Swim Day is a Bust

So this morning the kids went fishing with Ben. They all caught something so that was super fun. Anchor, Emmerlyn, and I stayed home so Anchor could sleep which he thankfully did. 

After fishing we had lunch that nobody but Anchor ate and then headed to swim at Ross Park. 

After finding out that we would be waiting in line for about 2 hours to go swim we decided to go swim at a pond.

It was kinda gross.

The other people there were kinda sketch.

Charley ended up with a profuse nose bleed.

I called it after getting bit by a horse fly.

We were only there for about 15 minutes.

Brevick was LIVID.

We got some ice cream so that made it a little bit better.

Some TV and Taco Bell topped it off.

Next week will will stick to Bear Lake.

Not it the Mood

I'm not really feelin' it today. We just did the usual except I watched some TV. That is not super usual for me. Anchor opted out of sleeping last night and then out of taking a nap today so I was pretty much over the day before we ever got to it. The kids played with their dogs and wanted to do another 24 hour challenge. I did not want to clean up food in the basement or risk getting mice so I said no to that. They were not happy. They did not like my substitute suggestion of a clean up the basement the fastest challenge. Too bad for me. So the kids were pretty much bored all day and that's the whole of it. 

Anchor did find a pair of pants he wanted to try on. 

So he did.

He gave the puppy some kisses

William did eventually get dressed. But it took awhile. Emmerlyn also had her last day of summer gymnastics and I am so proud of myself because I didn't forget even 1 time. Go me!

Homeless Tuesday

These cute little bums challenged themselves to stay outside all day. In the rain.

They started in the backyard and moved into the playhouse but then when the wind picked up and the rain really started pounding they were getting wet and couldn't hear each other (because of the metal roof) they moved to the front porch. 

They had a lot of fun and even made a rolly-polly habitat that included flowers and decorative rocks.

They also trashed my front porch with wood, cups, shoes, and lots of dirt and rocks. I guess tomorrow will be clean the front porch day.

When Emmerlyn was talking about all of the fun that they had while they were out there she said "we spent some time talking to our neighbor that sometimes lives in the backyard." I started panicking about that statement until William interjected "Sharpie. She means Sharpie."

Oh, I should have thought of that.

William and Charley are trying to figure out how they can start a fishing business and spent a good amount of time getting their gear ready. They even conned Emmerlyn and Brevick into saying that they wanted to go fishing on Thursday instead of going to Bear Lake. We will have to see how it goes. 

Anchor was busy today being a bear. He just wasn't having it. He has hit the terrible twos and I think he will be our worst one by far. After he put cheese in his hair he threw his enchilada at dinner and it slapped my on the shoulder and then bounced off. Thinking quickly on his feet Charley analyzed the situation and responded "at least mom, it didn't really stick to you, now Fancy can just eat it off the floor!" 

Way to be positive!

Anchor also discovered the power of this archaic but still functional mag light.

He also found he could use it to beat people and the wall.

That was a tragedy for him because then we had to take it away.

Dora Jean visited and we got a cute twinner picture.

Anchor was NOT in the mood for pictures.

Or being nice.

He found himself on his way to bed quicker than he had hoped.

Brevick was so tired he fell asleep in his banana chair this evening so I would say today was a success. 

  

Moppin' Monday

Just Kidding.

We didn't mop today. We mopped yesterday because we spilled lemonade.

Twice.

So that was good.

We spent the weekend enjoying our house and the AC that it has to offer. The kids worked on their projects, also they worked on spray painting. The back patio and the dog house.

Red and pink is a nice look though, when you think about it.

Sunday the kids had a primary treasure hunt so that was super fun, they got a Popsicle at the end and they loved that.

We also had church at the church and I loved feeling the spirit and taking the sacrament there. As we were getting ready to leave I told Emmerlyn that we were taking our ogre to church (referring to the ever cranky Anchor) and she said "yes but he is a cute little ogre" I had to agree with that.

Needless to say he was great in church, except while he called for William up through the opening prayer. Then during the Sacrament he was playing with his toy airplane including making the engine sound effects. Oh, and the plane was shooting Emmerlyn so he was shouting "shoot, shoot!" while they were passing. Then he was worried he was going to get missed so he called out a few times for the water just to be sure they knew he was there. 

