You never know what you're going to find....

These two share a room. Haddi is gone all week and Sis has been complaining about what a slob Haddi is...so yesterday I decided to DEEP clean it and organize it. I wanted to scream about half way through....

If anyone was wondering...There were about 20 hair ponies in that room...I found them everywhere! Why did I just buy a new packet? I didn't even try to count the bobby pins.

There were seriously 30+ pencils in that room. Every time someone (Sis and Had) tries to do their homework, they (Sis and Had) are complaining that we don't have any pencils....hmmmm....maybe that's because they were stashed in every odd place in your room. I also found knives and forks in that room. I found clothes that they have been looking for for months in their pajama drawer, under the bed, and stashed in the swimsuit drawer. I found a tube of toothpaste in a pencil box behind the night stand. I found an empty root beer bottle in Sicilee's drawer. I found a half gone, box of granola bars in Sicilee's pajama drawer! Seriously?!? What the heck?

The new and improved drawers in their closet. I hauled out 2 bags of garbage and 3 bags of clothes to the thrift store here in town. It's nice to go through things when they are not around to protest.
Mia had to get in the pictures....

I love these two!

My Milestone this summer

Ok, so anyone that knows me knows that I am terrified of bears, not the wussy "oh I'm scared, look at me terrified", the can't go outside to turn off my water after dark, can't go hiking, can't go camping terrified. It's the real deal terrified.

We saw a grizzly bear by Leigh Lake in Teton National Park a few years ago and my legs went to jello and I was shaking for 20 minutes afterwards. But that is another post.

My Milestone is that I slept outside with only a thin piece of canvas seperating me from every wild animal in the surrounding Island Park area. My brother, not so subtlety, told me that I had the power to make or break this campout. And that for once I should make Chad happy and sleep in a tent. (I think he just wanted me to go quietly out of his new camper and not try to steal Jack and Bella's bed.) I took the hint.See that tent in the background...that's the one...that's where I overcame my fears...and tried not to ruin everyone's campout.
But last weekend, I went camping in style with my parents. See that couch, that was my bed. See the wall behind it seperating me from the wild.
My girls had a great time, catching frogs, catching fish...
I think the reason I love to go 4 wheeling is because I have a get-away. Plus they are loud enough to scare bears away.

And for the record...just because I slept in a tent once, doesn't mean that I ever want to do it again.

Sicilee (bless her heart)

Don't let this picture fool you...

These cookies do not taste good, although they may look ok, it is not so!

It's gotten to be somewhat of a family joke around here...Sicilee cannot cook.

Tuesday night Sicilee had to take a dozen cookies to mutual. I dropped her off at home and she assured me she could make "no-bake cookies" on her own. I cringed but what could I do, I was just coming from Indee's soccer game and on my way to "Back to school night". So I said a little prayer in my heart that the kitchen wouldn't start on fire and that her cookies would turn out ok...the whole time knowing that if they did turn out, it would be a miracle. I drop her off and my last words were "just follow the recipe card, do exactly what it says".
So instead of 2 Tablespoons of cocoa, she put in 2 Tablespoons of baking soda. Then she realized that the cookie mixture was suppose to be brown (chocolatey) and so she decided to melt some chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave and then mix them in. Does anyone see chocolate chips anywhere on this recipe card? Does anyone see melt peanut butter in the microwave on this recipe card? Does anyone see baking soda anywhere on this card?

Oh my goodness...another bowl full of ingredients (groceries = $$$) down the drain or rather scraped out of the bowl into the garbage. It's a good thing she is so talented in other ways...

Action Shot

Palisades was a little, ok a lotta cold!

But we managed to tough it out and still have a great time with the Birch's.

A little joy ride behind the boat on the tube.... and then my favorite picture of the day.

Ahhhh.......

Can you hear that? It's the sound of the first day of school. My house is empty and quiet without my older girls. Indee is in 2nd grade.

Haddi is in 5th grade.

Sicilee is in 7th grade.

My two elementary girls.

And there she goes...

Now what are Mia and I suppose to do?

Princess Mia

Mia turned 3 yesterday.

It was magical!

Everything that you hope a birthday would/should be.

She loved all her gifts and kissed them all.

She's at the best age for birthdays.

She's my only girl out of all 4 of them that has ever been into the princesses.

Here she is kissing her Cinderella and Belle.
She's naked because she's already had her Sleeping Beauty dress on and twirled, but then it got in the way of riding her new tricycle.

After everything was cleaned up, she came downstairs with my black high heels on and the witch hat, ready to ride her trike around the kitchen again. We hid her trike in the craft room and I asked her to go get me some sissors. She went in and came out and said "mom, there's a trike in there". It was so fun.

Happy Birthday Princess Mia!

A great date

King of the mountain....The views were amazing as they always are when you get up high like that.

I love to go 4 wheelin'. Chad and I went riding, just the two of us. It was so fun. I didn't have 2 or 3 kids hanging on. I could go really fast (too fast). I think I caught a little air a couple times. I came home with some wounds. I tried to show off and fell off the side of my 4 wheeler. Another time, I was trying to jump it and hit a big rock and it about bucked me off.
Chad had these "dust googles" in his bag. They came in handy. And I think I was making a fashion statement on the mountain.