Ward Campout

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to leave our warm, soft beds, running water, flushing toilets and electricty to go sit in the middle of the woods with stinky pit toilets, a cold hard ground to sleep on and very little refuge from rain. Funny thing is, I agree with the man, it is a good idea. All growing up our family went on yearly campouts and I would look forward to them all year long. This was the first time we went camping as a family and I'm kicking myself for not having done it more often. I forgot how fun it was, stressful with 3 kids, but fun. We got a bit of rain in the morning but didn't miss a beat.
We got up to camp at about 6 which was about an hour later then most got there. This meant we got the farthest parking spot and the farthest camping spot in the opposite direction. It was quite the trek to make trips back and forth and all too often it was for small little things. But once the stress of getting up there and setting up was over, we wished we were staying longer because it truly is so relaxing. The boys had a blast running amuck with all their friends swinging sticks, finding bugs, dancing with flashlights and basically anything to think of to ensure we couldn't recognize them underneath all the dirt they quickly layered on. They didn't go to bed until 10:30 but once they were out, we had a hard time getting them to wake-up in the morning. Kalei did pretty good, we had her pretty well bundled so she was nice and cozy. She was the only baby up there so she had plenty of attention. I thought she'd have a hard time sleeping but she did great.
We're definitely planning a family trip next year.
Here's to being voluntarily homeless!
The boys with their bestest buds

Carson and Brayden
Carson lives across the street from us and if he and Brayden go a day without seeing eachother they start to go through withdrawls.

Tavita and Zachary
Zach was Tavita's accompice in the sandcastle constrution project. I could seriously sit and watch these two all day and be completly entertained.
Smore Lessons

Dear Brother Wiblin is from South Africa and didn't have a clue as to how to make a smore. Junior graciously took on the task of being mentor and the two of the rustled up some mean treats!
Trapped

At first look you see Junior and Brayden. Look on the ground between the two and you see Tavita all tangled up in the ropes tethering the tent. Being the great mom I was I was too busy laughing and taking pictures to help him out.
Trekin to the Car

One of the many long treks to the car. Tavita kept this get-up on for quite some time, stick was in hand for 95% of the trip
Brotherly Love

Just needed this as proof that they do love each other for those days in the future where they insist they don't.
Flashlight Fun

Brayden and his friends had a blast running around creating light shows with their flashlights. Every so often they'd stop and trade flashlights apparently each unique glow of the flashlight was essential to each of their shows.
My favorite time of day!

We were quite cozy

Can anyone spot Kalei? She is in there and despite the way this picture looks, she could breathe just fine.
Boys and their friends

B-dawg with his homies

Campfire fun

These two were serious inseperable the whole time.

P.S. I finally posted a couple of older post behind Junior's birthday post!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Here's a shout out to the greatest daddy in the world. Thanks hone for always being our rock. Nothing stops you. no matter how busy you are with work, church and the house you always take the time to play with the kids and let them know how important they are to you. Like I've said many times before, you're a better mom then I am. If I'm gone for the night, the kids are fed, all played out, bathed, and the house is cleaned. Your the BESTEST!!!

Playtime

So this morning Tavita decided it was time for Kalei to learn the proper way of playing. Enough with whimpy little toys attached to her bouncer, she need the real stuff. Funny thing was she really enjoyed it. She sat there exploring the thing for quite some time even though it weighed as much as she does. Her brotehrs were sure to show her all the cool things it does!



Tavita and I were in the garden collecting out bounty when he found a huge cucumber. He was so proud of it and was carrying it all around the yard with him. We went into the garage and saw Brayden's bike sitting there. Tavita has a strong determination to conquer this bike even though he can't reach the pedals. Everytime he passes it he has to climb on and attempt to pedal. Well we were walking in and he climbed up and called my name. I looked to see him sitting there so proudly and looked even closer to find he had slid the cucumber in the water bottle holders.


We BBQ some burgers for dinner the other night. The boys love when we grill because they think our smoker/grill looks like a "choo choo" when the smoke comes out of the flume. Well on this particular night they decided they were firefighters and used their hightech "hoses" to put the fire out.

Proof!!!

Okay, I now have roof that Junior throws our kids in trash cans (see earlier post) or at least hampers anyway!
As soon as Junior walks in from work the boys run to him wanting to fight or "fufu" as Tavita calls it. (The Samon word is "fusu")Within minutes my house turns into chaos as the three run through the hosue yelling, screaming, bumping and thumping. Junior is the worst of them all. He runs screaminng this giddy little laugh and if you try to ask him something you get half an ear (if your lucky) and then he's right back to wrestling. Yeserday during their throwdown fest this was Junior's dumping spot and the boys thought it was hillarious. I think this afterwork ritual will become one of the boys fondest memories!