He didn't want to give up his cup so when Ben finally freed it from his mouth and put it in the tray he was irate. Thankfully he calmed quickly and with a big sigh (loud enough that the watching bishopric and stake presidency were all laughing into their hands *thanks for the support guys*) he hoped off Ben's lap to go fight Brevick for the potato head. 

Then he realized....

Everybody was chewing gum but him. I offered him some goldfish.

He dropped those like a hot rock and found the gum.

By now we had made it to the closing song so I gave him a piece.

Turns out, he doesn't like minty gum.

So with a piece of chewed gum in my hand and a screaming baby, I left the chapel with one verse left to go in the closing song.

I was so close.

(Side note, with only 50% attendance, my loud baby really echos through the meeting!!)  

Since it was only 9:45 when we got home (yep, church was not even 45 minutes long) we had to keep him awake for 2 more hours before he could take a nap. 

We all sustained multiple injuries and had to succor them with cookies.

I now weigh 5000 lbs.

Brevick corrects me as I am writing this and states that I look like I only weigh 1000 lbs so he is requesting that the number be corrected.

We played a fun game orchestrated by Brevick who played it in his primary class, "you know back when kids had church classes?" it was called "soft heart, hard heart" (same as red light green light) It was super fun until William "accidentally" leveled Brevick. A rematch has been demanded and will take place later this week.

So today we got the house all cleaned up. The kids worked on their school prep, so we can get back into the swing of things. They also got their slip and slide out which Sharpie loved until she bit it and popped it. Then I had 4 sad kids AND a sad puppy. Life is just hard that way.

It was so hot today that we had to go easy on our dinner, we opted for BLTs, watermelon and donuts.

Really, he just wanted donuts.

I am glad I had taken his clothes off for this because he had chocolate all over his little bod. He also learned a new word tonight.

Nude.

That's too bad.

William had football and came back tired and roasted but he is still having fun.

Emmerlyn is working on her new hobby, magic tricks.

Charley helped cut up the fruits tonight and did a great job.

Brevick is just now pounding down the door downstairs. Go him.

Friday Fail

So it was one of those mornings. 

You know the kind. The ones where the night before you didn't get any sleep because Brevick stayed up until 10 and then Anchor woke up periodically through the night so when morning came, you were more tired then when you had gotten into bed.

Yeah, it was that kind.

After snapping at the kids,

Yelling at the dishes.

Threatening the dog.

We decided to all take 10 big deep breaths,

Apologize.

And start the day over.

It went much better after that.

I decided that it would be better if we just chilled for the afternoon. 

It was.

So we just had a lazy Friday. 

Now I am hoping the kids eventually go to sleep.

Emmerlyn moved Fancy into her bedroom and Anchor is THRILLED!!!

I don't imagine he will be sleeping anytime soon.

Good news though, his bedtime bread snack turned out shaped like a gun so he could point it at me and say "shoot, shoot."

He was incredibly pleased with himself.

Brevick is sitting on my hip so I don't know if my dreams of bedtime will come to fruition tonight.

Day at the Lake

We were up and hoppin' at 0600 like we are everyday but today was different. Today was the breakfast portion of the kids' food challenge.

So the kitchen was a happening place for sure.

As everyone knows, breakfast is best cooked and eaten while still in your pajamas so we stayed dressed for the occasion.

Brevick made waffles. Or as he says "Waaaaafles"

 Emmerlyn made what she refers to as Cake Cakes. Or in other terms, cake batter pancakes with an icing glaze and sprinkles.

 Charley made Crepes with strawberries and whipped cream

 William made buttermilk pancakes

Not pictured, Ben made sausage to help cleanse the palate between all of the sugar.

Anchor loved all of the dishes. He also added sprinkles to all of the dishes because you can never have too many. 

I honestly did not eat a bite that wasn't delicious. They did it by themselves and we only had a couple of mishaps.  William sloshed some vanilla on the floor when he was sniffing it and then not to be outdone, Emmerlyn accidentally dumped the entire (full) bottle into her pancakes. 

We had to dump out that batter and start over.

Thank goodness pancakes and vanilla are cheap!

It was a good reminder that we all make mistakes and all the mistakes can be fixed but sometimes that means we have to start over!!

Her pancakes were delicious.

William whipped his egg whites and his pancakes were perfectly light and fluffy with that yummy tang of buttermilk.

Charley's crepes were perfectly balanced and cooked just right.

Brevick's waffles were crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. Just exactly how they should be. 

The syrup went perfectly with everything.

:)

I have the best kids in the whole world I think.

