Summertime....

I love this goggle face!

I love sleeping children!

Carly and Adam.
We were lucky enough to have permanent playmates for Carly for 2 weeks. Daniel and Alycia (Chad's sister) sold their house and needed a place to stay until they went on vacation. We were willing to let them stay with us for those two weeks (I would much rather have a noisy house than have them waste money and be trapped in a hotel room for two weeks) It was actually really enjoyable and the two weeks flew by. The older boys had fun in our pool and Carly and Adam had fun playing together (when they weren't fighting over the same toy, gotta love 3 year-olds) And I had fun having some adult conversation during the day. It was bitter/sweet to see them leave on their vacation. Bitter because I won't have another adult to talk to in the house and Carly will go back to being bored with me and sweet because it was nice to get the kids back in their own bedrooms!

Da da da daaaaaa.....videos! It's been a while.


After having over 100 degree weather the past couple weeks and no rain, it was nice to have this short (too short) downpour the other day. The kids loved playing in it as you can see!


Carly learned how to go under water. One day we were swimming and she watched Chad go under water and she just did it. She LOVES the water and now she always wants us to take her floaties off so she can swim under water. She is our little fish!

just another day...

I won this cute little hat for Carly. I got it in the mail today and she put it on and didn't want to take it off! It's so cute! Go HERE to check out all the cute stuff!

More pool pictures. This is how Carly and I spend a lot of our afternoons while Sam is sleeping. It's pretty much heaven in this hot humid climate.

Proof that somedays Carly is actually willing to share her toys with her little brother.


Sam LOVES taking a bath. He is a little dare devil and has to stand up and walk around, even if he falls 10 times he gets right back up (kind of annoying but what can you do?) He was kind enough to edit this picture himself so I didn't have to put a black bar in.

Let's see...this is our 4th litter of kittens. Hopefully this time we will be successful at keeping the dogs away from these cute little bogers. This is by far the most colorful batch she's had. Two orange kittens, two black and gray, and one plain gray. They are so cute! It is so hot here that we've decided to keep them in our laudry room. Miss Kitty does great. She let's us know when she needs to go outside, she goes and comes right back. It's great, it makes it easier to keep the dogs away from them.

A little bit of this and that...

The past couple weeks have been full of swimming and more swimming. It has been so nice to be able to enjoy the pool this summer (last summer I was too wrapped up in a newborn I didn't have much time to swim) Almost every afternoon when I lay Sam down for a nap Carly and I head outside for some pool fun! She LOVES it and can't get enough of it.
On a side note I just have to thank my dad again for helping put up the pool fence (last summer) It has been so nice to enjoy being outside with my one year old and not have to constantly block him from the pool! Thanks again pops!

Our little Sambo has turned into quite the climber. He has now mastered climbing our coffee table, our fireplace and now the staircase. His most favorite thing to do is climb the outside of the stairs....thanks to the example of his older sister! He also has become a fan of eating. He has always loved to eat (well....ever since he was introduced to real food) He will eat anytime, anywhere and pretty much anything! If you don't want to share your food then don't let him see you eating. He will practically charge at you while throwing his binky from his mouth across the room! He is growing up to be such a fun, goofy little boy and I love it!

This was how Chad and I spent our day date. Ever since he got this little buggy he has been wanting me to go with him and ride. Now that school is out we were able to get a babysitter one afternoon and take this baby out. Chad's parents met us out there. It was fun to have other people to explore with. I wish I would've got more pictures of the trails and the creek but this is the only one we took. Can't you just see the excitement on my face?!? It was actually just excitement because I had a break from being a mom for a couple hours. :)

on to the next phase....

It's official. We're moving on to the next stage in life. What that is...I'm not exactly sure. Ultimately within the next 12-18 months we are wanting to build on 2.5 acres that we are going to purchase from Chad's Sister and Bro-in-law. They bought 10 acres and are willing to give up 2.5 so we can enjoy owning some land. I'm excited about that phase. What I'm not so sure about is the time in between. There are a couple options we have been looking at and all of them involve selling our house :( In order to build we need to be able to save a little more money than what we are able to save right now..thus the reason for selling our house and simplifying things for a while. Are options are:

1- renting a trailer home from a surprisingly nice trailer "subdivision?" http://www.grandoakshomes.com/ A couple of people from Chad's parents ward live in them and they are pretty nice for a mobile home. They have a public pool, weight room, walking trails, backyards and even a carport (yay right?)

2- building a barn on the land and make it a livable space while we save $$$ and then build and then once are house is done, tear down the walls in the barn and voila....you have a usable barn.

3- simply finding a rental home to rent until we are able to build.

All of these ideas mean simplifying our monthly bills, our square feet and our stress....all of which would be nice. I will be sad to leave this house, the backyard, the pool and mainly the area of town we live in...I am 5 minutes from a grocery store and wal-mart, 10-15 minutes away from the YMCA, 20 minutes away from church, and 10 minutes away from a mall and all that fun. I know it's not all in vain and eventually in the future we will hopefully have our house built, have a nice garden, some chickens and we'll have some pretty nice neighbors too!