I'm still here!

Yes I am still here - I realized that my last post was a little dramatic and just so you know -I didn't give up . Things are still crazy here and will be for the next few months until Owen outgrows his tearing the house apart phase and Riley outgrows his terrible twos (which after having five kids I'm convinced it should be renamed the terrible 3's). So just to get a little caught up, here are a few pics I'm behind on -
The first day of school for the boys was hectic since we had only been home a day from vacation.


I love this picture of Riley as we walked home from taking the boys to school. It was even cuter to see since he was singing along the way.


After school twinkies! The boys were sooo excited- I never buy twinkes- I think they're gross!



Jake turned nine in August and we celebrated with a joined birthday party for him and Ethan. They had a great water park party with all their friends. Tiki themed with plenty of water slides and water balloons to keep them entertained for hours.



Soccer also started the week we got back from vacation and has kept us busy all week and each saturday- I may need to rethink having 3 kids in soccer!



Jocelyn also started preschool at the Monkey Treehouse again. She really likes her teacher and also likes that she goes 3 days a week. I do too! Here she is showing off her new bag I made for her. She picked out the fabric and I whipped it up- too cute!



Labor day we headed up the canyon to roast hotdogs and smores- so did everyone else in north Utah county! it was busy but we managed to have fun and Jocelyn had her first outdoor peeing experience. In the picture of her she is washing the potty off her foot- it stinks (literally) to be a girl sometimes!



So those are the big things happening at our house and in between it all it is filled with this:




And finally the best picture ever-

One busy night while trying to get the kids to bed, Riley was playing with Jocelyns toothbrushes(one she had just gotten 2 days prior from the dentist). I asked him to put them away and I guess in his mind the toilet was a good spot! Good thing I purchased a toilet snake- see my previous blog! and memorable experience. Anyways Ben was not too thrilled to go through this again.
It's been pretty entertaining around here!

I sooo give up!

Today is just one of those days! Now that I think about it the last month has been one of those days that just keeps on going! Highlights of today ( and mind you it is just 1 o'clock and most of this happened a while ago) The boys were late for school because of the new (not really new,I have just started to really enforce it) rule of jobs done or you don't leave for school. I don't ask much- just beds made and rooms clean, piano practiced, and dishwasher done. Ok enough of my tangent- Riley has taken the cake today-stack of puzzles on the floor, smooshed peas at lunch, tormenting Owen, and while outside digging up potatoes for dinner tonight - I asked Jocelyn to push Owen in his swing, she pushed too hard and he hit his face, so while I headed over to console Owen, Riley threw our potatoes-bucket and all - down the window well. Not a big deal on any other day but just an hour before, I sprayed this window well completely down with bug spray to kill two HUGE black widows AND their eggs sacks! GROSS! Creepy! I gives me chills to just type about it! So I had to spend more time digging up potatoes and Owen was bored by then and fussy and I had already hauled Riley off to bed for a nap- Urrgh I just want to scream! Everything I do seems to take 10 times longer than need be and some mess is usually the end result! I so love my kids but man I need a break!!!! (so husband if you read this -HELP! I may be insane or very cranky when you get home.) I still have 3 dentist appointments and a soccer game to survive. Oh my I should start praying now!
Ok I feel better I vented and I may be up for blogging after Owen goes down for a nap- lots of stuff happening around our house!
As for now Owen is crying at my heels and Jocelyn is in desperate need of attention!

I need a vacation from my vacation!

Yes we're back I swear the entire valley grumbled as we came rolling into Salt Lake! We were dirty and tired and cranky and just so glad to be home. What a great vacation- a little bit of camping, the beach, educational fun, relaxing, and lots of family- what could be better? Almost two weeks ago we headed through Oregon, stopping in Portland for a few days and then ended up in Port Townsend Washington for the Allen family Hoo-Haw. I seems like years ago since we packed so much into those 10 days.

Suckers were the only thing at this point to keep Owen happy. When we got to our first stop he was a sticky mess.

The first night we stayed in Ontario- right on the snake river. The boys loved it. The next day we traveled to Portland and made a few stops on they way- one memorable stop was a park where all the wind surfers hung out at - mostly really old (and I mean over 55) wind surfers and a young kid among those old guys smoking weed just out in the open like it was a cigarette (luckily the boys didn't notice) We arrived in Portland late and had dinner, played at the park and then headed for bed. The next day - the Tillamook Cheese factory.


The kids loved it. They were so entertained by watching the cheese be made and packaged. Of course we couldn't leave without having some tillamook icecream and sampling all the cheese. YUM! We then headed up to rockaway beach.





