We decided to go on a geode rock hunt again.  We had so much fun doing it last time! We stopped at Collin's football game on our way out of town where we met up w/ the Leishman Fam & Grammy & Grandpa.  We ended up going to a park with them & having a picnic so instead we'll go look for geodes today.  These are pictures from the beginning of our short adventure. 

Kody has started this new thing where he likes to dress himself & he's stubborn about it!!  He was wearing a long sleeve shirt with a whistle necklace, and he had on Keaton's dirty shorts that were inside out & backwards!  And don't even try to do his hair spikey!  He only likes it flat.  The other day he had his preschool open house so I wanted to get him all groomed my way, but NO, instead he was wearing old ugly shorts which he insisted he didn't need underwear with and he was wearing a wife beater tank top.

Here's a random picture to throw in the mix.  I was insanely tired after our picnic so I went & took a nap.  You know those naps that are unlike other quick snoozes?  This was one of those really good ones where I fell into a deep sleep.  I woke up & Jason & Caleb were busy in the kitchen bottling our tomatoes.  Amazing!  I didn't have to do any of it.  I do love bottling but I haven't done it yet because I can't start that project until other projects are complete, like the laundry!  And helloooo, the laundry is never done!  I've been in a cleaning funk lately.  I need to focus & just get it done so I can do other things!  Anyway, Thanks Jason & Caleb for doing this & for doing a pretty o.k job at cleaning up afterwards.  Lucky me!

Camden is the snake hunter!  He begs to go to his friend Tommy's house every single day after school so they can hunt for snakes, bugs, spiders & toads.  The shirt he's wearing had long sleeves but he decided to cut them off to show off his muscles.  He wears it every single day!  I make him wear other shirts to school but the second he gets home he's looking for this lovely shirt again.  I don't really get it.  It looks like Keaton & Caleb are the only ones that will still let me pick out their clothes.

Sucky blogger...

All I need to do to be a fabulous blogger is charge my camera battery. I'm missing out on some good times. Keaton had his real first day of kindergarten, kody starts preschool next week, we've been to the zoo with friends, I went to Swiss days with my favorite people, I've got a million tomatoes & peaches that I need to pick & do something with, I ate at corner bakery... YUM!!!! I shopped at the Park City outlets & I'm sure we've done other blog post worthy stuff that I can't remember right now. I'm sure I'll be back to blogging like a freak soon but for now it's just not happening. I'm too busy trying to catch Keaton up in school! Apparently I suck as a parent & failed to teach him everything he's going to learn in kindergarten before he even started. I'm sure his teacher is nice & he seems to like her so that's good! Bye. I'll go charge that battery right now.

1st Day of School 2011

Today is the day we all look forward to during the summer when our kids aren't getting along or when we feel insanely overwhelmed.  I LOVE having them home & not having a schedule, but I'm always ready for them to go back.  It's pretty much a tradition for me to cry on the first day.  With Keaton starting Kindergarten I'm especially emotional.  We met all of their teachers at Back to School night.  I'm happy with all the teachers they got.  I know this is going to be a great year.  I was happy to see that Camden's desk is right next to the teacher. 

Not my my most photogenic child.  He just hates getting his picture taken!  He's ready for school with new shirt, backpack & shoes.

What a handsome group.  Can you tell which child is not starting school today?

Keaton wants you to see his new shoes.

He went and got his backpack so he could go to school.  Too bad preschool isn't for a few more weeks.

New shirt & shoes but since he lost a backpack last year he is going to use the same one this year.

