What's on my mind

* I've been thinking about swim lessons for my kids for months now...why have I not signed them up yet!  There are always conflicts...dang it!

* I think I need to carry DEET in my purse b/c my kiddos have a combined total of over 50 mosquito bites right now...ouch! 

* I wish we could live close to every friend we have.

* I love how Carson plays so well with his best friend, Lindsey....they are so cute together!

* Will I ever be able to keep my house clean for more than 2 hours?

* Maybe I shouldn't go to the pool for 4 hours in the middle of the day.  Even if I do reapply sunblock on my kids...poor things have red faces!  We sure had fun though!

* When will have energy again?

* Carson and Brynlee really love swimming and are quite daring these days.

* Dan is excited for his trip to UT to go hiking with his brothers and dad.  He's going to have a great time.  Me?  I'm a bit jealous.

* Carson recently has been taking off on his bike and loves riding around the neighborhood with Dan.  I'm so happy he's liking his bike more these days.

* We've been loving having my brother Ken living with us for the summer.  He's here for an internship.  He hasn't been any trouble AT ALL and we love having him here!  My kids LOVE their uncle Ken!

* We can't wait for Uncle Ken's family to visit us for 2 weeks...we're going to have so fun with our full house!

* How can a person so little (not even three, but I'm not naming names) be so hard to handle??  I question my parenting every day with that little one.  So cute, yet so darn difficult!  Any suggestions friends??

* Why did that difficult little person decide to cut her own hair?  It's really not that bad, but I kinda took some pride in stylin' her hair all cute.  She'll be getting a "touch-up" cut soon. 

* For my whole life I just burned in the sun...no tan, just burn.  I still burn (but not usually b/c I wear sunscreen), but instead I'm getting frecklier by the second.  My whole back is one big freckle!  Why does that happen? 

* I'm really liking this ward a lot.  So many fun people, so many fun things to do!  I tried Bunco for the first time...pretty fun!

* Where should we take a quick family trip in August?  Any ideas?

* When will I get back in the groove of crafting...man, it's been a while. 

* Will I ever actually finish decorating my house?

* Why have I still not returned a table I borrowed from my friend over a month ago?  (I'm sorry Brooke!  I promise I'll give it back soon!)

* How will Carson do at school in the fall.  Is he ready?  Am I ready? 

* Carson doesn't usually like to go to church on Sundays.  So, I was so happy to hear him tell me in the car yesterday "you know mom?  I don't really like to go to church, but I think I just need to remember that I like it when I get there.  I just forget how much fun it is."  Maybe I don't need to worry about him as much after all :)

* How many things can be on one person's mind?

* I love when Brynlee makes up her own songs and dances to them.  They usually go like this (sing in sing songy voice) "My daddy is at work!  But, my mommy is at home!  My daddy will be home in a minute!".  Funny girl.

* Okay, if you've read this far, you're amazing!  I think I'll stop now.  That's enough to think about for one day.  Goodnight!

A Creative Genius!!

Okay, maybe 'genius' is a pretty big word for this, but Carson is soo creative with random objects.  He is always finding things that look like other familiar things.  The picture above is his name...do you see it?  I'm sure this is a sign that he will be a genius one day, right??

And the Rocket's Red Glare!

We had a great 4th of July!  We spent Saturday night with a bunch of friends and enjoyed fireworks in their culdesac.  Other than Brynlee's sparkler burn, it was a fun evening of food, friends and fireworks!

Sunday night we decided to go with a bunch of families from our ward to a big fireworks show.  They had a helicopter show, parachute guys coming down from the sky, petting farm, etc. all before the big fireworks show at dusk.  The kids loved the BIG fireworks!  I love the USA!

Luray Caverns and a really cool YURT

Dan took off a Friday a couple weeks ago and we spent the day exploring Luray Caverns.  They give you headphones to listen to a self guided tour.  You can pick either the adult tour or kid's tour.  Carson LOVED the kid's tour and was excited to find the musical rocks (organ), ghost, and fried eggs (different rock formations)!  Brynlee liked the tour for about 1/2 the time, then was done with the cave altogether.  The cave was HUGE and really interesting!

After we had fun at Luray Caverns, we met up with our awesome friends for some fun at a time share they were at.   It was a super fancy yurt (am I the only one who has never heard of these before?).  The inside of this fancy permanent round tent thingie was quite big and had two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen/dining/living area, and a deck for grilling.   After a yummy dinner they made for us, we enjoyed swimming at the resorts pool....so fun!  The kids all get along soooo well, it's so fun and refreshing!  Carson and Lindsey are the bestest little friends.  I even overheard Lindsey tell Carson that he was her best friend...so sweet!  The kids did LOTS of jumping into the water and had fun running in the fountains.  Thanks for having us down guys!

 

Whose kids are these?

