Zzzzzzz

Sometimes when you're a little tiny who never stops exploring the world, and an old lady mom trying to keep up with the little tiny, you get tired. 

Really tired.

Luckily the dad was smart enough to (quietly) snap some pics and leave us to our nap. 

Bling Bling

Don't worry, everyone. Tukk may have lost the gold cross Ozzy Osbourne necklace he wore to impress his kindergarten teacher, but he found three gold chains... right before we took family pics. I'm not even joking. How does he keep doing this?

Turning 11

Caulder man turned 11!

This dude just keeps getting more and more awesome. And gigantic. And smart. And grown up. And handsome. And so flipping hilarious.

We celebrated with strawberry churro tacos for breakfast.

Since, after 11 years, we've decided to try being fun hip parents and let our kids actually have birthday parties with their friends, we started bugging Twist to invite some buddies. He kept saying, "I don't know, Mom. What will we do? Will it just be awkward?"

And then we remembered that he's never been a guy for big crowds, and we decided to just take his bestie Braxon out to dinner and Nickel Mania with the fam. 

Caulder, being the 70-year-old 11-year-old that he is, of course chose The Cracker Barrel for his birthday dinner. ("I love the fried shrimp plate!" he told us.) Plus they have his all-time favorite drink: orange cream soda. 

After stuffing our faces we hit the nickel cade, gave these two each their own bag of nickels, and set them loose. 

The big boys all had a blast. 

I spent the entire time seeing hepatitis everywhere and wondering what sort of flesh-eating diseases we'd take him with us for Caulder's birthday. 

*Shudders*

On Twist's actual birthday we partied with the family. Caulder decided to go with one of his favorite birthday treats for the party: the chocolate fountain. 

We dipped marshmallows, pretzels, bananas, raspberries, strawberries, jelly beans, grapes, blueberries, and - of course - bacon.

It was messy. Grandpa Farney dribbled all down his fancy cowboy shirt, so we made him wear an eating cape.

Caulder decided he needed his magical staff and a throne for opening presents. I mean, he was king for the day, so it was pretty appropriate.

Rand lounged nearby watching the whole affair in amazement.

He asked for slippers, gardening shears, a rubix cube, and a Barnes & Noble gift card. I feel like those things all go perfectly with The Cracker Barrel.

He also got spoiled with his favorite treats (white cheddar cheezits, gatorade, chocolate, and orange cream soda), some books, a motorcycle helmet, a couple of video games, and some cash.

And then we sang happy birthday using all of his favorite treats:

That night it was his turn to say prayers, and he said he was grateful that he had so many people who came to his birthday party and who love him.

Man, we're lucky to have this kid. I can't believe he's already 11. Happy Birthday Twist!

Some Oldies and Some Extras

Earlier this summer (if I'm being honest, it was actually this spring), Cole took the kiddos to the Goudy family kite flying night. 

I LOVE this picture of Tukk.

Rander spent an entire evening trying on glasses and cracking himself up.

These two continued to be adorable together.

Rand's trampoline/hair issues only grew worse as his feather-soft hair grew.

He got his first bloody nose after tripping OVER NOTHING and face planting so hard on the tile that I was sure he'd knocked a tooth out. He can't help it. When you've got a giant head it's hard not to lose your balance for absolutely no reason, and once that head gets some inertia behind there's no stopping it... until it hits the floor, of course.

The boys wrote some adorable thank you cards to their teachers from last year.

I'm glad that Caulder feels the need to point out that he's not being sarcastic.

Caulder with his 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Cheney.

Tukker with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Coon.

They adored their teachers last year and had a great year. I'm hoping their teachers this year can compete with the awesomeness that was Mrs. Cheney and Mrs. Coon!

To Have the Best Day Ever

Add cousins.

And dirt.

That's it. Just add dirt and cousins, and you've got the best day ever.

The Pinnacle of Athletic Achievement

When we stopped in Pocatello on our way to Yellowstone, we celebrated Klive's birthday with a super talented, unbelievably sexy, mega celebrity...

