water

We got Noah in!!!



Brad likes to fill his pockets with water




Couldn't get him to smile for a picture, but he was in the pool with all the kids!

maybe the bucket has something to do with the disinterest.....

water fight!

Friday's Fabulous Five

1. Friday I got to spend some good quality time with my girls. We went shopping for some crafting supplies and then came home and made some cute little decorations for their room. They were super hyper, but we had good time together. It's always nice to get some time with just them. When they don't have to help me round up the boys. I'm sure they enjoy the break as well. We all got really excited to pick out somethings for the baby as well. It's fun to have them to get excited with. They keep planning out funny things for her, and asking if they will be able to hold her in the hospital "RIGHT AFTER she's born?" So cute. This is one loved little sister. I love my girls.



2. Sunday at church I was reminded how excited Bradley gets to hold the Sacrament tray and pass it on to the next person. He actually got really ambitious and moved down the pew to pass it to everyone within his reach :). I love that he likes that and looks forward to being able to being a deacon and passing the Sacrament.




3. Flowers. My sweet husband brought me home some beautiful roses on Tuesday. He left them on the bed so I didn't get them until I was getting ready for bed, but what a sweetheart! It's funny how just when I think he can't possibly love me now, he surprises me. Not only were there flowers, but each one had a special little love note with it. What guys goes to such great lengths? and just because too, it wasn't a holiday or anniversary or anything. He's just so intune, he knows when I need that kind of stuff. And I did need it. It's been a really crappy week(ish). It totally reminded me of how I felt when he sent me flowers after our first date. It just really brightened my day. I love Nate. What would I do without him! And he lets me cry.



4. Wednesday night I taught myself how to do the crocheted edges around the baby blanket thing. I've always known how to crochet, but I've never tried this, and it wasn't until the second time around that I thought it was going to look presentable. (I was planning how I was going to just cut the whole thing off) But I am just WAY happy for myself and quite pleased with how it is turning out. I probably sound stupid to all you Molly Homemakers out there, but this was a new one for me!! My grandma would be proud of me, and so am I :).


5. This week it was hard to come up with a fifth thing. I think it is clearly because I am so negative lately and not because there aren't fabulous things happening. But unfortunately, I have had a pretty crappy week. (don't worry, I will turn this into something good, I promise) Life feels really unorganized lately, and I feel really scatterbrained. I feel like it's impossible to get myself up and going every morning, and even harder to get myself to do all of the housework and "fun stuff" for the kids. I think it's even been hard for me to just smile. But through all of this, with all of the crying and hurting and lack of sleep, my kids have been fabulous. They are kids and have their moments, but this week of all weeks, when I have been a slacker, and grumpy, and not the best mom in the world, they have managed to make me feel otherwise. Charity constantly giving me hugs, constantly telling me "did you know you're the best mom in the galaxy!" (possibly trying to convince herself, but meaningful nonetheless) Kelly gives me hugs and wipes my tears, and constantly asks what she can do to help. Bradley keeps coming over for cuddles, rubbing my arm, laying his head on my shoulder, telling me that he loves me. Luke's smiling, happy fun attitude, just bouncing around making us all laugh constantly, and actually telling me that he loves me too, on his own! Noah is an angel, he is so aware of how I feel, and that is hard for me, but at the same time he is right here, wrapping my arm around him, sitting on my lap, and giving me the cute little looks that everything will be okay. And honestly, as much as I hate how my bad attitude can affect my unborn baby, I know that she is here, helping me along as well. I have not stopped feeling her move and that has been so comforting. What would I do without these 6 little blessings in my life. And without their sweet dad who manages to everything bearable. I love my family. I love that we have each other, and no matter where we live, how messy it is, how chaotic it is, I hope they know how much I love them and how much I appreciate their love and their support. I am hoping for a better week this coming week, and I am going to do better at reading my scriptures, praying, getting to bed sooner, and wearing myself out more so that I can sleep, so that I have some better happy things to share :) I want to do that for my family. I want things to be better. The new schedule should be helpful....
I'm sure we all have these times, and I'm sure I'm not the only one with kids that love them. It's just nice to be able to recognize it when everything else feels so out of place. Life is interesting.

petting sharks, fish nibbling on our toes, a picnic in the mountains, a hike to a beautiful waterfall..... what a great way to spend a day

Be advised.... LOTS of pictures ahead.

