Saturday August 13

We did a bit of bed hopping last night.

After Port fell asleep, Cass was having a hard time sharing a bed with Elsie because they were both moving so much.

So I threw Port in with Elsie and Cass on the couch bed.

Then Port woke up in kind of a daze at like 4:30 and would not lay back down.....I think he was still asleep.

He has been doing that lately.

The other night he woke up and I laid him back down and then he said "Mom, can I just ask you one thing?  What just happened?"

It was kinda funny :)

Anyway......he ended up going to the bathroom for what seemed like 2 solid minutes!

He had a lot of pop at Applebee's!

Then Dad decided he wanted to swap beds with Cass because she was right by the AC.

So we put Port in with me, Cass with Elsie and Dad on the hide away couch bed :)

I woke up about 6:30 so I could go and pick Madi up on time.

It was so good to see her.

But man oh man has she been an emotional wreck!!!!!

Ha ha.....lots of emotions!

Happiness to see family, sadness to maybe not see these friends ever again, happy to get back home, sad to get back to real life....and all of this mixed in with lack of sleep!

Ya, she's been a blubbering fool all day :)

Ha ha!

We got back to the hotel and got everyone up and ate breakfast.

Then packed our stuff up and headed out.

We made a stop by Britt and Leith's house in Idaho Falls.

They were laying their sod and Dave and Cindy were down visiting too.

So we stopped by and helped them with their last little bit of sod and hung out for a little bit.

And Port had fun playing in the dirt with the Teagan and Cooper :)

It was a nice time.

Then the drive home, was surprisingly pretty good!

Yay!

We got home and unloaded.

Brent had fixed my washer yesterday with that new part!

Hallelujah!

So I have been doing laundry all day!

Not much else went on.

Cassi will be trying out for Volleyball on Monday and we realized she needed knee pads.

So dad ran her to Walmart and Port wanted to go.

We said he could go if he didn't ask for anything.

Well, he was a good boy and stuck to his word and didn't ask for anything.

Well, Port is always asking to do that claw thing at the store.

He has done it a few times so we can show him that no one EVER wins those things!!!!

Well, dad wanted to reward him for not asking for anything.......so he gave him 50 cents to do that claw machine.

The dang boy WON!

He was so excited......but us, well, we can't say no one ever wins, anymore :(

Friday August 12 (pictures to add)

So we got a hotel and we are leaving now to go stay at Rexburg so we can be there at 7 in the morning to get Madi.

It will be a fun little break......

If only we didn't have to drive!
*******
So we had such a fun time!
We got to Rexburg about 4:45....then we grabbed dinner at Applebee's.
Then we invited Sara and her kids to come swimming at the Hotel pool with us!
It was a lot of fun!
BUT....the chlorine must have been really high.
Everyone was sneezing and eyes hurting and scrapes on your body burning.....
It wasn't too bad for the first hour, but then it got real bad!
Good thing it didn't ruin the fun!
So glad Sara got to come and play with the kiddos! 

Thursday August 11

We got up this morning to go and help at Mary Mac.

There was a bunch of stuff that needed to be moved to the new teachers classrooms, and stuff that will be going to the new school that needed moved out of the rooms.

So we were there for a couple hours helping out.

Then I took the kids to get burgers and milkshakes that they were promised yesterday.......they helped do some cleaning.

Even though you can tell what got cleaned anymore :(

As a side note.....I should write down that yesterday Port was complaining that they had to clean and Madi didn't have to.

I said she still has to keep her dorm room clean where she is at.

Then he said, and I love this.....he said 'We always have to clean and Madi never has to because she just keeps things clean!'

I was like, DUH!!!!!!!

Yes!!!!!

That's the key, Bub!

I will never make you clean if you just keep stuff clean!!!!!

Anyway, I just thought it was so funny :)

So we went to Walmart after that and bought the kids school supplies.

Still need to get Madi's, but it is good to have the rest done.

When we got home I turned a movie on for the kids and I wanted so badly to take a nap.....but that didn't happen.

But I did get dishes done.

So that'd good.

Somewhere along the line I got a shower, then cassi letf to Avery's party and we went over to the Nielson's house because is is Laura's birthday today, and we got together for cake and ice cream and some games.

It was a lot of fun.

Too bad I was missing half my crew!

But the little kids had fun :)

Then we got home about 10, once we got Cassi from Avery's party.

