INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Nate and I were in charge of the Maynes Family's get together this year, for the 4th.  We had already made plans with Chris and Stephanie to watch their show, so we thought a breakfast/brunch (for all the early risers that didn't want to wait til 10:00 for breakfast) would be a fun idea.  It ended up not being the best time for a lot of Nate's sibs, but we did have a lot of fun with those that were able to come.  We had yummy food, then headed on out to the field across the street and played a grueling game of Kick Ball.  I hadn't planned on playing, but it just looked too fun to not.  I probably shouldn't have though, my hip joint is just not connected the right way or something.  It was painful BEFORE I ran around in flip flops, so you can imagine how it felt after.  Still fun though!

After Kickball, the 4 oldest went over to the pool with Grandpa and Grandma (they had 5 guest passes at a time, so the kids got to take turns swimming), and Noah and Erika stayed back with Nate and I, I read books to Erika, Noah ran around the yard.  Then when the big kids came back, we got our turn.  I wasn't in the mood to put on a non-maternity swim suit, so I let Nate get in the pool with the two littles.  I sat on the side in my jeans (like a dork!) and took pictures.  It was pretty relaxing actually.  I had a good time.  Erika and Noah were having the time of their lives :).

Kinda looks like she's gonna drown in this one.  Probably not the best moment to snap a picture.  But this is the face she had when she came up:

She thought it was hilarious :).  

It was funny when Nate's mom offered up the waterballs and Erika goes, "Yeah, me need a ball."  All matter-of-fact like.  And grabbed them and ran off.

Noah liked crawling around (aka: swimming) and had Nate "dare him" to do it over and over :).  Cute stuff. 

Erika kept yelling, "Somebody watch me!!!"  For all her cool tricks.  We thought it was funny that she didn't really care who, just "somebody" :).

She's such a tease, getting her Daddy all wet with the ball ;).

Meg showed up with her boys a few minutes later.  It was fun to talk with her a little before we had to go.  

We drove home, I totally konked out on the couch for an hour and then we hurried and got our treat and dip ready for the party that night and headed out to Sandy.  

Chris and Stephanie put on a fun show, Chris had hours of fun planned, The Parachute guys were probably everyone's favorites.  Those are so cool, I wish they'd had those when I was little.  Then worms and Sparklers.  The Police showed up about that time, to check on what we were doing.  Apparently someone in the neighborhood had called in.  Probably made her laugh to pull up and see a bunch of little kids and old people.  She didn't seem worried at all.  Asked Chris what he was lighting, he offered to let her see it all, she refused, made some comment about how she loved the snakes when she was a kid, and drove off :).  Kinda funny.  

It was fun to watch Erika and Sophie getting along so well.  They were really good friends all night!  And look how cute they are together!

Kelly saw a photo op, couldn't miss out on it :)

Heidi and John didn't have any plans that night, so we invited them to the party.  I was really glad they were there because there were a lot of people there that I didn't know.  It was fun to talk with them and share that time with them.  

I wish Charity's legs were showing in the background, kinda looks like someone's got an extra pair of legs.

As it got dark, Chris started lighting off the really fun stuff.  Bradley was his big helper, and I was so proud of how well-behaved he was.  I was trying to figure out what makes my kids such good kids and why they don't try all the stunts other kids (and there were two that night who kept getting yelled at) try.  Maybe they don't want to be yelled at?  I don't know.  Either way, I feel very blessed to be their parents.  I couldn't ask for more (most of the time).  

This was a sweet moment when Sophie realized that Erika was a little scared, so she went and sat down behind her on the rock, and put her arms around her.  It was SO ADORABLE!!!  I'm so glad I got the picture.  Erika did a little better that night, compared to how she did the night before, but still scared.  Especially near the end.  We had to run inside with Charity and Buddy for the finale.  Buddy had been having some serious anxiety for most of the fireworks show.  The poor guy.  Charity took good care of him though, and he survived.  

Kelly made friends with Stephanie's neice, so she was pretty busy with her or Heidi and John all night.  Luke and Noah ran around collecting parachute guys.  Charity struggled with Buddy a lot of the night, but also had fun listening to Heidi and I talk.

On the way home we watched all the shows all over the valley from the safety and sound-proofness of our car.  The kids (who weren't tired and fighting) loved it :).  

It was a fun night!  Happy 4th of July!

FIREWORKS!!!!! At the WB

We knew we weren't going to watch a big show on the 4th, since we would be with the Bakkes, so we made our way down to the West Bountiful show the night before!  They had a fun little band that played mostly Beach Boys, some Beatles.... I loved it :).  When we got there, the kids talked Nate into getting them some cotton candy and popcorn, so Nate stood in line for the LONGEST time, while we waited for the fireworks to start.  In the meantime:

Our little friend Cambree came with us.  She and Noah have had a lot of fun together since we got to know her, these last few months.  I think Noah's the only one left who can really put up with her all the time ;).  The rest of the kids get kind of tired of her.  No offense to her, she's adorable.  She and Noah are total buds, I love this picture :)

The girls had a lot of fun dancing to the music, Kelly had the great idea of setting out a hat to collect money :).  Didn't make any money, but I thought it was adorable.

