a moment to brag

So last Sunday I went with the YW during sacrament meeting to the nursing home to do sacrament meeting for the old people there and so Nate was left with Kace and Ty in our sacrament by himself (with Shirleen and Curt of course!) Anyway, Nate took Ty out to the bathroom when the choir got up to sing. Shirleen asked Kace if he was in the choir (Nate, Kace and I have been participating in the choir) and he said, "Yes!" and off he went. He sat in the chair that he usually sits in at practice, even though there were a couple of seats between him and the next person and sang the entire song of "The Spirit of God" with the choir all by himself. I have had several people come up and tell me how impressed they were by that. I am pleased to be the mom of a such choice, sweet boys.

camping time

For Nate birthday he really wanted to go camping. So we loaded up the kids and headed up to his families property on Monte Cristo (we figured that way no one else would be around). So for fhe that week we planned what we wanted to eat and what we wanted to do while we were up there. Kace made an entire list and the first thing on it was to go SNAKE HUNTING! So after we got the tent set up we headed off on a walk (to the beaver ponds) with a net to find a snake. Kace must have a good eye, because he spotted one first.



It was funny because after we caught it BOTH of the boys didn't really want to touch it. Later Kace found another one, but we couldn't ever get it in the net. So we went back to camp and cooked our hotdogs and marshmallows. I was wondering how it would be at night, but Ty settled right down and went to sleep.

In the morning we got up and had breakfast and while we were eating Nate said, "hey boys, what's that?" I looked over and there was a moose walking about 20 yards from our camp. (I couldn't find my stupid camera). They loved that! We went for another walk and then went down to Nate's grandparents in Liberty and fished in the river behind their house. Nate used to do this as a kid and loved it. Someone holds the net and the other one scares the fish out of their holes to the net. Kace had a net and I had a net, Nate was the scarer. It was really fun....probably the best fishing I have done. We caught some fish and had fun walking in the river (I think that was Ty's favorite part).

While we were waiting for Nate, Kace practiced his karate moves.

Later Grandpa Shaw said that we could catch a big fish from his pond to eat. Kace was all for that so he grabbed the net and caught a big monster fish! He then called for his dad to help him clean it out, but Nate told him that if he caught it he could clean it out. So he learned how to do that. I was proud of him.

Ty just loves Grandpa Shaw and runs to him everytime we see him.

small town July festivities

Just a fair warning. This post is LONG and has a lot of pictures.

I can't believe July has come and gone. Crazy!! For the fourth of July we usually head to the park for the town party. Kace was so excited for his costume in the parade (cowboy if you couldn't tell) and he got Ty a costume to (superman). They won the best costume award. The parade consists of walking around in a circle on the grass, not once, but TWO times. I thought the Trenton 24th parade was funny (it goes around the park block twice), but this one tops it!

Everyone ran in the races (besides me), Nate ran in the 20's group, just because he wanted to prove that he is still fast. Which he is. Kace won his age group and got a $1. He is always excited when he gets money. I don't know where he gets it. They were most excited for the airplane candy drop and Kace explained and explained it to Ty to make sure he got it.

Then on the 24th of July we headed to Trenton. I LOVE this day, it is probably comparable to Christmas for me. There is so much to do and it is always so much fun to see old friends. I got this picture of Karen, Anna and I, but don't know where Shelli, Kelly and Meghan went off too. Then I thought we could get a bigger group shot that night at the fireworks, but that didn't work out either, so this is all I got.

When we got there Ty headed straight for the playground where there is this tractor. He didn't want to EVER get off of it. He DID NOT want to share and take turns. He was content to be on it all day. If ever we lost him we knew to go right to the tractor and there he was.

Kace found LOT and LOTs of games to play and activities to do.

This is Clarissa (anna's daughter-sam didn't want to get his face painted-we are sure glad they are such good friends!)

As usual we spent most of our time by the sand volleyball court. I was on a team with Nate and dad. We took third I think. Cortney's team won. He didn't want to be on any of our team, but wanted to be with his friends instead. RUDE!



They had the home run derby earlier (in the day) this year, so when we weren't playing volleyball we went over to the ball field. I think I got my best hit EVER, I thought it was going to go over the fence, but landed right at it. I was pretty proud......I mean pleased....with my medal!

After lunch the firemen came with the foam. This is always a favorite, but this year when Ty got in he kept getting it in his mouth and then he would open his mouth and put his foamy hands in it. So he gagged and puked. That was fabulous. He decided he was done after that and went to sit down......until Thomas (anna's son) said, "come on Ty, let's go." Then he was ready again.

Shelli and Tyler always have a good time dragging each other through it. Dad also thought it would be fun this year to drag people through it. I might have been one of those unfortunate ones. I didn't see too many other grandpas playing with their grandkids in the foam though. We are pretty lucky!

