2009 England Family Reunion

There are some trips you go on and you are so glad to be back home. There are others that you wish you didn't have to leave so soon. We just got back from the England Family Reunion and I really wish I was back at Kara and Todd's.
We first went over to Manson so Matt could participate in the ChelanMan 1/2 Ironman. This is one race I don't mind him doing because we stay at Granny Janny and Papa Butch's house and they make it very easy to get to the race. Matt did great. He finished first in his age group. Because he did he got a little glass mug that is tinted yellow at the bottom. Everytime I look at it I think it's dirty.
From there we drove to Boise and stayed with my sister, Sara for 2 nights. Her complex has a nice pool that the kids (and Matt) took full advantage of. Matt also requested that we stop by Sonic so he could get his double jalapeno cheese burger he has been craving. As we ate our dinner I noticed my burger had a bit of a kick to it. The jalapenos had been put on my burger by mistake.
From Boise we headed down to Matt and Sara's house in Salt Lake. We took the kids to Cowabunga which is a waterpark in Draper. As soon as we parked, Maddy informed me that there was no way she was going on any of those slides. (She can be a bit of a chicken.) We dragged her inside and all the kids loved it. We were even able to talk the kiddos into riding on some of the non-toddler slides. Great place to go for 1/2 day if you are in the area.
Friday we headed to Kara and Todd's in Pleasant View. Matt and the kids spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. I had a pretty good sunburn going so opted to avoid the sun. Later that night we pulled the kids from the water and went into the Ogden Rodeo. Crazy. Parking was insane. We walked into the rodeo grounds and could not find a seat. The place was absolutely packed. I finally found some nice people who let us squeeze in next to them behind the grandstand box. Every once in awhile we were able to see something. The kids enjoyed it though.
Saturday we went back to Kara's and had family pictures. I think there were 90 of us there. We had yummy burritos for lunch and hung around the pool some more. It was so nice to visit with people. After dinner we dragged the kiddos back to the hotel. None of them were too happy to leave. After everyone else went to bed, a group of us went to the hotel hottub and just talked. We decided at about 12:30am that we should probably get to bed. On our way to our rooms, we heard a lot of noise coming from the breakfast room (those Englands can be loud!). We stayed in there chatting away until about 2am. It was fun.
Sunday, my cousin Brynne had her mission farewell but we had to miss it so we could get Matt to the airport in Boise. We brought back a lot more baggage than we went down with...Kelsy, Aden, Thaddeus and Ben tagged along for the drive back to Washington. The 7 grandkids are all at Granny Janny and Papa Butch's house until tomorrow. They have had a blast and I will have to do another post for that. I'm glad they were there with air conditioning instead of here. It was 105 degrees yesterday according to weather.com.
So Kara and Todd, we tip our hats to you. You were fabulous hosts and we had a blast. My kids are already asking to go back. You took such good care of all of us and went far beyond what anyone expected. You are awesome! Next time, Kara, I hope you get to relax and come visit with us! Thanks for a great time!

Chalk Art

Cade and his friend have been drawing all over the street this afternoon. I went out to see how they were doing and came across this lovely drawing of their 'friends'.

Notice the lines coming out from under the arms of the friend on the right? Cade says that is armpit juice. Nice.

Top 5 reasons why Lake Chelan is the best place to be for the 4th of July

1. Sun- The whole weekend was beautiful. High 90s, low 100s made bearable by air conditioning and the lake.
2. The Lake and Stutzman's beach- Our family has known the Stutzman's for years. They have a beautiful piece of property right on the lake and they are always so generous with it. Matt took the kiddos down Friday and Saturday for hours. Cade 'cannonballed' off the dock and Maddy and Ryan learned to snorkle.


3. Time with Granny Janny and Papa Butch- I don't know if our kids realize how lucky they are to have grandparents so close who just love to spend time with them.
4. An uncle who will take you for a ride...a helicopter ride that is!


