A Few Things From Summer 2011

Blake was really into baths this summer. It was kinda like his own indoor mini pool. Who wouldn't enjoy a bath with Pokemon toys and strawberries? We went over to Logan to feed the ducks with Caleb. The HP7 Premiere! Britt and I looking marvelous (as usual), Blake was a Dementor, Griff has a wand and a scar drawn on his forehead, aka Harry Potter. We saw Jed Westmorland and his wife there too! Jed was Hagrid and Whitney was a Hogwarts student (I think) The movie was great! I had a few questions and Griff knew all the answers. I never knew he was such a HP geek! :)
Our cat had about a million kittens. Here are a couple of them. So cute!

June 2011

Brittni made these cute candy bar posters for the boys for their birthdays. Griffy is 13! I can hardly stand it. He wanted strawberry cake this year. He got a sweet basketball from Jordon and he wanted a whie Diamondback Viper bike. It arrived a few days later. He also had a party with a few friends. One of the kids split his leg open on the tramp. Other than that, it was a success.

We had a trip to Oceanside planned for the first week of June 2011. Ben was still working in Vegas, so off the boys and I went.

We stopped at Cove Fort on the way. We have driven by there at least a dozen times, and have never taken the time to check it out.
They have a movie to watch if you want, so we did. Stuff like that makes everyone grateful for what we have, I think. It's also good for the kids to know what people went through so we could have what we have today. On the tour, Griff was the "door opener" and Blake was the "door closer". They both did a fantastic job. It was interesting to see how small the things were. Like, the beds, tables, chairs, shoes and clothes. Our tour guides gave Griff and Blake a string game thingy.  They showed them how to do it and then we left.  Neither one of them could figure it out once we got to the car.  Blake said, "Well, they can do it because they're old, and old people can do anything".  This short stop sign cracked me up. I guess even the stop signs were small back then. :) That night we stayed in Mesquite. We were traveling so cheap. We had a cooler with sandwich stuff and that's what we had for dinner, and milk and cereal in the morning. Then we were off again.

We got there and unpacked.  After we were settled we went grocery shopping and to Cold Stone.  We went for a walk on the beach and spent some time in the hot tub.  We wish Ben was with us. :(  Our first beach day Blake got a sunburn.  We asked Joey (our GPS) to find us a Target and we were off to get swim shirts.  Griff wanted one too.  I told him to look in the boys section first and he said,  "I'm a small man."  We had a few beach days. Nothing better than hanging out at the beach ALL day! Beach naps are the best.

DISNEYLAND
OMG. We love it here. When we got off the shuttle and were walking to the gates, I think we all had a little skip in our steps. After walking through, Griff had the biggest smile and said, "I just love coming here because you KNOW you're going to have the best day!" How cute is that? And he is right. We would go on a ride and Blake would say, "This is the best ride!"  Then we would go on another and he would say,  This is the best ride so far!"  He said that almost every time.  It was so funny.  Sandra told me that when people go to parks like that the majority of people go to the right, so we were going to go left.  I'd ask, where should we go next and Griff would say, "To the left!"  Blake says he is not taking his kids to Disneyland because it is way too expensive.  We woke up at 6:45am and left the park at 12:23am.  I have the BEST boys! 

We also went to Six Flags for the first time. I can't believe I drove all of these places by myself! The lego creations were at a shop at Downtown Disney, we had to stop on the way back from Six Flags, how could we not? At our condo, they told the kids if they gathered 10 whole sea shells and brought them back to the office, they would get a prize. The tide was so high, that we had to get up early one morning and walk down to find some shells. Griffen was not even trying to get up early to do that, so Blake and I went. I dropped my keys and didn't even realize it!  Some boys walking behind us found them and asked if they were ours.  I was so grateful they found them!  I wouldn't even have noticed until we got back and by then they probably would have been swept away by the water.  Blake said I said "Oh, thank you so much"  just like an old lady.  Really?  An old lady?  Blake was hoping his prize would be a $1,000,000 gas card. He was slightly disappointed when he got a Butterfinger instead. Blake ate his breakfast every morning on the deck. The picture of them together is on the pier at Rubys.

POOL TIME
Griff met a little lady friend here. They hung out quite a bit the last few days.