Ty was exhausted by the time the day was over. I think Kami was a little too happy to carry him.

But he perked right up when we got to gpa and gma's house and saw the tractor. He was in his element!

Later that night we went to the sod farm for dinner and fireworks. They were "awesome"--ty kept saying that.
It was a great day and something that I remember doing EVERY year when I was a kid. I remember once my parents tried to plan a camping trip or something over it and I was so mad and said that it was like Christmas to me and I couldn't miss it. I love it!!

"He's a keeper!" --Kim Roberts

This past week we had the opportunity to go with our friends the Roberts' on their annual Oregon Coast vacation. So last Friday we flew into Portland and drove to Cannon Beach. It is so beautiful there and dare I say, we were cold much of the time! It was seriously a sauna to come home.

Anyway, the first day we went into Seaside and went to the little shops there (and also the outlets!). Those who know Nate can just imagine his excitement about shopping, but he was a good sport......and there were lots of samples for him and CJ (ok and me too) to enjoy. That night we built a fire on the beach. I really think the campfire smell, smells different there.

Saturday we drove down the coast and stopped at a crabbing place just to see how it all worked. So we decided to rent a boat (CJ was the captain and Nate was the puller) and went and caught a TON of crabs.........seriously I think there were about 80. We 'crabbed' for a couple of hours and then brought the ones that were big enough to keep and went back to the dock. They they showed us how to clean them and cooked them and then we enjoyed. YUM!!!

Then we went on to Tillamook and took a tour of the cheese factory there. Of course we had an ice cream and I saw some people with BYU shirts on and it made me feel right at home. (Don't worry I told them that I really enjoyed their shirts).

That night we went to a play. We were a little bit late, but somebody at the back opened the door for us. We saw these cookies sitting right at the front and CJ asked if he could have a cookie and then took a couple into the play to enjoy. So of course I followed his example and took some for Nate and I. During intermission he went out to get another cookie and found out that they were $1 each. Ooops, we had stolen the cookies.

The next day was Sunday so we went to church in Seaside. There were LOTS of visitors (probably like Bear Lake or Island Park in the busy seasons). We drove on the beach and went to an old ship wreck. I made (those who know him really know that I MADE him to this--good thing he loves me!) Nate pose like on Titanic (too bad we were solo), it would have been better to be on there together.



Then we went up north to Astoria and saw the house were goonies was filmed. We tried to get Nate to do the, "truffle shuffle", but he wouldn't. Party pooper. We also went to the Astoria column and saw a beautiful view. That night we got goonies and watched it, just to make sure that was the actual house. Don't worry, it was.







At the "goonie house" we thought we heard sea lion barks so we drove down to the dock and found them. Nate was trying to get as close as he could (I am pretty sure we weren't supposed to go down there) and there was one at the front of the group or pack or whatever that was very protective. He would get up from his rest and scoot over to Nate barking the whole way, Nate had to run back a couple of times. It was good times. Kim missed it as she was on the phone, but she did "strike a pose" for the camera

The next day we rented some bikes and went on a long bike ride up to Ecola State Park. It was beautiful and quite the workout getting our beach cruiser bikes up the winding mountain road (but it felt good!) It was gorgeous up there and it felt so good to ride back down the mountain!

We ate LOTS of great seafood. Nate and I went running on the beach 2 of the mornings. Nate pretty much would run sprints and then slow down and wait for me to catch up and then run sprints again. We would go to the different tide pools and look at all the little ocean critters. There were lots and lots of wild life. Nate loves this kind of stuff!

It was so much fun to get away, but we missed our kids and were glad to come home to see them. My mom told me that Kace had a countdown going on when we were coming home. I was kind of surprised at that. Many many many thanks to my mom and dad, Jess and Mac and Mary and Isaac for watching the boys. You guys are the BEST!!

new family pics

I told Nate that the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was new family pictures (mostly so he wouldn't complain and also so that I would actually get it). So I was at YW and Hayley Yates said, "My sister (Ashley) could take your pictures, let me call her." So she called her and we got it set up.

We had a good time, Kace was a little crazy sometimes........seriously a NORMAL smile. She took a ton of pictures (you get to see about 12 of them) and by the end both boys (actually all 3 of my boys) were pictured out. I had to choose one with Ty and his tractor, because that is what he LOVES!

This is one of my favorites. She caught the boys acting so natural together and then put the three pictures together. I LOVE IT! And the bonus is that Kace was acting normal :) Every time we told him to smile he would do this weird eyebrow raise that you saw earlier.

Ashley fixed this one. In the actual photo Kace's eyes were closed, but I can't even tell she fixed it so well.