Rainy Days

Rain Rain go away come again another day!!!! Friday night I was taking the YW on base to go swimming ( this is the second time that we attempted to take them swimming ) and it started to down pour. I just pulled up to the visitor's center and it was raining just a little bit. By the time I got out of the Visitors Center it was pouring. Because of the rain the girls did not get to go swimming (In the indoor pool. Go figure) But the Self Defense class that I signed everyone up for was still on (side note * Self defense was a ton of fun. I learned a lot. And I think that every women should take a class. The teacher has a very hands on approach to SD and I have the bruises to prove it. Not from the teacher but from Anna). The rain continued off and on all night and all Saturday. It cooled down enough for me to snap all these pictures of Ella but really 2 minutes later it was raining again. It rained so bad that it flooded half a lot of the roads in town. It reminded me of when I was living in Arizona and the rain would pour and pour and the roads would flood and you had to go 5 blocks out of your way to get past the flooded roads and get to where you really wanted to go to begin with. I felt bad for Nate, Tyler, Caleb, and Ryan because they were camping Friday night. The good part was we now know that the tent is waterproof. I like the rain it makes things so much nicer but I don't like doing my hair and having it get rained on.

Temple Trip and YW sleepover

Friday night I had the Young Women sleep over at my house. We all had a great time (I hope). They arrived at 4:00 and we were supposed to go swimming. But, the pool broke and we were not able to go. I found out about that about a hour before the girls came to my house. The ladies and I decided that we were going to just go for a walk instead. I didn't tell the girls that they weren't going to be able to go swimming so they all came in their suits. They decided that they were going to go outside and jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler on underneath it. I thought that they would never want to do that but they loved it. Then we put together our tin foil dinners. Mine burnt. The hamburger was so hard that I could not even poke my fork through it. As bad luck goes we almost had to cancel the walk because there were thunder storms pushing through. Because of the threat of that we ended up going to the bishops house and playing around the world ping pong for a while and then we went for our walk. It was the perfect weather for it too. It was nice and cool outside and because the trail is so close to the freeway we were able to get several truck drivers to honk at us.

After the walk we went back to my house and set up the tent, made smores and roasted star burst (the girls idea not mine but was actually tasty). We played some games together. We decided that we were going to go and heart attack and moon some of the girls that couldn't make it to the sleepover. So at one o'clock in the morning we cut out several hearts, jumped into the cars and headed over to decorate. It was a lot of fun. When we got back from that all of the girls went to bead while Sheryl and I just hung out in the living room until we thought that it was safe to toilet paper their cars and sneak up to the tent and scare the girls. The TPing was a success but the scaring the girls was not. Sheryl and I ended up staying up until 2:30 in the morning.

I got up and made some biscuits and sent my girls out to wake up the YW but they wouldn't get out of bed so Nate collapsed the tent down on them. Which then they promptly got out of the tent. The girls made the leaders breakfast. It was bacon, hash browns, and eggs cooked over coals in a paper bag. It would of been very successful but some of the bags burned up and the bacon burned onto the bottom of the bag. All in all the sleepover was a success and tons of fun too.

Saturday morning the primary went on a trip to the temple. They walked around the temple grounds, got their picture taken, and then had lunch. It was a neat experience for all of the kids. Nichole liked to see the fountain.

Natalie liked all of the pretty flowers.

Tyler liked the lunch the best.

Ella walking around the fountain.

Nichole didn't want to cooperate with the picture and I wasn't there to make her.

The last day of school

Thursday was the last day of school for the kids. Yes!!! I love summer break. I went to Tyler's award ceremony at his school. He took home an award for most AM (accelerated math) objectives mastered in his class. He mastered 72 this year. I asked the kids what they are going to miss most about school and what they love most about summer and this is what they said:

Tyler is going to miss math most and he loves playing on the computer.

Nichole is going to miss her friends and she loves that there is no school.

