Driving Miss Daisy!

On Monday morning Josh and I left to drive to Walla Walla, Washington. Ok I will start off by saying that Josh invited me and asked me to come with him!!! Josh had to drive up there for work and my mom volunteered to watch the girls so I could keep him company! So Monday morning we dropped the girls off at my parents and we were on our way up to Walla Walla. Ten hours, a few stops, with some naps in there- of course by me-, and my constant talking about what was on Josh's mind and how did he feel about this or that, we got to Washington. I know he was already second guessing why he asked for my company, but what could he do really. We stayed in a hole in the wall motel that Josh booked before he knew I was coming with him and he kept insisting we could go find another hotel if I didn't like it-I love this man-. Trying to not be the stereotypical girl I insisted we just stay the one night we were going to be in Washington and that it wasn't that bad. I think I did hold my breath the entire night, in other words it didn't smell very good to me. Josh didn't seem to mind and actually said that it wasn't as bad as some of the motels he's been in. We made it through morning and checked out. I had a new book so I read while he went to the job that he needed to go to. Josh dropped me off at the local Starbucks-there wasn't a lot in this town but they did have a Starbucks- and I read while he worked. We got back on the road by nine that morning to drive back home. Side Note: While we were there in Walla Walla or it might of been the next town over we found a store that I had to take a picture of....This one is for my sister-in-law Lisa...

I just was wondering what sort of Entertainment do the hastings provide?

We did stop by and visit Josh's grandparents in Vale, OR. They were very surprised when we drove up and we visited with them for a few hours. It was really nice to see them. It took us a while to convince grandma that we did have to go but 13 hours later from when we started we finally got home. It was a lot of driving and a lot of lets just call it bonding time, come to think of it Josh did encourage me to take more naps, but it was really fun to spend time with Josh and just hang out with him.

The reason this is called Driving Miss Daisy is that Josh drove the entire time and didn't let me drive once. Our girls have told him that when he is in the car it is the Daddy's job to do the driving and the mommy's job to sit in the passenger seat. So he was just fulfilling his job. And I do have to mention that Josh opened my door every single time I got into the car, did I mention that I love this man!!

Summer Swimming

This week has been filled with water. On Tuesday we went to my sister-in-law Lisa's and went for a dip in their pool. The kids had so much fun! Side Note: I learned that when applying your own sunscreen on your own back it's really best not to do it yourself. I have a nice red line across the middle section of my back where I obviously couldn't reach from the top or the bottom!!! Any way, the kids swam for a long time and were super tired by the time we got home. Just the way it should be!On Wednesday we decided to go to seven peaks. Well, my sister Cory invited me and I invited Lisa, and Lisa invited Nancy(Josh's cousin's wife). We decided to go only half day so that we could get half day prices! So 9 Kids and 4 adults went to seven peaks water park at about 4pm. Even though we were out numbered we had fun. Cory, Nancy and I kind of stayed in the kiddie areas because of the fact that we have younger kids. Lisa was stuck taking the older kids (mainly her two and Nancy's oldest) on the water slides! So we didn't see much of Lisa. Cory and I did take the kids on one big slide. The lines were long and there was a lot of are we there yet, but it was fun. Abby is such a big girl she went on the ride all by herself! She sort of had to because Conrad freaked out and he wouldn't go down by his self and Cory had already gone down with Deacon, so I was stuck up at the top with two kids and only one me! I asked Abby if she would be OK with going down on her own and she was kind of scared but I convinced her that she could do it and she went!! Isabelle and Elizabeth also went down the slide by themselves. After that we went to the wave pool right as the waves stopped so we went back to the kiddie area. The kids seemed to really like it although Elizabeth wanted to go on more big slides, but it was hard to take all the little kids on them, so she was stuck with the kiddie areas, maybe next time Josh can come and she and he can go on the bigger slides! We stayed until about 7pm. The kids did really good up until the time to leave and then they showed their tired sides and started the whining!! But all in all the day was pretty good! Here are some more pictures from that day!

Izzy is always good about posing for the camera!

Syd on the other hand couldn't stay still long enough to get a decent picture, she's cute anyway though!
Chase was humoring me and let me take a picture!
This is Nancy's little girl, she wasn't too fond of taking pictures either.

Deacon was having so much fun playing in the water I got so many pictures of him.
Conrad was another kid that wouldn't stay still long enough to take a picture, but he was having so much fun, so...

Isabelle and Abby at the beginning of the day!

It was a fun day and everyone slept really well that night and isn't that what it's really all about!!

