Weekend Recap

Well, this weekend was the big event and Jeff's youngest brother is married! We left Thursday afternoon and picked up the tuxedos on our way down. The rehearsal dinner was that evening at Mark and Becky's house where Kamden decided to take a quick swim in their backyard pond. He had been getting close to the edge the entire evening and before the night was over, I was jumping in to rescue him. Even though I had told Jeff that if Kamden fell in, he needed to be quick and get in there first so I wouldn't have to get wet. Everyone asked if Kamden had taken swimming lessons because when he fell in he started to doggy paddle and managed to keep his head above the water but that was the first time he'd been swimming. And, after a shower and a change of clothes, he was right back out there next to it again. The pond isn't deep, though, and he could have stood up if he hadn't panicked and had gotten his feet under him. I didn't get any pictures because I dropped the camera on the lawn before I went in.
On Friday morning Jeff went golfing because it was "Brian's last request as a bachelor" and how can I say no to that? Jolynne called and invited us to go swimming at a kiddie pool and have a picnic which was really fun. The boys enjoyed playing in the water and cooling off.

The wedding was at 6 that evening and was beautiful, even the heat wasn't too bad. We're glad to welcome Sierra into the family and to add another girl to the group, we're getting a little closer to evening things out!

On Saturday Jeff went golfing again and Ethan joined him for the back nine. We had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Hurst's and the boys cooled off in the ditch with some of their cousins before we drove home. Both of the boys slept most of the way home; I always enjoy the drive home better than the drive there because by the time we drive home, they are so worn out from playing so hard that the drive back is pretty peaceful. The trip there is a different story because they are both so excited to get there. All I hear from Ethan is "Are we there yet?" even before we've left town!
It was a nice weekend and we were happy to be a part of Brian and Sierra's special day. Thanks Kelly, Mindy, Tyler, & Kaysen for letting us stay with you!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy EmiLy!

My niece, Emily, shares her birthday with my youngest brother and today she turns 13 though in my mind she will always be about 4 because if she's growing up then that means I'm getting older.
Emily is a talented softball player and pitches for the team she's on. She is a great cousin and Ethan loves going to her house and watching her play softball. He says he loves Emily because she plays blocks with him and he wants to know when she is coming to his house again.
Happy Birthday, Emily!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy JeFf!

Today my brother Jeff turns 21! He is the baby of the bunch and here are some fun facts about him:
He is accident prone. Jeff has had so many stitches and been to the Emergency Room so many times, it's not even a surprise when we get a call letting us know he's back there again.
He can eat anything and I have no idea where he puts it. He's been qoted saying "You know I always eat three chili dogs!"
When he was little, mom had to take him to the doctor to get a rock out of his nose because Jeff had shoved it so far up there. I think the tool they used was called an alligator.
He does a mean Napolean Dynamite impersonation.
He used to play dolls and Barbies with me but we'd have to hide from my other brothers so they wouldn't make fun of Jeff.
He's a great uncle and the boys just love him.
So Happy Birthday, Jeff, we hope you have a great day!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was so much fun, I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep! Callie picked me up on Friday and we drove up for a Relief Society Retreat for our Stake. Jeff stayed home with the boys and did a great job entertaining them, he even took them on a bikeride all the way to my parents' house on Friday evening and to lunch at McDonalds on Saturday.
Callie and I registered for classes when we got to the camp and then found a cabin to sleep in-though not much sleeping went on because the sign on the cabin we stayed in said 'Sleep in this cabin if you don't care if you sleep at all'. I think I got maybe 3 1/2 hours of sleep before we had to get up for breakfast.
After dinner on Friday everyone was divided into large groups to play games (where my unknown obsession with Hillary Duff was brought out) and Callie and Diane were great models during our fashion show. Then we broke off into smaller groups and we stayed up playing games and then talking with the 4 other women in our cabin. It was so much fun to get to know other women that I wouldn't normally have the opportunity to and I laughed so much that my stomach hurt. Callie said it felt like we were back at Girls Camp and it really did.
There was a nature hike at 6:45 Saturday morning and I had planned to go on that but I slept right through it and didn't wake up until someone came in and said breakfast was being served. Classes started at 9 and went until noon followed by a speaker and then lunch. Callie and I were anxious to get home and hear how our husbands survived without us and, thankfully, everyone was alive and well. I even took a short nap when I got home because I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Today we celebrated my baby brother Jeff's birthday at my parents' house and played games and had cake after dinner. I can't believe he's going to be 21 this week.

Thanks for the great pictures, Diane!

What's A Pillowcase Good For?

A sleeping bag...

A SuperHero cape...

And a Ghost costume...

On Monday I took the boys for a bikeride and then for FHE we took another one over to the school.
Then I started cleaning out the closet in the dining room because this week I've felt the need to de-clutter our lives. Earlier that day I went through the boys' clothes and toys but I can't decide weather or not to do a yardsale and finding a weekend to do one would be a challenge. While I was going through the dining room closet I found an old tennis bag and racket that belonged to one of my Great Aunts. I had gathered up all of the tennis balls while going through the toys and was returning them to the bag when I found some sweatbands...

What Works?

So I ran out of pretty much every household cleaner today, funny how it happens all at once. As I looked at all of the empty bottles filling the garbage can I started to wonder what cleaners really work. Do you have a favorite all-purpose cleaner? What about for your shower/tub? That's what I can't seem to get clean, especially since the boys have started taking more and more showers. I even tried those Magic Erasers on the bottom of the shower but I can't find anything that really seems to work. Any suggestions?