Once we were all sugared up we headed for Bear Lake. 

It was so much fun!! We brought 2 umbrellas this week because we forgot an umbrella all together last week so we had lots of shade to counteract the hot sunshine.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch and plenty of treats in the car and lots of good music.

William thought he would be funny and put a pretend beetle in his snack cup when he was passing it back up to me. 

I showed him by handing it back with only 2 bugles.

He will think twice before he pranks me again.

The kids had fun on the paddle board. They are starting to be able to stand up on it which is awesome. Their new favorite adventure is to paddle out and then jump off of the paddle board.

William was trying to dig a deep hole on the beach so Anchor worked hard to fill it back in faster than William could scoop it.

William was not amused.

The wet suit seemed to help Brevick so that was good.

We came home and tried to put Anchor to bed because he was throwing things.

He did not go down.

We turned him loose in the basement for awhile.

Now to try again...

There he goes running down the stairs with the bread that I just told him he couldn't take downstairs.

Ben went to bed already because he is exhausted. I am counting the minutes until I can rest my sun drained body. 

On a sad note, Emmerlyn just came to show me the only place she got sunburned. Which was the top of her tiny hiny. (I think that her lifejacket pulled up the top of her suit and then her little bottoms slid down a bit.) Poor girl!!! 

Sallee is commiserating with her.

She still had fun though so we are going with an overall win!

What to Do Wednesday

With the raspberries weeded we just didn't know what to do with ourselves today so we did our cleaning and then just chilled. 

Emmerlyn had gymnastics and after I dropped her off I hurried and scrubbed the walls and cabinets so they could be done.

I felt super accomplished and got back in time to watch her working on her back-handspring. She is doing great and still having a lot of fun.

We got home and since we are working on our health the kids made protein shakes for Pop Day. Tragically, in the mixing process one shake got knocked over and spilled all down the front of multiple cabinets and ALL over the floor.

So today I am thankful that I did not mop the floor.

The kids were supposed to work on their schoolwork. They didn't.

They were supposed to play nice. They didn't.

They did dress up in costumes for the whole day. That was funny.

Sharpie is the proud new owner of a bark collar. (Don't worry, it is a vibrating/beeping one, not shocking her)

It seems to be working so that is nice.

Fancy is sassy as ever. 

Anchor had mini corn-dogs for lunch and and peeled all the dogs out and threw the "dot-dog breads" at everybody else. Followed by his juice box, chunks of string cheese and last but not least, his cucumber. I put him straight to bed.

He also demanded to have a knife included with his dinner plate. So he could stab his food and then throw it.

What a little stinker.

I put him to bed and he came out. Twice.

I am ready for a new day!

Raspberries are Weeded

At least good enough until next time.

That took the better part of the morning.

Actually it took the entire morning but good news, they still had plenty of time for tablets during the afternoon.

They were pretty worried about that.

Anchor was starving and was not going to make it until lunch so he ordered up an Nutella bread for a late morning snack which I made it for him only to have Sharpie steal it out of his chubby little hand. Thankfully he just laughed and wanted another one. 

He went down for a good nap and slept until Sharpie's barking woke him up. He woke up saying "'arpie', NO, NO, OFF!!"

He's got that down now. He even says good girl when she gets down.

William lamented having to take the dog on a walk this afternoon. He kept saying that she doesn't want to go for a walk so I told him that I was the pack leader and said that she does and that he and she will do it.

He laughed and did not continue to argue with me.

Charley avoided the bees today but did get cut on a piece of metal being brandished by William.

Poor kid, he's gonna be covered in bandaids by the end of the week.

Emmerlyn put together a Dr kit that she found in the dress-ups and is checking up every warm body she can find. I don't think I have ever had a Dr. so giggly.

Brevick I barely saw today. He was busy for the whole day. We did have to lay down the law about spraying people with the hose. If he does it again without their permission then he has to do the dishes. That should keep him at bay. 

Nobody wants to do the dishes.

He is allowed to spray the dog. She LOVES it.

Anchor loves feeding the dogs treats. 

They are going to weigh 1000lbs.

I missed it on Monday

I got Friday's blog though, so that counts for something right?

Monday the kids once again worked on the raspberries. I feel like a lot of "work" is going into those things for not a lot of weeding. 

There is a lovely Ant Salad on my front porch.

Everybody got sprayed by the hose.

