4th of July

Our fun fourth - we played outside in the morning.

Then we headed to the parade. The biggest thrill was the candy.

I thought this horse was very patriotic.

Later that night we went to some friends for the fireworks. The sparklers were a hit.


But Whitney didn't like the noise. Danica loved watching the "snakes"

And Dave enjoyed being the pyro of the family.

This is how Whitney hid from the fireworks. Shortly after this picture she burried her head and fell asleep.

Our first trip to Craters of the Moon

We managed to get out to the Craters the end of June. We enjoyed our time there, and I would like to go back and actually explore some of the park. We went to a Jr. Ranger program and hiked one small trail. Danica and Whitney both hiked the whole thing (it was a total of 1/2 mile round trip). I should actually say they ran the whole thing. They stopped on a rock for a picture break though.

At the Jr. Ranger program they both helped out with the "Safety Bag" and helped explain what you needed to bring on your hike and why. They were great helpers.

We then stayed for the evening program and while we were waiting for it to start, the girls decided to take turns taking pictures. Danica took the one on the right and Whitney took the one on the left. Not bad - don't you think. The other kids in the photos are just some kids that were waiting for the program too.

Overall we had a fun time, I would like to go camping there so maybe we will get that in sometime this summer, but we will definately go back for some good hiking!

Are they growing??

Well, what a week we have had. Bumps and bruises and lots of blood. So - I'm sparing you any pictures. (plus I didn't take any)
Whitney has fallen and scrapped her knees about three times this week, fallen off the kitchen chair twice and hit her head, and fallend on the playground and scraped up her chin pretty good.
Danica has had the minor bumps that accompany any active child, but had a big one yesterday while I was walking the track. She was playing under the bleachers with Whitney and they were taking turns running out and "crashing" in the grass. So I didn't think much of it when I saw her laying on the ground, but as I rounded the corner I heard her crying (which is a daily occurance right now) so again - not too concerned. I asked her what happend and no answer just sobbs. As I got closer I realized this was not just a bump as her head was dripping with blood. So, I grab both kids who are now crying because whitney thought I was going to leave her and walk to two blocks home - trying to keep Danica from touching her head because I didn't want her to know she was bleeding, at least not until we got home. after getting her cleaned up the best I could I found that she had a good cut about 3" and then the surface scrap continued to the middle of her head. UGGGHH. Once she was calmed down I asked her how she did it and she said she just missjudged where she was under the bleachers and stood up right into the metal corner.
A special thanks to our neighbor (our adopted grandma) who brought over a stuffed animal to make her feel better.
and as I have been typing this, Whitney has stubbed her toes twice. When will it end?

Crazy Lions

Whitney disappeared for a while one day and when she reemmerged she was a lion. And a cute one at that. Then Danica and Whitney spent the next hour or so trading off the lion costume to see who was the best lion.

We love pretend and dress up. What fun for the imagination!

Well, as you can see I'm still behind on uploading and posting blogs. Here is a glimpse at Danica's birthday.

I learned from this cake - it is best to use shortening for the decorating frosting as using a complete butter frosting makes for docorations that don't hold their shape. also, frost and then put together not the other way around. But she loved it so it was all worth it.

Presents, presents, presents. Can you just see the excitment she had. It didn't matter what she opened up, she would exclaim, "a ____ I've wanted that forever!!" But the best present of all was when she opened the Hannah Montana doll that her sister got her. She dropped the doll and squeezed the life out of her sister she was soooooo happy!

what did we get ourselves into?

Well, when you move around as much as we do, it is very difficult to make a trip out to find a place to live, so we have to go by phone calls and what the owners tell us. Well, here's what we got.

living room and bathroom (yes that's the whole bathroom, the shower is just to the left you can see the blue curtain)

don't you love the wallpaper in the kitchen, and yes - only one plug and half being used by the fridge.

No doors on the closets and don't you love the green carpet.

I have to admit that when I walked in and was overwhelmed by that old house smell and saw these rooms I about burst into tears. Dave - amazing husband he is hugged me and said at least it's not a one bedroom cabin. It made me laugh because I actually liked the cabin. But it's true you really can live anywhere for a short amount of time. We have been here for a month and for the most part it is working out okay.

I do have a question for all of you though - our renter's policy says this was built in 1985. I'm going for 1955 myself. What do you think?

Girls nite from the move

What a great family I have. I married into a family with a bunch of CRAZY girls. (well, I fit right in) They planned a girl's night/guy night for the one night we were with them. The guys got to play all their "games" and were even gracious enough to take most of the children. While the girls got to go eat at P.F. Chang's and then have a wild Kareoke party. I don't have pics from dinner since my battery died, but here is a sampling from the party.

Sing BABY Sing!! It's time to PARTY!!

(so Christina, what is up with that belly? YIKES. I hope it's just the angle)

We sang duets too.

Even Mama Kilton and Baby Reagan joined in the fun.

and well, who can resist "The Twist"?

It was a great stress reliever I can tell you. Thanks to all my wonderful family (on both sides) for all your help though all of our moving.