BROMANCE...but not in a bad way...

My friends have great husbands and I seem to be able to find common interests with most anyone, but Terrence has never had a whole lot in common with my friends husbands. He's not a computer nerd, or a gamer, or a city boy. He loves hunting, fishing, camping, fishing, BBQ-ing, fishing, and fire...did I mention fishing? My friend and I discovered a few months ago that our Hubby's had a common interest, or rather obsession that could be the start of something pretty great. Terrence's Grandpa gave him a fishing boat after Terrence spent hours and hours fixing it up and fortunately my girls are so well behaved on the boat, so Terrence and his friend Aaron take the kids out and fish for hours, leaving me to do...well pretty much anything I'd like. On the 4th of July, Marcella and I spied our husbands getting their tackle boxes out and looking at their stuff. When we asked them what on earth they were doing we got a pretty shocking answer..."You know how when you're little, you trade hot wheels or baseball cards? Well...just think of this as an adult version of the same game." ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

So, the kids got in on the fun, and a "bromance" was born. It makes me laugh a little, but I secretly enjoy having some time to myself while Terrence goes fishing with his new fishing partner...

OH...and then there's the fire thing, but that's pretty much a common "man" interest...

Summer update...or whatever....

I've really been pretty terrible at remembering to bring my camera when we do things. We started the summer out with a two week vacation to see both Terrence's and my parents in Denver and Wichita. Then...we had a family reunion here in Logan at USU for my mom's family. On the 4th, we spent the day with two of our good friends who live in the same section of buildings as us. We had a BBQ and had a slip n' slide and water balloons for the kiddos followed by fireworks that night.

Kylie and her friend Annie spent the ENTIRE day in their swimsuits trying to get a tan. Kylie is SOOO her daddy's daughter because she turns a lovely shade of brown in comparison to my various shades of red.

Madison was so proud of being able to wear a swimsuit without a swim diaper and I have to say...it is so nice not having to pack around diapers everywhere I go. Maddi and Noah are little buddies.We got out some old school music to dance to and taught our girls how to do the Macarena. Emma and Kylie really got into it. I was going to post a pic of my friend Angela, but decided to spare her...plus I would really like to live to see age 26;)
On several occasions during the past two months, I have found my camera missing! I look everywhere and when I ask Madison where it is (knowing of course that she will have no clue) She surprises me and takes me right to the exact location of my missing camera. The problem is...I have to erase about 1000 pictures that look pretty similar to the one above. Sometimes I get a close-up of a chocolate milk mustache or a dripping booger, but she thinks it's pretty cool.....

And...here is my sassy little attitude girl. She is convinced that she is going to be Hannah Montana for Halloween and I can often find her singing with a toy microphone while twirling around the post of her bed wearing a tank, a mini skirt, leggings, fur boots, and an extreme case of vibrato. She cracks me up!

Now for the most recent events...we spent the 24th in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho at my family reunion. Did I bring my camera...of course not! On Saturday we decided to go on a tubing trip down the Portneuf river through town and rented some 3-person tubes for the event. My mom was more excited than a little girl and just booked it down the hill to get in the river. I kept telling her there was a waterfall but before she caught on...she was already in the water and on her way down. Terrence and I followed close behind and ended up flipping over at the bottom of the 5-foot waterfall. It wasn't too bad because the water was so deep and went into a big pool where the current wasn't very fast. Once we got back on our tubes, we started floating down again when we saw a second waterfall coming. There were a bunch of people getting out of their tubes there and climbing down but we didn't get the hint till it was too late. Unfortunately this waterfall didn't end in a big pool, the current was very strong, it was shallow at the bottom, and there were very sharp lava rocks at the bottom of the waterfall. Today (a week later) my bruises that span from my thigh to my lower back are finally a nice shade of light yellow, and my scabs are finally starting to heal. It did hurt quite a bit to sit for a few days, but I'm doing much better. Hope my mom's knee is feeling better too;) It makes for an awesome story though right?

