4th of July Weekend

 Our 4th of July weekend actually started on Wednesday the 3rd. We were constantly on the go from Wednesday-Saturday! And I realize that Independence Day is not Thanksgiving, but so many times during the weekend I realized how grateful I was for several different things:

1) For our freedoms. The fact that we could go and do all of the things that we did over the weekend with out having to worry is amazing to me.

2) The old people that sat next to us at the baseball game. They were so kind and patient with our rambunctious group. But as we were leaving, they told me over and over again how great my kids were. It helped me realize that at their age, I am going to miss my babies!

3) My kids. Yes, I know they are wild at times, or whiney at times. But they are mine. I know they better than anyone else. I know how to calm them, how to negotiate with them, how to comfort them, and how to have fun with them. 

4) Our friends. Seriously, we have the best friends in the world. I love the conversations that the adults can have. I love how we can joke and be a little crude with out anyone being offended. I love the big kids that our friends have. They are so kind and sweet to my kids. They include them in their activities and they never complain about them tagging along. I also hardly held Miley anytime they were around. They love toting Miley around and I appreciate that. I also love the little kids that our friends have. They shared candy at the parade, and they are just all around good kids and our good examples to my kids. There were several times over the weekend that I was almost in tears over how my kids idolize their friends. We are so lucky to have them!

5) My husband. He totally understands when I need a break and happily takes the kids. He knows when I am overwhelmed and gladly works harder around the house to help out. He knows when I am on the verge of a breakdown and says just what I need to hear.

Ok, enough of the mushy gushy stuff. Here are the pics from the weekend!

 First time playing at the splash park

 We met up with a friend who moved to Utah last Christmas.

 We went to a Volcanoes Game

After our camping experience, we decided to leave Miley home with a babysitter. I felt bad a first, but I am so glad we did. It was such a fun night with the big kids.

 We went to a 4th of July parade with friends

 Being silly before the parade started

 Gage's favorite part of the parade

Only in Molalla - A driving port-a-potty!

 This girl was on cloud 9 with a sucker in each hand!

After the parade, we headed to the local Catholic church for a chicken lunch. It was delicious!

 Then we headed to the Molalla Rodeo. Our seats were in the shade, which was so nice.

 Miley slept for the first part

 Then she was up and ready to party!!!

 Maisey hung with the big girls

 That night we headed to Mt. Angel for the fireworks show. Miley was enjoying all of the freedom outside!

 Maisey met up with her friend from school!

The kids really enjoyed the fireworks. I wasn't sure what to expect with Miley but after the first few she relaxed and laid back to enjoy them! It was fun to snuggle with her.

 On Friday, I headed to the outlet mall to take advantage of the awesome weekend sales. I completely outfitted Maisey for school!!! It's nice to not have to worry about that for the rest of the summer. It was also nice and relaxing to walk around the mall.

 On Saturday, our friend got baptized. After the baptism everybody headed out to his Grandpa's property for a BBQ and some fun. Gage and Shaun fished for most of the time. Gage wants to catch a fish so bad. Hopefully sometime this summer!

 Gage took a little break from fishing to go on a tractor ride. 

 Miley roamed around, always with food in hand!

 After the BBQ we headed to the drive-in movies. This is one experience that we will probably wait to do again when our kids are a little older. I ended up walking around with Miley the whole time and missed the movie.

This is the "popcorn in the mouth" picture! After about 10 minutes, the novelty of the popcorn wore off and the kids got really restless.

By the time Sunday came around, we totally crashed! 

Happy Independence Day!

Called to Serve

On Sunday night, Shaun's fam all conference called because his brother, Nathaniel received his mission call and was opening it. 

He was called to serve in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania mission!

We are really excited for him and proud of his choice to serve!

Camping

Before I get into all of the details, I'm just going to go ahead and say, CAMPING WITH A ONE YEAR OLD IS NOT FUN!!!!! We've camped when Maisey was 10 months and not walking, and we've camped when Gage was 2, but we've never camped with a one year old and I 100% don't recommend it. 