She did this just for the camera :)  She's hilarious.

As it started to get dark, we realized we were not in the best location for firework viewing and moved.  Then we found some little girls who were selling glow sticks.  Nate trusted them with a $20 bill, as they ran back to their Mom to get the $16 change they owed him.  I thought it was funny to watch Nate squirm, but I was SO impressed that the girls came back to tell us that their Mom had "gone back to the car" to get some change, and then they came back a third time to bring the money.  Very trustworthy little kids!  Very Impressive.

The show was fun, Erika learned that she doesn't wuv fireworks as much as she thought she would.  I felt bad that she had been so excited for them ALL day and then so let down by how scary they were.  She doesn't love the loud noises.  Just like her big sis.  She survived though, and lucky for her it was a fairly short show. Somewhat of a let down to everyone else though.   We really weren't sure if they were done or not ;).  But overall, it was a VERY good time.

Splash Park Again :)

Our ward does these little field trip days every Wednesday, and we had a lot of fun doing them last year, but this year, it's Nate's day off.  It's not exactly the fun place for a guy.  We did make our way down to the splash park for the kids, on this Wednesday, we got there about an hour and a half after it was supposed to start.  It was..... awkward to have Nate there :).  So I was glad when everyone started packing up and leaving :).   I mostly went for the kids, which was annoying because they hardly played in the fountains!  Brad did I guess, had a lot of fun, but Luke and Noah and Erika sat with Nate and I eating strawberries most of the time. I don't think we'll attempt the Daddy-at-the-Field-trip-day thing again.

59 days

This was the picture of our FHE when we made our chain to count down the days til Wormie comes.  It's not 100% accurate because we're not sure if he will come at 38 weeks or 39.  But either way.... seems kinda long.  Hopefully that's just because the links were extra large ones.  

These guys are SO excited for him to come!  Even Lukey keeps asking me how many more weeks til he comes.  Erika talks about him all the time, asking if she can hold him when he comes and telling me that "me not going touch his eyes".  Noah keeps thinking of new names for him.  "CarTin, Sadeo, Bubblegup, Skits"  Not sure we'll pick one of those, but I love that he's thinking about him :).  Charity brags about him giving her a high five.  Bradley's planning how cool it would be to baptize him.... we figured out that Wormie would have to wait a month, but that Bradley would turn 16 a month and a half(ish) after Wormie turns 8.  Kinda cool.  And Kelly is excited to be able to sit in the front seat of the car when he gets here :).  We've all got our motives to get him here quickly :).  Nate and I are pretty settled ona first name finally, not telling everyone, just in case we change our minds, or don't want to hear opinions :), but it's nice to think I know what we'll be calling him.  We still need a middle name.  Ideas welcome.

Of course this picture is old, so it's not 59 days anymore, more like 49 now (or 42 if I get my way :) ).

Journaling

- For FHE on Monday, things were a little off since Nate was all doped up on pain killers for his back.  Nate was the lesson, but he was asleep through  most of it ;).  We decided it was the perfect time to make the count down chain for baby Wormie, that Noah has been dying to make for quite some time now.  We all pitched in and did a kind of assembly-line type organization, to get it done.  All 59 links!  Hopefully it's really only 52 days from Monday (I'm still hoping to get him outta here a week earlier, we'll see).  It was fun to hear what the kids were writing on each link.  I don't even think it was my idea to write on them, and they were some of the sweetest things.  Mostly Luke and Charity.  Luke wrote, "I love Wormie" a couple times, Charity wrote, "You gave me a high 5".  There were a lot of "I'm excited for you to get here!"'s, and many more.  It was really fun for me to hear.  I love it when they rally together.  It's AMAZING to me that these kids still get excited for a new baby.  I keep waiting for the Jimmy Flinders moment (from Saturday's Warrior) where they get all bitter about us having "another one".  But I guess that's one of the good things about having them so quickly :)  They're not old enough to be jerks!  Jk.  I hope they don't have any of those negative feelings, but if they do, I hope they feel okay talking about it.  I'm sure there will be moments later on.  It's understandable.  But I would think being an only child could be just as controversial for a teenager.  Who knows.  Anyway, I did take some pictures of the chain, but it's taking me forever to post it, so when I get around to it.  We hung it up on the wall going down the stairs.  The kids are all very excited to be able to remove a link when it's "their day".  Looks long, so hopefully it goes faster than it looks!  6-25-12

