Keeping Up With the Joneses

Last week was the first full week of summer when I've actually had all the kids home. We've tried to make it a fun one and balance going out and doing stuff with staying at home and relaxing together. I think we've struck a good balance. The kids are loving tons of informal playmates and water fights with the neighbors. I haven't been taking many pictures, but here are a few. Mason had his two bottom adult teeth growing in behind the baby teeth and the baby teeth just weren't coming out. So the dentist decided to pull them out to give room for the adult teeth to move forward. Mason was a trooper and loved the "piggy nose" (laughing gas).  He was so excited for the Tooth Fairy to come and insisted that his friend Conner told him that if you have to have teeth pulled the Tooth Fairy brings $50 PER TOOTH!! I quickly rejected that idea, but the Tooth Fairy that comes to our house is kind of bad at it. She woke both Myles and Mason up right as she was rea...

We got home from Canada late Thursday night, and Marshall returned from Tennessee even later. Friday night was the ward father son campout, but because we didn't have time to get ready (we both worked Friday), they decided to just camp in the backyard. It was a good decision. After roasting marshmallows on the bbq and making s'mores, we thought the kids would settle right in to bed. NOPE! Myles and Mason were okay, told stories, and then fell right asleep. But Max was CRAZY!!! He was so excited he just could not calm down. It wasn't until we brought him inside and put him in his crib screaming at the top of his lungs "I needa sleep in the tent!" that we finally convinced him that we would give him one more chance if he promised to lie down and close his eyes. He agreed and finally fell asleep curled up next to his daddy. But the difficulty wasn't over. . .at 1 AM Myles woke up crying "I'm hungry". He made 3 or 4 trips into the house to get food, ...

The last week of school Mason was a mess. He was stressed, grumpy, and constantly annoyed with his brothers. Finally one night he exclaimed "I need a vacation from my family!" Well, Grandma Delta was happy to have him and Mason spent alomst two weeks in Delta with his older cousins. He got to go fishing 3 times and says that he was the first to catch his limit each time!

A few months ago Grandma and Grandpa Goates bought a canoe and two kids kyaks. The boys have talked about them every day since and couldn't wait to get up to Waterton for "their boats." We had to wait for a nice day, but the kids had a blast on Linnet Lake. So excited! Mason is great at paddling, and Myles was thrilled at how far the canoe went. Mason took it all very seriously. Myles was pretty nervous about the whole thing but once he got up the nerve to get in his kyak he had a blast.

The kids and I went to Waterton last week while Marshall stayed home and then went to Tennessee on business. We had a great time. Here are some highlights: Roast hot dogs and marshmallows with grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin. Bike ride from cabin to park gate. Everytime we drove by the Prince of Wales Hotel Max would say "you need to take me to the castle!" So my mom and I took him up. When he walked inside he said "wow. That's amazing." Pretty cute. We saw three bears. Fortunately all of them were from the safety of the car. I also came about 10 feet from hitting a huge moose on the way out of town! We went hiking when the rain stopped. The kids are great little hikers. Myles loved hiding behind trees and jumping out to scare people. Mason won the "best marshmallow" contest. He was crazy about his cousin Logan and gave the perfect one to him. We caught two gophers and let them go across the park. Myles was so ...