Emmerlyn had a bandanna that she was using as a belt (super cute) but then kept moving it around to wrap around her head, her hands, her ankles, or her face. You know, just whatever the situation warranted. 

They took every water bottle we own outside. 

They are still outside now that I think about it.

Charley fell down and scraped his arm.

William yelled and everybody and me because his life is so picked on.

Charley got stung by a bee, 3 times. (it was in his shoe. Don't worry, after the bee they all came inside for ice and 3 hours of movies)

They will have to hit it again today.

Anchor worked hard on trying to hit everybody but was willing to lay down his weapons for a piece of Sallee's cookie.

He also had some yogurt for a snack.

Or maybe the yogurt had him?

He was wild all day and spent some time in the backyard throwing things.

Sunday we had some Come Follow Me time and then watched a movie on the couch. 

Anchor had the best view.

After that the kids were playing in the backyard and Brevick came running in saying the hill was on fire. (That statement caused some panic in me because I didn't know which hill?)

We went outside and sure enough the hill WAS on fire. Thankfully it was one across the valley so we were quite safe.

Ope, I'm getting it done!

Friday Blog!!

Sadly, I don't really have much to say.

This morning the kids finished cleaning the basement and William weeded the raspberries, wait, no he didn't. I'm not sure what he did this morning but for a kid that wants to create a raspberry patch so he can sell them at the farmers market he really needs to start working the ones he already has.

Sharpie barked. A lot.

That has got to stop or we are all going to go crazy. I think we are going to get her some doggie puzzles to challenge her a little more. She spent meal times trying to eat food off of the table and of Anchor's high chair. Naughty little puppy can already reach the top of it.

Fancy spent her day being grouchy. I am not sure what her deal was today.

Ben and I did some house shopping but I think we have decided to give up the dream and just stay in this one with no cabin in Bear Lake. 

Now we have moved on to planning a basement garage renovation among many other things.

Anchor went to bed at 6:30. He really needed it.

Sadly, he woke up at 8:30 for some late night chips and salsa.

Allyn and Sallee are working to correct some beauty college hair blunders.

I guess we have been sucked into Pocatello with no hope of escape. 

Maybe I do need the suburban to commute to Bear Lake every week...

Bear Lake'd it

That's pretty much all we did today.

We are all a little congested so we are grateful that we had a place to go where we could play and still keep well away from other people. 

We worked hard on our summer tans

(because we forgot our shade umbrella)

Anchor was super brave and floated on the paddle board. 

(With Ben and I walking along on both sides of him)

Brevick froze

(I am going to order him a wet suit so he can stay a little warmer.)

We packed a picnic lunch

(and lots of snacks)

Charley stayed out on the paddle board the longest.

(William was too sore from football conditioning to put in the time today)

We wished we had a Suburban so we could have packed a big cooler with lots of ice cold drinks

(We are just a little short on trunk space.)

We did capitalize on clearance life jackets so we could get Ben all strapped in.

(We also sized up Emmerlyn who needed a bigger one and Brevick who needs a bigger one on the days he eats a big lunch so we are all set for a couple of years with our middle kids!)

Now we are shopping for a kayak.

(Just so we can have another big thing to haul around)

So I think that's it for the day.

(The kids were super excited to get home because they missed....Their dogs!)

TAX DAY!!! Again...

Yep, in this new life July 15th is the new April 15th so we are super excited to have Ben back at home most evenings. That will be nice, for him and us. Since we want to overhaul our house, buy some land and build a cabin, or buy a Suburban and do some driving. Those all sound like a lot of work for yours truly...Ben, my guy for everything.

Funny story though, this letter came in the mail from the Idaho Tax Commission the other day, and I opened it. (I usually don't open anything that says Tax on it because I have a guy for that) but I did and read that we had yet to pay our state taxes. So I made a mental note to ask my tax guy and then promptly forgot for a couple of days. I brought it up this weekend and he was like "oh shoot. I totally forgot ours!!" Since the notice included a $1.50 interest charge I demanded that I be compensated by a dinner date.

Texas Roadhouse was super yummy tonight.

The kids had to clean the basement today so that took about 8.5 hours out of their day. They got it done. That's what they are telling me anyway.

William is also trying to earn some money to cover expenses for football this season so he got assigned to weed the Raspberries. I heavily suggested he get outside before it gets hot. He opted to take 1.5 hours to make his way out there. Worked for 45 minutes then said it was too hot to continue. I had to give him a deadline because otherwise by the time he gets it done it will be time to start again.

