Haircut and more!!!

So it was probably passed time for a haircut for Trooper, but it seems like a pretty big step into manhood! The FIRST HAIRCUT. hee hee I never really gave Josie a real haircut until this year --little trims here and there but not a real one, so I was at a loss as to how to give Troop one but it was time. His hair was so long on the top we gave him a baby Mohawk. I feel bad for the babies whose mothers get attached to their baby locks and let them grow so long that they look like old men with comb-overs. hee hee
He actually really liked getting it cut and was giggling.
Here are some before and after pictures of his haircut.




Before: I am READY!









After: What a Handsome Devil I am!!













A little side story about this experience. I used the hair trimmers for Troops haircut and Josie was having lunch and talking to me while I was cutting. I was really concentrating on Trooper and his hair so I wasn't paying much attention to Josie. She was talking about daddy and hair and playing with the guards to the clippers. Then she started telling me about Daddy putting oil on her head when she was sick and giving her a blessing. I answered yes and asked her why she was remembering that. I turned around and Josie had taken the little bottle of machine oil that comes with the hair clippers and had dumped the little bottle on top of her head. So Troop and I are covered in hair and Josie in oil. I couldn't get mad cause she was so serious about it. We had a little talk about it and then had a little party in the tub. I think it is amazing what she remembers. The times she has had blessings she has been pretty sick and pretty out of it. But obviously it has left an impression on her. I love her so much.

Pirate Princess

Now for the long awaited Josie's Pink Pirate Party! Josie turned 3! I cannot believe how big she is. It really flies by doesn't it?! She has been asking and asking about her birthday for probably a year so when the time came we had a little talk with her about what she wanted. Basically the only thing that she really wanted was a party with all of her friends and family. She even gave me a list of people that she wanted there. We have always had a birthday party for her. I have thought about this alot and really have decided that it is ok with me to have birthday parties for kids. There was a conference talk by Elder Ballard that talked about teaching our children who they are and what their true potential is. He suggested that creating meaningful family bonds give our children an identity stronger than what they can find with their peer group or at school or anyplace else. And that this can be done through family traditions for birthdays, for holidays, for dinnertime and for Sundays. We have tried to create these traditions in our little family. So when I asked Josie what she wanted she was insistent upon a pink pirate princess party--(try to say that 10 times) hee hee So that is what we did. We had a little friend party during the day and a family party that night. She had a ball. Here are some of the pictures and things that we did: First we had them dress up like pirates. I had made a little place for them to climb up and look into the mirror while we gave them pirate bandannas, mustaches and beards and tattoos. They looked awesome and for the most part they wore them!! I was pretty impressed by that.

Here is a picture of some of them. I couldn't get them all to stand in one place at the same time.

They played a while downstairs and we played some pirate games, like pin the patch on the pirate and they won an earing and an eye patch. We then have a pirates lunch of hot dog pirate boats, sea water, goldfish, jeweled jello, and golden tatertots. Then we had a treasure hunt. We followed a map and clues around the house. They got spy glasses and looked for the color which had the next clue. Like"For this clue I could not find a rhyme, but it’s the color of pumpkins at Autumn time. . . . ORANGE". It was prefect for their age!!! They had lots of fun. Then they got a little treasure chest bad of their own filled with gold rolos, colored starbursts, and jeweled rings.

We then settled down to watch a little pirate backyardagains while they ate their treasures.







We had pink pirate cupcakes.












Then when their parents came, they walked across the plank, over a kiddy pool with gaters, and got a "Gaters Blood" red squeeze it, to take home. It was great!!!!






We had the family that night to eat the cake and ice cream.










I asked my mom to make Josies cake. It was incredable. She is sooo clever.









Then I added my favorite picture of the day!! What a scary pirate!!! It was such a fun day I hope that Josie remembers it forever and knows how much her friends and family love her. Happy Birthday Josie!

Beautiful Basement

Yeah!!! We made it!!! First I apologies for not updating as regularly as I should have. I feel like I am going to have to post like 10 new posts to document everything that has happened. So bear with me and if you get board skip something!! hee hee! First we finished our family room in the basement!!! I love it!! I cannot believe what a difference it has made already!! I don't have any before pictures so I put a picture of our still-unfinished-bedrooms to contrast!! I have to give all the credit to Joshy!! He did a fantastic job!! He is such a work horse and a great carpenter. Boy did I luck out!! You should see him in his tool belt he's hot! hee hee Thanks Joshy you are the greatest!

