Rexburg Trip

We went to visit my sister and her family in Rexburg the weekend before school started to give our kids one last summer trip. As usual they had a great time with their cousins. We were able to spend the afternoon at their friend's pool, the kids had a movie night and just played and played. The adults went out for sushi one night and ordered WAY too much, but no one was complaining.... much anyway. ;) Never thought I'd say I enjoy going to Rexburg, but it's something all of us look forward to.

August

Waterslide fun with cousins.

WHOOPS!!

Haley did not think the word fun and waterslide go together!

Monsoon Rain....

and HAIL!

Nate got his braces on!! About a month sooner than expected.... I don't know if he's happy about that or not.

A little yard work. Lovin' his attire. :)

I heart my boys! Kaden is a good big brother and lets Tye sleep by him when he's scared.

The casualties of having a three year old sister named Haley!

Trick-or-Treat! The kids and their friends got into our Halloween costumes and naturally decided to go trick-or-treating. I hear they got quite the loot!

Nate, Rachel, Haley, Eliza and I went on a bike ride around the temple. (The boys were at the neighbor's watching a movie.) Rachel is a trooper!
Sweet baby girls. At least Haley isn't torturing her like she usually does while they're locked up together. :)

Swensen Family Reunion

We had a really fun reunion with my family up in Bennington, Idaho August 12-14. We really enjoyed each others company and being away from the "city". You know those little places in world that make you happy and give you joy? Well, this is one of those places for me and my family. Most everyone stayed at my mom's childhood home (that now belongs to my aunt) and the rest of us camped out in relatives homes nearby. (Thank you Relatives!) We happened to be there during the Bear Lake County Fair so we stopped by one night and let the kids hit the carnival.... if you think Strawberry Days is a bit scary then don't go to the hill billy fair (as my local cousin put it). A few of my nieces had fun checking out the eligible cowboys while the rest of us got sick on "carni-donuts" (deep fried Pillsbury dough). Check out what Kaden shot trying to win something.....
Nice! It's a terrorist. Seriously, between the convicts that run the games and rides and the cowboys and cowgirls we felt a little out of place, but it was still fun.

We had a fun day at Bear Lake. My brother borrowed a boat from a friend (since none of us are boaters) and the kids had a great time being pulled on "Big Bertha" behind it and some tried a little wake boarding. Although, now that I think of it, I think Big Bertha went flat. So they enjoyed being pulled on a different tube anyway. The kids created their own "hot tub" (pictured above... I'm a bit scared of what lurks in there!) The older kids made Nate into a merman, but then Nate made himself into a mermaid. He's beautiful, isn't he?!

{all the grandkids}

On our last morning we went on a little hike up Pine Canyon where my grandfather homesteaded the land (it now belongs to my uncles). His little log cabin is still up there. It was fun to hike around and reminisce about fun times we had up there when we were kids.

It was seriously one of the best reunions (and I'm not just saying that because I planned it... ha, ha!) I think we've all decided that that is where we will be going each year instead of trying to come up with a new place each time. And maybe it will get changed up now and then, but for now this is the place!

Please Allow Me This Opportunity

I need to vent. My neck hurts.... bad. I was playing with Eliza a few days ago and felt my neck and shoulders kind of tense up. So I stopped tossing her up and down like I was and took some ibuprofen and iced it. Well within a couple hours I was dying. I could hardly move and couldn't hold the baby anymore so Nate took over bedtime and I lied down. It felt a little better the next day and even the next and so on, but when I woke up this morning it was worse again. As I carried laundry baskets, a toddler, a baby, etc. I could tell I wasn't going to make it through the day very well. So my mom came over this afternoon and watched my kids while I went to the chiropractor to get my neck adjusted and got a massage.... it helped like maybe 8%. That's right. Not 9% or 7%, but 8%. I'm hoping tomorrow it will be notably better. Nate has been gone and to top it all off I couldn't get anything accomplished today like I had planned. Yes, planned! I actually had a plan and it was going to be so wonderful. The kids destroyed the basement Sunday, but I didn't realize it until Monday afternoon because Nate tucked the kids in bed Sunday night not me. I was going to get it all put back together today. Nope. Didn't happen. But they sure as heck are cleaning it tomorrow! My kids found the Halloween costumes so my storage room is strewn with costumes and Halloween trinkets. I was going to get them all put away and also reorganize some childrens clothes I have in storage. Nope. Didn't happen. It was also laundry day and I had oodles and oodles of loads to wash, fold and put away. Nope. Didn't happen. I was going to make waffles for dinner and opened up the waffle iron and found a nasty, old, rotting waffle. It was disgusting. We had french toast instead. Tonight as I was grumpier than grumpy the kids whined and pouted about homework, bedtime, and anything else they could think of. Someone peed on the carpet.... we won't name names, but their last name is Bishop and it's probably not who you think would have done it! So I spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed...... no not really, but they did get sent to bed (with an "I love you") and I put myself in time out. Today was a failure and I'm glad it is over. Of course, with my luck I'll have 5 kids who will either have a bad dream, ear ache, head ache, leg ache, tummy ache, or what not. Tomorrow sure as heck better be better! (And yes, I know it really could be worse!)

