Technical Difficulties

Hope you can stand the fact that my header no longer matches my background...I can't figure out how to load new paper on Pyzam at the moment...what is another way to get background paper on your blog? Any ideas out there???

A Day at the Beach

Brady woke up Saturday morning and announced, "I feel like going to the beach!" I'd been waiting for him to say something like that for about a month now! We haven't been this summer yet and I had really wanted to go on Saturday, but Courtney got invited to a birthday party for a girl in the neighborhood and I felt a little obligated to let her go since I didn't think many people would be there. So, we waited until after the party and then headed out for the beach.

We knew we were taking our chances waiting until the afternoon because that is when we typically get afternoon thuderstorms, and sure enough, we were only able to stay at the beach for just over an hour, but it sure was fun! We drove home in a monster of a storm though, I was scared to death a few times but Brady kept reminding me the van was a safe place to be and a moving target was hard to hit (by lightening).

Spencer loves to practice riding the skim board. He's getting pretty good at it!

These two boys loved digging in the sand, then having the waves fill the hole.

This picture makes me giggle, but Brady will groan for me posting it. Which one of these boys needs a tan? :) he he he

The beauty queen of the beach.

Courtney and Tucker loved walking around and gathering up these jelly looking things that washed up with the tide. They called them "jelly kabobs" - they looked like a piece of a jellyfish.

Here's Courtney trying out the new beach chair I got for Mother's Day.

All the crew, minus Meghann who has her nose in a book (see below) and the photographer. They are headed out to do some boogey boarding.

Summer Camp

We've just finished our big week of "summer camp." Everyone was gone for at least three hours every day to a camp. Here's the low down:

Meghann was gone to girl's camp from Monday morning until Thursday evening. We missed her a bunch. It was the first time we've sent her off without us and it was wierd to have one missing from the dinner table all week. I worried several times that she was going to get hit by lightening because we had some fierce storms here, but she said they only got a trickle of rain a few times, not the downpours that we had here. I should have been more worried that she would get eaten by an alligator - she said they saw about 10 on their canoe trip! She had a great time.


Tucker was at Cub Scout day camp Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. He had such a fun week - they had the police K-9 unit there one day, a helicopter landed one day that the boys got to tour, they had a giant blow-up water slide for 2 days, a wildlife man was there one day with an alligator, teaching them about gator safety (only in Florida, right?). The local news station was also there this day and we were able to see Tucker on the 6 o'clock news that night! He made lots of fun crafts, some of them are in the picture. His favorite things to do were the BB guns and archery that they did each day. What an adventure!


Jordan was at his own little Adventure Camp that my friend put on for about 12 little kids in the ward/neighborhood/school. He learned about his senses all week and had such a fun time. This was actually his second week of the camp and he missed the first week because we were in Miami. So my friend had 12 kids over every day (Mon - Fri) from 9-noon for THREE WEEKS doing Adventure Camp. Can you imagine? I would be crazy after week one, but she did it for three! She's amazing!


I enrolled Spencer and Courtney in Vacation Bible School M-F from 9 am to noon. They went with our friends, the Roberts, and had a pretty good time! They came home the first day thinking it was a little wierd because they said a pledge to the Christian Flag and a pledge to the Bible...but they went back for more and actually liked it a lot by the end. We had to correct a few teachings at dinner each night, but I think all in all it was a good thing. They especially liked the songs they learned, a little more rock and roll than what they sing in primary!


So, I had about three hours of quiet time every morning and that was just heavenly. I got two talks done for EFY (I was hoping to get 5 done...but I'll take 2) and it was just nice to have that little break in the middle of the summer. Now everyone is home again, but Brady goes out of town some of this week and again some of next week so I'll be entertaining full force by myself. He also has a birthday coming up on Tuesday and we're getting excited to celebrate that!

The Life of a 13-Year-Old

Meghann has discovered the Twilight series. Her best friend loaned her Book 1 and you know the rest of the story...she's had her nose in a book ever since. She read the first book in about three days, the second book in about 24 hours, and now she is on book 3. I think there's going to be a fight in our house for book 4 between her, me, and Brady!

Here she is in the most comfortable chair in the house. We call it the snuggly buggly chair.

I don't think she even got wet at the beach on Saturday because she couldn't put down her book!

Project Finished

A friend of mine asked if I would make some baby gifts for her husband's co-worker who is having her first baby. She is only registered at Pottery Barn so you know this baby will be arriving in style. Well, I was a little nervous to compete with Pottery Barn, but here is my attempt.

Monogrammed hooded towel and washcloth set in blue.

Similar towel set in brown.

Set of 8 burp pads. I call these my "what I want to be" collection.

Personalized camo receiving blanket.

Double sided, monogrammed minky blanket.

Another minky blanket. This has little stars stamped in the fabric, it is so cute and soft! Thanks Joanna for your great pattern on the towels and the ideas on the minky fabric! I hope the mom-to-be enjoys everything.

Highlights of Our Week

Not too much out of the ordinary to write about this week. We just had a fun week being home together with not too much to accomplish. We spent a few days at the aquatic center, the kids got out the little tent they put up every vacation and it went back and forth between the girl's room and the boy's room all week, we did a little shopping, and spent a day at Aquatica, Sea World's new water park.

On Friday I took Meghann, her friend Natalie, Courtney, Tucker and Spencer running errands with me. Jordan was at his friend's house having "Adventure Camp." We went to the mall, JoAnns, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. At Wal-mart Tucker was SO excited to finally be able to spend some money that he has been saving for a while. He got a dart board and a 10-pack game set that included chess. He and a friend went to the library for chess club on Wednesday and he is hooked on the game. At JCPenney he found a clearance on 4th grade Brain Quest, a pack of 1,500 trivia questions and he was so excited to have bought THREE things in ONE day. You'd have thought he'd died and gone to heaven.

