SURPRISE!

The other day, while we were in the van waiting to pick up Bethany, Thursday the 13th, we got quite the surprise!

We were all doing whatever to entertain us while we waited for Bethany to get out of school and walk to the van. All of the sudden, Mattie came up from the back of the van saying something about needing to look into the mirror because she had something inbetween her teeth!

When I turned to look at her, WOW, what a surprise that something between her teeth, was a BIG HOLE!!! She was missing a tooth!!! Mattie couldn't believe it~she knew she was bleeding and had a kleenex/napkin in her mouth.

She looked in the mirror and was so excited!!! This was her first lost tooth!!! The funny thing is that she had 5 barely, wiggly teeth, but none of them were close to coming out!!!

Being the good mom that I am, I asked her what happened. Mattie then told me that she was trying to open a small white container (my bike first aid kit) and couldn't do it. So she tried to open it with her teeth! That's when her tooth popped out! We looked in the first aid kit and all over the van for her little tooth, but never found it.

Luckily, the Tooth Fairy was on the ball and Mattie woke up with a big surprise under her pillow Friday morning! Mattie was so excited to see Tooth Fairy money, without a tooth or a note!!!

Halloween 2008

Our Halloween celebration started on Wed, the 29th. We went to a carnival put on at the church. I had a sewing marathon earlier that day to get Thomas' costume put together. Unfortunately, Thomas fell asleep on the way to the church. So no one really saw how cute he looked. Edd held him while I took the other kids around. When we got home, we put Thomas on the bed and that's where he stayed until morning! Guess he was tired!!!

Bethany had her own sewing marathon. She was making an Alice in Wonderland costume for herself. We finished it Thurs night. Bethany also carved her pumpkin Thurs night. Bethany's friend, Amanda, had invited Bethany to come over on Friday after school to help set up for the Halloween party they were having with all of their friends.

Friday morning, Thomas and I went over to the elementary school to watch the costume parade for K-2nd grade. The kids were really cute! Thomas was excited to see Aimee and Mattie!

After the kids got home from school, we carved the other pumpkins. Then we got ready for trick or treating! Andrew went with our neighbor, Parker, and his friends. Aimee stayed with Edd to hand out candy. Aimee has decided that handing out candy is more fun that trick or treating for candy. I took Mattie and Thomas around the neighborhood. Mattie and Thomas loved trick or treating! After each street we'd finish, I asked if they were ready to go home. Finally after four streets, they were finally ready to call it quits!!

Andrew ended up with the most candy. He weighed it today. He had 3 pounds! He probably had close to four, but has been eating it and sharing it since he got home Friday night. Bethany came home with 2 pounds. She said she left the half she didn't like at Amanda's.

Now, we are counting down till Christmas!!! Can't wait!!!

Following my brother's footsteps

Thomas is at that very fun, but very impressionable stage in life. He adores his big brother and copies nearly everything Andrew does. Thomas has a nack for picking out the funny phrases from the conversation that go on here at home. He especially likes to copy what Andrew says! If it is a funny phrase, then when Thomas repeats it, he will laugh afterwards, which makes it even more funny!!!

A few times, lately, Thomas has gotten himself stuck! Andrew would get himself stuck quite often when he was around Thomas' age. Luckily, Thomas hasn't gotten very stuck, YET!!!

Thomas looks a lot like Andrew when he was 2! The other day, Thomas and I were looking at Aimee's scrapbook from when she was a baby. On one page, Thomas pointed to Andrew in a pictue and said, "That's me!" I told him that it was Andrew. (This isn't the picture, I don't remember which one it was, but this is how Andrew looked back then! circa 10.01)

Thomas 10.08

Thomas' new love is dinosaurs! He loves to watch Disney's "DINOSAUR" movie and can be found playing "carnator"! Just this morning, Thomas came stomping through the kitchen, with his hands in dino position, growling, "carnator, carnator, carnator!" Thomas loves playing with Andrew's old dinosaurs and loves for me to read about them too! The other day, Thomas insisted that he wear his dino shaped camo pj's all day long!!! Yesterday, he'd only wear his t-rex shirt, until it got dirty, the the pteradon shirt was the only other one he'd wear.

