The Brotherhood

I had the privilege of butting in on the Brotherhood this year. Sorry Dad. I am sure he was bugged having me and my kids around as he really just wanted to be with the boys. Next year they should have it at my Dad's again but set up some protective barrier to keep us all out. he he. Or better yet, just tell us all to stay away. I actually did start to feel bad when I was there, yet I still saw them 3 times. Terrible.

I loved seeing my Uncle's though. They are some of the best guys I have had the honor of knowing and I love them all so much. I am sure my Dad had a great time having them here. Thank you, all of you.

School starts and family fun.

It was my baby big girl's first day of school on Monday. It was so exciting for her and so sad for me. She had a good time and I was so proud of her. I just hate to see them getting older. She had her Kindergarten Assessment and was graded on a letter grade. I peeked at the paper and noticed she had all A's and one B. Turn out the B was in colors which I know she knows so that was odd. Later she told me the pink crayon looked like it had a purple wrapper and the purple crayon looked like a pink wrapper so she said the color of the wrappers. She also counted as far as she could which she did to 100. She can count past that so when I asked her why she had not counted past that she said, "That would have made my test very long." I love my cute smart girl. Thank you to my great neighbor for the school pictures. As my dumb camera is broke again, she let me borrow hers.Here we are with the neighbor kids that we walked with. They were so cute and helpful. They are the best kids.Today we went to visit my niece and her precious family. They are the best and we love them dearly. Here is Appleseed with his 2nd cousin. He was fascinated with this cute noisy thing with the great toy on her head.My nephew-in-law bounced the kids off their moon bag. It was awesome and they loved it. Too bad he couldn't have bounced me. he heThen we went to the zoo with my niece and her baby. Butterball spent most of the time crying. It was horrible but I decided that I need to start letting him cry when we are places so that maybe he would learn to WALK! Usually I get too sick of hearing him cry and carry him.I took this because I need to know if these are turtles or tortoise. Sis? It was a flipper with claws. Do all turtles have flipper with claws?

Then half way home we stopped to feed Appleseed and take a break to throw rocks in a lake. It is such a beautiful area. I was wishing we had more time so we could walk around the lake.
It was a great day! Thank you niece and family!

This is what Butterball did almost the whole time at the zoo. So much fun. Sorry again that it is sideways.

Misc fun

We went to a baby shower for my niece the other day. It was so nice and the food was awesome. Butterbean got her feelings hurt. I can't even remember why. And she was pouting so I of course "encouraged" the behaviour by taking pictures. Oops, but I thought it was kind of cute.My daughter put this on him and said he was Angel Moroni. That is the cutest Angel Moroni I have ever seen!Butterball cleaned his room by himself and did a very very good job. So he asked if he could take a picture of it. When he had the camera he said, "Say cheese room." Then took the picture and said, "What a good job room. Look at your picture."Playing in the rain. It was fun.
Ugh! I told my daughter that I was going to have her Dad give her a Father's Blessing before school tomorrow to help her feel comforted and to help her through out the school year. My teenage daughter rolled her eyes and said, "I don't need a blessing." So we didn't. Sob sob.

Was it worth it?

The kids and I went camping on the Base last night. It was super hot. At first I thought of setting up the tent near the car as we were by ourselves. So we set it up but it was blazing so I had us drag it and everything else over to a shady but bumpy spot. Who cares right? At least we are in the shade. Our tent will be cool at night, we can sit in the shade.

They had a bazillion, and I mean a bazillion little plastic balls all over the area. No one was sure what they were for but after awhile they started disappearing. So we grabbed a few too. I saw one girl carry a shirt full several times to her tent. I am sure she left with about 50 of them. Turns out they were there for us to all play with and keep. Cute idea. We had a bouncy castle that they jumped on and a play ground right next to it so it was back and forth from one to the other.Butterbean found a marker in the car and colored her lips, teeth, and pants on the way there. Seriously?Here we are all trying to set up the tent together. It is a super easy tent to set up but even easier with just yourself.They had crafts for the kids. They made these cute hats and painted them. It was a cute idea and I was amazed at some of the hats they made. I want to do this at home now as a craft someday. Butterball did not have the patience for it but Butterbean loved hers.Appleseed sat on the grass while the kids played and ate grass. Mmmmmmm, yum.For dinner they provided hot dogs, chips, water, and ice cream bars. My kids loved it. Appleseed ate an entire hot dog himself. Don't worry I broke it into small bites and fed them one by one.Then they had smores over a bonfire that my kids opted not to go to. And later they showed a movie, Charlotte's Web, and had popcorn and gave out glow sticks. Then they feed you breakfast at a ridiculous time of the morning. The sun was not even up yet. But they had a ton and of course the kids love those sugar cereals as they don't get them at home so they were excited. And to beat it all, it was all free.During dinner they had some music playing so Butterball was up dancing and singing and then Butterbean got in on the action. Sorry that it is sideways. Didn't realize that.
So to wrap it up, was it worth it? We never did sit in the shade and enjoy it by our tent. When the movie ends at 11pm you don't have to worry about your tent being warm from the sun or not. I forgot they didn't provide drinks, they did provide Coke with caffeine for dinner, and had forgot to bring my own. I found a huge multiple drinking fountain later that had plasitc cups on it but had cute little girsl filling them all up for people. I am sorry but I just kept seeing germs as they weren't assigned to do it but doing it out of the goodness of their heart. Thank goodness for my emergency water I keep in the car so that we could refill that too. Having just a few bathrooms for 50 million people is a joke. They get super dirty and you are always in a line. OK, not 50 million but a ton! At bed time you had some really nice parents who let their kids stay up later and play around. And you know the shade I wanted? Right next to the pavilion and they had the lights on till about 11:30pm so it was super bright in our tent. Even after the lights were put out the naughty noisy kids outside had fun playing with who knows what and making all kinds of noise. Then to have more kids be noisy in the morning so that they wake up your monsters before you or they are ready to be. Am I tired? You bet! Have my kids been tired, whiny, grumpy, and just play wild today? You bet! So worth it? YOU BET!!!! Would I do it again? In a heart beat!