Our favorite part of the shopping trip was the samples at Sam's Club!

Our friend Natalie was funny when I dropped her off after a morning of shopping. She only has one brother so I'm sure shopping with 5 other people was quite an experience. When I told her thanks for enduring the morning with us she said, "Yeah...it was really interesting!" Hmmm...what exactly does "interesting" mean?!

Brady had to work all day Saturday training his teachers for next year so the kids and I took off for Aquatica. You can hardly see anything in this little picture, but it is a huge, new, popular water park that Sea World built. We've been dying to try it out so we were on the road by 8:15 a.m. and at the park just as they opened. We had a great day, until I lost half of the kids on a lazy river. We found out after the fact that it has TWO entrance and exits and half of us were at one exit, the other half at the other exit. That was freaking me out for a while, especially because it was starting to sprinkle and I could tell we were in for a good old Florida thunderstorm any minute. We finally found each other and headed for the van, just as the heavens opened and the rains came pouring down. It was the kind of rain that even with the windshield wipers going full speed, it wasn't quite doing the job. We made it home safe and sound and the kids thought it was one of the greatest adventures they'd had in a while. Glad they thought so! :)

One more funny thing...a few weeks ago Courtney was telling me that a friend had said a curse word. She was upset about it so we were talking and I asked her if she'd ever said a curse word. She shook her head no and said, "I have never said a curse word except when I've been reading the scriptures!" Just what exactly am I teaching my child??? :)

Pants for a Penny

I was at the mall a few weeks ago doing some shopping for Father's Day and I couldn't resist going in Christopher & Banks. I felt guilty for going in...but something just pulled me in. I went to the clearance rack where they had lots of pants. I found a few to try on and one I especially liked was marked $6.97. That was down from $45.50 and I thought that was a pretty good deal. I needed a different size than the one I tried on and the new size I got was marked $9.97. I wanted the pants for $6.97 but not for $9.97 so I asked the lady to check the price for me. When she scanned it, she got this funny look on her face. She wasn't sure what to say for a minute so I asked, "Are they free today?" She said, "Almost, they are ringing up for one penny!"

She said they probably should have been pulled off the rack but since I had brought it up to purchase, she said she would give them to me for what they rang up. What!!! When do you ever get something for a penny?? She said, "I can't even charge you tax on that!" Well...that was my bargain of the year. I wore them out on a date that night with Brady! Here is my receipt, just in case you're having a hard time believing it, and a picture of the cute pants.

Vacation to Miami

Last week Brady had to speak at an EFY in Miami so we all tagged along and made a little family get-away out of it. Our friends in the condo business found us a great, affordable place that we had for the week. This picture is of the main pool, but there were 5 other pools to choose from! We swam in three of them. The kids and I just hung around the condo swimming, playing BINGO, watching TV, going for walks, eating, napping, doing whatever we wanted to while Brady was working.

These are the water bottles that Courtney and Tucker won at Bingo. Jordan won one the last day we were there too.

At the back of the condo was a golf course that was rarely used by golfers (at least during the hours we walked back there). The kids loved the wide, open spaces and especially the little hills. They ran lots of races on the golf course.

Jordan showing off a big palm frond he found.

Ahhh...what would vacation be without a jaccuzi tub and some bubbles? This was a hit again with everyone. Only the boys would let me take their picture bathing! :)

Jordan and the girls doing tricks in the pool.

As we were packing up to go home the boys thought this luggage cart was monkey bars. We had a great time!

Sunday Not-Exactly-Quiet Time

Jordan

Me in "uniform"

Spencer in "uniform"

Our Pit

Tucker in "uniform"

Tucker before he jumps

Spencer before he jumps

Jordan before he jumps

Jordan in "uniform"

Me having a GREAT time

This is what happens on a Sunday morning when Mom jumps into the shower. The four kids start jumping off the top of the stairs. Meghann doesn't like to be a kid every once in a while because she is a teenager after all! We'd start running or just jumping from the top of the staircase into a big pit of pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and anything soft we could find! Every once in a while we'd get hurt by running too fast and slamming into the wall but hey we had our helmets on! Sorry if some if the pictures are blurry! I had to get them before they slammed right into me! This post was by Courtney because my Mom was in the shower this whole time!!

Sand Castle Cake

I just love Family Fun magazine for their birthday cake ideas. This was Meghann's cake...when she told me that was what she wanted, I seriously doubted I could make it look like the magazine. But...wah lah! It turned out pretty good. She was happy and loved it so that's all that counts!

So Tired

This is how we found Jordan one day last week. It was about 7:30 p.m. and he was so tired, he just fell asleep on the rocking chair, shoes on and all!

Awards

Summer has officially begun...yesterday was the last day and we also bought our summer pass to the aquatic center where we'll spend plenty of time. On Meghann's birthday, May 29th, we went to an awards ceremony at her school. She is a smartie-pants! She won an award for having the top grade average in Science, Geography AND Advanced Language Arts. Before she could sit down after having received one award, they were calling her name for another! There weren't very many kids at all that won three awards so we were very proud of her!

Courtney's award ceremony was on June 2nd. Each 5th grade teacher chose one student from their class who exemplified good leadership characteristics and Courtney was thrilled when she won from her classroom. She also earned straight A's this semester!

Tucker and Spencer both had awards ceremonies as well and they both did so great, both had straight A's and super-nice comments from their teachers. I am blessed to have such great kids!