Long Overdue

Yes, I know. I am absolutely TERRIBLE at updating this thing. Let me tell you, my personal journal isn't much better. Sad, sad story people. Life is zinging by and I'm missing it because if I don't take the time to write it down, it disappears faster than I can relish it and soon I forget all the small things that make life right now what it is: wonderful.  SO... I'm going to take a second and give a quick update. Someday I will finish all my backtracking posts and get you totally updated on our life over the past 8 months, but that won't happen tonight.  NOTE:  None of the following posted pictures have been edited.  I know you don't care and probably don't notice, but I am absolutely cringing at the thought of posting unedited pictures on here.  C'est la vie!!


We moved into our beautiful home on June 25th and are absolutely in LOVE with it.  Clint took that first week we were moving in off from work so that we could get totally unpacked and settled as soon as possible since this is our forever home and we wanted to live HERE and not out of boxes.  Sorry, the pics are only of about 1/2 the house and unfortunately only one of them are of the outside {kinda, it's our family pic from the 4th of July.  It was taken in the courtyard out front}.  I'm still working on the rest!  It's on my "someday" list LOL

This house has felt like home since we moved in.  We are so excited, even with all the responsibility that has come with it.  We have almost an acre and a half with the house and Sandra {the woman we bought the house from} planted all kinds of yummy stuff.  This fall {ok, every fall from now on} will be a busy one trying to figure out when and how everything needs to be harvested, but it's a great challenge and SO rewarding!  Our garden was very generous, the grapes and figs were fab, apples are just starting to come off and in the next month our pecans, pistachios, walnuts and pomegranates will be ready also.  Crazy busy, bring it on!!  :O)


Next up, we went camping with my family on our beautiful mountain in mid July.  It was such a great weekend - although sorry to my BIL Troy who isn't quite simpatico with heights and had to drive up the cliff-side road with no guardrails... SORRY!!!!  We hiked and found a TON of lady bugs {note the difference between how many bugs are crawling on my girls vs my nephews... city boys!  LOL}.  It was just nice to get to share our mountain with my family.  My grandma had actually camped there as a little girl during the summers and until 2 years ago hadn't been back in almost 70 years!  CRAZINESS!!  Grandma, you don't look that old my dear!

Clint's Grandma GG came down from Oregon in April and stayed through July with Russell and Jonnet.  It was such a treat to have her here, the kiddos LOVE their Grandma GG and she will definitely be missed!

Ah, next comes the 24th of July.  Clint has somehow ended up in charge of our ward's float for the last X many years and this year a few days before he decided that we as a family needed to dress in pioneer garb and walk with the float to hand out all the candy.  Great idea except that we live in 2012 and don't have pioneer garb.  SO, I took a few old sheets and some extra fabric and sewed the girls and I bonnets and aprons.  Well, after working on them for 2 days my sewing machine evidently thought I needed a break cuz it bit me.  The needle went in exactly where the nail leaves the skin at the nail bed, I jerked my finger away from the machine with the needle still in my nail, tearing through the length of the nail all the way to where the nail leaves the skin underneath and turns white.  Yeeeeeeah.  Needless to say I cried like a baby, Clint took me to the doctor and all they did was give me a bandaid and a tetanus shot {which hurt worse than the original injury I came in for!  Hello?!?  Didn't they know I came IN with a needle injury?  I wasn't looking for another one!}.  I was so burnt about the bandaid that I made Clint take me to sonic.  :O)  See, I'm a little baby!

On August 8th, school started.  Madi took her first step as a big first grader {sob!} and Maelee began "Mommy School".  They are both doing great and loving it!  Madi loves her teacher, who is a great fit for us, and she has a lot of friends in her class.  Maelee has already learned to count to 13 {except that she keeps wanting to jump to 6... "1,2,6" "Try again, 1,2,3" "oh, ok!  1,2,3,6"... too funny!  Once she actually GETS to 6 she's perfect!} and most of her colors.  It's going to be a great year for both girlies!

Madi turned 6 in May and is still so sassy!  I mean that as spunky not as a turkey... actually... she's pretty good at both!  :O)  She tested into intermediate swim lessons this year {woot!} and enjoyed carrying Marcus around all summer.  Going back to school has been really good for her, she craves the routine.  She has mellowed out a lot in the last few weeks as far as stinker moments go and her sweet side is really starting to shine.  She's such a great helper and her most recent quirk is when she comforts Marcus, she tells him, "Sssssssh, it's ok."  Except she doesn't leave a space between the "sssh" and the "it".  So, honestly my 6 year old walks around telling my 8 month old "Sssssshit's ok!"!!!  And when he's really fussy, there aren't as many s's!!  Makes me smile.