- Tuesday we had wanted to do something fun as a family, like all day, we kept thinking of things that probably wouldn't work for Nate's back.  This is common for us.  Everyone played with friends, and the kids had plenty of fun, but it did get to be about dinner time and we still didn't have anything real spectacular planned.  We ended up just getting in the car :).  We really needed to get out!  And on our way to Target to get the clothes the kids are in need of, we decided we were too hungry to shop and thought Chili's was the perfect remedy.  The kids did really well, we had a really great waitress who seemed to understand how important it is that the kids get their refills in a timely fashion.  She really was great.  Nobody ate very much, so we left with 7 styrofoam boxes filled with lunch for the next day :).  It was all good.  I was really relaxed and I think it was nice for Nate and I both that we were out of the house.  We ran to Target and got a few of the things we needed (and of course some cute baby outfits- whether we needed them or not :) ). But I've decided Target is not the place to go for the kids' clothes.  They have a horrible selection.  6-26-12

- Nate's schedule is really strange so far.  He is home every morning and part of the day for almost ALL the week days, and then gone during the daytime for the weekends.  It's really strange.  On the one hand, I LOVE having him home in the mornings and when we're both not exhausted.  But at the same time, he's gone during the times that there are no social outlets.  Wednesdays are the "Field Trip" days with the friends in the ward.  It's not exactly husband-friendly, so we really haven't gone.  I had really wanted the kids to be able to go to the splash park with their friends this week though, so we went.  It was awkward.  I don't think we'll do that again.  But the boys did play in the water a little.  The girls were at my mom's trying to earn some money helping around her house.  I would choose to hang out with Nate over ANYONE ANY day.  So it's all good.  I just wish the kids could get the socializing in as well :).  Good thing we've done nothing but socialize with friends all summer, or I would have to feel really bad.
That night, we had a Barbecue with our new next door neighbors, the Petersons.  IT's been really fun to have them so close for the kids to play with all summer so far.  And the kdis were so thoughtful to plan this BBQ for us ;).  It was very laid back, and we just sat and chatted the whole time, I LOVED it!  Andrea and I seem to have a lot in common and that's been priceless for me lately.  I feel like I don't have much in common with rest of the Moms in the ward, so this is a nice change.  I can't help but feel like this is a little blessing from Heavenly Father to help tide me over until we can get into our own home.  I know that might sounds silly, but He knows me too well!  Knows just what I need to take the edge off.  I love Him for that!  Andrea let Nate try some of her muscle cream, and it seemed to work wonders on his back!!  We bought some today, hopefully it turns out to be really beneficial for Nate's back problem!  At least until we can get a different muscle relaxant for him.  6-27-12

- Thursday night, I'm letting the kids have a movie night.  They are being so cute!  We didn't have a chance to rent a movie, so we were just going to choose one that we have.  Which NEVER goes well.  This time, I had each kid put their choice on a slip of paper and put it in a bowl to be chosen out.  I made them practice with me a few times how we were going to react no matter what the movie was.  This was fun, they got it, and I was getting hopeful :).  I dread the lame tantrums about which movie.  This was the best I could do.  And well, we picked one that nobody really wanted (Kelly's choice- Rigolletto), and Brad started crying, and Charity went up to her room "to read".  Kelly decided it wasn't worth having unhappy siblings so she resigned her choice and said we could pick a different one.  This brought back Charity and Bradley, and then when we read the second choice, Luke's, Brother Bear, we were back in the same place with Bradley.  But I decided to just let it go, they didn't want to change and the rest of the kids were very positive, so it was actually okay.  I felt like it was minimal and that was nice :).  Bradley soon changed his mind, and attitude (I think the sticky popcorn helped) and we're all watching Brother Bear together :).  They've been being pretty sweet to each other the whole time, it's really cute.  Luke and Erika had an adorable conversation:
Luke: You can sit by me Erika!
Erika:  I can! K!  Me wuv you!
Luke: I love you too Erika!
What Mom wouldn't melt!  As short-lived as it might be, and as cheesy as it is :).... I LOVE it!!!  Makes my day.  They all thanked me profusely for the popcorn and were so grateful!  Love that too!  We'll have to see how bedtime goes now ;)
We gave Nate back to the FAA tonight, he's been home almost a week with his back pain, so it was strange to have him go.  They have a policy that you can't control traffic for 8 days after taking the muscle relaxants he's been on, so he's stuck doing the crappy work- aka: ripping strips- for the next week.  That really stinks for him, and hopefully they will be able to keep him on every day.  But I must say, it's good that he's able to go at all.  I wasn't sure how long he would be out.  I've never seen him in so much pain.  I'm glad he's getting a LITTLE better, even if it is slowly.  6-28-12