 The first night we had tin foil dinners! YUM!  The kids loved to "help" with the fire while they waited.

 Then it was smore time! 

Gage didn't quite get the memo about holding it over coals for it to slowly cook. He went straight for the flames every time and lost a lot of marshmallows!

 With Dad's help, they were each able to have a smore!

Miley cuddling with mommy for 2.5 seconds before she was squirming around trying to walk around on the uneven ground and falling, then crying because she had pine needles or dirt on her hands. . . like I said, it wasn't fun!

Telling spoooooky stories 

The next morning, we headed to the lake for the kids to do some fishing. The fishing dock that we had scoped out the night before had a big closed sign on it that morning, so we rented a paddle boat and Dad and the big kids went to fish in the middle of the lake, while I hung back with the sand-hating babe!

Daddy getting a good upper-leg workout 

 The didn't catch anything,

but they still had a great time!

I didn't come with a blanket or toys or anything, because I was expecting to just walk around the dock with her. So, we had to hang in the sand, which she did NOT like. She cried when she noticed there was sand on her hands and then she would try to eat it off, only to cry more when sand got in her mouth . . . repeated for 1 hour!!!

 The only thing I had to keep her occupied were capri suns. I brought one for each kid. Let's just say the big kids never got theirs.

 Once we ran out of capri suns I just sat her in the edge of the water in her clothes so she could splash around. That lasted about 3 minutes.

After I took her to the car to change her clothes and diaper, I called Dad and had him come pick us up in the boat, thinking Miley might like that. She didn't like the life jacket. 

Look, a little smile

We eventually made it back to the campsite for lunch and naps, hallelujah!!!

We ended up going back to the lake for a swim that afternoon. The big kids were so brave and swam all the way out to the middle of the lake and jumped off a platform out there.

 See it waaaaaay out there?

 I thought I cam more prepared this time, with a towel to sit on and more toys and snacks,

 but eventually we reverted back to the capri suns. I think we have a junkie on our hands!

 That night, Dad took the kids on a walk around our loop. We lost one of Miley's shoes, so she is wearing Gage's. She looks so cute and happy here!

 While Dad was busy, mom took the kids to the front of the campsite to dump our garbage. When we got back, we stayed in the van for a while longer to watch a movie (read: for mom's sanity!).

We hiked the sand dunes that were right by our camp site.

 Luckily, I realized we had the front pack in a storage compartment in our van and we were so glad we did. Miley ended up falling asleep, which made the morning enjoyable!

 Shaun and the kids tried riding down the dunes on the sand board but it didn't work too well. They all still had fun trying.

Maisey wanted to visit the Nature Center while we were there. She went to a class about criminals in nature (aka, animals) and it made her pretty nervous.

 At the end of the class, they painted pet rocks. 

On the way home, we stopped by Sea Lion Caves.

 This is a pretty cute family pic!

All of the sea lions were on that center rock in the cave.

We seriously picked the most beautiful day to stop at the beach!

There were definitely some fun moments of this trip, but overall I think we will remember it as "that one time we went camping with a one year old" and we will be sure to never do that again!

Slurpee Mishap

The kids were begging me to take them to use their free slurpee coupons they got at Maisey's school carnival. I needed to run to the store one day (which I absolutely hate doing with all three kids) so I figured maybe if we stopped and got slurpees on the way they would be occupied in the store.

 It was working perfectly. I gave the rest of mine to Miley so she wasn't squawking at the other kids. They were actually being quiet and good. . .

. . . until Miley spilled hers all down the front of her. She screamed and cried because her slurpee was gone.

Gage was sitting in the basket with his legs under the seat part, so Miley's slurpee spilled all over him. And he screamed and cried because he was wet and cold. 

Slurpee Fail!!!