Maelee is as always... our little coconut!  She turned 3 in June and still keeps us on our toes.  She has the funniest little personality and comes up with the silliest things.  She wants so badly to carry Marcus around and play with him, but typically it ends with him in wide-eyed tears, pleading with me to save him.  Give him another few months sweetie, then he'll be more ready to play!  She loves Mommy School and mimics everything Madi does.  She's also turning into quite the little pesty sister and LOVES to drive Madison crazy - poking, touching, kicking, looking at her... it's all fair game and Maelee eats it up.  Her biggest news is actually a total bummer: she has to have surgery next week.  :O(  She has had 7 UTI's in 10 months, her fever got up to 107.5 twice and it just gets worse with each infection.  We had a VCUG {awful, awful, awful experience for the poor girl} and it showed that she has stage 4 reflux which basically means her tubes which drain urine from the kidneys to the bladder didn't form right and so they don't stop the pee from going back up into the kidneys - which is a big no no.  In the surgery, they'll disconnect the tubes and reattach them properly.  Yuck.  BUT, to have the UTI's a thing of the past will be worth it.  SO not looking forward to recovery but hopefully she'll bounce back quickly!!!!!!

Marcus has grown by leaps and bounds!  We started him on cereal and baby food when we moved in, and now he's eating stage 3 baby food, cheerios and small bites of table food.  He hasn't mastered the pincer grip yet, but is quite proficient at the grab and shove method.  His first little tooth popped through 2 weeks ago and will hopefully be joined in the next week by a friend.  In the last week he has made the transition from crawling backwards to finally crawling forward, and has also discovered how to pull himself up onto his knees AND his feet.  Jeez kid!  I had to move his crib mattress all the down to the lowest setting today and he did NOT like it!  He was so mad at me for taking away his new found ability to look OVER his crib that he refused to go to sleep tonight for about an hour.  Poor kid was exhausted and still protesting!  Marcus has also discovered cause and effect.  When he waves his hand in front of the XBOX it beeps and flashes pretty green lights.  When he waves again it beeps more and the lights turn off - magic.  Or when he puts his hand in front of a night light it lights up.  ACK!  Baby proofing again?!?  :O)  He is the sweetest baby and we are all so smitten with him.  How can we not be?

That's the last 2 months in a nutshell.  A big nutshell.  Like a black walnut shell.  :O)

Relief

We FINALLY sold our house!!!!  Granted, in the real estate world having your house on the market for 3 1/2 months really isn't all that long - BUT - it's an eternity when you have the house you want to buy tauntingly close to being yours and all waiting on an offer that you have no control over.  We are so... Excited!  Nervous!  Scared!  In denial!  AAAAAAAACK!!  Now comes the scary part, turning it all into a reality.

We have contracts on both houses, and closing dates for both.  If all goes well, we will {hopefully} be in our new house by the end of the month!  Insane!!  The couple who is buying our house is {well, I've only actually met the girl and her mom but they were} stinkin' CUTE!  We are SO excited for them to buy our house.  It's been a GREAT starter home for us and we're so glad to be able to pass it on to them.  It's beyond wonderful to know how jazzed they are to call our house their home and to know that it will be loved after we say goodbye to it.  You could see how happy the girl was when she came by for the inspection and that made me so so glad we accepted their offer.  :O)

This house has been a lifesaver for us.  It's affordable, it's cozy, it's comfortable, it's safe.  Moving is definitely exciting, but it's also like going swimming without floaties for the first time.  You KNOW you can do it, but you're still petrified to let go of that safe ledge and take the plunge.  Once you swim without the comfort of those floaties, you can't really go back.  You've grown up and it's a little daunting to imagine yourself in such a large pool, trusting that the lifeguards will keep you safe as long as you do your best to keep on swimming.  {I just re-read that and it's a pretty darn good analogy!!}  LOL  We KNOW this is the right thing for us to do, and are DEFINITELY giddy for it... but now that it's becoming a reality it's just a little scary to realize what a HUGE change it will be.  We're leaving our comfort zone and trusting Heavenly Father to guide us when we let go of that ledge and take that plunge.  Scary is honestly the best word for it.

It's all good.  We're ready.  We're excited!  And I'm sure that once we get over the initial shock of how much our monthly payments are going to be we'll start the jumping up and down :O)

Ready

Not just ready, BEYOND ready.

