Important highlights

I don't have time to properly blog, but I thought that you'd like to know what I've been up to.

Just a quick recap of the highlights of the last week:

• Skimmed a curb and popped a tire on a big hill (then changed it & got a new one)
• Organized and ran the luncheon for a funeral
• Babysitting for a friend who has a baby
• Stubbed toe and broke it
• Broke (then fixed) the dryer 2 days before all the family came in for Thanksgiving
• Made hundreds of bows and sold them at two craft fairs
• Organized and made group gift for Mom’s 60^th b-day
• Had the kids write birthday cards to my mom. When I asked Case to come draw for grandma, he decided to dictate it for me to write…so I did. It read, “I don’t want to write to ganma. NO NO. I no want to color. I no want to get da paper. NO NO NO.” Why yes, he is 2…and yes, I did actually send that to my mom.
• Bought a Turkey for Thanksgiving
• Bought another turkey for Thanksgiving after Kord left the freezer door open and ruined all the food inside
• Had surprise overnight company
• Helped more then usual in kids classrooms for Thanksgiving projects
• Send a birthday gift to Hadley’s school teacher, only to realize that it’s NEXT month on the 19^th, not this month.
• Cell phone broke. Forced to mail it in 4 weeks ago - still no phone.
• Didn’t set up auto bill pay for the utilities and got my very first, “Water turn off notice” on my front door
• 

So much to be thankful for at this special time of year...JK...there really IS so much to be thankful for.

I LOVE YOU, MRS. SUN

Yes, it's true...I love the sun. Layne says that's she's a girl...hence the Mrs. Sun.

Layne and her very, very best friend in the whole world.

How can it be that we've never taken pix at the dentist. Situation Rectified.

It's pretty great to have your dad in scouting. He's there to give you your first merit badge. In fact, it's the merit badge that he and his father wanted to do together--coin collecting. The Lord had other plans for Leland, but now Russ got to work on it with Kord. I love this man.

Mom (Pauline Jones) had the kids with her for a couple days while Russ and I went to Bend, Oregon to play (biking, tennis, relaxing). While we were gone they had oatmeal. Grandma asked what kind of sugar they would like. Hadley said, “white”; Layne said, “brown”, so Case looked around at them and said, “blue”. My mom being who my mom is, got out some sugar and dyed it blue for my baby Case. I love my mom so much.

My baby Layne is in Kindergarten.

Hadley came to Russ and asked what kind of jobs she could do as a teenager. Russ suggested babysitting, Taco Bell and Safeway. Hadley thought for a minute and then said, “No, a smart job. You know, a job that smart people do. Like computers.” They went on to have a great conversation about possible job choices.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Bend, OR!!!

Why yes, I DID put my pants back on by myself...and yes, my mom is out of diapers for all time!!!!!

12 year in the northwest...I think we're officially locals...we went canoeing in the rain and it was a BLAST. We LOVE that these fantastic lakes are 1 mile from our house.

August over already!?? NOOOOOO!!

We went to Grandpa Merrill's house this summer. TONS OF FUN! We had big days so Layne and Case would crash pretty hard when it was bed time.

When we went to my dad's house two years ago, Kord crashed this golf cart into a tree. They were a little nervous about that for the first...four seconds. Then they went tearing across the property. We didn't even end up in the river--I call that a success.

I traveled by myself with all four kids from coast to coast and I kid you not, I read on the plane. It was only for a few minutes, but still. I had to borrow Harry Potter from Hadley since it hadn't even occurred to me to bring a book--who would have thought I'd have time to read. There are perks to your kids being a little older.

These, my friends, are bird dogs. When I was a kid, we ate these when we went out on the sailboat. We, of course, mocked those powerboaters with their big engines and small IQs. Evidently, when you get old--it's okay to have a trawler--since my dad just traded the sail for the motor. Okay, back to the bird dog recipe: Make a slit in a hot dog, put cheese (preferably processed) into the slit. Then wrap the entire thing in bacon and cook. Yep--absolutely disgusting, but Adam and I used to love them. So I made then when we were there. I stuffed a TON of veggies into my kids though to help offset the nastiness.

Why yes I AM SUPER MOM. I took the kids to Philli and NY all by myself. Have I mentioned that I love these kids?!

Then we came home and played with our best buds.

While we were gone, Russ wrote, "Spent the day mt biking at Lewis River Falls - ended the day by jumping off the falls - a good day. But...., I'm ready for my sweetie to come home ... There is a pair of pants in every room of the house - I haven't seen a vegetable in over 10 days - I've gained 4 pounds - and I'm in serious smooch withdrawal. Come home Nicole, come home."

And "I love my wife dearly... miss her when she's gone. But I've eaten red meat 5 nights in a row. The cherry on top? I noticed a note on the fridge tonight that says... don't forget the honey-do while I'm gone. I thought that was an excellent idea so I drove to safeway and bought a nice big honey-do. I love honey-do even more than cantaloupe. What a gal, always thinking of me."

