The Past 10 Days

JULY 16 2017 

Luna got to play with her mama again. She was much braver this time and they played together wonderfully. 

JULY 17 2017 

We headed to my moms house for the day. Kyle was unusually cranky, so my dad built him a monster truck run for his trucks. This boys has a mad love for all things mechanical, but especially monster trucks. It keep him happy for awhile and since Scott was doing homework, we decided to stay the night. 

JULY 18 2017 

Shortly after waking up, we found out why Ky was so cranky. He had a touch of a stomach bug. We packed up fast and headed home. It was a rough day with lots of throwing up and one sad baby. 

JULY 19 2017 

The best day of the week. I got my braces off! Luckily, the bug was short lived and Kyle was healthy enough to head to the neighbors while I went to my appointment. (The story behind sick Ky. Earlier in the week Jodie's kids got sick with the bug and spent a day throwing up. Clay and Jodie ending up getting it and were too sick to watch their kids, so I had them over for the day. They passed it to Kyle. So since they had already had it and were the ones that gave it to us, Jodie was happy to watch my kids so I could get to the orthodontist.) 

JULY 20 2017-JULY 21 2017

Nothing but cleaning house and hanging out. 

JULY 22 2017

The Blue Thunder jet show came to Idaho Falls. As soon as Scott heard about it, he bought tickets. He and Tayden went early and enjoyed the whole show. The other boys and I showed up at the tail end for  the jet show. It was a fu. And different experience. 

I also decided to play groomer again. Lunas scissor cut was growing out pretty scraggly, so I took the clippers to her. It worked out loads better. 

JULY 23-JULY 24 2017 

Our friends the Turneys came to town and stayed the night with us. It was so wonderful having them here. Seriously, it was so great. The kids played awesome together and the adults stayed up way too late enjoying the company. It was so hard saying goodbye, but that only means the friendship is so good. I love these people. 

Our kids in numerical order. Tayden 8, Hannah 7, Beckett 6, Paige 5, Cache 4, Sam 3, Kyle 2, Jonathan 1. 

JULY 25 2017 

Looks like my prayers were answered. I prayed that nobody else would get sick until my braces were off, the air show was over and the Turneys had left. Beckett and I woke up sick. 

Flying Summer

Summer is a funny things. Some days I'm busy all day, but at the end of the evening I can't put my finger on one thing I accomplished outside of chasing and entertaining kids. Others are spent sleeping in and relaxing while others are full to the brim with fun. I keep waiting for summer to officially start, but its already half way over.  Some noteworthy things from this week.

MUDDY MESS
Kyle loves mud. Alot. And it doesn't matter if hes clothed or not. If he has mud...and googles...he's one happy camper. How can you be mad at that face?

DOG GROOMER
Luna was getting pretty shaggy and feeling pretty warm, so one night I decided to trim her up. It started with just her belly and ended up with a two hour trimming session. It wasn't professional by any means, but she looks and feels a whole lot better.

GAGES
Our good friends, the Gages, from Las Vegas, took a trip to Idaho to see their family. They stopped here for an evening and boy did we love it. We soaked up our old friends and spent the night laughing and talking. It was fun to see all our boys run wild and enjoy their company as much as we enjoyed ours. I love friends that are more like family.

WATER DOG
We took Luna swimming the other night. To say she loved it is a stark understatement. She had a blast. We packed peanut butter and honey picnic dinner for the boys and spent the evening in the little marina. It was so much fun. Luna was far less than graceful, but had much more than fun.

CHUKARS
We spent another evening on the ball field as INL hosted the Chukars game. As always, it was a good time, and Scott and I spent a few minutes pretending the four rambunctious boys next to us weren't ours.

It was a great week!!

Fourth Day of July

Independence Day has been one of my favorite holidays for as long as I can remember. As a young girl, we would go to my Grandma Mennears house and have an evening bbq with games and fun. Then, as it got later into the evening, we would walk/drive down to her church and watch the fireworks from the grassy hill. I miss that tradition. Which is why I love our new tradition so much. (Really, we have been doing it for the past nine years, so its not new at all.) We get to spend the day in Inkom at Scotts grandparents and enjoy the parade, a bbq and some nice R&R in their backyard. I look forward to this day all year long. And I love that my kids will grow up with a strong sense of patriotic tradition as I did and I hope they look back with the same fondness.

Grandma Packard wanted a family picture so she bought everyone coordinating shirts and we snapped a quick shot. It was totally painless and I think they will turn out great. These are just a behind the scene cell phone shot.

We also brought the four wheelers for the boys to ride. They had a blast. But, I think Cache had the most fun on Aimslees dirt bike. And though not pictured, we are lucky to have such a fun Grandpa Packard to take the babies for a ride too.

We got home and sat down just for a minute, then packed up and headed to the big Idaho Falls firework show. It was the perfect ending to a great day!

As Beckett said in his prayer last night, "Help us be grateful for George Washington and all those people who wrote the note to England and told them this is our island, we'll do what we want and we don't care if we die" 

Four Blissful Days

We are just coming off four of the most blissful days.

Thursday:
I woke up at 6am, surprised to see Scott still in bed with me. I nudged him awake and told him he was late for work. He informed me he was taking the day off to watch the last day of baseball. I was taken off guard and spent the rest of the morning in bed thinking and rearranging my day with Scott at home. When he woke up he suggested we hurry and get ready and take the kids to breakfast. It was such a fun and different thing to do and boys absolutely loved it.

We headed to the last set of ball games and the boys great. They really had a great year and learned alot. But mostly, I am proud of their attitudes. They had great sportsmanship, never gave up and walked away smiling after every game.

We spent the rest of the day outside working on the shed and garage. We ordered pizza and ate while we worked. It was one of those magical moments when  you look around and really love life.

Friday:
My Uncle Rich and his family came down from Oregon so my grandma threw a small family get together. We spent the evening at her house laughing with cousins, watching the kids play, eating good food and retelling stories. Tayden, Beckett and Cache stayed the night with my parents and we took Kyle home...entirely too late. As we pulled into Idaho Falls at 11:40pm, Scott wanted some ice cream and stopped at McDonalds. The stop woke Ky up and his dad bought him an ice cream cone too. Scott and I laughed at our fourth baby parenting. It was 11:45 and our baby was up eating ice cream. There is NO WAY I would have every been able to relax enough to do that with Tayden. Our beaming Kyle loved it and I was so happy and content.

Saturday:
It was just the three of us. It made for a quiet morning and as much as Ky missed his siblings, he sure loved time with just Mom and Dad. We got quite a bit of stuff accomplished and had time to play downstairs. Kyle was in heaven with all the toys and without brothers to take anything away or tell him how to play. Scott and I soaked him up and loved on him all day. I was surprised at how much all three of us benefited for some time together. We picked up the boys in the evening to watch the Blackfoot Firework show with my parents. Grandma and Grandpa Packard and Ashley met us at my parents to watch with us. During the firework show Kyle kept yelling and screaming to everyone about the fireworks. Each of the four grandparents ewwed and ahhed over Ky as much as the fireworks. He was so fun to watch. Cache was a little close for comfort, even though we were miles away. And Tayden and Beckett loved it. We pulled into my parents around 10:45 and had ice cream and pizza. Again, I looked around and laughed at what my life has become and thanked myself for learning how to let loose. Sitting around my parents island late into the night and eating pizza and ice cream with my kids will probably be one of my favorite memories.

Sunday:
We did nothing put sit around and relax. We did our Sunday usual...no TV before church, play, eat and hang out...then headed to church. Scott cooked the most delicious ribs and I made cookies. It was the perfect way to end the long weekend.