A Post About the Boys

Camden and Carter are also growing up and will excitedly tell anyone who cares that they are going to kindergarten next year and going to ride the bus!  They have both said they want to be in the same class rather than different classes (which is my vote too), so we will see how that goes.  Good luck kindergarten teacher!

Camden wakes up every morning and the first item of business is to come find me to snuggle.  I love this because none of the other kids seem to care about snuggling with me when they wake up anymore, but Camden is religious about it and gets pretty grumpy if he can't find me for his morning snuggles.  He often finds me in bed and climbs in about 7 and instantly falls back asleep.    The other night Carter had the worst night with nightmares and seemed to keep falling back into the nightmare every time he tried to go back to sleep and he'd be back in my room sweaty, and heart pounding all afraid.  After the 3rd time, I finally relented and just let him sleep in my bed.  Then, of course in the morning Camden came in too.  I felt like I got no sleep the whole night, but Derek snapped this picture on his way into work that morning and from the looks of it we all seem to be sleeping pretty soundly.

They love to play with friends--when they are not grounded for getting into trouble with friends or not following the rule of letting me know where they are and not just taking off somewhere without informing me.  Carter loves to go visit all the kidless neighbors in the neighborhood and their animals.  He seriously spend the day hopping from house to house visiting his favorite animals.  At home, he loves to barricade London so she can't escape from his at time unwanted attentions.

Both boys adore Martha Riley who seems to be a constant at our house.  Those 3 have to be watched though, they seem to be always getting into trouble.  The other day they found some huge gallon bottle of glue at Julie's and dumped it all down the stairs at the side of her house.  Julie put them all to work scrubbing the stairs clean. 

The boys both ruined the clothes they were wearing.  I cannot get the glue out!  The only good thing that came from that is that later that afternoon both boys, exhausted from all the scrubbing I suppose, fell asleep in the car which gave me a slightly more peaceful afternoon.

Martha also always seems to be painting Camden's face with something.  And they also got in trouble for picking almost every budding flower at the Riley house.  Carter wrote a note to Julie saying he was sorry and wouldn't pick flowers any more and took her a bundle of peonies from our yard with the note.  Camden somehow broke the bathroom drawer the story of how has yet to come out.

This summer their schedule is far less busy than Olivia's.  Right now they are currently in tennis lessons which is adorable to watch and they seem to be enjoying it.

 We plan to take another ice skating lesson when those are done.  And they would both excited tell you all about how if they pass off the next class they will then be deemed ready to sign up for the hockey class that they are really excited about.

I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up this awesome thing of putting them both in the same extra curricular stuff.  Camden is very competitive and loves all sports all of them.  He loved t-ball and soccer and really wants to play football some day too.  After each sport season I ask him if he would like to sign up again next year and he always says emphatically, "Yes!"   But, Carter was not so much into t-ball or soccer and team sports just don't seem to be his thing.  So he has no interest in participating again when asked, and then Camden will say ok if Carter isn't going to do it...me neither.  I swear individually focused sports will be more up Carter's alley.  And so far tennis seems to be a win!  Maybe golf and x-country/track for him?  But thus far they both seem to have an interest in ice skating and hockey.

Carter is still my sous chef every time I cook he saddles up next to be from start to finish.  He has asked me to sign him up for a cooking class, so I need to find somewhere to do that.  The only kids cooking class I have found for their ages so far always seems to be at the most inconvenient times.  Probably all the kids would love that though, so I will have to look into some more.

Carter is also still the only kid who will often take a nap mid afternoon.  Sometimes he will put himself to sleep.  He often closes his eyes and tries to take a nap in the car, or I find him in his bed curled up asleep.  One day this summer he was trying to take a snoozer in the car, and I told him we had to get out and go grocery shopping which he was not happy about, but he made himself a little bed at the bottom of the grocery cart and used the shopping trip to catch his ZZZZs.

But, their cute little twin bond is fun to watch.  They slept in the same crib until they were 9 months old and I guess squished in my womb for 9 months before that.  They now have their own beds, but often I find them curled up together in the same bed at night, and it just makes me happy that they have each other to experience life with.

Fun Summer Happenings

I've said it before, but I will say it again.  Summer is my favorite time of year.  I love having my kids home and getting to to take them to do fun things after they finish all their chores.  Derek says I can't take them to do some big fun thing every day...and I just respond...Why not?  This is what makes summer the best.

Our daily summer routine consists of the kids getting up at looking at the magnets boards I set out each night after they go to bed.  They work through each chore moving it from to do to done.  Chores include math and reading and hand writing every day for the boys as well as additional clean up chores around the house.  Liv has piano, violin, voice practice, math, and cleaning chores as well.  Once they are done they ear a fun activity.  Sometimes that activity is some previously planned activity for the day like our summer Scera movie series and sometimes we pick something from our long list of things we want to do this summer.  Regardless, every day of summer so far has been awesome!

