TMNT

Brad needed a new project and with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie coming out he decided to make an artwork for Jacks room. Jacks is really getting into TMNT, so it worked out great. This took a few weeks to do and it turned out awesome. Now for a rest then he'll do another project. 

The Story

As I said, I would tell our 'fun' weekend story soon, and here it is. The weekend after Vegas wasn't the most fun we've ever had. A family member needed a bigger car for the weekend and so we let them borrow one of our vans for Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, a few hours after they took the car, my dad called said they were trying to call me... they had gotten into a wreck. Pretty much it was road rage that caused it. Our car went to get into the inside lane and didn't see the other driver. While it was a cut off, it wasn't bad, no wreck, and shouldn't have been a problem. The other driver had a hot head and passed through the median, cut our van off and slammed on his brakes. With no time to think our car hit theirs. Thankfully no one was hurt, well other than the van. When we looked at the car it really didn't look like much, but you know, one thing leads to many more. 

 We didn't think a lot of it. We had the other van, didn't run great, but it ran, and the car looked fixable. I do have to say I have had my fill of dealing with insurances, and that process started. We got it to a repair shop Monday. Our hope was that it could be fixed and fast and we'd be good. Well Monday night they called and told us our car was a total loss! We didn't expect that at all, and really it wasn't good news but would have been that bad it...

On Sunday Brad took the boys to Teresa's to go to the reunion with her. When he came out the blue van wouldn't start. He sat for a min and it started and was able to drive it. It died again when he got home and was in the garage. We figured it was the battery. It had been a while since we got one. Luckily we were able to borrow a car from a family member and Monday at lunch Brad got a new battery. We put in it and it started again. Brad was delivering stuff for worked and it died again, in an intersection next to the mall. Thankfully Sears has an auto shop and we took it there. They thought it was the alternator, but when they tried to fix it, that didn't do anything, so it's electrical. So in about 2-3 days we went from 2 cars to 0 cars. Yep... fun. We were able to get a rental, this sweet Dodge Dart. We have had this, the rental for Vegas, my family members car and Brad borrowed the scout leaders car to take boys to camp, all in our driveway these past few weeks. Our neighbors must really wonder what were doing with so many cars. 

The gold van was a total loss which meant car shopping. Unless you want to do that, it's not fun. We took the Blue van to Litha to get checked out. It was at least $150 to just check electrical, and just went up from there, and went up fast. We have decided to junk that car out. It had over 200,000 miles and needed tires so it's not worth the money to fix it. We started at Litha for a car and the had nothing. I'm so glad my Uncle works at Randy Hansen and so we went there. It was really very painless. We looked a two cars and picked this beauty. It's a Chrysler Pacifica and it actually had the amount of seats we need. So far we really like it. 

My stress level has been on an all time high these past few weeks, but I do have to say, now that I can look back, we have been lucky in areas. I had had at least one extra shift the past few pay checks, so we've had a little extra. We had family help with cars these past weeks and while one car will be hard for a while, the things we need two cars for end this week, so it won't be that hard. Most important, no one was hurt in the accident. We were able to find a good car and under what we wanted to spend. I do have to say though, I'm so glad this month is almost over. Now to get the rest of Beck's arm insurance thing finished up and we'll be perfect. 

Much Needed Update

The weeks since we got back from Vegas have been from... well you know. The week after Vegas I was sick for 3 days and I worked 40 hours. Since I felt crappy we really didn't go any projects. I know we did one thing, but I didn't take any pictures and can't remember what it was. (must not have been that good). By Friday I felt better. Saturday was an... interesting day, to say the least, but that's for another post at another time. Sunday the boys went to Bear Lake with Aunt Teresa for the Barnes reunion, Brad and I didn't go because we couldn't get work off. Pretty much the rest of that week we got "sweet" news each day, but again, I'll post that probably by the end of this week. 

To make Emery not feel so bad about not going we had fun with her. We went to the drive in one night, we let her pick dinner one night, made muffins, painted nails and 

made lip gloss. She had a fun week getting most of the attention.

 The boys had fun at Bear Lake. It's always a nice place to go to. They seemed to have a fun time, although they really don't give may details. 

Today it rained outside. The kids asked if they could go and run in it so I said OK. I looked out and they were pretty much nude. At least it was warm and they had fun. 

Brad is out scout camp for a few days so it's just me and the kids. Here's to hoping for an easier week. 

Grandma and Grandpa Camp

The kids look forward to this each year and finally it was time. It was Grandma and Grandpa camp this past weekend. It's fun to see each year the things my parents come up with to do. The theme this year was our body is a temple, so they learned to treat their bodies well. 

 On Saturday morning they were able to go to Great Harvest and make their own bread and eat it. Our kids loved this part. 

 The group is getting pretty big, and still growing. 

Kids 4th Weekend

Since we went to Vegas the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Arrington. Instead of staying home, they took them camping. The kids were so excited for it all week. 

They went up by Albion so a place my Aunt has. They spent some time picking stickers from their socks. 

 And searching for Firewood. 

 They also went digging for fossils. The boys are really into this now, so they had to love it. They were pretty sure they found real dinosaurs. 

