Latest and Greatest

Here are a few things that we have found recently or that we have recently re-discovered. 

1. Geocaching - a high-tech treasure hunt using a GPS unit. The treasure is usually just Happy Meal-type junk toys but the kids love it.  Its a great way to get out and enjoy being outdoors. Go to www.geocaching.com

2. SkippyJon Jones books - this is probably one of the most clever books ever. SkippyJon is a siamese cat who thinks he is a Chihuaha.  You have to read it with a spanish accent and you must know the tune to the Mexican Hat dance. My kids wet their pants the first time we read these books and now they pick Skippito Friskito to read every night. Pick 'em up at Target. 

3. Chocolate dipped Ruffles - We just got a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store down the street and we took the kids there for FHE and they got lots of try-outs.  They might sound sick but they are so not. 

4. Chocolate Chimichangas - only about 4 days worth of calories!  Get raw tortillas, place a Hershey bar in the middle and wrap up. Deep fry (oh yeah) and then drizzle with hot fudge, caramel, pecans, and throw on some whipped cream while you're at it.  It's a favorite that we are only allowed to make once every few years=)  and then we have to go on a marathon run the next day!

5. Re-usable grocery bags - I picked up all mine at Trader Joe's because they are insulated. I HATE coming home from grocery shopping with a million plastic bags. The checkers at the grocery store will look at you like you're retarded but then you get to bag how you like (can you tell I shop at Wal-mart).  The trick is remembering to bring the bags into the store when you get out of the car.

6. Brian Regan - Hilarious! I wet MY pants the first time I heard him. We went to his stand-up routine last year and my face hurt from laughing so hard.  He's clean and totally legit!

7. "Peel-apart beans" - Costco calls them Edamame beans. Loaded with good stuff for you. My kids eat 'em like candy. Just heat them in the mic. and throw some salt on and they make a great healthy snack.

8. My new mini wireless keyboard thanks to my adorable, sweet, not-quite-two-but-most definitely-terrible son who poured a cup of water all over the other one.  

9. Ice Road Truckers on Discovery Channel (I think). Its pretty amazing what these guys have to do. And there's nothing better to watch. 

10. The Sound Spa i-Pod dock I got Tanner for Father's day which has different sounds like ocean, waterfall, rain, sunrise, etc.  LOVE IT!

Drug Addict

Some of you know we recently found out Hudson was allergic to just about everything he loves. Dogs, cats, dairy, grass, hay, evergreens, pollen, dust, mold, dirt, outdoors, wind, Brynn, etc. (I added those last few to his list).  I wish we would have figured this out a long time ago because it probably would have made him much more enjoyable when he was younger, not that we can keep him away from any of these things now.  So I have a small pile of goodies that he gets to take every day. Weird kid though. . . . he loves it. He has his homeopathic drops that he gets three times a day, primadophilus tablets to help with dairy, Claritin (on really windy days), FrequenSea (Grandmas miracle juice), teething tablets and tylenol (when nothing else works).  He'll pull himself up on the counter just high enough to see his stash and say "Me, please! Me. . .PLEASE!" And he loves loves loves cheese and yogurt, which gives him the acid runs like you wouldn't believe and turns into terrible bleeding diaper rashes. Yet he'll hang on the fridge doors and cry "Cheese please! ME! CHEESE! PLEASE!" Poor baby. What would we do withouthis drugs.

Random

The latest faces.  He sports the salty look all day, usually accompanied by hitting, screaming, and spitting. Lucky us!

Off to a good start, this is my little garden.  I finally got in on the corn rush this year. Hopefully with Tan's bio-crap (a phrase lovingly coined by a friend) on it I'll have more than I know what to do with. 

Hey Dude, how's your mustard sandwich taste?

You have GOT to be kidding me. This is my car NOT clearing the garage door by like 2 inches.

We finally cleaned out the garage and got rid of tons of junk so we could park in here finally. Well I guess they didn't make our garage big enough for Expeditions. Nice!

