girls camp

Karlee has been at girls camp for the last few days in Wisconsin. Today's theme was Hawaiian. I think these girls nailed it! Way to go Maranda, Amelia, and Karlee!!

another day older

Carson spent the day with his friend AJ at Peck Farm. The funny thing is most of his school friends call him CJ. :)

Than he went to another friends birthday party tonight.  I'm so glad his friends reach out to him. It makes summer so much more fun. 

Mean while, most of the day Mason spent on the computer. His favorite thing in the world! He leaves for scout camp tomorrow. No computers for him for almost 8 days! Yikes!!

Karlee had her senior pictures today. Man she's cute! I can't wait to get the proofs! While she did the cap and gown photo I was surprised with my emotions. I started thinking about a little kindergartener and how she didn't want to be away from me all day. I got a little teary eyed thinking this time next year we'll be preparing her to leave for college. I don't think I'm ready for that. I'm not sure she's ready for that. These kids are growing up way too quick. I know that's the plan but I'm not ready to have only two boys at home. But that's the plan so I'm sure I'll adjust. Life is all about change. 

something new

Last night we went geocaching for the first time. Mason needed to work on prerequisites for a merit badge before scout camp next week. 

This was the first on top of a tree. 

The boys looked high and low for the next one. It was hidden in a tree!

So tiny! The boys looked on the walking bridge over Randall Road, no luck. 

They decided to head into the tall grass. 

They looked and looked. Nothing...

Mason read a few of the comments and someone said sit. He found it!! This one was tricky but we found it! This was fun. I hope we try it again. 

birthday girl

I didn't forget her birthday. I sent her a card and a gift plus I called her and we visited for over 40 mins. I just forgot to blog about her. 

This picture she is with Lindsey R, the RS president she served with. 

A couple days before her birthday McKinnzie thought she was turning 25. She's only 24! I guess that proves she's getting old, or maybe she's just a busy mom. 

She's doing a great job taking care of her family and decorating their home. I know they are loving their home. 

I miss her. I miss how fun she is. I miss seeing them weekly. I miss her! I love our phone calls. She makes me laugh with her stories about Tank or how Retta likes to run around naked. Her life is exciting! I'm glad mine has calmed down.

We get to see them in a few weeks at a family reunion.  I can't wait! 

I think she had a good day. I'm the first to admit it's hard to feel like your birthday is anything special when you do the same thing you do every other day. 

I hope you had a great birthday McKinzie! We love you!! Happy, happy birthday!!

temple

We drove to Indianapolis for the day to attend the open house for the Indianapolis Temple. Our tour wasn't until 4:45 so we decided to entertain the kids at a history park nearby. 

They had a hot air balloon that we could go up in. It was fun! It felt so good too. The day was hot and humid. Heat index was 103. We walked around and learned about a raid during the Civil War. 

 

 

 

First time in a balloon for all of us but Dad.

 

 

They had a few farm animals. I forget we have city kids. They were so excited to see and pet these animals. This lamb only a few weeks old.

It was a super hot day but nothing stops this boy from dressing the part.

Mason was very determined to figure out how to use the telegraph. It was harder than it looked. 

 

 

 

 

The temple was beautiful of course. 

When we first entered the temple and we were welcomed to the Indianapolis Temple the Spirit was very powerful for me. It was great to explain to the kids what rooms we visit when we do a session. When we went to the San Antonio Temple open house these three were very little. Karlee only remembered wearing blue booties. :) We wore white today.

 

 

Karlee mentioned that this helped make her more excited for the day she gets married in the temple. I'm sure it helped all of them understand the temple better and to look forward to attending one day. I'm so grateful families can be together forever! I love my family!!

our annual six flags

Thursday the boys and I made our annual trek to six flags. When I checked the calendar on Wednesday we only had two available days we could go before Carson's free ticket expired. Both days had a 50% chance of rain. We gambled and went. It rained...

The temperature was about 75. Too cool for me to get wet. But not for the boys!

Especially not Carson. He was loving all the water rides. 

We did find the turkey legs this year. They were as delicious as I remember. Fall off the bone even!

Our favorite ride of the day was Superman. It was the first time for all three of us to ride too. We were brave! 

The rain hit about 4:30. Later than I had expected. Shortly all the big rides started closing. We still did our traditional last ride though, the carousel. 

On our walk out to the car we started splashing each other and jumping in puddles. We were soaked!! But we had fun. We usually do. 

new cars for the girls!

A few weeks ago Bailee's car A/C died. I took it in to see if it just needed some freon. Nope! It was going to cost $740 to fix it. We found out the car wasn't even with $1000. So I told Bailee she needed to make a decision. Either drive the Saturn till it dies or start shopping to buy herself a car. She bought a car!! 

She found this car online here in Chicago. Yesterday she went to Idaho Falls to test drive a Fiesta and loved it! Brian and I went and bought it today. It looks like a Bailee car! Super cute!

Brian has been looking for weeks online knowing we would need to get a car for Karlee. Then it hit yesterday. If we buy Bailee a car today we need a car for Karlee today! So after we finished buying Bailee's we went to another dealership and found this convertible! The salesman asked what we were looking for and we said cute! That's what Karlee asked for when we left this morning. I think we found it! It sure was fun to drive when  we took it for a test drive. I'm sure I'll be driving it again before the summer is over too. 

friends!

Tuesday afternoon/evening we had the Cook family over! It was so great catching up with them. Lexi and Ethan had spent EFY at Nauvoo the previous week. As they were driving through Chicago on their way to Kirtland and Palmyria they stopped in. 

Is was great to see these three pick up right where they left off. We miss our friends in Texas!

sun and fun

IThis patio set is new to us. We picked it up Monday night in the middle of an intense rain storm and this evening is the first time it was sunny and warm enough to eat out on the deck. It's big enough for all of us. I'm so excited!

This past week I finished two projects. A blanket for Henry, Monica's baby, and this block for Cathy T. She's making a quilt for her brother. Today I've spent hours working on the picture quilt. I'm getting close to finishing. Hopefully by next week I'll be on the binding. 

I snagged these pictures off of Facebook. They are all super cute! Adam ended up being with his dad for the 4th. I'm sure looking forward to seeing them in August at the reunion. 

Happy 4th!!

We've had this flag for years, I mean YEARS!! I pulled it out this morning and I've loved watching it wave. 

I'm so grateful for where we live. I love this country! I'm so grateful for all the men and women that have served our country to keep us free. Y'all are amazing!!

We went to the pool this afternoon and ended up staying for almost three hours. I don't think we've ever stayed so long. Karlee finished her shift right next to where our chairs were so I had to take a picture. 

This afternoon Carson helped me make jello jigglers and fruit salad. Do you see the fish in the jello? Karlee wasn't pleased. But all was delish!!

Carson also helped Brian and I with filling almost 100 balloons. We played over the net until Brian went crazy and started throwing at everyone! Mason doesn't look too wet but he was. After the picture we poured more water on him just to be sure. 

We've had a fun day! I love spending time with my family. Happy 4th everyone!!