SOLD! The Meridian Idaho Incident!

We went to Idaho for Memorial Day to spend the weekend with John's best friend Ryan, his wife Christine and their two cute kids Dallin(5) and Mason(2). It was a blast! The crazy thing is that we sold our house while we were in Idaho. Exactly 2 weeks to the day we put it on the MLS we are officially under contract. My good neighbor Shellie was kind enough to open the house for the millions of people that called and wanted to come through on Saturday. We had an "open house" without even being there. We were faxed an offer to Ryan's house, we countered, and they accepted! The scary thing is that we honestly have no idea where we are going from here and we have to close and be out of our house on June 22nd. Pray for us! Besides dealing with all the phone calls and faxes we had so much fun in Idaho. Meridian is beautiful and I would totally move there (if John could work there). Ryan and Christine spoiled us and even insisted that we stay at their beautiful house. The kids got along so well together and even Kaycee (who had no one her age to hang with) was sad when it was time to leave. We went to the Roaring Springs water park (like a Wet n' Wild and 100 times better than Seven Peaks in my opinion), played games, barbecued, watched movies, talked about old times (mainly John and Ryan) and totally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We went to a really cool and yummy restaurant called "Cool Hand Luke's". Luke, of course, thought it was really cool and I was so mad because I forgot my camera. We took a picture with my phone but it's totally blurry and not worth putting on the blog.

Dallin, Luke, Kaycee and Mason (and me in the background:))

The weather highs were 87 degrees when we were there and every morning the kids ran outside to play before breakfast.

Johnny and me

They introduced us to a fun game they made up called Home Run Derby. The boys loved it.

Christine and Ryan (they are both very tall people and I feel very short next to them)

The kids also loved this bouncing game on the tramp. I love Luke's legs and arms in this picture.

Dallin and Luke were best buds the whole time.

I love this little dude. He is super tall for his age so you would think he is 3 or 4 but he is really only 22 months old. He loves girls and took a special liking to Kaycee. He was always pulling her hair or punching her.

Totally random I know but I had to take a picture of their cereal. They seriously love it. I've known my share of cereal heads but never like this. There are 15 open boxes of cereal on any given day for 2 adults and 2 little kids.

Great family, fun, food and conversation. What more could you ask for?

Happy Early 6th Birthday to Luke!!!

Luke's real birthday is on memorial day this year (May 25th) and since we are going to be making a long drive home from Idaho that day we decided to celebrate it early. It was a very last minute decision as of Sunday night. Yesterday was the one evening that we didn't have anything going on and so we took advantage of it. We rotate family birthday parties and friend birthday parties every other year. This year is a family birthday for both of my kids. Since it was so last minute we kept things pretty simple. Luke opened 1 present before school, had his favorite lunch of macaroni and tomato juice (trust me, it's super good), and then we went to Boondocks after school. Luke has been dying to go there for months. The kids played in the arcade, Kiddie cove, went miniature golfing and played laser tag. They had a blast. As a finale we sang happy birthday to him and ate the cupcakes he requested and of course he opened the rest of his presents. He got a shark poster, shark book, toy sharks, practice balls (for baseball), Star Wars The Clone Wars movie, Lego Star Wars for the Wii and some Tiger Shark marbles from our family.

My baby is growing up so fast I don't know what to do. Today he told me "I just want to stay 5-years-old forever, I don't want to turn 6". I said "That's fine with me, you can stay 5 as long as you want." Of course he then told me he was kidding. Luke woke up extra early because he was so excited.
This is Luke's version of helping me make the cupcakes. He just wanted to eat the batter.

Luke swinging in Kiddie Cove at boondocks. Kaycee is officially too tall to play in there. Where does the time go?

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know everybody feels the same as I do this time of year but we have been crazy busy. You've gotta love how everybody tries to fit every major event into the last month of school. That said, we have had a lot of fun doing the things that have kept us on the go!

RACE FOR THE CURE: I ran in the Race for the Cure for my third year in a row on May 9th. I have an aunt that died of breast cancer a few years ago and I feel strongly about finding a cure. Last year I formed a team in her honor called "Move Your Bootie for Judy". I plan on running every year and next year I want to get cool t-shirts with our team name on them. I also run the Race for the Cure in honor of my amazing friend Brittney who is battling bone cancer. If we can find a cure for breast cancer then we are well on the way to opening the doors to finding cures for all cancers. It's not really a race at all, there are walkers, strollers, wheelchairs and runners and you don't even get timed. If you've ever thought about doing it I say "go for it". It's so much fun and all the money goes to a good cause. This year over 18,000 people ran. My sister, Misty, even flew in from Washington D.C. to run in it. It's a wonderful experience. Sorry these pictures are so small. I borrowed them from my sister and I don't know how to make them bigger!