Summer Vacation

I can't believe I forgot my cameras!  I have NO pics or videos to document the FUN we had.  I'll quickly type up what my brain can remember of our week in St. George & Mesquite.  It's so FUN to have my bro. Greg & fam living in St. George now.  They live in the most amazing house.  It's a great party house & they know how to throw amazing parties!  More on that later... We took Tanner with us & left Friday afternoon.  The kids were all great in the car.  My boys were so excited to have Tanner with us!  We arrived pretty late to my parents house to begin our week & a half of fun in the St. George sun. We spent one day/ night just hanging out at my bro's house.  Everyone had lots of fun in their amazing pool, they played video games, watched shows in the theater room & they had a sleepover on the tramp.  Ty came back to my parents house & had a sleepover with Keaton & Kody.  We took Lauren, Maddi & Ty with us to Greg's condo in Mesquite & stayed until Thursday night.  We played in the pool all day every day!  We tried to catch turtles in the pond & just had fun being with Grammy!  I had so much fun spending more time with Maddi & Lauren.  They are the sweetest girls!!!  I'm so glad they don't live clear out in Arizona anymore!  It was my mom's birthday on Friday.  I really sucked at making it a special day for her.  I was so tired & didn't sleep the night before & felt a little sick all day.  She took us to The Pizza Factory for her birthday & paid for us.  I didn't even have her gift ready.  It was her 60th birthday & I really feel bad for not coming up with some grand birthday plan.  I'll have to make it up to her next year!  We played a splash pad park & Camden caught a few lizards.  I'm forgetting lots of details.  Thanks to Grammy & Grandpa for making the week so fun.  The boys all left with lots of fun memories of spending time with family.  It's all about the memories... Right Heather;)?!  Oh & I can't forget to mention Jason.  He stayed home & worked while we were gone.  We got home around 10:00 last night & when we opened the garage he was laying on the ground kicking his legs up like he was excited.  He's CRAZY but the boys thought it was hilarious.  He was instantly attacked by all of them.  He cleaned the garage to perfection while we were gone & cleaned the house.  He also had a gift for all the boys.  Keaton got a nerf bow & arrow.  Kody got a cap gun & Caleb & Camden got bb guns that look like real guns.  I wasn't happy about the bb guns.  They are in a field practicing safety right now.  Jason also had a bubble bath all ready for me.  Did he miss us or what?!  Oh & Lady Elaine was freaking out & made sure to jump & knock us all down with her excitement.  We felt pretty special.  I'm off to finish my mountain of laundry.   

Random Happenings of the scattered week of Summer FUN....