Our friends Chris and Stephanie took us out to Bonneville Seabase (out by Grantsville). It was such a neat experience. When we first got there we watched the Jacks (in the Tuna family) swim around... they were HUGE!!



Charity and Kelly made friends with the welcoming party/poodle



(this was somewhat nerve racking considering this tank is like 30 or 40 feet deep (can't remember how deep)




But then the guy came out and started feeding everything. He fed the little tiny fish first- that was pretty exciting, they just attack the food and fight over it. Then he fed the Reef Sharks. They have 2 male Reef Sharks and this is one of them. I got to pet them first (nobody else was brave enough!).

But Kelly and Charity braved up quickly and took a turn

Bradley wanted to at first, but then chickened out. Course if you ask me, he was just using his best judgement. Which Bradley is really good at when it comes to new things :)

It took a while to get them to come back up for some reason.

Nate finally got his turn.

The sharks were amazing to look at. They had really rough skin too. Like wet sandpaper. They made a weird snorting noise when they would suck their food into their mouths so it made you kind of jump when you were petting them. What a cool thing though.... I loved it :)

Charity, Kelly and I took a few more turns...

Then we went over to the Jack tank again and watched him feed them! This was AMAZING!!! They looked more like sharks attacking their food, flipping their tailfins all over the place, we totally got splashed a bunch of times while they were eating and they were way out there. It was really cool.

After that we got to take off our shoes and stick our feet in the water with the little fish. They come up and nibble on your feet- it's really tickly, Charity was laughing her head off.

Noah really couldn't get enough of this part. He wanted SO badly to go out in the water. It was kind of scary though because the spot where we were was really shallow, but really slippery. And then only about 5 feet out was the drop off to the huge tank.... I just couldn't imagine what would happen if one of my kids fell in..... I didn't want to have to jump in with the humongous Jacks to get anyone.

here you can see the little fish eating Nate's foot.

Bradley actually slipped and fell at one point and got all wet :) (and that was all! phew!)

Then the kids got to help Chris get all ready for his dive. Carrying all of his gear over to the water. It was fun watching him dive down. I can't wait to learn how to Scuba dive.... Chris is going to teach us someday.

poor Noah was so bugged at us for not letting him swim in the water.

The Seabase was incredible. We all loved it. It's so nice of Chris and Stephanie to think of us when they find cool things like this. We had an awesome time.

Since Nate had the whole day off and it was only 11:00 am when we were done there, we made some crazy last minute plans to drive up the canyon and have a little picnic. We went up to our old spot in Big Cottonwood Canyon at Moss Ledge and played in the little creek there and ate some lunch. The kids have fun making a dam with Nate and Chris.

The kids couldn't get enough of the water and climbing all over the rocks.... it was so fun!! I dont' know how we missed out on this last year.... I think this was one of our first times up there since we moved back from AK. Bradley talked about how much he loved driving on the mountain all the way up there, and Luke kept asking Nate if we were lost :). It was a fun thing for them.

After our picnic we thought it would be fun to hike up to Donut Falls. Chris is from Montana and had never been there before, so we figured we couldn't be right up there by it and not see it. It was a little crazy considering we hadn't planned much for it and weren't completely prepared (I was wearing flip flops), but it's such an easy hike, we figured we could give it a shot.

This was so funny. I don't know if you can see the flowers in Noah's hand, but I turned around and could see him holding on to the two little white wild flowers that Kelly had picked for him and I just had to laugh. I can't believe how much Nate carried him!! He's such a good Daddy.

