Thursday, July 31, 2008

Now It's Our Turn!


Well, it was finally our turn to stay home and have someone to come visit us!! I was so excited to have surprise guests!! I was sitting there watching t.v. (yes. . I admit, when I grow up I want to be a couch potato! At least while Sponge bob is on!) when who knocks on the door?! Greba and Pa!! Hooray!!! We were all so excited, and WE had a fun time. I hope they did!



Pa got up one morning and played Star Wars Life. I think I won. I could tell Pa wanted to play all day!! (I'm shaking my head "NO")

The key to winning is all in the way you through the dice!! Honest!!


Dallin thinks he is winning, and I didn't have the heart to tell him, "Sorry, I'm winning!".


Me, Mommy, and Greba went shopping. Meanwhile, Pa put the boys to work, and cleaned the whole basement!! If you have seen our basement in person, take a deep breath and try not to have a heart attack as you look at this picture. . . I know. . . it is very shocking!! You can see the floor!!! Now, we are all not aloud to go down there!! JK. Thanks Pa!!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Home for a Few Days and then Off Again!

Well, we got home from our super fun trip to New Hampshire, rested a few days, and then Mommy and us kids were off to Indiana. Daddy had to stay to work, and I really missed him. However, I did have lots to do to keep me occupied. I had so much fun playing with my cousins. I also got to see my Grandma and Grandpa Great, along with some more cousins, Niles, Leo, Felicity, and their mom, Lindsey! I didn't realize I had so many cousins!! I also helped Pa finish up his front yard that him and my Aunt Neen were working on.



This is my cousin Talmage. He is just my size and we had lots of fun. He likes to dance, like me. He is an aspiring break dancer! He's really good too!
These are my cousins, Ada and Braden. They are so cool! Pretty much all Kaiden did was play the computer. . . (N.E.R.D) Just Joking-I love Kaiden! Hey look, in the background you can see a picture of Grandma and her sister, Oni. Her real name is Leona, but I only know her as Oni. I wish I could meet her in real life someday!

That's my cousin Emmy. She was like a big sister to me. I loved being around her!

I helped Pa finish his front yard. He couldn't of done it without me--I am a skilled landscape artist. Ok, Ok, I'm just kidding!


Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Part 4 of Our Summer Trip (Finally It Must Come to an End)

Well, we finally had to come home. Mommy especially did not want to drive home. She hates any long drives. The most boring part was driving through New York-it's such a long state! We passed Niagara Falls again and went through Canada the second day. It wasn't bad getting into Canada. But they did open the door again and stare at me when we crossed the border! (Word must be out about how cute I am!) But . . . getting back into the U.S. was another story. We had to wait forever. About an hour and a half to two hours. (I know, I have heard it could of been worse!) We did have entertainment though. At least that is what Daddy called it. Daddy and Mommy got to watch border patrol sneak up to a car and arrest people. Hmmm. . I wonder what was going on! Anyway they finally let us into the U.S. and it was only an hour til we were home.

This was our messy car on the ride home!



Yes, we are almost home!


Daddy said we were in middle ground when we were on the bridge. We weren't in the U.S. or in Canada! What?


The water was very pretty. I had never seen so many sailboats. This picture didn't even capture all of them!

Part 2 of Part 3 of Our Summer Trip (Is anyone getting tired of this yet?)

The rest of our trip with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Elizabeth was a lot of fun. Uncle Ryan took us to see lots of cool things. He even let me help him cook breakfast! He must know that the way to my heart is through food!


I was cooking eggs!

This was the brook behinds Uncle Ryan's house. It was COLD! It was so deep in some parts that it went up to Daddy's chin!



It was good swimming practice for Kaid.



It would be for me too, if I knew how to swim!! (Don't worry I'm in swimming lessons this summer!)

Uncle Ryan took us to Quechee Gorge. It was really deep!


He also took us to this place called Simon Pearce. In the basement of the store they blew glass and made pottery. We were to late to see them blow glass, but they pottery guy gave us clay to take home! I made a turtle with my clay.





This is still at Simon Pearce.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A Hike to the Fire Tower (Part 1.5 of Part 3 of our Summer Trip)

After Uncle Ryan woke up, he took us on a hike up to the huge tall thing that I think was a fire tower. I thought I wasn't going to make it up the mountain. I was huffing and puffing, but I finally made it! Once we got to the fire tower, we had to climb a bunch of stairs to the top of the tower. I thought it would be fun! Kaiden went up the first flight of stairs and decided that this wasn't for him and went back down. (This from the boy who will ride ANY roller coaster he can!)Once we were up there, Kaiden decided he didn't want to be by himself at the bottom. Once we got to the top, all of a sudden it got cloudy and started lightly raining. Kaid finally made it to the top and was freaked out and freaked the rest of us out! We didn't stay up there very long!