Last weekend Grandma Dianne had us all over for a 24th of July BBQ.  She always plans fun games.  She even had a swimming pool full of fish for the kids to catch.  I sat out during the games due to my lovely monthly visitor!  That stupid visitor makes my life hell.  I know I'm not alone so I'll stop my complaining about it now!  I even did a post titled SCREW IT when my visitor was here, but lucky for you I didn't publish it.  Anyway, after the party I brought Ben, Sam & Tim (Jason's brother's kids) to our house to sleep over on Saturday & Sunday night.  I had lots of things I wanted to do while they were here but they shot me right on down every single time I wanted to go play.  Ben even said, "I just feel like if we go somewhere my time here will go too fast".  How sweet that he likes hanging out at our house!  He told me that he never wants us to move because he really likes it here.  They are all great kids & pretty much just played in the yard the whole time.  I loved having them but I did gain a new appreciation for women that have lots of kids & make it look easy!  WOW it's a lot of work.  I felt like I was getting them all drinks & food 24/7.  I can only do that for a few days before I need to just lay in my bed and watch some reality TV.  On Tuesday I went to Cherry Hill with my Aunts & cousins & all of our kids.  I  have a great family & it's always fun to spend time with them.  I wasn't sure I wanted to spend $65 to go there since we have LagoonAbeach passes, but spending time with family was worth it.  On Wednesday we went to LagoonAbeach with my friend Debbie & all of our kids.  I love hanging out with them because all of our kids are the same ages & get along great.  We stayed until the power went out.  We are going to go back again with them next week since Lagoon gave them another day pass since the power cut their trip short!  On Thursday I took the boys to Trista's house.  She's been there for nearly a year and this was my first time there.  Becky, Suzi & Katie were there with their kids & they had lots of fun.  Caleb didn't go because he was at a Scout activity.  The Bishop's wife is his scout leader & she puts all other Scout leaders to shame!  We love her!  I'm a Scout leader & I know we are supposed to have Scouts during the summer but I just can't figure out how to fit it in our schedule & it seems that all my boys are also all busy.  We'll be better when school starts.  Sybil is a great example of how I should be doing it though!!   Collin came over for a sleepover on Thursday night.  They boys had Friends Camp Friday.  It was a Space theme.  Collin took Keaton's place & they all had so much FUN!!  Keaton didn't go to Friends Camp because him & Kody had a dr appt. to get caught up on immunizations.  Kody got a pissy after & ended up with a fever and a sore leg.  He fell asleep at 6:00 & didn't wake up until 1am.  Jason took the rest of the boys to a BBQ at his Grandma Allen's house in Orem.  I stayed home with sick little Kody.  Jason came home from the BBQ & packed up the truck for a weekend camping trip.  I decided to stay home with Kody so I could get caught up on house work & get us ready for our trip to St. George/ Mesquite.  The boys were SO excited to go camping!  It's actually pretty crazy to me to see how excited they are to go camping.  They bought steel wool & 9 volt batteries to test their fire making skills.  Monica & her boyfriend Shreeker (sp?) are going to meet them there.  I spent most of my day yesterday making food for their trip.  Thanks to Robb for giving me great ideas of what to send them with this time.  Just yesterday I made a potato salad, taco salad, breakfast burritos & tin foil dinners for them to take.  My kitchen is a mess.  Oh & Camden hurt his foot this week.  He's always getting hurt because he just doesn't think things through.  He was riding on the handle bars of Mason's bike when Mason hit the breaks.  Camden flew off & scraped all the skin off his toes.  I won't go into details but it was disgusting & made me sick to look at it.  I heard him screaming, saw a bike in the road & a car was stopped.  I thought the darn kid got himself hit by a car!!  So freaking SCARY!  I carried him home & made him put a wash rag over his foot until Jason got home to take care of it.  I really almost passed out & felt like throwing up.  O.K so there is my random ramblings for the week.  I doubt I'll be back to blog until after our trip.  I'm off to have some one on one time with Kody at the good ol' McDonalds playland.

Long but FUN summer day!

 

Check out this amazing fold up wagon!!  I've seen people use these at Lagoon.  I MUST have one!  What a great idea.  The reviews online sound great too.  I can't wait to order one!!!  I stinkin' paid $12 to rent a wagon at Lagoon today.

Here is my $12 wagon.  It was totally worth it!  I'm already over the stroller stage of life.  Wow those days flew by way too fast:(.  

I laughed when looking through the pictures I took today.  I've always known that my boys think Collin is cool & they always try to act like him but this picture really shows it in action.  Camden is trying to sneak a look at how Collin is posing cool for the picture.

Haha!  I guess this is his cool Collin serious face:)!!

Step aside other children at the Lagoon water fountain!  Allow me to introduce you to the kids that really know how to jump right in & have some fun!  We don't mess around.  Other kids watch from the sidelines, but few dare to be like the boys I bring to Lagoon!

They are loud & demand attention!  You can see strangers watching in amazement.

Take note... This is how you play properly in a water fountain!

Caleb watched from the $12 wagon because he didn't want to get wet until Rattlesnake Rapids.

Keaton is on the front row having a great time on Puff.  Check out Caleb & Camden on the second row.  They were acting way too cool for this baby roller coaster.

Wife Beaters are great to wear on a hot day, but you end up taking white trash to the next level when you let it hang down below your nipples.  We like to provide onlookers with some great people watching.  We took our neighbor Mitch with us today.  Kody decided that they are best friends.

Keaton & Kody have to find ways to entertain themselves while the big boys go on big rides.

Instead of coming home from Lagoon & getting all lazy, they kept playing late in to the night.  The sand Jason got this year is awesome.  This sand castle is one of their best of the season.  It's fun to hear their creative imaginations go wild.  I was pooped so I layed in the hammock & listened to the funny stuff they come up with.  I have to pretend I'm not listening or Camden's friend Landon gets a little shy.  But when he thinks I'm not there he gets all creative.

