at Four Corners because Brooklen really wanted to see it.  We bought the girls a bracelet and a necklace as a souvenir and we got Brooklen a magnet and a postcard.  We got back to Arizona at about 10:30 at night.

On Saturday, we spent some time swimming in the pool.  I think that Rob, the kids, and I were all in the pool by 8:30am.  We spent about 4 or 5 hours outside swimming.  Later in the day, the boys went to Top Golf and the girls went to the Gilbert Mall to go to Claire's.  We also stopped by Kenzie and Ryan's house to see their renovations.  Their house is really beautiful; they have excellent taste and Ryan does really great work.  Afterwards, we met the boys at Backyard Taco.  Boy have I missed good mexican food!  It was so yummy!  After dinner, we went home and rode horses for a bit down the street (the pasture was still wet from irrigation).

On Sunday, we left at about 9:00am to go see my Grandpa in Tucson.  I drove in Ethan's car with the boys and Rob and Hunter took the girls in my mom's car.  It was great to see my Grandpa and also to spend some more time with my brothers.  We met my grandpa at his house and chatted a bit and them we went to a sport's bar for lunch.  The food was excellent and we had a great time talking with my grandpa.  Rob was especially so good at creating conversation.  After lunch, we headed back to Gilbert.  Later that evening, we had dinner with my family.

Week Twenty-Six

After a LONG night of almost no sleep at our house in Canton (we all slept on ONE air mattress with TWO blankets), we woke up early to leave for the airport.  Our good friend, Gina Moss, came by the house and drove us to the Detroit airport.  The flight was pretty uneventful.  The kids are all so good at flying.  This was Kaiton's first flight, which is crazy, since the rest of our kids flew when they were only a few months old.

We arrived in Utah at about noon.  It was over 100 degrees in Utah.  We sat around for a while, and then we headed over to the pool.  They had a cute little slide that the girls warmed up to and eventually came to love.  Kaiton spent most of the time walking around the pool and Brooklen swam laps with Rob.  We had a great time.  After the pool, we headed back to Rob's parents' house for a family dinner.  Stacy and Dave came with their cute one-week old baby, and Matt, Mike, and Jennifer were there too.  Amanda was sick, so Melissa didn't bring her family over.  We also got to see Rob's grandma and his aunt.  Rob tried to pick up his grandpa from the hospice center, but he was too tired to come for dinner.  I think Rob was pretty shocked at how poor his grandpa's condition was.

On Tuesday, we went to the Hogle Zoo.  Melissa and her kids came, as well as Matt and his kids.  It was hot, but the kids had a blast.  Rob's parent have a membership, so the kids were especially excited to ride the train and the carousel.  They cooled off in the splash pad and we watched the bird show.  Kaiton liked the animals, but he was afraid of all of the dinosaurs they had put up throughout the zoo.  After we got home from the zoo, Rob took the kids swimming while Kaiton napped.  Around 5pm, we headed down to Pleasant Grove to see Teryn and Rob.  We were able to see their brand new house (it is huge and amazing) and then they took us to Blue Lemon to eat.  They paid for everything, included the dessert that I offered to buy.  It always amazes me how gracious and kind they are to us.  We really appreciate them.  Hadley and Hurley hit it off and within minutes at the house, they had run off to play together.  After dinner, we had to hurry back to Salt Lake.  Rob played in a softball game on the team that Jennifer organized.  The kids had fun playing and watching Rob play.  Afterwards, we headed to the cabin.  We arrived at about midnight.

On Wednesday morning, we ate breakfast and then we headed to Whitney to go fishing.  Rob and Hurley fished in the canoe and the rest of us rode in the fishing boat.  After a couple of hours, Kaiton was bored, and so they let me off with him.  We sat around and played in the dirt and water for a couple of hours.  Later, Zaya decided she was done fishing, so she and Annette joined Kaiton and I.  We played for another hour or two.  Finally, at about 5 or 6, the others decided to come ashore.  Hurley had caught like 15 fish (she only kept a few).  Brooklen caught the second most at like 7, and I think Zaya caught 2 or 3.  We went back to the cabin and cooked up the fish.  It was so delicious!

