Honestly...

Yesterday, Ryan & I dropped the boys off at his parent's house so that we could go on a date. (Thank you again for watching them!) We haven't been on one since...before we had Gabriel? We came back to Poky to do some shopping (all by ourselves!) Our first stop was Walmart. Lame, I know. We ran into Colleen, who also thought it was lame that we went to Walmart when we could have gone anywhere. All I have to say in my defense is:

1. Elliot starts preschool in September.
2. He needs school supplies and they are on sale.
3. Walmart was not the only store we went to.

After Walmart, we went to Ross Dress for Less. We are going on a cruise to Mexico at the end of October and figured if we waited much longer, we wouldn't be able to find summer clothes. Ryan had a meeting at work and then we went to lunch and hit TJ Maxx. They had some awesome bedding that we really wanted ( I will post pictures when I actually get it on the bed!) We stopped for a snow cone and then headed to Blackfoot to pick up our boys. Just before we got to Fort Hall, we heard something from the Explorer hit the road. Uh-oh. We pulled off at the exit, and sure enough, the serpentine belt was gone. I think Ryan is cursed when it comes to these--it is his third one! Anywhoo--we called our home and auto program (sort of like AAA) and got a tow truck. Ryan's dad was nice enough to come meet us and then take me to their house while Ryan went with the truck back to Poky to Jiffy Lube so they could put a new belt on in a...jiffy :) Out of the woods, right? Not so fast, buckaroo. The boys at the Jiggly Lub went to put on the belt, but a pulley was missing. Thank goodness the tow truck hadn't left. Ryan got a second tow to a mechanic (a friend of one of the guys at Jiffy Lube), and then called our friend Amanda to give him a ride home (all of three blocks!) Keep in mind he had all of the loot from our aforementioned shopping stops, so the ride really was warranted.

He then got in trusty steed #2 (his Dodge Dakota) and headed to Blackfoot to meet up with the rest of the posse. Brit was there, so we got to visit with her too.It was a long day, but thank goodness that the boys weren't with us when we broke down on I-15. What was with the flying ants? They covered the windshield of Denis's truck. Our entertainment while waiting the 45 minutes for the tow truck was watching the ants get stuck in winshield washer fluid. Amazing what mundane things become exciting when there is no TV.

After all that, it only cost $150 to fix the truck. Yay! Now it will run forever, right?

The 4th of July and then some...

We went to the parade this year. It was only two blocks away from our house, so yay for that! Gabe was just happy to be out of the house. The car was the coolest thing I have ever seen in the parade. Ryan and I had seen it the day before and as we drove past, we looked at each other and said, "That was the coolest car! Did you see it?" Elliot brought home lots of candy. One of the great benefits to having kids is the treats!

Elliot loves sparklers. Since Ryan had to work this year, that was pretty much all we did. He loved Amanda's green umbrella and had more fun with it than watching the parade.

The other pictures are just kind of random. Elliot was sitting in the exersaucer watching a movie one day while I was feeding Gabe. I didn't realize he was asleep until I got up to lay Gabe down for his nap. Elliot was out cold. He hardly moved when I pulled him out so that he could lay on the bed to sleep.

We have a Johnny Jump up that my sister gave us when he had Elliot (I'm glad I am the baby of the family--I get all the hand-me-downs.) It took Gabe a few minutes to figure out how to work it, but now he loves jumping in it. Elliot has even been so kind as to pull it back and let it swing while Gabe is in it. Only twice before I caught him! What a mischievous three year old I have.

The frog is in our pond. Ryan bought two last year to put in the pond when they were barely out of the tadpole stage. We haven't seen them since he put them in, so we thought they had died. Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and there was a good sized frog sitting atop one of the lily pads! Ryan still hasn't seen it, so I don't think he totally believes me. That's why I took pictures ;)

Dora Winifred

This post is for my nephew, Darren, (aka Dora Winifred.) I told him I would post a baby picture of him with his chubby cheeks. I can't find the one where he is about six months old and just a cute chubby wubby roly poly baby, so this will have to do. He is now 16, all muscle, and still a cute boy.

Memories

I have seen this on a few of my high school friends' blogs, and since I left comments on theirs, I figured I would give them the same opportunity!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I have together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! (You can play this even if we're just blog friends... something that you remember from our blog time together! haha!)

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see what memories people have of you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.I would love to hear what you guys remember about me! (good or [not too]bad :o)

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

So...it's been awhile since I have posted. Ryan has been gone for three of the last four weeks, so I have had a lot less "free time." He comes home tomororrow--yay! I will break up our latest happenings so that:

1. I don't get confused.
2. You don't get confused and
3. Umm...what was I doing again?

Ryan and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on Saturday (July 12th.) Yes, he was in Boise, but he did send me some beautiful purple roses. Does anyone else think he looks about fifteen in our engagement picture? What six years, two kids, and four years at ISU will do to you!

This is my niece, Gillian. or as we call her, "Gilly Bean." She is six and playing T-ball this summer. She is about a head taller than any of the other kids on her team and at the first practice, she was the only one who knew which way to run the bases! She is the queen of her house, but with three older brothers, how could it be any other way?
Here she is playing rover. They should have tried her out on first base...at least she knew what to do with the ball! Totally different from Thad's super league, isn't it Colleen? We forgot how much fun Knothole Baseball is. Where the heck was the snowcone man? That was always the best part!!
Elliot fed Gabe this afternoon while I was on the phone with the Primary president. They both had to take a bath! There were pears and applesauce all over, but it could have been worse!
We have a rabbit (not my idea.) It was inherited from the teenage daughter of our the bishop in our old student ward. (Thanks, Bishop Cady:) ) It came with a hutch and a "portable" cage. Elliot's favorite thing to do is get in the hutch, get the bunny out and then torture it by chasing him and pulling his ears. This day he got in the other cage with the bunny and then couldn't get out. Any of you who know how I am with pets (of any kind) know that I don't touch anything with fur (or scales, or anything, really.) I got Elliot out, but I went and got our neighbor to put Dusty (yes, the bunny has a name) back in his cage. Eww. I made Ryan fix the hutch so that Elliot couldn't get in it anymore. Although his idea of "fixing" it was to put two buckets filled with limestone on top of the cover. What a man.