We are so ready to sell our house.

It's been on the market for 3 months now and we've had 14 walk-thrus, one offer that was SUPER low {and when we countered it, they didn't respond to our counter.  Sigh.}, one almost offer, one couple want it if they can sell their house and another couple that we were really hoping would make us an offer but it's been a month since they walked-thru and so the hope on that one has run it's course.

Don't get me wrong, we're not discouraged.  We're not desperate.  We're just ready to move on.  I don't really even know what the right word is to describe how we're feeling right now, because we know that the right buyer will buy our house and that things will work out how they are supposed to.  We KNOW that so we're... comforted...?  But at the same time it's been 3 months and we're READY.

The biggest frustration for me is that there's nothing we can do.  If we were waiting on something we had to do that would be one thing but we've done all we can think of.  We are in limbo, waiting for that offer that will jump start that amazing chain of events and until it comes in... Aside from taking desperate measures {and like I said, we're not desperate} there really isn't anything else we can do at this point.  I know the buying season is starting, and I know the market has taken a turn and is starting to improve.  But is my house sold yet?  *Sigh*  Nope.

BUT - Like I said, we know Heavenly Father is in charge of this whole shin-dig so we're keeping it positive.  We're super excited about our new house and already have a laundry list of things we're looking forward to doing in the yard and painting and this and that.  It's fun to dream knowing that in a few months those things will be a reality.  It's also been nice to fix this house up a little bit more to get it ready to sell; to see it in a new light as we focus on all the pros for our future buyer...

It really is a great house and we've loved living here for the past 7 years.  BUT... we are READY TO MOVE ON!  Come on, buyer, let's do this!!!!!

I've updated our sales pitch LOL and so for anyone who might be interested, here it is again since our last post isn't on this main page anymore...

The house appraised two years ago for $130,000 and we are asking $126,999.  It sits on over half {.6} an acre with fruit {apricot and the most delicious peaches EVER!} and shade trees, established landscaping in front and a LOT of potential in back.  The back yard is fenced in, and the property continues beyond the back fence {this is where we have the fruit trees.  There is a valve which runs only to the fruit trees.  Each tree has its own water spicket which can be adjusted to control the flow of water to the individual tree.  There are also two additional water spickets already run and in place for future trees.  Behind the fence there is also a brick fire pit} and eventually meets with a grove of mesquite trees.  There is enough land for horses, RV's, a workshop, etc. behind the fence while still leaving the huge back yard {we have a large sandbox for our fort/swing set/playground, partial grass and a shed on a concrete foundation - and there is STILL a TON of yard left}.  We have installed multiple water spickets around the perimeter of the yard and have a fenced off area for our dog.

The house itself is 1,268 square feet with a split and spacious floor plan that makes it feel a LOT bigger than that.  It has 3 nice sized bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.  The two regular bed rooms have large custom closets with built-in organizers and sliding mirror doors.  The hall bathroom is bright and has cream cabinets with satin nickel hardware, a rain shower head and a curved shower curtain rod - which makes the bathtub/shower nice and spacious without invading the rest of the room.

The master bedroom is large and has a sliding glass door leading out to a small porch and a spacious walk-in closet {again with custom organizers to make the most of the space}.  The added crown molding gives the room a nice finishing touch and the illusion of a higher ceiling.  There is definitely more than enough room for a king size bed set in this bedroom. The master bathroom also has cream cabinets {with lots of storage} and satin nickel hardware including cup pulls on the many drawers.  The counter top is large, giving you lots of room to spread out when both of you are getting ready for the day.  :O)  It also has an oversize shower {which is SO nice!!} with a rain shower head.

The family room has a large window and is quite roomy - we have a couch, chaise-lounge, book case, entertainment center and hope chest in the room and it's still very open and clutter-free.

There are double ceiling fans and an arch leading into the hallway.  The family room is openly connected to the dining nook and kitchen, which gives these rooms a feel of being bigger than they are.  The dining nook has bay windows, allowing the perfect fit for the table and provides a beautiful view of the mountains.  The kitchen is VERY well thought out.  The storage space is maximized with 2 Lazy Suzans and 2 deep corner cabinets above, and beautiful custom cupboards that meet the ceiling.  The gas oven/range still looks brand new and the dishwasher is in great shape.