He had football conditioning tonight and claims he will not be able to move tomorrow. He is probably right!

He did have some fun chatting with his little cousin today.

He is always up for new conversationalists especially when they are so animated!

Anchor also loved having the "baby' here for a visit and showing off his phenomenal dance moves. 

What a funny little dude.

I had to run pick up the lunches and Charley texted me in a panic. "Mom, Anchor is stinky but Montgomery is asleep in his room, WHAT DO WE DO????" followed by like 4 barf face emojis. When I got home everybody was in an uproar and Sharpie was in her kennel because apparently she wouldn't stop licking Anchor's stinky bum. 

Good thing I had only been gone for 8 minutes!

Anchor went down like a dream tonight at 7:15 which was such a welcomed change. I am glad he will be more rested for our trip to Bear Lake tomorrow.

We all need some sleep.

Well,

Today we just did our laundry and started a massive de-cluttering of our house. We started with the kids closets. Sometimes they just get out of control and your have to throw everything away and start over. So we are working on that. 

After we de-clutter we are going to have to decorate which will be fun.

The kids worked on their projects in the garage and Emmerlyn took 4 hours to clean out and organize her desk. Sadly, Anchor discovered where she keeps her candy so he is all over that train.

We took a drive this evening to see what was out there and came home with a major house remodel plan. 

And some ice cream.

Anchor only screamed for about an hour tonight so that's a relief.

Must Sleep More Monday

This is going to be short because this is our life now.

He had a smidge of a cold yesterday (don't panic, it was just a runny nose and a low-grade fever, which we stayed home from church just to make sure we weren't spreading ANYTHING, William messaged the Decons' quorum and leaders and told them that he was staying home "due to Anchor's questionable health". Haha, I don't think he could have worded that more suspiciously)

Anyways... Last night he and I stayed out on the couch until I finally got him in his bed at 0400. Needless to say today he has been an inconsolable bear. Tonight he is feeling much better but is refusing to go to sleep. he has been screaming since 8 pm and exhibits no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Today we tried to recover from no sleep. We will have to do the same tomorrow it looks like. 

We also spent the day eating all of the kids baking challenge treats from yesterday. We had French Macrons (William), Applesauce Muffins (Emmerlyn), brownies with fudge frosting (Charley), and cake with blue and green cameo frosting (Brevick). All of them were delicious. They also did a cooking challenge yesterday which they threw the recipes together by themselves, aka they did not follow any recipe. The teams were William and Brevick Shrimp Alfredo with 1 chopped tomato and scant sauce vrs Charley and Emmerlyn Shrimp Ramen noodles with microwaved shrimp, lots of lemon, lime, fresh squeezed OJ and a handful of fresh parsley. To quote Judge Ben "eating this lunch is like playing Russian Roulette with food" and Judge Sallee "Um, is there like a sauce I can put on this Ramen so that I can eat it?"

When they moved into the desserts we mandated they use a recipe or they would be disqualified as our garbage was full from the lunch attempts.

*Side note, I am super proud of them. They made these meals with no adult help and although it wasn't good, there were components that were well done and showed high potential. They also had a couple burns that they self treated because "Mom showed us what to do so we can just take care of ourselves"

I think my kids are amazing!!! I get up everyday for them. *And stay up every night...*

Ok, Anchor, I'm coming again....

Friday's are Forgotten

For whatever reason, I cannot seem to remember to blog on Fridays. I remembered at 0300 but I was not about to get out of bed to do that.
I am not sure what we even did. I think we did some chores.
Got chewed on by the puppy.
Watched some TV
Did some tablet time.
You know, the usual.
Also the kids continued working on their various projects in the garage. We will see what those turn out to be.
On Saturday we went for a little hike in the morning. We took Fancy with us, She loved it. She was made for the great out doors.
Sharpie stayed home because nobody wanted to carry her back when she decided she was done walking.
We lounged a little and then got some slushies and drove around to look at cars. We are currently trying to not impulse buy a Suburban.
It just sounds so nice!

Fancy also enjoyed some snuggle time on the couch. She is always up for snuggling.

*Not pictured is Sharpie sleeping on her favorite spot...the AC vent

Lava Hotsprings

Last week on our way to Bear Lake we passed Lava Hot springs. (Like we do every time.) The kids got super excited and wanted to go there instead. Since it was coming up on the 4th of July weekend we said no, we are going to continue on to Bear Lake today and then we can go next week when it is less busy. 