Caleb was working hard to build a wall so the castle would be safe from flooding.

This is Brinlee.  She's a fun new friend.

Tomatoes!!!

My tomato plants are making up this year for disappointing me last year.  The plants are HUGE.  I'm so proud of them for growing so strong & healthy!  I guess it helps to actually weed & water them.  We plan on spending lots of summer nights bottling salsa!  Caleb & Cam want to sell some of them.  They've helped water these beauties & they'll be the ones picking them, so I guess I'll let them make some money.  As you can see, we were having a great time posing with our beloved tomato plants!

Remember the leaf mustache from a few years ago?  It's baaaaccckkkk!

Oh & remember how Suzi took the mustache to a new level?  Well I decided to get all crazy with the leaves tonight! 

oooops.  How did this picture get on here.  Yep I went there.  I'm just trying to be modest!

Seriously these plants are the biggest I've ever had.  We've given them a little more love than we did last year but I still can't figure out why they are so big!  Maybe they won't produce good tomatoes.  Maybe they're all talk.  Only time will tell.  I'll keep you posted!
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I saved the best picture for the end.  We think this picture really shows how much we love each other.  We've been working on our special picture poses so we'll be ready when we go to Camera Shy to get our pictures taken!!!

Mario

 I love finding little things like Mario laying on a step stool with a pillow and blanket made from Batman wash rags.  Keaton gave Mario a bath & got him all ready for bed last night.  I think Mario is pretty luck to have Keaton as a friend:)!

Random Summer Stuff Ramblings all in one big paragraph... Whoa this ended up LONG!

Hmmm what have we been up to this week?  Keaton was lucky to spend the night at Grammy & Grandpa's house in Sandy.  The house was just sold so that was the last sleepover at the house I grew up in.  I haven't felt sad about it yet.  I love my parents house in St. George & home is wherever my parents are at.  Keaton came home with lots of treasures from the dollar store!  He also got to go see Rio with Grammy.  She said he was perfect and easy to have for a sleepover.  Camden also got to sleep over the week before for his birthday.  He invited Collin to sleep there with him.  Grammy took Camden to Walmart where he bought a big knife.  He's so proud of it and shows it to everyone that comes over.  It's in a safe place now:)!!  She also took them to Planet Pizza, where they stayed for hours and hours.  Tanner rode his long board over and hung out with them.  Caleb & Camden also got to sleep over at the Leishman house.  They had so much fun & apparently even went swimming in a pond.  Don't worry... Camden tried to make me feel better about it by saying that when he was too tired to swim that Tanner swam him to the shore on his back!  WOW!  Crazy thing is that I told them the one thing they couldn't do when I'm not there is go swimming.  I'm starting to realize that warning them to do things seems to make them want to do it.  In fact, we went to Liberty Park this week & I warned the kids not to talk to strangers.  Caleb was out of my sight for just a little bit but I spotted him talking to a man so I went over to make sure he was safe.  He was teaching the man to tie knots!!!  What?!  Caleb was proud to tell me that he'd made friends with three different adults but that I shouldn't worry because they were nice!!!!!  I'm a bit of a freak & I'm very open with my kids about the dangers of the world. I've tried my best not to freak them out, but to make them aware.  Well apparently a kids brain just cannot truly understand what dangers are out there.  Maybe I need to be more open.  I thought he knew the risks but then he goes out & makes friends with adults at Liberty Park of all places!!  I really hate it that we have to be so paranoid about stupid freaks.  It doesn't help that there was a story this week of a kid in Brooklyn that was kidnapped & murdered after asking a man for directions.  So sad!  O.K enough about that!  We had Halle & Tanner sleep over this week.  It was the week of chillin' with cousins.  Kody was SO excited when Halle finally go to our house around 11:30pm.  He was talking her ear off.  The next day they played all day until we went to the Lagoon's Cirque show.  It was very cool & somewhat disco.  They all went on the log ride after & then we were off to Liberty Park to meet Grammy, Justy & Crew.  I must send a shout out to Tanner Leishman for being such a great kid!  My boys worship him.  He helps them make duct tape wallets & other cool things.  They all look up to him.  He's just an amazing kid & you'd know it if you hung out with him.  He's so helpful & helped carry Kody & Halle to Pioneer Village & to Liberty Park.  We were also lucky this week to have my friends Trista, Suzi & their kids over to play.  The kids all had lots of fun.  Brynlee & Caleb have been friends since they were born.  It took them a minute to warm up, but once they did they were having a great time!  Somehow I've managed to keep my house somewhat clean this week!  As Marci says, CLEAN FEELS GOOD!  It's been hard keeping up on it this summer, since the kids are all here 24/7, but since I was able to get it all caught up this week & I'm loving it!  I read a tip on a blog about washing your sheets & adding liquid fabric softener during the last cycle & then putting them on your bed wet.  I have a front load washer so the sheets are barely even damp when I pull them out, so I thought I'd give it a try.  It sounds crazy to put wet sheets on the bed but WOW they smell so dang good & don't have any wrinkles.  It's weird but I think the fresh smell is what got me in a cleaning mood this week.  Jason made a delicious dinner for us tonight.  I posted it on our dinner blog.  It was seriously the BEST food I've had in a long time.  I need to step up my game in the cooking department.  I'm not a summer cook.  I love making stuff in the fall & winter but I'm lazy about it when it's hot outside.  Well there ya go for a random update.    

