4th of July

Like always our 4th of July holiday started off by marking off our spots for the parade and the fire works. Sherisse's Uncle used to always do this but for the past 4-5 years we've been doing it. The 2 days before the 4th we go and mark off where we're going to sit. We had to make sure and get to the parade early this year though because last year we got there way too late and someone had already taken our spot. We ended up sitting in the sun so we were all dying. This year Steve got a great spot in the shade which was especially good for me while I'm pregnant. The kids loved the parade and collected tons of candy. Spencer loves his Aunt Stephy, he sat with her most of the time during the parade, he's so cute!

After we went to the parade we went home and got ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house for our annual BBQ. Grandpa has started buying really nice streaks for this BBQ so we had a lovely meal. It's always so nice to be with family, we just relaxed and the kids played. We also checked out the progress of our family garden and planted our little pepper plant we've had growing in our window. I'm not sure how well it will do but everything else is looking great. It's so exciting to see the garden growing. Sherisse even helped the kids find a radish that was ready so they picked it and we all had a little bite. We'll have to take some more pictures of the garden soon.

We were all pretty tired after the BBQ so we went home to have a rest before the long night ahead of us. We all watched a movie on our bed, the boys fell asleep but we just rested. We went to pick Sherisse up at about 6:30pm and then we were off to the fireworks. We picked up some McDonald's on the way and we were set. There was already tons of people there but our spot didn't really fill up until it got later. The kids had a great time playing with our friends who were sitting in front of us, it was especially nice for me because then I didn't have to chase the kids all over the place. Spencer found lots of things to distract himself, he was trying to be a cowboy at one point by using the rope we had marked of our spot with.

The fireworks didn't start until about 10pm so it was pretty late but the kids were all still awake. I sat on the floor and the kids were all over me most of the time but it was cute. Sydney ended up falling asleep before the fireworks got over. Normally she's our night owl but she had to get up pretty early that morning and she normally sleeps in too so I wasn't too surprised when I found her asleep. The kids had a wonderful time, it's so nice to do these things with them as a family. This morning we all slept in really well, especially Syd and me, we didn't get up until about 10:30am. I actually had a great nights sleep for once, well apart from the fact that I threw up during the night, I think it was from a combination of too much food and too much sun.

Madison and Sydney's t-ball

I can't believe t-ball is already over, it went by so fast (I'm not complaining about that though). I was glad that I didn't coach this year, it was just nice to sit and watch in the shade! The girls had so much fun playing with their friends, Spencer wishes he could have played too though.

Madison played really well, she's pretty fast running the bases and is getting better at hitting. It was funny to watch her games and then go and watch Syd's team, what a difference! Sydney was hilarious to watch. I didn't think she wanted to play this year but she said she did so we got her on a team. She did way better than last year but still wasn't too excited when she had to play out field. She was a really good distraction player though. When she was on a base she would talk to the kids that would get to her base and distract them while their team mate hit the ball. I think her team got a few kids out with that great tactic.

All in all it was great, we loved watching both teams, especially Syd's team because they just made us all laugh. Maddie's team was 6-7 year olds and Syd's was 4-5 year olds but they had five 3 year olds on their team so it made it even funnier, they were GREAT! Thanks to the girls coaches, they loved it and I was glad I didn't have to be out there in the heat. Now we're getting ready for our next summer sport, swimming! I was going to only have the girls swim but Spencer really wants to aswell so I gave in and I'm going to do the mommy and me class with him. Everyone will get to see me in all my hugeness, how lovely for them. My sister in law Steph did say she would take him when she's not working so I'm hoping that will be most of the time. He'll love it though and I'd rather be in the pool with him than chasing him around as he tries to get into the pool. Swimming here we come!!!

Lawn flooding fun!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house because they flooded their lawn again. There wasn't as many of us as there had been the last time but the kids had a blast. Chris, Mir and their kids and the Paynes came over and with their help the kids started making all sorts of concoctions. Sydney and her group made a leaf, weed, worm soup of some kind and Madison and her group made mud balls, all very lovely.

Spencer had a blast! He loves to play with Grandpa and all the fun things he has in his pockets. He got to ride in Grandpa's truck too and help him do a couple of things. He also helped Grandma hose off the patio but I'm not sure it really was a help but they're always so kind. I think the thing that made his day even more was spending it with his Dad.

After everyone had left we stayed for a little while longer. Steve and the kids started finding all sorts of things. First of all they found little minnow fish, some were dead so they were added to Syd's soup and the ones that were alive they put into another bucket of water. I think the kids were most excited about finding a water snake. They followed it around for a while and then Steve caught it on a stick.

The girls were picking up worms from all over the place, Spencer tried once but wasn't really into that, he dropped it straight away telling us that it tickled. He wouldn't' touch another one after that. Maddie tried to catch a fish but ended up dropping it back in the water. I'm glad my kids aren't afraid of bugs and things, I can't say that for myself though, I hate worms, I made them stay far away from me with them.

All in all it was a wonderful day and the kids had so much fun. I know I always say this but it really is so great to have family that live close by. It's so nice to watch the kids playing there and having such a fun time. Grandma and Grandpa are always so kind to our kids and they just love them. How blessed we are to have the families that we have. It would be so nice to have my family live close by too, we're getting so excited for some of them to be here in a few weeks though, it's going to be GREAT!

Sleep Over Fun

Last night Whitney stayed over, the girls were all really excited. I thought that we were going to watch camp rock so the girls were even more excited because none of them had seen it yet. Then when we got home I checked and I had got the wrong night so the girls were sad but the fun didn't end there!!!