Wildness of Summer

So we have had a super wild week! I don't even know where to start. I feel like I need to wind down from it before the new wild week starts and don't really know how to so if maybe I vent a little I will feel better. I almost don't want to post this cause I feel like I am complaining. I am not really I just want to recap. This week we have been striving to finish our basement! We set Josie's birthday as kind of a deadline to get it done and I think we might just make it. Carpet is coming Monday morning at 8:30AM YEAH!! We are so happy! But in order to get it ready we had to have all of the "other" things done. So we have been trying to paint it and get all the lights ready and doors hung and yada yada. So we spent two evenings paint spraying celling and trim until 2:00 AM--yes our neighbors must think we are nuts.--but you cannot paint with two kiddos awake so we had to do it then. I wish wish wish that I had taken a picture of that! It was sooo funny to see Joshy in a little white suit covered in paint. When he took off the glasses, he looked like a white super hero with a sprayed on mask! I apologize that getting out the camera was not the first thing on my mind. It was cute.
Then Josh decided that he really wanted and needed to help a guy (Kevin) do his finish trim in his basement. It also had to be done before Monday, so he took three nights after work and went over there. Add in one night of Elders visits and there go our evenings this week.
Then my brother Eric came over from California for the week. So during the day we had a family camping/swimming trip one day and another day at the park and spent some time with him. It was fun.
Saturday we painted all day while my mom watched our kids and then we had a block party!! Super fun Martins!!! We really have the best neighbors. We didn't finish painting and we had planned to after the kids were in bed, but when we walked into our house last night at 10:30 with both kids still awake and Joshy had a 7:00 am meeting we just decided to go to bed!! While I am dressing Josie for bed I notice that she is covered in a bright red rash almost like a sunburn but everywhere and although she does like to strip down, I know she couldn't be sunburned on her bum and she is really ichy, wiggly and hot. We think that maybe she ate some nuts or is allergic to the weeds she was playing in. Anyway we gave Josie some medicine for her rashy and put her to bed. Which leads me to Monday night when we think that she had an asthma attack. We were cleaning up paint when she woke up making this awful churping sound. I ran to her bedroom and she couldn't breath. Every breath she took was really labored and the more upset she got the worse it got. We got her calmed down and it started to get better. I slept next to her through the night cause I was pretty worried but the next morning it was gone! Scary stuff though--
Now I am finally willing to admit that I have seasonal allergies. Joshy has them pretty bad and has been telling me that I have them too but I have denied it until now!! I am dying! I think it must have started from the camping trip last week, but I have been miserable with them this week. I cannot breath, I cannot sleep, I don't want to eat! My heart goes out to all of you that have these!!! Holy Cow it is awful! AND the medication that you can take for them helps but then you feel either sleepy or dinging which is almost as bad.
Lets see what else, oh Joshy's brother Jason and Arwen had their baby this week!! We went to see them and she is adorable! Congrats guys! My poor visiting teacher gave me the message while I was still in a towel. I forgot about it and was getting out of the shower when she came (oh I was dressed my hair was in a towel, thought I would specify hee hee ) I planted some flowers and bushes that have been waiting for months to be and couldn't wait anymore. Josie's 3rd Birthday is Tuesday!! I cannot believe it. She really wanted a Pink Pirate Party (those silly Backyardagains) so we have been trying to make some fun things for that as well. AND We had to deal with fixing the cars this week, so add that into this mix trying to juggle things with one car. I managed to go to the grocery store and library, do household stuff like laundry and cleaning--although my house is a wreck today. I am feeling like a wreck too. But I have to say that all in all we had a pretty productive week--if that is what you would call it. This next week we will finish painting, get carpet, clean, bake, PARTY, pack and go to the cabin for the 4th! Wow another wild week! But don't you love summer!

What the "H Word"

So in high school I had this little funny expression. I still pick up little funny words that I say, for example some of you know that I say the word "promise" alot. This was kinda like that. It probably wasn't very appropriate or classy but as a teenager I used it. I didn't ever really swear but this was used as a replacement for that. It was "H Word". I didn't use it for a long period of time but I used it on occasion instead of really swearing. Like "Oh my H word" and "what the H word" When I realized that that probably wasn't a good expression to use I got over it and cleaned it up! Until this weekend that is. . . . I will say that this was a "What the "H Word" Weekend".

Josh posted a little about our camping trip already. But I will fill in the details. We decided a couple of months back that we would take a camping trip with some of Joshy (and my) friends from High school. This weekend was the chosen time. So we planned to go. My brother has a camper that he let us borrow so we went down to my parents house to get it. Thursday night we painted in our basement, while our kids were sleeping--(that is a whole different post) until 2:00 A.M. It is coming along. So we were pretty exhausted Friday anyway but I got things ready to go and we headed out. We were told where to meet our friends but once we got into the mountains we lost all of our phone reception and just ended up driving around pulling this huge trailer down windy bump dirt roads. Finally after bumping along for a very long time we started making this horrible sound and I thought either we are dragging the trailer or we have a flat tire. It was the later. Who knows how long we were drivin on it!! It was shredded!! So we changed it--and created a road barrier for the other campers cause they couldn't pass us and the trailer. Luckily Cam came to the rescue when we hadn't showed up yet.

We got there and set up camp. It was fun and I think our kids had a blast! Night time like usual was. . . well awful. We had Troop asleep and then tried to get Josie asleep but she would wake up Troop. But finally we all got to sleep. Not a restful night though. The rest of the day was really fun. The Boys went golfing and the ladies and kids played. Josie had a little time out on a chair and in the middle of it started sobbing "I hate camping!! I just really hate it!" But when we got in the car to go home. She sobbed "I hate home" I haven't heard "hate" from her yet. I think we are experiencing a new hate stage.

