Gage is a Decade Old

 

Anything that's a decade old sounds old to me.  To think that I have a child that is a decade old is surreal.  How young was I anyway when I had that kid?  Double digits is a pretty big deal.  To celebrate, Gage invited some friends over for a late over movie night.  Not just any movie.  A movie he has obsessed about.....The Hobbit.  All of the boys that came are so dang cute and Gage invited his brother too which made me happy.  I got a TON of Junk food and Tim blacked out our windows so it would be darker in our living room which in the summer is like sitting on the surface of the sun. 

 

The Hobbit is a long movie and about half way through the boys were restless so we turned them loose in the backyard where things quickly degenerated into sword fighting and running through our sprinklers.  They all seemed to be enjoying themselves!  They came back in to finish and listening to their conversations was so cute. 

"Guys!  It's 10:00!" 

"No Way!"

"Have I told you about my raisin collection that I keep under my bed?"

"Inside Joke."

 

Anyway, we were done around 11:00 and that seemed to be half the fun.  When one mom came and got her son she asked him if he had a good time and he said, "Hashtag the best party ever."  Did I mention I feel old?

 

If you look closely I think Gage is drooling.

 

Current Creek Camping

Our kids have been begging and pleading to go camping and last week we finally did it!  For Christmas we gave them all their camping gear and it was great for them to finally be able to use it outside of the backyard and living room sleep overs.  We booked on short notice and found a secluded camping place at Current Creek Reservoir in Duchesne County which is about 2 1/2 hours away. 

 

We took this pic on our way out.  They were so excited!  Holy cow you have to take so much stuff and we still forgot salt and pepper and games!

It felt like it took forever to get there but camping on the banks of this beautiful lake was well worth the wait.  There was wildlife everywhere but I don't have any pics!  We saw:  Deer, rabbits, badgers, cows, (that wondered into our camp and ate breakfast by our tent every morning.  Those suckers have a loud moo when it is right by your head!) and countless squirrels. (who kept Sarge busy)

 Sarge had a hard time acclimating to his new environment and it was cold for my little doggie!  He was on edge the entire time we were there and his evolutionary instincts kicked into high gear when we received the herd of cows.  He was shaking with desire to go chase them.  I love the night time while I'm camping.  Nothing is as pretty as the night sky!  The kids loved looked for the first star of the night and lots of stars were wished on. 

 

My kids are experts at finding sticks and spinning elaborate tales about wands and staffs.  They entertained themselves for hours wondering the forest with their sticks!  They also loved stirring the fire with their sticks and trying to ignite a forest fire while they insisted on swinging around their sticks while they were on fire.  ahhhh. 

 

I included this picture to show you how filthy the kids got.  That is dirt....all over his face. 

 

 

On one day we drove down to Strawberry reservoir and met Tim's sister and her kids so we could go Crawdad fishing.  Don't know what Crawdad's are?  Let me tell you:  They are creepy.  Fresh water lobsters. 

 

 

I warned you.  CREEPY!  Check out the skeleton in the skeleton in the upper left hand corner

 

 

To fish them you attach raw meat to your line and throw it out and wait. 

 

 

You do not have to wait long and they crawl over to your line and pinch on. 

 

 

 

And then you catch loads of them.  Unless you are me and then the Crawdads run away from your line over and over while small children are able to catch them with no problems. 

 

 

 

Can you see the disgusting water spider attached to his line.  He said this was the King Crawdad.  I guess some people cook them and they are supposed to be good.  We didn't have a license so we just threw them back in.  We had a great time!

Pioneer Day Fireworks

 

 

This year for the 24th of July we were at Tim's brother's house for dinner.  After dinner, Tim's sis-in-law pulled out some fireworks and as we all know boys are like a moth to the flame when they see fireworks.  In past years my boys have been really hesitant around fireworks but this year they had overcome.  Looking out on all these little boy cousins (a couple of girls too!) and seeing their little blonde heads leaning over their work and their exclamations of wonder was really heart warming for some reason.

 

 

This is some serious stuff going on right here...

Claire holds her own with the boys. 

He would not have done this a year ago.  I guess he is growing up!

I Wish the Tooth Fairy Would Get Her Stuff Together

 

Luke lost another tooth on the eve of our camping trip and faithfully placed it under is pillow but did she show up?  NO!  Boo on her.  We convinced him to leave his tooth behind and told him we were sure she would come the night we got back from our trip.  Thankfully she came through at last and had the decency to leave a note of apology.  I guess the Tooth Fairy Business is a busy one.  All has been forgiven. 

Sweet Munkin

 

My boys are really interested in sports cars.  They seems to have radar for finding them on the road and when they are found they cause an explosion of excitement.  One day while I was driving we passed an especially cool Ferrari and Claire sang out from the back seat, "Sweet Munkin Red Car!"  It was so random and cute.  I have no clue where Munkin came from but it has become the new coin word in our house.

"Sweet Munkin ninja Claire!"
"Sweet Munkin breakfast!"
"Sweet Munkin movie!"

You get the idea.