The next day, we had breakfast and then packed up all of our stuff.  It was Hurley's birthday, so I brought streamers and she woke up to a birthday chair.  We gave her gift, which was an ipod shuffle.  She was so excited and we currently LOVE to watch her listen and sing along to the songs that I put on the shuffle.  Brooklen got Hurley a bunch of decorative duct tape from the dollar store and Zaya got her a paper doll.  We stopped to fish (without boats) on the way home, but didn't catch much.  Hurley decided to keep one fish.   While we were fishing, Kaiton threw up.  He ended up having a fever for several more days, but he never threw up again.   We also stopped at a waterfall.  Hurley had a blast playing in the water.  She and I took off our shoes and walked all through it.  At the end of playing, she was soaked, but so happy!  I love the zest for life that that little girl has.  Next, we stopped in Evanston for lunch.  The food at the burger place was awesome.  They served their burgers on brioche buns and Brooklen fell in love with onion rings there.

We got home Thursday afternoon.  We took the kids swimming again and then we went back to Rob's parent's house for dinner.  We stopped on our way home to pick up a birthday cake for Hurley from Smiths.  After dinner, we sang to her and had cake and ice cream.  I think she felt special having her birthday celebrated with such a big group.

On Friday morning, we woke up early and packed up.  Rob went downtown and rented a minivan and we began our drive to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  The kids were stoked that the van that we rented had 2 tvs in it.  We reminded them that we will NEVER own a mini van :)

We arrived in Colorado on Friday night.  We checked out the house, got settled, and my parents ran to pick up dinner at Jimmy Johns.  After dinner, we swam in the indoor pool.

Saturday was the fourth of July.  We headed out early to the parade downtown.  We ended up at the end of the parade route, however, so the everyone was out of candy.  The kids were a little bummed, but we tried to help them not notice.  After the parade, we found a party downtown and got some free hot dogs.  Then, we went and watched a ski jump competition.  We went home for a few hours to play and later, we headed out to dinner at a really great restaurant.  Most everyone got really cool burgers;  I got a delicious salad.  After dinner, we went to the rodeo.  I have been telling Rob for years that I want to take my kids to a rodeo, so I'm glad we finally got the chance too.  During the rodeo, the kids got to do a calf scramble and a ram scramble.  I think they liked the rodeo, but it was a bit long.  At the end, we stayed in our seats to watch fireworks.

On Sunday, we woke up and went to church.  The ward building was in the neighborhood, so we all walked together.  In the afternoon, we tried to go to a waterfall, but it was super busy and there wasn't any parking.  Instead, we ended up eating lunch at a really cool park.  It started raining, but we toughed it out for a while.  Later that evening, my mom made a delicious dinner and we played outside.

Week Twenty-Five

The kids were able to go to Vacation Bible School at Calvary Baptist this week.  It worked perfectly for me because I was working hard to get things ready for our trip out west and it gave me some time to do that.  They went from 9:30-noon everyday.  My kids really love going to these events; they play games, learn songs, and make crafts.  I love these events because they are free and they expose my kids to other faiths.  Zaya and Hurley really enjoyed learning new songs.  One of their songs was about keeping your eyes and ears away from unclean things.  I asked Hurley about the song and what it meant and she told me that they had taught her that if she is in a bad situation, she should try to leave; if she can't leave, she should plug her ears!

At the end of the week, the church had a family picnic.  They provided lunch and showed pictures from the entire week.

On Friday, all of the kids had friends over.  Brooklen had his friend Ethan come over, Hurley had Laila over, and Zaya had Jack come play.  We made snowcones and they all played great.  Later that evening, Rob took Brooklen golfing and I took the girls and Kaiton to Dow Gardens to explore.  We had such a wonderful time.

On Saturday, we met the McFarlanes at the temple.  Rob and I did a session and they did sealings.  On the way home, we stopped at Birch Run to get Brooklen some clothes at Under Armour.  Brooklen and Rob spent quite a bit of time shopping for him.  I helped watch the girls and Kaiton and I also helped Hurley pick out some Under Armour headbands.

On Sunday, we went to church.  Afterwards, we hung out a bit and then we bathed and dressed the kids in pajamas and headed down to Canton.  We spend the night in our house down there because our flight was early Monday morning.  We were able to say our goodbyes to the house, since we just sold it and it should close in a few weeks.  I filmed a video of Rob and the kids putting a time capsule in the secret compartment of the deck that Rob and Brooklen built.  Brooklen was pretty emotional about having to say goodbye to the house.  I though I would be more emotional about saying goodbye because we brought three of our babies home to that house.  But, the house is not in amazing condition anymore, so, strangely, I didn't feel too sad to say goodbye to it.