We got home and spent some time cleaning up--oh fun! and were exhausted. So we ordered some take out for dinner. Joshy says to Tiffy "Hurry back" So I hope into the car and put it into reverse and hear a CRUNCH!! I had backed up into Joshy's truck. Suddenly the phrase "WHAT THE H WORD" sneaks its way out of my mouth. I seriously hadn't thought about that in years, "H word". The truck was parked at an angle in order to get the trailer backed up into our driveway and I hadn't even thought about it. My bumper and Joshy's font fender gave eachother a warm embrace and I wanted to cry. Josh and Josie immediately came to the door. Josh and I were speachless and Josie started crying about her car.

So thinking about this experience today has lead me to somethings. First weakness that we forget about come back to us when we are streched. Not even just weaknesses but who we are. I wouldn't say that my "H" word was necessarily a horrible thing to say but I couldn't believe how fast it came--along with other things that I thought but didn't say. I really need to be careful about the things that I say and allow myself to hear and see, you never know when you will be put into situations that will really show you what you are made of--good and bad. Josh was soooo good about it, he was just like "Live and Learn". He has such a good perspective on things. He just looks at this as a trial. Secondly if these are the trials that I have been given I'll take em!! We still had a good safe time camping and it was fun. AND Obviously I am supposed to be given another lesson in finances. Seems like these expensive things happen right after you have allocated your moneys else were, back to the books!! So that is our crazy weekend. Sounds like alot of fun eh?

Camping Makes Memories...mowing the lawn does not

Our family went camping over the weekend and had a great time. It was actually one of the more memorable trips I have every made. I am sure Tiff will tell you all more about it.

Tiffany and I aren't much for camping. Tiffany probably doesn't care much for it because I have very little interest in it. I feel like I have some valid reasons for my dislike though.

1-It takes for ever to get ready. Everyone is so cranky by the time they get piled into the car that they have no interest in spending "family" time in the dirt, smoke, weeds, and stuffy tents.

2-Dirt! My genetics (allergies) make spending long periods of time covered in dirt difficult. It usually takes me a week or so to recover.

3-Smoke ! It takes a week or so to recover from the smell in my hair and body! You can at least wash off dirt but smoke really has to wear off. So even if you get home and shower "clean" you still smell like camping.

4-Bugs and weeds--enough said.

5-Sleeping out in the wilderness. I am sure that we have done this to ourselves, but our kids have a hard time sleeping. It is hard enough to get bedtime done in a warm house in their own beds, but when you are expected to put them to bed in a cold confined space that is a very different story.

6-Cooking! It takes twice as long to cook the same food as if you cooked it at home and it takes
twice as long to clean it up. You say that eating something when you are camping tastes better than it does at home BUT that is because you are twice as hungry because you worked twice as hard and waited twice as long.

7-Unpacking... The only cool thing about unpacking is that it means your done camping for hopefully another year or so.

With all of the bad that comes with camping there is something you can take away from it that you cannot take from many other activities.

MEMORIES...

Looking back at my years growing up, I spent lots of weekends going to bed late, sleeping in, eating pancakes, watching Saturday morning cartoons, and then complaining while my parents struggled to get maybe 1 hour of good work out of me during the afternoon. My memories of those weekends might be summed up in two events. One, if me and my siblings worked really hard, we sometimes got to go to McDonald's for Happy Meals. And two, one time I built a skunk trap that actually caught a skunk. Not a lot of memories for 100's of weekends during my childhood.

I do recall specifics from every camping trip that I went on. Jason nearly drowned and was saved by a stranger, My dad repaired a ruptured radiator hose with an oil can and a bungy chord, I had an encounter with a snake and after about 5 feet of running, tumbled end over end nearly all the way down a mountain. I would have gone all the way down, but I was caught by a tree. I could go on and on about my camping memories.

As parents we have a responsibility to offer those experiences to our children. Part of me would rather put all of the time spent camping into my lawn, garden, or house. Doing that would give me something to look at after the weekend is over. Doing that would also only leave me with memories after I leave this world because I would not have built up and held on to the only thing I could take with me. My family is worth all of the dirt, weeds, stuffy tents, smoke, snakes, and all of the other discomforts that come with camping. As long my kids are happy and having fun, so am I!

Summer Bathen

You know it is summer when your kids have to take 3 baths in one day!! Hee hee! I took some tub shots so be forewarned.












Yes my kids take several baths a day in the summer time. I just cannot seem to keep them clean. Josie is usually out in the dirt somewhere--she is a dirt magnet. We have a kiddy pool but it is more like a mud pot. She just loves to make all kinds of soups and pies with it--hence the bathing afterward. Anyway, we went to a sandy park yesterday for play group and so we bathed them this morning (bath #1). Today we have been working in the basement. We are actually getting ready for paint!! I am way excited. Josh got the carpet scheduled so we would be super motivated to get it done, so my kids have been with me down there while I try to clean up the sheet rock dust (bath#2). Then we went outside for a while and (bath #3). I wonder why I am not as productive as I would like to be--but at least for tonight my kids are clean!