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. 

Who spent months - nay, YEARS - training for this once-in-a-lifetime event? 

Who sweated and toiled and perfected the Stay Puft Running Man Move, all for the chance to be given this honor?

Who was hand selected (because everyone else refused) to wear the hallowed Stay Puft suit? 

Who chased these birthday goers (and a car that just happened to drive by) like a puffy boss - even making one poor child who couldn't handle the awesomeness run home in terror - while being sprayed with silly string? 

And who executed a perfect 10.0 high kick in this sexy suit?

That's right. 

I had my moment in the sun. And I shined, people. I SHINED!!! 

Stay Puft MAN? Please. I was the Stay Puft Mistress. And it was just so beautiful.  

Yellowstone 2016

Last month, just before the kids went back to school, we packed this much stuff in the back of our car and headed to Yellowstone for a road trip. 

Dude. You need soooooo much stuff to go car camping with three kids. We're gonna have to start driving a semi.

We stopped in Pocatello to celebrate Klive's birthday and pick up the Johnsons and Ivies (Jess's bro's family).


We also stopped in Afton, where we ate the world's most gigantic cheeseburger. That's 2 pounds of meat, people. We split it between the five of us and it still almost killed us.

It's just so beautiful. Sniff.

This is Mesa Falls, on the way to Yellowstone. Have you heard about this waterfall? IT IS MIND BLOWINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

 Seriously. It took my breath away. Look at this pic my bro took. Awesome.....

I took 7,000 pictures. I couldn't help myself. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

The falls had a rogue water fountain that the kids thought was hilarious. It shot about 20 feet, so Tukk was trying to catch some water in his mouth.

We made it to Yellowstone and stopped in at Old Faithful for some geyser action.

I love the hot pools. I think they're so cool.

The kids thought Old Faithful was pretty amazing.

But not as amazing as having fun with their cousins.

We stayed at a campground at Grant Village in tents. The boys were kind of excited, and kind of really super freaked out about getting eaten by a bear. It helped that there were signs all over warning us about bears. Luckily the first night we were there Caulder had to make an emergency bathroom trip at 2 am, and on our walk to the toilets a pack of coyotes started howling SO LOUDLY that they sounded like they were in our camp. So then the boys got to be freaked out about getting eaten by coyotes or wolves AND bears. So that was great.

Grant Village is right by Yellowstone Lake, so we stopped in to throw rocks. Because you can't have a passel of kids and pass by a body of water WITHOUT throwing rocks in it. Obviously.

The kids were fascinated by this log, because it was covered in hundreds of ladybugs. There were big clusters of them all over it. Rand kept sticking his fingers by them, then shivering when they'd get too close.

But Winnie and Lyra played with them for about 20 minutes.

I mean, I know the lake is beautiful and all, but here's some REAL breathtaking scenery. Heh heh heh.

Awwww. Look at these two. 

We saw a whole herd of bison.

The Grand Canyon and Falls of Yellowstone.

And a Tukker-sized cave.

We also made a quick trip up to Mammoth Hot Springs one of the days we were there, mostly because I begged (and whined) so everyone would agree to it. I love this place. There's something about hot, sulfur-smelling pits of doom I just can't resist. 

Plus (and this in no way influenced my decision to make our entire group drive 3 hours to Mammoth), they have really good ice cream there. And baby elk right on the lawn. It's a must-see!

Playing by the river.

Peeing by the river.

 And look at this picture Rylee took of a massive bull elk. So pretty!

King Bison.

Losing energy on one of the hikes. 

Clearly, Rand is as impressed with mudpots as I am. 

This is everyone at Dragon's Mouth Spring.

But after a quick trip we had to head back home. We came back past the Tetons.



And stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole, where we had to say goodbye to Kolby and Jess's family. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Boo.



It was such a fun trip. Next time we need a few extra days, a bigger car, and more 2-pound cheeseburgers!