Snow Day

Here in NC we really get excited about the chance of snow. The weather was forecasting the chance of snow all week and we were getting pretty excited. By Thursday it said there was a 100% chance of 4-6 inches so of course the girls were excited. Around 7:00 pm it started, school was already cancelled, and the girls were expecting to wake up to a winter wonderland. However, as soon as they went to bed it stopped and our snowfall became a mere skiff. The girls didn't let that get them down though. They managed to have plenty of fun and get really dirty. They even got to warm up with hot chocolate and cinnamon roll cake. You can't ask for a better snow day than that.

Summer Field Trip #2-Hanging Rock

The girls and I had a perfect day today. We packed a lunch and headed up to Hanging Rock State Park. We picnicked and then hiked to a waterfall where there is a pool of water to swim in. The weather was perfect, all the kids were well behaved and happy and we just simply had the best day ever, according to Lillie.

On the way home we passed by the Dairi-O so of course we had to stop and get a little treat.

They were supposed to water the flowers...

Father's Day

Whit is one lucky guy. He will always be surrounded by beautiful women who adore him. Us girls are really the lucky ones. Whit is the perfect dad for all these girls. They definitely came to the right family.

I am so blessed to have Whitney by my side raising all these wonderful girls.

To show our dad how much we love him we combined two of his favorite things, Oreos and popcorn. Followed by his favorite soda, Virgil's Rootbeer.

Summer Field Trip #1-Sci Works

My plan is to take the kids on a field trip once a week this summer. Friday we were able to go on our first one to our local Science center called Sci Works. We haven't been there in a long time and they have a few new additions that I was pleasantly surprised with. The girls had a great time and I was able to spend some real quality time with them. The best part was a room full of these cool flat blocks that you could build with. I am pretty sure Lillie could have spent an entire day in there and never been bored (I think I know what she is getting for her birthday.)

We followed up the trip with chocolate dipped ice cream cones from McDonald's. These brought back some great memories. I remember getting them when I was young. We got ours from Dairy Queen and not to call my Dad (the stake president) out or anything but I am pretty sure we would get them on Sundays on our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Wherever and whenever the yumminess I remember is still the same.

Our First Swim Meet

I am not sure I can adequately describe a swim meet here on the blog. All I can say is Holy Cow!! Our first swim meet was probably one of the most stressful things I have been through in a really long time.

The prep work was insane because I had to go to the pool prepared to feed and entertain my entire family for four+ hours. I wish I would have taken a picture of the house when we left. There was flour all over the floor from Jaynie using the flour conatiner as a stool and having the lid collapse on her, there was sugar all over the floor from Penny getting into the sugar container that was left open by Jaynie when making cookies, and there was salsa all over my rug from Addie trying to help clear the dirty dishes and not quite getting the bowl in the sink. All of this happened 15 minutes before we left the house so needless to say we left a mess.

Once we arrived at the pool I was frantically trying to read this insane heat sheet and write all the girls races on their arms with permanent marker (yes I said permanent). All the while trying to explain to the youngest two why we were at the pool but not swimming. Just try to imagine me trying to keep a toddler away from the pool when her older sisters are swimming in a race. Then to top it all off about an hour into the meet it started to thunder. We waited at the pool for over an hour until they decided to reschedule it for the next night.

Lets just say I left the pool feeling pretty defeated and terrified that I had to do it all again tomorrow.

But, despite all the craziness the next night went much more smoothly (I learned a few things from the night before) and it was pretty awesome watching the girls swim their races. They all did so great. I was so proud of each one of them and I can't wait to see how their times improve as the season goes on. I like swimming because although they are part of a team they are really only racing against the clock and as long as they can improve their individual time then they are winning.

A Visit from the Ruberts

We we're lucky enough to have the Ruberts come and visit. Shaunna, Russ, Lindzy, and Kaden drove out the second week of June.

Here is a quick recap of their trip as told by Whitney.