Part of my team after the race: Brooke, Blake, me, Raleigh and Misty. My cousins left before we had the chance to take a picture with them.

People who run are so clever. We were laughing the whole time we were moving because of what people's shirts said. Misty took a lot of great pictures but since the pictures are posting small you can't tell what they say.

This is my favorite picture. We totally got a kick out of this guys outfit. Misty was daring enough to ask if she could take his picture and he told her to get in it with him. Then he put his arm around her. Hilarious!

GRAND CHAMPION NATIONALS AT LAGOON: Later the same day we had Kaycee's dance competition at Lagoon. It was really fun. We didn't pay to have her compete her solo and it was actually really nice to not have to worry about it. Her team did awesome. They took 1st on their lyrical and 2nd on their jazz. After the performances we enjoyed some of the rides at Lagoon. I had really forgotten just how bad the white roller coaster was. Between the ride attendant who threw up 3 times while we were waiting in line and the seriously washboard rickety coaster I don't know which was worse! Luke HATED it. I still didn't get to ride wicked and I plan on doing it when we go in July!

BUTTERFLIES: My parents gave Kaycee a butterfly habitat for Christmas. We received the caterpillars 2 weeks ago and have LOVED watching them eat, form into chrysalises and finally turn into 4 beautiful painted lady butterflies. It's seriously one of the great presents ever. Kaycee and Luke have had so much fun with them. We have had all the kids who walk to school with Kaycee checking on them everyday too. We plan on releasing them outside sometime next week!

MOTHER'S DAY: It started out lovely. John had some beautiful flowers sent to me, the kids made me some really cute gifts, and of course I loved the Cadbury bar I got at church. After church Brooke's family cam over for a yummy steak dinner. We went to see John's mom that evening and found out that John's grandpa Lu had had a heart attack and was taken to ICU the night before. He had the heart attack when he was trying to pull a tree stump out of his yard (of all things). After feeling bad that we hadn't received this info sooner we rushed over to the hospital to see him. He was in good spirits but talked a lot about dying. After some tears and laughter we convinced him to get the treatments he needed because at 86 he is a goer and still has some good years left to live. He and John have a special relationship and I love him as if he were my own grandpa. He is now home and doing OK but he hates that he is confined to his couch with an oxygen tank. He is the greatest!

What We've Been Up To!

I know I've said this before but I HATE ROAD CONSTRUCTION. I don't think I can last until it's "supposed" to be done in October.
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GET DOWN!
Kaycee made up a hip hop dance for her and Luke to do together. She asked me to film it and of course it was a perfect blog moment. Luke was reluctant to do it but eventually gave in because he loves his sister so much. He cracks me up in the video as he puts on his cheesy smile every now and then. Luke could definitely use some work on his technique but overall they're pretty cute. Watch it:

Kaycee also told me that Luke made up the end of the dance starting when she slides under his legs. That is so funny to me.
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ALL LUKE WANT'S FOR CHRISTMAS IS HIS TWO FRONT TEETH
So Luke's other front tooth that got knocked really loose on the tramp and has been hanging by a thread forever finally came out thanks to John and his pair of pliers.
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FUN AT THE AQUARIUM:
Last Saturday my two nieces - Hailey and Kate flew into town to stay with grandma and grandpa for a week while my brother and his wife went on a trip to Hawaii (yes I am jealous). The day they came it was raining so we decided to go to The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. We had never been before and Luke is absoultely fascinated with ocean creatures - especially the sharks! We had a blast and I highly recommend going if you've never been before. Luke could happily live there.

The cute kids Raleigh, Kate, Kaycee, Luke and Tyler. Kate was so cute and wanted to hold Kaycee's hand.
They have sting rays you can pet. No kidding this sting ray lapped up on the side and let us pet him for like 30 seconds straight. It was so strange and I started to have this weird feeling like he was going to try to jump up on my head or something. It was really, really cool.
Notice Luke pointing out the shark to everyone. He knows so much about them.

Trying to get everyone to cooperate at the end of the tour for a picture with grandma and grandpa wasn't that easy - especially for the littlest ones (notice sulky Luke is not even in this picture).

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Did I mention "I HATE ROAD CONSTRUCTION!!!"? 'Cause I do!!!