5. Fireworks- I love watching the fireworks show in Manson. We are lucky enough to have a prime waterfront location to watch from. This year the barge where they shoot the fireworks from was directly in front of us. I love hearing the echo of the explosions bounce off the mountains. I love seeing all the boats in the water and hearing all the horns honk when the boaters approve of the show.


And just to be mean, I have to throw this one in.

Words of Wisdom by Ryan

Today Ryan asked me when the next holiday was. I told him the 4th of July and then asked him if he knew what happened on the 4th to make it a holiday. He said it was the day America won its independence. One point for Ryan. He then asked me what happened on the 24th of July. I told him that was when the Saints (or pioneers) made it into the Salt Lake Valley. Ryan said, "Oh yeah, I knew that. You mean its when the Saints go marching in!" Ummm, sure.
We also just found out that Michael Jackson passed away. I switched the TV on and turned to MTV so I could show the boys who Michael Jackson was. They were showing the 'Beat It' video. After about 30 seconds, Ryan looks at me and asks "Michael Jackson was a girl?" I informed him that he indeed was a boy. "But how can he sing that high? I'm pretty sure she is a girl." Can ya' really blame the boy?

Happy 6th, Cade!

Today Cade turned 6 and this whole weekend has been all about him. Yesterday we took a group of his friends to see the movie 'Up' in 3D. All the kids seemed to really enjoy it. As part of the birthday deal, each kiddo got a drink, popcorn and a treat to have during the show. I think we only had one boy lose his food when he stood up from his seat, put the treat box on the seat and let go. There wasn't enough weight to hold the seat down so the treat box went flying. After the movie, someone took us all on a tour of the projection room. We could have skipped the whole tour part. I don't think the guy had much experience in dealing with the younger crowd because he didn't try very hard to keep their attention. Oh well. We went back to the party room where Cade got to open presents. I had talked to him before the party about not saying anything bad about any of the presents. I could just imagine him saying something like "I didn't really want this." He actually did a great job letting each guest know exactly how much he LOVED everything.
Today was the family birthday celebration. Cade opened gifts this morning and then after church we had cake. Much more laid back than yesterday.
Happy birthday, Cade!!

Busy Busy Bees

This point in the school year is when I feel I am so ready for summer break. I thought we were busy when we were in baseball season but now that school is winding up for the year, we are getting hammered with things to do. Here is a (kind of brief) breakdown on what's been going on.

Ryan is finally done with baseball. I was a little worried at the beginning of the season on how well Ryan would like being in (and how well he could play) baseball. Midway thru the season though, things clicked and Ryan did GREAT! This is a picture of him with his almost double. He would have made it to second base but he missed first and had to go back. He improved a ton and ended up being quite the player.

Cade really liked his first year of tball.

Maddy took this season off from softball so got to (or had to if you ask her)go to all the boys games.

We were able to enjoy Duvall Days.

Worked on putting in a new pathway to our gate.

The kids came up with 'Make Your Mom Happy Day'.

Matt, Maddy and Ryan have learned a few piano tunes.

Cade got to celebrate his birthday with his fellow kindergarteners.

The boys were boys.

And Maddy...I'm just not sure.

Pinewood Derby

I was reminded of and/or learned two things last night.
1. Our family sticks together.
2. Our family is consistant.
Last night was Ryan's 1st Pinewood Derby. We knew it was coming for quite awhile but either we were too busy or too lazy to find the time to work on his car. A few days before the race, Matt finally starts cutting the wood into some kind of shape. He proudly shows it to Ryan. Matt leaves for work and Ryan starts to laugh. I asked him what was so funny. He says, "this doesn't even look like a car!"
So in just a few days, Matt managed to carve 2 cars, buy 2 pre-cut cars and paint and decorate all 4. He and the kids were set to go.
To make a long story short, all of our cars came in last. If there were 30 cars there, our cars placed 27, 28, 29 and 30. No joke. I think the kids were okay with that. Sure, they would have liked to win at least one race but there is always next year. And the next. And the next. And...