Swimming Lessons

So I think that it is completely fair to say that none of my children will be making the Olympic team any time soon! We have been attempting to have our children learn how to swim for a while now. A really nice guy from our ward offered to teach our kids to swim. I don't think he knew what he was getting into. Don't get me wrong they haven't drowned yet, and they do do really good when they have life-jackets on. They...well...

Lets just start with Elizabeth...The picture may explain it all! She sort of has attention issues. For example: She will be in the middle of the pool with out a life jacket with her teacher and being told to kick, all of a sudden she will stop kicking because she has spotted a leaf that she has decided that she must have so she starts sinking because she isn't kicking all because she is more concerned with the leaf!!! If at any point in her lesson there is any sort of distraction or something shinny she is no longer listening or interested, all that is being focused on is the shinny object! Her teacher who's name is Beau Diamond even tried to tell her that because his name is Diamond that she should think of him as the shiniest thing in the pool! It was a good try but I don't think that she sees it that way.

Then there is Abby! I do have to say after a month or so of these lessons she has finally come to the conclusion that putting water on her face is not the end of the world! Swimming however takes too much effort and therefore she is not interested in exerting herself to exhaustion! That pretty much sums up Abigail!

Now don't get me wrong I love my children and think the world of them, bless there little hearts, I just don't think that swimming at a competitive level will be in there futures! (Watch they completely prove me wrong and become swimmers) But we continue on with the lessons so that hopefully they learn enough to save their lives! Until then, life-jackets will be worn at all times around water!

Steel Days

This weekend was American Fork Steel Days. We have had a lot of fun this summer going to all the surrounding towns summer "Days". On Friday night we went to the carnival. The girls got to each pick a ride that they both would ride. Abby picked the marry-go-round, and Elizabeth picked the dragon roller coaster. They had been talking about these rides for weeks and loved both of them. Then they played on the playground at the park, which was free and they loved just as much. We ate corndogs, nachos, pretzels, funnel cakes, and washed it all down with a slushy! If you know us you know that all activities are scheduled around what and where we are eating. We really like carnival food! Just like the girls had been talking about the rides for weeks, Josh had been talking about the corndogs for weeks. The next morning was the parade. Now we weren't there our usual 30 to 45 minutes early as we have with the other parades and I forgot my camera! I was really tired! But I did have my phone and took pictures with that. We sat with the Gurneys! I love parade going with the Gurneys. Amy let Abby sit on her lap for most of the parade and Val had Elizabeth trained to run out in the street and get all the good candy for her,(which after the parade season is over we will have to re-train our children that running in the street for candy that is sitting on the ground is not a good thing!) and papa Gurney was there to shade the girls, since I forgot to put sunscreen on them and they were getting burned! As I said I was really tired that morning.While waiting for the parade to start Abby of course had to go to the bathroom, but it was perfect. It gave Josh the excuse he needed to go into this hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that was across the street from where we were sitting. He got himself this really good burrito, that I of course ate half of.
The parade was so much fun. We saw the highlight of the American Fork Marching Band!!! (Yes Val that was just for you.) The girls loved seeing all the princesses, but surprising they now love to see the cheerleaders. Later that day while at my mom's house the girls were telling my mom about the cheerleaders, so I encouraged my mom to teach the girls a cheer from her good old days of cheerleading!! And no I don't having any pictures of that I'm sorry! I am sad to say that at least in my line the gift of coordination has stopped at my mother! Later that day we did make it to the car show, but not until the very end. I feel sort of bad that Josh was so excited for the car show and talked about it for a few weeks and we got there just in time to see a few cars before they started leaving! Maybe next year we will plan out our time better so that the car show is the number 1 thing we do! All and All the day was full of events and fun!

They grow up so fast!

Elizabeth is growing up so fast and Abby, who will not be out done by her sister, thinks that she is bigger than her big sister. We have arguments over this subject all the time! We are finally getting to the point that they want to help out around the house and are able to carry out the tasks that I ask them to do. Hip Hip Hurray!! A Little while ago Elizabeth decided that she was big enough to do the dishes all by herself! Abby was right there by her sisters side, of course in a purely supervisory position. Abby is not really the manual labor type girl, aka: a little on the lazy side! But we are working with her.

So Elizabeth got the gloves on and pulled up a chair and got started. I have to say she did a pretty good job! There are a few kinks to work out, like-the amount of water that ends up over the floor and chair, but not too bad!

Now all I need her to learn is the laundry and we are set!!

Over the hill and through the woods to grandma's house we go...

We spent the 4th of July weekend up in Vale, Oregon with Ford and Bev. Josh's grandparents. I love Josh's grandparents and have adopted them as my very own. They do like to talk to me more than Josh! We caravaned up with Mark, Trudy, Jake, Lisa, Chase, Sdynee, Jeremy, and Laura. The ride seemed to take forever, although it might have been Elizabeth asking if we were there yet just about every 10 minutes!!! We had so much fun all weekend and Lisa and I took so many pictures. The trip was thoroughly documented! So much that I think everyone was getting sick of us taking pictures!

