Fish Lake-Manly Mormon Style

Don and Cody went on a camping trip to Fish Lake with the Teachers and Priests from our ward. There were 26 people total 17 boys and 9 leaders. They all left on Wednesday June 24 and stayed through Saturday the 28. They camped in tents , ate 25 lbs of Carne Asada, went fishing, jumped off cliffs into a very cold river, had many devotionals, and studied Preach My Gospel. It was quite chilly and rainy so there was not a lot of hiking or swimming in the lake but the boys kept themselves amused with cards and hot chocolate at the lodge. Don loves that sort of stuff and Cody even had a good time just don't ask him to admit it.

Caleb's Day and Father's Day

11 years ago today on Father's Day Caleb made his entrance into the world with a little bald head and HUGE feet! It was 3:00 in the afternoon and Don and I had been walking around the mall and anywhere else we could think of because we knew that we had to go to the hospital but only when I was so far gone that they could not send me home. I was only 36 weeks along and had already been in the hospital and on bedrest trying to keep him in and my doctor said that I had to get to 36 weeks. I made it to 36 weeks on the dot but because the nurses at the hospital have their directions about always stopping labor before 37 weeks and I had already played that game ALOT we walked and walked so we could have that baby. When we got to hospital I can't remember exactly what I was but they did not send me home and the doctor barely had time to get there to catch Caleb. I even remember asking the nurse if she had delivered a baby on her own before because he was not gonna wait much longer. So 11 years later here we are-
In keeping with tradition we gave Caleb all of his gifts in the shopping bags they came in because I hate I hate I hate I hate wrapping gifts and plus I decided that I was saving trees. Anyway since Caleb's birthday happened to fall on Sunday and he got really got 2 days worth of celebrating we waited until after church for him to open his gifts. He got lots of clothes and a pair of shoes and flipflops. He also got a game for his DS, 2 moveis-Bolt and Scooby Doo-a big box of legos and a portable tetherball thing. Grandma and grandpa came over for hamburgers and tasty bundt cake. If you will notice that again we did not have candles so we had to punt again with a 6 and a 5.

Don got a big new tent and a bunch of new salsa's from Trader Joes to taste. He also got to reminise about the fabulous Father's Day 11 years ago when Caleb Mitchell Adams was his Father's Day gift. We gave Grandpa Don a new Gott cooler and some tasty root beer. Granddaddy Larry will get his gift when we go up to Provo soon. I wish my brother would have gotten a baby girl for a Father's Day gift but my stubborn little niecypooh just won't come on already.

Caleb's Birthday Bowling

Notice how Don is on the phone while bowling.

We went bowling at the Red Rock yesterday for Caleb's birthday. We ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then went bowling-we should have just eaten at Red Rock or gone to IHOP or something-I have become disenchanted with Cheesecake Factory as of late. Cody and Connor stayed home being grumpy smurfs so that is why they are not in the pics. Don won the first game but as I was winning the second game and reminded him as such the first thing that he said was and I quote "but not if we add the 2 games together!" Umm he is just a little competitive. When I ever so sweetly pointed that out to him he promptly backtracked and said that yes I was winning.

A Pumpkin in June

Our garden really did much better this year and we actually got a pumpkin. Yes it is a little early but what do we know about when to plant stuff? I picked it because it happened to have a squashbug universoty growing underneath it and I had to annilate them all so that they would not take over my garden. We have gotten lots of zuchinni and squash and the sunflowers are huge. We got a handful of carrots but the cucumber and the broccoli did not do well. We think the the zuchinni boom is over and so we will wait just a bit longer and see if we get anything else but then rip out everything and plant corn and melons and pumpkins again.

California

We left for our family vacation last Sunday June 7. We drove down to San Diego for 4 days and then to Anaheim for 3. Here are the highlights.

~The Sunday drive seemed to take forever and we did not even stop to shop in Barstow.

~The kids wanted to swim at the hotel pool and then Connor's Jazz shirt got stolen.

~The Jazz shirt was found the next day by a maintenance guy at the bottom of the hotel elevator shaft ripped up-not by the elevator mind you but by some jerky kid.

~The kids made friends with kids from Australia and Phoenix.

~Monday we went to Seaworld. We have not done that since before Cayden was born. It was pretty fun. The kids really liked seeing all the sea animals. The boys and Don went on a couple of the rides that we had never been on. I declined as they were all get wet rides and I had no desire to get wet.

~Connor wanted to sit in the splash zone at the dolphin show and the Shamu show. We on the other hand did not want to get wet so he sat down low and we sat up high.

~We got back to the hotel and the kids went swimming again. They played with their new found friends from the outback again.

~We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Calrsbad. They have a breakfast buffet and a small dinner every week night that is free! The kids would go down and get their food while we got ready for the day and after we got back from our daily aventures they could eat for free.

~We went to Oceanside beach for the day after sleeping in. The beach sand was warm, the water was cold and the kids had a great time. Connor and Caleb rented boogie boards and rubbed their bellies raw. Cody and I walked up the road and found a lovely frozen yogurt store and a visor and sunglasses for him. Caleb lost his sunglasses in the surf.

~Wednesday we slept in again and drove down to the San Diego temple. They do not have a visitor's center other than a missionary couple sitting outside on a bench. They had pictures to show and took pictures of us.

~We went to Bennigan's for lunch and then back to the hotel because it was too cloudy and too cold to go to the beach. They have a much better and much cheaper Monte Cristo than Disneyland.

~The kids went swimming again at the pool with Cody.