Yesterday, we had a great adventure to the bayou. Andrew was home from school, he wasn't feeling well and had a slight fever, but he wanted to come on walk with us. We'd planned to feed the turtles. Plans changed, I'd forgotten that it had rained the night before and it was MUDDY!!! Well, my boys are mud magnets!!! They had a blast playing in the mud!!! (So it's been a few days since I started this! We went to the bayou on Thurs. Thomas has so much fun that Friday morning he wanted to go back!!!

It is so much fun to watch these two boys of mine enjoy each other so much! Andrew is such a good big brother!!! When Andrew's friends are over, they let Thomas join in. Andrew will play with Thomas and is very patient with him. The other day, Thomas was in 7th Heaven because Andrew built him a BIG ZOO!!! Now, this is one of Thomas' all time favorite things to do, but loves it more when Andrew will help him make a zoo!

Thomas loves animals! His favorites are hippos, rhinos, cows, elephants and now carnators! Everywhere we go, he has to bring some of his animals along! He will usually pack up my diaper bag, or my "little diaper bag" (my purse) with some of his favorites. Other times, I'll have him pack up his backpack with his animals, which he did this Saturday when we went to the soccer games! This is a picture of Thomas playing with the carnator which he found in our big bucket of dinosaurs. He was so excited when he found it!!! I'd forgotten that we had a carnator. We got it in a Happy Meal, way back when the movie came out, how long ago was that???

Every time we are at the soccer fields, Thomas wants to take a walk to the bridge where we look for "agagors" (alligators)! Occasionally there will be a few lurking in the water, but they look like sticks! One day there were two out in the water, but I thought they were just a couple of sticks poking out. The next time I was at the soccer fields, crossing the bridge, I looked to see if the "sticks" were still there and they were gone. So I'm guessing it really was two alligators. It kindof looked like the nostrils and eyes poking up! I would've just thought it was sticks, but I've seen too many Croc Hunter episodes with Andrew. (For those who are wondering about this, there have been alligators documented in the water by the soccer fields!)

Both Thomas and Andrew are very sweet boys and are such a joy to our family! I'm glad that I've got my boys!!! :)

The Sweet Sound of Silence

FINALLY!!! At 6:50, Monday, September 22nd, we got power again!!! Just an hour and twenty six minutes shy of being 10 days without power.

We were so excited to hear the beep from our alarm as the lights came on, like someone had flipped the switch, YEAH!!! AIR CONDITIONING!!!

What was even better though, was the silence we heard. No more generators roaring outside. There was an occasional rumble as an airplane flew over, but that is a welcome sound that all is well, at least in the weather department!

It was so weird the day the hurricane was coming, I went outside and it was eerily quiet because there were no airplanes flying and there didn't seem to be any people outside either.

I was so glad to have power again so I could dry the two loads of laundry I'd washed using the generator we were borrowing. I was so glad not to need it anymore because it was so loud!!! I had scattered the laundry around so it would dry, but it was so humid that it wasn't drying very quickly.

We are so glad to be getting things back to normal! Edd went back to office yesterday. The kids go back to school on Thursday.

Hopefully all the mosquitos will dye soon. They are SO BAD!!! You can see them flyig all around and they get into the house too! Poor Edd got a mosquito bite on his forehead after he got home! Bethany got 2 bites while she played the piano. So we are on partrol in the house too. Hopefully the mosquitos won't feast on us tonight!

Life is such an adventure!

Opps!

Hi! I tried to fix my miss spelled word for the picture caption for Andrew & Thomas. For some reason when I go back to edit, the pictures aren't there. HMMM...don't know why. Anyway, I left the "N" out of anxious. Sorry!

Hurricane Ike

Wow, what an experience! Our Hurricane Ike weekend began Thursday afternoon when the kids got home from school. School and work on Friday had been cancelled. We spent the afternoon cleaning up everything outside that would blow away. Once that was done, we finished our preparations inside. Friday morning came and was beautiful, but it quickly got cloudy and the wind picked up a little. By lunch time, we were wondering when we'd start to see some action.