Weirdo

I always knew Butterball was special. I guess I just didn't realize how special. He wore this pillow case over his head on the way to the store and back to the car to help "keep the sun off my eyes". That's my boy.

Poor thing.

My nephew left for college in New York yesterday. I was so excited to see him one more time before he left. It was wonderful. I was worried that Butterbean would not get to see him one more time as she was off with friends. She has a special attachment to him that is adorable. When I had told her once that he was leaving for school for a long time she had said, "I bet he will be crying and crying because he will miss me." She showed up in just enough time to see him off. It was cute. Her pouty face is when we were telling her to give him a hug as he was leaving soon. She ended up crying herself to sleep that night because she missed him so much. I printed off a picture of her and him to sleep with that night. It broke my heart. I hope she always has that attachment to him. He is one a kind. And we love him very much.We had Butterbean's school orientation today. It was probably a mistake to take her. She kept looking at me with a worried look on her face for everything. At one point she said, "What does she mean drop me off? How are you going to drop me off?" I think she was worried that it included dropping. It just made me sad that she has already had so much anxiety about starting school and then to take her there and she was so worried. It was sad but cute. I think once school starts that hopefully she won't be as stressed.

Primary Activity

We had a Primary activity at the Temple today. It was such a cute idea and we had a lot of fun. We got to tour the grounds and learn new stuff. In the back ground is a pineapple plant. They have them all over the grounds. During the summer they grow different peppers. This is Butterbean with her friend AM. Can you believe we are wearing our coats in the middle of August?By a tombstone that is near the cabin on the grounds. I want to go back with my family so I can look some more.Later Butterbean and I went the Farmer Market and saw a bunch of beautiful painted horses. She loved them and liked this one the most she said because of the flag.And of course, playing on the play ground, yes in our Sunday clothes.

Dinosaur Park

My husband was talking about how he had to go on the roof to look at our swamp cooler. Butterbean piped up that she wanted to go up there to as Butterball has been up there and she hasn't. My husband pointed out that Butterball has not been up on the roof. Butterbean of course said he had and that I had put him up there so he could get a toy. Of course I am looking totally someplace else now as hubby looks curiously at me. And thinking yet again, "There are some thing we don't tell Daddy." My husband said, "Boy, I never have to worry about finding out what really goes on here do I." Told her she might as well tell him that the whole story, that the reason Butterball went up instead of her was she was too scared. So Dad let her up there with him.We went the the Dinosaur Park with my super awesome neighbors today. It was nice to get out and have fun and I always enjoy being in their company. My big double stroller would not fit through the door so we had to have them open the gate for me. Now we know we can't take that one anymore. Funny. I had a great time. Thank you neighbors for inviting us.When my daughter saw this she was so upset that she is picking her nose in it. She said we had to go back so that she could sit there again and get a new picture with her not picking her nose.All the dangerous creatures escaping!!! Run for your lives! Wait till you see a close up.Gasp! Doesn't that look like some pretty dangerous creatures? Shudder. Scary. he heAnd there we go, finally Butterball. His Grandma said it is Native American blood that makes him not want his picture taken. He is related to Pocahontas.Appleseed playing peek a boo. So cute.A little snack.

Swimming Fun

I know why our daughters want to do their own hair. Even though when they get older it drives us nuts and they may not look that great. At this age, we praise them for doing their own hair. I am not about to tell my daughter that it looks bad. She was excited that she had done a "bun" on one side and a "web" on the other. So of course I will tell her what a great job she did and how proud of her I am. Then she did her brothers hair and was so upset when he took it out shortly afterwards.The kids went swimming today. It was a lot of fun and great temperature. Butterball and Butterbean were arguing at the beginning, I know big surprise, and so Butterball was emptying the pool in defiance.
And so Butterbean took the hose to spray him while trying to pull the pool side back up. See that look of glee on her face. They can be terrible!Appleseed sat in it and had the best time. He sat in it most of the time and just splashed and played with whatever floated near. It was so cute.Butterball had to go to the bathroom and went on the Lilac bush. Butterbean was so upset that he had got some on the leaves and said, "That is it! Now it won't grow back anymore and I will have to try and get some water to put on the leaves and I will have to water it and water it and water it. I am just going to go to Canada. And I will have my own place and you won't be able to come because I will only have people that I don't know over so that I can meet some more people." And that is the scowly face she was making while saying it.And here is the great picture I got of my husband in the pool holding Appleseed. Yeah, I am so excited that the camera is working that I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE REPAIR SHOP YESTERDAY!!!