Kody & Halle snuggled right up.  I love that Halle likes hanging out at our house because I'd be sad if she was too shy to stay over.  We've LOVED having her hang out with us.  She might be tiny & petite but she totally fits right in at our house full of boys!

I ment to get a picture of the boys following Jason around in the yard.  It was hilarious to watch.  I didn't capture the cuteness because I was too far away.  I've been meaning to take a picture of my amazing tomato plants though.  You can sort of see them in the distance.  I planted 24 plants & I must say that they are amazing this year!!!  We are going to be canning them like crazy.  I can't wait:)!

Keaton hates cleaning!  He nearly fall to the floor in laziness when I ask him to do anything.  Caleb is an amazing cleaner, Camden is a good organizer but is working on his cleaning skills & Kody is actually pretty good at doing little jobs but Keaton hates it!  He's five years old & today he finally foud a job he enjoyed.  The did a great job cleaning the bar stools.  And just so you know, Kody does not need to wear pull ups.  He's never peed the bed but for some reason I always put on him at night since Keaton still has to wear them.  Keaton always has to pee during the day.  He must have a tiny bladder.  He rarely wakes up with a dry pull up.  I think I'm going to purchase a pee alarm.  Btw, my OBFF (original best friend forever), Becky's dad, invented the bed wetter.  Cool!

We bought a cheap little fire pit thing to roast marshmallows.  It has been so much fun.  The boys are obsessed & actually started the fire themselves tonight with a magnesium bar, pocket knife & cotton balls.  We weren't in the mood to roast marshmallows again so we told them we would do it if they could start a fire that way.  They were SOOOO excited when it worked.  Now they are sleeping outside in these hammocks.  They are quite the outdoors-men, just like their dad!  Camden made his own hammock.  I was surprised that it's actually holding him up.

Keaton was also going to sleep out there in the fort but he's back inside.  This is his new ball blanky.  We have no idea where his old when disappeared to.  He's been so sad.  We ended up finding a close replacement at Ross (dress for less;)).   It's way bigger than the baby one.  He's so happy!  He's a funny kid.  Tonight he layed out three pairs of underwear & asked me which ones I liked best.  I pointed & he said "thanks mom, I'll wear these for my evening underwear & these other ones for my morning underwear".  Maybe you had to be there but it was funny.

Well there you have it.  Sheesh that was a long post!  I need to be better about remembering to take my camera on our summer outings.