JAMBO!

 Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday......thanks for inviting us, happy birthday to you!! :) I love these party places, but we're too cheap to pay for them, so it's nice when the kids are invited to their friends parties. Even more fun when it's the whole family!!

 

Spinning Monkey Barrels: BEFORE we start spinning - similar to the tea-cups

  Let the spinning BEGIN!

 Lucas did NOT love the spinning - you could see his eyes roll back and face go white....time to stop the barrel from the extra spinning.

 Lea didn't mind at all - she would have spun faster if Lucas wasn't about to barf all over us.....

Now this next ride seemed quite simple - all it did was go around in a big circle with a few ups and downs. No big twists or turns, not spinning......but it definitely give your stomach a turn or two. I wasn't going to ride, but Abbey wanted to ride and needed someone to ride with, plus I was going to 'be brave'......

 Brianna, Lea, Lucas - before the ride starts

 and......during - I was in the car in front of them, trying not to lose my camera or my lunch.

 Michelle wanted to ride (Brianna's little sister), so again I rode with her to 'be the brave one'. Again I about lost my lunch and if you're on the outside, you get jammed into the side of the car along with anyone else sitting by you. I thought these two would be done after the first ride....NOPE. Gotta ride as many times as the big kids.....blah.

 Thankfully Alex came to save me and I convinced Abbey it was time for another ride. :)

 The Ferris Wheel is a nice slow ride

 Then the good stuff - check out cute cupcakes, cake pops for Hyrum (1- Sesame Street) and Michelle (4 - My little pony). I wish I'd gotten a better picture of the yummy goodness - Alex made them all. She's amazingly talented and always throws a great party!

 Seriously we didn't get enough the first time - back to the ride....Jeff's turn and my turn to watch with Ammon.

Ammon size rides:

 Ahh the airplanes - up/down, around in circles, all while the operator texts his friends....awesome.

 watching the ride

One more ride of spinning - this time we each got our own. I rode with Abbey only because I wasn't sure they'd let her ride alone. So I got in too.

Happy birthday Aitkens!!

Home again, home again

 3 weeks on the road, 3500+ miles,  more hours in a car than I care to count and a full loop of the Western states......we finally headed home. I think these pictures are of Flagstaff area.

 Finally home around 11 pm and it's 102 degrees........ugh, really?? 

The next day we ventured into this jungle called our backyard. This is what happens when the HOA tells us to 'revive our dead lawn'. You're welcome!!!

 I mean, really, you could lose someone in there.....or something.

 Follow the leader to find your path back home.

 makes me itch all over.

Here's my amazing husband, rocking out to his tunes and taking down the beast of a yard - it's a really nice green..... :)

 That one doesn't look too happy.....

 Oh there's the dance moves! And while Daddy dances.....we watch.

Ammon learns to walk (remember this is still August)

 Lucas plays with dolls, Abbey poses and Lea is hiding out in her room just because she can. It was an amazing adventure this year - can't wait for next year!

Good-bye friends!

 We were gearing up to leave Idaho at a VERY early hour, so the kids said good-bye the night before.

 Aren't they just stinkin' cute little friends!? Abbey and Jonas

 Hannah and Lea

 girls

 seriously, how cute are those two!? :)

 take 1.......

 take 2.....a little better.

 Lucas parted ways in tears cuz he left his 'precious' something outside and HAD to have it just.then.

 Best buds: Eli and Lucas

So long Webbs, until next year. :)

Ribgy Lake - part 2

After looking at the pictures from the day, Debbie says "Jeff, I think there is a picture of you with every kid crying." Let's see if there is:

Exhibit 1: Ammon in tears - not a big fan of the cold water above ankle high.

 Quite the distance and height!

 Exhibit 2: Lea in tears - she landed the throw wrong.

 Abbey's having fun!

 Exhibit 3: Abbey's not having so much fun. To be fair we were trying to get her to swim to me.

 Proof I was actually there.

 Exhibit 4: Lucas flying through the air - he came up in tears, just no photographic evidence of it. :)

 Paisley came to visit us too - she's a sweet little one. Very Zen-like.

