July is over already?

Wow! This month went fast, how is it August tomorrow? I'm not quite sure how this happened and don't have anything too exciting to share. We have become a DVD family ... which means we cancelled our satellite. I think I was about 13 the last time I didn't have cable (yes, I am spoiled) so this will take some getting used to ... but actually it hasn't been that bad so far. We have fit in more walks and time at the park. So not only is it good for our budget, it is good for our family time. I think that Mylie will overcome her withdrawls from SpongeBob and Dora, good thing she has DVDs of both.

Jeff and Blake have fit in some naps in the recliner. I have so many pictures of Jeff and Mylie in this same pose when she was Blake's age.
Our church had a Girl Party on Tuesday night for all the mother's and daughters. I volunteered to take pictures of all the moms and daughters so one of the young women offered to help out with Mylie. The became fast friends and I may have *finally* found a teenage babysitter. Mylie had a blast at the party, she swam and did crafts and had fun with some of the girls from primary.

This is Mylie with her new BFF Shelby.
Other than that the summer just continues to fly by. Blakey is growing like mad and will be 6 months old on Sunday. He is chowing down on cereal and ready to try new foods too. He is so happy and I must kiss him 238947 times a day. He has acquired a new skill of pulling hair ... pulling it out. I think he took out three little fist fulls of my hair today. Ouch!

Mylie is getting so grown up. She is writing her name and and doing great with her letters. While Blakey was napping today we spent some time reading and she was just amazing me with how smart she is. She is loving riding her bike and has already had to have one tire replaced on it (she is so my kid). She is so dang tall and already wears size 5T and some girls size 5. Yep, she is still 3 years old.

Jeff is busy at work, but things are getting better there. He has really helped bring about a turnaround in his department in the 4 months he has worked there. In fact, his boss' boss told him today that things have improved there faster than he thought they would. Yay Jeff!

I have just been working about one day a week this month which is a nice thing about summer. Still, I don't feel like I've done a ton of fun things with the kids. But I do enjoy fun moments, such as Mylie and I reading while Blake is napping, watching cartoons with Mylie and Blake in my bed in the morning, and watching the two of them interact. It is the most adorable thing when they see each other for the first time in the morning. Both of their faces break out into the biggest grins ever, so dang cute!

Next weekend we head to Utah for a family reunion. We leave early Friday morning and will drive to Salt Lake and go to Hogle Zoo and then the reunion starts that night in Provo and is all day Saturday. We are going to drive back Saturday night (it is about 6 hours each way ... without stops) so it will be a lot of driving. But it will be fun and we are excited!

More reading ...

2/3 done with "Eclipse" which I started at 11 last night. Small breaks for sleeping, feeding my children and showering. Bailey, please read fast so I can borrow #4 next weekend.

"The Big A"

On Saturday, Jeff and I took the kids and drove to Garden Valley (about 1.5 hours north of here) to meet my parents for lunch. They were on a motorcycle trip going through there and we were glad we got to spend a couple hours with them. When we were getting ready to go my Dad gives Mylie one of his business cards. My Dad works for Doug Andrus trucking company and their logo is an A (can you see where this is going?) Mylie exclaims, "Papa! You are the big A!"

And then she said ...

• So last night Jeff is flipping through the channels and stops on "Walker, Texas Ranger" (to spite me I am sure) and Mylie says, "Look, its Chuck Enormous." Grrrr.

A few more Mylie conversations ...

• Yesterday I was working in the office and Mylie was playing. I was only half listening, but overheard this, "The world's best fry cook is a Child of God." Apparently this was some strange mixture of playing church combined with Spongebob.
• This morning she was reading Blake a princess book. However, as she was reading it she kept saying 'testicles.' I have absolutely no idea what she was trying to say, but I am certain it wasn't that! Oh my.

So I dreamt of vampires ...

and WEREWOLVES!! What, I didn't know about the werewolves. The night kind of went like this. I went up to bed around 9:30 and Jeff was shocked as I usually don't ever go to bed while the clock still says p.m. He was reading for a bit too, but then put his magazine away and attempted to go to sleep. I said "Just another chapter," and then "I'll turn the light off at 11." Well at 12:15 I finally turned the light off and laid there and couldn't stop thinking about the book. At 12:30 I picked up the book, went in the bathroom, closed the door, turned on the light and sat there for another hour reading. Finally at 1:30 I decided I really better go to bed. At 1:31, Blake woke up. I was wide awake, but woke up Jeff so he could go down and put the binky back in his mouth. I told him I was too scared of vampires and werewolves (some mom I am). When Blake woke up this morning, I went downstairs, made him a bottle, brought him up to bed with me and kept reading. Mylie was on her own for breakfast (yep, she's only 3, thank goodness for gogurt). And by 9 I was done. I sat there contemplating if I should call Meredith and go pick up the 3rd book. I decided against it, knowing full well I would spend the entire day ignoring my house, children, husband and job. I'll save that for tomorrow.

