A "Complimentary" Dinner

This is going to be a short posting, but I had to share. Today is Saturday, and we have been working non stop all day long(okay that's a lie, we had a nap this afternoon.) We started early this morning thinking we were going to have family pictures taken, but we got rained out. So we busted in with our last two batches of canning pears. We got those done and then began the house cleaning... ugh! Well needless to say, Mitch took us out to dinner. We had only been seated for a few minutes when an older gentleman who was leaving with his wife, walked up to Mitch and said "I want to compliment you on your nice looking family- what handsome children." We looked at each other and grinned. Then the couple seated behind us was talking to each other and I was holding Creed over my shoulder- I heard the guy say "what a cute baby!" and he was only talking to his wife!
I always think my kids are cute, but it's really nice to hear it from other people-- especially total strangers. That made my day! Now, if I can just get my cute rugrats in bed(it's only 8:00)- that would just be too perfect of an ending to a good day!

The love of a big brother

Ever since Cam and Madeline started school this year, Collin has become more aware that he needs to step up to be the big brother to Creed. He is such a great little helper! He gives Creed his binky when he starts to fuss, or in this case, he thought placing a lei around his head would surely do the trick, and then if that doesn't work, then Collin sings his special song to him... here it is- very creative for an almost 4 year old I'd say!

And here are some pictures of my little vampires (again the red eyes... I really stink at photography!) on their first day of school.

The kids really like school so far, Cam still reads when he's not supposed to, but we're working on that, and we just found out from Madeline's teacher that she was holding hands with a boy at recess... we are going to be in so much trouble with her I can just tell!

Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend, we traveled to Utah for Mitch's family reunion, where we camped at a place called Crystal Hot Springs- just a few miles north of Brigham City. Don't let the name fool you in to thinking you are going to some nice hot spring resort... the place is a total dump! We honestly were wondering if the building was going to collapse any moment! But the fact that it had 3 pools, a big water slide, and a couple of hot tubs made the kids as happy as pigs in poop!

We were told to expect a stormy weekend, but Friday night and Saturday were just beautiful! A few pics of Mitch and the kids while swimming:

Cameron and Madeline loving the pool

Isn't Mitch such a macho man?! Collin saying "cheese"

Creed- just chillin in the shade on mom's lap.

Sunday brought good weather for about half the day, then after the family auction in the afternoon, a huge beyond all huge storm hit! The scary thing was that I could see the sky getting ugly and so I went to put Creed down for a nap in the crib in our tent (which was brand-spanking new) but about halfway there, I stopped and thought to myself..."no, I'll just hold him and let him sleep while I visit with everyone out here." So I went back and about five minutes later, we get slammed with huge gust of wind. It ripped the canopies into the air and it was total chaos! I grabbed Creed and wrapped him in the blanketand ran for the car- lucky it was fairly close. Mitch found our other kids and they ran to the car too. We got in and the hail started! The kids were all scared and crying- they thought it was a tornado! Mitch ran back out to make sure the tent was secure, but when he got back, he was cussing and cursing! He had found that our brand new tent was shredded and the poles had snapped. The crib had collapsed too! I stared at Mitch and told him that I almost put Creed in there for a nap. We just held eachother and thanked Heavenly Father for small miracles and promptings- even when we don't know we are being prompted!

So, our tent was destroyed and all our clothes, sleeping bags and blankets were soaked! Lucky for us, we have a loving cousin who let us stay in their tent- which survived the storm- and her parents let the kids stay in their trailer. The horrible night ended with Collin barfing all night and Creed waking up about 3 different times (he had been sleeping all through the night so far). Needless to say, we were only too happy to get our sopping wet stuff and get out of there Monday morning! Which it was still pouring rain and had been all night long!

The postitive notes? No one was hurt... we have a great family... and Shopko took our ruined tent back with no questions asked! Hmmm- I guess there's always a silver lining.