Time keeps on tickin'.....

The old saying, "time flies when you're having fun" really is true, at least around our house. Here is a run down of the past 10 days for the record:

*My sister's little boy, Jack, came to visit us for 3 days while Lori attended girls camp in Island Park. He's one of the cutest little boys I've ever seen. He's a little small fry (still wears 2T, 3T clothes), talks like he's around 25, super articulate, smart, hilarious, and just plain adorable) I really wanted to keep the little man but Lor wouldn't here of it.

St. Leon 1st ward camp out at Ririe Reservoir- I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera because there were some pretty cute moments. I really think every ward should organize an activity like this and I'm hoping our ward will make it an annual activity. We went up Friday evening, played games, ate a yummy supper, played kickball, volleyball & croquet. The kids enjoyed roaming free playing in the trees, dirt, rocks, tents, campers, etc. Kamryn parked herself in a dirt pile and poured handfuls of rocks and dirt in her hair with a big grin pasted on her face. My friend and I thought it was adorable so she ran to grab her camera and caught a little video of her in the action. DJ didn't find it as amusing and kept asking me if I really thought it was cute and funny. I really did, c'mon, we're camping! In his defense, his mom tells me that he's hated to be messy & sticky as a kid so I guess some of that has carried on. Sorry, hon! At dark they started a fire, Kamryn, Porter and Kaleb got to help carry wood from the back of the truck to the fire pit which they thought was awesome. We roasted the yummiest smores, made with Keebler fudge ripple cookies and marshmallows....seriously, why didn't I think of that??? Our ward mission leader shared a spiritual thought while we sat quietly under the stars by the fire, they read the kids a cute book and off we went to bed (approximately 11:00) We all slept great, okay, the kids slept great, which is what counts. Even the babies didn't make a peep. It was so fun to have our big family packed in our 8 man tent and to see the babies curious looks on their faces. They were more than thrilled to sleep right beside us! Most of the kids (not just ours) were up by around 6:30, ready to eat the yummy breakfast and play some more. A few of us took walks down to the reservoir to let the kids play on the dock, some of the older kids headed off to the basketball court for some rounds of "lightning." We packed up around 9:30 and headed for home. I especially loved camping this time around because I didn't have to plan any food preparations. Not that I mind it terribly but it is a ton easier when you don't have to think about feeding 8 ravishing wolves, after all, what's camping w/out lots of delicious food? Thanks to our activities committee for organizing such a fun activity!

* My niece Leona arrived on Monday to stay for a few days. For our FHE activity, we went to the Greenbelt to feed the ducks and see the beautiful waterfalls and of course, roll down the hills. The kids enjoyed donuts and juice boxes in between activities! My nerves were shot after about an hour of chasing the babies around, thank goodness for some helpful older girlies or I would've been sunk.

* Tuesday morning we played a fun game of water kickball at the church with a bunch of the neighborhood/ward kids. We hurried home to meet 2 more of my nieces, Janae and Tana, who also stayed with us until Wednesday afternoon. I thought it would be fun to take all of the kids swimming at my Grandma's condo pool so we all piled in the van (yes all 9 kids, I know, naughty, but they all managed to buckle up....some double buckled) but we made it safe and sound. I'm not sure if I am extremely brave or extremely stupid to take that many kids swimming at once but it's a small pool and I swear I have about 6 sets of eyes. All you mom's know what I'm talking about, right? The babies were a bit timid at first which was kind of nice but then both of them decided that water wasn't so bad so I spent a good 1/2 hour counting 1...2...3... while both of them jumped off the side in to my arms. Fun but seriously crazy and my poor grandma had the pleasure of sitting and watching the whole time and though she seemed relatively calm, I'm sure she was having a mini panick attack wondering if someone was going to drown....what a great sport she is! We ended the evening with dinner and a movie party in the basement complete with popcorn and orange julius. I think it's funny that my kids think they can't watch a movie w/out these two items. I'm happy to oblige. Wednesday morning we hurried off to the bowling alley. I thought it would be chaotic taking that many kids but the babies were pretty well behaved and the cousins chased them around in between their bowling turns. I think my kids are burned out of chasing the babies and were happy that the cousins took over the chasing game. After bowling we ran home to make some a small picnic and headed for the school playground where we spent about an hour and made it home just long enough to wind down before they all headed home. It was a busy couple of days but I was happy that our kids got to play with their Cokeville cousins since we don't make it home very often anymore.

* Wednesday evening about 2 hours after seeing our cousins off, the kids and I loaded the car and left for our Family Reunion in Rupert at my sister, Lori's house. DJ had to work on Thursday so he joined us a day later. Mom and Dad, Matt, Sara, and the kids made it over by 8:30 that evening and it was a sweet reunion! We haven't seen them since Christmas and though 6 months has flown by in some aspects, it seemed like an eternity since we'd seen them. Luke, Emma, and Gavin have changed a lot and Sara looks adorable at nearly 5 months pregnant. She's expecting another girl the first part of November!!! Yeah!! More on our family reunion in a post all by itself! Yep, it's that good!

* Yesterday DJ had the day off work and I had a long "honey-do" list which he started on bright and early. He even offered to give our kitchen tile floor a good scrubbing on his hands and knees and after several hours of scrubbing, our tile looked nearly the color it looked when he first put it down. While I ran kids to and from piano, ran errands, and worked in the garden, he cleaned all of our kitchen cabinets, cleaned out our clogged bathroom drains (while giving the girls a friendly lecture on controlling the amount of hair that goes down the drain), touched up our very beat up banister, vacuumed the living room, and did the dishes. I had to laugh at his comment while I was downstairs changing the kids bedding. He called my name and then said, "you've got an idle man upstairs, what next?" If there is one thing to be said about my husband, it would be that he's always got to be busy. He rarely takes time out to relax and can accomplish anything he puts his mind to. I love him and feel blessed to be married to him. I also feel fortunate to have had him home for a solid day with virtually no interruptions even if he was busy crossing off things on his "honey-do" list!

* Regan and Morgan attended day camp for Activity Days today. They excitedly packed their lunches at 9:30 last night while giggling about all the fun they would be having. It was nice to have only 2 awake and I enjoyed listening to them talk to each other nicely w/out any arguments. It's wierd that Regan has only a month and a half left until she enters Young Women's. She is more than ready and commented that though she had fun at Day camp, she's looking so forward to girls camp in just 2 more weeks.

* The remainder of the week is filled with packing, food preparation, and errands to prepare for the Hershey's State Trackmeet for Reg and Morg's on Saturday, Teichert family reunion on Saturday evening, and music camp all next week.