I ordered pizza for dinner because we didn't have very much food in the house, then Steve went down stairs with the girls to help them pick a movie. By the time I got down stairs they had already started their movie, "Princess Bride." Steve told me the girls had picked it out but I wasn't too sure about that.
After the movie is when the fun really began. We had a bed party in our room but this was no normal bed party. Our bed party involved pliers, nail clippers and lots of turning away! Any guesses??? Steve was pulling his toe nail off and the kids thought it was so fascinating. They all crowded around while he slowly pulled it off, it was pretty disgusting but they thought it was great. Spencer was sticking his finger in the gap, Sydney got a bit concerned and the Whitney and Maddie just thought it was super cool.

It was pretty funny really. Who ever thought that we'd have a sleepover and the main event would be Steve pulling off his toe nail! Oh well, as long as the kids had fun that's all that matters right?

Messing around with the camera

So this morning Steve got the camera out and was taking crazy pictures. I made him delete a few but I thought I'd add a few on here, (the ones that I approved of).
Spencer got in our shower today and then played in the bath afterwards. He's so cute, I know I'm bias, well actually I didn't think it was too cute yesterday when he had the runs and pooped on the kitchen floor.
Steve is pretty proud of his falling off toe nails. He took this picture of the worst one of the two. Spencer calls it Daddies blue toe!
Steve said I should get some pics of my pregnant belly so here are some of the wonderful pictures they took. Steve took the first one and Maddie took the other two.

Playing at Gma and Gpa Johnson's

Today was the first time this year that Grandma and Grandpa Johnson flooded their lawn. We were all so excited because the kids love going there to splash around in the water. It was a lovely day too so even though the water was quite chilly the kids had a fantastic time because it was finally warm! Spencer was loving playing with his friends, him and Cole are so cute together.

The girls were a bit cold at the beginning but they soon got warmed up. They drug Whitney's trampoline to Grandma's, it took them a while but they got it there.

We invited a few of our friends from the neighbourhood to come along which made the afternoon even more fun. All the kids had a blast and all the Mom's were so glad that the kids were finally out of the house. We all enjoyed chatting together and trying to get a bit of sun.

Spencer was exercising for a minute, he's such a cheeser. He then decided to go pee in between getting changed, he was so funny resting against the tree while he went. It was a wonderful day and we all had a great time. How lucky we are to have such amazing Grandparents who let us come and play at their house. It's so great to live so close to them and spend time with them. Thank you for the great day, we had a BLAST!

Pictures from Steve's marathon

Steve's 1st marathon

Today was Steve's marathon (the Teton Dam one). They had to leave super early this morning, I think around 4.30am. Once they got up to Rexburg they had to get a bus that took them up to the dam to begin the race. They started running at 6.30am, way to early for me so you'll never find me doing anything like this.

Anyway we all got ready here and set off at around 9.45am thinking we would get there in time to see Steve cross the finish line. There was road construction on the way there but we still thought we would make it from when Steve told us he thought he would finish. Anyway we finally got there and found a parking spot and started walking towards the finish line. At one point we thought we had heard Rod's name but it wasn't. Then we got closer and I could see someone that looked like Steve so I went towards the middle of the road and sure enough it was Steve! They called out his name and he was done!

We quickly got over there to find someone helping him over to the ambulance to sit down. I guess he almost passed out from when I saw him cross the finish line, to getting to him but I didn't see that. We were so sad we weren't right there at the finish line when he came in but we were happy that we saw him make it across. Grandma and Grandpa Pettingill were there though so that was nice.

He did FANTASTIC! His goal was to finish in 4 hours and 2o minutes but he ended up finishing in 3 hours 56 minutes, 24 minutes faster. That's why we ended up not getting there in time, he just did too well. He was pretty wrecked at the end though, I was so impressed with him. He sat there for a minute at the ambulance, the kids couldn't wait to see him, Maddie was so proud. We went and looked at the results at the end and Steve had come in 3rd in his age bracket which was the 25-29 year olds, how great is that! He came in 31st overall, he was so happy and he even got a medal, Maddie was impressed by that too.

I only got 2 pictures and then my camera died so as soon as I get copies from Steve's Mom and our friend I'll add some more pictures. Anyway I'm so proud of him. He trained so hard and did amazingly. He's pretty sore and tired now and he thinks he's going to lose a couple of toe nails but he's so glad he did it. YEAH for Steve/Daddy, you did FANTASTIC!!!

Our family garden

Today we finally were able to go over to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house to plant our family garden. The weather has been so bad it's been hard to get over there but we finally got it done today. Grandpa has been working so hard getting everything ready, he got drip hose, put down black cloth so we don't have to weed, it's GREAT!

It's a pretty huge garden but we got so much done today. The kids were in heaven being able to play outside, it was a little breezy but we didn't mind that. Some of the garden is going to be for everyone but then we all have our pieces we can plant on. Grandpa came up with this idea of how to make the holes for the corn, we couldn't believe it when we saw it. He had Keagan driving the truck while he was laying in the back with the blow torch making the holes, we thought he was nuts. Not that we didn't think it would work, we just couldn't believe he was laying in there like that. He's such an amazing man and went to so much work to get this garden ready for all of us.

I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family here. It's hard to be so far away from my family but I feel so lucky to have such an amazing family here that are so great and loving to me and my little family. I love living by them all and it's especially great in the summer when we're able to do so many things together. Thanks everyone for being so wonderful and thanks for the great day, as we said, this is something we'll always remember!