I think this is about the point Kaiden realized this was not for him. He said he felt the tower moving! (Wimpy. . . )

Going up!



At the top



aww. . it felt so good to get my feet on the ground!! That's my Uncle Ryan with us.





This was our experience at the top of the tower!

Part 3 of our Summer Trip

After visiting my cousin's house in Vermont, we drove over to my Uncle Ryan and Aunt Elizabeth's apartment in New Hampshire. Uncle Ryan was at work, so we hung out with Aunt Elizabeth till it was time to go to bed. The next day Auntie E went to work, and Uncle Ryan was sleeping since he worked all night. Daddy decided we would go back to Vermont and visit the birthplace of Joseph Smith. It was pretty neat, but the best part was when a missionary drove us into the woods in a golf cart and there were big hills! It felt like a roller coaster! But, it was cool to see the monument too!





Memories

The rules are simple. Start dusting off those old memories, and start leaving them! Here are the rules:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you!


**note from Gabby: Ok, people, this is a game my MOM is playing, not me,Gabby. Sheesh, she's starting to take over my blog. . . So leave a memory about my mom.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Mommy is tagged again. . .

Ok guys, this time I just let my mom do all the typing. Here are her answers:

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
1. I had just finished up my first year at Purdue University-and loved it!
2. I was working in the legal department at Eli Lilly as a summer intern.
3. I was proposed to by Matt
4. I was looking for an apartment to live in during my sophomore year at Purdue.
5. I was meeting Matt's family for the first time

5 things on my to-do list:
1. do 15 hundred loads of laundry
2. Sweep/mop the kitchen floor
3. Paint the upstairs bathroom (yes, I know. . still haven't done it!)
4.Take a shower
5.Enforce the kids' chores

5 favorite snacks/foods
1. chocolate
2. diet coke
3. California chicken burger from Red Robins
4. french fries
5. cottage cheese and just about anything mixed in! Yeah!!

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire
1. Buy a new house with lots of land
2. Buy a new clothes for everyone in my fam.
3. Buy my mom and dad and Matt's mom and dad whatever they wanted
4. Buy a member to Genesys Athletics Club (ha ha!)
5. Save it (Remember I'm married to Matt, so this is probably the only thing that would happen with it!)


5 bad habits
1. I leave dirty clothes on the floor
2. I don't stay on top of the cleaning like I should
3. Waiting to eat till I'm starving, and then eating a lot.
4. Surfing the Internet too much
5. Spending money on dumb things I don't need

5 places I've lived
1. Fresno, CA
2. Dallis, TX
3. Plainfield, IN
4. West Lafayette, IN.
5. Grand Blanc, MI

5 people I'm tagging
1. Megan
2. Janeen
3. Valerie
4. Laura
5. Jeannette

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Part 2 of Our Summer Trip

After camping for 3 nights, we were looking forward to sleeping in something other than a tent! Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, buy I can only camp for so long. . . Anyway, after camping we made a pit stop at my 2nd cousins' house. We were so excited to meet our cousins!! We were friends with them on Webkinz, but had never actually met them. They lived in a state called Vermont. Mommy and Daddy just keep talking about how beautiful Vermont is. I think they are trying to think of ideas on how to move there! While were at our cousins' house, we did lots of fun things. Amber, Mommy's cousin, made us a super yummy meal-hamburgers and brats, but my favorite part was the fruit salad, and especially corn on the cob!! YUM!!! After lunch, I played in their pool, while the boys played inside. Then we went to the lake and had lots of fun swimming. I was sad when we left, but we needed to get to my Uncle Ryan's house. Thanks Amber, Jessop, Dylan, and Dea for a great time!

This was a farm we saw on the ride to my cousins. Mommy thought it was pretty.



The boys had fun playing PS2.



I had so much fun with my cousins. I wish we could of stayed longer!



Mommy and Amber



The boys had even more fun on the way back to the car from the lake.

Part 3 of Part 1 of our Summer Trip: Prospect Mtn.