Haley's 3rd Birthday

Haley turned 3 on August 6th. Can't believe it! She is a sweet little girl. She's also a little firecracker! A little less mellow than the others. She's not shy most of the time. She loves to play with her brothers, sisters and friends. She LOVES her daddy. I will asked her if she loves me and she says, "No. Love daddy." I'll tell her I love her and she says, "No. Daddy." She wants to do everything on her own and says, "My do it!" She sleeps in her big girl bed really well. (Did I forget to take pictures??? Oh. My. Heck. I did forget. I am ashamed! It's been a few months now.) She was/is potty trained.... ugh! Someday it will be IS forever.... for now we take it a day at a time or more like an hour at a time. :) She has a love/hate relationship with Eliza. She likes to hold, push, pinch, sit-on, hug, hug harder, feed, kiss, lick, etc.. I'm hoping that stage will pass quickly! She loves to say prayers and loves the song, "I Love to See the Temple". She's a good little helper and can be quite silly at times.

Nate made the cup cakes this time around. For once I don't have to give you some sorry excuse why my cake didn't turn out. He even filled them with pudding! They were yummy.

After Haley blew out her candles she was really proud of herself and gave us some cute smiles. Then she started acting a little silly and awkward because we were all watching her. It was really cute.

We are so very blessed to have little Haley in our family. She brightens our day.

We love you, Haley! Happy birthday!

Lagoon

We've never taken our kids to Lagoon. In fact, Nate and I haven't been there for years and years. The last time we went I know we were married, but had no kids. So that puts us somewhere between 1998 and 2001. Sorry for the useless information. I'm really good at giving it.... So we took them to say we did something a little fun this summer. It just so happened to be Haley's 3rd birthday (Aug. 6th) so now the kids think we do exciting activities on every ones birthday. Maybe they'll forget..... (I won't hold my breath.) Truth is it was just the only day that would work with our schedule. The kids had a great time. Nate and I didn't go on any roller coasters, but mostly because the kids didn't dare and neither of us wanted to go on any all alone. I would have felt like such a loser. :) So we did kiddie stuff and had a fun day together. My sister, Debbie, watched Eliza for us so we didn't have to worry about her. It was a HOT day so she would have been miserable anyway.

The highlights for the kids were:

• Face painting (No, I did not make them all get black and red paintings. It just happened that way.)
• Log ride (Only a couple meltdowns happened in this line.... tired, hot kids = irrational actions.)
• Pioneer village (my favorite as a child.... I'm a sucker for old buildings and history.)
• Train (seeing the zoo animals... tigers, lions....)
• Winning stuffed animals

Here they are right before we decided to leave. Silly kids! Can't get them to hold still for more than 2 seconds!

Backseat Conversation

Tye: "Good thing mom is an expert driver."
Rachel: "Uh.... she better be!"

If only my daughter had the same faith in me as my son!

Yesterday's Joy

I was in the kitchen and Tye came trotting in...

Tye: "Mom, I need to change my breath."
Me: "What are you talking about???"
Tye: "Well, I just had gum in my mouth."

He then gets a drink of water and runs back outside. He has some of the best comments. The words he picks can keep me laughing for hours.