Preparing for Christmas!

We have had lots of fun getting ready for the big day. On Sunday our little elf Claude was so nice to help make cookies.

Then he had a little fun toilet papering our tree.

 Since then however, he has gotten in to more mischief than I would have ever imagined. Not sure if he is as nice as I first thought.

Four Months? Too Long!

I can't believe how long it has been.  I've missed the bloggy world. It all started when we had to take our computer in and it needed reformating. Then we had to move the computer desk a couple times. Then we had fun things to do all summer.  Reinstalling, rearranging, vacationing... It led to more time on my phone and ipad and less time on the computer.  The more time went by the harder it was to pick back up. So instead of starting where I last left off, I am just going to start back up again and maybe catch up on our summer and maybe not. I will say we had lots of fun and spent a lot of time in our swimming suits, bike helmets, eating, fishing, boating, sleeping, snakes, and mustaches. Ok a few pics.

 Helmets

Boats

Both

Neither

Fish

Fish, Helmets, Suits

 Snake

 

Eating snake

Eating, biking, swimming, no helmet hmmm?

 

 

Sleeping outside

And, mustaches. (more mustaches to come)

Fishy fishy!

When Tyler takes Damon and I fishing all we catch is carp. 

When he goes alone, different story. If someone has a baby I can't get any details, but I know that the big trout is 21 inches, 4.5 lbs., and the bass is 16 inches, 2lbs. Hopefully next time Damon will get to reel in a big fish. Today he and I and a bunch of friends went from Constitution Camp to track.

 The kids are having a great time learning about our country. As you can probably tell, today my lesson was on checks and balances. I was surprised how much the kids, even the older ones,  wanted to get in the 3 headed eagle costume. I wish there were more programs like this one. There is so much, that makes our country great, that is becoming forgotten.

And track has been lots of fun, too. I love taking Damon to the same track I ran countless miles on during college. I'm glad we have a program here that gets the kids involved at a young age. We have had a busy, fun summer so far. Hope you have been having lots of fun, too.

Meet Harry

 Damon is a serious Harry Potter fan. For 'Favorite Book Character Day' there was no question who he would be.

 We made this wand with paper, hot glue, and paint. Click here for tutorial.

 On 'Future Profession Day' he was a basketball player, again.

And, he was also a man in a cape on 'Super Hero Day.' I can't believe 3rd grade is already through. Yay for summer!

Being a mom is my favorite thing of all the "things."

 Tyler and Damon made grilled salmon, roasted potatoes, and chocolate covered strawberries for lunch. I threw in the grilled green salad.
Then we took some remote selfies on the deck.

We need a little practice!

It was a good day. We finished it off watching the Survivor Finale.

It is spirit week at school. I'll have some fun pics in a few days.

It's still cold, but that didn't stop us!

We have been waiting to spend time outside for so long, and this last weekend we finally got to enjoy some of the fun activities we love to do outside. On Saturday morning we didn't sleep in like we like to, but instead Tyler and Damon met me at a city fun run. They cheered me on and then as soon as it was over, Tyler left Damon with me for the food and drawings. He hurried to the gun range for a shooting competition. After the race festivities were through and Damon watched them give away 2 bikes, a long board, 3 ipods, and an ipad among other things, he decided he will be racing at the next one. We hurried home and made some hot cocoa (we may have been enjoying the outdoors, but it was a chilly day)and took it to Tyler at the range. Later that evening we built a fire and had smores. It's so nice to finally be outside. 

Here is a little video of Tyler in one of the courses. I have never been to one of these before and I have to say I was impressed. Especially after watching a few guys before Tyler take 3 times as many shots at that spinning wheel. I decided that would be one of my worst nightmares. To have a group of people watching me try to hit those moving targets, which I am quite sure I would not be able to do. The courses are timed and the results aren't posted yet, but I'm pretty sure Tyler smoked everyone on this one. It was awesome!

Tuna in oil? No thanks!

I bought Tuna in oil last week. Ahh! I had to return it. I'm pretty good about checking to make sure there are no broken eggs, and I always carefully look over the produce, but it has been so long since I needed tuna. I forgot. We don't eat it very much, but everything I had in food storage needed to be eaten so we have gotten back in the habit. Does anybody have a favorite way to eat tuna?