The laundry room also houses the hot water heater and has the same custom ceiling-high cabinets the kitchen sports.  There is room to store the vacuum, mop, etc. and has a door leading to the 2 car covered carport.  We have had fun painting and improving here and there over the years, and have upgraded the interior doors to 6 paneled ones, installed ceiling fans in every bedroom, 2-inch wood blinds in all the windows, built 3 flower beds and extended the front porch quite a bit and added a sidewalk down the side of the carport and across the front of the house. 

This house still has SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!  It's set up for an easy addition off the back, or a large back porch and the carport could easily be enclosed to a 2-car garage.  There is room for anything you could want to buy, build or bring to this property.

Beyond the greatness of the house itself, it also boasts a number of other perks:

It’s within a 5-minute walking distance of every local business; including restaurants, the post office, museum, the county utility company, police station, Town Hall, fire department, library, local schools and churches of multiple denominations.

It’s only a 10 to 15-minute drive to the stores and restaurants offered in the neighboring communities.

It is located in a nice, quiet neighborhood and the neighbors are welcoming and friendly.

The house is enough off the beaten path that you get the peace of a cul-de-sac, yet still in the heart of town so you don’t have to sacrifice the convenience of everything being within walking distance.

It offers the feel of a large, expensive home for a fraction of the price. 

It is well insulated and the huge elm tree in the front offers amazing shade which keeps the house cooler longer so you can wait a few extra hours to close the windows and turn on the AC in the spring and summer.  It also has a natural gas heater instead of electric to save money during those cold months.  Over the last 7 years, our combined utility bill has never been over $300.

Lovin' it?  :O)  Spread the word and I'll personally give $100 to whoever brings us a buyer!!  ;O)

Aaaaaah. Catch up, again…

This post is like, 6 combined so to keep it all clear, I'm going to do mini headings. It should help keep all of us from getting too confused! :0)

Prayers for the Haban Family

2 weeks ago one of our friends faced a horrible tragedy, her husband passed away from Lupus. They got married the day after Clint and I did, only 5 years ago. I've known Jami since high school and we've both known Kameron since college. It's been a difficult thing to watch and read about on their blog and it was stirred the emotions we felt when we lost Clint's younger brother J.T. to a lightening strike 3 years ago. There has been an account established for Jami and their son, Kason, to help pay for medical bills, funeral expenses and hopefully give them something to start over with. Please visit their blog kamandjami.blogspot.com for more informaition and to donate - even if you don't know them. Anything will help them in this devestating time. Please keep them in your prayers, she is only 24 and their son is 2 1/2.

Happy 2 Months Keahi!!

Yes, Keahi is 2 months old already! Actually, 2 1/2! The time flies by in the form of naps, diaper changes, bottles, hugs, kisses, and smiles. Last week she had a 5 night stretch where she slept amazingly well, anywhere from 7 - 9 hours! Her naps were regular and so were her feeding times. Before that, I was getting so frustrated that she was only sleeping at the most 6 hours at night, but she was taking a 5-6 hour nap during the day. I remembered with Madison we had to regulate her metabolism before she would sleep through the night, so I tried it with Keahi. I woke her up from her long (heavenly) nap so that she wasn't going longer than 4 1/2 hours between feedings during the day, and within a few days she was sleeping all night! Ah! Blissful sleep! Of course, as anyone who has a baby knows, just when you think you have everything all figured out SOMETHING changes! She had her first round of shots last week and the Rotavirus one has REALLY thrown a kink in things. I'm hoping the effects will wear off in the next week or so, poor kid and poor Mommy! She weighs 14 pounds, 25 1/4 inches long and is WAY off the charts for both!! Our doctor said that she holds herself and is as alert as a 4 month-old baby! She is wearing 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes and laughs at everything. She loves her daddy the best and still brings such a sweet spirit into our home. We love her SO much and are SO grateful for the opportunity to be her family.

Our Hula Dancer

So, Madison has been doing this dance lately. She wraps necklaces around her wrists, then twists and wiggles and shakes and moves her whole body in a very... fluid(?) dance. I had NO idea what she was doing or WHERE ON EARTH she learned to dance like that, I figured it was maybe the cha-cha and she had learned it at dance class... well, I was wrong. The other night she was dancing and turned around and shook her tush. I laughed and asked her, "Did you just shake your booty at me?" "Yeah Mom! I shook my buns like Kiki!" She grinned so big and kept right on dancing. THEN it donned on me! She's been Hula dancing like Kiki and her family did at the luau a few weeks back! It's amazing to me that not only did she remember how they danced, but that they had things on their wrists too! So, Kiki and family, be proud. Madi is Hula dancing for Keahi!

