What happened to June?

Wow! according to this blog, the month of June never existed! Either we entered a strange twilight zone or I was so busy I didn't have time to update it. I'll let you decide. Of course I am not sure how many people read this, or remember we are here down in Texas, but I do need to update it more often for our own memories. (notice the slight guilt trip Bwaa Ha Ha). In all reality I actually have been SO busy!!! Iknow people say that all the time, but for me this last two months I have hardly had time to breath. There just isn't time to tell it all. But I have put on a lot of photos, because my family is so special-I want to share it all y'all.

WE still get a kick out of the lawn underneath the tramp. While the rest of the yard seems to get smothered with the heat, underneath the tramp flourishes a jungle. WE try to move it often to mow underneath and let another area of the lawn grow again. Here is Ty saying "hurry get the camera!" and yes he is sweaty! So was I! and so will you when you come see us! HAHA.

We made these cupcakes for fathers Day. Aren't they cute! The red hots looked like hot dogs on the grill and the junior mints as hamburgers. DOn't you love the look on tanners face? I think Ty 3 or 4 cupcakes and Tanner ate all the rest, including all the rest that weren't decorated.

This was Ty's gift- I had a few pictures like this printed out so he could take them to work.

Notice the smallest gray box on the right? Ty (my awesome smart hubby) is getting ready for the next hurricane, whenever it may come. He got a generator and then wired up our electrical box so the we can just plug the generator into the box and run our lights and a fan or two as normal. He did do it all safely, and follows a strict routine to keep everyone safe- don't try this at home without a professional like my hubby.

This is what Tanner did to keep himself busy while I was doing "Camp Stuff" All I heard was the door open and close and then he asked for a rag. He had Dumped a large mixing bowm full of black mulch into his sink, clogged it up, and added water then added his rag and proceded to "clean" my walls with his special mix. All of this took him less than 5 minutes. It wasn't too bad- I just let everything dry and then wiped it off easily- good thing we had painted the walls earlier last month with the super gloss stuff.

Aren't they cute? THese girls get along so well- I love to sit and listen to their pretend play and get an insight into their world and understanding. THey say the cutest things and I never remember to write them down. a few I do remember are:

Cristine - "Mom did they have cell phones when you were little?"

Me-" Yes- but they were very different"

Cristine - "Were they made of wood?"

(Brooklyn and Tanner playing)

Tanner: "These are my scriptures"

Brooklyn: "Well actually they belong to everybody, but you can look at them, I will let you"

Tanner: "Look at my picture- they are in the water!"

Brooklyn: "OOH OOH I know who that is! It's Benjamin the Baptist!"

Of course I went to Girls Camp too! I am the Stake Assistant Camp Director. I was shocked at the enourmous amount of work it was. But it was all worth it! WE had Hurricane Alex about 300 miles south of us. We were pretty worried about it at first, but we were actually very very blessed by it! Not only did we get just drizzling rain most of the time (it really downpoured twice) but the temperature dropped 15 degrees making it in the mid to upper 80's. WE had a nice large dining hall filled with fun crafts that the girls could stay indoors and do. some of the girls didn't close their tent and we had to call home for dry sleeping bags, but overall it all worked out wonderfully. Last year I saw an alligator during the 4th year high adventure. THis year I scaled down to smaller scary wildlife.

One of our campsite had 4 girls sleeping under their pavilion- because they were scared of the bugs and racoons in their tents - (of course now they were out in the open eating graham crackers on their cots - silly girls) when their leader smashed a 3" scorpion, crawling by their cots. WE gave up trying to reassure them at that point and left it up to their leaders.

The 6th years decided to go on a midnight hike the last night, so another leader, who is a good friend, and I went down to hide in the "Fort".. WE crawled around in the dark, with no light so we would not be seen. I kept saying "Anna! What are we doing out here ? We're crazy!" when the 6th years came in we scared them spitless! Then we turned on our flashlights and stood up to see we had been crawling undeneath HUGE spiderwebs with spiders the size of Nickles! Then it was our turn to scream.

It's amazing how spending 4 days with 125 teenage girls will make you act like a teenager yourself. But, I am glad I am not one still because going to bed at 2:00 AM for three nights in a row still has me wiped out.

I had my 29th birthday at camp and when one of the girls asked me how old I was- I said 29, and she said "WOW, I thought you were 18" I started laughing because I always hear I look 15-17, and I am finally "growing up" to 18!, but be assured I am NOT 18, and I am feeling those late nights!

This is what the kids did with the rain and TY while I was gone. He is such a good Dad - he called me the first day and said he had taken them to a movie- went to the splash park and wendy's for lunch- he didn't make the kids clean- and he NEVER yells at them- ever. And I still came home to a beautiful clean house. How does he do it?!!

This is Tanners frog he caught when we were doing fireworks, I have dubbed him the "bug whisperer" because he really does sneak up softly and whisper to them until he can softly pick them up. He was so sad when he had to let it go "Home"

If you click on this picture to make it big- you can see the dead snake in the jar- Tyson let him keep it until he added water to give it a "bath". WE have only seen one live snake on our yard that Ty killed a few days ago. (not the one in the jar) It was as small as a worm- infact I thought it WAS a worm crawling the step into my back door. untill I got closer and saw it was a snake- a brown texas snake they are very small (our baby one was 4") and non- venemous, but their defense mechanism is to imitate a venemous snake. So it would coil up and open it's mouth wide and "strike" at the stick. Very scary- in miniature.

Here are the sparklers! YAY for the 4th of July! WE didn't even realize it until I got back from camp!

We ran out with the kids and got the HUGE TEXAS SHOWDOWN Package. The sign on the stand said "Texas Loud, Texas Proud" and they were right! not only were there fireworks, but there were firecrackers! That's right - they had the large balls you shot out of a tube that went up in the air 20 feet and expoded into the same fireworks you see at the big shows, just smaller, and since all our neighbors had the same ones- we sat out on our sidewalk watching our very own fireworks show! No crowds or driving. Now I hope you are all planning on enjoying fireworks at our house with us next year.
And last- but certainly not least- here is a video clip of Cristine in her 1st grade program . She is the cute little short ladybug in the front.