Summer has arrived...

Summer is here!  Clark got out of school on the 21st of May.  Even though it's still offically spring, summer starts at our house when school ends. The Monday after school let out, we were off at 4:01 am (1 minute late) to visit Daniel and Amy.  Shanna's photo sums up our trip:


Yes, we had a WONDERFUL time!  It was great visiting and we didn't stay long enough.  Haley loved the birds!




Shanna loved Daniel's beard!



Clark loved playing the Wii with Anthon.


And we all loved swimming....I enjoyed  it all from the concrete.

We also stopped at a park and played for a little bit.  Anthon was still in school, but Amy took him out for a day to play with Clark.  I am so glad she did!  It's great being with family and Lee and I love talking with Daniel and Amy.  The one night we were there, we got to join in on their family home evening.  Daniel talked about coat of arms that are found in England, and most everybody made their own coat of arms, or started contributing to a family coat of arms. And for treat, ice cream...can't go wrong!

After our great trip, we ventured off on another adventure.  We headed up to Virginia and went....camping!!!  I am sure you probably just fell off your chair, but hopefully you didn't incur a concussion so you can keep reading and view some more pictures. Lee and I like doing things outside; though I'll admit, we're not very adventurous.  But may I add, having five small kids does deter me from doing things like....camping. Surprisingly Lee and I enjoyed it and I am sure we'll go camping again--at least once a year.

After our first night of camping we checked out downtown Charlottesville.  We loved the outside mall area.











We stayed at two different campgrounds while in VA...long story.  Well, not really, but I won't bore you with the details.  Our favorite part of camping is the campfire!




Shanna must be doing a marshmallow eating contest.  She should of had us all join in!


At the other campground the next day, it rained that evening.  We couldn't get the fire started (it didn't help that we couldn't find the matches.) Our "neighbor" let us use some lighter fluid. That got the fire started!


One of the reasons I am not too fond of camping: dirty kids.  But I took this picture anyway.  Elden loved crawling in the dirt!  Can you imagine twins crawling around in the dirt?  I can and that is probably why I stayed away from camping for a few years.


Elden will lie down occasionaly throughout the day and I think it's cute.  It seemed my other kids weren't as relaxed as Elden.  I loved seeing him lounge in our tent.

Thanks Daniel and Amy for a great visit!!!

Chalk on greasy stains

This was too good to keep to myself:

Use chalk to get grease stains out. Read about it here.

Use Chalk To Rid Your Clothes Of Greasy Stains

via Apartment Therapy Main by Sarah Rae Trover on 5/14/10

Between cooking meals in the kitchen, working on our car and being self-confessed klutz, we learned to treat clothing stains early on in life. It wasn't until a friend visited recently that we realized one of our tricks was rather unusual and left them asking, "Why do you keep chalk on top of your dryer?"

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Happy Mother's Day to all of you women! I think days like these are fun--like Valentine's day, or Father's Day. Sure we should show our love and appreciation to our mothers on a regular basis. But it's fun to have an excuse (and reason) to do something out of the ordinary. Maybe some people think it's just another day for merchandisers to push their products, but I enjoy it anyway.

Lee surprised me with LOTS of yummy chocolate--from a Toblerone to Lindt trufles, a Milka bar to Hawaiin Host chocolates (plus a couple more!) YUM!

Adorning the box filled with YUMMY chocolate, were our kids, depicted in candy. He did a great job.


Clark is obviously the tallest, with Cal on the left. The twins in front (he made them the "same" for obvious reasons) and Elden is crawling in the middle.


Thanks Lee! You are so creative! We let the kids eat "themselves" while we listened to a conference talk.

I enjoyed the cards from my mom and Clark and the cute picture Clark brought me from school. (He made the boarder.) I also enjoyed hearing Lee speak today at church on the miracles of our Savior. I got to talk to Sheldon a little as he and my parents spoke during church in a classroom. He is currently on a proselyting mission in Italy for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We've enjoyed having my parents here for a short visit. I wish they could stay a little longer. Enjoy your week one and all!

Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies

Cal taught Home-Ec on Wednesday. This week he led a baking class, choosing to do a healthy version of Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies.






Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies sound much better than the "soup" I would make as a small child.

Since we're on the subject of food, on Friday while doing laundry, I looked into the living room and saw this:

Yep, Shanna's moved up in the world. No longer does she feel the need to hide in the shower and eat sour cream. Why not do it in the open and enjoy a movie at the same time? Though the kids were looking suspicious as I saw them eating spoonfuls of peanut butter in the bathroom that same day.

Farwell to Great Neighbors

We had a fun, bitter-sweet week. The picture explains it all:


Just kidding. This is how the cake ended up last Sunday night (what was left after eating). Lee was the genius behind it.

On Tuesday we had a neighbor get-together for our friends the Cantrells that moved on Friday. Theresa provided an amazing dinner and we had such a great evening with our friends! We are sad that they moved. Andrew and Clark are great friends and spent many, many afternoons playing together. We wish the Cantrells the best of luck at their next duty station!















Normal events filled up the rest of our week: story time, craft time, a Hep B immunization for me, registering Cal for Kindergarten, ping-pong for Lee, gathering Visiting Teaching numbers, scrubbing clothes, getting free flowers, wiping up spills, cutting the kids' hair (minus Elden), preparing for Mother's Day, Lee planting free flowers, attending the temple, and enjoying a visit from my mom and dad.

By the way, if you are ever running low on adrenalin, here's how to pump it up quick: borrow my five kids and take them to the mall by yourself. Go to a small store and buy some things--at least four items (seven will do too). Oh, and remember to do a return first before you even shop. I guarantee that you will be alive and awake the rest of the day. (Okay, so it's not a "quick" process--quite lengthy actually, but it will keep you hopping!)