Here's the video of Kiki shakin' her booty at the luau

here's the video of her cousin Tee Hula dancing

and here's Madison's version!

Our Visit with Kiki

2 weekends ago we visited Kiki and her family in their home. It was such a fun visit! Very relaxed and let me just say their house is AWESOME! Madi made herself right at home - found the swimming pool, stripped down and hopped in! (Modesty, child?) That's my girl! Later, Kiki's cousin Sarah introduced Madison to the joys of sliding down a staircase on a slippery blanket! She had a BLAST! We are really looking forward to having them visit us on our home turf!

Projects

I have this huge list of things I want to get finished, the first of which was get Keahi's crib set up and then put the girls' names above their beds in vinyl with "Daughter of God" over it. They turned out so cute! Another was refinish the hope chest and dresser in our room. They took a few days longer than I would have liked, but the breeze outside would NOT stop so I got stuck for a while. (It's one of those love/hate things! The breeze is SO nice, but SO inconvenient when you're painting!) I did finish them though and am SO happy with the end results!

the hope chest before

the hope chest after

the dresser before

the dresser after

All's Fair in... Daddy-Daughter Battles?
Clint attacked Madi after dance the other day. After the initial wrestling match, he decided he wanted to be Mulan and use Karate to defeat his prey. He advanced, Madi defended (and then ran screaming) and Keahi watched, VERY entertained! She laughed and grinned at every scream, "Hiya!" and tackle. I love my kids! (Yes, Clint is grouped in there too!) Later, Madi and Keahi had some sister time watching Veggie Tales while I worked on dinner. Gotta love the Bumbo (the chair Keahi is sitting in)!!

Photography

Last, (but not least for me!) I have always wanted to get into photography. My dream job is to have a studio in my home where I can make my own schedule, do what I love and still be a full-time Mom. It's always been one of those "someday that would be nice" kind of dreams, but I have a few friends who have started doing it and are having a blast with it. I've looked at their blogs, done some research and have decided to jump-start my dream! It will take a while to get there because I still need to save my pennies for the camera I want (plus all the other doohickies that come along with it!), but I figure that in the mean time I can learn more about being a photographer, exactly what I'll want/need to get started, doing edits, overlays and filters and all that jazz! I am SO excited and I'm sure that Clint is ready to throttle me for all my excitement but that's ok. I'm hoping that within the next 6 months I can have enough saved for my camera and maybe a few lenses to get me started. Any pics I post that have my little logo on them have been edited and I'm starting a new blog for it (aztouchedphotography.blogspot.com) that for now I'll post the new edits I'm learning and if anyone has any ideas or feedback I would love it! This is something I've wanted to do for years and I'm scared, nervous and absolutely thrilled to be starting (well, saving up to start!).
Wish me luck as I bring Touched Photography to life!

Finally! A brother married!!

That’s right! One of my brothers FINALLY joined the married crowd! For those of you who are confused, I’m the baby of 6 kids – 3 boys and 3 girls. All of us girls have done our part to carry on the family line. The boys however… are a bunch of slackers! :0) But Saturday that all changed when my beloved brother Aaryn finally tied the knot to the very pretty Manon. It was a very beautiful wedding and reception with only minimal stress and yummy chocolate cake!

The week leading up to the wedding was one of those “Oh, crap!” weeks for me. We have been so wrapped up in everything with Keahi and Madison (and we live so far away that I haven’t really been able to help with anything wedding related) that I totally spaced getting the usual things for a wedding… namely dresses, shoes and bling for us girls. The wedding colors were red and yellow, so that limited our choices. Keahi wore Madison’s first Christmas dress, and Wally-World came through for my dress and mine and Madi’s shoes, but we came out empty handed for something for her to wear. Luckily I took a sewing class last year and had an easy pattern on hand, so we bought fabric and ribbon and voila! 7 hours later Madison had a dress for the wedding! She was SO excited for her new dress, she kept asking, “Is it finished yet? Can I wear it now?” the WHOLE time I was working on it, even when it was just fabric. Silly child! When I finished it, she tried it on and spun and spun and spun!
Wal-Mart’s selection of red or yellow jewelry was pretty sad so I made our girls and I matching bracelets. Madison was so excited for those too; she was just pretty happy over-all! I love having two girls!!!
My mom rode home with us, and my step-dad picked her up in their diesel, rig, whatever one wishes to call it. They spent Sunday evening with us and it was really nice to have that time with them. They live in Missouri so you can guess how often we get to see them!
It was a great weekend and we are SO glad to be home!