So now I am even more tired!

Wednesday August 10 (pictures to add....phone is being weird!)

So today is finally over!

Beehives were in charge of the combined YW this month and the girls wanted to do a Luau kind of thing and we invited the moms to come too.

Super fun....except that all last week I was gone and so was my adviser, so planning did not get done.

We did have a few tasks that some rock star helpers helped us with!

They made some Poi balls for us.

And also some short sticks for another fun game.

Our camp director was so awesome to lead the games for us.

She learned them at the Polynesian culture center.

Anyway.....so we have been stressed getting everything together for it tonight.

And I think it was a success!

Lots of fun!

Yay!

Today I spent the day working on a hula girl cut out, which was fun for the night.

Elsie had her friend Hannah over and Port had Cannon over.
Cass made some donuts and delivered them to neighbors, so that was fun.

After the YW activity, Cass had a couple of her friends over too for a little bit.

So it is late.

And I am tired.

But there is not much planned for tomorrow....so I am gonna enjoy it :)

Then I need to start thinking about getting stuff ready for school!

Plus Madi just informed me that her pick up time for EFY is at 7 A.M.!!!!!!!!!!

WHY!?!?!?!?!?

So now we gotta figure that out.

Guess no ward camp-out for us :(

We were going to just go up Friday for a few hours then come home so we could leave and get Madi Saturday......but......now we will need to get to Rexburg Friday night.

Bummer!

Tuesday August 9

I am gonna hurry and blog because the Fireman and I are gonna have a little movie date night here at home :)

But i gotta blog and get the kiddos to bed first!

Today was kind of a busy get-things-done kind of day.

We took the rental van back.

Then I had some stuff to get ready for the YW activity tomorrow.

Dad worked on my washer.

We think he can fix it.

We just have to wait for the part :(

I had a presidency meeting after lunch then a couple hours later I left to go take some family pictures for some people.

Got home, had dinner.

Watched some Olympics, now it's time for bed!

For the little ones :)

Madi is having a good time.

She wasn't feeling very good last night, but says she feels better today.

So that's good.

Monday August 8

Just another full day of driving for me!

I left with Madi and Cassi about 8 or so.

We headed to Rexburg where we dropped Madi off for EFY.

We stopped by the see the Rexburg temple before we headed to Idaho Falls to visit Sara and her family.

Then we went to the Idaho Falls temple before we went to go see Brittney and her boys!

So that was fun to be able to have a little break in the drive :)

Cass and I headed home a little after 4.

The drive back wasn't too bad.

Just more driving!

We got home a little after 8.

The kids played a little bit and then they were off to bed!

I am ready for some sleep!

And possibly no more driving!

EVER!

Sunday August 7

We got up about 8, everyone slept real good.

We packed up the few things we brought in with us, then had our Hotel breakfast and we were out of there at about 9.

I will not say that any of the driving we have done has been pleasant....because it has not been :(

But it is sure nice to get home, in our own beds!!!!!

Too bad we have to drive again tomorrow to take Madi to Rexburg for EFY!

But I think just Cass and I will take her.

Dad gets the grumpy little ones!

ALMOST HOME!!!!!!!!

Saturday August 6

Woke up and got the house all picked up, stuff packed and we were out of there by about 9:30.

Our family decided to make the trip home a two day trip.

But we didn't want to go through the ugly Nevada desert again.....

So we made our way down to Los Angeles where we got to see the temple there.

But it was closed for maintenance, so no baptisms :(

Then we made it to Sacramento, where we also saw that temple.

But again, it was closed for Maintenance.....bummer!

Still super cool to see those temples though!

We decided to stay in Sacramento for the night and went to Chili's for dinner and got to bed about 9:30!

We are so worn out!

Friday August 5

We woke up to an overcast kind of day...which was perfect because we wanted to do our family pictures and Heather's senior pictures!
It was fun and I think we got some great stuff :)
We also tried out Mission beach today while the Thomsons went to little Italy and a little bit more of downtown San Diego.

Then we had lots of play time at our little beach by us.

Thursday August 4

We went to the beautiful San Diego temple today.
The big girls and dads did baptisms.
The little ones and I read and they both memorized Helaman 14:8 while they were in there.
It's pretty darn awesome!
After that we went and saw the Mormon Battalion, which was a pretty great tour!