I love Washington!

So we're heading up to Washington this weekend, we'll be there for just over a week! I'm so excited to see our family and be up in the beautiful Washington weather! Speaking of weather, I guess this week its ridiculously hot there, like over 100 degrees! I know we live here in Utah where its just as hot, but there is a difference because it is a LOT more humid up there, so its pretty much miserable. Besides the fact that its not common for it to get that hot, so hardly anyone has air conditioners, yucky!
Lucky for us, by the time we get there this weekend it supposed to have cooled down--phew! So in honor for getting ready for vacation (pack! pack! pack!), here's a few pictures of the gorgeous Washington State.

Zoo Day!

Thursday I went with some friends back to the zoo. I got to go with Bethany for a daycare field trip, but both Maddie and Sam haven't been to the zoo since last year, so I thought it would be worth it to go again. We had a great time, we tried to go early before I had to get to work and before it got too hot, but we ended up feeling the heat and I was late for work! (I called and worked it out, I never miss work, promise!) We got to do the carousel and the little train and the kids loved every minute!















Side story about this tiger: That tiger was just prowling along the back fence, and we're watching admiring him. Then all of a sudden he stops and looks right at us and makes a beeline for us. He gets to the glass and looks at us, turns around, lifts a leg and pees right on the glass!! I don't think I've ever seen an animal at the zoo act like that before, it was so surprising and well, I thought, hilarious!

Slippin' and Slidin'

This last tuesday for mutual, we set up a huge water slide. Apparently you can buy the signs off of billboards after they're done with them, so we had six huge billboard size posters lined up to make the biggest water slide I've ever seen! Add to that some soap and water, a pretty steep hill, and we were moving pretty fast!





See look we're having a pretty good time!


But along with all the fun came some not so fun too! Like a slip right onto my tailbone, YOW! And a kick in the back (see second picture), and an elbow to the throat, plus a lot of road rash (see both pictures)! Still, it was worth it, totally fun!

For you Pa

I just may have the cutest kids in the whole world--now wait!--you can argue with me all you want, but you will not be able to convince me that your kids are cuter, thats just the way it is!

Let's start with Bethany. Bethany loves Harry Potter and so do I, so we went to the new Harry Potter movie the other night. The entire movie Bethany was whispering to me, "So, does that mean that Malfoy's a DEATHEATER?!" (she whispers VERY LOUD) and then she adds "Thats bad! Deatheaters are BAD, RIGHT?!" And so on, and so on. Sure at the time it was pretty annoying, but when I think about it now, its pretty doggone cute how interested she was and how she wanted to know exactly what was going on and she's just so funny!


Then there's Maddie. That kid has a mind of her own, she is just doing her own thing. She loves to wear dresses every single day if she can and she loves it if they have pockets so she can put some sort of treasure in them. She recently found a dime (and calls it everything--quarter, nickle, penny--but a dime) and has been carrying it around with her, so I told her I'd do a magic trick and I pulled the dime "out of her ear", she LOVED that, thought it was so fantastic! So now when she comes up to me and says "I think I feel something funny in my ear..." I know she wants me to do that trick.


Sam right now is so full of curiosity and learning, he does new stuff every day it shocks me! He's starting to say words now... special words. Words like "MINE!" and "NO!" and "HOT!" and "Wa-dee! Wa-dee!" which I have no idea what that means, but its cute all the same. He walks around all day with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, probably feeling the lone tooth thats finally broken through. He's also learned how to spit (you know like blow raspberries?) and decided to do that at all the very quietest parts of Harry Potter and then laugh hysterically when I'd put my hand over his mouth to make him stop! He is the most happy-go-lucky baby I've ever met, he thinks everything is something to laugh over and everything is a joke!


So there you have it, just a few examples of how my kids are the cutest ever! Tune in next time to hear even more about the cuteness that never ends!

(Hows that Pa, a little better?) :)

This and That

So I have a few things I can update you on, it hasn't been a really eventful week, mostly because I am still SO TIRED from Girls Camp, but there has been some stuff going on.

The biggest news we got this week was:
David didn't get the police job he applied to in Washington.
Sad day! :( But we still have faith that things will work out and the Lord is aware of us and it will be just fine!

Anything else going on kind of pales in comparison, but in the next couple days you can look forward to pictures from us being in the Steel Days parade (for the daycare), look for us and we'll be waving!

I've been reading a ton of books lately, I just finished reading the last Harry Potter book (again) and now I'm reading "My Sister's Keeper", which is insanely sad. I'm hoping we can go see the Harry Potter movie sometime soon, I'm really excited to see it! Other books I've been reading: All the Fablehaven books (FANTASTIC!), The Candy Shop Wars, and the Uglies series.

Before I went to Girls Camp I started painting a mural at the daycare, I need to go take some pictures and also finish it, but look forward to seeing those someday, hopefully soon. If you've read "Where the Wild Things Are" then you'll know what I'm talking about, but thats the theme for the room I painted, its pretty fun! And I'm really excited to paint the other rooms too, whats in my head is going to be so awesome, now I just need to get it done!

Okay, I think thats about it! So how's your summer been so far?

What I learned at Girls Camp:

*teenage girls are CRAZY.


*if you get a bunch of adult women together without their kids, they're crazier than teenage girls.


*giant spiders apparently like the taste of my elbow.


*I don't like to be woken up by crazy, giggling, door slamming teenage girls.

*but I don't mind keeping said crazy, giggling, door slamming teenage girls awake myself.

*there are some faces you should never make.






*sometimes teenage girls will pee in a trashcan. I don't know why, I just learned it, doesn't mean I understand it. (don't worry, no picture for that one!)

*never let a teenage girl do your hair.


*potguts are little rodents like prairie dogs.

*girls from other campsites like to stomp on the baby potguts at your campsite, because they are sick (the girls, not the potguts).

*teenage girls are still sensitive about killing baby potguts and will hold funeral services for the poor squished creature.


*you should bring more than one blanket to sleep with when you're camping up in the mountains.

*you get really emotionally haggard by the end of a week at Girls' Camp.

*you are a bad person for teaching your crazy, giggling, door slamming girls "bad" camp songs that all revolve around death--in a funny way-- (but secretly love it).

*sitting around a campfire singing to a guitar is pretty awesome.


*shockingly enough, grown women will still play favorites.

*if you sit in the sunlight at noon for over an hour you will get sunburned on half your face.

*hammocks rock.


*hiking uphill sucks.

*teenage girls do not know how to pick up their trash, or drink a soda all the way gone or throw that soda can away.

*you won't physically die on 4 hours of sleep every night, I was certainly surprised.

*everyone starts their period at camp.

*fire stinks really bad.


*your kids don't miss you nearly as much as you miss them.

*your husband will NOT clean your house fantastically before you return.

*I can do a zip line challenge course in 1:30.


*if you leave Mountain Dew out all night, and then stick it in the fridge to get cold, it still won't taste good.

*if you eat a whole bag of marshmallows, you will get canker sores so bad you can hardly eat.

*I LOVE MY YOUNG WOMEN!!!