FAMILY VACATION!

We are surprising the kids this weekend and heading to Washington Dc for the 4th of July fireworks. (It's also Duce's 7th brithday on thursday) Neither Tyler nor I have have ever been there, so if anyone has any MUST SEE's, we'd love to hear it.

oops, I did it again.....

.....I let my little Josie fall asleep in the kitchen. She was so tired and I was working in the kitchen. I set her up on the counter, turned around to do some more work, turned back and she was asleep!

Grandma Munns to the rescue

I had my mom here with me for nearly two weeks! And what an amazing help she was. She took care for the kids, the house, and me! What more could I ask for?! During the day, we cleaned, ran errands, cooked, and at night we gamed...our new favorite....TICKET TO RIDE. We altered the rules somewhat to speed it up and make things more interesting. Anyway, while she was here, mom sewed a few projects for me...she is the most talented seamstress I know. We are going to miss her. When she was bringing up her bags, even the boys said they didn't want her to leave.

Here is a sampling of her work.

She sewed this table cloth for our dining room table. Its kinda "country" looking, but it appealed to me. It blends nicely with the colors on the wall and the area rug in the adjacent living room.

Shower curtain she made for the basement bathroom----------She found these great cushions that she sewed together to make a bench cushion for our AMAZING church pew that my equally amazing dad found for us at an antique store. The bench is a little banged up, but that just adds to its appeal for me.

We took of some HIDEOUS sliding doors off that the previous owners had...they wouldn't even slide! then we bought a curtain rod and mom hemmed up the curtain so we could hang it as the doors to Tyler's closet. Mom also found this teal fabric at Wal-Mart...yes our wal-mart here still has a fabric section!....and made this shower curtain for the kids bathroom upstairs.

We got so much accomplished while Tyler was in Utah. He left a house in disarray....and came home to no moving boxes! I NEVER could have done it without the help of my GENEROUS parents, and hard working Leah and Shanda. They all were so eager to move onto the next project and to help out with the kids when they needed tending to. Even Jordan and my dad took turns holding babies and entertaining kids. THANK YOU THANK YOU, for helping me make this sorta disaster of a house into a home that my little family now can feel comfortable in. It really is beginning to feel like HOME!

first time being tagged...atleast doing it.

3 fears
-my plumber not coming soon to put in my new dishwasher
-not falling in love with our new little town (i'm still working on it)
-being pregnant

3 joys
-runnning errands without any kids with me!
-getting in my bed with all my kids tucked asleep in their beds
-watching my kids try tricks off the diving board that kids twice their size wouldn'd dare

3 goals
-get my house all unpacked and oragnized (including an inventory of all our food starage)
-lose the last of my baby weight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-get through today without raising my voice at any of my kids

3 obsessions
-ICE COLD DIET COKE
-reality TV-I am such a junkie
-tyler would say blogging!

3 randoms
-when my husband was graduating high school, I was graduating the 2nd grade!
-if I had surgery to fix my scoliosis, I would be about an inch taller
-with each baby I've had, my hair has gotten darker, thicker, and curlier

The new love of my life

With five kids, a husband, one dog and her two puppies....we do ALOT of laundry. Now with Jordan and Shanda with us....we do ALOT more laundry. So I splurged and bought these. I LOVE MY WASHER AND DRYER. We will be eating roman noodle to offset the price, but at least we will be eating it in efficiently cleaned clothes!

This thing guy was enormous!

Drive Through Safari

Oscar-Avery-Elleanor-Jett-Josie-Gordon-Duce

Duce and Avery feeding a llama--Shanda trying to get close to another SMELLY llama

self-portrait with one of the THOUSANDS of deerlike animals

So Virginia is home to this amazing drive through safari. We opened bought four buckets of feed, opened up the van doors and piled the kids in for a drive of a lifetime. There were llamas GALORE, plus zebra, ostriches, wildebeast, gazelle, antelope, potbelly pigs, camels, rheas, emus, bison, watusis...oh and a yak. You pay to get in and then you can drive through as many times as you want. The first half of the drive, half the kids were hiding under the console. I must admit, I was a little nervous when the HUGE camels came over to eat. Their heads would come right into the car. One camel mouthed our DVD players and got them all nasty. So if you ever come to visit...be sure we are going here!

(i love seeing little Oscars hand gripping the antlar of this deer--Leah's face says it all...those llamas SMELLED!)

