Memorial Day 2012 It was nice to have all my family together for Memorial Day! Malia and Thel and their family were in town for Thel's parents' mission farewell and Leif and his family came up also. We went to the farm and spent the afternoon/evening just having fun.

Our boys are a bit hesitant when it comes to water and Mike was sitting with Dominic by the pond trying to get him to be a bit more comfortable.

Saara (Leif's little girl) and Constance enjoying the water.

When you walk thru the shallows you could end up with some leeches, as Ben (one of Leif's boys) discovered. We also discovered putting salt on them gets them off pretty good. Which was good, because I ended up having to do the same thing to Constance when she walked to the rocks to get out. Her feet were covered.

We were really trying to convince our boys the water wasn't so bad. I asked them if they wanted me to jump in, they were quite excited about the thought. So I did. Sofia had my camera and did a great job catching me in motion. I hate getting pond water up my nose, so yes, I did have my nose plugged.

Ben (Leif's son) and Wiley (Kam's boy) sharing a kayak.

My brothers, Kam and Leif.

Leif and his youngest girl, Emma.

We got Dominic in the water, but he wasn't too happy and wanted out even with me holding him.

Leif and Samuel.

Wiley and Leif dogpiling on Samuel

Wiley Jumping backwards off of Leif and Samuel.

We discovered one way to get the boys in pond is to put them on the little kayaks. They are as happy as can be and are willing to go around the pond all day as long as they are on the boats.

Carol and I took Mary and Anna on the kayaks.

Our Sweet Maddie was also there -- Our Family was complete! I love the picture of Maddie and Sidney holding hands as they were getting ready to jump into the pond.

Kaylin (one of Malia's girls) and Grandpa got in a water fight -- it was a lot of fun to watch.

Whitney (Malia's daughter) enjoying the kayak.

Carol showing us some leg.

Beautiful Saara (one of Leif's little girls)

My little fish, Constance.

Kam and Maddie

Wiley (Kam's son) standing on the kayak.

Emma (Leif's daughter) jumping in

My boys!

Mudball Fight

I figured I would let my kids play in the little pool and sprinkler with as warm as it is outside. Before long Dominic comes running over to me covered with mud.

I had to grab my camera and document the mudball fight that started shortly after, which included all three of my little monkeys.

I couldn't believe how muddy they all ended up getting, but they sure did have fun!

Of course, they weren't content just with getting each other with mud, they also covered their toys.

Evidently they hadn't just covered the outside of the car, they also covered the seat in mud as well. This picture of Dominic's back is the result.

They did try to get cleaned off in the pool -- after awhile the water was too muddy to do much good. I didn't mind too much, I got to turn the hose on each of them to get most of the mud off before I could bring them in the house and put them in the tub.

Constance's Birthday Party

We decided to do something special for Constance's birthday this year. For anybody who knows her, they know she absolutely LOVES horses. We arranged with my brother to go out to his farm so she could ride horses. With it being a ways out of town we limited her to the number of friends we could fit in our van. I think they all had fun. Here are some pictures from the day at the farm.

Dominic, Jordan and Kaison playing on a big pile of gravel.

Constance riding Diego all by herself.

Waiting, patienting waiting, for their turn to ride.

Constance riding on Dusty with Brother Brian Carico leading.

Jordan learning to climb the fence.

Dominic actually got on a horse. I was so proud of him. He didn't even cry. I led the horse and daddy walked alongside of him. When we were done, he was ready to go again.

Jordan riding Dusty while Brother Brian Carico leads and Isis walks alongside.

It was a very warm day. The girls all sat on the rocks crossing the creek and put their feet in the water. I love this picture!

Isis Carico riding Diego.

Natalie riding Diego.

Uncle Hambone helping Kylee with Diego

Addie Shenck riding Dusty.

Sierra riding Dusty.

Braxin Carico having a turn on Diego.

Brian Carico with his son, Kaison, riding Dusty.

Taylie having a turn on Dusty.

This is what happens when you let a friend, Carisa Carico, use your camera.

Dominic and Uncle Hambone's tractor.

What can you say?