 Kaibrey was NOT going to look at me. Kaibrey and Sharolyn

 And some kids who love their daddy:

 Abbey wanted to go back to the slide: she loved it!! By this time in the day, there was a LARGE group of teenagers out on the slide. They were crowding the slide and touching everyone going down. I was nervous for her to go out there, but they were all nice enough to back away when they saw the 'little girl' at the top of the slide. Good, cuz mama bear was going to have her way if they even pretended to touch her.

 Eli went one more time but only to get a picture and that. was. it.

 Jeff and Eric when for a swim out to the island.

 When the police came to settle a dispute among the teenagers, it was time to go. Rigby Lake, thank you for a beautiful day! Best 5 bucks ever spent.

Scene from the movies

You know the part in a movie when 2 people are saying good-bye and one is walking across the street, then turns back for one last glance and out of nowhere.......BAM. Bus. Person in the street is wiped clean from the scene.

I had one of those days recently - it was awful. Here I was walking along in my life thinking everything was hunky dory and BAM - except no bus, it was a MAC truck. What I thought I had been doing for the past few years and most recently months (things I thought were helping and 'doing the right thing'), was not. 

The saying 'Ignorance is Bliss' comes to mind. Well, ignorance is NOT bliss.

IGNORANCE IS BLIND.

I was ignorant to my surroundings and ignorant to the fact that I was trying too hard to do it all - do it all by myself. I didn't need help and what I was trying to do by 'helping', was not help at all. I had single-handedly, alienated myself from my spouse. I had convinced myself that 'just doing it myself' was easier than waiting around because he was 'too busy' with work and church, I'd just take care of it. In the process, I was exhausting myself and saving nothing but harsh words for our kids and spouse.

I assume that everything will be back to 'normal' the next day - all is forgiven, all is forgotten, all is still here where I left it the day before. What I wasn't doing was appreciating those around me. I took for granted - for a very long time that my family, my home, my everything would still be there tomorrow. That if I just did what was minimally expected of me, then we'd all survive another day. We wouldn't thrive or get better, we'd just survive.

The day after the MAC truck, I felt empty, like a lump of coal resided where my heart/soul used to be. I was in a fog, and even the 9, 1-5 year olds didn't bring me out of it. I was lost, then I lost it (even more) with my 8 year old when she refused to tell her brother she was sorry for treating him poorly on the school bus.......what was my excuse?? I didn't have one, but at least I had done something that day - something more than feel that empty part of me, even if I did fill it with unwarranted rage.

So as I read other blogs about their 'word' for the year, mine came to me one still quiet moment:

CHERISH.

Cherish everything for what if tomorrow it's all gone?? Cherish my spouse - he works hard for us, but is never too busy for us, for me. He commented that he still hasn't figured me out. Another answer came: a cousin's spouse posted this link on facebook. 5 Love Languages 

We all thrive differently and maybe we should be wearing signs that tell others how to properly treat us: Mine would say: "Handle with care - fragile self esteem. Can be easily built up with a simple: job, well done."

So my word is this: CHERISH. Cherish my children - not every day is perfect, I don't expect it to be. I'm not perfect. Tell them I love them, I'm proud of them, I want them to be happy. I promise to be better tomorrow.

Cherish my spouse: I love him; I need him; I want him by my side, in the trenches with me on a daily basis - forever. I promise to be better tomorrow.

Cherish my friends: for some day I will have to move and start all over. Or they'll move first.

Cherish my parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews, grandparents, for tomorrow may be their last or mine. Never let a loved one out the door without telling them you love them.

Cherish the stranger on the street - I don't know their life, I don't know their struggles, but it's not my job to judge them. It's my job to give them a kind smile and try to see them how God does. That's my job with everyone I know - treat them how God would want me to treat them, treat them how I wanted to be treated. To be appreciated, to be wanted, and to be loved.

Cherish the Savior - I took for granted He'd be there too. He is, but I have to actually ask, to pray and another answer came: 

“God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as he always has. But he can't if you don't pray, and he can't if you don't dream. In short, he can't if you don't believe.”

― Jeffrey R. Holland

Cherish.