~Cody and I went to the Carlsbad shopping outlets but I only bought a watch because mine would not stay on and I was afraid of losing it. He and I went to TGI Friday's while the kids and Don ate Meatloaf at the hotel.

~Thursday we packed up and told the kids that we were going home. We did not go home but drove to Anaheim waiting to see if the kids would notice. Caleb did note that we were heading north and wondered about that but it was not until we got off the freeway where the signs said Disneyland that Connor noticed and said "Why don't we just go to Disneyland?" So we did.

~Don and I actually had it already planned and we just surprised the kids when we got there.

~We checked into our usual Hilton hotel and then rode the shuttle to Disneyland. The weather was cloudy and not too hot but it was super crowded. We certainly like the lack of crowds in February but we had to deal with the rain then instead.

~We left Don's pillow on the bed at the hotel in Carlsbad but they found it said that they would ship it to us. It's not so much the pillow as the pillowcase that Mawmaw embroidered for us so hopefully it will arrive soon.

~We went to Disneylandthe rest of the day on Thursday, and all day Friday-the Electrical Parade started Friday night so we had to see that because that is my favorite and the main reason why I wanted to go. Connor got up and danced at the Celebrate parade in Disneyland and then the lady in the pink from the picture came up to us and said that when he makes his first movie that she wants his autograph . She also asked if she could take him home with her.

~I woke up sicker than sick on Saturday so Don took the kids to Dland by himself while I slept in the hotel with Cayden's huge Pooh Bear balloon hovering over me and scaring me to death every time I turned over and saw it.

~Cayden loved the parades and Pooh Bear, the ride not the character.

~Caleb decided that he actually likes Star Tours.

~Connor decidedly does not like Pirates of the Caribbean but he did go on the big roller coaster at California Adventure.

~Cody still likes Fantasmic and Indiana Jones.

~Don loves the corndogs and all the fast scary roller coasters.
~I like Peter Pan and Soarin the most.

~Cayden left his hat on the shuttle and we have not recovered it.

~We went to Ihop on the way out of Anaheim-one away from the park so that we could pay half as much for breakfast for the same thing.

~We got home around 5 and I was sick the rest of the night and all day Monday and Tuesday. Don left for Dallas today I of course have to be better.

Karate Kids

The boys had their Karate testing on June 2. They were supposed to test on May 14 but that was the day that I took a trip to the ER so they were unable to attend. Their teacher had another night of testing because they weren't the only ones that could not be there. They both worked really hard this past 6 months since their last testing. They both earned their purple belts and they were both really proud of themselves.

Thankful and Threrapueutic Thursday

Yes, today is Friday so this is a little late but oh well you get it anyway. I went to the temple yesterday morning and that is always free therapy! It never ceases to amaze me how few people are in the Las Vegas temple. I was surprised when I got to the parking lot to see that it was quite full but the 11am session had only 9 women and 5 men. After the temple I went to my new favorite place on the planet USwirl. It is self serve frozen yogurt that is fantastic! They have like 10 flavors and you can get as much or as little as you want because they charge you by the ounce. Then you can put on your own toppings AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! I love it!! I was trying to figure out a way to get back to Vegas today so I could get more. My whole big cup with strawberry and banana yogurt with 3 BIG scoops of Fruity Pebbles was less than $5. I would rather eat that than regular food and it is fat free-well maybe not the Fruity Pebbles but still much less fattening than ice cream. After the temple I made a huge Costco run and got home to realize that lots of the stuff that I bought we already have plenty of but if the end comes I will have enough freezer bags to cryogenically preserve my family and probably yours too-granted it would have to be in gallon size pieces but nevertheless! When I got home I went to check on my garden and found another form of therapy. It's not what you think-I do not enjoy gardening per se or playing in the dirt at all but there are some very unpleasant critters in my zucchini whose ancestors ruined my garden last year so I unleashed my vengeance in the form of a very long pair of tweezers and the hose. The nasty little things are cousins of the stink bug and are called squash bugs-I will even show you pictures!



They are terrible horrible little beasties who just won't die! I borrowed the tweezers of death from my brother-in-law Chris who said as far as the adults are concerned you have to pick them off and kill them yourself. I did not think that I had such a violent vengeful side to myself but I must admit that while usually have to get Don or Cody to kill the bugs/spiders in my house I got those suckers myself and squished their smelly guts out of them with the tweezers and dropped their little carcasses on the ground and stepped on them. Very therapeutic! A little violent perhaps-call it aggression therapy. I did get the creeps while annihilating as many as I could find and I was worried about their little friends who may have somehow heard about the massacre and decided to exact their vengeance on me whilst in my bed asleep so maybe I am not ready to be labeled completely psychotic and without remorse-ok who am I kidding those creepy crawlies had it coming! And now the rest of the story-
I went out to take the kids to karate and when we got in the car and I started to back out, it felt a little weird. When I got to the street the passenger side front seemed suspiciously low. I had Connor get out and check the tire and it was flat. Not just a little low but flatter than flat. I pulled the car back up onto the driveway and we got in the Suburban and were on our merry way. I was so thankful that the tire did not give me any trouble on the way home from Vegas. I got home at 4:00 and we left at 5:30 so in the hour and half I was home it went flat-not out on the road thank goodness. My manly son Cody changed the tire and put on the spare after I got back after consulting the owner's manual. I told him that we could just wait until Don got home but he insisted on changing it himself. He did a great job and luckily we were home and not out on the freeway because it was 100 degrees and the lugnuts were super tight-I probably would have not been able to do it myself and would have risked a highway serial killer coming to my aid on the open road. Hope you can all find your own thankfulness and therapy. If you need help come kill squash bugs at my house-it really helps!