We passed the time watching the news, which showed the HUGE waves breaking along the seawall in Galveston and flooding was beginning in Kemah. We were amazed at how much water was already coming on land and the storm wasn't even here yet!

The kids were very excited and a little anxious for what was about to happen, but we tried to go about things as usual. The kids played most the afternoon. Aimee and I made some last minute muffins, trying to use up some of the 18 eggs I'd gotten at the beginning of the week. We made 4 differnt kinds. I lined up the boxes in a row with the bowls an Aimee went down the line mixing them up. After dinner, we pulled out the icecream to finish off before it melted. The kids were excited to get extra big helpings!

Just as we were finishing our icecream, the lights went out, like someone had flipped the switch! It was 8:16pm. Once that happened, the kids settled down. I guess they realized that something was really going to happen.


Since there was nothing else to do, we went outside to watch the sky. As the first cloud bands rolled in, the sun was setting, and they had a pink tint. While we were outside, Thomas had on Aimee's jacket and out of the blue, he showed me his hand which was hiding in the sleeve. He told me it was a "HERMIT CRAB!" We thought that was pretty clever of him! I guess cathing the hermit crabs at the beach last month made quite an impression on him!

Thomas' hand is the hermit crab hiding in the sleeve shell! What a funny kid!

Once the sun went down, it was very dark and there was an orange tint to the sky. We took the kids inside and made them some beds in our music room and in the study. Soon they were all asleep, except Bethany! She couldn't get comfortable so she stayed up and documented the storm.

Edd eventually went to bed, but I ended up staying up with Bethany. Edd got up a while later and we watched the trees bend in the wind through our big family room windows. The wind was getting pretty strong! Every now and then the sky would light up a little, almost like lightning. Edd said it was from the electrical transformers exploding. Edd went back to bed, this time by the Aimee in the study.

Bethany curled up in the guest bathroom with the radio and her storm journal. She was listening to the reports of the storm while she documented what was happening to us. I had laid down on the floor by Thomas to try and get some sleep, but never got much!

Something started beeping off and on. At first it wasn't very often so I tried to ignore it and hoped it would stop on it's own becaus I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. Instead, it started beeping more frequently. It started to get really annoying so I found the step ladder and went upstairs. I thought it was the security alarm beeping.

A couple of weeks before, the alarm had gotten messed up. I was having our AC unit fixed and the workman was working with the circuit breaker. The power went off a couple of times while he was working, which caused the alarm to start beeping like ever five seconds. I couldn't get it to stop beeping! I ended up having some else come later that day to fix the alarm!!!

So in my sleepy state of mind, I thought it was the same sort of beep and unhooked the battery to the alarm system. Thinking I'd solved the problem, I put the step ladder back and laid back down, hoping to get some sleep finally! Unfortunatly, the beep was heard again! This time, Edd got up and took care of the problem. It ended up being the smoke detector in the girls' bedroom that was beeping. So he took the battery out of it. Finally we had some silence...well at least the there was no beeping! It wasn't very silent because the hurricane was raging outside!!!

Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, Bethany announced, "Uh Momma, uh Dad, we have a problem!" So we both sprang up to see what the problem was. Sure enough, we had a problem!!! The ceiling was leaking! Edd and I went into the attic to find the source of the leak. We found that there was water getting in from the roof vent, but there wasn't enough water for a big leak like we had! After hunting around some more, we found the source~the cap for the furnace exhaust pipe was leaking!!! Along with all the other exhaust caps for the other furnace and water heaters. We were able to keep the leaks under control for the rest of the storm with buckets and towels. Of course all this excitement got the whole family up! But the kids went back to sleep, which was a good thing since it was only 4:45!!!

Bella, our kitty cat, was curious about what was going on too! She ended up running outside a couple of times! We tried to keep her in for the storm, but she had other plans. She ended up being outside for quite a while during first half of the storm while it was pretty bad. She came in finally when the eye was passing over us.