Sweet Satisfaction

I have found that one of the most controversial subjects among moms is the subject of potty training. I for one was slightly clueless when trying to potty train Kylie. The day Kylie turned two, I started potty training. I bought the princess potty that twinkles and sings when you've completed the task. I bought pull-ups, training panties, and a step stool. I thought she was showing all the so called "signs" but it ended up being a year long struggle to force a child to do something she really wasn't that interested in. So...I threw out the potty, got rid of the pull-ups, and retired the thick training panties to the dumpster. I WAS NOT going to do that long struggle again!
Madison has surprised me. Here she is a 2 1/2 and she had developed a new hobby. She loves to strip completely naked and sit on the potty over and over again throughout the day. We have had an incredibly busy month between the vacations and visitors, so I haven't even tried to potty train her until Monday that is. On Monday, she had zero accidents and wore the same pair of panties all day. Tuesday: again...zero accidents and she even took herself to the potty without me knowing a few times. Wednesday: zero accidents and I haven't taken her to the potty once! She goes in by herself , takes care of business, and then asks me to help her wash her hands. I feel so blessed. Thank you Madison for being so kind!
I am in no sense a pro at this, but I have learned several very valuable lessons. First: never force a child to grow up faster than they want to. Second: don't waste your money on silly tricks that the so called "experts" say work, and Third: every kid is so completely different!
I'm just hoping that I am not "jinxing" myself by posting this. Hopefully it's as easy this time as it seems to be so far!

The "latest" happenings...

On Saturday, Kylie graduated from Joy School. We had a fun little party and graduation ceremony. She misses the Kindergarten deadline by 16 days, so it will still be another year of preschool for her, but she sure did have fun this year with all of her joy school friends.

Terrence has been working on his grandpa's fishing boat and finally has it finished. We've had a lot of fun having it up here and have been fishing several times a week for the last month. Yesterday he went fishing with one of his good friends and caught several tiger musky's. This is just one of the average sized ones (10lb. 34 in.). He got bit by one of them and it is still bleeding from it. It's a pretty small cut, but it must be pretty deep for how much it has bled!

I have been working on my newest hobby. I'm not a huge fan of scrapbooking, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to do crafts! My sister-in-law's amazingly talented mom cut me some letters for my girls bedrooms. I have spent the last two days making them cute to hang in their rooms;)

New Family Pictures

This is a total picture overload, but we were finally able to get some family pictures taken in March, so I wanted to share. I won a photo shoot in our Relief Society service auction, and just got the picture CD back yesterday. ENJOY!

WOMENS CONFERENCE

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend womens conference with my friend Angela. Her sister-in-law Jen is on the Womens conference committee and hooked Angela up big time! Fortunately things worked out for me to be the lucky one to go with her!I have been to "Time Out for Women" before with a couple thousand women, but nothing prepared me for seeing 20,000+ women packed into the Marriott center!

Jen hooked us up with AMAZING parking. This picture was taken of the Marriott center, from out car in the lot. (with out zooming in!) We were able to park next to all of the presenters, so it was so nice.

We also got floor seats in the Marriott center, and I took this picture without zoom from our seats. I can't even begin to describe the feelings we had while attending. We took some amazing classes and learned so much. The most amazing thing was seeing 20,000 women stand in unison as L. Tom Perry and Russel M. Nelson walked into the room and knowing I was so close to them. What a privilege that was!

One of the best highlights of the conference was the concert on the first night. Hearing Freddie Ashby singing in person was such an emotional experience, and I never realized that Hilary Weeks was so funny! Eclipse (a mens accapella group) performed as well and the entire audience waved their arms and cell phones to "Sweet Caroline". They also did an 80's rap medley which was hilariously entertaining. But, I have to say that the sign language interpreter was the one of the best parts of the show for me. She sat on the floor right below us and I have never in my life seen an interpreter as talented as she was. You could plug your ears and watch her (not understanding sign language) and you could tell what she was saying just through the movements of her body and expressions on her face. I had a hard time concentrating on the concert because I was so moved by her interpretation of the music.

This was such an amazing experience, and I for sure will go again! Unfortunately, I don't think I will ever be able to get such amazing benefits next time. Thanks Angela and Jen! I had a blast!!!

Easter Dresses and a case of the Grumps

On Easter Sunday, we had some major breakdowns the second we walked in the door from church, and of course I didn't think to take pictures before we left.... Then we went camping last weekend, so this was my attemt at getting pictures of their new dresses. Their Grammie Sharon bought them these dresses and socks and I am so in love with them! Of course, neither girl was interested in a photo shoot and both are pretty grumpy, so they wouldn't stand near each other without being mean, and alone...well this was the best out of about one dozen pictures. Kylie is into this new thing, where she WILL NOT wear her bangs down, and won't let me cut them, so she looks a little bald...

I did manage to get a smile out of Madison, but this is the only picture I could get of her that didnt' show her diaper...AHHHH!!! Today is one of those days where chanting "I love Sundays" all morning may be beneficial...either that, or just tune out the bad and go with a dark colored dress......