Aunt Amber

I have three nephews-total. (And no nieces.) Two weeks ago today I had met only one of the three but I have now graced each of my nephews with my presence.

I was plainly a hit.

Exhibit 1:
Daniel

Exhibit 2:

James

Exhibit 3:
Michael
OK, well Michael likes me. :)

(ps.-Danny did in fact enjoy slithering around on the floor with Aunt Amber and James was sick in that picture so I can't be blamed-right?)

Everything is breaking...

Actually, even beyond everything breaking, it has been sort a Murphy's Law week.

But, back to the beginning...to start with, we have a broken toilet lid, a towel rack that fell down and the door to our coat closet fell off. Nice. We hoped to get them fixed before Josh's parents came to visit but it didn't happen. Oh well.

Fast forward to Monday. Monday started out just great. We were going to meet Josh for lunch but he remembered that he had a meeting so we couldn't, so we planned a trip to the library instead. I was getting everything ready and put Dal in the car to play while I finished getting it all together. Nathan closed the door to the van, Dal locked it from inside. And then I remembered that I didn't know where my keys were and had used Josh's on Sunday since I couldn't find my own. I couldn't find them in the house. In the end we were able to coax Dal to unlock the car (well, my father in law was able to coax him to) so we got him out...lucky for him because as it would turn out my car keys were under the front seat of the car-a great place for them to be.

So, we get everyone in the car and drive to the library-and it is closed. Went to the park instead. Then, in the afternoon the boys wanted to go swimming with Grandpa one last time before he left town, so off they headed to the local pool which was-you guessed it-closed. So they found another pool which was also closed but luckily the indoor portion of it was opened so they went there.

I can't recall the rest of the crazy things that happened that day but there were a few more. Anyway, that night the food storage shelves in Dal's closet where I keep our usable, three month supply kind of stuff buckled and collapsed-at 11:30 while everyone was in bed. Obviously I am way too good at the food storage/grocery gaming thing and have a wonderful amount of food. Just not wonderful if you are the shelf that it is all sitting on. It was an interesting sight though to see that pile of food! Wow!

Next morning I wake the boys up, open their curtains and-what do you think? They crash to the ground! :) Oh this is getting good.

Then, about 10 o'clock I realized my chipped and repaired front tooth is about to break again-it was wiggling and on the verge of falling off-and I am about to leave town for 10 days and don't really want to be dealing with that on vacation. And so, off to the dentist I went and now my tooth is fixed.

And today the pool we were going to go swimming in was closed.

Really, all of these things are laughable. They are nothing in the grand scheme of life and honestly haven't caused any great amount of stress. I just think it is comical that they are all happening right now. I hope our streak of bad luck is over. Hmmm....

4th of July

For the past 5 years we spent the 4th of July with Josh's parents at their house in Neenah, WI. We had fun traditions and we had good times with them, so as the 4th was approaching I realized some planning needed to be done since we didn't have the traditions all set up here in San Diego. I think our planning went well because we had quite the 4th of July weekend...

Friday night we watched fireworks at our church with ward friends on the back mulch pile. The high school just down the way was shooting them off that night and the church back parking lot had a perfect view so we laid out our blankets, ate treats and enjoyed fireworks. Our favorite was the smiley face one-never saw one of those before!

Saturday morning we headed back to the church with Nathan and Jack and their highly decorated bikes for the bike parade (which never was-did I mention we spent probably an hour and a half decorating their bikes for the parade that never was?) and of course Dallen too. Grandma had sent flag shirts for the boys...wouldn't it be nice if I had a cute picture of all three boys wearing their flags shirts, a nice pair of shorts and smiling at the camera? This was not to be because Jack refused to wear his shirt (and still has yet to wear it). No, he was a fire fighter-just in case you know? And Nathan wore his with a green striped shirt under his. Alas.
But I do have cute pictures of the boys with their bikes:


Saturday afternoon we had cousin Laura and Sam over for dinner and oh what a dinner it was! Marinated/grilled chicken and beef kabobs, corn on the cob, potato salad, red, white and blue jello, star shaped brownies drizzled with red, white and blue frosting, and fruit.


Then, me being the smart, amazing, radiant, fun and did I mention good looking mom that I am, thought of the brilliant idea to go to our favorite spot-the glider port in La Jolla and sure enough, we could see fireworks being shot from La Jolla Cove out over the ocean. It was beautiful and not crowded and probably the best place I have ever watched fireworks from.

Oh, and me and Laura beat Sam and Josh at a game of hand and foot-badly. They have yet to beat us in a single hand of that game. :)

Two funnies

Two funny things from the kids this week.

In church on Sunday Jack was sitting by me during the sacrament. He asked me to read him a book and I whispered that I wouldn't because I was trying to think about Jesus. He patiently waited a few minutes and then whispered "it's ok if you think about Jesus for a while but don't do it for TOO long because I want you to read me this book!"

Me and the boys walked to 7-11 yesterday. As we were walking along Nathan asked "did any of you bring a knife?" Me and Jack responded "no." "Well, that's good because don't worry..." and he whips a butter knife right out of his undies! "If a bad guy comes along I can protect you!" What a kid!

Great shirts!

I have been meaning to post this for a while...for Jack and Nathan's birthdays they got a great present from their Aunt Natalie and Uncle Doug. Homemade shirts with phrases on them that each boy said at one time in his young life. The picture of the boys isn't great but just look at those great shirts!

Nathan's says (and this is a quote that he once said to Josh while Josh was trying to talk to him) "I have so many things to say that I can't listen to you." Boy does that sum Nathan up well.

And Jack's has reference to the time Josh walked into the bathroom and found Jack picking up the ants that are the bane of our existence one by one, dropping them into the toilet and saying "and how about you my little friend" as he dropped them. See the cute ant at the bottom of his shirt. :) Little unsuspecting ant. (And, Jack is willing to wear this shirt which is really saying something since he mostly is only willing to wear pajamas and swimming suits.

Love it! Thanks Natalie and Doug! (And Josh loves his Dr. J shirt too)

And I won't forget the men who died...

At the close of this fun filled 4th of July-full of pancakes and parades, potato salad and fireworks, friends and fun, I finished the day when something caught my eye and reminded me what it is all about.

This might sound silly, but I just finished reading Rilla of Ingleside, the 8th and final book in the Anne of Green Gables series and it made me stop and realize what protecting a country really means. The book takes place during World War I and the male characters are all heading off to war to defend their country (in this case Canada, but still). As I read this fictious account of a real event, I realized that what they were fighting for and willing to die for is something worth fighting and dying for. And it made me appreciate it all the more in a way that I hadn't thought about before.

So tonight I am grateful for the men who died who gave this country to me-and to all of us. This country is a great place in spite of what all some political, slandering minded people might have us believe at times. I am proud to be an American.

Happiness is...

When I was a kid my grandma had a little paperback book. It was the peanuts characters-you know, Charlie Brown, Lucy-and it was called "Happiness is..." Page after page listed things that make you happy. I don't remember what those things were but I find my own version everyday.

Happiness is...

The look on your little boys' faces when you suddenly and surprisingly pull into the McDonald's drive thru on your way home from the Wild Animal Park to get them ice cream cones

Watching an 18 month old discover the wonder of bubbles and dandelions and all of the other little miracles in the front yard

Two brothers spending hours building and rebuilding a castle/bridge/hot wheels house and finding so much satisfaction in their creativity and brotherhood