They got here on tuesday night and we had a good dinner and some good chat. We then watched mr. South Fremont and saw kaden in all his glory. That was pretty darn funny. Then next morning we had some breakfast and the ruberts headed to charleston south Carolina and spent wednesday and most of thursday looking at civil war and other early American history stuff. We made sure they left most of their luggage so they'd have I come back. The ruberts had a great time in charleston and got back late. Friday I went to work while everyone got ready then we went and had some bar b que for lunch. Then we went and toured old Salem. Uncle Russ bought the girls ice cream. My girls think Russ is about the coolest uncle ever. The ruberts had just come from Nauvoo and we decided that old Salem was the nauvoo for the Moravians. On the way home we stopped by the Krispy kreme that is near the Krispy Kreme headquarters. Then we headed to the pool for a bit. We finished the night cooking out and having a firework show thanks to Kaden and a stop at the worlds largest fireworks warehouse somewhere on their cross country journey. Saturday we had some swim practice, then headed to the mountains, we went to the old mast general store in Valle Cruisis and had lunch at a nice little park. Russ and I found some great pickled okra which we were pretty fond of. Then we went for a hike off of the blue ridge parkway. We headed home just in time to leave the younger 3 girls with a sitter while the rest of us went and got some pizza from mellow mushroom en route to bowman grey stadium to watch some minor league NASCAR. It was amazing. So hard to describe... The people the tobacco the noise the whole thing was a lot of fun. They had several different classifications of racing, but for the most part is was like a controlled demolition derby with really fast cars. My favorite moment of the night was when the guy behind us yelled 'rubb'n is race'n' as the second place guy nosed the first place guy out of control and into the infield. Well actually my favorite moment was the last race which was a chain race. They had 7 or 8 teams with 2 cars chained together. The front car had an engine but no brakes and the back car had... You guessed it, brakes and no engine. It was pretty much the coolest thing we'd ever seen. Then we went home and woke up and as quick as they came The Ruberts were gone.

I always get pretty homesick when people leave us but I wouldn't trade their visits for anything. Thanks so much Ruberts for making the trip. We love you and miss you already.

HALLELUJAH!!!

School is finally out!! I am so excited for the lazy days of summer. Although as I look at our crazy schedule of swim and yoga I am not quite sure they will be such lazy days. Oh well I am just glad I get to be with my girls more.

When the girls got off the bus on the last day some of the moms had made a sign and some fun activities for the kids. It was a great afternoon. We have such a great neighborhood.

Golfing with My Favorite Guy

Whit had a golf tournament at work and they needed some extra players so he asked if I wanted to play. I was so excited, I got off the phone and immediately called my neighbor to see if she could watch the younger girls that day. I called whit back and told him I was in.

We had so much fun. We started in a group, but then ended up by ourselves. I think we could both be pretty good golfers if we played more. I wish we could play more often, but as I tell myself a lot these days, "there is a time and a place for everything." Someday we will play lots of golf together.

I will take what I can get for now. It was definitely the best date we have had in a long time.

My Amazing Husband

The oldest three girls are doing swim team this year and in order to join swim team we had to join the pool. The problem is we already get a pool membership somewhere else they just don't have a swim team. So to offset the cost the girls and I decided to have a yard sale. The girls went through their toys and got rid of some stuff to help out and Whit and I cleaned out the garage. We had a pretty big pile of stuff to sell. The problem was I had to go camping with Jaynie that weekend and Whit wanted the stuff gone before the Ruberts came to visit. Instead of hauling it all of to Good Will Whit actually held a garage sell without me. He listed it on Craig's Listand made signs. He even priced everything by himself. I didn't do anything for him. There were a few things that I cringed at when he told me how much he sold them for (some people got some really sweet deals) but we got more for it than if we had sent it to Good Will.

As if that isn't enough to make Whit the most amazing husband ever he pulled out his amazing Martha Stewart skills at the last minute on for me and I couldn't be more excited about it. I have wanted a moss G to hang on a mirror on my mantle for a long time but they are expensive and I didn't want to spend any money. Whit kept telling me to just make it but I couldn't find the right stuff and I knew I wouldn't be able to do as good of a job as the lady on Etsy. I really wanted it before our guests arrived but I waited to long for it to get here in time. So what does Whitney do? He comes up with this awesome idea to make it out of a foam insulation board from the job site next door (of corse he used building materials), he goes to Joann's and buys the moss, and creates this beautiful masterpiece. I mean seriously he is Amazing!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a productive and fun weekend. We spent all day Saturday organizing our garages and I must saw they look pretty good right now. We'll see how long it lasts. I also finished up the garden. We have some plants that aren't doing so well so I tried to mix in some nutrients and hopefully I can save them. We ended the day with a couple of hours of pool time. Sunday night we put up the tent in the backyard and Whit built us a fire pit so we could roast marshmallows and have smores. It was a little warm for a fire, but it was nice. Then came time to sleep in the tent. Penny was a little too excited about the tent. She kept going to everyone's sleeping bags laying down on their pillow. It was pretty cute but not exactly conducive to sleeping so she ended up inside. I wish I had gone with her then. Unfortunately I waited until 4 in the morning to finally go in. I am not a very good camper. That is the last time I will ever sleep in a tent without an air mattress. Plus it's already too late to camp in North Carolina because of the heat. So I am the uncool mom who gave up and went inside to get a couple of hours of sleep. Monday was just another productive day. Whit got some projects finished and again we ended the day at the pool. Some ward friends invited us over for hotdogs and s'mores so the girls got a double dose of s'mores. I was a little teary eyed yesterday, thinking about all my family being together without us. It's always hard on me when they are all together, but I am so blessed to be surrounded by my own little family and all our surrogate family members here in NC.