Happy Father's Day, Jeff!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband! He is such a great dad to our two little boys and a big help to me. We didn't do much to prepare ourselves for the role of parenthood but then, what can you do? I think having children is something you can't fully understand until you actually become a parent and it's been a learning experience for both of us. I've enjoyed watching Jeff take on the role of 'Father' and he has done that with love, patience, and understanding. He jumped right in and changed diapers, gave baths, and got up for 3am feedings. Ethan and Kamden are blessed to have such a loving daddy and they look up to him so much. Their eyes light up when he pulls in the driveway after work and I love the sound of their tiny feet running across the floor to meet him when he walks in. Ethan said that he loves his daddy because he takes him golfing and watches football, basketball, golf, and baseball with him-I hope they always enjoy doing things together. Kamden is a complete 'Daddy's Boy' and sometimes it's hard to watch him run to Jeff when he gets hurt instead of coming to me but I'm thankful that Jeff is so involved in our kids' lives and grateful for the example he is to them.
Happy Father's Day, Jeff. I love you!

Weekend Recap

Friday evening we watched our friends' little girl, Elisa, for a few hours so they could go out. She is 7 months old and such a cutie. The boys really enjoyed having her here and we went on a walk after dinner over to a school. Ethan kept telling us he had a basketball game and he brought his basketball with him and wore his 'basketball socks'. Once we got there the slides and rock wall caught his attention and he forgot about his basketball game.

On Saturday we made a quick stop at the Cherry Festival Petting Zoo. It didn't take Ethan very long to warm up to the animals and kept asking for more grain to feed them. Kamden, on the other hand, was pretty scared until right before we left. He even started feeding them and let a few of the little goats eat out of his hand before he threw the rest on the ground. Ethan tried holding one of the bunnies but it got scared and started scratching. After three cups of grain and then sanitizing our hands, we drove over to Jeff's office for a barbeque and a drawing for a 32" LCD TV. He entered the names of the clients that had given him referals throughout the year and served hamburgers. It's hard to believe we purchased that agency two years ago this August!

Saturday night was the Cherry Festival Parade. Brian, Sierra, Wade, and Lauren came over to enjoy the thrill of it all. Every time someone would drive by in a car, a 4wheeler, or a tractor and when the El Kora guys went by in their little cars, Ethan would say "I want one of those!" After the parade we got snowcones-the best part of the whole Cherry Festival. Ethan did pretty good about not riding rides on Saturday, though he did ask. And on our way to church this morning we saw everyone packing up and Ethan wanted to go to Cherry Festival but I told him the rides were going away. He wanted to know where they were going so I told him they were on their way to another festival and he said he wanted to go, too.

My Crazy Kids

I forgot about this video of the boys dancing upstairs so it's a few weeks old but hilarious! Pause the playlist at the bottom of the blog before playing the video.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Festival Fun

Today we spent a fun day at the Cherry Festival. The boys really enjoyed the rides and Ethan only got lost once when he ran into the FunHouse while my back was turned and I had no idea where he'd gone-that's not a good feeling.
Jeff took Ethan on the Ferris Wheel and I was surprised at how much he enjoyed it. He had Jeff take him on it several times and didn't act scared at all. I guess he didn't inherit my fear of heights! He also liked the FunHouse and he'd go down the slide at the end and run right back in over and over, which was upsetting to one of the carnies because she liked to make him stand next to the measuring stick each time and make sure that he was still tall enough to go in.
Kamden liked driving the little cars and eating Cotton Candy, but I'm not sure what he thought of the big slide. He seemed to have a good time just watching all of the people and kept saying "Beep Beep" even after we'd come home.
We'll go back on Saturday for the parade and we'll see how effective the talk was that I had with Ethan that today was the only day for rides...I can almost hear the tantrum.

Puppy Love

Jeff picked up my dad's Father's Day gift on his way home from work yesterday and we took him out last night and surprised my dad. Ethan wasn't very happy that the dog wasn't staying at our house and he kept telling us that he wants a dog. I told him maybe in a few years when he's old enough to help take care of one and that satisfied him until it was time to go back home-without the dog.
The little guy hasn't been named yet but the neighbor girl suggested 'Oreo' and I thought 'George' was fitting. He's a 15 week old Border Collie and I think dad's pretty excited to have a dog again, especially since one of his beloved goats died last Sunday. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Miss Gem County Pageant

Last night my family attended the annual Miss Gem County Pageant since my niece, Kylie, was running in it. She did a great job performing her talent, answering questions, strutting her stuff in a swimsuit (she's a brave girl!) and looked beautiful the entire evening. Though I am a bit biased since I'm her aunt, she was robbed in the end when they announced her as the second runner up.
Callie went with me and our husbands were gracious enough to watch our kids-it was nice to have a girls night out and everyone survived back home while we were gone!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was Sierra's bridal shower so we spent the weekend visiting Jeff's family. We got there Friday afternoon and before we even got out of town, Ethan was asking if we were at Grandma Stoker's house yet. We left after lunch thinking (and hoping) that the boys would sleep since that's usually when they take their naps but Kamden slept for about the last 20 minutes and Ethan was wide awake the entire ride. We stopped by Jeff's older brother's house when we got to town because Ethan could hardly wait to see Addison. They were pretty much inseperable the entire weekend.

The guys spent Saturday morning golfing while we got ready for the shower. Ethan joined them after lunch and he's been waiting a long time to golf with Grandpa Stoker, so he was a happy boy and tagged along.
That evening we celebrated Braxton's 7th birthday. Here he is getting his birthday spankings from Grandma Stoker.




We headed home after Sunday dinner with the entire family and Ethan played so hard this weekend that he was asleep before we made it to the interstate. Kamden lasted nearly an hour and watched a movie in the backseat before dozing off. It was a peaceful ride home!