Then when I got home there was cole slaw in the frig. Gross. So I asked Russ if I could throw it away. He let me know that he bought it a couple days ago because he realized that he really needed to eat a vegetable. WHAT!!???

Cole Slaw is NOT a vegetable.

July...I've never looked better

For those of you who did not see my facebook post (or the family newsletter...thanks a lot Mom), I thought you'd like to see my "before" shot. Some of Russ family are doing a weight lose contest. I thought everyone should see what I look like before the contest. Wish me luck!!!!

Holy fun batman! Ben and Rochelle and lot's of their clan (we missed you Lars and Hans) came out and played with us. We showed them what a northwest fireworks lawn (or cul-de-sac) show looks like...none of this Utah sparkler stuff for us!!

We convince Ben and Rochelle to let us have the three younger kids for a while before everyone else came. It was CRAZY fun!!! We're Avatar the Last Airbender ADDICTS. So they all dressed up for opening day--including Leif and Sven getting arrows shaved into their heads.

What a bunch of troopers. We all went to Shi Shi beach on the Olympic Penninsula. It was miles of hiking into the beach and then a couple days of living on it. This is after we've already hiked out, so though we look pretty hammered, it was SUCH a great memory and was so great.

Grandma Katie came to play too!!!! We baked, hiked, swam, and waited until 2PM every day for the sun to come out...I'm not going to lie, the weather was tough on me until about mid-July. We had SOOOO much fun with you Katie, thank you for coming!!

Okay, so I think it's cool that we're all exactly one head apart in height (except for Russ, he would ruin it so he took the picture...I love you snoogally-woogally pie). The crazy part is that 4 weeks later Kord was up to my nose and Hadley has grown so much that Layne only comes up to her chest.

GO THOMAS'

The kid was turning 11 and he had never had a gun cake...what kind of Thomas' are we. We rectified that ASAP!

HOLY BUSY SPRINGTIME

Congrats Kord on your Arrow of Light...followed immediately (within minutes) by your baseball game. Quite a night kid.

Case and his best bud...seriously, best bud!

Yep, that's a "5" pizza. Happy Birthday Layne

Purple Polka-dot Poodle Party

Soca star

Crazy fun with Grandpa Merrill

Thanks for coming to visit Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie and cousins

Hadley was talking on a pretend cell phone when she turned to me, “Mom, do girls ask boys out on dates”. “No, Hadley, you wait for the boy to ask you”. So then I hear her on the pretend phone again, “So would you like a date?” “Hadley, remember we don’t ask the boy, we want them to have to come to us.” “I know Mom, I was just asking him if he wants to come to my house and eat a date…like what Jesus ate.”

Hadley's school party...They made school supply kits for kids in Haiti...and a HUGE pencil cake for Hadley.

Cousin fun gets a little tiring.

Kord borrowed a decibel meter for his science fair project. Which, of course, means that we had WAY too much fun with it. First, they stuck it in my face while I was talking on the phone(rude!)...and then they put it to Case. For the record, I hit 84 decimals chit-chatin' it up on the phone.

It's the HADLEY SHOW

WOW. It really has been the Hadley Show this last little bit.

Now I just need it to be "Hadley Lane" or Layne.

WHAT TIME IS IT...GIRL TIME!

We got to go the Cats the Musical...just the girls. Hadley and Layne were on the edge of their seats the whole time. We were on the first row, first balcony so they had a great view (thanks again Dad). I NEVER thought that I could get sick of the music, but turns out that after listening the soundtrack about a MILLION times, it gets a little old. Every time I start to lose it though, I realize how excited I am that they love it as much as I do. Girls rock!

You see, in Ms. Dallasta's class you can earn Cat Cash throughout the year. Most kids spend it in small increments...10 here for erasers/30 there for stickers. But not my Hadley, she had her eye on the prize. So she's been saving all year and got to be Teacher for the Day. Check out that teacher. There was no messing with her. By the end of the day she had her notebook all filled up with the naughty things that kids had done (I kid you not). In fact, it started at home with, "Case poosht the techer Msr Thomas" and ended at school with, "Dmechry cold me a Grandma and Alin colled me Osy Osborn". I can't make this stuff up.

All the kids go on Daddy Daughter Dates and Boys Night Outs with Dad. No one ever wants to do it with Mom. Well, my Hadley finally decided that I was good enough for her so we went out on our first ever Girls Night. It was super fun to spend a whole night with this chica.

My sweet, sweet Hadley decided to get baptized. It was beautiful. And since it was the Thomas', also eventful. Russ got her all organized and was about to start the ordinance when they stopped him so he could switch to the other side and raise his RIGHT hand not his left. Cracks me up. Grandma Jones made the dress (gorgeous) and Hadley was ALL glows the entire day. She decided that she wanted to play the piano and have her cousins, siblings and friends sing. So that's just what she did. I love this sweet, beautiful little person. Congratulations Hadley.