I heard running water and the light was on in the bathroom. When I went to investigate I found Jordan "helping" Dominic brush his hair. This was the second time they were playing in the water. The first time I went in there Jordan was helping Dominic wash his hair.

I told the boys we were going to Dr. Thompson. They told me they didn't want to go, they wanted to stay home. I broke the news to them that they weren't old enough to stay home alone (and I wasn't that insane). Dominic looked at me and said "I'm big enough, see." Another time I told them I needed to go to Dr. Thompson because they broke me. Jordan told me I wasn't broken because my head and my arm are both still attached.

Jordan told me "I can hear you because I have special ears." This is good to know, my question is what about the times you don't respond or don't do what I have asked you to do does that mean you are officially ignoring me, your special ears are broken or are they special because they have the feature of selective hearing. Later when I was talking to Jordan he told me "I don't listen". I asked him why. His answer "Because, I'm Jordan".



Blackie doesn't have a prayer. After taking the boys to Uncle Lee's farm to chase goats and hold them, Dominic has decided that Blackie needs to be held all the time, the same way he held the goats. It doesn't matter if Blackie likes it or not -- she gets carried around irregardless. He listens to her almost as well as he listens to me.

Jordan decided to cover Blackie's eyes with her ears and started singing "go to sleep, little Blackie". It didn't work.

Lately Jordan likes to tell me he isn't ticklish. The funny thing is he will bust up laughing before my hand even gets close to tickle him. All I have to do is move my hand like I am going to tickle him and he laughs.

Evidently Dominic didn't like how I answered him -- he just told me "I'm telling on you and you aren't my friend." The other day when he said the same thing to Mike, Mike asked him who he was going to tell. His answer: "mommy". All I can say is "Good luck".


I don't know how you eat your marshmallows -- Dominic puts a hole thru the middle with his finger so they look like a donut and then eats them. I thought it was very original.

Jordan got too much water in his mouth and then ended up laughing and the water went all over. I asked him to get a towel and clean it up. He grabbed the towel, set it on the floor and then went to play. I asked him if he had cleaned the mess up. He told me no, the towel would do it. I had to break his little heart and tell him that he needed to clean the mess up, the towel wasn't going to.

I found out one morning that my arm was not my own. Dominic decided it was a road for his cars. Whenever I tried to move my arm to type or eat or do anything I got in serious trouble.

As Constance was telling on Jordan, Jordan said "Sissy is getting in my business." I looked at Constance and said, "Hmmmm, I wonder where he learned that?"



Nothing like sitting in the kitchen and hearing Jordan yell "you come out of your room witch" to Sissy. I guess that is what happens when you watch "Wizard of Oz".

I asked Jordan if he would like a turn feeding Blackie. I was thinking he would just set the food dish -- nope. He decided he would feed her piece by piece.

Both boys decided they were dogs and started licking me on my arms, face and head. They thought it was pretty funny. Me not so much.

New excuse for not cleaning up toys: "My hands are dirty and the cars will get dirt on them." (courtesy of Dominic)

I was given the devastating news that my kisses don't work on boo boos anymore. Dominic came in crying and I asked him I could kiss it better. He told me my kisses don't work. He let me kiss it and then looked and me and said "It doesn't work, see." He asked for a band-aid which obviously took care of it.



While drying Jordan off after he took a bath, he said "uh-oh, got to burp." Then he passes gas and promptly said excuse me. I told him thank you for using good manners but that wasn't a burp.

Jordan sat on my lap and then farted. He then got up, busted up laughing and told me "I burped on you."

My 3 yr old alarm clock. One morning he woke me up by kissing me on my nose and then started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Teach me to Walk". Only problem it wasn't even 6am yet and there was no snooze button.
Another morning, Dominic crawls into my bed, little mischievous grin on his face, saying "tickle, tickle, tickle Mommy". Mommy was much faster and Dominic got tickled.

Grandma Sandstrom asked the boys what they had for lunch, one afternoon when she was watching them. They held up their little candy bar she had given them and said "this is my lunch."

Firefighters in Training

I really do mean it when I say "there is never a dull moment at my house".

