Joslyn, Kelly, and Kastin!!!

We were most fortunate this week to have been visited by Clay's sister Joslyn, and her two kids, Kelly and Kastin. It was loads of fun and we were able to do quite a lot of activities together.
It's always fun to have family visit, and now that we are a little closer to home than we were in Oklahoma or Florida, we are able to see family a lot more often now.
We:
Took a look at a KC-135
Went to the Mobius Kids Dicovery Center (lots of cool little education activities for kids)
Flew in a KC-135 flight simulator
Played a heated game of backyard baseball(wiffle ball, but it was still heated!)
Went to Silverwood Theme Park, which was Awesome!! As Good, or better than Lagoon!



We also did a number of things in between, but those were the highlights.

Come On Down To Party Town!!!

Thirsty Child

The children of this household are constantly drinking (mostly milk). Whenever we go somewhere they've always got to bring along a water bottle or a sippy cup. You would think that we were related to a herd of camels by the way that they are constantly filling up!

Preston is not ye able to form sentences and explain to us in a civilized manner what we are, and what we are not doing right. And appharently we are Not feeding him enough fluids because he has told us in his own language that he needs more water. It's true that actions speak louder than words..............

Janie Came!!!

We were very excited that Clay's sister Janie came up to visit on 11 June. She stayed for about three/four days and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute that we could have with her. We went to downtown Spokane and hung out at the Riverfront Park, took a look inside a KC-135, rode bikes, and had some fun playing 'Hoopla'.
When she had to go home, it was a bummer to see her go, but we sure had a good time when she was here.

Family Pictures 2008

Feeling Young Again

Laura was asked to take some young women on an overnight camp-out and hike. If you know Laura well...you know that she's not the most experienced in the camping scene (but getting better). After being teased by her husband, scared about ticks by her friends, having the boys scream as she drove away, and hitting a traffic jam making her 45 minutes late to the meeting spot, Laura made it! She camped, hiked, sang camp songs, cooked over a camp fire, made friends, and is pleased to announce that she made it home tickless! Whew. Sidenote: Laura brought marshmallows to cook over the campfire, thinking that is what you do..right? WRONG! The girls informed her that the new thing is to cook Starbursts on a stick, until the first drop falls and then eat it! Try it...it's actually not bad.

Enjoying the Sun...while we could

Well, after experiencing a winter that would never end with reoccurring snow storms, and a spring that never sprung- we are ready for summer! We had a short teaser of sunshine - and boy did we love it (we are now back to rain and cold weather...what is up with this???) Back to our 2 hot days of summer.... CJ got his first sunburn, Preston enjoyed running around the backyard in his diaper, we made a make-shift water slide, and well, CJ just enjoyed spraying the hose and everyone with it! All-in-all, we basked in the warmth and loved every minute of it! Plus, in all the excitement, we got new neighbors!!! They have a little girl named Keira, that CJ now refers to as "My Keira" - it is so cute!

Making Grandma's Strawberry Jam

Everyone is crazy for Grandma/Amy Ward's strawberry jam. We were lucky enough to get a few pints when Stan and Amy came out to visit.... However, our last few trips to Idaho have been through the airlines.... Therefore, we had a few unsuccessful attempts at smuggling it on the airplane(yes, we tried, it is THAT good!) Since our current supply was obsolete, and the store jam just isn't the same. We tried to fool CJ - we bought smuckers, generic, you name it brand, we even had some specialty jam that you get at those expensive WA nick nack stores, but through all our attempts, CJ kept saying "No...I want the "Red Jam" (Clay even mentioned the loss of the jam) So one fateful afternoon, Laura and CJ thought they would give making the specialty Grandma jam a try! After a few phone calls to the expert, and a little luck, we are pleased to announce that we currently have 10 pints of fabulous strawberry jam in our freezer!!! Mission accomplished - the jam lovers in the house are happy once again! Yahoo!!! Thanks for the help and little helpful tips Amy! It turned out perfect!

Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation

On our way to our little Get a Way in Coeur D'Alene, we got the boys all excited by telling them that there was a pool and we would definitely go swimming! Oh...they were excited! However - when we checked in - the front desk told us that the pool was currently down and not working and would not be up for days/ weeks. BUMMER! Clay and I looked at each other and thought...what do we do now? We promised the boys a trip to a pool??? Well, when we got to our room, there was a nice Master Suite with a large tub!!! SOLUTION presented itself! Hey, we will all fit in there right? We can at least try and we did! We had several "pool parties" in our own private room with warm bath water! We brought in toy cars, balls, etc. and had a great time! Not much leg room or breast strokes - but lots of giggles!!! Hey, what do you do when you promise your kids a pool and that is not possible? HAVE A BATH PARTY! Hey, it worked! (If you look closely you can see the water line...yep, we had it filled to the tip top!)

Time to GET AWAY!

We got some good quality family time in by sneaking away to Coeur D'Alene, ID for a couple of days! It was beautiful weather, gorgeous country, great hotel/resort, and the greatest company..... Here are a couple pictures of the highlights of our little get away! We attempted several hikes with the boys...however, we only accomplished 1 FULL trail....and that one was 1/2 mile! The other trails were steeper and much longer but also full of distractions...such as bushes, logs, water, rocks, bugs, fun plants...and the curious boys that we have - kept stopping to take a peek, throw rocks (which Clay keeps telling me is a normal boy thing...all boys throw rocks! News to me!). So with all the extra "sight seeing" and having to pack Preston for most of the trail, we didn't make a lot of progress before the boys were exhausted and we were forced to turn around and head down the mountain. Clay and Laura have promised that the two of them will go back "kidless" and finish those hikes! Even though we didn't make it far, we all had tons of fun - !

On one of the hikes CJ found a old pair of glasses with the lenses popped out - which became his hiking glasses and then when we were done hiking they became his glasses that made him become just like Papa! He even wanted to sleep in them!

The weather men called for rain and cool weather the whole time we were in Coeur D'Alene, but instead it was sunny, beautiful and semi warm! Perfect hiking and sight seeing weather - we are so blessed!

Daddy's Home

Deployments are NOT fun! But, it sure makes for a great reunion! Yes, Clay is home!!! Yipee. We are all excited to have him back! Laura and the boys went and watched his plane land and then met him on the flight line! It was a very exciting day in the ward house! (PS..Laura got the sign custom made from a company in Vancouver! If you want details on the company, let her know!!!)

Strutting his Stuff

Preston has been practicing for his next photo shoot! He came out wearing these glasses and thinking he was hot stuff! When we grabbed the camera and started taking pictures...he just kept posing! Silly Man - yes...we think you are cute!