I had noticed that the wind had died down and there wasn't much rain so Bethany turned on the radio and they said the eye was passing over the Intercontinental airport, which is close to our house. That was about the time that Bella finally came in. I ended up going back into my room with Thomas, who was having a hard time going back to sleep after the leak excitement. We both ended up crashing. I think I slept from around 6ish to 7:30.

Once it got light outside, we were amazed at how much the tree were being blown and all of the little pieces of leaves stuck to everything! The wind had shifted from hitting the back of the house to hitting the front of the house. Every now and then a big gust would hit and make the bottom metal weatherstrip of the front door BUZZ really loudly!

When things calmed down a bit, we let the kids go outside and see and I went out and took a few pictures and video. So I'll add the video clip from that. The storm didn't pass until almost lunchtime.

After the storm, we were anxious to find out what had happened everywhere else. Edd drove over into the next neighborhood to check on his brother, Dan. He came back and told us that there were quite a few big trees down here and there, but our neighborhood had minimal tree damage.

Sunday we drove around and took a look at neighborhoods in our area. It was amazing to see all the big trees down. Some streets got hit hard and others were ok. Our friends, the Littles, lost a big tree in their front yard. Luckily it fell toward the street, but it knocked down the street light. Edd cooked us some yummy food on the grill and with the camp stove.

Monday we decided that it was time to head to Austin. Edd cleaned up the yard and I emptied the refrigerator. We were on the road by 5. As we left, we were amazed at the HUGE lines for gas everywhere. There were lines at gas stations from Houston to Chappel Hill & Brenham--half way to Austin! We were really sad to see all the pictures of the devestation. The beach house we stayed at last month is gone! The Kemah Boardwalk, were we went at the beginning of the summer is was hit really hard too.

Crystal Beach before the storm ... Crystal Beach after the storm.

We've done a few things while we've been in Austin. Tuesday we went to Zilker Park, in Austin. There were a bunch of other evacuees there too! Some were even from Kingwood--they had Kingwood High t-shirts on! We rode the Zilker Zepher, which is a little train that goes through the park. It was fun to be at the park again. I used to take Bethany there all the time when we lived here, back when she was Thomas' age.

Thomas axiously awaiting the train to get going!!!

Thursday we ventured down to San Marcos and went to the Aquarena. They have boats that have a glass window in the bottom so you can see. We rode the boats on a tour of the San Marcos Spring that is there. It was really neat! It was amazing how clear the water was! You could see all the way to the bottom of the deepest part, which was about 35 feet deep! It is one of the oldest parts of Texas. They had an archeologist find mammoth bones and artifacts from all the different time periods with humans.

We will probably stay here in Austin until the weekend, unless we get electricity before then. Edd is able to work from here, which is one of the main reason why we came. Yesterday there wasn't much work and we took the kids to Zilker Park. There were a ton of people there and quite a few of them were from Houston and Kignwood!!! Today, Edd was pretty busy with work phone calls. The power is still out. There are reports that it will be on soon, by Friday and Monday in different parts of Kingwood.

What an adventure!

Looking Back

Now that we've been in school for a couple of weeks, settling into the routine of things again, I asked the kids what their favorite things about summer were. They all said the beach!!! We had a blast and it was a great way to end the summer!

We had a good summer and now that it's over, it sure seemed short! Aimee didn't think that it was long enough! She wasn't sure she was ready to go back to school yet, but she's enjoying school now!

Here are some of the high lights of the summer:

GRANDMA GETTING HER PIN AND STITCHES REMOVED!

Mom getting her foot prepped for suture removal!

Mom's x-ray with pin!

After Dr. Dave Jensen got the stitches removed, we went over to his house to play with his kids, Ashton and Savannah! Yeah!!! Andrew and Ashton were best buddies before the Jensens moved to The Woodlands. Savannah is Aimee & Mattie's friend. Dave's wife, Deanna, invited us over for lunch and a swim so the kids could all get together again. We had Cheney, one of our "extra daughters" for the day for Bethany to play with! Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed watching the kids play and relaxing by the pool. The kids had so much fun they didn't want to go home! They played and played all afternoon!

