USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor

On our trip to Hawaii one of the first things we did was visit the USS Arizona Memorial. It was a very somber experience. All 1,177 men who are remembered on that beautiful white wall. I was glad we could see it and pay our respects for their bravery. The movie in the theater before you are boated to the site was also very educational. I learned alot about the bombing on Pearl Harbor, it was a great history lesson. We are glad we could take time out of our fun trip to remember that the price of freedom is not free, it has cost many lives, and we are greatful for those who sacrifice theirs everyday.

School's Out For Summer!!!

Well, schools out so lets party. My friend Jeni is so brave. She decided to throw a pool party for all the kids in her sons class, which is Tanners class too. She knew she couldn't do it by herself, so she inlisted my help, and I was more than happy to go along with the plan. Imagine a pool full of 25 kids with a lot of super soakers. SO FUN! The kids had a blast, and it was actually pretty easy. Thanks Jeni for all the fun. The kids had a great time.

Pool full of kids.

Jeni supervising the sponge relay.

More kids!!

Tanner

Oh look, Conner found a fishing pole.

Tanner and his friend Gary.

The girls used the super soakers to squirt the boys who were playing football in the yard.

Sponge relay.

Which Team won? No one knows cause the 2 year old dumped out the buckets.

Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice!

Thats what little girls are made of! Little girls are so much fun. Every time I look at my girls I am so thankful they are in my life. They are so beautiful and loving. I am so glad they each have a sister to love and play with, to share clothes and make-up with when they get older, and to talk about boys with each other too. I never had a sister, and sometimes I feel I missed out on a lot of stuff because of that. It makes me feel happy knowing they have each other. Here are some cute tea party pictures of my girls that show how sweet they really are!!!

The Case of the Missing Buns (I'm warning you this is a long one)

Yesterday I thought I was losing it, seriously, and this is how it began. I asked Jeff what he thought about having hamburgers for dinner. He replied with "that sounds great." A few days before I had done some grocery shopping at Costco. I had got everything we needed for hamburgers, except for lettuce, or so I thought. Since I didn't have lettuce I sent Jeff to the store for lettuce and a few other odds and ends. As soon as he walked in the door I went to gather everything else to start grilling. Hamburger patties, check, sliced cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, Miracle Whip, ketchup, check. I went into the pantry to grab the buns, I looked everywhere, and there were no buns! I swore I bought buns at Costco, I swore I put them in the pantry, I swore I saw them that morning! What the heck happened to the buns? My first thought was, "what did the kids do with the buns." I called them all into the kitchen and asked "Where are the hamburger buns?" They all replied with "I don't know." "Someone has to know," I said. I immediately turned to Conner, most of you probably know why. The kid is a menace, and I mean that in the most loving way possible. I asked him where the buns were. He swore to me he didn't touch them. Jeff and I then began searching his room, closet, and every other place we thought he might want to hide hamburger buns. We couldn't find them anywhere! After looking for quite a long time, I sat on the couch and started to seriously doubt the fact that I bought hamburger buns. I was seriously losing it, then I remembered that earlier the dog had ran into the house while I was in the bathroom. When that happens I have to grab her by the collar and drag her outside, DANG DOG, but not this time. Conner said she went out all by herself. I didn't think anything of it, until the lightbulb went on. I went and looked on the back porch, and sure enough there was the empty hamburger bun bag with a big hole in it. I knew the dog wouldn't go into the pantry and pull a bag of buns off the second shelf from the top, or so I thought, so I accused Conner of throwing the bag of buns out the door to get the dog to go outside. He swore to me he didn't do that, but then again he has been known to lie. I excepted the conclusion I had come to, realized I wasn't losing it, and began making BLT's for dinner because I knew we had some bread in the freezer. BUT IT DOESN'T END THERE!!!

Today the kids were playing outside. When they were done they came in the back door that goes into my bedroom, and left the back door that goes into the family room open (without me knowing). As I was walking into the kitchen I saw Hershey running out the back door with something in her mouth. I ran after her and saw her on the back porch eating a whole loaf of bread that I had took out of the freezer for BLT's the night before! It was sitting on the counter by the toaster. I was so mad! I yelled at her and spanked her! I then realized Conner had nothing to do with yesterday and I felt horrible. I began apologizing to my little boy, who was completely innocent! Why on earth would a dog go into a pantry full of food and take out a bag of hamburger buns, and why would she pass up a half eaten piece of cake sitting on the ground right in front of her to get on the counter and take a loaf of bread? Who knows, but she also loves watermelon! Weird dog I know! I promise we feed her! Needless to say, after all that, we solved the case of the missing hamburger buns. DOES ANYONE WANT A DOG????

The culprit!!!

58 DAYS (AND COUNTING!!!) UNTIL PARADISE!

This May is our big 10 year anniversary! It is hard to believe it has already been that long. I love Jeff more and more everyday, and I think (no, I KNOW) he feels the same. He went on his mission to Hawaii, and has always wanted to take me there! So this year for our special anniversary we're going to Oahu!!! I am so excited, and I know Jeff is too! It is our goal to get into swimsuit shape, and so the dieting and exercise begins, ugh! I'm counting down the days until I'm laying on the beach in paradise with my sweetheart by my side! YEAH!!!



Who wouldn't want to see this with someone you love!

Now we know why Tropicana costs so much!

This weekend we decided to help Nana and Papa pick the oranges, lemons, and grapefruit off their trees.We would never be able to eat them all before they would go bad, they had tons! We didn't want them to go to waste, so we decided to juice them! We love orange juice and lemonade, so we thought it would be great to put the juice in the freezer and use it for our food storage! Great idea right? Well, after picking for about an hour we had one huge ice chest, and one large ice chest full and we barely even made a dent on the trees. They were still covered with fruit. We figured we had better stop picking and start juicing. We washed the oranges and lemons, cut them, and used my awesome Bosch mixer with a juicer attatchment to juice them. (I love my mixer more and more everyday, thanks Mom and Dad!) After juicing for about 6 hours all together we finally got through the huge ice chest, and we still have the large ice chest full of grapefriut to go! Needless to say after all that time and work we have barely made a dent, and we are still working on it. I guess that's why they charge so much for Tropicana orange juice at the store! Fresh Squeezed 100% REAL ORANGE JUICE isn't easy!!!

Facebook Is SERIOUSLY Cutting Into My Chore Time!

Facebook is tons of fun. I love catching up with old friends, playing scrabble, seeing who's on, and looking for friends that I've lost contact with. Doing all that does take time out of my day that is already pretty full with a house full of things to do and 4 kids plus a husband to take care of. Jeff says my laundry has really gotten away from me. More so than usual anyway, so those of you who know how bad I am at doing laundry, just imagine it now!!! I know I'm not the only one who is possibly addicted to facebook (you all know who you are), but now I realize I have a problem. I think it is something that needs a 5 step program or something. HELP!!!