The neighbors behind us rented a water bounce house for one of their girls' birthdays and invited the whole neighborhood to enjoy it with them.  I snapped a picture of all the kids on their tramp together.

The clematis plant on our mailbox was fantastic this year.

We have the summer art group going again every Wednesday.  People wanted to do it Wednesday mornings when I work, so our summer babysitter Megan usually takes the kids, and Liv with all her crazy summer camps often misses it.   Shout out to Megan.  She's awesome.  My kids love her, she can handle hours of craziness, she can cook, she can drive (and I make her drive mostly Liv to and from all sorts of craziness this summer).  Back to art group, at the first art group the kids all made tie dye shirts and my kids have loved wearing their tie dye shirts all summer.  The only picture I have been able to take of art group was this one with Liv and the Hutching's little dog.

Father's Day was great.  The kids each wrote him a card and woke him nice and early all excited to deliver them.  Both Camden and Liv made him a paper tie with Xavonne the night before while Derek and I were on a date.  I told him he absolutely had to wear the ties to church, which he did.  I wish I would have taken a picture.  The ties were a huge hit.  He split the time in half so that he wore Camden's tie for half of church and Liv's for the rest.  Liv's was an awesome creation covered in puffy paint and glitter with pipe cleaner swirls coming off of it.  I wish I would have snapped a picture of him wearing the ties!  The only picture I took form Father's Day weekend was this one of Derek and his dog sitting in the garage that he spent Father's Day weekend cleaning:

I took the kids to Strawberry Days this year since we missed Orem Summer Fest when we were gone for Karlee and Tanner's wedding.  We brought Hallie with us.  The only picture I took was of all the kids enjoying their strawberries and cream. 

Liv and Hallie were super brave.  Their favorite ride was  that green spinning ride in the background of the picture that stands up straight in the air.  They went on that twice.  I went on one bigger ride with Carter (which he was a little scared of) and paid for it the rest of the day--I was so dizzy and nauseated.  Camden stuck to the kiddie rides that didn't go to fast or drop and was quite content.  He was so sweet and shared some of his tickets with Carter because all his rides seemed to cost less tickets than the more adventuresome rides and he had quite a few left near the end of our carnival day.

Derek has been itching to buy the kids some golf clubs, so he finally did one day and has been practicing all their swings in the back yard.  They all are wanting to sign up for golf lessons now.

Karlee and Tanner had their Utah reception at a place called the Bungalow in Pleasant Grove.  It was a super cute little outdoor reception with greenery everywhere.  My kids loved walking down what they deemed their secret passageway covered in ivy and grabbed everyone's hand to take them on individual tours of their secret passageway.

Big changes are happening at work for me particularly at my Family Practice office.  The doctor I have worked for these past 10 years, Dr. Preston recently got diagnosed with ALS which is awful and he has sold his practice to another family physician in our same complex who is associated with Revere Health.  I'm not entirely sure how everything will change, but it will for sure be a change.  We decided to throw Dr. Preston a surprise birthday party this year shortly after we learned of his diagnosis.  Everyone wrote a personal note to him and we presented him with a box full of thank you letters and a quote on top about how anyone can be a boss but it takes a certain type of person to additionally be a leader and mentor.  That was a tough note to write let me just say and many tears were shed.  Also I got the honor of sitting right across from Dr. Preston at the surprise lunch which was difficult for me.  I had to excuse myself a couple times and go find a quiet place to cry.  But, we did take some awesome pictures of all the staff together which I treasure.

Wendy came to town.  So she and Becky and I met up for roommate breakfast.  I love visiting with them.  No matter how long it's been, we always pick up right where we left off.  I could have talked to them all day, but all of us had busy families to get home to.

Kansas City Trip

Derek and I have had a few airline miles saved up for a while now and had been trying to decide how to use them.  When Karlee and tanner announced that they were getting married and would be married in the Kansas City temple, we knew that our kids (who adore both of them) would love to be there, so it seemed the perfect way to splurge some airline points.

The kids were all super great on the our late night flight.  We left about their normal bedtime.  Both Liv and Carter fell asleep on Derek.

I had Camden with me who never fell asleep and it was a pretty bumpy ride so at the end he was pretty scared and tearful.  We arrived pretty late on Wednesday night and pretty much just got our rental car, drove to our hotel, and went to bed.

Thursday morning, we got up and went into downtown Kansas City. We took the kids to Legoland which they seemed to enjoy.

They loved building legos...we made our mark on the lego wall.

 Liv and I built a big castle.

And she found her Lego Friend namesake:

All the kids enjoyed the 3D movie and the rides.

Then, we had lunch at this neat place called Fritz.

You sit at the table, call in your order on a telephone, and then a train delivers it to you.  The kids loved it and they give you these cute little conductor hats to wear.

 Then, I guess Hallmark's headquarters are stationed in Kansas City and they have this super cute free service they give to the community called Kaleidoscope.  It's an art session for kids and it's free. You sign up for an hour session and they let the kids in and they have free access to all the art supplies in the room.  Paint, markers, old hallmark cards.