Before Grandma and Grandpa Cutler when back home to Salt Lake City, we took Grandpa to the zoo with us while Grandma was getting her eye checked. We had a great time at the zoo and loved seeing the baby giraffe and the baby elephant!

Summer projects, friends & FUN!

This is a big board that Bethany worked on! It has chalk board, white board, cork board and the other sections are magnatized. When we started the big board was just a big piece of plywood. Bethany painted/glued the different mediums on. I put the ribbon trim and the quarter round on for her. We had a good time working on it. After we finished that, I sanded and refinished an old desk for Andrew's room.

This is a picture of Mattie, Madison Richards, and Aimee. Madison Richards and Aimee are best friends. Madison and her family used to live on the street next to us. Madison and Aimee were in the same kindergarten class too! Unfortunately, Madison and her family had to move to BOSTON last summer. But they came to visit their Texas friends for a few days, which was really fun!!!

One Saturday morning, we got a phone call from our friend, Ray, who invited us to go boating with him for the day! Cheney was spending the night at our house so she got to come along too! When I asked Mattie what she liked the most about the summer, this was one of her favorite activities!!! The kids loved tubing and Edd and Bethany did some wakeboarding. Andrew got to drive the boat with some help from Ray. The girls were out on tube while Andrew was driving and didn't like all the bumps they had to go over! Thomas was excited about getting to ride on the boat, but as soon as we started moving, he was so scared!!! Thomas fell asleep for awhile. Edd did get him out on the tube at the very end and Thomas seemed to enjoy it! It was a fun day!

Thomas and the kids enjoyed playing with our little blow up pool. One day Aimee and Thomas washed the van for me too!

Here are the 3 mermaids! Mattie, Aimee, and Cierra Sanders. We had a BBQ at the Sanders' one weekend. Our friends, the Bratsmans, had just returned from working overseas for a few years. All the teenagers had fun hanging out together! (Bethany, Shantel S., Chris B., Mickelle S., Sam B., and Andrew B.) Before the Bratsmans left, we all went to church together. It was good to hear stories of what it's like to live in the Netherlands.

Look! NO HANDS!!! When we were at Crystal Beach, the wind was blowing so hard!!! Aimee was able to hold her boogie board without using her hands!!! Andrew and Aimee had fun trying to fill their shirts up while we rode the ferry to Galveston Island! Edd tried to go running along the beach, but didn't get far. He said the wind was pushing him along. When he turned around to come back, he said it was like running up hill because the wind was blowing so hard!

Right after we got home from the beach, Andrew and I flew to Utah for my brother's wedding. My brother, Frank and his cute wife, Lily, got married on August 15th. It was fun to see everyone again! It was beautiful weather too! So everyone is married except for Carlynne, but she caught the bouquet, so maybe Carlynne will be next??? We are excited to have Lily and Abinadi join the family! They are so fun!

(L-R: Carlynne, Theo-Mom's "Sunday Son"/Chris' friend, Tim & Carolee Peck, Abinadi-Lily's son, Lily & Frank, Mom & Dad, Andrew, me, Tarina & Chris Cutler)

This pretty much sums up our summer fun!

The Beach House

For our BiG summer activity, we rented a beach house at Crystal Beach for a few days in August! Aimee was super excited about going and that is about all she talked about for weeks before we left. She even was all packed two weeks before we left! Thomas picked up on her excitement and started talking about "going to beach house!"

When we finally got to the beach house, Thomas got mad because he wanted to "go to beach house!!!!" We quickly caught on that he was talking about going to the beach!!! We got to the beach as soon as we could!

Thomas loved driving his big yellow truck all around the beach! He'd drive it over mounds of sand, he'd drip wet sand onto it, he filled it with sand, he'd drive it into the surf and wiped out a few times with it too! Thomas and the big yellow truck had a great week at the beach!