My famous husband!

The Deseret News in Salt Lake City had this write up on Tyler yesterday in their paper. I loved reading all the comments about Tyler that people left. Check it out.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700235536,00.html%3FlinkTrack%3DMT:aroundChurch

First Family Visit

Leah drove in from Ohio and mom and dad came up from Florida to visit and help us settle in to our new house. Tyler is still in Utah for another week, so it is nice to have to help and the company. Our new house isn't as big as our Florida house...not much room for large groups to be entertained, so we went out to a little hometown restaurant.

Jackets in June

Yesterday morning, a cold front came in. So the temperatures were in the 50's. My kids are Floridians and can't handle the cold, so they all wanted their jackets....what in the world are we going to do in the winter?!?!

Maury River

(forging the river) (the boys made it to the other side)
Running through our town is this very cool river. Jordan and Shanda have two HUGE crawdad pets in their fish tank that they caught in the river. It can be a little gross....at times it feels like the town bathing hole...our first trip, there was a diaper on the rocks...gross! But it really is pretty. After a good down pour, it sort of flushes out any stagnant water. The kids LOVED swimming across the river. The current is pretty weak, so there is no worry of kids getting swept away. This will definitely be a favorite family hang out!

"Back Blog Post: Melbourne Beach on more time!"

MELBOURNE BEACH THURSDAY JUNE 5th, 2008

calvin.sam.aidan.isabelle.gordon.josie.duce.jett.avery.laken.claire.anna.henry
(william is just out of sight and henry is sulking in the surf)

(Isa and Jo....best friend cousins!)

This is a back blog....it was our last trip to the beach before leaving for Virginia. Jake & Tiff and their kids, along with the Quigley's and Shelly and Gold came, too! I really do love the beach. If you can get past the sticky hot sand all over you, it is one of the best places to go with kids. Leah was still in town during this trip, but stayed back at home with mom, her baby and she kept Tee in exchange for bringing Gordon. It is more fun without an infant, I must admit. I can get out into the water and dig in the sand...you just can't do that with a small baby. You have to hide out under umbrellas all day. Next summer, Tee will be a better beach age.

We were quite a sight...I think there were 14 kids in and around the surf. Then up at the "camp", there were 3 little babes (Goldie, Lucy, and Declan). After digging holes and bogieboarding, we headed to the Quigleys to swim in their pool before going back to Saint Cloud.

I really do LOVE the beach!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

To the most important fathers in my like...my dad....my father-in-law, Roland...and of course, the father of our beautiful (albeit sometimes unruly) five kids, Tyler! I love you for the wonderful example you are to my boys on what a father should be!

I found this in a box of old papers. I was looking for a young picture of my dad. Since most of our stuff is still in boxes, I wasn't able to find one, but this is more fun. It was a talk I gave in Primary on Father's Day when I was six.

Mother of the Year.....ME!

So this is mothering at its best!

I was trying to get dinner ready for everyone after church today (Tyler is gone to Utah for the BYU football camps). Church is at 11 am, so no one has time to get a nap...Josie especially. She kept following me around the kitchen demanding MORE chocolate milk. I was ignoring her, while I was cooking up the bacon for the baked potato bar we were having. So when I finally finished and went to do a head count, this is what I found....Josie passed out on the kitchen floor and my little Avery passed out in my bed, still clutching her wal-mart brand Diet Coke. Shortly after that, she woke up and I found her in front of the TV....that can't be good

for your eyes our your neck.

Jett's First United Methodist Preschool Graduation

Before graduation we hit up our favorite Saint Cloud hang out....DAIRY QUEEN! Jake and Tiff and thier kids came into town so thet met up with us. Kara and her crew came, too.

Kara and Tiff with their babes, Kate and Lucy. Duce with Anna

The grad and grandparents!

Jett had a wonderful year in Preschool. He learned more than I had expected. In fact, his teacher called me and said that she had to brag about how well jett did on the end of the year assessment test. She said normally, they don't give out the results, but they were so impressed with him, she just had to call and tell me! And scholastics isn't his only strong suit. He was quite the ladies man....he had all the girls falling all over him! Can you blame them with that perfectly adorable body and face of his!

Baby's first haircut!

BEFORE

AFTER

Tee's hair was falling out and looking VERY sparse, so we decided to buzz him, too so he can match his brothers!

(we finally have internet, so I will do some"back blogging" as I find the time)