He makes me laugh. A lot.

Can you take this guy seriously? Sometimes I don’t know if I can, but he DEFINITELY won’t be left alone at the park with my kids…

…not with that ‘stache anyway!

Woohoo to five years!

Thanks, sweet husband, it’s been great so far.

We had fondue Thursday night with the kids.

Luke and Natalie loved the cheese balls.

Darin surprised me with flowers…

Then Darin and I took off Friday night for our first overnighter without the kids! We headed up to Jasper, Indiana for our stay at a little bed and breakfast. Talking for 3 hours, just the two of us, uninterrupted was fabulous.

We arrived at the Bates Motel, oops I mean, Powers Inn and were quite warmly welcomed! Our overeager hostess showed us to our room, which definitely was decorated by a great-grandma! I mean, the antiques were cute, by the pink, flowers and lace were a bit much! But it was clean, comfy, and quiet!

The first thing Darin said was, “There’s no TV in this room!” No worries, we had a great night without one!

Here is our cute sitting area, and bathroom (I liked the dresser vanity).

In the morning we had breakfast in the dining room with a sweet old couple who also stayed the night (the lady let Darin know that her husband also noticed there was no TV right off the bat, but that they didn’t need one! can we say eewww!?!)

The breakfast wasn’t really Darin’s favorite (breakfast casserole: hash browns, eggs, cheese, peppers, bacon all rolled into one, served with cantaloupe, grapes and banana read WITH raisins (none of which Darin cares for!)

Then we headed off to Holiday World!

We were at the park from open to close… 12 hours on our feet! Our favorite waterslide, Bakuli, kinda flushed you like a toilet! Our favorite rollercoaster, The Voyage, left every muscle in our bodies sore! We had to ride it once more in the dark before we left and that was even better! We had a blast playing, just the two of us! We drank tons of free drinks, enjoyed some burgers and dogs, and of course… funnel cake!

This is only the beginning, but it has been quite an adventure thus far. We both agreed that our favorite memories list is topped with the birth of our children. Funny how important they become! We missed them and are ever so thankful for a brave grandma to take care of them all weekend! Now it’s time for her to go on vacay!

Wow. This is a great book. I loved it. If you have just a bit of time each night, you’ll finish this book in a week, yet you won’t be able to stop thinking about it. It’s all about forgiveness, giving a greater insight into the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It really touched my heart. I mean, its pretty much an eye-opening lesson but written through a captivating story, where if you are like me you want the characters to get to that happy ending and you love watching the them discover the steps they need to take, all the while it’s teaching me to do the same thing. Thanks Steph for loaning me such a good book! It’s a must read for all, and definitely a reread throughout my life! I am thankful for the greater understanding I now have of the Savior’s sacrifice and how the Atonement should work in my life. Sometimes I need a read just like this, it makes me look at everything in a new and BETTER light. He truly does give us peace and only through Him can we be forgiven.

grateful for our freedoms and happy to show off our pride!

We mostly went with the red and white on the attire…

but made sure blue was included in the food!

This was the American flag cake I made, when you cut it, your slice looked like a flag, but I forgot to take a picture of that! I got the idea from make it and love it and we LOVED IT! (At least I did, I had 4 pieces over the following days.)

Luke and I went on the boat and swam in the lake with Grandma, Aunt Dawn, and Uncle Aaron.

Darin grilled some yummy (thanks Mom and Karie!) burgers and dogs. We pigged out, then headed to the park for some games. The kids loved the bouncy slide and bouncy race (I raced with all the boys, multiple times). Karie and Dawn faced off with the bungee thing, followed by Nathan and Aaron. It was too funny!

(I obviously didn’t get enough pics, because these don’t really do the hour of fun we had any justice!)

We also got to see a Black Hawk helicopter, and the boys even took it for a “drive!”

Then we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma’s for a firework show put on by Darin, Dustin, and Nathan.(Thankfully they didn’t hurt themselves, but a few times we were worried!)

Around nine, we piled 12 of us in the van, drove down the road, and watched Smyrna’s fireworks. Of course, Luke was so tired all he did was roll around on top of the van and in my arms…but hey, its all in the name of holiday fun!

In other news, Natalie was sleeping through the night, until this tooth starting bugging her! With a little tylenol though, she’s back to cuddling in the corner of the crib! She is quite mobile, even tried some stairs today. She loves to play with, shriek at, and climb on Luke, but she totally tattles on him for anything he does that she doesn’t like!

(I had to post these…our best efforts at a cute picture on Father’s Day! We love you Darin! I promise we weren’t bribing them to smile, those are Darin’s treats! Can you tell when I took the candy away?! LOL)

Luke is a handful, but only because he is so smart! Our conversations these days are hilarious (and a bit frustrating, but only because we are both stubborn!)

And yeah, I’d say he is potty trained, we have had accident free days! Hallelujah!

They are always so nice, eh?!

They have great candy (and I’ve probably tried it ALL!)

They have cute accents and say such funny things sometimes!

I have to admit, I got a real hottie Canadian to marry me…

so perhaps they are easily tricked?!

haha, they make for FABULOUS FAMILY & FRIENDS!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

(not really all the reasons I love Canadians, just a celebratory comment!)

She’s such a great baby! Now that she is nine months, we need to list some of the wonderful things we LOVE about this chicklet!