Meanwhile, everyone else had their own adventures trying to catch waves with the boogie boards, hunting for seashell, burying eachother to make "mermaids," jumping waves, and best of all...collecting hermit crabs!!! We collected more than 100 of them!!!

Our second day at the beach was SUPER WINDY!!! So we went back to the beach house, got cleaned up and ventured into Galveston. We ended up walking through a beautiful white church and then took a tour of "Bishop's Palace," which is a really old house on the island. It was built before and withstood the hurricane of 1900, which destroyed much of Galveston.

After our tour, we met up with Edd's little sister, Paula, and Edd's brother, Eldon and his wife Stephanie and their cute baby girl, Sophie! We all rode the ferry back to Crystal Beach together. During our ride back, we got to see some dolphins as we rode back! Mattie and Aimee spent the ride getting acquainted with Sophie!

The next day, Melissa Z (married to Edd's brother Dan) and her two boys, George and Ben, joined us! All the cousins had a great time playing on the beach together!!! Edd got some great pictures of all the action!

We all had a great time! It was the perfect way to end the summer!!!

Back to School

Mattie & Mrs Clift Aimee & Mrs Carr Andrew & Mrs Dolmage

This was our first week back to school! Mattie was the only one excited out of the bunch because she started Kindergarten!!! I drove Andrew, Aimee and Mattie to their school, which is tradition so I can get the first day of school pictures! Andrew wasn't very excited about that. He wanted to just ride the bus! I did get a few pictures of Andrew, but he basically didn't want anything to do with us and wouldn't even walk with us. Are we at the embarassment stage already???

We took Andrew to his classroom first, then delivered Aimee. Aimee wanted us to walk in with her so we did. She was ok once she saw her friend, Hannah and her other buddies! Then Thomas and I delivered Mattie to her classroom. Mattie went right in and we got her backpack unloaded. I accidentally spilled her lunch trying to get her lunchbox out of her backpack...opps!!! We got it back into her lunchbox without any other problems. Once we got Mattie's things put away, I helped her find her seat. Mattie sat right down and started coloring! She wasn't even sad. I wasn't sad either. I took a few more pictures, then we left.

As I was buckling Thomas into his carseat, he asked, "Where is Mattie?" I told him that she was at school. At that moment, I was overcome with emotion and shed a few tears, but it only lasted a moment. Thomas gave me a strange look, like he was confused or maybe it was disbelief or maybe shock that his errand buddy was no longer. Thomas was back to himself a second later and we were off to Wal-Mart for our weekly shopping trip.

When we were done at Wal-Mart, we took a "boy detour" and watched a big backhoe dump dirt into dumptrucks. They are doing some major road construction right next to one side of the Wal-Mart parking lot. We drove the van close to the construction area and Thomas and I got out and watched. Thomas loved watching! We probably watched for 20 minutes or so. It was kindof fun watching tractors again. We used to watch all the time when Andrew was Thomas' age.

Bethany rode her bus to school. I offered to take her, but she didn't want to wait around for me to drop everyone else off. B was a little stressed about her locker situation. She'd gone before school started to "Camp Longhorn," with her friend, Amanda and unfortunately didn't have all the required forms so she was unable to get her locker assigned. So during B's first day sometime, she was allowed to turn in all her forms (we made sure they were all there!!!) and was assigned a locker and was able to get all her textbooks. B was hoping that she could get a top locker, but ended up with a bottom locker.

Well, now it's Friday night and we've survived our first week. We barely made it to the bus stop yesterday! We are all struggling in the morning! Mattie loves school, but is so worn out by the end of the day! She is making new friends and learned about "GERMS" today! I got a phone call from Aimee's teacher today! She said that Aimee is doing really well and seems to like being in her class. Aimee has Mrs Carr, who was Andrew's 2nd grade teacher! Mattie has Mrs Clift, who was Aimee's Kindergarten teacher too!!! Andrew has Mrs Dolmage. He's in new territory since he's blazing the path at Shadow Forest! Andrew is liking school too. He got split up from some of his friends, but still has a fair share in his class this year so he's ok.

