Father/Sons Camping Trip

I sent Rhett with the camera in hopes he would document the whole experience, but he hardly pulled it out at all. :( Little stinker!

Anyway, he took all four little boys to the father/sons camping trip this year. He had initially only planned on taking the big boys and I would spend some time with the little ones at home. As he was packing up the car the twins kept bringing their little blankets to put in. He finally just said he would take them all.

They got there and set up the tent. It was a little three man tent, but they all fit just fine. The little kids were so excited and kept running in and out of it. :) (Bringing sand and bugs, I'm sure) They then had hot dogs that they cooked over the fire. I sent all the stuff for smores' but the little kids all fell asleep before they made any.

I asked Rhett what they did and he said they mostly just played on the beach throwing a football and played in the water. What a good Daddy to take them all with him.

I had a blast while he took the kids camping. I went to chili's and picked up a to go order, rented two chick flicks, and watched them in a nice hot bath. The next morning I went and got a pedicure. It was a much needed break. :)

Here are the very few pictures that Rhett took- Note the outfits. I packed cute matching outfits... they are NOT wearing them. Taylor even has on Carter's shirt. lol.

The babies playing in the water.

Carter throwing the football.

Taylor either posing or taking a timeout. :)

All the kids fell asleep really early Rhett said. Rhett just threw on his headphones and listened to his kindle. It was a very fun trip and they have asked every weekend since if we can go camping again!

Thanks Rhett for being such a good Dad and taking your boys camping. It meant a lot to them!

Free to a good home!

This kid is so NAUGHTY! I can't stand it. He is constantly getting the babies to do naughty things and is always stirring up trouble. I don't know if he isn't getting enough attention or what his problem is, but he is driving me to an early grave. It's like he hit his terrible 2's again. I think I will call over our neighbor who is a Chaplain and have him do an exorcism. Maybe I need to shave off all that hair and look for the 666. He is definitely a possessed child. There is no other excuse for all the crap he does.

For example-

This week he snuck outside twice and worried the daylights out of me. I looked all over the house and yard, but he knew that I was looking for him so he kept hiding! Grr...

Then, at our neighborhood BBQ he kept stepping on the side of the pool and letting all the water out just to make the babies cry.

Then, when Carter and I were working on his poster for school he snuck a pencil and drew all over the walls and floor with it. Seriously could have paddled him for that one. I have enough daily messes to clean up without all the added messes of Taylor!

Then, Rhett bought the kids a blow up pool because he felt bad about the trampoline. I look over and Taylor has grabbed some of the hot dog sticks out of the tent stuff and is bashing holes through the box. I pulled the pool out and sure enough he put a hole in it. Nice! We hadn't even opened it yet. He also put a tiny hole in the new couch!

Yesterday, Hunter came up and he was wet. It smelled like pee and so I checked his diaper. It was dry. I asked how he got wet and he said, "Taylor did a pee pee on my clothes." I went to ask Taylor and he got this stupid naughty little look that he does all the time and says, "It was just an accident Mommy." Bull crap! You don't accidently pee all over your little brother. It was in designs for crying out loud... like he drew on him with his pee!

Then, today while I was getting Carter's stuff ready for school and all the little kids were eating he poured his bowl of cereal under the potty chair in the living room. I was so pissed when I found it all ground into the carpet.

I was going to wait to put him into preschool when Carter goes back to school after the Summer, but I am seriously considering putting him in full day right now. I can't stand all the messes and trouble he causes. He is constantly hitting the twins and making them cry and is always climbing onto everything to get snacks that I've told him he couldn't have.

I always wondered why when I went to school how some of the kids lived with their grandparents instead of their parents... well now I get it.

Melanie, if I ship you Taylor will you watch him until he learns how to behave? ;)

Sorry! I just had to vent for a minute. He is driving me BONKERS!

(Taylor I love you and I'm glad you're in my family! Just sometimes more than others!)

Typhoon Songda

Typhoon Songda did a number on the Air Force Base. It was classified as a category 5 a day before it hit, but by the time it hit land had come down to a category 4. We had secured our trampoline between 2 trees and had put 10 heavy sand bags on top of it. The winds were so strong that they pulled up one of the trees to which we had it tied. Then, me and Rhett just watched from the window as the wind destroyed it. It kept throwing it up in the air and bashing it against the ground until the metal broke. It folded over like a pancake. The kids were so upset when they woke up in the morning to find it broken.

We spent several hours the next morning cleaning up debris from the typhoon. We took apart the trampoline and separated it into the different recyclable piles. :( We then carried tree limbs to the curb for pick up. We drove around the base and saw the damage and were shocked to see how many trees were turned over or broken in half. We saw many sheds lying broken on lawns and even a few motorcycles that had been thrown into the road.

Other things that happened to friends was a couple trees that went though cars and even somebody that lived near a salvage yard had a refrigerator come through his car windshield. It's still kind of a mess, but everyone is helping in cleaning up the effects of the typhoon.

We lost power for 15 hours, but were lucky to get it fixed quickly. Others went without for a couple days.
We were sad to see all of our little trees snapped in half, but lucky that nothing came through any of our windows or patio doors.