We stopped in Vegas on our way home to see Ben. The hotel he had been staying at totally sucked. Blake gave it 0 stars. There were wasps all around the pool, so they fought them off with their noodles. (pool noodles) ha! Ben jumped off the Stratosphere and I got my picture taken with Jim Morrison and the Chippendale dancers. We stayed there 2 nights and then we headed home. It was such a fun trip. I'm so glad we got to go.

Blake was the farmer in the 3rd grade play. He did a bang up job, shucker.

May 2011
Somebody loves Blake!
This was the cutest ever!
It started happening a few times a week.  My flower beds were being destroyed.  How romantic!

April 2011 started with one of the best April Fools ever. The boys got a brochure for Chore Camp in the mail and I had them totally convinced that was how they were going to be spending their summer. Making beds, doing dishes, taking care of pets, taking out the garbage and pulling weeds were just some of the chores they would be mastering during the summer months. HA! It was the funniest ever. I wish so bad that I would have got it on tape, but then they would have known something was up. I even fooled Ben. He was all for them going. Then Blake was actually a little disappointed when he found out they weren't going anywhere. They called Grandma and Buck Naked and read them the letter. I think they believed it a little too. It was the BEST ever. Brittni made them cupcakes that looked like spaghetti and meatballs. They wouldn't even eat them. They had been betrayed enough.

Ben took a pipeline job in Vegas. He left just before Easter. Britt and I went to a Releif Society on egg dying. Girff and Blake just swooshed the eggs aroung in a strainer with vinegar and food coloring. They worked out pretty good. Just as well as the kits you buy at the store.

The annual Easter picnic at Promentory was fun as always. This year Buck Naked got the horses out. Blake was pretty scared, but I think he ended up liking it. Good food and good company.

These two get so excited for the egg hunt in the back yard. The Easter Bunny is so good to them!

It rained a lot in March. (2011) We played lots of Guitar Hero. It was also the Pinewood Derby.

March 3, 2010 Blakes 9th Birthday
Blake wanted an airsoft gun for his birthday this year. He had a party with his friends and we went to the movie Rango. For his cake he wanted Angel Food with cream cheese frosting. A kid after my own heart! Ben and I went out a couple nights after and came home to Griff sleeping like that on the couch. If anything bad was going to go down, he was ready!

Snowmobiling in Promentory is something we try to do every year, if there is enough snow. The boys have a good time. Every year there is an unexpected adventure. Notice the hay under the truck. We were stuck. For a while! Way to go Buck Naked. (Feb 2011)

February 13, 2011
They're here! Taylor and Rylee :) Caleb came and stayed at our house while Brittni was at the hospital. He and the boys played a hide the cupcake game with a tiny cupcake and soccer cones. If the cupcake tipped over it crushed Caleb's world. He didn't want the frosting ruined. I can't blame him. That is the best part.

Blake earned lots of belt loops in Scouts this year. We had a ginorm show storm and of course, Griff is out shoveling in his summer attire. Blake had a program at school, and Griff had some really good basketball games. (Jan 2011)

In January 2011, Ashley and I gave Brittni a shower for her twin girls. She got so much cute stuff and the food was delish, if I do say so myself!

Driving home from California sometime in 2010, we saw Optimus Prime at a rest stop. Ben saw it and crossed lanes of traffic and took the exit like a maniac. They were on the way to Chicago to film the 3rd Transformers movie. Griff and Blake were so stoked!

Yesterday was the last day of soccer games for both boys for the Spring season.  They both did so great this year and showed a lot of improvement.  We went out to sushi to celebrate.  As soon as we had ordered, both boys and myself pulled out our phones/ipods and I thought, nope, we're going to actually talk.  They handed over their devices and Blake says, "I think I have a disease." I said, "What disease?", "You know, that disease kids get when they just can't stop eating."  Me: "Obesity?" Blake: "Ya, obesity.  I think I have that."

My Stylist

Blake and I were getting ready to go the other morning and I said:
"Does my hair look gay?"
Blake: "You might want to try again."
I'm looking in the mirror and at him like, "Whaaaaa? Really? Well, I don't have time."
Blake: "Then you might want to get a hat."

I really didn't think it was that bad, but what do I know?