So far, Bethany is the only one who has had homework. Poor thing was up past midnight Thurs night trying to get a history worksheet done. I was trying to help her with it, but it was quite challenging. B has been testing my brain this week! The other night it was grammer. I can't help her with Spanish though, but maybe I'll learn some vocabulary this year!

Mattie brought home a brown bag assignment for me on Friday. I get to cut out and staple their first color book! Should be fun!

Hopefully this will be a good year for everyone!!!

Good-bye Dolly

Hello Dolly!

Our first hurricane experience for the year was a little disappointing! The kids had hoped that Dolly would come more our direction. Grandma and Grandpa Cutler were glad it didn't come our way since they flew home Wednesday morning!

Good-bye Grandma & Grandpa!

We got a lot of wind and quite a few clouds on Wednesday when Dolly came on land with a few sprinkles and a few quick downbursts, but that was it. Wednesday afternoon, it was my turn to teach the scouts. We were doing bike safety, how to change a tire and were supposed to go on a mile bike ride. Just as we were about to leave on the bike ride, we were hit with another rainband from Dolly, which decided to dump on us! So we skipped the bike ride and all went home. Andrew was pretty bumbed.

Dolly--Day 2

Yesterday, though, it was cloudy all day and rained most the day. The rain was very much needed...YEAH!!! We only got about an inch of rain though. Hopefully folks more north of us got some rain too...like Grandma and Grandpa Prince in Austin! The kids did have fun playing in all the rain! I enjoyed the cooler weather! It was only in the 80's yesterday!!!

We also found a few little friends, a "wiwl fwog," a "wiwl wizard," and a snail who were probably all hiding from all the rain!

Here's a movie of Mattie and Thomas playing in the rain! There's a big stream of water that comes out of our rain gutter that helps it drain better. The kids love running through it!

Our 4th of July

Our 4th of July started off watching the parade. Andrew opted to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa to sleep in. Once we got to the parade route, we found a nice shady spot to set up our chairs. A few minutes later, our friends, the Sorensens, came and sat next to us! The parade was a lot of fun, for a small town parade! At first, Thomas didn't really know what to do, but about half way through, he figured out how to collect the candy that was thrown out!

Suckers and icepops were the favorite hand-outs!!! Oh yeah, and the BUBBLE GUM!!!

After we got home from the parade, Aunt Paula came to visit for the rest of the day! Edd and Andrew started to work on the BBQ. Then we had an unexpected visitor---an afternoon thunderstorm!!! Edd and Andrew relocated the BBQ to the garage while everyone else played in the rain!

After the rain stopped, we were treated to some yummy BBQ chicken, which turned out quite scrumptous!

Just before dark, we went over to the park-n-ride to watch the fireworks. Just before we got to the park-n-ride, we had to stop for some duck that were crossing the road! After we parked, the kids got out and played "500," colored--Aimee drew a picture a picture of Thomas and Mattie colored a frame that Grandma Cutler had given her. Thomas mostly played in the truck!

Our friends, the Sorensens, ended up parking right next to us to watch the fireworks too! Aimee and Mattie played with Kayla and Lauren for a few minutes...then we watched the fireworks! The fireworks were pretty good and Thomas really liked them! It was fun to hear his reactions!

All in all it was a good day!

On Thursday, we had a pretty good rain storm, without thunder, so the kids wet outside to play! At first it was Thomas running up and down the rain filled gutters, then Mattie joined him. Aimee came out for a few minutes and rode the scooter around, which Andrew just commented about how that was dangrous because she was barefooted. That's exactly how Andrew split his toe open last year, which gave him a bunch of stiches!!!

Anyway, Aimee didn't stay out long because she was in her swim suit and got cold. It was a cool rain, must have had a cold front??? I don't know, I haven't watched the weather lately! Thomas and Mattie stayed out probaby 30-45 minutes just having the time of their lives! Thomas just rain back and forth in the gutters, but Mattie broke out in song and dance.

