Sweet Memories

On June 20, I was able to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday with her. My mom flew down from Alaska, my Aunt Jan came from Northern Idaho, and I came from south eastern Idaho. We left Ivan with Ty's parents in Milton-Freewater, and spent the day in Cove, OR (I linked it to a map just in case you were wondering where it was, because I certainly didn't know where it was before I went there) to visit Grandma's sister, Pat. Quite honestly, I was a little apprehensive about the visit with the "old ladies". My great Aunt Pat was always at our big events (graduations, weddings, mission farwells, etc..) but I didn't really know much about her and hadn't said much to her other than, "thanks for the nice graduation gift." I dont' know what I was so worried about because we had a wonderful time! We laughed and talked and cried and laughed some more. I was shocked at how much spunk is left in those two great grandmas! Grandma and Pat shared stories of their childhood and teased eachother for remembering things wrong. We just visited for hours and then they drove us to the neighboring town where they grew up. We saw the house where they lived, the church they attended, and the cemetary where their parents were burried. We also ate a the historic Union hotel. Neither Grandma or Pat ever went there as children but they claimed that they walked by it every day. The day was filled with so many sweet memories, and I'm so grateful I got to be apart of that special celebration of my grandma's life.

This is why...

This is why Ivan was crashed under the exit sign in the hallway of the hotel...

He's been...
Visiting good friends
Sneaking cookies at Grandma Murray's house

Shopping with Grandma Gasaway
Pretending to be an octopus
Flying to the space needle
Entertaining tired traveling adults
Riding a "Big Dog kindof like Clifford"
Supporting street performers
Pushing his way through a very crowded Pike Place Market
Watching the Mariners beat the Padres 4-3
Waiting for the thousands of people at the Mariners game to clear out before we even attempted to leave Riding in "Mater" (from Cars) with Uncle Kyle
Swimming at Poppy's house
Cruising with Grandma and Poppy on the motorcycle

Just Peachy

On Sunday of last week Ty was hoping we would come home early...it didn't happen.

On Tuesday Ty asked me to come home early...it didn't happen.
On Wednesday Ty tried to bribe me to come home early...
I told him if he planned something amazingly wonderful and romantic for a welcome home surprise that I would come home early, and....
it happened!

I only shortened my trip by a day and a half, but that's alot for a lonely bachelor. I have to admit that sometimes I don't look forward to coming home from a trip because it is so much work to adjust from vacation back to real life (laundry, errands, cleaning, fixing meals, etc...), but to my astonishing surprise, most of that was done before I arrived.

When I came up the stairs I saw a note addressed to "General Mandy" on the door.

I thought either Tyrel thinks of me as authoritarian General (like in the military) and I was getting a hate note, or that he had a Heroscape game set up for us to play (`cause that's exactly what I'd want to do the minute I got home from a ridiculously long car trip :( not really!) After long, happy hugs and kisses at the door I walked in to see this...

in a clean apartment!

WOW!

There was something unusual about this map... it was covered with peach rings!

I was feeling curious.....

Under each peach ring there was a tiny number.

Then Ty explained to me that I wanted to collect as many "energy stones" (aka peach rings) as possible because there were surprises attached to each one... I was intrigued and consented to play -- even at the ridiculous hour of 12:30 am (after spending about 10 hours on the road earlier that day). I think I did pretty well...

I got 12 of the 20 energy stones. I couldn't wait to find out what my surprises were....

Can you?

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I call them my HAPPY COUPONS :)

1. Children's Books date at the library
2. Go out for dinner
3. Coupon for new shorts
4. Floor mopped by husband
5. Evening at the temple
6. Dishes done by husband
7. Movie night (my choice)
   
8. Minimum of 3 weeks of Dokapon Kingdom date (my favorite wii game-you play a week at a time...so 3 weeks equates to about 45 minutes to an hour. This is a treat because Ty is kind of burned out on the game and I always want to play)
9. Coupon for new flip flops (YEAH!!!)
10. Toilet cleaned by husband
11. 20 minute foot massage
12. --------------CENSORED----------------- ;)
    

Isn't he great?
It was a fantastic welcome home surprise. I love how much he thought that game through. I love that he did something so fun and romantic, but in his own special way... there is nothing typically romantic about my husband... and that's why I love him!

Thanks Boyo!!!