They were fine with that option so we went today.

It was SUPER busy.

The kids had fun sliding on the slides, Emmerlyn even got up the guts to go down the fast ones that go over the road. I was so proud of her.

William and Charley were hard to keep track of bouncing around from the slides to the rock wall. They are quite a pair.

Anchor and Brevick had fun splashing and splashing in the pools.

The best quote for today goes to William on the way home when he said "Don't worry mom, that baby is covered in cheese. Oh, and so is his car seat"

Anchor had spread the cheese from his bread-stick handisnacks all over himself and thrown out all the bread-sticks onto Charley. That was lovely.

Then he fell asleep so when we got home he was covered in cheese AND grouchy.

When we got home the kids played for awhile and chased the dogs around then we made dinner. We had cheeseburgers which Anchor disassembled and then threw them on the floor. He ended up eating his fries and bun but let Fancy get plump on his patty.

He went straight to bed.

And stayed in there.

We Didn't really try Wednesday

Today we were just kicking back. 

Well, Ben wasn't. #newtaxdeadlineofjuly15thruinedhisshortsummerhours.

But here on the home front we didn't let that get to us.

We tied up the house and Brevick and Charley got around to getting their laundry folded and put away.

Then they went out to the garage to work on their various inventions.

I denied them access to the power saws.

I also denied access to the blow-torch.

They just make me a little nervous you know.

I am not sure what screws and nails we will have left but at least they were having fun right?

Emmerlyn worked on making some new outfits for her LOL doll. She likes the instant gratification of the hot glue gun. We only had one almost catastrophe when Sharpie tried to eat the doll's head.

Anchor tried to sneak as many toys out onto the deck as he possible could without getting caught. 

We took a drive in the afternoon to visit Grandma and to catch a nap for Anchor. 

Thankfully, he did sleep.

Also he loved the ice cream sandwiches he got. 

So he was pretty thrilled.

We got home just in time to get dinner on the table for Ben to walk in the door.

Anchor didn't eat

At all.

I gave up my career to stay home and make food that remains untouched while he dumped out his milk into his tray and on the floor. Poor Fancy couldn't even keep up with the raining milk shower.

With dinner out of the way he went on to unload the tupperware cupboard.

 While he was circling his destruction he decided that he needed a candy.

At this point I scooped him up and took him to bed. No candy at bedtime. 

He is currently yelling from his room.

Here's to good weather for swimming tomorrow.

Too Windy Tuesday

So this morning the kids headed out to weed the raspberries. 

Yeah, those things require constant love and care, I don't know if we have time for that in our lives.

Well anyways, they hiked over there, then remembered they needed all of their implements so they hiked back to the garage to get them.

They arrived again at the raspberries only to realize that Sharpie was barking at the rottweilers and they thought she was going to get killed.

The retrieved her from the non-dog-tight backyard and brought her back inside and head once again to begin weeding. 

Deciding after all of this that it was too windy to weed today and then trudged again into the house.

This used up the first hour of the day.

We got our inside jobs done and started up some laundry then felt pretty good about ourselves for a calm clean house.

It went downhill from there.

Anchor has been a bear today. I think he just didn't get enough sleep yesterday.

He also learned a new skill, throwing toys at people. Constantly.

Poor Brevick.

He spent a fair amount of the afternoon in hiding.

Anchor took a nap this afternoon that wasn't nearly long enough and woke up with a vengeance.

We decided it would be good to watch a movie.

Emmerlyn said she felt like making something today so she did some pearler bead crafting and made a batch of cookies.

  Anchor continued to throw things and yell at people while Sharpie played with all her squeeky toys and left them scattered all over the floor.

Anchor woke Fancy up demanding that she go for a walk.

Then gave the leash to Sharpie to hold.

Fancy was not thrilled with being drug around by the other dog.

Anchor attempted to throw away all of our boxes of cheese noodles while I made dinner and then climbed up on the counter to take the leftover pizza box to eat for himself.

He also helped himself to the bowl of watermelon and set out servings for everyone else.

He used up our entire collection of little forks. 

He had more fun throwing the cheese noodles instead of eating them.

Thankfully Fancy was hungry enough to eat them up for me. (that is the biggest plus to having a dog!!)

After dinner I put him straight to bed because he was exhausted and he went right down. 

I had to run to a football meeting because they are still trying to patch things through and when I got home guess who was on the couch watching buppies and yelling at people to bring him cookies and water?