The kids had a blast. They were able fly their kites and wade in the ocean and make sand castles. It was even sunny and warm- a great day at the beach. We also did some shopping at the local shops where Ben bought a skim board- much to Ethan and Jakes delight and for the rest of us we picked out about 100 different flavors of taffy. We continued up the coast and stopped at Mcd's for dinner and then headed back to the trailer- exhausted! The next day we went to the mc escher exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

Jocelyn and Riley outside the Portland art museum- waiting for dad - he had to go buy a t-shirt.

Thank goodness for the native american exhibit and the discovery room for the kids. We left Ben to investigate each m.c escher print. The kids couldn't stand how long Ben stared at each print-funny- I couldn't spend that much time either. So I roamed with the kids and as we left I'm almost positive I heard a collective sigh from all the museum security and a hooray from all the other visitors. It was like a herd of elephants in a library- a library that echos and the elephants know it so they keep stomping and trumpheting just to hear themselves make noise. That was our attempt of a little culture for our kids- we will probably wait another 4 years to try that again! Anyways since we so much resembled a herd of elephants we headed of to see some at the portland zoo.


As luck would have it it was 2 dollar tuesday and it was packed- yeah for saving money -bleah for the crowds. The kids didn't seem to mind and enjoyed themselves. Off to Dennys for dinner in the scary part of portland-why can't the GPS tell you -turn right, you have arrived at your destination in the scariest part of the city-recalculating now! Again we scored and it was kids eat free night -seriously we weren't trying to be cheap and I only mention this because Ben and I thought it was pretty funny. The next day we met up in Ocean Shores with Ben's brother, Sam and his wife Stephanie and their cute little Courtney who we haven't seen since she was a baby. We had an amazing view and listened to the ocean crash on the beach all night.




It was pretty cold so the kids didn't swim but somehow found the way to always get wet. They collected a ton of shells and had fun with crabs and even saw a starfish. It was a beautiful beach, just too cold to really enjoy. The next day we headed back to Port Angeles to stay at Sam and Stephanies. Of course we had to stop in Forks- yup Forks.

I really didn't care to go but Ben found a way to get us there and I'm glad he did. We did all the touristy things from twilight, stopped and ate pizza and shopped at the outfitters. We spent that night at Sams and the next day did sight seeing in port angeles for a bit-picutres of bella italia and more twilight shopping. Friday we met up in Port Townsend with Bens family at Fort Wardon for the Allen family reunion. What a good time! it was a blast to see all of Ben's family again.

The Allen fam lining up to pick sides for the kickball game.

A game of kickball started it off and the weekend just kept going. Trips to the beach, the batteries, farmers market, sightseeing, sea glass hunting, wiffle ball game, hot rod store, stupid hichew lady, black berry picking, an amazing talent show, a great game of balderdash and apples to apples, kite flying, and just good ol' hanging out. A ton of fun!

The kids running in and out of the batteries and cousin David on the top of the battery- I wouldn't let the kids do this!-Too scary for me!

Jocelyn and her cousin Gunnar- each kid had a flashlight and had a blast exploring the tunnels. Gunnar kept saying I done now. I think Uncle Dan coming along and scaring them ended it for Riley- he cried he was so scared. Thanks Dan!

Jocelyn and Griffin kite flying on top of the battery - she kept walking backwards which we kept yelling at her to stop since there was a 15 ft drop not too far behind her. So scary!

Who knew Owen loved to fly kites? He got a hold of Rileys McQueen kite and had a fit if anyone tried to take it from him!

The family talent show- what a blast! Sam doing the family math.

Uncle Dan juggling while Jake played guitar hero.

Ethan performing his escape from a sleeping bag. Pretty funny!

Our last day in Port Townsend. Kids found a jelly fish and a starfish.

Do I look ready to go home?!!!

One last moment of fun at the batteries

One of the last things we wanted to do was the ferry ride of course the kids loved it. We ran into some of our fam crazy since we had seperated hours before! A good ending to our vacation.

Jocelyn and cousin Hannah- Jocelyn didn't want to leave, she had so much fun with her cousin and she has a way of charming her uncles as well.

The kids wanted me to take a picutre of the gps while we were on the ferry.

The kids didn't want to leave but man I needed to do laundry and school started -today! Not much choice uneducated and unclothed is not an option for this fam. And man oh man Ben and I need some sleep! We're already looking forward to the next vacation and I am so glad we drove up the coast -what a beautiful drive. Everything was so lush and green and we had great weather-it was even sunny in forks- so no I didn't see any vampires! What great memories! Definitely one to remember!