My kids loved the puzzle maker.  They give you a cardboard square and you can color or paint it and then when you are done they have a puzzle cutter to cut it into a puzzle.

They also loved the glow in the dark room that had glow in the dark paint supplies.  Super fun and I couldn't believe it was free.  We also toured the Hallmark museum which was so cool.  They had cards on display from all the years they have ever made them and stuff from every year's Christmas ornaments.  Super neat.

Then, we met up with Steph's family at the liberty jail and took a tour.  Our kids were amazingly well behaved during the missionary presentation.  I kept hearing noisy kids and would look around to tell them to be quiet only so see them quietly and attentively listening to this missionaries and that it was the other people's kids who were making all the noise.  We went to multiple church history sites and at every single one my kids were, reverent, engaged, and answering questions.  It was awesome.

That night we met up with Karlee and Tanner for some Kansa City BBQ at Q39.  While waiting for our table the kids put together the lego sets that they each picked out from the Legoland gift store.

  Liv picked a little bride and groom set where you could change the hair out accordingly.  She made a little Tanner and Karlee.   Q39 food was definitely super good and once again the kids were on incredible behavior sitting in their seats, not running around the restaurant.

Then, that night we went to Steph and Jon's Embassy suites and swam with the kids and Tanner and Chase.  The kids (including Tanner and Chase) all had a blast playing Marco/Polo.

Friday morning we went out to the visitor's center at Independence.  Once again incredible behavior from the kids.  They loved answering questions and participating in the missionary led discussions.  They had this cute little pioneer play place for kids in the Independence visitor's center.  The boys loved driving the covered wagons:


After that tour, Derek and Jon's family went to the Nation WWI museum which I understand was incredible, and I took the kids back to the hotel to swim in our pool.  That night was Karlee and Tanner's reception.  The kids had a blast playing with Chase and Karlee's cousins.  The kids totally got into all the wedding traditions a game where Karlee and Tanner raised a shoe in response to who was better with directions/money/made the first move, etc..., the cake cutting/eating.  Somehow Karlee even convinced Liv to sing A Dream is A Wish dedicated to Karlee and Tanner for everyone which was adorable.  Then, when it was all over every single one of my kids went up to Karlee's mother and asked, "how can I help clean up?" and then when they were done wit that task they would ask for another on repeat for a good 45 minutes.  At some point, someone remarked to me how well behaved my children are and with how amazingly well behaved they had been on the trip, I couldn't do anything but agree (though I will agree that they were uncharacteristically well behaved).

Saturday was the day of the wedding.  We started it out with you guessed it, swimming in our pool.  Then, everyone got ready and headed to the temple.

Chase and Karlee's cousins watched the kids while all of us were in the ceremony which was incredible.  Derek was a bit of jerk and instead of telling his sister congratulations at the end...he took the opportunity to inform her that she was officially old.  Went we got out, I took a picture of the babysitter's club.

I also managed to catch this gem of a photo right as Karlee and Tanner exited the temple.


 Then, we all took family photos.  Once again out of character, my kids acted better than they ever had for any family photo sessions we have ever had.  The took all the pictures requested and smiled through all the heat and humidity.  Karalee really wanted a pictured of a twin kissing each of her cheeks and then a similar pictures with their twin cousins (Tanner and Chase) kissing her cheeks as well.


After pictures, we took Chase and all the kids to get some much deserved slurpees.  Then, we went back to our hotel to kill some time until the family dinner later that afternoon.  Chase and the kids spent the whole time playing Flappy Golf.  The family dinner was nice.  The kids were thrilled to be invited to help decorate the get away car.

After this was over, everyone was pretty much pooped from all the festivities and we just went back to our hotel and watched tv and read books.   T

The next morning was Sunday.  We caught sacrament at local church.  It happened to be a fast Sunday in the first Sunday at a newly divided ward.  Everyone was new and no one recognized that we didn't belong.  The Testimony meeting was mostly be invitation to the leadership of the newly formed ward.  Derek and I both felt like it was the most wonderful fast and testimony meeting we had ever been to.  So many simple and motivating testimonies.  I was quite glad we decided to pop in.

Then, we headed back to the hotel, packed our bags and headed to the airport.  Steph, Jon, Chase, Tanner, Karlee, Jon's parents, and our family were all on the same flight home and somehow we managed to get seats all together.  The kids all sat by Chase and played Flappy Golf the whole way home.  He said it was the most fun he had ever had on a flight. They boys actually got to sit in a two seater all by themselves which they were pretty excited about.

 I have to agree that it was the best flight I have ever taken with my kids as well.  I sat two rows in front of them and read a book uninterrupted for the entire flight!  After the flight I snapped a picture of all the cute kids riding the airport mover:

Overall, such a great trip.  With some amazing spiritual experiences for our family.  And it was so awesome to be there in the temple to support Karlee and Tanner in their decision to be married for time and all eternity.