One Pooped Puppy!

More details later.....

A New Favorite

Ty found Hot Tamale Popsicles at the grocery store yesterday and he claims their a new favorite. I personally think they're a little weird and when Ivan ate one, he instantly started drooling and breathing really hard and kept repeating over and over, "It doesn't feel good Tyrel! It doesn't feel good!" To my surprise, he asked for some more when Ty took it away. What a funny boy!

We had another chuckle this morning when Ivan got a spoonful of hot oatmeal and spilled it on his other hand en route to his mouth and said, "Ow! Mom, the oatmeal bite me!"

Spontaneity

My very good friend Danica and here kiddos came to visit from Colorado on Monday. She could only stay for a day so I felt like we had to squeeze in maximum amounts of fun. I told her that we should go swimming at Green Canyon, (a local hot springs), and she insisted that there was not enough time to go out there and then get the kids to bed. Of course I whined until I got my way, and she agreed to go along with my spontaneity. On the way out there, I decided to try taking a short cut to the springs, but really just ended up driving around and wasting time....I'm glad my friends put up with my crap. We eventually made it

and enjoyed splashing around with the kids.

Lily was a little dare devil and jumped in whenever she could whether someone was watching or not.

Ivan attached himself to Jen as usual.

Jensen sure liked to climb out of the pool but wasn't too keen on jumping back in.

Ivan's not really licking me, but it looks like he is. I'm glad there were a few sets of adult eyes to keep track of all the little ones. I think Jen, Danica, and I all had to rescue one of the kids at one time or another. Thanks for going with me girls...I love doing things in the spur of the moment like that.

Camping

We discovered a camp ground about a half mile away from our house this last weekend...we've lived here for almost 3 years, you think we would have found it sooner. It's a nice little

spot hiding behind the nature park called Eagle Park (I think). The great news is that the rain stopped just long enough for us to enjoy the park and get home. Besides Ivan waking up at 2:00am and freaking out, it was a fantastic camping trip. Randy made delicious campfire food as usual and the boys seemed to enjoy themselves. I was always a little nervous because the little boys spent a lot of time swinging the hatchet at a log...but all was well and no legs were chopped off!

Sledding In June

Last week Ivan and I went to Declo, ID to hang out with my brother Randy's kids. For Family Home Evening we went up into the mountains and found a friendly snow drift to go sledding on. It was quite a fun time...we took laundry baskets and camping mattresses for sleds...a little crazy, but well worth it!

While I was visiting, I dyed Randy's hair and his boys were feeling left out, so we turned Brett brown and Garret blonde.

Jesus wants me....

When I asked Ivan if he was ready to get out of the tub this is how he responded.....

"Jesus wants me to stay in the bathtub"

(to the tune of Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam)

What a weird kid!

Wives say the darndest things!

So last night I had to stay up pretty late to study for midterms, write a paper, outline a chapter of one my texts and take notes on the readings to use in class. Needless to say between classes and working 30+ hours a week, the late hours of the night are my only homework opportunities every once in a while.

After finishing half of my homework and not wanting to start a paper, I decided to check on my midterm grades for one of my classes. The class I was checking on had a really intense midterm and I had actually forgotten to study a huge section of the test. Clicking on the mouse button like it might sting me at any second, I was amazed to see that I had gotten an 88% on my test. I was ecstatic!

I woke up Mandy and told her about my test score, and she mumbled something undecipherable. I asked her if she heard what I said, and she responded affirmatively. I then asked her to repeat what I said. I kid you not this is what she told me. "You said that you got the recipe, so that you could get to the place faster."

I died laughing and she really woke up. Wide eyed and scared. She looked at me for two seconds and then closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. I must say that being married is truly a blessing. You get to see a side of a person that no one else is privy too. And sometimes that side is gutbusting hilarious!

I love this! I want Ivan to be a master pianist someday!

Ice Cream Truck

Ivan had his first experience with an ice cream truck Saturday evening. It was pretty hilarious! We heard the music and Ty swooped him up in his arms as he ran out the door and yelled back to me to grab some cash. I think that's the most I've ever paid for two popsicles, but it was worth it for the experience. Ivan picked the spiderman popsicle (I wonder where he gets his love for super heros) and loved every messy bite of it. Most of it ended up on his face or my floor!