~she laughs, “talks,” and “sings” all the time

~she loves her “ala” (Luke), always smiles at him and crawls around the house to find him

~she loves her “dada” and LIGHTS up whenever she sees his smiling face

~she loves her “mama” especially when hungry, tired, hurt, or bored

~she signs “milk,” but sometimes I think it means she just wants her pacifier

~she will hug and cuddle with you and pat your back

~she is a social eater, and will eat anything, anytime, anywhere

~she pulls up on whatever she can

~she likes the cell phone

~she goes to bed like clockwork (and wakes up in the night like clockwork!)

~she hates hats and headbands

~she dances to any music, anytime, anywhere!

Well, I am happy to be back in the saddle, hunting deals! Today I got all this for $10.75 and that’s because $4.69 of it was tax, so really I go it all for $6.06!! Awesome!  I mean diapers, 2 Neutragena sunscreens, 4 body washes, hair products, paper towels, and candy (that we don’t need and will no doubt become gifts) all for just six bucks, woohoo! Thanks to CVS and RiteAid deals, Southernsavers.com, and COUPONING!

I talked with a great friend/hot momma the other night after Bunco and she is couponing her way to Italy! I love it! Since there are less people in her home, she has kept the same food budget but started couponing and ALL the savings go towards a a trip to Italy in 2012! How great is that?! I decided we are couponing to keep our school debt to a minimum… then we will be couponing to PAY OFF the school debt and maybe one day we too will coupon our way to Europe!

I love saving money and hear about others saving money and helping others save money…

PROJECT ONE: TEMPLE

Thus far successfully completed, thanks to my mother and sister and in-laws for babysitting so I could could go and GO WITH MY HUSBAND !!

PROJECT  ONE: ENSIGN

This one is fun because I seem to breeze through the stories and articles and love every bit of it! I love the new layout and new “sections.” However, May became a bit of a challenge because I didn’t get it before I left on vacation and it is the general conference talks (its usually the issue I didn’t get all the way through in previous years), thus I gave myself a new project one, to read ONE talk a day (I’ve been pretty good at doing so).  I’ve really enjoyed reading one talk a day to really think more about what was said at conference, and to read what I didn’t hear while taking care of the kids!

I also have a goal to do my VISITING TEACHING every month this year…

PROJECT ONE: VISITING TEACHING

Sadly I totally missed May, I was out of town/country for 25 days, but still I could have emailed or sent a card… sorry girls, I’m recommitting myself!

After Stake Conference today, I’ve decided to add another project…

PROJECT ONE: SCRIPTURE STUDY

I want to study my scriptures ONCE a day, not just read or breeze through a section, but read, ponder and study. (I’m pretty sure this goal goes back on my new year’s resolutions quite frequently, so thus I resolving once again to do better!)

Now most of my projects appear to be working on improving my spirituality. I guess it’s a big focus for me this year?! However there are a few other projects on the list.

PROJECT ONE: ADVENTURE

I want to have an adventure with the chicklets ONCE a week, sometimes ONCE a DAY if things seem too boring around the house. Thanks to a great price on a family zoo pass, the FREE play areas in the mall, storytime at the library, playdates with friends, my mom helping us get a family pass to the ADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER, and our inflatable pool…I’ve been doing pretty good with this one!

PROJECT ONE: CRAFT

I also set a goal to craft ONCE a week. This one hasn’t been so good, but I’ve been squeezing in a few projects and I got a list running in my head that I just need to start…

and my other NEW goal to add to the list–

PROJECT ONE: EXERCISE

For a little bit I was trying to do something everyday, but that petered out rather quickly. SO HERE I AM, ready to jump back on the wagon. I’m gonna do it. 20 minutes a day… I can find that kinda time right?

Well, here’s to goals and projects…

Hope this week goes well!

We did get to go 4 wheelin’ (or ridin the quads) and to visit the baby chicks with the Leavitt’s and Low’s… check out these tough boys

and Luke loved watching the other boys play (maybe next time he’ll interact a bit more!) and he thought the tire swing was cool …which is amazing, because he hates swings, of course he isn’t really swinging now is he?!

and then there’s our trip to Calgary… to visit Barb, the zoo (complete with dinosaurs WOW!), and Olive Garden (where Luke peed on me- NICE!)…

(doesn’t Luke’s face match the dinosaur oh so well? poor thing was just worn out!)

aren’t these kids adorable? they were all great on the trip!

and last thing I have to mention is the golf outing. It was the last day in Canada and Luke had not gotten to go golfing with Daddy and Grandpa yet, even though he brought his clubs ALL the way ACROSS the country, so we had to go.  The day before had been perfect weather, but this day… cloudy, windy, even a bit of rain, BUT THAT WASN’T GOING TO STOP US! and it’s a good thing, because Luke loved it, LOVED it, absolutely loved it… proof? he still talks about it!

The boys only played 9 holes, and Luke only got to putt, but he didn’t mind. He did fall asleep (in about a minute) though at the last hole when we had him lay in between us on the cart and cover up with a jacket to hide from the rain that was starting to fall (I’ve never seen him fall asleep that fast and in such a weird position!)

and speaking of sleep, we found him like this one night when the adults were still up having fun and he didn’t want to be in bed but we made him stay downstairs anyway…

Of course that wasn’t the entirety of the trip, but I’m calling it good. I got other things to blog about…