It was really fun to watch the boys just run up the trail. Bradley was ALL boy on this hike!! He was WAY ahead of us most of the time, we had to keep telling him to wait up. But he was finding all kinds of sticks and stuff, and just totally got into it... It was nice. I love it when he is all boyish. It's not easy too, having two big sisters to watch. He and Luke had a lot of fun. I loved it.

Here's Donut Fall. I was a little disappointed to see that the place was so different than I remember it. The boulders in front of the cave. I don't know when they did that or if it was just something that happened up there- does anyone know? It was still fun though. I'm glad that Chris got to go hike right up by the waterfall at least (the rest of us stayed back and watched.... not all that flipflop and kid friendly). But the kids had plenty of fun in the river!

Kelly was the queen of picking flowers and leaves. She had made herself a little "duster broom" with some leaves and then shortly after that we noticed she had a rash on her hand. I'm not sure what caused it (just an allergic reaction I'm guessing), but some wipes and cold water cleared it up pretty quickly. I think she kind of mellowed out on the picking things after that :)

Luke had a hard time refraining from throwing rocks in the river, but there were several near misses with people's heads that made us take away all the fun. He still managed to enjoy himself.

Noah could not get enough of the water. I was so worried about his feet, the water was freezing and he just stood there in it forever! But he was playing in his own little waterfall, washing off rocks and just letting the water run through his fingers, it was adorable. He kept sitting down in the water though, and was completely covered in mud by the time he had to get back on Daddy's shoulders for the walk back down.... poor Nate. Now, can anyone tell me why this kid is so anxious to climb in the tank with the huge Jack tunas, and so eager and fearless to play in the river, but will not for the life of me sit in the little kiddie wading pool in the back yard???? Does that make ANY sense??? It's weird to me.

Kelly collected rocks "for Grandpa" and went around asking us all which ones we thought were prettier :) I'm pretty sure she left them in the car and I will probably find all the pretty rocks next time I clean out the car.... but that's Kelly for ya :)

Brad had so much fun in the river. Like I said, he was a total boy on this hike.... what a cutie.

It's nice when you have kids old enough to work a camera :) Charity took this for me- I love being able to get pictures of me and my honey every once and a while. Even if I am chubby.

Poor Charity slipped and fell on a really sharp rock, right on the side of her hip, just as we got up to the waterfall. She had a hard time enjoying herself at first, and didn't really get into the river, but she cheered up later. That fall is really going to leave a mark, it was nasty! She sure was talkative on the way down. She gave us all the run down on the movie Caroline. She wanted Chris and Stephanie to know how scary and creepy it was. But I couldn't believe how fast her little mouth can move :) She's got a good memory.

This was supposed to be a picture of Lukey's sixpack. He pulls up his shirt when he's bored and sometimes it looks like he has a six pack. It's funny. Instead we got ribs.... he's so skinny! He was a fun little boy on the hike. He's so bouncy. We had to turn getting down the mountain into a competition to get him to hurry up because he was doddling, but the minute you mention that someone might beat him, he's all gungho and takes off to beat them instead. He's pretty competitive these days.... it's fun.

I had to take this picture of Nate climbing up the rocks with Noah on his shoulders.... I was amazed!!! (and he was doing it with Chris prodding him from the rear)

It was a really good day. I loved the sharks, the hike, the picnic. It was nice to be out and about. I think this was a good way to top off our summer break since the girls will be starting school on Monday. In fact we had to hurry home and change to get over to the Back to School night at the school. The girls were SO EXCITED to meet their new teachers. They have been so thrilled to start back up. They both have really nice teachers! I'm really looking forward to this school year and have made a new resolve to do better at getting homework done right away, and to keep better track of their reading minutes because I am pretty sure that Charity got gipped last year thanks to my slackiness..... We're going to do better this year. I am also looking forward to NOT having a kindergartener. We will have the whole day to play before needing to pick up the girls now. I like that. And driving to the school only 2 times a day will be great. But overall, I am not happy that school is starting back up. I am really going to miss my girls.

So anyway. That was our day. I slept so well that night!!! Couldn't be better than that!