Ella is going to miss playing games in preschool and loves having pool time.

Natalie is going to miss her friends the most and loves that there is no school.

Tyler with his teacher Mrs. Harris
The teacher's put on a show for all of the kids at the school. First (below) they lip sang and danced to leader of the pack and then (above) they danced to YMCA.

More from Georgia

This is my last full day in Georgia. It was a bittersweet day for me. I was so excited to go home and see my family but I was so sad because I knew that it was going to be a long time until I saw Lesley again. Lesley practicing being a 1950's icon. Curler's and all.
Lou and her bestie Trista

Ava who I think looks just like JT. Everytime she would do something I would think. Well that is what JT would look like crying or that is what JT would look like throwing a fit.

Bella what a beauty

Kassy I can't believe that she was 6 weeks old when I met Lesley.

Aria my chubby little friend

Ella loved Trista and tells me how she wishes that we could go and play with her again tomorrow

These picture's were taken in Lesley's backyard. The trees there were so tall.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very packed weekend. Thursday night Nate's parents stopped by on their way to Oregon. They got here around 6 o'clock and we were able to visit with them for a few hours. They spent the night and left early Friday morning. Friday morning Tyler had field day at school. I did not get to stay very long but I did get to watch him run this fun race. The kids has to fill up a bucket with water by dunking a sponge in a bucket of water and running it 25 feet to another bucket. Which ever class got the most water in after every kid went won. Tyler's class won the race. He had such a fun time on field day.

Later that afternoon my parents showed up to spend the weekend with us. On Friday we mostly just hung out and visited. My mom and I did go clothes shopping and all of us went to get ice cream. Saturday morning we went to Boise. While in Boise we went to Home Depot. My parents bought me a door for my birthday. Now my bedroom is closed off (it was once a living room). Then we went to the Farmer's Market. There are these awesome bread sticks there. Yummy. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. They are made with garlic and pesto. They alone are the worth going to the Farmer's Market. After the Farmer's Market we went back to the house and my dad bbqed us up some steaks and shrimp. It was fantastic. The kids also entertained themselves by running through the sprinkler.

We let the chickens out to free range while we were in the front yard. The chickens just follow everyone around everywhere.

They let you pick them up

and they too ran through the sprinkler.

Early Sunday morning I sadly had to say goodbye to my parents.

At 10:30 that night Nate's parents once again arrived at our house to spend the night. Monday morning we hung out outside and I watched everyone play tether ball. The kids love playing with each other but within a few minutes someone has gotten hurt or cheated.

Before Nate's parents left we picked up a pizza and headed to the park to enjoy a picnic. And sadly shortly thereafter we had to say good-bye to Pam and David too.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out. We also had a BBQ. I made some very yummy fresh fruit salad. MMMM the joys of summer. All the fresh produce you can eat.

Just wanted to say Hey Y'all from Georgia

Ella and I got to go to Georgia last week. When we were about to load the airplane in Boise I gave Ella a piece of gum and told her that it was for her ears. She gave me a really weird look and asked me if she was supposed to put it in her ears. She was relieved to find out that she wasn't. We had a layover in SLC and when we were finally able to get onto the plane again I gave her another piece of gum and she said This is for my ears huh momma but not to put inside them. While we were waiting in line a worker from the airlines went in front of us and Ella started saying really loudly "Mom he's cutting. He's cutting mom. You aren't supposed to do that mom. Your not allowed to cut. Mom tell him not to cut." I had to explain to her what he was doing but She didn't fully believe me.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful friend that lets me interrupt her busy life to come and spend some time with her and her family. I have known Lesley for almost 10 years. She is such an amazing person. Thanks for making Georgia possible for me. And a big Congratulations to J.T. who has just graduated from Medical School. I am proud of you Dr. Hunt. Ella and I left Idaho at 11:30 a.m. Monday morning and arrived in Georgia around 7:30 p.m. All 5 of Lesley's girls came to the airport to pick us up. It has been a little over a year since I saw them all last. And oh boy have they changed. When you leave you always think that they are going to be just as big as the last time you saw them. But of course they have to grow. Tuesday morning we went to see Lesley's mom and Lesley got her hair done. After that we went to the mall. I got to eat at Chick fil A I haven't been able to eat there for a while. It was awesome. They had a fun fountain inside for the kids to try to play in.
Wednesday we went to a graduation lunchin for JT. It was at this fun little park. The kids had a lot of fun walking on this little trail before the lunch.