Not too much to report.

Not too much to report here. Thursday and Friday I was at an underage drinking conference in Boise. Friday, Grandma and Grandpa Breach helped us out and picked up the kids fom Alicia's and kept them for the afternoon. At 6:30 when we got there to pick up Mylie, her first words weren't, "Hi Momma, I love you." They were "I want to stay here forever!" Saturday was spent mostly doing chores and then Saturday night Melissa and I went to a crop (Leslie, I have a present for you!)

Today we just went to church and then hung out this afternoon. In fact all 4 of us took a nap at the same time this afternoon, amazing. Mylie has taken naps most days this week which has been out of the ordinary for her. I don't know if it is the heat or what, but I could get used to this.

I am a little late to it, but I am now on the "Twilight" bandwagon. When I was in Idaho Falls Bailey loaned me her copy which I finished within a 24 hour timeframe. I had dreams of vampires for nights. She was re-reading "New Moon" so she wouldn't let me take her copy of that, meanie. It has been almost 2 weeks that I have been wondering about Edward and Bella, today I borrowed "New Moon" from a friend at church. She brought it to me and it took everything I had to shove it in my diaper bag and actually listen at church. But since we have been home I have started the book. And now both kids are in bed, so I am going to curl up and read to my heart's content (and probably dream of vampires again!)

Our week at Grandma and Papa's

First a couple other Jackson pictures (they were on my other camera).
Blake having ice cream.
Need I say more?
After our super fun weekend in Jackson, Jeff had to go back to work and the kids and I stayed at Grandma and Papa's house for the week. Ben and Holli and the kids were there and Bailey was there too. We had so much fun. A couple of the highlights ... Monday night my friend Jaimee and I got together. We have been friends since high school and both went to U of I. She is awesome and I love her. She and her husband Steve (also a good friend) live in Alaska, so needless to say we don't see each other that often. It's been about 3 years since I have seen her. She has an adorable two year old little boy and on Monday night she and I and the 3 kiddos went to ice cream and then took the kids to go play. We were so busy catching up I didn't even get any pictures of Mylie and Michael playing together. I did get one picture ... Mom, Dad and Ben might appreciate this one. We went to my old elementary school to play. It's been 20 years (yikes) since I was in elementary school, so things have changed a bit. They have all new playgrounds ... except this. The old red slide is still there.
One morning Holli, Bailey and I took the kids to the zoo. Holy cow! The Idaho Falls zoo has changed a lot since I have been there and it is awesome! The kids had such a fun time.

I even got video of them in the petting zoo.


I was also able to visit my friend/2nd cousin Hillary and Mylie was able to play with her two cuties, Alex and Lorin. Mylie and Alex are just a couple months apart. They had a great time and he had such fun showing her his ginormous swingset and their house. It seems like although we go to Idaho Falls often it is so busy and such a quick trip that Hillary and I never get together. Next time we voted for grown-ups night out and the Grandmas (our moms are cousins) can keep the kiddos.

One day Holli and I took the kids (all 5 of them) to Veggie Tales, which actually was really cute. Blake was enthralled by all the colors and watched about 2/3 of it and then zonked. We had another party at Papa Hammond's one night which is always a treat. Bailey and I went to Bajio for lunch one day and we all hit the Godfather's lunch buffet one day also. Mylie got to go on the 4-wheeler twice, once with Papa and once with Bailey and Max.

We had a great time. Mom was off work on Friday and drove us to Twin Falls where Jeff met us. We all had a nice lunch together and then Grandma headed back to Idaho Falls. Lucky us though, we get to see them next Saturday when they cruise through Boise on their motorcyles. I know they are excited to see us too, plus there is an added bonus, lunch at Goodwood!

It is fun to travel, but it is also nice to be home. It seems to be taking a bit to adjust this time, but I guess Mylie went from excitement every second (Max) to boring (Mom). Oh well. The kids are finally starting to feel better too ... thank goodness! Blake will now roll all the way across the room, it is funny to watch. I am going to start him on solids this weekend. I didn't want to start him right before vacation, then we got home and he was sick, so I think we'll start this weekend. Not that he needs it, when we went to the doctor on Monday he weighed over 19 lbs. Yep, he's our Bubba!

I love Mylie!

