P.S...Im a BUM! :0)

SO some of you dont know this about me..but i go to yardsales...lots of them! ;0) I love finding great deals on toys/clothes for my kids and other 'treasures' at yard sales! My husband has always been a good sport about it too which is nice...i get the occasional eye roll when i drag all of my yardsale 'finds' through the front door but he puts up with my hoarding me for the most part ;0) A few weekends ago i went to a yardsale with the boys. There was a very girly pink PowerWheels there for sale (for $200 bucks) that the boys played in the whole time i was digging for treasures. When we left, they were both devastated that the PowerWheels didnt come home with us! I might have considered buying it if it wasnt PINK! ANYwho, this is when fate stepped in ;0) On the way home there was a guy in front of me pulling a big dump trailer full of stuff that he was apperantly taking to the dump. On top of that pile was a litte PowerWheel Jeep! I knew that my boys would love that so on a crazy whim i pulled up next to the guy and asked him if he was throwing that stuff away/i could have the PW! I felt like such a BUM for asking but he was happy to be rid of it! :0) It didnt work at the time but we bought a battery and jerry rigged fixed it a couple weeks later and the boys have been in HEAVEN driving that thing around together all morning! :0)

I always wanted a PowerWheels as a kid (and secretly still want to get behind the wheel of this one! ;0) So im glad the boys can check that off their childhood list (and that yours truly Santa didnt have to buy them a brand new one for christmas! ;0) hahah ANYwho, i just thought this was cute and wanted to document my craziness cute boys :0)

Annual 4th of July Camping Trip!

One of our family traditions is going camping at Lake Almanor for the 4th of July! This year we had SO.MUCH.FUN! I was worried about camping for a couple nights with the monsters kiddos but they were great! Happy kids=happy parents! :0) SO we drove up to Lake Almanor with the Happy Camper hoping/praying that we would find a camping spot once we got there! (fingers and toes crossed!) We were lucky enough to find the PERFECT spot! The rest of the campground was completely full and this beautiful spot just happened to be waiting just for us! :0) Easton was SUPER excited to be camping!!! :0)

I dont think ive posted pics of inside our camper...these arent so great but you get the idea! ;0)

ANYwho once we got settled in our spot...we decided to make some hobo packs! (a.k.a. our staple camping meal :0) We all hung out while we waited for the food to cook on the fire :0)

...If you ever wonder where Everett gets his grumpy face from ;0)

While dinner was cooking, the boys came up with their own game. The "Lets put dirty sticks in our mouths!" game ;0) 

and...i LET them! Hey, that is a perfectly acceptable activity when camping!  ;0)

Everett LOVES his big brother SO.MUCH and is always watching, following, copying, terrorizing him! Easton doesnt like it now but i think that one day they will be best buddies :0)

After we ate we went into town. Its such a cute little town up in the mountains and they have a parade every 4th. We ate some yummy food and walked around. Then we went to our favorite spot on the Lake. Its a nice little beach area that is never super busy and has a great view of the fireworks! We swam, went for a walk up the trail, and played in the sun together all day! It was so nice and relaxing! Here we are havin a good ol' time :0)

The fireworks start at 9pm (which is kinda late with little kids!) but it was an awesome show and the boys LOVED watching all of the the fireworks over the water :0) Snuggling with my boys and watching the fireworks was definitely one of the highlights of the trip...love my boys! We went back to camp and put the boys to bed. We stayed up and made smores, roasted marshmallows and admired all of the stars! The next day we spent exploring and swimming! Easton always seemed to be holding something alive at all times! 

my sweet little boy...

love.love.love.

...its a good thing we brought the wagon...we used it a LOT! :0)

That night we made hotdogs together and roasted marshmallows before we all went to bed :0) The next morning i made pancakes for breakfast (on our now WORKING stove--thanks hunny! ;0) 

Camping is so much easier with kids when you have a little trailer! We were super sad to leave but happy that a good time was had by all! Cant wait for our next camping adventure! :0)

Look Who's THREE!!!