The second day of our camping trip, we were going to go to a near by water park, but it got cold and rainy. So we decided to take a drive up this mountain called Prospect Mountain. Once you almost got to the top, a little white bus took you up the rest of the way-all the way to the very top point!! Kaiden was scared on the bus. I think he is scared to be up high, or something. He thought the bus was going to crash and fall off the mountain! He worries way to much. . . anyway, it was pretty cool at the top! The scariest part was when I had to go to the bathroom!! The toilet looked like a normal toilet, but when you opened the toilet lid, it was a huge hole that was really deep and you could see down it. It scared Mommy too!! What if I fell down it!! Oh, gross!! anyway, they didn't have any running water. It was sick!! But back to the mountain. When we got to the top, it cleared up and was nice and sunny. I'm glad we went, it was pretty neat.



This was at the very top.


While at the top Kaiden decided he was going to rock climb, like his Uncle Jared.



He almost fell off and was holding on for dear life.



He was trying to get my help, but I figured he could handle it on his own. What?. . . It was good for him!

Here we are, on the very highest rock at the top of the Mountain. I know. . . it is not like it is Mt. Everest or anything, but it still felt really high to me!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Dallin at the Bear Slides

Mommy apologizes for the all-of-a-sudden ending but she thought Dallin was going to die, or at least get badly hurt. . .so. . .




(Sorry about me crying, but I had just totally wiped out as soon as I stepped in the water! It was way slick!!)

Daddy on the Bear Slides

Mommy just wants me to add that this doesn't look that scary, but in real life it looks way worse. Mommy and Daddy both thought that Daddy was going to have a broken something after this! If you could of just seen the terror on Daddy's face while it was actually happening. . .




"Bear Slides": Part 2 of Part 1 of our Summer Trip



This was the favorite part of the camping trip for everyone! This place was so cool. It wasn't that fun getting up to the "Bear Slides", but it was worth it. We hiked up the mountain for about 15 minutes and it was a pretty steep trail to follow. I wasn't sure if me and Mommy were going to make it! Finally we came to these natural water slides, and we had a blast on them. Right of the bat Kaiden, Dallin, and Daddy about broke there arms and legs on the first part of the slide we tried. After that we just stuck closer to the bottom of the stream and it wasn't very dangerous! We had this place to ourselves the whole time we stayed which was about 4 hours. It was so neat! If we ever go back, we are definitely heading back to this place!







Kaiden getting ready to take his first "slide" down the stream.








This was my part of the slide. It was the very bottom, and there was a little pool at the bottom to play in.









Notice Dallin is holding his bum bum. This must of been taken after he went down the super scary part that none of us ever tried again after the first time we went down! (The part where you get slammed into rocks at the end!)




Monday, July 7, 2008

Part 1 of Our Summer Trip

So, the first part of our vacation we camped at Lake Luzerne, NY and were there for 3 nights at a state campground. It was . . . fun . . . no, really it was. Sometimes I was scared at night, but for the most part it was fun. We did lots of fun things which will have to be on different posts, because Mommy took lots of photos. One thing I liked doing were the campground activities. We did lots of different things. We made masks one day, made a sign to put up at the entrance to our campsite, and played soccer. There were other things to do, but we were usually gone somewhere else.






The first morning we were there, we made scary animal masks. If you can't tell, I was a mean mosquito, Dallin was a mountain lion, and Kaiden made a red fox. He didn't wear his, though. It was fun to make.

Trying to Scare the boys!

So, me and Mommy went to take showers one night and Daddy acted like he left with us. The boys stayed in the tent and played. Daddy really stayed behind and tried to scare the boys, but I think he was unsuccessful. On another video (which I didn't post because it was way to long!) you can hear the boys saying, "Ha Ha, I know you are behind the tree!" Oh well, it was a good try, Daddy!

Here is the start of our vacation. It was so much fun. We saw new things and did things I had never done before. Daddy even said that we went the farthest east we had ever been. The first day we drove through Canada and stopped at Niagara Falls. That was CRAZY!! We rode a boat out to the falls and it felt like we were in a hurricane!! Then when that was over we walked up stairs right next to the water fall and got drenched!! (We even had ponchos on!!) After that we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and then left to go to our hotel a little bit down the road. We went to Niagara Falls on the American side this time, since we have been to the Canadian side a few other times. It was a little scary for me coming back into the U.S. because we had to stop at this booth when we got to the border. This guy asked us lots of questions and then he opened the van door on my side and stared at me!! He tried to ask me questions about my unicorn I was holding but I gave him the cold shoulder!! Doesn't he know Mommy taught me not to talk to strangers!! Daddy says that is what they do whenever you cross borders of different countries. I guess he was right because they did it again when we came back home!!



Wow--I never seen a flat screen t.v. before!! It was big!! They are really nice to watch cartoons on!!



So far I'm having a great time!!



The boys had a good time, too!