It was a really wild storm and now I can honestly say that we survived a huge typhoon. Typhoon season just started so wish us luck for the next 3 1/2 months. :)

Here are a few pictures of the trampoline. I was just so bummed that we had just bought it last month. The kids played on it every single day so we will be saving for a new one after typhoon season is over. :)

All the legs were bent and it snapped several of the poles in half. :(

Sorry there are so many gaps in the writing. My pictures are acting odd today! :(

Carter and the Beanstalk

At school Carter made a beanstalk. He started from a tiny bean and wrapped it in a paper towel. He brought it home and was really disappointed because it was so tiny and some of the kid's were HUGE. Well, I took him outside and we grabbed some potting soil and planted those two beans. We watered it together and these beans would literally grow before my eyes. We would wake up in the morning and it had grown at least an inch. Anyway, Carter has loved having his beanstalk and was quite convinced that we would soon be able to climb up to the giant :) What a sweet boy!

This is after the first couple days-

Then, it just took off growing. You will notice after this picture there is only one bean. It was a sad tragedy that killed the other bean. We were playing football in the house... always a BAD idea.... and Carter missed the ball and it flew right into the cup. I thought we may lose them both, but this stalk was a real trooper and continued to grow for us! :)

This is after about the fourth day in the soil. It started to grow the leaves and Carter couldn't contain his excitement about it. We haven't had a lot of luck with growing ANYTHING so it was AWESOME to see this growing so well for us. Even the babies and Taylor loved to check on the progress of the beanstalk.

Well, at this point we felt that the beanstalk would do better outside. We both went out and picked the perfect spot for our little beanstalk. We got some more soil and planted it with love. It grew about another inch and last night was taken out by Super Typhoon Songda. We were very sad to see our little beanstalk, that had survived the football attack, laying on the ground all withered. :( Carter's words were, "That stupid typhoon ruined all my stuff." It also took out the trampoline. That was a sad moment for me. We have wanted to get one for the kids for two years and finally paid the $300 for it last month. Grr... first typhoon completely ruined it. Super bummer! Pictures soon to come. We are safe and that is what really matters. This storm was incredible. I have never seen anything like it. It took out so many full grown trees and snapped all the small trees we had in the yard. What a mess!!!

Temples in the Sand

We had our branch activity a couple weeks ago. It was called Temples in the Sand. They had all sorts of fun activities from making sand Temples to digging for Temple pictures in the sand. They had a great relay race and lots of food and fun. It was such a great time to get to know the branch a little better!

We love any excuse to head to the beach. It has been really heating up lately.

The Salt Lake Temple-

Me and Taylor in front of the island-

Mommy helping Ryker with the relay race. We had to run back and forth with that little cup and fill it up with water. Then, we ran it back to a big bucket to fill it up-

Taylor dashing out to the water to fill up the cup- He loved the race.

The little ones shooting water guns at each other-

Carter building his temple.

It was such a fun day. We had a picnic and lots of fun with our friends. We are thrilled to be able to play at the beach so often. What a great place we live in!

A thin veil?

Sometimes I feel that the veil between this life and the next is thin. Tonight was one of those nights-

I was putting Hunter and Ryker to bed when all the sudden they both got very excited, Ryker started shouting, "granpa, granpa." I kind of smiled and said, "What? Where's Grandpa?" To which they both pointed right up to the ceiling and continued chanting, "Dar Granpa. Dat light."

We were getting ready for bed so all the lights were out!

Honestly, it brought tears to my eyes. I really miss Ken and though I know he is watching out for my boys it really hit home hard. I wish so much that I too had the chance to see him. I guess I will get chance in time. I will just have to be happy with that thought and in knowing we will get to see him again someday! :)

This last week-

This last week has been really busy.

It started on Friday when Rhett took all the little boys on the father/sons camping trip at Torii Beach. They had a blast. (Pictures soon to come.) He only took a few pictures, but they had a great time playing on the beach and sleeping in a tent. That was the highlight. :) I also had a great time with them camping. I went to the Relief Society Cultural Exchange, took a long hot bath while watching a chick flick, slept in, and to top it all off went and got a pedicure in the morning. What a great break. Thanks Rhett!!!

I went upstairs to make sure all the kids were asleep and giggled when I saw this. Both babies had their fingers hanging through the door. :)

I just went back downstairs and finished the dishes. When I came back up I saw this...

He is such a sucker for these two. He loves snuggling babies and they tend to sleep in my bed way more than they should.

We separated the kids the other day and had a special date. Rhett took the big boys to the golfing range and I asked the little boys what they wanted to do. They wanted a pizza party and cartoons in "Mommies Bed." So that is exactly what we did. It was a fun date. They are growing up so fast and it was fun to spend some time alone with just the little guys. :)

Taylor has been cracking me up lately--

Here a couple funny things that he has said this week-

When we were waiting to pick up Carter from school a class was outside playing. They had a lot of girls and he was really watching them. :) He looks up and says, "Mommy, I'm going to marry 1000 girls."

To which I replied, "Why do you want to marry 1000 girls Taylor?"

He said, "So I can kiss them all... on the lips."

Yikes! I'm really going to have to watch this one.

Another funny thing he said this week while watching Rhett playing a video game. Rhett pulled out a lightsaber for the game. Taylor got really excited and said, "Yeah you look so cool like On One Kobe." Rhett just laughed and said, "Obi wan Kenobi"

He is such a funny little nut lately. I am sure glad he's in my family.

We also picked up another froggy potty and some big boy pants. The babies are excited to get started going pee pee in the big boys potty. Hopefully it will go smoothly. :)