On May 25th my sweet Easton turned 3! We decided to have a combined party with his cousin Dariyan who was born only days after Easton (they are best buddies! :0) I chose to do a woodland theme which i thought was fitting b/c we live in the mountains and Easton is obsessed with animals! Here is the bday invite i designed for them:

Here are some pics of the birthday 'spread' :0)

I made the cupcake stand myself (Me+chainsaw=scary! ;0) and the cupcakes were supposed to look like mushrooms :0)

We sang Happy Birthday to the boys (who loved every minute of it!) and they each blew out 3 candles on the 'stump' cake that Yana (my SIL) made :0)

Then the passed out cupcakes to all of their little guests before they ate their cupcakes (so sweet! :0)

Im pretty sure Everett loved his first cupcake ever :0)

After we ate cupcakes the boys opened their presents :0)

Then all the kids ran around/played in the back yard!...Tea party, anyone? ;0)

I had no idea that the chickens would be such a big hit! Luckily they all survived! ;0)

It was such a great day to have a birthday :0) My little man isnt so little anymore and is turning in to the sweetest little MAN! I just love him!

Me n' my boys :0)

Little party animal (who loves his big brother more than anything!)

Here are the favors we gave out to the little guests :0)

What a fun day with great people and two fantastic little 3 year olds! xoxo

Flashback Friday:Roadtrip

So last August was my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary! They live in WA and it was my parents crazy great idea that we should all carpool up there together! My parents came and picked me and the kiddos up and we drove to my sister Tanyas house in Oregon (8hrs)  I was so nervous that my children would scream the whole way! Turns out it wasnt that bad afterall! Dont get me wrong, they did scream just not the whole way ;0) We would stop at rest stops for a break every now and then...the weather was too nice not to lay on the ground like bums relax for a while at this one rest stop! HA! ;0)

Easton LOVED all of the quality time he got to spend with his grandpa! :0)

We finally made it to Tanyas house in Oregon and needless to say slept very well that night ;0)
The next day we (all 8 of us packed in the car like sardines!) and drove up to my grandparents house in Washington (another 4hrs.) Here is a lovely preview of our accommodations:

and here we are playing BONUS! Its a game we made up as kids and always played on trips. Basically one person finds a random treasure in the car (mystery crusties, pennies, chewed up gum etc. and they put it between the other persons toes (they should have their eyes closed) and they try to guess what it is! :0)

In this case it was a grape that got squished all over Tanya ;0) We got there eventually and were so happy to get out of the car! We stayed at my grandparents house for a couple of days and had a blast spending time together!

Easton and his Cousin Cole had fun playing together and Everett...well...screamed was cranky pretty much the whole time! Its a good thing hes cute! ;0) This pic of him screaming was from our house earlier in the week but was too appropriate not to put in ;0)

Lets see, we spent alot of time visiting and getting ready for grandma and grandpas partaaay :0) My mom was in charge of the decorations so I enlisted my family to help me blow up a million balloons to make this cool balloon arch for the party!

It was so much fun to see my Aunt/Uncle and cousins that we dont get to see very often! Alot of time was spent taking pictures, eating yummy food and laughing :0) Here are some more pics from my grandparents 60th anniversary shin dig!

The party was super fun and super exhausting so after it was all said and done Tanya and i and our kiddos all went to the pool/hot tub to relax :0)

and the boys had fun popping all of the balloons when we got back :0)

and my gramps decided to show off his riding skillz  ;0)

All in all it was a really fun trip and im so glad that i decided to go even thought i knew it would be crazy! I love being able to see my family and spending time with them! One last story, on the way home we decided to stop at a park in Oregon for a rest/food break. There was a really pretty river and grassy area that looked like a perfect place to have a picnic...

and Easton was pretty excited about the surprisingly large amount of pigeons around!
It wasnt until after we put the blanket/sat down/started eating that we noticed the bird POOP everywhere! And i couldnt resist the temptation to feed try to catch the birds!

It reminded me of the crazy bird lady on Mary Poppins "Feeeeeeeed the biiiiiiiiiirrrrrds...topins abaaaag.." LOL :0) ANYwho, so we did alot of driving to get back home and we were so happy to be back home with  Matt (Easton missed his daddy like crazy!)

but i personally think he got the sweet end of the deal...a week vacation all.by.himself! ;0)