Last weekend my family was here and my mom said, "Lets make waffles." So we picked up a few yummy toppings and had a waffle bar party. I want to do it again soon. I also watched Bringing Up Baby. That is 1 and 1/12th down, 28 and 11/12th to go. Ha! Some are in progress! Call me if you want waffles.

30 Things!

This time it was me who had to be seen by the doctor twice,


then Damon's basketball season ended,

Tyler went on a motorcycle trip,

I had a birthday,

the weather got nice, the weather got bad, then the weather got nice again,

Easter came,

baseball is starting...

We have been so busy, but having lots of fun.

Since I turned 30, I decided to make a list of 30 things I want to do this year. I hope posting it and documenting my progress will help me accomplish everything. I tried to make them attainable, but a few are kind of long shots. We'll see!

1. Complete "Instant Immersion." After 2 semesters of Spanish in college I really should know more than I do. Now I have Ryan to help me so I think I can do it.

2. Learn and memorize the "Star Spangled Banner" on the piano.

3. If it's rude and doesn't need to be said, don't say it! If it's nice and doesn't need to be said, say it! This one I won't be able to cross off, but I hope to get a lot better at this this year.

4. Complete the "Book of Mormon" study guide. I have a couple and I'm not sure which one I am going to use yet.

5. Visit/sleep in a cave.

6. Do something that scares me.

7. Collect and make 10 family recipes. New ones that I don't already have.

8. Organize and edit all of our pictures.

9. Use my backpacking gear. It's been awhile, but I really hope to have a couple fun trips this year.

10. Complete an Olympic Triathlon in under 2 hrs. 15 min./ 10k in under 40 min.

11. Make Créme Brùlée

12. Send birthday cards every month

13. Have a waffle party. I've been wanting to do this for a long time. Everyone brings toppings for waffles (ice cream, fruit, chocolate...) and have a bunch of hot waffle irons ready. Let me know if this is something you want in on. The more the merrier.

14. Use my passport or at least go to a new state.

15. Tell Damon old family stories and about our traditions.

16. Break a bad habit. Not sure what yet, but there are plenty to choose from.

17. Eat vegetarian for one week. I don't think Tyler is thrilled about this one.

18. Do all Christmas shopping before December.

19. Learn to juggle.

20. Break out my acrylics and paint a picture. I haven't done much with them since college so I hope they aren't all dried up.

21. Watch 12 new movies from the American Film Institute top 100 list. I'm thinking one a month. I have seen quite a few, but there are a lot I've never even heard of.

22. Cross at least 5 books off of my "to read" list. Anytime I hear of a good book that I haven't read I add it to my list, and it's getting pretty long. I don't think I will include books I read for book club. I just started "The Count of Monte Cristo" which is on my list. It might take me awhile since my book club is just starting a new book, too.

23. Go somewhere new and make it memorable.

24. Finish my bedroom makeover. I just reupholstered a couple of chairs, but I still have paint, bedding, a frame wall I want to create... Might take awhile.

25. Learn 5 new songs on the piano, that challenge me.

26. Dedicate a full day to Damon and one to Tyler (besides their birthday.) I want to spend the whole day doing whatever they want, all their favorite things, also trying to talk Tyler into making a list and adding this one to his. Ha!

27. Make a good investment.

28. Go salmon fishing.

29. Go dancing.

30. Help someone cross something off of their list. Let me know if you have one. My mom already said I could help her, but more than one someone would be great!

Wish me luck! If you have any ideas, let's hear them.

Da da da dadada da dada da da... (Mario Theme Song, if you couldn't tell)

Our computer had been quite sick for the last little while and had to be seen by a professional, TWICE! Finally home and on the mend, so I think I can finally get back to blogging. Still have to re-install all of our programs and documents, pictures, etc. so the road to recovery is not complete. I planned on posting from the laptop a few times, but I don't save pictures to that computer so I never got around to getting anything off of the hard drive. Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do.

February was a great month. I am now a Cub Scout mom so it was my job to make little banners for the pinewood derby. It was a carnival theme so I put the name tag banners in buckets of popcorn. We used them, with some balloons as the table center pieces, and then the boys got to take them home at the end of the night.

It was lots of fun. Damon and Tyler made a pretty sweet car. Damon loved racing it.

Bullet Bill from MarioKart.