We all wondered when it would happen but...

... I think it's safe to say, summer is finally here. And we are LoViNg it!

Oh and the good news... we are no longer afraid of the swings!

We've been playing so hard that by the end of the day... and even sometimes by the middle of the day, we are all ready to crash!

A week without my girls...

...Makes for one very homesick Mommy!

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp. We had a wonderful time, despite the freezing weather . Our theme was Holding Hands Around the World so we got to learn a little bit about many places around the world. Our ward's country was Brazil. We had a lot of fun teaching all the others about some of Brazil's different traditions such as Festa Junina and Capoeira.

Besides all of the normal Girl's Camp activities, we were able to...

• Hike to the top of a mountain (our 45 minutes up, 45 minutes back hike that lasted 3 hours)
• Canoe and paddle boat out on the lake
• Conquer the challenge courses (including the tight rope walk and zip line ride)
• Go snipe hunting (where we successfully caught then lost 7 snipe Ü)
• Learn how to make washer necklaces and duct tape wallets
• Laugh about silly things
• Watch as each of our girls testimonies were able to grow (it's amazing how different of an experience Girls Camp is as a leader)

I think our ward was the only ward in camp where all of our girls were ready and in bed by 11:00 every night at camp. And I couldn't have been more grateful!

Camp was great, but when the time came to go, lets just say I was more than ready to be home.

Seeing as I had never been away from Madison more than 2 nights and had never even been away from Brooklyn for more than a few hours at a time, I couldn't wait to have them back in my arms again. 5 days is a long time to be away from your children.

The girls stayed with my family while Karl stayed with his family so he could work on his Practicum while I was gone. (Thank you family for taking good care of my little family while I was gone!)

My mom helped Maddie make this card for me. I LoVe it.

Can't you see why I missed this sweet face??? I feel like I missed so much with this little girl. They change so fast at this age.

While I was gone she nearly perfected the art of Cruising (which totally blows my mind). This little girl went from crawling to walking in 2 seconds flat. She is definitely a lot younger than Maddie was when she started cruising furniture. Maddie wasn't even crawling by this point. Really she's not quite 8 months yet. It won't be long before she is full blown walking.

My mom assured me that the girls were great while I was gone and that Madison was a wonderful big sister and very helpful when Brooklyn was sad.

The only problem I have now, is that Brooklyn is having major anxiety whenever I leave her for a few minutes because she's afraid I'm going to leave again. It breaks my heart every time.
All I can say is, I'm glad to be home with both my girls and my husband.

(Sorry Karl it was harder to be away from my girls than it was to be away from you because I knew you would be ok- but it doesn't mean I love you any less. I love you most Mister!)

In other good new: Meet my new Nephew who was born the night before I left for camp

Joshua Andrew

We are so excited you are finally here!

The crazy life of the practically homeless 4...

So I'm sure the question that is on all of your minds right now is... Where have we been? Well, a more appropriate question would be, where haven't we been? Our To Do list as of late has been quite crazy. Here are just a few items from our list this last week.

-Hosted 10 adults and 5 children over a 5 day period- (3 the first night, 7 the next, 9 the next and 3 the last night)

-Painted, stripped, sanded and varnished 1 old table to make it new and beautiful

-Packed about a million boxes in less than a week

-Filled an 8x10 and an 8x12 foot trailer and 2 trucks with all of our belongings and still didn't have enough room for everything

(super thanks go out to every one who helped us with the move!)

-Drove 3 hours to move those same belongings to our new home in Idaho Falls where we unpacked both trailers (putting everything in the room it belongs) in an hour and a half then drove another 3 hours just to get back home to an almost empty house

-moved our 3 boxes full of clothing and other random necessities to my In-laws house where we will be staying (all 4 of us in one room-thank goodness it's a big room) for the next 3 weeks while Karl does his practicum

-ripped out carpet in 1 evening at my SIL's new place
-spent 2 long days (so far) painting the new place before the carpet is installed

-took care of 1 sick child who has prevented me (and probably all of Karl's family too since we are now residing in their home) from getting more than 2 hours sleep without interruption in over 5 days

-took Maddie to her 1st official movie (as in we actually had to pay to get her in) where she thoroughly enjoyed the popcorn and about the first hour and 10 minutes before she fell asleep

-shopped for 2 birthday presents
-finally started thinking about all of the many projects I have to complete before we leave for girls camp in 2 days

Now can you see why I haven't been blogging?

Just looking at that list makes me tired.

All in a days work

ThRoUgH tHe EyEs Of A cHiLd... Pictures by Maddie