First, Mattie started singing in the gutter, but then she moved up onto the man hole cover across the street in my neighbor's yard. That's where she performed this video clip! She's quite the performer!

June Highlights

It's the end of June already! Wow, time flies! Here are some of the highlights from the month:

We got invited to our friends, the Sanders, for a bbq and swim. Thomas decided that he didn't like his floaties anymore! He just likes to jump in over and over again. Buddy Sanders is Edd's running partner right now. The Sanders have 3 girls, Shantel (15), who Mattie hung out with all night, Mickel (12) and Cierra (8). We had a great time! The best part was the waterslide! Thomas tried the slide, but he didn't like!

Thomas jumping into the pool to Edd!

Andrew going down the slide head first!

Mattie dancing with Shantel!

Another highlight was when Riley, our neighbor came over to play! He will be turning 2 in July. He lives two doors down. Thomas and Riley are cute together! Usually we are at his house because Riley has a swimming pool. One day, Thomas got it into his head that he wanted to "go wimwim at Wiley's house!" He kept saying it over and over and over!!! I did get him distracted and we moved onto something else. So one morning Riley and his mom, Diana came over just to say hi, but Riley had so much fun playing with Thomas that he didn't want to go. He ended up getting carried home kicking and crying! I'm glad that Thomas has such a cute friend! Another day, Riley's mom invited us to come swimming at their house. Of course, Thomas didn't want his floaties and just jumped in over and over again. He made it look so fun that Riley, who'd been scared of the water since he fell into his pool about a month ago, decided to jump in and be like Thomas! By the end of the day, Riley was jumping in almost as fast as Thomas!

Thomas and Riley

One Saturday, we decided to do a bunch of yard work. We ended up cutting down a small tree, which Edd had just finished doing in this picture! We also yanked out a bunch of plants that we didn't like from the landscaping from the owners before us. The yard looks so much better now, except for the flower bed below the master window, which has become Andrew's mud pit. We need to get some flowers there soon. But first we'll have to let everything dry out from all the water and the rain we've had the last few days. Aimee planned out a new flower arrangement for me. She really likes gardening!

Edd and his hatchet!

Thomas got special sister treament one day when Bethany decided to make him a BIG slide with her mattress. Thomas loved it! He'd climb up as soon as his feet hit the floor! The other kids were sad because B would only let Thomas use the slide because he's still little!

Thomas and the BIG SLIDE!

Andrew and his Bear den went to Twilight Camp, which was a 3 day cub scout camp. The camp was held in the afternoon Tues - Thurs. I volunteered to organize the carpooling since I'm one of the Bear leaders, but wasn't going to camp. I was a little stressed, but it worked out ok. I only had to drive on the way home on the last day, which I was glad about. The day before I was supposed to drive, my check engine light came on. I decided I'd better get it taken care of right away since I didn't want the van to break down on me while I had a bunch of people with me.

Andrew at Twilight Camp's closing ceremony.

At the end of the month, Edd was able to attend the Prince Family reunion up in St George, Utah! He had a good time hanging out with his family and relatives that were able to attend! Edd was able to go repelling with Uncle Brent and some of the cousins. Edd also was treated to a tour of the area where Gma & Gpa Prince and their ancestors grew up in Southern Utah.

Dallan (Edd's bro), Edd, Joe (another bro), Grandma Prince, Grandpa Prince, Paula (Edd's sis), Leon (Edd's dad)

The last week of the month was Girl's Camp! Bethany was pretty excited! This is a picture of Bethany, with her friend Cheney on the left, getting their gear ready to load up. The girls were at camp Tues-Fri. When I picked Bethany up on Friday, she said that her favorite part was climbing the rock wall and then doing the zipline to get down!

Bethany and her friend, Cheney, all ready to go!

The day that Bethany left for Girl's Camp, Grandma and Grandpa Cutler flew in from SLC for a visit. Grandma came to have her foot fixed by our friend, who is a foot doctor. We have been having fun with them here!

Mattie and Thomas making cookies with Grandma!

I guess the best part of June was the fact that summer started!!! What a summer it has been!!!