Shanna=Birthday Taft=Father's Day

Father's Day

Well, it doesn't happen all that often, but it did this year. My Birthday on Father's Day. Not really fair for Taft or me. The other whammy was that I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting. Yuck! But I survived, barely. Taft was so so nice and made breakfast for all of us and then made lunch for the kids. What a sweetheart. I didn't pamper him at all. I too stressed trying to still pull my talk together. We don't have church until 1pm this year so I had lots of time to still be stressed. Anyway, I got Taft a T-shirt he really wanted, sunglasses holder for his FJ, and a button up shirt for work. He got me an arm band holder for my MP3 player, yeah! And a fun ice cream maker.

Taft's new favorite shirt

So the Mackays were so nice to have us over for dinner since Sharleen didn't want us to have to make the whole meal for our self since we were both celebrating our holidays. We had yummy salad, rosemary bread, baked potatoes, asparagus, shrimp, grilled bell peppers, tomato/cucumber cheese, and chocolate fondue for angel food cake and fruit! Can we say yummy! They are awesome. The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline and we had fun yaking like usual. They always make us so comfortable at their home.

Sharleen & Me

So next year will be better, I won't have to talk on my Birthday and Taft and I won't have to share our day. Maybe I will even make breakfast for Taft for Father's Day.

Boys vs Girls

It was the annual Father/Sons Campout in the ward. So that split the family up into two groups of threes. Boys vs Girls. The girls won! :) I say that because we got to sleep in our comfy beds and not on the hard ground. This is the first year that the boys made it to the campout. They had a good time, roasting marshmallows, playing kickball, talking, and playing outside. Todd went with them too. Brayden came home very dirty! He must have had fun. I packed a whole bag of clothes/jammies for the boys and they didn't even touch them! They slept in their clothes. That would have not happened if I would had been there! Funny how different men and women work. Makes for more fun! So I guess the campground was more an open field. close to houses, electric lines, etc for the guys than up in the mountains, oh well I guess they got to get out and be together. Carters favorite part was playing kickball (I guess he got to pitch). Braydens favorite was playing some made up game with all the other boys (you know, pretending sticks are weapons). Tafts favorite was talking with the guys. I am glad he got to spend some time with the boys and the guys from the ward.

Their home for the night

Playing Kickball

So us girls went out to good ol Tokyo Joes with Kat, Logan and Paige and got us some grub. Then I took Kennedi to Build a Bear so she could get an "outfit" for her bear and we went to Children's Place to look for some kids clothes. Ellie was out of control as usual, jumping all around, hugging other kids, running around/away and wearing me out! So no more shopping with an almost 2 year old! We did make some time though to go through the drive through for a frosty, yum!

Notice the Wendy's cup, Build a Bear bag, The Childrens Place bag too

We all stayed up until at least 10 (except Ellie), so that was fun for the kids, but they were a little tired today!

On another note, I have to speak tomorrow at church. I don't know what I am going to say. Usually I mull over the topic all week and start gathering in my mind what I want to say and share but it just hasn't worked this time! My topic is Teach them to walk in the Light. Hmmm. I don't know what to say about that. What a great Birthday gift to me! To speak at church, ick. But it is Father's Day too, so I guess I will focus on that. I am nervous...

One Night at Cub Scouts

I am a Cub Scout Den Leader. I don't think I am that great at it. I was not thrilled to get called to be a Den Leader. That last sentence was an understatement. I am better now about it. It isn't my favorite calling in the world, but it is just fine.

So this months cub scouting "theme" is "wheel" into summer. So we decided to have a bike activity tonight. For part of the activity we decided to go on an half hour bike ride. Not so hard right? Man! I was wrong! I thought these boys were tougher than they were. It wasn't quite 3 miles and it is hilly but I thought it was fun. I didn't know if 2 boys were going to make it. I did make the mistake of not bringing any water. But heck, the faster we go the faster we would get home. We had to stop multiple times, but at least the last part was a giant downhill trail. Phew! The boys did have a smile on their faces when we got home, I think because it was over. I was proud of my Brayden, he was strong and never complained and he had a good time. I will be sad next month when he turns 10 and he will no longer be in my Den. I don't know how much I will like it without him. I am secretly hoping that I get changed, but I really really doubt that will happen.

Anyway, just wanted to tell about my night. I like riding bikes! I wish I could do it more often.

Happy Birthday Mom!

It is my Mom's 60th Birthday today! Wow! I can't believe she is 60. I am a lucky girl to have her has my mom. She is an amazing mother. She pretty much can do it all. What a great example in my life. I am blessed that my kids get to have her example in their lives too! All my sisters and their families got to go to my parents house to celebrate and have dinner together and I wish I could have been there too. It is always a little sad when they all get together and our family is 8 hours away. We called and sang to Mom/Grandma and were happy to have a little chat. Here is to the next 60 years! I love you Mom!