Some stories from today:

• Mylie had some starbursts left from yesterday and she snuck them this morning. At lunch I told her that she wouldn't get a treat after her lunch because she ate her candy already. So as she is saying the blessing on her food she says, "Please bless that Heavenly Father will give me more candy." Yikes!
• Mylie hasn't napped in years, but after lunch she has quiet time in her room. She has a great imagination and plays quite well by herself. While she was in her room I finally took a shower. When I went down to check on her, she was sound asleep under the table in her room.
• This afternoon while Blakey was napping, she climbed up on my lap and we looked through her scrapbooks for 45 minutes. Such a sweet afternoon.
• Tonight we went to dinner, {because of my earlier post about not eating out, I feel like I need to justify myself, LOL! Jeff's parents (love them) sent us a gift card to Olive Garden, so yummy!} and while we were waiting for our food Mylie was coloring. She drew a piture of herself and then said to Daddy, "Daddy can you guess who this is? She is gorgeous, has pretty hair and is wearing a Dora dress." I love that she has self-confidence!
• After dinner we had to run to Costco. When you leave you have to show them your receipt (seriously, it makes no sense to me). Mylie's job is to show the receipt. The people at our Costco always draw a smiley face on the back for kids. So as we are leaving Mylie is inspecting the picture and says, "That guy doesn't draw very good. He didn't draw legs for me."

The point of this post ... I love this kid. Looking back at her books today it amazes me how much she has grown, how much she has learned. She is such a sweet, funny, smart, beautiful girl. I'm still amazed that I get to be her momma!

The verdict is in ... and a question.

Poor Blake has been sick. He has been congested for about a month, has had really running nose since Thursday. Saturday night his temp was 101.1, Sunday night is was 103.5 and yesterday morning it was 104.3. Of course our pediatrician is on vacation this week. I took him to the Urgent Care center and he has an ear infection. Poor little dude. He seems much better today and chugged a whole bottle for the first time in days! He isn't liking his medicine regimine though. He hates the ammoxicillian, can tolerate the tylenol and motrin, seriously hates the nose drops, and kind of just ignores the ear drops. Last night when I was giving one of his medicines he didn't want it and was gagging on it and then he puked, like the most ginormous baby puke ever. I didn't even think he had ate that much in the last few days. Apparently I was wrong. The crazy thing is that he didn't cry or anything, he was laughing afterwards. What a weirdo.

So yesterday was a pretty mellow day. Jeff came home around lunchtime to watch Mylie so I didn't have to take her with me (thank you Jeff). She is sick too, but just a cold. Her cold medicine is having the opposite effect. Instead of it making her sleepy, she is crazy hyper (and driving me crazy lol). I had a ton of things to do around the house yesterday and got none of them done, so perhaps today will be better.

Next topic of discussion ... what is up with gas prices and prices of everything? It is ridiculous! Everything is going up but wages. So my question to everyone is, what are you cutting back on or what are your frugal tips? We are cutting out our eating out (such a bad habit, but such a hard habit to break). I used to be really good about grocery shopping off a menu and so I'm starting to do that again. We are toying around with the idea of cancelling our satellite, but are still pondering this one. Pretty much the only catch for us is sports, no baseball (well maybe a Saturday game), no college football, and the big one, no UFC. Regarding driving, I have never really felt like I had to consolidate trips before, but I totally do now. On days we are home, we just stay home. OK, so share them ... please share your frugal tips with me!

The 5th of July Part 2: The Bar J

My Dad LOVES the Bar J. (http://www.barjchuckwagon.com/) It may be one of his most favorite places on earth. It is a chuckwagon dinner and performance. The food is awesome and the entertainment is even better. Saturday night my Mom (bless her heart) kept all 5 kids and the rest of us went to the Bar J. I love going there with my Dad. It is hilarious, like pee your pants funny, and even more so listening to his infectious laugh. We had so much fun, good food, good music and great company!

Date night at the Bar J. Dad and Bailey
Jeff and I
Jason and Courtney
Ben and Holli
And Grandma even survived her night with all the kiddos. In fact, the next day when I was asking Mylie to tell me about her favorite parts of the trip, she said the Grandma party. Cute.

We had such a fun weekend! Sunday was a leisurely morning in Jackson, lunch and then headed back to Idaho Falls. I can't even express how much fun I had and how much I appreciate my parents putting it all together. There is nothing in the world like family!