From Left to Right: Bella, Ava, Trista, Ella (which now sticks her tongue out all the time in pictures and drives me crazy) and Kassy.

Lesley's baby Aria at the Left end. This was the best picture that I could get of all of them.

Trista and Ella dancing on the bridge.

Lesley and I. I miss you already. And I wish that I was rich enough to go and see you at least once a month.

There was an ant pile that all of the kids liked to look at. Kassy's face is priceless. It is a face I see all of the time. The I am to old for this look.

Aria was not fond of me very much when I got to the house. By the end of this day she had kind of warmed up to me. By the end of the trip she was kissing on me. She is such a sweetie.

I can't believe how much Kassy and Bella have grown. Kassy is so funny like her dad but is so helpful and loving like her mom. She is a wonderful girl and so mature. Bella is a spitfire. She is full of this spunk that she can turn on and off whenever she pleases. She is so smart and has such a fun personality.

It was sprinkling outside a little bit. The girls loved playing with the umbrella's

And hiding under them.

Lesley was doing family pictures for her sister in law. This is how I tried to keep them entertained. I tried to tell them that really playing under an umbrella was fun.

Ava (the little girl by herself) is so funny. If you tell her to do something she will not do it but if you tell her not to do something them she will. When we went to the mall she had to go to the restroom. Lesley was having a hard time getting Ava to do anything. So Lesley told her "Ava do not dry your hands, throw away your paper towel and get in the stroller. You are not allowed to" She immediately dried her hands, threw her paper towel away and sat in her stroller. It was so funny to see.

At the mall Ella had a melt down. About 5 minutes into settling down she zonked out. She stayed up most of the trip until between 11 and 1 o'clock. She had a lot of sleep to catch up on.

On Friday J.T. watched all of the girls while Lesley and I went to the Atlanta Temple. It was such a nice brake from everything. It was a beautiful temple.

The girls played outside a lot. When we were on the plane I had told Ella how green Georgia is and when we were flying over Georgia getting ready to land she said "I know why it is so green it is because of all of the bushes." It is so beautiful and green there. Although all of the humidity does a number on my hair.

Ella and Trista were inseparable. Trista is such a sweet little girl. You can tell that she is really a peace maker and people pleaser. She is full of such a loving spirit.

Saturday we went bowling. It was fun. I think that Ella bowled better then I did.

Sunday was J.T.'s graduation. I am now friends with Mrs. Dr. J.T. Hunt. Graduation was very nice and very busy. I did not get to see much of the graduation ceremony because I took Ella, Ava, and Aria out when they started to get antsy. Aria fell asleep while Ella and Ava ran around. I forgot how hard it was to take 3 kids into the bathroom at one time.

On Monday Ella and I sadly had to leave Georgia. Lesley and Trista took us to the Aquarium and to the airport. It was great to be able to spend time with those two.

The Jellyfish were so much fun to look at. Ella loves fish so she was thrilled with in the aquarium. She oooed and awwed the whole time.

We got to pet manta rays and amenities.

Grace and Oz the sea otters were the kids favorite part.

But Lesley and I liked the Titanic exhibit that they had set up inside of the Aquarium. It was neat to see some of the stuff they were able to recover from the ocean floor.

Ella was so excited to get home. She was able to go on her first airplane ride, her first bus ride, and her first train ride all at the airports around the U.S. Thanks again Hunt family for letting us go and stay at your house.