Sandcastles and Suggestions

So today was one of those days where I forgot my camera and was kicking myself for doing so. We went to our ward's weekly playgroup at the park. The have a sand volleyball court that the kids love to dig around and play in (I'm sure the v-ball players greatly appreciate the mounds and holes everywhere!). Today they also happened to have the sprinklers going a ways off from the sand. The kids got a brillant idea in their heads that if they could somehow transport the water from the sprinkler to the sand they could build some killer sandcastles. What better to carry water in then a plastic bag that at one point was holding our graham crackers (they instantly needed to those as soon as they got the idea). The older boys initially did the bag filling but figured it was a wet dirty job they no longer wanted. They nobley passed the job on to Tavita and another little boy in the ward. These too are two peas in a pod. Both little half-pints but stocky, full of energy and mishcief, and always want to be involved. They LOVED the assignment. It was so stinkin cute to watch their two little heads bobbing along as they ran from sprinkler to sandbox faithfully carrying out their duties. Everytime the older boys needed more they'd hand the bag off to Tavita and Zach and off they'd run laughing the whole way. Oh how I wish I could have gotten a picture.
Quick sidenote. Brayden's preschool is a 15-20 minute drive from our house. I know it's not long but I hate driving all the way back home only to have to turn around and drive back 1 1/2 hours later. Any ideas of what I could do to fill time. There's a nice little park nearby that I take Tavita to play on. He enjoys it but gets kind of bored after awhile when I'm busy with Kalei and he has to play on his own. I also try to get shopping done during that time but we'll go broke if I just casually shop 2 days a week while trying to fill time.

Too Fast!!!

Our little LeiLei is growing up way to fast! She's barely 3 months and today she sat unassisted. I was playing with her upstairs and she felt really sturdy while she was sitting. I let go and sure enough she sat for a good 30 seconds before falling over. I thought it was a fluke so tried again and again and she kept sitting there looking around so proud.


Tavita has finally started saying his name today, or should I say singing it. I was calling him inside and he comes up drumming on a make shift drum singing, "Vita, Vita, Vita." I asked him, "Who are you singing about." He got a big grin and said, "ME!!!"

We had a busy day today. Primary activity in the morning, BYUH alumni fundraiser in the afternoon and stake picnic in the evening. The boys had an absolute blast at the picnic. They had some inflatable slides there and we barely saw them for the whole 2 hours we were there.
Kalei staying cool at the picnic

My boys!

Sister Beasley!!!

Our neighbor two doors down from us is the best neighbor anyone could ever ask for. She has a constant watch on the neighborhood and always knows when you stand in need of something. Over the two years we've been here the boys have adopted her as a third grandma. It's the perfect situation because her grandsons are far away and their grandmas a far away. They fill each others voids. We have spent many a days on her front lawn while the boys play with her two awesome dogs Jet and Jaro and pull daring stunts like riding down her driveway on the snowboard her son converted into a skateboard. A day is not complete without a visit to her house to say hi to the dogs and grab a hug and a treat from Rachel. We rarely have them sitting with us at church because their usually one row up with her. One time we were at the park and she came walking through to find Brayden pouting under a tree because he was hungry and we had forgotten snacks. Next thing we know she came pedaling back on her bike with a bag of snacks for him to enjoy. Needless to say the boys LOVE Rachel or "Beebees" as Tavita has deemed her.
Yesterday was her birthday and the boys spent a good chunk of time making a cute little card for her. Brayden drew a picture of her and glued two lips next to the drawing. He told me, "These are my lips and these are Sister Beasley's becuase I'm giving her a big kiss for her birthday." They also traced their hands on the back since that's their little thing they do each week in church. We went to go drop the card and some goodies off at her house but much to the boys dismay she was gone. They kept going out and checking throughout the day. Tavita decided to protest and sat on the curb just staring down the road in hopes she would come. Brayden soon joined in and were out there for quite some time. Who knows how long they would've waited if we hadn't called them in. They were so sad they were going to miss her birthday as they got ready for bed. Suddenly Tavita started running "Beebees home, Beebees home." He and Brayden went tearing out the door and were there before she even had the chance to get out of the car. After a big birthday hug the boys went of to bed happy and content. With family being so far away I'm so grateful to have such awesome neighbors!