Dang Gina

I honestly don't think I've had two spare minutes to myself for the past few days and the rest of this week isn't looking to promising in the "relax" department...welcome to summer I suppose.

Here's a cute picture of Cameron. He was laying on Fern's lap. Fern said I'm supposed to explain that he looked so happy because he was with her. While I agree with this theory, I must point out something: Wasn't he looking at ME while I took the picture? Boo-Yah!


Our friends, Ryan and Natalie, are camping the entire week with Natalie's family. Of course when we found out about it, we rudely invited ourselves up for one evening, which happened to be tonight. We had a blast, Natalie's family is very tolerant of us and we always have fun with them. Natalie asked me to bring a salad to contribute towards dinner. Well, my last name is 'Sweet' so of course I did an unhealthy salad (oxymoron?), which is simple, yet divine!

First I cut up 3 Granny Smith apples.


Then I took 3 frozen King Size Snickers bars out of the freezer, put them in a ziploc bag, and used a hammer (and some pent up aggression) to smash the candy bar into little pieces. I added these to the apple pile.


And finally, I added a large container of Cool Whip and mixed everything up.


It seems bizarre and maybe kind of gross...but it's actually super good! See? Sam loves it so much he wants to marry it. Just try it and then you can judge it!!


Here's some fun pics from the evening in the canyon. OH yeah, Parker only got hurt about three times. Once when he banged his head on the side mirror of a truck, once when he fell over backwards on his camping chair, and another time when he tripped. Not too bad for him!





Two final thoughts:
I'm getting my hair colored on Thursday so we all don't have to look at my ugly gray hair for much longer. Phew! Let's all take a moment to thank Pat and Carl for passing along those genes from the dirty gene pool. :)

We had Cameron's 4 month appointment last week. He weighs 15 lbs 3 oz and is almost 25 inches long. His head is plain ol' goofy. We're going up to Primary Children's hospital on the 23rd to meet with a head specialist. He'll determine if Cameron's bone plates in his head fused too soon or if something else is going on...it will probably result in a helmet. I'm okay about it because I knew something would need to fix the off-center ears and bulge on his forehead. Luckily insurance has started paying for helmets! My pediatrician suggested we decorate the helmet like a hockey player and perhaps get Cameron a mouthpiece that looks like he's lost some teeth...not a half bad idea! I guess I'll just wait until the 23rd to find out what we're going to do for the little guy.

Whew, I smell like campfire so bad. I better go.

Memory Lane

Thanks for this idea Kimmy!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Failed FHE Lesson

Last night I had a brilliant idea for FHE. Ever since Carson learned to ride his bike he has wanted to ride it from my house to my parents house, which is 3 miles away. Sam needed to help my dad build his deck so we dropped Sam off, picked up my mom, and came back home. Then Carson got on his bike for this adventure.

Here was my plan. Carson would ride his bike and I would follow along slowly in the van. Surely Carson couldn't ride the entire 3 mile trip since the only place he ever rides his bike is around and around the cul de sac next to my house!
I was going to let him get all worn out after about a mile and when he BEGGED me to stop, I would let him get in the van. Then we would talk about training and endurance.... you can't just wake up one day and run a marathon. You must train for it! Just like in the gospel, you can't just wake up one day at the age of 19 and say "I guess I'll go on a mission today.." You have to train for it by going to church, reading your scriptures, learning to pray, serving others........ It sounded brilliant in my mind!

So, here is Carson at my house:


Here he is along the way:








I couldn't believe he was still going! At this point, I thought "Phew, he is getting tired, my lesson will still work!"


Then all of a sudden he got a burst of energy and started double-timing it! Um, here he is... AT MY PARENTS HOUSE!


I'm sure I could have gotten creative and still tied this experience into the gospel, but I was too dumb-founded....I just told him how proud I was of him and left it at that! Happy FHE to all and to all a good night.

Parker's Persistence

I wanted a video of Carson walking on his knees, but Parker really had a question for me and nothing was going to stand in his way!



Here's hoping that he has that same persistence when he grows up...if so, NOTHING will stand in the way of him reaching his goals!

Testosterone Is Taking Over

I love what Shandy said on her blog. She was talking about all the male grandchildren in my famiy and then she wrote "more TBA-lets face it a girl looks at her earthly set-up and runs to another family". Every time I think about that phrase I keep LAUGHING! It feels true. :)

Here are some pictures from dinner at Curtis and Shandy's house on Sunday. The occasion? Darren and Susan's family were here from Rexburg.

Ethan stole the show in the yard. He was playing catch with whoever would play with him. He has an incredible arm and was VERY animated!





Unfortunately, I didn't get many other pictures....heehee! Just check out Curtis and Shandy's blog, they did a good job at getting pictures of most everyone.

If Life Were Slower, I'd Be Bored

We've been doing all sorts of stuff the past few days! I honestly cannot believe how fast paced life seems to be, but I'm really enjoying it.