Yeah, he was still a bear.

After re-hydrating and a little snack he has once again been placed back in bed.

He better sleep till noon.

Brevick went down to bed and I think he made it to the bottom of the stairs before coming up to tell me that he couldn't sleep. 

I wonder how he could tell...

95* Monday

This morning we started off with a little reading in bed.

After breakfast and sitting on the couch trying to find the will to live. The boys headed out to mow the lawn.  They did a great job. It doesn't even look like a haircut gone awry. 

Since we were roasting we decided to head to Ross Park with some of my old co-workers. 

We swam for 3 hours so that was fun and exhausting. 

The kids had a blast. Anchor took awhile to find his brave but once he did, he was unstoppable. He played in the kids area and loved floating in the lazy river with me and yelling at Brevick and Emmerlyn. Charley and William mastered the obstacle course and Emmerlyn bounced between the obstacle course and the lazy river. Brevick ran into a couple of kids from his soccer team so he was in heaven seeing his friends. William and Charley chatted with a couple of friends as well.

We had a great time but were a little bummed that the water slide is closed for Covid. 

Anchor was livid that he could not eat his crackers in the pool. 

He also wasn't thrilled with the plastic pants he had to wear over his swim diaper.

Since we were exhausted we stopped for ice cream on the way home.

 Anchor took his first bite and was in heaven "ummm, so good"

He was so exhausted that we had to put him to bed after he attempted to sweep up the dog.

Brevick also crashed a little early, since he falls asleep every time he stops moving.

The Real Saturday. Happy 4th!!

Thanks Emmerlyn for the festive message.

We were a little bummed that this year we couldn't go to a movie, we really loved that aspect of our holiday. We relaxed during the day, ate slushies, and swam outside in the itty-bitty kiddie pool and then eating some yummy dinner with corn on the cob that was perfectly sweet. 

The firetrucks were patrolling the neighborhood but not down our street. Anchor was SO excited to see the truck. The firemen saw us on our porch and waved to Anchor which was super sweet of them.

We lit a few fireworks in our driveway. Other than me, Brevick was the most nervous with them. Anchor did way better than I thought he would.

For dessert we loved some strawberry shortcake. I think Anchor loved it the most. He dipped up every last drop...

I Thought it was Saturday...

Guys, I didn't blog on Friday because I thought it was Saturday. The whole day.

When I realized it wasn't  it was the middle of the night and I was not going to get out of bed to blog.

On Friday Ben and I went on a shopping date, just to get a few things. That was super fun. The kids played and played and watched some TV. 

We watched Hamilton on Disney+ which was so good. William and Charley liked it, Emmerlyn and Brevick liked eating popcorn. 

We sent all the kids to bed and thought they went right to sleep. Turns out, they spent the next hour watching and listening to people around us lighting fireworks.

We Made it!!

Finally.

I wondered if we would ever get back but today, the sun was shining the temps were about 80, the water was smooth, and the sand was hot.

Anchor was heartbroken when Dad and Emmerlyn took the paddle board out. He was thinkin' it was his turn.

 He got a nice long turn without any risk of falling in the water.

 Emmerlyn took Ben for a ride, unfortunately for him, he fell off.

 Luckily she was able to tow him back to shore.

Emmerlyn fell in when riding with the boys on the paddle board and panicked a little so she sat out for the rest of the time

After lots of playing in the water we spent some time sunbathing. I think this was Brevick's favorite part.

Anchor finally made it down to the water right before we left. He even sat down and let the waves wash up over his legs.

We knew it was time to go when he was screaming at a rock that was too big for him to lift...

Awkward.

We drove home and called it rest time. William and Charley didn't seem to get the memo and chatted with us the whole way. 

We are going to have to work on that.

Maybe.

After being in the sun all day Anchor was parched so he spent the evening sipping on his water bottle and when he heard it was time for bed he put it away.

At least what he thought "away" was.

He has acclimated to the dogs (which we are to the "Mom, is going to re-list them on KSL" stage of dog ownership) and can now tell Fancy to get down and then tell's her she is a good girl and gives her lots of petting.

Our other big news is that...

We FINISHED our fence this morning!!!

It felt so good to be done.

Unfortunately Fancy got out this afternoon so we are going to have to find that hole...or else maybe our dog problem will self correct?

Shout out to all the helpers on our fence and especially Ben and William for working so hard! We hope to never do that again.