Playing Catch-Up

So much has happened over the last few weeks and I have been so busy that it has sadly passed by without being posted here for all you avid readers of our blog. So terribly sorry! :0) Madison is asleep so we will see how far I can get on this catching up spree…

Make a Smilebox slideshow

August 23rd (the Saturday after our Havasupai excitement) was a great day for adventure, or so Clint and his friends thought! They decided to ride mountain bikes down the mountain, which probably would not have been a problem, except they took a wrong turn at one point and ended up on a trail that isn’t so much a biking trail as it is metal stuck into a giant cliff face with rocks piled on it pretending to be a trail! THEN, to top that off when they did make it back to the trail, two of the guys riding in front of Clint bumped a beehive and royally ticked off all the bees! Clint starts yelling “Bees! Bees! AAAAAAH!” and takes off. Our friend Parker is in front of him and starts pedaling as fast as he can, but can hear Clint gaining on him. He starts wondering why Clint’s bike isn’t catching his back tire when Clint zooms past him… on FOOT! THEN Clint outstrips the guy on the bike in front of Parker and keeps going! He had a helmet on and the bees were up inside stinging his head so he thought the whole swarm was still surrounding him! I can’t believe that he outran two guys pedaling DOWNHILL on bikes! My little gazelle! All in all, they ditched 3 bikes and averaged 15 stings each. Owie! (Poor Andy, it was his birthday!) Later they had to return to get the bikes, luckily the bees were MIA, but the truck broke down. It was definitely exciting!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Some friends of ours came into possession of an extra twin bed and dinette set so guess who got to enjoy the riches? Yeehaw! We did some switching around and ended up with Andy and Michele’s old dinette set (which is BEAUTIFUL!) and put our old one on the corner – it disappeared overnight! Maddie was pretty excited for her “BIG big girl bed” and Mommy had to make her a new bed set. I picked out one I liked from Pottery Barn and with Clint’s aunt’s help figured out the design and size for it and got all the fabric on a Wednesday. The following Wednesday it was finished! It was SO MUCH WORK! But so worth it! I cut out flowers and birds and ironed them onto the squares, then did decorative stitches around each one. For the stems I sewed on some scrapbooking fuzzy string, and for the legs on the birds I used ricrac. Then I quilted around each square and each bird and flower. (That was the hardest part!) I did a pillowcase and a throw pillow to go with it, and it matches what she had in there before so I can still use those throw pillows too! It was a fun project and I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think I’ll do anything as involved for a LOOONG time!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Labor Day Weekend was fun, we did our traditional trek up the mountain. This time we were joined by all of Clint’s family and that was great! There were only 2 drawbacks, our campsite was far away from everything else and so was kind of isolated, and it rained pretty much the WHOLE TIME. That was miserable! Everyone went up a day before I did because I was sick (I think that blanket tried to do me in!) and the night that I missed was horrible! Everything got wet, the storm kept waking everyone up, and then it was so muddy and cloudy that the morning wasn’t much fun either. We had a birthday party for Clint’s nephew, and Jonnet gave him Moon Sand, which Madison and he loved! They made the biggest mess! Good thing they only opened one bag! It was almost Russell’s birthday and Clint’s sister Missy had got him a present too, a cool beans flashlight that is magnetic on the bottom! The boys and Missy played Frisbee since no one had a football, which is always a joy to watch! :0) Madison and I came home Sunday morning because her runny nose had turned into a chest cold and we were both feeling pretty gross. Monday the sun finally came out and dried up all the rain (any one else singing about spiders?) and Clint’s brothers thought it would be great fun to ride down the hill on Tonka trucks! I’m sad I missed that! Too fun.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thursday was Clint’s birthday (27 years old! I told him that 26 is still young but 27 is OLD!) and we had a party for him Friday night. Any chance we have to get together with our friends, eat pizza, play games, eat brownies and ice cream… we are SO there! You’d NEVER be able to tell what this kid likes to do based on what he got; a backpacking tent, 2 boxes of shotgun shells, a quail call, and a new day pack for hiking. See what I mean? :0) We had a lot of fun with the quail call, Parker’s was the best, followed by Madison! Maddie got him some candy and I got him new blades for his electric razor. (I know, exciting eh? But he needed them and they are expensive, so that’s what he got!)

I believe I should be pretty much caught up at this point… if not I’ll post more later! Hasta!