Carson and Brynlee both have prize bags filled with random cheap toys.  Carson has to earn five stickers on his good behavior chart to earn a prize and Brynlee, well, she just has to go poopy in the potty to earn a prize.  The other day they each earned a prize and they both picked these wacky straw glasses.  They were entertained for quite a while with these...and drank a lot of milk too!!

No more long commuting...yippeee!

I will no longer have to commute to MD for my job.  I have worked up there for 5 1/2 years and I'm sad to leave all my friends there.  I think I might have to sneak a shift up there every now and then just to see everybody!  But, the exciting news is that Patient First in Manassas opens TODAY and I'll be working there from now on.  It's only about 20mins away...not too bad!  It is brand new and really nice!  Basically just like my old place, but with a few new fancy techy things.  I've met many of my new coworkers and they are all great!  My boss is my age and seems super nice too!  I think I'm really going to enjoy getting to know everyone.  It will be exciting to be at a new facility right from the beginning and watching it grow.  Last night was the open house and I was able to give tours to local community people, such as the city manager of Manassas Park.  Area doctors, news reporters, etc were there and it was fun talking to them and introducing them to our new place.  This job has been really good for me and my family and I'm so thankful for it (even if I never want to go :)  If you ever get sick or hurt and need an urgent care, come by and see us!

CINCO!!!

My little Carson-man turns 5 today....FIVE....CINCO.....HOLY COW!!!  He told me this morning that he can't believe he's five and that he keeps forgetting...funny kid.  He also said that now that he's five he's a big kid and needs to be nice to everyone.  Which actually, he has been super nice to Brynlee and his friends today...how long do you think this will last?  Today is Carson's special day and we have plans to go out somewhere special for dinner tonight, but the real celebrating happened on Saturday.  Per Carson's request, I planned a surprise party for him on Saturday.  We even got him a big trampoline and Dan secretly set it all up for the surprise party.  Carson went to his friend, Ella's house for a playdate in the morning and then Ella's mom brought him home for the surprise.  I knew he knew nothing about it...but remember, he WANTED this!  He had told me numerous times over the last few months that he wanted a surprise party where everyone jumps out and yells "Surprise!".  So, Carson arrived for his surprise, I told him I wanted to show him something in the backyard and when we came around the house into the backyard, everyone yelled "SURPRISE!".  And what did Carson do?  He just stood there...frozen...for about 5 seconds, until he turned around and buried his face in my shirt and started to cry.  Really???  That was not the reaction I was shooting for.  Remember...he WANTED this!  He was bawling and I couldn't calm him down, so we went inside.  Where I still couldn't calm him down.  So, I had Dan come inside to help me calm him down.  After about another 10 or so minutes with Dan, they finally came down to the party.  But, he wasn't over the shock yet, he barely would look at anybody and he ate lunch in the bathroom...silly kid.  I knew he was sensitive, but I never thought about him reacting this way.  He was embarrassed and worried that he wouldn't know everyone at the party.  He did get over it after a while and enjoyed bouncing on his new trampoline, hitting the Transformer's pinata, and opening up presents.  He got TONS of presents and loved every one...thanks everybody!  So, the party was a success...at least after the surprise part :)

After the party, our Maryland friends stayed to hang out a while.  Then a bunch of us went to a super fun water park. It's basically a shallow pool with fake palm trees, pirate ships, water canons, etc.  It is sooo much fun and perfect for little kids.  We stayed much longer than I thought we would because the kids were having a blast!  It was a really fun and busy day...I was beat by the end of the day!

Tonight for Carson's birthday we took him to a Japanese Steak House.  We actually wanted to go a couple weeks ago for my brother Ken's birthday, but he didn't end up being here for his birthday, so we went tonight (by the way, my oldest brother, Ken, is living with us for the summer for an internship and we are soo excited to have him here!).  A japanese steak house is not what I would have thought of for a 5 year old's birthday, but it was sooo fun!!  The kids have NEVER been so well behaved at a restaurant.  The cook was AMAZING!!!  He juggled his knives, made huge flames, threw eggs around, made a onion volcano, etc.  The kids were in awe!  They absolutely LOVED IT!!!  And the best part was that we had told them it was Carson's birthday and so at the end of dinner then turned on the loudest, craziest, japanes-iest, birthday song and brought him some ice cream, a balloon hat, and snapped a picture of the occasion (As soon as we get some USB cord thingie in the mail, I'll scan in the Polaroid picture).  It was soo cute and Carson was loving it!  He kept saying "I didn't know they were going to do that!".  It was a really fun birthday for a really fun kid.

  Here's 5 things I love about my Carson-man.

1.) He still loves to cuddle with his mommy...and I love it too!
2.) He loves telling jokes...whether they're actually funny of not.
3.) He still loves all things scary....monsters, bugs, halloween, ghosts, etc.
4.) He is sweet and sensitive.
5.) He has the best smile!