 One day they went to the city of rocks. The kids loved climbing on all the rocks. Once Jacks saw I packed his jacket that is all he would talk about at home, so I'm not surprised to see him wearing it here. 

 They also went swimming at some hot springs and watched the fireworks in Albion. 

 I love Jacks face here. He has a good sad face. He didn't listen and go in trouble and wasn't happy about it. He also, for some reason, decided that this was a good time to start mooning people. We're going to have problems with this boys as he gets older. 

The last day they went to a friend on Grandpa's and rode donkeys. They all though it was pretty cool that they could ride them. 

It's good to see the kids had so much fun while we were gone. They still talk about their fun trip. 

VEGAS!

At the beginning of the year Brad and I set goals and if we met them we decided we were going to go on a mini vacation to Las Vegas. I didn't have to work the 4th, so we went for the weekend. It was so much fun and so nice to just get away without the kids, even though we thought about them the whole time. 

There were SO many people there and it took forever to get anywhere. We walked a lot and sat in traffic a lot too. We went to Fremont Street. It's blocked off and has some shops and places to eat along it. The roof usually has lights on it at night. 

 We went to a place call the Heart Attack Grill. It was an interesting place. We only went there for a milk shake, but it was fun to watch everyone. If you are over 350 lbs you eat free... I didn't eat free. 

The shake is made with the fattiest cream and that yellow, it isn't white chocolate like Brad thought, it's a hunk of butter. The food is just cooked in the most unhealthy ways and all over sized. Defiantly not a place you'd eat at more than once. 

 When you go in you have to wear a hospital gown. Don't we look cute. 

The first night we went to an play of the old movies "Evil Dead." They are super cheesy and crappy but it was about zombies, so how could we pass it up. We were in the blood splash zone and got covered. The play was super lame but also fun. 

 The next day was spent walking... a lot of walking. We went to Hard Rock and got stuff for the kids. We went to New York New York and walked around their shops. We went to the Luxor and saw the Bodies and Titanic exhibits. I loved both of those. Both were so interesting to see. I would go back to both of them. We searched forever for this over sized candy store and finally found it. Then for dinner went to a restaurant we saw on TV. It was so good, defiantly worth it.  We sort of dressed up for it. Don't we look good?

 We drove, so the way up and back was a little long, I hate being in a car, but it was also nice to just talk with out kid interruption. 

We got the kids candy and shirts. They were so cute when we got home. It's nice to know your kids actually miss you when you're gone. 

 Jacks didn't believe us for a while that his alligator was candy and not a toy. I'm sure he grew up a few years in the days we were gone. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad we live in the smaller town of Twin Falls. 

Random Post

These are all the things that really didn't fit anywhere else. Camden finally lost another tooth. He will not let us pull them out, so it was pretty loose for 2 or 3 days before it finally just came out. 

 Beckham finally got his cast off. His arm is so dry and tiny. 

 Since he's been outside a good amount he had a sweet tan line from the cast. Really it just makes his hand look dirty. 

 He does have the cast off, but he has to wear a brace full time for a month then if it bothers him for about 2 or 3 months after that. I think getting a rod in Camden's arm was easier than this break was. Beck isn't quite sure how to take that he can use his arm. If the brace is off he still holds his arm like its broken. 

Last week we only did one project. We had a lot of these melting beads left over from the boys B-day, so we used those. They made all different shapes. It was a good project that they spent about 1-1.5 hours playing with. 

Dinosaur Park

We have a nephew leaving on a mission this week, so this past weekend we went to Utah. We wanted something fun to do, so we went to the Dinosaur park there. Jacks loves dinos, so we figured he'd love it. All of the boys thought it was pretty cool. These dinos moves which Jacks loved. 

 This was the pose Cam did for most of the pictures and this is the face Emery had for most of the day. She didn't like it really at all. 

 Camden trying to be a dinosaur. 

 It took a lot of coaxing to get Emery to sit for this picture. There weren't even any statues around. 

Jacks thought this part was pretty sweet. 

 This was the only thing Emery liked. Jacks was good until the end where two of the stautes make noise. He flipped out and after that was done with the park. Although I'm pretty sure he would love to go again. Emery.. well probably not. 

We're Still Here

Last week was a crazy week for us. I covered a few shifts at work and ended up with a 40 hour work week. It made for a long week, but I'm glad it's over. Since the week was so crazy we didn't do too many projects. We just did two in one day, and neither really worked out that great, but the kids still had lots of fun. 

First were making chocolate bowls with ice cream. You were supposed to dip a balloon in the cholcolate and then it would make a bowl. The one thing we didn't expect was for the balloon to pop due to, I'm guessing, the heat of the balloon. This is what the stove looked like, a huge mess. We tried cups, but that didn't work. 

The kids weren't really good at mixing their ice cream. It gets really cold, which they didn't like, so no ones actually got frozen. Luckily we had some left over from Cam's surgery and that made them all happy. 

 The other thing we did was play with baking soda and vinegar. It's always fun to see that, even though it really smells. We went through the really big bottles of vinegar and 3 boxes of baking soda. I may have killed or injured the grass in this area though... oops.