From Baltic Bound to Fiji Fun

Well, its that time again. YESCO just announced another incentive trip, this time to the islands of Fiji. The trip is planned for next Sept. and it will be approx. 10 days again.  Last Sept. we spent over 10 days on a cruise around the Baltic Sea, stopping off in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Poland, and Norway.  It was an amazing trip, though not a place I would have ever thought of visiting on my own.  Fiji, however, has been on my top 10 now since I graduated high school. 

So we are currently accepting bids on who wants to watch our kids this time (if we go!) When we left for Europe I currently had 3 children under the age of 4, one of them being a nursing 6 month old. I am thrilled to announce that if we go next Sept. I will have two children in school and no babies (Sorry Tanner!). I promise it won't be as much hell-on-earth as it was with Hudson (who I'm told woke up a million times a night--every night!)  Don't all jump at once 'cause having two in school means whoever watches them will have to be stationed here at our home.  What an amazing opportunity. . . again!  YESCO doesn't hold anything back when they do these trips either. I am glad we'll be in one place the whole time.  The constant changing of time zones and bad food and way too much sea motion did not do me good.  The only problem is that Tanner has to sell double what he did in 2007 which means over $3 mil. YIKES! But I have faith that my husband can do it and with the creative dollar postings it shouldn't be as bad as it sounds. Wish us luck!

The main hotel. Oh, BTW. . . its a W!

A view of the pool, where I'll be spending a lot of time when we aren't scuba diving and snorkeling

One of the buffet and dinner services they provide, Fijian Style

Oh, how I would love to go here!

The Happenings

I saw a preview for a movie called the Happening and realized there have been some strange happenings around here lately.

 

1.  Our TV and DVD remotes keep disappearing for days on end and then reappearing spontaneously. I'm pretty sure I know who the culprit is but I can't figure out how he keeps finding them when I can't.

2. We thought our earthquakes were over and then we had four on Sunday--all of which were above a 3.0

3. The food in the pantry disappears at an alarming rate--I know who the culprit is for this too.  We have nicknamed him the human garbage disposal. He's taking after his Uncle Marc, clearing everyone else's plate when they can't finish their meals. I can't imagine how much food he'll consume in ten years as a teenager. YIKES!

4. I spent 25 minutes cleaning my windows so they could sparkle and when I put the cleaning stuff away I turned around to see sticky handprints and smears all over them--inside and out and yet not one of my children seems to know who did it. Hmmmm!

5. Hudson can reset the 5-finger key pad to the safe in a matter of seconds (and does this on a daily basis) yet Tanner has to read the manual for 20 minutes to set it back....every time!

6. This happens a lot. HOW? 

First Haircut

Not really sure if he wants to be here right now

This helps a lot. It's all about the sucker now

We tried the cape for a little bit but he kept freaking out because he couldn't see his hands (like he does every night when they get stuck in his GAP jammies-they don't make the openings big enough for my bear-paw kids)

Shed the cape but still got the sucker. We both had to take a bath after the haircut from sucker slobber all over us.

Fishing at Davis Creek

On Saturday we woke up early (well, not really) and took the kids down to Washoe Valley where there is a great little campground and lake (actually its more like a big pond).  We took a guy's spot who had already caught four fish.  Unfortunately we didn't catch any, but our kids were undeterred by the fact that they didn't get any. They had a blast just sitting there, probably one of the few time in their short lives when they have just sat and done nothing!  After about three hours we decided to call it quits and come home. We think we'll try again in a few weekends.  It's only about 20 min. from our house, its free, and its fun! The reason you won't see Hudson in any of these pics is because we got tired of catching him as he almost fell into the water a half dozen times so we locked him the car-literally! What? He fell asleep within a few minutes. We just can't take him anywhere.

Bryson was great at casting and is now a professional fisherman (in his mind) and requires no help from his parents!

Brynn's quite a bit more relaxed at every thing than Bryson. She did get bored of just sitting, so she snacked instead.

He stood like this for hours! What a trooper.  For someone who has little or no patience he did awesome. They kept saying thanks for taking them and that it was so much fun.

Tanner thought I'd be dying in the heat with pants on but it was quite a bit cooler than we thought and I spent the morning under a blanket.