Dynit

I don't know if this is normal, this is a new one for me.

Have any of your children ever had imaginary friends?

Ones that have been their friend for at least 6 months?

Ones that do bad things on occasion?

Nathan has a friend named Dynit. You know, Dynit as in Dynamite?

Dynit has been part of Nathan's world for quite some time. He talks about him on a daily basis. Dynit is always involved in adventures, good and bad. Dynit even has a family. A brother named Darn-it. Sometimes a dad.

Seriously? Where does Nathan come up with these things?

I can't even remember what Dynit did today, but it was something with his brother, Darn-it. And they went somewhere and made all these weird noises and had all these really cool moves.

Dynit used to do really bad things. Everything Nathan ever imagined doing that was bad he would tell us that Dynit had really done it. I finally told Nathan that he needed to get a new friend because Dynit was such a bad example and was not a good person to be around.

That seemed to work. Now Dynit is just a really cool adventurous friend. But a friend that sometimes I think Nathan believes really exists.

I guess he kind of does exist because the name Dynit has become a regular in our home. It doesn't even seem strange to talk about Dynit because he is brought up so frequently.

Just wondering if this was normal. I guess it doesn't matter because it is normal for Nathan.

Dynit. Where'd he come up with that name?

Spring Garden

 I have wanted to grow a garden for many, many years. I decided i was just going to do it. And do it I did. Here is a picture of the garden growing. I took this picture to send to my mom to kind of brag about how well the garden was going.

I had no idea the garden was going to grow this well.

We got a whole lot of produce out of the garden. More tomatoes than we can count. Lots of zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. Several bell peppers. We would have had green onions, but Gavin decided to weed the garden of them. We had lettuce, Swiss chard, beans, and carrots. The carrots never amounted to much, but we had them.

 Taneal decided to turn this garden into her YW value project. She helped me get the soil, the boxes, etc. She helped plant the seeds, water the garden, and take care of it. She was so in love with the garden. I bet I have over 200+ pictures that she took of the little plants, vegetables, bugs, etc that were in the garden.

 This was a great experience for my children. And me. Now it is too hot and the garden has quit producing. I hope to have a fall garden. I won't really grow tomatoes this time, none of my children like them and Evan is allergic to tomatoes, so it left the eating them completely to me. I can not eat that many of them even though they were so delicious.

 Camie LOVED the bell peppers. She would eat them like an apple. I still have not acquired the taste for these peppers. We all enjoyed the squash and especially the zucchini bread.

Camie's GT Project

Camie has been working on this project since January. She had to create this poster with all her art work. I helped her a little, but she pretty much did most of the work. What an impressive project and a whole lot of work. She got to go present her project to a bunch of adults and explain and answer questions. That's a lot for a 4th grader. She put her heart into this work and really enjoyed what she learned.

The Three Girls

I was born into a family with 5 brothers and 2 sisters.

Last week tow of my sisters came to visit. While we were out to lunch one of the days, my mom texted me a picture bragging that she was at letherby's in Utah. So, I took these pictures and texted them back to her letting her know that we were enjoying ourselves too. Normally I wouldn't have had anything to text back to her other that dirty dishes and poopy diapers, but she caught me on a good week.

 It was so fun to have Bonnie and Dorias visit. Bonnie lives here in the area, but Dorias is several hours away.

Today, four of my five brothers live in the same state. That means 7 of the 8 children all live in the same state. But next week that is going to change. Next week my brother is moving here.

That means all 8 of us will live in the same state. What is even better is that my brother will be living about 5 minutes form me. How cool is that?

This is a picture of my sister helping me with all the holiday treats we made. So fun to have her here to visit and that she was so willing to help me with all my super food.

Happy Independance Day

4th of July is one of those holidays that I really like to celebrate. When I celebrate, food is a big part of it. Maybe because good food makes me happy. It makes me happy to see others enjoying good, fun food. This year I had my sister, Dorias, visiting. She enjoys celebrating just like I do, so it was very nice to have her here to help me make the good food and to also make t-shirts with the kids and decorate nails. It is so much easier to celebrate a holiday with another adult who enjoys celebrating the same way.

We started our 4th of July celebration out by heading to the gym. Yes, we have to get in 4 workouts a week, so we needed to do one that day as well. We headed to a Body Pump class. The instructor had the workout with all American songs and freedom themes. It was really cool. And hard work.

 After that we came home and made treats. At supper time we headed over to Troy and Becky's house to have a pool party and supper. We sat around and swam and enjoyed one another's company. When Troy and Becky invited us over, i declined because I knew Dorias and her twins were coming. And then Michael and Karen showed up. Troy and Becky assured us they didn't mine if ALL of us showed up. I really hope they meant it because there were a lot of us. The also had invited Bryce and Katie over with a few other friends. It was a great evening finished off with fireworks.

 And now you have a whole mass of pictures to enjoy. Lots of swimming pictures, lots of treats pictures, and lots and lots of fun!

This is my niece, Megan. Isn't she adorable?

Yes, even I eat the yummy food.

Taneal, Audrey, and Camie enjoying the parfaits.

I love how Gavin has no problem jumping into the pool. Check out how he has his eyes closed right before he goes under. Smart boy!

Super yummy sugar cookies.

Jell-o parfaits. Homemade whipped cream and festive sprinkles.

Michael and Megan enjoying the wait for the fireworks show.

I asked my SIL, Karen if I could get a picture of her enjoying herself so I could text it to my mom and let her know what she was missing out on.

Several of the kiddos waiting for the fireworks show.

Gavin couldn't wait. It was a long day.

These pictures aren't really in order. This is a picture of the kiddos as we were walking into the gym Taneal didn't want to be in the picture because she hadn't really gotten ready for the day. Camie stayed home.

Bonnie's cute festive nails.

This is a little treat I made for the folks at Evan's work. It is white chocolate popcorn with sprinkles and m&m's.

I thought I would try something new and made meringue cookies. They were fun to make and yummy to eat, but super sweet so I made way too many.

Some of the shirts we made for the kids.

Michael, Karen, and Megan. Another one of those pictures I sent to my mom to show her what she was missing out on.

Three of us together for the 4th.