GIRLS CAMP
Sam and I were able to go to Girls Camp on Wednesday night for "Bishopric night". I think our Young Women's presidency is AMAZING! They made camp so much fun and they thought of so many great things for the girls to do...I was truly impressed! Our ward had the theme of "Individual Worth" and everything was red. They decided to put the red to good use and tie it into the movie 'Mulan'.

When we arrived they gave us red shirts and red bandanas to wear. Doesn't Sam look intense?


For the Stake Night Program, the YW presidency had sewn kimonos for all the girls, complete with sashes, fans, and decorated chopsticks for their hair. Don't they look great?


They were kind enough to make kimonos for the bishoric too. Unfortunately, boys will be boys...they didn't take it as seriously as the girls did...




Here is our Stake President telling our bishop that he should probably remove the 'mask'. Busted!


Sam took this picture. Good thing he didn't have any boogies in his nose!


After the Stake Program, we enjoyed a testimony meeting with the girls and then hung out everybody. I brought Holly Nesbit, the YW Pres, her own private stash of Mtn Dew because it's delicious! Hmmm, I think I'll drink one right now......

WAKEBOARDING
Thursday night at about 10:30pm, Sam took Carson and Parker to Jordanelle to go wakeboarding again. They spend the night, got up EARLY, played until 11am and came home on Friday. Sam didn't take a lot of pictures, but these two are cute!



SLIP-N-SLIDE
On the 4th my boys had the privilege of playing on the slip-n-slide at my parents house. They weren't totally fearless, but they did pretty good. I think this picture says it all...Carson's face says "oooh, that is c-c-c-cold!" Parker's face says "It's cold, but I'm tough!"


Here is Sam showing the kids how to do it the "right" way.


WII
As Sam was coming home from WakeBoarding, I made a surprise purchase. I've been working lots of hours this summer because I'm covering for a co-worker's maternity leave. Since my paycheck was a little heftier, I decided to buy something fun. I bought a Wii. My parents bought one too so when all the "kids" are at their house they can have something fun to play. I'm so excited because there is a version of Rock Band for the Wii now so let the fun begin! Carson pretty much kicks my butt at every game I play with him. I fear for the future....

I've never been a fan of having a video game system at my house but the Wii involves so much activity and movement...it really is lots of fun!


Here is what my family looked like while playing one of the games. My dad is concentrating super hard!


Here is a FORMAL invite! PLEASE COME PLAY WITH US! We would love people to come over and play the Wii, the more the merrier!

FIREWORKS
Last night we decided to go to the West Jordan fireworks show. My mom stayed home with Cameron and the rest of us made the adventure. Sam's not a huge firework fan but I kept saying "We are making memories for our children, please play along" I'm not so sure about how successful we were at making memories because the fireworks didn't start until 11pm!!! Both my boys were FAST ASLEEP on the grass before the fireworks began and they didn't wake up for them when they got going. Pretty dang funny! I thought they were cool... Here are some pictures that were taken before the fireworks started:





Just before the fireworks, all THREE of my boys fell asleep:


While waiting for the show to start, I discovered that my camera has a "firework" setting on it. How convenient that I figured that out right before I saw fireworks!



I should have known Parker was going to fall asleep during fireworks because he couldn't even finish his dinner last night due to his exhaustion!


SATURDAY IS A SPECIAL DAY...
Sam blew up the kiddie pool this afternoon so the boys have basically been out there all day (of course, this is after Carson woke us up at 7am asking Sam to set up the Wii so he could play bowling!)


Well, that's my last 3 days in a nutshell. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

I'm Enjoying The Chaos

I never imagined being the mother of 3 funny boys when I was younger. I always knew I'd be a mom, but I figured there would be a mix of boys and girls. I will admit, I was shocked and slightly bewildered when I found out my latest pregnancy was a boy. However, I'm am truly enjoying my three boys now. Ages 7, 4, and 4 months is such a great combo. I have the perfect blend of funny, innocence, adorable, educational, potty humor, pure love, and happiness....oh yeah, and some stinky too. :)

Just yesterday I smelled something funky. I said "Ewww Carson, quit tooting" He replied "Parker and I think my toots smell good!" Grossness at its best.

Here are some pictures I took of the three musketeers yesterday.

When I asked for help with laundry, this isn't what I had in mind!


Cameron is almost 4 months old and he hasn't rolled over yet, but I think it's my fault. I rarely lay him on the floor. So, the past few days we've done lots of floor time. He pretty much hates laying on his stomach (so do I!). Check out these faces:
He's saying "ah crap, mom's making me lay on my tummy again"


"Freak, I can hardly breathe here and mom's laughing at me, saying something about me looking like an English Bulldog"



"Can somebody give me some sympathy? Pretty please??"


"Phew, THANKS Carson! Was mom ever this mean to you??"


"ahhhh, how do you spell 'relief'? I can breathe again! Ummmm, you better check my diaper....that's all I'm sayin'!"


"My big brothers get to lay on their backs! Will you please just forget about tummy time already?!"