I Have A Problem

I am addicted to cloth diapers. I know that makes me sound like a crazy woman but it's true. I came to this realization when my newly ordered diapers arrived in the mail and I immediately laid them out and took a picture. As if that wasn't bad enough I sent the picture to my sister and friends. Sad I know, but I just can't help myself, they are so cute. Seriously, check out these diapers. They are super cute all on their own, but then when I put them on my precious Penny, how could I not be obsessed?? By the way, Penny's skirt in the last picture is actually a wool diaper cover. I mean come on can you really blame me?

Lillie's Turns 8

Lillie had a great birthday this year. We were in Idaho again so she was able to spend her birthday with all of her cousins. Because we were having a big get together for her baptism we kept her birthday small.

Scritpures from Grandma and Grandpa Erickson

Bay Blades. The first real boyish toys my girls have been crazy about.

Lillie was so excited to turn 8. She was excited for her baptism, but she was also very excited to turn 8 so that she could get her ears peirced. On her birthday we went down to Idaho Falls and got her ears peirced. She was all smiles.




After doing a little shopping we headed to Olive Garden for a birthday dinner. A perfect day!







Kim will kill me for this picture, but it was her birthday as well so I had to post a picture of her with her birthday treat (a cup of whip cream covered in chocolate syrup with a candle sticking out of it).

To see Lillie's 7th Birthday post click here.

Idaho Trip 2011

Oh how I love Idaho. It is so nice to take a break from the North Carolina heat and enjoy some family time in Idaho. Like always we packed as much as we could in to our three week stay. I think everyone was very ready for us to go home this year. Usually we split our time between Whit's family and mine, but Grandma and Grandpa Gifford were on a mission at Heber Valley Girls Camp so we stayed at my mom's house the whole time. I think mom was pretty ready to get her house back. We are so grateful that everyone was willing to put life on hold for the three weeks. We really had an awesome time. Here are the highlights:

The Craze a new kid place in Rexburg. Great Grandma and Grandpa Erickson took some of the great grands here. They had so much fun.

Laser tag. Addie could barely hold up the gun.
Black light Miniature Golf

Playing at the park. Sam and Penny were fighting over a camera case. They kept taking it away from each other. Sam finally got smart and crawled away from Penny and she looked on longingly because she couldn't crawl over to him. Pretty cute.

This stage coach has been at this park since I was a little girl.

Crafting for Carter's bug birthday.

My favorite thing about the whole trip was Lewis and Clark Caverns, which weren't even discovered by Lewis and Clark. I hadn't been there since I was a kid. I remember that beaver slide being much bigger. It was really fun to take my kids through. Addie had a tough time at first. I really thought we were going to be stuck at the beaver slide, but I was able to convince her to keep going and she did great after that. All the girls thought it was pretty cool.

Notice my sweet front pack. We picked it up at a thrift shop in a small town in Montana on our way up to the caverns. I think it may have been meant for a doll, but it worked.

Addie sucks her fingers more when she is nervous.

I love this picture because it shows Lillie's amazement of the stalactites and stalagmites.

Notice Ryan has on my sweet new Ergo that I bought for the trip while I am wearing the doll carrier. You're welcome Ryan. I think it would have been a lot funnier to see Ryan carrying Brinley in the doll carrier.

Rigby Lake-Looks like Jaynie got caught!!

I love this picture!!

Tauphas Park Zoo

Feeding the ducks at the Nature Pond

There was so much more I just wasn't very good with the Camera this year. We went Huckleberry picking and to the new pool in Rexburg with water slides and a lazy river. We also were able to spend an evening up at Heber Valley with Elder and Sister Gifford. It was fun to see where they had been living all summer. What a beautiful place.

Since I am keeping up with the blog while catching up with the blog I am going to do a new post and an old post until I am caught up so if you are interested in our Idaho trip from 2010 you can find it here.