Boys Monthly Letters

The boys have posted their monthly letters to their blogs. You can access them by clicking on their pictures to the right.

Three going on ... 16?

Kyle may look like a 3 year old but he seems to think that he is an adult. He thinks he should get to go off to his friends' houses anytime he wants. In the morning one of the first things he always says to me is "Can I go Peter's house?" or "Can I go Alex house?" This morning I was outside weeding the garden when he came out in his PJs and asked "Can I go Peter's house?" I told him no and told him that he needed to go upstairs and get dressed and that he couldn't go anywhere without getting dressed. So he went inside and I guess he thought that meant, get dressed and then go ahead and take off, because when I got done weeding I went inside and couldn't find him. So I walked over to Peter's house which is only a few houses down and there on their driveway was Kyle's tricycle with his helmet neatly hanging on the handle bars. I went inside and there was Kyle, dressed (even matching) and shoes on (on the right feet even). I told him that I didn't tell him he could go anywhere and he just looked at me and said matter-of-factly "But I want to." :)

Cosmic Bowling!

There is nothing more fun then Cosmic Bowling with the cousins!!

Eric's Friend Birthday Party

Eric really wanted to have a friend party this year and I figured since it's summer time and we usually have a dozen little boys running around the house anyway, why not!

He got some great gifts, including a Slip 'N Slide which was great since we were having a water party anyway.

And of course ... pizza!!

And then the kids all got to decorate cupcakes with candy to make them look like they had silly faces. It was such a riot!!

Happy Birthday Eric ... you Spunky Monkey you!!

Cousins

My sister and her family were supposed to get here late Wednesday night for a visit but they live in Los Alamos, New Mexico which was evacuated yesterday because of fires so they are here early which means we get to play with cousins MORE!!

Happy 6th Birthday Eric!

Today we celebrated Eric's 6th birthday (he actually turns 6 of Tuesday). We had a great day!!

First we went to Golden Corral which is Eric's new favorite restaurant thanks to Grandpa and Great-Grandpa O'Berry. They we went to Hollywood Connection which has lots of rides, miniature golf, a magic show ... fun stuff like that. The boys all had a blast. Then this evening had a bunch of family over for cake and ice cream. Since Eric is such a vege lover I made him cupcakes that look like corn-on-the-cob and a helping of peas and carrots. They turned out really cute. :) It was really fun to have everyone over. It was a really nice birthday.

Happy Birthday Eric!! We love you buddy!

Portland

Dave had to go up to Portland for work this week so I flew up and joined him for a couple days. (Thanks to Alisa and Rachel for helping us out with the kids while I was gone.) We had a wonderful trip up there.

Dave took me to Portland's Japanese garden knowing I would love it and it was honestly the most beautiful place in the world ... definitely what our heaven will look like.

We did some really nice hikes while up there.

And we hiked Eagle Creek up to Punch Bowl Falls which is a waterfall that I have wanted to see for years. It was really cool!

We got to spend sometime with Don & Jinx which was really nice. Don is gaining some strength and his health is gradually improving which was really nice to see.

We all worked together to get the boat up and running and got to take a nice little boat ride on Thursday night.

It was a great trip to a beautiful place. :)

Understanding

Eric said the best thing to me today. The boys have been really good about doing their weekly chores to earn their allowance and yesterday one of Eric's jobs was to vacuum the kitchen rug. Well today he noticed that the rug was already really messy and he complained to me, "People keep making messes when I just cleaned it JUST yesterday!!" Welcome to my world Eric! :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Dave!!
Our boys couldn't ask for a better dad! :)

Summertime

The boys have been having such a fun summer! And it's not about trips or other big things. They spend every evening outside playing night games with the kids in the neighborhood. We have the best neighborhood and every night at about 7:30ish the kids just show up in our cul-de-sac and spend a few hours playing games like Capture the Flag and Ghost in the Graveyard. It's so much fun for the kids and brings back fond memories for Dave who used to spend his summer nights playing night games as well. Even Kyle joins in the fun sometimes. :)

And the summer memory that I think the kids will remember the most is our night time tradition of laying out on the tramp and looking at the stars. Once the night games have wound down the boys come in and grab their blankets and pillows and we head out to the tramp for a little calm family time (sometimes it's more calm then others).

We have had such a fun summer so far and since the boys go back to school on August 15th, I fear summer will be over before we know it. :(

First Cabin Trip of the Year

We normally head up to the cabin over Memorial Weekend but because we have had such a cold, wet spring, with so much snow, we didn't go up to the cabin until this weekend.

We had some really nice weather but it was still not hot (which we are SO fine with). It was a beautiful weekend. But we were really amazed at how much water there is up there. Gilbert Creek and Smiths Fork were so high, higher then we have seen them in years.

A couple years ago, we built a bridge to get from our land, up to Grandma Jinx & Grandpa Don's cabin (picture from September 2009).

This year, here is the same spot ...


... no bridge, not even a trace that there ever was a bridge there. So we went down the bank of Gilbert Creek and about 1/4 of a mile down from where our bridge was supposed to be, we found what was left of our bridge after all the run off.

The water is so strong and so high that it completely uprooted trees.

And it is spilling way out of its normal banks.

But despite losing our bridge we had a great weekend. The boys donned their galoshes and played in our little creek.

And of course we roasted marshmallows and had smores.

And we even had a little company. Uncle Jack and Aunt Ginger brought their grandkids over for a little weenie roast and to play.

We went on some beautiful 4-wheeler trails and ran into a lot of snow that still hadn't melted which is crazy for mid-June!! It was a great weekend at the cabin.