Uncles

Driving home just now, Abby said, "Mom, I really love our uncles. Do you know why?" "Why" I said. "Because they're nice and crazy," she said. Anna and Nate quickly agreed and then tried to figure out which one was the craziest. Christian topped the list.

Talents

Abby: "I have a really, really really good talent of talking."

More Brilliance

We keep all the diapers and wipes and changing pad in a drawer in our tv cabinet. I asked Benny to get a diaper and he toddled right over to the drawer, struggled with it until he got it open, pulled out the wipes, delivered them to Brennan, went back and grabbed the changing pad, delivered that to Brennan, went back and got a diaper and brought that to Brennan. It was so cute. It's amazing what they're observing around them. We love Benny!

I Like Nice People

Today my doorbell rang and it was a woman in my ward. I know and like her, but wouldn't say that we're close. She said she had been shopping and found some darling personlized beach towels on clearance. She was dissapointed not to find any with any of her kids names, but found one with the name Abby and one with the name Anna so she bought them and brought them to me. I asked her how much I owed her, but she wouldn't hear of it. She was so happy to have found some for someone and left them with us. I like nice people.

A Little Extra Gratitude

My 3 oldest kids went to a play last night with my parents and grandma. They are fortunate enough to have fabulous grandparents on both sides that expose them to wonderful things like this. On their way home from the play their car hit a deer. Evidently, the deer hit the front driver side of their minivan and then flipped up and hit the windshield which caved in on my Mom's side. (Most of the windshield remains in tact, though caving in, but for a million tiny little slivers everywhere) My mom had glass all over her, but managed to only get one or two small cuts. My kids, my Dad and my Grandma were untouched. A few minutes after the impact, Nate remarked, "That is dead meat!"

One van full of most of the people I love most in this world. I'm extra grateful today for my children even though they are fighting right now because the girls told Nate the only way he can play with them is if he'll be their dog. I'm also extra grateful for my parents and Grandma who probaby aren't fighting right now, most certainly about who has to be the dog.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We had a fun-filled, hot, very hot day. The day began with me, Anna, Abby and Nate driving up to join my Mom's family for a hike. We have this dilemma every year on the 4th: go with Mom's family on a hike and a BBQ afterwards or small town parade with a gigantic water fight at the end? Since Brennan never complains about any of of the many family get-togethers with my family and both of my extended families, I defer to him on this one and he loves this parade -- we all do. This year, they started the hike a little earlier and the parade wasn't until 11:00 so I tried to do both. The four of us hiked up for about an hour, then said goodbye to our group (except my Mom who kindly went back down with us) and began the hike back down. The girls did really well. Nate got really tired and a little stubborn. He wanted to stop and rest every 1.3 seconds which was fun. He actually did pretty well overall. Part of the reason I wanted to go so badly is because I feel like our kids needs a little toughening up, so we made it and hopefully it was good for all of us.

After we finally got back down the mountain, we dropped Mom off at my aunt's house and then raced to the parade. Brennan and Ben were waiting for us with some of my aunts and uncles and their kids and my Grandma. Fortunately we were situated towards the end of the parade so even though we were a little late we only missed two cars. We settled in in the hot hot sun and cheered the brave paraders on.

Ben loved all of the excitement, the sirens, and candy being hurled in all directions, and the clapping. At the end of the parade, truck after truck with tank and after tank of water drives through and hoses the crowd down. Ben and Grandma and I left before the hosing off began, but the rest of my family (except Nate who kept a safe distance long before the water part started) came home drenched.

Later that evening we went over to my parents' for BBQ with Josh, Lize, Abe (brother-in-law, sister and nephew)and Grandma. Kevin and Lisa (aunt and uncle) and their kids joined us later. We had lots of yummy food and then went out front to have our own little firework show. It was still very light, which was my fault because I was more worried about bedtimes than I was optimal firework darkness. Sue me. Brennan bought a bunch of the flower variety, the ones that spin around and pop at the end. Mr. Paranoid himself insisted our kids stand in the street and be chased by the flowers.

Then we brought out the sparklers. This was something. They're kind of tricky to get lit, so Brennan would get a handful lit and then start yelling "Alright, hurry come grab some guys, hurry, come get them." Then after he finally managed to get the lit sparklers transferred from his hand to theirs (not as simple as it sounds) he started yelling, "Don't let them go out, don't let them go out!" while he scrambled to grab a new handful to light. "I said not to let them go out!" he'd yell evidently oblivious to the fact that no one has that kind of control. It was one of the most chaotic and hilarious scenes I've ever witnessed. The kids (including some random neighbor kids that none of us knew) were trying desperately to get their hands on a sparkler and have a little fun while this big guy was barking out impossible, crazy and repetitive orders while every other adult was dying laughing. Good times. We love Brennan.

After that we packed up and headed home. I put Benny to bed and the rest of us all went out to our front yard for a fabulous view of a nearby amusement park's firework show.

You'd think that was the end, wouldn't you? (You hoped it was at least, right?) Nope. Brennan has gone camping twice the last few weeks with Nate and no girls so he promised them he'd sleep in the tent with just them that night. The three of them headed out back and after only about 12 trips back inside for some forgotten treasure or potty trip, settled in. Nate wasn't happy, but finally gave up his protests and went to sleep in my bed only to fall out in the middle of the night. The wind blew so hard the girls got scared so the three of them ended up camping in our family room. Adventures non-stop around here.

We love our family and we love America -- happy Independance Day!

Church Snacks

Our church is from 11:30 -- 2:30, right during lunchtime. Today I was running around just before church trying to get ready (it seems I can either get everyone else ready or me, not both) and get there on time for once. I noticed the kids gathering up some snacks which I didn't protest, knowing they would need something. We managed to get there just as Sacrament Meeting began and settled in for our weekly adventure. (It's hard work producing a 3 Ring Circus every week!) Shortly after our arrival, the kids began pulling out their snacks. I happened to glance over at Anna to see her pulling a jar of peanut butter and a spoon out of a large ziploc bag. In my shocked horror, I shot her a look and whispered for her to please HURRY and put that away and then tried to explain how it was not appropriate to bring a whole jar of peanut butter to church. She was crestfallen and asked me how else she was supposed to bring peanut butter for a snack. We love Anna!