Mickey Mouse clubhouse, come inside, it's fun inside.

 Abbey turned 3!!! She wanted a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday - not Minnie Mouse, definitely Mickey Mouse. Okie, dokie.

Come inside our clubhouse and play!

 Honestly, sometimes I amaze myself.... :)

 Decorated Mickey ears and played 'Pin the Ears on Mickey'

 Just so happens I have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Yahtzee game. Each time they rolled a Clubhouse or a Mickey, they got M&M's. It was hard to convince them to keep rolling to get more. All about immediate rewards. :) (and a sneak picture of my 'mom' friends.) Miss Erin and Amy

 Happy birthday dear Abbey!!!

 presents!

 Lucas and Lea made her a bunch of cards and pictures - sweet

 Blake, Ammon (aka 'Big' Ammon), Abbey and Ally

 Most of her gifts, kept Lea and Lucas busy too.

 Buzz Lightyear goggles and phone

 Grandma sent her a pretty sparkly backpack

Daddy bought her some sunglasses and she got a new swimsuit, cover up and swim shirt - ready for swim lessons! Love ya Abbs!

Zoo time!

Hoyt's invited us to the zoo on Stake Conference Saturday since both Jeff and Andrew were to be gone all day, we decided to have fun too! :) So Stacy and I and 7 kids under the age of 7......quite possibly bringing the zoo to the zoo.

 Giraffes were being fed on the other side of the habitat

 yea....for the zoo??

 Lucas wore the wrong sandals and they caused a blister before we even got in the zoo....Drew, Abbey and Lucas

 random peacock

LOVE the spider monkey exhibit

 Barbara wanted to go see the new Orangutang exhibit. A 'baby' - 5 years old, momma, dadda and the oldest orangutang at 50+ years old. Most lounged in the shade, but of course the 5 year old wanted nothing to do with sitting still - he was climbing, swinging and having a great time. Wonder if they would have noticed my red-head in there?!

 To the splash pad

 

 Lucas and his sweet friend Barbara, Drew

 Love the zoo now - out of that stroller!

 Abbey and Drew - not really sure what to say about these two - they're so fun together!

 where'd everyone go?

 'And then I did this, then that and my arms went like this.....!" crazy kid.

 brothers

friends

 Barbara and Stacy

 Back to the Orangutangs

 Caleb was DONE.

The kimodo dragon - this statue was close to the exhibit and on the way out. Lea caught a glance at it and jumped! Thought it was the real thing -  OUT. of it it's cage.....

Stacy assured her it was just a statue.......
Had a great time and the kids were exhausted!

While we were sleeping

 None of these photos are posed - this is how we sleep. :)

 Guess his teeth were bothering him and the crib side is as good a teething toy as any.

I went to find my camera, turned in on and found this picture. Nice. It was warm and I like to have my legs propped up - helps me sleep better. Guess Abbey felt the same way. :)
Probably the only picture Jeff has ever taken with our camera on his own - without my prompting. haha! :)

My sister rocks!

Now normally I would be talking about my kids and what great siblings they are to each other - for the most part. But I'm actually talking about my own sister. She's amazing, creative and very talented - well, they both are, but this one in particular today.

 A month or so ago, I painted the garage and the garage door leading to and from the house. At my sister's house, she has 'Return with Honor' and 'Out of the dreariness, into the cheeriness, come we in weariness, HOME'. I wanted something like this, but since my kids can't read (only Lea), words would be no use. What could I put there that would have meaning and they could still understand??

After searching several vinyl lettering blogs, I found a quote I liked and decided that CTR would be a perfect symbol for my kids to understand - they see it every week in church and more with the rings. Although Grandpa's says 'VDR' (not DVR misspelled, but VDR for CTR in Norwegian)......

I got this in the mail last week and put it up right away!

 Lucas walked passed and said 'Why does the door say 'Choose the Right?' That is so cool!" (silent victory - yes! and props to my sister)

This is what I see every time I drive into my garage. It's AWESOME! I love it! Can't really see the color, but it's the same as the CTR sign. The sun was setting and blazing through our garage windows and washed out any color in the garage. Plus my kids kept trying to open/close the door - had to be quick. :)

End of baseball

 The last day of baseball was chaos. Jeff had to be at the church because they were in the process of finding a new Stake Presidency and he had to be there for the interviews. I was on my own, not a problem, but the league kept changing the game times. When we showed up the game time changed, an hour later it changed again. Pretty soon I had 2 games at the same time and only one me.

Lucas game was only one inning, but he and Lea batted at the same time. Ran from taking a picture of Lucas batting to taking one of Lea on the other field - missed the hit, but got her running to first base. Also grateful the trophies were given to the coaches - no closing ceremonies like the league has done in the past - just awful and who really wants to come back a week later for MORE baseball......not.me.

   

Little Luke, Mason, McKinley, Lucas, Matt, Coach Steve, Ashlyn, Mackenzie, Tristan

 

 

 posing - in case you couldn't tell.....divas.

 Lea and Coach Banda

Coach Ricky, Gabbi, Evette, Della, Michael, Coach Banda

Desirea, Anthony, Valencia (Anthony), Lea, Alicia, David

Thanks coaches and good job teams!