The 5th of July Part 1: String Lake

The next morning we were off to the mountains. OK, technically I guess we were already in the mountains. But we headed to String Lake for a picnic and fun. How beautiful is the scenery?
Here is Dad in the canoe. Jeff decided that he and Mylie and I ought to go on a canoe ride. But there are some canoe stories. Forever ago, when Courtney graduated from High School (2001) our family went on a cruise. Ben, Courtney, Bailey and I decided to go sea kayaking as one of our excursions. Bailey and I were in the kayak together. Not sure I can paint an accurate picture of this,but just imagine the boat going in a lot of circles and a lot of yelling. I just thought Bailey was crappy at it. Fast forward to a few years later. Jeff and I are at the cabin with my parents and we decided to float the river ... my parents in one canoe and Jeff and I in the other. This was the first time I'd gone on the canoe with Jeff and I wanted to show him what an outdoorsy type woman that I was. Picture the canoe crashing (at full canoe speed) into the bank of the river and Jeff flying out of the canoe. Apparently it wasn't Bailey who was the one who sucks at canoeing. And now, he wants me to go in the canoe with him and take our baby? My Dad is shaking his head, he can see the writing on the wall. But alas, we made it, Mylie thought it was super cool, I sat like a frozen statue, only paddling when Jeff told me to. It is kind of funny now that I think about it.
Mylie also went on a canoe ride with Papa and Aunt Courtney.
Blake slept through all the fun. Notice his cheek ... Eliza loves him and just couldn't keep her sandy hands off of him.
Gorgeous!

The 4th of July Part 2: Jackson

After the BBQ, we loaded up in our cars and headed to Jackson for the weekend. Papa surprised the kids with cowboy hats. I don't think that Max and Mylie took theirs off all weekend. They ran around saying, "We are cowboys from Texas." Oh my gosh, they were absolutely hilarious! And seriously, look how cute these kids are!

Here they are watching for the stagecoach and getting ready to go on a ride. Grandma and Papa took the three big kids and Eliza. Mom said that Eliza was yelling and talking to everyone out the window.

They let off fireworks from the ski hill which we watched from the parking lot of our hotel, so perfect. The kids thought they were pretty hot stuff watching from the back of Papa's truck.

It was a great firework show, it probably went on for about 30 minutes. Sadly, there was no synchronized music (radio) to go along with the fireworks, but someone (Bailey) seranaded us all. I am proud to be an American!

The 4th of July Part 1: Idaho Falls

I love the 4th of July! We had such a great time this year on the 4th and for the whole weekend. My whole immediate family was all together for the first time in over a year. We had so much fun. First we went to the parade in Idaho Falls,

and then headed to Grandpa's for the traditional 4th of July BBQ. Grandpa Jack joined the party as did Steve and Ada and all their family (minus Fred).

Grandpa Jack with all his great-grandkids. What a cute picture. He is holding Nolan (Josh's son). He will be one later this month.

Still alive ...

No worries, we are still alive and well. I have lots to update but it will have to wait until this weekend. We had an amazing 4th and such a fun time in Jackson with everyone. Jeff had to go back to work and left on Sunday, but the kids and I are staying at my parents until Friday. Mylie is seriously having the time of her life playing with Max and Darcy from sunup to sundown (not exagerating here at all). I have lots of pictures and commentary, but will wait until I get back to my computer.

But I will leave you with a Darcy & Mylie story ... yesterday afternoon Max, Eliza and Blake were all taking naps (and Holli and I were hoping we could too) so I suggested to Darcy and Mylie that they play school. They had such a fun time and played really well together for about an hour and a half. However the got tired of playing school and decided to play church. They came into the family room where Holli and I were and put on a musical performance (they both have the sweetest little singing voices) and then Darcy declares that they are the School of Faith and Jesus Christ is their mascot. I may have peed my pants laughing!

5 months old!

Somehow Blake turns 5 months old today. Almost a half a year. Wow. Just a couple shots from the other night.
This shot is simply to show off his thighs!
We sure love having him our family ... and can't imagine our our family without him. I love snuggling him and giving him kisses and watching him smile. He is so dang ticklish and laughs and laughs. I love watching Mylie enjoy being a big sister. She says the cutest things to him and is such a huge helper. In fact the other day she asked me who my helper was when she was a baby. So cute!

So happy 5 month birthday Bubba. We love you!

"The Greatest Generation"

In the spirit of the 4th of July, yesterday I started reading "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. It has been sitting on my shelf for a year. I knew that this book would resonate with me as both of my Grandpas served in World War II. In fact, my Grandpa Hammond gave this book to my Dad and he gave it to me. It didn't take long for me to tear up. Referring to the greatest generation, Tom Brokaw said this:

"[They are] like your neighbors, the older people who always fly the flag on the Fourth of July and Veterans Day and spend their vacation with friends they've had for fifty years at the reunion of his military outfit. They seem to have everything they need, but still count their pennies as if the bottom may drop out tomorrow. Most of all, they love each other, love life and love their country, and they are not ashamed to say just that."

Sound familiar?

Mylie, last fall, with Grandpa at his Navy Seabees reunion.

I love this holiday, the traditions that go along with it and the great love for this country that has been instilled in me. Happy 4th of July!