Making Memories

Hmmm...where to start? I mentioned that we would be losing our date night buddies. Sore subject. We are all in mourning. Our dear friends Nate & Desi are off on a new adventure. I really want to be happy for them but I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself. I'll get to the happy-for-them stage later.

Desi and I go way back. She took piano from my aunt and had my cousins as friends back in Kansas as a child years before becoming my neighbor. Small world. Years in the same Ward. High School. Wedding receptions. All the good stuff. Having her as a neighbor again for the past year has been awesome, to say the least. It's been so fun to re-connect at this stage in life, and I want them to move back tomorrow.

We had a final date night before they drove away in the moving van...but this time we went without the kids. We wanted to do something fun. Something more than just dinner out (which is my most favorite thing). Shane has been all go-kart talk for awhile now so the men humored him and went along with some go-kart racing, sadly not on Shane's kart. Soon people, soon. We headed to Fast Lane. As you can imagine, it was a success. The husband's got their fill of speed, competition, and felt like race car drivers for a night. The wives did their duty as supportive cheerleaders. And the best part, delicious food prepared & cleaned up by someone other than myself. Shane is still trying to get me pumped up to go back and have my own adrenaline rush of a race. Not quite convinced I want to wear the head gear. You can see why. :)

Head sock=check. Neck brace=check. Helmet=check.

Isn't this the funniest picture? Shane has been growing a beard in preparation for our Trek, but with the helmet all you see is the Stache. Reminds me a little too much of Napoleon's buddy Pedro.

The human podium in head socks. Awesome.

Great people. Great activity. Great night. I really do wish them all the best. They deserve it. Cade and Carson told me today that after naps they were going to California to play with Jack. We just might have to do that. Hit Disneyland. Thanks for being our friends. We sure love you.

Date Night Swap

Movie night after a fun evening in the sprinklers. Sadly, this is our last swap night with these kiddos. They are moving in 5 days. It has been awesome, to say the least. We are dreading "good-bye."

Family Night

Blurry picture (darn). But it still shows off Shane's skills.

The Huszar's have taken us boating every summer for the last 4 years (has it really been that long?!). They always know how to show us a good time and we are so grateful to them for allowing us and our monsters on their boat. The night was perfect. HOT. Smooth water. Great company. Fun music. Well behaved kids. Yep. Pretty much perfect!

Carson's favorite seat in the boat...Captain!

Cade & Emery shared a seat the whole night. Little buddies.

I'm a wimp when it comes to cold water. Big wimp. The fact that I went without the wet suit shows just how great the weather was.

The dad sportin' my sunglasses while I was in the water. He's so fashionable.

Cade got brave. It lasted only a couple of minutes but he owned that cold water!

Little boys thought they were hilarious as they tried to push Shane into the water. He kept reminding them that he would pull them in with him. I don't think they understood!

Even at the end of the night, Jake looked like this. He is such a happy, sweet little babe. Loved cuddling him. Thanks to Jason & Christy for showing us how family night is done!

Happy Friday

Cade is showing off his ginormous muscles!

We are excited about the weekend!

Bedroom Facelift

My bedroom has needed some TLC for, well, for forever! It's always the last place to get attention, isn't it? No one sees it...that's why. But you want it to be your own little sanctuary and that's where our bedroom wasn't up to snuff. Instead of bringing feelings of peace, tranquility, and endless bliss...sitting in my room started my insides on fire and made want to stab my eye with a pencil. Exaggerating only a little. Unfortunately, I failed to take good "before" pictures. Just imagine a room with green walls and a mis-matched EVeRyThINg else! No room and a "catch-all" for too many random things. This has been an outstanding project for a long time, mostly because I couldn't figure out what the heck I wanted the end result to be. For some reason, inspiration didn't come and I had like 5 different pictures in my head of what the "perfect" room would be (for me). I slowly started buying new things hoping to pull it together: paint, bedspread, furniture, decor, and a new ceiling fan.

Lindsay made the long drive to Boise and helped me make it happen. We had a BLAST. It seriously was so fun and when all was said and done, we were high-fiving eachother every time we walked into the room. It is laughable to think about how many times we rearranged the room to make sure we had it just right. I am still doing the happy dance as I sit in my blissful, personal heaven!

BEHOLD (and really...the pictures just don't do it justice but...whatcha gonna do:

This desk is a craigslist find and one of my most favorite furniture pieces EVER.

The previous fan was a 20 year old white piece of work. It had to go. The new one warms up the room so well. I love it. P.S. we also painted the ceiling.

A big shout out to Lindsay. Sisters are the best. I wish everyday that we were neighbors! We had a great couple of days: worked are tails off, stayed up late, laughed 'til we cried, and tried our best to not neglect our children in the process. Can't wait until next time!

Still to do: window treatment. Still brewing over it.

Halloween Revisited

See Cade's little penguin booties? He kept calling them flip flops and then talked all about how they are snow shoes. I think someone's a little confused!

Pretending like today was Halloween entertained these boys all morning long. They just looked at each other and laughed like crazy. It was awesome! They wore the turtles when they were almost 1 and the penguins when they were almost 2. Can you believe that? They are now counting down the days until it is actually Halloween day. They have lots of days to count!

4th Festivities

As the kids get older, holidays just get better. We had such a great time celebrating Independence Day this year. We even bought our own fireworks (to me, that feels like a new level of parenthood...weird)! We started the day off at our annual tri-ward pancake breakfast and bike parade. We got the bikes all decorated and had a great time. Before going to bed, both Carson and Cade said that it was their favorite part of the day. Their bikes are their whole world right now so it didn't surprise me. Notice that they are both on big boy bikes. Carson finally decided to pedal...his eyes have been opened! :)

Carson lost a balloon mid-morning.

Then we headed downtown to the parade...a first for us. It was much better than I thought it would be and the boys were so into it. I just sat and got all sweaty. Holy hot!

We sat right in front of the Capitol Buiding...so fitting.

Stephanie's family joined us...

The bagpipes were my favorite part of the parade. They were so awesome!!!

It was so cute to see the kids with their little flags. From start to finish, I don't Cade ever stopped waving it.

And Carson made sure he waved his hand to everyone. They've got this parade thing down!!!

After the parade, we all took naps. The boys played in the backyard for over 3 hours in their pool and sprinklers and asked every 10 minutes if it was dark yet. They knew what was coming!

Steph's amazing cookies. This is a talent I absolutely do not have!!! They were delicious.

We ended the night with fireworks. We set off our own and also watched the show put on by the city. I'm so grateful for freedom. We are so fortunate to know no other way. Our blessings are bounteous. God bless the U.S.A.

Living the Life!

The boys had a little get away without me and got to spend a couple of days with my parents in Twin...their favorite place. Grandpa took them on lawn mower rides, they rode bikes, ran through the sprinklers, visited Shoshone Falls, ate at Cafe Rio, played with cousin Chandler, and went to Art in the Park. What more could you want?! Here is a little piece of their Heaven.