With today being Good Friday and the kids being out of school, I let Constance spend the morning at a friend's house. We met up at the school playground and brought Constance and her friend back to our house to play after I let the boys have fun for a while at the playground.

The kids decided to have family movie night a little early so Natalie could watch it with them. Shortly after it was done, I went out to the get the mail and asked the boys to stay in the house. They had other plans and followed me out. Like any good mom I decided to chase them all over the yard and tickle them when I caught them. The boys wandered next door to say "hi" to our sweet elderly neighbor and I followed. Eventually Constance and Natalie found their way outside too and the boys and the girls played for a while and I talked to our neighbor.

It got to a point I noticed it was a bit too quiet. Jordan came running over telling me sorry, (heads up something is wrong) I told him everything was ok -- not thinking that he was actually admitting he had done something he wasn't supposed to. I didn't think any more of it until he came running back over screaming there was a fire in the house and this time he is wet. I told him to go and shut the water off. I had told him that we were not getting the water to play -- the temp is in the 60s (for me it is a little too cold for water). The next thing I know I see Constance yelling out my bedroom window telling me the girls are trapped in the house because the boys keep spraying the front door. I excuse myself and find both Jordan and Dominic holding the garden house, spraying the front of the house and roof and in the process themselves.

I wish I would have had my camera to get a picture of it. After I shut the water off I told them they needed to clean the toys up -- which took them long enough they were both pretty miserable and cold I sent them inside to change into their pjs.

Of course, I had to call Mike to let him know about his sweet boys. I made sure I was hiding behind the tree at the time because I was busting up laughing.

Conversations of the day!

Mike and I took the boys and went to my parents' house this morning to put some mulch in their flower beds. The boys decided to run around with the toy fire trucks. One of the times they came by Jordan said "Ewwww, Mommy, that smells like cow poop!" Yes dear it does. Not much else you can say to that.

While we were cleaning things up Jordan came running up to me so excited to show me something he had found. He was holding something on his finger. At first I thought it was a worm. When I looked a little closer I realized it was a slug. EWWWWWW. I got the creeps thinking of that nasty thing crawling around. He put it down on the driveway. Every time Dominic got close to it Jordan would say "No! It's mine! I found it, It's my pet!" When Jordan showed it to Grandma, she told Jordan to wait just a minute and went in the house. She came back with the salt shaker and told Jordan he could feed it some salt. So Jordan shook it and then Dominic had a turn too. As the boys watched it moving, Grandma told them "look, it's telling you thank you." Jordan didn't believe her.

Dominic came up to me and said "I want to show you something" as he reaches for my arm. Next thing I know he is licking my arm. I pull it away and he bust up laughing. He tries again -- but I am not going to fall for it twice even though he looked me in the eye and promised not to lick me again. Little stink!

As we were driving around we noticed around some trees all the blossom that had fallen from the trees. The white blossoms looked like snow. When we saw the ground covered in pink blossoms the question was asked: "If yellow snow is caused by pee, how do you get pink snow?" There was no comment.

It is amazing how intelligent our children are. They remind us on a daily basis that they know so much more than we do. During one of the those times, when Jordan was telling me I was wrong, I asked him if he was going to argue with me. He started rambling, "No, .... can't go on a daddy/daughter date ... and then we'll get a new mommy ..." I looked at Mike and asked him if was going to fill me in. He looked at me and said sure as soon as he was filled in.

Jordan came up to me and proceeded to pinch my bum. He then busted up laughing and said "Daddy taught me!"

The boys and I go back and forth, I tell them they are my little stink bugs, they come back with whatever pops in their heads at the time. It could be a "you're a tractor" then I come back with something else. I think elephants, tigers, snakes, monkeys, were brought up to name a few. When I was getting them out I told them they were both frogs and they needed to hop to the door. It was the cutest thing, Dominic got down and proceeded to hop like a frog and even said "ribbit". I informed Jordan he was confused because he was hopping like a rabbit. They both hopped their way to the front door and I laughed.

Mike and I were leaving a store to go and pick our kids up at my parents' house and he was eating mini peanut butter cups. He looks at me and tells me "they can't be all that bad for you because they are made with peanut butter." I just busted up laughing.