Book Review #4 and #5

#4- New Moon by Stefanie Meyers

So I read the sequel to Twilight. It's not that I didn't like it, but it wasn't the same as Twilight. I missed Edward. We didn't get to "see" him enough. It was a quick read again and I read it fast. I would recommend this book, and again, it is pretty darn clean! Now I have to wait for the 3rd book in the set, Eclipse, which is suppose to come out this year. These are Young Adult Fiction books, but don't let that scare you, they are great! Not your typical vampire book.

#5- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Here is another Young Adult Fiction book. It was an interesting, easy read. I don't think I would put it in my best read books category, but it definitely wasn't the worst. The book is set in the future when every person turns 16 they are turned into a "pretty." They all receive plastic surgery to become beautiful. So before the surgery, they are considered "uglies." Not everyone wants to become "pretty." It is a pretty clever premise, but I don't know if I will be running to the library tomorrow to get the second book in the series, which by the way is called Pretties. It was clean though! So that is a plus.

A New Me

Let's pretend it is the New Year. I need a new me again. I feel like I have been in a slump, bah humbug. I think it all starts with the bad eating. I did so so so good for over a year and then bam! back to the bad eating. So here I am with 10 extra pounds again, pfzt. Then the scripture reading is in a downward spiral. And the way I have been talking to my kids lately, ick! I need a new me. I hope I can start it tomorrow! I will go jogging in the morning and hope that will jumpstart the new me. The one good thing I can say is that I haven't stopped exercising. I am still jogging and I hope to keep saying that. I could add some more exercise in and I plan on it. I have been slacking in the weight/strength training and I need to get back to the rec centers. So here we go again...and again... and again! (Hey, at least I keep on trying!)

So by now you can see that the Perfect Streak didn't last as long as I was hoping. But I will start new again and hope for the best. There is always so much to work on for self-improvement.

My CarCar is 6!

My sweet Carter turned the big 6. He is about done with Kindergarten and is getting ready to start the big world with all day school. He has grown up so much this past year and has learned to read and is getting smarter all the time! How fun to see the changes. He was the only baby of ours born in Sandpoint, Idaho by a midwife.





We had a fun time at his birthday party, but it was for sure crazy to have 17 kids. There were so many presents to open that Carter was tired by the end. He is funny. It looked like there was a possibility of rain during the party, but I crossed my fingers and it held off until about an half hour after the party was finished.

I don't know what I would have done with all of those kids in my house. The limbo just would have not been the same. It would have been difficult to have done the party by myself, actually impossible. I was so grateful for the help of my friend Sharleen, and the nice 3 teenage kids. Ya for them! They helped so much! I barely survived and was so glad to have it done with.









I ended up loving the volcano cake, it was so fun to make!






Note to self: Only have parties for 1 1/2 hours instead of 2!

That night we did the traditional pizza for dinner and had Kat, Logan and Paige over for dinner and cake. (Todd was out of town). My kids get to pick whatever they want for their birthday dinner and for whatever reason they always choose pizza. I guess they like traditions.

Is it over yet?

Rush, rush, rush. I have been running around all day long trying to get everything in order for Carter's Birthday/Party tomorrow. Now you don't have to tell me, I know I am crazy. I am going to have 17 kindergartners over tomorrow for the party. Ahhhh!!! I will be okay. I asked a couple of the neighborhood teenagers to come and help me (they are from the ward too) and Sharleen will come and help too. Phew! So I decided to do a Luau type party and I am still needing to make my volcano cake. (We shall see how that ends up, it might not be too pretty!) We are going to have Pin the coconut to the coconut tree, tiki toss, lei making, fruit bowling, and the limbo going on. Not to mention I am feeding them all lunch! Man, I still have a lot to do! And here it is 11pm already and I started a new job this week too! ( I will have to talk about that at a different time.)

I hope it is fun. I am just to the point now that I can't wait until it is over so I don't have to fret any longer. Now this is why my kids don't get a friend birthday party every year! Wish me luck!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

What is better than a hot dog at a baseball game? We got to go to a Rockies game and spend a little fun time together on a Saturday night. The kids school was selling tickets so we decided to give a Rockies game a try. We weren't originally going to take Ellie with us (busy body, noisy almost 2 year old), but we ran out of options of what to do with her. So we braved it and took her along for the fun. She did great! Phew! We brought candy to keep her happy (it kept me happy too!). It was also fun to see some familiar families at the game too. Parking is lame, they charge like 10 bucks! All in all, it was a great family outing and I would dare say I would do it again.

Look at all those cute baseball caps, ahhh...