Big truck day

Just down the road from us there was a "Big Truck Day"  a couple of weeks ago. There were fire trucks, dump trucks, garbage trucks, airport fire trucks (which are way different than normal ones), street cleaners, recycling trucks... you get the picture. They were all opened up so that the kids could go and sit in any of them, push the buttons, and have a good time. Carter really got into it and both our kids love their new firehats!

Computer update

So, our computer is currently under repair by a friend of ours. It seems that the hard drive finally crashed and with an adapter he is hoping to be able to save all of our precious photos from the last three years! Please keep your fingers crossed for us. In the meantime he is installing a new hard drive and a memory stick. Hopefully we get that back soon and then we will be up and blogging again.


In the meantime, here are a few photos of Andi that my friend Heather took last week. Don't mind my daughter's watermelon streaked shirt, dirty little thing, but still cute. Plus, she wouldn't cooperate. We just wanted her to hold the dandelions out so that they would catch the sun... instead she demolished every single one of the 20 or so that we gave here... a few even ended up in her mouth. Thanks for the pix Heather! Sorry she wouldn't cooperate. Can't wait to do a session over the break!

No posts

So, some of you may be wondering where my posts are. Ok, probably not, but I am going to tell you anyways. It all has to do with the week from you know where (h-e-double hockey sticks). That was last week. It all ended with our computer all but crashing. It shuts down after being on for less than a minute, literally. So, I can't upload pictures or even check email or post. Any suggestions? I have heard that the bottom may need to cleaned out or that the hard drive might need to be cleaned out. All of which, I am sure, will cost more than the computer is actually worth. I'll keep you posted, actually, probably not until it's fixed.

.random.

So, first of all I have two words for you: Michael Phelps. If you did not stay up until midnight watching him a couple of nights ago make world history, you missed out! It was worth every minute of sleep I was missing and every tired moment the next day. I absolutely love the Olympics. I literally have it on all day, my poor kids. Even at 2 in the afternoon when the only thing on is boxing or baseball, it's on. I feel so American and proud of it when I watch. Carter has started singing the Olympic theme song (dum, dum, du dum, dum, dum, dum) and I love it.

Next, every woman should own a pair of designer jeans. Now, I do not wear expensive clothes, I can't afford it, first of all, and second of all, it is not practical. Picture mom on the floor all day, crawling around, snot, spit up, tears all over her shirt, dirt, water, spilled milk, you get the picture. However, if you slip on a nice pair of jeans, you instantly feel better.... yes, I am that shallow. But really, it makes a difference, and a nice pair is totally different than a $20 pair. Not that there is anything wrong with the $20 pair because I have plenty of those, but a nice pair holds it shape and makes you feel like a million bucks. They make every outfit look better. Some day I am going to open a jean shop called "Dani Jean" (ps, that's my name) and it will be designer jeans at real mom prices. Keep your eyes open. In the mean time, go and treat yourself to a new pair of jeans.

Carter learned his name!

Well, he's known his name was Carter from about month one of his life, but he just learned his last name. Ask him "What's your name?" And he'll say, "I'm Carter Harmon." It's pretty cute, especially the way he says his "r", or not say it, as the case may be.

I'm feelin' hot hot hot!

It's 97 degrees and only 3:00 right now. I know, some of you in hotter climates are thinking that probably sounds pretty nice. It's not. To stay out of the heat we headed to the Children's Museum with our friends, Carolyn, Isaiah and Ava. It is such a fun kid's haven. For those of you who haven't been there, you need to go.

Carter loved the mini stage where you got to dress up, play with the sounds and lights, and be on tv:

The dressing room was a face painting studio. Carter thought it was great that Mom was okay with him drawing on his face. Not sure what we are teaching him here, but he thought it was great at any rate and made us all happy all morning:There are a ton of different nooks and crannies to this museum. There was a clay studio, a construction zone, a doctor's office, a dig pit, everything with hands on and plenty of bells and whistles. Here they are driving the bus. There was an actual bus stop and tables with tons of wood tracks and trains. We spent the majority of the time in the "store." It was set up just like a real store with food for sale and conveyor belts and check out stands. The kid sized carts were a huge hit. Anyways, there was a ton of stuff and we had a great time out of the heat. We finished with lunch at the little picnic tables and headed home for naps.

Whirlwind reunion

This past weekend we went down to Twin Falls, ID for Jefferson's 10 year high school reunion. Crazy!! It really was. Jefferson couldn't really take too much time off from school, and I couldn't take much time off from work. We still wanted to make the trip worth it though, so we left at 4 am on Friday morning, thinking, "It's dark outside, and early. The kids are bound to fall right back to sleep in the car." Not so. They only slept for 30 minutes on an 8 hour drive. They were angels, just sat and ate their snacks and watched movies, but I feared the tiredness would catch up with them and make them cranky. It hasn't so far.