When we finally arrived Josh and Jake set up the tents. Yes we camped!! And yes Josh and Jake do know how to set up tents! I was surprised too, and they stayed up the whole time. We had two tents the small yellow one we stuffed all the kids in and the big one Josh, Jake, Lisa and I stayed in...(there are just too many comments I could make here...) Everyone else stayed in the house. Before everyone is so impressed at Josh for camping, we brought with us two air mattresses! So the adults all slept on air mattresses and we made the kids sleep on the ground. We are really good parents! The kids were so excited I don't know if they even noticed that they were sleeping on the hard ground.

During the day we just hung out on the farm. The boys cut the grass to make 3 or 4 golf greens and putted through the yard. Josh tried to teach Abby, but if you know Abby that only lasted for so long before she decided she knew more than Josh and wanted to do it her way! Chase I think mowed the lawn everyday and took all the kids for rides on the lawn mower. And of course I can't leave out Henry. I think my kids were just as excited to see Henry the dog that is as big as them then anything else. The girls took him for walks and I think that it was more like he took them around! On the second day we went to the suicide race in town and Lisa and I found our inner child and tried to see who could swing the highest. We had to stop because the sound of the swings braking made us a little nervous! On the third day we went to the rodeo. It was fun to watch, but the whole time my kids kept asking when we were going back to the farm, so we didn't stay for the whole thing.

My kids favorite part of the whole trip was swimming in the drain ditch, or whatever its called. They got their bathing suits on and jumped in, all except Abby it took her a while before she decided it was safe. I don't even want to know what is in that ditch, but they had so much fun and got really dirty. They spent most of the day in there, playing with mud, and heaven know what else. They all had mud covering them from head to toes. We had to drag them out at the end of the day so we could go to the rodeo, which might be another reason they didn't seem too interested in the rodeo.

On the second night the boys cooked dutch oven dinners for everyone. And I'm instructed to say that they did it all by themselves!!! With no help from us girls!!! Of course we had to keep nagging them to get it started so that we would be finished in time and we had to do some prep, but that doesn't really count I guess. (I really do love you Josh) Any who, the dinner was really good they did do a really good job, and it was fun watching them cook us dinner, they were very manly! They made us chicken and potatoes with bacon in it, and really how can you go wrong with anything that includes bacon! They also made a dutch oven candy bar cake, and I'll repeat myself, how can you really go wrong with anything including candy bars!!

On one of the nights Josh and Jake brought a projector and screen so that we could watch movies outside. The girls won out and we watched a chick flick! It was really fun. The kids found a frog and I found out that Sdynee is not afraid of anything...and my girls are! Elizabeth, who wants to do anything Sdynee does tried to hold it but once it touched her she would drop it, with a bit of a scream. The last night we roasted marshmallows and made smorses, because I'm not camping with out getting some smores! I do have some standards! On the last night we played "Night Games"! We played kick the can, capture the flag, and sardines in the dark. I have discovered that even though in my mind I can still move like I'm 16 this is not really true! I was kind of sad to find this out. I also discovered that Mark can really run!!! We had so much fun!

On the 4th we went to the Vale parade! I do have to say Elizabeth has finally learned how to do parades. She won on the candy grabbing! Abby however would get one candy not need any others until that candy was eaten! She hasn't really gotten the idea of saving! Elizabeth got a bloody nose that morning right after I put on her new 4th of July shirt, of course, so that is why she has blood on her shirt in the picture-she hasn't gotten that good at fighting off the other kids to grab the candy! Grandpa Ford came with us to watch the parade and it was fun to be there with everyone. I had so much fun that weekend and enjoyed being with family.

Things to know when you are sick...

So we just got home from Vale, Oregon visiting Josh's grandparents and I will blog about it later, but now I am so sick. I feel like a giant truck has run over my head! So last night when we got home I went looking for medicine to make me feel better and I found some and took it. It just wasn't working and all night I just suffered. This morning I took some more and decided that I would take some Advil also. The Advil helped a little. Then Josh came home from work for lunch and I was just laying down on the couch suffering with my head cold, and Josh then lets me know that I've been taking the wrong meds this whole time. He got up this morning and found on my bathroom counter the pills that I've been taking and they were Iron pills that I was supposed to take when I was last pregnant!!! Thanks for telling me Josh several hours late!! So my advice is when you are sick with a huge head cold don't count on you reading the pills right and maybe have someone you trust get the meds for you!!!