I love July...and Wakeboarding

This summer we have been fortunate enough to do lots of wakeboarding. And this year I am getting good enough to finally enjoy it ALOT....dont get me wrong, when I catch big air the finn is barley out of the water, but it feels big! I'm so glad that me and chad both love to do this and share it as a hobby. I hope it never changes.

Jared tearing it up surfin'

 And since there is NEVER pictures of me wakeboarding, I made chad take a bunch. Look at those BODYSTEP legs! ;)

 Thats right, I told you I go big!

 Jared was super patient with our kids. Especially Carter wanting to sit on his lap and drive all the time.

 My hunny learnin to surf.

 Chad at his happiest. I love this pic even though it is from behind. I can sense his smile and his happiness.

 And incase you missed it in the last pictures, our last boat outing was no sunny day! Clouds loomed all around and it rained lightly on and off. We even saw a few lightning strikes. We wore coats and bundled the kids up in blankets and went anyway. Suprisingly the water was really warm.

Heres hoping for lots more time on the water before fall hits.

Keep scrolling for our latest camping trip!

Camping with kids

We braved Baumgartner again this year despite having 4 kids under the age of 3 between me and my brother. But the kids were in heaven diggin in the dirt and running around half naked. Such a wonderful trip. We sure love that place! There are LOTS of pictures!

Jord & the nephews

 The cousins!

 We did lots of bike riding

 Me and my mad dutch oven skills....seriously I made the best dutch oven monkey bread ever!!!

 Mollie sat so still for her evening sponge bath and having her hair combed...obviously because it wasnt her mom trying to do it!

 Carter LOVED floating the river.

 And Chad too....

 The nature hike

 So horseshoes is a pretty serious game in my family. My mom bought a big set for the kids to play with. Love the look on Carters face. He took it so seriously already.

The whole gang.

                               
Love ya fam! thanks for the memories!!

He's HOME!!

My brother returned on the 20th of June from his LDS mission in Dallas, TX. What a great family reunion! It has been almost 3 years since my whole family has all been together!

Here is the gang waiting at the airport.

 THERE HE IS!!!

 Hugs from the parents....

 What a good lookin kid!

 The guys....

The gals

And two new neices he hasn't met yet and 2 nephews that are much bigger than when he left.

So proud of my brothers for serving so faithfully. You truly are an example to my and to my children. Thank you!

JUNE 2012

June started out as a drag! I have been really sick with constant sinus infections and I have been told for years that I would need surgery to correct it. After the last few months I decided I am done suffering! I decided to have a surgery and get it takend care of once and for all!

 I had a septoplasty, turbinate reduction, concha bullosa resection and an edoscopic sinus surgery of 4 sinuses. Also a bone spur was removed. The worst part was getting blood and the IV. If you know me, you know I have a fear of needles and since I had been fasting for 12+ hours my blood was slow and veins were thin. It took 5 nurses and 6 pokes and 1 blown vein before they got what they needed. It was pure torture!

Now this pic I normally wouldnt show, but I find it pretty humerous. I was very drugged and wanted to see how much swelling i had. As far as recovery though, it wasnt too bad. Tiny bits of bleeding and a little swelling and two tiny black eyes. What was miserable was the two splints the size of my pinky that they stuffed up each nostril and I had to keep in for a week! Once they removed those, I was healed!

 Not totaly and completely, but I was able to feel well enough to go to the Hymas reunion 1 week later and have a pretty good time.

 This is Chad's dog Goofy. This is the last picture taken of them together. She is so old and will be put to sleep this week. She has been such a good dog and we love her so much and will miss her.

 We also celebrated Father's Day at the reunion and got all the men matching superman shirts, pop and candybar since they are super heros in our eyes. This is Chet, Clyde and Chad. All these men I look up to, respect, and adore.

 Carter was in heaven riding motorcycles, eating popsicles, and running free from mom and dad. Mollie too.

After the reunion we rushed back for Carter's first day of swimming lessons. He and his buddy Jace do everything together and were both so excited. In just 3 short days Carter was swimming! I was totaly impressed by the instructors. We are doing more of a private session although there are 10 kids in the class. 3 days ago I could barley wash Carters hair in the tub. Now he is swimming under water!! AMAZING!

I love summer. Its so busy but we have many fun things to do.

MAY

I am SO behind on blogging so Im playing catch up durring nap time although I have a million other things I SHOULD be doing!! May was a fun month. We got a new park right in front of our house! It has been a work in progress for atleast a year and finally the toys arrived! We spend many hours there and the kids love it. And as far as parks go, its a pretty great one! A pavillion, swings, and restrooms will be coming soon!

In other May news, my baby brother Adam graduated from High School. Myself and all 4 of my brothers graduated from there and so we all share a little spartan pride! Love this pic of him. If you look close he is raising his arms and facing the camara right in the middle. Love ya Ad! You're such a great kid and Im proud of you accomplishments!

On we go to June.....

Viva Las Vegas.....

....Almost became our new slogan for life! The last month has been very stressful in deciding if we could move our little family 8 hours south to this crazy big city. Chad was offered a great job at Therma Systems just across the border of California. But we would live in las vegas. He flew out for 2 days for interviews and then a week later me and him drove out to look at housing options. I have to say while in Las Vegas I felt completely sick to my stomach, although we both love the city for a vacation its not completely ideal in my book for a place to raise a family.  But when we got to Henderson where we would have lived, I was surprised at how quickly I fell in love with it.

To make a really long story short, the cost of living there is so high (#3 in the US) even with the raise and crazy awesome benefits they would have given us to move there,  it still wouldnt have been enough to better our current situation. We sadly declined the job and the lights of Las Vegas. Lots of prayers and preisthood blessings have gone into this decision. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for quite a while and I was surprised at how upset I was after we decided not to go. I think I was just ready for a change although we have been happy in Twin Falls. We all get stuck in a rut at one time or another in life and we are definantly there.

So for now...the job search continues. Chad has been very happy with his job and we have great benefits that are hard to beat anywhere else. But the shift work is super hard on our family and our marriage and we both strongly feel it is time for a change. And in the wonderful words of Rafiki I have found myself remembering, "Change is GOOD."