We got to spend all of Friday afternoon there, and we filled our time up. We stayed with Jefferson's aunt and uncle and family, the Longs. When we pulled in, Jefferson's Aunt Diane had lunch ready for us. Immediately following, we went swimming. After swimming, Jefferson's sweet cousin Taylor watched Carter and Andi so we could go jet skiing with the older cousin boys, Tyler and Tyson. It helped that the Long's basement is a theater with stadium seating couches and a projector and all. Carter got to watch a movie, so he was pretty happy. Then there was dinner and an early bedtime for the kids, after which we went and played with our friends.

Saturday was equally as packed. We got to see Jefferson's grandma for a little bit in the morning. Then there was the reunion bbq. They had a lot of fun things set up for the kids, including water balloons and a bounce house. There was lots of yummy food, fun reminiscing, and great music (all late 90's and I knew every word to every song). The best part, however, was that Jefferson has only seen a couple of his closest friends from high school, so the majority of the people at the reunion he hasn't seen in the last 10 years. Most of you have only known Jefferson since we have been married, but premission, Jefferson weighed 80 pounds more than he does today. You would not recognize him, and most of the people at the reunion did not recognize him. He would go up to people he knew and would shake their hand. They would give him a courtesy "hi" and shake, look at the name tag and then would always say, "No way!" or "What?!" The look of surprise was always so priceless. I am pretty sure more than a few girls were eyeing him too. I was pretty glad I was the lady on his arm. :)

Between the bbq and the "dinner" that night we got to go through the Twin Falls temple open house. It is so beautiful. I don't know how people tour the temple and not feel the spirit. It was fun to get to take my little kiddies through too. Jefferson's grandma led the tour and gave us all sorts of extra tid bits about the temple, like, where some of the paintings came from and what some of the designs in the temple represent. It was amazing.

Tiffany, Taylor, and Alli helped with the kiddies while we got ready for the dinner. The dinner was at this winery in Buhl that was absolutely breathtaking. It was mostly just mixing and mingling. There was a slide shoe and yummy food, then some "awards." Afterwards we went and hung out with a bunch of friends and ordered pizza. We sat around and talked and laughed till we cried (multiple times). It was a fun night. We rolled in at 2am and then took off the next morning at 7am. Short night. (I didn't get any pictures with anyone, so Kacey, if you read this, will you please send me pics of the bbq? Thanks!) We stopped in Boise for breakfast with Jefferson's dad, brother Josh, and sister-in-law Jen. Carter discovered that he loves trampolines. It was fun to see them all, if only for a few hours. Then it was back home and back to the grind. I love the summer time!

Play dough, and storytime, and movies, oh my!

Just a few more happenings from this last week. The kids love playing with their play dough that Aunt Sumo bought them. Andi only eats a little of it usually.

We continue to do the Wednesday activities at the library. This week it was a clown. Carter sat up front, away from Mom, by his friends, Galla and Isaiah. I might have got a little teary as he broke away from his mommy. He laughed the whole time. Andi got a kick out of the clown too. He did lots of balloon tricks, had a big stuffed dog puppet, and did some magic tricks. What more could you ask for?

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays our theater does a free G-rated movie for kids in the morning. We decided to give it a whirl with low expectations. I armed myself with popcorn, licorice, drinks, and tootsie rolls and hoped for the best. Carter was in awe from the moment we entered the theater. He liked how dark it was and the lights that lined the walkways. Then, when he saw the huge screen and got to sit in a booster seat, he thought that was great. He sat next to his friend Isaiah, who was a perfect example. I'm not sure he needed it though, Carter was glued to the movie. He just sat there with his popcorn in his lap and watched the entire show; "Everyone's Hero." Andi even did pretty well in my lap. She and her friend Logan shared snacks and remained pretty content. It was a great experience and the kids thought they were pretty special. Great job with your first real trip to the movies kiddies!

Summer, summer, summer time!

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so. Last weekend we went down to the the Sandy River with some friends and bbq'd. We couldn't keep our kids out of the water, or the sand out of Andi's mouth. A little lead is good for the blood, right? We had a really good time with our friends.

This is Ty. He is in love with Andi. And we have to give a shout out to him. He just took second place in the Highland Games here in Portland a couple of weekends ago (picture strong man competition). We were out of town and had to miss it, but we understand he should have taken first. We can't wait to see him in it next year and take the title.

The kids love it when Daddy comes home. Here they are winding down in the evening with a little milk and movie.

Here is Carter playing at home. He opened our computer case and pretended like it was a seat belt. Pretty creative, I thought.

And yes, here is Andi's hair in ponytail holders! My little girl is turning into... a little girl! She looks so dang cute with them in. She usually finds them and yanks them out, but it's worth a shot.